Home » Open thread 7/25/24

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Open thread 7/25/24 — 35 Comments

  1. I really don’t want Biden to resign. That would put the mantle of being the First Black Women President on Harris. The only real change would be that Harris can walk briskly up the stairs to AirForce One in High Heels.

    If what happened in DC yesterday is a foretaste of what will happen in Chicago, then I am all for it.

  2. Headlines inform us the Paris Olympic Games are poised to begin. Though not especially interested in these events myself this time around, I do find I’m wondering what Iranian/Hamasian induced terroristic horrors may descend upon Israeli athletes at these games (god forbid such expectations ever occur). France may take mighty efforts to prevent such deeds, yet for all the experience France has had fighting Islamist terror heretofore, too often terror has won there in spectacular evil. I brace against the possibilities.

  3. If the NY Post is to be believed, the reason Obama has yet to endorse Kamala is that he doesn’t think she can win.

    “Obama’s very upset because he knows she can’t win,” the Biden family source told The Post.

    “Obama knows she’s just incompetent — the border czar who never visited the border, saying that all migrants should have health insurance. She cannot navigate the landmines that are ahead of her.”

    “When you are running for president, there are things you can and can’t say.”

    Seems plausible to me.

    I find the whole “border czar” thing amusing for many reasons beyond the mainstream media’s ridiculous attempts at gaslighting it away. It’s wierd how people have to pretend that Kamala Harris was supposed to somehow solve the border crisis despite it being pretty damn obvious that from this administration’s point of view, the border crisis is working as intended. What else should a reasonable person with the slightest capacity for critical thinking conclude about the policy of allowing pretty much anyone who shows up at the border the ability to claim asylum and then stay within the country while waiting many months for a court date (that they likely won’t even show up for anyway) other than that such a policy is effectively no different than a completely open border that anyone can walk across unvetted and unchallenged? Why have such a policy at all… assuming you give a damn about the security and safety of actual citizens? And we’re supposed to believe that Kamala was going to in someway fix this completely manufactured crisis by addressing “root causes” as if those weren’t obvious?

    I know everyone around here knows all this. But I still find it weird that so many conservatives act as if they expected Kamala to fix the crisis and that she failed to. She clearly was clearly never meant to fix anything.

  4. That last link was about further malfeassance the dems comducted to defend ‘their democracy’

    No of course we had no expectations of her but this was the fraud they presented for her. This is one of the tasks she was given
    Along with ai czar if you cannot even note the sinecures she has been granted

    Just like warning putin not to invade

  5. Nobody talks about the border czar thing from the standpoint of what she wants the border to be because they’re too busy talking about the what the border is.

    Considering the Biden administration threw her to the wolves by declaring her in charge of its policy on the southern border, the options boil down to either ineffectual incompetence, Biden set her up to stab her in the back, and/or she’s actively for an effectively open border.

    The ‘an open border is a good thing’ folks are, instead, arguing that ‘border czar’ was never really part of her portfolio, rather than cheering on the policies in place. This seems an obviously better argument for them, that the state of the border isn’t her fault because she’s just the veep, allowing Harris to distance herself from the policies without having to denounce them.

    Blaming Biden has the dual problems of the continuing attempt to beatify him and why Harris would agree to continue as veep if he’s already arranged a back stabbing.

    Meanwhile, actually talking about the policy and results on the southern border are bad for Harris (and the Democrats in general.) Any topic shifting away from that is better, even if it’s transparent (and totally spontaneous and not directed in any way at all by the Harris campaign) gaslighting. Anybody talking about whether Harris was, or was not, ‘border czar’ is wasting space not talking about the state of the border.

  6. Miguel’s link is about DC police and a federal prosecutor altering evidence in order to tank charges against the 2017 inauguration rioters who caused downtown damages in excess of $100,000.

    Yesterday’s DC rioters should be charged with the vandalism of the monuments and any other damage caused (flag burning is disgusting, but free speech). Does anyone think they will be? And will Chicago take effective steps to stop this next month at the DNC?

  7. Bob Newhart and his reading habits remind me of a book I recently read: Glen David Gold’s I Will Be Complete: A Memoir. He had just begun working at Hunter’s, a now-defunct bookstore in the Westwood district of Los Angeles. The year: 1983 or so.

    My first day, still being coached to use the register, I saw a man waiting in line wearing a cardigan and half-glasses. People were staring. Finally, the woman behind him said, “Aren’t you Bob Newhart?”

    He gave a soft chuckle and said, “No, I get that all the time, though.”
    “You even sound like him,” she said. His reply was a sad shrug that implied a burden: he got that all the time, too.

    He handed me his credit card. BOB NEWHART. His eyes flicked toward mine for less than a second, and I knew I was supposed to stay quiet, so I did. He bought his books and left.

    When he’d hired me, Mike, in his beautiful radio announcer’s voice, suggested certain skills were involved when dealing with the famous. It wasn’t something that could be taught, really, but he could see I grasped the whole Tao of the thing, he said. He kept using Eastern philosophical words even when they didn’t line up with what he meant, but I nodded anyway, because I could see that it pleased him to say things like “Zen” when he meant “tact,” maybe.

    Mike didn’t bring this up, but it was widely known among the staff that the true test would be if Timothy Hutton or, worse, Sean Penn came into the store. All of Mike’s tact would go like chicken feathers out of an open blender.

  8. I am all for Harris being the front Puppet of the Deep State, if they want to rush making her the nomination good for them because the more she talks the more she will turn away.
    I still doubt Sundowner will survive month to month until January

  9. Life on Earth is a *LOT* like Life in a Prison…

    It’s true. Lack of female companionship is probably the most noticeable exception, and then the limited freedom of physical movement.

    Really enjoyed Netanyahu’s speech yesterday – not his best, IMHO, but one point that certainly struck me the most was the Abraham Alliance – and ‘a “glimpse” of that alliance on April 14 as Iran launched its missile and drone attack against Israel.

    America’s Leaders have been ignoring Iran’s threats for decades – emboldening Iran. Weak American Presidents’ so-called leadership have led to the Houthis pretty much shutting down the Red Sea, and plans to shutdown even more waters.

    Best policy for any threat is to strike it immediately—stopping it in its tracks. Otherwise it becomes emboldened—growing until it gets the nerve to strike you. Sometimes using proxies, as suggested by Netanyahu, like Iran’s Houthis, Hezbollah and Hamas.

    Another point in Netanyahu’s speech:

    And one more thing. When Israel acts to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons that could destroy Israel and threaten every American city, every city that you come from, we’re not only protecting ourselves. We’re protecting you.

    “When Israel acts…” Waiting until the last moment to stop the Iranian threat is a terrible plan, IMHO, but I sorta understand Israel’s position, i.e., a long list of weak American Presidents.

  10. since you have been in rip van winkle mode for a long time, you may not have noticed how much approbrium, Israel gets for doing the right think, in 1981, with Tammuz 16, a quarter century later at Deir er Zour, with a North Korean reactor, were did the uranium come from, which was clearly a violation of the deal that Wendy Sherman and co, had struck with the Kim Dynast,

  11. I don’t understand why the Dems aren’t pressuring Biden to resign, as it would elevate Kamala to the presidency, “making history” and giving her the power of incumbency. There’s the argument that it would draw time from her campaign, but incumbents have never had trouble running for reelection, and if she has less time for actively campaigning, that lost time would be spent appearing “presidential.” But maybe that last part is the problem, as she would likely come off as very unpresidential.

  12. Kate, I really really want Chicago to be much worse than DC. Can’t help myself.

  13. Kamala has the same problem as Hillary: the more people see of her the less they like her. So the less time she can campaign the better for her.

  14. “America’s Leaders have been ignoring Iran’s threats for decades – emboldening Iran.” – Karmi

    Except for the years DJT was POTUS. He sanctioned their oil sales, thereby reducing their income and capacity to make war. He cancelled the Iran nuclear deal brokered by Obama, and he changed the ROEs in the Iraq/Syria battles against ISIS and Iranian proxies. The result: ISIS defeated in a few months, and a period of stability in the Syrian theater. As well as fewer attacks on Israel by Hamas and Hezbollah.

    Economic pressure can work, if the U.S. and its allies have the common sense to use it.

  15. she is very much a niche product, there is a reason she didn’t win a single delegate back in 2020, in the current subterfuge thats another matter, altogether,

    one is left to conclude that islamic state serves a purpose for the apparat, as long as their outrages are manageable, the orlando attack came a little too close to home, so they camouflaged it as a simple hate crime, without noticing the scriptural imperatives behind it,

    so christopher wray does his best sgt schultz impression, ‘I know nothin’ while throwing some chaff to assassination denialist, yes they are a thing, of course hes on the hunt for the errant grandma praying at the Capitol, those eight tadjiks had to be extra noisy to stand out in the crowd of the 300 men on watchlist that we know entered the country,

  16. The denialist thing is so stupid. Even if Trump had been hit by shrapnel and not a bullet, they were still shooting at him. Surely they’re not suggesting that the target was someone else.

  17. miguel @ 2:10pm

    I know Crooks was supposedly smart, but he would have been 17 at the time of those posts. Those don’t read like the words of a 17-year-old.

  18. From NY Post:
    ____________________________________

    Trump gunman Thomas Crooks likely had a Gab account that he used to ‘support’ President Biden, site’s CEO says

    The gunman who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump appears to have used the controversial alt-right favored social media platform Gab to spread messages “in support of President Biden,” according to the platform’s founder.

    Gab CEO Andrew Torba said he learned Wednesday that Thomas Matthew Crooks “may have had an account on our platform” after getting “an emergency disclosure request from a law enforcement agency.”

    The account @epicmicrowave — which the CEO stressed he has been “unable to confirm” was definitely Crooks’ — “posted on the site nine (9) times total,” Torba tweeted just 30 minutes after getting the law enforcement request.

    “While the account made very few posts on the site, the majority of them were in support of President Biden,” said the CEO of the platform launched in 2016 as a completely free-speech alternative to Twitter.

    “A number of posts in particular expressed support for President Biden’s COVID lockdowns, border policies and executive orders.”

    https://nypost.com/2024/07/25/us-news/trump-gunman-thomas-crooks-used-gab-to-support-biden-ceo/

  19. On the posted video, I never get tired of Bob Newhart, and that one was particularly appropriate.

  20. Huzzahs and congratulations to Dylan Cease on his no-hitter tossed today vs the Nats, and thanks be my guys don’t have to face him this weekend, too!

  21. This reinforces the evidence there were two shooters.
    At approx. 4:50 in the video, one officer says “watch out for shell casings” and another one points around the shooters body and says “two, three, four, five”.

    Why is this significant? Because an analysis of the sound from several cell recordings by rally goers and the audio of the mic President Trump was speaking from show three intial shots followed by a pause and then 5 rapid fire shots, another pause and a 9th shot which was the sniper killing the shooter.

    The sound of the first three shots and then the five rapid shots are different in pitch and amplitude.

    Why is this significant? Wray in his testimony said they found 8 “cartridges” on the roof. But a cartridge is the complete bullet. The “shell casing” is ejected when the cartridge is fired.

    Notice the officer in the video counts 5 shell casings. Why not 8? That is the number of shots fired, not counting the sniper shot that killed the shooter.

    This is not absolute, but very, very suspicious. The three missing casings could be under the body. It’s unlikely they would have rolled off the roof.

    More questions.

    JUST RELEASED: Additional Bodycam footage where Trump Shooter was positioned
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV_d4Qe7PcM

    Here is a fairly good analysis of the audio of the shots.

    Audio analysis raises troubling questions – Peak Prosperity
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF4RFPXcTlI

    By the way, the ladder the officer wearing the bodycam video was likely the ladder the shooter climbed up on. That type of ladder collapses to a very short length as each section of the round tubing collapses into the previous one. When collapsed, the ladder is only about 1-1.5 foot long.

  22. This is a livestream that is supposed to happen soon. Maybe at 4 pm PDT.

    I assume he’ll talk about the video I linked to in my previous comment, and other information he might have.

    One of the comments waiting for the start of this video said: “??A new Police Activity video just came out which is the longer version of that, same guy now counting 8 shells 24m 5seconds in – weird shit going on, it was 5 shells at the start and 8 at the end”
    Hopefully that will be addressed.

    Local Authorities Break Ranks on Trump Assassination Attempt! – Peak Prosperity
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn_vBK_xKtg

  23. Some months ago neo did an “Open Thread” featuring the live version of “Sultans of Swing” by Dire Straits.

    Not sure why, but in the past year every YouTube reactor channel has fastened upon this performance.

    My favorite react guy, Polo, does his thing for the performance. He was totally blown away and surprised by it. He didn’t remember ever hearing of Dire Straits as a band. But you can tell he got it.
    ______________________________________

    If you don’t like this, I don’t know what you’re hearing.

    –POLO REACTS, “And then I heard… DIRE STRAITS – Sultans of Swing (First Time Hearing!!)”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgCHl46vFW4

    ______________________________________

    I loved the studio version and usually I don’t care as much for the live, but OMG this is the most synced-up, brilliant, live performance I can recall.

  24. Remember this?

    When Obama turned up at the White House, staffers and the press crowded around him, leaving President Biden talking to the drapes—which is not a metaphor but a real thing that happened.

    It was a very sad moment for Joe. Never has someone in such a high office and with such an impressive résumé been so collectively urinated upon. Now he’s getting flushed like used toilet paper. Through his dementia fog, he’s aware of the humiliation, which shows in flashes of bitterness.

  25. @ Banned Lizard – “Through his dementia fog, he’s aware of the humiliation, which shows in flashes of bitterness.”

    Your empathy for Biden does you credit.
    However, HE chose to run for president, at a age when he should have been in total retirement.
    If he had ended his political career after being VP, his reputation (at least among Democrats) would still be intact.
    To get on the bad side of the Hubris & Karma team is not a well-chosen decision.

  26. I’ve had a copy of “The Button Down Mind of Bob Newhart” since I was single-digits old.

    I was quite amused when an opening scene in the excellent 1993 “RomCom” (not really — but it was a tour-de-force for a number of actors, including a very young looking Robert Downey Jr.) took place in a night club in the very late 1950s… and, on the stage, behind the story character bar waitress, was a guy who was very obviously doing Bob Newhart’s routine, in much the same manner as he did.

    The post-credits sequence revealed the actor playing Bob was… Robert William Newhart, his son. And it’s his only IMDB credit.

    Heart And Souls
    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107091/
    Highly recommended when you want some light fun to watch.

  27. }}} This is not absolute, but very, very suspicious.

    Wait. You’re telling me that there is something regarding Trump that the Dems were involved in that was “very very suspicious”?

    Cain’t be!! Jus’ not possible, man!!

    /sarc off

    😀

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