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Tuco

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Posts posted by Tuco

  1. 7 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

    bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.....

     

    You know, we're 6-7 years into the Trump era, and I figured I had gotten immune to reading ridiculous statements.  But, uh, yeah, that has to be one of the single most fucked up line in political reporting history.  

  2. A bit tangent to Bannon is Guo Wengu, the billionaire Chinese dissident/criminal/conman. Bannon was trying to set-up a media company with him and was on his yacht when arrested, the first time. I don’t have the electronic copy to link, but I will type in one passage.


    Peering into the camera, Guo announced the establishment of a shadow government, which he called the New Federal State of China. In Mandarin, he made an impassioned call to arms…
    Guo built toward a climactic finish, chanting a slogan - “Take Down the CCP!” In Chinese. After the ninth repetition, he switched to English, and Bannon joined in. Guo was in a celebratory mood. He kissed Bannon on the cheek, and gazing up at him, said, “Love You.”
    “Thank you,” Bannon said. “Are we still on live?” To close out the ceremony, they presented a statement of principles, which Guo signed in his own blood. (Bannon skipped that part.)

  3. A bit tangent to Bannon is Guo Wengu, the billionaire Chinese dissident/criminal/conman. Bannon was trying to set-up a media company with him and was on his yacht when arrested, the first time. I don’t have the electronic copy to link, but I will type in one passage.


    Peering into the camera, Guo announced the establishment of a shadow government, which he called the New Federal State of China. In Mandarin, he made an impassioned call to arms…
    Guo built toward a climactic finish, chanting a slogan - “Take Down the CCP!” In Chinese. After the ninth repetition, he switched to English, and Bannon joined in. Guo was in a celebratory mood. He kissed Bannon on the cheek, and gazing up at him, said, “Love You.”
    “Thank you,” Bannon said. “Are we still on live?” To close out the ceremony, they presented a statement of principles, which Guo signed in his own blood. (Bannon skipped that part.)

    • Haha 1
  4. 5 hours ago, wildcat09 said:

    But the leak would've come from someone in this administration. They think it helps them in the midterms, but I'm not sure why.

    I agree.  It's weird.  

    There are two elements to the story: 1. Biden pushed back on more aid.  2. Biden "lost his temper."

    On the first one, that is a relatively objective statement.  Whether it makes Biden bad depends on how you view the aid.  Using the terms loosely, if you are a hawk, it makes Biden look bad and if you are a dove, it makes him look good.  

    On the second point, it's pretty anti-Biden.  It's pretty rare that you would describe "losing your temper" as a favorable statement.  "Biden passionately objected.." would certainly sound better.  

    And, another difference on it is it would be difficult to determine if "Biden lost his temper" from reading a transcript.  It would imply direct observation, although it's possible a Republican leak would infer, reasonably or cynically, that Biden was angry.  

    So, with all that in mind...

    ....I think it's unlikely it's the House Dems.  I could see them possibly leaking the pushback, but it's along different lines (money) than what their letter pushed.  But the second part is straight up self defeating.  There is benefit in dragging Biden down before an election. Public disagreement is one thing - demonstrating you are not just a party stooge.  But anonymously hurting the brand before an election is silly. 

    ...I think it's unlikely it's Meadows' branch.  It is counter to their argument - that Biden is just a blank check. 

    ...I think it's unlikely it was an intentional leak from Biden loyalists in the administration.  Ok, it does undermine Meadows' argument about the blank check, but it builds the "Biden is an angry old man" image that fits tightly how Republicans try to paint him.  If they leaked it, they did so incompetently.  And they don't seem incompetent. 

    ...it could just be a admin official - maybe someone on the military side - getting frustrated and going off script.  There are more than just the two parties in Washington.  The Trump White House leaked like a sieve.  There is no reason to believe everything comes out of the Biden White House is intentional.  But the fact the cited multiple people makes that less likely unless there are several hawks getting pissed.  And it happened in June. 

    ...Another strong possibility would be Republican hawks who inferred Biden was angry if the transcripts were shared with them.  If Ukraine does ultimately prevail, it will be an accomplishment cited by Biden 2024 campaign, rightly or wrongly.  The Republicans have an interest in painting it as Zelensky winning the war despite Biden, instead of because of him.  And, of course, it helps with the angry old main image they are cultivating.  

     

  5. Just now, Sawbonz said:

    The authors of the letter aren’t expending any energy trying to explain it or justify it. I’m not sure why you feel compelled to. I’m going to just agree with them that it never should’ve been released

    I think I was pretty clear that the letter should not have been released.  That doesn't mean your question isn't still worth discussing.  You're the one who asked it after the Dems had withdrawn it.  Why did you? 

    • Hook 'Em 1
  6. 5 minutes ago, Voldemort86 said:

    Look up Todd Akin’s senate race and his “legitimate rape” comment. 

    Undecideds don't watch the debates, but they do read/hear the snippets.  

    I am hopping the mother/doctor/politician snippit travels better than Fetterman's troubles.  But, I am concerned just the general narrative of "that guy is still pretty fucked up" will become common accepted even amongst people who never watch a single clip or read a single line.  

  7. 1 minute ago, wildcat09 said:

    I think the letter was incoherent and had a little bit of everything to try to assuage the members of the caucus.  It reminded me of the Chronicle's recent endorsement of Mealer and DMN's Abbott endorsement, which a huge disconnect between their apparent purpose and what was actually said, with a lot of internal contradictions in their reasoning. Which I'm sure is why they originally decided not to publish it in the summer and Jayapal I guess wanted to get her name in the papers right before the election so released it unexpectedly now? Just incredibly fucking weird all around.

    Regarding the timing, I am guessing one of two possibilities:

    1) they were spooked by Meadows' statement about not giving a blank check to Ukraine support.  It's possible that both Meadows and Jayapal are seeing some potential far-left-meets-far-right pickups by opposing the war, and she was trying to shore up the flank.  Certainly, there are far-left voters who are open to progressive candidates, but are very concerned about the war machine.  Progressive candidates are going to hear those concerns more than others.  And the only threat to reelection that Jayapal has is being primaried from her left.  Although, it does seem like Seattle is solidly pro-Ukraine and I haven't seen any flyers for antiwar protests. 

    2) the White House did something that pissed her off so she threw a shit bomb.  

  8. 15 hours ago, Ghost of LL said:

    I just really disagree with the conclusion that the letter is not crazy.

    I don't think it's crazy.  I think it's naive, and perhaps stupid.  But, if you were to ask 10 people on the street, "should the US be open to direct talks with Russia to help resolve the Ukraine-Russian War?" most of them would say yes.  It aligns with intuition - that there is nothing wrong talking to avoid a fight.  It's the same reason Trump didn't see a big deal in having unilateral discussions with North Korea when our position has always been to have multilateral talks.  Who has a seat at the table is one of the first things to negotiate in a negotiation.  This letter is poor statecraft, but good statecraft seams a little crazy anyway. 

     

    16 hours ago, Sawbonz said:

    Why don’t you go ahead and explain to us what “diplomatic measures” the US can bring to bear that are not already being pursued that don’t involve a ceasefire which will allow Russia to regroup militarily? Russia has shown the world what they are. We should believe them 

    The way the question is worded is weird.  The US can't initiate a ceasefire.  If you are asking "what can the US offer that isn't up to Ukraine?", there are several items.  I imagine Russia would like to talk about NATO membership - Ukraine, but also Finland and Sweden.  Stepping back, it's possible that Turkey's objection to their joining may just be a stall to keep those cards on the table.  Of course there are the sanctions that predated this invasion and probably some that predated the Crimea invasion.  There are postwar weapons sales and troop deployments.  The implication that this is entirely between Ukraine and Russia is just a naive as the letter.  But, it has to be clear that the US will continue to support Ukraine as long as Russia troops are in Ukraine, including Crimea. That's not something the US will budge on. 

     

    19 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

    If it had leaked, they might be able to claim it was a mixup or was canceled, but the official social media account sent that shit out, and those don’t get posted without approval of the elected officials.

    Unless they are literally letting the staff and interns run everything.  That would explain the state of the Democratic Party in Texas.

    Yeah, she is probably lying.  But it's good that she was lying, right?  The only damage the letter did was expose a wedge between a small portion of Congress and the White House.  Lying demonstrates that Biden is still in charge.  Whatever division there is is minor.  Sucks for her staff, but I would rather have her throw them under the bus than stand her ground.  It's very important that she quickly pretended that she is on board. 

    FWIW, after moving to Seattle 20 months ago, this is the first time I've disagreed with my new Member of Congress.  After decades of regularly cringing when reading the paper in Nebraska, it's a little weird.  

    • Hook 'Em 1
    • Like 2
  9. We would still be pissed off, but if he had said "Religious Leaders" or "Your State's settled law" or "Your Faith of Choice's Scripture" or even "The Highest Court in the Land" or "Moral Law"........it'd be bullshit, but nothing we haven't heard before.  But that he went with "Local Political Leaders" is just baffling to me.  There's no abortion law set at the municipal level.  
    I made the mistake once of letting my local political leaders decide my colonoscopy procedure.  I should have gone with Commissioner of Water & Sanitation, but instead listened to the Deputy Mayor and now I can't sit right after I eat cheese.  

    It’s nearly the script of that Abbot attack ad.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  10. It’s too easy for republicans. When they’re in trouble, all they have to do is talk about some caravan heading to the US border, crime in urban areas, or gas prices because dems are “hostile” to the oil and gas industry.

    When is the last time a Dem pointed out that gas prices would be higher if not for fuel efficiency standards, EV subsidies, alternative fuel subsidies? Republicans focus on oil production because their lobbyists want them to focus on it, and lower gas prices is the rationale the lobbyists push. For Dems, the focus is environment and they kind of forget about the more immediate concerns of much of the public.
    • Hook 'Em 1
  11. My ex was out of town one weekend and I started watching IT (the 2017 film).  My son, then in second grade, crawls into my bed and starts watching it with me.  I was clearly in the "clueless" category because I didn't turn it off or tell him to go into the kids' TV room to watch something else.  He couldn't go to sleep by himself for about three weeks after that.  My ex was justifiably furious with me.

    When I was 17, I had to babysit my 7 year old kid sister. Then I had some friends come over including a girl (Liz) I was interested in. to watch a movie. I told sis she could watch whatever movie we got with us. Turns out Liz really liked horror movies. We picked up The Hitcher. I couldn’t talk little sister out of watching it with us. She slept in my parents’ room for the next couple of weeks. That’s what you get for free babysitting.
    • Fuck Around and Find Out 1
  12. 6 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:


    gerrymandering helps with the house, but not the White House, state wide races and senate 

    Mostly true.  NE-2, in theory, could have an effect on the White House, and it was gerrymandered after Obama won it in 2008 and Biden won it in 2020. (It was going to be gerrymandered for the Congress regardless, but it interesting that it went blue in the two last pre-census elections.)

    I will also say that gerrymandering has an effect on overall voter turnout.  When the Congressmen and State Reps are effectively picked during the primary, there is less motivation for the the winning nominees to work voter turnout in the general.  In a lot of places, the local campaigns can be more impactful at getting people to the polls than the national campaigns.  And it just whittles away any local parties when you know you have little chance at winning or losing.  Competitive districts get people involved. 

    • Hook 'Em 1
  13. At this point I wonder if the plan is to piss off Drearie, get him to issue some ruling, then file an appeal saying he's overstepping his bounds, lose on appeal but chew up time, and repeat as necessary.  

    Working in unchartered territory gives them room to test every single fucking boundary that is necessarily invented as they go along. The testing is the point, not the result.

    • Like 2
  14. 7 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

    This does seem to demonstrate knowledge that he should not be in possession of the Un letters, and they are among the least "toxic" of the documents he has taken and withheld.  They are clearly, but merely, Presidential Records (as opposed to classified stuff).

    They might be classified.  There is a lot of diplomatic stuff that is classified because their broad release could limit our diplomatic efforts.  It's not all troop movement and spy identifications.  If Un said "...you know, I'm only mostly heterosexual..."  well, that should be classified because Trump breaking that confidence could have major diplomatic implications. 

    • Hook 'Em 1
  15. 3 hours ago, BehoId, The Underminer! said:

    I’ve got an engineer buddy who, when some potential client would ask about an ability to provide anything, would always respond “oh, that’s off-the-shelf.”

    As an engineer, I hate that shit.  I'm not going to highlight our weaknesses, but if I can't figure out a way to execute a project, it's a project I don't want.  Projects that start off shitty are just going downhill from there.  Life is too short to do shitty work.  I recall a rather heated argument I had with our BD guy because wanted to commit to designing an oil refinery (based on customer legacy PIDs) when no one in our office had work in the refinery market.  We found a work-around and the project evaporated anyway, but I was pissed. That kind of shit gets people killed. 

    • Hook 'Em 1
  16.  

    He should be imprisoned for taking up three spaces.

    Quote

    A Maricopa County Community College District police officer noticed the truck was parked over three spaces and drove over for a closer look.

    The police reports says the officer parked their vehicle about 20 feet away from the truck’s passenger side and walked up to the truck where he noticed a man with his pants down mid-thigh, masturbating while looking at a cellphone.

    police report states Kaufman rolled down his window and the officer said “Seriously?” and told him to pull his pants up and exit the vehicle.

     

     

    And what kind of GOP candidate drives a truck low enough that you can see the driver's "mid-thigh" from outside the truck.  

    • Hook 'Em 2
    • Haha 3
  17. Nate Cohn did come out last week and confirm during the polling that they were getting the worst fucking response rate.  They aren't in the field as much as some of the others have been.
    Throw it on the pile. 

    Put it on billboards. Dems get way too complacent when they think they’re going to win.
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