Capitol Hill Blue Forums Thread Like Summary - Round Table Summer 2022

Greetings from the always-absent landlord here at RR. As may of you may know, both my wife and I came down with COVID-19 (the latest variant) just before Memorial Day and I thought I had recovered but then my underlying chronic bronchitis kicked in and I was in and out of the hospital several times in June.

My apologies. I'm getting sick and tired of doctors ending all sentences about my medical conditions with "at your age." Supposedly, I am now back on my feet fo the time being and hope to get back to work fully this week.

My thanks to those who have used the donation button on the RR home page to provide some always-needed operating funds. If I could devote more time here, maybe things will improve. Your help is much appreciated.

I was able to see Cassidy Hutchins' incredibly brave testimony before the Select Committee. If a 25-year-old junior aide will put her career on the line, why can't our aged leaders provide what they owe to the American people?

Please let me know if anyone needs help on anything in dealing with RR. I am still seeking an alternative software but have been stymied by problems transferring all the data to a new system and the final cost of what it might take. I'm hoping to find something that will work.

Thanks to all of you for supporting and being part of RR.

If you've noticed, the news side of CHB is not updated more often and I'm trying to write two to three columns a week to help improve our readership. Ideas and comments are always welcome.

Doug

A good suggestion by moderator Greger to include a Twitter feed of Capitol Hill Blue's latest stories and columns (and an occasional one from Blue Ridge Muse, is now appearing in the right-hand column of RR. I hope it helps spur more conversations on issues we try to post on CHB, which will be celebrating its 28th anniversary on Oct. 1 of this year.

With the moderators, we are working to improve the accessibility of posts and improve the RR. I'm looking for new operating software to replace UltimateBB, which is pretty much out of business and is no longer updated. A requirement is a seamless way we can import the data from RR into a new system. Any suggestions are welcome. Please let us know what you think.

Thanks for being part of RR and CHB, the oldest surviving political news site on the World Wide Web.

Doug

It was obvious by Trump's six business bankruptcies, that Trump lacked the intellectual and emotional discipline and sophistication to manage a large organization when he ran for POTUS in 2015/6.

It's amazing that 74M people can discount this fact, and put a complete and utter loser in life in charge of the US Executive branch to manage 331M Americans.

I saw a very funny post the other day. It had pictures of Trump and Biden, and said: "Trump gets Covid and has trouble breathing. Biden gets Covid and takes out the head of Al Queda."

This is serious as a heart attack. In order to get a search warrant, the FBI had to demonstrate probable cause 1) that a crime has occurred, and 2) that evidence is likely to be found at the location, and 3) that use of a search warrant is necessary to secure that evidence.

Think about that, two branches of government were involved. The former president is so untrustworthy that no other method would have secured the evidence. The Attorney General had to be convinced that it was necessary, a judge had to authorize it.

Wow. That's bad.

There should be.

Then, Susan, as a citizen again, should be subpoenaed for the impeachment hearings of Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett for lying under oath about the "settled law" of Roe. They all lied when they stated they support the concept of Stare decisis.

It is often said that a Rightwinger will piss on your leg and tell you that it's raining. Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett did exactly that during their confirmation hearings validating that these people are conniving lying sociopaths who will say anything to achieve their agenda.

That dude mostly looks stupid. A-holes like this give law enforcement a headache. As the article notes, “quite honestly, nobody needs to be walking down the street with a rifle,” Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton said in an interview about dealing with such situations. “But I don’t make the laws; we just try to live by them and do a very difficult job in a world that’s got those people in it.”

Later, the local prosecutor lamented, some people “want to push the envelope and draw a response.”

“They want law enforcement to make an arrest on a legal possession so that they can institute some type of lawsuit for some kind of false arrest,” Kunzweiler said.

He also said that comes with a heavy amount of decision-making and examination from law enforcement to determine whether anything illegal is actually happening.

The Sheriff agreed. "What would I want my daughters-in-law to do if they had my grandkids and saw someone like that?”

Business Insider is reporting that in the book Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words, edited by Michael Pack and Mark Paoletta, Clarence Thomas sat down with Pack for "over 30 hours between November 2017 and March 2018" to discuss his career on the nation's highest court.

During those interviews, Thomas claimed his SCOTUS nomination came out of the blue.

As Thomas told Pack,
America doesn't know why you're on the the Court either, Clarence. Perhaps you should do America a solid and resign. America has read your opinions, it's not like you have the capability to reason law anyway.

Funny story on Yahoo: Apparently Trump's Twitter-alternate company has had a hard time hiring tech workers. They only wanted to hire Righties, but right-wing tech workers are smart enough to not want a Trump company on their resume. Some for fear of future job applications, some for not wanting to depend on one of Trump's failed businesses. The problem runs deeper than that: These are smart well-educated people, and that's as rare as hen's teeth in Trump-land. Trump says he loves the uneducated, but Cletus just can't manage an IT department!

Truth Social struggled to hire tech workers

It looks to me like both parties are successfully ginning up enthusiasm and outrage so we'll see a better than average turnout for the midterms.

Democrats are not gonna sit home licking their economic wounds, reeps will show up to defend their tarnished honour. Races will be tight and hard-fought.

But the outcome still seems written in stone.

From your tiny little keyboard to God's ears, Rick. I hope so very much that you are completely right about that.

John Fetterman will be the next Democratic Senator from Pennsylvania, at least for the next few years anyway.
If he follows good diet and exercise recommendations there's no stopping him for much more than the Senate.
I think he is going to try like Hell to pack as much work as possible into his first two years and if he gets drafted for a POTUS run, more power to him.

My mom had one in her 40s and lost the ability to speak or read. Then another in her 80s that eventually killed her. I take blood thinners for Factor 5, Fetterman shoulda been taking them for afib and is now, so he'll be okay.

I'm not worried about his health but about voter perception of his health. Voter perception is like the tide...it gets pulled one way or another by the gravity of propaganda.

Millennials and GenZ are the ones that are gonna save our Boomer asses from ourselves.

And the planet for themselves!

And just as you're going to see them harden Democratic attitudes toward a more egalitarian society you will also see a softening among Republicans against it.

Exciting times are coming. But Jesus what an ugly slog we've got coming up between now and then.

Ten years, Jeffery, ten ugly years before most of the Boomers are flushed out of the system.

That's really awful about your Mom, so sorry.
Mine, she was riding in my car, me being a relatively new driver and in the middle of the conversation her face drooped on one side and she started mumbling something unintelligible...like "So as I was saying Jeffery bluh bluh bluh brrrbl blob puuh zuuh..." etc.
And the look of fear on her face was unforgettable, she knew something had vapor locked.
I got to a corner, dashed to the payphone and got the paramedics and pulled into the parking lot and they were there in less than five minutes.

I was a teenager and not used to seeing my mother drool and babble incoherently while flailing one arm with a look of pure fear on her face.
But in 72 hours she was sitting up in her hospital room and conversing normally, much to everyone's relief. It was arterial fibrillation.

I'd never seen a person have a stroke before, I didn't know what to tell the 9-1-1 operator except that something was wrong with her and she couldn't talk or move one side of her face. They figured it out.

Sad to read about the family experiences with strokes. My mother suffered one when she fell at home about five years before she died and I had to put her in assisted living to have the around-the-clock care needed for her final years. When she died in 2012 at age 89, she often did not even know who I was but she did recognize me while I set up with her on her final night before she passed shortly before 5 a.m.

She, thankfully, did not see what has happened to the land she loved in the years that followed.

We can hope judgment is near for those who have tried to destroy America. It keeps me writing and hoping.

Let's hope we can see it through.

Doug

Today, Fox News (read: Noise) Channel had a discussion about the Thomas Jefferson Monticello Tour. Fox host, Rachel Campos-Duffy lashed out because she said she was made to feel "ashamed" and "guilty" after visiting the home of former President Thomas Jefferson and learning about how he owned slaves.

Fox host, Pete Hegseth complained about how the "whole tone" at Jefferson's Monticello home has changed to focus on his slave ownership.

"It's overwhelmingly negative!" Hegseth exclaimed. "You go to visit the legacy of Thomas Jefferson and you learn about what a terrible person Thomas Jefferson was."

Today Conservatives are the only ones protesting the Confederate statue removal as well. Coincidence? I think not.

"Where's all this coming from?" she asked. "The homes of these presidents are being populated -- this is a very diabolical plan on the part of the left. So what they've done is they've taken their donors on the left and they've populated the boards of these estates with leftists."

Anyone following this Steve Bannon stuff? Apparently, Steve Bannon ignored the J6 committee subpoena because Trump’s lawyers said to claim Executive Privilege. Then some courts got involved and even ol’ Joe denied Executive Privilege to Bannon. Then a July trial for contempt was scheduled for this week. Then Bannon said Trump’s lawyers said it was ok for Bannon to testify and now he’s going to testify to the J6 Committee, but will do so only if allowed to testify live.

Apparently last night, the DOJ filed a late briefing from Trump’s council that stated Trump never instructed Bannon to invoke Executive Privilege. Apparently Steve Bannon made all of this up and wasted everyone’s time and money.

Wow! Sounds like some unkempt hobo thinks he’s so damn smart and smarter than everyone else in the room, is in a world of hurt in the very near future.

Perhaps something like a firing squad is able to rectify this situation.

This morning's walk...3.12 miles and saw a couple alligators...only one posed for a picture. They've taken up residence in a retention pond, there was a nasty storm the other night probably drove them in there. This water all gets naturally filtered before it's allowed in the lake, but they tell me the fishing is pretty good there.

A recent morning commute (view from being the first vehicle on/off the ferry)

When my grandparents retired back in the 1960s, they moved from Gibsonton, FL, to Lake Panasofkee in Sumpter County about an hour north of Tampa and they shared the lake with gators, After my grandfather died in the 70s, she remained at the lake and kept fishing, often by herself, out on the lake. She even had pet names for some of the gators. When I visited, I asked her why she wasn't worried about the gators.

"They've been here a lot longer than us," she said. "They are kind enough to let us enjoy their lake." Grandma died in 1994 at age 99. She was quite a lady.

Doug

How half of America got to be where they are today:

The US Secret Service ERASED text messages AFTER they were ordered to preserve them.
At this point, anyone who was alive during the Kennedy administration is automatically going to imagine the worst because this makes the USSS look like Anwar Sadat's "security" detail.
Sorry, the American people can no longer trust the Secret Service to PROTECT Joe and Jill Biden, simple as that.

Secret Service erased text messages from January 5 and 6, 2021 -- after oversight officials asked for them, watchdog says

What tipped Mother's husband off is that the guy driving the car was not a part of Pence's detail. He was Secret Service, but not a part of Pence's Team.

How much did Chuck Grassley know?

Grassley suggests he may preside over Senate debate on Electoral College votes

Now, why on earth would Chuck Grassley suggest that on J5?!?


Why would Mike not show up? Is it because he would be swinging from a gallows out-front, or because he would be driven-off.

Oh snap!

...and the Secret Service would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those meddling kids and their dog! Ruh-roh

A little something to lighten the spirit...

Smell. It's all about the smells. And it has nothing to do with what you think smells good or bad. They like the smell of sh*t and will eat it if they smell enough protein in it.

By the time you reach out to let a dog sniff your hand, they already know everything about you that they need to know.

Dogs see in black and white, we smell in black and white. All the colors and nuances and signals in their world come from their noses.

I'm pretty sure there are Fundamentalist Mormons who would say LDS has veered away from the founder's original teachings. Their church started in 1830 and it was only in 1904 they disavowed polygamy and started excommunicating members for it. The split-offs still practice it to this day, but they may use strategies like "religious marriages" to avoid legal problems. I also believe LDS members of standing would call any FLDS or AUB member a "Jack Mormon" even if they were born into their sect.

So not so much "fallen away" as "not following the current LDS orthodoxy".

Professor Racaniello has a new 26 minute video on polio, in response to the first case of paralytic polio announced yesterday in New York state:

POLIO

He's been working on polio for over 40 years, so he may be one of the most qualified people in the US on this topic. Well worth watching.

On a phone you have to spread your fingers to scroll in on the gator. He was way the f*ck across the pond from me but I wanted the rainbow in it.

I seldom get a chance to take pictures, I drive the wheelchair with my right hand and hold the dog with my left, he cruises at 5mph and doesn't sit still for long. There were a couple of glorious marsh mallows blooming yesterday I wish I coulda got a pic of but we zipped by and I got only a memory.

He gets to stop, sniff, and piss on anything he wants though.

Oh my!

Alex Jones had a really bad, horrible day in a court trial today. The trial concerns the exact amount of damages Jones is liable for over defaming the parents of the Sandy Hook massacre victims, whose children he claimed were crisis actors staged by the government. He was found liable for the underlying defamation last year.

Apparently, the digital contents of Alex Jones' phone (text, emails) for the past two years we dropped, by error, into a shared file used by both sides to exchange information.

The plaintiff's lawyer in the case used the information to show the court that Alex Jones committed perjury. The plaintiff's lawyer brought this information to Alex's attention while Alex was on the witness stand. The plaintiff's lawyer asked Alex Jones, "Do you know what perjury is?"




BUT!!! That's not even the worst part! The phone also had child sexualized images on it as well. Tsk, tsk, kiddie porn Alex? Ya' pervert!

The J6 Committee has already subpoenaed Jones' phone records from today's trial so they can review the files for J6 material. I'm sure the DoJ will discuss the kiddie porn matter with Alex as well.

I wonder if the ferry captain was suffering from Long Covid symptoms or just hung over. Lots of brain fog going around these days. Lots and lots.

Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of fatigue: Rick said the captain failed to do any of the things he was supposed to do when coming to the dock. I wonder if he was asleep, or just zoned-out? Whatever it was, he should probably make a public statement blaming Long Covid symptoms. Might get him some sympathy in the event of a lawsuit. Certainly a lot better than: "I was still high from my indica edibles."

Friends, CPAC hosting Viktor Orban is seriously f****d up stuff. It does not GET much more f****d up than this.

C-SPAN FULL SPEECH:
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5026588/hungarian-leader-viktor-orban-addresses-cpac

She crashed into an apartment complex, people ran out to help her exit the car, but she slammed it in reverse and went off jackrabbiting down the road and this time she crashed into a HOUSE, and that house caught fire.

You know, Anne Heche says she grew up in a very awful family, and she wrote in her autobiography that she's insane and that she lives in a "fourth dimension" and had an alter ego who was the daughter of God and half-sister of Jesus Christ named "Celestia" who communicated with aliens. Then she concluded that Celestia and the rest of her demons were a thing of the past.

I'm guessing Celestia wrestled the wheel away from her because crashing into an apartment, jamming it into reverse and crashing into another home, is sorta kinda insane, especially that jamming into reverse and crashing again part.

Sad that she's so gravely injured. It's going to be awfully hard to work her way back from that one.

Great concession speech by Liz Cheney:

Liz Cheney

Worth watching. I predict she's going to be someone very important in the Republican Party, if they ever come to their senses.

#SoMuchWinning!

Lieutenant Uhura died in Silver City yesterday. A good friend of mine is her son.

Why that should matter is not a thing that I know...

There's a certain kind of poetic justice knowing this raid took place on the 08/08 - the anniversary of Richard M. Nixon resigning in disgrace.

Mr. Trump, we're here from the government, and we're here to help.

Ouch!

As a Boomer, I'd like to personally apologize and accept complete responsibility for creating the bullsh*t situation we all find ourselves in today.

I don't think any of us meant for it to turn out this way.

Many Boomers are upset with this proposal, stating "I paid ALL of my student loan."


For many Boomers - that's a lie. Because prior to the 2005 Bankruptcy Reform by Republicans under W Bush, Boomers and those older discharged their student loans in bankruptcy.

The reason why Student Loans were singled-out as not being able to be included in bankruptcy in 2005, is because Boomers and older were all doing that - especially if they were going through a divorce - it was a "clean start."

As with a lot of things in life and Boomers - they got what they wanted and have prevented generations after them from having the same advantages in life that have have enjoyed.

And also, in the heyday of most Boomers, tuition was couch change.
My tuition at Brown was couch change, my tuition at UCLA Extension was couch change.

As a nation we argue about the dumbest things sometimes. Arguing about a higher minimum wage, for instance...if we had enough good stable decent paying jobs with a modicum of a career path, we'd hardly be arguing about minimum wage jobs because those would go back to being jobs for kids and seniors who want to pad their Social Security "just enough" without triggering cuts to their old age pensions.
We sent many of those good paying jobs overseas. That wasn't to help us, it was to help the poor put upon rich folks, you know, the PERSECUTED rich folks?

We argue about helping people with tuition debt (student loans) but if we simply went back to making college more affordable, there wouldn't BE a student loan debt crisis, it would just be the handful of folks who made bad choices. Most people would chuckle and say that tuition is couch change again, like it was once upon a time.
But when you see well over a TRILLION dollars, you KNOW it can't be chalked up to "poor life choices"... because when it's a trillion dollars plus, it can't be, just like it can't be "a majority of teachers just deciding to be lazy bums" when referring to the teacher shortage.
We're paying good teachers crap and treating them like crap.

We argue about healthcare costs but once upon a time it was illegal to run health insurance at a profit. We allowed leadership to sunset that concept and now we are face to face with the monster that took its place, and yet we argue if it's right to call it a monster.
Sorry, it IS a monster and our forbears knew this, which is WHY they used to prohibit the idea.

Face facts, all this crap we're dealing with now stems largely from the wide-ranging attacks on the New Deal and on public goods and services.
And we know who spearheaded those attacks back then and who is leading them now.

It's time to accept the fact that their ideas were crap then, and crap now, and it's time to reverse that kind of thinking.

That looks very nice, Rick. Certainly more fire resistant, and it will drain better. People with basements benefit from fast drainage into french drain pipes buried around their house perimeter. Chasing a spider away from her web is the same as killing her. They have to eat the old web to get that silk protein to make a new one. If they can't, it's likely they starve to death.

BTW, I figured out why Putin is having so many disasters coming his way: He allied himself with Trump. That's all it takes. Trump has "the Midas touch" but in a more fecal manner. Everything and everyone he touches turns to crap. Lawyers disbarred and jailed, business associates bankrupt. contractors ruined financially, counties and cities in serious debt when he refuses to pay his "rally" bills, etc. He is essentially the Devil: His deals seem to good to be true, and in the end they are.

Lindsey Graham is calling for violence in the streets if Trump is indicted.



A US Senator calling for violence? Miss Lindsey must really want to experience that prison love that he’s read about.

OMG Karen just saw a Frank Lloyd Wright house for sale in Mt. Pleasant Wisconsin.
Single story, almost 5000 SF, and because Wright is who he is, the master bath was already laid out perfectly for wheelchair access simply due to the design.
And the kicker is, we can almost afford it, she's having a fit right now. (the good kind)
It's actually pretty cheap by Southern California standards.

Hmmmmm, I like Wisconsin, and it's only an hour away from where she grew up. (McHenry IL)
We might be moving to Wisconsin if she gets a wild hair up her butt.

That would be awesome Jeff! Make your wife's dream come true!!! YOLO!!! (You only live once)

My favorite FLW house: Fallingwater



Fallingwater is a house designed by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935 in the Laurel Highlands of southwest Pennsylvania, about 70 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. It is built partly over a waterfall on Bear Run in the Mill Run section of Stewart Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania.