Weekend Open Thread
[guest post by Dana]
Let’s go!
First news item
Hypocrites: Prominent hosts believed Sidney Powell a dangerous liar but continued to have her on their shows to push Trump’s lies:
Hosts at Fox News had serious concerns about allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election being made by guests who were allies of former President Donald Trump, according to court filings in a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against the network.
“Sidney Powell is lying,” about having evidence for election fraud, Tucker Carlson told a producer about the attorney on Nov. 16, 2020, according to an excerpt from an exhibit that remains under seal.
The internal communication was included in a redacted summary judgment brief filed Thursday by attorneys for Dominion Voting Systems.
Carlson also referred to Powell in a text as an “unguided missile,” and “dangerous as hell.” Fellow host Laura Ingraham, meanwhile, told Carlson that Powell is “a complete nut. No one will work with her. Ditto with Rudy,” referring to former New York mayor and Trump supporter Rudy Giuliani.
Sean Hannity, meanwhile, said in a deposition “that whole narrative that Sidney was pushing, I did not believe it for one second,” according to Dominion’s filing.
Related: Influential Fox News hosts conspired to get a fact-checker fired for correctly fact-checking Trump’s lies:
More: After a Fox News staffer correctly fact-checked stuff that was coming out of the network's opinion side, all hell broke loose among the prime-timers. Stunning: pic.twitter.com/gHjwVJoCOJ
— ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) February 17, 2023
Second news item
President Biden under pressure:
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is pressing President Joe Biden directly to send F-16 warplanes to Ukraine as the fight against Russia’s invasion enters its second year.
Five House members argued modern jets — which Kyiv has sought, but the administration has so far not agreed to — “could prove decisive for control of Ukrainian airspace this year” in a Thursday letter to Biden obtained by POLITICO.
“The provision of such aircraft is necessary to help Ukraine protect its airspace, particularly in light of renewed Russian offensives and considering the expected increase in large-scale combat operations,” the lawmakers wrote.
Ukraine needs the aircraft much sooner rather than later:
Western intelligence shows Russia is amassing aircraft close to the border with Ukraine. It said the move indicates Moscow is preparing to bolster its faltering land offensive.
The paper says intelligence shared among NATO allies shows Russia is assembling both fixed-wing and rotary aircraft……a senior NATO diplomat is quoted as saying that more than 80 percent of Russia’s air force probably is “safe and available,” and that they are expecting the Russians to be “preparing to launch an air campaign.”
A senior US administration official also reportedly said, “Russian land forces are pretty depleted so it’s the best indication that they will turn this into an air fight.”
The official added, “If the Ukrainians are going to survive … they need to have as many air defence capabilities and as much ammunition … as possible.”
Third news item
About those recent “aerial objects”:
Last week, in the immediate aftermath of the incursion by China’s high-altitude balloon, our military, through the North American Aerospace Defense Command…closely scrutinized the — our airspace, including enhancing our radar to pick up more slow-moving objects above our country and around the world…In doing so, they tracked three unidentified objects: one in Alaska, Canada, and over Lake Huron in the Midwest…We don’t yet know exactly what these three objects were. But nothing — nothing right now suggests they were related to China’s spy balloon program or that they were surveillance vehicles from other — any other country…The intelligence community’s current assessment is that these three objects were most likely balloons tied to private companies, recreation, or research institutions studying weather or conducting other scientific research…We don’t have any evidence that there has been a sudden increase in the number of objects in the sky. We’re now just seeing more of them, partially because the steps we’ve taken to increase our radars — to narrow our radars.
Related: Trump officials knew about suspected China balloons:
A small number of intelligence officials under former President Trump were aware of several suspected Chinese balloons that crossed into U.S. airspace during his time in office, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Despite suspicions among some officials that the high-flying objects were from China, a Pentagon assessment never conclusively linked the balloons to Beijing, and information on the incidents was not shared broadly within the Trump administration, the Journal noted.
Fourth news item
Iranian protests continue, despite executions:
Protesters in Iran have marched through the streets of multiple cities in the most widespread demonstrations in weeks, online videos purported to show…The demonstrations overnight on Thursday marked 40 days since Iran executed two men on charges related to protests that began last year and went on to grip the Islamic Republic for month…Iranian state media did not immediately acknowledge the protests…Since they began, at least 529 people have been killed in demonstrations, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran. More than 19,700 others have been detained by authorities…Iran for months has not offered any overall casualty figures, though the government seemed to acknowledge making “tens of thousands” arrests earlier this month…The demonstrations had appeared to slow in recent weeks, in part due to the executions and crackdown, though protest cries could still be heard at night in some cities.
Related: On being brave:
What does brave look like?
If you want to know the answer, please watch this short clip#WomanLifeFreedom#MahsaAmini @TheLastWord @MSNBC
pic.twitter.com/SD1H0I2Nsu— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) February 16, 2023
Women in Iran have two choices: Be miserable or make their oppressers’ lives miserable.
Fifth news item
In the aftermath of the horrible train derailment in Ohio:
The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency got a first-hand look Thursday at the toll left by a freight train derailment in Ohio, where toxic chemicals spilled or were burned off, leaving the stench of fresh paint nearly two weeks later.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan, who walked along a creek that still reeks of chemicals, sought to reassure skeptical residents that the water is fit for drinking and the air safe to breathe around East Palestine, where just under 5,000 people live near the Pennsylvania state line.
“I’m asking they trust the government. I know that’s hard. We know there’s a lack of trust,” Regan said. “We’re testing for everything that was on that train.”
Note: Since the derailment, residents have complained about headaches and irritated eyes and finding their cars and lawns covered in soot. The hazardous chemicals that spilled from the train killed thousands of fish, and residents have talked about finding dying or sick pets and wildlife.
Sixth news item
People always take priority over fish :
Facing an onslaught of criticism that water was “wasted” during January storms, [Calfiornia] Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday suspended environmental laws to give the go-ahead to state officials to hold more water in reservoirs.
The governor’s executive order authorized the State Water Resources Control Board to “consider modifying” state requirements that dictate how much water in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is allowed to flow into San Francisco Bay.
In January, after floodwaters surged into the bay, farm groups, Central Valley legislators and urban water providers complained that people and farms were being short-changed to protect fish. They urged state officials to store more water in reservoirs, which would increase the supply that can be delivered this summer to farm fields in the Central Valley and millions of Southern Californians.
The move put Newsom at odds with environmentalists in the Golden State:
Environmental activists say Newsom’s order is another sign that California is shifting priorities in how it manages water supply for humans and ecosystems.
They said the order will likely harm Chinook salmon and Delta smelt. Large numbers of newborn Chinook salmon have perished in recent drought years — the result of low flows in the Sacramento River and its tributaries
Seventh news item
Nothing will stop her from hustling to become Trump’s running mate:
Arizona Republican Kari Lake’s challenge of her loss to Democrat Katie Hobbs in the gubernatorial race was rejected by an appeals court on Thursday.
The Arizona Court of Appeals denied Lake’s request to toss election results in its most populous county and hold the election again. She claimed problems with ballot printers at some polling places on Election Day were the result of intentional misconduct, but the court said Lake presented no evidence that voters whose ballots were unreadable by tabulators at polling places were not able to vote.
BREAKING: I told you we would take this case all the way to the Arizona Supreme Court, and that's exactly what we are going to do. Buckle up, America! 🇺🇸https://t.co/DXTi4WoEQ3 pic.twitter.com/ik5sSqMz5P
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) February 16, 2023
Trump approves:
Trump addresses Kari Lake, who's again at Mar-a-Lago: "She ran a great race in Arizona, she won, she won by a lot." pic.twitter.com/QlwETJ48CD
— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) February 16, 2023
Eighth news item
In recent years, campus administrative growth has focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Whatever the intentions, the imposition of DEI bureaucracy upon the academy has too often come at the expense of academic freedom and freedom of expression. DEI administrators have been responsible for repeated campus rights abuses…DEI efforts have threatened student and faculty rights in other ways, too. Most significantly, colleges and universities now routinely require students and faculty to pledge their allegiance to a politicized understanding of “diversity” as a condition of consideration for admission, hiring, or promotion. FIRE has repeatedly come to the defense of faculty who have been pressured into proving their fealty to a specific conception of DEI as the price of serious consideration or continued employment…FIRE warned in a statement last year that the First Amendment “prohibits public universities from compelling faculty to assent to specific ideological views or to embed those views in academic activities.” But colleges have not stopped imposing political litmus tests on students and faculty in the guise of furthering DEI efforts…So today, FIRE is introducing model legislation that prohibits the use of political litmus tests in college admissions, hiring, and promotion decisions. Legislation is strong medicine, but our work demonstrates the seriousness of the threat. While the current threat involves coercion to support DEI ideology, efforts to coerce opposition to DEI ideology would be just as objectionable. Attempts to require fealty to any given ideology or political commitment — whether “patriotism” or “social justice” — must be likewise rejected.
MISCELLANEOUS
As you know, Tuesday was Valentine’s Day. So in light of that, I wanted to post the eloquent valentine from Alexey Navalny to his wife. His hellish imprisonment makes the tender sentiments all the more poignant:
Well, who came up with the proverb “out of sight, out of mind”? I haven’t seen you for a terrible long time, Yulyashka, almost a year, but there are a lot of you in my heart. And it seems to be getting bigger. Sometimes I myself wonder how my great love for you fits in an ordinary human heart.
I talk to you all the time. Like crazy, I’m sitting at breakfast, imagining that we are gathered as a family, inventing a joke – teasing you, and then your answer, and then mine again. And the kids are laughing, and we’re joking around in my head until you say, in mock annoyance, stop it already.
Today is Valentine’s Day, and of course I’m in love with you, so I’m sending you this heart 🧡
I love. I miss. Your husband
It’s nothing less than amazing that love can grow under the most vile of circumstances. It would not suprise me that, along with sheer determination, Navalny’s all-consuming love for his wife is what keeps him alive for another day.
–Dana
Good morning and happy Friday!
Dana (1225fc) — 2/17/2023 @ 7:51 amGood morning and thank you, Dana.
Re the first news item: It really is Faux News. I would find actual malice — reckless disregard of the truth.
nk (bb1548) — 2/17/2023 @ 8:53 amHere’s the thing about water shortages: they harm the environment wherever they are. Diverting water away from the central part of the state may help the salmon, but they will harm nearly every creature in the central valley. Ducks, coyotes, rabbits, migratory birds and, yes, people are all harmed by water shortages.
Not only is the Endangered Species Act absolutist, but it’s also myopic. It needs to be amended with some balancing tests rather than what the Supreme Court determined (in the Snail Darter case) to be an absolute, rigid and black-and-white rule.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 8:57 amThe 6th news item is more evidence that Newsom is running for president. (Recently, he argued, with help from a friendly journalist, that he had kept leftist wackos from damaging California businesses.)
So, he is trying to move toward the center, even before there are any primaries.
Is he targeting 2024, and if so, hoping for the VP slot? The tribal politics of today’s Democratic Party would make that difficult, unless Kamala Harris suddenly decided she needed to spend more time with her family.
It’s more likely, I think, that Newsom is planning to run in 2028.
(He was born 10 October 1967, so either is possible.)
Jim Miller (f29931) — 2/17/2023 @ 8:59 amIt’s interesting that Carlson and others privately ridiculed Trump’s claims, then proceeded to support them on their shows. Why? Because it drew in viewers and they made money off that.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 8:59 amIf Biden is renominated, I think that there will be a fair scrum for the VP job, given Biden’s age. My money is not on Ms Wordsalad.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 9:03 amKeri Lake is a good choice for Trump. It makes him look saner.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 9:04 amOTOH, using the “Republican Accountability Project” as a source is disturbing. Another Bill Kristol, Mike Murphy front, mostly Jeb Bush supporters. A better name would be the Roadkill Project.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 9:07 amoh wow, the whole Fox News thing should be complied and packaged as FoxNewsFiles, sort of like TwitterFiles
except TwitterFiles was ignored here and by Wemple as yawn not news yawn, and FoxNewsFiles is the Biggest News Scoop in Big News Scoop History
hypocrites indeed
JF (b606d9) — 2/17/2023 @ 9:10 amNewsom also backed extending the service life of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, over the opposition of environmental activists, though it has run into a snag.
There is no way Newsom would VP in 2024. Harris is unpopular (even among Democrats) that if she ran for President (assuming Biden doesn’t) many believe she would lose.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/17/2023 @ 9:15 amDEI: I am sad to report that my alma mater has just hired a new college president whose past work has centered on DEI initiatives. The previous president leaned increasingly that way, but the new gal is pretty much a card-carrier. From her CV:
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 9:16 amJF should change his handle to “Captain Whaddabout”
It’s all so unfair. Perhaps reflecting on why Trump is unable to communicate outside his hard core might give insight into why he keeps losing.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 9:19 amI am sad to report that my alma mater has just hired a new college president whose past work has centered on DEI initiatives. The previous president leaned increasingly that way, but the new gal is pretty much a card-carrier.
This the standard in academia now. Let’s not labor under the delusion anymore that these are institutions of learning rather than seminaries for Hegelian gnosticism.
Factory Working Orphan (60de73) — 2/17/2023 @ 9:20 amRip, I think that if Biden wanted, that Diablo Canyon approval would happen much faster.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 9:20 amPoor Kari Lake. When all you’ve got is Trump … and maybe Paul Gosar in the wings ….
nk (bb1548) — 2/17/2023 @ 9:25 amI suspect that Keri Lake will have worn out her welcome in AZ before long.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 9:29 amKevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 9:19 am
my handle will change when the blog changes it’s name to “Whaddabout Trump”
JF (b606d9) — 2/17/2023 @ 9:30 amRE: Kari Lake:
TrumpWorld not happy one bit:
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/17/2023 @ 9:32 amI doubt it. If a President reached down and ordered an independent agency to achieve a certain result, it would raise all sorts of red flags regarding favoritism. A friend of mine in the Reagan White House was directed to make a phone call to the FDA to check on the status of a drug application, and she ended up being questioned by the FBI. What would be better is if Congress voted on a bill to extend the life of Diablo Canyon.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/17/2023 @ 9:48 amI must have missed JF’s attempt to introduce a serious discussion about Twittergate on an open thread. And I don’t mean silly snark but something substantive and insightful.
Dana (1225fc) — 2/17/2023 @ 9:59 amLake, who once praised DeSantis as having, um, BDE, takes a shot at the governor, who will clearly be Trumps strongest opponent if he runs. She’s already playing attack dog.
Dana (1225fc) — 2/17/2023 @ 10:08 amhttps://www.thefp.com/p/i-thought-i-was-saving-trans-kids
Just a reminder that many enjoy castrating and mutiliating children while making a profit right here in the United States.
NJRob (d554c4) — 2/17/2023 @ 10:09 amThe Trump-Lake ticket will be the one-term loser and simply a loser.
BTW, here’s an excellent piece from the NYT in defense of JK Rowling, who’s been hounded by trans extremists the last several years. It’s bizarre that a person with such moderate and reasonable views would be vilified so, and exemplifies the culture wars as good as anything, IMO.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 2/17/2023 @ 10:12 amIt’s interesting to me, that, while Trump claims to prefer winners, Lake’s abject veneration of Trump and demonstrated willingness to push the Big Lie negates the fact that she is a failed candidate. The real litmus test with him remains a demonstrated loyalty to him, above all else.
Dana (1225fc) — 2/17/2023 @ 10:27 amIf a President reached down and ordered an independent agency to achieve a certain result
You mean like telling the DoJ not to indict the presumptive Democrat candidate? I think you will find that statist presidents get more latitude from the Stasi.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 10:47 ampassing a pathway to citizenship for illegal migrants (59 percent)
This is more a preferred solution to a problem than simply addressing the problem. It’s a great demonstration of how one crafts polls to avoid certain responses. If you had asked instead about “solving the illegal immigration problem” more Republicans would have checked the box.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 10:50 amBTW, here’s an excellent piece from the NYT in defense of JK Rowling
It’s interesting that the editors of the NY Times had to lay down the law to staff about vilifying people, including other staff, for not stridently supporting every demand by trans activists.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 10:55 am“Trump needs to choose somebody who, like him, has nothing to lose”
Never considering what the country has to lose.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 10:57 amI must have missed JF’s attempt to introduce a serious discussion about Twittergate on an open thread. And I don’t mean silly snark but something substantive and insightful.
Dana (1225fc) — 2/17/2023 @ 9:59 am
Right again!
also, another installment here:
JF (f36754) — 1/4/2023 @ 7:33 am
Prompted the usual crickets.
cuz substantive, insightful, Fox News, hypocrites, etc, etc
JF (46327b) — 2/17/2023 @ 11:31 amI told you we would take this case all the way to the Arizona Supreme Court, and that’s exactly what we are going to do. Buckle up, America!
Back in my drunken frat boy days (which should be winding down within the next decade or so) we used to play the drinking game thumper. When a freshman would lose and complain that we had cheated him (and almost invariably, we had), we would tell him to take it to court. If he agreed and challenged it, the table would vote with everyone intoning in unison “Ahh, doosh!” and extending a thumbs down. At that point, the victim would be invited to take the ruling to a “higher court.” If he accepted, the table would all stand up and give the “Ahhhhh, dooooooosh!” thumbs down sign. He would then be invited to take the appeal to the highest court in the land, and when he inevitably did so, we would all stand on the table and give a rousing “Ahhhhhhhhhh, doooooooooooosh!” with thumbs thrust emphatically downwards.
I kind of wish that Kari Lake would take her complaint to our fraternity’s thumper table court of appeals.
JVW (125066) — 2/17/2023 @ 11:41 amMight shoulder-fired stinger missiles be a better option than sending F-16s to the Ukrainians?
Mattsky (3ec3e4) — 2/17/2023 @ 11:48 amA bipartisan group of lawmakers is pressing President Joe Biden directly to send F-16 warplanes to Ukraine as the fight against Russia’s invasion enters its second year.
The Editor’s podcast at National Review discussed this issue. Though they give President Biden generally a positive review of his actions vis a vis Ukraine (and I mostly agree), they do point out the spot where the behavior of his administration has been found wanting. As they outline, there have been way too many instances where Ukraine asks us for a certain weapon system, we say no because we are worried it might escalate the war or we try to tell Ukraine they don’t need it, several weeks pass by when it becomes obvious that yes indeed Ukraine really does need the weapon, and then we ultimate give them the weapon after a month of unnecessary dithering. Apparently the British are already training Ukrainian pilots on the F-16 in England, so they understand that within a few weeks the Biden Administration will reverse itself yet again.
The NRO editors also point out that there is a huge gulf between the public support that Joe Biden expresses for Ukraine and the actions his administration takes when nobody is paying attention. In his SOTU he said that the United States would do whatever it takes to keep Ukraine in the fight, but behind the scenes not only are we refusing them certain weapons, but the Washington Post reported that we are telling Ukraine that there are indeed limits to our willingness to support them, and we are pressing them to negotiate a peace settlement with Russia, even if that means giving up some territory to Putin.
JVW (125066) — 2/17/2023 @ 11:54 amSchool Districts Are Dropping Honors Classes In The Name Of Equity
JF (46327b) — 2/17/2023 @ 12:01 pmUS Diplomat Deletes Tweets About #BlackGirlMagic In Afghanistan, Black History Month
JF (46327b) — 2/17/2023 @ 12:05 pmRelated: Trump officials knew about suspected China balloons
Trump knew!! Ha!!
oh wait, Trump officials knew
umm, a small number of intelligence officials
uh, the balloons “briefly hovered” somewhere, who knows where
LOL
JF (46327b) — 2/17/2023 @ 12:16 pmTo prove malice, or reckless disregard for the truth.
Fox News probably thought they were protected by the huge number of people who were believing or hearing the claims – or at least believing that the claims were plausible. And this was coming, essentially, from the candidate in the election.
Fox did stop about the Dominion machines when they first got sued, I think.
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 2/17/2023 @ 12:27 pmBack in my drunken frat boy days (which should be winding down within the next decade or so) we used to play the drinking game thumper.
Ours was called, ‘Whales Tails’ back in the early 70’s. 24/7 beer tap in PA, where the drinking age, 21, was ‘Animal House’ ignored on campis–as was our own ‘Dean Wormer’ of the day. But we had a feisty Irish bro who was a wind-bagged ‘mick’ from Allison Park, outside Pgh., a la Scranton Joey, who was always ready for a fist fight, always got bros to hold his coat and beer- but was always too lit to swung into action. But he’d redeem himself every St. Paddy’s Day by buying a keg of green Iron City Beer for the house. Tasted terrible, too- especially when it finally went flat and the keg had to be finished to return for the deposit.
DCSCA (b8ceb2) — 2/17/2023 @ 12:39 pmSomebody has now claimed it might be their balloon. It is the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade.
This was the second one of the non-Chinese objects – the cigar shaped one one shot down over a Canadian forest in Yukon last Saturday. It last reported its position west of Alaska.
https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/aircraft-propulsion/hobby-clubs-missing-balloon-feared-shot-down-usaf
It circumnavigated the world six times till now.
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 2/17/2023 @ 12:44 pmSo far, none of the later three objects a have been recovered, but they finished recovering the Chinese spy balloon shot down off the coast of South Carolina. Nothing has broken through to the press about that balloon that was over Central and South America. The United States says that it observed the first balloon from the time of takeoff on Hainan island ad they are leaking that it seemed headed for Guam and Hawaii but seems to have gone off course (unless it was directed to change course, of course)
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 2/17/2023 @ 12:45 pmThis is so frustrating. The one escalating the war is Putin. All he has to do is retreat lock, stock, and barrel, and peace could be restored. Ukraine is defending itself and trying to quash a hostile takeover of its country and way of life. The editors make good points.
Dana (1225fc) — 2/17/2023 @ 12:45 pmRussia is using balloons to distract Ukrainian air defenses.
According to a New York Times article this has been going on “in recent weeks” which sounds like it was before President Biden demonstrated that the United States might shoot at false alarms, but the NYT is actually uncertain about that.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/15/world/europe/russian-balloons-ukraine.html
Maybe Russia was using balloons a little for other purposes and then, when Biden shot down the 3 non-spy balloons, decided this would be agood tactic to help their missiles get through.
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 2/17/2023 @ 12:46 pmhttps://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/16/world/europe/ukraine-russia-missile-attack.html
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 2/17/2023 @ 12:49 pmDana, every day I am hit hard by the truth of W.B. Yeats:
I need to find some positivity. So many people seem to gleefully wallow and caper in things that cannot possibly be good for anyone.
Simon Jester (c8876d) — 2/17/2023 @ 12:50 pm28. Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 10:50 am
I don’t know. President George W. Bush had a solution – make more immigration legal. You can’t defeat economic forces by brute force. And “family vsalues do not stop at the Rio Grande.”
https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/stateoftheunion/2007/initiatives/immigration.html
Of course his proposals had elements of impracticality about them, and still amounted to attempting a compromise with reality.
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 2/17/2023 @ 12:58 pmIranian protests continue, despite executions:
Why, why? Why these futile protests?
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 2/17/2023 @ 12:59 pmKevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 9:03 am
Not nominating the same person to run for a second term as vice president is is something from the 1800s. How are you going to kick Kamala Harrid upstairs??
It did happen in 1940 and 1944 for FDR’s third and fourth terms. Eisenhower speculated about it with Nixon – after all a Cabinet post was Taft [Election of 1908] and Hoover’s [1928] previous office, but Nixon wanted no part of it – and now a Cabinet officer can’t be active in politics – Hillary Clinton had to resign in 2013 to run for president (it was not because of Benghazi. Benghazi in fact postponed her departure a little.)
Kamala Harris would have to agree
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 2/17/2023 @ 1:06 pmStingers have a limited range, it’s effective firing range is 0.12–3.11 mi (.2–5 km) and 12,500 feet in altitude, far lower than fighter and bomber aircraft. The Stinger threat in both the Afghan-USSR War and Ukraine has forced Russian aircraft (mostly helicopters and planes like the Sukhoi Su-25, NATO code name Frogfoot), to fly at higher altitudes making them less effective. The Frogfoot is the Russian equivalent to the A-10 Warthog.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/17/2023 @ 1:10 pmSimon Jester,
That is why I closed the post with Navalny’s deep expression of love for his wife. I’m the midst of hell, his heart still carries love. And it continues to grow. If that’s not some kind of magical gossamer thread to hold onto and be inspired by, I don’t know what is.
Dana (1225fc) — 2/17/2023 @ 1:12 pmSaid by a man enjoying the comforts and freedoms of a first-world lifestyle.
Dana (1225fc) — 2/17/2023 @ 1:14 pmMore on the Mena, Arkansas, cocaine smuggling “conspiracy theory”
Most of the cocaine smuggled into the United States in the mid-1980s was flown into Florida but some cocaine was smuggled into Mena. Arkansas.
That’s why the drug ring referenced in Bill Clinton’s speech at the Democratic convention was based in Arkansas.
1988 speech nominating Michael Dukakis video (I saw the speech in abook but cannot readily find it online)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0TdQwyd08A
At 31 minutes 20 seconds: A few weeks ago the police in Detroit Michigan broke a huge crack ring, and I’m sorry to say the ring was being run by two people from my state…and they have brought over 100 young men up there to help them peddle dope in the big cities,
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 2/17/2023 @ 1:19 pmThe news stories were very touching you know what they said we brought these young men up from the country because they’re more reliable than these street smart city kinds they’ll give us a good days work for a good days work on the streets
35, I hope my daughter’s HS in the servants/ snowplowers quarters of Lake County IL doesn’t copy that Culver City policy. She’s relatively ensconced from the rabble in the H/AP track as a sophomore…which also might save me a semester worth of tuition.
urbanleftbehind (28c9d9) — 2/17/2023 @ 1:21 pm51. It’s not that opposition and hatred of the regime is unwarranted – it’s that these protests are futile. They just get people maimed and killed.
They are in fact, {getting people killed is] tactics used by the mullahs against the Shah in 1978.
They are not a plan to recover lost freedom.
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 2/17/2023 @ 1:21 pmI don’t think in the end Biden will run for reelection, or he may drop out during the primaries for “health” reasons. Then it will be anyone’s guess who the Democratic nominee will be, but as pointed out above (post 10), Harris doesn’t have much support among party activists or the public. According to the most recent Economist/YouGov poll, her approval is underwater (p. 249): 39-48; and her trustworthiness 37-44.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/17/2023 @ 1:24 pmIn China they sort ofworked – when they had limited goals. (getting rid of lockdowns – and there were probably factions within the government which wanted that0
In Hungary it worked in 1956, but it was not enough. In China it came close to working in 1976 and 1989. But a sense that the government is and will remain in control has to break down.
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 2/17/2023 @ 1:25 pm55. Dems may very well avoid nominating Harris for president as a substitute for Biden, but it how can they dump her from the ticket?
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 2/17/2023 @ 1:26 pmI read the FDA may attempt to stop some off label uses, using authrotity granted to it in the December budget bill.
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 2/17/2023 @ 1:28 pmA few typos corrected: (I’d also amend a little)
Date: 06-17-96 (12:36) Number: 1032 of 1044
To: ALL Refer#: NONE
From: SAMMY FINKELMAN Read: (N/A)
Subj: MENA MIRAGE Status: PUBLIC MESSAGE
Conf: SAMMY ZONE (9) Read Type: GENERAL (+)
From the POLITICS conference of RIME (message I uploaded)
SF> I’d like to get that straight. As
SF> for the weapons the contras got, they were bought in Europe and vari[ous]
SF> places – all sources I have are distressingly vague about this. It d[oes]
SF> seem clear, however, that no airplane flights went through Arkansas.
SF> planes touched down anywhere in the United States, it would have bee
SF> in Florida.
PS> I don’t know. Are you saying the Arkansas Mena thing is just a huge
PS> disinformation thing?
Right. A chimera that Clinton conjured up to hide his drug smuggling.
Consider this question that Bill Clinton *voluntarily* took at a press
conference in late 1994. (No President answers any question at a press
conference without calls on that reporter to ask a question. Of course,
some Presidents are honest and aboveboard and won’t have any idea what
question will be asked in advance)
This question was by Sarah McClendon, widely perceived as a woman
who asks crazy questions. She works for newspapers in Texas, but really
for herself:
====================================================================
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
______________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release October 7, 1994
Q Sir, the Republicans are trying to blame you for
the existence of a small air base in Arkansas. This base was set up
by George Bush and Oliver North and the CIA to help the Iran Contras,
and they brought in planeload after planeload of cocaine there for
sale in the United States. And then they took the money and bought
weapons and took them back to the Contras, all of which was illegal,
as you know, under the — but tell me, did they tell you that this
had to be in existence because of national security?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, let me answer the question. No,
they didn’t tell me anything about it. They didn’t say anything to
me about it. The airport in question and all the events in question
were the subject of state and federal inquiries. It was primarily a
matter for federal jurisdiction; the state really had next to nothing
to do with it. A local prosecutor did conduct an investigation based
on what was within the jurisdiction of state law. The rest of it was
under jurisdiction of the United States Attorneys who were appointed
successively by previous administrations. We had nothing, zero, to
do with it. And everybody who’s ever looked into it knows that. ¯
(1996 message truncated here – I’ll include it as the next comment)
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 2/17/2023 @ 1:31 pmUS Diplomat Deletes Tweets About #BlackGirlMagic In Afghanistan, Black History Month
That really ought to end her career. I didn’t know that an intern could be Chargé d’Affaires.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 1:32 pmNotice here. Clinton does not do anything to deny the existence of
such an air base (for which real evidence is nil) but rather confirms
it. He silently acknowledges as truth everything Sarah says about
George Bush and Oliver North and the CIA, although not one scintilla
of evidence of any of this turned up in all the Iran-contra material
I have ever read. Neither is there any evidence that the money used to
buy weapons from the contras came from drug dealing. Rather, it came
from certain foreign countries and maybe those sales of arms to Iran.
Then, Clinton, rather than denying that any of this is true, says
merely that he wasn’t *told* He then says there were investigations
which helps to confirm the idea that the CIA or Iran contra was
really involved in all this. He finishes by saying that he had nothing
to do with it. In other words, yes there was a cover-up of events at
Mena, but it was purely *Republican* cover-up. Although it took place
in Arkansas, he had nothing to do with it.
People inclined to disbelieve him will think it was bi-partisan and that whatever happened there took place because of Republicans and that
Clinton only helped protect it because he was asked to by national
administrations and that he did it either out of the noblest motives,
or perhaps political advancement. Now what’s going to happen is if
Bob Dole doesn’t mention Mena, he’ll be accused of trying to protect
Republicans because supposedly Bush or Reagan (whose name they do not
actually dare to mention in this context) was actually more guilty.
When in reality, it was *only* Clinton, and the reason the U.S. Attorney helped cover up was not some reason of high policy, but corruption.
The CIA airbase there to resupply the contras has been invented out
of whole cloth, with nothing but two or three “eyewitnesses” like
Terry Reed, to sustain it. That is not to say that nothing peculiar
was going on at or near Mena airport. But rather, that it had nothing
to do with the contras or the CIA or any federal agency whatsoever.
Bush gets mentioned because since he was once CIA Director, he is
somehow supposed to be running it for years before and years afterward
too, with stuff about Skull and Bones thrown in as an explanation. Bush
was really a CIA agent all along, they whisper. Bush somehow belonged
to the CIA. In reality, Bush was a jerk in everything he did.
—————————————————————–
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 2/17/2023 @ 1:32 pmI need to find some positivity.
Yet there are many people who think a civil war would be a good thing.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 1:35 pmDOJ takes over investigation of corruption and bribery charges against texas AG ken paxton. Seems texas prosecutors were stalling to protect their boss!
asset (f95701) — 2/17/2023 @ 1:35 pmMight shoulder-fired stinger missiles be a better option than sending F-16s to the Ukrainians?
It’s interesting htat they are going for an air superiority fighter and not a ground-support plane like the A-10. Maybe there are too many ways to hit an A-10 now.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 1:37 pmhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/the-fda-wants-to-interfere-in-the-practice-of-medicine-physicians-patients-medical-devices-treatment-11673562165
Not sure about that, But already it and the CDC can affect the possibility of insurance paying for them.
But it’s bad enough that it applies to medical devices.
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 2/17/2023 @ 1:38 pmWhy, why? Why these futile protests?
Because they must. And because the regime fears them. We will live to see Iranian lampposts festooned with Mullahs.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 1:39 pmThe Democrats know they have a problem:
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/17/2023 @ 1:44 pm@35: What this says is that honors students should find a private school. Public schools spend inordinate amounts on largely uneducatable kids and very little on smart ones. Honors course cost no more than other courses, they just move at a faster pace.
The real irony is that Santa Monica – Malibu is mostly upper middle class (except for a few areas reserved for domestic servants), so these decisions are being made by white liberals for the children of white liberals. Santa Monica is also ruled by slate elections, and block voting means there are no dissenting voices elected.
Culver City is a bit of a surprise as they always had a bit of a redneck middle-class vibe, but I guess the studios and the general rise in home values (not a single house there under $1 million) have driven out the middle class by now. So it’s back to white liberals afraid of what other white liberals might think.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 1:48 pmDOJ takes over investigation of corruption and bribery charges against texas AG ken paxton. Seems texas prosecutors were stalling to protect their boss!
Good thing there is no bias in the DoJ about Paxton. Besides, the “texas prosecutors” did not work for Paxton, but the US Attorney for Texas, appointed by Biden.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 1:54 pm#45 Simon Jester – If you are looking for something positive, may I suggest Carl Sandburg’s biography of Lincoln?
(It comes in different versions; I have a single-volume version, published in 1954.)
Sandburg is a wonderful writer — as one would expect from a great poet — and he has a wonderful story to tell.
For instance, Sandburg tells this story about Abe’s father his father, Tom, who left his daughter and son in November of 1819, about a year after Abe’s mother had died:
Shortly afterwards, Abe and his sister Sarah were surprised to see their father arriving with their new stepmother, along with her three children, and her furniture.
(Abe and his stepmother got along wonderfully; she said he would be a great man, and was right about that.)
Jim Miller (f29931) — 2/17/2023 @ 1:57 pmNot sure about that, But already it and the CDC can affect the possibility of insurance paying for them.
Well, Medicare sure can, and does. It also refuses to pay for some ON-label uses until a preventable problem manifests.
But really the regulation is done by the plaintiff’s bar. Using something off-label is a risk if something goes wrong. The first question the practitioner will be asked in a malpractice deposition will be “So, this was off-label. Wasn’t that a risk?”
Practitioners who work for, or consult for, hospitals or large practices are generally not allowed to experiment with off-label uses.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 2:00 pmThere are really no A-10s to be had, the ones in mothballs have been stripped. The Air Force has wanted to be rid of the nearly 300 they have for a long time, but Congress will not let them.
It not just a military/industrial complex, it’s a military/industrial/Congressional complex. The F-16C/D Vipers can also carry anti-ship missiles, AGM-65 Maverick air-to-ground tactical missiles, as well as Paveway laser-guided bombs, GBU-15 bombs, and wind corrected munitions dispenser weapons. It can also carry the B-61 gravity nuclear weapon.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/17/2023 @ 2:01 pmSorry for the incomplete editing in line 4.
Jim Miller (f29931) — 2/17/2023 @ 2:01 pmDana #50: thank you for that. It’s a tough time around my house now, and I find that positivity takes energy and effort. Best wishes to you and your family.
Kevin M #62: my experience with such people is that they have never taken a punch, let along gotten into a fight. A civil war would lead to so much blood and pain, despite what poltroons like Keith Olbermann write.
Jim Miller #70: thank you for that nice recommendation. My father had that book on his shelf, but I never read it. I will change that now.
Best wishes to all.
Simon Jester (c8876d) — 2/17/2023 @ 2:07 pmGood luck, maybe Paxton should re-read Article I, Section 5, Clause 2 of the Constitution: “Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings…..” The Supreme Court turned down Kevin McCarthy’s appeal to void proxy voting in January 2022.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/17/2023 @ 2:12 pmDana, every day I am hit hard by the truth of W.B. Yeats:
Simon Jester, I have been browsing through a Yeats collection the past few months, and I came across some verse which I think very nicely encapsulates the woke young campus radicals who truly believe that it is their job to instruct their professors:
Where, where but here have Pride and Truth,
That long to give themselves for wage,
To shake their wicked strides at youth
Restraining reckless middle age?
He wrote those lines around 110 years ago when he heard that local university students were criticizing some modern literature as immoral.
JVW (125066) — 2/17/2023 @ 2:17 pmRip Murdock @ 2:12 pm
It seems to have become a modern tradition for an AG of a state opposite of the President’s party to sue the Administration alleging some sort of malfeasance or other. It does kind of irk me, but I suppose if it makes the Tenth Amendment have teeth then I can forebear it.
JVW (125066) — 2/17/2023 @ 2:20 pm#74 Simon Jester – You’re quite welcome. Book recommendations are one of the few things you can give away — and still have.
Jim Miller (f29931) — 2/17/2023 @ 2:22 pmSaner?
How so?
whembly (d116f3) — 2/17/2023 @ 2:22 pmIt’s performance art, like Texas v. Pennsylvania, challenging the election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin as violating the United States Constitution by changing election procedures through non-legislative means. That lawsuit was filed on December 8, 2020 and was denied by the Supreme Court on December 11th for lack of standing without even briefing. It was a joke, like this lawsuit. It won’t make past a District Court. I’m surprised the taxpayers of Texas continue to put up with it.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/17/2023 @ 2:32 pmA first year law student would recognize the new lawsuit by Paxton would have no chance.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/17/2023 @ 2:33 pmJVW #76: the campus stories I could tell…
Thank you and best wishes….
Simon Jester (c8876d) — 2/17/2023 @ 2:36 pmMight shoulder-fired stinger missiles be a better option than sending F-16s to the Ukrainians?
It’s been done that way, more or less, before. And makes for a good movie:
“This thing is going to get done by the CIA and it’s going to get done quietly.” – Charlie Wilson [Tom Hanks] ‘Charlie Wilson’s War’ 2007
DCSCA (bd1bdb) — 2/17/2023 @ 3:07 pmIt’s interesting to me, that, while Trump claims to prefer winners, Lake’s abject veneration of Trump and demonstrated willingness to push the Big Lie negates the fact that she is a failed candidate. The real litmus test with him remains a demonstrated loyalty to him, above all else.
Doesnty hurt that she’s attractive, the camera likes her, she’s media savvy– and doesn’t look like a fire plug– or John Candy in drag.
DCSCA (20f553) — 2/17/2023 @ 3:53 pmDropping Like Putin’s Cronies:
That’s gonna leave a mark.
And:
Yeah, he was terminated all right. Who handed him the gun?
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/17/2023 @ 3:55 pmR.I.P. Stella Stevens
That’s two of the most beautiful women of the 1960’s in one week.
Icy (a8514c) — 2/17/2023 @ 4:09 pmJoe Biden mocked for shooting down potential $12 hobby balloon
Republicans, conservatives and others have mocked the Biden administration’s decision to use a $400,000 missile [fired from a $380 million fighter plane costing $80,000/hour to operate] to shoot down what may turn out to be a $12 hobby balloon last weekend, with some calling it an expensive way to eliminate a “kids’ science project.”
The Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade told Aviation Week that one of its tracked balloons vanished on Feb. 11 — around the same time President Biden gave orders to shoot down a mystery object over Canada’s Yukon Territory.
https://nypost.com/2023/02/17/gop-mocks-biden-for-shooting-down-possible-12-hobby-balloon/
“Oh, that’s what I like about the Army. Smart all the way to the top.” {sarcastically} – Ned Scott [Douglas Spencer] ‘The Thing From Another World’ 1951
DCSCA (20f553) — 2/17/2023 @ 4:16 pmEveryone should read the Dominion lawsuit. It’s a fascinating and damning read. I don’t see how they recover. But perhaps viewers don’t care and the ratings for key programming will remain strong.
From the report:
I am curious how Fox News viewers are reacting to the news.
Dana (1225fc) — 2/17/2023 @ 4:21 pmThat’s Just Too Bad:
More Too Bad:
Too Baddest:
It go BOOM!
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/17/2023 @ 4:21 pm@86. Gina Lollobrigida, Raquel Welch… and now Stella Stevens.
Can never accuse this trio of beauties- three fine, lovely ladies- of being ‘past their prime’ by the Don-Lemon-Pants-Suited-Fire-Plug-Gang. Their beauty will live forever on film.
DCSCA (20f553) — 2/17/2023 @ 4:24 pmThere are really no A-10s to be had
There were several squadrons active in the Iraq War. It was used against ISIS. Most recently there were a dozen in Afghanistan. Wikipedia disagrees with you in detail.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 4:25 pmI understand your point, but I am unwilling to say that these protests are futile. Every day that they live to fight another day is a victory. Women are walking in public without a hijab. An Iranian engineer was part of a group being recognized for her work and on her way off the stage, she threw off her hijab. She lost her job as a result but she was able to make a public statement and other women will take courage from her courage. It just keeps building. I don’t think the clerics and mullahs were as concerned about the protests when it was just women involved, but now that as many men as women are protesting and being arrested, the level of concern has clearly risen (see: arrests/executions). My point is people who have broken free from their oppressors have never had an easy time of it. And it can take a very, very long time for change to occur – even under the best of circumstances it can take forever. The clerics and mullahs are so deeply embedded in the culture, politics, religion, and everyday life of Iranians, it is most definitely a very arduous uphill climb. But I choose to remain hopeful for them.
Dana (1225fc) — 2/17/2023 @ 4:31 pmIt’s looking like Nikki Haley’s first victory will be Don Lemon’s scalp.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 4:35 pmFired Russian general Vladimir Makarov dies in apparent suicide: report
No high windows available. In other news, Moscow defenestration crisis continues.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 4:38 pmI am curious how Fox News viewers are reacting to the news.
I think our fellow commenter JF is typical. It’s the biggest problem police and prosecutors face investigating and stopping bunco schemes. The victims not only refuse to cooperate, they refuse to believe that they have been duped.
nk (bb1548) — 2/17/2023 @ 4:40 pmA first year law student would recognize the new lawsuit by Paxton would have no chance.
Anyone who has read the bit in the Constitution about how each Hose sets its own rules would know it’s complete asswipe.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 4:40 pm*House, although “hose” might make sense the way they spend money.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 4:41 pmBTW, open thread and all and this time I waited till the end of the day to tell you, Wordle in two today with GRACE as my starter word.
nk (bb1548) — 2/17/2023 @ 4:44 pm31,
Ah, yes, I see that. Thanks for the reminder. IIRC, I read at least part of Bari Weiss’s coverage on the matter. But when someone tries to run the table by throwing down an “either-or” demand, it signals to me there is not going to be an effort at any serious discussion. Just gotchas and whatabouts and tit-for-tats.
Dana (1225fc) — 2/17/2023 @ 4:44 pmA civil war would lead to so much blood and pain, despite what poltroons like Keith Olbermann write.
Since a civil war on ideological grounds is only nominally geographical, it would quickly lead to ideological cleansing, and the defensive form of same. Really not good.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 4:44 pmOmg, nk, I got it in 2 on Tuesday and Thursday! I can’t remember the opening word on Tuesday, but yesterday’s was THEMA, with MA at the end. I knew it had to start with MA and basically just made a lucky guess from there… I haven’t done today’s, but am pretty sure it will be in 6 because that’s how I roll.
Dana (1225fc) — 2/17/2023 @ 4:47 pmBTW, open thread and all and this time I waited till the end of the day to tell you, Wordle in two today with GRACE as my starter word
Took me three, staring with “SLATE”
You might do better starting with “TRACE”
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 4:47 pmWhat is even more head spinning to TrumpWorld is this:
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/17/2023 @ 4:50 pm
What gets me usually is when I have something like GRA_E and spend too many tries attempting to get the last letter, rather than try a word like “PAVED”
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 4:51 pmTrumpworld needs to scrape the crap off the psilocybin mushrooms before eating them.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 4:54 pmThe “100 surplus A-10s” are not necessarily flyable.
Source
The rewinging effort is sustain A-10s currently in the regular AF inventory. The link has photos of the A-10s at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. They are sitting on concrete blocks.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/17/2023 @ 5:08 pmTrumpworld needs to get its mind right.
— Nineteen Eighty-Four
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 5:18 pmAnd yet, Rip, you yourself quote the following:
Now, if you want to split hairs on the word “surplus”, how many surplus Abrahms tanks and how many surplus F-16s are they expecting. I think they all come from operational stock.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 5:21 pm@93. It’s looking like Nikki Haley’s first victory will be Don Lemon’s scalp.
Scalp? Try a little lower…
Television is a minefield. See if you can guess which one of these CNN Joes is Don Lemon’s career at the network:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rmxUTEGEy4
DCSCA (25565c) — 2/17/2023 @ 5:30 pmFeb. 19: Ron Paul, Tulsi Gabbard to Speak at Anti-War Rally in D.C.
(CNSNews.com) – On Sunday, Feb. 19, former House Reps. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) will speak at the “Rage Against the War Machine” rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., and call for a long-list of anti-war objectives, including stopping the arming of Ukraine, and negotiating a peace deal.
The rally, which is being organized by both the Libertarian Party and the People’s Party, will start at 12:30 p.m. at the Lincoln Memorial and will end at the White House.
https://cnsnews.com/article/national/micky-wootten/feb-19-ron-paul-tulsi-gabbard-speak-anti-war-rally-dc
DCSCA (25565c) — 2/17/2023 @ 6:01 pmA senior US administration official also reportedly said, “Russian land forces are pretty depleted so it’s the best indication that they will turn this into an air fight.”
The official added, “If the Ukrainians are going to survive … they need to have as many air defence capabilities and as much ammunition … as possible.”
Last year, ‘siding with evil’ Israel denied Ukraine Iron Dome AD systems:
Israel torpedoed sale of Iron Dome to Ukraine, fearing Russian reaction
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-torpedoed-sale-of-iron-dome-to-ukraine-fearing-russian-reaction-report/
Israel is currently reconsidering– but it’s ‘day-late-shekel-short’ let’s take this to a committee, eh, Bennie…
Israel is considering sending its Iron Dome air defense system to Ukraine, Netanyahu says
Ukraine made a formal request to Israel for Iron Dome and other high-tech defense weaponry in October last year, as The Times of Israel reported. Asked when Israel might make a decision, Netanyahu — who only re-entered office as the country’s prime minister in late December — said he had to establish his government first. “I wouldn’t make any firm commitment,” he said.
https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-considering-sending-iron-dome-to-ukraine-netanyahu-2023-2#:~:text=Israel%20is%20looking%20into%20sending%20its%20Iron%20Dome,says%20he%20is%20open%20to%20considering%20Ukraine%27s%20request.
DCSCA (25565c) — 2/17/2023 @ 6:09 pmDana (1225fc) — 2/17/2023 @ 4:44 pm
sounds like you’re describing your first news item
JF (e68188) — 2/17/2023 @ 6:16 pm“Surplus” to me means “not using and not needed”, so to me there are no surplus A-10s for Ukraine. While there are around 3500 “surplus” Abrams tanks in the US inventory, the Administration has decided that Ukraine will receive newly buy tanks, presumably so they can avoid the work of removing classified systems from current tanks.
The US probably won’t give Ukraine F-16 Vipers directly but give European and other countries permission to transfer their F-16s with the US backfilling with F-35s.
Rip Murdock (aeb504) — 2/17/2023 @ 6:23 pmSee you there!
Rip Murdock (98f93d) — 2/17/2023 @ 6:26 pmThis is a wonderfully inspiring story about a 74 year old man who spent 14 years working on a serial killer mystery. It had very poor sales. His daughter felt bad about it, and decided to make a little Tik-Tok video asking people to check out his book. The video went viral, and his book is now a best seller. Her dad had no idea what Tik-Tok was, but boy, was he surprised by the outcome. The videos are sweet.
Dana (1225fc) — 2/17/2023 @ 6:45 pmI didn’t need further confirmation that Ann Coulter is a racist, but then she went and confirmed it anyway.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 2/17/2023 @ 7:16 pmUkraine War Spurs European Demand for U.S. Arms, but Not Big-Ticket Items
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – European demand for U.S. weaponry is soaring, but instead of big-ticket items like jets and tanks, shopping lists are focused on cheaper, less-sophisticated items such as shoulder-fired missiles, artillery, and drones that have proven critical to Ukraine’s war efforts.
…Investors banking on soaring demand for U.S. weapons have boosted share prices of the biggest U.S. defense contractors – adding $35 billion in market value – since the invasion of Ukraine began…
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2023-02-17/ukraine-war-spurs-european-demand-for-u-s-arms-but-not-big-ticket-items
Cannon fodder.
… and the MIC smiled.
DCSCA (7d50e6) — 2/17/2023 @ 9:11 pmThe rally, which is being organized by both the Libertarian Party
This was where I parted company with the LP. Reducio ad absurdum.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 9:52 pmPaul, we all knew that. Coulter was fine with Trump until he started talking about working with Mexico. Now she’s trying to find a way back to relevancy so she goes for the racist attacks. I wonder what she’ll say about Tim Scott.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/17/2023 @ 9:56 pm@110 Its funny now the right are anti-war protesting peace freak. Before WW II we had pro-nazi non interventionists opposing the abraham lincoln brigade and lend lease. Hopefully tulsi gabbard or jill stein wont be sitting on any anti aircraft guns. Opposing helping ukraine is pure evil. This is not operation iraq liberation. ( OIL )
asset (1323f4) — 2/17/2023 @ 11:28 pmhttps://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2023/02/17/biden-white-people-love-watching-lynchings-even-now-n531522
Some people voted for this bigot. Talk about divisive.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 2/18/2023 @ 4:42 amhttps://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/the-greatest-scandal-in-gay-rights-1d1
Even Andrew Sullivan gets it.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 2/18/2023 @ 4:56 amhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/energy-department-regulations-gas-stoves-ban-jennifer-granholm-biden-administration-11675457600
A reminder that this leftist administration is doing everything it can to make you less free and poorer at the same time.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 2/18/2023 @ 4:57 amIts funny now the right are anti-war protesting peace freak.
There’s a point on the fringes where the left and right meet together again, like Pat Buchanan and Lenora Fulani back in the 90s. I think it’s due to the lack of oxygen that far out.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/18/2023 @ 6:19 amHere’s a remembrance from a Ukrainian who was at the Maidan when it all went down…
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 2/18/2023 @ 6:34 amUsing regulations to bypass Congress are the result of the terrible, no good and unfortunate 1985 decisions INS v Chadha, which struck down the Legislative Veto, which Congress had reserved to itself as a check against misuse of delegated powers.
Here is a portion of Justice White’s blistering dissent:
Congress should reassert its power, either by a new law designed to get a better SC ruling, or by a constitutional amendment to allow a single-house veto of a regulation relying on delegated powers. It’s become extremely clear that Justice White was right and the majority’s belief that the legislative veto wasn’t needed to check runaway regulators was entirely wrong.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/18/2023 @ 6:42 amOOOPs. 1983. My bad.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/18/2023 @ 6:43 amOne way to address the Chadha case would be to bring suit over some regulation that has noted opposition in Congress, stating that the regulatory power was granted with the legislative veto proviso and that the delegation without that veto power is unconstitutional, as it allows laws to be enacted without any Congressional action.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/18/2023 @ 6:48 amDavid Frum, on FoxNews’ deliberate deceptions in support of Trump’s election fraud hoax…
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 2/18/2023 @ 7:33 amWe need a few laughs these days, and George Santos is supplying them through his campaign finance reports. First, there were all those payments of exactly $199.98, many of them to a single restaurant, and coincidentally no doubt, each payment 2 cents below the amount requiring a receipt.
And, Tuesday I learned from this New York Times article that the Santos campaign had spent $365,399.08 total, without saying where it had gone. As they go on to say, these expenditures weren’t necessarily illegal, but the total is, to say the least, unusual.
And some campaign money went for expensive hotel stays in Las Vegas and Palm Beach — which are both rather far from his Long Island district.
(It occurs to me that, after he faces the legal consequences, Santos might consider looking for work as a script writer, since he has a talent for telling amusing stories. He would, I suppose, need an agent to handle any money he might earn.)
Jim Miller (f29931) — 2/18/2023 @ 7:46 amWorst media scandal in recent history?
Hahaha.
That was the deliberate Russian collusion lie that some still push and won the leftist media awards from their fellow comrades.
NJRob (cdcceb) — 2/18/2023 @ 9:25 amUS ends search for two UFOs shot down over Alaska and Canada: report
‘The US has called off its search for two mysterious objects shot down by the military last week after crews came up empty-handed in their efforts, according to a report. US authorities had been searching for debris of the unidentified flying objects downed by US fighter jets over Lake Huron last Sunday and a remote area of Alaska last Friday.
But a US official told the New York Times Friday that conditions made it too difficult to continue the search…’
https://nypost.com/2023/02/17/us-ends-search-for-two-ufos-shot-down-over-alaska-and-canada/
And so, with weather as another weakness exposed, America’s military industrial complex maintains their bloated, bureaucratic trillion-dollar-a-year record of incompetence under the management of MIC shills Austin & Milley, with assists from the current civilian stumblebums. But not to worry, China learned a treasure trove about sluggish American decision chains observing Pentagon dinosaurs attempting pirouettes in phone booths… certain Yankee Doodle cash flow will supplement the borrowed billions from them by shaking down the tip jars of America’s waiters and waitresses.
DCSCA (ac52e2) — 2/18/2023 @ 9:51 amAt least no planes are missing.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/18/2023 @ 10:19 amApropos of nothing, Wordle in 3 and Quordle in 6.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/18/2023 @ 10:23 amYou haven’t lived until you’ve played Sedecordle.
Dana (1225fc) — 2/18/2023 @ 10:35 amThe term “Faux News” was not coined overnight. They’ve been “Statue Of Elvis Found On Mars” for their entire existence. But this time, as David Frum points out:
Or maybe they still would have gone, anyway, for some other crime? At least this time it was in a good cause, right? Helping Trump sell NFTs? Did the Murdocks buy any, I wonder.
nk (bb1548) — 2/18/2023 @ 10:59 amThere’s no such thing as bad publicity:
More free publicity (I mean outrage) here.
Rip Murdock (9390b3) — 2/18/2023 @ 11:03 amYou haven’t lived until you’ve played Sedecordle.
Tried today’s. It seems I didn’t have the best strategy. Got 15 but not the required 16. Clearly exhaustion of letters is a better way to start.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/18/2023 @ 11:42 amFox has ruined itself over Trump, shedding all credibility. I ahven’t been able to watch that train wreck for several years now.
CNN did that too, btw, in the other direction. Particularly with the Russia thing. They just don’t get called on it as much because their biases line up with most of the media, and it wasn’t such a huge part of their reporting.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/18/2023 @ 11:45 amDuring the performance, Smith, 30, was clad in red leather and donned a hat with horns protruding from it — evoking comparisons to the devil.
Pfft.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsyqpUP1knQ&t=31s
“Julie Andrews!” – ‘The Devil’ [Peter Cook] ‘Bedazzled’ 1967
DCSCA (2b2518) — 2/18/2023 @ 11:45 amThere’s no such thing as bad publicity
Milli Vanilli would like a word.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/18/2023 @ 11:47 amDouble Pfft.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zxwOBcQlbA
Julie Andrews, the Devil’s Mouth AND boobies!
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/18/2023 @ 11:49 amThe big difference is that MV were frauds by not actually singing their songs on their albums and lip syncing their performances due to their limited English skills.
Rip Murdock (9390b3) — 2/18/2023 @ 12:21 pm……….
………According to the bill text, “A person may not provide or administer a vaccine developed using messenger ribonucleic acid technology for use in an individual or any other mammal in this state.”
That person would then be charged with a misdemeanor.
………
(Sen. Tammy Nichols, R-Middleton, a bill co-sponsor) said there is no liability, informed consent or data on mRNA vaccines. She later clarified she was referring to the two COVID-19 vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna.
“I think there is a lot of information that comes out with concerns to blood clots and heart issues,” Nichols said.
Rep. Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, questioned Nichols’ statement that the vaccines were fast-tracked. She said her understanding was that the vaccines were approved and survived the testing, later approved by the FDA.
Rip Murdock (9390b3) — 2/18/2023 @ 12:39 pmNichols said she is finding it “may not have been done like we thought it should’ve been done.”
…………
“Fox has ruined itself over Trump”
Once he got them to go “all in”, he had them. It’s his modus operandi and what he did with any politicians that jumped on the Trump train. In for a penny, in for a pound. And always come out soiled and compromised. Mattis and Kelley might be rare exceptions though they were soiled in other ways.
And this is the reason news networks….even if they are 95% news analysis (ahem, gossip and propaganda)…have to ensure some ethical boundaries. The Trump administration was the closest FNC will be to running the country. Hannity and Ingraham could whisper to the President….and the President could chuckle and see his desired propaganda playing on TV. There was an unhealthy co-dependence.
Now, we’ve seen a revolving door for some time…news folks leave to work inside campaigns and administration folks retiring to “news analysis” jobs. But, when does it lead to analysis that is biased and unfair? And how do you ensure that the “talent” isn’t pressuring the news folks? With the dominance of “news analysis” when does the analysis subsume the news and when does it become harmful to the body politic? Who can ask the hard questions of these new organizations if they are all doing it? Could you imagine an FNC news special on the rest of the organization’s co-dependent Trump relationship. Of course not. Can they even talk about the unhealthy effect on the viewers?
Now some will say, Russian Collusion, as if that somehow absolves things. Yes, the other side is biased and unfair, though, in fairness, there was a Russian election influence story…and Russian connections to key players in Trump’s orbit. They just routinely would outpunt there coverage and infer guilt without having the story nailed down. The same now with Hunter Biden and the “big guy”. It’s a lot of innuendo and it’s awful for our democracy because we waste so much time on it and it makes us more tribalist.
AllahNick lays it out expertly at the Dispatch, exposing the level to which the “talent” would lean on any unflattering revelations. It’s just seedy and it’s where things go when people lose their way. How do you even clean it up when people are making so much money running the con? I guess lawsuits with lots of zeroes, but I fear that will just make them a wee bit less brazen.
AJ_Liberty (9e02d3) — 2/18/2023 @ 12:55 pmStill another example: Following Trump can be hazardous, even to some people’s freedom.
(Links omitted.)
There are some interesting details in the rest of this brief article.
Jim Miller (f29931) — 2/18/2023 @ 12:57 pm@147 agree poor president though bill casey and ronald reagan committed treason with iran to hold are hostages to win 1980 election. Tried to make up for it after he left office.
asset (a0b3ad) — 2/18/2023 @ 1:51 pmWhat “deliberate Russian collusion lie”? The Mueller report found evidence of a conspiracy between Trump people and Putin people to help Trump win, just not sufficient to draw up indictments. The GOP-led Senate Intelligence Committee report further confirmed the Mueller report’s conclusions.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 2/18/2023 @ 1:53 pmAJ,
You will note that there were some who refused. Chris Wallace. Shepard Smith and of course Megyn Kelly.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/18/2023 @ 1:53 pmbill casey and ronald reagan committed treason with iran to hold are hostages to win 1980 election.
There is not one word of truth in that. It is a fiction made up out of whole cloth by Reagan haters.
The same events can be explained by Reagan sending an envoy to tell the mullahs that if the hostages were still in Iran when he took office, there would be a very short war.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/18/2023 @ 1:55 pmIt should be pointed out that that whole Reagan-Iran conspiracy story started with Lyndon LaRouche.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/18/2023 @ 2:05 pmSad!
Thanks to a warm winter and support from new suppliers, European natural gas prices have dropped below 50 euros per megawatt hour and hit the lowest level in 18 months.
On Friday, the benchmark TTF contract fell 5% to a low of 49 euros amid optimism that Europe will avoid shortages this winter and next.
While still above historical averages of 10 to 30 euros, prices have plunged 85% from highs reached last summer, when Russia President Vladimir Putin sought to weaponize energy by cutting off gas supplies to Europe, which had imposed sanctions on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
Rip Murdock (9390b3) — 2/18/2023 @ 2:20 pm………..
Meanwhile, Europe also found alternate supplies, including from the US and Middle East. In November, Germany signed a 15-year contract with Qatar, a major liquefied natural gas exporter.
…………..
I don’t know if Cattogio is behind a paywall, but here’s the nut of it…
Trump chumped his gullible supporters, and FoxNews went right along, choosing to perpetuate his lies than confront them.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 2/18/2023 @ 2:46 pm@145. You really don’t understand how a cable news operations, especially one as successful as Fox- particularly one spawned from the king of Britain’s historied tabloid muckraking culture (an eye-opening shocka to experience when we first moved there BTW] is purposely structured. The beast needs fed 24/7. Unless there’s breaking news story occurring, ‘daytime’ is straight news anchored driven by the news director’s agenda set in corporate morning production meetings. That’s where the A, B, C and D blocks are set up and producers tap either contracted commentators or guests for fill. ‘Prime Time’- when competition for eyeballs is fierce between cable news and the ever-proliferating entertainment programming platforms, is for the opinionators- where the more heat than light is generated to entertain. Weekends are the dead zone. Like the MIC, it’s al labout keeping the revenue stream flowing and growing.
DCSCA (7a8a40) — 2/18/2023 @ 3:06 pmIt should be pointed out that that whole Reagan-Iran conspiracy story started with Lyndon LaRouche.
OTOH the whole ‘Reagan’s Iran-Contra’ story started with Reagan, North, McFarlane, Poindexter, Abrams, Weinberger and, lest we forget, the lovely and talanted Fawn Hall. 😉
DCSCA (7a8a40) — 2/18/2023 @ 3:12 pmRip Murdock (9390b3) — 2/18/2023 @ 2:20 pm
Here in natural gas producing New Mexico, the utility cost of natural gas was $1.13/therm in January, significantly higher than ever before. People accustomed to $30 January hearing bills were looking at bills for $150. Down a bit in February, but the utility’s posted number for March is $0.095, a drastic reduction.
The current spot price is about 22 cents/therm
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/18/2023 @ 3:39 pmLink in post 156 is free.
Rip Murdock (9390b3) — 2/18/2023 @ 3:40 pm‘@145. AllahNick lays it out expertly at the Dispatch, exposing the level to which the “talent” would lean on any unflattering revelations.’
Watch ‘Network’ instead and you’ll learn all you need to know about how television news evolved, or devolved– depending on your stock portfolio– into what it is today. A wholly prescient satire which became an accurate depiction of what came to be.
Worked in television. Walter Cronkite was ‘talent.’ Dick Salant was corporate news and Paley network corporate. Cronkite, genuine journalist by trade, also made sure he was named the Managing Editor of his broadcast and had final say on what was aired and the story agenda of the broadcast. Corporate did try occasionally, as they tried w/Murrow, to pressure on controverial issues but it was minimal w/Walter and it is to Cronkite’s credit he took zero ‘leaning’ crap from CBS brass from the news division heads or network corporate. And CBS News in his time was the gold standard: ‘the Tiffany Network.’ The news division was also NOT driven to be a profit center for the network- as it was w/all news divisions at the networks then. Today, profits drive cable news– and taint how the agenda is set for the day. News talent- that is, daytime teleprompter readers, don’t lean on corporate. The ‘night time’ opinion talent, w/t ratings numbers and profits to back them, can do some leaning. But television is quick-sodic and quite ephemeral for such opinion talent. When the falls come, they’re swift. Leave it to you to look for the bodies in the recent past long gone for missteps, harassments- sexual or otherwise- and corporate land mines they’ve stepped on or lucrative contract settlements to get them off air. But the next thud you hear will likely be that of a Lemon falling from the CNN tree.
DCSCA (7a8a40) — 2/18/2023 @ 3:44 pmRussian Media Watch:
Rip Murdock (9390b3) — 2/18/2023 @ 3:59 pmhttps://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1626782700605505537
Now that’s gotta hurt.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 2/18/2023 @ 4:30 pmThanks for the leftist talking points. I prefer to avoid the swamp.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 2/18/2023 @ 4:31 pmhttps://twitter.com/alexchristy17/status/1626641305949376517
Talking about fake news from the favored network CNN.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 2/18/2023 @ 4:34 pmSpotlight Ukraine: Munich Security Index 2023-November 2022
………. The vast majority of Ukrainians want to live in a world shaped by European and, to a lesser extent, US rules (Figure 1.16). Russian and Chinese visions of order have virtually no purchase in Ukraine.
In striking contrast to some Western policy-makers, whose concerns about further military escalation appear to hamstring more determined support, Ukrainians have not been intimidated by Russian threats. As devastating as the use of a tactical nuclear weapon against a city or on the battlefield would be, an overwhelming majority of Ukrainians say they would still refuse to surrender if it occurred (Figure 1.17).
Moreover, nothing short of a complete Russian withdrawal from Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, suffices for most Ukrainians as acceptable conditions for a ceasefire (Figure 1.18). ………..Premature peace negotiations, calls for which are particularly vocal in some Western capitals, would thus likely meet fierce resistance among the Ukrainian population.
………..
…………Ukrainians’ evaluation of other countries’ responses to the war (Figure 1.20). Those polled judge all G7 countries, as well as Turkey, unequivocally positively. ……….
Full report.
Rip Murdock (9390b3) — 2/18/2023 @ 4:44 pmNoted, that in your hyperpartisan binary brain, the Mueller report is “leftist talking points”, but here’s what it actually said…
“Did not establish” has specific meaning and is defined in the Introduction.
In other words, if there were no evidence or conflicting evidence of collusion, Mueller would’ve said so, but he didn’t. He said there was evidence, but not enough to establish in court that a crime was committed.
The GOP-majority SIC report concluded the same thing, so how is any of that “leftist talking points”?
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 2/18/2023 @ 5:01 pmNever mind, you don’t answer questions, so I’ll just conclude that “leftist talking points” to you really means “facts NJRob doesn’t like”, sort of like Putin calling folks “Nazis” who disagree with him or stand up to his bullying.
Paul,
Just accept the fact that several commenters here don’t like to make distinctions, and are seemingly incapable of nuance.
It’s a cut and dried, black and white, life and death, Manichean soap opera.
norcal (7345e5) — 2/18/2023 @ 5:14 pmNearly a YEAR in, some U.S. companies ‘siding with evil’ postponing future planned investment/development/marketing while continuing substantive business in Russia graded “D”…
Abbott Laboratories
Abbvie
AmerisourceBergen
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM)
CAPRI Holdings (Versace, Michael Kors, Jimmy Cho)
Cargill
Colgate-Palmolive
Domino’s Pizza
Eli Lilly
Focus Brands – Cinnabon
Forever Living Products
Mars
Nature’s Sunshine
Procter & Gamble (P&G)
https://som.yale.edu/story/2022/over-1000-companies-have-curtailed-operations-russia-some-remain
Next time you use some P&G or Colgate-Palmolive products to wash and brus your teeth after chowing down on a pizza from Domino’s and snack on some Skittles candies, candy bars or use some of their pet food products for your pooch, remember you’re backing businesses that are ‘siding with evil.’ Then whine, ‘B-b-b-b-u-t Elon!!’
DCSCA (b1e6c4) — 2/18/2023 @ 6:21 pmCarter served on active duty during 1946-1953 and in the inactive Navy Reserve during 1953-1961.
Rip Murdock (9390b3) — 2/18/2023 @ 6:23 pmI don’t think there is a way to clean it up other than through lawsuits. Greed is an itch that constantly needs scratching. Even if the lawsuits aren’t won, perhaps with enough of them, damage to their reputations will at least slow down their money-making scams. Unfortunately, like Trump, the priority of Fox management and on-air personalities was to make as much money as they could, through whatever vehicle necessary. Even if that meant (or means…) manipulating and lying to millions of loyal viewers, even to the point where many ended up getting arrested because they believed the slop they were fed by Hannity, Carlson, and Ingraham. Playing them like chumps was a-okay with them because it provided them with a bigger cut at the end of the day. It’s so craven, just like Trump’s grifting. Peas in a pod, all of them.
But another part of this is viewers who put their trust in Fox News. They believed that it was a Republican platform reporting the news accurately and honestly – a “no spin zone,” if you will. Beware anyone with influence and power, offering you some smooth talk that makes you nod your head in vigorous agreement and stokes an ember of anger from deep within like some sort of lifeblood. Beware the inevitable feet of clay.
Dana (1225fc) — 2/18/2023 @ 6:30 pmBeware anyone with influence and power, offering you some smooth talk that makes you nod your head in vigorous agreement and stokes an ember of anger from deep within like some sort of lifeblood. Beware the inevitable feet of clay:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c32G868tor0
DCSCA (b1e6c4) — 2/18/2023 @ 7:23 pmTrump-Backed Candidate for Michigan GOP Chair Loses:
Rip Murdock (9390b3) — 2/18/2023 @ 7:40 pmDana, I agree. There should be a fair amount of shame and embarrassment, but I anticipate that it will just generate more spin and misdirection. Like when Hannity pleaded with Trump to do something on January 6th or he would ruin his Presidential legacy. That notion quickly lost favor. There is no truth or honor with Hannity, Ingraham, or Carlson. Judge Pirro and Lou Dobbs were certifiable, and Bartiromo just disappointing. Cavuto is the only one that has a lick of honor.
It’s unfortunate, because the U.S. needs a TV news source that leans a bit right. But it’s become a parody…it’s just an arm of the Republican Party and that’s not what’s needed. There has to be an honest effort to balance stories and to tell hard truths about your own tribe. FNC doesn’t do that any more. I thought Megyn Kelly did a pretty good job. Greta Van Susteren too. When Hannity had Colmes, it was watchable. Bill O’Reilly was a great interviewer, but was just a little too full of himself. Of course he then enabled Trump when he should have been delivering no-spin analysis.
They can always win me back, but it will take a thorough house cleaning and different approach.
AJ_Liberty (866ebd) — 2/18/2023 @ 7:40 pmNote that Trump’s candidate was also an election denier:
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/18/2023 @ 7:56 pmRip Murdock (9390b3) — 2/18/2023 @ 7:40 pm
It’s really too bad that Michigan will become a blue state.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/18/2023 @ 8:01 pmWhen you have two election-denying loons as your only choices, that will be the inevitable result. The Michigan GOP has made their bed, now they have to sleep in it.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/18/2023 @ 8:06 pmNM legislative news:
1) NM is awash in oil & gas severance fees, more than enough to eliminate property taxes or income taxes or make a severe dent in the nutso gross receipts tax (a sales tax on everything).
2) Doctors are fleeing the state because of a rapacious plaintiffs bar and high malpractice insurance costs, low Medicaid payments in a state with lots of Medicaid patients and a gross receipts tax on medical care, drugs, etc.
2a) There is a huge shortage of primary care physicians — most primary care is coming from CNPs or PAs, and new patients can’t even get in to see those.
3) The state leadership is trying to undermine oil and gas production because climate change.
4) There is no real plan on suing that money to address any of these problems. Instead it will go to state-run pre-K and free money for everyone.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/18/2023 @ 8:10 pm*using
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/18/2023 @ 8:11 pmHave you considered voting with your feet, Kevin?
norcal (7345e5) — 2/18/2023 @ 8:22 pmI think that the Republican Party needs a thorough cleaning, first and foremost. Then Fox. The two entities became grossly entangled, working hand in hand. A symbiotic relationship that must be severed.
Dana (1225fc) — 2/18/2023 @ 8:52 pm“Have you considered voting with your feet, Kevin?”
I considered it once, but working the stylus was a b*tch.
AJ_Liberty (866ebd) — 2/18/2023 @ 9:01 pmIt’s the horseshoe. Isn’t it interesting that asset proudly stands for everything far-left that “JFORob” (i.e., JF+FW0+NJRob) insist is ruining the country, while JFORob are a veritable caricature of what asset says justifies street violence, yet they hardly ever argue with each other. It’s left to the flabby NeverTrump likes of you and norcal and AJ and nk and me to condemn JFORob’s belligerent tribalism and asset’s excuses for violence. It’s almost as is the people they say they hate aren’t the people they really hate. It’s almost as is they need each other.
lurker (cd7cd4) — 2/18/2023 @ 9:05 pmBecause $199.99 would have been too obvious?
What a moron.
lurker (cd7cd4) — 2/18/2023 @ 9:07 pmKevin M (1ea396) — 2/18/2023 @ 8:10 pm
New Mexico will always have inherent disadvantages because of its more rural character and poor schools. The weather and relatively cheap cost of living make it a magnet for retirees, but it absolutely bleeds young people, and that’s not really a good demographic makeup to build on.
It doesn’t help the situation at all that the state’s leadership seems to be in thrall to California and simply imitates whatever it is doing.
Factory Working Orphan (bce27d) — 2/18/2023 @ 9:08 pmIsn’t it interesting that asset proudly stands for everything far-left that “JFORob” (i.e., JF+FW0+NJRob) insist is ruining the country, while JFORob are a veritable caricature of what asset says justifies street violence, yet they hardly ever argue with each other.
Why? I saw plenty of types like asset rioting in 2020, and went to college and grad school with plenty more in the late 90s and early 2000s. It’s not as if I’m not thoroughly familiar with them and who they are, which is why I’ve been pointing out for decades now that the neocons blithely dismissing the university crowd in particular was going to come back to haunt the right, once the late-stage Gen-Xers and Millennials started getting into positions of corporate influence. Especially after the Iraq invasion turbo-charged campus radicalism, which was the turning point in college grads turning to the Democrats.
“Oh, don’t worry, it’s just a few loud people, not the majority, and they’ll get straightened out once the get into the real world!” was the typical glib response when I pointed this out. Today, you have commenters like norcal admitting “maybe I should have done more to push back against this” and Sully writing missives on the modern left’s Maoist character.
There’s a cost to believing that man lives by bread alone.
Factory Working Orphan (bce27d) — 2/18/2023 @ 9:21 pmIt’s left to the flabby NeverTrump likes of you and norcal
lurker (cd7cd4) — 2/18/2023 @ 9:05 pm
Flabby? Heh. Maybe in Ethiopia.
norcal (7345e5) — 2/18/2023 @ 9:50 pm“Have you considered voting with your feet, Kevin?”
I considered it once, but working the stylus was a b*tch.
AJ_Liberty (866ebd) — 2/18/2023 @ 9:01 pm
🤣
norcal (7345e5) — 2/18/2023 @ 9:51 pm@151 Congress said insufficient evidence because carter who was told about the deal by yasser arafat and banisader who were in on it thought it would destroy the republican party envoy was a cover story. This was the beginning of iran contra. Israel gave arms to iran as part of the deal. Good story in vox on republican lies to protect reagan’s image so he wouldn’t be compared to nixon’s treason to win 1968 election. Gary sick has written on it.
asset (2bfa64) — 2/18/2023 @ 10:20 pmHave you considered voting with your feet, Kevin?
Ah, no. It’s much better than California, and there is some hope. The Dems are going to try to ban guns soon, and that will be their undoing.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/18/2023 @ 10:28 pmI think that the Republican Party needs a thorough cleaning, first and foremost. Then Fox.
I expect that Fox is about to see some firings. They cannot continue like this. I can see it happening quicker than the GOP, which cannot change until mid-2024 at the earliest.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/18/2023 @ 10:31 pmNew Mexico will always have inherent disadvantages because of its more rural character and poor schools.
How can you call them poor schools? The NEA thinks they’re nearly perfect.
And the private schools are really quite good.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/18/2023 @ 10:33 pm@189: It is nearly impossible to get a conspiracy nut off his favorite conspiracy, but really LYNDON LAROUCHE?!?!?!? That’s a special level of crazy.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/18/2023 @ 10:35 pmI too wear more or less the same size clothes I did in college. I was referring to (in the minds of JFORob) our spiritual flabbiness.
lurker (cd7cd4) — 2/18/2023 @ 11:09 pmI was referring to (in the minds of JFORob) our spiritual flabbiness.
lurker (cd7cd4) — 2/18/2023 @ 11:09 pm
If tribalism is spiritual, then I plead guilty to lacking the spirit.
On to religious spirituality. The following is for AJ, and not JF.
A friend I’ve known since sixth grade is a lifelong Mormon who, like me, served as a Mormon missionary. (His mission was in Japan.) He married a devout Mormon girl and fathered six children with her, Chinese style (the first five were girls).
Anyway, several years ago, when he was at work or some such, his wife took all the kids and moved halfway across the country, back to where she grew up. He was gobsmacked. He called me, and was at his wit’s end. He said his wife told him she left him because he wasn’t spiritual enough. (She is what I’ve mentioned before–a “Molly Mormon”, for whom the church and its ticky-tack rules are everything. My friend isn’t above eating coffee-flavored ice cream or going out to eat on Sunday.)
When I related the story to my mother, who is very keen on religion, she said, “How spiritual is it to take children away from their father?” She had a point. I told my friend what my mother said, and he agreed.
They eventually reconciled, thank goodness. He was adrift without her. (I think he basically just kissed her ass.)
norcal (7345e5) — 2/19/2023 @ 12:59 amThe assets of the world are what our young are being indoctrinated into in our public institutions while you and yours just try to blithely ignore it all. I call him out often and he runs away. It’s telling that you ignore it, yet I don’t see you ever criticize him and his leftist beliefs. You save that for conservative ones. It’s almost like he’s on your side.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 2/19/2023 @ 4:03 amThat’s so laughably false I’m at a loss to explain how you could believe it short of willful blindness.
lurker (cd7cd4) — 2/19/2023 @ 5:05 am“If You Are Not a Liberal When You Are Young, You Have No Heart, and If You Are Not a Conservative When Old, You Have No Brain.”
18 and 19 year olds in college typically are insulated from things like itemizing taxes, mortgages, finding good K-12 schools, working a 9-to-5 job, and protecting kids from predators and inappropriate garbage. It’s often communal living and a time to think idealistically, though often not practically or realistically.
But let’s not also pretend that the 18 year olds are blank slates that don’t come in with value systems or life experiences. Yes, they are impressionable and no, thankfully, they are not all sociology or gender studies majors. Most want a good-paying career after spending 10’s of thousands of dollars (albeit maybe mom’s and dad’s money).
There’s also a degree of rebellion at that age. They are free of the rules of their parent’s house and are finding their own path. Many majors are so busy and demanding that students don’t have time to think much about diversity and the Marxian Dialectic. It’s just not relevant to being a biologist, chemist, programmer, engineer, pharmacist, accountant, lawyer, or architect. Parents still matter. Religion still matters. And faddish thinking fades. The tatoo that I would have gotten in college would be the one that I probably would have spent big money to get rid of at age 30.
I think the above quote has generally survived the test of time but with our population evenly divided politically with a range of views across the spectrum, I’m not sure any situation appears dire. Parties can nudge culture…and they will. But we should be weary of government trying to legislate culture. Yes, conservatives should fight goofy leftist attempts to do so, but some of this also falls into the federalism bucket. Yes, I don’t want San Francisco goofiness, but the people of San Francisco have the right to their political culture of their choosing. And we have the right to mock it.
AJ_Liberty (866ebd) — 2/19/2023 @ 6:45 amAh, no. It’s much better than California, and there is some hope. The Dems are going to try to ban guns soon, and that will be their undoing.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/18/2023 @ 10:28 pm
No, it won’t. The same thing will take place that happened when abortion up until the infant’s feet exit the magic birth canal trip was passed–there might be some complaints, but everyone will still go along with it.
There’s also a degree of rebellion at that age. They are free of the rules of their parent’s house and are finding their own path. Many majors are so busy and demanding that students don’t have time to think much about diversity and the Marxian Dialectic. It’s just not relevant to being a biologist, chemist, programmer, engineer, pharmacist, accountant, lawyer, or architect. Parents still matter. Religion still matters. And faddish thinking fades. The tatoo that I would have gotten in college would be the one that I probably would have spent big money to get rid of at age 30.
The last 20 years have refuted this belief, particularly the idea that leftist ideology hasn’t equally crept into the majors that AJ lists here, or the professional world itself.
But we should be weary of government trying to legislate culture.
This will always be an inherently self-defeating belief against one that absolutely believes that government has a responsibility to do so, and should do so perpetually until a utopian society is achieved.
Factory Working Orphan (bce27d) — 2/19/2023 @ 6:56 amlurker (cd7cd4) — 2/18/2023 @ 9:05 pm
lurker misrepresenting other commenters’ views — so shocking.
the problem for you, lurker, is that no one has to misrepresent your views to put you in the same camp as asset.
by your own admission, you both supported the left in the last election, and stuck us with leftist policies and leftist judges
nevertrump and the left, united
a banana, not a horseshoe
JF (92073a) — 2/19/2023 @ 7:37 amYou are lying.
NJRob (691225) — 2/19/2023 @ 8:14 amFlashback September 2022:
New Mexico doesn’t have any restrictions (waiting periods, trimester limits, or parental consent requirements) on abortions.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/19/2023 @ 8:20 amMy 4-link max Russian roundup.
I’m Vladimir Putin and I approved this message.
This goes without saying, but the Russian government lied.
Russian and Ukraine are fighting two different wars.
“Total warfare” is also means total war crimes. Here’s the cultural genocide part.
Putin’s “sweeping and systematic” effort to disrupt an American election included hiring Mexicans workers to troll American social media. It’s so very Russian.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 2/19/2023 @ 8:51 amSome good news — and more coming. According to an article in the Tuesday New York Times, “Electric Vehicle Prices Could Match Those Of Gas Cars This Year”. And the prices of gas cars have been falling back to more normal levels.
There is more good news coming because electric vehicles are inherently cheaper to produce* than gas vehicles. And we are already beginning to see competition on price from major manufacturers.
Here’s an example of what’s possible. Within a decade at most, American manufacturers should be able to design a very nice electric car, build it here, and sell it at a profit for 15K, or less.
And we could get rid of those Tesla subsidies in the tax code. Which would please me.
(*Real car guys could give you a more detailed explanation, but here’s the very short version: Electric vehicles have engines that are far simpler, with far fewer parts, than vehicles with internal combustion engines.
Long term, I expect battery prices have declined greatly, and I expect that to continue, especially if we eoncourage mining.)
Jim Miller (f29931) — 2/19/2023 @ 8:55 amSeefried caught a big break. He only received 3 years for his conviction of obstruction of an official proceeding (which could have been nearly 6 years under the prosecution’s recommendation). His misdemeanors were wrapped up to be served concurrently. Three years was a gift.
Sincere in his understanding of the symbolism of the Confederate flag, and that he is a changed man? This sounds like a man (like many J6 defendants) who suddenly see the errors of their ways when facing hard time.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/19/2023 @ 8:56 amCorrection: Long term, battery prices have declined greatly . .
Jim Miller (f29931) — 2/19/2023 @ 8:58 amLong term, I expect battery prices have declined greatly, and I expect that to continue, especially if we eoncourage mining.
There’s a human and environmental cost to digging up all the cobalt required for these batteries, of course, but fortunately it won’t affect us here in the US. We get all the benefits and none of the consequences, so we hardly need to be concerned about how the sausage is made and who it affects, just so long as it never stops and the mining continues to meet our demand.
Factory Working Orphan (bce27d) — 2/19/2023 @ 9:05 amApparently the move was requested by Paxton’s lawyers.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/19/2023 @ 9:19 amI think the above quote has generally survived the test of time
Perhaps. It also might explain the Left’s attempts to swaddle adults in government protection so they never have to grow up. See “The Life of Julia.”
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 9:28 amNo, it won’t. The same thing will take place that happened when abortion up until the infant’s feet exit the magic birth canal trip was passed
Actually, there is utterly no law regarding abortions in New Mexico. Some counties have noticed this and passed bans.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 9:30 amNo, it won’t. The same thing will take place that happened when abortion up until the infant’s feet exit the magic birth canal trip was passed
Only 4 NM country sheriffs said that they intended to enforce the legislature’s ban on private weapons transfer. The others formed a Second Amendment Sanctuary movement. Outside of ABQ metro, Santa Fe and Las Cruces there is utterly no support for gun laws. And even there, I can go down to the gun store and buy a gun without letting the state know I’ve done so. Perhaps they find out from the federal rules, but I don’t need no stinking permit unless I want to carry concealed (and I actually support such a permit, as it requires competence).
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 9:36 amActually, there is utterly no law regarding abortions in New Mexico. Some counties have noticed this and passed bans.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 9:30 am
And yet the Democrats still paid no political price for it, nor will they when the courts come back and tell those localities that their law does not supersede state laws. The same will be true of any gun bans they put in place, just as it was with the red flag law that was passed.
Factory Working Orphan (bce27d) — 2/19/2023 @ 9:37 amOnly 4 NM country sheriffs said that they intended to enforce the legislature’s ban on private weapons transfer. The others formed a Second Amendment Sanctuary movement. Outside of ABQ metro, Santa Fe and Las Cruces there is utterly no support for gun laws.
Except those areas hold the actual political power in the state, and that’s what matters.
And even there, I can go down to the gun store and buy a gun without letting the state know I’ve done so. Perhaps they find out from the federal rules, but I don’t need no stinking permit unless I want to carry concealed (and I actually support such a permit, as it requires competence).
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 9:36 am
For now. When the legislature actually implements the bans and the governor signs off on it, then those bans have the force of law. Counties in Colorado did much the same thing in regards to red flag laws, and do you know what the result was? They still knuckled under and ended up complying. It won’t be any different in New Mexico, because the people who oppose them don’t actually run the state, nor will they for the foreseeable future now that college graduates are fully solidified in the Democratic camp.
Factory Working Orphan (bce27d) — 2/19/2023 @ 9:42 am@205: I have to quibble about using the Confederate flag to set the length of a sentence. It is speech and penalizing speech is not something courts should do. MAYBE if this were about a racial assault, the flag’s presence would provide insight into state of mind, but here it just shows hostility to the federal government, something which was already clear.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 9:43 amExcept those areas hold the actual political power in the state, and that’s what matters.
If those other counties stop electing Democrats (some do for other reasons), the balance of power would return to the pre-Trump levels.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 9:44 amIt should be noted that, before Trump, New Mexico had a two-term Republican governor and effective equality in the legislature (a number of rural Democrats have always worked with Republicans on certain issues, like guns).
After Trump, it’s been lopsided and polarized.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 9:49 amthen those bans have the force of law
“prosecutorial discretion”
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 9:50 amIf those other counties stop electing Democrats (some do for other reasons), the balance of power would return to the pre-Trump levels.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 9:44 am
They won’t. New Mexico is solid blue now, and it will remain so for the foreseeable future, even if the NeverTrumper’s preferred candidate is nominated.
It should be noted that, before Trump, New Mexico had a two-term Republican governor and effective equality in the legislature (a number of rural Democrats have always worked with Republicans on certain issues, like guns).
After Trump, it’s been lopsided and polarized.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 9:49 am
“Effective equality” doesn’t mean much in real terms. The state senate was 24-18 for Democrats in 2008; it was 26-15 in 2022. In the House, the difference was 42-28 in 2010; it’s now 45-25.
Factory Working Orphan (bce27d) — 2/19/2023 @ 10:03 amWhat should be censored are “sensitivity readers”, not Mr. Dahl’s books, not when Augustus Gloop is no longer called “fat”. Link.
Another word for “sensitivity readers” is censors. The sad part is that the company with Dahl’s name on it did this. Bloody hell.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 2/19/2023 @ 10:08 amThey won’t. New Mexico is solid blue now, and it will remain so for the foreseeable future, even if the NeverTrumper’s preferred candidate is nominated.
Keep telling yourself that. The GOP is supposed to be a center-right party. Under Trump it’s become a paleo-conservative redneck party. This thrills paleo-conservative rednecks but is so counterproductive that it repels everyone else, and ALLOWS the kind of social warfare that a more reasonable center-right party would have no problem opposing.
The more the party retreats to the hard-right corner, the less influential it will be. This is the path that many California Republicans took, failing to support any candidate who dared to seek the center, and became the weak sister party that it is today.
It’s sad to see this happen nationally, and it is hilarious to hear people way that what we need is more stridency because of all the success the left is having at our expense.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 10:28 amThe state senate was 24-18 for Democrats in 2008; it was 26-15 in 2022.
When it was 27-15 in 2009-2012, it was controlled by a coalition of 8Ds and the 15Rs. I have no doubt those 8Ds were from the hinterlands.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 10:30 amNot sure where it says the length of sentence was based on the Confederate flag. His lawyers statements about the importance of Confederate flag were merely an attempt to downplay his behavior and were probably insincere.
Like I said, Seefried had a friendly judge.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/19/2023 @ 10:31 amBringing the flag into the sentencing decision, which the prosecutors must have done if the defense was talking about it (hardly a subject they would broach), is an attempt to penalize speech.
Using the flagpole to attack police is another thing entirely, but it should not matter what flag, if any, was attached.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 10:35 amKeep telling yourself that. The GOP is supposed to be a center-right party. Under Trump it’s become a paleo-conservative redneck party. This thrills paleo-conservative rednecks but is so counterproductive that it repels everyone else, and ALLOWS the kind of social warfare that a more reasonable center-right party would have no problem opposing.
Yes, anyone who opposes left-wing ideology is a “paleo-conservative redneck.” There’s literally nothing the center-right can offer anymore that appeals to anyone, other than putting up some token complaints as the Overton window pushes further to the left.
The more the party retreats to the hard-right corner, the less influential it will be. This is the path that many California Republicans took, failing to support any candidate who dared to seek the center, and became the weak sister party that it is today.
The California GOP started its decline long before Trump came along, kicked off primarily by the end of the Cold War and closure of defense industries in the state, in conjunction with the coast becoming a haven for far-left migrants, increased immigration, and Hollywood’s increasing politicization as a left-wing propaganda factory. And in areas where right-wing policies were actually voted in, left-wing judges ensured that they’d never be implemented.
It’s sad to see this happen nationally, and it is hilarious to hear people way that what we need is more stridency because of all the success the left is having at our expense.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 10:28 am
The failure to resist left-wing policies in the first place resulted in that success becoming baked-in. If you don’t ever push back against it to begin with (instead of just fruitlessly lamenting that it’s happening in front of you), it takes over.
Eventually, it’s going to sink in that this country has two fundamentally different visions for how it should be run. One side or the other is either going to come out on top, or it will break apart organically. The center-right might say they don’t support left-wing policies or ideology, but they never actually do the work to push back against them, and loudly complain when it does happen. “Just let the left have this one thing,” they say, “and if we do that, they won’t push for anything further!” The same song and dance for over 30 years, after they got spooked by MTV patting themselves on the back for getting Clinton elected.
Principles don’t mean much if you’re not willing to stand up for them. And if fiscal conservatives don’t support social conservative policies, there’s no reason for social conservatives to support theirs–especially when the former’s first instinct is to call anyone who supports the latter a redneck.
Factory Working Orphan (bce27d) — 2/19/2023 @ 11:09 amAnd as I’ve pointed out before, a reaction first requires an action. If you don’t want the reaction (and what’s going on with the right today is very much a reaction to the domination of the left across the nation’s cultural institutions, as even the media has acknowledged), then prevent the action from taking place.
Factory Working Orphan (bce27d) — 2/19/2023 @ 11:20 amIn the 52nd session of the New Mexico legislature (2015-2016), Republicans controlled the state house 37-33. Since then, their numbers have fallen, first to 28, and then 24, the lowest level since the 41st session (1993-1994).
Republican Susana_Martinez was elected in 2010, and re-elected in 2014.
Given that record, it seems unlikely that the loser helped the Republican party in New Mexico.
(In 2004, George W. Bush carried New Mexico, narrowly. And its neighbor to the north, Colorado.)
Jim Miller (f29931) — 2/19/2023 @ 11:21 am“… if fiscal conservatives don’t support social conservative policies, there’s no reason for social conservatives to support theirs . . .”
As it happens, by most standards I am a fiscal conservative, a social conservative, and a foreign policy conservative. In each, I favor those things because I think they are good for the nation; we would be better off as a nation, for example, if Trump had not run such enormous deficits.
In all three of those, I favor the achievable, as any true conservative would.
In elections where I live, it is nearly certain that the Democrat will be none of these, and the Republican may only agree with me on one or two of the three.
But I would rather have one of these than none, so I may well vote for such a Republican, and if I can get two of these, may even support them with a small contribution.
(Assuming, of course, that they agree with me on basic democratic principles, like accepting the results of elections, and that they have the good character we need in elected officials.)
Jim Miller (f29931) — 2/19/2023 @ 11:36 am(In 2004, George W. Bush carried New Mexico, narrowly. And its neighbor to the north, Colorado.)
Jim Miller (f29931) — 2/19/2023 @ 11:21 am
Colorado started going hard blue when left-wing millionaires in the state (among them the current Governor) laid out a very specific blueprint to make it so. This began in 2006 and accelerated when Obama ran for office.
In each, I favor those things because I think they are good for the nation; we would be better off as a nation, for example, if Trump had not run such enormous deficits.
Yes, because Trump was the first Republican president to oversee massive deficits.
Factory Working Orphan (bce27d) — 2/19/2023 @ 11:45 am“And if fiscal conservatives don’t support social conservative policies”
If you are unwilling to generate compromise across the aisle, then you have to win elections and create a sense of mandate in order to pass legislation. No sane analysis of the GOP would contend that under Trump they’ve been winning. What should have been a blowout in 2022 ended up being a trickle because of horrible candidate recruitment and too many Republicans being rejected because of election denialism and Roe blowback.
So, step #1 is to understand what part of the messaging is not working and fix it. Step #2 is to look at the GOP agenda. The GOP did not even bother creating a formal platform in 2020 because the party is whatever tirade Trump says it’s about plus keeping him out of prison. The party is disorganized. It spouts a bunch of populist bromides that make for great bumper stickers, but the underlying policy is a bunch of meh. Border control is about it. Again, this is a problem with leadership. We have a mafia that seems content with breaking things and calling that a success.
Obviously social issues are a part of any agenda, but these have to be very specific initiatives that make sense at the federal level. Fighting gay marriage doesn’t look like a smart electoral initiative. Pushing for federal abortion laws might seem like fighting, but is it smart? Find arenas where there are broad appeal. Stop experimenting with social stuff in the military seems like something that will have broad appeal. If there are other federal matters that are a good site for opposing trans stuff, do that. Make it so that the average Joe voter will say that sounds reasonable. Take back the middle. You don’t do that by lurching to the far right and then complaining that the middle won’t fight. If you can’t win more than the 30% on the far right, you get nothing. If you really care about this stuff, then go back to step #1 and growing a caucus and regaining trust in the party.
You seem to eager to declare futility and start the magical breakup that will be horrendous and awful for everyone. Breaking us apart will just make the individual pieces weaker.
AJ_Liberty (866ebd) — 2/19/2023 @ 11:46 amRodriguez pleaded guilty to conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding, obstruction of justice, and assaulting a law enforcement officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon. He faces between 6.5 and 10 years imprisonment.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/19/2023 @ 11:48 amIn the 52nd session of the New Mexico legislature (2015-2016), Republicans controlled the state house 37-33. Since then, their numbers have fallen, first to 28, and then 24, the lowest level since the 41st session (1993-1994).
Fallacy of the lonely fact. The reality is that Democrats have controlled both houses of the NM state legislature in 12 out of the last 18 sessions, with very narrow averages in the number of legislators during that period. Even during the 1980s, when Republicans had relatively higher support, the GOP still had to depend on coalitions with Democrats to get anything passed at all.
New Mexico actually appears to be epitomize the ideal center-right political environment–one thoroughly dominated by Democrats, who occasionally throw the GOP a bone once in a while when they’re feeling generous.
Factory Working Orphan (bce27d) — 2/19/2023 @ 11:56 amPaul Montagu,
I’m dismayed by the Roald Dahl edits. Only an author should be making changes to their work. It’s disappointing to see this kind of censorship in children’s literature.
Based on my brief perusal of Twitter and various articles about this, there are a number of people who are supportive of this nonsense. Dollars to doughnuts they are the same ones telling parents who have expressed concern over certain books in U.S. school libraries to go pound sound, or instructing them, if you don’t like it, don’t let your kid read it. But then again, you could probably also draw a direct line of connection between those who believe the edits are necessary to ostensibly protect readers and those who are taking books off school libraries to protect readers. (While I am sympathetic toward school library reviews because they just make sense, I am deeply concerned about those deciding what is acceptable and considered age-appropriate. If Moms for Liberty is a representation of those decision-makers, then that’s a hard pass for me.)
Anyway, I’m with Salman Rushdie:
Dana (1225fc) — 2/19/2023 @ 12:00 pmIf you are unwilling to generate compromise across the aisle, then you have to win elections and create a sense of mandate in order to pass legislation.
When you’re willing to give the left anything it wants to keep the peace, then any pushback against that can seem like an unwillingness to compromise.
There’s literally no socially conservative issue that the fiscal conservatives on this board will support when push actually comes to shove. As history shows, they’ll crater to the left’s rhetoric every single time. They can’t even define what “the middle” of these issues actually is, and in instances where they can, like abortion, helplessly concede that the left will get what it wants anyway because they can’t even make their own arguments compelling enough to counter those narratives. There’s absolutely no center-right politician that will bring the right together, specifically because they have such undisguised contempt for the people they actually need to convince.
Factory Working Orphan (bce27d) — 2/19/2023 @ 12:03 pm@173. ‘It’s unfortunate, because the U.S. needs a TV news source that leans a bit right.’
That’s silly: shading objectivity either way degrades the integrity of any platform as a “news source.”
You really need to understand the NewsCorp./Fox business model and the difference between night time opinionators intended to generate heat, not light; to draw eyeballs for ratings and profits– and the daytime, traditional rip-and-read-news programming. The very fact you differentiate ‘talents’ by name rather than by opinion vs., information content says more about your own tastes as a viewer than the content of the programming itself. NewsCorp. knows their audiences and viewer habits– literally down to the minute. [Example: why has ‘Gutfeld!’ soared to top late night TV ratings surpassing traditional CBS/NBC/ABC programming? Fox knows the audience.]
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/08/five-facts-about-fox-news/
Fox News Channel had largest cable TV audience for 7th-straight year in 2022
Fox News Channel officially finished 2022 as the most-watched cable network in all of television for the seventh straight year. Americans flocked to Fox News during a jam-packed year that saw Russia invade Ukraine, the death of Queen Elizabeth II, crucial midterm elections, widespread economic issues, the impact of the COVID pandemic, Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover, the raid of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and other major news stories.
What is Fox News? Researchers want to know
‘When it comes to examining the actual content that a news organization produces, Louisiana State University Assistant Professor Kathleen Searles points out the need to first distinguish between what’s news and what’s opinion. Comparing Fox to a daily newspaper, Searles explains that Fox’s opinion programming is “far more like an editorial page,” while its news programming is “guided by similar news values as more traditional, legacy media.”’-
https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/fox-news
You can’t argue with a successful model, as much as CNN or MSNBC management tries; NewsCorp/Fox has always noted its night time programs are opinion-based while day time programming is structured as a traditional news platform.
Don’t like it? You have the power— and the remote control: DON’T CONSUME THE PRODUCT: DON’T WATCH.
DCSCA (e0ae00) — 2/19/2023 @ 12:06 pm(In 2004, George W. Bush carried New Mexico, narrowly. And its neighbor to the north, Colorado.)
Jim Miller (f29931) — 2/19/2023 @ 11:21 am
and the GOP hasn’t carried California and Illinois since 1988.
if you think these trends started with Trump, I don’t know what to tell you
Bush gifting his Great Recession to McCain and Romney certainly didn’t help
JF (650764) — 2/19/2023 @ 12:07 pmTrump Litigation Watch:
The lawsuit is scheduled to begin on April 25th. Trump also wants to bar his previous misogynist statements and allegations of sexual assault from the trial.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/19/2023 @ 12:08 pm“There’s literally no socially conservative issue that the fiscal conservatives on this board will support when push actually comes to shove.”
Be specific. Some of your past specifics are local school board questions or matters that are even questionable for Congress to legislate on. Again, what are generally popular social matters that will get Republicans elected. This should be easy.
AJ_Liberty (866ebd) — 2/19/2023 @ 12:08 pmI remember Sidney Powell now as a probable grifter who kept promising to “release the Kraken” Maybe she actually did, but if so it was a simple chumming of the water with a couple of tiny baby giant squid. “The Kraken” Epitome of over promise, under deliver. She isn’t in Avenatti’s league, but in my opinion acted like one of his breed
steveg (9d8592) — 2/19/2023 @ 12:21 pmBe specific. Some of your past specifics are local school board questions or matters that are even questionable for Congress to legislate on.
This is just an excuse to continue conceding these areas to the left. If you want a center-right nation, you have to be willing to fight for it.
Again, what are generally popular social matters that will get Republicans elected. This should be easy.
AJ_Liberty (866ebd) — 2/19/2023 @ 12:08 pm
Are more concerned about what will get politicians elected, or whether they’ll actually stand up for the principles you claim to support when push comes to shove? Principles that you won’t actually fight for aren’t principles at all, they’re merely issues of convenience to be discarded at will.
The parents and right-wingers directly challen
What policies and principles do you specifically support that you’re willing to tell the left, “stop, you’re not going any further” when they try to push past them?
Factory Working Orphan (1113ad) — 2/19/2023 @ 12:32 pmThe parents and right-wingers directly challenging the left in their domains–at school board meetings, libraries, city and town councils–are notably gaining far more traction in pushing back the left’s agenda, to the center-right’s great consternation, of course.
Because even in domains that the center-right say should be resolved locally, right-wingers challenging the left in these domains causes them no end of complaint. It’s almost as if they don’t actually support conservative policies except for those the left graciously allows them to have.
Factory Working Orphan (1113ad) — 2/19/2023 @ 12:36 pmYou can’t argue with a successful model, as much as CNN or MSNBC management tries; NewsCorp/Fox has always noted its night time programs are opinion-based while day time programming is structured as a traditional news platform.
Don’t like it? You have the power— and the remote control: DON’T CONSUME THE PRODUCT: DON’T WATCH.
DCSCA (e0ae00) — 2/19/2023 @ 12:06 pm
I doubt anyone in this board actually watches Fox News, but in the broader scheme of things, yes Fox became successful specifically because it began showing a right-wing slant to things.
To the extent Gutfeld has such good ratings is primarily due to the fact that the traditional late-night outlets became openly anti-conservative in the Obama era, and turbo-charged it after Trump. Leno dominated the ratings for years because he hit both sides, while Letterman became a Democrat partisan–which is why the left adores the latter but not the former.
Conservative viewers go to Gutfeld because they literally have no one else to watch at that time who doesn’t think they are evil, stupid rednecks.
Factory Working Orphan (1113ad) — 2/19/2023 @ 12:54 pmI’m dismayed by the Roald Dahl edits. Only an author should be making changes to their work. It’s disappointing to see this kind of censorship in children’s literature.
And this, once again, raises the question–if the center-right legitimately finds these developments to be distressing, does it matter to them enough to put forth any effort to actually push back against it? Or is it yet another instance where they’re willing, once again, to concede defeat to the left’s social agenda and historic determinism because the perceived risks of fighting back against it are too much to bear?
What is the center-right actually willing to go the mat for against the left, irrespective of what it might cost them politically, in service to the very principles they say they hold?
Factory Working Orphan (bce27d) — 2/19/2023 @ 1:18 pmThe more I think about it, there is a direct line between the nuts who want to “protect” kids from learning in detail about slavery and its aftermath and those who want to “protect” kids from adjectives like fat and “female”. Obvs, one is worse than the other, but I think they share the same censorious mindset.
Dana (1225fc) — 2/19/2023 @ 1:24 pm‘Barney Fife’ describes confronting China about spy balloon, warns against military support for Russia
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/blinken-describes-confronting-china-spy-balloon-warns-military/story?id=97311077
… and Jinping smiled.
DCSCA (1f725d) — 2/19/2023 @ 1:27 pmThe more I think about it, there is a direct line between the nuts who want to “protect” kids from learning in detail about slavery and its aftermath and those who want to “protect” kids from adjectives like fat and “female”. Obvs, one is worse than the other, but I think they share the same censorious mindset.
Dana (1225fc) — 2/19/2023 @ 1:24 pm
Yeah, the latter actually exists, and the former doesn’t. But it’s useful to the center-right to believe so they can accede yet again to the left’s narrative framing.
Anyone who actually argues that parents want to prevent kids from learning in detail about slavery and its aftermath don’t actually know any parents like this; they’re just parroting a narrative because it allows them the comfort of thinking they’re “just calling balls and strikes.”
It’s the pushback against the circular reasoning of collective racial guilt, the promotion of the oppressor/oppressed dichotomy, and the conspiratorial belief that systemic racism is preventing 100% equal socio-economic outcomes, that’s at issue here. Which has been gone over so many times by now, it’s almost pointless to repeat it at this stage.
If you honestly think I don’t want my daughters learning in detail about slavery and its aftermath, that says a lot more about your own preconceived biases than it does about my parenting skills or “censorious mindset.”
Factory Working Orphan (bce27d) — 2/19/2023 @ 1:34 pmGiuliani stopped working with her because she never came forward with any evidence. He had earlier described her as someone who was handling some (details about fraud”
The biggest mystery is who was she really working for, She brought Mike Flynn into see Trump where Flynn argues for declaring martal law.
Sammy Finkelman (ba302a) — 2/19/2023 @ 1:36 pmhttps://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-february-19-2023-n1303027
Sammy Finkelman (ba302a) — 2/19/2023 @ 1:41 pmChuck Todd ran the actual video later in the program. It wasn’t high quality. This was at an interview at Columbia University,
Sammy Finkelman (ba302a) — 2/19/2023 @ 1:54 pm@241. I doubt anyone in this board actually watches Fox News, but in the broader scheme of things, yes Fox became successful specifically because it began showing a right-wing slant to things.
Chiefly at night via their opinionators, which is the focus of complaints. How the news agenda and content in their daily, hourly, A, B, C, and D blocks is assembled is a decision made by the news directors in NewsCorp., management, not the on-air talent. And that reflects Murdoch’s attitude and mission statement. Clearly the various Fox U.S. platforms are dipped in overtly ‘red, white and blue colors, sprinkled w/military olive drab and some religious/Bible seasoning. ‘Traditional’ flyover country values. The daily news readers merely read copy off a teleprompter– and keep their gigs based on the eyeballs and ratings- which can be measured literally to the minute. No accident there are plenty of pretty women with leg lights, lip gloss and a little cleavage and some sexy ‘sass’ to keep the ratings, among other things, ‘up.’ In contrast, you won’t find any Dana Bash/Andrea Mitchell uglies on their talent roster. Hell, even the contracted on-air lawyers are all young, blonde and pretty…
34 Most Attractive Fox News Anchors: Gorgeous Female Reporters
https://www.hoodmwr.com/fox-news-anchors-reporters/
Whereas in Cronkite’s case, HE was the Managing Editor and had final say of the content and stacking of the stories in the network newscast. That makes all the difference.
The Fox newsreaders hold no such title and don’t wield much control over content. As to ‘Gutfeld!’ – it’s the format and delivery that is working and drawing the viewers. CNN tried to tap Maher to counter program– and it failed:
Debut of Bill Maher on CNN Utterly Flops, King of Late Night Reigns Supreme
Ratings-challenged CNN brought HBO’s Bill Maher into its Friday night lineup last week and still managed to get crushed by Fox News host Greg Gutfeld. The network had been weighing the addition of a “comedian” to liven things up as it continues to struggle with its declining presence in the cable news landscape, Semafor reported last month.
The results: The dominant “Gutfeld!” on Fox News did not skip a beat as Maher was a flop.
The ratings for 11:30 p.m. ET to 11:44 p.m. ET on Friday showed the HBO host failed to make an impact in both total viewers and in the key 25-54 demographic sought after by advertisers. Maher’s segment attracted just 401,000 viewers to CNN and only 92,000 in the demo, according to Nielsen.
In contrast, during that same time, “Gutfeld!” bagged more than 2 million viewers – and 370,000 in the demo. The initial failure of adding Maher to the struggling network is laughable, but most certainly not in the way CNN’s leadership had hoped.’
https://www.westernjournal.com/debut-bill-maher-cnn-utterly-flops-king-late-night-reigns-supreme/
You can’t argue w/a successful business model– and that’s what it is all about for NewsCorp., shareholders. But attemptsed sponsor boycotts aside, the viewers, as individuals, can combat it — by simply choosing to not watch and consume the product. Example: look at Tucka’s checkered history at news cablers MSNBC and CNN… no eyeballs, low ratings- and he was flushed several times. That’s all it is about… ratings and profits… ‘And that’s the way it is…” – Walter Cronkite
DCSCA (1f725d) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:05 pm245,
See: Moms for Liberty pushing to remove Ruby Bridges Goes to School because it shows angry white people protesting the first little black girl to desegregate an all-white school as she walks the gauntlet into the building.
Dana (1225fc) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:08 pmShorter FWO: “More cowbell!”
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:15 pmSee: Moms for Liberty pushing to remove Ruby Bridges Goes to School because it shows angry white people protesting the first little black girl to desegregate an all-white school as she walks the gauntlet into the building.
Dana (1225fc) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:08 pm
Have a direct quote from Moms For Liberty stating that this was the specific reason they pushed for its removal? Or is this simply a recitation of left-wing media journolisting?
Nor does your example demonstrate in any way that parents don’t want their kids to “learn about slavery and its aftermath”–unless you accept the left-wing narrative that systemic racism still exists, of course.
Factory Working Orphan (bce27d) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:16 pm@251. LOLOLOLOL That’s about it.
DCSCA (1f725d) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:17 pmShorter FWO: “More cowbell!”
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:15 pm
Shorter Kevin M: “Give the left whatever it wants!”
Factory Working Orphan (bce27d) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:17 pm“And if fiscal conservatives don’t support social conservative policies”
W was a social conservative who gutted fiscal restraint. A Christian Liberal. Yet I voted for him twice. I really don’t see your point. And Donald Trump was only a “social conservative” when it came to race. He favored gay marriage, for example.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:20 pmFWO
There are social and fiscal conservatives who feel like “the GOP left me as well, but the Democrat platform issues are not the answer for me”. I think Trump Supreme Court choices, his Federal bench choices were better for my social views and some economic views (regulation) than Ms. Clinton’s would have been and am glad my vote wasn’t part of an acquiescence to Ms. Clintons stated goals for the US. I’m also happy my vote did not defer to the institution of the Biden puppetry. I couldn’t do the intellectual gymnastics necessary to vote other than GOP chosen candidate because personally would always feel in my heart that any vote for another would be acquiescence and deference to the Democrat agenda. I understand those who found candidates outside of the binary GOP or Democrat on their final ballots, after all the Greens do it in every election year. But the Greens wanted the forest, wouldn’t accept Clinton’s offer of a few trees, and got Trump.
steveg (9d8592) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:20 pmShorter Kevin M: “Give the left whatever it wants!”
Find me one place where I have even suggested that. I can find many places where you have argued that the GOP’s problem is that it isn’t strident enough.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:21 pmAn example:
At some difficulty and expense, Bill Clinton and the GOP Congress ENDED farm price supports. All of them. When W came into office the very first thing he did was start them up again. W didn’t give two figs about fiscal conservatives.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:23 pmFind me one place where I have even suggested that. I can find many places where you have argued that the GOP’s problem is that it isn’t strident enough.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:21 pm
And I’ve yet to see anything from you or another center-right commenter as to this:
What policies and principles do you specifically support that you’re willing to tell the left, “stop, you’re not going any further” when they try to push past them?
Perhaps if your tribe had spent less time indulging in pointless mockery of its opponents and more time actually standing up for conservative principles–which requires real, actual work and a lack of risk-aversion–the left wouldn’t have taken over the nation’s cultural institutions and the right wouldn’t have taken control of the GOP.
Factory Working Orphan (bce27d) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:26 pmR.I.P. Richard Belzer
Icy (bf9f4a) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:27 pmFWO, I think the edits to Dahls books are bad. Pretty much in every way. Only put the caveat because
Their might be ways I haven’t thought of.
I agree with the many ppl who have said something similar.
But what public policy solutions would you propose to stop someone from using their property in a way that I think is stupid? Keeping in mind that we’re explicitly taking about speech choices of the property owner what would you have the government do in this case?
For the record my proposed solution is lots of public criticism of the actions.
Time123 (ae7de2) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:29 pmI am old enough to remember when, through the actions of about 5 people circa 1964, “conservative” became equated with “racist.” It took several decades to get rid of that smear (and smear it was even if abetted by the 1964 candidate) and it is just awful to see Donald Trump single-handedly resurrect that.
Donald Trump had done more damage to the GOP in a short time than every other bad actor in the party has done combined. I cannot understand why anyone would think Wrong-Way Donald was someone to support.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:31 pmRIP Richard Belzer (78). Starred in Law and Order and in one of my favorite series, Homicide: Life on the Streets.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:32 pmAt some difficulty and expense, Bill Clinton and the GOP Congress ENDED farm price supports. All of them. When W came into office the very first thing he did was start them up again. W didn’t give two figs about fiscal conservatives.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:23 pm
W’s fickleness was a leading cause of the populist right gaining traction in the party to begin with. Someone with greater focus and media savvy could have kept a center-right coalition working together for at least another generation, but he simply was not up to the task at all.
Factory Working Orphan (bce27d) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:35 pmFWO, TimAlberta made that point at length in “house of carnage” if you haven’t read it it’s worth the 20$
Time123 (ae7de2) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:38 pmR.I.P. Richard Belzer
He played John Munch in:
Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: The Movie
The X-Files
Law & Order
The Beat
Law & Order: Trial by Jury
Arrested Development
30 Rock
The Wire
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Law & Order: SVU
This may be a record for a single character
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:40 pmFWO, the point is that fiscal conservatives supported him none the less, which refutes your argument that they won’t support social conservatives.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:41 pmDo your own homework, FWO.
Dana (1225fc) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:46 pmWhat policies and principles do you specifically support that you’re willing to tell the left, “stop, you’re not going any further” when they try to push past them?
This is easy: not castrating little boys, or mutilating little girls because someone is unhappy about the sex that they were born with. We won’t let the government even discuss religious belief (except maybe to make fun of it), but we WILL let them change the gender of little children?
At best, this is a matter for the child later in life. If there must be care, perhaps dealing with the psychological disturbance as if it was a problem, before the neuroses become ingrained.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:48 pmBut what public policy solutions would you propose to stop someone from using their property in a way that I think is stupid? Keeping in mind that we’re explicitly taking about speech choices of the property owner what would you have the government do in this case?
For the record my proposed solution is lots of public criticism of the actions.
Time123 (ae7de2) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:29 pm
This presumes that a legislative solution should constantly be sought. It doesn’t get to the heart of why it happened to begin with, which is the left’s takeover of these institutions in the first place.
Public criticism only works if the publisher is actually outside the cultural status quo. There’s no evidence that I’ve seen which would indicate this for the censoring of Dahl’s works, any more than there was for the Dr. Seuss books that libraries removed from across the country. Like I pointed out above, this is the consequence of the center-right blithely dismissing campus leftism as a youthful phase, rather than a very dynamic activist movement within the nation’s institutions of higher education that finally mainstreamed about ten years ago, roughly 40 years after the New Left began its march through the institutions following the publication of “Counterrevolution and Revolt.” The center-right made the strategic error of not taking them seriously, and encouraging the rest of the right to do likewise, and nonsense like the Dahl books is the result–which is really just a piece of the modern left’s effort to implement a neo-Cultural Revolution over the last generation.
If schools like Stanford and the University of Washington can impose speech codes with impunity, it stands to reason that the same thing will be imposed anywhere else dominated by the left. One of the reasons states are becoming more politically polarized is specifically because the left now dominates these cultural institutions, and the right is reacting by working to make the socio-political environment in the states they do control as inhospitable to the left as possible, both to further prevent the left’s entryism in places they don’t control, and to incentivize them to flee to more hospitable blue areas so that the influence they do hold in purple and red areas is degraded.
There’s really no moderation that happens in a left-wing cultural revolution–it simply goes full bore until the Thermidorian reaction happens, or it simply takes over completely.
Factory Working Orphan (bce27d) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:54 pmDana, I don’t think moms for liberty and their ilk want to ban teaching about slavery and racism. They just want it to be minimized. Don’t spend too much time on it. Make clear it happened a long time ago and that most Americans always knew it was bad. Make clear that we fixed it and that racial relations have mostly been great with all impacts of racism confined to long ago events by a few strangers. It’s ok to reference Ruby Ridge. But keep it like Teapot dome: a name a date and short description. Under no circumstances should her book be used as non-fiction reading in English instruction.
Time123 (ae7de2) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:54 pmDo your own homework, FWO.
Dana (1225fc) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:46 pm
This is shifting the burden of proof. Every media article I’ve seen on the topic parrots the same assertion, without any direct quotes from the group itself as to why the found it objectionable.
If you have anything to show what the group actually said in quotes or press releases, then feel free to share it. I don’t take mere recitations of left-wing media narratives seriously.
Factory Working Orphan (bce27d) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:57 pmAJ: “Again, what are generally popular social matters that will get Republicans elected. This should be easy.”
FWO: “What policies and principles do you specifically support that you’re willing to tell the left, “stop, you’re not going any further” when they try to push past them?”
De ja vu. Desperately wants us to follow him, but won’t tell us where he wants to go. OK, this probably does not go into the nitty gritty proposals that circulate on the Left, but it’s more of what one might call the federal culture war stuff.
* Illegal immigration: more money for border agents, immigration judges, surveillance equipment, greater penalties for businesses who employ illegals, improved guest worker program, broader E-verify technology. Accelerated deportation reviews. Personally, I have always believed in a pathway to legalization (not necessarily citizenship), but understand this sadly is no longer an option with the GOP
* Guns: oppose criminalization of scary guns that are no more deadly than un-scary guns. Concealed carry reciprocity seems reasonable but will be very difficult to find the votes without giving up something in exchange. I oppose special taxes on ammunition as a backdoor to banning guns. I do favor state supervised background checks for private sales and transfers. I favor requirements for a gun safety course for new buyers.
Respect for religion
* Replace affirmative action with affirmative access: this is why we want justices picked by the federalist society. Kevin can add his list of court cases that he would like overturned as I agree with most of his suggestions including Chadha and its elimination of the legislative veto. There are ones that are greater reaches like the Slaughterhouse cases that I think are less likely
* Oppose broad decriminalization of marijuana: even though I don’t think marijuana is as dangerous as alcohol big picture, personally I don’t like greater access to drugs by kids with the rise in habitual users. I’m not a shoe pounder on this, but my gut says there will be more long-term negatives to Colorado’s policy than the current stats portend.
* Get the federal government largely out of K-12 education: block grant money to states for scholarships, provide curriculum best practices that can be voluntarily adopted by states, Collapse the department under something else
* Transgender issues should be determined by states, but the GOP position should be that surgeries before age 18 should be extremely rare if not outlawed. Conservatives need a greater voice in the Psychotherapy practice. Personally I think most cases are not gender dysphoria and it’s being over-diagnosed. This is more of a bully-pulpit issue than something with a clear legislative path. More conservatives need to go into the Psychiatric field to influence APA recommendations as appropriate.
* I generally disagree with trying to undo gay marriage as its harms, if they exist, are far smaller than the benefits of marriage to society. Similarly for abortion, I oppose federal legislation codifying one or the other position. This is a quintessential state issue. There should be a line of religious freedom in participating in gay weddings, but that it should not be a House that Jack Built test.
* I’m for tolerance of prayer in school, though again, this is a Court issue at this point…so I’m for justices that lean more towards accommodation.
* Global warming: I’m for the moderate position of letting scientists create new technology and to adopt plans that maximize their time to do so. It’s a challenge, not a crisis, and it’s a challenging collective action problem. I like nuclear as the bridge technology, and some federal funding to work on modernizing the grid and creating large-scale energy storage solutions.
* Tearing down monuments, renaming bases and ships: if it’s local, let the locals decide; if it’s federal, much of it is a waste of time and energy. I oppose that generally.
* Death penalty: I generally only favor in beyond-all-doubt cases. I favor prison privatization
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 2/19/2023 @ 3:00 pmFWO, the point is that fiscal conservatives supported him none the less, which refutes your argument that they won’t support social conservatives.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:41 pm
There were plenty of fiscal conservative policies that W supported. Shifting Social Security to a TSP-type program and Medicare Part D were two of them. And in budget battles, what’s notable is that it was always the populist-leaning Republicans–first, the Contract With America and then the Tea Party conservatives–who kept pushing the party to be more fiscally responsible.
Factory Working Orphan (bce27d) — 2/19/2023 @ 3:04 pmDe ja vu. Desperately wants us to follow him, but won’t tell us where he wants to go.
There’s no point in treading over old ground that you’re simply going to hand-wave away once again. Where I’ve gone into specifics, you dismiss them anyhow, so there’s not point in continuing to indulge you. I see it finally got you to delineate what lines you’re willing to push back against, however. We’ll see in the coming years if you’re actually serious about it or not, or if these are simply further points of negotiation.
Factory Working Orphan (bce27d) — 2/19/2023 @ 3:07 pmKevin M,
he gave them tax cuts. Of course they supported W. He also wasn’t remotely as “Christian Conservative” as you claim. He never pushed any socially conservative views like pro-life views. He wouldn’t support a DOMA amendment to the Constitution.
What broke Trump with many of the libertarians (fiscal conservatives/social leftists) is that he told citizens of states that spent like leftists that they couldn’t deduct that expense from their federal taxes. Made them accountable for the mess they permitted.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 2/19/2023 @ 3:11 pmSee: Moms for Liberty pushing to remove Ruby Bridges Goes to School because it shows angry white people protesting the first little black girl to desegregate an all-white school as she walks the gauntlet into the building.
Dana (1225fc) — 2/19/2023 @ 2:08 pm
do you think that’s a candid summary of their stance?
they opposed it because it was being pushed on K-2nd grade kids
I would oppose a book on the Holocaust and Pearl Harbor at that age level
but, this is the game that gets played with school curriculum — nobody is allowed to question it without being accused of racist intent
JF (53ef50) — 2/19/2023 @ 3:12 pmFWO,
he said those are his beliefs. Not that he’d fight for them or push back against the left when they rail against his beliefs.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 2/19/2023 @ 3:17 pmThe Moms For Liberty complaint regarding Ruby Bridges and a whole bunch of other books. Ruby Bridges is on page 3.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/19/2023 @ 3:22 pm“There’s no point in treading over old ground that you’re simply going to hand-wave away once again.”
So, there are things you really, really , really think are existential….but you won’t build your case for them here because I might not agree with you? WTF. This is a board for ideas. Stop harassing people here for inaction on things you don’t even have the courage to put out there. I think most of us just want to know what the heck you’re always alluding to. If it’s special taxes on Silicon Valley and laws punishing public schools for speech rules, then there’s a reason we don’t see this in the GOP platform or on the docket for congressional votes. It’s not just because center-right Republicans are skeptical of the policy’s wisdom.
” I see it finally got you to delineate what lines you’re willing to push back”
Face palm. Yeah you’re a regular Geppetto. Now, as Dana suggested, go do your homework!
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 2/19/2023 @ 3:28 pmThe complaint was dismissed by Tennessee on technical grounds:
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/19/2023 @ 3:30 pmHow ‘the War Department’ handled “enemy” balloon sightings and shoot downs in WW2:
‘If one should come your way, shoot it down’: The history of the balloon bombs spotted in Alaska and the West during World War II
‘After a brief spate of publicity on the balloon discoveries, American authorities ordered newspapers and broadcasters to refrain from any further mentions. A Jan. 4, 1945 memorandum stated, “Information that the balloons have reached this country and particularly what section they have reached is information of value to the enemy. The War Department is appropriate authority for such information. Please do not aid the enemy by publishing or broadcasting such information without appropriate authority.”
The secrecy had its merits. Any news on balloon bombs would have indeed been treasured intelligence for the Japanese military. In addition, the stunning revelation that Japan could strike at the western United States might have caused a panic.’
https://www.adn.com/alaska-life/2023/02/19/if-one-should-come-your-way-shoot-it-down-the-history-of-the-balloon-bombs-spotted-in-alaska-and-the-west-during-world-war-ii/
DCSCA (1f725d) — 2/19/2023 @ 3:42 pmSo, there are things you really, really , really think are existential….but you won’t build your case for them here because I might not agree with you? WTF
I’ve built my case for them. You’ve dismissed them out of hand because they don’t align with your belief that the culture war is something the right should completely avoid, even in places they actually control.
Stop harassing people here for inaction on things you don’t even have the courage to put out there.
I have put them out before, and they’ve been dismissed time after time after time, with all the same excuses.
If it’s special taxes on Silicon Valley and laws punishing public schools for speech rules, then there’s a reason we don’t see this in the GOP platform or on the docket for congressional votes.
So? I’ve provided specifics, and now you’re butt-blasted because I don’t feel like wasting my energy delineating them all over again. Your evergreen prescription is “we have to get rowing in the same direction,” while refusing to accept the reality that doing so requires a cultural hegemony and common purpose that you’ve made quite plain you’re unwilling to engage on. If you think this is something that only requires the right laws, you’re once again missing the forest for the trees.
Face palm. Yeah you’re a regular Geppetto. Now, as Dana suggested, go do your homework!
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 2/19/2023 @ 3:28 pm
Go f*ck yourself, wimp.
Factory Working Orphan (bce27d) — 2/19/2023 @ 3:44 pmQuinnipiac University National Poll-2/16/23
Paragraph breaks added. Top lines and cross tabs.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/19/2023 @ 3:49 pm“Go f*ck yourself, wimp.”
The refuge for all great minds. I thought you were warned about this….
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 2/19/2023 @ 3:59 pm‘The refuge for all great minds…’
ROFLMAOPIP; hit it, “great mind” ‘Daddy Darth’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JG8vMww89vg
DCSCA (1f725d) — 2/19/2023 @ 4:02 pmTop lines.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/19/2023 @ 4:05 pmAJ,
you insulted him and spoke to him as if he were a child. You got the result you desired.
FWO goes above and beyond to explain his positions and does so with reason and vigor. Yet you chose to troll him. I’m not surprised you’d then run to the mediators. It’s what I expected.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 2/19/2023 @ 4:33 pmI guess lots of folks just like to fight. It’s kind of hard to pick out the posts without that pugilistic center.
I’m tired, folks. Isn’t everyone?
Even if you want to fight, be sure to take a moment to thank the folks who make this blog possible. Patterico, Dana, JVW…thank you. I’m sure you don’t hear that enough in our Yelpified world.
Simon Jester (0d54cc) — 2/19/2023 @ 4:45 pmNo, Rob, that’s a lie. A blatant, demonstrable one. Off the top of my head, I can think of three times this week alone that I criticized asset’s comments. Here’s the most recent. Likewise, your accusation today is merely the most recent time you’ve falsely accused me of dishonesty. I’d say you owe me an apology, but life’s too short to wait for it. You go on soiling these threads with your tribal animosity, and I’ll just have to remind myself (until I forget again) to scroll past when I see your name.
lurker (cd7cd4) — 2/19/2023 @ 4:48 pmYou took multiple swipes at conservatives. You directly targeted FWO and didn’t give him the benefit of the doubt. I’m glad you at least think his desire for violence and re-education camps is repulsive.
I asked the leftwing fanatic when is he going to join up in the war he claims to desire on Feb 3rd. He didn’t respond.
I do notice that it’s more important to you that he’s genial and polite when he flat out states he will be marching you to the chambers. That’s what’s important after all. Much more than those icky conservatives who actually fight back when they are punched in the face.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 2/19/2023 @ 5:11 pmNJRob,
I’ve lost a lot of respect for you in the last 1 minute.
Dustin (a87c64) — 2/19/2023 @ 5:19 pmHi Factory Working Orphan,
You seem like a slow learner. You were warned about this but learned nothing.
You are now in moderation until I decide you have learned. I suspect you will never learn in which case that means forever. *shrug*
Patterico (97b71a) — 2/19/2023 @ 5:23 pmDustin,
you’ve been here for years so I’ll take that with some thought.
I have lost my tolerance for those who spend their time claiming to be conservative while they spend all their time attacking conservatives.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 2/19/2023 @ 5:29 pmHe told someone to go fuck himself after being warned not to do so. I realize you take the side of everyone who is a partisan right-winger, NJRob, but he crossed the line and if you can’t see that it makes me wonder what is wrong with you. Yes, I know, I only come down on Trumpies, blah blah blah. When you’re losing the respect of someone like Dustin, it’s time to dial it back.
Patterico (97b71a) — 2/19/2023 @ 5:32 pmThe definition of “conservative” seems to shift a lot, from people who believe in limited government and a strong defense to dipshits who want to spend trillions on social welfare but are happy to let Putin run the world. If the latter are “conservatives” then count me out and count on me criticizing people like that until I run out of breath.
Patterico (97b71a) — 2/19/2023 @ 5:35 pmThe much anticipated Marianne Williamson 2024 Presidential campaign is to possibly launch on March 4.
steveg (f394ed) — 2/19/2023 @ 5:50 pmI didn’t need to say that. I just think you were unfair to AJ. You’re good people. FWO is obviously out of line and I don’t even care if AJ’s saying nonsense (I agree with him, but it doesn’t really matter). FWO is just hostile to people he thinks owe Trump something, and I think you generally are here in good faith to discuss ideas. You guys are on the same page on many issues, but you still love all of your country, and we both know there are plenty of people, lefty, trump, nevertrump, who have given up on most of the country.
I don’t even know what conservative is anymore. I still want law and order, public safety, balanced budget, American leaders to put America first, accountability for enforcing immigration, educating kids, etc. Most of us want that. Trump supporters want that. But we’re debating people, not idealogy, and none of the people up for grabs will realistically fix immigration, even if they can, or balance the budget.
So we’re all yelling at eachother, but it’s our political class that needs to shape up, and we’re basically helpless.
Dustin (a87c64) — 2/19/2023 @ 5:51 pmNews Item: Haley calls for ‘mental competency tests’ for politicians over 75
Is Darling Nikki insulting those that vote for Republicans?
Above data from November 2020 election. Such a requirement would certainly be unconstitutional if made a requirement to be President or a member of Congress. It would require a constitutional amendment, which would be highly unlikely to succeed.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/19/2023 @ 7:48 pmNews Item: Haley calls for ‘mental competency tests’ for politicians over 75
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/19/2023 @ 7:51 pmHey, I understand things can get heated when people are passionate about what they care about. I’m more frustrated with FWO’s inability to articulate what he wants center-right conservatives to do in the culture war, then I am with the mindless epithet. He seems convinced that we are all useless neocons and that he needs to grind us into the ground when he comes here. Not ever question is a gotcha trap.
This is the sad reality of the GOP right now. There’s an eat your own mentality that has been normalized. FWO and I probably agree in broad terms on most stuff. He is certainly far more passionate than I am about leftist influence in education, but we probably agree about the need for first amendment vigilance and for conservatives to step up in higher education governance, like Mitch Daniels and Ben Sasse. I also agree with him that the Right must remain active in the Courts and that people who feel qualified, and can do it, should run for school board. We disagree on other things that I believe push the bounds on federalism and teh appropriate use of federal power. So be it.
Still, there’s an anger that comes from FWO (and others) that seems hopelessly misplaced here. And I don’t like the rudeness to Dana who is our host and is always gracious. I get that pro-Trump people sense a similar anger from Paul, nk, norcal, Kevin, and me. We do want normalcy back and fervently want Mr. Trump retired. I do criticize Trump supporters and challenge them to want better. My suspicion is that we will all line up and vote for the alternative to Trump come 2024…if he or she wins. Some with more enthusiasm than others.
I don’t think I baited FWO…though I’m glad I paused and modified my first response which probably would have more richly deserved the FU. Unlike some other low-value contributors past and present, I think FWO has something to say. I just wish he would say it and let the chips fall where they may. I don’t want him gone forever if that is the concern. I can ignore him. But a vacation is also clarifying. Our interaction ought to be civil and not so dang personal. Go to Daily Kos if you need to cus someone out…or better yet, agree to disagree.
We DO need to find common purpose and connection on the macro things. The purity testing and ruminations of national divorce and violent uprisings (hello asset) are despair talking. We have to care about what each other is bothered by. I will always work harder to not be dismissive. Hopefully I succeed….
AJ_Liberty (12a545) — 2/19/2023 @ 8:07 pmDarling Nikki leans into the culture wars:
Ron DeSantis owns the “parental rights” space. Darling Nikki hasn’t been governor since 2017, and hasn’t said anything about these issues until now. What did she do about “parental rights” when she was in power?
Her “mental competency” remarks speak for themselves. Clueless.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/19/2023 @ 8:16 pmRip
I saw that as an inexpensive way to slap Rest home Joe without having to put up any collateral
steveg (d71917) — 2/19/2023 @ 8:44 pmAnd a good chunk of the Republican leadership, including Trump.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/19/2023 @ 8:53 pm@291 what war? Demographics will be the future. Re-education camps is my attempt at humor a little comic levity to lighten thinks up or sarcasm if you like. I am not a biden/clinton phony DNC corporate establishment hypocrite. You probably disagree with my views and will criticized them ;but not for being phony or hypocritical. I realize the world will do just fine when I am gone. How about you? Some of your views I agree with economic libertarians fisical conservatives not social leftists ;but social libertarians. Populists Bernie Sanders left trump right have many things in common as do biden/clinton establishment wing of democrat party and corporate never trump republicans. If you disagree what position do I have that is phony or hypocritical?
asset (b60733) — 2/19/2023 @ 9:06 pmShe didn’t qualify her remarks to presidential candidates, so I’m not only one who believes this can turn into a political problem.
And
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/19/2023 @ 9:18 pmI moistly agree with AJ, so I’ll just quibble:
strike “necessarily”
Most of this. I can see licensing people for gun ownership after they have proven proficiency and an understanding of the law. The last thing you want is wild gunfights in a WalMart to “protect” people from an active shooter. Or to stop shoplifting.
I believe that laws can exist to cause public-facing businesses to serve all customers, but not requiring them to participate in someone else’s event that conflicts with their religion. I don’t know where the line ism, but it”s somewhere around putting two grooms on the top of the cake.
Indeed.
I favor this: Throughout state law, where it says “alcohol” substitute “legal intoxicants” and then allow license holders/state stores/whatever to sell to adults. You may want to limit non-alcohol sales to a subset of stores and deny all children access entirely, but the idea is to use (and hold hostage) liquor licensing to ensure proper attention to the laws. This works even if there are more things sold than pot (not that I advocate that).
I will point out that I know people who have destroyed their lives behind marijuana, but, like alcohol, not everyone does.
Yes. Imagine the collapse of the reporting chains at every level. Also more Choice.
Surgeries before the age of consent should ONLY happen in very rare dual-sex cases, and only to the more functional sex. Gender dysphoria should be treated in minors as a psychiatric condition, with therapy to reconcile the minor with their physical sex, at least until they reach the age of consent.
I am fine with the status quo. There is a better case for Obergefell than Loving (not that I’d argue against Loving)
I do not think that authority figures should lead students in prayer at school. Moments of silence, daily reflections, etc, are fine so long as they are private to the individual.
Fixing facilities to handle a solar flare would be good. I have no problem with electric cars; I do have a problem with mandating them (and see my screeds on Chadha)
Most of this is counting coup.
We have prison privatization here in New Mexico. There are problems, particularly with the help. My death penalty charge would be: “Be damn sure of guilt, as, once in a while, the state requires a random juror to throw the switch.” And I’d do that to, with a failure to perform being a commutation.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 9:26 pmNikki Haley: 21 percent favorable, 23 percent unfavorable, 54 percent haven’t heard enough about her.
Let’s see these numbers in July.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 9:31 pmA question that I expect of the MSM panel at the first GOP debate: “Will you pardon those convicted of crimes in the Capitol riot?”
Who says YES!
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 9:34 pmWho says NO!
Who finds grey areas?
Who evades the question entirely?
The much anticipated Marianne Williamson 2024 Presidential campaign is to possibly launch on March 4.
She’s just running to be Trump’s VP.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 9:37 pmAnd a good chunk of the Republican leadership, including Trump.
Well, some of them would pass such a test and some of them would not. Trump? No. McConnell? He has never said a stupid word. Ronald Reagan in 1981? He actually did the day he was shot.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 9:40 pmI don’t think that Rip likes Nikki much.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 9:41 pmasset may like the Bernie Saunders Left because it promises to give seniors a bundle of new goodies and tax the bejeezus out of Millennials and Gen X. Odd, because he also says us old farts are dying off. There’s some cognitive dissonance there. You might think that those young’uns would remember who taxed them to death.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 9:44 pm89-year-old Chuck Grassley.
I wanna watch him do a Sudoku.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 9:45 pm@309, I haven’t followed the cases closely enough. Some of the sentences seem long to me, but again, there were a lot of cops beat up and traumatized….and we were a hair trigger away from a lot more dead people. Recklessness compounds things and there has to be a clear signal that this is not acceptable. Too many militias are probably out there now plotting how to do it “right”. Still, I can imagine some commutations rather than outright pardons. I hope the question isn’t asked because maybe the criminal justice system ought to just work for once without further politicization.
AJ_Liberty (12a545) — 2/19/2023 @ 9:46 pmBTW,
Saturday Wordle in 4, Quordle in 7, Sedecordle and Sedec-order in a standard 20. I think Sececordle is easier than the first two.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 9:47 pmWhat year?
She makes it easy.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/19/2023 @ 10:04 pmI hope the question isn’t asked
I do too, but the press has a way of putting Republicans on the spot with wedge questions like that. They never ask Democrats things like “Do you favor allowing the government to provide a child with an abortion and keep that fact from her parents?”
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 10:21 pmI think Trump would have pardoned many of them without the 2nd impeachment hanging over his head.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 10:23 pmFor Rip:
Sununu’s Moment
Larry Hogan might not run.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/19/2023 @ 10:32 pmThanks for caring.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/19/2023 @ 10:38 pmOh, Nikki, tsk. Basic sex ed is in 5th grade because that’s about when bodies sometimes start to change. There are plenty of girls who start to menstruate in 5th and 6th grade and back in the day didn’t know what was going on and it scared them. They don’t get for real sex ed until 7th grade.
Nic (896fdf) — 2/19/2023 @ 10:42 pm@313 Wrong! Generation Z and millennials will be the first generations two do less well then their parents. Conservatives say the wealthy pay most of the income tax now with top 10% owing 70 % of the wealth in this country. Generation Z can’t afford to buy new cars let alone new houses. Half work at low paying service jobs and the better paid are waited down with student loan debt. They are more socialistic then older generations. Not real socialism where the government owns the means of production ;but european democratic socialism which is actually non-exploitive capitalism. Fewer and fewer young people think they will win the lottery and are ready to tax the rich because they will not get rich. When conservative say debt are children will have to pay they mean the rich who will have the wealth. Texas and floriduh will have plenty of poor people to service the rich and voter suppression only works at the margins. You wont be able to pull a south africa here. 2022 election saw the beginning of generation Z drop the hammer on conservatives and only half are old enough to vote. Your walk away from the democratic party was gaslighting. As one of the marx brothers said the problem with capitalism is can’t make enough people rich. As thoreau said of the robber baron railroads a few ride ;but most are run over!
asset (b60733) — 2/19/2023 @ 10:46 pmBy the time the Republican Presidential Campaign Freak Show arrives in California there will be only two candidates standing, and neither of them will be named Nikki. Every other candidate will be strewn along the campaign trail.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/19/2023 @ 11:16 pmYes-Trump
Evades-Everyone else.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/19/2023 @ 11:22 pmBiden makes surprise visit Ukraine.
East Palestine, Ohio and America’s southern border… not so much.
“Our government has abandoned us.” – resident, E. Palestine, OH
DCSCA (9029c5) — 2/20/2023 @ 2:29 amBagman Biden drops off another half-billion borrowed bucks in Kyiv, too.
… and Jinping smiled.
DCSCA (1d337d) — 2/20/2023 @ 3:36 amIn all, Haley insulted 36 House members and 16 senators in her demand for a new generation of leadership, including 89-year-old Chuck Grassley.
Insult? Pfft. Hard not to chuckle at it being an insultive at all given so many positions of responsibility in society where life, property and costs are at risk require competency testing of some kind– like civilian and military pilots, surgeons, school bus drivers, 18-wheeler drivers [taken a test for that lately Joey?] as well as railroad engineers [taken one for driving choo-choos lately, too, Joey?] Zero reason politicians past 75 years of age shouldn’t be required to take one, too, given the life, property and expenses at risk surrounding the decisions they make.
DCSCA (1d337d) — 2/20/2023 @ 4:00 amMan, woman, person, camera, TV.
When Ronny Jackson could take his eyes off Trump’s strong and powerful body long enough to read the test questions.
nk (8da6e2) — 2/20/2023 @ 6:33 am#306
At the moment, Haley’s requirement is best understood as a dig against Biden, and a subtle dig at Trump, and a reminder that she’s pushing for a new generation of leaders. She also likely remembers Strom Thurmond in his late 90s, clearly not doing much for representation of his state.
I wonder if California is well served by Dianne Feinstein and would that state be better served without the cognitive decline she has shown lately. I doubt Grassley and Mitch would have anything to fear.
Appalled (3a8aa9) — 2/20/2023 @ 7:06 amhttps://brownstone.org/articles/what-happened-at-georgetown-law-with-covid/
Square peg. Round hole. Smash them into socialisy compliance. You will submit.
NJRob (3cc364) — 2/20/2023 @ 7:36 amThe study can be downloaded here.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/20/2023 @ 8:36 amBy the time the Republican Presidential Campaign Freak Show arrives in California there will be only two candidates standing
Neither will be named Trump as he will be unable to travel.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/20/2023 @ 8:52 amAmericans are ready to test embryos for future college chances, survey shows
I think I’d test for more than that, and probably NOT that. IQ, math ability, physical fitness and the absence of any number of defects. “Getting into college” is not all that hard, actually.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/20/2023 @ 8:55 amI wonder if California is well served by Dianne Feinstein and would that state be better served without the cognitive decline she has shown lately.
I think they’d be better served by a bag of hammers than what they are likely to elect.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/20/2023 @ 8:57 amSquare peg. Round hole. Smash them into socialisy compliance. You will submit.
I wonder what they had in mind? Young people in a classroom who would take utterly no precautions in their private lives all assembled in a classroom with professors who were, on average, 30 years older and MUCH more at risk if infected.
The rules were to protect the professors, not the students, although I admit the water thing is weird.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/20/2023 @ 9:04 am@323: Organize your thoughts and use paragraphs and I might read it. I will not struggle through a post from someone who does not take the time to make it coherent or readable.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/20/2023 @ 9:05 amhttps://www.thecollegefix.com/black-history-month-florida-teacher-makes-white-students-act-as-servants-for-black-students/
What are they teaching our children? Racism 101
NJRob (489867) — 2/20/2023 @ 9:14 amKevin,
If the rules were to protect the professors, why were they not masked?
The rules were put in place to enforce the ideology that students are subjects who must conform and not think. Good little Maoists.
There’s a reason they attacked the messenger instead of answering his questions.
NJRob (489867) — 2/20/2023 @ 9:17 amFactory Working Orphan (bce27d) — 2/19/2023 @ 1:34 pm
Oh, any people who claim that is behind the opposition to their curriculum are lying, because they want to tell lies or extremely disputable statements about African American (and related) history.
Sammy Finkelman (fac163) — 2/20/2023 @ 9:36 amColleges might have legal liability for students if they get Covid (but no liability for mandating a federally recommended vaccine even in the extremely rare case – there may have been one in country – where it kills someone because of a too strong immune response/clotting) and they could get sued by professors who object to rules.
Sammy Finkelman (fac163) — 2/20/2023 @ 9:43 am@Apalled@330 Fortunately DiFi is finally finally retiring. She should’ve done it at least before last election and probably 2 elections ago.
Nic (896fdf) — 2/20/2023 @ 10:19 amInteresting post by Stirewalt at the Dispatch regarding how parties choose their nominee. These discussions are good, but I wonder if the GOP leaders are open to broad change, meaning either wider experimentation with rank choice voting, proportional electoral vote counting, closing primaries, changing the ordering of the primaries, or even returning to conventions choosing the nominee (or at least the small slate of nominees).
Trump certainly showed that the current system can be coopted, provided you have social media and that the infotainment arm of the party does not torpedo you. He showed you can raise money via the internet and you can bypass major media or use ratings to hijack it. The question is how do you actually drive change in this environment? It seems like most GOP politicos were caught in awe of Trump and everyone was afraid to challenge the process that made him. That in itself is a big red flag to me.
AJ_Liberty (47cef4) — 2/20/2023 @ 10:21 amHis name will presumably be on the ballot whether he’s convicted of a crime or not. And he still could serve as President.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/20/2023 @ 10:30 amThere goes my support for DeSantis, channeling a chucklehead like McCarthy.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 2/20/2023 @ 10:32 amI can see the anti-Haley campaign commercials now, targeting seniors. It won’t be pretty.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/20/2023 @ 10:32 amIt’s a cry for attention to the 54% who don’t know who she is, I’d say. And pretty thin gruel to offer. “Lightweight” is the word I’m thinking of at the moment.
nk (c758b1) — 2/20/2023 @ 10:36 amI can see the anti-Haley campaign commercials now, targeting seniors. It won’t be pretty.
But she is.
DCSCA (11d458) — 2/20/2023 @ 10:37 amThe New York Times, meanwhile, has added Alec Baldwin’s publicist to its editorial board:
No Old Grey Fake News, it was not while Mr. Baldwin was drawing his revolver. It was after he drew his revolver, cocked it, pointed it at Ms. Hutchins, asked “Like this?”, and pulled the trigger.
nk (c758b1) — 2/20/2023 @ 11:05 amAlec Baldwin catches a break:
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/20/2023 @ 11:20 amRip,
Anything can be a negative ad. In haley’s case, you could combine this cognition test thing with various Haley quotes on greatness/horrors of Donald Trump. (“Nikki Haley — does she even recognize Donald Trump? Does she need a cognition test?”)
There are so many negative ads, though, and so many of them look the same, that I wonder if any of this really matters. And, living in Georgia, I have become an unwilling expert on negative ads.
Appalled (320412) — 2/20/2023 @ 11:27 amI’m looking forward to seeing it! Seriously, it was an unforced error on her part. Now she will be asked about her plan in every interview. And given it’s unconstitutionality, she will have no logical response.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/20/2023 @ 11:36 am61 years ago today, February 20, 1962… when America truly was great:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVZm8VmMRpA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epqpzMPesFA
DCSCA (83487f) — 2/20/2023 @ 12:07 pm@345 There goes my support for DeSantis
oh Montagu, nobody could’ve predicted that LOL
a blank check for Ukraine with no clear strategic objective can never be questioned
JF (9ee717) — 2/20/2023 @ 12:10 pmOur strategic objective supporting Ukraine should be the same as the Ukrainian people.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/20/2023 @ 12:25 pmyeah Rip, and if the Ukrainians want US troops on the ground, who are we to question that
JF (9ee717) — 2/20/2023 @ 12:31 pmIt would certainly be a matter for debate, and Congress could certainly block such involvement. The US has turned down Ukraine’s requests for fighter aircraft and long range missiles (such as MGM-140 ATACMS) and imposed technical restrictions on the use of others, such as HIMARS. I think it is unlikely for US troops to serve in combat in Ukraine. But if Russia attacks a NATO member, then all bets are off.
But as far supporting Ukraine goals, it is their decision how Putin’s War ends.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/20/2023 @ 12:45 pm@357. yeah Rip, and if the Ukrainians want US troops on the ground, who are we to question that
LOLOLOLOL! Not if you’re a MIC hugger w/a portfolio bristling w/DoD stocks.
History rhymes:
‘The government of South Vietnam requested military advisors from the United States to help train the South Vietnamese army. Ho Chi Minh was a communist and during the Cold War of the 1950s and 60s, the aim of the US government was containment of communist power and not to let it spread. The Eisenhower administration provided South Vietnam with money and advisors to help stop the threat of a North Vietnamese takeover. The United States also was pledged by treaty (SEATO) [Now dissolved, but then the southeast Asia version of NATO] to aid the member nations in southeast Asia, if they were attacked by a foreign (communist) power.
Following the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations, President Lyndon B. Johnson also believed in containment and the domino theory. If one nation falls to communism, the next nation will fall, and the next, etc. It became the aim of the Johnson administration to prevent a communist takeover in Southeast Asia. In August, 1964, President Johnson reported to the nation that American ships had been attacked by North Vietnam gunboats in the Gulf of Tonkin, in international waters. The Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution giving the President the power to use whatever force necessary to protect our interests in the area.
At the time, the truth was not reported. > http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2261 In February, 1965, the Viet Cong attacked an American military base near Pleiku. Using the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, President Johnson sent in 3,500 Marines, the first official troops, to South Vietnam. By the end of the year, there were 200,000 US troops in Vietnam.’ – https://www.answers.com/military-history/Did_the_South_Vietnamese_ask_for_US%27_assistance
“I love the smell of napalm in the morning… the smell, you know that gasoline smell? The whole hill smelled like… victory. Someday this war’s gonna end.” – Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore [Robert Duvall] ‘Apocalypse Now’ 1979
DCSCA (83487f) — 2/20/2023 @ 12:55 pmOld people aren’t looking for the oldest person possible as their candidate. I don’t think that’s their thing. They also fully understand that a cognition test proposal is not a swipe at them, but a swipe at Biden and less directly at Trump. This is less a proposal to grapple with the constitutionality of it and more part of a theme: Biden is not mentally quick enough or energetic enough for the job, we need a new generation. It’s actually effective and it’s not an argument that Trump can make persuasively, especially with all of the legal landmines that he has tripped.
The Democrats saw their octogenarian optics problem in Congress and corrected it: Pelosi, Hoyer, and Clyburn stepped aside. Only sadomasochists are excited about Trump v. Biden II. Obviously Haley will have to follow up with policy and vision or it will come across as unduly mean, but as she is competing with DeSantis as the GOP alternative, I’m not sure this gets close to his perceived meanness. Like Trump in 2016, any buzz has people talking more about her than about DeSantis. After 2016 and Trump openly mocking McCain’s military service, I’ve given up on the notion that people are sitting there going, “well that was just too mean”. Shame is dead.
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 2/20/2023 @ 12:56 pmMeanwhile, it looks like MTG is looking for Sherman to march through her district again:
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3866590-marjorie-taylor-greene-calls-again-for-a-national-divorce/
Appalled (320412) — 2/20/2023 @ 1:02 pmBut as far supporting Ukraine goals, it is their decision how Putin’s War ends.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/20/2023 @ 12:45 pm
of course it’s their decision
that means squat
how we choose to support their decision is our decision
JF (e6556b) — 2/20/2023 @ 1:06 pmI think it is unlikely for US troops to serve in combat in Ukraine.
Yet they ARE serving in a combat zone now:
‘In a press briefing on Nov. 1, Pentagon Press Secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder provided detail on U.S. military personnel in Ukraine. He said “small teams that are comprised of embassy personnel” are conducting “inspections of security assistance delivery” in an effort to “track U.S.-provided capabilities and to prevent the illicit spread throughout Eastern Europe”’ – reuters.com
You know… “advisors.” Typical Poopagon BS. Like a balloon is an aerial object; our nukes are ‘bombs’ while their nukes are ‘devices’… and there’s a difference between ‘blank check’ and ‘as long as it takes.’ The script writers of the ‘Five O’Clock Follies’ are endlessly entertaining.
DCSCA (83487f) — 2/20/2023 @ 1:07 pmMTG: “We need a national divorce. We need to separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal government, From the sick and disgusting woke culture issues shoved down our throats to the Democrat’s traitorous America Last policies, we are done.”
Sounds like some of our commenters here. Georgia District 14 should be embarrassed. This is awful reasoning.
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 2/20/2023 @ 1:24 pmAnd they’re doing a d^mn fine job!
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/20/2023 @ 1:27 pm@364 Its called treason and sedition.
asset (edcf7d) — 2/20/2023 @ 1:30 pmI don’t think we disagree; but I’m sure we disagree about the extent of that support. Ukraine should receive whatever is necessary to achieve the victory they desire.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/20/2023 @ 1:33 pmIt’s neither treason or sedition, it’s just being a blowhard.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/20/2023 @ 1:35 pm@365. ROFLMAOPIP which is why keeping it going and not ending this is in the interest of the MIC huggers… w/contracts using obrrowed bucks to the next event horizon when the conflict w/China erupts. Keeping it going gets them kudos and ‘attaboys’ from MIC huggers.
Ike was right.
DCSCA (4b6189) — 2/20/2023 @ 1:36 pm#364
The 14th district is beyond embarassment. They don’t deserve the really good Mexican restaurants the South of the Border immigration has given them.
Appalled (320412) — 2/20/2023 @ 1:56 pm“how we choose to support their decision is our decision”
I don’t think we want to telegraph what our tipping point is…because Putin will certainly test that. The longer this plays out and Ukraine can secure at least a stalemate, the more Putin’s forces get degraded, the lower morale dips, and the more pressure builds to change the regime. And the more it looks like the Russian army is being used as cannon fodder to secure Putin’s dream of legacy, the more the coup will come from the military. I think the Russians are blithely practical. If Putin starts to go the nuclear path as his last gasp gift to humanity, pragmatic Russians will answer “you’re not worth losing everything, you’ve become the bigger threat”.
I see no eagerness for U.S. military personnel or NATO personnel to see action. Not everything is Viet Nam. Ukraine is holding its own and there is little threat of China putting its thumb on the scale. It’s also critical for China to see that we are not putting a timeline or an amount on our support. I don’t see China making a push for Taiwan, but if it thought about it, our resolution here acts as a deterrent. We can’t let petty political squabbles keep us from doing the right thing. We know who is evil in this situation, regardless of how much desperate fetid chaff is sprayed into the blogosphere. Let the morally confused stand with the rapists, child kidnappers, and baby killers. The U.S. should do better.
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 2/20/2023 @ 2:11 pm@371. Not everything is Viet Nam. Ukraine is holding its own and there is little threat of China putting its thumb on the scale.
Not “everything,”– but a significant number of things– Ukraine is hardly “holding its own” as it is desperate for financing from the U.S. and other sources to prop up of their corrupt government, pay salaries, keep the ligts on and so forth… just as w/South Vietnam, beyond the delivery of standard weapons packages from the West and so forth.
And the threat of a Chinese ‘thumb on the scale’ is a little wishful, ‘whistling past the graveyard’ thinking, lest you be reminded of Doug MacArthur’s assurances to President Truman that China would never invade North Korea:
‘On October 19, 1950, the worst fears of President Truman came true, when despite General Douglas MacArthur’s confident assessment that the Chinese would not cross the Yalu River and interfere with the Korean War, 200,000 Chinese soldiers streamed across the river and attacked UN/South Korean forces. MacArthur had told Truman only about 100,000 Chinese soldiers were near the Yalu, a gross underestimate. Even after initial fighting with Chinese, MacArthur did not grasp the scope of the disaster.’ – https://www.historyandheadlines.com/history-october-19-1950-macarthurs-greatest-blunder-china-invades-korea/
Oops.
DCSCA (4b6189) — 2/20/2023 @ 2:27 pmSome here struggle to compare the geography of China entering its neighbor Korea with China getting forces to Ukraine. Maybe they will use a fleet of balloons. Not everything is the Korean War either.
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 2/20/2023 @ 2:56 pm@373. =blink= Maybe planes, trains, trucks and ships… ‘course we know balloons do befuddle MIC huggers.
History rhymes.
DCSCA (e7e508) — 2/20/2023 @ 3:02 pmLet the morally confused stand with the rapists, child kidnappers, and baby killers. The U.S. should do better.
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 2/20/2023 @ 2:11 pm
why yes AJ, anyone who disagrees with you on Ukraine support is standing with rapists and baby killers
this is very profound, nuanced, and not morally confused at all
JF (e6556b) — 2/20/2023 @ 3:26 pm@371. “Morality?”
South Africa joins Russia and China in naval exercises
Russia, China and South Africa have launched joint naval exercises off the coast of South Africa, just days before the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. South Africa has officially taken a neutral stance on the war, but critics say hosting Russian warships at this point in the conflict means Pretoria has essentially sided with Moscow.
https://www.npr.org/2023/02/18/1158169215/south-africa-joins-russia-and-china-in-naval-exercises
Hmmmm… ‘siding with evil’?!
“South Africa is the largest U.S. trade partner in Africa, with a total two-way goods trade of $17.8 billion in 2019. Approximately 600 American businesses operate in South Africa, and many of those use South Africa as a regional headquarters. South Africa qualifies for preferential trade benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act as well as the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences trade preference program. Both governments engage in frequent discussions to increase opportunities for bilateral trade and investment and optimize the business climate.”
https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-south-africa/
B-b-b-b-u-t Elon!
DCSCA (e7e508) — 2/20/2023 @ 3:32 pmGeorge Santos pulls out of Don Lemon interview over Lemon’s sexist, misogynist actions
steveg (c7a1d1) — 2/20/2023 @ 3:42 pm“why yes AJ, anyone who disagrees with you on Ukraine support is standing with rapists and baby killers”
Only if you’re arguing that there is no moral distinction between Russia or Ukraine….or if you see no moral imperative to help. If you object solely on fiscal grounds and have an upper number which you’ve reasoned out, please share that with us. If you instead don’t want a Democrat President to be seen as supporting Ukraine in an effective manner, well, fess up to that as well. If you would love to help Ukraine, but are afraid of escalation because you believe Putin and his threats, then let us know that too. I can then assign you to a more appropriate category. I have a few in mind.
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 2/20/2023 @ 3:45 pm@378. Pfft. Most corrupt in region: Russia; second most corrupt: Ukraine.
“When you’re number two, you try harder.” – Avis Rent-A-Car, Doyle Dane Bernbach, 1963
DCSCA (e7e508) — 2/20/2023 @ 3:50 pmRe: National Divorce
TrumpWorld agrees:
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/20/2023 @ 3:56 pm
@377. CNN’s Licht is likely running the numbers, liabilities and such on a contract buyout for him and the timing… his ratings remain weak in the AM and his interaction w/co-workers on camera continue to degrade. But Lemon has likely deluded himself into believing because he’s black and gay, CNN will never jettison him– or he wants out and wants them to martyr him w/a sweet severance package; but such woke days are on the wane– especially if it comes down to dollars and ratings for a cable news network that is serious need of retooling. News viewers know more about Lemon’s sex life and politics than any news about what happened on the space station this week. When a news reader becomes the news, they’re toast.
DCSCA (e7e508) — 2/20/2023 @ 4:05 pmAJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 2/20/2023 @ 3:45 pm
responding appropriately to this sort of dreck gets people banned
JF (e6556b) — 2/20/2023 @ 4:12 pmRIP actress Barbara Bosson (83). Co-starred in Hill Street Blues.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/20/2023 @ 4:34 pmNever mind, AJ_Liberty. They won’t believe me, either, when I tell them that it’s safe to travel by plane because if it flies off the edge of the Earth it can just turn around and fly back.
nk (c758b1) — 2/20/2023 @ 4:42 pmNo interest in Biden’s racist, unconstitutional executive order demanding government funds be spent on only people who aren’t white men?
NJRob (eb56c3) — 2/20/2023 @ 4:54 pmhttps://legalinsurrection.com/2023/02/it-sucks-that-prof-amy-wax-still-employed-u-penn-law-dean-declared-on-recently-released-2019-audio/
The Maoists run our institutions of indoctrination and will not permit dissent.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 2/20/2023 @ 5:16 pmIf the rules were to protect the professors, why were they not masked?
Because, in order to lecture, they needed to speak easily. THis meant that the students need to take extra care. I assume that everyone was vaccinated (and I would have no patience with a professor who was not).
The rules were put in place to enforce the ideology that students are subjects who must conform and not think. Good little Maoists.
Oh, I should have looked. Rhetorical. You actually didn’t care if I answered.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/20/2023 @ 5:32 pmI can see the anti-Haley campaign commercials now, targeting seniors. It won’t be pretty.
Why do you hate her so? This is worse that DCSCA and the Ukrainians.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/20/2023 @ 5:35 pmI’m looking forward to seeing it! Seriously, it was an unforced error on her part. Now she will be asked about her plan in every interview.
Rip,
Absolutely no one is more aware of the foibles of old people than other old people. Young people may think that there’s a problem with elderly thinking, but it’s old folks that talk about their “senior moments.”
I see no problem with this. It will probably get her a lot of younger voters, and 40yos vote, too. Rick Scott is the one who will never be President due to old folks.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/20/2023 @ 5:40 pmBut as far supporting Ukraine goals, it is their decision how Putin’s War ends.
Or Putin’s. Putin has the power to make this a Russia-NATO fight. The US won’t put troops in until then, as we have no interest in bringing NATO in, ceteris parabus.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/20/2023 @ 5:42 pmMeanwhile, it looks like MTG is looking for Sherman to march through her district again
We could give it back to the Cherokee instead.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/20/2023 @ 5:44 pmThe 14th district is beyond embarassment.
MTG is not actually the craziest representative they’ve sent up. Larry MacDonald was president of the John Birch Society until he died on KAL 007.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/20/2023 @ 5:49 pmImpeaching Biden over border crisis is Republicans’ ‘only tool,’ Andrew McCarthy says
He misspelled stupid.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/20/2023 @ 5:51 pmRIP actress Barbara Bosson (83)
The former Mrs. Furillo. Loved the show, but it’s dated now. Of course every ensemble show since derives from Hill Street. LA Law, E.R., Law & Order et al, One Chicago, etc. Bochco was a genius.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/20/2023 @ 5:55 pmMTG may be a loon, but she simply serves as a balance to some leftist loon and if the media was fair, she’d be viewed as less or equal of a loon as Maxine Waters. She is equal in loonie tunes to Rashida Tlaib in her first years
steveg (42aa52) — 2/20/2023 @ 5:56 pmMTG spouts off in front of cameras. Maxine is smarter than that; she spouts off in the Caucus and in committee markup sessions. She’s learned a poison pen is mightier than a poison mike.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/20/2023 @ 6:09 pmBarbara Bosson was Mrs Steven Bochco in real life during the Hill Street and LA Law period.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/20/2023 @ 6:12 pmI explained my opposition to Darling Nikki in various posts here, and I’m not going to repeat them.
She will be forced to explain a clearly unconstitutional proposal, and commercials will released to remind seniors of her denigrating attitudes toward seniors.
Barbara Bosson was the former wife of series creator Steven Bochco. Fay Furillo was a fictional character she played.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/20/2023 @ 6:28 pmNikki Haley thread link.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/20/2023 @ 6:31 pmAnti-Haley campaign commercials are still something Haley herself wishes for. Nobody is going to waste money attacking her unless she is perceived as a credible contender. Which I more and more doubt that she is with every day that goes by.
nk (c758b1) — 2/20/2023 @ 6:33 pm“responding appropriately to this sort of dreck gets people banned”
Now you know how we feel, Sunshine.
AJ_Liberty (813205) — 2/20/2023 @ 6:42 pmMasks work in a school environment? Against what? Show me the science. This is an ivy league law school.
It’s about submission, nothing less.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 2/20/2023 @ 6:48 pm@390. Now, now Kevin; our Darlin’ Nikki is not corrupt; Ukraine is. And she fills out a sweater better than Bugs-Z.
DCSCA (708440) — 2/20/2023 @ 6:49 pmBarbara Bosson was the former wife of series creator Steven Bochco. Fay Furillo was a fictional character she played.
Yes. She was Furillo’s ex, always hounding him for the alimony. And yes, she was also (much later) Bochco’s ex. Embrace the power of both.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/20/2023 @ 6:52 pmMasks work in a school environment? Against what? Show me the science. This is an ivy league law school.
I refuse to get on this merry-go-round again. You asked “What were they thinking?” and I told you. Sorry if you don’t like the answer, but that’s not my problem.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/20/2023 @ 6:55 pmI know, I know, the first thing a conman does is to sift out the ignorant who can be conned. And one would have to be really ignorant to believe that mental competency for politicians over 75 nonsense is doable. But Haley will be in competition with Trump for that demographic and he has been doing it a lot longer than she has.
As have the septuagenarians. 😉
nk (c758b1) — 2/20/2023 @ 6:57 pmSounds to me like Trump has found his Eastman for his 2024 loss.
nk (c758b1) — 2/20/2023 @ 7:04 pmAnd one would have to be really ignorant to believe that mental competency for politicians over 75 nonsense is doable.
Don’t be so hard on yourself: given so many critical positions of responsibility in modern society require competency testing of some kind as a qualifier, where life, property and costs are at risk– like civilian and military pilots, surgeons, school bus drivers, 18-wheeler drivers as well as railroad engineers… zero reason politicians past 75 years of age shouldn’t be required to take one as a matter of routine for their own safety– and ours. Particularly given the life, property and expenses at risk surrounding the decisions they make. Unless you’d prefer the likes of and untested Squinty McStumblebum driving your kids around in a school bus; piloting the 777 you’re aboard; or on the throttle of a Norfolk & Western locomotive passing through your town…
DCSCA (708440) — 2/20/2023 @ 7:10 pmBut I will post new ones. As I have said before, I don’t think she will make it to the California primary. She will be campaign roadkill long before then.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/20/2023 @ 7:19 pmWorst TV character ever.
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/20/2023 @ 7:23 pmOh, hardly. She was nominated 5 times for an Emmy for that role.
Remember “Flipper”? Or the worst TV show ever: “Maya” there is a very low bottom for TV acting.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/20/2023 @ 7:49 pmHey, I loved “Maya”! It was the first time I saw a kukri.
nk (c758b1) — 2/20/2023 @ 7:58 pmSo, I’m curious. Given the likely contenders (and you just never know who might show up), who would be an acceptable nominee:
* Trump
* DeSantis
* Haley
* Cruz
* Pence
* Tim Scott
* Youngkin
* Pompeo
* Noem
* Abbot
For me, Trump, Cruz and Abbot are unacceptable and I would vote LP.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/20/2023 @ 8:02 pmPence, Pompeo, Youngkin, Scott and Noem are “need to hear more”
DeSantis is a probably, but I’d really like to hear what he’s for.
Nikki is the only sure thing, although Tim Scott, Noem and Youngkin could work out. Pence probably not.
Pence is a dead man walking by favoring Social Security privatization.
Darling Nikki favored the same in the past. Who knows what she believes now?
And who knows what the others believe?
Rip Murdock (d3505f) — 2/20/2023 @ 8:19 pmSo she was 0-5. Fay Furillo was a one note harridan of a character. Unlistenable.
Rip Murdock (57166d) — 2/20/2023 @ 8:32 pm@415, Greg Abbott is an interesting cat. He was a state supreme court justice, a state attorney, and now governor for 8 years. He is not lacking for conservative bona fides. I think he would give DeSantis a run for his money getting to the right of Trump. I’m just not sure that there is enough oxygen for essentially the same guy, with one in a wheelchair. Hilariously, Abbott is hounded from the Right for having been too soft on Covid restrictions and not tough enough on the border (hence Allen West opposition). OK. He is certainly well qualified but like DeSantis it will be a question of selling him to the moderate states. If he runs, it will probably need to be now.
It just seems too fast for Youngkin, but times are a changing. Does he have enough experience to be Commander in Chief and head of the regulatory state? The little bit about him….other than the Lake endorsement news….looks like he’s impressive, but just 2 years in office. I worry that all he can talk about is CRT (and tax cuts) and he will quickly become the Scott Walker of 2024. At 56, he can be on standby for 2028 and beyond in my estimation.
AJ_Liberty (03fa69) — 2/20/2023 @ 9:07 pmAt this point, all I know for sure i that if they’re an election denier, dance around the question, or refuse to come out and directly say that Trump lost the 2020 election and Biden is the legitimate president, they’re out and not getting my vote.
Dana (1225fc) — 2/20/2023 @ 9:37 pm55 Things You Need to Know About Nikki Haley
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/02/14/nikki-haley-2024-bio-what-you-need-to-know-00082742
If you agree with all of them, you’re sick. If you agree with none of them, you’re sicker. If you find the happy medium, you’re sane, alive and have a vision for the future.
“Well, nobody’s perfect.” – Osgood Fielding [Joe E. Brown] ‘Some Like It Hot’ 1959
DCSCA (06bcb3) — 2/20/2023 @ 10:02 pmThe background is a lawsuit for money and the ambulance chasers want to reach into the big pockets.
nk (5daf94) — 2/21/2023 @ 9:20 amIt appears that the Court will not alter Section 230 at this time. The plaintiff’s argument is that the services promoted ISIS content and that promotion makes it partly the services’ content.
That does not mean that other questions about misuse of Section 230 might not be considered in other cases, but this one doesn’t even interest Clarence Thomas.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/21/2023 @ 11:40 amCongress is likely to pass some regulation as to large companies’ moderation processes (e.g. usefully informing the user, appeals, and some reporting requirements) to both limit any misuse of moderation by employees and to acquire information on actual moderation trends for future regulation, if necessary, rather than relying on anecdotal claims.
Kevin M (1ea396) — 2/21/2023 @ 11:47 amhttps://legalinsurrection.com/2023/02/un-inspectors-find-weapons-grade-uranium-at-iran-nuke-site/
Ho hum. Biden’s buddies are almost there. Will he still be in office during the nuclear holocaust?
NJRob (87f219) — 2/21/2023 @ 11:51 am“It is not a short list“, according to the Fulton County grand jury forewoman.
I’m interpreting this as Trump’s “perfect call” being under the categories of “not shocked” and “not rocket science”, and the “not a short list” to include Trump, his accomplices, his accomplices who perjured themselves, and the Fake Electors. We’ll see, but I’ll be surprised if I’m wrong.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 2/21/2023 @ 12:40 pmHow has Ukraine been doing on the rule of law, in the last decade? Signficantly better, says Elizabeth Andersen, executive director of the World Justice Project, in a letter to the Washington Post:
(Links omitted, emphasis added.)
Here’s a link to the project, so you can explore their data on your own. I chose that part of the data, because it shows that between 2015 and 2022, Russia got much worse on the rule of law, the United States got worse, and Ukraine improved.
These changes will not surprise anyone familiar with the characters of Putin, Trump, and Zelenskyy.
Jim Miller (f29931) — 2/21/2023 @ 3:53 pmJim, you can also note that Ukraine improved on the Corruption Perceptions Index while Russia worsened (the US also improved).
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 2/21/2023 @ 5:06 pm@428. Well sure, but whose perceptions? Did they survey any Prohibition Era Chicago gangsters or ’60s sitcom cavalry soldiers? Exactly.
lurker (cd7cd4) — 2/21/2023 @ 5:47 pmPaul – Right you are.
Jim Miller (f29931) — 2/21/2023 @ 5:55 pm@428. ROFLMAOPIP you are soooooooooo desperate:
CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS INDEX
UKRAINE
Rank 116/180
Score change +1 since 2021
https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2022/index/ukr
RUSSIA
Rank 137/180
Score change -1 since 2021
https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2022/index/rus
NINE COUNTRIES TO WATCH ON THE 2022 CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS INDEX:
1. United Kingdon
2. Sri Lanka
3. Georgia
4. Colombia
5. Jordan
6. South Africa
7. Bulgaria
8. Russia
9. Ukraine
Global Corruption Barometer
Russia: Percentage of Public Service Users Paid A Bribe In The Previous 12 months: 27%
Ukraine: Percentage of Public Service Users Paid A Bribe In The Previous 12 months: 23%
https://www.transparency.org/en/blog/cpi-2022-corruption-watch-list-united-kingdom-sri-lanka-georgia-ukraine
DCSCA (3f45e9) — 2/21/2023 @ 6:03 pm@430. Did you actually READ the data??
Nope. Thanks for playing.
DCSCA (3f45e9) — 2/21/2023 @ 6:09 pmProtests outside Iran may make sense, or at least may avoid exposing most of the protesters to danger.
Here is a report:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKFzOKs6guM
https://www.meforum.org/64186/amir-taheri-on-iran-counter-revolution
(this is too hopeful. It did work in Ukraine in 2004 and 2014. Maybe in Hong Kong at one time, but they stopped)
600 killed!! What do we need this for?
This is not new. Only censorship gaveit the illusion of legitimacy in the past.
A breakdown in regime. But he says the 5th condition is not there yet.
And then they’ve got to prevent the use of chemical weapons, like in Iraq under Saddam Hussein or in Syria. Only foreign intervention can make it succeed.
On the other hand this time, there may be no source that can intervene in the regime’s favor Russia is in no condition to do so, and China is unlikely and there are no other powers allied with Iran.
Does anybody realize that the place Iran is most likely to use nuclear weapons is upon a rebellious province??
Taheri wants to bring back the the Constitution of 1906.Maybe agood idea, but that’s post-victory planning
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 2/22/2023 @ 1:28 pmThere is something That I noted down, that was written by Juan Pujol, who was known as “GARBO” in the British XX (Double Cross or Twenty) system during World War II.
He was a Spaniard who in effect got himself into this accidentally. It
constitutes, I suppose, his reflections on both the Spanish Civil War
and World War II.
“There are various ways of fighting absolute rulers: Man to man, by
clandestine methods, in dumb silence, and finally through retreat, but
dying in battle does not bring down tyrannies. The efforts of those who
give their lives to regain lost freedom is never enough. Violence breeds further violence. Those who have sacrificed their lives are followed by others who are tortured and persecuted. Despite all this fighting and dying, it is my firm belief that no liberating changes occur until and unless men use their brains, teach, argue and produce practical solutions for regaining the freedom that has been lost.”
– Garbo by Juan Pujol with Nigel West (Random House, 1985) page 21.
Nigel West is the pen name of Rupert Allason. In one of the books he wrote, he gave is opinion that Kim Philby deliberately attempted to make Stalin’s spy service distrust British warnings of a Nazi attack. He claimed that the Hess flight was part of a plot by the Bolshevik haters in the British Secret Intelligence Service to unleash Hitler on the Soviets. To bolster his own status in Russia?
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 2/22/2023 @ 1:35 pmThe British XX agent codenamed Garbo:
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 2/22/2023 @ 1:36 pmWould-be Testimony of Albany District Attorney David Soares
https://nypost.com/2023/02/19/albany-county-da-david-soares-new-yorks-bail-laws-are-a-bust/
I think the fix is in. The question is who is bribing some important figures in Albany (and elsewhere) to promote increase in crime, and how?
They must be drug dealers. (who need their customers to be able to make money and pay for their drugs while saying out of jail)
All this is no mistake.
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 2/22/2023 @ 1:45 pmhttps://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/18/opinion/trans-gender-missouri.html
Exactly the opposite may be true.
And besides that doesn’t apply say if someone says he will commit suicide if he can’t sleep with a girl. We don’t encourage the girl to sleep with him.
Re: who commits suicide:
From an old article:
https://nypost.com/2021/06/30/inside-the-rush-to-reassign-the-genders-of-kids
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 2/22/2023 @ 2:00 pmI think in the beginning they were only testing for some chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio. [pronounced PalesTEEN}
And now that Norfolk Southern is cleaning it up, nobody is saying what the hazardous chemicals are.
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 2/22/2023 @ 2:03 pmhttps://nypost.com/2023/02/20/covid-infection-provides-as-much-protection-as-vaccine-study/
We’re talking against variants after the Wuhan variant, which is all that’s around now..
Before, surviving a naturally acquired infection provided more immunity than one dose of a vaccine but not two – and the second dose was really given much too soon.
I think that masks may work to reduce exposure and make an infection less dangerous. “The dose is the poison” Something almost ignored throughout the whole pandemic. This is why the number of serious cases used to grow more and more.
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 2/22/2023 @ 2:09 pmOne question that nobody has asked and nobody has answered:
Was it a mistake to burn the vinyl chloride? So what if there had been an explosion? Wouldn’t that have been better than what occurred, and what were the chances of that anyway?
Was the burn conducted mainly or only in order to clear the tracks more quickly??
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 2/23/2023 @ 2:12 pm