Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Jeff Buchanan]

need to do what florida is trying to do--make rioting and assault on police a mandatory 6 month jail term

This is getting a lot of coverage in S. FL. As you'd expect woke libs have already started crying foul:

"It's a targeted attack on Black and brown protesters that are using peaceful assembly to speak about systemic racism in this country," said Lakey Love with the Tallahassee Community Action Committee.'

Read about what Desantis wants the legislature to pass here:

https://www.flgov.com/2020/09/21/gov...rotection-act/

I don't get that the media in opinion pieces don't just rip this kind of shit, but, wait, the threat of being called racists has silenced responsible voices speaking against it. Not saying anything new here but that this isn't getting called out by the legitimate press and vocally in social media is disturbing to me ..... maybe social media is countering it. I wouldn't know, I don't go there. I've read here that posts furthering violence in the name of "social justice" remain while those calling shit like that out get pulled. Wrong on so many levels. Rational debate where it matters - not on social media but in legislatures, Governor's and Mayor's offices - is silent. Action by law enforcement to combat looting and burning is absent.

The US is facing an unprecedented threat being mounted by "enemies both foreign and domestic." Yet, calling out the Guard, US Marshalls or local police to enforce the law and restore order is fraught with problems in the current environment. When racial tensions, looting, burning and violence surged in the early 60s and even subsequent to that, I don't recall there being the kind of vocal objections to it to restore order that there has been now. There never was this protesting and action to neuter law enforcement with citizens taking up arms to defend property when the law enforcement won't. Nor did officials responsible for ordering the Guard or US Marshals or local police to act shun their responsibility by oath to protect and defend cowering in fear over name calling. The whole scene is absurd. Fuck that. I can no longer abide by "D's will D" and then watch America burn.

[iam416]

The whole scene is absurd. Fuck that. I can no longer abide by "D's will D" and then watch America burn.

And what a great option we have if we have in November! I'm almost certainly going to vote how you vote and feel how you feel doing so.

As to the substance, the problem with "Narratives" that eventually go to court is that there ain't no Narrative, Media Bullshit or otherwise in a grand jury room or courtroom. It's the FACTS, the LAW and the law applied to the facts. And those facts are examined closely. The Louisville grand jury was, IMO, completely right for the reasons Mike has so fairly and plainly laid out. You can't change those facts. For that matter, I feel almost certain that Ellison grossly overcharged in Minnesota. I think Chauvin will PROBABLY get convicted, but the other 3....man....I don't think so.

And when the Narrative is disrupted by crazy things like, you know, facts and law, the only answer is burn it all down. Everything. That's the D way and Ds are defiitely going D on race.

[Mike]

Kudos to Desantis. That reads like a list of common sense to any intellectually honest person. To be against the "Combatting Violence, Disorder and Looting and Law Enforcement Protection Act" is to be FOR violence, disorder and looting while viewing law enforcement as the bad guys.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Amid the torrent of bad COVID news .... most of which I'm ignoring because as usual deaths being at the forefront of it lacks context - is good news about vaccines and therapeutics. First J&J has started Phase III trials of a single dose vaccine that has promise. It won't be available in front of the other front runners looking at limited introduction this year, instead probably in the first quarter of 2021. The ridiculous polarization of the vaccine development process disgusts me (not as much as America burning though). Vaccines are going to play out, we'll get them and this COVID shit will be behind us at some point.

In other good news, a paper published on Monday in Science, researchers looking at SARS-CoV-2 note that common-cold-causing rhinoviruses have a similar target pocket that can be exploited and drugs that fit into the pocket by mimicking fatty acids like LA have lessened symptoms in human clinical trials. This suggests, they say, that drugs developed to target the pocket on the coronavirus spike protein might help eliminate COVID-19.

Just read the summary at the link, you'll get the drift.

https://science.sciencemag.org/conte...cience.abd3255

The problem in actualizing this good news are other things that disgust me. One of the big ones is Congresses failure to provide additional economic stimulus. It is because of this and the failure to quell the internal and external threat to domestic tranquility and our way of life that I fear for America's future. With COVID potentially solved, what will be left if the US economy craters like I expect it to do sometime around late October?

[Dr. Strangelove]

Based on what I heard from Pat Toomey this morning, putting another stimulus aside, additional airline bailouts aren't happening either

[Hannibal]

A peaceful Democrat throws a bottle of peace

[Hannibal]

As to the substance, the problem with "Narratives" that eventually go to court is that there ain't no Narrative, Media Bullshit or otherwise in a grand jury room or courtroom. It's the FACTS, the LAW and the law applied to the facts. And those facts are examined closely. The Louisville grand jury was, IMO, completely right for the reasons Mike has so fairly and plainly laid out. You can't change those facts.

I don't feel quite as confident about this. Facts and law prevailed in Kentucky because a Republican was in charge of making the decision. In Democrat locales the facts won't matter and we have already seen cases where the DA pressed charges because of outside pressure (e.g. the Omaha bar owner). That means that fates are decided in a courtroom and I don't have as much faith as you do that a jury will make the right decision. The facts are clearly on the side of Kyle Rittenhouse, but he is in jail because the Left wants to make an example out of miltiamen and people who employ self defense. Ditto for the Omaha bar owner, who was cancelled by his landlord as a result of the incident. I think that Rittenhouse will likely get off because he had the good fortune of his case being high profile enough to attract a good lawyer, but without some of those camera angles, things could have turned out much different.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Hundreds of Generals and Admirals sign a letter endorsing Biden, saying Trump lacks both the character and judgment to serve as CIC.

I had no idea who this Paul Selva guy was before this article, but he was Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs until last year. #2 at the Pentagon. Had lots of interaction with Trump and briefed him at times. According to some reporters he's the most eyebrow-raising name on the list, had never come out against Trump before.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/more-200-retired-generals-admirals-endorse-biden-including-some-who-n1240842

[Dr. Strangelove]

Macron and Putin had a phone call last week that's being called a 'disaster' for Putin in Europe. Amazing stuff being leaked to the French press.

Macron didn't expect to get the truth but Putin went for the dumbest, most outrageous lies about Navalny poisoning himself (with a military-grade nerve agent only found on Russian military bases). Macron considered it an insult to his intelligence and was (according to some) yelling at Putin over the phone. "Do you think I am some Russian peasant, you can lie to with ease?". European leaders are pissed at Putin for not just doing this but doing it in such a clumsy, arrogant fashion that it's forcing them to act.

https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-call-to-macron-on-navalny-disaster-hurt-russia-sources-2020-9

[Hannibal]

TBF Putin can't be faulted for thinking that Macron is an intellectual lightweight.

[Mike]

Hundreds of Generals and Admirals sign a letter endorsing Biden, saying Trump lacks both the character and judgment to serve as CIC.

I had no idea who this Paul Selva guy was before this article, but he was Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs until last year. #2 at the Pentagon. Had lots of interaction with Trump and briefed him at times. According to some reporters he's the most eyebrow-raising name on the list, had never come out against Trump before.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/202...e-who-n1240842

This is why the 2020 election sucks so much. There's no question Trump is unqualified, disinterested, indifferent, lazy, incompetent, self-serving... But his presence in the White House keeps the ball away from the Left, which, as we see every day, has completely lost their fucking minds. I'm choosing between someone I absolutely despise and someone I actually like and voted for in the primary... and it's a coin flip at this point.

[Cody_Russell]

Riots (or protests... don't want to be racist), stock market sell off, and COVID out of control in some European countries (France). Aww hell.

[THE_WIZARD_]

...

[iam416]

Macron didn't expect to get the truth but Putin went for the dumbest, most outrageous lies about Navalny poisoning himself (with a military-grade nerve agent only found on Russian military bases). Macron considered it an insult to his intelligence and was (according to some) yelling at Putin over the phone. "Do you think I am some Russian peasant, you can lie to with ease?". European leaders are pissed at Putin for not just doing this but doing it in such a clumsy, arrogant fashion that it's forcing them to act.

Meanwhile, Merkel is trying to buy as much natural gas from Putin as she can.

[lineygoblue]

Meanwhile, Merkel is trying to buy as much natural gas from Putin as she can.

Germany is eventually going to rue the day that they got so close to that guy