Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[lineygoblue]

Here we go.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Bizarro World. Banana Republic. The Fourth Reich.

[lineygoblue]

Bizarro world is right. Its almost as though the Chairman and The Party WANT Trump to not only run again, but they want him to be re-elected. Nearly everything they have been doing is only going to push him to run, and its going to encourage fence sitters to vote for him. And by fence sitters, I don't mean progs. I mean conservative folks who are debating whether they should support Desantis, Cruz, or Trump.

[iam416]

The Progs are terrified of DeSantis b/c he'll win. And he's good. And he's effective. DJT may or may not win -- I rather doubt he will -- but we already know he isn't good and isn't effective.

[THE_WIZARD_]

The kooks are in charge...it's not really complicated. Chairman "Big Guy" Poopypants is not going to contest what the kooks tell him...he is both comprised and mentally incompetent. The kooks know their unchecked powers time is limited and they are incorporating a scorched earth policy...the only thing the kooks cannot control right now is the Supreme Court...thank God. Their vengeance has only just begun.

November cannot get here soon enough.

[iam416]

You'd probably do well to wait and see on this. I have no doubt that the Ds have the capacity to abuse governmental power in egregious ways. I also have no doubt that DJT is a complete fucking asswipe capable of remarkable stupidity. I wouldn't want to bet against either one.

[froot loops]

Bizarro world is right. Its almost as though the Chairman and The Party WANT Trump to not only run again, but they want him to be re-elected. Nearly everything they have been doing is only going to push him to run, and its going to encourage fence sitters to vote for him. And by fence sitters, I don't mean progs. I mean conservative folks who are debating whether they should support Desantis, Cruz, or Trump.

Trump is running again and it is because he is the front runner. Republicans love the big lie and anybody who says correctly that Trump lost fair and square is tossed out of the party like a heretic. There is simply no scenario in which he wasn't going to run. So this pity party that Joe Biden and the Democratic party is making him run is an utterly foolish argument. The violence of January 6th should have turned Trump into a persona non grata in the Republican party, instead the violence thrilled the supporters.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Ukriane: Despite the growing threats of a nuclear disaster at the Ukrainian nuclear rector facity in Zaporizia - Europe's largest NPP - nothing of note has changed in the battle space on the ground. Russian forces make small gains versus Ukrainian forces taking back occupied villages - none of this back and forth is of any strategic significance.

There's no question that both Ukrainian defense forces and local resistance is making things difficult for the Russian occupiers but making things difficult versus actually kicking them out are two very differnt things. The Russians aren't leaving in the face of Ukrainian military pressure backed by western help. The result is a stand-off with no end to in sight and steady worsening of the 70 years of relative stability, both global and central European, that was guaranteed by NATO and various arms treaties between the US and Russia. While NATO has strengthened, relationships between the western powers and Russia have collapsed. Most of this news is not being reported except in snippets with little mention of the potential consequences.

I offer no insight on solutions but, IMO, the Russians cannot be trusted to negotiate through diplomatic means. It seems the NATO alliance is counting on that and the power of sanctions and the isolation of Russia to change Putin's mind. Realists inside Ukraine share my view. In a recent essay written by Yulia Tymoshenko, a former Ukrainian Prime Minister, she lays out a framework of new approaches to solidify European and western security interests in an increasingly dangerous world. The west is facing increasing Chinese and Russian authoritarianism and aggression that seeks to unwind this 70 year old world order that has prevailed since the end of WWII. It's a good piece but its most frank assessment of the status quo is the existence of forums where one nation can over-ride the wishes of the majority, the UN Security Council is just one example.

Of course, changing that is a long term solution. It does nothing but talk about change while letting Vladamir Putin run roughshod over decades of agreements that supposedly guaranteed the sovereignty of Ukraine and its legal borders. Moreover, he is holding the world hostage with a threat of nuclear disaster and the stoppage of energy and food supplies. The emergence of an alignment of national and strategic interests in a new set of axis powers including Russia, China and Iran is cause for concern. China's military activity that has occurred as a result of the Pelosi visit to Taiwan adds to those concerns.

Over the short term, I see nothing but the gradual descent to a third world war involving the western powers working to preserve liberal democracies in the face of aggressive authortarian regimes aligned to destroy them. The longer the west dallies in confronting this emerging threat - force on force - the harder it is going to be to contain or reverse it.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Someone who knows criminal law better than me would know for sure but Trump's attorneys should have some abbreviated copy of the warrant (probably not the full version). They also should have an inventory of everything taken from MAL. I don't believe there's anything preventing Trump from sharing those documents with the public.

[THE_WIZARD_]

When in doubt...scream JANUARY 6TH!!!

[Mike]

When in doubt...scream JANUARY 6TH!!!

Andrew McCarthy has a lengthy piece at NRO that info relating to Jan. 6 is the real target.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/...Really%20About

There’s a game prosecutors play. Let’s say I suspect X committed an armed robbery, but I know X is dealing drugs. So, I write a search-warrant application laying out my overwhelming probable cause that X has been selling small amounts of cocaine from his apartment. I don’t say a word in the warrant about the robbery, but I don’t have to. If the court grants me the warrant for the comparatively minor crime of cocaine distribution, the agents are then authorized to search the whole apartment. If they find robbery tools, a mask, and a gun, the law allows them to seize those items. As long as agents are conducting a legitimate search, they are authorized to seize any obviously incriminating evidence they come across. Even though the warrant was ostensibly about drug offenses, the prosecutors can use the evidence seized to charge robbery.

I believe that principle is key to understanding the FBI’s search of former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Monday. The ostensible justification for the search of Trump’s compound is his potentially unlawful retention of government records and mishandling of classified information. The real reason is the Capitol riot.

If that's really the case with the MAL search, then it's another fishing expedition and it will blow in DOJ's face. Bigly.

[iam416]

Yeah, that seems more likely than not. And that could be a problem.

[froot loops]

When in doubt...scream JANUARY 6TH!!!

No, no reason to scream, if a guy who lost an election gathered a mob at the capitol to march down, fight like hell and the mob beat the living shit out of the police, that person for a normal party would be cast to the wilderness. Any time his name is brought up, that performance should always be brought up . It was simply unacceptable and the Republicans would be wise to tell their supporters that it was wrong and they should move.on from Trump. If you want Ron DeSantis this is the only way, he can't possibly beat Donald Trump in a head to head matchup.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I'm constantly reminded by others who intelligently discuss world affairs and US politics to avoid doomsday scenarios. They're usually outliers among multiple possible outcomes. The US and its economy has remained remarkably resilient to challenges and proven time and again that outomes tend towards the moderate, top of the curve probabilities.

When it comes to predicting outcomes at the hands of the progressive movement in the US - presently controlling the levers of government at the federal and some state levels - I just don't see the catastrophic, dark outcomes that many do. I don't deny there are troubling trends but such things tend to end up at other outcomes less dark and less catastrophic. Reading the actual contents - at least summaries as I've not read the bill itself - HR 5737 that is 725 pages - provides some proof of this although certainly not absolute. There are obviously compromise, more moderate provisions in the bill - this is especially true in the energy and tax provisions of it (IMO). The provision that gradually allows the federal government to negotiate drug prices (currently for only 10 drugs and the number gradually increases) and that caps prescritption drug prices (currently only for Medicare and Medicaid recipients) are big deals.

In my experience, while you have to look for them, you'll discover moderate not extreme outcomes end up prevailing. Looking for them does require some optimism and that's in short supply these days.

[Hannibal]

If that's really the case with the MAL search, then it's another fishing expedition and it will blow in DOJ's face. Bigly.

Will it? Most of the country still hates Trump and there's no reason to believe that this would be the straw that breaks the camel's back after decades of incompetence and abuse that nobody has been punished for.