leh-nerd skin-erd

@sherpa after he is banned:

It was a racist attack, of course. However, I'm not sure we extend any sort of justice to the victims by dumbing it down to "He was white and hated black people.". What sane person, however hateful, systematically plans and carries out atrocities like this? The root cause here was insanity. He didn't scratch someone's car with a key, didn't throw a rock through a window, he hunted people down and executed them. Completely off the rails, alternate reality insanity. I'm not a psychiatrist, but it occurs to me that there are two ways to address this situation. 1. Death penalty, end of story; 2. Work to figure out how this guy got so far detached from reality that he would act out in this way against mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers. I get the desire for the first option, I used to feel that way in situations like this. Or, really any situation involving murder. I think thought that option 2 is the right path, to gather information in an attempt to stop the next mass murder, or the one after that.

When considering Russia and hostile acts, it's interesting to note activity that has taken place during the Obama and Biden years. I wouldn't suggest they work together (though possible), but the Russian's sure seem to ramp up aggression while the Dems are in office. Hamas, too, come to think of it.

There was that, of course. Pretending it didn’t happen, or that it wasn’t an assault on democratic principles is just silly. Better to acknowledge it was ugly, political, and designed to divide.

Nothing screams “independent” like calling people “cowards” and “literally insane”. As for “unprecedented”, I’m not so sure. Disagreements have been resolved with duels, Presidents have been assassinated and survived assassination attempts, the country has seen students shot on college campuses, police officers politically targeted and JFK, Vietnam the mob and Lyndon Johnson come to mind. The country interred citizens in camps during WW2. The Red Scare (the first one) of McCarthyism. The fight for civil rights, desegregation and the murder of MLK. The notion that we witnessed the most secure election in history certainly implies that perhaps prior elections were not even-handed, fair or honest. The Democrat party and supporters have declared the 2016 election as illegitimate, stolen and a coup.

I noticed that the progressive author of this post has included the Ukrainian flag in his tag line. Imagine the great work he could do joining the fight to save Kyiv if instead of just standing with them symbolically from San Antonio, he actually stood with them physically. Btw, Melania's net worth is projected between $50m and 70m, independent of DJT. Not too shabby.

I have to say that the testimony about what Trump allegedly said, and how he allegedly fretted about it, sounds very unTrump like.

Are we counting the Pelosi family in "the wealthy", or pretending otherwise?

That article indicates one of the hottest days was recorded in 1936.

This is not unique to Engoron, this is politics. It happens just about every day. The assault on the reputation of Justices Cannon, Kavanaugh and Thomas come to mind, but there are many more. The logic goes if there’s nothing to see there, there’s nothing to worry about. It only seems to be a problem when the spotlight turns on “their guy”.

Melania released a statement, and then called a lid. Happens all the time. Daily, in fact. That said, dragging this kid into the festering boil that is American politics is a very bad idea, though on the other hand I’m told by some lefties that young people are calling the shots these days.

Applying the standards of today to the past is a fool’s errand, yet it doesn’t stop lots of people from doing so. It is interesting, however, that many of the same people fixated on society 100+ years ago doing so had no hesitation in casting a vote for a, say Hillary Clinton and her declaration that tens of millions of citizens were both deplorable and irredeemable simply because they disagreed with her vision for the country. It’s fair to wonder which side of justice those people would have fallen on back in the day.

#truth though it took you 55 words or so to say “You too”. 🤷🏽‍♂️ Also true!

After 7,543 disagreements on life, politics, hippy haircuts and lazy eyes, we have reached a topic we agree upon. This is a Friday I never shall forget.

Well, big picture, let’s be fair. There are only three options. Men live longer. Women live longer. Men and Women have exactly the same life expectancy. When we consider all the potential factors that can impact the numbers—lifestyle choices, genetics, evolution, environment, emotional health, and so much more, seems like this is the natural order of things. Oh, and as @muppy will likely attest, women can go on and on and on and on to the point where eternal silence seems like a pretty good deal. 😉 Yeesh. Decision making, emotional intelligence, societal norms and expectations for men v woman, and individual choices. Again, there are only three potential outcomes, and one doesn’t make much sense.

I've heard estimates as high as 153%, and of those that do, 119% love to drink straight from the box. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/womens-health/women-us-are-drinking-death-research-finds-rcna96848 https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/womens-health.htm

Wait. What happened to election security is beyond reporach, and everything that happens is above-board and 100% accurate? Ps: The dems were ready last time to argue that our elections were neither safe nor secure. Turns out they didn't need to launch the "Stolen Election Part Deux" as a continuation of the 2016 fable, but it was well teed-up. https://www.warren.senate.gov/oversight/letters/warren-klobuchar-wyden-and-pocan-investigate-vulnerabilities-and-shortcomings-of-election-technology-industry-with-ties-to-private-equity

This doesn't make sense, no. Binge drinking is not exclusively a male issue. https://www.bu.edu/sph/news/articles/2023/women-without-children-at-age-35-are-at-highest-risk-of-binge-drinking-alcohol-use-disorder/

The actions of the investigators, the details and professionalism of the investigation have always been relevant to criminal trials. That’s nothing new, and critique of errors/wrongdoing is absolutely part of the dialogue. In this case, a better analogy is “this photograph of the defendant with crack cocaine in his pocket, released to the media, is not reflective of the scene. Sorry. AOC, and representations we made to the court about processes we followed, some of that was made up. We’re really sorry about that, too.”.

No, I don’t believe that, but it’s the ideal. I think much of what goes on at the upper levels of DOJ and politics in general is political and often shady. I believe there are lots of good, hardworking and decent people in the DOJ, FBI etc, but on matters this large, politics skews everything. It is interesting to me though that when people bring up concerns about behavior they see as outside the scope of justice, it’s often labeled a conspiracy theory. Your point was moronic. There’s not much more to say than that.

You see the actions of Clinton and Biden as akin to jaywalking or driving 36 in a 35? That’s your fallback? It’s moronic. 👏👏👏 🤣

No, it doesn't exonerate Trump, but it's indicative of the strategy the SC has chosen to pursue this matter. Now that it is quite apparent it was a staged photo shoot, it's fair to wonder what other funny business or misleading statements have been made. When you add in seizing tax records, information protected by attny-client privilege etc, and now mistakes on process, it's fair to wonder about motive. I said this before--in my opinion, the government should be the shiny beacon on the hill in case like this. They hold virtually all the power, and if the case is rock solid, they should behave in a way that's beyond reproach. To the extent they don't, they deserve to be criticized and their motives questioned.

You keep saying that, and that's the interpretation offered as explanation as to why law(s) can be sidestepped, ignored, or disregarded. "Electeds" don't fall into gray areas--they fall into a category where individuals are making judgement calls to let obvious transgressions pass. When you introduce the ability for individuals to forgive obvious transgressions, it's quite easy to be supportive when your guy gets a pass, and the other guy looks at life in prison. Biden's actions over multiple decades were egregious, and it simply boils down to the fact that he ignored or disregarded the controls and laws as they were.

I'm hung up imaging a world where classified/top secret documents are treated as discarded lottery tickets for some, and a life sentence for others.

Come on Frank, you're like Gumby here. The photo was staged, captured and released for maximum effect. It is completely on brand for a special counsel. You shouldn't have to 'think' about what that photo represented--that's what captions and explanations are for. The decision to not offer clarity is the decision made by those who took the photo. The 'mistake' may or may not be intentional, but as I understand it, the acknowledgment of the action was reactionary, not proactive. It's not on the casual observer or Trump legal team to accept the rather convenient explanation. The SC initially grabbed quite a bit of information outside the scope of the warrant. Seems mistakes are par for the course.