Weekend Open Thread
[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:
BREAKING: President Biden takes a fall on stage at the U.S. Air Force Academy graduationpic.twitter.com/BLef4F8eby
— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) June 1, 2023
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
Hannity: "News broke yesterday that there might be a tape recording, where you acknowledged that you understood that these were classified documents…Do you know anything about it?"
Trump: "I don't know anything about it. All I know is this, everything I did was right." pic.twitter.com/IxdjHMD8zH
— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) June 2, 2023
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:
566 missiles and drones launched by Russia over Ukraine only in may. #RussiaisATerroistState #ukraine pic.twitter.com/R8ZnpKRgkX
— Nataliya Mykolska (@mykolska) June 1, 2023
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:
I don't give a damn about my political career.
I want to save our country. pic.twitter.com/KNgABIRQU9
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) June 2, 2023
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
Hello!
Dana (560c99) — 6/2/2023 @ 11:37 amAddition to Item 4:
Harvard has provided a soft landing spot for disgraced former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
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) — 6/2/2023 @ 11:53 amWell done, Antony Blinken. Russia must withdraw.
felipe (70468a) — 6/2/2023 @ 12:18 pmVote for Tim Scott!
felipe (70468a) — 6/2/2023 @ 12:27 pmRegarding 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) — 6/2/2023 @ 12:32 pmRIP legendary songwriter Cynthia Weil (82):
Weil is survived by her husband of 62 years and a daughter, Dr. Jenn Mann.
Rip Murdock (ce8d2c) — 6/2/2023 @ 12:49 pmMy favorite debt ceiling headline (the Daily Mail, course:
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) — 6/2/2023 @ 1:07 pmNot 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) — 6/2/2023 @ 1:21 pmI 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) — 6/2/2023 @ 1:25 pmRegarding 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) — 6/2/2023 @ 1:26 pmNow I see I did use it right. I give up.
steveg (f5d755) — 6/2/2023 @ 1:27 pmSee you Monday
I’ve never liked it since it became a plot point on Cheers.
Rip Murdock (1cc78e) — 6/2/2023 @ 2:02 pmGreetings, 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) — 6/2/2023 @ 2:15 pmFlashback April 2023: Tim Scott on Donald Trump
Rip Murdock (ce8d2c) — 6/2/2023 @ 2:16 pmGood grief! (As Charlie Brown used to say.) Bud Light keeps stepping in it:
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:
“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) — 6/2/2023 @ 2:19 pmLink to Tim Scott article quote.
Rip Murdock (ce8d2c) — 6/2/2023 @ 2:19 pmHis possession was authorized, because when he had it sent to Mar-a-Lago, he was still the president.
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) — 6/2/2023 @ 2:21 pmWelcome 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) — 6/2/2023 @ 2:23 pmBesides 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) — 6/2/2023 @ 2:30 pmA 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) — 6/2/2023 @ 2:35 pm“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) — 6/2/2023 @ 2:37 pmHe’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) — 6/2/2023 @ 2:40 pmThe 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) — 6/2/2023 @ 2:42 pmWow, 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) — 6/2/2023 @ 2:43 pmJVW, 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) — 6/2/2023 @ 2:44 pmThe 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) — 6/2/2023 @ 2:48 pmUh-no.
Rip Murdock (ce8d2c) — 6/2/2023 @ 2:52 pmAfter 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) — 6/2/2023 @ 3:25 pm27, Otherwise you have to say he broke the law.
Sammy Finkelnan (7f2d71) — 6/2/2023 @ 3:43 pmJVW (299071) — 6/2/2023 @ 2:48 pm
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) — 6/2/2023 @ 3:49 pmMr. 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) — 6/2/2023 @ 3:59 pmBut 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) — 6/2/2023 @ 4:04 pmThe 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) — 6/2/2023 @ 5:35 pmSammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 6/2/2023 @ 2:35 pm
Thanks, Sammy! One of my favorite tunes from that era. I had no idea…
felipe (70468a) — 6/2/2023 @ 5:52 pmChutzpah has nothing on Donald Trump.
Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/2/2023 @ 7:44 pmHere 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) — 6/2/2023 @ 7:52 pmCaught “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) — 6/2/2023 @ 8:03 pmitem 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) — 6/2/2023 @ 10:24 pmitem 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) — 6/3/2023 @ 12:05 amNot 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) — 6/3/2023 @ 6:49 amhttps://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) — 6/3/2023 @ 8:11 amMcCarthy 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) — 6/3/2023 @ 11:28 amI 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) — 6/3/2023 @ 11:57 amAs 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) — 6/3/2023 @ 11:59 amAs
DanasaysOoops. Sorry JVW.
Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/3/2023 @ 12:01 pmChesa 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) — 6/3/2023 @ 12:04 pmItem 9: More From the Yahoo News/YouGov Pol:
Rip Murdock (ce8d2c) — 6/3/2023 @ 12:28 pmPost 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
Brutal
Rip Murdock (1cc78e) — 6/3/2023 @ 1:08 pmWell 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) — 6/3/2023 @ 2:32 pmRip, 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) — 6/3/2023 @ 2:57 pm*tracking
Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/3/2023 @ 3:00 pmParty On:
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) — 6/3/2023 @ 3:09 pmIt’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) — 6/3/2023 @ 3:13 pmWhat 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) — 6/3/2023 @ 3:26 pmMedia propaganda works.
Thanks for telling us.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 6/3/2023 @ 3:52 pmHey 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) — 6/3/2023 @ 3:59 pmms. 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) — 6/3/2023 @ 4:58 pmTrump 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) — 6/3/2023 @ 5:01 pmSo, 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 pmNo, 40% of the 1,250 adults interviewed nationwide oppose jailing doctors for doing so, while 48% approve.
Rip Murdock (ce8d2c) — 6/3/2023 @ 6:09 pm@39 you mean like the ridiculous view that water boarding is not torture?
asset (f5bd25) — 6/3/2023 @ 6:11 pm@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) — 6/3/2023 @ 6:20 pmRepublicans have passed restrictive voter suppression laws
Name 3.
Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/3/2023 @ 6:56 pmI 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) — 6/3/2023 @ 7:30 pmHere 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) — 6/3/2023 @ 7:40 pmWe’ll see if there’s a motion to vacate and if the Democrats bail McCarthy out.
Rip Murdock (ce8d2c) — 6/3/2023 @ 7:42 pm@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) — 6/3/2023 @ 7:50 pm‘Unconstitutional’:
A more detailed analysis of the decision is here.
Rip Murdock (ce8d2c) — 6/3/2023 @ 8:00 pmI 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) — 6/3/2023 @ 8:04 pmarrest 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) — 6/3/2023 @ 8:07 pmI have no problem with gerrymandering. It’s as Amerasian apple pie.
Rip Murdock (ce8d2c) — 6/3/2023 @ 8:12 pmTry 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) — 6/3/2023 @ 8:14 pmShould be:
I have no problem with gerrymandering. It’s as
AmerasianAmerican as apple pie.Darn autocorrect.
Rip Murdock (ce8d2c) — 6/3/2023 @ 8:17 pmI 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) — 6/3/2023 @ 8:36 pmJVW (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) — 6/3/2023 @ 8:42 pmOf 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) — 6/3/2023 @ 9:14 pmMAGADONIANS?
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 6/3/2023 @ 9:51 pmI 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.
Once again, China avoids talking about the 35th of May.
Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/3/2023 @ 11:48 pmIf I read you correctly, this is the idea you are conveying in your second paragraph, and thus we largely agree.
lurker (cd7cd4) — 6/4/2023 @ 12:35 amTo 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.
(Sorry for the sloppy formatting. In case it wasn’t obvious, there should be a paragraph break after the first line.)
lurker (cd7cd4) — 6/4/2023 @ 12:37 am@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) — 6/4/2023 @ 12:49 am@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) — 6/4/2023 @ 12:57 amDemocrat appointed NY state supreme court threw out democrat legislature’s gerrymandering. Most republican majority courts more morally flexible.
asset (0201ac) — 6/4/2023 @ 1:11 amHopefully, the grand jury in Trump’s document case will finish their work and recommend indictments. The clock is ticking.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 6/4/2023 @ 7:25 amHi 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 8:09 amThe folks at JustSecurity drafted what a prosecution memo could look like, and here’s a recap…
I perused but didn’t read the 186 pages, but it’s a thorough clearinghouse.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 6/4/2023 @ 8:14 am“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) — 6/4/2023 @ 8:26 amDemocrat 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 9:23 am@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) — 6/4/2023 @ 9:31 am@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) — 6/4/2023 @ 9:39 amEven 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 10:28 amAlso, 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 10:30 amSorry you didn’t recognize the sarcasm.
Rip Murdock (ce8d2c) — 6/4/2023 @ 10:38 amSometimes the jokes just write themselves. 😉
Rip Murdock (ce8d2c) — 6/4/2023 @ 10:42 amthe 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 10:44 amSo, 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 11:09 amI’m sure her 4% will be watching.
Rip Murdock (ce8d2c) — 6/4/2023 @ 11:19 amI’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 amDarling 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 11:43 amIf 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 11:46 amShe’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) — 6/4/2023 @ 12:09 pmThey 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 1:15 pmShe 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 1:24 pmIt 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 1:25 pmEven 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 1:28 pmI 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 1:31 pm“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) — 6/4/2023 @ 1:46 pmTim 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 1:51 pmNikki 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 1:53 pm“ Hope for the future” is neither a plan or a strategy.
Rip Murdock (e6a4f2) — 6/4/2023 @ 2:23 pmAccess to power. Pence wasn’t ambitious enough to see the opportunities.
Rip Murdock (e6a4f2) — 6/4/2023 @ 2:25 pmDid anyone else see this. SMH
https://themessenger.com/opinion/bidens-2024-hail-mary-name-barack-obama-as-his-running-mate
Simon Jester (37f06e) — 6/4/2023 @ 3:24 pmAccess to power. Pence wasn’t ambitious enough to see the opportunities.
What? Like Livia and Tiberius?
Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/4/2023 @ 4:06 pmDid anyone else see this. SMH
Clever parsing, which equally clever judges would dismiss.
Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/4/2023 @ 4:12 pmSpinal Tap Clever And Stupid GIFfrom Spinal Tap GIFs
Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/4/2023 @ 4:12 pmThat’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) — 6/4/2023 @ 5:11 pmThat’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) — 6/4/2023 @ 5:29 pmNikki 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 5:45 pmNikki 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 5:51 pmHaley 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 5:56 pmIt’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) — 6/4/2023 @ 6:22 pmI 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.
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) — 6/4/2023 @ 6:39 pmHaley 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 6:58 pmYoo 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 7:03 pmA 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 7:07 pmNot 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 7:14 pmI 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 7:22 pmNot 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 7:38 pm@128: not going to play that troll game.
Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/4/2023 @ 7:39 pmThe 12th Amendment same-state restriction serves no longer serves a useful purpose. And if pressed, someone moves (e.g. Cheney).
Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/4/2023 @ 7:42 pmIt’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) — 6/4/2023 @ 7:42 pmWhat used to be called “interlocking directorships.”
Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/4/2023 @ 7:44 pmRip, you can see it again at 11ET
Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/4/2023 @ 7:45 pmSo, 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 7:55 pm@106 After 2022 election results only republican talking point don’t ask me about abortion!
asset (b58016) — 6/4/2023 @ 7:56 pm@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) — 6/4/2023 @ 8:10 pmlurker: “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) — 6/4/2023 @ 8:12 pmIn 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 8:24 pm“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) — 6/4/2023 @ 8:26 pmHow 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 8:27 pmI’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) — 6/4/2023 @ 8:30 pmI 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 8:32 pmThe 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 8:36 pm@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) — 6/4/2023 @ 9:01 pmThe 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) — 6/4/2023 @ 9:18 pm@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) — 6/4/2023 @ 10:03 pm@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) — 6/5/2023 @ 12:03 amAs 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.
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.
More of that conflation. And again, as a policy matter I sympathize.
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.
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!”
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) — 6/5/2023 @ 12:25 amSimon,
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) — 6/5/2023 @ 3:55 amIf 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 6:57 am
nk (477960) — 6/5/2023 @ 7:01 amproceededproceedingSorry, 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 7:20 amApparently someone missed when they proposed a Haley/Scott ticket.
Rip Murdock (e6a4f2) — 6/5/2023 @ 7:23 amYou 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 8:00 amApparently someone missed when they proposed a Haley/Scott ticket.
Or maybe you missed what they were actually saying.
Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/5/2023 @ 8:01 amHow 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 8:06 am*ask
Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/5/2023 @ 8:06 amI 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 amTrump’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) — 6/5/2023 @ 9:04 amLooks like the counteroffensive has begun.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 6/5/2023 @ 9:11 amQuestion: 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.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 6/5/2023 @ 9:23 amPope Francis keeps sending signals that he’s not a neutral arbiter.
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) — 6/5/2023 @ 9:56 amSo, 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 9:58 amLooks like the counteroffensive has begun.
A surprise attack!
Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/5/2023 @ 10:00 amSo now a cisplatin shortage. But no fear, we can just import the Chinese version.
Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/5/2023 @ 10:04 am#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) — 6/5/2023 @ 10:14 amIt 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 10:21 amNot 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 10:23 amWhich 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 10:49 amBetter link to #170.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/5/2023 @ 10:51 amQuery — 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 10:51 amSee also here.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/5/2023 @ 10:51 amDo 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 10:53 amI’d rather see him behind bars, because federal prison would be a higher level of finality to his ambitions.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 6/5/2023 @ 11:00 amThe Biggest Political News You Missed Last Week:
“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) — 6/5/2023 @ 11:32 amDo 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 amAnd 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 amI don’t think a plea agreement can abrogate his First Amendment rights.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/5/2023 @ 11:53 amChris Sununu is out.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/5/2023 @ 11:58 amRest in Hell:
Rip Murdock (afd316) — 6/5/2023 @ 12:05 pmMaybe Trump can take his place at ADX Florence (aka Supermax).
Rip Murdock (afd316) — 6/5/2023 @ 12:26 pmOur 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 12:49 pmIt’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) — 6/5/2023 @ 1:15 pm@166
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) — 6/5/2023 @ 1:16 pm@178
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) — 6/5/2023 @ 1:18 pmThe 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
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) — 6/5/2023 @ 1:19 pm*
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 6/5/2023 @ 1:21 pm“Rest in Hell”
Why should he rest?
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 6/5/2023 @ 1:22 pmThe 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 1:26 pmThat is true; Hanssen (and Aldrich Ames, which should be soon, as he is 82) should suffer eternal torment.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/5/2023 @ 1:34 pmToo bad, Trump would have gained a lot of political support by attacking Iran.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/5/2023 @ 1:35 pm“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) — 6/5/2023 @ 1:40 pmTrump drained the
swamppool toexposehideDChis corruption.The IT equipment was apparently not damaged, but tell me this isn’t a pattern.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 6/5/2023 @ 1:50 pmThe 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:
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) — 6/5/2023 @ 1:52 pmWhat were her accomplishments as ambassador (separate from her representing the Administration’s position)?
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/5/2023 @ 1:54 pmNew York Times (with shoutout to Bellingcat):
Springtime for Ambiguously Hitler?
More:
Good job NATO!
BuDuh (68d3a7) — 6/5/2023 @ 2:07 pmRe: 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
https://www.wsj.com/articles/drug-prices-shortages-market-government-supply-19ed10ff
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) — 6/5/2023 @ 2:36 pmRedState on Haley Town Hall: Meh.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/5/2023 @ 2:36 pmVery 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 2:40 pmI 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 pm122
Not really.”There’s nobody good on the horizon.
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 6/5/2023 @ 2:44 pmBut 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 3:12 pmOne, a Jew won the presidency with 73% of the vote.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 6/5/2023 @ 3:13 pmTwo, 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.
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) — 6/5/2023 @ 3:14 pmMr. Mariotti called the get-together between Trump’s lawyers and DOJ a “pitch meeting”, as I suspected. Informative thread.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 6/5/2023 @ 3:19 pmmanufacturers 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 3:23 pmOT: https://twitter.com/RepLuna/status/1665830527117434881
Wait…wut?
Isn’t that an admission by the FBI that there’s strong evidence here?
o.O
whembly (d116f3) — 6/5/2023 @ 3:27 pm@206
I see a flight risk. Take away his passport and his plane, and set the bail at $1 billion.
Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/5/2023 @ 3:28 pm@205
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) — 6/5/2023 @ 3:28 pmis afraid their informant will be killed if unmasked
You misspelled “suicided”
Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/5/2023 @ 3:29 pmThen 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 3:33 pmBut 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 3:41 pmIf 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 3:42 pmWe’ll see. I’m sure that will go over big with Trump’s legions.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/5/2023 @ 3:47 pmNo clean hands…
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 6/5/2023 @ 3:52 pmInteresting Tidbit:
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/5/2023 @ 3:56 pmUS 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 4:01 pmActually, they do. It’s how Mumia Abdul Jamal can write and publish books and deliver radio commentaries by telephone.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/5/2023 @ 4:07 pmAbout those Twitter Files…nothingburger, by Musk’s own admission. Taibbi is a confirmed fool.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 6/5/2023 @ 4:20 pmThat assumes what she said is true. It’s not evidence of anything, but a good excuse not provide detailed proof.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/5/2023 @ 4:20 pmBirchum, 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 4:42 pmUS 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 4:44 pmActually, 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 4:46 pmThe 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 4:51 pmWhat 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 4:53 pmI 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 4:54 pmBeing a nuisance, with and in, before, during, and after, legal proceedings, is a long-standing Trump tactic.
nk (477960) — 6/5/2023 @ 4:56 pmJust have to go with the nicer Nazis, I guess.
BuDuh (68d3a7) — 6/5/2023 @ 4:57 pmFrom the NYT link:
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) — 6/5/2023 @ 5:02 pmIt’s a classic Putinist ploy, Blame America First, blame the victim, absolve the criminal aggressor by your silence. It was typical DCSCA SOP.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 6/5/2023 @ 5:05 pmCall me when a Nazi gets elected to parliament.
Trump’s lawyers can’t find the document, but the DOJ does have witnesses.
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) — 6/5/2023 @ 5:05 pmIf 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 5:17 pmLike I said, BuDuh, it’s a problem, but not a big problem, for the reasons stated.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 6/5/2023 @ 5:26 pmBut you do seem to bring the topic up, which I’m sure your dear Russian ruler is pleased to see.
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) — 6/5/2023 @ 5:31 pmThe last time was something about a Ukrainian and his tattoo, as I recall.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 6/5/2023 @ 5:31 pmWhy 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 5:39 pmhttp://Www.rferl.org/amp/russian-neo-nazis-fighting-ukraine/31871760.html
DRJ (fd3827) — 6/5/2023 @ 5:42 pmThe last link is about Russian Nazis fighting against Ukraine.
DRJ (fd3827) — 6/5/2023 @ 5:43 pmSounds like the anti-Ukraine wing of the Republican Party.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/5/2023 @ 5:50 pmupdate 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 5:56 pmNope, 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 5:59 pmSo 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 6:09 pmAny idea who posts here that reflects that position in their comments, Rip?
BuDuh (68d3a7) — 6/5/2023 @ 6:10 pmRussia 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 6:11 pmI daresay you could probably find statements by Trump and others that take that position. I wasn’t referring to anyone here.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/5/2023 @ 6:13 pmMany 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 6:15 pmExactly. 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 6:18 pmAs I said, I was referring specifically to the Republican Party, not anyone currently here.
Rip Murdock (afd316) — 6/5/2023 @ 6:19 pmThat’s good to know.
Rip Murdock (afd316) — 6/5/2023 @ 6:20 pmI was typing my 6:15 during your posting of your 6:13, Rip.
BuDuh (68d3a7) — 6/5/2023 @ 6:22 pmI 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 6:46 pmWhat is needed here is Disquis so that commenters can linked directly to form a conversation.
Rip Murdock (afd316) — 6/5/2023 @ 6:50 pmIt 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 6:57 pmLike 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 7:43 pmPutin, it should be remembered, was a secret policeman for a murderous regime. He should be slow to judge.
Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/5/2023 @ 7:51 pmSomebody 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.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 6/5/2023 @ 8:38 pmI saw that earlier, Paul. I remembered this from NPR earlier this year:
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) — 6/5/2023 @ 9:06 pmIf 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 9:11 pmIn 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.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 6/5/2023 @ 9:26 pmI don’t know what she said in that blockquote was wrong or false, but okay, whatever. Run to Patterico and play the victim.
There’s no doubt that there was an explosion at the dam.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 6/5/2023 @ 9:39 pmThe 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 9:45 pmTrent Telenko…
I’m leaning toward “this is something Putin would do”.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 6/5/2023 @ 9:51 pmFirst 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 10:12 pmIt’s just plain not worth my time.
BuDuh (68d3a7) — 6/5/2023 @ 10:13 pmBuDuh, 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) — 6/5/2023 @ 10:20 pmTo be clear, the Russian occupiers controlled the dam, and therefore how much water they wanted dammed up.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 6/5/2023 @ 10:29 pmSo, they let the water build up after they had the explosives planted.
Kevin M (2d6744) — 6/5/2023 @ 11:14 pmThat’s a huge endorsement for DeSantis, from Three-Year Letterman.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 6/5/2023 @ 11:52 pmAs 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) — 6/6/2023 @ 2:37 amAsset,
That’s your next President and First Lady. Hope you enjoy every minute.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 6/6/2023 @ 6:45 amThere 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) — 6/6/2023 @ 6:56 amThe 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) — 6/6/2023 @ 7:21 amRIP Brazilian singer Astrud Gilberto (83), The Girl From Ipanema, has died, but her voice lives on.
Rip Murdock (afd316) — 6/6/2023 @ 7:34 amCorrection.
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…
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.
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.
Russia was a signatory to Protocol I until Putin withdrew in 2019.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 6/6/2023 @ 11:48 amnk (bb1548) — 6/6/2023 @ 6:56 am
I think Russia is behind them. They’ve been trying for over eight years.
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 6/6/2023 @ 4:39 pmhttps://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/01/us/politics/debt-limit-spending-cuts.html
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) — 6/6/2023 @ 4:43 pmI’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.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 6/6/2023 @ 8:34 pmRegarding the PGA-Wahabbi Tour merger, Trump wins.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 6/7/2023 @ 7:15 amThe 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.
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 amThere 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) — 6/8/2023 @ 12:41 amI don’t think that requires much exegesis.
nk (11773a) — 6/8/2023 @ 4:09 amKing 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) — 6/8/2023 @ 7:17 amBolsonaro and Trump have something else in common: Coup-plotting.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 6/8/2023 @ 10:20 amTrump 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) — 6/8/2023 @ 1:56 pmQ. 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) — 6/8/2023 @ 2:04 pmThe 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) — 6/9/2023 @ 9:16 am