The Frankish Reich

I had to look it up too. Good one! Can't see the old mushroom tip without a mirror. Can't wait for that testimony in the Stormy trial.

A good question: how do we evaluate a presidential appointee? - is he/she a good soldier in trying to advance the President's agenda? If so, then Mayorkas is the ideal company man. He's not out there on a limb trying to execute his own policy initiatives. The Biden agenda has been to avoid using things like detention to "punish" illegal immigrants, and that is exactly what Mayorkas has done. - is he/she a creative problem solver when faced with new problems? Here, Mayorkas is a total failure. He (along with the White House) seemed to have no understanding that lenient treatment of illegal immigrants creates a feedback loop that encourages more illegal immigration. This should have been obvious from the start, and if not then, well certainly by the post-COVID wave. We'd like our appointees to be more than just yes men. A yes man is what he is. For that, he gets an F grade. So my grades on the key appointees, with these two factors in mind? First, the big ones: AG, State, Treasury, Defense: - Garland: B-. Plus: eliminated the utter chaos of the Trump Admin (Acting Actings, etc.). Minus: showed a lack of political skill in handling sensitive prosecutions. - Blinken: B. Plus: superb old-fashioned diplomatic work in bringing the EU/NATO together in support of Ukraine, including pulling in NATO agnostics like Sweden. Minus: continued to advance some iffy Israel/Middle East policies. In hindsight, the Trump Admin's "Abraham Accords" caused more harm than good, disrupting a delicate balance. Biden and Trump continued on that route, which has generally been considered to be a key motivating factor for the horrible Hamas attacks and ensuing war. A strategic reevaluation was in order; it never happened. - Yellen: B. Yes, went along with the ill-advised final Biden stimulus. But not surprisingly, after that, she worked well with the Fed's efforts to rein in inflation and restore some sense of normality to monetary policy. If we continue on the soft landing path, she will deserve a good measure of credit. - Austin: B. Again, fine work on keeping the western world together on Russia/Ukraine. Obviously his failure to disclose his health issues call into question whether he remains the right man for the job. Others have, as usual, been on the sidelines. There's really nothing much to say about them other than they've largely avoided scandal, which isn't nothing ...

Agreed. Extremely weak response. Impeachment or not, I can't believe that Biden hasn't fired him.

Here we go again. Taco Bell order $20? https://www.tacobell.com/food/deals-and-combos/build-your-own-cravings-box That one's $5.99 for over 1,000 calories. Not including the big Mountain Dew.

Are the wildfires in Texas anywhere near as huge as those in Canada last year? Have they resulted in unhealthy air quality over huge swathes of the United States? Silly talking point.

Yes, this reference makes some sense. And this is just ignorant nonsense. What is Clorox bleach? Chlorine! It's in every municipal water supply so that you don't get nasty things like giardia and a whole host of other water-borne pathogens. https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/public/water_disinfection.html#:~:text=Chlorine and chloramine are the,your utility's consumer confidence report . You are attacking the most basic, effective public health measures that have largely eliminated a whole category of infectious disease in America. Drink/cook with only bottled water if you choose. But don't try to move us back to 1870.

Perfect example of nutty conspiracist thinking. So ... if the CDC had said "COVID continues to pose a grave risk to public health and further measures to stop its spread may be necessary," they'd be saying, "See, I told you they're going to try to justify mail-in balloting again in the run-up to the election." In other words, no matter what the advice, it is all part of the conspiracy. The obvious story: public health measures, effective vaccines, post-infection immunity, effective treatments, and the mutation of the virus into a less lethal form have allowed us to now treat COVID as a normal public health risk that may be addressed through normal measures." Success is failure. That's the nutcase mantra.

Umm, Chuck Schumer is the MAJORITY leader.

Of course she should. She's not in great health, and she's pushing 70. The Dems have the votes in the Senate to secure Biden's nominee. But that would require Justices who are not all about themselves.

From the linked story: The WhatsApp message to CEFC was cited by IRS whistleblowers Joseph Ziegler and Gary Shapley last year as evidence of a Justice Department cover-up into the Biden's after they were refused permission to investigate it. It later emerged from photos on his abandoned laptop that Hunter Biden was not with his father on the day it was sent, but was at Joe Biden's home in Wilmington, Delaware. So ... Hunter WAS lying about Joe being present with him at the time he sent his shakedown text. And this happened in summer 2017, when Joe was a private citizen. So ... where's anything remotely impeachable? Private citizen Joe may have profited from a China deal. Whoop-de-doo. Where's the malfeasance when he was actually VP? That all depended on discredited witness Smirnov. This is now pure politics, not an actual impeachment inquiry. Kill it.

Right. Not sure of your point here. My point is simple: just because they murdered Israeli babies doesn't mean it's ok to kill Gazan babies through reckless targeting.

Religious zealotry and provocation is not limited to one side: https://www.cbsnews.com/video/the-unlikely-role-red-cows-play-in-war-between-israel-and-hamas/ Or this, from a source that seems to think this is a wonderful thing:

Whatever your politics, you have to admit that Trump was exceptionally lucky to get 3 Supreme Court appointments in 4 years. Part of that is Ginsburg hanging on too long, which is probably a consequence of overconfidence that Hillary would win. And part is McConnell running out the clock on Garland's nomination. Biden is looking like he'll get just 1 appointment in his 4 years.

Of course the CIA was in Ukraine. They are everywhere, both officially and under (usually diplomatic) cover. All you supposed tough guys are suddenly like the frickin' Church Committee back in the 70s, shocked (shocked!) to see such things ... which just proves my point that the Trumpies are the new pacifists, the Dems are the new Cold Warriors. Wuss.

Yes. But again: that doesn't mean that ostensibly civilized nations need to play their game.

No, just kidding. I was a grad student teaching night courses many moons ago. Most of the class were "nontraditional students" (meaning older students), and they were always better prepared and more interested than the usual 18-22 year olds. So good on you.

Sample size of one, but Kyrie Irving suggests a correlation between being a flat earther and being an unreliable teammate.

But I nailed it. A “non traditional student.” Which is fine.

Given your screen name tribute to an old, old TV show, you must be finishing up your 20th year in college.

Gutfeld's show is awful. It's awful by design, because it's the kind of obvious "humor" Fox viewers like. His earlier show was Red Eye, not surprisingly buried in the wee hours. It wasn't a laugh riot, but he showed some cleverness in how he designed the back-and-forth with the other contributors, mostly Andy Levy. But as soon as he started popping up on prime time he realized what side his bread was buttered on, and we got this sorry excuse for humor. Also not funny.

On the other hand, bragging about being Eleanor Mondale's college boyfriend? That would be well worth it.

True. They both flub simple talking points on a daily basis. Look, objectively I don't think either of these elderly fools should be running the United States. But it looks like that's the choice we'll have. Exhibit A to the argument, "America is in decline." This is what the parties have given us.

I didn't watch Morning Joe (their double act is insufferable), but I did see Trump's comments. And yes, they show someone who is unable to clearly express a talking point he was given. The talking point obviously was that many of the new immigrants speak obscure languages for which we have no available interpreters, making it difficult if not impossible to interview them or give them a court date. See how easy it is to say that? Here's what Trump actually said:

Somewhere William of Ockham is crying.

I read earlier in the thread that there is proof that Joe wasn't at his Delaware home on July 30, 2017. So unless that's wrong, it does seem that Hunter was lying to his Chinese contacts when he texted (from the Delaware home) that he has Joe right here with him.