Why is the country still listening to the Kennedys? And by that, I mean any Kennedy.

The 2024 Election, Part XX. The Debate Edition

 

June 27, 2024

So, tonight (9:00 p.m. Eastern), the two ancient contestants in what both parties insist is a "binary choice" square off in what will be the only debate of the 2024 Presidential Election.

Trump, who has a habit of going weirdly off script in meandering monologues, has been trying to downplay the results ahead of time, after having spent months claiming that Biden is cognitively impaired.  In reality, Biden's always made odd speech gaffs, but Trump, who in his younger days did not, now makes them frequently, suggesting that the impacts of age are catching up with him.  Both men are the same age chronologically, for all practical purposes, but Biden is obviously more physically fit than Trump, who doesn't believe in exercise.

It is, of course, not a binary contest.  You can vote for somebody else.

Do you intend to watch the debate?

So, who all do we have right now?

Presidential Election:

Democratic Ticket:  

Biden/Harris, incumbents.

Republican Ticket:  

Trump/Unknown.

American Solidarity Party:¹   

Sonski/Onak

Libertarian Party:²

Oliver/terMaat

Reform Party:³

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr (an independent)/Shanahan⁴ 

Green Party:⁵

Jill Stein/Unknown

Green Party of Alaska:⁶ 

Sherman/BluBear

Constitution Party:⁷  

Terry/Broden

Constitution Party of Utah and Nevada: 

Skousen/Combs

Party for Socialism and Liberation:⁸

De la Cruz/Garcia

Approval Voting Party: 

Huber/Denault

Prohibition Party:⁹

Wood/Pietrowski

Independent:  

West/Abdullah

Quite a few third parties, we'd note.  Have you considered any of them?

Wyoming Senate Race:

Democratic Contest:

Scott Morrow.

GOP Contest:

John Barrasso, incumbent

Reid Rasner

John Hotz.

Wyoming House Race:

Democratic Contest:

Kyle Cameron

GOP Contest:

Harriet Hageman, incumbent.

Steve Helling

Constitution Party:  

Jeff Haggit

June 28, 2024

I only watched about 30 minutes of it and could no longer stand it.

There's really no denying at this point that Biden's age makes him unfit to be President.  It's not that Trump made sense, Trump's performance demonstrated that he's an unmitigated liar and constitutionally unfit for office.

Rather, the supposed binary system that Americans have bought off on means that, for most people, the choice, because they refuse to imagine another one, will between somebody whose age has caught up with him vs. somebody who doesn't have a single positive political attribute and who is a danger to democracy.

Some, like Nate Silver, and he's far from being alone, are calling for Biden to drop out of the race.  If he does not, it will be to his everlasting shame.  The real question is not if he should drop out, but when he should drop out.

And who, in that case, might replace him.

Joe Manchin of West Virginia.  A possibility?

The other, and vital question, is how American democracy reached this state.  These two choices are the worst in American history and most people don't want them (which again means, they shouldn't vote for either of them).  If the country survives this election, something has to change, beyond that which will change simply because of who is elected.   The system is not functioning to produce two such abysmal choices.

Almost missed, so far, as a Wyoming story, but sort of an interesting aspect of the warp and woof of our times, a Hageman staffer has been forced to resign, in this case, an intern.

A news story by "The Laramie Reporter" reveals that the intern had connections, at least in the form of social media likes, with the extreme right. The same figure has been a rising, albeit young, figure in the populist far right at UW and is on the student senate.

The entire matter is interesting in that it reveals the extent to which populism in the US right now trends highly towards the anti-democratic. The intern was found to have liked racist posts on social media, and to also have outright stated his opposition to democracy at least once.  He also seems to have followed Francoist, which is stunningly bizarre.  This seems to have come out of the same figure being a Christian Nationalist, which shows a really dark side of the National Conservative movement, but perhaps one that is closer to the surface than many people care to admit.

He lost his position, or resigned, the very day the blog broke the story.

June 29, 2024

To Serve His Country, President Biden Should Leave the Race

June 28, 2024

The New York Times.

The Times is absolutely correct, which doesn't mean it will occur.  The stunning level of refusal to accept reality will keep it from occurring.

Establishment Democrats like Robert Reich who ignored the repeated calls for Biden not to run in the first place failed to address the deer in the headlights appearance of Biden and the obvious age related mental decline following the debate (Reich may be addressing it in his entry of today).  "It's only one bad day" seems to be the theme, with those commenters forgetting the truism expressed by Janis Joplin "that it's all only one f***** day man".  

The bolt is shot.  Some Democrats who were to vote for Biden will now not vote at all, or go to third parties.  Republicans on the fence will in fact fold back into Trump.  Wavering independents will fall towards him, or fall towards not voting at all.

The reality is that Biden needs to step aside in the race. The other reality is, he won't.

Biden will keep running, and Trump will win in the fall.

Footnotes:

1. The American Solidarity Party is a Christian Democratic party that's centrist in nature, which should not be confused with Christian Nationalism, which it would generally be in opposition to.

2.  For some time the third-largest party in the US, the Libertarian Party has seemingly fallen into hard times as libertarian ideas have been co opted by some elements of the Republican Party, which ironically in its populist mode of present, it's also radically opposed to, but doesn't realize it.

3.  A number of parties have had the "reform" label for at least a couple of decades. This party is generally centrist in nature.

4.  Kennedy has the Reform Party's nomination, but isn't running from it.  He's an independent.

5. The environmental party.

6. I have no idea why Alaska's Green Party has separated from the main Green Party, but it certainly has no chance of electing a President.

7.  The Constitution Party is a populist party and is where the "Freedom Caucus" people actually belong.

8.  A radical left wing party.

9.  A really old party, it was at one time a significant one but has waned since the repeal of prohibition.

June 30, 2024

Predictably, there's a lot of Democratic true believer "nothing to see here" type of comments regarding President Biden and the recent debates, maintaining nothing whatsoever will happen in regard to his poor performance.

Not likely.

I'm reminded of Monty Python's classic scene of King Arthur confronting the Black Knight.

"Just a flesh wound".

July 2, 2024

The post election reaction on the Democratic side has been interesting, and unfortunately a bit predictable.

The closer a commenter is to the Biden Presidency, either officially or emotionally, the more likely the comments are that the debate just didn't matter.

It did.

As things distance out, that is recognized.  The New York Times, Maureen Doud, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, and others, have all asked Biden to drop out.  He should, but the voices he's now hearing, from his family, and from inside Democrats, are urging him to stay in the race. Those are the voices that he's going to listen to.

And that's what will reelect Donald Trump in the Fall.

It's not too late to pick a new Democrat.  It's not the case that only Joe Biden can beat Trump.  Indeed, people thought Biden was going to be a one-term President in the first place, and didn't want him to run again.  Nobody likes the thought of Harris being the President when Biden dies.

Of course, what's going on is emblematic of the Democratic Party itself.  It's not true that "only Biden" can beat Trump, but probably only Biden can embrace the full slate of the Democratic left's agenda, somewhat, and still have a chance at beating Trump. Any other Democrat who had a chance would have to run much more from the center.  Ironically, that would also mean that such a candidate would have a much better chance of winning overall.  But the far left of the Democratic Party, like the far right of the Republican Party, is no compromise in nature.

Time remains, but it won't be taken advantage of.  The Democratic Party will simply hand the election to Trump, and more than that, may very well hand the Senate to the GOP as well.

Cont:

A party of Democratic governors is going to meet with Biden regarding his staying in the race, or gettin out.

Congressman Lloyd Doggett has called for him to get out.

Manchin was going to announce that he wanted Biden to back out on one of the Sunday news shows, but was talked out of it.

Democrats who are begging to realize that he might get out, are rallying around the worst possible option for his replacement, Kamala Harris.

July 3, 2024

Push To Ditch Ballot Machines For Hand Counts In Wyoming Gaining Steam

Oh shoot, why not just have a ballot initiative requiring us to vote by raising our hands after we walked to the polls, so we can get as antiquated as possible.

July 4, 2024

President Biden told staffers he's staying in the race. At the same time, support for him to do so is rapidly evaporating in the Democratic Party, with even Jim Clyburn suggesting that he should consider dropping out.  It was Clyburn's supportin 2024 which secured South Carolina for Biden.

Meanwhile, Anne Applebaum has published an article in The Atlantic urging Democrats to pick a new candidate, and noting that the British manage to hold thier entire election in a six week cycle. The French, whom she doesn't cite, are doing it even more quickly than that.

Newly released grand jury material shows that Trump’s name appears multiple times on Jeffrey Epstein’s message logs and seven times Epstein’s private jet flight logs, that Epstein flew on Trump’s jet with a young girl of indeterminate age and that girls who Epstein trafficked worked at Mar-A-Lago.  A girl that Epstein trafficked mentioned visiting Trump’s casino in a recently released deposition transcript.

A Jane Doe witness at Ghislane Maxwell's trial stated that she was introduced to Trump by Epstein when she was 14 years old.

This at least raises a set of questions, if nothing else, what did Trump know about Epstein?

Finally, barbequed dog?

July 5, 2024

Joining the rising number of press outlets calling for Biden to withdraw is the influential British magazine, The Economist:

Why Biden must withdraw (economist.com)

cont:

Now that it appears increasingly likely that Joe Biden will drop out (contrary to my expectations), and may even be reaching the inevitable stage, Trump is increasingly off his game.  Used to insulting his opponents, now that he doesn't know who his opponent is, he doesn't seem to know what to do.  An insult game only works if you visably have somebody to insult.  Without that, it might seem that he stands for nothing much.  He's managed some weak insults against VP Harris, but frankly it's unlikely that she'd be the Democratic nominee.

Today, on things he stands for, he eeked out this:

So he's disavowing those who are his hardcore allies and who have been getting in front of him as it now appears that Project 2025, in the hands of a capable opponent, might be a real liability. But this is a week denial.

July 6, 2024

Biden, bucking the tide against him, and refusing to acknowledge reality, has indicated he will not step down in an interview with George Stephanopoulos.

All along, the American public has not wanted these two ancient candidates, and yet they will not yield to the public desires.  Biden isn't yielding to reality at this point.

July 8, 2024

I listed to the This Week interview of President Biden.  From the audio, I came away more convinced than ever that Biden needs to step aside in the election  It left me, at least, with no confidence whatsoever.

In an odd turn of events, MAGA members are fuming over the results of the French Election:

France

In an amazing one week long rally, the French left and Macron's Ensemble stages a comeback with the left wing NFP now having the majority of seats in the French Assembly and Ensemble the second largest.  

None of the parties have enough seats to form a government, and nobody is certain what will occur.  If a government is to be formed, it will have to be a coalition government.

July 8, 2024.

Some are even accusing the French left of cheating in the election, with quite a few taking the same line as Le Pen supporters and claiming the alliance of French left wing parties "unnatural".

July 9, 2024

President Biden wrote a lengthy letter to Democratic leaders on his reamining in the race.

Related threads:

Why can't Democrats get a clue?

I ran this back in February, at which time it was already obvious that Joe Biden needed to go:

Lex Anteinternet: Why isn't anyone suggesting that Tammy Duckworth r...: 

Why isn't anyone suggesting that Tammy Duckworth replace Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket?

I'm not endorsing Duckworth, and I'm sure she has left of center opinions that I have problems with, but there's no earthly way that a guy with contempt for veterans and whose views toward women appears rather, well whatever, could handle a smart, female combat veteran, like Tammy Duckworth.

Fifty-five years old, lost her legs in combat, Asian American, PhD, and a mother.  She's the anti-Elise Stefanik.

Trump and his supporters couldn't handle her, and Trump would insult every single veteran, Asian American and woman in the country within 12 hours.

Curious.

Right now, the stunning level of density in thought in the Democratic Party is really on display.  Joe Biden is as done as dinner in this election.  If the Democrats are to beat Trump, they need to shuffle him out the door before the primary.  The line that nothing happened at the debate, or that he's just fine, or that it was only one bad day is frankly absurd.

He needs to drop out of the race.

In no way shape or form does Kamala Harris need to replace him.

Harris grates on the nerves of a lot of non Democrats, and just about everyone in the middle of the country. She has a grating voice and comes across as snarky.  She'll do worse, or at least no better than Biden would have. She needs to go too.

The Democrats have some strong potential younger candidates. Tammy Duckworth is the one that can't be beat.  She's much younger than the geezer running on both sides. 

And she's everything Trump has a problem with. She's a woman. She's not "white".  She's lost a leg, and in combat at that.

Trump would have a difficult time not being a complete asshole, and insult Asians, women, veterans, and the disabled.

Shoot, Duckworth is a mother. 

Harris is a snarky sounding lawyer.  He could make snide remarks about her all day, and a lot of people would secretly laugh at them.

A Duckworth/Manchin ticket would be unbeatable.  A Duckworth/Klobachar ticket probably would be.

I'd still vote for the American Solidarity Party candidates, as I have deep problems with the Democratic embrace of such things as abortion.  But the "oh, nothing is wrong with Biden" and "let's nominate the second most worst candidate" thinking of the Democrats is simply amazing.

Democrats don't lose elections.  They throw them away.

Blog Mirror: Joe Biden should drop out.

Labels: 2020s, 2024, 2024 Election, Blog Mirror, Joseph Biden, Personalities

Last prior edition:

The 2024 Election, Part XIX. The Clerks say "M'eh" edition.

Labels: 2020s, 2024, 2024 Election, flap de jour, Natrona County Wyoming, Politics, Taxes, Wyoming, Wyoming (Natrona County)

Did any of your ancestors participate in Operation Overlord?

If they did, let us know, and if you know anything about their stories, let us know that.

One of mine did.  My Uncle Terry, who was a Canadian soldier. That's about all of his story on this topic, I know.

Postscript

Surely, I'm not the only one. . . 

Why do populist Republicans want to do away with the Department of Education?

There's a bill in Congress, of which our local Congressman is a sponsor, to do just that.

Eh?

Packed cattle in high heat?

Yesterday I drove home from a remote location.  It was a really hot day. All the cattle that I drove past were packed up in dense groups, crowded for the most part near fences, but at least all packed up. What was up with that? 

Watching the mule auction this past Sunday brought me to a possible explanation as to why so many Western legal organizations like to feature cowboys in their propoganda.

And that's because it's honest, and manly, work.

Cowboy, 1888.   This is, for some reason, how lawyers often tend to see themselves.

It was Bates v. State Bar of Arizona in which the United States Supreme Court destroyed the professionalism of the legal profession.  In that 5 to 4 decision, the Court found that a rule of the Arizona State Bar preventing advertising violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments. It further held that allowing attorneys to advertise would not harm the legal profession or the administration of justice.

They were wrong.

As was often the case in that era, the majority had its head up its butt.  In reality, advertising destroyed decades of work by the early 20th Century American Bar Association and drug the occupation of being a lawyer from that of a learned profession down to a carnival barker.

Recently I watched the Netflix uploaded episodes of the Korean television series The Extraordinary Attorney Woo (이상한 변호사 우영우). In it, every one addressed attorneys by their patronymic and the title "Attorney", even if they were personally familiar with them.  So, for example, every time somebody addressed the central protagonist, they did so as "Attorney Woo".   That struck me as odd, so I looked it up to see if that was correct, and found a Korean language site entry that stated off with a comment that was something like "unlike the United States, attorneys in Korea are a respected profession".

That struck me, as I hadn't really thought about it like that.  When I started off in this line of work, we were still somewhat regarded as respected professionals and its hard to forget that's now in the past.

The decline was in, however, already by that time.  When we were admitted to the bar, Federal Judge Court Brimmer gave a speech about civility in litigation.  I've heard versions of it many times since. When I first started practicing, advertising was just starting here, and it was the domain of plaintiff's lawyers for the most part.  It still is.

Bates got us rolling in this direction, but the flood of 60s and 70s vintage law school graduates did as well.  Too many lawyers with too little to do, expanded what could be done in court.  Lawyers have backed every bad cause imaginable in the name of social justice. That's drug the profession down.

How we imagine ourselves.

I think we know that, which is why I think we also go out of our way to associate ourselves with occupations that have real worth.  We like conventions featuring the West, both for defense and plaintiffs, rather than sitting in front of our computers in office buildings in Denver and Salt Lake City.

Nobody, that is, wants to go to the "2023 Sitting On Your Ass Asking Insurance Carriers For Money" conference.  No, we do not.  We want to go instead to the "2023 Blazing Saddles and High Noon Conference".  

But what are we really?

How everyone else sees us.

It's a real red meat question, but it needs to be asked.  To some extent, civil litigation started off as a substitute for private warfare.  But now?  Many people have asked if this is a virtuous profession, but beyond that is it, well, manly?

Many lawyers aren't men, of course.  But if there are occupations that exhibit male virtues and natures, is this one?

Our constant association of ourselves with occupations that do, and the use of language borrowed from fields that are, suggests we don't think so.

As we really are.

Is The Extraordinary Attorney Woo worth watching?

PFC Foley's boots.

This is a well known photograph of PFC Edward J. Foley, 143rd Infantry Regiment of the 36th  Infantry Division near Valletri, Italy, 29 May 1944.  It's an interesting photograph for a variety of reasons, including the number of M1903 Springfields it depicts.

In looking at it, I noticed something odd about Pvt. Foley's boots.  Note that everyone around him is wearing service shoes and leggings.  I figured he'd acquired a pair of paratrooper boots, but that's not what these are.

It looks like the top 3" or so of the boot are a separate leather piece, and they have speed lace hooks, rather than eyelets, in that portion.  They also don't have tapered heels, like paratrooper boots do.

Altered service shoes?

Painted Bricks: The Big Chief Bottling Company, Denver Colorado.

Painted Bricks: The Big Chief Bottling Company, Denver Colorado.: 

The Big Chief Bottling Company, Denver Colorado.

Big Chief was a soda brand that was bottled across the United States including Colorado, where this building housed that enterprise.

An old business, but how old?

Nord Stream Sabotage

So this occurred:¹

Danish defense video of gas venting to the atmosphere from severed Nord Stream pipeline.

September 28, 2022

Two undersea explosions occurred on the idled Nord Stream pipeline.  

Accomplishing an underwater strike such as this would require some expertise to pull off and there are suspicions, not yet proven, that Russia itself did it.  Ukraine has claimed just that. The hard thing to figure out, however, is what the goal of such an attack would be.

But why?

This assumes, of course, that the Russians did it, in which case, they sabotaged their own pipeline.

The Nord Stream pipeline refers to two natural gas pipelines, now both severed, that run under the Baltic from Russia to Germany, supplying gas to the latter.  Nord Stream 1 is owned by Nord Stream AG, whose majority interest owner is the Russian state gas company Gazprom.  Nord Stream two is planned to be operated by Nord Stream 2 AG, which would be wholly owned by Gazprom.  If the Russians damaged it, they severed what amounted to a stream of revenue. . . save for it being shut down right now due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Wars don't last forever, and logic would presume that the Russians would want to open the spigots back up after the fighting is over.  Now, they can't.  Or they can't until it's repaired.  And now it might never be.  Liking burning the boats, right now they can't go back, and neither can Germany.  The Germans are going to have to get gas somewhere else.

Well, they've already started to, but they'll have to further look for it. They actually have to do it.

So why?

Well, right now, it's pretty darned hard to figure out why the Russians actually do anything whatsoever.  They seem to be on a rampaging ride of ineptitude and incompetence.  Their army, once presumed to be one of the best in the world, has been proven inept, with thin depth, in Ukraine.  They have been outfought and outmaneuvered right and left by a smaller power.  They're calling on reserves that they must not really have, as they're sending men who have only a year of service right into combat.  They're actually bringing back blocking units to keep their army from retreating.  Their equipment, which I was never impressed with, has been proven to be junk.

And rather than attempt to declare victory and go home, or negotiate a sane face-saving peace, they're doubling down and annexing territory they may very well have no ability to hold on it, while at home men are voting with their feet.  

Nothing they've done has worked, and everything that Russian military pundits have called for has failed or is failing.

What good could blowing up your own pipeline serve?

Is it a warning to Germany that they could make things worse, that's supposed to cow the BDR into a greater level of neutrality?  Is it a signal to Europe that they'd better take Russia seriously or Russia will take its ball and go home?  

If so, that isn't working.

Is it a false flag operation designed to provide an excuse for harsher actions against Ukraine?  If so, it's not believable that Ukraine could have severed an undersea pipeline in the Baltic, and it doesn't seem like Russia can be any harsher on Ukraine than it already is trying to be.

Is it to provide an excuse for expanding the war west, under the pretext that the Poles or the Germans did it?  If so, there's no reason to believe that the Russians can do any better against the Poles than they already are against Ukraine, and they definitely can't do better against Germany, let alone NATO at large.

Or is it just for interior consumption in a country that's sending men into combat without training for a cause that rank and file Russians aren't seemingly that keen on?

Footnotes:

1. This entry was started before Donald J. Trump posted his absolutely incredibly hubristic comment that he would serve as negotiator due to this event.

Trump will be lucky if he doesn't end up serving time.  That he's suggest acting as a mediator is, well, simply beyond belief.

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A Hundred Years Ago: 1922 Directions for Cooking Hot Breakfast Cereals

My goodness, check out these times:

1922 Directions for Cooking Hot Breakfast Cereals

Thirty minutes for rolled oats?

And I frankly don't know what the preparation methods for some of these cereals are.  Cornmeal?  Is that boiled cornmeal?  Cracked wheat, is that boiled?

The Post Insurrection. The investigation goes live. The Tragic Part III.

2022  Wyoming Congressman Liz Cheney delivered a major address on the occasion of the first of the open hearings of the January 6 Committee.  Her address was effectively an opening statement in the presentation of the events of the January 6, 2021 Insurrection.

June 9, 2022

Today promises to be a huge day in the story of the January 6, 2021, insurrection. The Committee investigating it will go live, tonight, with its findings and evidence.

Every major network, except for Fox (which is just pathetic on their part) will run it live. So will C-SPAN.  The committee is set to go on the air at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, 6:00 Mountain Standard.

How many Wyomingites, however, will tune in to see it, and to see a story that many simply do not wish to?

June 10, 2022

The first hearing was held, featuring the chairman and the co-chairman, Liz Cheney, delivering powerful opening statements.

It's clear that the committee, over a series of hearings, intends to demonstrate that:

• A conspiracy to steal the election was developed by Trump and his inner circle prior to the November 2020 election.
• Numerous members of his immediate staff and cabinet were not in on it and informed him repeatedly that he'd lost the election and that there was no evidence to the contrary.
• The Proud Boys and Oath Keepers independently developed a plan to seize control of the government for Trump, believing the fable that he'd lost the election.
• At some level, Trump was cognizant of the likelihood that the Oath Keepers and Proud boys would act and egged them on, believing that this would operate to keep him in power.

In short, the Committee intends to demonstrate what happened on January 6 was part of an attempted coup, and they'll ask for a criminal referral for Trump for sedition when they conclude.

This will go on weekly, once a week, for weeks, which in my view is a mistake. They'd be better off doing this in a series of hearings over a week.  

Cheney's speech was very effectively delivered. 

Some highlights were: 1) the dramatic testimony of a Metropolitan Police Force officer who was knocked unconscious and returned to duty that evening; 2) Bill Barr's taped testimony that he had informed Trump that there was no evidence Trump had lost the election; 3) Ivanka Trump's testimony that Barr's views did operate to impact her own, as she respects Barr; 4) a documentarian's testimony about how the Proud Boys started on their March prior to Trump's call to the crowed; 5) a statement  that when Trump was informed that the crowed was threatening to "hang Mike Pence" that his reply was "maybe he deserves it"; 6) after the insurrection there were discussions inside the inner circle about invoking the 25th Amendment.  Outside the White House, this occurred as well, with Sean Hannity and Kayleigh McEnany texting about invoking the 25th Amendment.

Some of the very early GOP reaction was to focus on inflation.

June 13, 2022

Testimony from June 13.

Frankly, the information today is so shocking that it raises genuine questions as to former President Trump's sanity.  Keep in mind, a person doesn't have to be a raving lunatic in order to be insane.  

It's extremely clear that numerous people around Trump told him that he lost the election, and he would have had no reasonable basis to keep on arguing that he didn't.  He very much would have no reasonable basis to do so now.  Given that, he's either 1) delusional, or 2) intentionally lying and doesn't care about the implications, both of which raise questions on his sanity.

That doesn't mean that all of those who have adopted his lies are crazy, by any means.  Indeed, as most people wouldn't assume a sitting President to be insane, believing the lies is at least somewhat excusable, up to a point, on that basis.  But to willfully reject the plain evidence isn't excusable, and that would include not only regular people, but also candidates who truly know better.

June 16, 2022

Today's January 6 hearing shall be at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time, or 11:00 Western.

The last one certainly proved to be interesting, with Bill Stephien making it clear that he didn't think the election was stolen.  He's now Harriet Hageman's campaign advisor, with Hageman still maintaining she "does know" who won the election.  Stephien feels he knows, and the winner was Joe Biden.

It isn't clear, at this time, who today's witnesses will be, although it seems to be the case that one will be a retired Republican appointed Federal Judge.

June 17, 2022

From news accounts, it's clear that Mike Pence was put under tremendous pressure to refuse to certify the vote by President Trump and that law professor John Eastman's theory that this could be done was adopted by Trump.  Others in the inside loop warned Trump that this was "crazy".   Trump had been advised what Eastman was advocating was illegal.

Retired Federal Judge J. Michael Eastman, who was a Pence advisor, and who once employed Eastman as a clear (as had Clarence Thomas) stated that; "Trump and his supporters are a clear and present danger to American democracy”.  This emphasizes a view that Trump is continuing to conspire against Constitutional democracy in the United States.

On this, a conservative columnist wrote a column the other day posing the question of whether the committee is urging the Justice Department to bring charges for sedition against Trump.  He goes no to suppose no jury in the land would convict him, and that such a thing would be divisive.

It would be divisive, but frankly a jury in many places, with the evidence being revealed, would convict the former President.  He doesn't seem to have much of a defense, and the in fact the GOP isn't presenting one.  Instead, confronted with all of this evidence, its reply is "but look at inflation".

This is the anniversary of the Watergate breaking, which lead to President Nixon's downfall, as he knew impeachment was coming.  President Ford pardoned him, and I've long thought that one of the two great failure to try instances in the nation's history.  Pardoning Nixon for a crime that was considerably less severe than the one that it appears Trump committed set up the concept that trying a President or former President just isn't done. That in fact makes them above the law, and that's a huge part of the problem we're facing right now.

June 24, 2022

I haven't seen this week's hearings, but it's clear that they've detailed the pressure put on state officials, and more dramatically, the Trump Administration's efforts to pressure the Justice Department to go along with his stolen election fable.

Additionally, the names of Republican Congressmen who asked for preemptive pardons were named.  Mo Brooks asked for a pardon for all of the Congressmen who voted not to certify the election. Brooks, it might be noted, just went down in defeat in his state's Republican primary for the Senate.

Whether this is changing anyone's minds is another question, but what the Committee has done is a good job of showing that a criminal indictment would be warranted and put things in the place that those who aren't seeing the Trump Administration's efforts to seize power and remain in office simply don't wish to, no matter what else they may otherwise believe about the election.

June 28, 2022.

Absolutely shocking.

The Charlotte Observor on South Carolinian Mark Meadows

There's a headline you don't see everyday.

Fox News on the testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson regarding Donald Trump and the January 6, 2021 Insurrection.

And frankly horrifying.

Will anything be done?

Will those who have refused to accept that there was an insurrection change their minds now?

Will those campaigning solely on their loyalty to Trump modify their positions at all, or adopt, by refusing to do so, ongoing insurrection?

July 22, 2022

On January 6 the Pentagon attempted to call President Trump.  He didn't want to take the call so his lawyer took it.

Yikes.

July 27, 2022

News has officially broken that the Department of Justice is investigating Donald Trump regarding the January 6 insurrection.

And with that, we will close out this installment.  The January 6 Committee is in a hiatus of public hearings, and the DOJ is looking at charges.  We don't really know how far along they are on that, but at this point my prediction is that charges for seditious conspiracy will in fact be levied.

Last prior edition

The Post Insurrection. The Tragic Part II

Flavor of the weather?

Why would a major east coast storm have "an American model" and "a European model"?

Heard on the Today Show's weather report as I headed out the door, just as they were synthesizing the models.

If you don't do it occasionally wearing Red Wing Iron Rangers, is it really worth doing?

 

If you don't do it occasionally wearing Red Wing Iron Rangers, it it really worth doing?

 

Geologists, do you still use them? Brunton Compass

Lex Anteinternet: Brunton Compass: 

Brunton Compass

Brunton Pocket Transit, folded for carrying.

Artillerymen, do you still use them? The Brunton Compass

Lex Anteinternet: Brunton Compass: 

Brunton Compass

Brunton Pocket Transit, folded for carrying.

Does anyone know where a person can get a print of J. K. Ralston's 1963 painting of the Fetterman Fight?

Today In Wyoming's History: Does anyone know where a person can get a print of...

"Do you personally know anyone who has had COVID 19?"

So reads an item that's constantly popping up on my Facebook feed right now.

I don't know the original source, but I suspect, without knowing for sure, that this started off as one of those Covid denial things you see around.  I.e., not that many people "really get it" or "it's not that bad".

I replied the first time, as I know the person who was circulating it.  I haven't to the several ones I've seen since then.

But yes, I know a lot of people who have had COVID 19.  I started counting it up in my mind and then simply stopped when I could think of twenty people I know who've had the infection.

Indeed, I know people who had it the very first month that it became a news story and hardly a month has gone by where I haven't learned of somebody else who has had it or, has it.

Offhand, I can think of two people I know who died of it, and one of them definitely didn't die a good death.  That, moreover, was brought about due to a situation in which one person insisted the other come to his office, which was the one time the person broke a self-imposed quarantine.  He died on a ventilator.

I know another whom I suspect had COVID 19 playing a role in his untimely death, due to the impacts it has one some people who get it. And I know another whom I suspect has been severely physically impaired by the disease. 

I got vaccinated as soon as I was able to and all of my family did as well.  But I know people who haven't.  They all have their own reasons for that.  But we're entering a very new phase of this.  The Delta variant is as infections as the chicken pox and the Lambda variant, which just broke out in South America, appears to be more able to break through.  

This virus isn't following the normal path.  Normally, virus evolve towards being less lethal.  We're not seeing that.

Does anyone really know somebody who hasn't had the disease?  I doubt it.

The bigger question may be does anyone out there not know somebody who died?