Patterico's Pontifications

Hello.

Dana (b721f7) — 12/20/2024 @ 7:56 am

It’s two separate issues, the debt ceiling and the current CR, and they shouldn’t be mushed together.

I agree with Trump, that we should kill the debt ceiling, because (1) it doesn’t constrain the growth of our debt and (2) is mostly being used as a lever to hijack the spending issue and put the full faith and credit of the US government at risk. Just get rid of it, and all that political drama.

As I recall, Speaker Johnson worked a spending deal with Democrats, Musk objected by using his platform to go on 100-tweet spree against it, then Trump directed his puppet of a Speaker to welsh on the deal. This is the chaos and incoherence that America voted for.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 8:17 am

A bit late, but welcome to the party circa 2020:
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/for-four-years-we-have-had-a-ghost-for-a-president-and-we-were-lied-to-about-it-all-along/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=homepage&utm_campaign=header&utm_content=popular&utm_term=second

whembly (477db6) — 12/20/2024 @ 8:39 am

@2

This is the ~~chaos and incoherence~~ that America voted for.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 8:17 am

You misspelled progress.

Most of the voters would rather the government shutdown, than that massive CR boondoggle they initially tried to advance.

And…lol to the complaints about Musk.

whembly (477db6) — 12/20/2024 @ 8:41 am

A group of conservative lawmakers are floating the idea of replacing Speaker of the House Mike Johnson with billionaire Elon Musk.

There is no way that Musk wants this kind of time-suck.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 8:50 am

You misspelled progress.

Paul’ll admit that Trump won, but only so far as that. The voters, he thinks, will realize that they made a mistake and that High Statism and Socialism were really the way forward. They didn’t really want change.

Meanwhile, Peggy Noonan gets it.

Twenty sixteen always felt like something that happened. Twenty twenty-four was a decision.

Then again:

What do you expect from Trump 2.0? Nonstop 24/7 Hellzapoppin.

But that’s what the voters wanted: Huge Changes.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 8:56 am

But that’s what the voters wanted: Huge Changes.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 8:56 am

Voters (and Trump) won’t get their “huge changes” if they are stymied in the Senate by Democrat filibusters, especially if the Republican majority has the power to end them by a simple majority.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/20/2024 @ 9:11 am

The voters, he thinks, will realize that they made a mistake and that High Statism and Socialism were really the way forward.

As they say, Kevin, mindreading is an intellectually lazy and dishonest practice. Don’t be intellectually lazy and dishonest. Or that asshole.

whembly, Musk is the guy who lied about the CR containing a outlay for bioweapons, and he’s the guy who said this about a German Nazi-adjacent political party…

“Only the AfD can save Germany”

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 9:12 am

I actually think that we should refuse to raise the debt ceiling. At worst, the next increase should carry a rule that future debt increases require a 2/3rds vote of each House. Then cut, cut, cut. There is plenty that could be cut.

The military is bloated and defense procurement enables the worst gold-plating and incompetent “Yoyodyne” contractors.

The demanded medical procedures under the ACA and other federally-provided or subsidized programs drive up costs. Just looking at what happened to UNsubsidized ACA plans each time these requirements are “upgraded” and you can see the costs firsthand. Things to drop: transgender services, drug treatment after the first (2nd? 3rd?) time, experimental drugs for non-life-threatening illnesses (this would affect me). Perhaps more restrictions on Medicaid than other programs.

Consolidation of numerous micro-programs that spend mostly on government employees instead of program services. Privatizing whatever can be privatized, like the Post Office and maybe the Forest Service. Get rid of legacy functions that have served their purpose (do we really need Rural Electrification or to teach farmers how to rotate crops?).

Departments of Ed, Labor, Commerce, Energy and HUD can mostly close. The V.A. can be privatized, or Veterans healthcare can be like Medicare. Hospitals dealing with war wounds can be run by Kaiser more efficiently and deliver better care.

The EPA can lose some authority. Other regulators can also be curtailed or moved to the private sector. We don’t have an Electrical Safety Agency, we have U.L. and it works better than any government agency ever did.

We may not be able to run the government on tariffs and user fees, but we don’t have to spend in deficit either.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 9:19 am

As they say, Kevin, mindreading is an intellectually lazy and dishonest practice. Don’t be intellectually lazy and dishonest. Or that asshole.

I’m not mind-reading, I am simply distilling your entire thread of posting over the last several years. You favor a top-down government of “experts” and distrust the people in general. Could you please point to a post of yours that suggests otherwise?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 9:21 am

“Only the AfD can save Germany”

He’s wrong, of course. Right now NOTHING can save Germany.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 9:22 am

Also, Paul, I’ve never called you names. Please refrain from that particular rule-breaking.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 9:25 am

whembly (477db6) — 12/20/2024 @ 8:39 am

LOL and many wanted four more years of it.

Only those who relied on bubble media were lied to. Those outside the echo chamber knew the truth the whole time.

lloyd (60a84b) — 12/20/2024 @ 9:27 am

Speaking of bubble media….

Major reason ABC caved to $16M settlement with Trump… and it’s all because of ‘sloppy’ George Stephanopoulos’ phone

ABC chose to settle with Donald Trump over George Stephanopoulos’ on-air comments because they didn’t want the star anchor, who is ‘sloppy electronically,’ to come under further scrutiny.

Stephanopoulos was the impetus behind a lawsuit after he inaccurately said on-air that the president-elect was found ‘liable for rape’ – rather than the correct phrasing of sexual abuse – against writer E. Jean Carroll in March.

‘He is sloppy electronically,’ a source told Puck of Stephanopoulos, somewhat ironically, as Trump once referred to him as ‘Slopadopoulos.’

More seriously, however, the source claimed: ‘They didn’t want the phone going into discovery.’

The case going further could’ve forced Stephanopoulos to give over his mobile devices and have his text messages and emails made public.

The network confirmed reports that the anchor has signed a new, multi-year contract with the network but sources told the website it comes with a pay cut from his $20-25 million-per-year and the possibility that eventually his role will be reduced.

Other reasons cited for the settlement included the likelihood that a pro-Trump judge and jury in Florida was likely to rule against them and being seen as at war with a sitting president while trying to cover him.

Oh, the irony. Fearing a biased FL judge and jury pertaining to a case decided by a NYC judge and jury nobody was allowed to claim were biased.

And, a $15M settlement is an embarrassment to ABC News but paying a partisan hack $20M/yr to be a newsman is not.

lloyd (60a84b) — 12/20/2024 @ 9:36 am

The Supreme Court has agreed to review the upcoming ban on TikTok:

……….
With the ban set to take effect Jan. 19, the court scheduled fast-track oral arguments for Jan. 10 on whether the law violates the First Amendment.

The justices’ move, which comes two days after TikTok and a group of content creators sought their intervention, breathes new life into the challengers’ legal prospects. The court was under no obligation to hear the case. Earlier this month, an appeals court upheld the ban, concluding that the government had a valid and lawful basis for taking action.
……….
TikTok argues the ban is a “massive and unprecedented speech restriction” that Congress hastily enacted based on speculative and overblown fears about China.

It says a ban isn’t necessary to seal off TikTok from Chinese intrusion. The company says it spent $2 billion walling off U.S. user data on Oracle-owned U.S.-based servers. Congress, it says, also failed to consider less drastic alternatives to address concerns about covert content manipulation, such as a warning label posted on the platform cautioning users about China’s potential influence.

A group of eight content creators also sued, arguing the ban threatens to eliminate a “quintessential marketplace of ideas.” The American Civil Liberties Union and free-speech organizations have taken TikTok’s side, likening the ban to a prior restraint on speech that courts typically reject.
………..
Government lawyers have analogized the ban to longstanding restrictions on granting radio licenses to foreign-owned corporations and efforts to eliminate Chinese links to U.S. telecommunications infrastructure.

Outgoing Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell filed his own brief at the high court, urging the justices to leave the ban in place. “The topsy-turvy idea that TikTok has an expressive right to facilitate” Chinese censorship, McConnell said, “is absurd.”

The Supreme Court will be deciding the high-stakes case on a compressed timeline that is far different from how it normally operates. Litigants typically spend months on legal briefs and other preparations, and the justices can then spend months crafting a decision. Here, the parties’ lawyers will have to scramble during the holidays; the court ordered that all written briefing be completed by Jan. 3.

If the court doesn’t delay or derail the ban, which takes effect on the eve of the inauguration, the focus could shift to President-elect Donald Trump. He originally supported a ban in his first term, but appeared to shift his view during his latest presidential campaign. “We’ll take a look at TikTok,” he said at a Monday press conference.

Trump can’t unilaterally wipe away an act of Congress, though the law does allow the president to lift the ban if his administration determines the site is no longer under Chinese control.
…………

Former Dodger owner and real estate developer Frank McCourt (among others, such as former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin) has put together an “informal” $20B offer to buy TikTok, but even he admits that “we don’t know what ByteDance is selling.” It is likely that the Chinese government would prohibit a sale citing export control regulations, intellectual property rights, and/or national security concerns.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/20/2024 @ 9:40 am

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 9:19 am

Your suggestions would only have a marginal impact on reducing government debt. Medicare and Medicaid need a whack too. Health care costs are a major driver of the government debt.

One of the largest drivers of that rising debt is federal spending on major healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid. Such spending is projected to rise by 73 percent over the next decade and will exceed all other categories of federal spending in 2028. By 2054, such spending will account for 30 percent of total federal outlays, exceeding the total amount spent on discretionary programs, such as defense and education, by 51 percent.
……….
……….(P)art of the growth in federal healthcare spending is due to the aging of the population, which increases enrollment in programs such as Medicare. At the same time, spending may also grow due to the general growth in the economy, because as economic output rises, so too may the cost of healthcare. Additional cost growth captures the growth per capita in healthcare spending above and beyond what is already accounted for by demographic changes and the growth in the economy.
……….
Because about 45 percent of healthcare spending is financed through government programs, additional cost growth will have important spending ramifications for the federal government. Over the next 30 years, federal spending on healthcare (not including offsetting receipts of premiums) is projected to climb from 6.3 percent of GDP in 2024 to 9.8 percent in 2054. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), about two-thirds of that growth is due to additional cost growth.
……….
……….(C)onstraining healthcare costs would reduce federal spending on healthcare and decrease budget deficits — making the nation’s fiscal outlook more manageable. In fact, if federal healthcare spending grew at about the same rate as the economy, gross spending on healthcare by the federal government would only be 7.2 percent of GDP by 2054 — a 27 percent reduction from its current projected level. That reduction in federal spending would likely ease pressure on the nation’s fiscal picture. For example, instead of debt held by the public growing to 166 percent of GDP in 2054 as projected under current law, in a scenario where additional cost growth is eliminated immediately, the projected debt-to-GDP ratio would be around 20 to 25 percentage points lower (such an estimate does not account for the effects of reduced spending and lower deficits on the economy).
………

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/20/2024 @ 9:49 am

Medicare and Medicaid need a whack too. Health care costs are a major driver of the government debt.

Gee, that’s probably why I specifically mentioned them.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 10:03 am

One thing I’ve noticed: The MSM are treating GOP arguments as if they were mainstream, some thing they have not done a lot of recently. E.g.

The president-elect wants to raise or suspend the nation’s borrowing limit as part of any deal to keep the government open past midnight, but conservatives have long pledged not make any such moves without spending cuts.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 10:05 am

I am simply distilling your entire thread of posting over the last several years.

You said “he thinks”, Kevin, and you’ve lied about what I’ve written in the past, more than once. Take ownership of your lying assholery.

Brit Hume, a Trump supporter and certainly not on the side of High Statism and Socialism…

Speaker Johnson is getting the blame for the failure of the bills to keep the government open. But how about the team of Trump, Musk & Co? They shot down the first bill. Too full of pork, they said. They demanded a streamlined bill. Johnson produced one and put it on the floor. It failed miserably, with three dozen House Republicans voting against it. Way to go guys.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 10:12 am

Also, Paul, I’ve never called you names. Please refrain from that particular rule-breaking.

I don’t take orders from lying d0uchebags like you, especially when you started with lying about “he thinks”.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 10:21 am

Paul knows he’ll never get moderated.

lloyd (d03779) — 12/20/2024 @ 10:45 am

young Chinese man named Wang Jingyu, who portrayed himself as a brave dissident standing up to Communist Party repression.

I think he’s not the only one.

But hat is he?

In Syria a person involved in torture pretended to be a prisoner somehow left in a single locked cell in an almost or entirely empty jail – it was all on CNN.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/big-fake-job-prisoner-cnn-helped-free-from-syrian-prison-was-a-notorious-assad-regime-torturer-elon-musk-reacts/articleshow/116412149.cms?from=mdr

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 12/20/2024 @ 10:53 am

whembly (#4):

Most of the voters would rather the government shutdown, than that massive CR boondoggle they initially tried to advance.

And…lol to the complaints about Musk.

Every time there is a government shutdown, the Congress gets blamed. The one time Pelosi/Schumer tried it in the Trump administration, they took the hit, so it’s not just the GOP. Most folks understand that keeping the government funded is the job of Congress, and resent the fumbling.

It’s a long time to the next election. However, it looks like the GOP is destined for some more infighting and stupid wrangling. Musk is the Matt Gaetz of this drama cycle — he’s got the upper hand briefly and we may be graced with a speakerless House for a few weeks as a result. Remember, though, in a good year for the GOP, they lost a seat in the house. You think the Stupid they have done for the last couple of years has nothing to do with that? You think the House GOP might just see Musk as a handy target — particularly if Trump nudges him aside?

Appalled (f0f874) — 12/20/2024 @ 10:59 am

No one seems to be blaming the current president for the shutdown.

lloyd (b4a125) — 12/20/2024 @ 11:17 am

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 8:17 am

It’s two separate issues, the debt ceiling and the current CR, and they shouldn’t be mushed together.

They belong together because they are basically the same ting: Must-pass bills (the debt ceiling more than the continuing resolution)

Trump was actually right in what it said about the debt ceiling. It suited him here to tell the truth.

As I recall, Speaker Johnson worked a spending deal with Democrats,

It contained some non-spending riders, like throwing out a requirement that members of Congress buy health insurance in an Affordable Care Exchange; adding to the duties of the assistant secretary of commerce for travel and tourism to promote music tourism; allowing E15 ethanol to be sold all year round including the June to September period; imposing new restrictions on Pharmacy Benefit managers with the idea of discouraging them from steering patients to more expensive drugs; more restrictions in what kind of technology U.S. companies could invest in in China (they have to give away their trade secrets); transferring control of RFK stadium from the federal government to D.C, (not, as Elon Musk tweeted, directly a spending measure but it would allow the local DC government to facilitate the moving of the Washington Commanders {ex Redskins} football team from a stadium in Maryland; and criminalizing the publication of “nonconsensual intimate visual depictions” including fakes, and requiring social media platforms to have procedures in place to remove them after being notified.

but there were also some things some people wanted to get in that were left out, like a mandate to keep AM radio in electric cars, which the proponents said actually gained support for the measure.

Musk objected by using his platform to go on 100-tweet spree

Well over 100.

against it, then Trump directed his puppet of a Speaker to welsh on the deal.

Speaker Johnson tried to argue with Musk. The rug was pulled out from him by some members of Congress. Then he tried 11-page bill that only had ffew things added like disaster relief and an increase in the level of farm aid (the farm bill was dying) but also included an elimination of the debt ceiling till after the next Congress (till January 30, 2027)

Lost was a Congressional cost of living pay raise by adding language left out this year that excluded members of Congress from COLA .

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 12/20/2024 @ 11:20 am

Kevin Williamson has been nailing it even more of late.

In the United States, things are looking a little different: Unless a deal is worked out and passed, government spending authority will lapse at one minute after midnight this evening. Donald Trump, who before entering politics had been an incompetent businessman who went to bankruptcy court even more often than he has been to divorce court, loves debt and wants Congress to revoke the statutory limit on federal debt as part of a deal to keep the government operating; short of that, he wants the debt ceiling raised before he enters office for purely political reasons as he himself frankly concedes, i.e., so that he can avoid the embarrassment of having to sign a debt-ceiling increase on his own watch. Hence, U.S. public finances are being held hostage to the petty vanity of an economic imbecile. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson—who, for his many mortal sins, absolutely deserves to be leading the Republican caucus—had already negotiated a deal with Democrats, and Democrats are not especially keen on giving up that deal for one that would be, from their point of view, inferior.
[…]
Under a debt-loving Republican president such as Trump and congressional Republicans who are afraid to assert themselves against him in any case and have almost no incentive to do so in the pursuit of unpopular policies (which budget-balancing measures always will be) or under a Democratic trifecta (in which no one would have any particular incentive to cut anything, though they might raise some taxes very modestly), the political pressure to impose fiscal discipline will never be half as strong as the pressure to keep borrowing and spending and keeping the gravy-train rolling down the tracks until it derails, which might not be for a very long time—or at least not until after the next election.

So what we most need is a way to manage our fiscal affairs without lurching from crisis to crisis—and what we do not have is a powerful political incentive to manage our fiscal affairs without lurching from crisis to crisis.

So far, the crises mostly haven’t been that bad. The occasional shutdown reminds the world that the United States is a country that is powerful not because it is governed well but because it is rich, and that the United States is rich in spite of its not being governed very well at all since around the time of the Eisenhower administration. In response, the world shrugs and sniffs and makes rueful little noises and wishes that its GDP/capita were more like ours and then goes on stockpiling dollars and investing in U.S.-based assets.

But that won’t be true forever.

Everybody knows what needs to be done. Nobody will do it. Anybody who tried to do it probably would suffer political annihilation at the next election. After the trainwreck, Americans will be looking around for someone to blame. They won’t need to look far.

The senescent Biden did nothing, and cutting discretionary spending under Trump is a band-aid.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 11:21 am

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 8:17 am

It’s two separate issues, the debt ceiling and the current CR, and they shouldn’t be mushed together.

They belong together because they are basically the same ting: Must-pass bills (the debt ceiling more than the continuing resolution)

Trump was actually right in what he said about the debt ceiling. It suited him here to tell the truth.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 12/20/2024 @ 11:22 am

As I recall, Speaker Johnson worked a spending deal with Democrats,

It also contained some non-spending riders, like throwing out a requirement that members of Congress buy health insurance in an Affordable Care Exchange; adding to the duties of the assistant secretary of commerce for travel and tourism to promote music tourism; allowing E15 ethanol to be sold all year round including the June to September period; imposing new restrictions on Pharmacy Benefit managers with the idea of discouraging them from steering patients to more expensive drugs; more restrictions in what kind of technology U.S. companies could invest in in China (they have to give away their trade secrets); transferring control of RFK stadium from the federal government to D.C, (not, as Elon Musk tweeted, directly a spending measure but it would allow the local DC government to facilitate the moving of the Washington Commanders {ex Redskins} football team from a stadium in Maryland; and criminalizing the publication of personalized porn including fakes, also requiring social media platforms to have procedures in place to remove them after being notified.

but there were also some things some people wanted to get in that were left out, like a mandate to keep AM radio in electric cars, which the proponents said actually gained support for the measure.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 12/20/2024 @ 11:25 am

Musk objected by using his platform to go on 100-tweet spree

Well over 100.

against it, then Trump directed his puppet of a Speaker to welsh on the deal.

Speaker Johnson tried to argue with Musk. The rug was pulled out from him by some members of Congress. Then he tried 115-page bill that only had ffew things added like disaster relief and an increase in the level of farm aid (the farm bill was dying) but also included an elimination of the debt ceiling till after the next Congress (till January 30, 2027)

Lost was a Congressional cost of living pay raise by adding language left out this year that excluded members of Congress from COLA .

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 12/20/2024 @ 11:27 am

The post before last describing some of the contents of the first continuing resolution went into moderation for some reason.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 12/20/2024 @ 11:28 am

#24

Why should anyone blame Biden?

Appalled (654f9d) — 12/20/2024 @ 11:31 am

Trump seems to be busy dividing his time between choosing people to appoint acting as the Sage of Mar-a-Lago, perhaps something like a more or less friendly Arabian royal court, planning executive orders to issue on January 21 and engaging in diplomacy.

Meanwhile Biden is busy with pardons and with diplomacy.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 12/20/2024 @ 11:32 am

lloyd (d03779) — 12/20/2024 @ 10:45 am

The most important rule in Patterico’s commenting rules is this:

That leads me to the key principle: DO NOT MISCHARACTERIZE OTHER PEOPLE’S POSITIONS. Also, do not mischaracterize other people’s positions. One more thing: do not mischaracterize other people’s positions.

Why the most important? Because said it was his “key principle”, and because he said it three times, with emphasis, in a stand-alone paragraph.

I don’t like responding like this, but I’ll reserve the right to punch back. I wouldn’t have said any of this had Kevin respected the rules in the first place.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 11:32 am

You said “he thinks”, Kevin, and you’ve lied about what I’ve written in the past, more than once. Take ownership of your lying assholery.

Dana,

Are we really going to tolerate Paul calling everyone an asshole? Everyone seems to lie about him, too.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 11:35 am

DO NOT MISCHARACTERIZE OTHER PEOPLE’S POSITIONS.

I ask you, folks. Is it a mischaracterization of Paul’s positions that he favors statism and “experts” over the votes and opinions of the people? To me, it’s his raison d’etre.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 11:37 am

They belong together because they are basically the same ting: Must-pass bills (the debt ceiling more than the continuing resolution).

Sammy, I agree that both are must-pass bills, but one is necessary (the CRs to keep the government open) and one can eliminated by adiosing the debt ceiling. The latter is an artificial construction, created by a 107-year old law that can be canceled by law, a law that’s basically been utilized of late for political hostage-taking by my party.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 11:39 am

The jury accepted as more likely true than not that Trump did what he claimed he did in the Access Hollywood tape, only without consent, but not that he did worse. And he was warned by his producer not to use the word rape.

Now Mark Simone says that Trump rarely visited Bergdorf Goodman and only in the Men’s section and never alone and never without salespeople crowding around him and what he was accused of closely resembles a plot in a TV show.

And also nobody would be left alone on floor like E Jean Carroll says

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 12/20/2024 @ 11:47 am

Why should anyone blame Biden?
Appalled (654f9d) — 12/20/2024 @ 11:31 am

Yeah, you’re right. It makes much more sense to blame Elon.

lloyd (b4a125) — 12/20/2024 @ 11:48 am

Is it a mischaracterization of Paul’s positions that he favors statism and “experts” over the votes and opinions of the people?

You see, that’s your problem, Kevin. You make these assertions without quoting a single thing I said. That is your mischaracterization, which you apparently can’t stop doing.

You said that I favored “High Statism and Socialism”. Oxford defines “statism” as “based on or supporting a political system in which the central government controls social and economic affairs”, so your comment is a lie, because I never expressed support for such a thing. I’ve operated for practically my whole adult life as a Reagan Republican, which is the opposite of statism. Stop lying and making sh-t up, Kevin, and I’ll be civil with in return.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 11:48 am

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 11:39 am

Sammy, I agree that both are must-pass bills, but one is necessary (the CRs to keep the government open) and one can eliminated by adiosing the debt ceiling.

That’s Trump’s position now.

It could be eliminated by authorizing any amount of borrowing. Borrowing must he authorized, according to the constitution, but the Treasury can be authoeized to borrow what it needs.

a law that’s basically been utilized of late for political hostage-taking by my party.

Congress has a variety of such hostages. You can call it train-wreck legislation. There’s a lot of it in Congress.

And then the Budget law results in the creation of more in the form of expiring tax cuts, (they often balance by sunsetting provisions in the out years)

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 12/20/2024 @ 11:54 am

Medicare and Medicaid need a whack too. Health care costs are a major driver of the government debt.

Gee, that’s probably why I specifically mentioned them.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 10:03 am

The only mention of Medicare in your initial post was as a prototype for the VA medical system; there was no mention of the need to cut costs.

Rip Murdock (65dfe5) — 12/20/2024 @ 12:06 pm

Are we really going to tolerate Paul calling everyone an asshole?

Even that’s a lie. I said you’re an asshole, not “everyone”, because you can’t stop lying.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 12:10 pm

#36 Lloyd:

That’s not an answer. I can imagine a conversation in the Lloyd house:

Wife: Lloyd, why did you buy that big honking SUV?

Loyd: why don’t you ask your Mother, she has all the answers.

In the meantime, there is a huge load of stuff you need to haul in the back yard. But you are still missing half your teeth because the wife was ironing your clothes and the iron was handy….

Appalled (4104ab) — 12/20/2024 @ 12:10 pm

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 12/20/2024 @ 11:54 am

Why not just mint a trillion dollar coin?

Rip Murdock (65dfe5) — 12/20/2024 @ 12:10 pm

Even that’s a lie. I said you’re an asshole, not “everyone”, because you can’t stop lying.

Shall I go back and find the others? What will you give me?

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

Why not just mint a trillion dollar coin?

How about a $40 trillion coin? I hate half measures.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 12:21 pm

Egyptian Student In US Nabbed For Plotting ‘Mass Casualty’ Attack On NYC Jews

The FBI arrested Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan, an 18-year-old George Mason University student living in Falls Church, Virginia, on Tuesday for allegedly operating multiple online accounts that praised ISIS and Al-Qaeda, according to court documents. The foreign national was allegedly plotting an attack on Israel’s General Consulate in New York City, a city he described as “a goldmine of targets.”

During the FBI’s investigation, a confidential human source within the agency engaged with Hassan on X, Telegram, Instagram and other online platforms, according to court documents. In these exchanges, Hassan bragged to the FBI source about ISIS growth in Afghanistan and West Africa, provided instructions on how to join ISIS, gave advice on how to create a martyrdom video and attempted to recruit the source to conduct a mass casualty attack.In

Great work, FBI! Oh wait….

Hassan’s extremist activity had already been known by federal law enforcement officials for at least two years. Court documents show he had been previously interviewed by the FBI in 2022, when he was a minor, for his online support of ISIS.

The Egyptian national is currently in deportation proceedings with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). A statement from the agency suggests his deportation proceedings began in 2022 after his alleged online support for ISIS was first uncovered.

“Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan lawfully entered into the United States July 18, 2022, by presenting himself to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers when he arrived at Dulles, Virginia,” an ICE spokesperson said in a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Homeland Security Investigations Washington, D.C. issued Hassan a notice to appear in front of an immigration judge Oct. 6, 2022, after Hassan failed to abide by the terms of his visa. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations lodged an immigration detainer Dec. 17 with the U.S. Marshals Service in Alexandria, Virginia.”

This dude’s terroristic views were know from the get go, yet he was allowed to live in the US for two years. ICE didn’t even break a sweat to get him deported.

What an incompetent America Last POS administration. And folks wanted to give it another four years.

lloyd (d03779) — 12/20/2024 @ 12:21 pm

I don’t take orders from lying d0uchebags like you, especially when you started with lying about “he thinks”.

Dana,

If there are no rules here, I will respond to this crap in kind.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 12:24 pm

You favor a top-down government of “experts” and distrust the people in general. Could you please point to a post of yours that suggests otherwise?

One more time, Kevin, you’re burden-shifting and engaging in bad faith, like the lying sack of sh-t you are.
You made the claim, so you do the work. You’re the one who’s responsible for presenting a comment of mine that it is that “favor a top-down government of ‘experts’ and distrust the people in general”, not me.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 12:26 pm

As far as I can tell, Paul’s attitude is this:

If Paul, in his absolute judgement, feels someone has mischaracterized his position, he is free to call them names, assert they are liars and whatever his angry mind can spew.

Ad hominum is his standard response these days to people who he feelz don’t treat him good.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 12:27 pm

@41 A conversation in the Appalled house:

Appalled: “The dump truck didn’t pick up our trash. Did you punish little Johnny?”

Wife: “Why not call the sanitation company and complain? Our son doesn’t drive the dump truck.”

Appalled: “That’s not an answer. Let me tell you a dumb analogy so you’ll understand, bltch.”

lloyd (d03779) — 12/20/2024 @ 12:28 pm

Shall I go back and find the others? What will you give me?

You haven’t found a single goddam thing, let alone “other”, and that’s a you problem. Do you even understand what the word “everyone” means? Seems not.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 12:28 pm

But here, Paul:

This is the chaos and incoherence that America voted for.

Tell me how this respects the people. Tell me how this doesn’t show a preference for order and direction from on high. This is pure, unadulterated poor-loser bile.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 12:31 pm

If Paul, in his absolute judgement, feels someone has mischaracterized his position, he is free to call them names, assert they are liars and whatever his angry mind can spew.

It’s not about my feelings, Kevin, it’s about your false and dishonest claims about what I’ve said, which continue to not back up. I didn’t link back to the Patterico’s commenting rules for no reason.
Do you even understand that it’s not okay to make sh-t up about other people without a shred of evidence? Seems not.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 12:33 pm

Other people you call a liar and other names: NJRob & Lloyd, at least recently. There aren’t a lot of people left here with all the angry BS flying back and forth.

I will point out,m again, that I have never called you a liar, and asshole, a douchebag, or any other name, save perhaps for “socialist” and even then I was referring to my inferences from some of your posts.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 12:35 pm

Do you even understand that it’s not okay to make sh-t up about other people without a shred of evidence? Seems not.

I could provide evidence all day and you would just deny it’s evidence.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 12:36 pm

Tell me how this respects the people.

You don’t read or understand good, Kevin. My comment was an acceptance and acknowledgement that the American people voted for this, because they did. It is what it is. There was no other ulterior message, except the one made up by you.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 12:36 pm

I didn’t link back to the Patterico’s commenting rules for no reason.

Here’s the thing: “mischaracterization” is a subjective feeling. It is neither provable nor disprovable most of the time.

But do you deny calling me an asshole or a douchebag? Those are concrete things, and they ARE against the rules of civil commenting.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 12:38 pm

I could provide evidence all day and you would just deny it’s evidence.

Yet you haven’t done it, not one single time.
So man up, Kevin, back up your assertion for once. Start with your lie that I was “OK with the Steele Memorandum that Hillary was flogging”.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 12:40 pm

There was no other ulterior message, except the one made up by you.

Ah, you are one of those people who think that their thinking behind their posts are evident to all, and that no one might dare construe them some other way, nor use your clear and unmistakable unhappiness with the electoral outcome to inform your words?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 12:41 pm

Yet you haven’t done it, not one single time.

I did at 51 and, LIKE I SAID, you just deny it is evidence EVEN THOUGH it was the post that I was responding to.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 12:41 pm

Paul, you’ve called me “asshole” and other names more than once. No, I’m not going to dig them up. If you want to lie and deny it, that would be totally on-brand.

lloyd (a54f4c) — 12/20/2024 @ 12:42 pm

Start with your lie that I was “OK with the Steele Memorandum that Hillary was flogging”.

Man, do you water your grudges?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 12:43 pm

Here’s the thing: “mischaracterization” is a subjective feeling. It is neither provable nor disprovable most of the time.

There you go, Kevin, using your own personal definition of a word to rationalize your lies and get yourself off the hook.
Cambridge defines “mischaracterization” as “the act of describing a situation, event, or person wrongly”. You described by commenting history wrongly and, so far, you’ve not done a single thing to back up your multiple mischaracterizations.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 12:46 pm

No one seems to be blaming the current president for the shutdown.

lloyd (b4a125) — 12/20/2024 @ 11:17 am

I doubt Biden has any influence over the Republican majority in the House.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/20/2024 @ 12:52 pm

“the act of describing a situation, event, or person wrongly”

Whether it is right or wrong is not a 2-value test.

If I said: “Paul called me an asshole” I don’t have to look far for absolute, irrefutable proof.

If I said” “Paul consistently takes a statist view”, well that is my impression and you *might* think my impression is wrong, and it *may* even be a mischaracterization, but it is not actually provable one way or the other. Further, MY IMPRESSION isn’t something that needs proof.

If Klink says that everyone who likes Trump is a Nazi, well that’s his opinion. I don’t much care for it and have said so, even though I don’t like Trump. Some it appears are OK with it, even though it is likely (but not provably) a mischaracterization.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 12:55 pm

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/20/2024 @ 12:52 pm

So there’s a rule that Democrats in Congress must vote nay on any majority CR? I learn so much here.

lloyd (a54f4c) — 12/20/2024 @ 12:58 pm

Lloyd:

What did we learn with the game of analogy?

That you believe that the lamest lame duck Democratic President evah can force House Republicans to agree to a budget proposal opposed by their billionaire leadership. If only…

I appreciate the answer. And note that I would have ended up with less teeth in your example than I left you with in my example.

Appalled (f0f874) — 12/20/2024 @ 1:00 pm

Plan C:

………..
Discussions in the GOP focused on holding separate votes on different portions of the package, rather than one catchall bill. Two people familiar with the party’s thinking said the votes would likely be divided into three sections: funding federal agencies for three months; providing disaster relief; and aiding farmers.

Under the approach, lawmakers would pledge to raise the debt ceiling and cut spending next year, but not vote on it now. President-elect Donald Trump has demanded that lawmakers vote to raise the borrowing cap before he takes office.

…….. “We will not have a government shutdown,” (Speaker Mike Johnson) said, promising final details soon.
……..
The last-minute scramble highlighted the problems Republicans have had for two years in unifying behind bills funding the federal government. Democrats expressed their exasperation and said the responsibility for clearing up the mess lies with their GOP colleagues.
………
The GOP setbacks raised doubts about the future for Johnson, who until this week had been seen as a shoo-in to be elected speaker when the new House votes on Jan. 3. Now, several GOP lawmakers are indicating they would oppose him, given his handling of the stopgap bill.
………

……..lawmakers would pledge to raise the debt ceiling and cut spending next year……

Uh huh; who hasn’t heard that before. Any “pledge” is unenforceable without consequences for not following through; certainly the Democrats wouldn’t agree. And the number of Republicans who oppose raising the debt ceiling on principle won’t change whether they vote in 2024 or 2025.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/20/2024 @ 1:04 pm

‘At least 60-80’ are injured as car ploughs into crowd of people at Christmas market in Germany

A car drove into a group of people at a Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg on Friday, leaving at least one person dead and between 60 and 80 people injured.

The driver of the car, reported to be a dark BMW, was arrested following the crash which took place at 7:04pm today, according to unidentified government officials in the state of Saxony-Anhalt who spoke to the dpa news agency.

My guess is we’ll know a lot about the car, and not so much about the person driving it until authorities feel we’re “ready” to know it. But, let’s wait for the facts of course.

lloyd (a54f4c) — 12/20/2024 @ 1:06 pm

@67 @68 Count Appalled as another one who knew about the rule, and I didn’t!

lloyd (a54f4c) — 12/20/2024 @ 1:08 pm

So there’s a rule that Democrats in Congress must vote nay on any majority CR? I learn so much here.

lloyd (a54f4c) — 12/20/2024 @ 12:58 pm

Unless the Democrats get something they want, yes. As others have mentioned, it’s called compromise.

But the Republicans hold the majority in the House, so there is no reason for Democratic support. Passing major bills with Democrat votes cost Kevin McCarthy his job, and will probably cost Johnson his.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/20/2024 @ 1:16 pm

It was Speaker Johnson’s (bad) decision to use a procedure that requires a supermajority vote (2/3) to pass the CR.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/20/2024 @ 1:21 pm

@72 No Rip, it’s called a double standard.

lloyd (a54f4c) — 12/20/2024 @ 1:23 pm

Netanyahu won’t attend Auschwitz liberation anniversary event, fearing arrest by Poland

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will reportedly avoid traveling to Poland for next month’s events marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp, fearing he may be arrested.

The major event is planned for International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27 and is expected to be attended by dozens of leaders and heads of state, including Britain’s King Charles.

According to Polish outlet Rzeczpospolita, Israeli authorities haven’t contacted their Polish counterparts about attending the event, and officials in Warsaw believe the reason is related to Poland’s stance that it will adhere to the ICC’s arrest warrant for Netanyahu over possible war crimes in the Gaza war.

The report also says President Isaac Herzog does not plan to attend the event.

The US should not attend either unless the Polish government makes a clear statement that Israeli leaders not not subject to arrest. OTOH, Netanyahu could attend and suggest that Poland needs to reflect on its history.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 1:29 pm

@70 Now, at least 11 dead in Magdeburg, according to Daily Mail.

Saxony Anhalt Prime Minister Reiner Haselhoff shared more information regarding the suspect following his arrest.

The alleged driver is said to be 50-year-old, who is originally from Saudi Arabia. The man is believed to have first come to Germany in 2006.

It has also been said that he worked as a doctor, according to the PM.

Police have said they are not currently looking for any other suspects in relation to the crash.

lloyd (a54f4c) — 12/20/2024 @ 1:31 pm

@72 No Rip, it’s called a double standard.

lloyd (a54f4c) — 12/20/2024 @ 1:23 pm

Right, I’m sure the Republicans would have bailed out Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats. 🤣🤣🤣

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/20/2024 @ 1:35 pm

“Right, I’m sure the Republicans would have bailed out Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats.”

And if they didn’t, I’m sure you would’ve blamed them and not the Democrats.

lloyd (a54f4c) — 12/20/2024 @ 1:37 pm

It also shows that the Democrats in the House are far more disciplined and unified even as a minority.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/20/2024 @ 1:38 pm

“Right, I’m sure the Republicans would have bailed out Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats.”

And if they didn’t, I’m sure you would’ve blamed them and not the Democrats.

lloyd (a54f4c) — 12/20/2024 @ 1:37 pm

Actually I would have praised the Republicans for not bailing out the Democrats.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/20/2024 @ 1:39 pm

lloyd (a54f4c) — 12/20/2024 @ 1:37 pm

As I’ve pointed out multiple times, the Republicans are in the House majority, and they should govern like a majority party.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/20/2024 @ 1:40 pm

Actually I would have praised the Republicans for not bailing out the Democrats.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/20/2024 @ 1:39 pm

Comedy gold!

lloyd (a54f4c) — 12/20/2024 @ 1:44 pm

As I’ve pointed out multiple times, the Republicans are in the House majority, and they should govern like a majority party.

It’s not exactly like Sam Rayburn and his 130 vote majority

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 1:44 pm

As I’ve pointed out multiple times, the Republicans are in the House majority, and they should govern like a majority party.

It’s not exactly like Sam Rayburn and his 130 vote majority

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 1:44 pm

The House leadership should negotiating with the various House Republican factions (and Trump); not the Democrats.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/20/2024 @ 1:48 pm

The car in Magdeburg had an explosive device, again according to DM.

lloyd (a54f4c) — 12/20/2024 @ 1:59 pm

If I said” “Paul consistently takes a statist view”, well that is my impression and you *might* think my impression is wrong, and it *may* even be a mischaracterization, but it is not actually provable one way or the other. Further, MY IMPRESSION isn’t something that needs proof.

Well, my impression is that you’re a liar and asshole, and I have proof of the lying part. That’s where you’re taking your silly “logic”, Kevin.

But you didn’t express an “impression” at the outset, you expressed an utter falsehood, a pejorative that my ideology is “High Statism and Socialism”, and I’ll take that as name-calling.
And wrong is wrong, Kevin, defined in Oxford as “not correct or true; incorrect.” What you said is incorrect. You’re not correct and you’re not true, and you have no comment or evidence from me that expresses anything otherwise.
So again, do not flout the commenting rules and mischaracterize other peoples’ positions. Patterico wrote those rules for this very situation.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 2:30 pm

For those who didn’t bother to read the link, here’s the pertinent part…

Another rule: you may get called on your untrue statements, and there may be consequences for failing to man up and apologize if you’re wrong. Recently, I have become more aggressive about forcing people who made nasty and untruthful comments to either back up their statements or apologize. I have rid myself of a handful of total jerks this way. The scenario goes something like this: jerk commenter says “Patterico is always saying [insert something I never said].” In such cases, I tell them that they have a choice: prove their assertion (which of course they can’t) or apologize and retract (which, for people of a certain mindset, is unthinkable). This technique has rid me of about five people who were constantly lying about me. It’s fun holding liars to account. Keep that in mind if you’re contemplating making an angry and sloppily thought out accusation about things I have said.

That leads me to the key principle: DO NOT MISCHARACTERIZE OTHER PEOPLE’S POSITIONS. Also, do not mischaracterize other people’s positions. One more thing: do not mischaracterize other people’s positions.

Few things are more corrosive to honest discussion than constantly having to say: “That’s not what I said. Nope, that’s not what I said either. Nope, you’re still misrepresenting what I said.” One particular commenter here — a longtime commenter who used to guest blog here and often had interesting and insightful things to say — is no longer welcome to comment at this blog because he simply could not stop doing this to me. Virtually any time he took a position opposite to mine, he would mischaracterize my position — and the more viscerally upset he became, the more vicious the distortions of my statements. It became unworkable to keep him around — and when, in a single thread, he misrepresented my position badly in three separate ways, I used the “retract and apologize or prove it” strategem. He failed to retract and apologize, and the rest is history — and so is he, as far as this blog is concerned.

Don’t let that be you.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 2:50 pm

Hmmm. Surprised that’s in moderation. Not.

But it’s how I feel.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 2:56 pm

While I’m watching a movie called The Adventures of Main Madian, a female perspective of the Robin Hood tale, I’m also reading about the Mary Bailey perspective in It’s A Wonderful Life, as well expressed here.

It is Mary who sees the potential of the old house from the first, Mary who acquires it and patiently restores it over the years. It is Mary who sees the oncoming bank run as well as its solution, Mary who offers up their honeymoon money without wasting time either asking for permission or indulging in regrets. George’s life is shaped by a recurring characteristic act: the heroic acquiescence to duty when circumstances require it. But Mary sees the greater vision from the start. She is determined that George will lasso the moon, even if she is the only one who can see it in the sky.

It is certainly pleasant but not unduly extraordinary to be a popular and beautiful woman who can marry a rich and popular man if she chooses. It is less ordinary to see, with Mary’s perfect clarity and uncanny certainty, the life and man you want, and to choose it in the teeth of discouragement with all its disadvantages apparent, to persist single-mindedly in the face of hardship. It’s a Wonderful Life is, in part, the story of someone becoming, kicking and screaming, against all intentions and desires, a big man. Mary sees the big man in George from the first, because she is a big woman.

She is, as much as George, a profoundly unusual person laboring under her own personal destiny. In the world where George does not exist, she has not married not because she couldn’t, but because she does not want to. There is not a Mary-sized man in town, and Mary Hatch does not do anything just because it’s what might be expected of her. Her story in this counterfactual is a sad one, but it is not one of passive submission to circumstance.

To be chosen and known and loved by such a woman is not a small thing. It is seeing Mary without him that breaks George enough to make him ask for life, as it is her just anger at him that sends him into the most desperate phase of his downward spiral. When he chases the alternate Mary through the streets, his desperate cry is not “Mary! What have they done to you?” but “Don’t you know me? What’s happened to us?” If Mary does not know him, if Mary does not see who he really is, he must not exist indeed.

I would not, now, if I had Frank Capra’s ear and a gasper and martini in my hand and the studio at my command, go back and change the scene I once thought the only major blemish in a perfect movie. It is the climax of a great love story—between people with children and not enough money and frustrations and shameful failures, as many great love stories are. It is a recognition of the unpredictable depths of a woman too easily rated as charming decoration in her own story. But more importantly, it is a pivot within the story Clarence is telling George. For all the extraordinary, irreplaceable good George has done for others, what makes his life finally wonderful—awe inspiring, mysterious—is what has been done for him. He never, after all, set out to win Mary Hatch.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 3:14 pm

Breaking:

The Republican-led House approved revised legislation to avert a government shutdown and provide more than $100 billion in disaster and farm aid, sending the measure to the Senate just hours ahead of the midnight deadline.

The bill, which was House Speaker Mike Johnson’s third attempt this week, drew significant Democratic support, despite continued anger that an earlier, bipartisan agreement was killed. Lawmakers voted 366 to 34 to approve the proposal, well above the two-thirds threshold needed under special fast-track procedures. One lawmaker voted present.

The proposal approved Friday would extend government funding until March 14, while also providing more $100 billion in disaster relief and $10 billion in economic aid for farmers. The bill also includes a one-year extension of the farm bill, the cornerstone of U.S. food and agriculture policy.

GOP lawmakers pledged to raise the debt ceiling and cut spending next year, but not vote on it now……..
……….
……….The bill approved Friday strips out a series of other provisions that were included in the bipartisan deal that Trump shot down, such as restrictions on investments in China.
……….

As I noted above, it is unlikely that the debt ceiling will be lifted in the future, given the number of Republicans who, on principle, would vote against it (the Democrats are on record as not favoring an extension or suspension as requested by Trump). Also, reducing or eliminating the $30B in farm subsidies would also be a good place to start tackling the deficit and debt.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/20/2024 @ 3:27 pm

It’s A Wonderful Life

One of my least favorite movies ever.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/20/2024 @ 3:28 pm

The House just passed the CR, without touching the debt ceiling. Only 34 votes against, all Republicans. Catoggio explains the dynamic a little further.

In broad outline, the collapse on Wednesday of Speaker Mike Johnson’s bill to fund the government before it shuts down this weekend is a familiar story. Republicans have a tiny majority so they need to stick together to pass anything; they can’t stick together on spending bills because die-hard fiscal hawks like Thomas Massie and Chip Roy won’t go along; Johnson then has to beg Democrats for votes, forcing him to make policy concessions that infuriate the right.

Usually the story ends with the bill passing and populist Republicans firing off fundraising emails about being sold out again by “the uniparty.” Then everyone moves on until it’s time for another spending bill, when the cycle repeats.

That’s almost how it happened this time. As usual, the GOP couldn’t unite so Johnson had to wheel and deal with Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries. In this case the concessions included $100 billion for disaster relief, $10 billion in economic aid to farmers, a land grant for a new football stadium in Washington, D.C., and even a modest pay raise for members of Congress. (After one of the most dysfunctional sessions in U.S. history!) It was a so-called “Christmas tree” just in time for the holidays. Fiscal conservatives were aghast when the text was released, but House members are eager to head home. Had Johnson put the bill on the floor quickly, he might have gotten to 218.

Instead he waited. Then Elon weighed in.

The second-most influential figure in the GOP lashed the spending bill in more than 100 posts on his social media platform on Wednesday, calling it “criminal” and declaring that anyone who votes for it deserves to be ousted in the next election. He lied egregiously about it in so doing, as tends to happen when populist demagogues are on the attack. Contra Musk, the bill wouldn’t raise congressional pay by 40 percent, wouldn’t force taxpayers to pay for the stadium in D.C., wouldn’t shield the January 6 Committee from investigation, and wouldn’t fund, er, “bioweapon labs.”

No matter. His 200 million followers on Twitter responded. Within hours, House Republican offices were getting an earful from constituents.

Later in the day, the most influential figure in the GOP spoke up. In a series of statements, after weeks of silence on the matter and with the shutdown deadline bearing down, Donald Trump declared that he, too, opposed the bill—chiefly because it contained no provision for raising the debt ceiling.

Folie a deux is defined as a “delusion or mental illness shared by two people in close association”. I’m wondering if this passed so easily because Trump didn’t want to be perceived as Musk’s VP (Elon’s latest dance move here, in honor of his support for AfD).

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 3:53 pm

One of my least favorite movies ever.

Unsurprising.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 4:51 pm

It’s A Wonderful Life is typical of the anti-business/anti-capitalist movies of the 1930s and 40s, a genre which continues to this day.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/20/2024 @ 4:54 pm

(Corey) Lewandowski is helping (Kristi) Noem with DHS transition

I’ll bet.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/20/2024 @ 4:59 pm

It’s A Wonderful Life wasn’t anti-business, IMO.
George Bailey was a business owner, trying to keep his business afloat by outsmarting his competition, his primary competitor being Mr. Potter. George Bailey was also contractor, overseeing the construction of new homes.

Ernie the cab driver and Mr. Martini the bar owner and Mr. Gower the drug store owner were entrepreneurs, better able to ply their trades by doing business with the Building & Loan than with Potter’s operations. George’s childhood buddy was Sam Wainwright (Hee Haw), who got in on the ground floor and made a fortune in plastics, and provided jobs to Bedford Falls after buying that old tool and machinery works “for a song”. Half the town was thrown out of work when they closed down. This was about good enterprising businessmen who had the opportunity and succeeded in a fair business environment.

To me, the movie was anti-oligarch and anti-monopolist. We’re opposed to the one person owned the bank and corralled the rental housing market (and who knows how many other businesses), and who tried and failed to take over the Building & Loan. Mr. Potter was anti-competition and anti-capitalist by controlling–or trying to control–the Bedford Falls economy, trying to make everyone crawl to him for handout.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 5:55 pm

I dunno, the movie was made almost 80 years ago but it showed an American spirit, a small-business spirit, a community spirit, filmed a year after we vanquished a German tyrant. Was it corny and cheesy? No doubt.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 6:09 pm

The usual suspects are being themselves.

I see everyone is avoiding the “Biden has been incompetent for his entire presidency” discussion.

Interesting.

NJRob (eb56c3) — 12/20/2024 @ 6:48 pm

I see everyone is avoiding the “Biden has been incompetent for his entire presidency” discussion.

“Everyone”? No, you don’t see anything.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 7:00 pm

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 3:53 pm

Goodbye Speaker Johnson, hello Speaker Jeffries, the power behind the chair.

Rip Murdock (65dfe5) — 12/20/2024 @ 7:01 pm

There’s no way Speaker Mike will corral a unanimous GOP vote for anything of substance, which means politicians may have to work together on things.
To get anything done, he’ll have to cross the aisle to scare up just enough votes to move forward, which means the system is working.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 7:28 pm

There’s no way Speaker Mike will corral a unanimous GOP vote for anything of substance, which means politicians may have to work together on things.
To get anything done, he’ll have to cross the aisle to scare up just enough votes to move forward, which means the system is working.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 7:28 pm

Unfortunately Johnson is toast with the Republican Conference right now-there is no way he will remain Speaker after January 3rd. He should have negotiated the CR with Trump and the various House Republican factions, not the Democrats. Negotiating with, and relying on, Democrats to pass legislation is a losing strategy.

Rip Murdock (e96b09) — 12/20/2024 @ 7:44 pm

Passing this CR was the last legislative act of the Johnson speakership.

Rip Murdock (65dfe5) — 12/20/2024 @ 7:47 pm

Rip, who would replace Johnson?
Remember the brain damage from the previous selection process?

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 7:49 pm

Rip, who would replace Johnson?
Remember the brain damage from the previous selection process?

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 7:49 pm

I have no idea-that’s the House majority’s problem; but Democrats shouldn’t interfere. Anyone who tries to win with Democratic votes will lose the support of most Republicans. I’m sure we’ll find out sometime after January 3rd. A few Republicans could actually defect and support Hakeem Jeffries (🤣).

As I have said, Republicans have a majority; they just need to figure out how to use it.

Rip Murdock (65dfe5) — 12/20/2024 @ 8:10 pm

94 and 96: Paul has the better take: Main St versus Wall St., esp now when Wall St hollowed out Boeing, farmed out manufacturing jobs, and its Main St paying the taxes, fighting the wars, and lining up to vote like real Americans.

Harcourt Fenton Mudd (9af2b6) — 12/20/2024 @ 8:17 pm

Kevin and Paul: please guys; I don’t write that often or even visit that much, but you two are main stays. Pillars of the Blog so to speak. We all want you two to debate like oxford dons, grimace inside and smile outside, or at least like old time lawyers who know–know–the other one is full of it, but react like old time Andy Griffith, or Morgan Freeman. And if you’re going to call each other names use latin or german.

Harcourt Fenton Mudd (9af2b6) — 12/20/2024 @ 8:29 pm

I have no idea-that’s the House majority’s problem; but Democrats shouldn’t interfere.

Rip, the Democrats also vote for the Speaker, per the House rules, for a position established by the Constitution and 2nd in line to the presidency. The position isn’t the Speaker of This Or That Party.

Speaker Johnson has been a loyal subject. I don’t see why Trump should want to bounce him, and it’s Trump’s opinion that really matters.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 9:16 pm

And if you’re going to call each other names use latin or german.

I don’t believe I called him any names.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 9:30 pm

As for Mr Potter — the big banks like BofA spent the 30s foreclosing on everyone and generally making asses of themselves. It was not capitalism’s finest hour. Heck, even Heinlein was a socialist in the 30s (he actively supported Upton Sinclair’s California campaign in 1934, then ran for the Assembly as a Democrat in ’38).

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 9:36 pm

Haaretz reports in interviews with IDF soldiers that killing zones are placed around places where palestinians go to get water. Units contest to see who can kill more palestinians try to get to water. One unit had killed 180 and another 190. The government claims the women and children killed were bringing water to hamas terrorists.

asset (0c9c94) — 12/20/2024 @ 10:01 pm

As I have said, Republicans have a majority; they just need to figure out how to use it.

They have control of the agenda and committees, but passing legislation in this Congress will require compromise with the Democrats. It’s really how it’s SUPPOSED to work.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/20/2024 @ 11:25 pm

The majority party in congress are corporate establishment republicans and democrats who take their orders from the donor class. AOC and chip roy are part of the outsiders.

asset (0c9c94) — 12/20/2024 @ 11:49 pm

About the terrorist attack by car of a German Christmas market in Magdeburg, it apparently was done by an extremist, just not kind of extremist who attacked a Berlin Christmas market eight years ago.

CAIRO (AP) — Authorities have not formally named the suspect in the car ramming in the city of Magdeburg that killed at least five people and wounded hundreds, saying only that he is a Saudi doctor who has lived in Germany for nearly two decades and that he acted alone.

Local media say he is 50-year-old Taleb A, a psychiatry and psychotherapy specialist.

He was arrested on site after plowing a black BMW into a Christmas market crowded with holiday shoppers Friday evening.

Taleb’s X account describes him as a former Muslim. It is filled with tweets and retweets focusing on anti-Islam themes and criticism of the religion, while sharing congratulatory notes to Muslims who left the faith.

He was critical of German authorities, saying they had failed to do enough to combat the “Islamism of Europe.”

He has also voiced support for the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

You could say that Musk and the terrorist share the belief that “Only the AfD can save Germany”. Is it possible that he was practicing Taqqiye, the Islamic doctrine that permits lying and deception to advance Islamic objectives? Yes, but seems unlikely.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/21/2024 @ 8:50 am

But he sure comes across as a right-wing extremist…

German attack suspect: “I can say from experience, everything that [Tommy] Robinson says, what Musk says, what Alex Jones says, or anyone who is called radical or right-wing extremist by mainstream media – they are telling the truth”

I didn’t know who Tommy Robinson was before this, but he’s a British anti-Muslim right-winger.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/21/2024 @ 9:12 am

Want to make next year better for you? Then follow the science. According to clinical psychologist Jacqueline Nesi, you can make your life better by doing, and not doing: An example of each:
Express gratitude
Reduce smartphone and social media use
(There are five others.)

Cross posted at Political Betting.

Jim Miller (536561) — 12/21/2024 @ 9:28 am

The 1983 reform of Social Security & other government pensions, where double-dipping was curtailed, is now dead. Certainly there were some problems with some combinations (e.g. low-paid government work and higher-paid private work), but the ’83 reform stopped some really egregious pension abuse. Now it’s back, assuming that Biden signs it (hahahahaha).

This will drain $200 billion from what is left in the SS trust fund. Pretty much not the right direction, and a slap in the face to people who only get Social Security, or are approaching that age.

It will now be necessary to jack up the FICA rate and delay benefits more than was needed before. I think that part of this is a desire by Democrats to remove the cap on the tax and maybe lower to max benefits at the same time.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/21/2024 @ 9:29 am

The number one way to make your life better is to reduce anger and resentment, an unnecessary cause of stress. Letting people, ideas or institutions live rent-free in your head harms no one but yourself.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/21/2024 @ 9:38 am

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/21/2024 @ 9:12 am

It’s always the same BS.

Routh: He’s just a nutjob. Not a NeverTrumper!

Saudi doctor murderer: Musk fan!

He murdered German citizens at a Christmas market. His actions tell us who he is. But, as with everything on your side of the spectrum, we shouldn’t believe our lying eyes.

lloyd (c34a4e) — 12/21/2024 @ 10:04 am

Speaking of NeverTrumper Routh….

Girl unresponsive 3 months after crash caused by suspect in Trump assassination attempt

lloyd (0e2520) — 12/21/2024 @ 11:01 am

It’s always the same BS.

No, it’s actually not, lloyd, by the terrorist’s own words, but your state of denial is noted.

The 2016 Berlin Christmas market was a confirmed militant Islamist terrorist attack, while the Magdeburg terrorist attack was by an anti-Muslim “heretic”. This Taleb A guy is apparently a hardline apostate or atheist, whose self-description on the X stated “Germany wants to Islamize Europe”. There are atheists out there who have a practically religious fervor to their atheism.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/21/2024 @ 11:10 am

@121 “Don’t believe your lying eyes” is your motto. The terrorist is a Musk loving right winger while Routh is just a nutjob. The usual hypocrisy.

lloyd (0e2520) — 12/21/2024 @ 11:18 am

lloyd (0e2520) — 12/21/2024 @ 11:18 am

You’re making the false presumption that only militant Islamists are terrorists.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/21/2024 @ 11:23 am

Bubble media confessions….

Chris Cillizza in 2021 with CNN:

“This is the sort of gross, lowest-common-denominator politics that drive people away from public life. If Republicans have some sort of proof that Biden is declining, they should bring it forward. If they don’t, they should stop doing what they’re doing. Immediately.”

Chris Cillizza last week:

“As a reporter, I have a confession to make: I should have pushed harder earlier for more information about Joe Biden’s mental and physical well-being and any signs of decline.”

lloyd (0e2520) — 12/21/2024 @ 11:23 am

Taleb A said th words.

“I and AfD are fighting the same enemy to protect Germany”

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/21/2024 @ 11:27 am

Are German Christians AfD’s enemy, Paul? That’s a yes/no question. Let’s see if you can answer straight up.

lloyd (0e2520) — 12/21/2024 @ 11:34 am

I notice no one here is willing to comment on the haaretz article I posted. I guess its hard to defend killing women and children trying to get a drink of water.

asset (bbc82b) — 12/21/2024 @ 12:28 pm

https://therightscoop.com/unbreaking-germany-ignored-specific-warnings-about-muslim-terrorist-who-mowed-down-hundreds-at-christmas-market-last-night/

Taqiyya and known wolf.

Abused the asylum system.

NJRob (bd44c2) — 12/21/2024 @ 12:30 pm

If the driver wasn’t anti-Islam, we would still be wondering about his motives.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/21/2024 @ 12:50 pm

@127 asset, maybe because you didn’t provide a link. Seems it’s an accusation by an anti-Israel group calling themselves Human Rights Watch. Update us when you have hard evidence. Women and children were taken hostage and killed in October of last year. War sucks all around, so it’s best not to start one.

lloyd (0e2520) — 12/21/2024 @ 1:12 pm

Are German Christians AfD’s enemy, Paul? That’s a yes/no question.

This is you, again, asking a question you already have an answer to, which is why you’re bad faith.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/21/2024 @ 1:47 pm

Paul punts, as usual.

lloyd (c34a4e) — 12/21/2024 @ 2:21 pm

More on the Magdeburg Christmas market terrorist.
One, he is pro-Jewish and pro-Israel, saying “The religion of God is Judaism” and this…

The real resistance against Israel is the one-state solution.
We call on the Arabs to take to the streets in demonstrations to demand that Israel annex the West Bank and Gaza, and if they so wish, to annex Lebanon as well.

Two, a Saudi woman in 2023 called the police on him, for threatening social media content.

Three, he has a low opinion of the Christian faith, citing a rabbi who said “the prostitute Mary betrayed her husband and gave birth to Jesus”, which is a fairly direct rejection of Christ being the Son of God.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/21/2024 @ 2:43 pm

A little more, from 2016. The guy posted 126k tweets over the years.

“I was Shiite but I found that Wahabism is the original Islam”.

Two, according to the German Interior Minister…

“At this point, we can only say for sure that the perpetrator was evidently Islamophobic – we can confirm that. Everything else is a matter for further investigation, and we have to wait.”

Three, last August he threatened violence.

“Is there a path to justice in Germany without bombing a German embassy or slaughtering German citizens indiscriminately?”

Looks like he found this path.

Four, the AfD uses Christian symbols but the German Catholic and Protestant churches reject the party as they “contradict the basic values of Christianity”. The party originated in eastern Germany, which was decades under Soviet control, so only 15% are Protestant and 5% are Catholic.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/21/2024 @ 4:07 pm

Paul punts, as usual.

Irony is dead.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/21/2024 @ 4:08 pm

@134 Yeah Paul, the guy targets Christians at a Christmas market. So therefore, we know he’s Islamophobic. The Interior Minister of the ruling leftist Social Democratic Party has confirmed that. You’re really digging deep to smear folks who had nothing to do with it. Typical.

lloyd (c22175) — 12/21/2024 @ 4:33 pm

Meanwhile, who can ever possibly know what motivated Routh???

lloyd (c22175) — 12/21/2024 @ 4:35 pm

Yeah Paul, the guy targets Christians at a Christmas market.

Germany is half Christian, lloyd, and east Germany is way more godless, as stated. How many Christians do you expect to hit by driving your car at high speed through the crowd next to the big tree at Rockefeller Center?

But that said, the guy did have a low opinion Jesus’ mom, and an even lower opinion of Islam, but he sure liked his right-wingers as well as this neo-Nazi adjacent AfD political party, like some other African-American we know.

As for “smear folks”, what smear, lloyd? Taleb and Musk said the words, and you have no answer for that.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/21/2024 @ 5:22 pm

Paul, great. I’ll take that as an acknowledgment of Nevertrump’s linkage to the Trump assassinations, since it’s much less tenuous and strained. Or, you can acknowledge your rank hypocrisy. Your choice.

lloyd (c22175) — 12/21/2024 @ 5:38 pm

I’ll take that as an acknowledgment of Nevertrump’s linkage to the Trump assassinations.

Talk about hypocrisy, given your false and dishonest distortions of what NeverTrump is.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/21/2024 @ 5:41 pm

of what NeverTrump WAS.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/21/2024 @ 6:21 pm

Biden will have company at the old-busted politicians’ memory care facility.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/21/2024 @ 6:54 pm

I almost wrote “was”, Kevin.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/21/2024 @ 6:54 pm

Wow Paul, can you believe all the rampant Islamophobia that descended on Christmas markets leading up to the attack?

lloyd (3389fe) — 12/21/2024 @ 8:20 pm

Nevertrump wanted four more years of this.

Joe Biden kept the grieving relatives of the Marines killed in Afghanistan waiting for three hours while he napped on Air Force One on the tarmac before a dignified transfer, multiple military families have told Daily Mail.

The shocking allegation comes today amid growing calls for the Biden administration to be investigated over its scandalous cover-up of the president’s ailing health.

While Biden was absent from the withdrawal planning, he did show up to greet the caskets of the US Servicemen and woman who were killed, infamously checking his watch on the tarmac before their coffins were brought out. It was his second insult to their families that day, according to the sister of Rylee McCollum, one of the men who died.

‘(Biden) made us wait an extra three hours to receive the bodies of our dead family members because he couldn’t pull it together,’ Roice McCollum told DailyMail.com.

Roice said she and others were waiting for Biden to appear when a military officer told her he was napping on his plane.

Christy Shamblin, the mother-in-law of Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee, and Darin Hoover, the father of Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, who were also killed in the Kabul blast, told DailyMail.com that their families were also left waiting on the tarmac.

‘We sat in that office for what seemed like an eternity waiting on the doddering old fool,’ Hoover recalled.

lloyd (3389fe) — 12/21/2024 @ 8:36 pm

On Al franken’s podcast george packer of the atlantic discussed the book “Why nothing works” to explain that half of the 37% who said trump was a threat to democracy voted for him. Democracy had failed these voters with establishment elitists benefiting from it so they wanted trump to be a threat to elitists democrats and republicans ruining their lives.

asset (1abd4f) — 12/22/2024 @ 1:55 am

I almost wrote “was”, Kevin.

I still would much prefer Haley or DeSantis as 47. But it was not up to me.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/22/2024 @ 7:33 am

Nevertrump wanted four more years of this.

No, they would have settled for that though. What they WANTED was a GOP candidate who wasn’t Trump. They told you they would not vote for Trump, but did you listen?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/22/2024 @ 7:53 am

@148 LOL they told us they wouldn’t vote for DeSantis either, and that Kamala wasn’t radical left. I didn’t vote for Trump in any primary, so save it for someone else.

lloyd (93d272) — 12/22/2024 @ 8:02 am

Gregg Abbott after Walmart pulled out of Portland in 2023, for which he got plenty of pushback:

“This is what happens when cities refuse to enforce the rule of law. It allows the mob to take over. Businesses can’t operate in that environment, and people can’t live in it.”

Portland today:
‘It’s catch and release’: Portland shoplifters often evade prosecution, continuing city’s reputation as good place to steal

A state bail reform law that took effect in 2022 has encouraged jails to release an array of defendants — including shoplifters — within hours of their arrests and before they ever see a judge. And even if judges are asked to decide whether to continue holding them pending trial, concerns that retail theft doesn’t warrant a long-term jail stay or there won’t be enough public defenders to represent them lead judges to set them free. That’s true even in cases where defendants have punched, bitten or pointed a gun at store staff or broken into businesses during closed hours, elevating the crime of mere theft to felony robbery or burglary.

More often than not, defendants who are released blow off court dates. Some have histories of failing to appear more than 10 times but still are let go.

And in cases where defendants do show up and they’re proven guilty, critics say the sentences they receive commonly lack the bite that comes with jail time or the power to instill change through drug and mental health treatment that might address the root of their problems.

“It’s catch and release,” said Jonathan Polonsky, CEO of Plaid Pantry, whose convenience stores in Portland have been hit by chronic thieves. “It’s the same, 10, 20, 30, 40 people who are creating tons and tons of havoc, and are tying up all sorts of resources.”

lloyd (93d272) — 12/22/2024 @ 9:57 am

R.I.P. Rickey Henderson, 65, MLB Hall of Fame. 3000 hits over 25 seasons. 2295 runs scored (1st all time). 1406 bases stolen (1st all time; Lou Brock is second with 938). Still holds the single-season stolen bases record (130).

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/22/2024 @ 10:16 am

@151:

I favor caning and/or the stocks. Plead guilty and take your medicine or wait for a trial date in the slammer.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/22/2024 @ 10:19 am

Failure to appear isn’t something that requires a trial, so out to the stocks with you.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/22/2024 @ 10:33 am

Navy shoots down own plane

Two U.S. Navy pilots ejected from their jet fighter over the Red Sea after being caught in “an apparent case of friendly-fire,” U.S. Central Command said Sunday, as American forces conducted a new round of attacks against the Houthi militant group in Yemen overnight.

The military said the two pilots safely ejected from their F/A-18 after it was hit by fire from the guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg. The jet fighter had flown off the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier and both ships are part of the same strike group. One of the crew members sustained minor injuries and an investigation is under way, the military said.

The incident came as U.S. Central Command said its forces had conducted airstrikes against a missile storage facility and a command and control facility operated by the Houthis in Yemen. It wasn’t immediately clear if the friendly-fire incident and the U.S. attack on Houthi targets are connected.

I don’t get it. I don’t believe there are any Houthi warplanes. The Gettysburg captain isn’t going to do well in this.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/22/2024 @ 10:47 am

Lara Trump withdraws from consideration for Florida’s possible US Senate vacancy:

……….
Lara Trump also said that she would make a “big announcement” in January and that she looked “forward to serving our country again sometime in the future. In the meantime, I wish Governor DeSantis the best of luck with this appointment.”
………..
POLITICO previously reported that several people could be in the mix for the spot, including Attorney General Ashley Moody, Lt. Gov. Jeanette Núñez, DeSantis’ chief of staff James Uthmeier and former Florida House Speaker Jose Oliva. But in recent weeks Moody has emerged as the top contender for the job. If DeSantis were to select Moody he could then potentially appoint his long-time ally and former presidential campaign manager Uthmeier to the job of attorney general.
………….

Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 12/22/2024 @ 11:36 am

Quinnipiac University National Poll 12/18/24

……….
…………. Voters 51 – 38 percent oppose Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on imports from (Canada, Mexico, and China), according to a Quinnipiac University national poll of registered voters released today.

Republicans (76 – 12 percent) support Trump’s plan, while Democrats (89 – 7 percent) and independents (53 – 34 percent) oppose it.
…………
…………A majority of voters (55 percent) say they prefer giving most undocumented immigrants in the United States a pathway to legal status, while 36 percent say they prefer deporting most undocumented immigrants in the United States.

………. A majority of voters (63 percent) think that all children born in the U.S. should continue to be automatically granted citizenship, while 29 percent think this should be changed so that children of non-citizens are no longer automatically granted citizenship.
……………
Given a list of some of President-elect Trump’s Cabinet picks and his choice for FBI Director, voters were asked whether they think the United States Senate should confirm the nominee, or not:

Marco Rubio as Secretary of State: ……….

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services: 44 percent say should confirm, while 45 percent say should not confirm and 9 percent haven’t heard enough about him;

Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence: 37 percent say should confirm, while 36 percent say should not confirm and 26 percent haven’t heard enough about her;

Pam Bondi as Attorney General: ……….

Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security: …………

Kash Patel as Director of the FBI: 33 percent say should confirm, while 38 percent say should not confirm and 28 percent haven’t heard enough about him;

Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense: 33 percent say should confirm, while 39 percent say should not confirm and 28 percent haven’t heard enough about him;

Scott Bessent as Secretary of the Treasury: ………

Voters 53 – 41 percent disapprove of businessman Elon Musk playing a prominent role in the Trump administration.
…………
Weeks after Australia passed one of the world’s most restrictive laws, banning social media for children under 16 years of age, nearly 6 in 10 voters (59 percent) say they would like to see a similar ban in the United States, while 31 percent say they would not like to see a similar ban.

Support for a social media ban stretches across all listed groups, except one: voters 18 – 34 years old.………
………….

Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 12/22/2024 @ 11:55 am

If DeSantis were to select Moody he could then potentially appoint his long-time ally and former presidential campaign manager Uthmeier to the job of attorney general.

Or he could appoint Gaetz.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/22/2024 @ 12:31 pm

@157: The birthright citizenship question is distorted, as those are not the choices. Only children born to people in the country illegally would be affected. If you asked about those born to illegal aliens, then numbers would change.

Also, who are the 4% who “haven’t heard enough” about Donald Trump?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/22/2024 @ 12:41 pm

asset (1abd4f) — 12/22/2024 @ 1:55 am

half of the 37% who said trump was a threat to democracy voted for him.

There’s something very imperfect about those poll questions.

Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 12/22/2024 @ 12:42 pm

Emerson College Poll December 2024

A new Emerson College Polling national survey finds about 1 in 5 (19%) voters have invested in, traded, or used cryptocurrency, while 81% have not. Among voters who have, 61% have not used crypto to make any purchases, while 39% have.
……….
Men are twice as likely to use crypto than women: 26% of men use crypto compared to 13% of women.

Crypto users are also more likely to be minority racial groups: about a third of voters who are Asian, Hispanic, or Black are involved in cryptocurrency, compared to 14% of white voters.

Regarding the US issuing additional tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China, a majority or plurality of voters think such tariffs will hurt the US economy:

•51% think additional tariffs on Canada will hurt the US economy, 50% say the same of tariffs on Mexico,

•49% think additional tariffs on China will hurt the US economy. Thirty-nine percent think tariffs on China will help the US economy,

•36% think tariffs on Mexico will help the US economy, and 32% think tariffs on Canada will help the US economy.
………..
A majority of voters (68%) think the actions of the killer of the United Healthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, are unacceptable. Seventeen percent find the actions acceptable, while 16% are unsure.

“While 68% of voters overall reject the killer’s actions, younger voters and Democrats are more split — 41% of voters aged 18-29 find the killer’s actions acceptable (24% somewhat acceptable and 17% completely acceptable), while 40% find them unacceptable; 22% of Democrats find them acceptable, while 59% find them unacceptable, this compares to 12% of Republicans and 16% of independents who find the actions acceptable, underscoring shifting societal attitudes among the youngest electorate and within party lines,” (said Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling).

………….
A plurality of US voters, 40%, support the ban on TikTok, starting January 19, 30% oppose the ban, and 30% are unsure.
…………

Reformatted for clarity.

Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 12/22/2024 @ 12:43 pm

Or (DeSantis) could appoint Gaetz.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/22/2024 @ 12:31 pm

Unlikely. Gaetz is apparently negotiating with Democrat megadonor and ambulance chaser John Morgan to join Morgan & Morgan.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/18/2024 @ 2:26 pm

Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 12/22/2024 @ 12:47 pm

lloyd (c34a4e) — 12/21/2024 @ 10:04 am

He murdered German citizens at a Christmas market. His actions tell us who he is.

Someone who doesn’t believe that murder is wrong, or someone with a very eclectic 1-man religion which borrows the idea of murdering idol worshippers from some version of Islam, (and considers Christians idol worshippers or that participating in something Christmas to be idol worship) but is against militant or terrorist Islam (maybe on the grounds they kill the wrong or too many people)

And he was going through a mid-life crisis.

Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 12/22/2024 @ 12:54 pm

There’s something infectious going around. Ricky Henderson was killed by pneumonia but we are nit told the actual pathogen. They don’t test for anything but Covid or maybe flu and therefore we don”t know, Also the brother if someone’s daughter-in-law died.

Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 12/22/2024 @ 1:01 pm

Trump threatens to retake Panama Canal
………….
In two lengthy Truth Social posts Saturday evening, Trump accused Panama of charging U.S. vessels exorbitant rates to pass through the critical waterway. He also claimed that the treaties enabling Panama to take control of the canal in the first place also allow for the U.S. to take it back.

“If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question,” Trump wrote.

It is unclear what spurred Trump’s invective about the canal. ……..
……….
……….(T)he Carter administration signed two treaties in 1977 with Panama’s military dictator, Omar Torrijos, to transition control of the vital shipping passage over to Panama. Under the terms of those treaties, Panama would gain control of the canal by 1999 and the U.S. would retain the right to defend the canal from any threat to its neutrality.

Analysts, however, do not believe that those provisions in the treaty would allow for the United States to legally retake control of the canal.
#########

Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 12/22/2024 @ 1:07 pm

In case the former LA County DA is looking for a job
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/oscar-mayers-wienermobile-hiring-new-drivers

steveg (1c779d) — 12/22/2024 @ 3:11 pm

“Or he could appoint Gaetz.”

The entire Gaetz nomination was just a pretext to get him out of Congress without the inquiry becoming public. He’s not looking for or interested in further public service.

Davethulhu (9cc706) — 12/22/2024 @ 4:05 pm

RIP Michael Brewer of Brewer & Shipley(80):

…………
Brewer & Shipley were best known for their Top 10 hit, “One Toke Over the Line,” released as their debut single in 1971.

“Who would have guessed they [the duo’s record label] would release it as a single, it would go shooting up the charts, and the Nixon administration would try to ban it?” Brewer said to (Ultimate Classic Rock) in 2016. “We made Nixon’s ‘hate list,’ which we held as a badge of honor and still do to this day, and the Vice President, Spiro Agnew, named us personally on national TV one night as ‘subversives to America’s youth.’ I mean, you can’t buy that kind of publicity.”
…………..

Rip Murdock (539f9d) — 12/22/2024 @ 4:52 pm

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/trump-threatens-to-take-control-of-panama-canal-greenland/ar-AA1wkMZx?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=6be96c82721e4572b4afe47db0263226&ei=22

Not just the Panama Canal. Greenland, too.

That’s all the world needs right now. More expansionist rhetoric. You can bet China is paying attention.

Trump is digging a hole for himself. Either he will have to follow up on what he says, or he will become a laughingstock whom nobody takes seriously (except those looking for a pretext to expand). Neither outcome is desirable.

norcal (a72384) — 12/22/2024 @ 5:42 pm

Trump is digging a hole for himself

More than one hole. The birthright citizenship thing is another.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/22/2024 @ 6:55 pm

> More expansionist rhetoric. You can bet China is paying attention.

Sure. In Trump’s view of the world, great powers are allowed to be expansionist as long as other countries’ interests aren’t harmed. Russia can *have* Ukraine. We, on the other hand, can invade Mexico and annex part of it.

aphrael (dbf41f) — 12/22/2024 @ 9:33 pm

norcal (a72384) — 12/22/2024 @ 5:42 pm

Not just the Panama Canal. Greenland, too.

Greenland he wanted to buy, (buying territory doesn’t happen anymore)

That was in his first term. Did he bring it up again?

Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 12/23/2024 @ 6:00 am

Trump is digging a hole for himself.

The first hole he hits is the release by Hamas before January 20 of at least the American citizens they are holding there.

But it is not clear who he threatened. It could be Iran.

Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 12/23/2024 @ 6:03 am

@164

Trump threatens to retake Panama Canal

………….
In two lengthy Truth Social posts Saturday evening, Trump accused Panama of charging U.S. vessels exorbitant rates to pass through the critical waterway. He also claimed that the treaties enabling Panama to take control of the canal in the first place also allow for the U.S. to take it back.

“If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question,” Trump wrote.

It is unclear what spurred Trump’s invective about the canal. ……..
……….
……….(T)he Carter administration signed two treaties in 1977 with Panama’s military dictator, Omar Torrijos, to transition control of the vital shipping passage over to Panama. Under the terms of those treaties, Panama would gain control of the canal by 1999 and the U.S. would retain the right to defend the canal from any threat to its neutrality.

Analysts, however, do not believe that those provisions in the treaty would allow for the United States to legally retake control of the canal.
#########

There were colorable arguments that what Carter did back then was unconstitutional… but, it has to be moot now. (right??)

My sense is this is the same “stray voltage” strategy in play here…

whembly (477db6) — 12/23/2024 @ 6:22 am

I don’t know what Trump is thinking. What he is conveying is that great powers get to mess around in their own spheres of influence and nobody else has any say so in the matter. That message has been received by Russia, China, Mexico, and Canada. Good job, MAGA.

Appalled (4505e1) — 12/23/2024 @ 6:58 am

That message has been received by Russia, China, Mexico, and Canada. Good job, MAGA.
Appalled (4505e1) — 12/23/2024 @ 6:58 am

Appalled thinks the Russian invasion of Ukraine and China’s takeover of the Spratleys and Paracels started just today. They were just waiting for the green light from MAGA.

lloyd (4f2da5) — 12/23/2024 @ 7:12 am

China had no designs on Taiwan until Trump put the idea in their head.

lloyd (4f2da5) — 12/23/2024 @ 7:15 am

#176

If the cop tells me it’s ok to steal that diamond and I have been wanting that diamond for a long time, why was the diamond stolen? Would it have been stolen if the cop hadn’t hinted to me that I could go for it?

Lloyd think replacing strategic ambiguity with strategic indifference doesn’t have an effect on behavior.

Appalled (4505e1) — 12/23/2024 @ 7:26 am

Appalled, may I suggest analogy remedial education?

lloyd (4f2da5) — 12/23/2024 @ 7:36 am

It’s the tail end of a Democrat administration, so time for the usual kiss to rapists, child murderers, cop killers, etc.

‘Today, I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole. These commutations are consistent with the moratorium my administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.’

‘Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,’ Biden’s statement said. ‘But guided by my conscience and my experience as a public defender, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, vice president, and now president, I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level.’

‘In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.’

But, despite his superior conscience, he kept three on death row. And, he’s approved drone strikes and supplied weapons for war. With Democrats it’s all about moral posturing and pretending to be better than everyone else, at the expense of victims.

lloyd (75323d) — 12/23/2024 @ 7:47 am

WSJ article on Biden commutations

The 37 men, all convicted of murder, will serve life imprisonment without parole.

Biden left death sentences in place for three inmates found guilty of terrorism or hate-motivated mass killings: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who with his now-dead brother bombed the 2013 Boston Marathon, killing three and wounding more than 250 others; Robert Bowers, who killed 11 people in the 2018 attack on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh; and Dylann Roof, who in 2015 killed nine at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C.

Also excluded are four servicemen convicted of murder and held on the military death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

Those spared include a former Marine who killed two young girls and later a female naval officer; a Las Vegas man convicted of kidnapping and killing a 12-year-old girl; a Chicago podiatrist who fatally shot a patient to keep her from testifying in a Medicare fraud investigation; and two men convicted in a kidnapping-for-ransom scheme that resulted in the killings of five Russian and Georgian immigrants.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 7:49 am

An America Last administration is coming to an end and many folks aren’t happy about that.

lloyd (75323d) — 12/23/2024 @ 7:51 am

This provides cover for Trump to pardon J6 convicts and possibly others, citing a highly politicized justice system.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 7:52 am

Appalled, may I suggest analogy remedial education?

Stay classy.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 7:54 am

Trump has not endorsed mirror imaging. And he said that about Panama to get more support from MAGA audiences – so they’ll back him and write their Congresspeople on other things, He wants to stand alone. Standing alone without getting criticized is typical of him.

He didn’t dig himself a hole,

First he complained about management of the Canal and said a price reduction is called for, He threw out into the air some legal nonsense but he only asked a question, and didn’t make a statement and if he gets the slightest change in the terms or price he’ll claim victory.

Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 12/23/2024 @ 7:55 am

That was in his first term. Did he bring it up again?

Others have, as it makes strategic sense. It’s not even a new idea, going back to Secretary Seward who considered buying Greenland (and Iceland) in 1867, the same year the US bought Alaska. Negotiations to purchase them fell apart in 1868..

China is actively pursuing the idea itself. China’s investments constitute over 10% of Greenland’s GDP and has attempt3ed to buy a former naval base there.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 8:08 am

That second link didn’t close right.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 8:09 am

179: The sanctity of the legal process when prosecuting an opposing presidential candidate, does not mean a Good Liberal cannot pardon relatives, and nullify 37 jury decisions to make life better and longer for murders and rapists.

Harcourt Fenton Mudd (03c310) — 12/23/2024 @ 8:11 am

What this should tell people is that if you leave someone on death row long enough, eventually their sentence will be commuted. This isn’t the first time, either.

This and other Biden actions, and possible pardons by Trump, ought to cause a review of the pardon power. Either its limitation by amendment, limitation by Court decision, or limitation by campaign promises would seem possible.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 8:21 am

It’s really going to suck for those he didn’t reprieve.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 8:22 am

House Ethics Report Says Matt Gaetz Regularly Paid Women For Sex

What is shocking is that this is now considered an ethics violation in Congress. Wilbur Mills could not be reached for comment.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 8:27 am

@182

This provides cover for Trump to pardon J6 convicts and possibly others, citing a highly politicized justice system.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 7:52 am

Absolutely.

No matter what you believe of the J6ers in their entirety….

NONE OF THEM are even remotely comparable to what Biden just did.

whembly (477db6) — 12/23/2024 @ 8:36 am

Biden like all leftists love them some murderers and criminals. it’s why an illegal alien was allowed to be in NYC and to burn another human being to death. It’s why they grant clemency and pardons to the most evil among us, but go after citizens defending the public or a Christian praying for an unborn life.

Jesus weeps.

NJRob (663458) — 12/23/2024 @ 8:38 am

@190

House Ethics Report Says Matt Gaetz Regularly Paid Women For Sex

What is shocking is that this is now considered an ethics violation in Congress. Wilbur Mills could not be reached for comment.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 8:27 am

Until someone publicize all those payments Congress sent to shut down #MeToo claims… I don’t care and automatically presume that this is nothing more than political bs.

whembly (477db6) — 12/23/2024 @ 8:39 am

NY Post:

Among those receiving the holiday cheer is Thomas Sanders, who in 2010 kidnapped and then shot 12-year-old Lexis Roberts four times and cut her throat in Louisiana — days after the girl watched as Sanders murdered her mother on a road trip near the Grand Canyon.

Christmas also came early for Anthony Battle, who murdered an Atlanta prison guard with a hammer in 1994 while serving a life sentence for raping and murdering his wife, a US Marine, in 1987 at Camp Lejeune, NC.

Jorge Avila-Torrez sexually assaulted and stabbed to death two girls — Laura Hobbs, 8, and Krystal Tobias, 9 — who had been riding their bicycles in their neighborhood in a suburb north of Chicago in 2005.

Four years later, he strangled naval officer Amanda Snell, 20, inside her barrack in Arlington, Va.

Iouri Mikhel, another clemency recipient, was convicted of murdering five Russian and Georgian immigrants after kidnapping them for ransom, which in some cases was paid before he killed them anyway.

Kaboni Savage, meanwhile, was convicted of committing or ordering the deaths of 12 people including four children as a Philadelphia drug dealer — while James Roane, Jr. participated in the murder of 11 people as a drug dealer in Richmond, Va.

Given the way that the Pope lobbied Biden (a Catholic), this may cause problems for other Catholics seeking executive office. It probably shouldn’t, but it will.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 8:44 am

#193

the reality is Matt Gaetz brught down the Speaker to prevent this ever being released. As a result, I think even a lot of MAGA hates him.

It is likely political bs — but it’s generated by MG’s sheer ass-hattery.

Appalled (58f77b) — 12/23/2024 @ 8:48 am

Moot court filing:

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz filed a lawsuit Monday against the House Ethics Committee seeking an emergency temporary restraining order to try and stop the release of its damning investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, arguing its release would prompt “immediate and widespread” media coverage.

Gaetz filed the lawsuit after denying allegations published in a leaked draft of the report ahead of its official release in full.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 8:48 am

@194 Garland pushed for this. He’s not Catholic.

lloyd (1aaed8) — 12/23/2024 @ 8:49 am

Garland pushed for this. He’s not Catholic.

He also pushed for Hunter’s sweetheart deal. He’s not a Biden.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 8:51 am

There were colorable arguments that what Carter did back then was unconstitutional…

Such as?

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 8:51 am

Blanket amnesties are not mentioned in Article II.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 8:53 am

One argument:

(Synopsis of argument behind firewall)

The pardon power of the U.S. president is very broad. A president may pardon any federal crime committed prior to the date of the pardon, and may issue pardons to individuals or groups of persons for offenses committed in connection with multiple discrete events. However, the Constitution’s text and British and American precedent suggest that a valid pardon presupposes awareness by the President of that which is being pardoned as a logical and legal precondition for an exercise of judgment about the propriety of granting clemency. Accordingly, a pardon of the type issued by President Gerald Ford to former President Richard Nixon, purporting to pardon Nixon for all federal offenses committed during his terms of office, irrespective of Ford’s knowledge of them, should be deemed unconstitutional.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 8:58 am

Could Trump grant and amnesty for all federal offenses committed on Jan 6, 2021?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:00 am

Greenland (Ttrump) wanted to buy, (buying territory doesn’t happen anymore)

That was in his first term. Did he bring it up again?

Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 12/23/2024 @ 6:00 am

Yes.

President-elect Donald Trump shared his renewed interest Sunday in the U.S. controlling the autonomous territory of Greenland, which is owned by Denmark.

“For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity,” Trump wrote in a (Truth Social) statement announcing that he had chosen Ken Howery to serve as ambassador to Denmark.
………..
Greenland, between the North Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Ocean, is technically part of North America and is the largest island in the world.
………..

Greenland is not the largest island in the world, Australia is.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:02 am

@202

Could Trump grant and amnesty for all federal offenses committed on Jan 6, 2021?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:00 am

He shouldn’t, but yes.

whembly (477db6) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:09 am

@200

Blanket amnesties are not mentioned in Article II.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 8:53 am

??

That’s what pardon means.

whembly (477db6) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:10 am

Blanket amnesties are not mentioned in Article II.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 8:53 am

Blanket amnesties may not be mentioned in Article II, Sec. 2 Clause I, but there have been many blanket amnesties in American history. Amnesties are a form of pardon, only for more than one person:

Amnesty is essentially identical to pardon in ultimate effect, with the principal distinction between the two being that amnesty typically is extended to whole classes or communities, instead of individuals[.] (see footnote 1 below). As with other forms of clemency, amnesty may be partial or conditional. Among others, prominent examples of amnesty occurred during and after the Civil War and the Vietnam War. For instance, Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson issued a series of proclamations offering and ultimately granting amnesty to those who participated in the Civil War on the side of the Confederacy, and the Supreme Court decided several cases addressing the implications of such amnesty for property seized by statute. Beyond the Civil War, a more recent historical example of amnesty came in the 1970s, when President Jimmy Carter granted amnesty to many who violated the Selective Service Act by evading the draft during the Vietnam War.

1. See Knote v. United States, 95 U.S. 149, 153 (1877); see id. (indicating that distinction between the two terms is one rather of philological interest than of legal importance); Brown v. Walker, 161 U.S. 591, 601–02 (1896) (dismissing any distinction between amnesty and pardon as of no practical importance and describing amnesty as a general pardon for a past offense that is rarely, if ever, exercised in favor of single individuals, and is usually exerted in behalf of certain classes of persons, who are subject to trial, but have not yet been convicted). In Burdick v. United States, the Court suggested that there are other incidental differences of importance between pardon and amnesty, including that amnesty overlooks offense rather than remit[ting] punishment and is usually addressed to crimes against the sovereignty of the state, to political offenses, deemed more expedient for the public welfare than prosecution and punishment. 236 U.S. at 95.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:11 am

Denmark is part of NATO. Is Trump ignoring that?

Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:16 am

Denmark is part of NATO. Is Trump ignoring that?

Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:16 am

So what? Trump doesn’t like NATO. I’m sure if Trump offered Denmark several billion dollars they would gladly part with Greenland.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:18 am

I would think Trump’s possible disparagement of NATO would be an additional argument for Denmark not to let go of Greenland, either to full independence or to the United States,

Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:19 am

House Ethics Report Says Matt Gaetz Regularly Paid Women For Sex

What is shocking is that this is now considered an ethics violation in Congress. Wilbur Mills could not be reached for comment.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 8:27 am

Did Mills have sex with underage girls?

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:21 am

House Ethics Report Says Matt Gaetz Regularly Paid Women For Sex

What is shocking is that this is now considered an ethics violation in Congress. Wilbur Mills could not be reached for comment.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 8:27 am

Did Mills have sex with underage girls?

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:21 am

And pay for drugs?

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:22 am

That’s what pardon means.

No, it is not. A pardon is for a specific act or acts known to the executive at the time of the pardon. An amnesty is absolving a group of people for known or unknown acts of a time, or during a time, or both. Arguably, the president does not have an “amnesty” power.

Nixon’s “pardon” was an amnesty despite the words Ford used.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:28 am

@207

Denmark is part of NATO. Is Trump ignoring that?

Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:16 am

He’s not talking about conquering Greenland…

He’s making the case that his administration is interested in purchasing it.

Back in 2016, the early estimate would be that it’d cost north of $500 billon dollars (assuredly more now).

How much did we spend on Ukraine in total? 100 billion?

We can send Denmark xx billions of dollars per year for yy years.

We should definitely bid on Greenland, and Denmark would be paid handsomely.

whembly (477db6) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:28 am

*known or unknown acts of a TYPE

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:29 am

The US came very near to buying Greenland (and Iceland) for $5.5 million in 1868. It didn’t happen before the administration changed in 1869.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:32 am

An amnesty is absolving a group of people for known or unknown acts of a time, or during a time, or both. Arguably, the president does not have an “amnesty” power.

Historically and constitutionally incorrect. Tilting at windmills.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:32 am

@212

That’s what pardon means.

No, it is not. A pardon is for a specific act or acts known to the executive at the time of the pardon. An amnesty is absolving a group of people for known or unknown acts of a time, or during a time, or both. Arguably, the president does not have an “amnesty” power.

Nixon’s “pardon” was an amnesty despite the words Ford used.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:28 am

Here’s the problem Kevin…

POTUS’ pardon power is non-justiciable. It’s inarguably the POTUS’ power to issue an amnesty is derived for the pardon power.

I’m just waiting for the Biden Administration to issue an Amnesty to every illegal alien at the end of his administration, and there’s nothing that can be done to undo that.

whembly (477db6) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:32 am

The goal in 1868 was, with the previous purchase of Alaska, to surround Canada in a long-term plan for annexation. The US’s eventual ceding of all claims to Greenland during the later purchase of the Danish West Indies was in part to satisfy British and Canadian concerns.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:36 am

POTUS’ pardon power is non-justiciable. It’s inarguably the POTUS’ power to issue an amnesty is derived for the pardon power.

Untrue. A particular PARDON is non-justiciable. If a president suggested that he could pardon state crimes, or that “pardon” meand that he could toss people in jail if he wanted, it would damn well be justiciable. And so would the claim to a blanket amnesty, if you could find someone with standing.

In the case of the J6 defendants, that could be one of the police officers attacked, or the Capitol Police in general.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:39 am

Only past crimes can be pardoned. Prospective pardons are not allowed despite all the TV tropes. So, the president *could* issue a blanket amnesty for illegal presence in the country (it’s not the entry that is illegal), but the next day they would still be here illegally. Congress and only Congress has the power to decide who can stay.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:42 am

Or, rather it is not ONLY the entry that is illegal.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:43 am

Historically and constitutionally incorrect. Tilting at windmills.

There are other arguments, such that the pardon power does not extend to unknown offenses. In the case of the J6 defendants, the “amnesty” would really be a set of pardons for specific, known acts. An attempt to use that later to absolve someone for a rape that occurred inside the building on that day would (hopefully) not work.

In most of the previous cases (Shay’s Rebellion, the Civil War, the draft amnesty) the CRIMES pardoned were known crimes. An individual pardoned for treason in the Civil War was NOT also pardoned for all other crimes.

In Nixon’s case the crimes were unspecified (and perhaps unknown) although the individual pardoned was well defined. It has long been argued that Nixon’s pardon was unconstitutional for this reason, although that argument never prevails.

There were colorable arguments that what Carter did back then was unconstitutional…

Undeniably.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:57 am

The debate at the Constitutional Convention did not discuss general amnesties. The closest they came was in discussing the potential of a criminal President pardoning his underlings, but not in the sense of an amnesty. The crimes pardoned even there would have been defined (they were mostly discussing “treason”). These were people who did not frequently find themselves at a loss for words, yet they did not put “amnesty” into Article II, nor did they discuss the word.

Have there been presidents who issued amnesties? Arguably, but there have been presidents who abused other powers. There have been courts who were later overturned, too. If you go back to the written constitution, as the current court seems to want, the power of “amnesty” is unclear.

The argument is that “the Constitution’s text and British and American precedent suggest that a valid pardon presupposes awareness by the President of that which is being pardoned as a logical and legal precondition for an exercise of judgment about the propriety of granting clemency.”

Anything else is not only unsupported by Article II, but reckless.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:08 am

Tell that to Biden when he pardoned his son for over a decade…

whembly (477db6) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:15 am

Only past crimes can be pardoned. Prospective pardons are not allowed despite all the TV tropes.

Who would have standing to challenge such a pardon?

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:18 am

This is also an abuse of the pardon power, as it is being used to negate a federal law that allows the death penalty for drug crimes and/or murder during them, for killing witnesses, and for murder associated with sex-trafficking of children.

He is effectively limiting the penalty to hate killings, terrorism, and murders under the UCMJ and he is using the pardon power to accomplish that, despite his oath of office.

Biden should be impeached for this.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:23 am

Who would have standing to challenge such a pardon?

A victim’s family, a prosecutor’s office.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:23 am

In the extreme, we will have Trump pardon himself for all past and future federal crimes. A trifecta of abuse.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:25 am

In most of the previous cases (Shay’s Rebellion, the Civil War, the draft amnesty) the CRIMES pardoned were known crimes.

For the most part, the rank and file Confederate soldiers weren’t charged with any crime. And I doubt every Vietnam War draft dodger was charged with evading the draft either.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:27 am

In the extreme, we will have Trump pardon himself for all past and future federal crimes. A trifecta of abuse.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:25 am

Still constitutional.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:27 am

The debate at the Constitutional Convention did not discuss general amnesties.

The debates at the Constitutional Convention aren’t the be all or end all of constitutional interpretation.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:28 am

whembly (477db6) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:32 am

I’m just waiting for the Biden Administration to issue an Amnesty to every illegal alien at the end of his administration

He can’t do that, or at least he can’t f anything more than to shield them from prosecution because deportation is not punishment for a crime. The amnesty that happened in 1986 is a different kind of “amnesty” from that derived from the pardon power.

A president used to have the ability to “parole” anyone into the United States, but this power was severely limited starting around 1990 – or was it 1996? – because of all the agitation about “illegal aliens”

I think a quota was put on it. I am not entirely clear on this. Someone needs to be a real expert to know what the situation is.
I found this:

https://www.cato.org/blog/126-parole-orders-over-7-decades-historical-review-immigration-parole-orders

…Since the creation of the parole power in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952—which codified executive powers already in use—Congress has substantively amended the parole authority twice: in the Refugee Act of 1980 (P.L. 96–212, March 17, 1980), barring refugees from being paroled into the United States, and in the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (Public Law 104–208), which made two statutory changes. First, the standard for paroling someone changed from “emergent” or “public interest” reasons to “urgent humanitarian” or “significant public benefit” reasons. Second, each determination had to be made on a case-by-case basis.

Few at the time thought these changes were substantive, and the categorical parole regulations then in effect were reenacted verbatim. Moreover, the case-by-case basis requirement was in effect for decades, including for large-scale programmatic uses of parole, such as for Cubans and Vietnamese. Case-by-case determinations always meant an individual determination, even if someone’s categorization created a presumption that they met the “emergent/humanitarian” or “public interest/significant public benefit” requirement.

In many cases, these parole programs have received almost no attention in many years but contain precedents that the current administration should consider reimplementing. For example, parole used to be available in 1990 for children aging out of eligibility for green cards. In the 1950s, it was used for the employment-based first preference category (skilled immigrants) when immigrant visas were unavailable under the cap. These two issues are particularly relevant now, with the employment-based cap being exhausted even for Nobel laureates and their children.

Unfortunately, there is no comprehensive set of statistics for the number of people paroled since 1952.,,,

Sammy Finkrlman (e4ef09) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:30 am

If you go back to the written constitution, as the current court seems to want, the power of “amnesty” is unclear.

The current Court is also a big supporter of Presidential power as the unitary executive.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:32 am

Parole is admission without “admission” under immigration law.

A president could probably issue any number of people, by name, visitor’s visas, (which does not the right to work and is not supposed to be used if the person has another purpose like education or business or marriage. He can issue a visitors visa to anyone if he charges a fee, but that is probably limited to 6 months. Or he could make their country visa free. Which technically issues them a (free) visa upon being admitted into the United Sates

DACA was not actually legal but no one sued in the right way. DAPA (for the parents) was successfully sued against.

There are proposals for Biden to extend Temporary Protected Status as far into the future as possible.

People talk about this without having the slightest idea of what is actually going on or what the law is – and the Internet is rife with misinformation by pro and con people. Think about the nonsensical idea of “closing the border.” I’ve yet to find a definition of what this means.

Someone guessed:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskConservatives/comments/1bzfjjo/what_does_close_the_border_mean_to_you

Sammy Finkrlman (e4ef09) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:39 am

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:25 am

In the extreme, we will have Trump pardon himself for all past and future federal crimes. A trifecta of abuse.

He can’t extend a pardon into the future. But it doesn’t have to be prosecuted offenses.

The pardon power was intended I think to allow pardons to induce a surrender in the event of a rebellion.

Sammy Finkrlman (e4ef09) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:42 am

@230

In the extreme, we will have Trump pardon himself for all past and future federal crimes. A trifecta of abuse.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:25 am

Still constitutional.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:27 am

Not future crimes though.

whembly (477db6) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:46 am

This is also an abuse of the pardon power, as it is being used to negate a federal law that allows the death penalty for drug crimes and/or murder during them, for killing witnesses, and for murder associated with sex-trafficking of children.

He is effectively limiting the penalty to hate killings, terrorism, and murders under the UCMJ and he is using the pardon power to accomplish that, despite his oath of office.

Biden should be impeached for this.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:23 am

ArtII.S2.C1.3.4.3 of the Constitution gives the President the power to “grant reprieves.” See Ex parte Wells (1856): “The pardon power extends to all kinds of pardons known in the law as such, whatever may be their denomination, including not only absolute pardon[s] but also more limited forms of release, remission, and reprieve.”

The second article of the Constitution of the United States, section two, contains this provision, namely: “The President shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.”

Under this power, the President can grant a conditional pardon to a person under sentence of death, offering to commute that punishment into an imprisonment for life. If this is accepted by the convict, he has no right to contend that the pardon is absolute and the condition of it void. And the court below was justifiable in refusing to discharge the prisoner, when the application was placed upon that ground.

The language used in the Constitution as to the power of pardoning must be construed by the exercise of that power in England prior to the Revolution, and in the states prior to the adoption of the Constitution.
………
The language of the Constitution is such that the power of the President to pardon conditionally is not one of inference, but is conferred in terms, that language being to “grant reprieves and pardons,” which includes conditional as well as absolute pardons.

While it is an unwise decision, the commutations were constitutional. Given his remaining time in office, I doubt he will be impeached; also the House has adjourned until January 3, 2025.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:48 am

In the extreme, we will have Trump pardon himself for all past and future federal crimes. A trifecta of abuse.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:25 am

Still constitutional.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:27 am

Not future crimes though.

whembly (477db6) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:46 am

How so? Where is that limitation in the Constitution? And who would have the standing to challenge such a pardon?

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:49 am

The pardon power is being abused because the justice system is being abused.

lloyd (1aaed8) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:51 am

I get the feeling that members of President Biden’s family are/were concerned that he might not make it to January 20. This could be a realistic fear or just to guard against a remote contingency. It could be something like a concern that he might slip and fall and hit his head on concrete.

The reason I say so is because:

1) President Biden issued his pardon to his sin Hunter early instead of after the more acceptable pardons.

2) Kamala Harris is reported to have cancelled her vacation – but I think she did not show up in the Senate to cast votes in case of a tie in confirmations of judges. (during the continuing resolution gyrations, the Senate remained in session and Schumer used the occasion to confirm a few extra federal judges and one of them was a tie until Machin came in and voted against him, IIRC)

She first took a two week vacation to Hawaii after the election. Then she came back And she was going to go on vacation again.

Does Blinken or somebody want her around to take charge in case Biden slips and falls and cracks his skull? Or has a CVA?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14214295/kamala-harris-cancels-los-angeles-trip-joe-biden-white-house.html

Sammy Finkrlman (e4ef09) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:57 am

This is also an abuse of the pardon power, as it is being used to negate a federal law that allows the death penalty for drug crimes and/or murder during them, for killing witnesses, and for murder associated with sex-trafficking of children…….

All pardons and commutations negate federal criminal law.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:58 am

I get the feeling that members of President Biden’s family are/were concerned that he might not make it to January 20. This could be a realistic fear or just to guard against a remote contingency.

Or pure speculation.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:59 am

Transcript of Donald Trump’s press conference Monday, December 16, 2024:

https://www.rev.com/transcripts/donald-trump-press-conference-with-softbank-ceo-12-16-24

The occasion for this was a Japanese company (SoftBank) promising to invest a lot of money (Trump, on stage, got its CEO close to agreeing to double the amount) in U.S. manufacturing but it went into al sorts of subjects.

Sammy Finkrlman (e4ef09) — 12/23/2024 @ 11:05 am

249. It is speculation. I wasn’t ready to say it when Joe Biden issued his early pardon of Hunter, but now I have a second dat point: Kamala Harris’ cancelled trip to Los Angeles. Now I am on the lookout for more indications.

Sammy Finkrlman (e4ef09) — 12/23/2024 @ 11:07 am

249. It is speculation. I wasn’t ready to say it when Joe Biden issued his early pardon of Hunter, but now I have a second dat point: Kamala Harris’ cancelled trip to Los Angeles. Now I am on the lookout for more indications.

Sammy Finkrlman (e4ef09) — 12/23/2024 @ 11:07 am

LOL! You do that.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 11:09 am

249. It is speculation. I wasn’t ready to say it when Joe Biden issued his early pardon of Hunter, but now I have a second dat point: Kamala Harris’ cancelled trip to Los Angeles. Now I am on the lookout for more indications.

Sammy Finkrlman (e4ef09) — 12/23/2024 @ 11:07 am

Let us know who stole the strawberries too.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 11:10 am

I doubt he will get a pardon.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 11:17 am

Not on topic, but VERY interesting. It’s an article by Gurwinder Bhogal about Luigi Mangione.

https://www.thefp.com/p/conversations-with-luigi-mangione-alleged-killer-brian-thompson

I think that we are far too reactive and far less thoughtful than we need to be. We are very certain about things outside our own expertise. It all feeds into what we wish to be true. We seem to be “set” in particular reactions and statements. Almost robotic, some times.

As for an NPC view of humanity, I recommend “The Sinful Ones” by Fritz Leiber. Despite the title, it is all about agency. Lurid and dated, but this bit says it best:

“The universe was a machine. The people in it, save for a very few, were mindless mechanisms, clockwork things of flesh and bone. So long as you made the proper clockwork motions, they seemed to react intelligently. But when you stopped, they went on just the same.”

It kind of feels that way sometimes, doesn’t it? Leiber was quite a character in real life, but he had some strange dreams.

Simon Jester (c8876d) — 12/23/2024 @ 11:30 am

@238

How so? Where is that limitation in the Constitution? And who would have the standing to challenge such a pardon?

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:49 am

You may be right, but I guarantee you the SCOTUS won’t look too kindly on that.

Because if you ARE right, then we’ll have a new monarchy every 4 to 8 years.

whembly (477db6) — 12/23/2024 @ 11:37 am

@240

I get the feeling that members of President Biden’s family are/were concerned that he might not make it to January 20. This could be a realistic fear or just to guard against a remote contingency. It could be something like a concern that he might slip and fall and hit his head on concrete.

The reason I say so is because:

1) President Biden issued his pardon to his sin Hunter early instead of after the more acceptable pardons.

Sammy Finkrlman (e4ef09) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:57 am

Hunter was facing sentencing right before his pardon. Joe was up against the court’s clock on that one and had to act.

whembly (477db6) — 12/23/2024 @ 11:39 am

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:42 am

(it’s not the entry that is illegal),

It didn’t use to be but Congress made it a crime a number of years ago. It is almost never prosecuted, though.
Maybe longer ago:

https://www.history.com/news/illegal-border-crossing-usa-mexico-section-1325

In 1924, nativist politicians passed a new Immigration Act establishing country quotas that gave enormous preference to people from northern and western Europe over those from the southern and eastern parts of the continent, while still banning almost all immigration from Asia.

hey keep on repeating 1924 but it was really 1921. Effective July 1, 1921. The quotas were reduced in 1924 and the population base was changed from 1910 to 1890.

. Also, from 1921 to 1924, quotas were assigned per month and who got admitted depended on arrival order. Ships raced each other to be the first to arrive in a month but not too early.

In 1927 clergy were excluded from the quota system.

In 1929 quotas were assigned by country of birth not citizenship. (the Cuba loophole was closed)

There were no quotas on (independent) countries in the western hemisphere till January 1, 1968 and the old Irish quota was always larger than the demand.

There were conditions and had been since 1884-5

Sammy Finkrlman (e4ef09) — 12/23/2024 @ 11:45 am

I meant this link:

https://www.history.com/news/illegal-border-crossing-usa-mexico-section-1325

In 1929, a white supremacist senator named Coleman Livingston Blease proposed a compromise between agricultural and nativist interests: instead of capping the number of immigrants from Mexico, the U.S. could pass a law criminalizing those who did not cross the border through an official entry point, where they had to pay a fee and submit to tests.

These entry points were far apart from each other, and for various reasons many immigrants continued crossing the border in the same manner that U.S. and Mexican citizens had both done for many decades. “Entry fees were prohibitively high for many Mexican workers,” writes historian Kelly Lytle Hernandez for The Conversation. “Moreover, U.S. authorities subjected Mexican immigrants, in particular, to kerosene baths and humiliating delousing procedures because they believed Mexican immigrants carried disease and filth on their bodies.”

Blease’s law passed and became Section 1325 of Title 8 in the U.S. Code. For the first time in U.S. history, the law made it a crime for some people to cross the border. With Section 1325, unlawful entry became a federal misdemeanor on the first offense, and a felony on the second. Both charges could result in fines or prison time. And although the law applied to all immigrants, the intent was to restrict immigration from Mexico.

Also:

. It wasn’t until George W. Bush’s presidency that the U.S. began to prosecute people under Section 1325 more regularly.

These prosecutions continued under presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Section 1325 is the basis for the government’s separation of parents from their children at the border, and could become a major issue in the 2020 presidential race. At the first Democratic Primary Debates on June 26, 2019, Julián Castro made headlines for calling on all of the party’s candidates to join him in promising to repeal Section 1325.

I think this might have been raised to a felony in recent years and extended to other kinds of evasion besides crossing without insopection..

Sammy Finkrlman (e4ef09) — 12/23/2024 @ 11:55 am

whembly (477db6) — 12/23/2024 @ 11:39 am

Hunter was facing sentencing right before his pardon. Joe was up against the court’s clock on that one and had to act.

Hunter would have been given time to surrender and it also could be suspended pending appeal.

But people would know how many years in jail Hunter was being saved from.

Sammy Finkrlman (e4ef09) — 12/23/2024 @ 11:57 am

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/20/2024 @ 5:55 pm

. Mr. Potter was anti-competition and anti-capitalist by controlling–or trying to control–the Bedford Falls economy, trying to make everyone crawl to him for handout.

He was also unscrupulous, finding the lost money, knowing to whom it belonged to, and and keeping it.

I think the movie ends with him keeping the money.

Sammy Finkrlman (e4ef09) — 12/23/2024 @ 11:59 am

Tom Homan on the newcomer who set a woman on fire on a NYC subway:

“ICE has their hands tied. Secretary Mayorkas have given them priorities that they can’t even go arrest illegal alien anymore unless is he convicted, convicted, of a serious crime then maybe they can arrest him. So this is on this administration.”

“As far as Governor Hochul, shame on her. She supports sanctuary status in that state. She welcomed thousands of illegal aliens to her state,” Homan continued. “She sent them to Buffalo and Syracuse. Murders occurred by illegal aliens in Buffalo and Syracuse. She had the green light law. ICE and CBP can’t even work with local law enforcement. Local law enforcement can’t share DMV data with these people. Governor Hochul, shame on you, there is nothing can you say that’s going to make this right in New York.”

lloyd (1aaed8) — 12/23/2024 @ 12:14 pm

Much is being made of how no one seemed to want to get involved to help the woman or detain the suspect. I guess folks saw what Daniel Penny was put through and took notes.

lloyd (1aaed8) — 12/23/2024 @ 12:16 pm

Luigi Mangione To Host Next Week’s Episode Of ‘SNL’.

lloyd (1aaed8) — 12/23/2024 @ 12:18 pm

How so? Where is that limitation (for a self-pardon of future crimes) in the Constitution? And who would have the standing to challenge such a pardon?

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:49 am

You may be right, but I guarantee you the SCOTUS won’t look too kindly on that.

Because if you ARE right, then we’ll have a new monarchy every 4 to 8 years.

whembly (477db6) — 12/23/2024 @ 11:37 am

Such a pardon, like all others, would be unchallengeable in the courts as no one would be able to establish standing to sue.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 12:54 pm

Playing with words in order to get votes for liberalizing abortion laws

I noticed this before the election but this gives you chapter and verse

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-abortion-lobby-endangers-pregnant-women-babies-physicians-miscarriages-48308908

…The possibility of one such complication haunted me recently after I saw a Kamala Harris campaign ad that featured the heartbreaking story of a Texas woman named Ondrea. Ondrea’s water broke at 16 weeks, threatening to send her into early labor with a baby far from the age of viability. This complication is known as periviable prelabor rupture of membranes, or PPROM. Ondrea’s child didn’t survive, and Ondrea developed a septic infection that threatened her life and fertility. “Because I live in Texas,” she explains, “I was denied the abortion care I needed.”

But Ondrea didn’t need an abortion; nor was she a victim of Texas abortion laws, which explicitly protect treatment for PPROM. The standard of care for PPROM has always been either induced labor or expectant management, according to previous practice guidelines from the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Neither have ever been previously called abortions.

Yet this October the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology released new clinical guidelines on the treatment of PPROM, produced by the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. Now induction of labor for PPROM is categorized under abortion care. “All patients,” the paper states, should be “offered abortion care, and expectant management can also be offered.” Although the journal is independent of ACOG, the college endorsed these recommended changes as new clinical guidance. The Harris campaign exploited this equivocation.

PPROM prior to 24 weeks gestation occurs in less than 0.37% of pregnancies. Treatment depends on gestational age, viability and potential infection risks to the mother. Leaking amniotic fluid heightens the danger of sepsis, which can lead to maternal death. PPROM prior to 21 weeks gestation results in higher risks to mothers and markedly increased fatality for perinates. Expectant management—waiting to see if the baby reaches viability—may be riskier for mothers earlier in pregnancy and results in higher rates of infection for both mother and child. Induction or augmentation of labor for midtrimester PPROM, regardless of fetal viability, may result in better maternal outcomes.

The intent when managing PPROM is to balance the needs of mother and baby, and the best-case scenario is to preserve both their lives. The death of a fetus from labor and delivery during management for PPROM is a tragic secondary effect of treatment. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this isn’t an abortion, which the CDC defines as an intervention with the “intention to terminate a suspected or known ongoing intrauterine pregnancy and that does not result in a live birth.”

Reclassifying induction of labor—or, rarely, surgical resolution for PPROM—as abortion care seems to threaten women’s prenatal care nationwide. No abortion legislation in any state restricts emergency procedures to protect the life or health of the mother. Yet this linguistic shift could mislead physicians in states with abortion restrictions into believing that standard treatments for pregnancy complications may be illegal, or at least subject to a higher standard of physician judgment when determining a treatment course.

I live in North Carolina, which enacted a 12-week abortion restriction in 2023. Although the law makes exceptions for medical emergencies, it’s unclear how it defines treatments for complications like PPROM. After conversations with several people involved in developing the law, I wasn’t able to gain any clarity on whether induction of labor for prenatal complications is an abortion under North Carolina law. Practitioners and hospital systems are coming to their own conclusions.

My own physician told me he would consider an induction for mid-trimester PPROM an abortion, and he wouldn’t perform such a procedure unless the alternative was maternal death or physical impairment. But another North Carolina-based physician offers induction of labor for PPROM even before signs of infection appear as one management option, and she doesn’t consider this act either to be an abortion regulated by the law or a violation of her own staunch pro-life beliefs. A North Carolina-based maternal-fetal medicine specialist told me that his hospital system would require abortion documentation if he induced labor for PPROM but not if he augmented labor for PPROM.

Only the abortion lobby and the politicians who support it benefit from these linguistic games. By their standard, many treatments for pregnancy complications are now considered abortions, from removing ectopic pregnancies and miscarriage management to induction of labor for PPROM. In other words, prenatal care is complete only with abortion in the toolbox. But it is intent, not simply a procedure, that makes something an abortion. To mislabel standard medical treatment for PPROM as “abortion care” to advance a political agenda is as disingenuous as it is dangerous, and it places undue moral weight on patients and physicians alike when evaluating treatment options.

Pro-life advocates aren’t the ones threatening women’s prenatal care, but to ensure high standards in prenatal care without compromising moral objections to elective abortions, states like North Carolina should amend their legislation to clarify what does or doesn’t qualify as an abortion. Arming physicians with the information they need to provide quality prenatal care includes developing precise definitions that eliminate hesitation and confusion. Pregnant women deserve clarity that protects their health and well-being.

Sammy Finkrlman (e4ef09) — 12/23/2024 @ 1:00 pm

Playing with words about DEI in accreditation of colleges.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/how-colleges-and-universities-get-around-state-dei-bans-discrimination-iowa-65732dfb

I co-sponsored Iowa’s ban on DEI, which Gov. Kim Reynolds signed in May. As an Asian-American, I’m well aware that activists have used this ideology to discriminate against people like me, especially in higher education. Our legislation aimed to right this wrong and provide equal treatment to everyone by banning public institutions, including Iowa’s three public universities, from having DEI offices, programs and staff. I thought that our law would soon drive DEI from our college campuses and state government.

I was wrong. In early November, the Iowa Board of Regents, which oversees the state’s public universities, issued a report on compliance with the law. It laid out, in detail, how DEI initiatives have been shut down statewide. But in the fine print on page 78, I learned that Carver College is keeping its Office of Health Parity open. The office proudly declares on its home page that it “strives to achieve excellence through the advancement of diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

The Board of Regents says its hand was forced by accreditors. These are private institutions that decide whether universities and graduate schools can grant degrees. Iowa’s DEI ban exempts programs that accreditors deem necessary, and accreditors have significant leverage over state lawmakers. If they withdrew their approval from one of our state universities, the political blowback would be severe. No lawmaker wants to be accused of killing a beloved state institution. In other states, including Missouri and Tennessee, the threat of losing accreditation has delayed and even prevented the passage of DEI bans.

Unfortunately, that exemption was loophole enough for Iowa’s premier medical school to continue advocating a worldview that divides people by skin color and encourages discrimination.

The accreditors deny pushing the DEI agenda. Last year, as the Journal reported, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, which accredits U.S. medical schools, told federal lawmakers that it doesn’t require DEI. But its charter does demand that medical schools engage “in ongoing, systematic, and focused recruitment and retention activities, to achieve mission-appropriate diversity outcomes.”

Other accreditors have made similar noises. I sent letters to the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education and the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. The former said that DEI must “be considered,” but that it isn’t required for a school to get its approval. The latter denied requiring common DEI beliefs, including that America is systemically racist and people are either privileged or oppressed based on their race.

Yet medical schools say accreditors still require them to practice DEI. According to Stanley Goldfarb of the medical nonprofit Do No Harm, accreditors know that if they merely nod to the value of DEI, universities will read it as a requirement, while university administrators know they can point to accreditors to justify keeping DEI programs. The confusion is enough to weaken the reform we passed in Iowa.

What’s to stop accreditors in other fields from doing the same thing? Whether they oversee business schools, public-policy schools, teacher education schools, or other professions, accreditors can just as easily use vague language and drop hints to keep DEI offices and programs up and running. Despite state DEI bans, support for that ideology runs deep in most collegiate administrators’ offices. They’re looking for an excuse to keep indoctrinating students and undermining the principles at America’s core.

To prevent this backsliding and truly kick DEI out of higher education, the federal government must finish what states like Iowa have started. I urge President-elect Trump and Republicans in Congress to pass H.R. 3724, the End Woke Higher Education Act, as soon as possible in the new year. This bill would prohibit U.S. accreditors from requiring schools to accept DEI or any other political litmus test. With such a law in place at the federal level, neither Iowa’s medical school nor any other college or university would be able to claim that it has to maintain DEI to satisfy an accreditor. The lying would stop—and schools would finally get back to respecting the fundamental truth that we’re all created equal.

Sammy Finkrlman (e4ef09) — 12/23/2024 @ 1:03 pm

Because if you ARE right, then we’ll have a new monarchy every 4 to 8 years.

The idea of the president’s absolute power to pardon is based on the authority held by the English crown:

The broad concept of governmental authority to provide relief from criminal punishment has deep historical roots. The power vested in the President by the Constitution traces its origins to authority held by the English Crown, leading the Supreme Court to look to legal principles underlying the latter in interpreting the scope of the former. A prerogative of mercy held by the King appeared during the reign of King Ine of Wessex (688–725 A.D.) and by 1535 had been declared by Parliament, during the reign of King Henry VIII (1509–1547 A.D.), as a right exclusive to the Crown.

Footnotes omitted.

The Constitutional Convention defeated several attempts to weaken the Presidential pardon power, such as requiring Senate consent for pardons.

In the Federalist No. 74, Alexander Hamilton maintained that the broad, Executive-held pardon power encompassed in the Constitution was desirable, arguing such a power should be as little as possible fettered or embarrassed to ensure easy access to exceptions in favour of unfortunate guilt. Hamilton also averred that locating the power solely with the President would lead to its most beneficial exercise, as a single person would be a more eligible dispenser of the mercy of the government than a body of men who might often encourage each other in an act of obduracy, and might be less sensible to the apprehension of suspicion or censure for an injudicious or affected clemency.

Footnotes omitted. Same source as above.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 1:09 pm

@257 They will be jurors too. The internet is explaining jury nullification, how to clear your social media and how to answer questions for prospective jurors. Another o.j. jury?

asset (17c0ff) — 12/23/2024 @ 1:15 pm

The idea of the president’s absolute power to pardon is based on the authority held by the English crown……

See United States v. Wilson (1833):

The power of pardon in criminal cases had been exercised from time immemorial by the executive of that nation whose language is our language, and to whose judicial institutions ours bear a close resemblance. We adopt their principles respecting the operation and effect of a pardon, and look into their books for the rules prescribing the manner in which it is to be used by the person who would avail himself of it. A pardon is an act of grace, proceeding from the power entrusted with the execution of the laws, which exempts the individual on whom it is bestowed from the punishment the law inflicts for a crime he has committed. It is the private though official act of the executive magistrate, delivered to the individual for whose benefit it is intended and not communicated officially to the court.
………
It may be supposed that no being condemned to death would reject a pardon, but the rule must be the same in capital cases and in misdemeanors. …….

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 1:15 pm

They will be jurors too. The internet is explaining jury nullification, how to clear your social media and how to answer questions for prospective jurors. Another o.j. jury?

asset (17c0ff) — 12/23/2024 @ 1:15 pm

The defense will want young Democrats on the jury:

“While 68% of voters overall reject the killer’s actions, younger voters and Democrats are more split — 41% of voters aged 18-29 find the killer’s actions acceptable (24% somewhat acceptable and 17% completely acceptable), while 40% find them unacceptable; 22% of Democrats find them acceptable, while 59% find them unacceptable, this compares to 12% of Republicans and 16% of independents who find the actions acceptable, underscoring shifting societal attitudes among the youngest electorate and within party lines,” (said Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling).

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 1:20 pm

Congresswoman kay granger r-tex. 81 found living in nursing home hasn’t voted since may.

asset (17c0ff) — 12/23/2024 @ 1:21 pm

Who would have standing to challenge such a pardon?

A victim’s family, a prosecutor’s office.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 10:23 am

Unless the challengers could show how pardoning a particular person directly harmed them, they would be unable to establish standing to sue. The harms must be real and concrete, not speculative. That’s just to get into court. Given the Constitution and case law that the pardon power is absolute, any challenge would immediately dismissed.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 1:53 pm

While it is an unwise decision, the commutations were constitutional. Given his remaining time in office, I doubt he will be impeached; also the House has adjourned until January 3, 2025.

Also, constitutional would be recess appointments to courts. Bet you that would cause a stir.

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

And I doubt every Vietnam War draft dodger was charged with evading the draft either.

Neither of those is meaningful as the crime was named and they could have easily charged each draft dodger or Confederate soldier. There was no mystery regarding their violation of the law.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 3:16 pm

Unless the challengers could show how pardoning a particular person directly harmed them, they would be unable to establish standing to sue

Lessee. Guy rapes and murders my 11 yo daughter and Trump “pardons” him even though they were state crimes. I think I would have standing, and I think the state court would agree (being elected, I am certain they would agree). Also the prosecutor in that county would claim standing, too, and I betcha the state court would agree with that, too.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 3:20 pm

They will be jurors too. The internet is explaining jury nullification

The internet ought to explain “perjury”, too. Like when they ask you during voir dire “Will you base your verdicts on the facts presented in this case and not on any other basis?” And you say “Yes”, but you are lying.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 3:22 pm

Such a pardon, like all others, would be unchallengeable in the courts as no one would be able to establish standing to sue.

I’m sure that some nitwit is telling Trump that as we speak. Guess what? The courts would find a basis for standing. They’d look until they found one.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 3:24 pm

The Constitution does not say a lot of things. For example, it does not even suggest that an order by the President to Army might be unlawful, as in “Shoot all those people who are contesting my re-election.” By Rip’s argument, even survivors of such a shooting would not have standing.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 3:29 pm

The idea of the president’s absolute power to pardon is based on the authority held by the English crown……

The Constitutional Convention defeated several attempts to weaken the Presidential pardon power, such as requiring Senate consent for pardons.

Nowhere does Article II suggest that a general amnesty is included among those powers, and the issue of a self-pardon has never been considered, let alone discussed.

You seem quite willing to read words into the document that are not there. You assert that they would have had to say “but not self-pardons” or “but not amnesties” if that was what they meant, but that is pure sophistry.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 3:34 pm

@270 how many o.j. jurors were charged with perjury after one said this is for rodney king? BTW I support the death penalty its just applied to the wrong people. When the left takes over the democratic party we can start applying it to those who deserve it.

asset (6f0ca9) — 12/23/2024 @ 3:46 pm

Biden should pardon Leonard Peltier and Nehanda Abiodun next.

asset (6f0ca9) — 12/23/2024 @ 3:50 pm

When the left takes over the democratic party we can start applying it to those who deserve it.

Che Guevarra had a office in the Havana prison where he could watch the executions of the opposition. Guess why you will never have power.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 4:01 pm

Nowhere does Article II suggest that a general amnesty is included among those powers, and the issue of a self-pardon has never been considered, let alone discussed.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 3:34 pm

As historic presidential practice and Supreme Court decisions attest, the President does have the power to proclaim general amnesties.

You seem quite willing to read words into the document that are not there. You assert that they would have had to say “but not self-pardons” or “but not amnesties” if that was what they meant……….

It is your interpretation that is reading non-existent words into the Constitution. The fact that the literal language in the Pardons Clause has no qualifiers to the pardon power means there are no limitations.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 4:34 pm

Such a pardon, like all others, would be unchallengeable in the courts as no one would be able to establish standing to sue.

I’m sure that some nitwit is telling Trump that as we speak. Guess what? The courts would find a basis for standing. They’d look until they found one.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 3:24 pm

Speaking of sophistry…….

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 4:36 pm

Too bad Nehanda Abiodun is dead.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 4:37 pm

The Constitution does not say a lot of things. For example, it does not even suggest that an order by the President to Army might be unlawful, as in “Shoot all those people who are contesting my re-election.” By Rip’s argument, even survivors of such a shooting would not have standing.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 3:29 pm

Actually they would have standing because the survivors suffered a direct and particularized harm.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 4:45 pm

Guy rapes and murders my 11 yo daughter and Trump “pardons” him even though they were state crimes. I think I would have standing, and I think the state court would agree (being elected, I am certain they would agree). Also the prosecutor in that county would claim standing, too, and I betcha the state court would agree with that, too.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 3:20 pm

Jumping the shark and changing the goal posts. Since a pardon for a state crime would be unconstitutional under the Pardon Clause (“he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States……..”) it would be invalid and unenforceable. Case closed.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 4:52 pm

Also, constitutional would be recess appointments to courts. Bet you that would cause a stir.

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

They’ve been done before.

History also bears out the validity of recess appointments, as throughout American history all three branches of government have accepted that recess appointments are constitutional, (Judge Diana Gribbon Motz of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals) said.

“Beginning with George Washington, almost every president filled judicial vacancies by recess appointments, without suggestion from any quarter that the practice violated the Constitution,” Motz said.

By 2000 U.S. presidents made more than 300 recess appointments and only 34 were not confirmed by the Senate. However, the constitutionality of recess appointments does not make them wise, Motz said.

In fact, President Eisenhower named three members of the Supreme Court (Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren, and Justices William J. Brennan and Potter Stewart) as recess appointments.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/23/2024 @ 5:00 pm

Actually, the Senate has not adjourned (although the House has) so recess appointments cannot be made.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 6:06 pm

Whembly: POTUS’ pardon power is non-justiciable. It’s inarguably the POTUS’ power to issue an amnesty is derived for the pardon power.

Me: Untrue. A particular PARDON is non-justiciable. If a president suggested that he could pardon state crimes, or that “pardon” meant that he could toss people in jail if he wanted, it would damn well be justiciable. And so would the claim to a blanket amnesty, if you could find someone with standing.

Me: (next post): Only past crimes can be pardoned. Prospective pardons are not allowed despite all the TV tropes.

Rip: Who would have standing to challenge such a pardon?

I then go on to point out that attempting to use the pardon power for any one of these silly overreaches would create someone with standing, and

Rip: Jumping the shark and changing the goal posts.

The point I was making is that an amnesty is a stretch of the pardon power. It turns out that the US Senate took my position in 1868, but the Supreme Court did not wrt the Confederate amnesty. Pity that.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 6:15 pm

Actually, the Senate has not adjourned (although the House has) so recess appointments cannot be made.

And my concern (unwarranted as it turns out) was that Biden might try to make recess appointments in the next week. I’m a bit surprised that Schumer didn’t let him.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 6:18 pm

Too bad Nehanda Abiodun is dead.

Doesn’t mean he can’t be pardoned. And Trump could pardon Hunt, Liddy and McCord.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 6:23 pm

@276 Not me personally ;but my side will. Not the left libertarian anarchists ;but the left authoritarians. Then justice will be dispensed. We play the long game. It will come quickly when methane frozen at the bottom of the ocean thaws out and bubble to the surface. It is doing that now as the frozen tundra in siberia is now thawing out releasing methane gas. Not a pleasant future for climate deniers.

asset (930188) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:31 pm

@286 Actually She.

asset (930188) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:36 pm

Those who knew the Saudi murderer of Magdeburg aren’t buying the left wing narrative.

The messages were bizarre, rambling and sometimes obscene. They landed in my inbox at all times of the day and night, ranting about the West, ex-Muslim refugees and ex-Muslim women.

I didn’t know the man who sent them. He claimed to be a Saudi emigrant and an anti-Islamist activist, though most of what he sent was incoherent and abusive. Every time I saw his name in my inbox, I shuddered. For the most part, I didn’t read the messages, and generally I just deleted them unopened. But when I saw the news of the Christmas market massacre in Magdeburg, Germany, on Friday, my blood ran cold.

I recognised the name of the suspect all too well. Taleb Al Abdulmohsen, a 50-year-old man thought to be a psychiatrist, has been arrested over the deaths of four women and a nine-year-old boy, after ploughing his BMW into a mass of people on a busy street. More than 200 were injured.

Over the past 18 months or more, Abdulmohsen has targeted me with countless vile, threatening and intimidating messages. Nothing I saw in them ever gave me an inkling that he was planning to commit this terrible crime, or I would of course have forwarded everything to the police.

But the grim truth is that women like me, who grew up in Muslim families and have rejected Islam, are constantly subjected to online abuse. I am quite sure that, if I had reported Abdulmohsen’s emails and social media rantings, I would have been ignored.

It’s horribly common for me to see hatred directed at me online. The messages often start by calling me a ‘wh***’ or a ‘prostitute’, accusing me of ‘selling my body to white men’ before unleashing a barrage of threats about what my fate will be in this world and the next.

Although he claimed to be a lapsed believer who came to Europe as a refugee because he was not safe in Saudi Arabia as an atheist, he appeared to loathe former Muslim women in the West.

I find it sickening that Left-leaning media appear so ready to accept the Magdeburg atrocity was fuelled by Islamophobia and far-Right propaganda, when we’ve only got the alleged killer’s social posts as proof of his motives. My strong suspicion is that this was in fact an Islamist attack, by a lone wolf terrorist with profound mental illness. This is based on the numerous messages I have received from Abdulmohsen.

Read the whole thing.

lloyd (214868) — 12/23/2024 @ 9:54 pm

A humble suggestion: Amend the pardon power as follows.

The Presidential Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons shall be limited as follows:

1. Except for general amnesties, pardons and commutations must name the individuals to be pardoned or reprieved, and the crimes to which the grant applies.
2. Pardons may not be prospective.
3. A President may not pardon himself or herself.
4. No more than 10 individuals may be pardoned or reprieved on the same day.
5. No pardon or commutation may be granted in the last 2 months of a President’s final term.
6. Any general amnesty must be approved by a vote of two thirds of the Senate, prior to the end of the Session.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 11:41 pm

The point I was making is that an amnesty is a stretch of the pardon power. It turns out that the US Senate took my position in 1868, but the Supreme Court did not wrt the Confederate amnesty. Pity that.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 6:15 pm

The Supreme Court recognized amnesties as part of the pardon power both in pre- and post Civil War cases:

Ex parte Wells, 59 U.S. 307, 309–10, 314 (1856), indicating that the pardon power extends to all kinds of pardons known in the law as such, whatever may be their denomination, including not only absolute pardon[s] but also more limited forms of release, remission, and reprieve;

United States v. Klein, 80 U.S. 128, 147 (1871), stating “Pardon includes amnesty.”

Knote v. United States, 95 U.S. 149, 153 (1877), indicating that distinction between the (amnesty and pardon) “is one rather of philological interest than of legal importance”;

Brown v. Walker, 161 U.S. 591, 601–02 (1896), dismissing any distinction between amnesty and pardon as “of no practical importance” and describing amnesty as “a general pardon for a past offense” that “is rarely, if ever, exercised in favor of single individuals, and is usually exerted in behalf of certain classes of persons, who are subject to trial, but have not yet been convicted”.

As many times in the past, you see the law as you wish it to be, I see the law as it is.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/24/2024 @ 9:54 am

On Biden’s death penalty commutations…

Of the 40 men waiting to be executed, 37 have had their sentences reduced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The three exceptions are names you’ve heard before. One is Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving brother in the pair who carried out the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. The second is Dylann Roof, the white supremacist who murdered nine black congregants at a South Carolina church in 2015. The third is Robert Bowers, the mass shooter who gunned down 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018.

“President Biden has dedicated his career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system,” the White House said in a statement explaining the decision. “He believes that America must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level, except in cases of terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.”

Except?

There were two principled options before the president if he wanted to make the point that capital punishment should be used more sparingly than it is. One was commutations for everyone. If the death penalty is so dangerous and immoral as a form of state power that the federal government shouldn’t use it then there’s no reason to make exceptions. Spare Tsarnaev, Roof, and Bowers too and accept the blowback as the price of doing what you think is right.

The other was to go case-by-case through the 40 candidates and arrive at a thoughtful moral judgment about each, the least a president can do if he’s resolved to overturn a duly imposed death sentence. The circumstances of some killings might plausibly be more sympathetic than others. An unarmed getaway driver convicted of felony murder after his accomplices shot someone during a robbery, for instance, has a stronger argument for mercy than Ted Bundy. The death penalty should be reserved for the worst of the worst, Biden might have said.

That’s not what he did. Of the 37 men who received presidential clemency this morning, some amassed a body count during their time as drug dealers equal to or greater than that of Tsarnaev, Roof, or Bowers. One reprieved man killed a woman, kidnapped her 12-year-old daughter, then shot the girl four times and cut her throat before dumping her body in the woods. Another, Jorge Avila-Torrez, is a bona fide serial killer whose victims include two girls under the age of 10, both of whom he sexually assaulted before murdering them.

There’s no moral argument for sparing Avila-Torrez. What distinguishes him from the three men who didn’t receive clemency is politics: Tsarnaev, Roof, and Bowers are notorious while Avila-Torrez is not (although he will be soon!) and that made the political price of commuting their death sentences too steep for the White House, it seems. Functionally, Biden’s stance on capital punishment amounts to “always wrong—unless the convict is really, really well-known.”

How’s that for a bold moral stand?

His term isn’t over, but why just those with death penalties and ignoring all the other requests?

Biden has also done an injustice to worthy inmates in the federal prison system who are hoping for presidential mercy. The Justice Department routinely considers appeals for clemency and recommends candidates to the White House, but some applications have been sitting on the president’s desk without action for years, per the Washington Post. Neither the pardon of Hunter Biden nor the commutations granted last week to 1,500 convicts sentenced to home confinement during the pandemic were among those vetted by the DOJ. Now, indefensibly, Biden has let Avila-Torrez and dozens of other killers jump the line as well.

This muddled thinking well reflects Joe’s muddled presidency.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/24/2024 @ 10:31 am

The evil that those men committed is beyond the stuff of nightmares. That the left supports feeding and housing them rather than allowing justice to be served says it all

NJRob (f7080c) — 12/24/2024 @ 11:27 am

The Biden fans are pretty silent on the commutations. Indefensible. But they wanted four more years of his crap. I did read one defense of it from a POS professor, all legal arguments and moralizing and not a word about any of the crimes committed. Same religion as Garland, so spare me the anti-Catholic spin. Basically his argument is that the commutations spared left wing activists the PR struggle to fight on behalf of these creeps. So it’s a good thing. Nothing about the victims’ struggle. Making things easy for left wing nut jobs is the only consideration. Not going to link his BS here. Go find it.

lloyd (6ace19) — 12/24/2024 @ 11:41 am

The Supreme Court recognized amnesties as part of the pardon power both in pre- and post Civil War cases:

I bet you were hoping I wouldn’t look them up (or you didn’t).

Ex Parte Wells had nothing to do with “amnesty.” Instead it had to do with a commutation, in which the prisoner asserted that by commuting his death sentence the President had pardoned him absolutely. Needless to say, the prisoner lost.

United States v. Klein also has very little to do with amnesty, except for a bit of passing dicta. It had to do with what happened if a person, pardoned by the President under an Act of Congress that had later been repealed, attempted to claim property seized due to his participation in rebellion (a power that remained on the books). Short answer: his claim would be dismissed despite the pardon.

Brown v. Walker

The act of Congress in question, securing to witnesses immunity from prosecution, is virtually an act of general amnesty, and belongs to a class of legislation which is not uncommon either in England (2 Taylor on Evidence § 1455, where a large number of similar acts are collated) or in this country. Although the Constitution vests in the President “power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment,” this power has never been held to take from Congress the power to pass acts of general amnesty, and is ordinarily exercised only in cases of individuals after conviction, although, as was said by this Court in Ex parte Garland, 4 Wall. 333, 71 U. S. 380,

“it extends to every offense known to the law, and may be exercised at any time after its commission, either before legal proceedings are taken, or during their pendency, or after conviction and judgment.”

The line you reference (1 paragraph later) simply maintains that there is no difference in effect between a presidential pardon and a Congressional amnesty, not that the two are the same thing, as Congress cannot grant pardons. It does not say the President can grant amnesties.

Knote v. United States

This indeed does accept that Johnson’s general amnesty constituted a pardon(decided earlier), but the thrust of the case (like the two above) had to do with claimants seeking return of property seized during or after the rebellion, and again the petitioner lost.

Also, I see that the idea of general amnesty was accepted during the Founders’ Era, so I will stop with that.

But your cases seem to be cited without much relevance.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/24/2024 @ 11:42 am

A summary of the laws on pardons and reprieves

Nowhere is it suggested that pardons or amnesties may propagate forward in time, so amnesties for being in the country illegally don’t affect continued presence.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/24/2024 @ 11:45 am

It does not say the President can grant amnesties.

OK, maybe it’s implicit.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/24/2024 @ 11:47 am

I stand by my assertion that the Pardon power has been abused many times, possibly more times of late than it has bee used correctly. An amendment is needed.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/24/2024 @ 11:48 am

A Michigan father has hit out at President Joe Biden after he commuted the death sentence of the rapist who murdered his daughter and granddaughter.

Marvin Gabrion, 71, had been awaiting his execution for the 1997 murder of Rachel Timmerman, 19, before his sentence was commuted to life without the possibility of parole.
Timmerman disappeared two days before she was set to testify against Gabrion for raping her.
Gabrion restrained the teen, covered her eyes and mouth with duct tape, before chaining her to cinderblocks and throwing her into a lake while she was still alive.

Gabrion is also believed to have murdered Timmerman’s 11-month-old daughter Shannon Verhage, whose body was never recovered.

Timmerman’s father Tim has since spoke with WoodTV after being informed of the commutation. He slammed the decision, saying: ‘We thought the timing was despicable. We felt that President Biden could have waited until after the holidays.

‘I think President Biden offered a Christmas gift to the perpetrators of murder, but he offered only pain to the victims of the families.’

Timmerman’s father Tim has since spoke with WoodTV after being informed of the commutation.

He slammed the decision, saying: ‘We thought the timing was despicable. We felt that President Biden could have waited until after the holidays.

‘I think President Biden offered a Christmas gift to the perpetrators of murder, but he offered only pain to the victims of the families.’

Gabrion is said to have told one inmate that he ‘killed the baby because there was nowhere else to put it’.

The same records say that in the weeks prior to disappearing Rachel had expressed concerns that she believed Gabrion would kill her because of the rape case. She had made calls to the local sheriff’s office on two occasions to report that she had seen him and that she wanted to leave a ‘trail’ should she disappear.

Rachel had been expected to appear in court to testify on June 5 1997, with her family last seeing her on June 3.

This POS president still has a few more weeks to twist the knife.

lloyd (6ace19) — 12/24/2024 @ 11:51 am

#294

Lloyd — I await your not in anger but in sorrow criticisms of Trump’s over the top actions in the next few years. I’m sure I’ll see as many of those posts as we see from Montagu regarding Biden. (Hint, he does it a lot.)

Appalled (118d70) — 12/24/2024 @ 12:07 pm

I very much doubt that Trump will be pardoning any child rapists. He will have other faults, but Biden is showing he is morally bankrupt as well.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/24/2024 @ 12:14 pm

@300 Appalled, I’ll eagerly await your criticism of whatabouts except when they’re your own.

lloyd (6ace19) — 12/24/2024 @ 12:17 pm

#299

“This POS president still has a few more weeks to twist the knife.”

Something he fully intends to do.

DN (911781) — 12/24/2024 @ 12:18 pm

I hope soon for a pardon for Leonard Peltier. I agree corporate establishment donor class stooge democrats like biden no longer can be the standard bearer for the democrat party. The donor class will try and run corporate squishes like gavin newsom in 2028 which the left will have to fight.

asset (a46af1) — 12/24/2024 @ 12:31 pm

Over at ace cenk uygur and charles kirk at conservative convention blast the corporate establishment of mitch mcconnell and nancy pelosi. Dick and liz cheney being supported by harris and the dnc cost democrat party 10 million democrat voters who didn’t vote in 2024 in disgust. They should have voted green party like I did.

asset (a46af1) — 12/24/2024 @ 12:42 pm

University of Oregon parts ways with employee who told Trump supporters to jump off a bridge

A University of Oregon employee who posted an Instagram video in November telling Trump supporters to jump off of a bridge, no longer works for the school, a UO spokesperson confirmed to KOIN 6 News on Monday.

During the incident, former UO assistant director of fraternity and sorority life, Leonard Serrato, posted a video speaking out against supporters of President-elect Donald Trump.

In the video — which was posted by The Daily Emerald — Serrato said, “I don’t care if we’ve been friends our entire lives, you can literally go f— yourself if you voted for Donald Trump.”

He continued, “If you are so sad about your groceries being expensive, get a better f—ing paying job. Do better in life. Get a f—ing education. Do something because you are f—ing stupid and I hope you go jump off of a f—ing bridge.”

lloyd (6ace19) — 12/24/2024 @ 12:43 pm

The White House released a justification for the commutations of murderers’ sentences, and why Biden left out three of them, on the grounds they fit into a special category, plus statements of support

Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 12/24/2024 @ 12:49 pm

I stand by my assertion that the Pardon power has been abused many times, possibly more times of late than it has bee used correctly. An amendment is needed.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/24/2024 @ 11:48 am

That may be true, but it is unlikely that the pardon power will be amended.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/24/2024 @ 1:24 pm

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/24/2024 @ 11:42 am

The specific facts of a case usually have little to do with the general principles outlined in the opinions.

Good discussion.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/24/2024 @ 1:35 pm

RIP USAF Colonel Perry Dahl (101);

Col. Perry Dahl, an Army Air Forces fighter pilot who shot down nine enemy aircraft in the Pacific during World War II while surviving emergency landings, a runway crash, a midair bailout and two days in a life raft, died on Dec. 2 at his home in Tampa, Fla.
……….
He scored his first aerial victory (while flying a P-38 Lightning) in November 1943 when he shot down a Zero fighter plane while escorting bombers on a strike against a Japanese airfield.

In April 1944 he downed his fifth plane, achieving the minimum required to become an ace, and was promoted to the rank of captain.

In November, during the Philippines campaign, he notched his seventh “kill” while escorting American B-25 bombers that were attacking Japanese shipping. Moments later, Japanese fire forced him to bail out of his plane, which he ditched in Ormoc Bay. But his co-pilot was unable to bail out and perished. Captain Dahl was initially captured by a Japanese Army patrol before being rescued by Philippine resistance forces, who hid him.

He later shot down another Japanese plane. His ninth and final aerial victory came on March 28, 1945, while he was escorting bombers attacking a Japanese naval convoy off the coast of French Indochina, earning him the Silver Star.

He lost four of his P-38s to Japanese fire and midair collisions.
………
Colonel Dahl had flown 158 combat missions by the time the war ended.
………..
He went on to hold administrative posts at an air support squadron during a tour of duty in Vietnam. He was vice commandant of cadets at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs from June 1971 to July 1974. In his second tour of duty in the Vietnam War, he commanded an air wing.
………..

Col. Dahl was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Legion of Merit. His Silver Star citation reads:

For gallantry in action off the coast of French Indo-China on 28 March 1945. Captain Dahl led a squadron of 8 P-38 aircraft escorting bombers on an attack against an enemy convoy. Preceding the bombers to the rendezvous, he searched for the convoy and, after 45 minutes, discovered it. He circled the vessels at a dangerously low altitude, made observations at the risk of being hit by accurate anti-aircraft fire, and reported the position of the convoy to the B-25’s.

Shortly afterwards, he noticed that an accompanying fight of P-38’s, their pilots apparently unaware of some 20 enemy fighters above, was attacking a few hostile planes at a lower altitude. Unable to communicate with the endangered flight, he pulled up to intercept the enemy fighters as they dived to attack it. After dispatching part of his own squadron to pursue another attacking fighter, he continued the uneven engagement with the aid of only 4 other P-38’s. As pairs of enemy planes dived in rapid succession, he attacked each pair in turn, forcing the pilots to break off the attack and destroying one of the enemy fighters. The lower flight of P-38’s finally rose to engage the enemy after he and his flight had carried on a 20-minute battle.

Leaving the target area, he was again attacked by 6 enemy fighters. With a dangerously low gasoline supply he had to fight his way through the interception and, unable to get to his own base, succeeded in reaching another airfield with only 10 to 20 gallons of fuel reserve. The outstanding leadership, courage and flying skill displayed by Captain Dahl during this flight represent the highest type of service to be rendered to the United States Army Air Forces.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/24/2024 @ 2:06 pm

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/23/2024 @ 8:44 am

Maybe Trump can challenge the commutations on the grounds of Biden’s incompetency.

Rip Murdock (fe0fab) — 12/24/2024 @ 7:13 pm

Maybe Trump can challenge the commutations on the grounds of Biden’s incompetency.

He could challenge them on account it was Friday. About as likely to work.

Also, Trump challenging things on account of incompetence would seem ironic.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/25/2024 @ 8:59 am

Trump (or anyone) can “challenge” them morally, but not legally. The only way to challenge them legally is on the grounds they were procedurally defective. The people in the White House who were pushing the pardons are unlikely to have made such a mistake. They almost certainly dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s (so to speak)

Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 12/25/2024 @ 12:32 pm

Bashir Assad’s wife is seeking to return to England (allegedly for medical treatment) along with her children and is seeking a divorce in a Moscow court. (I read)

Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 12/25/2024 @ 12:38 pm

Bashir Assad’s wife is seeking to return to England (allegedly for medical treatment) along with her children and is seeking a divorce in a Moscow court. (I read)

She wants one of the 2 suitcases Assad took with him.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/25/2024 @ 1:18 pm

The only way to challenge them legally is on the grounds they were procedurally defective.

While the DOJ does have procedures and an Office of the Pardon Attorney; as we have seen with both Trump 1 and Biden (as well as other Presidents) the President can pardon anyone he wants.

Rip Murdock (fe0fab) — 12/25/2024 @ 4:07 pm

Rip Murdock (fe0fab) — 12/24/2024 @ 7:13 pm

Some people still need to recognize sarcasm.

Rip Murdock (fe0fab) — 12/25/2024 @ 4:08 pm

Washington’s Naughty and Nice List

We know who topped Santa’s naughty list this year—former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R., Fla.). No doubt about that after the release Monday of the House Ethics Committee report.
………..
Also on the naughty list this year are the Biden White House staffers who worked assiduously to hide their boss’s mental and physical decline. ………
…………
On Santa’s political nice list this year, House Speaker Mike Johnson was near the top………..
………..
………..(President-Elect Trump and Elon Musk) asked of Mr. Johnson the impossible—that he somehow deliver dozens of House Republicans who had never voted for a debt-ceiling increase—or let the federal government shut down just before Christmas.

Yet Mr. Johnson kept the House Republican ship afloat and brought it to harbor, passing a continuing resolution that funds the government through March 14. But by doing so, he reportedly angered Messrs. Trump and Musk and damaged his chances to retain the speakership in the new Congress.
………….
Santa seems to have ignored Mr. Trump’s Christmas wish list of imperial expansion. ……….
………..
A final thought: The Christmas holiday provides Americans a chance to put our political life in perspective and remember the special gift each of us has as a result of living in the United States. Despite its polarized politics, all its mistakes and shortcomings, the U.S. is the most creative, compassionate, innovative, productive and forward-looking country in the world. It’s why people are drawn here. It’s what makes us unlike any other nation.

………..(This land has welcomed to its shores discarded people of every kind from around the globe, including the poor and ne’er-do-wells, refugees and rejects, and given them a chance to live “the American Dream.” That phrase has meaning—work hard, have big ambitions, give back, accept responsibility and rise. Sometimes we forget how fortunate we are to have been born here or to have made our way here. Being an American is an immeasurable gift, one worth being grateful for. Happy holidays.
##########

Rip Murdock (fe0fab) — 12/25/2024 @ 5:54 pm

When trump’s crypto grifters crash the economy when people realize their is nothing backing it like the tulip collapse in holland thats when the left takes over. Merry Christmas!

asset (3cf1a3) — 12/25/2024 @ 10:08 pm

https://legalinsurrection.com/2024/12/california-judge-rules-rapist-must-be-referred-to-with-she-her-pronouns-because-he-identifies-as-a-woman/

The type of judge that voting for leftists gets us. You can be sure Kamala would’ve put one just like it in the Supreme Court.

NJRob (571f49) — 12/26/2024 @ 5:36 am

When trump’s crypto grifters crash the economy when people realize their is nothing backing it

There is nothing backing the dollar, either. And they said that the market would crash and never recover when Trump won in 2016. And yet the DOW nearly doubled. I suggest you sell Amazon short.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/26/2024 @ 10:01 am

@321 In 1991 when gorbachev disappeared for a week every currency in the world fell except two the swiss frank backeed by gold and U.S. dollar backed by thermonuclear weapons and largest military in world.

asset (21c539) — 12/26/2024 @ 1:32 pm

.

25 Films Named to National Film Registry for Preservation

Twenty-five films have been selected for the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 2024 due to their cultural, historic or aesthetic importance to preserve the nation’s film heritage, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced on December 18, 2024.)
…………
(Turner Classic Movies host and film historian Jacqueline Stewart, who is chair of the National Film Preservation Board) said:

The National Film Registry now includes 900 titles, and what’s remarkable to me is that every year when the board talks about films and their significance, we find new titles to consider. The wealth of American film history is sometimes rather overwhelming, and people often wonder: how do you recommend this film or that film?

It’s through a lot of research, conversation and discussion, and it’s through a commitment to showing the true diversity of filmmaking. I’m thrilled that we recognize student films and independent films, animation, documentary and experimental works, as well as feature length narrative drama, comedy, horror and science fiction on the registry this year.

Films Selected for the 2024 National Film Registry
(chronological order)

Annabelle Serpentine Dance (1895)
KoKo’s Earth Control (1928)
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
Pride of the Yankees (1942)
Invaders from Mars (1953)
The Miracle Worker (1962)
The Chelsea Girls (1966)
Ganja and Hess (1973)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Uptown Saturday Night (1974)
Zora Lathan Student Films (1975-76)
Up in Smoke (1978)
Will (1981)
Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan (1982)
Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
Dirty Dancing (1987)
Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (1989)
Powwow Highway (1989)
My Own Private Idaho (1991)
American Me (1992)
Mi Familia (1995)
Compensation (1999)
Spy Kids (2001)
No Country for Old Men (2007)
The Social Network (2010)

The public submitted 6,744 titles for consideration this year. The public can submit nominations throughout the year on the Library’s web site. Nominations for next year will be accepted until Aug. 15, 2025. Cast your vote at loc.gov/film.
………..

Rip Murdock (fe0fab) — 12/26/2024 @ 2:05 pm

a commitment to showing the true diversity of filmmaking

Gotta have bad movies along with the good.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/26/2024 @ 2:56 pm

I’ve seen three of the movies on that list. Clearly, I have work to do.

Last night, I finished watching It’s a Wonderful Life. What a great movie.

All of a sudden I find the women in these old movies to be gorgeous. Donna Reed and Gloria Grahame. Wow.

norcal (a72384) — 12/26/2024 @ 3:08 pm

https://dailycaller.com/2024/12/26/liberal-lawyers-longshot-nuclear-option-congress-stop-trump-taking-office/

Crickets.

NJRob (eb56c3) — 12/26/2024 @ 4:48 pm

I predicted this.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/26/2024 @ 5:01 pm

Last night, I finished watching It’s a Wonderful Life. What a great movie.

Mrs. Montagu saw the colorized version on Christmas Eve, and it was way better than B&W. So much more visual contrast.
Some movies, like film noir, should stay black and white, but a lot of the old movies could be improved with some color in ’em.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/26/2024 @ 5:01 pm

As it turns out, Democrats know that it would lead to Real Bad Things to try to install the loser as President.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/26/2024 @ 5:03 pm

Paul, I’ve seen it both ways, and I could argue either side. Still, you’re right to say that colorizing that film works where it would not with, say, Citizen Kane or Casablanca.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/26/2024 @ 5:04 pm

Ramirez on the Biden commutations.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/26/2024 @ 5:06 pm

a commitment to showing the true diversity of filmmaking

Gotta have bad movies along with the good.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/26/2024 @ 2:56 pm

I would have not included any of the films after 1974. Most of the films after that date are either unworthy of being included at all or are too recent to stand the test of time. Films in the 1980s in particular pretty much sucked.

Rip Murdock (5052b0) — 12/26/2024 @ 5:30 pm

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/26/2024 @ 5:01 pm

More tilting at windmills.

Rip Murdock (fe0fab) — 12/26/2024 @ 5:31 pm

Most of the films after that date are either unworthy of being included

Most of the films you listed are unworthy of being included.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/26/2024 @ 5:34 pm

Invaders from Mars (1953) scared the crap out of me as a little kid. It’s been recently restored and is well worth seeing. The remake not so much.

Rip Murdock (fe0fab) — 12/26/2024 @ 5:34 pm

Here’s an interesting take on those commutations: Suppose it was Mrs Biden that OK’d them and Joe was just signing anything put in front of him.

Edith Wilson, call your husband’s office.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/26/2024 @ 5:37 pm

Most of the films you listed are unworthy of being included.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/26/2024 @ 5:34 pm

Which films do you think are worthy?

Rip Murdock (fe0fab) — 12/26/2024 @ 5:37 pm

Here’s an interesting take on those commutations: Suppose it was Mrs Biden that OK’d them and Joe was just signing anything put in front of him.

Edith Wilson, call your husband’s office.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/26/2024 @ 5:37 pm

Which is why I suggested (sarcastically) that Trump (or a prosecutor or victim) should challenge the commutations on the basis of Biden’s mental incapacity.

Rip Murdock (fe0fab) — 12/26/2024 @ 5:41 pm

Film colorization is an affront to the filmmakers involved. After 1939 filmmakers (and studios) had the option of filming in color, but for whatever reason they chose to film in black and white.

Casablanca was colorized in 1988.

Rip Murdock (fe0fab) — 12/26/2024 @ 5:50 pm

Casablanca was colorized in 1988.

Yes, and it was terrible. You can maybe get it on VHS tape at a garage sale.

It was also remade as a (black & white) TV Cold War version, and as a TV series starring David Soul.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/26/2024 @ 6:25 pm

Oh, wait, the color version is also available on DVD. God only knows why.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/26/2024 @ 6:27 pm

After 1939 filmmakers (and studios) had the option of filming in color

Well, sure, but it was FAR more expensive to film in color in 1940.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/26/2024 @ 6:42 pm

The Finns seized a Russian cargo ship, apparently part of Putin’s shadow fleet, responsible for damaging undersea cables. Nice move.
I recall a few decades ago when the US Coast Guard caught a fishing trawler in Puget Sound, not far from Bangor Naval Base (where our nuclear subs are stationed), and turned out to be Russians on board with advanced sonar equipment.

Paul Montagu (7329e4) — 12/27/2024 @ 7:02 am

One of Biden’s death penalty commutations:

One of those inmates is Kaboni Savage, who was convicted of killing 12 people, including four children.

The youngest victims died when Savage ordered the firebombing of the house where they lived in an act of retribution against a witness. Family members of the children who died are devastated. That includes Tina Fox, who told Action News she is disappointed in the president.

Many of Fox’s relatives were murdered at Savage’s direction at a home on North 6th Street in 2004. “This crime is beyond violent,” she said. “They were children. They would’ve been adults now but they don’t have a say. You can’t hear their voice. They were killed innocently.”

Go x’s cousin, Eugene Coleman, became a federal informant against Savage. The fire killed two adults, including Coleman’s mother, and four children, including an infant.

Savage was convicted of those murders that he ordered from prison. He was also found guilty in six other murders, including a man scheduled to testify against him and rival drug dealers.

lloyd (afd076) — 12/27/2024 @ 7:48 am

People is going to say “it doesn’t matter anymore,” or “why don’t you MOVEON.ORG” from this?
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/joe-biden-poses-hunters-chinese-business-associates-newly-surfaced-photos-incredibly-damning

No.

Democrats worked overtime to bury this until after the election. That’s all you really need to know.

To those who says there isn’t a scintilla of evidence of the Biden Crime Family™… I know who you are, and if you are not willing to admit that, then you’re a hack with zero integrity.

whembly (477db6) — 12/27/2024 @ 7:50 am

@345 NARA spent years trying to protect Biden. AFL had to file a FOIA request two years ago just to get access. Another government agency allied with the Left and working against the American people.

lloyd (75323d) — 12/27/2024 @ 8:00 am

To those who says there isn’t a scintilla of evidence of the Biden Crime Family™… I know who you are, and if you are not willing to admit that, then you’re a hack with zero integrity.

whembly (477db6) — 12/27/2024 @ 7:50 am

What criminality is demonstrated by the photos? The pictures would be more convincing if they showed Joe Biden receiving wads of cash in envelopes.

Did the investigating House committees subpoena the photos? As it stands, the House of Representatives wasn’t even given the opportunity to vote on articles of impeachment, which lies solely at the feet of Speaker Johnson.

Once he is no longer president at 12:01 pm on January 20, 2025, the Trump Administration is free to prosecute Joe Biden.

Rip Murdock (5052b0) — 12/27/2024 @ 8:58 am

Sorry for all the italics.

Rip Murdock (fe0fab) — 12/27/2024 @ 8:59 am

Once he is no longer president at 12:01 pm on January 20, 2025, the Trump Administration is free to prosecute Joe Biden.
Rip Murdock (5052b0) — 12/27/2024 @ 8:58 am

LOL Prosecuting an ex-President is a Democrat/Nevertrump precedent and trashing of norms that Trump won’t be following.

lloyd (75323d) — 12/27/2024 @ 9:08 am

The latest effort from the Save Democracy folks:

Congress has the power to block Trump from taking office, but lawmakers must act now

lloyd (afd076) — 12/27/2024 @ 9:12 am

norcal (a72384) — 12/26/2024 @ 3:08 pm

Last night, I finished watching It’s a Wonderful Life. What a great movie.

It’s copyright expired n 1974 (it was not renewed) and the movie got a lot more circulation after that.

I knew that its copyright had expired but I read in WSJ this week that it had been recovered in 193 after a Supreme Court decision.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/christmas-movies-wonderful-life-serendipity-copyright-11671663411

…n fact, when the copyright on this film expired, nobody even bothered to renew it. It was so forgettable that it was quite literally forgotten.

This is also the reason that people are still watching “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

It might very well be the most iconic Christmas movie. It became that way by accident.

“It’s a Wonderful Life” fell into the public domain once the copyright lapsed 28 years after its release, and television stations began running the film around the clock because it didn’t cost a penny. It wasn’t Frank Capra or Jimmy Stewart or the enduring power of cinema that made it a lasting success. It was neglect. “The damnedest thing I’ve ever seen,” Capra himself once said.

A movie becoming a classic simply because of a quirk of copyright law is a timely reminder of the role of mishaps, errors and serendipity in modern success. …But what is serendipity?

Few scholars spent more energy trying to answer that question than Robert K. Merton, a titan of sociology, who collected notes and corresponded with other luminaries about the subject for much of his life. His archives were voluminous enough to be worthy of their own study. So a few years ago, Ohid Yaqub, a senior lecturer at the University of Sussex Business School, decided to spend a few months exploring Merton’s files, tallying hundreds of serendipitous inventions throughout history.

,,,,It’s around this time of the year when Americans return to a certain black-and-white film released in 1946. The demand for “It’s a Wonderful Life” on streaming platforms and linear networks over the past four holiday seasons was 11 times greater than the average movie, according to the research firm Parrot Analytics. It’s easily the oldest title in Parrot’s top 10 and right up there with “Home Alone” among the Christmas movies we can’t stop watching.

That is odd for many reasons. For one thing, it’s not exactly “Elf.” It was a dark movie about a financially devastated businessman who meets a guardian angel and peeks at a world in which he never existed. It was also a disappointment. This was a film by a legendary director featuring the postwar comeback of a huge star, and the publicity blitz included the cover of Newsweek and a Life magazine spread. But it fizzled at the box office. “It’s a Wonderful Life” actually lost money, according to film historian Richard B. Jewell, before eventually fading into obscurity.

It would take nearly three decades for it to be saved by a Hollywood miracle.

At the time, movies were protected by copyright for 28 years, and the copyright holder could fill out paperwork to renew it for another 28 years. It was annoying, but that was the point. “If you wanted to keep making money on it,” said Harvard Law School professor Rebecca Tushnet, “it was a reasonable thing to ask that you renew it.” …

….Those incentives were only powerful in theory. In reality, this movie wasn’t making money for anybody, so nobody renewed the copyright. “It’s a Wonderful Life” entered the public domain in 1974.

The closest that a movie could get to declaring itself a failure also happened to explain its unlikely turnaround. TV stations could suddenly run it whenever they pleased, which was roughly all the time around the holidays, as they came to realize the only programming better than a Christmas movie was a free Christmas movie.

Weird stuff like this still happens. TikTok is a time machine for excavating culture. “Running Up That Hill,” a song from 1985, sprinted up the charts in 2022 because of Netflix. There are improbable revivals that smack of being stunts engineered for social media by marketers armed with data who know precisely what they’re doing.

“It’s a Wonderful Life” was different. This was serendipity.

The unplanned series of events behind the film’s second life wouldn’t have unfolded in the same way today. Movies are now protected for at least 95 years, no matter how many people might forget about them. Meanwhile, a studio began enforcing some of the old copyrights associated with “It’s a Wonderful Life” in the 1990s, based on a Supreme Court decision that rewrote the rules slightly. These days, it’s broadcast on NBC but isn’t available on every streamer.

But two decades in the public domain turned out to be long enough for a movie that was on its way to being ignored forever to become memorable. The renaissance was such a fluke of randomness that the person responsible for “It’s a Wonderful Life” couldn’t even take the credit. He knew better than anyone how a Christmas movie could be a testament to the value of chance.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 12/27/2024 @ 10:05 am

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/26/2024 @ 10:01 am

There is nothing backing the dollar, either.

Or gold. Or old masters paintings.

Gold has held its value – or something like it – for a long long time. But there’s no reason.

It isn’t money by the way. Money is something you have no problem getting rid of. Gold and silver is no longer money.

Cryptocurrency is not yet at the stage where it needs no support and may never be. It could become like tulip bulbs.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 12/27/2024 @ 10:20 am

The difference between the death penalties that President Biden commuted and those he did not he said was hate crimes.

What really distinguishes them is that the killings that Joe Biden did not commute had no specific targets and they killed multiple people.

And they are in the long term long shot appeals stage.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 12/27/2024 @ 10:32 am

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 12/27/2024 @ 10:05 am

Still Capra-corn.

Rip Murdock (fe0fab) — 12/27/2024 @ 10:33 am

The New York Times is running a number of articles on terrible U.S. stupidities in Afghanistan hat killed allies and made enemies.

These things happened maybe 15 years ago and more

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/12/world/europe/afghanistan-allies-enemies-nuristan-taliban.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/24/world/asia/afghanistan-taliban-us-militias.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/12/world/asia/lessons-learned-from-taliban-commander.html

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 12/27/2024 @ 10:37 am

It is sick and pathetic to try to block a duly elected president from taking office, lloyd. Ditto for refusing transition offices. (It must sting Trump/MAGA to see their own tactics used on them, but apparently they don’t get irony.)

DRJ (f29db0) — 12/27/2024 @ 10:39 am

The difference between the death penalties that President Biden commuted and those he did not he said was hate crimes.

So, if someone rapes and murders 100 children, that’s bad, but not nearly as bad as someone who shoots one old man because he’s Chinese?

Because that’s Biden’s calculus.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/27/2024 @ 10:44 am

It’s copyright expired n 1974 (it was not renewed) and the movie got a lot more circulation after that.

The copyright had expired due to disinterest in the film, which had never been a success up until then. A third party rescued the decaying prints, and spent quite a bit of effort reviving interest in the film. Then, when it had become a “holiday classic” the original owners regained control through a provision of a retroactive copyright extension law Congress passed.

When Congress again passed a further, retroactive, extension of copyrights the IAWL history was a major argument in trying to strike down the extension. Unfortunately, the lead lawyer in the case was a leftist who could not bring himself to argue at a “takings” case and instead argued a 1st amendment penumbra case to the Court, convincing no one.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/27/2024 @ 10:52 am

Gaza food perplexity.

“Naturally” the only party that the United Nations or other international aid organizations can find it within itself to blame for this situation is Israel:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/23/world/middleeast/gaza-looting.html

Hazem Isleem, a Palestinian truck driver, was passing through the ruins of southern Gaza last month with a truckload of aid when armed looters ambushed his convoy.

One of the gunmen broke into his truck, forcing him to drive to a nearby field and unload thousands of pounds of flour intended for hungry Palestinians, he said by phone from Gaza. By the next morning, the gang had stripped virtually all of the supplies from the convoy of about 100 trucks of United Nations aid, enough to feed tens of thousands of people, in what the United Nations described as one of the worst such episodes of the war.

“It was terrifying,” said Mr. Isleem, 47, whom the looters held for 13 hours while they pillaged the flour. “But the worst part was we weren’t able to deliver the food to the people.”

….What began as smaller-scale attempts to seize aid early in the year — often by hungry Gazans — has now become “systematic, tactical, armed, crime-syndicate looting” by organized groups, said Georgios Petropoulos, a senior U.N. official based in the southern city of Rafah. “This is just larceny writ large,” he said….

….The situation in Gaza deteriorated after the Israeli military invaded Rafah in May, seeking to oust Hamas from one of its final strongholds. Hamas’s security forces fled, and organized gangs — with no one stopping them — began intercepting aid trucks as they headed from the main border crossing into southern Gaza. They are stealing flour, oil and other commodities and selling them at astronomical prices, aid groups and residents say.

In southern Gaza, the price of a 55-pound sack of flour has risen to as much as $220. In northern Gaza, where there are fewer aid disruptions, [and a barrier] the same sack can cost as little as $10.

International aid workers have accused Israel of ignoring the problem and allowing looters to act with impunity. The United Nations does not allow Israeli soldiers to protect aid convoys, fearing that would compromise its neutrality, and its officials have called on Israel to allow the Gaza police, which are under Hamas’s authority, to secure their convoys.

Israel, which seeks to uproot Hamas, accuses the group of stealing international aid and says that the police are just another arm of the militant group. They have repeatedly targeted Hamas’s police force, severely weakening it, and police officers are rarely seen in much of Gaza, residents say.

Over the past two weeks, Israel has allowed some aid trucks to travel along Gaza’s border with Egypt, a new route fully controlled by the Israeli military. U.N. agencies have been able to avoid looters and deliver some relief…

…Gazan transportation company owners, truck drivers and aid groups say multiple gangs have participated in looting recently. But many people involved in aid delivery named Yasser Abu Shabab, 35, as the man who runs the most sophisticated operation.

They say Mr. Abu Shabab’s gang dominates much of the Nasr neighborhood in eastern Rafah, which the war has transformed into a wasteland. Mr. Petropoulos, the U.N. official, called him “the self-styled power broker of east Rafah.”

Mr. Isleem, the truck driver who was ambushed in Rafah, said the looters who captured him told him that Mr. Abu Shabab was their boss. Awad Abid, a displaced Gazan who said he had tried to buy flour from Mr. Abu Shabab’s gang in Rafah, said he had seen gunmen guarding warehouses containing stolen cartons of U.N.-marked aid.

“I asked one of them for a sack of flour to feed my children,” Mr. Abid said, “and he raised a pistol at me.”

Mr. Abu Shabab denied looting aid trucks on a large scale, although he conceded that his men — armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles — had raided half a dozen or so since the start of the war.

“We are taking trucks so we can eat, not so we can sell,” he said in a phone interview, claiming he was feeding his family and neighbors. “Every hungry person is taking aid.” He accused Hamas of being primarily responsible for stealing the aid, a claim that Hamas has denied.

The looters’ chokehold on supplies and soaring prices are undermining Hamas in the areas that it still controls. On Nov. 25, Hamas’s security forces raided Mr. Abu Shabab’s neighborhood, killing more than 20 people, including his brother, Mr. Abu Shabab said.

Official Hamas media reported at the time that its forces had killed 20 members of “gangs of thieves who were stealing aid.”

As looters have run rampant in areas nominally controlled by the Israeli military, truck drivers and aid workers have suggested the Israeli military mostly turns a blind eye.

“There is continued tolerance by the Israel Defense Forces of unacceptable amounts of looting of areas that are ostensibly and de facto under their military control,” Mr. Petropoulos said.

At times, Israeli tanks have deployed along main roads where aid trucks travel. And Israeli ministers have said they debated authorizing private security contractors to protect international aid convoys inside Gaza.

Until recently, Israeli forces largely did not target the looters unless they were affiliated with Hamas or other militant groups, according to U.N. officials. But that appears to have changed in recent weeks.

In Israeli military drone footage viewed by The Times, looters can be seen confiscating white sacks of aid from cars in southern Gaza in November. Minutes later, an Israeli airstrike killed them, the footage appears to show.

Shani Sasson, a spokeswoman for the Israeli military agency that regulates aid to Gaza, said Israeli forces were targeting armed looters who attacked convoys, not just those affiliated with Hamas. She denied that Israel was providing any immunity to criminal gangs stealing aid. [At first, they were only targeting Hamas and similar enemies]

At times, Israeli tanks have deployed along main roads where aid trucks travel. And Israeli ministers have said they debated authorizing private security contractors to protect international aid convoys inside Gaza.

Until recently, Israeli forces largely did not target the looters unless they were affiliated with Hamas or other militant groups, according to U.N. officials. But that appears to have changed in recent weeks.

In Israeli military drone footage viewed by The Times, looters can be seen confiscating white sacks of aid from cars in southern Gaza in November. Minutes later, an Israeli airstrike killed them, the footage appears to show.

Shani Sasson, a spokeswoman for the Israeli military agency that regulates aid to Gaza, said Israeli forces were targeting armed looters who attacked convoys, not just those affiliated with Hamas. She denied that Israel was providing any immunity to criminal gangs stealing aid.

In late November, Israeli forces opened fire on looters waiting to waylay trucks in Rafah, forcing them to retreat, according to an internal U.N. memo. With the path cleared, U.N. aid trucks rushed toward central Gaza.

But the gangs were far from deterred.

The looters soon regrouped and hijacked them on the road, the U.N. memo said. The trucks were stripped bare.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/25/world/middleeast/northern-gaza-famine-warning-dispute.html

A U.S. diplomat criticizes a UN report on famine in Northern Gaza. (It appears to be biased and wrong – uses out of date population figures)

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 12/27/2024 @ 10:58 am

Kevin M (a9545f) — 12/27/2024 @ 10:44 am

So, if someone rapes and murders 100 children, that’s bad, but not nearly as bad as someone who shoots one old man because he’s Chinese?

Because that’s Biden’s calculus.

No it’s not.

if someone rapes and murders 100 children, one at a time and because he’s got a sex problem, but not because he is against humans, that’s one thing, but the person who shoots people because they are Chinese has got to kill maybe at 3 or 4 people in the same incident.

Any Chinese person could then see himself as a target, so it’s like he targeted hundreds or thousands of people. I think that’s his calculus because he also exempted from the pardon the younger of the 2013 Boston marathon bombers. Too many people were potential targets.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 12/27/2024 @ 11:05 am

The copyright had expired due to disinterest in the film, which had never been a success up until then

It actually was something of a success and got Oscar nominations, but it didn’t make money because it had exceeded its budget.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 12/27/2024 @ 11:07 am

When Israel started its war in Gaza, it also changed the rules of engagement it always used.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/26/world/middleeast/israel-hamas-gaza-bombing.html

Israel Loosened Its Rules to Bomb Hamas Fighters, Killing Many More Civilians

Surprised by Oct. 7 and fearful of another attack, Israel weakened safeguards meant to protect noncombatants, allowing officers to endanger up to 20 people in each airstrike. One of the deadliest bombardments of the 21st century followed.

Don’t forget, Hamas would not permit the creation of any neutral zone, and Egypt stopped allowing people to leave.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 12/27/2024 @ 11:13 am

LOL Prosecuting an ex-President is a Democrat/Nevertrump precedent and trashing of norms that Trump won’t be following.

lloyd (75323d) — 12/27/2024 @ 9:08 am

We’ll see.

Rip Murdock (fe0fab) — 12/27/2024 @ 11:29 am

DRJ (f29db0) — 12/27/2024 @ 10:39 am

If Trump’s DOJ goes after Cheney and allies with their own lawfare tactics, I wonder if you’ll get the irony.

And, it wasn’t Trump who wrapped themselves with the Save Democracy BS.

lloyd (623335) — 12/27/2024 @ 11:38 am

Liz Cheney didn’t originate any of the accusations against Trump, and appears to be mostly gullible about them.

Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 12/27/2024 @ 11:56 am

@348

Sorry for all the italics.

Rip Murdock (fe0fab) — 12/27/2024 @ 8:59 am

Trump can’t prosecute Biden… he’s immune you see. He’s meeting with foreign dignitaries as part of his VP job.

Nevermind his son being there and raking in enormous money that really doesn’t describe exactly what kind of services his son was providing.

Nope siree… nothing hinky about that at all. We all expect our politician’s family to be this corrupt.

whembly (477db6) — 12/27/2024 @ 12:15 pm

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/miacathell/2024/12/27/zulocks-sentenced-n2649379

Absolutely insane evil and depravity. Adopting children to torture and abuse them. This is where the death penalty should be used .

NJRob (6dcac5) — 12/27/2024 @ 12:23 pm

We agree, lloyd. Trump has never cared about democracy or the law.

DRJ (3caf0d) — 12/27/2024 @ 12:54 pm

Trump can’t prosecute Biden… he’s immune you see. He’s meeting with foreign dignitaries as part of his VP job.

If that is true why all the brouhaha about the photographs?

Biden could certainly be prosecuted If he received kickbacks from his son’s business dealings.

At the very least he should have been impeached based on the extensive evidence produced during the House Oversight and Judiciary Committee hearings.

Rip Murdock (fe0fab) — 12/27/2024 @ 1:04 pm

@369

Biden could certainly be prosecuted If he received kickbacks from his son’s business dealings.

Rip Murdock (fe0fab) — 12/27/2024 @ 1:04 pm

All I ask, is that the same fervor and dedication is applied to the Bidens as were done when Trump was investigated.

Right now, I don’t see that happening. I don’t even thing Trump is really all that interested in a “tit for tat” kind of investigation. He simply wants to win, and going after your opponent like the Democrats did really didn’t turn out all that well for Democrats.

whembly (477db6) — 12/27/2024 @ 1:21 pm

All I ask, is that the same fervor and dedication is applied to the Bidens as were done when Trump was investigated.
………
He simply wants to win, and going after your opponent like the Democrats did really didn’t turn out all that well for Democrats.

whembly (477db6) — 12/27/2024 @ 1:21 pm

The House Republicans blew that chance by not pursuing impeachment.

Trump can use the House report as a roadmap to prosecute Biden. To not do so would be selective non-prosecution.

Rip Murdock (fe0fab) — 12/27/2024 @ 1:30 pm

R.I.P. Greg Gumbel, sportscaster

Icy (a2c7b6) — 12/27/2024 @ 3:42 pm

@352 see @322 this is what is backing up our dollar. (ICBM’s)

asset (149482) — 12/27/2024 @ 7:59 pm

@365 trump should thank liz cheney not prosecute her! Harris campaigning with cheney had 10 million democrats not voting and millions more vote for green party or even trump in disgust. Donor class told harris run on transgender rights not 15 dollar an hour minimum wage or no $$$ for you!

asset (149482) — 12/27/2024 @ 8:06 pm

Biden could certainly be prosecuted If he received kickbacks from his son’s business dealings.

Rip Murdock (fe0fab) — 12/27/2024 @ 1:04 pm

he probably did not, but his son Hunter claimed in a now famous private email, thatb he was going to, (he had a logical reason for lying about that)

Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 12/28/2024 @ 6:14 pm

12/20/2024

Weekend Open Thread

375 Responses to “Weekend Open Thread”

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