10/27/2023

412 Responses to “Weekend Open Thread”

1. Hello.

   Dana (932d71) — 10/27/2023 @ 8:59 am

   
   

2. re:

   Seventh news item

   We’ll fly you anywhere to move out of NYC:

   Are we going to hear from certain folks that this is human trafficking… or nah?

   whembly (5f7596) — 10/27/2023 @ 9:20 am

   
   

3. An intensive manhunt is still underway for a suspect in Wednesday’s shooting rampage

   He is capable of hiding in the woods, but he probably committed suicide by jumping off his boar, and probably sinking it in the Atlantic Ocean.

   His Subaru was discovered abandoned at a boat dock, and his 15-foot long Sea-Doo green boat was not there.

   They probably would have spotted him by now if he was still out in the ocean

   In mid-July he was taken to Keller Army Community Hospital at the United States Military Academy for medical evaluation and was released after two weeks.

   Dring this ear he had also reported hearing voices, and had threatened to shoot up a military base in Saco, Maine.

   He had paranoia and his hearing was getting worse, so much so that he acquired high powered hearing aids. As with some people with hearing difficulty, he imagined the worst. He may have gone to the bowling alley and the bar(which he was familiar with) looking for a woman who used to be his girlfriend but that is probably just wild speculation.

   In these kinds of mental breakdown non-politically a motivated massacres there is often a great deal of warning of the possibility.

   Sammy Finkelman (7a85f9) — 10/27/2023 @ 9:25 am

   
   

4. Regarding Muslims in Europe, there are assimilation issues, way worse than stateside.

   Regarding humanitarian aid for Palestinians, they’re only getting 20% of what they need, in Syria. As usual, mistreatment of Palestinians is really only covered when the mistreaters are Israeli.

   Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 10/27/2023 @ 9:31 am

   
   

5. https://www.wsj.com/articles/thomas-sowell-on-the-trouble-with-social-justice-race-economics-black-white-disparities-finance-social-justice-7e2d4a3d

   Thomas Sowell is best known for his insights on racial controversies, but race isn’t the main topic of most of his books in a career that spans more than six decades. Mr. Sowell, 93, is an economist who earned a doctorate from the University of Chicago, where his professors included Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek and other future Nobel laureates. His specialty is the history of ideas, and his most recent book, “Social Justice Fallacies,” harks back to his writings on social theory and intellectual history, which include “Knowledge and Decisions” (1980), “The Vision of the Anointed” (1996) and “The Quest for Cosmic Justice” (1999).

   …. In a phone interview, he describes the central fallacy of social-justice advocacy as “the assumption that disparities are strange, and that in the normal course of events we would expect people to be pretty much randomly distributed in various occupations, income levels, institutions and so forth.”

   He says that’s an assumption based on hope rather than experience or hard evidence. “We can read reams of social justice literature without encountering a single example of proportional representation of different groups in endeavors open to competition—in any country in the world today, or at any time over thousands of years of recorded history,” he writes in the book’s opening chapter on “equal chances fallacies.” He acknowledges that exploitation and discrimination exist and contributed to disparate outcomes. But he notes that “these vices are in fact among many influences that prevent different groups of people—whether classes, races or nations—from having equal, or even comparable, outcomes in economic terms or other terms.”

   Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 10/27/2023 @ 9:33 am

   
   

6. From the comfort of his high-rise condo in Doha, Hamas leader Haniyeh has a message.

   “The blood of the women, children, and elderly…we are the ones who need this blood so it awakens within us the revolutionary spirit…So it pushes us to move forward.”

   Doesn’t Israel have some drones to take his apartment down to the studs?

   Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 10/27/2023 @ 9:37 am

   
   

7. You’re never going to be able to increase the social mix so long as street crime rates are higher in certain areas, and if you get crime down you don’t need to do anything else.

   Lack of punishment of crime or deterrence magnifies initial small disparities in crime rates.

   Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb) — 10/27/2023 @ 9:37 am

   
   

8. Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 10/27/2023 @ 9:37 am

   Doesn’t Israel have some drones to take his apartment down to the studs?

   He lives in Qatar, which has an important U.S. airbase in it. Qatar is a U.S. “ally” but actually tries to be on both sides.

   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatar%E2%80%93United_States_relations

   Qatar and the United States are strategic allies. Qatar has been designated a major non-NATO ally by the United States.[1]

   …Former US Defense Secretary Robert Gates stated in May 2017 that he doesn’t “know instances in which Qatar aggressively goes after (terror finance) networks of Hamas, Taliban, Al-Qaeda,” and that “My attitudes toward Al-Udeid and any other facility is that the United States military doesn’t have any irreplaceable facility.”[51] Qatar hosts the largest American base in the Middle East, the Al Udeid Air Base, which has been used by the United States in its campaigns in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.[52]

   In 2014, the United States sold $11 billion worth of arms to Qatar, including AH-64 Apache attack helicopters and Patriot and Javelin defense systems.[53]

   In June 2017, Qatar signed a $12 billion deal to buy 36 F-15QA strike aircraft from the United States, with Boeing as the prime contractor on the sale.[54]

   Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb) — 10/27/2023 @ 9:44 am

   
   

9. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/09/tehran-times-classified-documents-leak-investigation-robert-malley/675480/

   According to reports by Semafor and Iran International, Iranian foreign-policy bigwigs such as Mohammad Javad Zarif identified think-tank staffers of Iranian origin, sponsored meetings with them, and used the group to coordinate and spread messages helpful to Iran. The emails, which date from 2014, suggest that those in their group—the “Iran Experts Initiative”—reacted to Iranian outreach in a range of ways, including cautious engagement and active coordination. The Iranian government then paid expenses related to this group’s internal meetings; cultivated its members with “access to high-ranking officials and extended invitations to visit Tehran,” according to Iran International; and later gloated over how effectively it had used its experts to propagate the Islamic Republic’s positions.

   Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb) — 10/27/2023 @ 9:48 am

   
   

10. Iran may have spies in Israel also:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/13/world/middleeast/hamas-israel-attack-gaza.htm

    The Secrets Hamas Knew About Israel’s Military

    Hamas gunmen surged into Israel in a highly organized and meticulously planned operation that suggested a deep understanding of Israel’s weaknesses. Here is how the attacks unfolded.

    Oct. 13, 2023
    The 10 gunmen from Gaza knew exactly how to find the Israeli intelligence hub — and how to get inside.

    After crossing into Israel, they headed east on five motorcycles, two gunmen on each vehicle, shooting at passing civilian cars as they pressed forward.

    Ten miles later, they veered off the road into a stretch of woodland, dismounting outside an unmanned gate to a military base. They blew open the barrier with a small explosive charge, entered the base and paused to take a group selfie. Then they shot dead an unarmed Israeli soldier dressed in a T-shirt.

    For a moment, the attackers appeared uncertain about where to go next. Then one of them pulled something from his pocket: a color-coded map of the complex.

    Reoriented, they found an unlocked door to a fortified building. Once inside, they entered a room filled with computers — the military intelligence hub. Under a bed in the room, they found two soldiers taking shelter.

    The gunmen shot both dead.

    This sequence was captured on a camera mounted on the head of a gunman who was later killed. The New York Times reviewed the footage, then verified the events by interviewing Israeli officials and checking Israeli military video of the attack as well.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 10/27/2023 @ 9:54 am

    
    

11. I think there could be a very highly placed source for Iran in the Israeli military.

    This person, along with two or three others, may be planning a military coup – which could only fly if Israelis losing a war. He probably promised Iran to surrender Israel to Hezbollah, but probably intends to semi double cross Iran and surrender only half while staying in control himself.

    This would explain Iran’s confidence – better than the other idea I had: Chinese advice. Because how could a Chinese general convince the Ayatollah that Iran could come out ahead if it started a major war with the United States? And this could also explain Iran’s impatience, and eagerness to get into the action, because they could worry that their mole could be discovered.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 10/27/2023 @ 10:07 am

    
    

12. I see some evidence of this, in the fact that Netanyahu is being pushed into what he thinks is a bad war plan

    https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/26/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-invasion-delay.html

    The military leadership has already finalized an invasion plan, but Mr. Netanyahu has angered senior officers by refusing to sign off on it — in part because he wants unanimous approval from members of the war cabinet he formed after the Oct. 7 attack, according to two people present at cabinet meetings, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive matters.

    And the fact that the Israeli military (someone highly placed in it) wanted to record meetings of the Israeli war cabinet and when that was refused, argued that Netanyahu was afraid of a commission of inquiry.

    The mutual suspicion between the military and the prime minister runs so deep that civil servants have barred the military from bringing recording equipment into cabinet meetings, according to two people present. They interpreted the move as an attempt to limit the amount of evidence that could be presented to a national inquiry after the war.

    This argument makes no sense.

    A refusal is very reasonable even without suspicion that it might be intentionally turned over to a spy network, because even without that there could be an unknown penetration, human or electronic.

    And a commission of inquiry would focus on the initial invasion and massacre, and as for what is happening now, nobody can know who would come out looking good or bad.

    Now I am not saying that there are too many traitors in Israel.

    The mole may be telling various lies to other people to get them to go along.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 10/27/2023 @ 10:13 am

    
    

13. There’s a very low re-application rate for migrants who term in the shelters expire.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 10/27/2023 @ 10:25 am

    
    

14. Rep. Dean Phillips is a cousin of Powerline Blog’s Scott Johnson.

    Sammy Finkelman (7a85f9) — 10/27/2023 @ 10:34 am

    
    

15. Ivanka to testify at her dad’s civil fraud trial. Should be interesting. I expect a lot of “I don’t recall”.

    Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 10/27/2023 @ 11:05 am

    
    

16. Here’s a story of Russia’s conquest of Alaska. Their tactics have little changed in 200 years. Same sheethole country, same sheethole mentality.

    It didn’t take long after the Russian landing for the familiar pattern of colonial crimes to play out, sending Indigenous populations reeling. Almost immediately, Russian colonizers began implementing the same playbook they’d perfected across Siberia. The first step was known as iasak, in which Russian representatives demanded tribute — furs, typically — from Indigenous populations. In order to assure compliance, Russian traders implemented the playbook’s second element: amanaty, in which Russians would seize hostages from Indigenous populations, held until the iasak requirements were completed. Often, Russian representatives would kidnap the children of local leaders — all the better to ensure compliance. In some cases, as historian Anne Hyde has written, the Russians would abduct the children of up to half of the male populations of a given community.

    Nor did they stop there. As the U.S.’s National Institute for Health notes, such an arrangement allowed the Russians to effectively “enslave” local populations. Demanding “furs in exchange for [the] lives” of women and children, Russians would “sexually exploit the hostages” — and even “execute the hostages” should the fur intake fall short. All of it, just “to set an example” for other recalcitrant Indigenous populations.

    For much of the 18th century, Russian rule in Alaska was largely driven by trappers and traders, diffusing across southern Alaska without any real organization. But a few decades after first contact, tsarist officials formally chartered the Russian-American Company to bring some order to Russia’s shambolic conquest. Modeled on private companies elsewhere, not least the British East India Company in South Asia, the RAC was a nominally independent entity, granted the right to expand and entrench Russia’s colonial holdings.

    Backed by the Russian navy, the RAC’s expansion wasn’t difficult, sending employees across the broader Alaskan landmass, and even exploring farther south along the Canadian and American Pacific coasts. And at the helm of the company was one man: Baranov, serving as the first formal governor of Russian Alaska — and a man who, as one Alaskan said in 2020, was “responsible for murder, enslavement, rape and a perpetrator of genocide,” all on behalf of a distant tsar.

    Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 10/27/2023 @ 11:28 am

    
    

17. More than 40 confidential sources provided “criminal information” related to the Biden family to the FBI — which the Justice Department tried to discredit as “foreign disinformation,” according to Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley.

    The confidential human sources, managed by several different FBI field offices, supplied the bureau with details of potential crimes by Hunter Biden, James Biden and Joe Biden dating back to his time as vice president, according to a letter, obtained by The Post, that was sent by the Iowa Republican to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday.

    “This letter is based on years of investigation, including the provision of information, records, and allegations from multiple Justice Department whistleblowers that indicate there is – and has been – an effort among certain Justice Department and FBI officials to improperly delay and stop full and complete investigative activity into the Biden family,” Grassley wrote.

    “An essential question that must be answered is this: did the FBI investigate the information or shut it down? Indeed, if those sources were improperly shut down, it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for the FBI,” he added.

    “Based on the information provided to my office over a period of years by multiple credible whistleblowers, there appears to be an effort within the Justice Department and FBI to shut down investigative activity relating to the Biden family,” Grassley continued. “Such decisions point to significant political bias infecting the decision-making of not only the Attorney General and FBI Director, but also line agents and prosecutors.”

    Based on the specious evidence threshold established by the special counsel investigation of Trump, there should be two special counsels appointed, one to investigate Biden and one to investigate the FBI. Of course, neither will ever happen.

    lloyd (62e5df) — 10/27/2023 @ 12:15 pm

    
    

18. Paul, that’s certainly a possible plot source if Netflix wanted to make new episodes of its Frontier series from the mid 2010s.

    urbanleftbehind (1b0b25) — 10/27/2023 @ 12:24 pm

    
    

19. So the US releases a million “migrants” into Texas, and Texas ships 10,000 of them to NYC. This causes a crisis in NYC, which up to now has been calling Texans “racists” for complaining about the other 990,000.

    The world’s smallest violin.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/27/2023 @ 12:26 pm

    
    

20. he probably committed suicide by jumping off his boar

    A painful way to die if his boar was really angry.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/27/2023 @ 12:28 pm

    
    

21. A Democrat voter gets confronted on the streets of NY.

    lloyd (62e5df) — 10/27/2023 @ 12:30 pm

    
    

22. Paul, that’s certainly a possible plot source if Netflix wanted to make new episodes of its Frontier series from the mid 2010s.

    Pretty grim though. About as much fun as a drama set during the Holodomor.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/27/2023 @ 12:37 pm

    
    

23. Some historical perspective on the 6th item: In his boook, Stalingrad, British military historian Antony Beevor said the Soviets shot 13,000 of their own men during that battle. (Russians later said that number was too high.)

    Jim Miller (a41107) — 10/27/2023 @ 12:39 pm

    
    

24. so, a comment above just disappeared without any reason

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/27/2023 @ 12:40 pm

    
    

25. And now it’s there.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/27/2023 @ 12:40 pm

    
    

26. @17 An IG investigation would certainly be an appropriate ask by the House GOP.

    Time123 (a5cdb4) — 10/27/2023 @ 12:44 pm

    
    

27. Looks like Speaker Johnson is getting ready to do the right thing:

    One month ago, Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., voted with 93 Republicans to cut off Ukraine aid. Now, as speaker, Johnson said he’s asked White House staff to “bifurcate” aid to Israel and Ukraine. But he emphasized that the U.S. must stop Russia’s advances.

    “We can’t allow Vladimir Putin to prevail in Ukraine because I don’t believe it would stop there,” Johnson said in an interview on Fox News the day after he was sworn in. “And it would probably encourage and empower China to perhaps make a move on Taiwan. We have these concerns. We’re not going to abandon them.”

    There are some possible compromises mentioned in the article.

    The Loser’s friend, “Czar” Putin, won’t be happy about this news.

    Jim Miller (a41107) — 10/27/2023 @ 12:57 pm

    
    

28. Third news item;

    Ouch!

    Rip Murdock (af68bc) — 10/27/2023 @ 1:01 pm

    
    

29. So the 1 rifle 2 soldier thing from Enemy at the Gates was real?

    urbanleftbehind (1b0b25) — 10/27/2023 @ 1:30 pm

    
    

30. Looks like Speaker Johnson is getting ready to do the right thing:

    I suspect he had to give some assurances to the normal members in order to get their votes. He had an advantage that his positions weren’t embedded in concrete like Jordan’s were. A Speaker cannot be an ideologue and must be willing to be an honest broker for the party as a whole.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/27/2023 @ 1:57 pm

    
    

31. Trump doesn’t need defenders like Jeffrey Lord, but Trump doesn’t need to re-post garbage from the guy either, especially when that garbage praises Hitler and other dirtbags as smart, like Hezbollah is “very smart”.

    What is particularly astonishing here with all of these people is, as mentioned, the utter lack of knowledge about the truly evil figures in world history — and, specifically, that these people were hardly dumb.

    Here’s but a small list of some of the most-evil people who have walked the earth: Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, and Mao Zedong, and, in our own time, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping, and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

    To a person, these people were (or are, in the case of Putin, Xi, and Kim) the personification of evil. They were/are mass murderers, bullies, ego maniacs. But dumb? Not a one of them. Not a prayer. All of them had the serious smarts to start at the bottom of the power ladder in their respective countries and, through constant thought, maneuvering, manipulating, and seriously brutal tactics — up to and including murder — reach the top of their country’s power pyramid.

    Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 10/27/2023 @ 2:05 pm

    
    

32. lloyd (62e5df) — 10/27/2023 @ 12:15 pm

    The NY Post link is a rehash from Grassley. Nothing new.

    Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 10/27/2023 @ 2:08 pm

    
    

33. Regarding item seven–sending migrants to NYC and other liberal enclaves was a stunt. A very good stunt. I’m glad that these mayors now have to practice what they preach.

    It’s time immigration enforcement was taken seriously. And spare me the talk of “comprehensive” immigration reform. We tried that before under Reagan. Back then, it was amnesty first, with the promise of enforcement later. The enforcement never happened. Let’s not fall for that trick again.

    No, this time the order should be reversed. Show some real enforcement over a significant amount of time before any talk of amnesty.

    I say this as a former immigration officer who has been following the issue for decades.

    I know Sammy will weigh in on how we should let more people in. Recently, he suggested allowing 15 million in per year. That’s just not reasonable. It’s almost a 5% increase in population every year. Do you want to see the U.S. with a population the size of China’s or India’s? I don’t.

    The chances of changing immigration law to allow that much immigration are nil. So all pro-immigration people can do is argue against enforcement. That is wrong on multiple levels.

    If people like Sammy feel bad for people in other countries, they can sponsor those people to live a better life while remaining in-country for much less than it would cost to have them live here. That way, the money comes out of their own pockets, and those who aren’t in favor of more immigration don’t have to pay for it. It’s one thing to give out largesse using the public purse, and quite another to make private outlays.

    Like somebody said, you can have a welfare state, or you can have open borders. You can’t have both.

    norcal (48a202) — 10/27/2023 @ 2:11 pm

    
    

34. #33 norcal – I’d be interested in hearing what you think we should do on immigration enforcement some time.

    (I do think we should pay more attention to the “content of their characters” than the sizes of their wallets. On that, I suspect I differ from many economists who have studied the problem.

    I’m not sure this would be poltically possible, but I think we might consider giving some illegals, who have been living peacefully here for years, denizen status; they could continue living here legally, but would have to get in line behind legal immigrants in applying for ciitizenship.)

    Jim Miller (aec6ae) — 10/27/2023 @ 3:37 pm

    
    

35. Biden and the DNC only fear a candidate from the left that is why he appeases the left as they fear another 2016 The will vote third party as they did in 2016 and biden won electoral collage by 43,000 votes in az, ga. and wi. I will vote for this moderate dem. over biden as a protest vote unless I vote for marianne williamson.

    asset (b2d17a) — 10/27/2023 @ 3:39 pm

    
    

36. Both Trump and Engoron should keep their mouths shut.

    State attorney Kevin Wallace told Judge Arthur Engoron that the state plans to call Donald Trump Jr. on Wednesday, followed by Eric and Ivanka Trump on the following Thursday and Friday, respectively.
    The state’s final witness, the former president, will likely begin his direct examination on Monday, Nov. 6, according to Wallace.
    “We like to keep families together,” Engoron joked as Wallace set the schedule.

    Engoron needs to be taught that a key component of a joke.. so key that without this component, it is not a joke, is the component known as FUNNY.

    steveg (31367d) — 10/27/2023 @ 3:54 pm

    
    

37. @33: Immigration reform has to start with the people here, before you turn to people not here yet.

    There needs to be some agreement on the basics first. I have a hard line at “If you entered the country illegally as an adult, you MAY be allowed to stay, but you WILL be denied citizenship. There has to be a price. It should probably be an Amendment to make that clear going forward, too.

    After that, people can apply top residency and those applications will be handled on the basis of time continuously here, time self-supporting, tax status and history of behavior. The bureaucracy will work at it’s own pace — no quotas required. An entrance fee will also be required, but this can be paid over time.

    We also need to fix the incredibly dysfunction quota system that treats people from Mexico and Botswana as equally likely to show up, and which prefers those who cannot work to those that can. Both of these drive illegal immigration as those pressured most to immigrate are effectively barred from legal entry.

    And no, not 10s of millions a year, but at least a system that offers a clear path to entry to those that are likely to want it.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/27/2023 @ 4:07 pm

    
    

38. Again, I wish for an editing function.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/27/2023 @ 4:07 pm

    
    

39. So, if the state calls Trump, does he have to testify? It’s a civil case, so perhaps the 5th Amendment doesn’t apply. Even though the penalties are in the billions.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/27/2023 @ 4:28 pm

    
    

40. I would like to see some line-drawing done on civil versus criminal, as it can get pretty fuzzy. They have speed cameras in ABQ, which are indisputable and assign guilt by technical means. They get around civil liberties by assessing only a civil penalty. But it sure feels like Big Brother has found you guilty without due process.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/27/2023 @ 4:32 pm

    
    

41. As for Gaza and the blackouts … It would seem that well-lighted places are suspicious. Who but Hamas would have horded fuel and other supplies.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/27/2023 @ 4:34 pm

    
    

42. A judge’s jokes are always funny, by operation of law.

    But this circus of a trial is not even a bad joke. A banana republic would consider beneath its dignity and an insult to its machismo.

    nk (671645) — 10/27/2023 @ 4:35 pm

    
    

43. Kevin M at 39 & 40. Yeah, I question all those same things too.

    But going along with the fiction that it is a civil case, a party opponent in a civil case can always be called as an adverse witness, and if he refuses to testify he defaults automatically.

    nk (671645) — 10/27/2023 @ 4:41 pm

    
    

44. Don’t like the laws you didn’t make? Now you know how black people feel!

    asset (47c9ef) — 10/27/2023 @ 4:57 pm

    
    

45. nk- I agree about a judges jokes.
    I’m sure some bailiffs have watched a number of lawyers having to suffer though and laugh at some real duds.
    At least no one (so far anyway) has been outed for watching porn and diddling themselves during proceedings.

    steveg (31367d) — 10/27/2023 @ 6:10 pm

    
    

46. BREAKING | NBC News: Robert Card the accused mass shooter in Lewiston, ME has been found and he is deceased, four senior law enforcement officials say.

    https://twitter.com/Tom_Winter/status/1718072816161997213

    NJRob (eb56c3) — 10/27/2023 @ 6:30 pm

    
    

47. https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2023/10/27/my-worst-nightmare-seattle-homeowner-lives-in-a-van-while-deadbeat-tenant-rents-his-home-on-airbnb-n588179

    Jason Roth lives in a van with his dog Wally. He’s both homeless and a homeowner, all at the same time.

    “It’s frustrating, extremely frustrating. It’s something I can’t fully wrap my head around,” he said.

    Jason is making mortgage payments for his Rainer Valley home and paying for pilot school. He is owed five months’ rent – a total of some $29k in back rent, plus utilities…

    Jason’s deadbeat renter is listing the downstairs living space on Airbnb for $434 a night. Jason believes he is generating at least $2k a month, and possibly closer to $3k or possibly even $4k, depending on the month.

    Leftism in all its glory. The courts keep delaying the case and the criminal got a pro-bono leftist lawyer to continue to rob from the owner and steal his property. All in the name of “justice.”

    NJRob (eb56c3) — 10/27/2023 @ 7:05 pm

    
    

48. NJRob —

    It could be worse: the renter could open up a meth lab, get caught, and have the house taken as forfeiture default.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/27/2023 @ 8:40 pm

    
    

49. The story does point out that Airbnb has pulled down the listing.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/27/2023 @ 8:41 pm

    
    

50. @47 in az. landlord can give tennet 48 hour notice to move one of the reasons the state is slowly turning democrat as all the republican made laws here favor the landlord over the tenet, employer over the employee and the business over the consumer as a woman run over by driverless car found out the hard way. Despite best effort of republican party to stop democrats from voting them out we are taking over the state thanks to latinx birthrate! Every day in az. 100 latinx citizens turn 18 voting age if you add dreamers its 140 a day. This despite republicans forcing everyone to show a birth certificate to register to vote, show state issued ID to vote in person and have every signature checked multiple times on mail in ballots. Then your name is added to computer to show you voted they say to prevent fraud. Still we are taking over state! When kari lake and other maggots tried to claim vote fraud they found this slamming them in the face. A few of the printed ballots had the company logo that printed them in a corner of a few ballots was the best they could come up with. They were laughed out of court when they demanded those ballots not count even though they had no evidence that it effected voting. also some toner was to light when printing the ballot at polling places that condensed voter precincts. Voters were given new ballots if the printing was to light. (some had to wait in line for new ballots and left.) Again laughed out of court when maggots demanded all the votes be discarded with judge sanctioning maggot lawyers.

    asset (47c9ef) — 10/27/2023 @ 9:03 pm

    
    

51. In today’s chronicles from oblivion….

    lurker (cd7cd4) — 10/28/2023 @ 1:35 am

    
    

52. The story does point out that Airbnb has pulled down the listing.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/27/2023 @ 8:41 pm

    Only after a Congressman got involved.

    NJRob (eb56c3) — 10/28/2023 @ 3:47 am

    
    

53. Wrong as usual asset. It’s the Cali imports and the indoctrination. Hopefully reality and seeing how racist the left really is will break the indoctrinatiin.

    NJRob (eb56c3) — 10/28/2023 @ 3:49 am

    
    

54. Oy, Acapulco, hit by a Cat 5.

    Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 10/28/2023 @ 6:19 am

    
    

55. Here’s a bona fide Palestinian crisis actor. Note that none of the machines purportedly keeping him alive are actually turned on. Scroll down and enjoy.

    Here’s a tweet of his miraculous recovery, and there’s more of his footage here.

    Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 10/28/2023 @ 7:28 am

    
    

56. NJRob (eb56c3) — 10/27/2023 @ 7:05 pm

    Some states allow the holder of a lease, rights superior to a squatter. If this is the case, then Roth should lease the property to a pro-bono lawyer and have the squatter thrown out.

    felipe (b61595) — 10/28/2023 @ 8:33 am

    
    

57. “The State Department and the embassy, they weren’t doing what needed to be done to get Americans back home. Eventually, they said they’ll dump you in Greece and then charge you for that. And I thought to myself, you know, if you come into this country illegally, they don’t charge you to fly you all over the place. They put you in hotels. They don’t charge the illegal alien, but yet Americans fleeing a warzone are somehow gonna get a bill? It isn’t right,” DeSantis said.

    DeSantis was referring to the Biden administration’s chartering of a cruise ship on Oct. 16 that ferried some 2,500 U.S. citizens and their eligible family members from Haifa, Israel to Limassol, Cyprus. Evacuees were required to sign a promissory note to reimburse the U.S. government for the cost of each individual transported on the vessel, which has become one of the few ways for U.S. citizens to leave the region amid cancellations of service by many international airlines.

    “It isn’t right” is the new normal introduced by this administration and its supporters. To its credit, the DeSantis administration has flown evacuees from Israel and flown migrants to blue states for free, both being in the best interests of the country.

    lloyd (21febc) — 10/28/2023 @ 9:36 am

    
    

58. It’s the Cali imports and the indoctrination

    Most people leaving the weather utopia of California are doing so because they hate the politics.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 9:42 am

    
    

59. @57: Maybe Congress has voted the money for the one, but not the other. Maybe if McCarthy was still Speaker the emergency funding for relocation would have been authorized (and if it is passed now, those promissory notes would be canceled).

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 9:47 am

    
    

60. So “Muslim-Americans” are rethinking their support for Joe Biden due to his support for Israel.

    Some prominent Arab American figures in Michigan have predicted that many voters in the state will choose to leave the presidential candidate ballot blank next year.

    One of them is Osama Siblani, the publisher of The Arab American News and an outspoken voice on Middle East policy. He has heard the worry that abandoning Mr. Biden means that Mr. Trump, should he be the Republican nominee for president, will prevail.

    “My argument is, ‘Let him win,’” he said of Mr. Trump.

    …

    Many students have never voted in a presidential election before, Mr. Bawardi noted, and some are now asking themselves: “What do we do with our votes?” he said.

    He predicted that a third-party candidate would capture their attention next year, in the same way that Ralph Nader did in the presidential election of 2000.

    “I don’t see any other path than a repeat of that,” Mr. Bawardi said.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 9:53 am

    
    

61. Voting with their feet:

    Hong Kong, Facing an Exodus, Offers Money for Babies

    HONG KONG—Hong Kong’s government is grappling with an exodus of citizens and a plummeting birthrate. Its solution: Subsidize baby-making.

    The city has lost its appeal to some residents over the last four years, hurt by strict rules during the Covid-19 pandemic, anxieties about the growing political influence of Beijing, and competition from Singapore and elsewhere. Those who choose to remain in the city are increasingly opting out of having children: Hong Kong’s fertility rate is the lowest in the world.

    The city’s government hopes to address this problem by paying a cash bonus to couples who have children. They will receive the equivalent of around $2,550, as well as other perks such as priority when renting or buying government-subsidized housing and increased access to in vitro fertilization.

    There are just 0.8 children born per woman in Hong Kong, according to a United Nations Population Fund report this year that compared a mix of countries and other territories.

    …

    Hong Kong isn’t alone in struggling with a declining birthrate. The fertility rate in mainland China has dropped sharply, and the country’s population fell last year for the first time in decades.

    Other Asian countries also have falling birthrates, but for China — after ending the forced abortion period of “one-child” — it’s a bit surprising. It’s almost as if people have no hope for their future there.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 9:59 am

    
    

62. Anyone seen any Putin, Xi, or Kim Halloween masks? (I think all three deserve that kind of tribute.)

    Not asking for myself or even for a “friend”, since I am a little old for Halloween. But I think some younger folks should be wearing them.

    Jim Miller (634bfd) — 10/28/2023 @ 10:23 am

    
    

63. Here’s a little data on China’s demographic problems.

    Which are worse than ours.

    Jim Miller (634bfd) — 10/28/2023 @ 10:30 am

    
    

64. Putin Halloween mask.

    Rip Murdock (310c2f) — 10/28/2023 @ 10:35 am

    
    

65. NJ Rob, I’d say the post natal abortion advocate is half right, it’s those years under Arpaio that a cohort of the Latino voters had to put up with and is like (in Frank Constanza voice) “Never!”. I do find his assertion of universal AOC popularity amongst latinas laughable, mainly due to subgroup v subgroup rivalry.

    urbanleftbehind (d81016) — 10/28/2023 @ 10:38 am

    
    

66. I just think masks of polarizing political figures are far more risky than in the past. That could be it

    urbanleftbehind (d81016) — 10/28/2023 @ 10:40 am

    
    

67. Not asking for myself or even for a “friend”, since I am a little old for Halloween. But I think some younger folks should be wearing them.

    I thought about masks of that sort for handing out candy, which I am not yet too old to do, but I didn’t wany the parents to drag their kids away before they got the candy.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 10:46 am

    
    

68. Unsurprising:

    ………..

    (Speaker Mike) Johnson will now have to deal with the kind of nasty infighting that McCarthy couldn’t control, and the looming Nov. 17 shutdown deadline will test how he navigates a longstanding fight between his party’s two factions. Johnson wants to pass a short-term spending patch until January or April to buy more time for Republicans to pass each of their full-year funding bills, but he’s already getting hard resistance from a handful of right flank members.

    Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), a member of the Freedom Caucus, said there are likely at least five Republicans who couldn’t support a short-term spending bill into January. With Republicans’ four-seat majority, that would be enough to require Johnson to get support from Democrats — a complaint that doomed McCarthy.
    ………….
    Now, the House will have to consider a resolution to expel Santos next week, brought from his own party over the litany of charges against him. It’s unlikely to pass, given it requires a two-thirds majority, but many New York Republicans intend to back it.

    And while Johnson told the GOP lawmakers sponsoring the resolution to “do what’s right for New York,” according to the group, he appeared to signal during a Thursday night Fox News interview with Sean Hannity that he didn’t support the effort given that Santos hasn’t been convicted.
    ………….
    …………. Republicans are predicting intraparty headaches on passing some of the full-year funding bills, including legislation to fund the Department of Justice and FBI. Johnson will also face an early test on abortion as Republicans try to revive a funding bill that includes provisions on the topic.
    ………….
    …………. (S)ome on the right-flank are warning Johnson that he shouldn’t presume he has their support on other bills going forward.

    “I don’t know how many more stinkers I can vote for,” (Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.)) said.
    ……………

    Anyone who thought that electing a new speaker would lead to a “Kumbaya” moment around the campfire among House Republicans must be out of their minds. I don’t think Johnson will be Speaker when the current Congress ends.

    Rip Murdock (d19d0a) — 10/28/2023 @ 11:00 am

    
    

69. Israel launches ground offensive into Gaza

    …………
    “This is a war with multiple stages. Today, we move to the next one,” Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, said in a video released by the IDF. “Our forces are currently operating on the ground in the Gaza Strip. These activities are being supported by precise and heavy fire, all in service of the war’s objectives: dismantling Hamas, securing our borders and the supreme effort to return the hostages home.”
    ………..

    Rip Murdock (d19d0a) — 10/28/2023 @ 11:30 am

    
    

70. Ivanka to testify at her dad’s civil fraud trial. Should be interesting. I expect a lot of “I don’t recall”.

    Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 10/27/2023 @ 11:05 am

    At least she’ll be telling the truth.

    Rip Murdock (d19d0a) — 10/28/2023 @ 11:34 am

    
    

71. The Hamas “Crisis Actor” meme is fake. You could tell because A) It’s a meme, B) one of them is a different dude C) The yesterday video is from 3 months ago, not yesterday D) It’s on the thing that used be called Twitter, you know, social media.

    Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 10/28/2023 @ 11:41 am

    
    

72. https://www.thecollegefix.com/conservative-harvard-professor-describes-condemnation-for-views-on-marriage-abortion/

    Harvard supports and defends the views of those that believe slaughtering Jews is justified, but if you are pro-life and believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, well, that’s a bridge too far.

    NJRob (a3da10) — 10/28/2023 @ 11:45 am

    
    

73. Unsurprising II:

    Mike Pence announced on Saturday at the Republican Jewish Coalition gathering in Las Vegas that he was suspending his campaign and exiting the race for the GOP nomination.

    He received a standing ovation from the influential donors in a room of more than 1000 people on Saturday as he said he had concluded that it “was not his time.”
    …………

    Rip Murdock (d19d0a) — 10/28/2023 @ 11:46 am

    
    

74. So, after being fined for violating the gag order twice this week, Trump did it again on Saturday. If it were me, I’d be found in contempt and stuck in a cell for some time, but what do you do with Trump? Does he get secret service protection in jail, does he get his own jail? What are the practical steps that have to happen if he’s actually sentenced to jail time?

    I know that everything is unprecedented until it happens, but it could happen half a dozen times this year, and what happens if he’s incarcerated and wins the presidency? It would be unprecidented, unless it happens.

    Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 10/28/2023 @ 12:38 pm

    
    

75. I suspect courts will substitute increasingly high fines for jail time, possibly adding zeros to the previously imposed amount or doubling the fine (so the next fine should be $100k, followed by increasing incremental increases, such as 200k, 400k, etc.). Or Trump could be sentenced to home confinement with a more restrictive gag order in lieu of actual incarceration.

    Rip Murdock (d19d0a) — 10/28/2023 @ 1:03 pm

    
    

76. Pence would do some good if he endorses Haley, and Tim Scott should follow suit.

    Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 10/28/2023 @ 1:09 pm

    
    

77. #64 Excellent!

    Jim Miller (7244e1) — 10/28/2023 @ 1:13 pm

    
    

78. Sad!

    A former Ukrainian lawmaker who was tipped to be in line to lead a puppet government in Ukraine for Russian President Vladimir Putin was shot in Crimea.

    Oleg Tsaryov, 53, a pro-Russia politician, was shot twice and is in a critical condition following an apparent assassination attempt near his home, according to a Telegram post on his account.
    …………
    The Security Service of Ukraine confirmed the assassination attempt, with one source telling the Kyiv Post: “He has long been on the list of traitors who must answer for their crimes. Tsarev is an absolutely legitimate target. This is not just a fanatic of the ‘Russian world’ but a person who personally came together with Russian tanks to seize Kyiv.”
    …………
    Tsaryov is named as a “traitor to the motherland” by Myrotvorets, an unofficial database of people considered to be enemies of Ukraine, Reuters reported, adding that multiple other supporters of the war on the list have been killed since the start of the conflict — including ex-submarine commander Stanislav Rzhitsky, who was shot dead in Krasnodar in southern Russia while on a run, and military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, who was killed in an explosion in a café in St. Petersburg.
    …………..

    Rip Murdock (d19d0a) — 10/28/2023 @ 1:14 pm

    
    

79. Pence would do some good if he endorses Haley, and Tim Scott should follow suit.

    Indeed. I think he’s torn between his religious activism and his understanding of who can govern. Scott or Haley, that is. But Scott has no path.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 2:07 pm

    
    

80. “I don’t know how many more stinkers I can vote for,” (Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.)) said.

    Then he should to the right thing and resign from the GOP. Declare for the Constitution Party or something.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 2:11 pm

    
    

81. So, after being fined for violating the gag order twice this week, Trump did it again on Saturday.

    If it were me, I would find every possible avenue to disobey that order, since it is wildly unconstitutional to gag criticism of a public official, and particularly noxious when that official is the one issuing the gag order.

    That the case itself is a rolling violation of the 5th, 7th and 8th Amendments, by couching a criminal/political trial as a civil one and allowing the judge to also be jury and executioner.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 2:20 pm

    
    

82. And I say that as someone who, should Trump fall headfirst into a woodchipper, feel sympathy for the owner of the woodchipper.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 2:21 pm

    
    

83. I suspect courts will substitute increasingly high fines for jail time

    Sounds like a plan to cut all criminal protections by transferring the cases to civil court. But maybe I intentionally misunderstood you.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 2:22 pm

    
    

84. Or Trump could be sentenced to home confinement with a more restrictive gag order in lieu of actual incarceration.

    For criticizing a public official? Really?!!?

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 2:23 pm

    
    

85. It is looking like Israel will break diplomatic relations with Turkey after Erdogan threatens to declare war and send Turkish troops to Gaza. Erdogan also compares Israel to the Nazis who ran death camps. Israel recalled their diplomats yesterday.

    https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1829092/Erdogan-Turkey-Israel-war-Gaza

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 3:18 pm

    
    

86. Time to re-read The Guns of August.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 3:21 pm

    
    

87. “Effendi, this rug has belonged to my family for more than 1,300 years. The Blessed Prophet, Mohammed, peace by unto him, once wiped the dust off his sandals on it. It is only because I have fallen on hard times and my wife and children are starving that I am forced to part with it for the insignificant sum of 5,000 dinars.”

    Turks!

    nk (caf19a) — 10/28/2023 @ 3:50 pm

    
    

88. https://www.nj.com/passaic-county/2023/10/nj-council-president-personally-collected-ballots-in-local-voting-fraud-scheme-ag-says.html

    The sitting president of the Paterson City Council, already under indictment in a 2020 election fraud probe, faces new charges after state authorities say they uncovered evidence that he “personally collected ballots” in violation of New Jersey election law and tampered with witnesses in the case.

    The fresh accusations against Alex Mendez provide new details in an long-looming vote-by-mail fraud probe that drew national attention after former President Donald Trump invoked the case in his attacks on the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential race.

    Mendez, who represents the city’s 3rd Ward, now faces nine counts ranging from conspiracy to commit election fraud to forgery and witness tampering, according to the state Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, which brought the charges. The accusations stem from Paterson’s May 2020 municipal race.

    Authorities also said they had charged Mendez’s wife, Yohanny Mendez, and two others in the scheme. Mendez and his attorney did not immediately return messages seeking comment. He has previously denied any wrongdoing.

    In court documents made public Wednesday, state prosecutors additionally allege Mendez’s associates “stole ballots from residential mailboxes,” tossing several “that did not cast a vote for their candidate” in the trash.

    “We allege that Mendez and his associates unlawfully collected ballots and tampered with ballots to give him an unfair edge in the race for the 3rd Ward seat on the Paterson City Council,” said Thomas Eicher, director of the state public integrity office.

    No such thing as voter fraud, huh.

    NJRob (eb56c3) — 10/28/2023 @ 4:14 pm

    
    

89. Somehow the DC judge denied Mark Steyn summary judgement in the fraudulent case brought by Michael Mann and wants Steyn to defend himself against a rabid DC jury.

    Still support the crooks there?

    NJRob (eb56c3) — 10/28/2023 @ 4:56 pm

    
    

90. Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 2:20 pm

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 2:22 pm

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 2:23 pm

    Since Trump was sued under a N.Y. consumer protection law, he is not entitled to jury trial, a point conceded by his own attorneys. The Seventh Amendment has not been incorporated by the Supreme Court against the states.

    Under the Seventh Amendment of the Constitution, defendants have a right to a jury trial in civil cases seeking monetary damages.

    Cases seeking “equitable relief” – like this civil fraud case in New York – don’t hold the same constitutional protection, experts in New York law told CNN. Equitable relief can be a court injunction or the return of profits obtained illegally.
    ………….
    “A judge from same court said there is no right jury trial under NY executive law 63 (12), the section in which this is brought, because they say the remedies are generally equitable, not money damages. And historically there hasn’t been a right for a jury trial for equitable damages, that is taking away the business licenses,” (David Schoen, an attorney on Trump’s defense team in his second impeachment trial, said).
    ………….

    I presume Trump can appeal the use of civil v. criminal law to prosecute himself. I don’t know why he would, since it’s only money at stake in the N.Y. AG’s lawsuit, not his freedom. He can always relocate his businesses to another state or country

    Normally defendants would go out of their way not to annoy the judge that holds their fate in their hands. Judges have a wide range of options to enforce gag orders. And Trump can always appeal the gag order, but it serves his purposes not to do so.

    My thoughts on increasing fines or home confinement at MAL related to Col. Klink’s questions about jailing Trump (and his SS detail) as punishment for violating the gag order. I don’t think it will go that far, monetary fines are probably enough.

    Rip Murdock (d19d0a) — 10/28/2023 @ 5:12 pm

    
    

91. Since Trump was sued under a N.Y. consumer protection law, he is not entitled to jury trial, a point conceded by his own attorneys. The Seventh Amendment has not been incorporated by the Supreme Court against the states.

    Blah blah blah.

    Using civil trials to get around the rules for criminal trials is pretty crappy. The courts have already come down on doing it after losing a criminal trial on the same charges, and they should come down on having both civil and criminal charges available to the state for the same actions.

    I would go so far as to say that civil actions should be unavailable to the state, but that’s probably never going to happen. A pity. The fact is though, that calling it civil, when the “damages” (aka sentence) are in the billions is a chicken sh1t way of evading civil rights.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 5:31 pm

    
    

92. Could the judge impose a gag order forbidding Trump to criticize Biden? If not, why can the judge set himself off limits for criticism? As long as Trump is not disrupting the courtroom or threatening jurors or witnesses, or disclosing sealed information, I see no reason why his speech should be curtailed. If the judge doesn’t like it, he can find some other work.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 5:34 pm

    
    

93. Rip Murdock (d19d0a) — 10/28/2023 @ 5:12 pm

    More on NY executive law 63 (12):

    ………..

    The New York law that (NY AG Leticia) James is using in her claims against Trump, Executive Law 63 (12), was first created in the 1950s and has since been a mainstay in efforts by state prosecutors to ensure the New York commercial marketplace is free of misrepresentations and deception. The law allows the attorney general’s office to investigate business or individuals who engage in “repeated fraudulent or illegal acts.”

    For decades, the attorney general’s office has used the law to bring high-profile fraud cases – including against Trump University and the Trump Foundation – earning the state millions of dollars in settlements.
    …………

    Rip Murdock (d19d0a) — 10/28/2023 @ 5:40 pm

    
    

94. And Trump can always appeal the gag order, but it serves his purposes not to do so.

    Of course it does. This whole thing is an overreach by NY State and/or this judge, predicated on political animus on everyone’s part. Trump wants to be the victim, and he is going to use this, like everything else, to accomplish that.

    It’s only that this, and the NY payoff case, are so wretchedly political and legally leveraged that he sees an eventual appellate win. It’s a Jerry Rubin vs Judge Hoffman defense.

    He will then use those to color the actual criminal cases that he will justifiably be convicted of.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 5:42 pm

    
    

95. I see no reason why (Trump’s) speech should be curtailed. If the judge doesn’t like it, he can find some other work.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 5:34 pm

    Trump is free to appeal the gag order, but apparently has decided it’s to his benefit not to do so.

    Rip Murdock (d19d0a) — 10/28/2023 @ 5:44 pm

    
    

96. Rip,

    I am not a lawyer, and am particularly unimpressed by some other state’s law that gives the State unbridled power to order things its way. It’s not a good argument with me, especially when the bulk of the charges are declared proven before any trial occurs.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 5:44 pm

    
    

97. Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 5:42 pm

    I didn’t mean to repeat myself, I was writing my response when you posted yours.

    Rip Murdock (d19d0a) — 10/28/2023 @ 5:45 pm

    
    

98. Trump is free to appeal the gag order, but apparently has decided it’s to his benefit not to do so.

    Of course not. The judge is making an ass out of himself — amazing when you consider his opponent. Trump will continue to bait him, and the judge has now committed to taking the bait.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 5:46 pm

    
    

99. https://therightscoop.com/breaking-thousands-of-pro-hamas-protesters-storm-grand-central-station-in-new-york-city-video/

    Terrorist sympathizers take over Grand Central in NYC.

    NJRob (eb56c3) — 10/28/2023 @ 5:56 pm

    
    

100. I am not a lawyer, and am particularly unimpressed by some other state’s law that gives the State unbridled power to order things its way. It’s not a good argument with me, especially when the bulk of the charges are declared proven before any trial occurs.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 5:44 pm

     The current trial is about issues unrelated to the summary judgment regarding Trump’s business licenses (which has been blocked by in appeal); it’s dealing with other fraud issues.

     I’m surprised you’re not a lawyer, as you’ve posted with such authority on this and other topics (like presidential electors.) I do know you want to see the world not as it is, but as you wish it to be.

     Which is where we disagree.

     Rip Murdock (d19d0a) — 10/28/2023 @ 5:58 pm

     
     

101. The judge is making an ass out of himself — amazing when you consider his opponent. Trump will continue to bait him, and the judge has now committed to taking the bait.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 5:46 pm

     We’ll see what happens if someone takes Trump’s attacks on the judge (or other court personnel) as an excuse to take actions against them.

     Rip Murdock (b1bf50) — 10/28/2023 @ 6:06 pm

     
     

102. RIP actor Matthew Perry (54).

     Rip Murdock (d19d0a) — 10/28/2023 @ 6:15 pm

     
     

103. @60 Jill stein 2016 better analogy nader did not cost gore michigan. Wrong about why movement here from cali. Its home prices and rent. First goppers 1980/2010 turning ariz. deep red then democrats after that turning az. purple and soon blue ;but in combiation with latinx birthrate. over half of kids in school latinx. If you ask them they will tell you housing costs as they tell me all the time.

     asset (3ecfc1) — 10/28/2023 @ 6:57 pm

     
     

104. @99 Don’t you believe in freedom of speech like for the jan. 6 terrorist/insurrectionists?

     asset (3ecfc1) — 10/28/2023 @ 7:00 pm

     
     

105. Asset,

     let me know when the Jan 6th protesters massacred innocents, slaughtered children and babies.

     Proving what you are yet again.

     NJRob (eb56c3) — 10/28/2023 @ 7:02 pm

     
     

106. This WaPo article describes what went wrong in the first reponses to the Hamas terrorist attack.

     Example: It took an hour-and-a-half for the IDF to realize that a big attack was underway.

     The article looks like a good first cut to me, though I must remind you that I am not a military expert. I hope those who are will take a look at the article, and share their thoughts with us.

     (A small notice in the body of the article says: “No subscription required to read.”)

     Jim Miller (521083) — 10/28/2023 @ 7:24 pm

     
     

107. This is rich, coming from the butchers of Ukraine

     …………
     “While we condemn terrorism, we categorically disagree that you can respond to terrorism by violating the norms of international humanitarian law, including indiscriminately using force against targets where civilians are known to be present, including hostages that have been taken,” (Sergei Lavrov, Russian foreign minister told the Belarus state news agency Belta).
     ………..
     “It is necessary to stop, and to announce humanitarian programs to save the population under blockade.”
     …………

     Without a hint of irony or self awareness.

     Rip Murdock (7031cc) — 10/28/2023 @ 7:57 pm

     
     

108. @105 Let me know when the pro-palestinian protesters killed children like the pro-Israel person who killed 6 year old palestinian-american boy in chicago. I know dana gets upset when I bring up boy’s death ;but I am forced to when the murdered Israeli children are used for politics and the murdered palestinian children are ignored for political reasons.

     asset (3ecfc1) — 10/28/2023 @ 8:03 pm

     
     

109. @106 Did they ask in article what did netanyahu know about the coming attack when did he know it? Who told him? Also did netanyahu fear is government would fall if he took IDF forces protecting his voters building new settlements on the west bank and send them to gaza?

     asset (3ecfc1) — 10/28/2023 @ 8:08 pm

     
     

110. Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 10/28/2023 @ 11:41 am

     It just goes to show that the Instapundit isn’t credible.

     Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 10/28/2023 @ 9:12 pm

     
     

111. I’m surprised you’re not a lawyer, as you’ve posted with such authority on this and other topics (like presidential electors.) I do know you want to see the world not as it is, but as you wish it to be.

     I’m with RFK Sr on that.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 9:25 pm

     
     

112. My mom wanted me to go into law. I went into engineering. Actual reality is more certain than legal “reality.”

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 9:27 pm

     
     

113. We’ll see what happens if someone takes Trump’s attacks on the judge (or other court personnel) as an excuse to take actions against them.

     Nutters do what nutters do. Were the many newspaper editorials responsible for Bremer shooting Wallace?

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 9:31 pm

     
     

114. It just goes to show that the Instapundit isn’t credible.

     He’s not, but the statement has quite a bit of truth in it. You can support Hamas, but never can you show Olivier’s “Othello.”

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 9:33 pm

     
     

115. Let me know when the pro-palestinian protesters killed children like the pro-Israel person who killed 6 year old palestinian-american boy in chicago.

     I bet you I could find someone killing a Jew in America in the last month. It’s happened you know, even if the folks over and Democrat Underworld don’t give a crap.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 9:36 pm

     
     

116. Here we go: last week

     Detroit synagogue president Samantha Woll found fatally stabbed outside her home

     Samantha Woll, 40, led the Isaac Agree Downtown Detroit Synagogue and previously worked for U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, and on the reelection campaign of Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat.

     Police said in an afternoon statement that they were investigating after finding a body stabbed multiple times in the 1300 block of Joliet Place. A trail of blood led to the victim’s home, where police said they believe the crime occurred.

     Currently, they do not believe this was a hate crime — no one has been arrested yet — but other Jewish leaders have been killed in recent years by those who hate.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/28/2023 @ 9:43 pm

     
     

117. Newsom’s goodwill tour to communist China is a resounding success.

     Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 10/29/2023 @ 11:06 am

     
     

118. Newsom’s goodwill tour to communist China is a resounding success.

     A meeting of minds.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/29/2023 @ 12:00 pm

     
     

119. So, rereading The Guns of August for the first time since college, I’m astounded at the character of the kings and emperors who dragged the world into the abyss. Kaiser Wilhelm II, Czar Nicholas II (and his wife!), and other aristocratic leaders all behaved pretty much as Donald Trump. It was all about THEM and their image/needs/approval.

     The Czarina, who ran her husband is described as “strong-willed and weak-witted” and many of her advisors were charlatans and con men. The Kaiser blew off natural allies in his need to be liked by people who despised him.

     And they fumbled themselves into a war that destroyed their world and set the stage for a far worse one. Or two, if you count the Cold War.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/29/2023 @ 12:22 pm

     
     

120. And, as we lurch into the next war, I see one candidate (and his mini-me) looking to sever relations with our current allies to try to gain the favor of Putin and Xi.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/29/2023 @ 12:26 pm

     
     

121. And, as we lurch into the next war, I see one candidate (and his mini-me) looking to sever relations with our current allies to try to gain the favor of Putin and Xi.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/29/2023 @ 12:26 pm

     Yes. Biden really shouldn’t have sold America out for bribes from Xi.

     NJRob (13437f) — 10/29/2023 @ 12:54 pm

     
     

122. Whistling past the graveyard, as usual.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/29/2023 @ 2:39 pm

     
     

123. Antisemitic lynch mob in Dagestan.

     lurker (cd7cd4) — 10/29/2023 @ 3:14 pm

     
     

124. A reminder why the new State of Israel was founded.

     nk (bb1548) — 10/29/2023 @ 3:18 pm

     
     

125. biden’s support of Israel drops him 11 points among democrats. Younger democrats support palestinians. Only small gain for biden with older jewish voters, younger jews not so much. One of the things I agree with biden on ;but netanyahu is a festering cancer bringing biden down.

     asset (143fda) — 10/29/2023 @ 3:50 pm

     
     

126. Younger democrats support palestinians.

     See how much they do after they restart the Draft.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/29/2023 @ 5:46 pm

     
     

127. @126 who would bring it back considering it was rich whites who ended it when they started to draft rich kids. Wars are fought with minimum amount of soldiers replaced by technology. Democrat party says no republican party says no military says no. who says yes?

     asset (143fda) — 10/29/2023 @ 6:15 pm

     
     

128. Hamas should have released the Thai and Filipino hostages immediately. They will probably release them soon in order to gain a little goodwill, but I’m not giving them much credit. I get taking Israeli prisoners and Americans too, but some guy from Thailand is in a bunker eating old hummus? What did he do?

     steveg (762342) — 10/29/2023 @ 7:49 pm

     
     

129. Black Hebrew Israelites fighting with Palestinian’s in Chicago

     https://twitter.com/BreakingBrown/status/1718742424527175919

     steveg (762342) — 10/29/2023 @ 7:58 pm

     
     

130. Democrat party says no republican party says no military says no. who says yes?

     They still require registration. Just in case. They didn’t have a draft in 1939 either.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/29/2023 @ 11:45 pm

     
     

131. NJRob (13437f) — 10/29/2023 @ 12:54 pm

     Yes. Biden really shouldn’t have sold America out for bribes from Xi.

     At least the last one wasn’t coming from Xi – it was coming from people Xi purged. Hunter Biden even wrote that his patron in China was on death row in China. which he may have been, sort of.. He’s just disappeared into the Laogai (Chinese gulag.)

     Very few people get executed in China partially because they are possible transplant donors.)

     Sammy Finkelman (b434ee) — 10/30/2023 @ 6:41 am

     
     

132. Incidentally, a former high ranking official in China, just died.

     https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-67235777

     Li Keqiang: Ex-Chinese premier sidelined by Xi dies at 68

     …tate media said he died at 10 minutes past midnight on Friday despite “all-out” efforts to revive him.
     Li was once tipped to be the country’s future leader but was overtaken by President Xi Jinping.
     A trained economist, he held the second highest-ranked position in China, though in recent years, he was widely isolated amongst China’s top leadership.
     He was the only incumbent top official who didn’t belong to Mr Xi’s loyalists group.
     “Li’s death means the loss of a prominent moderating voice within the senior levels of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), with no one apparently being able to take over the mantle,” Ian Chong, non resident scholar at the Carnegie China think tank told the BBC.

     “This probably means even less restraint on Mr Xi’s exercise of power and authority.”

     Li, who had stepped down as premier in March this year, suffered a sudden heart attack on Thursday and died early on Friday while he was in Shanghai.

     Sammy Finkelman (b434ee) — 10/30/2023 @ 6:46 am

     
     

133. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/26/world/asia/li-keqiang-china-dead.html

     … In 2007, when he was the leader of Liaoning Province, in the northeast, Mr. Li privately acknowledged to the American ambassador to China that Beijing’s official economic statistics were “man-made” and unreliable, according to a confidential diplomatic cable released in 2010 by WikiLeaks.

     He was described as having said that instead of focusing on gross domestic product, he looked at railway freight traffic, electricity consumption and the value of loans disbursed. That alternative measure of growth in China became known as the “Li Keqiang Index.”

     Mr. Li stepped down as premier in March after two terms, in line with China’s constitutionally defined term limits. He could have been appointed to another senior role, but he had been effectively pushed out last October, when he was left off the lineup of the 24-member Politburo, the second tier of power, in a leadership reshuffle. His retirement into obscurity became a certainty.

     https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/27/business/li-keqiang-mourning-online.html

     Among many Chinese, Mr. Li’s death produced a swell of nostalgia for what he represented: a time of greater economic possibility and openness to private business. The reaction was jarring and showed the dissatisfaction in China with the leadership of Xi Jinping, China’s hard-line leader who grabbed an unprecedented third term in office last year after maneuvering to have the longstanding limit of two terms abolished.

     In post after post on social media, people praised Mr. Li more for what he stood for and said than for what he was able to accomplish under Mr. Xi, who drove economic policymaking during Mr. Li’s period in office.

     Mr. Li was possibly the least powerful premier in the history of the People’s Republic of China. The grief over his passing reflected the public’s sense of loss for an era of reform and growth that has been abandoned, and their deep sense of powerlessness in the China of Mr. Xi, the most authoritarian leader since Mao Zedong.

     A post that was widely circulated on several social media sites said that many Chinese people saw themselves in Mr. Li — people “who have struggled over the past decade but have gradually lost ground.”

     The most widely shared posts are short videos of Mr. Li promising that China’s door to the outside world would remain open: “Just like the Yangtze River and the Yellow River can’t flow backward.” Some of the videos were deleted later or couldn’t be shared after China’s censorship impulse kicked in.

     On the social media platform Weibo, > many posts that expressed shock over the suddenness of his death were censored. So were comments that referred to him as “a good premier for the people” and “a great man.” The comments that were allowed mostly went along the line of “rest in peace.”

     Sammy Finkelman (b434ee) — 10/30/2023 @ 6:56 am

     
     

134. https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/10/death-of-shani-luk-confirmed-was-kidnapped-and-driven-through-gaza-streets-mostly-naked-to-jeering-crowds/

     Israel’s President confirms Shani was beheaded:

     “I am truly sorry to report that we have now received news that Shani Nicole Louk has been confirmed murdered and dead. Her skull was found,” Herzog told the German newspaper Bild.

     “This means that these barbaric, sadistic animals simply chopped off her head as they attacked, tortured and killed Israelis. It is a great tragedy and I extend my deepest condolences to her family,” the president said, adding that “about 40 bodies have not yet been identified.”

     “What we saw on the Gaza-Israel border goes far beyond a pogrom. We saw a slaughterhouse. We saw the blood flowing in the streets. We have seen the most horrific tragedies imaginable,” Herzog concluded.

     Just a reminder of what the 5th Century barbarians we are battling do to their adversaries.

     NJRob (eb56c3) — 10/30/2023 @ 6:58 am

     
     

135. https://www.foxnews.com/media/democratic-lawmakers-trade-barbs-over-israel-hamas-resolution-coward-punk-despicable

     Democratic Rep. André Carson, Ind., called fellow Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer, N.J., a “coward,” “punk” and “gangster” for his criticism against lawmakers who voted against a resolution to condemn Hamas and support Israel.

     Carson was one of 16 lawmakers who voted either “no” or “present” on the resolution following the deadly attack against Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7. Gottheimer later called out the Democratic members who refused to condemn Hamas brutality as “despicable.”

     “Last night, 15 of my Democratic colleagues voted AGAINST standing with our ally Israel and condemning Hamas terrorists who brutally murdered, raped, and kidnapped babies, children, men, women, and elderly, including Americans. They are despicable and do not speak for our party,” Gottheimer wrote in an X post Thursday.

     In a clip from CNN’s “Inside Politics” Sunday, host Manu Raju revealed that Carson reacted to Gottheimer’s statement, calling it “cowardly.”

     Anti-Semitic Democrat Rep Andre Carson thinks calling out people supporting anti-Semitism is “cowardly, punkish and gangster” behavior. And people vote for the left.

     NJRob (eb56c3) — 10/30/2023 @ 8:22 am

     
     

136. I see that Pence is out of the race. He was decent human being and a man of faith. But he was too weak to stand up for the US constitution until the very end. I respect that he made the right call in the end but I don’t think he’s the leader the country needs. That said, had he won the nomination I could have voted for him.

     Time123 (39cb94) — 10/30/2023 @ 10:24 am

     
     

137. Pence had no real path…the Trump true-believers think he let them down….and the Never-Trump think he only showed some spine on J6…and otherwise excused bad behavior.

     If we could go back to GOP circa-2012, Pence would have some standing….as a governor with congressional experience. Now, everything is processed through the Trump prism. IMO he should have been front and center making the case for impeachment post J6. He was in a unique position. Now he just comes across as opportunistic. Hopefully he can contribute in some other way.

     AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 10/30/2023 @ 10:34 am

     
     

138. Donald Trump builds on big lead as Nikki Haley pulls even with Ron DeSantis in Iowa Poll
     ………
     A new Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows 43% of likely Republican caucusgoers choose Trump as their first choice for president, up from 42% in an August Iowa Poll.

     DeSantis and Haley are now tied for second place with 16%.
     …….
     “You just have (Haley) rising. You have DeSantis kind of holding on for second place,” said pollster J. Ann Selzer, president of Selzer & Co., which conducted the Iowa Poll. “But both of them are on ground that you could only describe as shaky compared to the solid ground that Donald Trump stands on.
     ……….
     Scott is at 7%, down from 9%; former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is at 4%, down from 5%; entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy held steady at 4%; North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum rose from 2% to 3%; and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson rose from 0% to 1%.

     Recently, Haley and DeSantis have spent more time battling with each other than with Trump, particularly over their approach to the Israel-Hamas war. Each has targeted the other in television ads and on the campaign trail.
     ………
     And Haley has also overtaken the Florida governor with independents: 22% list her as their first choice for president — up from 10% in August.
     ………
     Of those who name DeSantis as their first choice for president, 27% name Haley as their second choice. But 41% say their second choice is Trump.
     ………
     Of those who name Trump as their first choice for president, 41% say DeSantis is their second choice. Haley is at 16% and Ramaswamy is at 15%.
     ………
     In addition to leading overall, Trump performs better than his opponents across nearly every demographic the poll tested, including among first-time caucusgoers.
     ……….
     Overall, 30% of likely caucusgoers say they are extremely enthusiastic about their first choice for president.

     Among Trump voters, it’s 47% — about twice what it is among DeSantis voters (25%).

     Among Haley voters, it is even lower, at 19%.
     ……….
     (A)mong Trump supporters……63% percent (are) saying their minds are made up. A smaller share, 37%, say they could still be persuaded to pick another candidate.
     ……….

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/30/2023 @ 11:07 am

     
     

139. Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/30/2023 @ 11:07 am

     Related:

     ……….
     Nearly two-thirds of respondents (to the new Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll), 65%, say Trump “can win an election against Joe Biden, regardless of his legal challenges.” Another 32% say his legal challenges “will make it nearly impossible for him to win an election against Joe Biden.”
     ……….
     ……….Trump maintains a plurality of support as the face of the GOP, with 39% of likely GOP caucusgoers saying the party “should continue to be led by Donald Trump.” That mark is similar to that of August’s Iowa Poll, where 41% of respondents said he should continue to lead the party.
     ……….
     Nearly all of those who name Trump as their first choice in the caucuses believe his legal challenges won’t prevent him from winning the general election, with 94% saying he could win against Biden. Among those who do not name Trump as their first choice, 42% believe he could defeat Biden despite his court challenges.
     ……….
     Among supporters of United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, the majority (63%) say it’s nearly impossible for Trump to win given legal challenges, with just 35% saying Trump can win against Biden regardless of legal standing.
     ……….
     Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of likely Republican caucusgoers who list Trump as their first-choice candidate — 86% — say the GOP should continue to be led by the former president.
     ……….

     Link to all Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll results.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/30/2023 @ 11:14 am

     
     

140. A new Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows 43% of likely Republican caucusgoers choose Trump

     And 57% do not. This is why it is imperative for the opposition to consolidate. Only DeSantis or Haley have a chance, and one is rising, the other failing. But Bergum, Hutchinson and Scott are wasting everyone’s time, Christie has no path, and Vivek is just the Trump VP in waiting.

     It is possible to stop Trump, and his legal problems will not (further) help him. But until there is a shakeout we risk 2016 all over again.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 11:39 am

     
     

141. “Vote for the felon! It’s important!”

     Bumper sticker of the future.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 11:44 am

     
     

142. @140

     DeSantis or Haley have a chance
     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 11:39 am

     insert gif…

     : why not both? :

     Haley/DeSantis
     or
     DeSantis/Haley

     whembly (5f7596) — 10/30/2023 @ 11:44 am

     
     

143. I could support a ticket with Desantis on the bottom of the ticket.
     Can’t support him on top of the ticket. I likely leave that bubble empty or vote 3rd party.

     Time123 (39cb94) — 10/30/2023 @ 11:48 am

     
     

144. @143 I’d definitely support DeSantis at the top.

     He’s obviously much better than Trump and lightyears ahead of any Democratic candidate.

     I’d hope you reconsider as, I think it’s a tall order to agree with your party’s candidate near 100% of the issues.

     Even at 60-70% agreement with a DeSantis administration, he’s still viable candidate to support of any of the loons on the other side of the aisle imo.

     whembly (5f7596) — 10/30/2023 @ 11:59 am

     
     

145. : why not both? :

     Becasue the Trumpists have set up rules that will prevent a split opposition from competing.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 12:15 pm

     
     

146. https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-refusenik-in-a-country-at-war-israel-hamas-palestinians-gaza-9d4a146e

     … If there is one crime against the Palestinians to which Israel should plead guilty,” Mr. Sharansky says, “it is the Oslo Agreement”—the peace accord Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization signed in 1993.

     Mr. Sharansky abhors Oslo…..At Oslo, he says, Israel foisted “a ruthless dictator on the Palestinians. We told them, “Like it or not, he will be your leader.’ With [Bill] Clinton and all the free world, we gave Arafat the power to destroy all the beginnings of freedom of the Palestinian people and helped build a generation of haters.” Mr. Sharansky says it’s “absolutely ridiculous” that a “fifth generation” of Palestinians lives in refugee camps, but he says “their leaders are to blame. And the free world, that gives money to these leaders—a lot of money.”

     Mr. Sharansky is certain that Israel’s security can be assured only by a free Palestinian society, in which people “enjoy a normal life, normal freedom, the opportunity to vote and have their own human rights.” In “The Case for Democracy” (2004), he wrote: “I remain convinced that a neighbor who tramples on the rights of its own people will eventually threaten the security of my people.” The book was published a year before Israel “disengaged” from the Gaza Strip, withdrawing the army and forcibly uprooting Jews who had settled there.

     That decision led Mr. Sharansky to resign from Sharon’s cabinet. Arafat had failed to tame Hamas, and Mr. Sharansky believed Gaza would be taken over by the terrorist group, whose ideology is “suicide for the sake of destroying the state of Israel.” He resigned before disengagement took effect, because he didn’t want to “take responsibility for the fact that we, by our own hands, were creating the biggest terrorist base in the Middle East, and that missiles will come one day to Ashkelon,” a coastal city less than 10 miles from the Gaza border.

     “The threat was so clear to me,” Mr. Sharansky recalls. “But Sharon told me, ‘No, we simply put up a wall. And if [Hamas] dare to make one shot, we will simply kill all of them.’ To this day, I don’t know if he believed in it or not.” Mr. Sharansky recalls that Sharon told him that “all the world will be with us for 10 years after this. I said, ‘Arik, you don’t have 10 years. Maybe you have 10 days.’ ”

     In the event, Hamas won legislative elections in Gaza in 2006 and displaced the Palestinian Authority by force the next year. Although Mr. Sharansky’s view appears to have been vindicated, he doesn’t think “now is the right time for me to say that I was saying this or that. It’s too long ago. But what was disengagement? Leaving the territory, and leaving it to the terrorists. Nobody in Israel would be for a new disengagement today.” After the atrocities of Oct. 7, “all of Israeli society understands that there can be no compromise with Hamas—or we will survive or they will survive.”….

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 10/30/2023 @ 12:15 pm

     
     

147. The Colorado 14th Amendment case against Trump has begun.

     I note that the plaintiff’s lawyer is Eric Olson, former CO Solicitor General. One of The Elect, he was a clerk for John Paul Stevens and he represented CO against 303 Creative — losing to the web-designer’s successful civil rights case at the Supreme Court.

     Oddly, he is also a member of the Federalist Society.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 12:20 pm

     
     

148. LA County remains on brand

     https://www.sgvtribune.com/2023/10/30/cu-buffs-football-players-robbed-rose-bowl-ucla/

     steveg (6050f6) — 10/30/2023 @ 12:24 pm

     
     

149. There was simply almost nobody who was interested in Mike Pence. He had nothing going for him.

     At the time he was picked for vice president, almost nobody knew him. Curtis Sliwa knew him – from Mike Pence’s days as a talk radio show host. He would travel to Indiana to set up a Guardian Angels branch and got interviewed – also Mike Pence went to WABC radio in New York- he remembers a discussion Mike Pence had with the late Bernard McGurk – their fathers were both bus drivers, and they also talked shop

     He thinks Mike Pence would be most useful rallying Evangelicals in support of Israel. At a lot of these demonstrations, it’s just Jews talking to Jews he says, and politicians speaking.

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 10/30/2023 @ 12:26 pm

     
     

150. 147. The name of the former Solicitor General, and lawyer for Bush in Bush v Gore, whose wife, Barbara Olson, died on September 11,3001 – she was on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon – is Theodore (or Ted) Olson

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 10/30/2023 @ 12:30 pm

     
     

151. The basic problem with killing Hamas is that Hamas is an idea rooted in poverty and despair. Israel is fighting a hydra and that will go on forever unless the poverty and despair is resolved, something that Israel itself cannot do, and is probably unwilling to do anyway.

     Two choices remain:

     * Ethnic cleansing, which moves the problem some distance away (and would probably have to extend to the West Bank). There are two terrible downsides to this: 1) Israel would be isolated internationally and 2) there would be no peace ever with the Arabs.

     * Palestinian renewal, through a stable and prosperous Arab protectorate, leading later to democratic rule. The upside here is that it would *require* Arab co-operation with Israel, and remove the breeding ground that the terrorists exploit.

     The third option: UN (or similar) multinational control, invariably feckless and invariably a failure. I’d be betting on this, which again leaves the Palestinians homeless, beggared and angry.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 12:32 pm

     
     

152. @150: True, but go back and read what I wrote: Eric Olson is the immediate past Colorado SG. Your “correction” is what is actually wrong.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 12:34 pm

     
     

153. Eric Olson, Federalist Society

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 12:35 pm

     
     

154. And, rereading that, he is NOT a Federalist Society member, but just a contributor to some FS seminar or event.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 12:37 pm

     
     

155. Whembly, Desantis culture war shenanigans were annoying. But his blatant and explicit use of state power to stifle speech he disagreed with is disqualifying to me. It’s the last one that I can’t get past.

     It doesn’t make him worse than Biden in the way Trump was worse. But it’s enough that I wouldn’t vote for him.

     He seems competent in a lot of ways though and I can see why you like him.

     Time123 (39cb94) — 10/30/2023 @ 12:41 pm

     
     

156. It bothered me that they talked about the hostages, and not the people who were killed on October 7 (Simchat Torah in Israel) Six to seven times as many as were kidnapped. I was still reading a little about it in weekly Jewish newspapers from two weeks back.

     But now they started talking about it again:

     https://nypost.com/2023/10/29/opinion/hamas-horrors-you-luckily-wont-see-glimpse-of-terror-too-sick-for-israel-to-air

     …Journalists, about 20 of us, had to leave our cellphones and Apple Watches at the door. Some of the footage had never been released, and Israeli authorities had their reasons for showing it only to reporters and some select others — like President Biden….

     ….The footage eases you into things — a little. Terrorists fire at motorists on a highway. They enter a kibbutz and blow an ambulance’s tires first. They shoot a dog, who remains shaking on the street. They light a home on fire. Then they start entering houses.

     Israel collected video from a wide variety of sources: public closed-circuit TV, traffic cameras, dashcams of terrorists and victims, as well as their social media posts and messages home. In footage from fighters’ body cameras, you can hear the murderers breathe heavily as they nervously approach their prey…

     It was hard to watch. Harder still for the Israelis. The consul general admitted afterward he couldn’t stay for the whole screening. Another staffer seemed to find most difficult to see and hear some of the same footage I did: A father tries to get his young children, dressed only in underpants, safely to a backyard shelter.

     A grenade lands before he can close the door, and he’s dead. A terrorist takes his two boys back into the house, and a security camera captures their devastation. The blast blinded one boy in an eye. The other falls to the ground, plaintively pleading, “Why am I alive? Why am I alive?” (The boys, we’re told, managed to escape — at least physically.)

     In another, (previous?) showing of the same video, the Israeli screener said he didn’t knw what happened to thr two boys.

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 10/30/2023 @ 12:45 pm

     
     

157. Ron DeSantis polling (538 averages):

     National Trump +43

     Iowa Trump +32

     New Hampshire Trump +35 (third place, 4 points behind Haley)

     South Carolina Trump +38, (third place, 7 points behind Haley)

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/30/2023 @ 1:08 pm

     
     

158. This is why it is imperative for the opposition to consolidate.

     I don’t see any of the remaining candidates dropping out before New Hampshire. Christie has bet all on NH; DeSantis and Haley will run through South Carolina (and beyond, depending on their results in the first three contests); Burgum and Ramaswamy can self-finance as long as they want; Scott would probably run through SC just be on his home state ballot. The final humiliation for DeSantis will be losing the Florida primary (currently Trump +35).

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/30/2023 @ 1:37 pm

     
     

159. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/27/world/middleeast/palestine-gazans-hamas-food.html

     As Gazans Scrounge for Food and Water, Hamas Sits on a Rich Trove of Supplies >

     Hamas has spent years stockpiling desperately needed fuel, food and medicine, as well as ammo and weapons, in the miles of tunnels it has carved out under Gaza.

     ….Hamas has hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel for vehicles and rockets; caches of ammunition, explosives and materials to make more; and stockpiles of food, water and medicine, the officials said. A senior Lebanese official said Hamas, which is estimated to number between 35,000 and 40,000, had enough stocked away to keep fighting for three to four months without resupply.

     One of the four Israeli hostages released by Hamas even described the group providing captives with medicine, shampoo and feminine hygiene products. All are now said to be extraordinarily scarce in Gaza more than two weeks after Israel, aided by Egypt, imposed what it called a “complete” blockade following the attack by the terrorist group on Oct. 7.

     The Arab and Western officials who described Hamas’s supply situation all spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were disclosing information gleaned from human sources, communications intercepts and other streams of intelligence. The stockpiles are typically kept underground, they said, and cautioned that precise details on Hamas’s supplies were difficult to come by.

     ….The supply situation speaks to the relative sophistication of Hamas as a fighting force — an axiom among military professionals is that while amateurs talk about tactics, professionals talk about logistics. Yet with Gazans facing a humanitarian catastrophe, Hamas’s stockpiles raise questions about what responsibility, if any, it has to the civilian population.

     History abounds of well-supplied armies fighting on the front lines while the home front went hungry. Germans, for instance, endured what became known as the “Turnip Winter” at the height of World War I, even as the Kaiser’s armies were well provisioned. They eventually lost and the German Empire fell.

     Hamas has said little of its supply situation — combatants rarely do — but the government it runs in Gaza says it has an emergency fuel stockpile that is quickly being depleted. “Hospitals, the ambulances and fire fighters’ machinery and civil defense trucks have been using the government emergency fuel store,” said Salama Marouf, who runs the government’s media office in Gaza.

     But those fuel stockpiles are separate from and far smaller than the 211,000 to 264,000 gallons of gasoline and diesel that the Israeli military says Hamas has on hand.

     Fuel has taken on growing importance in recent days. Israel has so far refused to allow any fuel to be delivered to Gaza, even as other aid begins to trickle in, leaving much of the enclave without electricity to power hospitals, desalinate or pump water, fire bakers’ ovens and run internet and cellphone services. The United Nations, which handles the bulk of humanitarian relief work in Gaza, said on Thursday that it “has almost exhausted its fuel reserves and begun to significantly reduce its operations.”

     Asked about the situation, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, told reporters that if Gazans or the United Nations need fuel, they should get it from Hamas.

     “Hamas has fuel but has different priorities — to provide ventilation and air for its tunnel system, for firing rockets, command and control,” he said on Thursday.

     Neither the Arab nor the Western officials offered estimates anywhere as detailed as what the Israelis claim. And with only a trickle of aid beginning to reach Gaza, Hamas does not appear to be replenishing its stores, they said.

     “But they are very careful in using what they have because they will be using it for long periods,” said Samir Ghattas, an Egyptian strategic analyst who closely monitors Gaza.

     That certainly appears to be the case with food. Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, a freed hostage, said that while in captivity she ate the same single meal that Hamas fighters eat every day: pita bread with two kinds of cheese and cucumber.

     Mr. Ghattas said there was little chance that Hamas would be willing to provide food or any other kinds of supplies to aid civilians. “The Hamas movement cares only about the Hamas movement,” he said. “The public of Gaza mean absolutely nothing for Hamas.”….

     Sammy Finkelman (c5132f) — 10/30/2023 @ 1:42 pm

     
     

160. Well, Rip, I can’t see you looking optimistically at anything actually, so this does not surprise me.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 1:42 pm

     
     

161. Christie will drop out after coming in fourth in NH. Bergum and Hutchinson will drop out before Christmas. Scott? He will drop out when his handlers tell him to drop out; he is, if anything, packaged.

     Ramaswamy will run until Trump tells him to get out, but he mostly takes from Trump, so whatever. He’s running to be Mini-me.

     DeSantis will stay in too long. That’s the real danger. Can he win if Haley drops out? He has no foreign policy cred (Trump has more); he only has the culture war to run on, and Trump has that, too.

     In the long run I would have Trump at 5-4 and Haley at 4-1, DeSantis at 10-1 (and that’s generous) and everyone else as 50-1 or worse.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 1:51 pm

     
     

162. Well, Rip, I can’t see you looking optimistically at anything actually, so this does not surprise me.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 1:42 pm

     Do you have any evidence to the contrary, or just magical thinking?

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/30/2023 @ 1:51 pm

     
     

163. However, I see Trump as the GOP nominee as total disaster, whether he beat Biden or not. It will end the GOP as an effective force in American politics once Trump is gone. The CA GOP gone national.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 1:52 pm

     
     

164. Scott? He will drop out when his handlers tell him to drop out; he is, if anything, packaged.

     As are DeSantis and Haley. There is absolutely nothing that is authentic about either of them.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/30/2023 @ 1:53 pm

     
     

165. Do you have any evidence to the contrary, or just magical thinking?

     Some see things as they are, and ask “Why?”
     Some see things that never were, and ask “Why not?”

     You see things as they are, and ask nothing.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 1:54 pm

     
     

166. As are DeSantis and Haley. There is absolutely nothing that is authentic about either of them.

     If all you watch are packaged soundbites, this is what you’d see. It’s just not true, not even with DeSantis. With Scott, seeing him in a freeform debate, it’s obvious there is no there there.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 1:56 pm

     
     

167. I see Trump as the GOP nominee as total disaster, whether he beat Biden or not. It will end the GOP as an effective force in American politics once Trump is gone. The CA GOP gone national.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 1:52 pm

     I agree, but is that a bad thing? The GOP today will never return to the GOP of the 1980s with Reagan. If Trump were to vanished in a poof of smoke MAGA thinking would still dominate GOP politics. Perhaps it is time to rethink what a conservative party should look like and create a new one.

     I know, wishful thinking.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/30/2023 @ 1:58 pm

     
     

168. The death toll in Gaza given by Hamas might be more or less accurate, although it includes combatants, and is inflated from what it would be by poor medical care. They appear to be routinely extracting babies from wounded pregnant women and letting the women die. The listed deaths are those registered at a hospital, and something like 1,000 people should have died in the ordinary course of time, even if limited to new patients. On the other hand, there may be people buried in the rubble not counted. The ratio of women to men is much higher than in previous wars.

     A possible element is that Israel largely, this time, stopped giving warning shots (relying on the general warning mostly) and started counting an area as 100% Hamas when the estimated number of people left had dropped to 1/4 of what it had been before. (How would they estimate it? Infrared radiation? )

     Or at least that was the situation a week or so ago. Hamas threatened to kill hostages if Israel didn’t resume immediate warning – it was a bluff.

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 10/30/2023 @ 2:01 pm

     
     

169. Given Haley’s history of changing positions on (such as on her defense of secession and the Confederate Flag and Trump himself), she reeks of insincerity and political expediency.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/30/2023 @ 2:03 pm

     
     

170. Joe Biden is not ac candidate in the New Hampshire primary, which does not count for Democrats. (no delegates) More independents will vote in the Republican primary

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 10/30/2023 @ 2:04 pm

     
     

171. Important article about mistakes Israel made before October 7.Some in the army want to blame the political fight over judicial reform but they were the ones who wanted to bring military readiness into it, and besides, like Netanyahu, they were focused on Lebanon and Hezbollah and other militias to the north. Unit 8200, Israel’s signals intelligence agency, had even stopped eavesdropping on Hamas’s handheld radios a year earlier “because they saw it as a waste of effort.”

     https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/29/world/middleeast/israel-intelligence-hamas-attack.html

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 10/30/2023 @ 2:11 pm

     
     

172. One Israeli soldier (female) rescued from captivity – Hamas releases video of three female hostages demanding Netanyahu agree to a prisoner swap.

     https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hamas-video-israel-hostages-gaza-demand-netanyahu-agree-prisoner-swap

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 10/30/2023 @ 2:16 pm

     
     

173. Hamas is rooted in lies and relative wealth compared to other options men have for making money

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 10/30/2023 @ 2:22 pm

     
     

174. “Given Haley’s history of changing positions on (such as on her defense of secession and the Confederate Flag and Trump himself), she reeks of insincerity and political expediency.”

     I’m not sure who survives that charge. Romney? No. Bush Sr? No. Being consistent means you never reconsider a controversial position…no matter how much additional information you get or how much your opinion might evolve due to reflection. I’m especially fine with someone moving away from a dubious position previously held.

     Neither the flag nor secession are issues that matter. These are peculiarities of the South that are fading away like states trying to ban gay marriage. Blatant racism is dying away and there is less and less need to try to subtly appeal to it for votes. As to Trump, you seem to have less of a problem with Christie who actually managed Trump’s election campaign. It’s hard to find a viable conservative candidate that hasn’t had to try and work with a Trumpist GOP to continue to get things done and get elected. Purity on Trump is the golden-horned unicorn….Romney is pure but (sadly) largely irrelevant as an influencer.

     You either work with the GOP you have or wistfully imagine 10% of hard-core Never-Trumpers splitting off and becoming well…something. The country is split even. Never Trump must paint an alternative leadership style and wait out the unpleasantness of the next 8 months. If it’s still a loss, that’s fine. Right-wing media must change long term. Evangelicals need to re-assess. It’s a process that needs strategic thinking rather than rigidity.

     AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 10/30/2023 @ 2:31 pm

     
     

175. Given Haley’s history of changing positions on (such as on her defense of secession and the Confederate Flag and Trump himself), she reeks of insincerity and political expediency.

     Well, you conflate a few things and ignore the reason she flipped on the flag.

     But the bottom line is that a professional politician in this country has only two parties to pick from and can’t get too far from the mainstream of the one she’s in unless she wants to be a Tlaib, or she wants to find a new profession.

     That does not mean that all politicians are insincere opportunists. She IS challenging Trump now, and is burning that bridge pretty completely.

     Your negativity is, again, noted. It’s the opposite of wishful thinking — cynical defeatism.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 2:59 pm

     
     

176. Beaten, dead, body paraded as trophy, decapitated.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 3:03 pm

     
     

177. The House bill details are out: 14.3bil for Israel, offset by cutting the IRS budget by the same amount.

     So much for caring about the deficit, eh?

     Sam G (8d2ed1) — 10/30/2023 @ 3:08 pm

     
     

178. That does not mean that all politicians are insincere opportunists. She IS challenging Trump now, and is burning that bridge pretty completely.

     Oh, puh-leese! She asked Trump’s permission to run. But that was an unwounded Trump, prior to the indictments and the New York lawsuit. She was auditioning for VP, that’s what she was doing. Now she thinks she has the chance to be the alpha male instead of the alpha female. And I am cognizant of the allusion.

     nk (daf9c7) — 10/30/2023 @ 3:44 pm

     
     

179. @136 pence’s problem nobody else could vote for him.

     asset (a35a9e) — 10/30/2023 @ 3:53 pm

     
     

180. IDF leaders take responsibility for not preventing attack and ignoring intelligence. Guess who doesn’t the bottle deposit criminal netanhahu says he was asleep! For 3 days? He refused to re-enforce gaza with troops guarding his supporters building new settlements on west bank to protect staying in office.

     asset (a35a9e) — 10/30/2023 @ 4:02 pm

     
     

181. I can forgive the flip-flopping — as AJ says, who doesn’t flip-flop? — and a number of other little things. But there’s one thing I can’t forgive: the pledge to support Trump if he’s the nominee. That’s not a previous, now rescinded pledge. It’s current, it’s operative, and it’s my red line.

     lurker (cd7cd4) — 10/30/2023 @ 4:06 pm

     
     

182. the pledge to support Trump if he’s the nominee

     Something she is working very hard to have not happen. It was, you know, a condition of being in the debate.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 4:15 pm

     
     

183. Chris Christie made the same pledge.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 4:16 pm

     
     

184. pence’s problem nobody else could vote for him

     The giant stick up his ass was an issue for me.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 4:17 pm

     
     

185. She was auditioning for VP, that’s what she was doing

     1) Bollocks. SHe was in it to win from the beginning. If she wanted to be Trump’s VP, she could have stayed home and endorsed him.

     2) No one but Vivek wants to be Trump’s VP now. Not even DeSantos.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 4:18 pm

     
     

186. So much for caring about the deficit, eh?

     What makes you think that giving the IRS more money will cut the deficit? The way the let all those tax returns go “missing”, then slapped the guy’s wrist when he got caught, they should have gotten cut lots more. It’s the only thing bureaucrats understand.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 4:21 pm

     
     

187. Authorities investigating online threats of violence against Jewish students at Cornell University, school’s president says

     CNN — Cornell University police are investigating a series of antisemitic threats made against the school’s Jewish community in online posts over the weekend, its president announced.

     “Earlier today, a series of horrendous, antisemitic messages threatening violence to our Jewish community and specifically naming 104 West — the home of the Center for Jewish Living — was posted on a website unaffiliated with Cornell,” President Martha E. Pollack said in a statement Sunday.

     The online messages surfaced Sunday and included threats to shoot Jewish students at the 104 West building, which houses their kosher dining hall, and messaging encouraging others to harm Jews, according to the school’s student newspaper, The Cornell Daily Sun.

     …

     Antisemitic incidents in the US increased nearly 400% in the days after the October 7 attacks by Hamas, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

     New York State police will increase their security on Cornell’s campus following the threats, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday, calling those who made the threats, “terrorists” and warned that anyone making threats “will get no refuge.”

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 4:29 pm

     
     

188. @186 the ROI for the IRS is ~1:5-9. So conservatively that 14.3bil cut ends up being worth ~$57bil in net revenue loss.

     SamG (4e6c22) — 10/30/2023 @ 4:42 pm

     
     

189. Well, you conflate a few things and ignore the reason she flipped on the flag.

     No, I mentioned political expediency.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/30/2023 @ 4:43 pm

     
     

190. Chris Christie made the same pledge.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 4:16 pm

     Yes, Christie and Hutchinson signed that idiotic, extortionist pledge in order to be allowed on the debate stage. Then each declined to raise his hand when asked directly during the debate. That’s the kind of flip-flopping I can get behind, and sadly the one kind Haley couldn’t bring herself to make. IMO anyone too cowed to say the blindingly obvious, that Trump is categorically unfit for office, doesn’t get my vote.

     lurker (cd7cd4) — 10/30/2023 @ 5:29 pm

     
     

191. No, I mentioned political expediency.

     And again you ignore the reason, but you know that. Having a white supremacist murder a church full of black worshipers directly implicates any symbol of the former oppression. Her action was in support of citizens who were not used to getting support from Republican governors.

     Sorry it got you all upset.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 6:48 pm

     
     

192. Then each declined to raise his hand when asked directly during the debate.

     Christie raised his hand. Perhaps half-heartedly, but he did raise it.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 6:49 pm

     
     

193. Lurker, do you agree that the best is the enemy of the good? Or do you believe that only the best is tolerable?

     To me, if Dead Richard Nixon could take the nomination away from Donald Trump, I would cast my vote happily for Dead Richard Nixon.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 6:51 pm

     
     

194. Trump/Gaetz 2024

     I’m having a hard time figuring out who would accept positions in a Trump cabinet
     Maybe George Santos Secretary of Treasury

     steveg (6050f6) — 10/30/2023 @ 7:31 pm

     
     

195. I’m not going to disqualify someone because they raised their hand 8 years ago.
     They wanted Trump to succeed, they just weren’t specific enough about at what

     steveg (6050f6) — 10/30/2023 @ 7:34 pm

     
     

196. Raising a hand over supporting Trump over letting Hillary win was like being asked “shot in the groin or in the butt”. You choose the butt and hope for the best.

     steveg (6050f6) — 10/30/2023 @ 7:41 pm

     
     

197. Three young teenagers maybe somali as they were black were standing on a street corner holding up a hand made sign: ceasefire please! I rolled down my window and said I disagree on a ceasefire ;but I admire your courage and determination. What they were doing could get them run over or shot in az.

     asset (e81207) — 10/30/2023 @ 7:51 pm

     
     

198. If you saw that tonight, a lot of people were watching the Dbacks lose game 3 of the World Series instead of out driving.

     urbanleftbehind (ff84fe) — 10/30/2023 @ 8:21 pm

     
     

199. Christie raised his hand. Perhaps half-heartedly, but he did raise it.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 6:49 pm

     That’s BS. He wasn’t signaling assent. He was trying to get the moderator’s attention to make the case against voting for Trump.

     lurker (cd7cd4) — 10/30/2023 @ 11:07 pm

     
     

200. Lurker, do you agree that the best is the enemy of the good? Or do you believe that only the best is tolerable?

     To me, if Dead Richard Nixon could take the nomination away from Donald Trump, I would cast my vote happily for Dead Richard Nixon.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 6:51 pm

     C’mon, Kevin. Give that choice, I’d vote for Zombie Nixon too. I’m Mr. Pragmatic. There are no Lincolns or Washingtons in this race. Anyone I vote for is a lesser evil. If Nikki Halley were the only alternative to Trump, DeSantis or Vivek, or for that matter to Omar, Tlaib or Corrie Bush, I’d vote for Nikki. When I say her pledge to support Trump is a red line, that just means I think it makes her terrible. Less terrible than the ones I just mentioned, among many others, but more terrible than Christie, and more terrible than Biden. I’ll always vote for the lesser evil. You’re the one who’d vote spoiler third party if neither major party met your standard. It’s your choice and you’re entitled to it, but that’s pretty much the definition of making the perfect the enemy of the good.

     lurker (cd7cd4) — 10/30/2023 @ 11:18 pm

     
     

201. I’m not going to disqualify someone because they raised their hand 8 years ago.
     They wanted Trump to succeed, they just weren’t specific enough about at what

     steveg (6050f6) — 10/30/2023 @ 7:34 pm

     Steve, is that about my exchange with Kevin over Nikki Haley raising her hand for Trump? If so, that happened two months ago, not eight years.

     lurker (cd7cd4) — 10/30/2023 @ 11:20 pm

     
     

202. *Given that choice*

     lurker (cd7cd4) — 10/30/2023 @ 11:22 pm

     
     

203. Fox news support Israel 50% support palestinians 48% fox said hamas.

     asset (e81207) — 10/31/2023 @ 3:14 am

     
     

204. 180. asset (a35a9e) — 10/30/2023 @ 4:02 pm

     IDF leaders take responsibility for not preventing attack and ignoring intelligence. Guess who doesn’t the bottle deposit criminal netanhahu says he was asleep! For 3 days? He refused to re-enforce gaza with troops guarding his supporters building new settlements on west bank to protect staying in office.

     Netanyahu apologized for and deleted a twee which he shouldn’t have, because it was accurate even if it was out of place to talk about it now netanyahu is being outmaneuvered by his political opponents)

     https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/29/world/middleeast/israel-intelligence-hamas-attack.html

     …At 1 a.m. Sunday in Israel, after his office was asked for comment on this article, he posted a message on X, formerly Twitter, that repeated remarks he made to The New York Times and blamed the military and intelligence services for failing to provide him with any warning on Hamas.

     “Under no circumstances and at no stage was Prime Minister Netanyahu warned of war intentions on the part of Hamas,” the post read in Hebrew. “On the contrary, the assessment of the entire security echelon, including the head of military intelligence and the head of Shin Bet, was that Hamas was deterred and was seeking an arrangement.”

     In the resulting furor, Benny Gantz, a member of his war cabinet, publicly rebuked Mr. Netanyahu, saying that “leadership means displaying responsibility,” and urged the prime minister to retract the post. It was later deleted, and Mr. Netanyahu apologized in a new one.

     On Sunday, Shin Bet promised a thorough investigation after the war. The I.D.F. declined to comment.

     Nobody provided him with any warning about an attack coming from Gaza >

     It should be hard to get confused about this.

     Sammy Finkelman (b434ee) — 10/31/2023 @ 7:18 am

     
     

205. While security and intelligence officials were right about a coming attack, their intense focus on Hezbollah and Iran had a tragic effect: Far less attention was paid to the threats from Gaza. Since Israel’s withdrawal in 2005 and Hamas’s evolution from a purely guerrilla organization into the governing power of Gaza in 2007, Hamas had only periodic skirmishes with the Israeli military.

     Under four different prime ministers, Israel repeatedly decided that reoccupying Gaza and crushing Hamas would cost too many lives and do too much damage to Israel’s international reputation.

     Israel knew that Hamas, which Iran supports with funding, training and weapons, was growing stronger over time. But officials thought they could contain Hamas with an extensive network of human spies, sophisticated surveillance tools that would deliver early warnings of an attack and border fortifications to deter a Hamas ground assault. They also relied on the Iron Dome air defense system for intercepting rockets and missiles launched from Gaza.

     The strategy, confirmed by multiple Israeli officials, bore some fruit. Over the years, Israel’s investment in penetrating Hamas’s inner circle in Gaza allowed Israel to uncover the group’s attack plans and occasionally led to assassinations of Hamas leaders….

     Sammy Finkelman (b434ee) — 10/31/2023 @ 7:26 am

     
     

206. That does not mean we are not dealing qwith n Irnnian plan. Iran probably wanted, like it did once before,, to make Hezbollah’s enrance into the war look like an escalation. ||That oould be ne reason that Israel started its invason of Gaza in total secrecy on Friday night local time. They want Iran to “miss the bus.”

     Sammy Finkelman (b434ee) — 10/31/2023 @ 7:30 am

     
     

207. Yeah. To every other network, the mob at the Dagestan airport was antisemitic. To Fox, it was pro-Palestinian.

     You see, Netanyahu committed the unpardonable: He congratulated Biden on winning the election.

     nk (bb1548) — 10/31/2023 @ 7:50 am

     
     

208. The United States government (Biden Administration) thinks the Israeli government is far too complacent about the deaths of civilians in the Gaza Strip.

     Sammy Finkelman (e4b2e0) — 10/31/2023 @ 8:29 am

     
     

209. nk (bb1548) — 10/31/2023 @ 7:50 am

     To every other network, the mob at the Dagestan airport was antisemitic. To Fox, it was pro-Palestinian.

     Because to be “pro-Palestinian” is to be anti-semitic and Fox wanted to emphasize that point.

     You see, Netanyahu committed the unpardonable: He congratulated Biden on winning the election.

     To Trump. The New York Times has other issues with him. It’s siding with the opposition

     Sammy Finkelman (e4b2e0) — 10/31/2023 @ 8:36 am

     
     

210. It’s your choice and you’re entitled to it, but that’s pretty much the definition of making the perfect the enemy of the good.

     Well, I even consider DeSantis “good” in a race that has Trump in it (aka “bad”). I don’t consider Biden “good” and Biden/Harris is not noticeably better than Trump as it devolves to Harris, who is Trump from another direction, with the MSM running cover. Her stint as CA’s AG left few illusions.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/31/2023 @ 9:25 am

     
     

211. Here’s the deal for me, lurker:

     The question being asked of the GOP candidates (and mandated by the Trumpist faction on the RNC) was intended to hurt any Trump opponent. If they said they would NOT support Trump, they kissed off anyone who thought Trump was acceptable. If they said YES, they’d kiss off anyone who had not-Trump as a primary decision point.

     Christie said “sure” but he indicated it would be a near-zero level of support, and his chances became (or remained at) zero since the majority of GOP voters will support Trump if he is the nominee.

     It was a gotcha question, benefiting Trump alone, and a noxious hypothetical one at that, since each candidate (excepting the Trumpist troll Vivek) was in the race to defeat Trump.

     It had no more probative value than “Have you stopped beating your spouse?” That’s only important to those whose decision points center on domestic violence.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/31/2023 @ 9:36 am

     
     

212. That’s BS. He wasn’t signaling assent. He was trying to get the moderator’s attention to make the case against voting for Trump.

     He did not say that he would campaign against Trump if Trump was the nominee. He raised his hand to complain about the question as much as anything. Yet, he did raise it. NOT raising it would also have gotten the moderator’s attention, as it did with Hutchinson.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/31/2023 @ 9:40 am

     
     

213. @209 it is possible to be pro-Palestinian and not be antisemitic. Supporting the removal of Hamas and Iranian influence, setting up an actual state that is focused on bettering the lives of the people and peaceful coexistence – that’s all possible without antisemitism being part of the equation.

     At least, if peace is actually what one desires.

     SamG (4e6c22) — 10/31/2023 @ 9:43 am

     
     

214. I’m having a hard time figuring out who would accept positions in a Trump cabinet

     There are some who would look at it as an opportunity for power (e.g. Santos).

     There are some would would see it as taking one for the country (“better me than Santos”).

     There are some who would want to guide Trump away from his knee-jerk reactions.

     There are some who want to line their pockets.

     Some of these would last longer than others, of course, and judging by the last time we can guess which sort.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/31/2023 @ 9:45 am

     
     

215. it is possible to be pro-Palestinian and not be antisemitic

     It is not possible, however, to be pro-Hamas-attack and not be just a little bit antisemitic. There is a time and place for everything. Being pro-Islamic-fundamentalism on 9/12 isn’t really the best way to convince people of your cause.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/31/2023 @ 9:49 am

     
     

216. Besides, there are few even in Israel who want Gaza to be a pit of anger and despair. That has ALWAYS been on the PLO, Fatah and Hamas, who actually do want that.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/31/2023 @ 9:50 am

     
     

217. The United States government (Biden Administration) thinks the Israeli government is far too complacent about the deaths of civilians in the Gaza Strip.

     Well, the current administration is filled with the usual left-wing hand-wringers. The fact is that Israel said THREE WEEKS AGO that civilians should move out of Gaza city. Many did. Those that did not were mostly prevented from doing so, adhere to Hamas, or were unable or unwilling for other reasons. But “lack of time” was not the problem. You can walk 20 miles in three weeks.

     The real issue is the lack of support for refugees in the Southern part of Gaza. And the fault for that is most obviously on those who could have supplied and/or enforced that. Mainly the United States, who did not use any of their myriad resources to secure and supply a refugee area in South Gaza, nor secure the evacuation of foreign nationals.

     So, Biden’s people complain rather than act. Par for the course.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/31/2023 @ 9:57 am

     
     

218. @215 we just have to be clear what we/they are supporting, and those that celebrate the attack are not pro-Palestine any more than those that attacked the Capitol on Jan 6 are pro-American.

     There are pro-Palestine/anti-Hamas voices out there: elevate them.

     SamG (4e6c22) — 10/31/2023 @ 10:00 am

     
     

219. Addendum to above:

     There’s also the segment of the far left that is just anti-Western/America and will support whichever groups align themselves accordingly.

     As hard as it is, we must apply Hanlon’s razor and first assume they are stupid and not malicious – at least from the aspect of antisemitism – until they actually prove their antisemitism.

     SamG (4e6c22) — 10/31/2023 @ 10:06 am

     
     

220. I agree with Kevin that the debate question was a gotcha. Keep your hand down and you don’t get invited to the next debate; keep it up, you cede the ability to qualify your answer while giving the impression that a conviction would not be disqualifying. Each candidate should have been given the opportunity to comment on the implication of nominating a convicted felon…but of course, FNC does not want that discussion. They want gotcha.

     I disagree with Kevin about what Christie was doing. Christie already cynically promised to support the nominee though his body language and tone made it clear that that would include the same effort that Trump would make for a nominee that was not Trump. There’s little question that Christie will not support Trump in any material way.

     However, I disagree with nk that Haley was playing for VP. No f-ing way. No reasonable intelligent person wants to be the next Pence…or the next Kelly…or the next Mattis…or the next Tillerson…or the next Gary Cohn….or the next Jeff Sessions….or the next Mark Meadows. Haley may not have any obvious political options beyond 2024, but an administration and Trump candidacy that is destined to implode also creates a cul-de-sac. I think ambitious people want to be relevant when Trump exits stage left. It’s Noem or Lake…both have limited potential.

     AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 10/31/2023 @ 10:51 am

     
     

221. Trump would never pick Haley anyway. Or anyone else who seemed competent and/or mainstream. There are any number of GOP Senators who would crawl over ground glass to convict Trump if it meant getting Haley instead.

     Instead, he’ll go for impeachment insurance. Maybe that’s Vivek, or maybe it’s Steve Bannon if Vivek seems too reasonable.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/31/2023 @ 11:29 am

     
     

222. Christie raising his hand was unnecessary if all he wanted was a reason to diss the question.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/31/2023 @ 11:31 am

     
     

223. BTW, both Asa Hutchinson and Chris Christie agreed in writing to support the eventual nominee.

     As is stands, though only 4 candidates have qualified for the November 8th debate: DeSantis, Christie, Haley and Ratsaswarmy. Christie just barely. Scott may qualify if he can show 4% support in a national poll in the next week.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/31/2023 @ 11:38 am

     
     

224. BTW, does anyone want to dispute that Vivek is just a proxy for Trump in these debates, making the other candidates debate Trump without having to show up?

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/31/2023 @ 11:40 am

     
     

225. And again you ignore the reason, but you know that. Having a white supremacist murder a church full of black worshipers directly implicates any symbol of the former oppression. Her action was in support of citizens who were not used to getting support from Republican governors.

     Sorry it got you all upset.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/30/2023 @ 6:48 pm

     Instead of taking the politically expedient way out, Haley should have explained how the flag wasn’t racist but part of South Carolina’s heritage and tradition, as she did in 2010.

     “You know, for those groups that come in and say they have issues with the Confederate flag, I will work to talk to them about it,” Haley said. “I will work and talk to them about the heritage and how this is not something that is racist. This is something that is a tradition that people feel proud of and let them know that we want their business in this state. And that the flag where it is, was a compromise of all people that everybody should accept as part of South Carolina.”

     I’m not upset at all with her flip flop on the South Carolina flag. It just shows how her desire for the politically popular position outweighs any core values she may have had.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/31/2023 @ 12:41 pm

     
     

226. To paraphrase legendary studio head Samuel Goldwyn, “A hand raise isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.”

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/31/2023 @ 12:52 pm

     
     

227. How low has Ron DeSantis’s campaign fallen? This low:

     In the last few weeks, posts mocking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ strangely shaped cowboy boots have racked up millions of views on Twitter and TikTok, with online sleuths trying to determine whether he’s wearing height-boosting insoles to pump himself up against a 6’3” primary frontrunner with a penchant for nicknames who reportedly considered calling DeSantis “Tiny D.” (If the 2001 Yale baseball team roster is to be believed, DeSantis stands at 5’11”.) Posters have sketched over photos of the boots, showing where they think DeSantis’ feet sit inside. “Slay queen,” captioned one TikTok user. Hashtags like “parisfashionweek” and “mallgothfashion” abound. And former President Donald Trump himself even shared one of the posts on Truth Social.

     It sounds vain to fret over height in a political race, but DeSantis has reason to worry: Over the last century or so, taller candidates have tended to have an advantage in general elections — with the notable exceptions of former President Barack Obama, who is shorter than Mitt Romney, and President Joe Biden, who is shorter than Trump.
     ……….
     “I’ve dealt with these politicians many times,” says Zephan Parker, the bespoke bootmaker behind Houston’s popular Parker Boot Company, which, he says, has made height-increasing cowboy boots for a number of Texan politicians. (No, he won’t reveal any names.) “I’ve helped them with their lifts. [DeSantis] is wearing lifts; there’s no doubt.”

     For Parker, there are two giveaways. At a DeSantis campaign event in Tampa, a photo was taken of him from his side, showing the governor in his black cowboy boots and navy worsted suit. Traditional Western boots are typically built with an elevated heel, ranging from 1 1/2” to 1 7/8”. DeSantis’ boots have a traditional Western silhouette, but, to Parker, the heels appear shorter. When you stick inserts into cowboy boots, the combination of the height-increasing lifts and the heels can “turn them into five-inch stilettos,” Parker says. “That’s too much for the common man. So on a ready-made boot, they’ll cut down the heel about half an inch to accommodate the lifts, which looks to be what happened here.” (Shaving down the heels does negate some of the height value of having lifts in the first place.)

     The other giveaway, Parker says, is the boots’ tops (what most people would recognize as the shaft). ……….
     ……….
     Looking at the photo of DeSantis at his Tampa campaign event, Parker points out how the tops are pushing against his trouser legs. …….
     ……….
     Graham Ebner, an Austin-based cowboy bootmaker who trained at Texas Traditions — widely considered one of the country’s best bespoke cowboy bootmakers — also suspects the governor is wearing lifts. “Three things stick out to me,” he says, “the instep, the toe spring and where the ball of his foot is sitting in the boots.”
     ……….

     When the coverage turns from policies to whether you wear lifts, you know the campaign is in trouble.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/31/2023 @ 1:02 pm

     
     

228. https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/10/the-case-for-desantis-over-haley-as-the-alternative-to-trump/

     Here’s some clarity that some of you need to understand:
     .

     ..
     Just as importantly, over the longer term, the conservative movement has to learn to make its peace with the actual voting base of the Republican Party, given that the GOP remains the only plausible home for conservative politics. That base contains a number of factions and sub-factions, and those factions are apt to remain perpetually in flux for the same reasons they have been in flux in the past: the influence of leaders, shifts in the issue environment, and demographic and generational changes within the party. While I continue to believe that the party is not a majority-MAGA party, the populist faction is not going away, and the party cannot win or advance conservative policy without doing what American parties always do with significant factions: ensure them a place at the table.

     The nature of the populist faction creates a particular challenge for anyone trying to give them a seat at the table: This is a faction that tends to demand absolute control and that has many irresponsible characteristics, the worst of which are fed eagerly by Trump. Nobody in Republican politics — not even Brian Kemp — has managed as adroitly as DeSantis to form something that looks like a functioning and responsible governing fusion of conservatism with MAGA populism. That may require a tolerance on the part of Reaganites for some uncomfortable bedfellows and some unpleasant pandering to them by the party’s leader, as well as some substantive concessions on issues. But the process of building a workable, winning coalition between conservatives and populists starts not only with moving beyond Trump, but with choosing a leader who can forge that new path forward.

     whembly (5f7596) — 10/31/2023 @ 1:20 pm

     
     

229. Live thread of the court hearing on Anderson et. al. v. Jena Griswold, Colorado Secretary of State and Donald J. Trump.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/31/2023 @ 1:22 pm

     
     

230. Nobody in Republican politics — not even Brian Kemp — has managed as adroitly as DeSantis to form something that looks like a functioning and responsible governing fusion of conservatism with MAGA populism.

     Apparently, at this time Republican voters do not agree.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/31/2023 @ 1:24 pm

     
     

231. So Biden is threatening to veto aid to Israel unless he gets his spending priorities which are more leftist programs funded and money to terrorists in Gaza.

     Are those of you that voted for him glad you supported such a “moderate.”

     At least you’ll get Iran support too.

     NJRob (856c57) — 10/31/2023 @ 1:26 pm

     
     

232. Whembly, that’s a good point. But doesn’t overcome Desantis’s illiberal acts WRT speech.

     Time123 (04079d) — 10/31/2023 @ 1:50 pm

     
     

233. @232

     Whembly, that’s a good point. But doesn’t overcome Desantis’s illiberal acts WRT speech.

     Time123 (04079d) — 10/31/2023 @ 1:50 pm

     We disagree on many of what you deemed as “illiberal acts”, and ftr, I have some issues with DeSantis in the past.

     My objective here is this: Stopping Trump from getting the nomination.

     Anything else is simply a distraction and actually helps Trump.

     In short, if you want to stop Trump, get behind DeSantis.

     If DeSantis does win, still make your arguments on some of his policies and hope he’s receptive to such critictisms.

     whembly (5f7596) — 10/31/2023 @ 1:55 pm

     
     

234. In short, if you want to stop Trump, get behind DeSantis.

     Now that is funny.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/31/2023 @ 2:01 pm

     
     

235. So Biden is threatening to veto aid to Israel unless he gets his spending priorities which are more leftist programs funded and money to terrorists in Gaza.

     In what fevered MAGA dream or bad peyote trip?

     nk (bb1548) — 10/31/2023 @ 2:15 pm

     
     

236. Nikki Haley, who has surpassed DeSantis in South Carolina (Haley +8 over DeSantis) and New Hampshire (+4), is far more likely to be the “other candidate” than DeSantis. The most recent Morning Consult national poll has Trump +48 over DeSantis.

     There is no evidence, outside of magical thinking, that shows DeSantis as the one to stop Trump.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/31/2023 @ 2:16 pm

     
     

237. @204 The investigation will see if bibi’s sargent schultz defense “I know nothing!” that is true and hopefully what effect netanhayu’s attempt to sabotage the judicial system to keep the bottle deposit crook out of jail had on the intelligence community and military. We know our military and government were worried about trump’s corrupt behavior.

     asset (3fe2ba) — 10/31/2023 @ 2:27 pm

     
     

238. “In short, if you want to stop Trump, get behind DeSantis.”

     Trump is about personality….not populism. DeSantis should be soaring if this was about policy. He’s not. People want to be entertained and DeSantis is at best clumsy and awkward. If you were really about culture wars and isolationism….DeSantis would not have lost all of his gas. MAGA = adoration of Trump. DeSantis doesn’t adore Trump. Haley is more likable so she’s found a lane. She still needs a seismic shift. I support her efforts but still no real polling suggestion….but let’s hope her momentum continues after the next debate.

     AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 10/31/2023 @ 2:31 pm

     
     

239. BTW, does anyone want to dispute that Vivek is just a proxy for Trump in these debates, making the other candidates debate Trump without having to show up?

     Maybe.

     Pence was the better proxy and that is why he was kicked out before the next debate. Every solid answer he would give about his accomplishments were always tainted with the Orange Monkey’s coattail stains on Pence’s lips. “Our administration did this…,Our administration did that!, etc”

     During the last debate Pence was a forceful advocate for all that Trump accomplished. They don’t want him to do that again. Especially now that Pence will likely tout the lack of wars during “their” administration.

     BuDuh (ab2d12) — 10/31/2023 @ 2:33 pm

     
     

240. Anyone here netanhayu defense that he was a fool and not a knave?

     asset (3fe2ba) — 10/31/2023 @ 2:36 pm

     
     

241. At RealClearPolitics, Haley beats Biden by 1.7 and Biden beats DeSantis by 1.1, and I’m surprised it’s that close. If the objective is to make Biden a one-term president, the chances are better with Haley.

     Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 10/31/2023 @ 2:54 pm

     
     

242. Pence wasn’t “kicked out before the next debate” by Republican voters because of his support for Trump but by his failure to be obsequious enough to Trump when it counted-January 6, 2021. He had no base within the GOP. His best polling was 8% back in January, and it’s been all downhill since.

     Of course, Pence served in the administration of former President Donald Trump, but he damaged his relationship with the Trump wing of the party on Jan. 6, 2021, when he refused to oppose the certification of the 2020 election. According to Civiqs polling, his net favorability rating among Republicans dropped from +76 percentage points on that day to +44 points just one week later. ……..In August, after Trump’s indictments for attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election shone a spotlight on Pence’s opposition to Trump, his numbers dipped underwater. According to 538’s average, as of Friday, 45 percent of Republicans had an unfavorable opinion of Pence, and 43 percent had a favorable one.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/31/2023 @ 4:01 pm

     
     

243. See what you see, Rip. That’s cool by me.

     With Pence(Covid Task Force Poobah) now kicked out, I wonder how aggressive any Covid response/vaccine questions will become. They can lay that at Trump’s feet much more easily without Pence providing incidental cover.

     BuDuh (f14a18) — 10/31/2023 @ 4:22 pm

     
     

244. @242 You got that right. We democrats loathe desatan ;but fear Haley.

     asset (a5c34b) — 10/31/2023 @ 4:25 pm

     
     

245. National muslim democratic council says if Biden doesn’t get Israel to cease fire by 5 pm est thay will tell all muslims to vote for trump! Sort of like telling chickens to vote for col. sanders.

     asset (a5c34b) — 10/31/2023 @ 4:33 pm

     
     

246. asset (3fe2ba) — 10/31/2023 @ 2:36 pm

     Anyone here netanhayu defense that he was a fool and not a knave?

     Netanyahu
     s defense is that everyone is at fault and they’ll see in an inquiry after the war.

     The defense to the criminal charges are that it’s all nonsense and politically motivated and some of it is almost indisputably lawfare nonsense.

     I think Netanyahu realizes that, most likely, (after about a year) he’ll be gone from office, like Golda Meir after the Yom Kippur war

     Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb) — 10/31/2023 @ 4:36 pm

     
     

247. 245. asset (a5c34b) — 10/31/2023 @ 4:33 pm

     National muslim democratic council says if Biden doesn’t get Israel to cease fire by 5 pm est thay will tell all muslims to vote for trump! Sort of like telling chickens to vote for col. sanders.

     Iran had the same problem in 1980/ Wat they did is make sure to close the deal for the release of the hostages while Jimmy Carter was still president.

     Anyone that gives such a tight deadline isn’t serious, by the way.

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 10/31/2023 @ 4:38 pm

     
     

248. asset (3fe2ba) — 10/31/2023 @ 2:27 pm

     @204 The investigation will see if bibi’s sargent schultz defense “I know nothing!” that is true

     It’s true and people who laim he was warned are lying. Therte’s also the claim that he was happy to leave Hamas in power, but what really happened was that Netanyahu, as is his wont cited any argument ina storm – there were people who wanted him to be more hawkish – Netanyahu doesn’t like war – only special operations – so he told them that if you are against a 2-state solution you should be happy to leave Hamas in charge of Gaza because that makes a Palestinian state impossible. It is strange how all would be mediators kept on ignoring that Hamas was running Gaza.

     Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb) — 10/31/2023 @ 4:44 pm

     
     

249. I don’t consider Biden “good” and Biden/Harris is not noticeably better than Trump as it devolves to Harris, who is Trump from another direction, with the MSM running cover.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/31/2023 @ 9:25 am

     I voted against Harris each time she ran in California. That she could become president scares me. And yet, as bad as she is, she isn’t Trump by any stretch of the imagination. There are national politicians and candidates who are worse than Harris (e.g., Omar, Gaetz, RFK, Jr.), and they aren’t Trump by any stretch of the imagination. And Biden isn’t nearly as bad as any of them.

     Let me know when Harris or any of the others is indicted for trying to overthrow our constitutional order, or for absconding with, mishandling, and refusing to disgorge national security documents. Let me know when any of them is an adjudicated sexual abuser — even the least of Trump’s accused crimes, paying hush money to a porn star, would end any other political career — or lies so often and shamelessly that we’re numb to noticing it any more.

     And all that still doesn’t scratch the surface of Trump’s awfulness. There’s the betraying our allies and flattering our enemies. There’s the personal corruption, the malignant narcissism, the creepy sexualizing of his own daughter… the fire hose effect makes summarizing it all impossible. Anyway, as you alluded, Nixon was a better person and president. Bill Clinton was a better person and president. At least in our lifetime, Trump sinks head and shoulders beneath the worst people who became President or close to it.

     lurker (cd7cd4) — 10/31/2023 @ 4:48 pm

     
     

250. Biden doesn’t like a bill hat “pays for ” aid by cutting spending somewhere else, and he doesn’t want a bill that aids Israel and not Ukraine, or that omits humanitarian aid in the form of food etc (but not including oil) but he has not made any veto threat.

     Sammy Finkelman (bdfe9c) — 10/31/2023 @ 5:13 pm

     
     

251. With Pence(Covid Task Force Poobah) now kicked out, I wonder how aggressive any Covid response/vaccine questions will become. They can lay that at Trump’s feet much more easily without Pence providing incidental cover.

     BuDuh (f14a18) — 10/31/2023 @ 4:22 pm

     I really don’t see the COVID response being a serious issue. Only among MAGAWorld voters is it an issue, and it will be overlooked because Trump.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/31/2023 @ 5:29 pm

     
     

252. RIP actor Richard Moll (80). Played the “Night Court” bailiff Bull Shannon.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/31/2023 @ 5:35 pm

     
     

253. @250 Republican cutting spending somewhere else. Cut IRS funding to protect wealthy tax cheats like trump. Oh and more tax cuts for the rich! @246 stealing and pocketing the deposits on nearly 100,000 government bottles is not nonsense or chump change. Netanhayu has been a crook since he first got in office. @248 Thats his excuse for refusing to send solders to re-enforce gaza leaving them to guard building new settlements on the west bank so his voters and coalition partners wont throw him out of power.

     asset (a5c34b) — 10/31/2023 @ 5:37 pm

     
     

254. Only the fringe cares about the COVID response/vaccine as a political issue. While mistakes were made during the pandemic, it was (hopefully) a once in a generation event. I am sure most of the general public are grateful for how quickly vaccines were produced to mitigate the harm of COVID.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/31/2023 @ 5:40 pm

     
     

255. @254 unless your one of the nearly 2 million who died in this country, though republicans refusing the shot and boosters helped democrats in the 2022 mid term election when you look at the political death ratios.

     asset (a5c34b) — 10/31/2023 @ 5:46 pm

     
     

256. Instead of taking the politically expedient way out, Haley should have explained how the flag wasn’t racist but part of South Carolina’s heritage and tradition, as she did in 2010.

     A politician that cannot change her mind given enough new information is worthless — a parrot can do as much.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/31/2023 @ 6:20 pm

     
     

257. And yet, as bad as she is, she isn’t Trump by any stretch of the imagination.

     No, she is Trump circa 2016. Give her four years in power, as Trump had, and the real girl will come out. She is stupider, less informed, as lazy and superficial, and by all accounts a tyrant to her staff. Give her unbridled power and the lady who declared all guns must have microstamping will find other rights to trample.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/31/2023 @ 6:27 pm

     
     

258. In short, if you want to stop Trump, get behind DeSantis.

     I will support the last Republican who is not Donald Trump (or Vivek). If that’s DeSantis, fine. But Nikki is the real deal.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/31/2023 @ 6:29 pm

     
     

259. but let’s hope her momentum continues after the next debate.

     Haley’s best shot is through sudden momentum. Two or three candidates dropping out at the same time and supporting her will have more than additive effect. That’s what happened with Biden.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/31/2023 @ 6:31 pm

     
     

260. And, as I said before about Harris, her awfulness is magnified by her MSM amen corner. Trump they push back on, Harris they line her path with flowers.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/31/2023 @ 6:35 pm

     
     

261. unless your one of the nearly 2 million who died in this country

     No more than half of them will vote in 2024.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/31/2023 @ 6:36 pm

     
     

262. By the way, asset, ragging on Netanyahu isn’t worth your time. He’s dead man walking — everyone will find him convenient to blame.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/31/2023 @ 6:37 pm

     
     

263. Trick-or-Treat market report: No one wants Snickers.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/31/2023 @ 6:41 pm

     
     

264. @261 Your wrong not that many republicans live in Chicago! Latest poll 66% of all americans not just young support a ceasefire. I don’t I am just reporting fox news. 80% democrats 65% independents and even 60% republicans. After awhile people don’t care how it started look at our wars korea, vietnam, central america, afganistan and Iraq. 200 dead Israeli children impact only lessens as more palestinian children are killed now nearing 5,000. The family of a dead Israeli child will not feel better at seeing 100 dead palestinian children in atonement.

     asset (a5c34b) — 10/31/2023 @ 6:52 pm

     
     

265. voted against Harris each time she ran in California. That she could become president scares me. And yet, as bad as she is, she isn’t Trump by any stretch of the imagination. There are national politicians and candidates who are worse than Harris (e.g., Omar, Gaetz, RFK, Jr.), and they aren’t Trump by any stretch of the imagination. And Biden isn’t nearly as bad as any of them.

     Uh huh.

     NJRob (856c57) — 10/31/2023 @ 6:56 pm

     
     

266. @265 Harris is a non-entity as tulsi gabbard showed in the debate. Even black voters were not keen on voting for her when she ran for president. Sort of Biden light.

     asset (a5c34b) — 10/31/2023 @ 7:01 pm

     
     

267. Here’s how Real GDP has changed, compared to just before the pandemic:

     🇺🇸 +8.0%
     🇨🇦 +3.9% (through Q2)
     🇮🇹 +2.7%
     🇬🇧 +1.8% (through Q2)
     🇫🇷 +1.4%
     🇩🇪 +0.6%
     🇯🇵 +0.2% (through Q2)

     SamG (4e6c22) — 11/1/2023 @ 7:54 am

     
     

268. Russians are ecstatic that Mike Johnson is Speaker, and 208 House Democrats made that happen, but there are too many in the GOP on the side of Putin’s evil.

     Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 11/1/2023 @ 8:08 am

     
     

269. Instead of taking the politically expedient way out, Haley should have explained how the flag wasn’t racist but part of South Carolina’s heritage and tradition, as she did in 2010.

     A politician that cannot change her mind given enough new information is worthless — a parrot can do as much.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/31/2023 @ 6:20 pm

     What new information? Dylan Roof’s hijacking of the flag hasn’t changed its meaning for thousands of Americans.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 11/1/2023 @ 9:20 am

     
     

270. Meanwhile in Fulton County — a fascinating article from the local paper:

     https://www.ajc.com/politics/exclusive-jenna-ellis-lawyer-talks-about-her-guilty-plea-in-fulton-trump-case/XBRM3YYH4BD2XERHQJZFENA6UA/

     Appalled (03f53c) — 11/1/2023 @ 9:43 am

     
     

271. Paul,

     did you get your Russian propaganda from Hillary and her dossier, or are you just enjoying attacking Republicans while saying you’re one?

     NJRob (eb56c3) — 11/1/2023 @ 10:44 am

     
     

272. Still waiting on the Nashville shooter’s manifesto.

     NJRob (eb56c3) — 11/1/2023 @ 10:45 am

     
     

273. Manchurian is as Manchurian does.

     Was that the end purpose of the Speaker theater? To put in a Putin proxy?

     nk (bb1548) — 11/1/2023 @ 10:57 am

     
     

274. #271

     Did you not understand Paul’s 268 link, or do you just assume nobody clicks on the link?

     The person Paul clicked to watches Russian Tv every night and reports on the propaganda found there. It’s got nothing to do with the Steele dossier or whatever stale grievance you have from 2017.

     Appalled (7f5a09) — 11/1/2023 @ 11:15 am

     
     

275. Dylan Roof’s hijacking of the flag hasn’t changed its meaning for thousands of Americans.

     “Thousands” of Americans still believe slavery was a good thing. Or any other damn fool notion that comes to mind.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 11/1/2023 @ 11:49 am

     
     

276. The person Paul clicked to watches Russian Tv every night and reports on the propaganda found there.

     Paul, now that Appalled has explained that the author at your link is focused on “propaganda,” what do you make of the content of the claim?

     Here so some of Julia Davis’s earlier propaganda reporting: Russia Swore It Whipped the Virus, and Fox and CNN Bought It

     We all know the Russians lied about that. But somehow now they tell the truth?

     Have you heard of the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect?

     BuDuh (4214e4) — 11/1/2023 @ 11:52 am

     
     

277. Working link for Julia Davis’s propaganda.

     BuDuh (4214e4) — 11/1/2023 @ 11:56 am

     
     

278. https://nypost.com/2023/10/31/news/biden-exchanged-82000-pages-of-private-emails-as-vice-president-lawsuit/

     President Biden sent or received up to 82,000 pages worth of private emails while serving as Barack Obama’s vice president, the National Archives disclosed late Monday as part of a lawsuit brought by a conservative organization.

     The Archives revealed that the trove of correspondence spanned all eight years of Biden’s vice presidency and included messages to or from three shadow email addresses: “robinware456@gmail.com,” “JRBWare@gmail.com” and “Robert.L.Peters@pci.gov,” according to a joint filing with the Georgia-based Southeastern Legal Foundation

     Anything to get around federal reporting laws. Just like Hillary did with her server.

     NJRob (eb56c3) — 11/1/2023 @ 12:44 pm

     
     

279. did you get your Russian propaganda from Hillary and her dossier, or are you just enjoying attacking Republicans while saying you’re one?

     Noted, that you know nothing about Julia Davis and what she does. The fact is that these are Putin-approved Russian talking heads praising the elevation of Mike Johnson to Speaker because of his opposition to our providing aid to Ukraine for their self-defense against Russians. They said the words, Rob.

     Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 11/1/2023 @ 12:46 pm

     
     

280. And it’s got nuthin’ to do with Hillary or dossiers.

     Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 11/1/2023 @ 12:47 pm

     
     

281. They say lots of garbage. It’s all Russian propaganda. But you only push the ones that attack Republicans. Why is that?

     NJRob (eb56c3) — 11/1/2023 @ 12:48 pm

     
     

282. President Biden sent or received up to 82,000 pages worth of private emails

     I would imagine that it is routine for anyone in any line of work, where their company records (and may read) any email using the company account, to use a separate, private, account for private emails.

     No one writes “Hey, babe, I miss you and I can’t wait until I get home” and such on their company account.

     I’ve always used a private email account for private email, and taken pains that it would not be trapped by IT anyway. I’m sure that, technically, this was a violation of company rules, but everyone who can do it, does it.

     Now, if those emails have criminal content, that’s another matter. But it’s really pretty asinine to assume they do.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 11/1/2023 @ 1:09 pm

     
     

283. That Mike Johnson opposes aid to Ukraine does not make him a Putin stooge, any more than Henry Wallace or Harry Hopkins were Stalin’s paid spies, even though they pretty much loved the Soviet Union.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 11/1/2023 @ 1:11 pm

     
     

284. All the more reason to want Nikki Haley as President, though. The wind will stop blowing from Vichy PDQ.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 11/1/2023 @ 1:13 pm

     
     

285. The Buck Stops Here:

     Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) said Wednesday that he would not seek reelection next year, expressing disappointment that many fellow Republicans continue to push the “big lie” that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

     “I have decided that it is time for me to do some other things,” Buck said in an interview with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell. “I always have been disappointed with our inability in Congress to deal with major issues, and I’m also disappointed that the Republican Party continues to rely on this lie that the 2020 election was stolen.”

     Buck’s announcement came hours after Rep. Kay Granger (R-Tex.) also said she would not seek reelection next year.
     ……….
     Buck has clashed with the majority of the Republican conference in recent months, notably for opposing his party’s launch of an impeachment inquiry into President Biden. In a September op-ed for The Washington Post, Buck criticized the inquiry as one that relied “on an imagined history.”

     “[I]mpeachment is a serious matter and should have a foundation of rock-solid facts,” Buck wrote then.
     ………

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 11/1/2023 @ 1:13 pm

     
     

286. Kevin M (ed969f) — 11/1/2023 @ 1:09 pm

     I would imagine that it is routine for anyone in any line of work, where their company records (and may read) any email using the company account, to use a separate, private, account for private emails.

     No one writes “Hey, babe, I miss you and I can’t wait until I get home” and such on their company account.

     There’s a rule in the federal government that any messages having to o with government business have to be forwarded or copied to a government email. Biden have simply later copied all his emails to the National Archives, for scrutiny.

     Now originally the safe thing to do was to use personal accounts, because personal or political business should not be done using government resources. That was the issue with AL Gore sing a government cellphone to make calls asking for political donations. Later they got worried about not archiving government records when the private or personal device produced written records, unlike telephone calls, which are not archived.

     So the safe thing to do is to copy all the emails at some point to be searched for government related business. That’s the 82,000 emails.

     Of course someone could be very analytical about what theya re writing or to whom and always write something on the correct device, nd if they have something both government and say political to send make two different emails or texts.

     Incidentally, the emails to Hunter telling him his father’s schedule might more logically be considered non-government business. Except maybe that be classified information – or maybe not, since he could make it public or send it to the press..

     ’ve always used a private email account for private email, and taken pains that it would not be trapped by IT anyway. I’m sure that, technically, this was a violation of company rules, but everyone who can do it, does it.

     In the federal government because sending government business and not archiving it is considered serious I think it was routine since the Bush II Administration to have the private emails that could contain government business business, sent, no later than when the person left office, to some bureaucrat to search through it for nuggets of government business.

     And nuggets is all there was here. That’s probably why the committee got so little. Much of it must have been political.

     Now, if those emails have criminal content, that’s another matter. But it’s really pretty asinine to assume they do.

     The committee thinks anything sent by Joe Biden to his son Hunter during his term of office might be evidence of criminal activity. Maybe he was conspiring to take a bribe.

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 11/1/2023 @ 1:45 pm

     
     

287. Kevin M (ed969f) — 10/31/2023 @ 6:37 pm

     By the way, asset, ragging on Netanyahu isn’t worth your time. He’s dead man walking — everyone will find him convenient to blame.

     I wasn;t familar with the bottle deposit accusation but evidently it is part of the “bribery” case in which Netanyahu is accused of doing favors for a company (which he didn’t) in return for getting favorable news coverage – the company supposedly didn’t play up the story enough or something.

     The accusation was made in 2015 by somebody in a private lawsuit for mistreatment by Sarah Netanyahu (Benjamin’s wife)

     The facts appear to be that for the first four years of his second stint as Prime Minister, from 2009 through 2013, Sarah Netanyahu routinely – and maybe she wasn’t really responsible – returned bottles, many of which had been paid for by the government. It amounted to some $6,000. When this was caught, the Netanyahus repaid the government although of course there is the charge that it wasn’t enough. It was based on an estimate of how many of the bottles had been paid for by the government. here were no exact records.

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 11/1/2023 @ 1:55 pm

     
     

288. https://www.newser.com/story/342127/after-latest-airstrike-calls-for-end-to-israeli-war-crimes.html

     After Latest Airstrike, Calls for End to Israeli ‘War Crimes’

     Arab nations condemn Israeli strike on refugee camp as groups claim use of white phosphorus

     It was an attack on a leader of the men who went into Israel on October 7, and his men, who were embedded in that residential area. It’s not a war crime.

     The white phosphorous accusation is made for technical reasons: It’s not that it is so much worse than other things but it happens to be outlawed in war. There is no indication that Israel has ever used it.

     Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb) — 11/1/2023 @ 2:07 pm

     
     

289. https://www.timesofisrael.com/former-walla-ceo-story-on-sara-netanyahu-taking-bottle-deposit-cash-was-removed

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 11/1/2023 @ 2:43 pm

     
     

290. After Latest Airstrike, Calls for End to Israeli ‘War Crimes’

     “War crimes” are unenforceable. Call a cop.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 11/1/2023 @ 2:51 pm

     
     

291. #285 More losses caused by the Loser.

     Jim Miller (321e3d) — 11/1/2023 @ 3:32 pm

     
     

292. They say lots of garbage. It’s all Russian propaganda. But you only push the ones that attack Republicans. Why is that?

     I don’t. It only feels that way to you.

     Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 11/1/2023 @ 3:34 pm

     
     

293. I don’t know if you’re lying or engaging in willful blindness, Rob. You were busted in the previous open thread for making the same false accusation and, in this thread, I ridiculed Gov. Newsom for his photo-op vist to communist China.

     Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 11/1/2023 @ 3:37 pm

     
     

294. RIP legendary basketball coach Bob Knight (83).

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 11/1/2023 @ 3:56 pm

     
     

295. Party is not kinship.

     And on the merits, the Republican Party is now nobody’s friend. Not even its own self.

     nk (bb1548) — 11/1/2023 @ 4:34 pm

     
     

296. Like I was saying:

     George Santos survives House vote to expel him from Congress after latest charges Washington — Embattled GOP Rep.

     George Santos survived a second attempt to expel him from Congress on Wednesday after his fellow New York Republicans led a renewed effort to oust him.

     The House voted 179-213 in favor of a resolution to expel Santos from Congress, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed to oust a member under the Constitution. Santos faces nearly two dozen federal criminal charges accusing him of fraud, money laundering, campaign finance violations and other crimes. He has pleaded not guilty.
     ….
     Ahead of the vote, five GOP lawmakers from the Empire State urged their Republican colleagues to support their resolution expelling Santos.
     ….
     But not enough of their Republican colleagues were moved to give the measure the two-thirds support it needed to pass.

     But let’s not say anything bad about a Republican.

     nk (f54ac5) — 11/1/2023 @ 5:37 pm

     
     

297. A state judge has taken the unusual step of ordering a new Democratic mayoral primary in Connecticut’s largest city to be held after the Nov. 7 general election is completed. The decision comes after surveillance videos showed a woman stuffing what appeared to be absentee ballots into an outdoor ballot box days before the original primary.

     Superior Court Judge William Clark determined the allegations of possible malfeasance warrant throwing out the results of the Sept. 12 primary, which incumbent Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim won by 251 votes out of 8,173 cast. Absentee ballots secured his margin of victory.

     “The volume of ballots so mishandled is such that it calls the result of the primary election into serious doubt and leaves the court unable to determine the legitimate result of the primary,” Clark wrote in his ruling, adding that the videos “are shocking to the court and should be shocking to all the parties.”

     After the article details the scope of the purported fraud, the authors warn the right-wingers are trying to take advantage of the situation.

     Hanlon’s Razor advice should resolve this…

     BuDuh (5b01d1) — 11/1/2023 @ 6:45 pm

     
     

298. While we’re on the subject of the Speaker Johnson Amateur Hour, his proposal to provide $14.3 billion in funding to Israel and offset that expense with $14.3 billion in spending cuts to the IRS is not an actual spending offset because, according to CBO, the reduced enforcement of tax payments to the Treasury would add $30 billion to our national debt. The right-wingers of the GOP are right-wing, not conservative, and that includes not fiscally conservative.

     Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 11/1/2023 @ 6:45 pm

     
     

299. Is this another “garbage in” CBO report like the laughable screed against Tuberville that assumed it would take 82 billion hours to deal with some military promotions?

     BuDuh (5b01d1) — 11/1/2023 @ 6:54 pm

     
     

300. Funny how right-wingers hate the CBO.

     Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 11/1/2023 @ 6:57 pm

     
     

301. Paul

     Something is off with that $14.3 billion spending cut to the IRS and with the estimated addition of $30 billion to our nationals debt

     From page 3 of the document below.

     The IRS FY 2022 budget request is $13.16 billion, $1.24 billion (10.4 percent) more than
     the FY 2021 enacted level of $11.92 billion.

     https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/266/19.-IRS-FY-2022-BIB.pdf

     I believe the current budget for 2023 is $14.3 Billion and it does seem like the IRS budget is growing at a fast (unsustainable) pace.
     Reducing the IRS budget by 14.3 Billion would be abolishing the IRS right? Or am I missing something?

     steveg (3ca03d) — 11/1/2023 @ 6:59 pm

     
     

302. Here is the CBO’s report that I could not find linked in the Reuter’s article.

     https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2023-11/CBO_Estimate_for_the_Israel_Security_Supp_Approp_Act_2024.pdf

     CBO anticipates that rescinding those funds would result in fewer enforcement actions over the next decade and in a reduction in revenue collections. In total, CBO estimates, enacting section 306 would decrease outlays by $14.3 billion and decrease revenues by $26.8 billion over the 2024–2033 period, resulting in a net increase in the deficit of $12.5 billion over that period.

     Oh. They could have just said Eleventeen….

     BuDuh (5b01d1) — 11/1/2023 @ 7:01 pm

     
     

303. If we abolish the IRS then the initial cost would likely be much greater than $30 Billion so I wonder where the CBO is getting its numbers

     steveg (3ca03d) — 11/1/2023 @ 7:02 pm

     
     

304. I wonder where the CBO is getting its numbers

     Here.

     BuDuh (5b01d1) — 11/1/2023 @ 7:04 pm

     
     

305. The funny thing is that Tuberville demanded individual votes for each military appointee, and he’s still objecting when those individuals were brought to the floor.
     The GOP has truly become the Stupid Party, thanks in part to Tommy.

     Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 11/1/2023 @ 7:04 pm

     
     

306. If the 14.3 Billion dollar cut is for real, then the offer is to abolish the IRS as we know it now and also I assume it would involve a restructure to the way taxes are currently implemented and collected.

     steveg (3ca03d) — 11/1/2023 @ 7:10 pm

     
     

307. The funny thing is that Tuberville demanded individual votes for each military appointee,

     By what method of voting? Unanimous consent or actual cloture voting with yays and nays?

     BuDuh (5b01d1) — 11/1/2023 @ 7:15 pm

     
     

308. Good guy with a gun. An n.r.a. member has been indicted for threatening to shoot delta pilot if he tried to make an emergency medical landing for ill passanger. It was the copilot! who had federal authorization to carry a gun to protect plane from being hijacked. ABC news

     asset (f09f89) — 11/1/2023 @ 7:16 pm

     
     

309. Nancy Pelosi subpoena in criminal case. fox news

     asset (f09f89) — 11/1/2023 @ 7:41 pm

     
     

310. Out of all the communications directors Speaker Johnson could’ve hired, he picked one of Tucker Carlson’s top flacks, a guy who contributed to FoxNews’ $787.5 billion settlement to Dominion Voting Systems. The Russians have to love that.

     Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 11/1/2023 @ 8:24 pm

     
     

311. Brand protection expert.

     nk (f54ac5) — 11/1/2023 @ 8:43 pm

     
     

312. Can’t lose that clapboard shack cred.

     nk (f54ac5) — 11/1/2023 @ 8:48 pm

     
     

313. And on the merits, the Republican Party is now nobody’s friend. Not even its own self.

     It is committing suicide.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 11/1/2023 @ 9:51 pm

     
     

314. It may turn out that George W Bush was the last Republican president.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 11/1/2023 @ 9:52 pm

     
     

315. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7N0bAKEUL4s

     BuDuh (5b01d1) — 11/1/2023 @ 10:22 pm

     
     

316. @314 maybe last corporate establishment and certainly last economic libertarian free trade republican president.

     asset (f09f89) — 11/1/2023 @ 11:15 pm

     
     

317. Dinesh d’souza was on radio talk show bemoaning how the government was arresting trumpsters overcharging them with felonies, breaking down their doors in the middle of the night (he forgot to ad like Fred Hampton) Shooting insurrectionists at the capital (he again for got to add like the kent states students) Trying the opposition on trumped up charges (like the chicago 8 he forgot again) He reminds me of a german theologian named paster Neomoller. I could say see how your side likes it ;but two wrongs don’t make a right! It was wrong when the government did it to my side and it is just as wrong when they did to the other side.

     asset (f09f89) — 11/1/2023 @ 11:28 pm

     
     

318. Haaritz: Even likud party members call Netanyahu’s tweet throwing the Israeli military and intelligence service under the bus as psychotic! Blaming his own military for his failures. Trying to suppress evidence of his knowledge beforehand. Bibi says if his party tries and remove him he will call general election and likud will be voted out.

     asset (f09f89) — 11/1/2023 @ 11:54 pm

     
     

319. You can maybe blame Netanyahu in addition to Israel’s military and intelligence services, but not instead and nobody was worried about any land invasion coming from Gaza. He had no knowledge of that, but only that Iran was planning something maybe, And too much of the army was busy with politics (there ws a boycott movement – not to show up for reserve duty)

     Sammy Finkelman (d0d745) — 11/2/2023 @ 3:38 am

     
     

320. This letter by a University of California regent addresses the intellectual rot in the UC ethnic studies culture, where 300 faculty were offended by the university’s use of “terrorism” to describe the events in Israel on 10/7, demanding they “retract its characterization of terrorism.” You can tell Jay Sures was pissed.

     Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 11/2/2023 @ 4:01 am

     
     

321. When Muslims do it to Muslims, no big deal.

     Pakistan is displacing 1.7 million Afghans. There will be no marches in Times Square. There will be no campus protests. There will be no condemnation from the U.N. Staffers will not weep in the halls of the State department. The coverage on cable news will be incidental.

     Similarly, when Russians bomb hospitals in Syria and Iraq, what’s the big deal. But one hospital parking lot in Gaza? Holy sh-t, the outcry.

     Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 11/2/2023 @ 4:14 am

     
     

322. @320, what a brutally frank takedown by UC Regent Jay Sures. I applaud his honesty and moral clarity. The UC Ethnic Studies Council should be embarrassed, though in their tiny bubble I’m sure they are busy rationalizing every outrageous claim and statement. More of these “intellectuals” need to be called out for their propaganda. I empathize for the plight of the many Palestinians who want peaceful coexistence and a path to more prosperity. Hamas and terrorism will just lead to more suffering.

     AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 11/2/2023 @ 6:44 am

     
     

323. RIP: Frank Howard, 87, Los Angeles Dodger power hitter. 1960 Rookie-of-the-year.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 11/2/2023 @ 7:44 am

     
     

324. @305

     The funny thing is that Tuberville demanded individual votes for each military appointee, and he’s still objecting when those individuals were brought to the floor.
     The GOP has truly become the Stupid Party, thanks in part to Tommy.

     Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 11/1/2023 @ 7:04 pm

     That’s not for individual votes.

     What’s happening here is that he’s not participating in offering unanimous consent.

     Schumer is still able to floor the nomination at any time, and is choosing not to.

     whembly (5f7596) — 11/2/2023 @ 7:50 am

     
     

325. What is truly shocking is that the UC Ethnic Studies Council is so far out of the mainstream that it would send this letter expecting a different reply. This is yet another example of monolithic ideology in the university. Their description of themselves as “a diverse statewide body” is a risible lie.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 11/2/2023 @ 8:03 am

     
     

326. 23 Republicans voted to table the motion to censure Rashida Tlaib “for antisemitic activity, sympathizing with terrorist organizations, and leading an insurrection at the United States Capitol Complex.”

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 11/2/2023 @ 8:52 am

     
     

327. Like I’ve said before, my problem with what Tuberville is doing is that he’s the guy whose wife goes to a motel with another guy and in retaliation he slashes the bellboy’s car tires. Or like MAGA used to say, it’s a cee-you-cee-kay thing to be doing.

     We never should have ended Reconstruction. Was Rutherford B. Hayes worth it, really?

     nk (f54ac5) — 11/2/2023 @ 9:20 am

     
     

328. Whembly, Schumer brings it to the floor, Tuberville filibusters it, nothing moves. I assume the GOP is willing to move them forward, not to create a news cycle about over riding a filibuster. The later being a very different thing politically.

     Time123 (615900) — 11/2/2023 @ 10:09 am

     
     

329. So normal procedure that is part of the Senate and yet so many here support the left rather than calling out Schumer’s duplicity.

     Kind of like those who attack the new Speaker and boost Russian propaganda as evidence. It’s almost like the propaganda is reaching its intended target.

     NJRob (3ca228) — 11/2/2023 @ 10:49 am

     
     

330. P.S. Biden’s spokesman again reiterated that they are calling out any alleged anti-islamic acts, but are silent on actual anti-Semitic actions from their side.

     NJRob (3ca228) — 11/2/2023 @ 10:51 am

     
     

331. New York City mayor Eric Adams suddenly, and mysteriously, rushed back to New York from Washington, D.C. where he had been scheduled to meet the president (along with two other mayors, one from Chicago) It is suspected this has something to do with an FBI raid on the home of his campaign fundraiser, Brianna Suggs (sp?) He did leave behind an aide to attend the meeting. It concerned migrant policy or money he was asking for, In a relatted matter someone at City Hall says they don’t know what they are doing.

     Sammy Finkelman (0c7a49) — 11/2/2023 @ 10:54 am

     
     

332. Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 11/2/2023 @ 8:52 am

     More:

     ……….
     After Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) slammed the “feckless” Tlaib censure proposal for making “legally and factually unverified claims,” Marjorie Taylor Greene shot back on social media that he should “shut up,” calling him “Colonel Sanders” in an apparent reference to his facial hair. The Greene-Roy tiff was only the latest sign of lingering fissures within the House GOP after its nearly month-long descent into speaker-less chaos.
     ……….
     The group of 23 defies easy characterization, spanning the ideological spectrum from those in districts carried by President Joe Biden — like Rep. John Duarte (Calif.) — to arch-conservative Freedom Caucus members — like Rep. Morgan Griffith (Va.). Notably, no GOP members of the Ethics Committee opposed the censure resolution.

     ………(T)hey fell into five separate categories.

     Those with Jan. 6 complaints: Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) was one of the members who voted to table Greene’s measure, which likened Tlaib’s participation in a demonstration calling for a ceasefire in Gaza to an “insurrection.”

     “January 6 protestors were not insurrectionists, nor were those led by Rep. Tlaib,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “I voted to table a censure resolution of Rep Tlaib in part because it was modeled after legislation that condemned J6 protestors.”

     Those with legal complaints: Several Republicans raised concerns with the resolution’s rhetoric as well as whether Tlaib’s comments could legally be construed to meet the definition of an “insurrection.”……..

     Those who are retiring : ………

     Michiganders: ……..

     Those who messed up: Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) voted to table the effort but did so by mistake, according to a statement he posted.
     ………..

     Bolding in original.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 11/2/2023 @ 10:58 am

     
     

333. Ceasefire = stop to the war

     pause = temporary ceasefire

     There was one in a limited area for several hours last week when two American citizen hostages were released to the Red Cross, supposedly to permit safe travel. That’s the price Hamas paid for a limited respite.

     I suppose some important Hamas person was able to escape encirclement or there was some other military advantage to Hamas,

     Sammy Finkelman (0c7a49) — 11/2/2023 @ 11:04 am

     
     

334. Tuberville filibusters it, nothing moves

     Cloture can now be invoked for nominations with only a majority vote, buut even cloture takes time.

     Sammy Finkelman (0c7a49) — 11/2/2023 @ 11:07 am

     
     

335. Tuberville staffer asks anti-abortion groups to float primaries against Republicans who oppose military holds

     ……….
     The email, written by Tuberville’s communications director Steven Stafford from his Senate email address, made clear that the Alabama Republican’s staff is worried that at least nine Republicans might join with Democrats to pass a resolution that would allow the Senate to bypass Tuberville’s holds. It was sent on Oct. 26, after news broke that senators were going to release a resolution that would allow the Senate to more easily stop Tuberville’s holds on more than 300 nominees up for military promotions.

     “In my opinion it is imperative for all of the groups to make clear, in some words, that any Republican who votes for this will be primaried,” Stafford wrote. “In my view, if enough mushy middle Republicans come out in opposition, then this is over. But they only need nine squishes. And they will get there if we don’t act.”

     When contacted by POLITICO, Stafford disputed the characterization that he was calling for primary challengers to Tuberville’s colleagues. In the email, he also makes clear several times it his opinion.
     ……….
     It’s a rare move for senators to float primaries against their own party members, and rarer still for staffers to do so. Senate ethics rules prohibit the use of “official resources” including staff time and the trappings of the chamber to do political or campaign work. ……..
     ……..

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 11/2/2023 @ 11:13 am

     
     

336. U.S. Says Russia’s Wagner Group Plans to Send Air Defenses to Hezbollah

     ……….
     The Russian SA-22 (NATO code name Greyhound) system uses antiaircraft missiles and air-defense guns to intercept aircraft.

     One U.S. official said that Washington hasn’t confirmed that the system has been sent. But it is monitoring discussions involving Wagner and Hezbollah and that the potential delivery is a major concern.
     ……….

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 11/2/2023 @ 11:45 am

     
     

337. U.S. Senate

     The Senate confirms Admiral Lisa Franchetti to be chief of Naval Operations and General David Allvin to be Air Force chief of staff. Franchetti is the first woman to be confirmed to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

     It is a live feed and there is still time for Tuberville to wreck everything. But so far it appears* that Schumer actually caved and did his job again, like he was forced to do last time, so I don’t imagine that surprise conclusion.

     *(I’ll have to rewind a little to make sure, as I just tuned in)

     BuDuh (4214e4) — 11/2/2023 @ 12:03 pm

     
     

338. @328

     Whembly, Schumer brings it to the floor, Tuberville filibusters it, nothing moves. I assume the GOP is willing to move them forward, not to create a news cycle about over riding a filibuster. The later being a very different thing politically.

     Time123 (615900) — 11/2/2023 @ 10:09 am

     Let’s be clear here, he’s refusing unanimous consent.

     He’s not blocking Schumer for full floor vote, and he’s powerless to STOP Schumer from doing so.

     He’s being a stick in the mud for something he legits believes about and using parliamentary maneuvers to force Senate Leadership (Schumer) to either:
     a) schedule a floor vote, which does takes up time (boo hoo)
     or
     b) pressure Senate Leadership to go back to Whitehouse to change their military abortion policy.

     At no point this is a true “filibuster” as Schumer has viable pathways to push these nominations through.

     What we’re seeing is a stalemate, as Tuberville is rightly using is authority as a sitting Senator to not participate in “usual order of business”. He’s purposely calling this out and he enjoys massive support in his State.

     Schumer, doesn’t WANT to put these nominations on the floor, as it forces Senators to stay in town longer than they want AND he’s not going to go to the Whitehouse and demand changes of the military abortion policies as it’s a sacred cow.

     Those awaiting promotions are in the crossfire, but that’s life.

     whembly (5f7596) — 11/2/2023 @ 12:03 pm

     
     

339. Question: On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture: Adm. Lisa M. Franchetti for Appointment as Chief of Naval Operations and to be Admiral )
     Vote Number: 286 Vote Date: November 2, 2023, 11:03 AM
     Required For Majority: 1/2 Vote Result: Cloture Motion Agreed to
     Nomination Number: PN882
     Nomination Description: Adm. Lisa M. Franchetti, in the Navy, to be Admiral
     Vote Counts: YEAs95
     NAYs1
     Not Voting4

     Question: On the Nomination (Confirmation: Adm. Lisa M. Franchetti for appointment as Chief of Naval Operations and to be Admiral )
     Vote Number: 287 Vote Date: November 2, 2023, 12:00 PM
     Required For Majority: 1/2 Vote Result: Nomination Confirmed
     Nomination Number: PN882
     Nomination Description: Adm. Lisa M. Franchetti, in the Navy, to be Admiral
     Vote Counts: YEAs95
     NAYs1
     Not Voting4

     ****************************************

     Question: On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture: Gen. David W. Allvin for appointment as Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force, and to be General )
     Vote Number: 288 Vote Date: November 2, 2023, 12:50 PM
     Required For Majority: 1/2 Vote Result: Cloture Motion Agreed to
     Nomination Number: PN877
     Nomination Description: Gen. David W. Allvin, in the Air Force, to be General
     Vote Counts: YEAs95
     NAYs1
     Not Voting4

     Question: On the Nomination (Confirmation: Gen. David W. Allvin for appointment as Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force, and to be General )
     Vote Number: 289 Vote Date: November 2, 2023, 01:21 PM
     Required For Majority: 1/2 Vote Result: Nomination Confirmed
     Nomination Number: PN877
     Nomination Description: Gen. David W. Allvin, in the Air Force, to be General
     Vote Counts: YEAs95
     NAYs1
     Not Voting4

     https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/vote_menu_118_1.htm

     Well… that didn’t take too long.

     BuDuh (4214e4) — 11/2/2023 @ 12:12 pm

     
     

340. This was the 1st part of the live vote I was watching:

     Question: On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture: Lt. Gen. Christopher J. Mahoney for appointment as Asst. Commandant of the Marine Corps, and to be General )
     Vote Number: 290 Vote Date: November 2, 2023, 02:01 PM
     Required For Majority: 1/2 Vote Result: Cloture Motion Agreed to
     Nomination Number: PN881
     Nomination Description: Lt. Gen. Christopher J. Mahoney, in the Marine Corps, to be General
     Vote Counts: YEAs91
     NAYs0
     Not Voting9

     The second part, the actual confirmation, passed but it isn’t in the roll call registry yet.
     Simple enough.

     BuDuh (4214e4) — 11/2/2023 @ 12:16 pm

     
     

341. BuDuh (4214e4) — 11/2/2023 @ 12:12 pm

     Well… that didn’t take too long.

     think there’s a minimum amount of time permittd after the cloture motion is filed.

     Or nobody used the time permitted,

     Sammy Finkelman (0c7a49) — 11/2/2023 @ 12:27 pm

     
     

342. I assume the GOP is willing to move them forward, not to create a news cycle about over riding a filibuster. The later being a very different thing politically.

     Even if they vote cloture, there is 2 hours of debate on each nominee, should Tuberville want to debate. The debate period was shortened in 2019 from 30 hours, except for the Cabinet and appeals courts. So, if they vote cloture on each nominee (a process in itself), there is still quite a bit to wade through to get them voted in.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 11/2/2023 @ 12:41 pm

     
     

343. Cloture is started by 16(?) Senators filing a cloture petition. There must be two session-days following the filing before a cloture vote can happen, although multiple petitions can age simultaneously. After cloture passes, there is the 2 hours of debate. Cloture on nominations cannot be for a group.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 11/2/2023 @ 12:47 pm

     
     

344. I read that Israel is dealing with the tunnels by collapsing their exits. This might not be very good if there are hostages held there.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 11/2/2023 @ 12:49 pm

     
     

345. There must be two session-days following the filing before a cloture vote can happen, although multiple petitions can age simultaneously. After cloture passes, there is up tothe 2 hours of debate.

     In the instance of Franchetti there was zero debate time consumed and they went directly to the confirmation vote.

     I haven’t reviewed the videos of the others, but I am pretty sure it was the same.

     Prior to the motion to invoke cloture on Franchetti‘s nomination, Blumenthal spent in incredible amount of time complaining that there isn’t enough time.

     That is the problem.

     BuDuh (5b01d1) — 11/2/2023 @ 1:20 pm

     
     

346. I checked the video. There was no debate on Allvin or Mahoney.

     This is where the CBO, as predicted, suckered people. But when you are looking to defend Schumer while driving stakes through GOP Senators hearts, maybe it wasn’t that difficult of a ruse.

     BuDuh (5b01d1) — 11/2/2023 @ 1:29 pm

     
     

347. https://www.c-span.org/video/?531569-1/senate-session&live&vod

     I am a glutton for punishment. I watched the end of the senate session. In the last 12min you can see Schumer cranking through his legislative responsibilities. With 8min left he makes a request that baffled me. Did he just sneak the rest of the military nominations through? It was odd phrasing that probably makes perfect sense to a career politician.

     Either way, it sure is amazing what 2 Senators (Schumer and Booker) and one clerk can accomplish when left alone on the Senate floor. Almost scary.

     BuDuh (5b01d1) — 11/2/2023 @ 1:51 pm

     
     

348. Whembly, I see it a little differently.

     Schumer has 2 options

     1. Bring the appointments to the floor for a vote.
     2. Let the hold continue.

     If he brings it to the floor for a vote then Tuberville can filibuster. In that potential scenario there would need to be GOP votes for cloture. I assume that siding with the dems on a cloture vote is politically untenable and Schumer knows an up/down vote is just a slow way to get to the same result. But that’s a guess.

     Time123 (eb7535) — 11/2/2023 @ 2:05 pm

     
     

349. https://therightscoop.com/breaking-wh-says-biden-will-veto-aid-to-israel/

     Biden and Schumer tell Israel to die.

     NJRob (3ca228) — 11/2/2023 @ 2:06 pm

     
     

350. Looks like my habit of no reading BuDuh’s comments didn’t serve me well here. 😀 My assumptions were off base.

     Time123 (eb7535) — 11/2/2023 @ 2:07 pm

     
     

351. there is up to the 2 hours of debate.

     Earlier I indicated that it was optional.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 11/2/2023 @ 2:39 pm

     
     

352. Apparently, the Democrats are moving to an actual rules change, and not through the back-door “nuclear option” method. They think that there are enough GOP Senators to allow military nominations to proceed as a bloc (excluding top jobs) rather than one at a time. They need 60 votes to change Senate rules (compared to 51 for the “appeal the decision of the chair” nuclear method).

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 11/2/2023 @ 2:47 pm

     
     

353. Senate Democrats are trying a novel strategy to break Senator Tommy Tuberville’s blockade of senior military promotions, as pressure builds among his fellow Republicans and Defense Department officials to end his monthslong hold in protest of the Pentagon’s abortion access policies.

     Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, said on Wednesday that he would seek to temporarily go around the chamber’s rules to allow confirmation of almost all military nominees as a bloc. A vote could take place as soon as next week.

     That would restore what had been routine practice in the Senate before Mr. Tuberville, an Alabama Republican, in February held up a package of officer promotions over a Pentagon policy offering time off and travel reimbursement to service members seeking abortions or fertility care.

     https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/02/us/politics/military-abortion-tuberville-senate.html

     It’s not clear to me that the rules change would be temporary.

     While it is not clear that Mr. Schumer will have the support for his maneuver, he announced he would attempt it amid mounting frustration among Republicans and at the Defense Department about Mr. Tuberville’s nine-month blockade.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 11/2/2023 @ 2:49 pm

     
     

354. The last paragraph should be within the quote block.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 11/2/2023 @ 2:49 pm

     
     

355. Even if they vote cloture, there is 2 hours of debate on each nominee, should Tuberville want to debate.

     *****
     So, if they vote cloture on each nominee (a process in itself), there is still quite a bit to wade through to get them voted in.

     *****
     After cloture passes, there is the 2 hours of debate.

     The only option I read, Kevin, is whether or not Tuberville decides to debate. You still treat the 2 hours as mandatory, much like the illusion the CBO presented.

     Tuberville, or anyone else, cannot consume more than 2 hours, but debate can be as little a 1 second.

     That is what I am pointing out.

     BuDuh (5b01d1) — 11/2/2023 @ 3:04 pm

     
     

356. What does the CBO have do with anything?

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 11/2/2023 @ 3:21 pm

     
     

357. You would never understand, Rip.

     And if how you handled the Ray Epps drubbing is any indication, I don’t see any reason to explain anything to you knowing that when your partisan bent gets exposed you simply declare “I really don’t care anyways.

     Kevin likes to play with you. Maybe ask him.

     BuDuh (5b01d1) — 11/2/2023 @ 3:26 pm

     
     

358. @319 The boycott is on netanyahu for his corruption and trying to prevent Israel’s judiciary from bring the bottle depost crook to justice. Our military had the same problem with trump.

     asset (ed3217) — 11/2/2023 @ 3:37 pm

     
     

359. NBC’s fear that those crazy right-wingers were going to try to make an election-fraud mountain out of an easily explainable ballot-access molehill has come true.

     Of course it is the worst of the worst publications that brings us the CCTV of the ballot to dropbox conveyor system. I especially like the last segment where Mrs Vote goes all clandestine.

     I am relieved that nothing like this happens anywhere else in the Nation. And, considering the source of the video, I have to assume that even this didn’t happen.

     It’s all good!

     BuDuh (5b01d1) — 11/2/2023 @ 3:37 pm

     
     

360. @326 too bad. I would like that to happen so we can use that to throw out all the racist fascist republicans when we take over the house.

     asset (ed3217) — 11/2/2023 @ 3:41 pm

     
     

361. You still treat the 2 hours as mandatory

     A happens if B happens does not mean that A happens. And Tuberville would only get half that.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 11/2/2023 @ 3:58 pm

     
     

362. so we can use that to throw out all the racist fascist republicans when we take over the house.

     But they declined to throw out the racist fascist terrorist-supporting Democrats, so you can’t.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 11/2/2023 @ 4:00 pm

     
     

363. Peggy Noonan: Israel Needs a New Leader

     [I]t is even more important for Israel to face the fact that Benjamin Netanyahu is the wrong leader for this crucial moment. His own country doesn’t trust his leadership. He sapped the Israeli people’s strength over the past year by forcing on them a deeply damaging dispute over his judicial power grab, sundering what unity they had. His actions smeared Israel in the eyes of the world as increasingly undemocratic. He has been aggressively deaf on the rights of the Palestinian people.

     Whatever war decisions he makes will be interpreted as not moving out of protectiveness and high strategy but from a desire to salvage his own reputation. He has allowed the messianic settlers of the West Bank to expand and dominate, and they may deliver to Israel a new war front. From the Financial Times on Thursday: “Armed settlers have stepped up their assaults on Palestinians, especially those in remote villages.” The European Union this week called it “settler terrorism” and asked Israel to stop it. Some think only Mr. Netanyahu has the clout to make them stop. But they haven’t stopped. Maybe they too see his weakened position.

     The corruption charges that have dogged him leave him, always, with a reputation for untrustworthiness. As for his judgment, after Oct. 7 he essentially hid out from his own people and, having decided to come out and speak more, he decided to send out a Trumpesque tweet accusing Israeli’s security and military institutions, not him, of being responsible for Oct. 7. In the outcry that followed he did something uncharacteristic, which is admit the mistake and delete the tweet. You have to wonder what those he insulted have on him.

     Sometimes a leader has too much history.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 11/2/2023 @ 4:05 pm

     
     

364. By “you,” I meant you, Kevin, are still treating the two hours as mandatory. I bolded portions of the quotes from you to try and emphasize what I am reading of what you wrote.

     I wasn’t very clear and I assume that is what generated your confusing, to me, response.

     BuDuh (5b01d1) — 11/2/2023 @ 4:31 pm

     
     

365. There’s a rumor that Putin died on October 26. It cant be true, because if he had died that long ago, it would have been announced/ Yes, Mullah Omar’s death was kept hidden for two years, but he was not in charge of anything.

     https://www.newsweek.com/putin-dead-rumors-russia-yandex-searches-1839813

     https://www.newsweek.com/putin-death-rumors-were-spread-russian-officials-ukraine-intel-1840124

     https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4283716-reports-of-putins-death-might-not-be-greatly-exaggerated/

     Sammy Finkelman (7a85f9) — 11/2/2023 @ 4:43 pm

     
     

366. Oy was the Israeli Supreme Court that grabbed power and it created amess with two decisions – one on the draft and the other on Aryeh Deri.

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 11/2/2023 @ 4:44 pm

     
     

367. You would never understand, Rip.

     And if how you handled the Ray Epps drubbing is any indication, I don’t see any reason to explain anything to you knowing that when your partisan bent gets exposed you simply declare “I really don’t care anyways.

     Kevin likes to play with you. Maybe ask him.

     BuDuh (5b01d1) — 11/2/2023 @ 3:26 pm

     Again, what does the Congressional Budget Office have to with processing military nominations?

     This is where the CBO, as predicted, suckered people. But when you are looking to defend Schumer while driving stakes through GOP Senators hearts, maybe it wasn’t that difficult of a ruse.

     BuDuh (5b01d1) — 11/2/2023 @ 1:29 pm

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 11/2/2023 @ 4:45 pm

     
     

368. As far as I know, the CBO hasn’t produced any reports on the time it takes to process military nominations.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 11/2/2023 @ 4:52 pm

     
     

369. Republican House Passes $14.3B Israel Aid Bill With Dem Help

     Now we will see if Schumer and Biden are serious when they said screw Israel and support the terrorists.

     NJRob (eb56c3) — 11/2/2023 @ 4:53 pm

     
     

370. Sam Bankman-Fried has been convicted on all seven charges of fraud and conspiracy and faces a maximum sentence of 110 years.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 11/2/2023 @ 4:55 pm

     
     

371. Again. You would not understand. Or you would create some ridiculous take and go off on your own attention journey.

     Not worth my time.

     BuDuh (5b01d1) — 11/2/2023 @ 4:55 pm

     
     

372. Tuberville is bringing attention to the fact that Biden and his government are breaking the law. But continue to attack the messenger instead of the criminal.

     NJRob (eb56c3) — 11/2/2023 @ 4:56 pm

     
     

373. I wasn’t very clear and I assume that is what generated your confusing, to me, response.

     I said should, in the meaning of IF. Should X happen. That does not mean it is mandatory for X to happen.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 11/2/2023 @ 5:12 pm

     
     

374. RIP Apollo 16 astronaut and Rear Adm. (ret.) Ken Mattingly (87). Mattingly was bounced from the Apollo 13 mission after having been exposed to German measles; he was portrayed by Gary Sinese in Ron Howard’s film of the same name.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 11/2/2023 @ 5:13 pm

     
     

375. I figured out your angle, Rip.

     CRS, not CBO. But… you knew that. Mea Culpa on that acronym error.

     Sorry to foil your slam.

     BuDuh (5b01d1) — 11/2/2023 @ 5:14 pm

     
     

376. As far as I know, the CBO hasn’t produced any reports on the time it takes to process military nominations.

     He may mean the CRS (Congressional Research Service)

     Two relevant PDFs:

     https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL31980#_Toc127952710

     https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IN/IN12200

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 11/2/2023 @ 5:15 pm

     
     

377. BuhDuh was really thinking of this CRS memo.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 11/2/2023 @ 5:17 pm

     
     

378. RIP Apollo 16

     The day will come when no living person has walked on the moon.

     Kevin M (ed969f) — 11/2/2023 @ 5:17 pm

     
     

379. BuDuh (5b01d1) — 11/2/2023 @ 5:14 pm

     You didn’t foil anything.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 11/2/2023 @ 5:18 pm

     
     

380. Like I said 3 min before your 5:17 post, Rip. I have you figured out.

     BuDuh (5b01d1) — 11/2/2023 @ 5:19 pm

     
     

381. Thanks, Kevin. You are an honest broker.

     BuDuh (5b01d1) — 11/2/2023 @ 5:21 pm

     
     

382. BuDuh (5b01d1) — 11/2/2023 @ 5:19 pm

     It took you long enough to figure out your own mistake.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 11/2/2023 @ 5:24 pm

     
     

383. @366 was it the Israeli supreme court who stole nearly 100.000 Israeli govt. bottles to pocket the money for their deposts or is it the crook they are bringing to justice. Peggy Noonan is very eloquent @363.

     asset (f6aadf) — 11/2/2023 @ 5:26 pm

     
     

384. No one cared but you. And when you recognized it you took a dishonest approach.

     That is who you are.

     BuDuh (5b01d1) — 11/2/2023 @ 5:26 pm

     
     

385. BuDuh (5b01d1) — 11/2/2023 @ 5:26 pm

     I keep forgetting how little time you’re worth.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 11/2/2023 @ 5:29 pm

     
     

386. Ouch!

     Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) on Thursday endorsed former President Trump in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, going against a previous promise that he would stay out of the race and turning against his state’s governor, Ron DeSantis (R).
     ………
     Scott, then the governor of Florida, endorsed Trump in the 2016 election, and Trump returned the favor for Scott’s 2018 Senate election bid.

     “It’s time for the Republican Party to come together, behind one candidate, and declare with one voice that we are united in our efforts to defeat Joe Biden and rescue America,” Scott said in the (Newsweek op-ed) Thursday.

     Scott’s endorsement continues a trend of Florida politicians publicly backing Trump and siding against DeSantis, who has been seen as Trump’s strongest challenger.
     ……….
     A majority of Florida’s 20 Republican members of Congress have endorsed Trump, while the state’s other senator — Sen. Marco Rubio (R) — has stayed quiet on the race.
     ………

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 11/2/2023 @ 5:35 pm

     
     

387. Tuberville is doing what he has done all his life. Setting up a contrived contest, at the expense of the players, for the edification of clodpolls, and getting hailed as a hero without providing anything of worth to anyone or taking any risk of his own (until the expiration of his six-year contract).

     nk (bb1548) — 11/2/2023 @ 5:44 pm

     
     

388. Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 11/2/2023 @ 5:29 pm

     You make time because you think your insecurities can somehow be rectified by playing smartass to the crowd.

     It is childish, and your time won’t be wasted if you truly do make better use of it than you did today when you feigned ignorance on a subject you were fully aware of since September.

     Just to score points…

     BuDuh (5b01d1) — 11/2/2023 @ 5:47 pm

     
     

389. Tuberville is doing what he has done all his life. Setting up a contrived contest, at the expense of the players, for the edification of clodpolls, and getting hailed as a hero without providing anything of worth to anyone or taking any risk of his own (until the expiration of his six-year contract).

     nk (bb1548) — 11/2/2023 @ 5:44 pm

     Your lack of concern in Biden and his administration breaking the law is noted. But just remember the next time you claim to be upset that a government official breaks the law you pretended it didn’t matter and attacked the messenger.

     NJRob (eb56c3) — 11/2/2023 @ 6:08 pm

     
     

390. BuDuh,

     Rip is a dishonest broker. That’s his shtick.

     NJRob (eb56c3) — 11/2/2023 @ 6:08 pm

     
     

391. Can’t you two be civil and not name call. I disagree more then anyone else here yet I am civil to everybody and don’t name call anyone hear.

     asset (f6aadf) — 11/2/2023 @ 6:11 pm

     
     

392. https://www.salon.com/2023/11/02/maga-and-christian-nationalism-bigger-to-america-than-hamas-could-ever-be/

     MAGA and Christian nationalism: Bigger threat to America than Hamas could ever be
     Even Mitch McConnell is trying to push back against Mike Johnson and the MAGA lunatics. It isn’t working

     This paranoid, fevered dream sure sounds familiar.

     NJRob (eb56c3) — 11/2/2023 @ 6:14 pm

     
     

393. @389 holding up nominations is not in the constitution it is extra rules put in by slaver senators from the south. Like the fillibuster it can be done away with at anytime. Its called structuralism the classic example used for structuralism is the catholic church. Ask a catholic where in the bible does it say priests should be celibate. don’t eat meat on friday or the pope is infallible?

     asset (f6aadf) — 11/2/2023 @ 6:19 pm

     
     

394. Hamas is no threat to America at all (it could be a threat to some Americans, but not to America), so theoretically speaking any large voting blocks of Americans could again theoretically be more of a threat to America. The people who voted for the porn star in that one CA governor’s race are probably a bigger threat to America than Hamas.

     Nic (896fdf) — 11/2/2023 @ 7:13 pm

     
     

395. Hamas is no threat to America at all (it could be a threat to some Americans, but not to America),

     Was the 9/11 attack performed by people that were just a threat to “some Americans, but not to America?”

     Director Wray helps explain the situation we are in: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eLblIqZOubI

     BuDuh (4214e4) — 11/2/2023 @ 7:31 pm

     
     

396. @Buduh@395 Yes, they were threats to some Americans, but not to America itself. They could kill Americans, but there was no way they could destroy the country. We are emminently stronger and more powerful than the entire Taliban, and in fact than the entire middle east.

     Nic (896fdf) — 11/2/2023 @ 7:44 pm

     
     

397. I see it differently. Thank you for your answer, Nic.

     BuDuh (2dc983) — 11/2/2023 @ 7:48 pm

     
     

398. you’re welcome.

     Nic (896fdf) — 11/2/2023 @ 8:00 pm

     
     

399. The threat to America are the people who talk about a “national divorce”. And you know who they are.

     nk (bb1548) — 11/2/2023 @ 8:02 pm

     
     

400. You lawyers out there help me out isn’t having no women or minorities in position of responsibility like race car driver prima facia evidence of discrimination in a corporation. Like no women drivers in nascar cup or Indy car.

     asset (f6aadf) — 11/2/2023 @ 10:00 pm

     
     

401. The reason I asked is trumpster stephen miller is suing nascar’s diversity program for young women and minority race car drivers for discrimination against white males even though only white male race drivers are all their is in nascar except for bubba wallace and no women. Indy car has neither. Because of supreme court ruling in Harvard case it should be successful. Nascar will lose its fig leif against e.e.o.c. anti discrimination lawsuits for having no women drivers in cup series and same with Indy car and formula 1. Worse for nascar during international women month which nascar was promoting they said a women wasn’t qualified to run talladega (jennifer jo cobb) and wouldn’t let her race even though a white male who had far less experience was allowed to race and he wrecked the field. That was nascars excuse for nt letting jen jo cobb race. To avoid e.e.o.c. discrimination lawsuit it will force nascar and car owners to put women like cobb, hailie deegan, natalie decker, toni breidenger and katie hettinger in cup cars. Same with Indy car with chloe chambers. lindsay brewer and jamie chadwick. Though formula one may steal chadwick to drive fomula one. I don’t see how they can avoid putting women in race cars if they lose lawsuit as rides are base on how much money you can bring not driving talent.

     asset (f6aadf) — 11/2/2023 @ 11:19 pm

     
     

402. https://monsterhunternation.com/2023/10/26/theyre-doing-it-for-you/

     For all the people on social media crying about Israelis blowing up innocents this week, yep, that sucks, but why do terrorists hide behind civilians?

     You.

     That’s it.

     You make it an effective tactic for them.

     I see people saying that anything that harms innocents should be a war crime.
     Congratulations.

     You just ensured that’s the tactic every evil bastard out there will use from now on. Hiding under a church or school or hospital becomes a get out of jail free card.

     Go do terrorist $hit. Then hide behind your kids. Kids die. Wait for the world to freak out and pressure the people you murdered to give up and leave you alone. Do more terrorist $hit to them again tomorrow.

     Your naivete about the nature of evil ensures that hiding behind civilians is a winning tactic for them. You get sad for their human shields, governments cave, the evil doers get to live to rape and murder again tomorrow.

     There is nothing nice or kind or merciful about war.

     It’s miserable. Innocent people suffer and die.

     Blunt, brutal, and true.

     NJRob (eb56c3) — 11/3/2023 @ 6:30 am

     
     

403. Go do terrorist $hit. Then hide behind your kids. Kids die. Wait for the world to freak out and pressure the people you murdered to give up and leave you alone.

     When it was their own kids, and al Qaeda or ISIS, nobody feeaked out, although some may heve sai it was unfortunate, or an additional wrong done by the terrorists.

     But the United States has actually tried to be careful about not killing family members of terrorists, especially when it is an individual target and there was no particular urgency about it.

     https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/01/politics/joe-biden-counter-terrorism/index.html

     They waited for a moment when he woulld step out onto the balcony, aand used a drone that fired something with a limited range of destruction. (not mentioned in either of the links I give here)

     https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2022/08/01/background-press-call-by-a-senior-administration-official-on-a-u-s-counterterrorism-operation

     Zawahiri’s family members were present in other parts of the safe house at the time of the strike, and were purposefully not targeted and were unharmed.

     We have no indications that civilians were harmed in this strike. As I have said, we took every possible precaution to avoid civilian harm.

     Following the strike, another independent team reviewed holdings for confirmation of who was killed at the safe house. Their findings concluded with high confidence that only Zawahiri died in the strike.

     We are also aware that Haqqani Taliban members took actions after the strike to conceal Zawahiri’s former presence at the location. We have identified a concerted effort to restrict access to the safe house and the surrounding area for hours after the strike.

     Sammy Finkelman (b434ee) — 11/3/2023 @ 7:10 am

     
     

404. How quickly was it after that Muslim organization threatened to sit out the election that Biden called for a ceasefire? 1 day.

     NJRob (eb56c3) — 11/3/2023 @ 7:24 am

     
     

405. https://www.wsj.com/articles/tommy-tuberville-military-promotions-pentagon-abortion-travel-policy-9a8b71b7

     Many of Sen. Tuberville’s colleagues have suggested, to no avail, that he express his dissent by focusing on civilian Pentagon nominees “wo actually make policy, as opposed to our military heroes,”as GOP Leader Mitch McConnell said earlier this week…President Biden’s nominee for under secretary of defense for policy would e one example.

     Meantime. Democrats are pondering a procedural change to allow military confirmatios en masse…

     Sammy Finkelman (b434ee) — 11/3/2023 @ 7:24 am

     
     

406. \\biden \,i\. has threateed to veto a bill that gives aid only to Israel (but probably to help push the \senate into passing a combined one.)

     He;s opposed to cutting back on the IRS also, but not threatened a veto over that.

     Sammy Finkelman (b434ee) — 11/3/2023 @ 7:27 am

     
     

407. Bien’s meeting with ew York mayor Eric Adams and the mayors of Chicago and Denver was scheduled as an alterative to meeting with other mayors whom he wished to avoid meeting.

     Meanwhile the problem with Adams’ campaign involves illegal donations from Turkey (??) through straw donors, combined with kickbacks to some people.

     The whole operation was run by a 25-year old woman who was associated with Adams since she came to work for him as an intern in 2017, when she would have been 17.

     The search was purposely scheduled for when Adams would be out of town. He quickly doubled back from Washington, DC.

     Sammy Finkelman (b434ee) — 11/3/2023 @ 7:33 am

     
     

408. Correction – she would have been 19, and in college.

     The cited amount donated is relatively small – $13,950 on one day in May, 2021, the month before the primary (although it would be $22,000 more, I think, after matching funds were added)

     They were given by 11 employees of a construction company in Brooklyn, who mostly didn’t even know they had ‘donated’ although the boss probably did. That was not the only straw donor scheme involving Adams’ 2021 campaign..

     Sammy Finkelman (b434ee) — 11/3/2023 @ 7:51 am

     
     

409. And if how you handled the Ray Epps drubbing is any indication……….

     BuDuh (5b01d1) — 11/2/2023 @ 3:26 pm

     I read a lot of comments about the Ray Epps conspiracy theory (mostly here) and I find that supporters of the theory are also likely to believe that Vince Foster was murdered, TWA Flight 800 was shot down, “truthers” of various stripes, etc. all of which are taken on faith and lack firm evidence.

     It will take something more than grainy videos to convince anyone that Ray Epps was involved in any conspiracy with the FBI-like eyewitness testimony and documentation.

     Rip Murdock (740542) — 11/3/2023 @ 11:57 am

     
     

410. 😩

     BuDuh (2dc983) — 11/3/2023 @ 12:01 pm

     
     

411. 18 hours ago:

     I keep forgetting how little time you’re worth.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 11/2/2023 @ 5:29 pm

     Have you heard the Hunter and the Bear joke?

     There is a brand new thread where you can start over and leave me alone, if you really do want to stop wasting your time.

     BuDuh (2dc983) — 11/3/2023 @ 12:06 pm

     
     

412. @404 Biden needs Michigan to win electoral college.

     asset (c34f60) — 11/3/2023 @ 3:31 pm