Patterico's Pontifications

Hello.

I’m confused by the tweet. Yes, it’s Trump and his vice president serving up a dish of red state majority, but why would Vance want to depict himself in a dress looking like a traditional wife to Trump?

Dana (895260) — 11/29/2024 @ 9:06 am

I think it’s because they’re having fun.

whembly (477db6) — 11/29/2024 @ 9:34 am

I think you’re probably right, whembly. A sort of in-your-face poke at opponents.

Dana (fad889) — 11/29/2024 @ 9:40 am

@1 I don’t think it’s supposed to be taken literally.

But if blue won, and it were Walz as the husband and Kamala as the wife, there would be a wholly different sort of objection. Patriarchy, etc. Then again, everyone would probably just think it was funny and an awesome troll. Especially on Bluesky.

lloyd (4d0c05) — 11/29/2024 @ 9:40 am

Remember when death threats meant one side was bad?

Trump transition says Cabinet picks, appointees were targeted by bomb threats, swatting attacks

A number of President-elect Donald Trump ‘s most prominent Cabinet picks and appointees have been targeted by bomb threats and “swatting attacks,” Trump’s transition team said Wednesday. The FBI said it was investigating.

“Last night and this morning, several of President Trump’s Cabinet nominees and Administration appointees were targeted in violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” Trump transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

The attacks ranged from bomb threats to swatting, in which attackers initiate an emergency law enforcement response against a target victim under false pretenses, she said. The tactic has become a popular one in recent years.

Leavitt said law enforcement and other authorities acted quickly to ensure the safety of those who were targeted and Trump and his transition team are grateful.

Among those targeted were New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, Trump’s pick to serve as the next ambassador to the United Nations; Matt Gaetz, Trump’s initial pick to serve as attorney general; Oregon Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, whom Trump chose to lead the Department of Labor, and former New York congressman Lee Zeldin, who has been tapped to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

Law enforcement officials are also looking into whether Susie Wiles, Trump’s incoming chief of staff, and Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general whom Trump has chosen as Gaetz’s replacement, and other incoming administration officials were also victims — as well as how each was targeted, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity as the investigation continues.

The FBI said in a statement that it was “aware of numerous bomb threats and swatting incidents targeting incoming administration nominees and appointees” and was investigating with its law enforcement partners.

I can’t wait for the “both sides” take.

lloyd (4d0c05) — 11/29/2024 @ 9:52 am

Years ago, I read that the original Rockwell painting drew some criticism in Europe from Europeans thinking that no family should have that much food.

Jim Miller (9b012f) — 11/29/2024 @ 9:59 am

Reader quiz: Which headline is satire?

Women Gather For ‘Primal Scream’ Session To Cope With Trump Victory

Report: Kamala’s 2028 Campaign Already $700 Million In Debt

lloyd (4d0c05) — 11/29/2024 @ 10:01 am

The take nowadays would be that no family should have that many white people.

lloyd (4d0c05) — 11/29/2024 @ 10:03 am

@1 but why would Vance want to depict himself in a dress looking like a traditional wife to Trump?

Because in his relationship to Trump as VP, that’s what he is.

Sean Wright (2c7989) — 11/29/2024 @ 10:08 am

It’s a county level map, not a state level map.

Rip Murdock (dd5d29) — 11/29/2024 @ 10:42 am

From the previous Open Thread:

Far as I’m concerned, we shouldn’t need or have to get oil anywhere but from our own continent, fungible or not. We should treat that approach as a national security issue, IMO, so we’ll never have to rely on bad actors and tyrants to obtain this resource.

Paul Montagu (ceba6c) — 11/28/2024 @ 8:31 am

News Item:

Swiftly increasing domestic oil and gas production may prove more difficult than anticipated for President-elect Donald Trump, as oil executives have cast doubt on his “Drill, Baby, Drill” agenda.
………….

On Tuesday, Exxon Mobil’s Upstream Company President Liam Mallon said the global oil and gas giant is not expecting many producers to immediately fall in line with the incoming president’s goals for boosting output.

“We’re not going to see anybody in ‘drill, baby, drill’ mode,” Mallon said during the Energy Intelligence Forum in London, according to Reuters.

Mallon said output growth would be limited by investors’ desire to maintain capital discipline.

“A radical change [in production] is unlikely because the vast majority, if not everybody, is focused on the economics of what they’re doing,” he said.
………….
“We see growth beyond the 2 million, probably for a couple of years, but not at that continuous same rate … certainly up to 2030, we see it growing,” the executive said.

The U.S. is currently the leading producer of oil worldwide, producing more than 13.4 million barrels a day. At the current rate, that is only expected to increase to around 13.6 million barrels per day by the end of next year, according to the Energy Information Administration.
………….
“If the Trump administration opens up federal leases for oil and gas, Federal lands would get 25% per barrel of revenues. You will have a lot of trouble finding an oil company that can make money at $52.50 per barrel with what they have left from a $70 barrel,” Smead Capital CEO Cold Smead told CNBC earlier this month. “The only thing that will cause drill baby drill to happen is higher oil prices based on these margins.”
……………..

Rip Murdock (dd5d29) — 11/29/2024 @ 11:01 am

“I can’t wait for the “both sides” take.”

You’re the king of whatabouts, lloyd, this is some top tier irony.

David Levin (08aea7) — 11/29/2024 @ 11:08 am

David Levin (08aea7) — 11/29/2024 @ 11:08 am

Thanks for the what about “whatabouts” take, David!

lloyd (29437e) — 11/29/2024 @ 11:30 am

Sobbing 10-year-old found alone at US border on Thanksgiving after smugglers abandoned him

A 10-year-old boy was rescued by Texas State Troopers after he crossed the US border on Thanksgiving Day only to be abandoned by smugglers in a desolate stretch of territory.

The little boy, who came from El Salvador and was carrying only a cell phone, was alone and lost when he crossed into Maverick County, Texas.

He told state troopers through tears that he was hoping to find his parents, who came to the country earlier and trusted coyotes to deliver him to family in America, Texas Department of Public Safety Lieutenant Christopher Olivarez said in an X post sharing the video of the child.

The area has been a hotspot for unaccompanied migrant kids.

Just a few days ago, Texas authorities found a 2-year-old girl from El Salvador who crossed with 60 other unaccompanied children. The video of a Texas trooper’s interview with the tot, who said her parents were also already in the US, went viral, sparking outrage over the border crisis.

This is child abuse. An American parent would be jailed. The migrant parents will get reunited with the boy at taxpayer expense. They know this, and that’s why they put their kid in an abusive situation.

The kid should be reunited, but the parents should be lumped in with the criminals and predators who will be fast tracked for deportation in the upcoming administration.

lloyd (29437e) — 11/29/2024 @ 11:39 am

Rip Murdock (dd5d29) — 11/29/2024 @ 11:01 am

As the old saying goes “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.”

Rip Murdock (dd5d29) — 11/29/2024 @ 12:15 pm

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and I was contemplating the many things in my life for which I am thankful. And honestly, a few people here, who I have never met, have been very kind and thoughtful. I am grateful for them.

Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday.

Simon Jester (c8876d) — 11/29/2024 @ 1:02 pm

Thank you, Simon Jester.

I hope your day was cozy with family and good eats.

I know that we all face some sort of struggle because that’s how life is, but my gosh, I have so much to be thankful for. Every single day of the year.

Dana (d26f7c) — 11/29/2024 @ 2:19 pm

@5 Corporate establishment democrats and their donor class along with their running dogs in the corporate media are not trump’s only enemies. Since the election discredited again these whiney wimp corporate establishment liberals other enemies are now coming forward who are not corporate stooges.

asset (173fe3) — 11/29/2024 @ 2:28 pm

Strange bedfellows :

………..
The Supreme Court will hear arguments December 4 in the most important transgender rights case the justices have ever tackled, reviewing a Tennessee law enacted last year that bans gender-affirming care for minors and imposes civil penalties for doctors who violate the prohibitions. Gender-affirming surgeries are not at issue because a lower court tossed out a challenge to those procedures.

Though the high court declined to consider the parental rights question when it took the case earlier this year, the debate is nevertheless playing out in briefings and may come up during the court’s oral arguments.
…………
Tennessee, and many conservatives who support the state’s position, argues parental rights aren’t a factor in the case. After all, they say, states have a long history of regulating medicine for people of all ages.

“Even adults lack a substantive-due-process right to demand access to a particular medication,” the state told the Supreme Court.

That lack of a right to certain drugs, the state claims, “dooms” the Biden administration’s appeal.

Conservative groups have lined up in federal courts to make nearly identical parental rights arguments in other cases. ………
………….
“It’s a bit of a reckoning for the Republican Party,” said Alex Lundry, who worked on Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign and who signed a brief in the Tennessee case, along with dozens of current and former GOP elected officials and aides, opposing the state law. “You certainly have a lot of people on the right calling for more parental rights, particularly in the realm of education.”

Also signing the brief were Republican state lawmakers in Iowa, Kentucky and Missouri; a former spokesperson for the Republican National Committee; and a former chief of staff to the late Sen. John McCain.
…………..
In another brief supporting the Biden administration, a group of law professors focus on the historic practice of families directing medical care for their children, citing the then-controversial decision some made to inoculate their children against smallpox in 18th century colonial America.

That brief, which is intended to appeal to the conservative justices’ focus on history, is signed by Steven Calabresi, a conservative law professor at Northwestern University.
………….
Though it took the Biden administration’s appeal over Tennessee’s law, the Supreme Court did not grant a separate appeal from the transgender youth and families affected by the ban. …………
…………
“It’s not really about the state interfering in a parent’s decision,” (Melissa Moschella, a professor of the practice in philosophy at the University of Notre Dame) said during a recent event organized by the conservative Federalist Society. “It’s about the state trying to protect parents and especially their children from a medical establishment that the state I think, with good reason, has judged corrupt.”
………….

Rip Murdock (23618e) — 11/29/2024 @ 2:29 pm

House now 220 (R) 215 (D) chester the molester gaetz quit two house members so far picked for cabinet so 217 to 2015.

asset (173fe3) — 11/29/2024 @ 2:33 pm

The threats made against Trump’s nominees are reprehensible. Disagree all you want, but don’t be thugs.

norcal (2b85ba) — 11/29/2024 @ 2:53 pm

The Russia-backed Georgian stormtroopers are cracking protester skulls in Tblisi, but the anti-Russian crowd is immense.

Syrian rebels are advancing on Aleppo (Syria’s 2nd largest city at 2.1 million), and it appears to have fallen. There are no white hats here, but Assad is just as much a terrorist, if not more, than those resisting his regime, but Assad is backed by two Axis of Evil members, Russia and Iran. Assad is rumored to be in Moscow right now, probably asking Putin for help. Vlad has his hands full.

Paul Montagu (ceba6c) — 11/29/2024 @ 3:17 pm

From the previous Open Thread:

(Counties that voted for President Trump) lack the population … to affect state elections and policy

Really? Did you see how all those progressive initiatives lost? Without those voters they all pass. When the center aligns with them, they make the difference. One of the reasons I think that the Left would want to see them gone.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 11/28/2024 @ 9:56 pm

Granted they have can influence every couple of years on whatever initiatives or constitutional amendments are on the ballot; however, far as being the deciding factor in statewide primary or general elections overall, they are AWOL. They have never been the deciding factor in a UUS Senate or gubernatorial election.

And In the most recent election, Prop 36 won by a large margin in LA County (64/36) and in San Francisco (64/36), similar to the overall state results. So Prop 36’s passage was not just propelled by the Trump counties.

Rip Murdock (23618e) — 11/29/2024 @ 4:58 pm

Rip Murdock (23618e) — 11/29/2024 @ 2:29 pm

More on United States v. Skrmetti:

………..
The case before the Supreme Court challenges the Tennessee ban under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Both the plaintiffs, three families and a provider, who originally challenged the law (L. W. et al v. Skrmetti et al) and the Biden administration, as an intervener, requested review and the Court granted certiorari in the challenge brought by the Biden administration.

The case has garnered significant attention with 84 amicus briefs having been filed, 32 in support of the petitioners, 51 in support of the respondents, and one in support of neither party. Amicus briefs in support of the petitioner include those from The American Academy of Pediatrics, The American Psychological Association, and the State of California with 19 other states, among others. Briefs filed in support of the respondents include those from the State of Kentucky with 21 other states, The Alliance Defending Freedom, and the Family Research Council, among others.
………..
While the plaintiffs raised several legal theories in the original filing, the Supreme Court will only be reviewing one question:

“Whether Tennessee Senate Bill 1 (SB1), which prohibits all medical treatments intended to allow “a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex” or to treat “purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between the minor’s sex and asserted identity,” Tenn. Code Ann. § 68-33-103(a)(1), violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”

The U.S. government contends that the Tennessee’s law violates the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protections Clause because the law explicitly classifies minors based on sex and discriminates based on transgender status. ………

Tennessee contends that the ban does not constitute a sex-based classification: “SB1 includes no sex classification. It draws a line between minors seeking drugs for gender transition and minors seeking drugs for other medical purposes. And boys and girls fall on both sides of that line.” ……….
…………

Rip Murdock (23618e) — 11/29/2024 @ 6:07 pm

I oppose Trump/Vance as much as the next Harris voter. but. It’s a funny tweet which manages to have fun without being mean.

JRH (d73215) — 11/29/2024 @ 6:21 pm

Trump transition says Cabinet picks, appointees were targeted by bomb threats, swatting attacks

Prediction: Justice will be done.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 11/29/2024 @ 7:16 pm

House now 220 (R) 215 (D) chester the molester gaetz quit two house members so far picked for cabinet so 217 to 2015.

The Gaetz seat will be filled in an election in April. The winner will be a Republican.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 11/29/2024 @ 7:22 pm

United States v. Skrmetti

Medical treatments that cause irreversible genital impairment are close enough to surgery that I think that part should stand. Medical or psychological treatment to address maladjustment to the physical reality seems a lot greyer.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 11/29/2024 @ 7:26 pm

Medical treatments that cause irreversible genital impairment are close enough to surgery that I think that part should stand. Medical or psychological treatment to address maladjustment to the physical reality seems a lot greyer.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 11/29/2024 @ 7:26 pm

Which isn’t the issue the Supreme Court will be considering.

Rip Murdock (23618e) — 11/29/2024 @ 7:43 pm

The Gaetz seat will be filled in an election in April. The winner will be a Republican.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 11/29/2024 @ 7:22 pm

It’s gonna be a long four months for Speaker Johnson.

Rip Murdock (23618e) — 11/29/2024 @ 7:45 pm

Unlikely.

Rip Murdock (23618e) — 11/29/2024 @ 7:49 pm

@21 Maggots even the score swatting and calling in bomb threats to democrat office holders. Jeffreys asks for security for members. Tit for tat starting. Interesting as Mr. Spock says!

asset (8d2dde) — 11/29/2024 @ 9:47 pm

Which isn’t the issue the Supreme Court will be considering.

How can they decide what is a “right” without considering what is being done?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 11/29/2024 @ 10:41 pm

How can they decide what is a “right” without considering what is being done?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 11/29/2024 @ 10:41 pm

As I quoted above, this an Equal Protection case, and not about the merits of gender transition surgery.

Rip Murdock (81f372) — 11/30/2024 @ 9:56 am

Mr. O’Brien on how Biden “treated the conflict as a crisis to be managed, not a war to be won.” The final para…

The war has now gone on so long that Biden won’t figure in its ending. Ukrainians can still fight on with Europe’s help. Perhaps President-Elect Donald Trump will confound his allies and detractors alike by standing with Ukraine instead of indulging Putin. What’s clear is that Biden missed the moment. The administration has dithered, looking more and more powerless as Ukraine has suffered and as an emergent anti-Western alliance that includes Iran, North Korea, and China has come to Russia’s aid. Biden could have helped create a better, more secure world than the one that existed in February 2022. Instead, he’s ushered in a much more dangerous one.

Biden and his cowardice, afraid to confront a bluffing bully. His other problem was mistaking Jake Sullivan’s knowledge on foreign affairs with wisdom.

All this while Georgia has massive street protests over Putin’s meddling in their election, and while Assad and his family are staying at Four Seasons Moscow as his Syrian regime is crumbling.

– HTS rapidly approaching Hama and Homs
– SAA continuing to evaporate on contact
– Assad still in Russia
– Latakia and Tartus bases both in danger of being encircled
– Coup in Syria likely imminent

Putin is so stuck in his Ukrainian quagmire that who knows if he can help Assad, and he just sacked the Russian commander of the Syrian theater. Things are moving fast.

Paul Montagu (ceba6c) — 11/30/2024 @ 12:56 pm

Frump picks Kash Patel as FBI Director.

Rip Murdock (b9afaa) — 11/30/2024 @ 5:10 pm

Correction, should be Trump picks…….

Rip Murdock (b9afaa) — 11/30/2024 @ 5:13 pm

I actually agree with this:

President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday demanded a group of developing countries commitment to the use of the U.S. dollar as their reserve currency and threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff if they attempt to abandon it.

“The idea that the BRICS Countries are trying to move away from the Dollar while we stand by and watch is OVER,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, referring to the acronym for the original croup of countries in the bloc — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The geopolitical alliance has since expanded to include Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates.

“We require a commitment from these Countries that they will neither create a new BRICS Currency, nor back any other Currency to replace the mighty U.S. Dollar or, they will face 100% Tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful U.S. Economy.”
……….

Rip Murdock (b9afaa) — 11/30/2024 @ 5:20 pm

This isn’t going to help Pete Hegseth’s confirmation.

Rip Murdock (b9afaa) — 11/30/2024 @ 5:25 pm

How many impeccably credentialed, irreproachable FBI operatives are going to accidentally enter an incorrect password into their FBI issued phone 11X in a row

steveg (211e43) — 11/30/2024 @ 5:39 pm

Andrew Weismann, a top prosecutor on Mueller’s team, “accidentally wiped” his mobile phone more than once, causing the data to be lost, the DOJ said. A phone belong to assistant special counsel James Quarles “wiped itself without intervention from him,”

steveg (211e43) — 11/30/2024 @ 5:47 pm

“Judges, you’re not hiding behind your cloaks—we’re coming for you. What you did to J6 people is criminal. Benny Thompson, Liz Cheney—preserve your documents. You destroyed lives, jailed defenseless people, and broke them. Damon Williams, Jack Smith, Andrew Weissman—you can run, but the law will find you.”

From Steve Bannon
@Bannons_WarRoom

Reap the lawfare whirlwind.

lloyd (9e4ffa) — 11/30/2024 @ 6:01 pm

As I quoted above, this an Equal Protection case, and not about the merits of gender transition surgery.

“Equal Protection” implies that there is some comparison to other people’s activities. Are we saying that chemical castration is the same as taking aspirin?

If it is about availing oneself of psychiatric services, that is certainly comparable. But drugs that cause irreparable and life-altering changes in a minor child, well, I don’t see how you even start on 14th Amendment argument.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 11/30/2024 @ 6:19 pm

Reap the lawfare whirlwind.

Reap the impeachment whirlwind. Or the short form of that.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 11/30/2024 @ 6:20 pm

I mean, if we are just going to IGNORE the Rule of Law, instead of just bending it, then the Devil take the hindmost.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 11/30/2024 @ 8:52 pm

Yeah, those J6 patriots, nothing but love. Nobody sh-tting in desks, threatening to hang the VP, beating the police. Nah, nothing but love. No such thing as assault, trespassing, vandalism. All fake news, not hundreds of hours of video of these upstanding people peacefully protesting. Nope.

Reap the lawfare whirlwind.

What a stupid take. But that’s the Bund for you.

Only the best, if your IQ is over 75, you’re elite so can’t be part of the club. The Bund thinks it’s golf, so the lower the score the better.

Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 11/30/2024 @ 11:12 pm

Steve Bannon will always be a hyperpartisan jackass who chose to go to jail for hyperpartisan reasons.

Paul Montagu (3be852) — 12/1/2024 @ 8:34 am

The “J6 people” are criminals, especially the ones who damaged property and the 400+ who assaulted law enforcement.

Paul Montagu (ceba6c) — 12/1/2024 @ 8:36 am

Rip Murdock (b9afaa) — 11/30/2024 @ 5:20 pm

Trump’s comments about BRICS is an empty gesture, as Zeihan explains. There won’t be an attempt at a supplanting.

Paul Montagu (ceba6c) — 12/1/2024 @ 8:42 am

Tom Nichols on Kash Patel…

Trump has made clear how much he hates the FBI, and he has convinced his MAGA base that it’s a nest of political corruption. In a stunning reversal of political polarity, a significant part of the law-and-order GOP now regards the men and women of federal law enforcement with contempt and paranoia. If Trump’s goal is to break the FBI and undermine its missions, Kash Patel is the perfect nominee. Some senior officials would likely resign rather than serve under Patel, which would probably suit Trump just fine.

Of course, this means the FBI would struggle to do the things it’s supposed to be doing, including fighting crime and conducting counterintelligence work against America’s enemies. But it would become an excellent instrument of revenge against anyone Trump or Patel identifies as an internal enemy—which, in Trump’s world, is anyone who criticizes Donald Trump.

The Russians speak of “power ministries,” the departments that have significant legal and coercive capacity. In the United States, those include the Justice Department, the Defense Department, the FBI, and the intelligence community. Trump has now named sycophants to lead each of these institutions, a move that eliminates important obstacles to his frequently expressed desires to use the armed forces, federal law-enforcement agents, intelligence professionals, and government lawyers as he chooses, unbounded by the law or the Constitution.

If you want to assemble the infrastructure of an authoritarian government, this is how you do it.

The early-20th-century Peruvian strongman Óscar R. Benavides once stated a simple principle that Trump now appears to be pursuing when he said: “For my friends, everything; for my enemies, the law.” It falls now to the Republican members of the Senate to decide whether Trump can impose this formula on the United States.

Paul Montagu (ceba6c) — 12/1/2024 @ 8:51 am

Kevin M (a9545f) — 11/30/2024 @ 6:19 pm

Are we saying that chemical castration is the same as taking aspirin?

No.Apirin is over the counter (except that parental permission is required for use in people under 18) while chemical castration must be prescribed by a doctor and the idea has, in the United States at least, been endorsed by professional associations, and not retracted.

Very wrong and maybe ideologically or commercially motivated doctors maybe, but people with valid and in good standing MD degrees nevertheless.

Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 12/1/2024 @ 9:06 am

Paul Montagu (ceba6c) — 11/30/2024 @ 12:56 pm

Putin is so stuck in his Ukrainian quagmire that who knows if he can help Assad, and he just sacked the Russian commander of the Syrian theater. Things are moving fast.

Why now?

Israel’s war with Hezbollah, evidently, ISrael wasn’t even planning this effect.

Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 12/1/2024 @ 9:08 am

Kevin M (a9545f) — 11/29/2024 @ 10:41 pm

How can they decide what is a “right” without considering what is being done?

The state of Tennessee didn’t, not being willing to overrule doctors. (Surgery is not regulated by the FDA, although medical instruments now are. Doctors are also allowed to prescribe medicine off label. The only remedy is a malpractice lawsuit but the endorsement from professional associations is a good defense against malpractice,)

The issue here is whether transgender status (assuming it is a thing) is an impermissible form of discrimination under the 14th amendment.

Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 12/1/2024 @ 9:23 am

Reap the lawfare whirlwind.

Reap the impeachment whirlwind. Or the short form of that.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 11/30/2024 @ 6:20 pm

LOL! The new Congress would never impeach President Trump, let alone convict. Why would they?

Rip Murdock (cbb88a) — 12/1/2024 @ 10:59 am

As I quoted above, this an Equal Protection case, and not about the merits of gender transition surgery.

“Equal Protection” implies that there is some comparison to other people’s activities. Are we saying that chemical castration is the same as taking aspirin?

If it is about availing oneself of psychiatric services, that is certainly comparable. But drugs that cause irreparable and life-altering changes in a minor child, well, I don’t see how you even start on 14th Amendment argument.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 11/30/2024 @ 6:19 pm

If you actually read what I had posted (and linked to), your questions would have been answered.

The U.S. government contends that the Tennessee’s law violates the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protections Clause because the law explicitly classifies minors based on sex and discriminates based on transgender status. The law prohibits treatment to minors classified as girls at birth that is available to minors classified as boys at birth and vice versa. For example, the government writes, “a teenager whose sex assigned at birth is male can be prescribed testosterone to conform to a male gender identity, but a teenager assigned female at birth cannot.“ The U.S. government cites the Tennessee law as evidence of the legislature’s intent: “SB1 bluntly declares that it draws those sex-based lines to “encourag[e] minors to appreciate their sex” assigned at birth.” Because the classification is based on sex, the law needs to be reviewed with heightened scrutiny and the U.S. government claims that the law does not pass this standard: “Tennessee has made no attempt to tailor the law to the State’s asserted health concerns.”

Tennessee contends that the ban does not constitute a sex-based classification: “SB1 includes no sex classification. It draws a line between minors seeking drugs for gender transition and minors seeking drugs for other medical purposes. And boys and girls fall on both sides of that line.” Tennessee draws an analogy to reproductive rights cases that distinguish pregnancy and abortion from a sex classification, including Geduldig v. Aiello (in which the Supreme Court found pregnancy is not a sex-based classification), Bray v. Alexandria Women’s Health Clinic (in which the Supreme Court found that anti-abortion protesters were not in violation of the Equal Protection Clause because animus was to abortion, not women), and Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (in which the court wrote that state regulation of abortion is not a sex-based classification, despite equal protection claims not being before the court). Leaning on these cases, the state argues the law regulates medical care and is not sex discrimination, and therefore is not in violation of the 14th Amendment equal protection clause.

Rip Murdock (cbb88a) — 12/1/2024 @ 11:07 am

I don’t see how you even start on 14th Amendment argument.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 11/30/2024 @ 6:19 pm

Government’s brief in United States v. Skrmetti; Tennessee’s reply brief; and amici briefs.

Rip Murdock (cbb88a) — 12/1/2024 @ 11:24 am

LOL! The new Congress would never impeach President Trump, let alone convict. Why would they?

Rip Murdock (cbb88a) — 12/1/2024 @ 10:59 am

Or any of his minions.

Rip Murdock (cbb88a) — 12/1/2024 @ 11:25 am

LOL! The new Congress would never impeach President Trump, let alone convict. Why would they?

Reasons might include:

* Wanting JD Vance instead.

* An overwhelming revulsion to his acts.

* Polling numbers indicating an “or else” at the next election.

* Secessions among the states.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/1/2024 @ 11:46 am

LOL! The new Congress would never impeach President Trump, let alone convict. Why would they?

Reasons might include:

* Wanting JD Vance instead.

* An overwhelming revulsion to his acts.

* Polling numbers indicating an “or else” at the next election.

* Secessions among the states.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/1/2024 @ 11:46 am

LOL! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Your scenarios are too fanciful to deserve a detailed response; all assume facts not in evidence. Suffice it to say that Republicans in Congress are not going to impeach someone who brought them to the trifecta of power (not even over polling numbers); and will tolerate virtually any action within Trump’s constitutional and statutory authority. And if they lose the House in 2026, that’s hardly grounds to impeach. And the idea that States will attempt to secede from the Union is also fanciful; the first (and last) time that happened didn’t end well.

Such scenarios will lead to the final destruction of the Republican Party, as Trump MAGA voters would certainly reject any impeachment (by Republicans) that would remove Trump from office.

Rip Murdock (7bcbea) — 12/1/2024 @ 1:47 pm

Trump’s already been impeached a couple of times, DCSCA.

This ‘facts not in evidence’ troll doesn’t really work when trump actually has the record he has.

Such scenarios will lead to the final destruction of the Republican Party, a

Assumes facts not in evidence, lol.

Dustin (cc4897) — 12/1/2024 @ 1:48 pm

all assume facts not in evidence.

If you don’t want answers, don’t ask questions. All are valid reasons why they might. The MOST likely is this: Trump does something they will lose all their seats over if they stand behind it.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/1/2024 @ 2:20 pm

The MOST likely is this: Trump does something they will lose all their seats over if they stand behind it.
The converse is also true

Trump could lose by winning. If a House rep goes against Trump and loses support, the seat could flip to Democrat, which is worse than R- Maverick.

It all depends on if they like being in the House and having to run every 2 years. If they enjoy being in the House for the next decade or so, the current safe bet is to follow the will of the voters in your district. Many red districts were clear wins for Trump. The districts that split 50.1R to 49.9D make keeping every single R vote- and some of those toss-up districts went higher for Trump than for the elected Representative.

Tea leaves say Trump has the mandate until he blows it

steveg (211e43) — 12/1/2024 @ 3:03 pm

Man, it’s a good thing that stupid Hitler was so strong in responding to Putin and the GRU unit 29155 paying for bounties on American soldiers in Afghanistan. Oh, memory holed that one too?

Top officials in the White House were aware in early 2019 of classified intelligence indicating Russia was secretly offering bounties to the Taliban for the deaths of Americans, a full year earlier than has been previously reported, according to U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the intelligence.

The assessment was included in at least one of President Donald Trump’s written daily intelligence briefings at the time, according to the officials. Then-national security adviser John Bolton also told colleagues at the time that he briefed Trump on the intelligence assessment in March 2019.

Anything to defend the troops, they’re always stupid Hitler’s top…primary…some…meh, he doesn’t give a sh-t if they live or die. Isn’t pro America, is pro making himself look good, spending a lifetime breaking laws and being a conman, seems to like the idea of the kleptocracy. Russia is broke and Putin has managed to steal hundreds of billions, imagine the possibilities of a conman given free reign over the largest economy in the history of the world.

Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 12/1/2024 @ 3:17 pm

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/remember-those-russian-bounties-dead-u-s-troops-biden-admin-n1264215

Last fall, while Biden was a candidate, Pentagon officials told NBC News they could not substantiate that such bounties were paid.

They still have not found any evidence, a senior defense official said Thursday. And the Biden administration also made clear in a fact sheet released Thursday that the CIA’s intelligence on the matter is far from conclusive, acknowledging that analysts labeled it “low to moderate confidence.”

The White House fact sheet explaining new sanctions over Russian misbehavior made clear that Russia was not being sanctioned over the issue. It used careful language, referring to “reported Afghanistan bounties.”

“The administration is responding to the reports that Russia encouraged Taliban attacks against U.S. and coalition personnel in Afghanistan based on the best assessments from the Intelligence Community,” the fact sheet says. “Given the sensitivity of this matter, which involves the safety and well-being of our forces, it is being handled through diplomatic, military and intelligence channels.”

In intelligence parlance, moderate confidence means the information is plausible and credibly sourced, but not quite corroborated enough to merit a higher rating.

Low confidence means the analysis was based on questionable or implausible information — or information too fragmented or poorly corroborated to make solid inferences. It can also reflect problems with the credibility of the sources.

It’s perhaps the latest example of how much uncertainty pervades the gray world of espionage, in which sources aren’t always reliable and intercepted communications don’t always mean what they seem to. As former CIA director Michael Hayden has said, “If it was a fact, it wouldn’t be intelligence.”

Klink continues to post garbage which is expected from someone who is doing all he can to trash this blog with his poison.

He knows he’s posting lies.

NJRob (eb56c3) — 12/1/2024 @ 3:29 pm

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/12/did-biden-make-his-anti-semitism-official.php

This story came back to me over the weekend with the photos of Joe Biden emerging from a Nantucket bookstore holding in plain sight the book he purchased: Rashid Khalidi’s The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonial Conquest and Resistance, 1917-2017. Khalidi is a former spokesperson for the PLO, defender of Hamas terrorism, and a vicious anti-Semite, full stop. He is also an emeritus professor of Middle East studies at Columbia University, naturally.

Anti-Semitism is the official position of the Democrat party.

NJRob (eb56c3) — 12/1/2024 @ 3:46 pm

Rob, your a riot. Good joke.

Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 12/1/2024 @ 3:54 pm

Former White House national security adviser John Bolton said Sunday that President Donald Trump denying in a tweet he was briefed on intelligence that Russians had tried to bribe Taliban fighters to kill US troops shows Trump’s “fundamental focus” is not on the United States’ national security.

“The fact that the President feels compelled to tweet about the news story here shows that what his fundamental focus is, is not the security of our forces, but whether he looks like he wasn’t paying attention. So he’s saying well nobody told me therefore you can’t blame me,” Bolton told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”

The former official added that he believed Trump’s motivation for denying a briefing is “because it looks bad if Russians are paying to kill Americans and we’re not doing anything about it.”

“So what is the presidential reaction? It’s to say it’s not my responsibility, nobody told me about it,” Bolton said.

Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 12/1/2024 @ 3:56 pm

Waa, the Bund must demand that dear leader stupid Hitler is always both uninformed and knows everything simultaneously.

It’s Schrodinger’s team of morons. Knowing things is always the enemy of just doing it for the lolz. There’s no benefit to the Bund or stupid Hitler of actually being informed.

Too uninformed to be to blame, but only he can fix it because he knows everything.

Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 12/1/2024 @ 4:06 pm

Tea leaves say Trump has the mandate until he blows it

But not after.

Question: How self-destructive is he? Magic 8-ball says “Wait and see.”

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/1/2024 @ 4:06 pm

Netflix’s “Mary”, telling the story of Jesus through they eyes of Mary, is under fire for casting Israeli Jews as Mary and Joseph.

“Middle-Eastern Christians” would have been preferred, it seems.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/1/2024 @ 4:11 pm

Remember when stupid Hitler kept saying how he was at ground zero on 7/11, and definitely saw all of those Muslims celebrating, he was there, for both.

Remember when stolen valor was a bad thing? With the Bund, stealing valor is more value than earning it, stealing is just easier.

Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 12/1/2024 @ 4:24 pm

Blumenthal is still in the Senate.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/1/2024 @ 4:26 pm

Patterico on Patel…

I’ve spent four years working for an organization run by an incompetent fool who disagrees with the mission of the organization and seeks to undermine it. So I have some idea how the men and women of the FBI are likely to feel when a hack like Kash Patel takes charge. 1/

Some will quit. Some will move to other agencies where they can use their skills under different leadership. Most will stay. Morale will suffer. Lawful directives will be followed, but when ambiguous (incompetents have trouble issuing clear directives), will be interpreted selectively. 2/

Unlawful directives will be followed by the cowards, of which there will always be a supply, and resisted passively or even actively by others. There will be retaliation, and there will be lawsuits, many successful. The core mission of the agency will suffer. There’s no getting around that. /3

Most people will hang on, hopeful for change. Some will retire early.

What I don’t expect is that Patel or someone like him can turn the entire FBI into a top-to-bottom servant of Donald Trump.

But they will crush many investigations of Trump and his friends. The rule of law will suffer. /end

P.S. Don’t cry for me Argentina. We get new leadership in my organization starting Tuesday. (To universal high-fives in my own organization.)

Our four-year period is behind us. The FBI’s is about to start. I don’t envy them but I do understand their plight.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/1/2024 @ 4:29 pm

Biden just pardoned Hunter, as I expected.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/1/2024 @ 4:36 pm

74 Paul: You know, I thought the impeachment of Nixon, Clinton and Trump were mistakes–could have done a vote of censure.

But impeachment has been so normalized, that if the House shifts, another impeachment is likely. All the shock value is gone: its not “wow this is a major event,” its “oh here we go again.”

In the same vein, after the normalization of partisan lawfare, and some itching to even the score, its hard to blame Biden. Preemptive pardons are maybe the only defense now against a vindictive or partisan prosecutor.

Harcourt Fenton Mudd (12e6d7) — 12/1/2024 @ 5:22 pm

So who can slam pardons for the J6 people?

Harcourt Fenton Mudd (12e6d7) — 12/1/2024 @ 5:25 pm

Now Joe can appoint Hunter as interim US Ambassador to France, who will be succeeded by Trump-pardoned Charles Kushner, Ivanka’s father-in-law.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/1/2024 @ 5:27 pm

Biden: “I will not pardon Hunter” https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/06/politics/biden-will-not-pardon-hunter-biden/index.html

KJP: “He will not pardon Hunter.” https://www.wvtm13.com/article/biden-not-pardon-hunter-white-house/62844583

They lied.

SaveFarris (ee30f7) — 12/1/2024 @ 5:34 pm

https://therightscoop.com/breaking-joe-biden-just-pardoned-his-son-hunter/

No one better complain about Trump last pardons.

NJRob (a68246) — 12/1/2024 @ 5:34 pm

Trump pardoned Russian asset Paul Manafort, so let’s dispense with the bogus equivalencies.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/1/2024 @ 5:37 pm

stupid Hitler’s theme song.

Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 12/1/2024 @ 5:42 pm

Now, will the NY Governor pardon Trump? That’s pretty equivalent.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/1/2024 @ 5:48 pm

Our four-year period is behind us. The FBI’s is about to start. I don’t envy them but I do understand their plight.

Patel won’t be confirmed.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/1/2024 @ 5:50 pm

Paul all about excusing leftist behavior. In other news, dog bites man .

NJRob (a68246) — 12/1/2024 @ 5:50 pm

Why Kevin? He should be confirmed.

NJRob (a68246) — 12/1/2024 @ 5:51 pm

“No one better complain about Trump last pardons.”

I’m gonna complain about ’em both.

Davethulhu (08aea7) — 12/1/2024 @ 5:55 pm

Trump’s already been impeached a couple of times, DCSCA.

This ‘facts not in evidence’ troll doesn’t really work when trump actually has the record he has.

Trump was impeached by Democrats, not fellow Republicans, and was acquitted by his fellow Republicans.

And the impeachments were based (particularly the second one) on very thin evidence of actual wrongdoing.

Rip Murdock (7bcbea) — 12/1/2024 @ 5:58 pm

Biden will pardon a flurry before he’s done but, to date, his only controversial pardon that I could see involved Hunter (and there be other 2024 pardons not listed). Most appeared to have been processed by the DOJ through the Office of the Pardon Attorney.

Trump did it differently his 1st term, and I don’t see him changing in his 2nd term, especially if he pardons the J6 criminals.

In one system, people like the McCarrolls mostly hung their hopes on the regular process run by the Justice Department, which often took years to produce a response, if one came at all.

In the other system, people like Mr. Weinstein skipped the line and got their petitions directly on the president’s desk because they had money or connections, or allies who did. The team working for Mr. Weinstein’s release included Alan M. Dershowitz, one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers during his first impeachment.

It is this latter system through which Mr. Trump awarded the vast majority of his pardons, which wipe out convictions, and commutations, which reduce prison sentences.

Of the nearly 240 pardons and commutations issued by Mr. Trump, only 25 came through the rigorous process for identifying and vetting worthy clemency petitions overseen by the Justice Department, according to a tally kept partly by Margaret Love, who ran the department’s clemency process from 1990 to 1997 as the United States pardon attorney. The system has a backlog of 14,000 applications, including one from Mr. McCarroll.

The other pardons and commutations came through an ad hoc White House process that favored applications benefiting or pushed by Mr. Trump’s allies, friends and family.

Which is how Trump’s son-in-law’s dad was pardoned, even though he was convicted of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering after hiring a prostitute to seduce his brother-in-law, arranging to record a sexual encounter between the two, and sending the tape to his sister.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/1/2024 @ 6:04 pm

Paul all about excusing leftist behavior. In other news, dog bites man .

Said the right-winger excusing right-wing behavior, but your smear is noted.

Speaking of smears, why don’t you show everyone where I “pushed the 51 intelligence officials garbage hook, line and sinker”, and that I “took the bait because you wanted the lie to be true”.

Answer the question.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/1/2024 @ 6:08 pm

If we want to talk about blatantly politically-tainted pardons, we can start with Bill Clinton and his pardon of Marc Rich.
GW Bush and Obama didn’t follow suit, but Trump did, in spades.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/1/2024 @ 6:25 pm

Paul never answers remarks, just plays his usual mobyism

Carry on carrying water.

NJRob (a68246) — 12/1/2024 @ 6:41 pm

Well, now you’re just lying, Rob.
You answer mine, which came first, I’ll answer yours.

The outstanding question, which I asked weeks ago, and asked multiple times since, is this…

Show everyone where I “pushed the 51 intelligence officials garbage hook, line and sinker”, and that I “took the bait because you wanted the lie to be true”.

Man up and answer the question. Don’t be a lying right-wing pizda.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/1/2024 @ 6:45 pm

Trump’s already been impeached a couple of times, DCSCA.
……..
Dustin (cc4897) — 12/1/2024 @ 1:48 pm

I’m not sure what your point is, Dustin; we know his two prior impeachments were raw exercises of power by a Democrat House.The discussion was under what circumstances would Republicans would impeach President Trump. I just didn’t think Kevin M’s suggestions had factual basis, which I know you read since you quoted from my response. As long as Trump’s actions are within his (broad) constitutional and statutory authority as President I can’t think of reason for him to be impeached.

Hope you had a joyful Thanksgiving.

Rip Murdock (7bcbea) — 12/1/2024 @ 6:56 pm

As has been mentioned previously, you’ve said constantly similar remarks. I don’t keep your posts like you store others. So I just know the likelihood of your remarks since they are predictable.

Carry on carrying water for the left.

NJRob (a68246) — 12/1/2024 @ 6:57 pm

As has been mentioned previously, you’ve said constantly similar remarks.

You’re still lying, Rob.
You can’t answer my question because lied about it. You can’t find “constantly similar remarks” because you’re a goddam liar.

So answer the question. We can move on once you man up.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/1/2024 @ 7:04 pm

The Bund are just such delicate snowflakes.

Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 12/1/2024 @ 7:07 pm

Biden’s pardon covers all the time his son would’ve committed illegal financial crimes for him. How convenient.

NJRob (a68246) — 12/1/2024 @ 7:13 pm

Paul,

you’re a moby. Everyone knows it. Get over yourself and come back with a new name. It’s your M.O.

NJRob (a68246) — 12/1/2024 @ 7:14 pm

you’re a moby. Everyone knows it. Get over yourself and come back with a new name. It’s your M.O.

Your factless feelings are irrelevant, Rob. All you’re doing is telling everyone you’re a documented liar.

Once again, Show everyone where I “pushed the 51 intelligence officials garbage hook, line and sinker”, and that I “took the bait because you wanted the lie to be true”.

Now man up and answer the question, you lying piece of sh-t.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/1/2024 @ 7:18 pm

Biden’s pardon covers all the time his son would’ve committed illegal financial crimes for him. How convenient.

NJRob (a68246) — 12/1/2024 @ 7:13 pm

Appalling.

Is the pardon power a net force for good, a way to right wrongs, or is it pretty much just another corrupt thing?

The executive branch does seem to need its wings clipped. This system of government needs checks and balances that the partisan system is completely bypassing.

I’m not sure what your point is, Dustin

DCSCA, it’s that your constant trolling of Kevin that ‘facts are not in evidence’ consistently denies the obvious, while asserting the ridiculous. Trump was impeached. Congressional power is at a knife’s edge. He will be impeached again.

It’s lazy, and easy, to conclude the GOP is just plain settled into this Trump thing. You’d have to be living under a rock for the past 50 years to think that’s the case. Things will continue to change. Facts, bud.

Dustin (7783f7) — 12/1/2024 @ 7:35 pm

The executive branch does seem to need its wings clipped. This system of government needs checks and balances that the partisan system is completely bypassing.

Yeah, and the solution is stupid Hitler? The person who wants to maximize the exec branch and minimize any other competing power.

You know, like his namesake.

Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 12/1/2024 @ 7:41 pm

This is the relevant part of Joe’s pardon…

For those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024, including but not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted (including any that have resulted in convictions) by Special Counsel David C. Weiss in Docket No. 1:23-cr-00061-MN in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware and Docket No. 2:23-CR-00599-MCS-1 in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

…which can taken as a f–k you to Trump, because there is no way that his minions Bondi and Patel can pursue any sort of investigation or prosecution of Hunter.
Was it a good or right thing to do? In an ordinary succeeding GOP administration, no, but Trump pledged “retribution” in his 2nd term, and Biden’s pardon completely shuts that door. Context matters.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/1/2024 @ 7:49 pm

Trump pardoned Russian asset Paul Manafort, so let’s dispense with the bogus equivalencies.
Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/1/2024 @ 5:37 pm

whatabout alert!!

lloyd (ad38e8) — 12/1/2024 @ 8:48 pm

Why Kevin? He should be confirmed.

The GOP has 53 Senators, plus Vance. If they lose 4, they lose. No Democrat is going to vote for any controversial nominee, and possibly not for ANY nominee depending on how much they are going to go into #resistance.

Trump will get most of them, but Gaetz found out that he would be blocked. RFK Jr and Patel are unlikely — there are at least 4 senators who won’t play ball with conspiracy freaks.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/1/2024 @ 8:54 pm

Hypocrisy checks happen, lloyd.
Biden’s one controversial pardon was for his son.
Trump’s pardons were a glad-handing turnstile, which is just a fact, and we’re not even getting into Roger Stone and Mike Flynn.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/1/2024 @ 8:55 pm

Trump was impeached by Democrats, not fellow Republicans, and was acquitted by his fellow Republicans.

They have what, a 2 vote majority? 10 Republicans voted for the 2nd impeachment. If his offenses compare to J6 — say people are getting killed in the deportation roundup — it will be anyone’s guess how that breaks.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/1/2024 @ 9:00 pm

LOL Paul, check your own hypocrisy.

lloyd (ad38e8) — 12/1/2024 @ 9:03 pm

Biden has several more weeks. More pardons to come, all of which will be excused by “whatabout Trump.”

lloyd (ad38e8) — 12/1/2024 @ 9:05 pm

President Biden should pardon Leonard Peltier now and not wait for AOC to have to do it.

asset (b2ec60) — 12/1/2024 @ 9:09 pm

Trump will likely pardon all nonviolent J6 folks on day one. The voters knew this before the election.

In contrast, the voters were intentionally kept in the dark about Hunter’s adventures before Biden got elected, and the bubble media made sure of it.

lloyd (ad38e8) — 12/1/2024 @ 9:13 pm

LOL Paul, check your own hypocrisy.

Look in a mirror when you say that.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/1/2024 @ 9:15 pm

@110 And the FBI, too.

FBI Spent a Year Preparing Platforms to Censor Biden Story, Withheld Info on Laptop’s Authenticity

The FBI spent the better part of a year preparing social media platforms to censor the Hunter Biden laptop story and withheld information from the companies when they wanted to know whether or not the laptop was authentic, despite knowing the laptop was real long before the 2020 election.

Even though the FBI authenticated the Hunter Biden laptop archive in late 2019, the bureau met with tech platforms over 30 times beginning in early 2020 to “prebunk” allegations that the Biden family traded off Joe Biden’s name to make a fortune from foreign business deals, according to a bombshell House Judiciary Committee report obtained by National Review. The FBI declined to comment on the report.

Those so very concerned about Trump and Patel politicizing the FBI can’t be taken seriously.

lloyd (ad38e8) — 12/1/2024 @ 9:19 pm

Biden should also pardon Nehanda Abiodun.

asset (b2ec60) — 12/1/2024 @ 9:20 pm

you’re a moby. Everyone knows it.

As I understand it a true “moby” is someone who is a fake extremist for the other side, trying to make them look bad. Like the guy at a Tea Party rally with swastikas.

That’s not Paul, but a few others ought to try the shoe on for size.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/1/2024 @ 9:20 pm

Biden’s pardon covers all the time his son would’ve committed illegal financial crimes for him. How convenient.

The Founders were concerned that a criminal president might pardon his minions, so that any investigation of them would be quashed.

Who will Trump pardon?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/1/2024 @ 9:24 pm

One controversial pardon versus a turnstile. So why exactly is the hypocrite?

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/1/2024 @ 9:24 pm

Hypocrisy checks happen, lloyd.
Biden’s one controversial pardon was for his son.
Trump’s pardons were a glad-handing turnstile, which is just a fact, and we’re not even getting into Roger Stone and Mike Flynn.

I started a new post, but jeeze, Paul, this is poor reasoning, no matter how much you hate Trump.

Let me just put it this way: did Trump ever solemnly swear not to pardon Roger Stone or Mike Flynn or any of the other reprobates in his orbit?

JVW (6965e6) — 12/1/2024 @ 9:33 pm

Urban Dictionary defines a moby as a “left wing troll who tries to imitate a right winger, usually poorly due to left wing’s complete misunderstanding of who right wingers are.”

As a traditional conservative, I never passed myself off as a right-winger. I voted for Reagan, which Rob can never claim. I doubt he was even popping zits at the time.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/1/2024 @ 9:34 pm

I started a new post, but jeeze, Paul, this is poor reasoning, no matter how much you hate Trump.

Again, JVW, we’re talking one controversial pardon versus hundreds by Trump which never went through the DOJ, hence “turnstile”.
Trump has a constitutional right to pardon who he damn well pleases but, as an institutionalist, institutions were set up to bring fairness to the pardoning process, and Trump sh@t all over that, as did Clinton to a lesser degree.

This is new territory here. Never before in American history has there ever been an elected president who pledged “retribution” on his political enemies. Biden is a liar, which isn’t a surprise, but any man is going to protect his family. This is elemental. If Biden didn’t have Trump for a successor, I’d have said he was clearly in the wrong. As it is, he’s still wrong, but it’s more justifiable.

Lastly, JVW, and to clarify, I have complete and utter contempt for Trump, as a man, as a businessman, as a politician, etc., which Oxford defines contempt as “the feeling that a person or a thing is beneath consideration, worthless, or deserving scorn.”
You can call it “hate”, but I’ll stick to my word for it.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/1/2024 @ 9:50 pm

BTW, the first thing I said about Hunter, is that I expected Joe would pardon him, which already told the folks here my expectations of Joe’s character, for anyone who was listening, that Joe wasn’t honest upfront, that he made a stupid pledge that he shouldn’t have made.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/1/2024 @ 10:03 pm

I’m just not impressed with your weird need to try to mitigate Biden’s obvious and outrageous lies with “but Trump.” And then you try to give yourself some breathing room by saying, “Well, I always knew Joe Biden was lying to us when he claimed that he wouldn’t pardon his degenerate son.”

I have no love lost for Donald Trump, for whom I have refused to vote in the last three elections. But I am sick and tired of all criticism for the trashy and incompetent Joe Biden or the grossly overmatched and underwhelming Kamala Harris being exculpated with the awfulness of Donald Trump. Would you care to comment on my most recent post regarding President Biden’s disgusting decision without invoking Donald Trump, or is that just too much for you to handle? Because we apparently have several more years to bash Trump, though Biden is clearly sliming his way out out the door as we speak.

JVW (6965e6) — 12/1/2024 @ 10:13 pm

Funny, you saying stuff about my emotions for Trump, JVW, yet you clearly have some emotions about Biden.
As for your question, I already answered it. Whether you like it or not, isn’t my concern.
Biden will go down as a dithering, doddering president who was too old for the job as president, but was still better than Trump’s first term. He’ll also go down as learning nothing from RBG, for making the disastrously bad decision to run for reelection, which killed the Democrats’ chances against a criminal and con man.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/1/2024 @ 10:21 pm

@118: Yes, but the imitation’s goal is to discredit the right-wing viewpoint through excess.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/1/2024 @ 10:51 pm

Biden is a hack. Trump aspires to be a hack.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/1/2024 @ 10:52 pm

Biden just pardoned Hunter, as I expected.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/1/2024 @ 4:36 pm

I thought it had a very high probability, especially since Hunter’s guilty plea looked, but I was surprised by the timing.

Maybe they were afraid of a last minute glitch, but December 1 is early. The reason it was now is maybe because he found out he wouldn’t get too much criticism from Trump. ]
I thought he was waiting to find out what the sentence would be. But maybe they found out.

The excuse was basically selective prosecution.

Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 12/2/2024 @ 3:09 am

Paul rewrites his history yet again. No longer a former leftist, now he’s a life-long conservative who voted for Reagan.

NJRob (eb56c3) — 12/2/2024 @ 4:37 am

Paul rewrites his history yet again. No longer a former leftist, now he’s a life-long conservative who voted for Reagan.

More lies from a documented liar.
You still haven’t answered the question, Rob, about where I “pushed the 51 intelligence officials garbage hook, line and sinker”, and that I “took the bait because you wanted the lie to be true”.
Back up your claim.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/2/2024 @ 6:20 am

@83

Our four-year period is behind us. The FBI’s is about to start. I don’t envy them but I do understand their plight.

Patel won’t be confirmed.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/1/2024 @ 5:50 pm

If Congress wants to have some oversight over Patel and be able to put him on “the hot seat”, they’re better off confirming.

Otherwise, Patel will just take the next rung down, one of those “deputy” positions that doesn’t requires Senate confirmation.

Patel will be in position of power at the DOJ either way.

whembly (477db6) — 12/2/2024 @ 7:01 am

@119

…
This is new territory here. Never before in American history has there ever been an elected president who pledged “retribution” on his political enemies.
…
Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/1/2024 @ 9:50 pm

Imma stop you here Paul.

I get that your animus towards Trump is white-hot. But, pick up a history book.

Former Presidents has done plenty to their political enemies.

Trump has yet reached to the level of “retribution” that of our former Presidents.

whembly (477db6) — 12/2/2024 @ 7:07 am

I get that your animus towards Trump is white-hot. But, pick up a history book.

The history, whembly, is that no president has pledged “retribution” against his political enemies as a pillar of his campaign.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/2/2024 @ 7:12 am

@130 Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/2/2024 @ 7:12 am
And I’m telling you… pick up a history book.

You think politics is “nasty” now? It looks like you have no concept of what it was like back then.

whembly (477db6) — 12/2/2024 @ 7:19 am

It might be more apt to say “in recent memory” or “in modern times”. But, not “ever”.

whembly (477db6) — 12/2/2024 @ 7:20 am

And I’m telling you… pick up a history book.

And I’m asking you, where in history has any Dem or GOP candidate pledged “retribution” against his political enemies and made it a pillar of his campaign?

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/2/2024 @ 8:09 am

And I’m asking you, where in history has any Dem or GOP candidate pledged “retribution” against his political enemies and made it a pillar of his campaign?

1828, Andy Jackson? He was pretty pissed off about the stolen election of 1824.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/2/2024 @ 8:11 am

It might be more apt to say “in recent memory” or “in modern times”. But, not “ever”.

whembly (477db6) — 12/2/2024 @ 7:20 am

Biden’s DOJ going after his political enemies begs to differ.

NJRob (eb56c3) — 12/2/2024 @ 8:22 am

@133

And I’m asking you, where in history has any Dem or GOP candidate pledged “retribution” against his political enemies and made it a pillar of his campaign?

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/2/2024 @ 8:09 am

Leticia James, for one.

whembly (477db6) — 12/2/2024 @ 8:37 am

@135

Biden’s DOJ going after his political enemies begs to differ.

NJRob (eb56c3) — 12/2/2024 @ 8:22 am

I mean… you’re not wrong there…

whembly (477db6) — 12/2/2024 @ 8:38 am

Biden’s DOJ going after his political enemies begs to differ.

Like Bob Menendez? Eric Adams? TJ Cox? Henry Cuellar? Andrew Gillum? Michael Madigan? Democrat politicians all.

He was pretty pissed off about the stolen election of 1824.

I’m sure he was. I don’t recall him saying he would use the National Guard or military to “handle” his political enemies.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/2/2024 @ 9:04 am

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/2/2024 @ 8:11 am

He was pretty pissed off about the stolen election of 1824.

It wasn’t a stolen election. He called it a “corrupt bargain.”

He charged that Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams had made a deal where Clay would throw his support to Adams in return for being made Secretary of State. Both men denied it (and how would it have been enforced?)

In the Election of 1824 there were people who kept Crawford’s condition a secret (he had suffered a stroke) with the result that he came in third and Henry Clay fourth (and out of the running.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 12/2/2024 @ 9:08 am

Leticia James, for one.

I was talking about presidents, but yes, she did say she would “take on Donald Trump”, and Trump was found liable for fraud.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/2/2024 @ 9:11 am

It wasn’t a stolen election. He called it a “corrupt bargain.”

Po-TAH-to, Po-TAY-to

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/2/2024 @ 9:13 am

Trump was found liable for fraud.

Are you arguing that none of Trump’s targets are guilty of something?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/2/2024 @ 9:14 am

whembly (477db6) — 12/2/2024 @ 7:01 am

Otherwise, Patel will just take the next rung down, one of those “deputy” positions that doesn’t requires Senate confirmation.

He once was nearly named deputy director of the FBI. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/14/us/politics/kash-patel.html

…Gen. Mark A. Milley, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was shocked when Mr. Patel presented him a document signed in Sharpie by the outgoing Mr. Trump ordering a full withdrawal of all American troops from Afghanistan by Jan. 15. General Milley, the top military adviser to the president, had never even seen the order, and neither had several other senior advisers. It turned out it was drafted by Douglas Macgregor, a retired colonel named as an adviser to the Pentagon after he impressed Mr. Trump with his appearances on Fox News, according to an account in “The Divider,” a book by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser.

…. Mr. Trump backed away from the Afghanistan plan, but soon sought to again elevate Mr. Patel by making him deputy director of either the C.I.A. or the F.B.I. Only after Gina Haspel, the C.I.A. director, and William P. Barr, the attorney general, both threatened to quit — Mr. Barr vowed that Mr. Patel would become F.B.I. deputy only “over my dead body”— did Mr. Trump abandon the idea.

Mr. Patel stayed at the Pentagon for three months, crediting himself in his book with leading “the biggest transition’’ of the Defense Department “in U.S. history.”

In the conference room aboard Air Force One during the waning days of his administration, Mr. Trump engaged his team in a favorite game: predicting who will play whom in the inevitable movie about his presidency. Turning to Mr. Patel, he said, “You’ll probably play yourself.”

To be named interim director of the FBI does not require Senate confirmation (but I think the interim director must have been serving in some capacity for at least 90 days or been confirmed by the Senate for something before.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_of_the_Federal_Bureau_of_Investigation

. The appointment of the deputy director is not a presidential appointment and does not require Senate confirmation. The president can appoint an interim director pending Senate confirmation[12] or nominate a permanent director.[13]

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 12/2/2024 @ 9:29 am

Months after Salem Media retracted 2000 Mules and apologized to one of the “mules”, Dinesh D’Souza also apologized to Mark Andrews for falsely including him in the film as one of said mules.
In classic fashion, D’Souza blame-shifted his falsehoods over to True the Vote (remember them, Rob?), saying that he “recently learned that surveillance videos used in the film may not have actually been correlated with the geolocation data”.
The book and film were debunked within weeks of publication.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/2/2024 @ 9:51 am

Are you arguing that none of Trump’s targets are guilty of something?

Did I say such a thing? No, I didn’t.
Hunter was found guilty, Clinesmith was found guilty, McCabe was sacked for “lack of candor”. Which other guilty targets are out there? No one from the Durham investigation, aside from Clinesmith.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/2/2024 @ 9:57 am

A few thoughts:

1. I can see why Biden did what he did. Without a pardon, Hunter Biden was likely to face the continued harassment of James Comer and Jim Jordan, and a DoJ that is mandated to try to give their charges some substance.

2. H. Biden only escapes Congressional harassment by leaving the country. He only gets his passport back through a pardon.

3. I see why the big boss host and JVW feel the way they do. It may feel like Hunter Biden has suffered enough, but there are untold hundreds with less money and connections who have suffered too.If you don’t have the rule of law as a basis, all you got is a Hobbsian state of nature, ruled by people who think vengeance is a great way to govern.

Appalled (b4a83c) — 12/2/2024 @ 11:28 am

Grasping at straws:

………..
Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., both members of the Armed Services Committee, sent a letter dated Nov. 26 to President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that urged them to issue a policy directive that would ensure that U.S. troops can be used only when local or state authorities ask for federal help or are unable or unwilling to protect the public.
……….
After he takes office on Jan. 20, Trump could issue his own policy directive that would reverse the directive issued by Biden. Warren and Blumenthal, whose offices said the letter speaks for itself, apparently hope that publicly highlighting the issue might deter Trump.
……….
……….Trump has suggested he would use the U.S. military to help deport immigrants who do not have permanent legal status. He has also said he would move U.S. troops from overseas and station them on the southern border. And Trump has repeatedly talked about using troops to go after “the enemy from within.”
……….
Federal troops are prohibited from engaging in domestic law enforcement by the Posse Comitatus Act, an 1878 law that bars the president from using the military for such a purpose unless it is expressly authorized by the Constitution or an act of Congress.

A separate law, the Insurrection Act, an amalgamation of various statutes Congress passed from 1792 to 1871, creates an exception. It allows the president to deploy military troops in cases of insurrection, rebellion or extreme civil unrest.
……….

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/2/2024 @ 11:56 am

Leaving aside this white-hot “animus” I’m alleged to have, I don’t object too much to Trump demanding that Hamas to release all the hostages. It’s not going to get better for the terrorists after Inauguration Day, and Trump has already said that Bibi should “finish the job”.
But if Hamas calls Trump’s bluff and still doesn’t release them, what then? Will he respond as threatened? Or will it be an empty threat?

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/2/2024 @ 11:58 am

I thought it had a very high probability, especially since Hunter’s guilty plea looked

like it was connected to a possible pardon (hey wanted to finish the case while Joe Biden was still president)

Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 12/2/2024 @ 12:09 pm

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/2/2024 @ 11:58 am

Will he respond as threatened? Or will it be an empty threat?

What exactly did he threaten? It sounds like Joe Biden’s “DON’T”

Except that he knows they will expect more.

I suppose he’s threatening military intervention.

Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 12/2/2024 @ 12:12 pm

or it could be tariffs

More likely to bankrupt Iran, Or whatever idea comes up.

Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 12/2/2024 @ 12:15 pm

I suppose (Trump is) threatening military intervention (in Gaza).

Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 12/2/2024 @ 12:12 pm

That would be a mistake, as the US doesn’t have the wherewithal for house to house fighting which could lead to dozens of American casualties to search for a few remaining hostages that would be already dead. My guess is that Hamas would execute any remaining hostages if Americans directly entered the conflict. And it’s not like we can threaten Gaza with destruction; there’s not much left to destroy. The best to expect is for Israel to continue to search and/or negotiate for the hostages’ release.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/2/2024 @ 12:21 pm

or it could be tariffs

More likely to bankrupt Iran, Or whatever idea comes up.

Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 12/2/2024 @ 12:15 pm

I doubt we import much from Iran to impose tariffs on.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/2/2024 @ 12:23 pm

The threat is stronger than the execution, so Trump decided to let them wonder, maybe it will work.

Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 12/2/2024 @ 12:24 pm

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/2/2024 @ 12:23 pm

I doubt we import much from Iran to impose tariffs on.

Tariffs on countries that do business with Iran,

Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 12/2/2024 @ 12:26 pm

So, I need to run the numbers on capital gains for the year and bought a copy of Turbo Tax. I open it up to the cap gains section and am told that, due to the IRS delay on how to account for bitcoin, this function won’t be available until late December.

Grrr.

I mean, I’d maybe like to do some tax-selling, but knowing ahead of time what the numbers end up would be helpful. Sadly, Turbo Tax isn’t going to help there.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/2/2024 @ 1:08 pm

I doubt we import much from Iran to impose tariffs on.

The stuff all comes from Iraq and Jordan, of course.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/2/2024 @ 1:09 pm

More likely to bankrupt Iran

Except for money we sent them, Iran IS bankrupt. The Iranian Rial has been worth $0.00002 for the last 5 years.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/2/2024 @ 1:14 pm

Tariffs on countries that do business with Iran,

Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 12/2/2024 @ 12:26 pm

That’s a given with Trump’s proposed worldwide tariffs.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/2/2024 @ 1:17 pm

Hunter was pardoned for ANY crime he may have committed between 1/1/2014 and yesterday. Absolute blanket pardon.

The downside? He cannot invoke the 5th Amendment for anything in that timeframe and I effing guarantee that Trump’s DoJ will have some questions for him, which he MUST answer completely and truthfully — or face obstruction and/or perjury charges.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/2/2024 @ 1:17 pm

1. I can see why Biden did what he did. Without a pardon, Hunter Biden was likely to face the continued harassment of James Comer and Jim Jordan, and a DoJ that is mandated to try to give their charges some substance.

Do you think a pardon will stop Comer and Jordan from continuing to investigate the Bidens?

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/2/2024 @ 1:21 pm

RIP actor Earl Holliman (96):

………..
Holliman won a best supporting actor Golden Globe for portraying Katharine Hepburn’s girl-crazy kid brother in The Rainmaker (1956) — he beat out Elvis Presley for the role — and then appeared in another Burt Lancaster film, as Wyatt Earp’s assistant in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957).

In the George Stevens epic Giant (1956), the Louisiana native played the son-in-law of Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson’s characters, was the cook in Forbidden Planet (1956) and appeared as the brother of John Wayne, Dean Martin and Michael Anderson Jr. in Henry Hathaway’s The Sons of Katie Elder (1965).

Holliman also portrayed a man with amnesia in a deserted town on the very first episode of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone, “Where Is Everybody?” which premiered on Oct. 2, 1959.
………
Holliman replaced Bert Convy after the pilot to star as the macho Lt. Bill Crowley on Police Woman, which aired from 1974-78. He shared a pleasant chemistry with Dickinson, who starred as LAPD undercover cop Sgt. Suzanne “Pepper” Anderson, on the series’ four seasons.
………..

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/2/2024 @ 1:28 pm

This isn’t going to help Pete Hegseth’s confirmation.

Rip Murdock (b9afaa) — 11/30/2024 @ 5:25 pm

This also isn’t going to help.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/2/2024 @ 1:42 pm

With recently history of the sordid Kavanaugh hearings…

I don’t care.

whembly (477db6) — 12/2/2024 @ 1:51 pm

R.I.P. Lance Morrow, 85, journalist of the old school. His essay on September 11, 2001, written on that day:

For once, let’s have no “grief counselors” standing by with banal consolations, as if the purpose, in the midst of all this, were merely to make everyone feel better as quickly as possible. We shouldn’t feel better.

For once, let’s have no fatuous rhetoric about “healing.” Healing is inappropriate now, and dangerous. There will be time later for the tears of sorrow.

A day cannot live in infamy without the nourishment of rage. Let’s have rage.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/2/2024 @ 1:59 pm

Old: A Cabinet post!
New: A ruined career!

As any cockroach knows, the spotlight is bad.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/2/2024 @ 2:08 pm

Holliman replaced Bert Convy after the pilot to star as the macho Lt. Bill Crowley on Police Woman, which aired from 1974-78.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/2/2024 @ 1:28 pm

I didn’t know that about Convy. It’s amazes me that Convy has been dead for 33 years, even though he was born five years after Holliman. Brain cancer is a bitch.

norcal (dc4087) — 12/2/2024 @ 2:24 pm

My neighbor is going to Trump’s inauguration. He’s taking a female friend who has a tattoo on her arm of a 1911 pistol with a flag shooting out of its barrel. On the flag is “45”, in a double-reference to the caliber and Trump’s first term. She plans to add a “47” to the tattoo.

My neighbor is so delusional that he thinks Trump will use his friendship with Putin to argue on behalf of Ukraine.

The cult is alive and well.

norcal (dc4087) — 12/2/2024 @ 2:32 pm

Anyone who thinks that Trump will cajole Putin into going back to pre-invasion borders is extremely naive.

norcal (dc4087) — 12/2/2024 @ 2:35 pm

#164

I think Biden thought and said something similar after pardoning Biden.

Appalled (76e59c) — 12/2/2024 @ 2:36 pm

Hunter Biden…

Appalled (76e59c) — 12/2/2024 @ 2:37 pm

Anyone who thinks that Trump will cajole Putin into going back to pre-invasion borders is extremely naive.

It would make so many many heads explode.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/2/2024 @ 2:39 pm

Paul – I am so sorry to hear about what fentanyl did to your friends. (My apologies for not writing earlier.)

Jim Miller (4d76eb) — 12/2/2024 @ 3:16 pm

The Envy of the World

That’s the title of an Economist “special report” on the American economy, published in their October 19th issue.

Here’s a summary of the evidence from the “leader” to the report:

Over the past three decades America has left the rest of the rich world in the dust. In 1990 it accounted for about two-fifths of the GDP of the G7. Today it makes up half. Output per person is now about 30 percent higher than in western Europe and Canada, and 60 percent higher than in Japan– gaps that have roughly doubled since 1990. Mississippi may be America’s poorest state, but its hard-working residents earn, on average, more than Brits, Canadians or Germans. Lately, China too has gone backwards. Having closed in rapidly on America in the years before the pandemic, its nominal GDP has slipped from about three-quarters of America’s in 2021 to two-thirds today.

(p. 11)

The editors worry, of course, that politicians may damage our great success.

Jim Miller (4d76eb) — 12/2/2024 @ 3:35 pm

Thanks, Jim, Dustin, whembly, etc.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/2/2024 @ 4:21 pm

I didn’t know that about Convy. …….

norcal (dc4087) — 12/2/2024 @ 2:24 pm

Neither did I. He also originated the role of Cliff (a fictionalized Christopher Isherwood) in Cabaret and Perchik the Student in Fiddler on the Roof.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/2/2024 @ 4:23 pm

Cheerleaders:

The incoming Trump administration fills Russian state TV propagandists with glee. In mid-November, when president-elect Donald Trump started to announce his future appointees, state TV host Olga Skabeeva gushed, “All of them are totally wonderful!”

Evgeny Popov, Skabeeva’s husband and the co-host of Russia’s 60 Minutes, concurred, describing Trump’s picks as his “radical dream team” and gleefully noting, “All of them personally despise Zelensky.” He cautiously added, “They aren’t friends of Russia, except for Tulsi Gabbard.”

……….(S)tate TV host Vladimir Solovyov refer(s) to the former congresswoman as “our girlfriend” and agreeing with pundits who described her as “Putin’s agent.”
……….
“What an excellent team is coming along with Trump! Not with respect to Ukraine, but as far as everything else goes. If they are allowed to get in, they will quickly dismantle America, brick by brick. They are so great!” (Vladimir Solovyov on Sunday’s The Evening With Vladimir Solovyov) said.

After airing a clip of (Kash) Patel threatening to upend the FBI’s operations, Solovyov continued, “Trump’s nominee to head the FBI, Kash Patel, is simply on fire… He’s tremendous! Really, really good.”

………Appearing on The Evening With Vladimir Solovyov, (Andrey Sidorov, Dean of World Politics at the Moscow State University) said, “Trump is coming, think of him as you will. I always saw him and still see him as a destroyer of America.” ……..
……….
Now Sidorov and others believe that portions of Ukraine and even Ukraine’s capitulation would not be enough, and Trump doesn’t have anything to offer that would be valuable enough to make Russia stop its invasion. Sidorov, Solovyov and many other premier propagandists continue to assert that Ukraine as a whole should cease to exist, with its territories being absorbed by the Russian Federation.
………..
Appearing on Sunday Evening With Vladimir Solovyov, head of RT Margarita Simonyan reiterated her belief that the war will end with a nuclear “missile ultimatum” and not with negotiations. She predicted that the United States “will blink first,” especially since America will be immersed in the upcoming turmoil of Trump’s second term, exacerbated by his dangerously eccentric appointees.
………..

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/2/2024 @ 4:54 pm

@165 other people had rage before sept.11 2001. History did not start on that date and their rage continues to this day.

asset (1031fb) — 12/2/2024 @ 11:48 pm

South Korea under martial law. France’s government on the verge of collapse. England’s would already be collapsed if they cared about the will of the people.

This is the world that the plutocrats demand and the grifters have given us. And you wonder how people could vote for Trump.

NJRob (eb56c3) — 12/3/2024 @ 8:58 am

England’s would already be collapsed if they cared about the will of the people.

LOL! The “will of the people” in Britain was expressed on July 4, 2024 when the Labour Party received 411 seats in Parliament (+211) to the Conservatives 121 (-251) and the Lib Dems 72 seats (+64).

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/3/2024 @ 9:13 am

Is Yoon Suk Yeol a garbage person?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/3/2024 @ 9:23 am

Yoon Suk Yeol’s party opposes the martial law declaration.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/12/03/world/south-korea-martial-law/south-korea-martial-law-yoon?smid=url-share

Mr. Yoon’s move was also criticized by the leader of his own political party. Han Dong-hoon, the head of the People Power Party, said in a Facebook post that the president’s “martial law declaration is wrong” and that he would “work with the citizens to stop it.”

This could well be a harbinger for our future:

Elected after a close race in 2022, Mr. Yoon has been in a near-constant political standoff with the opposition, which controls the National Assembly. In a nationally televised speech on Tuesday night, he denounced the opposition for repeatedly using its majority to impeach members of his cabinet and block the passage of his government’s budget plans. This has “paralyzed the administration,” Mr. Yoon said. “The National Assembly, which should have been the foundation of free democracy, has become a monster that destroys it.”

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/3/2024 @ 9:28 am

Tit for tat:

China said on Tuesday that it would begin banning the export of several rare minerals to the United States, an escalation of the tech war between the world’s two biggest powers. The move comes a day after the Biden administration tightened Chinese access to advanced American technology.

The ban signals Beijing’s willingness to engage in supply chain warfare by blocking the export of important components used to make valuable products, like weaponry and semiconductors.

Sales of gallium, germanium, antimony and so-called superhard materials to the United States would be halted immediately on the grounds that they have dual military and civilian uses, China’s Ministry of Commerce said. The export of graphite would also be subject to stricter review.

China is central to many global supply chains, but it generally refrained from clamping down on its own exports during the first Trump administration, preferring instead to take more limited actions like buying soybeans from Brazil instead of the United States. But senior Chinese officials are worried that President-elect Donald J. Trump plans more stringent policies during his coming term in office.

Mr. Trump has promised to put hefty tariffs on goods from China and further sever the trading relationship between the countries. The move on Tuesday — one of the most aggressive steps China has taken to counter increasingly restrictive policies from the U.S. government — could foreshadow more economic conflict as Mr. Trump enters the White House.

China produces nearly all the world’s supply of critical minerals needed to make advanced technologies such as semiconductors. Beijing has been tightening its grip on the materials to retaliate for clampdowns on American technology exports to China over the past two years.

We have deposits of many of these but choose to let China mine them cheaper and without environmental controls.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/3/2024 @ 9:33 am

Free trade doesn’t exist with Communist nations trying for global domination.

Another reason Trump won

NJRob (eb56c3) — 12/3/2024 @ 9:42 am

And then we can do Syria, Lebanon and the rest of the Middle East. (And of course everyone’s favorite graft, Ukraine.)

NJRob (eb56c3) — 12/3/2024 @ 9:49 am

https://thehill.com/policy/technology/5018696-ocasio-cortez-hits-one-million-followers-bluesky/

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is the first person to hit a million followers on the social platform Bluesky, according to the platform.

Other than Bluesky’s own account, Ocasio-Cortez’s follower landmark is a first for a user, the platform told The Hill on Monday. Democrats and those on the American left have migrated to Bluesky from the similar social platform X, owned by Trump supporter and tech billionaire Elon Musk, en masse in recent weeks.

The New York Democrat remarked on the exodus in a Tuesday post on Bluesky, saying that those “leaving” X are doing so “because it’s not fun anymore and no one is obligated to be on a platform they don’t enjoy.”

An echo chamber for radical leftists.

NJRob (eb56c3) — 12/3/2024 @ 10:06 am

So, now we will have three platforms: BlueSky, X and Threads, representing Left, Right and Evil.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/3/2024 @ 10:52 am

(And of course everyone’s favorite graft, Ukraine.)

What graft?

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/3/2024 @ 11:07 am

Oh, I’m sure there is plenty of graft in Ukraine. Also, everywhere else. Piles of money attract thieves. It’s no reason to base any policy on. It’s like complaining about the tide.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/3/2024 @ 11:29 am

This could well be a harbinger for our future:

Elected after a close race in 2022, Mr. Yoon has been in a near-constant political standoff with the opposition, which controls the National Assembly. ……..

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/3/2024 @ 9:28 am

Not any time soon. I don’t see the Democrats controlling Congress in the foreseeable future.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/3/2024 @ 11:34 am

President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol has announced that he will lift the martial law declaration after the National Assembly vote.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/3/2024 @ 11:51 am

Oh, I’m sure there is plenty of graft in Ukraine.

There’s less graft in Ukraine than in Russia and 60 other nations, but Rob called it “everyone’s favorite graft”, so I’d like to know what he means by that.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/3/2024 @ 12:10 pm

so I’d like to know what he means by that.

To troll and try to push the meme culture of the Bund. Facts are the least important factor in any Bund “communication”.

Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 12/3/2024 @ 12:15 pm

President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol has announced that he will lift the martial law declaration after the National Assembly vote.

Sucks to be him.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/3/2024 @ 12:24 pm

Not any time soon. I don’t see the Democrats controlling Congress in the foreseeable future.

We will see. Donald Trump has great potential for causing a wave election at the mid-terms. Of course, which way is unclear.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/3/2024 @ 12:26 pm

@187 X is not skewed right. As CNN and Pew have noted, it’s simply less Left skewed than before.

Lefty folks are leaving for Bluesky for the same reason they used to like Twitter/X — it’s a safe space away from differing opinions. Ideological balance is just too distressing.

lloyd (fded49) — 12/3/2024 @ 12:31 pm

Can we please add “Bund” to the filter?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/3/2024 @ 12:34 pm

Biden just pardoned Hunter, as I expected.
Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/1/2024 @ 4:36 pm

Paul, curious, when did you ever comment that you expected it before it actually happened?

lloyd (fded49) — 12/3/2024 @ 12:35 pm

…..I don’t see the Democrats controlling Congress in the foreseeable future.

We will see. Donald Trump has great potential for causing a wave election at the mid-terms. Of course, which way is unclear.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/3/2024 @ 12:26 pm

Probably not the Senate. In 2026 Republicans will be defending 20 seats, mostly located in the Midwest and South, all of which are unlikely to flip to the Democrats. Georgia will probably flip to the Republicans; Jon Ossoff’s election was a freak. The Democrats will be defending only 1 seat in a state won by Harris, Maine.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/3/2024 @ 12:54 pm

@186 Our future president. The democrat party’s alternative to biden/pelosi/schumer/clinton/d.n.c. corruption.

asset (2d57a7) — 12/3/2024 @ 1:41 pm

Paul, curious, when did you ever comment that you expected it before it actually happened?

Since you never answered about where I ever endorsed political dirty tricks like what the Lincoln Project does, pass, until you answer mine.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/3/2024 @ 1:45 pm

I am gladdened by the unanimous vote of the Korean parliament to reject the Korean president’s declaration of martial law.

Hopefully this incident will give courage to all the pussy Republicans in Congress who are afraid of Trump, should Trump ever try to pull the same sh!t.

norcal (8e4e97) — 12/3/2024 @ 1:59 pm

I am gladdened by the unanimous vote of the Korean parliament to reject the Korean president’s declaration of martial law.

It was a unanimous vote of those in attendance, 190 out of 300. As far as giving courage to congressional Republicans, I doubt it will have any impact at all.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/3/2024 @ 2:07 pm

That 190 is almost exactly the same number of opposition members in the National Assembly (192).

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/3/2024 @ 2:10 pm

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/3/2024 @ 2:07 pm

Just when I break out of my default cynicism… 😉

norcal (8e4e97) — 12/3/2024 @ 2:11 pm

I am gladdened by the unanimous vote of the Korean parliament to reject the Korean president’s declaration of martial law.

Hopefully this incident will give courage to all the pussy Republicans in Congress who are afraid of Trump, should Trump ever try to pull the same sh!t.

norcal (8e4e97) — 12/3/2024 @ 1:59 pm

Your hyperbole is showing.

NJRob (eb56c3) — 12/3/2024 @ 2:22 pm

RIP legendary basketball coach Lou Carnesecca (99):

……….
A 1950 graduate of St. John’s University, Carnesecca also coached the ABA Nets for three seasons from 1970-73 before returning to his alma mater. His teams, then known as the Redmen, reached the postseason every year he was in charge, including a Final Four appearance in 1985, when three Big East schools — Villanova and Georgetown were the others — reached the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament.
……….
……….Carnesecca’s teams won 526 games and lost 200 while he sent more than a dozen players to the NBA and ABA, including Chris Mullin, Mark Jackson, Jayson Williams, Bill Wennington, Billy Paultz, George Johnson, Walter Berry and the late Malik Sealy. Carnesecca, who was voted the Big East coach of the year three times, was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992, a few months before announcing his retirement.
………..
Carnesecca had a 114-138 record with the Nets, who in those days played their games on Long Island, not far from his home. But Carnesecca never warmed to the professional game and, despite having two years remaining on his five-year, $250,000 deal, he and the Nets mutually agreed to part ways following the 1972-73 season.
………..
Following his return, Carnesecca enjoyed his greatest success. Within a few years, the Big East Conference was formed despite Carnesecca’s vehement objections. His rationale was simple. St. John’s already played the teams that would make up the original conference once a year. He didn’t want to play them twice. In addition, St. John’s was already a fixture in the NCAA Tournament. Carnesecca said he didn’t need winning a conference tournament to get him into the postseason.
……….
He had his most successful season in 1984-85 when, led by Chris Mullin, the Johnnies went 31-4 and reached the Final Four. …….
……….

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/3/2024 @ 2:26 pm

NJRob (eb56c3) — 12/3/2024 @ 2:22 pm

If Trump cites our immigration mess as a reason to impose martial law, will you oppose him or fall in line?

norcal (8e4e97) — 12/3/2024 @ 2:30 pm

It’s an absurd, hyperbolic remark without a shred of reality. I won’t play with your fevered imagination.

Trump is not the boogeyman.

NJRob (eb56c3) — 12/3/2024 @ 2:52 pm

Do you ever call out Trump’s hyperbole, Rob? If so, I haven’t seen it.

norcal (8e4e97) — 12/3/2024 @ 3:10 pm

That would be because it doesn’t bother me. I know it’s hyperbole and a show. No hyperventilating needed.

NJRob (eb56c3) — 12/3/2024 @ 3:15 pm

Since you never answered about where I ever endorsed political dirty tricks like what the Lincoln Project does, pass, until you answer mine.
Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/3/2024 @ 1:45 pm

I already know the answer to my question. I just wanted to see if you would own up to it. Apparently not, as expected.

lloyd (fded49) — 12/3/2024 @ 5:13 pm

Yes, lloyd, thank for you acknowledging that you asked your question in bad faith. You are as you comment, so you said.

Funny though, you asked me to do the work of looking what I said in the past, but you couldn’t be bothered to do the work of backing up your claim that I was “working from the same playbook as The Lincoln Project”. So you’re not only a bad faith commenter, you’re a f-cking liar, like your buddy Rob.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/3/2024 @ 6:36 pm

Paul, you lied about “bloodbath” and “they’re animals” and cybertruck deliveries to Russian warlords and heaven knows what else. Who can keep track. All documented in your comments here. You’ve also called Trump and his supporters fascists too many times to count. I suppose that’s not chapter and verse from The Lincoln Project playbook, so I apologize.

lloyd (fded49) — 12/3/2024 @ 7:26 pm

You’re lying that I’m lying, lloyd, you pathetic puke.
I’ve addressed the items you’re whining about.
As for Trump, that was explained, too, and for emphasis, Trump himself said he was a fascist, and that’s not a Lincoln Park trick.

Paul Montagu (f9a7fa) — 12/3/2024 @ 7:37 pm

11/29/2024

Weekend Open Thread

215 Responses to “Weekend Open Thread”

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