I was trolling You Tube and happened upon this documentary. I found it interesting and thought I would share it with you. It is a bit long, about an hour. But looking at the past may give us an insight into our present and our future. So it is worth the time.
So, they ended up salting their fields. That's happening today across our mid-west as they simultaneously drain the big aquifers under the Great Plains.
The whole scenario of why the Sumerians declined reminds me of quite a bit of what is happening today. For the United States, which has been blessed with an abundance of natural resources, it will be a challenge in the future if for some reason our water supplies dry up or are tainted with sea water. The aquifers are a huge problem, not just for agriculture, but for normal water usage by people during their daily lives. I can see where some areas may prove less desirable to live in, causing an internal migration to other areas within the country.
Another point I found fascinating in that video was the connection between the stories in the Bible, such as the great flood and the Arc, which are older than that written work. Someone I know who has read the entire Bible remarked that even if you are not a believer of the religion it is still an important historical document.
They're probably gonna run out of water before they poison the ground permanently. Then the place will have to go back to grassland and prairie. We may end up bringing back the buffalo to get a food supply that can use what'll grow there.
TrumpTweets: Yesterday's ‘tax rallies’ rattled him. There's two subjects about which he remains very twitchy, tax returns and his campaign connections with the Kremlin.
It's happened in other places too. The Aztecks for one and the ancient Khmeres in Cambodia. In both those cases it's believed that the populations exploded in numbers and they tapped out the surrounding area and got further and further away from sustiance, until they simply imploded.
Perhaps I should one more time, like a broken record, point out to Lynnette the perils of over population...
I've been suspecting that today's referendum in Turkey would be rigged if it came in close enough to be rigged (assuming Erdoğan doesn't win honestly). Looks like that's how it's working out. Erdoğan's either won or it's close enough that he's gonna fix it. They've tinkered with the rules a little bit to allow some uncertified ballots to get counted, and that'll probably put Erdoğan's new constitution over the top.
That depends on whether you're talking about the vote, or about Erdoğan consolidating power in his own hands. There was an outside chance the ‘NO’ vote would be too large to conveniently ‘fix’. Polling in Turkey is rather unreliable. I think there was virtually zero chance that Erdoğan would have been deterred by having the vote go against him. (In fact that might have made things worse right off the bat, as he might have cracked down on the opposition harder, quicker. As things stand he'll consolidate his power with probably less immediate bloodshed than he would have visited upon Turkey had he lost the referendum.)
"Because I seem to remember a whole lotta polls in the 'ol US of A being strikinly wrong just quite recently."
You should probably look again then. Most polls showed Hillary winning the popular vote by a small but solid margin. That's what happened. Where the pollsters erred, they nevertheless came in within their published margin of error for the most part. Trump's electoral win was a fluke--a football stadium worth of votes in just exactly the right places. That's why there are no ‘insignificant portions’ of his coalition.
So. Now we have a muslim dictatorship with a wannabe Sultan at its helm, bent on re-establishing the Ottoman Empire, as an important NATO member. Where do we go from there, I wonder.
Bullshit Lee. Even the NYT had a win for hillary at 90% plus in the last stages of the election campaign. It was an unexpected rout, and you know it. The pollsters got it way wrong.
"Even the NYT had a win for hillary at 90% plus in the last stages of the election campaign."
That was a pundit's prediction, not a poll. You'll not find a poll, any poll, which reported its results in terms of ‘a win for hillary at --%’. That's not how they work. You have things yet to learn about polling it would seem.
I've decided that I think Shorthands is bluffing about taking ‘kinetic’ action against North Korea.
I think he has come out now and said that the Chinese were the solution. He's right, I think they are too, but you're right, I don't know if they are ready to put enough pressure on NK to make them sit up and take notice. I'm not sure, frankly, what would.
President Donald Trump, eager to stop rapid advances in North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, is signaling a break with decades of US policy as he looks to coax China into ramping up the pressure on North Korea.
Trump's sweetening the pot, offering China better trade terms if the Asian powerhouse takes steps to put North Korea's provocative behavior to rest. China accounts for 80% of North Korea's foreign trade and has significant political leverage over North Korea.
Trump doesn't seem to be able to look at all the facets of an issue when making his decisions.
" I don't know if they are ready to put enough pressure on NK to make them sit up and take notice."
They're trying to expand their own influence in the region these days at the expense of our influence. Given that, I can't think of any reason why they'd actually agree to do Trump's dirty work for him. The current status quo serves their interests better than almost any change in the status quo could be expected to serve their interests.
Trump seems to think they're ready to serve his interests for some reason that I can't figure. Why the hell would they want to serve him?
I'm thinkin’ they've already played him, and are now just waiting now for the end-game to sink in with him--that being, he's already been played.
"Trump's sweetening the pot, offering China better trade terms…"
Oh, that. Yeah, right. Trump can't deliver on that. That would have to be approved by the Senate, and that's not gonna happen. The Chinese know that. For some reason Trump seems to think they don't.
Here's the thing. If Trump had anything to offer China he wouldn't be dangling imaginary tidbits in public. The Chinese don't negotiate in public; they don't have to; it's not an open government where they have to get citizen approval. They make the deals, then they announce them; they don't negotiate in public. And they got no reason to wanna puff up Trump's image, no matter how much he wishes that was something they were just dying to do for him.
So far as I know, Shorthands' call to Erdoğan, congratulating Erdoğan on having successfully repealed democracy in Turkey, makes Shorthands unique among western national leaders.
It may be morning before we know how that one turns out.
On another front… Shorthands was telling us last week that he was sending the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (Nimitz class--one of the big ones) along with its entire ‛strike group’ to patrol off North Korean shores. He called it an ‛armada’ and said it was being sent to counter the North Korean threats. Turns out that was BS of the first order.
The USS Carl Vinson, along with its entire strike group has been in naval practice maneuvers with the Australian Navy off the Australian coast. Never went to Korean waters. (Supposedly it's gonna make it into the general area of the Sea of Japan here someday soon, but no hints its actually scheduled to get anywhere near North Korea.). The ship was spotted in some pictures the Navy released just a day or so ago. That's an ‛opps’.
The Navy has said they have no comment, and referred all inquiries to the White House, which has no comment and has referred all inquires to the Pentagon, which has no comment and said all inquires should be directed to the Navy's Pacific Command, which had no comment in the first place, which is how this whole circle got started.
It's almost certain that the North Koreans and the Chinese knew where the USS Carl Vinson was. They've got their own boats out there and they keep track of these things. So, Shorthands' bombast and bullshit about sending in warships to intimidate the North Koreans wasn't meant to fool the North Koreans. It was meant to fool his dedicated Trumpkins.
And, it appears to have worked--probably still works--probably keep on working. They probably still believe Trump sent in warships, and will keep on believing it, ‛cause this ain't gettin’ no press on Radio-Right-Wing, and will probably see precious little press, if any, on FoxNews.
The Georgia race reported in overnight. The Democrat, Jon Ossoff, wasn't able to bring it home, in spite of high hopes on the part of Democrats everywhere. (And some who aren't fully affiliated either way.). He only got to the high side of 48% of the vote. A Republican woman, name of Karen Handel, came in second; she got about 20% of the vote. The Republicans are doing high fives and giggles on this one for having dodged a bullet here. They had 11 Republican candidates splitting their side of the vote, so they were worried the Democrat might pull it out with a 50% +1 margin and win outright in this, what is considered the ‘primary’ before the general election. (If he'd gotten 50% + that'd be the election right there and they'd not bother to do the later, ‘general’, election--calling it a done deal already. But, the Democrat didn't pull it off.)
Trump wasted no time in congratulating himself on Karen Handel's having dodged a bullet. That's hardly remarkable in and of itself. ‘Trump Grabs the Credit’ is a headline somewhat akin to ‘Sun Rises in the Morning’.
More important is that the Republicans are now expressing confidence that they've got this one in the bag when the general election rolls around in June. This is a Republican district they tell themselves--heavily gerrymandered to see to it that it stays just that way.
I'm not so sure ‘bout that. The Democrat got 48% of the vote in a jungle primary--he's only gotta pick up a couple of points from among the 16 people who've now had to drop out. The Republican has to pick up 30 points plus.
I think they may be celebrating too soon. If the Democrat had managed to win like 30% of the vote then I'd more prepared to accept their argument for their position, but he pulled down 48%+; he only needs a little under 2% out of that 32% that neither of them got the first time.
I think they probably still got a fight on their hands.
Word's going around Washington that Trump is wanting ‘a win’, something tangible and conspicuous he can point to as an actual accomplishment, something actually achieved in his first hundred days. And, he's nearly settled on ‘The Great Wall of Trump’. He's thinking hard about demanding that funding for his wall be included in any Continuing Resolution (needed by the 28th of the month to prevent a shutdown at midnight on the 28th).
I think it's very likely he's going to achieve a government shutdown instead (that or have to very publicly back down, which he won't like either). In fact, I think the Congressional Republicans may well have been in danger of managing to stumble into a government shutdown all by themselves, without any help from Shorthands; they'll be happy to blame it on him if they have to. (Prefer to blame it on Obama of course, failing that, at least blame it on the Democratic minorities still hangin’ ‘round Washington, but they'll settle for blaming it on Shorthands if that's all they got.)
Shorthands was telling us last week that he was sending the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (Nimitz class--one of the big ones) along with its entire ‛strike group’ to patrol off North Korean shores. He called it an ‛armada’ and said it was being sent to counter the North Korean threats. Turns out that was BS of the first order.
NK is a bait and switch propaganda issue, nothing more. Trump sunding tough.
As we here know a war against NK comes with way too disastrous consecuenses that Trump (commander in chief as he might be) would simply not be allowed to attack NK. The Joint Chiefs would shut that down and Congress would never allow for it.
And that's not on account of NK:s "nukes" but because of the Seoul reduced to ashes thing. It's NK:s non neuclear force that makes a attack at them impossible - nukes are just an icing on that cake.
Then again, NK is mainly a sock puppet for China. No matter how the regime hails its "glorious leaders" they would be dead in the waters if China cut 'em off. Which China won't do, because that might lead to a NATO-allied reunified Korea just at Chinas borders.
As the story about the USS Carl Vinson makes clear, there's definitely a con going on, at least one, maybe more than one, maybe only one. It's hard to say now whether the Chinese were really stringing Shorthands along, or whether he just made that part up out of whole cloth ‘cause he thought it sounded good. It's possible the only one running a con here was Shorthands. (I'm also not sure ‘bait and switch’ is the right description for the con that's goin’ on, but that matters little; there's definitely a con going on.)
Speaking of cons going on… The Republicans are now trying to readjust their shell game on ObamaCare and again try to come up with something they can pass as a ‘Repeal and whatever’ for ObamaCare. Mostly they're just shuffling the same little cups they had on the table the last time they tried to run this shell game. But, they're desperate for ‘a win’ coming up on their first hundred days, so they're tryin’ it again.
And they only got five (5) working days ‘til the government shutdown. This shell game just make it all the more likely they miss their deadline on that too.
... they would be dead in the waters if China cut 'em off. Which China won't do, because that might lead to a NATO-allied reunified Korea just at Chinas borders.
Nor would China be happy with all the refugees if NK imploded.
And they only got five (5) working days ‘til the government shutdown. This shell game just make it all the more likely they miss their deadline on that too.
Which will leave them vulnerable to the wrath of all of those irate retirees out there.
A highly unusual and racially charged episode from the 2016 campaign suddenly resurfaced this week when a federal judge whom President Donald Trump repeatedly criticized was assigned to hear the case of a man who claims he was improperly deported.
Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was born in the US but is of Mexican heritage, was attacked by Trump last year over his handling of a lawsuit against Trump University. Trump claimed Curiel could not impartially hear the case because of his background and Trump's hardline immigration policies. The case was eventually settled. Now, Curiel is assigned to hear the case of Juan Manuel Montes Bojorquez, 23, who his lawyers allege was deported from California to Mexico earlier this year despite having active protection under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA.
"Which will leave them vulnerable to the wrath of all of those irate retirees out there."
The Social Security checks are cut by computers these days. They're on automatic and the folks who run the computers are considered ‘essential’ employees. So, those Social Security checks will go out anyway, but the guys who run the computers won't get their paychecks, even though they're expected to show up for work anyway.
Speaking of France, I see their election is in a couple days. I have to wonder if this attack was staged in an attempt to influence the outcome rather than just as a revenge attack.
The Social Security checks are cut by computers these days. They're on automatic and the folks who run the computers are considered ‘essential’ employees.
They seem to be allowing Shorthands to do his TrumpTweets again, perhaps under supevision and some rules (like that'll last). None of those 3:00 am tweets from the shitter for one thing. And looks like an editor for the remainder. (I wonder who has actual possession of the new iPhone Tweeting Phone?)
Lee: "The shooting spree in Paris has been tagged now as a terrorist attack. So, who won the bet?"
No one yet. Zeyad's and my bet was on the next jihadi truck-attack. Not some random muslim terror attack with a Kalash. Some loser armed with an assault rifle who still managed only one kill while sacrificing his life for the "cause". Good thing they are so inept; could be a cultural thing but probably it's down to faulty genetics. So no, that doesn't count and our bet is still to be decided.
Lynnette: "Speaking of France, I see their election is in a couple days. I have to wonder if this attack was staged in an attempt to influence the outcome rather than just as a revenge attack."
Revenge against what? To low wellfare checks? Pork served in schools? Burkinis banned on public beaches? Someone making an "islamophobic" comment? France's old colonial rule? What exactly do you imagine would be the cause for a "revenge attack"?
And also no, I wouldn't think it was aimed at influencing the elections, most likely. But it might well be that it was chosen to happen at the time of the elections for maximum exposure. Or simply that the elections got this particular jihadi riled up enough to have his inevitable blowout.
It's going to be a nice day today, so I will have to work in my strawberry patch, try to remove some of the dead raspberry canes and generally work in the yard.
I'd really rather be reading a book, but somebody has to do it. *sigh*
Yeah he did. And I picked Belgium. He then had a second pick which was Holland, and I countered with a second pick of Germany. But the original bet was which country got hit by a "Truck Of Love" (Zeyad's words - not mine), not just some random shooting or bombing. So it's still on.
Me: Belgium for first and Germany for Second.
Zeyad: France for first and Holland (the Netherlands, they are the same fyi) for second.
The bet being where a terrorist truck attack happens next.
That was quite obvious from the get go. But perhaps, now that I summarised it, also you understand?
(It is a morbid thing to bet on. I know. My reason for engagig is our whole situation here forces one to be either depressed or morbidly humourous about things)
Lynnette: "I'd really rather be reading a book, but somebody has to do it. *sigh*"
Why don't you just pay one of 'em illegals you propose should remain in America a few bucks so they could do it for you? That's what they're there for after all.
Prolly them really, really surpressed Rohingyas from Banglade... sorry Burma, who "fled" on boats for better economic prospects. There are a couple milliion more of 'em, is the USA goin' to take them in as well?
First flee from Bangladesh into Burma because bhuddist Burma, hellhole that it is, is still better than moslem Bangladesh - even for moslems apparently. Then sail on a now quite sea wosthy digny past the whole of South East Asia, where no-one wants you. Then approach Australia only to be turned back and interned at Papua Neu Guinea. Then saved finally by Trump allowing Obama insanities to stand. Brought to the USA. American and with a Dem voting card in hand. Grand!
Hell, why don't ya'll just airlift 'em outta Bangladesh and drop 'em into Oklahoma to begin with? Because it seems the present model of operation is less than effective, IMO.
Food for thought: Once when the KSA wanted to fund more mosques in Russia Putin just told 'em "yeah go for it but for every mosque ya'll build in Russia we're gonna fund and build a church in Saudi Arabia". That got that issue settled right there and then.
Of course there ARE mosques in Russia, there are 20 million muslims there or more, but few wahhabi Saudi ones.
Why, oh, why do we let these camel fucking inbred bastards from the south of Arabia pester our societies? Zeyad could probably testify it was the hordes coming up from the arabian peninsula that fucked his country up. Why do we allow the same? They shoud be met with razor wire tipped fences and machine guns - nothing else. Least Orban is wise to that, and the leaders of Poland and the Chezh Republic too. So there is hope.
Oddly enough, this gets very little play on Radio-Right-Wing or FoxNews. So, the dedicated Trumpkins don't even have to overlook it.
That's probably a good thing, at least from Shorthands' point of view. They're gonna have a whole lot of other things they're gonna have to overlook comin’ up in the fairly near future. Don't wanna wear out their capacity to overlook stuff in service to Shorthands the Incredible Dancing Bear before they run out of stuff they need to overlook.
It is, just by the way, illegal to construct a church or openly practice Christianity in Saudi Arabia. There is no mechanism (short of declaring war on the House of Saud) by which Putin could either fund or build a Christian Church there. Putin's PR division seems to have oversold that story in your neck of the woods.
House Speaker, Paul Ryan, quietly let it be known today that there wasn't gonna be a House vote on Shorthands' newest run at ObamaCare this week. (Discussed earlier @ Thu Apr 20, 12:17:00 pm ↑↑) They've already got enough on their plate and got no room for that. Presumably Shorthands and his administrative spokesmen will quit promising that now.
House Speaker, Paul Ryan, quietly let it be known today that there wasn't gonna be a House vote on Shorthands' newest run at ObamaCare this week...
I thought I also read somewhere that Ryan is vowing there will be no government shutdown. So perhaps that little tidbit is what they will be chewing on this week.
"I thought I also read somewhere that Ryan is vowing there will be no government shutdown."
You probably did read that, because he did say that in a private phone gathering of the Republican Caucus. (Leaked, of course.) He was rather vague on just how he expected to pull that off. Presumably that's one of the things that's keeping the ObamaCare vote off the schedule this week.
The Kentucky Coal Mining Museum is switching to in-house solar power, solar panels on the rooftops, to save money. CNN Shorthands should probably take notice.
"The pundit consensus is that if [Trump] fails to deliver on jobs and key legislation that he will be punished for it. "Wrong. "His main mission is to vex the political and media elite, period. It’s essentially a mandate to entertain. If he does that, most of his supporters—and the people who will never admit they are his supporters—will be satisfied for quite some time." Politico.com
The Kentucky Coal Mining Museum is switching to in-house solar power, solar panels on the rooftops, to save money.
The canary in the coal mine?
It is difficult to adapt to change, especially if the change affects your livelihood. But it has always been one of America's strengths, the ability to adapt. By trying to turn the clock back, Trump & Co. are merely weakening one of the positive aspects we have. In the long run, pursuing inefficient or environmentally harmful industries will only hurt us and will not contribute to a vibrant economy that might actually provide good paying jobs.
I was reading just yesterday about the shuttering of many bricks and mortar businesses and the declining of the American Malls. But just below that article was one about a teenager who started a business which sells much of it's product online. It has hit $1 million in sales and is only now breaking out into the physical retail stores. I know this is just one person, but his activity will have a ripple effect. Multiply that by thousands of people and you create jobs. But if you try to dictate what businesses will function in your country all you will end up with is inefficiency and stagnation like you see in places like North Korea.
Looks like Marine Le Pen will come in a fairly close second in the French Presidential elections and move on to the final round up against first place finisher Emmanuel Macron. Not a great day for her supporters, who included both Trump and Putin. But, at least she's still in it, technically.
Stuff I'm hearing today on Radio-Right-Wing is that Shorthands is doing everything he can to signal leaders across the Far East that he's preparing to attack North Korea. Other than Radio-Right-Wing, I'm not noticing anybody holding their breath on this one (and that includes FoxNews). Shorthands is wholly unpredictable--he's simply not consistent nor reliable; he moves on whims, so it's hard to know if he's trying to get a bluff sent out to Krazy Kim or if he's just keeping his ‘base’ excited so they won't pay any attention to the upcoming ‘100 Days’ stuff that'll be coming out this week.
Sounds like they have a nuclear sub making port in South Korea.
I don't know, after watching the video in my current post and seeing the fake Mall the North Koreans have set up I have to wonder if maybe their military capability might not be also all for show. I am not sure how seriously we should take them.
Shorthands has backed down on his demand that The Great Wall of Trump get funded in upcoming funding bill. NBCNews He folded early. Clear sign the Congressional Democrats don't fear him (the Republicans either). We were earlier discussing the question of how long he could instill fear in his congressional delegation. We now have our answer--less than 100 days.
I don't think Kim Jung Un fears him either. (That bullshit about the aircraft carrier pretty well put an end to that.)
And, in what looks to be the beginning of another crawl down… Yesterday Shorthands took to calling his North Korean problem a ‘big world problem’, and ‘a real threat to the world’. The obvious implication is that all those slacker nations out there in the wide world need to be paying us to solve their problem for them. That's not gonna happen, so Shorthands gets to declare himself off the hook on reining in North Korea.
I don't think Kim Jung Un fears him either. (That bullshit about the aircraft carrier pretty well put an end to that.)
Probably not a good idea to judge the US entirely by Trump's actions. He can be led, and if you piss off Congress you might make it real. Because while NK's missiles might be fake, ours aren't, wherever they may be lurking. If NK does actually try to make good on their threats against US targets, they may not like the result.
He had no problem directly mentioning China when he was expecting to pressure China on the subject. He may have moved beyond that now. It may have finally occurred to Shorthands that the Chinese prefer the status quo to any changes that're likely to come about by applying additional pressure to Kim, and that they were just stringin’ him along all this time.
Leaks out of the Senate investigation into Russian interference in our last election seem to show that Michael Flynn, one-time Shorthands' Senior National Security Advisor, neglected to declare payments by the Russians that eventually ended up in his pockets (after a little bit of laundering, but obviously not enough laundering or they'd not have found the trail already). It's beginning to look like there's no way to claim innocence here--just too many payments left undeclared for it to have been accidental.
I'm also hearing that the Trump campaign has refused to comply with a request for the vetting documents on Flynn. These were requested to see if Flynn actually told Trump about the payments and then was allowed to file official disclosures which omitted them. That would be bad; that would tend to implicate Trump directly in the cover-up. But, so far Trump won't give up the documents to settle that question. They may resort to subpeonaes.
This is curious; Eli Lake at Bloomberg argues that Trump is not a fascist because he's incompetent; the implication being that fascists are competent by definition. Bloomberg doesn't usually go in for this sort of foolishness.
The White House has announced that they have finalized language for another run at ‘repeal and whatever’ for ObamaCare. They're gonna try once again to schedule a vote. This should get really interesting.
48 hours (47 actually; they're on Eastern Time) to a government shutdown.
The smart money says the Republicans don't even get close to an agreement in time and instead go for a short-term extension, maybe a week or so, to give themselves more time to figure out if they've got a shot at an agreement. They keep saying they got this one in the bag.
Well, they've still got 64 hours (my computer was showing the wrong date; click icon and it fixes). I'm still looking for an extension and continued negotiation, the extra 24 hours notwithstanding.
The smart money says the Republicans don't even get close to an agreement in time and instead go for a short-term extension, maybe a week or so, to give themselves more time to figure out if they've got a shot at an agreement.
Republicans in the House have put forward a one-week extension bill for the federal budget. (Bill put out by the House Appropriations Committee.) The terms are such that they'll be needing to pass it with Republican votes; Nancy Pelosi won't be supplying the votes to put this one over the top for Paul Ryan.
A recent CBS poll showed that 74% of Republicans now believe that Obama wiretapped Trump. link There's no talkin’ to these people; waste of time and effort. We just gotta get ‘em outnumbered.
You should remember that, as a backup plan in case Trump wasn't able to deliver on all those faerie tales, the dedicated Trumpkins were also intentionally giving the middle finger to the ‘Establishment’, both Democrats, and independents, and the established Party Republicans.
‘Burn the damn thing down’ is an acceptable Plan B for these folks. As long as he seems to be still capable of causing chaos and dismay among that majority of Americans to whom they lifted their middle finger, they will consider that Shorthands is doing an acceptable job.
They did do the one-week extension. Vote was 382-30, so the Democrats mostly voted for the extension as well (which means the Republicans pretty much folded on the notion of tossing in any riders on the extension itself--gotta piss off Shorthands, but there it is)
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So, they ended up salting their fields. That's happening today across our mid-west as they simultaneously drain the big aquifers under the Great Plains.
The whole scenario of why the Sumerians declined reminds me of quite a bit of what is happening today. For the United States, which has been blessed with an abundance of natural resources, it will be a challenge in the future if for some reason our water supplies dry up or are tainted with sea water. The aquifers are a huge problem, not just for agriculture, but for normal water usage by people during their daily lives. I can see where some areas may prove less desirable to live in, causing an internal migration to other areas within the country.
Another point I found fascinating in that video was the connection between the stories in the Bible, such as the great flood and the Arc, which are older than that written work. Someone I know who has read the entire Bible remarked that even if you are not a believer of the religion it is still an important historical document.
They're probably gonna run out of water before they poison the ground permanently. Then the place will have to go back to grassland and prairie. We may end up bringing back the buffalo to get a food supply that can use what'll grow there.
TrumpTweets: Yesterday's ‘tax rallies’ rattled him. There's two subjects about which he remains very twitchy, tax returns and his campaign connections with the Kremlin.
It's happened in other places too. The Aztecks for one and the ancient Khmeres in Cambodia. In both those cases it's believed that the populations exploded in numbers and they tapped out the surrounding area and got further and further away from sustiance, until they simply imploded.
Perhaps I should one more time, like a broken record, point out to Lynnette the perils of over population...
I believe you mistake the Aztec for the Mayans.
Might be.
"…the stories in the Bible, such as the great flood and the Arc,
which are older than that written work…"
The Jewish Bible (in the form it appears today) was compiled while the Jews were in captivity in Babylon.
I've been suspecting that today's referendum in Turkey would be rigged if it came in close enough to be rigged (assuming Erdoğan doesn't win honestly). Looks like that's how it's working out. Erdoğan's either won or it's close enough that he's gonna fix it. They've tinkered with the rules a little bit to allow some uncertified ballots to get counted, and that'll probably put Erdoğan's new constitution over the top.
I wonder, was the outcome in Turkey ever really in doubt?
That depends on whether you're talking about the vote, or about Erdoğan consolidating power in his own hands. There was an outside chance the ‘NO’ vote would be too large to conveniently ‘fix’. Polling in Turkey is rather unreliable. I think there was virtually zero chance that Erdoğan would have been deterred by having the vote go against him. (In fact that might have made things worse right off the bat, as he might have cracked down on the opposition harder, quicker. As things stand he'll consolidate his power with probably less immediate bloodshed than he would have visited upon Turkey had he lost the referendum.)
It's happened in other places too.
I have thought about a post on the Anasazi. But their story is a little depressing.
As things stand he'll consolidate his power with probably less immediate bloodshed than he would have visited upon Turkey had he lost the referendum.
And the slow death spiral of any democratic institutions will have begun. Thus another country will have slid into a dictatorship.
Why would I call China a currency manipulator when they are working with us on the North Korean problem? We will see what happens!
I kind of figured that was the trade. And possibly that Chinese abstention at the UN with regard to Syria was also thrown in.
The last information I had on the Anasazi left out the cannibalism angle. I'd heard most of the rest of it, but that was new.
"Polling in Turkey is rather unreliable."
Much like in America then. Because I seem to remember a whole lotta polls in the 'ol US of A being strikinly wrong just quite recently. Lol!
"Because I seem to remember a whole lotta polls in the 'ol US of A
being strikinly wrong just quite recently."
You should probably look again then. Most polls showed Hillary winning the popular vote by a small but solid margin. That's what happened. Where the pollsters erred, they nevertheless came in within their published margin of error for the most part. Trump's electoral win was a fluke--a football stadium worth of votes in just exactly the right places. That's why there are no ‘insignificant portions’ of his coalition.
So. Now we have a muslim dictatorship with a wannabe Sultan at its helm, bent on re-establishing the Ottoman Empire, as an important NATO member. Where do we go from there, I wonder.
Bullshit Lee. Even the NYT had a win for hillary at 90% plus in the last stages of the election campaign. It was an unexpected rout, and you know it. The pollsters got it way wrong.
"Even the NYT had a win for hillary at 90% plus in the last stages of
the election campaign."
That was a pundit's prediction, not a poll. You'll not find a poll, any poll, which reported its results in terms of ‘a win for hillary at --%’. That's not how they work. You have things yet to learn about polling it would seem.
No you do.
Studying up on your debate techniques by watching Trump I see.
I've decided that I think Shorthands is bluffing about taking ‘kinetic’ action against North Korea.
I don't think the Chinese are gonna step up and get his ass outta that sling either.
Best guess.
The last information I had on the Anasazi left out the cannibalism angle. I'd heard most of the rest of it, but that was new.
For me too. That was the depressing part.
I've decided that I think Shorthands is bluffing about taking ‘kinetic’ action against North Korea.
I think he has come out now and said that the Chinese were the solution. He's right, I think they are too, but you're right, I don't know if they are ready to put enough pressure on NK to make them sit up and take notice. I'm not sure, frankly, what would.
The art of the deal, according to Trump.
President Donald Trump, eager to stop rapid advances in North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, is signaling a break with decades of US policy as he looks to coax China into ramping up the pressure on North Korea.
Trump's sweetening the pot, offering China better trade terms if the Asian powerhouse takes steps to put North Korea's provocative behavior to rest. China accounts for 80% of North Korea's foreign trade and has significant political leverage over North Korea.
Trump doesn't seem to be able to look at all the facets of an issue when making his decisions.
" I don't know if they are ready to put enough pressure on NK to make
them sit up and take notice."
They're trying to expand their own influence in the region these days at the expense of our influence.
Given that, I can't think of any reason why they'd actually agree to do Trump's dirty work for him. The current status quo serves their interests better than almost any change in the status quo could be expected to serve their interests.
Trump seems to think they're ready to serve his interests for some reason that I can't figure. Why the hell would they want to serve him?
I'm thinkin’ they've already played him, and are now just waiting now for the end-game to sink in with him--that being, he's already been played.
"Trump's sweetening the pot, offering China better trade terms…"
Oh, that. Yeah, right. Trump can't deliver on that. That would have to be approved by the Senate, and that's not gonna happen. The Chinese know that. For some reason Trump seems to think they don't.
Here's the thing. If Trump had anything to offer China he wouldn't be dangling imaginary tidbits in public. The Chinese don't negotiate in public; they don't have to; it's not an open government where they have to get citizen approval. They make the deals, then they announce them; they don't negotiate in public. And they got no reason to wanna puff up Trump's image, no matter how much he wishes that was something they were just dying to do for him.
"…he's already been played."
Perhaps it'd be more accurate to say they've simply let him have enough rope, not bothered to tell him ‘Hell no’ just yet….
So far as I know, Shorthands' call to Erdoğan, congratulating Erdoğan on having successfully repealed democracy in Turkey, makes Shorthands unique among western national leaders.
"Shorthands' [congratulatory] call to Erdoğant…makes Shorthands unique
among western national leaders."
And, meantime, somebody in the White House has noticed that fact and had time to cogitate on it, and they're now tryin’ to walk it back.
Another special election, this time in Georgia. This one might be close.
"This one might be close."
It may be morning before we know how that one turns out.
On another front… Shorthands was telling us last week that he was sending the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (Nimitz class--one of the big ones) along with its entire ‛strike group’ to patrol off North Korean shores. He called it an ‛armada’ and said it was being sent to counter the North Korean threats.
Turns out that was BS of the first order.
The USS Carl Vinson, along with its entire strike group has been in naval practice maneuvers with the Australian Navy off the Australian coast. Never went to Korean waters. (Supposedly it's gonna make it into the general area of the Sea of Japan here someday soon, but no hints its actually scheduled to get anywhere near North Korea.). The ship was spotted in some pictures the Navy released just a day or so ago.
That's an ‛opps’.
The Navy has said they have no comment, and referred all inquiries to the White House, which has no comment and has referred all inquires to the Pentagon, which has no comment and said all inquires should be directed to the Navy's Pacific Command, which had no comment in the first place, which is how this whole circle got started.
It's almost certain that the North Koreans and the Chinese knew where the USS Carl Vinson was. They've got their own boats out there and they keep track of these things. So, Shorthands' bombast and bullshit about sending in warships to intimidate the North Koreans wasn't meant to fool the North Koreans. It was meant to fool his dedicated Trumpkins.
And, it appears to have worked--probably still works--probably keep on working. They probably still believe Trump sent in warships, and will keep on believing it, ‛cause this ain't gettin’ no press on Radio-Right-Wing, and will probably see precious little press, if any, on FoxNews.
The Georgia race reported in overnight. The Democrat, Jon Ossoff, wasn't able to bring it home, in spite of high hopes on the part of Democrats everywhere. (And some who aren't fully affiliated either way.). He only got to the high side of 48% of the vote. A Republican woman, name of Karen Handel, came in second; she got about 20% of the vote.
The Republicans are doing high fives and giggles on this one for having dodged a bullet here. They had 11 Republican candidates splitting their side of the vote, so they were worried the Democrat might pull it out with a 50% +1 margin and win outright in this, what is considered the ‘primary’ before the general election. (If he'd gotten 50% + that'd be the election right there and they'd not bother to do the later, ‘general’, election--calling it a done deal already. But, the Democrat didn't pull it off.)
Trump wasted no time in congratulating himself on Karen Handel's having dodged a bullet. That's hardly remarkable in and of itself. ‘Trump Grabs the Credit’ is a headline somewhat akin to ‘Sun Rises in the Morning’.
More important is that the Republicans are now expressing confidence that they've got this one in the bag when the general election rolls around in June. This is a Republican district they tell themselves--heavily gerrymandered to see to it that it stays just that way.
I'm not so sure ‘bout that. The Democrat got 48% of the vote in a jungle primary--he's only gotta pick up a couple of points from among the 16 people who've now had to drop out. The Republican has to pick up 30 points plus.
I think they may be celebrating too soon. If the Democrat had managed to win like 30% of the vote then I'd more prepared to accept their argument for their position, but he pulled down 48%+; he only needs a little under 2% out of that 32% that neither of them got the first time.
I think they probably still got a fight on their hands.
Word's going around Washington that Trump is wanting ‘a win’, something tangible and conspicuous he can point to as an actual accomplishment, something actually achieved in his first hundred days. And, he's nearly settled on ‘The Great Wall of Trump’. He's thinking hard about demanding that funding for his wall be included in any Continuing Resolution (needed by the 28th of the month to prevent a shutdown at midnight on the 28th).
I think it's very likely he's going to achieve a government shutdown instead (that or have to very publicly back down, which he won't like either). In fact, I think the Congressional Republicans may well have been in danger of managing to stumble into a government shutdown all by themselves, without any help from Shorthands; they'll be happy to blame it on him if they have to. (Prefer to blame it on Obama of course, failing that, at least blame it on the Democratic minorities still hangin’ ‘round Washington, but they'll settle for blaming it on Shorthands if that's all they got.)
I think they probably still got a fight on their hands.
I certainly hope so.
Shorthands was telling us last week that he was sending the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (Nimitz class--one of the big ones) along with its entire ‛strike group’ to patrol off North Korean shores. He called it an ‛armada’ and said it was being sent to counter the North Korean threats.
Turns out that was BS of the first order.
lol! I saw that. His real talent.
NK is a bait and switch propaganda issue, nothing more. Trump sunding tough.
As we here know a war against NK comes with way too disastrous consecuenses that Trump (commander in chief as he might be) would simply not be allowed to attack NK. The Joint Chiefs would shut that down and Congress would never allow for it.
And that's not on account of NK:s "nukes" but because of the Seoul reduced to ashes thing. It's NK:s non neuclear force that makes a attack at them impossible - nukes are just an icing on that cake.
Then again, NK is mainly a sock puppet for China. No matter how the regime hails its "glorious leaders" they would be dead in the waters if China cut 'em off. Which China won't do, because that might lead to a NATO-allied reunified Korea just at Chinas borders.
So status quo it is. For the foreseeable future.
As the story about the USS Carl Vinson makes clear, there's definitely a con going on, at least one, maybe more than one, maybe only one. It's hard to say now whether the Chinese were really stringing Shorthands along, or whether he just made that part up out of whole cloth ‘cause he thought it sounded good. It's possible the only one running a con here was Shorthands. (I'm also not sure ‘bait and switch’ is the right description for the con that's goin’ on, but that matters little; there's definitely a con going on.)
Speaking of cons going on… The Republicans are now trying to readjust their shell game on ObamaCare and again try to come up with something they can pass as a ‘Repeal and whatever’ for ObamaCare. Mostly they're just shuffling the same little cups they had on the table the last time they tried to run this shell game. But, they're desperate for ‘a win’ coming up on their first hundred days, so they're tryin’ it again.
And they only got five (5) working days ‘til the government shutdown. This shell game just make it all the more likely they miss their deadline on that too.
The shooting spree in Paris has been tagged now as a terrorist attack. So, who won the bet?
... they would be dead in the waters if China cut 'em off. Which China won't do, because that might lead to a NATO-allied reunified Korea just at Chinas borders.
Nor would China be happy with all the refugees if NK imploded.
And they only got five (5) working days ‘til the government shutdown. This shell game just make it all the more likely they miss their deadline on that too.
Which will leave them vulnerable to the wrath of all of those irate retirees out there.
A strange turn of events
A highly unusual and racially charged episode from the 2016 campaign suddenly resurfaced this week when a federal judge whom President Donald Trump repeatedly criticized was assigned to hear the case of a man who claims he was improperly deported.
Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was born in the US but is of Mexican heritage, was attacked by Trump last year over his handling of a lawsuit against Trump University. Trump claimed Curiel could not impartially hear the case because of his background and Trump's hardline immigration policies. The case was eventually settled.
Now, Curiel is assigned to hear the case of Juan Manuel Montes Bojorquez, 23, who his lawyers allege was deported from California to Mexico earlier this year despite having active protection under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA.
"Which will leave them vulnerable to the wrath of all of those irate
retirees out there."
The Social Security checks are cut by computers these days. They're on automatic and the folks who run the computers are considered ‘essential’ employees. So, those Social Security checks will go out anyway, but the guys who run the computers won't get their paychecks, even though they're expected to show up for work anyway.
Speaking of France, I see their election is in a couple days. I have to wonder if this attack was staged in an attempt to influence the outcome rather than just as a revenge attack.
The Social Security checks are cut by computers these days. They're on automatic and the folks who run the computers are considered ‘essential’ employees.
Huh! Dodged a bullet there. They can get vicious.
They seem to be allowing Shorthands to do his
TrumpTweets again, perhaps under supevision and some rules (like that'll last). None of those 3:00 am tweets from the shitter for one thing. And looks like an editor for the remainder. (I wonder who has actual possession of the new iPhone Tweeting Phone?)
Lee: "The shooting spree in Paris has been tagged now as a terrorist attack. So, who won the bet?"
No one yet. Zeyad's and my bet was on the next jihadi truck-attack. Not some random muslim terror attack with a Kalash. Some loser armed with an assault rifle who still managed only one kill while sacrificing his life for the "cause". Good thing they are so inept; could be a cultural thing but probably it's down to faulty genetics. So no, that doesn't count and our bet is still to be decided.
Lynnette: "Speaking of France, I see their election is in a couple days. I have to wonder if this attack was staged in an attempt to influence the outcome rather than just as a revenge attack."
Revenge against what? To low wellfare checks? Pork served in schools? Burkinis banned on public beaches? Someone making an "islamophobic" comment? France's old colonial rule? What exactly do you imagine would be the cause for a "revenge attack"?
And also no, I wouldn't think it was aimed at influencing the elections, most likely. But it might well be that it was chosen to happen at the time of the elections for maximum exposure. Or simply that the elections got this particular jihadi riled up enough to have his inevitable blowout.
What exactly do you imagine would be the cause for a "revenge attack"?
I don't think it is my imagination that is of concern.
"So no, that doesn't count and our bet is still to be decided."
Ah, so Zeyad picked France then.
It's going to be a nice day today, so I will have to work in my strawberry patch, try to remove some of the dead raspberry canes and generally work in the yard.
I'd really rather be reading a book, but somebody has to do it. *sigh*
Lee: "Ah, so Zeyad picked France then."
Yeah he did. And I picked Belgium. He then had a second pick which was Holland, and I countered with a second pick of Germany. But the original bet was which country got hit by a "Truck Of Love" (Zeyad's words - not mine), not just some random shooting or bombing. So it's still on.
Me: Belgium for first and Germany for Second.
Zeyad: France for first and Holland (the Netherlands, they are the same fyi) for second.
The bet being where a terrorist truck attack happens next.
That was quite obvious from the get go. But perhaps, now that I summarised it, also you understand?
(It is a morbid thing to bet on. I know. My reason for engagig is our whole situation here forces one to be either depressed or morbidly humourous about things)
Lynnette: "I'd really rather be reading a book, but somebody has to do it. *sigh*"
Why don't you just pay one of 'em illegals you propose should remain in America a few bucks so they could do it for you? That's what they're there for after all.
"But the original bet was which country got hit by a ‘Truck Of Love’…"
Yeah, I saw that part.
The 'ol US of A bringing in 1250 "refugees" (aka economic migrants) from the hellhole that is Australia:
https://www.rt.com/usa/385686-pence-refugee-dumb-deal-australia/
Prolly them really, really surpressed Rohingyas from Banglade... sorry Burma, who "fled" on boats for better economic prospects. There are a couple milliion more of 'em, is the USA goin' to take them in as well?
First flee from Bangladesh into Burma because bhuddist Burma, hellhole that it is, is still better than moslem Bangladesh - even for moslems apparently. Then sail on a now quite sea wosthy digny past the whole of South East Asia, where no-one wants you. Then approach Australia only to be turned back and interned at Papua Neu Guinea. Then saved finally by Trump allowing Obama insanities to stand. Brought to the USA. American and with a Dem voting card in hand. Grand!
Hell, why don't ya'll just airlift 'em outta Bangladesh and drop 'em into Oklahoma to begin with? Because it seems the present model of operation is less than effective, IMO.
Food for thought: Once when the KSA wanted to fund more mosques in Russia Putin just told 'em "yeah go for it but for every mosque ya'll build in Russia we're gonna fund and build a church in Saudi Arabia". That got that issue settled right there and then.
Of course there ARE mosques in Russia, there are 20 million muslims there or more, but few wahhabi Saudi ones.
Why, oh, why do we let these camel fucking inbred bastards from the south of Arabia pester our societies? Zeyad could probably testify it was the hordes coming up from the arabian peninsula that fucked his country up. Why do we allow the same? They shoud be met with razor wire tipped fences and machine guns - nothing else. Least Orban is wise to that, and the leaders of Poland and the Chezh Republic too. So there is hope.
"Then saved finally by Trump…"
Oddly enough, this gets very little play on Radio-Right-Wing or FoxNews. So, the dedicated Trumpkins don't even have to overlook it.
That's probably a good thing, at least from Shorthands' point of view. They're gonna have a whole lot of other things they're gonna have to overlook comin’ up in the fairly near future. Don't wanna wear out their capacity to overlook stuff in service to Shorthands the Incredible Dancing Bear before they run out of stuff they need to overlook.
"Food for thought: Once when the KSA wanted to fund more mosques in Russia…"
Actually, it was the Norwegians who did that. But Putin has an aggressive PR division going in Europe, and the Norwegians do not.
Post Script:
It is, just by the way, illegal to construct a church or openly practice Christianity in Saudi Arabia. There is no mechanism (short of declaring war on the House of Saud) by which Putin could either fund or build a Christian Church there. Putin's PR division seems to have oversold that story in your neck of the woods.
House Speaker, Paul Ryan, quietly let it be known today that there wasn't gonna be a House vote on Shorthands' newest run at ObamaCare this week. (Discussed earlier @ Thu Apr 20, 12:17:00 pm ↑↑) They've already got enough on their plate and got no room for that. Presumably Shorthands and his administrative spokesmen will quit promising that now.
Why don't you just pay one of 'em illegals you propose should remain in America a few bucks so they could do it for you?
They're never around when you need them.
But I did get all sorts of things done today, so I won't feel so guilty if I do slip off into a fictional world for a little while.
House Speaker, Paul Ryan, quietly let it be known today that there wasn't gonna be a House vote on Shorthands' newest run at ObamaCare this week...
I thought I also read somewhere that Ryan is vowing there will be no government shutdown. So perhaps that little tidbit is what they will be chewing on this week.
"I thought I also read somewhere that Ryan is vowing there will be no
government shutdown."
You probably did read that, because he did say that in a private phone gathering of the Republican Caucus. (Leaked, of course.) He was rather vague on just how he expected to pull that off. Presumably that's one of the things that's keeping the ObamaCare vote off the schedule this week.
The Kentucky Coal Mining Museum is switching to in-house solar power, solar panels on the rooftops, to save money. CNN Shorthands should probably take notice.
Thought for the day…
"The pundit consensus is that if [Trump] fails to deliver on jobs and key
legislation that he will be punished for it.
"Wrong.
"His main mission is to vex the political and media elite, period. It’s
essentially a mandate to entertain. If he does that, most of his
supporters—and the people who will never admit they are his
supporters—will be satisfied for quite some time."
Politico.com
The Kentucky Coal Mining Museum is switching to in-house solar power, solar panels on the rooftops, to save money.
The canary in the coal mine?
It is difficult to adapt to change, especially if the change affects your livelihood. But it has always been one of America's strengths, the ability to adapt. By trying to turn the clock back, Trump & Co. are merely weakening one of the positive aspects we have. In the long run, pursuing inefficient or environmentally harmful industries will only hurt us and will not contribute to a vibrant economy that might actually provide good paying jobs.
I was reading just yesterday about the shuttering of many bricks and mortar businesses and the declining of the American Malls. But just below that article was one about a teenager who started a business which sells much of it's product online. It has hit $1 million in sales and is only now breaking out into the physical retail stores. I know this is just one person, but his activity will have a ripple effect. Multiply that by thousands of people and you create jobs. But if you try to dictate what businesses will function in your country all you will end up with is inefficiency and stagnation like you see in places like North Korea.
Looks like Marine Le Pen will come in a fairly close second in the French Presidential elections and move on to the final round up against first place finisher Emmanuel Macron. Not a great day for her supporters, who included both Trump and Putin. But, at least she's still in it, technically.
Maybe not a great day for her, but perhaps it is for France. From what I hear the leader in the race, Macron, is more of a centrist.
Stuff I'm hearing today on Radio-Right-Wing is that Shorthands is doing everything he can to signal leaders across the Far East that he's preparing to attack North Korea. Other than Radio-Right-Wing, I'm not noticing anybody holding their breath on this one (and that includes FoxNews).
Shorthands is wholly unpredictable--he's simply not consistent nor reliable; he moves on whims, so it's hard to know if he's trying to get a bluff sent out to Krazy Kim or if he's just keeping his ‘base’ excited so they won't pay any attention to the upcoming ‘100 Days’ stuff that'll be coming out this week.
Sounds like they have a nuclear sub making port in South Korea.
I don't know, after watching the video in my current post and seeing the fake Mall the North Koreans have set up I have to wonder if maybe their military capability might not be also all for show. I am not sure how seriously we should take them.
"I am not sure how seriously we should take them."
Their soldiers get fed even in lean years, so they take them seriously.
Shorthands has backed down on his demand that The Great Wall of Trump get funded in upcoming funding bill. NBCNews He folded early. Clear sign the Congressional Democrats don't fear him (the Republicans either). We were earlier discussing the question of how long he could instill fear in his congressional delegation. We now have our answer--less than 100 days.
I don't think Kim Jung Un fears him either. (That bullshit about the aircraft carrier pretty well put an end to that.)
And, in what looks to be the beginning of another crawl down… Yesterday Shorthands took to calling his North Korean problem a ‘big world problem’, and ‘a real threat to the world’. The obvious implication is that all those slacker nations out there in the wide world need to be paying us to solve their problem for them. That's not gonna happen, so Shorthands gets to declare himself off the hook on reining in North Korea.
Yesterday Shorthands took to calling his North Korean problem a ‘big world problem’, and ‘a real threat to the world’.
Shorthand for they are China's problem.
I don't think Kim Jung Un fears him either. (That bullshit about the aircraft carrier pretty well put an end to that.)
Probably not a good idea to judge the US entirely by Trump's actions. He can be led, and if you piss off Congress you might make it real. Because while NK's missiles might be fake, ours aren't, wherever they may be lurking. If NK does actually try to make good on their threats against US targets, they may not like the result.
"Shorthand for they are China's problem."
He had no problem directly mentioning China when he was expecting to pressure China on the subject. He may have moved beyond that now. It may have finally occurred to Shorthands that the Chinese prefer the status quo to any changes that're likely to come about by applying additional pressure to Kim, and that they were just stringin’ him along all this time.
Leaks out of the Senate investigation into Russian interference in our last election seem to show that Michael Flynn, one-time Shorthands' Senior National Security Advisor, neglected to declare payments by the Russians that eventually ended up in his pockets (after a little bit of laundering, but obviously not enough laundering or they'd not have found the trail already). It's beginning to look like there's no way to claim innocence here--just too many payments left undeclared for it to have been accidental.
I'm also hearing that the Trump campaign has refused to comply with a request for the vetting documents on Flynn. These were requested to see if Flynn actually told Trump about the payments and then was allowed to file official disclosures which omitted them. That would be bad; that would tend to implicate Trump directly in the cover-up. But, so far Trump won't give up the documents to settle that question. They may resort to subpeonaes.
That would be bad; that would tend to implicate Trump directly in the cover-up.
Sounds familiar. Why? Where have I heard something like that happening before? Hmmm...I am sure it will come to me.
I'd hate to see Shorthands have to resign before his dedicated Trumpkins got the benefit of a full Trumping.
This is curious; Eli Lake at Bloomberg argues that Trump is not a fascist because he's incompetent; the implication being that fascists are competent by definition. Bloomberg doesn't usually go in for this sort of foolishness.
The White House has announced that they have finalized language for another run at ‘repeal and whatever’ for ObamaCare. They're gonna try once again to schedule a vote. This should get really interesting.
48 hours (47 actually; they're on Eastern Time) to a government shutdown.
The smart money says the Republicans don't even get close to an agreement in time and instead go for a short-term extension, maybe a week or so, to give themselves more time to figure out if they've got a shot at an agreement. They keep saying they got this one in the bag.
I ain't so sure ‘bout that.
Well, they've still got 64 hours (my computer was showing the wrong date; click icon and it fixes). I'm still looking for an extension and continued negotiation, the extra 24 hours notwithstanding.
I heard that Ivanka was actually booed when she appeared at an event in Germany when she tried to tout her father's support for families and women.
The smart money says the Republicans don't even get close to an agreement in time and instead go for a short-term extension, maybe a week or so, to give themselves more time to figure out if they've got a shot at an agreement.
I wouldn't bet against you on that.
Republicans in the House have put forward a one-week extension bill for the federal budget. (Bill put out by the House Appropriations Committee.) The terms are such that they'll be needing to pass it with Republican votes; Nancy Pelosi won't be supplying the votes to put this one over the top for Paul Ryan.
A recent CBS poll showed that 74% of Republicans now believe that Obama wiretapped Trump. link There's no talkin’ to these people; waste of time and effort. We just gotta get ‘em outnumbered.
Well, actually, we already got ‘em outnumbered, we just gotta get over their systemic political advantages.
I am amazed at the people out there who actually think that Trump is doing a good job.
You should remember that, as a backup plan in case Trump wasn't able to deliver on all those faerie tales, the dedicated Trumpkins were also intentionally giving the middle finger to the ‘Establishment’, both Democrats, and independents, and the established Party Republicans.
‘Burn the damn thing down’ is an acceptable Plan B for these folks. As long as he seems to be still capable of causing chaos and dismay among that majority of Americans to whom they lifted their middle finger, they will consider that Shorthands is doing an acceptable job.
Unfortunately they tend to remind me of these people. It is that kind of anarchy that leads to violent upheaval.
They did do the one-week extension. Vote was 382-30, so the Democrats mostly voted for the extension as well (which means the Republicans pretty much folded on the notion of tossing in any riders on the extension itself--gotta piss off Shorthands, but there it is)
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