Commuted — Open Thread

by wj

President Obama has now commuted more sentences than any previous President. From what I can tell, a lot of there are non-violent drug offenders and others whose sentences are arguably out of proportion to the reality of their offense. So far, so good.

But then there’s this:

“Chelsea Elizabeth Manning – Oklahoma City, OK

Offense: One specification of wrongful and wanton publication to the internet intelligence belonging to the United States; five specifications of stealing, purloining or knowingly converting U.S. government records; six specifications of willful communication of information relating to the national defense; one specification of willful communication of information in unlawful possession; one specification of willful communication of information relating to the national defense by exceeding authorized access to a U.S. government computer; one specification of willful communication of information relating to the national defense obtained by accessing a U.S. government computer; five specifications of failure to obey order or regulation; U.S. Army Court Martial

Sentence: 35 years’ imprisonment (August 21, 2013)

Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on May 17, 2017.”

I don’t know what the President’s reasons were for this action. But for the life of me, I can’t think of any good reasons for doing it. Why???

The sentence (35 years) might be argued to be excessive. But the 7 years that results from this commutation seems horrible inadequate to the offense. So no obvious service of justice.

The politics don’t look particular good either. At best, it will leave the GOP, with its new-found enthusiasm for WikiLeaks, in an awkward position. Which doesn’t seem to me to be anywhere near an adequate reason.

So what was he thinking? My quick google of the subject found various other people giving reasons why it was appropriate. But no sign of what Obama himself was thinking. Maybe he will enlighten us during his last press conference….

501 thoughts on “Commuted — Open Thread”

  1. I figured we should go for an open thread now, because the weekend is likely to be all about the inauguration. In case anyone wondered.

    Reply
  2. I figured we should go for an open thread now, because the weekend is likely to be all about the inauguration. In case anyone wondered.

    Reply
  3. I figured we should go for an open thread now, because the weekend is likely to be all about the inauguration. In case anyone wondered.

    Reply
  4. From the presser:
    “Chelsea Manning has served a tough prison sentence,” Obama told reporters. “It has been my view that given she went to trial, that due process was carried out, that she took responsibility for her crime, that the sentence that she received was very disproportionate relative to what other leakers had received and that she had served a significant amount of time, that it made sense to commute and not pardon her sentence.”
    He said that he felt “very comfortable” about the precedent he set by commuting the bulk of Manning’s remaining sentence.
    “I feel very comfortable that justice has been served and that a message has still been sent,” Obama said. “Wherever possible, we need folks who may have legitimate concerns about the actions of government or their superiors or the agencies in which they work, that they try to work through the established channels and avail themselves of the whistleblower protections that have been put in place.”
    He said that he did not see a contradiction between his commutation of Manning’s sentence and his stance on WikiLeaks, either.
    “First of all, I haven’t commented on WikiLeaks generally,” Obama said, referring to the site’s role in publishing emails from Democratic groups which were hacked during the election.
    “I don’t pay attention to Mr. Assange’s comments. And I refer you to the Justice Department for any criminal investigations, indictments, extradition issues that may come up with him,” he added.

    Reply
  5. From the presser:
    “Chelsea Manning has served a tough prison sentence,” Obama told reporters. “It has been my view that given she went to trial, that due process was carried out, that she took responsibility for her crime, that the sentence that she received was very disproportionate relative to what other leakers had received and that she had served a significant amount of time, that it made sense to commute and not pardon her sentence.”
    He said that he felt “very comfortable” about the precedent he set by commuting the bulk of Manning’s remaining sentence.
    “I feel very comfortable that justice has been served and that a message has still been sent,” Obama said. “Wherever possible, we need folks who may have legitimate concerns about the actions of government or their superiors or the agencies in which they work, that they try to work through the established channels and avail themselves of the whistleblower protections that have been put in place.”
    He said that he did not see a contradiction between his commutation of Manning’s sentence and his stance on WikiLeaks, either.
    “First of all, I haven’t commented on WikiLeaks generally,” Obama said, referring to the site’s role in publishing emails from Democratic groups which were hacked during the election.
    “I don’t pay attention to Mr. Assange’s comments. And I refer you to the Justice Department for any criminal investigations, indictments, extradition issues that may come up with him,” he added.

    Reply
  6. From the presser:
    “Chelsea Manning has served a tough prison sentence,” Obama told reporters. “It has been my view that given she went to trial, that due process was carried out, that she took responsibility for her crime, that the sentence that she received was very disproportionate relative to what other leakers had received and that she had served a significant amount of time, that it made sense to commute and not pardon her sentence.”
    He said that he felt “very comfortable” about the precedent he set by commuting the bulk of Manning’s remaining sentence.
    “I feel very comfortable that justice has been served and that a message has still been sent,” Obama said. “Wherever possible, we need folks who may have legitimate concerns about the actions of government or their superiors or the agencies in which they work, that they try to work through the established channels and avail themselves of the whistleblower protections that have been put in place.”
    He said that he did not see a contradiction between his commutation of Manning’s sentence and his stance on WikiLeaks, either.
    “First of all, I haven’t commented on WikiLeaks generally,” Obama said, referring to the site’s role in publishing emails from Democratic groups which were hacked during the election.
    “I don’t pay attention to Mr. Assange’s comments. And I refer you to the Justice Department for any criminal investigations, indictments, extradition issues that may come up with him,” he added.

    Reply
  7. Thanks, Ugh.
    I’m not buying the equivalence, because what Manning leaked was different in substance from what some other leakers put out. But at least I see what the reasoning was.

    Reply
  8. Thanks, Ugh.
    I’m not buying the equivalence, because what Manning leaked was different in substance from what some other leakers put out. But at least I see what the reasoning was.

    Reply
  9. Thanks, Ugh.
    I’m not buying the equivalence, because what Manning leaked was different in substance from what some other leakers put out. But at least I see what the reasoning was.

    Reply
  10. There was also the issue of Manning’s ill-treatment while in prison, which Obama probably feels he can’t talk about without opening a whole ‘nother can of worms on his way out (assuming that’s one of the reasons).
    7 years is plenty, IMHO, especially considering there was a fair amount of whistleblower material in the information leaked – with a lot not. And honestly the number of charges and sentence, plus my own sense of what was in the materials and the emphasis it got at the time (and over the top GOP reaction “Traitor”!), smacks of Manning being punished as much for exposing the US’s misdeeds as for “leaking classified material” or any kind of damage to national security (as opposed to foreign relations).

    Reply
  11. There was also the issue of Manning’s ill-treatment while in prison, which Obama probably feels he can’t talk about without opening a whole ‘nother can of worms on his way out (assuming that’s one of the reasons).
    7 years is plenty, IMHO, especially considering there was a fair amount of whistleblower material in the information leaked – with a lot not. And honestly the number of charges and sentence, plus my own sense of what was in the materials and the emphasis it got at the time (and over the top GOP reaction “Traitor”!), smacks of Manning being punished as much for exposing the US’s misdeeds as for “leaking classified material” or any kind of damage to national security (as opposed to foreign relations).

    Reply
  12. There was also the issue of Manning’s ill-treatment while in prison, which Obama probably feels he can’t talk about without opening a whole ‘nother can of worms on his way out (assuming that’s one of the reasons).
    7 years is plenty, IMHO, especially considering there was a fair amount of whistleblower material in the information leaked – with a lot not. And honestly the number of charges and sentence, plus my own sense of what was in the materials and the emphasis it got at the time (and over the top GOP reaction “Traitor”!), smacks of Manning being punished as much for exposing the US’s misdeeds as for “leaking classified material” or any kind of damage to national security (as opposed to foreign relations).

    Reply
  13. Seven years of mostly solitary confinement seems plenty punishing to me.
    And that’s not even getting into the larger political issues at hand. We made a bargain at the end of the Bush administration. We collectively tried to pretend that the election of Obama represented a turning away from the abuses of the Bush administration, and with that turning away, we could let bygones by bygones and not prosecute anyone.
    It was sort of an inverted Truth and Reconciliation Committee, something like “Secrecy and Pretend this Didn’t Happen.”
    But its not fair to do that only for the benefit of the worse, more morally wretched side of the equation. A lot of US military personnel betrayed their oaths and their country and their honor by taking part in torture, and a lot of executive branch officials gave the orders that led them to do so. If we’re going to forgive and forget for them, Manning at least deserves to be commuted after seven years of solitary confinement.

    Reply
  14. Seven years of mostly solitary confinement seems plenty punishing to me.
    And that’s not even getting into the larger political issues at hand. We made a bargain at the end of the Bush administration. We collectively tried to pretend that the election of Obama represented a turning away from the abuses of the Bush administration, and with that turning away, we could let bygones by bygones and not prosecute anyone.
    It was sort of an inverted Truth and Reconciliation Committee, something like “Secrecy and Pretend this Didn’t Happen.”
    But its not fair to do that only for the benefit of the worse, more morally wretched side of the equation. A lot of US military personnel betrayed their oaths and their country and their honor by taking part in torture, and a lot of executive branch officials gave the orders that led them to do so. If we’re going to forgive and forget for them, Manning at least deserves to be commuted after seven years of solitary confinement.

    Reply
  15. Seven years of mostly solitary confinement seems plenty punishing to me.
    And that’s not even getting into the larger political issues at hand. We made a bargain at the end of the Bush administration. We collectively tried to pretend that the election of Obama represented a turning away from the abuses of the Bush administration, and with that turning away, we could let bygones by bygones and not prosecute anyone.
    It was sort of an inverted Truth and Reconciliation Committee, something like “Secrecy and Pretend this Didn’t Happen.”
    But its not fair to do that only for the benefit of the worse, more morally wretched side of the equation. A lot of US military personnel betrayed their oaths and their country and their honor by taking part in torture, and a lot of executive branch officials gave the orders that led them to do so. If we’re going to forgive and forget for them, Manning at least deserves to be commuted after seven years of solitary confinement.

    Reply
  16. What Ugh said.
    And by the way, the “over the top GOP reaction “Traitor!”” was the very issue which I thought might provide a wedge to divide Trump from the regular GOP types in Congress if he was inclined to be lenient towards Assange, as sapient suggested in the other thread, because although they couldn’t call Assange a traitor, they could despise him plenty, which they (and HRC, and others) did.

    Reply
  17. What Ugh said.
    And by the way, the “over the top GOP reaction “Traitor!”” was the very issue which I thought might provide a wedge to divide Trump from the regular GOP types in Congress if he was inclined to be lenient towards Assange, as sapient suggested in the other thread, because although they couldn’t call Assange a traitor, they could despise him plenty, which they (and HRC, and others) did.

    Reply
  18. What Ugh said.
    And by the way, the “over the top GOP reaction “Traitor!”” was the very issue which I thought might provide a wedge to divide Trump from the regular GOP types in Congress if he was inclined to be lenient towards Assange, as sapient suggested in the other thread, because although they couldn’t call Assange a traitor, they could despise him plenty, which they (and HRC, and others) did.

    Reply
  19. Also, the hyperventilating by certain GOPers that this sets a “dangerous precedent” is just ludicrous. The President can bascially pardon (or in this case, commute the sentence) anyone he (still, alas) wants. For any reason or no reason.
    Feh.

    Reply
  20. Also, the hyperventilating by certain GOPers that this sets a “dangerous precedent” is just ludicrous. The President can bascially pardon (or in this case, commute the sentence) anyone he (still, alas) wants. For any reason or no reason.
    Feh.

    Reply
  21. Also, the hyperventilating by certain GOPers that this sets a “dangerous precedent” is just ludicrous. The President can bascially pardon (or in this case, commute the sentence) anyone he (still, alas) wants. For any reason or no reason.
    Feh.

    Reply
  22. But the 7 years that results from this commutation seems horrible inadequate to the offense…
    Really ?
    How many years of solitary would you think horribly adequate ?

    Reply
  23. But the 7 years that results from this commutation seems horrible inadequate to the offense…
    Really ?
    How many years of solitary would you think horribly adequate ?

    Reply
  24. But the 7 years that results from this commutation seems horrible inadequate to the offense…
    Really ?
    How many years of solitary would you think horribly adequate ?

    Reply
  25. “Humanity and good policy conspire to dictate, that the benign prerogative of pardoning should be as little as possible fettered or embarrassed. The criminal code of every country partakes so much of necessary severity, that without an easy access to exceptions in favor of unfortunate guilt, justice would wear a countenance too sanguinary and cruel…”
    As someone once put it.

    Reply
  26. “Humanity and good policy conspire to dictate, that the benign prerogative of pardoning should be as little as possible fettered or embarrassed. The criminal code of every country partakes so much of necessary severity, that without an easy access to exceptions in favor of unfortunate guilt, justice would wear a countenance too sanguinary and cruel…”
    As someone once put it.

    Reply
  27. “Humanity and good policy conspire to dictate, that the benign prerogative of pardoning should be as little as possible fettered or embarrassed. The criminal code of every country partakes so much of necessary severity, that without an easy access to exceptions in favor of unfortunate guilt, justice would wear a countenance too sanguinary and cruel…”
    As someone once put it.

    Reply
  28. Yeah yeah, Anonymous are always threatening, but as far as I remember they have never achieved anything particularly impressive. Of course, given Trump’s complacency about the Hillary hacks, we can but dream that truly appalling stuff about him starts to come out (the biter bit) and forces the GOP to act, but I’m not holding my breath.

    Reply
  29. Yeah yeah, Anonymous are always threatening, but as far as I remember they have never achieved anything particularly impressive. Of course, given Trump’s complacency about the Hillary hacks, we can but dream that truly appalling stuff about him starts to come out (the biter bit) and forces the GOP to act, but I’m not holding my breath.

    Reply
  30. Yeah yeah, Anonymous are always threatening, but as far as I remember they have never achieved anything particularly impressive. Of course, given Trump’s complacency about the Hillary hacks, we can but dream that truly appalling stuff about him starts to come out (the biter bit) and forces the GOP to act, but I’m not holding my breath.

    Reply
  31. How many years of solitary would you think horribly adequate?
    I don’t think solitary confinement is anything like warranted. But is that necessarily a part of a longer sentence?
    For that matter, what was the rationale for solitary? Was it part of the sentence? The result of threats from other inmates? Problems with Manning herself?

    Reply
  32. How many years of solitary would you think horribly adequate?
    I don’t think solitary confinement is anything like warranted. But is that necessarily a part of a longer sentence?
    For that matter, what was the rationale for solitary? Was it part of the sentence? The result of threats from other inmates? Problems with Manning herself?

    Reply
  33. How many years of solitary would you think horribly adequate?
    I don’t think solitary confinement is anything like warranted. But is that necessarily a part of a longer sentence?
    For that matter, what was the rationale for solitary? Was it part of the sentence? The result of threats from other inmates? Problems with Manning herself?

    Reply
  34. David Morris, no question that Libby and North got off way, way too easy. Not sure how heavily that should count in judging what is appropriate in this case.
    Similarly, I hold a not particularly high opinion of Ford’s pardoning of Nixon. I can understand the political calculation, but I still don’t like it. Not least for the potential precedent — possibly regarding Trump.

    Reply
  35. David Morris, no question that Libby and North got off way, way too easy. Not sure how heavily that should count in judging what is appropriate in this case.
    Similarly, I hold a not particularly high opinion of Ford’s pardoning of Nixon. I can understand the political calculation, but I still don’t like it. Not least for the potential precedent — possibly regarding Trump.

    Reply
  36. David Morris, no question that Libby and North got off way, way too easy. Not sure how heavily that should count in judging what is appropriate in this case.
    Similarly, I hold a not particularly high opinion of Ford’s pardoning of Nixon. I can understand the political calculation, but I still don’t like it. Not least for the potential precedent — possibly regarding Trump.

    Reply
  37. And as far as “necessary severity” goes, the US is a noticeable outlier compared with any other nation on the globe, let alone any western democracy.

    Reply
  38. And as far as “necessary severity” goes, the US is a noticeable outlier compared with any other nation on the globe, let alone any western democracy.

    Reply
  39. And as far as “necessary severity” goes, the US is a noticeable outlier compared with any other nation on the globe, let alone any western democracy.

    Reply
  40. In a sane world we would be having this discussion about high ranking US officials, including maybe a few Presidents. How many years should one get for war crimes or complicity in war crimes? Is solitary confinement for long periods ever justified? (Hint– no.). Did they have good intentions? Should we try to balance whatever good they did against the corpses?
    Some of what Manning released should not have been released. I think the best example of that would be the information on the secret talks with China concerning North Korea. But it is obscene to talk about this given what was being covered up. We don’t live in a country with checks and balances, not when it comes to the very most serious crimes.
    You want resistance under a Trump Administration? You better hope there are a lot of Chelsea Mannings in a position to leak. The people who knew about the torture and didn’t leak should get along great in a Trump Administration.

    Reply
  41. In a sane world we would be having this discussion about high ranking US officials, including maybe a few Presidents. How many years should one get for war crimes or complicity in war crimes? Is solitary confinement for long periods ever justified? (Hint– no.). Did they have good intentions? Should we try to balance whatever good they did against the corpses?
    Some of what Manning released should not have been released. I think the best example of that would be the information on the secret talks with China concerning North Korea. But it is obscene to talk about this given what was being covered up. We don’t live in a country with checks and balances, not when it comes to the very most serious crimes.
    You want resistance under a Trump Administration? You better hope there are a lot of Chelsea Mannings in a position to leak. The people who knew about the torture and didn’t leak should get along great in a Trump Administration.

    Reply
  42. In a sane world we would be having this discussion about high ranking US officials, including maybe a few Presidents. How many years should one get for war crimes or complicity in war crimes? Is solitary confinement for long periods ever justified? (Hint– no.). Did they have good intentions? Should we try to balance whatever good they did against the corpses?
    Some of what Manning released should not have been released. I think the best example of that would be the information on the secret talks with China concerning North Korea. But it is obscene to talk about this given what was being covered up. We don’t live in a country with checks and balances, not when it comes to the very most serious crimes.
    You want resistance under a Trump Administration? You better hope there are a lot of Chelsea Mannings in a position to leak. The people who knew about the torture and didn’t leak should get along great in a Trump Administration.

    Reply
  43. http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2017/01/17/chelsea_manning_s_sentence_commuted_after_years_of_transphobic_treatment.html
    There would have been less urgency to commute Manning’s sentence had the US Mil followed even the most basic humanitarian guidelines for dealing with Trans health issues.
    Manning was not being treated like a normal prisoner, and the reasons for that difference in treatment were suspect. Had she been treated humanely, I doubt that Obama would have felt so strongly compelled to commute the sentence.

    Reply
  44. http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2017/01/17/chelsea_manning_s_sentence_commuted_after_years_of_transphobic_treatment.html
    There would have been less urgency to commute Manning’s sentence had the US Mil followed even the most basic humanitarian guidelines for dealing with Trans health issues.
    Manning was not being treated like a normal prisoner, and the reasons for that difference in treatment were suspect. Had she been treated humanely, I doubt that Obama would have felt so strongly compelled to commute the sentence.

    Reply
  45. http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2017/01/17/chelsea_manning_s_sentence_commuted_after_years_of_transphobic_treatment.html
    There would have been less urgency to commute Manning’s sentence had the US Mil followed even the most basic humanitarian guidelines for dealing with Trans health issues.
    Manning was not being treated like a normal prisoner, and the reasons for that difference in treatment were suspect. Had she been treated humanely, I doubt that Obama would have felt so strongly compelled to commute the sentence.

    Reply
  46. Nous: There would have been less urgency to commute Manning’s sentence had the US Mil followed even the most basic humanitarian guidelines for dealing with Trans health issues.
    Set aside the fact that, however belatedly, the US military currently pays for transgender surgery.
    I’m interested in how many militaries around the world do provide what you call “the most basic humanitarian guidelines.” If the norm is what I suspect it is (even in Western militaries, the vast majority don’t) I’m not sure how you conclude that these guidelines, whatever you consider them to be, are basic.

    Reply
  47. Nous: There would have been less urgency to commute Manning’s sentence had the US Mil followed even the most basic humanitarian guidelines for dealing with Trans health issues.
    Set aside the fact that, however belatedly, the US military currently pays for transgender surgery.
    I’m interested in how many militaries around the world do provide what you call “the most basic humanitarian guidelines.” If the norm is what I suspect it is (even in Western militaries, the vast majority don’t) I’m not sure how you conclude that these guidelines, whatever you consider them to be, are basic.

    Reply
  48. Nous: There would have been less urgency to commute Manning’s sentence had the US Mil followed even the most basic humanitarian guidelines for dealing with Trans health issues.
    Set aside the fact that, however belatedly, the US military currently pays for transgender surgery.
    I’m interested in how many militaries around the world do provide what you call “the most basic humanitarian guidelines.” If the norm is what I suspect it is (even in Western militaries, the vast majority don’t) I’m not sure how you conclude that these guidelines, whatever you consider them to be, are basic.

    Reply
  49. An interesting commentary on the Tillerson hearings (h/t 538):

    Several senators and their staffs, expecting to engage with a worldly sage regardless of what else they might think of him, came out of the hearing surprised at how little Tillerson knew about high-profile foreign policy issues. (He had been offered, but turned down, a briefing from the State Department.)

    There seems to be an idea that it would be a good, or even just appropriate, move to reject a chance to actually learn something about what you are going to be asked about. Across a significant segment of those who will lead the Trump administration, starting at the top. Leaving one asking: “What are these people thinking?!?”

    Reply
  50. An interesting commentary on the Tillerson hearings (h/t 538):

    Several senators and their staffs, expecting to engage with a worldly sage regardless of what else they might think of him, came out of the hearing surprised at how little Tillerson knew about high-profile foreign policy issues. (He had been offered, but turned down, a briefing from the State Department.)

    There seems to be an idea that it would be a good, or even just appropriate, move to reject a chance to actually learn something about what you are going to be asked about. Across a significant segment of those who will lead the Trump administration, starting at the top. Leaving one asking: “What are these people thinking?!?”

    Reply
  51. An interesting commentary on the Tillerson hearings (h/t 538):

    Several senators and their staffs, expecting to engage with a worldly sage regardless of what else they might think of him, came out of the hearing surprised at how little Tillerson knew about high-profile foreign policy issues. (He had been offered, but turned down, a briefing from the State Department.)

    There seems to be an idea that it would be a good, or even just appropriate, move to reject a chance to actually learn something about what you are going to be asked about. Across a significant segment of those who will lead the Trump administration, starting at the top. Leaving one asking: “What are these people thinking?!?”

    Reply
  52. WJ – as the Slate piece argues, it’s not so much that the US Mil is behind the curve on trans health; the US Mil was unwilling to apply its own standards for Manning in a timely manner. I’m talking about the US Mil’s own “basic humanitarian guidelines” here as much as anything.
    And I don’t think it even has to be that the US Mil has issues where trans service members are concerned. It could just as well be that they didn’t care about Manning’s state of mind independent of these other issues and were willing to risk her life and health to exact some measure of extra punishment.

    Reply
  53. WJ – as the Slate piece argues, it’s not so much that the US Mil is behind the curve on trans health; the US Mil was unwilling to apply its own standards for Manning in a timely manner. I’m talking about the US Mil’s own “basic humanitarian guidelines” here as much as anything.
    And I don’t think it even has to be that the US Mil has issues where trans service members are concerned. It could just as well be that they didn’t care about Manning’s state of mind independent of these other issues and were willing to risk her life and health to exact some measure of extra punishment.

    Reply
  54. WJ – as the Slate piece argues, it’s not so much that the US Mil is behind the curve on trans health; the US Mil was unwilling to apply its own standards for Manning in a timely manner. I’m talking about the US Mil’s own “basic humanitarian guidelines” here as much as anything.
    And I don’t think it even has to be that the US Mil has issues where trans service members are concerned. It could just as well be that they didn’t care about Manning’s state of mind independent of these other issues and were willing to risk her life and health to exact some measure of extra punishment.

    Reply
  55. There seems to be an idea that it would be a good, or even just appropriate, move to reject a chance to actually learn something about what you are going to be asked about. Across a significant segment of those who will lead the Trump administration, starting at the top.
    They are holdovers from the Obama Administration and are therefore the enemy and can’t be trusted. They would lie and cheat and steal to make fools of us in front of the Senate, so why listen? How do we know they would do this? Well, that’s what we would do in their position, so why wouldn’t they?

    Reply
  56. There seems to be an idea that it would be a good, or even just appropriate, move to reject a chance to actually learn something about what you are going to be asked about. Across a significant segment of those who will lead the Trump administration, starting at the top.
    They are holdovers from the Obama Administration and are therefore the enemy and can’t be trusted. They would lie and cheat and steal to make fools of us in front of the Senate, so why listen? How do we know they would do this? Well, that’s what we would do in their position, so why wouldn’t they?

    Reply
  57. There seems to be an idea that it would be a good, or even just appropriate, move to reject a chance to actually learn something about what you are going to be asked about. Across a significant segment of those who will lead the Trump administration, starting at the top.
    They are holdovers from the Obama Administration and are therefore the enemy and can’t be trusted. They would lie and cheat and steal to make fools of us in front of the Senate, so why listen? How do we know they would do this? Well, that’s what we would do in their position, so why wouldn’t they?

    Reply
  58. OK, maybe you feel you can’t trust the information you might get from a briefing. But you would at least get a clue as to what “the establishment” e.g. members of the Senate who will be asking questions at the confirmation hearings, thinks are major issues. Which would let you prepare, using sources that you do trust.
    How is it better to go in blind? I’m missing the up side of looking ignorant. Not wrong on the issues, but clueless that those issues even exist. Well maybe you think your political base favors ignorance. But they aren’t the ones you have to convince to confirm you.

    Reply
  59. OK, maybe you feel you can’t trust the information you might get from a briefing. But you would at least get a clue as to what “the establishment” e.g. members of the Senate who will be asking questions at the confirmation hearings, thinks are major issues. Which would let you prepare, using sources that you do trust.
    How is it better to go in blind? I’m missing the up side of looking ignorant. Not wrong on the issues, but clueless that those issues even exist. Well maybe you think your political base favors ignorance. But they aren’t the ones you have to convince to confirm you.

    Reply
  60. OK, maybe you feel you can’t trust the information you might get from a briefing. But you would at least get a clue as to what “the establishment” e.g. members of the Senate who will be asking questions at the confirmation hearings, thinks are major issues. Which would let you prepare, using sources that you do trust.
    How is it better to go in blind? I’m missing the up side of looking ignorant. Not wrong on the issues, but clueless that those issues even exist. Well maybe you think your political base favors ignorance. But they aren’t the ones you have to convince to confirm you.

    Reply
  61. Well maybe you think your political base favors ignorance. But they aren’t the ones you have to convince to confirm you.
    I think that Republican nominees are betting on Republican Senators to be reflecting the “political base”. Modern Republicans aren’t interested in facts, expertise, science, learning, knowledge, data, etc. If you have evidence to the contrary, please provide it. I think that their reaction to the CBO and the Ethics Committee is very emblematic.
    They want their own reality, and it’s at odds with “establishment” reality. This is also what troubles me about the “alt-left” as some people are calling it. Their tendency towards skepticism is beginning to get out of control. There is a refusal to buy into long-established norms. We can’t function in a world where there is no truth.

    Reply
  62. Well maybe you think your political base favors ignorance. But they aren’t the ones you have to convince to confirm you.
    I think that Republican nominees are betting on Republican Senators to be reflecting the “political base”. Modern Republicans aren’t interested in facts, expertise, science, learning, knowledge, data, etc. If you have evidence to the contrary, please provide it. I think that their reaction to the CBO and the Ethics Committee is very emblematic.
    They want their own reality, and it’s at odds with “establishment” reality. This is also what troubles me about the “alt-left” as some people are calling it. Their tendency towards skepticism is beginning to get out of control. There is a refusal to buy into long-established norms. We can’t function in a world where there is no truth.

    Reply
  63. Well maybe you think your political base favors ignorance. But they aren’t the ones you have to convince to confirm you.
    I think that Republican nominees are betting on Republican Senators to be reflecting the “political base”. Modern Republicans aren’t interested in facts, expertise, science, learning, knowledge, data, etc. If you have evidence to the contrary, please provide it. I think that their reaction to the CBO and the Ethics Committee is very emblematic.
    They want their own reality, and it’s at odds with “establishment” reality. This is also what troubles me about the “alt-left” as some people are calling it. Their tendency towards skepticism is beginning to get out of control. There is a refusal to buy into long-established norms. We can’t function in a world where there is no truth.

    Reply
  64. one aspect of the Manning case is her possible status as a whistleblower.
    Does anyone think her intent was to materially undermine the US? Apparently she thought what she was disclosing was wrongful behavior on our part.
    In any case the POTUS can pardon or commute the sentence of whoever they want. Of all the things going on at the moment, I’m not seeing commuting Manning’s sentence as a threat to the nation.

    Reply
  65. one aspect of the Manning case is her possible status as a whistleblower.
    Does anyone think her intent was to materially undermine the US? Apparently she thought what she was disclosing was wrongful behavior on our part.
    In any case the POTUS can pardon or commute the sentence of whoever they want. Of all the things going on at the moment, I’m not seeing commuting Manning’s sentence as a threat to the nation.

    Reply
  66. one aspect of the Manning case is her possible status as a whistleblower.
    Does anyone think her intent was to materially undermine the US? Apparently she thought what she was disclosing was wrongful behavior on our part.
    In any case the POTUS can pardon or commute the sentence of whoever they want. Of all the things going on at the moment, I’m not seeing commuting Manning’s sentence as a threat to the nation.

    Reply
  67. Tillerson: not a bad guy, no doubt a really good public corp CEO, kind of puzzling as a Sec State nominee, but far from the worst of Trump’s picks for cabinet positions.
    Passing on a State Department briefing? A truly dumb-ass move. I’m actually surprised by that one.
    Also regarding Manning, it’s worth noting that, per the original sentence, she would be eligible for parole in 2021.

    Reply
  68. Tillerson: not a bad guy, no doubt a really good public corp CEO, kind of puzzling as a Sec State nominee, but far from the worst of Trump’s picks for cabinet positions.
    Passing on a State Department briefing? A truly dumb-ass move. I’m actually surprised by that one.
    Also regarding Manning, it’s worth noting that, per the original sentence, she would be eligible for parole in 2021.

    Reply
  69. Tillerson: not a bad guy, no doubt a really good public corp CEO, kind of puzzling as a Sec State nominee, but far from the worst of Trump’s picks for cabinet positions.
    Passing on a State Department briefing? A truly dumb-ass move. I’m actually surprised by that one.
    Also regarding Manning, it’s worth noting that, per the original sentence, she would be eligible for parole in 2021.

    Reply
  70. To follow up on the Count’s link, the original from McClatchy.
    McClatchy definitely has a stance, but their work is also in general well sourced and fact checked, and factually reliable. They’re one of the only left-ish sources I read for news per se.
    Gonna be an interesting four years.

    Reply
  71. To follow up on the Count’s link, the original from McClatchy.
    McClatchy definitely has a stance, but their work is also in general well sourced and fact checked, and factually reliable. They’re one of the only left-ish sources I read for news per se.
    Gonna be an interesting four years.

    Reply
  72. To follow up on the Count’s link, the original from McClatchy.
    McClatchy definitely has a stance, but their work is also in general well sourced and fact checked, and factually reliable. They’re one of the only left-ish sources I read for news per se.
    Gonna be an interesting four years.

    Reply
  73. Of all the things going on at the moment, I’m not seeing commuting Manning’s sentence as a threat to the nation.
    Me neither. I’m glad he commuted her sentence. I wasn’t sympathetic to an argument that she should have gone free without serving any time, but I never supported a long sentence. She’s definitely served more than enough hard time.
    The problem with the “whistleblower” defense is that ordinarily, I don’t think that people who have access to classified documents should be able to use their own judgment to make them public. If people do leak things on the theory of “whistleblowing” , they should be careful to leak only the information pertinent to the alleged government misconduct. I would have had a much more sympathetic view towards Manning if she hadn’t transmitted so much to Wikileaks. Even then, though, it is civil disobedience, and people should be prepared to be prosecuted. If the reason for the leaking was whistleblowing, it should be evaluated as an affirmative defense to the prosecution.
    Ideally, there should be a mechanism for whistleblowing that protects secrets but also exposes wrongdoing, but it’s probably unrealistic to expect such a system to work very well.
    There is clearly a lot wrong with the way the government keeps secrets. They keep too many, and they keep them for too long, and they keep them sometimes for the wrong reasons. But we do need to classify some information, and we should be able to rely on people who have legitimate access to it not to betray their trust. Finding the right balance is something we need to work on.

    Reply
  74. Of all the things going on at the moment, I’m not seeing commuting Manning’s sentence as a threat to the nation.
    Me neither. I’m glad he commuted her sentence. I wasn’t sympathetic to an argument that she should have gone free without serving any time, but I never supported a long sentence. She’s definitely served more than enough hard time.
    The problem with the “whistleblower” defense is that ordinarily, I don’t think that people who have access to classified documents should be able to use their own judgment to make them public. If people do leak things on the theory of “whistleblowing” , they should be careful to leak only the information pertinent to the alleged government misconduct. I would have had a much more sympathetic view towards Manning if she hadn’t transmitted so much to Wikileaks. Even then, though, it is civil disobedience, and people should be prepared to be prosecuted. If the reason for the leaking was whistleblowing, it should be evaluated as an affirmative defense to the prosecution.
    Ideally, there should be a mechanism for whistleblowing that protects secrets but also exposes wrongdoing, but it’s probably unrealistic to expect such a system to work very well.
    There is clearly a lot wrong with the way the government keeps secrets. They keep too many, and they keep them for too long, and they keep them sometimes for the wrong reasons. But we do need to classify some information, and we should be able to rely on people who have legitimate access to it not to betray their trust. Finding the right balance is something we need to work on.

    Reply
  75. Of all the things going on at the moment, I’m not seeing commuting Manning’s sentence as a threat to the nation.
    Me neither. I’m glad he commuted her sentence. I wasn’t sympathetic to an argument that she should have gone free without serving any time, but I never supported a long sentence. She’s definitely served more than enough hard time.
    The problem with the “whistleblower” defense is that ordinarily, I don’t think that people who have access to classified documents should be able to use their own judgment to make them public. If people do leak things on the theory of “whistleblowing” , they should be careful to leak only the information pertinent to the alleged government misconduct. I would have had a much more sympathetic view towards Manning if she hadn’t transmitted so much to Wikileaks. Even then, though, it is civil disobedience, and people should be prepared to be prosecuted. If the reason for the leaking was whistleblowing, it should be evaluated as an affirmative defense to the prosecution.
    Ideally, there should be a mechanism for whistleblowing that protects secrets but also exposes wrongdoing, but it’s probably unrealistic to expect such a system to work very well.
    There is clearly a lot wrong with the way the government keeps secrets. They keep too many, and they keep them for too long, and they keep them sometimes for the wrong reasons. But we do need to classify some information, and we should be able to rely on people who have legitimate access to it not to betray their trust. Finding the right balance is something we need to work on.

    Reply
  76. I certainly agree that it’s not a threat to the nation in and of itself. Not even a worrying precedent, since I doubt anyone thinks that Trump would do something like it. Or would give a damn about precedents if he did.
    That said, I’m not seeing a reason for it to be a priority either. That is, I expect there are other cases which would be better cases for clemency. But then, I tend to have a pretty narrow view of when whistle blowing is warranted.
    Or maybe it’s just feeling that a whistle-blower should be cautious about what gets made public. Evidence of wrongdoing? Sure. A mass of diplomatic cables? No.

    Reply
  77. I certainly agree that it’s not a threat to the nation in and of itself. Not even a worrying precedent, since I doubt anyone thinks that Trump would do something like it. Or would give a damn about precedents if he did.
    That said, I’m not seeing a reason for it to be a priority either. That is, I expect there are other cases which would be better cases for clemency. But then, I tend to have a pretty narrow view of when whistle blowing is warranted.
    Or maybe it’s just feeling that a whistle-blower should be cautious about what gets made public. Evidence of wrongdoing? Sure. A mass of diplomatic cables? No.

    Reply
  78. I certainly agree that it’s not a threat to the nation in and of itself. Not even a worrying precedent, since I doubt anyone thinks that Trump would do something like it. Or would give a damn about precedents if he did.
    That said, I’m not seeing a reason for it to be a priority either. That is, I expect there are other cases which would be better cases for clemency. But then, I tend to have a pretty narrow view of when whistle blowing is warranted.
    Or maybe it’s just feeling that a whistle-blower should be cautious about what gets made public. Evidence of wrongdoing? Sure. A mass of diplomatic cables? No.

    Reply
  79. I don’t think its possible to create whistleblower friendly policies. By definition, if someone is blowing the whistle on something meaningful, they’re betraying trust that was given to them by 1) the very people who want the thing in question done, and 2) the very people who will be enforcing the whistleblowing policy. I don’t think we can untangle that knot with some sort of pre-written rule.

    Reply
  80. I don’t think its possible to create whistleblower friendly policies. By definition, if someone is blowing the whistle on something meaningful, they’re betraying trust that was given to them by 1) the very people who want the thing in question done, and 2) the very people who will be enforcing the whistleblowing policy. I don’t think we can untangle that knot with some sort of pre-written rule.

    Reply
  81. I don’t think its possible to create whistleblower friendly policies. By definition, if someone is blowing the whistle on something meaningful, they’re betraying trust that was given to them by 1) the very people who want the thing in question done, and 2) the very people who will be enforcing the whistleblowing policy. I don’t think we can untangle that knot with some sort of pre-written rule.

    Reply
  82. Manning released the information to the public, rather than hiding the theft and giving to another state as espionage(like Jonathan Pollard).
    Manning was also just 22 years old. No rational system gives someone that young access to so much top secret information. How can you have demonstrated trustworthiness at the required level with 4 years as an adult? The system was designed poorly if she has access to diplomatic cables that had nothing to do with her job in Iraq. Indiscriminate dissemination of classified information like she did is not worthy of ‘whistleblowing.’ But it is also not being a ‘traitor.’
    I don’t think that excuses what she did, but I do think a federal felony conviction and 6 plus years in Leavenworth is punishment. Certainly compared to Patreaus.

    Reply
  83. Manning released the information to the public, rather than hiding the theft and giving to another state as espionage(like Jonathan Pollard).
    Manning was also just 22 years old. No rational system gives someone that young access to so much top secret information. How can you have demonstrated trustworthiness at the required level with 4 years as an adult? The system was designed poorly if she has access to diplomatic cables that had nothing to do with her job in Iraq. Indiscriminate dissemination of classified information like she did is not worthy of ‘whistleblowing.’ But it is also not being a ‘traitor.’
    I don’t think that excuses what she did, but I do think a federal felony conviction and 6 plus years in Leavenworth is punishment. Certainly compared to Patreaus.

    Reply
  84. Manning released the information to the public, rather than hiding the theft and giving to another state as espionage(like Jonathan Pollard).
    Manning was also just 22 years old. No rational system gives someone that young access to so much top secret information. How can you have demonstrated trustworthiness at the required level with 4 years as an adult? The system was designed poorly if she has access to diplomatic cables that had nothing to do with her job in Iraq. Indiscriminate dissemination of classified information like she did is not worthy of ‘whistleblowing.’ But it is also not being a ‘traitor.’
    I don’t think that excuses what she did, but I do think a federal felony conviction and 6 plus years in Leavenworth is punishment. Certainly compared to Patreaus.

    Reply
  85. I don’t think we can untangle that knot with some sort of pre-written rule.
    That’s why I think an affirmative defense of whistleblowing could be evaluated by a court. I’m not sure that anything else would work.
    Manning was also just 22 years old. No rational system gives someone that young access to so much top secret information.
    At what age do people learn to keep secrets? Plenty of people have served their country at age 22 without betraying it. Many young soldiers in WWII were sworn to secrecy about their missions.

    Reply
  86. I don’t think we can untangle that knot with some sort of pre-written rule.
    That’s why I think an affirmative defense of whistleblowing could be evaluated by a court. I’m not sure that anything else would work.
    Manning was also just 22 years old. No rational system gives someone that young access to so much top secret information.
    At what age do people learn to keep secrets? Plenty of people have served their country at age 22 without betraying it. Many young soldiers in WWII were sworn to secrecy about their missions.

    Reply
  87. I don’t think we can untangle that knot with some sort of pre-written rule.
    That’s why I think an affirmative defense of whistleblowing could be evaluated by a court. I’m not sure that anything else would work.
    Manning was also just 22 years old. No rational system gives someone that young access to so much top secret information.
    At what age do people learn to keep secrets? Plenty of people have served their country at age 22 without betraying it. Many young soldiers in WWII were sworn to secrecy about their missions.

    Reply
  88. At what age do people learn to keep secrets?
    Hold people accountable at the age of 18. But you are an idiot if you give the secrets of the kingdom to someone with no record/history.
    In WWII, Soldiers were sworn to secrecy about their missions, not the missions of everyone else in the world, past and present. Because they were not given access to those. Because reasonably, you can’t trust everyone with everything. Someone trusted her with almost everything. By contrast, I have 30 years in the military, and have never had a TS clearance, because I have no need. Today, I received access to a secret system for the first time in 7 years (again, because no need).
    Stuff in Iraq was fast and lose, units came and went, and people made decisions on expedience. But someone gave her access to stuff that makes no sense for her to have.
    So absolutely she deserved to be punished, and she was. But she was not Pollard.

    Reply
  89. At what age do people learn to keep secrets?
    Hold people accountable at the age of 18. But you are an idiot if you give the secrets of the kingdom to someone with no record/history.
    In WWII, Soldiers were sworn to secrecy about their missions, not the missions of everyone else in the world, past and present. Because they were not given access to those. Because reasonably, you can’t trust everyone with everything. Someone trusted her with almost everything. By contrast, I have 30 years in the military, and have never had a TS clearance, because I have no need. Today, I received access to a secret system for the first time in 7 years (again, because no need).
    Stuff in Iraq was fast and lose, units came and went, and people made decisions on expedience. But someone gave her access to stuff that makes no sense for her to have.
    So absolutely she deserved to be punished, and she was. But she was not Pollard.

    Reply
  90. At what age do people learn to keep secrets?
    Hold people accountable at the age of 18. But you are an idiot if you give the secrets of the kingdom to someone with no record/history.
    In WWII, Soldiers were sworn to secrecy about their missions, not the missions of everyone else in the world, past and present. Because they were not given access to those. Because reasonably, you can’t trust everyone with everything. Someone trusted her with almost everything. By contrast, I have 30 years in the military, and have never had a TS clearance, because I have no need. Today, I received access to a secret system for the first time in 7 years (again, because no need).
    Stuff in Iraq was fast and lose, units came and went, and people made decisions on expedience. But someone gave her access to stuff that makes no sense for her to have.
    So absolutely she deserved to be punished, and she was. But she was not Pollard.

    Reply
  91. This should have been Manning’s defense.
    http://www.salon.com/2009/01/12/obama_prosecutor/
    No, not Glenn. Just a report of what Obama said about the need to move forward from the torture scandal.
    All this talk about whether Manning deserved this or that amount of time is irrelevant. Torture and other war crimes when committed by the US or its allies are not a threat to the authority of the government. It really doesn’t matter at all except to our self image and to the victims and they don’t vote. If we decide to prosecute someone for passing on a prisoner to the wolf brigade or for torturing the prisoner himself, that might make for some good pr or it might lower morale in the military or the CIA so on balance, it is better for the government to let it slide. And as Senator Schumer recently said, if you go against the intelligence community they can hurt you six ways from Sunday.
    On the other hand, what Chelsea Manning did is a direct threat to the government. If people see terrible things happening and stop using the Nuremberg defense in their own minds and begin to take action, then that person absolutely has to be punished. Right or wrong has nothing to do with it. As it happened, fortunately Manning went too far and released some legitimate diplomatic secrets. That was good, because people can condemn that action and call for jail time.
    From the viewpoint of Leviathan, torture is a peccadillo. It doesn’t hurt the State directly except for the bad pr angle. In fact, prosecuting torturers might hurt the government. Whistleblowing, on the other hand, is a deadly disease that has to be stopped. When it comes to torture, we look forward and not back. When it comes to releasing classified documents, Leviathan can’t afford to be merciful.

    Reply
  92. This should have been Manning’s defense.
    http://www.salon.com/2009/01/12/obama_prosecutor/
    No, not Glenn. Just a report of what Obama said about the need to move forward from the torture scandal.
    All this talk about whether Manning deserved this or that amount of time is irrelevant. Torture and other war crimes when committed by the US or its allies are not a threat to the authority of the government. It really doesn’t matter at all except to our self image and to the victims and they don’t vote. If we decide to prosecute someone for passing on a prisoner to the wolf brigade or for torturing the prisoner himself, that might make for some good pr or it might lower morale in the military or the CIA so on balance, it is better for the government to let it slide. And as Senator Schumer recently said, if you go against the intelligence community they can hurt you six ways from Sunday.
    On the other hand, what Chelsea Manning did is a direct threat to the government. If people see terrible things happening and stop using the Nuremberg defense in their own minds and begin to take action, then that person absolutely has to be punished. Right or wrong has nothing to do with it. As it happened, fortunately Manning went too far and released some legitimate diplomatic secrets. That was good, because people can condemn that action and call for jail time.
    From the viewpoint of Leviathan, torture is a peccadillo. It doesn’t hurt the State directly except for the bad pr angle. In fact, prosecuting torturers might hurt the government. Whistleblowing, on the other hand, is a deadly disease that has to be stopped. When it comes to torture, we look forward and not back. When it comes to releasing classified documents, Leviathan can’t afford to be merciful.

    Reply
  93. This should have been Manning’s defense.
    http://www.salon.com/2009/01/12/obama_prosecutor/
    No, not Glenn. Just a report of what Obama said about the need to move forward from the torture scandal.
    All this talk about whether Manning deserved this or that amount of time is irrelevant. Torture and other war crimes when committed by the US or its allies are not a threat to the authority of the government. It really doesn’t matter at all except to our self image and to the victims and they don’t vote. If we decide to prosecute someone for passing on a prisoner to the wolf brigade or for torturing the prisoner himself, that might make for some good pr or it might lower morale in the military or the CIA so on balance, it is better for the government to let it slide. And as Senator Schumer recently said, if you go against the intelligence community they can hurt you six ways from Sunday.
    On the other hand, what Chelsea Manning did is a direct threat to the government. If people see terrible things happening and stop using the Nuremberg defense in their own minds and begin to take action, then that person absolutely has to be punished. Right or wrong has nothing to do with it. As it happened, fortunately Manning went too far and released some legitimate diplomatic secrets. That was good, because people can condemn that action and call for jail time.
    From the viewpoint of Leviathan, torture is a peccadillo. It doesn’t hurt the State directly except for the bad pr angle. In fact, prosecuting torturers might hurt the government. Whistleblowing, on the other hand, is a deadly disease that has to be stopped. When it comes to torture, we look forward and not back. When it comes to releasing classified documents, Leviathan can’t afford to be merciful.

    Reply
  94. And no, I don’t think people consciously put it in those terms, but it is the underlying logic. It shows up again and again. People can oppose torture or war crimes and might think they are bad policy and immoral and not what America is about or whatever, but bad policies don’t threaten the system the way someone like Chelsea Manning does. If she hadn’t been sent to prison, the system collapses. Allowing torturers to walk helps preserve the system– you can only prosecute them if they can be seen as bad apples and not an integral part of the tree.

    Reply
  95. And no, I don’t think people consciously put it in those terms, but it is the underlying logic. It shows up again and again. People can oppose torture or war crimes and might think they are bad policy and immoral and not what America is about or whatever, but bad policies don’t threaten the system the way someone like Chelsea Manning does. If she hadn’t been sent to prison, the system collapses. Allowing torturers to walk helps preserve the system– you can only prosecute them if they can be seen as bad apples and not an integral part of the tree.

    Reply
  96. And no, I don’t think people consciously put it in those terms, but it is the underlying logic. It shows up again and again. People can oppose torture or war crimes and might think they are bad policy and immoral and not what America is about or whatever, but bad policies don’t threaten the system the way someone like Chelsea Manning does. If she hadn’t been sent to prison, the system collapses. Allowing torturers to walk helps preserve the system– you can only prosecute them if they can be seen as bad apples and not an integral part of the tree.

    Reply
  97. released some legitimate diplomatic secrets.
    She released many thousands. Apparently without knowing what they contained. Some of which hurt allies who were taking risk by being our allies, and expecting secrecy. which will make future allies less likely to trust us, even when they are doing good things.
    I agree that torture is worse. Not only is it evil, it prevents enemy Soldiers from being willing to surrender. “Not torturing” is a combat multiplier so the enemy can trust you enough not to rather die than be captured. So not only is it evil, it is counterproductive, and something that the military ‘class’ had always valued (not everyone, but in general and in theory).
    I also think that the risk of prosecution of someone from a previous administration often higher than the pay out. When half the country thinks they were patriots for torturing someone, that cost can also be counterproductive. Stopping it may be the best you get.
    The real world sucks. Doing the possible sometimes gets in the way of the perfect.

    Reply
  98. released some legitimate diplomatic secrets.
    She released many thousands. Apparently without knowing what they contained. Some of which hurt allies who were taking risk by being our allies, and expecting secrecy. which will make future allies less likely to trust us, even when they are doing good things.
    I agree that torture is worse. Not only is it evil, it prevents enemy Soldiers from being willing to surrender. “Not torturing” is a combat multiplier so the enemy can trust you enough not to rather die than be captured. So not only is it evil, it is counterproductive, and something that the military ‘class’ had always valued (not everyone, but in general and in theory).
    I also think that the risk of prosecution of someone from a previous administration often higher than the pay out. When half the country thinks they were patriots for torturing someone, that cost can also be counterproductive. Stopping it may be the best you get.
    The real world sucks. Doing the possible sometimes gets in the way of the perfect.

    Reply
  99. released some legitimate diplomatic secrets.
    She released many thousands. Apparently without knowing what they contained. Some of which hurt allies who were taking risk by being our allies, and expecting secrecy. which will make future allies less likely to trust us, even when they are doing good things.
    I agree that torture is worse. Not only is it evil, it prevents enemy Soldiers from being willing to surrender. “Not torturing” is a combat multiplier so the enemy can trust you enough not to rather die than be captured. So not only is it evil, it is counterproductive, and something that the military ‘class’ had always valued (not everyone, but in general and in theory).
    I also think that the risk of prosecution of someone from a previous administration often higher than the pay out. When half the country thinks they were patriots for torturing someone, that cost can also be counterproductive. Stopping it may be the best you get.
    The real world sucks. Doing the possible sometimes gets in the way of the perfect.

    Reply
  100. People can oppose torture or war crimes and might think they are bad policy and immoral and not what America is about or whatever, but bad policies don’t threaten the system the way someone like Chelsea Manning does.
    If the system is a non-totalitarian state, acceptance of torture absolutely does threaten it, IMO.
    And makes a nonsense of the rule of law.

    Reply
  101. People can oppose torture or war crimes and might think they are bad policy and immoral and not what America is about or whatever, but bad policies don’t threaten the system the way someone like Chelsea Manning does.
    If the system is a non-totalitarian state, acceptance of torture absolutely does threaten it, IMO.
    And makes a nonsense of the rule of law.

    Reply
  102. People can oppose torture or war crimes and might think they are bad policy and immoral and not what America is about or whatever, but bad policies don’t threaten the system the way someone like Chelsea Manning does.
    If the system is a non-totalitarian state, acceptance of torture absolutely does threaten it, IMO.
    And makes a nonsense of the rule of law.

    Reply
  103. Been thinking about this a lot. I think the commutation is good, but Donald wrote this
    You better hope there are a lot of Chelsea Mannings in a position to leak. The people who knew about the torture and didn’t leak should get along great in a Trump Administration.
    I don’t mean to pick nits here, but I kind of balk at this because the particular case of Manning is of someone with serious issues where it is easy to make the narrative her mental health rather than the question of what information should be out in the open. Donald may have been using Chelsea Manning as a representative leaker, but to me, her case and situation seem very much like an individual case rather than a case where it is easy to draw conclusions about the necessity of leaking particular information. jrudkis’ point that you depend on the system in part to make appropriate decisions about who should be trusted with particular information seems important here. (and I wonder if anyone knows if her superiors were punished in any way for what happened)

    Reply
  104. Been thinking about this a lot. I think the commutation is good, but Donald wrote this
    You better hope there are a lot of Chelsea Mannings in a position to leak. The people who knew about the torture and didn’t leak should get along great in a Trump Administration.
    I don’t mean to pick nits here, but I kind of balk at this because the particular case of Manning is of someone with serious issues where it is easy to make the narrative her mental health rather than the question of what information should be out in the open. Donald may have been using Chelsea Manning as a representative leaker, but to me, her case and situation seem very much like an individual case rather than a case where it is easy to draw conclusions about the necessity of leaking particular information. jrudkis’ point that you depend on the system in part to make appropriate decisions about who should be trusted with particular information seems important here. (and I wonder if anyone knows if her superiors were punished in any way for what happened)

    Reply
  105. Been thinking about this a lot. I think the commutation is good, but Donald wrote this
    You better hope there are a lot of Chelsea Mannings in a position to leak. The people who knew about the torture and didn’t leak should get along great in a Trump Administration.
    I don’t mean to pick nits here, but I kind of balk at this because the particular case of Manning is of someone with serious issues where it is easy to make the narrative her mental health rather than the question of what information should be out in the open. Donald may have been using Chelsea Manning as a representative leaker, but to me, her case and situation seem very much like an individual case rather than a case where it is easy to draw conclusions about the necessity of leaking particular information. jrudkis’ point that you depend on the system in part to make appropriate decisions about who should be trusted with particular information seems important here. (and I wonder if anyone knows if her superiors were punished in any way for what happened)

    Reply
  106. “”Not torturing” is a combat multiplier so the enemy can trust you enough not to rather die than be captured.”
    Thanks for making this point jrudkis. In all the arguments over torture I’ve seen I’ve never seen any of those on the “pro” side even understand this point, much less grapple with it.

    Reply
  107. “”Not torturing” is a combat multiplier so the enemy can trust you enough not to rather die than be captured.”
    Thanks for making this point jrudkis. In all the arguments over torture I’ve seen I’ve never seen any of those on the “pro” side even understand this point, much less grapple with it.

    Reply
  108. “”Not torturing” is a combat multiplier so the enemy can trust you enough not to rather die than be captured.”
    Thanks for making this point jrudkis. In all the arguments over torture I’ve seen I’ve never seen any of those on the “pro” side even understand this point, much less grapple with it.

    Reply
  109. Regarding fake news and Marty’s comment recently that protestors were paid to disrupt Trump rallies, here’s some corrective:
    http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/how-a-hoax-website-about-paid-protesters-came-crumbling-down-live-on-tv/ar-AAlZKj1
    That fake news purveyor Tucker Carlson and FOX News are now outing fake news is only proof of Nussbaum’s thesis cited in my comment above.
    The Fourth Estate is now a dead letter. The other three estates are in the hands of crackpots.
    I’m not sure what Edmund Burke would say, who came up with the term “Fourth Estate”, according to Thomas Carlyle, but I may remove my pants so I can now be sans-culottes and hang out down by the guillotine like a myopic barber sans depth perception.

    Reply
  110. Regarding fake news and Marty’s comment recently that protestors were paid to disrupt Trump rallies, here’s some corrective:
    http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/how-a-hoax-website-about-paid-protesters-came-crumbling-down-live-on-tv/ar-AAlZKj1
    That fake news purveyor Tucker Carlson and FOX News are now outing fake news is only proof of Nussbaum’s thesis cited in my comment above.
    The Fourth Estate is now a dead letter. The other three estates are in the hands of crackpots.
    I’m not sure what Edmund Burke would say, who came up with the term “Fourth Estate”, according to Thomas Carlyle, but I may remove my pants so I can now be sans-culottes and hang out down by the guillotine like a myopic barber sans depth perception.

    Reply
  111. Regarding fake news and Marty’s comment recently that protestors were paid to disrupt Trump rallies, here’s some corrective:
    http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/how-a-hoax-website-about-paid-protesters-came-crumbling-down-live-on-tv/ar-AAlZKj1
    That fake news purveyor Tucker Carlson and FOX News are now outing fake news is only proof of Nussbaum’s thesis cited in my comment above.
    The Fourth Estate is now a dead letter. The other three estates are in the hands of crackpots.
    I’m not sure what Edmund Burke would say, who came up with the term “Fourth Estate”, according to Thomas Carlyle, but I may remove my pants so I can now be sans-culottes and hang out down by the guillotine like a myopic barber sans depth perception.

    Reply
  112. I also think that the risk of prosecution of someone from a previous administration often higher than the pay out. When half the country thinks they were patriots for torturing someone, that cost can also be counterproductive. Stopping it may be the best you get.
    The real world sucks. Doing the possible sometimes gets in the way of the perfect.

    Thanks for ypur comments, jrudkis. I think this explains a lot.

    Reply
  113. I also think that the risk of prosecution of someone from a previous administration often higher than the pay out. When half the country thinks they were patriots for torturing someone, that cost can also be counterproductive. Stopping it may be the best you get.
    The real world sucks. Doing the possible sometimes gets in the way of the perfect.

    Thanks for ypur comments, jrudkis. I think this explains a lot.

    Reply
  114. I also think that the risk of prosecution of someone from a previous administration often higher than the pay out. When half the country thinks they were patriots for torturing someone, that cost can also be counterproductive. Stopping it may be the best you get.
    The real world sucks. Doing the possible sometimes gets in the way of the perfect.

    Thanks for ypur comments, jrudkis. I think this explains a lot.

    Reply
  115. “I may remove my pants so I can now be sans-culottes and hang out down by the guillotine like a myopic barber sans depth perception.”
    We’re in the modern age now, Count. Culottes have been out of fashion (for men) for ages.
    And creaky old guillotines? Too slow, too primitive.
    WOOD CHIPPERS are the modern way to go. On sale now at Home Despot.
    GOP traitors get fed in feet first, while common criminals get fed in head first, because we’re kind and compassionate that way.

    Reply
  116. “I may remove my pants so I can now be sans-culottes and hang out down by the guillotine like a myopic barber sans depth perception.”
    We’re in the modern age now, Count. Culottes have been out of fashion (for men) for ages.
    And creaky old guillotines? Too slow, too primitive.
    WOOD CHIPPERS are the modern way to go. On sale now at Home Despot.
    GOP traitors get fed in feet first, while common criminals get fed in head first, because we’re kind and compassionate that way.

    Reply
  117. “I may remove my pants so I can now be sans-culottes and hang out down by the guillotine like a myopic barber sans depth perception.”
    We’re in the modern age now, Count. Culottes have been out of fashion (for men) for ages.
    And creaky old guillotines? Too slow, too primitive.
    WOOD CHIPPERS are the modern way to go. On sale now at Home Despot.
    GOP traitors get fed in feet first, while common criminals get fed in head first, because we’re kind and compassionate that way.

    Reply
  118. Doing the possible instead of the perfect is exactly the defense Manning could give. I would call it a double standard, but it finally got through to me what the hidden logic is. It is not a double standard. It is an unacknowledged different standard.
    There were large numbers of people in government who either participated in torture, ordered it, or looked the other way or refused to prosecute as I think we are legally bound to do and except for a handful of scapegoats none of them faced the consequences that Manning faced. It is not useful to call this hypocrisy, which is my light bulb moment. It is what the economists call a revealed preference. Torture and other atrocities are not a threat to the government They make the government look bad if they come out and are widely condemned and they might be stupid policy, but they don’t threaten it. They also don’t threaten individuals working for the government, unless torture is prosecuted as a crime. Prosecution of war crimes would split the government and would be an almost existential threat– probably not a literal one, as capital punishment would be unlikely, but decades in prison would be in the cards. From that point of view, it is not the war crime which is bad, but the lack of a coverup. At best we should have just enough info freely available so torture stops, because it is bad policy, but not so much it erodes the government’s authority.
    People like Manning are much much worse from this point of view, because it strikes at how the system operates. There can be no tolerance for this, unless the leaker is highly situated like Petraeus or if it was one of those leaks intended to make the government look good. But someone like Manning who leaks proof of war crimes ( and other things like the Obama Administration pressuring others not to prosecute torturers) along with things she shouldn’t have leaked– well, that is infinitely worse precisely because it wa an act of conscience.
    There is a coherent set of propositions underlying all this and it leads to the conclusion that leakers of classified documents who were driven by conscience should be punished much worse than war criminals and probably worse than people like Petraeus. The system is operating exactly the way it should, given those propositions.
    I expect under Trump some liberals may switch their views and that would be welcome, and also hypocritical, but that is a different issue.

    Reply
  119. Doing the possible instead of the perfect is exactly the defense Manning could give. I would call it a double standard, but it finally got through to me what the hidden logic is. It is not a double standard. It is an unacknowledged different standard.
    There were large numbers of people in government who either participated in torture, ordered it, or looked the other way or refused to prosecute as I think we are legally bound to do and except for a handful of scapegoats none of them faced the consequences that Manning faced. It is not useful to call this hypocrisy, which is my light bulb moment. It is what the economists call a revealed preference. Torture and other atrocities are not a threat to the government They make the government look bad if they come out and are widely condemned and they might be stupid policy, but they don’t threaten it. They also don’t threaten individuals working for the government, unless torture is prosecuted as a crime. Prosecution of war crimes would split the government and would be an almost existential threat– probably not a literal one, as capital punishment would be unlikely, but decades in prison would be in the cards. From that point of view, it is not the war crime which is bad, but the lack of a coverup. At best we should have just enough info freely available so torture stops, because it is bad policy, but not so much it erodes the government’s authority.
    People like Manning are much much worse from this point of view, because it strikes at how the system operates. There can be no tolerance for this, unless the leaker is highly situated like Petraeus or if it was one of those leaks intended to make the government look good. But someone like Manning who leaks proof of war crimes ( and other things like the Obama Administration pressuring others not to prosecute torturers) along with things she shouldn’t have leaked– well, that is infinitely worse precisely because it wa an act of conscience.
    There is a coherent set of propositions underlying all this and it leads to the conclusion that leakers of classified documents who were driven by conscience should be punished much worse than war criminals and probably worse than people like Petraeus. The system is operating exactly the way it should, given those propositions.
    I expect under Trump some liberals may switch their views and that would be welcome, and also hypocritical, but that is a different issue.

    Reply
  120. Doing the possible instead of the perfect is exactly the defense Manning could give. I would call it a double standard, but it finally got through to me what the hidden logic is. It is not a double standard. It is an unacknowledged different standard.
    There were large numbers of people in government who either participated in torture, ordered it, or looked the other way or refused to prosecute as I think we are legally bound to do and except for a handful of scapegoats none of them faced the consequences that Manning faced. It is not useful to call this hypocrisy, which is my light bulb moment. It is what the economists call a revealed preference. Torture and other atrocities are not a threat to the government They make the government look bad if they come out and are widely condemned and they might be stupid policy, but they don’t threaten it. They also don’t threaten individuals working for the government, unless torture is prosecuted as a crime. Prosecution of war crimes would split the government and would be an almost existential threat– probably not a literal one, as capital punishment would be unlikely, but decades in prison would be in the cards. From that point of view, it is not the war crime which is bad, but the lack of a coverup. At best we should have just enough info freely available so torture stops, because it is bad policy, but not so much it erodes the government’s authority.
    People like Manning are much much worse from this point of view, because it strikes at how the system operates. There can be no tolerance for this, unless the leaker is highly situated like Petraeus or if it was one of those leaks intended to make the government look good. But someone like Manning who leaks proof of war crimes ( and other things like the Obama Administration pressuring others not to prosecute torturers) along with things she shouldn’t have leaked– well, that is infinitely worse precisely because it wa an act of conscience.
    There is a coherent set of propositions underlying all this and it leads to the conclusion that leakers of classified documents who were driven by conscience should be punished much worse than war criminals and probably worse than people like Petraeus. The system is operating exactly the way it should, given those propositions.
    I expect under Trump some liberals may switch their views and that would be welcome, and also hypocritical, but that is a different issue.

    Reply
  121. NO ONE will be able to keep their current insurance policies:
    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/tom-price-employer-heath-plans
    I’m still waiting for a conservative here or anywhere to decry the “uncertainty” of what is coming for patients, like the dreadful uncertainty of the ACA was decried.
    Oh, sure, y’all be incentivized to screw yourselves, like a chimpanzee in a box is incentivized by a gun with blanks, a whip, and a banana.

    Reply
  122. NO ONE will be able to keep their current insurance policies:
    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/tom-price-employer-heath-plans
    I’m still waiting for a conservative here or anywhere to decry the “uncertainty” of what is coming for patients, like the dreadful uncertainty of the ACA was decried.
    Oh, sure, y’all be incentivized to screw yourselves, like a chimpanzee in a box is incentivized by a gun with blanks, a whip, and a banana.

    Reply
  123. NO ONE will be able to keep their current insurance policies:
    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/tom-price-employer-heath-plans
    I’m still waiting for a conservative here or anywhere to decry the “uncertainty” of what is coming for patients, like the dreadful uncertainty of the ACA was decried.
    Oh, sure, y’all be incentivized to screw yourselves, like a chimpanzee in a box is incentivized by a gun with blanks, a whip, and a banana.

    Reply
  124. “and also hypocritical”
    Donald, I agree with nearly everything you write, and you are a good soul, but if you turn me upside down, hold me by the ankles and shake me, my wallet, my car keys, my change, (my dress might fly up) and the pellets of my ample hypocrisy, like mercury, will clatter to the floor and head downhill at speed for all to see.
    If hypocrisy is your main bugaboo, then you’re preaching to the wrong species in the wrong world.
    Trump’s problem is that he may nuke both Syria and Yemen, which would cause plenty of big problems, but would have the virtue of making him the least hypocritical subhuman to walk among men.
    That said, Yemen is a tragic travesty, carry on the good fight, and let’s hope things improve, and someone, sometime, somewhere is held accountable for their crimes.

    Reply
  125. “and also hypocritical”
    Donald, I agree with nearly everything you write, and you are a good soul, but if you turn me upside down, hold me by the ankles and shake me, my wallet, my car keys, my change, (my dress might fly up) and the pellets of my ample hypocrisy, like mercury, will clatter to the floor and head downhill at speed for all to see.
    If hypocrisy is your main bugaboo, then you’re preaching to the wrong species in the wrong world.
    Trump’s problem is that he may nuke both Syria and Yemen, which would cause plenty of big problems, but would have the virtue of making him the least hypocritical subhuman to walk among men.
    That said, Yemen is a tragic travesty, carry on the good fight, and let’s hope things improve, and someone, sometime, somewhere is held accountable for their crimes.

    Reply
  126. “and also hypocritical”
    Donald, I agree with nearly everything you write, and you are a good soul, but if you turn me upside down, hold me by the ankles and shake me, my wallet, my car keys, my change, (my dress might fly up) and the pellets of my ample hypocrisy, like mercury, will clatter to the floor and head downhill at speed for all to see.
    If hypocrisy is your main bugaboo, then you’re preaching to the wrong species in the wrong world.
    Trump’s problem is that he may nuke both Syria and Yemen, which would cause plenty of big problems, but would have the virtue of making him the least hypocritical subhuman to walk among men.
    That said, Yemen is a tragic travesty, carry on the good fight, and let’s hope things improve, and someone, sometime, somewhere is held accountable for their crimes.

    Reply
  127. free market mania is an ideological cult. the folks who drink that particular flavor of kool-aid don’t seem to care what or who they damage.
    regarding Manning, I think what she did was a crime, and caused damage. I also think she thought she was doing the right thing. I.e., did not have intent to harm.
    She’s been imprisoned for 7 years now, some of that under quitr hostile conditions. She’s eligible for parole in 4 years as it is.
    I don’t know Obama’s intentions, but I personally see this as, at least in part, a gesture that acknowledges the plain wrongness of many of our actions post 9/11. There seems to be some justice in it, to me.
    I’m not seeing it as a precedent whereby anyone who discloses sensitive information can count on a pass based on claims of conscience.
    Long story short, FWIW it seems allright to me. Not that I’m the judge of what’s allright, we’re just talking here and those are my thoughts.

    Reply
  128. free market mania is an ideological cult. the folks who drink that particular flavor of kool-aid don’t seem to care what or who they damage.
    regarding Manning, I think what she did was a crime, and caused damage. I also think she thought she was doing the right thing. I.e., did not have intent to harm.
    She’s been imprisoned for 7 years now, some of that under quitr hostile conditions. She’s eligible for parole in 4 years as it is.
    I don’t know Obama’s intentions, but I personally see this as, at least in part, a gesture that acknowledges the plain wrongness of many of our actions post 9/11. There seems to be some justice in it, to me.
    I’m not seeing it as a precedent whereby anyone who discloses sensitive information can count on a pass based on claims of conscience.
    Long story short, FWIW it seems allright to me. Not that I’m the judge of what’s allright, we’re just talking here and those are my thoughts.

    Reply
  129. free market mania is an ideological cult. the folks who drink that particular flavor of kool-aid don’t seem to care what or who they damage.
    regarding Manning, I think what she did was a crime, and caused damage. I also think she thought she was doing the right thing. I.e., did not have intent to harm.
    She’s been imprisoned for 7 years now, some of that under quitr hostile conditions. She’s eligible for parole in 4 years as it is.
    I don’t know Obama’s intentions, but I personally see this as, at least in part, a gesture that acknowledges the plain wrongness of many of our actions post 9/11. There seems to be some justice in it, to me.
    I’m not seeing it as a precedent whereby anyone who discloses sensitive information can count on a pass based on claims of conscience.
    Long story short, FWIW it seems allright to me. Not that I’m the judge of what’s allright, we’re just talking here and those are my thoughts.

    Reply
  130. Lj, regarding Manning’s imperfections, don’t make the perfect the enemy of the good. If we had a government which genuinely tried to enforce the law on itself then my standards would be higher for whistleblowers. We have a system that is much harder on Manning than on Petraeus or Cartwright and treats war crimes as bad or good policy depending on the party in power or who commits them.
    Aren’t people in the military and in the government supposed to defend the Constitution? Where does torture fit in? But I hear much more about the oath Manning took than I ever hear about the obligations of others.

    Reply
  131. Lj, regarding Manning’s imperfections, don’t make the perfect the enemy of the good. If we had a government which genuinely tried to enforce the law on itself then my standards would be higher for whistleblowers. We have a system that is much harder on Manning than on Petraeus or Cartwright and treats war crimes as bad or good policy depending on the party in power or who commits them.
    Aren’t people in the military and in the government supposed to defend the Constitution? Where does torture fit in? But I hear much more about the oath Manning took than I ever hear about the obligations of others.

    Reply
  132. Lj, regarding Manning’s imperfections, don’t make the perfect the enemy of the good. If we had a government which genuinely tried to enforce the law on itself then my standards would be higher for whistleblowers. We have a system that is much harder on Manning than on Petraeus or Cartwright and treats war crimes as bad or good policy depending on the party in power or who commits them.
    Aren’t people in the military and in the government supposed to defend the Constitution? Where does torture fit in? But I hear much more about the oath Manning took than I ever hear about the obligations of others.

    Reply
  133. Someone run out and find me a 4-year old child.
    http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2017/01/18/report-perry-misunderstood-cabinet-job.html?via=newsletter&source=CSAMedition
    For decades, I’ve been listening to conservatives preach that government should be run like the private sector.
    So, now we have private sector super hero trump running the joint and this is what we get. So, you guys in the private sector who whine about those who don’t know how to run a business, this is how you do it?
    You get the mail room in the basement of your business on the blower, and you say, send me the dumbest know nothing you have working down there, pull up his fly, and send him to the executive suite and let’s make him CEO and CFO.
    Failing that, run out on the sidewalk and grab the first smiling fake four-eyed jackass that passes by and promote HIM or HER to head up the works.
    Does the private sector conduct job interviews, even? Does anyone take a gander at the resumes? Anyone make a call for references? No experience necessary, I guess.
    Of course, for out-of-work Joe Schmoe with the Master’s Degree, it’s roll down the window and yell, “Get a job!”
    What a load of preachy horseshit conservatives peddle.
    It doesn’t even fertilize as advertised.
    Like Casey Stengel said about a third baseman, he’s so bad he ruins for everyone.

    Reply
  134. Someone run out and find me a 4-year old child.
    http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2017/01/18/report-perry-misunderstood-cabinet-job.html?via=newsletter&source=CSAMedition
    For decades, I’ve been listening to conservatives preach that government should be run like the private sector.
    So, now we have private sector super hero trump running the joint and this is what we get. So, you guys in the private sector who whine about those who don’t know how to run a business, this is how you do it?
    You get the mail room in the basement of your business on the blower, and you say, send me the dumbest know nothing you have working down there, pull up his fly, and send him to the executive suite and let’s make him CEO and CFO.
    Failing that, run out on the sidewalk and grab the first smiling fake four-eyed jackass that passes by and promote HIM or HER to head up the works.
    Does the private sector conduct job interviews, even? Does anyone take a gander at the resumes? Anyone make a call for references? No experience necessary, I guess.
    Of course, for out-of-work Joe Schmoe with the Master’s Degree, it’s roll down the window and yell, “Get a job!”
    What a load of preachy horseshit conservatives peddle.
    It doesn’t even fertilize as advertised.
    Like Casey Stengel said about a third baseman, he’s so bad he ruins for everyone.

    Reply
  135. Someone run out and find me a 4-year old child.
    http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2017/01/18/report-perry-misunderstood-cabinet-job.html?via=newsletter&source=CSAMedition
    For decades, I’ve been listening to conservatives preach that government should be run like the private sector.
    So, now we have private sector super hero trump running the joint and this is what we get. So, you guys in the private sector who whine about those who don’t know how to run a business, this is how you do it?
    You get the mail room in the basement of your business on the blower, and you say, send me the dumbest know nothing you have working down there, pull up his fly, and send him to the executive suite and let’s make him CEO and CFO.
    Failing that, run out on the sidewalk and grab the first smiling fake four-eyed jackass that passes by and promote HIM or HER to head up the works.
    Does the private sector conduct job interviews, even? Does anyone take a gander at the resumes? Anyone make a call for references? No experience necessary, I guess.
    Of course, for out-of-work Joe Schmoe with the Master’s Degree, it’s roll down the window and yell, “Get a job!”
    What a load of preachy horseshit conservatives peddle.
    It doesn’t even fertilize as advertised.
    Like Casey Stengel said about a third baseman, he’s so bad he ruins for everyone.

    Reply
  136. I’m not sure if that’s my point. My point is that resistance is going to require intelligent thought and action, and having an army of leakers who just toss out everything thing without rhyme or reason is probably going to have the opposite effect to what you (and I) want. This is not asking for the ‘perfect’ whistleblower, just saying that if you had an army of Mannings leaking in the same way that she did, I think that any change in the system would be in a way that neither of us would want.

    Reply
  137. I’m not sure if that’s my point. My point is that resistance is going to require intelligent thought and action, and having an army of leakers who just toss out everything thing without rhyme or reason is probably going to have the opposite effect to what you (and I) want. This is not asking for the ‘perfect’ whistleblower, just saying that if you had an army of Mannings leaking in the same way that she did, I think that any change in the system would be in a way that neither of us would want.

    Reply
  138. I’m not sure if that’s my point. My point is that resistance is going to require intelligent thought and action, and having an army of leakers who just toss out everything thing without rhyme or reason is probably going to have the opposite effect to what you (and I) want. This is not asking for the ‘perfect’ whistleblower, just saying that if you had an army of Mannings leaking in the same way that she did, I think that any change in the system would be in a way that neither of us would want.

    Reply
  139. But I hear much more about the oath Manning took than I ever hear about the obligations of others.
    Really? Maybe you should search Google. Lots of people have discussed torture, but not necessarily in the context of the Manning case. Yemen doesn’t come up much in the context of Manning either. Neither does Trump’s pick for the Department of Energy.

    Reply
  140. But I hear much more about the oath Manning took than I ever hear about the obligations of others.
    Really? Maybe you should search Google. Lots of people have discussed torture, but not necessarily in the context of the Manning case. Yemen doesn’t come up much in the context of Manning either. Neither does Trump’s pick for the Department of Energy.

    Reply
  141. But I hear much more about the oath Manning took than I ever hear about the obligations of others.
    Really? Maybe you should search Google. Lots of people have discussed torture, but not necessarily in the context of the Manning case. Yemen doesn’t come up much in the context of Manning either. Neither does Trump’s pick for the Department of Energy.

    Reply
  142. Yet another reason why kumbaya and talking things out ain’t gonna work:
    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/01/19/the-troublemaker-behind-donald-trump-s-words.html?via=newsletter&source=DDAfternoon
    Talk to this:
    http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/17/obama.protest.rifle/
    It’s what they carry. And what liberals have had to talk to for years now thanks to right-wing crapola.
    At least my brother’s stepson kept in (his pants) the house.
    The arms merchant says we need to get conditioned to this shit in public.
    I’ll know the conditioning is fully in place when his body is riddled with bullets.

    Reply
  143. Yet another reason why kumbaya and talking things out ain’t gonna work:
    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/01/19/the-troublemaker-behind-donald-trump-s-words.html?via=newsletter&source=DDAfternoon
    Talk to this:
    http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/17/obama.protest.rifle/
    It’s what they carry. And what liberals have had to talk to for years now thanks to right-wing crapola.
    At least my brother’s stepson kept in (his pants) the house.
    The arms merchant says we need to get conditioned to this shit in public.
    I’ll know the conditioning is fully in place when his body is riddled with bullets.

    Reply
  144. Yet another reason why kumbaya and talking things out ain’t gonna work:
    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/01/19/the-troublemaker-behind-donald-trump-s-words.html?via=newsletter&source=DDAfternoon
    Talk to this:
    http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/17/obama.protest.rifle/
    It’s what they carry. And what liberals have had to talk to for years now thanks to right-wing crapola.
    At least my brother’s stepson kept in (his pants) the house.
    The arms merchant says we need to get conditioned to this shit in public.
    I’ll know the conditioning is fully in place when his body is riddled with bullets.

    Reply
  145. private sector super hero trump
    The question I always have for people who talk about what a great businessman Trump is, is this:
    Really? Is he really a great, or even good, businessman?
    He’s really good at making himself wealthy. Or at least, at surrounding himself with the trappings of wealth, I’m not sure anyone really knows what Trump’s actual net worth is. He might be totally underwater.
    But does that count as being a good businessman?
    What’s the point of business? Crapping in a gold toilet? Putting your name on stuff, and having other people pay you to put your name on stuff?
    A lot of the anger I feel about Trump comes from my sense that the guy is just a sham, and that so many people, including people I care for, have fallen for it.
    Really? We bought this? WTF is wrong with us?
    Anyway, OT. But it’s a thought I have, like 50 times a day.

    Reply
  146. private sector super hero trump
    The question I always have for people who talk about what a great businessman Trump is, is this:
    Really? Is he really a great, or even good, businessman?
    He’s really good at making himself wealthy. Or at least, at surrounding himself with the trappings of wealth, I’m not sure anyone really knows what Trump’s actual net worth is. He might be totally underwater.
    But does that count as being a good businessman?
    What’s the point of business? Crapping in a gold toilet? Putting your name on stuff, and having other people pay you to put your name on stuff?
    A lot of the anger I feel about Trump comes from my sense that the guy is just a sham, and that so many people, including people I care for, have fallen for it.
    Really? We bought this? WTF is wrong with us?
    Anyway, OT. But it’s a thought I have, like 50 times a day.

    Reply
  147. private sector super hero trump
    The question I always have for people who talk about what a great businessman Trump is, is this:
    Really? Is he really a great, or even good, businessman?
    He’s really good at making himself wealthy. Or at least, at surrounding himself with the trappings of wealth, I’m not sure anyone really knows what Trump’s actual net worth is. He might be totally underwater.
    But does that count as being a good businessman?
    What’s the point of business? Crapping in a gold toilet? Putting your name on stuff, and having other people pay you to put your name on stuff?
    A lot of the anger I feel about Trump comes from my sense that the guy is just a sham, and that so many people, including people I care for, have fallen for it.
    Really? We bought this? WTF is wrong with us?
    Anyway, OT. But it’s a thought I have, like 50 times a day.

    Reply
  148. That piece about Stephen Miller is pretty terrible. The testimony of his high school contemporary reminds me that someone who taught Nigel Farage, Trump’s “Brexit inspiration”, at his public school (US translation: private prep school) said he was openly fascist at the time, and this was confirmed by one of his contemporaries. By their friends shall ye know them.
    I agree with russell, I have a very strong sense that Trump is a sham, financially speaking. It’s all a con trick, with the well-known tactic of grandiose behaviour and displays to avert suspicion. His stiffing of everybody to whom he owes money is just one symptom. I very much wonder if the truth will ever come out.

    Reply
  149. That piece about Stephen Miller is pretty terrible. The testimony of his high school contemporary reminds me that someone who taught Nigel Farage, Trump’s “Brexit inspiration”, at his public school (US translation: private prep school) said he was openly fascist at the time, and this was confirmed by one of his contemporaries. By their friends shall ye know them.
    I agree with russell, I have a very strong sense that Trump is a sham, financially speaking. It’s all a con trick, with the well-known tactic of grandiose behaviour and displays to avert suspicion. His stiffing of everybody to whom he owes money is just one symptom. I very much wonder if the truth will ever come out.

    Reply
  150. That piece about Stephen Miller is pretty terrible. The testimony of his high school contemporary reminds me that someone who taught Nigel Farage, Trump’s “Brexit inspiration”, at his public school (US translation: private prep school) said he was openly fascist at the time, and this was confirmed by one of his contemporaries. By their friends shall ye know them.
    I agree with russell, I have a very strong sense that Trump is a sham, financially speaking. It’s all a con trick, with the well-known tactic of grandiose behaviour and displays to avert suspicion. His stiffing of everybody to whom he owes money is just one symptom. I very much wonder if the truth will ever come out.

    Reply
  151. Donald: Aren’t people in the military and in the government supposed to defend the Constitution? Where does torture fit in?
    Most people aren’t experts. So when there is a question, they are forced to rely on lawyers to explain what is and is not legal. Therefore, there have to be constraints on lawyers regarding what they say in these matters.
    So one major question I have is: Why was John Yoo not disbarred? (Possibly other penalties as well, but that one seems like a no-brainer.)

    Reply
  152. Donald: Aren’t people in the military and in the government supposed to defend the Constitution? Where does torture fit in?
    Most people aren’t experts. So when there is a question, they are forced to rely on lawyers to explain what is and is not legal. Therefore, there have to be constraints on lawyers regarding what they say in these matters.
    So one major question I have is: Why was John Yoo not disbarred? (Possibly other penalties as well, but that one seems like a no-brainer.)

    Reply
  153. Donald: Aren’t people in the military and in the government supposed to defend the Constitution? Where does torture fit in?
    Most people aren’t experts. So when there is a question, they are forced to rely on lawyers to explain what is and is not legal. Therefore, there have to be constraints on lawyers regarding what they say in these matters.
    So one major question I have is: Why was John Yoo not disbarred? (Possibly other penalties as well, but that one seems like a no-brainer.)

    Reply
  154. Milton Friedman, in that unctuous, oh-so rational mansplaining tone of voice, on PBS, no less, you know The CORPORATION For Public Broadcasting, said the ONLY responsibility of business is to maximize profit.
    Which is why the turds trump craps in his gold toilet and so lovingly fished out and swaddled in gold leaf by Kelly Ann Conwoman and purchased as breath mints on Twitter by the f*cks called the American people are so lucrative.
    I understand not only is trump’s crapper made of solid gold but so are the pipes taking his otherwise unused golden showers and reptile scat out of the building AND part of his infrastructure-enhancement plans are to build separate and very unequal sewage holding tanks across the country to segregate the one percent’s specially-perfumed stink from the 99%’s stink, to prevent co-mingling, and sell the former in the new line of trump Prosperity Gospel Health and Wellness Shitbucks Elixir Emporiums as nutrition supplements to make the second one percent great again.

    Reply
  155. Milton Friedman, in that unctuous, oh-so rational mansplaining tone of voice, on PBS, no less, you know The CORPORATION For Public Broadcasting, said the ONLY responsibility of business is to maximize profit.
    Which is why the turds trump craps in his gold toilet and so lovingly fished out and swaddled in gold leaf by Kelly Ann Conwoman and purchased as breath mints on Twitter by the f*cks called the American people are so lucrative.
    I understand not only is trump’s crapper made of solid gold but so are the pipes taking his otherwise unused golden showers and reptile scat out of the building AND part of his infrastructure-enhancement plans are to build separate and very unequal sewage holding tanks across the country to segregate the one percent’s specially-perfumed stink from the 99%’s stink, to prevent co-mingling, and sell the former in the new line of trump Prosperity Gospel Health and Wellness Shitbucks Elixir Emporiums as nutrition supplements to make the second one percent great again.

    Reply
  156. Milton Friedman, in that unctuous, oh-so rational mansplaining tone of voice, on PBS, no less, you know The CORPORATION For Public Broadcasting, said the ONLY responsibility of business is to maximize profit.
    Which is why the turds trump craps in his gold toilet and so lovingly fished out and swaddled in gold leaf by Kelly Ann Conwoman and purchased as breath mints on Twitter by the f*cks called the American people are so lucrative.
    I understand not only is trump’s crapper made of solid gold but so are the pipes taking his otherwise unused golden showers and reptile scat out of the building AND part of his infrastructure-enhancement plans are to build separate and very unequal sewage holding tanks across the country to segregate the one percent’s specially-perfumed stink from the 99%’s stink, to prevent co-mingling, and sell the former in the new line of trump Prosperity Gospel Health and Wellness Shitbucks Elixir Emporiums as nutrition supplements to make the second one percent great again.

    Reply
  157. I understand, from her acolyte’s, that Ayn Rand never in her life went Number Two.
    Which would explain the constipated prose she pinched out on paper.
    Doctor Science is counting the hours and thinking, “This had BETTER be Countme-In’s last day at OBWI!”
    😉

    Reply
  158. I understand, from her acolyte’s, that Ayn Rand never in her life went Number Two.
    Which would explain the constipated prose she pinched out on paper.
    Doctor Science is counting the hours and thinking, “This had BETTER be Countme-In’s last day at OBWI!”
    😉

    Reply
  159. I understand, from her acolyte’s, that Ayn Rand never in her life went Number Two.
    Which would explain the constipated prose she pinched out on paper.
    Doctor Science is counting the hours and thinking, “This had BETTER be Countme-In’s last day at OBWI!”
    😉

    Reply
  160. My suggestion for the pizza shop owner in question is to gun up big and ugly and if that “news anchor” walks in the door for a slice, shoot him right between the eyes.
    Now, Count, you have to realize that we are in the Age of Trump. The proper response is to sue this guy, and his entire family, for every dollar they ever made or ever will make. That’s the right way to deal with those who disrespect you now.

    Reply
  161. My suggestion for the pizza shop owner in question is to gun up big and ugly and if that “news anchor” walks in the door for a slice, shoot him right between the eyes.
    Now, Count, you have to realize that we are in the Age of Trump. The proper response is to sue this guy, and his entire family, for every dollar they ever made or ever will make. That’s the right way to deal with those who disrespect you now.

    Reply
  162. My suggestion for the pizza shop owner in question is to gun up big and ugly and if that “news anchor” walks in the door for a slice, shoot him right between the eyes.
    Now, Count, you have to realize that we are in the Age of Trump. The proper response is to sue this guy, and his entire family, for every dollar they ever made or ever will make. That’s the right way to deal with those who disrespect you now.

    Reply
  163. “The testimony of his high school contemporary reminds me that someone who taught Nigel Farage …”
    Well, at least he had a background in fascism as preparation for his current position.
    Hitler, on the other hand, wasted his youth by dabbling in the arts when he was young and yet was hired by the German people to jump with both feet into the job of Fascist-in-Chief to sort of give the fresh slant, the outside-the-box experimentation that only the inexperienced novice can bring to government.

    Reply
  164. “The testimony of his high school contemporary reminds me that someone who taught Nigel Farage …”
    Well, at least he had a background in fascism as preparation for his current position.
    Hitler, on the other hand, wasted his youth by dabbling in the arts when he was young and yet was hired by the German people to jump with both feet into the job of Fascist-in-Chief to sort of give the fresh slant, the outside-the-box experimentation that only the inexperienced novice can bring to government.

    Reply
  165. “The testimony of his high school contemporary reminds me that someone who taught Nigel Farage …”
    Well, at least he had a background in fascism as preparation for his current position.
    Hitler, on the other hand, wasted his youth by dabbling in the arts when he was young and yet was hired by the German people to jump with both feet into the job of Fascist-in-Chief to sort of give the fresh slant, the outside-the-box experimentation that only the inexperienced novice can bring to government.

    Reply
  166. Has anyone seen this one on Trump yet? It’s a quick, scary, and illuminating or confirming read, depending on what you know or think of the guy. It’s pretty much in line with my impressions.
    Maybe I’m just a victim of confirmation bias. Or maybe it’s just true.

    Reply
  167. Has anyone seen this one on Trump yet? It’s a quick, scary, and illuminating or confirming read, depending on what you know or think of the guy. It’s pretty much in line with my impressions.
    Maybe I’m just a victim of confirmation bias. Or maybe it’s just true.

    Reply
  168. Has anyone seen this one on Trump yet? It’s a quick, scary, and illuminating or confirming read, depending on what you know or think of the guy. It’s pretty much in line with my impressions.
    Maybe I’m just a victim of confirmation bias. Or maybe it’s just true.

    Reply
  169. But one thing I think that we have overlooked as we see Trump trying to delegitimize others is what I suspect is a feeling he has inside that nothing he’s ever achieved himself has ever been legitimate.
    That’s just the kind of pinko, Jewish psychoanalytic crap that we’re going to get rid of in the brave new world….

    Reply
  170. But one thing I think that we have overlooked as we see Trump trying to delegitimize others is what I suspect is a feeling he has inside that nothing he’s ever achieved himself has ever been legitimate.
    That’s just the kind of pinko, Jewish psychoanalytic crap that we’re going to get rid of in the brave new world….

    Reply
  171. But one thing I think that we have overlooked as we see Trump trying to delegitimize others is what I suspect is a feeling he has inside that nothing he’s ever achieved himself has ever been legitimate.
    That’s just the kind of pinko, Jewish psychoanalytic crap that we’re going to get rid of in the brave new world….

    Reply
  172. Everything in Trump and the GOP leadership generally is projection.
    “Crooked Hillary” – he’s a crook.
    “Drain the swamp” – he is knee deep in the swamp.
    “Cruz’s wife worked for the evil Goldman Sachs!” – fills his administration with Goldman alums.
    There are many many other examples.

    Reply
  173. Everything in Trump and the GOP leadership generally is projection.
    “Crooked Hillary” – he’s a crook.
    “Drain the swamp” – he is knee deep in the swamp.
    “Cruz’s wife worked for the evil Goldman Sachs!” – fills his administration with Goldman alums.
    There are many many other examples.

    Reply
  174. Everything in Trump and the GOP leadership generally is projection.
    “Crooked Hillary” – he’s a crook.
    “Drain the swamp” – he is knee deep in the swamp.
    “Cruz’s wife worked for the evil Goldman Sachs!” – fills his administration with Goldman alums.
    There are many many other examples.

    Reply
  175. I’m watching “It’s A Wonderful Life” on Netflix, for only the 25th time.
    But the bizarro version, in which Mr. Potter says HE wishes he had never been born, so Beelzebub sends a forked-tailed and -tongued demon to show Mr. Potter what Bedford Falls would be like without his valuable lifelong input and sacrifice to friend, family, business, and citizenry and Potter’s eyes are opened … “Say, I ruined just about everything and everyone in Bedford Falls, didn’t I. Push me up, push me up … I’ll take that offer to be born and live and ruin, because from what you’ve shown me, my little friend, things were way to contented and happy and virtuous in that rat hole of decency without me.”
    Every time a gun is fired in America, an angel is winged.

    Reply
  176. I’m watching “It’s A Wonderful Life” on Netflix, for only the 25th time.
    But the bizarro version, in which Mr. Potter says HE wishes he had never been born, so Beelzebub sends a forked-tailed and -tongued demon to show Mr. Potter what Bedford Falls would be like without his valuable lifelong input and sacrifice to friend, family, business, and citizenry and Potter’s eyes are opened … “Say, I ruined just about everything and everyone in Bedford Falls, didn’t I. Push me up, push me up … I’ll take that offer to be born and live and ruin, because from what you’ve shown me, my little friend, things were way to contented and happy and virtuous in that rat hole of decency without me.”
    Every time a gun is fired in America, an angel is winged.

    Reply
  177. I’m watching “It’s A Wonderful Life” on Netflix, for only the 25th time.
    But the bizarro version, in which Mr. Potter says HE wishes he had never been born, so Beelzebub sends a forked-tailed and -tongued demon to show Mr. Potter what Bedford Falls would be like without his valuable lifelong input and sacrifice to friend, family, business, and citizenry and Potter’s eyes are opened … “Say, I ruined just about everything and everyone in Bedford Falls, didn’t I. Push me up, push me up … I’ll take that offer to be born and live and ruin, because from what you’ve shown me, my little friend, things were way to contented and happy and virtuous in that rat hole of decency without me.”
    Every time a gun is fired in America, an angel is winged.

    Reply
  178. Hsh, I thought this was the most chilling bit from that article you linked to:

    The cabinet appointments seem to me to be people who have been successful in some realm, so he takes that as proof of their abilities. But he’s also looking for people that will be in conflict with everyone in that department. Down the line, it’s the same kind of sowing-conflict mode that he’s used throughout his career of setting people against each other so that they’re not going to be loyal to each other and they’re going to be loyal to him.

    “Deliberately sowing conflict” — what an MO for a President.

    Reply
  179. Hsh, I thought this was the most chilling bit from that article you linked to:

    The cabinet appointments seem to me to be people who have been successful in some realm, so he takes that as proof of their abilities. But he’s also looking for people that will be in conflict with everyone in that department. Down the line, it’s the same kind of sowing-conflict mode that he’s used throughout his career of setting people against each other so that they’re not going to be loyal to each other and they’re going to be loyal to him.

    “Deliberately sowing conflict” — what an MO for a President.

    Reply
  180. Hsh, I thought this was the most chilling bit from that article you linked to:

    The cabinet appointments seem to me to be people who have been successful in some realm, so he takes that as proof of their abilities. But he’s also looking for people that will be in conflict with everyone in that department. Down the line, it’s the same kind of sowing-conflict mode that he’s used throughout his career of setting people against each other so that they’re not going to be loyal to each other and they’re going to be loyal to him.

    “Deliberately sowing conflict” — what an MO for a President.

    Reply
  181. Yeah, people are so loyal to him that he requires a private security team of shithead thugs to supplement the already professional and perfectly adequate Secret Service to protect him from incoming.
    I can’t find the link any longer but the most telling and bizarre interview early in the Trump campaign I caught was with some hedgefund-related executive who explained why he was pro-trump, except that he didn’t really explain it because it was clear that this guy was very, very afraid of trump.
    It seems he had been chosen to negotiate with trump in some sort of real estate deal and went in KNOWING that the numbers did not add up, the deal made no sense from his side financially and in meeting after meeting, uggge meetings, I tell you, trump wore him down and he ended up signing on the dotted line.
    It was very creepy. The guy was sweating on camera, but smiling like Ernest Borgnine in “The Wild Bunch”.
    It was exactly like a guy explaining why Al Capone should be Mayor of Chicago and you don’t want to say No if you know what’s good for you.
    trump probably made the guy sit in the palatial loo on the side of the jacuzzi the size of Lake Erie and “negotiate” while he, trump, sat on the golden crapper stinking up the joint and cleaning his fingernails with the wishbone of the guy’s late daughter.
    I’m saying the conflict trump and company are going to sow in America will be a Civil War and it be bloody and deadly, far beyond the the child’s play of the Civil War.
    The thing about business is it’s authoritarian, like the military (Whole Foods, my ass). Run the citizenry like that and you’d better fucking hide.
    No Lincoln will emerge. If he did, trump would eat him for lunch.
    Call me a doubter. You said I’m a doubter. Go ahead, you tell ME how I doubt. You said it. Prove I’m a doubter. C’mon.

    Reply
  182. Yeah, people are so loyal to him that he requires a private security team of shithead thugs to supplement the already professional and perfectly adequate Secret Service to protect him from incoming.
    I can’t find the link any longer but the most telling and bizarre interview early in the Trump campaign I caught was with some hedgefund-related executive who explained why he was pro-trump, except that he didn’t really explain it because it was clear that this guy was very, very afraid of trump.
    It seems he had been chosen to negotiate with trump in some sort of real estate deal and went in KNOWING that the numbers did not add up, the deal made no sense from his side financially and in meeting after meeting, uggge meetings, I tell you, trump wore him down and he ended up signing on the dotted line.
    It was very creepy. The guy was sweating on camera, but smiling like Ernest Borgnine in “The Wild Bunch”.
    It was exactly like a guy explaining why Al Capone should be Mayor of Chicago and you don’t want to say No if you know what’s good for you.
    trump probably made the guy sit in the palatial loo on the side of the jacuzzi the size of Lake Erie and “negotiate” while he, trump, sat on the golden crapper stinking up the joint and cleaning his fingernails with the wishbone of the guy’s late daughter.
    I’m saying the conflict trump and company are going to sow in America will be a Civil War and it be bloody and deadly, far beyond the the child’s play of the Civil War.
    The thing about business is it’s authoritarian, like the military (Whole Foods, my ass). Run the citizenry like that and you’d better fucking hide.
    No Lincoln will emerge. If he did, trump would eat him for lunch.
    Call me a doubter. You said I’m a doubter. Go ahead, you tell ME how I doubt. You said it. Prove I’m a doubter. C’mon.

    Reply
  183. Yeah, people are so loyal to him that he requires a private security team of shithead thugs to supplement the already professional and perfectly adequate Secret Service to protect him from incoming.
    I can’t find the link any longer but the most telling and bizarre interview early in the Trump campaign I caught was with some hedgefund-related executive who explained why he was pro-trump, except that he didn’t really explain it because it was clear that this guy was very, very afraid of trump.
    It seems he had been chosen to negotiate with trump in some sort of real estate deal and went in KNOWING that the numbers did not add up, the deal made no sense from his side financially and in meeting after meeting, uggge meetings, I tell you, trump wore him down and he ended up signing on the dotted line.
    It was very creepy. The guy was sweating on camera, but smiling like Ernest Borgnine in “The Wild Bunch”.
    It was exactly like a guy explaining why Al Capone should be Mayor of Chicago and you don’t want to say No if you know what’s good for you.
    trump probably made the guy sit in the palatial loo on the side of the jacuzzi the size of Lake Erie and “negotiate” while he, trump, sat on the golden crapper stinking up the joint and cleaning his fingernails with the wishbone of the guy’s late daughter.
    I’m saying the conflict trump and company are going to sow in America will be a Civil War and it be bloody and deadly, far beyond the the child’s play of the Civil War.
    The thing about business is it’s authoritarian, like the military (Whole Foods, my ass). Run the citizenry like that and you’d better fucking hide.
    No Lincoln will emerge. If he did, trump would eat him for lunch.
    Call me a doubter. You said I’m a doubter. Go ahead, you tell ME how I doubt. You said it. Prove I’m a doubter. C’mon.

    Reply
  184. Returning, sort of, to the original post while peering into my crystal ball:
    It’s early on the morning of January 20, 2021. President Trump, having lost his bid for re-election, makes is final executive action. (Or it’s January 20, 2025 — pick your poison.) Which is to grant himself a full pardon for any and everything he has done as President. Thus once again, as is his wont, gaming the system to his own benefit.
    Just remember, you read it here first.

    Reply
  185. Returning, sort of, to the original post while peering into my crystal ball:
    It’s early on the morning of January 20, 2021. President Trump, having lost his bid for re-election, makes is final executive action. (Or it’s January 20, 2025 — pick your poison.) Which is to grant himself a full pardon for any and everything he has done as President. Thus once again, as is his wont, gaming the system to his own benefit.
    Just remember, you read it here first.

    Reply
  186. Returning, sort of, to the original post while peering into my crystal ball:
    It’s early on the morning of January 20, 2021. President Trump, having lost his bid for re-election, makes is final executive action. (Or it’s January 20, 2025 — pick your poison.) Which is to grant himself a full pardon for any and everything he has done as President. Thus once again, as is his wont, gaming the system to his own benefit.
    Just remember, you read it here first.

    Reply
  187. Which is to grant himself a full pardon for any and everything he has done as President.
    No no no. He’s going to grant himself a continously rolling pardon, that pardons him for everything he’s done for the past 24 hours and everything he will do in the next 24 hours, and then update it daily just in case.

    Reply
  188. Which is to grant himself a full pardon for any and everything he has done as President.
    No no no. He’s going to grant himself a continously rolling pardon, that pardons him for everything he’s done for the past 24 hours and everything he will do in the next 24 hours, and then update it daily just in case.

    Reply
  189. Which is to grant himself a full pardon for any and everything he has done as President.
    No no no. He’s going to grant himself a continously rolling pardon, that pardons him for everything he’s done for the past 24 hours and everything he will do in the next 24 hours, and then update it daily just in case.

    Reply
  190. Someone should compile a list of all the things we were worried the GWB administration did/would do that it didn’t and see how many the Trump administration checks off.
    Massive end of term pardons for one – a la Bush the Elder and Iran-Contra.

    Reply
  191. Someone should compile a list of all the things we were worried the GWB administration did/would do that it didn’t and see how many the Trump administration checks off.
    Massive end of term pardons for one – a la Bush the Elder and Iran-Contra.

    Reply
  192. Someone should compile a list of all the things we were worried the GWB administration did/would do that it didn’t and see how many the Trump administration checks off.
    Massive end of term pardons for one – a la Bush the Elder and Iran-Contra.

    Reply
  193. Regarding trade, and with deference to those Americans who have been left adrift and ridiculed because republican conservative businesses, with the nod from Democrats and Republicans, stole their jobs and shipped them abroad and or to Texas:
    Does Donald trump believe that all manufacturing, even by foreign companies, in the world, should be done in the United States?
    If not, why not? And what are the exceptions?
    What percentage of consumption by Americans should be mandated (oh, there’s a word for the “small government” “free market” liars to chew on) to be of goods produced in the United States, except for those little Russian nesting dolls all federal employees will be forced to display on their desks, if they are allotted desks?
    What percentage of consumption by the Chinese should be mandated by their government to be of goods produced solely in China?
    If Chinese steel production is moved to Vietnam, for example, as is happening to some industries there, should China slap a tariff on the steel imported back into China?
    Should Vietnam declare war on China for such a move. Why the fuck not?
    Should all taco ingredients be produced in the U.S? Should all salsa production in the U.S. be moved back to New York City from El Paso? Why the fuck not?
    Should the manufacture of all of the fabrics and linens used in Trump hotels be returned from where ever they are now produced to the mill towns along the East Coast? Even the Chinese-motif ones used in the Genghis Khan suite at Mar-a-Lago?
    So many questions.

    Reply
  194. Regarding trade, and with deference to those Americans who have been left adrift and ridiculed because republican conservative businesses, with the nod from Democrats and Republicans, stole their jobs and shipped them abroad and or to Texas:
    Does Donald trump believe that all manufacturing, even by foreign companies, in the world, should be done in the United States?
    If not, why not? And what are the exceptions?
    What percentage of consumption by Americans should be mandated (oh, there’s a word for the “small government” “free market” liars to chew on) to be of goods produced in the United States, except for those little Russian nesting dolls all federal employees will be forced to display on their desks, if they are allotted desks?
    What percentage of consumption by the Chinese should be mandated by their government to be of goods produced solely in China?
    If Chinese steel production is moved to Vietnam, for example, as is happening to some industries there, should China slap a tariff on the steel imported back into China?
    Should Vietnam declare war on China for such a move. Why the fuck not?
    Should all taco ingredients be produced in the U.S? Should all salsa production in the U.S. be moved back to New York City from El Paso? Why the fuck not?
    Should the manufacture of all of the fabrics and linens used in Trump hotels be returned from where ever they are now produced to the mill towns along the East Coast? Even the Chinese-motif ones used in the Genghis Khan suite at Mar-a-Lago?
    So many questions.

    Reply
  195. Regarding trade, and with deference to those Americans who have been left adrift and ridiculed because republican conservative businesses, with the nod from Democrats and Republicans, stole their jobs and shipped them abroad and or to Texas:
    Does Donald trump believe that all manufacturing, even by foreign companies, in the world, should be done in the United States?
    If not, why not? And what are the exceptions?
    What percentage of consumption by Americans should be mandated (oh, there’s a word for the “small government” “free market” liars to chew on) to be of goods produced in the United States, except for those little Russian nesting dolls all federal employees will be forced to display on their desks, if they are allotted desks?
    What percentage of consumption by the Chinese should be mandated by their government to be of goods produced solely in China?
    If Chinese steel production is moved to Vietnam, for example, as is happening to some industries there, should China slap a tariff on the steel imported back into China?
    Should Vietnam declare war on China for such a move. Why the fuck not?
    Should all taco ingredients be produced in the U.S? Should all salsa production in the U.S. be moved back to New York City from El Paso? Why the fuck not?
    Should the manufacture of all of the fabrics and linens used in Trump hotels be returned from where ever they are now produced to the mill towns along the East Coast? Even the Chinese-motif ones used in the Genghis Khan suite at Mar-a-Lago?
    So many questions.

    Reply
  196. Have I missed something, or is this my incipient dementia? Have we discussed this already?
    In the midst of highly publicized steps to dismantle insurance coverage for 32 million people and defund women’s healthcare facilities, Republican lawmakers have quietly laid the foundation to give away Americans’ birthright: 640m acres of national land.
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/19/bureau-land-management-federal-lease

    Reply
  197. Have I missed something, or is this my incipient dementia? Have we discussed this already?
    In the midst of highly publicized steps to dismantle insurance coverage for 32 million people and defund women’s healthcare facilities, Republican lawmakers have quietly laid the foundation to give away Americans’ birthright: 640m acres of national land.
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/19/bureau-land-management-federal-lease

    Reply
  198. Have I missed something, or is this my incipient dementia? Have we discussed this already?
    In the midst of highly publicized steps to dismantle insurance coverage for 32 million people and defund women’s healthcare facilities, Republican lawmakers have quietly laid the foundation to give away Americans’ birthright: 640m acres of national land.
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/19/bureau-land-management-federal-lease

    Reply
  199. What is Mnuckin’s money doing in the Barbados without having been tariffed on its way out?
    So, let me get this straight: Foreign goods entering the U.S. will have tariffs reintroduced or raised, but foreign capital coming into the country will be let in free and American capital leaving the country will not be fined upon its leaving?

    Reply
  200. What is Mnuckin’s money doing in the Barbados without having been tariffed on its way out?
    So, let me get this straight: Foreign goods entering the U.S. will have tariffs reintroduced or raised, but foreign capital coming into the country will be let in free and American capital leaving the country will not be fined upon its leaving?

    Reply
  201. What is Mnuckin’s money doing in the Barbados without having been tariffed on its way out?
    So, let me get this straight: Foreign goods entering the U.S. will have tariffs reintroduced or raised, but foreign capital coming into the country will be let in free and American capital leaving the country will not be fined upon its leaving?

    Reply
  202. Have I missed something
    It’s dead simple.
    They want to privatize everything, so their rich friends can make shitloads of money from it.
    That is the (R) program in it’s entirety. The rest is commentary.
    This is not an exaggeration or some kind of partisan rabble rousing. The consistent theme of (R) policy for the last 35 years has been:
    Privatize and de-regulate everything so folks who spend billions of dollars lobbying them can make stupid piles of money off of it.
    The (D)’s play along sometimes, but it’s what makes (R)’s get out of bed in the morning.
    Land, water, public infrastructure, schools, prisons, social insurance programs like SS Medicare and Medicaid.
    Privatize it all.
    I am, however, struck by the irony of the folks in AZ who want to start mining around the Colorado River basin. If they f*** up the Colorado, goodbye Phoenix and Tuscon.

    Reply
  203. Have I missed something
    It’s dead simple.
    They want to privatize everything, so their rich friends can make shitloads of money from it.
    That is the (R) program in it’s entirety. The rest is commentary.
    This is not an exaggeration or some kind of partisan rabble rousing. The consistent theme of (R) policy for the last 35 years has been:
    Privatize and de-regulate everything so folks who spend billions of dollars lobbying them can make stupid piles of money off of it.
    The (D)’s play along sometimes, but it’s what makes (R)’s get out of bed in the morning.
    Land, water, public infrastructure, schools, prisons, social insurance programs like SS Medicare and Medicaid.
    Privatize it all.
    I am, however, struck by the irony of the folks in AZ who want to start mining around the Colorado River basin. If they f*** up the Colorado, goodbye Phoenix and Tuscon.

    Reply
  204. Have I missed something
    It’s dead simple.
    They want to privatize everything, so their rich friends can make shitloads of money from it.
    That is the (R) program in it’s entirety. The rest is commentary.
    This is not an exaggeration or some kind of partisan rabble rousing. The consistent theme of (R) policy for the last 35 years has been:
    Privatize and de-regulate everything so folks who spend billions of dollars lobbying them can make stupid piles of money off of it.
    The (D)’s play along sometimes, but it’s what makes (R)’s get out of bed in the morning.
    Land, water, public infrastructure, schools, prisons, social insurance programs like SS Medicare and Medicaid.
    Privatize it all.
    I am, however, struck by the irony of the folks in AZ who want to start mining around the Colorado River basin. If they f*** up the Colorado, goodbye Phoenix and Tuscon.

    Reply
  205. No, russell, I get that and completely agree. But what I meant was, has this particular wrinkle had publicity – have people had a chance to realise what it would mean?

    Reply
  206. No, russell, I get that and completely agree. But what I meant was, has this particular wrinkle had publicity – have people had a chance to realise what it would mean?

    Reply
  207. No, russell, I get that and completely agree. But what I meant was, has this particular wrinkle had publicity – have people had a chance to realise what it would mean?

    Reply
  208. Yes, GFTNC, I provided a cite some weeks ago regarding the federal lands provision, but the times they are a’like a’drinking from a fire hose.
    But your cited article is better.
    I cited this as proof that the Bundy’s armed coup of the Wildlife Preserve in Oregon and the lands surrounding deadbeat Bundy’s ranch, did in fact succeed and that the Federal government standing down from killing all of the thieves when they raised their weapons will be forever regretted.
    They won. Shows you what showing up with the implements of war can do in the intimidation game.
    Years ago, during the Gingrich revolution, another item Americans will forever regret not killing via gunfire, the deep conservative thinkers of the time proposed SELLING off federal lands and devoting the money to paying down the deficit.
    Now, of course, the same filth want to just steal those lands from us for nothing. Why, because paying down the deficit is the last thing they want, the better to use the deficit as a lever, a hammer, to gut the rest of the government, including and mostly Medicare and Medicaid.
    Now, Trump’s spawn, the make ones, are said to be against this move because it might limit their ability to dress up in camo and hunt the wild skunk.
    But trump is transactional, we’re told (you see how the mumbling language of the social sciences blies can normalize even trump’s methods, of “transactional” you say, well, how bad can that be?”), so he will go along provided trump enterprises has land carved out in every national park and wilderness area solely for his son’s lucrative hunting lodges and grizzly bear torture and fat-rendering lodges.
    Now, I don’t know about anyone else, but when someone steals my birthright, especially land, and moreover, refuses to pay me or my agent, in this case the government, just compensation ( I define “just” as trump does, above market value), I find them and I kill them, just like tough-guy Americans have always done.

    Reply
  209. Yes, GFTNC, I provided a cite some weeks ago regarding the federal lands provision, but the times they are a’like a’drinking from a fire hose.
    But your cited article is better.
    I cited this as proof that the Bundy’s armed coup of the Wildlife Preserve in Oregon and the lands surrounding deadbeat Bundy’s ranch, did in fact succeed and that the Federal government standing down from killing all of the thieves when they raised their weapons will be forever regretted.
    They won. Shows you what showing up with the implements of war can do in the intimidation game.
    Years ago, during the Gingrich revolution, another item Americans will forever regret not killing via gunfire, the deep conservative thinkers of the time proposed SELLING off federal lands and devoting the money to paying down the deficit.
    Now, of course, the same filth want to just steal those lands from us for nothing. Why, because paying down the deficit is the last thing they want, the better to use the deficit as a lever, a hammer, to gut the rest of the government, including and mostly Medicare and Medicaid.
    Now, Trump’s spawn, the make ones, are said to be against this move because it might limit their ability to dress up in camo and hunt the wild skunk.
    But trump is transactional, we’re told (you see how the mumbling language of the social sciences blies can normalize even trump’s methods, of “transactional” you say, well, how bad can that be?”), so he will go along provided trump enterprises has land carved out in every national park and wilderness area solely for his son’s lucrative hunting lodges and grizzly bear torture and fat-rendering lodges.
    Now, I don’t know about anyone else, but when someone steals my birthright, especially land, and moreover, refuses to pay me or my agent, in this case the government, just compensation ( I define “just” as trump does, above market value), I find them and I kill them, just like tough-guy Americans have always done.

    Reply
  210. Yes, GFTNC, I provided a cite some weeks ago regarding the federal lands provision, but the times they are a’like a’drinking from a fire hose.
    But your cited article is better.
    I cited this as proof that the Bundy’s armed coup of the Wildlife Preserve in Oregon and the lands surrounding deadbeat Bundy’s ranch, did in fact succeed and that the Federal government standing down from killing all of the thieves when they raised their weapons will be forever regretted.
    They won. Shows you what showing up with the implements of war can do in the intimidation game.
    Years ago, during the Gingrich revolution, another item Americans will forever regret not killing via gunfire, the deep conservative thinkers of the time proposed SELLING off federal lands and devoting the money to paying down the deficit.
    Now, of course, the same filth want to just steal those lands from us for nothing. Why, because paying down the deficit is the last thing they want, the better to use the deficit as a lever, a hammer, to gut the rest of the government, including and mostly Medicare and Medicaid.
    Now, Trump’s spawn, the make ones, are said to be against this move because it might limit their ability to dress up in camo and hunt the wild skunk.
    But trump is transactional, we’re told (you see how the mumbling language of the social sciences blies can normalize even trump’s methods, of “transactional” you say, well, how bad can that be?”), so he will go along provided trump enterprises has land carved out in every national park and wilderness area solely for his son’s lucrative hunting lodges and grizzly bear torture and fat-rendering lodges.
    Now, I don’t know about anyone else, but when someone steals my birthright, especially land, and moreover, refuses to pay me or my agent, in this case the government, just compensation ( I define “just” as trump does, above market value), I find them and I kill them, just like tough-guy Americans have always done.

    Reply
  211. I’m from Colorado, and given the current “it’s all mine” mood in the country that’s all the rage, I just might blow up that Colorado River covenant (never sign a covenant with a conservative) that steals my Ricky Mountain water and gives it to Phoenix and Tuscon, not to mention, points southwest.
    Fuck those people.

    Reply
  212. I’m from Colorado, and given the current “it’s all mine” mood in the country that’s all the rage, I just might blow up that Colorado River covenant (never sign a covenant with a conservative) that steals my Ricky Mountain water and gives it to Phoenix and Tuscon, not to mention, points southwest.
    Fuck those people.

    Reply
  213. I’m from Colorado, and given the current “it’s all mine” mood in the country that’s all the rage, I just might blow up that Colorado River covenant (never sign a covenant with a conservative) that steals my Ricky Mountain water and gives it to Phoenix and Tuscon, not to mention, points southwest.
    Fuck those people.

    Reply
  214. Thanks Count, I guess I may not have clicked on your link, so mea culpa. I was in LA when the Gingrich gang came in, staying with an old and dear but alas Republican schoolfriend. She was ecstatic at the result, but after hearing what they were saying and the way they were saying it I said “they’ll never carry this off, their tone is too triumphalist, in 2 years they’ll be sunk”. Alas, alas, my crystal ball did not run 22 years into the future.

    Reply
  215. Thanks Count, I guess I may not have clicked on your link, so mea culpa. I was in LA when the Gingrich gang came in, staying with an old and dear but alas Republican schoolfriend. She was ecstatic at the result, but after hearing what they were saying and the way they were saying it I said “they’ll never carry this off, their tone is too triumphalist, in 2 years they’ll be sunk”. Alas, alas, my crystal ball did not run 22 years into the future.

    Reply
  216. Thanks Count, I guess I may not have clicked on your link, so mea culpa. I was in LA when the Gingrich gang came in, staying with an old and dear but alas Republican schoolfriend. She was ecstatic at the result, but after hearing what they were saying and the way they were saying it I said “they’ll never carry this off, their tone is too triumphalist, in 2 years they’ll be sunk”. Alas, alas, my crystal ball did not run 22 years into the future.

    Reply
  217. Populism from on high, the only “ism” they know.
    the “popul”, of course, can pound sand, because the i$m is what trump is after.

    Reply
  218. Populism from on high, the only “ism” they know.
    the “popul”, of course, can pound sand, because the i$m is what trump is after.

    Reply
  219. Populism from on high, the only “ism” they know.
    the “popul”, of course, can pound sand, because the i$m is what trump is after.

    Reply
  220. I am, however, struck by the irony of the folks in AZ who want to start mining around the Colorado River basin. If they f*** up the Colorado, goodbye Phoenix and Tuscon.
    Will all deference to the Count, it isn’t Colorado’s share of the water that the folks in AZ figure to take. It’s the share that they long ago agreed to give California. Make all those lefties in Los Angeles suffer! Especially all the ones in Orange Country — d*mn RINOs!

    Reply
  221. I am, however, struck by the irony of the folks in AZ who want to start mining around the Colorado River basin. If they f*** up the Colorado, goodbye Phoenix and Tuscon.
    Will all deference to the Count, it isn’t Colorado’s share of the water that the folks in AZ figure to take. It’s the share that they long ago agreed to give California. Make all those lefties in Los Angeles suffer! Especially all the ones in Orange Country — d*mn RINOs!

    Reply
  222. I am, however, struck by the irony of the folks in AZ who want to start mining around the Colorado River basin. If they f*** up the Colorado, goodbye Phoenix and Tuscon.
    Will all deference to the Count, it isn’t Colorado’s share of the water that the folks in AZ figure to take. It’s the share that they long ago agreed to give California. Make all those lefties in Los Angeles suffer! Especially all the ones in Orange Country — d*mn RINOs!

    Reply
  223. Not that I condone facism; or any ism for that matter. Isms, in my opinion, are not good. A person should not believe in an ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon, “I don’t believe in ‘Beatles’, I just believe in me.” Good point there. After all, he was the Walrus. I could be the Walrus, I’d still have to bum rides off of people.

    Reply
  224. Not that I condone facism; or any ism for that matter. Isms, in my opinion, are not good. A person should not believe in an ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon, “I don’t believe in ‘Beatles’, I just believe in me.” Good point there. After all, he was the Walrus. I could be the Walrus, I’d still have to bum rides off of people.

    Reply
  225. Not that I condone facism; or any ism for that matter. Isms, in my opinion, are not good. A person should not believe in an ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon, “I don’t believe in ‘Beatles’, I just believe in me.” Good point there. After all, he was the Walrus. I could be the Walrus, I’d still have to bum rides off of people.

    Reply
  226. John also sang the “the Walrus is Paul”, but if Lennon was still living, the tweetaverse would have a rival to Trump for sheer contradiction.

    Reply
  227. John also sang the “the Walrus is Paul”, but if Lennon was still living, the tweetaverse would have a rival to Trump for sheer contradiction.

    Reply
  228. John also sang the “the Walrus is Paul”, but if Lennon was still living, the tweetaverse would have a rival to Trump for sheer contradiction.

    Reply
  229. And, on cue, trump’s budget plans leak:
    http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/01/report-trump-team-wants-slash-social-security-medicare-medicaid-and-pretty-much-e
    “I’m not gonna cut Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security.”
    I can’t think of a Hillary lie that doesn’t pale in comparison, unless it’s the lie told by Republicans that she murdered Vince Foster.
    There goes my federal pension too that I just started receiving last month.
    Youtube is the friend of the resistance:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD7pd03L43k

    Reply
  230. And, on cue, trump’s budget plans leak:
    http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/01/report-trump-team-wants-slash-social-security-medicare-medicaid-and-pretty-much-e
    “I’m not gonna cut Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security.”
    I can’t think of a Hillary lie that doesn’t pale in comparison, unless it’s the lie told by Republicans that she murdered Vince Foster.
    There goes my federal pension too that I just started receiving last month.
    Youtube is the friend of the resistance:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD7pd03L43k

    Reply
  231. And, on cue, trump’s budget plans leak:
    http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/01/report-trump-team-wants-slash-social-security-medicare-medicaid-and-pretty-much-e
    “I’m not gonna cut Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security.”
    I can’t think of a Hillary lie that doesn’t pale in comparison, unless it’s the lie told by Republicans that she murdered Vince Foster.
    There goes my federal pension too that I just started receiving last month.
    Youtube is the friend of the resistance:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD7pd03L43k

    Reply
  232. Sadly, Snarki, if you’ve read Steve Bannon’s foreign policy philosophy, destabilization is the name of the game. Destabilizing the United States, that is. This administration is working to the detriment of the American people, on purpose.

    Reply
  233. Sadly, Snarki, if you’ve read Steve Bannon’s foreign policy philosophy, destabilization is the name of the game. Destabilizing the United States, that is. This administration is working to the detriment of the American people, on purpose.

    Reply
  234. Sadly, Snarki, if you’ve read Steve Bannon’s foreign policy philosophy, destabilization is the name of the game. Destabilizing the United States, that is. This administration is working to the detriment of the American people, on purpose.

    Reply
  235. 1.Bannon once said in a 2011 radio interview that the women’s liberation movement consisted of “a bunch of dykes that came from the Seven Sisters schools up in New England.”
    2. He literally wants to destroy the state. He told The Daily Beast in 2014, “I’m a Leninist.” He elaborated: “Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that’s my goal too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.”
    3. He’s accused by his ex-wife of anti-Semitism, specifically of not wanting to enroll his daughter at a school because too many Jews attended it. “He said that he doesn’t like Jews and that he doesn’t like the way they raise their kids to be ‘whiney brats’ and that he didn’t want the girls going to school with Jews,” his ex-wife said in a 2007 sword court filing during her and Bannon’s divorce proceedings.
    4. Bannon’s new role at the center of Republican leadership is ironic given his longtime posture as a flame-throwing outsider who frequently challenged the GOP. “What we need to do is bitch-slap the Republican Party,” he once said.
    5. He acknowledges that the alt-right movement is not entirely anti-Semitic or entirely white nationalistic or entirely anti-gay. “Look, are there some people that are white nationalists that are attracted to some of the philosophies of the alt-right? Maybe,” he told Mother Jones. “Are there some people that are anti-Semitic that are attracted? Maybe. Right? Maybe some people are attracted to the alt-right that are homophobes, right? But that’s just like, there are certain elements of the progressive left and the hard left that attract certain element.”
    I’ll be writing about the right-wing anti-Semites now governing Poland later today.
    And what should happen to them.
    Steve Bannon is in cahoots.

    Reply
  236. 1.Bannon once said in a 2011 radio interview that the women’s liberation movement consisted of “a bunch of dykes that came from the Seven Sisters schools up in New England.”
    2. He literally wants to destroy the state. He told The Daily Beast in 2014, “I’m a Leninist.” He elaborated: “Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that’s my goal too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.”
    3. He’s accused by his ex-wife of anti-Semitism, specifically of not wanting to enroll his daughter at a school because too many Jews attended it. “He said that he doesn’t like Jews and that he doesn’t like the way they raise their kids to be ‘whiney brats’ and that he didn’t want the girls going to school with Jews,” his ex-wife said in a 2007 sword court filing during her and Bannon’s divorce proceedings.
    4. Bannon’s new role at the center of Republican leadership is ironic given his longtime posture as a flame-throwing outsider who frequently challenged the GOP. “What we need to do is bitch-slap the Republican Party,” he once said.
    5. He acknowledges that the alt-right movement is not entirely anti-Semitic or entirely white nationalistic or entirely anti-gay. “Look, are there some people that are white nationalists that are attracted to some of the philosophies of the alt-right? Maybe,” he told Mother Jones. “Are there some people that are anti-Semitic that are attracted? Maybe. Right? Maybe some people are attracted to the alt-right that are homophobes, right? But that’s just like, there are certain elements of the progressive left and the hard left that attract certain element.”
    I’ll be writing about the right-wing anti-Semites now governing Poland later today.
    And what should happen to them.
    Steve Bannon is in cahoots.

    Reply
  237. 1.Bannon once said in a 2011 radio interview that the women’s liberation movement consisted of “a bunch of dykes that came from the Seven Sisters schools up in New England.”
    2. He literally wants to destroy the state. He told The Daily Beast in 2014, “I’m a Leninist.” He elaborated: “Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that’s my goal too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.”
    3. He’s accused by his ex-wife of anti-Semitism, specifically of not wanting to enroll his daughter at a school because too many Jews attended it. “He said that he doesn’t like Jews and that he doesn’t like the way they raise their kids to be ‘whiney brats’ and that he didn’t want the girls going to school with Jews,” his ex-wife said in a 2007 sword court filing during her and Bannon’s divorce proceedings.
    4. Bannon’s new role at the center of Republican leadership is ironic given his longtime posture as a flame-throwing outsider who frequently challenged the GOP. “What we need to do is bitch-slap the Republican Party,” he once said.
    5. He acknowledges that the alt-right movement is not entirely anti-Semitic or entirely white nationalistic or entirely anti-gay. “Look, are there some people that are white nationalists that are attracted to some of the philosophies of the alt-right? Maybe,” he told Mother Jones. “Are there some people that are anti-Semitic that are attracted? Maybe. Right? Maybe some people are attracted to the alt-right that are homophobes, right? But that’s just like, there are certain elements of the progressive left and the hard left that attract certain element.”
    I’ll be writing about the right-wing anti-Semites now governing Poland later today.
    And what should happen to them.
    Steve Bannon is in cahoots.

    Reply
  238. I’ve just posted this comment at Rod Dreher’s latest piece at The American Conservative regarding Richard Gelernter’s new book, which I’m going to read, attacking the liberal intelligensia in the academy:
    ‘I’ve pasted this from an Amazon review on Gelernter’s book, which I will read.
    I know Gelernter is Jewish, but, according to the approving reviewer I’m quoting, he does seem to place the blame for the ills in academia he describes at least partially on Jewish intellectuals, many of whom were immigrants from the Europe broken by the meat grinder of World War II.
    The language skirts rhetoric used against Jewish intellectuals, particularly Bolsheviks in Germany, in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s, and seems a little too close to language used against Jewish influence in 2017 Poland as we speak, IMHO.
    The rhetoric, at its worst, could be fodder for a right-wing Kacsynski, emboldened by surge of rhetoric against the Other employed by Trump et al. Synagogues are already being threatened with violence.
    The quote:
    “Now let me mention a few random thoughts which I think contribute to Gelernter’s argument. He speaks of the countercultural revolution in the 60s having its roots in the 40s. I believe this is true, and I will add another major contributor to the argument. Children born in the 1940s and later were the first generations to be saturated by television throughout their childhood. Television, in turn, was dominated by the media elites, whom Gelernter correctly identifies as primarily second-generation Jewish immigrants, to whom he correctly identifies a leftist bias which was evident as far back as the Army McCarthy hearings and the treatment of Richard Nixon in the 1960 presidential campaign. These children, washed in television, not only accepted their opinions from the media, but they did not develop the strong reading skills that characterized their newspaper reading parents. Television breeds intellectual laziness as well as physical sloth.
    Gelernter idealizes the 50s as a period of American triumphalism. It is true that we were an economic pinnacle. However, the spirit of the times was decidedly gloomy. There was a dread of the Russians and the Red Chinese, and the fear that we would all die in a nuclear holocaust. The humorists of that time, Mort Saul, Lenny Bruce, and Tom Lehrer, captured the angst quite well. I think that this fearful nihilism contributed to the mindless nihilism of the hippies of the 1960s.
    Gelernter rather bravely identifies the role that Jewish intellectuals – the expression seems redundant – played in transforming America. He should give a bit more history of the Jewish people themselves. I think that evolutionary psychologist Kevin MacDonald is onto something in his trilogy on the subject, culminating in “The Culture of Critique.” Throughout their 3,000 year history of the Jews have constantly struggled against host societies, using intellect and intellectual aggression as their weapons. This strategy led to Jews being expelled from medieval England and France, persecuted in the middle of the millennium by the Spanish, French, and Portuguese in the Inquisition, and then by the Slavs in the latter part of the 19th century during the pogroms. This was not totally without foundation; the Jews were at the center of the anarchist groups that eventually came together as the Bolsheviks. Around the turn of the century large numbers left for the United States, Argentina and Canada. They continued their leftist politics in their adoptive lands, which resulted in somewhat similar types of confrontations with the establishment in each of them. I broaden Gelernter’s argument a little bit. In taking over academia, the Jews in the United States were simply doing what they had always done, and what had historically been in the genetic interests of the Jewish people.”
    This Amazon reviewer uses the terms “the genetic interests of the Jewish people”
    I wonder if Richard Spencer finds this an interesting turn of phrase.’
    See: http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/media-dear-america-please-hate-us/comment-page-1/#comment-8128492
    My comment is awaiting moderation, so I’m posting it here in case Pat Buchanan, with his Nixonian views regarding the Jews, nixes it.

    Reply
  239. I’ve just posted this comment at Rod Dreher’s latest piece at The American Conservative regarding Richard Gelernter’s new book, which I’m going to read, attacking the liberal intelligensia in the academy:
    ‘I’ve pasted this from an Amazon review on Gelernter’s book, which I will read.
    I know Gelernter is Jewish, but, according to the approving reviewer I’m quoting, he does seem to place the blame for the ills in academia he describes at least partially on Jewish intellectuals, many of whom were immigrants from the Europe broken by the meat grinder of World War II.
    The language skirts rhetoric used against Jewish intellectuals, particularly Bolsheviks in Germany, in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s, and seems a little too close to language used against Jewish influence in 2017 Poland as we speak, IMHO.
    The rhetoric, at its worst, could be fodder for a right-wing Kacsynski, emboldened by surge of rhetoric against the Other employed by Trump et al. Synagogues are already being threatened with violence.
    The quote:
    “Now let me mention a few random thoughts which I think contribute to Gelernter’s argument. He speaks of the countercultural revolution in the 60s having its roots in the 40s. I believe this is true, and I will add another major contributor to the argument. Children born in the 1940s and later were the first generations to be saturated by television throughout their childhood. Television, in turn, was dominated by the media elites, whom Gelernter correctly identifies as primarily second-generation Jewish immigrants, to whom he correctly identifies a leftist bias which was evident as far back as the Army McCarthy hearings and the treatment of Richard Nixon in the 1960 presidential campaign. These children, washed in television, not only accepted their opinions from the media, but they did not develop the strong reading skills that characterized their newspaper reading parents. Television breeds intellectual laziness as well as physical sloth.
    Gelernter idealizes the 50s as a period of American triumphalism. It is true that we were an economic pinnacle. However, the spirit of the times was decidedly gloomy. There was a dread of the Russians and the Red Chinese, and the fear that we would all die in a nuclear holocaust. The humorists of that time, Mort Saul, Lenny Bruce, and Tom Lehrer, captured the angst quite well. I think that this fearful nihilism contributed to the mindless nihilism of the hippies of the 1960s.
    Gelernter rather bravely identifies the role that Jewish intellectuals – the expression seems redundant – played in transforming America. He should give a bit more history of the Jewish people themselves. I think that evolutionary psychologist Kevin MacDonald is onto something in his trilogy on the subject, culminating in “The Culture of Critique.” Throughout their 3,000 year history of the Jews have constantly struggled against host societies, using intellect and intellectual aggression as their weapons. This strategy led to Jews being expelled from medieval England and France, persecuted in the middle of the millennium by the Spanish, French, and Portuguese in the Inquisition, and then by the Slavs in the latter part of the 19th century during the pogroms. This was not totally without foundation; the Jews were at the center of the anarchist groups that eventually came together as the Bolsheviks. Around the turn of the century large numbers left for the United States, Argentina and Canada. They continued their leftist politics in their adoptive lands, which resulted in somewhat similar types of confrontations with the establishment in each of them. I broaden Gelernter’s argument a little bit. In taking over academia, the Jews in the United States were simply doing what they had always done, and what had historically been in the genetic interests of the Jewish people.”
    This Amazon reviewer uses the terms “the genetic interests of the Jewish people”
    I wonder if Richard Spencer finds this an interesting turn of phrase.’
    See: http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/media-dear-america-please-hate-us/comment-page-1/#comment-8128492
    My comment is awaiting moderation, so I’m posting it here in case Pat Buchanan, with his Nixonian views regarding the Jews, nixes it.

    Reply
  240. I’ve just posted this comment at Rod Dreher’s latest piece at The American Conservative regarding Richard Gelernter’s new book, which I’m going to read, attacking the liberal intelligensia in the academy:
    ‘I’ve pasted this from an Amazon review on Gelernter’s book, which I will read.
    I know Gelernter is Jewish, but, according to the approving reviewer I’m quoting, he does seem to place the blame for the ills in academia he describes at least partially on Jewish intellectuals, many of whom were immigrants from the Europe broken by the meat grinder of World War II.
    The language skirts rhetoric used against Jewish intellectuals, particularly Bolsheviks in Germany, in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s, and seems a little too close to language used against Jewish influence in 2017 Poland as we speak, IMHO.
    The rhetoric, at its worst, could be fodder for a right-wing Kacsynski, emboldened by surge of rhetoric against the Other employed by Trump et al. Synagogues are already being threatened with violence.
    The quote:
    “Now let me mention a few random thoughts which I think contribute to Gelernter’s argument. He speaks of the countercultural revolution in the 60s having its roots in the 40s. I believe this is true, and I will add another major contributor to the argument. Children born in the 1940s and later were the first generations to be saturated by television throughout their childhood. Television, in turn, was dominated by the media elites, whom Gelernter correctly identifies as primarily second-generation Jewish immigrants, to whom he correctly identifies a leftist bias which was evident as far back as the Army McCarthy hearings and the treatment of Richard Nixon in the 1960 presidential campaign. These children, washed in television, not only accepted their opinions from the media, but they did not develop the strong reading skills that characterized their newspaper reading parents. Television breeds intellectual laziness as well as physical sloth.
    Gelernter idealizes the 50s as a period of American triumphalism. It is true that we were an economic pinnacle. However, the spirit of the times was decidedly gloomy. There was a dread of the Russians and the Red Chinese, and the fear that we would all die in a nuclear holocaust. The humorists of that time, Mort Saul, Lenny Bruce, and Tom Lehrer, captured the angst quite well. I think that this fearful nihilism contributed to the mindless nihilism of the hippies of the 1960s.
    Gelernter rather bravely identifies the role that Jewish intellectuals – the expression seems redundant – played in transforming America. He should give a bit more history of the Jewish people themselves. I think that evolutionary psychologist Kevin MacDonald is onto something in his trilogy on the subject, culminating in “The Culture of Critique.” Throughout their 3,000 year history of the Jews have constantly struggled against host societies, using intellect and intellectual aggression as their weapons. This strategy led to Jews being expelled from medieval England and France, persecuted in the middle of the millennium by the Spanish, French, and Portuguese in the Inquisition, and then by the Slavs in the latter part of the 19th century during the pogroms. This was not totally without foundation; the Jews were at the center of the anarchist groups that eventually came together as the Bolsheviks. Around the turn of the century large numbers left for the United States, Argentina and Canada. They continued their leftist politics in their adoptive lands, which resulted in somewhat similar types of confrontations with the establishment in each of them. I broaden Gelernter’s argument a little bit. In taking over academia, the Jews in the United States were simply doing what they had always done, and what had historically been in the genetic interests of the Jewish people.”
    This Amazon reviewer uses the terms “the genetic interests of the Jewish people”
    I wonder if Richard Spencer finds this an interesting turn of phrase.’
    See: http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/media-dear-america-please-hate-us/comment-page-1/#comment-8128492
    My comment is awaiting moderation, so I’m posting it here in case Pat Buchanan, with his Nixonian views regarding the Jews, nixes it.

    Reply
  241. I don’t disagree with Gelertner regarding the stupefying effects of watching TV.
    The “all the Commies are Jews” thing does come directly out of the Nazi playbook. It was kind of a two-fer.
    The anarchists that came to the US were not particularly Bolshevik, and not particularly Jewish. Hint: Bolsheviks aren’t anarchists. They were mostly Eastern and Southern European, notably Italians. See also Luigi Galleani.
    Maybe I’m reading from the wrong history books, but it seems to me that what has historically been in the genetic interests of the Jews has been trying to figure out how to keep everybody else in the world from killing them. With mixed success. The ubiquity and continuity of hatred toward the Jews is one of the wonders of the Western world.
    In any case, if anyone plans on rounding folks up, they are in for some surprises.
    Larison’s pretty much a good guy, but the TAC folks are too tolerant of Buchananesque fascism for my taste.
    Folks are drawing lines, y’all. Don’t let it catch you napping.

    Reply
  242. I don’t disagree with Gelertner regarding the stupefying effects of watching TV.
    The “all the Commies are Jews” thing does come directly out of the Nazi playbook. It was kind of a two-fer.
    The anarchists that came to the US were not particularly Bolshevik, and not particularly Jewish. Hint: Bolsheviks aren’t anarchists. They were mostly Eastern and Southern European, notably Italians. See also Luigi Galleani.
    Maybe I’m reading from the wrong history books, but it seems to me that what has historically been in the genetic interests of the Jews has been trying to figure out how to keep everybody else in the world from killing them. With mixed success. The ubiquity and continuity of hatred toward the Jews is one of the wonders of the Western world.
    In any case, if anyone plans on rounding folks up, they are in for some surprises.
    Larison’s pretty much a good guy, but the TAC folks are too tolerant of Buchananesque fascism for my taste.
    Folks are drawing lines, y’all. Don’t let it catch you napping.

    Reply
  243. I don’t disagree with Gelertner regarding the stupefying effects of watching TV.
    The “all the Commies are Jews” thing does come directly out of the Nazi playbook. It was kind of a two-fer.
    The anarchists that came to the US were not particularly Bolshevik, and not particularly Jewish. Hint: Bolsheviks aren’t anarchists. They were mostly Eastern and Southern European, notably Italians. See also Luigi Galleani.
    Maybe I’m reading from the wrong history books, but it seems to me that what has historically been in the genetic interests of the Jews has been trying to figure out how to keep everybody else in the world from killing them. With mixed success. The ubiquity and continuity of hatred toward the Jews is one of the wonders of the Western world.
    In any case, if anyone plans on rounding folks up, they are in for some surprises.
    Larison’s pretty much a good guy, but the TAC folks are too tolerant of Buchananesque fascism for my taste.
    Folks are drawing lines, y’all. Don’t let it catch you napping.

    Reply
  244. Europe, a sampling:
    https://www.socialeurope.eu/2012/11/the-rise-of-the-far-right-in-poland-and-europe/
    http://time.com/4504010/europe-politics-swing-right/
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/17/poland-rightwing-government-eu-russia-democracy-under-threat
    Time for the Jews to leave Europe because of radical Islamic terrorism aimed at them by a very small minority of Islamists among the Muslims who live there and/or a plurality of Europeans who are getting their Jew-hatred up:
    http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/04/is-it-time-for-the-jews-to-leave-europe/386279/
    Poland:
    http://www.timesofisrael.com/far-right-ruling-party-seeks-to-remake-polish-politics/
    http://politicalcritique.org/cee/poland/2016/tilles-pis-far-right/
    http://souciant.com/2016/11/far-right-uber-alles/
    http://forward.com/news/world/345781/when-natos-man-in-poland-ran-anti-semitic-paper/
    http://nypost.com/2016/11/11/75000-far-right-nationalists-march-on-polands-independence-day/
    https://qz.com/857280/polands-move-to-the-far-right-in-2015-parallels-the-election-of-donald-trump-in-2016/
    http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/rise-far-right-poland-no-more-eurovision-vegetarians-cyclists-1537735
    http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/2016/06/08/hobbesian-catholicism-on-the-rise-in-poland/
    Greenwald has a somewhat different view, but remember, as with Michelle Bachmann, et al, support for Israel in Poland is merely a cover for moving all Jews to one central location where all but the 144,000 will survive, after being risen from her God’s prophesied Holocaust.
    https://theintercept.com/2016/11/30/growing-far-right-nationalistic-movements-are-dangerously-anti-muslim-and-pro-israel/
    Polls in Poland show that 34% of the electorate support this right-wing government careening the government toward right-wing tyranny.
    This shit can’t be allowed to happen. We’re not doing this again, world. These Beasts are gaining momentum in all of Europe and closer to home.
    The other 66%, including Polish Jews, must rise up and kill, kill, kill, kill this threat from the 34%, as a template for resistance to the rise of the Other-hating fascism throughout the once. for an interval, civilized world.
    Poland must not be permitted to be made “great” again in the eyes of right-wing murderers.
    It will be interesting to observe how a Bannon-led Trump reacts to such an uprising and how their fascist blood bothers in Russia respond in turn, or in concert.
    I wonder who will take whose side.

    Reply
  245. Europe, a sampling:
    https://www.socialeurope.eu/2012/11/the-rise-of-the-far-right-in-poland-and-europe/
    http://time.com/4504010/europe-politics-swing-right/
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/17/poland-rightwing-government-eu-russia-democracy-under-threat
    Time for the Jews to leave Europe because of radical Islamic terrorism aimed at them by a very small minority of Islamists among the Muslims who live there and/or a plurality of Europeans who are getting their Jew-hatred up:
    http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/04/is-it-time-for-the-jews-to-leave-europe/386279/
    Poland:
    http://www.timesofisrael.com/far-right-ruling-party-seeks-to-remake-polish-politics/
    http://politicalcritique.org/cee/poland/2016/tilles-pis-far-right/
    http://souciant.com/2016/11/far-right-uber-alles/
    http://forward.com/news/world/345781/when-natos-man-in-poland-ran-anti-semitic-paper/
    http://nypost.com/2016/11/11/75000-far-right-nationalists-march-on-polands-independence-day/
    https://qz.com/857280/polands-move-to-the-far-right-in-2015-parallels-the-election-of-donald-trump-in-2016/
    http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/rise-far-right-poland-no-more-eurovision-vegetarians-cyclists-1537735
    http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/2016/06/08/hobbesian-catholicism-on-the-rise-in-poland/
    Greenwald has a somewhat different view, but remember, as with Michelle Bachmann, et al, support for Israel in Poland is merely a cover for moving all Jews to one central location where all but the 144,000 will survive, after being risen from her God’s prophesied Holocaust.
    https://theintercept.com/2016/11/30/growing-far-right-nationalistic-movements-are-dangerously-anti-muslim-and-pro-israel/
    Polls in Poland show that 34% of the electorate support this right-wing government careening the government toward right-wing tyranny.
    This shit can’t be allowed to happen. We’re not doing this again, world. These Beasts are gaining momentum in all of Europe and closer to home.
    The other 66%, including Polish Jews, must rise up and kill, kill, kill, kill this threat from the 34%, as a template for resistance to the rise of the Other-hating fascism throughout the once. for an interval, civilized world.
    Poland must not be permitted to be made “great” again in the eyes of right-wing murderers.
    It will be interesting to observe how a Bannon-led Trump reacts to such an uprising and how their fascist blood bothers in Russia respond in turn, or in concert.
    I wonder who will take whose side.

    Reply
  246. Europe, a sampling:
    https://www.socialeurope.eu/2012/11/the-rise-of-the-far-right-in-poland-and-europe/
    http://time.com/4504010/europe-politics-swing-right/
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/17/poland-rightwing-government-eu-russia-democracy-under-threat
    Time for the Jews to leave Europe because of radical Islamic terrorism aimed at them by a very small minority of Islamists among the Muslims who live there and/or a plurality of Europeans who are getting their Jew-hatred up:
    http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/04/is-it-time-for-the-jews-to-leave-europe/386279/
    Poland:
    http://www.timesofisrael.com/far-right-ruling-party-seeks-to-remake-polish-politics/
    http://politicalcritique.org/cee/poland/2016/tilles-pis-far-right/
    http://souciant.com/2016/11/far-right-uber-alles/
    http://forward.com/news/world/345781/when-natos-man-in-poland-ran-anti-semitic-paper/
    http://nypost.com/2016/11/11/75000-far-right-nationalists-march-on-polands-independence-day/
    https://qz.com/857280/polands-move-to-the-far-right-in-2015-parallels-the-election-of-donald-trump-in-2016/
    http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/rise-far-right-poland-no-more-eurovision-vegetarians-cyclists-1537735
    http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/2016/06/08/hobbesian-catholicism-on-the-rise-in-poland/
    Greenwald has a somewhat different view, but remember, as with Michelle Bachmann, et al, support for Israel in Poland is merely a cover for moving all Jews to one central location where all but the 144,000 will survive, after being risen from her God’s prophesied Holocaust.
    https://theintercept.com/2016/11/30/growing-far-right-nationalistic-movements-are-dangerously-anti-muslim-and-pro-israel/
    Polls in Poland show that 34% of the electorate support this right-wing government careening the government toward right-wing tyranny.
    This shit can’t be allowed to happen. We’re not doing this again, world. These Beasts are gaining momentum in all of Europe and closer to home.
    The other 66%, including Polish Jews, must rise up and kill, kill, kill, kill this threat from the 34%, as a template for resistance to the rise of the Other-hating fascism throughout the once. for an interval, civilized world.
    Poland must not be permitted to be made “great” again in the eyes of right-wing murderers.
    It will be interesting to observe how a Bannon-led Trump reacts to such an uprising and how their fascist blood bothers in Russia respond in turn, or in concert.
    I wonder who will take whose side.

    Reply
  247. I just got around to reading through this thread, and Count, if you weren’t leaving I’d be throwing you out. Your comment of 10:51 is IMHO a rape threat, and I won’t be having with that. I’ll wait another 1/2 hour, then delete unless wj or one of the other front-pagers talks me out of it.
    Don’t let the door hit you on your way out.

    Reply
  248. I just got around to reading through this thread, and Count, if you weren’t leaving I’d be throwing you out. Your comment of 10:51 is IMHO a rape threat, and I won’t be having with that. I’ll wait another 1/2 hour, then delete unless wj or one of the other front-pagers talks me out of it.
    Don’t let the door hit you on your way out.

    Reply
  249. I just got around to reading through this thread, and Count, if you weren’t leaving I’d be throwing you out. Your comment of 10:51 is IMHO a rape threat, and I won’t be having with that. I’ll wait another 1/2 hour, then delete unless wj or one of the other front-pagers talks me out of it.
    Don’t let the door hit you on your way out.

    Reply
  250. Doc, I’m gone.
    I love all of you. It’s been a good run. My OBWI addiction is over.
    Thanks for indulging me along the way.
    I’ll shut the door quietly behind me.

    Reply
  251. Doc, I’m gone.
    I love all of you. It’s been a good run. My OBWI addiction is over.
    Thanks for indulging me along the way.
    I’ll shut the door quietly behind me.

    Reply
  252. Doc, I’m gone.
    I love all of you. It’s been a good run. My OBWI addiction is over.
    Thanks for indulging me along the way.
    I’ll shut the door quietly behind me.

    Reply
  253. Doctor Science:
    You have a nice blog here. It’d be a shame if people stopped commenting on it. Chill out before you end up banning everybody. Even God has a sense of humor, fer chrissake.
    –TP

    Reply
  254. Doctor Science:
    You have a nice blog here. It’d be a shame if people stopped commenting on it. Chill out before you end up banning everybody. Even God has a sense of humor, fer chrissake.
    –TP

    Reply
  255. Doctor Science:
    You have a nice blog here. It’d be a shame if people stopped commenting on it. Chill out before you end up banning everybody. Even God has a sense of humor, fer chrissake.
    –TP

    Reply
  256. My missive to Dreher was far-right moderated into oblivion.
    My days at RedState ended when I front-paged a post about racism.
    Some folks are just way too sensitive.
    Vaya con Dios Count. Shine on you crazy diamond. If they cut off your pension, there’s always bank robbery!
    We’ll see you on the flipside.

    Reply
  257. My missive to Dreher was far-right moderated into oblivion.
    My days at RedState ended when I front-paged a post about racism.
    Some folks are just way too sensitive.
    Vaya con Dios Count. Shine on you crazy diamond. If they cut off your pension, there’s always bank robbery!
    We’ll see you on the flipside.

    Reply
  258. My missive to Dreher was far-right moderated into oblivion.
    My days at RedState ended when I front-paged a post about racism.
    Some folks are just way too sensitive.
    Vaya con Dios Count. Shine on you crazy diamond. If they cut off your pension, there’s always bank robbery!
    We’ll see you on the flipside.

    Reply
  259. The Count had announced his intention to leave, so I don’t think that it was just Doctor Science, unless there was other stuff that I’m not aware of.
    I’ll miss him terribly though, because much as this blog is supposed to be “the Voice of Moderation”, there is no such thing anymore. True gangsters, mobsters, villains are running the country now. Moderation is not going to solve this.
    Because childhood Catholicism still haunts me, I won’t say that I’m in despair. I’ll fight it with anger. Love, hope and faith too. Faith that we can do this.

    Reply
  260. The Count had announced his intention to leave, so I don’t think that it was just Doctor Science, unless there was other stuff that I’m not aware of.
    I’ll miss him terribly though, because much as this blog is supposed to be “the Voice of Moderation”, there is no such thing anymore. True gangsters, mobsters, villains are running the country now. Moderation is not going to solve this.
    Because childhood Catholicism still haunts me, I won’t say that I’m in despair. I’ll fight it with anger. Love, hope and faith too. Faith that we can do this.

    Reply
  261. The Count had announced his intention to leave, so I don’t think that it was just Doctor Science, unless there was other stuff that I’m not aware of.
    I’ll miss him terribly though, because much as this blog is supposed to be “the Voice of Moderation”, there is no such thing anymore. True gangsters, mobsters, villains are running the country now. Moderation is not going to solve this.
    Because childhood Catholicism still haunts me, I won’t say that I’m in despair. I’ll fight it with anger. Love, hope and faith too. Faith that we can do this.

    Reply

  262. Doctor Science:
    You have a nice blog here. It’d be a shame if people stopped commenting on it. Chill out before you end up banning everybody. Even God has a sense of humor, fer chrissake.
    –TP

    As a fringe member of the collective (or whatever it is) that attempts to moderate ObWi, I absolutely applaud Doc Science for her attempts to maintain at least a modicum of civility in here, attempts I am too late and too lazy to make.
    If the cost of this is losing comments from those who think anyone with a “sense of humor” should enjoy rape threats – made in fun, you understand – I think I can live with it.
    Fer chrissake.

    Reply

  263. Doctor Science:
    You have a nice blog here. It’d be a shame if people stopped commenting on it. Chill out before you end up banning everybody. Even God has a sense of humor, fer chrissake.
    –TP

    As a fringe member of the collective (or whatever it is) that attempts to moderate ObWi, I absolutely applaud Doc Science for her attempts to maintain at least a modicum of civility in here, attempts I am too late and too lazy to make.
    If the cost of this is losing comments from those who think anyone with a “sense of humor” should enjoy rape threats – made in fun, you understand – I think I can live with it.
    Fer chrissake.

    Reply

  264. Doctor Science:
    You have a nice blog here. It’d be a shame if people stopped commenting on it. Chill out before you end up banning everybody. Even God has a sense of humor, fer chrissake.
    –TP

    As a fringe member of the collective (or whatever it is) that attempts to moderate ObWi, I absolutely applaud Doc Science for her attempts to maintain at least a modicum of civility in here, attempts I am too late and too lazy to make.
    If the cost of this is losing comments from those who think anyone with a “sense of humor” should enjoy rape threats – made in fun, you understand – I think I can live with it.
    Fer chrissake.

    Reply
  265. I don’t know how a modicum of civility can be maintained if sapient is allowed to label everybody to the left of the DNC enablers of fascism and generally insulting everyone who dissents. He/she is using Trump’s win as an opportunity to impose his/her manichean worldview on this blog and to ignore the most basic rules of civil discourse without limitations.

    Reply
  266. I don’t know how a modicum of civility can be maintained if sapient is allowed to label everybody to the left of the DNC enablers of fascism and generally insulting everyone who dissents. He/she is using Trump’s win as an opportunity to impose his/her manichean worldview on this blog and to ignore the most basic rules of civil discourse without limitations.

    Reply
  267. I don’t know how a modicum of civility can be maintained if sapient is allowed to label everybody to the left of the DNC enablers of fascism and generally insulting everyone who dissents. He/she is using Trump’s win as an opportunity to impose his/her manichean worldview on this blog and to ignore the most basic rules of civil discourse without limitations.

    Reply
  268. Hi everyone (including yours truly),
    Now may be a good time to reset the pieces on the gameboard and restart the clock. As I am confident that no one here is piloting or ordering drone attacks, and equally confident that no one here is refusing to pay for services rendered, bragging about grabbing people by their parts, it might be a good time to reset and start with a cleanish slate. I certainly will endeavour to and I hope all of you will as well. Your cooperation in this is greatly appreciated.

    Reply
  269. Hi everyone (including yours truly),
    Now may be a good time to reset the pieces on the gameboard and restart the clock. As I am confident that no one here is piloting or ordering drone attacks, and equally confident that no one here is refusing to pay for services rendered, bragging about grabbing people by their parts, it might be a good time to reset and start with a cleanish slate. I certainly will endeavour to and I hope all of you will as well. Your cooperation in this is greatly appreciated.

    Reply
  270. Hi everyone (including yours truly),
    Now may be a good time to reset the pieces on the gameboard and restart the clock. As I am confident that no one here is piloting or ordering drone attacks, and equally confident that no one here is refusing to pay for services rendered, bragging about grabbing people by their parts, it might be a good time to reset and start with a cleanish slate. I certainly will endeavour to and I hope all of you will as well. Your cooperation in this is greatly appreciated.

    Reply
  271. You know, it’s funny, I fight constantly (and boringly) for civility, but I never took the Count’s stuff for the opposite of that – of course, it was never as far as I recall aimed at people here. To me, it was like performance art, certainly not in any sense insincere, on the contrary obviously an expression of deep and sincerely held beliefs and opinions, most of which I share.
    But talking of performance, I’ve just been watching pre-inauguration stuff on the Beeb, and watching tape of Trump and Melania going through the rituals of Lincoln Memorial etc, and I have the strongest feeling that to him it is just a performance, an empty show as if he was in a play. I’ve never thought that before, even with Baby Bush, who presumably had some feeling for the scope and significance of the whole thing because of his father. I’m certain that Trump has no concept of what is to come, or his responsibilities, or how (as they said in WWII) his loose talk can cost lives.
    I’m going to be in and out today, and taping the whole thing to watch later. To anybody marching, or otherwise participating today or tomorrow, stay safe and well, and live to fight another day.

    Reply
  272. You know, it’s funny, I fight constantly (and boringly) for civility, but I never took the Count’s stuff for the opposite of that – of course, it was never as far as I recall aimed at people here. To me, it was like performance art, certainly not in any sense insincere, on the contrary obviously an expression of deep and sincerely held beliefs and opinions, most of which I share.
    But talking of performance, I’ve just been watching pre-inauguration stuff on the Beeb, and watching tape of Trump and Melania going through the rituals of Lincoln Memorial etc, and I have the strongest feeling that to him it is just a performance, an empty show as if he was in a play. I’ve never thought that before, even with Baby Bush, who presumably had some feeling for the scope and significance of the whole thing because of his father. I’m certain that Trump has no concept of what is to come, or his responsibilities, or how (as they said in WWII) his loose talk can cost lives.
    I’m going to be in and out today, and taping the whole thing to watch later. To anybody marching, or otherwise participating today or tomorrow, stay safe and well, and live to fight another day.

    Reply
  273. You know, it’s funny, I fight constantly (and boringly) for civility, but I never took the Count’s stuff for the opposite of that – of course, it was never as far as I recall aimed at people here. To me, it was like performance art, certainly not in any sense insincere, on the contrary obviously an expression of deep and sincerely held beliefs and opinions, most of which I share.
    But talking of performance, I’ve just been watching pre-inauguration stuff on the Beeb, and watching tape of Trump and Melania going through the rituals of Lincoln Memorial etc, and I have the strongest feeling that to him it is just a performance, an empty show as if he was in a play. I’ve never thought that before, even with Baby Bush, who presumably had some feeling for the scope and significance of the whole thing because of his father. I’m certain that Trump has no concept of what is to come, or his responsibilities, or how (as they said in WWII) his loose talk can cost lives.
    I’m going to be in and out today, and taping the whole thing to watch later. To anybody marching, or otherwise participating today or tomorrow, stay safe and well, and live to fight another day.

    Reply
  274. “You know, it’s funny, I fight constantly (and boringly) for civility, but I never took the Count’s stuff for the opposite of that”
    I always took “the Count’s stuff” for a determined, heroic, yet ultimately doomed, attempt to make the rest of us look sane by comparison.

    Reply
  275. “You know, it’s funny, I fight constantly (and boringly) for civility, but I never took the Count’s stuff for the opposite of that”
    I always took “the Count’s stuff” for a determined, heroic, yet ultimately doomed, attempt to make the rest of us look sane by comparison.

    Reply
  276. “You know, it’s funny, I fight constantly (and boringly) for civility, but I never took the Count’s stuff for the opposite of that”
    I always took “the Count’s stuff” for a determined, heroic, yet ultimately doomed, attempt to make the rest of us look sane by comparison.

    Reply
  277. Now may be a good time to reset the pieces on the gameboard and restart the clock.
    Agreed. Including the “yours truly” part. Meaning me, not you.
    Thanks LJ.

    Reply
  278. Now may be a good time to reset the pieces on the gameboard and restart the clock.
    Agreed. Including the “yours truly” part. Meaning me, not you.
    Thanks LJ.

    Reply
  279. Now may be a good time to reset the pieces on the gameboard and restart the clock.
    Agreed. Including the “yours truly” part. Meaning me, not you.
    Thanks LJ.

    Reply
  280. Ah, the Count, we knew him well. These long days of tortured wintry solitude, why? What, perforce, could make him adamant that we suffer without his heat or light? How shall we? Mayhap another fugue will drift him into our awareness. Another turn, another tide. Until such, I bid my own farewell, for here is not a place the same, without his presence to divine, for which I could abide. .

    Reply
  281. Ah, the Count, we knew him well. These long days of tortured wintry solitude, why? What, perforce, could make him adamant that we suffer without his heat or light? How shall we? Mayhap another fugue will drift him into our awareness. Another turn, another tide. Until such, I bid my own farewell, for here is not a place the same, without his presence to divine, for which I could abide. .

    Reply
  282. Ah, the Count, we knew him well. These long days of tortured wintry solitude, why? What, perforce, could make him adamant that we suffer without his heat or light? How shall we? Mayhap another fugue will drift him into our awareness. Another turn, another tide. Until such, I bid my own farewell, for here is not a place the same, without his presence to divine, for which I could abide. .

    Reply
  283. No Count? ObiWi will be much poorer without him.
    The Count is full of rage and despair; I hope this place wasn’t the only one he could let off some steam. Now I’m worried for him.
    Be well, Count. Your savage, brilliant, take-no-prisoners wit has been something to savor and celebrate. Please be well, wherever you are.

    Reply
  284. No Count? ObiWi will be much poorer without him.
    The Count is full of rage and despair; I hope this place wasn’t the only one he could let off some steam. Now I’m worried for him.
    Be well, Count. Your savage, brilliant, take-no-prisoners wit has been something to savor and celebrate. Please be well, wherever you are.

    Reply
  285. No Count? ObiWi will be much poorer without him.
    The Count is full of rage and despair; I hope this place wasn’t the only one he could let off some steam. Now I’m worried for him.
    Be well, Count. Your savage, brilliant, take-no-prisoners wit has been something to savor and celebrate. Please be well, wherever you are.

    Reply
  286. On my stupid phone, so cannot link properly, but I kept thinking how the Count reminded me of Swift’s “saeva indignatio”, so, with heartfelt thanks that the Count is still alive, here for anybody who doesn’t know it, is Swift’s epitaph, with original, from Wikipedia.
    “Swift’s Epitaph” is a translation by Irish poet William Butler Yeats of Jonathan Swift’s epitaph, which Swift wrote for himself in Latin. Yeats’ somewhat free translation appeared in his 1933 collection The Winding Stair and Other Poems.
    Swift’s Epitaph
    Swift has sailed into his rest;
    Savage indignation there
    Cannot lacerate his Breast.
    Imitate him if you dare,
    World-Besotted Traveler; he
    Served human liberty.
    The original Latin version of Swift’s epitaph Edit
    Hic depositum est Corpus
    IONATHAN SWIFT S.T.D.
    Hujus Ecclesiæ Cathedralis
    Decani,
    Ubi sæva Indignatio
    Ulterius
    Cor lacerare nequit,
    Abi Viator
    Et imitare, si poteris,
    Strenuum pro virili
    Libertatis Vindicatorem.
    Obiit 19º Die Mensis Octobris
    A.D. 1745 Anno Ætatis 78º.
    Literal Translation Edit
    Here is laid the Body
    of Jonathan Swift, Doctor of Sacred Theology,
    Dean of this Cathedral Church,
    where fierce Indignation
    can no longer
    injure the Heart.
    Go forth, Voyager,
    and copy, if you can,
    this vigorous (to the best of his ability)
    Champion of Liberty.
    He died on the 19th Day of the Month of October,
    A.D. 1745, in the 78th Year of his Age.

    Reply
  287. On my stupid phone, so cannot link properly, but I kept thinking how the Count reminded me of Swift’s “saeva indignatio”, so, with heartfelt thanks that the Count is still alive, here for anybody who doesn’t know it, is Swift’s epitaph, with original, from Wikipedia.
    “Swift’s Epitaph” is a translation by Irish poet William Butler Yeats of Jonathan Swift’s epitaph, which Swift wrote for himself in Latin. Yeats’ somewhat free translation appeared in his 1933 collection The Winding Stair and Other Poems.
    Swift’s Epitaph
    Swift has sailed into his rest;
    Savage indignation there
    Cannot lacerate his Breast.
    Imitate him if you dare,
    World-Besotted Traveler; he
    Served human liberty.
    The original Latin version of Swift’s epitaph Edit
    Hic depositum est Corpus
    IONATHAN SWIFT S.T.D.
    Hujus Ecclesiæ Cathedralis
    Decani,
    Ubi sæva Indignatio
    Ulterius
    Cor lacerare nequit,
    Abi Viator
    Et imitare, si poteris,
    Strenuum pro virili
    Libertatis Vindicatorem.
    Obiit 19º Die Mensis Octobris
    A.D. 1745 Anno Ætatis 78º.
    Literal Translation Edit
    Here is laid the Body
    of Jonathan Swift, Doctor of Sacred Theology,
    Dean of this Cathedral Church,
    where fierce Indignation
    can no longer
    injure the Heart.
    Go forth, Voyager,
    and copy, if you can,
    this vigorous (to the best of his ability)
    Champion of Liberty.
    He died on the 19th Day of the Month of October,
    A.D. 1745, in the 78th Year of his Age.

    Reply
  288. On my stupid phone, so cannot link properly, but I kept thinking how the Count reminded me of Swift’s “saeva indignatio”, so, with heartfelt thanks that the Count is still alive, here for anybody who doesn’t know it, is Swift’s epitaph, with original, from Wikipedia.
    “Swift’s Epitaph” is a translation by Irish poet William Butler Yeats of Jonathan Swift’s epitaph, which Swift wrote for himself in Latin. Yeats’ somewhat free translation appeared in his 1933 collection The Winding Stair and Other Poems.
    Swift’s Epitaph
    Swift has sailed into his rest;
    Savage indignation there
    Cannot lacerate his Breast.
    Imitate him if you dare,
    World-Besotted Traveler; he
    Served human liberty.
    The original Latin version of Swift’s epitaph Edit
    Hic depositum est Corpus
    IONATHAN SWIFT S.T.D.
    Hujus Ecclesiæ Cathedralis
    Decani,
    Ubi sæva Indignatio
    Ulterius
    Cor lacerare nequit,
    Abi Viator
    Et imitare, si poteris,
    Strenuum pro virili
    Libertatis Vindicatorem.
    Obiit 19º Die Mensis Octobris
    A.D. 1745 Anno Ætatis 78º.
    Literal Translation Edit
    Here is laid the Body
    of Jonathan Swift, Doctor of Sacred Theology,
    Dean of this Cathedral Church,
    where fierce Indignation
    can no longer
    injure the Heart.
    Go forth, Voyager,
    and copy, if you can,
    this vigorous (to the best of his ability)
    Champion of Liberty.
    He died on the 19th Day of the Month of October,
    A.D. 1745, in the 78th Year of his Age.

    Reply
  289. Like soup and sandwich, the Count and over-the-top, occasionally unfiltered hyperbole go together. I caught the rape thing and thought it was problematic. The Doc has a point. That said, we all know the Count speaks figuratively, not literally. Still, the figurative can be too close to home sometimes.
    Anyway, enough of that. My vote is to make the ban temporary–15 days.
    If it’s ok to commute Private Manning’s sentence, surely the Count also merits clemency.

    Reply
  290. Like soup and sandwich, the Count and over-the-top, occasionally unfiltered hyperbole go together. I caught the rape thing and thought it was problematic. The Doc has a point. That said, we all know the Count speaks figuratively, not literally. Still, the figurative can be too close to home sometimes.
    Anyway, enough of that. My vote is to make the ban temporary–15 days.
    If it’s ok to commute Private Manning’s sentence, surely the Count also merits clemency.

    Reply
  291. Like soup and sandwich, the Count and over-the-top, occasionally unfiltered hyperbole go together. I caught the rape thing and thought it was problematic. The Doc has a point. That said, we all know the Count speaks figuratively, not literally. Still, the figurative can be too close to home sometimes.
    Anyway, enough of that. My vote is to make the ban temporary–15 days.
    If it’s ok to commute Private Manning’s sentence, surely the Count also merits clemency.

    Reply
  292. I will miss the count if he is permanently banned. I didn’t see the rape threat. It might have been deleted, but truth is, I tend to skim the count’s posts to see if he is writing one of his serious comments or performing, sort of the way I suspect Wj skims mine to see if it is about a certain country.
    I also think his posts were performance art, but if someone knew came here they might take it literally. Rod Dreher, one of my windows into conservatism, would take it literally as a sign of incipient leftist genocide against Republicans. Dreher gets a lot of mileage out of looking for proof that liberals are worse than conservatives. He is still worth reading sometimes.
    LJ, I agree we want smart selective leakers. Manning wasn’t that. My point is that Manning got solitary confinement and seven years when other leakers like Petraeus and Cartwright got wrist slaps or pardons because Manning did it for reasons of conscience. And large numbers of people who are actual war criminals or allowed it to go unreported got off entirely. There is a logic behind this — the rights of the government are more important than basic human rights. Personally I think Manning should have gotten a wrist slap and a medal. Petraeus and Cartwright should go to jail for a year or so. People that high up should be held to a higher standard, not a lower one. The other unspoken principle at work is that high ranking people are held to lower standards.
    On Trump, I like Sanders’s approach. He is pointing out that (apart from the nasty things Trump promised to do ) Trump made his followers all kinds of promises about jobs and a health care system that will be terrific. So hold him to what he told his working class supporters. Ask him how he will fix this —
    http://theweek.com/articles/666799/how-american-health-care-kills-people

    Reply
  293. I will miss the count if he is permanently banned. I didn’t see the rape threat. It might have been deleted, but truth is, I tend to skim the count’s posts to see if he is writing one of his serious comments or performing, sort of the way I suspect Wj skims mine to see if it is about a certain country.
    I also think his posts were performance art, but if someone knew came here they might take it literally. Rod Dreher, one of my windows into conservatism, would take it literally as a sign of incipient leftist genocide against Republicans. Dreher gets a lot of mileage out of looking for proof that liberals are worse than conservatives. He is still worth reading sometimes.
    LJ, I agree we want smart selective leakers. Manning wasn’t that. My point is that Manning got solitary confinement and seven years when other leakers like Petraeus and Cartwright got wrist slaps or pardons because Manning did it for reasons of conscience. And large numbers of people who are actual war criminals or allowed it to go unreported got off entirely. There is a logic behind this — the rights of the government are more important than basic human rights. Personally I think Manning should have gotten a wrist slap and a medal. Petraeus and Cartwright should go to jail for a year or so. People that high up should be held to a higher standard, not a lower one. The other unspoken principle at work is that high ranking people are held to lower standards.
    On Trump, I like Sanders’s approach. He is pointing out that (apart from the nasty things Trump promised to do ) Trump made his followers all kinds of promises about jobs and a health care system that will be terrific. So hold him to what he told his working class supporters. Ask him how he will fix this —
    http://theweek.com/articles/666799/how-american-health-care-kills-people

    Reply
  294. I will miss the count if he is permanently banned. I didn’t see the rape threat. It might have been deleted, but truth is, I tend to skim the count’s posts to see if he is writing one of his serious comments or performing, sort of the way I suspect Wj skims mine to see if it is about a certain country.
    I also think his posts were performance art, but if someone knew came here they might take it literally. Rod Dreher, one of my windows into conservatism, would take it literally as a sign of incipient leftist genocide against Republicans. Dreher gets a lot of mileage out of looking for proof that liberals are worse than conservatives. He is still worth reading sometimes.
    LJ, I agree we want smart selective leakers. Manning wasn’t that. My point is that Manning got solitary confinement and seven years when other leakers like Petraeus and Cartwright got wrist slaps or pardons because Manning did it for reasons of conscience. And large numbers of people who are actual war criminals or allowed it to go unreported got off entirely. There is a logic behind this — the rights of the government are more important than basic human rights. Personally I think Manning should have gotten a wrist slap and a medal. Petraeus and Cartwright should go to jail for a year or so. People that high up should be held to a higher standard, not a lower one. The other unspoken principle at work is that high ranking people are held to lower standards.
    On Trump, I like Sanders’s approach. He is pointing out that (apart from the nasty things Trump promised to do ) Trump made his followers all kinds of promises about jobs and a health care system that will be terrific. So hold him to what he told his working class supporters. Ask him how he will fix this —
    http://theweek.com/articles/666799/how-american-health-care-kills-people

    Reply
  295. I don’t think the Count was banned. He has been clear for some time that he was stepping back from online political conversation as of today.

    Reply
  296. I don’t think the Count was banned. He has been clear for some time that he was stepping back from online political conversation as of today.

    Reply
  297. I don’t think the Count was banned. He has been clear for some time that he was stepping back from online political conversation as of today.

    Reply
  298. The Doc said if he hadn’t been going today she would have banned him forthwith. Just as well she wasn’t around for Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”, she would have said he was actually advocating cannibalism.

    Reply
  299. The Doc said if he hadn’t been going today she would have banned him forthwith. Just as well she wasn’t around for Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”, she would have said he was actually advocating cannibalism.

    Reply
  300. The Doc said if he hadn’t been going today she would have banned him forthwith. Just as well she wasn’t around for Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”, she would have said he was actually advocating cannibalism.

    Reply
  301. Did the rabbi at the inauguration (who seems almost as incoherent as Trump himself) really just say “may Justice dwell in the wilderness”… ?
    Surprisingly apposite.

    Reply
  302. Did the rabbi at the inauguration (who seems almost as incoherent as Trump himself) really just say “may Justice dwell in the wilderness”… ?
    Surprisingly apposite.

    Reply
  303. Did the rabbi at the inauguration (who seems almost as incoherent as Trump himself) really just say “may Justice dwell in the wilderness”… ?
    Surprisingly apposite.

    Reply
  304. I don’t think the Count was banned. He has been clear for some time that he was stepping back from online political conversation as of today.
    So…. he’s really Obama ?

    Reply
  305. I don’t think the Count was banned. He has been clear for some time that he was stepping back from online political conversation as of today.
    So…. he’s really Obama ?

    Reply
  306. I don’t think the Count was banned. He has been clear for some time that he was stepping back from online political conversation as of today.
    So…. he’s really Obama ?

    Reply
  307. The count as Obama’s sock puppet makes a lot of sense. Obama acts so cool in public and needs some place to vent. Some people here claim to know the count, but have they ever seen the count and Obama in the same room together? I am betting no.

    Reply
  308. The count as Obama’s sock puppet makes a lot of sense. Obama acts so cool in public and needs some place to vent. Some people here claim to know the count, but have they ever seen the count and Obama in the same room together? I am betting no.

    Reply
  309. The count as Obama’s sock puppet makes a lot of sense. Obama acts so cool in public and needs some place to vent. Some people here claim to know the count, but have they ever seen the count and Obama in the same room together? I am betting no.

    Reply
  310. Personally I think Manning should have gotten a wrist slap and a medal. Petraeus and Cartwright should go to jail for a year or so. People that high up should be held to a higher standard, not a lower one.
    I quite agree actually. At least to the extent that a) those higher up should be held to a higher standard, and b) Petraeus and Cartwright got of far easier than they should have.

    Reply
  311. Personally I think Manning should have gotten a wrist slap and a medal. Petraeus and Cartwright should go to jail for a year or so. People that high up should be held to a higher standard, not a lower one.
    I quite agree actually. At least to the extent that a) those higher up should be held to a higher standard, and b) Petraeus and Cartwright got of far easier than they should have.

    Reply
  312. Personally I think Manning should have gotten a wrist slap and a medal. Petraeus and Cartwright should go to jail for a year or so. People that high up should be held to a higher standard, not a lower one.
    I quite agree actually. At least to the extent that a) those higher up should be held to a higher standard, and b) Petraeus and Cartwright got of far easier than they should have.

    Reply
  313. Meanwhile, in Virginia a Republican state legislative committee killed a “bathroom bill”** modeled on North Carolina’s. The legislative committee, made up of 5 Republicans and 2 Democrats, tabled (decided not to approve) the bill.
    The sponsor was furious at his fellow Republicans, saying that they “campaign one way and come down here and vote another.” But apparently there are some who are capable of learning from the experience of others.
    ** He says he objects to the label. Because he’s actually more concerned about public locker rooms than bathrooms.

    Reply
  314. Meanwhile, in Virginia a Republican state legislative committee killed a “bathroom bill”** modeled on North Carolina’s. The legislative committee, made up of 5 Republicans and 2 Democrats, tabled (decided not to approve) the bill.
    The sponsor was furious at his fellow Republicans, saying that they “campaign one way and come down here and vote another.” But apparently there are some who are capable of learning from the experience of others.
    ** He says he objects to the label. Because he’s actually more concerned about public locker rooms than bathrooms.

    Reply
  315. Meanwhile, in Virginia a Republican state legislative committee killed a “bathroom bill”** modeled on North Carolina’s. The legislative committee, made up of 5 Republicans and 2 Democrats, tabled (decided not to approve) the bill.
    The sponsor was furious at his fellow Republicans, saying that they “campaign one way and come down here and vote another.” But apparently there are some who are capable of learning from the experience of others.
    ** He says he objects to the label. Because he’s actually more concerned about public locker rooms than bathrooms.

    Reply
  316. Here is the conservative rhetoric on health care.
    http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/yes-republicans-have-a-plan-for-health-reform/
    Interestingly a lot of the commenters are ripping it apart and at least one I know is a conservative, often very critical of liberals. After tearing into the ACA for years they better come up with something ” terrific”. If they fall flat on their faces maybe single payer will finally be allowed to come out of the policy closet.

    Reply
  317. Here is the conservative rhetoric on health care.
    http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/yes-republicans-have-a-plan-for-health-reform/
    Interestingly a lot of the commenters are ripping it apart and at least one I know is a conservative, often very critical of liberals. After tearing into the ACA for years they better come up with something ” terrific”. If they fall flat on their faces maybe single payer will finally be allowed to come out of the policy closet.

    Reply
  318. Here is the conservative rhetoric on health care.
    http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/yes-republicans-have-a-plan-for-health-reform/
    Interestingly a lot of the commenters are ripping it apart and at least one I know is a conservative, often very critical of liberals. After tearing into the ACA for years they better come up with something ” terrific”. If they fall flat on their faces maybe single payer will finally be allowed to come out of the policy closet.

    Reply
  319. From Donald’s link:

    Congress is working to create a lifeboat and a bridge with its repeal-and-replace agenda. The replacement measures will protect the people who are on Obamacare now so they don’t lose their coverage again, and they will build a bridge to new coverage that will protect others from the damage that the law has done to their pocketbooks and the quality of their medical coverage.

    If (and I think it’s a huge if) they can pull that off, without exploding budget deficits, they will deserve all the praise in the world.

    Reply
  320. From Donald’s link:

    Congress is working to create a lifeboat and a bridge with its repeal-and-replace agenda. The replacement measures will protect the people who are on Obamacare now so they don’t lose their coverage again, and they will build a bridge to new coverage that will protect others from the damage that the law has done to their pocketbooks and the quality of their medical coverage.

    If (and I think it’s a huge if) they can pull that off, without exploding budget deficits, they will deserve all the praise in the world.

    Reply
  321. From Donald’s link:

    Congress is working to create a lifeboat and a bridge with its repeal-and-replace agenda. The replacement measures will protect the people who are on Obamacare now so they don’t lose their coverage again, and they will build a bridge to new coverage that will protect others from the damage that the law has done to their pocketbooks and the quality of their medical coverage.

    If (and I think it’s a huge if) they can pull that off, without exploding budget deficits, they will deserve all the praise in the world.

    Reply
  322. Because he’s actually more concerned about public locker rooms than bathrooms.
    There’s actually a stronger case for conservatives to make about locker rooms as compared to bathrooms. IMO, and FWIW.
    Here is the conservative rhetoric on health care.
    The bar to meet is that something approaching everyone should have access to necessary medical care without risking financial ruin. We don’t have that now. We’re closer to it than we were.
    If the (R)’s have a good idea for that, great. We’d all love to see it.
    There’s a place for “consumer-based” decisions, I’m not sure medical care is the best example. For insurance products, maybe, for actual care, less so. IMO.

    Reply
  323. Because he’s actually more concerned about public locker rooms than bathrooms.
    There’s actually a stronger case for conservatives to make about locker rooms as compared to bathrooms. IMO, and FWIW.
    Here is the conservative rhetoric on health care.
    The bar to meet is that something approaching everyone should have access to necessary medical care without risking financial ruin. We don’t have that now. We’re closer to it than we were.
    If the (R)’s have a good idea for that, great. We’d all love to see it.
    There’s a place for “consumer-based” decisions, I’m not sure medical care is the best example. For insurance products, maybe, for actual care, less so. IMO.

    Reply
  324. Because he’s actually more concerned about public locker rooms than bathrooms.
    There’s actually a stronger case for conservatives to make about locker rooms as compared to bathrooms. IMO, and FWIW.
    Here is the conservative rhetoric on health care.
    The bar to meet is that something approaching everyone should have access to necessary medical care without risking financial ruin. We don’t have that now. We’re closer to it than we were.
    If the (R)’s have a good idea for that, great. We’d all love to see it.
    There’s a place for “consumer-based” decisions, I’m not sure medical care is the best example. For insurance products, maybe, for actual care, less so. IMO.

    Reply
  325. “Look, I got a slingshot here, and it will shoot a rock really REALLY far, so how hard can it be for NASA to launch space probes anyway? We just need a bigger slingshot!”
    …if the GOP took the same approach to space exploration as they do to the ACA.
    Good luck with that.

    Reply
  326. “Look, I got a slingshot here, and it will shoot a rock really REALLY far, so how hard can it be for NASA to launch space probes anyway? We just need a bigger slingshot!”
    …if the GOP took the same approach to space exploration as they do to the ACA.
    Good luck with that.

    Reply
  327. “Look, I got a slingshot here, and it will shoot a rock really REALLY far, so how hard can it be for NASA to launch space probes anyway? We just need a bigger slingshot!”
    …if the GOP took the same approach to space exploration as they do to the ACA.
    Good luck with that.

    Reply
  328. I quite agree actually. At least to the extent that a) those higher up should be held to a higher standard, and b) Petraeus and Cartwright got of far easier than they should have.
    There is, alas, a stark disparity between the justice of the junior enlisted servicemember and that of their seniors, and it only grows starker as rank increases. You can find instances of flag officers found guilty of engaging in misconduct that would see enlisted personnel in Leavenworth for a decade or more, and getting forced retirement at one rank lower – with that being touted as harsh punishment since they’ll lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in retirement pay.

    Reply
  329. I quite agree actually. At least to the extent that a) those higher up should be held to a higher standard, and b) Petraeus and Cartwright got of far easier than they should have.
    There is, alas, a stark disparity between the justice of the junior enlisted servicemember and that of their seniors, and it only grows starker as rank increases. You can find instances of flag officers found guilty of engaging in misconduct that would see enlisted personnel in Leavenworth for a decade or more, and getting forced retirement at one rank lower – with that being touted as harsh punishment since they’ll lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in retirement pay.

    Reply
  330. I quite agree actually. At least to the extent that a) those higher up should be held to a higher standard, and b) Petraeus and Cartwright got of far easier than they should have.
    There is, alas, a stark disparity between the justice of the junior enlisted servicemember and that of their seniors, and it only grows starker as rank increases. You can find instances of flag officers found guilty of engaging in misconduct that would see enlisted personnel in Leavenworth for a decade or more, and getting forced retirement at one rank lower – with that being touted as harsh punishment since they’ll lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in retirement pay.

    Reply
  331. I usually try to read the whole thread before commenting, but I can’t this time.
    Re Manning. She was a whistleblower for the Collateral Murder airstrikes, the Guantanamo Bay files and Afghan war logs. All of those showed an enormous gap in what the government was saying and what it was doing while revealing many illegal acts.
    She was well positioned to analyze the entire data dump, which should have been done better by the journalists who got the information. There were a number of diplomatic cables which were released which shouldn’t have been. In my opinion they did very little REAL damage in the context of a world where the US was doing all sorts of other publicly terrible shit.
    In an ideal world she would have controlled that better. Unfortunately we don’t live in an ideal world so I’m comfortable with seeing her as a mixed bag who was attempting completely defensible whistleblowing. We live in a world where I don’t give the government the benefit of the doubt for mixed bag whistleblowers. She didn’t sell secrets to get rich, but to reveal illegal acts.
    In the context of other whistleblowers (not to mention other bad actors like Patreus) she has been punished well in line with what even people who don’t agree with my whistleblower analysis should expect.

    Reply
  332. I usually try to read the whole thread before commenting, but I can’t this time.
    Re Manning. She was a whistleblower for the Collateral Murder airstrikes, the Guantanamo Bay files and Afghan war logs. All of those showed an enormous gap in what the government was saying and what it was doing while revealing many illegal acts.
    She was well positioned to analyze the entire data dump, which should have been done better by the journalists who got the information. There were a number of diplomatic cables which were released which shouldn’t have been. In my opinion they did very little REAL damage in the context of a world where the US was doing all sorts of other publicly terrible shit.
    In an ideal world she would have controlled that better. Unfortunately we don’t live in an ideal world so I’m comfortable with seeing her as a mixed bag who was attempting completely defensible whistleblowing. We live in a world where I don’t give the government the benefit of the doubt for mixed bag whistleblowers. She didn’t sell secrets to get rich, but to reveal illegal acts.
    In the context of other whistleblowers (not to mention other bad actors like Patreus) she has been punished well in line with what even people who don’t agree with my whistleblower analysis should expect.

    Reply
  333. I usually try to read the whole thread before commenting, but I can’t this time.
    Re Manning. She was a whistleblower for the Collateral Murder airstrikes, the Guantanamo Bay files and Afghan war logs. All of those showed an enormous gap in what the government was saying and what it was doing while revealing many illegal acts.
    She was well positioned to analyze the entire data dump, which should have been done better by the journalists who got the information. There were a number of diplomatic cables which were released which shouldn’t have been. In my opinion they did very little REAL damage in the context of a world where the US was doing all sorts of other publicly terrible shit.
    In an ideal world she would have controlled that better. Unfortunately we don’t live in an ideal world so I’m comfortable with seeing her as a mixed bag who was attempting completely defensible whistleblowing. We live in a world where I don’t give the government the benefit of the doubt for mixed bag whistleblowers. She didn’t sell secrets to get rich, but to reveal illegal acts.
    In the context of other whistleblowers (not to mention other bad actors like Patreus) she has been punished well in line with what even people who don’t agree with my whistleblower analysis should expect.

    Reply
  334. I’m comfortable with seeing her as a mixed bag who was attempting completely defensible whistleblowing. We live in a world where I don’t give the government the benefit of the doubt for mixed bag whistleblowers. She didn’t sell secrets to get rich, but to reveal illegal acts.
    Yes.
    Thanks Sebastian.

    Reply
  335. I’m comfortable with seeing her as a mixed bag who was attempting completely defensible whistleblowing. We live in a world where I don’t give the government the benefit of the doubt for mixed bag whistleblowers. She didn’t sell secrets to get rich, but to reveal illegal acts.
    Yes.
    Thanks Sebastian.

    Reply
  336. I’m comfortable with seeing her as a mixed bag who was attempting completely defensible whistleblowing. We live in a world where I don’t give the government the benefit of the doubt for mixed bag whistleblowers. She didn’t sell secrets to get rich, but to reveal illegal acts.
    Yes.
    Thanks Sebastian.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to CaseyL Cancel reply