COLLECTIVE MADNESS
“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."
The only person that can get in the way of this is Trump. He needs to do-nothing except, take care of business and let the general do his job.
ReplyDeleteAn old story from Albany is unforgettable. Gov. Nelson Rockefeller was a skilled arm-twister, but one legislator, a fellow Republican, resisted demands to vote a certain way, even rejecting offers of pork-barrel spending in his district.
ReplyDeleteFeeling triumphant, the legislator looked at Rocky and declared, “There’s nothing you can give me I don’t have.”
“Yes there is,” the governor responded cooly. “A primary opponent.”
With that threat, so the story goes, Rocky got his man.
The anecdote has always been a favorite for what it says about power and how successful pols use it. Rockefeller, like Lyndon Johnson, believed every legislator had a price — he just had to find it.
Which brings us to President Trump, and his growing problems with congressional Republicans. Too many are bucking him, making it hard to get big things done.
http://nypost.com/2017/08/01/trump-must-learn-to-wield-his-political-power-to-sway-gop-in-his-favor/
At least with the Democrats, you know what you are dealing with. Then there are Republicans:
ReplyDeleteSlimy, lying, smiling in your face, backstabbing, weasels.
We should do a series. Pick four Republicans, post a quote from one of them and play: NAME THAT WEASEL
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIf borrowing and spending all this money led to more jobs then we would be at full employment already.
DeleteNAME THAT WEASEL
They're all dicks.
ReplyDeleteNAME THAT WEASEL
I never trust a man unless I've got his pecker in my pocket.
ReplyDeleteNAME THAT WEASEL
I don't want to go to bed by the light of a communist moon.
ReplyDeleteNAME THAT WEASEL
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhich of the four above is the Republican Weasel, and what's his name ?
DeleteBonus Points -
DeleteName all three of the other Weasels.
EXTRA BONUS POINTS !!
DeleteIs this sniveling whine indicative of the rest of your life?
NAME THAT WEASEL
Dow Jones at 22,000.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing worse than a dirty cop is a dirty judge.
ReplyDeleteBaltimore Cops Caught Turning Off Body Cameras Before Finding Drugs
Baltimore police spent 30 minutes searching a car for drugs but found nothing — until they turned off their body cameras. When the cameras turned back on, one cop was seen squatting next to the driver’s side where another officer immediately found drugs.
Police arrested two people in the apparent drug bust. But police might have been betrayed by their own body cameras, the public defender’s office announced Monday. Apparently unbeknownst to the officers, the cameras were rolling when one officer squatted in front of the empty driver’s seat. Another officer “found” a bag of drugs there moments later. The footage is the second body camera video in two weeks to apparently show Baltimore Police officers planting drugs on an otherwise-innocent scene.
Two weeks ago, the public defender’s office released body camera footage that appeared to show an officer planting a bag of pills in an empty lot in January, while two other officers looked on.
>
http://hotair.com/headlines/archives/2017/08/baltimore-cops-caught-turning-off-body-cameras-finding-drugs/
.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that it was only a short time ago that Ash was being given a hard time here because of Canadian immigration policy, an immigration policy that has the common sense intent of prioritizing skilled workers over non-skilled workers. I seem to recall Australia also has the same priorities.
We've been told here that the US doesn't need immigrants, this even in light of the current shortages of skilled workers healthcare, the sciences, and technology. Today, the Canadian and Australian immigration systems are being praised in D.C.
.
It only makes sense.
.
I heard yesterday that the Trump Administration was going to halve the number of legal immigrants, from a million a year or something to half that.
DeleteWith the proviso that they have needed skills.
When I was growing up Australia would pay your air fare to immigrate there, believe it or not.
I remember considering the idea.
Trump Unveils Overhaul On 'Legal' Immigration...
DeleteBring Skills, Speak English....DRUDGE
I had it before Drudge, as usual.
It has zero chance of passing however -
DeleteVideo: Trump, Tom Cotton announce bill to cut legal immigration that has zero chance of passing
ALLAHPUNDIT Aug 02, 2017 1:31 PM
Merit-based.
http://hotair.com/archives/2017/08/02/video-trump-tom-cotton-announce-bill-cut-legal-immigration-zero-chance-passing/
.
DeleteOf course, it won't pass. And the only part of it that makes any sense involves prioritizing this countries needs. The rest of the plan is simply a bone thrown to Trump's base.
.
HAPPY DAYS are HERE! Doug and Bob and Deuce can bypass that ever so biased MSM and get the straight unfiltered goods as Trump's daughter in law hosts a 'REAL NEWS' program on his facebook page.
ReplyDeletehttp://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/344902-trumps-daughter-in-law-hosts-real-news-program-on-his-facebook-page
wooohoooo!
The MSM is not biased.
DeleteAsh and Quirk say it isn't.
hey dougo, define MSM for us please.
DeleteYou guys are the experts:
DeleteYou did it in the last thread.
I bow to your superior insight, honesty, and integrity.
.
DeleteIt is good news, Ash.
I'm sure it will be filled with many 'real news' stories like how the head of the Boy Scouts called up Trump to thank him for such a great speech. Maybe they will even have something like a 'Best of Real News Stories' including stories like Pizzagate or the Seth Rich Conspiracy.
Bob will be wetting his pants in anticipation.
.
I get the straight stuff from MSNBC.
Delete.
DeleteHey, wait a minute, Ash.
Was that a fake news story? I just got an 404 error when trying to pull up the story.
.
naw, link works
DeleteAre you telling me Pizzagate was fake??? Oh man......
Delete
ReplyDeleteA newly-married Tennessee bride was arrested in Murfreesboro after she allegedly pointed a gun at her groom’s head during an argument only hours after the couple said “I do,” according to a report.
Police responded to a motel and found 25-year-old Kate Elizabeth Prichard and her husband fighting. A witness told officers Prichard pulled a gun out of her wedding dress and pulled the trigger during the argument, television station WTVF in Nashville reported Sunday.
The gun was not loaded, according to police.
“She pulled out of her wedding dress a 9 mm pistol, pointed it at her new husband’s head and pulled the trigger,” Murfreesboro Police Sgt. Kyle Evans told WTVF.
The witness told police the bride then loaded a round into the chamber and fired a shot in the air, causing bystanders to run away.
Prichard, who was still wearing her wedding dress when she was arrested, faces aggravated domestic assault charges. Officers recovered the weapon in a bathroom.
http://ktla.com/2017/08/02/pistol-packing-bride-pulls-handgun-out-of-wedding-dress-points-it-at-husband/
That is the very best way to start off any marriage.
DeleteNow Hubby knows his limits. And who really wears the pants in the family.
It prevents further arguments down the line.
Trump should have started out with working on the tax cut, rather than starting with ObamaCare.
ReplyDeleteThe Republicans should have had legislation ready to go after promising it for 7 years.
DeleteDamn right.
DeleteI'm pissed.
Two University of California-Los Angeles professors are trying to derail an upcoming symphony performance because Dennis Prager will be the guest conductor.
ReplyDeleteIn an open letter, they urge readers not to attend the August 16 concert to protest Prager's "horribly bigoted positions," such as his support for traditional marriage and opposition to open borders.
https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=9529
University of Idaho used to play UCLA back in the day.
DeleteIdaho
Oregon
Oregon State
WSU
U of Washington
Stanford
USC
UCLA
The Pacific Coast Conference 8. Later more members.
Done in by scandal -
The crisis[edit]
The scandal first broke in Washington, when in January 1956, several discontented players staged a mutiny against their coach, John Cherberg. After the coach was fired, the PCC followed up on charges of a slush fund. The PCC found evidence of the prohibited activities of the Greater Washington Advertising Fund run by Roscoe C. "Torchy" Torrance, and in May imposed sanctions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Coast_Conference
It was a damnable fellow in the advertising business up to the usual ad shit craparoo that caused all the stir.
An advertising dick named Roscoe C. "Torchy" Torrance was the culprit.
I recall him being burned in effigy on the U of Idaho campus.
So in the end "Torchy" got torched.
I believe Torchy moved east, at least that's what I heard once, to the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, a little outside of the war zone, where he was rumored to have started a small family with a new shack up woman. I read one of his sons, an odd goose, went into the advertising business there, following the career arc established by his father.
DeleteIt's a wonderful thing when you can convince yourself of your own Bullshit !
Delete...like:
.
Bias, what bias?
.
His career arc went up fast at first, until folks got onto him, and there was much legal trouble, then it flat lined, then went straight down like a meteor falling to earth, and in the end the birds got more out of the advertising corporation than the stockholders did, the birds at least getting some food from the abandoned garden in back of corporate headquarters. Someone said this odd goose was now on the lamb, hiding out in a nudist camp in North Idaho with a bunch of younger women.
DeleteApter, however, insisted that “this is not a partisan issue, but one about decency and respect for diversity and tolerance,” telling Campus Reform that he would feel the same way had the invitation been extended to Richard Spencer, instead.
Delete“I am not saying that Spencer and Prager hold the same white supremacist views, but they espouse the same logic and language of political purification, which can have deadly consequences,” he asserted. “From the standpoint of a violinist in the Santa Monica Symphony, to subject ourselves to the command of [Prager’s] baton is an implicit, if not explicit, endorsement of his bigoted ideas as a public figure.”
Chwe did not respond to a request for comment.
===
...as they attempt to politically purify a musical benefit performance !
Bias, what bias ?
DeleteHe doesn't believe a word of what he says, Doug.
It's just his living in a culture of advertising.
If one makes outrageous claims long enough, experience shows finally some fool will bite.
I like Dennis Prager though sometimes he rambles on too long in making his points.
DeleteAgree
DeleteUnlikely, as most of the higher officers are itching to begin really shooting people. At best the military might split, which, if Spain is any guide, would surely also end in civil war. Things, fascinating as they may be to observers, do look grim --
ReplyDeleteWill Maduro’s Military Turn On Him?
JAZZ SHAWPosted at 10:41 am on August 2, 2017
Ever since Venezuela began seriously melting down last year we’ve been focusing on two ways that Maduro might be removed from office and some semblance of “normal” returned to the country. The obviously preferable one would have been for popular protests to convince the President to hold a new round of fair, open elections, lose office and leave gracefully. Clearly that’s not going to happen. The second, less appealing option would be for the protests to blow up into a full-scale revolution, with Maduro leaving office by force, assuming he survived the transition. The death toll would be horrible and it would take the nation a generation to recover at least.
But what if there were a third way? Some observers are now turning their eyes toward the Venezuelan military and wondering if they might cease supporting Maduro and take matters into their own hands. (Reuters)
Venezuelan soldiers are increasingly weary of the popular backlash against their role in quelling anti-government protests and all eyes are on the military to see if it will remain loyal to President Nicolas Maduro…
The opposition is now looking towards the military to see if it will turn against the government and pressure Maduro to enact its demands, which include presidential elections.
More than 120 people have been killed in the protests, drawing international condemnation of the security forces’ heavy-handed tactics.
This is obviously not an ideal situation either, but desperate times do call for desperate measures. A military coup rarely works out well, though in a few rare cases it at least brings about stability and an eventual transition back to civilian authority. (See Egypt for one example.) Could that be on the horizon in Venezuela? The press interviewed one soldier who seemed disheartened by the entire situation, particularly the need to go out and beat down his own fellow citizens. He’s quoted as saying, “If we do not defend the regime, we are traitors and our careers are ruined. If we defend the government, we become enemies of the people.”
Clearly none of the military leaders are talking about this openly, but if the rank and file troops are angry enough this could turn into a serious problem for Maduro. Having essentially claimed dictatorial powers this summer, the strong arm of the military and, to a lesser extent, his armed militias are the only tools he has left to keep his starving, rioting citizens in line. If he loses their support, he’s pretty much standing alone against the tide of history. Never a good position to be in.
But what sort of power structure would replace the Maduro regime if the military took him out? It seems unlikely that they would simply turn over control to a leader from the opposition party on their own authority. More likely we’d see a general take charge, someone high up in the ranks of the Fuerza Armada Nacional Bolivariana (National Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela). But if you leave the generals in charge for too long, a whole new set of problems might follow.
For now, President Trump continues to call out Maduro, declaring that he’s responsible for the safety of the Venezuela opposition leaders who were arrested immediately following Sunday’s vote. There are new sanctions in place and some tough rhetoric, but nothing much else seems to be feasible at the moment. Until we get a better sense of what Maduro’s long range plans are or the opposition / military makes a move on him, we’re probably looking at a waiting game.
http://hotair.com/archives/2017/08/02/will-maduros-military-turn/
I have often offered the speculation that our house Lefty Ash needs an attitude adjustment via a good non-lethal non-harmful but quite frightening mugging. It looks as if the socialist paradise of Venezuela may be his promised land -
DeleteVenezuela’s Descent: The Least Safe Country In The World
'Across 135 countries, Law and Order Index scores in 2016 ranged from a high of 97 in Singapore to the low of 42 in Venezuela. The index is based on people’s reported confidence in their local police, their feelings of personal safety, the incidence of theft in the past year and — for the first time in 2016 — the incidence of assault and mugging in the past year.
The changes in the index scoring in 2016 make it impossible to directly compare current index scores to those released in previous years. But if the 2016 data are scored without the assault and mugging question, Singapore still scores the highest in the world (97) and Venezuela still scores the lowest in the world (29). Venezuela has been no stranger to the bottom of the list — it was the lowest-scoring country in 2013 and 2015, and second-lowest in 2014. Singapore has been at the top since 2013.'
http://hotair.com/headlines/archives/2017/08/venezuelas-descent-least-safe-country-world/
The purges continue -
ReplyDeletePurge: McMaster Fires Two Bannonites On National Security Council
ALLAHPUNDIT Posted at 8:21 pm on August 2, 2017
The John Kelly era has officially begun.
Is Bannon himself next?
Ezra Cohen-Watnick, the senior director for intelligence on the National Security Council, has been dismissed from the White House, two senior administration officials who are not authorized to discuss personnel matters told Conservative Review on Wednesday…
He has been described as an “Iran hawk” who wanted to revamp counter-Iran efforts in the Middle East, and sought to reform the intelligence community to rein in the “deep state” of unaccountable bureaucrats with rogue agendas.
Cohen-Watnick is the latest Trump loyalist to be fired by Gen. McMaster, whose security council continues to be overwhelmingly staffed with Obama holdovers (almost all of whom have retained their positions).
Cohen-Watnick’s firing is a big deal on two levels. One is that he was allegedly the staffer who helped lead Devin Nunes to the raw intelligence reports that jumpstarted the “unmasking” investigation into Obama natsec personnel. The CIA reportedly wanted him out around that same time, possibly because of his role in the unmasking probe, possibly for other reasons. Purging him now suggests that McMaster, at least, regrets the NSC’s role in that controversy. The other key point about Cohen-Watnick is that McMaster did try to fire him months ago — and was blocked by Trump, at the urging of both Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner. Now, suddenly, two days after John Kelly assumed control in the West Wing, McMaster finally gets his wish and Cohen-Watnick is gone. That’s almost as much a statement of Kelly’s new authority as canning Anthony Scaramucci was.
The other purged staffer is Rich Higgins, who was “seen as an ally of White House chief strategist Steve Bannon”....
http://hotair.com/archives/2017/08/02/purge-mcmaster-fires-two-bannonites-national-security-council/
I think a person would have to be a little touched, as my Aunt used to say, with a finger on her forehead, to work for The Donald.
Definitely wouldn't want to upset the deep state and Obama holdovers.
DeleteYou're right.
DeleteDidn't notice that part about the Obama holdovers.
The purging looks to continue -
Trump Says U.S. ‘Losing’ Afghan War in Tense Meeting With Generals
NBC News
by CAROL E. LEE and COURTNEY KUBE
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has become increasingly frustrated with his advisers tasked with crafting a new U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and recently suggested firing the war's top military commander during a tense meeting at the White House, according to senior administration officials.
During the July 19 meeting, Trump repeatedly suggested that Defense Secretary James Mattis and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford replace Gen. John Nicholson, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, because he is not winning the war, the officials said. Trump has not met Nicholson, and the Pentagon has been considering extending his time in Afghanistan.
Over nearly two hours in the situation room, Trump complained about NATO allies, inquired about the United States getting a piece of Afghan’s mineral wealth and repeatedly said the top U.S. general there should be fired.
Trump is the third president to grapple with the war in Afghanistan....
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/trump-says-us-%E2%80%98losing%E2%80%99-afghan-war-in-tense-meeting-with-generals/ar-AApkkbG?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp
Well, Donald, you are the Commander in Chief, and are always the best at everything you've ever tried, so why not you figure out the best Afghan Strategy for us all ?
Five Star General Bob has suggested dividing Afghanistan in two, and letting the Pashtun part go.
But no one ever listens.
I once offered my suggestion to Six Star General Quirk but he never even replied.
DeleteAll this leaking is wonderful, and I'm all for it. It's like being right there in the meetings with the Top Dogs.
DeleteAll the leaking is wonderful.....if it isn't all made up fake news.....
Inside the McMaster-Bannon War
ReplyDeletehttp://www.weeklystandard.com/inside-the-mcmaster-bannon-war/article/2009109
Bannon is a goner, I'd bet.
DeleteAugust 2, 2017
ReplyDeleteNorth Korea: Should we act now or wait?
By Robert Arvay
It seems possible that plans are already being implemented to invade North Korea. I am not speaking of contingency plans; I am speaking of a date certain, a definite schedule, with step number one being the recent flyover of B1-B bombers near the North Korean border. I am not, of course, privy to any such information, but President Trump seemed supremely confident when he made his assurances that (inexact quote) "we will handle North Korea."
The reason for all this is that the Norks (as the North Koreans are informally referred to in military parlance) have nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which pose as close to a clear and present danger as we dare to allow without taking decisive, pre-emptive action – immediately.
The only constraint now is feasibility. Are we able to attack and win? Can we accept the consequences of action versus those of inaction?
The consequences might be cataclysmic. North Korea reputedly has thousands of artillery guns in caves, within firing range of Seoul, the capital city of South Korea. Seoul is a huge metropolis with some eight million or more inhabitants. I've been there, and it is easily comparable to most large American cities. Those artillery weapons can be expected to deploy within minutes, to fire an overwhelming barrage, and to kill as many as a million people within the first hour of a major war. There can be no doubt that the Norks would do this in the first moment they perceived an existential threat.
There can also be no doubt that even if the North Koreans would hold their fire, their Iranian allies are committed to bringing about worldwide chaos and destruction as part of their apocalyptic religious beliefs. The collusion between North Korea and Iran is deep and demonstrable and poses no less a threat to us, perhaps more so, than the crisis on the Korean peninsula.
As if all this were not complicated enough, there is one more feature of this tangled web that is understated. That is the fact that North Korea operates political prisons among the most inhumane in recent history. Satellite photos confirm the location of one mega-complex that holds a quarter-million people. Defectors and escapees report that the inmates are routinely tortured, starved, and subjected to abject humiliation on a large scale. Summary executions (murders) are commonplace.
It is one thing to read about such places, but the old adage, out of sight, out of mind, seems to operate here. We are rightly horrified but not moved to action in the same way as we would be if we witnessed firsthand a neighbor child being abused in his front yard. In such a case, we would demand that the police protect the child, or we would intervene ourselves. But we do not personally see the atrocities in North Korea (and elsewhere).
Therefore, we have the luxury of intellectualizing the matter. Do we have a right to interfere? Do we have an obligation to do so? What if we tried to help, but our good intentions resulted in a war with much greater suffering than is already the case?
In any event, it seems at the moment that we are finally being forced into action, regardless of the outcome. Our own lives are at stake, and those of our children. No doubt the South Koreans justifiably fear the outcome. Fear? My Korean friends express chilling dread.
Ten years ago, the cost of action would have been far less, but far more immediate at the time. Today, the likely costs are both far greater and no less immediate.
Oh, to have the wisdom of Solomon!
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/08/north_korea_should_we_act_now_or_wait.html#ixzz4oeYv4UwI
As if all this were not complicated enough, there is one more feature of this tangled web that is understated. That is the fact that North Korea operates political prisons among the most inhumane in recent history. Satellite photos confirm the location of one mega-complex that holds a quarter-million people. Defectors and escapees report that the inmates are routinely tortured, starved, and subjected to abject humiliation on a large scale. Summary executions (murders) are commonplace.
DeleteGood Lord !
ReplyDeleteI'm listening to Hannity. Some Republicans are demanding a special prosecutor to look into Hillary, Comey, Lynch et al.
It is sounding like some new evidence has been discovered, concealed by Hillary.
This whole situation may really blow sky high on the Democrats soon.
It is sounding tonight as if it is still possible Hillary may really finally end up in prison.
JOY !!
Delete.
Delete:o)
.
I caught that. I was deeply engrossed in writing my much anticipated pre-obituary post for McCain so I'll have to look again.
ReplyDelete