Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa

[digitaldog]

Who was that guy from New York who had heart disease, ate a ton of beef and complained that his cardiologist told him not to?  I miss him.

From NJ? He's over here:
https://www.photo.net

[digitaldog]

Two more (good ones):

[digitaldog]

A funny thing happened on Saturday night as Trump demanded that President Joe Biden take a cognitive test: The guy who could remember “Person, woman, man, camera, TV” couldn’t remember the name of his former physician.
Awkward.
“I think [Biden] should take a cognitive test like I did,” Trump said during a speech at a convention of Turning Point Action in Detroit. “I took a cognitive test and I aced it. Doc Ronny. Doc Ronny Johnson. Does everyone know Ronny Johnson, congressman from Texas? He was the White House doctor, and he said I was the healthiest president, he feels, in history, so I liked him very much immediately. In fact, he said if I didn’t eat junk food, I would live to 200. That’s what he said”.

Doc Ronny’s name, by the way, is Ronny Jackson. Not Johnson.

[Robert Roaldi]

A retiring professor of US history at McGill university had his departing lecture recorded, https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-23-ideas/clip/16070395-the-extreme-americas-mainstream. What he says is not heart-warming. None of it is particularly new but the historical context is revealing.

[Robert Roaldi]

I see that SCOTUS thinks that bump stocks are ok, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6pp5xl13wlo.

[marvpelkey]

As my grand-daughter has been visiting for the past couple weeks, I have not been paying much attention to any politics or recent developments, but I understand the author (Kavanaugh?) of the decision indicates that bump stocks are no different than the gun user repeatedly pulling the trigger real fast. Yup, now there's great reasoning.

[Robert Roaldi]

As my grand-daughter has been visiting for the past couple weeks, I have not been paying much attention to any politics or recent developments, but I understand the author (Kavanaugh?) of the decision indicates that bump stocks are no different than the gun user repeatedly pulling the trigger real fast. Yup, now there's great reasoning.

I probably mentioned this before but Malcolm Gladwell's podcast Revisionist History aired an episode 2 seasons ago (https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/revisionist-history/guns-part-2-getting-out-of-dodge), in which he mentions the supreme court's relationship with guns a fair bit. He singles out Kavanaugh and Alito in that essay. I think it's fair to say that he ridicules their attitude on guns as being out of touch with reality.

[digitaldog]

And the deficit…

[Robert Roaldi]

US intelligence agencies launched Covid disinformation campaigns in southeast Asia at the beginning of the pandemic, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KsZxPN301w.

[Robert Roaldi]

I read that Louisiana passed into law a requirement that all public schools display the 10 Commandments. Someone from Texas wants to do the same. Funny it wasn't the sermon on the mount.

But seriously, is this all viral pre-marketing for a remake of the Heston movie? Hollywood hasn't made a good bible flic in a while. I wonder if Moses will be shorter this time.

[Robert Roaldi]

This is the kind of politician scandal news reporting I'd like to see more of, funny as hell, entertaining, not too emotionally demanding, just a seeming nitwit acting more or less the way you'd expect a nitwit to act, https://www.nj.com/politics/2024/06/trump-supporting-state-rep-chased-stripper-from-his-home-with-a-gun-reports-say.html. The report said he was running after the stripper while shooting off rounds. Does it count as "stand your ground" if you're doing the chasing? In Michigan a "stand your ground" state?

[marvpelkey]

Any guesses on how the candidates will fare in the debates? I just saw a brief clip of Biden walking across a lawn and boy does he present as old and frail. I am a bit nervous. Or will the debates even matter that much, anyway??

[Robert Roaldi]

Any guesses on how the candidates will fare in the debates? I just saw a brief clip of Biden walking across a lawn and boy does he present as old and frail. I am a bit nervous. Or will the debates even matter that much, anyway??

I never watch election debates, American or Canadian. For one thing, they're not debates, they never actually discuss policy. It seems like just more messaging. And the so-called analyses of the debates are not much more than performance critiques.

I read somewhere a couple of weeks ago that the GOP never even bothered to produce a policy statement/document in the past 2 elections (or was it just the last election). That's a bit like admitting it's all just a dumb clown show, but it didn't seem to bother anyone, least of all their supporters.

It's possible I'm too cynical.

[marvpelkey]

Robert,

I tend to agree with everything you stated. However, I think this (these?) debate(s) are of particular concern for Biden, due to his age and tendency to appear quite frail. I am not even sure why he agreed to participate, although I think he may have inadvertently painted himself into a corner a while back.

I doubt Trump will suffer any, even if he presents his usual delusional, ranting, self as everyone has become accustomed to that. But I think Biden needs to appear extra sharp as he is the one with the most to lose.

[Robert Roaldi]

Robert,

I tend to agree with everything you stated. However, I think this (these?) debate(s) are of particular concern for Biden, due to his age and tendency to appear quite frail. I am not even sure why he agreed to participate, although I think he may have inadvertently painted himself into a corner a while back.

I doubt Trump will suffer any, even if he presents his usual delusional, ranting, self as everyone has become accustomed to that. But I think Biden needs to appear extra sharp as he is the one with the most to lose.

I agree with you about that, but I'm still not going to watch it live. I just can't sit through those things.

[Robert Roaldi]

Here's a satirical site having some fun at the expense of SCOTUS, https://thebeaverton.com/2024/06/supreme-court-issues-token-reasonable-ruling/.

[Robert Roaldi]

Well, I didn't watch the "debate" but I have heard a lot about it. It's 2024 and the country that Americans keep telling us is the greatest country on earth can't find better contenders for the top job that those two. The Dems did what must be one of the worst jobs of succession planning that's ever been (as has the federal Liberals in Canada). And the other party feels happy about elevating a low-life incompetent scum because they can't distinguish between actual tough talk and dumbass insults. I bet a lot of Americans are wishing today that they had multi-party politics instead of relying on the phoney "competition" between only two parties.

[Robert Roaldi]

POTUS is immune from prosecution for any "official acts". Does this apply to criminal prosecutions only? What about personal lawsuits.

So now the question becomes what's official and what is not. I see that the Trump legal team is moving to have the hush money verdict set aside. What part of that chain of events could be called an "official" act.

[Chris Kern]

[The president of the United States] is immune from prosecution for any "official acts". Does this apply to criminal prosecutions only? What about personal lawsuits.

The U.S. Supreme Court has held that the president is immune to civil lawsuits for "all acts within the 'outer perimeter' of his duties of office."  Nixon v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 731 (1982).

[Jeremy Roussak]

POTUS is immune from prosecution for any "official acts". Does this apply to criminal prosecutions only? What about personal lawsuits.

So now the question becomes what's official and what is not. I see that the Trump legal team is moving to have the hush money verdict set aside. What part of that chain of events could be called an "official" act.

As I understand it, the contention is that evidence relating to actions he took in his "official" status ought not to have been admitted.

Jeremy