H E A D L I N E S : 2 0 2 2 & 2 0 2 3

[Borg Refinery]

BR:
I consider "awful" (your word) subjective. Whether or not I agree is immaterial.
My position stated in #131 and yours in #134 are not mutually exclusive.

My posted comment addressed skill, not awfulness.

One of my examples of McConnell's skill:
On the subject of minimum wage, the Dems were trying to raise it. McConnell opposed, saying:
- If we make employment more expensive, is it any wonder why there would be less of it? -

I'm not congratulating McConnell for this. Instead I'm acknowledging it's an argument that's difficult to refute. I attribute that to skill, not a lack of awfulness. They are not mutually exclusive.

What good leadership skills does McConnell possess thn in your opinion?

Has he successfully held the party together? Has he managed to toe the line between irritating Trump and winning votes among moderates? Yes or no? Or did he proudly call himself the grim reaper for legislation during the Obama years?

His only 'skill' exists within the same realms as Trump - being a master manipulator and conman, why would I congratulate him on such skills?

 

[Borg Refinery]

The appearance is flagrantly incorrect, your apparent conclusion equally so.

The reason I have no such opinion is I have fact zero to base it on.
If you cite an authenticated fact about him / her / it I can contextualize it, and provide you my considered opinion. As of now I could not provide any such thing, as I have no information to base it on.

In that case, you were arguing against points I hadn't even made, you appear to regularly fall back on 'but the Repubs are so much worse than the Dems, would you rahter they do x?' which is a mistaken line of questioning with me as you always already know the answer to that. I don't know why you keep asking me it. But it matters not, the point is that Ilhan Omar has been shown to be immoderate and got correctly called out for her stances by Nancy Pelosi, there are many other things she's engaged in.

- Withholding Ukraine funding
- Alignment with other extremists
- Saying America is somehow morally equivalent with the Taliban
= Disrespecting a 9/11 mourner with insensitive comments - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-47923753
- Antisemitic comments as reported by the WaPo - https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...omar-again-accused-anti-semitism-over-tweets/

I'm really not sure she should be serving on top committees for all those reasons. While Ilhan Omar may be a competent and compassionate local politician who does the best she can by her constituents, she is IMHO not fit for national politics. If you disagree, that is OK.

 

[sear]

McConnell (R-KY) is a Republican. So was Abe Lincoln.
Lincoln wrote:

Dear Madam:

I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

Yours very sincerely and respectfully,
Abraham Lincoln / November 21, 1864

McConnell may not quite measure up to that. But I think he's an effective advocate for his party, often even when he's advocating a position I oppose.
I disagree with Hitler. That doesn't mean he wasn't pretty good at genocide, global conquest. Can you name anyone that's come closer?

What good leadership skills does McConnell possess thn in your opinion?

Both as majority leader, and as minority leader I'd say McConnell has held his caucus together fairly effectively.

"why would I congratulate him" BR

Why would I ?
Where have I ?
Acknowledge and congratulate are not synonyms.

"His only 'skill' exists within the same realms as Trump" BR

That's vague enough for me to pass on it. There are similarities, and dissimilarities.

"I think it's time for him [Donald Trump ("R"-NY) Republican 2016 presidential candidate] to look like a serious candidate for president." Majority Leader McConnell (R-KY)

I doubt they care much for one another. BUT !! They each like power. "Politics makes strange bedfellows."

BR #142
I don't endorse the examples you cited. But I'd consider it coarse to offer blanket agreement with you about it. For one thing, legislation complicates it. "Poison Pill" etc.
I sense you're trying to fabricate a difference between us here. To my knowledge you've failed.

Pardon my ignorance.
I literally do not know for certain if a duly elected MOC can remain in office without at least one committee assignment. I don't know.
I'm guessing no.

That's NOT an assertion of fitness on my part. I'm merely observing, until her claim to the office remains not overturned, I gather she must be seated on at least one committee, though perhaps not in leadership.

What would you have her do instead? Paint the garage?

 

[Borg Refinery]

No, you're painting something false yourself, I never said strip them of ALL assignments I simply pointed out that they should not be assigned to top committees, including the compromised Swallwell, compromised by a Chinese agent. That is sensible, the only one trying to paint a difference between us here appears to be you, you say McConnell is an effective leader but offer no examples of him doing so and merely assert something without evidence, how has he held his caucus together well then?

I also have no idea why you bring up Abe Lincoln and say him and Mitch share the same party when they have wildly differing values. That's as useful (almost) as saying Obama and Andrew Jackson shared the same party.

 

[sear]

I also have no idea why you bring up Abe Lincoln and say him and Mitch share the same party when they have wildly differing values.

Yes.
That is precisely the reason.

Which of the two would you blame for the change in values? Lincoln, for having gotten it so far wrong centuries ago? Or McConnell for having abandoned the values that made the Republican party so attractive in the first place?

 

[sear]

US readying new $2bn Ukraine weapons package: Report​

Military aid will include longer-range weapons that could help Ukraine disrupt activity behind Russian lines. Published On 1 Feb 2023

US readying new $2bn Ukraine weapons package: Report

Military aid will include longer-range weapons that could help Ukraine disrupt activity behind Russian lines.

www.aljazeera.com

The fig-leaf is disintegrating. It took a year for the West to agree to send / provide Ukraine with modern tanks. This after Ukraine's death-toll reportedly has reached 100,000.
But Biden still refuses to supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets.
It seems the U.S. & West are desperate to avoid what they pretend is the perception that they've chosen a favorite in the War, and that it's not Russia.
The $Billions already committed hasn't ?!

Florida governor backs ban on diversity lessons in state colleges​

Republican Ron DeSantis, a possible US presidential candidate, says diversity programmes serve as a ‘political filter’. Published On 31 Jan 2023

Florida governor backs ban on diversity lessons in state colleges

Republican Ron DeSantis, a possible US presidential candidate, says diversity programmes serve as a ‘political filter’.

www.aljazeera.com

NFL’s GOAT Tom Brady retires again, this time ‘for good’​

NFL legend Tom Brady announces he is retiring – called the ‘Greatest Of All Time’ (GOAT), he has won seven Super Bowls. Published On 1 Feb 2023

NFL’s GOAT Tom Brady retires again, this time ‘for good’

NFL legend Tom Brady announces he is retiring – called the ‘Greatest Of All Time’ (GOAT), he has won seven Super Bowls.

www.aljazeera.com

 

[sear]

#146 Mor on DeSantis: CRT

The 2021 Encyclopaedia Britannica described CRT as an "intellectual and social movement and loosely organized framework of legal analysis based on the premise that race is not a natural, biologically grounded feature of physically distinct subgroups of human beings but a socially constructed (culturally invented) category that is used to oppress and exploit people of colour."[16] [34]

Critical race theory - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Shiftless2]

Following on #146

Ron DeSantis goes Nazi... Speaking during a press conference at the State College of Florida in Bradenton, DeSantis said he is asking the state Legislature to cut all funding for programs he believes are "ideological."

DeSantis targets diversity programs, tenured professors in 'unhinged' attack on higher ed

Taking aim yet again at higher education, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday proposed sweeping changes to the state's university system, including banning state funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and critical race theory education, as well as forcing tenured...

www.rawstory.com

 

[Shiftless2]

And he's not alone

Most Republicans now think colleges are bad for America​

They don't think much of the media either.

Most Republicans now think colleges are bad for America

They don't think much of the media either.

www.vox.com

The Growing Partisan Divide in Views of Higher Education​

The Growing Partisan Divide in Views of Higher Education

Americans see value in higher education whether they graduated from college or not. Even so, there is an undercurrent of dissatisfaction – even suspicion – among the public about the role colleges play in society.

www.pewresearch.org

 

[sear]

Most Republicans now think colleges are bad for America​

They're at it again.
The Republican anti-vax radicals may have contributed to the COVID-19 deaths of countless Republicans.
And now there's a wave of Republican public sentiment that education is bad for America.

Ironic.
Republican stupidity is both the cause of their treachery, and with luck a major impediment to their prospect of success.

 

[sear]

The Southwest is running out of water.
Business Insider reports lawns are the biggest irrigated crop in the United States.

California fires back with its own Colorado River plan, AZ says feds could ban lawns​

Janet Wilson / Palm Springs Desert Sun

But six other states say drastic action is needed by the federal government and all who rely on the river water, including California. That includes possibly banning lawns across the Southwest, said a key Arizona official on Wednesday.

 

[sear]

The U.S. military is returning to the Philippines.
"The US is not looking for permanent bases. It's about places, not bases."

By Rupert Wingfield-Hayes / BBC News, Manila
The US has secured access to four additional military bases in the Philippines - a key bit of real estate which would offer a front seat to monitor the Chinese in the South China Sea and around Taiwan.
With the deal, Washington has stitched the gap in the arc of US alliances stretching from South Korea and Japan in the north to Australia in the south.
The missing link had been the Philippines, which borders two of the biggest potential flashpoints - Taiwan and the South China Sea.
The deal, which in part reverses the US' departure from their former colony more than 30 years ago, is no small matter.
"There is no contingency in the South China Sea that does not require access to the Philippines," says Gregory B Poling, director of the Southeast Asia programme at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
"The US is not looking for permanent bases. It's about places, not bases."

US secures deal on Philippines bases to complete arc around China

Washington now has more access to Philippines military bases facing the South China Sea and Taiwan.

www.bbc.com

 

[sear]

Dobbs Was Always Just the Beginning​

... there is a very real possibility that Kacsmaryk will single-handedly outlaw medication abortion in all 50 states, massively disrupting access to reproductive health care across the entire country. Worse, there is a substantial likelihood that higher courts—including the Supreme Court—will let him get away with it.

The Worst Judge in America Could Outlaw the Abortion Pill Nationwide. It Gets Worse.

Dobbs was only the beginning.

slate.com

 

[sear]

Texas attorney shot by Cheney during 2006 hunting trip dies​

Austin, Texas:
attorney Harry Whittington steps out to talk with members of the media, Feb. 17, 2006, in front of Christus Spohn Corpus Christi Hospital-Memorial.
Whittington, the man who then-Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot while they were hunting quail on a Texas ranch 17 years earlier, died Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023, in Austin

“For years Democrats have been shooting themselves in the foot. Cheney taught ‘em a lesson. Aim higher.” Jay Leno

 

[Shiftless2]

Thoughts about the Ukraine from the Economist

https://pages.eiu.com/rs/753-RIQ-438/images/Ukraine-in-2023-V4.pdf

 

[sear]

"Thoughts about the Ukraine from the Economist" #155

That's quite a concentration S2. Thanks. I didn't know there were two ways to designate Nagorno Karabakh. This War is an embarrassment, the West feeding weapons in to Ukraine at a mere trickle, so the carnage will drag on for years. Ukraine needs counter-attack weapons like jets. How many more will die before they get them?

>
Looks like we've shot down #4 over NA.

>
Earthquake death-toll reportedly over 30k.

>
RIP Howard Bragman.

 

[Rampage]

A top Russian military official is dead after falling out of a 16th-floor window, the latest in a string of untimely deaths​

A top Russian defense official has died after reportedly plunging out of the 16th-floor window of a high-rise in St. Petersburg — the latest in a string of untimely deaths among prominent officials and allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Marina Yankina, 58, the head of the financial support department for the Russian Defense Ministry's Western Military District, was found dead on Wednesday outside of the St. Petersburg, Russia, building, according to independent Russian media outlet Meduza.
Yankina's death is being investigated as a possible suicide, the Russian outlet Fontanka reported.
Russian Telegram channel Mash reported that Yankina called her ex-husband before she fell out of the window to her death.

A top Russian military official is dead after falling out of a 16th-floor window, the latest in a string of untimely deaths

Marina Yankina, the head of the financial support department for the Russian Defense Ministry's Western Military District, was found dead Wednesday.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[sear]

"she fell out of the window" BI #157

Putin's opponents have an implausibly high attrition rate. It seems those that support Putin are less clumsy.

 

[Shiftless2]

For anyone that has been following the news out of Ohio ...

 

[sear]

For anyone that has been following the news out of Ohio ...

Yes and:
Biden called their bluff.
Republicans have been whining bitterly about $deficit & $debt, and blindly demanding tax cuts.

"Tax cuts accounted for only about 25% of the deficit." U.S. Vice President Richard Cheney, Sept. 14, '03

Geriactive Joe slammed Republicans on this. You want balanced budgets? What revenues would you like to increase, - OR - what spending would you like to cut?