The Republican Party of Reagan lasted nearly 40 years, but that is dead and gone. That kind of Republican is getting out of politics, being replaced by those in Trump's image. The ideals of Ronald Reagan are dead in the party. (This goes double for "normies" who refuse to speak up against the fascist tide rolling across the party.) Sadly, I don't see the Republican party healing in my lifetime, if ever.
The Orange Snake is getting desperate. I got an email: "just released: trump 2024 automatic knives". No idea how much they're charging - no price mentioned, other than it being 70% off. LOL. Apparently it's not the only "Trump Knife" out there.
"Expect to see Speaker Mike Johnson going office to office in the months ahead, making sure his members are exercising regularly, sleeping enough, and *taking all their pills*."
MAGA Mike is in luck. Capt (despite what it says on his House home page*) Ronny Jackson, the White House physician, is now a Rep in the House. Jackson will be sure that all amphetamines and Xanax, along with other antidepressants and anxiety meds, will sit in candy jars on the House floor, to be taken as needed.
(* In December 2019, after 25 years of distinguished service to his country, Dr. Jackson retired from the United States Navy as a Rear Admiral. https://jackson.house.gov/about/)
-----
"Trump: Nobody has been treated like Trump in terms of badly"
Just going to repeat what so many people have been saying for so long: the Mango Malignacy has stated again that he has been treated worse than Mr Lincoln was. I'll consider that comparison should anyone put a bullet in his head like Lincoln. (This is in no way a call for violent actions to be taken against the Sandstone Snowflake. I would be hesitant to think that any true American could be as vicious and mean as the MAGA knuckle draggers.)
Speaker Johnson is supposedly cooking up help for Ukraine in terms of a sort of latterday Lend-Lease. Perhaps it is something real, but part of me thinks it's a sort misinfo project to deal with or lull (hopefully) the majority of Republican voters who aren't fans of Putin.
The aid has largely taken the form of 30 year old Gulf War I (and older) systems that cannot really be sold and will otherwise have to be stored or expensively scrapped. A Lend-Lease infrastructure creates an extra bureaucratic layer and delay when using these old systems chastise Putin is a net gain for relatively little.
Still the petition seems to be going nowhere, so never let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Trump's flip flop on TikTok is fascinating. Wariness towards Xi's China and its projects is shared widely across the political divide. Xi has crossed small palms with the requisite silver. It might be hopeful too.
I am disturbed by this rush on TikTok. The real danger of it, indeed of any social media platform including Twit-X and Facebook and the many others that I am of the wrong age or political persuasion to know much about, is the already realized potential to spread bad, misleading, and deceptive "information"/propoganda to their mostly unsuspecting users. The US government has not ever grappled with this aspect, preferring to mostly ignore it or get all upset about selling private data to domestic or foreign adversaries.
1) I'm genuinely puzzled as to your distinction between the NSA and other U.S. government intelligence services, spying on Americans vs. foreign nationals. If they have the capability to do the latter, it's the exact same technology to do the former.
2) I think you're leaving out some important context on this point. First is that FISA court rulings are classified, and they are also ex parte (fancy lawyer talk for saying that the target(s) of the investigation and the companies involved had no opportunity to make submissions in advance). And, because FISA court rulings are classified, the various private companies are enjoined (prohibited) from disclosing that they've been subject to the ruling, much less inform the users. Second, Senator Wyden was briefed on the mass surveillance projects of the NSA, and he hauled then Obama Administration Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper into a committee hearing.
Let me add, Wyden's office explictly communicated to Clapper's office that they knew about the mass collection of cell phone metadata and that they were expecting him to tell the truth.
Notwithstanding the warning, Clapper flat out committed perjury under oath (never charged despite a bullet proof case), denied that any such surveillance program existed.
You say that the risk of #2 is overstated because the courts have ruled that such levels of mass surveillance are brazenly unconstitutional.
Buddy, not a single respectable legal scholar ever tried to argue PUBLICLY, that the Constitution allowed for such indiscriminate surveillance of private American citizens--SCOTUS precedent also obviously held that this broad surveillance was unconstitutional.
Dude, Clapper was willing to comitt perjury to obfuscate the existence of this program, because he clearly knew it was unconstitutional. But he relied on the fact he'd never get caught out on the lie because FISA court rulings are classified.
If Clapper was confident enough in the secretive nature of FISA rulings to literally commit perjury (again which he was inexplicably never charged with, thus bolstering the confidence of others to do the same), why are you in any way confident that the FISA court isn't doing the same right now?
It's sweet that Bill thinks any Repub in the House would stand up and speak for Ukraine now that Trump is settled as nominee. It's also sweet that Will sees the rejection of Lankford's bill & getting basic stuff done as a "new" low.
The GOP's behavior was likely set in stone when Trump became the 2016 nominee, but if not then, certainly when they punished Liz Cheney for voting to impeach Jan 2021.
We liken MAGA voters to a cult, but all these guys in Congress look like a cult too. None will cross Dear Leader. This is why Ken Buck is leaving along with other "normies;" they have finally realized most of them are no longer saying one thing for the camera but another among themselves; instead Buck et al are witnessing their colleagues' transformation to something like a religious zealot or a drug addict, where their minds reason that ANYTHING is justified as God's will/GOP power or required to quiet the addiction center of their brain. The Senate will complete their transformation now that Mitch is tamed.
This is too good and bad not to share. From Dr. Richardson in Letters of American talking about House republicans:
"The conference has become so toxic that fewer than 100 members agreed to attend their annual retreat that began today. "I'd rather sit down with Hannibal Lecter and eat my own liver," a Republican member of Congress told Juliegrace Brufke of Axios."
Trump, and the House Republicans are all Putin's puppies. I hope that phrase goes viral. Feel free to use it. Trump needs the money and is also selling out to the Chinese. When does all of this cross the line to bribery, election interference, and possibly treason. What has Trump done with those documents? It seems judge Cannon doesn't want anyone to know.
It's funny how everyone takes the American intelligence community at face value when they assert that Tiktok poses a unique danger as a social media platform, as it can be easily manipulated by the Chinese government.
Don't get me wrong it's 100% true that Tiktok poses a security threat to its users. It's just hardly UNIQUE and the proposed "solution" of forcing Tiktok to sell to a non-Chinese company does little to protect the privacy interests of users.
Let me go back in time to illustrate my point. Prior to the Snowden disclosures, American intelligence agencies were just as hysterical about Chinese made routers vs. American routers. The claim was that Chinese made routers would have backdoors allowing the Chinese government to spy on its customers.
Post-Snowden, it turned out that the American made routers sold in foreign markets had backdoors in place to allow the U.S. to spy on the customers. Worse, Snowden revealed that the Americans were in fact tapping ALL INTERNET TRAFFIC crossing the oceans by tapping the fiberoptic cables.
I similarly believe there's a dual function in the current Tiktok battle. Yes, it's a danger to the privacy interests of American Tiktok users. But the American intelligence service doesn't care about privacy rights, they just want to be the only ones with access to the data.
And let's face it, short of the Saudis, only American companies have the money it would take to purchase Tiktok. At which point we are then looking into antitrust concerns, as a tech company will presumably be making the purchase.
What the hell‽ Why have only 177 House members signed the discharge petition for Ukraine Aid. Last I checked there are 213 Dems in the House.
Shesh I would have thought getting to 213 would immediately happen. After that it should have then just been a matter of finding 4 reasonable Republicans. But if the Dems can't even secure their own votes, good luck with that.
There's crowdfunding in other countries for weapons and helicopters for Ukraine. Gifts for Putin is one. We need crowdfunding for Ukraine in the US too. It would make people less frustrated by the government if they had a way to help.
Indeed, Trump has been treated bigly badly.
The Republican Party of Reagan lasted nearly 40 years, but that is dead and gone. That kind of Republican is getting out of politics, being replaced by those in Trump's image. The ideals of Ronald Reagan are dead in the party. (This goes double for "normies" who refuse to speak up against the fascist tide rolling across the party.) Sadly, I don't see the Republican party healing in my lifetime, if ever.
The Orange Snake is getting desperate. I got an email: "just released: trump 2024 automatic knives". No idea how much they're charging - no price mentioned, other than it being 70% off. LOL. Apparently it's not the only "Trump Knife" out there.
Bill and Andrew, please put your name at the top of your writing. I spend the whole reading time wondering who I’m
Reading.
Thank you🙋
"Expect to see Speaker Mike Johnson going office to office in the months ahead, making sure his members are exercising regularly, sleeping enough, and *taking all their pills*."
MAGA Mike is in luck. Capt (despite what it says on his House home page*) Ronny Jackson, the White House physician, is now a Rep in the House. Jackson will be sure that all amphetamines and Xanax, along with other antidepressants and anxiety meds, will sit in candy jars on the House floor, to be taken as needed.
(* In December 2019, after 25 years of distinguished service to his country, Dr. Jackson retired from the United States Navy as a Rear Admiral. https://jackson.house.gov/about/)
-----
"Trump: Nobody has been treated like Trump in terms of badly"
Just going to repeat what so many people have been saying for so long: the Mango Malignacy has stated again that he has been treated worse than Mr Lincoln was. I'll consider that comparison should anyone put a bullet in his head like Lincoln. (This is in no way a call for violent actions to be taken against the Sandstone Snowflake. I would be hesitant to think that any true American could be as vicious and mean as the MAGA knuckle draggers.)
fnord
Well Kristol, I agree with you on something. Well said.
Speaker Johnson is supposedly cooking up help for Ukraine in terms of a sort of latterday Lend-Lease. Perhaps it is something real, but part of me thinks it's a sort misinfo project to deal with or lull (hopefully) the majority of Republican voters who aren't fans of Putin.
The aid has largely taken the form of 30 year old Gulf War I (and older) systems that cannot really be sold and will otherwise have to be stored or expensively scrapped. A Lend-Lease infrastructure creates an extra bureaucratic layer and delay when using these old systems chastise Putin is a net gain for relatively little.
Still the petition seems to be going nowhere, so never let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4530355-johnson-signals-shift-on-ukraine-to-gop-senators/
Republican Senators skeptical:
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4532133-mcconnell-raises-pressure-on-johnson-over-ukraine-finish-the-job/
Trump's flip flop on TikTok is fascinating. Wariness towards Xi's China and its projects is shared widely across the political divide. Xi has crossed small palms with the requisite silver. It might be hopeful too.
I am disturbed by this rush on TikTok. The real danger of it, indeed of any social media platform including Twit-X and Facebook and the many others that I am of the wrong age or political persuasion to know much about, is the already realized potential to spread bad, misleading, and deceptive "information"/propoganda to their mostly unsuspecting users. The US government has not ever grappled with this aspect, preferring to mostly ignore it or get all upset about selling private data to domestic or foreign adversaries.
1) I'm genuinely puzzled as to your distinction between the NSA and other U.S. government intelligence services, spying on Americans vs. foreign nationals. If they have the capability to do the latter, it's the exact same technology to do the former.
2) I think you're leaving out some important context on this point. First is that FISA court rulings are classified, and they are also ex parte (fancy lawyer talk for saying that the target(s) of the investigation and the companies involved had no opportunity to make submissions in advance). And, because FISA court rulings are classified, the various private companies are enjoined (prohibited) from disclosing that they've been subject to the ruling, much less inform the users. Second, Senator Wyden was briefed on the mass surveillance projects of the NSA, and he hauled then Obama Administration Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper into a committee hearing.
Let me add, Wyden's office explictly communicated to Clapper's office that they knew about the mass collection of cell phone metadata and that they were expecting him to tell the truth.
Notwithstanding the warning, Clapper flat out committed perjury under oath (never charged despite a bullet proof case), denied that any such surveillance program existed.
You say that the risk of #2 is overstated because the courts have ruled that such levels of mass surveillance are brazenly unconstitutional.
Buddy, not a single respectable legal scholar ever tried to argue PUBLICLY, that the Constitution allowed for such indiscriminate surveillance of private American citizens--SCOTUS precedent also obviously held that this broad surveillance was unconstitutional.
Dude, Clapper was willing to comitt perjury to obfuscate the existence of this program, because he clearly knew it was unconstitutional. But he relied on the fact he'd never get caught out on the lie because FISA court rulings are classified.
If Clapper was confident enough in the secretive nature of FISA rulings to literally commit perjury (again which he was inexplicably never charged with, thus bolstering the confidence of others to do the same), why are you in any way confident that the FISA court isn't doing the same right now?
It's sweet that Bill thinks any Repub in the House would stand up and speak for Ukraine now that Trump is settled as nominee. It's also sweet that Will sees the rejection of Lankford's bill & getting basic stuff done as a "new" low.
The GOP's behavior was likely set in stone when Trump became the 2016 nominee, but if not then, certainly when they punished Liz Cheney for voting to impeach Jan 2021.
We liken MAGA voters to a cult, but all these guys in Congress look like a cult too. None will cross Dear Leader. This is why Ken Buck is leaving along with other "normies;" they have finally realized most of them are no longer saying one thing for the camera but another among themselves; instead Buck et al are witnessing their colleagues' transformation to something like a religious zealot or a drug addict, where their minds reason that ANYTHING is justified as God's will/GOP power or required to quiet the addiction center of their brain. The Senate will complete their transformation now that Mitch is tamed.
This is too good and bad not to share. From Dr. Richardson in Letters of American talking about House republicans:
"The conference has become so toxic that fewer than 100 members agreed to attend their annual retreat that began today. "I'd rather sit down with Hannibal Lecter and eat my own liver," a Republican member of Congress told Juliegrace Brufke of Axios."
Trump, and the House Republicans are all Putin's puppies. I hope that phrase goes viral. Feel free to use it. Trump needs the money and is also selling out to the Chinese. When does all of this cross the line to bribery, election interference, and possibly treason. What has Trump done with those documents? It seems judge Cannon doesn't want anyone to know.
I was loathe to get this tablet, but finally I did. My friend Bob took 1 look at me with the tablet and said "You are addicted."
And I was and still am.
Therefore, I am against banning TikTok. The effect on
kids would be devastating.
Consider your privacy: it was lost before TikTok.
We cannot go back to before.
Re: Tiktok
It's funny how everyone takes the American intelligence community at face value when they assert that Tiktok poses a unique danger as a social media platform, as it can be easily manipulated by the Chinese government.
Don't get me wrong it's 100% true that Tiktok poses a security threat to its users. It's just hardly UNIQUE and the proposed "solution" of forcing Tiktok to sell to a non-Chinese company does little to protect the privacy interests of users.
Let me go back in time to illustrate my point. Prior to the Snowden disclosures, American intelligence agencies were just as hysterical about Chinese made routers vs. American routers. The claim was that Chinese made routers would have backdoors allowing the Chinese government to spy on its customers.
Post-Snowden, it turned out that the American made routers sold in foreign markets had backdoors in place to allow the U.S. to spy on the customers. Worse, Snowden revealed that the Americans were in fact tapping ALL INTERNET TRAFFIC crossing the oceans by tapping the fiberoptic cables.
I similarly believe there's a dual function in the current Tiktok battle. Yes, it's a danger to the privacy interests of American Tiktok users. But the American intelligence service doesn't care about privacy rights, they just want to be the only ones with access to the data.
And let's face it, short of the Saudis, only American companies have the money it would take to purchase Tiktok. At which point we are then looking into antitrust concerns, as a tech company will presumably be making the purchase.
What the hell‽ Why have only 177 House members signed the discharge petition for Ukraine Aid. Last I checked there are 213 Dems in the House.
Shesh I would have thought getting to 213 would immediately happen. After that it should have then just been a matter of finding 4 reasonable Republicans. But if the Dems can't even secure their own votes, good luck with that.
There's crowdfunding in other countries for weapons and helicopters for Ukraine. Gifts for Putin is one. We need crowdfunding for Ukraine in the US too. It would make people less frustrated by the government if they had a way to help.