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Dorian and Tuesday Open Thread

By Jeralyn, Section
Posted on Wed Sep 04, 2019 at 01:26:07 PM EST
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Looks like Dorian will continue through Friday. It's moving close to the Carolinas.

In other news, ISIS is using cows as suicide bombers.

I finally got everything moved into my new place on Saturday (after another round of help from the movers and Got Junk people.) Now I'm starting to unpack it all and figure out what stays and what goes. And catch up with work.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

< Monday Open Thread: Not Done Yet | Democrats Debate in Houston >

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    Dorian and Tuesday Open Thread | 204 comments (204 topical)
    The Odessa shooter (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by Yman on Wed Sep 04, 2019 at 03:20:42 PM EST
    ... previously failed a background check, but was able to buy his assault weapon through a private sale without a background check.

    The Odessa Shooting Is a Textbook Case of the Risk of Private Gun Sales.

    One wonders (none / 0) (#68)
    by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Sat Sep 07, 2019 at 03:12:56 PM EST
    One wonders why the Dems structured their background check bill to be objectionably costly and cumbersome when free and simple would have gotten support from the shooting community.

    If anyone could do an internet based background check at no cost I would be in favor of that and not just for sales but for borrowing among friends as well.

    Parent

    Excuses, excuses (5.00 / 2) (#69)
    by MKS on Sat Sep 07, 2019 at 03:32:29 PM EST
    The gun people will always find one--next time, maybe it will be the font size of the proposal that will be objectionable.

    Parent
    "One wonders" why ... (5.00 / 2) (#70)
    by Yman on Sat Sep 07, 2019 at 03:42:34 PM EST
    ... the gun fetiShists and ammo$sexuals can only come up with weak arguments like these to obstruct universal background checks.  One also "wonders" why they scream "socialism!" in their opposition to universal healthcare, yet expect everyone to subsidize their little hobby.  Frankly, I couldn't care what you expect the rest of us to pay for, but I'll tell ya what - you support universal background checks, an assault weapons ban, mandatory registration and insurance (like you have on your car) and a ban on high-capacity magazines - THEN you can have your socialized background checks.

    Parent
    Costly and cumbersome (none / 0) (#74)
    by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Sun Sep 08, 2019 at 04:53:13 AM EST
    Are not weak arguments when free and easy are an alternative. The current Dem bill embracing costly and cumbersome and rejecting free and easy looks more like screwing with the Deplorables than a serious attempt at bipartisan solution.

    A background check is a database lookup. In 1968 the technology at hand was a phone call from an FFL holder. The internet was still more or less a gleam in Al Gore's imagination.

    If you can come up with a good reason for this technologically archaic methodology I'll be happy to change my mind.

    Parent

    'Costly and cumbersome' is a political platitude. (5.00 / 2) (#106)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 03:11:48 PM EST
    Abdul: "Costly and cumbersome [a]re not weak arguments when free and easy are an alternative."

    And "free and easy" is its corresponding political bromide. You best realize that nothing is ever "free," because nobody does anything in a free market society without an expectation that there will be some sort of positive return -- however direct or tangential -- on their investment.

    So, there are always strings attached to "free." The fact that those strings aren't readily apparent to you at first glance doesn't necessarily mean that therefore, they're not there. Nor is any goal or objective truly worth pursuing ever "easy." The devil is always going to be in the details.

    "Costly and cumbersome" and "free and easy" are why the United Kingdom is in the midst of its worst political contretemps since the Suez crisis of 1956 caused the Eden government to fall. The fact that the present crisis is self-inflicted only further underscores the late Martin Luther King Jr.'s observation that "[n]othing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

    Only now are the British electorate belatedly awakening to the fact that Brexiteers played them for chumps and sold them a bill of goods. Political snake oil salesmen like Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage and Donald Trump excel at exploiting the politics of grievance, getting the electorate all riled up without ever offering a workable or achievable solution to whatever issue(s) they're running on. Actually, they're interested only in leveraging that public anger / frustration to obtain and retain power for themselves, and not in problem solving for everyone else.

    One of the days, Abdul, you're going to get burned very badly by the self-dealing political grifters on the right whom you support right now without hesitation or question. And at that point, you'll have nobody to blame but yourself for being played for a chump. Because honestly, only a chump is so self-deluded as to believe time and again that there are somehow "free and easy" answers to often complex issues and intractable problems.

    Wise up.

    Parent

    Not my job (none / 0) (#84)
    by Yman on Sun Sep 08, 2019 at 12:44:34 PM EST
    Maintaining and running background checks costs money.  It's not free.  The fact that YOU think that means their proposal is "costly and cumbersome" is your problem - not to mention laughable.

    As for whether the ammo$exuals will change their minds and support universal background checks if the rest of us are forced to pay for their hobby, ...

    ... I couldn't care less what they want or claim.

    Parent

    News flash (none / 0) (#88)
    by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Sun Sep 08, 2019 at 07:40:47 PM EST
    100% of the fee for the background check goes to the FFL holder to pay for his time to make the phone call. It is not a fee to the government.

    With today's internet paying a third party to make a phone call for a database lookup is just stupid.

    Parent

    No kidding (5.00 / 1) (#105)
    by Yman on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 02:59:26 PM EST
    Any other obvious truisms you care to share?

    HR 8 allows the FFL to charge a fee for performing the transfer, including the background check.  What YOU want to do is eliminate the FFL holder's role.  Therefore, someone else would need to run the background check through those databases that cost money to maintain.  Even if you leave it up to the private gun seller (a genius idea), those databases have to be maintained.  Not to mention the situations where a search didn't come back clean and a determination must be made.  Or in the case of one of the thousands retrieval orders required when the BATF determinesa transfer should be prohibited after the asinine "default" transfer is allowed. In addition, smart states require other databases to be checked (and maintained), sorry from the federal databases.  All of which costs money, which should be the responsibility.

    The fact that gun nuts want a free ride/socialist gun transfers is their problem.

    Parent

    The fee the FFL charges (none / 0) (#184)
    by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Wed Sep 11, 2019 at 08:52:45 AM EST
    goes 100% into the pocket of the FFL. 0.0% goes into maintaining the database.

    Please note that the database background check lookups are cost free to the FFL holder.

    Parent

    Again - no kidding (none / 0) (#185)
    by Yman on Wed Sep 11, 2019 at 10:30:19 AM EST
    But YOU want to eliminate the FFL holder's role, leaving it up to the transferor to run the check (at no cost).  My point is there need to be a fee paid to cover the costs of maintaining the databases and administrative costs (salaries, etc.) for those who run the federal checks, just like states charge for their own background checks for gun sales.

    Parent
    Unfunded mandates can be unpopular (none / 0) (#195)
    by Jack E Lope on Wed Sep 11, 2019 at 11:46:02 AM EST
    So, what you are requesting is that the government mandate that FFL-holders perform their part of the background check, without reimbursement for their efforts?  It looks as if you may have some differences with the NRA about maintaining some quickly-available database, too....

    Previously, you complained that under HR8 you couldn't transfer to your daughter-in-law without a background check.  Here in Oregon, the universal-background-check law to close the gun-show/private-party-sale loophole in Federal law does add spouses of the listed exceptions, plus first cousins.  I like the details of Oregon's law better than HR8.  

    When I worked for the state legislature, a bill passed by one chamber was subject to amendments once it reached the other chamber.  I'm pretty sure that US Congress has a similar process, and that The Senate could amend HR8 to mandate the free stuff.   Republicans love to pass laws with free giveaways and zero funding.  While they're at it, they could address an earlier complaint you had, and clarify whether the spouse of a listed family-member would also qualify for transfer without this background check.  Maybe someone could bring that amendment process to their attention?  Of course, they'd have to have some sort of public discussion about an amendment, which might endanger the flow of blood money.  

    IANAL, but under HR8 your daughter may be able to subsequently loan the gun to her domestic partner - your daughter-in-law.  Maybe - that's a grey area, and I don't know if the law is intended to apply the distributive rule from algebra....

    Parent

    Anybody (5.00 / 3) (#42)
    by Ga6thDem on Fri Sep 06, 2019 at 06:30:27 AM EST
    else laughing their heads off at the whole #sharpiepresident memes and pictures on social media?

    My (5.00 / 1) (#43)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Sep 06, 2019 at 07:20:10 AM EST
    favorite

    Parent
    My favorites (5.00 / 1) (#45)
    by Ga6thDem on Fri Sep 06, 2019 at 07:40:16 AM EST
    are the ones where people have drawn the wall between the US and Mexico with sharpie and the one where stick people are drawn in on his inauguration.

    Parent
    Hilarious (5.00 / 1) (#44)
    by FlJoe on Fri Sep 06, 2019 at 07:21:32 AM EST
    aside from the fact that we have a not too bright third grader as president.

    Parent
    I like (5.00 / 2) (#46)
    by leap on Fri Sep 06, 2019 at 09:04:24 AM EST
    this one, although they are all a hoot.

    Parent
    I just can't laugh at it anymore (5.00 / 1) (#58)
    by Dadler on Sat Sep 07, 2019 at 08:34:07 AM EST
    The Trump Show has stopped being funny to me. Especially since my child came out as transgender to us a few months back. And, of course, when I remind myself that weaponry, all of it, from the simplest to the most technologically complex, is entirely in the control of the right wing in this nation. That reality can't be gotten around. And we on the left tend to live in absolute denial about it. We are, essentially, defenseless. No armed agents of the state, either police or military, will ever side with anything perceived to be from "the left." That's what I ponder these days. Oy. I need a fuzzy navel, stat. And I'm not talking my own.

    adlerpoems  

    Parent

    They're very funny ... (none / 0) (#54)
    by Yman on Fri Sep 06, 2019 at 05:13:34 PM EST
    ... in a sad way.  Now Trump's campaign is embracing the stupidity/lies and selling branded sharpies to the deplorables.

    Parent
    The corruption (none / 0) (#60)
    by KeysDan on Sat Sep 07, 2019 at 10:28:52 AM EST
    of the government is widespread.  Trump has prevailed upon NOAA to disavow NWS's Birmingham corrective statement on Trump's hurricane reporting for Alabama.  

    Unfortunately, we may have become inured to Trump and family's personal grfting, self-dealing, and other personal corruption, but the corruption of vital scientific agencies, upon which life and property depend is cause for his removal from the presidency.  

    And, if it could be any worse, it is likely that Trump himself crafted the unattributed NOAA statement.  It would be unsurprising if that document was written with a sharpie.

    Parent

    The feeling from the fringe (none / 0) (#61)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Sep 07, 2019 at 10:51:27 AM EST
    I encounter has been....unsettled.  They, the brighter ones, seem to sense danger but can't face it.  They seem lost somewhere between denial and anger.  With a bit of bargaining some times.  

    I know the conventional wisdom is that "no single event" will take Trump down but I sometimes get the feeling some are waiting for that one thing that will give them cover to say "I never thought he would do that"

    Maybe it wishful thinking.  But I get the feeling that when the bottom drops out of his support (which will probably never drop below the 20s) it will happen fast.  

    10ish percent seem to be waiting fir a permission slip.

    Parent

    It won't be grifting (none / 0) (#62)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Sep 07, 2019 at 10:52:32 AM EST
    Hotel charges.  

    Parent
    I do not know (none / 0) (#64)
    by KeysDan on Sat Sep 07, 2019 at 11:11:39 AM EST
    what the tipping point might be, or if there will be one.  His supporters seem to still like the idea that he hates the same people they do.  And, as a bonus, the tax cuts they think they got, and irritating lefties with adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, or other acts such as endangering endangered species.

    To sentient citizens, Trump's Captain Queeg-like obsession should do it----what with 24/7 television coverage dominating the past week.  No knowledge of even simple policies or issues required.

    Parent

    About 10ish % (5.00 / 1) (#67)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Sep 07, 2019 at 11:55:49 AM EST
    Of Trump supporters I meet are not bad people.   Some not even that stupid but low information for sure.  The worst thing to be said of them is they are sheep.  They are not evil sheep.  They are just doing what all the other sheep are doing.

    If Trumps support went from 39 to 29 it would be good.

    Parent

    My point exactly (none / 0) (#65)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Sep 07, 2019 at 11:19:03 AM EST
    It's becoming clear.

    How do you confront the fact you have practically deified a dangerous lunatic?

    I expect it will be a process

    Parent

    A process (5.00 / 1) (#66)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Sep 07, 2019 at 11:23:10 AM EST
    In which hopefully congressional democrats who finally come to work on Monday will find a way to participate in.

    Parent
    Seriously creepy (5.00 / 1) (#78)
    by CaptHowdy on Sun Sep 08, 2019 at 10:39:37 AM EST
    All of them describe, in different ways, a euphoric flow of emotions between themselves and the president, a sort of adrenaline-fueled, psychic cleansing that follows 90 minutes of chanting and cheering with 15,000 other like-minded Trump junkies.

    "Once you start going, it's kind of like an addiction, honestly," said April Owens, a 49-year-old financial manager in Kingsport, Tenn., who has been to 11 rallies. "I love the energy. I wouldn't stand in line for 26 hours to see any rock band. He's the only person I would do this for, and I'll be here as many times as I can."

    `It's Kind of Like an Addiction': On the Road With Trump's Rally Diehards

    This really is cult thinking.  It says many are "estranged" from families.  I can only imagine.

    Bhagwan Shree Trump (none / 0) (#79)
    by jondee on Sun Sep 08, 2019 at 10:47:06 AM EST


    Parent
    y'all seen this political ad, yet? (5.00 / 3) (#114)
    by leap on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 04:47:34 PM EST
    Holy moly that is a well-done ad!

    John (5.00 / 2) (#139)
    by FlJoe on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 10:59:54 AM EST
    Bolton...you're fired

    Trump has his (5.00 / 1) (#140)
    by CST on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 11:15:56 AM EST
    Stopped clock moment of the day.  Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy...

    Parent
    Plus one (5.00 / 1) (#149)
    by KeysDan on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 02:02:27 PM EST
    for firing Bolton.  Negative one for hiring him.  Trump net zero.

    Parent
    Funny (5.00 / 1) (#150)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 02:11:27 PM EST
    Oil prices fell swiftly on Tuesday after President Donald Trump fired Iran hawk John Bolton as national security adviser.



    Parent
    White House Diaries. (none / 0) (#153)
    by KeysDan on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 02:52:34 PM EST
    Trump's first National Security Advisor's jail sentencing date was set by the judge on the same day that his third National Security Advisor was tweet-fired.

    Any predictions for the fourth?  Mine:  Lot's of leeway, since senate confirmation is not required.  And, while Cabinet officers need to be citizens, the national security advisor is not a cabinet position.  Therefore, I think it could be either Putin or the Bone Saw Prince.

     Or, if Moscow Mitch does not want to think out of the box, like his master does, there are plenty good choices among the citizenry, such as Putin's old Congressman, Dana Rohrabacher. Or closer to home, Ivanka. In any event, we know it will be someone awful.

    Parent

    Reportedly (none / 0) (#154)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 03:01:26 PM EST
    He has been reaching out to McMaster.  That would be sort of ironically reassuring.  He could get confirmed.

    Parent
    Best response thus far is from Sen. Warren: (5.00 / 1) (#157)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 03:28:09 PM EST
    "The American people are better off with John Bolton out of the White House. The world will be better off when the man who hired him in the first place is out too."

    LINK. ;-D

    Parent

    Bolton, not a shy flower (none / 0) (#143)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 12:10:57 PM EST
    He could have very interesting things to say.

    Parent
    And on a different note (5.00 / 6) (#141)
    by Zorba on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 11:31:56 AM EST
    My church had its Greek food booth over the weekend.  I spent last Friday cooking, but fortunately mostly supervising, the preparation of 18 gallons of tzatziki sauce, 7 gallons of hummus, 1.5 gallons of Greek salad dressing, 100 dolmades, marinade for 10 pounds of chicken souvlaki, etc.

    Fortunately, the younger people have stepped up, so it's not like the other older Greek lady and I are doing most of the prep and cooking any more.

    Good thing, too.

    Gonna be on a radio show (5.00 / 1) (#186)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Sep 11, 2019 at 10:32:24 AM EST
    With other members of the first football team.

    Local newspaper (none / 0) (#187)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Sep 11, 2019 at 10:36:08 AM EST

    Class of 69' to celebrate 50th reunion
    Wednesday, September 11, 2019



    Parent

    I think (none / 0) (#188)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Sep 11, 2019 at 10:54:15 AM EST
    61 might be me.  I can't really remember but I'm definitely in there because like the rest of the team I played every minute of every game

    Parent
    Floyd (none / 0) (#189)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Wed Sep 11, 2019 at 11:02:09 AM EST
    Other than Pink and Mayweather I was going to say not a common name.

    But probably more common than I think in some areas.

    Parent

    In my life (none / 0) (#190)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Sep 11, 2019 at 11:09:13 AM EST
    I have met one other white Floyd.

    Parent
    Supposedly (none / 0) (#191)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Sep 11, 2019 at 11:11:39 AM EST
    I was named for my outlaw rogue uncle my fathers brother who was almost (literally) hanged.

    His name was Roosevelt Floyd.  My question has always been why f'ing not Roosevelt?

    Parent

    Ha! (none / 0) (#192)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Wed Sep 11, 2019 at 11:22:34 AM EST


    Parent
    And may I say (none / 0) (#193)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Sep 11, 2019 at 11:29:06 AM EST
    praise Jesus the f'ing Floyd Casey stadium in f'ing WACO  is history

    Parent
    It totally screwed my (none / 0) (#194)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Sep 11, 2019 at 11:31:23 AM EST
    Personal google searches

    Parent
    Heh. Somewhat easier for me. (5.00 / 1) (#197)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Wed Sep 11, 2019 at 12:02:01 PM EST
    My three brothers and I and our wives/kids are the only people in the Americas with our surname.

    Parent
    Did PM Boris Johnson lie to the Queen? (5.00 / 1) (#200)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Sep 11, 2019 at 02:53:35 PM EST
    Scotland's three-member Court of Session, its highest civil judicial authority, certainly appears to believe so, after seeing documents which indicated that Johnson planned weeks in advance to suspend Parliament during the run-up to the October 31 Brexit deadline, even while his government was denying that such a strategy was in the works to choke off debate.

    In a blistering ruling, the Court declared that the Prime Minister's prorogation of Parliament is unlawful because his principal reasons for doing so contradicted the stated reasons he formally disclosed to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, whose consent is required for any prorogation of Parliament.

    The Court of Session found that on August 28, Johnson called upon the Queen at Balmoral, her estate in Scotland, for a formal audience to request her permission to prorogue the House of Commons and the House of Lords for five weeks.

    During that audience, Johnson told Her Majesty that suspension of parliamentary proceedings was necessary for his new government to make a fresh start with its domestic parliamentary agenda. The evidence provided by the government's own notes, the Scottish Court ruled, obviously says otherwise.

    The Scottish Court ruling has prompted yet another political outcry in a country that's become quite used to such outcries over the past three years since the Brexit referendum. However, this one feels different the all the others, and it may very well have serious implications for the new prime minister's government and his future.

    That's because by and large, the country prides itself on its centuries-old democratic traditions, which include a deep reverence for hallowed rituals of how British prime ministers interact with the monarch, who is meant to remain regally above the scrum of politics, so as to remain a unifying symbol of the entire nation.

    Therefore, it's one thing for Boris Johnson the right-wing politician to deceive the general public about how Brexit would supposedly benefit Britain's struggling National Health Service, as critics contend he and his swashbuckling band of Brexiteers did during the 2016 referendum campaign over whether to leave the EU.

    But it would likely be quite another for Boris Johnson as Her Majesty's Prime Minister to so baldly mislead the Crown about his primary rationale for closing Parliament for five weeks, which is the longest such period of prorogation since 1945. Philip Brodie, one of the three judges on the Scottish Court of Session judges, called it "an egregious case of a clear failure to comply with generally accepted standards of behavior of public authorities."

    The U.K.'s Supreme Court will be hearing the government's appeal next week. But former U.K. Attorney General Dominic Grieve -- one of 21 Conservative lawmakers who broke with the government last week in key Brexit-related parliamentary votes -- told the BBC today that if the High Court in London upholds the Scottish Court of Session's ruling that Johnson misled the Queen, then the prime minister should immediately resign.

    Stay tuned.

    Bernie Sanders on Joe Rogan's podcast (5.00 / 1) (#204)
    by Dadler on Thu Sep 12, 2019 at 08:58:56 AM EST
    My preferred candidate, who has put his ass on the line for progressive causes for DECADES since he was being accosted by cops during the Civil Rights Movement. (link)

    If Biden (1.50 / 2) (#201)
    by NoSides on Wed Sep 11, 2019 at 08:39:37 PM EST
    becomes the nominee of the Democratic Party, could anyone here bring themselves to vote for him?

    The hills are ALIVE .... (none / 0) (#1)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Sep 04, 2019 at 02:05:15 PM EST
    ...with the sound of exploding cows

    Is this news related (none / 0) (#10)
    by Peter G on Wed Sep 04, 2019 at 04:56:42 PM EST
    to J's post about ISIS cows?

    Parent
    Only that they are, you know (none / 0) (#17)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Sep 04, 2019 at 08:24:04 PM EST
    Exploding

    Parent
    But they're doing so voluntarily. (none / 0) (#18)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Sep 04, 2019 at 09:16:22 PM EST
    One must admire the bovine commitment to causes. One day, I'll share with you the story how a herd of longhorn cattle secured Texas independence by stampeding the entire Mexican army at San Jacinto after first plying the soldados with margaritas and then eventually chasing Gen. Santa Anna right into the arms of Sam Houston himself, who later rewarded them by naming them the official state mammal.

    ;-D

    Parent

    We need photos (none / 0) (#2)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Sep 04, 2019 at 02:26:49 PM EST
    n/t

    The original path was thru Georgia... (none / 0) (#3)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Sep 04, 2019 at 03:05:52 PM EST
    ....Alabama etc"

    A map doctored
    WITH A FUC'KIN SHARPIE

    This is a felony

    Impeachment becasue of Stormy? (none / 0) (#6)
    by KeysDan on Wed Sep 04, 2019 at 03:38:49 PM EST
    The insufferable Steve Kornacki,sporting his only TV costuming, including famous blue/white necktie, filled in last night for Tweety.  He was, of course, over his head in questioning the very sharp Representative Mary Gay Scanlon (R.PA), vice chair of the House Judiciary Committee.

     Steve wanted to know why Judiciary is investigating Cohen's payoffs to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal.  After all, he said, what's to gain---this has already been investigated by SDNY and the case was closed without any further action.

    Rep. Scanlon noted that we know that Michael Cohen is serving jail time for campaign finance violations to effect the election of his former boss, Trump, and SDNY is still investigating this matter. And, the US Attorney refers to the president as Individual Number One, as having authorized unlawful payments in violation of campaign finance law.

    Kornacki wondered if violating laws to keep politically embarrassing affairs, such as with Stormy and Karen, a secret during the campaign  would be a high crime and misdemeanor---is it impeachable?  

    Rep. Scanlon, replied:  Absolutely.  Indeed, the framers, she continued, when discussing impeachment, included examples, including procurement of election by corruption.

    Kornacki seemed not to understand that an affair may not be against the law, but covering it (them) up to win an election is.  And, Judiciary probably closed the case owing to the rule against indicting Individual One.  But, hopefully, the Judiciary investigation will look into whether or not AG Barr nosed in on SDNY so as not to charge Don Jr., who signed some of the reimbursement checks.

    Parent

    Errata. (none / 0) (#7)
    by KeysDan on Wed Sep 04, 2019 at 03:41:09 PM EST
    Rep. Scanlon is a democrat. Should have been (D. PA).

    Parent
    Very pleased to say (none / 0) (#12)
    by Peter G on Wed Sep 04, 2019 at 05:00:32 PM EST
    that MaryGay is my representative, thanks to the PA Supreme Court invalidating the state legislature's pro-GOP gerrymander. I attended a debate among 12 declared candidates in the Demo primary for that seat, and came home to tell my wife what I had concluded: Scanlon is the best of the lot. Which she has certainly turned out to be.

    Parent
    Sometimes, journalists will pose questions ... (none / 0) (#9)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Sep 04, 2019 at 04:27:15 PM EST
    ... a certain way to elicit a complete response. When I've hosted panels, I often do the same thing. I'll play devil's advocate in asking a question to which I already know the answer, so that the other person will say no, that's not true, and then proceed to explain to the audience in detail why I'm wrong.

    I really don't mind Steve Kornacki in moderate doses. My primary issue with him is that he always seems over-caffeinated, and I find that somewhat annoying. My favorite MSNBC guest host is Joy Reid. But to be perfectly honest, I really don't watch that much cable TV news anymore. Rachel Maddow is rerun out here at 6:00 p.m. locally (or 7:00 p.m. when you're off daylight savings time), so I'll watch her show when I get home from work. But after she segues to Lawrence O'Donnell, I tend to tune out.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    Yes, I understand (none / 0) (#14)
    by KeysDan on Wed Sep 04, 2019 at 05:11:22 PM EST
    that to which you allude for moderators.  The thrashing about of his arms is tolerable for me, but his bothsiderisms and false equivalencies seem too commonplace.  Representative Scalon was firm in her responses, and Zerlina Maxwell, an MSNBC political analyst stood her ground, in a recent interview.  Maybe, he will learn to stick to flailing around at polling charts.

    Parent
    Better (none / 0) (#16)
    by KeysDan on Wed Sep 04, 2019 at 05:24:27 PM EST
    link. Zerlina Maxwell/Steve Kornacki

    Parent
    Yeah, Kornacki really likes the Big Board. (none / 0) (#19)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Sep 04, 2019 at 09:20:04 PM EST
    That Big Board gets him more excited than an outside linebacker who's just swallowed a fistful of amphetamines.

    ;-D

    Parent

    Trump..... that falsified hurricane map..... (none / 0) (#20)
    by desertswine on Wed Sep 04, 2019 at 11:41:10 PM EST
    soooo pathetic.  What a sick buffoon.

    Parent
    Got to see Dave Chappelle's latest stand up (none / 0) (#5)
    by McBain on Wed Sep 04, 2019 at 03:35:51 PM EST
    special.... Sticks and Stones on Netflix.  I'm not a big Chappelle fan but it was a refreshing break from politically correct humor. Of course some people are outraged over his Michael Jackson accusers and LGBTQ jokes.  

    If you're easily offended then don't watch something you know is probably going to offend you. My favorite stand up comedian is Brian Regan.  Very clean, nothing incredibly controversial. There should be room for all types of comedy.

    if you like clean and non-controversial (none / 0) (#8)
    by Chuck0 on Wed Sep 04, 2019 at 03:45:00 PM EST
    you should love Jim Gaffigan.

    I like both Regan and Gaffigan.


    Parent

    I like him as well (none / 0) (#13)
    by McBain on Wed Sep 04, 2019 at 05:00:43 PM EST
    Good fast food jokes, makes fun of himself.  I prefer comics I can relate too.  

    Parent
    Yes, there are (none / 0) (#11)
    by KeysDan on Wed Sep 04, 2019 at 04:58:28 PM EST
    critiques of Sticks and Stones. The Atlantic's is one of the milder ones.  In my view, it is not so much being outraged about his material, but rather, realizing that as a comedian, to qualify, jokes should be funny.  It should not be surprising that jokes about people's very existence aren't universal knee slappers.  Being deliberately mean and punching down make some feel real good, but the targets less so.

    Chapelle walked away from his Comedy Central show because he determined that his challenging of stereotypes in his skits was seen by his unintended audiences as re-enforcing them.

     Now, he appears to find fun in transphobia, homophobia and sexual assault. But, it would not be unheard of for a privileged person within an oppressed group to parrot their oppressors language.  Chapelle may find, as he did with his Comedy Central show, that his new shock material will be used for re-enforcement of insensitivity rather than laudable straight talk.

    Parent

    He's gotten spoiled, old, and cranky (none / 0) (#59)
    by Dadler on Sat Sep 07, 2019 at 08:47:34 AM EST
    That's all it seems like to me. But the trans stuff, please, now he's literally making my child's life more difficult, so phuck him. He's become a hack basically. Pitiful and predictable. Then again, who, after they get rich and famous, REALLY goes down swinging at power? Dave's just another in a long line of disappointments. Oh well. Next!

    Parent
    Al Roker thinks he's... (none / 0) (#15)
    by fishcamp on Wed Sep 04, 2019 at 05:23:30 PM EST
    Spike Lee with the blue hurricane glasses.

    Here's an interesting (5.00 / 2) (#21)
    by desertswine on Wed Sep 04, 2019 at 11:58:08 PM EST
    weather site; Ventusky.  You can play with it, follow the hurricanes, etc.  It's kind of fun.

    Parent
    Can you make a hurricane change course ... (5.00 / 1) (#24)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Sep 05, 2019 at 01:28:35 PM EST
    ... so that it hits Alabama?
    ;-D

    Parent
    At what point are you embarrassed? (none / 0) (#25)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Sep 05, 2019 at 02:17:10 PM EST
    Something I've been asking

    Parent
    Some people just don't embarrass easily, Cap'n. (none / 0) (#26)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Sep 05, 2019 at 02:32:01 PM EST
    All one has to do is not give a f*ck -- and that's obviously something in which Trump has lots of expertise.

    Parent
    This (none / 0) (#22)
    by FlJoe on Thu Sep 05, 2019 at 05:22:35 AM EST
    is awesome for a weather geek like me.

    Parent
    that is a really really neat weather site (none / 0) (#23)
    by leap on Thu Sep 05, 2019 at 12:10:47 PM EST
    One can get lost in it, as in major time sink. So cool. Thanks!

    Parent
    From our 'No Good Deed Goes Unpunished' file: (none / 0) (#27)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Sep 05, 2019 at 03:01:47 PM EST
    NPR music critic Ann Powers wrote an effusive and glowing review of Lana Del Rey's evocative new album "Norman F*cking Rockwell," to which the singer responded by playing the pretentious diva HERE and HERE. Not a good look, girl.

    Ms. Powers later responded graciously to all those who defended her against Del Rey's rather shocking attack by urging them to give "Norman F*cking Rockwell" a listen, anyway.

    ;-D

    Rebel Yelp (none / 0) (#28)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Sep 05, 2019 at 03:05:34 PM EST
    I haven't talked about this here (I don't think).  Partly because I was not sure how it would end.  Or if it would end.  But I think it's a good story
    My class (I'm living in the school district again) is having our 50th this year.
    One of the "things" is some kind of "thing"at the football game on the 13th.  The reason, one reason, they are doing this is because we, my class. pretty much made it all up for the school mascot, colors, etc etc.  we (I) designed to mascot/logo.  It was all us.  And not to take too much credit but this is my senior year when I am spending pretty much all my time in HomeEc doing the stuff an art teacher would do.  I had input.  Is what I'm sayin
    All good
    Here's the thing.
    We picked REBELS for the mascot.  Red and grey.  And the confederate flag. Became  the default mascot.  Now, you can understandably not believe me  when I say this choice had zero to do with race.  But  it didn't .
    Over the years several of us who were involved in this choice have been working to remove the flag.  They have not been allowed to take them or wear them to games for a long time but this summer  they finally replaced the stars and bars on the highway sigh with an Arkansas flag.  I can't find a single news story about it they just sort of, did it.

    I'm thinking about this because I had a lunch yesterday, this 50th thing has tentacles, where I made a bit of a scene when I said if they had not removed the flag I would not have gone to the game.
    I totally plant to go.  Wearing NIXON-NOW MORE THAN EVER

    And as an after thought or two.
    This was then.  This song
    Quicksilver 1971
     catches exactly the point we thought we were making.  It is a great cover of an old song.
    The racial part is weird.  There was no racial thought about it because we had not racial thoughts.  Most of us had never seen a black person.  I remember vividly the first free range black persons I saw on a school trip as a junior.

    The Arkansas flag (none / 0) (#29)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Sep 05, 2019 at 03:18:51 PM EST
    Is so similar to the stars and bars it will take years for many to notice.

    I can only wish I was present in each case.

    Parent

    I get that sounds made up (none / 0) (#32)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Sep 05, 2019 at 03:55:51 PM EST
    By the old gods and the new

    Parent
    I totally (none / 0) (#40)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Sep 05, 2019 at 07:34:00 PM EST
    get what you're saying about the whole "rebel" thing. Considering the education that I had growing up I truly had no real understanding of the civil war and a lot of other things regarding that time in history. Rebel at that time and place had a lot of meanings to people.

    Now I look back at some of the things and just cringe.

    Parent

    The biggest mistake our federal government ... (5.00 / 2) (#48)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Sep 06, 2019 at 02:31:54 PM EST
    ... made in the latter half of the 19th century was ending Reconstruction prematurely in 1877, which allowed former Confederate politicians to re-enter public life and re-assert control. Once back in charge, they proceeded to rewrite their region's history of the ante-bellum period leading up to the Civil War and then the war itself, which they renamed "The War Between the States." (Curiously, the official title of the Civil War in the Library of Congress is "The War of the Rebellion.") That's the basic historical backdrop of your educational upbringing in the South.

    In many respects, we're still dealing with the fallout of the infamous 1876 presidential election, in which Republicans and Southern Democrats conspired to rob Gov. Samuel Tilden (D-NY) of his apparent victory by striking a deal in which three Southern states (South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida) would flip their electoral votes to the GOP, in exchange for ending the federal military occupation of those states and the lifting of Reconstruction policies. Thus, despite his 3% victory in the popular vote, Tilden lost the Electoral College and the White House to Gov. Rutherford B. Hayes (R-OH), 185-184.

    For the four million newly-freed African Americans living in the South, the outcome of the 1876 election proved disastrous. With the lifting of Reconstruction, they were eventually stripped of their civil liberties over the course of the next 20 years as Southern states instituted Jim Crow policies, which (to its justices' eternal damnation) our U.S. Supreme Court to its eternal damnation upheld with its 1896 ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson.

    The self-serving machinations that occurred in Washington in 1876-77, which served as the backdrop of author Gore Vidal's sprawling epic novel 1876, constituted an enormous moral pratfall and ethical failing in this country, on a scale so huge that the socio-political consequences of those backroom deals and their attendant public decision making during those few short months reverberate to this day.

    If you're interested in learning more about this period of American history, I highly recommend Eric Foner's Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution (1988).

    Aloha.

    Parent

    The War of Northern Aggression (none / 0) (#51)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Sep 06, 2019 at 03:29:23 PM EST
    More locally.

    Yes, it's been said there should have been something like De-Nazification in the south.  I have an open mind on the subject.  But I do wonder about the De-Trumpification process coming and if we learned anything.

    Parent

    That's actually a very good question. (5.00 / 4) (#107)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 03:19:53 PM EST
    CaptHowdy: "But I do wonder about the De-Trumpification process coming and if we learned anything."

    I wish I knew or had the answer to it. but I don't. All I can tell you is that such a question is one of my primary reservations about Joe Biden as our nominee. He is first and foremost a creature of the Beltway political system, and I don't think that system is necessarily to be entrusted with the search for a solution.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    I usually consider my childhood to be standard. (none / 0) (#90)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 11:18:50 AM EST
    But this...

    I remember vividly the first free range black persons I saw on a school trip as a junior.


    Parent
    There were no black people in this area (none / 0) (#91)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 11:33:12 AM EST
    This started to change around my last years in HS.   There still a minority by a lot but you rarely to to the store without seeing black people.

    This is not that rare I've found over the years discussing this.

    In the late 60s of course the civil rights movement was happening.  But it was a lot easier to keep information from people with three tv networks.  I didnt watch a lot of news as a high schooler.

    The event I mentioned was in fact my junior year.  I went to Little Rock with a group for a thing.  We won, btw.    The only feelings I remember in high school about blacks was that they must be cool because people hated them. That's about as far as it went till college.  Where I of course had black friends.


    Parent

    PS (none / 0) (#92)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 11:42:17 AM EST
    Part of the reason there were no blacks, I think - because I was not raised with any particular thing about blacks mostly they were just viewed as other poor people, might have to do with the fact that until the late 60s when the vacation industry discovered this area, this sucked as a place to live.  Pretty much if you were not born here there was little reason to come.

    That all changed with the then development now town I live in.  A vacation retirement "village".  

    Since then it has become increasingly homogenized

    I'm good with this.  In fact without it I would not live here.

    Parent

    PS2 (none / 0) (#94)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 11:57:24 AM EST
    That industry also built the new school I attended the opening of in my sophomore year and participated in creating its look in my senior year.  Took a while to get things rolling.
    The developer understood if he was going to attract rich people they would need schools.  Started with that consolidated HS and is now elementary school and junior college.

    Trivia
    My senior year the school could not afford football so we, my class mostly - really about 15 or 20 boys, went door to door in this affluent new community and funded a football team for our senior year.  Including a field tho that year there were no seats.

    Another thing this Friday nite football thing is about.  And to make it sound even more made up during this fundraising thing a bus crashed and killed several boys and potential footballers.  The current stadium is dedicated to and named after them.

    So this really is 50 years worth reflecting on.

    Parent

    We had one home game (none / 0) (#96)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 12:08:36 PM EST
    On that field when it was done.  We lost.

    Parent
    Left Tackle (none / 0) (#97)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 12:09:45 PM EST


    Parent
    I used to think (none / 0) (#102)
    by CST on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 01:06:10 PM EST
    White-only areas were more organic.  But if you look at the history of sundown towns that's usually not the case.

    Keep in mind that when the great migration occurred most southern black people were farmers.   They didn't end up in cities because that's where they chose to live (although no doubt plenty did), but because that's where they had power in numbers.

    And this is true all over rural America, including New England but also places like Arkansas.

    Parent

    And because (none / 0) (#104)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 02:57:05 PM EST
    There was a chance of employment.  I think.

    Parent
    Sure (none / 0) (#121)
    by CST on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 05:36:54 PM EST
    But there's also a history of purges across non-confederste America during the late 1800s/early 1900s. The small existing population was driven out and no one replaced them. There were still a lot of rural black people in the traditional south, because they had a chance of employment in those places.

    This is not to say that racism wasn't terrible in northern cities, and in many ways worse because northern racism is inherently exclusionary and they weren't successful at excluding. But there is power in numbers.

    Parent

    My grandmother (none / 0) (#120)
    by Ga6thDem on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 05:36:04 PM EST
    had sharecroppers whose children migrated out of NC into Jersey City. As a child I always assumed this was because they could get jobs there and the only thing locally at that time was tobacco farming. They also could be looking for an area that had people that they felt comfortable with too. Probably a lot of different reasons.

    Parent
    My grandfather was a sharecropper in Italy. (none / 0) (#131)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 07:25:16 PM EST
    He migrated to Boston.

    Parent
    Ya, I get it. (none / 0) (#93)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 11:54:36 AM EST
    Still shocks me.

    I grew up outside of NYC. From my earliest memory neighbors, schoolmates, etc., of all races, ethnicities, identities, religions, orientations, etc.

    Most were cool, to me, some were not. On an individual basis.

    Parent

    I wonder who's childhood (none / 0) (#95)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 12:05:15 PM EST
    Was more standard

    Parent
    I (none / 0) (#99)
    by FlJoe on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 12:20:17 PM EST
    went through 4 school systems before I made it through third grade, 7 before I finished HS, with varying degrees of real or defacto segregation.

    Parent
    Someone else recently on TL said something (none / 0) (#100)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 12:48:07 PM EST
    along the lines of what you said. Maybe MKS?

    Equally surprising to me.

    Parent

    Probably highly dependent on age (none / 0) (#103)
    by CST on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 01:12:14 PM EST
    That said a lot of school districts are still heavily segregated.  But I doubt most people are quite so isolated.

    FWIW my mom grew up like you but in NH.  Her experience as a young adult experiencing minorities for the first time is a big part of why I was bussed to a majority-minority school for elementary school and why we lived in the neighborhood we lived in.  She decidedly did not want that experience for her kids.

    Parent

    You need to understand the South's history. (none / 0) (#108)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 03:36:32 PM EST
    Prior to the Civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s, "free movement of black people" was pretty much an oxymoron. Neither was it much better in the rest of the country for that matter. Even in California where we grew up, many towns and cities like Pasadena had racial and ethnic covenants written into their charters, which restricted the right of people of color to live and work where they wanted.

    A few weeks ago was the 100th anniversary of the infamous "Elaine Massacre" in Arkansas, in which hundreds of African Americans lost their lives at the hands of white race rioters. At the time when Howdy was in high school, that tragedy was still within the scope of personal memory for his elders. In 1968, you were likely a "free range black" in Arkansas at your own peril.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    The integration of central high (none / 0) (#111)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 04:00:42 PM EST
    At gunpoint was about 1957.  It was not that we were unaware of the struggle.  But the tension was understandably higher where the races were living in closer quarters.  As a child we were not exposed to the day to day tension the kids in Little Rock lived with.  We heard adults sometimes say bad things about blacks but we assumed they were as wrong about that as everything else.  I consider my family life less racist, based on stories I have heard, than many of my friends who grew up in cities.

    Racism was and is not a rural problem.  I have often said of all the many many places I have lived Boston was the most racist.


    Parent

    no (none / 0) (#112)
    by leap on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 04:26:51 PM EST
    $hl†, about Boston. I grew up in the mid-west, but went to college in the northeast. My roommate was from the Boston area. Sometimes we'd go into Boston to visit her family. Her brother hung out with some just horrid guys from Southy. And when doing stuff with him and his friends... that's where I first heard some of the most racist, blinkered language I'd ever heard, words such as "kike" and "spic" and "wop" and "gook" and "beaner" and "dago." Such a litany of slurs. It was shocking. Unfortunately, I was already familiar with the "n-word," which, of course, was also part of their vocabulary.

    Parent
    Best part about gentrification (none / 0) (#117)
    by CST on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 04:58:56 PM EST
    Is that a lot (not enough) of the John Kellys of the world sold out and moved to Florida (sorry Florida).

    I never thought I'd see the day but the top 3 politicians in Boston right now are Ayanna Pressley (congresswoman), Rachel Rollins (DA and by far the most exciting and disruptive), and Michelle Wu (city councilor who everyone thinks will be the next mayor, including the current mayor Marty Walsh).  Three women of color and they are not playing nice to win either.

    Honestly I never thought I'd see the day.

    Parent

    Ya. You need to understand (none / 0) (#113)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 04:41:01 PM EST
    that transportation had been invented before CH was a Jr in HS.

    For someone in America to not see a black person in person until they're a Jr in HS is pretty surprising to me.

    If not in their hometown/school/whatever, then at the very least in a nearby larger town/city.

    As I said above, someone else here on TL recently said something along the same lines. Blows my mind.

    Parent

    I had actually been lots of places (none / 0) (#115)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 04:49:39 PM EST
    By the time I was a junior in high school.  Actually.  I had been out of state more than once.  I never crossed paths.  Having lived at various times in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island I understand why you might find that strange if that is your baseline.

    If I guessed I would guess at that point the nearest black resident would maybe have been 60-70 miles in any direction.  It's a regional thing.  There were lots of blacks in southern Arkansas, very few in the northern hills.  Still somewhat true.

    Parent

    And (none / 0) (#116)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 04:57:05 PM EST
    I did start using existing transportation into the wild at that time.  I really did not go to concerts and the like until then.  

    Parent
    Ya, I don't doubt you in any way. (none / 0) (#130)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 07:15:46 PM EST


    Parent
    I grew (none / 0) (#124)
    by Ga6thDem on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 06:16:05 PM EST
    up in western SC. I later on in my life worked with people from Western NC. Many of these people had never seen anyone other than a white person their entire life until they left that area of the country. I don't find Howdy's story unusual. So maybe it is a southern thing. I don't know.

    Parent
    But you grew up in and around cosmopolitan NYC. (none / 0) (#132)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 09:40:46 PM EST
    My father's family in then-rural northern Illinois lived in a town that wasn't just white, but almost entirely German-American. My surname is German, and out here in Hawaii, I was the only one in the local phone book. But in the phone book which listed Lake Zurich, IL there was nearly an entire page devoted to my relatives. (Do they even make phone books anymore?)

    When I'd visit them as a child during the summer, I never saw any black or Asian people in the community during the entire time I was there. There was one family down the road from my grandparents who were Mexican-American and I became friends with one of their sons who was my age. His first name was Woodrow, which I always found to be a very curious name for a Latino. But other than them, the entire area was lily-white.

    The area has changed greatly since those bygone days. Back then, Lake Zurich was a farm town of about 6,000 residents. Now it's a rather exclusive Chicago suburb of nearly seven times that number if you include the wealthy neighborhoods of Hawthorn Woods and Kildeer, which have incorporated into their own villages, and the nearest farms are 10 to 15 miles away. It's still mostly white, but now they have housekeepers and groundskeepers of color who don't live all that far away.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    MIgration (none / 0) (#123)
    by Ga6thDem on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 05:44:35 PM EST
    out of the south as I understand it happened before civil rights but nowhere in the numbers afterwards and also happened in the dark of night. Families would pack up and leave at dark. Ironically as much as blacks were hated at the time southerners sure didn't want them to leave. I guess it was about controlling cheap labor.

    Parent
    Iceland rolled out (none / 0) (#30)
    by KeysDan on Thu Sep 05, 2019 at 03:19:37 PM EST
    a rainbow carpet for Pence and Mother's arrival.  The Mayor of Reykjavik, companies, firms, and union headquarters all were flying the gay flag.  A firm head said that they felt a need to celebrate diversity in the face of the visit to the country by the anti-LGBT Pence.

    Biden's eyes are bleeding (none / 0) (#31)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Sep 05, 2019 at 03:35:36 PM EST
    On live tv.

    Probably a (none / 0) (#34)
    by KeysDan on Thu Sep 05, 2019 at 04:34:01 PM EST
    subconjunctival hemorrhage.  If so, the condition is usually benign and not dangerous. The eye looks awful, but there generally is no discharge. And, it may get worse before it gets better. The causes may be coughing, sneezing, or an injury from rubbing the eyes too much.  It may be that Biden is being treated with blood thinners, which might be the cause of bleeding.  Biden did have surgeries for brain aneurysms (ballooning of an artery)in the 1980s when he was about 45 years old.  It could be that his treatment is designed to reduce the risk of clots with a drug such as Eliquis.

    I saw Biden on the Colbert Show last night, which is taped at about 5:30 pm and prior to his CNN climate town hall.  He looks good at that time, and was humorous and relaxed.  While not my candidate, he is popular with many Democrats and may wind up as our candidate.  Being ahead, as he is now, will generate just about anything, having him on his last legs, just as they did to Hillary, who was claimed to have just about everything bad,  with just six months to live.

    Parent

    I'm jus sayin (none / 0) (#35)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Sep 05, 2019 at 04:37:32 PM EST
    Bleeding eyes.  Live tv.

    Parent
    Yes, I understand and (none / 0) (#36)
    by KeysDan on Thu Sep 05, 2019 at 05:08:05 PM EST
    appreciate the implications. Especially, with age-related issues to start with.  However, I believe that Democrats should not help write the deplorables' scripts. Health is fragile at any age and then there  is always the risk of a madman altering electoral results, despite the best of Secret Service protection.

    The Constitution has proved durable, at least until being trashed by Trump, and will be reclaimed for democracy with a Democrat, whomever that will be.  And, if tragedy strikes, the succession is designated and the 25th Amendment is available for incapacitation. The vice presidential candidate should always be carefully chosen, and, even more so, in 2020. Not, a great scenario, but one the nation has managed well in its history.

    Plenty of reasons to prefer another candidate in the Democratic primary, but we need to head off, I believe, Biden's grave diggers. It will be up to Biden to provide a health accounting, and I trust he will.

    Parent

    I'll disagree, in part. (none / 0) (#38)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Sep 05, 2019 at 06:19:52 PM EST
    KeysDan: "The vice presidential candidate should always be carefully chosen, and, even more so, in 2020. Not, a great scenario, but one the nation has managed well in its history."

    I think that by and large, Democratic presidential nominees have chosen their running mates well. The same cannot be generally said for their Republican counterparts over the last 50 years.

    Richard Nixon chose Spiro Agnew, a corrupt Maryland governor who was literally on the take, and was eventually hauled into federal court for it.

    Ronald Reagan chose George H.W. Bush, thus resurrecting that amoral family's political fortunes to our country's eternal misfortune.

    George H.W. Bush chose Indiana Sen. Dan Quayle, Washington's own Mr. Potatoe Head who subsequently proved Lloyd Bentsen correct. He was no Jack Kennedy.

    George W. Bush chose Dick Cheney. Nuf said.

    John McCain chose Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, about whom then-Alaska Senate President (and fellow Republican) Lyda Green once observed, "She had no business even being mayor of Wasilla."

    Then there's our current vice president, who as governor of Indiana had garnered a 29% approval rating, and earned the enmity of many of his constituents for having publicly conflated that stick up his a$$ with moral rectitude.

    ;-D

    Parent

    I agree in full--- (none / 0) (#41)
    by KeysDan on Thu Sep 05, 2019 at 08:22:50 PM EST
    on Republicans.  Sorry I did not make it clear--- I was addressing the Democrats.

    Parent
    Remember Nixon's slogan in '68? (none / 0) (#33)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Sep 05, 2019 at 04:08:34 PM EST
    CaptHowdy: "I'm thinking about this because I had a lunch yesterday, this 50th thing has tentacles, where I made a bit of a scene when I said if they had not removed the flag I would not have gone to the game. I totally plant to go.  Wearing NIXON-NOW MORE THAN EVER"

    "Nixon's the One." Well, he proved to be an even bigger one in '72. My late grandfather, a lifelong Republican and a longtime GOP official in California, never hid his disdain for Nixon and called the former president the most inauthentic and despicable politician he had ever met in his life. There was a lot of bad blood between them, dating back to 1946 when Nixon first ran for CA's 12th congressional district seat and my grandfather was then serving as state GOP first vice chair.

    According to my grandmother, the two had a pretty serious falling out that year over Nixon's vicious red-baiting of incumbent Democratic Rep. Jerry Voorhis, during which he had falsely linked the congressman to several pro-Communist organizations in Southern California. It eventually cost Voorhis his seat.

    My grandfather complained to then-California Gov. Earl Warren, the titular head of the state GOP, that Nixon had no ethical boundaries and if left unchecked, his unprincipled conduct would eventually lead their party to some very serious grief. He wanted Nixon publicly reprimanded by the state GOP. And for his part Nixon, not surprisingly, took vigorous exception to that. Warren demurred and the matter was dropped, but the bitterness remained.

    My grandfather supported Nelson Rockefeller's candidacy in 1968, and he didn't vote for Nixon in either '68 or '72. And unfortunately for not only the GOP but eventually the entire country, Nixon eventually proved him right.

    Aloha.

    In 1952 (5.00 / 1) (#50)
    by Repack Rider on Fri Sep 06, 2019 at 03:28:04 PM EST
    Dwight Eisenhower's campaign was "I like Ike!"

    I asked my mother whether she liked Ike.  She said Eisenhower was fine, but Nixon was a crook. It took the rest of the country 22 years to prove her right.

    I should mention that my family is left of Woody Guthrie. Mom is 99, but age has not dimmed her hatred of Nixon.  Or Reagan.

    Parent

    In 1972, (5.00 / 2) (#109)
    by Zorba on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 03:47:48 PM EST
    When Nixon was running for his second term, there were a few bumper stickers floating around that said "Don't blame me, I voted for Helen Gahagan Douglas."
    Which I'm sure many people did not understand. But we did.

    Parent
    I love literary analogies in op-eds. (none / 0) (#37)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Sep 05, 2019 at 05:57:19 PM EST
    "[Rod Rosenstein is] Twitter's own Uriah Heep, insisting he's nothing but a humble servant of justice, all while hitting Trump's enemies with the chops-licking gusto of a partisan hack."

    Overall, Virginia Heffernan's essay is a masterpiece of deft journalistic evisceration, which is particularly satisfying since its subject is someone who richly deserves it:

    "Rod Rosenstein, the former deputy attorney general once known for setting the Trump-Russia investigation in motion, retired in May. After a long career as a public servant, he wanted to spend more time with Twitter."

    Worth a read.

    If anybody (5.00 / 1) (#39)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Sep 05, 2019 at 07:31:14 PM EST
    left office and then was found to be worse than we thought it was Rod Rosenstein.

    Parent
    This is good (none / 0) (#47)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Sep 06, 2019 at 01:43:09 PM EST
    Republican parties in South Carolina, Nevada, Arizona, and Kansas are expected to cancel their primaries. The move will help Trump avoid potential problems on the road to his renomination and remove an opportunity for his GOP opponents who would want to criticize him publicly.

    It stinks of fear.

    And it increases the likelihood of a third party.

    The likes of Joe Walsh do not generally go quietly.

    Speaking of Trump, ... (none / 0) (#49)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Sep 06, 2019 at 03:00:34 PM EST
    ... former Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe died yesterday at age 95. He, of course, will long be remembered as a once-beloved revolutionary who liberated his country from white colonial rule in 1980, only to long overstay his welcome to become a much-feared, self-aggrandizing and thoroughly despised autocrat until he was finally toppled by a 2017 civilian / military coup.

    Parent
    Well, (none / 0) (#52)
    by Ga6thDem on Fri Sep 06, 2019 at 03:37:56 PM EST
    those running against Trump are going to have plenty of opportunity in blue states.

    And SC? I guess it must be because Sanford is running. I can think of no other reason for SC to cancel their primary.

    Parent

    RIP THINK PROGRESS (none / 0) (#53)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Sep 06, 2019 at 04:25:41 PM EST
    ThinkProgress, the influential news site that rose to prominence in the shadow of the Bush administration and helped define progressivism during the Obama years, is shutting down.

    The outlet, which served as an editorially independent project of the Democratic Party think tank Center for American Progress (CAP), will stop current operations on Friday and be converted into a site where CAP scholars can post.

    Top officials at CAP had been searching for a buyer to take over ThinkProgress, which has run deficits for years, and according to sources there were potentially three serious buyers in the mix recently. But in a statement to staff, Navin Nayak, the executive director of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, said the site was ultimately unable to secure a patron.

    "Given that we could find no new publisher, we have no other real option but to fold the ThinkProgress website back into CAP's broader online presence with a focus on analysis of policy, politics, and news events through the lens of existing CAP and CAP Action staff experts," said Nayak. "Conversations on how to do so are just beginning, but we will seek to reinvent it as a different platform for progressive change."

    A dozen ThinkProgress employees will be losing their jobs, a CAP aide said, as many who were on staff had already gone to work elsewhere and some were incorporated into the larger CAP infrastructure. Those who are being laid off will be given a severance package that runs through the end of November and health care coverage that lasts through the year, said the CAP aide.
    This conspiracy theory is nuts b (1.00 / 2) (#55)
    by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Fri Sep 06, 2019 at 07:31:04 PM EST
    Link

    Parent
    Then why post it here? (none / 0) (#56)
    by MKS on Fri Sep 06, 2019 at 07:41:40 PM EST
    This is trolling.

    Not my site, but this type of thing could well be deleted....

    Parent

    It IS nuts (none / 0) (#57)
    by Yman on Sat Sep 07, 2019 at 06:37:40 AM EST
    Then again, so is most of the garbage posted on wingnut, conservative sites like PJ media.  So what's your point in spreading this garbage?

    Parent
    I'm starting to think (none / 0) (#63)
    by jondee on Sat Sep 07, 2019 at 11:01:31 AM EST
    conspiracy theories, either of the secular kind or the religious kind, is all they've got at this point.

    "Locking her up" is a far-flung fantasy these folks are hanging their hats on like Biblical signs and wonders.

    Parent

    What's So Bad About Taking Money From a Stinker (none / 0) (#71)
    by RickyJim on Sat Sep 07, 2019 at 06:31:02 PM EST
    if there are are no conditions attached?  I am sort of mystified at the brouhaha concerning the MIT Media Lab's accepting of $800,000 from Jeffrey Epstein over the years.  Did anybody boycott PBS for taking the late David Koch's money for science programs like Nova? Nova never produced a program attacking climate change science.  And the lab listed Epstein's contributions as anonymous so he didn't enhance his public standing from them.

    read what PZ Myers has to say about (none / 0) (#72)
    by leap on Sat Sep 07, 2019 at 08:03:28 PM EST
    this "brouhaha," as you call it, here. And here.

    Parent
    So What Did Epstein Get in Return? (none / 0) (#73)
    by RickyJim on Sat Sep 07, 2019 at 08:52:12 PM EST
    I knew the stuff that Myers said. It still seems to be much ado about nothing.  Bringing a couple of hot models along with him to the Media Lab is something serious? It is like refusing to listen to Wagner's music because of his bad behavior.

    Parent
    I sort of agree (none / 0) (#76)
    by CaptHowdy on Sun Sep 08, 2019 at 07:45:12 AM EST
    There are lots of reports of hm having strangely close relationships with many scientists.  Don't really get it but scientists always need money.  So......

    Parent
    "So What Did Epstein Get in Return?" (none / 0) (#86)
    by leap on Sun Sep 08, 2019 at 01:42:56 PM EST
    giving decades of cover to Epstein's horrid crimes

    Parent
    Exactly (none / 0) (#87)
    by CaptHowdy on Sun Sep 08, 2019 at 02:26:07 PM EST
    Validation.  The best people.

    Parent
    But since his donations were anonymous, ... (none / 0) (#162)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 04:09:04 PM EST
    ... what cover did Jeffrey Epstein get? I think we need to realize that very few villains in life are cartoonishly bad like Snidely Whiplash. Human beings are complicated creatures.

    Fir example, the late multi-billionaire Harry Weinberg was as ruthless and cutthroat a business tycoon as ever existed in America, and he was apparently a real a$$wipe personally, too. But when he died in 1990, he left the vast bulk of his estimated $4 billion estate to endow his own Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, with the stipulation that its mission would be "dedicated to meeting the basic needs of vulnerable people and families experiencing poverty. Grants focus on supporting organizations that serve older adults, children, people with disabilities, veterans, and others in the areas of housing, health, jobs, education, and community services."

    Today, Weinberg is one of the biggest charitable foundations in the country, and its generosity has been a real godsend to community organizations serving the poor in both metro Baltimore and Hawaii, where the Weinbergs primarily lived during their lifetimes and where the foundation focuses its primary efforts to fulfill the boss's directive. The Waimanalo Health Center in windward Oahu, which provides primary health and dental care to an impoverished and mostly Native Hawaiian community, just moved into its new facilities this past May, thanks in large part to a $3 million grant from the Weinberg Foundation.

    Even real jackwagons can have their good side.

    Parent

    Epstein's donations (5.00 / 2) (#165)
    by KeysDan on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 05:03:06 PM EST
    were not so much anonymous, as they were  concealed.  Long after the university labeled Epstein a "disqualified" donor, his money was taken by the now resigned Director, Joi Ito, and hidden.  Indeed, Mr. Ito referred to Epstein as "Voldemort"  or he who must not be named.

    The MIT Media Lab accepted gifts of, at least, $1.7 million and, also, used Epstein as an intermediary to solicit and obtain monies from other wealthy donors, including $7.5 million from Bill Gates and Leon Black.

    Peter Cohen, the former MIT Media Lab's director of development, stated in an email, that for gift recording purposes, we will not mention Jeffry's name as the impetus of this gift. (Peter Cohen, went on to Brown University, and has been suspended, pending an investigation). Not all of the research staff were on board with this development strategy.

    While Epstein's donations were hidden, they gave him networking opportunities, and legitimacy through known associations with the university.  Epstein elevated his reputation while diminishing that of the university.  And, of course, while minimizing or distracting from his ongoing heinous acts.

    Joi Ito, the former Media Lab Director, received $100,000 from Epstein for his own investing purposes. Ito, also traveled to Epstein's Caribbean manse, to solicit funds. According to most accounts, even the locals knew about the convicted sex offender living there, and of his young guests coming and going.

    Hopefully, this will be a teaching moment for universities.  Development officers can easily lose their moral compasses as they chase funding. Care needs to be given to sources of donations, or deploying tainted intermediaries, in the same and obvious manner, that gifts would be from a foundation honoring its namesake, Pol Pot.

    Parent

    Thank you for the clarification. (none / 0) (#199)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Sep 11, 2019 at 02:00:13 PM EST
    Of course, if Epstein's donations were still accepted and concealed from MIT administrators after the school classified him as persona non grata, that's a whole 'nother story. Ito deserved to be ousted.

    Parent
    If there was nothing untoward (none / 0) (#85)
    by Repack Rider on Sun Sep 08, 2019 at 01:11:54 PM EST
    ...about MIT taking money from Epstein, there would have been no reason to take so many actions to conceal that fact.

    Actions, which were then dutifully transcribed in multiple emails.

    Parent

    North Carolina 9th (none / 0) (#75)
    by CaptHowdy on Sun Sep 08, 2019 at 07:43:40 AM EST
    We have a special election on Tuesday
    In a district both Trump and Romney won by 11+.

    RCP says it's a toss up

    If the republican there loses this trickle of republican resignations is going to turn into a stream.

    I hope (none / 0) (#82)
    by Ga6thDem on Sun Sep 08, 2019 at 12:01:30 PM EST
    it is a stream. For the life of me I can't figure out why my rep doesn't resign. He whined when the GOP had the majority and now he's majorly whining being in the minority.

    Parent
    Sanford is wheels up (none / 0) (#77)
    by CaptHowdy on Sun Sep 08, 2019 at 10:18:47 AM EST
    Sanford says he is launching primary challenge against Trump

    Gee, I wonder (5.00 / 1) (#80)
    by Zorba on Sun Sep 08, 2019 at 11:25:31 AM EST
    why he didn't announce his primary challenge while in Argentina.  Or at least from the Appalachian Trail.


    Parent
    Where ever works (none / 0) (#81)
    by CaptHowdy on Sun Sep 08, 2019 at 11:49:04 AM EST
    That's three official primary announcements.  Every one is going through make canceling primaries harder to sustain.

    Parent
    I believe (none / 0) (#83)
    by CaptHowdy on Sun Sep 08, 2019 at 12:11:27 PM EST
    One of the already cancelled primaries is Sanford's home state.  He might be a feckless fool but he was governor

    Parent
    Orange jesus (none / 0) (#89)
    by Chuck0 on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 10:26:38 AM EST
    is giving out medals today to cops who stopped the Dayton shooter. And I think I heard something about civilians from El Paso. How far in do you think this goes before he makes it about him?

    Sometime in 2015 I said (none / 0) (#98)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 12:19:25 PM EST
    "If you f'ck with the intel community they will f'ck with you"

    "The intelligence community is engaged in a cold war of information against the elected political leadership of the country, and a lot of us are finding ourselves on its side," Pierce says. "This is neither healthy nor sustainable. If we're going to have a constitutional crisis, then let's by god have one according to the Constitution."

    LINK

    Removal of our (none / 0) (#101)
    by KeysDan on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 12:58:42 PM EST
    top spy from Russia due to the suspicion of the Intelligence community, brings the alarming news that not only has the FBI taken the unparalleled step of a counter-intelligence investigation of Trump as a Russian agent or asset, but also, that members of the administration, such as former CIA Director Pompey, and now SOS, distrust and wonder about the loyalty of the president of the United States.  

    And, it should be noted that the counter-intel investigation results have not been publicly reported.  Even the Taliban/Camp David Nobel prize attempt is curious with reporting that Russia be present at any final document signing.

    Parent

    So...... (none / 0) (#110)
    by Zorba on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 03:56:47 PM EST
    Todd Palin has filed for divorce from Sarah.
    It took him 31 years to figure out that they weren't compatible?

    Couldn't handle her celebrity, I guess. (5.00 / 1) (#133)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 09:50:23 PM EST
    Given that my siblings and I have ten marriages between us, I'll simply note that divorce is both painful and personal, and will refrain from commenting any further on the Palins' business.

    Parent
    On the news (none / 0) (#122)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 05:44:22 PM EST
    Palins former son in law posted this

    Does anyone speak Palin?  What does this mean?

    Parent

    The tribe needs her (none / 0) (#129)
    by jondee on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 06:52:56 PM EST
    for breeding purposes?

    Parent
    Todd Palin (b.Sept. 6, 1964) (none / 0) (#142)
    by KeysDan on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 12:06:27 PM EST
    filed for divorce from his wife, Sarah, in Anchorage on Sept. 6, 2019.   Looks like Todd gave himself a birthday present.

    Parent
    It takes two to tango. (none / 0) (#163)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 04:44:11 PM EST
    Suffice to say that the entire Palin family has long appeared to be a tabloid-friendly dysfunctional mess:

    "But the family is no stranger to domestic upheavals, starting with the news soon after she joined the McCain ticket that her then-teenage daughter Bristol was pregnant.

    "More recently, the couple's eldest son, Track, served less than two months at an Anchorage halfway house after a conviction for assaulting his father in 2017.

    "Track Palin also was accused of punching his then-girlfriend in 2016. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor possession of a firearm while intoxicated, and other charges were dismissed.

    "A brawl broke out at an Anchorage house party involving members of Sarah Palin's family in 2014, with allegations that Bristol Palin punched the host several times in the face. No arrests were made, and no one wanted to press charges, according to a police report."

    Further, the Palins' youngest child, Trig, is only 11 years old and has Down's syndrome. His parents' separation has to be especially hard on him. Todd Palin's divorce filing says that he and Sarah seek joint custody of their son.

    In that regard, I can only wish them both the best.

    Parent

    This is good (none / 0) (#118)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 05:02:55 PM EST
    Wait, Is Carly Fiorina About To Primary Trump?

    Good point (none / 0) (#119)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 05:13:52 PM EST
    One thing that struck me yesterday about Sanford's candidacy is how it complements Joe Walsh's, two components in a broader argument against Trump. Sanford's covering the policy part of the argument, aiming at Trump over ballooning deficits. Walsh is focusing on the character part, highlighting ways in which Trump is temperamentally unfit. An obvious missing piece in the argument, though, is women: POTUS polls remarkably, even dangerously, poorly among them, he's facing #MeToo claims of various stripes, and yet the three candidates who've jumped in to oppose him in the primaries are all men.

    Maybe Fiorina sees an opening as a female voice speaking out against Trump, especially as a third-party candidate:



    Parent
    Maybe (none / 0) (#125)
    by Ga6thDem on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 06:22:26 PM EST
    though I really cannot see her jumping in. Certainly as the article says there's no room in the current GOP for her and why would she want to go on a suicide mission as an independent? Of course stranger things have happened.

    Parent
    To make sure Trump loses (none / 0) (#126)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 06:31:35 PM EST
    Have you forgotten what he said about her.  I can totally see her doing it just because.  She could probably won the libertarian primary.

    Parent
    TBH (none / 0) (#135)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 05:27:31 AM EST
    Trump hurls so many insults at so many people that yes, I had forgotten about his insults hurled at Carly and if she's still mad enough about all that, that alone would be reason enough to run. She could spend her entire campaign doing nothing but talking about how awful Trump is. Probably would bring her a lot of satisfaction. Also hilariously if she ran in the GOP primary with the tax return law in CA she could best him in the primary.

    Parent
    I don't think any (none / 0) (#127)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 06:39:18 PM EST
    Of the three so far announced have any illusions about winning the primary.  That is not their goal.  It is to make Trump loses.  Few people would probably enjoy seeing Trump lose than her.

    Parent
    Lest we forget 2015 (none / 0) (#128)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 06:50:41 PM EST
    Rolling Stone magazine reports that Trump was watching Fiorina recently on a television newscast, in the presence of Rolling Stone reporter Paul Solotaroff, when the billionaire real-estate developer said, "Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?"

    Let's find out if anyone would vote for it!

    Parent

    'Walsh is focusing on the character part'? (none / 0) (#134)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Mon Sep 09, 2019 at 09:57:28 PM EST
    Seriously, Cap'n, the guy is a deadbeat dad whose former spouse had to sue him for back child support. Listening to ex-Rep. Joe Walsh talk about character and integrity would be like being lectured by Jeff Sessions about the importance of civil rights. The mere idea of it is fckn surreal.

    Now we're trapped in a David Lynch film.

    Parent

    Why do we care? (none / 0) (#136)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 07:33:42 AM EST
    Seriously.  As long as the guy is trashing Trump why is this even a thing.

    Walsh is what Trumpers fear the most.  Which is a craven loud mouthed demagogue who is just as happy to get in the mud as Trump.  

    Or are you suggesting some elevated kind of personal dignity and credibility is necessary for Trump fans to take him seriously.  Seriously?

    I repeat, run Joe run.

    Parent

    I'm with you. (5.00 / 2) (#161)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 04:06:33 PM EST
    The bigger the food fight the better. I really don't care who is slinging the hash as long as someone is slinging it.

    Parent
    Really good tv (none / 0) (#137)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 10:29:30 AM EST
    If you have not been watching THE TERROR on AMC and SUCCESSION on HBO it's never to late to stream.

    Goin out on a limb (none / 0) (#138)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 10:49:49 AM EST
    McCready Is going to win today's special election in NC 9th.

    Polls close 7:30

    Massive turnout (none / 0) (#144)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 12:11:19 PM EST
    So far

    Parent
    From your lips ... (none / 0) (#152)
    by Yman on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 02:32:05 PM EST
    Not an easy place to win, but that would be awesome!

    Parent
    Closing delayed by a gas leak (none / 0) (#167)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 06:42:10 PM EST
    Now closed.  Returns expected fast.

    Parent
    At his rally for (none / 0) (#145)
    by KeysDan on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 12:36:26 PM EST
    the Republican. Dan Bishop, Trump lied about voter fraud in California, while ignoring the fact that he was campaigning for the Congressional seat opened up by cheating (ballot tampering) by the then Republican candidate last November.

    And, Bishop is the perfect Trump guy----author of the North Carolina " bathroom" bill and a strong defender of the Neo-fascist Proud Boys.  

    This will a close one, but, I agree, McCready will make it.  

    I kind of wonder if firing Bolton (none / 0) (#146)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 12:41:27 PM EST
    Today might be a effort to distract from what they know is coming at 7:30

    Because it will be a huge story.  Trump district by 12.  Republican held since the mid 60s.

    Parent

    Plus (none / 0) (#147)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 12:46:47 PM EST
    As you say the guy is Mini Trump.  You could hardly come up with a more perfect Trump proxy to be beaten like a rented mule.  From his policies to his stump speech.  Mini Trump is going down in flames

    Parent
    I have heard (none / 0) (#148)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 02:01:41 PM EST
    predictions that even if McCready comes close but doesn't win it bodes very poorly for Trump in 2020 since he did not win NC by much in 2016.

    Parent
    Trump won that district (none / 0) (#151)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 02:12:38 PM EST
    By almost 12.  Just read that is three time his margin in the state.

    Parent
    Getting weird (none / 0) (#155)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 03:24:03 PM EST
    Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Tuesday mourned the loss of hawkish national security adviser John Bolton, whose ouster was announced by President Donald Trump on Twitter earlier in the day.

    After Cruz praised Bolton's credentials on national security, however, he went off on a conspiratorial rant about actors within the "deep state" working to secure Bolton's departure from the administration.

    "I sincerely hope his leaving the White House does not mean that the deep-state forces at State and Treasury -- who have been fighting tooth and nail to preserve the Obama Iran nuclear deal -- have finally convinced the president to go soft on Iran," Cruz wrote. "Relaxing the maximum pressure strategy, which is succeeding in dramatically weakening the world's leading state sponsor of terror, would be an enormous mistake."

    Cruz finished up his rant by imploring Trump to avoid emulating "Obama's failed foreign policy" that got Iran to agree to stop its nuclear weapons production in exchange for sanctions relief.

    A lot there to unpack I think.

    I hear (5.00 / 1) (#158)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 03:42:58 PM EST
    this whole "state sponsored terrorism" thing from conservatives all the time. Is there any truth in it? Truly I think most of them have a bolder on their shoulder going back to the Iran hostage crisis.

    And the whole "deep state" thing makes Cruz sound like he has completely gone off the deep end.

    Parent

    Well, really (5.00 / 1) (#159)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 03:52:21 PM EST
    What is he even talking about?  Pompeo and that grinning ghoul Mnuchin are the "deep state"?

    Knee deep state maybe.

    Parent

    if there was was "deep state" (none / 0) (#198)
    by Chuck0 on Wed Sep 11, 2019 at 12:17:07 PM EST
    in the US government, Orange jesus would already be dead.

    Parent
    Have the GOP ME hawks (5.00 / 2) (#166)
    by jondee on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 05:14:22 PM EST
    ever accused the Saudis of sponsoring terrorism? Even once?

    Even after 9/11, or after evidence emerged of a support pipeline going to ISIS from SA?

    Cruz is just continuing the grand GOP tradition of propagandizing for the Israeli Right and for his Rapture-in-the-Holy-Land Christian constituents.

    He missed his calling. 100+ years ago, he would've  been traveling from town-to-town in wagon selling Dr Kilmer's Swamproot Remedy.

    Parent

    Also, what (none / 0) (#160)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 03:53:39 PM EST
    Trump has a secret plan to keep Obama's Iran thing and call it something else?

    That's new.

    Parent

    Okay, Cap'n, that's enough. (none / 0) (#164)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 05:00:26 PM EST
    Where's my bong? I need to get really stoned before I hear any more of this.

    ;-D

    Parent

    Weird (none / 0) (#156)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 03:27:32 PM EST
    John Bolton texted a Fox News host on live TV to dispute President Donald Trump's tweeted account of his removal as national security adviser.



    Parent
    Here's how Trump's maximum (none / 0) (#179)
    by desertswine on Wed Sep 11, 2019 at 02:04:31 AM EST
    pressure strategy is working out; it has driven Iran into China's warm embrace.

    Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was in Beijing recently for what turns out to have been the biggest triumph of his career. China has decided it has nothing further to fear from the Trump administration, and has decided to incorporate Iran into its One Belt, One Road plan with investments totaling some $400 billion.

    To guard the China-built oil and gas facilities, China will put 5,000 security personnel into Iran  This security presence in that country will be as big as the US military footprint in today's Iraq or what the Pentagon plans for Afghanistan in 2020. It is likely meant as a deterrent to US adventurism (visible in Iraq and Afghanistan), inasmuch as any major US military strike on or action against Iran would risk hitting Chinese army personnel and spiking tensions with a nuclear power.

    This plan is one of the great turning points in modern geopolitics. And it is the first such highly significant development since WW II to leave the United States completely on the sidelines.

    --Juan Cole

    Parent
    McCready is winning (none / 0) (#168)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 07:08:19 PM EST
    And it doesn't look that close

    Yes, (none / 0) (#169)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 07:11:59 PM EST
    but I'm still nervous. There are a lot of votes still out there at this point.

    Parent
    Kornaki says (none / 0) (#170)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 07:17:11 PM EST
    He is out performing everywhere everywhere from 2018 and he lost by less than 1000 votes

    Parent
    I will (5.00 / 1) (#171)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 07:24:21 PM EST
    keep hope ALIVE.

    Parent
    Gonna be close (none / 0) (#172)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 07:44:59 PM EST


    Parent
    Well (none / 0) (#173)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 07:52:08 PM EST
    it was last time. Of course extrapolating that out to the entire state it means Trump could conceivably lose NC by 8 points in 2020.

    Parent
    Not good (none / 0) (#174)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 08:23:20 PM EST


    Parent
    Yes (none / 0) (#175)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 08:25:10 PM EST
    the Trumpers showed up in the rural areas and didn't show up in 2018 apparently. I think Mecklenberg is still out though.

    Parent
    CNN just said (none / 0) (#176)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 08:36:45 PM EST
    Almost all the outstanding votes and there are quite a few are in surbaban areas and McCreedy could still win

    Parent
    Damn (none / 0) (#177)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 09:02:24 PM EST
    I really wanted a win for wed bowling.

    Parent
    Kornacki is wrong again (5.00 / 2) (#178)
    by Towanda on Tue Sep 10, 2019 at 09:12:15 PM EST
    and as unwatchable as ever.

    Well, admittedly, he is more watchable when only watching, with the sound off. And to make it actually enjoyable, hum the Benny Hill Show theme music.

    Parent

    It seems (none / 0) (#181)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Sep 11, 2019 at 06:53:20 AM EST
    He did do better almost everywhere than 2018.  The problem is they did even better.  Red turnout was through the roof.

    In a way this is not all bad.  IMO

    It was already a red seat.  And with this outcome everyone is reminded this will not be easy.  That every vote is going to count.  A big win in a red district could lead to complacency

    No room for that.

    And I think McCready has a future.

    And PS
    I was hating on Kornaki before it was cool

    Parent

    And I still think it will lead (none / 0) (#183)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Sep 11, 2019 at 07:30:59 AM EST
    To more retirements

    Parent
    Despite the Dems patting themselves (none / 0) (#180)
    by Chuck0 on Wed Sep 11, 2019 at 06:49:05 AM EST
    on the back this morning, coming in second IS NOT a win.

    Parent
    Its not. And I wanted to win. (none / 0) (#182)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Sep 11, 2019 at 07:01:20 AM EST
    Not patting but there is some good news.  Democratic gains in the suburbs continues.  And based on the margin in 2016 NC is not safe for Trump.

    Parent
    Seeing IT: Chapter 2 later (none / 0) (#196)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Sep 11, 2019 at 11:55:46 AM EST
    I convinced my Trump parasite a movie would be more fun than bowling.

    I'm excited.

    Pretty Boy... (none / 0) (#202)
    by desertswine on Wed Sep 11, 2019 at 09:43:27 PM EST
    Floyd, that is.

    Charles Arthur Floyd (none / 0) (#203)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Sep 12, 2019 at 07:14:13 AM EST
    Was pretty.

    I've actually encountered more people with Floyd as a last name.

    Dorian and Tuesday Open Thread | 204 comments (204 topical)