Weekend Open Thread
[guest post by Dana]
Let’s go!
First news item
Be nice if the Republican Party would decide whether the rule of law and justice for all are really things to be embraced:
Senate Republicans are warning New York Judge Juan Merchan not to sentence former President Trump to prison or house arrest or take any other action that could disrupt the likely GOP nominee’s ability to campaign ahead of the November election.
Trump’s sentencing date is July 11.
The Republican National Convention is scheduled to begin on July 15.
The senators are concerned about the latitude Judge Merchan has in the decision making:
…they’re nervous about what may happen, because Merchan wields a lot of discretion over the terms of the sentence and they felt he tilted the trial against Trump’s team.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said it would be a “further abuse of power” to incarcerate Trump or sentence him to home confinement.
“I’m very troubled by what I see in the way the courts have been weaponized,” he said. “It used to be there were some institutions in America, namely the FBI, the Department of Justice and the courts, which were regarded as out of bounds for overt partisan politics, but unfortunately that’s changed, and not for the better.”
Additionally, and this is just rich beyond belief:
Republican senators warn any sentence that would impact Trump’s mobility or ability to communicate with voters could seriously undermine voters’ confidence in the fairness of the 2024 election.
Second news item
Prime Minister Netanyahu will speak before a divided Congress:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to address a joint session of Congress on July 24, congressional leaders announced Thursday.
Why it matters: The speech is likely to be divisive, with many Democrats opposed to hosting the Israeli prime minister and some progressives planning to boycott or even disrupt the speech.
What they’re saying: “The bipartisan, bicameral meeting symbolizes the U.S. and Israel’s enduring relationship,” said the offices of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky).
Their statement said the speech will “offer Prime Minister Netanyahu the opportunity to share the Israeli government’s vision for defending their democracy, combatting terror, and establishing just and lasting peace in the region.”
Meanwhile, anger is growing by the usual suspects about the impending visit by the prime minister:
Progressive “Squad” Democrats are furious that their leaders have agreed to invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress.
“Absolutely,” Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., told Fox News Digital on Wednesday when asked if she was disappointed that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., agreed to sign onto the invitation.
“We should not be creating a platform and welcoming an accused war criminal,” Pressley said.
Third news item
President Biden apologizes to President Zelensky:
U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday for the first time publicly apologized to Ukraine for a monthslong congressional holdup in American military assistance that let Russia make gains on the battlefield.
The apology came as Biden met in Paris with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who appealed for bipartisan U.S. support going forward “like it was during World War II.”
…
“I apologize for those weeks of not knowing what’s going to happen in terms of funding,” Biden said, referring to the six-month holdup by conservative Republicans in Congress to a $61 billion military aid package for Ukraine. Still, the Democratic president insisted that the American people were standing by Ukraine for the long haul. “We’re still in. Completely. Thoroughly,” he said.
Fourth news item
Trump’s latest target of attack:
The former president claimed in a Truth Social post that members of the House panel had committed crimes, asserting they “deleted and destroyed all material evidence.”
“The unAmerican Weaponization of our Law Enforcement has reached levels of Illegality never thought possible before,” Trump posted. “INDICT THE UNSELECT J6 COMMITTEE FOR ILLEGALLY DELETING AND DESTROYING ALL OF THEIR ‘FINDINGS!’”
The panel’s former chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), has previously pushed back against GOP claims that the committee withheld information.
If elected, his time and energies will be focused solely on retribution and going after his perceived enemies.
Fifth news item
Freedom fighters, then and now:
“You’re the savior of the people, you bring tears to my eyes.”
“No no, you saved Europe.”
“My hero.”
“No, you are our hero.”
“I pray for you.”Heartbreaking between @ZelenskyyUa & a #DDay veteran, who knows the cost. He kisses his hand & won’t let go.
pic.twitter.com/qQoI2SekeR— Jessica Berlin (@berlin_bridge) June 6, 2024
Have a great weekend.
—Dana
Hello.
Dana (f65148) — 6/7/2024 @ 6:50 amThe GOP is just fine with lies. Quite the sad state.
AJ_Liberty (b9947b) — 6/7/2024 @ 7:21 amThat’s especially rich when the Biden administration is doing just that right now.
whembly (86df54) — 6/7/2024 @ 7:42 amhttps://www.foxnews.com/media/hunter-biden-laptop-re-emerges-media-embarrassment-becomes-key-evidence-gun-trial
Just a reminder about the election interference in 2020 well beyond anything any of our foreign enemies or Trump ever did.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 6/7/2024 @ 8:19 amSenate Republicans are warning New York Judge Juan Merchan not to sentence former President Trump to prison or house arrest or take any other action that could disrupt the likely GOP nominee’s ability to campaign ahead of the November election.
Indeed. It would be viewed by many as a blatant attempt to steal the election. Me included, and I don’t plan to vote for the man. I am always amazed at the inability of folks to see just how wrong their side can be in pursuit of their no-doubt noble goals.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 8:21 amRepublican senators warn any sentence that would impact Trump’s mobility or ability to communicate with voters could seriously undermine voters’ confidence in the fairness of the 2024 election.
It is rich beyond belief that you find that to be rich beyond belief. Appalling actually.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 8:22 am@4 Yeah… and the folks here who defended the notion that the Hunter laptop was likely a Russian disinformation will be hiding.
You know who you are… we see you.
whembly (86df54) — 6/7/2024 @ 8:24 amSomeone stole your fifth news item.
If you want one, I suggest this video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEIqdcHbc8I
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 8:25 amCould Pattterico’s help people become “super-agers”? An article in the May 7th NYT describes the findings from studies in Spain and Chicago of “super-agers”, old people who are especially active mentally — for their age.
Here, for me, is the most interesting finding:
To the extent that Patterico’s helps people have “strong social relationships”, it will help them age well.
(And for the application to US politics? Social relationships have broken down in the US over recent decades, weakening families and communities. And that contributes to the widespread unhappiness in this wealthy nation, an unhappiness that is exploited by so many, across the political spectrum.)
Posted first at Political Betting, in a slightly different form.
Jim Miller (8d6d53) — 6/7/2024 @ 8:27 amFlorida Supreme Court upholds DeSantis on suspending Orlando’s “Soros” prosecutor
https://apnews.com/article/desantis-monique-worrell-orlando-florida-7c0f51643c359a0d4aef5a65bf4e09c9
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 8:31 amIt’s shocking how different Biden’s speech was today vs Trump a week ago.
And here we go…3…2..1
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/7/2024 @ 8:32 amOf course, I should add that causality may run the other way (or both ways). Super-agers may be, for whatever reason, just better at social relationships. But note that some of the obvious differences between them and control groups, diet and exercise, don’t seem to have the effects many think they have.
(After reading about these findings, I’m still going to exercise and eat right — but I think I will try to spend a little more time on improving social relationships.)
Jim Miller (8d6d53) — 6/7/2024 @ 8:34 amIt’s pretty much a given that Trump will get bail pending appeal. Most familiar with NY’s appeal process predict it will take at minimum a year. So, even if Trump is sentenced to house arrest for 2 months, he will be free to lie his a$$ off up to the November election.
Only 1 in 10 people convicted of E-felonies get prison time. Those that do generally have compounding charges. Trump’s offense is non-violent…and he is a first-time offender. He’s old. But, he’s also guilty of business fraud and trying to corrupt an election. He should have known better and used a legal means of securing the NDA’s. He didn’t. His lack of remorse, ten counts of contempt, and continued public attacks on the rule of law…and getting others to make statements that are patently false….tends to beg something beyond a slap on the wrist.
My prediction: 2 months of house arrest with the same media access as someone in prison. He gets bail pending appeal but the previous gag order stays in effect. He can complain about the judge, DA, and system….but not the jurors or witnesses.
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 6/7/2024 @ 8:37 amMy prediction: 2 months of house arrest
Even that will get gun sales booming. Gasoline onto the fire.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 9:02 amBTW, is it really wise for Zelensky to let himself be used as a campaign prop?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 9:03 am1. Trump won’t need to post bail. He is already free on his own recognizance, so he is not considered a flight risk, though I presume he had to surrender his passport (as part of his release on OR in any of his other indictments).
2. While I’m sure Trump wants to be sent to prison (the symbolism isn’t lost on him), I doubt he will be even sentenced to house arrest. As AJ pointed out, low level felonies, first time offender, old, and unique security requirements. His “continued attacks on the rule of law……and getting others to make statements that are patently false” shouldn’t figure into his sentencing, as they are unrelated to his convictions. My bet is a year of probation and a large fine.
3. Why are “booming” gun sales a problem?
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/7/2024 @ 9:21 am@14
I’ll take that wager and raise you…
Since the GA trial is on hold indefinitely and neither of the Jack Smith trials is going to be able to complete till after the election, Judge Merchan is going to be pressured into assigning jail time to Trump.
Everything about this case is abnormally slanted, such that Judge Merchan could be confused as simply an ADA in black robe.
whembly (86df54) — 6/7/2024 @ 9:22 am> His “continued attacks on the rule of law……and getting others to make statements that are patently false” shouldn’t figure into his sentencing, as they are unrelated to his convictions.
Doesn’t matter. Things unrelated to convictions are *regularly* used as sentencing factors in both federal and state criminal trials.
Criminal justice reform types have been complaining about this for as long as i’ve been alive. It’s simultaneously hilarious and absolutely infuriating that conservatives are just now noticing, and it’s absolutely infuriating that they’re making it out to be some sort of nefarious scheme directed personally at them.
aphrael (1797ab) — 6/7/2024 @ 9:34 amThe following link is to an opinion piece by an MIT Molecular Biologist. “The Pandemic Probably Started in a Lab” My intent is to discuss it in the context of partisan politics.
https://archive.is/cEv0Y
steveg (18846d) — 6/7/2024 @ 9:40 amYou know what will get gun sales booming. Super cheap prices.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/7/2024 @ 9:41 amI thought the way the article and its “evidence” is laid out would appeal to lawyers
steveg (18846d) — 6/7/2024 @ 9:43 amAmerican voters don’t care.
Foreign policy is an important issue for only 1% of voters, far behind inflation, health care costs, the economy, and national security. And among those that do care about foreign policy, support for Ukraine ranks 19 (and Israel 20) as the top foreign policy issue (out of a total of 22 priorities) for voters.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/7/2024 @ 9:46 amI’ll take that bet that you’re both wrong-probation and a large fine.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/7/2024 @ 9:48 am@20
I dunno that the right is considering this some “nefarious scheme directed personally at them”.
But, you’re right that it’s “hilarious and absolutely infuriating” at the same time that the right is seemingly getting more and more distrustful of the legal system, especially acknowledging the plights of the minorities faced for decades.
whembly (86df54) — 6/7/2024 @ 9:49 amI’m reminded that everyone should watch this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE
Don’t talk to the authorities without an attorney.
whembly (86df54) — 6/7/2024 @ 9:51 amPulling his punches:
By not allowing Ukraine to strike fear into the Russian civilian population outside of the war zone, Biden is again denying a path to victory for Ukraine.
Weapons free!
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/7/2024 @ 10:00 amDon’t talk to the authorities period.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/7/2024 @ 10:00 amAlternative prediction: one year in prison, suspended, and a large fine.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/7/2024 @ 10:17 amThat’s sort of funny since when Rudy was shopping the laptop story around Fox News wouldn’t publish.
I thought it was BS when it came out, and Russia planting a story to harm Biden didn’t seem outlandish. Russia did hack the DNC servers and release the data via Wikileaks in a way to help Trump / harm Hillary.
But I was wrong. Despite the very sketchy way the laptop made it to the public it appears to be genuine.
Time123 (316585) — 6/7/2024 @ 10:18 amI hope Trump isn’t sentenced to any custodial time. Given his age and lack of previous record some sort of probation is more appropriate. Maybe some community service like picking up trash next to the highway. But no time.
Time123 (316585) — 6/7/2024 @ 10:20 amWell, a laptop is genuine. In the 20teens, wow. I wonder if it’s his porn laptop vs his work laptop vs his tv laptop.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/7/2024 @ 10:25 amNot sure crackheads have ‘work’ laptops
Time123 (316585) — 6/7/2024 @ 10:30 am“Things unrelated to convictions are *regularly* used as sentencing factors in both federal and state criminal trials.”
Yes, it’s shocking to hear that the system “shouldn’t” take them into account. Oh really!! I didn’t mention that he also has 3 other felony indictments hanging over his head. I don’t believe that they should be used to “get him” but they also work against the notion that he is a first-time offender. His other civil judgments also reflect poorly on his character. Merchan does tend to weigh heavier on white-collar criminals. Still, if I was imagining betting odds, I would agree with Rip that probation would be the favorite…followed narrowly by house arrest. There will be heavy political pressure to calm the masses. Though I like that some here might be doing some calisthenics and arming for the great revolt against the justice system, I sense the matter is being pushed toward GOP-nullification.
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 6/7/2024 @ 10:34 amKlink,
he needed to get Biden to meet with his financiers to get paid. He says they did on the laptop. You know Biden is a crook to go with being a pedo.
The interference by the government and social media threw the election.
NJRob (a75c6d) — 6/7/2024 @ 10:49 amThere haven’t been any demonstrations or riots by any group demanding incarceration or probation-I doubt people will be upset enough by a custodial sentence or probation to do anything but complain about what a travesty it is.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/7/2024 @ 11:07 am@29
I agree… that’s pretty likely.
whembly (86df54) — 6/7/2024 @ 11:07 amThe masses don’t care.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/7/2024 @ 11:10 amMy sense of politicaljustice says this:
If Trump does time — it’s hard to argue Hunter Biden shouldn’t. If Trump does not do time for the New York charges (a real possibility), it would seem absurd to have H. Biden do time for charges that usually are pled out without jail time.
Really, both set of charges are the sort of things that charged as part of a massive suite of criminal indictments, rather than the single focus of a court action.
Appalled (27a51f) — 6/7/2024 @ 11:16 amBy not allowing Ukraine to strike fear into the Russian civilian population outside of the war zone, Biden is again denying a path to victory for Ukraine.
I wish the President would just announce that we have the same policy that China has: we “sell” our weapons to Ukraine like they sell theirs to Russia, and just like China we frankly don’t care how they are used. I know that is extremely cynical of me, but so be it.
JVW (b02843) — 6/7/2024 @ 11:17 amI don’t see any comparison-both are felonies, and separate jurisdictions. But I do agree Biden shouldn’t do time, if only because I don’t agree with the possession of a firearm as a crime, except in the case of violent offenders.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/7/2024 @ 11:22 amAn interesting view of the Hunter Biden case.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/06/07/hunter-biden-trial-truths-column-00162083
As a thought experiment, consider how little has to be rewritten to make it about Trump’s New York case.
Appalled (27a51f) — 6/7/2024 @ 11:24 amBoth Hunter Biden and Donald Trump received additional focus because of their prominence. Both are also openly corrupt and have likely broken the law
No one ever charged a former president or the child of a president before. No former president has been as unrepentantly lawless as Trump and Hunter is the first ‘first kid’ to smoke a lot of crack.
Unprecedented acts create unprecedented reactions.
But I doubt there would have been an investigation of Hunter if Trump had won the election or successfully stolen it and I doubt Bragg would have investigated Trump as thoroughly if he’d lost in 2016.
Time123 (316585) — 6/7/2024 @ 11:43 amI don’t agree with the possession of a firearm as a crime. . .
But isn’t the bigger point that he lied on his firearm application? Given that, he should be treated in the same way another other person who committed the same offense is treated.
JVW (b02843) — 6/7/2024 @ 11:50 am. . . Hunter is the first ‘first kid’ to smoke a lot of crack.
Does anyone really know what went on in John Eisenhower’s private life?
JVW (b02843) — 6/7/2024 @ 11:52 am@44
That’s my read as well… it’s the fact that he committed perjury on that application.
But, I think folks are missing the overall story with this…
Had Hunter’s lawyer NOT tried to slip pass a very unusual plea deal, with the government in cahoot of the scheme, this case would probably be over with a likely slap on the wrist.
But this judge called them out on it, and that deal was rescinded.
@lawyers here: Why doesn’t Joe Biden simply instruct his prosecutors to stand down?
whembly (86df54) — 6/7/2024 @ 11:56 am>Why doesn’t Joe Biden simply instruct his prosecutors to stand down?
Because there’s a general understanding among politicians in the Democratic party that it’s inappropriate for the President to interfere with DoJ operations in that way, and even if you think that’s just a lie they’re spinning to the gullible public, interfering in this case would puncture the lie.
Robert D West (1797ab) — 6/7/2024 @ 11:58 amAgain, if firearm possession by an addict (and non-violent felons) weren’t a crime, there wouldn’t have been any perjury. As it stands now, he will probably be convicted.
IANAL, but I would hazard to guess that President Biden believes in the rule of law, and that life decisions have consequences; though cynics would say that he hasn’t done so because of the election. And Biden has reiterated that he will not pardon his son.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/7/2024 @ 12:05 pmMy top-10 October surprises (as posted at TD) that might change the calculus of 2024:
10 Trump drops Marco Rubio as VP and switches to Kari Lake….”she’s just beautifully crazy”
9 Joe Biden angrily admits “Of course I smoked crack with my son, it’s what we did.”
8 Melania serves Trump with divorce papers….”I get McDougal, but Stormy F-ing Daniels!”
7 Jill Biden concedes she’s been secretly running Ukraine policy….”did the best I could”
6 Barron Trump announces his first vote will be for Joe Biden…”Must save democracy”
5 Kamala Harris announces resignation, concedes “Job is too damn hard, don’t know what the hell I’m doing”
4 Trump secret plan to infect Biden with Covid revealed….Bill Barr fears “May have gone too far..but still has my vote”
3 Trump shoots Joe Biden on 5th Avenue….”You see, J6 wasn’t THAT bad”
2 Joe Biden admits “Hell yeah I’m the Big Guy….and now I’m going to show you”
1 A pee tape DOES exist…and Marco Rubio WAS right
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 6/7/2024 @ 12:05 pm8 Melania serves Trump with divorce papers….”I get McDougal, but Stormy F-ing Daniels!”
This I can get behind.
JVW (b02843) — 6/7/2024 @ 12:09 pmHunter’s case is almost tragic. Someone with the built-in advantage of being a son of a prominent politician so wasting it is….dreadful. I also find it remarkable that Joe Biden’s political folks did not intervene more to help clean him up. I guess it shows the pernicious hold of drug abuse.
The testimony is almost as discomfortable as Stormy Daniels describing sex with Trump. Thankfully I didn’t have a sharp stick in hand for either. Like Trump, there’s little doubt that Hunter is guilty. I suppose that there is some doubt as what is truly in the mind of an addict…and why exactly he even purchased the gun. Was he suicidal? Was he paranoid? There must have been something that triggered his wife to dump the weapon after 11 short days. It still looks like the punishment should be some sort of diversion…which seems consistent with the fact pattern.
I think the tax evasion seems more troubling…to me, but again he did pay it back (with someone else’s money)….so it’s hard to be pulling out the big whomping bat with the restitution handled. Still how do you figure you can get away without paying taxes?! It’s too bad* that Trump could not leverage a coked-out-of-his-mind defense somehow to justify some of his actions. It might turn how people view J6 and the Mar-a-Lago shuffle. Of course, not a great defense for the President….
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 6/7/2024 @ 12:22 pmHunter’s tax and gun woes should make his father and his fellow Democrats at least a little bit apprehensive about grousing that the rich should pay their fair share of taxes, and that more regulation of guns is necessary. At least it would if these people were not utterly shameless.
And despite Joe Biden’s declaration that he won’t pardon his son, I’m willing to bet that shortly before leaving office, whether that is January 2025, January 2029, or at some point in-between, he’s going to pardon him anyway.
JVW (b02843) — 6/7/2024 @ 12:29 pm> If Trump does time — it’s hard to argue Hunter Biden shouldn’t. If Trump does not do time for the New York charges (a real possibility), it would seem absurd to have H. Biden do time for charges that usually are pled out without jail time.
While I agree with you about the politics of the matter, I also think it would be *completely* inappropriate for the judge in the Biden case to consider the sentencing in the Trump case in any way as a factor contributing to Biden’s sentencing.
aphrael (99fd6b) — 6/7/2024 @ 12:31 pm@50, I have a lot of sympathy for Melania and for Ivanka…they both seem less caught up in Trump’s fire-bombing theatrics. Still, I don’t wish divorce upon anyone. If it’s the natural progression, so be it…but no rooting from my side. We only get a scripted look at their public persona, but Melania seems like a decent egg that abhors the chaos that the Donald is sowing. I think her absence from the scene speaks volumes.
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 6/7/2024 @ 12:39 pmYeah, I’m actually pretty fond of Melania. She does seem like she’s the sane one in the marriage, and thus far it appears that her son has turned out well too, for which I am completely willing to credit her and her alone.
JVW (b02843) — 6/7/2024 @ 12:53 pmComedy Gold! 👍
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/7/2024 @ 12:57 pmyou’re be surprised what makes sense when you’re really really high.
Time123 (316585) — 6/7/2024 @ 1:06 pmJim Miller (8d6d53) — 6/7/2024 @ 8:27 am
Jim, that is an interesting point about super agers. It certainly explains my mother, who is the most social person one can imagine. She is 92, and still mentally sharp (except for the occasional use of Ativan). She often cracks jokes. She recently made the transition to using a walker. I think that is where her life of insufficient exercise may be a factor.
norcal (f61c28) — 6/7/2024 @ 2:13 pmThe United States of America makes movies and television shows better than anyone else it only because of the quantity.
Also technology and medicines although it is not what it could be but there’s almost no innovation anywhere else
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 6/7/2024 @ 2:13 pmDoesn’t anyone anywhere realize this is as phony a letter as can be?
Normally no one is ordered to report to jail immediately upon sentencing.
The letter is written to make it look like Trump being in jail at the time of the convention is a real possibility.
And possibly to take credit for preventing it.
Trump wanted an early date so he could start his appeal as son as possible and maybe get it reversed sooner
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 6/7/2024 @ 2:18 pmOld trumpsters standing in line to see the orange jesus at mega church pass out in az heat sent to hospitals. Years ago when I was driving my cab full time I got a call at the mega church and was driving around it looking for person who called. I passed the paster and he asked me if I was looking for one of the apostles? I told him I was looking for gedot. He laughed and said very good ;but his wife gave me the dirtiest look. She must have seen becket’s play!
asset (c8dba9) — 6/7/2024 @ 2:21 pmAJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 6/7/2024 @ 12:22 pm
He had no choice. He has spent all his money.
he didn’t even file a tax return for 2014 and 2015. he statute of limitations was allowed to lapse. (The IRS looks down more on not filing taxes at all – when taxes are due)
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 6/7/2024 @ 2:21 pm.
@55 She knew what she wanted and got it.
asset (c8dba9) — 6/7/2024 @ 2:23 pmTrump’s defense attorney, who was being micro-managed by his client, asked for mid July for sentancing, so July 10-20. And got the best possible day in his request.
But Trump complaining about getting what he asked for when an idiot was asking, is sort of par for the course.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/7/2024 @ 2:27 pmClarence thomas has taken over 4 million dollars in gifts discovered so far with more hidden. (msnbc)
asset (c8dba9) — 6/7/2024 @ 2:27 pmI don’t know if Thomas’s trips were all that hidden, I just don’t think he cared.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/7/2024 @ 2:33 pmAJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 6/7/2024 @ 12:22 pm
It was on a whim. He was in the neighborhood for some other reason. He actually purchased two guns – the other was a BB gun although not quite legal.
No, tat’s what Hallie Biden thought. He gave another reason.
Possibly.
It was his brother’s widow whom he was having an affair with but not living in the same quarters with.
She got rid of it as soon as she found it. She would go through his car (or truck) looking for traces of cocaine. She decided to get rid of it as fast as possible and couldn’t think of anything better than to put it in a dumpster outside a supermarket. Maybe throwing it into a sewer would have been better. Hunter reported theft of a firearm to police which means he didn’t realize his possession of the gun might be considered illegal. The gun was taken by an elderly man who rummaged through it for bottles to illegally redeem in New York (Delaware doesn’t have a bottle deposit. It had but it expired in 2010, replaced by a 4 cent nonrefundable tax which itself expired in 2014.)
It has been established by testimony that Hunter was using cocaine in September and in November. On October 12, he and Hallie (who says she quit in August that year) went to a rehab place of some sort.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 6/7/2024 @ 2:40 pmAJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 6/7/2024 @ 12:39 pm
Melania and I think Baron (sp?) went to Trump Tower after the case went to the jury.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 6/7/2024 @ 2:42 pmThe Donald is all in on Gina owned Tik Tok, 4 years after being all out on Gina owned Tik Tok.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/7/2024 @ 3:31 pmAmerican voters don’t care.
Not my point. By openly siding with Biden in the election, he has no comeback if Trump wins. I’m pretty sure that Biden is forcing him to do it, too.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 3:45 pmHis “continued attacks on the rule of law……and getting others to make statements that are patently false” shouldn’t figure into his sentencing, as they are unrelated to his convictions.
I don’t think you get it. To about half the country, Trump’s conviction on pissant charges by a bought judge in the actual heart of darkness is what is destroying the Rule of Law.
This will not end well, and using these pissant charges to hobble someone nominated by an institutional political party to be their candidate for president will be a bridge too far.
They will look at it about the same as you would look at a successful version of Trump’s J6 coup. “They” might even be a majority, and if he wins anyway, you will have sown the whirlwind.
——–
I wish to God that he was not the nominee. I hope he dies soon. But he IS the GOP nominee and trying to defeat him other than at the ballot box is not only wrong, it’s a blunder.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 3:52 pmI don’t think that Trump would answer Zelensky’s phone calls under any circumstances. What would Biden have to gain (given the overall “meh” attitude of voters toward Ukraine) by meeting him? Zelensky needs Biden more.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/7/2024 @ 3:52 pmIf Trump wins, it’s game over for Ukraine. It may take 6 more months, but in the end Putin will win.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/7/2024 @ 3:53 pmThe most recent Ukraine aid package is probably the last one, no matter who becomes President.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/7/2024 @ 3:55 pmTo tel you the truth, I think that Trump welcomes all this extra-political opposition. The federal charges (which he now can conflate into being “just like” the petty charges brought in NYC), the attempts to jail him, or disqualify him, or otherwise defeat him outside of politics, all play into his hands.
If elected, he will point at the way “those people” have played the game and play it right back, and harder. And The People will cheer.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 3:56 pmThe most recent Ukraine aid package is probably the last one, no matter who becomes President.
From the USA, perhaps. Europe (and NATO) will look at it more critically.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 3:57 pmIf Trump wins, it’s game over for Ukraine. It may take 6 more months, but in the end Putin will win.
If Biden wins, he will have lost it already. At this point, for Ukraine to stand, there has to be considerable will to confront Putin militarily among the REMFs.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 3:59 pmNATO doesn’t provide anything directly to Ukraine, and if Trump pulls the US out, then NATO is even more useless. Europe will fold like a house of cards against a Russia that defeats Ukraine. You will see more appeasement, not more backbone.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/7/2024 @ 4:00 pmWhat would Biden have to gain (given the overall “meh” attitude of voters toward Ukraine) by meeting him?
It’s all he has to convince a lot of erstwhile Republicans to vote for Biden and the Dems. If Biden were to write off Zelensky before the election, he’d lose 10 million votes.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 4:01 pmLOL! Show your work. There is absolutely no evidence that Biden would gain support from “erstwhile Republicans.” Most of them will either vote for Trump or not vote for President.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/7/2024 @ 4:04 pmEurope will fold like a house of cards against a Russia that defeats Ukraine. You will see more appeasement, not more backbone.
Then there is no way that Ukraine can survive. If we are not willing to confront Russia directly — and Biden is the poster boy of a REMF) they we never intended to win. We’ve bled Russia, which is all Biden ever intended to do.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 4:05 pmThere is absolutely no evidence that Biden would gain support from “erstwhile Republicans.
He already has. DRJ, our host, Dana, AJ, others here, Cattagio, Will, etc, are all examples of Republicans who intend to vote for Biden, or not vote at all.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 4:08 pmGiven the lack of Republican voter support for Ukraine, Biden would be better off writing off Zelensky.
Again, Americans in general do not care what happens in Ukraine. There will be no “Who lost Ukraine” debate. Ukraine doesn’t have the political support it once had.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/7/2024 @ 4:10 pmOk, that’s ten or so persons. Not enough to swing an election.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/7/2024 @ 4:12 pmShow me something that indicates a substantial (>10%) number of Republican voters name support for Ukraine as their primary issue when voting for President. If 1% of Americans consider foreign policy as the most important issue, that won’t be many voters.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/7/2024 @ 4:19 pmRip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/7/2024 @ 4:12 pm
That’s meant as a sample. What percentage of the electorate are like that you don’t know
Trump could win because Biden is losing Democratic votes,
Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 6/7/2024 @ 4:30 pmWhile 23% of Americans did indicate that support for Ukraine was their top priority foreign policy issue, there were 18 other priorities that ranked higher.
And we saw this lack of Republican support in Congress for the last aid package. Republicans voted 101-112 against the aid package. Those that were listed in post 82 a) aren’t in Congress; and b) don’t reflect the current Republican views on aid to Ukraine. If Trump wins and abandons Ukraine (and NATO), he will be reflecting the current Republican majority.
As we saw in the Republican primary, candidates that supported aid to Ukraine (and an internationalist foreign policy in general) were crushed (and later endorsed the candidate with opposing views).
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/7/2024 @ 4:31 pmBiden intends to run on 3 issues (and not stick to the truth on any of them)
1) Abortion
2) Trump’s loyalty to the constitution
3) Republican fiscal policy
Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 6/7/2024 @ 4:34 pmI would hazard a guess that the percentage of Republicans that support aid to Ukraine is a little less than the percent of Republican votes (not including Democrat crossovers) that Nikki Haley received in the primaries. Not much, and they are more likely to support Trump in the general anyway (as she announced).
I doubt Biden would lose any Democratic votes over Ukraine.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/7/2024 @ 4:39 pmBiden doesn’t need to say much, as Trump has frequently denounced constitutional norms for the past 6 years.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/7/2024 @ 4:41 pm@52
I think the pardon is happening right after the November election.
whembly (c88dc4) — 6/7/2024 @ 4:46 pm@66
The court is not facing any cases that puts Thomas’ bias in question.
Nothing more that progressive losing their sh!t over losing ideological control of this court.
whembly (c88dc4) — 6/7/2024 @ 4:48 pmEthics are a bit more important. Well, not to the Authoritarian MAGAVerse, but most people think the SCOTUS should be ethical.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/7/2024 @ 4:52 pmIf the fix isn’t in with a politically biased jury, I agree with that belief.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 6/7/2024 @ 5:27 pmI like how non-falsifiable NJRobs delusions have become.
Time123 (8de4ee) — 6/7/2024 @ 5:57 pm@92, seriously, MILLIONS of dollars in unreported gifts and you’re fine with it?
Time123 (8de4ee) — 6/7/2024 @ 5:59 pmhttps://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2024/06/07/video-report-illegal-aliens-march-times-square-chanting-abolish-ice/
Biden’s law and order.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 6/7/2024 @ 6:20 pmTime,
your agenda is as predictable as it is boring.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 6/7/2024 @ 6:20 pmIrony alert
norcal (c24042) — 6/7/2024 @ 6:26 pm@92, seriously, MILLIONS of dollars in unreported gifts and you’re fine with it?
The “MILLIONS of dollars” is ProPubica’s (sic) spin. For example, they estimate a one-week vacation with Harlan Crow as worth $500,000, which is absolute drivel.
nk (6c45b4) — 6/7/2024 @ 6:32 pmLink for 100. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/07/us/supreme-court-disclosures-gifts.html
nk (7337c6) — 6/7/2024 @ 6:34 pmLike I said norcal. You used to not buy into the BS the left spins. What happened?
NJRob (eb56c3) — 6/7/2024 @ 7:11 pmEthics are a bit more important.
Indeed they are, but “ethics rules” are just there for people who don’t have them naturally. The only actual sociopath I even had close contact with had an undergraduate degree in “ethics.”
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 7:22 pm*ever
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 7:23 pm@92, seriously, MILLIONS of dollars in unreported gifts and you’re fine with it?
MILLIONS? They bought him an airplane or something? Just riding in one is not the same thing.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 7:24 pmClarence thomas has taken over 4 million dollars in gifts discovered so far with more hidden. (msnbc)
This is the source? What is a “gift” anyway? If I’m a billionaire and I fly my friends places on my G5, these are “gifts”? Not all billionaires are evil, you know. Except maybe to msnbc.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 7:27 pmI would be very interested to hear about some case that Thomas voted on — that was to the benefit of any person whatsoever — where he normally would have voted differently?
If we are talking about “appearances”, well, go mind your own business.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 7:29 pmHow quickly we are seeing once reliable conservative commenters accept the “progressive” line on everything. Disillusionment sucks, I guess.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 7:33 pmBiden appealing to republican voters as clinton did in 2016. Why? so they have to appeal to left progressive base as little as they can get away with! Donor class likes appeal to low tax republicans not high tax progressives. Example republican gov. kasich given 5 minutes to speak at 2020 democrat convention, AOC given 60 seconds (she made the most of them) Keeping green party off ballot in swing states was preferred to trying to get their votes. It worked barely with biden edging trump in az, ga, mi. and wi. with green party kicked off ballet. JFK jr. and Green’s party Jill Stein on ballot in 2024 so concessions grudgingly have to be made to left party base to keep them from voting for other then biden.
asset (6bb861) — 6/7/2024 @ 7:33 pm@107 These are corporate establishment third way clinton/biden democrats and their running dogs in the corporate media whining so they don’t have to do something about. This is why they have to keep the left base from taking control of the party.
asset (6bb861) — 6/7/2024 @ 7:39 pmThe 2021-23 Supreme Court disclosure reports for each Justice are located here. The updated information regarding Justice Thomas’ travels are listed on page 6 of his 2023 filing.
Rip Murdock (b434fe) — 6/7/2024 @ 7:42 pmActually, yes, and it should be reported if you’re a government official.
Rip Murdock (b434fe) — 6/7/2024 @ 7:43 pmStill waiting for sammy the “fish” alito to find away to obfuscate what he “took”.
asset (6bb861) — 6/7/2024 @ 7:56 pmMore nonsense from Cloud Cuckoo Land:
Own a pool in Southern California? New air quality rule requires electric water heaters
Worse, it also covers tankless home water heaters (which minimize heating times to actual usage), but not old-style water-tank ones, which burn gas all the time.
So, that 200,000 BTU tankless water heater? You’ll just have to find some way to get 60KW of electric power when you want to shower. Not an easy thing.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 8:06 pmRIP Apollo 8 astronaut and USAF Major General (Ret.) William Anders (90):
Anders was born in British Hong Kong and graduated from the Naval Academy and later received a Master of Science degree in nuclear engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology. As a a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force (USAF) in 1955, he became a fighter pilot flying Northrop F-89 Scorpions equipped with MB-1 nuclear-tipped air-to-air missiles. He also served as backup pilot for the Gemini XI and Apollo 11 flights.
Rip Murdock (4f862d) — 6/7/2024 @ 8:21 pmCould someone fish 114 out of moderation. Apparently the word c.u.c.k.o.o. is a problem.
I haven’t checked, but I think it is the first four letters of that word which trigger moderation. Another thing to thank our friend happyfeet for. I’m afraid that WordPress doesn’t differentiate between that word and an entirely different word which is longer. – JVW
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 8:27 pmActually, yes, and it should be reported if you’re a government official.
Then the law is an ass.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 8:29 pmThe newly reported Harlan Crow trips occurred five years ago, so it’s an open question as to if there were any cases that involved Crow’s interests within that period.
More broadly, I guess your view that, since there aren’t any cases that “puts Thomas’ bias in question” means you believe in situational ethics, rather than absolute moral standards.
Which is a perfectly defensible position.
Rip Murdock (4f862d) — 6/7/2024 @ 8:32 pmThe world was a better place before we had all these laws that allowed the checkists to rule. Get rid of all the campaign finance laws and the pettifogging “ethics” rules and let people do their JOBS and not keep receipts for every donut.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 8:32 pmrather than absolute moral standards.
We don’t HAVE those anyway. What we have are inflexible rules. Not the same thing at all.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 8:33 pmThose who serve in senior government positions (including the judiciary) do sacrifice some financial privacy.
Despite the rules, the WSJ found in 2022 that more than 130 federal judges ruled in cases where they had a financial interest.
Are you okay with that?
Rip Murdock (4f862d) — 6/7/2024 @ 8:40 pmIncluding foreign contributions?
Rip Murdock (4f862d) — 6/7/2024 @ 8:42 pmA return to the Gilded Age and Teapot Dome, eh?
Rip Murdock (4f862d) — 6/7/2024 @ 8:56 pmYou might get your wish under the new Trump Administration and Republican Congress.
Rip Murdock (4f862d) — 6/7/2024 @ 8:58 pmJust a reminder that the leftist moral standards were Harry Reid lying about Romney to win an election
And then they lied about the Biden laptop.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 6/7/2024 @ 9:01 pmThe GOP has settled into nullification. Piss-ant might be the operative word. The outrage is over the f-word, FELONY. Now the process isn’t over, there is still sentencing and appeal, but the outlook is pretty clear. FELONY will probably end up a wash in the electorate. Biden needs to move on from it.
Maybe he vectors over to FRAUD, as in, the whole episode…be it 2 piss-ant misdemeanors or 34 meandering felonies….is yet one more excruciating example of FRAUD….Trump chewing up people and spitting them out. Just like Trump University, just like Deutsche Bank, just like not paying contractors, just like running people through the litigation wringer, and just like selling MAGA Bibles that he doesn’t have the foggiest clue of what’s in them.
If they’re not felonies for 90% of the GOP and some smattering of independents…..let it lie. It remains true that Trump, beyond a reasonable doubt, DID IT….and it’s one more piece of the mosaic that is his character. Is this payoff scheme and pressure to keep Cohen on “the team” consistent with someone who is guilty of the J6 scheming and document obstruction…or does it somehow exonerate Trump?
Yeah it’s consistent. Even whembly acknowledges that the document obstruction case is pretty locked down and damning. He’s said Trump should have been impeached for dereliction surrounding J6. He knows Trump is unfit….and Biden does not change it….whatever one calls the J6 event.
Despite Jack Smith’s cases being lawfared into the ground….there will still be the court of public opinion on those matters. We will see charges of dereliction and recklessness. Andy McCarthy and Jonathan Turley will invent the next round of excuses. The chorus will repeat it fervently. But the imagery of J6 is unmistakeable: police crushed in doorways, cops dragged unconcious down the Capitol steps, congressional staffers fearing for their lives, Josh Hawley hauling it out of harm’s way….Trump transfixed.
The court of public opinion has to weigh Trump’s accountability for riots, fake electors, and magically moving classified documents. If the piss-ant felonies are “no good”, then move to the main event: make ’em answer Jack Smith’s charges. I don’t expect to hear the term piss-ant there…..
AJ_Liberty (d17483) — 6/7/2024 @ 9:02 pmRip ignores Obama and foreign contributions, continued by Biden.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 6/7/2024 @ 9:03 pmDespite the rules, the WSJ found in 2022 that more than 130 federal judges ruled in cases where they had a financial interest.
Are you okay with that?
NO, but that is not what we are talking about. NO ONE has suggested that Thomas ruled in such a case. Those 130 judges? Prosecute them and it will stop.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 9:19 pmIncluding foreign contributions?
Rip Murdock (4f862d) — 6/7/2024 @ 8:42 pm
Why do you interject some absurdity as if it were meaningful?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 9:21 pmA return to the Gilded Age and Teapot Dome, eh?
1) Teapot Dome resulted in prison for Secretary Fell, although Doheny just got a street named after him.
2) If 1970 was the Gilded Age, you’d have a point. I’m with Eugene McCarthy on this one.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 9:23 pm*Fall, not Fell.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 9:24 pmYeah, Thomas has been accepting these “gifts” for 33 years. Do you think it’s had no effect. Plus, the small thing with his wife being paid millions as a lobbyist, lobbying her husband, specifically on issues in front of the court.
Like in Shelby v. Holder where Judicial Education Project (Leonard Leo, the attorney filing the brief) paid her for “consulting”.
That isn’t even Harlan Crow buying Thomas’s mom a house. Or an RV, etc. Harlan Crow, litterally a Hitler enthusiast. Crow’s Dallas residence has an extensive collection of historical artifacts, including communist and Nazi memorabilia. His residence houses two paintings by Adolf Hitler and a signed copy of Mein Kampf.
Oh, and he does have some non dictator art too. Besides all the statues of dictators.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/7/2024 @ 9:35 pmDo you think it’s had no effect.
What effect do you see? I mean, 33 years it should be obvious. Right?
Harlan Crow, litterally a Hitler enthusiast. Crow’s Dallas residence has an extensive collection of historical artifacts, including communist and Nazi memorabilia. His residence houses two paintings by Adolf Hitler and a signed copy of Mein Kampf.
Well, someone should tell him that Thomas is black.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 9:46 pm> Those 130 judges? Prosecute them and it will stop.
How do you find out that they should be prosecuted without the intrusive disclosure rules you are decyring?
aphrael (1797ab) — 6/7/2024 @ 9:46 pmHe bought the judge that was for sale.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/7/2024 @ 9:49 pmHey, but Katanji Brown Jackson got free Beyonce tickets, same same.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/7/2024 @ 9:51 pmHow do you find out that they should be prosecuted without the intrusive disclosure rules you are decyring?
Why not prosecute if the law exists now? Even if I don’t like the law, and you do, it is not hypocritical on *my* part to say “USE IT” when you trot out all those scofflaws to butress some argument.
Or is it only some people who cannot be above the law?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 9:56 pmHey, but Katanji Brown Jackson got free Beyonce tickets, same same.
Not too long ago, I tried to buy a government employee a hot dog. The “meal” was over $5 and he could not accept.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 9:57 pmHe bought the judge that was for sale.
What did he get for in in those 33 years? Still waiting.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/7/2024 @ 9:58 pmWell, in the current court.
Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo
CFPB v. Community Financial Services Association of America
Acheson Hotels LLC v. Laufer
Moore v. U.S
All cases that he has a financial interest in, and is paying his attorney to file briefs for.
In 2005 Womack+Hampton Architects v.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/7/2024 @ 10:11 pmMetric Holdings Limited Partnership, et al.(Crow was CEO of the holding company)
But Crow buying Thomas mom a house and him and RV and millions of dollars worth of vacations, your cool with. Because?
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/7/2024 @ 10:13 pmKevin Dalton catches Team Biden largely plagiarizing Ronald Reagan’s “Boys of Pointe du Hoc” speech of 40 years ago (damn, I’m old) in the address he gave at Normandy yesterday. But the most distressing thing about this is that the video he includes is a stark reminder of what an incredible orator Ronald Reagan was and what an absolutely wretched orator Joe Biden is. Our President is quite literally a half-wit, if even that.
JVW (b02843) — 6/7/2024 @ 10:20 pmThe nimrods at Mediaite assure us that there’s nothing to see here, folks.
JVW (b02843) — 6/7/2024 @ 10:24 pmIt was definetly an ode to Reagan. It was still pretty good, the Peggy Noonan who wrote Reagan’s said that hers was an ode to FDR, and that was probably an ode to Lincoln, etc, etc.
I’d much rather someone today repeat Reagan and seemed to mean it. Trump did Dr. Phil today.
Trump’s 75th speech was written and delivered well, in fact, probably the best speech of his life.
Too bad this was also on that trip. “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/7/2024 @ 10:38 pmPlagiarizing ronald reagan to appeal to republican voters so he doesn’t have to go to far to accommodate the democrat party’s progressive base, who the dnc hates as much as they hate trump is why I wont vote for biden.
asset (6bb861) — 6/8/2024 @ 1:41 amThe future of the democratic party and therefore america’s future after trump can be found in the new book “Truce” What will happen wither biden wins or loses.
asset (6bb861) — 6/8/2024 @ 1:59 amNJRob, given your full throated support of Trump it’s hard to take it seriously when you use the word “Moral”.
Harry Reid lied. It was and is pathetic. The only problem you have with his lies is the partisan impact.
Time123 (8de4ee) — 6/8/2024 @ 3:49 amThomas has done things that would get a lesser official in serious trouble. Rightfully so. But he’s too powerful to hold to account. So he can get away with it and further exemplify how corrupt our system has become. Like Hunter’s influence peddling. Like Jared Kushner’s investment fund, like Chelsea’s executive position in the Clinton foundation.
There are 3 groups of ppl on this.
Time123 (8de4ee) — 6/8/2024 @ 3:53 am-Those that aren’t paying attention.
-Those that want a better system.
-Those that only care when it helps them politically.
Asset, nice sales pitch on why Biden isn’t the worst possible alternative to Trump. As a moderate conservative I find your complaints reasonable and slightly (very slightly) encouraging and corporate DNC is better than left wing populism.
Not trying to Troll you, we’re just looking for different outcomes
Time123 (8de4ee) — 6/8/2024 @ 3:56 amWe know you don’t have a problem with them. You post leftist propaganda to demoralize those on the right all the time.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 6/8/2024 @ 5:16 amYou know how Biden loses big? Ukraine falls before the election.
You know how Biden wins big? He rallies Europe to intervene.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/8/2024 @ 6:27 amhttps://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/joe-biden-age-election-2024-8ee15246
Not going to happen Kevin.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 6/8/2024 @ 6:32 amHey, but Katanji Brown Jackson got free Beyonce tickets, same same.
She also got a $900,000 advance on a book deal for her memoirs.
The WaPo has this to say about Justice Thomas’s advance for a rather successful book:
I expect that nothing of the sort was said about Justice Jackson’s deal. Thomas’ book actually sold 250,000 copies.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/8/2024 @ 6:45 am* The WaPo HAD this to say about Justice Thomas’s advance
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2003/01/09/clarence-thomas-sells-memoirs/f4156436-3f5d-40f8-bfd4-a50dc2f41ff6/ (2003)
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/8/2024 @ 6:46 amYour general comment advocated getting rid of those “pettifogging” campaign finance and ethics rules (without exception), which somehow hinder them from doing their jobs.
And, as pointed out above, Thomas has ruled in cases where Harlan Crow had an interest, though hidden behind corporate names. If we took your advice and got rid of financial disclosures, the public would have no idea whether governmental decisions were made in the public interest or for private benefit.
How do campaign and ethics rules hinder the ability of officials to do their jobs?
Rip Murdock (4f862d) — 6/8/2024 @ 6:53 am.
LOL! Maybe he becomes President of Ukraine, but not here. As I pointed out above, Ukraine isn’t an important issue among Americans. Elections are won and lost on domestic issues-the economy, immigration, gas prices, crime, etc. not foreign policy. Ukraine may be important to some of the posters here and political elites, but I’m sure if you asked your friends at the diner, they couldn’t care less if Kharkiv fell to the Russians or pick Ukraine on a map. What happens to Ukraine doesn’t put food on the table.
Rip Murdock (4f862d) — 6/8/2024 @ 7:05 amIf Europe intervenes directly into the fighting, it would guarantee US involvement, since Russia would undoubtedly see France, Great Britain, Poland, etc. as co-belligerents and attack them directly, thereby triggering Article 5. Committing US troops into combat during an election is not a winning strategy.
Rip Murdock (4f862d) — 6/8/2024 @ 7:15 amRip, King of “nothing can be done”
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/8/2024 @ 7:19 amIf Europe and the US were to have been directly involved, it should have been done before the invasion, and stationed large troop formations in Ukraine as Russia was building up its forces. But hindsight is 20/20.
Rip Murdock (4f862d) — 6/8/2024 @ 7:21 amKevin M, king of not thinking things through.
Rip Murdock (4f862d) — 6/8/2024 @ 7:22 amSo what do you think Russia’s reaction would be if Europe sent ground troops into Ukraine? Would they just let them do so without consequences?
Rip Murdock (4f862d) — 6/8/2024 @ 7:25 amhttps://hotair.com/headlines/2024/06/08/awesomeness-breaking-the-idf-has-rescued-4-israeli-hostages-including-noa-argamani-n3789877
Things that wouldn’t have happened if Israel listened to Biden.
NJRob (7eeb3e) — 6/8/2024 @ 7:25 amI’ll be interested to see whether Kevin M addresses the cases cited at 140.
I used to roll my eyes a bit when progressives attacked Clarence Thomas, but these investigations over the past couple years have changed my assessment. At this point, I think he is probably my betting favorite for “most contemptible public figure in America.”
Leviticus (d33172) — 6/8/2024 @ 7:26 amhttps://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/06/mandate-of-heaven.php
Biden continuing his gifts to China while destroying the automotive industry and Americans ability to freely travel.
NJRob (7cb9f9) — 6/8/2024 @ 7:29 amI haven’t checked, but I think it is the first four letters of that word which trigger moderation. Another thing to thank our friend happyfeet for.
Yes, yes, those four letters are. And it’s not happyfeet we have to thank for it, but Trumpsuckers who used the shortened form of the word for a betrayed husband to call those who did not smooch Trump’s wrinkled old orange butt with the same ardor they did.
nk (bbbeab) — 6/8/2024 @ 8:14 amhttps://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2024/06/08/pelosi-sad-that-netanyahu-was-invited-to-speak-n3789875
And then there’s the inherent antisemitism present in the leadership of the Democrat party. Pelosi upset that we acknowledge Netanyahu and allow him to speak to our leaders.
NJRob (7eeb3e) — 6/8/2024 @ 8:30 am> Why not prosecute if the law exists now?
We should.
But my point is that you are simultaneously advocating for prosecution (a good thing here) and abolishing the mechanism we have to know that we should prosecute.
The conjunction is incoherent.
aphrael (1797ab) — 6/8/2024 @ 8:35 amI feel like selling books is one of those things we’ve accepted Supreme Court justices doing for generations, and don’t generally think it implies a conflict of interest, and i’d apply that standard to all of the justices.
aphrael (1797ab) — 6/8/2024 @ 8:51 am@93
Still not seeing anything unethical.
Happy to consider it if I see some real evidence.
whembly (c88dc4) — 6/8/2024 @ 9:34 am@96
Show me the connection.
whembly (c88dc4) — 6/8/2024 @ 9:35 am@108
That has been one of the most amazing thing.
I think it boils down to that they want a “King” to rule over them. No… not a real king, but someone who represent their “ideal” leader.
I call it, the American Idol Syndrome. The inability to separate the transactional-policies from the person.
whembly (c88dc4) — 6/8/2024 @ 9:39 am@118
Not really… but, I don’t really care to defend this with the likes of you.
Who really doesn’t have a problem with the Biden’s side business…
Nor, someone who doesn’t think Judge Merchan could have bias against all things Trump.
whembly (c88dc4) — 6/8/2024 @ 9:41 amSo choosing to not review a case specifically against Crow’s company in the SCOTUS doesn’t count.
You asked for an example, provided 5 examples, and your answer is yeah, but…but. Noted.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/8/2024 @ 10:02 amYou haven’t shown any reason to suggest what he did is unethical. But it’s easy to smear a black conservative Justice. After all, the left does it all the time.
NJRob (7eeb3e) — 6/8/2024 @ 10:22 amThe mere appearence of bias is enough to force any other judge to recuse, but not Thomas, specifically on cases where he’s friends with a party.
If it was Brown Jackson, why do I think your story would be different.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/8/2024 @ 10:26 amRead any good books, lately?
I’ve been working through Ian Toll’s Six Frigates, enjoying it, and learning from it.
It is good, for example, to be reminded that politics in the United States has often been even more bitter than it is today.
And that disease was far more consequential then, than it is now. The designer of the frigates, Joshua Humphreys, specified southern live oak for key parts of the ships, sent a team down to a island off Georgia to cut the needed timbers — whereupon almost all of them fell sick, probably with malaria. Somewhat later, the builders had to stop work in Philadelphia, for months, when yellow fever devastated that city.
Reminder: You can see one of the six, the USS Constitution in the Boston area.
(Here’s a practical suggestion if you decide to read the book. Have handy some source of nautical terms common then, but unfamliar to most of us, including me.)
Jim Miller (0db57a) — 6/8/2024 @ 10:28 amOff-topic.
Which is more annoying on a community help page>
1. Responding to a question with a help page that does not address the question. (and the questioner has already seen repeatedly and read in detail).
2. Responding to a question by saying that there is some other software/option/activity that suits the responder better but also does not address the question. (e.g. responding to a Windows question by saying Linux is better).
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/8/2024 @ 10:37 amWho the F cares? Deterrence says he’d back down or offer to negotiate. But maybe he blows up the world. I don’t care to live in a world where we have to tiptoe past Putin so he doesn’t beat Momma.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/8/2024 @ 10:41 amMy God, Rip, you make Chamberlain look like a warmonger.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/8/2024 @ 10:42 amMore than the mere appearance didn’t get Merchan to recuse and you cheered him all the way. If it wasn’t for double standards you wouldn’t have any.
NJRob (7eeb3e) — 6/8/2024 @ 10:44 amSo now you want…squirrel…
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/8/2024 @ 10:50 amWell, on one hand, Harlan Crow is anti-Trump and pro-choice, so he hasn’t influenced Clarence or Ginni too extremely in that regard. On the other hand, there are serious questions of appearance and when someone ought to recuse. Can Clarence have ANY rich friends or must he only have poor black friends…and perhaps Long-Dong Silver? If I invite Ketanji Brown Jackson and Beyonce to come swim in my pool, must Jackson itemize it with an equivalent country club membership? At some point the definition of “gift” is made rather elastic.
But on my fourth hand, these are government servants given….perhaps mistakenly….massive amounts of power to influence culture, the economy, individual rights, and elections. Shouldn’t they be extremely circumspect about who they associate and hob-nob with? A mega-donor does seem to at minimum give the appearance of mixing politics in with the apolitical task of judging. Wives flying flags and cheering on the insurrection behind the scenes muddle everything further.
The books bother me the least, provided they lean on the academic side with payouts somewhat reflecting market value. Giving Thomas $5M for Clarence’s Homemade Chili Recipes…not that it happened (I hope)…might trigger a problem. A Supreme Court Justice makes about $290k per year. Top public sector lawyers can make 10x that amount. At what point are we inviting a problem?
I worry that we are not in the proper political environment to tease out what is and is not appropriate. The Left is invested in delegitimizing the court. They’re mad about Roe and this is convenient fodder. It doesn’t really help their parallel case of attacking Trump’s jihad against the DoJ. There are differences but they get lost in all the noise. Personally, I think Thomas should be a bit more circumspect…maybe find ways to cost-share what sounds like extravagant junkets…but at minimum be more sensitive about appearances…..and don’t get me started on those Beyonce tickets!!!!
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 6/8/2024 @ 11:18 amThe Trump Administration certainly had the opportunity to prosecute the Obama (and HRC) campaigns for accepting foreign donations but chose not to do so; I expect they will not make the same mistake when they return to power.
Rip Murdock (4f862d) — 6/8/2024 @ 11:21 am@140
And please tell me, exactly, how Thomas’ ruling goes against the fundamental aspects of the law.
Break down these cases and make the case that Thomas is truly unable to remain unbias in ruling these cases.
Explain your position rather than regurgitating leftest/ProPublica smear campaigns.
…and you and the propublica agitators are also missing a fundamental aspect of how SCOTUS operates.
Thomas isn’t SCOTUS.
He’s one of nine.
Enough of the other 8 justices would have to agree to Thomas’ alleged unethical positions.
You willing to go that far?
Nevermind that other justices of the court has also received gifts and the likes.
Has Thomas come even close to what Kegan have done?
She legit worked on the defense for Obamacare in NFIB v. Sebelius as Solicitor General during the Obama administration and then refused to recuse when she was seated in SCOTUS, just before ruling in that case.
OR nah?
You’d have a lot more credibility had you mentioned that Judge Merchan should’ve recused, for not only that her daughter is raking millions in political campaign (not just a regular business… but tied to POLITICS nonethan less)… but, he also directly contributed to a PAC who’s express purpose is to “Get Trump”. Where such public contributions is meant to send signal to other Anti-Trump political figures that he’s “on of them”.
Care to take another bite at this?
whembly (c88dc4) — 6/8/2024 @ 11:29 am…that he’s “one of them”.
whembly (c88dc4) — 6/8/2024 @ 11:30 am@173
Regurgitating smear stories is weak sauce.
whembly (c88dc4) — 6/8/2024 @ 11:31 am@175
Is your position that Judge Merchan should’ve recused the Trump-Alvin Bragg’s case?
whembly (c88dc4) — 6/8/2024 @ 11:32 am@181
No, no.
Don’t run away.
You stated:
In that, you are making a claim that a “mere appearance of bias” is enough for any other judge to recuse.
What’s your position on Judge Merchan?
whembly (c88dc4) — 6/8/2024 @ 11:34 am@183
They will make the same mistake.
That kind of grifting has somehow been an accepted practice for as long as we’ve been a country.
At most, the consequences are often fines and slap on the wrist.
Trump talks bigly about “going after people”… but, once he’s on the throne, he’s more interested in the pomp & circumstances the office provides, than to do actual work to go after his opponents.
whembly (c88dc4) — 6/8/2024 @ 11:37 amBrilliant analysis. I don’t think American voters want to take that chance; any military intervention in Ukraine would be roundly opposed by the public, and would ensure Trump’s election.
Your original comment said You know how Biden wins big? He rallies Europe to intervene. Europe will say, “what about you guys? You dragged us into Ukraine’s mess.” For all his big talk, you don’t see Macron sending troops on his own into Ukraine-he’s got troubles in his own territories.
The fact is that deterrence failed to prevent the invasion of Ukraine. Like many such countries (such as Tibet, and probably Taiwan) Ukraine is caught in a squeeze between superpowers, and they will be sacrificed in the end.
Tiptoeing is what nuclear superpowers do around each other. You can’t bully them like smaller countries.
Rip Murdock (4f862d) — 6/8/2024 @ 11:45 amThat certainly would be a disappointment.
Rip Murdock (4f862d) — 6/8/2024 @ 11:48 amNice whataboutism
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/8/2024 @ 11:57 am@192
Instead of responding in meaningful way, you’re avoiding.
K…
I see you.
whembly (c88dc4) — 6/8/2024 @ 12:06 pmIIRC Merchans total contributions were less than 50$. I don’t think that represents a significant financial stake.
Time123 (c2612c) — 6/8/2024 @ 12:09 pm@194
I think the amount of $$ is meaningless.
Here, he’s on record that he supports those groups.
That’s explicit bias.
If the argument is that a “mere appearance of bias” is enough for a judge to recuse, then by that principle Judge Merchan should recuse.
If neither of you can reach to that same conclusion, then you really don’t have a principled position to advocate that Justice Thomas should recuse himself.
whembly (c88dc4) — 6/8/2024 @ 12:15 pmhttps://nypost.com/2024/06/07/us-news/migrants-pour-across-border-undeterred-by-biden-crackdown/
Illegal aliens continue flooding the border.
NJRob (7eeb3e) — 6/8/2024 @ 12:19 pmMillions going TO Thomas, $15 from Merchan. Yes, $15.
They appear to be saying that we should equate the two.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/8/2024 @ 12:24 pmWhembly, We allow judges to try cases where they have some personal bias all the time. For instance many common religions have tenants that would provide some predisposition on a host of cases from taxes, to use of force, abortion, contraception, illicit substance use, just punishment etc. Although it sometimes merits some questions we don’t assume that just because a judge has some reason to have such a predisposition they will be unable to impartially adjudicate the law.
We do require that judges not see cases where they have a financial interest in the outcome, and disclose where they have received gifts / income so that information about potential biases is public.
If you can’t see the difference between donating the cost of a sandwich and millions in gifts I have to assume it’s because you don’t want to.
Time123 (316585) — 6/8/2024 @ 12:33 pmMy initial objection is to the fact the he failed to report it.
I haven’t done the research to know if he they were bribing or just paying for influence.
I don’t see how paying consulting fees to his wife aren’t corrupt, if not illegal. But she’s not a crack head so I doubt she was as clumsy with her corruption as Hunter was.
Time123 (316585) — 6/8/2024 @ 12:39 pmIf Thomas believed this was all cool, why is he playing amendment whackamole on all of these past disclosures going back to at least 2018 as of today? Trips, buying him things, buying his mother things. He didn’t disclose it because people didn’t know about it.
It’s not against the rules for SCOTUS, just against their (very lax) disclosure standards. If his buddy wanted to take him on trips, buy his mom a house, him an RV because to a billionare it’s not a lot of money, just disclose it. It would still be kind of greasy, but it coming out like this over a few decades makes it stink to high heaven.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/8/2024 @ 12:46 pmClink, it may be legal if disclosed but it’s still corrupt.
Time123 (14f296) — 6/8/2024 @ 12:50 pmYeah, it for sure looks terrible. If you don’t care how it looks, then cash in I guess. He’s got the gig for life, build generational wealth I guess. It’s the judicial PayPal mafia, looks icky but buying an island is cool.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/8/2024 @ 12:52 pmLike I said norcal. You used to not buy into the BS the left spins. What happened?
NJRob (eb56c3) — 6/7/2024 @ 7:11 pm
I still don’t buy into it. Nor do I buy into the BS that the right spins.
I reject the notion that one has to pick a team and defend it at all times.
norcal (2de1ae) — 6/8/2024 @ 1:07 pmAJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 6/8/2024 @ 11:18 am
Can Clarence have ANY rich friends or must he only have poor black friends…and perhaps Long-Dong Silver?
Too funny! I’m glad I wasn’t drinking any coffee.
norcal (2de1ae) — 6/8/2024 @ 1:13 pmTrump talks bigly about “going after people”… but, once he’s on the throne, he’s more interested in the pomp & circumstances the office provides, than to do actual work to go after his opponents.
whembly (c88dc4) — 6/8/2024 @ 11:37 am
It won’t be Trump doing the work, but his lackeys, and I fear that the people surrounding him in a second term will be bigger ass kissers, and more gung ho, than those staffing his first administration.
norcal (2de1ae) — 6/8/2024 @ 1:20 pm@197 Millions going TO Thomas, $15 from Merchan. Yes, $15.
They appear to be saying that we should equate the two.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/8/2024 @ 12:24 pm
I’m not equating the two, in fact, they’re far different.
I’m pointing out expressed political bias on Merchan’s part.
What bias are you establishing that Thomas is “in the pockets” for the Harlans, whom are lifelong friends?
Again, I challenge you to break it down for us, instead of taking a leftwing hack source’s smear as gospel.
whembly (c88dc4) — 6/8/2024 @ 2:10 pmWhile you’re at it, there are way more serious “red flags” when Ginsberg was on the court, and yet there was nowhere near this outrage facing the Justice Thomas.
Why is that Klink?
whembly (c88dc4) — 6/8/2024 @ 2:12 pmWhatabout…
When the architecture firm petitioned the Supreme Court in 2004, the case showed up under the name “Metric Holdings Limited Partnership,” a company described in court filings as a “Trammell Crow Entity.” The petition lists all of the parties involved, as does the response that Trammell Crow Residential and its co-defendants filed arguing for the court to reject the case; the cover page indicates that “Trammell Crow Entities” are lead parties.
I mean, what’s the liklihood of Thomas knowing that his good buddy was CEO of Trammell Crow Enterprises. It probably slipped his mind, I mean the planes and yacht weren’t painted with logo’s of the Crow family business…oh wait, they were.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/8/2024 @ 2:35 pm@149 Third way corporate democrats are similar to rockefeller republicans which is why you like and I don’t like. For every republican biden gets he loses left democrats and young minorities to jill stein and rfk jr.
asset (ea1fc4) — 6/8/2024 @ 2:51 pm@166 loathing the bottle deposit crook as half of Israel does is not anti-semitism. I support Israel’s right to destroy hamas as it is in the best interest of everyone and still want bibi in a jail cell not adressing congress.
asset (ea1fc4) — 6/8/2024 @ 2:58 pmThe corporate deep state controls the leadership of the democrat party to prevent the left from taking it over. We have solutions to the systematic corruption of are political system. I would bring them up ;but don’t want to get accused of making terroristic threats again.
asset (ea1fc4) — 6/8/2024 @ 3:04 pmhttps://nypost.com/2024/06/07/us-news/doctor-who-blew-whistle-on-texas-hospitals-gender-affirming-care-for-kids-charged-by-doj/
Biden’s DoJ goes after medical whistle-blower for trying to protect children from medical harm.
NJRob (7eeb3e) — 6/8/2024 @ 3:30 pmIf Thomas wants to hang with rich folks and they want to go somewhere, they all have to pile into his Ford, so he’s not getting any perks.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/8/2024 @ 4:42 pmBiden’s DoJ goes after medical whistle-blower for trying to protect children from medical harm.
Talk about ordering prosecutions for policy reasons.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/8/2024 @ 4:43 pmThe corporate deep state controls the leadership of the democrat party to prevent the left from taking it over.
They do this because we don’t need two Green Parties. Start your own GD party if you don’t like that a center-left party is center-left. Same thing I used to tell “conservatives” complaining that Republicans didn’t want to end the income tax.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/8/2024 @ 4:45 pmThat guy should not be a doctor. Doctors are not allowed to be snitches, with very few exceptions. Not under HIPAA, and not under the Hippocratic Oath. They are supposed to protect, not violate, the privacy of their patients.
If he wants to be an activist, he can join Threesomes For Liberty and hook up with the Zieglers. But he should not be allowed access to patients or their information.
nk (7ea341) — 6/8/2024 @ 4:52 pmYet you are supporting leftist propaganda by pretending to be above it all and giving equal weight to their garbage. I make no bones about being a conservative and supporting conservative beliefs. I call out those who claim to be conservative yet all they do is spew leftist propaganda and attack conservatives. Why do you consider those to be equal positions?
NJRob (eb56c3) — 6/8/2024 @ 4:53 pmThe books bother me the least, provided they lean on the academic side with payouts somewhat reflecting market value
Most of the time this is true, although probably more for judges and former Trump officials than for legislators. Speaker Jim Wright had to resign from Congress after being caught “selling” boxes of books to “well-wishers” and to get around limits on speaking fees.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/8/2024 @ 4:54 pmThe Hippocratic oath is to do no harm. Harming children by giving them hormones their body rejects is the definition of harm.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 6/8/2024 @ 4:55 pmTrump has long demonstrated his love for getting even (and taking revenge. He talked about it in 1992 and tweeted it in 2017. It will only get worse if he has a second term.
DRJ (f65e25) — 6/8/2024 @ 4:55 pmThat guy should not be a doctor. Doctors are not allowed to be snitches, with very few exceptions. Not under HIPAA, and not under the Hippocratic Oath. They are supposed to protect, not violate, the privacy of their patients.
Are they supposed to protect the privacy of those who harm children? Privacy is not an absolute right, just ask John Wayne Gacy.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/8/2024 @ 4:57 pmIt will only get worse if he has a second term.
It’s not helping that the very right people are lining up for that retribution. Maybe they should stop poking the bear.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/8/2024 @ 4:58 pmI am glad the Texas hormone treatments have been stopped but it appears Dr Haim might of leaked documents in violation of HIPAA. He should be able to defend himself but if he did leak them without permission, then there should be consequences for him. There are other ways to be a whistle-blower than to leak private medical records to journalists.
DRJ (f65e25) — 6/8/2024 @ 5:00 pmIt’s their fault for opposing Trump, instead of his fault for being a vengeful bully? Really?
DRJ (f65e25) — 6/8/2024 @ 5:01 pmIf it was worth it to Dr Haim to leak records to stop what was happening, then it should be worth it to bear the consequences. History may applaud him for doing it but that doesn’t mean the law prohibiting HIPAA leaks can or should be ignored.
DRJ (f65e25) — 6/8/2024 @ 5:04 pmIt’s their fault for opposing Trump, instead of his fault for being a vengeful bully? Really?
Who said anything about “fault”? Do you think that Trump’s retribution is something that his supporters will hate? They have similar lists.
Note aside: I have trouble not laughing at Kamala Harris talking about people being unqualified for the presidency.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/8/2024 @ 5:08 pmTrump said he expects people to be loyal to him, even in small things. I gave you the video of him saying it in 1992. Comey claimed Trump said it to him as President.
Meanwhile, you said people should quit poking the bear. What did you mean by that?
DRJ (f65e25) — 6/8/2024 @ 5:15 pmDRJ (f65e25) — 6/8/2024 @ 5:04 pm
Civil disobedience for the greater good always has a price.
Rip Murdock (4f862d) — 6/8/2024 @ 5:18 pmI thought I’d stay a virgin, but just tested positive for Covid. Dayam.
Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 6/8/2024 @ 6:33 pmRight now, it feels like a bad cold.
Harris is unqualified. Trump is unfit. (He’s also unqualified.)
lurker (cd7cd4) — 6/8/2024 @ 6:35 pmGet well soon, Paul!
nk (7ea341) — 6/8/2024 @ 6:47 pmMy 81 year old mom had the Covid last week, somewhere between the flu and pneumonia. Breathing treatments and O2. I’ve got it this week, the flu’ish, maybe a tad worse.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/8/2024 @ 7:03 pmAmazing Reagan special on News Nation. I miss everything about that guy. How far we’ve fallen.
AJ_Liberty (c4d7c7) — 6/8/2024 @ 8:37 pmMeanwhile, you said people should quit poking the bear. What did you mean by that?
If people are so worried about how he responds to attacks, they should maybe stop attacking him. Let him lose at the polls, although it seems that his opponents don’t really want that the way they are riling up his base.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/8/2024 @ 8:43 pmAmazing Reagan special on News Nation. I miss everything about that guy. How far we’ve fallen.
I even miss Bob Dole.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/8/2024 @ 8:43 pmI thought I’d stay a virgin, but just tested positive for Covid. Dayam.
Paul, Paxlovid works wonders. My plan was to avoid it long enough that treating it was well understood. It worked.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/8/2024 @ 8:45 pmIt hits everyone differently. It hit me like the worst case of food poisoning ever. It hit my wife like a bad cold.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/8/2024 @ 8:47 pmI got Covid the second time, about two years after getting it the first time, this past Christmas. It wasn’t even as bad as a cold. A zero burger.
norcal (2aa599) — 6/8/2024 @ 8:50 pmI’m sorry, Paul. My first Covid was at Christmas. Paxlovid kept me out of the hospital, but I have had post-Covid complications — several strange viral infections, which my Covid doctor said he sees a lot. He told me it is what they originally called Long Covid but now realize is part of the after-effects of Covid. It also can raise the risk of getting cancer, so there is that. Thanks, China.
DRJ (496584) — 6/8/2024 @ 9:16 pmI’m sorry to hear that, DRJ.
norcal (2aa599) — 6/8/2024 @ 9:34 pmFeel better, Paul.
lurker (cd7cd4) — 6/8/2024 @ 11:06 pmYou too, Klink.
And DRJ!
lurker (cd7cd4) — 6/8/2024 @ 11:56 pm@215 why? the democrat base is us and we are slowly gaining control of democrat party despite its kicking and screaming just like trump has done to the republican party. biden/clinton wing has only older black and liberal white women and the donor class who represent the corporate state. The d.n.c. no longer can purge Bernie/squad supporters from leadership without consequences. The left base in the party is in revolt over the netanyahu visit. The left is in deep blue districts so Israel lobby can only try in primary elections like going after bowman in ny. Israel’s future is not helped by aipac and others antagonizing the left as the left will soon be the dominate force in the party. The donor class will have to behave themselves or the left will make them wish they had! The indian sign is already out on bezos and he knows it.
asset (e1ccdf) — 6/9/2024 @ 12:42 am@233 did it go into reagan, bill casey, john connolly and campaign making a deal with Iran to hold our hostages until after 1980 election which was the start of Iran/contra. Thats called treason and sedition. Nixon pulled the same thing in 1968 with south vietnam.
asset (e1ccdf) — 6/9/2024 @ 12:52 amI’m sorry that I left the wrong impression, friends. Fortunately, my doctor knew just what to do and I’m fine! I was sharing my experience with Covid with Paul in case he ends up having a similar experience.
DRJ (f65e25) — 6/9/2024 @ 4:09 amBest wishes to Col Klink and his mother on their recoveries, too.
DRJ (f65e25) — 6/9/2024 @ 4:10 amLike Trump keeps saying he beat Biden, liberals keep imagining dastardly plots that kept Carter from winning in 1980. The hard reality is that Carter was a weak President.
The tragically failed hostage rescue was emblematic of his Presidency. Malaise indeed. Soviet expansionism thrived under Carter’s non-confrontational concession-giving approach and stagflation persisted. Liberal ideas were exhausted.
Reagan ushered in the end of the Cold War and helped ignite an unprecedented economic boom. You weak-kneed liberals just can’t accept how the country thrived and morale improved…..so you have to indulge fantasy. Sad.
AJ_Liberty (c4d7c7) — 6/9/2024 @ 4:29 amHere’s hoping that Paul, and Klink, and his mother, all have rapid — complete — recoveries.
Jim Miller (1814a4) — 6/9/2024 @ 5:51 am“rapid and complete”
Jim Miller (1814a4) — 6/9/2024 @ 5:51 am@216
Actually, no.
Doctors are supposed to report any illegal activities they’ve witnessed.
Because if they don’t, not only doctors can be sanctioned (up to losing practice license and jail)… but the health organization can also be sanctioned, upto losing accreditation that puts that institution at financial risk in getting state AND federal fundings (Medicaid/Medicare). Losing accreditation is a death knell.
whembly (c88dc4) — 6/9/2024 @ 8:48 am@220
I’ve already decided to vote for him… you don’t have to keep trying to make me like him.
*Narrator: He’s not going to take revenge. He’ll be too wrapped up in the pomp & circumstances of the office while spiking the football that he “overcame” the rigged election
whembly (c88dc4) — 6/9/2024 @ 8:49 amThanks all. I thought this pandemic thing was way in the rearview mirror, and then this. Kevin, thanks for the Paxlovid tip.
Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 6/9/2024 @ 8:51 amA new nuclear arms race begins:
Now is not the time for unilateral reductions in US nuclear weapons. Since our adversaries are not interested in nuclear arms reductions, the US must improve the quality and quantity of its own weapons.
Rip Murdock (4f862d) — 6/9/2024 @ 9:20 amThe Wuhan Flu is no joke and it was designed to spread rapidly. Take it seriously like you would any virus and get better quickly.
NJRob (437606) — 6/9/2024 @ 9:34 amI actually feel pretty decent today. My mom, is getting better, still on O2, but she had mild COPD before, so Covid is probably the worst thing for her.
I’ll probaby be fine in a couple of days.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/9/2024 @ 10:33 amSad!:
Trump’s on-stage guests at his rallies have occasionally featured persons with criminal records or under indictment, such as the rappers Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow at his South Bronx rally.
Rip Murdock (95d8a5) — 6/9/2024 @ 11:28 amDoctors are supposed to report any illegal activities they’ve witnessed.
If you say so. From NJRob’s link:
nk (8981ee) — 6/9/2024 @ 11:47 amPutin has been able to intimidate Europe through its roughly 1,000 to 2,000 tactical nuclear weapons, which are deliverable using its dual capable missile systems.
The US doesn’t have any comparable low-yield nuclear weapons, a serious gap in its nuclear forces. The only response would be for the US to use its strategic nuclear forces to respond to Russian tactical attack on Ukraine or Europe, a serious escalation. Unlike the 1960s through the 1980s, when the US had deployed tactical nuclear weapons in Europe to counter the Soviet Army’s invasion threat, the West doesn’t have that capability any longer. But the threat has returned.
To emphasize the importance of its tactical nuclear capabilities, Russia has recently conducted tactical nuclear weapon deployment exercises.
Rip Murdock (95d8a5) — 6/9/2024 @ 11:48 amThanks China
According to the work of the MIT microbiologist it looks like we outsourced the work to Wuhan and their safety protocols (if followed) were one standard below out own. Hopefully that means we got this work done cheaper and saved a couple million bucks.
“Ultimately, a never-before-seen SARS-like virus with a newly introduced furin cleavage site, matching the description in the Wuhan institute’s Defuse proposal, caused an outbreak in Wuhan less than two years after the proposal was drafted.”
“When the Wuhan scientists published their seminal paper about Covid-19 as the pandemic roared to life in 2020, they did not mention the virus’s furin cleavage site — a feature they should have been on the lookout for, according to their own grant proposal, and a feature quickly recognized by other scientists.”
Here’s the the detail. “out of the hundreds of SARS-like viruses cataloged by scientists, SARS‑CoV‑2 is the only one known to possess a furin cleavage site” So this was a remarkable discovery and usually scientists would make sure everyone knew, but they whitewashed it
steveg (7457c5) — 6/9/2024 @ 11:51 amUnbiased journalism
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GPptJL4W8AARM-y?format=jpg&name=900×900
steveg (7457c5) — 6/9/2024 @ 12:39 pmMad scientist Dr Ralph Baric of the University of North Carolina outsourced his work to Wuhan, but his 2018 grant that could have created Covid was not approved but the Chinese lab could have done the work anyway -it’s done work for the Chinese military.
Actually by not approving the grant all that the U.S. government prevented was not being the victim of double billing. Dr Baric, had he been involved and consulted, might have prevented an escape. He knew more.
Covid wasn’t the only dangerous SARS-like virus the lab created but the other one(s) didn’t escape.
The NYT piece doesn’t include all the facts, Actually Covid 19 escaped twice – the first one was milder and successfully concealed sometime not long before Sept 12m 2019 – the second one (not a direct descendent or ancestor) didn’t escape until the Wuhan CDC moved to near the seafood market on December 2, 2019. China destroyed the early patient samples so they could mix up the chronology.
Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 6/9/2024 @ 12:47 pmasset @146, I think nthe book you are talking about is called THE truce, nit Truce,
Judgiing from this review:
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-truce-progressives-centrists-and-the-future-of-the-democratic-party_hunter-walker_luppe-luppen/38763737/item/56523815
yiu have to buy the book to find out what it says.
Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 6/9/2024 @ 12:50 pmWhere would Russia nuke to send a message but not escalate:
1. Some remote piece of Greenland [Denmark] well away from any military installations.
2. Some country incapable or unwilling to fight back, that normally no one cares about. Also needs to be remote enough so fallout doesn’t spread. Africa is out. Most of the options are former members of the Soviet Union. I’d guess none of them get nuked
3. They could nuke Kharkiv but its 1,000,000 people
4. Best guess – some small Eastern Ukraine city, fairly remote, less than 30,000 people, Russians will say it was an accident and also all NATO’s fault. simple incompetent, drunken mix up of munitions that wouldn’t be there if NATO wasn’t threatening Mother Russia. That would be 100% on brand
steveg (7457c5) — 6/9/2024 @ 12:55 pmThe US is out of the purely tactical nuke business, but modern warheads, well even B61’s have a dial-a-detonation from .3 to 300kt. So it’s tactical or strategic depending on the setting.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/9/2024 @ 1:03 pmThe bad thing isn’t just that Trump will be focused on retribution against his perceived enemies, it’s that his cult is so aligned with him that they *want* that, because his enemies are their enemies.
aphrael (b998e2) — 6/9/2024 @ 1:43 pmThe US only has 100 B-61 nuclear gravity bombs that are forward-deployed at six NATO bases in five European countries: Aviano and Ghedi in Italy; Büchel in Germany; Incirlik in Turkey; Kleine Brogel in Belgium; and Volkel in the Netherlands. This isn’t very much to confront a resurgent Russian military assault on Europe. They’re mostly a security blanket for NATO.
What the US should be (re)developing are small, missile launched weapons such as the previously deployed Pershing II system, which was decommissioned long before its time due to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
Rip Murdock (95d8a5) — 6/9/2024 @ 2:32 pmThe US has about 1200 W61’s in inventory, plus a few hundred W83’s, both a dial-a-booms. The 83’s are much bigger. Not many are forward deployed, but they’re all aircraft born, so can go anywhere pretty much anywhere.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/9/2024 @ 4:07 pmmr. convicted felon former president donald trump attended the same training course at moscow’s patrice lumumba university as the palestinian terrorists
he knows how to paint himself simultaneously as both a fighter and a victim
and say a “brutal crime, devoid of the values of civilization and humanity,” and “a horrific massacre against innocent civilians” with the best of them
well, okay, maybe with the best chutzpah
nk (7d7ea1) — 6/9/2024 @ 4:29 pmComrades, Trump is a gang boss. He has no regard for civil society or its rules. Only in what he can get and what he can get away with.
nk (7d7ea1) — 6/9/2024 @ 4:32 pmTrump is a gang boss. He has no regard for civil society or its rules. Only in what he can get and what he can get away with.
nk (7d7ea1) — 6/9/2024 @ 4:32 pm
I don’t care who Trump is, or how heinous his actions are, as long as he espouses my preferred policies. It’s always been a policy calculation for me, and I just can’t adjust when other considerations come into play.
/sarc
norcal (3126f6) — 6/9/2024 @ 5:20 pmWhere would Russia nuke to send a message but not escalate:
That escalates. Any nuke anywhere escalates, if only the threat level.
even B61’s have a dial-a-detonation from .3 to 300kt.
A tiny nuke is still a nuke. The danger is that someone starts thinking about a containable war.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/9/2024 @ 5:56 pmyou mean like those horrid adolescents who want to use the boys room instead of the girls room and vice versa, mr. norcal?
at a school no less?
nk (7d7ea1) — 6/9/2024 @ 6:01 pmAnd again, the people who are largely responsible for “Trump” (or Le Pen, or Farage, or Orban) are the people most appalled. Maybe if they had not treated fly-over country as fly-over country for 30 years, we would not be in this pickle. But when you F people over for a long time, they are going to try to F you back. Hence Trump.
Populism does not happen in a vacuum. It takes great effort to get Joe to put down his six-pack and attend caucuses.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/9/2024 @ 6:01 pmI believe that Trump will win, and win handily — Biden is running 12 points behind 2020 at the moment. We will not be saved by him catching up (or catching anything other than maybe pneumonia). I have to accept that and hope for some silver linings:
1. A resolution to the last 40 years of immigration foolishness. I would hope that reasonable people can craft better laws once kicking the can down the road isn’t going to work.
2. A thorough savaging of the entrenched political bureaucracy. The idea that only the top jobs are political was probably untrue in 1950, but it is certainly untrue now. We have a permanent class of progressive rulemakers; they are only less active during GOP administrations. We need to have a bit more of a spoils system at the top.
3. A demonstration to everyone that giving massive power to the Executive is, and always has been, a terrible idea. Ironically, Trump will be cutting his own power with #2.
4. An invigoration of Impeachment as a valid check and balance. Trump. will. go. too. far. Enough Republicans will agree and he’ll be convicted. Hopefully by that time MAGA will be diminished as even his supporters pretend they were never MAGA.
5. We may get some useful amendments in the aftermath.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/9/2024 @ 6:15 pmAnd yes, I lament Ukraine. But Joe Biden chose to lose it.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/9/2024 @ 6:17 pmTrump will lose us all of Europe except Airstrip One. If we are lucky. And Oceania does not fall apart, leaving only Eurasia and Eastasia. And the fractious remnants of America in one or the other or in the disputed territories.
nk (7d7ea1) — 6/9/2024 @ 6:40 pmKevinM I was not precise: Should have said: Where would Russia nuke to send a message that would not escalate beyond NATO’s “redline”
For example Greenland. Even though Greenland is part of Demark, I don’t see a small blast there unanimously triggering Article 5 and don’t see Denmark asking for it to. Yes it would escalate, but likely to Russian benefit because the self abasement wing of the Administration would probably engineer a “Strong Response” that would actually be a net win for Putin.
I know it sounds ludicrous to say Russia could nuke Greenland and get away with it, but like I said, they’d blame NATO for pushing them into a corner where “accidents” happen. Russia hasn’t been held to account for its lies so why worry about it now
steveg (7457c5) — 6/9/2024 @ 6:44 pmI repeat: there is no such thing as a small nuke. Use of a nuclear weapon in anger or intimidation is so far across any “red line” that we’d be very very lucky if it could be walked back. “Mutual Assured Destruction” does not come in sizes.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/9/2024 @ 7:09 pmBiden is running 1-5 points behind 2020 so basically a tie, still ahead in the swings as of this weekend.
Only if you don’t include the states, or the federal judiciary.
Trump’s primary goal is to maximize the executive, as he stretched the power in 16, he’d attempt to break the republic in 24.
I cannot foresee an instance that the MAGA wing backs a Trump impeachment for any reason, and you’d have to get some of them to shift to impeach. You’d get all the dems in the senate, but where do you find 5 or 10 of the MAGA crowd to swing?
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/9/2024 @ 7:37 pmAny nuke by Russia anywhere, other than in it’s own territory, and maybe even there, escalates Ukraine to full on global escalation. The chatter about dribbling out arms to Ukraine goes away, they get whatever they want, Poland sends ground troops and asks NATO for A5 protection on the eastern border, as does the rest of the Balkin’s and Nordic’s.
If Russia so much as sends an armed canoe into the Baltic it gets sunk in about 14 seconds, all the west goes to DefCon 1.5.
The Chinese refuse to support Russia and let it be known that they’d be open to allow aircraft overflight. It’s a cheap way to inherit Siberia and all the resources therein.
Russia starts getting rolled back with conventional forces with the gloves off, then their only chance to remain is to strike out at Kyiv, Poland, and invade the Baltics, which escalates.
They are resource constrained so to try to prolong the fight, they start using battlefield nukes, which, as stated above, they have alot, we have a few. We retaliate with ours turned all the way down, so 2X Hiroshima. To which Russia launches on southern Ukraine, and whatever base the strike aircraft came from; Diego Garcia, Elmondorf, Italy, UK.
That begins armageddon…
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/9/2024 @ 7:52 pmhttps://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/06/europe-moves-to-the-right.php
Kee0 pretending Trump is the problem. Leftism that ignores citizens is the problem.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 6/9/2024 @ 7:53 pmI don’t think it matters a whit who’s our president at that point. Wargames looks like Nostradomus.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/9/2024 @ 7:57 pm“And again, the people who are largely responsible for “Trump” (or Le Pen, or Farage, or Orban) are the people most appalled. Maybe if they had not treated fly-over country as fly-over country for 30 years, we would not be in this pickle. But when you F people over for a long time, they are going to try to F you back. Hence Trump.”
Do you honestly think we get Trump if Fox News and Rush Limbaugh had not supported him in 2015? I don’t. Both genres…radio and cable news… engaged in crisis-theater once Obama was elected and the psychological hysteria…coupled with social media facilitating millions of neurotic hot takes….created the hyper-partisan existential stew that regurgitated Trump.
Are we really to believe that economic times now are worse than the ’70’s or the ’30’s? Are we to believe that most of the GOP electorate (enough to drive populism) competes with illegal immigrants for hotel cleaning, cabbage picking, lawn cutting, and off-the-books construction jobs? The stock market is at all time highs, unemployment rate hovers around 4%, and inflation is heading in the right direction.
Yes globalization, the dominance of China, and immigration imposes challenges….but there’s so much wrong in thinking that a lame reality TV star offers anything much beyond platitudes mined from talk radio superficialism. Trump is a marketer…a darn good one. How many millions did he finagle using Trump University? He’s turned his grift to politics and Kevin is applauding his ability to monetize outrage. It’s sad. There’s nothing notable here that P. T. Barnum hasn’t opined on. People love a get rich quich scheme…and Trump is more than willing to sell it…while taking his cut.
We don’t operate a parliament. Most conservatives and libertarians are skeptical of turning too much economic planning to the federal government….and historically most of them would only support tariffs for focused national security matters. Tariffs hurt the consumer and add inflationary pressure….at least libertarians used to know this.
But the audacity of claiming that people opposing Trump are responsible for the millions duped into supporting him…..and will then be responsible for the inevitable harm that creates….is mind boggling. If you vote for Trump knowing that he criminally tried to influence the 2020 election, obstructed the retrieval of nuclear secrets, and has toyed with the idea of pulling us out of NATO and handing Ukraine to Putin, then you own the consequences. That is what it means to be an adult in a democracy.
AJ_Liberty (0553a0) — 6/9/2024 @ 8:15 pm“I cannot foresee an instance that the MAGA wing backs a Trump impeachment for any reason”
Yeah, they were basically ok when Trump fired up a mob to siege the Capitol, watched as they broke in, and were readying to hog-tie Nancy Pelosi and zip-tie Mike Pence. Most of the GOP Senate is compromised. Why will they suddenly pivot? Trump has FNC and talk radio in his pocket….where will the impeachment cries come from? People will rather burn it all down then admit they’ve been wrong for 10 years….
AJ_Liberty (0553a0) — 6/9/2024 @ 8:25 pm@247 their treason with Iran to hold our hostages to win the 1980 election is well documented. It is not an imagined plot. Perhaps you think nixon committing treason with south vietnam was also imagined? The intercept has chronicled those who have admitted reagan/casey/connelly delaying the hostage release to win 1980. You can’t commit treason because carter was weak. Think we should get rid of biden because he is also weak? Connolly’s son who was on the trip to middle east says he was not in the meetings where is dad committed treason with ben barnes and Iran. Also confirms meeting his dad had with bill casey in texas airport when arriving back to texas. Reagan said he didn’t remember committing treason with Iran ;but officials in his administration have convinced me that I did! This is on youtube the night the Iran/contra treason was admitted.
asset (2c7062) — 6/9/2024 @ 9:08 pmOMG, no, a Trump MAGA advisor says the quiet part outloud.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/9/2024 @ 9:10 pmUnderstanding polls Biden must be ahead in national polls by + 3% or trump wins. For formula 1 fans here Jamie Chadwick has just her 1st Indy car nxt race at road america. Could be in formula 1 next year if she can fight off the sexists!
asset (2c7062) — 6/9/2024 @ 9:17 pmNo chance she’s going from Indy to F1. Maybe 26 if Andretti gets a team.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/9/2024 @ 9:30 pmBiden is running 1-5 points behind 2020 so basically a tie, still ahead in the swings as of this weekend.
On June 10, 2020, Biden was leading Trump by 8.1 points according to RCP. Today, Trump is leading by 0.8 points, so a swing of about 9 points. Not the 12 I said, which was from press reports, but not 1-5 points either.
But keep on with your Democrat talking points. It’s why you’re here.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/9/2024 @ 9:53 pmI cannot foresee an instance that the MAGA wing backs a Trump impeachment for any reason, and you’d have to get some of them to shift to impeach.
SEVEN Republicans voted to convict in 2021. That is, checking notes, SEVEN more than the number of Democrats who voted to convict Bill Clinton for proven perjury and obstruction. Try not to feel superior.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/9/2024 @ 9:57 pmColonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/9/2024 @ 7:52 pm
Yeah, pretty much. Except I don’t think that Putin survives his order to use nukes.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/9/2024 @ 9:59 pmIs this supposed to mean something…squirrel?
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/9/2024 @ 9:59 pmI will believe that Russia’s bureaucracy reject Putin when they do it once.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/9/2024 @ 10:03 pmYou can only work off the principle that your oppenent understands the rules and understands the consequences of breaking them. I hope Putin knows where that is, but if not, we’re on the road to escalation.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/9/2024 @ 10:05 pmDo you honestly think we get Trump if Fox News and Rush Limbaugh had not supported him in 2015?
Yes. Trump was a lightning rod for immense discontent, Fox just saw the numbers and decided not to fight it. So did ABC and NBC and CNN, for that matter. They could have frozen him out of coverage, but their viewers would have just gone elsewhere.
Again, Charles Murray on “Trump’s America” (February 2016)
But read the whole thing. It still explains, 8 years later.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/9/2024 @ 10:08 pmHmmm. lost a paragraph somehow.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/9/2024 @ 10:11 pmAre we really to believe that economic times now are worse than the ’70’s or the ’30’s?
For many people, yes, as far as the 70’s are concerned. That was a stagnant decade but GM and Ford still made most of the cars.
As for the 30s, well, FDR was riding a populist wave, too. If you don’t think that he was a radical who tore up the institutions, go check out the WPA and NIRA.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/9/2024 @ 10:16 pmShorter:
Populism is a message to the political classes and it’s a simple one: “you fracked up and we think anyone can do better than you fools.”
They really should have listened to the Teas.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/9/2024 @ 10:20 pmSure, Kevin. Trump supporters’ obligation to own the mean pedo-leftists requires them to vote for the thug who tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. They have no agency whatsoever.
lurker (cd7cd4) — 6/9/2024 @ 10:32 pm> For its part, mainstream America is fully aware of this condescension and contempt and is understandably irritated by it.
Sure, and as a gay taoist, I was fully aware of the condescension and contempt that huge chunks of the population held *me* in throughout my teens and twenties. Why does the contempt directed at me not matter, but the contempt directed at the rural working class does?
aphrael (1797ab) — 6/9/2024 @ 10:53 pmThey have no agency whatsoever.
Consider that they are desperate.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/9/2024 @ 11:00 pmIt’s funny. I’m the first person in my immediate family to attend college, and I went to a REAL GOOD one. My father, brother and sister never did and worked jobs that required high-school educations. And I get what Murray talks about, how the elites set themselves apart. I did too, and am ashamed. When my brother was struggling to find work in construction when the workforce became immigrant (and illegal immigrant) and wages went into the toilet, I wasn’t moved. He could have gotten a better education.
But that was happening everywhere, and still most of the college-educated professionals set themselves apart, knowing few working stiffs outside of their bartenders and trainers, or maybe the secretaries at work. Certainly not people they choose to hang out with.
And so, when people aren’t listening to each other, someone picks up a big oak mallet and gets their attention. Trump is just a symptom of dysfunction, not its cause.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/9/2024 @ 11:09 pmElites at their dinner partys are not the ones destroying the working class. It is good old corporate republicans demanding their jobs be sent over seas or have automation take over their jobs here. It was are former gov. duchebag who was bought off to push driverless cars wandering the streets of phoenix. After one ran over and killed a woman in tempe the media was pressured to down play such incidents by corporate sponsors. Bush was defeated in 2016 for pushing for his donors more immigration. Condescending elites at dinner party is not what is destroying american working class jobs ;but good old capitalisms demand for ever increasing profits at workers expense!
asset (2c7062) — 6/10/2024 @ 3:13 amPoking the bear?
nk (171f89) — 6/10/2024 @ 4:58 amhttps://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-undergo-probation-interview-ny-hush-money-case/story?id=110971057
It does not mean that he will get probation. The probation department prepares the presentence report which the judge uses in deciding what sentence to impose.
It’s funny though because if one thinks about the values of blue-collar America, you might use words like honest, loyal, fidelitous, patriotic, God-fearing, authentic, direct, practical, do-it-yourself, and neighborly. How many of those words would you genuinely attribute to Trump? Maybe direct…and some version of plain-spoken…but much of the rest involves some serious twisting and convolution.
I get that the Left has weaponized race, sex, orientation, and class….and that pisses off people. Most blue collar folks laugh at the notion of white privilege and scoff at institutional racism. More so now where via social media we can stew in it and make mountains out of mole hills. There was a time when people couldn’t care less about what was going on in San Francisco or Berkley because they were too busy raising kids, making a living, and being involved in the neighborhood. The internet has allowed us to discover pluralism….and we don’t seem to like it much. People make different choices and have different values….at what point should it matter?
I like Charles Murray….a lot. I thought the Bell Curve was quite insightful, especially about the growing divide between blue and white-collar workers and opportunities. It foresaw a lot of our current problems. His conversation circa 2021 here is, as usual, interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rC_J4LTxVs
Trumpism HAS set back conservatism decades. We are now awash in a weird populism and nationalism that…as usual….has a weak intellectual underpinning. It’s rooted in emotionalism and undercurrents of prejudice. We need “others” to blame….and we elevate propagandists. In any other era, would Steve Bannon have more than a small basement following? We need talented alternatives and a media culture that will promote them. I want the next generation of Mitch Daniels’…yet we’re busy producing Vivek Ramaswamy’s…that’s a problem….
AJ_Liberty (0553a0) — 6/10/2024 @ 6:45 am@274
You’re way more optimistic than I am…
The Biden/Dem campaign against the “convicted felon” has yet to really start…
The House recently passed 3 bills to address this. The problem is, it would need to be under a trifecta of GOP control, particularly the Senate.
Absolutely.
Yup. Because I think he’s going to be too busy with the “pomp & circumstances” the Presidency offers, than to constantly be engaged with his administration to push massive, lasting changes. He’ll do the low-hanging fruits via executive orders, but very little else after that.
Yeah, I don’t see that.
Doubtful.
whembly (86df54) — 6/10/2024 @ 7:35 amAnyone else think Glenn Youngkin (now term-limited), is the darkhorse candidate to be Trump’s VP?
Since, allegedly, Virginia is in play, Youngkin could help seal the deal for Trump.
whembly (86df54) — 6/10/2024 @ 7:43 am#308
2016 Trump would pick Youngkin. 2024 Trump will pick the person who can get him the most money so he can pay all the lawyers.
Appalled (3859aa) — 6/10/2024 @ 8:13 amElites at their dinner partys are not the ones destroying the working class.
Asset, your positions are also fairly elitist. You view those people in fly-over states more or less like the boardroom does. Perhaps more, as the boardroom wants to sell them stuff.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/10/2024 @ 8:19 amIt’s funny though because if one thinks about the values of blue-collar America, you might use words like honest, loyal, fidelitous, patriotic, God-fearing, authentic, direct, practical, do-it-yourself, and neighborly. How many of those words would you genuinely attribute to Trump? Maybe direct…and some version of plain-spoken…but much of the rest involves some serious twisting and convolution.
None of those, of course, but that misses the point. Those are all values that the current Democrat party opposes politically and to defeat them you have to support the other guy. Sure, his personal habits are off-putting, but he is more likely to support your causes than the collectivist, hate-America-first, anti-police, anti-religious, self-dealing, child-castrating Democrats who speak with forked tongues.
Again, NOW supported Teddy Kennedy. Same principle.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/10/2024 @ 8:25 amYou’re way more optimistic than I am…
You confuse “acceptance” with “optimism”
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/10/2024 @ 8:26 amThe Biden/Dem campaign against the “convicted felon” has yet to really start…
That will not work, and will likely backfire. What might work is the press campaign; people seem to accept what the news media tells them far more readily than the politicians whose mouthpieces they often are.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/10/2024 @ 8:28 amThe House recently passed 3 bills to address this. The problem is, it would need to be under a trifecta of GOP control, particularly the Senate.
No, it would need a gun to their heads. When the immigration lobby is looking at Trump’s plans to round up 11 million people into camps they might come to the table with a will. While I think the courts might try to stop that, I’m not sure they will be able to. Immigration reform that addresses issues instead of sweeping them under the rug CAN happen if people get their minds right.
Do I favor this approach? Not hardly. But the level of frustration with the prevarication and obstruction on both sides is as high as it can get. Something will break. Texas is coming close to direct action, which is also bad.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/10/2024 @ 8:34 am@313
Trump lost to Joe Frick’n Biden, not because of J6… but, because of Democrat/Media drumbeats in the runup to 2020 election.
I think you’re underestimating the full power of the Democrat/Media propaganda arm when they really get going.
whembly (86df54) — 6/10/2024 @ 8:41 amYou’re right, that is ludicrous-what do you base this on? The USAF Space Command has a base in Greenland, Pituffik Space Base, formerly known as Thule AFB.
Rip Murdock (816fe1) — 6/10/2024 @ 8:42 amTrump is a weak reed, but a lot of people think they have nothing better to grasp.
As much as I liked (and still like) Mitt Romney, I am of this elite we hear about. The people who are not saw him as the exact wrong direction and in 2016 they were being offered more of the same. Then Trump came along and they identified with what he was saying.
Biden ran on a bring-us-together centrist platform with more than a helping of “I’m not Donald Trump” but proved to be just another in a long line of front men for left-wing causes. The people who voted for Trump in 2016 and who had seen some improvement before the pandemic were worse off in 2024.
They would have voted for any Republican who wasn’t a spawn of Wall Street, but what they got now is Trump v Biden and all the hand-wringing from the elites is not going to convince them to vote for the guy who is hurting them even now.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/10/2024 @ 8:44 amWhat Democrats did or not do 28 years ago is irrelevant today.
Rip Murdock (816fe1) — 6/10/2024 @ 8:46 am“but that misses the point”
Big government to enforce wokeism versus Big government to punish wokeism. There seems to be a common theme in those competing constructs.
Once we concede the point, conservatism becomes what it was in the 30’s…a curiosity.
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 6/10/2024 @ 8:46 amI think you’re underestimating the full power of the Democrat/Media propaganda arm when they really get going.
It didn’t help Ms Clinton. And I’m constantly told that Trump was elected by Fox News. How can that be when the other 90% of the media are on the other side?
Then again, I am surprised that Biden is even close given his horrible, no good, worse-than-Trump’s term in office.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/10/2024 @ 8:49 amThis is the kind of thing that works against Biden:
Top cancer charity apologizes for using word ‘cervix’ instead of trans-friendly ‘front hole’
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/10/2024 @ 8:54 amIt’s not a question of what we think, it’s question as to what the Russians think, and they believe tactical nuclear weapons allows them to shape the battlefield to their advantage.
Rip Murdock (816fe1) — 6/10/2024 @ 8:55 amI don’t know if labeling Trump a “convicted felon” will be all that helpful for the Biden campaign.
Personally, I believe ascribing Trump as a fraud and cheat works better, because he’s a fraud at all levels, a fraud who can’t be trusted, a fraud who will flip-flop on an issue at a whim, a fraud who will make sh-t up about anything.
His university was a fraud, his foundation was a fraud, his organization is a civilly and criminally convicted fraud, he’s a religious fraud, his golf game is a fraud, his hair is a fraud, and so forth.
And he’s a fraud who cheats at will. He cheats his vendors, he cheats at business, he cheats at elections, he cheats his wives, he cheats on his taxes, he cheated his “university” students, he cheated children via fraud at his foundation, he cheats the truth with his gish-galloping lies, he cheats at elections (yes, I said that twice, because that’s the most significant cheat).
Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 6/10/2024 @ 9:35 amIf Biden wants to go negative, there’s a mountain of material–truthful material–to use.
And a smart campaign would add “mentally unhinged” to the “fraud and cheat” mantra. Like when he said yesterday…
Or this gem…
Our potential Leader of the Free World. And don’t forget that if you dip a magnet in water, it’s all over. Sure, it’s entertaining, but it’s freaking nuts.
Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 6/10/2024 @ 9:35 amBut that should only be part of the message, because presidential elections are referendums on the economy (as Carville would tell anyone that it’s the economy, stupid, and he’s right, IMO), followed by national security, and Biden is letting Trump get the upper hand on a good-but-not-great economy. Biden is way too late in the game on the southern border, and his latest directive on asylum seekers looks like a desperate pre-debate maneuver. Biden deserves whatever lambasting he gets for that.
Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 6/10/2024 @ 9:36 amBiden’s other national security problem is that he supports Ukraine and Israel, which is good, but he’s too limpd!ck about it. The return of hostages and the destruction of Hamas should be a first priority, for example. The loss of civilian life is a concern, but Hamas should bear most of the blame, but his progressive base would mutiny on that stance, which says something about his progressive base. A ceasefire is a secondary concern, IMO, after hostages and Hamas’ destruction.
Carville is also right that the Biden campaign is effing it up, in part because Biden is the nominee.
I saw Biden on the telly raising his fist in France to emphasize solidarity with our allies, but the only image he conveyed is how old and feeble he looked, raising that scrawny fist and speaking in that old man voice. Every time we see walk Biden walk around, like on a White House lawn or tarmac, it’s another vote against him because anyone can easily see how old and infirm he is and has to think about how long this country could suffer a President Kamala, and the polls speak to that.
Bottom line, we’re basically screwed, because neither major party put forth an acceptable product in the political marketplace. I still reject both.
Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 6/10/2024 @ 9:39 amIn other news, Justice Alito is on tape admitting lack of impartiality – audio at https://x.com/lawindsor/status/1800201783945683120.
Sam G (80a2a9) — 6/10/2024 @ 9:43 amTrump has problems maintaining a coherent train of thought. Do does Biden. Biden reminds me of people I’ve known with age-related dementia, while Trump reminds me of people I know with severe ADHD and mental illness. Pick your poison.
As for me, I trust the American people to choose. We know who Trump and Biden are. There are good reasons to support or oppose both. I don’t think many people are undecided.
DRJ (496584) — 6/10/2024 @ 9:47 amTrump is batshot insane, Biden is 10,000 years old. Is it too much to ask for two aneurysm(s?) at the debate?
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/10/2024 @ 9:53 amTrump’s choice of venue for his rally yesterday should signal concern about his campaign and his campaign’s finances, IMO.
Here he is in Vegas, a place with all kinds of air-conditioned indoor spaces for a political rally, yet he chose a public park right next to Vegas International Airport (no, I won’t call it Harry Reid International, too repulsive), three miles off the Strip, in the middle of June in 103-degree heat, trying to speak over a stream of jets taking off and landing. I assume Clark County got paid for renting out part of the park, but it sounds he’ll welsh on whoever handled the teleprompter and sound system.
Vegas is a convention capital, and it sorta reminds me of that line in Spinal Tap…
P.S. I’m feeling a little better. Thanks all.
Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 6/10/2024 @ 9:54 amTrump can dance around the felony conviction. If George Will calls it 2 misdemeanors dressed up as 34 felonies, that along with Noem’s dog won’t hunt.
Biden needs to hang J6 around Trump’s neck.
I’m not sure how he explains his escalating rhetoric against Mike Pence and his tepid call to “stay peaceful”. Aren’t crises like that the true tests of character?
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 6/10/2024 @ 10:10 am>As for me, I trust the American people to choose.
I am envious of your ability to do that; my ability to trust the American people to make decisions that are good for the community (rather than driven by naked self-interest) collapsed in the summer of 2020 and has not returned.
aphrael (1797ab) — 6/10/2024 @ 10:11 am@330 he chose a public park because no other venue would have him – due to his failure to pay previous venues dating back to 2015/2016.
Sam G (80a2a9) — 6/10/2024 @ 10:19 amAddendum to 333: – and because he won’t pay up front.
Sam G (80a2a9) — 6/10/2024 @ 10:20 amDidn’t Trump want to purchase Greenland from Denmark?
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/10/2024 @ 10:25 amDescribing Trump as a “convicted felon” is 100% accurate.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/10/2024 @ 10:26 amThe only voters that will be turned off by that description are those that would never vote for anyone else.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/10/2024 @ 10:28 amGifts to Supreme Court justices in graph and chart form. The top three, all Republican appointees, collected 93% of the total, and Thomas alone received 85%.
As a hypocrisy check, what is your reaction if those were Democrat appointees instead, or better yet, Clinton appointees.
Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 6/10/2024 @ 10:34 am@338, and this is just what they’re telling us about. We already know there isn’t any penalty for trying to hide this sort of corruption.
Time123 (316585) — 6/10/2024 @ 10:46 amSam G, at 327: yeah, this was the result of a deliberate policy by Republican activists over more than a generation. They didn’t *want* neutrality and lack of bias, in part because they thought that such neutrality was a myth. They wanted warriers for their side to combat what they saw as a judiciary dominated by warriors for the other side.
And the left didn’t notice what was going on, and now we’ll all pay the price for it.
aphrael (99fd6b) — 6/10/2024 @ 10:47 am@315, Trump lost because he’s Trump. No one voted for Biden because they thought he’d be GOOD at it. They voted against Trump for really obvious reasons. Reasons that were put on full display on Jan 6.
If Trump wants to win he should shut up and golf as much as possible.
Time123 (316585) — 6/10/2024 @ 10:48 amRegarding the “release” of the four hostages held by Hamas, Mr. David’s remarks are, uh, subtle.
Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 6/10/2024 @ 11:00 amPersonally, I believe ascribing Trump as a fraud and cheat works better
The best thing they could do (but they can’t) is pointing out how ineffectual Trump is and how he’s all hat and no cattle.
The problem is that Biden is more effectual, but his efforts are aimed at impoverishing and/or othering right-of-center voters. Compared to that “ineffectual” sounds good.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/10/2024 @ 11:13 amRegarding the “release” of the four hostages held by Hamas, Mr. David’s remarks are, uh, subtle.
Indeed. Also the IDF killed a lot of civilians in that camp solely because their team was targeted by Hamas fighters with RPGs who looked a lot like civilians.
Note that this kind of problem was the main impetus to the Geneva Accords and why it is a war crime to use civilians as camouflage and/or for combatants to masquerade as civilians.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/10/2024 @ 11:17 amIt amazes me to this day, that Trump’s COVID strategy is looked on more favorable (or forgotten) than Biden’s.
Outside of that, the people can remember things were “better” under the Trump years than Biden’s.
whembly (86df54) — 6/10/2024 @ 11:17 amSam, I can see how that tape of Alito supports your belief, but I think a charitable view of that interaction does not necessarily mean he is biased in how he decides court cases. Even Supreme Court Justices have personal views and if you take the interaction as him merely talking about the state of the world, I think it’s ok. Of course, he could be biased beyond fairness, and certainly some court decisions have pointed that way, I just don’t think that audio is conclusive.
Nate (cfb326) — 6/10/2024 @ 11:18 amBiden is way too late in the game on
1. Inflation
2. The Southern Border
3. Immigration generally
4. Arms to Ukraine
and
5. Recognizing his own infirmity.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/10/2024 @ 11:19 amBottom line, we’re basically screwed, because neither major party put forth an acceptable product in the political marketplace. I still reject both.
As do I, but the sad truth is that it doesn’t matter. One of them will win.
And what happens if Biden drops dead and it’s Trump vs Kamala?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/10/2024 @ 11:21 am@344
100% of those deaths are the responsibilities of Hamas and the Palestinians.
What to avoid these sorts of death…
Release the hostages and reject Hamas.
If I or another American was held hostage, then make the rubbles bounce in rescuing them.
whembly (86df54) — 6/10/2024 @ 11:24 amIn other news, Justice Alito is on tape admitting lack of impartiality
Not one effing justice ever has been impartial. I can predict all of their votes on certain issues. On others, their ideology isn’t affected. They probably have the same ideas about estoppel, for example.
So, he failed to lie is your point?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/10/2024 @ 11:24 amThe most underreported sports story last week:
I’ll take the writer’s word for it.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/10/2024 @ 11:26 amDoesn’t matter. I’m still not voting for President.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/10/2024 @ 11:27 amOf course, he could be biased beyond fairness, and certainly some court decisions have pointed that way
Same for Kagan, Sotomayor, Jackson, Thomas, Roberts, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett. Did the line up on the abortion ruing surprise you any?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/10/2024 @ 11:28 amSpeaking of Biden the Limpd!ck…
Biden needs better advisors, not Sullivan and not his gang of usual left-wingers. They’ll cost him the election for all the dithering.
Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 6/10/2024 @ 11:30 amThere were multiple reasons why Hillary lost, and it’ll be the same if Biden loses.
Gifts to Supreme Court justices in graph and chart form.
1. Souter didn’t have any friends.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/10/2024 @ 11:32 am2. Is it surprising that right-of-center justices know more rich people?
3. Thomas was shockingly poor when he came on the bench and people tried to correct that. Call it affirmative action if you like.
They’ll cost him the election for all the dithering.
They’ve already cost Ukraine the war. In a few months it will be Afghanistan all over again.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/10/2024 @ 11:34 amSince you asked, and I’m still reticent to make predictions and hypotheticals, I’ll just say that chances for a Trump victory are better if Biden croaks. If you listen to Jonah’s podcast, he’ll tell you that the DC Dems he consorts with are freaking out about the Biden-Harris ticket, in large part because of Harris.
Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 6/10/2024 @ 11:35 amI will have to say… that Biden’s approval rating is pretty stark, and it’s one of the (if not THE) lowest approval ratings in recent history:
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/biden-approval-rating/
Currently at 37.6% approval to 56.6% disapproval… a 19% delta.
Trump’s is:
Currently at 42.3% approval to 53.7% disapproval… a 11.4% delta.
I don’t see Trump’s numbers changing at all.
What does Biden need to do to increase is approval ratings??
whembly (86df54) — 6/10/2024 @ 11:36 am@357
For the country, I prefer Harris over Biden.
She’s a walking disaster policy-wise, but at least she’s not suffering from dementia.
I think the DC Dems are the old school Obama/Hillary democrat operatives who worries about their job if Harris takes the Presidency, as she’s distinctly doesn’t get along with the Obama/Hillary operatives.
whembly (86df54) — 6/10/2024 @ 11:39 amWon’t make any real difference in the short term, as Ukrainian pilots have no experience flying Western military aircraft under any circumstances, let alone in combat situations. There is also limited training capacity at the training centers at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, and Joint Base San Antonio, Texas, which also trains candidates from other allied countries under long standing agreements. F-16s are also extremely high maintenance (17 hours for each hour of flight time) in a peace environment, in a war environment probably impossible.
Unless they are based outside of Ukraine (which might make those countries Russian targets), their Ukraine runways will become targets. The planes would become targets once they cross into Ukraine.
My prediction would be a 50%+ casualty rate among Ukraine F-16s in the first month. Better to send in experienced US pilots instead.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/10/2024 @ 12:05 pmBelgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway have committed to providing Ukraine with over 60 F-16s over this summer.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/10/2024 @ 12:09 pmAs I pointed out above, like most foreign policy issues, Ukraine is not a salient issue among voters.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/10/2024 @ 12:14 pmAs I have said, most American voters don’t care about Ukraine, and unlike Afghanistan, there are no American troops there to be killed.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/10/2024 @ 12:16 pmA word on being a “partisan” and being in a “tribe”, as Kevin accused me of the last week or so.
I don’t deny either. Being in a tribe is part of the human condition, so such an accusation is basically meaningless. At home, my tribe is my nuclear family and church family and local community.
Politically, the closest thing to a tribe that I align with is the Remnant, as Jonah calls it, that small group of disaffected traditional conservatives, who may or may not still be Republicans, who are NeverTrump, and may or may not be NeverBiden. It’s a small tribe, and probably represents a low single-digit percentage of the GOP. And that’s fine. I’ve learned to live in this small minority for well over a decade.
Regarding “partisan”, I don’t take that as a dirty word as Kevin impugned. As defined by Oxford, partisan is “prejudice in favor of a particular cause; bias”. I confess to having bias and prejudice in favor of particular causes. As long as such prejudice and bias are reasonably and factually based, I don’t see the issue. I do have issues with hyper-partisanship and blind partisanship, and who shouldn’t.
Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 6/10/2024 @ 12:27 pmRip, the Biden admin is not only bottlenecking availability of F-16s, they’re also bottlenecking the training of Ukrainian pilots to fly the planes.
This should’ve been happening well over a year ago.
Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 6/10/2024 @ 12:35 pm> For the country, I prefer Harris over Biden.
> She’s a walking disaster policy-wise, but at least she’s not suffering from dementia.
Thank you for that, Whembly. I view this as the equivalent of my preferring Ted Cruz (who i think is a walking policy disaster) over Trump, and I appreciate the willingness to prefer someone who will likely gore your ox over someone who you think is a disaster for the country.
aphrael (99fd6b) — 6/10/2024 @ 12:38 pmFor that, there needs to be a panic,, or fear that the government is about to fall. I don’t see that, ad Biden will aim to prevent that. It cold have happened in 2022. That’s why Zelensky did not leave Kyiv.
Previous panics like that were the Fall of France in 1940, the fall of Mainland China to Mao’s Communists in 1948-9 and the fall of South Vietnam in 1975.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 6/10/2024 @ 12:43 pmwhembly (86df54) — 6/10/2024 @ 11:39 am
Dementia, or near dementia, is not a show stopper. A president acts through his subordinates, and you can get along without an effective president for quite some time. It just means the absence of a final decision maker. If one is truly needed, you always have the 25th amendment.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 6/10/2024 @ 12:47 pmHaving had the experience of living through an era where all the smart people were insisting that Reagan was just totally senile — I am really skeptical of the declarations that Biden is alzheimers adjacent. I see the evidence he is old. This goes as well for the increasing cries that Trump may be showing the first sign of dementia. (His father started to decline at about Trump’s current age).
I am going to politely suggest that the chronic suggestions of the senility of the opposition are based on partisans being partisan. Since both candidates are way too old for the job they want, I’d suggest the campaigns just not focus on this issue.
Appalled (3859aa) — 6/10/2024 @ 12:48 pm336. Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/10/2024 @ 10:26 am
And meaningless.
It would matter if he was running for Congress because it would mean he would likely not be seated or would be expelled, and would eliminate him from consideration as vice president by virtually any presidential candidate, but would not affect a candidate for president or, in most states, Governor. (many states do have minimum residential qualifications for governor, though)
It’s not like people would not look behind the conviction and ase their opinion on that.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 6/10/2024 @ 12:58 pmShe’s a walking disaster policy-wise, but at least she’s not suffering from dementia.
She found a way to ban most handguns in CA, over time. Just put an impossible requirement on handguns to get on the approve list and wait until models have to be requalified.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/10/2024 @ 1:07 pmAppalled (3859aa) — 6/10/2024 @ 12:48 pm
Trump’s been the same way – repeating himself – since at least 2015.
I wonder if Biden is taking some drugs or combination of drugs that his people are afraid to discontinue all the time that diminish his capacity. If he were taking some vitamin or vitamins or Prevagen. that boosted his capacity. I don’t see why they wouldn’t have him take it all the time or at least during that it should be effective business hours. so it must be something that diminishes his capacity that is prescribed by a doctor that his people are afraid to discontinue all the time, and that accounts for his having good days and bad days.
But I don’t think the White House has released clues as to what it might be. But many elderly people are prescribed too many medications. There are some doctors, often working at nursing homes, who specialize in reducing the quantity of medication, and if this is the case, his friends and family would be well advised to look into getting a review of all his medications.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 6/10/2024 @ 1:11 pmThe Direction of the Country index is at -40% (satisfied – dissatisfied). That is terrible for a president. Obama had a large negative when reelected, but not this bad. Trump had similar numbers in 2020 and he almost won, so it’s not conclusive. Still, it’s not what Biden was hoping for.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/10/2024 @ 1:15 pmStill useless for fighting purposes by the Ukrainians.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/10/2024 @ 1:16 pmDescribing Trump as a “convicted felon” is 100% accurate.
If he is elected nonetheless, the People will have judged him. It’s not like he can keep it a secret, or even wants to. I note that VP Harris says he should be disqualified. Will she take that position when the Electoral votes come to Congress?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/10/2024 @ 1:18 pm> If he is elected nonetheless, the People will have judged him.
Why don’t we just abolish jury trials and put all convictions to a public vote.
If it’s good enough for Trump, surely it’s good enough for every other alleged criminal, right?
aphrael (99fd6b) — 6/10/2024 @ 1:24 pmIf the Ukrainian Air Force had received F-16s a year ago, next week, or a year from now, they won’t have the needed impact of an experienced F-16 pilot.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/10/2024 @ 1:25 pm> I note that VP Harris says he should be disqualified. Will she take that position when the Electoral votes come to Congress?
Hopefully she will react like Pence did, knowing that the job of the VP in this circumstance is entirely ministerial and not discretionary.
I agree that he *should* be disqualified, but we need an amendment for that.
aphrael (99fd6b) — 6/10/2024 @ 1:26 pm> Dementia, or near dementia, is not a show stopper. A president acts through his subordinates, and you can get along without an effective president for quite some time
At which point our government is being run by unelected officials who are in effect answerable to nobody. It was a terrible thing in 1920 and it won’t be any better tomorrow.
aphrael (99fd6b) — 6/10/2024 @ 1:27 pmStill useless for fighting purposes by the Ukrainians.
The US should have been building less complicated combat jets in the thousands, like the F-20, or even continued production of the F-5E. There are a lot of F-5’s still in operation, notably in Taiwan which plans to retire them next year.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/10/2024 @ 1:31 pmColonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/7/2024 @ 10:25 am
It wasn’t really his laptop.
Hunter Biden brought 3 laptops into the repair shop. One was completely busted. One had only its keyboard damaged and the store owner lent him an external keyboard (Hunter later never returned it or paid for it) The third couldn’t boot but most or all of its files were undamaged. Hunter left that computer and John Paul Mac Isaac (the repair shop owner) undertook to recover the files and put them on anew hard disk. He copied the files to his server and put them on a new hard disk. But Hunter never returned for it, because. after all. he had the files once he got the keyboard for the second laptop.
All three laptops – in fact all of Hunter Biden’s laptops – were, it seems, used only as terminals and synched to his iCloud account.
John Paul Mac Isaac made several copies of the laptop files after he had peeked at them so that when the FBI took the laptop in December 2019, he still had the files.
John Paul Mac Isaac had initially been concerned that they might contain child pornography (some of the girls pictured might be underage but it didn’t say so and their identities were unknown and they were clearly real people so this line of investigation was abandoned.)
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 6/10/2024 @ 1:32 pmIt just means the absence of a final decision maker. If one is truly needed, you always have the 25th amendment.
Mrs Wilson was unavailable for comment.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/10/2024 @ 1:32 pm239. DRJ (496584) — 6/8/2024 @ 9:16 pm
hat shouldn’t be infections, but immune responses.
They should be elevated, not diminished, unless you lost weight or something. (But Covid kills appetite)
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 6/10/2024 @ 1:38 pm335. Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/10/2024 @ 10:25 am
And U.S> Grant wanted to purchase what is now called the Dominican Republic from itself (?) in 1869 and 1870.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1870_Dominican_Republic_annexation_referendum
The cote in the referendum was 15,695 for and 11 against or 99.93% to 0.07% with no blank or invalid votes but turnout was just 30%. However, the United States Senate rejected the annexation on 30 June 1870 with a 28–28 vote.
In 1916/7 President Woodrow Wilson did succeed in purchasing the Danish West Indies (renamed the Virgin Islands) from Denmark. . This had been attempted going back to 1867. (Seward did succeed in purchasing Alaska) It failed in 1902 also. It went through in 1917 because of fear that Denmark might be annexed by Germany. U.S. Citizenship was not conferred till 1932 because by this point there was a distinction made between U.S. nationality and citizenship and it was run by the Navy through 1931..
https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/wwi/107293.htm
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 6/10/2024 @ 2:05 pmAn unusual group of Hunter Biden supporters:
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/10/2024 @ 2:07 pmI think that is only meant to mean morally not legally.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 6/10/2024 @ 2:10 pmKevin M (a9545f) — 6/9/2024 @ 10:11 pm
Blame also Medicaid and other means tested benefits. (marriage is stopped by Social Security)
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 6/10/2024 @ 2:12 pmwhembly (86df54) — 6/10/2024 @ 11:24 am
They can’t reject Hamas. Even Arab countries are afraid to reject Hamas. And for Hamas to release all the hostages is suicide.
Benny Gantz claims he wants a post-Hamas plan. He knows that is impossible now. Not even the Palestinian Authority would agree to take over in advance.
Another impossible task Gantz has given to Netanyahu is to pass a draft bill.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 6/10/2024 @ 2:17 pm323. Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 6/10/2024 @ 9:35 am
But those accusations doesn’t poll as well or focus group test as well as lies and exaggerations, so he’ll go with that.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 6/10/2024 @ 2:20 pmRip Murdock (816fe1) — 6/10/2024 @ 8:46 am
It points to which party is more tightly controlled by its national committee..
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 6/10/2024 @ 2:23 pmJVW (b02843) — 6/7/2024 @ 11:50 am
People who lie on that form and are stopped from buying a firearm are not prosecuted. People who buy a firearm are usually discovered and prosecuted when and if the firearm is used to commit another crime. Sometimes people who purchase through straw donors are caught. This case is unusual unless it fits into the category of someone being investigated for other matters..
Hunter almost certainly intentionally lied (to the extent that he looked at the form for more than to consider what was the “right’ answer) because he sent a message at about that time that he’d been smoking crack.
https://nypost.com/2024/06/10/us-news/hunter-biden-trial-winding-down-as-defense-prepares-to-rest-its-case
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 6/10/2024 @ 2:34 pmThe dog and the hamster: (story with drawings from the New York Times magazine)
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/05/31/magazine/dog-animals-death-mortality.html
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 6/10/2024 @ 2:36 pmA unique prosecution:
Baltimore prosecutor Marilyn Mosby
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/01/business/retirement-hardship-withdrawal-marilyn-mosby.html
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 6/10/2024 @ 2:43 pmSammy the “fish” alito finds it difficult to live peacefully with liberals/democrats/left. I know how he feels its hard to live with the enemy peacefully as posters here tell/accuse me. I also agree with with sammy the fish that one side or the other will win. If he thinks the 25% who want to ban abortion will win against the majority bring your war you want to wage on! I can here the wimp corporate establishment clinton/biden democrats whining and crying as they gnash their teeth in rage instead of doing something about it as the donor class instructs.
asset (f4029c) — 6/10/2024 @ 2:54 pm@306 Some years ago our former gov. symington before he was convicted of a felony and kicked out of office came up with a campaign for public morality for the common people. I assume because the people down at the bottom were just as crooked and immoral as the people up at the top an it was destabilizes az society and making it harder to rip them off.
asset (f4029c) — 6/10/2024 @ 3:06 pm@310 As I have said many times I am NON-ignorant poor southern white trash and native american and understand my fellow ignorant white trash. I have some positions that coincide with elitists because they are not always wrong.
asset (f4029c) — 6/10/2024 @ 3:12 pm@329 Failing that try voting third party like I am doing.
asset (f4029c) — 6/10/2024 @ 3:17 pm@340 The left noticed ;but corporate establishment democrats funded by the donor class were told you can whine but not do anything. They ran the democrat party until recently.
asset (f4029c) — 6/10/2024 @ 3:23 pm@346 Really? Ever here of pollyanna? This helps the left and even more discredits the third way clinton/biden/dnc corporate democrats.
asset (f4029c) — 6/10/2024 @ 3:27 pmLOL! What is the control that party national committees have over their respective congressional parties? The national committees exist mostly for organizing presidential campaigns and fundraising. Show your work.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/10/2024 @ 3:36 pm(marriage is stopped by Social Security)
News to me. My wife and I each get our own benefits. If I were to die, she would get the larger of the two (mine), which is to her advantage. It’s only a problem if both get max benefits and they hit the family maximum but that can be addressed most of the time by taking benefits early.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/10/2024 @ 3:56 pmThat is certainly true (at least among Republicans):
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/10/2024 @ 4:04 pmbut I have had post-Covid complications — several strange viral infections,
Bronchitis perhaps, and a susceptibility to RSV and such. I’ve been though that, too, and have a standing scrip for prednisone and a prophylactic z-pack. Also, I got the RSV shot and the pneumonia shot. Don’t tell Trump.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/10/2024 @ 4:06 pmBiden should make a deal with Hochul for simultaneous pardons, arguing that marginal prosecutions for political purposes are not “who we are.”
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/10/2024 @ 4:09 pmThree-quarters of Republicans (76%) think the Republican Party should continue to support Trump as the party’s nominee, despite his recent conviction. 13% say it should not support him and 11% are not sure.
Pretty much the numbers in January.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/10/2024 @ 4:12 pm383.: That would be the aincorrect asumption of many medical doctors. That is why it is nice for me to have a doctor that actually runs tests and thinks about the results, instead of relying on incorrect assumptions.
DRJ (496584) — 6/10/2024 @ 4:24 pmI am very glad to hear that.
DRJ (496584) — 6/10/2024 @ 4:25 pmSad!:
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/10/2024 @ 4:39 pm> Biden should make a deal with Hochul for simultaneous pardons, arguing that marginal prosecutions for political purposes are not “who we are.”
That would absolutely guarantee that a good 5% of Biden’s base would stay home or vote for the Green party candidate, and it would result in a guaranteed Trump victory.
aphrael (1797ab) — 6/10/2024 @ 5:38 pmOf course, RIP Murdock. It’s not about *breaking the law*. It’s about *bad people*. We don’t want bad people to be President, and some convicted criminals are bad people, but others aren’t. Breaking the law itself isn’t a sign of whether or not you are a bad person, not anymore, not now that good people are being prosecuted unfairly.
aphrael (1797ab) — 6/10/2024 @ 5:40 pmWhatever sentence Trump receives, from probation to suspended to incarceration, which is not completed by January 20, 2025, will be a sword of Damocles hanging over the country’s head. How can we have a President subject to the will of a prison warden, a probation officer, or a state criminal court judge?
nk (4a9252) — 6/10/2024 @ 6:21 pmWe could always declare that a sham trial indicates that the state no longer offers a Republican form of government and therefore dissolve the state government and reconstitute it under the Guaranty Clause.
Think Trump could find five votes on the Supreme Court for that?
aphrael (1bfe76) — 6/10/2024 @ 7:15 pmSeems less than ideal. That’s the predicament the voters will put us in if they elect a convicted felon. I suggest they not do that.
lurker (cd7cd4) — 6/10/2024 @ 9:52 pmWhatever sentence Trump receives, from probation to suspended to incarceration, which is not completed by January 20, 2025, will be a sword of Damocles hanging over the country’s head. How can we have a President subject to the will of a prison warden, a probation officer, or a state criminal court judge?
If he is elected, the People have said a loud FU to NY state, NYC, the DA and the judge. Remember who is in charge.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/11/2024 @ 12:00 am“The people are revolting!”
–King of Id
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/11/2024 @ 12:01 am@353 now contend with a unanimous ruling in favor of the NRA vs New York State. Per your view the liberal-appointed judges would have ruled otherwise.
The issue with being publicly partial to one side of a political conflict is that it brings reasonable doubt to all his rulings/opinions – and thus harms the legitimacy of the court. That’s why impartiality – or at least the patina of it – is necessary.
It should be a non-partisan matter, just as Thomas’s receiving $200k/yr in gifts (on average) and failing to disclose those until found out should concern us all.
SamG (4e6c22) — 6/11/2024 @ 7:00 amTalk about burying the lede, which is
Rip Murdock (816fe1) — 6/11/2024 @ 7:09 amHunter Biden found guilty on all counts. Not a surprise.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/11/2024 @ 8:23 amTrump could make heads explode by promising to pardon Hunter if elected.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/11/2024 @ 8:30 amSo, a few thoughts about Trump’s potential sentencing problems:
1. The appeals court could throw out the conviction. I note that Kevin D Williamson thinks they will and singles out our host as betting on the improbable.
2. Failing that, the Supreme Court could get involved somehow (low probability, but you never know).
3. The sovereign always has the power to pardon, and in America the People are sovereign. Electing him to the Presidency, with the full and complete knowledge (courtesy of Biden-Harris) of the conviction, should override anything a NY District Court can order, at least as far as fulfilling his new term.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/11/2024 @ 8:38 amWho cares about the law, the mob is always right, and that foolish nonsense the Founders wrote about the dangers of mob rule is just evil elites conspiring against everything that is good in the world.
aphrael (99fd6b) — 6/11/2024 @ 8:51 amSamG (4e6c22) — 6/11/2024 @ 7:00 am
Failing to disclose until they changed the rules after anti-conservatives revealed something.
And the rules are now a trap for the unwary, irrelevant, and somewhat impractical.
Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 6/11/2024 @ 9:10 amDRJ (496584) — 6/8/2024 @ 9:16 pm
SF:
DRJ:
Yes that’s good, but it doesn’t quite add up. Why should being infected with Covid lead to a variety of strange infections?
I could think of aa few possibilities – maybe it makes the immune system work too hard, (which could be mitigated maybe by some nutrients) or distracts it or damages some part of the immune system, but I think maybe the doctor stopped thinking too soon, or didn’t explain it to you.
Doctors will accept something just because it’s an explanation, even though the explanation is clearly wrong or incomplete. They stop looking for an explanation or a further explanation.
When my father was in the hospital in 1999 with water in the lungs it was explained as swallowing
water and they didn’t let him take water by mouth which was cruel. I think it comes into the lungs comes from the blood/
This reminds me of the doctor with my mother’s cancer in 1995. There was one doctor puzzling -I think the answer was she had beriberi and all very late cancer patients get beriberi.(Vitamin B! (thiamine) deficiency He was better than the oncologist, who asserted that her memory problems were caused by a series of small strokes, for whih there was no other evidence.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 6/11/2024 @ 4:15 pm(Vitamin B1 (thiamine) deficiency caused by a greater requirement for it, caused by the liver being overloaded processing dead cell materials.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 6/11/2024 @ 4:18 pmIt seems t be getting a bit clearer what happened with the Israeli hostage rescue.
They knew for weeks and longer where some hostages were being held -one woman in an apartment in one building and 3 mean in another. They may even have avoided going into that area very much because of them.,
They rehearsed a long time and even built a duplicate. They decided to do two rescue missions at one time because they didn’t want to alert the captors of the 3 men. They came disguised as something.
The recue of the woman went off without a hitch, but the rescue of the men (for which they maybe hadn’t prepared as much or had less information) went a bit badly. They encountered guards w mortally wounded a leader of the raid. They did kill the Hamas spokesman and journalist and his wife and maybe other members of his family. But not before more Hamas people were alerted.
The message the diamonds are in our hands dates from that time.
They gave the ex-hostages bullet proof vests and drove off But their vehicle was damaged and another vehicle to retrieve them was also damaged. A firefight broke out, Hamas firing the Israelis firing – and Israel also bombing a list of targets that had been prepared before
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 6/11/2024 @ 4:32 pm@425 over 400 palestinians killed in rescue attempt many of them children who kidnapped nobody. Israel says 4 hostages returned is worth a hundred palestinian children’s lives. When you look into the abyss the abyss looks into you! Nietzsche. We have done the same move bombing by police in 1985 with no attempt to save the children. Black children running out of burning house dodging police bullets in la. in 1974.
asset (6008c2) — 6/11/2024 @ 8:11 pmUhh…WTF, Biden’s the mentally ill one.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/12/2024 @ 11:03 pmRead the whole freakin’ thing, it’s complete gibberish. You are following in realtime a crazy person losing their freakin’ mind. batpoopcrazy
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/12/2024 @ 11:10 pmI mean OMG OMG OMFG!!! This idiot cannot, cannot, cannot be the president…again.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/12/2024 @ 11:16 pmCovid is getting better, slept for most of the last 2 days. Mom is getting better too. Thanks for the well wishes. Paul, hope your doing better too.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 6/12/2024 @ 11:18 pmRead the whole freakin’ thing, it’s complete gibberish. You are following in realtime a crazy person losing their freakin’ mind. batpoopcrazy
The secret of his success. He talks the way his supporters think.
nk (c2e4b4) — 6/13/2024 @ 3:08 amThanks, I am. The two solid days of sleeping helped.
Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 6/13/2024 @ 4:23 amRegrettably, I gave it to Mrs. Montagu and Montagu Jr.. Thankfully, it’s been similar to a bad cold for all, but Mrs. Montagu also got hit with diverticulitis before I infected her, so she got the double whammy.
@425 over 400 palestinians killed in rescue attempt many of them children who kidnapped nobody
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/13/2024 @ 7:03 am@433
Yup.
Every single death is on Hamas/Palestinian’s hands.
whembly (86df54) — 6/13/2024 @ 7:09 am@425 over 400 palestinians killed in rescue attempt many of them children who kidnapped nobody
They are Hamas hostages, too. Hamas’s window is closing. Their initial supporters who are not getting wise to their sh!t (and many are getting wise) are getting bored.
nk (2db5b2) — 6/13/2024 @ 7:17 amThank you for your thoughtful response, Sammy. Here is what Yale Medicine says:
I apologize for the wall of text.
I believe my doctor subscribes to the reactivation of latent viruses theory.
DRJ (f65e25) — 6/13/2024 @ 9:40 amSammy, I think some doctors use existing theories to analyze new problems and then try to fit the facts into those theories. I encourage you and them to spend more time thinking about the facts first, and then come up with theories that fit.
DRJ (f65e25) — 6/13/2024 @ 9:44 amFor instance, I am glad my doctor has done a range of blood tests on his patients to see what our bodies are doing, instead of assuming a specific theory is right. His latent virus theory is based on dozens of results (maybe a hundred) that show numerous latent viruses have reactivated after Covid in patients he treated. That makes his theory more credible to me.
DRJ (f65e25) — 6/13/2024 @ 9:50 amBiden sold a book deal for $8M and Biden thought he needed classified documents for that book and that payday so he kept classified documents and shared them with his ghost writer [Zwonitzer] who had no security clearance. If Biden had been President, he could have declassified the documents, but as VP that was not an option for him.
According to the transcript of Zwonitzer’s interview with the FBI, the investigating agents asked him if ” the fact that a special counsel had been appointed and you had all these recordings was in your mind when you slid these documents over into the trash…” Zwonitzer, who acknowledged deleting several years’ worth of audio records of interviews with Biden, at first tried to deflect—merely stating he “was aware of the special counsel investigation when that happened.”
[FBI] The outside observer is going to look at this and say ‘Mark Zwonitzer, President Biden‘s friend, ghostwriter, collaborator learned of the special counsel’s investigation, saw this happening and then deleted all these audio recordings… I just need the truth on this one, but there’s some truth in that, that was what was going on. That was part of your motivation, at least something you were aware of when you did this? [Zwonitzer] “I’m not going to say how much of the percentage it was of my motivation”
Doesn’t sound like a “No” from Zwonitzer.
Larger point is Biden stole the documents to use for a book he was going to get $8M for and blinded by his greed, gave classified documents to a person with no security clearance
steveg (697326) — 6/13/2024 @ 9:53 amDRJ
Praying for your recovery, for energy, vigor, restoration. Sprinkle in a lot of joy.
steveg (697326) — 6/13/2024 @ 9:56 am“gave classified documents to a person with no security clearance”
Better word would be “shared”, so – shared classified documents and/or the information contained within those documents with a person with no security clearance
steveg (697326) — 6/13/2024 @ 10:00 amZwonitzer obstructed justice to a degree by trashing files but as the transcript shows, that degree he admitted to obliquely was unable to be determined.
The real issue to me is Trump has documents- motive is not established
steveg (697326) — 6/13/2024 @ 10:10 amBiden had documents that he took from the US with the intent to use the information contained in the purloined letters as part of an $8M book.
Biden should at least write the US a check for the $8M and issue an apology
DRJ, one of my closest friends (also a housemate) has long covid, and while she is finally doing better, relapse is a constant worry.
I hope your recovery is swift and strong.
aphrael (99fd6b) — 6/13/2024 @ 10:52 amBiden had original classification (and declassification) authority, per a 2009 Obama executive order.
But…there’s no evidence that he declassified the documents that ended up at his house (just like there’s no evidence that Trump declassified the materials he took to his country club), so it was illegal for him keep them as a private citizen and moreso illegal to share them with a guy with no security clearance.
Presidents do get some deference, such as Reagan writing classified information in his diaries (and the Hur report gives a good explanation of what took place), or NARA giving Trump a full year to return the first batch of boxes, but the stonewalling and obstruction is something else.
Paul Montagu (1e8339) — 6/13/2024 @ 11:33 amhttps://www.msn.com/en-za/news/other/saudi-arabia-s-petro-dollar-exit-a-global-finance-paradigm-shift/ar-BB1nYFLK
Biden wrecking our economy continues paying dividends.
Vote for more.
NJRob (5645cb) — 6/13/2024 @ 1:34 pmsteveg and aphrael,
Bless you both for bring so caring. Once you know what causes the medical problem — specifically, you have an accurate diagnosis — then American mdoctors are good about fixing it. I had both and feel great.
DRJ (f65e25) — 6/13/2024 @ 4:16 pmI still have a lot of typos but that is from pure laziness.
DRJ (f65e25) — 6/13/2024 @ 4:17 pmSupreme Court unanimously tosses mifepristone lawsuit on standing grounds:
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/13/2024 @ 6:47 pmTypos are a sign of an active mind. Your brain gets ahead of your fingers.
I am glad you feel well. The prayer stands as written because you can never have too much of a good thing, and may your life be filled with them
steveg (697326) — 6/13/2024 @ 7:40 pmDRJ, glad you came out of it alright. This is going to sound weird but, even though it wasn’t serious for me, it felt like no other flu I’ve ever had.
Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 6/13/2024 @ 9:51 pmI know it’s been a long time since I’ve seen Jaws, but the tale of the shark told by Robert Shaw doesn’t seem right.
Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 6/13/2024 @ 9:56 pmThank you so much, steveg.
Paul, I think it is different because it did not develop naturally. I wonder if they engineered any “malicious code” into the virus.
DRJ (496584) — 6/14/2024 @ 7:22 amFrom May 13 post:
Hamas wants the very first thing done by Israel to be a withdrawal from the border with Egypt. ANd they don’t want Israel to have any choice as to which prisoners get released, While they say they will keep two people held prisoner since 2014 and 2015.
Egypt by the way some weeks ago changed the proposal that was given to Hamas so Hamas could say they agreed. Egypt wants Hamas to survive for some reason. I thought Sisi didn’t like it because it was an offshoot of the Moslem Brotherhood. Maybe it is in exchange for leaving Egypt alone? Or corruption?
Hamas wants China Russia and Turkey to guarantee that Israel will not restart the war. Israel only agreed to talk about a permanent ceasefire, The 3 extra guarantors had been on the table before and dropped.
Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 6/14/2024 @ 7:37 amI know it’s been a long time since I’ve seen Jaws, but the tale of the shark told by Robert Shaw doesn’t seem right.
Someday, there will be a rant video starring Donnie that is repurposed to all kinds of things. Probably including “Hitler finds out that…”
Kevin M (a9545f) — 6/14/2024 @ 8:26 amKevin M (a9545f) — 6/9/2024 @ 5:56 pm
I 5think the People’s Liberation Army of China has been thinking about that for a long time.
But they want someone else to try it first.
Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 6/15/2024 @ 8:20 pmI expected the Russians to do so when the Ukrainians were pushing them back (it’s part of their military doctrine), but it seems less likely now. Of course, Norks might do it on their own.
Rip Murdock (dd5d29) — 6/15/2024 @ 8:29 pmIt’s concerning to see such blatant political interference with the judicial process. The judiciary should remain independent and impartial, guided solely by the rule of law and the merits of each case. Any attempts to pressure a judge or sway sentencing decisions for political gain undermine the very foundations of justice and equality before the law. This kind of partisan maneuvering erodes public trust in our institutions and sets a dangerous precedent where political power trumps justice. Fairness in elections depends on upholding the integrity of our legal system, not manipulating it for short-term political advantage.book flights from usa to india with mintfares
Mint Fares (9cb612) — 6/25/2024 @ 12:09 amI haven’t seen a lot of AI bots that try to monetize this blog, but Mint Fares is there for us!
Nate (cfb326) — 6/25/2024 @ 5:43 amI remember when Atlanta was not the hub of Presidential campaign activity. I was planning to go to trivia with friends out in the suburbs on Thursday. Since my path would take me past CNN, that plan is out the window. Guess I’ll watch the debate instead.
Meanwhile, things are not completely dead on the Fani Willis prosecution front:
https://www.ajc.com/politics/analysis-a-determined-judge-vows-to-keep-trump-case-moving/IPBJBPSKWZACXFCXAKHFEPMQZM/
Appalled (843fba) — 6/25/2024 @ 7:33 am