leh-nerd skin-erd

Sexx, drugs and big city attorneys on retainer, that’s what the music is all about man. Btw, googled Dave Grohl (estimated net worth $300,000,000+). Can’t find anything on his commitment to the wealth tax or contributing his fair share in advance. All these people with a platform to make a bold statement, yet nothing.

I had the opportunity to speak with a former NYS Senator the other day. He got into politics in an effort to give back to his community—child of immigrants, heavily involved in charitable endeavors, and worked as a citizen politician in the manner he believed the founders intended. He told me the level of disconnect between what was happening, and what was reported in media was one of the most telling parts of his time in office. In closed door negotiations, moving toward agreement on certain hot button issues, the media would be used (or be complicit—my words, not his) to influence public opinion. He also suggested one of the biggest issues in politics is career politicians who have zero experience in work beyond the public sector. These people are often clueless on how to manage their own affairs, he offered. The thoughts shared are nothing new, and the guy seemed quite reasonable as he spoke about processes (and the power and corruption associated with leaving border issues status quo). Nothing new here, just interesting perspective from an insider.

For a family known for closing rank and battling through a whole lot of dysfunction and sketchy behavior, it would be interesting to see what their father might have to say about this sort of betrayal.

I’d bet the vast majority of everyday Americans (r, d, i) don’t think about Ukraine to any great degree. That’s not to say they want bad things to occur to the Ukrainian people, they just are busy trying to handle their own lives. And, if the US government broke it down and said “Hey, Jim and Sally, we have two choices. One, we send money to Ukraine. The other, less attractive option is we don’t support Ukraine and we send you $1350. Which do you prefer?” . I’d bet you’d see more than a few noble Ds, Rs and Is take the benjamins. To the bigger picture, the old adage that “All politics is local” applies. When you talk about vaccination hesitancy, that’s pretty local.

More than fair amount of Dems have historically agreed with RFK Jr about vaccinations.

2 doors down on the right, Ferguson's own Michael Brown?

Bitterness keeps you from flying. Plus, that’s just creepy.

Why would he be scum of the earth, L Ron? If he drops out, he's just another American with a vote to cast. If he feels Harris/Walz is bad for the country, he's doing the patriotic thing.

JFK has been dead since 19ought6and3, Fergs. Illuminati got him.

People like their liars a certain way, and some get pretty feisty at people who prefer a different brand of shenanigans. I go back to the Trump/Biden debate (the first one, 2016) where Trump roughed him up pretty good. The hand wringing over civil discourse and rudeness was pretty funny, especially in light of the fact that Biden amde a career out of bluster and being pretty much a class A d-bag to those he was up against. I'm not even criticizing him for it, the guy was good in that role.

Right said, Ned. Kudos.

I'll ask again about this latest celebrity endorsement. Did she speak truth to power about the Harris wealth tax, her acknowledgement that she wasn't fair-sharin' (or confirmation that she was out way ahead of that request), and agree to retroactively honor the capital gains adjustment?

They did a great job. Frankish was flumoxed.

There's a huge difference between private conversations amongst friends and family of an intensely emotional and often painful process, and politicking for votes at the level Walz plays at. He knows that, he's adept at the game and seems to be consistently pretty careless with his "nuance".

Underestimating any opponent is a mistake. In spite of Biden's horsec@ckery after decades in office, his being laughed out of a couple presidential races for preposterous lies easily fact-checked even then (or, if one prefers, not lying but making things up that were not true), and the parents and grandparents of today's Bidenistas sending him packing, people always vote their self-interests as they see them at the time. While complaining about Trump's comments about women, they would rationalize Biden's inappropriate fondling of women. While complaining about Trump's lies or half-truths, they would say that Biden's lie were less liarly. When the whole #metoo and #ibelieveher campaign was afoot, it's important to remember who one of the patriarch's of the party is--WJC. Harris's unlikability (and lack of popularity on the national stage)was on display for all to see just a few short years ago. All the base needs is a new heroine, being pointed in the right direction and they will follow.

It's possible of course. However, it is interesting to note that it's the approaching the last week of summer, school starts soon, people spending time with family and friends. Politics is top of mind for some, but for most, this is play time regardless of whether Trump, Harris, Biden or JFK hisself is in office. Let's see how the next couple months go.

Well, he’s a Kennedy and a lifelong democrat, so yeah. In fact, throw in a death of a personal attorney by suicide in a park, a chef and a paddle board on Martha’s Vineyard, I think he’s your Dem keynote speaker most years.

Well, never underestimate the ability of a Kennedy to impact a news cycle. Should be interesting.

I haven’t watched it yet, but did he address preemptively complying with the Harris/Walz wealth tax? That would be pretty cool.

Oh, you made it weird. Everyone is into something, I guess. As for your plan, sure, but what you're describing is the rudimentary framework of a process. That's all I was talking about but you went all Brittney Spears over it.

Assuming it passed, for now.

You see a recitation of facts as “grandstanding”? Congrats on having the softest life ever. I’ve never considered receiving a medal (or certificate even!) for driving on the correct side of the road, or stopping at stop sign, I’m not sure where that came from. I will tell you, though, that using your analogy, a reasonable person would assume that when a driver disregards the aforementioned stop sign, it would not be unusual or unreasonable or unfair for the driver to be stopped, detained, asked for papers, and issued a citation, or in extreme cases, arrested and/or vehicle impounded. Obviously one could run with the “Stop signs are socialist” play, or the old “People are driving on these roads everyday so why not just let me ignore the stop sign” or complain the Officer was grandstanding, but you would support a reasonable punishment of some sort for disregarding the laws (customs/standards) that regulate human behavior, yes? I mean, I do, and I’m not certain that makes me an outlier. Anyway, yes, a sensible process to address immigration makes sense to me, as does welcoming those looking for a better way of life. Oh, and you may be soft as butter on what constitutes grandstanding, but nice word play on scones.

Yes, I knew. 🫡 On the citizenship issue, I do not recall how he worked it out besides working with an attorney and becoming a citizen.

I like people as a general rule. I enjoy learning about different cultures, what it's like in these far off places, and the family structure and how it all works. I'm also blessed in that my business finds me interacting with all sorts of people from all sorts of places. Just off the top of my head...family/business connections include/included people from Guyana, Syria, Egypt, Palestine, South America, the Caribbean, Germany, Afghanistan, Puerto Rico, Poland, Africa, Italy, and a few more that escape me at the moment. In that regard, I'm a typical American living a melting pot life and interacting quite nicely with people. One of my business friends told me he crossed illegally into the US as a young guy, he owns three restaurants and 6 or 7 apartment buildings. He's a success story, a hard worked and I admire him. Still, when I cross the bridge to Canada, I wait in line.

I think we know you're not comfortable answering the question posed. That's pretty common, actually. ::sigh:: Yes, perhaps. At the same time, it's not at all uncommon for we children of immigrants to be expected to follow the rule of law of our society. We stand in line where necessary, we present our papers under certain situations, contribute to the tax base as directed, wait at border crossings in and border crossings out. When traveling to foreign lands, we wait in the lines established by the hosts who welcome us, fill out forms as directed, empty our pockets, take off our shoes, and do the best we can to follow their customs. It's a complicated but relatively straightforward process, yet when that's discussed, we get sanctimonious lectures about being immigrants/children of immigrants as if that magically addresses the problem.