By Robert Willmann
Never underestimate the finagling in and around un-democratic processes. Today, Sunday, 21 July 2024, a political party that calls itself the Democratic Party deftly removed its candidate for president, Joe Biden, who amassed way more than the number of primary delegates necessary to get the official nomination at the party convention. This happened after a series of events across the states that at least in part had the appearance of a democratic selection of convention delegates. All the while, that Democratic Party, politicians, and assorted additional people, along with help from broadcast networks, newspapers, and other media, howled that the candidate Donald Trump, of the other political party, was and is a “threat” to “our democracy”, plus he is “Hitler”, blah blah blah.
During the impeachment talk around Richard Nixon in 1974, he became aware, probably from Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona and a few others, that he would not have enough support in the Senate if an impeachment trial was held to prevent a vote that he should be removed from office. The articles of impeachment against Nixon were never voted on by the whole House of Representatives, but the experienced Nixon realized what was coming and resigned as president on 9 August 1974.
However, Biden has had the support of the Democratic Party, politicians, assorted additional persons, broadcast networks, newspapers, and other media for four and a half years. He was supported and propped up during the 2020 presidential campaign, and it was announced that he won that election. Nevertheless, within the last 24 days, all those people fawning over him became shape-shifters, singing as one chorus while denouncing Biden and saying he should withdraw from the presidential election.
In what essentially has been only three weeks, Biden is gone. There were some clues as to how and when he would be forced out. But what are the real reasons? That is something to think about seriously, as well as the attempted assassination of Trump last Saturday.
Since the announcement hit the radio this afternoon, the excited talk on mass media poured forth. But it is bull manure. All of it.
Where is the end with no beginning.
EMCEE O’Hen,
Mister Magoo and Cagliostro,
walking to a magic tent,
In the Count went through an entrance,
out Magoo went through a vent.
So it is with magic walkers-
strolling through a magic camp,
Some would fly Alladin’s carpet,
others light Alladin’s lamp.
Title: Magic.
You been smoking the magic again.zarit is bad sh.t better watch the road. Keep hands on wheel
I like EMCEE O’Hen. May I use it? Although you are not a Hahn a cock or hen, or a Kahn, not a Cohn but a Cohen.
But concerning your profound little sentence about ends and beginnings. How about this:
If the horizontal meets the vertical, they sometimes form a cross.
Now Kamala Harris has to abandon at least 2 things:
1- Cackling
2- Saying: ‘What Can Be, Unburdened By What Has Been’?
F&L,
She is going to keep doing both of those things – even more. I would be happy to bet money on it.
F & L
Yout initials reminded me of a funny story
When I first got married my wife said to me…now that we are married,does not mean you can walk around the house making loud noises.You never used to do it before
I replied well it is your good cooking.I can’t help i. All the beans you know
She looked at me with the serious face and said…well fart lightly.
Mom said the same to my Dad and I. He always responded: “Better out than in”, which is somewhat of an analogy to political scandals.
“what are the real reasons”
I don’t think there is any doubt.
We all saw how he looked and spoke in his debate with Trump.
Should a man in that condition now be president for four more years?
I, like many other Americans, both Rs and Ds, almost surely said “No”.
A brief taste of what some influential Russians think of Harris, pasted below. Sergei Markov is a political scientist who lived in the US for a brief while, taught in Universities and was a close advisor to Putin. Speaks English. Is interviewed regularly by foreign press agencies and TV, lives in Russia. An insider.
See #13. Many believe this about her here.
——————
https://t.me/logikamarkova/13029
Kamala Harris has been nominated as a presidential candidate.
1. This is the second woman presidential candidate and the first woman of color candidate. This has already gone down in history.
2. Has a low rating and a noticeable anti-rating.
3. Has no experience in managing large structures, neither administrative nor business.
4. Has no international experience. Doesn’t understand the outside world at all.
5. Has no charisma, is not attractive to people.
6. Does not have clear views. Many times I changed my views on important issues based on the current situation.
7. Doesn’t know how to work in a team. Her subordinates hate her more often than not. Picky, capricious.
8. Doesn’t know how to perform. It’s not clear to people what she actually wanted to say. Word salad, that’s what they call her speeches.
9. On the positive side: smiling, cheerful, young 59 years old, but quite experienced, woman of color, lawyer, experience as a vice president.
10. According to sociology, he loses to Trump by several percent.
11. How does the Democratic Party plan to win with it?
12. Laughing Kamala is what Trump called her.
13. It is believed that Harris will be a complete puppet in the hands of Deepstate.
“It is believed that Harris will be a complete puppet in the hands of Deepstate” Of course, the Deepstate Russia would “think” that!
F&L
Trump’s attempted assassination worked against him.
Before that event, even half-dead Biden had a chance.
After that, it was clear to everyone that Biden had to go.
Biden is a goner and is quickly fading into irrelevance.
Trump on the other hand now has to run against Kamala. Despite all her deficiencies, she is a woman and a woman of colour at that. She is also much younger than Trump. All the liberal media will now go into full support and back her 150%.
If she picks (or other pick for her) a good running mate, her chances go up considerable.
Trump’s chances of winning are now much lower. He might easily lose.
Keith Harbaugh,
“Should a man in that condition now be president for four more years?”
I’m sure Biden realized that too, after hearing from many people close to him. I think that’s the real reason.
By endorsing Kamala Harris, Biden has proven that he still have the sound mind to do what’s good for the country and Democratic party. The prosecutor is running against a convicted felon, what’s not to like?
I’ve just learned from TTG on the other thread that Trump has widthrawn from all scheduled debates. It’s too bad.
“what’s not to like?”
Let me suggest this:
Their issues on
1. Transgenderism
2. Transformation of American demographics by mass immigration
3. DEI
4. Their support for the “Smash the WASP establishment” agenda:
Witness the absence of heterosexual WASP men in the power centers.
Trump today, at 78, is older than Biden was when he ran four years ago, making him the oldest presidential nominee in American history.
I would be very curious to find out why the Happy Juice they gave Biden before that debate was so ineffective.
Did they give him a placebo by mistake?
Or was he deliberately under-dosed?
Or is he so far gone that the necessary dose would kill an ox?
Because it does look as though the Democrat machine was taken quite by surprise when Biden entered the ring only to do a very fine impersonation of a guppy.
It’s too late in the game. Either the party delegates have an open convention then face disunity, chaos, and disarray, or they disenfranchise the voters and refute the democratic process by taking orders from the DNC boss men. It’s the middle at stake, not the hardliners.
Pick your poison, Trump wins.
It is a practical problem. DNC convention rules have set a “virtual roll call” for first week of Aug. How is that going to go? I assume the 57 state delegation leaders will “vote” their delegations, but they probably can’t whip the super delegates. The supers don’t have a controlling vote, but the mechanics of it will be interesting.
The bound delegates aren’t selected on the basis of having insider pull. Will they be allowed to act independently? Unlikely. They will be herded.
Trump will lose to VP Harris because she is neither Trump nor Biden.
I am a bit leery of this because there was a ground swell to make her the nominee but no such ground swell to nuke her the President now.
The interviews with the “Undecided”, all but certainly viewed as the key demographic in this race, largely cited uneasiness with Biden’s profound fogginess as the primary reason for being so. The pressure to get him to bow out seems easy to grasp, as is the net result. There are people in their 80s who are sharp and vigorous but Biden isn’t one of them, and obviously so.
What THey Are Saying about This Matter is…Its ALL About The MONEY….And The
Claim Kamala Will Draw in Millions in the Next Week…
European Leaders Are Praising Biden…Like Germanys Scholz….And Contacts in
Germany Tell Me The German TV News is Reporting Trump Faked His Injury…
Popping Snmall Ballons of Blood into His Ear After He Fell to the Floor…Many in Germany Want to Believe That..Because Trump is Always Put Out as a Bad Guy..
Remember…Biden will Still Be President..until Next Year…And The Convention
in Chicago..Could Be Rowdy…
I Appreciate those Here…Who Keep Things Real…With Good Data..
Jim,
100%
Corrupt Biden hung on for the best deal he could get (probably Jill managing the negotiations b/c Joe too far gone). Kamala gets something to play along with the charade. She’s a well known old whore from way back.
But not so sure Biden will survive to the end of his term. Depends (and I don’t mean the product into which he poops while wandering around).
Eric Newhill,
My black friends refer to Kamala as “headboard Harris”.
James,
Yes. My black friends like Trump and think Harris is a “ho”. Trump being persecuted by the courts and the assassination attempt is something very relatable to them as well. [Deleted by TTG] Harris will lose big time. They cannot win without the majority of the black vote.
Eric Newhill,
Bots do submit comments to this blog. They are obvious to me and are not published. Comments I let through are not bots.
Eric, you “black friends” likely imposters. I work with many blacks, mostly degreed, and active voters. They were all in very good spirits over Harris!
You need better “friends”…[Deleted by TTG].
AI,
People tend to surround themselves with people who think and feel as they do. It can really cause people to have a skewed version of reality. The only way to change that up is to regular step outside of your own bubble to listen to people who think differently. People who are rude, abrasive and insulting mark themselves out as people who rarely step outside of their self imposed bubble. One would have a hard time functioning in normal, polite and civilized society if they could not control themselves and regularly attacked and insulted people who thinking differently. One of the big problem in today’s society is people only associate with those who think like them and consume only media and information that conforms their already tightly held beliefs.
Al,
Dunno. The only blacks and Hispanics I talk to in depth are those at the boxing gym. Otherwise it’s just professional, non-political interaction at work. I’m the only white guy in the gym; well, maybe one or two others, but one doesn’t see them too often.
Anyhow, better friends, huh? “Better” means believe what you do? Because people that don’t think like you are good people. Well that’s very open minded, democratic and Christian of you. Good thing that TTG assures me that you’re not a political bot, just a new member of the forum that just happened to show up now with our old friend Laura, who talks just like you.
Maybe TTG is using a more narrow technical definition of bot than I am. Perhaps “cult member” is appropriate for what I meant to say.
So I shared that I box and spend free time at a boxing gym. How about you (since you’re human and not a bot). What do you do for fun?
Eric Newhill,
Just for curiosity, I looked at Al’s comments over the last two and half years. He shared quite a bit. Among his comments, he shared this prescient tidbit in early 2022. “At this point in his Presidency Sleepy Joe has to keep up “the front” of being a viable 2nd termer. But the reality is that yrs 2023 and 2024 will be so dismal for him it will be clear to even him as he awakens that a second term will be a futile attempt.”
Draw in $$ “next week”? Harris made a small donor haul in just 7 hrs Sunday.
From Act Blue: “As of 9pm ET, grassroots supporters have raised $46.7 million through ActBlue following Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign launch. This has been the biggest fundraising day of the 2024 cycle.”
Harris also has the $90 mill in the Biden/Harris Campaign now transferred to the Harris Campaign.
LOL. So the Squad was right after all, it is all about the Benjamins.
why did Biden eject? Because it was obvious even to him that he was not capable of exercising leadership of anything at all, not even a small puppy, let alone the United States.
Harris is a know nothing narcissist who originally slept her way into office and then rode the feminist diversity elevator to the top. She epitomises everything that is bad about DEI.
However Harris is just a place holder. Trump wins this time. The next Democrat presidential candidate with any hope of success is still positioning themselves deep underwater.
They traded a stumbling old grandfather for a 59 year old cackling incompetent. If Trump can stay alive (not a sure thing) he likely wins but he does have a huge number of negatives – felony convictions, Jan 6th. It will be another phony election, not because it will necessarily be “fixed” but because the system has become a rotten vicious spoiled oligarchy. The US is in shambles as the Pol Pot of Israel visits on Wednesday.
Trump today, at 78, is older than Biden was when he ran four years ago, making him the oldest presidential nominee in American history.
Laura 78 is old.its ancient,but i know a few 78 yr old people who are not only still smart but have decades of experience.
All depends on the individual.I like to listen to this guy
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HSD2QHXoLP0
mc –
78 is more like 108 for a fat boy like Donny. He’ll keel over in a heart attack any day now.
If you repeat it often enough it becomes a media talking point.
Joe Biden is still president, so Trump has another good 4 years ahead of him as Joe ain’t resigning office, just resigned to the reality he’ll lose.
Meanwhile,
between now and January 2025, we have a vegetable in office. Who is really running the country? Harris has been complicit in the cover-up of Biden’s mental decline as well as whatever cabal is in charge of his duties.
Harris is just a placeholder until the convention, at which time she will be replaced. Obama doesn’t care for her and neither does Pelosi – neither do the American people, according to polls going back as far as 2016.
President Obama endorsed VP Harris.
Thank goodness. Now the Xtrolls will stop saying Michelle is coming to the rescue.
Wow…you apparently don’t know much about women. And I would be pretty silent about the “sleeping around” stuff when Trump is an actual convicted sex offender…and, basically, you don’t get labeled the way unless you DO sleep around. And I’m sure all women appreciate your “feminist diversity ladder” crack. You DO know that women graduate from college with higher GPAs than male students across the board…you did know that, right? Imagine all of those pesky women lawyers graduating at the top of their class….like Vance’s uppity wife? Walrus, I have been reading this committee of correspondence for years and I am sad that you feel so free to completely disregard American women and their accomplishments on both sides of the political aisle.
Laura, E. Jean Carroll’s story just doesn’t make sense.
Wikipedia summarizes it as follows:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._Jean_Carroll
Now, according to my figuring, Carroll was about 52 at the time (1995-1943).
What is a 52-year-old woman doing going into a department store dressing room with a strange man she just met?
“Ha ha ha, we were just going to try on some clothes.”
Does this make any sense to you?
It doesn’t to me.
It is conceivable that it happened just as she described.
But it is also conceivable that she and her two friends came up with this story as a way of bringing down a politician they loathed.
And evidently she didn’t report this alleged rape to the police at the time.
Sure made sense in the trial!!!!!
Keith, her attorney was able to convince 12 jurors of Trump’s guilt. The flip side is that Trump’s attorneys were UNABLE to convince 12 jurors that he was innocent.
Given Trump’s proclivity to bullying…and bullying women…odds are he is guilty.
Laura,
You make a very good point:
“Trump’s attorneys were UNABLE to convince 12 jurors that he was innocent.”
Condemnations on your fundamental transformation of America – where the Presumption of Innocence no longer exists.
what doesn’t make sense is ignoring facts established about his pattern of abusive, predatory behavior for which he’s managed to escape justice (so far), like any typical gangster;
https://www.businessinsider.com/women-accused-trump-sexual-misconduct-list-2017-12
Leith,
“Besides Trump would f*ck a snake in a woodpile if he could.”
You’ve made my day : )). You owe me a new keyboard.
Fred,
Yeah. That woman has accused other men of pretty much the same thing. Apparently she’s just irresistible to wealthy men. Also, any reasonable person would deem her a lunatic based on her lifestyle. None of that, of course, was allowed as evidence in court.
Here she is in all her irresistible glory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldP8YNAPlTw
There are plenty more videos of this nut job, made by her, btw, so not a hit job.
Sure Trump, who has women like Melania, just couldn’t control himself in the presence of this smoking hot vixen.
What a sorry joke. I guess if that is all democrats have going for them, they have to try to work with it. Pathetic. Too bad they don’t have viable policies.
Project 2025! The sooner the better!
EN –
Back then when it happened E Jean was better looking than Stormy Daniels. Besides Trump would f*ck a snake in a woodpile if he could.
Trump was out prowling for sex in those days. He had recently divorced Marla Maples because she and his bodyguard were doing the rumpy-pumpy on the beach.
Laura,
The jury didn’t convict him of a sex offense. “by a preponderance of the evidence” they found something. Wasn’t there just a supreme court case recently about criminal trials and the need for unanimity? Maybe the NY State constitution or its laws abandoned that principle.
Fred,
The NY jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation after only three hours of deliberation. He was not found liable for rape. It was a civil trial so no guilty verdict is possible, much like OJ was found liable for killing Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman after being found not guilty for the same crimes in criminal court.
TTG,
Tell that to the Democratic Party Operatives.
TTG,
It is dishonorable to in any way use this crazy woman’s accusations against Trump as leverage to suggest that Trump is a rapist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugz403y1p-o
It doesn’t matter what a NY jury determined. The judge excluded evidence that showed who Jean Carrol really is. It was a she said/he said case with 0 evidence. The woman accused Trump. Trump said she is a lunatic (true) and then the woman claimed damages for defamation.
Hell of a world in which anyone can accuse anyone of outlandish offenses and then if the accused speaks out, correctly, about the accuser being a lying nut job, the accused gets hit harder by the court.
That is an example of one of the most disturbing characteristics of leftists. They are ok with that scenario as long as it gets them what they want.
Anyhow, so much for toning down the rhetoric and sticking to the issues. Trump’s ear hasn’t even healed yet and you people are back at it. He’s a threat to democracy! He’s a rapist! Worse than Hitler!!!!
Project 2025!
It was NOT a criminal trial, so the Jury does not have to be unanimous (and does not have to be 12. it can be six in NYS.
On the other hand the necessary quantum of proof in much lower.
Laura Wilson,
Yes indeed. Like TTG mentioned the other day, left-right domestic politics tends to bring out the ugly. They all are showing their color now.
TonyL,
Sure. Here you guys are hyping up Jean Carrol. Maybe where you’re from it’s normal. Maybe she reminds you of your mother or something. Here in America, we call people like her “crazy” and we don’t find them credible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5s9ByP9OBA
Eric Newhill,
Twelve jurors chosen by both the prosecution and defense found her story mostly credible and Trump’s story mostly not credible.
TTG
Twelve jurors found O.J.Simpson Not guilty. The police did make serious mistakes like the Chief of police going to the crime scene with a vial of O.J.’s blood in his pocket. Still there was plenty of evidence against him. Then afterwards there were the white riots. Oh, never mind.
TTG,
Anything or anyone can be deemed credible if you aren’t permitted, by a biased judge, to know the full context.
It’s crap like that and people like you falling back on it, that make the impending imposition of Project 2025 that much more delicious. You are begging for it.
TTG: in a NYS Civil jury case, it would be 6 Jurors . . . .
John & TTG –
It was actually nine jurors, six men and three women.
Laura,I do not disregard American women’s achievements. I disregard the very idea that they are somehow handicapped and require special consideration.
Wee have long since discovered that women can be just as evil as men when in office. Harris slept her way to the top. That statement is valid and equivalent to saying “Trump is a sex offender and a felon.” The facts of the matter are that in a functioning democracy,, both trump and Harris should be unelectable because of character flaws, but who said America is a democracy?
walrus,
Harris has won eight elections for several offices.
Putin has been elected several times too.
VP Harris is an excellent lawyer and was a very successful DA and a well thought of AG in CA.
I think she is a lock for election, since she is neither Biden nor Trump,
I think she was probably put on Biden’s ticket too early and probably was hampered by her relative lack of experience with the Federal Government early in her Vice Presidency.
I think her early issue probably delayed Biden doing this until the Dems had polling data that implied she could win and those same reservations are keeping then from having an earlier transition of power,
Let’s see, but she will the next President.
Now the sole “age question” comes upon Trump.
Trump became the oldest presidential nominee in U.S. history! Will he be able to carry out his duties at 80, 82 yrs of age?
As George Conway commented: “Seriously, how do you convince people you’re going to make America great again with some old guy who slurs his words and rambles incoherently after his jail ti— … um, I mean bedtime??”
Al,
Yes, yes he will.
Let’s see because he survived as assassination attempt by sheer luck and then acted defiantly in the aftermath. This is a man, as the Irish and the Scots say, “Who has his life nailed to his spine.’
The downside to being brave and lucky is also being who is out having assignations with porn actresses while his wife is in labor,
It is all (the joke is unavoidable) “of a piece.”
The biggest difference between a Harris and a Trump presidency will be competence. The former will have a deep bench to use and the latter, starting at the top, with have much less experience and knowledge. I was a builder for 35 years and know a thing or two about building. I have encountered some who thought they knew something, including a couple of priests, but it comes down to how much you know about the nuts and bolts level. And if you think building a house is daunting, try building a boat. Now the Republicans have published their plans, which is called Project 2025. It will not be easy to use and the unintended consequences will pile up rather quickly. Even the intended consequences will not work as designed.
There is an increasing possibility that we will soon face some economic challenges and it will be much better to have a team that actually know what to do, rather than some who will only be able to act theoretically. We already live in a challenging world and Trump has already shown us how incompetent he is and his side kick has very little experience regarding governing. He is mainly known for writing one book and was unable to write another. It will essentially be a contest between fantasy and reality and as usual, in the end reality wins.
Lars,
“He is mainly known for writing one book and was unable to write another. ”
Art of the Steal by Kamala Harris and Co. Ghostwritten by Hilary and Barack. Sure to be a hit at the Democratic Convention, where the choice of 14 million primary voters doesn’t matter, what donors and ‘leaders’ say, and the deals they cut, matter. Stay loyal to party comrade.
Trump has less experience at the top. Four of serving as POTUS doesn’t count for experience to be POTUS. That’s an interesting idea.
People really have no reservations about trump’s performance as President. Like any experienced CEO he had a good sense of what was coming and what to do about it (other than the Pandemic, where Biden also under performed).
What concerned them were the fact that the Government seemed one deep; and the concern for performance over ideology meant he was amoral and only concerned with winning (which January 6th tended to confirm).
And Contacts in Germany Tell Me The German TV News
nonsense
Those loyal to the party, of which a few comment here, will remain loyal. Betrayal of voters? That’s been going on for many a mostly peaceful year, and covered up by a corrupt and complicit media- and executive bureaucracy. Now it can’t be a hidden so it will be done in plain sight.
Hope they will not forget to tell Biden that he bailed out of the presidential race.
And hope they will be more professional to forge his signature !
Obama hasn’t endorsed Kamala. He quickly praised Biden for dropping out but no endorsement. He’s gonna shoe in his wife during or before the convention. The wild card will be Michelle Obama. This is going to be a cat fight on the convention floor. Biden will resign and make Kamala the 47th president so she goes into the spotlight as an incumbent. It’s going to be wild. Democrats are evil, desperate, and despicable, subhuman garbage and they will eat their own in an open convention.
Total delusion! lol
State Dem parties have almost all OK’d the switch primary delegates from Biden to Harris. By mid August Convention it will be all wrapped up for Harris with a very orderly and programmed series of events.
al,
“Democracy” is State Dem Parties deciding what voters wanted! Because who needs to obey the will of the voters who picked Biden over all the rest.
What state laws will have to be amended to allow those State Dem parties to have their chosen candidate on the ballot rather than the one picked by the voters?
Condottiere,
Agree – and Harris ultimately will not be the candidate. She is not electable. “Anyone but the Terrible Orange Felon” isn’t going to work, but it is more evidence that Democrats are evil. For God’s sake, just truthfully debate the issues and stop insulting the intelligence of the American people. If your policies are so great, then you shouldn’t hide from them behind attack sound bites and you should be elected.
Gosh, as a Democrat I only think that Republicans are stupidly being bullied by a con man. Guess I would rather be thought of as evil than easily duped…I’ll take it.
Laura,
YES! Thank goodness someone noticed.
Since Wednesday no member of the press has seen Biden, a letter is posted on X with a signature that doesn’t look like others of his saying he is resigning from the campaign (not the presidency), not a single press conference, just an audio – which is definitely not a Deep Fake. Bullied by a con man! (Not because women never do that. Bullying, or conning people.)
Trump forced Biden out – by surviving the assassination attempt. A few days later……
@Condottiere – “Democrats are evil, desperate, and despicable, subhuman garbage …”
You need better insults Condo. Untermenschen? You seriously believe that to be an insult. That’s more of a compliment and easily bounced off my Democratic back. Don’t be such a slouch when name-calling. Do some research and get some better material. You wouldn’t last long in a dirty dozens ‘Yo mama’ contest. No more wimpery.
PS – Last condottiere was Napoleon and he got his a$$ kicked.
leith,
I agree with Stefan above,
“People who are rude, abrasive and insulting mark themselves out as people who rarely step outside of their self imposed bubble”
It seems for Trump cult members, there is no critical thinking going on where they see the world.
Tony –
I admit I was trying to rile him up. Did I go too far? If my response to him was rude, abrasive and insulting then mea culpa.
I do try to get outside the “bubble” and hear the other side. But sometimes the static is overwhelming and the echo chamber can become unbearable. Whatever happened that we no longer have anyone like Eisenhower or Jim Jeffords – or the old Blue Dog Dem Coaltion on the other side?
Leith,
Nah, you did not go too far. I meant Stefan’s oservation succinctly describes Condottiere’s behavior.
I get it. I was raised in a VERY conservative family. My wider family are still mostly MAGA nuts. They dont associate with anyone who challenges those viewpoints, they dont listen to media that questions the MAGA narrative.
I think it is one of the major draw backs of the internet age. It is VERY easy to surround yourself with people who think just like you and have literally no contact with opinions and ideas that challenge you.
Of course this goes for liberals and Democrats too, the difference there is part of the liberal dogma is to accept and listen to those who are different, so they are more open than this.
I was this way myself because I was raised in an ultra conservative echo chamber. My first vote at 18? I voted for Pat Buchanan. To get out of that echo chamber that was my family and friends I first moved out of the state, then out of the country. I forced myself out of that bubble, never to return.
I now have friends of all stripes and still deal with a bunch of MAGA nuts as family. But that is okay. Listening to others and being open to the possibility that you are wrong is important.
. . . . and those are their good points . . . !
PS– Eventually . . . .
Now he has . . . .
Willman is right the excited talk in mass media is bull manure. All three networks are using the same talking points. By resigning Biden is showing he puts country above himself, shows great leadership, blah, blah. The media parrots the same pipeline bull manure they are all fed. Reminds me of the old USSR with its one party system brainwashing the masses.
Biden quit because the weight of the Democratic Party was too much for him to continue the race. He’s a selfish, power hungry old man who held out so long it leaves no time to challenge his heir apparent. The party elite always choose the primary candidates. See what they did to RFK,jr when he ttried to run against Biden in this election. The mas media won’t tell you.
A good man, Trump. I’m watching the crony politicians of Europe already pouring vitriol all over him. Shows he’s on the right tack.
Yes, It’s a pitiful spectacle.
Don’t worry, our politicians are pussies without the USA, the big and indispensable brother.
When Trump passes, they’ll do what they always do: rush to the door to shake his hand (and maybe pat him on the back). And they’ll have their tails between their legs, trying to make people forget all the bad things they thought about him. -The Guardian is particularly venomous. They hope it will all be forgotten. Canossa.
Courage is not their strong point.
Here is some “magic” from the one and only EEMCEE
I gave you a coat of paint
Mind you
Could have hung in the lourve
Next to Madonna
It was from oeuvre
The ball by Maradona
But no
You fell for the Max
Who liked to kick around
So then gather no moss
See you in the lost and found.
Laura, good post above. Sure are a bunch of woman haters on here.
Harris has taken on established politicians 3 x in elections…won them all!
She comes from highly intellectual parental genealogy: Mother a highly educated cancer researcher and father an established economist.
But, the woman haters throw out the “DEI” BS at Harris..
.
Al,
Well one of your heroes, Jean Carrol, named her cat “Vagina T Fireball” and has publicly stated that “rape is sexy”. So not sure what qualifies as woman hating.
Also, Kamal is not her parents.
Brown wrote, “Yes, we dated. It was more than 20 years ago. Yes, I may have influenced her career by appointing her to two state commissions when I was Assembly speaker.”
According to USA Today, Brown gave Harris a BMW and appointed her “to the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and then to the Medical Assistance Commission – positions that paid her more than $400,000 over five years.”
That’s above and beyond DEI. She checks the DEI boxes, sure, but she apparently had other “skills”. At least Brown thought so – and those skills don’t involve intellectual prowess. But let’s see, she has been the “border tzar”. How has that worked out? What are her other achievements besides making little Willy happy? What are her policy positions beyond not being Trump?
Eric, Still on the “DEI” shrill, I see,! Get over it!
BTW, it was the Repubs that gave Harris the ‘Border Czar” title.
Biden sent Harris to the border and Central America to take a look and provide feedback. She was never given any operational duties re the border. You bought that disinformation, fully!
al,
You have a point. It is that other DEI hire, Mayorkas, who is responsible for the border mess.
Actually the Administration that used the term for what was planned to be part of her portfolio. Clearly that caused friction with the Department of Homeland Security, a Cabinet Secretariat and with ICE, one of DHS’s departments.
However, VP Harris’s diplomatic efforts were both unsuccessful and both ill-conceived and misdirected. By the time the VP was sent to Central America, it was clear that the sources of the influx was far broader than Central America *although several of the routes (in this Hemisphere) began there.
This is emblematic of the facts that VP Harris had an initially steep learning curve and that the Administration struggled at first to find ways to utilize her.
Brown noted that the difference between Harris and other politicians he had helped was that “Harris is the only one who, after I helped her, sent word that I would be indicted if I ‘so much as jaywalked’ while she was D.A. That’s politics for ya”.
Apparently little Willy did not make her happy and she did not return the favor. Nice try though.
She is a woman, not white, highly educated and a liberal. All things many here hate with a passion.
Got the collective defamation machine early today.
Perhaps not letting EN get under one’s skin would be more conducive to rational thought and discussion.
Fred,
“Perhaps not letting EN get under one’s skin would be more conducive to rational thought and discussion”
Yes. Ignore the resident troll. That’s the best advice.
The resident troll gets more than his fair share of support here, which is worrying. But at least even the conservatives here are now calling a spade a spade when it comes to that. I would suggest that EN and rational thought and discussion do not belong in the same sentence together, semantics I guess.
Stefan,
“The resident troll gets more than his fair share of support here, which is worrying”
I wouldn’t worry about that. They are coming out of the woodwork now that their cult leader (Trump) being critized and ridiculed.
“I would suggest that EN and rational thought and discussion do not belong in the same sentence together, semantics I guess.”
No doubt.
AL – all that gender/race stuff’s not important. Certainly not at this level and at just this moment. What is important is that they’ve managed to ditch a candidate who wasn’t exactly radiating get up and go and transition to one far better. Also one who, with any luck, will manage to ditch all the old Foreign Policy baggage President Biden had accumulated.
What are her chances of taking over completely? I’m seeing figures of around 200,000 casualties in Gaza and ethnic cleansing on the West Bank now speeding up. Also seeing suggestions that Netanyahu is hoping to get the US involved in fighting in Lebanon and perhaps elsewhere. 1. Is Harris wanting to put the brakes on? 2. Given the Fundamentalist/Evangelical vote in the States, is it possible for any American politician to put the brakes on?
Similar questions in Ukraine. Keeping that failed venture going until the Presidential elections was a Biden imperative. The Biden administration could not accept they had lost in Ukraine. They did not want to go into the election having to admit they had failed. Biden would have been tagged as “The man who lost Ukraine”. Hence the insistence that the Ukrainians keep fighting merely to help win an election in a country thousands of miles away.
Does Kamala Harris inherit that imperative? Between a thousand and two thousand casualties a day are caused by the US insistence on the Ukrainians continuing to fight a lost war, that insistence almost entirely due to the imperatives of US internal politics. Would Harris be able to brave the Sullivans and Blinkens and pull out? Would she want to?
I don’t know whether it’s going to happen or not but for many of us it would be better if Trump took office next January. The internal problems the US faces are much the same as the internal problems Europe faces and Trump is the only politician of any stature in the West who has shown he has the ability – and the courage – to address those problems. But whether he wins or not it’s six months until then and in that six months tens of thousands more can die.
If President Biden’s not fit to run he’s not fit to serve. What are the chances of someone more fit taking over as President? And if Kamala Harris does get the chance to serve, what are the chances of her ending this grotesque Carnival of Death the West is currently staging?
EO,
Harris does not become president. She’s the candidate to become the next president. Biden is now free to do as much as he can without the limitations imposed by a candidacy. His now being self-declared a lame duck, he’s freed himself to do more for six months. His delegating the decision power to his Treasury to seize Russian assets is a sign of things to come. However, I do hope Harris continues to push Biden to pursue a more even handed approach towards Israel and the Palestinians.
TTG – If Biden stays on he’s committed on Ukraine. He won’t escalate, it seems. But he won’t accept any settlement.
That not only means many more deaths. It’s also more likely that Ukraine will lose Odessa and maybe all the pro-Russian areas of the old Ukraine. Obviously it was not Biden’s intention, but he has in fact been playing into Putin’s hands from the beginning of the SMO and if he stays on as President he will continue to do so.
There’s also the danger of civil war within remnant Ukraine. The Right Sektor fighters are many and powerful and could well go for another Maidan should Zelensky try for a settlement. They were ready for that way back in Zolote and still are. There’s already a resistance movement developing so civil war between the two sides in remnant Ukraine cannot be ruled out.
There’ll be no help from the Europeans in quietening things down over there. The Europeans are still in full Russia delenda est mode. They are upset over Biden’s decision not to allow deep strikes and would like to see the US escalate instead. So any resolution could only come from Washington.
The only reason for keeping things going for so long was the reluctance of the Biden team to admit defeat before the election. Would Harris, were she to take over, be able to turn things round? She’d do better in any case to go into the election without the Ukrainian albatross around her neck.
On Israel I couldn’t agree more. Not only Gaza. The West Bank:-
https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/chris-hedges-the-old-evil
The problem there is not the Europeans. Josep Borrell has come out very strongly against what’s happening in Gaza and even the Germans are expressing concern. So there’d be no reluctance there to seeing Netanyahu restrained.
The problem is the electoral balance in the States. Millions of American voters are Christian Zionists or of that doctrinal background, most in the red states but some, I believe, in the swing states too. That gives Netanyahu carte blanche to do what he’s doing. But if there is a solution possible I’d guess Harris would find it more easily than Biden. She is an articulate speaker, presents herself well, and doesn’t as yet carry Biden’s baggage. Why would she want to weigh herself down with that baggage going into an election?
EO,
The killing would stop if Putin called off his invasion. He might even be able to spin it as a great patriotic victory. His hold on the instruments of propaganda is absolute.
Here comes the 25th amendment. IMO, 50/50 whether Biden remains in office to finish his pathetic term.
No responsible representative is going to permit a demented, mean old geezer – that’s Biden – to do whatever he wants as a lame duck President. Sorry to burst your bubble.
There is zero chance that Biden is going to still be in the Oval Office come November.
Kamala Harris has to lever the old coot out and campaign from a position of incumbency.
And, let’s face it, from her PoV that’s the only move that makes any sense.
She’s not going to beat Trump – any thoughts to the contrary are mere fantasy – and so when she is beaten in November she won’t even be a footnote in the history books. Just another loser.
So she may as well insist that the old coot resign from the Presidency, because then she WILL be the first femal President of the United States, albeit one who simply inherited the role for a few months.
Not much, but also not nothing, and it has the added bonus that she will go to a well-deserved obscurity with all the perks and privileges that goes with being a former President.
This is what is really happening while joe and co.fiddle about
dan linnaeus
THE BEIJING DECLARATION | The New Treaty of Hudaybiyyah
Five years before October 7, Egypt mediated a 5-year ceasefire and a Palestinian Hamas-Fatah unity government. The government didn’t last a year, and the truce didn’t last three. On October 7, we saw how it ended.
— The PLO’s New Hudaybiyyah
In his 1994 Johannesburg speech, Yasser Arafat referred to the Oslo Accords as a temporary and tactical step. He made an analogy to the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, a 10-year truce agreed upon by the Prophet Muhammad with the Quraish tribe, which was later broken when circumstances changed.
“This agreement, I am not considering it more than the agreement which had been signed between our Prophet Muhammad and Quraish,” said Arafat of the Oslo Accords which were signed after the First Antifada of 1987-1993. Israelis warned Arafat’s remarks as an indication that the PLO viewed the Oslo Accords not as a final peace agreement but as a tactical maneuver. Despite the Oslo II of 1995, it is perhaps not surprising that the Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, began five years later on September 28, 2000.
Following the Beijing Declaration yesterday Majda Al-Masri, Deputy Secretary-General of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), one of 14 Palestinian factions who signed the agreement stated, “Foremost … is the reaffirmation of the Palestinian identity, first by recognizing the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and second by reaffirming our shared goal of ending the ‘Israeli’ occupation of the West Bank, including Al-Quds [Jeruslaem], and Gaza, achieving the independence of the State of Palestine, and exercising full sovereignty over its land, including Al-Quds as the capital, within the borders of June 4, 1967, and resolving the refugee issue according to Resolution 194, which guarantees their right of return.”
Similar statements were issued by all 14 factions.
—— Participating Factions to the Beijing Declaration:
1. Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah)
2. Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas)
3. Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
4. Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP)
5. Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement (PIJ)
6. Palestinian People’s Party
7. Palestinian Popular Struggle Front
8. Palestinian National Initiative Movement
9. Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command
10. Palestinian Democratic Union (FIDA)
11. Palestinian Liberation Front
12. Arab Liberation Front
13. Arab Palestinian Front
14. Vanguards of the Popular Liberation War (As-Sa’iqa Forces)
—— Components and Talking Points of the Beijing Declaration:
Comprehensive National Unity — Palestinian factions agreed to achieve comprehensive national unity, integrating all forces within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
Establishment of an Independent State – Commitment to establishing an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, in line with United Nations resolutions.
Right of Return — Ensuring the right of return for Palestinian refugees in accordance with Resolution 194.
Resistance to Occupation — Affirmation of the Palestinian people’s right to resist occupation according to international laws and the UN Charter.
Temporary National Unity Government — Formation of a temporary national unity government with the consensus of Palestinian factions, under the decree of President Mahmoud Abbas, based on the Palestinian Basic Law. The government will unify Palestinian institutions, initiate reconstruction of Gaza, and prepare for general elections under the supervision of the Central Elections Commission.
Continued at https://x.com/DanLinnaeus/status/1815715013656445199
The full post by Dan Linnaeus is worth the read. It’s a lot longer. I only heard a short blurb this morning about a Palestinian Authority and Hamas agreement in Beijing. Thanks, mcohen.
I can’t see any way Trump can win.
He is an able man, but he is an an amoral man who tried to overthrow the Government on January 6th.
Trump could beat Biden, he was a vastly better President than Biden, who was the only one Trump could have beaten.
Here is hoping she will be a Truman like figure who was underestimated and not “read-on” to many things.
Kamala Harris will be committing political suicide if she does not go into this campaign as the incumbent.
I mean, honestly, Biden is President Potato, and he is only going to get worse from here on. Much worse, probably.
Trump will have from now until November to monster Kamala Harris and the entire DNC over the fact – and it is a fact – that they knew all along that Biden was demented, and are STILL cool with the idea that the Oval Office is inhabited by a President who is incapable of fulfilling the role of President.
How does candidate Kamala counter such attack ads?
To my mind she can’t – everyone in the USA will look at her and say to themselves that she is such a selfish and self-absorbed b**ch that she couldn’t care less that there is no President.
Dereliction of duty. It is a thing.
What is happening behind closed-doors in the Democrat party is a disgrace. A venal, disgusting disgrace, and Kamala Harris is cool with it.
Yeah, Right,
Biden has already gotten a lot of his legislative agenda through, infrastructure, Chip Act and others. Those achievements were a big part of pulling our economy back from the brink of collapse when he entered office. He pulled NATO together to confront Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Now we’ll see what he can or cannot do with six months of a lame duck presidency.
Trump was a deer in the headlights his last year. The economy damned near collapsed although that that was pretty much a worldwide phenomenon. At least he pushed hard for the vaccine.
TTG,
. which state governors ordered lockdowns and what impact did that have? The world wonders…..
Fred,
What alternative did Trump offer or what leadership did he provide?
YR,
OK, this is getting downright eerie, but yes, you are correct. I already see the ads on youtube and elsewhere; Kamala helped conceal that the President is incapable of doing his job. It’s a really good point. The democrats can’t even retort that the accusations are baseless evil conservative attacks because many democrats, themselves, have been saying Biden can’t do the job and needs to step out of the race. Kamala has even stated, recently, that Joe is fine, nothing wrong! If she is willing to lie about that, what else will she lie about? Scary.
Furthermore, we all can see Biden looking bad. That is something the left always forgets; the public has eyes, ears and a the ability to think. Gaslighting only goes so far, before it backfires.
TTG,
Trump was caught between the truth and a media/political landslide that claimed that covid was going to kill us all and drastic measures had to be taken. He should have stuck to initial understanding, which was that covid was largely a hoax, that we were dealing with a novel flu that, like any flu, was a threat to the old and infirm, who should have been isolated, while the rest of us went about our lives. But then he would have been slaughtered in the media and perhaps thoroughly impeached. The left is fairly adept at playing these kinds of bitchy games when they are in the zone. It’s all they have. Then the people – or at least enough of them – wake up. The left is finished. People are tired of the games for now.
TTG,
He told, but could NOT order, state governors that they should not lock down. Have you forgotten all of Fauci’s fraud or Birx’s admitted lies?
I don’t agree with what Yeah Right says below.
i think Biden needs to stand down at the Convention or in looks like she is being nominated (since data indicate she can win. but Biden (and possibly many others) are not sure she can govern.
EO wrote:
“Given the Fundamentalist/Evangelical vote in the States, is it possible for any American politician to put the brakes on?”
Might I suggest some more significant factors?
“Given the power that Jewish money holds over American politics,
and the influence Jews hold over American media,
is it possible for any American politician to put the brakes on?”
A detail:
I have been reading the Washington Post since I moved into the Washington area in 1973.
I can guarantee you that what influences that publication is not, in general, the POV of evangelical Christians.
It consistently pushes non-traditional values.
Keith Harbaugh – not sure. I was under the impression that of the donor money washing around to defray election expenses, donations from the pro-Israeli lobby constitute a relatively small proportion.
The larger proportion of that going to the Democrats, A quick google seems to confirm that. In any case, as Trump stated a while back, the mass of the donors are after sectoral advantage, or even a straight commercial return on their investment, and provided they get that the label put on the donation doesn’t matter that much.
To illustrate that, Donald Trump stated he used to donate to politicians in order to get his building permits. He said it didn’t much matter which side you bribed – or both simultaneously! – as long as you got the return you wanted, In his case that was local stuff but no doubt the principle’s the same at national level.
Douglas Macgregor’s always talking about the unhealthy influence the “donor class” has on politics, though I don’t recollect him mentioning the Israeli lobby as playing a significant role there. He saw the donor mechanism close up when he was working in the White House.
All that’s anecdotal – how can it be otherwise? – but this study gives a very nice breakdown of the various theories put forward on the subject of the composition and influence of combinations of interest groups:-
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/testing-theories-of-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B
It concludes that the empirical evidence matches what most of us know anyway. The interest groups have more clout than we do.
“Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence.”
Concluding:-
“Despite the seemingly strong empirical support in previous studies for theories of majoritarian democracy, our analyses suggest that majorities of the American public actually have little influence over the policies our government adopts. Americans do enjoy many features central to democratic governance, such as regular elections, freedom of speech and association, and a widespread (if still contested) franchise. But we believe that if policymaking is dominated by powerful business organizations and a small number of affluent Americans, then America’s claims to being a democratic society are seriously threatened.”
That study deals with the influence of interest groups in the States but in truth, the only difference between us in Europe and the States is that we’re a lot more secretive about the process. Western governments are more realistically regarded as oligarchies tempered by such democratic pressure as the electoral process manages to exert. Not much, if we’re being honest.
As for the mechanics of how the interest groups operate another man who, like Macgregor, saw it at close quarters gives us another vivid anecdotal account:-
” … I’m talking about lobbying – and we all know how it works. The lunches, the hospitality, the quiet word in your ear, the ex-ministers and ex-advisors for hire, helping big business find the right way to get its way. In this party, we believe in competition, not cronyism. We believe in market economics, not crony capitalism. So we must be the party that sorts all this out.”
“…We don’t know who is meeting whom. We don’t know whether any favours are being exchanged. We don’t know which outside interests are wielding unhealthy influence. This isn’t a minor issue with minor consequences. Commercial interests – not to mention government contracts – worth hundreds of billions of pounds are potentially at stake.
“I believe that secret corporate lobbying, like the expenses scandal, goes to the heart of why people are so fed up with politics. It arouses people’s worst fears and suspicions about how our political system works, with money buying power, power fishing for money and a cosy club at the top making decisions in their own interest.
“We can’t go on like this. I believe it’s time we shone the light of transparency on lobbying in our country and forced our politics to come clean about who is buying power and influence.
“Politics should belong to people, not big business or big unions, and we need to sort this out. ..”
(David Cameron, 8th Feb 2010, cited in “A Quiet Word: Lobbying, Crony Capitalism and Broken Politics in Britain”, Cave & Rowell, 2014)
To what extent does the Israeli lobby figure in this vast machinery of influence and corruption? Not much, I reckon, and we only think they do because they kick up such a racket.
I go along with Colonel Lang’s view. The US will use Israel only as long as it reckons it advantageous to do so. Given the dramatic loss of diplomatic and moral credibility the US has incurred worldwide by backing Israeli atrocities, that balance of advantage is shifting. Netanyahu is possibly placing too much reliance on the Scofield Bible.
As for the Jewish voters themselves, thought they were split. The older ones going along with the Gaza atrocities, the younger not so much. Am I wrong there?
Should say, not literally “in” the White House, as far as I know. Should have written, in the administration.
Interestingly, Macgregor has a different take from most on the first few months of the SMO. He sees Putin finding out at that time that the Kiev forces were much stronger than he thought. And that the Russian approach altered as time went on.
Macgregor’s contacts are extensive and well-informed but I find it difficult to go with that. I reckon the Russian General Staff knew from the beginning what they were up against and that there is a continuum in their approach from day one – but give that there’s a foot or two of print from me above perhaps here’s not the place to look at that further!
EO,
Macgregors’ early take on the war was that the Russians were going to take Kyiv and win any day now. He was as wrong as wrong could be. The whole idea of a limited SMO proved wrong. That the Russian approach altered over time was obvious to anyone. It doesn’t take extensive contacts to figure that out.
EO,
I must say that it seems to me that you are becoming increasingly radicalized against the US and West in general. You used to make a lot more sense to me.
I will agree that the US has declined to some meaningful extent. I believe that is due to ideologies injected into our culture by our enemies (China, Russia and the global communist movement). Nothing that can’t be fixed by bringing back our industrial strength, cultural cohesion and pride + some house cleaning in the federal government. Greatness is still within reach.
Anyhow, the problem with your dismal pessimist crowd is that you rarely look at the West in comparison to the rest of the world. The context is missing. The reality is that the rest of the world is truly screwed up; so screwed up that neither you nor any of our perennial America haters would want to live there (and they don’t, of course).
I concede that, since 2022, you guys do carve out Russia though. It’s your El Dorado. Carefully selected snapshots provided by fellow believers and paid agents help convince you of that. I guess that cultish faith is strong enough to resist the facts on the ground regarding the SMO.
I saw an article the other day claiming Russia was in the midst of an impending great victory, albeit in just one of many sectors of the Ukrainian front. If all keeps going well, Russia will gain four whole kilometers! Wow! Total victory is right around the corner after 2 1/2 years. Any day now!
Looks like Biden is not capable of being President either:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2024/07/22/memorandum-on-the-delegation-of-certain-functions-and-authorities-under-the-rebuilding-economic-prosperity-and-opportunity-for-ukrainians-act/
“Delegation of Certain Functions and Authorities Under the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity for Ukrainians Act”
Fred,
That act authorizes the Treasury to seize Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s defense. Looks like he’s streamlining the process and telling his Secretary of the Treasury to go for it. I think Biden will soon start providing more support to Ukraine. He’s been holding back from what he’s fully authorized to provide in line with his foolish escalation management policies.
TTG,
That allows Blinken and Co to destroy US credibility worldwide. Which nations will trust the US after that action?: please see Iran and them getting all their own money back, plus interest.
Fred,
The US holds some $50 billion in Iranian assets and have held them since Jimmy Carter’s days. We used $6 billion held by South Korea as part of a prisoner exchange. And yet Russia and China continued to store their assets in the US, China even buying more of them. Maybe this move against Russia will make China think twice about their investments. At least it may put the brakes on the drive to globalism.
TTG,
You left out Iran being part of that deal.
I think we should all marvel at how quickly Kamala Harris’ world has shrunk.
Two months ago – heck, a month ago – she would have thought herself the luckiest person alive: Trump was going to jail, which would lead the GOP into disarray, and Sleepy Joe would then waltz to another term in office that she must know he wasn’t going to survive.
So she would have ridden the coat-tails all the way to the Oval Office without having to do a day’s worth of work. Perhaps two or three years as the incumbent, and then she could have run for the office with all the advantages of incumbency.
The first woman President. One for the history books, and all completely unearned.
But now?
Now it has all crumbled around her: she is being given a poisoned chalice, one she knows that no-one else wants. Her fate is to be defeated by Trump, and then go off to a well-deserved obscurity.
And to add insult to injury the old coot refuses to resign the Presidency, so she can’t even claim a small slice of history as the first (unelected) woman President.
Which isn’t much, but it ain’t nothin’
YR,
I must say, these are strange times. For the second time within a few days, I find myself totally agreeing with you.
I also think – as Walrus does (below) – that Cheatle has been given the same treatment. A DEI hire, mediocre in every way, has been made into the sacrificial fool. The assassination plot failed and the whole thing will been closed out as just more gross incompetence. Congress critters form both sides of the aisle get to play at being indignant and doing their job to make tax payer funded agencies accountable.
It seems that the democrats do see some value in stupid DEI women.
Cheatle served 27 years in the Secret Service. She retired and was hired by PepsiCo as a senior director of global security. She seems to be an example of the Peter Principle as well as the Secret Service being a now failed organization.
they got nailed for boozing & whoring in S America and Amsterdam during Obama’s admin. Cheatle was probably elevated as punishment + to straighten them out. tough bunch of former gov employees.
Yep, have to say it is a most bizarre world that we now live in where you and I can agree on…. anything.
Maybe if we both stay clear of international geopolitics then there is more common ground to be found.
It will be a contest between the Prosecutor and the Perp and my money is on the former. Now the GOP has the old man with cognitive issues and just by being who she is, it will be a trap that Trump will not be able to not get into. I, and many others, have seen his decline during the last year and now with added pressure, I expect it to accelerate. Add to this the fact that the GOP now also have a Putin pal and unknown quality as VP candidate to deal with. This is why they say that a week can be a lifetime in politics.
Lars – Calling Vance a “Putin Pal” is getting ahead of the game. Most improper. SOP is to wait until MI6 has put the dossier together first.
Can’t see the point of the Special Relationship if you’re not going to allow us to make the decisions in US politics. Please wait until Messrs Dearlove and Steele have finished their work before jumping the gun like that.
EO,
Vance has been endorsed by Lavrov. No need for Dearlove and Steele.
Vance is a known unquality. I wouldn’t be surprised if he resigns “to spend more time w/ my family” & “support the past & future King’s intentions for monetizing the senate”. what a schmuck.
The Head of the Secret Service has resigned. Am i the only one to think that she failed because Trump is still alive?
IMHO, she failed to “Epstein” trump – deliberately engineer the failure of protective measures.
As anyone who studies safety knows; we work with the James Reason safety model: accidents are the result of multiple holes in slices of swiss cheese lining up – there are always multiple events that have to line up to produce the chain of circumstance leading to an accident. The safety management task is to prevent the holes lining up or break the chain in as many places as possible.
In Trumps case there were NO atttempts to break the chain and Trump survived on pure luck. That makes it deliberate in my book. My guess now is that she wont live very long. She will have an accident to break the link between the asssassin and the instigators.
walrus,
Given the venues and nature of Trump’s rallies, I’m surprised he lasted this long without an assassination attempt. Perhaps there have been thwarted attempts over the years. In that case, it is even more negligent that the Secret Service hasn’t been better funded over the years or augmented with other federal or military protective services. I belonged to an SMU that did a lot of surveying and planning for such services overseas. It could be considered a MACAP mission (military assistance to civilian authorities). For the actual protection missions, National Guard personnel could augment local police. A few National Guardsmen sitting on the rooftops and tree lines could have prevented the clown from getting a shot at Trump.
TTG,
Testimony in congress, today, by PA state police explained something interesting. There is a two story building behind the building from which Crooks fired (Crooks’ firing position). There were two local cops (I think he said county cops) on the second story of the two story building and they were positioned such that they were looking out windows that had a good view of Crooks’ firing position. The windows faced the Trump stage too.
According to testimony, both of the two local cops abandoned their post to go look for Crooks after the call came out to be on the look out for a suspicious character (Crooks). So as the local cops were down on the ground searching for Crooks, Crooks climbed onto the very roof the cops were supposed to be watching and on which they would have instantly seen him.
The Key Stone cops in action to be sure, just not funny.
Now, I don’t believe a word of that story, but it is apparently the narrative that is being developed to make this whole thing just go away.
Eric Newhill,
Why wouldn’t you believe that testimony? The local police also said four of their motorcycle officers received minor wounds from plastic or metal shards. I had no idea where that could come from until I finally saw a photo or video frame showing a corner of a teleprompter shot off. Might have been what hit Trump’s ear. I never saw a shattered teleprompter so I discounted that until recently.
TTG
There’s a debunked story that said a bullet nicked a teleprompter and showing a shattered corner of it. The photo in that story was faked. A news cast I saw zeroed in on both teleprompters both being untouched. What is strange is the man who was shot in the head anddied was far to the left of Trump, way off target.
“According to testimony, both of the two local cops abandoned their post to go look for Crooks after the call came out to be on the look out for a suspicious character (Crooks). ”
So I take it that those two cops were called to give their testimony?
If not then I’m calling bullshit on that story.
YR,
I am skeptical too for several reasons. Abandoning the visual advantage of the high ground- and your post – is always a bad idea.
Why not keep eyes out from above and use comms to inform law enforcement on the ground? More damning to the story is that someone took that pic of Crooks climbing onto the roof and the pic is from a looking down and from the side angle. So it wasn’t from one of the spectators on the ground. Only the guys in the second floor window who, according to State Trooper Paris were no longer in position, could have taken the pic. If the pic was taken earlier, like Crooks went on the roof and then came down before going back up, then Trump should have absolutely been kept off the stage until Crooks was wrapped up.
Too many failures. Lefties can bury their heads in the sand and write it off to incompetence, but I say Crooks was deliberately facilitated.
Funny that the right is always saying government sucks at getting things done, which pisses off the lefties, but then the lefties are so quick to cry gross incompetence when it looks like they are guilty of something worse.
What’s nice is that whistle Blowers are coming forward. They will all point fingers to deflect until they give up enough to convict people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjKd_T030ko
Never take the “Abe ‘Kid Twist’ Reles Memorial Cell.”
I would say the SS is flawed but not failed. Been about 45 years since someone managed to put a bullet in a POTUS, a remarkable accomplishment in the land of the free and the home of the heavily armed nut-job. The old British soldier cut them too much slack but he wasn’t all wrong about there is no such thing as absolute security for someone who holds yuuuuge public events. Have they shown signs of slippage recently? No question. Every organization slips some and needs refreshing re-boots to the tush from time to time.
Unless rather significantly scaled up they will still have to rely on local LE for some things no matter who is running the outfit, and the info I saw was that building the shooter got to and climbed the roof had been delegated to the local LE. Simple as pie, it ‘s just a small barn, really. Barney Fife wasn’t and isn’t aways going to be up for the job.
“… there were NO atttempts to break the chain and Trump survived on pure luck.”
there’s a massive hole in that logic.
it is far more likely that the event scenario & shooter’s actions simply presented a chain of holes that the “anticipated universe of hole interdiction plans” failed to address effectively in that place, in real time.
I suppose that when she lives long your conspiracy theory will be recognized for what it is. frankly, & in-general, I’ve grown tired of conspiratorial thinking being embraced as the most likely truth, absent hard evidence validated from multiple sources. {“extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence” … otherwise, we might as well forget the scientific method, rationality & QC… & just go for any (of many!) shallow, internally consistent narratives that suits our deep-seated bias}
The other side.I got all this from a guy on twitter.worth a read
dan linnaeus
@DanLinnaeus
Israel’s Plan, and U.S. & Egypt ‘Day After’ Proposals | Demilitarization and Security in Post-War Gaza ––– Comparative Overview: There are several ongoing discussions and plans being considered concurrently in Israel, with additional proposals being advanced by both the U.S. and Egypt, as well as the E.U. The three most prominent plans each focus on comprehensive approaches involving multiple parties and stages to address the security and political challenges of post-war Gaza. Implementation and success of these respective approaches will pivot on a host of geopolitical factors and the willingness to cooperate of regional stakeholders. The U.S. and Egypt proposals share common ground in advancing the immediate need for international involvement in post-war security. However, the U.S. plan is more detailed in its envisioning of the Palestinian Authority’s role in governance, whereas Egypt’s proposal is more focused on the security framework itself. Notably, both plans involving the immediate deployment of an international force to manage Gaza security post demilitarization diverge from Israel’s multi-stage approach which entails the establishment of an interim Israeli military government, followed by the transfer of governance to new officials, and finally, integration into a broader Middle East settlement effort. Post war security control of Gaza has Implications under International Law where the benefit to Israel of maintaining security through an international force disposes of the increased liabilities introduced under the Hague Regulations and the Fourth Geneva Convention of ‘de facto’ occupation designation. ––– Three Plans for Post War Gaza i. Israel’s Strategy: A plan, reportedly associated with Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu, envisions a multiphase approach involving different stakeholders. This plan, while not directly involving Netanyahu, is being deliberated as part of Israel’s broader strategy for the region. The stages outlined in the plan from what has been openly discussed so far: –– Gaza: Stage A. Establishment of Israeli Military Government in Gaza: This involves the creation of a comprehensive Israeli military government to oversee humanitarian aid and assume responsibility for the civilian population during a “transition period.” Stage B. Formation of an International Arab Coalition: Concurrent with the first stage, this involves the creation of a coalition including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and others. This coalition supports the establishment of a “New Palestinian Authority.” Stage C. Transfer of Governance from Israel to New Officials: After the Israeli military administration, governance of Gaza will be handed over to officials not affiliated with Hamas or directly associated with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s guard. Israel retains the right to conduct security operations in Gaza. Israel integrates this three-tier staged Gaza framework across Palestinian Territories: — Reforms in Judea and Samaria: Contingent upon the stabilization of Gaza and the success of the new entity, reforms regarding the new Palestinian Authority’s functionality, educational content, de-radicalization and counterterrorism programs. — Recognition of a Palestinian State: Provided the stages proceed then within a two to four-year timeline, Israel will recognize a delineated Palestinian state within the Palestinian Authority territories and may transfer additional lands to that state. — Integration into Broader Middle East Settlement Effort: This plan aligns with the American-led comprehensive Middle East settlement effort and is coordinated by various Israeli officials and agencies. Israel’s multi-stage framework for resolving conflict in the region, integrates military, political, and diplomatic strategies. [Source: Netanyahu’s Gaza strategy: The gambit over the future of Gaza – The Jerusalem Post – https://jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-784451
] ii. U.S. Involvement: The U.S. administration under President Biden is contemplating a multiphase reconstruction of Gaza post-conflict. This includes an initial stabilization phase by an international force, followed by a revamped Palestinian Authority taking over in the long term. The plan includes increasing security-related aid to the Palestinian Authority and the involvement of the U.S. Security Coordinator. However, this strategy faces challenges, including Israeli skepticism and Arab frustration, and is subject to many unpredictable variables [Source: ,How the Biden team is planning for a postwar Gaza Strip – POLITICO – https://politico.com/news/magazine/2023/12/04/biden-gaza-israel-hamas-war-00130000 ] iii. Egyptian Perspective: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has suggested that a future Palestinian state could be demilitarized, with a temporary international security presence. This could involve NATO forces, United Nations forces, or Arab or American forces, aiming to ensure security for both the nascent Palestinian state and Israel. The Demilitarization Proposals: A number of proposals have been discussed for the demilitarization of Gaza. These proposals include different mechanisms and international involvement to certify the demilitarization is succesful while addressing broader security concerns in the region. One notable point of contention between plans by outside stakeholders and Israel’s revolves around its doctrinal shift to geographic depth emphasizing the need for buffer zones inside Gaza. The U.S. and other vested parties have opposed the buffer zones inside Gaza’s boundaries, however this does not seem to a negotiable point for Israel given a seismic shift in its national security doctrine post October 7 which seeks definitive controls over its security environment. The Mofaz plan for demilitarizing Gaza, inspired by the disarmament of Syria’s chemical weapons, advances a framework for international cooperation to remove Hamas’s rockets. This plan, presented to Israeli officials, suggests a $50 billion investment for Gaza’s compliance, involving global and regional leaders to support the demilitarization, aiming to offer a sustainable solution to recurring conflicts. [Sources: The Mofaz plan for demilitarizing Gaza | The Times of Israel – https://timesofisrael.com/the-mofaz-plan-for-demilitarizing-gaza/ Egypt’s el-Sisi says future Palestinian state could be ‘demilitarised’ | Israel War on Gaza News | Al Jazeera – https://aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/24/egypts-el-sisi-says-future-palestinian-state-could-be-demilitarised ] Additional Proposals: –– EU’s 10-Point Peace Plan: As reported by EURACTIV in January 2024, the EU drafted a comprehensive solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, emphasizing the need for a credible and comprehensive approach, though the challenge lies in securing member states’ and regional buy-in. Article: EU’s Borrell outlines 10-point peace plan to end Israel-Palestine conflict EURACTIV Alexandra Brzozowski, Aurélie Pugnet Publication Date: 2024-01-20 https://euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/eus-borrell-outlines-10-point-peace-plan-to-end-israel-palestine-conflict/
I am currently in Lewes, DE and the SS were staying in the same hotel. I also heard that Biden usually go to a spinning class in Rehoboth Beach and the other day when he went, everybody were frisked upon entering and that had not happened in the past. I refrained from telling them that I have roofing experience, should they need it.
Eric! Please don’t fall into the trap of thinking that recognising the US has screwed up utterly in the Ukrainian venture makes one anti-American. The UK has screwed up even worse but that doesn’t make me anti-English!
Nor need one be anti-European to find Brussels a bureaucratic freak show. Merely realistic.
And it’s realism that has been sadly lacking in most of the West since February 24th 2022. From that date on it was obvious that either remnant Ukraine was going to be neutralised or the Putin administration would fall apart and probably the RF with it. The loss of the sanctions war – what dope dreamed that one up! – ensured it would be the former.
Setting aside, as scarcely worth mentioning, that we’ve caused the deaths of some half million of our proxies – and wrecked their country for them – the interesting and somewhat worrying bit is what comes afterwards.
You know, I guess, that Brussels has declared it’s planning on taking no more Russian hydrocarbons. Zelensky helping by cutting some gas supplies already. That, by the way, cutting his own throat because Slovakia has intimated that if it can’t get Russian gas it may no longer be possible to continue supplying electricity. Just one example of the clown show that passes for Western strategy but I can assure you there are plenty more.
You’ll also know that Europe is going all out for Net Zero so isn’t that useful a long term customer for Russian hydrocarbons anyway. That’s why the Russians are slowly switching supplies to China.
You will also know that the Euros, mini-Barbarossa Scholz to the fore, are settling down to a long term confrontation with Russia. Rapid Response Forces at the ready – hope they can dig up enough broomsticks from somewhere – and your people are providing intermediate range nuclear to give the confrontation teeth.
Put all that together – that the Euros are wanting to get shot of Russian hydrocarbons and that the Russians are no longer regarding them as worthwhile customers – and you can see how vulnerable the European economies are right now. Because in the real world Europe is still heavily dependent on Russian fuel and raw materials.
Putin’s original aims were “demilitarisation and denazification”. That means, neutralising remnant Ukraine so that it can no longer be used by us to run black ops into Russia, or to send “look no hands” missiles over. But those original aims have now ballooned.
The Russians are now after the “New European Security Architecture” they were mentioning in late 2021. They won’t need to take military action to remove the threat from Europe. All they have to do is cut supplies.
In the fog of Russophobic war hysteria the Euro politicians live in they don’t seem to have thought of that possibility. Nor Washington. If the psychos you’ve got running the show at present are capable of thought.
Your best bet, if I may venture to comment on the politics of another country, is to select Trump next time round. He’s not one of the psychos – rare in Washington – is more than capable of connected thought and he is, I believe, the only Western politician of any stature not dead set on ensuring the US stops cutting its own throat as well. Wish we had someone like that in Europe!
EO, did you notice this:
https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-manufacturing-industry-slump-weakened-eurozone-economy-energy/
I excerpted it at another post:
https://turcopolier.com/project-2025-is-a-blueprint-for-business-disaster/#comment-240530
EO,
Unfortunately for Putin, Russia is not the sole energy supplier in the world. Energy in the EU will never be as cheap as it was before the invasion, but it will be available. Manufacturing will have to adjust accordingly. NATO has found new life in the process and the “New European Security Architecture” has not evolved in Putin’s favor. Russia’s Europhobic hysteria will only go so far in papering over Putin’s failure to conquer Ukraine and bring the Little Russians into the Kremlin’s fold.
I’m exaggerating a little about the effect the Ukraine debacle has had, TTG. Europe was on the skids long before 2022.
Saw it in Germany at close quarters. Outsourcing, letting infrastructure run down, crazy immigration policies – “Was für einen Saustall hat die Merkel uns hinterlassen!” said one of my friends there a while back, and she wasn’t talking about Ukraine. And I only have left wing friends over there so Lord knows what the AfD mob are saying about it all amongst themselves. Unprintable, I imagine.
All that was happening anyway, Ukraine or no, but I think the disruptive economic effect of the sanctions war has markedly accelerated the decline. Now the silly chumps are wanting to turn this decaying continent into a cut price Festung Europa. Not only that. The country that used to be markedly superior to mine when it came to civil liberty and respect for individual rights is now in those respects, looking at recent court cases, high tailing it back to the Third Reich.
Which is the natural habitat of many of them anyway, reading their press. And that decline has consequences beyond Germany’s borders. Juncker used to say that nothing got past Brussels unless it got past Berlin and Paris first. Wicked old devil, Juncker, but he knew his EU and where Germany leads the rest of Europe follows. Downwards, by the looks of it. Fastish.
However, the old Germany I used to know and admire is still buried in there somewhere. I pick up any number of hints on that. The day I see the Germans daring to ask who blew up North Stream – and one or two brave spirits are daring that already – is the day we’ll see the country on the road back to normality.
On conquering Ukraine, my personal impression is that the Russians would rather not. They’ll probably annex the old pro-Russian areas but for the rest of it, they’re hoping the Ukrainians themselves will turf out the government we’ve lumbered them with.
Sounds very unlikely at the moment, but slowly they’re beginning to understand that the West has taken them for a ride. So a possibility, maybe?
………………………..
I really screwed up on the last sentence above. Re-read it just now and there’s a “not” in there that shouldn’t be. One of these days I’ll submit a comment without an error in it.
EO,
Europe, especially Germany, has changed a lot. I was there often in the ’80s and lived there from 1990 to 1996. In that time it got harder and harder to find German restaurants. It took a family to run one and German families were either too small or non-existent. Italian, Turkish and Middle Eastern restaurants were becoming more prevalent due to immigration.
After the Wall came down, East Europeans were flooding in. They weren’t welcome across wide swaths of the people. There were several times the border was closed to Easterners. One of my operations got caught in one of those closures. I was fearing he was rolled up before I knew the border was closed. Months later we got caught up in a crowd of 30,000 on the streets of Hamburg in a march against hate. My agent said he got good vibes from that experience. I lived in Bavaria during the Wiedervereinigung. My neighbors had no use for the Ossies, even my Romanian neighbor. They weren’t too thrilled about the Yugoslavian refugees, either. But they were all in for liberating Slovenia and Croatia.
But, all in all, I loved my time in Germany.
TTG,
You should write a memoir.
TonyL,
Nope. Commenting here is as close as I’ll come to that. Besides, the really good stuff can’t be published.
When I was in the FRG in the 1980s, I don’t remember the Gast Hausen being family affairs, like Italian and Chinese and South Asian Restaurants tend to be in the states.
i recall someone owning a place with maybe their spouse, and them hiring people who worked in the restaurant trade. It was a bit like what you see in things like Anthony Bourdin’s Kitchen Confidential.
On the other hand, the Italian, Chinese and South Asians places were more like the ones in the States, families running the businesses.
(The other difference was how popular Balkan/Greek places were in the Mid-1980s, 4 or 5 years before the country of Yugoslavia falling apart (but 5 0r 6 years after Tito’s death),
I was in Hess, in Friedberg and Hanau, so being nearer to Frankfort and Giessen might account for that. . .
I also remember seeing Yugoslavian AJVARSKI in the Kaufhoff which I remember my (Irish) Grandma and her sisters making and liking (from growing up in late 19th and early 20th Century Cohoes, NY, which still has many Orthodox and Eastern Rite Churches.
EO,
Rotherham is a great city! So is Leeds! and what else has been happening in “not Germany” for years?
Might I correct an error above. Oil, not gas:-
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/hungary-seek-solution-ukraine-oil-transit-impasse-september-112304292#:~:text=The%20two%20countries%20threatened%20legal,by%20cutting%20off%20oil%20supplies.%22