Capitol Hill Blue Forums Thread Like Summary - New Server, New Round Table for Spring 2022

After giving up in disgust today after two weeks of not making RR work on a new server, a former developer for UBB Threads offered a patch that he thought might work. I applied it, made some other changes, and we are online ere on the new server. Effective immediately, ReaderRant can now be found at https://readerrant.com or https://www.readerrant.com

Please also note that entering the URL https://readerrant.capitolhillblue.com now redirects to https://readerrant.com

I had to work for a while to get the final formatting into place, but it seems to be working now. Please log on to your user account and let me know if you have any problems.

That's the good news. The bad news is that anyone who logged on and posted anything Sunday afternoon or evening lost it because that was not part of the database that was finally filtered and posted. My bad, but I didn't want to mess anything else up on this thing.

Please give us a try and let me know if you have any problems.

Please also know that we are still planning to port all the data from the UBB Threads platform to PHPBB because it is up-to-date and Threads is not updating, as far as I can find.

Thanks so much for all the moderators who have kept RR up and running and those who contributed financially to our efforts. It helped more than you know.

Doug

I want to extend a public thanks to Doug for all of the effort and frustration of keeping our community online. This is above and beyond the call of duty and I am, personally, very grateful for it.

Appreciate your comments and support. I have received some messages asking how much we need. I've paid rental on the new hosting server for a year, bought some new protection software and had some unexpected costs we didn't expect on relocating RR to its new locations with a new domain name, Donations helped cover most of the costs, including extended the old server rental for the month of March, but I'm almost caught up. A couple of members have set up monthly payments that help. Right now, I'm about $300 in the hole. That's not a monthly deficit but a one-time overage created by the extra cost of the move. That used to not seem like a lot but as a retiree who now lives on fixed income with a few bucks coming in from time to time on contract reporting and photojournalism jobs, $300 can make the difference between making it for the next few weeks or living, as Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen, once sang: "on seeds and stems again."

Either way, RR is safe now for the next year as far as domain rentals and life on the web is concerned. Thanks to the help and desire of each of you, it's not going anywhere.

Thanks again

Saturday morning here in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southwestern Virginia. Woke up with frost on the ground for the second straight day in April and a high wind warnings of chilly air cooling things down even more. This is Spring?

News brings news of more deaths in Ukraine from what many are now calling the unending war crimes of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. We have friends over there who have died -- a video journalist and a network news cameraman. Others remain in peril.

America now has its first Black woman Supreme Court justice -- a result of a mostly-partisan vote where only three Senate Republicans voted "yea" on her confirmation. Were the other negative votes driven by partisanship or racism? Sadly, probably both in too many cases. Watching the party of the drunken elephant self-destruct increases my sad realization that I worked for that party as an operative from 1981-87 in what becomes, daily, an increasingly stupid period in my life.

At age 74, one ponders what parts of our seven decades on this third rock from the sun were good or bad. In the overall accounting, which will dominate? Hell, I don't know?
In less than two months, I will recognize 28 years of sobriety, a state reached the same year I walked away for any and all in work in politics and returned to my evaporating profession as a newspaperman. Four months after walking into my first meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous, I started a one-page newsletter covering the happenings in Washington. It grew into Capitol Hill Blue and this discussion forum.

When I look at popular topics in the listing in the left-hand column, we find millions of views, with more than three million taking about the presidential election in 2020 and more than four million from the 2016. A lot of talk. More than three million views on "Trump's Trumpet." Another two million on "Big brother is watching."

The current membership of 6,300 has had a lot to talk about for more than a quarter of a century, but when I look at the top five posters, two are current members and three are no longer with us. As the owner of RR, I have been an absent landlord for too long. I need to be more active, not as one who seeks control, but as one who wants to be part of the family we have here. There's a lot gong on around us. We need to be part of what is happening. It's your forum. I'm just along for the ride.

--Doug

We picked up Pumpkin this morning. Turns out he's a Georgia Bulldog. A pit bull/lab.

He's never had a home, moved from shelter to shelter until he wound up in a kill shelter in Georgia. That's where the Animal League got him, so he must have had some good referrals.
He's been at their shelter since September and they've had him downtown at the farmers market and down to the lake, some of the same places we walk every day. He loves kids

An enormous chonky pit bull with a soft labrador coat. Jet black with a white chest, some white on his muzzle so he'll go grey early. He looks like a f*cking Hellhound. Like one of those clickbait things where...vet takes one look at dog and calls the cops...a brute in an undertaker suit. But he's an absolute cuddlebunny. He's soft and fat now but I'm gonna put the miles on him and see how he muscles up.

He was the favorite dog of the girls who handled and fed him, they were crying like little girls. Nobody thought he would ever find a home. Too big, too black, eats too much. It was all very emotional out at the shelter.

He's a very good boy and seems to figure out everything quickly...like how to get out of a Georgia kill shelter and into Greger's warm embrace.

Some will need to scroll to the bottom of the page where it says UBBT77

Click the drop-down and select UBBthreads instead.

There is still some work to do but we survived the server change!

This morning, I got an email from Rocksus' original owner...the military guy that got deployed. He sent a pic of Rocksus when he was a puppy.



Rocksus today:

Another change folks are going to want to make....

The default mode has replies as links below the OP

if you click on your name, then click on "preferences"

Scroll down a ways to "thread display mode"

select "flat mode" so you can scroll through all the replies.

It's so good to be here! On an unrelated note, I seem to have lost my computer glasses, so I am having a hard time reading the screen. Seriously, it's not my reading comprehension that is the problem!

My apologies for the problems that some are finding right now. I'm trying to work through them as quickly as I can.

I've found the best formatting is the ubbthreds option for styles, at least until I get a change to work on a new template.

There is a newer logo at the top now to play up the forum name. I will do a more polished one as soon as I can.

Doug

DONATE DONATE DONATE.

It looks like a busy day on Capitol Hill with the Senate set to confirm the first Black woman, and the fourth woman overall, to the Supreme Court and set to vote to end trade relations with Russia and ban oil imports from that country. This is one of the rare days when I miss working for Congress, as I did from 1981 to 87 as a press secretary to one Congressman, chief of staff for a second, and special assistant to the ranking member of the House Science and Technology.

Back then, building coalitions and bipartisanship were typical tools to pass legislation, set budgets, and accomplish things. No more and no real regrets for leaving.

This is not the time to be subtle. We are fighting for our virtual lives here and Doug is working his ass off to make this happen for us.

So if you enjoy reading without commenting or if you are a regular bloviator, please, toss a few bucks in the tip jar!

One thought would be to show CHBs comments here and to build up a Ranter base that way. It would mean slower but more steady growth.

I think most Americans long for the days when compromise was possible.

Jackson will be a welcome face on the court.

I agree on Jackson, and I mourn the loss of compromise.

I'd like to have maybe a dozen more regular posters. Who all understood the guidelines and didn't need much in the way of moderation. Maybe another two dozen occasional posters.

My theory is that if you post quality content you will attract quality readers.

New memberships were shut down for a long time because there was so much spam no one wanted to handle it.

Compatibility with the old guard is also essential. I don't come here to fight with idiots.

If you want to fight with idiots there are lots of other places on the internet to do that.

It all starts with Republican Jesus: You know, that WASP guy with "conservative family values":. Definitely NOT the Jewish Socialist from the Middle East!

Or the Trump campaign using Fortunate Son. Trump thought it was about him! It was (re heal spurs) but not at all in a good way.

At the risk of looking like I'm begging, I welcome the suggestion.

This move was possible because of the needed help of you, moderators and others. RR would be no more without your help.

Thank you so much. For those who might want to help too, there's a "donate" button at the top of the left-hand column a the top of the RR home page. Yes, but I should be more subtle. My bad.

Doug

Is you want to post a YouTube clip you can't use the URL, you have to use the share link from down below the video. Also the script has to be a straight shot, don't use the YouTube assist from UBB.

As a Michigander watching this action, and as a father whose son was a chef at the restaurant a stones throw away from the bridge to be blown up in Elk Rapids MI, I was saddened, yet not surprised by the result of the Whitmer plot trial.
I’ve sat on the patio of that restaurant & watched boats come & go under that bridge flying Trump flags and blaring their version of Foxual facts. Those people will never go away…truly, I believe never.
In a society as politically divided as I have ever seen, I wonder how rare it will be to find a person or a group unanimously guilty of a crime with a political backstory. A jury, it seems, will always have participants more or less intentional seated to lean to one side or the other. Facts, and factual use of decision making, as been a casualty of the Trump era. Mandating jurors rely on facts alone seems damn near impossible.

I have a "Like" button on my screen that doesn't require any other service, right next to the "Reply" and "Quote" buttons. Clicking on that takes me to a confirmation page, still without needing FB or Twitter.

Great, it works. Thank you much.

I keep wondering why anybody at all is buried in green cemeteries, and why there all these green golf courses in California when we are all being told to just take 30 second showers once a week.

YouTube is 100% owned by Alphabet (formerly known as Google).


There is a YouTube post from Naomi SexyCyborg that proves YouTube is suppressing her videos. She describes herself as a "Chinese Lesbian with Big Boobs" which is quite accurate, but she has never put any nudity in her posts, or any sexual content. She reviews tech stuff, and does a pretty good job of it. Many claim "the algorithm" takes videos out of the Google search results, as if YouTube has no control over their own software. But her post shows countless cases of YouTube suppressing her videos or banning them, even though other posters can post her videos and they stay up or even appear first in the search order! So apparently "the algorithm" in this case is simply: "Suppress Naomi".

She's not bitter about it. But she does say that YouTube cheats their content providers out of their income, just like any other corporation.

My apologies for being out of touch for the past two weeks. Health problems for my wife. Hope to get back on track with more work on RR. Appreciate the help of the moderators. You guys kept things going.

Doug

Her name is Amy.

Ditto what Jeff said.

WHY DID AN ANTISEMITIC CHRISTIAN ZIONIST HAVE THE CHUTZPAH TO DECLARE THAT HE’D BE LEADING A HOLOCAUST MARCH?


If we think our politics are confusing, imagine what it must be like in Israel.
How does one recover from an in-house Holocaust denying antisemite with a hotline to at least one major Israeli political party?

Speaking of name-calling...

Meghan McCain called Steve Schmidt a "pedophile" over the weekend and he just blew a gasket. Steve started dropping dimes on Megs and how she's an entitled spoiled brat who is unaccomplished (Meg's recent book only sold 234 copies), leaving her on a tarmac because she was late and people were waiting for her father to arrive at the destination - and probably the worst insult ever - Steve likened Megs to the Trump kids.

Steven didn't stop there! He unleashed on Sarah Palin and how she lied about everything in her background to the 2008 McCain Campaign.

Then he unleashed on Paul Manafort and Rick Davis insisting both are Russian assets who caused havoc in Ukraine and why is Rick Davis even near the McCain institute as John McCain was severely anti-Russian.

Rightwing infighting never gets old.

Actually they do have some teeth. Politicians are just afraid to bare them. Congress has some law enforcement officers who do have the power to arrest congressmen, confine them, etc. They also can refer subpoena violators to the Justice Department for prosecution. That's exactly what's happening to Bannon. His Contempt of Congress trial starts on July 18th.

If any more Texas power plants stop working, Raphael "Fled" Cruz will, once again, abandon his dog to flee to a place not run by Republicans.

#AbbottFailedTexasAgain

THAT my fellow Ranters is why President Biden represents the very best of America.

[video:youtube]https://www.google.com/search?q=you%27re+so+vain+lyrics&client=ms-android-verizon&prmd=vbni&sxsrf=APq-WBuxAEg15utdglTnDFJ_d4CJSbeSoQ:1649781585288&source=lnms&tbm=vid&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiX_-Oq-473AhUcD0QIHXrFBdsQ_AUoAXoECAIQAQ&biw=506&bih=681&dpr=2.38#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:965a0fb0,vid:QNir1anaVu4,st:0[/video]
"You probably think this song is about you, don't you, don't you?"

Life is short, and dog's lives are even shorter. It's a sad thing our best friends live so much shorter lives than us.

So I see Madison Cawthorn gets to "spend more time with his family" come January. Anybody outside of Congress would have been fired long ago for his behavior.

Lovely quote from Slate: "There has been way less smoke about an antitrust hurdle stymying Musk’s Twitter deal, since the only sector in which Twitter dominates is career self-immolation."

I think "high capacity" firearms are the main problem. What purpose is there for a semiautomatic rifle with huge clips, other than shooting lots of people? I think single bullet manual loading rifles are adequate for hunting. If you can't kill on the first shot, you didn't have a clear target or the skill needed. School shootings would be very different if shooters got disarmed and beaten to a pulp after firing a single shot. Or we could limit clips to five rounds, and make it highly illegal to buy more than one clip. That way the Holy 2nd Amendment is unmolested, and we do a lot alleviate the problem.

Antonin Scalia was deadly wrong when he wrote the majority opinion in 2011-ish that individuals have a right to guns per the 2A. The statement says “well regulated militia.” Militia is plural - not singular. You can twist yourself into a pretzel all you want in defending Scalia’s asinine and fool-hardy illogical interpretation, but the fact remains those three words from the entire three sentences of the 2A are written in plain English. This is not rocket science people.

As much as I despise a lot of her policy positions, she's clearly a real patriot.
And she's also GONE because Wyoming is going to give her the boot as soon as they possibly can.
And behold the garden of ****s she has to give.

Of course, even if Republicans do take the House, they can't do anything of consequence. Sure they could impeach Biden once a week, but they would look like idiots after the third or fourth time because they could never get a conviction. Biden would still be President, and he could just ignore them, The Senate still could confirm his Judges and Supreme Court picks, with zero Republican cooperation. The Justice Department could ignore any House referrals for prosecution, and go on to convict any number of Republicans for crimes like giving aid and comfort to insurrectionists. That would disqualify some House members and could even shift the majority back to the Democrats. It could also disqualify some in state legislatures, since a federal conviction for giving aid or comfort to insurrectionists disqualifies the convict from holding ANY elective office.

And if Alito and Thomas resigned or died, Biden's supreme court picks would put the SC back to 5:4 liberal.