Monday, November 7, 2016
They just don't have the balls
Personally, I think the filibuster is unconstitutional.
But that is neither here nor there.
The Democrats like it and anyway haven't the nerve to abolish it, even only for judicial appointments.
He picked this up from Josh Marshall
But the story says, first thing, this.
The Democratic senator for Minnesota, Al Franken, has accused Donald Trump of launching an antisemitic TV advertisement along the lines of the fake Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Pshaw.
It's worlds away from anything so egregious.
It's a crackpot, fringey right wing thing, anyway, to demonize both the Federal Reserve System and the globalist liberal billionaire George Soros.
And it was Jewish Bernie Sanders who for months alleged an insidious connection between corrupt Methodist Hillary and Goldman Sachs, a firm that was founded and is headed by Jews.
On the other hand, types like David Duke will certainly hear it as pointing to the menace of the Jews and globalist Jewish finance, confirming the Nazi line with which he is undoubtedly familiar.
A line that made great use of the Protocols, a forgery and a hoax widely believed to have originated with the Okrana.
It's a dog-whistle if that's intended by the Trump campaign.
Do we think the Trumpists inadvertently put this together, an ad that places an exclusively Jewish face on the evil forces threatening our precious bodily fluids?
And we need not suppose Trump is personally anti-Semitic to believe this is a dog-whistle.
Advised by Lee Atwater, Bush pere impersonated a coarse and stupid man to gain the votes of the coarse and stupid, and ran the Willie Horton ad, back in the day.
Of course, he may well have harbored racial contempt for American blacks, for all I know.
Do you realize that in addition to fluoridating water, why, there are studies underway to fluoridate salt, flour, fruit juices, soup, sugar, milk, ice cream?
Ice cream, Mandrake?
Children's ice cream!...
You know when fluoridation began?...
1946.
1946, Mandrake.
How does that coincide with your post-war Commie conspiracy, huh?
It's incredibly obvious, isn't it?
A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual, and certainly without any choice.
That's the way your hard-core Commie works.
I first became aware of it, Mandrake, during the physical act of love...
Yes, a profound sense of fatigue, a feeling of emptiness followed.
Luckily I — I was able to interpret these feelings correctly.
Loss of essence. I can assure you it has not recurred, Mandrake.
Women, er, women sense my power, and they seek the life essence.
I do not avoid women, Mandrake...but I do deny them my essence.
The brilliant and bitter film, Dr. Strangelove, satirized the American right - or maybe just the America - of the darkest years of the Cold War, and gave significant roles to various people touched by the Hollywood Blacklist.
Do you realize that in addition to fluoridating water, why, there are studies underway to fluoridate salt, flour, fruit juices, soup, sugar, milk, ice cream?
Ice cream, Mandrake?
Children's ice cream!...
You know when fluoridation began?...
1946.
1946, Mandrake.
How does that coincide with your post-war Commie conspiracy, huh?
It's incredibly obvious, isn't it?
A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual, and certainly without any choice.
That's the way your hard-core Commie works.
I first became aware of it, Mandrake, during the physical act of love...
Yes, a profound sense of fatigue, a feeling of emptiness followed.
Luckily I — I was able to interpret these feelings correctly.
Loss of essence. I can assure you it has not recurred, Mandrake.
Women, er, women sense my power, and they seek the life essence.
I do not avoid women, Mandrake...but I do deny them my essence.
The brilliant and bitter film, Dr. Strangelove, satirized the American right - or maybe just the America - of the darkest years of the Cold War, and gave significant roles to various people touched by the Hollywood Blacklist.
Sunday, November 6, 2016
Again, nothing
FBI Director Comey says agency won’t recommend charges over Clinton email
Having cost her most of her lead, he at last admits there was nothing to it.
Again.
Decades of accusations and investigations and fishing expeditions that have all come to nothing are what Republicans have used to brand Hillary with the label, "Crooked Hillary" in the eyes of the public.
This was just Republican Comey adding his brick to the wall.
FBI Director James B. Comey notified key members of Congress Sunday afternoon that after reviewing all of the newly discovered Hillary Clinton emails the agency stands by its original findings against recommending charges.
Comey wrote that investigators had worked “around the clock” to review all the emails found on a device used by former congressman Anthony Weiner that had been sent to or from Clinton and that “we have not changed our conclusions expressed in July.”
The conclusion from Comey provided one last twist to the 2016 presidential campaign and came just two days before Clinton will face Republican Donald Trump on Election Day.
Comey had upended the campaign just over a week ago, when he alerted Congress that new emails had been located that were related to Clinton’s use of a private server as secretary of state.
Having cost her most of her lead, he at last admits there was nothing to it.
Again.
Decades of accusations and investigations and fishing expeditions that have all come to nothing are what Republicans have used to brand Hillary with the label, "Crooked Hillary" in the eyes of the public.
This was just Republican Comey adding his brick to the wall.
FBI Director James B. Comey notified key members of Congress Sunday afternoon that after reviewing all of the newly discovered Hillary Clinton emails the agency stands by its original findings against recommending charges.
Comey wrote that investigators had worked “around the clock” to review all the emails found on a device used by former congressman Anthony Weiner that had been sent to or from Clinton and that “we have not changed our conclusions expressed in July.”
The conclusion from Comey provided one last twist to the 2016 presidential campaign and came just two days before Clinton will face Republican Donald Trump on Election Day.
Comey had upended the campaign just over a week ago, when he alerted Congress that new emails had been located that were related to Clinton’s use of a private server as secretary of state.
Who knew?
Not me.
Putin makes Steven Seagal, action film star, a Russian citizen
Steven Seagal became a Russian citizen on Thursday, per a decree from Vladimir Putin.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Under the Russian constitution, the president has authority over ‘issues of citizenship of the Russian Federation and the granting of asylum.'”
The black belt martial artist-turned-action movie star “has been insistent for a long time in asking to be granted Russian citizenship,” Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Russia.
“He is known for his warm feelings to our country, he never made a secret of it, and he’s also a well-known actor, which gave grounds to make him a Russian citizen.”
Seagal became enthralled with Putin after the Russian president enlisted him as part of a physical fitness campaign ahead of the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
“The first time I walked into his home I saw a life-sized statue of Kano Jigoro, who is the founder of judo,” Seagal told Russian media after meeting Putin, “so I was immediately taken and impressed and sort of wanting to get to know this man deeper and deeper.”
Wikipedia
Putin makes Steven Seagal, action film star, a Russian citizen
Steven Seagal became a Russian citizen on Thursday, per a decree from Vladimir Putin.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Under the Russian constitution, the president has authority over ‘issues of citizenship of the Russian Federation and the granting of asylum.'”
The black belt martial artist-turned-action movie star “has been insistent for a long time in asking to be granted Russian citizenship,” Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Russia.
“He is known for his warm feelings to our country, he never made a secret of it, and he’s also a well-known actor, which gave grounds to make him a Russian citizen.”
Seagal became enthralled with Putin after the Russian president enlisted him as part of a physical fitness campaign ahead of the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
“The first time I walked into his home I saw a life-sized statue of Kano Jigoro, who is the founder of judo,” Seagal told Russian media after meeting Putin, “so I was immediately taken and impressed and sort of wanting to get to know this man deeper and deeper.”
Wikipedia
The Russian public is as stupid as ours
Putin fans and Trump fans are well matched for stupidity
Win or lose, Trump already a boon for Putin’s propaganda
According to Russian public opinion polls, more than half of Russians consider a nuclear war between Russia and the United States possible, with most blaming the United States for it.
The most troubling part is that unlike in Soviet times, Russians supposedly don’t tend to view such a war as a doomsday scenario but as a manageable conflict.
Win or lose, Trump already a boon for Putin’s propaganda
According to Russian public opinion polls, more than half of Russians consider a nuclear war between Russia and the United States possible, with most blaming the United States for it.
The most troubling part is that unlike in Soviet times, Russians supposedly don’t tend to view such a war as a doomsday scenario but as a manageable conflict.
Brexit leader Farage threatens violence in the streets
How very like the Trump he so admires, and who so admires him.
Brexiters won by a hair in a single, foolish referendum.
A single, one-time vote by a simple popular majority is to make the most momentous constitutional and political decision for the UK since The Second World War.
The Framers of the American Constitiution would have absolutely flipped out at such a ludicrous and terrifying idea.
And many Brits feel the same way.
And many Brits feel the same way.
The Brexiters rightly fear a second referendum.
But Corbyn and the anti-Brexit politicians don't have the political courage to take advantage of the opportunity presented by the court decision that Theresa May cannot trigger Article 50 on her own, and must allow Parliament to decide what to do about Brexit and how to move ahead.
Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, Mr Corbyn said Labour would vote against Mrs May unless she adopted the "Brexit bottom lines".
He said: "These must be the basis of the negotiations. And it doesn't necessarily cause a delay.
"The court has thrown a big spanner in the works by saying Parliament must be consulted. We accept the result of the referendum.
"We are not challenging the referendum. We are not calling for a second referendum. We're calling for market access for British industry to Europe."
Mrs May has issued a stern warning to MPs and peers who "regret the referendum result" that said that they "need to accept what the people decided".
. . . .
Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, warned this morning that any attempts to overturn the results of the referendum risked "political anger the likes of which none of us in our lifetimes have ever witnessed".
He told the BBC's Andrew Marr show: "We may have seen Bob Geldof and 40,000 people in Parliament Square moaning about Brexit," he said.
"But believe you me if people in this country think that they're going to be cheated, they're going to be betrayed, then we will see political anger the likes of which none of us in our lifetimes have ever witnessed in this country.
"The temperature of this is very, very high. I'm going to say to everybody watching this who was on the Brexit side, let's try and get even, let's have peaceful protest and let's make sure in any form of election we don't support people who want to overturn this process."
Asked whether that could mean "disturbances in the street", he replied: "Yeah, I think that's right."
A valuable lesson in reality by Ben Fountain in The Guardian
I wish they would leave this page up forever.
The Big Con: what is really at stake on election day
This is a frank account of what is at stake in the battle over Big Government, the relentless efforts of the radical, right-wing revolutionaries who control the Republican Party to erase the achievements of more than a century of political and economic progressivism, met by efforts of the Democrats and their supporters to defend and expand them.
The real scoop on and history of bare-knuckle capitalism and progressivism in America.
The Big Con: what is really at stake on election day
This is a frank account of what is at stake in the battle over Big Government, the relentless efforts of the radical, right-wing revolutionaries who control the Republican Party to erase the achievements of more than a century of political and economic progressivism, met by efforts of the Democrats and their supporters to defend and expand them.
The real scoop on and history of bare-knuckle capitalism and progressivism in America.
Portrait of a serial killer
Sex offender who chained up woman killed at least seven, say police
The man arrested after authorities found a woman chained on his property in rural South Carolina killed at least seven people, and his confessions have solved a 13-year-old case, Sheriff Chuck Wright said on Saturday.
Todd Kohlhepp confessed he was the shooter who killed four people at a motorcycle shop in Spartanburg County in 2003, Wright said.
“God is good,” he said. The community is no longer wondering who’s responsible for the “four people who were brutally murdered”.
Body found at home of South Carolina sex offender as kidnap details emerge
His confession came one day before the 13th anniversary of the deaths of the owner, the service manager, the mechanic and the bookkeeper of Superbike Motorsports in Chesnee.
. . . .
When Kohlhepp was 15 and facing charges, he raped a neighbor after forcing her into his home at gunpoint and tying her up.
Kohlhepp’s father told court officials the only emotion the teen was capable of showing was anger and a neighbor called him a “devil on a chain”.
Fifteen years after Kohlhepp was released from prison for that crime, Spartanburg County deputies were brought to his property by the last known cell phone signals of two missing people.
On Thursday, they found a woman chained in a container for two months.
She told investigators that Kohlhepp shot and killed her boyfriend in front of her.
. . . .
Kohlhepp is charged with kidnapping the woman.
Authorities say more charges are coming.
It was an abrupt, but perhaps not unexpected turn for a man who spent his 20s in prison, but after his release managed to get a private pilot licence, build a real estate firm with more than a dozen agents and buy land and erect a fence around it, said to have cost $80,000.
On that land, dozens of officers continued to search on Saturday for any additional bodies after the woman told investigators Kohlhepp claimed to have killed at least four others.
As a teen, Kohlhepp was said to be cold and callous.
He went to his 14-year-old rape victim’s house after talking to her parents and making sure they wouldn’t be home.
He was smart, angry and felt the world owed him something, his chief probation officer wrote in court papers in Arizona in 1987.
. . . .
The 45-year-old had to register as a sex offender after his release from prison in Arizona.
But that didn’t stop him from becoming an apparently successful real estate agent.
Kohlhepp followed the rules and admitted he had a felony conviction when he applied for his real estate license in 2006.
But his letter explaining the charge was full of lies.
He said he argued with his girlfriend, police were called, he had a gun and was caught up in a crackdown on gun violence.
Police said Kohlhepp had a crush on the 14-year-old girl, who was friendly, but not romantic toward him.
After raping her, he said he would kill her six-year-old and three-year-old siblings, whom she was babysitting, if she called the police.
His first question to officers when he was arrested was how long he was going to have to spend in prison, according to court papers.
. . . .
But even as his father felt he couldn’t be helped, and as the neighbour recounted how Kohlhepp laughed when her son cried as he rolled him down the street locked in a dog carrier, court records show Kohlhepp’s still had one supporter in 1987 — his mother.
She wrote a letter asking the judge to send Kohlhepp to his grandparents instead of prison.
“He even walked the girl home,” she wrote. “Does that sound like a dangerous criminal?”
The man arrested after authorities found a woman chained on his property in rural South Carolina killed at least seven people, and his confessions have solved a 13-year-old case, Sheriff Chuck Wright said on Saturday.
Todd Kohlhepp confessed he was the shooter who killed four people at a motorcycle shop in Spartanburg County in 2003, Wright said.
“God is good,” he said. The community is no longer wondering who’s responsible for the “four people who were brutally murdered”.
Body found at home of South Carolina sex offender as kidnap details emerge
His confession came one day before the 13th anniversary of the deaths of the owner, the service manager, the mechanic and the bookkeeper of Superbike Motorsports in Chesnee.
. . . .
When Kohlhepp was 15 and facing charges, he raped a neighbor after forcing her into his home at gunpoint and tying her up.
Kohlhepp’s father told court officials the only emotion the teen was capable of showing was anger and a neighbor called him a “devil on a chain”.
Fifteen years after Kohlhepp was released from prison for that crime, Spartanburg County deputies were brought to his property by the last known cell phone signals of two missing people.
On Thursday, they found a woman chained in a container for two months.
She told investigators that Kohlhepp shot and killed her boyfriend in front of her.
. . . .
Kohlhepp is charged with kidnapping the woman.
Authorities say more charges are coming.
It was an abrupt, but perhaps not unexpected turn for a man who spent his 20s in prison, but after his release managed to get a private pilot licence, build a real estate firm with more than a dozen agents and buy land and erect a fence around it, said to have cost $80,000.
On that land, dozens of officers continued to search on Saturday for any additional bodies after the woman told investigators Kohlhepp claimed to have killed at least four others.
As a teen, Kohlhepp was said to be cold and callous.
He went to his 14-year-old rape victim’s house after talking to her parents and making sure they wouldn’t be home.
He was smart, angry and felt the world owed him something, his chief probation officer wrote in court papers in Arizona in 1987.
. . . .
The 45-year-old had to register as a sex offender after his release from prison in Arizona.
But that didn’t stop him from becoming an apparently successful real estate agent.
Kohlhepp followed the rules and admitted he had a felony conviction when he applied for his real estate license in 2006.
But his letter explaining the charge was full of lies.
He said he argued with his girlfriend, police were called, he had a gun and was caught up in a crackdown on gun violence.
Police said Kohlhepp had a crush on the 14-year-old girl, who was friendly, but not romantic toward him.
After raping her, he said he would kill her six-year-old and three-year-old siblings, whom she was babysitting, if she called the police.
His first question to officers when he was arrested was how long he was going to have to spend in prison, according to court papers.
. . . .
But even as his father felt he couldn’t be helped, and as the neighbour recounted how Kohlhepp laughed when her son cried as he rolled him down the street locked in a dog carrier, court records show Kohlhepp’s still had one supporter in 1987 — his mother.
She wrote a letter asking the judge to send Kohlhepp to his grandparents instead of prison.
“He even walked the girl home,” she wrote. “Does that sound like a dangerous criminal?”
Saturday, November 5, 2016
Remember the conservatives' dream of "ecumenical Jihad"?
Even Pat Buchanan signed on, back in the day.
A socially conservative Catholic cleric, Peter Kreeft, in 1996 urged that Catholics and conservative Protestants and Jews ally themselves with Muslims and other religions, globally, to resist the global liberal, anticlerical, sexual, and cultural revolution.
That fantasy died on 9/11/2001.
This is what real culture war looks like.
ISIS seizing boys as young as 9 to fight in Mosul, UN warns
One of the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram has been found — with a 10-month-old baby
ISIS
Islamists March in Jakarta, Demanding Christian Governor Be Jailed
A socially conservative Catholic cleric, Peter Kreeft, in 1996 urged that Catholics and conservative Protestants and Jews ally themselves with Muslims and other religions, globally, to resist the global liberal, anticlerical, sexual, and cultural revolution.
That fantasy died on 9/11/2001.
This is what real culture war looks like.
ISIS seizing boys as young as 9 to fight in Mosul, UN warns
One of the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram has been found — with a 10-month-old baby
ISIS
Islamists March in Jakarta, Demanding Christian Governor Be Jailed
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