Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Da Geezer]

You said your father gave you money when you graduated law school for your first real estate purchase.

I believe that I said he facilitated my first purchase. I was 16. He listed an 80a parcel for $ 800! It was landlocked, but he knew the farmer who had the property between the 80a and the road, so he arranged for an easement. I eventually sold the 80a (in ten acre parcels) for $ 8,000. While I used my own money, no question my father was the one who set the whole deal up.

My father died in 1992, surviving my mother, and left each of his kids $ 60,000. If that qualifies as being a trust baby, then I guess I'm guilty.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Mueller is not a Republican. He hired the 13 angry Democrats and put Weissman in charge.

Dershowitz recently wrote a book, The Case Against the Democrat House Impeaching Trump in which he makes the case that the witch hunt is harmful to the nation. He is on FOX every day. I doubt if it would ever happen, but Dershowitz is as close to a neutral party as you are going to find. He summers on Martha's Vinyard and complains that he is no longer invited to cocktail parties.

Dersh doesn't get invited to the cocktail parties any more because he's possibly a pedophile who got freebies from good pal Jeffrey Epstein. Which is why he's terrified of anything from that trial and plea deal getting unsealed. It's interesting to see him on different networks though, because he goes on MSNBC and occasionally CNN too. His tone re: Mueller changes based on which network he's on.

And Mueller is a lifelong Republican. Being a Trump throne-sniffer isn't a requirement to be a Republican. It infuriates sycophants to see someone with a backbone, who hasn't sacrificed all principle in service of a flabby, pathetic liar. It reminds them of everything they are not.

[Dr. Strangelove]

As Republicans rage and stew over the 81 letters (not even subpoenas!) sent out to 'innocent people' (including convicted felons Manafort and Cohen) as being unprecedented overreach and a total abuse of power...

Would anyone care to guess how many subpoenas the Republican Oversight Committee issued during the course of the Whitewater investigation?

1,285. Taken from page 12 of the below document

https://wayback.archive-it.org/4949/20141223215248/http://oversight-archive.waxman.house.gov/documents/20050124114637-71550.pdf

[Da Geezer]

Hey Geez -

Your statement is on thin eggshells ice:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/145496

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ddt-still-killing-birds-in-michigan/

http://11e.devbio.com/wt2404.html

https://web.stanford.edu/group/stanf...and_Birds.html

That is good research (except the last one from Stanford which is compiled by Paul Ehrlich). Thanks.

I notice that they are all about excessive concentrations of DDT in birds. I don't know what a "normal" concentration of DDT is, but most chemicals used in extreme amounts cause some physiological damage to the body. And I have no doubt that, used in large amounts, DDT would do the same. I'll just point to saccharine. It was declared a carcinogen when large amounts were used in rats and caused cancer. I never did gave up saccharine (I used to love Tab) but most folks did. New research shows that it is no more harmful than any other sweetener. But think of how many diabetics were "deprived" of sweetening when saccharine was the only substitute.

But, I'd like you to address the point that malaria deaths rose dramatically in underdeveloped countries in the 70s, particularly those countries with a hot, wet climate. My question is always "What is the cost-benefit analysis of a policy change"? Estimates are that an additional 2 million humans perished each year after these countries quit using DDT. The US could afford to come up with an anti-mosquito alternative, but poor countries could not. And as to Hack's claim that the bald eagle was endangered owing to DDT, well, that is only minimally correct. The primary reason the eagle came back, IMO, is that it was listed as an endangered and then threatened species and, importantly, THERE WAS A CONSENSUS IN THE US that we wanted to save the national symbol. The endangered species act works OK when the population is on board with saving a species. The population is not on-board with saving the delta smelt or the snail darter because those animals are just not essential to an ecosystem, and the trade-off is not being to use water resources for human benefit.

Additionally, The ESA deals with species that are primarily found in the US, unlike the Green New Deal which wants the US to go back to pre-industrial energy production with no way to compel India or China to lower their CO2 output. Are the costs (no air travel, lower meat production, retrofitting all buildings, use of light rail) worth the cost, not only in terms of dollars, but also in terms of what it would do to civil society.

[Jeff Buchanan]

As Republicans rage and stew over the 81 letters (not even subpoenas!) sent out to 'innocent people' (including convicted felons Manafort and Cohen) as being unprecedented overreach and a total abuse of power...

Would anyone care to guess how many subpoenas the Republican Oversight Committee issued during the course of the Whitewater investigation?

1,285. Taken from page 12 of the below document

Well, politics as usual.

I do think it's gotten out of hand, at least as it is depicted by the press. I also don't think Whitewater involved the scale of lying and misdeeds on the part of the Clinton's and their "thrown sniffers" compared to the scale, expansiveness and threat to national security posed by Trump and his thrown sniffer's misdeeds and lying.

[Da Geezer]

The making of the Fox News White House

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2...ws-white-house

Don't think there's a ton that's new in this piece...but:

1) The details on Fox being aware of all the Stormy Daniels stuff in 2016 is interesting. Supposedly Murdoch himself issued an order to not report it. Everyone involved in the original reporting and subsequent cover-up has either been fired or moved on.

2) Roger Ailes being forced out is when Fox switched over completely to fully pro-Trump. For all his faults Ailes insisted upon at least distance from him. There's no one around anymore that can say 'no' to Hannity. Murdoch is a absentee landlord in a sense: Ostensibly in charge but not around a lot.

3) The Federal government has done nothing to block the Fox/Disney merger, with Trump publicly congratulating Murdoch, while at the same time blocked Sinclair Broadcasting from its own merger (Sinclair being a conservative rival to Fox). Trump supposedly personally intervened and ordered Gary Cohn to force the Justice Department to block the AT&T/TIme Warner merger.

Supposed by whom? The controlled media?

I'll tell you what. I'll agree to watch an half-hour of either CNN or MSNBC each day if you will watch a half-hour of FOX. Don't watch Hannity, and I won't watch Morning Joe.

[Da Geezer]

Dersh doesn't get invited to the cocktail parties any more because he's possibly a pedophile who got freebies from good pal Jeffrey Epstein. Which is why he's terrified of anything from that trial and plea deal getting unsealed. It's interesting to see him on different networks though, because he goes on MSNBC and occasionally CNN too. His tone re: Mueller changes based on which network he's on.

And Mueller is a lifelong Republican. Being a Trump throne-sniffer isn't a requirement to be a Republican. It infuriates sycophants to see someone with a backbone, who hasn't sacrificed all principle in service of a flabby, pathetic liar. It reminds them of everything they are not.

What trial and plea deal?

[Dr. Strangelove]

Forgot to mention it yesterday, but Trump will almost certainly have to use his first veto of his Presidency as enough Senate Republicans are going to vote with the Dems against his 'national emergency'. Rand Paul decided to stand with the Constitution rather than Trump. With Paul as the deciding vote, other Republicans will probably feel more comfortable saying NO to Trump as well. It won't be enough to override a veto but it'll be embarrassing for the White House.

[Dr. Strangelove]

What trial and plea deal?

The Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking/pedophilia trial. Epstein was Dersh's client. He was directly involved in crafting the plea deal that has gotten Alex Acosta in a lot of hot water

And Esptein should be a bipartisan issue. He had powerful friends, including both Clinton and Trump.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/21/labor-secretary-alex-acosta-violated-the-rights-of-jeffrey-epsteins-sex-crime-victims-judge.html

[froot loops]

Anybody buying that Mueller Report nonsense on Amazon is way too gullible. It reminds me of the great line in Rounders, "Listen, here's the thing. If you can't spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, then you are the sucker."

[Jeff Buchanan]

This is a solid quick read on the subject of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) that was discussed a few weeks ago here. MMT is another one of AOC's (sadly also among other progressive Dems) economic platform planks along with the Green New Deal. The article does a good job of explaining how it's not going to work as a means of funding massive government spending on such things and, in fact, if it were pursued by a Democrat dominated Federal Government in 2020 and beyond could be highly inflationary. Do you think the bases that the Dems are trying to mobilize for 2020 will understand or, even if they do, care about the shaky reality of MMT? Nope.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/mo...teid=rss&rss=1

[iam416]

Neither Palin-Cortez nor her massive following are particularly attuned to reality or facts. Their dear leader has spoken:

"I think that there's a lot of people more concerned about being precisely, factually, and semantically correct than about being morally right."

[THE_WIZARD_]

crash...would you be offended if I told you to shut the fuck up?

Asking for a fiend.

[Jeff Buchanan]

What fiened? I'd like to know if, among your other questionable behaviors, you are hanging with fiends. These types are usually from the grave. Are you into this kind of shit now too?

[froot loops]

He's always been