Weekend Open Thread
[guest post by Dana]
Let’s go!
First news item:
That was then, this is now:
Pressed by Bash on her reversals on fracking and decriminalizing illegal border crossings, Harris sought to explain why her positions had changed.
“How should voters look at some of the changes that you’ve made?” Bash asked Harris. “Is it because you have more experience now and you’ve learned more about the information? Is it because you were running for president in a Democratic primary? And should they feel comfortable and confident that what you’re saying now is going to be your policy moving forward?”
Harris said despite the shifts in position, her values had not changed.
“I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed,” she said. “You mentioned the Green New Deal. I have always believed – and I have worked on it – that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time.”
Her campaign later said Harris does not continue to support the Green New Deal, a wide-ranging proposal to address climate change first introduced in 2019.
Harris said she would renew a push for comprehensive border legislation that would tighten migration into the United States and vowed to “enforce our laws” against border crossings.
“We have laws that have to be followed and enforced, that address and deal with people who cross our border illegally, and there should be consequence,” she said.
She also hewed closely to President Joe Biden’s strong support of Israel and rejected calls from some in the Democratic Party that Washington should rethink sending weapons to Israel because of the heavy Palestinian death toll in Gaza.
She said she supports a strong Israel but “we must get a deal done” to get a ceasefire in the Gaza conflict.
Second news item
Trump making efforts to moderate his stand on abortion (to reach suburban women, who for some mysterious reason, just aren’t supporting him in massive numbers):
Trump, in a brief interview with NBC News, said he didn’t agree with the six-week ban adopted in Florida after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
“I think the six week (ban) is too short — it has to be more time,” Trump told NBC News. “I told them I want more weeks.”
Trump also weighed in on IVF treatments:
“I’m announcing today in a major statement that under the Trump administration, your government will pay for, or your insurance company will be mandated to pay for, all costs associated with IVF treatment,” the former president said at a campaign event in Potterville, Michigan.
“Because we want more babies, to put it very nicely. And for this same reason, we will also allow new parents to deduct major newborn expenses from their taxes, so that parents that have a beautiful baby will be able, so we’re pro family,” Trump continued.
Clearly, these positions are an affront to the pro-life community. And his willingness to expand Obamacare is an interesting move for someone who once tried to repeal Obamacare.
He's about two weeks from endorsing taxpayer funding for abortion. https://t.co/7pVlqAzUfg
— Ramesh Ponnuru (@RameshPonnuru) August 29, 2024
Apparently, Trump has changed his mind:
Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, has reversed his position on Florida’s restrictive abortion policies within just 24 hours. On Thursday, in an NBC News interview, Trump indicated he was against the state’s six-week abortion ban, calling it “too short” and stating his preference for allowing more time. “I am going to be voting that we need more than six weeks,” Trump said.
However, by Friday, facing intense backlash from his right-wing base, Trump changed course. Speaking to Fox News’ Bryan Llenas, Trump endorsed Florida’s six-week abortion ban and confirmed he would vote against Florida Amendment 4, a ballot measure that would protect abortion rights under the state constitution. Despite reiterating discomfort with the six-week limit, Trump dismissed Florida Amendment 4 by lying about the bill. “The nine months is just a ridiculous situation,” Trump claimed, adding, “I will be voting no for that reason.”
Third news item
When they tell you who they are, believe them. When they show you who they are, believe them, and then decide if they are someone who deserves your vote:
Former President Donald Trump spent Wednesday night reposting a string of pictures on Truth Social of Vice President Kamala Harris depicted as a communist, in an orange prison jumpsuit and hiding from reporters. But he’s under fire for one image in particular that implied his Democratic rival traded sexual favors to advance her political career.
The images originally posted by @Beware_of_penguin shows an older photograph of Harris and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton followed by the comment: “Funny how blowjobs impacted both their careers differently,” referring to the fact that Harris once dated San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and Clinton’s husband had an affair with a White House intern.
And the misogynistic pig wonders why suburban women aren’t supporting him. . .
Trump’s spokesperson stumbled when asked about the post.
Fourth news item
President Zelensky coming to US:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that he would eventually present a peace plan to President Biden and the current White House candidates, Vice President Harris and former President Trump.
Zelensky, speaking at a news conference in Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, touched on the four-stage plan, saying the country’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region was the first pillar.
“Second direction is Ukraine’s strategic place in the security infrastructure of the world,” Zelensky said, according to CNN. “Third direction is the powerful package of forcing Russia to end the war in a diplomatic way, and the fourth direction is economical.”
Ukraine’s leader said he plans to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September. While there, he plans to meet with Biden and will present the plan. Due to the uncertainty of who is going to win the 2024 election, Zelensky said he planned to share the plan with both Trump, the GOP nominee, and Harris, the newly-minted Democratic nominee.
Fifth news item
Regarding Donald Trump using Section 60 at Arlington Cemetery for a photo op:
Federal law prohibits campaign or election-related activities within Army national military cemeteries. A defense official, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, said the Trump campaign was warned about not taking photographs in Section 60 before their arrival and the altercation.
Sixth news item
Asking federal court to “indefinitely delay” sentencing:
Donald Trump asked a federal court late Thursday to intervene in his New York hush money criminal case, seeking a pathway to overturn his felony conviction and indefinitely delay his sentencing scheduled for next month.
Lawyers for the former president and current Republican nominee asked the federal court in Manhattan to seize the case from the state court where it was brought and tried, arguing that the historic prosecution violated Trump’s constitutional rights and ran afoul of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity.
Have a great weekend.
–Dana
Hello.
Dana (a42802) — 8/30/2024 @ 8:02 amFirst news item:
Like most candidates, Harris tacks to the middle in the general election. Only her “primary” with her left-wing positions occurred in 2020, which obviously didn’t sell.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/30/2024 @ 8:52 amInflation, Trump — and Biden: Glenn Kessler summarizes what most economists believe about tariffs — and what the evidence shows:
In short, some of our current inflation is caused by Trump’s tariffs — which Biden has mostly kept in place.
How much of a tax are they on consumers? Estimates vary. Here’s an official estimate:
It would depend on the goods, but it is likely that Trump’s tariffs are, net, a regressive tax, hitting the poor harder than the rich.
Jim Miller (824f3b) — 8/30/2024 @ 8:53 amFirst news item:
She’s clearly the “vaporware” candidate.
The kicker is if she can convince enough voters she’s sincerely moderating her positions.
Second news item:
I think this will hurt Trump more than help. He’s effectively supporting a FL amendment that allows abortion up to birth.
Third news item
It’s effective because there are elements of truth.
If Trump’s sexual past is on the table, so is Kamala’s.
Fourth news item
It’s good that one side is trying to have peace discussions. There will be no peace until both sides starts such conversations.
Fifth news item
Definitely should’ve been handled better by the campaign.
But, I remain irked that much of the outrage stems from this, and just about zero regarding the current administration’s policies that led to these deaths.
Sixth news item
whembly (477db6) — 8/30/2024 @ 9:53 amlolwut? Right before sentencing? Yeah, no federal court is going to touch it.
@3
It depends on what the tariffs is placed on.
Theoretically, if there are domestic alternatives (current more expensive options)… it should drive consumers to those alternatives. Then those products could grow and evendually drive down prices to be more competitive.
See US sugar and corn tariffs.
whembly (477db6) — 8/30/2024 @ 9:57 amOn #3
I think she’s right, as far as it goes for MAGA voters. Unfortunately for Trump, that is becoming a smaller group by the day.
Albeit as illustrated above, more irrationally…squirrel.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 8/30/2024 @ 10:17 amHow are attacks on Harris’s past “effective”? Is there polling that shows that such attacks by Trump are expanding his voter base, or is just pandering to the MAGA base?
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/30/2024 @ 10:28 amOr just juvenile name calling?
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/30/2024 @ 10:28 am@7 Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/30/2024 @ 10:28 am
whembly (477db6) — 8/30/2024 @ 10:30 amI’m just saying that “political attacks” are more effective when there are elements of truth. It’s not shear fabrications.
So, no actual evidence they are effective.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/30/2024 @ 10:35 amWhatever makes you feel good.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/30/2024 @ 10:40 amIn another place in Arlington National Cemetery, unaffiliated with Trump (media) photographers were allowed to go, but they were not allowed to go there, The Trump campaign took the position that their own photographers were not prohibited, When an employee of Arlington National Cemetery tried to stop them (from taking pictures?) a person in the delegation (had some physical dispute with her?) and they later 1) said she had been unhinged OR 2) blamed the Democrats (Biden or Harris) for interfering with that…
The issue about not having permission is a technicality, based on the fact that some graves not belonging to the family which authorized Trump to be there, had been visible in some photograph or video.
No charges were pressed because the employee did not want trouble from Trump supporters.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 8/30/2024 @ 10:42 amTrump seems to think (and Harris doesn’t challenge) that this truism stops at the Rio Grande and overseas.
Foreigners have to fail for Americans to succeed.
And that’s all this does. Cause opportunities to be lost. It doesn’t do a thing to promote anybody’s success.
The laws of economics don’t pay attention to where you belong.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 8/30/2024 @ 10:52 amA special carveout, like kidney dialysis.
There are worse ways to buy votes. I think his reason is that this is an attempt to make up for a loss of American citizen births caused by a reduction in immigration and deportations. (this is in order to help the Social Security system)
his kind of pro-natal policy is one that may actually have some effect, (unlike child tax credits) since it helps people who already want children but have trouble conceiving.
This is not completely popular with all pro-life people, since some, especially Catholics, worry about what happens to unused embryos.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 8/30/2024 @ 11:02 amArbitrary deadlines picked out of the air for being, or seeming to be, not totally beyond the bounds of possibility, but not for their usefulness, that, even if met, will have no significant effect on climate, and in the meantime may make life worse.
Climate is not a crisis, and there are good effects and bad effects; it is not urgent, but if it were, you would combat it by throwing sunscreen into the atmosphere.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 8/30/2024 @ 11:13 amGovernment subsidies and insurance mandates are certainly not the way to go. If private citizens want IVF, they should be willing to pay for it on their own.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/30/2024 @ 11:14 amMore nanny statism.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/30/2024 @ 11:15 amI think the public has had their noses rubbed in what is behind the curtain.
1. A candidate singularly unfit for office, with no impulse control, and a tendency to babble. Plus a faceless and unelected group of people running the show for their own purposes.
and
2. A candidate singularly unfit for office, with no impulse control, and a tendency to babble. Plus a faceless and unelected group of people running the show for their own purposes.
Simon Jester (ff9c91) — 8/30/2024 @ 11:21 amTrump’s healthcare rhetoric is the worst of all worlds. Mandating private companies cover X and not Y. Like it or not, healthcare is a for profit business in the US, IVF is very expensive, so private companies don’t want to cover it.
If you’re going to mandate private universal healthcare, but not pay for it, that’s just intentionally breaking it. Either provide a gvt solution for the gvt mandate, or let private companies privately decide what to cover and let the market sort it out.
The consolidation of all the healthcare companies has basically forced us into single payer, most jobs don’t let you choose between the half a dozen large providers. At this point I don’t know if there’s a real solution, the economics and demands of the system we have continue to make it a massive sector of the for profit economy, so federalizing it like defense, might technically make more sense, practically is an impossibility. Subsidies, maybe, to the end user?
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 8/30/2024 @ 11:25 am@19
I think I agree with you.
I work for a large Healthcare organization, and the amount of effort & money hospitals/clinics has to pay in order to be in compliance to state/federal regulations and insurance directives is insane.
That big new building your local hospital organization isn’t what’s driving up your costs. (most building costs are paid through a variety of ways and mostly through foundations/charities).
It’s all the red tape.
We sorta have the best and worst of both worlds… hence why it’s so expensive.
whembly (477db6) — 8/30/2024 @ 11:31 amRip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/30/2024 @ 11:14 am
It’s terribly expensive, and can’t be expected to get cheaper the way things work in medical economics. Some people know how to fundraise, and do it.
If government pays, you can expect the price to rise and more unlikely to succeed attempts
to be made.
There don’t seem to be any billionaires funding this as philanthropy.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 8/30/2024 @ 11:32 amI might be OK with 80-90% as good services for 60% of the costs. If I needed the 10% better, maybe that’s catastrophic coverage and for folks under the poverty line, the gvt has a program for catastrophic coverage and medicaid for the poor. Maybe that would help the massive private sector employment, and protect people too.
Although I still don’t know what you do for the lower income but above poverty folks who work at Walmart, Uber, or McDs who don’t offer insurance. Maybe if it’s roughly half as expensive it would be an option, but for a 22 year old how do you explain to them they aren’t the idiots that all 22yo are and not invincible?
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 8/30/2024 @ 11:44 amThere are any number of “terribly expensive” life-saving medical procedures; IVF at best is an optional procedure. It’s being singled out because blowback from the Alabama Supreme Court and the Trump campaign has decided to pander to the middle class that find it expensive (I doubt many couples living in poverty consider IVF as a necessity compared to life threatening conditions.) But having the government fund or mandating insurance coverage is pure pandering without justification. Why should billionaires fund IVF as charity?
Then again, if Trump is elected I think this will be forgotten like many campaign promises.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/30/2024 @ 11:47 amTo drive out costs you’re going to have to ration care. I’m responsible for negotiating our benefits plan, and we pay 100% of the PMO, and it’s a hard process. I know some of my folks have a need for specific coverage in the family, but to ensure it’s covered, it might be $50/month for the option, for everyone. I’d almost like to provide a unicorn plan, but it’s just not possible. Last year we had a lady with an uncovered treatment and we just paid and expensed it, I can’t let someone potentially die because we couldn’t pay $10k, but lots of businesses aren’t a VC backed AI venture, so it’s just not realistic.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 8/30/2024 @ 11:55 amAllahNick on Trump’s disrespect for our military…
Trump could get away with the crass when a feeble doddering Biden was his opponent but, for the first time, Kamala is now polling with more electoral votes than Trump, and Malevolent Orange doesn’t have any magic bullets to bullsh-t his way into a turnaround.
Paul Montagu (d4d407) — 8/30/2024 @ 11:58 amMore electoral votes….
Paul Montagu (d4d407) — 8/30/2024 @ 12:00 pmBTW, we have a very highly comp’d workforce, and benefits (including other things) are running over 15% of comp plan. Vacation, 401k match, are only about 4%.
I have never understood why dental and vision aren’t healthcare. That’s not a US only thing, look at NHS in the UK, same thing.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 8/30/2024 @ 12:00 pmBut what made it worse was the doubling down by Trump and his minions…
There’s no apologizing or backing down for Trump, and same goes for his cultish campaign, because he’s a sick f-ck.
Paul Montagu (d4d407) — 8/30/2024 @ 12:30 pmI just watched the today’s Trump appearance. It’s like an open mic night at the retirement home, there’s no filter between subconscious and mouth.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 8/30/2024 @ 12:35 pmThis will be an extraordinary campaign of very generalized policy. It will be the battle of who is less weird….and stable. Harris’ economic policies are sounding like a chicken-in-every-pot or a nebulous New Deal…or getting America Going Again. But with divided government likely and narrow majorities, we do need to get back to blended solutions and compromise. Which candidate seems more in tune with compromise? Ultimately the chaos candidate will seem ….exhausting and people will just want more normal. Hopefully team Harris will read the Tea Leaves and understand that they will have a small mandate…and respect that. Her interview on CNN seems like she is calibrating her message. I still view her as a mushy candidate without much experience being an Executive….but she’s normalish and hopefully the swing states will view that as a big positive….
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 8/30/2024 @ 12:39 pmHarris’ economic policies (which are in no sense hers anyway because she’s only trying to say things that win or conserve votes and she barely knows the justification for anything she advocates – she’s almost like a character in a movie about someone running for president which, to be not too topical needs to be general, except for maters internal to the movie)
Her economic policies pretty much don’t matter because it only matters what passes Congress. The same thing actually goes for Trump except you can guess things – he’s for low interest rates and may have a way after a year or two to bring it about.
Tax policy is more relevant. (By the way, Mexico is about to tear up the USMCA by politicizing the judiciary, if that’s what the new president of the USA wants to do (tear it up) if that happens)
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 8/30/2024 @ 1:21 pmhttps://www.wsj.com/opinion/junk-science-sometimes-still-prevails-in-court-pharma-legal-system-a25ca1c0
There’s an irony here.
What Robert P. Charrow doesn’t know is that Bendectin was a creation of the patent system.
It combined something with little effect with Vitamin B6 which was the real active ingredient preventing morning sickness but couldn’t be patented and therefore was not worth it to ay company to pay for tests that would get FDA approval . (I got that from a book which almost said that “What to Know when you’re expecting” I think it is called and was already old when I read it)
Twenty one or 22 years ago, I advised a friend to take Vitamin B6 and she said it worked.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyridoxine/doxylamine
It’s difficult to “prove” something works to the satisfaction of the FDA, But the thing here is you only need the Vitamin B6 which remains available but cannot legally be advertised to cure or treat any disease.
The doxylamine succinate was only there to make it eligible for a patent.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 8/30/2024 @ 1:40 pmThis situation (combining a near worthless drug with Vitamin B6) reminds me of this in the Bible 2 Kings 5 which references what fakers in the Middle East used to do
And he didn’t, but Elisha’s servant Gehazi ran after him and took a gift and you can read the story.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 8/30/2024 @ 1:49 pmSadly, my money’s still on Trump. Several polls that show Harris ahead or tied in battleground states are registered voter polls. Registered voter polls always skew Democratic compared to the more accurate likely voter polls. Also, none of Trump’s voters will desert him for any reason, while I expect some of the voters currently in Kamala’s column are there from the convention/new-candidate-energy bounce, and will have second thoughts when the sugar-high wears off.
I hope I’m wrong, but that’s how I’d bet.
lurker (c23034) — 8/30/2024 @ 1:54 pmActually medical organization go through a lot of verbiage but they do say take the Vitamin B6
AFrom the Wikipedia article:
The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) states “Safe and effective treatments are available for more severe cases, and mild cases of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy may be resolved with lifestyle and dietary changes.” [6] The American Family Medicine recommends, “Initial treatment is conservative and includes dietary changes, emotional support, and vitamin B6 supplementation.”[7] This treatment has a Grade A, “consistent, good-quality patient-oriented evidence ” [7] while the addition of prescribing doxylamine has a Grade C, “consensus, disease-oriented evidence, usual practice, expert opinion, or case series.”
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 8/30/2024 @ 1:55 pm* adding the doxylamine to the Vitamin B6 as having a Grade of C
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 8/30/2024 @ 1:56 pmColonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 8/30/2024 @ 11:55 am
That’s terrible.
You need a new complicated system of checks and balances where cos both maters and yet doesn’t matter very much to the individual patient.
Trump pledged to repeal and replace Obamacare but his Secretary of HHS was not able to devise a system.
That doesn’t mean that one is not devisable but it is not in the interest of anyone involved at a high level to devise it.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 8/30/2024 @ 2:03 pmThe United Nations is going to try to create cases of polio in Gaza and then in Egypt and throughout the Middle East. They are using an oral vaccine which always does that.
There is no need for a vaccination campaign in the first place. Polio is not in the wild in most places (except temporally when introduced by vaccines) and Gaza had a high vaccination rate last year considered above the level where an epidemic could normally happen.
Things are not normal in Gaza but there was only one case, no doubt introduced by someone from the international community or aid groups.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/scientists-baby-gaza-infected-polio-strain-linked-mistakes-113245063#:~:text=LONDON%20%2D%2D%20The%20baby%20in,failure%E2%80%9D%20of%20public%20health%20policy.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 8/30/2024 @ 2:14 pmItem dos now republicans know how democrats have felt over the last 60 years being voted out over gun control.
asset (7a76ed) — 8/30/2024 @ 2:46 pmI’ve added this update to the post:
Dana (c71dfd) — 8/30/2024 @ 3:37 pmSecond news item:
It’s pretty funny that Trump has come out in favor of governmental funding/insurance mandates for IVF, when it was Republicans (and his VP running mate) that defeated a bill just a couple of months ago that would have provided the same, describing it “as an unnecessary overreach and a political show vote.” But it’s important now since Trump is now facing a woman as a political opponent and needs the suburban women’s vote. However, I think any benefit he might receive from this with suburban women and independents is quickly offset by his verbal sexual assaults on VP Harris.
As I said above, if Trump is elected he will quickly forget his campaign promises.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/30/2024 @ 3:49 pmHow about same-sex couples and surrogacy?
nk (656d73) — 8/30/2024 @ 4:01 pmBring out the popcorn:
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/30/2024 @ 4:04 pmWhere will the Mother Of The Reich Medal rank in relation to the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Presidential Medal Of Freedom?
nk (6650bf) — 8/30/2024 @ 4:16 pmThe Trump campaign has wandered too far into the weeds with the Harris BJ thing. Most people will have no idea what they are referencing so it just looks like a standard “that woman is a wh0re” smear tactic. Even for those who do have some idea, nobody under 50 cares if she can suck start a B52 (I can’t speak for the older generations, but I feel like anyone who was a teen/YA during the 70s probably doesn’t care much either). Her actual career really clearly has nothing to do with who she was or was not romantically involved with in whatever way.
Nic (120c94) — 8/30/2024 @ 6:27 pmNic, It’s part of his GOTV effort to increase turnout from incels, men’s rights activists, and ppl who are angry that insurance policies cover birth control.
Time123 (d32a96) — 8/30/2024 @ 7:57 pmI’m not putting my money either way, lurker, because I’m done with my predictions, but the trend lines are unmistakable.
Paul Montagu (d0a304) — 8/30/2024 @ 8:13 pmTrump to get suburban women vote says he will support federally funded abortions! Joke today. Tomorrow?
asset (f181fd) — 8/30/2024 @ 11:17 pmRumors are swirling that Lavrov is dead. Good riddance if so. He’s a bully and the most undiplomatic diplomat I’ve ever seen.
Related, Trump’s private conversations about Ukraine are different from his public statements. In private, they’re pro-Putin and therefore pro-terrorist. Like with Orban, or with RFK Jr.
Paul Montagu (d0a304) — 8/31/2024 @ 7:06 amThe problem is that a majority of Americans support our support for Ukraine, which is why Trump’s pro-terrorist stand is restricted to private conversations.
Americans “sympathy” for Ukraine is a lot different than active support. I sympathize with the people of Sudan (or Myanmar, or etc.) who are displaced by their ongoing civil war (or famine, drug cartels, etc.) but I don’t want any US involvement.
Less than half said the US should support Ukraine “as long as it takes.”
And as the poll found, the number of Americans who thought we are spending too much on Ukraine went up from 29% in October to 35% and there was a much smaller percentage who said the US is spending too little (15%).
Hardly an overwhelming commitment of support.
Rip Murdock (dbfed5) — 8/31/2024 @ 9:05 am25-Paul– I doubt that many are impressed by the lamentations of generals with more chest-ribbons than Ike–generals who won no wars, but presided over a declining military with un-useable littoral ships, vulnerable carriers etc. Are more impressed by the desires of Gold Star families?
29-Klink-so a politician is confident enough and deferential enough to the People who have a right to hear his views, actually come before mics and cameras: he’s defending multiple criminal cases launched by political advesaries, and campaigning, he is sometimes tired; but he focused and engaged: Q: as you mock his presentations, do both candidates come before the mics open and unshielded? Or just the one you mock? You know, preachy international monitors like to slam the US in wars, and even threaten to prosecute US soldiers, because we are open about things, (while they ignore or are afraid of offending the inaccessible countries): does that parallel suggest that maybe, just maybe, you ought to be directing your ire to the people who won’t be open and accessible?
41: Rip- -He kept a lot of promises in term 1, unless enjoined by federal judges or unsupported by the Paul Ryan (“A tax bill is all we can do in 2 years”) House; IVF seems fair and supportable: we subsidize manufacturing equipment-why not kids?
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (dcb2a8) — 8/31/2024 @ 11:45 amBlah, blah, blah. Trump’s a moron, his flagorneuse followers are even dumber.
Trump’s a crim, been a crim, you never argue he didn’t crim, but boohoo we’re poor lil snowflakes. Remember when the GOP used to say things like, you do the crime, do the time?
Section 60 is a sacred location specifically because the people buried there are still being mourned by their survivors and they’re not generals. I have friends buried there, and Trump’s campaign damn well knew it was wrong, it’s an insult. Trump’s campaign broke federal law, that they convinced some grieving families to invite them, and yes, the campaign found them, that didn’t make it not illegal. In fact, the headstones in Trump’s campaign video only had one of the family members there, but 3 of folks who weren’t, and guess what, the families are pi$$ed
I get it, you don’t care about the actual families of the troops there, Trump doesn’t either. Who created the agreement for the Afghan withdrawal?
Trump’s a piece of crap, his excusers’ whining about how mean he’s treated is frankly hilarious. What a bunch of pansies.
He kept a lot of promises, except for the ones that government didn’t allow him too keep because we have a system of checks and balances. But you seem to be hoping that his, even more absurd, promises this time because…magic…dictator on day one…but only day one.
It just goes to show that neither you, nor he, actually has any idea what this country stands for.
suck puppet.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 8/31/2024 @ 12:28 pmFor one thing, subsidizing IVF treatments is requires congressional action, and the Republican Party is on record as saying it’s a solution in search of a problem. Further, the costs will exceed any benefits to the country. Since the inability to have children is not a life threatening condition, scarce health dollars should be spent elsewhere. It’s a “nice to have” but unnecessary.
Rip Murdock (dbfed5) — 8/31/2024 @ 1:21 pmGovernment (and insurance companies) can’t solve (or afford) every health care issue.
Rip Murdock (dbfed5) — 8/31/2024 @ 1:22 pmIt’s a crass political move to distract from Trump’s decision to oppose the Florida abortion amendment and his personal attacks on Harris; both of which have alienated suburban women and independent voters.
Rip Murdock (dbfed5) — 8/31/2024 @ 1:28 pmPromising government funding/insurance mandates for IVF is rich coming from the leader of the party that has tried multiple times to repeal Obamacare, and continually promises to replace it with something “better.”
LOL!
Rip Murdock (dbfed5) — 8/31/2024 @ 1:34 pmThere are Gold Star families who don’t want their sons’ graveyard desecrated by craven political acts, which is why the rule is there in the first place.
Paul Montagu (d0a304) — 8/31/2024 @ 2:03 pmHarris is getting poo for flippity flopping over the last 5 years.
Trump has flopped 2, or is it 3, times on abortion…this week.
Trump flippity flopped on IVF twice in 3 hours.
Vance tried to explain his position, but missed that both the IVF and abortion positions he was defending had switched since his last debrief on what idiotic thing his boss did that day.
Pick a lane for at least a few days, it confuses the flagorneuse.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 8/31/2024 @ 2:03 pmthe r̶u̶l̶e̶ law is there in the first place.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 8/31/2024 @ 2:07 pmSoon there will be a tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia with Trump’s name on it. The only question is what did Bonesaw Salman get in exchange.
Paul Montagu (d0a304) — 8/31/2024 @ 2:07 pmWhen you count Oman and Trump Towers Istanbul, there are at least three Middle Eastern countries where Trump will have financial conflicts of interest if elected.
Twas brillig and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe.
And hast thou brought the IVF my son?
Come into my arms my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!
At least with a pig, when it grunts or squeals, you can tell if it’s contentment or displeasure. With Trump, all his jabberwocky is meaningless.
nk (48d6c4) — 8/31/2024 @ 2:10 pmFilming or photographing will not be permitted if it conveys the impression that cemetery officials or any visitor or family member is endorsing any product, service or organization. Additionally, ANC will not authorize any filming for partisan, political or fundraising purposes, in accordance with the Hatch Act, 32 CFR 553, and AR 360-1.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 8/31/2024 @ 2:18 pmPaul, it’s not a conflict of interest. It’s 100% the point to pay Trump for influence, both for Trump as well as the foreign influencers.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 8/31/2024 @ 2:20 pmIt’s an alignment of interests.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 8/31/2024 @ 4:51 pmRIP Ukrainian Air Force pilot Lt. Colonel Oleksiy Mes (30):
The speculation is that the crash was due to pilot error, missile fragments from a destroyed missile, or friendly fire from a Ukrainian Patriot missile.
Mes was posthumously promoted to colonel. Zelenskyy also fired Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk, the commander of the Ukrainian Air Forces.
Rip Murdock (62a41d) — 8/31/2024 @ 5:29 pm62 and 59-Klink: Hi Colonel: the “rules” you cite seem to say that photography is permitted unless it conveys the impression that someone is endorsing a product, service or organization; (not applicable) or for partisan political or fundraising activities, citing–as you note the “Hatch Act.” Wait-what? The Hatch Act? That applies to federal employees (Trump is not a federal employee). Have another rule to cite?
Also: most impressed with your dedication to rules and laws: So, about the ones that say no picketing at a supreme court justices house, or foreigners can’t sashay across the border: Do you approve/disapprove of any presidential candidate permitting those to be violated?
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (d6164f) — 8/31/2024 @ 9:03 pmCBS news: texas court rules latinx group ag paxton sent in his thugs to intimidate using the excuse they were mishandling federal funding finds they had not gotten federal funding so could not of mishandled federal funding.
asset (50ca2b) — 8/31/2024 @ 9:09 pm55 and 56: I’m not thrilled with anyone bidding for votes, but since that is all the rage now (“I’ll cancel student loans!”), and since encouraging more kids is aligned with all GOP views, why not subsidize IVF? I mean seriously, your William F Buckley view of politics (“We must always be dry, uninteresting and never compete for votes”) is quaint, and you are one of the more grounded people here, but: we subsidize 2d vacation homes for rich people; teslas for car buyers; new machines for manufacturers; why not subsidize kids? And if we have to live with Obamacare, why not subsidize health care for parents who want kids, in addition to therapy, and substance abuse treatment?
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (d6164f) — 8/31/2024 @ 9:11 pm@68 will trump come out for federal funding for abortions next week to secure rust belt suburban women’s vote?
asset (50ca2b) — 8/31/2024 @ 9:19 pm@34
That’s…quite Eeyore-ish…
I still don’t see Harris/Democrats unleashing negative ads yet. It’s coming, and it’ll make an impact against Trump.
whembly (1a2eeb) — 8/31/2024 @ 9:45 pmKids are already subsidized through the tax code; they just need to already exist. Again, not every medical problem has a solution, nor is government the answer. Outside of catastrophic medical coverage, government shouldn’t provide assistance.
If IVF treatments are so important, why isn’t the private sector answering the need? Why should persons who will never use IVF subsidize those who do? The money needs to come from someone.
Rip Murdock (62a41d) — 8/31/2024 @ 9:47 pm@57
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gold-star-families-slam-kamala-harris-playing-politics-trumps-visit-arlington-national-cemetery
whembly (1a2eeb) — 8/31/2024 @ 9:48 pmAny negative ads won’t be released directly by the campaign; they will come from outside PACs. As far want impact, they will solidify Trump’s support and give him enough votes in swing states to win.
Rip Murdock (040f88) — 8/31/2024 @ 9:51 pmI know you don’t give a f——-, but the issue has never been the invitation to Trump, it’s the photography and filming that occurred in Section 60 that violated the Cemetery’s regulations. And their is nothing in the regulations that states that Gold Star families can waive the rules.
Rip Murdock (040f88) — 8/31/2024 @ 9:55 pmSee 32 CFR 553.32 (c):
Rip Murdock (040f88) — 8/31/2024 @ 10:09 pmSee also the Army Public Affairs Handbook Chapter 3, section 3-4:
My emphasis.
But Trump. The rules don’t apply to him.
Rip Murdock (62a41d) — 8/31/2024 @ 10:53 pmAs I pointed out above, somebody’s going to have to pay a hefty bill: for “free” IVF treatments:
Rip Murdock (62a41d) — 9/1/2024 @ 12:02 amThe hits just keep on comin’. Vance absolutely has a very weird view of women. I swear that the last time I talked to him in the late teens he wasn’t this guy. Or if he was he hid it well. TBF he was also not the guy in Hillbilly Elegy either.
I know, it’s like he a chameleon…but where have I heard that before?
As always, he who smelt it dealt it.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 9/1/2024 @ 12:14 amMaybe somebody should suggest to J. the D is for Davenport Vance that the JD that is making his wife miserable might not be the one conferred upon her by Yale Law School but, instead, the one she only met there (and later married).
nk (172df5) — 9/1/2024 @ 2:30 am@70 normally your right ;but this time registered voters skew more toward trump and likely voters more toward harris as trumpsters are marginal voters,
asset (50ca2b) — 9/1/2024 @ 3:13 am@77, we paid ~$20k for IVF in 2017 (that includes the medications, which are not typically covered under the doctor’s fees), but that was with Kaiser’s for-profit services.
Another doctor we saw wanted $45k.
SamG (4e6c22) — 9/1/2024 @ 7:49 amStill irrelevant.
Paul Montagu (d0a304) — 9/1/2024 @ 8:06 am@74
Don’t care. They’re Gold Star families who deserves all the grace for their family’s sacrifice.
Take the F’n L… this is a hill to die on.
whembly (1a2eeb) — 9/1/2024 @ 10:23 am@75
It wasn’t a political activity.
It was an invitation.
whembly (1a2eeb) — 9/1/2024 @ 10:24 am71: Hi Mr. Murdock, again one of the few sensible people here: you’re right of course that the govt isn’t the answer to all, but we crossed that line more than a century ago: the govt subsidizes houses, 2d houses, machine parts, EV purchases, airline flights for a instagram influencer that can claim it as a business trip, business lunches, and even more, “gender affirming care,” (mandated by govt rules so the cost is spread in premiums) cheap student loans to people majoring in “Let us explain why the US is terrible” courses like “studies” courses and intersex poetry in the middle ages, and you want to make a stand with denying subsidies to make American kids?
I know we’re in debt, but with respect, disfavoring people who want to have kids, while watching as one side subsidizes every useless, anti-American scheme concocted on campus seems self-defeating. Like some old “I like Ike” republican objecting to the GOP spending on TV ads because “people should read things in a paper.”
Anyway, I u/s your position, but it seems like it penalizes one side, you side, for some abstract principle that has long ago been discarded by everyone else. regards.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (2dc081) — 9/1/2024 @ 10:25 am@82
LOL!
whembly (1a2eeb) — 9/1/2024 @ 10:25 am75, 76: Murdock: he didn’t make a statement or respond to a media inquiry: and please don’t buy in to one side’s view that supporting gold star families is a “partisan” political activity. Since when is accompanying those families, a “partisan” activity? And it was in character: Decades ago, way before politics, Trump organized a vets parade in NY, to restore it after it had lapsed.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (2dc081) — 9/1/2024 @ 10:32 am83: yes, 100%: with everything happening, $37T in debt, etc., the Hall Monitors of the world, who would take time to whip out a ticket book and cite you for littering during a fire evacuation, have decided that a photo or two while accompanying Gold Star families is a major story. Why for them, its an Office- Disqualifying Event! The people who told us that GWB-scourge Cindy Sheehan had “ultimate moral authority” don’t care what the involved Gold Star families think.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (2dc081) — 9/1/2024 @ 10:41 amIf it wasn’t a political activity, then why were his campaign folks there, why was it filmed, and why is there a tick-tock ad up using the imagery? Personally, I’m not too riled up because it’s par for the course. Trump will get out of “suckers and losers” as much as he can…and others will applaud his “selflessness”.
On a side note, I imagine NJRob, BuhDuh, and lloyd all on a pink beach in Barbuda, luxuriating in the sun….all after a job well done.
AJ_Liberty (511ba2) — 9/1/2024 @ 10:46 am78: Klink: Vance does seem to act at times like the electorate is a rowdy group of whiskey swilling steak eaters at some high-end restaurant: but say, since you raised it, what was the “view of women” of Ted Kennedy, Bubba, John Edwards, Andrew Cuomo, Dem-Mega donor Weinstein . . . ?
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (2dc081) — 9/1/2024 @ 10:49 am89: AJ–Because taking a photo is not a political activity? I mean, making a speech might be, – – but a photo–even if later used in an ad–is not “political activity.”
(PS: no one believes that “suckers” story, and nothing he has done supports it. As noted above, DT donated $200,000 (present value about $412,000),and helped to raise $500,000 in a fund drive to restore the NY vet’s day parade decades ago- in 1995-way before politics).
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (2dc081) — 9/1/2024 @ 11:01 amI have never said that “ supporting gold star families is a “partisan” political activity.” To the contrary, I have always said that the issue hasn’t been Trump attending the memorial with the Gold Star families, only the photography and filming, which Trump turned into a TikTok campaign commercial.
Rip Murdock (62a41d) — 9/1/2024 @ 11:48 amHow do you know that any children created through IVF won’t become one of those receiving “cheap student loans…….. majoring in “Let us explain why the US is terrible” courses like “studies” courses and intersex poetry in the Middle Ages”?
As I pointed out, parents already receive annual tax benefits that childless couples and unmarried persons don’t receive. That subsidy is enough.
Rip Murdock (62a41d) — 9/1/2024 @ 11:59 amWhether invited or no, don’t give Trump or those families to flout the law. This is basic stuff.
Paul Montagu (d0a304) — 9/1/2024 @ 12:12 pmKeeping it classy as always.
Rip Murdock (62a41d) — 9/1/2024 @ 12:13 pm…the right to flout the law.
Paul Montagu (d0a304) — 9/1/2024 @ 12:14 pmA Gold Star widow objects to Trump pissing on the rule of law. Invitations are irrelevant.
Paul Montagu (d0a304) — 9/1/2024 @ 12:18 pmSpeculations of possible Harris White House and cabinet appointments from Axios, the Wall Street Journal, and Politico.
Rip Murdock (62a41d) — 9/1/2024 @ 12:32 pmAs if you’re winning your emotional argument.
Rip Murdock (62a41d) — 9/1/2024 @ 12:33 pmWith the murder by Hamas of six hostages when confronted by Israeli soldiers seeking to rescue them, Israel needs to end its pause and stop the polio vaccination campaign.
Rip Murdock (62a41d) — 9/1/2024 @ 12:38 pm“no one believes that “suckers” story”
So General John Kelly has less credibility than Trump? Why not change “No one” to “I don’t”? I’m sure Trump would also deny “grab them by the p*ssy” if there was no audio…just like he denied no sex with Stormy Daniels. The same man that couldn’t understand why John McCain was hero and said so publicly…and didn’t want wounded vets in a military parade…suddenly understands honor. I just don’t get why this man gets your unrelenting allegiance…..
AJ_Liberty (511ba2) — 9/1/2024 @ 12:42 pmIs “Emperor” Xi hedging his bets, perhaps because he suspects “Czar” Putin may be a loser?
That’s one interpretation of this story.
There are other interpretations, of course. (And more than one could be true.)
Jim Miller (7aaedc) — 9/1/2024 @ 1:12 pm#83
It’s undisputed that some gold star families invited Trump. Just as it is undisputed that some gold star families were upset he was there. Pretending that’s what the dispute is about is what Trump wants to do because it does not get to the basic Trump/MAGA as unmitigated jerk question your side wants to dodge. Because, you see, the questions that aren’t answered are:
1. wtf, dude with that stupid thumbs up picture. If you are really sad and outraged that soldiers died from Biden’s fecklessness in Afghanistan, how about putting on the solemn face?
2. Who pushed the Arlington Cemetary employee? Who decided to make sure the employee was pre-slandered in the best Trumpian fashion?
Honest, this is more of the same garbage from Trump — the stuff the independent voters are tired of. He keeps making the case for his losing the electon good and hard.
Appalled (9ba2e1) — 9/1/2024 @ 1:16 pmWhen I see this fallacy, as I often do here, I wonder whether the person making it believes they have made a logical argument — or thinks they can con readers with it.
Jim Miller (7aaedc) — 9/1/2024 @ 1:17 pmHere’s my favorite from last week’s Politico collection.
Jim Miller (7aaedc) — 9/1/2024 @ 1:22 pmI shall trump “Tu quoque” with “he who smelt it dealt it”.
I know that it’s hard to understand that the campaign obviously broke the law, planned to break the law, and now is trying to squirrel out of breaking the law.
It’s Trump, “ignore me crimes and me being a total scumbag, because I’m the only one that is Pro-life/choice/life/choice/life/choice, pro-troops/cops/anti-troops/cops. You know, pure policy”.
When Trump has a policy, then we can have a discussion about it, we’re a decade in on him and he hasn’t had one yet. So, we’ll engage on his prime motivation, personal actions. You know, like him being a crim for the last 60 years.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 9/1/2024 @ 1:37 pmhersh Goldberg-Polin, the 23-year old Israeli-American hostage, who lost his (dominant) left arm on October 7, and was seen in a video released by Hamas on April 24, and whose family made hima cause celebre in the United States and spoke at the Democratic convention, was among 6 hostages found murdered by Hamas (recently shot in the head) by Israeli troops who were approaching where they were in a tunnel.
He and two others of those found dead on Saturday were in the category of people to be released first, although it’s not clear to me whether Hamas was to be given the same amount of credit if a hostage was released alive or dead.
This is in addition to another 6 also found dead last week, and an Israeli Muslim (Bedouin) who was found abandoned, tied up but alive,
The IDF is taking no responsibility for this – instead there have been huge demonstrations and a general strike and protests blaming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for this, calling him a murderer accusing him of abandoning the hostages and refusing to negotiate a deal with Hamas out of a concern for his political survival because some of his coalition partners had said they would pull out of the government if Hamas was allowed to survive. This is described as a Messianic belief that Hamas can be defeated. They also say that with no deal, Hamas has no reason to keep its prisoners alive and that time is running out,
It’s not time – it’s the stage in the war.
It;s true that the prospect of an end to the war is the most dangerous time for prisoners, but they can be deterred by threats of punishment and execution. It is true this element was bungled.
It can perhaps be remedied by demanding that Hamas turn over someone responsible for their deaths. Hamas claims they were killed by Israeli bullets.
Meanwhile president Biden manages to say both that this shows the importance of reaching a ceasefire agreement and that the murderers of Hersh Goldberg-Polin will be punished.,
Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 9/1/2024 @ 1:51 pmAt some point, you have to let the Israelis bear the responsibility of their policy.
The US isn’t fighting in Gaza, Israel is. A US citizen was killed, and the US should deal with it with all the options we have. If Israelis don’t support the war, that’s their right in their country. Support or dump Netanyahu, Israel existed before him, and will after. The Palestinian problem isn’t going away, and frankly, the US has attempted to intervene for 50 years with little actual benefit.
Israel is our strongest ally in the region, but they’re not our only one. Our strategy should be to benefit ourselves in the best way possible, and right now I’m not sure we are benefitting ourselves with the unwavering support of Netanyahu, he isn’t Israel, and he doesn’t have America’s best interests in mind, nor should he.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 9/1/2024 @ 2:04 pmQuestions:
If the government/insurance companies covered IVF services:, would they be required to cover an unlimited number of IVF attempts (at approximately $20k each), or would they provide funding for a limited number of attempts in order to contain costs?
Would the government/insurance companies be financially responsible for the on-going costs of fertilized egg and embryo storage (cost: $11-30,000 per cycle) not used during the IVF process?
Would the the IVF patients be allowed to destroy the embryos or be required keep them in perpetuity (against their will)?
As the payees, would the government/insurance companies be able to override any decisions made by the patients regarding the retention their fertilized eggs/embryos?
Rip Murdock (62a41d) — 9/1/2024 @ 2:27 pm@Harcourt@91 I’m pretty sure that former President Bonespurs Mc-No-VD=Nam del No-wounded-vets-in-my-parade doesn’t have much respect for the military. So, yeah, I believe General Kelly.
@Rip@100 The hostages were considered dead once the military campaign started and everyone in the know would’ve made that assumption. No matter what the PR people said.
Nic (120c94) — 9/1/2024 @ 2:31 pmAny hostage deaths (no matter the circumstances) are the responsibility of Hamas, and no one else. They were kidnapped and killed as a result of the October 7th assault on Israel.
“Negotiations” only benefit Hamas, as they further delay the inevitable destruction of Rafah. It is better to accept the fact that most, if not all, of hostages are dead or will be executed by Hamas before they can be rescued.
As I have noted several times, when Israel negotiates with its terrorist enemies, it inevitably gives away hundreds of terrorists in exchange for a few hostages. It’s time that this stops.
Rip Murdock (62a41d) — 9/1/2024 @ 2:42 pmApparently the Israeli people think they are still alive. Netanyahu needs to go on tv and explain that hard truth. And the Israeli government continues to negotiate, as evidenced by the “pause” for the alleged polio breakout.
Rip Murdock (040f88) — 9/1/2024 @ 2:46 pm@Rip@112 Nobody could run a military campaign like that and actually expect to get their people back. Maybe they thought they could get a pleasant surprise or maybe they needed the PR to keep support for the campaign.
Nic (120c94) — 9/1/2024 @ 2:54 pmThey’ve gotten a few back alive, they’ve recovered a few bodies, they’ve rescued a couple.
The likelihood of getting your loved one back is pretty low, that was always the case, but with Schrodinger’s hostage you can always hope for the best.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 9/1/2024 @ 3:02 pmIsrael isn’t doing that great a job, otherwise this war would have been over six months ago.
Rip Murdock (62a41d) — 9/1/2024 @ 3:11 pm93-Murdock: Rattles his Wall St Journal and harrumphs: Parents already receive enough subsidies from the tax code. “That subsidy is enough”[!]
Mudd responds: So that’s why the indigenous birth rate is so high!
Mudd responds again: Mr. Murdock: Having a kid is the biggest strain on a family short of a parent guaranteed student loan for DEI training in Texas. They can’t play in public parks because those are infested by homeless and drug addicts; public schools are of dubious value except for unions; medical care costs continue to rise; tuition at state schools is only free for the utmost poor or illegals; (the UC system used to be free); the US birth rate is plummeting because we do not value kids or their parents. Who is going to pay for social security and join the army 18 years from now?
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (2dc081) — 9/1/2024 @ 5:07 pmMniehh! Just another bit of campaign horsesh!t from Old Gotch Ear. Not worth a second thought.
Now, if he were talking about Fannie Mae guaranteed loans for $500.00 gold-colored sneakers, I’d know he was serious.
nk (f5b9ef) — 9/1/2024 @ 5:30 pmRather subsidize a hit or miss technology like IVF, which in 2022 was responsible for only 2.75% (or 91,775 births), it probably would be more effective if the government simply gave annual cash payments to parents, say $10,000 a year per child up to the age of 18. The government could also give medals to women who met certain fertility goals.
Rip Murdock (62a41d) — 9/1/2024 @ 5:39 pmNone of which has to do with subsidizing IVF treatments.
Rip Murdock (62a41d) — 9/1/2024 @ 5:42 pmHFM-
No responses to my questions here? They aren’t rhetorical.
Rip Murdock (62a41d) — 9/1/2024 @ 5:45 pmAnd yet , according to reports, the six latest hostages found were killed “shortly before” the Israeli army attempted to rescue them.
Dana (3e3745) — 9/1/2024 @ 7:32 pm@120 another thing to consider: I’ve seen some talk about how IVF would only be acceptable to the “life starts at conception” cohort if one egg was retrieved per IVF cycle.
So perhaps instead of storage costs (which are relatively inexpensive at $1000/3yrs or 3k for 10yrs) it would just be multiple cycles, which would be inefficient to say the least.
SamG (4e6c22) — 9/1/2024 @ 8:46 pm@Dana@121 Yeah, but you can’t go in with that assumption if you are running the kind of campaign they are. Maybe they get lucky, but it can’t be a significant consideration.
@SamG@122 for really conservative Catholics, it’s God’s job to control fertility/lack thereof and IVF is playing God. For the slightly less conservative but still conservative Catholics, yes the extra zygotes are a significant concern.
Nic (120c94) — 9/1/2024 @ 9:04 pmhttps://x.com/NicoleShanahan/status/1829291690277966165
Gotta admit, this is quite clever and a shame the Trump campaign didn’t do this first…
whembly (0d1941) — 9/1/2024 @ 9:43 pm🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@100
LOL!
whembly (0d1941) — 9/1/2024 @ 9:45 pm@90 unlike the rethugs we democrats are trying to get more women in power like AOC to deal with this problem. its called DEI.
asset (e3e354) — 9/1/2024 @ 9:50 pm@115 depends on what the bottle deposit crooks goal is. The war in gaza could have ended in a month if it was in netanyahu’s interest ;but it isn’t. Any guess who cares less about the hostages except as a political stunt netanyahu or gov. glen younkin? The first thing that happens after war ends is an Israeli election.
asset (e3e354) — 9/1/2024 @ 9:58 pmWhat is trump trump’s position on abortion this morning? This after noon. Five minutes ago?
asset (e3e354) — 9/1/2024 @ 10:00 pm118/120–Murdock: Since you implicitly agree that the plummeting birth rate is a problem, as of course you do being smarter than most, then fine–offer $10,000 per kid as a tax credit per year for 5 years. But lets not just stand here helpless as tax collectors for the welfare state, like green-eyeshade republicans, fretting about the cost of kids while the left subsidizes everything in sight. Let’s win an election; lets support families with more than rhetoric. How to pay? Cap non-STEM student loans at $20,000 for starters. (Universities can pay any of the “rest” with their bloated endowments) (assuming there is a “rest”–lib arts is a low-cost course in any college).
As for your questions about IVF: you know, I bet when cars were invented, or Uber first offered, instead of being captivated by the idea, someone was asking “how will they know when to stop? How fast can they go? What about insurance? Do we drive on the right or the left?” “how do they hire Uber drivers.”? Answer to them and you: All worthwhile questions, and all to be addressed as things move ahead.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (2dc081) — 9/1/2024 @ 10:23 pmIf by plummeting you mean flat to increasing.
Colonel Klink (ret) (66c75a) — 9/2/2024 @ 12:26 amI concede nothing, it’s just that cash grants are easier to implement than government mandates. I just wonder why you limit them to five years-why not through the teenage years, aren’t they the most expensive? And why tax credits-with cash grants parents can spend the money on anything they want.
But then again none of this has any chance of becoming reality.
Rip Murdock (62a41d) — 9/2/2024 @ 6:51 amMy IVF questions, which you dismiss with a wave of your hand, are actually quite fundamental, as the pro-life community considers each fertilized egg and embryo to be a person under the 14th Amendment.
Also, if you want to increase the birth rate, you would support a national abortion ban. What I’m sure was an unintended consequence, abortions have actually increased (to just over 1,000,000 in 2023) since the Dobbs ruling and state abortion bans, and are now at the highest level in a decade.
Rip Murdock (62a41d) — 9/2/2024 @ 7:32 amHow about this? The federal government should demonstrate an ounce of competence in managing deficits and paying down debt before creating more financial obligations with regards to fertility. If education and health care are any indicators, the government will just make it more expensive and inefficient…while revealing pernicious unintended consequences.
The same basic point holds for increasing child tax credits….even with some carefully targeted completely inadequate spending cuts. We just can’t afford it and we keep screwing future generations with our profligacy and willingness to mislead the middle class.
If government should do anything, it’s get out of the way and stop making it harder for the middle class. Get rid of occupational licensing, most zoning, land use regulations, silly tariffs, and regulations that just raise the cost of parenting, and give parents more control over their education dollars.
I’m fine with a tax advantage for children, but at some point it becomes redistribution and government using the tax code for something other than optimizing revenue collection.
AJ_Liberty (c4f6dc) — 9/2/2024 @ 8:03 amChinese central planning. I can’t remember where I heard this (Zeihan, maybe), but Red China has more vacant dwelling units than every country in the world combined.
Paul Montagu (d0a304) — 9/2/2024 @ 8:19 amIn general, when discussing future populations, demographers use “Total Fertility Rate” (TFR), rather than simple birth rates. The TFR is the total number of children an average woman has during her life time. If TFR is above 2.1, a nation’s population will grow, without immigrants; if the TFR is below 2.1, it will shrink.
(2.1, rather than 2.0, since more boys are born than girls. Even without sex selection by abortion, or other techniques.)
Here are two TFR lists, by nations.
All rich nations have TFRs below 2.1, some startlingly below.
But the US is, as usual, exceptional. During the George W. Bush administration, the US TFR was, briefly, above 2.1.
I don’t know of any other wealthy nations where the same is true, since 1980.
Jim Miller (a91600) — 9/2/2024 @ 8:21 amDana (3e3745) — 9/1/2024 @ 7:32 pm
Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 9/2/2024 @ 8:53 amThe big US demographic table in this article shows the changes in US TFR more clearly than that graph from the St. Louis Fed.
Jim Miller (a91600) — 9/2/2024 @ 8:56 amRIP AP special correspondent Linda Deutsch (80):
Rip Murdock (62a41d) — 9/2/2024 @ 9:55 am130-Klink: thank you colonel, but the micro-data view you use is misleading in the extreme: US births per woman is about half -half-of what it was in the early 60’s, and micro-movements in the 1.6 and 1.7 range that you cite do not come close to being the 2.1 needed to simply replace deaths. The rate is down. And it seems to be staying down. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57003722
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (731dbd) — 9/2/2024 @ 10:37 am132: Rip: no, just because I want births to equal replacement level, does not mean I support an abortion ban. Any more than my desire to eliminate cavities means I support the abolition of cookies or red vines. (addicted to red vines).
I favor offer incentives for American births, child care, and child medical care: not puttering about on the sidelines as some republicans tend to do, pondering 20 questions about the aid to Americans, as the left rolls over and by you, effectively abolishing the border, while taxing Americans to give childcare, hotel-housing and medical care largely for free to people who simply rolled across the border. Democrats solved all their “problems” on the fly, and got their program done. Republicans are still trying to get a committee together.
I u/s that you are a prudent man, and a guardian of the public fisc. But sitting in wingback chairs, and obsessing over the “cost” of programs to aid Americans, does not seem to be a winning strategy, “honorable” and “sensible” as it might appear. Respectfully.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (731dbd) — 9/2/2024 @ 10:53 am138: Murdock–my last comments here for a while: the Simi Valley verdict was reviewed at length in the American Lawyer by center left Steve Brill. He concluded that the jury was probably right. Issues about King resisting and the LAPD Sgt actually told a California CHP officer to back off when she initially approached King with a drawn gun: as he said later, he didn’t want King to be shot. he did want him to stay down and be cuffed, and that is when the video started. I obviously wasn’t there, but the AL piece addressed a lot of issues. The LAPD cop (sgt) tried, acquitted, later convicted in federal court, wrote a book which has to be read with his bias in mind, but which also raises some sobering issues as to why the Simi jury decided as it did. Am leery of experts who dislike jury decisions, like the chattering classes who faulted the Depp verdict, the Rittenhouse verdict, etc.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (731dbd) — 9/2/2024 @ 11:07 amYou might consider government IVF incentives as a state issue:
Rip Murdock (62a41d) — 9/2/2024 @ 11:15 amI’m not saying you should support an abortion ban, but it would certainly produce more births to achieve your replacement goals. IVF is a hit or miss technique (which at best is 32%) and which again accounted for less than 100,000 births v. a possible 1 million births not terminated by abortion.
Rip Murdock (62a41d) — 9/2/2024 @ 11:25 amWhat’s the point of this birth rate talk? Is the population shrinking? What, exactly is the complaint, be specific?
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 9/2/2024 @ 1:01 pmMy guess is that might be driven by these statistics.
Rip Murdock (040f88) — 9/2/2024 @ 2:20 pm#144 Colonel – At some point, the proportion of dependents to workers begins to cause all sorts of problems. That’s why, for example, that social security will run out of money soon.
Here’s good discusion of the problem from Megan McArdle:
The Social Security administration is currently assuming a TFR of 1.9, far higher than we have seen since the GWB administration.
We can continue to solve our problem as we have been doing, through immigration, but that too looks dubious in the long run, or even in the medium run:
There is another problem that she doesn’t mention: Our armed services are already finding it difficult to attract enough recruits. That problem, almost certainly, will worsen, and soon.
Jim Miller (a91600) — 9/2/2024 @ 2:30 pmFor some reason, I don’t equate being pro-IVF with being pro-abortion. One is about having children, the other is about killing them. Is that too fine a distinction?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 9/2/2024 @ 2:38 pmIt is only fair to add that the TFR problem is worse in many other nations, notably China.
Jim Miller (a91600) — 9/2/2024 @ 2:41 pmOuch!
Rip Murdock (9970f8) — 9/2/2024 @ 2:41 pmTake it up with Linda Deutsch…..oh, wait.
Rip Murdock (9970f8) — 9/2/2024 @ 2:45 pmMore on China’s demographic problems:
Jim Miller (a91600) — 9/2/2024 @ 2:47 pmIf you look at the size of the adult generations in the USA, you can see that the supposed fall-off of population is illusory.
First off, the “Boomer” generation was born over a 19-year span, while GenX and Millennials generations were over 16 years. Secondly, while the Boomers are decreasing, the other two generations have been augmented by immigration.
So, the Millennials, almost on par with the Boomers for birthrate when normalized for number of years (16 vs 19), are rather larger than the Boomers ever were given immigration and GenX is roughly equal to the Boomers after normalization.
One benefit of fixing the immigration system will be to help Social Security; right now quite a few workers are encouraged to work under the table.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 9/2/2024 @ 2:51 pmThe problem of Social Security is not that the Boomers are retiring, but that there were so many of them working with respect to earlier generations and politicians spent SS income recklessly during that time.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 9/2/2024 @ 2:54 pmYou’re late to the party. Harcourt Fenton Mudd’s position is that he is in favor of any policy that promotes the number of births to match (or exceed) the population replacement rate.
In the context of IVF, that will never happen, as IVF births in 2022 were only 92,000, or 2.75% of the total. With the number of abortions topping 1 million in 2023, one could get to a sustainable replacement level much faster by banning abortions.
Rip Murdock (9970f8) — 9/2/2024 @ 2:58 pmI was responding to Ramesh Ponnuru’s idiotic tweet.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 9/2/2024 @ 3:02 pmBirth rate and workforce are only part of the equation. The US population growth, and workforce growth is still growing. No, the birth boom for the 30 years between ’50-’80 drives SSI/Medicaid growth, but it’s a historical bubble, not typical.
Developing countries have high birth rates and low immigration, developed countries the opposite, it’s society.
Being chaffed that the growth is from brown people is overtly racist. People is people, if they’re Americans, celebrate it.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 9/2/2024 @ 3:14 pmLabor day was brought in to get workers from celebrating May Day. Just as white establishment pushed for MLK day when black community started pushing for Malcolm X day.
asset (8a8c79) — 9/2/2024 @ 3:17 pmAny link?
Rip Murdock (9970f8) — 9/2/2024 @ 3:18 pmGiven that SS is the third rail of politics, there is no doubt that it will be bailed out using general tax revenues.
Rip Murdock (9970f8) — 9/2/2024 @ 3:21 pmI’m sure Ponnuru’s tweet was sarcasm, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump did. He’s that craven.
Rip Murdock (9970f8) — 9/2/2024 @ 3:25 pmYeah Kevin, I think that’s right. There was an situational bubble that has been offset by immigration. I just think the loud noises about it are less about population replacement than purely the “Great Replacement“.
If it’s an economic argument about carrying the debt that the Boomer’s and Gen Xers mostly created, then sure, but immigration is addressing it. If it’s cultural replacement, that just seems icky.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 9/2/2024 @ 3:32 pmAny link?
Rip Murdock (9970f8) — 9/2/2024 @ 3:18 pm
2nd news item, above
Kevin M (a9545f) — 9/2/2024 @ 3:41 pmClink,
There is a short-term problem adjusting to non-pyramidal growth, but the Millennials will carry retiring GenX pretty well.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 9/2/2024 @ 3:43 pmMany in pro-life movement do make the connection with abortion:
Rip Murdock (9970f8) — 9/2/2024 @ 3:49 pmI see you now concede that abortion is the killing of children.
Rip Murdock (9970f8) — 9/2/2024 @ 3:54 pmIt’s the killing of something. In the limit it is killing children. I can differential the destruction of a 3 week-old embryo and the killing of a near-term fetus.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 9/2/2024 @ 3:57 pmThat is because in some cases IVF includes the selective abortion of one or more fetuses.
Well then we must oppose masturbation and birth control.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 9/2/2024 @ 4:01 pmI’ve been told that:
It is crazy and hard to believe.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 9/2/2024 @ 5:10 pmIf I were to see a man on the street talking like this, I’d quietly edge away, hoping he hadn’t seen me.
Jim Miller (a91600) — 9/2/2024 @ 5:20 pm@Kevin@147 If someone is properly conservative Catholic, they should believe the seamless garment theory, which is that a person exists as a person from conception to natural death. So, IUD is sinful, IVF is sinful (excess embryos), abortion is sinful, suicide is sinful, the death penalty is sinful, euthanasia is sinful, refusing certain kinds of medical treatments can be sinful (though it’s OK to deny extreme measures).
Nic (120c94) — 9/2/2024 @ 6:57 pmLet’s lament that Hamas terrorist thugs murdered six hostages in cold blood, but let’s also not forget forget that the bigger terrorist, Vlad Putin, murdered 41 and injured 180 with his ballistic missile strikes on a hospital and school.
Paul Montagu (1c867a) — 9/3/2024 @ 4:56 amhttps://x.com/maria_drutska/status/1830932271538311468?s=46&t=Enscg8JjQytl9HJp0OtcWA
Viability is the reasonable cut-off for abortion, with the usual exceptions.
Natural viability is 32 weeks. With access to advanced medical technology that’s down to ~24 weeks – and assumedly further advances (such as artificial womb) will bring further reductions.
SamG (4e6c22) — 9/3/2024 @ 5:55 amViability is the reasonable cut-off for abortion, with the usual exceptions.
Very few 1st World countries settled there. Almost all of Europe adopted the first trimester as the cut-off, with few exceptions (health and fetal abnormality being most common). No country in Europe allows elective abortions until “viability.”
I bring this up because they’ve had 50 years to sort this out while we’ve been frozen between two extremes.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 9/3/2024 @ 7:32 amEven today, our abortion politics is driven by the pro- and anti-Roe camps, both still arguing for their extremes and refusing real compromise. So what we get are 6-week bans and “fetal viability” except except except.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 9/3/2024 @ 7:39 amKevin, I find that the campus progressive folks think that anything European is better than what we do. So if I get drawn into an argument, I simply suggest we follow the rules of France on this argument.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_France#:~:text=Abortion%20in%20France%20is%20legal,pregnant%20woman's%20last%20menstrual%20period).
Or Ireland.
https://www.ifpa.ie/advocacy/abortion-in-ireland-legal-timeline/
I also feel that way about immigration issues. I really want to hear the progressives say that almost anything America does is good. Or at least better than most.
Simon Jester (c8876d) — 9/3/2024 @ 7:47 am@173 Europe also has a history of religious rule, with ~2x the percentage of Catholics than the US does.
Fetal viability is not an extreme: on the contrary, it’s a reasonable compromise between “no abortion” and “abortion until birth”. It’s simply the point where if a baby is born at that time that there is a 50/50 chance they survive.
Sam G (fd752d) — 9/3/2024 @ 7:58 amEurope also has a history of religious rule, with ~2x the percentage of Catholics than the US does.
Europe has a history of official state churches, which tends to mean that many people are nominal members of churches they don’t attend. So, Catholic or CoE membership is common, but not so much actual belief. In the US, people are not forced into a church and, people being people, are more likely to form their own strong religious beliefs.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 9/3/2024 @ 8:30 amFetal viability is not an extreme: on the contrary, it’s a reasonable compromise between “no abortion” and “abortion until birth”
It is not anywhere near the center of the Bell Curve internationally.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 9/3/2024 @ 8:31 amMasturbation doesn’t involve the destruction of a fertilized egg or embryo.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/3/2024 @ 8:47 amWho cares what the international Bell Curve is on anything? The US should chart its own course without regard as to what the world does. For example, would you like the US to adopt international standards on the death penalty, free speech, or gun ownership, all of which would be far more restrictive than the Bill of Rights?
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/3/2024 @ 8:56 amRip,
Keep saying that and you might convince someone.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 9/3/2024 @ 9:08 amMore to the point, SamG was claiming that “viability” was a centrist standard and I’m showing it is not. But heck, why don’t you and him fight?
Kevin M (a9545f) — 9/3/2024 @ 9:11 am@182 the center for the US, and in general for the topic. “Because they do it this way” is a poor reason, whereas “this is where a baby has a 50/50 chance at survival” has a basis in medical science and capabilities.
Sam G (fd752d) — 9/3/2024 @ 9:30 amInstead of being snotty, why don’t you explain why the US should conform to what other countries do?
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/3/2024 @ 10:00 amI’m sure most posters here would agree the US should make its own decisions irrespective of what the rest of world thinks.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/3/2024 @ 10:04 amRIP James Darren (88):
Time Tunnel was one of my favorite TV shows as a kid.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/3/2024 @ 10:15 amYou should be paying attention to the current presidential race. One is saying how great America is, one is saying it’s terrible and failing.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 9/3/2024 @ 10:27 amSee, nothing even happened, from the horse mouth.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 9/3/2024 @ 10:30 amAh, MAGA King Edgelord Elon Musk.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 9/3/2024 @ 10:34 am#189 —
In fairness, he only retweeted this bit of madness, saying that it was “interesting”.
There is so much wierd these days.
Appalled (28cf51) — 9/3/2024 @ 10:48 amKamala is a commie.
whembly (477db6) — 9/3/2024 @ 11:19 amhttps://x.com/clownworld_/status/1829652525315944693?s=12&t=LbMzhpSB3yC2zvXzo7p_lA
“One of the biggest lies told by the Right is that the Democrats are communists. Go look at the stock market results from the last 3 Democratic Presidents. Up and to the right, big time. Go look at a the political affiliation of wealthy neighborhoods vs poor ones. Look at political affiliation of most millionaire and billionaires, affiliation of the bankers and tech bros, of the heads of the Fortune 1000.
The American Democrats are the most cut throat capitalists in the world. Go after them on woke, DEI, progressive prosecutors that enable crime, etc, all fair game – but communists? Marxists?
That’s just a stupid talking point to scare people into voting for Trump. “Yeah, I know he’s a lunatic, a buffoon and a traitor that called to terminate the constitution and tried to overturn the election, but we can’t let the communists win!!”. 🤡
Trump called RFK JR a commie a few weeks ago, Tulsi was a massive Bernie socialist, Trump donated to ‘Marxist Kamala’s’ political career. But these people are fighting communism?
It’s a scam.”
Sam G (fd752d) — 9/3/2024 @ 11:25 amKamala saying there needs to be “oversight” over twitter is her inner-commie coming out.
whembly (477db6) — 9/3/2024 @ 11:27 am“I’m sure most posters here would agree the US should make its own decisions irrespective of what the rest of world thinks.”
And most would say states should decide. I understand that the interstate commerce clause has been distorted out of recognition, but a Constitutional purist would argue that Congress has no power to regulate the parameters of a medical procedure without clear hooks into medical goods that have traveled interstate. There is no federal police power. The tenth amendment has not been rescinded and I see no reason to provide ammunition that it has. It is OK that the people of California decide this question differently from the people of Alabama.
The other reality is that there is far from consensus on this question. Yes, most agree that there should be some limit with probably something North of 15 weeks getting close to a supermajority. Our process used to lead to a Constitutional amendment proposal, as it did for prohibition and then its removal. It would be healthy for the Republic to get back to that notion, rather than assuming everything should be federal and try to impose results against states that don’t want them. It’s a recipe for toxicity becoming violent.
The issue should percolate further in states. Polling should inform us about what is possible. The GOP is already broken enough to press for laws that simply don’t have a shot. It’s time for persuasion….
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 9/3/2024 @ 11:28 amPunk’d:
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/3/2024 @ 11:30 am# 191
So this applies to Kamela?
Encyclopedia Britannica
Or are you just a cartoon for the duration of the election?
Appalled (28cf51) — 9/3/2024 @ 11:36 amAbortion is more than a medical procedure, it is the deliberate taking of human life. It is not ok for the states to condone it.
I’m sure the Justice Department and FBI, DEA, etc. would be surprised that there is “no federal police power.”
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/3/2024 @ 11:40 am@197
If she could, she would.
She’s cut from the school of Karl Marx cloth…
She’s a commie. The most leftwing politician we have today, and we shouldn’t be afraid of embracing the derogatory term that she’s espousing.
At it’s basis, communism is about control, politically and domestically.
So, when she’s on record espousing communistic principles, ie price controls or “oversight” of speech on social media…don’t be clutching your pearls when I rightly label her as a commie.
Why? Do you like it when your politician talks about prices controls or “oversight” of speech on social media? Is that something you support?
Are you “woke” enough?
whembly (477db6) — 9/3/2024 @ 11:49 am@198
Hey Rip… I think you and I are a lot closer on this topic as it may appear.
One thing I’m trying to engage with other pro-lifers is to not put all the eggs in on basket. Meaning, it’s one thing to advocate for state/federal pro-life laws to ban/restrict abortion…. but, there are other pro-life tactics that we can pursue to maximize pro-life causes.
Such as, in states where abortion are legal, advocate for stronger safety-nets to dissuade abortion seekers that carrying babies to term by advocation for:
-better pre-natal healthcare (subsidized/free)
-assistance for day care
-assistance for formulary and diapers
-etc… etc… etc…
The goal is to make it as difficult as possible for the abortion-seekers to believe it’s the *only* option.
Knowwhatimean?
whembly (477db6) — 9/3/2024 @ 11:54 amDEF: Police power: ability to enact laws to coerce citizenry for the public good (public health, safety, morality)
“it is the deliberate taking of human life”
And yet, most pro-lifers have no interest in prosecuting the woman for procuring the procedure…..and the majority of people want some sort of access to abortion, especially in the first trimester. You can pound the table…and perhaps rightly so…but in a pluralistic society, others can disagree. Strict laws failed in Kansas and Missouri. At some point, maybe persuasion needs to take a different form.
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 9/3/2024 @ 12:14 pmMost of what you write above is evidence free. Kamala, I believe, did draw the most left-wing rating in the Senate during the late 2010s, so that at least has some weight behind it. Price controls are stupid but not Communistic (and the shade of Communist hunter Richard Nixon will haunt you for that.) A real communist gvernment would already own the means of production, and would not need to set prices that capitlists are required to obey. Keynes and JK Galbraith who pushed these things were definitely capitalists, not even socialists.
Echoing the language of Donald Trump, who is echoing his lawyer buddy Roy Cohn and Joseph McCarthy (the prior recordholders for GOP evil), makes you sound like angry John Birch Society grandpa. I thought that tone departed with NJRob.
Appalled (28cf51) — 9/3/2024 @ 12:42 pmIt’s getting completely lost that there were two groups of hostages whose bodies were found by Israel. It’s simply not being noted in any of the numerous media reports about this.’
I don’t know what has been report about how and when they died.
They claimed that they stumbled upon them accidently maybe i an attempt to fool Hamas.
(This is the earlier group of six dead)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry_HcCJB5YI
I think there must have been censorship involved, and/or a refusal to answer questions. I think they must have implied without actually saying so, that they were killed or died some time ago, but their bodies would not have remained unburied because of the smell if nothing else
https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-recovers-bodies-of-6-hostages-from-gaza-including-one-previously-presumed-alive
If they were killed over a period of time they wouldn’t have been found together, unless it was a makeshift cemetery. Hamas would want to return dead bodies, so they would keep track of them But tis is waht they say:
I don’t know what is accurate. The Israeli military had seemed to err on the side of life,
Sammy FInkelman (e4ef09) — 9/3/2024 @ 1:24 pmItalics unintentionally left on.
Then, after the six, they found a live Bedouin.
There have been no easy to find reports on what condition they were found in, or what did they determine about how and when they died
And then they found six more bodies. This time it was reported that they had been killed recently.
It was sometime between Thursday and Friday morning that they were shot, They retrieved the bodies on Saturday.
Sammy FInkelman (e4ef09) — 9/3/2024 @ 1:27 pmA waste of time, as none will prevent abortion deaths.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/3/2024 @ 2:09 pmRe: 202 and 203
I see Dana wrote Friday August 23 about the first group of 6
Sammy FInkelman (e4ef09) — 9/3/2024 @ 2:47 pmhttps://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/09/netanyahu-responds-to-biden.php
embedded is an excerpt of video from Netanyahu. He argues that asking Israel to make more concessions would only tell Hamas to kill more hostages..
Now there’s a difference if they were just j=kiled or killed because Hamas was afraid they might be rescued.
In either case it is important that anyone who executes a hostage feels that he risks being severely punished himself
That’s what’s missing here,
Sammy FInkelman (e4ef09) — 9/3/2024 @ 3:13 pmFrom the Maryles blog (start of a post)
Sammy FInkelman (e4ef09) — 9/3/2024 @ 3:16 pmRip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/3/2024 @ 10:15 am
There were three science fiction series on television at the same time:
Lost in Space on CBS
Star Trek on NBC
and
The Time Tunnel on ABC.
The Time Tunnel seems to have been the most forgotten.
I owned, or maybe still own, a novelization about them going to the Mexican War.
Sammy FInkelman (e4ef09) — 9/3/2024 @ 3:24 pmA possible idea toward a workable subsidy of IVF:
1) Pay only for live births (twins counting for 1.25 times singletons, provided that the company charged $0 or perhaps a maximum of $250 out of pocket for failed attempts.
If they already paid for failed attempts, the facility can collect the fee if they refund all the money the couple paid in the last X number of years.
The price paid would have to be set just right for this to work.
Sammy FInkelman (e4ef09) — 9/3/2024 @ 3:29 pm169. Trump said he talked to truckers not trucks.
Sammy FInkelman (e4ef09) — 9/3/2024 @ 3:33 pmNow Trump was lying when he said he learned all in 5 minutes, but he may have learned what would get votes.
If he learned in 5 minutes it means he started with a base of zero.
Sammy FInkelman (e4ef09) — 9/3/2024 @ 3:35 pmNixon must have been a communist since he had price controls not just advocated them. I don’t attack other posters here but because you don’t like something doesn’t mean kamala harris is starting a communist revolution. Try democrat establishment are good capitalists trying to sell china the rope to hang them. Coumo/hocul associate charged with being chinese agent today. Yahoo news,
asset (7ceb81) — 9/3/2024 @ 3:36 pmKamala is a Western capitalist nanny state liberal.
Trump is the socialist. National Socialist.
Make Adolf Great Again!
nk (86696f) — 9/3/2024 @ 4:41 pmAnd don’t tell me you don’t hear the echoes of 1932 from both of them.
nk (86696f) — 9/3/2024 @ 4:44 pmHow low can it go?
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/3/2024 @ 5:10 pmwhereas “this is where a baby has a 50/50 chance at survival” has a basis in medical science and capabilities.
It seems like some babies have a much smaller chance of survival, depending on where the
Kevin M (a9545f) — 9/3/2024 @ 6:22 pmmotherbirthing personfetal custodian resides.What dumb thing Trump said today, well Friday, who can keep up.
Yeah, think of it.
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 9/3/2024 @ 7:04 pmYou sir, are a real jokester, getting people’s hackle’s up by posting such obviously put on stupidity. No one is that big a moron, so good on ya. (you’re Jon Stewart aren’t you?)
Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 9/3/2024 @ 7:11 pm@216 well, for that matter that applies to the mother surviving too.
However, I’ve a feeling you mean that differently.
SamG (4e6c22) — 9/3/2024 @ 7:58 pm@199 that’s how Democrats want to tackle the issue: reduce demand.
And not in reply to anyone: can we agree that children have no place giving birth to children, and that age of consent should be 18?
SamG (4e6c22) — 9/3/2024 @ 8:01 pmYesterday, Tucker Carlson platformed Hitler apologist, Daryll Cooper, whom Carlson described as “the best and most honest popular historian in the United States.” In addition to calling Churchill the “chief villain of World War 2” and grumbling about “the Jewish problem,” Cooper said:
“Ended up dead.” That’s some brave truth telling.
Here are a couple of salient responses:
From our host:
and David French:
lurker (c23034) — 9/4/2024 @ 12:48 amIn case you’ve been living under a rock and the Candace Owens reference confused you, this should catch you up.
lurker (c23034) — 9/4/2024 @ 12:50 am@219
Don’t you get vertigo for all the spinning you do?
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,” -Edmond Burke (probably)
whembly (477db6) — 9/4/2024 @ 6:59 am@222 so we’re back to pegging whomever on the right saying unpopular (in this case, wrong) things as if it’s indicative of the overall group.
Cool.. cool…
Democrats are at best commie-adjacent, or at worst advocate for statist/communist policies such that they are a distinct danger to our way of life.
Two can play this game…
…are you sure you want to play this game?
whembly (477db6) — 9/4/2024 @ 7:03 am@216 well, for that matter that applies to the mother surviving too.
The number of women who die for lack of wanted abortions is right up there with sex-change operations on kids.
More might die from botched abortions, though, done by “doctors” with no admitting rights to actual hospitals. That happened here a few years back when a late-term clinic screwed up an abortion of a 30-week fetus.
Kevin M (a9545f) — 9/4/2024 @ 8:39 amRelated:
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/4/2024 @ 9:19 amI’m of two minds of this:
https://x.com/endwokeness/status/1831325569591427502?s=12&t=LbMzhpSB3yC2zvXzo7p_lA
1) Does it really indicts a politician’s credibility? Or, maybe, just maybe not all family members believes the same things politically.
2) I find this yucky. Just like when RFK’s family stabbed him in the back publicly. It’s just distasteful imo.
whembly (477db6) — 9/4/2024 @ 9:44 am@227
The “idea” isn’t dumb.
What’s dumb is the “how”.
There are national security implications of this, so if this deal isn’t approved, then the government needs to make them whole somehow. (I’m not sure what that looks like, but it definite needs to be a conversation).
Just think of what happened when we shut down due to COVID. The supply chain and domestical/international companies were severely impacted. If we want to mitigate these disruptions, when need to strengthen out domestic capabilities somehow.
But no one is really talking about this… which means, we’re destined to suffer the same problems over and over again.
whembly (477db6) — 9/4/2024 @ 9:47 amOwens and Carlson should be treated as carnival side show barkers IMO.
But unfortunately for the country their perspectives are part of mainstream GOP thought.
Whembly, I understand why you’d prefer the situation were otherwise.
Time123 (5378e4) — 9/4/2024 @ 9:58 amProtectionism hurts consumers and makes us all poorer for the benefit of the politically connected. Let Nippon buy into our market and invest their money in our country.
Time123 (5378e4) — 9/4/2024 @ 10:00 amUpdate:
Biden to block Nippon’s acquisition of U.S. Steel, reports say
Not really, Japan is a long term ally; unlike just about any other country. If this wasn’t an election year the deal would go through.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/4/2024 @ 1:03 pmWhy? Companies are blocked from merging all the time by the FTC or the courts. Does the government then need to compensate both companies because they scotched their merger? This idea would cost the government trillions, especially if the compensation included projected earnings or savings over the X number of years.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/4/2024 @ 1:55 pmColonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 9/2/2024 @ 5:10 pm
But somebody else almost certainly made the accusation before Trump.
Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 9/4/2024 @ 3:07 pmMeantime, two members of Russia Today (which is owned and controlled by the Russian terrorist state) have been indicted for funneling $10 million to Tenet Media, which has right-wing media personalities such as Dave Rubin, Benny Johnson, Tim Pool, Lauren Southern, Tayler Hansen, and Matt Christiansen.
Paul Montagu (01ae08) — 9/4/2024 @ 4:09 pmCombined, those six have millions upon millions of social media subscribers, all relaying messages agreeable with Putin’s terrorist state. Tenet management were the actual traitors, while the media personalities were just the unwitting dupes who channeled Putin’s disinformation campaign. Shame on all.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/3/2024 @ 5:10 pm
The answer to “how low can it go” is lower:
Mega Ouch!
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/4/2024 @ 4:35 pmSure, Tim Pool was just an “unwitting” Russian agent, fooled by his Tenet Media employers…
Paul Montagu (01ae08) — 9/4/2024 @ 5:46 pmVatnik Soup has an update on the Tenet Media Russian Stooge operation…
I agree that it’s probable that Tenet Media isn’t the only Russia-subsidized American media operation. There are too many other Putin-friendly social media “superspreaders” who could be open to Russian corruption.
Paul Montagu (01ae08) — 9/5/2024 @ 7:12 am
Also, Putin’s Russia is a terrorist state. They’ve struck well over 900 hospitals, schools and churches in Ukraine, civilian targets all, terrorist attacks all. Those on the side of Putin are terrorist sympathizers and terrorist supporters, not to mention unpatriotic and un-American.
Breaking–
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/5/2024 @ 1:34 pm