Patterico's Pontifications

6/2/2023

Weekend Open Thread

Filed under: General — JVW @ 11:36 am



[guest post by JVW and Dana]

Happy June!

Item 1 – The GOP Wins or Not; Who the Hell Knows?
Here’s my take: Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the GOP House did about as well as could be expected given the circumstances. If you thought that the correct strategy was to blow past the June 1 default deadline while holding out for larger cuts or a more stringent spending cap then, well, OK, but the appetite for that in Washington and elsewhere was mighty small. Mr. McCarthy won the battle when the managed to get his House caucus to pass a debt-limit raise measure, which completely obliterated the Biden Administration’s plan of waiting until the House Republicans came to loggerheads and then force them to capitulate. So the perfectionist element of the GOP is sure that Speaker McCarthy could have wrung more concessions out of President Biden in the same vein as the average knucklehead sports fan thinks they could lead their favorite team to a championship if only their sage advice would be implemented. In reality, the GOP has (temporarily, unless they can follow-up effectively) changed public opinion towards the realization that the spending orgy has to come to an end, and that reality is going to cause a deeper fissure in the Democrat caucus in the long term than this current tempest about not cutting the budget more deeply is causing in the GOP caucus.

It’s a win. In basketball, an 86-85 win counts the same as a 120-77 win does. In tennis, a 7-6, 6-7, 7-6, 6-7, 9-7 win counts the same as a 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 win does. Sure the GOP has very little margin for error going forward and shouldn’t read too much into this minor victory, but the Dems know that they are no longer in complete control of the narrative, and we should all take satisfaction in that.

Item 2 – Personal Coda on the Debt Limit Kerfuffle
I’ve mentioned before that Rep. Thomas Massie was a schoolmate of mine in college, and though I can’t say that I know him particularly well, I am friends with another schoolmate of ours who served as his Chief of Staff when he first came to Congress. So that’s my personal disclosure.

With that out of the way, let me salute Rep. Massie. I know he’s not everybody’s cup of tea: he has an iconoclastic Paulish libertarian streak which I think sometimes misses the mark on foreign policy (though I give him lots of credit for being consistent in his views) and perhaps in the past he’s been too in-your-face for most people’s tastes (though to his everlasting credit, he never in any meaningful sense could be considered a Trumpist). But when the House majority’s credibility depended upon passing the debt ceiling bill, first as the aforementioned partisan measure to be used as a starting point for negotiations and then later in the amended compromise version, Rep. Massie sacked up and accepted that he wasn’t going to get 100% of what he wanted, and voted for the acceptable instead of holding out for the perfect.

The bottom line on Thomas Massie is that he operates in the realm of the practical, not in some sort of theoretical world where Big Government has no constituency, and for that he should be duly saluted. Also, he’s actually an interesting and unpredictable legislator in an era where 90% of members of Congress are cookie-cutter party stooges. I have a soft spot in my heart of coal for those who don’t go along with the crowd, irrespective of party. If Cocaine Mitch decides to retire in — take a deep breath — three short years, then I think the good people of the Bluegrass State could do a lot worse than have Thomas Massie as their Senator.

Item 3 – Biden Falls; Has Legitimate Lawsuit Against Federal Government
Oh dear, our elderly President, after teasing us with several near misses at biting the dust, has gone full faceplant in Colorado Springs:

Those of us who are of a certain age will remember way back in 1996 (Good Lord: 27 years ago) when Bob Dole fell off the stage at a campaign rally in San Jose. Not, mind you, because he was old and feeble (though arguably he was), but because the stage had been badly constructed and the front part had given way. My recollection is that the news media used that as yet another refrain of “Bob Dole [age 73 at the time] is way too old to be President.” Let’s see if the current 80-year-old Commander-in-Chief, who apparently stumbled over a sandbag, is held to the same standard.

Anyway, Joe Biden is a Democrat and a lawyer, so he should have no problem filing a negligence lawsuit against the United States Air Force Academy and collecting big bucks.

Exit question: How many times do you think he has fallen at home and we haven’t hear about it? Could that be one reason for his elongated absences from the public eye?

Item 4 – The University of California Beclowns Itself Again – What’s New?
The largest American public university system — the one which gave us Professor Angela Davis — has managed to match that level of inanity a half-century later by appointing failed and recalled former San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin as the new Executive Director of the UC Berkeley Law School’s Criminal Law & Justice Center. This is yet another data point in the hypothesis that academia is the soft landing for every failed and useless ex-politician (mostly on the left, naturally) who has absolutely nothing of value to offer the private sector.

Coupled with the absolutely wretched student address spewed at the CUNY Law School graduation earlier last month, I don’t think it is entirely out of line to suggest that perhaps all of America’s publicly-funded law schools be closed down permanently and that aspiring attorneys go back to “reading law” for a period of years before making their attempt at the bar exam. If it was good enough for John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln, then By God it’s good enough for the dunderheads of this age. Prove me wrong.

Item 5 – FBI’s Wray Blinks First in Showdown with GOP Congress
FBI Director Christopher Wray has agreed to give House investigators access to a document which purports to lay out evidence that the Biden family (including Joe Biden) received $5 million from a representative of a foreign government in a criminal bribery scheme. Republicans suggest that the FBI is purposely slow-walking the investigation into Biden family corruption in order to drag it out beyond the 2024 election. The bureau counters that the investigation is proceeding, but that these matters take time. Director Wray had earlier offered to allow only the chairman and ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight to view the document at the FBI offices, even though the document apparently is not marked classified and even though committee chairman James Comer (R-Ky) had threatened holding the director in contempt if he did not produce it. It would seem that Director Wray realized that he has not a leg upon which to stand, and the House should learn more about the status of the investigation sometime next week.

Item 6 – Oh, hello:

Federal prosecutors have obtained an audio recording of a summer 2021 meeting in which former President Donald Trump acknowledges he held onto a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran, multiple sources told CNN, undercutting his argument that he declassified everything.

The recording indicates Trump understood he retained classified material after leaving the White House, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation. On the recording, Trump’s comments suggest he would like to share the information but he’s aware of limitations on his ability post-presidency to declassify records, two of the

What this could mean for the current leading Republican:

Make no mistake. This is squarely an Espionage Act case. It is not simply an “obstruction” case.

There is now every reason to expect former President Trump will be charged under 18 USC 793(e) of the Espionage Act.

The law fits his reported conduct like a hand in glove.

(e)Whoever having unauthorized possession of, access to, or control over any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, or note relating to the national defense, or information relating to the national defense which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation, willfully communicates, delivers, transmits or causes to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted, or attempts to communicate, deliver, transmit or cause to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted the same to any person not entitled to receive it, or willfully retains the same and fails to deliver it to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it; or

Item 7 – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says no peace talks until Russia pulls troops out of Ukraine’s borders and Kyiv is able to defend itself:

“A cease-fire that simply freezes current lines in place,” which would allow Russian President Vladimir Putin “to consolidate control over the territory he has seized, and rest, rearm, and reattack — that is not a just and lasting peace,” Blinken said in a speech during a visit to Finland, which recently joined NATO and shares a long border with Russia.

“Precisely because we have no illusions about Putin’s aspirations, we believe the prerequisite for meaningful diplomacy and real peace is a stronger Ukraine — capable of deterring and defending against any future aggression,” added the top American diplomat.

Russia must also pay a share of Ukraine’s reconstruction and be held accountable for launching its full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022, Blinken said, adding that allowing Moscow to keep the one-fifth of Ukrainian territory it had occupied would send the wrong message to Russia and to “other would-be aggressors around the world,” according to Blinken.

Regarding those fears of provoking Putin and escalating matters: It’s already happening:

This, this, this:

Ukraine’s allies can either give what is needed to prevent and deter Russian escalation and save innocent lives or wait for Putin to escalate anyway and kill more. His terrorist track record is clear, so his capacity to cause terror must be reduced.

Item 8 – Heh. No politician can say this with any real honesty:

The MAGA election deniers who wreak havoc against election officials continue to have a negative impact:

Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates, a high-profile election official who has faced heavy scrutiny and harassment in one of the country’s largest counties over the last two cycles, is stepping down at the end of his term…Gates, who, along with his family, has been the target of threats and attacks during his tenure from those trumpeting false election claims, previously said that he suffers from PTSD. He is just one of many election administrators choosing not to run again following years of harassment from conspiracy theorists and a widespread lack of support for their work.

Gates has drawn criticism from defeated Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who tried unsuccessfully to get the county to redo her contest, claiming that “hundreds of thousands of illegal ballots infected the election.”

“Mr. [Gates’] malicious incompetence has been an albatross on Maricopa County,” Lake’s campaign account tweeted in response to the announcement. “We encourage Mr. Gates to never involve himself in representative politics again.”

The county experienced issues with its printers in the midterm elections. But an external investigation completed earlier this year found those problems were due to equipment failure — not intentional misconduct.

Although Lake is not an elected official, with 1.2 million Twitter followers and crowds turning out for her appearances, she continues to influence voters. She is an indicator of what is to come with regard to upcoming elections. The Republican Party remains in the clutches of election deniers and grifters. And while we know that she’s nuts and should not hold public office, it is possible that Arizonans may decide they want her as their next senator, just as Americans may decide that they want Trump as their next president. None of this should not be taken lightly.

Item 9 – It doesn’t look like DeSantis got a bump in polls since making it official:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was surely hoping for a bump from his presidential campaign launch last week. But a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll shows no sign of improvement.

In fact, the survey of 1,520 U.S. adults, which was conducted from May 25-30, suggests that DeSantis may have actually lost ground against frontrunner and former President Donald Trump since officially entering the race for the 2024 GOP nomination during a glitchy Twitter Spaces event with the platform’s billionaire owner Elon Musk.

Among potential Republican primary voters — registered voters who identify as Republicans or GOP-leaning independents — Trump now leads the full field of seven declared candidates with 53%. That’s up from 48% in early May, before DeSantis threw his hat in the ring. And DeSantis now lags further behind than he did just a few weeks ago; his 25% is down from 28% in early May.

Exit questions: What must DeSantis do in order to bring his numbers up? How does he peel off the MAGA voters? Perhaps a better way of putting that would be: just how far right does he need to go to pull voters away from Trump? What about Independents and moderate Republicans?

MISCELLANEOUS

In a truthful nutshell, always this:

[N]o party, no nation, no people can defend and perpetuate a constitutional republic if they accept leaders who have gone to war with the rule of law, with the democratic process, with the peaceful transfer of power, with the U.S. Constitution itself.

–JVW and Dana

287 Responses to “Weekend Open Thread”

  1. Hello!

    Dana (560c99)

  2. Addition to Item 4:

    Harvard has provided a soft landing spot for disgraced former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

    Beginning this fall, Lightfoot will teach a course at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health titled “Health Policy and Leadership,” according to an announcement from the school.

    Lightfoot, who left office on May 15 after losing re-election, will serve as the Richard L. and Ronay A. Menschel Senior Leadership Fellow at the school beginning at the end of August.

    The Menschel program, according to the school, “offers a rare opportunity for those who have recently served in top-level positions in government, multilateral institutions, nonprofit organizations and journalism to spend time at the school mentoring and teaching students who aspire to similar roles. Lightfoot will hold regular office hours to meet with students, faculty and staff during her time on campus.”

    Harvard is a private institution so frankly what they do with their own money and their own reputation is entirely the business of their students, faculty, staff, and alumni. I would love to know what Her Honor is going to be paid for teaching her one class, though naturally Harvard is under no obligation to divulge that info. I’m willing to bet it’s six figures.

    JVW (299071)

  3. Well done, Antony Blinken. Russia must withdraw.

    felipe (70468a)

  4. Vote for Tim Scott!

    felipe (70468a)

  5. Regarding Trump’s Bedminster document problem, he could’ve just been waving around a piece of paper and telling tall tales to impress his golfing buddies, but Milley could confirm the document on his end. The drama just doesn’t end.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  6. RIP legendary songwriter Cynthia Weil (82):

    ……… Weil, along with her husband and fellow song scribe, Barry Mann was responsible for penning some of the most iconic tunes from the 1960s all the way into the 1990s.

    Perhaps her most notable track was the Righteous Brothers’ 1964 hit “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” which is among the most played tunes of the 20th century with over 8 million “airplays,” according to the music rights org BMI.
    ………
    (Other hits) included The Drifters’ and George Benson’s “On Broadway,” “Uptown” by the Crystals, the Righteous Brothers’ “You’re My Soul and Inspiration” and the Animals’ “We Gotta Get Out of this Place.”
    ……….
    Other classic tracks include Paul Revere & the Raiders’ “Kicks,” the Ronettes’ “Walking in the Rain” and Chaka Khan’s “Through the Fire.” The latter was notably sampled by Kanye West for his debut solo single “Through the Wire.”

    Weil is survived by her husband of 62 years and a daughter, Dr. Jenn Mann.

    Rip Murdock (ce8d2c)

  7. My favorite debt ceiling headline (the Daily Mail, course:

    ‘Republicans got outsmarted by a President who can’t find his pants’: GOP Rep. Nancy Mace joins growing list of at least TWENTY-SIX defectors voting ‘NO’ on Kevin McCarthy’s debt ceiling ‘debacle

    As usual, the Republicans snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. The CBO’s analysis showed the debt ceiling deal would reduce the projected deficits by $1.5T over ten years , a mere rounding error. The majority of the additional IRS funding remains, as does the administration’s green energy spending. And the fact that is good for two years instead of one is another Democratic victory.

    Rip Murdock (ce8d2c)

  8. Not apologizing for Trump’s behavior, but charge everyone powerful within the statute of limitations for this type of behavior. No one except blind haters thinks Trump is the first, but he may well be the dumbest because he doesn’t listen to advice on how to accomplish the same thing by skirting the laws, or extricating himself by letting his legal team handle everything like Hillary Clinton did.

    steveg (f5d755)

  9. I used “skirting” incorrectly. “nibble around the edges” is probably a better way to phrase it. I think they teach a how to nibble at the edges class now at FBI school

    steveg (f5d755)

  10. Regarding the late, great Cynthia Weil and her husband and co-writer Barry Mann, I never really cared for “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” which I always found saccharine and trite (and way overproduced by Phil Spector), even if it makes Maverick nostalgic for Goose. My two favorite songs from that duo are one they wrote for Bobby Vee which was more memorably covered by Elvis, and a terrific song they wrote for B.J. Thomas but was covered by Dolly Parton when her producers wanted her to move more in a pop music direction in the late 70s. Dolly had the good sense to insist that a pedal steel guitar be added which helped countrify the pop tune, and it was a tremendous hit for her. My sister had the album when we were kids, so it’s a fond memory of my youth.

    Rest in peace, Ms. Weil.

    JVW (299071)

  11. Now I see I did use it right. I give up.
    See you Monday

    steveg (f5d755)

  12. Regarding the late, great Cynthia Weil and her husband and co-writer Barry Mann, I never really cared for “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” which I always found saccharine and trite (and way overproduced by Phil Spector)

    I’ve never liked it since it became a plot point on Cheers.

    Rip Murdock (1cc78e)

  13. Greetings, homies. I’ve been hanging out in Irvine, CA for the past week. I’m still not sure I ever want to reside in California again, and pay all those ridiculous taxes, but visiting is a pleasure.

    Two observations about Irvine: you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a Tesla, and I’ve never seen so many pretty Asian women outside of Asia.

    norcal (ab6300)

  14. Flashback April 2023: Tim Scott on Donald Trump

    ……..(B)ack in 2021, said that “the one person I don’t blame” for January 6th is Donald Trump.

    Scott also ducked a question about whether he’d support Trump as the 2024 nominee. He responded with the old chestnut “I plan on being the nominee.” But it’s ultimately an unavoidable question—it became explosively controversial in the 2016 campaign—and Scott won’t be able to get away with his non-answer for long.

    In the run-up to the announcement of his exploratory committee, Scott tested the waters with Sean Hannity back in February. Hannity asked Scott what policy differences he has with Trump.

    “Probably not very many at all,” Scott said. “I am so thankful that we had President Trump in office.”

    SCOTT’S ANSWERS REVEAL THAT he doesn’t have a strategy to win the GOP primary. If he did, Scott would have something negative to say about the twice-impeached, one-term, newly indicted former president who oversaw the loss of the House, Senate, and White House.

    Rip Murdock (ce8d2c)

  15. Good grief! (As Charlie Brown used to say.) Bud Light keeps stepping in it:

    Bud Light will donate $200,000 for a second year to support “LGBTQ+ business owners of color,” according to a press release by parent company Anheuser-Busch. The donation is awarded to an organization with a strict process for verifying whether business owners are gay.

    Um, about that verification process. . .

    And also, doesn’t “LGBTQ+ business owners of color” sound like just about the most mealy-mouthed thing possible? What’s next “LGBTQ+ business owners of color who have speech impediments,” “LGBTQ+ business owners of color who have speech impediments and are the victims of domestic violence”? Just how granularly are they going to calibrate the pander? And what does the phrase “of color” truly mean in a legal context? Despite how I am classified, my skin isn’t really “white” so much as it is a reddish-brown. Even where my skin is not sun-kissed, the color is closer to that of sand than it is of snow. So does that make me a “person of color”?

    Oh well, moving on:

    In 2022, Anheuser-Busch announced Bud Light’s partnership with the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) and a $200,000 donation to the chamber’s “Communities of Color Initiative.” Anheuser-Busch released a statement on May 30, 2023, announcing Bud Light’s continued partnership with the NGLCC and another donation of $200,000.

    “This [Communities of Color] initiative is designed to support the growth and success of minority LGBTQ+-owned businesses through certification, scholarships and business development in an effort to create equal opportunities for the economic advancement of small businesses in the LGBTQ+ community,” the statement reads.

    This year, Bud Light will also support the NGLCC’s “CoCi Biz Pitch program,” a new initiative in which LGBTQ+ business owners of color compete for a $5,000 investment. The winner can compete for a $50,000 prize at the chamber’s upcoming International Business and Leadership conference.

    The NGLCC enforces a stringent process to verify whether business owners are gay. Applicants for NGLCC certification must provide documentation to prove LGBTQ affiliation, which can be satisfied with a “letter from three personal references attesting to LGBTQ status of business owner(s),” a “Physician/therapist carry letter or letter confirming transgender status,” or “Bills and/or forms for gender affirmation surgery,” among other records. The chamber then sends a “trained site visitor” to corroborate the application.

    “I’m sorry, Chris, but you’re just not gay enough considering that you only provided two letters attesting to your LGBTQ status and when our ‘trained site visitor’ came to visit your liquor store she heard country music being piped into the store.”

    There has to be absolute panic at Anheuser-Busch in general and the Bud Light division in particular right about now. What else would cause them to come up with plans this cataclysmically stupid? Probably better to fold the division, rebrand, and start anew.

    JVW (299071)

  16. Link to Tim Scott article quote.

    Rip Murdock (ce8d2c)

  17. e)Whoever having unauthorized possession of,

    His possession was authorized, because when he had it sent to Mar-a-Lago, he was still the president.

    willfully communicates, ….the same to any person not entitled to receive it,

    But he didn’t, and (reading the NYT article carefully) he must have explained to them he couldn’t show it to them because it was classified.

    That contradicts what he said later about having declassified anything, but his lawyers have since come up with abetter argument: That when a president treats something as declassified, it becomes declassified. Automatically. Just like verbally saying anything does.

    Classified documents do not belong on Mar-a-Lago, ergo his act of taking them to Mar-a-Lago before leaving office declassified them. In any case while president, he authorized himself to keep them. The issue is too complex to deal with.

    The thing that applies to this matter is the Presidential Records Act of 1978. That’s the only thing that de-authorizes him to keep them. But that is not a criminal law. It has no criminal penalties.

    What is criminal is disregarding a subpoena and lying to do so. Obstruction.

    Now for sure anything marked classified must be a government document.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  18. Welcome back, norcal, even if it’s just for a visit. Irvine is indeed a nice area, though like the rest of Coastal California, it has priced everyone out except for the 10%. I’m sure that UC Irvine has a lot to do with the abundance of attractive Asian women; outside of college life it is difficult for young single people to be able to afford to live in desirable neighborhoods.

    JVW (299071)

  19. Besides Trump lied about what the document he was waving around proved. Although it might be a plausible misinterpretation.

    Let me describe the picture that develops in my mind’s eye:

    After the election, Trump brooded about Iran’s nuclear weapons program. He did not want to blamed for doing nothing should Iran eventually use it on Israel. Even his friends and family might blame him. Nuclear weapons are about the only issue in the public interest that Trump cared about (this theory, by the way, means that Trump assumed he would most likely leave office by Jan 20)

    So he wanted to attack Iran and destroy its nuclear weapons program for, say, at least ten years.

    What General Milley probably produced was a set of options. A lightning strike would not work it said. The only thing that might work is full scale attack on Iran. Something like that.

    Later, Milley went on television later saying he had forestalled an attack on Iran. Trump argued to the ghostwriters for Meadows’ book that it was Milley who was the warmonger — because Milley had included the options of a war with Iran.

    But Milley had done that with the intention that Trump should reject that!

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  20. A song I heard again today in a drug store: (I didn’t know the name of this song

    What I remembered of the song was the refrain …and nobody knows…)

    I think the lyrics are a bit changed

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

    This is better:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5256PW30lM

    I never paid attention to many of the words.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  21. “A cease-fire that simply freezes current lines in place,” which would allow Russian President Vladimir Putin “to consolidate control over the territory he has seized, and rest, rearm, and reattack — that is not a just and lasting peace,” Blinken said in a speech during a visit to Finland, which recently joined NATO and shares a long border with Russia.

    Sounds to me like the long-discussed Ukrainian spring counter-offensive is still set to launch at some point. No sense in supporting a ceasefire until Ukraine has the opportunity to win some territory back.

    JVW (299071)

  22. (B)ack in 2021, said that “the one person I don’t blame” for January 6th is Donald Trump.

    He’s correct, except indirectly, and for creating the critical vote in Congress in the first place.

    Trump had OTHER PLANS for January 6.

    The riot spoiled them.

    And the Jan 6 committee proved that Trump wanted to go to the Capitol himself.

    I don’t think like Teddy Roosevelt leading the Rough Riders on to San Juan Hill.

    But when it happened he didn’t want to tell his supporters to go home. That was too much to ask of him. He was willing to tell them not to attack the police. Which they don’t count.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  23. If you thought that the correct strategy was to blow past the June 1 default deadline while holding out for larger cuts or a more stringent spending cap then,

    The correct political strategy because it would have called Biden’s bluff.

    Both Biden and McCarthy had political problems and they worked to solve each other’s problem.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  24. Wow, Sammy, I hadn’t heard that tune in a long, long while. Thanks for reminding me of it. I think that’s about the only hit, such that it was, for Edison Lighthouse. Number one on the records charts in the U.K. and Ireland, number two in Australia, number three in Canada, and number five in the U.S. Not too shabby.

    JVW (299071)

  25. JVW, I’m not opposed to buying an expensive piece of property down here, because real estate tends to hold, or even increase, its value. It’s the taxes that irk me. I pay $1400 a year in property taxes for my Reno home. Here the property taxes are 10 times that. And don’t even get me started on California state income tax.

    norcal (ab6300)

  26. The correct political strategy because it would have called Biden’s bluff.

    Have to disagree with you here. I think Democrats are cynical enough that they would have been fine with letting the U.S. default, so long as they were confident that the dominant media narrative would blame the GOP. Then when the economy went further into the tank, Democrats would run next year saying, “It wasn’t our agenda in 2021-22 which caused all of these problems; it was the nasty Republicans who held us hostage with the debt ceiling and wouldn’t let us negotiate a solution with them.” There’s no doubt that this would be Conventional Wisdom in Washington during election year 2024 and it would be a millstone around the neck of Republican candidates.

    JVW (299071)

  27. Classified documents do not belong on Mar-a-Lago, ergo his act of taking them to Mar-a-Lago before leaving office declassified them.

    Uh-no.

    Rip Murdock (ce8d2c)

  28. After I heard some hillbilly twist, whose name I do not remember and never want to remember, butcher The Star Spangled Banner (ten seconds was all I could take) at the Indianapolis 500, I never want to hear country music ever again.

    I have heard various theories about the origin of the Southern accent. That it was how the British aristocracy used to talk; that it came from the British-Scottish border country; that it had African influences.

    Now I’m pretty sure that originally Southern toddlers just learning to talk picked it up from squealing shoats in their parents’ pig pens.

    nk (80abcf)

  29. 27, Otherwise you have to say he broke the law.

    Sammy Finkelnan (7f2d71)

  30. JVW (299071) — 6/2/2023 @ 2:48 pm

    . I think Democrats are cynical enough that they would have been fine with letting the U.S. default, so long as they were confident that the dominant media narrative would blame the GOP.

    But that wasn’t going to be the narrative. Too many people knew there was no need to default. And it would have been super-publicized.

    There was the trillion dollar coin, or premium bonds, amd priorotozong debt payments. Biden kept on throwing out 14th amendment authorization but he wasn’t going to go that way.

    DPJ aviided taking a position in court.

    Sammy Finkelnan (7f2d71)

  31. Mr. Mylovanov explains how Kyiv residents live their lives under frequent Russian missile attacks, and the short answer is that they live their lives. Good stuff.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  32. But that wasn’t going to be the narrative. Too many people knew there was no need to default. And it would have been super-publicized.

    Aw, Sammy, you have way more faith in the perceptiveness of the average voter than I do. I mean the average voter seems to believe that we should spend more on major entitlement programs, yet also believes they already pay too much in taxes. And then they say they want the deficit cut. We are rapidly devolving into the most illogical people in the history of the planet.

    JVW (299071)

  33. The debt ceiling horse and pony show was as contrived a piece of theater as you’ll ever see and I include Marcel Marceau trying to find his way out of an invisible box. Pointless, unnecessary and fakier than fake.

    nk (8265d1)

  34. Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 6/2/2023 @ 2:35 pm

    Thanks, Sammy! One of my favorite tunes from that era. I had no idea…

    felipe (70468a)

  35. “All I know is this, everything I did was right.”

    Chutzpah has nothing on Donald Trump.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  36. Here the property taxes are 10 times that.

    They were a lot lower on the West LA House I had bought in 1997. One percent (but mostly 1.25% with local add-ons) of a fixed amount isn’t too bad after a while. The rule of thumb in Prop-13 style states is 1/1000 of the purchase price a month.

    The tax on that $2 million house isn’t so bad if you bought it 20 years ago for $300K.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  37. Caught “What is a Woman” on twitter.

    Obvious, but eye opening video about the conflict between those who support transitioning children and those who want to protect them.

    It’s a battle for civilization.

    NJRob (8f7ad4)

  38. item 4 why not they gave war criminal john yoo a job their. By the way a school district in mormon land (utah) has just banned the bible for sex and violence! I wonder if they will ban the book of mormons for calling black people “filth”?

    asset (5d5140)

  39. item 4 why not they gave war criminal john yoo a job their.

    Nice try, asset, but John Yoo was hired at Berkeley way back in 1993, well before he became famous for his advice to the Bush Administration. He was a tenured professor by the time he became a controversial figure, so your gripe is really with the idea of tenure protections, which a lot of us would probably be willing to join you on.

    Chesa Boudin is way different because Berkeley is hiring him already knowing that he holds ridiculous views which exist far outside of the mainstream of American political thought. They can’t pretend that they don’t know he’s a nutjob radical. And that’s why people like him have no business being hired in academia to begin with.

    JVW (299071)

  40. Not much response to the Kari Lake update. Allow me to remedy that.

    Lake may be evil, or an idiot, or a stooge. But she has latched onto an issue I care deeply about, on my “side” of the issue.

    https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/voting_software.png (posted 2018, well before Lake “entered the picture”)

    The current rule is that people like John Fetterman and Diane Feinstein are qualified to represent the public because they are on the side of their constituents on issues those constituents care about. They may be incompetent, or puppets, or grifters. But they hold up the side.

    Let’s talk about restoring confidence in voter registration, ballot management, machine reliability, counting processes, and post-election audits. Let us not shoot the messenger, when the message is critical to the battle.

    Pouncer (1fcd4b)

  41. https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1664424891372941312?s=20

    Some good news at least. The Daily Wire decided to keep “What Is A Woman” for free on twitter all weekend.

    This is the link. An important film and it shows how desperate so many are to avoid reality.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  42. McCarthy won his debt ceiling vote without a majority of Republicans:

    Voting Yes:

    House:
    149 Republicans
    165 Democrats

    Senate
    18 Republicans
    43 Democrats

    And McCarthy should be proud of this result? I look forward to the “motion to vacate” for negotiating an agreement that a majority of his own party rejected.

    Rip Murdock (ce8d2c)

  43. I look forward to the “motion to vacate” for negotiating an agreement that a majority of his own party rejected.

    Sure, because the GOP’s hard Right cannot beclown themselves enough in the normal course of things. The same folks who destroyed the chance of a Red Wave are not done. They have to drive the party back into the minority so that they can grandstand without the distraction of governing.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  44. As Dana says, the fracture among Republicans is nothing compared to what is happening among Democrats. The Progressives, who will not rest until lawnmowing is nationalized, are at odds with mainstream Democrats who don’t think destroying he economy is a positive good.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  45. As Dana says

    Ooops. Sorry JVW.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  46. Chesa Boudin is way different because Berkeley is hiring him already knowing that he holds ridiculous views which exist far outside of the mainstream of American political thought

    He’s far to the Left of San Francisco political thought. Basically an anarchist directing a Law institute.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  47. Item 9: More From the Yahoo News/YouGov Pol:

    ………
    Another reason DeSantis may be struggling right out the gate is that the more voters learn about his agenda, the less plausible his main argument against the former president — that he would be the more “electable” GOP nominee next November — starts to look.
    ……….
    Asked if “the rest of America would be better off” if it were governed “more” or “less” like Florida, just 29% of Americans say more.

    ……… Yahoo News and YouGov asked about eight proposals that DeSantis recently signed into law in Tallahassee — key planks in the “Florida blueprint” he touts on the campaign trail. None were explicitly attributed to DeSantis. Only two earned more support than opposition among voters, and neither of them attracted majority support.

    These six proposals are more unpopular than not:
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (ce8d2c)

  48. Post 47 Continued:

    Yahoo News/YouGov Poll-DeSantis Florida Proposals (All Voters):

    •Concealed Carry: 22% of voters favor, 69% oppose.

    •Banning DEI in public universities and colleges: 29/55

    • Banning abortions after six weeks: 35/51

    • Requiring governmental review of books in public schools following complaints by parents: 34/50

    • Banning critical race theory and gender studies majors/minors in public universities and colleges: 36/48

    • Arresting persons for trespassing if they use a restroom that doesn’t correspond with their gender at birth: 40/43.

    • Sentencing doctors to prison for up to five years in prison for providing gender affirming care to children: 48/40

    • Prohibiting school employees from using a child’s preferred pronoun if it contradicts their gender at birth: 43/41

    To gauge whether DeSantis’s agenda is helping or hurting his electability, Yahoo News and YouGov then pointed out that “all of the proposals from the previous question have been put forward or signed into law by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis” and repeated a question from earlier in the poll asking respondents to describe their chances of voting for him next November.

    Notably, the number of independents who now said they would definitely not vote for DeSantis rose 4 points (from 34% to 38%) — while the share of potential Republican primary voters who said they definitely would vote for DeSantis dropped by six points (from 55% to 47%).

    Brutal

    Rip Murdock (1cc78e)

  49. Well done, Antony Blinken. Russia must withdraw.

    He goes further than that. Both Blinken and the NATO General Secretary have said that Ukraine will join NATO once this is over.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  50. Rip, your poll report is misleading (and some of the the questions were misleading when asked).

    The carry question is “without a license” — that’s different from “carry” which is mostly legal.

    DEI: Diversity and Inclusion are not all that controversial, but the “E” is for equality of result and THAT is just plain wrong. Anyone who has seen what DEI actually does objects to seeing Black failures being charged to racist professors or “white subjects.” At my alma mater, the administration asked professors for candid, confidential assessments of the first few years of DEI and when they came back highly critical, the assessments were leaked to “out the racists.”

    “Banning abortions after 6 weeks” — Does not include the fact that 10 weeks worth of hoops need to be jumped first. If more understood that it was really a total ban I think that the numbers would be worse.

    The school library books thing would be terrible were it not for the Secular State reviewing them now. It’s not censorship/promotion that they are complaining about, it’s who’s values are being used. This probably didn’t come up in the polling.

    Banning critical race theory and gender studies in state colleges? Isn’t that for the legislature to decide? If not, whom? And again, many of the respondents have a poor grasp of the issue. It’s not “shall we teach about the Civil War and Slavery?”

    The restroom thing is stupid, so of course Florida Man is almost in agreement. I gotta say that if the one-stall men’s room at the market is in use, I’m gonna use the other one and lock the door.

    “Gender affirming care” is a Secular State term that includes a wide range of things, from counseling to castration. The question is bogus to begin with. The GAC proponents will accuse you of being against counseling if you say you’re opposed.

    The only way from keeping the school’s administrators from requiring pronoun conformity (or tacking teacher’s “choices”) is to ban the practice entirely. But again that does not come up in a poll.

    It is indeed brutal, but the poll was designed to be brutal.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  51. *tracking

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  52. Party On:

    ………..
    In 2026, the U.S. will celebrate the semiquincentennial: the quarter millennial since its declaration of independence. To commemorate the anniversary, Trump is proposing a blowout, 12-month-long “Salute to America 250” celebration. ………..
    ………….
    “As a nation, we should be preparing for the most spectacular birthday party. We want to make it the best of all time,” Trump said in the new policy video previewed by POLITICO.
    ………….
    …………. Trump is proposing the creation of a task force on Day One of his presidency to work with state and local governments “to ensure not just one day of celebration, but an entire year of festivities across the nation starting on Memorial Day 2025 and continuing through July 4th, 2026.”
    ………….
    “I will work with all 50 governors, Republican and Democrat alike, to create the Great American State Fair, a unique one-year exhibition featuring pavilions from all 50 states. It’ll be something. The Great American State Fair will showcase the glory of every state in the Union, promote pride in our history, and put forth innovative visions for America’s future,” Trump said in the video.

    “My hope is that the amazing people of Iowa will work with my administration to open up the legendary Iowa state fairgrounds to host the Great American State Fair and welcome millions and millions of visitors from around the world to the heartland of America for this special one-time festival,” Trump said. “Together we will build it, and they will come.”

    Just how the country could fill 365 days of celebration is not entirely clear, though Trump suggests some ideas. He proposed “Patriot Games” for high school athletes……….
    …………

    Actually this isn’t a bad idea, though I would have thought the creator of The Apprentice would have used The Hunger Games as a model…….. 😉

    Rip Murdock (ce8d2c)

  53. Rip, your poll report is misleading (and some of the the questions were misleading when asked).

    It’s the same poll posted by Dana in #9. And all of the items were enacted by the Florida Legislature and signed by DeSantis. See the linked article for references. I summarized the actual language.

    Rip Murdock (ce8d2c)

  54. Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/3/2023 @ 2:57 pm

    What DeSantis enacted in Florida is part and parcel of his platform to “make America more like Florida.” It appears though that voters aren’t having any of it.

    Rip Murdock (ce8d2c)

  55. Rip Murdock (1cc78e) — 6/3/2023 @ 1:08 pm

    Media propaganda works.

    Thanks for telling us.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  56. Hey NJ-

    Did you hear about the arrest of Eunice Dwumfour‘s killer? They knew each other, attending the same church and his name was on her cellphone.

    Rip Murdock (ce8d2c)

  57. ms. kari lake, who is as old as her gums and forty years older than her teeth, is veteran #fake news media

    she has transferred her #fake new skills from the service of purina dog chow to her own purposes

    but she could still save you money by customizing your car insurance so you only pay for what you need

    nk (07fcb3)

  58. Trump is proposing a blowout, 12-month-long “Salute to America 250” celebration. ………..

    No, it should be a somber day of atonement for all the evil we have done. Amiright?

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  59. So, 40% if Floridians think it’s OK for doctors to castrate little boys if they ask them to?

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  60. So, 40% if Floridians think it’s OK for doctors to castrate little boys if they ask them to?

    Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/3/2023 @ 5:06 pm

    No, 40% of the 1,250 adults interviewed nationwide oppose jailing doctors for doing so, while 48% approve.

    Rip Murdock (ce8d2c)

  61. @39 you mean like the ridiculous view that water boarding is not torture?

    asset (f5bd25)

  62. @40 Problem for you. Election deniers have tried time and time again in az to find fraud ;but couldn’t show any fraud. Republicans have past restrictive voter suppression laws in az for many years to stop democrats from voting so fraud is very difficult.

    asset (f5bd25)

  63. Republicans have passed restrictive voter suppression laws

    Name 3.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  64. I look forward to the “motion to vacate” for negotiating an agreement that a majority of his own party rejected.

    Come on, Rip, you know better than this. Here was the final House vote on the compromise:

    Republicans: 149 ayes, 71 nays
    Democrats: 165 ayes, 65 nays

    The idea that “the majority of [McCarthy’s] own party rejected” the bill is ridiculous. I get that you like to take shots at today’s GOP; that is fine and even necessary. Just please stop making your barbs gratuitous.

    JVW (1ad43e)

  65. Interesting thread…

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 5/5/2023 @ 8:59

    https://patterico.com/2023/05/05/or-fortunately/#comment-2707821

    Here is another interesting thread about the source of your interesting thread:

    https://redstate.com/bonchie/2023/06/03/the-incredible-undoing-of-one-of-the-russian-collusion-hoaxs-biggest-proponents-n755987

    Yikes.

    BuDuh (0fb5d0)

  66. We’ll see if there’s a motion to vacate and if the Democrats bail McCarthy out.

    Rip Murdock (ce8d2c)

  67. @63 Here are just a few. Fla. sb 90 ga. sb 202 arrest you for handing out water for people standing in line. Tex. sb1 Restricts election officals from stopping poll watchers from harrasing voters such as demanding they show their birth certificate to vote. Tex. sb 1 fla. sb 90 ga. sb 202 Limits numbers of places, availability of places to vote used to cut number minority of places to vote. Their are plenty more I just got tired of writing them down just google republican voter surpression laws.

    asset (f5bd25)

  68. ‘Unconstitutional’:

    A federal judge said late Friday that a law in Tennessee aimed at restricting drag shows was unconstitutional, saying it was overly broad and violated the First Amendment.
    ………….
    Although only Shelby County, where the lawsuit was filed, is explicitly prevented from enforcing the law, the decision by Judge Thomas L. Parker of the Federal District Court in Memphis (appointed by President Trump) sent a clear signal about the statute that could affect enforcement of the law and lead to challenges elsewhere in Tennessee.
    ………….
    In his 70-page ruling, the judge said the law “reeks with constitutional maladies of vagueness.” He added that the legislature “carelessly, if not intentionally” enacted the measure “for the inappropriate purpose of chilling constitutionally free speech.”
    ………….
    Judge Parker acknowledged what he described as a “compelling state interest in protecting the physical and psychological well-being of minors.” But he pointed to comments from Mr. Todd and other lawmakers during debate and testimony in the State Legislature earlier this year as evidence that the law was “geared toward placing prospective blocks on drag shows — regardless of their potential harm to minors.”
    ……………..

    A more detailed analysis of the decision is here.

    Rip Murdock (ce8d2c)

  69. 27, Otherwise you have to say he broke the law.

    Sammy Finkelnan (7f2d71) — 6/2/2023 @ 3:43 pm

    I have always thought Trump had violated the Espionage Act and never said anything different. My only question is whether he will be prosecuted for it. And it looks far more likely now.

    Rip Murdock (ce8d2c)

  70. arrest you for handing out water for people standing in line

    Or giving anything else of value. The “water giving” as practiced was a cover for electioneering.

    Restricts election officals from stopping poll watchers from harrasing voters such as demanding they show their birth certificate to vote.
    Is that really a thing, or is the Left-wing equivalent of Trump’s complaints? Why would they do that? My betting is that someone made that up.

    Limits numbers of places, availability of places to vote used to cut number minority of places to vote

    It could be like that, I guess. Much like California had “official drop boxes” only is solidly Democrat, hoping to suppress the other way. When Republicans tried to do the same thing in for their constituents, the cops came and took the ballots away.

    After planning for months, the California legislature passed a surprise ballot-harvesting law, which they were ready for but their opposition was not.

    I lived in California for over 60 years. The districts were always gerrymandered for the Democrats. THe press didn’t mind until GOP state3s started doing it. CA is still gerrymandered. They have a citizen’s commission to do it, but they appoint mostly Democrats. Last time instead of 5-5-5 it was 5 political-professional Democrats, 5 closeted Democrats and 5 RINOs with job titles like DEI supervisor.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  71. I have no problem with gerrymandering. It’s as Amerasian apple pie.

    Rip Murdock (ce8d2c)

  72. Try again:

    arrest you for handing out water for people standing in line

    Or giving anything else of value. The “water giving” as practiced was a cover for electioneering.

    Restricts election officals from stopping poll watchers from harrasing voters such as demanding they show their birth certificate to vote.

    Is that really a thing, or is the Left-wing equivalent of Trump’s complaints? Why would they do that? My betting is that someone made that up.

    Limits numbers of places, availability of places to vote used to cut number minority of places to vote

    It could be like that, I guess. Much like California had “official drop boxes” only in solidly Democrat areas, hoping to suppress the other way. When Republicans tried to do the same thing for their constituents, the cops came and took the illegally-cast ballots away.

    After planning for months in secret, the California legislature passed a surprise ballot-harvesting law in 2018, which they were ready for but their opposition was not.

    I lived in California for over 60 years. The districts were always gerrymandered for the Democrats. The press didn’t mind until GOP states started doing it. CA is still gerrymandered. They have a citizen’s commission to do it, but they appoint mostly Democrats. Last time instead of 5-5-5 it was 5 political-professional Democrats, 5 closeted Democrats and 5 RINOs with job titles like DEI supervisor.

    Here in New Mexico, the people passed a citizen’s commission law, but just before it became time to redistrict a judge said the legislature could ignore the commission’s work. And they did. Gerrymanders are trivial now with computers. A state that is 55-45 by ballot is 70-30 by result. 3-0 if you are talking Congress.

    The Democrat Assembly leader said they had to gerrymander or their progressive laws might not pass. This from the party of fair and free elections.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  73. Should be:

    I have no problem with gerrymandering. It’s as Amerasian American as apple pie.

    Darn autocorrect.

    Rip Murdock (ce8d2c)

  74. I lived in California for over 60 years. The districts were always gerrymandered for the Democrats. THe press didn’t mind until GOP state3s started doing it. CA is still gerrymandered. They have a citizen’s commission to do it, but they appoint mostly Democrats.

    The thing about California, is that the legislative districts are — and this is actually probably true — “legally” gerrymandered. What I mean by that is that Civil Rights Laws have been liberally (let’s make that “progressively”) applied such that it is widely held that every elective California body needs x number of black members, y number of Latino members, and, even these days, z number of Asian/Pacific Islander members. So you have these districts which are drawn to ensure that 60 or 70 percent of the voters are black so that an African-American candidate will prevail. And of course, chances are these days that it will be a radical grievance-mongering candidate. Same with Latinos and with Asians.

    There’s an interesting theory that Democrats could truly gerrymander the state and even increase the number of Democrat seat holders, but that would entail having fewer hard-left black and Latino (and even in some locales Asian) legislators and electing more white center-left Democrats. And that’s not acceptable to the grievance crowd.

    JVW (1ad43e)

  75. JVW (299071) — 6/3/2023 @ 12:05 am

    Don’t associate me with asset’s “war criminal” silliness, but as someone who graduated not long before Yoo was hired, I’ve read tea leaves from faculty friends who voted on his hiring, and I don’t believe the Yoo/Boudin contrast is as clear cut as you’re making it. Of course no one could have known about torture memos years before they were written, but Yoo’s potentially fringe views were no secret when he was hired, much less by the time he earned tenure. It didn’t matter. Unlike the law school’s insufferably doctrinaire left-wing student body, the faculty was ideologically diverse and tolerant. Controversial right-wing views simply weren’t a disqualifier.

    Would they have hired him had they known about the torture memos? I don’t know. I’m inclined to doubt it. But for these purposes Yoo and Boudin aren’t equivalent. Boudin made hideously bad policy. It was so far left-wing that it alienated maybe the most left-wing electorate in the country. But no one questions its legality. Yoo’s memos, on the other hand, stretched plausible legality to the breaking point. When you’re hiring law faculty, that’s an important difference.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  76. Of course no one could have known about torture memos years before they were written, but Yoo’s potentially fringe views were no secret when he was hired, much less by the time he earned tenure. It didn’t matter.

    OK, fair enough. But notice that you are referring to “Yoo’s potentially fringe views.” (Emphasis obviously added) With Boudin, there’s no “potentially” about it: he’s a doctrinaire hard leftist. If I read you correctly, this is the idea you are conveying in your second paragraph, and thus we largely agree.

    JVW (1ad43e)

  77. MAGADONIANS?
    I can see why Trump told Hannity not to go after Biden’s mental decline, because then we’d comparing it to Trump’s mental decline and use of childish names.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  78. Once again, China avoids talking about the 35th of May.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  79. If I read you correctly, this is the idea you are conveying in your second paragraph, and thus we largely agree.
    To the extent you’re saying that at the moment of their respective hirings, Boudin’s extremism was better known than Yoo’s, no argument here. How much should be inferred about the wokeness of Berkeley Law’s faculty hiring is where I differed with your reply to asset, though depending on what you meant by “fair enough,” we may have closed that gap too. Either way, at least on the former point, yes, we agree.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  80. (Sorry for the sloppy formatting. In case it wasn’t obvious, there should be a paragraph break after the first line.)

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  81. @70 excuses and what aboutism not refutation. Both sides now gerrymander democrats in self defense republicans for racism see nashville tenn. Mace’s district in SC to name just two.

    asset (0201ac)

  82. @74 Republicans like this idea too! Democrats want district at least 55% minority. Republicans say lets make the district 90% minority so we can have more white majority districts when we clear the blacks out!

    asset (0201ac)

  83. Democrat appointed NY state supreme court threw out democrat legislature’s gerrymandering. Most republican majority courts more morally flexible.

    asset (0201ac)

  84. Hopefully, the grand jury in Trump’s document case will finish their work and recommend indictments. The clock is ticking.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  85. Hi Rip,

    I’m glad you think a bang up celebration of our 250th is a great idea. Why the gratuitous slam then?

    I also think it would be an opportunity to address the culture war front that deals with our history. I prefer an approach the addresses the idea that we were founded by flawed men who did a great thing and have been enriched by the many communities we have in this nation who have also done great things. I realize a big tent approach offends the elites who have obtained their positions through an unrelenting culture war, but this is a fight worth having. Too often, these fights are driven by idiots who hate a book that their child might accidentally read.

    (Note — if you have heard the recent screeching about a liberal parent catching her kid reading the Bulwark at the library —you can recognize this is a very both sides problem)

    Appalled (c631e3)

  86. The folks at JustSecurity drafted what a prosecution memo could look like, and here’s a recap…

    Our memo analyzes six federal crimes in depth:

    Mishandling of Government Documents
    1. Retention of National Defense Information (18 U.S.C. § 793(e))
    2. Concealing Government Records (18 U.S.C. § 2071)
    3. Conversion of Government Property (18 U.S.C. § 641)

    Obstruction, Contempt, False Information
    1. Obstruction of Justice (18 U.S.C. § 1519)
    2. Criminal Contempt (18 U.S.C. § 402)
    3. False Statements to Federal Investigators (18 U.S.C. § 1001)

    I perused but didn’t read the 186 pages, but it’s a thorough clearinghouse.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  87. “Of course no one could have known about torture memos years before they were written, but Yoo’s potentially fringe views were no secret when he was hired, much less by the time he earned tenure”

    I believe that water-boarding runs up against the 8A, but I also think that John Yoo became a convenient focal point of national anger about every excess in the war on terrorism. When you slice through it, he advocated for enhanced interrogation of high-value foreign terrorists held in Cuba who would have had knowledge of potential further mass attacks against civilian populations. And, water-boarding was applied to exactly 3 individuals. 3.

    John Yoo advised against the army deploying enhanced interrogation in Iraq of low-value combatants in that theater. His memos were not applicable to Abu Ghraib, though some may assume that those monstrous acts were fruit of the same tree. I’ve read a number of interviews given by Yoo and some of his scholarship. The man is anything but an unhinged ideologue or zealot. He does believe in a strong Executive but has also railed against Trump and noted the inconsistent views of Biden the Senator versus Biden the President.

    He does try to be consistent with his views of what the Constitution allows, though understands that there is frequently no black or white answer. Sometimes awful actions can still be constitutional, like Trump eventually finding a way to ban Muslims.

    Maybe enhanced interrogation is in fact unreliable, but what if it had been with Abu Zubaydah and it had in fact smoked out a weapon of mass destruction attack? Would the ends justify the means? Would we view Yoo’s memo differently? We firebombed Hamburg and Dresden during WW2 killing thousands of civilians. We dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the primary purpose of killing a lot of civilians. I think John Yoo deserves some perspective….

    AJ_Liberty (24d17e)

  88. Democrat appointed NY state supreme court threw out democrat legislature’s gerrymandering.

    A while back, California voters overwhelmingly rejected the legislature’s blatant gerrymander — as they were Constitutionally entitled to do with any act of the Legislature — but the state supreme court said it didn’t matter. Reapportionment, they said, could only happen once a decade and it already had.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  89. @86:

    Some of those charges resonate more than others.

    Mishandling of obviously classified information (e.g. war plans) is something that most people would agree should be treated harshly.

    Claiming that one’s personal papers are one’s personal papers is more nuanced. Until Nixon this wasn’t even a question, and the law that was passed then was based more on getting hold of Nixon’s stuff than anything long-term. Most of the stuff covered is pretty banal.

    There are those that feel that “lying to the government” (without fraudulent intent and not under oath) should not be a crime at all. Free speech includes lying.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  90. @87:
    e advocated for enhanced interrogation of high-value foreign terrorists … And, water-boarding was applied to exactly 3 individuals. 3.

    We firebombed Hamburg and Dresden during WW2 killing thousands of civilians. We dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the primary purpose of killing a lot of civilians. I think John Yoo deserves some perspective….

    Indeed. And I’m not sure that 8A pertains to foreign fighters captured in wartime out of uniform. They are expressly not covered by the Geneva Convention. Pretty sure you can shoot them out of hand. We don’t, but that is not because of any treaty or constitutional limitation. Maybe the UCMJ; I’m not up on that.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  91. Claiming that one’s personal papers are one’s personal papers is more nuanced.

    Even giving Trump the most benefit of the doubt, the documents with classified markings, whether declassified or not, cannot in any way be construed as personal records, as they were developed by others for governmental purposes. The PRA references personal records as those that are purely personal.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  92. Also, Trump was required under the PRA to separate personal records at the point of receipt or development of said records, and there’s as much evidence that he separated such records as there is that he declassified any documents marked “classified”.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  93. Hi Rip,

    I’m glad you think a bang up celebration of our 250th is a great idea. Why the gratuitous slam then?
    …………
    Appalled (c631e3) — 6/4/2023 @ 8:09 am

    Sorry you didn’t recognize the sarcasm.

    Rip Murdock (ce8d2c)

  94. Sometimes the jokes just write themselves. 😉

    Rip Murdock (ce8d2c)

  95. the documents with classified markings,

    You will note I don’t dispute that. It’s the “retention of government property” thing that bothers me, as whose property might be in some dispute and I doubt most former presidents have filed all the required forms for what they kept.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  96. So, Nikki Haley has a CNN Town Hall tonight at 8ET. Will all those who slammed CNN for using Trump to grab ratings watch this one? Or was CNN right?

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  97. I’m sure her 4% will be watching.

    Rip Murdock (ce8d2c)

  98. I’d expect anyone who is looking to replace Trump will be watching. It’s a bit early for intelligent people to have their minds made up.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  99. I’d expect anyone who is looking to replace Trump will be watching. It’s a bit early for intelligent people to have their minds made up.

    Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/4/2023 @ 11:38 am

    Darling Nikki (and the other Lilliputians) aren’t looking to replace Trump. They are either trying to replace DeSantis or join Trump as his VP.

    Rip Murdock (ce8d2c)

  100. If there was ever a moment for Haley to go on the offensive…it’s now…before Christie joins the scrum and starts to throw his weight around deconstructing Trump. She can’t get caught saying “yeah, what he said”. And if she remains docile and not make the case other than age/sex why she should have the job rather than Trump, then we know she’s either eyeing VP or 2028. Her problem unless she lands a Sec of State gig would be that she will have been out of office for ages by 2028 and a potential rival like Scott wouldn’t have. She needs to get to double digits and do well in the debates. Going after the NeverTrump and moderates will get her easily double digits. She just has to show some life.

    AJ_Liberty (5f05c3)

  101. AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 6/4/2023 @ 11:46 am

    She’s too calculating to make a complete break from Trump, always trying to split the difference. In the end she won’t take a firm position on issues like pardons for Jan. 6 defendants (you know it will come up) or Trump.

    Even if she was correct about the impossibility of a federal abortion ban without the votes in Congress, she sounded like she didn’t want to talk about it at all.

    Rip Murdock (1cc78e)

  102. Could Hunter Biden be the next poster child for Second Amendment rights?
    ………….
    The president’s son is the target of a Justice Department investigation scrutinizing his purchase of a gun in 2018 — a time when he has said he was regularly using crack cocaine. Federal law bans drug users from owning guns.
    …………
    His lawyers have already told Justice Department officials that, if their client is charged with the gun crime, they will challenge the law under the Second Amendment, according to a person familiar with the private discussions granted anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly. ………..
    ………..
    ……… In New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, the court’s six-justice conservative majority ruled that contemporary gun restrictions must be consistent with those of the founding era.
    …………
    Since Bruen, most courts have still upheld the law banning drug users from owning guns, according to Jeff Welty, a professor at the School of Government at the University of North Carolina who closely tracks gun cases. But several have ruled against it.

    “A majority isn’t everybody,” Welty said. “And given how unsettled the law is in this area, I think anyone charged with a violation of that statute would give serious consideration to raising the Second Amendment as a defense.”
    …………
    Just ask Judge Patrick Wyrick, a district judge in Oklahoma who ruled in February that the government could not use the statute to prosecute a defendant who was caught with a gun and had marijuana in his car. In an opinion that relied heavily on Bruen, Wyrick wrote that barring marijuana users from possessing guns “is inconsistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.” He rejected the government’s attempts to defend the statute’s constitutionality, including the government’s citations to 19th century laws that restricted people from using firearms while drunk.

    And in Texas in April, a district judge also ruled against the constitutionality of the law. That case involved charges against a woman who had both marijuana and psilocybin — a psychedelic — in her home. Judge Kathleen Cardone concluded that the ban was inconsistent with the Second Amendment and with America’s early history of gun regulation. The Justice Department has appealed the Oklahoma and Texas cases.

    Other judges disagree……..
    …………….
    “We oppose marijuana-based firearm prohibitions because we’ve seen enough evidence provided by the government to determine that it’s insufficient to justify such a ban,” (Joseph Greenlee, the director of constitutional studies at the pro-Second Amendment Firearms Policy Coalition) told POLITICO. “As far as other substance-based prohibitions go, we think the government should be required to demonstrate that users of that substance are especially dangerous.”
    ……………
    Aidan Johnston, the director of federal affairs for Gun Owners of America, said that his group opposes the ban on drug users owning guns.
    …………
    Given the conflicting rulings in the lower courts, the Supreme Court may one day have to resolve the statute’s constitutionality — and it’s not obvious how the court’s conservative majority would view the issue. ………..
    …………

    Rip Murdock (ce8d2c)

  103. They are either trying to replace DeSantis or join Trump as his VP.

    How about they are looking to be a front-runner in 2028. Worked for McCain & Romney, even Dole.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  104. She needs to get to double digits and do well in the debates.

    How about: She needs to do well in the August debate, then get double digits in Iowa or NH, THEN compete for the lead in SC. Her best bets though are after Trump leaves the contest, should that happen.

    I don’t think she has the fire to pull it off. I think that Scott might, especially if she endorses him as she drops out. I’ll have a better idea after the town hall.

    I also think that she will fail if all she can do is get on the social outrage bandwagon. She has to say something brand new (e.g. “put troops in Taiwan” or “treat China as an enemy, not a trading partner”). Or perhaps call Trump a criminal who should have been impeached. It’s not like she expects a vote from the misogynists.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  105. It don’t see anyone gaining by being Trump’s VP or in his cabinet. Haley was the most successful there, and all it meant is Trump doesn’t hate her.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  106. Even if she was correct about the impossibility of a federal abortion ban without the votes in Congress, she sounded like she didn’t want to talk about it at all.

    It’s far more likely that Congress will bigfoot all the state laws with some kind of 1st trimester limitation, than they would pass a national ban.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  107. I think that the non-Trump candidates have to go with a “damn with faint praise” strategy or a changed the subject back to me strategy. “President Trump is great at marketing his ideas, but he just isn’t the person to execute them.” “We all have our own priorities and things we want to focus on, even when we agree on a lot of things. Here’s how I want to do things…” with maybe a little “We are all equal under the law. I trust the American people…”

    Nic (896fdf)

  108. “President Trump is great at marketing his ideas, but he just isn’t the person to execute them.”

    That’s DeSantis’ shtick. Everyone else has to find something different. It’s like bosons.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  109. Tim Scott is running on “Hope for the future” in a very Reaganesque way. He is the guy who started in the sandlot vs the guy who started on third base. To him, America is already great with opportunity for all, and we just need to come together and realize it.

    Pretty much the opposite of Trump and his beggar-thy-neighbor zero-sum view of the world.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  110. Nikki Haley is running on fumes at the moment. We’ll see in a few hours.

    The rest of them? Meh. Various turns on “we should run Romney again.” While I might agree with that, it’s just not in the cards.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  111. “ Hope for the future” is neither a plan or a strategy.

    Rip Murdock (e6a4f2)

  112. It don’t see anyone gaining by being Trump’s VP……

    Access to power. Pence wasn’t ambitious enough to see the opportunities.

    Rip Murdock (e6a4f2)

  113. Access to power. Pence wasn’t ambitious enough to see the opportunities.

    What? Like Livia and Tiberius?

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  114. Did anyone else see this. SMH

    Clever parsing, which equally clever judges would dismiss.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  115. How about they are looking to be a front-runner in 2028. Worked for McCain & Romney, even Dole.

    Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/4/2023 @ 1:15 pm

    That’s planning too far ahead. And it didn’t work for Romney, Dole or McCain. They may have become the Republican nominee, but they still lost.

    Rip Murdock (e6a4f2)

  116. That’s planning too far ahead. And it didn’t work for Romney, Dole or McCain. They may have become the Republican nominee, but they still lost.

    So did every other Republican who ran those years. They just lost before the finals.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  117. Nikki Haley gets honest on abortion: If there is a national law, it will require a consensus — what that might be isn’t worth debating without facts — but it will involve a reasonable time limit.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  118. Nikki makes a poor soundbite and a dull commercial, but she’s VERY engaging in this format. Expectedly, she’s in a whole different league than Donald Trump. But who isn’t.

    I guess it’s too much to expect that someone who wants to bind the nation together can get the nomination. It’s all about tearing the other guys down with the stupidest arguments possible.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  119. Haley is doing a great job at the townhall. What a contrast with Trump and even DeSantis. She speaks in paragraphs. She comes across as human and tells authentic stories. She talks about consensus and ending the hate-fest. Nay-sayers will nay, but the first step to normalcy is to have candidates act normal. She showed that not everything has to be about Trump. We can talk mormally. She reminded me why I liked her as governor. Smart on her feet and personable. DeSantis is not personable; Trump is not smart.

    AJ_Liberty (3fcdc4)

  120. It’s sad to me how all of us—me included—carry our biases with us, and consider those biases to be based in fact. Any reading of history shows such thinking is, um, suspect.

    So I will break down my opinion, and everyone is welcome to disagree. Just my way of thinking:

    1. DJT is dangerous to our national fabric. He genuinely brings out the worst in seemingly everyone.
    2. DJT’s personality (and its increasing level of cray-cray) simply underscore he is not fit for office. His legal troubles are just beginning.
    3. If voters disagree and nominate him, that is what democracy is.
    4. I like DeSantis better than DJT, but I smell bully. Less than DJT, but still there.
    5. “He fights” is not the same as “I like bullies.”
    6. I like NH (despite all the oh-so-clever “Darling Nikki” business—we all know the Prince song) more than DeSantis and Trump.
    7. If Biden self destructs, which may very well happen, there is a real chance for a non blustery change. A more positive viewpoint. A move, ever so slightly, toward a more positive outlook about our nation.
    8. Nikki Haley and Tim Scott would be an interesting ticket.
    9. Debates will be critical and crucial.

    Thanks for listening.

    Simon Jester (37f06e)

  121. We firebombed Hamburg and Dresden during WW2 killing thousands of civilians. We dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the primary purpose of killing a lot of civilians. I think John Yoo deserves some perspective….

    I consider it sanctimonious presentism to second-guess what we did in WW2, but that doesn’t make it a useful perspective on the propriety of anything we do today. Largely in reaction to what seemed atrocious in hindsight, our norms changed and the law followed. A 21st century Dresden or Hiroshima would be universally considered a hideous war crime.

    I’ve read a number of interviews given by Yoo and some of his scholarship. The man is anything but an unhinged ideologue or zealot.

    Why? Because he’s smart, soft-spoken and polite? He’s doesn’t rant like Alex Jones? John Eastman and Noam Chomsky are smart, soft-spoken and polite too. I find it more productive to label behavior than people, so I don’t call those people unhinged ideologues or zealots. I do call their advocacy unhinged, ideological zealotry. Just because they string together well-formed, seemingly rational predicates doesn’t mean their final conclusory leaps are any better grounded or less fringe. Yoo said that for inflicted pain to run afoul of the torture statute it would have to be of the magnitude associated with death, organ failure, or serious impairment of bodily functions. Yoo said it wouldn’t necessarily violate any law or treaty to crush a child’s testicles. Those assertions are by broad legal consensus outside the debatable mainstream.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  122. Haley is doing a great job at the townhall.

    Yes. All of that. She also is intellectually active, trying to see all the aspects of a problem. Her discussion of the border was outstanding (paraphrase: “You have no idea what is going on there.”). Her discussion of mass shootings was outstanding (short version: mental health services).

    While I have some quibbles with her answers (particularly on Social Security) I don’t see how should could have done a better job.

    And remember, this is Iowa, where primary voters need to be engaged and retail politics works. Not fertile ground for Trump or DeSantis.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  123. Yoo said it wouldn’t necessarily violate any law or treaty to crush a child’s testicles.

    It would be a war crime. It would NOT however be against any law or treaty to refuse quarter to illegal combatants. One of the goals of the Geneva Convention was to protect civilians from indiscriminate slaughter, and to accomplish that it demanded, among other things that combatants wear identifying clothing and carry arms openly. Those that do not have no claim to quarter.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  124. A move, ever so slightly, toward a more positive outlook about our nation… Nikki Haley and Tim Scott would be an interesting ticket.

    IF you follow what those two are doing, it is just that. Hope, opportunity, working together. “The early days of a better nation.” (we can use that, too)

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  125. Nikki Haley and Tim Scott would be an interesting ticket.

    Not really possible; while a presidential candidate and VP candidate can be from the same state, the 12th Amendment prevents the SC electors from voting for both.

    And it’s extremely unlikely that either Darling Nikki or Tim Scott will both be still standing by the time the convention rolls around.

    Rip Murdock (e6a4f2)

  126. While I have some quibbles with her answers (particularly on Social Security) I don’t see how should could have done a better job.

    I didn’t see it-did she give a full-throated denunciation of Donald Trump and call for him to withdraw from the race if he is indicted for January 6th, possessing classified documents, or election interference in Georgia?

    Rip Murdock (e6a4f2)

  127. Not really possible; while a presidential candidate and VP candidate can be from the same state, the 12th Amendment prevents the SC electors from voting for both.

    Thank you for enlightening us. We never read that thing, you know.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  128. @128: not going to play that troll game.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  129. The 12th Amendment same-state restriction serves no longer serves a useful purpose. And if pressed, someone moves (e.g. Cheney).

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  130. It’s not what you know, it’s whom you know. Yoo, Boudin, Lightfoot, and dozens and dozens of others like them, are where they are because they have friends and networks that the administrations of the UC system and Harvard et similia do not want to displease.

    nk (7a76fd)

  131. What used to be called “interlocking directorships.”

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  132. Rip, you can see it again at 11ET

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  133. So, the talking heads are bashing Haley for not giving them a firm position on abortion, as if she should negotiate now against herself before negotiating with the Senate. Reporters are stupid. There is nothing to be gained to stake out a line of demarcation when 1) 80% will disagree no matter what you choose, and 2) any president will likely have to accept another number in the end.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  134. @106 After 2022 election results only republican talking point don’t ask me about abortion!

    asset (b58016)

  135. @135 80% in polling say the oppose abortion ban. Even in red states like kansas where republicans tried to play games like yes means no abortion ban lost by 60% So far republicans have only had to deal with corporate establishment democrats like biden who are squishes for the wealthy donor class. In 2024 far tougher democrats on the abortion issue will be winning elections and taking power.

    asset (b58016)

  136. lurker: “but Yoo’s potentially fringe views were no secret when he was hired, much less by the time he earned tenure”

    Maybe explain this more. I have not exhaustively scoured Yoo’s record and his scholarship, but I’m not seeing a trail of “fringe” views. So, flush that out if you want to better persuade. Instead what I see in the following esquire article is a professor who is generally liked and popular with his students….at Berkeley. If he is in fact a “fringe” academic scholar, he would be unpopular and an unlikely candidate for tenure.

    https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a4577/john-yoo-0608/

    Now with regards to the “torture memo”. First, John Yoo is not responsible for waterboarding and the treatment of detainees at Gitmo. The political operators could have rejected his view and gone with someone else’s. This is not Korematsu where the Court impacted 1000’s of Japanese Americans. This is one man’s opinion on a line that is a bit more nebulous.

    Second, you’re applying the same questionable historical analysis that you claimed I made regarding WW2. In 2002, there was a tangible fear of the next shoe dropping. That terrorists don’t follow the Geneva convention, they target civilians, and they intentionally don’t fight fair. Many saw a ticking bomb situation that emphasized urgency. The question is, do you allow an attack on our civilians if there is any possibility that enhanced interroration can sniff it out when applied to the high-value captives? How would your analysis of Yoo change if such an attack was sniffed out? Hind sight is always 20/20.

    Third, the enhanced interrogation that followed Yoo’s memo saw its application of waterboarding applied to precisely 3 individuals. And these are not chauffeurs or errand boys. This, in my opinion, was a critical part of his analysis. I think, in a time of war (as imprecise as the term was against terrorism), uncomfortable decisions are made. Hence, Hiroshima where over a 100,000 civilian lives were lost in a blink. Here, no one died, they recovered. I doubt the families of the victims of 9/11 and those afraid of the next attack lost much sleep.

    Fourth, Yoo advocated against moving enhanced interrogation to Iraq and in essence putting 18yr olds in charge of it at Abu Ghraib. If he is so “fringe” and horrible and unconscionable, why back off? Why is it fair to tar him with later actions that he disagreed with?

    Personally I think a fair read of the 8A should have led him to a different conclusion. But I also wasn’t on the frontlines of trying to sniff out the next attack. What powers does the commander in chief have fighting an enemy that does not adhere to any conventions and is willing to die to strike fear? The answer might be uncomfortable and yet be constitutional. If someone must be marked as detestable, then it has to be senior leadership. A simple law expert who captured the fear of a nation seems an odd choice….

    AJ_Liberty (3fcdc4)

  137. In 2024 far tougher democrats on the abortion issue will be winning elections and taking power.

    Every member of The Squad will lose their seat in 2024. The real Democrat Party is fed up with you loons.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  138. “and 2) any president will likely have to accept another number in the end.”

    Yeah that aggravated me as well. She’s not running to be a legislator. She’s running because a good chief executive needs to build coalitions, which means not tipping your hand or locking your position. What is possible? I think her answer demonstrated some wisdom. The talking-heads just want to play to the extremes. Most people in the electorate understand there needs to be compromise. Polls show the answer ain’t 6 wks.

    Also, jumping on her about the SocSec retirement number is a bit rich too. Sure, she could have ball-parked it. I’m sure Trump would have made up a number, not that he’s willing to even go there. It’s probably something that might go up with time. Ultimately, it’s a legislative question that would require compromise. We’re kind of silly about ridiculously complex matters being over-simplified…and then attacked anyway. The age has to go up…it won’t be for those in their 60’s or above. That’s fine for right now.

    AJ_Liberty (3fcdc4)

  139. How would your analysis of Yoo change if such an attack was sniffed out? Hind sight is always 20/20.

    Or of his advisees had they rejected his advise and another attack occurred that some of their captives knew about.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  140. I’m sure Trump would have made up a number, not that he’s willing to even go there.

    Trump’s attitude is 1) I don’t need Social Security, and 2) I’ll be gone by then.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  141. I think that, because Courts can pull numbers out of their ass, they think that Presidents can, too. We all know the answer will be between 12 and 15 weeks, but there is no profit for a candidate to say that as it might not be their preference.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  142. The real problem with the social security retirement age, one that is NEVER talked about, is that the job you lose after age 55 or so is the last job you are likely to have. One should have significant retirement savings already in hand by then. Most don’t.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  143. @144, that’s true. Add in another truth that a pipe-fitter ain’t working till 70….so the system better allow for him to save enough through his productive years. I give her marks for at least addressing the question at all.

    AJ_Liberty (3fcdc4)

  144. The other thing that most well-paid, employed pundits miss is that if you are not employed it is insane to wait much past 62 to start taking Social Security, even if you have other savings. There is a break-even point where you start losing out, but it is somewhere in your 80s, assuming they are still paying what they are supposed to pay. Keep your other money invested and only take it out when you have to.

    If you get a job, you can suspend the SS payments and the benefit will be higher when you restart.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  145. @139 the democrat donor class is fed up with non corporate stooge democrats. Only ilhan omar who didn’t attack her corporate stooge opponent in democrat primary who spent huge sums from pro netanhayu donors had a close election. AOC is loved by democrats in her district. Donor class has the money AOC said in 2018 ;but we have the people it has been that way every since! The democrat voter base don’t want squish biden in 2024 they want the squad. I don’t make personal attacks so I will just say look up AOC’s vote totals in primary and general for 2020/2022. Clyburn got the sc dem. primary to go first as biden would lose in Iowa and N.H.

    asset (b58016)

  146. @143 try 12/15 weeks in NY or the west coast. I don’t attack fellow poster ;but golly gee. You really think the majority would just bend over and say thank you sir may I have another! Remember the kansas vote? In az they are about to put an initiative on ballot for 2024. In 2022 prochoice people got over 100,000 signatures in less then a month before the june dead line. You don’t understand the democratic voter base which is rabidly pro-choice and militant. The red states republican party who don’t represent more then half of republicans on this issue (80% of voters oppose abortion ban) can’t get away with this in states they don’t control and lost legislators in the 2022 election. Pulling the stunt in north carolina with a trojan horse only infuriates democrats and pro-choice independents. Further discrediting the biden/clinton corporate wing of the party as donor class stooges.

    asset (b58016)

  147. Maybe explain this more.

    As I suggested above, though maybe too cryptically, I was told by a friend on the faculty. Not that they anticipated anything as fringe as the torture memos, but Yoo’s very partisan ideological bent was well known. The fact that he was hired, granted tenure, and remains popular with his colleagues to this day, even after the torture memos debacle, was exactly my point to JFW: While long predominantly liberal, and probably overwhelmingly so today, the law faculty has never been the hotbed of woke intolerance many associate with Berkeley. The student body is another matter, so I’m a little surprised you say he’s popular with students. My classmates were insufferably belligerent to professors far less conservative than Yoo, and that was >30 yrs ago.

    The political operators could have rejected his view and gone with someone else’s.

    This is one of several times in this and your prior comment that you conflate law with policy. What Bush, Cheney et al did or could have done is the latter, and irrelevant to my criticism of Yoo. His job was to give sound legal advice. Theirs was to make policy constrained by that advice. I happen to have considerable sympathy for the exigencies that informed policy post 9/11. I have none for Yoo’s failure to properly advise them on how far that policy could legally go. If your lawyer tells you you can deduct your mortgage as a business expense because you’re a stripper who gets naked at home, you’ll have my sincere sympathy if you’re dumb enough to believe him. He’s the one I’ll hold morally responsible when the IRS comes calling. Yoo’s advice was so far removed from mainstream legal understanding that prominent Bush lawyers outside the OLC warned against following it, and Yoo and Bybee’s GOP successors in the OLC quickly rescinded and repudiated it as legally unsound.

    In 2002, there was a tangible fear of the next shoe dropping.

    More of that conflation. And again, as a policy matter I sympathize.

    Third, the enhanced interrogation that followed Yoo’s memo saw its application of waterboarding applied to precisely 3 individuals.

    And one more time, that’s about how the advice was used, not the validity of the advice itself. Once given, Yoo was powerless over whether it was relied on to waterboard 3 or 3000.

    Fourth, Yoo advocated against moving enhanced interrogation to Iraq and in essence putting 18yr olds in charge of it at Abu Ghraib. If he is so “fringe” and horrible and unconscionable, why back off? Why is it fair to tar him with later actions that he disagreed with?

    Are you really arguing that he can’t have been fringe in some cases unless he was fringe in every one? Anyway, I said nothing about tarring Yoo with enhanced interrogation in Iraq. Nor was I aware he advocated against it. But now that you bring it up, he did advise that it’s legal for Americans to torture adversaries on foreign soil (citing the SCOTUS case about shooting unlawful combatants that Kevin alludes to above). So maybe he does deserve some of that tar. “Now I don’t think you should take those prisoners to Iraq and torture them there… but if you do it will be legal and nobody can say squat about it. But don’t do that. It would be wrong. But legal. But wrong. But legal!”

    A simple law expert who captured the fear of a nation seems an odd choice….

    No. No. No. The law expert’s job isn’t to capture the fear of a nation. It’s to dispassionately advise his client, these United States of America, on the state of the law as it is, not as that nation wishes it to be because that nation is scared.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  148. Philip Allen Lacovara has served as Deputy Solicitor General of the United States, counsel to the Watergate special prosecutor, and president of the District of Columbia Bar.

    Simon,

    That’s the credentialed individual trying to spit on the Constitution and give Obama a 3rd term.

    Remember that when people appeal to authority and getting back to normal.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  149. If we were to make a list of a 1,000 things that made Bush 43 … ahem … a less than perfect President, John Yoo would be maybe number 697. How that Shrub got away with allowing the worst enemy attack on our soil in the whole history of the United States, and then proceeded to kill a million people across the world, including tens of thousands more Americans, to cover up for it, not to mention all the damage to to our freedoms and values, is something that will forever boggle historians.

    nk (477960)

  150. proceeded proceeding

    nk (477960)

  151. Rip, you can see it again at 11ET

    Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/4/2023 @ 7:45 pm

    Sorry, i decided to have a more enjoyable evening celebrating my girlfriend’s birthday.

    I take it from the lack of headlines she didn’t denounce Donald Trump. What a surprise. As AJLiberty said, this would have been the perfect opportunity.

    Rip Murdock (e6a4f2)

  152. Thank you for enlightening us. We never read that thing, you know.

    Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/4/2023 @ 7:38 pm

    Apparently someone missed when they proposed a Haley/Scott ticket.

    Rip Murdock (e6a4f2)

  153. You really think the majority would just bend over and say thank you sir may I have another!

    They did throughout Europe. Everyone says there are no elective abortions after the 1st trimester. Why does every leftist act as if that were a lie?

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  154. Apparently someone missed when they proposed a Haley/Scott ticket.

    Or maybe you missed what they were actually saying.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  155. How that Shrub got away with allowing the worst enemy attack on our soil in the whole history of the United States

    Maybe you should watch “The Path to 9/11” again. Oh, wait, the Clintons made sure NO ONE ever saw it again. Maybe you should as Sandy Berger — he literally destroyed the evidence.

    and then proceeded to kill a million people across the world, including tens of thousands more Americans, to cover up for it

    oh, please. So much crap in so few words.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  156. *ask

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  157. I take it from the lack of headlines she didn’t denounce Donald Trump.

    That being the sum limit of the MSM’s interest in GOP politics. Or, apparently, yours.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  158. Trump’s lawyers are meeting the DOJ today, maybe with Garland, or Smith, or both. The publicly stated reasons are to “discuss what they call the unfair treatment of Trump by special counsel Jack Smith”, but I think the real purpose is to float a plea deal that keeps their client out of federal prison.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  159. Looks like the counteroffensive has begun.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  160. Question: Why isn’t the Pope sending an envoy to Moscow to “discuss prospects for peace” with Putin? The little Russian ruler is actually the one guy who can end this war immediately.
    Pope Francis keeps sending signals that he’s not a neutral arbiter.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  161. I think the real purpose is to float a plea deal that keeps their client out of federal prison.

    Perhaps the Agnew deal?

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  162. So, I posted a comment between 162 and 163, but it isn’t showing as moderated or anything really. But if I try to post it again, I get a “duplicate comment” message.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  163. Looks like the counteroffensive has begun.

    A surprise attack!

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  164. So now a cisplatin shortage. But no fear, we can just import the Chinese version.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  165. #160

    Query — if a deal keeps Trump out of prison, but only if he stipulates that he will withdraw (and stay withdrawn) from the presidential race, does that feel ok to you?

    To my mind, that deal is acceptable and any other deal is not. I mean, even Clinton had to give up his law licence to avoid prosecution. (Something that the fog of hitory is destermined to erase)

    Appalled (928496)

  166. I take it from the lack of headlines she didn’t denounce Donald Trump.

    That being the sum limit of the MSM’s interest in GOP politics. Or, apparently, yours.

    Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/5/2023 @ 8:08 am

    It would be a start. The longer the non-Trump segment of the Republican presidential candidate field (not including DeSantis or Vivek, who support Trump’s worldview), fail to confront Trump directly the weaker they become and the more dominant Trump becomes.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  167. even Clinton had to give up his law licence to avoid prosecution.

    Not a big deal when someone doesn’t intend to practice law. And he was suspended for only five years. Pretty weak tea.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  168. Query — if a deal keeps Trump out of prison, but only if he stipulates that he will withdraw (and stay withdrawn) from the presidential race, does that feel ok to you?

    To my mind, that deal is acceptable and any other deal is not. ……

    Which would again show a two-tiered justice system. Trump gets off, while low level federal employees and others get hard time (see pages 17-26).

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  169. Better link to #170.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  170. Query — if a deal keeps Trump out of prison, but only if he stipulates that he will withdraw (and stay withdrawn) from the presidential race, does that feel ok to you?

    As I said, the Agnew deal.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  171. See also here.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  172. As I said, the Agnew deal.

    Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/5/2023 @ 10:51 am

    Do you think that if Trump accepted such a deal (a probable impossibility) he would remain quiet and not try to interfere in the election anyway?

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  173. Query — if a deal keeps Trump out of prison, but only if he stipulates that he will withdraw (and stay withdrawn) from the presidential race, does that feel ok to you?

    I’d rather see him behind bars, because federal prison would be a higher level of finality to his ambitions.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  174. The Biggest Political News You Missed Last Week:

    Former Los Angeles Dodgers icon Steve Garvey is considering running for the open U.S. Senate seat in California as a Republican, a move that would immediately upend the 2024 race, according to several GOP state party insiders and operatives who requested anonymity to discuss the former All-Star’s plans.

    The 74-year-old has never held elected office but has been meeting with GOP donors and leaders around the state as he weighs a bid and is expected to make a decision within the next month or so.
    ………
    If Garvey runs, he will focus on quality-of-life issues such as the cost of living and public safety in California…..
    ………
    Garvey has reportedly told potential supporters that he is aware of his odds, but feels it is important for the party to have a prominent name at the top of the ballot, according to multiple people who have spoken with him.

    Because of the state’s “jungle primary” system, Garvey’s entry into the race would be notable. The two candidates who receive the most votes in the March primary will advance to the general election in November 2024, regardless of party.
    ……..
    “Garvey was a sports legend a generation ago, but that’s who makes up the electorate,” said GOP strategist Rob Stutzman, a former advisor to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who describes Garvey as “my childhood hero” but has no involvement in his effort. “And he was huge in two markets. He was a hero in Los Angeles as well as in San Diego for the Padres. He did a ton of advertising over the years. He’s a very well-known former athlete in California, and, assuming a strong and competent candidacy, I think he would absolutely have the opportunity to consolidate the Republican vote in the primary.”
    ……..
    “All I know about Steve Garvey is he was a ballplayer 40 years ago and he has more baggage than the Pacific Surf Liner,” (Eric Early, who ran unsuccessfully for California attorney general in 2022 and 2018, is the most prominent Republican who is officially running) said.

    Among the controversies in Garvey’s past are fathering two children with different women shortly before he married a third.

    Early also pointed to his strength in a recent poll by UC Berkeley co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times. Among voters likely to take part in the primary, Early has support from 18%, nearly all Republicans. Porter is close behind with 17%, followed by Schiff with 14% and Lee at 9%.
    ………

    “If Garvey runs, he will focus on quality-of-life issues such as the cost of living and public safety in California….”

    Neither of which a US Senator can affect. He probably should run for governor if he wants to impact those issues.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  175. Do you think that if Trump accepted such a deal (a probable impossibility) he would remain quiet and not try to interfere in the election anyway?

    Well, if he can’t meet the conditions of the plea agreement, the sentence is no longer suspended, and good luck appealing a guilty plea.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  176. And here’s a question that I think is telling: If Trump is no longer a candidate, how does DeSantis hold onto his “anybody-but-Trump” voters?

    I’m sure there are some pure DeSantis partisans, but I doubt it’s even half his current support.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  177. Do you think that if Trump accepted such a deal (a probable impossibility) he would remain quiet and not try to interfere in the election anyway?

    Well, if he can’t meet the conditions of the plea agreement, the sentence is no longer suspended, and good luck appealing a guilty plea.

    Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/5/2023 @ 11:39 am

    I don’t think a plea agreement can abrogate his First Amendment rights.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  178. Chris Sununu is out.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  179. Rip Murdock (afd316) — 6/5/2023 @ 12:05 pm

    Maybe Trump can take his place at ADX Florence (aka Supermax).

    Rip Murdock (afd316)

  180. Our political life will be fraught as long as Trump is able to run for office. If he is indicted, he will not withdraw, and too much of the GOP electorate does not seem able to accept that Trump is, in essence (if not Constitutionally) a traitor. I don’t think he wins if he is wearing an ankle bracelet during his campaign, but he does deep six any alternative to Biden.

    The country is better served by a 2024 election that isn’t about Trump. So I am willing to not see justice done if the whole Trump thing is removed from the election. It isn’t fair that Trump gets away with something. But it might be better for the country if he does.

    Rip — it’s likely an unfair impression, but it strikes me you would prefer Trump as the nominee to Haley or Scott or DeSantis, because it’s somehow clarifying. I would like to see the full-throated GOP denunciation of Trump you want. But not to the extent that I am willing to elect Biden over it. Don’t get me wrong — if Trump is the nominee, I’ll vote for Biden. But if Haley or Scott is the nominee, I am likely to vote for them, even if they want to get cuddly with Big Orange.

    Now, I actually aree with you that the failure to denounce Trump makes it hard for Haley and Scott to distinguish themselves from Trump. Which means that the low info voter might see no point in looking at them. Unfortuantely, their campaign consultants disagree.

    Appalled (5aa024)

  181. Rip — it’s likely an unfair impression, but it strikes me you would prefer Trump as the nominee to Haley or Scott or DeSantis….

    It’s not an unfair impression, it’s an insult. 😉

    It’s just I’m bowing to realism that Trump will most likely be the nominee, as he is not only leading in national polls by a substantial margin, he is leading in the home state polls of DeSantis as well as Haley and Scott.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  182. @166

    So now a cisplatin shortage. But no fear, we can just import the Chinese version.

    Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/5/2023 @ 10:04 am

    To be fair, most chemo ingredients comes from China already.

    The real issue, is that the US nor US-friendly nations has made any efforts to compete with China so that the West doesn’t have to rely on China for much needed medications.

    It’s a big, not-sexy failure by our leadership.

    whembly (4716ab)

  183. @178

    And here’s a question that I think is telling: If Trump is no longer a candidate, how does DeSantis hold onto his “anybody-but-Trump” voters?

    I’m sure there are some pure DeSantis partisans, but I doubt it’s even half his current support.

    Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/5/2023 @ 11:41 am

    Then Scott/Haley would probably see some movement imo. I still think DeSantis is *the* candidate.

    But, I’ve been wrong before… I thought Rubio had a chance when he threw his hat in the right. What’s the opposite of the Midas Touch?

    whembly (840a86)

  184. The place where, Donald Trump, in a recorded interview in July 2021, waved around in front of two ghostwriters for Mark Meadows’ book (and others) what he said was a classified document that proved former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Miley was the one who wanted to go to war with Iran, not him, was Bedminster New Jersey, not Mar-a-Lago, Florida. This means that it got there as a result of something more than just being included with the packing.

    This probably was the document prepared after the election where Trump wanted possible plans to destroy Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Milley was going around giving interviews saying how he he had stopped an attack. Trump, inn July was saying that Milley was the warmonger.

    The document probably said that a single strike would not work, and that he wanted to do that it would be necessary to commence a more full scale attack on Iran. Milley , of course, had set things up that way with the idea of getting Trump to rule it out.

    It probably discussed some details of what the United States thought Iran’s nuclear weapons program was at, but even if they had the whole document, Iran would not be able to rely on it for much. It might assume defenses they didn’t have for one thing. They couldn’t assume that anything not mentioned was unknown to the United States for the United States maybe also had other knowledge outside the document that was not accepted at the time. The U.S. also could have improved its capabilities since then or learned more. Etc.

    For some reason the prosecutors are asking for this document back, and asking Trump’s lawyers to look for it, when it might very well have been returned already.

    This possibility is not mentioned until deep in a New York Times article:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/02/us/politics/classified-documents-trump-recording.html

    Before all of these searches were conducted, Mr. Trump handed over two separate batches of classified material to the government. One batch was given to the National Archives in January 2022. The other was given to federal prosecutors who visited Mar-a-Lago in June 2022, seeking to collect everything they could in response to the subpoena they had issued the month before.

    In the batch that went to the archives, there was one document concerning military options for Iran, according to one of the people familiar with the matter. But it remained unclear whether that document was the same one that Mr. Trump had mentioned in the recording.

    Trump would want to keep the document so long as nobody knew he had it, but once it was known or knowable that he had it, he had a motive for returning it. So why this semi-certainty that it is still with him??

    By the way, Iran seems to be holding its nuclear enrichment at a point just below what it thinks might trigger an Israeli attack. Hoping that the right political moment comes when they can build a bomb or more.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  185. *

    and that IF he wanted to do that

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  186. “Rest in Hell”

    Why should he rest?

    AJ_Liberty (5f05c3)

  187. The failure of the non-Trump candidates (not including DeSantis or Vivek, who are Trump-adjacent) to forcefully denounce him like Asa Hutchinson has (currently polling around 0%) gives Trump the room to run wild.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  188. Why should he rest?

    That is true; Hanssen (and Aldrich Ames, which should be soon, as he is 82) should suffer eternal torment.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  189. Milley , of course, had set things up that way with the idea of getting Trump to rule it out.

    Too bad, Trump would have gained a lot of political support by attacking Iran.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  190. “failure to denounce Trump makes it hard for Haley and Scott to distinguish themselves from Trump.”

    It was the most poignant criticism of Haley after her townhall…by a democrat. What is her rationale for wanting to be President? Yes, she has some policy differences with Trump/DeSantis…be it entitlements, Ukraine, and perhaps abortion…but her messaging is younger, female, optimistic, and pragmatic problem solver. If Trump is fit, I’m not sure that’s enough. Sure it’s questionable that he can win with his legal problems, but she’s not made that point. If Trump’s not fit, then we need a credible alternative and she has more of a case. She will be talking more and more about her governor and ambassador accomplishments. She is likely the most practiced and natural of the politicians in the GOP field. She knows how to work a stage, connect with people, and parry away tough questions. That will be apparent at the debates where DeSantis likely needs some work. We want 100yd dash results for a cross-country event. No one wants to peak too early or shoot their proverbial wad. No one wants to return home with unused gunpowder. I guess we’ll see…

    AJ_Liberty (5f05c3)

  191. Trump drained the swamp pool to expose hide DC his corruption.

    An employee at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence drained the resort’s swimming pool last October and ended up flooding a room where computer servers containing surveillance video logs were kept, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

    While it’s unclear if the room was intentionally flooded or if it happened by mistake, the incident occurred amid a series of events that federal prosecutors found suspicious.

    At least one witness has been asked by prosecutors about the flooded server room as part of the federal investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents, according to one of the sources.

    The IT equipment was apparently not damaged, but tell me this isn’t a pattern.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  192. The only good thing I read about the Nikki Haley town hall was her support for Ukraine, which seems to be the only issue where she has a substantial disagreement with Trump (and his supporters); along with DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy:

    ………
    “You said in a speech in New Hampshire on Friday that you would not spend another dime of American money on a war that does not affect our interests. You don’t think the possibility of Russia taking over Ukraine is in our interest?” (co-anchor Martha Raddatz) asked him on “This Week.”

    “I don’t think that’s a top foreign policy priority,” Ramaswamy said, later adding, “I don’t think it is preferable for Russia to be able to invade a sovereign country that is its neighbor. But … I think the No. 1 threat to the U.S. military is right now, our top military threat, is the China-Russian alliance. I think that by fighting further in Russia, by further arming Ukraine, we are driving Russia into China’s hands.”
    ……….
    “What I think we need to do is end the Ukraine war on peaceful terms that, yes, do make some major concessions to Russia, including freezing those current lines of control in a Korean-war style armistice agreement. … Which Ukraine wouldn’t want to do,” he continued. “And also a permanent commitment not to allow Ukraine to enter NATO. But in return, Russia has to leave its treaty and its joint military agreement with China.”
    ………

    Uh-huh. Music to Putin’s (and Trump and DeSantis’s ears). I can see Vivek as a VP to either of them.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  193. She will be talking more and more about her governor and ambassador accomplishments.

    What were her accomplishments as ambassador (separate from her representing the Administration’s position)?

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  194. New York Times (with shoutout to Bellingcat):

    Nazi Symbols on Ukraine’s Front Lines Highlight Thorny Issues of History
    Troops’ use of patches bearing Nazi emblems risks fueling Russian propaganda and spreading imagery that the West has spent a half-century trying to eliminate…

    … Ukraine has worked for years through legislation and military restructuring to contain a fringe far-right movement whose members proudly wear symbols steeped in Nazi history and espouse views hostile to leftists, L.G.B.T.Q. movements and ethnic minorities. But some members of these groups have been fighting Russia since the Kremlin illegally annexed part of the Crimea region of Ukraine in 2014 and are now part of the broader military structure. Some are regarded as national heroes, even as the far-right remains marginalized politically.

    The iconography of these groups, including a skull-and-crossbones patch worn by concentration camp guards and a symbol known as the Black Sun, now appears with some regularity on the uniforms of soldiers fighting on the front line, including soldiers who say the imagery symbolizes Ukrainian sovereignty and pride, not Nazism.

    In the short term, that threatens to reinforce Mr. Putin’s propaganda and giving fuel to his false claims that Ukraine must be “de-Nazified” — a position that ignores the fact that Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish. More broadly, Ukraine’s ambivalence about these symbols, and sometimes even its acceptance of them, risks giving new, mainstream life to icons that the West has spent more than a half-century trying to eliminate.

    “What worries me, in the Ukrainian context, is that people in Ukraine who are in leadership positions, either they don’t or they’re not willing to acknowledge and understand how these symbols are viewed outside of Ukraine,” said Michael Colborne, a researcher at the investigative group Bellingcat who studies the international far right. “I think Ukrainians need to increasingly realize that these images undermine support for the country.”…

    … In April, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry posted a photograph on its Twitter account of a soldier wearing a patch featuring a skull and crossbones known as the Totenkopf, or Death’s Head. The specific symbol in the picture was made notorious by a Nazi unit that committed war crimes and guarded concentration camps during World War II….

    … The New York Times asked the Ukrainian Defense Ministry on April 27 about the tweet. Several hours later, the post was deleted. “After studying this case, we came to the conclusion that this logo can be interpreted ambiguously,” the ministry said in a statement.

    Springtime for Ambiguously Hitler?

    More:

    The soldier in the photograph was part of a volunteer unit called the Da Vinci Wolves, which started as part of the paramilitary wing of Ukraine’s Right Sector, a coalition of right-wing organizations and political parties that militarized after Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea.

    At least five other photographs on the Wolves’ Instagram and Facebook pages feature their soldiers wearing Nazi-style patches, including the Totenkopf.
    NATO militaries, an alliance that Ukraine hopes to join, do not tolerate such patches. When such symbols have appeared, groups like the Anti-Defamation League have spoken out, and military leaders have reacted swiftly.

    Last month, Ukraine’s state emergency services agency posted on Instagram a photograph of an emergency worker wearing a Black Sun symbol, also known as a Sonnenrad, that appeared in the castle of Heinrich Himmler, the Nazi general and SS director. The Black Sun is popular among neo-Nazis and white supremacists.

    In March 2022, NATO’s Twitter account posted a photograph of a Ukrainian soldier wearing a similar patch.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/05/world/europe/nazi-symbols-ukraine.html

    Good job NATO!

    BuDuh (68d3a7)

  195. Re: cisplatin shortage.

    There are some letters about that in the WSJ.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/drug-price-generic-shortage-cancer-profit-bd3d8fe?mod=article_inline

    There is a critical shortage of several inexpensive generic drugs (“Why Cancer Drugs Are Being Rationed,” Review & Outlook, May 23). Unfortunately, the agents in shortest supply are some of the most effective anticancer drugs ever developed, such as cisplatin and carboplatin, which are administered as part of curative treatment regimens for many cancers.

    Your editorial implies that a cause of this shortage is the low profit margins of these drugs, which have “shriveled owing to government efforts to reduce drug spending.” I disagree. The root cause of the shortages of inexpensive drugs is the high prices of many other drug products that compete for the same supply chain and manufacturing facilities. The price differential between generic drugs and patent-protected drugs has increased dramatically in recent years.

    For example, cisplatin is a component of the preferred regimen for limited stage small cell lung cancer, a potentially curative disease, at a sale price of approximately $25 every three weeks. For patients who aren’t cured, lurbinectedin is approved and readily available at a sale price of approximately $10,000 every three weeks. Since the supply chain is rate-limiting, the supplies and manufacturing capacity will be allocated to those firms that are willing and able to pay.

    This is evidence of market failure, which won’t be resolved without government intervention, such as a reserve stockpile of inexpensive drugs, as we have for many types of vaccines. Improving the incentive to develop new expensive drugs will exacerbate rather than ameliorate the current shortages.

    Prof. Mark J. Ratain, M.D.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/drug-prices-shortages-market-government-supply-19ed10ff

    Prof. Mark Ratain’s letter (May 31) raises an interesting point about the drug supply chain, but he mistakenly concludes that the shortages are evidence of a market failure. Drug manufacturers prefer making high-profit-margin drugs to low-profit-margin drugs. As an example, he cites the $25 cisplatin being crowded out of factories by the $10,000 lurbinectedin.

    If cisplatin is more desirable, then the market would pay more to get it. Politics spoils this market response. If the cost of generic cisplatin rose high enough that factories would manufacture more of it, there would be a political backlash, similar to that with high-priced insulin. So the price stays artificially low, despite demand pressures, and as a result, supply is limited. This isn’t a market failure; it’s a political failure. The solution isn’t more government regulation; it’s less.

    Bob Alexander

    It probably is caused by the fact that Medicare and others are not open to the possibility of temporarily paying windfall prices, and that manufacturers can charge any amount for patented drugs so they go for that if at all possible..

    The worst shortages are with things that can’t be stored long.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/drug-prices-shortages-market-government-supply-19ed10ff

    Sammy Finkelman (d007a3)

  196. RedState on Haley Town Hall: Meh.

    ………
    Haley’s performance was a bit of a mixed bag. She answered some questions well, but then there were others that showed exactly why she’s gaining no traction in the Republican primary.

    For example, when pressed on the possibility of a six-week abortion ban crossing her desk as president, Haley deflected, saying that host Jake Tapper should try asking Joe Biden and Kamala Harris whether they support late-term abortion…….

    As I’ve said, the best answer (in my view) is that we fought for decades to make abortion a state issue and that it should remain one. …….

    Of course, Haley also played the fact that she’s a woman, which has pretty much been the extent of her campaign so far.
    ………
    This stuff is cringe …….. Haley needs to make a case for herself without falling back on her womanhood somehow representing a clear and present advantage. That stuff just doesn’t play in a Republican primary.

    When asked to define “woke” (another favorite gotcha question of the left), Haley fumbled a bit.
    ………
    Unfortunately, Haley didn’t do any better when it came time for her to draw a contrast with the other GOP candidates. When asked about Disney’s battle with Ron DeSantis, she repeated an incredibly telling attack.
    ………..
    We already know that Haley supports Disney in that fight, as she made a laughable call for them to move to South Carolina recently. But for her to continue this ridiculous, false line of attack that DeSantis is just being thin-skinned is a bridge too far. Republicans who don’t know what time it is have zero justification to be the Republican nominee.

    Further, have none of Haley’s consultants told her that this line about Disney donating to DeSantis is self-defeating? She’s essentially announcing that if donors give her money, she’ll do whatever they want. ……..

    I just don’t understand Haley’s campaign. She refuses to say anything overly negative about the front-runner in Donald Trump while she keeps making these petty, misleading attacks on DeSantis that only make her look worse. All the while, people from both the Trump and DeSantis camp can’t stand her. Whatever her campaign was supposed to be, it’s devolved into what it currently is, and what it currently is won’t be winning anything (including a VP slot).
    #########

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  197. ” Ramaswamy said, later adding, “I don’t think it is preferable for Russia to be able to invade a sovereign country that is its neighbor. But … I think the No. 1 threat to the U.S. military is right now, our top military threat, is the China-Russian alliance. I think that by fighting further in Russia, by further arming Ukraine, we are driving Russia into China’s hands.”

    Very fallacious and motivated reasoning.

    Right now China is not sending any military aid to Russia and an invasion of Taiwan is at least three years away. But if you postponed the fighting with Russia they could happen at the same time.

    And even if you wanted it, a Korean style armistice agreement isn’t on the table.

    A decision by Russia to give up the war for good cannot be negit==otiaed – it must just happen.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  198. I don’t think a plea agreement can abrogate his First Amendment rights.

    Of course it can. There are any number of convicted hackers who have given up their right to converse on the internet or own cell phones.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  199. 122

    . If Biden self destructs, which may very well happen, there is a real chance for a non blustery change. A more positive viewpoint.

    Not really.”There’s nobody good on the horizon.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  200. I don’t think a plea agreement can abrogate his First Amendment rights.

    Of course it can. There are any number of convicted hackers who have given up their right to converse on the internet or own cell phones.

    Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/5/2023 @ 2:41 pm

    But they can still converse in other ways. A permanent gag order on Trump’s speech through any medium would be unconstitutional (which is the only way to prevent him from interfering in the election). But I doubt Trump would take a plea deal. It’s not in his nature. He will use an indictment to further rally his supporters.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  201. One, a Jew won the presidency with 73% of the vote.
    Two, there are no Nazis or neo-Nazis or Right Sector in the 450-seat parliament.
    Three, the Da Vinci Wolves and Azov are battalion-sized, numbering around 1,000 each in a 700,000-strong military.
    Four, does Ukraine have a problem with Nazis and related right-wingers? Yes. Is it a big problem? No (see the number of Nazis in parliament), and other eastern European nations, including Russia, don’t have clean hands either. There was a time when there was a nation known as Vichy France.
    Five, is Putin’s claim to de-Nazify Ukraine based on a lie? Yes, and the NYT piece even noted that “President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has falsely declared Ukraine to be a Nazi state, a claim he has used to justify his illegal invasion.”
    Six, Putin had no legitimate casus belli under international law or Just War Theory to invade Ukraine, as Ukraine never threatened Russian borders. It’s a criminal invasion–chock full of war crimes–that should never have happened but for Putin’s imperialist fascist mindset.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  202. It’s just I’m bowing to realism that Trump will most likely be the nominee

    Well, your posts have a bit of a “nobody else is good enough” flavor. Here’s an idea: stop reading the polls. Ninety percent of those responding are dumber than you and have spent far less time developing an informed opinion.

    Shorter: nobody needs to have the polls read to them.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  203. Mr. Mariotti called the get-together between Trump’s lawyers and DOJ a “pitch meeting”, as I suspected. Informative thread.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  204. manufacturers can charge any amount for patented drugs so they go for that if at all possible..

    If a drug is not on the formularies of major insurers, they can charge whatever they want but the will only get it from the 0.01%. Good luck utilizing capacity with $10,000/month drugs.

    From what these posts are saying, there would be no aspirin. But there is plenty of aspirin, and competition to make it. Only if the price of a drug is regulated below the cost to make it and a reasonable profit is there a problem.

    Regulations that drive up the cost of making a drug, or unlimited liability for the slightest fault, can also make a drug scarce. Or baby formula for that matter.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  205. OT: https://twitter.com/RepLuna/status/1665830527117434881

    Rep. Anna Paulina Luna
    @RepLuna
    Just left meeting for House Oversight. The
    @FBI
    is afraid their informant will be killed if unmasked, based on the info he has brought forward about the Biden family.
    4:18 PM · Jun 5, 2023

    Wait…wut?

    Isn’t that an admission by the FBI that there’s strong evidence here?

    o.O

    whembly (d116f3)

  206. @206

    But if Trump is charged in D.C. and/or Florida federal court, it’s unclear whether a trial will occur before the election.

    I see a flight risk. Take away his passport and his plane, and set the bail at $1 billion.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  207. @205

    It’s just I’m bowing to realism that Trump will most likely be the nominee

    This doomerism drives me bonkers.

    It’s waaaay to early.

    Also, NOW. IS. THE. TIME. TO. GET. BEHIND. A. NOT. TRUMP. CANDIDATE!

    If Trump’s the nominee again, we only have ourselves to blame.

    whembly (d116f3)

  208. is afraid their informant will be killed if unmasked

    You misspelled “suicided”

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  209. Then Scott/Haley would probably see some movement imo. I still think DeSantis is *the* candidate.

    Allahnick is for DeSantis because he has the best chance to beat Trump. But it’s due to forced preference. Without Trump he would be for Tim Scott. As would we all.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  210. But they can still converse in other ways. A permanent gag order on Trump’s speech through any medium would be unconstitutional

    Prisoners have no first amendment rights. All their communications (other that with their lawyer) are censored or blocked entirely. A plea deal might substitute house arrest or supervised release for incarceration, but there is nothing that says that full 1A rights need to be restored. It may not be usual (since it is hard to enforce) but it is not unheard of.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  211. If you can stop someone from talking on a cell phone or with a computer, you can stop someone else from engaging in politics. They also “remain free to converse” on other topics.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  212. you can stop someone else from engaging in politics

    We’ll see. I’m sure that will go over big with Trump’s legions.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  213. No clean hands

    Dmitry Utkin, Russian NEO NAZI literally founded the Russian Wagner Group, named after Adolf Hitler’s favorite German composer Richard Wagner.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  214. Interesting Tidbit:

    A separate case last week offered one sign of the potential legal peril Trump could face. An Air Force veteran was sentenced to three years in prison last week in Tampa after law-enforcement officers found more than 300 classified files or documents, including more than 30 items marked top secret, at his home, on a hard drive and a storage pod in his driveway.

    Prosecutors said the man, Robert Birchum, also had two documents on a thumb drive that had information about the National Security Agency’s capabilities and methods of collection and targets’ vulnerabilities.

    Last August, FBI agents conducted an extraordinary search of Trump’s sprawling Florida club and removed 33 boxes with thousands of presidential records and news clippings mixed with top secret classified materials. Afterward, prosecutors said they were investigating, among other issues, potential violations of the Espionage Act, which relates to the misuse of classified information.

    Birchum, who served as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Air Force for 32 years and retired at the rank of lieutenant colonel, pleaded guilty to violating the same law in January.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  215. US trying to put non human crashed space craft back to gether to use as weapon. Have parts of other crashed spaced craft. whistleblower shows evidence to congress (ap) daily mail uk. debrief. now many others reporting on crashed alien space craft.

    asset (8620bf)

  216. Prisoners have no first amendment rights.

    Actually, they do. It’s how Mumia Abdul Jamal can write and publish books and deliver radio commentaries by telephone.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  217. About those Twitter Files…nothingburger, by Musk’s own admission. Taibbi is a confirmed fool.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  218. Isn’t that an admission by the FBI that there’s strong evidence here?

    That assumes what she said is true. It’s not evidence of anything, but a good excuse not provide detailed proof.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  219. Birchum, who served as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Air Force for 32 years and retired at the rank of lieutenant colonel, pleaded guilty to violating the same law in January.

    By the type of item found in his possession, they knew or suspected that he was engaged in selling secrets. He plead guilty to a charge with a 3-year sentence. Imaging what they would have charged had he gone to trial.

    Trump, otoh, is mostly guilty of being an obstinate fool who built this into a federal case by his unwillingness to obey the law, thinking himself above it all.

    The latest audio that surfaced may take this into another realm.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  220. US trying to put non human crashed space craft back together to use as weapon

    Considering the immense gulf in abilities between ourselves and any being capable of interstellar travel, I really hope this is the obvious BS it seems to be. Because if there are such visitors and they arrived in small craft (harder!), I really hope they like us.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  221. Actually, they do. It’s how Mumia Abdul Jamal can write and publish books and deliver radio commentaries by telephone.

    No, it’s merely the weak sisters who run Guantanamo for their offices in DC.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  222. The latest audio that surfaced may take this into another realm.

    An uncorroborated confession does not constitute a crime. They’ll need the document that Trump was talking about.

    nk (477960)

  223. What I’m really wondering is whether Trump’s lawyers were wearing underwear when they went to complain to the manager. Things gotta breathe, you know.

    nk (477960)

  224. I will point out that no conviction in any court would have removed Agnew from the office of Vice-President, yet he chose to resign as part of his deal. A defendant who chose to forgo his political 1A rights as part of a criminal plea would be held to that choice afterwards.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  225. Being a nuisance, with and in, before, during, and after, legal proceedings, is a long-standing Trump tactic.

    nk (477960)

  226. No clean hands…

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 6/5/2023 @ 3:52 pm

    Just have to go with the nicer Nazis, I guess.

    BuDuh (68d3a7)

  227. From the NYT link:

    skull-and-crossbones patch worn by concentration camp guards and a symbol known as the Black Sun, now appears with some regularity on the uniforms of soldiers fighting on the front line

    It seems troubling that Nazi symbolism has reached a point of “some regularity” amongst frontline soldiers no matter how it is excused away. Whatabout Wagnerisms is not a defense, IMO.

    BuDuh (68d3a7)

  228. It’s a classic Putinist ploy, Blame America First, blame the victim, absolve the criminal aggressor by your silence. It was typical DCSCA SOP.
    Call me when a Nazi gets elected to parliament.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  229. Trump’s lawyers can’t find the document, but the DOJ does have witnesses.

    ……….
    Prosecutors issued the subpoena shortly after asking a Trump aide before a federal grand jury about the audio recording of a July 2021 meeting at Trump’s golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey. On the recording, Trump acknowledges he held onto a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran.

    Prosecutors sought “any and all” documents and materials related to Mark Milley, Trump’s chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Iran, including maps or invasion plans, the sources say. A similar subpoena was sent to at least one other attendee of the meeting, another source tells CNN.

    The sources say prosecutors made clear to Trump’s attorneys after issuing the subpoena that they specifically wanted the Iran document he talked about on tape as well as any material referencing classified information – like meeting notes, audio recordings or copies of the document – that may still be Trump’s possession.

    The fact that Trump’s team was unable to produce the document underscores the challenges the government has faced in trying to recover classified material that Trump took when he left the White House and in understanding the movement of government records that Trump kept.

    Over the course of the Justice Department’s investigation, prosecutors have expressed skepticism that all classified documents had been returned. ……
    ………
    It is unclear if the government already possesses a copy of the Iran document from the boxes Trump’s legal team returned to the National Archives last year or recovered in the subsequent FBI search.
    ………
    The document Trump references on tape was created before Milley was named as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, CNN was told, and Milley was later interviewed by investigators. Sources have been unable to specify if Trump had the document in question with him as he discussed it in the meeting in 2021 or was simply referencing i
    ………
    Trump aides and two people working on the autobiography of Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows attended the Bedminster meeting with Trump. That autobiography includes an account of what appears to be the same meeting, where Trump recalls a report “typed up” by Milley and containing a plan to attack Iran.

    The subpoenas were issued immediately after Trump aide Margo Martin, who attended the meeting, appeared before the grand jury in Smith’s investigation and was asked about it. That’s also when Trump’s legal team found out prosecutors had the recording.
    ………

    Either the document a) document doesn’t exist, and Trump was BSing; 2) it does exist, and DOJ has it in one of the boxes seized by the FBI; or 3) Trump still has it and is lying when he says “I don’t know anything about it,”……. “I have the right to declassify as president.”

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  230. If I had a ploy, I guess it would have been to cause you to not denounce )but actually somewhat qualify it with Russian whataboutisms) Nazi symbolism within the Ukrainian Army by posting a NYT article to an open thread.

    Maybe I am unaware, are there Nazis in the Russian parliament?

    Maybe we can get back to somewhere before you made “ Putinist ploy, Blame America First, blame the victim, absolve the criminal aggressor by your silence” accusations.

    Did I do any of those things, or did I simply show my disapproval of the Ukrainian Nazi symbolism that also troubles The NYT and Bellingcat?

    My comment to your ridiculous whatabout was specific that comment of yours. My sentiment on Nazis of all stripes deserving rebuke is consistent. I hate them.

    BuDuh (68d3a7)

  231. Like I said, BuDuh, it’s a problem, but not a big problem, for the reasons stated.
    But you do seem to bring the topic up, which I’m sure your dear Russian ruler is pleased to see.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  232. Dear Patterico, you had said Paul is one of your best commenters. Does his insult above reflect that?

    That is a horrible thing to say about me and he cannot find anything in this thread or any other thread that backs that up. Simply not liking me should not be a good enough excuse, but it seems to be accepted.

    BuDuh (68d3a7)

  233. The last time was something about a Ukrainian and his tattoo, as I recall.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  234. Why is Putin Calling the Ukrainian Government a Bunch of Nazis?

    https://www.adl.org/resources/blog/why-putin-calling-ukrainian-government-bunch-nazis

    DRJ (fd3827)

  235. The last link is about Russian Nazis fighting against Ukraine.

    DRJ (fd3827)

  236. Blame America First, blame the victim, absolve the criminal aggressor by your silence

    Sounds like the anti-Ukraine wing of the Republican Party.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  237. update daily sun: Secret arms race as major countries reverse engineering non-human alien space craft to gain AI technology that has exploded our knowledge to use as weapons against foes. Some us media asked not to report for national security.

    asset (e8dd89)

  238. Nope, my mistake, that was frosty. My apologies on that, BuDuh.

    But here’s what the Putin propaganda machine will do. They’ll take a kernel or two of truth that was in the NYT piece , and use that to declare that Ukraine is a Nazi state that must end and, by golly, Putin is the humanitarian who’s trying to do just that.

    It’s not unlike how the Kremlin psyops used the Amnesty report on Ukraine, never mind that any war crimes that Ukrainians committed was a slim fraction to what Putin’s forces did.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  239. So the NYT and Bellingcat are Putin’s servants because some Russian jerks will abuse their story?

    As far as the sensible world is concerned the Russians have no credibility in any of their declarations about other sovereign nations.

    All I did was post a story that indicates that Ukraine has what could be a growing problem that has caught the attention of the NYT. And the problem isn’t a little one in my opinion. Nazi affiliated troops cannot be considered war heroes. It can be an abused stepping stone towards elected office.

    BuDuh (68d3a7)

  240. Sounds like the anti-Ukraine wing of the Republican Party.

    Any idea who posts here that reflects that position in their comments, Rip?

    BuDuh (68d3a7)

  241. Russia declared Ukraine a Nazi state long before the war started. That is nothing new. See here.

    See also here and here about how Putin cultivates neo-Nazism.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  242. Sounds like the anti-Ukraine wing of the Republican Party.

    Any idea who posts here that reflects that position in their comments, Rip?

    I daresay you could probably find statements by Trump and others that take that position. I wasn’t referring to anyone here.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  243. Many times the problem with dialogue here is that some are prepared to chop down the caricature of the person they don’t like. And not discuss anything with the actual person.

    BuDuh (68d3a7)

  244. Russia declared Ukraine a Nazi state long before the war started. That is nothing new.

    Exactly. It is nothing new but it is being pig-piled in the comments as a whatabout to Ukraine’s issue. It is as irrelevant as Illinois Nazis, whom I hate BTW.

    BuDuh (68d3a7)

  245. As I said, I was referring specifically to the Republican Party, not anyone currently here.

    Rip Murdock (afd316)

  246. It is as irrelevant as Illinois Nazis, whom I hate BTW.

    That’s good to know.

    Rip Murdock (afd316)

  247. I was typing my 6:15 during your posting of your 6:13, Rip.

    BuDuh (68d3a7)

  248. It is nothing new but it is being pig-piled in the comments as a whatabout to Ukraine’s issue.

    I disagree that it’s whataboutism. It demonstrates that Putin has fostered neo-Nazism as a instrument of his foreign and domestic policy.

    Rip Murdock (afd316)

  249. What is needed here is Disquis so that commenters can linked directly to form a conversation.

    Rip Murdock (afd316)

  250. It demonstrates that Putin has fostered neo-Nazism as a instrument of his foreign and domestic policy.

    It is a whataboutism if that is the response to Ukrainian and NATO troops wearing Nazi patches.

    Independently it is extremely important to not disregard Russia and any fostering of neo-Nazism. I denounce them wholeheartedly.

    But as a matter of the contents of the NYT article I posted it is unrelated unless it was posited as an excuse.

    BuDuh (68d3a7)

  251. Like I said, BuDuh, it’s a problem, but not a big problem, for the reasons stated.

    It may also be a bad-taste psyop, aimed at putting fear in the hearts of the Russian soldier. Soldiers in combat don’t always see things the same way armchair commanders do.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  252. Putin, it should be remembered, was a secret policeman for a murderous regime. He should be slow to judge.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  253. Somebody blew up the Nova Kakhovka dam, which is upstream from Kherson. Whether it was done by retreating Russians or counter-attacking Ukrainians, too soon to tell.

    More footage reportedly from Nova Kakhovka, where the dam guarding a reservoir at a 30-year high water level has been destroyed.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  254. I saw that earlier, Paul. I remembered this from NPR earlier this year:

    Russia appears to be draining an enormous reservoir in Ukraine, imperiling drinking water, agricultural production and safety at Europe’s largest nuclear plant, according to satellite data obtained by NPR.

    Since early November 2022, water has been gushing out of the Kakhovka Reservoir, in Southern Ukraine, through sluice gates at a critical hydroelectric power plant controlled by Russian forces. As a result, satellite data shows that the water level at the reservoir has plummeted to its lowest point in three decades. Separate images provided by the commercial companies Planet and Maxar show water pouring through the gates, and shoreline along the giant reservoir emerging as a result of the rapidly falling water levels.

    https://www.npr.org/2023/02/10/1155761686/russia-is-draining-a-massive-ukrainian-reservoir-endangering-a-nuclear-plant

    The damn was just at a 30 year low and now it was at a 30 year high?

    I think this story may need more than 24hrs for an accurate take.

    BuDuh (68d3a7)

  255. If you play with the dates on the water level website provided by NPR it seems as though the reservoir did indeed go from a serious low to an incredible high in just a few short months. So the 30 year high is entirely possible.

    https://hydroweb.theia-land.fr/collections/hydroweb/L_kakhovka?lang=en&

    BuDuh (68d3a7)

  256. In the now infamous Amnesty International report, the focus was unfairly put on Ukraine because they’re a semi-open society that allowed observers to come in and document what was going on. Did Putin give Amnesty that same courtesy? No, of course not. Amnesty was obstructed from doing what Ukraine let AI do, and then Russia used that report to turn up their propaganda wurlitzer and slam Ukraine. The practical effect is that Russia was able to successfully deflect from their greater crimes and blame the victim.

    The NYT report is similar in that respect, because if a NYT reporter goes into Russia to investigate the Nazi problem there, that journalist could easily end up being Evan Gershkovich’s cellmate. And just like with Amnesty, the attention and focus is put on the victim, while the criminal aggressor can and will use the NYT (emphasis on use) it as a propaganda bludgeon.

    I’ll say this again, yes, Ukraine has a small minority of Nazis, but like nk put Yoo’s “crimes” in context of all the ills of the Bush administration, similar with the Nazi issue in Ukraine. What’s more, Ukraine was faced with a near impossible choice in its history, given that Stalin murdered up to five million Ukrainians to death in the 1930s, and the choice was, do they stick with a proven communist mass murderer in Stalin or do they take their chances with the German variety.

    BuDuh, I just noticed your link to Bonchie’s critique of Ms. Gill. It almost feels like stalking, the way you pulled up my month-old comment and link and, funny thing, that was your very first comment in this open thread. It’s ironic, your complaining about being attacked, after you opened the first salvo.
    I don’t know what she said in that blockquote was wrong or false, but okay, whatever. Run to Patterico and play the victim.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  257. There’s no doubt that there was an explosion at the dam.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  258. The dam is in a Russian-controlled area of the Kherson region, but that doesn’t rule out Ukrainian sabotage. However, it’s not Ukrainians who’ve been indiscriminately murdering Ukrainians for the last 15 months. That’s would be Putin’s mobiks.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  259. Trent Telenko

    This video shows three distinct blasts from emplaced explosives at the #Kakhovkadam.

    The explosive detonation for this was bigger than the WW2 Dambusters breaches.
    Clearly this is a lot of pre-placed demolition charges being activated.
    No missile in Ukrainian service can deliver that much explosive payload, nor in three distinct blasts.

    Issues going forward:
    1. ZNPP nuclear cooling once the water abates
    2. Crimean canal is fed from this reservoir. The dam destruction means Putin does not plan to keep water flowing to Crimea i.e. he no longer thinks RuAF can hold Crimea.

    I’m leaning toward “this is something Putin would do”.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  260. First salvo? Run to Patterico? I really don’t understand you, Paul.

    You mentioned someone a month ago and it rang a bell when I read the story I linked. And that is stalking?

    You were sweating over a comment made by Frosty in September. A comment that was stuck in your memory banks to be deployed when you saw fit.

    Out of curiosity, do you think Ms Gill is a reliable source?

    Actually. Scratch that. I was hoping for more of a real dialogue. I even tried again with the dam topic.

    I just plain is not worth my time.

    BuDuh (68d3a7)

  261. It’s just plain not worth my time.

    BuDuh (68d3a7)

  262. BuDuh, you claim you want a real dialogue, but your content speaks otherwise, like most of you Trumpist hacks. Go troll someone else.

    BTW, I’m going to say that, unless proven otherwise, Putin is behind the destruction of Nova Kakhovka dam and, given all the civilians at risk downstream, it is yet another terrorist attack by the Russian ruler. The blood of the lives taken from the flooding are on his hands.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  263. To be clear, the Russian occupiers controlled the dam, and therefore how much water they wanted dammed up.

    Based on Hydroweb (Theia) data, the water level in Kakhovka Reservoir has recently attained its highest point in the past seven years, while Russia had control over the dam and water levels since 2022.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  264. So, they let the water build up after they had the explosives planted.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  265. That’s a huge endorsement for DeSantis, from Three-Year Letterman.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  266. As lincoln said you can only fool some of the people all of the time. Will rogers never met ron desatan and his walmart melania.

    asset (5897f9)

  267. Asset,

    That’s your next President and First Lady. Hope you enjoy every minute.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  268. There are more Nazis in Marjorie Taylor-Greene’s Christmas card list than there are in all Ukraine.

    Now, Zelensky not wearing a suit a tie when he came to Washington to meet with Biden and speak to Congress … that’s serious stuff.

    nk (bb1548)

  269. So, they let the water build up after they had the explosives planted.

    Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/5/2023 @ 11:14 pm

    The explosion Paul posted appears to be footage from November of last year. The twitter “dambuster” analysis that followed should be treated with skepticism, IMO.

    That is not to say that explosives were not placed low on the dam when it was drained in February of this year.

    BuDuh (eaef9b)

  270. RIP Brazilian singer Astrud Gilberto (83), The Girl From Ipanema, has died, but her voice lives on.

    Rip Murdock (afd316)

  271. Correction.
    I still don’t doubt that the dam was breached by explosive device, but the video in my above link is from last November. Telenko made an update as well. I also don’t doubt that Putin was responsible. Via Jimmy Rushton

    According to NBC, quoting two US officials and one western official, the US government has intelligence that indicates Russia is behind the blowing up of the Nova Kakhovka dam.

    The administration is currently working to declassify intelligence to enable it to be shared.

    This is likely why all the statements from Western officials (from Kaja Kallas to James Cleverly to the Portuguese MFA) were pretty unambiguous in attribution of culpability to the Russians – they felt no need to hedge in their statements as they’d already seen the intelligence.

    Thousands of homes and such are damaged or destroyed, a nuclear plant upstream was put at risk, and who knows how many lives were lost, and who knows how many acres of crops were wiped out by this terrorist attack*, but just remember that what’s really important is that an unquantified percentage of freedom fighters in a 1,000-strong battalion has Nazis in it.

    Speaking of corrections, Sy Hersh should make one regarding the Nord pipelines but I doubt he will.

    Three months before saboteurs bombed the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline, the Biden administration learned from a close ally that the Ukrainian military had planned a covert attack on the undersea network, using a small team of divers who reported directly to the commander in chief of the Ukrainian armed forces.

    Biden was adamant that we didn’t do it, but he also lied when he accused Russia, because he knew who did it. Not cool, because it was going to come out.

    * Article 56, Protocol I, Geneva Conventions.

    Works or installations containing dangerous forces, namely dams, dykes and nuclear electrical generating stations, shall not be made the object of attack, even where these objects are military objectives, if such attack may cause the release of dangerous forces and consequent severe losses among the civilian population. Other military objectives located at or in the vicinity of these works or installations shall not be made the object of attack if such attack may cause the release of dangerous forces from the works or installations and consequent severe losses among the civilian population.

    Russia was a signatory to Protocol I until Putin withdrew in 2019.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  272. nk (bb1548) — 6/6/2023 @ 6:56 am

    There are more Nazis in Marjorie Taylor-Greene’s Christmas card list than there are in all Ukraine.

    I think Russia is behind them. They’ve been trying for over eight years.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  273. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/01/us/politics/debt-limit-spending-cuts.html

    …The debt-limit agreement imposes an automatic 1 percent cut on all spending — including on military and veterans programs, which were exempted from the caps in the compromise bill — unless all dozen bills are passed and signed into law by the end of the calendar year. Mandatory spending on programs such as Medicare and Social Security would be exempt.

    A wrinkle is that, because the fiscal year that drives Congress’s spending cycle ends before the calendar year does — on Sept. 30 — Congress would still need to pass a short-term bill to fund the government from October through December to avoid a shutdown.

    The measure is a version of a plan offered by Representative Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, a key vote to advancing the bill through the Rules Committee, who said he believed it would help avoid the Democratic-controlled Senate using the specter of a shutdown to force the House to swallow a bloated spending bill at the end of the year.

    “You get threatened and ransomed with a shutdown,” Mr. Massie said in an interview in late April describing the plan. “They’ll tell you, ‘If you don’t pass the Senate bill, there’s going to be a shutdown.’ I think we need to take that leverage away from anybody who would risk a shutdown to get more spending. Just take that off the table.”

    Some Republicans, including defense hawks, are livid about the measure, arguing that it would subject the Pentagon to irresponsible cuts. Senator Susan Collins of Maine, the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee and its defense subcommittee, called it a “harmful” provision that would leave a “threat hanging over” the Defense Department.

    But that can be taken care of by an emergency supplemental appropriation, and the Senate passed a resolution saying specificaly that would be OK.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  274. I’ve already boycotted the NBA after my SuperSonics were taken out of Seattle, and now I won’t be watching the PGA. Call me crazy, but I love watching golf. Basketball and golf are my two favorite sports, and both professional industries nothing more than money-grubbing sh-tbag businesses.

    As part of the merger, the PGA will control holes 1-8 and 12-18.
    The Saudis do 9-11.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  275. Regarding the PGA-Wahabbi Tour merger, Trump wins.
    The PGA canceled his venues from their tournaments after he was elected, but LIV came to the rescue, with Trump hosting two LIV events last year and three this year.
    We still don’t know much the Saudi royal family paid Trump for the use of his country clubs. I’m awaiting an enterprising journalist to ferret that out.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  276. We still don’t know much the Saudi royal family paid Trump for the use of his country clubs. I’m awaiting an enterprising journalist to ferret that out.

    Less than they gave the Clinton Foundation while Hillary was SecState.

    Kevin M (2d6744)

  277. We still don’t know much the Saudi royal family paid Trump for the use of his country clubs. I’m awaiting an enterprising journalist to ferret that out.

    Less than they gave the Clinton Foundation while Hillary was SecState.

    Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/7/2023 @ 8:38 am

    There are two possibilities here: Either whatabouts are OK or they aren’t. If they aren’t… well then this is a whatabout and we’re done. But if whatabouts are OK, then I’ll see your Clinton Foundation donation and raise it the $2 billion the Saudis gave Jared Kushner’s investment fund, next to which the $25 million Clinton Foundation donation was a rounding error.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  278. Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth. — Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 (KJV)

    I don’t think that requires much exegesis.

    nk (11773a)

  279. King Solomon was not recommending bribery or something close to it, although the idea that a judge might be influenced by a gift or favor, however minor, is a reason for disqualification (if it happens near when a case is to be heard.)

    (This is talking about charity or help – you never know whom you might need to help you)

    Sammy Finkelman (b434ee)

  280. Bolsonaro and Trump have something else in common: Coup-plotting.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  281. Trump didn’t plot a coup. He was pretty much asked to by Sidney Powell and Mike Flynn (although they were careful in what they asked for) but declined even maybe because it wouldn’t work – he always wanted to operate under color of law. He was not going to get into a civil war.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  282. Q. Do you think recent wildfires are primarily the result of climate change, or do these kinds of events just happen from time to time?

    A. The increase in wildfires is because of climate change (what a large number of possibilities this gives you!) but they are primarily because they happen from time to time. The worst wildfire in North America was in 1950. And we cannot do anything about climate change, certainly not in a controllable, predictable way by the methods proposed – basically conservation – although you could maybe by spewing sulfur dioxide into the Arctic and fertilizing the Pacific Ocean with iron. hat’s geo-engineering – what’s being proposed is also geo-engineering but it’s geo-engineering that’ guaranteed not to work! And create difficulties for people, like an unstable electric grid..

    The primary change has been a rise in the standard deviation of temperature and precipitation, with aslight rise in average temperature too.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  283. The real cause for the increase in forest fire size has been forest management, according to a Wall Street Journal editorial, particularly obstacles to cutting trees put up by environmentalist lawsuits and petitions and was affected by laws — there are procedures for dealing with cases in which endangered species might be affected that cause delays in approval.

    And there was a 2015 Supreme Court decision and a 2018 law which suspended some procedures but has now expired.

    So in some ways we’ve gone back to the older way of never clearing forests.

    The change has been too fast and big to be the result of climate change.

    Sammy Finkelman (300a8a)


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