Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[iam416]

Sure. But, look, she's getting a ton of positive press. Now, maybe it's just because she's offering up a lot right now -- SHE'S GOTTA PLAN FOR THAT!!!! -- but there's rarely any pushback.

Also, I disagree re her personality -- I actually think she's a good campaigner -- I've come around on that.

I still tend to think Biden wins with almost an "Obama Strategy" -- win all the R states and stay somewhat afloat in the D states. I think the dreaded #GentryProgs are looking for anyone but Biden. They'll cast their lot with whomever comes out of the early primaries as a front-runner. The non-coastal part of the country is going to go Biden (IMO). But it ain't gonna be easy for him. I should refine my statement -- I think Biden is the clear favorite, but I'd still bet on the field -- so I have him at less than 50%.

[Dr. Strangelove]

[Hannibal]

I expect Biden to drop like a rock once the debates start and people have had a chance to see the candidates up close. The guy is horribly uninspiring, besides being a gaffe machine. IMHO the time is ripe for the Democrats to pick an ideologue and not just UnTrump, as long as it is somebody whose personality isn't totally offputting. If I were a Leftist I know who I would want.

I might vote in the Dem primary and just go full Accelerationist. The 2016 election was our last hope at having some sort of elected Republican leadership put a hard stop to the creep of Socialism and the Loony kook Left. But Trump has gotten absolutely nothing meaningful done and it has become clear that the Republican Party has no will for anything except for confirming judges who will overturn Roe vs. Wade. One day, when we are living in Weimar Republic 2.0, experiencing economic collapse and praying that the Thought Police don't haul us off to prison for saying that there are only two genders, we Conservatives can comfort ourselves in knowing that at least our judges made abortion illegal.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Before the arguing took over I did want to make mention that in the past 48 hours, the Houftis lobbed a cruise missile into a Saudi airport, an Iranian offshore rig mysteriously caught fire, and now two tanker ships get torpedoed while heading towards the Persian Gulf. All the sailors were rescued by Iran.

Iran is the most likely culprit but what do they have to gain here? Maybe there are factions trying to provoke a conflict?

[Dr. Strangelove]

I expect Biden to drop like a rock once the debates start and people have had a chance to see the candidates up close. The guy is horribly uninspiring, besides being a gaffe machine. IMHO the time is ripe for the Democrats to pick an ideologue and not just UnTrump.

[Cody_Russell]

I expect Biden to drop like a rock once the debates start and people have had a chance to see the candidates up close. The guy is horribly uninspiring, besides being a gaffe machine. IMHO the time is ripe for the Democrats to pick an ideologue and not just UnTrump.

[Hannibal]

I see your point but if you ask me, Biden is one of the worst choices running in that regard.

[froot loops]

I'm not sure being a gaffe machine is the problem it was for Biden in his previous campaigns. It probably isn't even an issue anymore. If anything his achilles heel maybe taking the Hillary Clinton approach to the campaign as far as actively campaigning. In my opinion you have possibly 5 other people in Warren, Buttigieg, Sanders, Harris and O'Rourke. Of those 5 I think Sanders has the lowest ceiling.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Office of Special Counsel says Kellyanne Conway should be fired for numerous, frequent, and repeated violations of the Hatch Act. Says she has shown contempt and disregard for the law.

lol good luck enforcing that recommendation.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I........ In my opinion you have possibly 5 other people in Warren, Buttigieg, Sanders, Harris and O'Rourke. Of those 5 I think Sanders has the lowest ceiling.

Biden isn't going to survive as a viable candidate over the summer. Too equivocal, will be seen as too much like Obama was during his presidency, completely uninspiring to the #GentryProgs and hard-left. Sanders is un-electable. Moderate voters in Red and Blue states will kill his bid to represent the D's in November. That leaves the other three that have been mentioned and Warren probably has the highest ceiling among them.

Trump will absolutely kill Pocahontas. Not even a decent footrace. Party leaders probably know this but can't do a damn thing about it. FDR or JFK aren't walking through the democratic convention door to save the day.

Pelosi's (and the D's for that matter) only chance of getting rid of Trump is to initiate impeachment proceedings and have Shumer tie up and gag McConnell along with a couple of Rs and put them in the basement when the conviction vote is taken.

...... I will continue to enjoy Jon's posts regarding the "traitor in chief."

[froot loops]

Biden isn't going to survive as a viable candidate over the summer. Too equivocal, will be seen as too much like Obama was during his presidency, completely uninspiring to the #GentryProgs and hard-left. Sanders is un-electable. Moderate voters in Red and Blue states will kill his bid to represent the D's in November. That leaves the other three that have been mentioned and Warren probably has the highest ceiling among them.

Trump will absolutely kill Pocahontas. Not even a decent footrace. Party leaders probably know this but can't do a damn thing about it. FDR or JFK aren't walking through the democratic convention door to save the day.

Pelosi's (and the D's for that matter) only chance of getting rid of Trump is to initiate impeachment proceedings and have Shumer tie up and gag McConnell along with a couple of Rs and put them in the basement when the conviction vote is taken.

...... I will continue to enjoy Jon's posts regarding the "traitor in chief."

Yeah I guess Man, MAGA!!!!!

[Dr. Strangelove]

[Jeff Buchanan]

On the tanker attacks ...... this is really weird. Iran has nothing to gain by undertaking this action independently or supporting the Houthis in carrying it out. It was an early morning EDT time event so, you could argue it was undertaken to affect the markets and oil prices. SA involved? That would be incredibly stupid on their part but then again, Kashoggi. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)? I think this is highly likely. Fits the terrorist groups MO.

The markets sank on the initial news and oil prices rose (but not substantially). Now markets are back up again and oil is around $62pb. These kinds of moves following a potentially destabilizing event like this are powered by big investors and fund holders. There's plenty of evidence this crowd has inside sources a phone call away. So, relax. We aren't going to war in the Persian Gulf with Iran over this. It will, however, be interesting to see what the USN does and what awkward tweets PDJT makes.

USN's Special Warfare Command and the USA's Special Operations Forces both have a presence in Yemen. They are both limited in scale and scope although by design we don't know much about what they do. But, in general, both are assisting the Gulf Cooperation Council's (GCC) efforts to reduce terrorist threats, whether carried out by Iranian proxies or by AQAP, to the Council's national and regional interests.

Stay tuned.

[iam416]

I'm all for anything that gets KellyAnne Conway off the air, but it did prompt me to look at the Hatch Act. Whoa. I can see why Justices Brennan and Thurgood Marshall thought it unconstitutional. I can't read the letter, but I assume she violated this provision:

(10) Endorsing or opposing a candidate in a partisan election in a political advertisement, a broadcast, campaign literature, or similar material;

So, you can endorse or oppose candidates on the stump, but no in a broadcast. It's also permissible for federal employees to

(2) Express his or her opinion as an individual citizen privately and publicly on political subjects and candidates;

That is, no federal employee (other than Prez, VP) can go on TV and, in their official capacity, speak pro or con on a race. Interesting.

In any event, the law is the law. LOCK HER UP!

[Jeff Buchanan]

Also in interesting world news ........ the Hong Kong protests. What's being protested is a proposed law that would allow, if enacted, Hong Kongers to be extradited to China. If you are a dissident residing in Hong Kong and criticizing the Chines government, you can expect to be extradited to China and sent to a gulag for re-education.

So what you say. Their problem. Well, maybe. The Chinese have already accused "foreign actors" of fomenting the protest then materially supporting the protesters with such things as how to protest and make, like, Molotov cocktails. Still too far off to worry about? Maybe not.

Global businesses, the big guys, set up shop in Hong Kong because of it's proximity to the Chinese market. It's also a really nice city full of "Crazy Rich Asians." Rich people don't like political instability and dangerous conditions. Businesspeople don't like that either and risk a well-connected Chinese competitor dragging them into a hostile jurisdiction. Therefore, they shutter their doors and leave. Some are already doing that. You want to squeeze the Chinese economically to extract trade concessions? Not a bad way to go about doing it.