Patterico's Pontifications

5/10/2024

Weekend Open Thread

Filed under: General — Dana @ 9:55 am



[guest post by Dana]

Let’s go!

President Biden stuck between a rock and a hard place:

President Biden has become increasingly critical of Israel — and some of his campaign’s biggest pro-Israel donors are becoming more critical of him…Whether he is aiding or criticizing Israel, every move Biden makes has potential negative political consequences.

…Democratic megadonor and Israeli American Haim Saban emailed senior White House officials Wednesday asking them to pass along his criticism of Biden’s recent move to pause bomb shipments to Israel over a possible ground operation in Rafah.

“Bad, Bad, Bad, decision, on all levels, Pls reconsider,” he wrote in a message obtained by Axios and other news outlets…Let’s not forget that there are more Jewish voters, who care about Israel, than Muslim voters that care about Hamas.”

…”There are a lot of people in the pro-Israel community who are very worried, very upset and very angry. We don’t know what the consequences are going to be politically.”

Second news item

Democrats move to support border security:

“Some House Democrats are leaning into border security on the campaign trail after years of playing defense against Republican criticism, hoping to defuse a top political liability headed into the fall elections,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The party now argues that Democrats in competitive races can run on fixing the border, while painting Republicans as obstructionists for rejecting the Senate’s bipartisan border deal, according to a memo from House Democrats’ campaign arm. Republicans currently have a 217-213 majority in the House, and the fight for control of the chamber is seen as a tossup.”

Related:

Third news item

Russia launches major offensive:

Russian troops on Friday launched a major attack on Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, forcing Ukrainian troops to reposition and defend against a new front.

Russian forces appear to have launched the offensive from the Russia’s Belgorod region and are moving toward the town of Vovchansk, which lies north of Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense reported that forces were defending strongholds in Kharkiv after Russian forces launched airstrikes and artillery fire ahead of an early morning armored vehicle offensive.

“As of now, these attacks have been repelled; battles of varying intensity continue,” the Ministry of Defense wrote on X. “Reserve units have been deployed to strengthen the defense in this area of the front. The Defense Forces of Ukraine continue to hold back the enemy’s offensive.”

Related: It is being reported that the U.S. will announce a new $400 million military aid package to Ukraine today.

Fourth news item

Hahaha:

Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump declared that father-in-law Donald Trump is down with accepting election results on Thursday in a wild claim that ignores the former president’s frequent election denialism.

Lara Trump, in a Newsmax interview aired Thursday, was asked about former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Joe Bidensaying “something to the effect” that Donald Trump — if he were to lose in November — won’t accept the election results.

“Is that coordinated?” asked “The Balance” host Eric Bolling.

“I think, isn’t it all coordinated?” replied Lara Trump, the wife of Eric Trump.

She continued, “Isn’t all of this stuff coming from one place? It’s pretty obvious that Donald Trump does accept election results even despite the fact that it was a very questionable election in 2020 because Joe Biden is, unfortunately, sitting in the Oval Office today.”

Stay golden, RNC!

Fifth news item

Unsurprising, given that the school district is 75% White, 18% Hispanic and 3% Black: :

School board members in Virginia’s Shenandoah County voted early Friday to restore the names of two schools that previously honored Confederate leaders – four years after those names had been removed.

The 5-1 vote came after hours of public comment during a meeting that began Thursday evening from people speaking on both sides of the issue. Vice Chairman Kyle L. Gutshall was the sole opposing vote.

“I ask that when you cast your vote, you remember that Stonewall Jackson and others fighting on the side of the Confederacy in this area were intent on protecting the land, the buildings and the lives of those under attack,” said a woman urging the board to restore the Confederate names. “Preservation is the focus of those wishing to restore the names.”

Gene Kilby, the last surviving son of James Wilson Kilby, a Virginia civil rights activist who helped desegregate schools in Virginia, criticized the move to keep the names.

“Why are we here tonight to go back to a time in history that was very cruel, where hatred and racism continued throughout this county and throughout the United States?” Kilby said. “Is this the type of legacy that you want to put in Shenandoah County’s public school buildings?”

The schools had been named after Confederate Gens. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Turner Ashby…

Sixth news item

Donald Trump has a Nikki Haley problem that doesn’t seem to be going away:

On Tuesday night, Indiana Republican primary voters unsurprisingly awarded Trump all 58 of their delegates. But somewhat surprisingly, more than 20% of them voted against him. While he handily won 78.3% of the vote, the 128,000 Republican voters who instead pulled the lever for Nikki Haley sent the presumptive nominee a serious message: “We are not with you.”

Lest you think that an anomaly, late last month 83.4% of Republicans in Pennsylvania voted for Trump. But significantly, 16.6%, or roughly 158,000, voted for Haley.

There’s more. In Washington State, Haley won 19.3% — 150,832 votes — of the Republican primary vote. In Arizona, she won 17.8%. In Illinois, she won 14.5%. In Ohio, she won 14.4%.

This was all after Haley had officially dropped out of the race.

Seventh news item

They made us do it!:

Seventeen Princeton students began a hunger strike last Friday until the university agreed to meet with them to discuss divestment from Israel and the dropping of charges against students who had occupied a campus building.

According to The Daily Princetonian, student Sameer Riaz said he believed he and his comrades “were forced into” their hunger strike by school officials.

Eighth news item

I can think of any number of politicians who appear to have suffered the same malady as RFK:

The Times reported Wednesday that doctors noticed a dark spot in brain scans for Kennedy after he experienced memory loss in 2010 and concluded he had a brain tumor, according to a 2012 deposition. He received a call from another doctor who believed that it was not a tumor, and was instead a dead parasite.

The doctor believed the abnormality “was caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died,” Kennedy said in the deposition, per the New York Times.

Kennedy told the Times he was also diagnosed with mercury poisoning likely from ingesting too much fish containing the heavy metal at the same time he learned about the parasite.

From Kennedy’s campaign:

The press team added: “Questioning Mr. Kennedy’s health is a hilarious suggestion, given his competition.”

Heh.

Have a great weekend.

–Dana

532 Responses to “Weekend Open Thread”

  1. Hello.

    Dana (8e902f)

  2. Let’s not forget that there are more Jewish voters, who care about Israel, than Muslim voters that care about Hamas.

    That’s not the issue. There are a LOT of people on the “woke” end of the party who don’t like Jews. It’s not just Gaza, that’s just the excuse. It’s classic antisemitism that goes “this is what Jews do.”

    Biden is failing his Sistah Souljah moment.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  3. Republicans currently have a 217-213 majority in the House, and the fight for control of the chamber is seen as a tossup.

    Whichever party wins the WH will win the House. Right now that looks like Trump and the GOP, but 6 months is forever in politics. The GOP will likely win 2 seats in the Senate, for 51-49 control. They’d win more but they picked some rotters to run.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  4. This was all after Haley had officially dropped out of the race.

    See how Trump likes “Lost Cause” voters. I am looking forward to voting in the NM primary. Guess who is on the ballot.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  5. Kennedy told the Times he was also diagnosed with mercury poisoning likely from ingesting too much fish containing the heavy metal at the same time he learned about the parasite.

    Probably from all his secret and repeated MMR inoculations and his insistence on amalgam fillings.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  6. USC holds its alternative graduation at the LA Coliseum. Banned valedictorian has the last laugh.

    Asna Tabassum won’t be giving her valedictorian speech Friday at the USC graduation, but she still got a long and loud standing ovation from her peers.

    Students clad in graduation gowns cheered at length when the university’s valedictorian was acknowledged during the student recognition awards ceremony Thursday afternoon. She stood, laughed and pretended to check her watch as the applause continued.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  7. Biden is a craven politician.
    In the other thread we were discussing the lame talk of impeaching Biden over this. I thought it was lame to impeach Trump over his Ukraine leverage so although I’m a hypocritical SOB, on occasion my conscience annoys me with the concept of fairness

    steveg (3375a3)

  8. I didn’t think it was a good idea to impeach Trump over the Ukraine thing either, as it wasn’t something that would engage the public and you need to do that to get party stalwarts to vote to convict their own guy. Impeaching a president for non-cosmic reasons is “crying wolf.” And politically stupid.

    The second impeachment did have public support, but not enough to convince the required number of senators.

    A MUCH better thing to do, which might actually work, is for the House to censure Biden for withholding the arms. It might seem weak but it makes the case, and successfully.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  9. @7

    In the other thread we were discussing the lame talk of impeaching Biden over this. I thought it was lame to impeach Trump over his Ukraine leverage so although I’m a hypocritical SOB, on occasion my conscience annoys me with the concept of fairness

    steveg (3375a3) — 5/10/2024 @ 10:43 am

    I didn’t like the new rules back then.

    But, I’ll be damned if I don’t apply those same rules when there’s a different political party.

    whembly (86df54)

  10. @7 violating the Impoundment Control Act, in secret, for personal gain is why Trump was impeached. Biden is taking a legal action under the Foreign Military Financing program (where grants/loans are given to a country for them to request sales of US military equipment, which has to be approved by POTUS [e.g. yes we’ll sell you artillery, no we won’t sell you F-35s [this is a general example]), in public, after months of warning provided to Israel/Netanyahu.

    And while I think Biden is ignoring public opinion in general and doing what he thinks is right for the US, Israel, and the region in general – are we at the point where we consider factoring in public opinion when policy decisions are being made to now be odd or wrong, as opposed to normal and part of a politician’s job?

    Sam G (87ab56)

  11. Biden wants it both ways. He’s for destroying Hamas, but against destroying Rafah. And if he has any idea how, it’s classified,

    Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e)

  12. @11 even the Israeli War Cabinet has questions about the plans for Rafah: who will hold the crossing long-term? What will replace Hamas governance in Rafah? Four IDF soldiers were killed in Zeitoun, which has been cleared and evacuated by the IDF three times. There is a strategic problem here: the IDF should be following Clear/Hold/Build – but they’re only doing the first, which leads to playing Whack-a-mole.

    The lack of a good plan is the problem here, and that goes back to Netanyahu.

    Sam G (87ab56)

  13. SamG,

    Is there anything you particularly disagree with Biden on? I’ve yet to see it.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  14. As you’ve all no doubt seen, Chris Cuomo is taking Ivermectin every day for long COVID even though he originally bought into the overly simplistic “horse dewormer” meme common amongst nevertrumpers.
    Ivermectin doesn’t seem to cure long COVID by any stretch and I’m curious how bad Cuomo’s life would be if he wasn’t taking it. I bring it up because I think Ivermectin is being used for long COVID in a way where results cannot be easily quantified beyond “I feel better when I take it, worse when I don’t”.

    steveg (3375a3)

  15. Linus Pauling, a two-time Nobel prize winner, thought the world of Vitamin C. Didn’t make it true, and no study showed it to be effective against the common cold. Prevented scurvy though.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  16. @13 I try to keep my input during these discussions relevant solely to the matter at hand, and as you’ll note the two previous inputs were relevant to the discussion (noting factual differences between Trump and Biden’s actions in terms of legality, and providing additional context to consider about the Rafah operation). What criticisms I do have for Biden are likely unrelated to most of what is generally discussed here, understandably so considering the political differences between me and the content writers.

    Sam G (87ab56)

  17. It’s an open thread so discussions are unlimited. What are the criticisms you do have for Biden?

    I don’t think the moderators will object to your answer.

    BuDuh (4214e4)

  18. Biden’s Israel Move Endangers Bid for ‘Haley Republicans’ (The Dispatch)

    President Joe Biden is jeopardizing prospects for winning over disaffected Republican voters with his contentious decision to withhold offensive military munitions from Israel as it prepares for the next phase of its war against Hamas.

    That’s what Republican activists and operatives supportive of Nikki Haley and open to voting for Biden in November told Dispatch Politics Thursday in text messages and telephone interviews. Biden’s unusual move to halt shipment of artillery shells and heavy bombs to Israel has the potential to be particularly damaging, they said, because foreign policy is his best sales pitch for luring “Haley Republicans” away from Donald Trump, their party’s presumptive White House nominee, given sharp disagreements with the president on most domestic issues.

    This is turning into a nasty wedge issue for Democrats.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  19. To be quite fair, I would ask NJRob what major criticisms of Trump he might have.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  20. @17 You’ll just have to be frustrated for now.

    Sam G (87ab56)

  21. @20 Let me know if/when I seem to violate my own previous statements/principles. Until then, I’ll simply comment as I will.

    Sam G (87ab56)

  22. Didn’t mean to set you off, Sam.

    Just letting you know that you aren’t constrained on an open thread.

    BuDuh (6e24cb)

  23. @23 there’s no anger in my words above, apologies if that can be read in such a way. I’m just stating how I’m approaching this forum and my input in it – and that may frustrate some of you.

    Sam G (87ab56)

  24. Doesn’t frustrate me in the least. I welcome the diversity.

    BuDuh (6e24cb)

  25. foreign policy is his best sales pitch for luring “Haley Republicans” away from Donald Trump, their party’s presumptive White House nominee, given sharp disagreements with the president on most domestic issues.

    Not sure this is true. Haley voters view Trump as unacceptable (at least on domestic matters) for non-policy reasons. Mostly on his character, or lack thereof. On immigration, taxes, energy and social issues, there’s a lot of agreement between Haley and Trump and very little between Haley and Biden.

    Sure, Ukraine and NATO, but Trump seems to have realized this and is quietly updating his “principles.” How much that will help isn’t clear and his Yosemite Sam motif is the larger problem.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  26. Doesn’t frustrate me, and your intent to focus on defending Biden from attacks actually answers the question.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  27. How do you feel though about Biden’s recent claims about inflation?

    In an interview this week with CNN’s Erin Burnett, President Joe Biden claimed that the inflation rate was 9 percent when he entered office, crediting his administration with bringing that inflation under control. “No president has had the run we’ve had in terms of creating jobs and bringing down inflation,” Biden said in the interview. “It was 9 percent when I came to office, 9 percent.”

    Burnett did not interject or push back on the president during the interview, but Biden’s claim is false: The annual rate of inflation was significantly lower when he took office in January 2021 and did not reach 9 percent until June 2022.

    https://thedispatch.com/article/president-biden-makes-a-false-claim-about-inflation-in-cnn-interview/

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  28. Biden is a craven politician.

    All politicians are craven to some extent.

    Rip Murdock (b8e6aa)

  29. @27 I’ll refer you back to my statement in #16.

    Sam G (87ab56)

  30. Biden is holding up aid to Israel with the hope that Hamas will release the American hostages (assuming they’re still alive).

    Rip Murdock (f2e670)

  31. @31 “Biden is holding up aid to Israel with the hope that Hamas will release the American hostages (assuming they’re still alive).”

    Source?

    So far, the most hilarious comment in the thread.

    lloyd (7a058f)

  32. Kevin M (a9545f) — 5/10/2024 @ 12:33 pm

    How do you feel though about Biden’s recent claims about inflation?

    This is one that could seem to be true, because the inflation suddenly appeared. At the time the Biden Administration said it was transitory (which it was, only you would have had to wait two or three years for it to subside and for supply to catch up with demand)

    But clearly Biden doesn’t care about the truth – he’s only looking for an argument or, maybe more accurately, taking and using an argument others give him.

    Or else he would have checked.

    And then he used the most extreme possible statistics. But it past muster with his interviewer because how many people have memorized all these details? They know it was the result of the pandemic.

    And then there’s the other lie, which nobody, including the Dispatch, argues with: That a president controls the economy. This is only sometimes somewhat true.

    Notice they never explain what a president did to make the economy better or worse. Because they couldn’t. (Many pretend it’s the deficit)

    Sammy Finkelman (61907d)

  33. past muster = passed muster

    Sammy Finkelman (61907d)

  34. In today’s edition of… “Who’d thunk that?”

    “I knew these vaccines were not going to protect against infection, and I think we overplayed the vaccines.”

    -Dr. Deborah Birx
    pic.twitter.com/acuRl4WAP1

    — E 🇺🇸 (@Simply4Truth_) May 9, 2024

    whembly (86df54)

  35. 15. Kevin M (a9545f) — 5/10/2024 @ 11:59 am

    Linus Pauling, a two-time Nobel prize winner, thought the world of Vitamin C. Didn’t make it true, and no study showed it to be effective against the common cold. Prevented scurvy though.

    It’s folic acid, and a lot of it, and maybe a tinge of zinc that’s good against the common cold. Maybe some other vitamins. Whatever is the constraining factor.

    It’s also important to have blood sugar right. (somewhat low, I think)

    https://www.webmd.com/diabetes/infections-linked-diabetes

    Diabetes can slow down your body’s ability to fight infection. The high sugar levels in your blood and tissues allow bacteria to grow and help infections develop more quickly.

    No, no, no no no! High sugar levels prevent or slow down protein synthesis (the manufacture of antibodies)

    Sammy Finkelman (61907d)

  36. “I knew these vaccines were not going to protect against infection, and I think we overplayed the vaccines.”

    -Dr. Deborah Birx

    She meant prevent ANYBODY (that is everybody) from getting infected = eliminate the virus) Not that they were useless.

    Sammy Finkelman (61907d)

  37. whembly (86df54) — 5/10/2024 @ 1:10 pm

    Drunk Driver Analogy Dream Team hardest hit.

    BuDuh (6e24cb)

  38. She meant prevent ANYBODY (that is everybody) from getting infected = eliminate the virus) Not that they were useless.

    Sammy Finkelman (61907d) — 5/10/2024 @ 1:18 pm

    No.

    She was on the communication team that if you do NOT want to get infected, take the vaccine.

    Don’t participate in the gaslight that public health officials lied/changed rationales on the efficacy of these vaccines.

    whembly (86df54)

  39. OH.
    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gop-rep-files-impeachment-articles-using-dem-precedent-set-during-trump-administration

    Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., formally filed articles of impeachment against President Biden on Friday over his recent comments about withholding offensive weapons aid to Israel, drawing parallels to House Democrats’ first impeachment of former President Donald Trump.

    Is this political?

    You betcha.

    Did I warn you what would happen after Trump’s 1st impeachment?

    Yeah… told ya so.

    whembly (86df54)

  40. The link is from Nov of ‘22, Whembly.

    https://twitter.com/Simply4Truth_/status/1587474799042990083

    BuDuh (6e24cb)

  41. 12. Sam G (87ab56) — 5/10/2024 @ 11:23 am

    @11 even the Israeli War Cabinet has questions about the plans for Rafah: who will hold the crossing long-term? What will replace Hamas governance in Rafah?

    Israel has two plans, both so far rejected by the Arabs, One is find local people to work with, and the other is arrange with Arab governments to help run Gaza.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/03/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-postwar-plan.html

    ..Under the proposal, the Arab-Israeli alliance, working with the United States, would appoint Gazan leaders to redevelop the devastated territory, overhaul its education system and maintain order. After between seven and 10 years, the alliance would allow Gazans to vote on whether to be absorbed into a united Palestinian administration that would govern in both Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to the proposal. In the meantime, the plan suggests, the Israeli military could continue to operate inside Gaza.

    The proposal does not explicitly say whether that united administration would constitute a sovereign Palestinian state, or if it would include the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank. Publicly, Prime Minister Netanyahu has rejected the idea of full Palestinian sovereignty and all but ruled out the involvement of the Palestinian Authority….

    …The businessmen, who asked not to be named in order not to jeopardize their ability to promote the idea, said that they had briefed officials from several Arab and Western governments, including the United States, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E., on the plan.

    It has also been shown to Tony Blair, the former British prime minister who runs an institute advising the Saudi government on modernization projects. A Palestinian businessman, who asked not to be named in order to protect his relatives from retribution in Gaza, also has been involved in promoting the idea to American officials.

    Asked about the plan, the U.A.E. foreign ministry said in a statement that the Emirati government “will not participate in any reconstruction effort in Gaza until there exists an agreement on a road map for a political solution to the conflict, which includes a transparent, timely and binding path for all parties and that leads to the establishment of the two-state solution, with an independent Palestinian state.”

    A Saudi official, speaking on condition of anonymity to conform with government protocol, dismissed the proposal because it did not create a “credible and irreversible pathway” toward Palestinian statehood or ensure the Palestinian Authority’s involvement. The official also denied that the Saudi authorities had previously been made aware of the plan.

    A spokesman for the Egyptian government declined to comment.

    The aim of the businessmen is to win international support for the idea in order to persuade Mr. Netanyahu that it would be worth his embarking on the difficult task of winning domestic backing for it.

    Mr. Netanyahu’s coalition government could collapse if he formally backed a plan that did not conclusively rule out the creation of a Palestinian state. Far-right members of his coalition strongly oppose Palestinian sovereignty and want to re-establish Israeli settlements in Gaza. They have threatened to bring down the government if Mr. Netanyahu ends the war in Gaza without ousting Hamas. {not the same thing]

    Polling shows that a majority of Israelis also oppose the creation of Palestinian state, which many say would reward Hamas for leading terrorist attacks that killed some 1,200 people on Oct. 7, during the cross-border raid on Israel that started the war.

    Sammy Finkelman (61907d)

  42. The lack of a good plan is the problem here, and that goes back to Netanyahu.

    Why should Israel have a good plan? Did they expect to go to war again – and depose Hamas?

    But the thing is, Israel is not going to concede it is checkmated, like some people want.

    Sammy Finkelman (61907d)

  43. whembly (86df54) — 5/10/2024 @ 1:26 pm

    She was on the communication team that if you do NOT want to get infected, take the vaccine.

    That is what she was saying was wrong.

    Sammy Finkelman (61907d)

  44. Whembly, you’ve been making these warnings, but people like Rep Mills or NJRob or MTG are never going to acknowledge the differences between what Biden has done and what Trump was doing. Any more then they’ll admit a protest vote by Rep Jeffries (who is an A$$) is fundamentally different then what Trump and his team tried to do with the 2020 election. There’s no point in worrying about establishing precedent for people who have no intention of acting in good faith.

    Trump tried to secretly extort Ukraine into announcing a baseless investigation of a political rival. There was no US policy goal there.

    Biden is trying to publicly pressure Israel into prosecuting their war in certain way. There are US policy goals there. I think they’re bad ones. But I can at least acknowledge that there is some benefit in having US weapons not be seen as part of a nasty offensive, both from an international standing POV and a domestic support POV.

    To be clear, I think the best path forward is for Israel to quickly win with the least amount of civilian casualties possible without US forces involvement and then treat the area like as occupied territory. But I also think Biden should have said “You took US hostages, GFY” long time ago.

    Time123 (f9844b)

  45. On COVID there were control freaks in high places. They took the “control” in Center for Disease Control a little far. I think some people in high places were fearful to the extreme. Some were both controlling and fearful. Then we had the people on the other end of the spectrum who were self dosing Ivermectin, HCQ and god knows what else. The two extremes sucked the oxygen out of rational discussion.
    I think it is because identity politics encourage tribalism and fringe rule

    steveg (8b47f6)

  46. @45 Time123 (f9844b) — 5/10/2024 @ 1:42 pm
    Time…before I answer your post in detail, mind going to the “wayback” machine with me for a bit?

    At the time Trump withheld the Ukraine aid… what was your opinion on Biden’s likelihood of winning the Democratic nomination?

    whembly (86df54)

  47. @41

    The link is from Nov of ‘22, Whembly.

    https://twitter.com/Simply4Truth_/status/1587474799042990083

    BuDuh (6e24cb) — 5/10/2024 @ 1:29 pm

    Good catch, didn’t realize that it was that old. Still damning imo though.

    whembly (86df54)

  48. From Newsweek:
    https://www.newsweek.com/biden-withholding-aid-israel-sure-looks-impeachable-opinion-1898978


    The Biden administration has put a hold on a shipment of military aid to Israel in a nakedly political attempt to win votes in key swing states. Presidents have been impeached for far less.

    The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (ICA) governs the control of funds appropriated by Congress. It was enacted to reassert Congress’ power of the purse and prevent the president from simply substituting their own funding decisions for those of Congress. While it was once an obscure rule on governing spending, the masses may remember it for its brief starring role in the first impeachment of President Donald J. Trump. As the Democrat-led impeachment inquiry report explained:

    President Trump ordered the suspension of $391 million in vital military assistance urgently needed by Ukraine, a strategic partner, to resist Russian aggression. Because the aid was appropriated by Congress, on a bipartisan basis, and signed into law by the president, its expenditure was required by law. Acting directly and through his subordinates within the U.S. government, the president withheld from Ukraine this military assistance without any legitimate foreign policy, national security, or anticorruption justification. The president did so despite the longstanding bipartisan support of Congress, uniform support across federal departments and agencies for the provision to Ukraine of the military assistance, and his obligations under the Impoundment Control Act.

    Making decisions against the best interests of our own national security, as well as the security of our allies, for personal political gain, is the “definition of corruption.” Or at least that is what then-candidate Joe Biden said, in 2020, when it wasn’t him doing it.

    whembly (86df54)

  49. “Bad, Bad, Bad, decision, on all levels, Pls reconsider,” he wrote in a message obtained by Axios and other news outlets…Let’s not forget that there are more Jewish voters, who care about Israel, than Muslim voters that care about Hamas.”

    …”There are a lot of people in the pro-Israel community who are very worried, very upset and very angry. We don’t know what the consequences are going to be politically.”

    This absolutely disgusts me. And no, not just the infantile abbreviation of the word “please.” I likely agree with Haim Saban on the merits of the Israel-Hamas War, but the fact that he places Democrat support (or lack thereof) for Israel in the context of how it affects the outcome of U.S. elections is absolutely contemptible. It confirms every nasty stereotype about wealthy Hollywood Democrats and that party’s ugly donor base: that they have no soul, compassion, or principles, they are just about the bottom line and how it affects them personally.

    I hate the way Joe Biden has turned on Israel, but if he were to respond to Mr. Saban and tell him that there are issues in life greater than the election prospects of Democrats then I would be willing to give him a great deal of credit. Of course he won’t do that, because Joe Biden himself has no deep principles other than the perpetuation of his own rancid political career. The two of them deserve each other.

    JVW (b02843)

  50. Hamas killed 39 Thai seasonal workers in Israel on October7. Hamas had to know they were going to encounter foreign laborers and that generally speaking, Thais don’t resemble Israelis.
    No contingencies were made, no quarter given, the Thai were murdered. Explain how Hamas are the good guys?

    steveg (8b47f6)

  51. Hamas sent over 20 groups of raiders on October 7, 2023, none of whom knew about the others. Some killed more than others. Some did avoid killing foreigners or people who pretended to not be Israelis. In some cases members of the families of the attackers came over to loot.

    Sammy Finkelman (61907d)

  52. JVW (b02843) — 5/10/2024 @ 1:53 pm

    the fact that he places Democrat support (or lack thereof) for Israel in the context of how it affects the outcome of U.S. elections is absolutely contemptible

    An appeal to self interest is always a strong argument, especially when you think it was an idea of self interest that motivated the departure from what was expected.

    . It confirms every nasty stereotype about wealthy Hollywood Democrats and that party’s ugly donor base: that they have no soul, compassion, or principles, they are just about the bottom line and how it affects them personally.

    It’s more like they think that Democratic campaign strategists have no soul, or if they do, it may not be enough.

    Sammy Finkelman (61907d)

  53. Hamas released one Israeli in Gaza who pretended to be Russian.

    Sammy Finkelman (61907d)

  54. Look at this CNN poll
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1788941745905905674

    Amongst Democrats who voted for Biden in 2020 who say the will not be voting for him in 2024 60% of them say Biden is giving too much support to Israel, 24% say he is not giving Israel enough.
    Biden’s campaign bean counters appear to have done the math and figured it is politically expedient to at least pretend to throttle Israel.

    The poll also notes that Trump has held 81% of his base from 2020, Biden has held only 73%

    steveg (8b47f6)

  55. This is one that could seem to be true, because the inflation suddenly appeared.

    A year into his term. At his inauguration it was 1.4%. During Trump’s entire 4 years, the CPI went up by a cumulative total of 8%. It’s up 19% under Biden. And that’s assuming that you believe the official figures. I just came from the grocery store and I gotta say it is HARD to believe these official numbers. 40% seems closer to it.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  56. Drunk Driver Analogy Dream Team hardest hit.

    Said by someone who clearly thinks he is less likely to spread a disease by being more susceptible to catching it.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  57. Drunk Driver Analogy Dream Team hardest hit.

    I have utterly no regret for that comparison Sober up.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  58. 47.
    whembly (86df54) — 5/10/2024 @ 1:48 pm

    At the time Trump withheld the Ukraine aid… what was your opinion on Biden’s likelihood of winning the Democratic nomination?

    At the time of the impeachment, Trump claimed that he didn’t think Biden was likely to be the nominee. (of course he would still have been interested)

    If he was strategic, he would have wanted to gather true bad information about Biden and spring it on him only after he had won the nomination. But mostly only Democrats try ploys like that.

    Sammy Finkelman (61907d)

  59. @42

    Mr. Netanyahu’s coalition government could collapse if he formally backed a plan that did not conclusively rule out the creation of a Palestinian state. Far-right members of his coalition strongly oppose Palestinian sovereignty and want to re-establish Israeli settlements in Gaza.

    Netanyahu’s facing corruption charges after he leaves office, and an election now would be unfavorable to his remaining out of prison. That – not to mention his history of working against a Palestinian state being created – are part of the reason why there’s no plan for what comes after from the Israeli side that is acceptable from a US and regional perspective, which has long backed the need for Palestinian self-determination (which has been denied to them by Hamas).

    Israel should be spending its political capital to make allies against the Islamic Republic of Iran, replace Hamas in Gaza, and getting Hezbollah to withdraw from their Northern border – instead of fighting a losing battle to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state.

    Sam G (87ab56)

  60. I also think Biden should have said “You took US hostages, GFY” long time ago.

    The Soviets used to react to this by grabbing the brother of a hostage-taker and sending his balls to the culprit. But that would be wrong.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  61. The two extremes sucked the oxygen out of rational discussion.

    A more rational statement would be “take the vaccine or you’re a fukwit.”

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  62. @49 my understanding is that the withheld munitions were being provided under the Foreign Military Financing program, which provides grants/loans to foreign militaries to purchase US weaponry – and thus is subject to approval on what equipment is begin provided. That, along with this having been told to Israel publicly for months, makes it a legal policy move.

    It’s fair to disagree with the move based on policy differences: let’s just keep it factual on the legalities.

    Sam G (87ab56)

  63. Kevin M (a9545f) — 5/10/2024 @ 2:26 pm

    I just came from the grocery store and I gotta say it is HARD to believe these official numbers. 40% seems closer to it.

    That would mean that something that cost $1.99 at the start of 2021, costs $2.75. But it;s more like $2.29 or $2.49. Or something went from $4.99 a pound to $5.99 a pound. And that is cumulative, since 4 years ago. A one tiem increase some time ago.

    Individual prices jump more than 10% but not everything jumps.

    Inflation may be higher than stated because he cost of housing is not reflected well.

    Sammy Finkelman (61907d)

  64. Hamas sent over 20 groups of raiders on October 7, 2023, none of whom knew about the others. Some killed more than others. Some did avoid killing foreigners or people who pretended to not be Israelis. In some cases members of the families of the attackers came over to loot.

    If you kill civilians non-collaterally (and sometimes even collaterally), you are a war criminal. If you hide your forces among civilians, you are a war criminal. Hamas are war criminals, not soldiers and no version of the Geneva accords protects them. I certainly hope that Israel is shooting them out of hand; but I know they are not.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  65. Sam G (87ab56) — 5/10/2024 @ 2:29 pm

    Netanyahu’s facing corruption charges after he leaves office,

    No, he’s
    facing them now.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_Benjamin_Netanyahu

    On December 5, 2023, trial judges agreed to reduce the number of court hearings to two days a week due to the security concerns related to the ongoing Israel-Hamas War.[3] At the end of December 2023, it was decided that the number of days would increase to four in February 2024.[59] In January they announced that there would be 3 days of discussions starting on the 22nd of that month.[60] Former Israeli minister Tzipi Livni testified March 20, 2024, that she was surprised in 2014 when Netanyahu allowed ministers to vote as they saw fit a law that would have harmed the ardently pro-Netanyahu free newspaper, Israel Hayom, allegedly in exchange for better coverage by Yedioth Ahronoth.[61]

    The charges sound like garbage.

    The problem he may have is that if he loses an election, he may have difficulty gaining it back and that he may be declared ineligible for any office other than Prime Minister. He lets the 14 far right Knesset members say things that don’t mean anything . It is not that the policy about defeating Hamas would be any different but perhaps he is motivated to re-emphasize

    and an election now would be unfavorable to his remaining out of prison.

    It has nothing to do with staying out of prison.

    Sammy Finkelman (61907d)

  66. Biden only wants to withhold some arms but he’s busy having the Department of Defense evaluating what is what.

    Sammy Finkelman (61907d)

  67. That would mean that something that cost $1.99 at the start of 2021, costs $2.75

    I see that, and more, all the time. A can of chili that was $2.09 is now $3.49. Produce that was normally $2.49 is now $3.49. A 12-pack of Coke that was $5.99 is now $8.99 (although specials are such that it was rarely at those prices, but still…). Box candy that was $1 is now $1.25 on special.

    A lot of people now buy stuff for delivery or pickup and are insulated from seeing the prices climb. Or don’t care what they pay. They seem the loudest in disputing inflation claims. Old Joe has no effing clue.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  68. It’s fair to disagree with the move based on policy differences: let’s just keep it factual on the legalities.

    Let’s also keep clear that impeachment is mostly political, not legal. You could impeach Trump for putting catsup on a prime ribeye, if you could get the votes. Misdemeanor meant “bad behavior” in 1789.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  69. Amongst Democrats who voted for Biden in 2020 who say the will not be voting for him in 2024

    And you gotta consider that many who are upset with what Biden is doing (e.g. NJRob) are not going to vote for Biden no matter what he does, so they don’t exist to Joe Biden.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  70. @69 that is true, it is a political process – not a legal one.

    My point stands regarding the legalities at hand.

    Sam G (87ab56)

  71. Item 1 More jewish voters who care about Israel then muslim and young democrats who want ceasefire. Not in michigan, minnesota and wisconsin.

    asset (e2e159)

  72. Any chance I could start up a sub-food thread, here in the Weekend Open Thread?

    I love Popeye’s and always will, but I think my new favorite fried chicken place is Church’s. 🙂

    qdpsteve again (711764)

  73. Biden to Quadruple Tariffs on Chinese EVs

    The Biden administration is preparing to raise tariffs on clean-energy goods from China in the coming days, with the levy on Chinese electric vehicles set to roughly quadruple, according to people familiar with the matter.

    Higher tariffs, which Biden administration officials are preparing to announce on Tuesday, will also hit critical minerals, solar goods and batteries sourced from China, according to the people. The decision comes at the end of a yearslong review of tariffs imposed by former President Donald Trump on roughly $300 billion in goods from China.

    Whether to adjust the Trump-era levies divided the Biden administration’s economic advisers for years, with trade officials pushing for higher duties and others, such as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, calling for lowering tariffs on consumer goods while focusing duties on strategic sectors. But signs that China was ramping up exports of clean-energy goods prompted concern in Washington, where officials are trying to protect a nascent American clean-energy industry from China.

    Officials are particularly focused on electric vehicles, and they are expected to raise the tariff rate to roughly 100% from 25%, according to the people. An additional 2.5% duty applies to all automobiles imported into the U.S. The existing 25% tariff on Chinese electric vehicles has so far effectively barred those models, often cheaper than Western-made cars, from the U.S. market. Biden administration officials, automakers and some lawmakers worry that wouldn’t be enough given the scale of Chinese manufacturing.

    “Worse than Trump”™

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  74. Think of it as a sin tax.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  75. @74 Populists in both parties support tariffs. Uncle miltie and his reagan free trade acolytes couldn’t answer the question how can you buy cheap foreign goods if the place you work was shutdown and sent out of the country and you have no money?

    asset (e2e159)

  76. Sammy Finkelman (61907d) — 5/10/2024 @ 1:34 pm

    Re: Postwar Gaza Plans

    This article should be posted every time someone suggests that Saudi Arabia, Egypt, or any other Arab country take over Gaza-they want nothing to do with it.

    It’s Israel’s own problem.

    Rip Murdock (f2e670)

  77. ark Levin went on quite a tirade against Biden, Apparently it’s a replay of something he said elsewhere that went viral.

    It’s who does he think he is – and it finished with something Mark Levin’s father told him years ago. He grew up in Philadelphia. So they knew more about him than average. His father, who enlisted at age 17 after Pearl Harbor, told him that Biden was a bad man. He didn’t accept that till now.

    Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e)

  78. Sammy, when he gets angry and starts screaming, Levin’s voice could be used as an instrument of torture. Good grief.

    qdpsteve again (711764)

  79. The closer we get to the election, the more common-sense/popular/centrist or even conservative things/orders/laws Biden will do, sign and/or support.

    It’s all fake and designed to win over the center and independents, of course. Still, it’s kinda/sorta worked for Newsom here in CA.

    qdpsteve again (711764)

  80. “Worse than Trump”™

    Kevin M (a9545f) — 5/10/2024 @ 3:06 pm

    I have no problem with tariffs on Chinese imports. As I pointed out earlier, China is the main political, economic, diplomatic, and military competitor that the US faces in world today. it’s good politics-no candidate will win an election running a pro-free trade with China campaign.

    And all you can say is “worse than Trump.”

    Rip Murdock (f2e670)

  81. If the quadrupled tariffs vs China are for real, and not something that Joe will (be forced to) repeal at 12:01pm on January 20, 2025, I’m all for ’em.

    qdpsteve again (711764)

  82. Judge (with no power) tries to cajole Michael Cohen into not attacking Donald Trump in the immediate future (because Trump has aright to respond)

    Meanwhile Steve Bannon;s conviction for contempt of Congress for refusing to testify about Jan 6 and contacts with the White House is upheld. He faces 4 months in prison.

    Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e)

  83. Interesting re: inflation – most of the money supply growth happened under Trump, then reversed under Biden and even when negative for a spell.

    SamG (4e6c22)

  84. Biden, like any leftist, will never win my vote because the end result of their policies is slavery and misery.

    I’m just trying to waken up the stubborn NeverTrumpers who continue to make excuses for the worst Presidency in history. We cannot handle 4 more years of this demented fool.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  85. https://twitter.com/EYakoby/status/1786466660116824520

    A good example of what you get when you vote for leftists. Thugs who threaten violence and try to intimidate innocents hiding behind masks.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  86. I love Popeye’s and always will, but I think my new favorite fried chicken place is Church’s

    I have both of them, on opposite sides of the street. Church’s is usually empty. OTOH, Popeye’s chickens have gotten pretty scrawny.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  87. I have no problem with tariffs on Chinese imports.

    …And all you can say is “worse than Trump.”

    Irony seems dead with you. The point being that the Democrats damned Trump’s eyes for these tariffs, and now, after quietly keeping them, they are co-opting Trump’s policies and expanding them.

    Yes, it is a tax on US persons, not on the Chinese, but a tax on cigarettes is similarly on smokers, not the tobacco companies. It’s only a problem if you think that buying a Chinese solar panel is a good thing.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  88. 85,

    “ I disagree with a lot of Joe Biden’s policies. We can survive bad policies. We cannot survive torching the constitution [which is what Trump will continue to do]. It’s not even the same level.”

    Dana (8e902f)

  89. Kevin M: scrawny Popeye’s chickens?! I blame Biden! 😉

    Just kidding. A friend of mine at FB says both chains are owned by the same company. Truth is I’ll always have a soft spot for Popeye’s as well.

    I’ve been loving the spicy tenders and jalapeno cheese bombs at Church’s. Tons of diced pepper in every bite!

    qdpsteve again (918f39)

  90. https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/people-setting-america-on-fire-soros-tides-wespac

    Some people like to watch the world burn and profit from the destruction.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  91. We cannot survive on our current path. Indoctrinating our young to hate their ancestors, to believe that we are a fundamentally racist society, and to fall for the siren song of socialism will lead to our demise.

    That is far worse than the worst your imagination can come up with that Trump would be able to do.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  92. How nice it would be to hear from Patterico about his informed views regarding the hush money case and Florida classified documents case delays.

    AJ_Liberty (b80f0d)

  93. I disagree with a lot of Joe Biden’s policies. We can survive bad policies.

    To be fair, show your work.

    Also show how we cannot survive a president who disregards the Constitution, paying particular attention to FDR and Nixon. While Nixon was forced to resign, we still live with a number of constitutional “changes” and bad policies directly attributable to FDR.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  94. Rob Portman: A Plan for Victory in Ukraine

    One of the most consequential parts of the recently passed supplemental aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan is a little-noticed provision that requires the Biden administration to submit a strategy to Congress regarding U.S. support for Ukraine. Notably, for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion began, the Biden administration will be mandated to present an assessment “of the resources required … to help hasten Ukrainian victory against Russia’s invasion forces.”

    Although a loud minority of lawmakers opposes any aid to Ukraine, this requirement in the legislation reflects a bipartisan concern of many in Congress that the administration’s oversensitivity to “escalation” has restricted the provision of more effective weapon systems Ukraine has requested and has limited the use of some U.S. weapons provided, contributing to Ukraine’s disadvantage on the battlefield and the current bloody stalemate. The new law makes clear that Congress wants a plan for Ukraine to win, not merely survive. The administration should embrace it….

    At this point, I believe the U.S. commitment to move quickly to provide Ukraine with the weapons it needs and the training to use them effectively is just as important as the dollar amount of aid provided. The same scenario has played out time and time again: Ukraine requests a particular weapon, the Biden administration initially says no, then eventually provides it after months—or years—of bipartisan congressional pressure. Inevitably, the weapon quickly makes a significant difference: Stinger missiles early in the conflict, HIMARS two years ago, and longer-range ATACMS missiles more recently. Think of all of the lives that could have been saved if we had provided those weapons systems earlier….

    The laundry list of weapons systems that Ukraine needs yesterday and we might supply, in tiny quantities tomorrow, is long and thoroughly embarrassing. It’s almost as if Biden wants to lose.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  95. At the time Trump withheld the Ukraine aid… what was your opinion on Biden’s likelihood of winning the Democratic nomination?

    Apparently, Trump was concerned about Biden’s chances, given what he did. At the time of The Perfect Call, Biden was the frontrunner, therefore Trump’s chief political rival.

    Paul Montagu (d52d7d)

  96. Re: inflation. …try soup:

    I use Hormel chili. Same reasoning. Price in 2022: $1.89. Now $2.49, a 31% increase.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  97. If this worm was in RFK Jr.’s brain, that explains everything. Well, any brain-eating worm would explain it.

    Paul Montagu (d52d7d)

  98. It’s funny because those thoughts probably are coursing through his lizard brain.

    NEW YORK CITY, NY — Former President Donald Trump made sure members of the jury in the Stormy Daniels hush money trial knew the adult film actress was much much hotter when he first met her.

    “She was an eight or a nine back then, let me tell you,” Trump explained to members of the jury. “Now she’s a bit of a dog; Dogface Daniels, that’s what they call her. But not when I met her, I would never touch a dog, not a dog guy. Not that I did touch her…but if I had…she was smokin’. Don’t know what happened.”

    Paul Montagu (d52d7d)

  99. That link goes to the Bee, so maybe it’s not true.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  100. The point being that the Democrats damned Trump’s eyes for these tariffs, and now, after quietly keeping them, they are co-opting Trump’s policies and expanding them.

    I’m not surprised that Democrats are copying Trump’s trade policies, as the NBER report showed, whether the policies were good or bad is immaterial, they were good politics.

    Rip Murdock (f2e670)

  101. Tom Nichols

    I guess this is the time I’ll point out that the Clinton administration squashed calling Rwanda a genocide when a million people died in 90 days. *That* was a run at genocide, and we didn’t want to be bothered with it.
    Now people are using the word like it means “casualties”

    Also, when the ratio is two civilians deaths for every militant death–in urban guerilla warfare where one side embeds in civilian populations–not a genocide.

    Paul Montagu (d52d7d)

  102. Biden also allows an invasion on our southern border, supports Hamas for political expediency, and betrays an actual treaty signed ally.

    But Trump.

    NJRob (297ce4)

  103. Two enormous policy failures: The Trump administration failed to handle COVID as well as it should have, with the result that thousands died who need not have.

    The Obama administration failed, and now the Biden administration is failing, on fentanyl, and other synthetic opiods. US life expectancy began falling during the last year or two of the Obama adminstration, and the new illegal drugs were a major cause of that decline.

    It is not difficult to understand those failures, if you understand the Loser’s incompetence, and the Democratic Party having far too many leaders who opposed the “War on Drugs”.

    Jim Miller (80458d)

  104. https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/05/another-stab-in-the-back.php

    Yesterday the State Department issued the mandated report. It covers seven countries. For some reason or other, the related news stories limit their coverage to Israel. Perhaps that is because Israel is the world’s only Jewish state and now engaged in a fight for its life.

    The stories — such as this one by the New York Times’s Michael Crowley — also quote but do not link to the report itself. The only copy I have been able to find online is the unclassified version posted here in PDF form and here on Scribd by Just Security.

    The report is 46 pages long. It arrives at Israel on page 18. It departs at page 32. There is something for everyone in it. As Crowley puts it: “The Biden administration believes that Israel has most likely violated international standards in failing to protect civilians in Gaza but has not found specific instances that would justify the withholding of military aid, the State Department told Congress on Friday.” Crowley also observes that the report adds that “the results on the ground, including high levels of civilian casualties, raise substantial questions” as to whether the Israel Defense Forces are making sufficient use of those tools. Crowley then writes:

    More stabbing from Biden to our allies.

    NJRob (297ce4)

  105. where one side embeds in civilian populations

    A war crime. The point of the Geneva Convention was to separate combatants from civilians to prevent this kind of thing. So, wear distinctive clothing and carry arms openly and you get quarter. If not….

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  106. The Trump administration failed to handle COVID as well as it should have

    There are lots of things I will blame on the Trump Administration, but this is hogwash. The rush to a vaccine was amazing work, delayed only be the bureaucracy’s reluctance to announce it before the election.

    Trump could not have closed the borders, or stopped air traffic, or instituted the kind of police state that would have been required to stop the early spread and to suggest that he could is silly.

    What, Jim, could he have done to stop the spread of Covid in February 2020?

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  107. Justice Alito, today:

    Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. warned on Saturday that freedom of speech was under threat at universities and that freedom of religion was in peril in society at large.

    “Troubled waters are slamming against some of our most fundamental principles,” he said.

    He made his remarks at a commencement ceremony at the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, a Catholic institution.

    “Support for freedom of speech is declining dangerously, especially where it should find deepest acceptance,” he said.

    A university, he said, should be “a place for reasoned debate.” But he added that “today, very few colleges live up to that ideal.”

    The same is true, he said, for tolerance of religious views in society generally.

    “Freedom of religion is also imperiled,” he said. “When you venture out into the world, you may well find yourself in a job or a community or a social setting when you will be pressured to endorse ideas you don’t believe or to abandon core beliefs. It will be up to you to stand firm.”

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  108. I’m not too late for the fried chicken discussion, am I?

    I’m a big fan of Popeyes, but I haven’t eaten there in several months. I’m a bit distressed to hear Kevin M report that the pieces have become scrawny. That’s the reason that I stopped going to Kentucky Fried Chicken several years ago.

    I’ve never eaten at Church’s, though there is one on Redondo Beach Boulevard that I have driven by hundreds of times. On qdpsteve again’s recommendation, I’ll have to give it a try. I recall how decades ago Church’s was subject to an urban legend in the black community that they put an ingredient in their batter which rendered black men impotent, and I’m a big fan of ridiculous urban myths.

    JVW (b02843)

  109. JVW: it’s never too late. 🙂

    I still remember the Great Popeye’s Chicken Sandwich shortage of a few years ago. The good old days…

    qdpsteve again (304911)

  110. I still haven’t had the Popeye’s Chicken Sandwich. I prefer just regular fried chicken to chicken patties. But I’m at that damn age where I can really only eat fried chicken once in a blue moon.

    The best friend chicken I have ever had is at Gus’s, which started in a rural part of Tennessee and then set up shop in Memphis. Through a lucky occurrence, I got to know the owner who took my friends and me into the kitchen and showed us the operation. They have opened a couple of restaurants here in the Los Angeles area, so that’s pretty much where I go to satisfy my cravings.

    JVW (b02843)

  111. Talking about real money:

    Former President Donald J. Trump used a dubious accounting maneuver to claim improper tax breaks from his troubled Chicago tower, according to an Internal Revenue Service inquiry uncovered by The New York Times and ProPublica. Losing a yearslong audit battle over the claim could mean a tax bill of more than $100 million.
    …………..
    The first write-off came on Mr. Trump’s tax return for 2008. With sales lagging far behind projections, he claimed that his investment in the condo-hotel tower met the tax code definition of “worthless,” because his debt on the project meant he would never see a profit. That move resulted in Mr. Trump reporting losses as high as $651 million for the year, The Times and ProPublica found.

    …………(I)n 2010, Mr. Trump and his tax advisers sought to extract further benefits from the Chicago project, executing a maneuver that would draw years of inquiry from the I.R.S. First, he shifted the company that owned the tower into a new partnership. Because he controlled both companies, it was like moving coins from one pocket to another. Then he used the shift as justification to declare $168 million in additional losses over the next decade.

    The issues around Mr. Trump’s case were novel enough that, during his presidency, the I.R.S. undertook a high-level legal review before pursuing it. …………
    ………….
    Mr. Trump’s worthlessness claim meant only that his stake in 401 Mezz Venture, the L.L.C. that held the tower, was without value because he expected that sales would never produce enough cash to pay off the mortgages, let alone turn a profit.

    When he filed his 2008 tax return, he declared business losses of $697 million. Tax records do not fully show which businesses generated that figure. But working with tax experts, The Times and ProPublica calculated that the Chicago worthlessness deduction could have been as high as $651 million, the value of Mr. Trump’s stake in the partnership — about $94 million he had invested and the $557 million loan balance reported on his tax returns that year.
    …………..
    The tax experts gave the weakest chance of surviving a challenge for a worthlessness deduction based on borrowed money for which the outcome was not clear. It reflects a doubly irrational claim — that the taxpayer deserves a tax benefit for losing someone else’s money even before the money has been lost, and that those anticipated future losses can be used to offset real income from other sources. Most of the debt included in Mr. Trump’s worthlessness deduction was based on that risky position.
    …………..
    Had he done nothing, his 2008 worthlessness deduction would have prevented him from claiming that shortfall as losses again. But in 2010, his lawyers attempted an end-run by merging the entity through which he owned the Chicago tower into another partnership, DJT Holdings L.L.C. In the following years, they piled other businesses, including several of his golf courses, into DJT Holdings.

    ……….. Mr. Trump’s tax advisers took the position that pooling the Chicago tower’s finances with other businesses entitled him to declare even more tax-reducing losses from his Chicago investment.

    …………. From 2011 through 2020, Mr. Trump reported $168 million in additional losses from the project.

    Those additional write-offs helped Mr. Trump avoid tax liability for his continuing entertainment riches, as well as his unpaid debt from the tower. ………..
    ………….
    The I.R.S. explained its position in a Technical Advice Memorandum, released in 2019, that identified Mr. Trump only as “A.” Such memos, reserved for cases where the law is unclear, are rare and involve extensive review by senior I.R.S. lawyers. The agency produced only two other such memos that year.

    The memos are required to be publicly released with the taxpayer’s information removed, and this one was more heavily redacted than usual. Some partnership specialists wrote papers exploring its meaning and importance to other taxpayers, but none identified taxpayer “A” as the then-sitting president of the United States. The Times and ProPublica matched the facts of the memo to information from Mr. Trump’s tax returns and elsewhere.

    The 20-page document is dense with footnotes, calculations and references to various statutes, but the core of the I.R.S.’s position is that Mr. Trump’s 2010 merger violated a law meant to prevent double dipping on tax-reducing losses. If done properly, the merger would have accounted for the fact that Mr. Trump had already written off the full cost of the tower’s construction with his worthlessness deduction.
    ……………

    Rip Murdock (f2e670)

  112. If you are in L.A., Dinah’s at Sepulveda and Centinela Sepulveda and Washington Blvd (moved as of 5/6/24) is pretty good for non-chain chicken.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  113. Kevin and JVW, thanks for those tips on Gus’s and Dinah’s! Will check ’em out.

    Also been meaning to go to one of the last two Pioneer Chicken locations. I haven’t had them since the early 1980s. And I’ve heard very good things about Filipino fast food chain Jollibee’s “ChickenJoy.”

    Finally, I’d kind of like to try Zankou Chicken. Horrible about their past, though. (Appears one of the founding family’s members went crazy and murdered several others.)

    qdpsteve again (918f39)

  114. JVW —

    Agree that Gus’s is awesome chicken. We have one in the ATL area that I wish I was close enough to go to more often.

    Appalled (78615b)

  115. If you are in L.A., Dinah’s at Sepulveda and Centinela Sepulveda and Washington Blvd (moved as of 5/6/24) is pretty good for non-chain chicken.

    Dinah’s used to have a branch on PCH down in South Torrance (just east of the intersection with Hawthorne Blvd.), and they had all-you-can-eat fried chicken on Wednesdays. I used to love that, but they closed that location probably 20-25 years ago. I should probably head up to the one on Washington for old-time’s sake.

    JVW (b02843)

  116. Call first. They just moved due to a monster apartment complex being built where they were.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  117. There are lots of things I will blame on the Trump Administration, but this is hogwash. The rush to a vaccine was amazing work, delayed only be the bureaucracy’s reluctance to announce it before the election.

    Nah, dog. The only good thing Trump did during the pandemic was fast-track a vaccine. The rest was an unfolding disaster where Trump was partially to fully responsible, capped by a coup attempt. Catoggio

    Trump getting good marks despite his final year is a bit like passing your road test despite driving into a wall at high speed because you managed to keep the car operating for most of the trip.

    And this, which doesn’t even get into Trump’s 2018 firing of the pandemic response team.

    The catastrophe began with Trump’s initial refusal to take seriously the threat of a once-in-a-century pandemic. But, as officials detailed, it has been compounded over time by a host of damaging presidential traits — his skepticism of science, impatience with health restrictions, prioritization of personal politics over public safety, undisciplined communications, chaotic management style, indulgence of conspiracies, proclivity toward magical thinking, allowance of turf wars and flagrant disregard for the well-being of those around him.

    And the proof is in the pudding: The United States has the 14th worst CV-19 death rate out of 200-plus nations.

    Paul Montagu (d52d7d)

  118. The rest was an unfolding disaster where Trump was partially to fully responsible, capped by a coup attempt.

    IF the only thing you can blame Trump for is the crap at the end of his term, then you are admitting that most of it wasn’t all that bad. Compared to Biden, his administration was better. A low bar, perhaps, but things worked out better.

    I am getting tired of the partisan crap from both sides here. It used to be that we didn’t talk in memes.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  119. The catastrophe began with Trump’s initial refusal to take seriously the threat of a once-in-a-century pandemic.

    All of us refused to believe until early April when people started dying. At that point there were two things to do: get a vaccine fast, and avoid other people. Both of which Trump’s administration leaned into.

    If Trump had won re-election, all of the anti-vaxxers would have been Democrats, MAGA would be damning them, and RFKJr would be the presumptive Democrat nominee.

    Are you seriously going to tell me that you were prepping back in January? Because you were not.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  120. And the proof is in the pudding: The United States has the 14th worst CV-19 death rate out of 200-plus nations.

    The death rate under Biden WITH a vaccine was worse in 2021 than Trump’s without a vaccine in 2020.

    his skepticism of science, impatience with health restrictions, prioritization of personal politics over public safety, undisciplined communications, chaotic management style, indulgence of conspiracies, proclivity toward magical thinking, allowance of turf wars and flagrant disregard for the well-being of those around him.

    And for all that they had a vaccine in 9 months. Sorry, I think you’re full of crap.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  121. Here’s an example of Trump’s Covid recklessness:

    Several top White House officials mingled with guests in the Rose Garden on Sept. 26 as President Donald Trump officially nominated Amy Coney Barrett to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court.

    Many of those guests were seen not wearing masks, fist bumping and greeting one another in close proximity, and their seats didn’t appear to be 6 feet apart.
    . . .
    On the following Monday, nine days after the event, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany confirmed she had tested positive, becoming the ninth person who attended the affair to become infected. She said she had no symptoms and it wasn’t clear how she might have caught the virus. Later Monday, two of McEnany’s deputies in the White House Press Office — Chad Gilmartin and Karoline Leavitt — were confirmed to have tested positive as well, bringing the total to at least 11.

    That event did not set a good example.

    Jim Miller (e47178)

  122. Since I actually have a doctorate in genetics and microbiology, I will stay out of the weirdnesses of vaccine arguments (my head hurts). There are very few things, good and bad, that are not politicized in today’s world. And that includes by scientists, sadly.

    “When an expert tells you something is possible, believe them. But when they say something is impossible, think carefully. There is usually a personal agenda involved.”

    I don’t know who said that, but it is one reason why we cannot have nice things.

    In other news, SNL’s take on the college protestors gave me hope.

    https://youtu.be/D3sJBQpd1hc?si=Gp2ak5CttAdhczWe

    Best wishes to all for a good weekend. Tell your mothers that you love them. I will have to use a prayer and toast to do so. Again, if you still have a mother, cherish her.

    Simon Jester (c8876d)

  123. Many of those guests were seen not wearing masks, fist bumping and greeting one another in close proximity, and their seats didn’t appear to be 6 feet apart.

    Of course we now know that the whole six feet thing was just spitballed out of thin air and had zero scientific backing despite immediately being accepted as gospel by state media. And naturally it became yet another excuse for schools to not open, which we know now did incalculable harm to student learning. The CDC allegedly wanted a 10-foot radius for people, again without any real scientific reasoning behind it, but was talked into compromising on six feet.

    JVW (b02843)

  124. Kevin – It is not unusual for deaths to increase during a virus pandemic, especially when new variants of the virus appear.

    (Those interested in an insider’s account of the Trmp administration’s response to COVID may want to read this book: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/silent-invasion-deborah-birx?variant=40153410043938 )

    Jim Miller (e47178)

  125. JVW, I have discussed this with epidemiologists and virologists. Too many of them (like politicians) prefer to state complex issues as simple, binary ones.

    I honestly believe that people would not mind uncertainty, as long as we move forward with time. After all, when our car makes a bad noise, and the mechanics give us an estimate…rather than knowing for sure…we are okay with that.

    Nature is complex and protean. When I took epidemiology many, many years ago, my professor (Telford Work at UCLA) told me that it’s wonderful news when epidemiologists are wrong.

    So distancing is a good idea with a respiratory virus. But folks grabbed that football, pro and con, and spiked it downfield in triumph. You are 100% correct that no one was sure at first.

    Surely you heard about SARS-CoV1 in the early 2020s. There was plenty of evidence of casual transmission. But that relative of the coronovirus that we now must learn to live with burned out fast.

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8064890/

    Nor can we claim that viruses evolve to become less virulent. What they evolve to do is be more effective at spreading themselves around. Which may or may not have to do with disease.

    Me? I have had positive antigen tests twice. Went on Paxlovid. Became antigen negative within four days each time. No symptoms, at all, either time. Other people, younger and FAR more fit than I am, have had a terrible time.

    Scientists are afraid to say that they do not know or are not sure. We need to teach young folk about critical thinking instead of critical theory.

    Sorry to blabber on.

    Simon Jester (c8876d)

  126. IF the only thing you can blame Trump for is the crap at the end of his term…

    It’s not the only thing. You brought up his final year, the year that he mismanaged a pandemic, but for fast-tracking the vaccine.

    Paul Montagu (d52d7d)

  127. And BTW, we’re both not voting for either candidate, but I’m the partisan?
    Pffft.

    Paul Montagu (d52d7d)

  128. #128 – Well said, Simon. But I wish I were as optimistic about the public’s acceptance of uncertainty as you are. In the US, there are few politicans who can get away with admitting uncertainty, publicly, without losing support. Unfortunately.

    One thing that would have helped would ahve been making the fight bi-partisan, to the extent possible in these divided times.

    Me? As far as I know, I avoided COVID completely. (I did self tests a number of times, and avoiding crowds as much as possible.)

    (One pattern worth investigating, internationally — in my opinion: It is well known that different nations have different ideas about acceptable social distances. Looking at some of the different rates in European nations has made me wonder whether nations that prefer greater distances got some protection from that difference.)

    Jim Miller (e47178)

  129. Jim, I’m glad you have not tangled with the virus. I think that people are different (remember that any research with, say, mice or rats has the issue of genetic similarity). People are pretty diverse.

    I have long taught my students that authority is the enemy of science. Also, that data do not care what you wish to be true.

    Simon Jester (c8876d)

  130. Friends, please check out this article, relevant to the campus protests.

    https://www.city-journal.org/article/put-down-the-megaphones

    The President of Columbia said this to the entering class in 1946:

    You who have reached the age of advanced study will, of course, have opinions, maybe even prejudices; but acceptance in an academic community carries with it the obligation to submit those opinions and those prejudices to examination under the bright light of human thought and experience. If, perchance, your views have been crystallized into slogans held aloft on banners, or are subject to control by allegiance to minor or major pressure groups, check your banners and your membership cards at the college gate. . . . If when you leave the University on Commencement Day, after having submitted yourself to the processes of true academic life, you wish to have back your old banner, claim it, and you can take your place in the body politic with the deep satisfaction of tested and confirmed judgment. Equally deep can be your satisfaction should you decide not to claim it, for you will know that you have the ability and the willingness to face and to evaluate ideas.

    Wow. Wise words.

    Simon Jester (c8876d)

  131. I learned recently how the Rhode Island School of Design (alma mater of Talking Heads members David Byrne, Chris Franz, and Tina Weymouth!) handled the take over of a campus building. The president of the school, Chrystal Williams (she/her), informed protesters that they were interfering with their fellow students’ ability to access their studios, and as a result some students and staff had missed out on grant applications and that some students were not able to work on projects for finals. She ordered them to leave the building by 2:30 pm on Thursday and then to have the rooms they occupied perfectly cleaned and set back to normal by Friday afternoon. If they met these obligations, she told them, they would undergo “restorative justice” where they would have to have dialog with the students and faculty whose lives were disrupted by the takeover, and they would have to pay restitution to anybody whose art was ruined during their antics.

    If they didn’t leave by Thursday at 2:30, President Williams (she/her) told them, they would immediately be expelled.

    Wouldn’t you know it, all of the students evacuated the building by the deadline. I guess sometimes when you are firm and don’t dicker around negotiating with terrorists, you get the result that you desire.

    JVW (b02843)

  132. JVW, I love that story. And it is not about bureaucratic authority; it is about the actions of some students harming other students and their projects.

    Really nice.

    Again, the SNL skit is nearly perfect.

    https://youtu.be/D3sJBQpd1hc?si=NtQh9QYAbBenOCS0

    Simon Jester (c8876d)

  133. Many of those guests were seen not wearing masks, fist bumping and greeting one another in close proximity, and their seats didn’t appear to be 6 feet apart.

    I blame Secret Master of the World Syndrome. Like that NJ governor who thought he didn’t need to wear a seatbelt. Governor Newsom was no better.

    Throughout the pandemic MOST people were behaving poorly, especially after a few months of lockdown. You only have to stand in a line at Walmart the week before Christmas in 20 degree weather, because they are only allowed to have 50 people in the store at once, in order to get a poor attitude and disrespect for authority.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  134. Those interested in an insider’s account of the Trmp administration’s response to COVID may want to read this book

    Not self-serving at all, I’m sure. I think that Woodward’s book was more objective. But really, what would you have had Trump do in Feb-March 2020? Be specific.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  135. And, Jim, please try not to assume that you have more information, or better information, than anyone else. The most-informed person in the room is no less tiresome than the smartest.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  136. “When an expert tells you something is possible, believe them. But when they say something is impossible, think carefully. There is usually a personal agenda involved.”

    A variation on Clarke’s First Law.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  137. I guess I’m a little pissy today. Probably because I don’t like having to choose between an incompetent bumbler who vacillates between bad policy done badly and good policy done badly, and an egomaniac jerk who stumbles onto correct policy more often.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  138. who stumbles onto correct policy.

    I’d be pissy too if I manufactured this bogus reality despite real life. The internal conflict must be overwhelming.

    BuDuh (6e24cb)

  139. Testing the comments section to see if it is working.

    JVW (b02843)

  140. Is working.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  141. That was weird. My comment about Biden’s dumb decision-making and political cowardice regarding Israel went poof, but it started with Jonah’s comments on his podcast, which eviscerated the president.

    Paul Montagu (d52d7d)

  142. This is a serious demographic warning sign, and easy access to pronographic materials has to play a role. There are an untold number of middle-aged women who want their sons to have IRL sex with women so they can have grandkids. The recent podcast with Megan McArdle was excellent from that perspective.

    Paul Montagu (d52d7d)

  143. @144 Their are no electoral college votes in Israel ;but their are in dearborn Michigan and Detroit. Conservative commentator’s comments mean squat in the democrat party. RFK and Jill Stein vote is what Biden and the d.n.c. are concerned about. Remember 2016? Democrat party wont be able to keep them off the ballot as they did the green party in 2020. AOC, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowmen have influence in the democrat base not right wing bloviators. The left grows ever stronger in the democrat party as the clinton/biden corporate establishment and their donor class wing wilts.

    asset (2ed29b)

  144. https://redstate.com/bonchie/2024/05/12/bombshell-biden-administration-has-been-holding-back-intel-from-israel-on-location-of-hamas-leaders-n2174088

    Alex Brandon
    Joe Biden has been hiding intelligence on the whereabouts of Hamas leaders and their command tunnels, depriving Israel of vital information that could lead to an end to the war. That revelation came in a report on Saturday and was framed as the administration offering that information now if the ongoing operation in Rafah is canceled.

    Biden hiding information that could’ve helped end the war.

    Actively protecting terrorist leadership.

    NJRob (a0b680)

  145. These are the protests the US and free world should be paying attention to, not the college campus kind put on by the radical pro-Hamas Left.

    The most serious political crisis in the 12-year rule of the Georgian Dream party is entirely of its own making. It was prompted by the party’s unexpected reintroduction in early April of a “foreign agent” law that would require ngos and media outlets which get more than 20% of their funding from abroad to enter themselves into a public registry. The party tried to pass the same law in 2023. Then, too, it spurred huge protests and sharp warnings from Georgia’s American and European partners. The law looks like an imitation of similar measures in Russia, which has used the “foreign agent” label to silence critical voices. The resistance drove Georgian Dream to withdraw the bill.

    The decision to bring it back now at first appears foolhardy. Party leaders insist it is needed to regain sovereignty from an ngo sector propped up by Western money. In a rally to drum up support for the bill, Mr Ivanishvili, who founded the party and is now its honorary chairman, claimed that opposition leaders are “ordered and directed by their masters from outside”. The speech set off alarm bells in Western capitals, which are accustomed to more deference from Tbilisi. The State Department issued a statement headlined “Georgia’s Western Trajectory at Risk” and calling the law “Kremlin-inspired”.

    Georgian Dream still says it wants to join the European Union, and the country gained candidate status last year. The party’s leaders may be inspired less by Russia than by Hungary’s Viktor Orban, who passed a similar foreign-agent law in 2017 (though Europe’s top court struck it down). In his speech, Mr Ivanishvili promised to enter the eu by 2030, but on conditions that evoked Mr Orban’s populist rhetoric. “It is with [our] unique national traditions and identity that we should join the common European family,” he said.

    The party’s opponents, though, doubt the sincerity of those European intentions. Many of the young people who have been gathering for nightly protests in front of parliament are convinced that the party is carrying out orders from the Kremlin and see the law as a deliberate attempt to spoil Georgia’s bid to join Europe. “They are serving the Russian government, they have been given their assignment,” said Misha, a protester who declined to give his last name. “We have to fight for Georgia’s European future. We are fighting for this European future for the past 30 years.”

    It’s a big deal when 15% of the country is on streets, protesting against Putin’s malign influence.

    Paul Montagu (d52d7d)

  146. @126

    Many of those guests were seen not wearing masks, fist bumping and greeting one another in close proximity, and their seats didn’t appear to be 6 feet apart.

    Of course we now know that the whole six feet thing was just spitballed out of thin air and had zero scientific backing despite immediately being accepted as gospel by state media. And naturally it became yet another excuse for schools to not open, which we know now did incalculable harm to student learning. The CDC allegedly wanted a 10-foot radius for people, again without any real scientific reasoning behind it, but was talked into compromising on six feet.

    JVW (b02843) — 5/11/2024 @ 4:12 pm

    One of my criticisms of Trump was that he allowed the hypochondriacs to rule the roost in his administration.

    We knew, early on, that the 6ft buffer was pure bs.

    We knew that limiting people or restricting people was pure bs as well.

    We also knew, early on, that expecting mask compliance to the public was pure bs too. There has NEVER been any valid studies that showed wearing masks has made any impact in preventing the spread of viruses, and to this very day, I’m still irked that not enough of a point is made that it’s personal hygiene (washing hands, don’t touch face, etc), is the biggest factor to mitigating the spread.

    And probably the most under reported thing that I will never forgive Trump, Biden and all of the COVID brownshirts – is perpetuating the fears that lead to mandates of mask compliance and restrictive movement lockdowns.

    I’m nearly deaf, has been most of my life. I rely on lip reading and facial context to participate in conversations.

    During the lockdowns, do you have any idea how lonely it is for people who lip reads and missing the facial cues that are hidden behind masks?

    If it wasn’t for my amazing family, it wouldn’t surprise me if I went into some dark depression, and I cannot imagine how difficult it has been to others in my position.

    So. No. Trump, nor anyone else gets any “credit” from me regarding the Covid nightmare. The best politician, imo, who handled it better were those in red states. Like DeSantis, Kemp and Abbott (not perfect, but got it right earlier than everyone else).

    whembly (86df54)

  147. Out of the ten states with the highest Covid death rates, seven are solid red (WV, MS, TN, FL, AR, AL and KY), two are purple battlegrounds (AZ and MI), and one is blue (New Mexico, which had a major outbreak in the Navajo nation).

    As they say, the proof is in the pudding.

    Paul Montagu (d52d7d)

  148. Cohen is testifying tomorrow. His credibility will be challenged by the defense, but he nailed this, 19 months before the 2020 election.

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen said at the end of congressional testimony on Wednesday that he fears Trump will not allow his successor to peacefully take control of the White House if he loses the 2020 presidential election.

    “Given my experience working for Mr. Trump, I fear that if he loses the election in 2020, there will never be a peaceful transition of power,” Cohen said during his closing remarks before the House of Representatives Oversight Committee.

    Paul Montagu (d52d7d)

  149. RIP legendary movie director and producer Roger Corman (98):

    …………
    Corman’s work – he produced more than 300 films and directed about 50 – was filled with those weird, cool and crazy moments. The movies were shot swiftly on the cheap and only a handful lost money.

    They covered genres including sci-fi, horror, biker films, rebellious teen fare, Edgar Allan Poe tales and more. Their titles were not exactly subtle – “Attack of the Crab Monsters” (1957), “The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent” (1957), “The Brain Eaters” (1958), “Teenage Cave Man” (1958), “A Bucket of Blood” (1959), “Creature from the Haunted Sea” (1961), “Bloody Mama” (1970), “Gas-s-s-s” (1970), “Galaxy of Terror” (1981) and “Piranhaconda” (2012).

    He gave early career breaks to future stars including Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro, Sylvester Stallone, Sandra Bullock, Talia Shire, William Shatner, Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper.

    But he was best known for nurturing directors. As a frugal producer, Corman hired promising young filmmakers who could work on a shoestring budget, launching their careers.

    Before “Raging Bull,” Scorsese directed Corman’s “Boxcar Bertha” (1972). Before “The Godfather,” Coppola directed “Dementia 13” (1963) for Corman. Jonathan Demme of “The Silence of the Lambs” fame directed Corman’s “Fighting Mad” (1976). Howard directed “Grand Theft Auto” (1977) for Corman before “A Beautiful Mind.” All four men went on to best director Oscars.

    Also, Peter Bogdanovich directed Corman’s “Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women” (1968) before making “The Last Picture Show,” and Cameron was art director for Corman’s “Battle Beyond the Stars” (1980) before “Titanic.”
    ………….
    He directed “The Little Shop of Horrors” (1960), filming it in just two days and one night. It featured a young Nicholson, who had impressed Corman in an acting class, and an icky plot about a lonely flower shop worker who creates a carnivorous plant that craves human flesh.

    He also made several horror films in the 1960s starring Vincent Price inspired by Edgar Allan Poe stories, including “House of Usher” (1960), “The Pit and the Pendulum” (1961) and “The Masque of the Red Death” (1964).
    ………….
    In contrast to his trademark low-budget stuff, Corman also dabbled in international arthouse cinema, serving as the U.S. distributor of films by fabled directors Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Akira Kurosawa, François Truffaut and more.
    ………….

    Rip Murdock (b83512)

  150. @150
    Hey Siri, how do I know someone doesn’t understand population statistics?

    Siri: I quoted you such an example:

    Out of the ten states with the highest Covid death rates, seven are solid red (WV, MS, TN, FL, AR, AL and KY), two are purple battlegrounds (AZ and MI), and one is blue (New Mexico, which had a major outbreak in the Navajo nation).

    As they say, the proof is in the pudding.

    Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 5/12/2024 @ 9:50 am

    whembly (86df54)

  151. Why is what the Trump Administration did/did not do during the pandemic important now-it’s not an issue among today’s electorate.

    Rip Murdock (b83512)

  152. @154

    Why is what the Trump Administration did/did not do during the pandemic important now-it’s not an issue among today’s electorate.

    Rip Murdock (b83512) — 5/12/2024 @ 10:07 am

    It’s important to me.

    But, you’re right, most voters has moved on.

    whembly (86df54)

  153. Here’s another statistic.
    The US has the 14th worst Covid death rate*, and Trump bears partial responsibility for that.
    * worldometers

    Paul Montagu (d52d7d)

  154. The Washington Post makes a plausible argument:

    Still, it [the Iranian attack on Israel] illustrated the kind of attack Russia could launch against NATO allies (as it has done against Ukraine since 2022) or China could fire against U.S. bases in the Pacific, such as Guam, if it attacks Taiwan. Given those threats, it’s unacceptable that the U.S. Army, Air Force and Navy have yet to spend as heavily on air defense as they have on offensive armor, aircraft and warships. Instead, the Pentagon’s air defense plans chiefly call for expensive systems to defeat cutting-edge, “exquisite” threats such as hypersonic missiles and stealthy aircraft — rather than the more prosaic, but immediate, danger that cheap, easy-to-produce attack drones pose.

    This is another debate Congress should be having — and getting at least some of the public’s attention.

    Jim Miller (fd73d6)

  155. @154 Yes, false narratives work that way. Impact an election, then after all the lies and falsehoods are exposed then it’s meh, not an issue. Lather, rinse, repeat.

    lloyd (1a2051)

  156. @150 “the proof is in the pudding.”

    The vaccines were effective, where they had the highest usage rates. This has nothing to do with the ineffectiveness of lockdowns, mask and distance rules.

    lloyd (1a2051)

  157. It’s never just one thing, lloyd.

    Paul Montagu (d52d7d)

  158. We were 53rd most vaccinated, but still had the 14th worst death rate.

    Paul Montagu (d52d7d)

  159. It’s adorable when someone cherry picks statistics, thinks they are the controlling factor, thinks everyone reports the same way and then uses that information to cluck that they know more than everyone else.

    NJRob (a0b680)

  160. The US has the 14th worst Covid death rate*, and Trump bears partial responsibility for that.

    Most of that falls on America, not Trump. Believe it or not, he was never the boss of us.

    But here are a few things he failed to do:

    1. He didn’t close our borders in January 2020, as was suggested.
    2. He didn’t end air travel to/from or within the United States, although that would have slowed the spread noticeably.
    3. He didn’t order 24-hour curfews like China did.
    4. He didn’t force everyone to get vaccinated.
    5. He didn’t declare martial law.
    6. He didn’t even ban the mass BLM demonstrations that were occurring, even though those were spreading the disease.

    All he did was allow the CDC and Fauci free rein and threw billions at getting a vaccine.

    Damn him.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  161. We were 53rd most vaccinated, but still had the 14th worst death rate.

    What does that even mean?

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  162. Out of the ten states with the highest Covid death rates, seven are solid red (WV, MS, TN, FL, AR, AL and KY), two are purple battlegrounds (AZ and MI), and one is blue (New Mexico, which had a major outbreak in the Navajo nation).

    The next 10 are NY, IN, NJ, GA, LA, OK, NV, PA, SC and RI. There is little difference between NY and FL (150/million). There are a lot of red states in the bottom half. Statistically, there is no correlation between politics and death rate — unless you artificially constrain the sample set like “top 10.”

    And NM is not “blue” outside the rez.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  163. What does that even mean?

    It means that we’re just outside the top 10 in healthcare outcomes around Covid. That, plus a higher level of vaccinations would have improved outcomes, transmission rates, and ultimately deaths pretty dramatically.

    Colonel Klink (ret) (a8cd52)

  164. Why is what the Trump Administration did/did not do during the pandemic important now-it’s not an issue among today’s electorate.

    Rip Murdock (b83512) — 5/12/2024 @ 10:07 am

    It’s important to me.

    But, you’re right, most voters has moved on.

    whembly (86df54) — 5/12/2024 @ 10:11 am

    Apparently you’re not the only one. Arguing over the past (IMO) is pretty fruitless over something so partisan as the Trump Administration’s performance during the pandemic.

    Why is it important to do so?

    Rip Murdock (b83512)

  165. Huh?

    Former President Donald Trump went off on a truly bizarre tangent in which he praised one of the most disturbed fictional serial killers in the history of cinema as “a wonderful man.”

    The head-scratching moment came during Trump’s rally in Wildwood, NJ on Saturday — as part of a rant in which he claimed other countries are “emptying out their mental institutions” into the United States.
    ………….

    Silence of the Lambs. Has anyone ever seen The Silence of the Lambs? The late, great Hannibal Lecter is a wonderful man. He oftentimes would have a friend for dinner. Remember the last scene? “Excuse me. I’m about to have a friend for dinner,” as this poor doctor walked by. ‘I’m about to have a friend for dinner.’ But Hannibal Lecter. Congratulations. The late, great Hannibal Lecter.

    ………….

    Rip Murdock (b83512)

  166. Trump gets a “C” on Covid in my book, but again it’s important to distinguish what he personally did from what responsible individuals in his administration did. Operation Warp Speed was a success. Moderna took government money; Pfizer did not. Both negotiated lucrative government contracts to administer the vaccine. The government eased regulations to get vials, syringes, etc in place. The military did its job with deliveries and setting up labs. A lot of private sector people worked long hours to make the vaccine happen, including many foreign-born individuals who might not have been in this country if Trump had his way regarding immigration, but I digress. (https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2020/12/01/trump-takes-credit-for-vaccine-created-by-others-including-immigrants/?sh=4b1767ff374c)

    Trump also said many whacky things and took the low road in aggravating our differences…and in some cases downright spreading bad information. He’s not a leader. He went to a debate while positive for Covid. He infected Chris Christi. He blamed it on the Chinese when there was not enough facts to make that judgment. He ultimately did get vaccinated and promoted it, though maybe too little, too late for some of his most avid supporters. That’s why I score him at “C”…a mixed bag.

    I can’t look at the pandemic and say “wow, we need more of that type of leadership”. The opposite really. If he didn’t think Fauci was competent, then he should have demoted/benched him and selected a spokesperson that better represented his views. The fact that he made him into a punching bag for his skeptics is not what leaders do. He’s a small man. I fear we will be debilitated when the next pandemic strikes because of his recklessness.

    There are worse things than wearing a mask at your place of employment. I know I didn’t get sick for that 2-year window. I also didn’t lose any older relatives, co-workers, or friends. I would never say they are alive because of Trump….

    AJ_Liberty (5f05c3)

  167. Huh?

    Easily explained. Both Mediaite and you lack having a sense of humor.

    #Rip’sSuperFairCallingOfBallsAndStrikes

    BuDuh (6e24cb)

  168. > And NM is not “blue” outside the rez.

    And Santa Fe, and Albuquerque, and Las Cruces.

    Robert D West (1797ab)

  169. I fear we will be debilitated when the next pandemic strikes because of his recklessness.

    These things don’t happen all that often and the experts have predicted at least 3 or 4 of the last 1 pandemics.

    Swine flu, Bird flu, Ebola and Covid. The problem with our news media is that every threat requires a good month of scare headlines. When the wolf is finally here, no one is listening.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  170. And Santa Fe, and Albuquerque, and Las Cruces.

    It would not take much for Biden to lose New Mexico. A couple good blackouts this summer might do it. Crime, illegals and energy are all issues that work against him.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  171. Unsurprising, given that the school district is 75% White, 18% Hispanic and 3% Black: :

    Race baiting 101. I see it’s easy to take the tools of the left and attack those who were nominally on your side. Easier to trash history and make it a race issue.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  172. Donald Trump draws 100k to a shore town in NJ. Shocked Rip hasn’t posted all the updates on it. I wonder why. .

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  173. Donald Trump goes to a beach in NJ that has 100k people during warm weather, and some supporters too. Says some truly dumb stuff, the the first infers the last, and…news at 11, all of NJ is voting for him.

    6 months from now he will lose every nearby state by double digits, and news at 11, the election in NJNYCONNPA…were stolen from him.

    Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a)

  174. Rip is a nicer guy than I am, which may explain why he didn’t link to this account of Trump’s New Jersey visit. (Or similar ones.)

    Professor Joyner is also being kind, in my opinion, when he says this: “The man is simply inhinged.” Joyner meant “unhinged”, so he is giving the Loser an insanity defense by that comment.

    Jim Miller (a2d3d9)

  175. I can’t think of a better fit than Trump and Jersey Shore. Was Snooki there?

    nk (bfab0e)

  176. If you pause and consider all the uses people have found for animal and bird feces — from fertilizer, to explosives, to tanning leather (dog feces for that last, actually, for real, honest) — it is easier to understand that there are people who find a use for Trump.

    nk (bfab0e)

  177. So much hurt. Tell us. This is your safe space.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  178. Sen. katie britt rethugliKKKan alabama wants the federal government to compile a data base of all pregnant women to scare them into thinking they will be punished if they have an abortion when trump wins. (DU)

    asset (1c7d2c)

  179. Donald Trump draws 100k to a shore town in NJ. Shocked Rip hasn’t posted all the updates on it. I wonder why. .

    NJRob (eb56c3) — 5/12/2024 @ 2:19 pm

    Because I have other things to do with my life? As you should know by now, I share with many here a well known antipathy towards Donald Trump. Since you seem to care so much, perhaps you should post any updates about his Jersey rally if you think they are important. I don’t.

    Rip Murdock (b83512)

  180. nk (bfab0e) — 5/12/2024 @ 5:06 pm

    Touché!

    Rip Murdock (b83512)

  181. Jim Miller (a2d3d9) — 5/12/2024 @ 4:34 pm

    Donald Trump, keeping it classy as ever.

    Rip Murdock (b83512)

  182. it is easier to understand that there are people who find a use for Trump.

    His opponent is pretty much mulch, too. There’s the problem. We have no acceptable choice.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  183. The Gaza idiocy at Columbia continues, but at least she didn’t pitch a tent.

    Paul Montagu (d52d7d)

  184. We have no acceptable choice.

    Kevin M (a9545f) — 5/12/2024 @ 9:36 pm

    Speak for yourself, Kevin. There are many things about my chosen candidate I’m not crazy about, his age and domestic policy agenda in particular, but if I didn’t find him acceptable I wouldn’t vote for him. In light of the alternative, I’m actually fairly passionate about him. I suspect roughly 160 million of my fellow Americans feel likewise, even if we’re split down the middle on which candidate we find unacceptable and which one consequently we vote for.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  185. “Our” commencement was on Friday and Saturday, and it was GREAT!!!

    It was the universal sentiment that we have good kids.

    nk (2c96e1)

  186. @167

    Apparently you’re not the only one. Arguing over the past (IMO) is pretty fruitless over something so partisan as the Trump Administration’s performance during the pandemic.

    Why is it important to do so?

    Rip Murdock (b83512) — 5/12/2024 @ 11:54 am

    I’m only speaking for me here… but it’s important so that the next pandemic (or any panic) we don’t advocate to do all this mandate/lockdown crap.

    Furthermore, we must remind that the “Trust the Science™” that these elites has lost their credibility, and that we should always question motives.

    whembly (86df54)

  187. @175

    Donald Trump draws 100k to a shore town in NJ. Shocked Rip hasn’t posted all the updates on it. I wonder why. .

    NJRob (eb56c3) — 5/12/2024 @ 2:19 pm

    That was an amazing crowd that’s reminiscence of 2015. But, no way that was a 100k… more like 30-40k. Still massively impressive though.

    whembly (86df54)

  188. Kevin might be interested in this Dispatch article on the LP
    https://thedispatch.com/article/will-the-trumpification-of-the-libertarian-party-actually-hurt-donald-trump/

    Neither LP candidate is acceptable given both would not support Ukraine or Taiwan (or Israel), possibly for different reasons. I can understand a call for fiscal responsibility. The question is whether at this moment…with what’s at stake…is it time to throw national security concerns under the bus?

    Personally I think the LP should run on the efficient operation of the Executive Branch, with the understanding that they would have little mandate…by virtue of having little to no representation in Congress…for an aggressive LP agenda. They need to pick 2 or 3 issues that have support on the Right or Left and champion a push toward a Libertarian objective. The rest is just weird cos-play

    AJ_Liberty (5f05c3)

  189. The LP has opposed all foreign wars. It’s a thing with them.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  190. The rest is just weird cos-play

    Having spent some time there, it’s not just cos-play. There’s posturing, too.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  191. #189

    Furthermore, we must remind that the “Trust the Science™” that these elites has lost their credibility, and that we should always question motives.

    Whembly,

    COVID was a true emergency we did not understand. If we truly “questioned the motives” during it, we may have ended up avoiding some mask silliness, but we would have “questioned the motives” regarding the vaccine as well, and likely gotten the whole thing launched much later. Most people try to do right, by their lights.

    “Questioning the motives” as a reflexive action just gets us in a world of conspiracy theories which makes us all stupider. See also, Marjorie Taylor Greene

    Appalled (88a1a3)

  192. The protests in Tbilisi are looking a lot like the Maidan in 2014, and Putin’s resources are getting stretched. Seriously, check this out.
    There’s also a Russian defense shake-up. Shoigu is out, replaced by an economist with no military experience.

    Paul Montagu (895dc0)

  193. Appalled,

    they knew it was a bioengineered virus from the getgo and lied to us every step of the way. what credibility do they have?

    NJRob (59b08f)

  194. Furthermore, we must remind that the “Trust the Science™”

    Some of us have the ability to investigate for ourselves. “Trust the Science” is anti-scientific, at least as it applies to those conversant with science, but so is the innumerate mumbo-jumbo on the other side.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  195. they knew it was a bioengineered virus from the getgo and lied to us every step of the way. what credibility do they have?

    You are confusing politicians with science.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  196. No I’m not Kevin. Don’t forget the scientists that tried to get the truth out there and were silenced and shut down by other scientists and that fraud Fauci.

    NJRob (59b08f)

  197. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/13/us/politics/biden-trump-battleground-poll.html

    Donald J. Trump leads President Biden in five crucial battleground states, a new set of polls shows, as a yearning for change and discontent over the economy and the war in Gaza among young, Black and Hispanic voters threaten to unravel the president’s Democratic coalition.

    The surveys by The New York Times, Siena College and The Philadelphia Inquirer found that Mr. Trump was ahead among registered voters in a head-to-head matchup against Mr. Biden in five of six key states: Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and Pennsylvania. Mr. Biden led among registered voters in only one battleground state, Wisconsin.

    Some good news out there.

    NJRob (59b08f)

  198. “they knew it was a bioengineered virus from the getgo”

    Sounds like an act of war. Are you advocating that we go to war…or are you just looking to round up your political opponents? Maybe hang them like General Milley? I wonder: which report, analysis, or finding concludes with a high-degree of certainty that Covid was bio-engineered?

    AJ_Liberty (5f05c3)

  199. No I’m not Kevin. Don’t forget the scientists that tried to get the truth out there and were silenced and shut down by other scientists and that fraud Fauci.

    Fauci is a bureaucrat and a politician. If they work for the government, Science is not their master. This is one of the reasons that I say that few are qualified to judge science — unless you understand how it is supposed to work, it’s just talking heads.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  200. AJ,

    which part did you not understand? Are you denying the virus was man-made? Are you denying they knew from the beginning that the Wuhan lab was working on these viruses?

    Or are you just being rude?

    NJRob (59b08f)

  201. They all depend in government funding. Look at the CAGW fraud.

    NJRob (59b08f)

  202. Just when you thought the Diana Teran scandal could not get any worse, D.A. Gascon dials the sh1tstorm to 11.

    https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-05-13/d-a-removes-rebecca-grossman-prosecutors-outraging-parents-of-murdered-boys

    Facts:

    * Rebecca Grossman was convicted of running over two young boys in a crosswalk while texting and driving at high speeds.

    * Diana Teran oversaw the prosecution.

    * Diana Teran is facing unrelated felony charges.

    * Rebecca Grossman’s new lawyer, is angling for a new trial, in which he may try to use Teran’s felony charges as part of his argument.

    * Rebecca Grossman’s new lawyer is ALSO Diana Terna’s lawyer in the felony matter.

    * The prosecution team, no longer supervised by Teran, was filing to disqualify Rebecca Grossman’s new lawyer, due to a clear conflict of interest.

    It was at this point that George Gascon stepped in and removed the prosecution team and replaced them with others. The replaced supervising prosecutor had this to say:

    “In my nearly 24 years in the office, this decision is shocking and unprecedented. I also believe it is contrary to professional ethics and to thwart our clear duty of candor to the court,” Dameron wrote. “At the very least, this extraordinary decision jeopardizes the successful completion of the case and the impartial administration of justice.”

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  203. They all depend in government funding. Look at the CAGW fraud.

    Sorry, man, the Earth IS warming. The effects may be exaggerated, but both the warming and the increase in greenhouse gases are well-documented.

    What are your qualifications to judge the data? I’m guessing none to speak of.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  204. NJRob,

    I would, based on the evidence, say that the virus leaked inadvertantly from the Wuhan lab. All the other explanations appear improbable CYA scenarios. That said — are you saying that the release into the wild is deliberate?

    Appalled (88a1a3)

  205. @194

    Whembly,

    COVID was a true emergency we did not understand. If we truly “questioned the motives” during it, we may have ended up avoiding some mask silliness, but we would have “questioned the motives” regarding the vaccine as well, and likely gotten the whole thing launched much later. Most people try to do right, by their lights.

    “Questioning the motives” as a reflexive action just gets us in a world of conspiracy theories which makes us all stupider. See also, Marjorie Taylor Greene

    Appalled (88a1a3) — 5/13/2024 @ 8:03 am

    You’re arguing that we must acquiesce to science here, even when there’s controversy.

    Emphatically, and with as much feelings I’m allowed to muster here – NO!

    It is the responsibility for the health officials to communicate, in good faith, and to have humility to adjust when new information arises.

    They failed on all fronts there.

    To combat against any conspiracy theories is to offer good, hard data… not, mandates from high and public shaming for taking adversarial positions against the orthodox “Trust the Science™” views. Especially to those whom are in public health.

    whembly (86df54)

  206. I don’t think the initial release was deliberate. I do believe China decided once they were infected to allow the rest of the world to suffer their pain once they knew they couldn’t stop the spread.

    NJRob (59b08f)

  207. To those who still disagrees with me that Biden withholding Israeli aid is an impeachable offense, by the same standard employed during Trump’s 1st impeachment.

    Does the news that the US withholding information from Isreal of the locations of Hamas’ leaders and tunnels change your opinion?

    My position that this was only done because Biden is fearing his electoral chances in November from the pro-Hamas/pro-Terrorist wing of his party.

    …or how ’bout this?

    Ukraine. The Biden administration has implored Ukraine to refrain from targeting oil refineries within Russia. Why would Biden care about that, if they’re really going balls-to-the-wall support for Ukraine victory? It’s not because it tactically worthless… and in fact, it makes total sense for Ukraine to disrupt oil production to hamper Russian advances…. it’s because Biden is fearing that Ukraine blowing up Russian oil production will spike up oil costs that can influence his re-election chances.

    Is this not impeachable?

    whembly (86df54)

  208. I don’t think the initial release was deliberate. I do believe China decided once they were infected to allow the rest of the world to suffer their pain once they knew they couldn’t stop the spread.

    I think this is possible. They certainly did not take any active measures to stop the early spread and they hindered other countries’ awareness of the problem. Xi assured Trump that it was all overblown, and Trump wanted to believe that.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  209. Is this not impeachable?

    No, because it won’t happen. Therefore, by the definition of impeachable (“Anything Congress says is impeachable”) it is not.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  210. I think China thought it could hide the virus, or at least hide its origin,and the people particuarly involved were also interested in hiding it even from Xi Jingpin. They were correct with regard to the first lab leak, of amilder version of the virus, which took place sometime between late August 2019 and September 12, 2019 (when the Wuhan Institute of Virology database of bat viruses was removed from the Internet)

    But they were not successful after the second lab leak of a different, more severe, version of the virus that was not a direct ancestor or descendent of the first (which took place from the Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention when it was moved on December 2, 2019 to within 300 yards of the market was later blamed that was not a wet market and sold no bats but mostly fish)

    There was also later the quarantine of Wuhan. Which was not at first applied to air travel, some of which went to Milan, Italy where there was a connection involving bridal dresses…

    Sammy FInkelman (e0dccb)

  211. Operation Warp Speed also involved overcoming bureaucratic obstacles to vaccine approval. This was heavily attacked by Democrats, particularly Kamala Harris, and the companies, seeing what they were up against, didn’t even tryto gain approval before Election Day but timed it for justafter Election Day.

    There were also monoclonal antibodies, which had the defect of being limited to one or two antibodies and which the virus could mutate against. It could quickly be replaced if not for the drug approval process. They settled on an antiviral for treatment after infection..

    Sammy FInkelman (e0dccb)

  212. 186. Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 5/12/2024 @ 9:41 pm

    The Gaza idiocy at Columbia continues, but at least she didn’t pitch a tent.

    The physical diploma she tore up is worthless.

    If someone needs to prove they graduated that is done by having the college directly mail a copy (for a fee) to the place she wants it sent and she can always order extra copies for herself. This means even less than John Kerry (supposedly) throwing away his medals.

    Sammy FInkelman (e0dccb)

  213. whembly (86df54) — 5/13/2024 @ 10:41 am

    Does the news that the US withholding information from Israel of the locations of Hamas’ leaders and tunnels change your opinion?

    At this point the situation with the U>S>withholding information about Sinwar looks like this tome:

    They were urging Israel to go after Sinwar instead of making a bigger attack. That was done probably on the advice of some Arab country or countries, probably Jordan, and goes back a few months.

    Now it turns out they were not revealing to Israel all they know about his whereabouts (probably because of hope he would agree to a ceasefire and not telling may have been a condition of negotiations)

    But when Israel seemed to be ready to go into Rafah, albeit slowly, they said: No, no, he still in Khan Younis, and we’ll tell you more if you promise not to go into Rafah.

    Meanwhile the Pentagon seems to found a loophole in the “no siege” rule.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/10/us/politics/us-military-israel-gaza.html

    U.S. military officials have also told their Israeli counterparts, in secure calls and in person, to consider surrounding Rafah — instead of invading it — to cut Hamas militants off from supplies, including food and ammunition.

    You know what the problem is?

    Israel still is not comfortable with having civilian Gazans within their lines.

    But how will that be possible if Hamas is completely gone?

    Sammy FInkelman (e0dccb)

  214. Trump’s rally in Wildwood, NJ on Saturday — as part of a rant in which he claimed other countries are “emptying out their mental institutions” into the United States.

    Where did that come from?

    Now that’s one thing that probably never happened – and if they did they’d mostly be helpless, not violent.

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  215. 3 2 liter soda used to goon special for $5 sometimes also 6 now it seems not to go below $7

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  216. @194 ‘“Questioning the motives” as a reflexive action just gets us in a world of conspiracy theories which makes us all stupider. See also, Marjorie Taylor Greene”’

    The discredited Lancet Letter, the banning of any discussion of lab leak origins, the banning of any criticism of claims about the effectiveness of lockdowns, masks and distance rules, the fact checks that pretended to debunk misinformation. These were all fueled by conspiracy theories which made us all stupider, and they had nothing to do with MTG.

    lloyd (ec9c21)

  217. @220 lloyd (ec9c21) — 5/13/2024 @ 12:29 pm
    In other words, please don’t gaslight us. We’ve lived through this and can remember.

    whembly (86df54)

  218. Onw ting that happened with regard to masking and isolation is that they borrowed a patently false theory about how influenza was transmitted.It pretended that infection at a distance was caused by viral particles that fell. Also ignored the amount of exposure even though everybody knows that “the dose is the poison.”

    Now the true distance you need to be away from someone when they cough is about three feet. getting infected further away depends on the number of droplets in the air, and that depends largely on air circulation.

    But we got idiocies like closing parks.

    Also, as time went on, the number of infectious particles in the air grew, As I said A -> B -> C -> D.

    An A case (least serious, maybe like a vaccination for most people) could lead to a B case which could lead to a C case which could lead to a D case because each time the initial exposure was greater.

    And pretty soon illness and death exploded like in New Delhi or anywhere. The virus, when new to an area, always circulated underground so to speak. They never understood that.

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  219. The problem with the CDC, and with “science” in general, was it didn’ttakemuch to come up with an initial recommendation but to change anything afterwards required rigorous scientific proof.

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  220. https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/05/netanyahu-at-length.php#disqus_thread

    …Since last Memorial Day, 1594 Israelis have been killed. Out of those, 834 are civilians murdered in terror attacks, 822 of them since 10/07 (this is out of a total 4,070 who have been killed from terrorism since the Jewish State was founded).

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  221. whembly:

    Actually, what I suggest is paying attention to, and giving deference to expertise, in absence of data to the contrary. That’s not accepting the people who authored the Lancet data and were busy doing CYA when they pop up in the future. Failures and dishonesty are supposed to have consequences. But being cynical and skeptical and bullheaded when you have no data and it’s an emergency seems kind of risky.

    The one thing I am glad about Trump is that he was the type to push Operation Warp Speed ahead without too much regard to consequences, because we were not in a time were risk aversion was an answer. One of this very ironic decade is that Trump now feels the need t pander to anti-vax idiocy.

    Appalled (88a1a3)

  222. Some good news out there.

    NJRob (59b08f) — 5/13/2024 @ 9:22 am

    Don’t count your chickens before they hatch:

    Democratic candidates for the Senate in Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin lead their Republican rivals and are running well ahead of President Biden in key states where he continues to struggle, according to polls by The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer and Siena College.
    ……….
    In Pennsylvania, Senator Bob Casey, a Democrat, has the support of 46 percent of voters, against the 41 percent who say they back his Republican challenger, the wealthy finance executive David McCormick, although Mr. Trump holds a slender advantage in a head-to-head race with Mr. Biden, 47 percent to 44 percent.

    In Wisconsin, the Democratic incumbent, Senator Tammy Baldwin, holds a wider, 49-percent-to-40 percent lead over the Republican banker Eric Hovde. Mr. Biden is up slightly against Mr. Trump, 47 percent to 45 percent.

    In Nevada, where Mr. Biden is struggling the most, Senator Jacky Rosen, a Democrat, narrowly leads her Republican challenger, Sam Brown, a wounded combat veteran, 40 percent to 38 percent, with 23 percent of registered voters undecided.

    In Arizona, the one battleground state polled with an open Senate seat, Representative Ruben Gallego, a Phoenix-area Democrat, leads Kari Lake, the Republican former news anchor who is closely allied with Mr. Trump, 45 percent to 41 percent, with 14 percent undecided. Mr. Trump leads Mr. Biden in Arizona, 49 percent to 42 percent.
    ………
    In Pennsylvania, 23 percent of Republicans viewed Mr. Casey favorably, while only 6 percent had a favorable view of Mr. Biden.
    ………
    Democratic senators, flush with cash and spending heavily on the airwaves, are already distancing themselves from Mr. Biden. A new advertisement from Mr. Casey features hard-hatted workers declaring, “Our own government turned their backs on us” by using imported steel, without saying which administration had done so. It credits Mr. Casey for a “buy America” provision in the president’s sprawling infrastructure bill, a provision for which Mr. Biden also claims credit.
    ………..

    Related:

    Representative Ruben Gallego, running unopposed in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Arizona, placed a reservation on Monday for $19 million in television advertisements for the general election this fall, according to his campaign — the largest any Senate candidate in the country has made so far.
    ………
    The contest is rated a “tossup” by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, but Ms. Lake may enter it as an underdog if she and her allied groups are unable to keep up on the airwaves with Mr. Gallego, who is raising and spending money at a torrid pace. Mr. Gallego’s $19 million reservation is expected to go toward ads that will run in the Phoenix and Tucson markets, beginning on June 18, though it does not commit the campaign to following through with the purchase.

    The reservation is greater than those placed so far by incumbent Democrats facing re-election battles; Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio has reserved $14.3 million; Senator Jacky Rosen of Nevada has reserved $13.9 million; and Senator Jon Tester of Montana has reserved $8.9 million, according to the media-tracking firm AdImpact.
    ………
    ………(Kari Lake) has struggled to moderate her tone, and some national Republicans have indicated that, before deciding whether to invest heavily on trying to capture Arizona, they are prioritizing what they see as more winnable Senate races as they work to take back control of the chamber.
    ………

    Only 176 days to go………

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  223. Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/13/2024 @ 1:26 pm

    Kari Lake being hung out to dry:

    ……….
    Lake has not managed a clean pivot from her hard-right roots. In the past month alone, she publicly waffled on her opposition to Arizona’s near-total abortion ban and returned to the flamethrowing rhetoric of her last run when she urged voters to “strap on a Glock” to prepare for 2024.
    ………
    “When you don’t really have a core belief in anything, and you’re willing to take whatever position you think is politically expedient at the moment, you end up getting caught between a rock and a hard place before too long,” said former Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.), who ran against Lake in 2022.
    ……….
    ………. (A)s Lake has attempted to moderate her image and grow her support outside the party’s MAGA base, she is reversing her own positions and stirring up feuds.

    Lake tried to court Salmon as part of her attempt to unify the party. But she also secretly recorded and released a conversation of the then-chair of the state party appearing to ask her what it would take for her to stay out of the Senate race, leading to his resignation and infuriating the old guard of the Arizona GOP.
    ………..
    Gallego started April with nearly four times more cash than Lake and is a formidable fundraiser. While Lake isn’t on TV currently, Gallego began airing positive spots several weeks ago. Meanwhile, Lake is raising eyebrows with frequent out-of-state visits to Mar-a-Lago and jaunts to campaign for other candidates.
    ………..
    ………..Senate Majority PAC, which is aligned with Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, reserved $23 million for the fall campaign. And Gallego has spent $7.9 million on ads and had $9.6 million on hand at the end of March; Lake has spent just $170,000 and has $2.5 million.
    ………
    Lake isn’t making it any easier on herself.

    When the state’s highest court enacted a near-total ban on abortion, Lake made a public pivot on abortion rights and lobbied state lawmakers to repeal the 1864 ban. Then, on the cusp of that repeal — and under fire from anti-abortion activists — she told local media on a stop in Idaho that it was disappointing that her state refused to enforce the law.

    She’s also continued to talk about the 2020 presidential election and the 2022 governor election she falsely claims to have won, though countless Republicans urge her to stop………

    And the same fire-and-brimstone rhetoric that Lake tried to swear off when she launched her run in October continues to crop up. At a rally last month, Lake urged supporters to “strap on a Glock” in preparation for the final months of the election.
    ………..
    “(Democrats are) going to spend all the money replaying words that Ms. Lake may have regretted saying,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). “When you’ve got tens of millions of dollars being spent against you, you don’t get the opportunity to redefine yourself. You’ve just got to plow through and define your opponent.”
    ……….
    The problem for Republicans: Arizona voters already have an established idea of who Lake is. And Gallego’s the only one defining himself on the airwaves right now.
    ………..

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  224. John Catsimatidis statement on Giuliani:

    https://wabcradio.com/2024/05/13/statement-of-wabc-radio-by-john-catsimatidis-ceo

    …Last Tuesday, May 7th, Mayor Giuliani gave me an ultimatum. He texted me that I had to double his airtime and compensation by May 28th. I told him I wanted to sit down in person to discuss this. He repeated his demand on Wednesday, May 8th.

    That Thursday, May 9th, management was made aware of the Bloomberg News report that Rudy was continuing to double down on his defamatory comments about the Georgia election workers on social media, leading to additional filings against him by the plaintiffs in that lawsuit.

    As a result of this new information and in an effort to protect the station, that same day, I sent Rudy a letter reminding him not to speak about the legitimacy of the election results on our air. Yet just hours later, during his 3:00 pm show that day, he did just that.

    The WABC control room has a dump button that creates a delay, in order to allow our board operators to prevent words regulated by the FCC from being broadcast. Last Thursday, shortly after receiving this letter, Rudy closed his show by talking about electronic voting machines, and our board operator dumped the audio, as instructed. We have a copy of this audio in our records. Once again, he was warned not to discuss this topic, and only hours later proceeded to do just that.

    This is when Rudy issued me a second ultimatum. After his show was abruptly pulled from the air on Thursday night, May 9th, Rudy texted me at 6:41 pm, saying “I am disregarding every order given in this letter.” It is important to note that Rudy was not even suspended yet at this point in time….

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  225. Has Rudolph Giuliani (who is in terrible financial straits) been promised money by someone if he [fill in the blank)and corruptly decided to accept unless he could get a lot more money from radio station WABC 770 AM in New York?

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  226. Getting divorceder:

    Melinda French Gates Is Resigning From the Gates Foundation

    Melinda French Gates, one of the most influential philanthropists in the world, is resigning from the foundation that she started with her ex-husband, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.

    She said she is moving into “the next chapter” with her philanthropy and, as part of an agreement with Gates, will receive $12.5 billion to commit to her work on behalf of women and girls.

    Her last day of work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she is co-chair with Gates, will be June 7.

    Mark Suzman, CEO of the organization, said its name is changing to the Gates Foundation, and Gates will be its sole chair. In a LinkedIn post, he said French Gates wouldn’t take any of the foundation’s work with her when she left.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  227. Kari Lake will lose AZ’s senate seat in a GOP year.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  228. The GOP should win Montana and West Virginia. With luck they can win PA and NV and have some chances in Maryland with Hogan. WI and AZ don’t look all that great.

    If they don’t recapture the Senate, it will also mean the GOP loses the House and the WH.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  229. @231

    Kari Lake will lose AZ’s senate seat in a GOP year.

    Kevin M (a9545f) — 5/13/2024 @ 2:17 pm

    Lake just needs to hang every Joe Biden’s negatives at her opponent’s feet.

    But, she has to stay disciplined to stay on message, and she may eek out a victory.

    If Trump wins AZ… Lake likely wins too.

    If he doesn’t, she’ll have no chance, as she hitched her ride to the Trump train.

    whembly (86df54)

  230. @192 Write in AOC she supports aid to Ukraine.

    asset (69019d)

  231. @232 latest poll voters ticket splitting voting trump and democrat senators to stop him going to far. 2016 all over again when it looked like hillary would win. yahoo news.

    asset (69019d)

  232. “Questioning the motives” as a reflexive action just gets us in a world of conspiracy theories which makes us all stupider.

    “Questioning the motives” is a perfect example of naive cynicism, where people who don’t understand what is going on assume that it is aimed at screwing them in particular. Kind of like what Bernie thinks when the Fed Chair talks.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  233. Lake just needs to hang every Joe Biden’s negatives at her opponent’s feet.

    You are making the same mistake that the Left and Right always make. The way to win election is not to motivate your base — that only gets you one vote at a time. The real trick is to convince the center to vote for YOU instead of THEM. That gets you two votes at a time.

    So, when politicians show up for base rallies, they really aren’t doing much except stroking their ego.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  234. But, (Kari Lake) has to stay disciplined to stay on message

    Her message is that both Trump and herself had their elections stolen. She declined to defend herself in a defamation lawsuit filed by Stephen Richer, the Maricopa County Recorder, and it’s not going away any time soon:

    Lake’s attorneys want the case to go to a damages hearing, saying Richer’s team needs to outline compensatory damages.

    Richer’s attorney, Daniel Maynard, is asking the judge for a discovery phase, so they can, in part, access some of Lake’s electronic records, like emails, to better determine the extent of the damage.

    Maynard argues that this is not just about money lost – it’s about reputation.

    “What we need discovery on is the reach and impact of these false statements that they have admitted were false,” Maynard said. “They knew they were false.”

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  235. But, (Kari Lake) has to stay disciplined to stay on message

    BTW, what is her message on the Arizona’s 1864 abortion law (which is actually still the law in Arizona)?

    Is it:

    In 2022, as a candidate for governor, the former TV news anchor praised the 1864 law in a podcast interview after Roe v. Wade was overturned, saying that she was “incredibly thrilled” that Arizona would have a “great law that’s already on the books” go into effect.

    Or is it:

    Lake came out against the Arizona Supreme Court’s abortion ruling earlier this month and called on the state’s Democratic governor and GOP-controlled Legislature to find an “immediate common sense solution.”

    Or is it:

    “The Arizona Supreme Court said this is the law of Arizona. But unfortunately, the people running our state have said we’re not going to enforce it,” Lake told the Idaho Dispatch on Saturday, alluding to Gov. Katie Hobbs’ opposition to the ban and state Attorney General Kris Mayes’ announcement that her office will not prosecute anyone under the law.

    “So it’s really political theater,” Lake said. “We don’t have that law, as much as many of us wish we did.”

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  236. @239 when you try to stand in the middle of the road you get run over. Like trump she says whatever she thinks will fool people.

    asset (8622ca)

  237. RIP saxophonist David Sanborn (78):

    …………
    Sanborn’s music is often described “smooth jazz,” but he reportedly rejected that characterization, and one can see why. His lively, iconic sax solo on Bowie’s “Young Americans” is anything but. Sanborn preferred the idea that he “put the saxophone back into rock ’n’ roll.”

    Indeed, he worked with a virtual who’s who of rock and R&B legends, including James Brown, Eric Clapton, Roger Daltrey, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Al Jarreau, George Benson, Elton John, Carly Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Billy Joel, Roger Waters, Steely Dan, the Eagles, the Grateful Dead and the Rolling Stones.
    ………….
    The musician released 25 albums, won six Grammys, and has had eight Gold albums and one Platinum. Sanborn also played also tenor, soprano and sopranino saxophone, saxello, flute & keyboards/piano.

    …………By the time he was a teen, he was playing with blues legends such as Albert King and Little Milton.

    In the late ’60s he joined the Butterfield Blues Band and played on the final day at Woodstock. He was soon touring and recording with Stevie Wonder and recording for Wonder’s Talking Book album. He played with The Rolling Stones, toured and recorded with Bowie and toured and recorded with jazz great Gil Evans. He later collaborated with Simon and James Taylor, providing the signature sax solo on Taylor’s classic version of “How Sweet It Is (to Be Loved By You).”
    ……………

    Rip Murdock (5c27ec)

  238. So, let’s say that Donald Trump is convicted of 33 felonies in NY. At sentencing in August he is denied bail, as the prosecutor claims he’s a flight risk.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  239. @242 Vote early and often for curley! James curley was elected mayor of boston from jail cell and he isn’t the only one. Who knows it might help trump get elected and most trumpsters own guns and might start using them.

    asset (8622ca)

  240. @242

    So, let’s say that Donald Trump is convicted of 33 felonies in NY. At sentencing in August he is denied bail, as the prosecutor claims he’s a flight risk.

    Kevin M (a9545f) — 5/13/2024 @ 10:46 pm

    You’d have to think that the Secret Service would object to that.

    Does the Secret Service have the power to prevent that? (doubtful).

    Also, is bail denial appealable?

    whembly (86df54)

  241. Also, is bail denial appealable?

    Probably. I’m just trying to see just how far NY could go to cripple Trump’s campaign.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  242. Oh he’s definitely going to be convicted.

    I don’t see how this judge allows for bail.

    whembly (86df54)

  243. Oh…

    Dem operative daughter of NYC judge in Trump trial aided effort to kick Trump off Colorado ballot: reporthttps://t.co/5a0bjTCLba

    — The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) May 13, 2024

    whembly (86df54)

  244. There are several scenarios.
    — Continue the current bail after a verdict of guilty until sentencing.
    — Postpone issuance of the mittimus (transfer to prison) and continue the current bail after sentencing.
    — Grant bail pending appeal.

    But I don’t see a custodial sentence to begin with. Not for a chickensh!t first offense like this one and considering Trump’s background.

    On the other hand, probation would also cause a real big set of problems, should Trump win the election. As would bail conditions.

    nk (e029bd)

  245. KevinM

    Wanted to apologize publicly, personally for belaboring the f-ing COVID thing over the last week or so.
    It was insensitive, unkind and I am embarrassed. Your forgiveness is requested but also understand if that is not in the cards today.

    steveg (06010a)

  246. whembly — Bail denial can be appealed and certainly would be. Also, who cares what the judge’s daughter does? It’s not like she’s Hunter Biden or something.

    nk — A non-custodial sentence seems kind of a waste of everyone’s time, don’t you think? We have weeks of trial and then — nothing really happens except Trump can’t vote for himself in Florida. Plus, since the trial seems to be an attempt to bootstrap into an election interference charge, I think there has to be jail time — or the judge has issued one of those criminal libel sentences where the damages are assessed to be $1.00. You think the judge is going to give Trump the win?

    KevinM — There were lot’s of real charges for Trump to face — and he has so far delayed the reckoning for all of them. In Georgia, he did it through turning the DA into a jezebel scheming to get illicit taxpayer dollars for her paramour. So, I really think that there’s a good chance New York will try to turn the tables on Trump — as punishment for what he has done to the judicial process elsewhere.

    Appalled (cba899)

  247. It was insensitive, unkind and I am embarrassed. Your forgiveness is requested but also understand if that is not in the cards today.

    It’s all good.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  248. So, I really think that there’s a good chance New York will try to turn the tables on Trump — as punishment for what he has done to the judicial process elsewhere.

    That won’t be their motive if they do, and besides it’s not exactly defending the Rule of Law for the courts to behave like that.

    Also, the judicial process is easily gamed for delay. That lawyers use that to their advantage is hardly new and no one should be shocked.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  249. https://legalinsurrection.com/2024/05/dexter-taylor-sentenced-10-years-for-building-his-own-firearms-after-judge-banned-mentions-of-second-amendment/

    Another judge proving again that just being a judge doesn’t mean they will uphold the law. If this isn’t automatically appealed and overturned based on the judge’s own biases and illegal rulings, then I don’t know how anyone can pretend the law is anything less than “might makes right.”

    NJRob (1a9879)

  250. Let’s say that Trump is convicted, and the NY judge sentences him to a year in jail, effective immediately. NY appeals courts affirm, NY governor turns thumbs down. Does running for president from jail help Trump or hurt him?

    If elected, what then?

    (Note: I agree somewhat with nk about the sentence. I think a house-arrest sentence would be possible though.)

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  251. https://twitter.com/MrWinMarshall/status/1789255903708881107/mediaViewer?currentTweet=1789255903708881107&currentTweetUser=MrWinMarshall

    Voting for Biden means supporting this belief.

    If that is you, we have nothing in common.

    NJRob (6b98d9)

  252. #254 —

    I have a guess — that Trump’s secret power is the sense his followers have that he can get away with anything he chooses to do. If he truly goes to jail, that might destroy some of that, and cause the anti-preference cascade the nevertrumpers have been waiting for.

    Or I am deluding myself again. Being repelled, rather than attracted by Trump causes me to be completely wrong about his appeal at all times.

    Speaking seriously, a charge against a former President by a State is supposed to be a serious business for serious crimes which conveys a serious punishment. A non-custodial sentence looks like Trump and the GOP has cowed the New York judiciary. A series of charges that yields such a result shouldn’t have been brought. The only reason this trial exists is Judge Cannon has been exceedingly skilled at ripping the documents case to shreds, while not indulging in reversable error.

    Appalled (cba899)

  253. So, let’s say that Donald Trump is convicted of 33 felonies in NY. At sentencing in August he is denied bail, as the prosecutor claims he’s a flight risk.

    Kevin M (a9545f) — 5/13/2024 @ 10:46 pm

    Trump is out on his own recognizance, not bail. He probably had to surrender his passport, so he’s not a flight risk to leave the country. If he fled to Florida, I’m sure in the end DeSantis would be compelled by the federal courts to extradite Trump to NY.

    Assuming he is convicted (my bet is a hung jury), he is most likely to receive probation because of:

    Non-violent crimes
    His age
    His security requirements
    Because Trump

    But he will be unable to vote for himself for President, or own a gun.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  254. NJRob (6b98d9) — 5/14/2024 @ 11:21 am

    Dead link.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  255. I’m wondering if they will even convict.

    “I violated my moral compass,” Cohen told the jury.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  256. Sad!:

    Following an appellate denial of Steve Bannon’s bid to reverse his contempt of Congress convictions, the podcaster and former White House chief strategist to Donald Trump must begin serving a four-month sentence in federal prison, prosecutors demanded on Tuesday.

    The three-page filing from U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves and Assistant U.S. Attorney John Crabb urged U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, to lift a stay of Bannon’s sentence now that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has rejected appellate arguments that the judge previously found had raised “substantial questions” that could very well lead to a reversal of the July 2022 convictions.
    ……….
    “On May 10, 2024, a unanimous panel of the D.C. Circuit affirmed defendant’s conviction,” the filing said. “The D.C. Circuit rejected defendant’s appeal on all grounds, including the primary argument on appeal: the requisite mental state required for a contempt of Congress violation.”

    “Consequently, there is no longer a ‘substantial question of law that is likely to result in a reversal or an order for a new trial,’” prosecutors added. “Under these circumstances, the Court ‘shall order’ defendant ‘be detained’ […] so the stay of sentence must be lifted.”

    Last Friday, the D.C. Circuit was clear that Bannon’s stonewalling of the Jan. 6 Committee and claim that his lawyer told him to do so was “no defense at all”:

    In September 2021, the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol issued a subpoena to appellant Stephen Bannon to testify and provide documents. Bannon did not comply—he knew what the subpoena required but did not appear or provide a single document. Bannon was later convicted of violating the contempt of Congress statute, 2 U.S.C. § 192, which criminalizes “willfully” failing to respond to a congressional subpoena.

    Bannon insists that “willfully” should be interpreted to require bad faith and argues that his noncompliance does not qualify because his lawyer advised him not to respond to the subpoena. This court, however, has squarely held that “willfully” in Section 192 means only that the defendant deliberately and intentionally refused to comply with a congressional subpoena, and that this exact “advice of counsel” defense is no defense at all.

    ………

    Paragraph breaks added. May be he can be Peter Navarro’s cellmate.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  257. @250

    whembly — Also, who cares what the judge’s daughter does

    Appalled (cba899) — 5/14/2024 @ 10:47 am

    So… we don’t care if judges has any conflicts of interests in the cases they presides over.

    K.

    I don’t want to hear from you of Judge Cannon’s alleged conflict of interests.

    whembly (86df54)

  258. Something for Rip to chew on:

    https://www.ajc.com/politics/analysis-is-biden-really-trailing-trump-by-double-digits-in-georgia/CSOX6IUUSZGQNIZR7QZNN3DNGA/

    tl;dr — Biden is behind in Georgia, but not by as much as the NYT poll claims. The Atlanta area data is especially flawed.

    Appalled (cba899)

  259. whembly (#261),

    I don’t think Cannon has a conflict of interest. She knows what her interest is and rules accordingly.

    Appalled (cba899)

  260. whembly,

    One ask I have of you — apply your standard to Clarence Thomas — who is married to a Conservative movement operative. See where you come out. Why shouldn’t he be recusing himself from the January 6 case appeal?

    Appalled (cba899)

  261. So… we don’t care if judges has any conflicts of interests in the cases they presides over.

    whembly (86df54) — 5/14/2024 @ 12:42 pm

    What evidence is there that Judge Merchan has violated the NY Code of Judicial Conduct?

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  262. I’m wondering if they will even convict.

    Unless Allen Weisselberg corroborates Cohen’s testimony about the repayment structure, particularly that Trump participated in setting it up, they should not.

    nk (e029bd)

  263. Appalled (cba899) — 5/14/2024 @ 12:57 pm

    The answer is quite hacktastic.

    BuDuh (61453c)

  264. Unless Allen Weisselberg corroborates Cohen’s testimony about the repayment structure, particularly that Trump participated in setting it up, they should not.

    nk (e029bd) — 5/14/2024 @ 1:14 pm

    I have read that Weisselberg will not be testifying due to his own perjury and corruption convictions.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  265. @264

    whembly,

    One ask I have of you — apply your standard to Clarence Thomas — who is married to a Conservative movement operative. See where you come out. Why shouldn’t he be recusing himself from the January 6 case appeal?

    Appalled (cba899) — 5/14/2024 @ 12:57 pm

    Appalled… the difference here is that Mrs. Thomas advocates for those conservative movements.

    Merchand’s daughter actually makes a living, of being anti-Trump as a Democratic operative. Her dad directly impacts beneficial financial aspects of her job.

    So, no… the comparison is inapt.

    whembly (86df54)

  266. Hey… here’s were Ashley Biden writing a letter to the courts that it *is* indeed her diary.
    https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/26/ashley-biden-in-unsealed-letter-to-judge-detailed-pain-from-diary-theft.html

    So, here, you actually have Ashley admitting that the content of her diary are HERS.

    Grandpa Badfinger showering with his daughter in a situation that Ashely recognized that it was inappropriate.

    President Pedo™ shall be his name.

    whembly (86df54)

  267. Double Sad!

    ………..
    (Trump’s defense) attorneys argued the March 26 gag order issued by New York County Supreme Court Justice Juan M. Merchan is an unconstitutional violation of Trump’s rights under the First Amendment.

    On Tuesday, several judges sitting on the First Judicial Department Appellate Division unanimously disagreed with the defendant.
    ……….
    “We decline to exercise our discretion or to grant the relief that petitioner seeks here,” the order reads — citing from the Washington, D. C-based federal case involving Trump where a gag order is being partially enforced. “It is well established that ‘[a]lthough litigants do not surrender their First Amendment Rights at the courthouse door, those rights may be subordinated to other interests that arise in [the trial] setting.’ In the Federal Restraining Order Decision, the circuit court weighed the three key questions bearing on the entry of a restraining order against a criminal defendant.”

    The court repeats those three relevant questions at length:

    (1) whether the Order is justified by a sufficiently serious risk of prejudice to an ongoing judicial proceeding; (2) whether less restrictive alternatives would adequately address that risk; and (3) whether the Order is narrowly tailored, including whether the Order effectively addresses the potential prejudice[.]

    ……….
    “Petitioner brings this petition because he disagrees with where the circuit court drew the line in balancing the competing considerations of his First Amendment rights to free expression and the effective functioning of the judicial, prosecutorial and defense,” the appeals court explains.
    …………
    “Trump’s documented pattern of speech and its demonstrated real-time, real-world consequences pose a significant and imminent threat to the functioning of the criminal trial process,” the court goes on — again citing the other appellate court verbatim.
    ……….
    “Justice Merchan properly determined that petitioner’s public statements posed a significant threat to the integrity of the testimony of witnesses and potential witnesses in this case as well,” the New York appeals court opined. “We find that Justice Merchan properly weighed petitioner’s First Amendment Rights against the court’s historical commitment to ensuring the fair administration of justice in criminal cases, and the right of persons related or tangentially related to the criminal proceedings from being free from threats, intimidation, harassment, and harm.”
    ##########

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  268. Grandpa Badfinger showering with his daughter in a situation that Ashely recognized that it was inappropriate.

    President Pedo™ shall be his name.

    whembly (86df54) — 5/14/2024 @ 1:31 pm

    I’m surprised the House Oversight Committee failed to ask her to testify in their impeachment investigation to confirm what she said was true.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  269. whembly (86df54) — 5/14/2024 @ 1:31 pm

    Alternatively, Ms Biden could have been fantasizing about showering with her father. Again, the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees should call her to testify, in public, as to what she meant.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  270. Kevin M (a9545f) — 5/14/2024 @ 11:57 am

    “I violated my moral compass,” Cohen told the jury.

    He’s lying. I think that’s plagiarizing Jeb Stuart Magruder – and furthermore that that sentence was put in his mouth by the prosecutors – Michael Cohen is not that well read.

    https://www.amazon.com/American-life-mans-road-Watergate/dp/B00005VDBP

    One review:

    Jeb Stuart Magruder was a minor official in the Nixon White House and a player in the Watergate scandal. In 1974 his book “An American Life – One Man’s Road to Watergate” was published. Reading it over 35 years later I was struck by the apparent objectivity of his opinions and observations. I was expected a very guarded self-serving – cover your backside – tract written in lawyer language. Instead he apparently felt that all his Watergate transgressions were already public knowledge so there was nothing to be gained by parsing the truth.

    He admitted he lost his moral compass in his efforts to serve the goals as set down by the President. Although there is no justification for committing a crime anyone who has worked in an organization must ruefully acknowledge that there is a strong tendency to “do whatever it takes” to prove you worth and value to that organization.

    It may not have been taken directly from Jeb Stuart Magruder. In the years since, it may have circulated a bit – I don’t know.

    Bradley -> Chelsea Manning’s lawyer used it in 2012 on NBC – in a positive sense – that [he/she] had it.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/22/bradley-manning-woman-chelsea-gender-reassignment

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  271. Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/14/2024 @ 1:36 pm

    I’m surprised the House Oversight Committee failed to ask her to testify in their impeachment investigation to confirm what she said was true.

    I think they applied the exclusionary rule. Although it technically does not apply, they didn’t want to seem to be taking advantage of a crime (stealing a diary) or too encourage spying particularly got something only of salacious interest, that could be interpreted in more than one way.

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  272. “I violated my moral compass,” Cohen told the jury.

    He’s lying

    You think? I imagine the eye-rolls from the judge and jury were deafening.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  273. In the course of his testimony Michael Cohen gave answers to some of the questions I had. Whether they are true or not is something else, perhaps to be explored during cross examination.

    1. If he taped people numerous times, why didn’t he tape Donald Trump promising to pay him back and agreeing that he should personally pay Stormy Daniels before he made the payment?

    A. he only taped Trump once.

    2. If so, why did he choose that particular conversation (about reimbursing the National Enquirer for its payment to Karen McDougal

    A. He wanted to play it to David Pecker.

    But this was done after the National Enquirer had already bought her story, and before Stormy Daniels came forward.

    3. Why does the tape cut off in the middle?

    A. A call came in on his phone and spoiled his recording of the conversation.

    The point I made about Donald Trump agreeing with Cohen that the National Enquirer needed to be reimbursed because David Pecker might be hit by a truck and the National Enquirer change his policy, does not apply so strongly to referring to a time after the election because that conversation took place in September and not late October, as I had thought.

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  274. The Nation writes:

    https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/michael-cohen-testimony-trump-criminal-trial

    …A transcript of a 2016 call Cohen that surreptitiously recorded, with the professed aim of sharing it with Pecker to assure that he’d be reimbursed [that is, the National Enquirer would be] for the Enquirer’s fee to McDougal, has Cohen saying, “I need to open up a company for the transfer of all that info regarding our friend, David, you know, so that—I’m going to do that right away.”

    Yes, and Trump wanted to know why he couldn’t just write a check. (He used the word cash, which in real estate parlance means money not borrowed, not $20 or $100 bills.)

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  275. 3. Why does the tape cut off in the middle?

    Just like the video of Romney’s 47% comment cut off immediately after that money quote. “Just happened.”

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  276. Maga terrorist white supremacist beth clendaniels pleads guilty to trying to attack baltimore power stations in retaliation for trump prosecutions hoping to start a race war like dillon roof. (DU) Remember this when calling college protesters hamas potential terrorists as alan derschwitz did on fox.

    asset (472aef)

  277. @249 What? I don’t even remember it.

    asset (472aef)

  278. @255 Damn strait! We got nothing. Still read your opinions even though we disagree. Unlikely ;but I might learn something I don’t know. The opposition teaches me more then my side.

    asset (472aef)

  279. 3. Why does the tape cut off in the middle?

    Why was it admitted into evidence when it did not contain the entire conversation?

    They play fast and loose with the rules of evidence in New York, I think. And there was that reception line photo in the E. Jean Carroll case, too.

    nk (269579)

  280. Well, Cohen (and the prosecution) said that was they had (and all that had ever existed) and they had a witness testifying to what was said.

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  281. they had a witness testifying to what was said.

    Cohen produced a partial tape and corroborated it himself?

    That’s like the 2FA system that asks what phone number to call for authentication.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  282. Kevin M (a9545f) — 5/14/2024 @ 3:11 pm

    Just like the video of Romney’s 47% comment cut off immediately after that money quote. “Just happened.”

    That’s what I suspected. MC’s lawyer at the time, who released the tape publicly, offered no explanation.

    This needs to be discussed in cross examination.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/25/us/politics/trump-michael-cohen-recording.html

    Then last week, when The New York Times revealed the existence of a recorded conversation about the very payment Mr. Trump denied knowing about, Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, described the recording as “exculpatory” — suggesting it would actually help Mr. Trump if it became public.

    Finally, the tape has become public. And it revealed the statements by Ms. Hicks and Mr. Giuliani to be false. The recording, which was broadcast by CNN late Tuesday night, shows Mr. Trump was directly involved in talks about whether to pay The Enquirer for the rights to the woman’s story.

    Trump’s campaign had claimed when The Wall Street Journal reported a secret deal by The National Enquirer to buy the silence of a former Playboy model who said she had an affair with Donald J. Trump “We have no knowledge of any of this,”

    But Trump had indeed known of the payment by the National Enquirer to Karen McDougal (the payment to Stormy Daniels – by Michael Cohen when the National Enquirer declined to pay her – was still unknown at the time of the election. And Trump is only charged with falsifying business records to cover up the reimbursement of Michael Cohen. The National Enquirer decided, after consulting counsel, not to take a reimbursement, because that would admit that the contract with Karen McDougal had no legitimate business purpose, and eventually pleaded guilty to making an illegal corporate campaign contribution in exchange for leniency.)

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  283. That’s like the 2FA system that asks what phone number to call for authentication.

    I’ve run into that when calling on the phone. It’s not like it’s a number they had before.

    That the voices on the audio recording are that of Trump and Cohen is conceded and could be proven with voiceprints. But where is the proof that the recording stopped where it did by chance, hiding perhaps what was said afterwards..

    But it is clear that the whole arrangement was insisted upon by Cohen.

    Albeit in a proposed reimbursement of the National Enquirer that was never made.

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  284. Well, I’ll tell you, if I ever run for office in Manhattan, I’ll do it without wearing pants in public, because that will conceal whether I’m wearing clean underwear, and that’s ELECTION INTERFERENCE to Alvin Bragg.

    A legal case out of tissue paper, attempted to be proven through two pieces of excrement, Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen.

    nk (269579)

  285. According to this the cross examination of Michael Cohen is just meandering around (taking up time and making no points or unimportant ones)

    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/live-blog/trump-hush-money-trial-day-17-michael-cohen-live-updates-rcna151899

    Blanche aggressively pushed Cohen to admit under oath that he lied during conversations with investigators involved in Robert Mueller’s probe of Trump’s links to Russia.

    Blanche pressed Cohen to say that he “lied to them” about the Trump Organization’s proposal to build a Trump-branded skyscraper in Moscow. Cohen replied: “Yes, the information I gave was not accurate.”

    Trump’s lawyer kept pressing: “Was it a lie?”

    “I don’t know if I would characterize it as a lie,” Cohen replied. “It was inaccurate.”

    Blanche did not relent: “Was it a lie?”

    Cohen: “It wasn’t a lie. It wasn’t truthful. If you want to call it a lie, we can call it a lie. I believe the information I gave them is inaccurate.”

    Blanche: “But you are not testifying it’s a lie?”

    Cohen: “Sure, I’ll say it’s a lie.”

    I think this involved Michael Cohen saying he was authorized by Trump to discuss a Trump Tower in Moscow, when in reality he was acting on his own. Todd Blanche wanted the word Lie to come out of Michael Cohen’s mouth.

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  286. There’s the issue that some of the $420.000 payment to Michael Cohen was indeed compensation for legal services (a bonus)

    The prosecution makes an issue out of the fact that Michael Cohen never bothered to draw up a retainer agreement.

    Getting lost is any attempt to prove a second crime that was being covered up by not writing checks to Michael Cohen. It would have helped Trump to pay MC reimbursement as reimbursement (or a return of an over the limit campaign contribution) Cohen billed more to account for taxes.

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  287. Under the Napoleonic Code, neither Daniels nor Cohen would have been allowed to testify at all on the grounds of moral turpitude. And we’re talking about a place where the Chief of Police signs the search and arrest warrants and can hold a suspect in jail for up to sixty days on that signature.

    nk (269579)

  288. One thing MC could be cross examined on is, when he asked David Pecker to intercede with him to Trump to reimburse him for the Stormy Daniels payment, did he tell David Pecker to say that Trump had promised him in advance to do so, or did he give him only other arguments?

    Because one key matter in dispute is whether or not Trump okayed the payment to Stormy Daniels in advance.

    It’s a strange omission if he didn’t say that to David Pecker if Trump had agreed in advance that Michael Cohen would lay out an impossible amount of money for him.

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  289. I’d like to know what argument finally convinced Donald Trump to reimburse (and more!) Michael Cohen.

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  290. I think t was Louis Nizer who said (but it might have been someone else) that a lawyer may jump around in cross examination in the hopes of tripping up the witness on a point that he doesn’t realize at the moment is important – that it’s just another question.

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  291. Cohen was very well trained and rehearsed for his direct testimony. Both as to what he would say and how he would say it, and his demeanor and deportment. By taking him off script, Blanche hopes to also get him out of character, and to let the real mendacious, sneaky, not-too-bright bottom-feeder show through.

    nk (269579)

  292. Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/14/2024 @ 1:36 pm

    I’m surprised the House Oversight Committee failed to ask her to testify in their impeachment investigation to confirm what she said was true.

    I think they applied the exclusionary rule. Although it technically does not apply, they didn’t want to seem to be taking advantage of a crime (stealing a diary) or too encourage spying particularly got something only of salacious interest, that could be interpreted in more than one way.

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb) — 5/14/2024 @ 2:21 pm

    LOL!

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  293. Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb) — 5/14/2024 @ 2:21 pm

    Oh please. If displaying Hunter Biden’s nude photos and delving into his sex life during a Congressional hearing isn’t “salacious interest” then nothing is.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  294. https://therightscoop.com/breaking-pro-life-activist-gets-nearly-five-years-in-prison-for-blockading-an-abortion-clinic/

    Leftist blockade streets, bridges, buildings and go free with accolades. A pro-life woman blocks an abortion clinic and gets 5 years. Justice is dead.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  295. I think this involved Michael Cohen saying he was authorized by Trump to discuss a Trump Tower in Moscow, when in reality he was acting on his own.

    And if he lied to assign words and actions to Trump then, what credibility does he have now?

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  296. A pro-life woman blocks an abortion clinic and gets 5 years. Justice is dead.

    There is a specific law criminalizing that.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  297. Don’t do the crime if you don’t want to do the time.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  298. There’s no specific law to taking over property,blocking streets, harassing and threatening people? Oh wait, there are.

    Selective prosecution and laws created that are only enforced against the disfavored

    But you knew that already Kevin.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  299. Kevin,

    your pro-abortion wants are blinding you to politicized show trials.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  300. Selective prosecution and laws created that are only enforced against the disfavored

    There is a specific law against blocking an abortion clinic. It doesn’t care WHY someone is blocking it.

    your pro-abortion wants are blinding you to politicized show trials.

    Hmmm. I find out new things about myself all the time.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  301. @300 they keep telling me if you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime. I had some time ago when I drove my taxi I had to escort several women into an abortion clinic . Only once did I have problem until I asked the problem “Do you fill lucky today.” I always regretted not adding well do you punk?

    asset (f70e52)

  302. Trump still losing 25% of vote to nikki haley in primary states today. Biden still losing 15% except WV 25% to uncommitted. Real tribunes of the people!

    asset (f70e52)

  303. Wingnut clickbait, but I clicked it:

    Police found five fetuses at Handy’s home in Washington after she was indicted.
    ….
    A clinic nurse sprained her ankle when one of Handy’s co-defendants forced his way into the clinic and pushed her. Another co-defendant accosted a woman who was having labor pains, preventing her from getting off a floor and entering the clinic, prosecutors said.

    Inside the clinic’s waiting room, Handy directed blockaders to link themselves together with locks and chains and block the doors. A co-defendant used social media to livestream the blockade, which lasted several hours before police arrested the participants.

    SO UNFAIR!!!

    nk (6c45b4)

  304. @307 Just a few seconds of googling found this. I’m sure there are better examples.

    UCSF Medical Center representatives confirmed that the demonstration impacted the transportation of organs for transplant surgery Thursday.

    “Currently at UCSF, I think the the number of organs delayed is three,” said Dr. Garrett Roll, Associate Professor of Transplant Surgery at UCSF. “I don’t know about the other medical centers in the Bay Area. There are two other large transplant centers in the Bay Area that are probably suffering from the same issues as well.”

    I’m not going to research whether any of these protesters saw the inside of a jail, let alone five years, but go for it.

    lloyd (845bd2)

  305. whembly (#270):

    Ashley Biden wrote, in the link you provided:

    The point of the theft, I assume, was to be able to peddle grotesque lies by distroting my stream-of-consciousness thoughts…”Repeatedly, I hear others grossly misinterpret my once private writings and lob false accusatons that defame my character and those people I love.

    In other words, stop pushing the pedo angle (how very Q of you). It is utterly denied by Ms. Biden

    IIRC, you were an enthusiastic booster of the theory Joe Biden was collecting bribes fron Burisma. You know, the theory that was propagated by a CI who was really working for the Kremlin? I know you think Biden is the dog leavings you scrape from the sole of your shoe. However, you might want to salavage some of your credibility by sticking to the less exotic and trashy Biden conspiracy theories

    Appalled (f46f37)

  306. It is not denied by Ms Biden. She says repeatedly that Joe Biden inappropriately showered with her. There are other claims she has made about her behavior due to her trauma.

    But keep defending Pedo Joe.

    Whatever helps you sleep at night.

    NJRob (b0dc2d)

  307. @290

    There’s the issue that some of the $420.000 payment to Michael Cohen was indeed compensation for legal services (a bonus)

    The prosecution makes an issue out of the fact that Michael Cohen never bothered to draw up a retainer agreement.

    Getting lost is any attempt to prove a second crime that was being covered up by not writing checks to Michael Cohen. It would have helped Trump to pay MC reimbursement as reimbursement (or a return of an over the limit campaign contribution) Cohen billed more to account for taxes.

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb) — 5/14/2024 @ 4:27 pm

    A retainer agreement need not be an actual written down contract (it should be!)… it could be simply a verbal agreement.

    whembly (86df54)

  308. NJRob —

    Has she done that outside of that stolen private journal?

    Y’know, ill people privately accuse a relative they want to hurt of child molestation quite often when it isn’t remotely true.

    But I figure you don’t care. You just have to put Biden on the same personal moral plane as Trump (or lower) because tribalism.

    Appalled (f46f37)

  309. @291

    Under the Napoleonic Code, neither Daniels nor Cohen would have been allowed to testify at all on the grounds of moral turpitude. And we’re talking about a place where the Chief of Police signs the search and arrest warrants and can hold a suspect in jail for up to sixty days on that signature.

    nk (269579) — 5/14/2024 @ 4:33 pm

    Are you being snarky, or are you actually condemning Judge Merchand for allowing this?

    If it’s the latter… should Judge Merchand face any consequences?

    whembly (86df54)

  310. I am not at all being snarky. I am sincerely condemning rules of evidence which allow scum like Daniels and Cohen to deprive another person of life, liberty, and property. They should not even be allowed inside the courtroom.

    I do not condemn Merchan. These are the rules. He has some discretion but he has to exercise it cautiously because the State cannot appeal a not guilty verdict.

    I condemn Bragg for basing his case on sewage.

    nk (6c45b4)

  311. @309 “It is utterly denied by Ms. Biden”

    Nervous, but I’ve always wanted to do this — Let’s fact check that with Snopes, Appalled. You like fact checks, right?

    lloyd (e0d644)

  312. lloyd:

    When did Snopes become the Daily Caller lloyd?

    Appalled (f46f37)

  313. @316. Appalled, to your credit, you’re not very good at playing dumb.

    lloyd (e0d644)

  314. It’s horrible, lloyd, the way some people simply refuse to believe things which are SO OBVIOUS. Why, even in the Third Reich, the GLORIOUS THIRD REICH, the Gestapo investigated fewer than 10% of the matters which were brought to their attention by concerned citizens. German citizens of pure Aryan blood! As few as 8% to 9%. SO UNFAIR!

    That was snark, whembly.

    nk (9c9389)

  315. Hey lloyd,

    If I were in your position and I had a snopes link — I would certainly rub it in my opponents face. Snopes is left leaning and admissions against partisan interest are often the most persuasive sources.

    However, since you think Tucker Carlson’s website is a great way to argue this point, why don’t you excerpt the arguments there? And my question is this — would anything there be from any other source than a diary whose writer claims has been misrepresented (and was stolen)?

    The link I used was provided by whembly. I’m playing fair.

    Appalled (f46f37)

  316. Only once did I have problem until I asked the problem “Do you fill lucky today.” I always regretted not adding well do you punk?

    I liked that movie when it came out. Seeing it again, some parts are just cringe-worthy. Times change and “Dirty Harry” has not aged well.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  317. Trump still losing 25% of vote to nikki haley in primary states today

    Haley got 20% in Maryland, 17% in NE, but only 9% in WV.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  318. @309

    whembly (#270):

    Ashley Biden wrote, in the link you provided:

    The point of the theft, I assume, was to be able to peddle grotesque lies by distroting my stream-of-consciousness thoughts…”Repeatedly, I hear others grossly misinterpret my once private writings and lob false accusatons that defame my character and those people I love.

    In other words, stop pushing the pedo angle (how very Q of you). It is utterly denied by Ms. Biden

    Hey, Appalled… lemme clue you in something.

    That’s called “spin”… and it doesn’t even make sense.

    Ashley left her dairy at a location for someone to pick it up and read it. There wasn’t some “Watergate-ish” break in that someone was looking for it to find dirt on the Bidens.

    The damning thing about this diary is this:
    1) It’s a contemporaneous account that describes how Ashley felt at the time.

    2) She recounts that she and her dad frequently took showers together.

    3) Most damning, she wrote that both her dad and herself may have been aroused whilst taking showers.

    4) The Biden administration acted very strangely throughout this whole ordeal… first it wasn’t hers, second it was a lie, third via Ashley’s lawyer, it was stated it was hers…and NOW, she’s affirmatively writing its hers without really making a strong defense.

    5) Now, could’ve Ashley fabricated the whole thing up in her diary for whatever reasons? Of course. But, they didn’t even start with that in the beginning. It was all obfuscation designed to protect Joe Biden.

    6) Now, adding this to the pile to things that we absolutely know is true – Joe Biden liked to skinny dip in front of female secret service members. Joe Biden was credibly accused of sexual assault from Tara Reid. Joe Biden is all weird, touchy-feely, hair-sniffer around younger women and girls.

    So, no, I won’t recalibrate if it assaults your sensibility: A vote for Joe Biden is voting for a pedophile in the Whitehouse. Hence, he’s now going to be herald as President Pedo™ from this forthwith.

    IIRC, you were an enthusiastic booster of the theory Joe Biden was collecting bribes fron Burisma. You know, the theory that was propagated by a CI who was really working for the Kremlin?

    No, that ‘theory’ was established way before the CI came in to picture.

    There’s a whole tapestry of evidence (hard and circumstantial) that Joe Biden was benefiting from his family’s corrupt business.

    The biggest evidence that you have yet addressed in all the time we’ve been debating is this:
    What was the deliverable his family was offering, that Joe Biden got 10% of the proceeds?

    You won’t answer or simply hand-wave it away… which undermines your credibility.

    I know you think Biden is the dog leavings you scrape from the sole of your shoe. However, you might want to salavage some of your credibility by sticking to the less exotic and trashy Biden conspiracy theories

    Appalled (f46f37) — 5/15/2024 @ 6:45 am

    lol.

    Keep defending President Pedo™.

    whembly (86df54)

  319. #318

    OK, thanks for the real link. Is a Daily Caller link sort of like being Rick rolled?

    Incidentally, it indicates that the diary is real (not something I disputed) but that Ms. Biden has claimed the diary was stream of consiousness and “repeatedly, I hear others grossly misinterpret my once private writings and lob false accusatons that defame my character and those people I love.”

    Appalled (88a1a3)

  320. @308: Police should club anyone to the ground who is blocking an organ delivery.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  321. @314

    I am not at all being snarky. I am sincerely condemning rules of evidence which allow scum like Daniels and Cohen to deprive another person of life, liberty, and property. They should not even be allowed inside the courtroom.

    I do not condemn Merchan. These are the rules. He has some discretion but he has to exercise it cautiously because the State cannot appeal a not guilty verdict.

    I condemn Bragg for basing his case on sewage.

    nk (6c45b4) — 5/15/2024 @ 7:22 am

    I gotchu.

    But, look at it from Bragg’s perspective… and even with some political bias from Judge Merchand..

    All that matters is getting a guilty verdict, which I’m absolutely convinced will happen. No matter how likely it’ll be successfully appealed.

    Forcing Trump to deal with the label that he’s a felon during the election is the game plan.

    What we’re witnessing is the ‘By Any Means Necessary’ calculous.

    whembly (86df54)

  322. I condemn Bragg for basing his case on sewage.

    And NY State for writing the rules that way. It’s becoming clear that NY has a number of laws and rules that make liberty tenuous if the State doesn’t like you.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  323. @319

    It’s horrible, lloyd, the way some people simply refuse to believe things which are SO OBVIOUS. Why, even in the Third Reich, the GLORIOUS THIRD REICH, the Gestapo investigated fewer than 10% of the matters which were brought to their attention by concerned citizens. German citizens of pure Aryan blood! As few as 8% to 9%. SO UNFAIR!

    That was snark, whembly.

    nk (9c9389) — 5/15/2024 @ 7:42 am

    🙂

    My snark-0-meter caught that one. 😉

    whembly (86df54)

  324. @316. Appalled, to your credit, you’re not very good at playing dumb.

    And lloyd is not very good at linking.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  325. Unexpectedly:

    LA Times:

    The shocking state of the restaurant industry: ‘We can’t afford to be open. We can’t afford to be closed.’

    In October, Lauren and Peter Lemos locked the doors of their Chinatown sandwich shop for what they thought would be the last time. In late March they flipped Wax Paper’s lights back on — not due to newfound success or a windfall but because they couldn’t afford to shut down.

    “After closing Chinatown we realized we still have our lease, we still have our [federal] loans from the SBA, from COVID, the bills are still coming in,” Lauren Lemos said. “We can’t even afford to close. We can’t afford to be open, we can’t afford to be closed.”

    Wax Paper’s husband-and-wife team are hardly the only ones facing economic crises. Interviews with more than two dozen chefs, restaurateurs, policymakers and advocacy groups revealed pointed concern over the state of the service industry, and questions of longevity — especially in light of 2023, a particularly difficult year for restaurants in Los Angeles.

    Restaurants are chancy anywhere, but when the city and state hates businesses like they do in CA, you should at least set it up as a corporation so you can BK it if you need to get out. Just ask Red Lobster.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  326. The most senior medical oncologist in Japan recently slammed the COVID-19 mRNA shots as “the work of evil” that has caused “essentially murder.”

    In an interview published April 19, Dr. Masanori Fukushima, who spearheaded the first cancer outpatient clinic at Kyoto University and launched the first course in pharmacoepidemiology there, listed a slew of problems with the COVID mRNA jabs, evidencing what he called an evil “abuse of science.”

    He pointed out that “turbo cancers,” a kind “previously unseen by doctors” that progress extremely quickly and are typically in stage four by the time they are diagnosed, have started to appear after the jab rollouts. These “turbo cancers” are emerging along with excess mortality due to cancer in general, which Fukushima says cannot be explained only by lost opportunities for screenings or treatment during the COVID outbreak.

    As a tragic example of the fatal danger of the COVID shots, the oncologist shared the story of a 28-year-old man who was found dead by his wife when she tried to wake him in the morning, five days after he received his second Pfizer shot.

    “The doctor who did the autopsy said that when he tried to remove the heart, it was soft and had disintegrated,” Fukushima said. “And even just one case like this shows how dangerous this vaccine can be.”

    He pointed out that these severe harms, including death, have been afflicting people – post-jab – who have a history of good health.

    “It’s serious. It’s essentially murder. In the end, I want to state clearly that this is my view,” the doctor said.

    He lamented that the media, including newspapers, generally have not reported on these harms, and that in fact those who question the safety of the COVID shots – just as with the flu shots – have been characterized as anti-science “heretics.” He described the attitude of those who shut down the voices COVID “vaccine” critics, however, as far from scientific, and “more akin to faith, hysteria or even cult behavior.”

    My guess here is that the messenger will be shot.

    BuDuh (4214e4)

  327. My guess here is that the messenger will be shot.

    For using anecdote and [wild] post hoc “reasoning”?

    He’s 80 and retired from all those prestigious posts and none of his comments are anything more than “he got the jab and then he died” anecdotes. He deserves to be criticized for this utter bullsh1t. As do the credulous people who accept this uncritically.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  328. whembly —

    You are going down the well-trod DCSCA path. Next come the movie quotes.

    I have a schizophrenic nephew who has written much like what Ashley Biden did in that diary; it really is all lies. I don’t know Ms. Biden’s mental state and neither do you. The smarter, less Q, less morally compromised approach is to accept what Ashley Biden has asked you to accept, and not make her diary the sport of the campaign and don’t waste brain cells supporting it.

    Look, even as a neverTrumper, I recognize there are a lot of reasons to oppose Biden. This isn’t one.

    Appalled (f46f37)

  329. But, again, let’s say that a vaccine that prevents 1000 deaths per million people causes 1 death in that same million. It’s still the odds bet for anyone, and medicine makes those calls all the time. A lot of folks die in surgery, but more would die without the surgery. Is surgery bad?

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  330. @333

    whembly —

    You are going down the well-trod DCSCA path. Next come the movie quotes.

    I have a schizophrenic nephew who has written much like what Ashley Biden did in that diary; it really is all lies. I don’t know Ms. Biden’s mental state and neither do you. The smarter, less Q, less morally compromised approach is to accept what Ashley Biden has asked you to accept, and not make her diary the sport of the campaign and don’t waste brain cells supporting it.

    Look, even as a neverTrumper, I recognize there are a lot of reasons to oppose Biden. This isn’t one.

    Appalled (f46f37) — 5/15/2024 @ 8:28 am

    No.

    That is playing the Marquess of Queensberry Rules™.

    It used to be that politician’s family is off limits.

    But, as something as serious about an alleged pedophile?

    MBIC man, it’s scorched earth time.

    But, keep on defending President Pedo™ if you want to keep your #NeverTrump credential.

    whembly (86df54)

  331. @329 I linked as intended. You’re just not very good at reading.

    lloyd (c9bdc5)

  332. @333 I’m going to take a wild guess that Ms. Biden wants her dad to be elected. So, I’m going to believe her raw private accounts instead of her carefully crafted public statements when they conflict. But, I don’t have a vested interest in her father’s success like some here.

    lloyd (edc058)

  333. @334

    But, again, let’s say that a vaccine that prevents 1000 deaths per million people causes 1 death in that same million. It’s still the odds bet for anyone, and medicine makes those calls all the time. A lot of folks die in surgery, but more would die without the surgery. Is surgery bad?

    Kevin M (a9545f) — 5/15/2024 @ 8:29 am

    Kevin, I’m not trying to antagonize you on this subject.

    But, that isn’t the point.

    In the world of healthy lifestyles and medicine, it’s really all about trade offs.

    This is drilled into prospective doctors and pharmacists.

    Lemme repeat that again:
    What’s the trade off?

    Classic example – a person has been diagnosed of idiopathic lung disease and is in need of a lung transplant. The trade off is this: you are effective trading the current disease (compromised lung) to another disease (transplanted lung, but now immunocompromised).

    Very rarely there are silver bullets.

    Public health officials failed to consider the tradeoffs in a way that created public controversies, that largely contributed to many of the non-compliance in public.

    Furthermore, public health officials were more arrogant, rather than having a modicum level of humility that added to the acrimony in public sphere.

    And now, many of these same public health officials are asking the public for some grace, even when they were wrong.

    Grace is not supposed to be earned in a transactional sense.

    Grace should be offered, even if it is undeserved.

    But people has lost a lot during the age of the mandates/lockdowns, and it’s human to struggle with offering grace to those whom where instrumental to those loses.

    I struggle with this daily, and pray for guidance.

    So, Kevin, my ask of you is this: recognize that to be human, is to err. There are faults to identify during the age of mandates/lockdowns. While on the one hand, you can state the whole ordeal was a public “net positive”, or however you’d score it. But, please have some grace to those who has experienced loss due to the mandates/lockdowns.

    whembly (86df54)

  334. #335

    I’m not quite sure whether you are saying that bringing down Biden is so important that any charge I against him is ok by you or the charge itself is so serious that you are morally obliged to use it as a political cudgel. Whatever. Both make you a microphone for whatever dubious accusations you pick up in your internet browsing.

    The truth is Ashley Biden wrote stuff in a diary she now says is “stream of consciousness” and misinterpreted, and we know her to be an unreliable narrator in a very bad place. Pretty slim reed for your hyper Q charges. Remember that rules of decency often serve to protect those who would like to overthrow them. Because your own arguments are devalued when you start going manic on this stuff.

    Appalled (759701)

  335. @339

    Appalled (759701) — 5/15/2024 @ 9:14 am

    “hyper Q charges. ”

    Talking like this renders your positions to be nothing more than gossips.

    whembly (86df54)

  336. As i have said above, if there is evidence that the musings of Ashely Biden are a) contemporaneous and true or b) fantasies placed down on paper and that a) she deliberately left the diary to be found or b) merely lost it, should be investigated by the House Judiciary and/or Oversight Committees. Ashley Biden needs to be put under oath, in public, on television, to confirm or deny the accusations against the President.

    Why haven’t the Committees pursued an investigation-to not do so means they are derelict in their duty.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  337. There’s a whole tapestry of evidence (hard and circumstantial) that Joe Biden was benefiting from his family’s corrupt business.

    Then why has the Republican House not impeached the President?

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  338. @341

    As i have said above, if there is evidence that the musings of Ashely Biden are a) contemporaneous

    Ashely claims they are contemporaneous in court.

    and true or b) fantasies placed down on paper and that a)

    Ashely only claims they’re of “stream of conciousness”… which isn’t any better.

    she deliberately left the diary to be found or b) merely lost it,

    she claimed she lost it.

    should be investigated by the House Judiciary and/or Oversight Committees. Ashley Biden needs to be put under oath, in public, on television, to confirm or deny the accusations against the President.

    Why haven’t the Committees pursued an investigation-to not do so means they are derelict in their duty.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/15/2024 @ 9:33 am

    Two reasons:
    1) Ashely Biden would have to testify against her father.
    2) I understand the hesitation to the idea to forcing her under subpoena if she’s unwilling.

    whembly (86df54)

  339. Why haven’t the Committees pursued an investigation (into Ashley Biden’s diary)-to not do so means they are derelict in their duty.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/15/2024 @ 9:33 am

    To answer my own question, because the committees are treating the accusations with the credibility they deserve.

    Rip Murdock (5c27ec)

  340. @342

    Then why has the Republican House not impeached the President?

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/15/2024 @ 9:35 am

    Because there are political realities you cannot ignore.

    There’s self-interest here for some of the moderates who wants to keep their job, in an extremely slim majority.

    But that doesn’t mean we cant discuss this in the ‘court of public’ sphere.

    whembly (86df54)

  341. Two reasons:
    1) Ashely Biden would have to testify against her father.
    2) I understand the hesitation to the idea to forcing her under subpoena if she’s unwilling.

    whembly (86df54) — 5/15/2024 @ 9:52 am

    1. So what? If he abused her voters should know.

    2. So what again-witnesses are compelled to testify against their will all the time.

    Rip Murdock (9557dc)

  342. #340

    I use the word “hyper Q” to describe what you think ought to be in the public sphere. I use it because this is a conspiracy theory based on an accusation of pedophelia. I find the willingness of operatives to trumpet this thing utterly vile. Ashley Biden did nothing to deserve you and the gutter right attempting to make political hay out of this. Y’know, if the Project Veritas people wouldn’t run with this thing, it’s really got to be from the sewer.

    But, hey. I am just hopelessly Marquis of Queensbury. And you? Well, trust the Plan.

    Appalled (f46f37)

  343. “Look, even as a neverTrumper, I recognize there are a lot of reasons to oppose Biden. This isn’t one.”

    Hyper-partisans peddling false equivalencies so the specter of porn-star encounters and playmate affairs can be rationalized away. As you say, there are lots of reasons to be even angered that DEMs are renominating someone who is the poster child for doddering, but worrying that Biden is a closet sex pervert seems weirdly misplaced. How about authentically worrying about the guy who actually popped into the changing room of Ms. America contests, is on tape claiming he gets to grab women by the p*ssy, talked inappropriately about the attractiveness of his own daughter to Howard Stern, and was found liable for sexual assault. But that’s not what’s done here….

    AJ_Liberty (5f05c3)

  344. @348 Appalled (f46f37) — 5/15/2024 @ 10:07 am
    Going to call BS on this.

    The press went ballistics on how Don Trump sexualizes his daughter Ivanka. Just do some cursory googlefu and the press is still talking about it.

    Don’t you think if it was Ivanka’s diary and she was talking about her father and incest it would be covered 24/7 on all networks?

    Of course it would.

    Keep on defending your pedo President.

    whembly (86df54)

  345. @348 AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 5/15/2024 @ 10:12 am
    Hey AJ… thanks for making my point.

    😀

    whembly (86df54)

  346. #349

    And keep remembering to trust the plan. And don’t let your kids go into the basement at that pizza place.

    Appalled (f46f37)

  347. @351 And don’t trust fact checks, or just pretend they don’t exist because you’re being Rick rolled by an embedded link.

    lloyd (24762d)

  348. @351

    #349

    And keep remembering to trust the plan. And don’t let your kids go into the basement at that pizza place.

    Appalled (f46f37) — 5/15/2024 @ 10:29 am

    Hey…another post w/o address my points.

    Oh well.

    Keep defending President Pedo™!

    whembly (86df54)

  349. Bragg’s case is weak in supporting Cohen’s claim that Trump specifically knew that legal fees were being misrepresented. There’s circumstantial evidence and quite reasonable inferences based on Trump’s micromanagement style with regards to finances…but is it beyond a reasonable doubt? If Trump primarily surrounds himself with shady figures, how can we complain that that’s who will have first-hand knowledge?

    Personally, much of Trump’s extemporaneous comments suggest that he did in fact consider the repayment as legal fees and viewed the matter as being a misdemeanor. For whatever their value those comments demonstrate in my view admissions. His only qualm is the elevation to a felony…which Patterico laid out 3 possible arguments. The statute might be poorly framed and open to abuse, but by the letter he’s likely guilty.

    It remains sad that this is the trial the nation gets to observe, rather than the classified documents obstruction or the conspiracy to disrupt a congressional proceeding. Those are much more relevant to accountability of Trump to the Office of the Presidency….and much more of a public cleansing. But we see that our justice system could not get that done…and we’re stuck with Bragg’s case and all its warts…and the continued horrible division that the entire affair entails. The conclusion is to not nominate such a flawed individual…it’s sad that this conclusion has not been embraced…

    AJ_Liberty (5f05c3)

  350. #349 & 353

    1. You assume a hypothetical that is not in evidence to justify what you are doing.

    2. The comments Trump made on a nationally syndicated radio show re Ivanka are what are getting chewed over.

    3. Unlike Hunter, Ashley has avoided the public eye and in no way asked for this. The document used to justify this is of highly questionable accuracy, according to its own author.

    You know all this. But you have to follow the Plan. Trust the Plan.

    Appalled (f46f37)

  351. Some tentative good news: (If that’s all right with most of you.)

    In Tuesday’s New York Times I found this article, “Sickle Cell Cure Brings Mix of Anxiety and Hope”. which begins as follows:

    WASHINGTON – This month, Kendric Cromer, a 12-year-old boy from a suburb of Washington, became the first person in the world with sickle cell disease to begin a commercially approved gene therapy that may cure he condition.

    I knew that there had been a few successful experiments, but did not realize that enough progress had been made so that there is now a (very expensive) commercial treatment available. (With enough successes, I would expect the cost to fall.)

    Sickle cell is a horrible disease, affecting about 20,000 in the US, and millions elsewhere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sickle_cell_disease

    Jim Miller (870dc5)

  352. Oops! Linked to the wrong article. Here’s the correct one. The title, in my print copy is: “Hope for Sickle Cell Gene Therapy”.

    Jim Miller (870dc5)

  353. I don’t know Ms. Biden’s mental state and neither do you.

    That’s a really weak argument.

    A lot of women who were sexually abused are in therapy. Does that mean they are crazy? To say that crazy people write stuff should not imply that people who write that stuff are all crazy.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  354. So, Kevin, my ask of you is this: recognize that to be human, is to err

    mRNA vaccines are so incredibly important to future cures of currently intractable diseases that specious attacks based on “My cousin told me” anecdotes need to be repressed as soon as possible. Otherwise people who haven’t a clue about what it all means will start believing them. Like Andrew Wakefield’s “MMR and autism” fraud.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  355. I use it because this is a conspiracy theory based on an accusation of pedophelia

    Actually, the conspiracy theory happens to be yours (“Q-Anon is conspiring to accuse the President…)

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  356. but worrying that Biden is a closet sex pervert seems weirdly misplaced. How about authentically worrying about the guy who actually popped into the changing room of Ms. America contests, is on tape claiming he gets to grab women by the p*ssy, talked inappropriately about the attractiveness of his own daughter to Howard Stern, and was found liable for sexual assault.

    I can look at those things independently. It’s not that Trump didn’t do those things … he did, and it’s how he rolls. It’s that Biden is creepy and secretive about his creepiness.

    Hugh Hefner vs Woody Allen. Both are repulsive, but one is also yuk.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  357. “Sickle Cell Cure Brings Mix of Anxiety and Hope”.

    Some people who have long lived with the disease say they worry about living as a healthy person

    This reminds me of the young gay men who take no precautions about AIDS because they don’t want to be different.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  358. Question: What does Europe do if Ukraine is in real danger of collapse? Russia is surging for victory. Do Poland or Germany intervene?

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  359. There’s no conspiracy about Pedo Joe. He was accused of abuse in a diary by his daughter. The plain language of the document makes that clear. The document has been verified to be hers.

    Like Hunter Biden’s laptop, the interference is meant to muddy the water and prevent people from seeing the documentation that exists.

    Carry on carrying water for the pedo.

    NJRob (b0dc2d)

  360. @359

    So, Kevin, my ask of you is this: recognize that to be human, is to err

    mRNA vaccines are so incredibly important to future cures of currently intractable diseases that specious attacks based on “My cousin told me” anecdotes need to be repressed as soon as possible. Otherwise people who haven’t a clue about what it all means will start believing them. Like Andrew Wakefield’s “MMR and autism” fraud.

    Kevin M (a9545f) — 5/15/2024 @ 11:22 am

    Look, I agree with you 100% that the mRNA vaccines is going to be important!

    But, again, that’s not what I’m talking about.

    I’m talking about how our public officials behaved during the pandemic.

    whembly (86df54)

  361. @363

    Question: What does Europe do if Ukraine is in real danger of collapse? Russia is surging for victory. Do Poland or Germany intervene?

    Kevin M (a9545f) — 5/15/2024 @ 11:39 am

    Poland? Probably.

    Germany? …they’ll be drugged screaming into the conflict imo.

    Problem is: Poland is in NATO. What does that mean?

    whembly (86df54)

  362. Problem is: Poland is in NATO. What does that mean?

    Indeed. What is NATO’s reaction to missiles hitting Warsaw?

    A. War.

    B. It’s your own damn fault.

    But with Germany (or France) it would be different.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  363. Bonus question:

    Trump has always complained that Europe wasn’t stepping up. What would he say if they DID step up?

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  364. Trump would take credit for it Kevin. He’d say he told them they have to step up or else.

    NJRob (b0dc2d)

  365. So, you argue for consistency?

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  366. The Emperor’s New Clothes

    Unlike the story, there are critics.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  367. Biden and Trump agree to some debates according to tweets written by Trump and someone on Biden’s staff pretending to be Biden.

    Appalled Trigger Warning: Daily Caller link.

    Biden (Ed note: his staffer) suggested that Trump and himself face off in two televised debates, one in June and one in September, though the president said he will not participate in an event put on by the Commission on Presidential Debates, according to the NYT. The president also said he did not want to debate in front of a live audience, rather his team wants the debates held in a television studio to avoid the reaction from in-person viewers.

    Uh huh. Why exclude the Commission, you ask?

    The Biden campaign also wrote that they wanted to keep the forum to two candidates, excluding independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy, the NYT reported. If the debates were handled by the Commission on Presidential Debates, Kennedy has potential to reach the 15% polling threshold, the qualifying number to be on the stage.

    lloyd (86e4aa)

  368. The Ashley Biden diary is not enough to prove anything (except among true believers)-now if she told contemporaries of the abuse, that would make her accusations more credible. The fact that the House hasn’t included the allegations in its impeachment proceedings is telling that they don’t believe them either.

    The fact Comer allowed MTG to parade Hunter Biden’s nude photos without objection belies any claim about salacious allegations being off limits.

    Rip Murdock (9557dc)

  369. Kennedy will probably sue the networks.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  370. Rip Murdock (9557dc) — 5/15/2024 @ 12:46 pm

    That is why hearings are needed.

    Rip Murdock (9557dc)

  371. #358

    As noted above, I have a nephew who is diagnosed schizophrenic. Part of that craziness is a propensity to accuse multiple relatives and family members of molesting him. (You know, mpthers, sisters, aunts. He left the male family members alone, but of course we knew and covered it up) This reached the level of lawyers getting involved and learning that a lot of troubled people do make charges of molestation because they perceive it as being the charge that will get attention. The lawyer I had to engage kind of laughed about it.

    A lot of you seem to have a personal hate for Biden. Frankly, that’s making a lot of you stupid. It’s the right’s version of “believe all women”. It’s “believe all people who have something nasty to say about Joe.”

    Appalled (f46f37)

  372. So I’ve mentioned that I think Trump is going to be convicted on this hush payment NY trial.

    I think that’s why Trump agreed so quickly to take up on Biden’s debate demand, and to have the 1st debate in June (with 2nd in Sept)…

    …I think he’s trying to make it hard for this judge to sentence him in jail upon conviction this month by claiming that he would be interfering with the election if he is remanded in custody.

    Could the judge still sentence Trump, but “stay” (if I’m using the terminology right) it pending appeal?

    whembly (86df54)

  373. @376

    A lot of you seem to have a personal hate for Biden. Frankly, that’s making a lot of you stupid. It’s the right’s version of “believe all women”. It’s “believe all people who have something nasty to say about Joe.”

    Appalled (f46f37) — 5/15/2024 @ 1:21 pm

    My brother in Christ…

    I will gladly carry the hate banner against Biden.

    Biden deserves all my hate, particularly for encouraging the southern border crisis that allowed fentanyl to pour into the country that killed one of my son’s best friend, and another acquaintance in his circle.

    Hate is not a strong enough word.

    whembly (86df54)

  374. #378

    Understood.

    One thing — please beware of falling in with the Trumpian tendency towards slandering of the innocents and dragging them into an unwanted spotlight. Ms. Biden has nothing to offer the national coversation and just wants to be left alone.

    Appalled (f46f37)

  375. Appalled,

    I am sorry to hear about your cousin, but that has no bearing on what Biden’s daughter’s journal suggests.

    More meaningful, but not decisive, are her comments about her journal in her recent letter. She does not appear from that letter to be anything other than embarrassed that it was published and defensive regarding how the contents have been used. I do not think it is helpful to project schizophrenia onto her to explain her writings away.

    If this was the first thing to suggest that Biden has boundary issues with women, I’d say it was just a recovery journal (and I am not happy that such was published no matter what it said). Such journals often contain exaggerations or even metaphorical fantasy. But this isn’t the only data point. The man is handsy.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  376. @379

    #378

    Understood.

    One thing — please beware of falling in with the Trumpian tendency towards slandering of the innocents and dragging them into an unwanted spotlight. Ms. Biden has nothing to offer the national coversation and just wants to be left alone.

    Appalled (f46f37) — 5/15/2024 @ 2:01 pm

    Ms. Biden accidently leaving deeply personal dairy to be made public is very unfortunate.

    I’m sure she doesn’t want to relive it in a very public sphere.

    However, once it’s been validated that it’s her, you cannot put the toothpaste back into the tube.

    Combined with the hair-sniffing, inappropriate touchy, a$$h0le of a President makes it far more likely than not, that Joe Biden is at best, an incestuous-adjacent creep to at worst, a pedo.

    So. No. If we’re all playing this game where we’re cavalierly apply hyperbolic statements, such as Trump is a “iNsUrReCtIoNiSt” or Trump “tried to steal the election!”….

    …then, please forgive me when I now address Joe Biden as President Pedo™.

    whembly (86df54)

  377. #380

    And I would be careful about this data point coming from a private journal obtained in a disreputable fashion. The woman does have admitted substance abuse issues (I’m not projecting schizophrenia on her, ffs) and she has no desire to come into the public eye.

    Appalled (f46f37)

  378. 378. whembly (86df54) — 5/15/2024 @ 1:37 pm

    particularly for encouraging the southern border crisis that allowed fentanyl to pour into the country that killed one of my son’s best friend, and another acquaintance in his circle.

    Now wait a second. How did that do that?

    fentanyl is killing people because amateurs are getting into the drug business, which may be partly the fault of the cartels since they may be selling fentanyl (and pill pressing machines) to just about anyone in Mexico or even in the United States.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNfSPdwTQ14

    And some buyers produce things that kill their customers (not that even reliable knowledge of just what something sold contains is safe, as the tolerance level may change particularly for someone who just got out of rehab, so that was before his or her regular dose is now fatal unless counteracted in time.)

    And it is hard to say just what changes (and not changes) made that more likely. Maybe like some Republicans say, the U.S> miliary should bomb known fentanyl processing places.

    The drugs themselves are smuggled across the border by people with a legal right to cross it, since drug sellers don’t want to increase their risk.

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  379. Hey whembly,

    Trump did ask our Secretary of State to come up with more votes here in Georgia. (It’s on tape!) So I think “Trump tried to steal the elction” isn’t that big a stretch. One of these days, Jack Smith may get the opportunity to address the insurrectionist piece. Pity he won’t be able to get to it before the election.

    Appalled (f46f37)

  380. whembly (86df54) — 5/15/2024 @ 2:23 pm

    However, once it’s been validated that it’s her, you cannot put the toothpaste back into the tube.

    That’s exactly what they were and can do.

    The diary was not abandoned but stolen.

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  381. whembly: let’s all stipulate that we have two no-good, very very bad, horrible, terrible, make-us-all-wanna-vomit major choices for Prez in 2024. 🙂

    I don’t know what America did to deserve this, but here we are.

    Then there’s RFKJr who’s major selling point seems to be “elect me, I’m new and improved, now with 25% less insanity and brain worms!”

    qdpsteve again (0d474c)

  382. Appalled (f46f37) — 5/15/2024 @ 2:35 pm

    Trump did ask our Secretary of State to come up with more votes here in Georgia. (It’s on tape!)

    He misspoke. He meant find invalid votes. And he stayed in character all the time, saying that there were invalid votes to be found.

    So I think “Trump tried to steal the election” isn’t that big a stretch.

    You could say that. He tried in a number of ways, but they were all long shots and depended on people helping him, which they would not.

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  383. @383 Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb) — 5/15/2024 @ 2:32 pm
    Ever since Joe Biden became POTUS, the US have seen record increases of both interdiction of fentanyl smugglers and the GOT AWAYS presumingly smuggling contrabands.

    whembly (86df54)

  384. @386

    whembly: let’s all stipulate that we have two no-good, very very bad, horrible, terrible, make-us-all-wanna-vomit major choices for Prez in 2024. 🙂

    I don’t know what America did to deserve this, but here we are.

    Then there’s RFKJr who’s major selling point seems to be “elect me, I’m new and improved, now with 25% less insanity and brain worms!”

    qdpsteve again (0d474c) — 5/15/2024 @ 2:37 pm

    Sure… I’ve always stipulated that. 😉

    I mean, are you wrong abour RFKjr? 😀

    whembly (86df54)

  385. The GOT AWYS Are not smuggling contraband just themselves.

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  386. @390

    The GOT AWYS Are not smuggling contraband just themselves.

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb) — 5/15/2024 @ 2:44 pm

    And you know this… how?

    We do know that the cartels controls when the group of illegals are sent to the border, and it’s done strategically to overwhelm border staff so that they can then send other smugglers at undefended portions of the border.

    whembly (86df54)

  387. How about authentically worrying about the guy who actually popped into the changing room of Ms. America contests […]

    AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 5/15/2024 @ 10:12 am

    Miss Teen America. (Miss Teen USA, actually, but that’s a nitpick.)

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  388. Both the people who seize upon Ashley Biden’s diary and the people who scrutinized Brett Kavanaugh’s high school yearbook are tribalists looking for poo to fling.

    norcal (0ddd34)

  389. And I would be careful about this data point coming from a private journal obtained in a disreputable fashion

    There are two things here: how it was obtained and published, and the contents. I well understand how Ms Biden is upset. I went though a similar process once.

    As far as journalistic ethics are concerned, abandoned property is usually fair game and that’s what this is. When a GOP consultant’s laptop is left in a cab, the news media has no issue with perusing it. When Hunter leaves his dick pics on an abandoned laptop, the flipping CIA runs interference. The NY Times sniffs are such information, then crowd-sources Wikileaks data dumps or Governor Palin’s personal emails.

    This campaign is going to get far dirtier than this, and it’s not Biden which a hostile locality in a hostile state has hauled up on exaggerated charges. And no, I don’t buy the “he’s guilty of something else so this is fair” propaganda.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  390. Trump did ask our Secretary of State to come up with more votes here in Georgia. (It’s on tape!) So I think “Trump tried to steal the elction” isn’t that big a stretch. One of these days, Jack Smith may get the opportunity to address the insurrectionist piece. Pity he won’t be able to get to it before the election.

    All this is true. But jailing a candidate on trumped up charges is FAR WORSE than anything that Trump did in 2021. I hate Trump, but I will be out in the street protesting, too. And you should be too.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  391. Sometimes I think that our nation’s problems are so terrible that no one with an ounce of sense wants to get near the job. Then I realize that it’s just that our two-party system is broken and no one with an ounce of sense CAN get near the job.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  392. But jailing a candidate on trumped up charges is FAR WORSE than anything that Trump did in 2021. I hate Trump, but I will be out in the street protesting, too. And you should be too.

    Kevin M (a9545f) — 5/15/2024 @ 4:30 pm

    Our host doesn’t think the charges in New York are trumped up. I hear he’s a pretty good prosecutor.

    norcal (0ddd34)

  393. Patterico, that is

    norcal (0ddd34)

  394. Our host doesn’t think the charges in New York are trumped up. I hear he’s a pretty good prosecutor.

    With the normal prosecutor’s bias. I would not want 12 prosecutors on my jury. But that’s really not the point. If you want a peaceful transition of power, you CAN NOT play these games with charges like these. We don’t do this here.

    Yeah, I know that he did a number of things that he SHOULD be prosecuted for, but placeholder charges that are mostly crap will be the end of us.

    We even wrote a protection for Congressmen into our constitution to prevent certain kinds of political prosecution. The idea that the president was off limits to local charges was part of that line of thought. I can see opening up that box for the Georgia charges, but these charges are LITERALLY trumped up (misdemeanor -> felony, because we can).

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  395. Kevin M (a9545f) — 5/15/2024 @ 4:52 pm

    If it’s just prosecutorial bias, then I would expect this jury (which doesn’t have 12 prosecutors on it to my knowledge) to be a check on that.

    I can’t help but think that these cases are unprecedented because Trump himself is so unprecedented.

    norcal (0ddd34)

  396. @381 Trump strait up tried to steal the election through a scheme based on false accusations of fraud.

    Time123 (7cb091)

  397. Trump strait up tried to steal the election through a scheme based on false accusations of fraud.

    Time123 (7cb091) — 5/15/2024 @ 5:09 pm

    Yes, and Trump even claimed fraud when losing to Ted Cruz in the 2016 Iowa primary!

    https://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/trump-cruz-stole-iowa-tweet-deleted-218674

    Why people don’t dismiss this grifting clown I’ll never know.

    norcal (3a285b)

  398. @402 he voices their feelings of persecution and grievance well and gets the attention for it they can’t.

    Time123 (7cb091)

  399. @381 Trump strait up tried to steal the election through a scheme based on false accusations of fraud.

    And if this NY case stops Trump from being able to campaign, they will be stealing it themselves. Straight up.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  400. Why people don’t dismiss this grifting clown I’ll never know.

    They may have, but they’ve also dismissed the other grifting clown. The argument that Biden’s not anywhere as near as bad a grifter as Trump just doesn’t cut it with everyone. Particularly since their grifter is far more attuned to their needs.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  401. The argument that Biden’s not anywhere as near as bad a grifter as Trump just doesn’t cut it with everyone.

    Kevin M (a9545f) — 5/15/2024 @ 5:40 pm

    No, but it should.

    Emotions over reason.

    norcal (0ddd34)

  402. Ms. Biden accidently leaving deeply personal dairy to be made public is very unfortunate.

    I’m sure she doesn’t want to relive it in a very public sphere.

    Sadly, she will need to do so to confirm what her diary says. Merely acknowledging that it’s hers is not evidence of the truth what it says. The House needs to call her to testify (whether voluntarily or not) during public hearings.

    Rip Murdock (5c27ec)

  403. Rip Murdock (5c27ec) — 5/15/2024 @ 7:46 pm

    Comer should include her allegations in his criminal referrals to the Trump Justice Department.

    Rip Murdock (5c27ec)

  404. ………..
    Fentanyl is primarily trafficked by U.S. citizens. The U.S. Sentencing Commission publishes data on all federal convictions, which includes demographic information on individuals convicted of fentanyl trafficking. Figure 1 shows the citizenship status of fentanyl traffickers for 2018 to 2022. Every year, U.S. citizens receive the most convictions by far. In 2022, U.S. citizens accounted for 89 percent of fentanyl trafficking convictions compared to just 8.9 percent for illegal immigrants.
    …………
    …………(T)he reality is that people with U.S. citizenship or residence traffic the vast majority of fentanyl, not illegal border crossers specifically or illegal immigrants generally.
    ………….
    That U.S. citizens account for most fentanyl trafficking convictions is not surprising given the location of fentanyl border seizures. In 2023, 93 percent of fentanyl border seizures occurred at legal border crossings and interior vehicle checkpoints (and 91 percent of drug seizures at checkpoints are from U.S. citizens—only 4 percent by “potentially removable” immigrants). ……….
    …………….

    Source

    Rip Murdock (9557dc)

  405. Rip Murdock (9557dc) — 5/15/2024 @ 8:08 pm

    Yes. I’ve always been suspicious of claims that people entering the U.S. illegally are also bringing drugs. Nope. Just themselves.

    It helps to whip up hysteria if you link the two, however.

    norcal (3a285b)

  406. Kennedy will probably sue the networks.

    Kevin M (a9545f) — 5/15/2024 @ 12:49 pm

    He can certainly do that, but whether it would be successful is an open question. The nets would probably argue that under the First Amendment they cannot be compelled to have someone on their debate stage they don’t want.

    Rip Murdock (9557dc)

  407. norcal (3a285b) — 5/15/2024 @ 8:25 pm

    Never let facts get in the way of an argument.

    Rip Murdock (9557dc)

  408. Yes. I’ve always been suspicious of claims that people entering the U.S. illegally are also bringing drugs. Nope. Just themselves.

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R0L7NK6FBP4

    BuDuh (4214e4)

  409. @310 democrat party hacks like the d.n.c. should have impeached clinton and gore would have been president instead of vietnam war draft dodger bush. The best thing that could happen is they join republicans and impeach biden and senate convicts. Party hacks are to corrupt for their own good.

    asset (aa0957)

  410. Debate rules favor trump as he will be cut off when he starts thought streaming. Also it will allow senile joe biden to ramble on uninterrupted.

    asset (aa0957)

  411. No, but it should.

    Emotions over reason.

    No. Not that at all. Trump IS far more attuned to their needs. I know people say that “oh, he’s just a fraud and he never did anything for them” but that’s just not true.

    1. The tax cut. If you lived in those red states and didn’t itemize your taxes, you made out quite well. Some people no longer pay any federal income tax because of it. The huge standard deduction and child credits were extremely good for the working and middle class. The UPPER middle class and two-earner professionals in the blue states got the shaft, but they aren’t his constituents.

    2. The trade war with China. It has bipartisan support and Biden has doubled down on it. It is bringing jobs back to America.

    3. The pressure on corporations to stop offshoring. Part of this was unintentional during the pandemic, and part of it was the corporate tax cut which allowed foreign profits to be repatriated. Again, jobs coming back, and Biden has doubled down on this with industrial policy.

    4. Immigration blockades. These helped American tradesmen keep their heads above water. Biden blew them away and is finding he needs to put them all back. He will go back to “Remain in Mexico” very soon.

    5. Drill baby drill. The US is the world’s largest energy producer. Biden wants to undo that.

    Are these Reagan’s libertarian-lite policies? No. But then those had gone on too long anyway and had hollowed out large parts of America into service jobs and government work while the manufacturing and, lately, the hi-tech jobs went overseas.

    Trump’s biggest problem by far was Trump. Still is. But trying to convince people who benefited from his policies and are being undermined or grudgingly continued by Biden, who wants to replace it all with central planning and overbgearing statism.

    If Trump were a sane person, he would have been re-elected in a landslide. IF he hadn’t gone completely nuts after losing, he’d be a shoo-in after Biden’s terrible, no good, awful 4 years.

    It’s not emotions. It’s cold hard reason.

    But Trump, is, well, nuts. That’s an issue. I don’t think it will be enough of one.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  412. He can certainly do that, but whether it would be successful is an open question. The nets would probably argue that under the First Amendment they cannot be compelled to have someone on their debate stage they don’t want.

    Yes. All of that. Then again, “public airwaves” and the public interest. CNN will have a better argument than ABC. There is also the issue of being a founding member of the OSCE, which pledged (among other things) free and open elections where all candidates had access to the media and voters.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  413. Yes. I’ve always been suspicious of claims that people entering the U.S. illegally are also bringing drugs. Nope. Just themselves.

    You are right of course. But porous borders pose several problems.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  414. But porous borders pose several problems.

    Kevin M (a9545f) — 5/15/2024 @ 10:45 pm

    Hi Mr. Preacher. My name is The Choir.

    I’m very upset at Biden’s immigration policies. Not just at the border, but interior enforcement as well.

    norcal (0f4e20)

  415. You are not biden’s core voters. Black women, latina women, liberal white women, asian women, progressives/millennials/gen x/z and as much minority men as he can. Never trumpers and neo-cons are an auxiliary.

    asset (aa0957)

  416. Asset, I commend you for dropping the “latinx”. Even Latinos don’t like the term.

    norcal (0f4e20)

  417. I used latina because I was talking about women. Some of the DEI is going to far “pregnant person” or defund the police. Its a pendulum it swings to far one way then swings back to where it should. I grew up poor and was treated just slightly better then black people as I didn’t look to native american as I was only part even though I was an Okie. (see grapes of wrath movie) So I have very little white guilt as I grew up close to the same way. I consider myself and proudly tell others that I am NON-ignorant southern white trash and part native american.

    asset (aa0957)

  418. Emotions over reason.

    Emotion is a survival trait. In the absence of omniscience, reason is a poor tool. In the absence of both knowledge and intelligence, it is a dangerous tool.

    I don’t like or trust Trump (to put it mildly). Biden does not make my skin crawl.

    Nobody made me the overseer of the fate of Mankind. For that little part of the world over which I will have control for a moment, my ballot, I will let my fingers go where they are less reluctant to go to.

    nk (577204)

  419. “It’s not emotions. It’s cold hard reason.”

    No, it’s partisanship. Most here would prefer a GOP President because we prefer low taxes, less regulation, consistent law enforcement, and a muscular foreign policy. The opposite is generally portrayed as the end of country, possibly even the world. But we survived Bill Clinton, Obama, and one term of Biden.

    I would also argue that a tariff war with China is not great policy. Google it and there’s unusual consensus between right and left that Trump’s tariffs have depressed jobs in this country. It’s protectionism and for every job protected, two are made less secure by retaliation and increased costs to the consumer and through the supply chain.

    The GOP has to get back to valuing character and intellect. That doesn’t happen if you vote for Trump to get a tax cut (that by the way doesn’t pay for itself and digs the debt hole just a bit deeper). We should want individuals who make tough decisions, not self-serving decisions and reckless decisions.

    Biden will not yank us out of NATO. He won’t wonder to his Defense Secretary whether we should pull out of South Korea….or about pre-emptively nuking Iran. Biden is wrong about most domestic questions, but thankfully the President has the least ability to act unilaterally in that arena. Stop trying to scare us with filibuster nonsense. We can survive dumb Title IX policy and foolish loan forgiveness. Add in immigration and the GOP wins a national election going away. Afghanistan, inflation, and crime add to Biden’s misery.

    But the election is about competency. Donald Trump is incompetent. He allowed a blow-up at the Capitol because he was throwing a tantrum. He took classified documents and obstructed their return for no good reason. He blackmailed Ukraine to blatantly self deal. This is not an individual who cares about the Office or about what’s best for the country. Biden is a mess but he’s boring in THAT regard.

    Hey, if people want to sit out the election, I understand it, but one of these two WILL be Commander In Chief. It ain’t going to be RFK or Jill Stein….and we won’t be administering the oath of office to None of the Above. The GOP must get the message that as unhinged and hyper-pasrtisan as Talk Radio, Fox, and Tucker are, we can’t allow unhinged candidates. Stop being monetized zombies. Trump has to be a non-starter…and as big of a loss as possible is the only message we should send to the GOP….

    AJ_Liberty (c8043e)

  420. @409

    ………..
    Fentanyl is primarily trafficked by U.S. citizens. The U.S. Sentencing Commission publishes data on all federal convictions, which includes demographic information on individuals convicted of fentanyl trafficking. Figure 1 shows the citizenship status of fentanyl traffickers for 2018 to 2022. Every year, U.S. citizens receive the most convictions by far. In 2022, U.S. citizens accounted for 89 percent of fentanyl trafficking convictions compared to just 8.9 percent for illegal immigrants.
    …………
    …………(T)he reality is that people with U.S. citizenship or residence traffic the vast majority of fentanyl, not illegal border crossers specifically or illegal immigrants generally.
    ………….
    That U.S. citizens account for most fentanyl trafficking convictions is not surprising given the location of fentanyl border seizures. In 2023, 93 percent of fentanyl border seizures occurred at legal border crossings and interior vehicle checkpoints (and 91 percent of drug seizures at checkpoints are from U.S. citizens—only 4 percent by “potentially removable” immigrants). ……….
    …………….

    Source

    Rip Murdock (9557dc) — 5/15/2024 @ 8:08 pm

    That’s what’s been caught. As in, already interdicted and NOT put in the supply chain.

    SO, where the are the remaining illicit fentanyl coming from?

    The answer is that it’s made in Mexico.

    So, how does the cartel get it into the US?

    By sneaking across the border.

    So, when the border agents/security infrastructure are overwhelmed with handling the influx of illegal immigrants, it allows the cartels to move the products across the border unscathed.

    So, please, stop spinning so hard for President Pedo’s immigration policies.

    whembly (86df54)

  421. Oh…
    https://www.nationalreview.com/news/exclusive-former-top-public-health-official-admits-covid-origins-not-settled-no-science-to-back-social-distance-guidance/

    The nation’s top public health official during the Covid-19 pandemic admitted that the origins of the coronavirus remain up for debate, the lab-leak theory is not a conspiracy, and there was no scientific evidence to support the government’s social-distancing guidance.

    whembly (86df54)

  422. #426

    Since that article was paywalled, did the public health official say where the whole social distancing thing came from? (Remember, when this started, we were afraid to bring outside groceries into the house, and having to deep clean everything).

    In an emergency — you have to trust somebody and something.

    Appalled (7bd590)

  423. whembly (86df54) — 5/16/2024 @ 7:26 am

    So, when the border agents/security infrastructure are overwhelmed with handling the influx of illegal immigrants, it allows the cartels to move the products across the border unscathed.

    That would be at someplace other than a legal potentially inspected, crossing point,

    What’s going in is that some people are pushing propaganda trying to make people believe that contraband is being smuggled across the border away from an established crossing point and without being noticed. If that were the case, sometimes they would be caught, yet I have yet to read about even one such case. Not one and they surely would cite it if they could.

    It is no longer like the 1980s when small planes carrying cocaine could fly across the U.S> border (into Florida or Mena, Arkansas for instance)”There is radar. Cars don’t go across the br=order eitther much.

    Contraband gets carried across the border at regular crossing points. It is impossible to inspect them all without stopping traffic. Any type of smuggling that they are not on the lookout for mostly gets trough. Even when they know it is, for instance, commonly hidden among avocados they don’t inspect it in a detectable way. It’s like antibiotic resistant bacteria.

    Yes, the border people ges lured into chasing migrants but that would be only to protect customers who pay more,

    Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e)

  424. Speaking of “gotaways”….

    EXCLUSIVE: Internal CBP data I obtained via FOIA request reveals 13 years of known gotaways data at the border, showing gotaways have *exploded* under the Biden admin compared to the Trump & Obama years.
    This is the first time these numbers have ever been revealed.

    FY2010 155,599
    FY2011 86,226
    FY2012 105,105
    FY2013 171,663
    FY2014 162,071
    FY2015 101,495
    FY2016 106,643
    FY2017 104,294
    FY2018 128,679
    FY2019 151,466
    FY2020 136,808
    FY2021 387,398
    FY2022 606,131
    FY2023 670,674

    For perspective, in the decade of FY 2010 through FY 2020 under both Obama & Trump, CBP recorded over 1.4 million known gotaways.

    In the three years of FY 2021 through FY 2023, CBP recorded over 1.6 million known gotaways.

    A reminder, @PressSec has previously claimed that Biden has “done more than anybody” to secure the border.

    Known gotaways are illegal aliens seen or detected via cameras, sensors, footsign, etc, but are never apprehended.

    pic.twitter.com/LUQU5v87b2

    — Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) May 15, 2024

    whembly (86df54)

  425. Many of you have lauded this guy, especially post J6…
    https://nypost.com/2024/05/15/us-news/romney-knocks-biden-for-enormous-error-in-not-pardoning-trump/

    Fierce Trump critic Mitt Romney voiced bewilderment at why President Biden didn’t pardon his predecessor as soon as the federal indictments came down, with the Utah senator saying “he should have fought like crazy” to keep them from moving forward.

    “Had I been President Biden, when the Justice Department brought on indictments, I would have immediately pardoned him,” Romney (R-Utah) told MSNBC’s “The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle.”

    “Because it makes me, President Biden, the big guy and the person I pardoned a little guy.”

    I mean, I do get his point.

    But, Democrats are never going to let this go, so he’s wildly unattuned to this issue.

    whembly (86df54)

  426. But, Democrats are never going to let this go, so he’s wildly unattuned to this issue.

    That’s not his point. He sees the NY trial, at least, as ensuring Trump’s election. While some think the charges righteous they are ignoring the public’s reaction.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  427. I would also argue that a tariff war with China is not great policy. Google it and there’s unusual consensus between right and left that Trump’s tariffs have depressed jobs in this country. It’s protectionism and for every job protected, two are made less secure by retaliation and increased costs to the consumer and through the supply chain.

    Perhaps, especially in the long term. But people vote based on the job they lost, not on the job they might get and they vote based on right now, not some rosy future.

    Tariffs are sin taxes, where the sin is buying from a country on our sh1t list. You can call it protectionism, but you could also call it defending American values of what labor should be paid and a need to keep that pay above the costs of an American education and lifestyle.

    “When it gets down to it — talking trade balances here — once we’ve brain-drained all our technology into other countries, once things have evened out, they’re making cars in Bolivia and microwave ovens in Tadzhikistan and selling them here — once our edge in natural resources has been made irrelevant by giant Hong Kong ships and dirigibles that can ship North Dakota all the way to New Zealand for a nickel — once the Invisible Hand has taken away all those historical inequities and smeared them out into a broad global layer of what a Pakistani brickmaker would consider to be prosperity — y’know what? There’s only four things we do better than anyone else:

    music
    movies
    software
    high-speed pizza delivery”

    –Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  428. no scientific evidence to support the government’s social-distancing guidance.

    No, it was just the well-known “he might be sick, don’t get too close” thinking. But yes, the little footprints in the stores, and ESPECIALLY the directional arrows in the store aisles, were quickly seen to be horsesh1t.

    Masks were best at preventing coughing and sneezes from filling the air with pathogens, not so much at protecting the wearer once someone sneezed in their face. But, like all things, the message was carried by morons in the press and government and there are a lot more morons in those places than average.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  429. There is also the issue of being a founding member of the OSCE, which pledged (among other things) free and open elections where all candidates had access to the media and voters.

    Kevin M (a9545f) — 5/15/2024 @ 10:44 pm

    Completely irrelevant to US elections. OSCE is a talking shop.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  430. “It’s not emotions. It’s cold hard reason.”

    No, it’s partisanship.

    You are talking about why “we” should avoid Trump and why Biden won’t be so bad. But the people who form Trump’s base were already hurting bad, see Trump’s term as having offered them concrete relief, and are convinced that Biden will return the bad days again.

    Is that emotion, or partisanship? Or is it simple self-interest and experience?

    And, as for partisanship, what else is Biden relying upon? His charisma? He has two arguments that account for all his support: being a Democrat, and not being Donald Trump. He will get most of his votes from the former.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  431. OSCE is a talking shop.

    It’s also a treaty.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  432. All… if you haven’t already, check out Patterico’s latest substack on his Coleman v. Balko story.

    He does a masterful job laying out the details and really brings it to Balko’s shenanigans.

    whembly (86df54)

  433. whembly (86df54) — 5/16/2024 @ 7:26 am

    Facts are hard.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  434. @438

    whembly (86df54) — 5/16/2024 @ 7:26 am

    Facts are hard.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/16/2024 @ 8:52 am

    Spin spin for President Pedo™!

    whembly (86df54)

  435. OSCE is a talking shop.

    It’s also a treaty.

    Kevin M (a9545f) — 5/16/2024 @ 8:50 am

    No it’s not.

    A unique aspect of the OSCE is the non-binding status of its constitutive charter. Rather than being a formal treaty ratified by national legislatures, the Helsinki Final Act represents a political commitment by the heads of government of all signatories to build security and cooperation in Europe on the basis of its provisions. This allows the OSCE to remain a flexible process for the evolution of improved cooperation, which avoids disputes and/or sanctions over implementation. ……Unlike most international intergovernmental organizations, however, the OSCE does not have international legal personality on account of the lack of legal effect of its charter.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  436. Spin spin for President Pedo™!

    whembly (86df54) — 5/16/2024 @ 8:55 am

    I would have posted the same thing if Trump were President. Facts are facts; you’re entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts (unless you can back them up).

    But you do have an odd obsession about President Biden…….

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  437. OSCE is a talking shop.

    It’s also a treaty.

    Kevin M (a9545f) — 5/16/2024 @ 8:50 am

    No it’s not.

    The OSCE was established by the Helsinki Accords in 1974 and the agreement involve political and moral commitments, but nothing beyond that, according to President Ford:

    We are not committing ourselves to anything beyond what we are already committed to by our own moral and legal standards and by more formal treaty agreements such as the United Nations Charter and Declaration of Human Rights. … If it all fails, Europe will be no worse off than it is now. If even a part of it succeeds, the lot the people in Eastern Europe will be that much better, and the cause of freedom will advance at least that far.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  438. 430. But, Democrats are never going to let this go, so [Rommey]’s wildly unattuned to this issue.

    431. That’s not his point. He sees the NY trial, at least, as ensuring Trump’s election. While some think the charges righteous they are ignoring the public’s reaction.

    Toss-up. “When your enemy is fleeing, build him a golden bridge.” But Trump was not fleeing. He was skirmishing and regrouping for, and I quote, THE FINAL BATTLE. Go for the public’s heart or go for Trump’s balls?

    nk (a16939)

  439. From Rip’s “facts are hard” link:

    • In 2023, 93 percent of fentanyl seizures occurred at legal crossing points or interior vehicle checkpoints, not on illegal migration routes, so U.S. citizens (who are subject to less scrutiny) when crossing legally are the best smugglers.

    • Each individual busted for fentanyl by Border Patrol possessed, on average, half as much fentanyl as each person busted at ports of entry in 2023 (10 versus 20 pounds).

    Those “facts” are pretty hard on people who say “ I’ve always been suspicious of claims that people entering the U.S. illegally are also bringing drugs. Nope. Just themselves“ and #FairMindedBallAndStrike callers wholeheartedly agreeing with comments like “Never let facts get in the way of an argument.”

    Rip, do your facts get in the way of norcal’s assertion that people entering the United States are not bringing drugs? Do your facts work better if norcal agrees that some people do enter the US illegally with drugs?

    BuDuh (4214e4)

  440. Rip, do your facts get in the way of norcal’s assertion that people entering the United States are not bringing drugs? Do your facts work better if norcal agrees that some people do enter the US illegally with drugs?

    BuDuh (4214e4) — 5/16/2024 @ 9:25 am

    I don’t care about norcal’s assertions-he needs to defend them, not me.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  441. Kevin M (a9545f) — 5/15/2024 @ 4:28 pm

    When Hunter leaves his dick pics on an abandoned laptop, the flipping CIA runs interference.

    It was former political appointees, I think. (who tried to discredit the authenticity of the laptop, and then were cited as authorities by Biden in a debate, not to mention being used as an argument to the press not to write stories about what it contained and to Twitter and Facebook etc to censor the New York Post)

    And then it was the Secret Service that retrieved the gun he had thrown away – at a time when nobody in the Biden family was being protected by the Secret Service, I don’t think that has been explained yet, although personal relationships and possibly money could explain it.

    Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e)

  442. @442:

    Fine. So we can behave like those other countries that don’t allow all candidates access to media. After all, the Cold War is over so we can stop pretending.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  443. #439

    Upthread, I suggested you might be going down the DCSCA path. I’m not wrong, but I thought the movie quotes would be coming next. Instead, it appears to be the dopey, meaningless catchphrases. Pity, that.

    Appalled (7bd590)

  444. I don’t care about norcal’s assertions-he needs to defend them, not me.

    LOL!

    Is it your assertion that no drugs come across the border between ports of entry?

    BuDuh (4214e4)

  445. Phillips O’Brien:

    “The US has never prevented escalation, its just made it easier for Russia”

    steveg (2bca99)

  446. I don’t think we are catching (or trying to catch) as many people between ports of entry, so we don’t know what they are bringing in.

    Plus, those areas can be difficult to travel in, often on foot, so it is unlikely legal or illegal border crossers can smuggle in a lot of drugs on those routes. That is more useful for human smuggling.

    The ports of entry are more useful for drug smuggling because they can bring in truckloads when they succeed.

    DRJ (7f07d8)

  447. Thd cartels used to bring drug loads in Jeeps and 4-wheel-drive vehicles over the Rio Grande at low points. Lots of car chases involved those smugglers of people and drugs, or the smugglers eould abandon the vehicles if they were close to the border. I dont know if that is still happening as much now that Texas is trying to pattol its border.

    DRJ (7f07d8)

  448. I thought the assertion was that people who were illegally immigrating did not pack drugs, as that was not their motive. People who are bringing drugs in are entering illegally by definition.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  449. And then it was the Secret Service that retrieved the gun he had thrown away

    Actually it was his dead brother’s widow (with whom he was carrying on a relationship) who threw it away. Hunter got it out of her. She had been afraid he would use that gun to commit suicide, Hunter’s trial on the gun starts June 3 – on taxes, June 20 (won’t they run into each other with those dates?)

    Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e)

  450. it is unlikely legal or illegal border crossers can smuggle in a lot of drugs on those routes.

    How much is “a lot” any more? From the DEA:

    Drug trafficking organizations typically distribute fentanyl by the kilogram. One kilogram of fentanyl has the potential to kill 500,000 people.

    Carrying just over two pounds is not the same as the efforts of the other drug hauling border hopper mules. It is far more simple.

    BuDuh (4214e4)

  451. Per Rip’s “facts are facts” link, the average amount of fentanyl, per individual caught between ports of entry, is 10lbs.

    Using the DEA stats, that is enough to kill 2,250,000 people. Thanks to one person sticking to the average. Is that one person’s motive to bring in the potential to wipe out the population of New Mexico? I don’t think so.

    In 2011 “migrants” were claiming the cartels were forcing them to bring drugs into the US. Is the suggestion now that this coercion no longer exists?

    BuDuh (4214e4)

  452. As Russia Advances, NATO Considers Sending Trainers Into Ukraine

    The move could draw the United States and Europe more directly into the war. The Biden administration continues to say there will be no American troops on the ground.

    NATO allies are inching closer to sending troops into Ukraine to train Ukrainian forces, a move that would be another blurring of a previous red line and could draw the United States and Europe more directly into the war.

    Ukraine’s manpower shortage has reached a critical point, and its position on the battlefield in recent weeks has seriously worsened as Russia has accelerated its advances to take advantage of delays in shipments of American weapons. As a result, Ukrainian officials have asked their American and NATO counterparts to help train 150,000 new recruits closer to the front line for faster deployment.

    So far the United States has said no, but Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Thursday that a NATO deployment of trainers appeared inevitable. “We’ll get there eventually, over time,” he said.

    For now, he said, an effort inside Ukraine would put “a bunch of NATO trainers at risk” and would most likely mean deciding whether to use precious air defenses to protect the trainers instead of critical Ukrainian infrastructure near the battlefield. General Brown briefed reporters on his plane en route to a NATO meeting in Brussels.

    If Biden’s gradualism is any guide:

    2024: Training.
    2025: Poland, Germany and NATO air cover
    2026: NATO itself.

    This is the problem with gradualism. It’s the opposite of “shock and awe.” Both sides creep slowly up the escalation ladder and before you know it they are in a shooting war that no one wanted. We should have drawn the line in 2014 and put in US helicopters to stop the “rebel insurgents.”

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  453. “We’ll get there eventually, over time”

    The lasting motto of this war.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  454. Biden bans all new coal leases in Wyoming and Montana.

    The Biden administration announced Thursday it will end coal leasing on federal lands in the Powder River Basin, which produces nearly half the coal in the United States.

    The decision by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management affects a vast coal-producing region that covers more than 13 million acres across Montana and Wyoming, and it handed a long-sought victory to climate advocates. For years, they have fought to restore an Obama-era moratorium on coal mining on federal lands.

    Election-year politics.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  455. This 2018 WaPo article identifies the USPS as a principal conduit for illegal drugs:

    A report by the Postal Service Office of Inspector General demonstrates just how valuable the mail is as a marketing tool for drug pushers: “For example, a cocaine trafficker claimed to have used the Postal Service to successfully distribute nearly 4,000 shipments, stating that they had a 100 percent delivery success rate. In addition, of the 96 traffickers who indicated they used the Postal Service as their shipping provider, 43 percent (41) offered free, partial, or full reshipment if the package did not arrive to the buyer’s address because it was confiscated, stolen, or lost.”

    (I haven’t looked at the report.)

    Still true in 2024? Less true in 2024? A minor problem now? I haven’t seen any data, and have no idea which of those three is closest to the truth. I do recall that, at one time, dealers in China were simply mailing small packages of drugs to US recipients.

    (Most likely we really need more drug sniffing dogs, and — if possible — some really effective drug snffing machines.)

    Jim Miller (eed2d5)

  456. In 2011 “migrants” were claiming the cartels were forcing them to bring drugs into the US. Is the suggestion now that this coercion no longer exists?

    BuDuh (4214e4) — 5/16/2024 @ 10:32 am

    Not when there are willing Americans to bring drugs into country. I’m sure things have changed over the last 13 years.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  457. Pedo Joe claims his answers to AG investigating his illegal handling of documents are “privileged ” and not subject to inquiry.

    Funny how some animals are more equal than others.

    NJRob (e46acb)

  458. [Biden] claims his answers to AG investigating his illegal handling of documents are “privileged ” and not subject to inquiry.

    That won’t fly, of course. This isn’t a conversation with an advisor or in any way related to his duties as President. He’ll lose in every court he tries this with.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  459. Is that fact supported beyond your other link that not only details the average amount of fentanyl brought in between ports-of-entry but specifically does NOT claim that all drug traffic is done by “willing Americans?”

    Link please.

    BuDuh (42a116)

  460. (Most likely we really need more drug sniffing dogs, and — if possible — some really effective drug snffing machines.)

    And probably better encapsulation. Sealed Mylar bags that are then decontaminated might be hard to sniff out in a pile of packages.

    The USPS is pretty good. The two things they have to fight are porch pirates and careless delivery agents. The only thing that USPS has failed with to me was a package delivered to the same house number on a different block.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  461. Not that any of those packages were drugs, of course.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  462. I don’t care about norcal’s assertions-he needs to defend them, not me.

    LOL!

    Is it your assertion that no drugs come across the border between ports of entry?

    BuDuh (4214e4) — 5/16/2024 @ 9:50 am

    No, but there aren’t any reliable statistics regarding how much crosses the border:

    There are no comprehensive data on the total quantity of foreign-produced illicit drugs smuggled into the United States at or between official ports of entry (POEs) because these are drugs that have generally evaded seizure by border officials. In lieu of these data, officials, policymakers, and analysts sometimes rely on certain drug seizure data to help understand how and where illicit drugs are crossing U.S. borders. Data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) indicate that, by weight, more marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl were seized at POEs than between them in FY2019.
    ……….
    ……….Generally, intelligence suggests that more foreign-produced cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl flow into the country through official ports of entry (POEs) than between the ports. Seizure data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) follows this pattern as well. Conversely, more foreign-produced marijuana has historically been believed to flow into the country between the ports rather than through them.6 However, CBP seizure data indicate that, like cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl, more marijuana was seized at POEs than between them in FY2019.7

    Source

    Marijuana and methamphetamine still exceed all other types of drugs seized by the CBP, followed by cocaine, fentanyl, heroin and khat.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  463. there aren’t any reliable statistics regarding how much crosses the border

    So, what was the point of your post yesterday. And the snark that followed?

    BuDuh (9aa660)

  464. Is that fact supported beyond your other link that not only details the average amount of fentanyl brought in between ports-of-entry but specifically does NOT claim that all drug traffic is done by “willing Americans?”

    Link please.

    BuDuh (42a116) — 5/16/2024 @ 1:06 pm

    Just before midnight on Aug. 4, 2021, Haley tried to cross the border from Mexico back into Arizona, where she lived. She was carrying 1,000 fentanyl pills inside her body.

    “That was the first time I’ve ever done it,” Haley says. “It was just a sudden decision that I made at the last moment.”
    ………
    When a man she knew offered her a chance to make $500, Haley took it.

    “I’m very ashamed that I didn’t know better with carrying it over,” she says. “When you’re on drugs, your mind’s not fully there. You’re not fully thinking. You’re just like, OK, I can get this over with and get my bills paid, you know? You’re not thinking about what you’re doing to your body, what you’re doing to others.”
    ……….
    Sometimes fentanyl and other drugs are concealed inside tractor-trailers carrying loads of legitimate cargo into the U.S. More often, authorities say, it’s hidden in passenger cars or on the bodies of pedestrians.

    “There’s a popular misconception that it is these giant seizures that are driving the numbers. And that’s not it,” says Adam Gordon, a federal prosecutor in San Diego, one of the busiest crossing points for fentanyl on the U.S.-Mexico border. “The cases that we see every day are individuals who have five kilos of fentanyl and 10 kilos of methamphetamine. And those cases are happening constantly.”
    ……….
    “(Cartels are) looking for somebody we’re not going to pay a lot of attention to,” says Michael Humphries, the port director in Nogales, Arizona, where Haley attempted to cross back from Mexico.

    “They target certain people and they offer money to drive through,” says Humphries, who spent decades with U.S. Customs and Border Protection trying to catch smugglers at official ports of entry. “I’ve been at this for over 36 years, and it’s been like that forever.”
    ………..
    The ideal candidate, (Stefani Hepford, an assistant U.S. attorney in the Tucson office) says, is someone who is authorized to cross the border, and goes back and forth often because they won’t attract attention from customs officers at the port.
    ……….
    “You’re looking at a population that attempts to cross the border into the United States carrying these drugs who are usually not being paid very much. Think of anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 to drive a vehicle across,” (Adam Gordon, a federal prosecutor in San Diego) says. “Usually they’re in very desperate straits.”
    ……….
    In May 2023, federal prosecutors in Tucson announced charges against 10 people who were accused of smuggling at ports of entry or caught at nearby vehicle checkpoints. Five are U.S. citizens and five are Mexican nationals who had permanent residency or other legal authorization to be in the U.S.
    ……….

    Source

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  465. So, what was the point of your post yesterday. And the snark that followed?

    BuDuh (9aa660) — 5/16/2024 @ 1:46 pm

    That most seized fentanyl (and most other illegal drugs) occurs at ports of entry, not between them. I don’t recall any snark, there are Americans who are willing to smuggle drugs for cash.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  466. Five are U.S. citizens and five are Mexican nationals who had permanent residency or other legal authorization to be in the U.S.

    So half were not Americans. Thanks for the link.

    BuDuh (9aa660)

  467. From Rip’s link at 1:51pm:

    “Last year, we seized about 700 pounds of fentanyl,” Modlin stated. “That was encountered – 52% of that, so the majority of that – was encountered in the field. So that is predominantly being backpacked across the border.”

    Thanks again, Rip.

    BuDuh (9aa660)

  468. 700lbs X 52% = 364lbs

    364lbs = 165kg

    165kg of fentanyl X 500,000 people = 82,500,000 potential deaths.

    Scrolling back to what I think was the first comment on this subject, it appears as though Sammy and norcal see this as a nothing burger. And Rip is treading water trying to undo his involvement in the topic.

    BuDuh (9aa660)

  469. And Rip is treading water trying to undo his involvement in the topic.

    BuDuh (9aa660) — 5/16/2024 @ 2:07 pm

    Not at all. Drug smuggling, particularly fentanyl, is not a nothingburger. I have just posted some facts of the situation.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  470. NC Senate votes to ban people from wearing masks in public for health reasons

    ……….
    Republican supporters of the ban said it would help police crack down on protesters who wear masks — which some lawmakers called a growing concern, saying demonstrators are abusing Covid-19 pandemic-era norms to wear masks that hide their identities.

    “It’s about time that the craziness is at least slowed down, if not literally stopped,” said bill sponsor Buck Newton, R-Wilson.
    ………
    House Bill 237 would ban everyone, not just protesters, from wearing masks in public for medical reasons if it becomes law. It passed 30-15, with every Republican in favor and every Democrat opposed.
    ……….
    On Wednesday Sen. Danny Britt, R-Robeson, said he thinks there’s a way to interpret the law to argue that it would still be legal to wear a mask for legitimate health reasons — even though the bill would eliminate the state law that provides those protections.
    ……….
    ……….Republicans have shrugged off Democrats’ concerns, they’ve said they trust police officers not to abuse the power to arrest anyone for wearing a surgical mask out in public. Newton said Tuesday that it wasn’t intended to “prosecute granny for wearing a mask in the Walmart.”
    ………..
    Newton responded to those concerns Wednesday by saying that the public health exceptions were only passed during the Covid-19 pandemic — yet there’s no record of anyone in North Carolina ever being arrested for masking for health reasons before then, even though it was technically illegal.
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  471. Post 475 should have been entirely in a blockquote.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  472. Your “facts” inspired this colloquy:

    Rip Murdock (9557dc) — 5/15/2024 @ 8:08 pm

    Yes. I’ve always been suspicious of claims that people entering the U.S. illegally are also bringing drugs. Nope. Just themselves.

    It helps to whip up hysteria if you link the two, however.

    norcal (3a285b) — 5/15/2024 @ 8:25 pm

    *************************

    norcal (3a285b) — 5/15/2024 @ 8:25 pm

    Never let facts get in the way of an argument.

    Rip Murdock (9557dc) — 5/15/2024 @ 8:40 pm

    norcal expresses pleasure that your facts confirm that people entering the US illegally are not bringing drugs with them. And your response confirms that was your intention.

    How else can that be read?

    BuDuh (9aa660)

  473. Republican supporters of the ban said it would help police crack down on protesters who wear masks — which some lawmakers called a growing concern, saying demonstrators are abusing Covid-19 pandemic-era norms to wear masks that hide their identities.

    It’s a valid concern. Also robbers. I heard people complaining that the folks who broke up the UCLA encampment were wearing masks so that cameras could not record their faces.

    OTOH, if I want to wear a mask in public because I believe it will help me stay healthy, F.U.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  474. That most seized fentanyl (and most other illegal drugs) occurs at ports of entry, not between them.

    And most things dropped at night are found near streetlights, not in the middle of dark alleys.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  475. norcal expresses pleasure that your facts confirm that people entering the US illegally are not bringing drugs with them. And your response confirms that was your intention.

    How else can that be read?

    BuDuh (9aa660) — 5/16/2024 @ 2:35 pm

    I don’t know if norcal was feeling “pleasure”, I have no idea how someone else feels. My comment was about the tendency on those who seek to make political points while ignoring the facts.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  476. Kevin M (a9545f) — 5/16/2024 @ 2:49 pm

    If NC enact the ban on masks, it should be enforced good and hard. No more Halloween for you!

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  477. Sure.

    BuDuh (9aa660)

  478. BuDuh (9aa660) — 5/16/2024 @ 2:07 pm

    165kg of fentanyl X 500,000 people = 82,500,000 potential deaths.

    Something is wrong with that statistic.

    Clearly a lot of fentanyl is getting to the street and it’s not killing 80 million people. Addicts develop a tolerance, and it is usually divided into even smaller doses.

    Scrolling back to what I think was the first comment on this subject, it appears as though Sammy and norcal see this as a nothing burger.

    It is not a nothingburger.. But it as nothing to do with the southern border crisis

    From a link by Rip Murdock @469:

    “(Cartels are) looking for somebody we’re not going to pay a lot of attention to,” says Michael Humphries, the port director in Nogales, Arizona, where Haley attempted to cross back from Mexico.

    “They target certain people and they offer money to drive through,” says Humphries, who spent decades with U.S. Customs and Border Protection trying to catch smugglers at official ports of entry. “I’ve been at this for over 36 years, and it’s been like that forever.”
    ………..
    The ideal candidate, (Stefani Hepford, an assistant U.S. attorney in the Tucson office) says, is someone who is authorized to cross the border, and goes back and forth often because they won’t attract attention from customs officers at the port.

    I suspect that some id getting through using a method most CBP people don’t even know about.

    At first fenantyl was delivered via U.S. mail direct from China. Now precursors are exported.
    ……….

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  479. Read the rest of Rip’s link, Sammy.

    It blew up in Rip’s face and inspired his about-face.

    BuDuh (d4ac01)

  480. For once I’m on Rip’s side of the debate.

    To just wave away the concerns about fentanyl crossing the border, is the height of opinionated arrogance.

    qdpsteve again (042fff)

  481. It’s hard to see how nobody points out that most of the climate change -proposals amounts to nothing more than virtue signaling. It’s mathematically illiterate. The effect is trivial. What they would dony cutting down on carbon emissions amounts to merely a rounding
    error Costs should be weighed against benefits

    If something should be done it should be geoengineering like spewing sulfur dioxide into the air or fertilizing the Pacific Ocean.

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  482. So many people actually now believe that *anything they or their leaders say* is automatically true.

    “Biden says 300 million people a year get slaughtered by guns, so it’s gotta be true!”

    “Trump says every single state where he lost was rigged, so it’s gotta be true!”

    “Mayorkas says there’s no way any fentanyl could possibly be coming over the border, so it’s gotta be true!”

    qdpsteve again (042fff)

  483. I am against any form of means testing for medical insurance or any other kind of government benefit. It is pernicious. If done it should not be timely.

    Health insurance should be completely reworked. Any attempt to charge some people more should be done through the income tax system.

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  484. The drugs themselves are smuggled across the border by people with a legal right to cross it, since drug sellers don’t want to increase their risk.

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb) — 5/15/2024 @ 2:32 pm

    Does Rip’s link confirm this statement to be 100% true 100% of the time?

    BuDuh (9aa660)

  485. A YouGov poll asked people what was closer to their view. Neother is correct.

    The goal should be to get ordinary people , if possible, to like the U.S. for its policies (and want to, and be able to, come here) but for FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS to respect the U.S. for its military power.

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  486. BuDuh (d4ac01) — 5/16/2024 @ 3:34 pm

    I have no idea why you think I have “about-faced” about anything.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  487. BuDuh (9aa660) — 5/16/2024 @ 3:39 pm

    Nothing is 100% true, and I never claimed such.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  488. Uh-huh…

    Can you explain your 8:52AM?

    BuDuh (9aa660)

  489. BuDuh (9aa660) — 5/16/2024 @ 3:39 pm

    Does Rip’s link confirm this statement to be 100% true 100% of the time?

    No, only most of the time.

    They’re going to pick couriers that they think are going to be more successful at that point in time,” says Stefani Hepford, an assistant U.S. attorney in the Tucson office who’s prosecuted dozens of smuggling cases. “I’ve seen 20-year-old couriers. I’ve seen 60-year-old couriers. It’s impossible to generalize.”

    The ideal candidate, Hepford says, is someone who is authorized to cross the border, and goes back and forth often because they won’t attract attention from customs officers at the port.

    Now this link claims it is, still nevertheless, mostly couriers, albeit not asylum seekers who travel in groups and turn themselves over to U.S. authorities in order to be legally admitted.

    I say they are probably covering themselves. Small scale operators (who are the most likely to poison people) may try couriers they just hire. The biggest ones have devised a method of not being detected.

    https://comptroller.texas.gov/economy/fiscal-notes/archive/2023/jan/fentanyl.php

    …Mexican cartels primarily use personally owned vehicles, rental vehicles and trucks/tractor trailers via interstates to smuggle illicit fentanyl and other illegal narcotics into the U.S., while couriers sneak it into the U.S. on commercial airlines, the DEA states.

    This article apparently does not call anyone a courier unless they travel as a passenger but their smuggling is unknown to the operator of the vehicle they use.

    Other smuggling techniques involve stashing drugs and other contraband in vehicles’ tires, firewalls, gas tanks, after-market compartments and natural voids, but most often, smugglers carry drugs in a body cavity or strap them onto their bodies, CBP’s El Paso Port Director Ray Provencio says.

    Of course this would bey the 80-20 rule. Only 20% is carried by 80% of the people.

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  490. Hi Rip

    Racist as it may sound, the southern cross border smuggling operations are predominately conducted by people who can be accurately described in one form or another as Mexican. Mexican nationals, Mexican dual citizens
    The most recent point of origin for the drugs is also best described as Mexican. Lets stipulate that Mexicans are deeply involved throughout all the levels.
    Even so, Mexicans are my favorite people. I know a guy who came here illegally and has a daughter who is a dual citizen who enlisted in the US Army. This man wears a “Proud Father of a US Army Soldier” shirt, American flag on the shoulder, to work and he’d do it every day except the shirt is too precious to him to see wear out or get dirty.
    I’m privileged to have met and call friend scores of honest, loyal, brave, kind, hard working Mexican men (and lately more and more Guatemalans but I digress). Many of them favor Trump although few are eligible to vote, precisely because they want someone strong willed enough to do something about their paesas who are f-ing about.
    Their two concerns: Economy and border.

    steveg (2bca99)

  491. Update: I very much liked “3 Body Problem” even though it is substantially changed from the China-centric book. And it has now been renewed for an unspecified number of seasons and episodes. One assumes they will be doing the entire trilogy.

    (OTOH, Shogun will be extending its run past the Clavell book material for additional seasons.)

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  492. Mitt Romney is almost the same age as Donald Trump.

    Born March 12, 1947 (age 77 years)

    Donald Trump was born June 14, 1946 (age 77 years),

    Joe Biden was born November 20, 1942 (age 81 years)

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  493. No, only most of the time.

    That was easy. Any plans on apologizing to Whembly?

    BuDuh (9aa660)

  494. Young Sheldon’s last episode is tonight (I thought the strike would make it extend into the summer but they cut the number of new episodes down to 14)

    But there will be a spinoff: George and Mandy.

    https://parade.com/tv/young-sheldon-georgie-mandy-spinoff-season-1

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  495. Kevin M (a9545f) — 5/16/2024 @ 1:08 pm

    USPS has failed with to me was a package delivered to the same house number on a different block.

    Twice now, USPS has delivered t me to copies of the New Yorker, one to someone I know but who lies on a different block; I didn’t get it to him either time because I don’t see him much. The first time, I later told him but he said he didn’t care.

    Sammy Finkelman (e0dccb)

  496. This is the quote that started the reflexive Pavlovian tribalism defense of Biden:

    Biden deserves all my hate, particularly for encouraging the southern border crisis that allowed fentanyl to pour into the country that killed one of my son’s best friend, and another acquaintance in his circle.

    whembly (86df54) — 5/15/2024 @ 1:37 pm

    Out of the gate was this response:

    Now wait a second. How did that do that?…

    …The drugs themselves are smuggled across the border by people with a legal right to cross it, since drug sellers don’t want to increase their risk.

    Then Rip’s laughable contribution that he hopes everyone forgets.

    Then tough questions.

    Then Rip finds more links to attempt to save face.

    Included in Rip’s link storm was this CBP statistic page. link has filters and if you use them to isolate the “Border Patrol“ and “fentanyl” you get a better perspective on what is coming between ports of entry. [According to The Congressional Research Service “ the U.S. Border Patrol, is responsible for the apprehension of non-U.S. nationals (“aliens” under federal law) and the interdiction of illegally imported goods entering the United States between ports of entry.”]

    If you make it through those simple steps you will see that the fiscal year totals of fentanyl busts, between ports of entry were well over double from ‘21 to ‘22, higher from ‘22 to ‘23, and the pace, as of April ‘24 is set to be on par with the previous Biden record.

    IOW, Whembly was correct.

    BuDuh (9aa660)

  497. Human smuggling in the Naco to Tucson to Maricopa County corridor has a large US citizen soccer mom contingent. They put cardboard all around the back of the SUV, layout everyone prone and pick up up to, and maybe upwards of $500 per head. Tip off is large amount of air fresheners, as people travelling for days, bushwhacking it about around the border patrol tend to start to smell. If they don’t have an SUV, they smuggle people in the trunk. When caught, they usually say they picked up hitch hikers or else just saw people walking in the heat and gave them a ride, which doesn’t adequately explain the ride in the trunk, so SUV is a better all around human smugglers ride if you can remember not to hang the air fresheners in plain view.

    I’m sure some of them do mule drugs, but moving people has much much less legal down side because most human smugglers at this scale get released even when caught red handed in an obvious lie (they were hitch hiking). Drugs, you always are going to catch a felony charge as a US citizen. As a Mexican citizen carrying a small amount like one kilo on foot, one may get simply deported the first time for saying they were coerced because it is plausible. That idea of “I was coerced” is not a very plausible reason for a US person to carry drugs as American law enforcement tends to think they should be informed about the coercion by the citizens before they get into the drug carrying to resolve things.

    A statistic I’d like to see would be how many one off, small amount of kilos drug mules do they catch and release a year. It won’t be a massive mount compared to the shear metric tonnage seized, but am still curious. (I’m always curious… to the point I annoy myself)

    steveg (2bca99)

  498. Catoggio on remorse, and the idea of pardoning Trump:

    https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/boilingfrogs/a-tableau-of-impunity/#comments

    To apologize, to show remorse, to seek forgiveness is the essence of weakness: That’s Trump, and Trumpism. That a person who treats remorse as a failing of character would become the great political idol of conservative Christians, whose faith sacralizes remorse and repentance, is one of the most disgusting political developments in modern American history. And it helps explain why Speaker Mike Johnson’s cameo outside the courthouse this week felt especially loathsome. It’s not (just) that Johnson is the highest-ranking Republican in government. It’s that he purports to be a serious Christian and yet there he was, extolling Trump’s remorselessness—in a matter involving adultery with a porn star, no less.

    The starkest expression of remorselessness came from (who else?) Matt Gaetz, who posted a photo of himself behind Trump at the courthouse on Thursday with the caption, “Standing back and standing by, Mr. President.” That phrasing echoed a notorious comment made by Trump during a 2020 presidential debate about the extremist Proud Boys, who ended up becoming key players in the January 6 riot. Gaetz understands that the GOP is now a party by and for insurrectionists, unrepentantly.

    And that’s the whole problem with a pardon. Where there is no repentance, there can be no absolution.

    Trump is so antithetical to the spirit of Christianity. I don’t understand how Christians can support him.

    norcal (add8fc)

  499. It can’t feel good.

    norcal (add8fc)

  500. Catholics support a baby killing Biden, so there is that…

    BuDuh (9aa660)

  501. BuDuh (9aa660) — 5/16/2024 @ 5:28 pm

    Trump would have secured an abortion for Stormy in a New York minute if she had gotten pregnant.

    norcal (add8fc)

  502. 🥴

    BuDuh (9aa660)

  503. norcal, did you see Rip’s quasi-retraction to the “facts?”

    He now takes the side that migrants do bring drugs in to the US.

    BuDuh (9aa660)

  504. And that excuses Biden’s actions how, norcal?

    I guess I have to draw a picture:

    – Trump’s bad actions don’t make Biden good.
    – Biden’s bad actions don’t make Trump good.

    qdpsteve again (042fff)

  505. I love guys who go by the moniker “Allahpundit” who is a self-professed atheist telling Christians what they should think and how to properly practice their religion.

    AP has so much in common with his fellow NeverTrumper leftists it’s uncanny.

    NJRob (949032)

  506. BuDuh (9aa660) — 5/16/2024 @ 5:35 pm

    I suppose there are a small percentage who do but, overwhelmingly, they just want to bring themselves in. That was my experience when I was working, anyway.

    norcal (add8fc)

  507. NJRob (949032) — 5/16/2024 @ 5:36 pm

    One can be an atheist and still respect the sentiment behind Christianity.

    norcal (add8fc)

  508. qdpsteve again (042fff) — 5/16/2024 @ 5:36 pm

    I’m not excusing Biden’s actions. I disapprove of his lax immigration enforcement and his student loan giveaways.

    I just think Trump is worse.

    norcal (add8fc)

  509. Thank you for that admission, norcal.

    BuDuh (8034c6)

  510. BuDuh (9aa660) — 5/16/2024 @ 5:35 pm

    You keep lying about what I say and ascribe things to me that are untrue. I have not “attempted to save face” nor did I make a “quasi-retraction to the “facts?”.” I never said that migrants (illegal or otherwise) did not smuggle drugs into the US, just that they represent a small percentage of those that are caught, while American citizens represent the largest group who do smuggle drugs into the country.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  511. I have not “attempted to save face”

    That I can agree with. It has not been an impressive attempt at all.

    Maybe if you explained your 8:52AM, and the context of the conversation that led up to your comment, you might make the grade.

    BuDuh (8034c6)

  512. Maybe if you explained your 8:52AM, and the context of the conversation that led up to your comment, you might make the grade.

    BuDuh (8034c6) — 5/16/2024 @ 5:52 pm

    I have no interest in making your grade, I’ve lowered myself far enough in responding to you.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  513. One can be an atheist and still respect the sentiment behind Christianity.

    norcal (add8fc) — 5/16/2024 @ 5:43 pm

    I would hope so. Society wouldn’t exist without Christian morality and the values passed down through the centuries.

    That said, it’s different when an atheist “respects the sentiment” of Christians versus tells them how to practice their religion and what they should believe accordingly.

    AP has always been hostile to Christians. He loves being condescending towards them as well.

    I’m not surprised in the slightest by his latest ramblings.

    NJRob (e46acb)

  514. I figured.

    Never let facts get in the way of an argument, when you are more than prepared to jump ship…

    Good job, Rip.

    BuDuh (c76edc)

  515. Any new polls you wish to report?

    That was always fun.

    BuDuh (c76edc)

  516. @503 Trump is a Christian like Biden is Catholic, like Obama is Christian, like Bush is Christian, like Reagan was Christian, like Nixon was Quaker. You have to be a non-Christian like Moby Nick to get taken in by it.

    lloyd (60115f)

  517. I love guys who go by the moniker “Allahpundit” who is a self-professed atheist telling Christians what they should think and how to properly practice their religion.

    If Catoggio said something wrong about being remorseful for your sins as a Christian and for seeking repentance, then please point it out.
    Has Trump expressed any remorse ever for any of his crimes, acts, words, sins or transgressions? I can’t think of a single instance. And if he is indeed unremorseful for any of it, then perhaps you are voting for a psychopath, or malignant narcissist.

    Paul Montagu (d52d7d)

  518. @519 You mean like the salem witch trials, the inquisition and the pastor who attends service mens funeral saying god hates gays or burning down madyln murreys house or shooting hustler publisher larry flynt? As bad as they are muslims are far worse.

    asset (78e213)

  519. Trump is so antithetical to the spirit of Christianity. I don’t understand how Christians can support him.

    It’s the two-party system. They support the guy who doesn’t think “Piss Christ” was art. You really can’t look at it like there was a continuum of choices.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  520. Romney was far more concerned with the body politic than he was about Trump or making him pay for the things you resent.

    If Catoggio said something wrong about being remorseful for your sins as a Christian and for seeking repentance, then please point it out.

    OK, here goes: “Grace” is a condition without any merit attached. Forgiveness is on the part of the forgiver, without any requirement on the person forgiven. It’s nice when that is matched by repentance, but the act of forgiving needs to be without a quid pro quo.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  521. I have forgiven people who have not repented, and some whom I have never met again, so who knows? Not important.

    It’s about ME giving up my hatred/resentment/other ill feeling, so that *I* can get on with my life without having them live rent-free in my head (as it seems that Trump does in yours).

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  522. @526

    OK, here goes: “Grace” is a condition without any merit attached. Forgiveness is on the part of the forgiver, without any requirement on the person forgiven. It’s nice when that is matched by repentance, but the act of forgiving needs to be without a quid pro quo.

    Kevin M (a9545f) — 5/16/2024 @ 9:19 pm

    Absolutely this.

    whembly (86df54)

  523. Even in my purely Protestant background, we’re to pray for forgiveness for our sins and whatnot.

    There’s nothing Christian or Christ-like in not confessing (outwardly or in silent prayer) your transgressions, sins, crimes, etc. Yet Trump, an asserted Christian, hasn’t done so.

    “I am not sure I have. I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don’t think so,” he said. “I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don’t bring God into that picture. I don’t.”

    Grace is what we’re given after such confession, and for accepting Christ into our lives.

    Paul Montagu (6a638f)

  524. In Western Christian theology, grace is created by God who gives it as help to one because God desires one to have it, not necessarily because of anything one has done to earn it. It is understood by Western Christians to be a spontaneous gift from God to people – “generous, free and totally unexpected and undeserved” – that takes the form of divine favor, love, clemency, and a share in the divine life of God.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_in_Christianity

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  525. Also, confessing, apologizing or making amends is independent of being forgiven. The person that you transgressed against may still hate you and want you dead. Like forgiveness, admitting your wrongs is for YOU not the other person. If there are amends they will accept, then there may be further healing, but confession and apology are not conditioned.

    Kevin M (a9545f)

  526. One of the most wrong-headed ideas is the “justified resentment”, as if resenting someone harms THEM.

    Kevin M (a9545f)


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