President Trump on Thursday called on every GOP senator to join a congressional group to advise him on reopening the economy except one: Sen. Mitt Romney. Romney, of course, voted in favor of one of the articles for impeachment. While I disagree with that vote, I still view Romney as an honorable person who cast a vote in good-faith. One would hope that Trump could move beyond the impeachment for the benefit and unity of the nation, particularly during a pandemic.
The other senators were asked to participate on the “Opening Up America Again Congressional Group.” One would think that Romney, a highly successful businessman, would be highly sought after for such a group.
The White House announced that “The dialogue between the President, senior Administration officials, and the bipartisan group of Members of Congress also included a range of topics, namely the need for additional funding for the Paycheck Protection Program, the international and domestic supply chains, ways to energize the economy, surprise medical billing, clarifying the difference between essential and non-essential workers, mental health, and relief for small businesses.”
Romney has not only been the Republican presidential nominee, U.S. Senator, and a Governor of a major state, he was also co-founder of Bain Capital a private equity investment firm. That résumé on business and politics is virtually unrivaled in the Senate. More importantly, he is the representative of the people of Utah who deserve to have his voice heard for the benefit of their state. The only reason that he was not included was retaliation for casting his vote on impeachment.
If these reports are true (and there has been no contradiction from the White House), the exclusion of Romney was petty and petulant.
No, It’s Not A Zombie Movie!
Crazed Trumpers Create Horror Movie Scene At Ohio State Capitol
The insatiable flesh-hunger of zombies wasn’t exactly on photographer Joshua A. Bickel’s mind when he was covering an anti-social-distancing protest at the statehouse in Columbus, Ohio, on Monday. But it was all that was on the, well, braaaaaains of people who saw Bickel’s work on social media, where the photo went viral for its parallels to classic zombie films.
The Columbus Dispatch photographer’s image is frightening and compelling. Approximately 100 protesters who were urging Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to end the state’s stay-at-home order and reopen businesses pressed up against the glass doors to the statehouse, chanting and banging windows.
SEE PHOTO HERE
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/that-ohio-protest-photo-looked-like-a-zombie-movie-zombie-movie-directors-think-so-too/2020/04/17/b518fc48-801c-11ea-9040-68981f488eed_story.html
On the whole Left vs. America thing, here is an interesting piece. A discussion about the book, Revolt Against The Masses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPx7I4ALeWk
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Prof Turley says: “Romney, of course, voted in favor of one of the articles for impeachment. While I disagree with that vote, I still view Romney as an honorable person who cast a vote in good-faith. ”
Rolling on the floor laughing my azz off! 🙂
Turley, excuse me but Romney is a certified American Hating Piece of Trash That Sold Out Americans to the Godless Commie Chinese!
Would you like an opportunity to clarify your comment to the rest of us? LOL
Quarantine Protests Ain’t Spontaneous
Trumpers And Militias Orchestrating Events
On Wednesday in Lansing, Michigan, a protest put together by two Republican-connected not-for-profits was explicitly devised to cause gridlock in the city, and for a time blocked the entrance to a local hospital.
It was organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition, which Michigan state corporate filings show has also operated under the name of Michigan Trump Republicans. It was also heavily promoted by the Michigan Freedom Fund, a group linked to the Trump cabinet member Betsy DeVos.
But the protest also attracted far-right protest groups who have been present at pro-Trump and gun rights rallies in Michigan throughout the Trump presidency.
Placards identified the Michigan Proud Boys as participants in the vehicle convoy. Near the state house, local radio interviewed a man who identified himself as “Phil Odinson”.
In fact the man is Phil Robinson, the prime mover in a group called the Michigan Liberty Militia, whose Facebook page features pictures of firearms, warnings of civil war, celebrations of Norse paganism and memes ultimately sourced from white nationalist groups like Patriot Front.
The pattern of rightwing not-for-profits promoting public protests while still more radical groups use lockdown resistance as a platform for extreme rightwing causes looks set to continue in events advertised in other states over coming days.
In Idaho on Friday, protesters plan to gather at the capitol building in Boise to protest anti-virus restrictions put in place by the Republican governor, Brad Little.
The protest has been heavily promoted by the Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF), which counts among its donors “dark money” funds linked to the Koch brothers such as Donors Capital Fund, and Castle Rock, a foundation seeded with part of the fortune of Adolph Coors, the rightwing beer magnate.
Edited from: “The Rightwing Groups Behind Wave Of Protests Against Covid-19 Restrictions”
Today’s Guardian
gosh what’s wrong with “Norse Paganism?” Last time I looked Marvel’s top drawing Marvel movies starred a guy they called “Thor” who had a mighty hammer and whose daddy was named “Odin”
is that bad now? You didn’t seem like a religious zealot to me Seth but maybe the Bible thumpers will appreciate your condemnation there, who knows. One picks up new friends in the strangest places.
And we call than Heathen not pagan. The polytheistic beliefs of the pre-Christian Germanic cultures.
Pagan comes from the Latin word paganus, meaning a rustic, and it refers more to the Hellenic world.
PS Thanks Seth I checked out Phil’s FB and liked some of the pictures. Really fun stuff! Bet he got a lot of “likes” this week. LOL
Trump Is Tweeting Encouragement To Quarantine Protests
Second Ammendment Rights Referenced In Tweet To Virginia
See “The Real Donld Trump On Twitter
Apparently Trump’s Twitter feed is somehow coded to prevent copying. For that reason I can’t show exactly how it looks. But these Tweets are disturbing, to say the least. It appears that Trump is essentially calling on militias to undermine state governments.
ha, militas
He said “liberate Minnesota” –don’t take it literally like a simpleton, please
BBC is not so literal minded as Seth and explains
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52330531
“But these Tweets are disturbing, to say the least”
is this person Seth a serial stalker? super scary or hormonal imbalanced?
Maybe hormonal imbalance. Seems unsure of his sexuality and poses as a homophobe.
HERE YOUNG CONFIRMS TRUE IDENTITY
It was only last week that Young seemed to be everywhere debating everyone on these threads. Then there came an accusation that Young was really a sock puppet for Crazed Idiot. Young protested the accusation with confused indignation; claiming he had no idea who Crazed Idiot is. But here, at last, Young essentially pulls off his mask to reveal he is, indeed, Crazed Idiot!
So easy to bait, Seth.
Kurtz, Trump tweeted out to 3 states while referencing ‘Second Amendment Rights’. We know that militias are taking part in these protests. Would a normal president encourage militias??
Who is we? Stop being Cybil! Tell the voices in your head to calm down
It is time for an intervention to Seth. Where is bythebook? yeah, you need to get the bat again and use it on Seth though one suspect he will enjoy it
Anonymous, how ‘brave’ of you to jump in here under cloak of anonymity. You wouldn’t be Crazed Idiot by any chance?
For some reason Crazed Idiot can never seem to debate me directly.
Maybe we’ll somehow catch a break and the comments section of this blog will become a thing of the past.
“Apparently Trump’s Twitter feed is somehow coded to prevent copying. ”
If the Tweets come through then that demonstrates that Paint Chips Peter has more problems then what we see on the surface. He’s totally incompetent. ….Maybe not! Maybe Estovir migrated from his head and is now in his computer.
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
·
7h
Biden/Obama were a disaster in handling the H1N1 Swine Flu. Polling at the time showed disastrous approval numbers. 17,000 people died unnecessarily and through incompetence! Also, don’t forget their 5 Billion Dollar Obamacare website that should have cost close to nothing!
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Governor Cuomo should spend more time “doing” and less time “complaining”. Get out there and get the job done. Stop talking! We built you thousands of hospital beds that you didn’t need or use, gave large numbers of Ventilators that you should have had, and helped you
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
·
8h
Replying to
@realDonaldTrump
….testing that you should be doing. We have given New York far more money, help and equipment than any other state, by far, & these great men & women who did the job never hear you say thanks. Your numbers are not good. Less talk and more action!
“Quarantine Protests Ain’t Spontaneous”
If true, HALLELUJAH! It would mean that Republicans are stealing a page from the Democrats!
Now, if we can only teach Republicans how to “ballot harvest” – – –
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Trump elevates Pandemic Response Team getting rid of extra layers and streamlining the lines of communication.
—-
“Next, the “Unite the Country” super PAC ad claims that Trump “dissolved the pandemic response team.” This is another lie, spread by former Obama Administration officials, based on nothing more than a decision by Trump appointee John Bolton to reorganize the National Security Council.
As explained by Tim Morrison, a former senior director for counterproliferation and biodefense on the NSC, “We consolidated three directorates into one. This eliminated layers in the reporting chain and in the accountability chain.”
So Trump didn’t “dissolve” the pandemic response team. If anything he improved it, by consolidating a few bureaucracies and streamlining the lines of communication.”
https://amgreatness.com/2020/04/15/leftist-oligarchs-use-pandemic-to-attack-trump/
Sort of demonstrates how Anon, AKA bythe book, seldom knows what he is talking about.
That is all moot, “I don’t take responsibility at all” Rewrite history all you want with alternative facts, it won’t change the fact that Trump is unfit and incompetent.
What you are saying is that you don’t and you can’t learn from mistakes. We all know that. Your mind is closed. Based on the theory of use it or lose it your mind should be just about gone.
This is a Kellyanne-ism: a pathetic attempt to create “alternative facts”, especially when Trump gets caught being incompetent. When Bolton came on board, he fired the guy who was at the head of the team at the NSC, and the playbook was tossed aside, even though Obama’s team met with Trump’s “team” and discussed it. Now, Kellyanne is trying to spin this into efficiency. No, Kellyanne, it won’t fly, because the lack of efficiency is obvious to everyone on earth. Cases continue to rise. We don’t have enough tests, reagents, swabs or PPE. There is no vaccine or medication to treat this illness. Every day more Americans are getting sick and dying.
If Trump “improved” the pandemic response team by “streamlining the lines of communication”, then tell us who’s on the “pandemic response team”, what is their plan for dealing with this crisis, and what are the “lines of communication”? What is their “play book”? Do they have one? if not, why didn’t they follow the playbook Obama’s administration created? Why did Trump fail to restock the national stockpile with PPE, ventilators, etc. months ago when he knew there was a pandemic coming? Why weren’t tests developed, why did he tell the American People that COVID-19 is a “hoax” and why did he fail to recommend closing businesses, schools, etc until March 16? Where did he get the idea that 15 cases would soon be 0, that we’d have a vaccine “very quickly’, that we already had a “game changer” medication to treat COVID-19 and is anyone really running things? Jared? Pence? Mulvaney? Birx? Fauci? Who? Do any of these people know who’s in charge or what anyone’s duties are, or how these duties fall into an overall action plan for saving American lives? Is there any kind of plan other than pivoting to blame the Chinese, Obama, Democrats, Democratic governors, and anyone else they can think of and trying to reverse the historic economic downturn that we’re in, and for which Trump bears considerable blame by reopening the economy even though cases and deaths haven’t peaked yet?
AMB Bolton didn’t fire anyone; functions were realigned. This happens all the time – President Obama took similar actions, which, of course, was his prerogative. I would be very interested to see a legitimate link to an Obama Administration ‘pandemic response plan’ – they certainly could have drafted one after the Swine Flu epidemic, as part of a typical lessons learned review. They also cold have taken action to restock, resupply, flip the switch on research, etc. Shall we fault everyone for failing to be clairvoyant? It’s pretty clear from reporting across the spectrum that the Chinese did, indeed, attempt to downplay the seriousness of the infection, as well as likely sources – the State Department raised concerns about this in 2018. No matter who was President shutting the country down for a month would have economic consequences. What’s your solution? Endless invective?
As to the growing understanding of the seriousness of the situation, here’s a series of statements made by Dr. Fauci over a three-month period. Makes interesting reading.
“On January 21: “This is not a major threat to the people in the United States. And this is not something that the citizens of the United States right now should be worried about.”
On February 18: “I don’t think people should be frightened. The risk right now, today, currently, is really relatively low for the American public.” “That could change,” Fauci added. But “right now, don’t worry about it, be more concerned about influenza, which is going into a second peak for the season, than coronavirus…. People wearing masks now is just not relevant. You don’t need to be walking around with a mask right now.”
On February 29: “No, right now, at this moment, there is no need to change anything that you’re doing on a day-by-day basis. Right now, the risk is still low, but this could change. I’ve said that many times…. You gotta watch out, because although the risk is low now—you don’t need to change anything you’re doing—when you start to see community spread, this could change.”
On April 12: (in an interview with Jake Tapper)
TAPPER: The New York Times reported today that you and other top officials wanted to recommend social distancing and physical distancing guidelines to President Trump as far back as the third week of February, but the administration didn’t announce such guidelines to the American public until March 16, almost a month later. Why?
DR. FAUCI: You know, Jake, as I have said many times, we look at it from a pure health standpoint. We make a recommendation. Often the recommendation is taken; sometimes it’s not. But it is what it is. We are where we are right now.
[Reading that,one could conclude Fauci had been recommending “social distancing and physical distancing guidelines” during the third week of February. But, on the very last day of February Fauci said publicly no behavioral changes were required.]
TAPPER: Do you think lives could have been saved if social distancing, physical distancing, stay-at-home measures, had started the third week of February instead of mid-March?”
[Fauci hadn’t recommended stay-at-home orders in the third week of February, but one could be forgiven for thinking he had, based on the response:]
DR. FAUCI: Obviously, you could logically say that if you had a process that was ongoing and you started mitigation earlier you could’ve saved lives, obviously. No one is going to deny that. But what goes into those kinds of decisions is complicated. But, you’re right: obviously, if we had right from the beginning shut everything down, it may have been a little bit different. But there was a lot of pushback about shutting things down back then.”
(There was pushback to social distancing and shutting the country down in the third week of February? Who was even suggesting those things back then? And of course the implication is that Trump was doing the pushing back. But these things were not recommended, by Fauci or anyone, at the time.
The shutdowns began in numerous states in the middle of March, after which time Trump indicated his desire to see the country reopened by Easter. It was in response to this, in mid-to-late March, that Birx and Fauci urged the president to keep things locked down longer.)
On April 13: The first and only time that Dr. Birx and I went in and formally made a recommendation to the President to actually have a quote “shutdown” in the sense of—not really shutdown but to have really strong mitigation…the President listened to the recommendation and went to the mitigation.
The next, second time, that I went with Dr. Birx in to the President and said “fifteen days are not enough, we need to go thirty days,” obviously there are people who had a problem because of the potential secondary effects. Nonetheless, the President at that time went with the health recommendations and we extended it another thirty days.
So, I can only tell you what I know and what my recommendations were. But clearly as happens all the time, there were interpretations of that response to a hypothetical question [by Tapper] that I just thought it would be very nice for me to clarify because I didn’t have the chance to clarify it.
[When another reporter asked Fauci for the date when he first made these recommendations, Fauci said]
“You know, to be honest with you, I don’t even remember what the date was. I can just tell you that the first and only time that I went in and said that we should do mitigation strongly the response was ‘Yes, we’ll do it.’”
The problem for Fauci,is that if he admitted it was not until at least mid-March that he advised Trump not to ‘open up the country’ by Easter then it would be clear that everything he had implied during his previous media interviews about Trump’s failure to act promptly in January and February was a lie and that, in truth, during those months Trump was merely following Fauci’s own advice that no drastic measures were necessary. Hence Fauci’s convenient memory lapse about a date he could not possibly have forgotten.”
Gee that was hard.
“The Trump administration declined to use a nearly 70-page pandemic preparedness playbook created by the National Security Council’s health unit during the Obama administration in favor of other preparation materials, Politico reported on Wednesday.
The playbook, devised in 2016 and finalized in 2017 both by top political appointees and career national security officials in the wake of the 2014-15 Ebola crisis, sought to lay the groundwork for a seamless and coordinated response to avoid confusion and conflicting messages from federal officials.
The playbook anticipated and gave instructions for federal officials to prepare for many of the same roadblocks the Trump administration now faces in coordinating a response to the COVID-19 outbreak, including lack of testing and persistent shortages of medical equipment and personal protective equipment for healthcare workers. ….
…Indeed, another official who worked in both administrations told Politico that the playbook “just sat as a document that people worked on that was thrown onto a shelf” and wasn’t even sure that “senior leaders at agencies were even aware that this existed.””
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-admin-ignored-obama-era-nsc-pandemic-prep-document-politico-2020-3
Thank you for that. I read the entire article, which, despite the title suggesting the current Administration round-filed the ‘playbook’ without consideration, doesn’t appear to have been the case; nor was it the case they were sitting on their hands, to wit:
“Multiple officials from the NSC and the US Department of Health Human Services told Politico that they decided not to heavily rely on it because it was finalized three years ago.
The document also never underwent the proper interagency vetting and approval processes to become an official part of the White House’s strategy.”
Note – Having participated in these for over a decade, I can affirm the interagency vetting process isn’t something that happens overnight. Literally everything in a plan like this would have to be reviewed by every element of the Executive Branch, as well as their counterparts at the state level. Every time a major player changes, that individual has to put his stamp on what’s already been done. It is an incredibly slow, cumbersome process even when only a single agency is involved. It’s not uncommon for foreign policy-related operations plans to take up to five years, for example.
“The Trump administration declined to use a nearly 70-page pandemic preparedness playbook created by the National Security Council’s health unit during the Obama administration in favor of other preparation materials, Politico reported on Wednesday.”
Note – Translation: this document hadn’t been vetted within the NSC, never mind the interagency before the very end of the Administration. The NSC isn’t a small organization – virtually every NSC sub-committee has representatives from every part of the Executive Branch. All of these have competing interests and priorities, which have to be resolved before the lead agency can present a product to the President. If President Obama even saw this ‘playbook’ (as opposed to OPLAN) in its ‘finalized’ form, it was right before he left office. In any case, there is perfectly good reason for why they chose not to use it, and, as noted below, it was vetted and discussed during the transition.
“The playbook, devised in 2016 and finalized in 2017 both by top political appointees and career national security officials in the wake of the 2014-15 Ebola crisis, sought to lay the groundwork for a seamless and coordinated response to avoid confusion and conflicting messages from federal officials.”
Note – Good effort – but, again, this wording suggests that, at best, the Administration had a product ready for review at the state level. I don’t see any suggestion that the Administration had prepared a funding proposal for Congress. You can have a thousand plans, but without money, it’s just paper on a shelf. Perhaps Politico addressed this elsewhere. ‘Sought to lay’ is the operative phrase. May have passed NSC review, but was hardly ready for prime time.
“The playbook anticipated and gave instructions for federal officials to prepare for many of the same roadblocks the Trump administration now faces in coordinating a response to the COVID-19 outbreak, including lack of testing and persistent shortages of medical equipment and personal protective equipment for healthcare workers.
Multiple officials from the NSC and the US Department of Health Human Services told Politico that while they were aware of the document, they decided not to heavily rely on it.
A NSC official told Politico that the playbook is ‘quite dated and has been superseded by strategic and operational biodefense policies published since,” adding, “The plan we are executing now is a better fit, more detailed, and applies the relevant lessons learned from the playbook and the most recent Ebola epidemic in the [Democratic Republic of the Congo] to COVID-19.”
Specifically, a spokesperson from HHS further told Politico that its strategy for tackling coronavirus “was informed by more recent plans such as the foundation of the National Biodefense Strategy (2018), Biological Incident Annex (2017), and panCAP (2018) among other key plans.”
Note – These are entirely appropriate responses, and don’t take a swipe at what the Obama Administration worked on. This happens all the time.
“Politico reported that another factor limiting the Trump administration’s ability to fully implement the 2016 pandemic playbook was that the document never underwent the proper interagency vetting and approval processes to become an official part of the White House’s strategy, despite former homeland security adviser Tom Bossert expressing interest in making it a permanent fixture of the US’ policy toolkit when it came to pandemics.”
Bossert, who left the administration told 2018, told Politico that he “engaged actively with my outgoing counterpart and took seriously their transition materials and recommendations on pandemic preparedness.”
Note – Well, Mr. Bossert is just one guy, even if his was the lead committee. He wasn’t the Secretary of Homeland Security. He was a deputy to the National Security Advisor. Sounds to me like he paid due respect to the existing product. The article doesn’t tell us, what if anything from the ‘playbook’ is part of the current strategy. That would be a useful detail. Would also have been useful for Politico to talk to the current National Security Advisor, or even Bossert’s successor.
“In 2018, the Trump administration shuttered the NSC health unit responsible for leading the White House’s response to global pandemics and other biological challenges and consolidated it into a separate department under the leadership of then-National Security Advisor John Bolton.
Indeed, another official who worked in both administrations told Politico that the playbook “just sat as a document that people worked on that was thrown onto a shelf” and wasn’t even sure that “senior leaders at agencies were even aware that this existed.”
Note – So, a senior guy on the NSC’s homeland security committee tells Politico they seriously considered the Obama Administration product, and ‘another official’ (someone a ways down the food chain) contradicts Bossert, and that’s Politico’s AHA moment? Seriously? Again, organizations are fluid things. If AMB Bolton wanted to realign his assets, that’s his call.
“In 2019, the Trump administration also held a series of training simulations on a hypothetical pandemic caused by a virus that predicted, with remarkable accuracy, many of the problems and shortfalls currently plaguing the US’ response to the novel coronavirus outbreak.
The New York Times reported that the war-game style training exercise, which was led by the Department of Health and Human Services and included multiple federal agencies, 12 states, and private stakeholders, simulated a scenario where a respiratory virus dubbed “The Crimson Contagion” originated in China and rapidly spread through the US.
The simulation documented some of the exact same scenarios appearing now.
These included a lack of funding and shortages of medical equipment, delays and inconsistencies at the state and local levels over school closures, and systemic problems in manufacturing more medical supplies. It also includes a mandate that most people work from home and practice social distancing.”
Note – So, the most important information – that the Trump Administration took the pandemic threat seriously and had developed a plan (and that would have had to be in the works for quite a while prior to the exercise, so probably late 2018 at the earliest) that could be tested at federal and state levels is the LAST thing this article addresses? Well, gee whiz, Sparky, sounds to me like they were well along the road to having assets identified and in place. Not a bad thing.
Maybe we should also ask ourselves how seriously the Congress was taking this issue. Compared, say, to impeachment?
Show us your facts.
What is written above is quite true. You don’t like Trump so when he does good things you squeal and lie.
I’ll debate any concrete issue with you one at a time but you have to provide proof.
“why didn’t they follow the playbook Obama’s administration created? ”
Obama didn’t have a playbook and he couldn’t have created a playbook that was very good. The organizational ability of Trump is incredible. That is even obvious to the MSM who is having trouble arguing with how he has worked things out.
Romney and Biden, they go by the wayside:
Why not leave Romney out? Trump is surrounded by plenty of leakers and outright enemies as it is.
He doesn’t need to add this one to the group just to meet some standard of dignity that no one will care about in the next hour.
Key Passage From Turley’s Column:
“If these reports are true (and there has been no contradiction from the White House), the exclusion of Romney was petty and petulant”.
Here Professor Turley is right on the mark. Yet every American knew Trump was petty and petulant before he even won the Republican nomination. Historians will emphasize that Trump was petty and petulant every day of his presidency. Yet Trump supporters thought it was a ‘strength!
“Yet Trump supporters thought it was a ‘strength!”
No. Trump supporters looked at what he does rather than what he says.
Listen to Biden flip flop all around and in his long history in government did very little.
Trump said he would increase employment opportunities and he did. Trump said he would improve the economy and he did. I need not say more.
Allan– You are right. Trump is admired for his strengths.
In their second debate Obama treated Romney like the Village Idiot and Romney took it with barely a whimper and he certainly never after found the courage to criticize Obama.
Even Trump’s enemies know it would have played very differently if he had been in Romney’s place in that debate. In fact, I suspect Obama would not have found the courage to try it on with Trump.
Doubt Obama is scared of a draft dodger.
Donald’s wife can beat up Barack’s wife.
Add that Donald’s wife is easily the most beautiful.
Another strike against corporate media credibility: for years they have been peddling the obvious lie that Michelle O is beautiful. No wonder they try to hide Melanie from their pages. The differences between the two are eye watering.
Yeah, Young, you ain’t no racist. But you want us to believe Michelle Obama is ‘undeniably unattractive and that corporate media is peddling the lie that she’s beautiful’.
Give us a list of news sources that aren’t connected to any corporations.
Both women are more than normally attractive and lovely and none of the hetero males here would kick either one out of bed for eating crackers. That’s not a high bar and hetero males don’t usually carry one, but still.
Book, Young is Crazed Idiot as I noted days ago. See exchange further up this thread before the page break.
OK, I ignore these guys most of the time until I find it either amusing or just so wrong as to welcome a slap down.
” But you want us to believe Michelle Obama is ‘undeniably unattractive”
Paint Chips, Young apparently has a very narrow spectrum for partners he considers pretty. You apparently have a much wider spectrum that according to some spans the entire playing field. Nothing wrong with that or free choice, right? Oh, I forget, you are a Stalinist of sorts so you don’t believe in choice.
Allan– Pretty is one thing, beautiful is another and knock down gorgeous is something else. Melania is knock down gorgeous. Michelle knows it. You can see the female envy and rage in her face when she looks at Melania. She did the same with Sarkozy’s wife.
Paint chips does seem to have a wider spectrum, I just don’t know what gender.
Young, explain to us when your manliness was firmly established here. I might have missed that exchange. Or do you just presume? Because we know you’re Crazed Idiot, nerdiest of losers.
“Young, explain to us when your manliness was firmly established here.”
Paint Chips, Young doesn’t worry about his manliness. He controls his life rather then letting his life control him. You are the one that continously worries about these things. You are the one that wants to transfer responsibility to a dream that can never be realized.
Young’s attraction to silicone and a shpinx like attitude is duly noted. Does he want to discuss the president’s physical attributes? Unfortunately he is before our eyes at dinner time more often.
Allan’s reporting on Young’s “manliness” is maybe TMI.
I’m not so sure. Obama’s “wife” has an Adam’s apple.
Everyone has an Adam’s apple, and, no, her’s is not particularly prominent for a woman.
I have no clue why people find this lame joke amusing.
Probably because the unstinting glorification of her ‘beauty’ has grown tiresome.
Unstinting glorification by whom?
She’s satisfactory looking – always has been. She’s been showing her age some in recent years, as you do when you’re 55. Much of the time, she wears wigs, which is odd in this day and age.
Absurd– A few months ago Life had a special issue on First Ladies. Michelle was on the cover, large, and within. Other first ladies were mentioned but not Melania. Vanity Fair has taken a similar approach. Media in general has leaned the same way. Melania, by contrast, has been mocked and criticized for her accent. I imagine she has a slight accent in her other five or six languages. Nothing she does is right in the eyes of the media but she has always been gracious and kind. How much coverage did it get when she visited a children’s hospital in Europe and visited with the children in their own language? Who covered it when she spoke, in Italian, to the leader of Italy and promised American help with the China virus? He praised and thanked her for the personal touch.
Life?
I agree with you magazines run by liberal twits have been ignoring the current First Lady. People who go into word merchant occupations have ‘minds’ like the partisan Democrats you see posting here. While that’s annoying, it can’t make lame, stupid jokes into amusing jokes. Pretending MO is a transexual doesn’t riff off an observable reality. It’s just a non sequitur – an arbitrary insult.
What’s interesting about this is that you can offer serious criticisms of MO from at least three different angles. She’s actually one of the more problematic characters to occupy the position she’s in. (She’s bested by Felonia von Pantsuit and in competition with Lady Bird Johnson in that respect).
Absurd–Lady Bird Johnson never would have said the first time she was proud of this country was when her husband was elected President. I guess his being elected to the senate wasn’t enough to cool the slowly boiling racial resentments voiced in Michelle’s college paper. God only knows what is hidden in Obama’s unreleased college work.
Absurd– Life magazine used to be popular and then vanished so far as I could tell. I think the rights are owned by Time Warner, maybe not, but once a year or decade a special issue is published on one main subject. This issue, last year, caught my eye because of nostalgia for the title, but when I saw it was dedicated to first ladies with Michelle rather than the current first lady on the cover I put it back on the rack. Will never look at another one.
Perhaps Michelle (such a mellifluous African appellation) developed a large one.
_______________________________________________________________
“Can women develop an Adam’s apple?”
“During puberty, boys develop a larger larynx. This makes their voices deeper over time, and it can create the bump at the front of the throat that’s known as an Adam’s apple.
“Girls also undergo changes to their voice box during puberty. The degree of laryngeal growth in females isn’t as significant as in males, so most women don’t have Adam’s apples. Some women with a larger larynx do, but this indicates the size of the voice box only. In some women, a larger larynx may be caused by an increased amount of testosterone, which is also responsible for other body changes, such as body hair.”
– Healthline
Young, can you imagine Romney dealing with Xi or Putin. Imagine Obama and Romney leading the nation. Obama would be bowing and Romney looking sea sick. Both would readily give in to those two leaders as they have before while miserving the American public.
‘Logan Act’ Ketchup Kerry would likely be in the administration, too. What a catastrophe that would be.
Alan says:
“Trump said he would increase employment opportunities and he did. Trump said he would improve the economy and he did. I need not say more”.
……………………………………………….
Apparently Alan hasn’t looked at economic stats since the pandemic began. He still thinks Unemployment is under 4%.
News Flash, Alan, Unemployment is currently over 20%. However good the economy was, we’re now in a Depression. And Alan hasn’t processed that.
“Apparently Alan hasn’t looked at economic stats since the pandemic began. He still thinks Unemployment is under 4%.”
What a Stupid way to view the world. Trump accomplished those things. He didn’t cause Covid and wants the country to return to its thriving economy. On the other hand you are rooting for failure. You are hoping that every person on this list fails as well and is miserable so that the nation will turn to your dreams of socialism (ie. such as Stalinism or Maoism). The nation won’t and Trump will succeed. Stalin will have to remain only a dream of yours and you will remain the miserable person you always have been.
Alan, Herbert Hoover had a good economic record until the market crashed. But Hoover isn’t remembered for his pre-crash economic stats. In fact, Hoover was remembered with such infamy that Republicans waited until 1960 before they let Hoover address a party convention.
Peter, there were hardly any ‘stats’. He’d only taken office six months earlier.
Whatever, Absurd. The point is: ‘things were fine until they weren’t’.
The thing is Trump did fantastically well before Covid the spread of which is on the hands of the Chinese and all those Chinese supporting Democrats that were too busy impeaching to do anything in Congress. Right now they complain about the President’s plan while all of them are home receiving pay checks for doing absolutely nothing.
You love Obama because economically he did poorly which makes you look better
Think it would be fair to say a small segment of Trump supporters would approve of his pettiness and petulancy in this mater. You could probably make the same argument for a minority of Hillary’s supporters.
Except Hillary is not relevant to the country’s efforts to combat COVID 19.
Nonsense. Hitlery would make the ideal vector to allow all of the Chinese flu strain to jump into her and then push her over a cliff. It’s not like Bill will miss her
Again, why beat a dead horse? It is just a deflection since you can’t justify tRump’s incompetence.
The country learns a lot from each disease it faces. Hillary provided a lot of learning.
Now why would Trump assemble Republican politicians on advice about re-opening the economy when we still haven’t reached the peak? Cases continue to rise, but at a slower rate, which is only due to the fact that schools, businesses an sports events have been shut down. Why not ask infectious disease specialists and epidemiologists about what is the best practice? Wait. I think I know why. Russia can’t help Trump cheat his way out of this one. Trump’s absolute incompetence has indeed set records: record unemployment, record drop in the stock market, and record national debt. So, as cover, Trump’s trying to get business leaders and Republicans to back his push to force open the country. He has his right-wing support groups organizing fake “protest rallies”, especially in states with a Democrat governor. If governors are stupid enough to re-open schools and businesses and people start getting sick and dying, well, Trump has cover: he can pivot to blame business leaders and Republican members of Congress–it was their idea, he said he would follow the advice of doctors. Speaking of doctors on the “task force”, they’ve all been coached by Kellyanne on how not to answer questions. Dr. Birx sold her soul a long time ago.
Here’s the deal: until or unless there is a safe and effective vaccine and/or herd immunity and enough testing to identify those who are positive, it is not safe for people to congregate. Trump made the absurd comment yesterday during his campaign rally masquerading as an update on COVID-19 that if a hot spot arises he’ll just stamp it out immediately. He’s either stupid or hasn’t been listening (maybe both): people infected with COVID-19 are shedding virus long before they are symptomatic, and some are never symptomatic. One cannot get a test in this country on demand unless they are an NBA player, a member of the Trump administration, or symptomatic. At the point where someone is symptomatic, they have exposed an unknown number of other people, and these, in turn, have been exposing others, so the pattern repeats. Even health care providers and first responders who are repeatedly exposed to the virus have to wait for tests. Without sufficient testing, herd immunity and/or a vaccine, it’s simply not safe for people to congregate. Of course, Trump disavows any responsibility for ramping up testing, making clear that governors are on their own, so they are having to compete among themselves to get test kits, reagents, swabs and PPE. So much for making America Great Again!
Russia? Seriously? Have you not been paying attention to the recent reports on that subject? Also, I do wonder why it is the Obama Administration didn’t learn this lesson from the Swine Flu pandemic – at least to the extent of drafting a national pandemic response plan, including a testing plan.
Samantha, you’re an empty sock puppet
What does that mean? Based on what’s being released by DOJ, there was no ‘Russian collusion’ (at least not by Trump or his campaign). Also, if there was a draft national pandemic response plan developed by the Obama Administration, why hasn’t it been referenced?
Samantha, the above commenter uses many profile names on here also known as sock puppets. He is cray cray. Lately he has taken to stalking the blog making pronouncements on who is legit and who is…wait for it….using sock puppet accounts.
Such is the state of the DNC troll bots
Hence, the avatar, eh?
I can’t imagine why it’s so hard to scrounge up some glorified sterilized qtips (swabs)
that is indeed not POTUS level issue
ventilators may be a different type of asset in question
So anyhow the Frenchman who got the Nobel prize for identifying the HIV virus, says Sars-cov-2 “could only have been made in a lab”
i find that a remarkable development. It seems this story wont get much press, but what do you think?
https://nationandstate.com/2020/04/17/covid-19-is-a-man-made-virus-hiv-discoverer-says-could-only-have-been-created-in-a-lab/
Very interesting Kurtz, we should watch it. I might note that he is well into his 80s and it is doubtful if he did any 1st person work on this. It is also true that a study by those who did say it is not a human concocted virus:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0820-9
I still accept the nature article as the best conclusion however Luc Montaigner is not exactly a conspiracy theorist. He was a nobel prize winner and not in physics, rather, for virology. He is actually quite well qualified to render this opinion. He was as big a name as Fauci in his time. That very same time in which Fauci’s star rose in America. Luc was actually a bigger star in that constellation at the time, than Fauci.
Here’s an article about how Fauci increased access to experimental drug trials during the AIDs epidemic
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/04/16/834873162/long-before-covid-19-dr-tony-fauci-changed-medicine-in-america-forever
So, I am waiting for the mainstream press to grace us with their wisdom on Luc’s comments, but somehow I suspect he will be ignored.
Anyhow the interview with Luc was in French, I listened to it but my French is rusty. Translations are available.
small websites picking it up now
http://thejewishvoice.com/2020/04/2008-nobel-prize-for-medicine-winning-dr-luc-montagnier-says-covid-19-was-manipulated-for-hiv-research/
and one of my favorites which is actually not a small traffic site, zerohedge:
https://www.zerohedge.com/health/covid-19-man-made-virus-hiv-discoverer-says-could-only-have-been-created-lab
actually they did look at the genome, wow
““With my colleague, bio-mathematician Jean-Claude Perez, we carefully analyzed the description of the genome of this RNA virus,” explains Luc Montagnier, interviewed by Dr Jean-François Lemoine for the daily podcast at Pourquoi Docteur, adding that others have already explored this avenue: Indian researchers have already tried to publish the results of the analyses that showed that this coronavirus genome contained sequences of another virus, … the HIV virus (AIDS virus), but they were forced to withdraw their findings as the pressure from the mainstream was too great.
In a challenging question Dr Jean-François Lemoine inferred that the coronavirus under investigation may have come from a patient who is otherwise infected with HIV. No, “says Luc Montagnier,” in order to insert an HIV sequence into this genome, molecular tools are needed, and that can only be done in a laboratory.”
please observe he is NOT saying it was designed as bioweapon, speculating that it was being used in HIV vaccine research, presumably then an accidental leak
this news is HUGE and nary a squeak from the pathetic lamestream media
one can hardly call Luc a “discredited conspiracy theorist”
normally guys who got the NOBEL PRIZE FOR WORK IN VIROLOGY are pretty well respected
He’s not a Constitutional Republic member Romney is a RINO which means the right wing of the far left. Contact him through Schumer or Pelosi’s offices. Just like the majority of the Democrats are not democratic but DINOs and are Socialists the exact opposite of those who practice democratic ideals.
Even if it was only petty and petulant,
so was Romney’s vote. I listened to his rationale. It was every bit as perfidious as the rest of the Resistance.
I think the Professor makes a good point about Romney’s qualifications for being invited to this group, yet the man has consistently shown himself to be errant.
I can see why the President would invite him, but I can also see why he would not. There may have been some petulance involved, but there may have also been some good sense.
I find it difficult to work with people who call me unethical,immoral, a traitor and want me fired, regardless of their supposed credentials. President Trump is like the rest of us. There are plenty of super qualified people and President Trump already has plenty of them on his team.
Romney’s Bain capital was vulture capitalism..
Having someone that made a lot of money putting companies out of business and destroying retirement of the the workers that lost their jobs just doesn’t seem like the right message to be sending.
SBG, unless you are unethical, immoral, and traitor, your not like Trump.
He can’t be trusted!
Jack, wait. You’re talking about the guy behind Trump U, ripping off his own charity, hides his business dealings and apparently has avoided paying taxes many years while claiming to be a billionaire, right? That’s who you are saying can’t be trusted, correct?
Book, ‘Clancy’ is a puppet. If anyone responds it will be Crazed Idiot.
Clairvoyant now are we? Or did you find Darren’s home and now you occupy his residence?
This was a good decision. Romney cannot be trusted. He would be watching for the best opportunity to stab Trump in the back.
“I still view Romney as an honorable person…”
”One would think that Romney, a highly successful businessman, would be highly sought after for such a group.”
I don’t believe Romney is an honorable person and though I recognize his business experience his “honor” doesn’t prevent him from throwing a wrench into the discussions.
Then again if one wishes to believe in MotherJones or the rest of the leftist MSM of the time “EXCLUSIVE: Romney Invested Millions in Chinese Firm That Profited on US Outsourcing” I wouldn’t trust that source but then again many on this blog still think the Steele Dossier was real.
Romney as a public figure has been uneven. (His private life is quite well ordered). Doesn’t quite make him ‘dishonorable’, at least if you grade on a curve, your class being Congress. There is so much filth in national politics that calling Romney ‘dishonorable’ seems like using a cannon to kill a Chihuahua.
DSS, Romney holds a place in Congress that is greater than many of the unknown ones so the criticism generated is in proportion to his standing. His actions as a backstabber were as an individual rather than a group and therefore once again the proportion of criticism (or renown) becomes greater. (“Et tu, Brute? Then fall, Caesar.” Most people remember only one name, Brutus. Some will know two or three. I think he was stabbed 23 times. Do you know the others?)
I think you are correct that Romney’s “private life is quite well ordered” and I wish his private life the best and that he retire to it completely.
He’s a Mitt, he’s a Mitt. He’s a Mitt all the way.
He voted to impeach, to his last dying day
Romney “a highly successful businessman,” since when? His money comes primarily from his position in the Mormon Church. Yes, he runs a hedge fund and owns a couple of chains (which have been shutting down stores.) He’s a politician. Thank God Trump didn’t put him on the task force. He’d screw it up like he does everything else.
His money comes primarily from his position in the Mormon Church.
From whence did this fantasy arrive?
His money comes from 20+ years of work in the financial sector.
Mitt Romney is the only Republican senator with any integrity.
Thank you, Richard. I agree 100%.
And a $10M IRA fund.
Oh that much aint what it used to be YNOT. I bet Romney’s qualified assets are way north of 10, and there’s plenty in the Swamp who are at the level of 10 in both parties.
He reportedly has a 10M IRA fund but that is a drop in the bucket to his total financial holdings. My point though obtuse is:
He is a rethuglican thus integrity-free as noted by his IRA.
OMG you are a fool. Hook, line and sinker.
Sure, anyone at Bain Capital will tell you the same.
While I might have agreed with you on this at one time I do not now. By Romney’s own admission after that impeachment no vote he said he expected consequences. Perhaps this was a good time to give it to him. And if he really was voting in good faith I would think he would have voted no on both articles. Only voting no on one tells me that he was making a statement more than being in agreement with his vote. His comment verifies it for me. Romney was being small not the President when he did this. And since the meeting was by invitation I think Romney should be treated as a Democrat for all intents and purposes. I agree with the President to not invite him to this meeting where he would no doubt not cooperate with anything the President wants to do. Romney is being childish as are many others who didn’t get the jobs they wanted. Maybe he’ll calm down and move on soon. I’ll bet if he does, so will Donald J.Trump.
Trump is the smallest of small men. No slight is too trivial to be ignored. There’s a lot less to him than meets the eye. . .and that’s saying something because there isn’t much. I’m a lifelong conservative Republican, but I think Trump is an embarrassment to the office of President and to our country.
Aside from hating him personally, do you hate his policies too? Are you for open borders? How about NAFTA? Do you want conservative judges? Worried about global warming? Should we defend Israel? Should our military be everywhere?
What part of his policy are you embarrassed by? Or are you just caught up by his personality? I’m curious.
“Aside from hating him personally, do you hate his policies too? Are you for…”
Your list is great. those are the question that need to be asked. Why one voted for an Obama, a Trump or a Bush should be somewhat dependent on those questions and not the color of one’s skin or the perceived personality. We don’t discuss that much on the list so thanks for bringing it up.
Yeah Ivan, like most Americans I hate his stinking guts. No one is for open borders, I support NAFTA, there are more conservative judges than the minority of Americans should have – you lost the presidential vote in 6 of the last 7 elections – only idiots aren’t concerned about global warming, we almost all favor defending Israel, and aren’t you the guys who elected Bush/Cheney?
Trump[s disapproval rating is at 52%. “Disapprove” is not a synonym for “hate his guts” it is a considerably milder word. I suspect you overstate the number who “hate his stinking guts” by a large margin. I would put that at about 10-20% at most. but thats just a guess since “hate his stinking guts” is not exactly the kind of phrase any pollster would use.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/
No, Kurtz, they don’t say “hate his stinking guts”. They ask the degree to which someone agrees or disagrees, and there are a huge majority who “strongly agree” that Trump has done a lousy job, that he is unfit for office and that want him gone.
Show me the polls Natach that prove a majority of americans agree with your statements either:
“strongly agree trump has done a lousy job”
“strongly agree want him gone”
please provide verifiable citations
your own opinion of this is not persuasive
Which survey would this be?
This is what is good about America! Even morons and cult members get to express an opinion!
And the rest of us get to laugh at them!
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
So true.
You’re a libdick!
Cherg, you’re an empty sock puppet with a deliberately unwritable name.