Home » Open thread 9/28/2024

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Open thread 9/28/2024 — 84 Comments

  1. Just another open-thread comment about something I read someplace else.

    At “Marginal Revolution,” Tyler Cowen listed a pointer to the news that Bari Weis’s “Free Press” has been valued at $100 million and has just raised $15 million (https://tinyurl.com/nkbe9udt).

    That sounds like a lot of money for a Substack site. Since Weis started publishing “Free Press,” I’ve been an irregular reader. I was curious what supposedly moderate Democrats might write, when freed from the shackles of “The New York Times” and other establishment Marxist publications.

    Here and there, I’ve found a good article, but most of it has been surprisingly boring. For the Democrats, maybe that’s as good as it gets. Still, that doesn’t explain its popularity. What’s it all mean? Is there an inside story? What might “The New Neo” be worth?

  2. Nasrallah has been killed!? Boy, am I behind the news…

    Dixie county Florida is sorta remote, and areas in it are even more remote. Electric still out but internet finally came back. For me, electric is missed most, and then the internet. Phone I can do w/o—and it barely works when internet goes out…works great w/ WiFi-calling which needs internet.

    Next year, T-Mobile & Musk have teamed up to bring satellite connections to all remote areas in America, so I should be fine from then on…

    Live 7-miles north of Old Town, and Old Town has electric. Convoys headed west to where main damage from hurricane must have been – convoys of different Electric companies, convoys of tree trimming companies, convoys of Fla Wildlife, convoys of some kind of stuff they apparently need (new shit I had no clue what it was on long bed trailers), and convoys after convoys stopping for gas whilst others moved on by. I skipped getting gas.

    Gov. DeSantis does a great job in Florida – a *REAL* Leader!!!

    Got 20 more gallons of gas for generator early this morning, and went to Walmart in Chiefland to get more Sta-Bil fuel additive. Some convoys still, but not like yesterday. That Troy generator has gotten me thru every hurricane in area since 2010, and even a storm or two.

    No news since Thursday & Friday, so have some catching up to do…Nasrallah dead—great!!!

  3. Ah the beauty of times past

    Yes l’ chaim to one as evil as haman, of course at whitehall at foggy bottom they will weep in their creme brulee

    Glad to see you’re safe

  4. The sheriff in Taylor County, to your northwest, Karmi, told people who stayed to write their names and ID numbers on their arms or legs in permanent marker so they could be identified later. Glad that wasn’t you.

  5. Kate – Jeez. Thanks! Yeah, best I can tell is the hurricane came in 61 miles west of me. Am also about 30 miles from coast, with lots of forests to slow hurricane down.

    No sites seem to give all the news that is needed during a hurricane – live news on landing, wind-speeds in and around hurricane path, etc.

    I was back and forth—forgetting which site said what. One site didn’t give actual wind-speeds at my location, but showed predictions of 85mph. There were stronger winds here than what I am used to since 1969.

    Living on the Coasts is another story…

  6. Does anyone have an opinion on James Jatras. Heard his name tossed around by a friend but info is limited.

  7. At “Marginal Revolution,” Tyler Cowen listed a pointer to the news that Bari Weis’s “Free Press” has been valued at $100 million and has just raised $15 million
    ==
    I suspect that’s mistaken.

  8. Nice video. There’s Hitchock’s Vertigo again, but I noticed quite a few scene’s from the Shirley MacLaine movie “What a Way to Go!” I remember seeing it when I was a kid. Here’s a synopsis:

    This black comedy opens with Louisa Foster donating a multimillion dollar check to the IRS. The tax department thinks she’s crazy and sends her to a psychiatrist. She then discusses her four marriages, in which all of her husbands became incredibly rich and died prematurely because of their drive to be rich.

    And who was that white faced woman in a black outfit strutting in front of the trombones? Cyd Charisse maybe? I couldn’t tell with the makeup, but her movement seemed like Cyd.

  9. Re: costumes
    So, when do you all think that “tape” costumes (the ones where the tape is placed only in strategic locations) will appear in the movies?

    They have made it to NYC runway fashion shows, but does the “designer” really expect women to wear his designs in public?
    What exactly is the designer thinking?
    Perhaps he wants to be the “Jackson Pollack” of the clothing designer world.

  10. “Tape” outfits would be one-use only, I imagine. But I see lots of women in grocery stores wearing things I think ought not to be out in public.

  11. as with most art being put out today, it’s not for anybody, it’s for the designers ego, this that does appear to be cyd charisse

  12. Have noticed that Trump and some commenters here have been running from and/or denying reports that Trump has any connections to Project 2025. Fact Check:

    Our rating: False

    Project 2025 is a political playbook created by the Heritage Foundation and dozens of other conservative groups, not Trump, who said he disagrees with elements of the effort. There are, however, numerous people involved in Project 2025 who worked in Trump’s first administration.

    False Rating is from USA Today – I thought they were a MAGA distrusted news site, but notice that Project 2025 links to the USA Today Fact Check article.

    I know The Heritage Foundation is a Conservative site, and that they are deeply connected to the Project 2025 – along with “more than 100 conservative groups.”

    Am getting ready to look at the Mandate for Leadership, but at some 922 .pdf pages it will take humble slow reader me some time.

    Is this another one of the Republicans ‘It’s True but can’t be Proven’ – or, in this case ‘It’s False but can’t be Proven’? Any opinions on Project 2025?

  13. Heritage Foundation is the source of Project 2025, not the Trump campaign or a Trump organization. Those facts aren’t really hard to understand or prove, unless you are a humble Kermit, trolling.

  14. Karmi, the Heritage Foundation has been collating these policy recommendations every four years for a while. It consists of what right-leaning think tanks think ought to be done if a conservative government is elected. It is entirely driven by the think tanks and not by the Republican Party or the Republican nominee.

    Trump is not a “program conservative,” that is, he doesn’t subscribe to every single bit of free-market and relatively conservative social agendas. Some of the Project 2025 ideas are things he might adopt, and some are not. You go ahead and wade through 992 pages and see if you can find which ones are which. I’m pretty sure you won’t see what the Dems claim about “outlawing contraceptives” or “running surveillance on all women’s menstrual cycles” or some of their other bizarre claims.

  15. Thanks for the info Kate!

    Started following this—recently:

    “Americans don’t want the government to track, intimidate, and coerce pregnant women into carrying their pregnancies to term no matter their circumstances. Yet, Senate Republicans want to mandate the creation of an online federal database where women will be encouraged to register their pregnancies with the government in order to push them toward anti-abortion propaganda and dangerous crisis pregnancy centers—this tells us exactly how Republicans will weaponize the whole of government to restrict a woman’s freedom to choose and force them to stay pregnant no matter what”

    And want to see how much is true…

  16. “women will be encouraged to register their pregnancies with the government in order to push them toward anti-abortion propaganda and dangerous crisis pregnancy centers”

    Karmi, what is “anti-abortion propaganda” and are “dangerous crisis pregnancy centers”?

  17. Brian E:

    I assume it’s those that mention that there are good alternatives to abortion that they might consider.

  18. Yeah, Karmi, that is entirely false. Also false is that claim that Project 2025 calls for a federal ban on all abortions. I think it only repeats the long-standing Republican policy that taxpayers shouldn’t pay for elective abortions. And Trump has been emphatic about not signing a federal abortion law, leaving it to the states.

  19. Neo, I think Karmi struggles with his reading comprehension, based on some of the questions he asks about stuff he sees on the internet.

  20. Karmi, use some critical thinking. Conservatives are strongly against a federal gun ownership registry, because that infringes on personal freedom and is the first step toward federal control. Why would such people consider a federal registry on something as personal as pregnancy? This makes no sense; Dems know it and just made the whole thing up to frighten the credulous.

  21. Seems to be linked to the MOMS Act.

    Apparently a Republican move to empower the Federal Govt with even more power to enforce the Republicans desires upon others…sounds familiar, huh.

    Some are saying Vance is or was heavily involved before being discovered.

    Instead of denying or blaming me or scurrying or burying your heads in the sand, perhaps some of you commenting here should be helping humble me investigate this…’Whars the Proof! (one way or the other)

  22. We are on the cusp of ‘the most disruptive force in history’. This is how Elon Musk characterizes ‘digital super intelligence’ or to us mere mortals, AI.

    This is an interview at an AI Security conference. How are governments going to regulate the technology. He considers AI will be 80% beneficial and 20% potentially bad.

    Elon Musk LEAVES Audience Speechless In Stunning Interview (Supercut)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ6n0gunKFg

    I think the title is somewhat hyperbolic– since the audience asks questions at the end, but it certainly is thought provoking.

  23. Here’s part of the Moms Act stuff…

    ‘TITLE XXXIV—RESOURCE
    DIRECTORY FOR MOMS
    ‘‘SEC. 3401. ESTABLISHMENT OF PREGNANCY.GOV

    WEBSITE

    ‘‘(a) WEBSITE.—Not later than 1 year after the date
    of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall publish
    a public website entitled ‘pregnancy.gov’

    That sounds suspicious…

  24. I forgot to mention that song in the video. Irving Berlin’s “Put’in On the Ritz.”

    There was a jazz keyboard player and singer performing recently, and they were taking requests for songs to perform that had been used in movies. I requested Put’in On the Ritz. They both are quite experienced and talented, but oddly; the singer knew of the song but had never sung it. Ultimately, they never performed it. I think I heard the two of them reviewing the syncopated nature of the vocal, and the lady decided she did not want to risk butchering it. Pity. A fun song.

  25. Bonus was hearing Puttin’ On The Ritz sung by Bing Crosby.

    It helped that Head was dressing gorgeous women with perfect figures.
    Sometimes she was — imaginative — and not all her costumes are as becoming to the wearer as the best ones are, but she was certainly a clothing genius.

    And then there is her animated avatar.
    The Incredibles – All Edna Mode Scenes
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Frg2xBkS3BU

  26. Power back on…pretty quick for a Cat4 hurricane hitting close by (went out around 9:38 AM EST Thursday??). Saw where even Cedar Key was demolished!? Back in the days, would take the Ladies there for the weekends. Always enjoyed the trips there…even their Art Festival was great.

    For me, this one was quick and over, whereas Hurricane Debby was slow, long, and very wet.

    Purchased 20 gallons of gas this morning, so most of it will go into the truck after Hurricane season has passed…

  27. AesopFan:

    I could watch clips of Edna Mode all day and all night — IMO the most brilliant character Pixar created. Why isn’t there an Edna spin-off?

    I especially loved the scene where she goes all Don Corleone on Mrs. Incredible / Elastigirl.
    ___________________________

    Elastigirl: Relive the past… now I’m losing him. What do I do? What do I do?

    Edna Mode: What are you talking about? You are Elastigirl! My God, pull yourself together!

    What will you do? Is this a question?

    You will show him you remember that he is Mr. Incredible, and you will remind him who you are.

    Well, you know where he is. Go. Confront the problem. Fight. Win.

    And call me when you get back, darling. I enjoy our visits.

    –The Incredibles – All Edna Mode Scenes”
    https://youtu.be/Frg2xBkS3BU?t=457

    ___________________________

    Go. Confront the problem. Fight. Win.

    Words to live by.

  28. Sad? 🙂 You can’t even say 2025 correctly – and have totally missed the Republican leadership slipping the Moms Act in on the Women of America. That’s sad…

  29. He doesn’t read the materials he refers to. I looked at the MOMS Act. It calls for better reporting from state agencies on maternal deaths, in the interest of trying to reduce those. Does anyone really think Sen. Katie Britt, R-AL, would co-sponsor a bill requiring pregnant women to register with the federal government? Or that there could possibly be any constitutional way to require such a thing?

    Nonsense.

  30. I forgot to mention that song in the video. Irving Berlin’s “Put’in On the Ritz.”

    TommyJay:

    Considering current events I thought you were making a Putin joke!

  31. It’s tragic that the only issue Democrats think they can win on is killing pre-born infants. Even though it’s not an issue in this election, Kamala continues to lie about Trump’s position, and her sycophants demonize any effort to provide reasonable limits on killing the unborn child in the womb. That pre-born infant is innocent, yet condemned to a horrible death.

    CDC abortion data are reported by states on a voluntary basis, and California, Maryland, and New Hampshire do not submit abortion data at all. How many other medical procedures are voluntary to the CDC?

    In my deep blue state, Democrats are running an ad on a continuous cycle the the Republican governor candidate voted for a national abortion ban when in Congress. He is running for governor in a state where both Houses are controlled by Democrats and abortion is enshrined in our Constitution and has been for years. It’s not an issue. But they have little else to run on. It’s tragic to distort and misrepresent the issue.

  32. @ huxley > “I especially loved the scene where she goes all Don Corleone on Mrs. Incredible / Elastigirl.”

    In our hearts, most of us, there are times when we also want to jump onto a table and bludgeon some idiot with a newspaper for being an idiot.
    We are too civilized to do so, but it is a temptation.

  33. The Moms Act (aka ‘More Opportunities for Moms to Succeed Act’) is clearly more than just a backdoor way for Republicans to get the Federal Government to get lists on what America’s pregnant Women are doing.

    DEMs caught it early on. DEMs claim they are not trying to get Florida to turn Blue, but I have been watching … watching some of their adds directed at women – showing what the Republicans are going to do, especially if the Trump/Vance ticket wins. This Bill – H.R.517 – Standing with Moms Act (am guessing this is the House version but do not know??) shows that Republicans are no more trustworthy than the Democrats are.

    My view, as a man, on abortions is that 3 beings are involved – the man, the woman, and a growing/developing human.

    Let’s just take the growing/developing human. Should the fetus be removed, under the woman’s permission, and then sold as … as say fish bait. Have used this point at times when debating abortions.

    This fetus is coming from some place that most humans don’t understand, and is developing into human form—spiritual/soul/Self merging with physical flesh. Do adults remember those early stages? Children (some anyway) remember and see things that are natural to them – that as adults no longer remember…usually, IMHO.

    Personally, I don’t believe the woman and/or man have the right to authorize the killing of a growing/developing human. However, America is under the Rule of Law, so opposing viewpoints are in a struggle to force their views down the throats of others—using the power of *BIG* Govt to enforce those laws and rules.

    This being—the growing/developing human gets no say under the Rule of Law…

  34. In our hearts, most of us, there are times when we also want to jump onto a table and bludgeon some idiot with a newspaper for being an idiot.

    AesopFan:

    See. This is why I go to Tony Robbins events.

    Tony establishes rapport with a person, then, if that person lapses into learned helplessness, he Reminds Them of Who They Are, then does a bit of psychological NLP work.

    They have experiences and insights and reconnect with their power. That’s the theory anyway and I’ve seen it work.

    Back in the late 90s/early 00s Tony had a fair amount of sway in Hollywood, which showed up in some films. Notably “Shallow Hal”.

    Anyway. I still consider it a good message.
    ______________________

    Remember who you are.
    Go. Confront. Fight. Win.

  35. “However, America is under the Rule of Law, so opposing viewpoints are in a struggle to force their views down the throats of others—using the power of *BIG* Govt to enforce those laws and rules.” -Karmi

    Did you think about this statement before you wrote it? Did you think the laws that sent you to prison were unfair? Did you think it was just the power of *BIG* Govt enforcing those laws and rules? No it was the Legislatures that wrote those laws that the government, *BIG* or not were tasked with enforcing.

    A law only becomes a law when the two houses of Congress pass it, the President signs it (or is over-riden) and the Supreme Court eventually deems it consistent with the Constitution (where all controversial legislation ends up.)

    There is nothing in Project 2025 that would restrict abortions. But at some time in the future if the citizens vote representatives into the legislature that support restrictions or an absolute ban, that will be the Rule of Law. That’s how it works.

    The distortions into what Project 2025 would do, if enacted, are mind boggling. It imagines the DOJ of a future administration misusing the Comstock Act– which Congress could amend at any time to address any ambiguity (which is really just in the imagination of the pro-Abortion crowd).

    This is just the pro-Abortion crowd distorting the intent and scope of the abortion policy of Project 2025– connecting dots that don’t exist, hoping to scare women into supporting a candidate that IS a danger to a Constitutional Republic.

    If you can’t see the distortions, demonizing pro-Life positions; how far the ‘mays’ and ‘coulds’ would have to be stretched, I’m not going to spend the time to show you. It’s there if you use what Kate suggested “some critical thinking.”

    Project 2025: Abortion policy
    https://thefulcrum.us/governance-legislation/project-2025-abortion

  36. Kermit is trolling on the MOMS act and Project 2025 because as a No Party Affiliation (NPA) voter he has greater cipher’n skilz.

  37. Harris seems to have a consistent methodology of campaigning.
    https://twitchy.com/justmindy/2024/09/28/north-carolina-eatery-jd-vance-wont-allow-vance-in-n2401533
    You’re missing an even more egregious piece of the story, @CollinRugg….
    Just last month @primantibros kicked everyone out of their establishment so Kamala Harris could bring in actors and pretend she was organically visiting with supporters. A total facade to fool everyone, and… pic.twitter.com/VCuZItQSqT
    — Midwest Mom (@badlibtakes) September 28, 2024

    Full tweet here with more details:
    https://x.com/badlibtakes/status/1840125295308812652

    The restaurant did apologize, citing confusion and lack of advance notice; afriad of getting Bud-Lited, judging from comments on this post and other punditry.

  38. Ah, so Karmi is watching Democrat ads in Florida, believing what they say, and then posting here. The solution is simple: Don’t believe what Democrats say in those ads. They’re lying.

  39. Brian E – perhaps if you had done your own research, then you wouldn’t have to be asking me so many ridiculous questions – and, BTW, the Republican leadership wouldn’t have been able to slip both the Project 2025 & Moms Act past you.

    Make no mistake, the Republican party is joined at the hip with both the Project 2025 AND the MOMS Act.

    Brian E wrote:

    There is nothing in Project 2025 that would restrict abortions.

    Go to the actual source for the Project 2025, and then to its Mandate for Leadership – under the Contents to Section 3, and then open #14 Department of Health and Human Services.

    • Abortion and euthanasia are not health care.

    Data Collection. The CDC’s abortion surveillance and maternity mortality reporting systems are woefully inadequate.

    • Because liberal states have now become sanctuaries for abortion tourism, HHS should use every available tool, including the cutting of funds, to ensure that every state reports exactly how many abortions take place within its borders, at what gestational age of the child, for what reason, the mother’s state of residence, and by what method.

    • The Ensuring Accurate and Complete Abortion Data Reporting Act of 20239 would amend title XIX of the Social Security Act and Public Health Service Act to improve the CDC’s abortion reporting mechanisms by requiring states, as a condition of federal Medicaid payments for family planning services, to report streamlined variables in a timely manner.

    Abortion Pills. Abortion pills pose the single greatest threat to unborn children in a post-Roe world.

    • Reverse its approval of chemical abortion drugs because the politicized approval process was illegal from the start.

    Mail-Order Abortions. Allowing mail-order abortions is a gift to the abortion industry that allows it to expand far beyond brick-and-mortar clinics and into pro-life states that are trying to protect women, girls, and unborn children from abortion.

    It goes on and on about ways to “restrict abortions.” Here’s more:

    Prohibit abortion travel funding</b. Providing funding for abortions increases the number of abortions and violates the conscience and religious freedom rights of Americans who object to subsidizing the taking of life.

    Prohibit Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funds. During the 2020–2021 reporting period, Planned Parenthood performed more than 383,000 abortions.
    • Withdraw Medicaid funds for states that require abortion insurance or that discriminate in violation of the Weldon Amendment.

    Eliminate the week-after-pill from the contraceptive mandate as a potential abortifacient.

    OK – enough said…

    The Republicans & their hardcore pro-Lifers couldn’t accept The Win given by the Supreme Court’s overturning Roe v. Wade – and returning the Abortion issue back to the states. Instead, they immediately starting looking for back-channel methods to bring the Federal Govt’s *BIG* Govt enforcement powers into their tool box.

    In fact, Republicans & their hardcore pro-Lifers had anticipated The Win, and Project 2025 was established on April 21, 2022. On June 24, 2022 Roe v. Wade was overturned.

    Then came MOMS Act – apparently missed by most here, and the ESTABLISHMENT OF PREGNANCY.GOV – WEBSITE:

    WEBSITE.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall publish a public website entitled ‘pregnancy.gov’. The Secretary may not delegate implementation or administration of the website below the level of the Office of the Secretary.

    That Pregnancy.Gov site is the prep work for introducing Project 2025’s Mandates into the Federal Govt for future enforcement.

  40. Ah, so Karmi is watching Democrat ads in Florida, believing what they say, and then posting here. The solution is simple: Don’t believe what Democrats say in those ads. They’re lying.

    Geez, Kate, such behavior is so unlike you.

    Anyway, it’s called investigating and research – something you and many of your fellow Republicans ignore whilst blindly following ‘n believing what the Republican party and the right-wing media tells you.

    A flyer had come by snail mail from a Florida politician. From the mailbox to the garbage I had noted it was accusing another politician of voting for – OR being for a bill supporting the Federal Govt having a data base to track pregnant women.

    Did a search on it later, which has led me to the Project 2025 & MOMS Act being connected at the hip to the Republican party.

    Would be happy to see anyone prove what I am finding to be wrong…

  41. It does say that within six months of the site’s launch, the secretary of Health and Human Services would be required to report to Congress on website traffic and feedback. The bill specifies that “the report … shall not include any personal identifying information regarding individuals who have used the website.”

    So, the bill proposes listing pregnancy-related services, except for those involving abortion, on a website where users could choose to share their contact information in order to get more customized results. It does not describe the creation of a nationwide database detailing the whereabouts of pregnant people.

    Obvious Foot-in-the-Door and/or Backchannel prep work being done in advance, by first creating a pregnancy.gov website. Like I said, the Project 2025 & MOMS Act are connected at the hip to the Republican party.

  42. How Israel Killed Hezbollah’s Leader in Underground Bunker

    Hassan Nasrallah and other senior leaders of Hezbollah were under siege as they gathered Friday in a bunker more than 60 feet beneath the surface of a bustling working- class neighborhood in southern Beirut.

    Some planned to use the meeting to express frustration that Iran was restraining them from responding more forcefully to the Israeli attacks…

    Around dusk, explosions shook the city above.

    Israel’s air force struck the bunker with about 80 tons of bombs … The attack used a series of timed, chained explosions to penetrate the subterranean bunker…

    More than 60 feet under … sounds of chained explosions working their way down to you whilst wiping away any previous concept of safety.

  43. “Sixty feet under ground” sounds like the Kermit has never heard of bunker busting bombs. Maybe he can find a democrat-approved source to educate himself about them?

  44. On another note, western North Carolina is devastated with flood and wind damage. I-26 just reopened from Asheville to the South Carolina line, but I-40 is blocked in several spots and unlikely to open very soon. Asheville, Boone, and several smaller cities and towns were heavily damaged. Colleges and universities are closed until at least next week, and local schools also. Power restoration efforts are hampered by many roads blocked by fallen trees or washed out.

  45. Open Thread Sunday: Go Boom in Russia

    Ukraine’s Ammo Depot strikes – How Complacency (and drones) Destroyed Russian Bases – Perun

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkwP727sAxg

    00:00 — Opening Words
    01:40 — What Am I Talking About?
    02:06 — Russian Ammo Logistics & Storage
    06:56 — Depots Of Interest
    10:10 — The Attacks
    16:10 — Anatomy Of An Explosion
    29:14 — The Ukrainian Capitalisation
    34:31 — Damage Assessment
    42:21 — Implications
    52:36 — Channel Update

    Russia – complacency, corruption, disregard for safety, disregard for losses of its own people? What’s not to like and cheer for?

  46. Trump posts Kamala’s Project 2025. Unlike what Dems claim about the Heritage Foundation paper, this is probably true.

    https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1839135960027599177

    KAMALA’S PROJECT 2025
    • CITIZENSHIP FOR 20 MILLION ILLEGALS
    • BAN GAS-POWERED CARS
    • REPLACE POLICE WITH SOCIAL WORKERS
    • BAN FRACKING
    • TRANSGENDER SURGERIES FOR MINORS
    • TAXPAYER-FUNDED REPARATIONS
    • PACK THE U.S. SUPREME COURT
    • GOVERNMENT AND BIG TECH CENSORSHIP
    • CASHLESS BAIL FOR VIOLENT CRIMINALS
    • FEDERAL TAKEOVER OF ALL ELECTIONS
    • USE TAX DOLLARS TO FUND ABORTIONS
    • ENFORCE RACIST AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
    • MANDATE VACCINATIONS
    • REQUIRE GOVERNMENT APPROVAL TO BUY A GUN

  47. Re: A few Sunday morning thoughts

    The French term for waiting rooms and public spaces like airport concourses is la salle des pas perdus — the room of lost footsteps. Poetry!

    Not too many topics ago we were discussing the country guitar virtuoso, Chet Atkins. In the early days of the Beatles, George Harrison’s axe of choice was a Chet Atkins Country Gentleman model. It was a good, even great guitar, but it was also a statement of George’s admiration for Chet.

    If one knows Atkins and Harrison’s preference for tasty choice licks, it all makes sense.

  48. @Karmi: Anyway, it’s called investigating and research

    Investigation, research and critical thinking require more from you than swallowing someone else’s narrative and regurgitating it.

    There’s nothing wrong with wanting to question a GOP-held narrative. But you don’t get there by adopting the Democrat narrative. Both narratives are selective recitations of facts combined with adjectives and opinions designed to persuade you to accept the narrative.

    In order to decide what the truth is, you need to look for facts in common with both narratives, facts left out by each narrative, and disregard all the adjectives and opinions that sell the narratives. What you will be doing, in 99 cases out of a hundred, is creating a new narrative with as many of the left-out relevant facts as you can assemble.

    And then, if you like, you can compare it to the GOP and Dem versions and see which is closer. And that is a very valuable exercise for any group of commenters like this one, though some of course won’t be interested.

    But regurgitating Dem talking points and saying “Ha what do you say to that” is a huge waste of your time, you’ll not even get a hearing, much less change minds, and people will just discount anything further you have to say on other topics.

  49. Kate, about the colleges being closed due to the storm aftermath, are the students going to be helping with cleanup, do you think? That’s not a sarcastic question. It occurred to me that if the campus culture is healthy, they might in fact want to.

  50. RIP Kris Kristofferson (1936-2024).

    Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose…

    I’ll miss him. He was an interesting fellow, as well as a great singer/songwriter:
    ___________________________________________

    He was born June 2, 1936, in Brownsville, Texas. His father was a career Army Air Corps and Air Force officer, and his family moved frequently. He attended high school in San Mateo, Calif., where he proved both a strong student and a gifted athlete. He graduated summa cum laude with a degree in English from Pomona College and attended Oxford University in England as a Rhodes Scholar.

    While in the U.K., Kristofferson cut his first records as Kris Carson. However, on returning to the U.S., he joined the army under pressure from his family. He ultimately attained the rank of captain, and was able to pilot a helicopter. However, on the eve of beginning an assignment to teach English at West Point, he left the army, and in 1965 he moved to Nashville to pursue music full-time. His family promptly cut ties with him.

    https://variety.com/2024/film/obituaries-people-news/kris-kristofferson-dead-country-music-legend-actor-1236159472/

  51. Like a bird on the wire
    Like a drunk in a midnight choir
    I have tried in my way to be free

    –Leonard Cohen, “Bird on the Wire”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGvwvxA83Cs

    __________________________

    Kristofferson told Cohen he wanted these lines on his grave stone. Cohen said he would be insulted if Kristofferson didn’t.

    Neither will be around to see it.

    I hope so.

  52. Transformation rising….

    “Harris and the Democrats are waging all-out war on constitutional order“—

  53. A good friend died this weekend… look him up… Totally Cool…

    The TikTok video in question features a physician explaining how her friend, a gastroenterologist from Venezuela, has been receiving voter registration emails from the Harris campaign despite the fact she cannot legally vote.

    “I have a friend from Venezuela” she’s a gastroenterologist in Venezuela…we were talking about the 2020 election today and she showed me today, and she told me, ‘oh, I know they cheated in the 2020 because they’ve been sending me emails to register to vote’ to an email account that she opened in Venezuela many, many, many years ago that she used for immigration and communication when she applied to come here, because she came here legally,” the woman says.

    ==========

    A newly leaked phone call between Arizona’s Democratic statewide officeholders reveals how they scrambled to find a narrative before announcing a statewide error that validated the citizenship of nearly 100,000 voters. “It’s going to validate all of their theories about illegal voting in our elections,” said Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs on the call obtained by the Washington Post. “They’re going to be calling for new 2020 and ’22 elections as well,” Hobbs worried, referencing her own election that she rigged and stole from Kari Lake last midterm cycle.

    ==============

    Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) defended former president Donald Trump calling Vice President Kamala Harris “mentally disabled” by arguing her policies are “batsh*t crazy.” In an interview on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday, Jake Tapper played comments from Trump at a rally Saturday in which he attacked the vice president’s cognitive function. “Kamala is mentally impaired”.Joe Biden became mentally impaired, Kamala was born that way”If you think about it, only a mentally disabled person could have allowed this to happen to our country.” “First of all, there are actual people out there with mental impairments, and that’s insulting to them,”

    ==============

    Tim Walz is America’s ‘Cool Dad’, too, and the Left thinks he’s the father figure all need. He’s not. He’s weird. So weird even SNL is making fun of him now. He’s a liar, too. Timmy also appears to have a temper. We saw a flash of it at the DNC back in August, but here’s Tim actually flipping off a Trump supporter at the Michigan game he attended this weekend: Tim Walz stuck his middle finger up at a Michigan fan who yelled “Trump 2024 Baby!” Is this who you really want as VP??

  54. Niketas Choniates – that was the worst comment I’ve seen from you on this blog. The ‘Lecturer’ portion is your usual – but the anger, lack of thought and research is quite unusual for you. An example of many DEMs & REPs being unable to accept facts that suggest and/or disprove what their party is telling them. Another investigating and research project I’ll put on a list for the distant future…possibly.

    If you had read my comments on Republicans, Trump, Project 2025 & its Mandate, and the MOMS Act from the beginning (starting @ 3:45) – it should’ve been clear to you and the ‘Blind Man’ that I wasn’t “regurgitating” anything. I didn’t/don’t know what the DEMs talking points are on Abortion—maybe have seen most but didn’t pay much attention until I got a flyer in the snail mail from a politician (see @ 8.09).

    That DEM flyer suggested that it’s political opponent was “voting for – OR being for a bill supporting the Federal Govt having a data base to track pregnant women.” That was a harsh statement accusing an opponent and the REP party of starting such a data base – something that DEMs do, but not something that I had considered REPs doing. Then saw this during search:

    “Americans don’t want the government to track, intimidate, and coerce pregnant women into carrying their pregnancies to term no matter their circumstances. Yet, Senate Republicans want to mandate the creation of an online federal database where women will be encouraged to register their pregnancies with the government in order to push them toward anti-abortion propaganda and dangerous crisis pregnancy centers—this tells us exactly how Republicans will weaponize the whole of government to restrict a woman’s freedom to choose and force them to stay pregnant no matter what”

    After some investigating and research, that turns out to be at least VERY CLOSE to the truth—if not the exact truth, even if it is a “Democrat narrative.”

    The MOMs Act (see @ 5:38 & 5:44 & 10:11) & Project 2025’s Mandate showed up quite early in the search. Time points cover a couple of days, so it might be easier to start from the beginning.

    My September 29, 2024 at 7:31 am pretty much covers my investigating and research from the actual SOURCESMandate for Leadership and the MOMs Act.

    I looked at DEM & REP narratives and/or talking points, but decided that the actual sources were best to use – Project 2025 > Mandate > MOMS Act > #9 ESTABLISHMENT OF PREGNANCY.GOV.

    After reading the Project 2025’s Mandate, I just could not believe the REP narrative/talking points that the creation of a Federal Govt website was just to ‘help pregnant women’…form your own opinion.

  55. Individuals who posted ‘From the River to the Sea’ on social media will be denied German citizenship, according to stipulations in the new citizenship law, as cited by German channel NDR (North German Radio and Television) and the Federal Interior Ministry this week. People who are employed in Germany can work to obtain citizenship after five years, compared to the eight years previously required in the law. While the law came to pass on June 27 of this year, the requirements have been tightened, especially regarding “Racism, antisemitism or any other form of misanthropy rule out naturalization,”

  56. Its true… its true… they dont learn from horrors inflicted on them!!!

    Many mainstream and conservative Jews are ready to rally around Andrew Cuomo if he runs for mayor, prominent Jewish activists told The Post. “Cuomo is a moderate with a deep history with the Jewish community and a long record of fighting for issues we care about — combating antisemitism and strong support of Israel,” a source said — just days after embattled Mayor Eric Adams appeared in Manhattan court Friday on sweeping corruption charges. “The Jewish community is very anxious for Cuomo to jump into the race.

    hey… isnt it enough that the ivy leagues and even MSSM are anti semetic anti white (with the former being a subset of the latter… go back 20 years and see how i pointed out we would get here… problem is, no one believes till after the kids chant from the river to the sea and its decades too late to do anything about the numbers created in the halls in which they are so prevalent and voting for their haters!)

  57. Jefferson’s camp accused President Adams of having a “hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman.”

    In return, Adams’ men called Vice President Jefferson “a mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father.”

    and yet, the dems think they are taking the high road, even when they are not dems but have practiced entryism, and so, like larry hogan run

  58. @Karmi:but the anger

    Any “anger” you think you detect in anything I wrote is entirely in your imagination. Yes, I was critical of you, but civilly so, and I’m not emotionally engaged in these exchanges (probably why you accuse me of “lecturing”). What follows will be the same, and there’s no anger behind it. I figure you’re not a snowflake and you can handle being politely challenged.

    I wasn’t “regurgitating” anything.

    You were and are. You quote something saying “Republicans will weaponize the whole of government to restrict a woman’s freedom to choose and force them to stay pregnant”, full of characteristic Leftist euphemisms. It’s not a Republican-leaning or an objective source, it’s a Leftist source. “freedom to choose” = euphemism for abortion. “force them to stay pregnant” = euphemism for abortion (there is no force needed for a pregnant woman to stay pregnant).

    What your Dem source is calling “tracking” and “an online federal database” is an inflammatory description of the default behavior of pretty much any webpage that’s built these days. Every and any .gov page out there that uses cookies or where you enter a form–there are thousands–is doing exactly the same thing–as is this website. “Intimidate”, “coerce” and “register pregnancies” is simply made up by your Leftist source’s narrative.

    For example https://civilrights.justice.gov/ has the same laundry list of things pregnancy.gov has: resources if you think your civil rights are violated, a form you’d enter in contact information if you want more help which would go into an “online database” where it’s “tracked”, and could be used to “intimidate”, “coerce”, and “register” labor troublemakers. But your Leftist source is trying to make it sound sinister and evil and only Republicans are making such a thing. That’s a crucial fact left out of the narrative you accepted and repeated here.

    I checked the two what you called the “actual sources” and I did not find either to say they are going to track pregnant women or create a Federal database of pregnant women or register pregnancies. That is a creation of your Leftist narrative source, along with the inflammatory and made-up accusations of “intimidation”, “coercion”, and “registering pregnancies”.

    All your “actual sources” say they will do is provide a website for people to get connected with resources if they wish, just like civilrights.justice.gov and the countless other .gov websites doing the very same thing. But because you accepted the Leftist narrative you believe the accusations.

  59. Niketas Choniates – you are blinded by your own anger…

    Read again – starting here:

    Then saw this during search:

    That was a near the starting point of my search, i.e., similar to the flyer.

    You have ignored from there on…

    Reread it again…

  60. @Karmi:Niketas Choniates – you are blinded by your own anger…

    You’re not psychic, and you don’t have access to my emotional state. I’m just sitting here drinking my coffee and looking at the blogs in the morning, my friend, and dispassionately challenging the narrative you’ve seized on today–just as I’m doing with three or four other narratives by three or four other people on three or four other blogs.

    Plenty of times here I defend you to other people who accuse you of trolling, and I point out to them areas where they agree with you. (The only time I ever thought you were trolling was when you actually used the metaphor to describe what you were intending with your comment.)

    I don’t dislike you, or other people commenting here, because I don’t have the illusion that I know anybody here. I dislike bogus narratives and bad-faith commenting. I rarely find you commenting in bad faith, but sometimes I think you have a bogus narrative, it’s true.

    You’ve certainly made it clear you don’t like my style. I ain’t mad at ya. You don’t know me. On the Internet no one knows I’m a dog.

  61. Niketas Choniates – again, we are not friends, and I am not interested in what you are drinking (that coffee may be the cause of your anger issue).

    Don’t want to hear you claiming to “defend” me…Jeez!?! Disprove my points:

    actual sources were best to use – Project 2025 > Mandate > MOMS Act > #9 ESTABLISHMENT OF PREGNANCY.GOV.

    Or just continue believing the REP narrative on the subject…

  62. @Karmi:Disprove my points:

    I already did and I’m not going to repeat them. The “#9 ESTABLISHMENT OF PREGNANCY.GOV” does not say to do what the Dems you uncritically quote accuse it of saying it does. It does mention a website, yes, and describes it as like the one at civilrights.justice.gov and thousands of others .gov, which no one is objecting to or accusing of anything sinister.

    When someone accuses the GOP of an evil plan involving a website, a GOP source that merely describes the website does not prove or confess to the existence of the evil plan.

    There’s just nothing there in what you’re trying to show us except Dem hallucinations. But yes, the GOP bill does call for the creation of a website where people can find out about resources for pregnancy. Everything else you accuse it of being for is just stuff Dems made up.

  63. @ Niketas Choniates

    Project 2025, and then to its Mandate for Leadership – under the Contents to Section 3, and then open #14 Department of Health and Human Services.

    • Abortion and euthanasia are not health care.

    • Data Collection. The CDC’s abortion surveillance and maternity mortality reporting systems are woefully inadequate.

    • Because liberal states have now become sanctuaries for abortion tourism, HHS should use every available tool, including the cutting of funds, to ensure that every state reports exactly how many abortions take place within its borders, at what gestational age of the child, for what reason, the mother’s state of residence, and by what method.

    • The Ensuring Accurate and Complete Abortion Data Reporting Act of 20239 would amend title XIX of the Social Security Act and Public Health Service Act to improve the CDC’s abortion reporting mechanisms by requiring states, as a condition of federal Medicaid payments for family planning services, to report streamlined variables in a timely manner.

    • Abortion Pills. Abortion pills pose the single greatest threat to unborn children in a post-Roe world.

    • Reverse its approval of chemical abortion drugs because the politicized approval process was illegal from the start.

    • Mail-Order Abortions. Allowing mail-order abortions is a gift to the abortion industry that allows it to expand far beyond brick-and-mortar clinics and into pro-life states that are trying to protect women, girls, and unborn children from abortion.

    It goes on and on about ways to “restrict abortions.” Here’s more:

    • Prohibit abortion travel funding</b. Providing funding for abortions increases the number of abortions and violates the conscience and religious freedom rights of Americans who object to subsidizing the taking of life.

    • Prohibit Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funds. During the 2020–2021 reporting period, Planned Parenthood performed more than 383,000 abortions.
    • Withdraw Medicaid funds for states that require abortion insurance or that discriminate in violation of the Weldon Amendment.

    • Eliminate the week-after-pill from the contraceptive mandate as a potential abortifacient.

    That’s from September 29, 2024 at 7:31 am, which shows that the Republicans and Conservatives working at Project 2025, along with the many Republican and Conservative groups supporting Project 2025 support the Mandate. Notice 2nd point in the Mandate:

    • Data Collection. The CDC’s abortion surveillance and maternity mortality reporting systems are woefully inadequate.

    About a year later, the Republican leadership come up with a Bill to start collecting data (aka “Data Collection”).

    The only thing you have proven here is that you will believe anything the REPs tell you to believe..

  64. @Karmi: Yeah, I knew the GOP was against legal abortion and would like to restrict it, and I think we all did. Thanks for the update. I can certainly see why Democrats have a problem with that.

    We can all read, and nothing you put there is evidence for the Dem accusations you posted that there will be “intimidation”, “coercion”, “register of pregnancies” or an “online Federal database of pregnant women”. The CDC’s function is to collect public health data and Dems don’t want it to talk about abortions gone wrong. If it’s wrong for the CDC to collect data, the Dems are deep in it, and that’s not the “pregnancy.gov” website your Dem narrative says is so sinister, that’s the CDC which they approve of if it’s COVID vaccination tracking but mysteriously disapprove of when it’s abortion mortality.

    You repeatedly put up stuff that doesn’t say what you say it says, and that’s bad faith commenting as far as I’m concerned. I won’t hold it against you on a different topic, but I don’t trust you on this one.

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