Weekend Open Thread
[guest post by Dana]
Feel free to talk about anything you think is newsworthy or might interest readers.
I’ll start.
First news item: A Mitt Romney/Tulsi Gabbard ticket?
It seems that Senate Republicans have come to tolerate rather than celebrate this president, who has done little to advance the typical Republican agenda. If the Senate Republicans’ tolerance for Trump has run out, House Democrats may rue the day they decided to pursue impeachment.
Senate Republicans could convict, or threaten to convict, thereby pressuring Trump to resign. They could even work out a deal by which they acquit in exchange for Trump not seeking a second term. Each of these options would leave the Republicans in need of a compromise candidate with very little time left on the clock. Republicans would need someone who understood the requirements of a national campaign, someone with widespread (and largely positive) name recognition, and someone on the record opposing both Trump and Trumpism.
Senator Mitt Romney is all of those things. Running Romney would immediately alienate the Trump base, but would attract voters from the sensible centers of both parties, along with independents, all of whom seem to be horrified by what they have heard thus far in the Democratic debates.
Romney could play this centrist position to devastating effect with just about anyone sharing the ticket, but there is one very shrewd move that would allow him to walk into the Oval Office in a landslide: Romney could pick a Democratic running mate.
But he shouldn’t pick just any Democrat. He should pick one with a growing national stature, one with the background to appeal to Republicans and Democrats alike, and one who has openly accused the Democratic Party of playing a rigged game in its primary campaign.
Mitt Romney should pick Tulsi Gabbard.
Second news item: Bitches be crazy in Massachusetts:
House bill 3719 that generated the most buzz…The legislation would make it illegal to call someone a [bitch]. It was one of 69 bills given a hearing by the Joint Committee on the Judiciary.
The legislation, most people would agree, is an obvious violation of the First Amendment, but nevertheless, once filed it must be given a hearing, and that’s exactly what happened on Tuesday.
The Massachusetts Republican Party took to Twitter to attack the bill and its sponsor, Boston Democratic Rep. Daniel Hunt.
Hunt said a constituent asked him to file it and defended himself on Twitter, writing: “One of the responsibilities of all Representatives is to serve as a conduit for direct petitions from our constituents.”
But it seems when filing the legislation with the House clerk, Hunt failed to click the checkbox to indicate it was a “by request” bill, leaving his the only name on the legislation — an oversight he probably regrets.
Massachusetts citizens have had the right to free petition since Colonial times, a right that’s enshrined in Article 19 of the Massachusetts Constitution. Anyone can write a bill, no matter how outrageous, and ask a legislator to file it on their behalf.
In the current two-year session, there are 192 such bills, according to a WBUR tally, out of more than 6,000 bills filed by lawmakers… Almost all of them — if not all of them — will ultimately die a quiet death after a public hearing, where oftentimes even the citizen backing the bill fails to show up to testify in favor of it. And just because citizens have the right to file legislation, there is no requirement that the Legislature take action on the proposal.
Having “by request” printed on the top of a bill can inoculate lawmakers from any blowback the proposed legislation may create. A lawmaker can simply step aside and in essence say, “Don’t shoot me, I’m just the messenger.” Policies about filing a bill on behalf of a constituent vary from legislator to legislator. Some say they never file such bills, while others view it as a form of constituent service.
Third news item: The problem with Mike Pence:
It’s a trope of pro-impeachment commentary that it should be simple for Republican senators to swap out President Donald Trump, who puts them in awkward positions every day, for Vice President Mike Pence, an upstanding Reagan conservative who could start with a fresh slate in the runup to the 2020 election.
Republican senators will soon be receiving an invitation to tear apart the GOP ahead of the 2020 elections, and they are going to decline to accept it.
It’s a trope of pro-impeachment commentary that it should be simple for Republican senators to swap out President Donald Trump, who puts them in awkward positions every day, for Vice President Mike Pence, an upstanding Reagan conservative who could start with a fresh slate in the runup to the 2020 election.
The only flaw in this scenario is that it is entirely removed from reality.
If Senate Republicans vote to remove Trump on anything like the current facts, even the worst interpretation of them, it would leave the GOP a smoldering ruin. It wouldn’t matter who the Democrats nominated for 2020. They could run Bernie Sanders on a ticket with Elizabeth Warren and promise to make Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez secretary of the treasury and Ilhan Omar secretary of defense, and they’d still win.
A significant portion of the Republican party would consider a Senate conviction of Trump a dastardly betrayal. Perhaps most would get over it, as partisan feelings kicked in around a national election, but not all. And so a party that has won the popular vote in a presidential election only once since 1988 would hurtle toward November 2020 divided.
How does anyone think that would turn out?
A lot of Trump supporters are going to want to blame the Republican establishment even if Trump loses in 2020 with the backing of the united party apparatus. Imagine what they will think if a couple of dozen Republican senators decide to deny him the opportunity to run for reelection, without a single voter having a say on his ultimate fate. It’s hard to come up with any scenario better designed to stoke the populist furies of Trump’s most devoted voters.
Fourth News Item: MLB Umpire Says, My Bad:
An MLB umpire apologized this week for a tweet threatening civil war if President Trump is impeached.
“Once I read what I had tweeted I realized the violence in those words and have since deleted it,” Rob Drake said in the statement reported by ESPN. “I know that I cannot unsay the words, but please accept my sincerest apologies.”
The since-deleted tweet, posted Tuesday according to ESPN, also said Drake was planning to buy an AR-15 weapon.
“I will be buying an AR-15 tomorrow, because if you impeach MY PRESIDENT this way, YOU WILL HAVE ANOTHER CIVAL WAR!!! #MAGA2020,” he tweeted.
“I especially want to apologize to every person who has been affected by gun violence in our country,” Drake continued in the statement, released Thursday night. He pledged to learn from the incident.
Have a great weekend!
–Dana
Good morning.
Dana (05f22b) — 10/26/2019 @ 6:47 amhttps://thefederalist.com/2019/10/25/sidney-powell-drops-bombshell-showing-how-the-fbi-trapped-michael-flynn/
Lawyer for Flynn has documentation claiming Flynn was railroaded and that the 302’s written against Flynn were changed after the fact.
NJRob (4d595c) — 10/26/2019 @ 6:53 amA Mitt Romney/Tulsi Gabbard ticket?
NOOOO!
nk (dbc370) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:23 amBut that would be a throuple worth pursuing.
urbanleftbehind (4904a4) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:26 amEither he’s deep anti-moderate Red Pill (with an mg view) or he knows for sure on those Klan rumors: http://www.newsweek.com/mitch-mcconnell-handshake-bobby-rankin-elijah-cummings-1467669
urbanleftbehind (4904a4) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:29 amTrump’s lawyers have conjured up a phrase to stop former WH employees from testifying, which will surely get shot down by a federal judge: Constitutional immunity, which is “essentially executive privilege on steroids.” It reminds me of when Bill Clinton invented a “protective function privilege” to stop Secret Service personnel from answering Ken Starr’s questions. Cipillone’s previous argument that the impeachment inquiry is unconstitutional was mostly laughed at, and his latest attempt will also make legal experts chuckle.
Paul Montagu (00daa1) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:29 amSpeaking about Trump’s taint:
http://news.yahoo.com/donald-trump-iphone-advice-tim-cook-apple.html
urbanleftbehind (4904a4) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:33 amAs for the dippy National Review article, 45% of the electorate did not choose to dirty their hands by voting for either Trump or Hillary in 2016. With neither of them on the ticket this election, Trump’s 14 million or so butt gerbils who gave him the primary can go back to their lives of miserable irrelevance and decent people will come out to vote for a decent Republican candidate.
nk (dbc370) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:35 amPaul Montagu (00daa1) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:29 am
Sometimes you gotta make a bird flap its wings to see if it can fly.
felipe (023cc9) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:35 amFixed.
Dave (1bb933) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:37 amCame in to see if anybody posted on the Flynn revelations.
Since they did, here’s something different that gave me a chuckle:
https://mobile.twitter.com/formemenotyou/status/1186743429335638016
harkin (6776a3) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:59 am_
it would leave the GOP a smoldering ruin.
It’s now a moldering ruin. Smoldering would be an improvement. In the smell, if nothing else.
nk (dbc370) — 10/26/2019 @ 8:03 amLet’s see what the National Embarrassment is doing:
No parody can match the real orange.
nk (dbc370) — 10/26/2019 @ 8:16 amNew York Times Opinion
@nytopinion
The deep state is alive and well, composed of patriotic public servants. Their aim is not to bring down President Trump out of personal or political animus but to rescue the Republic from his excesses, says @mcottle
__ _
Chuck Ross
@ChuckRossDC
Broke: There’s no such thing as a “deep state.” Only crazy conservatives believe that.
Woke: There is a “deep state,” but only crazy conservatives believe it’s a bad thing.
_
At least they admit it now.
harkin (6776a3) — 10/26/2019 @ 8:24 am_
You would think people would want to discuss those revelations, but nope, it’s the usual bash Trump all the time syndrome going on instead.
NJRob (4d595c) — 10/26/2019 @ 8:26 amYes, a Romney-Tulsi ticket should guarantee a Democrat victory in 2020. No wonder Newsday is pushing it. Here’s my suggestion: if Biden gets the Nomination then sanders and tulsi should run a 3rd party ticket. Bring decency back to the D party.
rcocean (1a839e) — 10/26/2019 @ 8:26 amI also think that the expected blackout for millions of Californians due to their leftist luddite policies would be relevant, but that’s just me.
I’d rather not give these lunatics power to make these kinds of destructive decisions for the rest of the nation.
NJRob (4d595c) — 10/26/2019 @ 8:27 amYou’re right, felipe, but I still think it’ll fly as well as a lawn dart.
Paul Montagu (00daa1) — 10/26/2019 @ 8:35 amHow does anyone think that would turn out?
As long as the squad stays off my properties they’ll be ok.
mg (8cbc69) — 10/26/2019 @ 9:00 ammormon/hindu/2020
mg (8cbc69) — 10/26/2019 @ 9:04 amnot a prayer
Does it seem that President Trump is worried about his companies finances? The Doral is hurting so all of a sudden its on the list for the G7, the DC Trump hotel is potentially up for sale (WSJ) as clients avoid it to prevent an image of buying influence, he mentions his Istanbul buildings in a tweet on relations with Erdogan, and he complains that he can no longer get paid for speeches.
even if he was not Donald Trump, financial interests outside of a truly blind trust are especially at risk for a US President. For all his bluster the Trump organization has only a few hotels and golf resorts plus some minority holdings in other buildings. Any boycotts or harassments from foreign governments can cause a big hit.
dirtyjobsguy (96cdc8) — 10/26/2019 @ 9:35 amA ha! I knew it was the Baptist south (FL, VA, OH it did it) and the mormon lynching upper Mississippi (IA, WI) and their prejudice saved Obama’s bacon in ’12.
urbanleftbehind (9d2e94) — 10/26/2019 @ 9:37 am@ NJRob,
This is an open thread, so feel free to post/discuss any news item that you are interesting in discussing.
Dana (05f22b) — 10/26/2019 @ 9:39 am21…then quit, rather LBJ style than tricky Dick style and he can enjoy that high life again.
urbanleftbehind (9d2e94) — 10/26/2019 @ 9:51 am”Romney could play this centrist position to devastating effect with just about anyone sharing the ticket”
April 1 meets October.
Munroe (b2849d) — 10/26/2019 @ 9:55 amFurther, NJRob, it’s not “the usual bash Trump all the time syndrome” going on. I posted about a possible Romney/Gabbard ticket, attempts to squelch free speech in MA, a look at Mike Pence as a potential president and the complications that could bring, and Major League Baseball player umpire who had to apologize for his ugly tweet.
Dana (05f22b) — 10/26/2019 @ 9:56 ammr. president trump the donald who is the donald of the united states does not need money because he is sustained by the love of his people
the russians, the turks, the saudis, the chinese, the taliban, ….
nk (dbc370) — 10/26/2019 @ 9:58 amRegarding Michael Flynn, Ms. Wheeler gets into some of Ms. Powell’s brief.
There’s more to the brief, and it does look like his previous attorney had a conflict of interest, but it remains inescapable that Flynn lied and concealed, criminally so.
Paul Montagu (00daa1) — 10/26/2019 @ 10:07 amjimi, wes montgomery, joe pass, jimmy paige, roy clark, mark knopfler, duane allman, clapton, link wray, buddy guy, joe perry, santana, chet atkins, stevie ray vaughn, george benson.
mg (8cbc69) — 10/26/2019 @ 10:19 amSome of my favorites
who has done little to advance the typical Republican agenda
Worst. Concern. Trolling. Ever.
The Republicans haven’t done a thing to advance the typical Republican agenda in 30 years, unless you’re willing to admit that the actual Republican agenda is to get Democrats elected by putting out feeble squishes like Mitt Romney and John McCain who only know the good doggy tricks of sitting up and begging, rolling over, and playing dead.
Jerryskids (702a61) — 10/26/2019 @ 10:26 amDana,
I have no issue with your topics. My remarks are purely on the one note individuals who comment on all threads to bash the President all the time, no matter the topic. They are no different than Happyfeet in the way they try to derail all conversations into a discussion of “Orange man bad.”
NJRob (4d595c) — 10/26/2019 @ 10:43 amI wonder who started this “orange man bad” canard? I’m guessing Mark Levin.
Leviticus (c1b4d5) — 10/26/2019 @ 10:55 am“I also think that the expected blackout for millions of Californians due to their leftist luddite policies would be relevant, but that’s just me.
I’d rather not give these lunatics power to make these kinds of destructive decisions for the rest of the nation.“
_
Got turned off for two+ days a couple weeks ago. The ‘dangerously high winds’ forecast they blamed it on reached 8 mph. Then they turned off Hangtown earlier this week for no apparent reason. People are pretty irate.
Some are saying the millions not utilized while they neglected upgrades/maintenance for decades went to mandated big bucks/micro-results renewables stuff.
The money shot was the PG&E CEO being asked about loss of business/frozen food spoiling and responding “I never thought of that’.
Haven’t got a firm notice yet but we may go dark this evening.
harkin (6776a3) — 10/26/2019 @ 10:56 amProof positive that President Trump cares deeply about Americans:
He plans to show up after the first pitch is thrown in World Series Game 5 and leave before the game ends– both moves planned so as not to disrupt the average Americans in attendance; you know, run-of-the-mill-Yankee-Doodlers who are reportedly paying as much as $900 for a standing room only stadium ticket alone– instead of blowing that on a 70 inch Chinese made HDTV to watch the game comfortably at home.
Patriots all!
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/26/2019 @ 11:00 am“I wonder who started this “orange man bad” canard? I’m guessing Mark Levin.“
Whomever did sure hit the nail on the head regarding TDS.
HUGE amount of Anti-Trump references used to reference his orangeness, now they realize they are turbo-charging self-parody to do so.
harkin (6776a3) — 10/26/2019 @ 11:00 am_
I am interested in the allegations made by Flynn’s attorney, NJ Rob. They are troubling. I’ve read three articles about it so I don’t need links. What is your opinion?
DRJ (15874d) — 10/26/2019 @ 11:07 amTo be fair, it’s a lot of “profound province” characters in a Nats crowd, I don’t blame him.
urbanleftbehind (6a06f3) — 10/26/2019 @ 11:12 amAlso marking myself “safe” from a morning matinee of Joker. I don’t see why the critics had a hissy fit, it seemed like an alt-history of New York City had Beame stayed or Cuomo won in ’77 with a reckoning in mid 1981 after “Reaganomics”.
urbanleftbehind (6a06f3) — 10/26/2019 @ 11:15 amRomney for President? Or do you mean Pierre Delecto?
DN (623ef5) — 10/26/2019 @ 11:40 amHe can have Carolin Gallego as his running mate.
nk (dbc370) — 10/26/2019 @ 11:44 amCompany with ties to Trump’s brother Robert awarded $33 million government contract
What’s the point of being in power if you can’t reward your friends (or family)?
Rip Murdock (b1f26f) — 10/26/2019 @ 11:47 am38-
Rip Murdock (b1f26f) — 10/26/2019 @ 11:49 amI thought the Kill the Rich protests were Bernie Sanders rallies.
“Blow the whole thing up!” “Burn it to the ground!”
Radegunda (68077f) — 10/26/2019 @ 12:05 pmThose were some of the favorite war-cries of the Trumpsters during the election. They wanted to destroy the GOP. And then they said that all the Republicans who didn’t wish to get on Trump train were “traitors.” To what?
Trumpsters tell us it’s all very honest because he does it in plain sight. What they’ll never acknowledge is that Trump is incapable of seeing a difference between what’s good for him and what’s just plain good.
Radegunda (68077f) — 10/26/2019 @ 12:08 pmI would presume, to “them.”
felipe (023cc9) — 10/26/2019 @ 12:14 pm“I wonder who started this “orange man bad” canard? I’m guessing Mark Levin.”
My guess was reddit or 4chan and, well: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/orange-man-bad
“Whomever did sure hit the nail on the head regarding TDS.”
I suppose someone who came into existence on inauguration day 2017 and has no awareness of the discourse around the previous president might think this.
Davethulhu (fe4242) — 10/26/2019 @ 12:26 pm#46 – It serves the same function as “You just don’t like him because he’s black.” It’s a way of saying that every substantive criticism is made in bad faith.
In this case it corresponds to Trump’s own sense of good/bad. Trump simply cannot conceive of the possibility that he might have done anything to merit criticism or dislike. Therefore, people who dislike him are “human scum.” They have committed the worst of sins by not approving of Donald Trump.
Radegunda (68077f) — 10/26/2019 @ 12:54 pm@17 The reason we have blackouts is not the state or renewable energy. The reason we have blackouts is that PG&E didn’t bother to do repairs, even though they had the money, because it was cheaper not to and now the whole system is a mess that PG&E would like us to bail them out of.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pacific-gas-and-electric-camp-fire-ignored-repairs-for-years-on-its-aging-power-lines-report-says/
(there’s also a link in the story to the WSJ article they are covering in the story, but I didn’t do a direct link because it’s pay-walled)
Nic (896fdf) — 10/26/2019 @ 12:55 pmEach of these options would leave the Republicans in need of a compromise candidate with very little time left on the clock.
The GOP could have a fairly full primary shake-out if Trump were to become a non-candidate before the end of the year. If it drags out until next May then there is no way the Senate will convict just for the reason you state.
Kevin M (19357e) — 10/26/2019 @ 1:05 pmCan’t possibly be elected – lol
Stole the election from Madame Pantsuit – lol
Colluded with Russia – lol
Obstructed Justice – lol
Ukraine! – lol
‘Orange Man Bad’ fits them so well.
harkin (6776a3) — 10/26/2019 @ 1:09 pmMitt Romney should pick Tulsi Gabbard.
Unlikely she’d accept as it would be political suicide. Just ask former Senator Joe Lieberman.
He’d be better off with a younger, non-white female GOP running mate. Nikki or Condi come to mind.
Kevin M (19357e) — 10/26/2019 @ 1:10 pm”I suppose someone who came into existence on inauguration day 2017 and has no awareness of the discourse around the previous president might think this.”
Davethulhu (fe4242) — 10/26/2019 @ 12:26 pm
The fawning media was just so brutal.
Munroe (53beca) — 10/26/2019 @ 1:14 pm“The reason we have blackouts is not the state or renewable energy. The reason we have blackouts is that PG&E didn’t bother to do repairs,”
Don’t sell the state short, they’ve been thick as thieves with PG&E for decades.
Now they’re conspiring to create a fund for future damages due to faulty utility equipment that will be half-funded by rate-payers.
harkin (6776a3) — 10/26/2019 @ 1:14 pmA significant portion of the Republican party would consider a Senate conviction of Trump a dastardly betrayal. Perhaps most would get over it, as partisan feelings kicked in around a national election, but not all. And so a party that has won the popular vote in a presidential election only once since 1988 would hurtle toward November 2020 divided.
Sure, there are people who would want to “punish” the GOP for getting rid of Trump, but would they really stand by and see the commies win? Remember, these are folks like those here who have gone ON AND ON AND ON about binary choices and “At least Hillary is not President!” Would they really have so little shame?
The largest block of voters is in the center. Maybe half of all voters have voted for presidential candidates of both parties over time. These are the people who need to be attracted, not repelled. If both parties put up candidates that are even less appealing than in 2016, they are the ones who will stay home, or vote third party. Cue Bloomberg.
The way for the GOP to succeed after tossing Trump is to 1) get the likely Warren nomination and 2) run someone who *gets* the issues that Trump won on — standing up to China, stopping illegal immigration and deporting some, and returning the USA to a world-class manufacturer. And can make the case that he will succeed where Trump could not. Ted Cruz might be your guy.
Kevin M (19357e) — 10/26/2019 @ 1:22 pm‘Sure, there are people who would want to “punish” the GOP for getting rid of Trump, but would they really stand by and see the commies win?’
Kevin M (19357e) — 10/26/2019 @ 1:22 pm
You mean, if Trump is the nominee again, all those self-described conservatives who won’t vote for him in November want the commies to win?
Munroe (53beca) — 10/26/2019 @ 1:36 pmPierre Delecto.
Sheesh. The twit who dissed 47% of American voters didn’t even have the forethought of picking an English name for his handle– which should tell you where his head is at- le derriere. Winners go with John Barron– or David Dennison.
A dog on every roof; an ascenseur in every garage, eh, Willard?!
What a creep.
“I talk to the trees; But they don’t listen to me…” – Sylvester Newel [Clint Eastwood] ‘Paint Your Wagon’ 1969
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/26/2019 @ 1:37 pm“The fawning media was just so brutal.”
Do you think Trump remembers that he was a birther?
Also does Fox not count as “the media”? Conservative talk radio?
Davethulhu (fe4242) — 10/26/2019 @ 1:39 pmYou mean, if Trump is the nominee again, all those self-described conservatives who won’t vote for him in November want the commies to win?
If Trump is the nominee again he will lose 70-30. BUt, fine, if he is, I will hold my nose and vote for him. Your turn.
Kevin M (19357e) — 10/26/2019 @ 1:44 pmDCSCA, the life-long-Republican who has never liked any Republican but would reluctantly vote for any Democrat.
Kevin M (19357e) — 10/26/2019 @ 1:45 pm‘Orange Man Bad’ fits them so well.
Is unable to play the game. Lol.
Kevin M (19357e) — 10/26/2019 @ 1:46 pmAlso does Fox not count as “the media”? Conservative talk radio?
He said “fawning media” with the implication that they fawned over Ds
Kevin M (19357e) — 10/26/2019 @ 1:48 pmA lot of Trump supporters are going to want to blame the Republican establishment even if Trump loses in 2020 with the backing of the united party apparatus. Imagine what they will think if a couple of dozen Republican senators decide to deny him the opportunity to run for reelection, without a single voter having a say on his ultimate fate. It’s hard to come up with any scenario better designed to stoke the populist furies of Trump’s most devoted voters.
If Trump loses in 2020, the same people will want him to run in 2024. More cowbell.
If he is removed by the Senate, then it opens the door to a successor who will adopt many of his positions and vow to carry on the fight. Perhaps a Senator who voted NAY. Cruz, Cotton, etc. The only way to hold the GOP together at that point will be to rally behind Trump’s issues and platform, if not his temperament and style.
Kevin M (19357e) — 10/26/2019 @ 1:56 pm’Do you think Trump remembers that he was a birther?
Also does Fox not count as “the media”? Conservative talk radio?’
Davethulhu (fe4242) — 10/26/2019 @ 1:39 pm
Who was the SC appointed to look into birthergate?
Fox and conservative talk radio count as “the media” like Victor Davis Hanson and Charles Murray count as “academia”.
Munroe (53beca) — 10/26/2019 @ 1:57 pmMy opinion is that if the 302’s were tampered with well after the fact, that’s a criminal offense, no different than offering perjured testimony. For a government agency to do so, would be beyond the pale.
NJRob (a9faed) — 10/26/2019 @ 2:00 pm55: It’s Trumpsters who keep insisting that a failure to support Trump 100% is essentially a vote for the commies. Back during the primaries, Trumpsters were blasting people who criticized Trump as lefties and Bernie-lovers.
Radegunda (68077f) — 10/26/2019 @ 2:01 pmIt’s still media, as htlulu seems to say, if you live in driving world you have been stuck listening to them, for nearly 30 years. NPR dont do it and sports radio is actually far less woke than their cable/stream counterparts.
That said the Kevin M succession plan works but the 3.31.68 LBJ night needs to get here quick.
urbanleftbehind (6a06f3) — 10/26/2019 @ 2:05 pmSo you’re for impeachment, and would vote for him? I just don’t understand that. Take ownership of you disapproval.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (6e7a1c) — 10/26/2019 @ 2:10 pm”If Trump is the nominee again he will lose 70-30. BUt, fine, if he is, I will hold my nose and vote for him. Your turn.”
Kevin M (19357e) — 10/26/2019 @ 1:44 pm
Fair answer. However, I think that might be a minority opinion among Trump critics here.
If Trump were ousted, for me it would depend how it was done and who replaces him. We don’t know any of that yet.
Munroe (53beca) — 10/26/2019 @ 2:16 pm“Fox and conservative talk radio count as “the media” like Victor Davis Hanson and Charles Murray count as “academia”.”
Fox is the single largest news media company.
Something like 50 million people listen to talk radio regularly.
Davethulhu (fe4242) — 10/26/2019 @ 2:49 pmABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, New York Times, Washington Post, MSN, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, 85% of print and electronic media and ‘academia’ but OK OMG FOX AND TALK RADIO!!!!
The reason FOX and talk radio succeed is because they dare to counter Newspeak.
harkin (6776a3) — 10/26/2019 @ 3:18 pmWhite House press secretary: “I worked with John Kelly, and he was totally unequipped to handle the genius of our great President.”
Apparently Kelly failed to master that million-dimensional chess.
Radegunda (68077f) — 10/26/2019 @ 3:25 pmOr he didn’t learn that the only way to “handle” Trump is by being a comically shameless sycophant.
@59. Ahhh, Kevin… with age comes wisdom; one day you’ll discover the distinctions between a Republican, a conservative– and a cultist.
Crying in your beer is not the place to start. “…misty watercolor memories; of the way we were…’
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/26/2019 @ 3:41 pm@57. Don’t believe Trump remembers what he had for breakfast yesterday. It’s of no matter- yesterday is gone; he lives in the now; the eye of the storm; the straw that stirs the drink. He acts; everybody else reacts.
He looks for the cameras, finds them– then goes into his act.
He performs. Entertains. And the audience can’t look away.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/26/2019 @ 3:48 pmI doubt very much that Mark Levin ever had an original thought. I do know that “Orange man bad” was posted here by our own Dave, who is no fan of the orange, quite a while back. In Latin!
So how about “Orange slicked-up boy-toy is a criminal traitor”? Does that have enough syllables?
nk (dbc370) — 10/26/2019 @ 3:53 pm70. Fox succeeds thanks to lip gloss, leg lights and cleavage; talk radio succeeds because one-way monologuers don’t dare let a word in edgewise for three hours straight.
“No static at all; FM” – Steely Dan, 1978
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/26/2019 @ 3:55 pm@54 As a middle of the road person, Ted Cruz is not the guy for at least this middle of the road person. He is the once and probably future most conservative guy in the Senate AND he’s a Trump suck-up. Plus he’s smarmy. Not a single thing about Cruz appeals to me. No. No. No. to Teddy Cruz.
Nic (896fdf) — 10/26/2019 @ 3:56 pm@74. No kidding; case-in-point; ripping off Buckley’s FL clipboard act.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/26/2019 @ 3:57 pmOrange man good!
Radegunda (68077f) — 10/26/2019 @ 4:11 pm(I don’t like seeing orange so besmirched.)
I root for Michael Savage v. Mark Levin in that dustup of pugnacious __________ men.
urbanleftbehind (6a06f3) — 10/26/2019 @ 4:33 pm”No. No. No. to Teddy Cruz.”
Nic (896fdf) — 10/26/2019 @ 3:56 pm
As I’ve noted before, it’s become very common for Trump critics to write a whole comment about who they’re against, and make no mention of who they would be for.
Munroe (53beca) — 10/26/2019 @ 5:07 pmTed plays the sycophant well, too bad his last name is not in the lower reach of the alphabet, deep down wants to be the dagger, no. 67 of 100, revenge served cold.
urbanleftbehind (6a06f3) — 10/26/2019 @ 5:11 pmAs I’ve noted before, it’s become very common for Trump critics to write a whole comment about who they’re against, and make no mention of who they would be for.
Another orange with a peel?
nk (dbc370) — 10/26/2019 @ 5:11 pm— Knock, knock!
nk (dbc370) — 10/26/2019 @ 5:14 pm— Who’s there?
— Orange.
— Orange who?
— Orange you ever going to vote on those Articles of Impeachment?
Pence is going to agree to resign, and President Trump will pick Steve Bannon as his VP. Let the Impeachment proceed
iowan2 (9c8856) — 10/26/2019 @ 5:31 pmIt’s very common for Trump apologists to harp on what’s wrong with other people as though it obviated any need to defend Trump.
Power Line blog (which I used to respect) has a piece on “Joe Biden’s Trouble with the Truth.” It’s written by a fervent Trump apologist, who also questions Biden’s mental fitness. The commenters appear to be oblivious to the grotesque irony. Or they’re simply dishonest.
I’m certainly not a Biden fan, but Trump’s dishonesty and mental unfitness are far more extreme.
Radegunda (68077f) — 10/26/2019 @ 5:37 pm#83 — I approve.
Radegunda (68077f) — 10/26/2019 @ 5:38 pmGood luck with that:
nk (dbc370) — 10/26/2019 @ 5:39 pmTrump is now back in Syria to where he was before the withdrawal, only the Kurds have less territory (BTW, before October 9, Trump had been trying to negotiate a smaller zone for Turkey.)
And Erdogan is demanding that the military commander of the Kurdish forces – a man with whom Trump personally exchanged thanks with the other day, and with whom the United States is in regular contact with – be turned over to him by the United States, on the grounds that he is a terrorist.
It could be this is not all Erdogan’s doing. Putin could be feeding him false information (without the United States even knowing.)
Sammy Finkelman (b4516d) — 10/26/2019 @ 5:39 pmIt’s the criminal traitor backstabber Trump being stupid as well as vile, Sammy.
nk (dbc370) — 10/26/2019 @ 5:41 pmThe federal budget deficit came in at under $1 trillion in fiscal 2019 at $984 billion, but only because of the tariffs Trump imposed, which raised over $70 billion. (New York Times)
Sammy Finkelman (b4516d) — 10/26/2019 @ 5:42 pmIt seems that Senate Republicans have come to tolerate rather than celebrate this president, who has done little to advance the typical Republican agenda
The first sentence of the post is a raw lie.
No President in modern history has been as productive as President Trump. Foriegn policy, Trade agreements, deregulation, judges, tax reform, address the China trade imbalance, re-establish NATO purpose, immigration.
The President has advanced the Republican Party Platform, through hard word and intuitive negotiations. Saying that, the adroit, experienced genius politicians in the House and the Senate, have sent him precious little to sign.
So list off all the agenda items President Trump has failed to work on.
iowan2 (9c8856) — 10/26/2019 @ 5:49 pm2. NJRob (4d595c) — 10/26/2019 @ 6:53 am
I don’t know abut railroading, but it was a sting operation, which got him to lie about a non-crime.
But they had him on other things, mainly not registering as a foreign agent for Turkey and those charges were dropped in exchange for his guilty plea.
And he was possibly guilty of much worse, which they didn’t investigate and maybe couldn’t have.
Obama had cut his term short (not extended it as usual) as Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency because he suspected he might have been recruited as a Russian spy.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/31/michael-flynn-new-evidence-spy-chiefs-had-concerns-about-russian-ties
https://investigaterussia.org/players/michael-flynn
But since Obama never made any official finding, he had a hard time arguing Trump out of appointing him National Security Adviser, and failed.
Sammy Finkelman (b4516d) — 10/26/2019 @ 5:58 pmFor a lot of people, the answer is: Just give us someone who isn’t a malignant narcissist and chronic liar with an increasingly slippery grasp on fact and logic.
Radegunda (68077f) — 10/26/2019 @ 6:05 pmUhh, of those, he’s been president when Mitch appointed judges, literally nothing else you said has actually happened. Just because Trump is saying it doesn’t make it so, in fact, it makes it exceedingly unlikely to be true.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (6e7a1c) — 10/26/2019 @ 6:07 pmthey aint the lastros anymore
mg (8cbc69) — 10/26/2019 @ 6:16 pmlooks as though Michigan showed up for the first half
So you’re for impeachment, and would vote for him? I just don’t understand that. Take ownership of you disapproval.
Yes, and you may consider that a reflection on what the Democrat Party has on offer. I dislike Trump. I would rather have just about any GOP nominee instead of Trump, maybe even the Democrat Kasich.
BUT. IF. I. HAVE. NO. OTHER. OPTION.
I will vote for the lesser of two evils, and that is Trump. The Democrat Party is beyond redemption.
Kevin M (19357e) — 10/26/2019 @ 6:16 pmFair answer. However, I think that might be a minority opinion among Trump critics here.
A number of them have free votes. They live in places like California where the reincarnated Lincoln would lose. So, they can freely posture. I live in a purple state now, so it matters as its drift towards blue can be stopped. But Trump has lead coattails here.
Kevin M (19357e) — 10/26/2019 @ 6:19 pmDo you mean there’s no wall in Colorado?
Radegunda (68077f) — 10/26/2019 @ 6:25 pmLots of wiggle room there.
Radegunda (68077f) — 10/26/2019 @ 6:26 pm@80 I can’t tell you who I’d definitely be for, but I can tell you some people I think it would be interesting to hear from (and I suspect you’ll hate every one of them). From the Trump admin, I think Nikki Haley and General Mattis would be interesting. Of Governors, Holcomb of Indiana, Charlie Baker of Mass. Of Senators: Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Richard Burr of N. Carolina (I disagree with him on several things, but he holds some interesting positions).
Nic (896fdf) — 10/26/2019 @ 6:27 pm41. Company with ties to Tump brother, Robert, awarded contract worth $33 million
Crap like this is all the leftist know.
So here is the truth, hidden in plain sight in the article, few will read, because they have all the want to know from the headline.
“The company awarded the contract is owned in part by a firm, that has ties to Robert Trump.” (Vice Presidents son, Hunter, was given $2.5 of Chinese Govt Cash, its all oky doky)
So for example. Robert is 1/24 partner in a venture capital group, that shares 5% ownership in the company that has ties to the company awarded the contract.
iowan2 (9c8856) — 10/26/2019 @ 6:28 pmTrue? Don’t know, but as stupid and ridiculous as it is, it would fit into the headline, while at the same time prove just the opposite of what the headline attempts to interfere.
99. “lots of wiggle room there”
From the accusation the President Trump has largely failed to advance the Republican Agenda, list off half a dozen should be easy. More easy than a snarky non-response
iowan2 (9c8856) — 10/26/2019 @ 6:31 pm94. Just because you say so, doesn’t make it so.
iowan2 (9c8856) — 10/26/2019 @ 6:34 pmHere is the basic danger with Trump running in 2020:
He will lose, and the people who be running things in all branches of government will destroy everything he ever hope to achieve. Things he has been (and will continue to be) unable to accomplish because he’s incompetent, and unwilling to change, listen or defer to those that aren’t. He is what the Brits call “bloody-minded” — stupidly stubborn and willful.
Now, maybe it’s important to some to have their resentments acted out in tantrum after tantrum, but for most of us — even people who generally agree with Trump’s positions — he’s blocking effective action.
Look at the people who have been hired and quit — all for the same reason — the man is an ignorant, willful child who does not understand the words “NO” or even “MAYBE LATER.” He does not understand the system he’s now in, he tries to ride every damn horse sideways, or backward, and he lashes out at those who would help him.
Personally, I think it’s Alzheimer’s.
Kevin M (19357e) — 10/26/2019 @ 6:36 pmcharley baker aka too tall devaul has been able to un arrest his son for groping a woman on a flight. Absolutely impeachable. The democrats love this turd.
mg (8cbc69) — 10/26/2019 @ 6:38 pmDid he carry Orange County?
nk (dbc370) — 10/26/2019 @ 6:42 pm11 minutes to respond….were you on the pot droppin a deuce, took longer to bat that crazy suggestion down than I thought, mg.
urbanleftbehind (6a06f3) — 10/26/2019 @ 6:45 pmNJRob @2 continued:
Of course they were, but at a later time. (but maybe actally that is wrong)
https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/12/michael-flynn-investigation
Also at:
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/where-is-the-flynn-302/
Now it’s looking like maybe, there wasn’t a re-writing in August, and that was a misreading of a too cryptic court document reference but there could have been a re-writing in February, before he was fired.
Sammy Finkelman (b4516d) — 10/26/2019 @ 6:48 pmI responding to the fact that “worked on” is an evasion. Any list of a failure of accomplishment (no new wall; no great health care cheap for everyone; no shrinking of the debt, which Trump said he could eliminate in 8 years; no easily won trade war) would be met by the insistence that he really tried and how does anyone know he didn’t.
Radegunda (68077f) — 10/26/2019 @ 6:48 pmI think he did better in about 4 Chicago wards (19th, 41st, 45th and 38th and parts of 3 wards west of Midway Airport) than he did in Orange County.
urbanleftbehind (6a06f3) — 10/26/2019 @ 6:51 pmHere’s one thing I have:
FBI Director James Comey, contrary to his Senate testimony that he ignored Trump’s request to see if he could let it [the criminal case against Mike Flynn] go, did decide to let Mike Flynn “go” after his meeting with President Trump on February 14, 2017.
This meeting mainly discussed a New York Times story that day:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/us/politics/russia-intelligence-communications-trump.html
A story that started off saying:
Flynn said it was treue and then told Senators it was not true. He said they never eavesdropped on anybody from the campaign.
Flynn in his notes portrayed that meeting as mainly being about Mike Flynn. Or otherwise being about “leaks”
I have this sudden turnaround:
At 6:25 am on February 15, 2017, Zero Hedge has this: (that’s Feb 15 in spite of the URL
saying Feb 14)
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-14/mike-flynn-may-face-felony-charges-lyin
g-fbi
But by 10 pm Zero Hedge reports:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-15/fbi-reportedly-will-not-pursue-charges-
against-cooperative-and-truthful-mike-flynn
Here is more detail – the actual February 15 2017 leak:
https://mobile.twitter.com/jimsciutto/status/832013379124486148?p=v
————————————————————–
Tre, this was only a leak, and not an official announcement, but leaks have meaning and can’t just be waved away, as I said a few days ago.
The Senate committee evidently didn’t discover this story, or similar ones derivative of it, like my next link, nor so far has apparetntly anyone else.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/16/politics/fbi-not-expected-to-pursue-charges-agains
t-flynn/index.html
Here’s the same story as it appeared on the KTLA (Channel 5 in Los Angeles) website:
http://ktla.com/2017/02/16/fbi-not-expected-to-pursue-charges-against-michael-fl
Sammy Finkelman (b4516d) — 10/26/2019 @ 6:52 pmynn-law-enforcement-officials
I think there could be a problem with the 302 but that isn’t clear. It is worth exploring and the judge has authority to do that, but is there a basis for that here? Flynn admitted he lied. He wasn’t entrapped.
DRJ (15874d) — 10/26/2019 @ 6:53 pmTrump claims that he made the U.S. respected again on the world stage. The reverse is true. Putin, Erdogan,Kim et al. are laughing at how easily Trump can be flattered and rolled, while our allies are losing trust in us.
Radegunda (68077f) — 10/26/2019 @ 6:53 pmIf people wll look carefully at all the anecdotes, I thnk they will realize:
California wildfires are so destrctive because they now always have people running from the fire instead of fighting the fire. Running away is more deadly than staying in place or nearby and fighting the fires because the fires are so much bigger. The fires are easier to fight than they are giving people to think. Mass evacuation is a bad strategy.
Sammy Finkelman (b4516d) — 10/26/2019 @ 6:58 pmIn 8 years, with a Democrat House the whole time, Ronald Reagan did the follwoing:
* Ended inflation, bringing double digit inflation to nearly zero. The inflation rate from 1970 to 1983 is the same as that from 1983 to 2019, a period almost three times as long. Inflation over the last 20 years has been about 2%. When Reagan took office it was double digits.
* Cut marginal income tax rates from 70% to 28%.
* Stabilized the dollar
* Restored America’s image in the world
* Restored the stature of the US Armed Forces from their post-VietNam woes.
* Rebuilt the Navy and the Air Force.
* Won the Cold War and put the USSR on the ash-heap of history.
===========
Trump has done what?
* Made friends with dictators and undermined most of US foreign policy, replacing it with tweets.
* Built a little bit of wall as the illegals continue to stream in.
* Raised taxes on the upper-middle class to give to corporations who hate him.
* Fired nearly everyone who came into office with him, except for those who quit or were indicted.
* Been unable to USE the federal government to accomplish anything, because all those levers of power look to him as just levers. He’s like a child spinning the wheel of his toy car, not understanding what the wheel is supposed to do.
* Annoyed and offended nearly everyone at times, except maybe his die-hardest supporters who will agree with anything he says.
* Obamacare is still here. The deficit is not only here, it is larger.
* He lost the House.
* Our military is losing faith in their CinC, which was difficult as they had been big supporters.
Yeah, a real great job. How about letting someone who effing knows what the F they are doing take over?
Kevin M (19357e) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:00 pmTrump unkept promises:
We still have ObamaCare.
We don’t have a complete Wall and Mexico has not paid for it.
We have a massive debt and deficit.
Hillary was not prosecuted, let alone locked up.
No new infrastructure.
Trump has delivered on other promises but the question was what he hasn’t done.
DRJ (15874d) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:00 pmTrump claims that he made the U.S. respected again on the world stage. The reverse is true. Putin, Erdogan,Kim et al. are laughing at how easily Trump can be flattered and rolled, while our allies are losing trust in us.
Optimist.
Kevin M (19357e) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:02 pm28. Paul Montagu (00daa1) — 10/26/2019 @ 10:07 am
The issue being raised now is did he ever flatly deny that he talked about sanctions with thr Russian Ambassadr=or, or merely say he did not remember? I think everyne sgrees that his final positoon was that he didn’t remember. Flynn pleaded guilty becuase he had to find something to plead guilty to, but he had a good defense. Fkynn reallly did lkie but that was because he thought discussing sanctioons could be a crime, but that wasn’t true. He never promised anything. And the whole thing was a sting operation because DOJ already knew all the facts. And they did it to get Flynn fired because they thought he could be a Russian spy.
Sammy Finkelman (b4516d) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:06 pm“I worked with John Kelly, and he was totally unequipped to handle the genius of our great President.”
I gagged several times reading that.
Kevin M (19357e) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:06 pmit’s become very common for Trump critics to write a whole comment about who they’re against, and make no mention of who they would be for.
Why should they? They know that you’ll claim it was Jeb! or Hillary.
Kevin M (19357e) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:07 pm115. Trump made the hoped for judicial appointments and revoked some regulations. The Republican Congress repealed some late Obama reglatons and passed a tax bill, and the First Step act, but they weren’t campaign promises.
Trump also started or intensified some things with China but that wasn’t a campaign promise either.
He didn’t do much about the opioid epidemic but did sign some independently passed legislation..
Sammy Finkelman (b4516d) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:11 pmAs a middle of the road person, Ted Cruz is not the guy for at least this middle of the road person. He is the once and probably future most conservative guy in the Senate AND he’s a Trump suck-up. Plus he’s smarmy. Not a single thing about Cruz appeals to me. No. No. No. to Teddy Cruz.
So, Ted Cruz or Elizabeth Warren, who favors tripling the size of the US government, for starters. A wealth tax (soon to become a federal property tax), higher income taxes, higher payroll taxes to fund Medicaid for All, open borders and AOC’s Green New Deal.
Tough call. Or do you vote only on diversionary social issues?
Kevin M (19357e) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:12 pmAs I’ve noted before, it’s become very common for Trump critics to write a whole comment about who they’re against, and make no mention of who they would be for.
Good thing that Trump is doing them one better, speaking ill of any Republican who thinks for themselves. And if he doesn’t do it, one of his bots will.
Kevin M (19357e) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:14 pm64, NJRob (a9faed) — 10/26/2019 @ 2:00 pm
By :well after the fact: do you mean early February?
What do you think about the FBI leaking on Feb 15 that Flynn provided truthful answers and then all that going into the memory hole?
Sammy Finkelman (b4516d) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:16 pmGovenor Moonbeam maybe for president.
This could be Jerry Brown’s year, at last.
I mean he;s certain;y better than… Tulsi Gabbard?
Sammy Finkelman (b4516d) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:19 pmDid he carry Orange County?
No. He lost by over 100,000 votes.
Kevin M (19357e) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:20 pm58. Kevin M (19357e) — 10/26/2019 @ 1:44 pm
If Trump will lose 70-30, he;ll be coming in in third place in many states if there is a well known third party candidate.
Michael Bloomberg might drop in, especially of the Democratic nominee is Elizabeth Warren.
Sammy Finkelman (b4516d) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:23 pmJohn Kelly says he warned Trump he’d be impeached if he hired a ‘yes man’ as chief of staff to replace him
John Kelly, former chief of staff to President Trump, said Saturday he warned the president before he left the White House not to replace him with a “yes man” because it would lead to Trump’s impeachment.
Kelly also said he believed he could have prevented the current impeachment inquiry against Trump if he had stayed in the job. He said the inquiry could have been avoided if the president had surrounded himself with people who could rein in his worst instincts.
Rip Murdock (ed1c94) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:23 pm….
“Someone has got to be a guide that tells [the president] that you either have the authority or you don’t, or Mr. President, don’t do it,” Kelly told the Washington Examiner’s Byron York. “Don’t hire someone that will just nod and say, ‘That’s a great idea, Mr. President.’ Because you will be impeached.”
……
“John Kelly never said that, he never said anything like that. If he would have said that I would have thrown him out of the office,” Trump said. “He just wants to come back into the action like everybody else does.”
White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham added, “I worked with John Kelly, and he was totally unequipped to handle the genius of our great President.”
#73 The act is tired, repetitious as a Bob Hope special. It probably won’t get cancelled but it isn’t going to be renewed for another season.
Appalled (969ea7) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:29 pm@121 I’m not a single issue voter, no.
Here’s my personal calculation: Medicare for all won’t get passed, so I’m not worried about that. Trump already raised my taxes in order to give relief to very wealthy people and they didn’t care about me, why should I worry about Warren raising their taxes? And I’ve met enough tech bros that I’m not just impersonally unconcerned, I’m personally unconcerned. The open borders meme isn’t a thing, it’s a partisan talking point that doesn’t match reality. And the Green New Deal can’t get passed either. The Dems are way less unified than the Republicans.
So, in a Cruz vs Warren calculation, it comes down to: Do I want the fairly organized and unified Repbulicans trying to pass things I don’t like, or do I want the ununified and fairly disorganized Dems trying to pass things I don’t like.
Nic (896fdf) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:35 pmPG&E turned off the juice to about a million people (including all here with yours truly), about 90 min ago.
Temp – 67
Humidity – 32%
Wind – 0 mph
Sigh
harkin (adce92) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:36 pm_
@128. Trump is funnier than Hope. Besides, ‘Dallas‘ got tired after season one. It was the “love to hate” JR Ewing that carried it 12 seasons.
Trump will do 8.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:39 pmWhat I have come to think is that, even though this is probably ghostwritten, there may be more truth to this than I might have thought, especially the following:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/opinion/trump-white-house-anonymous-resistance.html
But what people may not realize is that:
Mick Mulvaney and Gordon D. Sondland were part of this! :
I think, though, the following from that op-ed, is a bit misleading:
This is misleading because it implies that they are all acting together
And they are not. But each one or two of them doing this is going off on their own tangent.
John Bolton was not part of whatever Mick Mulvaney and Gordon Sundland were cooking up to free up and send the military aid to Ukraine.
Sammy Finkelman (b4516d) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:40 pmCalifornia wildfires are so destrctive because they now always have people running from the fire instead of fighting the fire. Running away is more deadly than staying in place or nearby and fighting the fires because the fires are so much bigger. The fires are easier to fight than they are giving people to think. Mass evacuation is a bad strategy.
This the dumbest statement ever. The destructiveness is caused high winds, low humidity, extremely dry vegetation, and power companies that are too cheap to invest in updating their networks. In addition, if developers didn’t build in wilderness areas, the fires could be left to burn out their own. Homeowners do not have resources to combat these firestorms.
Rip Murdock (ed1c94) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:46 pmI have relatives who got away from the Paradise fire with their lives and nothing else. They might have preferred an earlier evacuation.
Radegunda (68077f) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:54 pmSo, U.S. forces captured Al-Baghdadi, and the Trumpsters want us to believe that Donald deserves the thanks. Remember when Democrats kept saying that Obama captured Bin Laden after Bush failed, and some people were saying:
That’s what Trump said then. What will he say now?
Radegunda (68077f) — 10/26/2019 @ 8:00 pmAn update on the Chilean model. In short, despite all the protests, mend it don’t end it.
Paul Montagu (00daa1) — 10/26/2019 @ 8:01 pm125. Radegunda (68077f) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:54 pm
The Paradise fire was so big because nobody attempted to fight the fire very much.
If evacuation is the answer, they should evacuate people from even further away from the fire, so they can take things with them. They have a policy that enables fires to get very big but don’t acknowledge it.
Sammy Finkelman (b4516d) — 10/26/2019 @ 8:44 pmTrump tweets- [presumably from the throne in White House bathroom] ‘something very big has just happened.’
A diet of Quarter Pounders with cheese will do that, Captain, sir.
Then CNN reports “ISIS leader Al-Baghdadi believed killed in U.S. raid.”
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/26/2019 @ 9:40 pmI heard Trump was going to announce it was a mittens, clinton, pelosi thruple
mg (8cbc69) — 10/27/2019 @ 12:13 amRe: 138 that was a reply to #135.
Obama does deserve credit for ending the career of bin Laden, because John McCain would never have done that without telling Pakistan, and bin Laden would have escaped. Obama deserves blame for not telling Pakistan being a one-time exception.
It was also good that he decided not to bomb the building but it was bad that he wasn’t captured, because Pakistani intelligence, and all of his al Qaeda associates, then would have been afraid that he would talk. Which he should have been given an incentive to do, and they should even have half-treated him nicely for a while to give the impression that he was talking. And he might have talked too.
Sammy Finkelman (e0f80a) — 10/27/2019 @ 3:50 amWhat would Baghdadi be doing in Idlib?
My first thought was that is could be disinformation (that he was there) The United States has repeatedly struck targets where the U.S. was told some extremely high value target was
there – and he wasn’t.
But at 12:45 am WCBS radio says that CBS News says it’s confirmed that Baghdadi is dead. At 6 am they are not so definitive but it could be a different newswriter.
How he got there and everything. It requires explanation. It could be he was betrayed. That’s actually the way I think Baghdadi became head of ISIS. He betrayed all the other leaders of the Islamic State of Iraq and they were killed by U.S. bombs.
The thought occurs to me it was Syria or Russia or Turkey that revealed this information to get the United states out of Syria because Trump has indicated it is only the threat of ISIS that;s keeping him in Syria.
Trump was going to wait 12 hours – till 9 am Eastern Daylight Time today now (Sunday, October 27 – turning back the clock has been postponed by law because of Halloween) to make an announcement.
I can’t see Trump announcing a complete withdrawal from Syria.
Sammy Finkelman (e0f80a) — 10/27/2019 @ 3:58 amWhite House press secretary Stephanie Grisham added, “I worked with John Kelly, and he was totally unequipped to handle the genius of our great President.” (CNN)
OMG.
noel (f22371) — 10/27/2019 @ 5:46 amThis isn’t a Looney Tunes cartoon, folks. The White House really says this stuff.
noel (f22371) — 10/27/2019 @ 5:59 amNext: Billboards with the Great Leader’s picture in every City. And, of course, it will be treason to deface them.
Don’t doubt me on this.
noel (f22371) — 10/27/2019 @ 6:05 amThey;re still waiting to hear from President Trump at 9:12. WCBS radio stopped live broadcasting,
Definitely confirmed: There was a U.S/coalition raid in northwest Syria, near the Turkish border.
The White Helmets (e medical or rescue volunteer group) have video of a crater and say there were about 10 bodies.
It is reported that Russia was notified because of a de-confliction agreement, but Turkey was not (although Russia could have told them, of course)
There’s a possibility that Baghdadi used a suicide belt and that he death was confirmed by DNA (do they have any, and how? DNA of family members could be a possibility. Of course they’ve got to be sure, it really was his family’s DNA that they got.)
9:15 A top Kurdish general says they helped gather intelligence. Did Baghdadi have a son or daughter?
Sammy Finkelman (e0f80a) — 10/27/2019 @ 6:16 am143. 144. Talk about Yes people! Is that how someone keeps their job there?
Sammy Finkelman (e0f80a) — 10/27/2019 @ 6:18 am134. Rip Murdock (ed1c94) — 10/26/2019 @ 7:46 pm
Is there so much more now? The drought actually ended. All that they have to say is that the rain is coming late this year.
Sammy Finkelman (e0f80a) — 10/27/2019 @ 6:20 amTrump announcement: Baghdadi is dead.
Sammy Finkelman (e0f80a) — 10/27/2019 @ 6:20 amWages for betraying the Kurds? “Many people say.”
noel (f22371) — 10/27/2019 @ 6:27 am“Great Leader”, “Genius”, “Stable Genius”, “Chosen One”.
Admiration/kinship with dictators.
Saying “Frankly, Putin may be the easiest of them all. Who would think?”.
Military Parade.
Challenging elections, in advance, as “rigged”.
Coercing foreign governments to investigate opponents.
So…hmmm….. wouldn’t you think everybody might eventually pick up on the clues.
noel (f22371) — 10/27/2019 @ 6:28 amEndless wars.
I thought terrorists 7000 miles away were not worth risking American soldiers’ lives?
Dave (1bb933) — 10/27/2019 @ 7:19 amAdvice to fellow folks who want Trump impeached and removed:
Don’t diminish what happened here. Don’t get too wrapped up in Trump’s verbal ticks as he takes a victory lap. Even if Turkey and Russia gave this one to Trump as a consolation prize, it is a real prize. What’s good for the USA is good for the USA even when Trump does it.
Is there going to be a cost? Well, maybe, but it was likely prepaid.
Appalled (969ea7) — 10/27/2019 @ 7:30 am@145
I doubt you on this.
Frosty, Fp (f27e97) — 10/27/2019 @ 7:53 am@152 The cognitive dissonance is strong in this one. Are you upset that this guy was taken out? I’m looking forward to learning how Trump is putting ISIS back in power by killing this guy.
It looks like those oil fields discussed before are now controlled by Kurds and SDF, again with our help. Tell me again how we betrayed the Kurds and they’re never going to work with us after we gave them ISIS’s primary income source.
Frosty, Fp (f27e97) — 10/27/2019 @ 8:07 am10:08 :Press conference, which followed the speech, just ended. CBS carried it almost to the end, NBC had discontinued, and FOX News carried it to the end.
Trump said (what the military considered) the most dangerous part of the mission was flying in and flying out. They flew over dangerous territory. They flew very low. They flew over Russian held territory, Turkish held territory and Syrian government held territory.
Nobody was told what the mission was, or where they were going – Russia asked – but Russia was told that the U.S. thinks they’ll be very happy with what happens.
He thanked Russia, Turkey, Iraq, Syria and the Syrian Kurds.
They flew very low and fast (8 helicopters, backed up by some high flying planes, so the total number of American military personnel was considerable.) They flew back out using the same route they flew in. They encountered no hostile fire except a small amount on the way in. They think this was not anybody connected with higher authority but was some locals who maybe just didn’t like helicopters flying over them. It was mostly random (unaimed) fire and was instantly silenced and they didn’t get any fire fro there on the way back.
There were only Americans involved. Trump praised their tremendous training and skill. Not one of them was killed or even hurt. A canine – he says he calls them dogs – which was pursuing Baghdadi into the dead end tunnel – was injured when Baghdadi exploded his suicide vest, and they took the dog back.
Baghdadi frequently changed locations, and when he moved he would often change his intended destination (or what he told his people it was) Several times they thought they knew where he was before, or they knew where someone else was. For someone else, he said it was OK, get them but he was interested in Baghdadi. Trump apparently is a believer in the “great many” theory of military or terrorist leadership.
The reason Baghdadi was in Idlib was to rebuild his organization, and for that, that was the best place for him to do it. He was starting. Trump said bin Laden never did that (built an organization from scratch I think he means.)
He knew for about a month that Baghdadi might be there. It was a big house. They had built many tunnels but only one of them led anywhere, and they had the exit covered. (Baghdadi was evidently in the process of constructing a headquarters of some sort, and it wasn’t finished.)
A couple of weeks ago they apparently became confident he was going to stay there for a while. They confirmed his presence from a second source about two weeks ago (if I read my notes right) . The intense planning was going on for about three days.
They assembled in the White House Situation Room about 5 pm yesterday which was right before it started. (Maybe he means the arrival at the compound. It was a flight of something a little over an hour, both ways. This would mean they were there about 2 1/2 hours)
It was very tightly held. Trump made his tweet right after they’d arrived back at the “port” where they (returned?) to. Trump says Washington leaks and he didn’t want any leaks so he didn’t tell Congress even after it was over but decided to wait for the morning. Trump named or described some of the people who were in the situation Room with him. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, the Joint chiefs of staff, generals, national security agency people etc. I think Mike Pompeo also.
They first burst in through the walls, and the walls were strong. This was because they might have been booby-trapped and to give the element of surprise (this is an Israeli tactic, used in Gaza against Hamas.)
A lot of Baghdadi’s fighters and companions were killed and a few surrendered and were captured – presumably those who tried to preemptively surrender. Eleven children were taken into custody. None were killed. But Baghdadi took three children into the tunnel with him to their deaths. The adults – he was not ready to give a number of enemy dead and captured – were taken with them, and the children were left with people who they have good confidence in.
There were two women there, both wearing suicide vests, possibly wives. They didn’t detonate them but they were dead. It was quite dangerous to check on them (but they did?)
Baghdadi went into hiding when the attack started. He was hiding. Someone announced (to the rest of the Americans) that they had cleared the compound but there was one left. There is probably good heat detection equipment, so he couldn’t hide.
Baghdadi (taking three children with him) was pursued by dogs into the tunnel that they knew was a dead end. They were going after him because they thought there might be an escape hatch they didn’t know about but also didn’t get too close because of the possibility he was wearing a suicide vest. So it was dogs chasing him. They also had a robot but didn’t have time to set it up.
Baghdadi was screaming and crying and whimpering. Trump wants people who might be tempted to join ISIS to know that. He was a coward. Trump said the quality of what he could see was very good but he didn’t want to describe it. He also called them LOSERS.
He said the terrorists were quite good with technology, like he was.
Anyway, Baghdadi exploded the suicide vest, killing the three children with him, and the tunnel collapsed over him. They had to dig up a lot of debris to get to his body, or what remained of it. They had been pretty sure before it was Baghdadi just from his face. They took some body parts back with them – more than they really wanted to have but they also performed a DNA test at the scene. It took about 15 minutes and came back positive. They don’t know yet if the three children he killed were his.
Trump spent some time enumerating some of Baghdadi’s cruelties. Mainly four Americans and a Jordanian pilot. He didn’t want to describe some of it. He seemed maybe to be approaching a statement that Baghdadi dished it out but couldn’t take it and maybe was heading toward a contrast with the stoicism of some of his victims and the whimpering and fear that Baghdadi showed, but he didn’t get there.
Trump said the pullout from northwest Syria had nothing to do with this, but he didn’t want Americans guarding the peace for what did he say – 200 years? He made an exception for the pil, partly to help it out of the hands of ISIS, partly to help the Kurds and also to a=pay back America for the cost of the war. (the interesting thing is that Gulf War I in 1990-1 was paid for by Saudi Arabia and other states) He said American oil companies in Iraq were actually being put at a disadvantage, whereas they should get favorable treatment. Senator Lindsey Graham, who he said was in the White House with him and was quite a hawk, agreed with him on that,,
Sammy Finkelman (6c9102) — 10/27/2019 @ 8:23 amIt really is something that Baghdadi thought he was safe setting up shop in Idlib.
Frosty, Fp (f27e97) — 10/27/2019 @ 8:07 am
Sammy Finkelman (6c9102) — 10/27/2019 @ 8:26 am“White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham added, “I worked with John Kelly, and he was totally unequipped to handle the genius of our great President.””
_
“I think that I’m a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors.” – Barack Obama
_
Two inflated egos with different styles.
harkin (adce92) — 10/27/2019 @ 8:29 amIf Trump has a colonoscopy they’ll find Lindsey Graham.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/27/2019 @ 8:48 amThis is justice for Kayla Mueller.
DRJ (15874d) — 10/27/2019 @ 9:09 am#153 — Trump should get exactly as much credit as he thought Obama should get for killing Bin Laden.
I’m sure that lots of Trumpsters agreed with that statement back then, but most of them will probably not hesitate to apply a different principle to Trump, as they’ve been doing for years.
Radegunda (68077f) — 10/27/2019 @ 9:13 am#159
So is Lindsay fos or pos?
Appalled (969ea7) — 10/27/2019 @ 9:13 amFortunately, we still had troops in the region who could do this. But it was described as risky because the troops had to travel through dangerous airspace controlled by other countries. It might have been safer to have them in theater.
DRJ (15874d) — 10/27/2019 @ 9:14 amLindsay enjoys tossing that recycled taco salad.
urbanleftbehind (f91056) — 10/27/2019 @ 9:18 amAnd many people who huffed about Obama’s narcissism somehow aren’t bothered by the much more extreme narcissism of Trump. And whereas Obama at least was committed to an ideology outside himself, Trump’s political philosophy boils down to “Trump is great, and America can be great if Trump is in charge,” with a good dose of “I win / you lose.”
Radegunda (68077f) — 10/27/2019 @ 9:22 am“I’m sure that lots of Trumpsters agreed with that statement back then, but most of them will probably not hesitate to apply a different principle to Trump, as they’ve been doing for years.”
Radegunda (68077f) — 10/27/2019 @ 9:13 am
Let’s hope the Trump administration handles the aftermath much better than Obama’s. If so, I’m sure #NeverTrump and the media will give him due credit.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/sep/10/obama-burned-cia-asset-who-pinpointed-bin-ladens-l/
Munroe (53beca) — 10/27/2019 @ 9:37 am@161. Well, if you want to keep split hairs– the weasel actually blew himself up.
@160. Switch on the news: “It’s morning in America…” — dawn, death and destruction in the Middle East. Same old, same old. Routine. Piss on ’em.
@163. Let the Israelis play policeman. Or Turks. Or whoever has to live there. It’s their neighborhood, not America’s. Our people can get in to do what they have to do whenever necessary- without camping out there- as long as they ‘secure the oil.’
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/27/2019 @ 9:52 amThat is a great theory, DCSCA. I hope it works out but letting someone else play policeman assumes that we will never have to travel there or, if we do, that it will be a place we csn safely travel because the place is being adequately policed. The reality we face is that neither will be true.
DRJ (15874d) — 10/27/2019 @ 9:58 am@168. It’s not ‘theory’– it is now Trump policy.
‘Secure the oil.’
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/27/2019 @ 10:08 amSo who is the pragmatist here, you or me?
DRJ (15874d) — 10/27/2019 @ 10:34 amYou are an ideologue after all. Well, well.
DRJ (15874d) — 10/27/2019 @ 10:35 amI put a new post about al-Baghdadi’s death a little while ago, if you’re interested.
Dana (05f22b) — 10/27/2019 @ 10:40 am@170/171. Not an ideologue at all; this was totally pragmatic; “transactional.”
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/27/2019 @ 10:41 amAs is Trump policy.
Kill the bad guy, secure the oil, get our people out.
Totally transactional.
Well done, Donald.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/27/2019 @ 10:43 amJust wait ’til he shows up at the World Series this evening and hear the stadium crowds cheer.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/27/2019 @ 10:48 amTrump’s own decision to betray the Kurds allowed hundreds of ISIS terrorists to escape. The Kurds are saying that they began giving us information about Al-Baghdadi five months ago.
Our military needed to hurry up and try to minimize the damage that Trump did by a precipitous pull-out. “An American official said… senior military officials had decided that, with American forces largely withdrawing from Syria, commandos should take action quickly to try to kill or capture senior terrorists in northwest Syria before US lost that ability.” (NYT)
If “Trump administration” decisions are made by someone other than Donald Trump, maybe we can be optimistic. But Trump always cares more about getting credit than about getting the job done.
Radegunda (68077f) — 10/27/2019 @ 10:55 amAs Lindsey frets for Kurds…
Two dead, at least 14 injured in mass shooting, Greenville, TX.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/27/2019 @ 10:57 amWhy is Trump securing Syria’s oil, DCSCA? What is in it for us?
DRJ (15874d) — 10/27/2019 @ 11:08 amDid Obama give away operational secrets right after the raid that got Bin Laden?
Radegunda (68077f) — 10/27/2019 @ 11:11 amAfter all, Syria has had no measurable oil exports since EU sanctions started. It has to illicitly import oil from Iran.
We are protecting the oil to prevent ISIL from getting it, which is part of why we were there to start with. That is a strategy. That is what Trump said he would not do, but he is.
So cheer for that at tonight’s game.
DRJ (15874d) — 10/27/2019 @ 11:14 amBack in the day, I bet you and Trump were chanting “NO BLOOD FOR OIL” — but you are fine with it now, right?
DRJ (15874d) — 10/27/2019 @ 11:18 amIt is amazing to approve of a President because he does things without a strategy.
DRJ (15874d) — 10/27/2019 @ 11:26 am@@178/180/181. Bartering treasure and ‘blood for oil’ has been American public– a proxy for corporate– policy in various ways-shapes-and-forms for nearly a century. The percentage of blood and treasure was and is the only issue of concern. The ‘strategy’ is purely transactional. The tribes and carpet bazaar crowd get that, too; better a higher percentage of Middle Eastern on all points than American. Trump is spot on about this– they’ve been fighting for centuries amongst themselves and with every outsider who ventures in. Make it more and more transactional as possible– and piss on ’em. Their chief export is terror; their only manufactured product: rubble. Sit back and watch what happens when they start tossing rotten fruit and Molotov cocktails at Russians. And if you appreciate the history of the region, sooner or later, they will.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/27/2019 @ 11:55 am177, “hood” party shooting – event billed as “Twerk or Treat”, move along, narrative.
urbanleftbehind (76b087) — 10/27/2019 @ 12:02 pmDRJ, See #73.
Trump acts; everybody reacts.
The guy’s masterful at it. Nobody can look way.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/27/2019 @ 12:19 pmI don’t think Trump was chanting “NO BLOOD FOR OIL”
With him, it was more like: “NO BLOOD UNLESS THERE’S OIL, TOO ”
Or at least that’s what he’s saying now. Perhaps he was too obscure then and said it only once, on a radio talk show. He did talk that way in 2016.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/26/us/politics/trump-syria-oil-fields.html
Sammy Finkelman (6c9102) — 10/27/2019 @ 12:31 pm156.
I left something important out:
Trump also said they got a lot of documentation there (this also happened with the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan in 2011. Not that they paid that much attention to what they got.)
This time Trump said it included information on the origins of ISIS and its future plans.
(More) Corrections and additions;
1) CBS News had, although it is apparently a leak, that the place they took off from was Erbil, northern Iraq, also spelled or called Irbil, Arbela, Arbil, and Arbel. It is the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. I kind of guessed it was Iraq, or that was the most likely place.
That’s presumably were the ISIS prisoners were taken, too. The flight time to the scene was one hour and 10 minutes. And the distance would be about 375 miles, this giving a CH-47 Chinook helicopter speed of about 325 miles an hour.
2) They assembled in the Situation Room just before they took off, so they were there for the whole flight there and back. They were on the scene a little over two hours.
3) They had Baghdadi’s DNA – Martha Raddatz supplied this information herself on ABC’s “This Week” – because Baghdadi had been an American prisoner in Iraq. (in 2004, from the 2nd or the 4th of February, when he was arrested with somebody else at that person’s home near Fallujah until he released on December 6, 2004, upon the recommendation by the Combined Review and Release Board. He was considered a low level civilian internee and was considered to be involved in “administrative work (secretary).” He had been in Abu Ghraib and the Camp Bucca detention centers under the name Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim al-Badry. His birth name im 1917 is perhaps Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al-Samarrai. Abu Bakr al Baghdadi is a later name he took, and he also adopted some ancestry to buttress his claim to be the caliph. Many future leaders of ISIS were imprisoned in the same place.
While the former commander of Camp Bucca, Colonel Kenneth King, said he was imprisonsed at Camp Bucca from 2005 to 2009 that’s not backed up by Department of Defense records, which says he was there in was there at Compound 6, which was a medium security Sunni compound, and released in December, 2004.)
4) The reason the White Helmets reported a bombing raid, and dead bodies, is that after they left, the compound was destroyed by a bomb, so that nobody could use it or what was there.
5) Baghdadi was “held up” at the compound and couldn’t leave. Two or three times before there had been some preliminary planning made to go after him but he left the scene and the raids were cancelled. This time they knew he was going to stay there for awhile.
Activity kicked up on Thursday, and options were developed and presented to Trump on Friday morning and he chose doing this raid on the ground. They then rehearsed.
6) About 50 to 70 Special forces people from the Delta Force and the 75th Ranger Regiment took part n the raid… This would be talking only about the people who were aboard the helicopters. (also the dogs and the robot which was not used.)
7) Some members of Congress were informed before, but on an individual basis because they were close to Trump, and involved in national security, and I would assume not any Democrats, not even the Speaker of the House, whom we know was not.
Sammy Finkelman (6c9102) — 10/27/2019 @ 1:21 pmAlso: All the 11 children captured alive were uninjured.
Sammy Finkelman (6c9102) — 10/27/2019 @ 1:22 pmwhy should I worry about Warren raising their taxes?
Because
1) the wealth tax, like the income tax will cover everyone over time. You DO know that the first income tax was on on the 0.1%?
2) payroll taxes for MfA, higher income taxes for paying for college education and absorbing all student loans, &tc will hit you
3) she’s a disciple of the neo-Marxist Thomas Piketty who favors wide income equalization.
Kevin M (19357e) — 10/27/2019 @ 2:05 pmShorter: nic argues for “eat me last.”
Kevin M (19357e) — 10/27/2019 @ 2:06 pmPeople who think they are brilliant view every decision as obvious and pragmatic. Businesses view their decisions as logical and reasonable — especially when they benefit.
But what if the decisions conflict? What is good for The Washington Post, Pepco, and PenFed — the sponsors whose names are emblazoned st Nationals Park — may not he good for Chevron and Halliburton. In your world, who wins then (since you don’t believe in ideology or strategy)?
DRJ (15874d) — 10/27/2019 @ 2:07 pm… many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations….
If that’s how the Resistance works, then Trump has been part of it fairly often. No one in his administration has done more damage to the prospects for his agenda than Donald Trump.
Kevin M (19357e) — 10/27/2019 @ 2:10 pmI thought terrorists 7000 miles away were not worth risking American soldiers’ lives?
I guess you just miss the point. We were attacked endlessly in the 90’s, and did little and got attacked some more. Then they hit us bad on 9/11. So we changed plans. The new plan is: hit them so hard and for so long that any time they even think of hitting us again, they recoil at the thought of our response.
Kevin M (19357e) — 10/27/2019 @ 2:17 pmIt was Trump that used the 7000 miles to justify pulling out of Syria. I think the point of that comment is that Trump is being hypocritical. (He’s not, though, since all he really cares about is having people approve of him. He is a child that wsy.)
DRJ (15874d) — 10/27/2019 @ 2:40 pmDCSCA, in formulating your response, be sure to consider the fact that Halliburton et al have not called al Baghdadi an austere religious leader, as did the foremost Nationals’ sponsor.
DRJ (15874d) — 10/27/2019 @ 2:42 pmI will grant your “can’t look away” point, though. Americans can’t look away from plane crashes, car wrecks, train wrecks, and Trump.
DRJ (15874d) — 10/27/2019 @ 2:44 pmScherzer is scratched for tonight. Neck spasms and what sounds like a stinger, but fortunately no numbness. Poor guy.
DRJ (15874d) — 10/27/2019 @ 2:57 pmWhen Comey gets hauled to gitmo what are the odds he wants tranny surgery?
mg (8cbc69) — 10/27/2019 @ 2:57 pm@191. Do support ‘strategies;’ but ideologically inspired/initiated, no.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/27/2019 @ 4:08 pm@195. LOL It’s just a casual observation on what passes for “local” sponsorships, DRJ. It’s not like there’s tons of Red Man, Mail Pouch or Lucky Strike placards plastered all over the stadium. Conoco-Phillips and Halliburton are based in Houston but not exactly peddlers of Lone Star beer or Borden’s Cracker Jack. And Chevron is based in California.
John Conyers dead at 90; Katie Hill resigns.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/27/2019 @ 4:10 pmYou don’t get Texas at all but that’s ok because I don’t get NY or California.
DRJ (15874d) — 10/27/2019 @ 4:28 pm@201. Ahhh, but the watching world gets Halliburton, Conoco-Phillips and Chevron.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/27/2019 @ 4:32 pmJoe Biden is goin to be on 60 Minutes tonight – it hasn’t started because football is still on.
The New York Times has a front page story today about Biden’s camapign facing real trouble in a few months – he is spending too much money on jet travel and raising less than expected. Even if he comes in at least second or third in all four of the earliest delegate selecting sites, he may not be able to continue his campaign as more than a shoestring.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/26/us/politics/joe-biden-campaign-fundraising.html
Sammy Finkelman (6c9102) — 10/27/2019 @ 4:35 pmThis is the only time of the year when Major League baseball, professional football, basketball and hockey are playing at the same time. The only time they overlap.
Baseball is in the World Series; football is in its second month of the regular season; hockey started three weeks ago, and basketball last week.
Sammy Finkelman (6c9102) — 10/27/2019 @ 4:37 pmActually, I see the humor in seeing sponsorships as proof of how important oil and gas companies are in Texas.
I feel the same way when I see the Nationals’ sponsors — The Washington Post, PenFed, and the extremely large public utility Exelon/Pepco — and read the team corporate sponsorship page touting its ability to connect companies with “key influencers and decision-makers in the DC area.” Way to sell access to the government, Nationals!
DRJ (15874d) — 10/27/2019 @ 4:53 pmI do get DC. We all do. Everyone and everything is for sale.
DRJ (15874d) — 10/27/2019 @ 4:56 pm@201. DRJ- Have a laugh– this is priceless:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouuAp9WZMJE
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/27/2019 @ 4:59 pm@205. You won’t get an argument from me on that. I long for the Longines scoreboard and Iron City Beer at Forbes Field. [google/wiki it.)
It was Heaven on Earth.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/27/2019 @ 5:02 pm@203. Whatever he is going to kvetch about is already out of date. Let me save you some time with this Joey-Bee synopsis:
“Look folks, here’s the deal: this is the United States of America!!!! Hunter and I did nothing wrong, because– Barack! Donald Trump doesn’t want to run against me because he knows I’ll beat him like drum!”
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/27/2019 @ 5:33 pmFrom that video, i bet you all except the paisan are in Texas by now. And he’s “registered” in Florida.
urbanleftbehind (76b087) — 10/27/2019 @ 5:46 pmWould Hillary today be the fattest President (by BMI) since “William Howard Taft”?
steveg (354706) — 10/27/2019 @ 7:56 pmBecause they say you can tell if a male is running for President if they start trying to drop a few pounds
Lewis Black needs to remember to be funny
steveg (354706) — 10/27/2019 @ 7:57 pmLewis Black is going to perform at a local Native American casino. They’ve been running promos that are not funny. There are observations, but those bits of what should be the genius, are lacking the funny. I’m old fashioned (and maybe just old) but I thought comedians were supposed to bring the funny to work with them… if not, bring a ventriloquist who is funny and be the dummy you are
steveg (354706) — 10/27/2019 @ 8:03 pmI liked him as Webster.
nk (dbc370) — 10/27/2019 @ 8:06 pmI like the Akron Zip mascot
steveg (354706) — 10/27/2019 @ 8:13 pmUnfortunately, Argentina decided to quit after just a taste, Paul M. @ #137:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/fernandez-wins-argentina-voters-rebuff-013222237.html
urbanleftbehind (76b087) — 10/27/2019 @ 8:16 pmThat was 6-1/2 wasted minutes. Fortunately I am also watching the Astros.
DRJ (15874d) — 10/27/2019 @ 8:19 pmAt least it wasn’t Marc Maron.
urbanleftbehind (76b087) — 10/27/2019 @ 8:31 pmLooks like the most popular girl in the valley is going to resign.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (6e7a1c) — 10/27/2019 @ 8:53 pm@217. Depends on your POV.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/27/2019 @ 8:58 pmSammy, at 114:
when the Camp Fire roared out of the hills into Paradise, it was moving at the speed of *a football field per second*.
You don’t stand and fight a fire backed by a 50 MPH wind. You run as fast as you can and that might not be fast enough. And you hope to hell someone downwind from you is building a firebreak so that something can be done when the fire gets to it.
aphrael (971fba) — 10/27/2019 @ 10:34 pmhttps://www.1620usa.com
mg (8cbc69) — 10/28/2019 @ 6:45 amIf you need work wear for christmas check it out. The pants have lasted longer than any carhart pant I’ve had.
Made in America
mg (8cbc69) — 10/28/2019 @ 6:45 am221. aphrael (971fba) — 10/27/2019 @ 10:34 pm
They have people running even when there’s not a 50 mph wind.
Nobody but professional or specially delegated volunteer firefighters fights the fire, and there’s not enough of them, especially after people do not take advantage of opportunities to protect houses or populated communities.
With the result that a 50 mph wind is more likely to encounter a fire – in fact the strong wind is probably caused by the fire.
The wildfires haven’t changed. Not very much
The way California fights fires has changed. And it doesn’t lead to more safety.
They used to say this:
https://www.readyforwildfire.org/more/fire-safety-laws/
They don’t defend houses now, even when it’s easy. And all they’d have to do is stop it when it’s small, ad when there’s only a few embers nearby. They just evacuate everyone. The fires get bigger. They endanger more people and houses. More people actually die.
Houses can be protected:
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-wildfires-california-20180808-story.html
If nobody does that, the whole town can burn down, and some people are going to get caught in the fire, because no evacuation is peefect.
Evacuations don’t save lives – they cost lives, because the fire isn’t fought in inhabited places. There’s nobody to see and report an ember or succeed in putting it out on their own or with a little help. The fire affects more people, so even though a higher percentage of people leave there’s more people in the fire zone.
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-fire-warnings-failure-20171229-story.html
If they are going to evacuate, (I mean more than a few hundred feet) instead of trying to fight fires when they reach inhabited areas, they really have to cast a wider net. They worry, however, about where the people are going to go, so they postpone that until people have no time to prepare.
Now maybe there’s more truly wild fires in uninhabited places because of different forest management practices with more land filled in. And they concentrate on fighting the fire in uninhaboted places, or rather they pretend to be doing that:
Ten years ago already:
https://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-wildfires29-2008jul29-story.html
They should let more fires burn in the wild (where a lot of what they do is futile anyway) and protect places where people live and prevent any fire reaching there from getting big.
I still need to find better sources for this, because there wouldn’t be too many or else all this would change. I have mostly logic to go on.
Sammy Finkelman (6c9102) — 10/28/2019 @ 8:11 amI left a message about fires with four links that got thrown into moderation.
My point it is possible to fight fires locally and not doing so makes fires bigger and when everybody leaves fires are not fought in inhabited places and the fires get bigger and destroy more houses and it doesn’t even save lives because no evacuation is perfect. It would be better if the evacuation order cast a wider net, but they don’t want to do that because they worry about where people will go, so people get caught in the fire or barely escape.
And in the wild, where there is a enormous fire, they do futile things to contain a big fire, while their first priority should be to simply try to protect inhabited places from small fires and embers. They’re concentrating on square miles engulfed, where it;s beyond them. and not important locations.
Sammy Finkelman (6c9102) — 10/28/2019 @ 8:17 amhttps://knowyourmeme.com/memes/orange-man-bad
Sammy Finkelman (6c9102) — 10/28/2019 @ 8:18 amThe subconscious is not a grave; it’s a cistern. — Nero Wolfe
Ostensible Trump fans only think that they are mocking Trump’s critics. They are expressing a truth they know deep down but for reasons of their own will not consciously admit even to themselves.
nk (dbc370) — 10/28/2019 @ 8:32 amReuters:
This has been going on for months.
DRJ (15874d) — 10/28/2019 @ 9:08 am> it is possible to fight fires locally and not doing so makes fires bigger and when everybody leaves fires are not fought in inhabited places and the fires get bigger and destroy more houses
it *is* possible to fight *some fires* locally. firefighters in the bay area spent yesterday fighting small fires that started in lafayette, for example, and two fires on either side of the carquinez strait (which was actively terrifying for a while as one of them was very, very close to a refinery).
but not all fires can be fought that way.
a single spark in deep mountain land can catch, and then be fanned by high winds — you know we had *93 MPH gusts* yesterday, right? — into an inferno that races down a canyon faster than anyone can respond. When that’s happening, you run, as far and fast as you can go. Nobody’s gonna save your house because they *can’t*.
this is how the big fall fires operate, generally. it’s how the camp fire operated, and the tubbs fire, and the kincaid fire — a spark turns into an inferno in the blink of an eye.
the situation could be helped tremendously if we didn’t have towns in forests, and if we weren’t rapidly pushing the suburban zone into wilderness areas. but we do, and we are.
aphrael (971fba) — 10/28/2019 @ 9:12 am112
The thing we cannot discount is that threat of Mueller’s team to go after Flynn’s son, as to *one* of the reasons why Flynn admitted culpability. The investigators are using the reputation of the FBI to buttress the 302s as evidence that Flynn would have an enormous bar to challenge (literally, his memory vs. FBI’s 302s).
I think entrapment is certainly possible and that Flynn wanted to mitigate an overzelous prosecutor.
Furthermore, the FBI *is* supposed to file their 302s up to 5 days after the interview. Because that didn’t happen here, it’s obviously a red flag that is worth exploring. But, I have no idea if that is a big deal or not, so I can’t comment that it’s as damning as Flynn’s lawyer is making this to be.
Can we side bar something here?
Does it seem like that current FARA laws are generally not vigorously enforced as a stand alone violation? It smacks to me akin to the viability to the Logan Act, as that hasn’t been successfully used to convict anyone.
Additionally, I’ve read numerous reports of other groups violating FARA laws in the same vein of Flynn, and they only got slaps on the wrist and given opportunities to amend their forms.
Maybe I’m off base here… but, if that’s the case, then that FARA law need to be updated (or repealed).
whembly (fd57f6) — 10/28/2019 @ 9:13 am> in fact the strong wind is probably caused by the fire.
not so. the high wind patterns of california fall have been known for generations. up here they’re called diablos, down south they’re called santa annas. it’s a result of pressure differential between hot air in the central valley and the high and low desert, on the one hand, and cooler air on the coast.
aphrael (971fba) — 10/28/2019 @ 9:14 amSouthern Cal boy here…
Yup, those are known as Santa Ana winds and been known forever… (my grandparents talked about them).
We’ve always had natural fires too. But, the combo between the expansions of housing and environmental laws that prevents forest fire mitigations… you have literal recipes for disasters.
whembly (fd57f6) — 10/28/2019 @ 9:18 amUnfortunately, Argentina decided to quit after just a taste
Something for nothing is a very attractive notion. So, they’ve decided to continue digging the hole.
Kevin M (19357e) — 10/28/2019 @ 12:55 pmThe House leadership seems to have come to its senses, in part: (probably because of non-public opposition to contining on the way it is on the part of signficant Democrats)
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/467776-house-to-vote-this-week-on-impeachment-inquiry-procedures
It still may have less due process than was given to Nixon, especially when it comes to releasing transscripts and document requests, permitting Republicans or Trump to call witnessess and permitting more questions.
Sammy Finkelman (102c75) — 10/28/2019 @ 1:43 pmwhere y’all buy them suits?
mg (8cbc69) — 10/28/2019 @ 1:53 pmUmm, the existence of the universe is a racist hoax, or something like that
https://hotair.com/archives/john-s-2/2019/10/28/debate-professor-science-projection-whiteness/
kishnevi (0c10d1) — 10/28/2019 @ 1:54 pmNot the whistleblower.
DRJ (15874d) — 10/28/2019 @ 8:40 pmAlexander Vindman ‘did not think it was proper’. Did you hear that? Wow!!
That and 270 electoral votes to Vindman’s name will make me give a schiff.
Munroe (53beca) — 10/28/2019 @ 9:14 pmHe gave reasons for why he said that.
DRJ (15874d) — 10/28/2019 @ 9:41 pm@237. ROFLMAO!! Seem to recall a fella by the name of Mark Felt insisting for decades he was not “Deep Throat”— until he was.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/28/2019 @ 10:45 pmCHIEF OF STAFF
John Kelly said: “Don’t hire someone that will just nod and say, ‘That’s a great idea, Mr. President.’ Because you will be impeached.”
Yes. That’s all you need to know.
noel (f22371) — 10/29/2019 @ 4:34 amJust think of all the people you have to disregard to keep believing Donald Trump.
His own lawyer. His own Chief of Staff. His own spokesman. His own Secretary of State. His other PR person. The many employees of the State Department. The many former intelligence officials.
The list keeps growing. But no, it can’t be Donald Trump that’s the problem. It just can’t be.
noel (f22371) — 10/29/2019 @ 5:11 amThere’s too much spin. Sondland’s correction tells you nothing new, and people are changin some facts to make them mare sense to them.
But everyone agrees that the Ukrainians did not know the aid was withheld until August 28.
And no quid pro quo for the aid was proposed to them till after that.
And when this proposition aid for investigations was put to Trump, he rejected it and Sondland withdrew the offer.
The picture’s now not so grainy,
Although it may sound very zany,
And the deal was cooked up by Mulvaney!
Sammy Finkelman (2f3e32) — 11/6/2019 @ 6:30 am