Gromnir

will forgo the obvious tee-ball opportunity with which you present us and instead repost a tribe quote we offered on these boards late last year. "Many Americans who voted for Trump view themselves as belonging to a victimized, disenfranchised class that has finally discovered its champion. For some of them, Trump’s appeal is less what he will accomplish programmatically than whom he will attack personally. Were Trump removed from office by political elites in Washington, DC—even based on clear evidence that he had grossly abused power—some of his supporters would surely view the decision as an illegitimate coup. Indeed, some right-wing leaders have already denounced the campaign to remove Trump as a prelude to civil war. This rhetoric, too, escapes reality and indulges pernicious tendencies toward apocalyptic thinking about the impeachment power." am getting that the shift happened. am recognizing the common factor 'mongst folks vulnerable to such rhetoric as trump offers, which is why we always stress education is the real solution. even so, this doesn't happen in the US. not for a long time. get too remote and just weren't possible to be happening 'cause the President weren't what it is today. americans ordinarily hold the President accountable for that which is beyond the capacity o' the President to control. we, as a nation, unfair hold the President to account. economic changes made by a President rare have immediate impact and the current President is often being blamed for mistakes o' the previous President or Congress. etc. repeating... again. am getting how there is a disaffected portion o' the population which is vulnerable to conspiracy theories and rhetoric which offers clear villains and ez solutions. however, two party system and senate/house split and a hundred other institutional and cultural differences has meant the US has been less vulnerable to idealogues. the recession hit people harder than employment numbers suggest... 'cause the employment numbers were changed. is a whole lotta folks who never recovered from the recession, and even before 2008, real wages were having been no better than flat for decades. perhaps the current situation were inevitable... just is so improbable trump, a populist who could not manage to win the popular vote, and who has enacted policies which disproportionate hurt his base, should be the President when the system finally lurched backwards and slouched towards bethlehem. it took a unique alchemy o' the electoral college and US system and weird demographic shifts to make 2020 possible. doesn't make sense save for fact it has happened. HA! Good Fun!

again, the party demographic has shifted. is exact our point that normal republicans today is unrecognizable to us older folks... and is the reason why trump won the nomination in 2016. all the 2016 republican Presidential candidates save for trump were, before their immaculate conversion, traditional conservatives. https://www.wsj.com/articles/doctors-once-gop-stalwarts-now-more-likely-to-be-democrats-11570383523 why on earth would working class americans and farmers vote trump given how his policies both economic and in response to covid has disproportionate hurt working class americans and farmers? in 2020 is not 'bout policies or even performance. is all so... european. @BruceVC "Trump has had on several occasions condemned the right wing, people can google this if they dont believe me" you do know what we meant when we identified trump vacillation and equivocation, yes? trump frequent defends white supremacists and claims ignorance o' individuals or groups he has specific spoken 'bout previous, then when epic fallout ensues, a day or two removed, he then offers a kinda/sorta condemnation. surely you gotta see how such equivocation and vacillation provides fodder for those who see trump policies and rhetoric as racial motivated. the question at the debate was easy. the ez answer to the question were not meant to change hearts and minds. the question were to provide undecided voters with an excuse, and trump improbable sabotaged himself. HA! Good Fun!

the bad news is those folks is becoming a minority w/i the party. recall, every 2016 republican party candidate forceful rejected trump's muslim ban. called trump xenophobic and a bigot. where are those republicans in 2020? even rick santorum works very hard to spin every trump blunder as positive as possible. the republicans george h.w. bush or reagan would recognize is in places such as this. most "normal republicans" we recognize are offended by trump. too few. far too few. and for skarp_one, no, there is indeed an easy and correct answer to the white supremacy question. we already noted how the past cannot be erased with a single response. the reason why the question is problematic today is 'cause trump screwed it up so many times in the past. but again, as already stated, the question weren't for the benefit o' those who already made up their mind 'bout trump. for the few undecided voters, reject white supremacy unequivocal woulda' made a difference. those wanting to vote trump policies but offended by trump character coulda' more easily convinced self that trump were not the bigot he appears to be. trump failed, again. he improbable failed again and that comes from a person who assumes trump will fail. easiest question evar. HA! Good Fun!

mayhap 'cause as often as not he vacillates or equivocates when is asked 'bout white supremacy. for fun, do a search on trump being questioned 'bout david duke. don't just read first headline neither. the white supremacy question is not difficult bruce. is not even an aleppo kinda thing where a person perhaps becomes confused in the moment. ... the weird part is that the question from wallace were an uncontested layup opportunity. am suspecting it were not intended to be difficult. wallace gives trump a chance to undermine the left's argument that trump supports white supremacists. sure, just 'cause trump rejected white supremacists during a national debate would not make folks who dislike him forget all his previous equivocation, but for those undecideds, many of whom agree with trump policies but nevertheless fear he is racist, condemning white supremacy public, national and unequivocal woulda' been a boon. on tuesday, trump managed to solidify one portion o' his base. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stand-back-and-stand-by-proud-boys-merchandise-amazon/ call it a win? easiest question ever faced by a Presidential candidate in a debate: are you willing to condemn white supremacists? how is it possible to screw the pooch on that question? HA! Good Fun!

this is in fact an exaggeration. margin were less than 1% in all three states. nevertheless, some kinda planned voter fraud is prohibitive unlikely. almost 1000 examples in 40 years? please. as for accidental error and blunders? sure that is gonna happen. what doesn't help is when it is the President purposeful and unapologetically attempting to handicap the post office in an attempt to make the situation worse. the tragedy is that increases in mail-in voting during a pandemic were predictable, but just like almost every other covid-19 issue faced by the US, the President and senate have been dangerously torpid. nevertheless, the accidental stuff, as is untargeted and decided not fraud, tends to result in there being little impact on national elections. just too random. it also don't take a genius to figure out that the thousands o' likely rejected ballots (in person voting also results in rejection and mistake btw, but typical at a rate 1/3 better than mail-in) is nevertheless gonna result in fewer total "lost" votes than if you ask americans, many o' whom have comorbidities, to stand in potential long lines and vote in-person. wisconsin primary: more than 200K americans has died from covid-19. the flu season is just beginning to start (we recommend any and all to get their flu shots asap btw) and many/most reputable epidemiologists is predicting a fall resurgence o' covid-19. shouldn't need force folks to weigh their health and their vote. oh, and @Pidesco were referencing the alternative reality expressed by one o' the boardies earlier and we were reminded o' an npr bit from relative recent. is worth a listen. you can hear echoes from med dan and gd and others in the those interviewed by the npr reporters in the following: https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510356/no-compromise am knowing it is literal hours of material but am gonna suggest giving it a shot. each segment is 35-45 minutes long. "facebook flock" is the offering which focuses on the audience o' the dorr brothers. one o' the reasons trump is so embraced by his base is that he has legitimized the alternative reality narrative. those who embrace an alternative reality narrative has not just been emboldened, but thanks to social media and alt-right news, the alternative reality narrative is now legit mainstream. it's not just ok to spout pizzagate and seth rich nonsense, but such stuff gets national media coverage and Presidential support via retweets. what pidesco and Gromnir think o' as alternative reality is embraced not just by the lunatic fringe, but by a frightening large percentage o' the US population, with fox, breitbart and an army o' social media warriors (including POTUS) pushing the narrative towards mainstream every hour of every day. HA! Good Fun!

that was part o' our point. what trump were doing with the post office and voter suppression and questioning the legitimacy o' elections in a covd-19 world were concerning to those willing to observe. you labeled such concerns as fear mongering. at approx the same time you were accusing the press o' fear mongering regarding transfer o' power post election, we were identifying a you-must-be-kidding option for trump to be undermining the election. sure enough, ~couple months pass and trump is talking to the press and explaining the math o' what happens if he should be forced to use 3 u.s. code § 2. is a weird kinda amnesia or selective memory being suffered by all too many americans. every time trump lowers the bar through flagrant Constitutional or character violations, some individuals forget how outraged they were by press fear mongering which preceded the most recent improbable. is nothing prophetic about Gromnir's prediction regarding 3 u.s. code § 2 or the press warnings 'bout trump's seeming willingness to reject a peaceful transfer o' power, not if you have been paying attention. am genuine curious to see how many times cassandra is mocked and ridiculed before certain persons is willing to heed what has been near four years o' warnings. HA! Good Fun!

debates don't change much. as we noted, undecideds is, as always, looking for a sign on their road to damascus; they expect an epiphany. they are unlikely to get such a sign. there is far fewer undecideds this cycle, so debates is even less impactful. that said, am not sure who is overstating. trump is behind and beyond margin o' error is multiple battleground states. trump needs help. trump is pushing voter suppression 'cause he needs help. trump is pushing hard for a pre election Justice appointment 'cause he believes he may need the Court's help... and he don't care if such results in a couple republican senators exiting on january 3. trump is fighting for fractions o' percentage points, and whatever knife-fighter's edge he can manage 'cause while such stuff individual is meaningless, it does add. again, 2016 wisconsin were won with tens of thousands o' votes and far less than a percentage point. whatever else has changed from 2016, one thing which remains the same is that candidates should fight for every battleground vote 'cause with more than thirty days, is still no such thing as a sure bet. debates don't mean much, but add a little voter suppression and an october surprise and... @MedicineDan speaks o' existential threats and dooms and yet Gromnir is the one embracing a silly political reality? ... am not certain if med dan is trying for irony. HA! Good Fun! ps is curious how the future threats and imagined monsters create such fear in trump voters who simultaneous ignore the real and current diminution o' the American democratic republic.

sigh underlied wrong word. shoulda' gone with "typical." https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2018/08/09/an-examination-of-the-2016-electorate-based-on-validated-voters/ trump voters are older and less educated. am not suggesting all uneducated or older voted trump, but the core o' his demographic is not in question. let folks play with numbers by factoring all non voters as those who don't support trump is gonna lead to obvious errors. HA! Good Fun! ps fox news demographics

it may be disconcerting, but we recommend the occasional perusal o' fox and breitbart headlines. pick out a couple stories each week which based on just the headline strike you as utter implausible or obvious mistruth. read 'em. it will be difficult, but is worth the mental exercise. remember something near 30% o' the country is getting their news exclusive from such sites-- folks typical 65 and older or working class. am knowing that reading medicine dan posts feels like some kinda star trek mirror universe episode where pidesco slipped through a wormhole and you begin to realize something is off when you notice taylor swift is sporting a van dyke beard and 'stache. would be comforting if were mirror universe, but it ain't. just oro? just skarp_one? discount the obvious, but is not just them, eh? is not alternate reality. is the "news" 30% o' americans is reading and believing and it is not a good idea to discount such folks 'cause unlike young and educated, the mirror universe populace votes. HA! Good Fun!

almost nobody saw that coming. sure. we anticipated rude from trump. we anticipated a constant barrage o' lies. we expected at least a couple head scratcher moments. even so, that were the worst Presidential debate we has ever witnessed. not even a close second. is so bizarre, 'cause is no way medicine dan predicts the reality o' tuesday night before the debate, but afterwards he excuses it. *chuckle* the only folks who were predicting trump would make such a complete arse o' himself were the folks who genuine hate trump and believe he is incapable o' any sorta self restraint. is the angry folks on the far left who were predicting such a display. so, which demographic that trump has been struggling with were helped by the debate performance? college educated women? working class women? older voters? on tuesday, trump solidified support from the proud boys. huzzah. we do challenge medicine dan to show proof he got polls right in 2016, 'cause pretty much nobody did. lose popular vote by 3 million and still win electoral? say you think trump would win? not same. trump lost pretty much everywhere he were anticipated to lose. however, in three states trump managed a victory o' less than one percent. tens of thousand o' votes in wisconsin? was well w/i the margin o' error. in 2016, there were a large number o' undecideds heading into election night and hillary were unpopular. is not same situation at all this year as biden has been one o' the more consistent polling candidates in the history o' prez race polling, and the electorate as a whole has polarized considerable since 2016, with far fewer undecideds. biden is up between 9-10 points in pennsylvania. biden is up 4 in florida. etc. if undecideds break the way they did in 2016, trump loses. if a few percentage points o' undecideds more vote for trump in 2020 than did in 2016 he still loses. the mistake many is making is they see trump as the aberration for the polls in 2016. when you got so many polls wrong, you look for commonality and somehow many folks has decided to go brain stoopid and conclude trump is what made situation different. trump is a candidate in 2020 and were a candidate in 2016, therefore... situation is much different than 2016. some differences work better for trump. others not so much. regardless, ain't trump which made 2016 different. were a collection o' factors, most o' which do not exist in 2020, which had polls off by just enough to be near universal wrong. at the moment, trump needs to do more than solidify his base. tuesday night were not helping trump with any demographic he is fighting with biden over undecideds. even today's rasmussen poll had presidential disapproval worsen since yesterday. oh, and +200k covid-19 deaths. that and muslim ban should be enough. isn't, but should be. am nevertheless not saying biden is certain to win. is a month left and who knows what new scandal changes the situation. am also recognizing how places such as wisconsin is close enough to the margin of error that the next +30 days could make a difference. is hardly a slam dunk and biden can't do as did hilary and assume a victory in the weeks before the election. oh, and speaking o' predictions, when @Guard Dog and others were chastising the media regarding their fear mongering regarding a peaceful transition o' power post election and the lengths trump would go to in an attempt to retain power, we mentioned... we warned. HA! Good Fun!

it's all star trek. old (and paunchy) shatner portrayed twain in a canadian show. never saw the episode or the show, but am recalling an article title we misread which made it sound intriguing. 'Murdoch Mysteries' season 9 episode 2 watch online: William Shatner's Mark Twain gets death threats the news shatner's twain portrayal were getting death threats grabbed our attention... then we realized our reading fail. accuse us o' fat shaming if you wish, but clips o' shatner's twain reminded us o' wilford brimley... a noticeably sweaty wilford brimley. sure, there were a kinda highway accident rubberneck impulse which made us curious to see shatner as twain, but not enough get us to actual watch the episode. HA! Good Fun!

you came away seeing what you wanted to see. eric swalwell saw as he wished to see. hannity saw what he wanted to see. the only folks who mattered were the few undecideds and is not actual ez to predict what undecideds thought given how obscured is the political view in 2020. sadly, undecided does not mean reasonable or rational. have no idea what undecideds thought 'cause they is as crazy as is the rest o' the US, but more than a few o' 'em is improbable looking for a sign or a moment on their road to damascus. keep in mind, other than a few magic kingdom supplicants who refuse to believe any poll which doesn't have trump ahead by 101 points, trump is losing in key battleground states. election is not over, but trump is the guy who needs a few clear wins 'tween now and november. all biden had to do on tuesday were to not implode. however, even conservative pundits such as rick santorum and chris christie opined how trump did himself no favors during the debate. Trump Derails 1st Presidential Debate With Biden, And 5 Other Takeaways gd wanted to see two old dogs fighting to exhaustion over a dirty old rug. as such, gd had to look past quite a bit to see what he wished to see. biden and wallace showed up to a debate and a one-man trump rally broke out instead and as such we saw a whole lotta folks critical o' chris wallace moderation. am recalling an interview with fauci from mid march: Q: Most everyone thinks that you’re doing a remarkable job, but you’re standing there as the representative of truth and facts, and things are being said that aren’t true and aren’t factual. A: The way it happened is that after he made that statement [suggesting China could have revealed the discovery of a new coronavirus 3 to 4 months earlier], I told the appropriate people, it doesn’t comport, because 2 or 3 months earlier would have been September. The next time they sit down with him and talk about what he’s going to say, they will say, “By the way, Mr. President, be careful about this and don’t say that.” But I can’t jump in front of the microphone and push him down. OK, he said it. Let’s try and get it corrected for the next time. what did folks want from wallace? he couldn't turn off the President's mic. he couldn't jump in front of the President and push him down. wallace's big mistake were announcing before the debate how he wanted to stay uninvolved and invisible. such an admission meant that the President could set tone and the real rules o' engagement with little interference from wallace. by the time wallace tried to regain control o' the debate, it were too late to do anything practical to force a reset. regardless, the debate were bad. were not a good look for America. if gd wanna pretend as if all participants were equal responsible for the tuesday night massacre, then am gonna suggest he is seeing only what he wants to see. HA! Good Fun!

as an alternative, am gonna suggest gołąbki. maybe takes a tiny bit more effort but is a superior culinary experience using similar basic ingredients... and no bell pepper. absence o' bell pepper is kinda key. however, for those individuals who ordinarily is a bit heavy-handed with spices and herbs, authentic gołąbki may be a bit on the tame side. consider use o' spicier varieties o' your pork-based meat, and it might be worth adding a bit o' bacon. even if is not called for in a recipe, marjoram is worthy o' consideration. so too is thyme and/or parsley. perhaps a bit o' chicken stock too. ordinarily, salt, pepper and garlic is kinda the totality o' the flavor enhancers used in the dish, and is more than enough w/o adding to the spice table. am recommending first time making, look for a recipe with only the salt, pepper and garlic options. to stay more topic relevant, am gonna say the nyt article regarding trump taxes does suggest a kinda ponzi scheme for the trump organization. the individual businesses is almost all losers, which is good for taxes, but to sustain the scheme, new cash must be constant injected into the organization, which were ez during the apprentice years but that source dried up and thus the need for soon-to-be-due extravagant loans followed by the run for President to boost the sales o' the trump name. am not in any way shocked or surprised, but there needs be a whole lotta people complicit in sustaining the trump organization in spite o' the fact it doesn't sell anything other than trump, and nothing 'bout the trump image is real. not his charitable works. not his education. not his business success. not even his hair. "I called his plane Hair Force One, for good reason. Trump doesn’t have a simple combover, as it would appear. The operation was much more involved than a simple throw-over of what was left of his hair: the three-step procedure required a flop up of the hair from the back of his head, followed by the flip of the resulting overhang on his face back on his pate, and then the flap of his combover on the right side, providing three layers of thinly disguised balding-male insecurity. The concoction was held in place by a fog of TREsemme TRES Two, not a high-end salon product. Flip, flop, flap, and there was the most famous combover in the world. "The real reason for the extravagant and obvious overcompensation for his baldness was vanity, and the desire to appear younger and more vigorous than he was. But there was another unknown reason: he was hiding unsightly scars on his scalp from a failed hair-implant operation in the 1980s. That was the disfiguring operation that resulted in his furious “emotional rape” of his first wife Ivana, as she documented in a lawsuit in the early ’90s; like Samson, Trump believed his virility and image were harmed if he was seen to be losing his hair, or, even worse, injuring himself in an attempt to disguise male-pattern balding." -from cohen's tell-all book. it is disappointing that a third-rate version o' pt barnum managed to con folks into electing him... sold 'em nostalgia and fear. ye good old days for rust belt factory workers. fear o muslims and immigrants. never produced anything worth mentioning save a tax cut which requires improbable sustained 4% growth which were never gonna happen. such stoopid may have even got him re-elected, but then the pandemic hit and trump did less than anybody thought possible... save the china travel ban which didn't actual ban travel from china. 40k americans were allowed to travel from china w/o any real testing, contact tracing or quarantine measures. all the travel ban did was caused a mad dash o' infected americans to return home to the US from asia... and then europe. regardless, with the bumbling incompetence o' his handling o' the pandemic being particular troublesome for his base (old people dying and working class americans unable to benefit from telecommuting) trump repackaged what worked in 2016, but this time he sold fear o' fellow americans like blm and radical democrats such as joe biden. joe biden? we laugh when it is a movie. we laugh when is somebody else. when is 1/3 of the US population... not so funny. HA! Good Fun!

am not making excuses for trump, but we will note how real estate offers serious opportunities to minimize fed and state taxes. for example, you are able to carry a business loss forward for many years. during the recession, on paper, we lost millions o' dollars and our operating costs considerable exceeded our income. 'course the cost to buy property also dropped to improbable lows and with substantial cash at hand we were able to functional double our real estate investment in a couple years. if we had been so inclined, we coulda' bought homes in foreclosure on courthouse steps for pennies on the dollar, though such stuff weren't our mo. all those properties we owned previous to the recession has regained value and much o' the new stuff we purchased literal increased in value by a factor o' more than five. we carried forward the loss and we don't pay any new tax for increased value until we sell... and capital gains is already lower than almost the lowest tax brackets in the US. furthermore, 'cause our properties were rental properties, much like trump, we were able to use the current 3.63% annual depreciation to serious mitigate whatever tax bill we would have... in spite o' the fact our property values were near universal trending up in value as 'posed to down. as such, last year were the first year since 2009 we paid any fed taxes, and that is 'cause we retired and sold/donated a bunch o' property the previous year. is one reason we keep pointing out how important it is to address the current capital gains scheme for any property save personal residence. well, that and the hedge fund exception. ... trump and the republicans boast 'bout the tax cut, trump's signature Congressional supported action during the past four years. the tax cut helped small business owners and the rich. the rich sure didn't need any help. we don't have any excuses for the melania stuff. am suspecting trump did/has done all kinda borderline stuff which even if legal is gonna look dirty. don't know w/o seeing taxes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMChd6QchaU romney allegations were almost entire fabrications or misleading and harry reid were complete unapologetic 'bout the accusations. 'course the difference is romney did release his taxes. HA! Good Fun! ps you don't need be smart to avoid paying taxes. being rich means you can afford to pay somebody knowledgeable 'bout state and fed tax codes to do your taxes for you. we took one tax class in school. we sure as hell ain't no expert and no matter how smart you are, you ain't gonna intuit tax law as it is frequent counter reason and counter intuitive.

have mentioned this in the food thread, except for the southern cook's mirepoix (green bell pepper, celery, onion) for things such as red beans and rice, we never would use green bell pepper. the difference 'tween your fancy red pepper and a green bell pepper is that the green is not yet ripe. is not as if it is a different variety o' pepper from the red. green bell pepper tastes a bit like red wine which has turned. am not joking. pyrazines is a thing in green bell pepper which is one o' the components in bad wine. we don't drink wine and only use for cooking, but we nevertheless may recognize when the liquid has turned and the stink o' mushy green peppers is a dead give away. as to the weirdness regarding artistic displays, am suspecting there is some dishonesty going on, but we do not believe it is intentional. at the moment, portland is every republican's favorite metropolis punching bag, or mayhap chicago if you are a midwesterner. imagine portland city hall sponsors an art display to commemorate the current protests and the winning submission is a work entitled old glory-- is a dented and rusted metal trash can haphazard wrapped in a filthy and scorched american flag, with the trash can filled with what appears to be used condoms. three years from now, portland recognizes that old glory were a mistake and they wanna get rid o' it. whatever message it were meant to send were sent already and clearly if portland wants to remove, they learned another valuable lesson already. is portland and the people o' the city forced to endure old glory in perpetuity 'cause it were deemed to be art by some small group o' folks in 2020? why? would the folks demanding the integrity o' confederate memorials and too white for comfort murals see old glory as similar? how 'bout a bronze statue o' jesus relieving himself on the Constitution? bob can buy the statue and put it in his garden for a couple years before he realizes whatever shock value were intrinsic to it has worn off and then remove it to the basement... or even destroy it if he so wishes. nevertheless, the people o' portland don't have the same options as bob? am betting regardless that at least a few o' the evangelicals who see it as a yet another example o' the bankrupt morality o' the left that they wanna destroy a university o' ri mural would take less than a nanosecond to agree that our (not complete imagined) jesus statue could/should go from a public prominent display to the ash heap o' history. we didn't attend school much as a kid. were literal a multi-hour bus ride each way and the school were criminal understaffed. we do recall one class which were an amalgam kindergarten - second grade grouping and we specific recall a lesson plan wherein students were tasked with completing an art project using popsicle sticks. students were provided two or three dozen popsicle sticks and told to use at least the popsicle sticks provided in the construction o' their art, though they could request more. is always that one kid. the one kid from our class made a veritable squadron of airplanes. were nothing more than crosses, though he took a stab at adding tail /rudders to his first couple attempts. regardless, d-bag kid, who is probable a state senator today, made a squadron o' planes as his art. how long is such art deemed worthy o' preservation? the kid's only real motivation were to as quick as possible finish a chore he were disinclined to voluntary participate... motivation as similar transparent as the builders o' o' the stone mountain carving in the 1920s, with their efforts supported by calvin coolidge, perhaps the most unabashed nativist President we ever had in office and stephen miller's personal jesus. call us suspicious when we is told that the veneration o' memorials in perpetuity is so we might learn from mistakes o' the past is being championed by crowds o' people waving confederate flags. should recognize a disconnect. again, am thinking it is wrong to destroy the university o' ri mural. big talk from Gromnir who sure as hell wouldn't pay the shipping costs simple to have it moved cross country to some storage locker in norcal where it would be prominent displayed to spiders, crickets and mice for some number o' years or even decades until our eventual death. art wins the day? HA! Good Fun!

fixed btw, the trump strawman where you try and knock the stuffing out o' the President being blamed for riots position ignores what we believe is the more common and hard to refute argument that the President has exacerbated political and racial divisions and has done more than a little to make existing protests more violent with his inarguably extra Constitutional responses. on the long list o' causes and accelerants o' the protests, trump should figure prominent... save for in the fox news bubble. as to the mural, everybody loves democracy, right up until people start asking for and doing things some o' us believe is stoopid. imagine into existence a jerk so offended by norman rockwell paintings and their saccharine americana that he buys every one he can get his hands on and then burns 'em. converse, another dirtbag buys original manuscripts and author notes o' maya angelou and uses the shredded paper as kitty litter. admitted vulgar uses o' wealth in both cases, no? whether is groups or individuals, right to the quiet use and enjoyment o' private property or real property is one o' those basic rights @Guard Dog is gonna get his dander up regarding. just 'cause something is old don't mean it got some particular value to the public at large, unless the public so decides... and the public is then free to change their minds regarding the cultural worthiness o' such objects. democracy is fickle. one o' our +80-year-old aunts (though am wondering if black magic might be involved 'cause she could very well be 800 based on family stories) gots wallpaper in her home which predates the mural in question. no doubt the person who designed the wallpaper thought they were an artist or craftsman, and our aunt likes it. is her wallpaper any less art than the mural? why? her wallpaper may be the last remaining example o' that particularly hideous design anywhere in existence. please, make it so. we need have the paper steamed off the walls and removed to a museum if our aunt finally decides to make decor change? am personal thinking it is stoopid to destroy the mural. only thing such destruction proves is the lack o' character o' the folks bent on the destruction. that said, is not Gromnir's mural. the university owns the mural and is responding to the will o' what is effective their constituency. we would hope the university of rhode island could be as enlightened as university administrations is in our imagination. *snort* thanks in part to the polarization, fear and anger medicine dan don't wanna blame trump for at all, we got large sections o' the population who feels justified in their need for retribution. can't reach the real causes o' student anger? well, the mural represents one o' the evils they believe is being ignored... or somesuch. destroy it. university o' ri has the right to do whatever they want with the mural. if destruction will foster a more healthy student learning environment, then they has an excuse for destruction, but somehow this feels to us like a teachable moment. there should be an opportunity to bring the community together and listen and educate. more than the mural itself, am disappointed the university don't appear to be doing more to take advantage o' an opportunity for learning... though given just how polarized and divided is our national population, expecting more from a university community may be naive on our part. am eternal hopeful 'all those dumb university students who don't know enough to realize how pointless is their efforts will nevertheless manage to save us from ourselves. HA! Good Fun!

seth rich? as we said, trump efforts to undermine the democratic process with tales o' sinister plots appeals to those with a high degree o' bullsh!t receptivity. is a transparent ploy but it is, beyond all reason, effective. the conspiracy theories themselves are utter banal, but they is helpful in identifying those vulnerable souls in need o' special care and consideration. HA! Good Fun!

Temp worker tossed Pennsylvania ballots Trump complained about, official says so, where is the story? is a bit like when the heritage foundation uncovered nearly 1000 examples o' state and fed voter fraud... over the past forty years. particular as the usps removed so many high-speed mail sorting machines, we should expect a few stories o' human error regarding the mails. we are talking hundred o' millions o' mail transactions. where human error is possible, examine a large enough pool o' examples and potential human error becomes inevitable. the usps should work harder to reduce human error, but pretend as if these extreme rare news stories is indicative o' a fundamental flaw o' mail in voting, much less the bat-crap crazy effort to spin predictable blunder as a leftist plot to steal the election is more transparent trump silliness... and like so much similar siliness, is more meaningful to track who posts and appears convinced by such tinfoil hat fodder than to waste effort on the stories themselves. HA! Good Fun!

hitler? he was a populist who used police state efforts to not only marginalize minority groups but to brutally murder millions. you are offering up the 20th century's most glaring example o' why we should fear a tyranny o' the masses and somehow take a single quote you kinda recall and use it to complete spin what happened in nazi germany? not a good chance for baldwin or bellafonte. next time perhaps. what is in the water 'round here? first numbers reinvents mlk and now you wanna do same with hitler? who is next? find out mother teresa didn't care about the poor but secretly she had a garbage fetish. truth is she just loved the sound of flies buzzing and the stench from open latrines. HA! Good Fun!

it's actual a perfect fine and reasonable system for what the President is s'posed to be. 1787 President had no armies to command and the bureaucracy was almost non existent... weren't even a post office 'til 1791 or maybe 1792. whatever. President were not s'posed to be democratic elected anymore than were the Supreme Court. elitist? perhaps, but our Constitution were a rejection o' athenian democracy and an acknowledgement o' the dangers o' the tyranny o' the masses. Congress were the perceived real danger and the founders found multiple systemic ways to check the power o' Congress. have a President chosen by wise men from every town and burg in the nation? those wise men could not serve public office and could not repeat as electoral college members. electoral college were never intended to be democratic and were purposeful insulated from the potential tyranny o' the masses. fact the electoral college were eletist were viewed as its strength. we didn't want a philosopher king here in the US, but the President could kinda embody some o' the best aspects o' such in a much diminished capacity. sure, Congress would have all the real power, but when dealing with foreign nations it made sense to have a singular voice acting on our behalf. have the President be the wisest of wise men chosen by the wisest and most incorruptible men in the US? President wouldn't have much real power anyway, so... the founders likely never woulda' imagined Congress willingly ceeding powers to the office o' the Presidency to the degree which has occured. am one o' those folks who has actual read the federalist papers wherein the dangers o' the new government is explored and reflected 'pon. our modern Presidency is just so utter alien to the founders notions o' that office that am thinking is unfair to blame the them for their missteps regarding the electoral college. the Presidency evolved through an organic alchemy o' a thousand act o' Congress and subsequent decisions by the Court. unfortunately, the electoral college needs be changed by an Amendment or by a new Constitutional Convention. with the nation as polarized as it is today, good luck getting an Amendment or Constitutional Convention to change the electoral college. from a practical pov, is much easier to take power away from the President and return the office to its origins. @Guard Dog should be lobbying for a democrat clean sweep, 'cause as much as he fears the democrats, am suspecting one o' their first orders o' business will be to serious diminish the office o' the President. emergency powers nonsense? gone. acting appointments? gone. doj independence? gone. etc. heck, am suspecting the best scenario for gd is a continued trump Presidency and a Democrat house and senate. am personal terrified o' such, but we can see the Democrats near complete shutting down the office o' the President, and just as with the appointment o' Ginsburg's replacement in the last month before an election, it will be Constitutional and legal to do so, regardless o' the consequences. putin is laughing his arse off. HA! Good Fun!

to be fair, stand your ground has little relevance. if you are in your home, and you are confronted by an armed assailant, you got the right to defend yourself with lethal force. period. "duty to retreat" is law in a few jurisdictions, but as far as we know, it does not apply to a person's home. home is different. castle doctrine is a confusing sub-issue. what the castle doctrine does is that in states where there is a duty to retreat, the home is an exception. castle doctrine is further confused 'cause in a select few states, the castle metaphor is extended to your personal vehicle and possibly even your place o' work. a no-knock warrant is an issue almost nowheres save a personal residence 'cause cops don't need worry 'bout the knocking save in homes. stand your ground sounds like an issue, but isn't. homes is different. HA! Good Fun!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIpgdo9Ab38 am recalling one o' those old nfl films with john facenda narrating and floyd peters shared a memory o' tackling gale sayers. “He gave me a fake, and my body went one way, my mind went the other way, and something happens to your motor when that happens,” Peters said. “It’s hard to explain. But my legs went limp and I had nothing left. “The only problem was, Gale made one too many fakes and came back into me. I hit him and knocked him down and he said, ‘Nice tackle, Floyd.’ I told him, ‘I didn’t tackle you. You ran into me.’” greatness o' gale sayers didn't end with football. the chicago area has any number o' children's centers and youth organizations which were built or aided by mr. sayers. he will be missed.

the truly terrible part is that ms. taylor died. am not gonna try and diminish the significance. what we will say is that in spite o' the fact we can all see there were wongs done, is unlikely anything will change. focus will be on the individual cops who executed the warrant. that is good news for the establishment. all the energy o' protesters and celebrity support will go to the perceived injustice o' the cops not going to prison. we got a well armed public. no-knock warrants is purposeful designed so as to catch occupants by surprise. people who is surprised or caught off guard tend to act impulsively and mistakes are more likely to occur. ... the syllogism writes itself from there, no? this is all utter predictable. sure, we don't want suspected criminals to get away with destroying evidence, but there is a human cost attached to that legit government goal. we cannot current change the fact that the public is well armed and dangerous. armed public is as much a given as is the increased chances for surprise and accident from no-knock warrants, and no-knock warrants is just one aspect o' the tragedy which is unlikely to change. @Guard Dog we do keep saying that all obsidian message board posts is potential star trek relevant. your efforts is a bit more overt than most, but am appreciating the support... intentional or otherwise. HA! Good Fun!

*chuckle* mic drop moment? HA! Good Fun!