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The WashPo staffers had barely finished toasting “merry impeachmas” — and then quickly deleting the incriminating tweet + photo that signaled their self-owned chagrin — when the implications of the day’s solemn work started sifting through those quarters of the alt-news media where the chronically self-owned don’t dare to go, or even look: Nancy Pelosi and her too-clever-by-half Lawfare grunts had engineered a Hanging Chad Impeachment.

Apparently, Mrs. Pelosi wants to play Hide the Salami with the impeachment bill. She invoked some slippery procedure to stash it where the sun don’t shine in the hope that the senate won’t be able to follow through with its duty to try the very charges set out in the bill. How’s that gonna go over when the details are actually sorted out?

So far, there are just opinions a’plenty. One was offered by Noah Feldman of Harvard, the very fellow who testified last week fervidly in favor of impeachment before Mr. Nadler’s Judiciary Committee. He wrote, in a Bloomberg op-ed, that the action would signify that the president had not, in fact, been impeached, that it would only be so if the bill were conveyed to the senate. The issue of conveyance looms large in the present kerfuffle.

The constitution says nothing about such conveyance, whether by errand boy, postcard, mounted messenger, dog-sled, palanquin, trumpet blast, Morse code, pneumatic tube, hog-call, smoke signal, telephone, FedEx, DM, skywriting, or a girl popping out of a cake with an envelope tucked in her brassiere. It just states that it’s the sole power of the house to draft the charges and the sole power of the senate to conduct a trial of the charges. Of course, the charges have been published in the Congressional Record, which one might think is sufficient “conveyance” of the house’s action and intent — though other voices claim not even that is required for the senate to act.

The matter of conveyance derives strictly from precedent, tradition, and rules accrued over the centuries in legislative practice. But these, of course, are not stipulated in the supreme law of the land, the founding document. Since the house made up its own rather unsportsmanlike rules for assembling the charges, first in Adam Schiff’s Intel Committee and then in Mr. Nadler’s HJC — deviously disadvantaging the defense with star chamber subterfuges — the senate can follow its own rules, too, including the option to dismiss the bill summarily as devoid of merit. After all, “abuse of power” has no criminal specificity, high or low, and “obstruction of the house” refers fallaciously to the president’s right to seek relief from the supreme court in a procedural disagreement with another branch of government.

Mr. Trump appears eager and avid to go to trial, where his side could call witnesses to his heart’s delight while denying the opposition any witnesses, just as the Dems did in the house. His managers could call in the Bidens, Joe and Hunter, to explain their 2014 adventures in Ukraine, and the impressive payments tendered to them — for what? The defense could compel the testimony of the rogue CIA agent, Eric Ciaramella, to explain his pretensions of whistleblowing, and also his enabler, Intel IG Michael Atkinson, who left a procedural slime-trail in his handling of the “whistleblower” ruse. They could call in the fact-witness to all that, Rep. Adam Schiff, who would excite the wonder and loathing of the nation in being forced to reveal his part in that charade and to recount the myriad falsehoods he has spawned in three years of RussiaGate chicanery — which, in a truly just world, would prompt his expulsion from the house. They could haul in Messrs Obama, Brennan, Clapper, Comey, Mueller, Weissman, Rosenstein, McCabe, Ohr, Lynch, Strzok, Ms. Page, Ms. Yates, Mrs. Lynch, Mr. Halper — though I suspect that bunch would be better left to the ministrations of John Durham, just as the Democratic primaries roll out.

A trial like that would be a rich spectacle for sure after subjecting the nation to three years of malicious, perfidious sedition. But other gusts of rumor intimate that senators on the Republican side would prefer to not open any cans of Ukrainian worms in a trial, since money laundered through the Ukrainian oligarch mills may have found its way into their pockets as well. Who knows…?

The simplest explanation for this hot mess is that Mrs. Pelosi’s team wanted desperately to just distract the country’s attention from the Horowitz report — which it pretty much failed to do — and now that she’s shot her wad with that gambit, she’s left holding a bag of meritless impeachment bullshit that will disappoint and embarrass the Resistance just as much as the Mueller investigation managed to do. Which leads to the question: when does this faction finally lose its appetite for self-degradation and dishonor?


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483 Responses to “Reindeer Games”

  1. PeteAtomic December 20, 2019 at 10:06 am #

    “….and now that she’s shot her wad with that gambit, she’s left holding a bag of meritless impeachment bullshit that will disappoint and embarrass the Resistance just as much as the Mueller investigation managed to do. Which leads to the question: when does this faction finally lose its appetite for self-degradation and dishonor?”

    well I’d argue that the Squad/radicals will not lose its appetite for self-degradation & dishonor, because extremists never do! This whole impeachmas was virtue signaling to the leftist-regressive base of the democrat party on a grandiose scale. It does not prove that the Left has strength– on the contrary– it is visible impotency. The House democrats are like a swarm of gibbering, agitated & annoying Lilliputians attempting to tie down the GGG with a ball of twine.

    • YeahURight December 22, 2019 at 1:13 pm #

      I love that image

  2. JohnAZ December 20, 2019 at 10:08 am #

    When you live in a smelly ol’ swamp, you get used to the odor of rot. The Dems do not even realize what a rotten can of worms they live in.

    • capt spaulding December 20, 2019 at 10:54 am #

      Wow, do you realize how ironic it is that you would say that about the Dems, and not say the same for the Republicans? An even greater irony is the fact that the man ( Trump), who ran against the swamp, then immediately filled it with swamp monsters, and you guys continue blithely along, and just gloss over the whole thing. as if somehow he solved the problem. The mind boggles.

      • Beryl of Oyl December 20, 2019 at 11:05 am #

        President Trump is right this very moment in the middle of a battle with the Swamp. They want him gone by any means.
        Had you not noticed?

        • capt spaulding December 20, 2019 at 11:13 am #

          Did you miss the Republican vote tally? Willfully blind. Also, his cabinet positions are part of the swamp as well. But you appear to be a good Republican, unmoved by anything as pesky as facts. Naturally, of course, what I would say are facts, you would disagree with. That’s how cognitive dissonance works, regrettably.

          • Beryl of Oyl December 20, 2019 at 12:18 pm #

            Oh I am not blind, my eyes have been open for a long time.
            I am not a Republican either.
            My guy, my man, my pick sits in the Oval Office.
            I know what I’m doing.
            We know what we are doing.

          • libertysghost December 20, 2019 at 5:28 pm #

            Beryl…don’t you love the modern Puritans? They live in a world where they don’t have to pick between imperfect options and instead stand “virtuous” and signal” to all others just HOW DAMN VIRTUOUS THEY ARE over and over as if…it…means…a…thing.

            I get right where you’re coming from…though the “ultra wise” among us know better and imagine a grand planned conspiracy where all the deep state cabal purposely exposed itself in order to “validate” their Manchurian candidate Trump.

            It’s so obvious! 😉 These elites are so perfect in their plans…always ten steps ahead. LOL

        • EvelynV December 20, 2019 at 6:28 pm #

          Can you blame them? We all do.

          * “We” in this context means “all sapient human beings”

  3. Whiteturtle December 20, 2019 at 10:10 am #

    I am going to be very curious to see how JHK responds to the fact that absolutely none of this is going happen.

    • James Howard Kunstler December 20, 2019 at 10:18 am #

      Whiteturtle– I guess we’ll both just have to stand by on that.

      • Whiteturtle December 20, 2019 at 6:40 pm #

        I greatly respect your work and think you operate from many correct premises that go widely under-considered in most popular discourse and mainstream economics/politics (i.e. industrial civilization is slowly disintegrating due to resource depletion) but your recent persistence in repainting conservative fever dreams as common-sense readings of the “facts behind the headlines” has had me rolling my eyes every week since Russiagate got started. Obviously the foreign policy blob and the neoliberal Democrats embedded in power in Washington are corrupt and working to frantically put away Trump since his vast incompetence serves to highlight how puffed up, empty, and immoral the whole empire-building exercise has been. My problem is with the idea that Trump and his ilk are going to be able to do anything other than scream at each other over smartphones in various public bathroom stalls at fancy DC restaurants like a jungle full of monkeys that have spotted a jaguar. Crude animal cunning might get you to the top of the tree in the right circumstances, but the predator is always going to claim a carcasses.

        • venuspluto67 December 21, 2019 at 6:37 am #

          I think that the denouement, such as there will be any such thing, of all this will be a lot like the new Star Wars movie: A big, frantic mess that nobody really understands or cares about, and some way will be found to blame Russian trolls.

    • Beryl of Oyl December 20, 2019 at 11:09 am #

      Turtle, I am not optimistic that there will be the punishments handed out that need to be.
      But fact? It hasn’t happened yet. Future events aren’t facts.

      Actually I’m wrong about that. I’m told that just because the global warming predictions for the future didn’t materialize, doesn’t mean it isn’t fact.
      They’ll just get somebody who is young enough not to know those deadlines came and went to represent that movement.

      • GreenAlba December 22, 2019 at 11:25 am #

        “I’m told that just because the global warming predictions for the future didn’t materialize, doesn’t mean it isn’t fact.”

        Don’t believe everything you’re told, Beryl.

        https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-how-well-have-climate-models-projected-global-warming

        Climate models published since 1973 have generally been quite skillful in projecting future warming. While some were too low and some too high, they all show outcomes reasonably close to what has actually occurred, especially when discrepancies between predicted and actual CO2 concentrations and other climate forcings are taken into account.

        Models are far from perfect and will continue to be improved over time. They also show a fairly large range of future warming that cannot easily be narrowed using just the changes in climate that we have observed.

        Nevertheless, the close match between projected and observed warming since 1970 suggests that estimates of future warming may prove similarly accurate.”

        • GreenAlba December 22, 2019 at 11:26 am #

          Lots of helpful graphs.

          • capt spaulding December 22, 2019 at 9:07 pm #

            Permafrost melting quickly in Siberia and Alaska. As far as the graphs, those will be derided as fakes. Those people will maybe believe it when only hot water comes out of both taps.

  4. SW December 20, 2019 at 10:12 am #

    Schumer has already been in front of the cameras blasting the Republicans for defending Trump and stating “it won’t be a fair trial in the Senate!” I’ve maintained all along the last thing Democrats want is a public trial where the Bidens, Schiff, the so-called whistleblower and others have to testify under oath and get asked really hard questions they can’t worm their way out of. The candidates last night did not look enthusiastic about impeachment but they’re trapped like rats in a cage the House built for them. Nancy Pelosi is living proof we need term limits.

    • JohnAZ December 20, 2019 at 10:26 am #

      And she has a lot of company on both sides of the aisle.

    • Beryl of Oyl December 20, 2019 at 10:53 am #

      We do have term limits. Nancy has to run every two years.
      How she remain in power has a lot to do with the other party.

      Last time around I was all prepared to support the other guy running as an alternative to Andrew Cuomo, who in addition to his many flaws is a terrible governor.
      I found myself fairly alone in my endeavor, as once again the Republicans didn’t really bother to back Marc Molinaro.

      Then there was that billionaire who made his money from a financial/real estate bubble that widened the gap between the haves and have nots to an extreme. He took office knowing he was only permitted two terms, but that wasn’t enough for him to finish clamping down on individual rights, so he had his cronies on the city council make an exception for him. The payoff was that the head of the council was going to be his hand-picked successor.
      That’s a large part of the reason NYC got de Blasio the commie, he seemed like a breath of fresh air after the other Democrats.

      In my experience, term limits end up backfiring. We have one state representative where I live, who does a decent job for his constituents. We’d lose him if we had any more limits than the will of the voters.

      • messianicdruid December 20, 2019 at 11:50 am #

        He is not the only qualified person available. No one is indispensible.

        If I have to vote against the anti-christ again, I might vote for an incumbent, but not likely. One term – then go home and get a real job and live under the “law”. No pensions. Everyone is under the law.

        • Beryl of Oyl December 20, 2019 at 12:22 pm #

          Druid, my state official is the only one who runs who is a decent person who gives a crap about the people he represents. He IS indispensable.

          • messianicdruid December 20, 2019 at 12:42 pm #

            I believe you are a decent person who gives a crap, probably much more. And you are not alone, they just want us to feel alone.

      • Exscotticus December 20, 2019 at 1:58 pm #

        Those are not term limits.

        Term limits would limit the number of terms you can serve in your lifetime. For POTUS it’s two. For Congress it’s none—no limit.

        And the results are overwhelmingly obvious. The longer one remain in Congress, the more power and wealth one accrues. The wealth isn’t coming from annual raises and merit bonuses, so where does it come from? Why do opportunities mysteriously open for those in Congress and not for others? It’s the mystery of our age. Science should get on this right away!

    • cc rider December 20, 2019 at 11:07 am #

      I believe we are witnessing the unraveling of the US Government. The collapse of it is on the horizon. Party politics have degraded to outright gang warfare. One party controls the House. The other controls the Senate. Each plays an important roll in the Impeachment and potential Conviction process. The gang that controls the Senate accuses the gang that controls the House of rigging the hearings. Then the gang that controls the House will accuse the Senate controlling gang of rigging the trial. This will keep going throughout 2020 and it will infect the elections. I think JHK is right that we’ll be seeing lawfare tactics employed to fight in the courts whatever the outcome will be. We’re headed to a constitutional crisis of epic proportions. I don’t pretend to know what happens then, but I just know it will not be pleasant.

      • BackRowHeckler December 20, 2019 at 12:24 pm #

        Uh oh

        You could be right , Cc

        If that’s the case, who’s going to send out the checks, and charge up the EBT CCards?

        Brh

    • Beryl of Oyl December 20, 2019 at 11:12 am #

      Chuck employed a Pakistani spy. Chuck has a high position in national security.
      No one really delved into that.
      Chuck will do what his handlers order him to do.
      Remember how he wasn’t really too concerned that the Deep State might exact revenge on a sitting president who ticked them off?
      Wasn’t that a curious attitude for a United States Senator?

      • cc rider December 20, 2019 at 11:31 am #

        Chuck is as slimy as they come. Loves to swim in the swamp there in Langley, VA. A slimy swamp creature he is.

    • Soloview December 20, 2019 at 2:09 pm #

      Schumer engages in “political speech” and that is fine. He can do that to his heart content. But for Nancy Pelosi to say that she is not sending her impeachment scrawl to the Senate until she gets to dictate who will be called to the trial there, is clearly defiance of the Constitution which stipulates that the trial of the House’s impeachment articles is the business of the Senate. Period.

      • Majella December 24, 2019 at 1:59 am #

        She’s not ‘dictating’
        The Senate trial terms – she’s asking ‘what see your RULES, Mitch?’

        Any answer!? Nope. Just NBC a declaration ghstshes hamd-in-globe with the defense. Sham on steroids.

    • elysianfield December 21, 2019 at 2:16 pm #

      “Schumer has already been in front of the cameras blasting the Republicans for defending Trump and stating “it won’t be a fair trial in the Senate!””

      I would suggest to Mr. Schumer that his party held their own processes in the House, fair or otherwise, and I would then invite him to Shut the Fuck Up….

  5. neargreat December 20, 2019 at 10:13 am #

    “For you reading pleasure”
    Thanks for truth in advertising JHK…..I enjoy your work!

    Support this blog on PatreonSupport this blog on Substack
    Support this blog via Patreon or Substack
    • sprawlcapital December 20, 2019 at 10:31 am #

      . . . other gusts of rumor . . .
      =====================
      For our reading pleasure indeed.

      JHK is a virtuoso of metaphor, rhetoric, and wit.

      The only readers who object to his writing are Resistance trolls.

      • Dentshop December 21, 2019 at 7:34 pm #

        Not quite. The problem with online discourse today is that it has become so diametrically opposed. Don’t completely agree with me? You must be a Nazi. Don’t like that song? You must hate the band. Disagree with JHK? You are a resistance troll. He has been right and wrong about a great number of things over the years. There are times when he has predicted the future with uncanny precision. There are times when he has written stuff that has been completely wrong and I have pointed it out well in advance. This doesn’t make me a troll, simply part of a mature discussion.

    • Beryl of Oyl December 20, 2019 at 10:54 am #

      I enjoyed the mention of a palanquin, which is an underrated means of conveyance.

  6. Minnie Van Horne December 20, 2019 at 10:18 am #

    Holiday gift idea from the Democratic National Committee:

    Adam and Nancy and Rotunda Jerry
    Give ginsu knives to commit hari kari.

    • ellipsis December 20, 2019 at 10:41 am #

      Nah! Let ’em use dull, rusty, butter knives instead. We want to extend the moment and savor it fully.

    • Beryl of Oyl December 20, 2019 at 11:00 am #

      Could the “optics” be any worse for that trio?
      Even people who get triggered by Orange Man and his funny hair have to acknowledge that these three look like something that escaped when someone didn’t do a good job of sealing the crypt.
      Nancy has been looking just recently like one of those dolls that opens and shuts her eyes, a broken one. She can’t seem to get them both open to the same level at the same time anymore. That’s not normal.
      Nancy is the best-looking one.
      I’m thinking how much of the world is watching. They have to be wondering what the hell happened to America.

      • JustSaying December 20, 2019 at 1:47 pm #

        They are quite a sight!

        Nancy has some botched plastic surgery going on in her face. Her jerky movements and erratic behavior also point to some kind of neurological disorder, according to my doctor.

        I guess the drug of power is the only thing keeping her going. What a sad life, like Cummings signing subpoenas on his death bed. But she gave a shout out to his ghost on impeachment eve. How wonderful!

        We are governed by sick and twisted individuals who serve no real purpose in the scheme of things. They are hollow to the core.

        • Majella December 20, 2019 at 2:52 pm #

          ‘We are governed by sick and twisted individuals who serve no real purpose in the scheme of things. They are hollow to the core.‘

          You would have to apply that accusation equally – to both parties & both houses, as a general rule. But there are individual exceptions.

        • Nightowl December 20, 2019 at 6:00 pm #

          Nanschy

        • Minnie Van Horne December 20, 2019 at 8:07 pm #

          There is something creepily strange about the appearance of Uncle Joe’s face these days, too. Did he duck out of sight for a few months in 2018, long enough to get everything stretched and tightened? Or is Nancy just needle-jabbing him 3 or 4 times a week with the same concentration of Botox in which she (over-) indulges?

      • Majella December 20, 2019 at 2:50 pm #

        It’s just the Botox.

    • Dentshop December 21, 2019 at 8:08 pm #

      Hara-Kiri is a practice to avoid further disgrace and maintain some form of honour. That chance is long gone for the Democrat Party. From an outsider (non-American) it is shocking to see what has become of both parties in the US. There is no redeeming either party, voting is meaningless, the rule of law is dependent on whose interests are served by enforcing it and they make a lucky bullshitter like Trump actually seem decent. A purge is needed.

  7. Walter B December 20, 2019 at 10:19 am #

    I think that the American public had better wake up and understand how ridiculously stupid these Lefty Loonies believe the American public to be by engaging in this seditious crap in the first place. Wake up America, you are being badly played for fools. Do not give them the satisfaction of accepting this sitting there lapping it all up, it is all bullshit. It is high time we made these criminal assholes shut up and get back to work or be replaced by those who will.

    • JohnAZ December 20, 2019 at 10:28 am #

      What is missing is slander laws against unsubstantiated BS between opponents and especially the MEDIA. There should

      • JohnAZ December 20, 2019 at 10:40 am #

        Not be anonymous sources allowed anywhere. The Constitution dictates that accusers must face the accused. How much that has been distorted my anonymous sources and whistleblowers. Used to be three sources willing to testify was the golden rule for the Media. What a bunch of whores the media has evolved into.

        I would be willing to wager that the whistleblower does not exist and the myth was created to just fire off the impeachment effort. The Dem lackeys in the House, with the exceptional of Tulsi and the three, are just as culpable as the media.

        This coup needs to fail, big time, to put integrity back in DC. The voters need to run DC not the Deep State. It almost seems that the Deep State is a foreign country opposed to most of the USA.

        • ellipsis December 20, 2019 at 10:45 am #

          The “whistleblower” was likely the fevered imagination of the recently jilted deep state operative and all around war mongering little prick, John Bolton.

        • abbybwood December 20, 2019 at 11:10 am #

          Speaking of that, what made the hair on the back of my neck stand up was when the cocky “Ukrainian” “American” Lt. Col. Vindman testified that the Executive Branch does NOT have the authority/power to set foreign policy!

          I would LOVE to see him set straight on that score in a Senate Impeachment trial!

          The US military needs to face the fact that through federal elections the voters set foreign policy through the person they elect president and then the president tells the military what to do.

          It is way past time for the US to have a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to discuss, among many other things, the recent Washington Post article detailing how the 18 year war in Afghanistan has been one giant lie. We are talking about scores of interviews with higher ups at The Pentagon. Thousands of lives lost, over a trillion spent for a lie. We were NEVER winning in Afghanistan any more than the Soviets did!

          • Beryl of Oyl December 20, 2019 at 11:14 am #

            But, but… bin Laden was in a cave!

          • cc rider December 20, 2019 at 11:32 am #

            ….and Obama killed him and buried him at sea.

          • Nightowl December 20, 2019 at 6:33 pm #

            Even more disturbing was Brennan claiming due process is no longer a thing…

            Psychopaths. All of them.

      • Majella December 20, 2019 at 2:54 pm #

        JohnAZ – if slander laws were enforced, Himself’s Twitter feed would provide evidence enough for thousands of legitimate law suits, which he’d lose – or settle, as he is won’t to do.

        • JohnAZ December 20, 2019 at 5:17 pm #

          If slander laws were enforced and civility existed in DC, maybe we wouldn’t have had to have Trump in the first place. When the Deep State gave our working class economy away to the Orient, his or someone like him’s election was assured.

          If only—

    • Minnie Van Horne December 20, 2019 at 10:44 am #

      Walter, the American people have largely responded with a collective ho-hum to the impeachment show trials, and the public’s indifference has landed like an enormous steaming turd — Plop!! — right in the Democrat’s festive holiday punch bowl, splashing nastily all over their gay apparel.

      The Swamp creatures were hoping for the swellest Yuletide ever, with the Golem roasted Golden brown on a silver platter, but now they will only get coal in their stockings.

      Sad.

      • SW December 20, 2019 at 2:00 pm #

        Andrew Yang correctly noted last night the approval ratings of Congress are 17% but I’d say that’s a little high. And he pointed out that the media had made a mess of reporting the reasons Trump was elected in the first place and it had nothing to do with Russians, Hillary’s emails, Facebook, etc. but disappearing jobs, worsening standards of living and indifferent (or outright insulting) politicians. Yes, I do hope their Yuletide is not as merry as they hoped.They might want to save that coal in their stockings — it could be a long, cold winter.

        • JohnAZ December 20, 2019 at 5:18 pm #

          Here, here!

  8. JohnAZ December 20, 2019 at 10:24 am #

    The Dems want to have the four people including Bolton to testify in the Senate, and that is it. Trump et al want to parade out the entire cast of folks involved in the corruption of the Deep State, all the way up to Obama. That would involve Barr/Durham and the whole rotten mess since 2016. The Dems would be destroyed by this event. So Nancy faces a real dilemma. Try to get Trump, a near impossibility, or stall the whole process and say he is a bad guy that we impeached and hope that the DNC can come up with a legitimate candidate. Feldman does not help much here. As he was a Dem lackey in the House fiasco.

    Tulsi and the three Dem folks that voted against the impeachment may end up being the heroes of the whole mess. Standing up for governmental integrity will hopefully be a good thing.

    A good thing that could come out of this is a real definition of the power of impeachment to keep either set of slime balls from distorting the Constitution. By the way, where is the judicial branch in all of this mess?

    • PeteAtomic December 20, 2019 at 10:32 am #

      Durham is investigating Brennan, according to the NYT. Where will that lead?
      https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/19/us/politics/durham-john-brennan-cia.html

      “By the way, where is the judicial branch in all of this mess?”

      that’s actually a great question! I’ve been thinking the same thing..

      • Majella December 20, 2019 at 3:02 pm #

        The Judiciary is a Consultative Body – it has nothing to say until a question is pit to it. Thankfully. It may yet have a modicum of impartiality, despite the question marks over Kavanaugh & Gorsuch.

        • JohnAZ December 20, 2019 at 5:19 pm #

          And the liberal members. How come with you the definition of evil is always conservative.?

    • ellipsis December 20, 2019 at 10:49 am #

      Gabbard’s best role going forward is as SecDef and/or SecState (why not both?) in a Trump administration. She’ll never successfully navigate the Dems’ rat maze to victory.

    • Nightowl December 20, 2019 at 10:51 am #

      I have mentioned before that I don’t trust Tulsi, but she is getting the Nader treatment hardcore. Her Twitter feed is littered with prog trolls and bots.

      And ofc, she has been deemed a Russian agent.

      Just another day in clown world.

      • Beryl of Oyl December 20, 2019 at 11:18 am #

        Yes, Hillary claimed that. The newspaper she made the claim to (The NYT?) tried to walk it back for her, claiming it was a misunderstanding, but she also clearly and unequivocally called Jill Stein the same thing.

        • Nightowl December 20, 2019 at 11:23 am #

          I remember. Some gibberish about nesting dolls.

    • abbybwood December 20, 2019 at 11:28 am #

      Check out Jimmy Dore’s latest videos on all of this impeachment fiasco. He has a great clip of Nadler 20 years ago (and a hundred pounds heavier) during the Clinton impeachment. Nadler reminds everyone that impeachment should only be reserved for the most serious of crimes and that it should always be bi-partisan (as with Nixon).

      Dore shows clips of Nadler and Pelosi both being smoldering hypocrites.

      There is a REAL reason Pelosi is not giving the impeachment articles to McConnell, but we may NEVER know why.

      I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if Pelosi comes up with the “National Security” claptrap as a reason since all the Democrats and their shills in the media know how to do is lie.

      • cc rider December 20, 2019 at 11:35 am #

        Luv that Jimmy Dore! He did a great job of exposing the Russia Russia investigation too.

    • Janos Skorenzy December 20, 2019 at 1:09 pm #

      She voted, “present” – a clear moral cop out. Just like her betraying her Guru and giving up her anti-abortion stance.

      • cc rider December 21, 2019 at 10:12 am #

        Yes she should’ve voted ‘No’ and issued a statement saying something to the effect of “I didn’t find enough credible evidence of an impeachable offense, but that does not mean that I endorse what the president did with regards to Ukraine. I am running for his office because I do not think he’s good for the country” and so forth.

        Then she should’ve quit the Dem party, asked Putin for help and run as a third party female candidate to block a potential last minute Hillary entrance. Bwahahahahahaha……

  9. BackRowHeckler December 20, 2019 at 10:27 am #

    It seems like Speaker Pelosi is caught in the middle, between realpolitik common sense, and the radical lefties in her party personified by ‘the squad.. She’s doing her best to play a bad hand.

    Not a subject of today’s blog, but the last Dem debate looms large in the background. My take, Sanders and Biden are looking old and frail. Do either of them have the sand to make it thru a stifling hot summer on a grueling campaign trail? Maybe if they’re kept out of the sun, and their appearances are limited. The hot sun can be a killer on old people and they tend to tire easily. It seems kind of cruel to put these guys thru a presidential race at their advanced age.

    Brh

    • SW December 20, 2019 at 10:52 am #

      I have no sympathy for Speaker Pelosi at all. By all accounts she rules the House with an iron hand and treats it as her own personal fiefdom. This latest trick with refusing to deliver the articles of impeachment to the Senate is a perfect example — why does she have the right to postpone the trial? She can’t have it both ways — accusing Trump of bribery, obstruction of justice and leading the chorus that he’s a Putin puppet for years then stonewalling a public trial to either exonerate or convict. And of course add to all this, her mantra that it’s not politically motivated.

      • Beryl of Oyl December 20, 2019 at 11:24 am #

        There’s a theory going around that Nancy wants to postpone impeachment to give courts time to rule in her favor on stuff she wants for the trial.
        I don’t fully understand it, but it sounds like they came up with silly charges as place holders, actual reasons for impeachment TBD at a future date, after they have gone trawling through virtually everything.
        If they fail to find impeachable offenses, they still have “oppo research” at taxpayer expense, plus a treasure trove of information on any and all of the president’s close associates, especially his family.

        • abbybwood December 20, 2019 at 11:37 am #

          The only problem with that scheme is that by the time she trots it out for the MSM, Barr and Durham may be starting their own show with Comey, Brennan and Co. being “Roger Stoned” at dawn.

          All eyeballs would choose Comey in cuffs over ANYTHING Pelosi could come up with!

        • BackRowHeckler December 20, 2019 at 1:05 pm #

          BoO

          Another theory is that the Dems will leave impeachment open … so when Justice Ginsburg retires — which could be day — they can contest Trumps Supreme Court appointee on the grounds Trump is illegitimate and his pick therefore is illegitimate.

          Like I say it’s a theory.

          • Majella December 20, 2019 at 4:54 pm #

            It’s also redundant. The ‘McConnell’ precedent means he shouldn’t get anothe SCOTUS seat warmer in the last year of his term. Oh! Sorry…stupid of me – that doesn’t apply any more, that was an ‘Obama Special’ wasn’t it…

      • BackRowHeckler December 20, 2019 at 12:27 pm #

        SW

        She can have it both ways

        If its just a Show Trial. And that’s what it was.

        Brh

        • Janos Skorenzy December 20, 2019 at 1:12 pm #

          Well, she better not be allowed to have it both ways. McConnell better man up and make good his threat. The Dems have chtuzpah in spades. And that takes the day if the other side is afraid to counter-attack. She’s wide open – clock her.

      • Majella December 20, 2019 at 3:06 pm #

        “ By all accounts she rules the House with an iron hand and treats it as her own personal fiefdom”

        Hmm. Substitute Pelosi with McConnell& House with Senate. It still rings true.

        What a messed up quandary the whole place is in.

        • JohnAZ December 20, 2019 at 5:26 pm #

          America used to be held together by allegiance to the Constitution and rule by law. No longer, as one half of this country want to tear up the paper and run this country as a socialist state.

          A good question for our service people would be, which country are you fighting for?

        • Nightowl December 20, 2019 at 6:39 pm #

          Nothing messed up.

          No crime.

          So it is hide the cucumber time.

          You lose.

          The only thing worse than an authoritarian scumbag is an imported one.

    • ellipsis December 20, 2019 at 10:53 am #

      Sanders is by far the better equipped of the two. Biden is already toast. But the Dems will never nominate Sanders, regardless. He’s wasting his time, other than to prove once again how utterly corrupt they are.

    • GreenAlba December 22, 2019 at 8:57 am #

      ” Do either of them have the sand to make it thru a stifling hot summer on a grueling campaign trail? Maybe if they’re kept out of the sun, and their appearances are limited. The hot sun can be a killer on old people and they tend to tire easily.”

      C’mon, brh. SSL and a few others have assured you the next ice age is just round the corner and here you are worrying about stifling hot summers. Where do you think they’re campaigning – New South Wales?

      Oh thou of little faith…

  10. Minnie Van Horne December 20, 2019 at 10:31 am #

    After his trip to Ukraine to investigate Swamp malfeasance, Rudy Giuliani is back in the USSA. Reportedly, when the Golden Golem of Greatness asked Rudy how much he had found out, the reply was: “More than you can even imagine.”

    Mr. Giuliani has written a report of his criminal findings and Mitch McConnell has said Rudy will be welcome to present his report to the Senate.

    Could Rudy be one of the witnesses called to appear at the Senate’s impeachment trial — providing all sorts of sugarplums about Joe and Hunter and many other industrious Democrat elves? Or will this be saved for after President Trump’s vindication, to supply the opening salvo in Operation: Payback Is a Bitch sometime after New Year’s.

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    • JohnAZ December 20, 2019 at 10:45 am #

      I am afraid for the well being of both Rudy and Barr committing “suicide”. They really have the ability to destroy the Dems.

      • Janos Skorenzy December 20, 2019 at 1:17 pm #

        Rudy has set up a dead man switch: All that he has will be revealed in the event of his death. Barr and Durham should do likewise.

        • JohnAZ December 20, 2019 at 5:26 pm #

          Good point!

    • Nightowl December 20, 2019 at 10:48 am #

      RE: Rudy. Check out the OAN segments and Twitter feed I linked to in Monday’s post. Some incredible stuff in there.

      There are also rumblings concerning massive payments Biden got in Iraq.

    • fugeguy December 20, 2019 at 11:36 am #

      My only question is if Nancy still gets to be boss lady when she loses the house for a third time?

      She’ll play the gender card but it might be time to remind her that a man would have been out after dropping the ball and getting one’s party’s azz kicked the first time.

      Good to be “equal” till one finds it convenient to hide behind her gender.

      • Beryl of Oyl December 20, 2019 at 12:15 pm #

        Paul Ryan helped her become speaker.

        If Nancy were to play the gender card, she would be playing it against her fellow Members of Congress, as it is they who elect a speaker.
        Kamala Harris has already called the Democrats racist and sexist for not supporting her, but the fact is the Democrats had the House so they put Nancy back in power, because who else would they have chosen? Which man has the experience, and the deep knowledge of just how deep the corruption is?
        She has to keep things covered up. She’s the lid for the septic tank.
        Why else would someone her age, in her state of health, who has already made her money, and her family’s money. still be out doing what she’s doing?
        The answer is she has to.
        She knows where the bodies are buried.
        Unfortunately so does Donald Trump.
        In the politicians’ worst nightmares, they never dreamed that someone like Trump would run, let alone get elected.
        They were horrified when it actually happened.
        If they weren’t filthy to the nth degree, and Trump was actually the incompetent oaf they make him out to be, there would be no cause for alarm, would there?
        They would simply manipulate him and work around him.
        In fact, a fool would but much easier for them to deal with than say, a Bernie.
        This is terror.

        • fugeguy December 20, 2019 at 12:58 pm #

          LOL, fair enough…no corrupt enough man was available…only in DC

        • YeahURight December 22, 2019 at 2:32 pm #

          That’s precisely why they loved their saintly Obama! And why he has now reportedly amassed the largest fortune, in the shortest amount of time, of any former president. He also costs We the People the most in ‘maintenance fees’. Double whammy! It’s obscene.

    • Majella December 20, 2019 at 3:12 pm #

      I really hope so. It’ll be enlightening to know what Ghouliani has been up to. It’ll also be fascinating to learn, when asked under oath:
      1. Who’s been paying him for all this sleuthing?
      2. How Parnas fits into this jig-saw?

  11. Daddyotis December 20, 2019 at 10:33 am #

    Hi Jim;

    Long time reader, first-time poster here.

    Just wanted to let you know that, while there are a number of blinded-by-anger demagogues who “first-time post” to shriek at you for daring to disregard the MSM narrative that Orange Man Bad, there are an even larger contingent who are very grateful you have the nads to call out what has become of the Democrat party. Trump may well have plenty of negatives, but the travesty that the Democrats have made of the republic is far more concerning and worthy of calling out. Please disregard the deranged-by-hate Paul Siegals (peace eagle as his email…LOL), and understand that there is a great contingent (vocal or not) who are very grateful at your insight and candor. Keep it up!

    PS: As a fellow gardener who enjoys trying to grow as much of his own food as possible, I’d love for you to pick up your “My Garden” section again for 2020.

    • Kellyfrombayfield December 20, 2019 at 10:52 am #

      Totally agree. The 2 best truth writers. Jim and Karl from Market Ticker.

      • ellipsis December 20, 2019 at 11:03 am #

        Denninger certainly nails it here:

        A One-Sentence Bill To Force The Health-Care Issue*

        https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=232164

      • Janos Skorenzy December 20, 2019 at 1:20 pm #

        Karl Market as opposed to Karl Marx? The Market is simply the Law of the Jungle or as the Hindus say, The Law of the Fish: Big eats little.

    • sunburstsoldier December 20, 2019 at 11:19 am #

      As another fellow gardener I know how much hard work that involves. Kudos…

    • MX Vet 57 December 20, 2019 at 12:00 pm #

      Jim is a truth seeker. I’ve been reading him for years. I’ve seen him hold both parties “feet to the fire.” Because of that, and his incredible talent in putting together sentences, I support him through Patreon. Please consider doing the same.

    • YeahURight December 22, 2019 at 2:35 pm #

      Well said, Daddy!

  12. malthuss December 20, 2019 at 10:34 am #

    DC is a distraction from the real scandals.

  13. So many liars December 20, 2019 at 10:34 am #

    “It is high time we made these criminal assholes… ”

    Who is “we”?
    Sure not me! I’m nobody. I have no power or influence.

    What is meant by “made”?
    Past tense of make – yes. How do I make anybody do anything? I can’t make my children or my husband do what I want. I can’t make my dog shut up. Truth is, I can’t even make myself do things I should.

    And that’s the problem. “We” are not united, organized, disciplined, trained, and focused. “We” don’t believe we can accomplish much. “We” just watch in dismay as our President is impeached, as his rights are violated, as our votes are trashed.

    • So many liars December 20, 2019 at 10:40 am #

      Meant as a response to Walter B’s comment earlier.

      • capt spaulding December 20, 2019 at 11:00 am #

        Maybe you should start a “Trump Youth” movement, where they are “united, organized, disciplined, trained, and focused”. Oh, and in uniforms as well.

        • sunburstsoldier December 20, 2019 at 11:15 am #

          That’s a silly and unfair thing to say. She in no way meant to imply what you are suggesting and you very well know it…

          • So many liars December 20, 2019 at 11:20 am #

            Thank you, sunburst!

          • cc rider December 20, 2019 at 11:39 am #

            Well capt spaulding is well known for his silliness.

        • Minnie Van Horne December 20, 2019 at 11:36 am #

          Capt Spaulding:

          That’s a silly idea. What we really need to do is to encourage America’s youth to demand gender-reassignment surgery, and then to play hooky every Friday to march against the weather with Saint Greta of Malmo.

          • Ricechex December 21, 2019 at 9:02 pm #

            Minnie,
            Your posts are hilarious! So creative!

        • MX Vet 57 December 20, 2019 at 11:54 am #

          You mean like Antifa?

        • BackRowHeckler December 20, 2019 at 1:07 pm #

          How about a neo Red Guard or Comsomol, Capt.?

          You can recruit your NCOs at your local ANTIFA chapter.

          Brh

          • capt spaulding December 20, 2019 at 7:08 pm #

            Apparently anyone who sees the fascism inherent in the right wing is guilty of being a commie rat. Sorry, but I’ve got no more time for those people than I do for the fascists. Both sides attempt to use mind control on people, and have totalitarian leanings, if not goals.

        • Janos Skorenzy December 20, 2019 at 1:22 pm #

          In the end it will come to that. If we don’t, the Left will. They’re already way ahead in that department.

          But that’s fine cuz it’s your side, the right side, eh?

          • Janos Skorenzy December 20, 2019 at 1:24 pm #

            Ever hear of the Minute Men? They drilled on the Commons right in front of the English – their Right as Free Men. We’ve forgotten so much.

    • sunburstsoldier December 20, 2019 at 11:11 am #

      Great observation. ‘We’ feel powerless because our institutions have become too big, too centralized, and too monolithic; they have, in other words, lost their ‘human scale’ and need to be recalibrated to the neighborhood (village) level wherein the voice of common citizen can once again be heard and taken into consideration. In the meantime keep it up with the interesting posts, despite your sense of powerlessness they are not without value…

      • Janos Skorenzy December 20, 2019 at 1:26 pm #

        And neighborhood guards (like Zimmerman) will be an absolute necessity since the Police are part of that Centralized Tyranny. If a, then b. Don’t try to obstruct the flow, Sunny. Once you choose your river, you have to commit to it.

        • Beryl of Oyl December 20, 2019 at 1:55 pm #

          Zimmerman is suing his prosecutors, among others. They allowed someone to take the stand in his trial as a witness, knowing full well that she was not.

      • Majella December 20, 2019 at 5:02 pm #

        John Kasich couldn’t agree with you more, or less. The most sensible voice on the Right – believes in ‘people power’ and sees Trump for the dangerous fool he is. No doubt, this will be written off as ‘just another RINO’ though, by those who cannot see past their own angry brainstorms of ‘everyone on the Left is evil and must be destroyed by any means possible!’

        https://youtu.be/UpawU5i_zIk

        • YeahURight December 22, 2019 at 2:59 pm #

          Kasich?

          You mean the former 2016 presidential competitor whose campaign is now under active investigation?

          The former governor who is now senior political contributor for CNN?

          THAT John Kasich?

          • YeahURight December 22, 2019 at 3:06 pm #

            Yeah!

            The “most sensible voice on the Right” spouting leftist talking points like gospel for the graft.

            He’s no more Right than my left foot!

  14. PeteAtomic December 20, 2019 at 10:57 am #

    I think this how this whole thing turns out.. my prediction here, maybe I’ll be right for once, who knows!! lol

    Pelosi is gonna face pressure to put up or shut up with impeachment and she’ll be forced to send it for trial in the Senate.. which means 2 out of the 3 front runners will be obligated to sit in on a trial and get knocked off from campaigning.. so…
    HRC seizes her moment. She jumps in and becomes automatic 1st place. and wins both NH and IA… cuz DNC won’t let doddering Joe become their candidate if HRC gets back in.. remember.. power hungry sociopaths can not recognize their own failures.. and can not recognize when to quit.. so, she jumps in with the field narrowed and can pretty much campaign unopposed.. the Obamas throw their support behind her.. maybe Michelle O. becomes a VP contender (?) cuz the black vote is unenthusiastic for all of the candidates at the moment, and if the dems don’t get enough blacks to get out and vote, they automatically can’t win..

    • PeteAtomic December 20, 2019 at 11:06 am #

      ..meanwhile a Senate trial brings out mountains of very embarrassing stuff on the Bidens & HRC in particular, but also on these characters like Brennan, who acts like an extra from the movie, Dr.Strangelove. Or the Russophobe Colonel Vindman, who looks like he’s about to break out in a fit of Sieg Heils if the subject of “missiles for Ukraine” comes up enough.

    • Beryl of Oyl December 20, 2019 at 11:30 am #

      I’m going to bring up Andrew Cuomo again.
      People told me no, he was not a contender, he had missed the deadlines, hadn’t he?
      The deadlines aren’t going to be an issue.
      Judging by what he says he is not running. Judging by what he does, he clearly is, and has been for some time.
      No way is he going to stand aside for Hillary again, this is his last chance and she had two.

    • ellipsis December 20, 2019 at 11:38 am #

      That was widely speculated over at NakCap yesterday too. Taking it a step further, they might have even planned it that way all along. I can possibly imagine Michelle O. being invited along for the ride too, but oh wouldn’t the resulting fireworks be fun to watch all along the way!

      • cc rider December 20, 2019 at 11:41 am #

        Ol’ Barry said recently that “women are more natural leaders than men”.

        Hmmmmmmm…..

        • ellipsis December 20, 2019 at 11:50 am #

          Yep. He’s already made his distaste for Joltin’ Joe well known, and getting Michelle on the ticket would definitely steal some of HRC’s thunder and further burnish Barry’s historical bonafides, possibly even setting up a big chair run of her own later after the witch hag HRC finally gives up the political and/or literal ghost.

  15. Ishabaka December 20, 2019 at 11:04 am #

    Nancy Pelosi is sitting on the impeachment, which means it is halfway where it needs to go.

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    • capt spaulding December 20, 2019 at 11:16 am #

      You mean into her brain?

      • cc rider December 20, 2019 at 11:42 am #

        No up her ass.

        • capt spaulding December 20, 2019 at 12:50 pm #

          That’s what I was hinting at. If she is sitting on the impeachment, it’s already up her ass, which means it’s halfway where it needs to go. Her brain. Explanations detract from the attempt at humor.

          • YeahURight December 22, 2019 at 3:11 pm #

            IDK, Capt.!

            Your explanation was adorable!

  16. James Kuehl December 20, 2019 at 11:16 am #

    Let’s talk about the weather, shall we? How about sports? Or whatever is on Netflix. Any frigging thing other than the shit show in D.C. Please pass the green beans, and thanks for the new socks–they’re toasty.

    • Beryl of Oyl December 20, 2019 at 11:31 am #

      Boy it’s cold.

      • sunburstsoldier December 20, 2019 at 12:56 pm #

        I’m in Michigan and it’s supposed to hit 50 (fahrenheit) on Christmas…

    • Janos Skorenzy December 20, 2019 at 1:29 pm #

      So cool. Get a clue, Klute.

      • James Kuehl December 20, 2019 at 8:06 pm #

        It would take a whole lot of clues to decipher your non sequiturs.

    • cbeard December 21, 2019 at 12:49 am #

      WTF are you doing here?

      • cbeard December 21, 2019 at 12:52 am #

        For Kuehl

      • James Kuehl December 22, 2019 at 3:19 pm #

        I was attempting to make a point about how fatiguing the present political morass has become.

  17. Epicur December 20, 2019 at 11:22 am #

    “…money laundered through the Ukrainian oligarch mills may have found its way into their pockets as well. Who knows…?”

    To quote Jimmy The Greek, that’s the way to bet.

    Plus, one can be sure that there were some well-heeled political “contributors” involved – those who have the good sense to spread their contributions on both sides of the aisle for just such a situation as this.

    Surely said “contributors” are winking and whispering “ixnay on the ialtray”.

    • YeahURight December 22, 2019 at 3:14 pm #

      Can you say Lindsey?

  18. fugeguy December 20, 2019 at 11:23 am #

    “Which leads to the question: when does this faction finally lose its appetite for self-degradation and dishonor?”

    Once it is established that you are for sale and it is only a matter of price- all services available, why bother denying that one is a whore?

    Guess it still hurts being called such even if at this point it is merely an observation and statement of obvious facts…

  19. venuspluto67 December 20, 2019 at 11:31 am #

    The whole thing really has turned into a low-grade clown-farce, hasn’t it? 🙁

    And speaking of clown-farces, the reason for the disdain on the Internet for the crappy new Star Wars sequels is, to hear CNN.com tell it, the subversive activity of Russian trolls. That’s right, if it weren’t for that pesky Vladimir Putin, everybody would be just fine with Rey being a painfully obvious “Mary Sue” character, the wooden acting, and the disjointed narrative structures. 😉

    Come to think of it, it was probably because of Putin and the trolls that nobody liked Jar-Jar Binks twenty years ago! It sure is convenient how any failure to inspire or be something better can always be attributed to Vladdy Putin and the Russians rather than the reliable mediocrity and cultural senility of our professional, managerial, and political classes, isn’t it? 😀

    • fugeguy December 20, 2019 at 1:03 pm #

      Speaking of trolls, word is that old Vlad is longing for the days when the US was a worthy opponent. Too easy now…

      • Nightowl December 20, 2019 at 6:50 pm #

        Bloody BIll Kristol is that you?

        • fugeguy December 21, 2019 at 12:47 pm #

          lol

  20. sunburstsoldier December 20, 2019 at 11:36 am #

    Does anyone here know the particulars as to why Trump made that statement about the recently deceased former Congressman from Michigan, John Dingell, looking up from hell? Just curious…

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    • fugeguy December 20, 2019 at 2:32 pm #

      I used to live in Saginaw and all the ganders added berry every time they said his name- which wasn’t often.

  21. wm5135 December 20, 2019 at 11:38 am #

    “Apparently, Mrs. Pelosi wants to play Hide the Salami with the impeachment bill.” JHK
    I always felt you had a little bare knuckle street fighter in your character. Once again you have penned the line of the week!

  22. Luhrenloup December 20, 2019 at 11:41 am #

    This needs to go to the Supremes. Both sides want to win so bad they are setting precedents that will haunt the country. We will be having impeachments every time the chosen presidential candidate is not approved by his opponent.

  23. wm5135 December 20, 2019 at 11:50 am #

    “…..to put integrity back in DC.”

    Walter B, perhaps you could comment on those who would make a statement such as the above?

    Devil with a Blue Dress, Blue Dress, Blue Dress
    Devil with a Blue Dress on

    “I know let’s impeach him over lying about an air start.”

    air start = using an air compressor to start a jet engine(blow job)

    Old Timers memory loss seems to epidemic at this point.

    • capt spaulding December 20, 2019 at 12:54 pm #

      The air start would be better applied to Clinton, I think.

  24. Beryl of Oyl December 20, 2019 at 11:56 am #

    I was musing just the other day, and not for the first time, what if Ron Paul had been the actual nominee in 2008? Could he have won? Or would it be, as with Trump, every effort would have been made to get him out of there, because he was too much of an outsider?
    How low did we go, when a US Representative or even a Senator, as in Bernie’s case, is seen as a threat to the power structure?
    Ron Paul, although he had been a Libertarian, ran as a Republican. I don’t much care for the Libertarians, but someone once told me what Ron really was, was a Constitutionalist. That I can deal with.
    So my thoughts were, had we gotten a Ron Paul in there sooner (he also ran in 1988), would it have made a difference?
    He didn’t have much of a chance, the MSM was against him.

    Now Ron is out of the game, retired and 84 years old.
    I got to thinking, Ron does have a son. He, in my estimation, does not have the stature of his dad. He does not seem quite as
    principled. But still.

    Then it hit me- Ron is out of the picture, but Rand is still around.
    There have been not one but two separate attempts on Senator Paul’s life. He was one of the players at that congressional baseball game where Steve Scalise was shot, and then there was that bizarre attack by a neighbor that left him needing surgery.

    It looks as if his interest in adherence to our Constitution may have put a target on his back.

    • sunburstsoldier December 20, 2019 at 12:05 pm #

      I like Paul Rand because he is a man of principle. I also like Ted Cruz for the same reason. Both these guys have come up with some very creative ideas to improve the country and its governance. Too bad there are not more like them in Congress…

      • sunburstsoldier December 20, 2019 at 12:13 pm #

        Sorry I meant Ron Paul. I have no idea where Paul Rand came from…

        • Beryl of Oyl December 20, 2019 at 12:35 pm #

          From Ron, obviously.

          • sunburstsoldier December 20, 2019 at 12:53 pm #

            Ha ha! I didn’t know Ron had a son named Rand. It gets confusing when people have two first names…

            What are your thoughts on Ted Cruz?

          • ellipsis December 20, 2019 at 7:56 pm #

            Cruz is a silver spoon megalomaniacal dipshit idiot. Other than that, he’s a swell guy. You really should get out more.

    • James Kuehl December 20, 2019 at 1:28 pm #

      Really interesting questions, Beryl. Both Pauls have courage and skills at calling out BS.I would have said they have a likability problem because they are prickly characters. But Trump, contrarian that he is, has shown that’s not so much of a liability. I agree with sunburstsoldier that these are important voices.

    • Majella December 20, 2019 at 5:11 pm #

      I was a huge Ron Paul supporter. His ‘no foreign escapades’. and desire to ‘break the insurance industry’s grip on healthcare delivery’ still resonates.

      As for Rand, he’s no chip off the block. He’s blowing Himself as hard as the next GOP congressman- likewise Cruz, whom he humiliated in 2016, but now carries water for him. Has he no spine at all?

    • Dunewalker December 20, 2019 at 9:57 pm #

      In an earlier election cycle, Congressman Dennis Kucinich was looking pretty good, but given no chance. Senator Paul Wellstone was a more serious threat to the PTB, consequently died in a “plane crash”.

      Speaking of the Pauls, I’d guess that Ron Paul named his son after Ayn Rand.

      • toktomi December 20, 2019 at 10:12 pm #

        @Dunewalker

        huh-uh; named ‘im after Rudolf the Randnosed Reindeer

  25. wm5135 December 20, 2019 at 12:01 pm #

    What if they had a T-Bill auction and everyone smiled, chuckled and muttered “full faith of the U.S. Government” under their breath as they walked away?

    I would worry more about monetizing the entire federal deficit ad infinitum being the straw that breaks the camels back than this current distraction.

    You can fool some of the people all of the time, “the devil we know”.

    Can’t fool Beryl of Oyl on term limits, the lady looks at the issue with 20-15 vision.

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    • Beryl of Oyl December 20, 2019 at 12:37 pm #

      That’s what I used to have, for real.

    • wolfbay December 20, 2019 at 7:05 pm #

      Japan has been doing it for years.

      • ellipsis December 20, 2019 at 7:53 pm #

        Not a reserve currency. Big difference.

    • elysianfield December 21, 2019 at 2:31 pm #

      “What if they had a T-Bill auction and everyone smiled, chuckled and muttered “full faith of the U.S. Government” under their breath as they walked away?”

      Wm,
      What if? WHAT IF? This has been happening, and is currently ongoing. What the market does not absorb, the FED does.

  26. sunburstsoldier December 20, 2019 at 12:22 pm #

    From the New York Times:

    (It looks like Brennan, who accused Trump of being a traitor, is in Durham’s crosshairs…)

    The federal prosecutor scrutinizing the Russia investigation has begun examining the role of the former C.I.A. director John O. Brennan in how the intelligence community assessed Russia’s 2016 election interference, according to three people briefed on the inquiry.

    John H. Durham, the United States attorney leading the investigation, has requested Mr. Brennan’s emails, call logs and other documents from the C.I.A., according to a person briefed on his inquiry. He wants to learn what Mr. Brennan told other officials, including the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey, about his and the C.I.A.’s views of a notorious dossier of assertions about Russia and Trump associates. …

    Mr. Durham is also examining whether Mr. Brennan privately contradicted his public comments, including May 2017 testimony to Congress, about both the dossier and about any debate among the intelligence agencies over their conclusions on Russia’s interference, the people said.

  27. So many liars December 20, 2019 at 12:38 pm #

    Given that the Democrats have an unassailable majority in the House of Representatives, so long as they held together, impeachment was inevitable. So why the extreme partisanship? Why not give the appearance of bipartisanship? Why deprive the minority of the right to cross examine, to call witnesses, etc?

    It doesn’t make sense that they would deliberately alienate moderate voters. If the end result is still impeachment, what do they accomplish with the extremely partisan path?

    And don’t say they’re just stupid. They’re not.

    Maybe it’s panic?

    • sunburstsoldier December 20, 2019 at 12:49 pm #

      I don’t know if panic is the right word, but I don’t think they could afford even the appearance of being fair and objective given the extremity of what they are attempting to pull off–impeaching a sitting president for crimes that were not committed–simply because they don’t like him. Besides, how can there even be the appearance of bipartisanship when the whole impeachment circus is so obviously partisan…

  28. capt spaulding December 20, 2019 at 1:01 pm #

    When you already know the outcome of the impeachment, it renders the idea of a trial to become a moot point. At that point, it’s just a dog & pony show. Myself, I would prefer to see the principal’s left hands bound together, with Bowie knives in their right hands. I think she could take him, she’d go for the toupee first thing.

    • sunburstsoldier December 20, 2019 at 1:22 pm #

      So when it’s in the Democrat-controlled House it is a serious and solemn affair (aside from Impeachmas) but when it moves to the Republican-controlled Senate it suddenly becomes dog & pony show. How does that work?

      • capt spaulding December 20, 2019 at 7:14 pm #

        It’s a joke no matter who is involved. Nothing about this will have any effect on the things important to the country. The freight train to hell is going full steam & nothing is gonna change that.

    • Exscotticus December 20, 2019 at 3:18 pm #

      >>>
      When you already know the outcome of the impeachment, it renders the idea of a trial to become a moot point.

      When you already know the outcome of the trial, it renders the idea of impeachment moot.

      Unless of course you’re a TDS Dem who can’t think beyond planning the video of yourself celebrating the impeachment, that you so desperately want to post to social media to virtue signal to your TDS base.

  29. JustSaying December 20, 2019 at 1:13 pm #

    Good laughs here. Love the delivery channels,especially pneumatic tube conveyance. Who ever thought they would hide the salami. People are pissed about the waste of time and tax dollars. Nancy is crazy.

    • sunburstsoldier December 20, 2019 at 1:35 pm #

      Whatever the means of conveyance (Jim didn’t mention carrier pigeon) Trump has not been impeached until the Articles have been conveyed to the Senate. Nor does Nancy have any say on what the Senate decides to do, so obviously she is overstepping her constitutional role and function.

    • Minnie Van Horne December 20, 2019 at 8:16 pm #

      On this whole question of conveyance, I have been wondering about something. Perhaps Mr. Kunstler has an insight about it.

      When the Democrats were rushing to pass Obamacare on Christmas Eve 2010, they relied on some rarely-used, esoteric protocol and announced they “deemed it to be passed.”

      In the same manner, could Mitch McConnell simply announce that the Senate “deems” the articles of impeachment to have been conveyed, since they have been widely discussed in the media and inserted into the Congressional Record?

      At that point, the Senate could get on to having its trial, with whatever set of rules they decide to implement.

    • toktomi December 20, 2019 at 10:24 pm #

      @JustSaying

      The masses aren’t “pissed about” anything bad enough to do anything substantive about any of it. We don’t even have enough guts to turn off the phuquing televisions.

      seems to me

      ~toktomi~

  30. JustSaying December 20, 2019 at 1:16 pm #

    So exactly what is the point besides the asterick?

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  31. Beryl of Oyl December 20, 2019 at 1:18 pm #

    I didn’t have a reply button for sunburst’s Cruz question.
    My problem with Cruz is that he’s a globalist, and you can’t be a constitutionalist and a globalist, that’s serving two masters.

    • cc rider December 20, 2019 at 1:28 pm #

      Yes I agree on the globalism. And also, Ted’s father was a part of JFK’s assassination and his wife really isn’t that hot.

      (Just reminiscing 2016 when Trump trolled lyin’ Ted).

      • Beryl of Oyl December 20, 2019 at 1:40 pm #

        Donald knew exactly who was behind that ad attacking Melania.

        • cc rider December 20, 2019 at 1:43 pm #

          Yeah I know. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it when he trolled Ted. I’m in Texas and I’ve never been a supporter of him. I was so glad that he didn’t become the nominee in 2016.

      • sunburstsoldier December 20, 2019 at 3:22 pm #

        I think we are shooting ourselves in the foot if we throw decent, principled Republicans out the window because they may have (or we think they have) ‘globist’ tendencies …

        • EvelynV December 21, 2019 at 2:48 am #

          Very hypothetical statement – there are no decent, principled Republicans, but I agree. Throwing one out a window would be like killing the last passenger pigeon.

    • sunburstsoldier December 20, 2019 at 1:29 pm #

      I didn’t know that. Are you sure? Do you have any supporting evidence by chance (not saying you are wrong or I disbelieve you)…

  32. axisboldaslove December 20, 2019 at 1:20 pm #

    There is so much b.s. on BOTH SIDES. I don’t see how anyone can support either “side” any more. I say, start all over again with leaders who posses common sense, intelligence and the ability to be both serious and articulate.

    Hey, I can still dream at least, right?

    • sunburstsoldier December 20, 2019 at 1:45 pm #

      For me it is not about ‘sides’ but truth. I hold to a Universal Truth behind the cosmic manifestation. To the extent we are able to comprehend or intuitively sense this truth we are in a position to judge all things rightly…

      • axisboldaslove December 20, 2019 at 2:18 pm #

        Yes, truth cannot be overly stressed. As for sides, I put quotes around the word the second time, should have the first as well. I’m not a “sides” kind of guy. The spectrum is not binary.

  33. cc rider December 20, 2019 at 1:35 pm #

    It’s starting to look like Pelosi’s plan is to never send the articles to the Senate. As in never, ever. Wow.

    If you want to cut to the chase scroll to the 4:20 mark on this embedded video in which you’ll hear a Democrat Rep. say that this is what he would do. Or not do in this case….

    https://video.foxnews.com/v/6117203844001#sp=show-clips

    Could it be that Nancy has good intel that Trump will absolutely demand a full Senate hearing with lots of people called to be questioned under oath? People that she does NOT want to be questioned under oath? Steve Bannon and others are basically lobbying Trump to go for full exoneration, not a quick vote that just ends the whole affair. Something to think about……

    • sunburstsoldier December 20, 2019 at 1:47 pm #

      For the sake of the country as a whole a full exoneration is the way to go. Let the truth come out and the cards fall where they may…

    • SW December 20, 2019 at 2:34 pm #

      And since this also involves the Ukraine, their President would have to testify and he’s already said there was no quid pro quo so there goes that. The prosecutor who was fired at Biden’s behest has been deposed and apparently his testimony would not be welcomed by the Democrats. And then there’s that verified accounting of payments to Hunter Biden for over a million dollars for what services exactly? It’s an ugly can of worms that’s been opened here, complete with a tape of Biden stating he flew to the Ukraine for the expressed purpose of having this prosecutor fired for investigating Burisma.

    • Majella December 20, 2019 at 5:20 pm #

      For once, I’m with Bannon. A full trial and REAL exoneration, if all the RWNJ conspiracies aren’t just theories, is the only way through this impasse.

      As Churchill said ‘If you’re going through Hell, keep going!’

      A McConnell quickie dismissal will only make matters even worse (if that’s even possible)

      • capt spaulding December 20, 2019 at 7:20 pm #

        McConnell wants a quickie dismissal because it suits his agenda. He didn’t mind holding up Obama’s Supreme Court nomination for a year and a half when it suited him.

        • cc rider December 21, 2019 at 9:20 am #

          Yes McConnell has a long history of doing what suits him. Even his support of Trump isn’t deep or sincere. Right now it just suits him. I was no fan of Obama, but what McConnell did in holding up that nomination was pitiful. And the guy that Obama nominated wasn’t even a doctrinaire lefty.

  34. K-Dog December 20, 2019 at 2:08 pm #

    Trump makes America Late again. He makes nothing great. Trump is entropy at work. The heat death of the universe on a national reality show that won’t turn off. One foggy Christmas Eve it will surly be.

    • ellipsis December 20, 2019 at 2:31 pm #

      He’s our very own Lord Falstaff! We’ll look back on him and chuckle one day.

      • K-Dog December 20, 2019 at 3:01 pm #

        He has had his share of Doll Tearsheets and the comparisons do not end there. Vain Boastful, and insolent with Chief Justice, Falstaff changed the subject as if he had a five page letter.

    • cc rider December 20, 2019 at 2:40 pm #

      “America Late Again”…… my first thought was…..Is America pregnant?

      • ellipsis December 20, 2019 at 9:01 pm #

        Yes she is. And she’s long overdue! What sort of hideous abomination will she birth? Remains to be seen.

        • cc rider December 21, 2019 at 9:21 am #

          Probably a baby boy named ‘Damien’.

    • sunburstsoldier December 20, 2019 at 4:38 pm #

      Personally I think Trump, love him or hate him, is the opposite of entropy. He is the fulcrum upon which profound change, which I assume to be of a positive cast, is unfolding in this country. He represents a movement away from Globalism, and totalitarian systems like Socialism under its various guises, to something that aligns better with the common citizen (call it Populism or whatever). Yet we all have a part to play if this trend is to continue, and if it is to grow in strength and power, for we ARE the common citizen, and it is our lives and the lives of our children that is at stake here…

      • Janos Skorenzy December 20, 2019 at 5:00 pm #

        There are many forms of Globalism: Chinese, Islamic, UN, Catholic, Zionist, etc. Trump is in the Zionist camp. So simple and obvious – but how few can grasp it? Alas you are not so chosen….

      • YeahURight December 22, 2019 at 3:41 pm #

        Beautifully stated, Sunburst!

  35. Soloview December 20, 2019 at 2:20 pm #

    If the president of the U.S. was not an excitable twit with a grasp of the world by a twelve-year old, there would be a petition before the Supreme Court drafted by his lawyers, this morning. It would seek immediate relief from Nancy Pelosi’s 100% anti-constitutional demand that the release of the articles of impeachment published by the House and part of its record, be subjected to a test of Senate’s trial fairness determined by the House.

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    • Soloview December 20, 2019 at 2:23 pm #

      …..that’s the way to cut the insufferable, sanctimonius, hateful harridan off of her stilettos.

      • EvelynV December 21, 2019 at 2:53 am #

        Take a pill before you piss your pants, if you haven’t already. Pelosi is a shrewd wily tough broad who wouldn’t be where she is if she wasn’t. She’s one of the women who truly intimidates the fat bastard. He knows she has his number.

    • cc rider December 20, 2019 at 2:52 pm #

      Yes, I agree that Trump is all to often his own worst enemy. That letter he sent Pelosi the day before the impeachment vote is a case in point. All he did was to make her feel satisfied that she has gotten under his skin. He should’ve had the mindset of, “Okay, impeach me with these nonsense charges if it makes you feel better. I’m going to chain them to you and make you drown politically. See you November 4th.”

      And I absolutely hate Twitter and how he uses it.

      • sunburstsoldier December 20, 2019 at 4:24 pm #

        “All he did was to make her feel satisfied that she has gotten under his skin. ”

        Not sure I can agree with that cc rider. I think it was good thing for him to do in terms of setting out a historical record of how this who farce looks from his perspective. Who cares what Pelosi thinks anyway…

  36. RB December 20, 2019 at 2:55 pm #

    Be very afraid.

    Recall crazy Hillary won the majority of the votes cast. The democrat derangement problem is far greater in scope than Trump’s presence on the national scene. There are enormous numbers of nuts about and too often they occupy lower level positions where they can have their maniacal way. E.g. The DA in San Francisco who won’t prosecute sidewalk shitters. E.g. Federal judges whose rulings affect the whole of government and society writ large. The nation is spinning out of control. There is no fair system of justice. There is no fair enforcement of law as seen with Antifa getting away with assaults and attacks. I might add the increasing attacks by blacks on white people across the nation. Hatred. Malice. Lying. Total collapse of ethics.

    Be very afraid.

    • K-Dog December 20, 2019 at 3:05 pm #

      The bigger derangement is a country that would actually vote for her.

    • BackRowHeckler December 20, 2019 at 3:11 pm #

      Yeah it’s not looking good.

      According to Bernie Sandals, everything wrong in America is the fault of ‘millionaires and billionaires’. As soon as they are exterminated — by President Sandals — all will be right with the world. But at the same time we need to lay heavy taxes on these same ‘millionaires and billionaires’ to pay for all the free stuff that’s coming down the pike when the dems get back in. Well, I suppose we can kill them all and take what they have, but it’s a one shot deal.

      Brh

      • malthuss December 20, 2019 at 4:56 pm #

        he is a multimillionaire, so which camp does he put himself in?

      • Janos Skorenzy December 20, 2019 at 5:03 pm #

        Yeah, hate to say it, but Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” is relevant here. Treat them like that and they’ll fucking take their bat and go elsewhere. Think you’ll get their money? Maybe some of it, but they’re awfully good at protecting what’s theirs.

        • ellipsis December 20, 2019 at 8:17 pm #

          Only because of current legal arrangements. All of which could be repealed in a moment if we only had the will. Take “their money?” Will you listen to yourself? As the saying goes, “Money ain’t got no owners, only spenders.” Think about that for a while, and then go back and think some more. What is the purpose of money? To hoard, or to act as a social lubricant for exchange? When we say we don’t have money for this or that, what we’re really saying is that either we don’t have enough in circulation, which is easily remedied, or a few have too much and simply won’t spend it into circulation. THEY’RE FUCKING HOARDING IT!!!

          It’s an idea that’s so nakedly simple on the face of it that most allegedly “smart” people can’t possibly grasp it. The cure? Take it away so that the fucking hoarders can wake up.

          • Janos Skorenzy December 21, 2019 at 2:05 am #

            National Socialism rejects the Communist idea of equality. Some people work harder or smarter and end up richer. Then they pass it on to their offspring, and the less righteous forms of inequality begin. But they do have the right to pass it on of course.

            I sense or at least hope your point is more subtle. Yes, somehow money must be kept close to the physical world and it must circulate. Instead, it now has “babies” or interest/dividends as it sits around or as loans. Meanwhile people are increasingly sterile….

    • toktomi December 20, 2019 at 10:55 pm #

      @RB

      I cannot imagine that the “votes cast” have anything to do with anything.

      We live in a nearly 100% digital age.

      It is cyber warfare everywhere and there is no force defending the voting machines. Hack Team Trump barely edged Hack Team Hillary in the last national match.

      The nation spun out of control at inception; it was built on a hidden premise of rule by the privileged few. The matrix is nearly perfect. Whimpering indignations cast no light on the enslavement.

      ~toktomi~

  37. sunburstsoldier December 20, 2019 at 4:16 pm #

    I was reading JHK’s first blog on this site, posted way back in January 1996 when he was just 47 years old. It’s an excerpt from the final chapter of his book ‘Home from Nowhere’ entitled What I Live For. Here he outlines his philosophy on the ‘good life’, which he considers himself lucky enough to have attained. He also talks about how important personal qualities like honor and integrity are to him, and one can see from this why he was fated to become an outspoken critic of the political party he once identified with. Jim, like many or most highly creative individuals, is ‘inner-directed’, which is to say he follows the beat of his own drum, and will affiliate with a group or party only to the extent it aligns with his sentiments and not one dot more…

    • Janos Skorenzy December 20, 2019 at 5:28 pm #

      The essence of honor is to Will the Good for others (doing it too!) even if it benefits one not at all. It is, as Walt said, a gift a man gives to himself. Women can join this most exclusive club too – the price of admission is very high though.

      Of course one honors those who are closest to one first and foremost. Obviously one can’t cast one’s pearls before swine. Whites first and foremost and then others, maybe, if they are deserving and it is appropriate.

      Obviously giving away everything to other people who then treat you like a pariah is a perversion of this impulse.

      • Walter B December 20, 2019 at 5:48 pm #

        Thank you Janos, and bless you for the kind words. Yes, I give freely and pretty much constantly and I do it without any real cash outlay. I give my time, I give my work and my efforts to extend myself to my fellow humans and I give caring, a commodity that is almost impossible to find these days. The nice part about so giving is that even when your gifts are not appreciated or rejected, the cost to me is more than affordable and I simply move on. The repayment that I get back in thankfulness from those who appreciate what they have received is priceless.

  38. malthuss December 20, 2019 at 5:06 pm #

    DM UK

    Buttigieg has raised $51 million, according to the Open Secrets website, with more than half coming from large contributions.

    Warren has raised $60 million, with 30 per cent coming from large contributions.

    ‘I do not sell access to my time,’ Warren responded to him. ‘I don’t spend time with millionaires and billionaires. I don’t meet behind closed doors with big dollar donors.

      • malthuss December 20, 2019 at 5:32 pm #

        Last night’s Democratic debate, which inevitably dealt with the recent impeachment of President Donald Trump, drew just over 6 million total viewers for PBS and Politico, according to Nielsen figures.

        Topics such as the economy, climate change, racism, Afghanistan, and taxing the wealthy were also on the agenda.

        / Racism..like the millions of attacks by Blacks on non Blacks?
        That racism?
        The Barnard student allegedly killed by a 13 year old
        [dead gal is Tessa Majors] supported Black Lives Matter.

        • Janos Skorenzy December 20, 2019 at 5:56 pm #

          Tess Majors went to the most dangerous Park in New York at night in order to score some weed. Any weed to be had would almost certainly have been inferior to what she could have gotten on campus. Perhaps she was into tempting fate or wanted to meet some exciting, dangerous men – and prove to herself her own virtue and simultaneously how racist White America is.

          Her last mistake – surrounded, she refused to give up her wallet and tried to fight.

          • malthuss December 20, 2019 at 6:59 pm #

            She was a tough lesbian, and a fool.
            dawinned.

          • elysianfield December 21, 2019 at 2:42 pm #

            Janos,
            Mistakes were made. Tessa would have faired well had she just mentioned to her attackers that “…I am one of the good ones…”

            Opportunities lost for but a moment of inattention.

  39. Janos Skorenzy December 20, 2019 at 5:35 pm #

    Noah Feldman – now there’s a name to inspire confidence, eh? Such Talmudic Doctors of the Law torture it until it bears kittens of death. In other words, until it means the opposite of its simple or original meaning.

    St Paul (a rabbinical student who renounced all that stuff) said, The Spirit saves but the letter killeth.

  40. bobwise32952 December 20, 2019 at 5:39 pm #

    Is it Hide the Salami or Hide the Baloney?

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    • elysianfield December 21, 2019 at 2:44 pm #

      Bobwise,
      …Tube steak, both.

  41. HowardBeale December 20, 2019 at 5:56 pm #

    “’Obstruction of the house’ refers, fallaciously, to the president’s right to seek relief from the supreme court in a procedural disagreement with another branch of government.”

    Most concise, cogent explanation I’ve heard or read regarding that fact.

    • Majella December 20, 2019 at 7:24 pm #

      Only he DIDN’T seek relief. The WH simply refused to comply with any subpoenas – end if story. He didn’t even invoke Ex Priv…he relied on that outlier interpretation of Article 2, that he cannot do whatever’ he likes. IOW, he is holding himself above the law. (Conveniently, Barr is one of the few lawyers who hold with this interpretation.)

      • Majella December 20, 2019 at 7:26 pm #

        …that he ‘CAN do whatever’ he likes.

        • Nightowl December 21, 2019 at 1:07 pm #

          Which he can. Because the entire charade was never put to vote and authorized.

          Because it is for show.

          And your IQ. It is most low.

      • ellipsis December 20, 2019 at 7:50 pm #

        You should learn to enjoy the show more, as your opinion has exactly ZERO impact on whatever happens here.

        • Majella December 20, 2019 at 8:22 pm #

          I’m well aware of that. Same to be said for everyone else posting hereabouts.

          So what? Discussion assists in formulation of arguments, a healthy process.

      • HowardBeale December 22, 2019 at 1:45 pm #

        LOL! Have a drink, relax, then do a little homework. Oh, and turn off CNN or MSNBC or whatever fake news you’re watching. It’s not really your fault that you’ve been misinformed and have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.
        TDS is real.

    • ellipsis December 20, 2019 at 7:38 pm #

      But then again, we’re breaking new legal ground here everyday anyway. The Constitution is not specific about the time frame for the conveyance of articles of impeachment to the senate, presumably because no one at the time foresaw the need to do so. So that locks all the current legal eagles into a fight over the need for a speedy trial, which may or may not apply to the impeachment process at all, because once again, the Constitution doesn’t get into the gnarly details, other than prescribing the basic legal remedies available to lawmakers should they feel the need to adopt such a drastic measure. Bottom line is that this is still very much a make it up as you go process, so why shouldn’t Trump seek legal remedy from the Supremes, even if only as a nakedly transparent political ploy (which is what the entire process up this point has been anyway), even though it’s almost certainly going to fall on deaf ears with the Roberts court, which has been staunchly resistant to intervene in what it perceives as political disputes between the two branches?

    • beantownbill. December 20, 2019 at 8:04 pm #

      Life is relatively short and brutal. The seeds of our death are sown the moment we’re born; we all end up dead. In spite of claims from many people, not one person has ever produced hard evidence of an afterlife.
      Once we’ve passed on, we cease to exist. That’s not bad because we’ll never know that we were once alive; we’ll never feel the weight of eternity. We will not be aware of all the love and struggles we experienced because we will not be aware of anything.

      I’m sorry if this is too bleak for you to consider, but someone like me has to – I’m 74. How many years do I have left? My parents lived to 96 and 101, but the oldest any of my uncles or aunts lived was 86, so I can’t be sure how long I’ll live – I’ve already lived longer than 3 uncles and 3 grandparents. So I have to at least face up to the inevitable. I won’t be scared of death. I’ve already experienced non-existence – the 1st 13.7 billion years of the universe, and I don’t feel like that was bad, so how can I be afraid of the next 13.7 being dead?

      Then why should people here be so emotionally invested with the impeachmentraciously, joyful process? You all will be dead soon enough – at least compared to eternity. Since we’re only here for such a short time, isn’t it logical to live with as much joy as possible? Being upset with Pelosi, who doesn’t know you exist, or Trump? Really? Chill and live your life gratefully, gracefully and joyfully.

      • ellipsis December 20, 2019 at 8:58 pm #

        Nice advice. 62 just today, myself. Not feeling particularly celebratory either.

        • beantownbill. December 20, 2019 at 10:30 pm #

          You’re a youngster. Happy birthday. Wish I could go back another 12 years.

        • Majella December 21, 2019 at 2:22 am #

          Happy birthday, Ellipsis… I’m 50-12, also some 2 months now *creak…!*

          • Majella December 21, 2019 at 2:34 am #

            Oops – Sorry – Beantownbill, I meant.

          • Majella December 21, 2019 at 2:36 am #

            Oops again! It’s WAS ellipsis …sheesh.

      • axisboldaslove December 20, 2019 at 9:43 pm #

        Great post, beantownbill!

        • beantownbill. December 20, 2019 at 10:36 pm #

          Thank you. I appreciate good feedbacks, especially when I write something heartfelt. Sorry for the word screwup that should have read just the “impeachment process”.

      • toktomi December 20, 2019 at 11:16 pm #

        @beantown

        …except that, unfortunately, I would offer, there are lots of people who act out their emotional programming by following this silliness – with joy of some sort or other.

        I would offer that it’s not the political machinations that are so crazy, but rather that the madness is in the masses. If nobody bothered then the silliness would simply disappear.

        At the end of each show, Tracy Ullman would implore with these sage words, “Go home!” That’s all it would take for not simply these bits of silliness but for the entire industrial insanity. Walk away. Refuse to play any of the stupid reindeer games. RESET, shut ‘er down before They get a chance to Reset.

        ~toktomi~

        • Majella December 21, 2019 at 2:29 am #

          For the most part, that’s precisely what ‘people’ do – hardly notice what’s going on.

          But enough get caught up in the hype – Himself’s Hillbilly Nuremberg Rallies being the most obvious example.

          It’s seducing, feels like “family” (which is the principle on which gangs operate) and leads to a dose of oxytocin which makes it all seem REAL, but they still don’t know what’s REALLY going on or how they’re being played to provide the required worship for a nutjob narcissist.

          • Nightowl December 21, 2019 at 1:12 pm #

            This coming from someone who parrots the corporate press nearly every post.

            LOL.

            Honk, honk.

          • Majella December 21, 2019 at 8:06 pm #

            Nightowl…you seem to be confusing me with someone you gives a flying fuck what you think.

  42. malthuss December 20, 2019 at 7:24 pm #

    JEWELL IS DEAD

    Via Unz,

    A Justice Department investigation concluded that the FBI’s training film charade violated Jewell’s constitutional rights.
    But in 1997 Senate testimony, FBI chief Louis Freeh [that monster, imo, malthuss notes]
    denied that Jewell’s rights were violated because he did not incriminate himself.

    Who knew that only guilty citizens have constitutional rights? Freeh did tell the Senate committee that he had instructed FBI agents “not to use deceptive ploys in getting people to waive their constitutional rights.”

    Freeh’s order was merely aspirational and did not prevent a tsunami of FBI entrapment and other schemes, including the bogus briefing on Russia that FBI agents gave the Trump campaign, as the inspector general report revealed last week.

  43. Pucker December 20, 2019 at 7:27 pm #

    Strassle interview….

    This phenomenon of “The Resistance” is interesting. It’s tragic what they’re doing in destroying the institutions of government. The Mainstream Media may emerge from this with very little credibility? I find the pervasive bald face lying interesting. It didn’t used to be like this. They’ll just lie right to your face…. It’s creating a lot of sympathy for Trump. And Trump is a former Casino operator. Trump knows all about Doubling Down. Go figure….

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lSMxQHqHYI0&t=2154s

    • Majella December 20, 2019 at 7:32 pm #

      Himself lies to your face too, even when the truth would serve him better, but that’s tolerated.

      Any MSM statement that contradicts the Right’s narrative is simply disposed of by simply labeling it a lie. Whether it is or not. This is where this Presidency has taken us.

      • ellipsis December 20, 2019 at 8:04 pm #

        Except when it actually is a lie, of course. You should consider using a finer brush if you insist on painting your opposition. You’ll find your final composition will turn out much more realistic and appealing.

        • Majella December 20, 2019 at 8:34 pm #

          And you can tell the difference?

          My point is that the Trumpcultists don’t believe ANYTHING they don’t like or agree with – it’s just labelled ‘fake news’ and ‘MSM lies’. Yet occasionally -VERY occasionally – someone will quote the NYT or WaPo, IF it fits with their personally-adoptednarrative.

          • ellipsis December 20, 2019 at 8:55 pm #

            I know the “charges” against Trump are merely the pot calling the kettle black. Biden was even more guilty of doing the same thing as VP for even more nakedly transparent personal gain. Which in any halfway sane society would generate a debate on what exactly is legal or not legal with regard to using such leverage in matters of state, which all but the most naïve among surely knows goes on all the time. That much I know for sure. And then using this all as a means to unseat a duly elected president based on nothing more than “we don’t like him,” not only cheapens the election and impeachment processes themselves, but even more egregiously, ensures that this same ignorant partisan monkey show will unfold again and again hereafter. Surely even the stupid-assed Dems are smart enough to realize that, which tells me that there’s much more going on here than meets the eye. This one has deep state – which is to say HRC, BillyJeff, and BarryO; the NeoLib Holy Trinity – fingerprints all over it.

          • JohnAZ December 21, 2019 at 10:27 am #

            Ellipsis

            You are wasting your time, you cannot argue with Stone Wall Majella.

            I just hope that the Border Wall is as effective a barrier.

  44. Majella December 20, 2019 at 7:29 pm #

    Advice for McConnell, from Thomas Jefferson:

    “We are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, not to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it’

    Grow a pair Mitch! Give Himself his full televised trial.

    • ellipsis December 20, 2019 at 7:47 pm #

      Which is exactly what Trump wants. The truth is a funny thing these days. It’s almost always exactly the opposite of what you hear on the TV and the idiotnet. And one thing we know for sure (Jessup’s Law), the Ds (and most of the Rs as well) simply can’t handle the truth!

      • Majella December 20, 2019 at 8:28 pm #

        For once, I have to stand in agreement with Himself. A full-blown, balls-out, bare-knuckled trial WILL get a result that will have validity and enough substance to stand the tests of the future.

        Any cop-out by McConnell or Pelosi/Schumer will bean even bigger joke than this Presidency.

  45. Pucker December 20, 2019 at 8:03 pm #

    Morbid Christmas

    “It twas the night before Christmas…
    And all through the House…
    The smell of tear gas was burning…
    The Future in doubt….”

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    • toktomi December 20, 2019 at 11:23 pm #

      Twas the night before Spring solstice
      And all through the houses
      Not a light did flcker
      Not a fan did hum.

      The future is clear…
      …and dark

      ~toktomi~

      • JohnAZ December 21, 2019 at 10:28 am #

        And cold

    • EvelynV December 21, 2019 at 11:12 am #

      Twas a night shortly before xmas…
      And all through the house…
      A vote was taken…
      To displace a louse…

      The nooses were hung
      With great celebration…
      Soon songs would be sung…
      About a nation’s liberation…

      Then out in the twitter-verse there arose such a clatter,
      It resembled the psychoses of a mad hatter.
      Off to the windows MAGAts flew in a flash,
      They tore open their shutters, but threw up on the sash.

      The moon face on the ill chosen leader
      Gave the luster of cheese left on a heater.
      When to our wondering eyes should appear,
      What looked to be a dead possum above his left ear.

      It was a fat bastard with fingers so tiny,
      We knew in a moment his voice would get whiney.
      He ranted and raved, calling good people bad names.
      “Loser”, “Idiot”, “Dummy” was the commonest for people with fame.

      • elysianfield December 21, 2019 at 2:49 pm #

        Eve,
        Excellent.

  46. Pucker December 20, 2019 at 8:15 pm #

    Don’t you think that it’s weird that all of these Deep State Assholes are enamored with “Authority”? It’s not so much the Veracity or Rationality of what is being said, but rather Who says it, whether they emanate from the bowels of an Ivy League University, or what 2 or 3 letter combination of letters appears after their name signifying their level of educational attainment? Very irrational….

    • Majella December 20, 2019 at 8:30 pm #

      Maybe we should demand that they empanel a jury of burger-flippers, as long as they have a college degree and at least $30k of student debt?

      • Pucker December 20, 2019 at 8:57 pm #

        And Common Sense….

      • JohnAZ December 21, 2019 at 10:32 am #

        This is the current definition of the middle class per the Deep State.

    • JohnAZ December 21, 2019 at 10:31 am #

      The definition of Power. Power is the only motivating emotion in the Deep State. That is why in the 1990’s the number one group that wanted to control immigration was the Dems. Not now! Power!

  47. Majella December 20, 2019 at 8:41 pm #

    Very clever & very amusing – however you see Himself:

    https://youtu.be/i05gKtHWjGY

    • ellipsis December 20, 2019 at 9:04 pm #

      He’s our Royal Buffoon.

    • BackRowHeckler December 20, 2019 at 11:54 pm #

      Majella

      The President has been impeached, your dream has come true.

      But still, you seem bitter and full of hate.

      I’d think you’d be doing the Irish Jig right about now, happy as a clam.

      Instead, you’re angry. Why is that?

      brh

      • Majella December 21, 2019 at 1:36 am #

        BRH

        I find it puzzling that you a) think I’m happy about the impeachment and that
        b) I’m angry?

        I must be doing a very poor job of expressing myself

        It’s obvious, I assume, that I have zero confidence or faith in Himself – in fact, I fear where his Presidency will take the US, and the rest of the world, which is extremely vulnerable to US policy, though mostly as ‘collateral damage’ (the “wedding guests”, if you like).

        I’m neither joyous nor angry. Really.

        Seriously, I’m as much for truth & justice as you (and I’m sure EVERYBODY hereabouts) are. We who argue with the ‘rightists’ & ‘Trumpists’ (you’re not ALL Trumpcultists) just have a different starting point.

        I want Himself to GET his trial, to be able to call any witnesses he wants and to defend himself vigorously.

        (A ‘no-tweeting’ order through the trial might be the first thing J. Roberts might rule on, but that’s unlikely in the US, given every accused person is crucified in the media before most high-profile criminal trials…the Brits have a much more sensible approach to what the US holds out as First Amendment rights, – if it’s ‘sub justice’ then there’s effective restrictions on what can be said or printed in the public domain.)

        And the prosecution should likewise be able to call witnesses WITHOUT obstruction from the WH of DOJ.

        How else can this impasse be resolved? There’s so many entrenched positions in the general populace. Let’s air them! Someone earlier talked of a ‘Truth & Reconciliation Commission’ but is way to early for that. That’s a post civil war process. Let’s hope it doesn’t get to that.

        It’s time for a gigantic legal ‘have-it-out’ scrap.

        I’m not invested in any particular outcome. Whatever results I’ll accept, even if the conspiracy theories/deep state/George Soros accusations are proven to be true and the guilty arseholes are jailed or executed. Que sera sera. I’d re-examine my views on all the postulations I read (and disagree with) here.

        The question is, would the other side of the argument (such as you & the rest hereabouts accept an outcome that DOESN’T support their narrative of reality?

        • BackRowHeckler December 21, 2019 at 9:31 am #

          Good post, Majella.

          Your position clearly stated, concise and heartfelt.

          Brh

        • JohnAZ December 21, 2019 at 11:05 am #

          Okay, let us start with the impeachment fiasco. 17 witnesses from the Deep State. Not one true Trumpsters, not one. Taking testimony from ex staffers that were fired for insubordination to the boss, the President. And only them. Trump makes enemies by hiring people, having them try to sabotage his policies, and then firing them. Just as the Apprentice program, just like he did as a business man, if you betray him, he will show you the door with no hesitation.

          The Deep State has hated him more with time, because he is weeding out the traitors in his organization. Like SSL, I criticize him for his ego, thinking he could “make a deal” with the Deep Staters in 2017. Big, big mistake in trusting any Deep Stater who has made their way around DC by falsehoods and betrayal.

          I am looking forward to a DC with him as a lame duck and supporting Congress. All the liberal balderdash that has accumulated over the last thirty years may disappear in four. Enemies will stabilize relations as they learn he cannot be buffaloed like his predecessors, allies will not spend their time BSing the US. A three party superpower axis will emerge with the rest of the world following behind, the trade agreements will stabilize especially with Asia and maybe, just maybe, trade will be regulated by skills and supply and demand, like it should be. Sopping the intrusion of socialism will continue the 2 to 2.5 % growth with the number one problem being not having enough people to keep up with the job creation. The wall will be built, with immigration control happening because control can happen. Like the 80’s and 90’s, supply and demand for labor will control and increase wages. With lower corporate income taxes and the increasing cost of transportation, manufacturing is going to continue to flow back to the US, ensuring growth of the middle class.

          The alternative, Dems and socialism letting the Deep State to continue sucking the middle class dry for their own power base, remember Obama saying we will never have manufacturing return,. BTW, he was right, if we had let the Dem power base continue in 2016, manufacturing and the economy would not have regenerated. And China would be approaching us much faster.

          Soros and his crew would be smiling today. Instead, they are gnashing their teeth. I would like to see it stay that way. Georgie Porgie, go away and try to destroy someone else.

      • EvelynV December 21, 2019 at 3:49 pm #

        Get sober BRH, you know why.

        The sham president has nothing to fear from the sham controlled senate.

  48. Pucker December 20, 2019 at 9:00 pm #

    Buck Swope for Walmart Corporation: “We Bi-American”.

  49. Pucker December 20, 2019 at 10:05 pm #

    Morbid Christmas Past

    To what extent is your Sense-of-Self grounded in your Right Brain Emotional Memories of your family and your emotionally traumatic childhood?

    “ The personal ‘interior’ sense of the self with a history, and a personal and emotional memory, as well as what is, rather confusingly, sometimes called ‘the self-concept’, appears to be dependent to a very large extent on the right hemisphere. The self-concept is impaired by right-hemisphere injury, wherever in the right hemisphere it may occur; 492 but the right frontal region is of critical importance here. 493 This could be described as self-experience. The right hemisphere seems more engaged by emotional, autobiographical memories. 494 It is hardly surprising that the ‘sense of self’ should be grounded in the right hemisphere, because the self originates in the interaction with ‘the Other’, not as an entity in atomistic isolation: ‘The sense of self emerges from the activity of the brain in interaction with other selves.’“

  50. Pucker December 20, 2019 at 10:54 pm #

    What is Pete Buttigieg’s big plan for Illegal Immigrant Bi-sexuals with dementia?

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    • JohnAZ December 21, 2019 at 11:07 am #

      ???
      But he probably has one, and it will cost trillions of $.

  51. Pucker December 20, 2019 at 11:02 pm #

    God created Woman from Adam’s Ribs. He created Cone Bread and Cole Slaw from what?

  52. Pucker December 20, 2019 at 11:06 pm #

    Why is the centerpiece dish for Christmas dinner turkey and ham rather than BBQ Ribs? God created Woman from Ribs….

    It would seem that if Man wants to score then he needs some good BBQ Ribs?

  53. Pucker December 20, 2019 at 11:22 pm #

    Raise those frogs that excrete hallucinogenic drugs and then give them to Woke people to lick.

    • Majella December 21, 2019 at 1:50 am #

      Pucker…! Roflmao!. What particular strain you smoking, brother? I wanna get ME some!

    • Majella December 21, 2019 at 1:52 am #

      …between the dry humor and you use of ‘bloke’ with such regularity, I have to ask if your actually a ‘Strine or perhaps, a Pomgolian?

  54. Cargill December 20, 2019 at 11:23 pm #

    “They could haul in Messrs Obama, Brennan, Clapper, Comey, Mueller, Weissman, Rosenstein, McCabe, Ohr, Lynch, Strzok, Ms. Page, Ms. Yates, Mrs. Lynch, Mr. Halper — though I suspect that bunch would be better left to the ministrations of John Durham, just as the Democratic primaries roll out.”

    Oh please – not again. How often in his desperation will JHK trot out this list, as if any of them perpetrated even 5% of the dishonesty, theft, grift and criminality of Trump and the Republican dictatorship.

    And just like the Trump crime family and the Republican dictatorship, JHK does not (because he cannot) dispute, deny, dismiss, or disprove the facts of the Ukrainian stand-over, bribery, and extortion.

    Perhaps he would be much better served examining the judicial appointments McConnell has pushed through – to the detriment of the law and the people for perhaps four decades.

    Or the massive gerrymanders that still openly exist, or the voter suppression that has been turned into a fine art form by state Republican dictatorships everywhere.

    Something useful would be nice … rather than endless, fruitless prognostications on the imminent demise of the Democratic Party.

    • Majella December 21, 2019 at 1:54 am #

      Yes. No need for ALL of them.

      JHK needs to be a little more selective in his list for Madame Guillotine.

    • EvelynV December 21, 2019 at 4:49 pm #

      I’m starting to think that if JHK spent less time searching for a word or two in the dictionary which will cower his obsequious MAGA loving followers on this forum because they need to search for the definition to understand his sentences and a little more time reflecting on the overall dismal mood of the country imposed by the fat bastard, he’d come up with some other topics of more interest and more importance than which of the various actors on the stage he should hurl his epithets about.

      I look for the right word, the most precise word, sometimes the most humorous word, Evelyn. The reason I don’t dump on Rep Devin Nunes is because he has been on the side of the truth in these matters. I guess that you are not. JHK Admin

      Yeah Jimbo, we all got it about a year ago you don’t think much of certain people you judge as bumblers but why not leave the constant repetition to the advertisers and if nothing else give us some cleverness about why Nunes isn’t more worthy of your insults or, better yet, change the subject now and then?

      • EvelynV December 22, 2019 at 2:46 am #

        Yikes! You scared me, sneaking up on me like that!

        Not meaning to insult your slipping in the good words as you do, but maybe I should apologize for saying you need to search to find them. I love good word smithing and it saddens me to see it abused for this crowd.

        I read a book a while back that afterwards I was compelled to re-read just so I could write down all the unfamiliar words the second time. Here’s the list I made at the time. The book title was “The Sea”. by Iris Murdoch.

        Revenant – a person who has returned, esp. supposedly from the dea
        Apotropaic – supposedly having the power to avert evil influences or bad luck
        Leporine – of or resembling a hare or hares.
        Losel – a worthless person
        Strangury – a condition caused by blockage or irritation at the base of the bladder, resulting in severe pain and a strong desire to urinate.
        Louring – To look angry, sullen, or threatening.
        Gloaming – twilight; dusk
        Proscenium – the part of a theater stage in front of the curtain
        Plash – a sound produced by liquid striking something or being struck.
        Recreant – a person who is unfaithful to a belief; an apostate.
        Costiveness – slow or reluctant in speech or action; unforthcoming
        Finial – a distinctive ornament at the apex of a roof, pinnacle, canopy, or similar structure in a building.
        Levitant
        Flocculent – having a loosely clumped texture : a brown flocculent precipitate.
        Minatory – expressing or conveying a threat
        Eructations – a belch
        Gleet – Inflammation of the urethra characterized by a mucopurulent discharge.
        Scurf – a flaky deposit on any surface
        Chatelaine – a woman in charge of a large house
        Marmoreal – made of or likened to marble
        Prelapsarian – characteristic of the time before the Fall of Man; innocent and unspoiled
        Cretonne – a heavy cotton fabric, typically with a floral pattern printed on one or both sides, used for upholstery.
        Ovine – of, relating to, or resembling sheep
        Raddled – Worn-out and broken-down
        Catafalque – a decorated wooden framework supporting the coffin of a distinguished person during a funeral or while lying in state.
        Crepitant – make a crackling sound
        Etiolated – having lost vigor or substance; feeble
        Velutinous – Covered with dense, soft, silky hairs
        Immured – enclose or confine (someone) against their will
        Louche – disreputable or sordid in a rakish or appealing wa
        Djellabas – a loose hooded cloak, typically woolen, of a kind traditionally worn by Arabs
        Soughed – (of the wind in trees, the sea, etc.) make a moaning, whistling, or rushing sound
        Ichor – the fluid that flows like blood in the veins of the gods.
        Maenads – the fluid that flows like blood in the veins of the gods.
        Craquelure – a network of fine cracks in the paint or varnish of a painting
        Groyne – a protective structure of stone or concrete; extends from shore into the water to prevent a beach from washing away
        Cinereal – Relating to the gray matter of the nervous system.
        Coevals – a person of roughly the same age as oneself; a contemporary
        Horrent – feeling or expressing horror
        Anaglypta – The term anaglypta is from the Greek and means raised ornamentation
        Glair – a preparation made from egg white, used esp. as an adhesive for bookbinding and gilding
        Climacteric – having extreme and far-reaching implications or results; critical
        Boreens – a narrow country road
        Cissyish – an effeminate, weak, or cowardly boy or man
        Refection – refreshment by food or drink
        Stodge – figurative dull and uninspired material or work
        Jeroboam – a wine bottle with a capacity four times larger than that of an ordinary bottle
        Eponymous – (of a person) giving their name to something : the eponymous hero of the novel.
        Plosive – denoting a consonant that is produced by stopping the airflow using the lips, teeth, or palate, followed by a sudden release of air.
        Caducous – (of an organ or part) easily detached and shed at an early stage
        Mephitic – (esp. of a gas or vapor) foul-smelling; noxious.
        Assegais – a slender, iron-tipped, hardwood spear used chiefly by southern African peoples.
        Purblind – having impaired or defective vision
        Cerements – waxed cloth for wrapping a corpse
        Anabasis – a military advance
        Inamorato – a person’s male lover
        Crapulent – of or relating to the drinking of alcohol or drunkenness
        Apercus – A first view or glance, or the perception or estimation so obtained; an immediate apprehension or insight, appreciative rather than analytic. The main object being to develop the several aperçus or insights which furnish the method of such psychology.
        Vulgate – the traditionally accepted text of any author.

        • Majella December 22, 2019 at 1:26 pm #

          I have a favourite word that gets little ‘air time’:

          Meretricious – an apt description of Himself.

  55. Pucker December 21, 2019 at 12:23 am #

    Tired of all of the hackneyed Political Correctness and getting constantly bashed for his errant dick and gingivitis, Spock wanted to quit Star Fleet after Spock locked in his retirement benefits to go back to Vulcan to work in Sarak’s consulting company doling our Federation aid to Sarak’s cronies, but Spock couldn’t quit because he realized that if he did quit then there would be Pay Back by Spock’s enemies, like the homosexual Mr. Sulu.

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  56. Pucker December 21, 2019 at 12:35 am #

    Is it a rational allocation of capital and society’s resources to roll out Arby’s?

  57. Pucker December 21, 2019 at 12:39 am #

    What do you think of “Strip Mall” churches? I like the word “Strip” as in “Strip Club”, “Strip Search” or “Stripped Down Version”, “Strip Mining”, and now “Strip Church”…. We could make “Strip Prisons”. Many years ago, I once almost got beat up in a bar located in a Strip Mall located in some shit town in the Midwest by some white cracker drinking a concoction of cheap beer and cheap tomato juice. I got the hell outta there…,

    “ A popular architectural element in many communities is the outdoor strip malls that were popular in the early 20th century. But today, many of these malls line our streets with vacancy notices taped to their doors. In response to the decline in retailers occupying strip malls, houses of worship are purchasing these large spaces and repurposing them to host Sunday services and events for the community. This type of real estate offers a lot of potential to religious organizations as far as square footage. However, this space also faces some challenges in how to renovate the existing space to meet the needs of the congregation and community without altering the space thru construction.
    For a church in a strip mall to attract and maintain members, they need to be creative in the use and design of their space. Let’s take a look at ways churches in “unusual” spaces can take the space that they have and make it even better.”

    • Majella December 21, 2019 at 1:48 am #

      Once again – for your listening pleasure – how modern American Christianity markets itself:
      https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pPT2HIgJPnE

      • cc rider December 21, 2019 at 9:22 am #

        Ha! I love that scene from True Stories. No telling how many times I’ve watched.

    • sprawlcapital December 21, 2019 at 11:25 am #

      Puck–

      There is a strip mall in Chesterfield, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, that may be the World’s Largest, We drove from end to end of it: one mile.

      As to strip malls being popular in the early 20th century, I think that should be corrected to late 20th century. I know of one strip mall that was built around 1939. The majority were built after 1950, as America transformed itself from public transit–streetcars–to automobile-centered development.

  58. Majella December 21, 2019 at 6:37 am #

    I’d just love to see THIS guy testify in the Senate!

    https://youtu.be/2i4JxWkSYzU

  59. Majella December 21, 2019 at 7:23 am #

    I want to ask a question, just putting it out there. I’m very interested in what response it will get, if any.

    For context, here’s my summary view of this blog’s community, given there are many hereabouts who don’t ever chime in, but there’s for sure a few who follow comments (despite the oft-times bleak landscape, happily brightened by Pucker’s alt-Star Trek).

    Aside from a couple of randoms that might stick a toxic oar in from time to time (such as lately, R.I.B), the commentariat hereabouts is thoughtful, courteous (for the most part, or is trying to be), and over the last several weeks, I have begun to understand something (either that or I have Stockholm Syndrome…)

    I’d venture that there’s a general commonality of purpose, regardless of how we identify politically. We’re a microcosm of the outside world, We’re all human (the epidermis where all the color resides is 0.5mm thin. Under that, we’re all just meat…and human).

    I think we all, also, want justice…that what riles us ALL up equally is injustice, unfairness and bullying/lying/cheating.

    We have differing views on what injustice is, for sure, and what the solution is (that’s for fecking sure!) but the key point is that we’re all motivated by a desire to either maintain (conserve) what we value…improve (progress) the human condition…or a weird and paradoxical mixture of the two.

    Finally, my question is this:

    Do you agree that ‘the other side’ of your argument are actually good people, with righteous aims and objectives despite the fact that hld differing views?

    For me, it’s a resounding “yes”. It’s taken a while to get to this point. Heaps of nasty scourgings, both given and received. I don’t regret any of them, because through that {euphemism alert} ‘forging by fire’ each of the characters hereabouts has taken a mental shape in my perception. It’s a different relationship to IRL, but it’s just as valid.

    I realize this may read like drivel – possibly it’s what you personally figured out ages ago but weren’t dippy (or stoned) enough to articulate it. But there ya go. I have.

    Cheers CFN.

    • cc rider December 21, 2019 at 9:55 am #

      Well let me tell you…..No one knows ‘the other side’ of my arguments better then me.

      Okay, joking aside, I think that most people on the other side of my arguments have well meaning intentions. But some have nefarious intentions. I think the same about those who are on my side. Not all are well meaning. Not all have evil intentions. It’s a percentage thing. We’re talking about humans after all.

    • volodya December 21, 2019 at 1:22 pm #

      Majella, 

      I’m morally stunted. I’m unable to turn the other cheek. Rather, I tend to treat people the way they treat me, which sounds like a frightful inversion of the golden rule. Which I suppose it is, this approach the basis for feud, vendetta, war. I extend this to family, kin, clan and social class, such that, for example, when harm of an economic variety is inflicted on people I see as my own, I take it as a personal affront. And similarly when my own are insulted or disparaged by people that see themselves as “better”, you know, you’ve seen them, acting and talking as if they’re of a higher order. For example, – cough – “intellectuals”. 

      So, it depends. You and I have differing views on a lot of stuff, even if we come from similar economic and religious and societal roots. I don’t see malice or bigotry on your part at the center of these differences, nor, for that matter, willful blindness. Like I said in a previous post, you look at the information you get, fragmentary at best like mine, distorted through the self-interests of news outlets, often laundered and shrunken and outright misstated through government misinformation outlets. And you make a judgement. And so do I. 

      But, the “other side of the argument” so often prove to be inflictors of harm, heedless of the damage they’ve done, ruining whole swathes of the world, and then pretending to be on a higher moral and intellectual plane, insulting people they’ve wrecked. How many times have you heard that Trump’s election was the result of stupidity, racism, sexism, xenophobia, and a hat-full of other sociological “isms” and “phobias”? And similar stuff directed at people voting for Brexit, or those Yellow Jackets in France. I mean, they’re talking about people a lot like those I grew up with. How many times have we heard that it all points to the rise of fascism? When these people give me the “other side of the argument” I have trouble seeing “good” but rather the opposite and, at best, deep idiocy. 

      it’s like my wife said. A lot of these “other side of the argument” people don’t understand their own self-interest. How on earth is it in their own self-interest to destroy that very human organization that their own well-being and very survival depend on, the nation state? Yet they seem intent on destroying that very thing. And, like my wife said, it’s over when people can’t understand their own self-interest. Besides being “bad”, they’re so deeply bone-headed. I don’t know, educated stupid maybe. 

      Sorry for the windy answer. 

      • SW December 21, 2019 at 2:46 pm #

        Majella I’m in no way a Trump apologist and did not vote for him 3 years ago and if Warren or Sanders run, I’m voting for one of them, primarily b/c of their sincere demand for health care for all. I don’t think the people who disagree with me are bad people and that said, I do believe they’ve been fully captured by a narrative that doesn’t wash. Russia did not steal the election, Trump is not Putin’s handmaiden, our democracy is not in danger, etc., etc. There’s no willingness to look at the facts or offer any self-reflection on how we got here. Here’s an example: Accusing Trump of dividing the country with racism, misogyny, fascism, cruelty to immigrant children and a host of other sins, their own participation is completely ignored. History did not begin 3 years ago and prior to that Trump had zero political influence. The loudest and shrillest critics like Maxine Waters, Hillary Clinton, and Chuck Schumer have been up to their eyeballs in political wheeling and dealing but act like their actions have been above reproach. It’s the hypocrisy I object to.

  60. Majella December 21, 2019 at 7:36 am #

    Here’s an example of ‘the common man’ that I can relate to…set in Texas, mid 1980’s (with all that long lost innocence and living memory proximity to the post-war good times), so basically within the commentariat general age band width.

    This country guy’s looking for stability.

    https://youtu.be/2i4JxWkSYzU

    Then, the urban cohort of the same era

    https://youtu.be/XTNGg0Tj5Aw

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    • Majella December 21, 2019 at 7:49 am #

      And finally a melding of the idyllic & the idealistic…(?)
      https://youtu.be/k3MxuDk7wqo

    • cc rider December 21, 2019 at 9:33 am #

      The video link under “country guy” is the same video you had a few posts above. It is not “this country guy”.

  61. capt spaulding December 21, 2019 at 11:12 am #

    I see Buttigieg hosted a wine tasting party with $900 per bottle wine. It would appear that he has thrown in with the billionaires. My guess is that if he got elected, he wouldn’t be the only one taking it up the ass. Business as usual in Wash DC.

    • JohnAZ December 21, 2019 at 11:23 am #

      I noticed that he turned it right around on Warren, who gets her bucks the same way. If you do not like the corruption of the Dems by the Elite, none of the current crop floats your boat. Except maybe Bernie, but he is unelectable. Communist is still a four letter word in this country.

  62. JohnAZ December 21, 2019 at 11:19 am #

    Majella

    My major problem with the other side is that they are bought and paid for by the largest con job in US history led by the Deep State and their annunciator the Media. To me, Trump is an impediment to the continued growth of the cancer growing on the Potomac. He may be a blowhard, buffoon, whatever you want to call him. I will vote for him as a vote against the socialistic infection.

    In the seventies, it was called brainwashing.

    • JohnAZ December 21, 2019 at 11:41 am #

      How many times will Democrat’s be fooled by the BS thrown at them by their candidates? Even their own candidates are calling out the roll out of socialistic balderdash that the Progressives are waving around.

      The 20th century showed that socialism is a failure. Bringing up the same old agenda now does not help. And yes, all those European countries everyone likes to bring up, are failures. Their banking systems are about to belly up, and one of their prime countries is about to Brexit. Freezing 30% of your economy to a loser business like healthcare is not a good idea. The socialistic tendency in the US has driven us increasingly into debt over the last thirty years. Ten of the 23 trillion $ happening during the Obama administration, and his legacy is increasing it even faster now. Could it be that it is all locked in and it no longer matters who is the captain of the ship? And we are on an exponential curve!

      Who is a fault for what is going on? Obama? Trump? Clinton?

      How about “The man in the Mirror”.

      • Majella December 21, 2019 at 4:45 pm #

        Yes John, I’m fully aware of your perspective. But I wasn’t talking “big picture”…I was referring more to the individuals we encounter one the other side of the argument’ in here – such as you & me.

        Divergent perspectives, ability to discuss without (generally) insult and name-calling our respondents.

        • JohnAZ December 21, 2019 at 9:07 pm #

          Yeah! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Remember we both want the same thing, the best for the most.

    • BackRowHeckler December 21, 2019 at 12:14 pm #

      President Trump …

      Stands at Armageddon …

      Battling for the Lord

      Mightily!

      Brh

      • EvelynV December 21, 2019 at 1:11 pm #

        …and don’t think Lord Darth Vader wasn’t appreciative.

  63. SoftStarLight December 21, 2019 at 1:20 pm #

    The Winter Solstice is here. The rule of the Ice King is established: for a season. The cycle of life is the cycle of Seasons. A reminder of the transience of the tangible world. And so in these darkest of hours, in the deep cold of the Long Night, we remember the Sun will come back one day.

    • BackRowHeckler December 21, 2019 at 1:38 pm #

      Remember that old Beach Boys tune, SSL

      ‘The warmth of the sun”?

      Right now in the north country the sun is just a dim orb in the southern sky, 23 s. 26° below the equator, barely visible most of the day. The good news: every day now it ticks a few degrees north. Its headed in the right direction.

      You know what was pretty funny? Greta — St. Greta — is back in Sweden, still protesting the weather, on the streets of Stockholm, all bundled up against the cold in a parka and scarf. No matter, now comes the time for the Thunberg family to cash in, and cash in big.

      Brh

      • SoftStarLight December 21, 2019 at 4:15 pm #

        I hadn’t heard it before Brh but after listening I have to say I do like it.

        https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kvzr2IT_AiQ

        You know what you mentioned about Greta reminds me of the climate activists who have had conferences that have been hit by snowstorms or who have sailed in ships to Antarctica to get pictures and video of melting ice and instead get stuck and need rescue by icebreakers. Nature makes a joke of them but in many cases they are still ultimately rewarded for their activism as you have noticed too.

      • sunburstsoldier December 21, 2019 at 4:52 pm #

        Here Comes the Sun from the Abbey Road as well as the entire second side of the same album are some of the best rock and roll ever recorded. Every song flows together so melidiously like molten gold…

      • GreenAlba December 22, 2019 at 10:08 am #

        SSL

        I wouldn’t want you to feel you missed out because they went one time instead of another time, so here you are. I posted it on a previous thread (but you posted that exact comment before too, so no apology required, I presume).

        It’ll be a conundrum for brh with those temperatures he keeps posting. Maybe Greta and her little elves are behind the calving part of the glacier with a blowtorch. Whaddya think? They’re certainly devious enough little f*ckers and George’s pockets are deep enough for an endless supply of blowtorches.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC3VTgIPoGU

        • SoftStarLight December 22, 2019 at 11:57 am #

          The forces of Nature are overwhelming and awesome. Now I noticed that this calving event took place in Western Greenland at the end of May. It seems like calving of glaciers would definitely occur in late Spring and Summer. So in that respect I am not so sure that what we are seeing is unheard of or alarming. I did see it mentioned that more of the glacier has melted in the last 10 years than the last 100. That is definitely noteworthy. But again, climatologists understand that big changes in climate have and will in the future occur within years or a decade. This could be because Greta and her Soros funded elves are blowtorching the glaciers. Carbon emissions have declined sharply in Western countries with the most drastic decreases in the US actually. If the leading carbon polluters like China and India could do the same perhaps the climate would cool down. But then I recall that countries like Russia would like to have a warmer climate and a longer growing season.

          • GreenAlba December 22, 2019 at 1:56 pm #

            “I did see it mentioned that more of the glacier has melted in the last 10 years than the last 100. That is definitely noteworthy. ”

            Indeed.

            “But again, climatologists understand that big changes in climate have and will in the future occur within years or a decade. ”

            Yes, they will, and the trend is all in one direction, globally.

            https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-how-well-have-climate-models-projected-global-warming

            “If the leading carbon polluters like China and India could do the same perhaps the climate would cool down.”

            Ok, so now the climate might cool down if China and India follow suit but you don’t agree – and have said so ad nauseam – that anthropogenic CO2 emissions are the cause of global warming in the first place? Hmmmm…

            But I’ll take the small steps as they come, and with gratitude.

            Yes it would be good if China and India would follow suit sooner. They negotiated a delay because the West historically did most of the damage before they joined the party. And their per capita emissions are a fraction of yours.

            It’s not ideal, but you have to incorporate some notion of justice and not just ‘tough, we got here first – have some crumbs’ if you want an agreement. That’s what negotiation is. If it had been America instead of China you’d have expected as much.

            The climate isn’t going to ‘cool down’ within any meaningful time frame that helps us. What we’re aiming at, realistically or not, is to mitigate the worst effects of AGW.

            Regarding Russia, you can’t expect their leaders to be honest about the situation anyway, since that’s not generally the way they operate, but climate change is likely to be very much a double-edged sword for them.

            On the one hand, the growing season in some parts of the country may be longer, but, on the other hand, the melting of the permafrost will release large amounts of methane which will act as a positive feedback loop and make the situation worse.

            And, as I mentioned before, you may not remember this, but Russia has already suffered the effect on crops of prolonged droughts and heatwaves this century: Russia, eh – who’d have thought?

            https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-heat-fires/russia-swelters-in-heatwave-many-crops-destroyed-idUSTRE66F2LX20100716

          • BackRowHeckler December 22, 2019 at 3:53 pm #

            GA

            The UK could sink into the North Sea and it wouldn’t affect global temps 1° either way.

            But if you want to run your islands with windmills and solar panels, knock yourself out. GB will become poorer and more insignificant than it already is.

            Brh

          • Nightowl December 22, 2019 at 4:25 pm #

            “And their per capita emissions are a fraction of yours.”

            But China’s alone dwarf Europe and the States combined.

            I wonder why you left that out.

            LOL.

          • GreenAlba December 23, 2019 at 6:16 am #

            I left it out, smartarse, because we all know that already.

            And if you’re going for the low-hanging fruit, it’s going to be in the countries with the per capita emissions are high. The one with patio heaters and 4-car families. Not the one where a whole load of people don’t even have electricity.

            But as you keep reminding us, you’re speaking from an upper-middle-class swanky suburb with power for whatever you choose to use it for. Congratulations. Don’t trouble yourself. And yes, I know your credentials.

            What you’re basically suggesting is that since the UK produces about 2% of the problem it shouldn’t bother its arse with doing its share of solving it – even thought it feckin’ started the whole process two centuries ago. What if, hypothetically, there were 25 entirely unrelated countries each creating 2% of the problem and one creating the other 50% – they all get a free pass?

            Sheesh. Or as you insist, LOL.

          • GreenAlba December 23, 2019 at 6:22 am #

            BTW, you didn’t mention that a whole lot of China’s emissions are produced in the service of generating endless unnecessary crap for Americans, in particular, but the rest of us too. Plus some necessary stuff.

            So, morally speaking, they’re just as much other countries’ as China’s. America’s emissions wouldn’t look so good if it went back to making its own stuff

            I wonder why YOU didn’t mention that. LOL.

    • sunburstsoldier December 21, 2019 at 4:58 pm #

      My job is made hard or easy depending on the weather as I am out in it constantly. I work at night when most of the world is asleep. On cold snowy nights when the snow is coming down and everthing is buried in shimmering, sparkling white, it is almost like a mystical experience being out in it…

      • sunburstsoldier December 21, 2019 at 5:00 pm #

        I posted this in response to SSL’s Ice Queen metaphor…

        • SoftStarLight December 22, 2019 at 1:15 pm #

          Actually, the Ice King presides over the Winter Solstice and the Queen of the Roses presides over the Summer Solstice. As metaphors go and all.

  64. Janos Skorenzy December 21, 2019 at 1:58 pm #

    Truly did the old Pagans worship the Sun. It is the highest thing in our Physical Universe – the most like God in other words. All life depends on it.

    Thus the Christians always did a hatchet job on them in this regard. The High Priests knew there was more, that ultimately the Sun is just a Symbol of God, and not God per se. Do regular Christians understand their own religion? Why judge Paganism by its uneducated followers?

    In any case, the Sun has a deep place in the pysche of Western Man. So much so that the Church in its Wisdom tied its Holy Days to the old solar pagan ones. The radical Protestants howl at this – more fool them.

    • BackRowHeckler December 21, 2019 at 3:19 pm #

      Do you know about Harry Crosby?

    • SoftStarLight December 21, 2019 at 3:54 pm #

      Christmas is filled with Pagan symbolism. Ultimately it is part of who we are. But now Christianity too is imprinted in our memory. Their dueling influences on us will exist for as long as we do, as they have for so long now.

  65. Janos Skorenzy December 21, 2019 at 3:35 pm #

    Amy Klobucher was asked directly about the issue by the black female moderator, Yamiche Alcindor (1:16:57 in the above video).

    Amy Klobuchar’s message to white Americans who are uncomfortable with the idea of becoming a racial minority: “I say, this is America. You’re looking at it.” https://t.co/fe0JMPSNfr #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/w4CbpQXsgM

    — CNN (@CNN) December 20, 2019

    JS: One real thing happened at the Democratic debate: the moderator, Black Female, Yamiche Alicindor (any relation to Lew?) asked:

    Senator Klobuchar, here in California, people who identify as Hispanic, black, Asian or multiracial represent a majority of the population, outnumbering white residents. The United States is expected to be majority nonwhite within a generation. What do you say to white Americans who are uncomfortable with the idea of becoming a racial minority, even if you don’t share their concerns?

    Wow.

    Are we sure Yamiche isn’t one of ours?? (Anglin speaking here)

    Not only did this BASED woman of color just admit that Whites are a racial group, but also that their concerns are not fantastical. The language of the question almost normalizes the discussion of White dispossession.

    She didn’t use any loaded language at all – even the word “uncomfortable” was conciliatory. I don’t know how the Jews at the DNC let this one slip through.

    Here is what Amy replied with:

    I say this is America. You’re looking at it. And we are not going to be able to succeed in the world if we do not invite everyone to be part of our economy. Our Constitution says that we strive for a more perfect union. Well, that’s what we are doing right now. And to me, that means, one, that everyone can vote, and that includes our communities of color. This action that’s been taken by this president and his people and his governors all over the country is wrong. They have made it harder for African-Americans to vote. As one court said, discriminated “with surgical precision.”

    JS: There ya have it folks, it’s real and it’s about the money. Actually it’s about a lot more too, but we’ll take it from here. John Az nods his sagely and quietly agrees. Fuck all that nationalism shit if it gets in the way of making money. Anything that gets in the way of that is Socialism! God is on his side too. So is Superman and apple pie. Fuck that White Race stuff too. Green is better!

    John, I think you need to vote for Klob. She is the real Big Business candidate. Your Mom and Pop stores like Walmart and Family Farms like Monsanto will do better under Amy.

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    • JohnAZ December 21, 2019 at 9:38 pm #

      None of the current Dem crew are good for American business. The closest may be Yang, who is trying to downplay the Progressive types.

      All levels of the economy need a competitive environment to succeed.

      I believe in nationalism over globalism as we happen to be the king of the mountain and I do not want us knocked off. Why diminish ourselves for Soros, or China’s benefit.

      I also believe that European leadership over whatever populace is here is what makes America great. Compare us to the rest of the world over the last 230 years and there is no comparison. And no, I do not want us to lower ourselves to the rest of the world, I want us to help the rest of the world to elevate themselves on their own bootstraps. Our White heritage is what makes us an exceptional dish but contributions from others add flavor to the stew.

    • malthuss December 21, 2019 at 9:39 pm #

      . And we are not going to be able to succeed in the world
      if we do not invite everyone to be part of our economy.

      AA speak. What a stoopid fool.

  66. Janos Skorenzy December 21, 2019 at 3:37 pm #

    I can’t respond to people now. I’m being forced off again, probably because of my comment anent Feldman of Harvard having kittens.

    What can men do against such reckless hate!

  67. Janos Skorenzy December 21, 2019 at 4:11 pm #

    I love kittens. When the feral cats as I was supporting had kittens, I tried to be sad, but I was actually so happy. Watching those kittens grow up was for me a re-creation of the world.

    Google the countless pictures of German soldiers holding kittens and puppies. The old wive’s tale of SS troops plucking out the eyes of kittens is just more Zionist slander.

    Kittens of evil though, that’s another story…..

    • SoftStarLight December 21, 2019 at 4:32 pm #

      OMG I never ever imagined such a thing but you’re right! All of these photos do pop up of SS soldiers with kittens. Strange behavior for monsters! But then again, we are swimming in Zionist slander.

      • GreenAlba December 22, 2019 at 8:52 am #

        “Strange behavior for monsters! ”

        Did you really say that, SSL? You think being kind to kittens and torturing humans is an indicator of good character and a healthy moral compass? Gawsh.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BT00WU7Iss

        • SoftStarLight December 22, 2019 at 1:34 pm #

          Thou shall not put words into thy neighbor’s mouth Alba. My reaction was simple. I have never seen or heard of that before. Haven’t Nazis always been monsters according to the experts? And history is always written by the winners.

          • GreenAlba December 22, 2019 at 2:16 pm #

            I’m not sure what you’re trying to say, SSL. You suggested they weren’t actually monsters because they’re in pictures being nice to kittens. Am I missing something? You also suggested the idea that they were monsters was the result of Zionist slander and not because they actually murdered millions of innocent people.

            Again, am I missing something? Didn’t Hitler have a dog? Many of the SS had children too. What on earth does that do to mitigate what they did? It makes it worse, in my humble opinion. They murdered children too. That you are impressed that they didn’t go in for the wholesale slaughter of cats as a sideline is something I’m struggling to get my head around.

            I don’t want to get involved in another round of Holocaust denial because it’s so repulsive to even engage with that a person can feel they need a shower afterwards, but I’m astonished at how your thought processes work in this area. I’ll be kind and attribute what I can of it to your chronological distance from the events and their aftermath.

  68. Janos Skorenzy December 21, 2019 at 5:16 pm #

    “Dueling influences” – well said, my Kitten.

    And in more ways than one….

  69. Janos Skorenzy December 21, 2019 at 5:18 pm #

    Get ready to duck that projectile vomit!

  70. BackRowHeckler December 21, 2019 at 5:22 pm #

    Where’d Marianne Williamson go?

    I miss her.

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    • sunburstsoldier December 21, 2019 at 6:22 pm #

      Have you ever studied the Course of Miracles Brh? She is really into it, and I knew her from before she got into politics largely through her testimony on how ‘the Course” (as it’s called) changed her life…

    • malthuss December 21, 2019 at 9:40 pm #

      She is a jewish failed actress.
      I went to one of her talks, due to a neighbor asking me to go.
      yuk.

  71. Janos Skorenzy December 21, 2019 at 7:00 pm #

    https://news.yahoo.com/washington-state-lawmaker-under-pressure-150251828.html

    Matt Shea won’t back down. Stands his ground. A fucking hero.

    • SoftStarLight December 22, 2019 at 1:47 pm #

      Yes, God bless him in his fight! And do you see how the Republicans completely fold on this but yet constantly scream about limited government. Proof that if they really believed such things in totality they would be standing behind this man. But the leviathan Federal government has a lot of money so most of em don’t want to fight it, they want a seat at the table instead.

  72. Janos Skorenzy December 21, 2019 at 7:03 pm #

    Sunny, hopefully he was being ironic. She’s a New Age Loon. You’re against the New Age, remember?

    Post Angels at Nuclear Power Plants!

    The Angel who guards the Garden of Eden has a Sword that can cut every which way at once. What a Weapon. If Whites could get their hands on that – or invent it – we might have a chance.

    • sunburstsoldier December 21, 2019 at 7:23 pm #

      Course of Miracles is one of few the so-called New Age teachings that I believe is genuine. She however may be a loon…

  73. doggersize December 21, 2019 at 7:44 pm #

    Trump’s victories in the Republican Primaries was more significant than his victory in the Presidential election. Senate Republicans will stretch out the impeachment for as long as possible. To keep Trump on a leash for the remainder of his term.

    • sunburstsoldier December 21, 2019 at 7:51 pm #

      Who will be his successor in 2020?

      • BackRowHeckler December 22, 2019 at 10:01 am #

        Williamson/ Buttgieg 2020!!!

        Who’s with me?

        What’s needed now is a catchy campaign slogan.

        Brh

  74. Pucker December 21, 2019 at 7:46 pm #

    It’s just a matter of time before they accuse Chunk Bygur of being a date rapist. Chunk looks like a rapist. Chunk looks like Joey Buttafuco.

    Why are they out to get Chunk? I don’t like the man, but I don’t hate him either.

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jdegHfObNgc

  75. sunburstsoldier December 21, 2019 at 7:49 pm #

    Here is a question for Brh (or anyone else that may know). Are energy systems (coal, electric, gas) being run more efficiently in this country, or is a lot of energy still being wasted through outmoded, inefficient infrastructures?

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    • JohnAZ December 21, 2019 at 9:46 pm #

      The one thing that nobody figures into efficiencies is depreciation. I wonder how many computer systems are a negative on their spreadsheets today? Maintenance costs money!

    • K-Dog December 22, 2019 at 1:59 am #

      In the absence of rationing, increased efficiency leads to increased energy use. This fact, repeatedly observed, is Jevon’s paradox. Increased efficiency encourages use. The effect is a paradox because it appears to be counter-intuitive. Increased efficiency increases energy use? How can this be! To understand:

      Our human economy is a dissipative phenomena. Jevon’s paradox emerges from the math of dissipation. Rules that constrain energy flow in a dissapative structure change with increased efficiency. Efficiency encourages more of, and is the result of complexity. Savings in efficiency are more than offset by increase opportunities for use. Greater use results.

      A way to understand the general idea is imagine you are driving on a bumpy dirt road. Your speed and mileage are not good. But you are only going 20 miles an hour. The rate at which you are burning gas is slow.

      Now turn off the dirt road onto a nice straight and empty two lane state highway. The pavement is good and you can do 90. But while your drive is now efficient you are eating up the miles. Your gas consumption doubles.

      It may not be the best example. Jevon’s paradox is a subtle concept.

      No offense to anyone but those who own you will be very happy if you focus on efficiency and miss the bigger picture. Focusing on efficiency is very counterproductive. It actually bakes collapse in the cake and guarantees that when collapse comes our fall will be hard.

      • K-Dog December 22, 2019 at 2:00 am #

        F that, this is what I wanted:

        In the absence of rationing, increased efficiency leads to increased energy use. This fact, repeatedly observed, is Jevon’s paradox. Increased efficiency encourages use. The effect is a paradox because it appears to be counter-intuitive. Increased efficiency increases energy use? How can this be! To understand:

        Our human economy is a dissipative phenomena. Jevon’s paradox emerges from the math of dissipation. Rules that constrain energy flow in a dissapative structure change with increased efficiency. Efficiency encourages more of, and is the result of complexity. Savings in efficiency are more than offset by increase opportunities for use. Greater use results.

        A way to understand the general idea is imagine you are driving on a bumpy dirt road. Your speed and mileage are not good. But you are only going 20 miles an hour. The rate at which you are burning gas is slow.

        Now turn off the dirt road onto a nice straight and empty two lane state highway. The pavement is good and you can do 90. But while your drive is now efficient you are eating up the miles. Your gas consumption doubles.

        It may not be the best example. Jevon’s paradox is a subtle concept.

        No offense to anyone but those who own you will be very happy if you focus on efficiency and miss the bigger picture. Focusing on efficiency is very counterproductive. It actually bakes collapse in the cake and guarantees that when collapse comes our fall will be hard.

        • K-Dog December 22, 2019 at 2:06 am #

          Your gas consumption doubles in the same period of time and if you concern yourself with the fate of western civilization as we know it; time matters.

        • K-Dog December 22, 2019 at 2:17 am #

          Savings in efficiency are more than offset by increased opportunities for use.

          If something is being used efficiently the opportunities where it can be economically used increase relative to an alternative of inefficient use. Any saving in efficiency in the absence of enforced rationing will always deplete a resource faster than had its use not been made more efficient to begin with.

          In other words technology is not the answer.

          • sunburstsoldier December 22, 2019 at 7:53 am #

            Got to ponder this for awhile K-Dog. I’ll get back to you…

          • sunburstsoldier December 22, 2019 at 10:00 am #

            “Any saving in efficiency in the absence of enforced rationing will always deplete a resource faster than had its use not been made more efficient to begin with. ”

            K-Dog,

            I’m not sure we are using the idea of efficiency in the same way. What I meant is the current infrastructures through which energy is brought to the consumer are not efficient in the sense that a lot of energy is lost in the process of getting from point A (processing plant) to point B (individual residence). Making the infrastructures which connect A and B more efficient for the purpose of cutting down on wasted energy would mean less overall energy is needed to maintain the existing status quo. On the other hand, you seem to be using the term efficiency as to mean making energy cheaper and more available across-the-board which would lead to increased use as you point out.

          • BackRowHeckler December 22, 2019 at 12:06 pm #

            Hey K-Dog that enforced rationing mandate will take more than a few Secret Police agents, a Stasi type enforcer in every house making sure your thermostat isn’t turned up too high and you’re not driving your car too much. A whole security apparatus will need to be set up that can enforce other stuff too, like making sure every comrade citizen has a photo of St Greta — Patron Saint of the Environment — displayed prominently in their homes.

            Brh

  76. Pucker December 21, 2019 at 7:57 pm #

    Santa Claus is a Russian Asset….

    Santa Claus has been trying to interfere in our democratic elections.

    How do we purge all of the sad emotional memories of disappointing Christmases past?

    Just think about all of the single parent, feral black boys whose welfare moms have multiple boyfriends and who don’t know who their dads are. What kind of a Christmas will they have on the Democratic Plantation this year?

    Do you ever find yourself identifying and empathizing with those smiling orphan African kids in the Africa travel log photos?

    • K-Dog December 22, 2019 at 1:17 am #

      How right you are.

      Ded Moroz Click Here

      Ded and his granddaughter Sneguroschka might stop by and visit your dreams this Christmas. But Sneguroschka can’t visit long. If she falls in love she will melt. She can only take one lover a year and that means only a few Reindeer Games for you.

    • Quick Joey Small December 22, 2019 at 12:29 pm #

      Well, the (magnetic) North Pole is moving to Russia. Geo-outsourcing.

  77. Pucker December 21, 2019 at 8:04 pm #

    Pete Buttigieg

    What-the-Hell is a “Wine Cave”? Is that an End-of-the-World Bunker for Oligarchs?

    Pete is a psycho….

    • malthuss December 21, 2019 at 9:42 pm #

      wine cave is a ‘look at how riche we are’ space.
      for entertaining.

      did you see pix of the winery? gees they are riche.

    • Quick Joey Small December 22, 2019 at 12:31 pm #

      Bootyjuice gets his money from Hollywood, a noted whine cave.

  78. Pucker December 21, 2019 at 8:18 pm #

    Women always hold their newborn baby on the left hand side because of the way that their brains are structured.

    [Cut to Scene in the movie “Unforgiven”]

    Little Bill on the floor dying to William Money (played by Clint Eastwood):

    “I don’t deserve this. I’m building a porch.”

    Money: “Deserve’s got nothing to do with it.”

    • GreenAlba December 22, 2019 at 10:59 am #

      “Women always hold their newborn baby on the left hand side because of the way that their brains are structured.”

      They are more likely to hold their baby on the left but there is no ‘always’ about it.

      Personally I held mine on the left – including holding them astride my left hip bone when they were old enough to hold their heads up – because I’m right handed and motherhood involves a heck of a lot of multi-tasking while carrying a whiny baby.

  79. Pucker December 21, 2019 at 8:55 pm #

    Question for Andrew Yang:

    “ Do you ever find yourself identifying with and empathizing with those smiling orphan African kids in those Africa travel log photos?”

    • JohnAZ December 21, 2019 at 9:24 pm #

      Andrew Yang, like .Tulsi, is too intelligent and rational to be a Democrat today. Both will be extricated, I hope both will be part of the New Democratic Party after Trump wipes out the old one.

      • malthuss December 21, 2019 at 9:43 pm #

        they are open borders slime. let them and their illusions die.

        • lbs December 22, 2019 at 2:08 pm #

          “they are open borders slime”

          Nope. They both understand that there is a need for immigration laws and enforcement of them.

          They do support a lot more immigration than serves the public good. But I think they would snap out of that if they weren’t in a party that exerts such an oppressive and ugly influence on its members.

        • Nightowl December 22, 2019 at 4:17 pm #

          Tulsi is actually against open borders. Not sure about Yang, but don’t care either.

      • lbs December 22, 2019 at 2:05 pm #

        Yeah, I have a dream all the political garbage in this country like Pelosi, Bush, Schiff, Schumer, Romney wind up in a Democratic Party that is something like the 7th biggest political party in the US, and the populist conservatives and traditional liberals who actually believe in civil liberties, rule of law, and the constitution, can battle it out in a democracy of the kind we are supposed to have, one where the major parties are honorable and the one out of power can respect the other as the “loyal opposition”.

    • K-Dog December 22, 2019 at 1:01 am #

      Don’t you? I think everybody does. Come on now Pucker, fess up! You have too.

      • Pucker December 22, 2019 at 2:03 am #

        I do.

  80. Pucker December 21, 2019 at 9:19 pm #

    Pucker: “I’m not a Career Politician, Santa.”

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  81. JohnAZ December 21, 2019 at 9:42 pm #

    Just got back from Star Wars. For all you SW fans, it is a great wrap up for the series. You will get to see everybody. Good ending! Hope you enjoy it.

    • Pucker December 21, 2019 at 10:02 pm #

      At no point in the movie does Master Yoda tell the female Jedi warrior that Men aren’t sexually attracted to women who act and who look like Men.

      • Pucker December 21, 2019 at 10:08 pm #

        Jedi Princess: “I don’t deserve this. I deserve to be equal, have a career, a husband who cleans the house, and a baby.”

        William Money cocking the trigger of his Spencer rifle: “Deserve’s got nothing to do with it.”

        • SoftStarLight December 22, 2019 at 2:10 pm #

          Dang, so cleaning the house is really that objectionable :-)?

          • GreenAlba December 22, 2019 at 2:27 pm #

            My husband certainly seems to think so. Not that we’ve really discussed it but based on observation… Even when I worked full time and he didn’t. Even when he wasn’t working at all, in fact.

            Men seem happy to clean cars, though (not him – he doesn’t have one). Religiously sometimes. That’s a different kind of cleaning, apparently. Less servile or something.

          • GreenAlba December 22, 2019 at 3:18 pm #

            I think it’s objectionable too. That’s why I’m engaging in displacement activity on here after leaving it alone all weekend. 🙂

            But I’m going back to do some more objectionable.

            Cleaning is the most teeeeeedious, repetitive activity most of us have to do on a regular basis. But it needs to be done from time to time. And I believe some people enjoy it. They’re welcome to it. I’d do one of those Mary Poppins finger clicky things if I were so gifted.

            Did I mention dogs don’t help? Not with the housework, obviously, with the situation.

          • SoftStarLight December 22, 2019 at 6:41 pm #

            And see for me, cleaning is my safe space. But everybody gets tired sometimes and needs a day off. 🙂

          • Majella December 23, 2019 at 12:52 pm #

            Thankful for modern appliances!

            Do you remember the old huge tub washing machine with the mangle mounted above?

            A very ‘hands-on process compared to now, though it was ‘a great leap forward’ from my grandmother’s youth.

  82. Pucker December 21, 2019 at 10:15 pm #

    Tell a girl on a first date: “I’m not a Career Politician.”

    Then, ask: “Are you wearing a wire?”

    • K-Dog December 22, 2019 at 12:58 am #

      In other words you are telling her that she will be the one picking up the bill. That is what politicians do. Spend other peoples money. And you must be packing serious salami if you think there is going to be a second date. But since you are already checking for a wire a second date might not be a goal at all.

    • EvelynV December 22, 2019 at 3:10 am #

      and then, depending on her answer say, “girl, you can bite my wire” to the tune of a Doors song.

  83. BackRowHeckler December 22, 2019 at 3:30 am #

    Driving home this morning, passed one of those electronic thermometers outside a bank.

    14°F

    I’m feeling ‘Climate Anxiety’.

    What’s the cure? Absinthe? fentanyl? Zoloft? Something to take the edge off.

    Brh

    • EvelynV December 22, 2019 at 3:56 am #

      BRH

      You’ve been asking a lot of not very well thought out questions lately.

      Book a flight to Australia.

      • BackRowHeckler December 22, 2019 at 12:35 pm #

        Yes there’s always Australia.

        But I have here a bio on William Damphier, English explorer, naturalist, artist, illustrator, pirate, and emissary of the King, an early visitor to Australia, who comments on the extreme heat he encountered in Australia (in the early 17th century)

        Australia has always been hot in the summer.

        Brh

        • GreenAlba December 22, 2019 at 2:39 pm #

          “Australia has always been hot in the summer.”

          Yes, that’s what the firefighters are saying just now. Fuck me, they say, as they run out of water in the record-breaking droughts, what are people complaining for? It’s always been hot here.

          Sheesh. When you were at school did you never have to count anything? Or even look at that comparative and superlative thing?

          The Australian PM (and by gawd they do get governed by a series of knuckle draggers over there) has finally said out loud that the current, seemingly unstoppable wildfires have been made worse by climate change. That’s after coming back from his holiday somewhere that’s not burning uncontrollably like the country he’s supposed to be in charge of.

          You’re going to be left with very few companions one of these days, brh – it’s a peculiar choice of area in which to fight to be last man standing.

          • BackRowHeckler December 22, 2019 at 4:42 pm #

            Yes, yes, summer down under is hotter now than it was in 1706. But there are no records from 1706; it could very well have been hotter then. See what I’m saying, GA?

            Brh

    • sunburstsoldier December 22, 2019 at 11:14 am #

      Where do you live Alaska? I’m in Michigan and it feels like spring over here…

  84. Pucker December 22, 2019 at 8:38 am #

    How do we purge all of the sad emotional memories of disappointing Christmases past?

    Just think about all of the single parent, feral black boys whose welfare moms have multiple boyfriends and who don’t know who their dads are. What kind of a Christmas will they have on the Democratic Plantation this year?

    Do you ever find yourself identifying and empathizing with those smiling orphan African kids in the Africa travel log photos?

    • Pucker December 22, 2019 at 8:40 am #

      In the Wine Cave….

    • Pucker December 22, 2019 at 8:43 am #

      Stalactites and Stalagmites in the Wine Cave….

      Tites and Mites….

      What was Pete do’n in the Wine Cave?

      That sounds Bohemian Grove….

      • SoftStarLight December 22, 2019 at 2:19 pm #

        Maybe the Wine Cave is where rich Devil Worshippers perform human sacrifices in secret. Wine is a symbol for Blood and Life.

  85. Pucker December 22, 2019 at 8:51 am #

    I wonder how hard it is for Santa’s elves to make a Super Virus using AI?

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    • Pucker December 22, 2019 at 8:53 am #

      “Turn that AI Sucker Loose in the Lab!”

      “Yee!!!! Hah!!!!!!”

  86. sunburstsoldier December 22, 2019 at 9:01 am #

    From Breibart:

    On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks stated that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) decision to delay transmitting the articles of impeachment to the Senate makes the process “look a little more political” and that Pelosi doesn’t have much leverage because the House has “essentially lost control of the process.”

    Brooks said, “I think it’s very risky. As Mitch McConnell said, why is withholding something I don’t want to do, why is that leverage? And so, it was always going to be a reality that, once the House voted to impeach, they were going to lose control of the process. And they have essentially lost control of the process. … I don’t think it’s very powerful leverage. I think it delays what eventually will be a trial, pushing it, frankly, back into primary season. And it looks — makes it look a little more political.”

  87. sunburstsoldier December 22, 2019 at 9:03 am #

    Does anyone know what’s going on between Tucker Carlson and the Heritage Foundation?

  88. Pucker December 22, 2019 at 9:06 am #

    At what age do most responsible black parents warn their sons about Ho’s?

    There was that PBS “Frontline” documentary called “Two American Families” in which the black son of the devout Christian black family in which the father ends up working as a “Sanitation Worker” ( a “Garbage Man”) says at the end of the series that he doesn’t want to follow on his dad’s footsteps and marry a woman who wants a bunch of kids. That was a very sad scene in which the father who is getting old confides to his religious black wife that he doesn’t know how much longer that he can work as a garbage man before his health gives out. The wife prays to God that her husband can keep working as a Garbage Man. The black son ends up working in the office of the local black congressman answering telephone calls of people calling up looking for a political job.

    • Majella December 22, 2019 at 10:49 am #

      Deja vu…

      Pucker, are you recycling posts?

      • GreenAlba December 22, 2019 at 11:02 am #

        I noticed that one too! But SSL is doing it as well so maybe it’s the Christmas rerun season…

        • Majella December 22, 2019 at 1:29 pm #

          Surely that’s post-Christmas…

          • GreenAlba December 22, 2019 at 2:44 pm #

            ‘Twas only a figure of speech. 🙂

        • SoftStarLight December 22, 2019 at 2:01 pm #

          Oh I am? What posts have I recycled?

          • GreenAlba December 22, 2019 at 2:43 pm #

            I mentioned it upthread where you recycled it.

  89. Pucker December 22, 2019 at 9:14 am #

    “This one goes out to all of the kids out there who don’t know who their daddies are on this Christmas.”

    • Pucker December 22, 2019 at 9:17 am #

      “This Bud’s For You.”

  90. stelmosfire December 22, 2019 at 10:23 am #

    I guess in Chi town they get lead in their stockings instead of coal. 13 shot at a memorial for a car jacker who was killed by a legal gun owner earlier in April. How ironic.
    https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-met-concealed-carry-shooter-not-charged-20190428-story.html.

    I guess those tough gun laws are working really well in Chicago.

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    • BackRowHeckler December 22, 2019 at 12:30 pm #

      It’s a Toddlin’ Town,

      The new mayor was supposed to set everything right by virtue of being a lesbian and being black.

      And the DA, Kim Fox, got elected on the premise she would NOT enforce the law.

      Republicans can’t be blamed for the dysfunction because there isn’t a Republican within 50 miles of Chi. I don’t know who’s fault it is, maybe the NRAs. But is there an NRA chapter within the city of Chicago? At any rate the NRA stresses safe gun handling, not gunning down your neighbors at the rate of 50 people a week.

      Brh

      • JohnAZ December 22, 2019 at 1:12 pm #

        BRH

        Have you been paying attention to where Soros has been self admittingly putting his money recently. He is putting big bucks into Local prosecutor races to get Progressives and racially volatile people elected.

        Kim Foxx is one and the DA in Baltimore is another that I know of.

        ‘Nuff said?

      • elysianfield December 23, 2019 at 12:39 pm #

        ” But is there an NRA chapter within the city of Chicago?”

        BRH,
        As a Life Member of the NRA, I can tell you that they/we do not maintain local “chapters”.

        They are called “cells”

        …or sometimes “covens”.

    • BackRowHeckler December 22, 2019 at 1:03 pm #

      Not to be outdone, 7 ‘youts’ were shot in Baltimore this morning.

  91. sunburstsoldier December 22, 2019 at 11:47 am #

    I can’t help but wonder why so many old-school liberal Democrats have stayed with the Democratic Party even as it has lurched farther and farther to the left, to the point where it has now crossed over into the realm of Socialism. Why are there not more JHKs out there?

    • JohnAZ December 22, 2019 at 1:13 pm #

      Why have the Dems gone progressive and the GOP more conservative? No wonder nothing gets done.

      • JohnAZ December 22, 2019 at 1:14 pm #

        Same thing happened prior to the Civil War. The political shenanigans then elected Lincoln.

  92. JohnAZ December 22, 2019 at 1:06 pm #

    Senator Doug Jones of Alabama states that the impeachment matters because we have to set the way we want our Presidents to act like and to set guidelines for future impeachments.

    Yes, a Democrat. The last time I looked, it was the voters of this country that selected the President and not Congress. This is a direct threat to the balance of power in the Constitution. Voters pick our leaders, not they themselves. The Democratic attitude displayed by Jones is a tremendous grab for power by the Congress. The oversight function of Congress is supposed to represent the voters, not the Deep State.

    This damned Deep State is attempting to separate itself from the voters to self perpetuate itself. Job protection! It no longer represents the folks at home.

    A blowout of the 2018 Moderate Dems that took over the House would be a grand signal that when you betray the wishes of the people who elected you, you pay the piper. These Dems were elected to work with the conservatives in DC to develop health care alternatives that work. Instead they get an impeachment of someone they elected two years before and nothing else.

    • lbs December 22, 2019 at 1:57 pm #

      Thankfully, Jones will lose in 2020. +1 for the Republicans.

    • lbs December 22, 2019 at 1:59 pm #

      The basis for throwing out the alleged moderates is this:

      1). They may just be liars, leftist extremists in moderate clothing.

      2). If they are real moderates, they have zero influence in a Democratic Party increasingly under the grip of the most insane, people like The Squad. Electing moderate Democrats means Democrats continue to control the House, which means the radical left continues to control the House.

      It is flat out stupid for any moderate voter to vote for a Democrat who claims to be moderate.

  93. cc rider December 22, 2019 at 1:45 pm #

    Samantha Bee Horrified That Hong Kong Protesters Like Trump, Republicans

    “Left-wing comedian Samantha Bee traveled to Hong Kong to meet with pro-democracy protesters committed to holding “China accountable for their actions,” airing her interviews on Wednesday’s edition of Full Frontal. It came as quite a shock to the vehemently anti-Trump Bee that the protesters actually liked the President and Republican Senator Marco Rubio.

    A bewildered Bee confronted one of the protesters: “This is a photograph of you with Marco Rubio and you look happy. Please explain.” The protester explained that the Florida Senator introduced the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act and invited him to join a congressional hearing on the matter. After learning this, Bee remarked “Marco Rubio did something that I like. Every day holds the possibility of a new miracle……..” ”

    https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/ryan-foley/2019/12/20/samantha-bee-horrified-hong-kong-protesters-trump-republicans

    • lbs December 22, 2019 at 1:56 pm #

      The minute a leftie gets out of their bubble they begin to see facts that show that their side is full of it.

      Trouble is, they are so culturally inbred they rarely step out of their bubble.

    • EvelynV December 22, 2019 at 3:26 pm #

      Just a case of “my enemy’s enemy is my friend”. Doesn’t matter how much of a slobbering oaf he is, I don’t have to respect him and I sure as hell won’t let him get near my pussy.

    • Majella December 23, 2019 at 1:01 pm #

      At least give her credit for broadcasting ‘the facts’ even though they were counter to her instinct and expectation.

      Personally, I find her waaaaaay too snarky, though I generally agree with her perspective. However she’s a vocal HRC supporter (not good) and wrote Tulsi off with a smeary one-liner early in the piece. So, no…not a fan.

  94. lbs December 22, 2019 at 1:53 pm #

    The witless “journalists” who worship Pelosi would like to think she’s engaged in some sort of 4 dimensional chess.

    Yeah right, the clowns of the Dem Party are master strategists, just like Trumpies claim Trump is.

  95. BackRowHeckler December 22, 2019 at 5:08 pm #

    Hey, what’s going on with impeachment right now? Where’s it stand? It seems like interest in the whole drama is fading already and nobody gives a sh#t in the least whether it goes to the Senate or not.. What a flop! Well, it was a flimsy case to begin with, you’d think the Dems, full of hate and with an army of lawyers at their disposal, could come up with something more compelling than a stupid phonecall. But the whole Russia collusion inquiry — two years of lies and bullsh#t that cost $35 million — was a scam hard to follow. How do you top something like that? You can’t. This lame impeachment, if that’s what it really is and not just political theater, is an embarrassment even Speaker Pelosi obviously would like to put behind her, an episode better left forgotten.

    Brh

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    • sunburstsoldier December 22, 2019 at 5:53 pm #

      Even David Brooks, liberal writer for the New York Times is saying things look bad for Pelosi and the House Democrats. See my post above…

    • ellipsis December 22, 2019 at 8:33 pm #

      The air is going out of the balloon. Seemingly tragic for the Dems, but still waiting for the final shoe to drop. In “normal” times, these things are strategized beforehand, so conceivably there could be breaking news after/during the holidays. But that’s assuming a lot. Personally, I’m bored beyond tears with it all already, so I just wish it would be over. As would most sane Americans I think. I’ve managed to live through two of the previous three impeachments, and in my experience, this one is BY FAR the least momentous. BY FAR!

      • BackRowHeckler December 22, 2019 at 10:01 pm #

        You know ellipsis, the case against President Clinton was pretty lame, too. So the guy was getting a little on the side, so what? Nothing new there, JFK, Warren Harding and possibly FDR did the same thing and nobody made a big deal out of it. At the time I thought the Clinton impeachment was mean spirited and unnecessary. Do you think this aktion against President Trump could possibly be payback for the earlier attempt to impeach President Clinton?

        Brh

        • ellipsis December 22, 2019 at 10:11 pm #

          Of course I do – political payback being what it is and all – although I’m not sure what that adds to the conversation. I pretty much assume political payback is part of the equation these days no matter who’s mounting the inquisition or who’s responding. Come on now Brh, you’re too smart to ask such sophomoric questions. Let’s step our game up a bit, shall we?

    • Majella December 23, 2019 at 1:08 pm #

      BRH

      Why the fake ennui? Why the fake “I gave no idea what’s going on” ?

  96. Pucker December 22, 2019 at 6:15 pm #

    It looks like Pelosi wants to abort Her Impeachment Baby?

    “This one goes out to all of the kids out there who don’t know who their daddies are on this Christmas.”

    “This Bud’s For You.”

  97. Pucker December 22, 2019 at 6:20 pm #

    It looks like Pelosi wants to abort Her Impeachment Baby?

    “This one goes out to all of the homeless men out there having unprotected sex with mentally ill homeless women this Christmas holiday.”

    “This Bud’s For You.”

    • ellipsis December 22, 2019 at 8:14 pm #

      Mentally ill’s definitely a relative term these days and what with recent advances in cardboard corrugation technology – not to mention the well off’s preference for larger and larger appliances – I’m not sure homelessness bears the same stigma it once did. Community defensibility is the key, don’t you think?

      When Wall St can figure out how to sell us mortgages for double wide refrigerator boxes down by the river / under the interstate overpass it will truly be “Morning in America” again! Of course nothing can replace the ambience and heat of a community burn barrel going full steam on a cold winter’s eve as well, provided someone stays sober and awake all night to make sure the encampment doesn’t burn down. But that’s just common sense.

  98. Pucker December 22, 2019 at 6:28 pm #

    Christmas

    In the end, it’ll just be 3 people who own everything (including Bezos and that pothead Elon Musk) with everyone else who is either not working for these 3 people, or working in the government or the military, or teaching in a university, all homeless, right?

    Many years ago, I had a Bulgarian refugee friend in Australia named Lacazar, who once told me that when he was living under Com…munism in Bulgarian that he once read a confidential Soviet Russian report that predicted at the time that in the future eventually 3 people would end up owning everything in the Capitalist West.

    Holy Fuck’n Shitballs!

    • ellipsis December 22, 2019 at 8:21 pm #

      And now we’re all living under late stage Cap…italism. Who knew it would turn out almost exactly the same? BOTH 20th century “isms” – once the proud contenders for the ultimate economic championship belt – turned out to be tragically lacking. Go figure.

      At least Com…munism had the good sense to go quietly.

  99. nchattaway December 22, 2019 at 8:23 pm #

    I agree with the view that US Government is unravelling as the Long Emergency picks up speed. JHK has chronicled this in detail over the past 20 years, both in his books and this blog. For that I am thankful.
    This blog has focused on the political collapse within the US since the 2016 election, which is less exciting reading for us foreigners, but still an interesting perspective. Dmity Orlov takes a bigger picture view more often in his blog, where he categorises the Washington shenanigans as “Political collapse”, domestic US. The “Financial collapse, global” category is picking up speed now too. JHK has commented on this in the past, but not so much recently. I miss that.
    Since the GFC, the world seems determined to pretend nothing is wrong, but how can global debt keep rising without anything of substance behind it? There will be a great reckoning, and it will be horrendous both financially and politically. I tend to think we will see landmark events that clearly change western daily life, but have given up predicting times.
    I’m thankful for food and fresh water being available, living in South Australia where we are in drought and now suffering annual bushfire events. I have no idea how long I’ll be able to keep saying that.

    • ellipsis December 22, 2019 at 9:02 pm #

      WAY back in the day I dreamed of emigrating to Aussy from Hawaii, where I was stationed in the post Vietnam US Army, a mere American dreamer of a boy without a clue in the world.

      Unfortunately, after all these years, it seems little has changed. Aussy has hardly become the idyllic paradise I imagined then in the interim, and neither, of course, has my home country the USA. No surprise on either front, really.

      Perhaps a song will make it better on both our parts?

      https://www.bing.com/search?q=oingo+boingo+change+live&form=EDGEAR&qs=AS&cvid=91b1571463994f2d83377009626f016a&cc=US&setlang=en-US&elv=AQj93OAhDTi*HzTv1paQdniQt%21blyFk8iR1cjkSCQYhcjGjO7lCf85k*tQAOIBdROdM4s%21MOj6WeXqPajxDxnLYfRP592%21v3YUniBz1n4sgw&plvar=0

      • Pucker December 22, 2019 at 9:27 pm #

        Northern Queensland and Tasmania have lots of fresh water. Northern Queensland above Bunderberg has salt water crocodiles.

        • ellipsis December 22, 2019 at 10:02 pm #

          Never been a big ocean swimmer, as have most northern European knuckleheads of my ilk. Excellent “basic instinct,” that.

    • sunburstsoldier December 22, 2019 at 9:34 pm #

      “Dmity Orlov takes a bigger picture view more often in his blog, where he categorises the Washington shenanigans as “Political collapse”, domestic US.”

      I beg to differ with Orlov’s position as you here express it. Political collapse is not going to happen in the United States as long as a majority of the population uphold the rule of law as set out by the American Constitution. The Democrats are doing their best to upend the Constitution and the rule of law, not just because they hate Trump, but because they hunger and thirst for power and are apparently willing to sacrifice this country in their relentless quest to attain it. They will fail in their quest however simply because the great bulk of Americans are inherently righteous and will never capitulate to an agenda of lies and deceit once it becomes clear (and it will) such is the case…

  100. Pucker December 22, 2019 at 8:54 pm #

    Impeachment is just political theater to make it look like the Democrats oppose Trump while they vote for corporate tax cuts, renewal of the Patriot Act, more wars, no infrastructure, new NAFTA, etc.?

    I wonder at what point people realize, as they’re dropping quarters into the slot machine, that it’s not really a Chance-to-Win?

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    • ellipsis December 22, 2019 at 9:04 pm #

      BINGO! TRIPLE SEVENS!

    • Pucker December 22, 2019 at 9:22 pm #

      This may be the opposite of my Dad’s leadership maxim?: “Don’t fuck anybody under the flag pole while they’re saluting the flag.”

      Just keep ‘em distracted even if it means that they lose faith in the system?

      • ellipsis December 22, 2019 at 9:33 pm #

        We’ve moved on since your dad’s times. There’s no flag pole, there’s no one actually saluting (NFL pregame hysterics not withstanding) and there’s damn sure no “faith in the system,” whatever in the hell that means these days.

        Something much more like this going on out there these days:

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNuO5KuiA3M

  101. Pucker December 22, 2019 at 9:35 pm #

    At no point during the new “Star Wars” movie does Master Yoda tell the White Privileged Jedi Princess that the “Dark Side” refers to one gender trying to emulate its opposite gender. If you do that, then the Force gets all fucked up.

  102. BackRowHeckler December 22, 2019 at 10:33 pm #

    Speaking of movies, ‘1917’ released this week, reviews are laudatory. This is the 2nd great WW1 themed film from the UK released within the past year, ‘They Shall Not Grow Old’, Peter Jackson’s masterpiece being the first.

    Brh

  103. JohnAZ December 22, 2019 at 10:45 pm #

    A reading suggestion for all the AGW debaters.

    Google magnetic field shift climate

    Synopsis. The different layers of the interior earth are spinning at different rates causing the magnetic field to change location of its poles. The North magnetic pole was in northern Canada when I was a kid, it has moved past the geographic North Pole and is heading for Siberia. The south mag pole has not moved much.

    The magnetic pole is where the mag flux lines enter the earth and therefore is a focal point for the solar wind, ie solar energy to enter the atmosphere. Aurora Borealis is one result.

    The thing that caught my attention is with this pole moving where it is, heat might be directed in different areas giving different warmth patterns in the northern hemisphere. Another impact on global warming?

    • elysianfield December 23, 2019 at 12:35 pm #

      ” Another impact on global warming?”

      John,
      You’ve stumbled upon a little recognized phenomena that is known as the “Alba” effect. The magnetic shift is caused by citizens of the United States, and Canada collecting refrigerator magnets… vast numbers of them.

      The solution, while simple, will be difficult to implement. It will require that each of the millions of magnets, simultaneously, be spun 180 degrees…thus PULLING the pole to it’s original position.

      If we all do our part, we can solve AGW.

      Greta should be pleased…it was a close call.

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