Patterico's Pontifications

9/9/2022

Weekend Open Thread

Filed under: General — Dana @ 9:32 am



[guest post by Dana]

Let’s go!

First news item

Oberlin College initiates payment in full, but offers no apology:

After a legal battle spanning several years, Oberlin College has finally agreed to pay $36.59 million in damages to a local bakery for falsely accusing the business owners of racism…Oberlin had repeatedly appealed a lower court ruling which found that the college, in 2016, defamed Gibson’s Bakery after a shoplifting incident involving three black students…”We are disappointed by the Court’s decision. However, this does not diminish our respect for the law and the integrity of our legal system. This matter has been painful for everyone. We hope that the end of the litigation will begin the healing of our entire community,” Oberlin said Thursday in a press release.

Oberlin added that it “has initiated payment in full,” representing the total damages awarded and interest, and that “is awaiting payment information from the plaintiffs.”

Second news item

Yet another investigation concerning Trump and friends moneymaking schemes:

A federal grand jury investigating the activities leading up the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and the push by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the result of the 2020 election has expanded its probe to include seeking information about Trump’s leadership PAC, Save America, sources with direct knowledge tell ABC News…The interest in the fundraising arm came to light as part of grand jury subpoenas seeking documents, records and testimony from potential witnesses, the sources said…The subpoenas, sent to several individuals in recent weeks, are specifically seeking to understand the timeline of Save America’s formation, the organization’s fundraising activities, and how money is both received and spent by the Trump-aligned PAC.

Third news item

Unsurprising:

Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon was charged Thursday in New York with defrauding donors who were giving money to build a wall at the southern U.S. border.

Bannon, 68, was indicted on charges including money laundering, scheming to defraud, and conspiracy in what prosecutors described as a yearlong scheme. He pleaded not guilty in a brief arraignment before acting Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan and agreed to surrender his passports as a condition of his bail. Supreme Court is the name of New York’s principal criminal court.

Fourth news item

The investigation is apparently still ongoing:

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch said Thursday that he hopes the investigation into the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization draft opinion leak will be completed soon.

[…]

“The chief justice appointed an internal committee to oversee the investigation,” Gorsuch said. “That committee has been busy, and we’re looking forward to their report, I hope, soon.”

Fifth news item

Disturbing news from Alabama:

Several pregnant women in Alabama have been held in jail for months after being accused of using drugs during their pregnancies.

Ashley Banks, 23, was arrested on 25 May with a small amount of cannabis and an unregistered firearm. She admitted to having smoked marijuana two days earlier, the same day that she found out that she was pregnant.

In Etowah County, this meant that she was unable to post bail and leave until it was time for her trial. She wouldn’t be able to leave the jail unless she went to drug rehab, meaning she was left in a position of limbo for three months, al.com reported.

Multiple women facing allegations of having used drugs while pregnant have spent weeks or months in the Etowah County Detention Center. The specific bond conditions the women face include rehab and a $10,000 payment.

Sixth news item

Homeless camps blocking sidewalk access, lawsuit filed:

People with disabilities in Portland, Oregon, have sued the city, saying they can’t navigate its sidewalks because of sprawling homeless encampments.

The federal class action lawsuit says the city has violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by allowing homeless people’s tents to block city sidewalks, making it difficult for people using wheelchairs, walkers or canes to use them.

“The entire class of persons with disabilities are regularly deprived of the benefits of services of the city of Portland,” said John DiLorenzo, lead counsel for the plaintiffs.

[…]

The class action suit seeks to require the city to clear all sidewalks of tent encampments and debris, and to “construct, purchase, or otherwise provide for emergency shelters in which to house the unsheltered persons” who may be affected.

Seventh news item

Lawsuit challenges Florida’s Stop WOKE Act:

To protect free speech, the government must censor. That’s the absurd argument put forth by Florida lawmakers in the controversial “Stop WOKE Act.”

The law suppresses viewpoints disfavored by Florida lawmakers, threatens tens of millions of dollars in annual funding for universities that don’t crack down on faculty who “promote” an opinion on a government blacklist, and encourages people to report other Americans to government authorities if they “advance” those views — all in the name of “individual freedom.”

Today, a professor and student group from the University of South Florida sued to protect professors’ ability to teach and students’ ability to learn. The lawsuit, filed by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, alleges that the higher education provisions of Florida’s “Individual Freedom” law (dubbed the “Stop WOKE Act” by its proponents), impermissibly chill free expression and promote unconstitutional censorship on the state’s college campuses.

“Without the freedom to engage in vigorous and robust debate about important issues and contentious concepts, a college education is just an exercise in memorizing facts and repeating government-approved viewpoints,” said FIRE attorney Adam Steinbaugh. “That’s not freedom or education.”

Eighth news item

Paging President Biden! Mayor Bowser is correct: the crisis at the border is getting worse:

Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser declared the busing of migrants to the nation’s capital a public emergency Thursday as over 9,000 asylum-seekers have arrived in the district since April.

The declaration authorizes Bowser to establish an Office of Migrant Services, which will provide support and services to migrants being sent to Washington DC from Texas and Arizona.

The district will initially allocate $10 million for the creation of the new office and will seek reimbursement from the federal government, according to the announcement.

“This is what we know. The crisis at the border is not lessening. It’s getting worse,” Bowser said at a press conference, adding that she expects “hundreds of more buses” to arrive in the fall.

Ninth news item

Near-total abortion ban rejected in South Carolina:

South Carolina senators rejected a ban on almost all abortions Thursday in a special session called in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade after five Republicans, including all the chamber’s women, refused to support it.

The 30 Republicans in the 46-member chamber had a majority to pass the ban, but did not have the extra votes to end a threatened filibuster by Republican Sen. Tom Davis.

[…]

Senators did pass a few changes to the six-week ban, including cutting the time that victims of rape and incest who become pregnant can seek an abortion from 20 weeks to about 12 weeks and requiring that DNA from the aborted fetus be collected for police. The bill goes back to the House, which passed a ban with exceptions for rape or incest.

Tenth news item

Ah:

Ohio Democratic Senate nominee Tim Ryan has insisted that President Biden should not run for the White House in 2024, saying it is time for a “generational move” for both parties amid a “poisonous” political atmosphere in America.

Ryan’s remarks, which were made during a Thursday evening interview with Youngstown’s WFMJ-TV, one day before he is slated to appear alongside Biden during his visit to the state to tour a new semiconductor manufacturing facility from Intel near Columbus.

“My hunch is that we need new leadership across the board, Democrats, Republicans,” Ryan said when asked whether Biden should seek re-election. “I think it’s time for a generational move for new leaders on both sides. I think the environment politically across the country is poisonous and, you know, people, I think, want some change and I think it’s important for us in both parties…”

MISCELLANEOUS

Brilliant:

Have a great weekend.

–Dana

235 Responses to “Weekend Open Thread”

  1. Hello!

    Dana (1225fc)

  2. She wouldn’t be able to leave the jail unless she went to drug rehab

    I don’t favor forcing anyone into “drug rehab.” It’s a waste of money and takes a bed in the rehab away from those who might want to be there. Recovery from addiction requires willingness at minimum and probably requires a strong desire to change.

    Since long-term recovery requires long-term action by the individual — rehab is only a starting point — it is ludicrous to expect a forced rehab to accomplish anything except 1) provide employment to rehab workers, and 2) allow the system to demonstrate they are “doing something.”

    The question of whether drug use by expectant mothers should be criminalized is a separate matter.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  3. To protect free speech, the government must censor. That’s the absurd argument put forth by Florida lawmakers in the controversial “Stop WOKE Act.”

    The government is not “censoring” as the speech is the government’s in the first place. All the act does is restrict what government employees may teach on government time in government schools. It has been repeatedly decided that employees’ speech is subject to regulation by their employer while they are on the job.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  4. The federal class action lawsuit says the city has violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by allowing homeless people’s tents to block city sidewalks, making it difficult for people using wheelchairs, walkers or canes to use them.

    This should be interesting. If successful, it won’t end with Portland.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  5. South Carolina senators rejected a ban on almost all abortions Thursday in a special session called in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade after five Republicans, including all the chamber’s women, refused to support it.

    Good. This is the right direction. By the time November 2024 rolls around, there will be no state with a ban on 1st-trimester abortions, and there will be pressure for a federal law akin to those in Europe.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  6. “My hunch is that we need new leadership across the board, Democrats, Republicans,”

    Indeed. THe GOP may have Trump, but the Democrats have a collective Trump.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  7. The Ukrainians have made a substantial gain — and appear to have taken Putin’s people by surprise.

    Over the past three days, Ukrainian forces have advanced almost 50 kilometers, or about 31 miles, in the northeastern Kharkiv region, the army general staff said Friday.

    Images of the Ukrainian flag being raised over local government buildings and residents greeting soldiers with tears of joy have boosted morale across the country after months on the defensive. One video showed Ukrainian soldiers in the city of Balakliya clambering on top of an armored personnel carrier to tear down a banner reading, “We are with Russia! One people!”

    According to the article, the Ukrainians may — I repeat, may — be on the verge of surrounding thousands of Russian soldiers.

    The fall mud season, which is likely to begin by the end of this month, will slow movement down, so now is the time for counter-offensives. (After the ground freezes, probably by the middle of November, movement will be easier, but the cold will cause other problems.)

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  8. 4,

    I agree that if the Portland lawsuit is successful, other cities across America will face them as well. Unfortunately, the answer to the overwhelming problem still eludes officials being pushed by competing entities: homeless advocates, local activists, private businesses, and residents.

    Recently, a New Jersey township chopped down all of the mature shade trees in their city square to prevent homeless people from congregating under their shade. We’ve also seen cities insert concrete pylons throughout green spaces to prevent homeless camps from sprouting up. Residents are outraged by a seeming lack of movement by city officials to solve the problem. But how to solve this ever-increasing problem is a question most mayors continue to grapple with.

    Dana (1225fc)

  9. KevinM-

    I responded to your question on Tory voting patterns here.

    Rip Murdock (9f3047)

  10. Dana nailed it – the outrage, the hopelessness, the slow response….

    EPWJ (650a62)

  11. Those who want more technical detail on the war in the Ukraine can find it at the Insitute for the Study of War. Here, for example, is their September 8th report.

    Sample:

    Ukrainian successes on the Kharkiv City-Izyum line are creating fissures within the Russian information space and eroding confidence in Russian command to a degree not seen since a failed Russian river crossing in mid-May. Ukrainian military officials announced that Ukrainian forces advanced 50km deep into Russian defensive positions north of Izyum on September 8, but the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) notably did not issue any statement regarding Ukrainian advances in Kharkiv Oblast.[1] Ukrainian successes and the Russian MoD’s silence prompted many Russian milbloggers to criticize and debate Russian failures to retain control over the city of Balakliya, approximately 44km northwest of Izyum. Some milbloggers claimed that Russian forces fully or partially withdrew from Balakliya in good order, while others complained that Ukrainian forces beat Russian forces out of the settlement.[2] Others noted that Rosgvardia units operating in the area did not coordinate their defenses or have sufficient artillery capabilities to prevent Ukrainian counterattacks in the region.[3] Milbloggers warned about an impending Ukrainian counteroffensive northwest of Izyum for days prior to Ukrainian advances, and some milbloggers noted that Russian command failed to prepare for “obvious and predictable” Ukrainian counteroffensives.[4] Others noted that Ukrainian forces have “completely outplayed” the Russian military command in Balakliya, while others encouraged readers to wait to discuss Russian losses and withhold criticism until Russian forces stabilize the frontlines.[5]

    (Almost anyone who has read a little military history will be amazed at how openly these operations are being discussed, even in Russia. And commercial satellites are giving unprecedented, open-source views.)

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  12. Trump loses bigly again:

    A federal judge has dismissed the sprawling archlawsuit filed by Donald Trump against his perceived political enemies during the 2016 election, including Hillary Clinton, opponents, including the Democratic National Committee, James Comey, Lisa Page, Peter Strzok, and Fusion GPS.

    U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks dismissed the case “in its entirety”…….
    ………
    Trump’s lawyers argued that the various claims — racketeering, theft of trade secrets, malicious prosecution, injurious falsehood, and other alleged torts — should have moved forward despite being filed well after the statute of limitations had expired. Trump’s legal team employed a novel argument: that the statute of limitations should be “tolled,” or paused, for the entire time Trump was president. In essence, they argued that Trump was so busy being president that he could not have focused on the litigation.
    ……..
    “Plaintiff’s presidency evidently did not deter him from filing other lawsuits in his personal capacity during the duration of his term in elected office,” Middlebrooks noted before citing three specific examples.
    ………
    “Plaintiff’s theory of this case, set forth over 527 paragraphs in the first 118 pages of the Amended Complaint, is difficult to summarize in a concise and cohesive manner,” Middlebrooks quipped. “It was certainly not presented that way. Nevertheless, I will attempt to distill it here.”
    ………
    “Whatever the utilities of [the Amended Complaint] as a fundraising tool, a press release, or a list of political grievances, it has no merit as a lawsuit,” several of the defendants wrote in a motion to dismiss.

    “I agree,” Middlebrooks responded while noting that the lawsuit suffered from “structural deficiencies,” jurisdictional problems, and was insufficient on substance.
    ………
    “Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint is neither short nor plain, and it certainly does not establish that Plaintiff is entitled to any relief,” the judge wrote while referencing the federal rules of civil procedure that require “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.”
    ……..
    Elsewhere, the judge said Trump’s lawyers cited Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681 (1997) to support extending the statute of limitations, “but the Supreme Court in that case arrived at the opposite conclusion than that which Plaintiff urges,” Middlebrooks wrote: “it rejected a stay of litigation during President Clinton’s term and concluded that his engagement in civil litigation would not unduly interfere with his presidential duties.”

    The judge said he had “serious doubts” about whether Trump’s lawyers properly certified that the case had legal merit.
    ………

    Rip Murdock (9f3047)

  13. Funeral Joe; Irish Catholic Squinty confirms he will attend state funeral for Protestant Christian Queen Elizabeth II. No looking at your watch; no breaking wind for Camilla, windbag.

    DCSCA (661174)

  14. Russian Media Watch:

    New War Losses Send Putin’s Stooges Into Frantic Meltdown

    As Ukrainians celebrated reclaiming a slew of territories, many Russian propagandists went into overdrive to cover the furthest thing they could from the war: the health of Queen Elizabeth II, who died on Thursday afternoon.
    ……..
    Russian propagandists appeared to melt into some kind of existential tug-of-war as the news trickled out, with one well-known Telegram channel, Novorossiya Z.O.V. Militia Reports, sharing videos of the Ukrainian flag raised above Balakliya before insisting it meant nothing, citing a local resident who said the Russians “left on their own,” and then posting a survey asking followers, “Is Queen Elizabeth still alive?”
    ……….
    Even as many preferred to shift to the queen, however, some pro-Kremlin channels openly admitted to Russia’s recent defeats on the battlefield—and raged over what they described as Russians being abandoned.

    “Millions of Russians from Kherson to Kupyansk are now not in the least bit sure that Russia is with them —forever,” read a post on the Zastavny Telegram channel acknowledging Russian losses.

    “I am waiting for the correction of this tragic mistake,” the post read.

    “And [Russian news outlets] RIA and Zvezda meanwhile are broadcasting about the British queen,” another channel complained.
    ########

    Rip Murdock (9f3047)

  15. Good. This is the right direction. By the time November 2024 rolls around, there will be no state with a ban on 1st-trimester abortions, and there will be pressure for a federal law akin to those in Europe.

    The South Carolina law that was passed has a six-week limit. Indiana passed a law that forbids elective abortions at any stage. We could go through a few other states, too. Are you predicting that those laws will be repealed? Are you expecting Democrats to win control of those legislative chambers?

    mikeybates (85f02a)

  16. Rip Murdock (9f3047) — 9/9/2022 @ 12:31 pm

    i don’t think media misdirection is specifically a russian problem

    recession, inflation, gas prices, border chaos, demented chief exec — no, What’s trump up to today?

    JF (ca20d8)

  17. I think Kevin is projecting….there are some very conservative states where a ban may prevail. I think he’s correct with purple swing states that they will probably settle back to a 12-16wk period where it’s allowed. Indiana and SC are pretty conservative….both might fall below his 12wk mark

    AJ_Liberty (5f05c3)

  18. I saw an article about China and Covid that had one or two very interesting paragraphs:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/19/business/china-covid-tourists-hainan-lockdown.html

    China’s hard-line approach of doing whatever it takes to keep Covid-19 under wraps — testing live fish in the port city of Xiamen, among countless other pandemic protocols — has taken a toll on the economy and weighed on the psyche of its citizens.

    Nobody else blames it on fish.

    That must be part of the cover-up – they “worry” about it to lend credibility to the theory that Covid originated at the Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market. They are not even consistent. They’ve blamed frozen fish; they’ve said, and published a paper with data from 2017 that said there were some stalls live animals in the market, with pictures; they’ve admitted it didn’t really originate were. But they still lend support to all propaganda.

    That NYT article links to this earlier story about live fish: https://m.weibo.cn/status/4803459705210804#&video (in Chinese)

    The other interesting thing I noticed in that mid-August NYT article was this:

    Xinjiang, a prime vacation spot for outdoor enthusiasts in northwest China, has had similar challenges, with thousands of tourists prohibited from leaving the region after a recent outbreak. According to an official in Ili Prefecture, the group included not just people who had tested positive for Covid-19, but also their close contacts, close contacts of those close contacts and people staying in medium and high-risk areas.

    Xinjiang (Sinkiang) is, of course where the Uyghurs are arrested and are kept under surveillance. But here, in this article (and in parts of Cina) it’s known as a tourist destination,

    I suspect monitoring the close contacts of those close contacts may have something to do with the Uyghurs – that is, they are not foing that in some other places were they have had Covid lockdowns..

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  19. What’s trump up to today?

    JF (ca20d8) — 9/9/2022 @ 2:10 pm

    Losing.

    Rip Murdock (9f3047)

  20. The DoJ objected to including documents marked classified in the review of the special master. They said they are ipso facto surely government records and tat there are only 100 or so f them – and claimed, for reasons I do not understand, except that this might be bureaucratic nonsense, that it would delay a security review.

    Well, they probably shouldn’t get a review. There is almost no shot Iran or Russia or China saw any of that, and considering sources to be compromised would only cut the US off from information — also maybe give them an excuse to attribute hostile government knowledge of what the US knows to the wrong source.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  21. The less expert professional fentanyl makers and smugglers make imitation 30 mg oxycodone pills and smuggle them into the United States with fruits and vegetables. (dogs I guess are not trained to detect that, or the trucks carrying fruits and vegetables are not searched)

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  22. Bannon has been indicted for the same “give me money to build the wall” fraud that Trump pardoned him for.

    Normally double jeopardy prevents New York from prosecuting someone for the same thing that the federal government did (the reverse is not true) but Bannon was pardoned before trial.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  23. The Dobbs leak investigation is not being doe by the FBI, it seems.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  24. Trump seems to have told his lawyers to sue whereever they can He likes being in court.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  25. From a previous thread:

    Rip Murdock (9f3047) — 9/8/2022 @ 8:18 pm

    Truss is a woman. Sunak is a man

    do you even read what you cut paste here?

    JF (b4971a) — 9/8/2022 @ 9:00 pm

    Yes-the point is that Sunak et. al. may be rich enough to be Tories, but he (and other politicians from immigrant backgrounds) will never fit in political parties that are more than 95% “white British”. Britain itself is 87% white (compared 57.8% in the US). They will always be outsiders.

    It has nothing to do with gender.

    Rip Murdock (9f3047) — 9/9/2022 @ 10:13 am

    Truss was always the favorite not because she is a woman but because Sunak isn’t “white British” in a party that’s 96% and a country that is 87% WB.

    Rip Murdock (9f3047)

  26. Kathy Hochul is complete nonentity, following instructions, still following instructions now that she’s Governor, but can she lose to a Republican???

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  27. The investigation is apparently still ongoing…

    Uh-huh.

    So is the Korean War.

    DCSCA (f14f10)

  28. Item 10 from AOC to tim ryan most democrats agree to biden not running again. Item 9 also michigan supreme court rules abortion protection initiative will be on november ballot so women can come out to vote to give the anti-abortion rethugliKKKans a political post natal abortion! Item 5 its the south what do you expect. They still wave confederate flags and give black people minor felony convictions so they can’t vote.

    asset (a7d25a)

  29. Does having one frivolous lawsuit tossed this week mean that Trump won’t threaten another? I guess not……..

    ……..
    The former president announced on his reportedly financially challenged Truth Social platform that he is considering suing the news network for false advertising after an insulting ad created by The Lincoln Project aired on Fox News in one local market — where Trump owns a golf course. The ad was not bought through Fox News and did not air nationally.

    The ad is titled “Sucker,” and it basically explains to MAGA Republicans why they are suckers for believing basically anything Trump tells them:
    ………
    The commercial was designed specifically to piss off Trump, and it apparently succeeded based on the rant he unleashed Wednesday morning on Truth Social:
    ………..
    ……….(T)he First Amendment protections of political speech are probably why Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson, a former Republican strategist, didn’t seem too worried about the threat.
    …….
    Wilson said he was “delighted” by the chance of a lawsuit and released a Twitter video in which he bluntly told Trump to “go for it.”
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (354535)

  30. The investigation is apparently still ongoing…

    Uh-huh.

    So is the Korean War.

    DCSCA (f14f10) — 9/9/2022 @ 2:55 pm

    You still think Alito did it?

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  31. @30. Absolutely.

    DCSCA (0614c2)

  32. @30. Small clique of be-robed bureaucrats investigating selves, proclaims small group of berobed bureaucrats.

    Film at 11.

    DCSCA (0614c2)

  33. @30. Absolutely.

    DCSCA (0614c2) — 9/9/2022 @ 3:39 pm

    Then I’ll make you a bet. If the investigation finds Alito was the leaker, I’ll sign off, go back to lurking, and never be heard from around here again. If it finds somebody other than Alito did it, you likewise disappear forever. Deal?

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  34. Residents are outraged by a seeming lack of movement by city officials to solve the problem. But how to solve this ever-increasing problem is a question most mayors continue to grapple with.

    Not so long ago, a pro-homeless LA City Councilman refused to post “No RV parking” signs in single-family residential areas in his district, citing some dubious ruling by a dubious judge.

    This did not, however, prevent him from posting such signs in a few square blocks around his own residence.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  35. I think Kevin is projecting….there are some very conservative states where a ban may prevail.

    Maybe, although if Kansas won’t do it, who will on a secret ballot?

    In any event, Congress will intervene so as to put an end to the issue.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  36. @33 Now that’s bold! Here’s my prediction: DCSCA is not confident enough to make the bet.

    norcal (da5491)

  37. People with disabilities in Portland, Oregon, have sued the city, saying they can’t navigate its sidewalks because of sprawling homeless encampments.

    An intersectionality woke-off. Pass the popcorn!

    norcal (da5491)

  38. ‘Everyone wants me to run in 2024’: Trump
    ……..
    “Everyone wants me to run. I am leading in the polls,” Trump said in an excerpt of an interview with NDTV to be broadcast in full later on Thursday.

    “In every poll, in Republican polls and in Democrat polls, and I will make a decision in the very near future, I suspect. And I think that a lot of people are going to be very happy,” he added.
    ……..

    Not everyone:

    ……….
    Sixty-seven percent of independents said they do not want Trump to run again, while just 28% said they do. In 2020, Trump lost independents and lost the election. In 2016, Trump fared better with the group, but throughout his presidency and afterward he suffered with them and has never regained them.
    ……….
    Overall, 61% of survey respondents said they don’t want Trump to run again, largely unchanged from just after the 2020 election that Trump lost. A lot has transpired since then, and it shows just how locked in Americans’ views are of Trump.
    ……….

    Except:

    Two-thirds of Republicans said they want Trump to run again, and a whopping 61% of them said they still want him to run even if he’s charged with a crime.

    Rip Murdock (354535)

  39. the furthest thing they could from the war: the health of Queen Elizabeth II, who died on Thursday afternoon.

    “stable”

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  40. The South Carolina law that was passed has a six-week limit. Indiana passed a law that forbids elective abortions at any stage. We could go through a few other states, too. Are you predicting that those laws will be repealed? Are you expecting Democrats to win control of those legislative chambers?

    I am expecting that sufficient numbers of state legislators will lose in swing districts to cause reconsideration. I am expecting that wherever a ban comes onto the ballot by itself, it will lose. Am I predicting that people with bags-of-hammers for brains will see the light? No. But when 70-80% of voters oppose total bans, they will either fall at the state level of Congress will get really very tired of this shn1t.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  41. In any event, Congress will intervene so as to put an end to the issue.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 9/9/2022 @ 4:26 pm

    Hopefully by banning abortion entirely in the next Republican Congress, after Biden is defeated.

    Rip Murdock (354535)

  42. *OR Congress will get really very tired of this sh1t.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  43. Hopefully by banning abortion entirely in the next Republican Congress, after Biden is defeated.

    It is literally insane to think so.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  44. An intersectionality woke-off. Pass the popcorn!

    No contest. People like the disabled.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  45. @35 Polls in deep south over 50% favor choice and with some moderate limitations its over 60% to 70% depending on state.

    asset (a7d25a)

  46. Two-thirds of Republicans said they want Trump to run again, and a whopping 61% of them said they still want him to run even if he’s charged with a crime.

    This is what a minor party does. Hopefully he will have been convicted of an insurrection-related crime by then, and be disqualified.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  47. It is literally insane to think so.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 9/9/2022 @ 4:37 pm

    It’s not insane to think so, just an eternal hope. Losing potential family members to abortion is a tragedy for all.

    Rip Murdock (354535)

  48. asset, few anywhere approve the straight-up “Do you favor the right of a minor to have a 3rd-trimester abortion, paid for by the state, with the government helping to hide it all from her parents?”

    But that is the current Democrat position, although they won’t admit it.

    More favor a total abortion ban, but probably not a majority in any state.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  49. Hopefully he will have been convicted of an insurrection-related crime by then, and be disqualified.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 9/9/2022 @ 4:42 pm

    Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 provides the qualifications for president, it says nothing about disqualification. The 14th Amendment Disqualification Clause applies to “officers of the United States” who are appointed by the President, but he is not one himself (at least according to this analysis).

    Rip Murdock (354535)

  50. Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 9/9/2022 @ 4:42 pm

    See here for a discussion of who is an “officer of the United States.” It is based on the Appointments Clause of the Constitution (Article II, Section 2, Clause 2).

    Rip Murdock (354535)

  51. It is literally insane to think so.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 9/9/2022 @ 4:37 pm

    So insane that it was a bedrock position of the Republican Party for decades. Now that they have won a great victory they need to press forward, not retreat, as so many Republican candidates seem to be doing, after loudly proclaiming their opposition to Roe.

    Rip Murdock (354535)

  52. I figure there are more Republican politicians upset at the overturning of Roe v. Wade than there are Democratic politicians. The Republicans lost their bread and butter campaign issue.

    The Democrats are in clover. The baby-killers will keep their money-making first trimester elective abortions, which are 92.7% of all abortions, in all except a handful of states, and have a new cause to rally around, where they had indulged in complacency before.

    Right, asset?

    nk (2eab6f)

  53. I am expecting that sufficient numbers of state legislators will lose in swing districts to cause reconsideration. I am expecting that wherever a ban comes onto the ballot by itself, it will lose. Am I predicting that people with bags-of-hammers for brains will see the light? No. But when 70-80% of voters oppose total bans, they will either fall at the state level of Congress will get really very tired of this shn1t.

    I guess we’ll see if that prediction comes to pass. In Indiana, for example, Republicans hold large majorities in state legislature, so I’m not sure how many would have to lose for them to repeal this law. And it isn’t a “total ban,” in any case.

    The death penalty polls very well, and always wins at the ballot box. But the Democrats repeal it anyway, and it doesn’t slow them down at all. Public opinion only matters so much. And remember too that abortion rates are far lower (40% lower) in Republican states than Democratic states, and far lower among Republican-voting groups than among Democratic-voting groups.

    mikeybates (4e558b)

  54. The Republicans lost their bread and butter campaign issue.
    ………
    nk (2eab6f) — 9/9/2022 @ 5:58 pm

    Republican legislators/candidates need to put up or shut up. Opposing Roe was a cost free position in the past, but now they must do what they promised for so many years, to “protect the sanctity of human life,” and not just after 6 weeks.

    Rip Murdock (354535)

  55. An intersectionality woke-off. Pass the popcorn!

    norcal (da5491) — 9/9/2022 @ 4:29 pm

    Ha, no kidding. Who wins the Hegelian dialectic to achieve the superior “critical consciousness” in this one–the disabled and their extremely loud and obnoxious activists, or the homeless and their extremely loud and obnoxious activists? Expect lots of “ableism” and “privileged” pejoratives to be thrown back and forth.

    Factory Working Orphan (2775f0)

  56. I’ll give them Plan B because errare humanum est; rape and incest because I consider it self-defense; and, of course, as a medical decision to preserve the physical health of, and prevent serious injury or death to, the mother. But arbitrary time periods for “elective” abortions just don’t sit right with me.

    nk (2eab6f)

  57. The only states that have any shot at passing outright abortion bans are deep red states where Democrats are basically window dressing–just as it is the opposite in deep blue states where unrestricted abortion all the way up until the infant’s feet exit the magic birth canal trip is now the law.

    Anywhere that the parties are relatively close, outright bans and unrestricted abortion will be moderated more towards current European laws on the practice.

    Factory Working Orphan (2775f0)

  58. Re: Fourth news item-Dobbs leak

    MAGAWorld have their own theories about who leaked opinion:

    MY SPIDEY SENSE TELLS ME:

    A PDF of the draft Roe v Wade decision wasn’t LEAKED from WITHIN SCOTUS, THE PDF WAS DIGITALLY INTERCEPTED by an OUTSIDE agency such as NSA/CIA/FIB, etc. SPYING ON AND HACKING SCOTUS COMPUTER SYSTEMS, then LEAKED to State Media.

    Responses: Sounds reasonable. I wonder if that can be proved. …… Your theory is definitely not out of the question. …… That could be. Our Deep State has likely bugged every office of the federal government. …… I agree…I think that if you want to find the leaker check to see who accessed the stored intercepts of the NSA.

    ……..
    Just look for the purple haired lesbian with the nose ring
    …….
    I’m sure the investigation will be available shortly after the Durham Report.
    …….
    CJ Roberts did it himself. He’s Deep State Scum.
    …….

    Rip Murdock (354535)

  59. or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States,

    Rip, I’ve heard the argument that the President (and likely VP) isn’t technically included in that class, but if you were an originalist, and not a textualist, you would probably conclude that they intended the President to be covered.

    That many “Officers of the United States” or even most such officers are appointed by the President does not mean that the President himself is not such an officer. The analysis at Volokh suggests that, while “any officer” (in the disqualification clause) might include the President, the oath-taking clause does not, exactly, as it uses a narrower term “Officer of the United States.”

    My take on that is “Nice Try.” People can differ. The questions is whether he can get 5 of 6 to agree. I think not.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  60. So insane that it was a bedrock position of the Republican Party for decades.

    So was balancing the budget.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  61. When you have a really divisive issue, one that has ravaged the political scene for 50 years, and you have a compromise that about 70% of the voters will accept, there is no profit in working an extreme.

    The only question I have is which party will see that first.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  62. Justice Dept. and Trump Legal Team Clash Over Special Master Candidates
    ………
    In a eight-page joint filing that listed far more points of disagreement than of consensus, the two sides exhibited sharply divergent visions for what the arbiter, known as a special master, would do.
    ………
    The dispute over the special master’s purview was reflected in an appeal the Justice Department filed on Thursday asking that the judge lift part of her order temporarily barring it from using the documents in its investigation until the arbiter’s work was done.

    The department asked an appeals court to overturn that part of that order that applied to about 100 documents marked as classified, and asked Judge Cannon to hold off on enforcing that same part while the appeal unfolded. The upshot would be that the investigation could resume using only the documents with classification markings.

    Judge Cannon has not yet decided whether to comply with the government’s request, which the Justice Department argued was necessary in part because separate national-security assessments were inextricably bound to that effort.
    ………

    Rip Murdock (354535)

  63. Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 9/9/2022 @ 7:37 pm

    I’ll guess we’ll find out if an attempt is made to disqualify Trump under Section 3.

    Rip Murdock (354535)

  64. Rip, I’ve heard the argument that the President (and likely VP) isn’t technically included in that class, but if you were an originalist, and not a textualist, you would probably conclude that they intended the President to be covered.
    ………
    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 9/9/2022 @ 7:37 pm

    There is a recent Supreme Court opinion discussing the scope of the Constitution’s “Officers of the United States”-language. In Free Enter. Fund v. Pub. Co. Accounting Oversight Bd. (2010), Chief Justice Roberts observed that “[t]he people do not vote for the ‘Officers of the United States.'” Rather, “officers of the United States” are appointed exclusively pursuant to Article II, Section 2 procedures. It follows that the President, who is an elected official, is not an “officer of the United States.”
    ………
    Moreover, there is some good authority to reject the position that Section 3’s “officer of the United States”-language extends to the presidency. In United States v. Mouat (1888), Justice Samuel Miller interpreted a statute that used the phrase “officers of the United States.” He wrote, “[u]nless a person in the service of the government, therefore, holds his place by virtue of an appointment by the president, or of one of the courts of justice or heads of departments authorized by law to make such an appointment, he is not strictly speaking, an officer of the United States.” Justice Miller’s opinion, drafted two decades after the Fourteenth Amendment’s ratification, is some probative evidence of the original public meaning of Section 3’s “officer of the United States”-language.

    Source

    Rip Murdock (354535)

  65. I think the people trying to keep pregnant women sober by many means are being consistent in their pro-life beliefs, but the failures illustrate the intransigent nature of the problem.
    On one hand we don’t want anymore crack or meth babies being tortured by drugs during pregnancy but we also don’t want the easy route out,abortion, to be taken.

    Sometimes in the human adventure, you chose the least worst option.

    steveg (f9c809)

  66. @33/@36. Pfft. OFGS, how incredibly naive. What in God’s name makes you think the CJ would ever publicly ‘j’accuse’; point the finger and out another sitting justice on the SCOTUS and thereby damage the institution even further?

    Wake up. It’s a small, closed circle of be-robed bureaucrats as it is w/limited access to the paper work in question– and Roberts likely knows already. Hell, Alito’s own pattern of behavior, own writings and subsequent Nathan Jessup neon-sign-crowing at the Vatican all but says, I did it, so give me my ‘you want me on that wall’ credit!

    The official “investigation” will end up being officially inconclusive. But internally, the CJ likely knows who ate the strawberries. And once Alito retires, he or the CJ could either claim credit in a memoir reveal [unlikely] or take it to the grave- [most likely.] Look how many decades was the FBI’s Mark ‘Deep Throat’ Felt identity kept secret from investigative tendrils at… the FBI.

    DCSCA (1f8fbd)

  67. Justice Dept. and Trump Legal Team Clash Over Special Master Candidates

    Billable hours.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  68. On one hand we don’t want anymore crack or meth babies being tortured by drugs during pregnancy but we also don’t want the easy route out,abortion, to be taken.

    Something criminalizing drug use during pregnancy would generally accomplish. After all, if someone is already putting drugs before the welfare of the child, the next step is easy. I’d also expect some do-gooders to suggest paying for the abortions to prevent damaged babies to become a societal problem.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  69. When abortion ruling came down I said it would be dred scott II. Conservatives said here and in the rest of the conservative media no big deal its the economy that will drive voters to the polls not abortion. Then came the Kansas vote. Most democrat candidates are wimp liberal snowflakes because abortion ruling came all of a sudden. It will be the next election that democrat candidates will run on giving it back good and hard to right to lifers and their republican shills. The donor class is telling democrats don’t say vote democrat or use a coat hanger. That is not the corporate establishment way. The next election the fierce amazon warriors will tell the donor class we don’t need your stinking money we want direct action against republican elected officials. Get ready for the term post natal abortions by the left in 2023/2024. They will kick any establishment democrat out of the way in the primaries who don’t want to fight. Hope this answers the questions the posters here have been asking me about. Katie hobbs running for gov. in az is the kind wimp liberal I am talking about. Hobbs is afraid to debate kari lake. She lacks the toughness to walk over to lake at the start of a debate and hand her a coat hanger look into the camera and say republicans want 10 year old girls to use this!

    asset (2b860e)

  70. @67: So your implausible Alito theory is conveniently unfalsifiable due to SCOTUS omerta. Why that seems almost designed to deprive you of your rightful credit for sussing the whole thing out.

    I hope you’re trolling. If you are, good one. You got me.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  71. @71. Pfft. Alito’s the leaker; he’s ‘at war’ w/t persuasive sway of the CJ, who has foiled his arcane arguments in– and from– the past. And he’s busting his Catholic buttons to tell you.

    DCSCA (10e9de)

  72. Even if Alito was the leaker, Thomas ended up with most of the attaboys. That resentment might eventually eclipse the CJ Roberts resentment.

    urbanleftbehind (f1ad64)

  73. You know, last week, back in the Elizabethan era…

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  74. Just a day or so ago, Balakliya, and now Izyum, both of which are strategically important rail hubs. This is Ukraine’s most successful advance since Kharkiv, and it’s happening fast.
    Mick Adams has a good thread on the subject.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  75. Regarding the proposed special masters, yes to all except Huck, who has a wife on the 11th Circuit.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  76. “An independent panel of experts on computer systems and election security issues has concluded a lengthy investigation into the voting systems currently in place in the state of Georgia and sent recommendations to the State Election Board and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. The current system primarily relies on touchscreen voting machines produced by Dominion Voting Systems. The audit must not have gone very well because they advise that the state discontinue the use of the Dominion machines and move immediately to hand-marked paper ballots.”

    https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2022/09/10/computer-experts-ditch-georgias-voting-machines-n495519

    Colonel Haiku (80389e)

  77. Paul Montagu (753b42) — 9/10/2022 @ 5:44 am

    based on all the reporting seen here the past many months, ukraine should be marching on red square any day now

    JF (e5c5b5)

  78. If polio can make it there
    It’ll make it anywhere
    It’s up to you
    New York, New York

    JF (e5c5b5)

  79. based on all the reporting seen here the past many months, ukraine should be marching on red square any day now

    You sound disappointed that Putin is regrouping retreating, JF. Why is that?

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  80. You sound disappointed that Putin is regrouping retreating, JF. Why is that?
    Paul Montagu (753b42) — 9/10/2022 @ 7:55 am

    it won’t matter to you, cuz anyone who doesn’t swallow the propaganda must be a putin fan, but I hope ukraine kicks azz

    putin state media says things are going great and anyone who disagrees is a nazi, and you dish the same hooey from the other side

    there’s a lot in common there

    then there’s the reality that we’ve gotten ourselves involved in a stupid war that isn’t going to end for years, and not to our liking

    JF (e5c5b5)

  81. It must be interesting, JF, you and your conversations with your imaginary friend, but I’m glad you support Ukraine.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  82. based on all the reporting seen here the past many months, ukraine should be marching on red square any day now

    One can hope. Rip said so.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  83. “Wake up. It’s a small, closed circle of be-robed bureaucrats as it is w/limited access to the paper work in question– and Roberts likely knows already.”

    Of course which people on the Court had their lives more upended by the leak? And will continue to have their families harassed and their appearances stalked? All of this unease is obviously predictable by an even slightly sharp mind….but especially by one trained to consider consequences.

    According to the Alito-is-the-leaker theory, it was necessary to keep the votes locked in. However, all of the external pressure unleashed after the leak was to pre-emptively trash the opinion’s reasoning and bring public backlash to 11. It just doesn’t pass the sniff test and supporting evidence is that liberal media has lost all interest in the investigation. Why? Cause they know in their heart of hearts that it’s one of their own…..a clerk….or perhaps a retiring justice.

    I do agree that Roberts probably has a good feel for who likely did it….and it’s more probable to be from the losing side of Dobbs.

    AJ_Liberty (242c56)

  84. “then there’s the reality that we’ve gotten ourselves involved in a stupid war that isn’t going to end for years, and not to our liking”

    JF still hoping for that Russian nuke strike so he can be RIGHT about the wisdom of the U.S. joining the rest of the world (minus N. Korea, Iran, and parts of Hungary) in supporting the Ukraine.

    AJ_Liberty (242c56)

  85. https://nypost.com/2022/09/09/hochul-donor-got-bigger-bucks-than-competitors-in-covid-test-deal/

    Gov. Kathy Hochul had New Yorkers pay twice as much for COVID tests from a company tied to nearly $300,000 in donations to her campaign compared to other state vendors, a new report details, raising fresh concerns of alleged pay-to-play behavior ahead of the Nov. 8 election.

    “Whether it was pay-to-play or total incompetence – New York taxpayers and then the federal taxpayers got massively ripped off,” John Kaehny, of the good-government group Reinvent Albany, said of the Digital Gadgets deal funded by New York taxpayers with the help of federal relief aid.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  86. AJ,

    one of the requirements when critiquing someone is to accurately restate their argument. Not engage in strawmen. You should apologize to JF.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  87. AJ_Liberty (242c56) — 9/10/2022 @ 8:23 am

    Warsaw is still in Polish hands, AJ, so put down the pom poms

    JF (e5c5b5)

  88. Maybe DOJ should get a search warrant for Bedminster, given there’s video of Trump people carrying eight boxes of documents onto his private jet.

    May 6th: NARA emails Trump that many high profile Presidential documents are missing.

    May 9th: Trump boards a private plane from Palm Beach to his club in Bedminster.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  89. based on all the reporting seen here the past many months, ukraine should be marching on red square any day now

    One can hope. Rip said so.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 9/10/2022 @ 8:14 am

    I have never said anything like that.

    Rip Murdock (354535)

  90. This week’s Politico collection of cartoons was weaker than usual, but I still found two I liked, Whamond’s
    presidential portrait, and Michael Ramirez’s comment on the weather in Las Vegas.

    (DCCCP will absolutely love the first.)

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  91. I have never said anything like that.

    You said one could hope (regarding an extremely unlikely abortion ban(. Sorry that the antecedent was unclear.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  92. Allies push for US weaponry after seeing impact in Ukraine
    ………
    Bill LaPlante, (DoD’s) under secretary for acquisition, told reporters that the Pentagon has been working with the defense industry to increase production lines to meet both U.S. and international demands for certain weapons. And he said some countries have already begun asking about buying the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS.

    As a result, he said, the U.S. has to both replace the HIMARS systems it sent to Ukraine — at a projected cost so far of about $33 million — but also predict the future demands in foreign sales.
    ……..
    Congress provided a total of $12.5 billion for such replacements so far this year, as well as another $6 billion to buy weapons and equipment directly from industry to send to Ukraine. The contracted items could take several years to come in.

    Some of the money will be spent to invest in the defense industrial base so that companies can either expand or speed up their production.

    ……… As an example, he said, right now industry is producing about 14,400 rounds of ammunition for the Howitzer artillery gun every month, but the plan is to work up to 36,000 a month in about three years.
    ………
    In some cases, LaPlante said, there are easy solutions to increasing the production capacity and in others it requires more creativity. Restarting the production of Stinger missiles, he said, forced contractors to come up with alternative parts to replace obsolete ones.
    ………

    Nothing like a real world demonstration of weapon systems to boost sales.

    Rip Murdock (354535)

  93. You said one could hope (regarding an extremely unlikely abortion ban(. Sorry that the antecedent was unclear.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 9/10/2022 @ 9:16 am

    A full abortion ban is more likely than the Ukraine Army in Red Square. However, I wouldn’t mind seeing the Russian Army in Red Square after a coup against Putin.

    Rip Murdock (354535)

  94. Russian Media Watch 2:

    Russia has not lost anything since February 24, Putin said

    With the start of the military operation in Ukraine, Russia has not lost anything, and the main gain of the Russian Federation has been the strengthening of sovereignty, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a session of the 7th Eastern Economic Forum.

    “I am sure that we have not lost anything (with the start of the operation in Ukraine – ed.) and will not lose anything. The main gain is the strengthening of our sovereignty, and this is the inevitable result of what is happening now,” the Russian leader said.

    According to Putin, there is a “certain polarization” in relation to the operation both in the world and within the country. “But I believe that this will only benefit, because everything unnecessary, temporary and everything that prevented us from moving forward will be rejected, we will gain momentum, the pace of development. Because modern development can only be based on sovereignty,” – said Putin.
    ………

    Rip Murdock (354535)

  95. They are simply advancing to the rear in force.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  96. R.I.P. Marsha Hunt, actress, 104

    Outlived HUAC.

    DCSCA (2c4555)

  97. HUAC is dead, but the Hollywood Blacklist thrives.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  98. where’s the “mission accomplished” banner?

    Speech therapist reveals she’s been inundated with wave of ‘COVID babies’ who can barely SPEAK because of pandemic shutdowns – and parents are paying up to $1,000 a month to repair the damage

    A New Jersey speech therapist says she’s recently seen a wave of infants and toddlers ‘unable to communicate’ after being born during the pandemic – one of several now-surfacing consequences of school and day care closures seen over the past few years.

    The phenomenon, speech pathologist Nancy Polow says, is part of a concerning trend in kids born during or shortly before the pandemic, who are ‘falling behind’ on key milestones due to a lack of social interaction during that time span.

    Compounding the crisis, when parents sought help, they were often met with lockdown-related roadblocks, such as masking restrictions, the challenge of tele-health appointments for toddlers, and fear of in-person therapy.

    Now that restrictions have lessened, Polow says, parents are scrambling to address these failures, signing up for pricey speech therapy sessions to repair the damage done to their young – shelling out as much as $1,000 a month in the process.

    A growing body of academic research also supports Polow’s claims of children born over the past three or so years possessing weaker verbal skills – with many staying silent well past their first birthdays and in some cases, even their second.

    JF (e5c5b5)

  99. Capitol rioter whose ex-girlfriend turned him in for calling her a ‘moron’ sentenced to 9 months in prison
    ………
    (Richard) Michetti faced multiple charges, including entering a restricted building, violent entry, disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and obstructing the work of Congress for his part in the Jan 6. attack…..

    Prosecutors noted in court documents that Michetti was among the many Capitol rioters who taunted and harassed police. At one point he yelled at the police: “we feed your family”; “you are just taking orders”; and “we pay you,” officials said in court records.
    ………
    “Michetti walked around the Rotunda until about 3:00 p.m. During this time, he yelled to officers standing in the Rotunda ‘you are starting a civil war.'”
    ………
    Michetti’s ex-girlfriend tipped off the gave law enforcement text messages and videos a day after the attack happened and identified him in images that showed him inside the Capitol building, Insider previously reported.

    “If you can’t see the election was stolen, you’re a moron,” Richard Michetti texted his ex-girlfriend, per court records. “This is our country do you think we live like kings because no one sacrificed anything?”

    “[T]he vote was fraud and trump won but they won’t audit the votes,” he continued.
    ………..

    Now who is the moron?

    Complaint, Statement of Facts, & Plea Agreement.

    Rip Murdock (354535)

  100. Two Men Plead Guilty to Felony Charge for Actions During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach
    ……..
    Nicholas Ochs, 36, of Honolulu, and Nicholas DeCarlo, 32, of Fort Worth, Texas, pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to obstruction of an official proceeding.

    According to court documents, Ochs is the founder of the Hawaii chapter of the Proud Boys. ……… As of Jan. 6, 2021, Ochs also was an “Elder” within the Proud Boys. Elders had a senior leadership role within the group, with responsibilities including the approval of new chapters.

    …….. The two attended a rally at the Ellipse on Jan. 6 and then marched to the Capitol, where they joined other people who were illegally on the grounds. They arrived at the West Front, near scaffolding in place for the inauguration. A line of police was attempting to keep the mob from the inaugural stage. Both men threw smoke bombs at the police line.
    ……..
    (Later) they approached the Chestnut-Gibson Memorial Door to the Capitol. There, DeCarlo wrote the words “Murder the Media” with a marker on the door, as Ochs recorded the action. “Murder the Media” was the name of the men’s social media channel. DeCarlo and Ochs also rummaged through a U.S. Capitol Police duffel bag by the Memorial Door. DeCarlo took a pair of plastic handcuffs. Walking away from the Capitol, with the building visible behind him, Ochs said, “sorry we couldn’t go live when we stormed the f—-in’ U.S. Capitol and made Congress flee.”

    ………They face a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison for obstruction of an official proceeding, as well as potential financial penalties……..
    ………
    In the 20 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 870 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including over 265 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing.
    ………

    Statements of Facts & Plea Agreements at link.

    Rip Murdock (354535)

  101. I said upthread that Ukraine’s advances are “happening fast”. Not just fast, but really fast. Volchansk is 76km northeast of Kharkiv, just south of the Russian border.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  102. With apologies to Marine General Oliver P. Smith, the Russians aren’t retreating, just advancing in a different direction.

    Rip Murdock (354535)

  103. @84. It just doesn’t pass the sniff test…

    Then you need a nose job because Alito’s own behavior, attitudes and language over the years has the ‘Nathan Jessup stink’ all over it. The Catholic zealot did it. And he wants you to know he did it- up on that wall- thwarting the usual CJ tactic to effectively sway other justices on an issue so important to him.

    Alito’s Call to Arms to Secure Religious Liberty

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/11/opinion/religion-supreme-court-alito.html

    DCSCA (2c4555)

  104. Donetsk

    Russian sources are in a state of panic that Ukraine is launching a (possibly) multipronged offensive to liberate Donetsk. They report fighting near the city of Donetsk (airport) and Ukrainian forces massing in several other locations south and north of the city.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  105. The Russians are in a full blown retreat:
    ……..
    The swift fall of Izium in Kharkiv province was Moscow’s worst defeat since its troops were forced back from the capital Kyiv in March, and could prove a decisive turning point in the six-month-old war, with thousands of Russian soldiers abandoning ammunition stockpiles and equipment as they fled.
    ………
    The head of Russia’s administration in areas in Kharkiv it controls told all residents to evacuate the province and flee to Russia to “save lives”, TASS reported. Witnesses described traffic jams of cars with people departing Russian-held territory.
    ………
    The Russian withdrawal announcement came hours after Ukrainian troops captured the city of Kupiansk farther north, the sole railway hub supplying Russia’s entire frontline across northeastern Ukraine. That left thousands of Russian troops abruptly cut off from supplies across a stretch of front that has seen some of the most intense battles of the war.
    ……….
    In Hrakove, one of dozens of villages recaptured in the Ukrainian advance, Reuters saw burnt-out vehicles bearing the “Z” symbol of Russia’s invasion. Boxes still full of ammunition were scattered with strewn rubbish in positions the Russians had abandoned in evident haste.
    ………
    A witness in Valuyki, a town in Russia’s Belgorod region near the border with Ukraine, told Reuters she saw scores of people from Kupiansk, with families eating and sleeping in their cars along roads.
    ……..
    Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said officials were giving food and medical aid to people queuing at a crossing into Russia. Senator Andrey Turchak, from the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, reported more than 400 vehicles at the frontier.
    ………

    Glory to Ukraine and NATO!

    Rip Murdock (354535)

  106. If Putin intends to use the Bomb, it would be now. I hope the Ukrainian forces aren’t bunched up.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  107. “because Alito’s own behavior, attitudes and language over the years has the ‘Nathan Jessup stink’ all over it.”

    WTF does that even mean?

    “The Catholic zealot did it.”

    That I understand but it’s just projection. Who people think leaked is generally a pretty good rorschach for how they view Dobbs and abortion rights. You hate the decision…so the author MUST be the leaker. Get a pet dog and take him for lots of walks.

    AJ_Liberty (5f05c3)

  108. “because Alito’s own behavior, attitudes and language over the years has the ‘Nathan Jessup stink’ all over it.”

    WTF does that even mean?

    DCSCA had to work in a movie reference somehow, even if it doesn’t make sense.

    Rip Murdock (354535)

  109. Wipeout!

    Rip Murdock (354535)

  110. Did Ukraine capture a Russian Lt. General during its counteroffensive?

    …….. I came across this animation which shows the territory Ukraine has retaken in the past few days:
    ………
    ……… This has not been confirmed yet but it’s possible that Ukrainian forces have captured a Russian Lieutenant General.
    ………
    Some observers have claimed the soldier’s nose doesn’t quite match that of Lt. General (Andrei) Sychevoi. They may have a point but it’s a bit hard to tell because the angles are different. What does appear to match, at least based on what I see, is the chin and the ears. Does the soldier have that same mole on his left cheek? I really can’t tell.
    ……….
    Anyway, let’s just admit there’s a huge grain of salt here and instead of dwelling on that, consider what it would mean if Ukraine really did capture a Lt. General. …….
    ……..

    Rip Murdock (354535)

  111. Yeah, if they had all those documents, it would be a fine display in the US Mission to the United Nations.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  112. The best propaganda is true propaganda.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  113. DCSCA had to work in a movie reference somehow, even if it doesn’t make sense.

    Hmm, I thought it was an anti-Catholic reference he was trying to sneak in.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  114. @109. If you gotta ask, you can’t handle the truth.

    DCSCA (030713)

  115. @114. That’s Alito’s cross to bear.

    DCSCA (030713)

  116. @111:

    That offensive looks like Bastogne December 1944 without a 101st Airborne.

    Or, to quote LTG Sychevoi: “яйца”

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  117. @98 What goes around comes around. Susan sarandon will tell you its not just conservatives. Tit for tat.

    asset (3bd92e)

  118. WTF does that even mean?

    AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 9/10/2022 @ 12:32 pm

    Pfft. When will you Big Dick Slow Joe Reaganoptic royalists finally bow down to the persuasive power of an implausible but unfalsifiable conspiracy theory, fortified as always, as Rip reminds us, by an inane movie reference?

    =Mike Drop=

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  119. @114. =yawn= If you’re gonna call the play-by-play from the booth, you best know the players on the field- or stick to peddling popcorn in the stands:

    Justice Alito’s Crusade Against a Secular America Isn’t Over

    https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/09/05/justice-alitos-crusade-against-a-secular-america-isnt-over

    DCSCA (030713)

  120. @119. ROFLMAOPIP

    “You can’t handle the truth.” – Nathan Jessup [Jack Nicholson] ‘A Few Good Men’ 1992

    DCSCA (030713)

  121. “Pfft. When will you Big Dick Slow Joe Reaganoptic royalists finally bow down to the persuasive power of an implausible but unfalsifiable conspiracy theory, fortified as always, as Rip reminds us, by an inane movie reference?
    =Mike Drop=”

    Now I have to clean off my monitor…..Glorious!

    AJ_Liberty (5f05c3)

  122. There is a recent Supreme Court opinion discussing the scope of the Constitution’s “Officers of the United States”-language

    You miss my point rather entirely. Regardless of the nuances of the phrases used regarding the violated oath, it was intended that NO PERSON could serve who had violated same.

    In one place you have a list, and lists always have unintended exceptions. In the other place you have a blanket “No person.” They did not include the President or VP explicitly because those three (Lincoln, Hamlin and Johnson) had not violated such an oath, but persons in all those other categories had.

    Perhaps you can find some argument from the ratification debates that expresses a desire to exclude the top guys. but until then this rabbinical dissection of the words is just special pleading.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  123. A New Jersey speech therapist says she’s recently seen a wave of infants and toddlers ‘unable to communicate’ after being born during the pandemic – one of several now-surfacing consequences of school and day care closures seen over the past few years.

    The phenomenon, speech pathologist Nancy Polow says, is part of a concerning trend in kids born during or shortly before the pandemic, who are ‘falling behind’ on key milestones due to a lack of social interaction during that time span.

    Compounding the crisis, when parents sought help, they were often met with lockdown-related roadblocks, such as masking restrictions, the challenge of tele-health appointments for toddlers, and fear of in-person therapy.

    Makes me even more glad that my kids were in a wonderful red state during the pandemic, and got to see the happy, smiling faces of their family members, teachers, schoolmates, and the general public, while blue states went in to hypochondriac mode. They’re not only thriving, but my oldest went in to a gifted program this year, thanks to not suffering through one these deep blue mental wards.

    Factory Working Orphan (2775f0)

  124. You miss my point rather entirely. Regardless of the nuances of the phrases used regarding the violated oath, it was intended that NO PERSON could serve who had violated same.
    ……
    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 9/10/2022 @ 3:14 pm

    I didn’t miss your point, I just pointed out that the Supreme Court has twice spelled out why the President is not “an Officer of the United States” and that he could not be disqualified as such under Section 3.

    Rip Murdock (354535)

  125. And I said that the language there is of no interest — it is an historical artifact of the situation at the time the amendment was written. You are focusing on A tree when there is a broad forest of meaning.

    A better argument is “this only had to do with the civil war.”

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  126. How a railroad strike could send food prices soaring

    The nation’s supply of food could take a hit if railroad workers go on strike, driving up prices at the grocery store and limiting U.S. grain exports to countries facing famine.

    As soon as next week, 115,000 freight rail workers could walk out if they cannot reach a new contract with railroads, potentially shutting down the national rail network that transports 20 percent of all grain shipments.

    While unions say they want to avert a strike, and Congress has the power to block it, the U.S. food sector is rattled by the prospect of a national railroad shutdown in the middle of peak harvest season.

    Crazy Eddie.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  127. @33 Now that’s bold! Here’s my prediction: DCSCA is not confident enough to make the bet.

    norcal (da5491) — 9/9/2022 @ 4:27 pm

    Wake up you naive deep state Papist royalist. Confidence has nothing to do with it. It’s about where Reagan hid the strawberries. DC would have taken the bet in a hot Mar-a-Lago minute if the Berobed Bureaucrat Dread Pirate Roberts hadn’t been cowed into unfalsifiable silence by his terrifying subordinate, Nathan Deep Throat Jessup Alito. It’s all plain as day to my darting paranoid eyes.

    Anyway, congratulations on the the easiest prediction ever.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  128. @128. Ain’t it though; translation: you lose.

    DCSCA (f0be40)

  129. @129: Let’s vote.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  130. If Putin intends to use the Bomb, it would be now. I hope the Ukrainian forces aren’t bunched up.

    OFGS.

    Chernobyl.

    DCSCA (860a74)

  131. R.I.P. actress Marsha Hunt; she passed on September 7th at the age of 104

    Icy (ee212f)

  132. New way to track suspect credit card sales of guns and ammo approved by international organization
    ………
    The International Standards Organization, which sets rules across the financial services industry, agreed to create a new merchant category code for gun and ammunition retailers at a meeting this week, and announced the decision Friday. The decision came amid mounting pressure on credit card companies by Democrats in Congress who urged the code’s creation.

    ……… Credit card companies currently lump firearm retailers in with other outlets, classifying them as either “5999: Miscellaneous retail stores” or “5941: Sporting Goods Stores.”
    ………
    Visa had expressed concerns about the proposal. In a letter obtained by CBS News, sent by Visa on Wednesday in response to congressional Democrats who supported the plan, the company said, “We believe that asking payment networks to serve as a moral authority by deciding which legal goods can or cannot be purchased sets a dangerous precedent. …… Visa’s rules expressly prohibit blocking of legal transactions under an MCC.”
    ………
    New York-based Amalgamated Bank first began the effort to create a code to track firearms and ammunition sales back in July 2021. They renewed the push after a series of deadly mass shootings in which young men used high-powered weapons purchased with credit cards.

    Amalgamated was founded by union workers nearly 100 years ago and bills itself as the nation’s oldest socially responsible bank.
    ……….

    “We all have to do our part to stop gun violence,” said Priscilla Sims Brown, President and CEO of Amalgamated Bank.

    No we don’t. It is not the financial services industry (or any other industry) to infringe on the legal right to own firearms.

    Rip Murdock (354535)

  133. A not only unnecessary, but harmful, flood “resiliency” project in New York City, with pretend inor concessions to the opposition.

    https://nypost.com/2022/09/09/gothams-set-to-lose-wagner-park-in-battery-park-city/

    https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-wrong-battery-park-resiliency-plan-20220910-4kuobfmwvfejtkr5bzgnncdg54-story.html

    Sammy Finkelman (b434ee)

  134. There was no insurrection, in the normal meaning of the word. No attempt to secede or to replace the government of the United States. It was something less.

    Sammy Finkelman (b434ee)

  135. No we don’t. It is not the financial services industry (or any other industry) to infringe on the legal right to own firearms.

    These are the same people who would be aghast if contraceptive sales were tracked in this way.

    “Privacy!”

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  136. Justice Alito’s Crusade Against a Secular America Isn’t Over

    https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/09/05/justice-alitos-crusade-against-a-secular-america-isnt-over

    DCSCA (030713) — 9/10/2022 @ 2:36 pm

    You keep posting this like it’s a bad thing. 😉😜

    Rip Murdock (354535)

  137. The reading of the names, broadcast on television (but not on radio, as far as I know) just finished one or two minutes ago.

    Sammy Finkelman (418659)

  138. Stop Fascism! Vote Republican!

    Colonel Haiku (1fcd26)

  139. ……. It is not the financial services industry (or any other industry) to infringe on the legal right to own firearms.

    These are the same people who would be aghast if contraceptive sales were tracked in this way.

    “Privacy!”

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 9/11/2022 @ 7:53 am

    I have no problem with that.

    Rip Murdock (354535)

  140. I have no problem with that.

    Well, there’s some they do, and some they don’t, ….

    nk (a56588)

  141. There was no insurrection, in the normal meaning of the word. No attempt to secede or to replace the government of the United States. It was something less.

    It was an attempt to replace the duly-elected president with a usurper. That IS an attempt to replace the lawful government. That it was terribly undermanned and the organization was confused was due to Trump’s Chaotic alignment does not change that.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  142. For the anniversary of 9/11, David Von Drehle wrote this somber reminder:

    Twenty-one years after the destruction of the World Trade Center towers in Lower Manhattan, one can ask whether the United States has yet learned the principal lesson of that shocking, savage day. It is a lesson well-known to military planners, yet hard for a nation with allies on its borders and oceans at its sides to believe bone-deep.

    In the starting and ending of wars, the letting of blood and the waging of battle, the enemy has a vote. The day that has come to be known as 9/11 began a war only for us; for the enemy, the war had been raging for years. The little army of Osama bin Laden had hit American embassies in Africa, bombed a U.S. naval ship at Aden Harbor in Yemen, even signaled its intentions to destroy the twin towers by planting a truck bomb in a World Trade Center garage in 1993.

    If our terrorist enemies don’t want to quit — and they don’t — the war will continue.

    Though this is less well-known than it should be here in the US, some conflicts have lasted hundreds of years, for example, this one:

    The Reconquista[note 1] (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for “reconquest”) is a historiographical construction[1][2] describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada in 1492, in which the Christian kingdoms expanded through war and conquered al-Andalus, or the territories of Iberia ruled by Muslims.[2] The concept of a Reconquista emerged in Western and especially in Spanish historiography in the 19th century, and was a fundamental component of Spanish nationalism.

    (Links omitted.)
    Did that conflict end in 1492? No. Portugal and Spain had already seized cities in North Africa, and continued to try to seize more land there. (They might have conquered all of what are now Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco, had it not been for the rise of the Ottoman Empire.)

    And this one. Around 1000 AD (According to Colin McEvedy), Athabaskan Indians — the best-known are the Apaches and the Navajo –came down into the American Southwest, and preyed on the farming tribes there, for example, the Hopi. That conflict lasted until the Spanish came up from what is now Mexico, and conquered the area.

    (According to Lawrence Keeley in “War Before Civilization: The Myth of the Peaceful Savage”, that second long conflict is typical of wars before empires, or even states. Mostly minor raids, interspersed with occasional trading, and sometimes punctuated by massacres.)

    I very much wish this were not true, very much wish there were some practical way we could end this war in a year or two, but I don’t see any such way — and I do think we are better off recognizing that sad fact.

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  143. How Americans evaluate the likelihood of dire political scenarios

    …….[W]hat exactly do Americans think a second American civil war would look like? Among 15 potential future scenarios involving instability or political violence, the one that most Americans consider likely in the next decade is that the U.S. ceases to be a global superpower (50% say this), followed by a total collapse of the U.S. economy (47%). Each of the 15 dire scenarios is considered somewhat or very likely in the next decade by at least 20% of Americans.
    ……..
    ……..(E)xpectations vary across five possible scenarios:

    40% think a civil war is likely — at least either very or somewhat likely — between Republicans and Democrats

    32% think it’s likely between red and blue states

    30% think it’s likely between the rich and poor

    29% think it’s likely between people of different races

    20% think it’s likely between people living in cities and rural areas

    After an end to the U.S.’s global-superpower status and economic collapse, the next most likely scenario is that the U.S. will cease to be a democracy (39% say this is likely within the next decade). Slightly more say it’s likely the U.S. will become a fascist dictatorship (31%) than say it will become a communist dictatorship (21%). (The poll didn’t ask whether people believe a given scenario has already occurred, so some people who believe this probably are included among those who said each scenario is likely.)
    ………

    Republicans are more likely than Democrats to believe nearly all of the scenarios asked about are likely within the next 10 years. Two-thirds of Republicans (65%) believe that total economic collapse is at least somewhat likely, compared to only 38% of Democrats. Around half of Republicans (48%) say it’s likely that the government will confiscate citizens’ firearms; only 17% of Democrats say this. Republicans are also more likely than Democrats to believe there will be a total breakdown of law and order (49% vs. 31%) and that the U.S. will be invaded by a foreign country (41% vs. 24%).

    …….. Democrats are slightly more likely than Republicans to say the U.S. will be a fascist dictatorship (37% vs. 32%). Republicans, on the other hand, are three times as likely as Democrats to say it will be a communist dictatorship (31% vs. 13%).

    In terms of the possibility of a civil war, Republicans are likelier than Democrats to believe there will be one between members of each party (45% vs. 35%) or between people from red and blue states (36% vs. 30%). ……..Democrats and Republicans are equally likely (31%) to expect a civil war between racial groups.
    ………
    Do Americans differentiate between the possibility of civil war and other destabilizing outcomes in the next 10 years compared to say, the next 50? …….
    ……..
    Would a civil war be good or bad for the country? …….

    How similar would a new civil war be to the original one? …….
    ……..

    Would the government be able to defend itself against an armed citizen uprising? Americans are twice as likely to believe the military and law enforcement would prevail against armed rebels (51%) as they are to say they would fail (26%). While Republicans and Independents have similar expectations on the matter, Democrats are far more optimistic about the government’s prospects: 68% say the military and law enforcement are at least somewhat likely to succeed, relative to 44% of Republicans and Independents.
    …….
    Democrats and Republicans have vastly different concerns when it comes to extremism. Democrats are most likely to be very concerned about extremism among white-supremacists (68%), right-wing groups (60%), and Christians (48%). The greatest share of Republicans are very concerned about extremism among left-wing groups (62%), Muslims (36%), and racial minorities (31%).
    ……..
    …….. Our latest poll finds that 9% of Americans know someone (including themselves, a family member, a friend, or an acquaintance) who is a member of a militia group.
    ………

    The 15 scenarios are (order reflects scenario receiving highest percentage of “very likely” responses):

    The U.S. will no longer be a global superpower

    There will be a total economic collapse

    There will be a civil war between people who are Republicans and Democrats

    The U.S. will no longer be a democracy

    There will be a civil war in the U.S.

    There will be a total breakdown of law and order

    There will be a civil war between red and blue states

    The U.S. will become a fascist dictatorship

    The U.S. will be invaded by a foreign country

    There will be a civil war between the rich and poor

    There will be a civil war between people of different races

    States will secede from the U.S.

    The federal government will confiscate citizens’ firearms

    The U.S. will become a communist dictatorship

    There will be a civil war between people living in cities and people in rural areas

    Cross tabs and top lines.

    Rip Murdock (354535)

  144. #144 – We’re in a cheerful mood these days, aren’t we?

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  145. Those of you who are so proud to vote against Trump voters that you want to elect leftists should be ecstatic about the Vice President saying that if they get 52 Senators they will end the filibuster and turn America into a communist utopia.

    That’s so much better than voting with those icky Trump voters.

    NJRob (ba8f28)

  146. NBC’S CHUCK TODD: “[The US] will have 2 million people cross this border for the first time ever.”

    VP HARRIS: “We have a secure border.”

    https://twitter.com/breaking911/status/1569083622010884097?s=21&t=1FAS9uOQJqCA6NNBpDVfCQ

    There are conservatives who voted for this.

    Obudman (2d52ed)

  147. A nice collection of moronic tweets comparing Jan 6 to 9/11:

    https://twitter.com/_a_badaise/status/1568978086787514369?s=21&t=1FAS9uOQJqCA6NNBpDVfCQ

    It was stupid enough saying Jan 6 was worse than the Summer 2020 race riots/looting/arson/destruction/murder that caused upwards of $2 billion in damages (lots of it to government buildings) but it takes an even extra special kind of idiocy to compare it to that terrible day.

    Obudman (2d52ed)

  148. …if they get 52 Senators they will end the filibuster and turn America into a communist utopia.

    I’m becoming more convinced that you don’t consider your hyperbole to be hyperbole at all. Not a good thing.

    In other news, at a time when there’s a true need for a viable third party that represents principles over person, the Libertarian Party in VA voted to dissolve.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  149. It was stupid enough saying Jan 6 was worse than the Summer 2020 race riots/looting/arson/destruction/murder that caused upwards of $2 billion in damages (lots of it to government buildings) but it takes an even extra special kind of idiocy to compare it to that terrible day.

    Obudman (2d52ed) — 9/11/2022 @ 8:16 pm

    Twitter trolls say stuff like that hoping to get attention, and maybe hoping you believe it’s a more popular view.

    I think Jan 6 was a pretty historic event, but obviously not remotely comparable to 9/11. While the BLM antifa riots were worse in a lot of ways, Jan 6 was serious because of what it was specifically trying to do, and the role a lot of politicians played there. I think Al Gore’s refusal to accept election results, slowing the peaceful transition of power, is a minor contributor to 9/11 being possible, as was the Clinton admin’s total failure on foreign policy, but there was a peaceful transition of power. That’s something the USA had over its enemies and needs to have. The rules in our elections aren’t all fair, they aren’t all great, and we should keep improving elections, but schemes to undo them? Historically very significant.

    There are conservatives who voted for this.

    Who would have them vote for? They didn’t get an option in 2016 or 2020. Lifelong democrats who want to spend too much and don’t respect us at all. I understand the appreciation that Trump fights back, the frustration with moderate republicans, but can we at least have a conservative option? We can’t if the populist streak goes to a stupid place.

    Dustin (a87c64)

  150. @144. He’s young– and clearly missed out on 1968 w/all the strife, assassinations, daily turmoil in the headlines, rioting, looting- the National Guard on the loose in Washington, DC…albeit all to some damn good music… when the country was truly at a height of civil unrest akin to the days of the Blue and Gray.

    DCSCA (455aef)

  151. I very much wish this were not true, very much wish there were some practical way we could end this war in a year or two, but I don’t see any such way — and I do think we are better off recognizing that sad fact

    We aren’t even noticing the Reconquista that’s going on now.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  152. How Americans evaluate the likelihood of dire political scenarios

    The fearmongers are in fine form. Who would watch cable news if everything was roses?

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  153. There are conservatives who voted for this.

    There are conservatives who thought everyone would vote for a jackass.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  154. We do need a fairly good political shake up. Here’s a plan:

    Divide up ALL the big states into much smaller states. No state with over 10 million people, preferably 5 million, but LA and NY make that hard. Divide them up by culture and interests, not by some gerrymander where WE control THEM. Then allow for significantly more federalism.

    The conflicts we have aren’t really local, they are A ganging up on B, to bend them to A’s will.

    A hundred states, and some of them do things like ban cars, and others give everyone a free one.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  155. Bubba wallace who is black won his second nascar race and unlike wendell scott the first black man to win a nascar race he was given the winners trophy instead of threatened to be shot if he didn’t leave without it! Things really seem to be improving.

    asset (a9bc7b)

  156. There are conservatives who thought everyone would vote for a jackass.

    Uh-huh: Reagan won.

    Twice.

    DCSCA (9e3e8e)

  157. @146 A communist utopia. Well if you believe everyone who is more liberal then you is a communist. I am sure if I believed everyone who is more conservative then me is a nazi I would feel the same ;but I don’t Simple test please name the senators that are communists. Saying anyone who wants to raise your taxes is a card carrying member of the communist party is not the definition of a communist.

    asset (a9bc7b)

  158. So is the new Never Trump position that they want the Democrats to end the filibuster and pass all sorts of left-wing items? I thought Never Trump people were conservative on policy and so on. Has that changed? People usually just take their policy positions from their party, so I guess if you become a Democrat, you begin taking liberal policy positions.

    mikeybates (fa14c0)

  159. mikeybates

    Never Trumps mostly are – either angry and too proud to admit they are wrong – or people who hate their fellow americans and want the poor to suffer – single moms to be shoved below the poverty level and lose millions of brave young men fighting needless foreign wars

    EPWJ (650a62)

  160. It figures that Russian bots would have trouble understanding English words. Never Trump means:

    — nev·er
    /ˈnevər/
    adverb
    1. at no time in the past or future; on no occasion; not ever.
    2. not at all.

    — Trump
    /’trahm’p/
    noun
    Old, fat, bald, orange, Fifth Avenue fancy boy who sued a hooker for a refund.

    But thanks for the illustration of how you group of folks operate. One of you posts some horse manure on the internet; the rest take it as fact, repeat it, and expand on it.

    nk (4f452c)

  161. It really is something that East Coast elite silver-spoon fancy boys like Trump and Carlson have not only portrayed themselves as fighting for the common man, but that so many have actually bought into it.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  162. nk

    you mean like russian collusion? Trumps an agent of Russia?

    heh…

    EPWJ (650a62)

  163. Paul,

    So you’re voting for Gavin right? Its a binary choice – Trump vs Newsom – going to have to make a choice.

    EPWJ (650a62)

  164. I said before that Matt Labash is one of my favorite conservative political writers, and his latest doesn’t disappoint.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  165. Every working family in the heartland has a Fifth Avenue penthouse and a Palm Beach mansion. So don’t go desecrating them!

    nk (ac6f7a)

  166. So you’re voting for Gavin right? Its a binary choice…

    It may feel like a “binary choice” for you but not for me, because neither one earned my vote. I’ll protest-vote for a Republican, but never for a sh-tstain on America Trump.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  167. like Trump.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  168. Paul,

    So you want hardships to befall your fellow man, you dont care about the country, you dont care about your freedoms. good economies, you want pain, so you will be voting for pain.

    We understand….

    EPWJ (650a62)

  169. So you want hardships to befall your fellow man, you dont care about the country, you dont care about your freedoms. good economies, you want pain, so you will be voting for pain.

    The way I see it, you’re the one causing hardships by nominating a lying criminal for POTUS.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  170. Trump fans be like drink this Orangeade and the sky won’t fall on our heads. I be like “Drink this!”

    nk (ac6f7a)

  171. Paul,

    I didnt vote for Biden like you did

    EPWJ (650a62)

  172. nk,

    Not a fan, but its a binary choice, same for you, paint me orange, roll me in orange juice and then tar and feather me with Tang, I still have to choose between the Hair twins Trump and Newsom

    EPWJ (650a62)

  173. Paul

    Labash is a salon writer – who has been sued for libel and slander and lost – one suit alone – its been reported than his lifetime earnings are garnished.

    Go figure –

    EPWJ (650a62)

  174. Since we’re on the subject, gasoline at Harlem and Addison in Chicago is $4.50 a gallon. Gasoline at WI-59 North of I-90 is $3.25 a gallon. Why does Biden love Edgerton and hate Chicago?

    nk (ac6f7a)

  175. 01010100 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01110100 01100101 01101110 00100000 01101011 01101001 01101110 01100100 01110011 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110000 01100101 01101111 01110000 01101100 01100101 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110111 01101111 01110010 01101100 01100100 00101110 00100000 00100000 01010100 01101000 01101111 01110011 01100101 00100000 01110111 01101000 01101111 00100000 01101011 01101110 01101111 01110111 00100000 01100010 01101001 01101110 01100001 01110010 01111001 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101111 01110011 01100101 00100000 01110111 01101000 01101111 00100000 01110110 01101111 01110100 01100101 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01010100 01110010 01110101 01101101 01110000 00101110

    nk (ac6f7a)

  176. I didnt vote for Biden like you did

    You’re lying.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  177. EPWJ (650a62) — 9/12/2022 @ 8:01 am

    Which means you didn’t read a word. Your prejudice is noted.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  178. That probably Thompson-Edgar-Bush 41 hate (EPA blends, state gas taxes) just given cherries on top by Fat Boy.

    urbanleftbehind (8fc2f7)

  179. BTW, Chopra sued the Murdoch-owned Weekly Standard, not Labash personally, and they settled out of court, mostly because one of the Chopra’s hookers recanted. The settlement was reportedly for “the payment of legal fees to Chopra, a mind/body spiritualist from India, but no additional cash.”

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  180. “Why does Biden love Edgerton and hate Chicago?”

    Clearly a Packers fan.

    AJ_Liberty (ec7f74)

  181. How Americans evaluate the likelihood of dire political scenarios

    The fearmongers are in fine form. Who would watch cable news Tucker Carlson if everything was roses?

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

    Fixed it.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  182. @145, 153, et. al.-

    With calls on the MAGA right for Civil War II, and repeated references to “the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants” in reference (I assume) to attacking the Federal government, I found the poll @144 to be interesting window into what Americans think to be the future of the United States. And based on multiple comments, there are some posters here that seem to wish these scenarios on America (you know who you are).

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  183. @184: I see these conversations on the left too.

    Its’ very disturbing… as I don’t think we can survive as a nation in another civil war.

    whembly (b770f8)

  184. @184: I see these conversations on the left too.

    Its’ very disturbing… as I don’t think we can survive as a nation in another civil war.

    whembly (b770f8) — 9/12/2022 @ 9:44 am

    From my link in post 144:

    How similar would a new civil war be to the original one? Two-thirds of Americans (67%) say a civil war occurring in the next 10 years would be very or somewhat different from the first civil war that occurred in the 1860s. Only 16% say it would be very or somewhat similar to the first civil war, and 17% are unsure.

    I really doubt that any future civil war would be similar to the one from 1860-1865. I think it would be more like the Irish ‘Troubles”: hit and run attacks against police and civilian targets rather than large contending armies.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  185. @177. ..-. .-. — — / — -.– / .. .-.. .-.. .. -. — .. … / …. . .- …- . -. / …. — .-.. . / – .-. ..- — .–. / …. .- .-.. . -.– / ..— —– ..— ….- / .- -. -.. / -… . .- ..- / … .- -.– … / …. . .-.. .-.. — / .— — . / .- -… .-. .- …. .- — / .-.. .. -. -.-. — .-.. -.

    DCSCA (7fcfcc)

  186. White House: Only Joe and Jill Biden Currently Invited to Queen’s Funeral

    MAGAWorld not amused:

    So petty. ….. Presidents in Exile usually don’t get invited places. ……Trump wouldn’t go if invited. Event would then become about him and he has too much class for that. …… It goes without saying, that Queen Elizabeth would have wanted President Trump to attend her funeral and obvious that Biden in blocking President Trump’s invitation from the Royal Family. With that being said, President Trump needs to show up at the funeral as the true representative of the American people. …….

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  187. @187. Its’ very disturbing… as I don’t think we can survive as a nation in another civil war.

    Oh, please. 1861-1865, Great Depression, two world wars, the ’62 missile crisis; 1963-64, 1968, Reaganomics, Black Friday fighting over Cabbage Patch dolls…

    We’re fine. Populism is healthy; revisit Founding Father Jefferson. It’s only the folks shuffled to the bottom of the deck who can’t accept rejection and change. Steal a podium, rattle some cages; storm a castle or two; deny the Wicked Witch ambassadorship to Italy.

    “It’s still the same old story; A fight for love and glory; A case of do-or-die…” – Piano player Sam [Dooley Wilson] ‘Casablanca’ 1942

    DCSCA (7fcfcc)

  188. 177 184. I haven’t got the patience to decode either ASCI or Morse code.

    I tried running the Morse code @188 through a Morse code translator

    https://capitalizemytitle.com/morse-code-translator/

    I got:

    (from . ..-. .-. — — / — -.– / .. .-.. .-.. .. -. — .. … / …. . .- …- . -. / …. — .-.. . / – .-. ..- — .–. / …. .- .-.. . -.– / ..— —– ..— ….- / .- -. -.. / -… . .- ..- / … .- -.– … / …. . .-.. .-.. — / .— — . / .- -… .-. .- …. .- — / .-.. .. -. -.-. — .-.. -. )

    EFR—— —-.– ILLIN—I… ….EA…-EN ….—LE –RU—.–. ….ALE-.– ..——–..—….- AND -…EAU …A-.–… ….ELL— .——E A-…RA….A— LINC—LNN

    It seems to be something about Illinois and Lincoln

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  189. Feds charge woman who threatened to kill the judge in Mar-a-Lago records case, alleging she claimed to be ‘Trump’s hitman’
    ……..
    Federal authorities said earlier this month that Tiffani Shea Gish left three threatening voicemails for Florida Judge Aileen Cannon. In one voicemail, she said to the judge, “I’m also Trump’s hitman, so consider it a bullet to your head from Donald Trump himself.”

    In another voicemail, she said, “you’re full of sh*t, and I’m going to fu*king have you shot myself, I’ve already ordered snipers and a bomb to your fu*king house.”

    In these voicemail messages, Gish referred to herself as “Evelyn Salt” and said she was in “charge of nuclear for the United States Government.”
    ……..
    The DOJ is charging Gish with influencing a federal official by threat and interstate communications containing threats to injure an individual.
    ……..

    Hopefully she will get the mental health treatment she obviously needs.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  190. “It seems to be something about Illinois and Lincoln”

    If there’s any mention of Chicago – the City of Windbags – it’s about guns/murder and avocado-shaped abogados.

    Colonel Haiku (07a7ac)

  191. nk (4f452c) — 9/12/2022 @ 6:00 am

    who sued a hooker for a refund.

    That was a refund of a legal settlement. I think she voluntarily paid. It was to free herself from a non-disclosure agreement. But I may not have the details right.

    Maybe it was for losing a defamation lawsuit that Michael Avenatti persuaded her to file or maybe filed on his own with a power of attorney – he must have at least persauded her not to drop it (He also, separately, stole money from her)

    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/stormy-daniels-must-pay-300k-donald-trump-losing-defamation-case-appea-rcna21002

    Michael Avenatti filed the defamation suit against Trump in 2018, when he was Daniels’ lawyer. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, said in a statement Tuesday that Avenatti had filed the suit “without my permission and against my wishes.”

    The lawsuit Trump filed against her was something else:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/trump-attorney-accuses-stormy-daniels-of-violating-nondisclosure-agreement-20-times-claims-right-to-seek-20-million-in-damages/2018/03/16/a5fd1686-296b-11e8-b79d-f3d931db7f68_story.html

    Michael Cohen, President Trump’s personal attorney, claims he has the right to seek at least $20 million in damages from porn star Stormy Daniels for allegedly violating a nondisclosure agreement 20 times.

    I think she eventually paid back the money Michael Cohen gave her ,

    She didn’t charge him for the original incident. He wanted more. She wanted too much. She wanted to be given a role on Celebrity Apprentice. IIRC. I don’t want to go through all the research that I would need to do to look this up.

    The other one was Karen McDougal.

    Both of them were arranged by some unknown people at Lake Tahoe, Nevada shortly after Melania gave birth without Donald Trump asking for it. Who they were, and why they did it, in the most interesting question about this.

    Trump thought Karen McDougal was a prostitute and offered her money. She didn’t want to think of herself, or maybe be thought of, as a prostitute, and Trump, seeing she was willing to do this again for free or for gifts, had an affair with her that lasted ten months until he wanted to introduce her to his wife Melania – maybe not as a mistress – which was too much for Karen McDougal. She broke it up at that point. She was eventually paid, about ten years later, by the National Enquirer to write and for her exclusive story except that just wanted to buy her silence. This was in October 2016.

    Michael Cohen wanted Trump to reimburse the National Enquirer, because its lawyers were concerned that with their payment to Karen McDougall they might have made an illegal corporate campaign contribution. Trump was willing to do so, (having bought the argument MC made that the National Enquirer might not always keep the secret (David Pqckard might get hit by a truck) but Trump didn’t understand why it would have to be done in a hidden way and not with a simple check, they never reached a decision.

    Michael Cohen had to use his own money and had to lie to banks about the value of taxi medallions he owned (they had greatly dropped in price because of Uber etc. and because they were inflated in the first place) in order to borrow the money to reimburse the National Enquirer, which he proceeded to get back from Trump by overcharging him for legal fees – except that Trump’s money managers knew it and Trump didn’t mind, so that part was legal.

    From the viewpoint of MC this was an illegal political contribution or illegal loan to the Trump campaign but would not have been so for Donald Trump – not even maybe an accounting error because he had personal reasons which extended past the election for making the transaction but Michael Cohen did not.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  192. 148. Obudman (2d52ed) — 9/11/2022 @ 8:16 pm

    but it takes an even extra special kind of idiocy to compare it to that terrible day.

    Jan 6 was more of a threat to the constitutional order (but not much of a threat) than 9/11 but 9/11 was more terrible.

    Just one thing: They wanted to destroy the whole Capitol building on 9//11 but were prevented from doing so by Todd Beamer and the others on Flight 93. (It was thought by George Bush and Dick Cheney and others at the White House that the White House was the fourth target but they later realized that it was probably really the Capitol.)

    The January 6 rioters did not permanent damage to the Capitol building.

    135. 142

    There was no insurrection, in the normal meaning of the word. No attempt to secede or to replace the government of the United States. It was something less.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 9/11/2022 @ 10:44 am

    It was an attempt to replace the duly-elected president with a usurper. That IS an attempt to replace the lawful government. That it was terribly undermanned and the organization was confused was due to Trump’s Chaotic alignment does not change that.

    They may have thought they would keep Donald Trump in office if they stopped the count but that would only have replaced Joe Biden with Nancy Pelosi (temporarily)

    Failure to qualify a president would not extend the term of the previous president by one extra second.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  193. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/09/business/china-covid-zero-xi-jinping.html

    China’s Public Puts on a Show of Zero Covid for an Audience of One

    …. By Li Yuan

    Sept. 9, 2022

    As fire was raging in the mountains surrounding the southwestern Chinese metropolis of Chongqing, 10 million residents stood in 100-plus-degree heat to get Covid tests. Two cases were detected that day in August.

    A week earlier in Xiamen, in the country’s southeast, pandemic workers swabbed the throats of fishermen before they tested their catch of fish and crab. Cars got swabbed, too, at an auto show last week in Chengdu, in the southwest.

    When a strong earthquake struck Chengdu on Monday, the first instinct of many residents was not to run for safety but to ask for permission to leave their homes under lockdown. “Don’t come downstairs! @all,” a property manager warned in a group chat. In Luding County, the epicenter of the earthquake, which killed at least 86 people, the local government told residents to make sure they got tested every day.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  194. https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/09/this-should-be-the-absolute-peak-of-hurricane-season-but-its-dead-quiet-out-there/

    A nice, quiet hurricane season. Wonder how climate change will be blamed and the forced panic created.

    NJRob (4b1f5f)

  195. 60 years ago today: Rice University, Houston, TX:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuW4oGKzVKc&t=1s

    Truly one of the most inspiring and rallying speeches by a U.S. president in history. And only our Squinty could poop on it as tries to plagiarize JFK’s messaging; the contrast in language, delivery and passion is stunning.

    Hey Joey: “Lots of luck on your trip to the Moon.” Sound familiar, President Plagiarist??:

    ‘When asked about Elon Musk’s pessimistic attitude toward the economy, President Joe Biden made a dismissive little quip: “Lots of luck on his trip to the Moon.” It’s a funny aside — but there’s one tiny hitch. Technically, a good chunk of SpaceX’s funding to return people to the Moon comes from the Biden administration.’ – https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/3/23153261/joe-biden-elon-musk-nasa-spacex-starship-lots-of-luck-moon-artemis

    And yesterday, instead of looking at his watch at a 9/11 wreath laying– he wore a disrespectful tan raincoat– every other civilian was wearing a black.

    He’s a bum.

    DCSCA (128510)

  196. NJRob @198

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/hurricanes-weather-no-named-hurricanes-yet-august-september-nasa-sahara-winds-1.6567049

    With August all but over, the next three available names on the 2022 roster of tropical storms and hurricanes may not even be used this month. A tropical storm brings sustained winds of at least 63 km/h. Hurricanes, on the other hand, have winds of at least 119 km/h.

    Weather experts say climate change is a factor.

    Weber described how there’s been a persistent ridge of high pressure that he calls a “blister on the planet” — the same one that drove forest fires in North America last year – now sitting over Europe and Asia and driving intense drought there. That lack of moisture could be delaying the hurricane season, said Weber.

    “That could be part of the reason why we are not seeing as much tropical development. It’s kind of diminishing the amount of water vapour that we have to work with off the west coast of Africa,” said Weber.

    But increasing weather activity in the Atlantic basin — which includes the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico — suggests this unusual pattern may be about to end.

    “I would not be surprised if it ramps up dramatically here in September,” says Weber.

    He says the sea surface temperature is warm, which he predicts will fuel 10 to 14 storms and up to three major hurricanes, potentially into November…

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  197. Gavin Newsom wants Cali to start naming purported climate change-related events.

    Get ready for Heatwave Steve!

    Colonel Haiku (07a7ac)

  198. Paul still thinks Labash is a conservative writer – anyone can right moving tributes about those that have fallen, it doesnt gain them any cred.

    We all lost on 9/11

    EPWJ (650a62)

  199. civil war? Between who? The liberal cities vs conservative/populist country side? The population is in the cities with more moving their all the time. Very few cities are run by conservatives. Democrats get more votes every election then republicans. Only by gerrymandering and small states having more political power then their small populations deserve. Also strict voter surppression in red states to keep democrats from registering and voting.

    asset (68e525)

  200. GOP throws up last-minute roadblocks to hardline Senate candidate in New Hampshire
    ……..
    After months of handwringing over Don Bolduc, a retired Army brigadier general and 2020 Senate candidate, Republicans are trying to throw roadblocks in his way just before the Sept. 13 primary. If fruitful, the efforts would likely help state Senate President Chuck Morse, the only other primary candidate notching notable polling support, though it’s unclear if there’s enough time to close what some Republicans say is an uncomfortably large polling gap.

    And Democrats, meanwhile, are intervening to surreptitiously boost Bolduc, a sign the party views him as the weakest candidate to run against Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan.
    ………
    Bolduc has made headlines for years with outlandish remarks, including calling Republican Gov. Chris Sununu a “Chinese Communist sympathizer,” saying U.S. forces should “get in there on the ground” in Ukraine, pushing for the repeal of the 17th Amendment codifying direct popular election of U.S. senators and accusing then-President Donald Trump of rigging the 2020 Senate primary he lost by endorsing an opponent.

    On top of that, Bolduc has proved to be an anemic fundraiser, hauling in under $600,000 by Aug. 24. Hassan, meanwhile, raised $4.3 million just from July 1 to Aug. 24, an impressive fundraising advantage in an expensive cycle that could ease Hassan’s path to reelection.
    ………
    Still, polling has shown Bolduc as the primary frontrunner, with a University of New Hampshire poll showing him up 21 points over Morse.
    ……..
    A Trump endorsement for Bolduc would go a long way to locking up the primary for him, and he voiced openness to such an imprimatur last month, telling a radio host Bolduc is a “strong guy.”
    …….
    “Yes, there is a move to stop a Bolduc endorsement,” the source familiar with the matter said. “Bolduc is a loser and can’t win the general.”
    …….
    “Trump and his supporters, as we’ve seen in other places, are more than willing to cut off their nose to spite their face if they don’t get their particular candidate nominated,” (Andrew Smith, the director of the University of New Hampshire’s Survey Center) said. “And I think there may be moderate Republicans that are willing to do the same thing in the case of Don Bolduc.”

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  201. “Going to leave a mark”

    It’s been over a month, and while some information appears to be classified—the government over-classifies everything—the critical legal area that’s glossed over is that Trump probably was well within his legal rights to possess them. Some documents taken by FBI agents were Time magazine covers, while others were empty folders. The president has near-absolute authority to declassify any record, a power affirmed by the Supreme Court in 1988.

    He doesn’t have the authority to declassify them now, there’s no evidence he declassified them in the past, and no trump filing has asserted that he did declassify them. The empty folders are concerning because the only time they should be empty is when someone is actively reading their contents.

    “In what at its core is a document storage dispute that has spiraled out of control,” the response from the Trump legal team said, “the government wrongfully seeks to criminalize the possession by the 45th president of his own presidential and personal records.”

    They’re not his records. We the people own them, not him.

    Davethulhu (aec6bf)

  202. #166 Paul – Thanks for that link to the Matt Labash piece. We need more journalism like that.

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  203. Davethulhu (aec6bf) — 9/12/2022 @ 2:57 pm
    call Obama he has 31 million records

    Also, they are the Presidents

    EPWJ (650a62)

  204. Davethulhu (aec6bf) — 9/12/2022 @ 2:57 pm
    call Obama he has 31 million records

    Also, they are the Presidents

    EPWJ (650a62) — 9/12/2022 @ 3:40 pm

    Untrue.

    The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) assumed exclusive legal and physical custody of Obama Presidential records when President Barack Obama left office in 2017, in accordance with the Presidential Records Act (PRA). NARA moved approximately 30 million pages of unclassified records to a NARA facility in the Chicago area where they are maintained exclusively by NARA. Additionally, NARA maintains the classified Obama Presidential records in a NARA facility in the Washington, DC, area. As required by the PRA, former President Obama has no control over where and how NARA stores the Presidential records of his Administration.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  205. “call Obama he has 31 million records”

    No he doesn’t.

    “Also, they are the Presidents”

    No they aren’t.

    Davethulhu (aec6bf)

  206. DONALD TRUMP AGREES HE IS LIVING BY BARACK OBAMA’S RULES
    ………
    Midway through Trump’s bid to convince Aileen Cannon to reject DOJ’s motion for a stay of her injunction against using the documents marked with classification marks seized from Trump’s beach resort, he notes that the only power he ever had to classify and declassify documents was governed by an Executive Order signed by Barack Obama on December 29, 2009.

    ……..
    President Obama enacted the current Executive Order prescribing the parameters for controlling classified information in 2009. See Exec. Order 13526 (Dec. 29, 2009). That Executive Order, which controlled during President Trump’s term in office, designates the President as an original classification authority. See id. § 1.3(a)(1). In turn, the Executive Order grants authority to declassify information to either the official who originally classified the information or that individual’s supervisors—necessarily including the President. § 3.1(b)(1), (3). Thus, assuming the Executive Order could even apply to constrain a President, cf. 50 U.S.C. § 3163, the President enjoys absolute authority under the Executive Order to declassify any information. There is no legitimate contention that the Chief Executive’s declassification of documents requires approval of bureaucratic components of the executive branch. Yet, the Government apparently contends that President Trump, who had full authority to declassify documents, “willfully” retained classified information in violation of the law. See 18 U.S.C. § 793(e); [ECF No. 69 at 9].7 Moreover, the Government seeks to preclude any opportunity for consideration of this issue.

    Of course, classified or declassified, the documents remain either Presidential records or personal records under the PRA.

    Donald Trump concedes that Executive Order 13526 governed the classification and declassification of information on December 29, 2009. It continued to govern the classification and declassification of information on January 20, 2017. It continued to govern the classification and declassification of information on January 20, 2021. It continues to govern the classification and declassification of information today.

    Donald Trump agrees that he never altered this EO. He agrees that he is bound by it still, unless the lawful President, a guy named Joe Biden, decides to change it.

    This is a virtual capitulation to the arguments DOJ is making, including that the classification review of the documents he stole, the review ongoing as we speak, will be determinative of the classification status of those documents.

    But it’s also a concession that he is bound by everything in the EO. There’s a whole bunch of things Trump concedes when he concedes that point (including that classified information must be kept secure).

    One of those things, however, is that former Presidents — and the propagandists who work for them — still must get waivers to bypass Need to Know restrictions on classified information. …….
    ………
    Moreover, this waiver requires that before waiving the Need to Know rule, agency heads first determine, in writing, that giving former Presidents and their propagandists access to classified information, “is consistent with the interest of national security.”
    ……….
    ……….[T]he rules Trump admits he is bound by, say he can only even access this information if Avril Haines and Paul Nakasone and William Burns and Chris Wray say he can.
    ##########

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  207. https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2022/09/12/did-trumps-legal-team-stick-the-dagger-into-the-heart-of-the-biden-dojs-maralago-case-n2612953

    Going to leave a mark

    EPWJ (650a62) — 9/12/2022 @ 2:35 pm

    Did Trump’s Legal Team Stick the ‘Dagger’ Into the Heart of the Biden DOJ’s Mar-a-Lago Case? No, but a mark could be left on Trump.

    Whether the documents seized during the MAL search are classified or not is irrelevant to the case. The search warrant cited 18 U.S. Code § 793 – gathering, transmitting or losing defense information, which refers to “information respecting the national defense.” The Espionage Act predates the modern document classification system, so anything related to the national defense is covered by the Act.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  208. Two bits of news.

    One, DOJ and Trump lawyers agreedhttps://www.mediaite.com/politics/just-in-doj-agrees-to-accept-trumps-candidate-for-special-master/ on one of Trump’s special masters, Dearie, which is fine. The other Trump guy was a walking conflict of interest. This shouldn’t mean that the DOJ motion on executive privilege is inoperative.

    Two, DOJ is busy, issuing 40 subpoenas of Trumpies and confiscating 2 cell phones from Trump advisors, primarily for the Fake Electors scheme, but some involve Trump’s slush fund Save America PAC.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  209. It’s those walls! They’re closing in!

    Colonel Haiku (435adb)

  210. What was in the empty classified file folders and what became of it?

    nk (c41af9)

  211. Alex Jones is not only a lying conspiracy theorist, he’s one creepy dude.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  212. 144.

    0% think a civil war is likely — at least either very or somewhat likely — between Republicans and Democrats

    I don’t think these people have a good idea of what the word “likely” means.” And maybe also of “war” or “civil war.:”

    Of course “somewhat likely” could be 10%

    Sammy Finkelman (418659)

  213. Sammy,

    Thanks for showing me my prediction about the lunatics was correct. They just cannot help jamming that square peg into a round hole.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  214. Alex Jones is not only a lying conspiracy theorist, he’s one creepy dude.

    Paul Montagu (753b42) — 9/12/2022 @ 7:34 pm

    Paranoia is as paranoia does.

    norcal (da5491)

  215. “October Surprise” like Reagan and Bush were accused of, for real.

    https://nypost.com/2022/09/12/it-seems-clear-dems-pressured-the-fda-to-delay-the-covid-vaccine-to-hurt-trump/

    Sammy Finkelman (418659)

  216. RIP French film director Jean-Luc Godard (91).

    Breathless.

    Rip Murdock (b16a33)

  217. Requiescat in inferno Ronald Pelton (80).

    Pelton was an NSA intelligence communications specialist who, in November 1985, was arrested for selling government secrets to the Soviet Union. He spent about three decades in prison before he completed serving his sentence in 2015.

    Pelton’s crimes included selling defense and communication secrets for upwards of $35,000 (equivalent to $142,782 today). His most notable breach of trust was informing Soviet intelligence of “Operation Ivy Bells”, a plan put forward by the NSA and the US navy to tap the Soviets’ underwater communication cables.

    Rip Murdock (b16a33)

  218. After reading this piece, my biggest takeaway is how incomprehensibly stupid Hunter was to abandon his devices at a storefront Delaware computer repair shop, risking a complete invasion of his privacy by strangers who did not have his best interests in mind. Good grief.
    Whether he gets indicted or not, we’ll see, but I think he’ll get nailed for something by the feds, but who knows at this point.
    I doubt any of Hunter’s personal corruption will extend to his dad, who IMO is not smart enough or diabolical enough to be part of the son’s hijinks. But again, we’ll see.
    I’m asking myself why I don’t have more sympathy for the guy, but then what comes to mind is that he’s the son of a prominent politician and has been afforded every advantage but squandered pretty much all of it through his own bad decisions.
    I hope Hunter gets the helps he needs, but I don’t believe he’ll ever escape his place in history as a president’s drug-addicted loser of a son. That sounds a little harsh even to my own ears, but I’ve heard a lot worse in the right-wing realm.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  219. After reading this piece, my biggest takeaway is how incomprehensibly stupid

    Just a microchip off the ol’block: like father, like son.

    DCSCA (61ac0a)

  220. New York Magazine cove story about the Hunter Biden laptop. More about how different people dealt with the laptop than about what is in it. Pretty fair. The fact are told in a little bit of a jumbled manner (but not too much) . Fills in some details, and is missing a few also.

    https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/hunter-biden-laptop-investigation.html

    “This story is free for a limited time.”

    The first thing you need to understand about the Hunter Biden laptop, though, is that it’s not a laptop.

    Which is correct. It’s the recovered files.

    Stored maybe on a hard drive.

    Like many Gen-Xers, Hunter Biden was apparently unwilling to entrust his data solely to the cloud. He used desktop applications and backed things up to a device, which was his undoing

    I think he stored them on more than one device, and synched them to the cloud. But one day all of those he was using were not working – liquid damage.

    . One was dead. One was easily revived. The third, a 13-inch MacBook Pro, had a sticky, ruined keyboard. But Mac Isaac thought he could still salvage its data. The job would cost $85 and take a few days.

    The way I read it in the New York Post, one was beyond repair, one needed only an external keyboard (Hunter was supposed to return it after he got another keyboard or copied the files or maybe pay for the keyboard) and the third one couldn’t bot the data files could be recovered.

    The source of all the files was one that needed more than a replacement keyboard.

    I think the contents were 99.95% identical – that’s why Hunter never picked up his recovered files once he could the files on one of them.(besides the fact that he moved from Delaware to California, something missing from this New York Magazine story..

    Moral: No source has everything.

    Biggest revelation: The computer storeowner says there was no child pornography on the laptop that he noticed (or says he told the FBI that.) There was some concern about that possibility by Giuliani and the FBI but no obvious child pornography although there were plenty of explicit pictures many women on it.. There was a photo belonging to a teenage Biden family member whose photo roll had been backed up on the laptop.(but no underage prostitutes)

    Also, Biden and family make no comment – and they now have come up with a speculative theory that the files might have come from another laptop Hunter abandoned while getting ketamine rehab (so that possession of the files would be illegal – the person who had the laptop denies that and besides we have the full story)

    Also: Steve Bannon was not interested in pursuing this after the election. Someone else who had a copy may have distributed an edited version and also claimed to have recovered deleted files (impossible) which he wouldn’t let people see but that may have been stolen files from another Hunter, Beau Biden’s son’s who also used the cloud to store files.

    The authors note that this was possibly the worst invasion of privacy that ever happened to anybody.

    It is hard to think of a single living individual who has experienced as total an annihilation of digital privacy since our devices became extensions of our consciousness. A suite of executives and thousands of employees were victimized by the Sony hack. In the iCloud hack known as “the Fappening,” nude photos of dozens of celebrities ended up on Reddit and 4chan. The 2016 hack of DNC servers and John Podesta’s Gmail exposed the private communications of a major political party. But in terms of the vastness of the data breach, the narrowness of its target, and its capacity to be deployed as a political weapon, none of those compare to the exposure of Hunter Biden’s entire virtual life.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  221. 223. Paul Montagu (753b42) — 9/13/2022 @ 1:05 pm

    After reading this piece, my biggest takeaway is how incomprehensibly stupid Hunter was to abandon his devices at a storefront Delaware computer repair shop, risking a complete invasion of his privacy by strangers who did not have his best interests in mind. Good grief.

    I don’t think he realized quite how big a celebrity he (or his father) had become.

    Hunter paid two visits to the store, both shortly before closing (he was not keeping regular hours.)

    In one visit he brought the three laptops and took two back home with him (the totally ruined laptop, and the one that worked with a replacement keyboard. In the second he brought an external hard drive weith him on which the recovered files from the third laptop could be put.

    He may not have known whether the files (or all of the files) would in fact be recovered.

    He never came back for the third laptop or the hard drive or returned or bought the keyboard he had been lent for the second laptop..

    John Paul Mac Isaac actually peeked a little (he saw the names of the files, of course anyway) before the 90 days till the laptop (and its contents) became legally his had run out.

    He looked into a file called Income.pdf. (and the thought occurred to me that maybe he did that because he was wondering how he could be paid his $85. Hunter was unreachable.)

    I think the authors fell for a misinterpretation that Guiliani and company made

    In a text to his daughter Naomi, who was 25 at the time, Hunter complained that he had to “pay for everything for this entire family for 30 years,” assuring her that unlike “Pop” — the family’s name for Joe — he wouldn’t take “half your salary.” In right-wing circles, these texts have been construed to suggest there was a formal revenue-sharing agreement between Joe and Hunter, though looked at in a more forgiving light, they can be read as hyperbolic bitching.

    That text was sent on January 3, 2019. The context was Hunter’s daughter Naomi asking him for money.

    I feel the best interpretation is that Hunter was saying he would not ask to be paid back with half her salary, as maybe Joe had done with him. Even if she was sonly 25 the thirty years could refer to huis nuclear family. Even though he only married Kathleen Buhle in 1993.

    Would Hunter Biden casually mention a secret? Besides Hunter was consuming money. The words “family’s cash cow” may be a quote from Miranda Devine, not Hunter Biden, I don’t know.

    The New York Magazine article somehow manages to miss the very important fact that Ye Jianming, the boss of the Chinese energy company that directed millions of dollars in consulting fees to Hunter and his uncle (or planned to) was purged in early 2018 and has disappeared into the Chinese gulag and his company CEFC, (whose name was not mentioned in the NY Mag article – is the fact that not too many people would recognize the name enough reason to leave it anonymous?) once a Global 500company,was destroyed. I think because Xi Jinping did not approve of what Yu Jianming was doing . He was working for himself, and wanted to become indispensable and at that time Joe Biden would easily be seen as a long shot to become president — which was maybe why Yu Jianming targeted him- if Joe Biden became president, he’d have a monopoly on him. (I don’t think Joe Biden had any idea that Hunter was claiming he was holding 10% for him or that he was getting a key to an office in Washington.)

    Yu Jianming of course had ties to Chinese Communist Party. The NY Mag article does mention the other Chinese connection(but also without a name Maybe ebcause he has not been prged and couldsue?)

    In December 2013, not long before Hunter got involved with Burisma, he accompanied his father on a visit to Beijing aboard Air Force Two and met with a Chinese businessman who was interested in investing capital outside the country. Later on — only after his father left office, Hunter has stressed — Hunter took a 10 percent equity stake in a venture with the businessman. Toward the end of the Obama administration, Hunter began a separate set of talks with Ye Jianming….

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  222. This article appears in the October 2022 print edition of the Atlantic with the headline “The Myopia Generation.”

    https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/10/kids-glasses-vision-increased-nearsightedness-myopia/671244

    In optometry school, she had been taught—as American textbooks had been teaching for decades—that nearsightedness, or myopia, is a genetic condition.

    Of course that was wrong.

    Nearsightedness is caused by glasses as the urban legend went.

    As more and more children got examined at younger and younger ages, myopia increased.

    Wat your eye needs to do affects the way it grows.

    The worst mistake is to wear glasses for reading.

    And if a child can’t see the blackboard, accept that. No matter what you do, in the way of vision correction, the child will not see the blackboard clearly from that distance.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  223. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/06/business/abbott-baby-formula-lawsuits-jones-day.html

    How Abbott Kept Sick Babies From Becoming a Scandal<

    Abbott’s lawyers at Jones Day negotiated secret settlements and used scorched earth tactics with families whose infants fell ill after consuming powdered formula.

    What they basically did was argue, in each case, the contamination could have come from the household (which won cases) and prevent lawyers from realizing or arguing that it was more than a one time problem- that this was a periodic or general problem, and the source was probably often Abbott.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  224. Why do these people in California want 100% of all new cars to be electric? It’s not best for all uses.

    They should be satisfied with 35% to 60% indefinitely. A mix.

    Of course it would be long after the mandate when it would become a big problem.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  225. You know things are getting interesting when a chopped-foam pillow magnate has his cell phone seized by the FBI, assuming the Post Millennial report is true.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  226. This doesn’t sound justice to me. More the opposite.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  227. Jesse Singal, on the alleged racial incident at a Duke-BYU women’s volleyball match.

    For millions of people watching this story unfold, this was yet another example of the ineradicable stain of American racism, of just how little progress we’ve really made.

    Except it didn’t happen.

    There is no evidence that the chain of events described by Richardson and her family members occurred. There isn’t even evidence a single slur was hurled at her and her teammates, let alone a terrifying onslaught of them.

    It sorta reminds me of another incident involving Duke.

    Paul Montagu (753b42)

  228. Is there a single Crystal Mangum Racist Hoax Award that Rachel Richardson, her father, and the NYT will need to share, or are there separate categories for Leading Role, Supporting Role, and Supporting Role By A Media Organization?

    nk (bf1da4)

  229. R.I.P. Henry Silva, actor who almost always played villains, but he was so damn good at it!

    Icy (858f49)

  230. The last of Sinatra’s Ocean’s 11 Rat Pack.

    DCSCA (e7fe0d)


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.1676 secs.