Patterico's Pontifications

9/2/2022

Weekend Open Thread

Filed under: General — Dana @ 7:53 am



[guest post by Dana]

Let’s go!

First news item

Ah, he “fell”…:

A Russian energy oligarch whose oil company criticized the war in Ukraine has died falling out of a hospital window in Moscow on Thursday, state-controlled media reported.

Ravil Maganov, 67, was the chair of the board of directors of Lukoil, one of the largest energy companies in Russia.

Maganov was in Moscow’s Central Clinical Hospital when he “fell out of the window” and died from his injuries, an unnamed “informed source” told Russian news agency Interfax.

The state news agency RIA Novosti followed up with confirmation from a representative of the presidential administration, which manages the hospital campus. A law enforcement source told the outlet that the death was likely a suicide.

Maganov’s death comes almost six months to the day after Lukoil released a statement expressing “deepest concerns” about President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.

Second news item

Mississippi madness:

Brett Favre earned nearly $140 million as a star NFL quarterback over two decades and millions more in product endorsements.

But that didn’t stop the state of Mississippi from paying Favre $1.1 million in 2017 and 2018 to make motivational speeches — out of federal welfare funds intended for needy families. The Mississippi state auditor said Favre never gave the speeches and demanded the money back, with interest.

Favre has repaid the fees, although not the $228,000 in interest the auditor also demanded. But the revelation by the auditor that $70 million in TANF welfare funds was doled out to a multimillionaire athlete, a professional wrestler, a horse farm and a volleyball complex are at the heart of a scandal that has rocked the nation’s poorest state, sparking parallel state and federal criminal investigations that have led to charges and guilty pleas involving some of the key players.

Third news item

Working the votes even before he announces:

“I mean full pardons with an apology to many,” he told conservative radio host Wendy Bell on Thursday morning. Such a move would be contingent on Trump running and winning the 2024 presidential election…

Trump, during his conversation with Bell on Thursday morning, also said that he met with some Jan. 6 defendants in his office this week and that he is helping some financially.

“I am financially supporting people that are incredible and they were in my office actually two days ago, so they’re very much in my mind,” Trump said. “It’s a disgrace what they’ve done to them. What they’ve done to these people is disgraceful.”

Fourth news item

California’s energy disaster in the making:

A massive heatwave has come to California, so citizens of the Golden State may be enduring triple-digit temperatures for a week. The pressure the heat will throw onto the state’s power grid has prompted an emergency call for citizens to reduce electricity use during peak early evening hours. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency that temporarily eases some state regulations limiting operations of thermal power plants and portable generators.

Part of this call for citizens to reduce electricity consumption from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. also includes a request that citizens “avoid charging electric vehicles while the Flex Alert is in effect.” This request comes only a week after California leaders moved forward with a plan to ban most gasoline-powered vehicle sales in the state (with an exception for hybrid vehicles) by 2035.

Though it is true that such a ban will reduce emissions, switching to electric vehicles will over time dramatically increase the strain on California’s power grid. If everybody in California went out and bought electric vehicles tomorrow, it would probably be an energy disaster.

Fifth news item

New Covid booster shots coming soon:

New booster doses of COVID-19 vaccine should be available soon to anyone 12 and older who wants one… An advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the boosters Thursday. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky signed off on their recommendation shortly after. The Food and Drug Administration gave emergency authorization Wednesday to a “bivalent” vaccine that targets both the original virus and the BA.4 and BA.5 variants that now dominate the world.

Sixth news item

On not meeting Republicans halfway:

Republicans need to be plain, honest, and energetic in rejecting what Trump and January 6 stand for, but, with a few honorable and excruciatingly rare exceptions, they aren’t. Instead, they make excuses, try to change the subject, and, if pressed, shriek, “But Chuck Schumer!”

You’re willing to go all the way when it comes to Trump, rightly labeling him a “lunatic,” but, in my view, you are cutting excessive slack for his enablers and supporters. I understand your practical concerns, but you are operating on the wrong timeline. In spite of what the Sean Hannitys of the world insist every 24 months, this country is not going to rise or fall based on a single election — it might, however, be irreparably damaged by a nihilistic and authoritarian personality cult that embraces political violence and that has, in spite of its constant protestations to the contrary, utter contempt for our constitutional order. It was never one single man who ruined a republic.

Republicans had a chance to break with Trump and Trumpism after January 6, and, for about a week, it looked like they were going to avail themselves of the opportunity. But they have chosen another course. I believe in a politics of compromise, but I am not going to meet the Republicans halfway in what they are becoming.

Read the whole thing.

Seventh news item

Then why didn’t you strenuously object to the DNCC and Democratic PACs backing MAGA candidates over the non-MAGA reasonable Republicans during the primaries?:

President Biden on Thursday warned that former President Trump and Republicans aligned with him pose “a threat to this country,” in a political primetime speech that frequently referred to his predecessor and some of his GOP supporters as a danger to democracy.

“Not every Republican, not even a majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans. Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology,” he said. “But there’s no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans. And that is a threat to this country.”

Eighth news item

Not a genocide? Are you kidding??:

On her very last day in the job, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet released her long-delayed report on the Chinese government’s mass atrocities against Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in the western region of Xinjiang. The damning findings are shocking — but they should come as no surprise, considering the world has known about these abuses for years. So why isn’t the U.S. government doing more to stop them?

The U.N. report stops short of designating China’s abuses in Xinjiang as an ongoing genocide — contrary to the Biden administration, which has described the situation in exactly those terms. But the authors paint a gruesome picture of abject suffering for millions of innocent people in Xinjiang at the hands of the Chinese authorities. U.N. investigators determined that Beijing’s policies — including the unjust detention of more than a million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in prisonlike camps — “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.”

Ninth news item

I’m adding Allahpundit’s lovely farewell to today’s news items because it is an absolute must-read:

That’s one reason why, when I’ve been forced to choose, I preferred to be a traitor than a propagandist. Here’s another: What is the right’s “cause” at this point? What cause does the Republican Party presently serve? It has no meaningful policy agenda. It literally has no platform. The closest thing it has to a cause is justifying abuses of state power to own the libs and defending whatever Trump’s latest boorish or corrupt thought-fart happens to be. Imagine being a propagandist for a cause as impoverished as that. Many don’t need to imagine.

The GOP does have a cause. The cause is consolidating power. Overturn the rigged elections, purge the disloyal bureaucrats, smash the corrupt institutions that stand in the way. Give the leader a free hand. It’s plain as day to those who are willing to see where this is going, what the highest ambitions of this personality cult are. Those who support it without insisting on reform should at least stop pretending that they’re voting for anything else.I agree with others who say that, fundamentally, the last six years have been a character test.

Some conservatives became earnest converts to Trumpism, whatever that is. But too many who ditched their civic convictions did so for the most banal reasons, because there was something in it for them — profit, influence, proximity to power, the brainless tribalism required by audience capture. “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket,” Eric Hoffer wrote. We’ve all gotten to see who the racketeers are.

Allahpundit is joining The Dispatch, and I can’t wait.

MISCELLANEOUS

Phenomenal:

Have a great weekend!

–Dana

509 Responses to “Weekend Open Thread”

  1. Happy Friday! Hope you have a great long weekend.

    Dana (1225fc)

  2. Mar-a-Lago search inventory shows documents marked as classified mixed with clothes, gifts, press clippings
    ……….
    One box containing documents marked with confidential, secret and top secret classification identifications also contained “99 magazines/newspapers/press articles from last month’s search filed in federal court in Florida.
    ……….
    The court filing also provided a breakdown of the type of markings on the classified material taken from Mar-a-Lago, including 18 documents marked top secret, 54 documents marked secret and 31 documents marked confidential.
    …………
    The judge also released a status report the department filed under seal about its investigative team’s review of the evidence so far.
    ……….
    “The investigative team has reviewed the seized materials in furtherance of its ongoing investigation, evaluating the relevance and character of each item seized, and making preliminary determinations about investigative avenues suggested or warranted by the character and nature of the seized items,” the status report said.
    …………

    Rip Murdock (fa6da7)

  3. As Ed Morrissey reminds us, Maganov’s death was just the latest in a series.

    Window failures seem to abound in Russia, especially in proximity to Vladimir Putin’s naysayers.

    Another one in DC?

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  4. Trump’s seized passports could be a problem for him, legal experts say
    ……….
    Consistent with the terms of the search warrant, the Justice Department said in the filing that “the government seized the contents of a desk drawer that contained classified documents and governmental records commingled with other documents.”

    ………… “The location of the passports is relevant evidence in an investigation of unauthorized retention and mishandling of national defense information.”
    ……….
    “In most searches you look for identity documents to tie a suspect to the evidence you’re looking for — photographs, IDs, utility bills. If you find the contraband in the same room as the identity documents, there’s a fair inference that person had dominion and control over the documents,” said (Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney and) a professor at the University of Michigan Law School.
    ……….
    “Finding the passports side by side with the classified documents suggests he himself was the one who handled” them, McQuade said.

    It also makes it difficult for Trump to argue that movers or aides mishandled the documents or that he was unaware of their presence, McQuade said, arguing, “That’s pretty damning evidence.”
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (fa6da7)

  5. For anyone interested in the latest booster shot you should do your own research on the testing protocol.

    Also, take a look at the current excess death numbers and ask yourself why the covid death cult isn’t talking about it anymore.

    Also, take a look at the myocarditis numbers.

    Also, take a look at the adverse effect numbers.

    frosty (0a358c)

  6. Bad news from the “Nation’s Report Card”:

    Test scores in elementary school math and reading plummeted to levels unseen for decades, according to the first nationally representative report comparing student achievement from just before the pandemic to performance two years later.

    Math scores dropped seven points during that period, marking a first-ever decline, while reading scores slipped five points, producing the largest dip in 30 years on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, often called “the nation’s report card.” The students who took the tests — given from January to March in 2020 and in 2022 — were 9 years old and mostly in fourth grade.

    That wasn’t a surprise, but I was a bit surprised by what had happened during the Obama years. Overal, math and reading scores rose sharply while George W. Bush was president, peaked about 2012, and then declined slightly — before the pandemic. (They had risen sharply while Reagan was president, and then more slowly whild Clinton was.)

    (Here’s a link to the highlights in the official report.)

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  7. Jim Miller @ 3,

    Interestingly, Dan Rapoport died exactly how his former business partner, Sergei Tkachenko, died back in 2017. He died in Moscow. I don’t believe it was coincidental. There is a pattern with these oops-he-fell-out-of-his-apartment-window deaths which happen to those who have been critical of Russia.

    From Bill Browder:

    “The circumstances of his death are highly suspicious… Why would a person who’s committing suicide keep $2,600 in their pocket as they jump out of a building?” he said, referring to the list of belongings police said had been found on Rapoport after his death.

    Additionally,

    “Who puts a hat on before jumping out a window?,” said Igor Shoifot…who’d known Rapoport for 10 years and corresponded with him “almost daily” over the past year and a half.

    Dana (1225fc)

  8. Just a reminder that Kevin Williamson has been a piece of garbage for a long time and continues to be so. I’m grateful noxious trash like him no longer has any influence on the Republican party and causes him to lash out accordingly as he supports leftists by focusing his attack on Republicans.

    https://hotair.com/taylormillard/2016/04/01/kevin-d-wiliamsons-death-wish-on-white-working-communities-is-overstated-n232296

    NJRob (9e3a05)

  9. Third news item

    Working the votes even before he announces:

    “I mean full pardons with an apology to many,” [Trump] told conservative radio host Wendy Bell on Thursday morning.

    The mendacious malefactor had two full weeks after Jan. 6 to do it. He had the power. He had the money. He even had the woman. But he preferred, instead, to pilfer national security documents to feather his nest.

    And the dipwiddles still believe him and send them their money. (Which they would, admittedly, have sent to a Nigerian prince if not to Trump, but that’s besides the point.)

    nk (d9047a)

  10. Though it is true that such a ban will reduce emissions, switching to electric vehicles will over time dramatically increase the strain on California’s power grid. If everybody in California went out and bought electric vehicles tomorrow, it would probably be an energy disaster.

    This is a pretty common take, but I think it’s wrong.

    Electric vehicles do not need to be charging at peak load times, and a power grid that is even close to powering millions of A/C units simultaneously can handle EV charging at off-peak times. Unlike A/C, EV charging is not real-time and does not have the immediate power drain that A/C does. You can charge slowly, you cannot cool slowly.

    Time-of-use metering (it’s coming) will convince people to charge at night, when demand is low, or nearly any other time than later afternoon and early evening when cooling demand is highest. Devices to regulate charging to off-peak are not that hard to devise. And anyone who can will have solar installed to keep peak time costs way down anyway.

    The actual problem in CA is water, not power.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  11. Re: Fourth news item: California’s energy disaster in the making:

    Seventeen states follow California’s lead on air pollution regulations, so the state’s 2035 ban means they will too, unless they repeal their own laws or regulations (as Youngkin In Virginia has vowed to do).

    Also, California has agreed to loan PG&E $1.4 billion to prevent the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant from shutting down in 2025 (extended to 2030, at which time a new loan will no doubt be made). The loan will be repaid with Federal funding, not users.

    Rip Murdock (fa6da7)

  12. I expect the usual suspects to whine about the new shots “not being tested”, but they are also whining about the old shots “not being tested enough” so there is no satisfying them.

    Like the annual flu shot, COVID vaccines need to change as fast as the virus does. It is insane to withhold a vaccine that is a variation of a previously tested one until full zero-knowledge trials can be done since many lives could be saved by rolling it out faster.

    Robert F Kennedy, Jr hardest hit.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  13. CA should be building modern nuclear plants. Extending 1970 designs further and further will only increase the risks of stress failures. Building a number of 2020 designs is a better idea. But of course you have to piss off your environmentalist base, which a governor looking to the White House will not do.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  14. , he “fell”…:

    Just like James Forrestal “fell”

    Horatio (d88a19)

  15. Tesla built a charging station a half block from where I live with about two dozen chargers. It’s always full when I drive by in late evening. There are a couple of other Tesla supercharger stations in my city, all open 24/7.

    Rip Murdock (fa6da7)

  16. Excellent stuff from Allahpundit from his farewell to Hot Air readers:

    What cause does the Republican Party presently serve? It has no meaningful policy agenda. It literally has no platform. The closest thing it has to a cause is justifying abuses of state power to own the libs and defending whatever Trump’s latest boorish or corrupt thought-fart happens to be. Imagine being a propagandist for a cause as impoverished as that. Many don’t need to imagine.

    The GOP does have a cause. The cause is consolidating power. Overturn the rigged elections, purge the disloyal bureaucrats, smash the corrupt institutions that stand in the way. Give the leader a free hand. It’s plain as day to those who are willing to see where this is going, what the highest ambitions of this personality cult are. Those who support it without insisting on reform should at least stop pretending that they’re voting for anything else.

    Dana (3d521e)

  17. it might, however, be irreparably damaged by a nihilistic and authoritarian personality cult that embraces political violence and that has, in spite of its constant protestations to the contrary, utter contempt for our constitutional order. It was never one single man who ruined a republic.

    You could argue that Julius Caesar, in bringing his army across the Rubicon, destroyed the Roman Republic. But he was killed for it and it did not help. Perhaps Rome was ungovernable by the Roman Senate and Caesar was just the messenger, not the instigator.

    It is possible that Trump is a messenger as well. Certainly there were quite a few Americans that his theme of “they’re screwing you” resonated. I despair though. People usually prefer to continue self-dealing.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  18. Dana (3d521e) — 9/2/2022 @ 9:59 am

    yes, excellent stuff

    that nevertrump is not about opposing trump but rather opposing republicans is something I’ve been saying for years

    good to see everyone’s caught up

    JF (2043a8)

  19. My hope that AllahPundit joins The Dispatch became a reality. The site will move influential conservative site to conservative powerhouse.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  20. The cause is consolidating power. … purge the disloyal bureaucrats, smash the corrupt institutions that stand in the way. Give the leader a free hand

    This didn’t start with Trump and it won’t end with him. The increasing use of executive power, the inaction in Congress, the rise of extremes in both parties … all of these lead down the same road. Whether the cause is MAGA or Climate Change, the solutions are very similar. The Blank Check.

    The single most effective thing that could be done is to restore the Legislative Veto over regulations.
    It was declared unconstitutional as it overturned regulations without passing a law and getting it signed, but one really has to studiously ignore how regulations come to be to get to that position.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  21. that nevertrump is not about opposing trump but rather opposing republicans is something I’ve been saying for years

    And the Trump supporters, what is their position, other than 1) giving Trump power and 2) opposing Democrats and anyone else who backtalks Trump?

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  22. Paul,

    Allahpundit said that he is indeed going to The Dispatch.

    Dana (425c1e)

  23. Trump is not a strong leader. He will never have control of the country. He is a Yeltsin. What worries me is the chaos he will let loose and the Putin who rises.

    nk (d9047a)

  24. 18,

    Can always count on you. Funny and predictable.

    Dana (f54908)

  25. I know words. I have the best words. I would not use “oppose” for a bucket a milk the cow peed in.

    nk (d9047a)

  26. Biden called MAGA “a clear and present danger”, words that have historical meaning describing seditious threats to Constitutional order.

    So, here’s a question: “President Biden, since you call MAGA ‘a clear and present danger’, does the FBI intend to investigate the DNCC for funding this seditious conspiracy?”

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  27. #6 A follow-up on those scores: Despite the overall declines, some kids did better away from school during the pandemic. (For example, kids who were bullied at school.)

    From what I can tell from a quick glance at the numbers, the kids that did the best were those who had motivated, educated parents. And the second was, if anything, more important.

    One of the sweet — and sad — things I saw during the pandemic was this book, which for a long time was the Amazon number one seller in books. Sweet, because you could see that parents were trying to make up for what their little ones weren’t getting in school. Sad, because when you read the comments, you could tell that many of the parents didn’t have much education themselves.

    But they were were doing what they could.

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  28. He is a Yeltsin.

    Indeed. Rome, at least, got Augustus first. We get to start with Tiberius. Then we get The Niece.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  29. ‘Sarah Palin Instructed Supporters Not to Rank Candidates’: Alaska’s GOP Candidates Point Fingers after Special Election Loss
    ……..
    Democrat Mary Peltola’s victory “really boils down to Sarah Palin,” Begich told National Review. “Sarah Palin’s unfavorables in the state of Alaska are so astronomically high, so high in fact, that the only other more unfavorably thought of politician in Alaska is Joe Biden,” said Begich, who insisted that Palin “cannot win statewide in Alaska.”
    ………
    “Nick Begich is now a three-time loser. His ego-driven insistence on staying in Alaska’s congressional race after repeatedly failing to garner a majority of Republican votes, while I have consistently won the vote, has just cost Republicans a seat in Congress. Fortunately, there is still time for Begich to do the honorable thing and withdraw before the November election,” Palin said.
    ………
    …….After the ballots were tabulated following Begich’s elimination, Peltola received 15,445 extra votes, while Palin got 27,042. Over 11,200 people only voted for Begich, without ranking anyone as their second-place candidate.

    That last group ultimately proved decisive, as Peltola ultimately prevailed over Palin by a margin of just 5,219 votes (91,206-85,987.)
    ……..
    “Unfortunately, Sarah Palin instructed her supporters not to rank candidates, and this had a spill over effect across the electorate. I on the other hand, ranked Sarah Palin second on my ballot and encouraged people to do the same. Either Sarah Palin doesn’t understand the ranked-choice voting system, or is more interested in herself getting elected than supporting other Republicans,” Begich said.

    ……. I was telling people all along, ‘don’t comply!’” Palin told voters at a campaign event.

    In another video, Palin can be seen pointing at Peltola when she’s asked who she would put as her second choice on the ballot.
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (fa6da7)

  30. @8: Now I see why Allahpundit is leaving that propaganda site.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  31. Dana, you may be sick of Trump’s little document problem at his country club, but this story is major.

    Among the items the FBI retrieved from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort this month were 90 empty folders marked classified or for return to the White House staff secretary or a military aide, according to a detailed inventory of items made public on Friday.

    There needs to an accounting ASAP, so that every missing document is found and returned to its respective folder. Bradley Moss:

    Per government source: if there is an empty folder that was originally used to properly store classified records, there will be documentation indicating who put the records in that folder, why they were placed there, and what the records were.

    This needs to be emphasized: the folder itself usually isn’t classified. The documents inside it are classified. If the folder was no longer being used to house classified records, anything could have been put in it.

    This only adds more urgency to getting back the documents Trump stole. A commenter in Moss’ thread mentioned that the folders and related documents have matching serial numbers. I can only hope they all get matched up.

    In his infamous press conference, Comey mentioned this…

    Our investigation looked at whether there is evidence classified information was improperly stored or transmitted on that personal system, in violation of a federal statute making it a felony to mishandle classified information either intentionally or in a grossly negligent way, or a second statute making it a misdemeanor to knowingly remove classified information from appropriate systems or storage facilities.

    Comey concluded that Hillary was “extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information,” which falls short of “grossly negligent” criminality. My question is, how is it not grossly negligent to fail to keep track of 90 classified and sensitive documents by not even keep them out of eye contact by not putting them in their folders?

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  32. CA should be building modern nuclear plants.

    Constructing nuke plants in Earthquakeland isn’t wise. Ask the Japanese. Better to build them in New Mexico and Nevada— and run transmission lines West. That way if there’s a problem, it’s theres- and given the prevailing winds- points East. 😉

    DCSCA (58f353)

  33. Tesla built a charging station a half block from where I live with about two dozen chargers. It’s always full when I drive by in late evening. There are a couple of other Tesla supercharger stations in my city, all open 24/7.

    For the 14 Teslas in town, eh. Bidenomics. 😉

    DCSCA (58f353)

  34. @31. Golly! They used government staples on all those papers! The National Archives wants their staples back!

    DCSCA (58f353)

  35. @10. Pfft.

    The grid in CA can barely handle toasters; some wind, some heat, a fire or two — or a thunderstorm– and =braaaaaat- blackout. Temecula had their plug pulled only yesterday.

    DCSCA (58f353)

  36. It’s a little embarrassing as an American to say “watch how the South Koreans are doing it”, but we should watch how the South Koreans are doing it.
    First, during the pandemic, their response to the spread of the virus was stellar. They didn’t do lockdowns but instead contact-traced and masked up and led the field in testing, and the results speak for themselves. They rank 131st in deaths per million, at 524. By comparison, the United States is 15th worst, at 3,239 deaths per million. Had we held to the SK standard, 900k American lives would not have been cut short.

    Where else is SK excelling? Nuclear energy.

    South Korea plans to scale down its reliance on renewable energy sources and boost nuclear generation to meet its tougher climate goal.

    Where else? Creatively using solar energy.

    In South Korea 🇰🇷, the solar panels in the middle of the highway have a bicycle path underneath – cyclists are protected from the sun, isolated from traffic, and the country can produce clean energy.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  37. They are going to put chargers in parking lots of stores with advertisements on them.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/ev-charging-station-operators-set-to-battle-for-ad-dollars-11661421601

    The first ChargePoint ad displays will be live before the end of the year, and the company plans to install approximately 1,000 screens across 10 key markets in the year following the launch, said Sean McCaffrey, president and chief executive of GSTV. These displays will run ads in and around original, three- to five-minute videos with news, weather and pop-culture content, Mr. McCaffrey said. Advertising will be optional for businesses that buy and install ChargePoint chargers.

    The pitch from EV-station makers to marketers focuses on helping them target upper-income consumers immediately before they enter a given retail location, where many charging stations are located…Volta, which launched a media network in late 2021 after going public via a merger with blank-check firm Tortoise Acquisition Corp. II, will be ChargePoint’s most immediate competitor for ad dollars. Volta has always based its business model around ad sales, and a spokesman said its network currently includes 5,400 screens and 2,920 individual charging ports across 28 U.S. states and territories.

    Charging stations are a natural fit for automotive, packaged goods and entertainment brands, said Volta’s Mr. Hastings, citing recent campaigns from Coca-Cola Co. , Netflix Inc. and FedEx Corp. that ran on Volta screens.

    Volta also encourages marketers to use its eight- or 15-second video ads to focus on sustainability messages, said Mr. Hastings. A Michelin campaign that ran earlier this year led to a 70% increase in consumer awareness of the company’s EV-specific tires, according to Ms. Tarbet.

    The industry’s growth relies on deals with large retailers. Earlier this year, ChargePoint announced that it would install roughly 60 direct-current “fast chargers” at Starbucks locations, and Volta signed contracts to build stations in partnership with supermarket conglomerate Kroger Co. and the city of Hoboken, N.J….

    …ChargePoint and Volta’s business models differ in several ways. Both say they can target consumers by geography, demographics and behavioral data, but GSTV says its units will not directly collect any consumer data, while Volta draws first-party data from its mobile app and combines that with retail partners’ customer-loyalty databases. Sensors at Volta stations can also target consumers by the model of vehicle they drive.

    Both firms primarily make and install Level 2 stations, which let owners charge their vehicles while parked for extended periods of time, though they also operate a small number of far faster direct-current stations. Tesla Inc. dominates the latter market with 14,840 individual ports out of a total of 25,324 in the U.S., per Department of Energy data, and plans to open its charging network to other automakers in order to apply for public grants.

    Of course it would be better not to have 100% of all cars electric. (that won’t happen by 2035, since there’ll be used cars for some time, and cars bought in other states, but that could lead to a problem when power lines fall down and when and if gasoline stations become scarce)

    I read also that if the cars only needed a range of 150 miles, instead of 300, the batteries would be much cheaper. There are many uses for such a car, including commuting (except in California’s San Francisco/Silicon Valley area) Also useful for many businesses

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  38. 3. 7. Putin is repeating himself? I think he usually avoids that.

    And a hospital window?

    There’s lots of control in a hospital.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  39. “President Turnip has F-15s. Do you? President Turnip directs a military armed with non-gendered pronouns and led by a thick-bodied, bag-eyed yes man in touch with his privilege and aware of his own white rage. Do you? President Turnip has the unwavering support of Max Boot and Jen Rubin — two of this country’s most beautiful minds. Do you?

    “Dark Brandon,” flanked by Marines and backed by Hellish lighting, mumbled, shouted, and emoted his way through a Hitleresque scapegoating of large swaths of the population. And his call to arms has energized all the woke and virtuous defenders of democracy, who are now demanding a one-party system and the shunning of Republicans as lesser humans. Because, in the same way you sometimes have to destroy villages to save them, sometimes you have to become an unelected Administrative dictatorship to save democracy from the benighted and filthy MAGAts who so frustratingly vote incorrectly.

    President Turnip’s speech — presented with the full backing of the Executive branch and its law enforcement and justice arms — was perhaps the most egregious speech ever given by a US president. It was more than simply divisive. It was tacit permission to treat those who don’t favor progressive governance as enemies of the State. It’s the summer of 2020 with presidential approval. It’s dangerous. It’s unconscionable.”

    —- Jeff Goldstein

    Colonel Haiku (d95e29)

  40. 20. The legislative veto is unconstitutional and would requires a constitutional amendment to enact.

    The best possibility now would be declaring all regulations null and void (after six months maybe) unless passed into law by Congress,

    As of now, all the law does is act as another exception to the Senate filibuster rule and House Rules committee rules.(the bill must come up for a vote)

    It is most useful when the presidency changes hand within the six month window to repeal the regulation. If the presidency remains the same the president can veto the bill repealing the regulation – presumably he stands behind the regulation. There might be exceptions to that.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  41. People insisting that others break with Trump while Brandon is basically declaring war against MAGA folks. Conservatives who condemn Orange Man yet voted for Biden are ridiculous.

    “According to newly released emails obtained by state AGs, Facebook & the Biden admin arranged weekly/monthly calls to discuss what to censor on the platform.”

    https://ago.mo.gov/docs/default-source/press-releases/free-speech-pitch-thread-docs/cdc-fb-monthly-debunk.pdf?sfvrsn=3508a21f_2

    Obudman (a1c23a)

  42. For the 14 Teslas in town…….

    More like several hundred. There are 3 Tesla dealerships within a half hour of where I live.

    Rip Murdock (fa6da7)

  43. And the Trump supporters, what is their position, other than 1) giving Trump power and 2) opposing Democrats and anyone else who backtalks Trump?
    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 9/2/2022 @ 10:22 am

    i can wait for Republicans to actually choose their nominee before coming out against them

    give it a try

    JF (79d45e)

  44. Constructing nuke plants in Earthquakeland isn’t wise. Ask the Japanese

    Japan had a problem with a plant that was designed while Ike was President and which had it’s operation extended several times. And even then what failed was not the plant, but the cheap-sh1t utility that let the water pump system be open to the elements.

    How this relates to a smaller modern plant that has literally none of the vulnerabilities of the old Westinghouse design is hard to fathom.

    Note that Japan builds hundreds of subway lines, even under a bay, in Tokyo alone. THey usually know what they are doing.

    As opposed to the Germans, who shut down their nuclear plants because of the (neither ever happens) risk of earthquake and tsunami. But you know those Germans: unable to work the numbers.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  45. Everything DCSCA has ever posted:

    Pffft.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  46. In South Korea 🇰🇷, the solar panels in the middle of the highway have a bicycle path underneath

    Do you have ANY idea how many EIRs we’d have to file to do that?

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  47. Someone who’s gonna need a pardon…….

    Ex-NYPD officer sentenced to record 10 years for Jan. 6 riot
    ……..
    (Thomas) Webster, a 20-year NYPD veteran, was the first Capitol riot defendant to be tried on an assault charge and the first to present a self-defense argument. A jury rejected Webster’s claim that he was defending himself when he tackled Metropolitan Police Department officer Noah Rathbun and grabbed his gas mask outside the Capitol on Jan. 6.
    ………
    U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta sentenced Webster, 56, to 10 years in prison plus three years of supervised release.……
    ……..
    ………Webster led the charge against police barricades at the Capitol’s Lower West Plaza, prosecutors said. They compared the attack to a medieval battle, with rioters pelting officers with makeshift projectiles and engaging in hand-to-hand combat.
    ………
    Defense attorney James Monroe said in a court filing that the mob was “guided by unscrupulous politicians” and others promoting the lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from the Republican incumbent. …….
    ………
    Webster had testified at trial that he was trying to protect himself from a “rogue cop” who punched him in the face. He also accused Rathbun of instigating the confrontation.
    ………
    Rathbun’s body camera captured Webster shouting profanities and insults before they made any physical contact. The video shows that Webster slammed one of the bike racks at Rathbun before the officer reached out with an open left hand and struck the right side of Webster’s face.

    After Rathbun struck his face, Webster swung a metal flag pole at the officer in a downward chopping motion, striking a bike rack. Rathbun grabbed the broken pole from Webster, who charged at the officer, tackled him to the ground and grabbed his gas mask, choking him by the chin strap.
    ……….
    Webster said he went to the Capitol to “petition” lawmakers to “relook” at the results of the 2020 presidential election. But he testified that he didn’t intend to interfere with Congress’ joint session to certify President Joe Biden ‘s victory.
    ………..

    Webster was convicted of:

    Assaulting, Resisting, or Impeding Certain Officers Using a Dangerous Weapon;
    Civil Disorder;
    Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building or Grounds with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon;
    Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or grounds with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon;
    Engaging in Physical Violence in a Restricted Building or Grounds with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon;
    Disorderly Conduct Within the Capitol Grounds or Buildings; (and an)
    Act of Physical Violence Within the Capitol Grounds or Buildings

    Complaint and Statement of Facts

    Rip Murdock (fa6da7)

  48. 20. The legislative veto is unconstitutional and would requires a constitutional amendment to enact.

    Why? The regulatory state isn’t mentioned in the constitution either. Where does it say that Congress can delegate law-making to the executive? Laws need bicameral passage and presentation to the Executive, but with regulations they just need to hold hearings.

    When Congress passed the giant regulatory bills, they withheld the legislative veto as a form of bicameral legislative approval. If either house disapproves, the regulation would not have passed as law. The ORDER may be different, but both Executive approval and bicameral assent are present in the Legislative Veto of regulations.

    Further, nothing in the Constutution says this is not allowable, since the Constitution does not imagine regulatory powers.

    Go read the dissents in Chadha. Justice White states the problem succinctly, and it is obvious he was absolutely correct.

    he prominence of the legislative veto mechanism in our contemporary political system and its importance to Congress can hardly be overstated. It has become a central means by which Congress secures the accountability of executive and independent agencies. Without the legislative veto, Congress is faced with a Hobson’s choice: either to refrain from delegating the necessary authority, leaving itself with a hopeless task of writing laws with the requisite specificity to cover endless special circumstances across the entire policy landscape, or, in the alternative, to abdicate its lawmaking function to the Executive Branch and independent agencies.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  49. i can wait for Republicans to actually choose their nominee before coming out against them

    So, you’d be OK with Cheney?

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  50. But the question was “what is the PLATFORM?”

    And the only one I can see is

    1. Democrats are bad.
    2. Trump is our leader.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  51. Palate Cleanser… https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FQDc9loiFuk

    One of the best back in the day!

    Colonel Haiku (d95e29)

  52. “According to newly released emails obtained by state AGs, Facebook & the Biden admin arranged weekly/monthly calls to discuss what to censor on the platform.”

    This is a literal violation of the 1st Amendment. Government censorship by proxy is still government censorship. It’s interesting that FB allowed this. One would imagine that they were uncomfortable with the vague “please us or else!” message they got from the administration.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  53. Trump and classified information:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/01/us/politics/trump-intelligence-briefings.html

    The New York Times doesn’t know what kind of documents Trump kept or took with him to Mar-a-Lago but they did ask people who briefed Trump what he was interested in.

    He liked information about operations to take out high-value targets, like Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi or Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani; information about the size and power of America’s nuclear arsenal, but not other aspects of the military (one time John Bolt tried to brief him on arms control during a World Cup soccer game and struggled to get his attention – perhaps Trump knew it was going to place anyway) except for pictures of naval vessels (he liked graphics and charts or images of any kind)

    Mr. Trump devoured intelligence briefings about his foreign counterparts before and after calls with them. He was eager to deepen his relationships with autocrats like Kim Jong-un of North Korea or Xi Jinping of China and to get leverage over allies he took a personal dislike to, such as Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, President Emmanuel Macron of France and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada. Among the materials that the government retrieved from Mar-a-Lago was a document listed as containing information about Mr. Macron.

    He wanted information in his intelligence briefings about how his meetings (or calls?) with world leaders had been received. He liked information about the private lives or sexual dalliances of other leaders – not to use in any way, because he didn’t, but just because he was interested in knowing that sort of thing, maybe for the feeling it gave him about them. He kept some information about Macron in Mar-a-Lago – might it have have discussed his marriage or how he got married?

    When Trump asked to keep some material, he sometimes placed it in cardboard box near his desk originally intended for things to look at later – an inbox It was originally meant for unanswered letters, unread briefing books and unread newspapers. Trump often read the newspapers and magazines, but rarely got around to the briefing books. When the box filled up, it was replaced, and both the old and the new one (and maybe yet previous ones) would be taken with Trump when he traveled and Trump would catch up on news stories on deal with correspondence while on Air Force One.

    That box did not contain classified information (but weren’t the briefings classified, or some of the correspondence? But I guess it was not supposed to contain classified information, that being handled in a special way.

    Former officials interviewed for this article said they did not recall ever witnessing classified material going into the box. But several emphasized the chaos that gripped the White House in the final days of the administration, as staff members had to pack in secret to avoid being ordered to stop by Mr. Trump, who continued to assert that he had won the election.

    Unlike Trump, Bush II asked to keep only one document – a list of people believed to be responsible for the 9/11 attacks. When any one of them was captured or killed Bush would
    cross them off the list, and he never took the chart out of the Oval Office.

    Trump never took the need to protect secret material seriously, and sometimes, when briefers could guess what he would be interested in, “they could prepare a document with sensitive sourcing information removed,” or more removed than usual I would say. Now, it is not like they wanted to avoid telling Trump stuff – on the contrary, they were trying to get Trump interested in the material they were giving him and have him learn this stuff – that’s why they made so many graphs and included visual material. That was their general approach to briefing – get the person briefed to learn this stuff.

    Some briefers managed to gather back the material when the briefings were over; others felt they had to let him keep most of what he wanted.

    Trump was not interested in intelligence reports about U.F.O.s, but he would ask questions about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. (maybe Eugene Locke organized it, possibly with the encouragement of organized crime founder Owen Vincent (Owney the Killer) Madden, and Mark Lane was one of the conspirators, his job being to shut up Oswald by becoming his lawyer – but that wouldn’t be in any government files)

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  54. if the choice is Biden or Trump, the guys that made fun of Meghan McCain crying over her dead warmongering father are looking pretty good right now.

    kaf (d9116c)

  55. Note that Japan builds hundreds of subway lines, even under a bay, in Tokyo alone.

    Nuclear powered, radioactive subway cars!

    PFFT.

    DCSCA (58f353)

  56. 53. How? Compliance was voluntary, and not really monitored, and generally, Facebook and others would be grateful for the guidance. They didn’t want to spread dangerous or slanderous lies. Why would they want to? The problem is relying on others and what others could include or omit..

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  57. So, you’d be OK with Cheney?
    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 9/2/2022 @ 12:55 pm

    If Republicans voted to make her the nominee, of course

    but, let’s not play dumb

    she’s not going to run for the nomination, so it’s a ludicrous question

    she’s going to run as an independent, to draw off enough votes so that the Democrat wins, even if Trump isn’t the nominee

    she’ll do it cuz she’s drunk on the adulation of leftists who won’t vote for her and who hated her just two years ago

    Mrs. Truth will lie about her intentions to the point of looking ridiculous, and the usuals here will buy it

    JF (7be04a)

  58. “This is a literal violation of the 1st Amendment. Government censorship by proxy is still government censorship. It’s interesting that FB allowed this. One would imagine that they were uncomfortable with the vague “please us or else!” message they got from the administration.”

    The linked emails appear to show Facebook reaching out to the CDC, rather than the opposite.

    Davethulhu (aac330)

  59. Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 9/2/2022 @ 12:39 pm

    Note that Japan builds hundreds of subway lines, even under a bay, in Tokyo alone.

    In Japan they probably don;t have to file Environmental Impact statements and are not stymied with lawsuits.

    The Alaska Oil pipeline was built because a special act of Congress was passed in 1973 to OK it.

    https://www.congress.gov/bill/93rd-congress/house-bill/9389

    Title II: Trans-Alaskan Pipeline Authorization Act – Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to grant, in accordance with the provisions of this Act and without further action under the National Environmental Policy Act, such rights-of-way and permits as he deems necessary for the construction, operation, and maintenance of a trans-Alaskan oil pipeline.

    If you want infrastructure built in any reasonable time, that’s what you have to do.

    Reforming the permitting procedure is almost a hopeless task. Well, ift could be done if you understood it.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  60. “she’ll do it cuz she’s drunk on the adulation of leftists who won’t vote for her and who hated her just two years ago

    Mrs. Truth will lie about her intentions to the point of looking ridiculous, and the usuals here will buy it”

    They’ll choke it down and ask for moar.

    Colonel Haiku (d95e29)

  61. @JohnJHarwood

    personal news:

    today’s my last day at CNN

    another democrat activist posing as a journalist booted

    so sad

    CNN might just become watchable again

    JF (79d45e)

  62. https://twitter.com/EWErickson/status/1565745317269626880

    The fact the President is walking back his comments on Republicans as threats and the White House is in a defensive posture over the use of Marines last night really tells you everything you need to know about how the speech went over.

    Pretty much.

    whembly (b770f8)

  63. The whole story of how fentanyl is supplied to the United States

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/mexico-drug-cartels-fentanyl-overdose-sinaloa-jalisco-11661866903

    There was short lived attempt to manufacture fentanyl in Mexico in 2005, but after a single illegal lab in the city of Toluca, near Mexico City, was shut down, it stopped, and fentanyl began to be manufactured legally in China, with each distinct chemical taking time to be put on list of illegal drugs. It was often mailed directly to the United States. This lasted to about 2019.

    No longer made in China, now precursor chemicals are legally imported into Mexico, and if China were to stop, the article says the cartels might try importin from India. Thee cartels run some ports in Mexico. They then process it

    These crude labs—it is unknown how many there are—can be set up inexpensively and quickly, torn down and moved or abandoned to evade security forces….Fentanyl production is simpler than heroin, because it is entirely synthetic and doesn’t require cultivating the poppies needed for heroin. Busts of Mexican labs or large seizures at the border can be quickly offset by new batches without having to wait to harvest crops or pay farmers.

    It is also less expensive to make. The plant-based opium needed to produce a kilogram of heroin can cost producers about $6,000, while the precursor chemicals to make a kilogram of fentanyl cost $200 or less, according to Bryce Pardo, associate director of the Rand Corp.’s Drug Policy Research Center, who helped lead a recent bipartisan report on synthetic opioids….Heroin’s profile has been shrinking as fentanyl becomes more available. Some Mexican poppy farmers in the mountains of Sinaloa say they have lost income as cartels shift away from heroin, and have abandoned their fields.

    There are still other illegal drugs, especially methamphetamine (methamphetamine, was w=ow they gained teir initial experience in manufacturing) but the fight against fentanyl is less successful

    Mexican authorities have also destroyed about 1,000 labs, 90% of them in Sinaloa producing synthetic drugs, mostly methamphetamine, in the 3½ years since Mr. López Obrador took office, a senior Mexican navy officer said.

    Since 2017, Mexico has dismantled some 22 fentanyl production sites, said Oscar Santiago Quintos, head of the criminal intelligence agency of the attorney general’s office. In a bust in July, Mexican soldiers captured 543 kilos of what they said was fentanyl, the single largest seizure in Mexican history.

    U.S. seizures last year included 20.4 million fake pills, according to the DEA. Fentanyl and other drugs are often ferried across the southern border hidden in secret compartments of vehicles.

    Also in the article:

    The U.S. attorney’s office in San Diego in June said 26 people were indicted following a two-year investigation

    A TWO YEAR investigation?? That is slow, bt typicalof federal law enforcement.

    into what law-enforcement officials described as a sprawling operation extending from Sinaloa. Drugs seized included methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and nearly 500,000 fake pills laced with fentanyl, investigators said. The DEA identified alleged couriers, stash-house managers and people who smuggled proceeds back to Mexico.

    A separate DEA operation in 2020 led to the arrest of more than 600 alleged Jalisco cartel members in the U.S. That cartel is Mexico’s fastest-growing and most violent. It is fighting with Sinaloa for control of seaports where fentanyl’s chemical ingredients arrive from China as well as routes through the country and border crossings into the U.S.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  64. Judge tosses suit from former Trump adviser over Russia surveillance
    ………
    U.S. District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich issued a ruling Thursday tossing out the $75 million suit (Carter) Page filed in 2020 against eight current and former FBI officials, the bureau itself and the Justice Department.
    ………
    While Friedrich largely turned aside arguments that Page waited too long to file his suit, she said Congress has not permitted lawsuits against government employees or federal agencies in a scenario like the one Page faced. And she declined to find that Page had a right to pursue a freestanding claim of violation of his constitutional rights.

    The judge said one flaw in Page’s suit was that none of the individual defendants he named were the ones who actually performed the surveillance of him. Some simply participated in the paperwork or approval process. Others don’t appear to have been involved at all. The law doesn’t allow suits against those who didn’t actually conduct the surveillance, she said.

    …….. The judge, an appointee of President Donald Trump based in Washington, said the claims of misconduct and knowing falsehoods in the process of surveilling Page were “troubling.” However, she said they simply didn’t meet the standards for a civil suit.
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (fa6da7)

  65. A TWO YEAR investigation?? That is slow, bt typicalof federal law enforcement.

    Not if it involved a lot of undercover work inside Mexican drug cartels. The capture of Rafael Caro Quintero for the assassination of Kiki Camarena took 37 years.

    Rip Murdock (fa6da7)

  66. I listened to part of Biden’s speech and then heard commentary on it afterwards. It was certainly more of a campaign speech and more targeted at disaffected Democrats and persuadable moderates. It was an interesting choice to call out MAGA Republicans, though he acknowledged that there were some Republicans that he could work with. Clearly the MAGA Republicans here are especially sensitive though have been calling him brain dead, addled, and a pedophile for a while now…and support a guy who is even more divisive and loose with his language. But whatever.

    I think he should’ve taken another tack, but it’s Biden and I rarely agree with his decisions. I remain of the opinion that he ought to be done after this term as he just doesn’t seem physically up to it…and it’s painful watching him most of the time. It’s not to say that old people have no value….it’s just that it’s a younger man’s job and hopefully everyone recognizes it after the midterms.

    There are no emerging details or rebuttals that seem to help Trump….but his peeps simply don’t seem to care. They are locked in like any fanatical sports enthusiast defending his team…no matter what the scandal or controversy. As whembly notes, the other team is always worse. It would be interesting to see what in our system breaks next. Do we see more violence, more election defiance, more stretching of the executive or judicial powers, even less tolerance for the opposing view? Immigrants, globalization, and geopolitical rivals can’t break us. It’s only us shredding piece by piece that will kill the American experiment…but people with their head in the sand will refuse to see it….

    AJ_Liberty (ec7f74)

  67. Wiile they are busy investigating, importation of fentanyl goes on unimpeded.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  68. AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 9/2/2022 @ 2:02 pm

    {Biden’s speech yesterday night] was certainly more of a campaign speech and more targeted at disaffected Democrats and persuadable moderates.

    I think it was aimed at putting Biden on the record, ad was not aimed at convincing anybody about anything or that anyone should do anything. It was maybe giving some support to Democrats who wanted to accuse Republican candidates of being against democracy – a word he used 31 times..

    I think he was asking for a general acceptance of the opinion that Trump and is supporters are outside the Overton window.

    He said:

    That’s why tonight I’m asking our nation to come together, unite behind the single purpose of defending our democracy regardless of your ideology. (Applause.)

    We’re all called, by duty and conscience, to confront extremists who will put their own pursuit of power above all else.

    Democrats, independents, mainstream Republicans: We must be stronger, more determined, and more committed to saving American democracy than MAGA Republicans are to — to destroying American democracy.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  69. AJ_Libert: <blockquote It was an interesting choice to call out MAGA Republicans, though he acknowledged that there were some Republicans that he could work with. He distinctly said that MAGA Republicans were only a minority of all Republicans.

    https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/09/01/remarks-by-president-bidenon-the-continued-battle-for-the-soul-of-the-nation

    Now, I want to be very clear — (applause) — very clear up front: Not every Republican, not even the majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans. Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology.

    I know because I’ve been able to work with these mainstream Republicans….

    But there is no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven, and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans, and that is a threat to this country.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  70. True.

    More civilians died in Mariupol than civilians in the entire Israeli Palestinian conflict since 1948

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  71. Sarah Palin complimented Mary Peltola as ‘a real Alaskan chick’ in texts after the Democrat beat Palin in a special House election
    ……..
    “We’ve been texting this morning and she sent well wishes and let me know that she’s been referring to me as, let me make sure I’m saying it correctly, ‘a real Alaskan chick. Beautiful and smart and tough,'” Peltola told Insider. “And so I just have a lot of feelings of camaraderie to the other people in the race. It really takes a lot to run for public office and go through that and put your family through that.”
    ………
    Peltola pointed to the fact that she and Palin both have large families and how Palin’s children’s father and Peltola are both native Yup’ik.
    ………
    “So I feel a lot of fraternity and comraderie with the other candidates and that really includes Sarah,” Peltola said.
    ……….
    The representative-elect said that she doesn’t think Alaskans vote based on their political affiliation, instead, she thinks they vote for the best candidate.
    ………
    Peltola thinks that her quirky campaign slogan, “pro-jobs, pro-fish, pro-family, and pro-choice,” may have aided in her victory. She told Insider that being pro-fish and pro-choice may have given her a particular boost.
    ………
    She added, “And I do think that Alaskans very much prize our privacy and our freedom. And that extends to women’s reproductive rights. So my being the only pro-choice candidate in the field, I think, was to my advantage.”
    …….,

    Palin reserving her fire for other Republicans.

    Rip Murdock (fa6da7)

  72. The most-regretted (and lowest-paying) college majors
    ………
    ……… (N)early half of humanities and arts majors have studier’s remorse as of 2021. Engineering majors have the fewest regrets: Just 24 percent wish they’d chosen something different, according to a Federal Reserve survey.

    As a rule, those who studied STEM subjects — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — are much more likely to believe they made the right choice, while those in social sciences or vocational courses second-guess themselves.

    There doesn’t seem to be much relationship between loans, gender, race or school selectivity and your regrets. Though, as you may have guessed, our analysis of Fed data shows that the higher your income is today, the less you regret the major you chose back in college.
    ……….
    Regardless of major, half of those who went to private, for-profit schools regret their decision, perhaps because students at for-profit schools are much more likely to struggle to repay their student debt. Similar regrets plague only 21 percent of those who went to public colleges and universities and 30 percent of those who attended private nonprofits.
    ……..
    …….. In the decade since our national pivot to STEM, the number of people graduating with computer science degrees has doubled……..
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (fa6da7)

  73. Biden mentioned Donald Trump three times (once only as Trump_ always paired with “MAGA Republicans” He used the word MAGA 16 times, not always with Republicans but sometimes said tings like MAGA forces, MAGA ideology, MAGA failure (to stop a peaceful transfer of power) Republican 16 times, but twice as mainstream Republicans and twice in the phrase “not every Republican and once in the phrase not even the majority of Republicans”

    “Lies” was said 4 times, “true” once, “truth” twice , a variation on “extreme” 6 times and “insurrection” 3 times. “Ideology” once.

    Democrats just once (already quoted above, as part of the fusion he maybe wanted to get)

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  74. Parody or deranged? You be the judge.

    Donald Trump has a more powerful serve than Andy Roddick, a better backhand than Roger Federer, and more swagger than Andre Agassi in his prime.

    The tennis world needs to spend less time talking about Serena Williams and more time appreciating the greatness of Donald Trump!

    Apparently, he really means it. Great comment thread. I can’t look away.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  75. Kevin M@28. Who is the niece? AOC?

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  76. #45 To continue what you said: It isn’t well known, but far more people died from the panicked reaction to Fukushima, than from the accident at the plant itself.

    In spite of that flaw in the design.

    Here’s an official study:

    Summary: Many evacuated people remain unable to fully return home due to government-mandated restrictions based on conservative radiation exposure criteria. 2313 premature disaster-related deaths were caused by the evacuations, with 90% of the deaths occuring in people aged 66 and older. Decontamination work is proceeding while radiation levels decline naturally. The October 2013 IAEA report made clear that many evacuees should be allowed to return home. As of July 2020, over 41,000 people from Fukushima were still living as evacuees.
    . . . .
    Summary: Many evacuated people remain unable to fully return home due to government-mandated restrictions based on conservative radiation exposure criteria. 2313 premature disaster-related deaths were caused by the evacuations, with 90% of the deaths occuring in people aged 66 and older. Decontamination work is proceeding while radiation levels decline naturally. The October 2013 IAEA report made clear that many evacuees should be allowed to return home. As of July 2020, over 41,000 people from Fukushima were still living as evacuees.

    (Links omitted.)

    The additional radiation that some workers received likely will cause a few more premature deaths from cancer in the future.

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  77. Manchin and Collins are doing the right thing:

    A bipartisan bill that overhauls a century-old election law may not be perfect, but doing nothing after the 2020 election could be far worse, senators heard Wednesday.

    “We were all there on Jan. 6 — that happened, that was for real. It was not a visit by friends from back home,” Sen. Joe Manchin III said at a hearing of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee.

    The West Virginia Democrat, who testified with GOP Maine Sen. Susan Collins and a group of experts, said the 2021 attack on the Capitol inspired their bipartisan overhaul of a 135-year-old law that advisers to President Donald Trump tried to exploit after he lost in 2020.

    (Links omitted.)

    In the right way.

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  78. Just a reminder that Kevin Williamson has been a piece of garbage for a long time and continues to be so. I’m grateful noxious trash like him no longer has any influence on the Republican party and causes him to lash out accordingly as he supports leftists by focusing his attack on Republicans.

    https://hotair.com/taylormillard/2016/04/01/kevin-d-wiliamsons-death-wish-on-white-working-communities-is-overstated-n232296

    NJRob (9e3a05) — 9/2/2022 @ 8:52 am

    Lol. My second reaction to the Kevin Williamson piece was to say “how long before NJRob accuses Williamson of being (or supporting) a leftist(s)?” I was only 6 hours too late.

    My first reaction was “I agree with every word.” As Dana said, read the whole thing.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  79. Biden mentioned Donald Trump three times (once only as Trump_ always paired with “MAGA Republicans” He used the word MAGA 16 times…
    Democrats just once (already quoted above, as part of the fusion he maybe wanted to get)
    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 9/2/2022 @ 2:38 pm

    he should start a blog

    JF (a73c5c)

  80. #75 – That reminds me of Trump’s claim to be a great baseball player at the military school he was sent to because he wouldn’t behave. He claimed he was scouted by the pros, so the NYT found what newspaper records they could — and he had a batting average of 0.175 or thereabouts — against not very stong competition.

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  81. lurker (cd7cd4) — 9/2/2022 @ 3:05 pm

    my first reaction was “When is lurker going to wig out on NJRob”

    it’s like clockwork

    JF (a73c5c)

  82. BTW, Adams’ fantasy draft guide is nothing short of brilliant. My favorite of his hot takes, by position…

    QB. #1. Kirk Cousins (MIN): Pro-Trump and pro-touchdown Kirk Cousins will be the beneficiary of a revamped offensive scheme that will put the ball in the air more often than in recent seasons. Expect big things from the Cousins-Thielen combination!

    RB. #4. Najee Harris (PIT): Najee Harris is a throwback-style player who runs angry and never shies away from contact. His Christian faith guides him through running lanes when they’re available, which is not often considering the Steelers offensive line was atrocious in 2021 and doesn’t look to be much better so far in 2022. Despite a first-year QB and a questionable offensive line, Harris will be an elite RB 1. He can run around you or he can run over you. Harris runs like an alpha male and has God on his side. Draft Najee Harris if you get the chance, you won’t regret it.

    WR. #5. Ja’Marr Chase (CIN): When the LSU Tigers won the National Championship, Ja’Marr Chase and President Trump bonded more than any other duo at the White House. It was truly a magical moment for the country when President Trump called on Chase to speak to all those in attendance. For this reason, I believe Chase has a chance to be the greatest Wide Receiver in NFL History. Draft Chase with confidence and draft him in the 1st round in all keeper leagues.

    TE. #1. Travis Kelce (KC): Travis Kelce hails from one of the most patriotic and Godly bloodlines in the NFL today. There’s been no questioning Kelce’s status as the most consistently productive tight end in the NFL after 6 consecutive seasons with over 1,000 receiving yards. Kelce was excited to meet President Trump and anyone would be excited to have Kelce on their fantasy team.

    Defense. #1. Washington Redskins: Alpha male Jack Del Rio is a fearless patriot and a fearless play-caller. The Redskins defense will be without Chase Young, but Del Rio’s no-nonsense approach and innovative scheme will allow the Redskins defense to thrive even while shorthanded. Del Rio’s impassioned support of President Trump has his defense fired up to dominate in 2022. Del Rio is 100% for America and I am 100% sold on the Redskins defense.

    K, Chris Boswell (PIT): The strong friend of patriot Trump supporter Ben Roethlisberger is one of the most reliable kickers in the NFL. You can rely on Boswell to be in the church pews during the off season and in your starting lineup on gameday.
    [Justin Tucker is one of his “Players to AVOID” because he has “gone full woke”]

    And then are his…
    Additional Comments:

    • Depending on how many bench spots there are in your league, it might be wise to stash Tim Tebow on your bench in the event he is given another well deserved shot at playing quarterback in the NFL.
    […]
    • Joe Burrow tragically went woke, now watch him struggle in 2022-2023. A wise man once said, “Everything woke turns to sh**t.”

    Mr. Adams hates the woke anti-Trump non-Christian Seahawks but, to be fair, I’ll be surprised if they get above .500 this year.

    • Noah Fant is a certifiable bust and Seattle’s offense figures to be anemic with Geno Smith and/or Drew Lock at the helm.
    Defenses to AVOID: Los Angeles Rams, Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Seattle Seahawks, Cincinnati Bengals.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  83. My comment is unjustly in moderation. I think it’s because I mentioned the Seattle Seah*wks.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  84. Rob Schneider thinks exactly the same way I do about the infamous Kate McKinnon/Hillary Clinton “sketch” (devoid of humor) from 2016:

    “Saturday Night Live” veteran castmember Rob Schneider says the long-running sketch show was “over” after Kate McKinnon’s 2016 performance of “Hallelujah.”

    In a conversation on Glenn Beck’s podcast, Schneider said that McKinnon’s post-presidential election cold open at the piano, during which she sang Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” dressed as Hilary Clinton, was the beginning of the end for the show.
    “I hate to crap on my own show,” he said. “When Hillary Clinton lost — which is understandable. She’s not exactly the most likable person in the room. And then when Kate McKinnon went out there on ‘Saturday Night Live’ in the cold opening and all that, and she started dressed as Hillary Clinton, and she started playing ‘Hallelujah,’ I literally prayed. ‘Please have a joke at the end.'”

    He continued: “Don’t do this. Please don’t go down there.’ And there was no joke at the end, and I went, ‘It’s over. It’s over. It’s not gonna come back.'”

    It’s interesting how some of the SNL alums from the 80s and 90s — Schneider, Dennis Miller, the late Norm MacDonald, for example — seem to be very concerned that their old show is nothing more than just a left-wing circle jerk, kind of like the Jon Noah/Trevor Stewart show, or Colbert, or Kimmel, or Samantha Bee, or a whole host of what passes for “comedy” these days.

    JVW (15c733)

  85. Regarding the Williams Sisters: How would you like to be Venus? Seven Grand Slam titles, a former number one ranking, but decidedly the second fiddle to her more accomplished younger sister. Serena was the first of the Williams Sisters to win a grand slam singles title (U.S. Open 1999), but then Venus won four of them before Serena managed to win another. But once Serena won the French Open in 2002, she outdid her sister 21-3 in titles from then on.

    For my money, I always thought Venus was the more interesting of the sisters too. Serena always has come across to me like a creature of her marketing team and corporate sponsors, whereas Venus always seemed more authentic and down-to-earth.

    JVW (15c733)

  86. Parody or deranged? You be the judge.

    Just doing what the very stable genius whose uncle was a world-famous doctor and was first in his class in the very best schools and should have had several Noble (sic) prizes and it’s just not fair did.

    nk (9338bd)

  87. For my money, I always thought Venus was the more interesting of the sisters too. Serena always has come across to me like a creature of her marketing team and corporate sponsors, whereas Venus always seemed more authentic and down-to-earth.

    JVW (15c733) — 9/2/2022 @ 3:34 pm

    This. While I’m a big Venus fan, I’ve always been turned off by Serena’s narcissism.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  88. @ JF (a73c5c) — 9/2/2022 @ 3:12 pm

    Yes, JF, Comment Thread Guy Who Regularly Makes Over-the-Top Tribal Pronouncements Gets Called Out On It By Other Commenter is quite the headline.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  89. Some context on Biden’s speech’s red background:

    https://twitter.com/mbogue/status/1565687639998701568

    I think Hanlon’s razor applies.

    Davethulhu (13ec51)

  90. It has been hellacious hot this week and looks to continue next week. As far as the power grid is concerned, I’m a fan of diversifying, but I think CA is too geologically unstable for nuclear. CA has abundant access to every other kind of power and should be maximizing solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal and supplementing with natural gas if needed. As far as the future of cars are concerned, I have doubts about the availability of the infrastructure for electric cars, even in 10 years or so, especially if they don’t standardize the plugs. If you are a two car family, one electric is probably fine but for those of us with only one car, I think a hybrid or plug-in-hybrid would probably be a better choice as a balance between fuel efficiency and practicality.

    (my brother, who just bought a gas only SUV 2 years ago has been bugging me about replacing my only car with an electric car!! Yes, my car is very old and very basic, but it is MY ONLY CAR and when I get a new car, I will still only have one car as I would be replacing my current ancient car. He kept his other car as well, so he has 2! 2! gas cars and wants me to buy electric so that I would have only a single electric car!!. ANNOYING! If he thinks electric is so practical, he should’ve gotten one!) (sorry for the rant, I’m just very annoyed by this)

    Nic (896fdf)

  91. What you have to understand, Davethulhu, is that MAGA is halfway around the world while sanity is still putting its shoes on.

    nk (9338bd)

  92. #77 – My apologies for getting the second paste wrong:
    Here’s a corrected version:

    Following a detailed study by 80 international experts, the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation’s (UNSCEAR’s) May 2013 Report to the General Assembly concluded: “No radiation-related deaths or acute diseases have been observed among the workers and general public exposed to radiation from the accident. The doses to the general public, both those incurred during the first year and estimated for their lifetimes, are generally low or very low. No discernible increased incidence of radiation-related health effects are expected among exposed members of the public or their descendants.”
    . . .
    Summary: Many evacuated people remain unable to fully return home due to government-mandated restrictions based on conservative radiation exposure criteria. 2313 premature disaster-related deaths were caused by the evacuations, with 90% of the deaths occuring in people aged 66 and older. Decontamination work is proceeding while radiation levels decline naturally. The October 2013 IAEA report made clear that many evacuees should be allowed to return home. As of July 2020, over 41,000 people from Fukushima were still living as evacuees.

    (I miss the preview.)

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  93. I don’t agree with Nichols that Biden had to make that speech.
    Biden could’ve said the same thing in any press conference or tweet. It didn’t have to be a stand-alone address.
    Also, the cynic in me says that his pollsters told Biden that he can’t sell the economy in the midterms, so the next best solution is to define an enemy and rail against it, taking a page from none other than Trump himself.
    It’s not like Biden hasn’t engaged in engaged in over-the-top demagoguery against Republicans in his past, even his recent past.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  94. I’ve added one more news item to the list: Allahpundit’s lovely goodbye to readers as he leaves Hot Air and moves to The Dispatch.

    Dana (1225fc)

  95. Mississippi is a poster child for what happens under republican control.

    asset (b43a5f)

  96. Arizona Judge Rips Rep. Paul Gosar and Other Republicans for Filing Defamation Lawsuit ‘Primarily for Purposes of Harassment’
    ……….
    Joining forces with Arizona state Reps. Mark Finchem and Anthony Kern as co-plaintiffs, Gosar sued the Grand Canyon State’s Democratic Rep. Charlene Fernandez in Yuma County Supreme Court last year. Fernandez had joined 41 Arizona lawmakers in asking federal law enforcement to investigate whether they had an involvement or participation in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
    ……….
    “It very much appears that a significant portion of the contents of the original complaint and the first amended complaint were written for an audience other than the assigned trial court judge,” the ruling states, alluding to the lawsuit’s references to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

    The judge noted that even the second amended complaint contained “wholly irrelevant” riffs on political issues like “open borders.”
    ………
    ……..(T)he judge noted that Fernandez’s First Amendment defenses were “clearly dispositive.” The judge dismissed the lawsuit in April.
    ……….
    Gunderson imposed a total award of $75,616.20, consisting of $75,000 in attorney fees and $616.20 in costs.
    ……….
    Though attorneys representing the Republican politicians cited their obligation to “zealously” advocate for their clients, the judge noted that the Arizona Rules of Professional Conduct removed references to that descriptor since 2003.

    “Arizona attorneys are expected to be competent and diligent but are not expected to be zealous,” the order states. “This is an extremely important distinction.”
    ………..

    Sad!

    Rip Murdock (fa6da7)

  97. Tucker carlson said tonight that republican candidates are under performing in special congressional elections lately. Despite all evidence to the contrary it is not voters incensed over supreme court ruling on abortion and coming out to vote against pro life republicans. No! Tucker says it their support for the ukraine!

    asset (b43a5f)

  98. My comment is unjustly in moderation. I think it’s because I mentioned the Seattle Seah*wks.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e) — 9/2/2022 @ 3:23 pm

    Paul,

    I just checked the pending and spam folders, and I didn’t see a comment from you in moderation. Sorry.

    Dana (1225fc)

  99. Thanks for checking, Dana. It looks like my cut-and-paste of Nick Adams spectacular fantasy football guide is up.

    For the conspiracy-minded, Trump’s country club was searched on August 20th, there are scores of empty “CLASSIFIED” folders, and a Russian oligarch’s multiple residences were just searched by the feds. Vekselberg was named in the Mueller report.

    Vekselberg was at the Bank of Cyprus when Wilbur Ross ran it. And not only did Vekselberg attend Donald’s inauguration, he donated $250K to it. His ticket was bought through a straw donor. Remember notes were found on Manafort’s phone saying “use Cyprus as inter” during the June 2016 trump tower meeting.

    And remember Cohen’s “access fund” disguised as a consulting firm called “Essential Consulting” (it’s f–kin’ essential)? Vekselberg and his cousin Intrater controlled a company called Columbus Nova that gave Cohen $500K. Both were questioned by Mueller.

    Vekselberg is also an associate of Kukes who was in contact with a kremlin official in 2016 while donating to the trump campaign. The donations began 2 weeks after the 2016 trump tower meeting & totaled $273K. He took photos with Giuliani at a fundraiser and sent them to RU.

    The Suspicious Activity Report with all the Vekselberg money to Cohen in it was leaked by whistleblower Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards, who should have gotten a Medal of Honor but was instead sentenced to 6 months in prison in January.

    In fact, Avenatti released video of a meeting between Cohen, Vekselberg, and Intrater meeting at trump tower during the transition. Remember that?

    Vekselberg also has ties to Blavatnik, who donated over $7M to Pete Sessions, Scott Walker, Ron DeSantis, Mitch McConnell, and Kevin McCarthy. Mnuchin sold his shares of his movie company to Blavatnik when he became secretary of the treasury.

    And Deripaska tried to sue the US Treasury to get the evidence they used to place Vekselberg on the OFEC sanctions list. So what could DHS/FBI be looking for in Vekselberg’s residences? Is it about the inaugural? Is it about the trump documents?

    Is it about Rudy? Or some other redacted investigation in Appendix D of the Mueller Report. Whatever it is, Vekselberg has been on my Fantasy Indictment Team for four years.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  100. No! Tucker says it their support for the ukraine!

    I can’t figure out why Tucker (and some other natcons) want so very much for Ukraine to be obliterated as a nation and swept into the grip of Vladimir Putin. There’s something very wrong with the people who took Russia’s side and portrayed the whole thing as a U.S.-globalist-secular-liberal “proxy war on Russia,” with Ukrainians somehow duped into serving as foot-soldiers for the eeeevil American “liberal imperium.”

    Radegunda (a00501)

  101. And not only did Vekselberg attend Donald’s inauguration, he donated $250K to it. His ticket was bought through a straw donor. …..

    Sounds like Russia Russia Russia, and then more Russia.

    Radegunda (a00501)

  102. The Democrats haven’t stopped backing Trumpistas.

    Democrats and Republicans are pouring millions of dollars for campaign ads into New Hampshire just days before voters there nominate a Republican candidate to challenge Sen. Maggie Hassan, who is considered one of the more vulnerable Democrats in the November general election, Azi Paybarah reports.

    Republicans are backing a mainstream Republican; Democrats are backing a Trumpista. (McConnell is spendign money attacking the Democratic incumbent, Hassan.)

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  103. JvW,your summary on the Williams sisters does make me wonder it the handlers decision for Serena to date a parade of black athletes and entertainers (LaVar Arrington, Common are 2 that were linked at one time) before landing the Reddit co-founder, whereas Venus tended to date white guys nearly exclusively. That same pressure by similar forces may have led Naomi Osaka down a nearby Whitney Houston-like path (rapper boyfriend) for “keeping it real” marketing purposes.

    urbanleftbehind (0900f9)

  104. Just a reminder that Kevin Williamson has been a piece of garbage for a long time and continues to be so. I’m grateful noxious trash like him no longer has any influence on the Republican party and causes him to lash out accordingly as he supports leftists by focusing his attack on Republicans.

    https://hotair.com/taylormillard/2016/04/01/kevin-d-wiliamsons-death-wish-on-white-working-communities-is-overstated-n232296

    NJRob (9e3a05) — 9/2/2022 @ 8:52 am

    Is the linked article supposed to support the idea that Williamson is garbage? It doesn’t. If anything, it praises him. The headline is misleading. Williamson makes some very good points.

    norcal (da5491)

  105. I’d just guess that in tennis circles, you tend to meet more white men than black men even today. Something also tells me that in the formative years of “like, dislike” the Williams sisters met a lot of white men who modeled things they liked and later gravitated that way romantically

    steveg (b8287f)

  106. I can’t figure out why Tucker (and some other natcons) want so very much for Ukraine to be obliterated as a nation and swept into the grip of Vladimir Putin.

    Ukraine is supported by NeverTrump and the libertine Europeans. Putin is Team Ethno-Nationalism. I don’t think it’s more complicated than that.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  107. Oh to be a fly on the wall…..

    Fox News stars questioned by election tech company in defamation case
    ………
    Lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems last week questioned hosts Jeanine Pirro and Tucker Carlson, while former Fox Business Network host Lou Dobbs and Fox News’s Sean Hannity are scheduled for depositions on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to court filings.

    They are among the on-air personalities that Dominion says defamed it either by falsely claiming the company conspired to rig the election against Donald Trump or by repeatedly hosting guests who made such claims.
    ………
    The company has obtained reams of internal emails and text messages sent by Fox employees, some of which it claimed in one filing provided “evidence that Fox knew the lies it was broadcasting about Dominion were false.” ……..
    ………
    Fox, meanwhile, is vigorously defending itself against the company’s charges. …….
    ………
    ………(T)o meet the standard of “actual malice” necessary to prove a case of defamation, Dominion must demonstrate that Fox hosts and executives were aware that allegations of election fraud were untrue and chose to disregard the facts, or that they were reckless in not ascertaining the truth of the matter.
    ……….
    Maria Bartiromo, another prominent host that Dominion accused in its lawsuit of “defamatory falsehoods,” has not yet been scheduled for a deposition. She and other on-air personalities accused in the lawsuit are likely to be asked by Dominion’s lawyers what they knew at the time they made the claims and whether they made any effort to correct errors after Dominion had provided evidence to counter them.
    ……….
    If the case doesn’t settle, a trial is scheduled to begin in Delaware in April. …….
    …………

    Rip Murdock (fa6da7)

  108. @107 Even more simple: Tucker is a tool. 😉

    norcal (da5491)

  109. NJRob (9e3a05) — 9/2/2022 @ 8:52 am

    Is the linked article supposed to support the idea that Williamson is garbage? It doesn’t. If anything, it praises him. The headline is misleading. Williamson makes some very good points.

    norcal (da5491) — 9/2/2022 @ 6:37 pm

    You’re kidding-a misleading link?

    Rip Murdock (fa6da7)

  110. Ukraine is supported by NeverTrump and the libertine Europeans. Putin is Team Ethno-Nationalism. I don’t think it’s more complicated than that.
    lurker (cd7cd4) — 9/2/2022 @ 6:54 pm

    maybe it’s not an either-or

    does everyone have to pick a tribe in this war?

    or, does that make it way way too complicated?

    JF (249ecd)

  111. Paul Montagu (062b7e) — 9/2/2022 @ 5:51 pm

    That’s interesting, Paul. And disturbing.

    Is that the reason for the six-year propaganda war against the FBI? To diminish their credibility when they find President’s Eyes Only documents in the possession of Trump’s Russian contacts?

    nk (9ea03e)

  112. nk (9ea03e) — 9/2/2022 @ 7:15 pm

    karate space lasers set to stun!

    JF (249ecd)

  113. maybe it’s not an either-or

    I didn’t say either-or. I said both.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  114. @85, left-wing-circle jerk pretty much says it all. It brings to mind Jon Stewart who had his moments, but just wasn’t an equal opportunity pugilist. He always seemed 90/10 with more biting swipes at Righties and big soft gloves for his buddies. Colbert’s schtick is more tiresome than anything. Gutfeld is far more creative.

    @86, Serena Williams’ outburst at the ref a couple of years ago kind of sealed my impression of her. Yeah, McEnroe in his day was even more obnoxious and entitled, but that almost was his thing and was expected. Serena is about to lose at the Open. She had quite the run but she appears to me to be out of gas. Good time to hang it up and move on to the next thing…..

    AJ_Liberty (c916b7)

  115. i dunno, lurker, sounds pretty tribalist

    JF (249ecd)

  116. McEnroe ranked Serena #700 on the men’s circuit, which is still funny, and he somehow wasn’t cancelled

    JF (249ecd)

  117. Sounds like Mark Meadows got scared into compliance.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  118. McEnroe is otherwise a reliable Noo Yawk liberal (or perhaps an NT Repub) raised in a then- decidedly non-Archie Bunker part of Queens (Douglaston).

    urbanleftbehind (0900f9)

  119. You’re kidding-a misleading link?

    Rip Murdock (fa6da7) — 9/2/2022 @ 7:05 pm

    It’s what happens when one uses a headline to make an argument, when the content of the article actually undermines the case.

    Some people are so aggrieved, and busy making arguments, that they can’t be bothered with details.

    norcal (da5491)

  120. i dunno, lurker, sounds pretty tribalist

    JF (249ecd) — 9/2/2022 @ 7:24 pm

    Exactly.

    You realize you’re talking about Tucker, right?

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  121. Nobody cares about McEnroe anymore. There’s nothing to cancel him from.

    Rip Murdock (fa6da7)

  122. Ukraine is supported by NeverTrump and the libertine Europeans. Putin is Team Ethno-Nationalism. I don’t think it’s more complicated than that.

    At one level that’s clear enough — except that Russia isn’t so much an ethno-nationalist state as an empire that imposes a Russian identity on diverse ethnic groups. But it’s still bizarre that anyone could see Putin as a sincere defender of religious values who’s just fighting back against “threats to Russian civilization” posed by the United States, and if he has to ravage Ukraine and its people to defend “Russian civilization” from the U.S.-controlled “liberal imperium,” then it’s really America’s fault, evidently.

    It’s a view that’s both daft and morally reprehensible, and I’ve seen it expressed among New Right people who are fervent defenders of Donald Trump.

    Radegunda (004f41)

  123. They’ll choke it down and ask for moar.

    Colonel Haiku (d95e29) — 9/2/2022 @ 1:19 pm

    They’ll gobble it up, partially digest it, expel it, and then serve it up as the best in True Conservative ™ wisdom. Other True Conservatives ™ will gobble that up and the cycle will continue.

    frosty (8630d6)

  124. It’s a view that’s both daft and morally reprehensible, and I’ve seen it expressed among New Right people who are fervent defenders of Donald Trump.

    Radegunda (004f41) — 9/2/2022 @ 8:38 pm

    It’s hard to reason with people who have fallen in love with a leader, Radegunda.

    Here is an example of what a pernicious toll Trump has taken on the country. I got my mother a subscription to National Review, so that she would be exposed to something beyond MAGA dogma. When I asked her how she liked it, she said she couldn’t tell if an article was pro-Trump or anti-Trump.

    Who cares, mom? Why can’t ideas exist independent of Trump?

    Cult indeed.

    norcal (da5491)

  125. norcal (da5491) — 9/2/2022 @ 9:08 pm

    More people are starting to catch on to the degree to which everything is propaganda or programming. A lot of them haven’t figured out how to sort it out yet so they use shortcuts.

    Isn’t getting her NR just getting some other kind of dogma? It’s not like you’re promoting critical or informed thinking.

    frosty (c4616e)

  126. frosty (c4616e) — 9/2/2022 @ 10:11 pm

    One must first peruse the various propaganda before one arrives at a proper conclusion. 😛

    My mother formerly only read the periodical put out by the John Birch Society. National Review promotes critical and informed thinking 100 times better than the cartoon rhetoric promulgated by the Birchers.

    If you check the link to Kevin Williamson’s article excerpted by Dana above, you can see a thoughtful and respectful disagreement amongst Williamson and a few other NR writers.

    norcal (da5491)

  127. Is the linked article supposed to support the idea that Williamson is garbage? It doesn’t. If anything, it praises him. The headline is misleading. Williamson makes some very good points.

    norcal (da5491) — 9/2/2022 @ 6:37 pm

    It’s telling seeing people defend Williamson for calling for the destruction of the heartland of America. Says a lot about people’s values and why they support who they do.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  128. There were three cartoons in this week’s Politico collection that I particularly liked, Matt Davies on Putin’s war on Ukraine, Michael Ramirez on defunding the FBI, and Wuerker on all those insider Trump books.

    (For the record: Early in the Trump presidency, I came to this conclusion: Decent, capable people could work in the Trump administration, and often should, but no one should lie for him. No one.)

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  129. more Allahpundit: “Never forget, it’s not the 30 percent of Trump worshipers within the party who brought the GOP to what it is. It’s the next 50 percent, the look-what-the-libs-made-me-do zombie partisans, who could have said no but didn’t. I said no. Put it on my tombstone.”

    This is the reality. J6 should have been the crystalizing moment. Hannity et al should have been in agreement that they simply couldn’t keep propping this up. Right? Wrong. The formidable 50% fell for the bait-and-switch of we can’t talk about this right now because we must talk about Brandon Biden and how the sky is falling. Then a year and half later, we can’t talk about it now because it’s old news and it’s hopelessly partisan. Gee, so no consequence then, eh? People fill in the glaring gap with bizarre conspiracies and tedious what-aboutisms. The party of personal responsibility, law and order, and the Constitution is incoherent on Trump.

    The GOP has a slate-full of election deniers and Trump pumpers and yet we should not draw any conclusions about the GOP’s direction and focus. We should just wait for the 2024 primaries because I guess there’s no point in trying to get out front of this slide. What would Trump need to do or be found to have done to cause someone like JF to conclude, “yeah we gotta move on from this and have a clean break”? So, not just a new messenger but a coherent message…you know….get back to a platform that focuses the GOP on policy rather than just grievances, purges, and weird cultishness.

    Allahpundit (who will soon resume his birth name at The Dispatch) is correct. Too many passively refused to clean house….then rejoiced at seeing those who tried get ousted. The path was there J7, where were you? So many here are like Giuliani with his bad dye job leaking down his face. Towel off, prove DCCCP wrong, and reestablish some credibility. It’s not too late…..

    AJ_Liberty (c916b7)

  130. AJ_Liberty (c916b7) — 9/3/2022 @ 6:16 am

    yeah, falling for the bait and switch forced the media and blog commenters to talk about trump and his supporters and an unhinged republican party when they were all set to talk about the mess that biden and demented democrats have made

    look at what trumpers made us do

    maybe Artemis can reach whatever planet you’re on

    JF (211158)

  131. Great comment, AJ.

    Unfortunately, Trump supporters will never accept responsibility, nor will the weak simple partisans on both sides who seem to have functional brains when repeating talking points about their opponents, but never care, no matter what, about their own team.

    So we keep seeing absolute hack shills sagely shake their head at the sad stuff the other does, then put clown around like idiots when it’s time to dismiss the horrible stuff theirs does. Over and over for years to where it’s just stupid to even address it.

    Dustin (a87c64)

  132. 131… just about sums it up.

    Colonel Haiku (566fa1)

  133. It’s telling seeing people defend Williamson for calling for the destruction of the heartland of America.

    Cite? A search using “Williamson” and “desecration” and “heartland” was not fruitful.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  134. except that Russia isn’t so much an ethno-nationalist state as an empire that imposes a Russian identity on diverse ethnic groups.

    I appreciate this opinion. Please allow me to state a differing one. Religion plays such central role in the lives of the Russians that the Communist radar was overwhelmed by it and so sought (and ultimately failed) to impose Atheism as a national policy.

    The Orthodox, similar to Protestants, are divided amongst themselves, but, along the lines of ethnic nationalisms; Bulgarian, Greek, Hungarian, Rumanian, Russian, Ruthenian, Serbian, and so forth – all Orthodox Churches having coexisted for hundreds of years. A signal trait of Orthodoxy is the tendency to exalt the Emperor/the State over its Church leaders to the benefit of the Government throughout the 20th century.

    Apart from the Totalitarianism which, indeed, was a ruthless imposition on the people, It does appear, post-Communism, that a Russian identity is being imposed on a diverse people by the Government, when it is more of a feature than a bug (or virus, if you will).

    Because of the Orthodox tendency to exalt a State leader over a Church leader, Putin can be identified by supporters and opponents, alike, as the people’s “savior.”

    But it’s still bizarre that anyone could see Putin as a sincere defender of religious values who’s just fighting back against “threats to Russian civilization” posed by…

    If this reminds you of how Trump is sometimes identified, you would not be mistaken.

    felipe (484255)

  135. Start the betting on perpetrator and motive:

    https://abc7chicago.com/stolen-plane-aircraft-crash-threat-circling-mississippi-city/12193554/

    urbanleftbehind (0900f9)

  136. It has joked that the primary utility of the respective Orthodox churches to their parishoners is that it is a marker of not being Muslim. It has been hemmed in by brutal neighbors to the south and indifferent to adversarial neighbors in the other directions. Thus no touch in the developing world (outside of Coptic Christians in NE Africa) and no missionary zeal therewith.

    But aside from all that, one cannot argue, at least in greater Chicagoland, they take great care and dedicate copious resources to their church buildings.

    urbanleftbehind (0900f9)

  137. NASA once again calls off Artemis I moon mission due to technical issues

    This is what happens when you don’t rehearse enough before you go onto the main stage. NASA has embarrassed themselves.

    Rip Murdock (fc91f2)

  138. MS! Rip MS! For Mississippi.

    Had me thinking it was 2 planes, the 2nd in Meat chicken.

    But many thanks for the update!

    urbanleftbehind (0900f9)

  139. I think Hanlon’s razor applies.

    Davethulhu (13ec51) — 9/2/2022 @ 3:52 pm

    Yes. The president of the United States stumbled into an impromptu event that didn’t involve any planning and it’s easier to ascribe the framing and imagery and content of the speech on stupidity. Those lights, the stage, the marines, the teleprompters, etc just happened to be there as he was walking by for some other reason and it was just a bad choice that he stepped into it.

    frosty (6baf04)

  140. But it’s still bizarre that anyone could see Putin as a sincere defender of religious values who’s just fighting back against “threats to Russian civilization” posed by…

    If this reminds you of how Trump is sometimes identified, you would not be mistaken.

    1) Putin is hardly an embodiment of Christian values (unless that boils down to being anti-LGBTQ), and the Americans & Europeans who view him as a defender of Christianity must have an impoverished understanding of their own religion.

    2) The Russian population is less religiously observant than the U.S. population under a secular liberal democracy with a constitutional prohibition on state-established religion — a point lost on the tradcons who think the powers of state should be promoting (and enforcing) one religion.

    3) I’ve seen no plausible explanation of how Ukraine posed such a dire threat to “Russian civilization” and Russian Orthodoxy that Putin was compelled to invade and try to subdue and expunge the Ukrainian identity — much less how Putin’s actions in Ukraine represent Christian values.

    4) The “American proxy war on Russia” framing of Ukraine’s effort to defend itself against annihilation is intellectually warped and morally bankrupt.

    5) It’s telling that this interpretation of Russia’s savage assault on Ukraine came from people who have praised Donald Trump as someone who loves America with a pure devotion and who think he’s a great defender of Christianity.

    Radegunda (bca3b5)

  141. JF: “falling for the bait and switch forced the media and blog commenters to talk about trump and his supporters and an unhinged republican party when they were all set to talk about the mess that biden and demented democrats have made”

    Thanks for making my point. Apparently there’s no time to actively clean the GOP house, we MUST talk about Biden….maybe call him brain-dead for the 591st time to really bring home the argument. How about doing both? The GOP needs a leader with a vision greater than doing whatever is required to keep himself out of prison. You just can’t get there or appreciate its importance….

    AJ_Liberty (ec7f74)

  142. Religion plays such central role in the lives of the Russians…

    felipe, less than half of all Russians are Christian and only 6% of Russians regularly go to church. Putin’s proclamations that he’s defending Christianity in Russia is not only a bogus casus belli, it’s a lie, and their Russian Orthodox Patriarch is a Putin stooge.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  143. AJ_Liberty (c916b7) — 9/3/2022 @ 6:16 am

    Which is it then? First it was all MAGA Rs but not all Rs not even a majority just the ones that disagree with Biden and won’t work with him and now it’s 80%?

    Why do I feel like the crew calling for credibility and democracy and respect for the constitution is only a few steps away from declaring any election that produces a Trumper invalid? And this solemn declaration will be made in the name of defending democracy.

    frosty (6baf04)

  144. How about doing both?

    i dunno, maybe you could tell us

    Trump has been cleaning house, and I’ve done a fair bit of commenting about it. A corrupt FBI partisan was just escorted out of HQ, and grifter jr. lost, are examples that come to mind

    plus I’m pulling double duty by calling out the current president

    other commenters could maybe pick up the slack

    JF (211158)

  145. Here’s a rundown of the transcript of Thursday’s hearing involving DoJ and Trump’s lawyers.
    There’s a serious issue of jurisdiction in the case, because Trump cannot demand the return of documents that were never his property in the first place. If the judge rules for a special master to cover anything more than attorney-client privilege, there’s going to be a problem, for the judge, IMO.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  146. she’s not going to run for the nomination, so it’s a ludicrous question

    Sure she is, so that she can be in the debates and call Trump a traitor to his face. Don’t think she won’t/

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  147. MS! Rip MS! For Mississippi.

    Had me thinking it was 2 planes, the 2nd in Meat chicken.

    But many thanks for the update!

    urbanleftbehind (0900f9) — 9/3/2022 @ 8:39 am

    My bad. Thanks for the correction.

    Rip Murdock (fc91f2)

  148. Here is a non-Twitter summary of the MAL hearing on Thursday.

    Rip Murdock (fc91f2)

  149. Sure she is, so that she can be in the debates and call Trump a traitor to his face. Don’t think she won’t/
    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 9/3/2022 @ 9:44 am

    maybe so, but a republican debate audience is different than fawning network interviewers, and she might not get beach ball questions

    maybe (maybe!) someone might ask why she’s best cuddly buds with election denier Jamie Raskin

    a weasel move would be to run for the party nomination then run third party in the general

    but, I’ve heard only trump does weasel moves

    JF (211158)

  150. Considering the RNC might be operating their debates on blackout from even FOX News, Mrs. Cheney could be disappeared real easy after a debate on Discord TV.

    urbanleftbehind (22db18)

  151. Some items from Biden’s speech:

    And here, in my view, is what is true: MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution. They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people.

    They refuse to accept the results of a free election. And they’re working right now, as I speak, in state after state to give power to decide elections in America to partisans and cronies, empowering election deniers to undermine democracy itself.

    It is actually part of the Constitution that states can determine who they choose electors, and for a number of elections, state legislatures chose them directly. While I do not favor that approach — nor any method other than the state’s voters choosing electors — saying that they cannot is ignorant of the Constitution as written.

    That’s why respected conservatives, like Federal Circuit Court Judge Michael Luttig, has called Trump and the extreme MAGA Republicans, quote, a “clear and present danger” to our democracy.

    But while the threat to American democracy is real, I want to say as clearly as we can: We are not powerless in the face of these threats. We are not bystanders in this ongoing attack on democracy.

    Here Biden is calling Trump’s supporters “a clear and present danger.” It’s no defense to quote someone. He chose to repeat the quote. These words have real meaning in our history, and they have been used to disenfranchise movements and subject people to prosecution for their speech, denying them 1st Amendment protection.

    Saying that he is not powerless suggests that Biden’s DoJ intents to act forcefully against this “clear and present danger.”

    The “deplorables” are now a seditious cabal. I’m pretty sure I don’t like the idea of criminal limits to political opinion.

    Just about the only thing Biden did not say is “Who will rid me of this man?” But the dog whistle was there.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  152. Rob Schneider Roasted for Saying He’d ‘Absolutely’ Sacrifice His Career for His Right-Wing Political Beliefs
    ………
    Schneider appeared on Glenn Beck’s podcast on Monday, and during his appearance, he explained why he had to escape the “Democratic stranglehold,” claiming that the party is “no longer protecting the rights of the individual.” Schneider also ragged on his old stomping grounds, “Saturday Night Live,” claiming that the show was “over” when Kate McKinnon mourned Hillary Clinton’s 2016 loss onstage that night by unironically singing Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”

    When asked point blank by Beck if Schneider would be “willing to lose it all” for this political beliefs, Schneider didn’t hesitate. “Absolutely,” the actor said, adding, “I don’t care about my career anymore.” In the days that followed, Schneider was dragged by Twitter for his comments, with most people mocking what his acting career is and was.

    ……… “No one who cares about their career.. appears on @GlennBeck’s show… so.. redundant…,” one person wrote.

    Others joked that Schneider’s acting career has long since expired. “Rob Schneider saying he doesn’t care if he loses his career is like me saying I don’t care if I get fat – It happened long ago,” another tweeted.

    “Man bravely turns back on career 30 years after it ends,” one joked.
    ………
    “Lose what? The honor of riding Adam Sandler’s coattails?” another wrote.
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (fc91f2)

  153. “Yes. The president of the United States stumbled into an impromptu event that didn’t involve any planning and it’s easier to ascribe the framing and imagery and content of the speech on stupidity. Those lights, the stage, the marines, the teleprompters, etc just happened to be there as he was walking by for some other reason and it was just a bad choice that he stepped into it.”

    Nothing was unique about the speech other than the “sinister” red lighting. All the other elements have been present is speeches by other presidents, including Trump.

    Davethulhu (13ec51)

  154. *HOW they choose electors

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  155. As a rule, those who studied STEM subjects — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — are much more likely to believe they made the right choice, while those in social sciences or vocational courses second-guess themselves.

    Not everyone can succeed at STEM careers. It takes considerable left-brain ability and an aptitude for detail focus. The mildly-autistic, for example, do well here.

    There are a number of well-paying right-brain careers (psychology, marketing and design) and people with high function in both hemispheres may be in the best position of all. Things like law, medicine and psychiatry need both sides of the brain working well.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  156. Well paying doesn’t equal satisfaction.

    Rip Murdock (fa74b4)

  157. Paul Montagu (062b7e) — 9/3/2022 @ 9:01 am
    </blockquote

    One can be religious and not go to church. The sorry state of church attendance is a prolly product of the continuous and sustained attack on Christianity from the very beginning as well as – well, I am sure anyone can think of plenty of other contributing factors. The lockdowns and closing of most churches, regardless of denomination, contributes to this decline in attendance.

    ) Putin is hardly an embodiment of Christian values (unless that boils down to being anti-LGBTQ), and the Americans & Europeans who view him as a defender of Christianity must have an impoverished understanding of their own religion.

    Quite right. I know many Catholics that are impoverished in understanding their own religion. when one realizes the amount of time spent on, say, social media as opposed to theological study, the results speak for themselves.

    2) The Russian population is less religiously observant than the U.S. population under a secular liberal democracy with a constitutional prohibition on state-established religion — a point lost on the tradcons who think the powers of state should be promoting (and enforcing) one religion.

    This is none too surprising given the history under Communism. Plus one must pay attention to the provenance of the reports, stats and studies.

    But perhaps you would prefer that I use “faith” instead of “religion.” I do not think it too fine a point to concede.

    3) I’ve seen no plausible explanation of how Ukraine posed such a dire threat to “Russian civilization” and Russian Orthodoxy that Putin was compelled to invade and try to subdue and expunge the Ukrainian identity — much less how Putin’s actions in Ukraine represent Christian values.

    Nor have I, but then such an explanation is bound to be elusive by the very nature of human behavior complicated by efforts by intelligence and counter-intelligence.

    4) and 5) I find it difficult, without a dog in the fight, to be interested in either subject.

    felipe (484255)

  158. i liked Biden better when he was plagiarizing Neil Kinnock instead of il Duce

    JF (211158)

  159. stating the obvious

    but the deniers and covid karens aren’t done sacrificing our kids

    US students’ reading, math skills fell sharply during pandemic, new scores show

    Math and reading scores for America’s 9-year-olds fell dramatically during the first two years of the pandemic, according to a new federal study — offering an early glimpse of the sheer magnitude of the learning setbacks dealt to the nation’s children.

    Reading scores saw their largest decrease in 30 years, while math scores had their first decrease in the history of the longstanding test referred to as the Nation’s Report Card, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, a branch of the U.S. Education Department.

    JF (211158)

  160. Formatting error!

    But perhaps you would prefer that I use “faith” instead of “religion.” I do not think it too fine a point to concede.

    was supposed to follow:

    One can be religious and not go to church. The sorry state of church attendance is a prolly product of the continuous and sustained attack on Christianity from the very beginning as well as – well, I am sure anyone can think of plenty of other contributing factors. The lockdowns and closing of most churches, regardless of denomination, contributes to this decline in attendance.

    In summation to Paul’s comment.

    Also, I failed to include Radegunda’s name in my comments to her comments. This failure should not be interpreted as a slight – as though I did not want to give proper credit or recognition.

    Finally:

    4) and 5) I find it difficult, without a dog in the fight, to be interested in either subject.

    Is a poor way to say that I am not interested in participating in a partisan argument, when I am clearly interested in understanding Radegunda’s clear thoughts.

    I do not wish anyone to take offense where none is intended.

    felipe (484255)

  161. How many “MAGA Republicans” are there? Philip Bump looks at a variety of polls and comes up with this estimate:

    Again, we can’t assume that these percentages all overlap. But we get a consistent picture. Over and over, about 10 percent of the population (plus or minus a few percentage points) expresses the sort of view that Biden articulated: Republican or Republican-leaning and in favor of the positions he associated with “MAGA.”

    Which seems about right to me. And that 10 percent may be enough to win some primaries, but not most general elections.

    (My apologies, Dana, for helping a commenter that won’t do its own homework, but I think this answer will be interesting to many readers.)

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  162. Majority of Voters View FBI Search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Home as Justified, WSJ Poll Finds
    ………
    Given a choice between two statements, a 52% majority agreed that the FBI action “was part of a legal and proper investigation to determine whether former President Trump was involved in any wrongdoing,” while 41% viewed it as “just another example of the endless witch hunt and harassment the Democrats and Biden administration continue to pursue against former President Trump.”

    Four in five Republican voters agreed with the statement that suggests the search was part of a “witch hunt”—a phrase Mr. Trump often uses himself—while about a third of independents held that view and 5% of Democrats did.
    ………
    For voters overall, 51% said the search would have no impact on their likelihood to vote in the midterms. But among Republicans, 64% said it would make them more likely to vote.

    While the poll suggests the search has stoked enthusiasm among Mr. Trump’s core supporters, the Justice Department’s investigation also has kept the former president at the forefront of the news, meaning that he sometimes overshadows GOP efforts to focus the midterm campaign on a troubled economy and high inflation.
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (fc91f2)

  163. It’s telling seeing people defend Williamson for calling for the destruction of the heartland of America.<

    Cite? A search using “Williamson” and “desecration” and “heartland” was not fruitful.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e) — 9/3/2022 @ 7:49 am

    What’s more telling is that NJRob’s link is from six years ago, and I think he has posted it before. He sure holds a grudge.

    Rip Murdock (fc91f2)

  164. felipe, one, Russia has been 30-plus years free of the communist yolk and still the open practice of their Christian faith is pathetic.
    Two, most of your answer is to Radegunda, not me.
    Three, I think you need to be open to the possibility that Putin is using Christianity for cynical nationalist reasons, especially coming from a guy who stated that the collapse of the Soviet empire was the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century”, a Soviet empire that was overtly atheist, that nationalized churches and stamped out religious worship.
    Four, Putin is certainly not applying Saint Aquinas’ Just War Theory to support his unprovoked invasion. There is nothing Christian about his war of aggression or his crimes against humanity.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  165. Looks like our comments crossed, felipe.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  166. #162 Speaking of plagiarism, see comments 6 and 27. I don’t mind people copying my work — as long as they give me credit.

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  167. Pretty easy to read Williamson’s article birdy.

    He is who I said he was. What’s fun are the people who said what Williamson said was wronf the first time I posted his bigoted remarks, but have now changed position.

    NJRob (8c5af9)

  168. File this under “culture wars”. The letter to Men’s Health and the magazine’s response is so ridiculous it rivals parody.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  169. 155 if anything, it’s a desperate plea to be the “greeted by thunderous applause prodigal son” on SNLs likely 50th season and also series finale in May 2025. If Victoria Jackson and Dennis Miller haven’t beat him to it.

    urbanleftbehind (22db18)

  170. Jim Miller (85fd03) — 9/3/2022 @ 10:59 am

    an apology is in order:
    I’m sorry I predicted your science denials before reading them, Jim Miller

    JF (211158)

  171. Attorney General Fife and his DOJ/FBI munchkins release pix of empty folders stamp ‘classified’?!?

    Empty?!?!?

    No surprise. Barney’s gun was a prop, too. And empty as well– a lone dummy round kept buttoned in the dummy’s pocket.

    DCSCA (ec7462)

  172. Melania Trump felt violated by FBI agents ‘contaminating’ her bedroom during Mar-a-Lago raid, report says

    ‘She bought new underwear because she felt as though her belongings had been “contaminated,” her friends claimed.

    Former first lady Melania Trump felt violated after FBI agents “contaminated” her home while executing a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago last month, her friends claimed, per The Times of London and Radar Online. Former President Donald Trump, her husband, was reportedly furious about this, later writing on Truth Social that her closet at the Florida property was left a “mess” after the raid. And the former first lady found the process of FBI agents rummaging through her belongings invasive, expressing particular concern at her underwear having been touched, her friends said, per reports.’- businuessinsider.com

    No surprise. Given Joey’s habit of sniffing ladies hair as is [not to mention showering with his daughter,] his whole administration smells from the head down.

    DCSCA (ec7462)

  173. Paul @ 171,

    I really don’t even know what I just read. The contortions and machinations behind such a question/response are mind-boggling. So, the guy is scolding himself (and the responder too) for having a healthy sexual attraction to women and they are scrambling eggs trying to find a remedy or explanation for this phenomenon? I file this under “First-world people just have too much damn time on their hands.”

    I don’t want to devote the time and energy to work it out, but I think if one did, you could trace the inside-out-upside-down reasoning (and I use the term loosely) to see how they got from Point A to B.

    Dana (1225fc)

  174. I would have thought someone of her means practiced the George Costanza strategy but each and every year.

    urbanleftbehind (22db18)

  175. Paul Montagu (062b7e) — 9/3/2022 @ 10:52 am

    Yes we cross-posted.

    Three, I think you need to be open to the possibility that Putin is using Christianity for cynical nationalist reasons, especially coming from a guy who stated that the collapse of the Soviet empire was the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century”, a Soviet empire that was overtly atheist, that nationalized churches and stamped out religious worship.

    This sentence leads me to wonder if you labor under the erroneous assumption that I am not “open” to this possibility as well as believe, wrongly, that I think Putin sincere. What gave you, or anyone that impression?

    I get the feeling that many responses to comments – and I do not refer only to my own, but my comments are included- are overly, but not exclusively, reflexive in that impatience with opposing views has placed a veil over close reading, to such a degree that there begins to be displayed, a hostility to non-partisan comments such as mine, where before, it was directed only to partisan commenters.

    I refuse to take sides in tribal feuds. I am in no one’s camp. Please do not treat me as a member of any tribe.

    felipe (484255)

  176. Michigan Abortion Battle Likely Headed for State’s Supreme Court After Deadlock
    ……..
    The state’s four-member board voted 2-2, which keeps the measure off the ballot and sets up a legal fight in which the referendum’s sponsors will have to sue to put the popular measure before the state’s voters.…….
    ……..
    Wednesday’s decision came down to complaints over spacing between words and complaints about the text in the document, not the validity of the proposal. The Board of Canvassers can vote only to verify that a ballot initiative has enough signatures and that the documents meet basic standards. A formatting error mashed some words together, and the proposal’s opponents seized on that to push for invalidation.
    ……….
    The two Republicans on the committee sided with appeals that the petition itself was sloppily written, lacked spacing between words and wasn’t clear enough for voters to fully understand.

    “We would not sign a mortgage that had this type of mistake in it, you would not turn in a term paper with this kind of mistake in it,” said Tony Daunt, a Republican who chairs the Board of Canvassers.
    ………

    Related:

    ……… (T)he proposed constitutional amendment will protect unrestricted abortion until fetal viability (about 24 weeks), similar to the line formerly used under Roe v. Wade.

    ……… After fetal viability, the proposed amendment would guarantee abortion access whenever “an attending health care professional” determined it to be “medically indicated to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant individual.” One red flag is the undefined exception for “mental health,” which could be misused to justify abortions months after viability for anyone who’s in distress.

    Another point of concern is that the amendment asserts in expansive text that “every individual has a fundamental right to reproductive freedom.” Could state courts interpret “every individual” to include pregnant minors, overruling Michigan’s parental consent law? ……..
    ………
    In any case, these details only heighten the responsibility of Michigan Republicans to find an alternative policy that they can defend to the electorate. ………

    It’s a good thing the Republicans on the Board of Canvassers found a good reason to deny the proposed constitutional amendment. This proposal will only increase the extinction of life in Michigan. It’s defeat, “by any means necessary” will be an important victory in the defense of innocent life.

    Rip Murdock (fc91f2)

  177. Rob, if you’re referring to your comment and link at #8, I’ll just say that “desecration of the heartland” is a tortured interpretation of Williamson’s words, and I oppose torture.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  178. Russian Media Watch:

    Team Putin Whines About All the Western Things They Miss
    ………
    Skillfully avoiding any type of an acknowledgement that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused the rift, (Russian film director Egor Konchalovsky, in the pro-Kremlin tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda) griped: “It seemed that a magnificent world was about to open up. But it opened for exactly a second, when it was convenient for Britain and the United States… Suddenly—poof! And we no longer hear: are you a good Russian or a bad Russian? No. Now all Russians are bad!” He added: “The West disappeared surprisingly quickly. Now we’re on our own. With a gaze turned inward. And, in my opinion, this is very good.”
    ……….
    ………. Konchalovsky claimed: “This is a clash of civilizations, in which Russia stands on the side of light, and the West embarked on the path of Satanism. And we are now fighting against values ​​that are simply opposite of what we stand for, against absolute evil.” Konchalovsky failed to reconcile the claim that the West represents absolute evil with his grief about not being able to freely travel to or live in that supposedly dark place.

    Similar contradictions permeate state TV shows, where host Vladimir Solovyov can’t stop bringing up his seized Italian villas and admits that he’s waiting “until better times” to renew his expired U.S. visa. ……….

    The same talking heads are trying their best to convince ordinary Russians that they’re better off at home. …….
    …………
    Konchalovsky’s interview provided a revealing glimpse of what might have been going through the minds of the somber propagandists and their audience, whose lives and future opportunities have been forever changed because of Putin’s imperial ambitions.
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (fc91f2)

  179. Biden speech denouncing Trump, ‘MAGA ideology’ sparks threats, calls for violence
    ………
    By Friday afternoon, posts on forums popular among white supremacists and far-right extremists called for the assassination of Biden, and named Jewish administration officials including Attorney General Merrick Garland, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as potential targets. Declarations of civil war were also appearing, according to documents detailing some of the threats.

    “On Gab, one user posted a series of violent threats accusing Biden of stealing the election,” according to a threat alert from Site Intelligence Group sent to law enforcement agencies and others on Friday. ……..
    ……….
    “Users on several far-right and ultranationalist venues made violent threats against President Joe Biden following his speech addressing political extremism on September 1, 2022,” said one of the alerts. “Users advocated for Biden to be murdered and predicted violence if he continues speaking about the topic.”
    ……….
    In a statement to Yahoo News on Friday, the White House said that the calls for violence following Biden’s speech illustrate the threat the president described.

    “The President’s message couldn’t have been more clear: there is no place in our democracy for political violence,” the statement said. “None. And that some of the more extreme elements in our society are now calling for more violence only proves the very point of his speech … that we are in a dangerous moment right now, a moment where simply stating the truth about the fragility of our democracy brings out the worst instincts of those who want to tear it apart. The President was right to call them out. The bigger risk to the body politic would have been to remain silent in the face of such a threat.”
    …………

    Rip Murdock (fc91f2)

  180. The President’s message couldn’t have been more clear…

    Uh-huh:

    “I come before you, to stand behind you,
    To tell you something I know nothing about.
    Admission is free, so pay at the door;
    Pull up a chair and sit on the floor.

    Early this morning late last night
    Two dead soldiers began to fight.
    Back to back they faced each other
    Drew their swords and shot each other.

    A legless donkey passing by
    Kicked both men right in the eye.
    It knocked them over a 10 foot wall
    Into a ditch and drowned them all.

    A deaf policeman heard their cries
    And came and shot those two dead guys.
    If you don’t believe this story’s true,
    Ask the blind man – he saw it too!”

    DCSCA (e3c330)

  181. Racine County (WI) man who illegally requested absentee ballots to prove voter fraud exists has been charged
    ……….
    Harry Wait, a leader of a Racine County-based group known as H.O.T. Government that promotes false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election, fraudulently obtained absentee ballots for Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Racine Mayor Cory Mason to show violations of the law are possible.

    He was charged on Thursday with two counts of election fraud and two counts of unauthorized use of an individual’s personal identifying information related to his scheme to commit fraud.
    ……….
    Wait has become a minor celebrity among those in Wisconsin and beyond who do not believe President Joe Biden legitimately won the presidency in 2020.

    U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson has praised Wait’s actions, calling him a “white hat hacker.”

    Wait faces up to six years in prison for each count of using the personal identifying information of Vos and Mason without their permission, a felony crime. He faces up to six months in prison for each count of election fraud, which is a misdemeanor.
    ………

    “I’m glad I did it. I would do it again in a heartbeat,” Wait told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Thursday.

    He’ll have plenty of time to think about it.

    Rip Murdock (fc91f2)

  182. Just a reminder that Kevin Williamson has been a piece of garbage for a long time and continues to be so. I’m grateful noxious trash like him no longer has any influence on the Republican party and causes him to lash out accordingly as he supports leftists by focusing his attack on Republicans.

    I consider it a badge of honor that he no longer has any influence on today’s Trumplican Party. The current controlling wing of the GOP has no interest in tedious things like defending the Constitution, the rule of law, or attempts to recover foundational principles of the once grand party.

    Moreover, to reduce Williamson’s work to something like “support[ing] leftists by focusing his attack on Republicans” is a very faulty and one-dimensional view. To look through this lens and reduce everything to an either/or proposition is to ignore the reality that life is nuanced and multi-layered, as are people. We are not automatons that have to choose/do X or Y, and that’s all there is to it. Neither people, faith, philosophy, nor political views/persuasion are that simplistic. They should not be reduced to such a non-flexible binary, tribal choice. I reject the suggestion that this is realistic or reflects a majority of people.

    Dana (1225fc)

  183. Rethug candidate for wisconsin gov.tim michaels has told his supporters to go after journalists at the milwaukee sentinal newspaper with pitchforks! His threats of violence includes democrat gov. The paper angered michaels by reporting he supported anti abortion and anti-gay groups while he was trying to fool voters that despite the primary name calling he is really a moderate! source AP.

    asset (b8920f)

  184. Dana, I don’t know if you saw/read Allahpundit’s last column. DRJ brought it to my attention.

    https://hotair.com/allahpundit/2022/09/02/farewell-to-hot-air-n494121

    At the risk of all the, um, angry commenters around here and drowning things out, I strongly suggest we all read it, and without carrying on, ask ourselves what we believe in specifically, why we believe those things, and how best to support the principles we say we follow.

    Instead, it is all “reactive thinking” without though.

    These are just my opinions. And I have never believed that people who disagree with me are evil or stupid. They might be wrong. The first is lazy thinking and driven by social media and clicks.

    Best wishes.

    Simon Jester (4dfd56)

  185. I refuse to take sides in tribal feuds. I am in no one’s camp. Please do not treat me as a member of any tribe.

    felipe (484255) — 9/3/2022 @ 11:37 am

    Good luck and I mean that sincerely. For many, not sending the correct IFF is a simple test and there are only two choices.

    frosty (6baf04)

  186. Simon Jester,

    Allahpundit’s farewell is included in the list of news items in this post. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Good to see you here

    Dana (1225fc)

  187. Sorry Dana. It was a long post. Feel free to delete my comment.

    Simon Jester (6119ff)

  188. Artemis scrubbed again. Hydrogen leak. Bad one. Rollback for repair to VAB planned– so ‘several weeks’ delay, per the mission manager presser this afternoon.

    This rocket was not ready to fly.

    And the fault is less one of engineering problems– hydrogen has always been a tricky propellant– nor is it a basic hardware issue; most of the Artemis components [engines, SRB tech] are shuttle era hardware, w/a few new elements- the tank designs and so on- stacked differently– and a new payload. But the problem isn’t w/t Orion spacecraft but w/t elements of the launch vehicle fueling system. This has more of a scent of penny-pinching management issues about it; whiffs of Challenger and Columbia thinking going on can be sensed in their pressers.

    De-tanking and replenishing propellants, roll back and related support matters all cost $$$. So does insufficient testing… cutting corners, eyes on time lines and “work arounds” to known problems developed rather than taking the time to fix it right before flying. It’s why Von Braun’s Saturn V worked on the first roll out and launch in ’67– and Artemis has not. [The didn’t nickname the Saturn development team the ‘Chicago Bridge & Iron Works’ for nothing.] The engineers of the Apollo era were a rare mix of competent engineers and smart managers, too.

    The current crop are more bureaucratic engineers– which you can hear come through in their pressers in tone and terms; less managerial driven– with an eye on the calendar– and counting beans. It’s not a confidence builder. For those interested, keep an eye on the current management team and how they’re operating this program.

    DCSCA (847b84)

  189. frosty (6baf04) — 9/3/2022 @ 1:28 pm

    I know. Come to think of it, “f” is an identifier for us both.

    felipe (484255)

  190. Majority of Voters View FBI Search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Home as Justified, WSJ Poll Finds

    After it is pounded home from every media outlet for a month. It’s pretty ironic for the MSM to accuse Trump of pushing propaganda. He is of course, but that’s not the point.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  191. The President was right to call them out. The bigger risk to the body politic would have been to remain silent in the face of such a threat.”

    — Antifa

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  192. A formatting error mashed some words together, and the proposal’s opponents seized on that to push for invalidation.

    IIRC, several CA initiatives failed because there were slight differences in petitions due to transcription errors. As if a single signer read the thing.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  193. If Trump and his extremist supporters are actually a “clear and present danger” to democracy, doesn’t that call on someone of great moral strength to take the necessary action?

    At least as much as “targeting” an opponent in a donation appeal?

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  194. (if you can’t tell, Biden has pushed me back into “a pox on both their houses.”)

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  195. Majority of Voters View FBI Search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Home as Justified, WSJ Poll Finds

    After it is pounded home from every media outlet for a month. It’s pretty ironic for the MSM to accuse Trump of pushing propaganda. He is of course, but that’s not the point.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 9/3/2022 @ 3:38 pm

    Based on the reporting to date, do you think it was justified?

    Rip Murdock (fc91f2)

  196. California power officials put out a plea: Shut it down at 4 p.m. to protect the grid

    ‘Facing a dire forecast of record heat continuing through midweek, a state power official appealed to the public to observe a Flex Alert issued Saturday for the fourth consecutive day, with more predicted to follow. The alternative could be rolling blackouts, said Elliot Mainzer, president and chief executive of the California Independent System Operators, which manages the power grid.

    During a Flex Alert, consumers are asked to conserve energy from 4 to 9 p.m., hours when the grid is most stressed.

    “When we’re in a situation like this, where we’re right up against the margin of system capability and you have the kinds of threats to reliability from fires and generation plants coming off line, that consumer flexible demand, that response, can be the difference between the lights staying on or not,” Mainzer said during a briefing organized Saturday morning by the state Office of Emergency Services.

    Power demand Thursday evening reached its highest level since September 2017, he said.

    Multiple generators have been forced out of service due to the extreme heat, making energy supplies tighter. Grid operators are also watching at least two major wildfires threatening transmission lines and power plants in the Los Angeles and San Diego areas.

    “These last few days are likely to be a dress rehearsal for what’s going to be a considerably more stressed set of conditions as we get into the heart of the weekend,” Mainzer warned.

    The hottest temperatures are still ahead, National Weather Service emergency response specialist Sarah Rogowski warned in Saturday’s briefing.

    Rogowski said record to near-record temperatures were expected early to midweek, in the 80s and 90s along the coast and 100 to 115 in the Central Valley and inland regions of Southern California.

    “We are looking at temperatures 10 to 25 degrees above normal for this time of year,” Rogowski said. Those will be compounded by unusually high overnight temperatures up to the 90s in some areas of Southern California.

    “We’re not getting that overnight relief,” she said.

    Relief will come starting Thursday in the north and then Thursday afternoon and early Friday in Southern California, Rogowski said. Even then, temperatures will remain above normal.

    Due to the elevated heat and dryness, California fire officials are pre-positioning forces to respond quickly to new fires or battle a major blaze, said Chris Anthony, chief deputy director of the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. “The hottest and driest days are still ahead of us,” Anthony said. “The extreme heat coupled with this persistent drought we’re in, as well as the bone dry vegetation, really make for the perfect ingredients for rapid fire spread.”

    Anthony said there are currently 4,346 firefighters assigned to active fires in California. Progress made on the Route fire in Castaic, which has burned more than 5,000 acres since Wednesday but was listed as 71% contained Saturday, will allow resources to be drawn to other parts of the state.

    In Southern California, temperatures were approaching records midday Saturday in the Antelope Valley and western San Fernando Valley, and slightly higher temperatures were predicted for Sunday, National Weather Service forecaster Kristen Stewart said.

    Lancaster was measuring 106 degrees at 12:30, two degrees below the record for the day. Woodland Hills, also at 106, was still well below its record of 114 degrees but was forecast to reach 113 on Sunday. Along the coast, UCLA reached 90 by midday and Long Beach 97, both several degrees below their records.

    Southern California Edison was experiencing an unusual number of heat-related power outages but has been able to restore power quickly, spokesman Ben Gallagher said. Because of the heat, crews were put on standby, equipment stockpiled and regular maintenance postponed, he said.

    “We’re continuing to encourage our customers to conserve,” he said.

    Californians are strongly urged to lower electricity use by setting thermostats to 78 or higher, health permitting, avoiding use of major appliances, and turning off all unnecessary lights, officials said. Mark Ghilarducci, director of the Office of Emergency Services, advised the public to stay indoors as much as possible and to use shopping centers or public cooling centers as refuge if outdoors. The locations of 122 cooling centers in Los Angeles County are mapped on the county’s website.’ – LATimes.com

    The CA power grid is hanging by a thread. And CA’s Governor Jackass wants everybody to drive and charge electric cars. If this jerk runs POTUS he’s going to get laughed out of the running– then get his stupid ass kicked.

    DCSCA (147ba8)

  197. Under pressure, security firm Cloudflare drops Kiwi Farms website
    ……..
    Cloudfare chief executive Matthew Prince, who this past week published a lengthy blog post justifying the company’s services defending Kiwi Farms, told The Washington Post he changed his mind not because of the pressure but a surge in credible violent threats stemming from the site.
    ………
    Prince said contributors to the forum were posting home addresses of those seen as enemies and calling for them to be shot.

    Kiwi Farms launched in 2013 and quickly grew into a popular internet forum for online harassment campaigns. At least three suicides have been tied to harassment stemming from the Kiwi Farms community, and many on the forum consider their goal to drive their targets to suicide. Members of the LGBTQ community and women are frequent targets.
    ………
    ……… Prince said the company stopped selling Kiwi Farms a $20 per month service to customize error messages shown to web users when its pages wouldn’t load. On Saturday, it withdrew the remaining free services, which fend off denial-of-service attacks and speed content delivery by making copies of the site in many locations.
    ………

    Rip Murdock (fc91f2)

  198. Link to Cloudflare article in post 201.

    Rip Murdock (fc91f2)

  199. The FBI found dozens of empty classified folders at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago. What was in them?
    ………
    ……..48 empty folders with classified banners that FBI agents recovered during the Aug. 8 search of Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida, estate and members-only club. The other was 42 folders marked “return to staff secretary/military aide.”

    “Trump didn’t pack up EMPTY folders to take with him to FLA,” said former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner in a Friday afternoon tweet. “Things just went from bad to worse to unfathomably dangerous.”
    ……….
    Rajesh De, a former senior White House information security official, said the newly disclosed inventory list does not contain enough information to determine what, exactly, happened to the documents within the empty “classified” folders retrieved by the FBI, or even what was in there in the first place.

    “It’s tough to know, but empty folders could raise some alarm bells,” said De, a White House staff secretary in the Obama administration who was in charge of securing classified documents and managing the paper flow to the president and senior staff.
    ………
    “As for the empty classified folders,” (Re) said, “one also has to wonder what became of the contents and what if they fall into the wrong hands?“
    ………
    ………(T)he documents themselves, by law, must also have what are known as classification and control markings, or portion markings for short, for each section. Those describe whether the material contained within that portion is confidential, secret or top-secret, and whether there are even more restrictions if the information is based on even more sensitive “special access programs.”
    ……….
    As such, the documents that were in the folders marked classified are unlikely to be the same as the documents that the FBI retrieved that are listed as “government documents/photographs without classification markings.”
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (fc91f2)

  200. Based on the reporting to date, do you think it was justified?

    What I think doesn’t enter into it. You reported a poll of people who have been primed to answer YES and then barely half of them did.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  201. According to Larry Sabato’s team, the race to control the Senate is now even:

    — We are moving the Senate races in Arizona and Pennsylvania from Toss-up to Leans Democratic on account of candidate weaknesses for Republicans in both states and what appears to be a not-as-bleak environment for Democrats.

    — The overall race for the Senate remains a Toss-up, with 49 seats at least leaning to each party and a couple of Toss-ups overall, Georgia and Nevada.

    Is it possible that the loser, and his allies, for example Peter Thiel, will again stop Republicans from winning a Senate majority? Yes, and FiveThirtyeight now gives Democrats the edge, partly for that very reason.

    (Though I should note that Politico is still giving Republicans the edge for Senate control.)

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  202. Trump Rally in Wilkes-Barre, PA televised on Newsmax and CSPAN.

    Makes Joe’s hilariously angry Reichstag Philly speech look as evil as Joe genuinely is.

    DCSCA (a0fc00)

  203. Is it possible that the loser, and his allies, for example Peter Thiel

    Thiel is not the Trumpbot you suppose him to be. He’s donated to Ron Paul, Meg Whitman, John McCain and Donald Trump. The dots are not hard to connect.

    Masters is a Trumpbot though and differs from Thiel on several issues. For one thing, Masters opposes Obergefell and Thiel is a married gay man.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  204. Two in five Americans say a civil war is at least somewhat likely in the next decade

    New polling by the Economist and YouGov asked Americans about changes in the U.S. political climate, including whether divisions have worsened and what they expect in the future. …….
    ……….
    Two-thirds of Americans (66%) believe that political divisions in this country have gotten worse since the beginning of 2021, compared to only 8% who say the country has grown less divided. Few see things improving in the coming years: 62% expect an increase in political divisions.

    A similar share (63%) to the proportion who say political divisions have worsened (66%) say political violence has increased since the start of 2021. Three in five Americans (60%) anticipate an increase in political violence in the next few years and only 9% expect political violence to decline.
    ……….
    What is the likelihood that political violence will culminate in a civil war in the U.S.? While only 14% of Americans say a civil war is very likely in the next decade, 43% say it is at least somewhat likely. About one in three – 35% – say it is not very or at all likely, and 22% are unsure. People who say they are “strong Republicans” are the political group most likely to anticipate a civil war: 21% say it’s very likely, compared to less than 15% of each of the other four political groups studied.
    ……….

    Top lines and tables.

    % favorable/unfavorable/undecided

    Liz Cheney 34/41/25

    Ron DeSantis 37/35/27

    Joe Biden 43/51/6

    Kamala Harris 37/52/11

    Donald Trump 39/56/5

    Biden run in 2024 20 yes 56 no 24 not sure

    Trump run in 2024 26 yes 56 no 17 not sure

    Biden won election 65 yes 35 no

    Supreme Court approval 40 yes 45 no 16 not sure

    Rip Murdock (fc91f2)

  205. Kevin – I said Thiel is a Trump ally, not a “Trumpbot”. Right now, Thiel is refusing to fund a candidate he helped get nominated, in the general election:

    Meanwhile, some Republicans were flabbergasted at the idea that Thiel would sit out the general election after investing so heavily in his preferred candidate’s primary bid.

    “I don’t understand the logic of spending $15 million to help Blake Masters in the primary and then [letting] him twist in the wind against one of the best funded U.S. Senate candidates in history,” said a Republican consultant tracking the Senate race, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to offer a candid assessment.

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  206. FBI Facing ‘Unprecedented’ MAGA Threats: ‘Time to Hunt Fed Bois’
    ………
    For weeks, users on these platforms have been calling for hangings and executions of federal agents, while floating routine references to touchstones of anti-government violence like the Ruby Ridge standoff and Oklahoma City bombing.

    ………. (T)hese threats (are) cropping up in response to incendiary criticism from elected officials and right-wing personalities. They also share a rhetorical and demographic nexus with the Jan. 6 riot……
    ………
    “All people need to do is just send one message by killing every one of those agents that stepped foot there,” one user wrote on Aug. 8, the day of the search.
    ……….
    “Feds need [to be] hanged for treason,” another person commented. “Or we or our children will be slaves. They’re forcing it down this path.”

    “Time to hunt Fed bois,” wrote user Ryno88.

    On the same post, another user called for “lynch mobs in every city at the special agent in charge of your local FBI office at their personal homes.”
    ……..
    …….. Some users, suspecting the feds were monitoring the message boards, addressed them directly.

    “I hope if the fa*got FBI is reading this page they understand that after they are dismantled, every single one of them, including the f**cking janitor is going to face a firing squad with their families in attendance who will be forced to watch,” one user wrote……. “No mercy for these sub human [sic] pieces of trash who have betrayed the country.”
    ………
    ……..patriots.win users celebrated the (Cincinnati FBI) shooter.

    “Good I hope he killed a lot of them. Every FBI agent should be unceremoniously executed and fed to livestock,” one user wrote in response to a popular post about the attack. Another user replied, “I agree with you. Guy is a hero.”
    ……..
    One user created a post asking other users to publicly identify agents and their families. “Provide the addresses of their homes. Provide the addresses of any schools their kids attend,” the person wrote, adding, “Treat them like you would treat a Nazi or a Marxist agent coming for your kids.”

    “When we’re in power we need to go after not just the FBI, but every employee including their families,” another user wrote, responding to an article about Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Aug. 12 press conference. “They are not Americans. They are not eve[n] people.”
    ……..
    ……..(T)wo advisers who have spoken with Trump in recent days told The Daily Beast that the former president, in their respective conversations, isn’t critical of the threats his own followers are making against law enforcement agents.

    One of the advisers acknowledged that Trump sees these threats as “justified frustration” at an “unjust” search. The second adviser said Trump identifies with his supporters’ anger at the agency’s “overkill” and “overreach.”
    ………
    ………(T)he patriot.win moderators dismiss concerns about the rhetoric, and say they can tell real threats from “bullsh*t.” They also warn users that reporters are lurking on the boards, watching the comments.
    ………..

    Rip Murdock (fc91f2)

  207. The Abysmal Covid Vaccination Rate for Toddlers Speaks Volumes

    You would think that vaccination sites would have been swamped with parents rushing to vaccinate their young children against Covid after the Food and Drug Administration authorized the vaccines for the under-5 age group in June. But as of early August, around 5 percent of eligible children under 5 had received the first dose of the vaccine series. Worse, the number of them being immunized has been decreasing.

    What does it say, then, that most parents have not vaccinated their children against Covid‌? ‌‌Even if, as the data would suggest, they’ve vaccinated themselves at much higher rates?

    I fear that it’s indicative of Americans’ loss of trust in the public health system of the United States. Much of that is because of misinformation and disinformation spread about the safety and efficacy of vaccinations. But some of it is the result of inconsistent and often suboptimal science communication by public health experts.

    Too many messages are still centered on trying to frighten people into compliance by arguing about worst-case scenarios and ‌‌convincing them that things are as dangerous as ever. They amplify every new variant and predict future worsening. They point to charts of the unvaccinated and vaccinated and marvel at the differences in deaths.

    Such charts almost always, however, depict outcomes that don’t easily apply to young children. If the goal is to persuade parents to take action to prevent harm to their children, this won’t work.

    what also won’t work is hyping parents’ demand for vaccines for their young children, as some here did, when actual parents knew it was complete BS

    JF (d3bbd2)

  208. I said Thiel is a Trump ally

    Ally is a slippery work. McConnell is a “Trump ally” in some respects, even though he’d prefer Trump left the scene.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  209. When you rub elbows with the rich, all you get is a hole in your sleeve.

    nk (a4ec83)

  210. Rip Murdock (fc91f2) — 9/3/2022 @ 7:22 pm

    Very patriot. Such conservative. Much not deplorable.

    nk (a4ec83)

  211. Despite saying that he would eliminate 100% of rapist in texas so need for abortion. Gov. abbot after seeing republicans losing in swing districts and even red districts like sarah palin in alaska and finding out that 70% of new registered voters are women who are going to vote out every anti-abortion POS republican now says despite the law women can use plan b abortion pills in texas. So when mommy’s boy friend rapes her 10 year old daughter (despite abbot saying he’s eliminating rape in texas) The 10 year old can now hitch a ride to the local CVS and hope they will have and sell her the plan B pill while she begs money from the customers to pay for them.

    asset (5a66c1)

  212. @218. What makes you think one of POTUS Susan Rice’s aides didn’t plant these hostile tweets as sucker bait. It’s an old trick- like setting fire to the Reichstag and blaming somebody else.

    DCSCA (aebd51)

  213. Texas governor says rape victims can prevent pregnancy by taking Plan B

    Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said rape victims in the state can prevent pregnancies by using emergency contraception pills such as Plan B, The Dallas Morning News reported Friday.

    In Texas, abortions are banned and do not include exceptions for rape or incest.
    ………..
    “We want to support those victims, but also those victims can access health care immediately, as well as to report it,” Abbott told The Dallas Morning News and KXAS-TV’s “Lone Star Politics” in a segment obtained by the Morning News that will air on Sunday.

    “By accessing health care immediately, they can get the Plan B pill that can prevent a pregnancy from occurring in the first place,” he added.
    ………
    The Republican governor also told “Lone Star Politics” that reporting a rape to law enforcement “will ensure that the rapist will be arrested and prosecuted.”

    However, very few rape cases result in an arrest. While there were 13,327 reported rapes in Texas in 2020, there were only 1,828 arrests for rape, according to the state’s department of public safety.
    ………..

    Didn’t Abbott promise (almost exactly a year ago) to “eliminate” rape in Texas?

    Rip Murdock (fc91f2)

  214. NASA’s Artemis 1 Moon Launch Is Delayed Further as Engineers Analyze Fuel Leak
    ……….
    NASA won’t attempt a launch on Monday, Sept. 5, or Tuesday, Sept. 6, other potential windows that the agency had previously identified if Saturday’s launch didn’t proceed. A launch period including those dates is “definitely off the table,” said Jim Free, the agency’s associate administrator focused on developing exploration systems.
    ……….
    NASA faces another constraint to launching again soon, officials said, related to the batteries on a system that can be used to terminate a flight.
    ………
    NASA relied on Boeing Co., Northrop Grumman Corp. and other aerospace companies to develop different parts of the SLS rocket. The agency and main contractors have said they are pushing to reduce costs and streamline operations for Artemis. The first four Artemis flights are expected to cost $4.1 billion each, NASA’s inspector general has said.
    ##########

    NASA doesn’t do anything on its own, it is multi-billion dollar contracting organization, and is their prisoner. Even the launch controllers are not employed by NASA, United Launch Alliance (a combination of Boeing and Lockheed Martin) provides the launch vehicles and personnel to launch them. And some of the NASA centers, like JPL, are run by contractors (Caltech in the case of JPL).

    Nostalgic cheerleading for government-funded space exploration won’t solve the problems of a bloated government/contractor monster.

    Rip Murdock (fc91f2)

  215. 211. The Covid vaccine for children is still the one solely geared to the first version of the virus that circulated widely in the United States and most of the world (generally thought to be the first version of Covid-19 because of a Chinese cover-up.

    This version, more serious and less containable than the first version, resulted from the second lab leak when the Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention moved near to the Wuhan seafood market on December 2, 2019.

    The first version was the result of a lab leak a few weeks before September 12, 2019 when the Wuhan Institute of Virology took its database of coronaviruses offline)

    Sammy Finkelman (b434ee)

  216. Trump Megadonor Adelson’s Republican Spending Spree Is Ending
    ……….
    Miriam Adelson along with her late husband Sheldon Adelson were the party’s biggest donors over the past decade. But her only major contribution in the current election cycle is the $5 million she donated in July to the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC that backs House GOP candidates.

    The couple, the largest shareholders of casino giant Las Vegas Sands Corp. and a long-time bugaboo to Democrats, donated $524 million to the party’s super PACs, committees and candidates between 2011 and 2020. They were high-profile backers of former President Donald Trump, who awarded Miriam the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018.
    ……….
    Adelson’s financial circumstances have changed as well. While a net worth exceeding $27 billion makes her the sixth-richest woman in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, her wealth has taken a hit during Covid, with the stock down 45% since the end of 2019. …….
    ………..
    Without the Adelsons’ big donations, some Republicans worry they could face a cash crunch heading into the midterms. The party is favored to take a majority in the House, though its chances of controlling the Senate have deteriorated due to the fundraising struggles of candidates in battleground states.

    The money Democrats are drawing in response to the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling that reversed Roe vs. Wade and ended the national right to abortion has also put the GOP at a disadvantage. Democratic Senate candidates in seven of the eight battleground states have raised more money than their Republican competitors, meaning GOP super PACs will have to pick up the advertising slack.
    ………

    Rip Murdock (fc91f2)

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

    If Trump and his extremist supporters are actually a “clear and present danger” to democracy, doesn’t that call on someone of great moral strength to take the necessary action?

    The Wall Street Journal wrote in its lead editorial in the weekend edition that the \democrats need Donald rump around, they want him around, because they believe he’s their ticket to remain in power, and right now they are running ads in New Hampshire to support (really should say that have the effect of supporting)the most MAGA Republican in the GOP Senate primary.

    The people who saved American democracy were Republican (mostly because, of course, they were the who Trump tried to influence, except for the judges, who were more random – governors, secretaries of state and legislators who resisted attempts to change electors; Trump appointed judges who followed the evidence, lawyers at the White House and the Justice Department, and of course Mike Pence.

    By the way, Gail Collins of the NYT found fault with Mike Pence for not saying anything until the moment of truth.

    Sammy Finkelman (b434ee)

  218. 218. I told you so. They had the same fuel leak.

    Sammy Finkelman (b434ee)

  219. That makes even more sense. What sensible Las Vegas casino owner would want anything to do with someone under investigation by the FBI?

    nk (91b006)

  220. Rip Murdock (fc91f2) — 9/3/2022 @ 4:41 pm

    If we’re to believe the traditional story around classified documents and SCIFs it might be a good idea to start at the beginning of the story instead of the end. There should be a record of everything DT was shown and it should have been accounted for going into and out of the SCIF. So, the question of what was in those folders shouldn’t actually be a question.

    And no, the FBI doesn’t just get to presume that something was in the folders. Even before the FBI flushed their credibility on anything political that wouldn’t have gotten off the ground. Of course, when the FBI was still trying they would have used the classic “we can’t tell you because it’s classified” routine.

    frosty (543fcd)

  221. BTW, felipe, I wasn’t saying or implying that you were in one tribe or another. I just disagreed that Putin is some sort of defender of Russian Christianity and morals, and or that Russia is especially Christian. He’s as much a Christian as Trump is a Christian, IMO.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  222. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said rape victims in the state can prevent pregnancies by using emergency contraception pills such as Plan B, The Dallas Morning News reported Friday.

    That will hurt his constituents the most. Lulubelle is not going to report daddy and brother to the police.

    On the other hand, it will create a new product line for his drug cartel bosses.

    nk (91b006)

  223. What Russia is is the contender for first place in alcoholism with Hungary, and the world leader in prostitution, including forced prostitution, child prostitution, and international trafficking of women and children.

    nk (91b006)

  224. nk (91b006) — 9/4/2022 @ 7:20 am

    Seems like these days everyone is under investigation by the FBI. Except, Antifa and BLM and Joe Biden and high level D politicians.

    Even Hunter is supposed to be but that’s looking more like an HRC style “investigation”, aka a coverup.

    It’s going to be interesting when Rs running for office tout an FBI investigation as a mark in their favor.

    frosty (543fcd)

  225. Michael Gerson scolds many of his fellow evangelicals:

    Strangely, evangelicals have broadly chosen the company of Trump supporters who deny any role for character in politics and define any useful villainy as virtue. In the place of integrity, the Trump movement has elevated a warped kind of authenticity — the authenticity of unfiltered abuse, imperious ignorance, untamed egotism and reflexive bigotry.

    This is inconsistent with Christianity by any orthodox measure.

    As Gerson goes on to demonstrate, at length.

    You can be a Christian or a Trumpista, but not both. (And I think the same thing is true for Jews and Buddhists.)

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  226. Paul Montagu (062b7e) — 9/4/2022 @ 7:43 am

    After what marxist have done to the ROC and to the Russian people generally it’s a testament to the power of the Holy Spirit and the resilience of the body of Christ that there are any Christians in Russia at all.

    The communist state infiltrated the ROC from the top and used it against the faithful it was supposed to serve.

    nk (91b006) — 9/4/2022 @ 7:51 am

    It’s a example of the power of communism, and marxism generally, that they were capable of having such a long term impact on a people even after their evil has been made obvious. It also makes you wonder why so many people in America are so eager for it here.

    frosty (543fcd)

  227. nk (91b006) — 9/4/2022 @ 7:51 am

    Don’t forget that this pious observant sh-thole country leads the world in abortions, too.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  228. Things are afoot in Kherson. Supporters are being careful about OPSEC, but it looks like the Russians are on their heels on the west side of the Dnipro.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  229. Jim Miller (85fd03) — 9/4/2022 @ 8:11 am

    What is a Sunday without lectures on how to be a Christian for political purposes.

    The ole “you can’t be a Christian if you don’t have the same political beliefs as me” has to be a classic. Any day now we’re going to find an extended version of Luke where Jesus engages in an extended dialogue with both thieves and discovers that one voted for the Peoples Party of Judea and the other for the Judean People’s Party and that made all the difference.

    frosty (543fcd)

  230. . He’s as much a Christian as Trump is a Christian, IMO.
    Paul Montagu (062b7e) — 9/4/2022 @ 7:43 am

    Of course, Paul. I share that opinion! That is the analogy I was trying to draw (between Orthodox/Putin and Protestant/Trump) when I typed:

    Because of the Orthodox tendency to exalt a State leader over a Church leader, Putin can be identified by supporters and opponents, alike, as the people’s “savior.”

    [ here, I omit my quote of Radegunda’s comment that prompted my analogy]

    If this reminds you of how Trump is sometimes identified, you would not be mistaken.

    I phrased my thought in that manner in order to avoid stating any approval/disapproval of the characterizations used by others.

    felipe (484255)

  231. I expect the usual suspects to whine about the new shots “not being tested”, but they are also whining about the old shots “not being tested enough” so there is no satisfying them.

    Like the annual flu shot, COVID vaccines need to change as fast as the virus does. It is insane to withhold a vaccine that is a variation of a previously tested one until full zero-knowledge trials can be done since many lives could be saved by rolling it out faster.

    Robert F Kennedy, Jr hardest hit.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 9/2/2022 @ 9:35 am

    It was tested on a few mice who were genetically identical but showed variations in response to the vaccine. It was approved without any human testing. It was approved based on an emergency that no longer exists in response to a virus that is endemic.

    The old shots weren’t tested enough either. If they’d have been tested we wouldn’t continuously need an EUA to distribute them. So, no, not like the regular flu vaccine and not insane to doubt it given the data we’ve been getting back from the previously “tested” ones. The comparison to the flu vaccine is especially weak since we’ve been working with the flu vaccine for a long time. The covid shots aren’t the same type of vaccine and don’t have the same track record. I’m not sure why anyone hears “just like the flu vaccine” and just nods along in agreement.

    Given the myocarditis data alone I’d expect a little more reluctance to give medical advice. Are you still making the drunk driving comparison?

    Any idea why the non-covid related excess death numbers are up?

    frosty (543fcd)

  232. Ugh! the formatting is messed in in my previous comment. What can a guy do to get the preview back?

    felipe (484255)

  233. On the other hand, it will create a new product line for his drug cartel bosses.
    nk (91b006) — 9/4/2022 @ 7:45 am

    Supply and demand, brother.

    felipe (484255)

  234. Any idea why the non-covid related excess death numbers are up?
    frosty (543fcd) — 9/4/2022 @ 8:53 am

    Imma guess that the insurance accountants investigating /resolving death claims are having (halving?) an effect on the governments “numbers.” I had previously stated that the only numbers I would trust for an accounting of deaths are the insurance actuarial results. Yes, this is snark.

    felipe (484255)

  235. If we’re to believe the traditional story around classified documents and SCIFs it might be a good idea to start at the beginning of the story instead of the end. There should be a record of everything DT was shown and it should have been accounted for going into and out of the SCIF. So, the question of what was in those folders shouldn’t actually be a question.

    The MAL SCIF apparently no longer exist, which is why the FBI found documents all over the place. Also, President Trump frequently took documents outside the SCIF and up to the White House residence.

    Mr. Trump, like most presidents, would bring documents from the Oval Office into his White House residence at night. The former president has said he issued a “standing order” that those materials were deemed declassified, but several former White House officials say they never heard of such an order.

    While Mr. Trump was president, an administrative office at Mar-a-Lago was converted to a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, or SCIF, a secured facility where Mr. Trump could review classified material. Behind the tinted windows of this second-floor room, visible from the club’s main sitting area, officials often worked around stacks of papers with no official protocol for filing the documents, former senior administration officials said, adding that conditions were often similarly disorderly in the White House dining room near the Oval Office. The SCIF at Mar-a-Lago was dismantled after Mr. Trump was defeated by President Biden.

    Source

    Rip Murdock (fc91f2)

  236. On the other hand, it will create a new product line for his drug cartel bosses.

    nk (91b006) — 9/4/2022 @ 7:45 am

    Proof? And which one? Having a 1/4 “coconut” wife, though making for terrible R primary candidacy optics/meme of “Mexican woman pushing him around”, is thin gruel on that metric.

    urbanleftbehind (0900f9)

  237. This woman shared the same stage as Trump at his rally.

    Cynthia Hughes, who runs a support group for J6ers, spoke at tonight’s Trump rally. She told the story of her nephew Tim Cusanelli, a convicted Capitol rioter — and Nazi sympathizer, who said “Hitler should’ve finished the job.” This is their poster child for J6 “injustice.”

    No fascism there.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  238. Michael Gerson scolds many of his fellow evangelicals

    good to see Gerson is still holding down his scolding Republicans gig after all these years

    when he’s ever quoted about anything else, it will be the first time

    JF (7be04a)

  239. “Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines’ proposed damage assessment of the documents is a remake of the January 2017 intelligence community assessment which claimed, without evidence, that Vladimir Putin wanted to put Trump in the Oval Office. The extensive redactions on the affidavit the FBI used to get a warrant to raid Trump’s home are akin to the excessive redactions on the application that the FBI showed a secret court in 2016 to get a warrant to spy on the Trump campaign. What was true for the original Russiagate holds here, too: The redactions are designed to hide not state secrets, but government corruption.

    The Mar-a-Lago raid feels like Russiagate because, well, it is Russiagate: a conspiracy theory weaponized by the country’s courtier class to serve the interests of a delirious and deracinated oligarchy, spawning daily prophesies of doom fed by an endless supply of national security “leaks” asserting that the former commander-in-chief really was and is a secret Russian agent. And proof of the president’s treachery, chant the priestly keepers of the “collusion” mysteries, will soon be revealed to the public. It is their blanket justification for every past crime and every new banana republic-style abuse of power, accompanied by a drumbeat of ever more outlandish and violent threats.

    It is in this context that the FBI’s raid on Mar-a-Lago should be understood: Government records and reports from political and media operatives and bureaucrats who previously starred in Russiagate I give evidence that the FBI raided Trump’s home to seize documents exposing the crimes that the FBI and Justice Department have been committing since 2016. The fact that Russiagate shows no signs of ending anytime soon is bad news for the republic, betrayed from within by a performative elite whose ability to project power outside its gilded bubble requires a steady supply of paranoia, fear, and hysteria.”

    https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/fbi-raid-mar-a-lago-trump-russiagate-lee-smith

    Colonel Haiku (b36a6b)

  240. Haiku, you lost me at “…claimed, without evidence, that Vladimir Putin wanted to put Trump in the Oval Office.” Not worth reading a word after that.
    The Mueller and Senate Intelligence Committee reports showed quite clearly that those were exactly Putin’s intentions.
    Count Smith as another poor sap who got himself sucked into the Trump Vortex.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  241. urbanleftbehind (0900f9) — 9/4/2022 @ 9:19 am

    Proof?

    Permissible inference from the totality of circumstances (which can be proof beyond a reasonable doubt in a criminal case). The border drug and human trafficking could not, and would not, exist without the subornation of law enforcement at all levels up to and including the state governor and U.S. Attorney.

    And which one?

    All of them. The ones that don’t pay, don’t play.

    nk (91b006)

  242. The acountability sorely lacking in other spheres:

    https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/bed-bath-beyond-cfo-plunges-134524026.html

    urbanleftbehind (0900f9)

  243. Because of the Orthodox tendency to exalt a State leader over a Church leader, Putin can be identified by supporters and opponents, alike, as the people’s “savior.”

    Ah, for the good old days when the Pope could order one Henry whipped and make another Henry cross the Alps barefoot, eh, felipe?

    If there is an Orthodox tendency, it is to like your parish priest who is almost always married with children, and make eunuch, homosexual, and adultery jokes about the celibates and monastics which comprise the hierarchy.

    And it does not translate into exaltation of State leaders. They get thrown out of office or put in front of a wall just as often as in place where Φίλιππος is spelled F-e-l-i-p-e.

    nk (91b006)

  244. Anyone notice Jon Stewart giving an award to a Ukrainian NAZI for participating in warrior games sponsored by the DOD at Disney World.

    We live in crazy times.

    frosty (543fcd)

  245. Rip Murdock (fc91f2) — 9/4/2022 @ 9:17 am

    Your comment has no relationship to any of the points in mine other than we use some of the same words. Why is that?

    frosty (543fcd)

  246. Nostalgic cheerleading for government-funded space exploration won’t solve the problems of a bloated government/contractor monster.

    Fuel pumps have been the bane of NASA since the shuttle started, if not before. Maybe they should talk to SpaceX or Russia or someone who gets it right more often.

    The shuttle-derived booster is skating on thin ice already. Were it not for the jobs program behind it, it would have been scrapped by now in favor of the newcomers.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  247. I did not “notice” Jon Steward when he had a TV show, and I’m even less likely now to notice him when Sputnik, a totally Russian propaganda outlet, puts out some bulls[] involving him.

    BTW, that’s classic KGB. A KGB or KGB-friendly outlet puts out some fake kompromat or dezinformatsiya and other outlets spread it or they don’t. Thankfully, in this case, it was only picked our by our neo-Deplorables.

    nk (91b006)

  248. picked *up* by

    nk (91b006)

  249. Lulubelle is not going to report daddy and brother to the police.

    That’s pretty crackerphobic.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  250. Biden promised in 2020 he would ‘never’ use military as a ‘prop’

    President Biden is taking criticism for placing Marines behind him during a deeply partisan speech Thursday evening outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia despite promising in 2020 he would not use the military as a “prop.”

    “I’ll never use the military as a prop…” -Squinty McStumblebum

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/flashback-biden-promised-2020-he-would-never-use-military-prop

    A lyin’ dog-faced pony soldier. And, as always, an IDIOT.

    ________

    How does a Mongo handle a lyin’dog-faced Squinty?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8cDfnQD0ws&t=2s

    _

    DCSCA (be9cda)

  251. I would have said that if Abbot tried to ban an FDA-approved non-narcotics schedule drug, the FDA would slap him down so hard he bounced, but I’m not sure of the state of the law about anything these days.

    nk (91b006)

  252. Miller (via Gerson): “You can be a Christian or a Trumpista, but not both.”

    I wonder how this message gets processed. As Haiku’s #243 demonstrates, many Trumpista operate with a complete different set of facts and assumptions. Negative reports about Trump are exaggerations spread by a hostile media and opposition is spearheaded by severely misguided Democrats hell bent on destroying the aspects of America that make it great. And Never-Trump are either too gullible to see it or too sympathetic to the Democrat’s agenda…and must be de facto purged.

    We are battling for what constitutes Truth. Trumpista genuinely believe that Trump’s only defects are the mean Tweets and his non-politician “honest” responses. That his heart is in the right place and that he is with them 100% on policy. He talks their language and if he says the election was fishy, then they’re with him. They go more with gut and have a lot of people they simply do not trust…including now the FBI, the Justice Dept, and anyone with perceived entrenched interests.

    So calling them un-Christian accomplishes what? I understand the sentiment, may agree on some level, but wonder how many are pulled away from Trump’s orbit by it? It’s been an eye-opening past 7 years. I so wrongly believed that after Trump’s “I like my soldiers not to be captured comments” that the GOP would flush this interloper and move on to a known quantity with real leadership credentials….as it has done throughout most of its conservative history. But this is the same group that yucked it up when Trump argued that we were not in the moral position to criticize Putin and praised the brutal efficiency of Beijing crackdowns.

    Most Trumpista’s heads would explode reading Gerson. He’s no longer substantively on their team. Like Cheney and French and Allahpundit, he’s to be ignored and deemed a lost soul. That’s why the DeSantis’s and Haley’s are using the soft glove approach that seems oddly misplaced. This is not a weed with shallow roots. The Haiku’s out there are invested in their understanding of reality….and their non-MSM “telling the hard truth” sources. I don’t see confirmation bias lessening until something really bad happens and belief in our modern day Barnum crumbles. The classified document scandal is just another excuse to do a House-the-Jack-built defense of the indefensible. You see it’s just more Russia-gate, right? Unfortunately what’s crystal clear anymore is that people’s hearts will need to be broken before they can grudgingly move on….we appear to be just biding time….

    AJ_Liberty (5f05c3)

  253. It also makes you wonder why so many people in America are so eager for it here.

    SF Author China Mieville has just published a “non-fiction” love letter to Marx and “The Communist Manifesto.” Apparently, Marxism has not really been tried.

    “A Spectre, Haunting” (no easy links for commies)

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  254. Any idea why the non-covid related excess death numbers are up?

    It must be those two billion death jabs.

    *sigh*

    Why do I even bother?

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  255. Your comment has no relationship to any of the points in mine other than we use some of the same words. Why is that?

    frosty (543fcd) — 9/4/2022 @ 10:47 am

    Your original comment:

    There should be a record of everything DT was shown and it should have been accounted for going into and out of the SCIF. So, the question of what was in those folders shouldn’t actually be a question.

    I misinterpreted your comment. Classified information is not necessarily stored or read in a SCIF. SCIFs are for the most highly classified information, not routine secrets. The WH offices presumably have individual safes to store classified documents, and do not to be read in SCIFs. As my reply post recounts, Presidents take classified information up into the residence to read.

    I doubt there is a written record of what classified documents Trump had, as the search warrant didn’t specifically name documents to be seized.

    Rip Murdock (fc91f2)

  256. Far as I can tell, frosty, the story originated from Grayzone, an “extreme left” and “low credibility” website founded by Max Blumenthal “of the Nation Institute. He also is a journalist, author, and filmmaker who is a regular contributor to the Questionable Russian news sites, RT and Sputnik.” Of course, it was picked up by Sputnik.
    Maybe we should hear from Halushka himself.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  257. The residences is fairly secure from Russian spies in most administrations. Not all, of course; FDR had Henry Wallace and Alger Hiss. We don’t know yet about Donald Trump.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  258. As far as I know, the Soviet Union preached Socialism as the intermediary stage before True Communism all the way to end. One joke is:

    — When True Communism comes, will there still be secret police?
    — Of course not. Under True Communism, the people will arrest themselves.

    That could not have made a KGB careerist happy.

    Russia right now is anything but socialist. It is a kleptocracy. As Martin Cruz Smith put it, “wolves eat dogs”. And Putin is the capo de tutti capi. He’s not looking to impose a political or economic system. He’s looking to expand his territory.

    nk (91b006)

  259. NASA doesn’t do anything on its own, it is multi-billion dollar contracting organization, and is their prisoner. Even the launch controllers are not employed by NASA, United Launch Alliance (a combination of Boeing and Lockheed Martin) provides the launch vehicles and personnel to launch them. And some of the NASA centers, like JPL, are run by contractors (Caltech in the case of JPL). Nostalgic cheerleading for government-funded space exploration won’t solve the problems of a bloated government/contractor monster.

    NASA does what it is directed to do by Congress– especially in the multi-administration leadership vacuum from the White House with a ‘start-stop-change-start-stop-change mentality.

    Quarterly driven, profit oriented, private sector firms- helmed with deep-pocketed billionaires playing at rocketeer– and lacking any marketable incentive for broad, private sector capital investors seeking a ROI in a quarterly driven marketplace, would have never gotten off the ground for LEO ops w/o government contracting for services and leased use of existing government facilities constructed on the taxpayer dime and modified at taxpayer expense for use. [See Elon Musk for details.] Projects of largess- like BEO space exploration– are too costly for private sector investors– that’s why governments do it. Like China. Like Russia. And like the USA.

    DCSCA (be9cda)

  260. “ Haiku, you lost me at “…claimed, without evidence, that Vladimir Putin wanted to put Trump in the Oval Office.” Not worth reading a word after that.”

    You’re a lost cause, you needn’t have bothered.

    Colonel Haiku (b36a6b)

  261. And why necessarily “cracker” phobic? If a family of Southern aristocrats did not “always marry their cousins”, there would have been no plot for Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell.

    nk (91b006)

  262. You’re a lost cause, you needn’t have bothered.

    I prescribe two reports*, and call me in the morning. It’s not a surefire antidote to Smith’s crackpottery, but couldn’t hurt.
    * which you didn’t read.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  263. @250. Hydrogen propellant has always been a tricky issue. One of the reasons Von Braun’s Saturn series- including the Saturn V SI-C first stage and its F-1 engines was designed and fueled by RP-1 and O2, not hydrogen, was the reliability and experience w/that propellant mix- -though slightly less efficient than hydrogen. Hence, in the case of Saturn V, the S-2 second stage and S-IVB third stage were hydrogen powered, using the then new- and technically finnicky- J-2 engines- mainly due to weight. Weight was critical- so much so, that the skin of the Saturn V 2nd stage is the fuel tank itself. But Saturn V was ‘over engineered’ in the eyes of today’s bureaucratic engineers– but they all worked.

    SLS was built by direction of Congress, and specified to use as much existing hardware as possible in a cost-saving issue. And yes, it means jobs at the facilities peppered across the country. The management and engineering teams are familiar w/t hardware, its strengths and weaknesses. the issues w/Artemis are less a matter of technology and more a management problem. You can hear it in their pressers. They’ve cut corners on testing, have labelled incomplete tests as successful– they even copped to a technician briefly flipping the wrong switch triggering a worsening leak.

    The problem is with the management team. This rocket was not ready to fly.

    It’s because the current group in charge are more bureaucratic engineers with one eye on the calendar, the fiscal year and counting beans rather than being competent engineers and smart managers, taking the time to fully test and fix it right before going to fly. It’s why Von Braun’s Saturn V rolled out and launched successfully on time in 1967– and why Artemis has not. They’ve got a management problem brewing in this program– you can smell a hint of Challenger and Columbia thinking.

    DCSCA (be9cda)

  264. “The entire left sees us [ed: Trump supporters] as blindly loyal, stupid, and ready to follow him as he walks off a cliff. In their mind it cannot be that we actually loved his policies, his idea of working on our own issues first, in a manner that prioritizes our country’s needs- first. Which is what every other nation does, with no apologies. They just don’t call it that, but their priority is their country. Trump’s priority is our country and, unsurprisingly, millions of Americans want that.

    That’s not loyalty to a cause. That’s rational self-interest.

    Here’s some examples of blind loyalty:
    -Standing in front of a burning down Atlanta, proclaiming to the world on TV that this is a ‘peaceful protest’. The New York Times was up to their eyeballs in usage of ‘peaceful protests’. As our nation was ripped apart, they stayed loyal to their cause.
    -Watching multiple cities burned down, looted, people murdered, and smiling about it, raising money to bail out the perpetrators, engineering more protests, arming the protestors, and refusing to speak to the nation- while you’re running for office- to tell the protestors to stop. Just stop.
    -BLM and Antifa threaten national rioting if Trump were to get re-elected in 2020. They’ll do the same if he runs in 2024. Why? Loyalty to their cause.

    And the fact that most of the nation – a large majority of people – think the FBI should be turned inside out, hosed out, shaken out, and left to dry out in a spotlight before operating fully again, and in light of the FBI’s behavior and illegalities over the last 6 or so years, the fact that the New York Times cannot see that We the People have some serious questions about the FBI can only be attributed to blind loyalty to a cause.

    Again, Party over Nation. Cause over Party. The NYT long ago ceased to be an objective source of information. Take your news from them knowing they have a Cause before they report anything.”

    —- Temujin

    https://mobile.twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1566230943693676544

    Colonel Haiku (b36a6b)

  265. Biden promised in 2020 he would ‘never’ use military as a ‘prop’

    What about Beau, Joe?

    Asking for the 13 dead U.S. military personnel you got killed due to your incompetence.

    It’s always opposite day with Squinty. Now the shouting, angry old man opposes ‘Make America Great Again’??

    Anytime Joe declares anything, do a 180. Such a frigging imbecile. And we have Never-Trumpers and disgruntled, out-of-favor ideologues and Neocons to thank for this Hell.

    DCSCA (be9cda)

  266. @Haiku@268 Multiple high ranking Democrats publicly and repeated condemned the violence and did not support defunding the police and none of them got turfed out by their party.

    Nic (896fdf)

  267. US OKs $1B arms sale to Taiwan as tensions rise with China
    ……….
    The $1.09 billion sale includes $355 million for Harpoon air-to-sea missiles and $85 million for Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, the State Department said.

    The largest portion of the sale, however, is a $655 million logistics support package for Taiwan’s surveillance radar program, which provides air defense warnings. …….
    ………
    On Thursday, Taiwan’s military said it shot down a drone hovering over one of its island outposts just off the Chinese coast in an incident that underscored the heightened tensions. A day earlier, Taiwan said it had warned off drones hovering over three of the islands it occupies off the coast of the Chinese port city of Xiamen.
    ………

    Rip Murdock (fc91f2)

  268. Trump Denounces President Joe Biden as “Enemy of the State” In First Rally After FBI Raid
    ………
    On Saturday night in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Trump called the president of the United States “an enemy of the state.” This fiery accusation was likely fueled by comments Biden made in a speech on Thursday: “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.”
    ………..
    Addressing the FBI search of his Florida estate, Trump called the Justice Department “vicious monsters” who executed a “shameful raid and break-in of my home in Mar-a-Lago.” He also called the search “one of the most shocking abuses of power by any administration in American history.”

    Possibly the most outrageous claims Trump made at the rally were about John Fetterman, the lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania and Dr. Mehmet Oz’s rival for a Senate seat. “Fetterman supports taxpayer-funded drug dens and the complete decriminalization of illegal drugs, including heroin, cocaine, crystal meth, and ultra lethal fentanyl. And by the way, he takes them himself,” Trump said.
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (fc91f2)

  269. nk (91b006) — 9/4/2022 @ 10:33 am

    Heh. You’re not wrong…

    felipe (484255)

  270. Trump Embraces Conspiracy Theories He Only Winked at Before

    In a 24-hour period this week, former President Donald J. Trump posted to his social media platform, Truth Social, 88 times, amplifying one conspiracy theory after another.
    ……..
    The strategy partly mirrors Mr. Trump’s chaotic approach during moments of crisis, searching for a message to ignite supporters while shifting attention away from his controversies. But the posts this week appeared especially haphazard, opening a door to the former president’s thought process even as his legal team tries to craft a cogent defense against the Justice Department’s investigation.
    ………
    Tens of millions of Americans believe that the use of force would be justified to restore Mr. Trump to the White House, said Robert Pape, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, citing a poll conducted last year.
    ……….
    Mr. Trump also posted multiple times about Timothy Thibault, an F.B.I. agent who retired this week after more than 20 years at the bureau. Far-right news sites reported that two agents had escorted Mr. Thibault off the grounds of the F.B.I. in a dramatic scene that Mr. Trump described as having been “perp walked.” Mr. Trump also falsely claimed that Mr. Thibault had played a central role in the Mar-a-Lago search.
    ………
    Mr. Thibault’s lawyers said in an emailed statement that the agent had decided to retire a month ago and that he had “walked out of the building by himself.” He was not involved in the Mar-a-Lago search, the lawyers said.
    ……….
    Trump also shared a post about Ray Epps ……The post falsely claimed that Mr. Epps’s wife worked for a division of Dominion Voting Systems, an election technology company at the center of a series of conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. In fact, her LinkedIn profile showed she worked for Dominion Enterprises, an unrelated marketing services company.
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (fc91f2)

  271. Trump compliments ‘fierce’ and ‘smart’ Putin and applauds Xi Jinping for ruling China with an ‘iron fist’
    ………
    “I’ve got to know a lot of the foreign leaders, and let me tell you, unlike our leader, they’re at the top of their game,” Trump said, comparing Xi and Putin to President Joe Biden.

    The former president went on to describe Xi and Putin as “fierce” and “smart” before anticipating the reaction from the media.
    ……..
    “(Xi) rules with an iron fist, 1.5 billion people, yeah I’d say he’s smart,” he continued. “Wouldn’t you say he’s smart?”
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (fc91f2)

  272. Is Joe Biden a fascist? No. Is Donald Trump a fascist? No. (As I have said before, his political views, to the extent he has any organized views on politics, are closest to those of a monarchist. And he doesn’t get along well with many other elected leaders.)

    Do both of them have supporters who, to put it mildly, are not solid supporters of democracy? Yes, although Trump has done far more to encourage his.

    But it is still foolish — or dishonest — to call either a fascist.

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  273. The difference between a monarchist and a fascist is that a monarchist believes in the principle of legitimacy – who is the rightful king – while a fascist believes in autocracy without any way to justify who the autocrat should be.

    Sammy Finkelman (418659)

  274. 129. Jim Miller (85fd03) — 9/3/2022 @ 5:44 am

    For the record: Early in the Trump presidency, I came to this conclusion: Decent, capable people could work in the Trump administration, and often should, but no one should lie for him. No one.)

    What about lying, or not being completely honest with him? (there should be a limit)

    Sammy Finkelman (418659)

  275. 107 degrees in Los Angeles?

    Sammy Finkelman (418659)

  276. Talk about ‘stealing an election’– this is America’s shadow POTUS– who nobody voted for:

    Susan Rice holds quiet but powerful perch at White House

    When White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre faced questions recently about calls for an administration office to tackle gun violence, she had an answer: Susan Rice is in charge.

    Rice, she said, is already leading a 12-person team from her perch atop the Domestic Policy Council to execute a government-wide effort to reduce gun violence that also brings in mental health and workforce development. “There’s no one who is better at bringing stakeholders to the table to drive progress,” Jean-Pierre told reporters.

    The announcement served as a reminder that Rice is at the center of major and contentious policy debates and decisions on everything from gun violence to immigration to criminal justice reform to student loan debt forgiveness to the stymied talks around President Biden’s signature domestic legislative effort. “I’d say that the Domestic Policy Council has the broadest and also the most diffuse agenda,” said Bill Galston, chair of the Brookings Institution’s governance studies program and a former domestic policy aide to then-President Bill Clinton.

    But Rice is leading on these issues quietly. While she has headlined a handful of roundtables from the White House on issues including racial equity and eviction prevention, she has appeared at only one press briefing to field reporter questions [more recently at the student loan forgivness presser as well] — six days after Biden took office — and rarely does media interviews.

    Brian Deese, chair of the National Economic Council, has attended eight briefings. Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, has participated in 11, not counting informal gaggles aboard Air Force One. “She has kept herself outside of the limelight,” Galston said. “Keeping your head down and doing your job is a pretty good formula, and I think it’s the formula she’s been following.”

    The position of domestic policy adviser is decidedly lower-profile than others in presidential administrations. It’s a change for Rice, who cut her teeth in foreign policy and served as ambassador to the United Nations and national security adviser under then-President Obama. Still, some believe that the administration should be putting Rice out there more, even if it’s not part of the traditional job description.

    “I expected her to be a little more public facing if I’m being honest,” said one Democratic strategist. “She’s such a powerful force. She could have been Vice President or Secretary of State and I don’t think they’re utilizing her in a way that creates maximum impact for the administration.” “Some might say that’s not her role but why shouldn’t it be?” the strategist added.

    A White House official countered on Monday that Rice speaks publicly with various groups every few days, adding that she is focused on the work itself, and when an opportunity arises for her to explain that work to the American public, she takes it. “She’s done a fair amount of public engagement, it’s just not necessarily always through the press channel,” the official said.

    Behind the scenes, though, Rice has wielded her power.

    She was intimately involved in the crafting of the long-awaited executive order on policing that Biden signed on the second anniversary of George Floyd’s murder last month. Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, recalled receiving a call from Rice on a Sunday night while he was watching a football game not long after a leaked draft version of the order irked police groups. Rice, Pasco said in an interview, told him the administration wanted to do a “reset.”

    “She and [White House counsel] Dana Remus were right in the middle of things from there on out along with other senior staff,” he said.

    The White House worked with law enforcement groups to negotiate aspects of the final order so that ultimately it would be acceptable to police organizations as well as civil rights groups.

    “She’s a tough negotiator,” Pasco said of Rice, who noted she was up front about where the administration’s “red lines” were. “That said, she was a fair negotiator.”

    Rice has also been at the center of contentious debates over immigration policy amid a surge of migrants at the southern border.

    Rice and Biden chief of staff Ron Klain worried last summer that lifting Title 42 would encourage more migrants to flow to the southern border, The New York Times reported in April.

    She was also reportedly among a group of officials who blocked a plan to give COVID-19 vaccines to migrants out of concern it would encourage more border crossings.

    “They didn’t want to create a new crisis on their hands,” said one Democrat close to the White House. “I think that was what she and other White House officials were trying to stress.”

    Last year, Rice was a regular fixture on Capitol Hill as Biden’s team tried, and failed, to get senators to agree on a compromise version of his Build Back Better bill that could pass the upper chamber with only Democratic votes. “She carries a certain clout and gravitas and that’s not lost on folks who sit at the table with her,” said one Biden ally. “She’s a brilliant, hardworking and thoughtful person period. She’s someone you walk away from saying ‘Damn, she’s smart.”

    The White House official noted that Rice put her own mark on the domestic policy office by tapping four deputies to head four pillars — rather than the traditional organization of one director, one deputy and experts underneath — so that the administration could push forward on all of its focus areas at once.

    “That speaks to her desire to ensure that we can continue to put points on the board or the president, despite what might be going on at any given moment,” the official said.

    Rice is among a cadre of Obama-era officials who joined Biden’s administration early on. She, Klain, deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed and other officials are said to brief Biden in the Oval Office several times a week. She was initially rumored to be a candidate for secretary of State, but Biden ultimately chose longtime adviser Antony Blinken for the role amid Democratic concerns that Rice would lack the votes to be confirmed in the Senate.

    Rice has long been a popular target for criticism among Republicans due to her involvement in the response to the 2012 Benghazi attack.

    During that response, Rice appeared on a round of Sunday shows and said the attack on the consulate in Libya was the result of a protest that turned violent instead of a planned terrorist attack. The administration later announced it was a terrorist attack.

    Benghazi became a leading talking point against then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Obama and Rice for years. Many Democrats say it was one of the reasons she was passed over for the vice presidential nomination.

    “The White House says ‘no one better’ than Susan Rice to lead their gun control messaging,” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who headed a House panel investigating the Benghazi attack almost a decade ago, tweeted in late May. “The architect of the Benghazi cover-up? I can’t think of anyone worse.”

    But gun control advocates have been happy with Rice’s work, though some have advocated for a devoted office to focus on the issue more than the Domestic Policy Council can muster given its competing priorities.

    Under Rice’s leadership, the council “is certainly more engaged on gun safety than it was under the Obama administration,” said Peter Ambler, executive director at the gun control advocacy group Giffords. “I think Rice has advanced the ball on some important initiatives like expanding the administration’s focus on violence intervention strategies and funding.”

    The White House official said that Rice’s office has taken a broad approach to addressing gun violence by connecting it to other policy areas, such as mental health and health care.

    “We view it as a comparative advantage to have our gun policy agenda connected to so many of our other critical policy agendas, so we’re not looking at it narrowly,” the official said.

    Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers who said she has met with Rice over Zoom on issues such as student debt and civics education, described her as someone who “looks around corners” and really engages people from the outside as the administration weighs policy decisions.

    “Before you have a meeting with Susan Rice you, have to do your homework. Because she’s going to ask you – even if you do your homework – a question that you don’t know the answer to,” Weingarten said.- TheHill.com

    https://news.yahoo.com/susan-rice-holds-quiet-powerful-160112713.html

    DCSCA (e6cc91)

  277. Xi isn’t so smart. He’s doomed the system – but maybe doesn’t care. I don’t think he’s smart. It’s easy for him.

    Sammy Finkelman (418659)

  278. They said Biden wanted to name Susan Rice vice president, and set the political criteria so that she would be c=virtually the only choice, but couldn;t because ff=of Benghazi. So we got Kamala Harris.

    Sammy Finkelman (418659)

  279. But I’m not sure.

    Sammy Finkelman (418659)

  280. 263: Of course NASA paved the road they travel on. But 540 years on and NASA is still trying to pave the same road again. IF NASA wants to be useful, they should aim much higher. A probe to Alpha Centuri, perhaps.

    But what they are doing is like Lewis and Clarke trying to guide the wagons to Oregon in the 1880s.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  281. 540 50

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  282. there would have been no plot for Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell.

    Or most historical fiction about European royalty.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  283. It’s because the current group in charge are more bureaucratic engineers with one eye on the calendar, the fiscal year and counting beans rather than being competent engineers and smart managers, taking the time to fully test and fix it right before going to fly.

    This is why people discount NASA and why their best people (and all the young kids) go to work at SpaceX and the others.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  284. On Thursday, Taiwan’s military said it shot down a drone hovering over one of its island outposts just off the Chinese coast in an incident that underscored the heightened tensions. A day earlier, Taiwan said it had warned off drones hovering over three of the islands it occupies off the coast of the Chinese port city of Xiamen.

    The Kinmen Islands are indefensible and have no strategic value unless Taiwan is planning on shelling Xiamen. I have been expecting China to take them for several years now.

    As the party congress approaches, and Xi needs a boost, it’s almost certain China will move against Kinmen (aka Quemoy for you history buffs). Call it October. It’s not like Biden is going to war with the Chinese right before the midterms,

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  285. The rhetoric rises.

    B: “Clear and present danger”
    T: “Enemy of the State”
    B: “Spawn of Satan”
    T: “Comrade President”
    B: “Wannabe Hitler”
    T: “Murderous Thug”

    then it gets nasty

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  286. If Xi doesn’t do something to regain the momentum, he may not get that third term. The last few years have been terrible for China.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  287. Chilean voters decisively reject leftist constitution
    ………
    The new charter envisioned a dramatic shift to the left in the South American nation, expanding the role of government and calling for an economic model that would narrow inequalities and help lift up the poor.

    But for many Chileans, the proposed changes were too drastic. With more than 95 percent of ballot boxes tallied Sunday night, about 62 percent of voters rejected the charter, while 38 percent approved it, according to Chile’s electoral authority.
    ……….
    The proposal would have enshrined certain civil rights that have never before been included in a constitution, emphasizing many of the priorities of the leftist social movements led by younger Chileans: Gender equality, environmental protections, Indigenous and LGBTQ rights, and legal access to abortion.

    It would have guaranteed access to high-quality education, health care and water. It would have granted rights to nature and animals and required the government to address the effects of climate change. It was thought to be the first constitution that would have required gender parity across government and public and public-private companies.
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (fc91f2)

  288. “ Haiku, you lost me at “…claimed, without evidence, that Vladimir Putin wanted to put Trump in the Oval Office.” Not worth reading a word after that.

    Of course Putin wanted to put Trump in office. What was the reason for Wikileaks leaking Democratic Party email?

    The Tablet author may be thinking Putin’s purpose was only to stir up division, which was the alternative theory, but I don’t think Putin’s purpose was so neutral and indifferent to the results of the election. He did have trolls on both sides of the election.

    Now it’s another question if Putin helped all that much – there may have been, in fact, a net negative impact because it was no secret that Putin was “voting” for Trump.

    What isn’t true is that Trump colluded with Putin, which we know because Putin would not have colluded with Trump. Think of it: Would Putin trust Donald Trump to keep any secrets?

    It takes to to collude or conspire.

    Sammy Finkelman (418659)

  289. The New York Times had an Op-ed all in favor of the proposed new Chilean constitution with none of the probelms with it mentioned.

    Sammy Finkelman (418659)

  290. I would definitely hopre that something stops Xis’s third term, but he controls it. But what he’s done is eliminated a successor.

    Sammy Finkelman (418659)

  291. What I think the real story with Chile and socialism is that it’s how the nomenklatura get the CIA to give them money.

    nk (91b006)

  292. The New York Times had an Op-ed all in favor of the proposed new Chilean constitution with none of the probelms with it mentioned.

    If you read the article that Rip linked, OMFG!! The Constitution was basically the socialists’ platform plus their wish list. It should have lost worse.

    Democracy dies when the NY Times speaks.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  293. @250. Was reviewing some old CBS News video– and consider this:

    July 16, 1969. Apollo 11 is on the pad and as the crew is ingressing, a leak appears in the Saturn V’s third stage– the S-IVB– during propellant loading… a hydrogen leak. A persistent one which previously occurred on Apollo 10. The problem was sourced to the ground loading system, not on the Saturn. So what did the operations managers do? Sent a technician and safety man to the pad, tightened the valve and seal as the countdown continued– and 11 was launched on time.

    DCSCA (bb70a2)

  294. I did not know that Bed, Bath & Beyond was a Russian firm, yet there goes the CFO out the window.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  295. NASA administrators have a terrible dilemma. If they launch it and it blows up they’re all looking for real jobs. If they roll it back to the assembly building they might still be looking for a real job. The operative word is “might.”

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  296. NASA administrators have a terrible dilemma. If they launch it and it blows up they’re all looking for real jobs. If they roll it back to the assembly building they might still be looking for a real job. The operative word is “might.”

    Agency administrators like Webb or Paine, would be conferring with guys like Gilruth, Mueller, Von Braun, Kraft, Low and the Lunney, Griffin, Hodge, Charlesworth and Kranz and make some management changes. The leadership vacuum in the Artemis program structure is emerging from the bureaucratic fog. You know my POV on NASA HSF ops but when you see a problem and opt for work arounds rather than stop and fix the problem[s] you’re setting yourself up for a disaster down the road. What we’ve seen at these management pressers is not confidence building. Nelson is an ass-kisser and hardly a projector of strong, competent administration. They’re blowing hot air by constantly blaming hydrogen.

    DCSCA (bb70a2)

  297. @230 people here are not eager for lenin/stalin war communism. Even AOC is not a communist ;but a moderate social democrat. She and bernie seem further left then european democratic socialists is because the democrat party under clintons and to a lesser degree Obama/Biden has moved to right center of the multi-national capitalist silicon valley donor class. If AOC was a commuist or even a real socialist as opposed to being a social democrat AOC would have demanded amazon be nationalized not just stopped being given welfare handouts from tax payers. Too many conservatives think anybody to the left of them is a communist. Liberals have now given up trying to be bipartisan after what happened to obama and clinton and is now happening to biden. When I was growing up liberals would say “we: when talking to conservatives. Conservatives would say you and me don’t make we commie! Today conservatives say “we” when talking to liberals and liberals say you and me don’t make we nazi!.

    asset (36f5c8)

  298. Things change, asset.

    nk (359332)

  299. Liz Truss will be the next British Prime Minister.

    Rip Murdock (fc91f2)

  300. I did not “notice” Jon Steward when he had a TV show, and I’m even less likely now to notice him when Sputnik, a totally Russian propaganda outlet, puts out some bulls[] involving him.

    BTW, that’s classic KGB. A KGB or KGB-friendly outlet puts out some fake kompromat or dezinformatsiya and other outlets spread it or they don’t. Thankfully, in this case, it was only picked our by our neo-Deplorables.

    nk (91b006) — 9/4/2022 @ 11:09 am

    And

    Far as I can tell, frosty, the story originated from Grayzone, an “extreme left” and “low credibility” website founded by Max Blumenthal “of the Nation Institute. He also is a journalist, author, and filmmaker who is a regular contributor to the Questionable Russian news sites, RT and Sputnik.” Of course, it was picked up by Sputnik.
    Maybe we should hear from Halushka himself.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e) — 9/4/2022 @ 11:29 am

    I’m unclear on what either of you are trying to say. Are you saying it didn’t happen? Because there’s a photo of it happening. Are you saying he’s not a neo-nazi because the Azov battalion was known to be so before we memory holed it. Congress said as much in 2018. If you search back just a little in the past you’ll find outlets like Newsweek, The Hill, and USA Today reporting on the neo-nazi issue with Azov. That’s got to be some supernatural Russian propaganda. As far as hearing from Halushka, you don’t think the nazi tattoo tells you anything? Or do you think that’s fake Russian disinfo?

    I’m unclear though because it sounds like you both are saying that this can be ignored because a) you don’t like the source of the story, d) it’s inconsistent with current propaganda, and c) something something Russia.

    It’s interesting that neither of you outright say it isn’t true. Is adhom the best you’ve got on this one?

    frosty (1ec466)

  301. Putin is making easy Germany’s decision to continue running their nuclear power plants.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  302. It must be those two billion death jabs.

    *sigh*

    Why do I even bother?

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 9/4/2022 @ 11:21 am

    I don’t think you really have. You’re just trying to be dismissive and sarcastic. You’re also reading more into what I’m saying than is there but this isn’t unusual.

    Did you even know that the excess non-covid deaths are up? Excess deaths were a big concern during peak covid but not a concern now? If you cared about it then it seems like you’d bother a little bit with it now.

    It doesn’t support the covid cult narrative anymore but I’d hate to think that’s why you’re dismissing a situation where more people are dying than we expect for reasons we don’t have an explanation for.

    frosty (1ec466)

  303. Rip Murdock (fc91f2) — 9/4/2022 @ 11:25 am

    We must have gone from tippy top secret things that require scifs like nuclear secrets and names of high level foreign assets to top secret stuff no one keeps track of when I wasn’t looking.

    frosty (1ec466)

  304. I’m unclear on what either of you are trying to say.

    I said exactly what I intended to say, but I’ll make it clearer: Be skeptical of those kinds of pro-Putin sources, especially when they’re telling only one side. You and Grayzone know nothing else about Halushka.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  305. What I think of the Azov Regiment is that they are heroes who will go down in history for their defense of Mariupol alongside the defenders of the Alamo, and Putin’s podex osculators can take their characterization of them as neo-Nazis and shove it up what they kiss. Or their own.

    nk (359332)

  306. It’ll really suck if both our major political parties nominate mentally diminished candidates.
    Do better, GOP. Democrats, too.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  307. @309 Going pro-neo-nazi? I did nazi that coming.

    @308 I was at first. I went looking and I expected to see counter arguments that Azov wasn’t neo-nazi or that Halushka wasn’t affiliated with them or that he didn’t have a neo-nazi tattoo, etc. Instead what I found was silence. A complete blackout on this other than to say it’s all Russian disinfo. Is there another side to the story? I can’t help but notice how carefully you’re stepping around the issue. Are you skeptical of the past reporting by sources that weren’t then and aren’t now considered pro-Putin?

    frosty (1ec466)

  308. The closest thing to a neo-Nazi that I see these days is Putin. The next closest are at Trump rallies.

    Now I happen to know who Ihor Halushka is because I looked him up. Did you?

    nk (6e57c2)

  309. The Truss victory should make the Rick Scotts of American politics smile.

    urbanleftbehind (0900f9)

  310. From the link above for those who don’t click links:

    The Invictus Games, returning for its fifth edition after a two-year absence, is an international sports event for “wounded, injured and sick Servicemen and women” who compete across ten sports.
    ….
    Halushka was injured while rescuing a fellow serviceman who was being shot at, taking a bullet through the head and part of the brain which left him facing a lengthy recovery – yet five years on, he has taken top spot on the podium and is sending support back to his homeland.

    nk (6e57c2)

  311. But to quote an older and wiser fellow commenter, why do I bother?

    nk (6e57c2)

  312. It’s Labor Day! Time to rest those left hands, BidenVolk.

    Colonel Haiku (945b8c)

  313. @309 Going pro-neo-nazi? I did nazi that coming.

    No, I didn’t say that, but thanks for the smear, frosty. Classy.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  314. Eh, the numbering messed me up.
    You’re a claiming a “blackout” without evidence, and you still don’t know anything more about Halushka except for guilt-by-association and a tattoo.
    It is true that the Avoz Battalion has neo-Nazis in their ranks, and Halushka may be one of them, or not, but it’s irrelevant because it’s a bogus casus belli for Putin to invade, and it’s fairly obvious propaganda they’re using to rationalize their illegal immoral unprovoked invasion, thanks to Sputnik and the pro-Putin hacks at Grayzone.

    Azov has evolved since their inception, including accepting Jews and Muslims. The battalion didn’t exist before Putin invaded Donbas, so you can blame the Russian dictator for their existence in the first place.

    The other fact is that Ukraine elected a Jew with 73% of the vote and there is zero neo-Nazi representation in the Ukrainian parliament. Meantime, the bigger fascist is none other than Putin himself.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  315. Of course, if there were any justice in the world, it would be Trump getting all those gold medals because he can run faster, jump higher, hit the ball harder, and spit a watermelon seed farther than any athlete in the history of sports.

    nk (6e57c2)

  316. I’m predicting that Judge Cannon’s order will get appealed to the 11th Circuit and at least partially reversed, because reviewing documents for executive privilege is ridiculous as that was already waived by the Executive Branch. She was appointed by Trump and confirmed after Trump lost. Our sore loser ex-president should be thanking McConnell instead of calling for his resignation.

    Only slightly less ridiculous is delegating a Special Master to decide which documents are personal records and which are presidential records. It was up to Trump to separate documents that were “purely private or nonpublic character”, and there’s no evidence he did so. His conduct speaks fairly clearly that he decided he personally owned all the records, even the marked ones.

    I can see the need of an outside party to decide which documents fall under attorney-client privilege, but I think the judge went too far.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  317. His conduct speaks fairly clearly that he decided he personally owned all the records, even the marked ones.

    Who could have expected that a sociopathic narcissist would conflate the presidential office with his personal interest and believe that no one had a right to tell him what he couldn’t filch?

    Radegunda (a133bd)

  318. Trump rally highlighting January 6 case of alleged Nazi sympathizer sparks criticism
    ………
    The speaker at Trump’s Pennsylvania rally was Cynthia Hughes, the leader of a support group for January 6 defendants like Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, whose case went viral after the Justice Department released photos of him sporting a distinctive “Hitler mustache.”
    ………
    During the Saturday rally, Hughes pointed to the fact that Hale-Cusanelli, whom she called her nephew, had been kept in jail since his arrest nearly two years ago as an example of what she called the broader injustice facing defendants in January 6-related cases. …….. (T)he judge in his case decided he should remain in jail while he awaited trial because he posed a threat to the public and that there was a potential for an “escalation of violence” from his alleged long-held neo-Nazi beliefs.
    ………
    During his May trial, prosecutors …….. showed text messages from the defendant where he expressed anti-Semitic views, accusing Jewish people of controlling Biden, and said he wanted civil war.

    Hale-Cusanelli, who claimed he didn’t know Congress met at the United States Capitol, has denied being a member of any White supremacist groups. He testified that he is half Jewish and half Puerto Rican — and that his racist slurs were always meant to be “ironic” and “self-deprecating humor.”
    ………
    He was the fifth January 6 rioter to be convicted by a jury in Washington, DC, and faces up to 20 years behind bars for the felony of obstructing an official proceeding. The ultimate sentence, however, will likely be far lower.
    #########

    Rip Murdock (fc91f2)

  319. the FBI couldn’t find a dead person in front of their noses

    JF (4eeb47)

  320. Rip Murdock (fc91f2) — 9/5/2022 @ 10:48 am

    meanwhile, a Portlandistan protester who threw an incendiary at a federal courthouse with people inside gets a thorough wet noodle lashing

    JF (4eeb47)

  321. Squinty in Milwaukee shouting on Labor Day: ‘Inflation was high last year because they didn’t have computer chips for cars.’

    Inflation: it’s the computer’s fault.

    He starts his 81st year on Planet Earth in 76 days– 70 years after he left Scranton, PA.

    “Come on, man. Not a joke.” – Squinty McStumblebum

    This angry old bum is goddamned IDIOT.

    DCSCA (432e0e)

  322. “Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.” – Squinty McStumblebum 9/5/22

    … said the IDIOT with the nuclear launch codes.

    IMBCECILE!

    DCSCA (432e0e)

  323. “You can’t be pro insurrection and be pro democracy.’- Squinty McStumblebum, 9/5/22

    So, Joe, Thomas Jefferson was a crazed MAGA man, eh? Joe, why are such a frigging IDIOT; such a lyin’ dog-faced, pony soldier of an imbecile?

    “God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive.

    If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. … What country before ever existed a century and half without a rebellion? And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.” – Thomas Jefferson

    ________

    A Brit Hume tweet:

    Years ago, Joe Biden asked me why I never used sound bites from him in my coverage of the Senate. “Senator,” I said, “I think you’re a windbag.” He good-naturedly laughed it off. I thought it was true then. Read this and see if you think it’s true now… – Brit Hume

    https://jewishworldreview.com/0622/lowry060122.php

    DCSCA (432e0e)

  324. Yep, the 11th Circuit should trash Judge Cannon’s decision. Way too many holes.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  325. After witnessing how these lefties and NeverTrump have operated over the past 6+ years, I think it’s safe to say Judge Cannon will need some protection.

    Colonel Haiku (945b8c)

  326. OK OK that one can stay in moderation lol.

    Dustin (a87c64)

  327. NASA has announced a change to the Artemis rocket program.

    Rip Murdock (dc01f1)

  328. Biden responds to heckler at speech: ‘Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot’

    President Biden responded to a heckler while delivering remarks in Milwaukee on Monday, saying, “Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.” “They’re entitled to be outrageous. This is a democracy,” Biden said during that speech, also saying, “Good manners is nothing they’ve ever suffered from.” – THeHill.com

    …said the IDIOT with the manners to shower with his daughter, pooped his pants for a pope and farted in front of the Duchess of Cornwall.

    INCOMPETENT. INCONTINENT. IDIOT. IMBECILE.

    DCSCA (85cd4d)

  329. Next Wave of Nuclear-Power Plants Sees New Life in Climate Bill
    ……….
    The projects would qualify for production or investment-tax credits also available to wind and solar power under the new law. They could receive an enhanced credit if they are placed near former coal-fired power plants, an idea that has taken hold among utility companies in search of new, stable forms of power generation. Projects eventually could receive billions of dollars through the credits, say analysts.
    ……….
    The law also offers tax credits to help existing nuclear reactors stay open. ……..
    ………
    The nuclear industry has a history of delays and cost overruns. Just one large nuclear plant is under construction in the U.S.—Southern Co.’s expansion of its Vogtle facility in Georgia—and it is more than five years delayed and billions of dollars over its initial projected cost. …….

    Advanced nuclear reactors could deliver carbon-free power but first must overcome the industry’s poor record on project execution, said Chris Levesque, CEO of TerraPower LLC, which plans a reactor project near the site of a closing coal plant in Kemmerer, Wyo.
    ………
    TerraPower and X-Energy were chosen by the Energy Department to test, license and build what are called demonstration reactors to prove the technology. Last year’s bipartisan infrastructure law included $3.2 billion for such projects.

    The idea of building smaller reactors isn’t new, but 10 years ago potential customers were unsure how to evaluate costs and regulatory risks, said Carlos Leipner, director of global nuclear-energy strategy at the pronuclear environmental-policy group Clean Air Task Force.
    ……….
    The latest legislation included $700 million to help research, develop and produce more highly enriched uranium fuel that would be needed for some proposed advanced-reactor projects. ……..
    ##########

    Rip Murdock (dc01f1)

  330. @332, that’s quite the release. I hope you feel better.

    AJ_Liberty (5f05c3)

  331. @334. “No joke!” – Squinty McStumblebum, 9/5/22

    DCSCA (617f2f)

  332. I did not know that Bed, Bath & Beyond was a Russian firm, yet there goes the CFO out the window.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 9/4/2022 @ 10:49 pm

    Well, now we know what “Beyond” stood for.

    norcal (da5491)

  333. Washington weighs plan to let Americans wager on elections
    ……..
    (Kalshi Inc.), the up-and-coming prediction market operator, backed by some of the biggest names on Wall Street and Silicon Valley, is already a force in launching new contracts for investors and bettors to trade on everything from climate change to potential Moon landings.
    ………
    Under the proposal, Kalshi wants to list two new so-called political event contracts based on the question of whether Democrats or Republicans will take over each chamber after the midterms. Investors would be able to wager as much as $25,000 on the outcomes of the elections.

    Officials at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the regulator in charge of overseeing U.S. derivatives markets, have long been reluctant to open up trading in elections. ……The regulator (is) concerned that the products effectively represented a form of gambling, that they could influence the outcomes of the races themselves, and were ultimately not in the public interest.
    ……..
    “When we think about what happened in 2020, do we really want another excuse for the American people to question the integrity of our elections?” said former CFTC Commissioner Jill Sommers……. “This is not something we want to be introducing into federally regulated financial markets.”

    Americans are not new to election markets, with betting going back well over 150 years, according to Koleman Strumpf, an economics professor at Wake Forest University who researches prediction markets. …….
    ……….
    The regulator is specifically looking at two key issues, Willkie Farr & Gallagher partner Neal Kumar said. The first is whether the products involve a form of gaming, a classification of event contracts that is prohibited under CFTC rules along with the other types of unlawful activity.

    The second is, if the contracts are determined to reference gaming, is there an economic purpose behind them such as providing a way for investors to hedge risk, Kumar said.
    ……….

    What could possibly go wrong?

    Rip Murdock (dc01f1)

  334. Someone at the Washington Examiner has a sense of humor:

    Trump drops harsh Labor Day Truths

    Possibly a sly sense of humor. The article, by Daniel Chaitin, takes a serious tone; if there is a hint from him in the article I missed it, but that headline is a joke. As is clear from much of the article. (The ambitious may want to count the Trump falsehoods in the article.)

    (I can imagine an editor — headlines are often written by editors, not reporters — chuckling as he (or she) wrote that headline, thinking that any informed and rational person would see that the article was a joke. And the “drops” is a nice touch, suggesting that even when given truths, Trump can’t hang on to them.)

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  335. Florida arrested felons for election fraud. It also gave them voter IDs.
    ………
    ……… (T)wo weeks after law enforcement orchestrated the round-up of arrests to coincide with (DeSantis’s) press conference, the case is starting to fall apart.

    The first obstacle is the legal principle of intent. For the state to get a conviction for a third-degree felony for the crime of voting as an unqualified elector, it must prove that the people who voted illegally (and) willfully intended to break the law.

    Yet of those arrested so far, all told Florida investigators that they received a voter registration card from their county elections supervisor’s office and believed they were authorized to vote by someone in government……..
    ……..
    Under state law, it is the state’s responsibility to screen ineligible voters and inform county supervisors to remove those people from the rolls, then-Secretary of State Laurel Lee, a DeSantis appointee, told the Times/Herald and ProPublica in 2020.
    ………
    ……… DeSantis was asked at a news conference in Suwanee County, “What role does the state have in notifying elections supervisors about these ineligible voters?”

    He didn’t answer the question but said the blame should fall on supervisors who allow ineligible voters to be added to the voter rolls. He didn’t mention that supervisors are required by law to pass along completed voter registration forms to the state for its approval.
    ……….
    (Sen. Jeff Brandes, the Republican from St. Petersburg and Senate sponsor of a 2018 law that allowed some felons to vote) predicts that many of the defense attorneys for those arrested will take some of the cases to trial, increasing the costs to the state.
    ……….

    The gang that couldn’t shoot straight.

    Rip Murdock (dc01f1)

  336. I don’t know about you all, but I’d have qualms about a bus driver who is always being run over by the bus he wants to drive.

    nk (6e57c2)

  337. Yep, the 11th Circuit should trash Judge Cannon’s decision. Way too many holes.

    The appeal process would only serve to give Trump a breather. What the DOJ should do is keep the pressure on. Give Trump all the special mastering he wants; if he demands discovery within 30 days, serve it within the week; just keep the case moving forward.

    The DOJ has the initiative, they shouldn’t let Trump bog them down. That’s only to his advantage — he might even have time to find better lawyers.

    nk (6e57c2)

  338. Donald Trump’s Vendetta Politics
    ……..
    Mr. Trump has been pursuing a vendetta against Mitch McConnell since the Senate GOP leader denounced the former President’s role in the events of Jan. 6. …….

    Mr. McConnell is wise to ignore Mr. Trump’s attacks. But that may be why Mr. Trump has recently dragged in (Elaine) Chao, who is Mr. McConnell’s wife. On Aug. 20 in a post on Truth Social, his social-media site, Mr. Trump said Mr. McConnell “should spend more time (and money!) helping [Republicans] get elected, and less time helping his crazy wife and family get rich on China!”

    The money line is itself rich since Mr. Trump spends almost none of his own campaign stash helping other Republicans. ……

    On Aug. 24 Mr. Trump escalated with a statement that “The Democrats have Mitch McConnell and his lovely wife, Elaine ‘Coco’ Chao, over a barrel. He and she will never be prosecuted, as per the last paragraphs of this story.” He then linked to a story in The Federalist, an online publication, that was full of guilt by innuendo.

    Ms. Chao came to the U.S. as a child from Taiwan, not China. You may have heard there’s a difference.…….
    ……..
    (The Foremost Group) specializes in bulk-commodity ships that carry grain and other freight. ……… You can’t be in the global shipping business and not travel to Chinese ports.
    …..
    ……Is Mr. Trump now claiming that any American who does business in China is a traitor or in bed with the Communist Party? It’s hard to believe Mr. Trump would make these accusations if Ms. Chao wasn’t ethnic Chinese.

    If he believes what he says, then why did Mr. Trump invite Ms. Chao to join his cabinet? ………Ms. Chao’s real offense, apart from being married to Mr. McConnell, is that she resigned from the cabinet after the Jan. 6 riot. Mr. Trump can’t abide that stand on principle.

    …….. (A)ll of this relates to Mr. Trump’s role in the GOP. Instead of focusing on President Biden, Mr. Trump cares above all about settling scores with members of his own party. His politics is always about himself, not a larger cause. ………
    #########

    Rip Murdock (dc01f1)

  339. The appeal process would only serve to give Trump a breather.

    On top of the self-imposed 60-day period where DoJ can’t issue an indict or do other impactful things on the election. While in this limbo, this thread offers an interim approach, to file a motion to reconsider with an attached FBI declaration, which would give the 11th Circuit more evidence to chew on, which sounds interesting to his non-lawyer.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  340. Four towns around San Diego are without power. And California Governor Jackass McGreasycomb wants the grid to support electric cars???

    IDIOT.

    DCSCA (a4fe4f)

  341. I don’t know about you all, but I’d have qualms about a bus driver who is always being run over by the bus he wants to drive.

    Joey says he’s an experienced 18-wheeler driver. Has he hauled any toilet paper to Scranton lately?

    DCSCA (a4fe4f)

  342. Ben shapiro tweets the republicans are losing their advantage in the 2022 mid term election over abortion issue. Trying to switch the subject to the economy isn’t working. Being pro-life ignoring the abortion issue when 80% of voters are some form of pro choice isn’t working. Calling them baby killers doesn’t seem to be working either. Saying are you better off today then you were two years ago doesn’t work because 80% of the voters say no because of the supreme court ruling on abortion. Pro choice democrat just won in Alaska! Old chinese curse : Be careful what you wish for you might get it! Pro-choice initiatives will be on the ballot in most anti-abortion states in 2024. Bring out women voters.

    asset (e5ce56)

  343. The other fact is that Ukraine elected a Jew with 73% of the vote and there is zero neo-Nazi representation in the Ukrainian parliament.

    This is what a pluralistic society looks like.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  344. spit a watermelon seed farther than any athlete in the history of sports.

    I bet he could spit a whole watermelon!

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  345. Paul Montagu (062b7e) — 9/5/2022 @ 4:03 pm

    That’s interesting about the 11th Circuit. That six of them are Trump appointees, and the seventh is Judge Pryor who has the least reason in the world to love Democrats.

    What else is interesting is that many people know about Senate “blue slips” but may not know that every judicial appointee is first cleared by the DOJ. For Trump’s appointees, that would have been Sessions and Barr, and we know how the Ooompa Loompa treated them at the end.

    nk (3fdf68)

  346. The Walking, Talking Dead: Squinty McStumblebum babbles on of unions and FDR today…

    This chart shows how union membership has declined over the years

    The union membership rate has dropped over time. In 1983, the first year with available data, 20.1% of wage and salary workers were union members. A decade later in 1993 it had fallen to 15.7%. Decades later in 2021, the rate stood at 10.3%.

    https://www.businessinsider.com/chart-union-membership-changes-decline-over-the-years-2022-9

    IDIOT.

    DCSCA (a4fe4f)

  347. @350 see the movie caesar chavez. The establishment has been anti union. Read the book the social history of the machine gun. Mother jones was just not a magazine. For many years j.edgar hoover allowed the mafia to control unions and kill its socialist leaders. See the movie fist. Today unions are under attack by supreme court republicans. Look at amazon and walmart workers who try and unionize. see movie norma rae.

    asset (c77249)

  348. Does Anyone Have Standing to Bring a Lawsuit Against Biden’s Student Loan Debt Cancellation Policy?
    ……….
    The problem of standing is a genuine challenge for opponents of the debt cancellation policy. But it need not be an insuperable one. There are at least three types of litigants who can plausibly get standing: one or both houses of Congress, student loan servicers, and colleges that do not accept federally backed student loans, but compete with those that do.

    Under current Supreme Court precedent, plaintiffs have to meet three requirements to get standing to file a lawsuit in federal court: They must 1) have suffered an “injury in fact,” 2) the injury in question must be caused by the allegedly illegal conduct they are challenging, and 3) a court decision should be able to redress the injury.
    ………..
    The main potential stumbling block in this case is the requirement of “injury in fact.” It may be difficult to prove that student loan cancellation injures anybody, in the sense required by Supreme Court precedent. ……. Unfairness, by itself, isn’t enough.

    It may be that taxpayers suffer a tangible injury, because loan forgiveness denies funds to the federal treasury, thereby forcing them to bear more of the burden of public expenditures. …… But the Supreme Court has long denied such taxpayer standing, in all but a few unusual circumstances, which aren’t relevant here.

    But while taxpayers generally do not have standing to challenge illegal uses of public funds by the executive, the Senate and the House of Representatives do! …….
    ……….
    Unfortunately, the House or Senate would likely have to file as an institution in order to get standing. The Supreme Court has ruled that individual members of Congress lack standing to sue the executive over fiscal issues.

    A second type of entity that could get standing to sue is student loan servicers. …….
    ……….
    A final category of plaintiffs who could get standing is colleges that refuse federal funding (including federal student loans), but compete with those who accept it. ……..
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (dc01f1)

  349. After witnessing how these lefties and NeverTrump have operated over the past 6+ years, I think it’s safe to say Judge Cannon will need some protection.

    Colonel Haiku (945b8c) — 9/5/2022 @ 12:52 pm

    It takes some bigly willful blindness to believe that in the age of Trump, threatening political violence has been predominantly the left-wing‘s thing.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  350. Could John Fetterman Win a Defamation Lawsuit Against Donald Trump, for Accusing Fetterman of Hard Drug Use?

    At a campaign rally, Trump said,

    Fetterman supports taxpayer-funded drug dens and the complete decriminalization of illegal drugs, including heroin, cocaine, crystal meth, and ultra lethal fentanyl. By the way, he takes them himself.

    The clip included above seems to support that. If the “he takes them himself” statement is false, could Fetterman (a public official) win a defamation lawsuit against Trump?

    Yes, though he’d have to show, by “clear and convincing evidence,” that Trump spoke “with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.” …….
    ………
    ……… (U)nder the right circumstances, a jury can infer that the speaker must have realized the accusation was probably false (rather than just that he should have realized it), or must have deliberately decided not to investigate, and the jury can disbelieve a speaker’s claim that he was sincerely sure the statement was false.

    So, if Fetterman can persuade the jury the accusation was false, and can also persuade the jury (again, by clear and convincing evidence) that Trump knew it was false or probably false, Fetterman would win. ……..

    On the other hand, if Fetterman can’t do so—perhaps because Trump can point to some source for the accusation that the jury thinks he actually believed (whether or not he should have believed it)—then Fetterman would lose. …….
    ……….
    Some have pointed out that this rewards the crazy or the foolish, who actually sincerely believe unreasonable claims. But that is the nature, for better or worse, of the New York Times v. Sullivan subjective test.
    ……….

    Highly unlikely that Fetterman will sue.

    Rip Murdock (dc01f1)

  351. No thanks. Here’s one suggestion from the Washington Post dance critic that I decided to ignore:

    Six drag queens you should be following on YouTube
    These expert entertainers offer it all: Transformation. Barbiecore. Activism.

    After that title and subtitle, I didn’t even read the first paragraph.

    A year or so ago, I picked up a book on William_Hogarth. What strikes me most about his art is how often it teaches personal moral lessons — and how seldom artists create such works, today.

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  352. Highly unlikely that Fetterman will sue.

    That has always been Trump’s big advantage. Most people consider it beneath their dignity to wrestle in the mud with the orange pig. While his pig-race aficionados call it “he fights”.

    nk (d7f8bb)

  353. Rip Murdock (dc01f1) — 9/5/2022 @ 5:55 pm

    I don’t get it. Why isn’t embezzlement from the treasury something everyone is damaged by?

    Article I, Section 9:

    No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law;

    Are you telling me that Biden could stroll down to the treasury and walk out with bags of cash and no one can raise a finger if Congress chose not to act?

    The Constitution defends me and my rights. It’s a contract. Why can’t I enforce a contract?

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  354. Of course, two can play that game. Next time that the GOP has total control, the president can just cancel capital gains taxes for the year.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  355. Rip, if you parse that, any illegal drug use would make it true. Is pot legal in PA? Can he prove that he had never used such? Also, use of one of those substances legally would also make it true. He’s had a stroke. Maybe he takes some strong meds.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  356. Lujan Grisham is running on an all-abortion all-the-time platform against a Republican who argues that elective abortions should not be allowed after the first trimester. Both these positions are being lost in the noise from the incredibly clueless absolutists on the pro-life side. It’s like they want to take the CA GOP nationwide.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  357. ……..
    The Constitution defends me and my rights. It’s a contract. Why can’t I enforce a contract?

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 9/5/2022 @ 6:53 pm

    The Supreme Court ruled in Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Mellon, 262 U.S. 447 (1923) :

    The administration of any statute likely to produce additional taxation to be imposed upon a vast number of taxpayers, the extent of whose several liability is indefinite and constantly changing, is essentially a matter of public, and not of individual, concern. If one taxpayer may champion and litigate such a cause, then every other taxpayer may do the same, not only in respect of the statute here under review, but also in respect of every other appropriation act and statute whose administration requires the outlay of public money and whose validity may be questioned. The bare suggestion of such a result, with its attendant inconveniences, goes far to sustain the conclusion which we have reached, that a suit of this character cannot be maintained. It is of much significance that no precedent sustaining the right to maintain suits like this has been called to our attention, although, since the formation of the government, as an examination of the acts of Congress will disclose, a large number of statutes appropriating or involving the expenditure.

    Rip Murdock (dc01f1)

  358. Rip, if you parse that, any illegal drug use would make it true. Is pot legal in PA? Can he prove that he had never used such? Also, use of one of those substances legally would also make it true. He’s had a stroke. Maybe he takes some strong meds.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 9/5/2022 @ 6:59 pm

    Trump provided a specific list of drugs: “ heroin, cocaine, crystal meth, and ultra lethal fentanyl,” all of which are illegal. Pot was not included in Trump’s remarks. Medical pot is legal in PA.

    Truth would be an absolute defense; if Trump can prove Fetterman used any of the listed drugs then it should be a slam dunk in defending himself.

    Rip Murdock (dc01f1)

  359. A son can bear with equanimity the loss of his father, but the loss of his inheritance may drive him to despair. — Niccolo Machiavelli

    The President can use his pardon power to commute a 20-year prison sentence, but faith forbid he should forgive a $20,000 debt.

    That’s all it is. A debt. As we lawyers say, a chose in action. That you have to sue for, and garnish and attach to collect, if there’s anything there to garnish and attach.

    The money was already properly appropriated and properly paid out. Whether it was ever going to be recovered was only an expectation to begin with. Like an inheritance.

    nk (52680c)

  360. Here’s another takedown, this time from a former Solicitor General.

    This special master opinion is so bad it’s hard to know where to begin:

    1. She says Biden hasn’t weighed in on whether docs protected by Exec Privilege. Nonsense. The archives letter (which DOJ submitted to the Judge) makes it clear current President thinks none of this is privileged. Archivist says it is “not a close” question.

    2. Judge enjoins the entire investigation because some of the material might be subject to Executive Privilege. But Executive Priv isn’t some post-presidential privilege that allows Presidents to keep documents after they leave office. At most, it simply means these are Executive documents that must be returned to the archives. It doesn’t in any way shape or form mean they can’t be used in a criminal prosecution about stolen docs.

    3. She says the “reputational” harm to Trump justifies a special master. That’s insane–every crim deft has reputational harm. Are we now going to have special masters in every crim investigation?

    4. She says the Special Master should screen materials for exec privilege, without ever once explaining what specific material is subject to exec priv, particularly when the incumbent President rejects the assertion. How is the Master supposed to figure that intricate Q out?

    5. She says that because some tiny percentage of materials might be privileged, the entire investigation over all the materials has to stop. That’s a bazooka when one needs at most a scalpel.

    6. She tries to enjoin the Exec Branch from using these materials in an investigation, but the govt has already reviewed all the materials. It makes no sense.

    7. She says Trump suffers irreparable harm in interim, but the only harm she isolates is he won’t have the docs back during the investig. That’s not irreparable, he can get them back later & if they are improperly used to bring an indictment, he can move to dismiss the indictment.

    8. Her analysis of standing is terrible. Trump wouldn’t own these docs anyway, so why does he get a Master over them? If there is some marginal claim to some attorney client docs, that handful of material can be separately dealt with–you don’t enjoin the entire investig for that.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  361. The Supreme Court ruled in Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Mellon, 262 U.S. 447 (1923) :

    This isn’t about a statute, or about a tax increase. It’s about a constitutional guarantee of how public monies are spent.

    The Constitution says that he cannot do this unless Congress votes him the money. They haven’t voted him the money. Is the constitution unenforceable by citizens? Damn convenient for the powers that be.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  362. A country that’s doing well at its war shouldn’t have to buy “millions of artillery shells and rockets” from a North Korean tinpot despot, or drones from a brood of bearded Shiite mullahs.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  363. Fetterman supports taxpayer-funded drug dens and the complete decriminalization of illegal drugs, including heroin, cocaine, crystal meth, and ultra lethal fentanyl. By the way, he takes them himself.

    What is “them” in that sentence? Is it illegal drugs? Is it illegal drugs in the (non-exclusive) list? Is it legal drugs in the non-exclusive list?

    If he had a prescription for fentanyl, and he advocated for decriminalization, the entire sentence is absolutely true in the most plausible parsing.

    If he smoked illegal pot, and advocated for decriminalization of the things in that list, the sentences is also absolutely true since the list ins not exclusive.

    If he had a prescription for Vicodin, and advocated for decriminalization, it is also true, since Vicodin is illegal without a prescription and the two parts of the sentence slide differently, but he still wins.

    It would be really hard for Fetterman to win this case.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  364. The money was already properly appropriated and properly paid out. Whether it was ever going to be recovered was only an expectation to begin with. Like an inheritance.

    There are so many fun things that could be done with that kind of ruling.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  365. If you want to how to write an article about a massive refugee crisis, and not a say a word about what precipitated this massive human exodus, get a load of this piece from the WA Post. The only mention of the prime instigator of this crisis–Maduro–is this:

    The United States does not recognize the presidency of Nicolás Maduro, whose ruling party claimed victory in November elections marred by the lowest turnout in decades, which has hindered authorities’ ability to send migrants back.

    As if it’s somehow our fault that we didn’t recognize the multiple illegitimate elections that Maduro was behind.
    There’s not one word about Hugo Chavez, the predecessor to Maduro who triggered the country’s massive inflation and shortages and economic decline, and who hollowed out a once prosperous oil industry despite having the world’s largest oil reserves on the planet, a program that Maduro did practically nothing to change.
    There’s not word of the failed Chavez-Maduro Bolivarian socialist revolution and their alignment with bad actors like Cuba and Iran and Russia. Seriously, what the hell are Venezuelans ‘sposed to do but get their families outta there.
    Even more dishonest is comparing a refugee crisis caused by phenomenally incompetent governance to a refugee crisis caused by a Russian military invasion that is not at all the fault of the Ukrainian government.
    Anyway, frustrating read. We are doing the right thing by allowing more refugees in, not unlike our policy with Cubans.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  366. It would be really hard for Fetterman to win this case.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 9/5/2022 @ 7:53 pm

    I’ll defer to Prof. Volokh’s legal analysis, unless you have other legal cites to the contrary.

    Rip Murdock (dc01f1)

  367. It is not a ruling. It is a summary of the facts as they exist. There are only two remedies:
    1. A court can issue a mandatory injunction to the President to take all appropriate action to collect the debt; and/or
    2. Congress can impeach him for failure to faithfully execute the laws.

    nk (52680c)

  368. Is this or is it not true?

    Undergraduate loans, graduate loans and Parent PLUS loans managed by the Department of Education are all eligible. Biden’s plan only applies to federal student loans. Private student loans are not eligible for forgiveness, even if they began as federal loans.

    There will be no bailout for private lenders. Yes?

    nk (52680c)

  369. @351. See Jimmy Hoffa, instead.

    When they find him.

    But you’ll discover the conversation is a little one-sided.

    DCSCA (00b45c)

  370. @374 hoffa was part of organized crime. My point exactly. The corporate establishment prefers unions run by organized crime not by leftists. Trump will tell you its much easier dealing with the mafia you just pay them off!

    asset (0216cf)

  371. I am on social security and have to shop at walmart. I was ahead of some trump idiot with an NRA and I vote tee shirt. I told him we are going to do the same to you republicans over abortion! His pithy come back was HUH? Mark lavine on his show admits most of new voters registering are women. How do we know they are not registering to vote pro-life? Lavine asks. Now thats deseration. Plus sen. rick scott rethugliKKKan of floriduh has siphoned off almost all of the hundreds of millions of dollars in senate campaign funds to grifters and hustlers making them rich. Mcconnell who evidently wasn’t cut in on the grift is hopping mad.

    asset (0216cf)

  372. I’ll defer to Prof. Volokh’s legal analysis, unless you have other legal cites to the contrary.

    It’s simple sentence parsing, which they taught in middle school.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  373. His pithy come back was HUH?

    That would be my pithy comeback, followed by “Sod off, swampy.”

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  374. 2022 should be a GOP rout, but unquestionably Trump’s push of the Big Lie, some GOP candidates ascending solely because of their support for the Big Lie, and pushback because of post-Roe over-reach are making 2022 into a bit of a nail-biter. Still, inflation lingers and acts as a paycut for the nation. Elections are a referendum on leadership and Biden is not exactly popular. Sure, the DEMs passed a few things and Joe asserted a questionable power to forgive billions in debt, but Biden was hired by moderates to be a moderate and bring back normalcy to the Presidency. He’s not acting the role….because he couldn’t afford to lose his base too.

    Abortion will drive some elections…like the Pennsylvania governor’s race….but people also like their pocket books and fear giving margins of Congress to DEMs who are eager to redistribute money or, more likely, dig endlessly bigger deficits as they buy votes going into 2024. The sentiment of the middle is for politicians to find small things that both sides can agree on, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards.

    People like asset are bristling with animosity, they want to figuratively and literally punch someone in the mouth. There are those on the right more than willing to retaliate. I think we’re set for more Walmart encounters…..

    AJ_Liberty (c916b7)

  375. Put not your faith in voters, asset. Your salvation lies with AOC. Trust in her, for hers is the tofu and the arugula and the quinoa.

    nk (52680c)

  376. It is not numbers that give women their power over men, comrades. Eve did not outnumber Adam.

    nk (52680c)

  377. Paul Montagu (062b7e) — 9/5/2022 @ 9:34 am

    You’re arguing against things I never claimed. For example, I never said it was a reason for Putin to invade.

    But, yes, a nazi tattoo does tell you a bit about a person. He still has it correct? In the picture nk linked one of the flags was an Azov flag correct? I think we know a few things just from that no?

    And I’m not sure a link to the bulwark goes very far. It sounds like Ukraine, and specifically the Azov regiment, realized they needed some PR to help keep the cash and resources flowing and the usual outlets were happy to help. I don’t blame them for that.

    I still think the optics of Stewart giving an award to guy with a nazi tattoo an award at Disney is unusual.

    frosty (75c195)

  378. AllahPundit’s real name is Nick Cattogio, says his new employer.
    My thorough 3½-second search found a 1995 byline in TIME.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  379. frosty (75c195) — 9/6/2022 @ 6:13 am

    Noted, that you continue to not acknowledge that you still don’t know his side of the story, or are particularly interested, or give a rip about the bias and credibility of those sources. Just put out the story by a pro-Putin partisan outfit and connect your own dots, no?

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  380. Learn about the Department of Defense Warrior Games at Disney World, here.

    Learn more about Ihor Halushka, here.

    Learn more about the “people” (and I use the term loosely) who are calling him a Nazi on the internet at “Putin’s Bumboys
    Are We, Inc”. Sorry, no link.

    nk (28b9a4)

  381. The Evil that Quimbies Do…

    “It’s reminiscent of the Covid maps that have beset us for the past 3 years. Now, the disease is located in human minds, and we our encouraged to view our fellow Americans as contagion. This is not a good way to do politics. It’s actively evil and far more dangerous and destructive than feeling skeptical about an election that took place 2 years ago.

    The election season begins officially today, the day after Labor Day, and if this is the way it’s launching, what a horrorshow!

    https://althouse.blogspot.com/2022/09/im-disgusted-by-burgeoning-denier.html

    Colonel Haiku (945b8c)

  382. “When I was deputy executive secretary (ambassadorial level) at the United Nations in Geneva from 1988-1992, the wall fell and the geopolitical realities completely shifted. During the end of the Cold War my office was bugged, my house was bugged, my car was bugged, and I had a death threat. It wasn’t Tanganyika. It was the KGB. Consider the reality recently for us Trump supporters—it wasn’t the KGB or another adversary up to no good. It was our own FBI. . .
    . . . On March 27, 2018 I flew on a long international flight into Boston’s Logan International airport. I was to connect to a domestic flight enroute to my in-law’s house, just outside of Cleveland, Ohio for the Easter holidays. After exiting the plane, I was escorted to a special line for passport control. There, I was formally detained and asked to wait, along with my wife who was traveling with me. They would not say why, and I found it most curious as I was a frequent flier and went back and forth between the United States, U.K., and Europe and elsewhere many times a year. I never had such treatment.

    After about 20 minutes left waiting, we were taken by a TSA official and an FBI agent to a separate hall where they thoroughly checked my suitcase and asked about any electronic devices, phones, or computers I had in my possession.

This all seemed very foreboding and I have never experienced anything like this before, unless you include trips to Communist China or in the old world to eastern bloc countries as a diplomat.

What’s going on, I thought?

When they found nothing suspicious and would not answer my questions about why they were detaining me, they separated me from my wife and told her to wait in a lounge, without explanation, while I was to be interviewed. That is all they said. Naturally, this left her in a state of total confusion and near panic. 

What had I done? Why me? Why this arrangement and detention? . . .

    . . . I was unfazed and very dubious about why they thought I knew anything. I couldn’t help but wonder: had they read a copy of my soon-to-be-released book, The Plot to Destroy Trump: How the Deep State Fabricated the Russian Dossier to Subvert the President? The timing of this interrogation along with the nearing publication date just days off, seems to me to suggest, yes, they had read it. Closely, and with a fine-tooth comb. . .

    . . . I called the special counsel’s office the next morning and they said it would be better to appear later, which we agreed would be April 13 and they would pay for my travel, room and board. I told them I had legal representation and asked that they establish contact. For the record, that excellent counsel, over months and months, ended up costing me about $60,000.

The deep state was sending a signal and had no doubt read my detailed book which implicated them. They wanted to intimidate me. . .

    . . . I am not and have never been an operative, have no Russian contacts, and—aside from appearing on air and in print often to defend and congratulate our Donald J. Trump—have done nothing wrong. What message does this send? I will tell you—stay clear of Trump and all things Trump or the globalists and deep state will get you as they say, “seven ways to Sunday. . .”

    . . . The FBI told me, and my lawyers, I was only a witness never a target. The affidavit says otherwise. They lied. Clearly, they wanted to “Papadopoulos” me, to turn a surname into a verb.

    The FBI surveils people constantly, without their knowledge, without authority to do so, and even if you are outside the country. The Fourth Amendment is out the window. . .

    . . . The FBI needs to be exposed for what it has become and how it has betrayed the nation and its very own motto.”

    https://amgreatness.com/2022/09/05/the-fbi-exposed/

    Colonel Haiku (945b8c)

  383. @381. Shorter:

    “Stop thinking with your glands.” – James Kirk [William Shatner] ‘The Man Trap’ – ‘Star Trek’ NBC TV, 9/8/1966

    DCSCA (f57fb0)

  384. Ted Malloch consorted with Jerome Corsi (who consorted with Roger Stone), who tried to enlist Malloch to approach Wikileaks about the Podesta/DNC emails that Putin’s people stole. Of course the FBI was going to investigate.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  385. nk (52680c) — 9/5/2022 @ 8:23 pm

    There will be no bailout for private lenders. Yes?

    But most student loans have been by the federal government for the last approximately ten years

    Other loans are dischareable in bankruptcy, or can be written off due to insolvency and may be paid for by insurance.

    Sammy Finkelman (418659)

  386. Former FBI Director Louis Freeh was invlved in one of Hunter biden’s deals (in Romania)

    https://nypost.com/2021/06/07/romanian-tycoon-hired-hunter-biden-ex-fbi-chief-to-avoid-jail-emails

    Emails obtained from Hunter’s abandoned laptop show the younger Biden — then working as a counsel at Boies Schiller Flexner LLP — reached out to former FBI Director Louis Freeh in June 2016 about the case of Gabriel Popoviciu, who was accused of acquiring land to build a Bucharest mall at a below-market price, the Daily Mail reported.

    In a June 18, 2016, email, Hunter Biden told Freeh — then a partner at the Delaware-based law firm Freeh, Sporkin & Sullivan — that he believed Popoviciu was “a good man that’s being very badly treated by a suspect Romanian justice system … Time is of the essence and my client has never balked at bringing whatever team it takes together at whatever cost to obtain justice.”

    While Freeh’s initial response, which began “Thanks for your note and for thinking of me,” was noncommittal, he was soon fully invested in Popoviciu’s case.

    In a subsequent email, the former FBI head suggested Popoviciu had value to American law enforcement.

    “FYI,” Freeh wrote in a July 8 email to Hunter Biden obtained by The Post, “I have had conversations with the head of the FBI’s Criminal Division and there is a sincere Bureau interest in meeting and debriefing Gabriel on other matters he may be willing to discuss.” Freeh did not elaborate on what those “other matters” were.

    Later in the email, Freeh told Hunter Biden he would “like to make a small payment to you for this referral-and for your continuing work on this matter. This is a standard practice … We would just need your bank information in order to make a
    remittance.”

    It seems he later maybe laundered the money:

    https://nypost.com/2021/05/20/ex-fbi-chief-gave-100k-to-biden-grandkid-trust-as-he-sought-future-work-hunter-emails

    “I also spoke to Dad a few weeks ago and would like to explore with him some future work options,” Freeh wrote on July 8, 2016.

    “I believe that working together on these (and other legal) matters would be of value, fun and rewarding.”

    Sammy Finkelman (418659)

  387. “Pursuant to the Court’s equitable jurisdiction and inherent supervisory authority, and mindful of the need to ensure at least the appearance of fairness and integrity under the extraordinary circumstances presented, Plaintiff’s Motion [ECF No. 1] is GRANTED IN PART. The Court hereby authorizes the appointment of a special master to review the seized property for personal items and documents and potentially privileged material subject to claims of attorneyclient and/or executive privilege. Furthermore, in natural conjunction with that appointment, and consistent with the value and sequence of special master procedures, the Court also temporarily enjoins the Government from reviewing and using the seized materials for investigative purposes pending completion of the special master’s review or further Court order.”

    The court found that the DOJ’s leaking constituted an intentional harm to Trump’s rights:

    “When asked about the dissemination to the media of information relative to the contents of the seized records, Government’s counsel stated that he had no knowledge of any leaks stemming from his team but candidly acknowledged the unfortunate existence of leaks to the press.

    With respect to the first factor, the Court agrees with the Government that, at least based on the record to date, there has not been a compelling showing of callous disregard for Plaintiff’s constitutional rights. This factor cuts against the exercise of equitable jurisdiction.

    The second factor–whether the movant has an individual interest in and need for the seized property–weighs in favor of entertaining Plaintiff’s requests. According to the Privilege Review Team’s Report, the seized materials include medical documents, correspondence related to taxes, and accounting information [ECF No. 40-2; see also ECF No. 48 p. 18 (conceding that Plaintiff “may have a property interest in his personal effects”)]. The Government also has acknowledged that it seized some “[p]ersonal effects without evidentiary value” and, by its own estimation, upwards of 500 pages of material potentially subject to attorney-client privilege [ECF No. 48 p. 16; ECF No. 40 p. 2]. Thus, based on the volume and nature of the seized material, the Court is satisfied that Plaintiff has an interest in and need for at least a portion of it, even if the underlying subsidiary detail as to each item cannot reasonably be determined at this time based on the information provided by the Government to date.”

    https://legalinsurrection.com/2022/09/judge-appoints-special-master-temporarily-bars-fbi-doj-review-or-use-of-records-seized-in-mar-a-lago-raid/

    Colonel Haiku (945b8c)

  388. The court found that the DOJ’s leaking constituted an intentional harm to Trump’s rights.

    The judge made an assertion without evidence, and DOJ denied under oath that the leaks came from them. That was one of many wrong statements the judge made. Also, Cannon conclude that the warrant did not violate Trump’s rights. Also, the judge’s own footnote made clear that the jurisdiction of the documents rested with DC Circuit. Her ruling is a dog’s breakfast.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  389. Just read that Judge’s ruling for Special Master…
    https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.618763/gov.uscourts.flsd.618763.64.0_2.pdf

    Is this new? At end of page 21:

    On balance, the Court is not persuaded. It is undisputed
    that Plaintiff’s counsel attempted to resolve Plaintiff’s request for a special master and other relief informally with the Government almost immediately after the search, without judicial intervention [see ECF No. 1 pp. 8–9]. In view of Plaintiff’s timely attempt toward a negotiated resolution of this issue, along with Plaintiff’s inability to know the extent of what was seized, the Court is satisfied that Plaintiff did not “slumber[] on [his] rights.” While Plaintiff perhaps did not act as promptly as he could have, the two week delay does not now preclude Plaintiff from seeking or being entitled to injunctive relief.

    I wasn’t aware of Trump’s lawyers asking for a special master almost immediately after the search… I’m not finding any news report supporting that, so I’m curious how this Judge came to that conclusion.

    If she’s right, then it’s another black mark on the DOJ and friendly outlets to frame this story in the most unflattering light possible.

    Par for the course really…

    whembly (b770f8)

  390. Anyone knows where “see ECF No. 1 pp. 8–9” mentioned above?

    whembly (b770f8)

  391. “Anyone knows where “see ECF No. 1 pp. 8–9” mentioned above?”

    It’s this, Trump’s motion that started this hearing: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22164310-trump-motion-for-judicial-oversight-and-additional-relief-8-22-22

    In it (pages 8-9) an unnamed counsel for Trump asked the FBI for (among other things) a special master, which was declined. Now, I’m not an expert on these things by any means, but my understanding is that special masters are court appointed, so it’s not the FBI’s job to appoint one. Trump’s lawyers then waited 11 days before making the above motion.

    The judge is absolutely carrying water for Trump.

    Davethulhu (aec6bf)

  392. @396 Eh… I don’t know if she’s “carrying water for Trump”.

    Adding a Special Master into the process isn’t going to prevent the DOJ from charging Trump if there’s a crime. At worst, the Special Master adds 2-3 months of investigation for the DOJ.

    All this does, is ensure a level of transparency into the process in a highly contentious and political process. If anything, it’s the court trying to buttress the legitimacy of the entire process.

    whembly (ae61f7)

  393. Everyone’s forgotten that the warrant was a general warrant and just a fishing expedition which is why it grabbed so many documents the government shouldn’t have in its possession.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  394. It wasn’t a general warrant but it said that if one classified document was found in a box or container, they could take the whole container.

    Earlier the government aid they didn’t have to return the 3 (I think not currently usable – one is a diplomatic passport) passports to Trump, but they only did so at their discretion. It’s supposed to be evidence that he personally examined the classified documents. They were also looking to retrieve presidential records.

    I think they were probably in the residence in the White House

    This fact was obscure before: Only a tiny fraction of the documents were classified (as I guessed right away)

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/02/us/politics/trump-fbi-folders-classified.html

    In all, the list said, the F.B.I. retrieved 18 documents marked as top secret, 54 marked as secret, 31 marked as confidential, and 11,179 government documents or photographs without classification markings.

    The photographs probably upped the total

    Also from that NYT- article:

    Among the items found in one box: 30 news clippings dated from 2008 to 2019, three articles of clothing or “gift items,” one book, 11 government documents marked as confidential, 21 marked as secret and 255 government documents or photographs with no classification markings.

    The list suggests the files Mr. Trump took to his Florida home were stored in a slapdash manner and appeared to underline concerns that he had not followed rules for protecting national security secrets.

    Slapdash was better actually – harder to retrieve means less useful for a spy.

    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/10000-government-docs-classified-markings-seized-trumps-mar-lago-doj-s-rcna46064

    Over 10,000 govt docs without
    classified markings were seized from Mar-a-Lago, DOJ says….

    As for the 11,179 documents and photos without classification markings, they were found mixed in with classified material, in boxes and containers in Trump’s office and a storage room. An NBC News analysis of the Justice Department’s inventory found that of those documents, 1,467 were recovered from Trump’s office.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  395. Naureen Dows on Trump and Gorbachev (In 1987 Donald Trump was seriously contemplating entering politics)

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/01/opinion/gorbachev-white-house-reagan.html

    When Gorbachev came to America in 1987, he met with top New York businessmen, including Malcolm Forbes and Donald Trump.

    I called Trump to see how the meeting had gone, and he said he was dubious about whether we should trust the Soviets and hoped that the Americans were not overly eager to make a deal with Gorbachev.

    “In the art of deal making,” he said, “you should not want to make the deal too much.”

    But the Soviets cleverly softened up the self-regarding real estate dealer by telling him that they loved Trump Tower; they invited him to build a Trump hotel in Moscow. Maybe, he said, “capitalism is right around the corner.”

    And that, dear reader, is when Trump first rolled over for Russia.

    The thing is, it was just around the corner. But the KGB wasn’t completely gone – in fact KGB cronies got many government assets – and they would never let Trump operate a hotel in Moscow where he would be in a position to know where the bugs were.

    Later, Trump got hoaxed:

    A year later, Gorbachev visited New York again to address the United Nations. Hearing that the Soviet leader was in front of Trump Tower, Trump rushed down, pushed through the crowd and shook hands with a man with a port-wine stain on his balding head. But it turned out Trump had been tricked. The faux Gorbachev was really Ronald V. Knapp, an actor doing a stunt for local Fox TV. Knapp later wrote an autobiography called “The Guy Who Got Trump.”

    See: https://www.amazon.com/Guy-Who-Got-Trump-Outrageous/dp/B07XQKTY2Z written by the imposter.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  396. Everyone’s forgotten that the warrant was a general warrant and just a fishing expedition which is why it grabbed so many documents the government shouldn’t have in its possession.

    NJRob (eb56c3) — 9/6/2022 @ 3:25 pm

    Maybe we’ve forgotten it because it’s BS. As I pointed out to you the last time you said it.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  397. No, Rob, you are correct. Short-term memory loss…

    Colonel Haiku (e13856)

  398. They’ll “find” whatever they think they need to get rid of him. All of this sh*t is noise, designed to distract from the predicament this moron Biden and the hand that controls him have placed the USA.

    Colonel Haiku (e13856)

  399. Material on foreign nation’s nuclear capabilities seized at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago

    A document describing a foreign government’s military defenses, including its nuclear capabilities, was found by FBI agents who searched former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and private club last month, according to people familiar with the matter, underscoring concerns among U.S. intelligence officials about classified material stashed in the Florida property.

    Some of the seized documents detail top-secret U.S. operations so closely guarded that many senior national security officials are kept in the dark about them. Only the president, some members of his Cabinet or a near-Cabinet level official could authorize other government officials to know details of these special access programs, according to people familiar with the search, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive details of an ongoing investigation.
    ……..

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  400. Material on foreign nation’s nuclear capabilities seized at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago

    A document describing a foreign government’s military defenses, including its nuclear capabilities, was found by FBI agents who searched former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and private club last month, according to people familiar with the matter, underscoring concerns among U.S. intelligence officials about classified material stashed in the Florida property.

    Some of the seized documents detail top-secret U.S. operations so closely guarded that many senior national security officials are kept in the dark about them. Only the president, some members of his Cabinet or a near-Cabinet level official could authorize other government officials to know details of these special access programs, according to people familiar with the search, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive details of an ongoing investigation.
    ……..

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  401. Don’t know how the double post happened. Sorry.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  402. They’ll “find” whatever they think they need to get rid of him.

    Even Trump’s incompetent attorneys didn’t go there, or claim any of the documents were declassified.
    The fact remains that Trump stole documents from the White House, including the “marked” kind, and he obstructed their return. There wouldn’t have been this situation had he actually returned everything after NARA’s request.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  403. Trump Says Geoff Diehl Will Rule Massachusetts With ‘Iron Fist’ If Elected
    ……..
    Diehl, who previously served as co-chair for Trump’s Massachusetts 2016 presidential campaign, supports the claim that the 2020 election was rigged against Trump. Diehl has also spoken out against restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic and supported the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
    ……..
    Diehl is the favorite to win Tuesday’s primary having already been shown to be popular with Republican activists, securing the party’s endorsement with 71 percent of the votes cast at the state party convention in May.
    ……..
    In a Suffolk University poll published in July, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Maura Healey held a 31 point lead over Diehl, and a 30 point lead over Doughty in a hypothetical match up.
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  404. No, Rob, you are correct. Short-term memory loss…

    Colonel Haiku (e13856) — 9/6/2022 @ 4:22 pm

    I linked an explainer by an oft-cited-by-the-conservative-SCOTUS-majority Fourth Amendment expert. It says Rob is wrong. Maybe you’d like to engage that instead of averting your eyes, putting you fingers in your ears, and exclaiming “No it’s not!” just because.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  405. Oh, and turns out Trump did illegally hold documents about nuclear capabilities.

    A document describing a foreign government’s military defenses, including its nuclear capabilities, was found by FBI agents who searched former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and private club last month, according to people familiar with the matter, underscoring concerns among U.S. intelligence officials about classified material stashed in the Florida property.

    Some of the seized documents detail top-secret U.S. operations so closely guarded that many senior national security officials are kept in the dark about them. Only the president, some members of his Cabinet or a near-Cabinet-level official could authorize other government officials to know details of these special-access programs, according to people familiar with the search, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive details of an ongoing investigation.

    Documents about such highly classified operations require special clearances on a need-to-know basis, not just top-secret clearance. Some special-access programs can have as few as a couple dozen government personnel authorized to know of an operation’s existence. Records that deal with such programs are kept under lock and key, almost always in a secure compartmented information facility, with a designated control officer to keep careful tabs on their location.

    But such documents were stored at Mar-a-Lago, with uncertain security, more than 18 months after Trump left the White House.

    After months of trying, according to government court filings, the FBI has recovered more than 300 classified documents from Mar-a-Lago this year: 184 in a set of 15 boxes sent to the National Archives and Records Administration in January, 38 more handed over by a Trump lawyer to investigators in June, and more than 100 additional documents unearthed in a court-approved search on Aug. 8.

    It was in this last batch of government secrets, the people familiar with the matter said, that the information about a foreign government’s nuclear-defense readiness was found. These people did not identify the foreign government in question, say where at Mar-a-Lago the document was found or offer additional details about one of the Justice Department’s most sensitive national security investigations.

    Dude kept some of our most vital secrets in a desk or storeroom at his country club. No word yet on where the documents are from the scores of empty folders.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  406. Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/6/2022 @ 5:25 pm

    Related:

    In praise of iron fists: Trump leans into his authoritarian instincts

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  407. Belated R.I.P. to Peter Straub, horror writer

    Icy (4ab428)

  408. When Merrick Garland calls the judge a Mexican and claims that it was a rigged and stolen ruling, I’ll worry. Until then, he can unreel line as Trump fights the hook. At some point he’ll reel it in back in.

    Remember, comrades, the purpose of the Fourth Amendment is to protect everybody. It should not be easy for the government to search any person’s home and carry away his stuff. And we should not want it to be.

    nk (d5e05c)

  409. Why does Louis Freeh, when writing to Hunter Biden, refer to Joe Biden as “Dad?” This is reallly going far to echo Hunter.

    Sammy Finkelman (418659)

  410. Lurker,

    And I linked last time showing you are wrong. So take your leftist talking points and put them away like you said last time

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  411. 304. Paul Montagu (062b7e) — 9/6/2022 @ 11:30 am

    The judge made an assertion without evidence, and DOJ denied under oath that the leaks came from them.

    Congressman Adam Schiff is more likely. He was probably briefed, ad is not above distorting things also.

    Sammy Finkelman (418659)

  412. And as I pointed out last time, not only doesn’t your linked Powerline post address Orin Kerr’s argument, it’s refuted by it. Which compels me to ask (again) whether you read Kerr’s thread, and if so whether you understood it. Because otherwise all I’m left with is your content-free “leftist” epithet for my linking the analysis of a lifelong conservative Republican Federalist Society member, which I’ll take with all the seriousness it merits.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  413. The leaks came from Trump. To further authenticate the secrets he is the process of selling and more easily get his asking price.

    Trumpverse is entirely populated by pots calling kettles black.

    nk (23acdd)

  414. Remember, comrades, the purpose of the Fourth Amendment is to protect everybody. It should not be easy for the government to search any person’s home and carry away his stuff. And we should not want it to be.

    nk (d5e05c) — 9/6/2022 @ 5:39 pm

    And as I mentioned during our previous go round, I’m open to the argument that SCOTUS give greater effect to the Fourth Amendment, but that’s a separate matter from whether the MAL search warrant is either impermissibly broad under SCOTUS’s current Fourth Amendment doctrine (it isn’t), or a departure from the standards of routine search warrant practice which never troubled the MAL-warrant-critics until it bit their orange avatar on the a$$ (it isn’t).

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  415. @420… and to be clear, nk, I draw out that distinction not for your benefit — that’s unnecessary; I know it’s not lost on you — but for the Trump apologists who would seize on your comment as something I strongly doubt you would purport it to be.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  416. 416… thanks for that link again, Rob. Keep fighting’ the good fight!

    Colonel Haiku (ec0826)

  417. I remembered, lurker. And I also considered that it might seem that I was stepping into your exchange with NJRob. I should have made it clearer that I was referring to the judge’s order for a special master.

    nk (099ea5)

  418. “Congressman Adam Schiff is more likely. He was probably briefed, ad is not above distorting things also.”

    Careful, Sammy, that man’s a hero in these parts.

    Colonel Haiku (ec0826)

  419. I thought it was low for Biden to refer to the “will of the people” so soon after Liz Cheney’s drubbing in Wyoming.
    Feel free to correct my latin but I still think Liz is fruit from the tree known as Politicus Cheneyii ssp. vindictivus and probably will never believe her story about principles.
    You, of course are free to believe her, send her money, whatever you wish with my blessing on you personally. I’m comfortable being wrong (have a lot of experience in that space) and will apologize later if need be.

    I wonder if Gerson, French get to heaven and see Trump but no Cheney, do their principles require they have to choose Hell?
    Jesus says I am the way, I am the shepherd that seperates sheep from goats. What would you think of a heaven that miraculously includes Trump?
    Personally, I’m prepared for having to eat some crow (hopefully made tasty of course) when Bill and Hillary show up

    steveg (193b67)

  420. not only doesn’t your linked Powerline post address Orin Kerr’s argument, it’s refuted by it. Which compels me to ask (again) whether you read Kerr’s thread, and if so whether you understood it.

    lurker (cd7cd4) — 9/6/2022 @ 6:11 pm

    I feel your frustration, lurker. Some people are so alarmed, and so busy arguing, that they fail to read and/or comprehend the content of the articles they link to.

    A case in point was the over-the-top condemnation of Kevin Williamson upthread, together with a link to an article that basically praised Williamson.

    norcal (da5491)

  421. Norcal,

    I linked Hot Air because it had a link to Williamson’s piece. He doesn’t get a link for rooting for the destruction of rural America. He can enjoy his urban enclaves and get shot if he wishes. Let him enjoy Detroit or Baltimore.

    You’re welcome.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  422. https://www.thetrafalgargroup.org/news/nat-issues-biden-speech-0905/

    New @trafalgar_group/@COSProject #poll shows majority (56.8%) of #Americans say #Biden speech is dangerous escalation in rhetoric, designed to incite conflict.

    Dangerous rhetoric:

    18.7% #Dem
    89.1% #GOP
    62.4% #Inds

    Report: https://t.co/iWb5H3uOrC pic.twitter.com/S2LuWjAmtY

    — The Trafalgar Group (@trafalgar_group) September 6, 2022

    While many on here try to minimize the Demented in Chief, most of America realizes we have an insane and dangerous man sitting in the office of the President.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  423. https://twitter.com/CaseyDeSantis/status/1567166872390455296

    Showing his accomplishments and why Governor DeSantis is the best leader in the nation.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  424. Another Republican loss caused by the loser? Probably:

    In the race to succeed Gov. Charlie Baker, Ms. [Maura] Healey will face Geoff Diehl, a right-wing former state lawmaker who was endorsed by former President Donald J. Trump and who defeated Chris Doughty, a businessman and more moderate Republican. Mr. Baker is a popular centrist Republican who decided against running for re-election after Mr. Trump’s endorsement of Mr. Diehl.

    So, thanks to Trump’s intervention, Massachusetts is likely to replace a moderate Republican governor with a leftist Democrat.

    There are times when I can’t help wondering whether Trump is a Democratic mole, whose goal is to damage and discredit the Republican Party. No, I don’t actually believe that, but I do end with this question: How different would his actions be, if he were a Democratic mole?

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  425. While many on here try to minimize the Demented in Chief, most of America realizes we have an insane and dangerous man sitting in the office of the President.

    No, we do not. Trump left on January 20, 2021. Joe Biden is the President now.

    nk (099ea5)

  426. @405 Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/6/2022 @ 5:08 pm

    @410 Paul Montagu (062b7e) — 9/6/2022 @ 5:25 pm

    When are you guys going to learn that this leak is a designed PR spin for the FBI/IC trying to win in the ‘public court of opinion’?

    Furthermore, this new leak undercuts the government’s argument against the Special Master reviewing these documents even further.

    I say this, as a guy that in some ways, HOPES Trumps get indicted so that it clears the way for DeSantis/Younkin/Noem/et. el for the GOP potus candidate in ’24.

    whembly (ae61f7)

  427. When are you guys going to learn that this leak is a designed PR spin for the FBI/IC trying to win in the ‘public court of opinion’?

    And I keep saying that leaks happen, whembly, especially after a former president went public and whined about parts of his country club being legally searched, as authorized by judge-signed warrant. But that’s not the point of my comment. The judge made an accusation against DOJ in a court of law without evidence, one of several factual shortcomings in her ruling.

    This perspective is relevant.

    One of the most important things here – this doc was found by FBI in the search in August. Meaning it was not turned over in Jan or in June, when Trump’s lawyer swore that all classified docs were turned over after a thorough search.

    As a fellow American, please tell me you’re disgusted that a private citizen not only stole and illegally held nuclear secrets, but refused to give them back after multiple email requests, after a grand jury subpoena and after a face-to-face meeting, that he was so selfish and un-American that he would put those secrets at risk by holding them in his easily breachable country club.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  428. Nk,

    You’ve become a boring troll

    NJRob (a96f48)

  429. It’ll be interesting if we find out the mystery country whose sensitive nuclear secrets were seized in MAL was in or near the Middle East. Because one thing I do know now is that the Saudis didn’t give Jared $2B because he’s some kind of brilliant investor.

    Link. Also, let’s not forget that Trump hosted (for an undisclosed sum) two of the eight Saudi golfing events on their Wahhabi Golf Tour.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  430. Nk,

    You’ve become a boring troll

    NJRob (a96f48) — 9/7/2022 @ 7:00 am

    Trump is a nasty woman, and The Trafalgar Group are her pimps singing her praises to the farm boys. They almost certainly led Trump down the garden path by predicting that he would win the five states he lost, and fueling the “rigged and stolen election”.

    If your

    While many on here try to minimize the Demented in Chief, most of America realizes we have an insane and dangerous man sitting in the office of the President.

    had been a standalone comment, of your personal opinion, I would have left it alone. But propagating disinformation is something else.

    nk (099ea5)

  431. @433

    As a fellow American, please tell me you’re disgusted that a private citizen not only , but refused to give them back after multiple email requests, after a grand jury subpoena and after a face-to-face meeting, that he was so selfish and un-American that he would put those secrets at risk by holding them in his easily breachable country club.

    Paul Montagu (753b42) — 9/7/2022 @ 6:55 am

    You and I don’t know sh!t.

    “stole and illegally held nuclear secrets” has not been proven and until we see this fully adjudicated, you should consider whether or not you’re a victim of confirmation bias on this.

    whembly (ae61f7)

  432. …easily breachable country club.

    You’ve never belonged to a ‘members only’ “country club”… have you.

    Or have you…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPPA-Z4vus8

    DCSCA (7b6beb)

  433. …you should consider whether or not you’re a victim of confirmation bias on this.

    I do, all the time. My policy is to go with the best available information, and update as new or corrected information comes down the pike.
    But you should answer this: Why would DOJ–led by a political appointee, Garland–take such a huge risk, undertaking an unprecedented search with massive political ramifications, if they didn’t have Trump dead to rights for this crime.
    Also ask yourself why newspapers would take a similar risk to their credibility, for a story of this import, if they didn’t follow standard practices of journalism. Remember that Trump’s lawyers had their time in court, under oath, to deny that Trump held classified materials, to deny that he held nuclear secrets and other SAP and TS/SCI documents, and to assert that the classified materials were “planted”, yet they didn’t take that plunge on any of it.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  434. DC, how hard is it for a spy working for a foreign state to join a beach club. Get serious.
    You don’t even have to join Mar A Lago, because you can join his Palisades golf club and have reciprocal privileges.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  435. NYT or Trump treasonous? Weinstein discusses… https://youtu.be/UyLmvlfOfHo

    Colonel Haiku (ec0826)

  436. Haiku, Weinstein lost me when swallowed the anti-vax Kool Aid and became a bigly ivermectin promoter, despite the fact that there is still no randomized clinical trial that has shown the dewormer to be an effective Covid treatment or prophylactic.
    I wasted the ten minutes and 34 seconds, and he said nothing factual that would indicate the NYT got it wrong. Actually, he should’ve been targeting the WA Post because they’re the ones who’ve been breaking these stories.
    Also, Weinstein is making a conclusion–that someone committed treason–despite the fact that no one in DOJ has even alleged it, or that treason even applies. Bret fairly obviously has no understanding of treason under the Constitution.
    The possession of these materials is bad enough, but doesn’t rise to the level of treason, and no one in DOJ has alleged that Trump gave or sold materials to our enemies.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  437. I initially suspected that what Trump was peddling to the Arabs was the location of Israel’s Iron Dome batteries.

    Now? I feel bad for our country but I don’t feel bad for myself for guessing wrong.

    A lot of people have lost money by underestimating Trump’s feloniousness. A lot!

    nk (099ea5)

  438. @439

    …you should consider whether or not you’re a victim of confirmation bias on this.

    I do, all the time. My policy is to go with the best available information, and update as new or corrected information comes down the pike.
    But you should answer this: Why would DOJ–led by a political appointee, Garland–take such a huge risk, undertaking an unprecedented search with massive political ramifications, if they didn’t have Trump dead to rights for this crime.
    Also ask yourself why newspapers would take a similar risk to their credibility, for a story of this import, if they didn’t follow standard practices of journalism. Remember that Trump’s lawyers had their time in court, under oath, to deny that Trump held classified materials, to deny that he held nuclear secrets and other SAP and TS/SCI documents, and to assert that the classified materials were “planted”, yet they didn’t take that plunge on any of it.

    Paul Montagu (753b42) — 9/7/2022 @ 7:58 am

    You’re still missing the point. We only have the government’s arguments and defendant’s arguments. We haven’t really seen the evidence.

    Supposedly top secret docs resided unknown in Mar-a-Lago for 18 months and no one is aware of them or what they say. Now, the FBI has them 18 days-ish and suddenly the “contents” splashed across front page of WashingtonPost. Is real national security threat in Mara-lago or Quantico, VA?

    If these were truly TS/SCI/SAP documents, they wouldn’t be leaked like this. These are “classified” markings, which is a weaselly catchall for potential classified and unclassified documents.

    whembly (b770f8)

  439. @444 Furthermore, The FBI and DOJ are trying to try this case in the court of public opinion… which shows this is a political matter, not criminal.

    Democrats need this as an issue heading into November.

    Trump is what they want to run on, as he sucks up the oxygen in the room and Democrats can hide the mis/malfeasance of the Biden/Democrat agenda.

    whembly (b770f8)

  440. When are you guys going to learn that this leak is a designed PR spin for the FBI/IC trying to win in the ‘public court of opinion’?

    Stating the obvious.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  441. Nk,

    You’ve become a boring troll

    NJRob (a96f48) — 9/7/2022 @ 7:00 am

    The pot calling the kettle black.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  442. “Nk,

    You’ve become a boring troll”

    nk is not boring!

    Davethulhu (aec6bf)

  443. @440. how hard is it for a spy working for a foreign state to join a beach club.

    Mar-a-Lago????? ROFLMAOPIP!

    How hard is it for a foreign spy to sleep w/a congressman… or be the driver of a United States Senator.

    “Get serious.”

    DCSCA (e51b36)

  444. @440. how hard is it for a spy working for a foreign state to join a beach club.

    Impossible. It way exceeds their budget, (this was a Trump – read wildly expensive – operation, and till now, there was no clue that there might be some gold in them thar hills.

    The people who tried to infiltrate Mar-a-Lago in the past did it while Trump was president and were interested in oral information or capturing computers.

    It might be easier for a spy to get a job at Mar-a-Lago, but to plot to do it, you’d have to know there’d be some payoff.

    Sammy Finkelman (418659)

  445. It might be easier for a spy to get a job at Mar-a-Lago, but to plot to do it, you’d have to know there’d be some payoff.

    Sammy Finkelman (418659) — 9/7/2022 @ 10:26 am

    Given that MAL continues to hire foreign workers, that shouldn’t be a problem.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  446. A former intelligence officer thinks, of course the Chinese have been trying to infiltrate Mar-a-Swampo (as I prefer to call it, given the swamp creatures there):

    hat was a Chinese woman doing at Mar-a-Lago with her pockets full of passports and cellphones? The March 30 arrest of Chinese national Yujing Zhang at President Donald Trump’s vacation home certainly reads like a juicy spy drama. At the time she was arrested, after changing her story about why she was there, she had on her, in addition to two Chinese passports and four cellphones, a laptop and USB drive later found to contain some kind of malware. More devices and $8,000 in cash were later found in her room at a nearby hotel.

    Is Chinese intelligence attempting to infiltrate Mar-a-Lago? The answer to that is almost certainly yes. And so is every other foreign intelligence service. That’s just business as usual.

    He just isn’t sure whether Yujing Zhang was.

    Note: Her “visit” occurred before the publicity about the Secret documents Trump stole.

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  447. If these were truly TS/SCI/SAP documents, they wouldn’t be leaked like this.

    whembly, the property receipts list of documents was publicly released, not leaked.
    It’s funny, you’re telling me I’m “missing the point” while you’re presuming without evidence that DOJ/FBI are so biased that they would prioritize politics over enforcement of the law.
    The reality as I see it is that every special agent and DOJ official swore an oath to Constitution. Does it mean they’re without bias? No, because every person brings their biases into the job, but the question is whether such bias prevents them from doing their job. From what we’ve seen in the last six years, except for a few cases, the answer is “no”.
    But what we have definitely seen in the last six years is Trump insulting and belittling and impugning the intelligence community and federal law enforcement ad nauseum, not to mention the untold number of his devoted followers following suit. Talk about PR.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  448. “Joe, it is now America’s good fortune to have you as president.” Barack Obama 9/7/22

    … and Putin smiled. Xi just grinned.

    DCSCA (cc022a)

  449. Impossible. It way exceeds their budget.

    Are you seriously telling me that a foreign nation can’t afford to pay a spy’s country club dues and quarterly minimums? C’mon, man.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  450. Jim Miller (85fd03) — 9/7/2022 @ 10:58 am

    i doubt the chicoms would’ve accessed anything they hadn’t already gotten from hacking into the private server in someone’s bathroom

    JF (65e4be)

  451. @455. Yeah. ‘C’mon, man:’

    Chinese woman who entered Mar-a-Lago with malware federally charged April 2, 2019

    Yujing Zhang was arrested Saturday after getting past a Secret Service checkpoint. President Trump was not on the grounds at the time, but nearby golfing.

    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/chinese-woman-who-entered-mar-lago-malware-federally-charged-n990196

    And this fortune cookie was tagged and bagged by America’s mediocre civil service weenies. Imagine what a Private Security team would do. See ‘Casino’ for details.

    ‘That’s a fact, Jack!’- Squinty McStumblebum

    DCSCA (5f9388)

  452. The server was in a bathroom in Denver, Colorado after Hillary Clinton has quit as Secretary of State, and I think after her emails had first been subpoenaed and the server spent some time in New Jersey.

    While she was if office, it was in Chautauqua, New York (not at 125 St in Manhattan)

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2016/09/09/clintons-server-wiped-with-bleachbit-after-a-conference-call-with-top-aides-n2216065

    Just two weeks after the New York Times busted former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for using a private email server to conduct all of her government business and four weeks after the FBI started a criminal investigation into the matter, Clinton’s subpoenaed email archive was wiped with BleachBit by Platte River Networks employee Paul Combetta.

    The Justice Department has reportedly granted Combetta immunity and the Clinton campaign is arguing he went rogue, deleting the archive on his own without any instruction from those close to Hillary Clinton. ..

    …But according to Rep. Trey Gowdy, who chairs the Benghazi Select Committee and sits on the House Oversight Committee, Combetta wiped the server after a conference call with Clinton’s top aides, including top Clinton aide and attorney Cheryl Mills.

    “There was a conference call between David Kendall, Cheryl Mills and Platte River and then emails that had been in existence for five years, emails that he’s known about until at least December 2014, he decides to delete…just all on his own,” Gowdy explained on America’s Newsroom Friday. “That defies logic why some techie in Colorado would despite a subpoena, despite a preservation order, but after a conference call with David Kendell and Cheryl Mills decide on his own that he is going to destroy public records.”

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  453. @453

    If these were truly TS/SCI/SAP documents, they wouldn’t be leaked like this.

    whembly, the property receipts list of documents was publicly released, not leaked.

    I wasn’t talking about the property receipt list of documents. I’m talking about the alleged *contents* that was leaked to WashingtonPost. Furthermore, none of the property receipt was shown to be classified. Only some containing the weasel wording of classified “markings”. We only know, via leaks and then the sensational news media, that the DOJ is asserting these were truly highly classified. We still don’t know for sure yet.

    It’s funny, you’re telling me I’m “missing the point” while you’re presuming without evidence that DOJ/FBI are so biased that they would prioritize politics over enforcement of the law.

    Are you really bloody serious with this?

    Russia Collusion Hoax? Hellooooo??? Bueller? You there…. still with me? The DOJ/FBI, with respect to Trump, has been conclusively shown to be partisan actors.

    You are exhibiting textbook example of confirmation bias.

    The reality as I see it is that every special agent and DOJ official swore an oath to Constitution. Does it mean they’re without bias? No, because every person brings their biases into the job, but the question is whether such bias prevents them from doing their job. From what we’ve seen in the last six years, except for a few cases, the answer is “no”.

    That’s an outrageous statement, I don’t even know where to start.

    Trump’s own critics and the various #Resistence using their 3-letter agency’s powers has done more to undermine their own credibility than Trump ever did.

    But what we have definitely seen in the last six years is Trump insulting and belittling and impugning the intelligence community and federal law enforcement ad nauseum, not to mention the untold number of his devoted followers following suit. Talk about PR.

    Paul Montagu (753b42) — 9/7/2022 @ 11:12 am

    Frankly, I don’t care anymore. There are no saints here, both Trump and the partisan government 3-letter agencies have made their bed and I’m going to be damned sure that BOTH are made to lie in it.

    I’m here to point out the norms being broken, but when Trump is gone and the next populist hard rightwing GOP President invoke the same rationale against Democrats (ie, executive-privilege) and the Democrats/media/never-GOPer whine… I’m going to tap this *sign* that says, “I told ya so”.

    Frankly, on the whole executive-privilege thing (meaning, can former potus invoke it?), I hope to god that the DOJ appeals Trump’s claims and we’d get an answer once and for all. I’m a firm believer of the Unitary President – in that, every executive powers is implicit within the one who’s currently President. Ergo, Trump couldn’t ever claim executive-privilege against the sitting President as simply he doesn’t hold that office anymore. And if he doesn’t have it, then he can’t assert it in court or over Congressional actions. That is contrary to how, post Nixon, executive privilege is traditionally afforded to former presidents, by the way.

    Because if the court rules that Trump doesn’t have it, and the courts must weigh in – then, neither does Biden when he’s out of office, and neither dose Obama and GWB. The new norms, would be that when the opposing party’s POTUS takes the Whitehouse, shortly thereafter, the dirty laundry of the previous administration would be aired out in glorious details.

    And I’m here for that.

    The collateral damage here, due to the inexplicable ‘get-Trump’ efforts is this: What future POTUS is going to do in regards to communications under a colorable executive-privilege claims that can be rescinded by their successor? Keep in mind that executive-privilege is there to allow for some level of confidentiality within the executive branch to encourage wide-ranging discussions/strategies. I think this would eventually would cause a knowledge-freeze, for fear of being used for future partisan purposes and could “harm” the deliberative process needed.

    whembly (b770f8)

  454. There weren’t too many secrets in Hlllary Clinton’s email – after all, it substituted for the unclassified (but somewhat impractical) State Department system, and Hillary Clinton started the investigation herself when she asked for all the emails she had returned (which consisted only of emails sent to government email addresses or that happened to mention Benghazi or Libya in the body of the text (not attachments)

    This resulted in checking for classified material and whenever anyone’s supposedly not classified email has been checked, classified information has always been found on it.

    Hillary Clinton knew what to do when she wanted to give away secrets, as opposed to what she might have considered classified. She delivered them it by mouth. Her emails contain messages asking people to call her. Because anything verbal is not saved or recorded – even conversations with foreign leaders are only transcribed.

    The Russians hacked into Sidney Blumenthal’s emails TO Hillary Clinton but not her server.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  455. @whembly:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/02/us/politics/trump-fbi-folders-classified.html

    In all, the list said, the F.B.I. retrieved 18 documents marked as top secret, 54 marked as secret, 31 marked as confidential, and 11,179 government documents or photographs without classification markings.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  456. The way the student loan forgiveness could wind up in court would be if a future, probably Republican, president attempted to revoke it, and someone was sued for the money and offered that as a defense. It could even happen if someone was sued on grounds of making a fraudulent application or or on grounds of it having been mistakenly granted and this became a side issue.

    The first scenario is unlikely for political reasons, and if done, it would most likely force Congress’ hand.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  457. @461 Sammy…look at it again:

    In all, the list said, the F.B.I. retrieved 18 documents marked as top secret, 54 marked as secret, 31 marked as confidential, and 11,179 government documents or photographs without classification markings.

    If they’re declassified…. they’re still marked as those.

    If they’ve been through the formal declassifications, those markings would still be there, but with strikethroughs and additional stampings saying it was declassified.

    Furthermore, there’s this grey area in that Trump was still POTUS when he authorized these documents to be packed/shipped. There’s a debate of whether or not that’s enough to declassify things.

    ON the one side, there’s the belief that POTUS must follow the exact same declassification steps as non-POTUS must do.

    ON the other side, the President can declassify any document in any manner he or she chooses. The President is a unique Constitutional actor. No other person in the country has the prerogatives and powers of that office.

    Put it another way, if you are arguing the former:
    In terms of who is the final declassification authority, what you’re saying is that nobody is above the bureaucracy, essentially making it, the bureaucracy, the 4th and most powerful branch of government.

    If you argue the latter:
    With respect to final declassification authority, it’s instructive to ask: If not the President, then who? If you compile and consider the options, I think the answer rapidly becomes self-evident. (answer: has to be POTUS)

    whembly (b770f8)

  458. 456. Paul Montagu (753b42) — 9/7/2022 @ 11:19 am

    Are you seriously telling me that a foreign nation can’t afford to pay a spy’s country club dues and quarterly minimums? C’mon, man.

    They could, but they won’t. Foreign spy agencies have limited budgets. We can tell by the limited amounts of money they have offered for information.

    The Russians paid money to contribute to Republican causes to get close to Giuliani so they could slander the Ukrainian government, and in the end, Putin got aid cut off for 555 days (not to mention getting the U.ZS. Ambassador fired) but that was a major operation.

    Unless they already know there are secrets, they wouldn;t fund aspy, and they’d try to find another way to get in.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  459. Flashback 10/2019:

    State Department probe of Clinton emails finds no deliberate mishandling of classified information

    A multiyear State Department probe of emails that were sent to former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s private computer server concluded there was no systemic or deliberate mishandling of classified information by department employees, according to a report submitted to Congress this month.
    ………
    In the end, State Department investigators found 38 current or former employees “culpable” of violating security procedures — none involving material that had been marked classified — in a review of roughly 33,000 emails that had been sent to or from the personal computer system Clinton used.

    Overall, investigators said, “there was no persuasive evidence of systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information.” The report cited “instances of classified information being inappropriately” transmitted, but noted that the vast majority of those scrutinized “were aware of security policies and did their best to implement them.”
    ……..

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  460. One of the things our intelligence officials agree on is that the ChiComs have an astounding appetite for information about us, classified and otherwise. They didn’t steal an estimated $1 trillion in technology secrets, the complete civil service employee files, the plans for the F35, and many other things, by accident.

    I’ve read, for example, that they debrief every returning visitor from the United States. And I assume everyone knows that, if you visit China, you shouldn’t bring your usual phone or laptop, because they will almost certainly be compromised while you are there.

    Oh, and I think it nearly certain that Trump had classified material at Mar-a-Swampo — while he was president, and perhaps while that nice Chinese lady was visiting.

    (Here’s some sound advice for Olympic athletes — and you, should you decide to visit China.)

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  461. By the way, Russia is now sending weapons back from Syria to be used in the Ukrainian war. That’s something.

    https://www.jpost.com/international/article-715901

    Russia ships S-300 battery from Syria to bolster air defense in Ukraine war

    The shipping of the battery, which has been in Syria since 2018, was identified by Israeli satellite imaging company ImageSat International.

    This was also in the New York Times.

    This raises questions about the Montreux Convention. Russia evaded it by using a commercial company.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  462. 420. nk (23acdd) — 9/6/2022 @ 6:23 pm

    The leaks came from Trump. To further authenticate the secrets he is the process of selling and more easily get his asking price.

    For that, Trump would still have to have them after the FBI took them.

    Now there are cases in history of lawyers leaking things in order to accuse the other side of leaking, which is a more plausible motive. But the Washington Post would have to have been totally lying about the nature of their source(s) “people familiar with the investigation [who] spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.” Sounds like people in the government.

    But for this one I would say Adam Schiff, or some other member of Congress, and I think Merrick Garland knows that, and that’s could be why he told DoJ officials on August 30 not to speak to members of Congress, although Republicans accused him of trying to stop whistleblowers

    https://www.bizpacreview.com/2022/09/01/ignore-dojs-threatening-memo-senator-tells-whistleblowers-they-can-talk-to-congress-theyre-protected-by-law-1279702/

    Senator Tom Cotton reacted to Attorney General Merrick Garland’s banning of Justice Department employees from talking to Congress, a move that some have interpreted as being made in order to prevent whistleblowers from providing information on political corruption of an entity that has strayed far from its stated purpose and has been weaponized by the Biden regime to persecute its political enemies.

    In a Tuesday memo, Garland advised employees that they are prohibited from talking with lawmakers and that any such communications must be handled through the Office of Legislative Affairs (OLA) according to DOJ policy which states, “no Department employee may communicate with Senators, Representatives, congressional committees, or congressional staff without advance coordination, consultation, and approval by OLA.”

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  463. The leaker, or leakers or other leakers, have decided to clarify their Trump-had-nuclear-secrets claim from a few days after the raid in early August.

    https://www.newser.com/story/325152/some-of-the-documents-seized-at-mar-a-lago-went-beyond-top-secret-sources.html

    The FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago last month recovered a document describing the military defenses—including nuclear capabilities—of a foreign government, according to sources who spoke to the Washington Post. The sources did not name the government. The Post previously reported that agents were specifically looking for documents related to nuclear weapons when they searched Trump’s private residence in Florida, a claim Trump decried as a “hoax.” According to the sources, some of the documents recovered during the raid required more than just top-secret clearance in order to be accessed.

    Get it? First they said they were looking for something, then that they found it.

    It sounds like it might have been about Iran – discussing the possibilities of a raid to destroy Iran’s nuclear weapons capabilities, and probably counseled against it

    Trump might have kept such a thing. It would be at least 1 year and seven and half months old now

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  464. 461 464, whembly (b770f8) — 9/7/2022 @ 1:11 pm

    If they’re declassified…. they’re still marked as those.

    They could be, if Trump hadn;t bthered to or hadn’t had time to go through the formalities,

    The question is: Is Trump telling the truth about his having declassified, say, anything he took to Mar-a-Lago? Did he think he needed to do this? Did he do this in time? (He couldn’t do this past 12 noon, eastern time, Wednesday, January 20, 2021. Trump seems to be relying on assertion that there was a standing order (or perhaps standard according to a legal opinion he got? When?) that any documents he did certain things with, were declassified.

    My point was actually, how few of the documents taken from Mar-a-Lago were classified. It did not consist of a mass of classified material. Everything was all mixed up, or nearby, including plenty of pictures, some of Trump’s medical records, accounting records, calculations.

    Furthermore, there’s this grey area in that Trump was still POTUS when he authorized these documents to be packed/shipped.

    Yes. They are not “stolen.”

    And the National Archives was willing to understand that there was no time to separate out personal material once he decided to leave — and in fact people were packing while trying to get him not to notice. (but he knew he was going by January 8)

    This all started when the National Archives noticed that some of the material Trump returned in January of this year was marked classified. They didn’t have to make a referral, I would think.

    There’s a debate of whether or not that’s enough to declassify things.

    I think Trump’s trying to claim that he did something to make that the case.

    ON the other side, the President can declassify any document in any manner he or she chooses. The President is a unique Constitutional actor. No other person in the country has the prerogatives and powers of that office.

    Yes. Furthermore. he can declassify something merely by revealing it publicly – they have to rule that way – but the extent of that de-classification may be limited.

    And by the way, classified information may be discussed with people without security clearances who have a need to know – if you’re distributing weapons to Syrian rebels, that can be discussed with those very same Syrian rebels! Or otherwise you’d have an absurd situation.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  465. whembly, there’s a reason why the warrant and affidavit referenced 18 USC 793(e), because it was referencing documents “relating to the national defense”, which protected by status. Classification status is irrelevant and not subject to Trump’s mythical “standing order”.
    Your objections to the leaks sound suspiciously like when the Democrats whined loudly that their emails were hacked but they had no answer when asked about the emails’ accuracy and authenticity.

    Russia Collusion Hoax? Hellooooo??? Bueller? You there…. still with me? The DOJ/FBI, with respect to Trump, has been conclusively shown to be partisan actors.

    What “hoax”? The Mueller and Senate Intelligence Committee reports established that Putin launched a “sweeping and systematic” cyber-propaganda attack on America in 2016. They also found that Putin people conspired with Trump people to help Trump win, but the evidence was insufficient to bring indictments.

    As to “partisan actors”, except for a slimeball FBI lawyer in Crossfire Hurricane, the Inspector General found no evidence that “political bias or improper motivation influenced” the investigation. The Durham investigation has gone on way longer than Mueller’s, and the only conviction he could muster was Clinesmith, who Horowitz handed to Durham on a silver platter.
    So again I’m asking you about your presumptions and prejudgments and preconceptions, which seem colored more by Trump’s incessant propaganda than on the facts at hand.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  466. https://nypost.com/2022/09/02/fbis-hunter-biden-episode-shows-need-for-clean-break (also in the Wall Street Journal Friday, September 2, 2022 page A13, behind a paywall.)

    https://nypost.com/2022/09/04/fbi-agent-timothy-thibault-hid-intel-from-whistleblower-on-hunter-the-big-guy-joe-biden

    Thibault retired, possibly to avoid an investigation which could have led to him being fired – he was not marched out.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  467. Senator Tom Cotton reacted to Attorney General Merrick Garland’s banning of Justice Department employees from talking to Congress, a move that some have interpreted as being made in order to prevent whistleblowers from providing information on political corruption of an entity that has strayed far from its stated purpose and has been weaponized by the Biden regime to persecute its political enemies.

    In a Tuesday memo, Garland advised employees that they are prohibited from talking with lawmakers and that any such communications must be handled through the Office of Legislative Affairs (OLA) according to DOJ policy which states, “no Department employee may communicate with Senators, Representatives, congressional committees, or congressional staff without advance coordination, consultation, and approval by OLA.”

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 9/7/2022 @ 1:38 pm

    Garland did not “ban” anyone from speaking to Congress. He merely reiterated the current policy in the DOJ Manual, which has existed since December 2019:

    1-8.200 – Communications with Congress

    The Assistant Attorney General (AAG) for the Office of Legislative Affairs (OLA) is responsible for communications between Congress and the Department under the authority of the Attorney General and the direction of the Deputy Attorney General. See 28 C.F.R. § 0.27. Communications between the Department and Congress, including those pertaining to policy, legislation, political appointments, nominations, intergovernmental and public liaison relations, cases and investigations, and administrative matters, will be managed or coordinated by OLA to ensure that relevant Department or Executive Branch interests are fully protected. Communication between OLA and Department components may be aided by designated component or law enforcement congressional liaisons, as appropriate. However, all component and law enforcement congressional liaisons will follow the direction of the AAG of OLA with regard to communications with Congress.

    Except as provided in this chapter, no Department employee may communicate with Senators, Representatives, congressional committees, or congressional staff without advance coordination, consultation, and approval by OLA. All congressional inquiries and correspondence from Members, committees, and staff should be immediately directed to OLA upon receipt……..
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  468. @471

    So again I’m asking you about your presumptions and prejudgments and preconceptions, which seem colored more by Trump’s incessant propaganda than on the facts at hand.

    Paul Montagu (753b42) — 9/7/2022 @ 2:36 pm

    The Russian Hoax was always framed as some active collusion between Trump’s people and Russian. Which the FBI and Special Counsel found zero collusion, and Mueller even took the pains to confirm at his congressional hearing that there were no collusion. However, the damage was being done in the public court of opinions with the plethora of leaks with framing designed to be politically most unflattering.
    That is what is meant by “The Russian Hoax”.

    This was what I meant that a narrative took a life on it’s own, that did more damage to delegitimize the institutions more than Trump ever did.

    And it was more than just Clinesmith, which if I may add, literally LIED that lead to a FISA warrant, who to this day suffered zero consequences.

    You had the likes of Peter Strozk and Lisa Page’s communique of doing whatever they needed to “stop Trump” and articulated an “insurance policy”.

    I could go on.

    But, the DOJ/FBI made their bed. They’d rather protect their own, instead of doing the hard thing. Now the gotta lie in it. And if some future GOP Congress/POTUS decides on massive reform. Not gonna lie, imma *tap* this “I told ya so” sign and I’m going to be obnoxious about it.

    In a twisted sense, I sincerely hope that do try to indict Trump if that knocks him out of ’24 elections. But, I’m not ignorant of the fact that the precedent is going to be horrible.

    whembly (b770f8)

  469. The New York Yankees are tied at 3-3 with the Minnesota Twins in the 11th inning of the first game of a doubleheader (yesterday’s game was postponed because of rain)

    If they lose this game, they will probably have to win 17 of the remaining 27 games to win the division.

    Sammy Finkelman (418659)

  470. New York Governor Hochul has lifted the mask mandate for the MTA’s subway and buses. It never made sense for the subways, because there is air exchange – they found there was no relationship between subway travel and Covid in the spring of 2020.

    Not so for the buses, which are enclosed spaces.

    Sammy Finkelman (418659)

  471. Boo, Yankies (and all other big money teams in a sport without a salary cap).

    Sorry, Sammy.

    norcal (da5491)

  472. Sammy asked: “. . . . Is Trump telling the truth . .. ?”

    Well, it is possible, but I wouldn’t bet a lot of money that the man who told more than 30K falsehoods or misleading statements, just while he was president, is telling the truth on that one, or on any other statement.

    With pathological liars, it is best to assume they are lying, until proven otherwise, with independent information.

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  473. Jim, how dare you criticize a man who has sacrificed everything for his country. People just won’t leave him alone! He fights, and all he’s gotten is grief in return. It’s a sign that our country is on the road to hell.

    norcal (da5491)

  474. It’s not just Trump who got grief; it’s every Republican President or presidential nominee. Bush, McCain, Romney, etc.- it doesn’t actually matter how much they sacrificed for their country, or not. They are disliked by the Democrats/media/etc. because they stand for and represent Republican voters when running for office or in office; after that, they aren’t so disliked. Trump is still disliked because he might run again. The actual enemy is not these individuals; its Republican voters. This was true before Trump and will be true long after Trump is gone.

    mikeybates (dd20f5)

  475. Yankees win! Theeeeee Yankees… win!!!

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  476. The Russian Hoax was always framed as some active collusion between Trump’s people and Russian. Which the FBI and Special Counsel found zero collusion, and Mueller even took the pains to confirm at his congressional hearing that there were no collusion. However, the damage was being done in the public court of opinions with the plethora of leaks with framing designed to be politically most unflattering.
    That is what is meant by “The Russian Hoax”.

    LOL get help

    Dustin (a87c64)

  477. Which the FBI and Special Counsel found zero collusion, and Mueller even took the pains to confirm at his congressional hearing that there were no collusion.

    “Zero collusion” is false, per the Mueller report.

    Although the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome, and that the Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts, the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.

    “Did not establish” has a specific meaning.

    The report describes actions and events that the Special Counsel’s Office found to be supported by the evidence collected in our investigation. In some instances, the report points out the absence of evidence or conflicts in the evidence about a particular fact or event. In other instances, when substantial, credible evidence enabled the Office to reach a conclusion with confidence, the report states that the investigation established that certain actions or events occurred. A statement that the investigation did not establish particular facts does not mean there was no evidence of those facts.

    Emphasis mine. In other words, if there actually were “no collusion”, the report would have actually said so. Instead, it concluded that evidence existed but not enough to be established or, in other words, actionable with an indictment. The Senate Intelligence Committee, led by Burr (R-NC) only further confirmed Mueller.

    Clinesmith didn’t suffer “zero consequences” for doctoring an email. He was convicted for his felony and had his law license suspended. If you want to say that he got off too lightly, no argument from me.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  478. 480… thanks for pointing out what should be obvious to all but the NeverTrump/Biden Buttmunch Club.

    It needed to be done.

    Colonel Haiku (efa787)

  479. …sad as that is, mikeybates

    Colonel Haiku (efa787)

  480. LOL get help

    Indeed. At this point, what difference does it make?

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  481. Trump is still disliked because he might run again.

    Trump will always be disliked. If it is the last thing I do, I plan on taking a dump on his grave.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  482. 487… see 486. Waaaaayyyyyy too invested, not healthy.

    Colonel Haiku (efa787)

  483. Trump will always be disliked. If it is the last thing I do, I plan on taking a dump on his grave.

    I doubt that. But his voters -indeed, all Republican voters- will be.

    mikeybates (f69754)

  484. The Job Pelosi Reportedly Wants if Dems Lose House

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is reportedly planning her next move if Republicans retake the House in November, as expected. The California Democrat wants President Biden to tap her as the next U.S. ambassador to Italy, according to a FOX Business Network report. The residence, Villa Taverna, has a three-story wine cellar [tribute for Paulie, Nans?], a private pool, and private gardens.

    “I’m told she wants the job and Joe Biden is saving the seat for her. We’ll have to wait and see,” Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo said.

    Pelosi spent two weeks in Italy in July during the congressional recess at the ritzy Alpemare Beach Club in Forte dei Marmi, which is when speculation about the ambassadorship possibly being saved for the Democrat picked up steam.’ – https://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2022/09/06/pelosi-ambassadorship-n2612683

    DCSCA (360dd5)

  485. @422:

    416… thanks for that link again, Rob. Keep fighting’ the good fight!

    Colonel Haiku (ec0826) — 9/6/2022 @ 6:57 pm

    What does that even mean? If you followed the thread you know that the post you’re thanking him for linking was unresponsive to the argument he posted it in reply to, which in fact eviscerated it. So what’s the “good fight?” Is it the assertion of any argument, however incoherent, so long as it sends the message that no disagreement with AntiAntiMAGA will go unanswered? Because that’s what it looks like. Pure tribalism. If there’s a more constructive value to positing refuted arguments, I’d love to hear it. No doubt that sounds snarky, and I suppose it is, but I’m also genuinely curious what you had in mind.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  486. Kessler fact-checks Hillary’s latest statement that “I had zero emails that were classified.” I called her a liar on her Twitter feed because there was classified info on her email chains, and her excuse that she saw no emails “marked classified” is her typical parsing. However, I wasn’t aware that both Tillerson and Pompeo launched investigations.

    “At the end of the process, on June 29, 2017, the Tillerson State Department agreed there was no classified material in the 40 emails cited, but found that her use of a personal email server itself was a security violation, without respect to any particular email,” Kendall said, providing a copy of the June 29, 2017, letter sent by State saying Clinton had “no individual culpability” for the email security violations.

    “Though not publicized at the time, these findings were not surprising, since both the Secretary and her State Department colleagues based their emails on the work the Department was doing and did not believe any of the emails contained classified information,” Kendall said. “The Secretary and her colleagues knew how to use (and did) State’s high-side secure system for transmitting classified information and properly marked such communications when appropriate.”

    The second investigation started in 2019. Kendall said he was informed State “suspected” Clinton was responsible for “12 classified spillages” based on emails that had not been among the earlier incidents that were investigated. Perhaps it’s a coincidence, but the total number of security incidents investigated by State — 52 — matches the 52 email chains mentioned by Comey.

    The unclassified version of the Diplomatic Security investigation that was publicly released notes that “a typical security violation involves premarked classified information discovered contemporaneously with the incident. None of the emails at issue in this review were marked as classified.”

    “Again, we presented evidence refuting each of these allegations,” Kendall said. “We were completely successful and were notified on Oct. 7, 2019, that the Department had found the Secretary did not ‘bear any individual culpability’ for these 12 alleged incidents, although again this result was not announced publicly.” He provided a copy of the State Department letter, dated Aug. 22, 2019.

    The unclassified version of the probe says it found “91 valid violations attributable to 38 individuals” but does not mention names.

    The report was critical of Clinton’s decision to have a private server — “it added an increased degree of risk of compromise as a private system lacks the network monitoring and intrusion detection capabilities of State Department networks.” But the report concluded: “Instances of classified information being deliberately transmitted via unclassified email were the rare exception and resulted in adjudicated security violations. There was no persuasive evidence of systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information.”

    In other words, both State Department probes under Trump knocked Clinton for maintaining a private server for State Department communications — but did not hold her responsible for mishandling classified information.

    There is a chasm between what Clinton did and what Trump did, where the latter knowingly took marked documents from the White House and spirited them off to his beach and tennis club, and then refused to return them after repeated requests.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  487. Forgot the link.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  488. The usual horseschiff from teh WahPoo…

    https://althouse.blogspot.com/2022/09/the-washington-post-fact-checker-checks.html

    Colonel Haiku (efa787)

  489. …and that’s the rest of the story.

    Colonel Haiku (efa787)

  490. After looking through the DOJ motion for a partial stay, Judge Cannon should just agree to it. She really has no case to enjoin on the classified materials or to have a special master look at them, IMO.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  491. And this is Judge Cannon tacitly acknowledging she has no answer to the DOJ motion.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  492. “After looking through the DOJ motion for a partial stay, Judge Cannon should just agree to it. She really has no case to enjoin on the classified materials or to have a special master look at them, IMO.”

    This should also make it clear to everyone that despite all the sound and fury in social media, Trump has not made any legal assertion that he declassified anything.

    Davethulhu (aec6bf)

  493. Beyond her wiki, here’s a little more on Judge Cannon’s background…

    Aileen Cannon, a 38 year-old lawyer with no judicial experience and limited resume, was handed a LIFETIME appointment as a federal judge just as Trump left office. Cannon’s primary credentials for the job were apparently her young age and membership in the Federalist Society.

    Her professional experience was so limited that she was forced to admit on her Sen Judiciary Comm questionnaire that she had never made any speeches, produced any reports, participated in any panel discussions, spoke at any conferences or written for any bar association.

    In her twelve years as a lawyer, she published no writings of her own and just 3 writings done with colleagues at Gibson Dunn — limited to promotional articles on cases handled by the firm for their own website.

    In an attempt to show writing experience, Cannon listed 17 short articles from a 2-mo undergrad stint at El Nuevo Herald. ranging from “Prenatal Yoga” to “Flamenco: An Explosion of Energy and Passion.” Cannon is unclear on whether she authored or simply edited the articles.

    Finally, the questionnaire for a LIFETIME judicial appt asks Cannon to list all interviews she has given to the media. Cannon lists only her wedding article in a local magazine as her only media experience.

    I don’t blame Trump for picking a legal lightweight because I doubt he knew any better (or cared), and he promised to work from the Federalist Society list (which he did, she’d been member of that body since she was 24) and she’s a loyal Trumpist, so she’s a candidate.
    I don’t place too much blame on McConnell for confirming her after Trump lost because that’s McConnell. He’ll shut down and obstruct Obama nominations and grease the skids for Trump nominations, and he’s made no secret of that.
    No, I blame Harry Reid for nuking the filibuster on all presidential appointments, Supreme Court excepted.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  494. She had an Eighth Circuit clerkship and spent seven years as an AUSA. That’s adequate.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  495. She also worked for Gibson Dunn, which is a first-rank firm, first as a summer associate then later they hired her for real.

    I compared her to the background of the late Judge Manuel Real and it’s pretty similar except he never worked for a white-shoe law firm, and she was never a USA. Of course, Real was a crook.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  496. Her professional experience was so limited that she was forced to admit on her Sen Judiciary Comm questionnaire

    Forced, eh? Did they have to progress to the Third Degree or was showing her the instruments enough?

    [S]he had never made any speeches, produced any reports, participated in any panel discussions, spoke at any conferences or written for any bar association.

    In her twelve years as a lawyer, she published no writings of her own and just 3 writings done with colleagues at Gibson Dunn — limited to promotional articles on cases handled by the firm for their own website.

    Which all that stuff has almost nothing to do with being a courtroom lawyer or a judge, and all the Senate really wants it for, anyway, is for evidence of Badthink.

    In an attempt to show writing experience,

    Horseyouknowwhat! She did not want to be Kislyaked like Sessions was — accused of not being fully forthcoming to Kamala Harris.

    Cannon listed 17 short articles from a 2-mo undergrad stint at El Nuevo Herald. ranging from “Prenatal Yoga” to “Flamenco: An Explosion of Energy and Passion.” Cannon is unclear on whether she authored or simply edited the articles.

    That’s not bragging, that’s being frank and forthcoming.

    nk (d227e3)

  497. The knives really are out for this lady. And it sucks!

    nk (d227e3)

  498. Sigh, for a lifetime appointment.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  499. It also makes it difficult for Trump to argue that movers or aides mishandled the documents or that he was unaware of their presence, McQuade said, arguing, “That’s pretty damning evidence.”

    Oh, that’s just ridiculous.

    These were all presumably items that at one time Trump kept in the family residential quarters of the White House, and that’s all you know.

    Trump did reportedly go looking through some of the stash in late 2021.(In order to decide what he felt comfortable transferring to the National Archives)
    .

    Sammy Finkelman (b434ee)

  500. Trump loses anotherlegal battle, this time to Peter Strzok. (The judge appears annoyed at having had to read what Trump’s lawyer wrote.)

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  501. In order to decide what he felt comfortable transferring to the National Archives

    That is not the criteria for separating personal records from presidential records, per the Presidential Records Act. There are well established protocols, which Trump shat all over.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  502. Bottom story of the day:

    Affordable Care Act Health-Plan Premiums Set to Rise

    Premiums for many Affordable Care Act health-insurance plans are set to rise sharply next year, a sign of how rising labor costs and other expenses are starting to ripple through the healthcare economy.

    Consumers, who generally can begin signing up for plans on Nov. 1, probably won’t feel much impact because of enhanced federal subsidies, but small employers are likely to face the brunt of higher rates because they don’t get similar government help, according to health-insurance specialists.

    Insurers on the ACA marketplaces are proposing median monthly premium increases of 10%, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation review of proposals made by 72 insurers in 13 states. Some insurers are seeking rate increases as high as 20%.

    And the need to keep these huge subsidies in place increases, Maybe that’s necessary for older folks — ACA premiums are huge if you;re of a certain age — but why a 25yo making $80K needs a subsidy is beyond me.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  503. Sigh, for a lifetime appointment.

    You seem to think that Trump invented appointing mediocrities to the bench.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)


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