Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa

[Robert Roaldi]

Well, here's an interesting Florida story related to "stand your ground laws" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/terry-vetsch-arrested-pointing-gun-womans-head-friend-used-his-driveway/. A quick search will find youtube videos showing the guy approaching the lady in the vehicle while she was no longer on his driveway. The footage is from his own security video. There is footage of him trying to claim that he felt threatened because of previous encounters with neighbours but they don't say if those neighbours had been threatening towards him.

I've had to do u-turns on streets when I've been lost, and although I try not to use private drives to do that, sometimes roads are narrow and I don't have the luxury. This is just a normal every day occurrence in a sane culture.

The guy was arrested but it would be interesting to follow the story to see what happens next. I wonder if the media will cover the final outcome but I'm not optimistic that the charge will result in conviction. (Be interesting to see what would happen if the guy was black, but that's just wilful trolling on my part.) I don't see how he could argue that he felt threatened when he approached the woman when she was no longer on his property, but judging from past decisions I don't have much confidence in the US legal system (e.g., Kyle Rittenhouse).

Do people want shoot-outs in the streets? You can easily imagine a situation where an armed person in the vehicle had chosen to shoot the guy in self-defense as soon as he pulled his weapon.  How do you sort out that mess? Maybe we need CCTV on every street in front of every house and on every vehicle dashboard.


I haven't heard the outcomes of those other recent shootings of kids playing in yards or people ringing the wrong doorbell. I'm amazed that delivery companies can find anyone to work in those jobs, people must be desperate for the pay cheque. Imagine getting shot at while delivering the mail. Geez, if that's the price of "freedom", I'd say the price is a little high.

[marvpelkey]

"...ringing the wrong doorbell..."

The other day I commented to someone how every delivery person now just leaves/throws the package on the front porch and leaves, without knocking or ringing the bell to notify the resident that a package has arrived, like they used to. I suggested that habit had formed during the Covid crisis. Now I wonder if there are other reasons?

[Robert Roaldi]

"...ringing the wrong doorbell..."

The other day I commented to someone how every delivery person now just leaves/throws the package on the front porch and leaves, without knocking or ringing the bell to notify the resident that a package has arrived, like they used to. I suggested that habit had formed during the Covid crisis. Now I wonder if there are other reasons?

Amazon sends me an email when delivery is made, that's how I know there is something at the front door. Not all courier services do that.

My wife's nephew in Toronto has one of those front door bell systems with built-in video recorder. I think it's motion sensitive. He has videos of small deer, racoons, etc. Maybe they'll introduce AI programs to watch doors and windows to alert people in Florida when to load.

[MattBurt]

Amazon sends me an email when delivery is made, that's how I know there is something at the front door. Not all courier services do that.

My wife's nephew in Toronto has one of those front door bell systems with built-in video recorder. I think it's motion sensitive. He has videos of small deer, racoons, etc. Maybe they'll introduce AI programs to watch doors and windows to alert people in Florida when to load.

It's a standalone camera but I have a security camera with some AI in it that allows me to filter out pets but alert me to humans for example. Kind of cool if I don't need to know every time my cat walks by.

[marvpelkey]

The wife has a couple hobbies for which she orders quite a few supplies from all over, so we get packages/small boxes all the time, from Fedex, Amazon, you name it, and for the last year or two, we never get a notice of delivery. Occasionally, packages have sat on the porch all day.

We also have a RING doorbell as well as a second security camera, and the wife gets a ping on her phone when something/one moves, but because they pick up everything that goes down the street or onto our property (we have great video of a guy stealing a cat converter from one of our vehicles) it goes off a gazillion times a day so she has become desensitized to it. And she works daily and can't always be checking her phone.

[faberryman]

I am a little late to the party but Trump was indicted yesterday on 37 counts of violating the Espionage Act, making false statements, and obstructing justice*, all in connection with his retention of national security documents down at his residence at Mar-A-Lago.

Here is a link to the indictment:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/06/09/us/trump-indictment-document-annotated.html

Grab your popcorn.

*or, as the English say, perverting the course of justice, which somehow sounds more sordid, and therefore more appropriate in this case.

[Robert Roaldi]

I am a little late to the party but Trump was indicted yesterday on 37 counts of violating the Espionage Act, making false statements, and obstructing justice*, all in connection with his retention of national security documents down at his residence at Mar-A-Lago.

Here is a link to the indictment:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/06/09/us/trump-indictment-document-annotated.html

Grab your popcorn.

*or, as the English say, perverting the course of justice, which somehow sounds more sordid, and therefore more appropriate in this case.

I haven't been keeping track, have they found anything on Hunter Biden's hard drive yet?

[faberryman]

I haven't been keeping track, have they found anything on Hunter Biden's hard drive yet?

As you might guess, it depends on whom you ask. I haven't seen anything, but I haven't probed the Dark Web. I am pretty sure the Republicans are saving the release of any evidence of wrongdoing until further into the election season. In the meantime, they will continue to say they have it in their briefcase but they can't show it to you.

On the latest indictment front, Trump has posted a video claiming his innocence. The most repeated words: "It's a hoax. The whole thing is a hoax.", "I have done nothing wrong. I am an innocent man.", and "Very unfair."

Update:

Here is an link to a website containing photos purportedly from Hunter Biden's laptop and iPhone:

https://bidenlaptopmedia.com

A few of the photos show Hunter Biden and some woman nude. Those have been redacted to obscure the offending body parts. I admit I did not look at all of the photos, so I may have missed the ones showing Hunter Biden and/or Joe Biden allegedly engaging in criminal activity. My assessment: Hunter Biden is not a very good photographer.

[marvpelkey]

it will be interesting to see how the assigned judge (I heard they choose from 7 available judges by literally spinning a wheel), Cannon I think is her name, handles herself, especially in light of how she was seriously criticized by a higher court for her previous Trump related decision. If she doesn't maintain the highest of standards and Trump gets off, even for legitimate reasons, the left will go absolutely ballistic. Should be a good show.

[Robert Roaldi]

I saw a peculiar headline this morning (https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4043872-pence-calls-for-garland-to-publicly-justify-trump-indictment/). What could Pence possible mean by "publicly justify"? Don't the actual charges themselves do that?

I wonder if the GOP candidates will all race to announce that they will pardon Trump if elected. One has said so already, I forget who, and De Santis has not said he wouldn't.

[faberryman]

Jack Smith, the special counsel, at his press conference on Friday, encouraged everyone to read the indictment. The indictment is written in plain English, and  even has some color photos. Here is a link to the indictment on the DOJ website:

https://www.justice.gov/storage/US_v_Trump-Nauta_23-80101.pdf

Maybe Mike Pence can't read. If someone can't read, the coverage has been 24/7 on the cable news channels, so they should pick the talking heads they prefer, and the talking heads will happily explain the indictment (more or less) to them.

[marvpelkey]

When you hear the constant theme from many who are in positions of leadership that the game is rigged and Donny is being treated differently than both Clintons and both Biden's, it gives the people an excuse to disregard the evidence.

The people are being played, sadly, by the very people who are supposed to be the most upright and trustworthy.

And candidates like Pence are trying to walk a very fine line. How to place yourself ahead of Trump, without pissing off his followers, whose votes you will eventually need. Knowing that Garland won't come on stage and display all the evidence, gives him an easy way to criticize, without really saying much of anything.

[Robert Roaldi]

Have you heard, De Santis is a disciple of Christ now, https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/06/16/ron-desantis-compares-himself-to-a-disciple-of-jesus-christ/?

[Robert Roaldi]

And in the latest news, god has switched sides, https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/evangelicals-trump-desantis-2024-prophecy-1234680986/.

[Robert Roaldi]

Gwynne Dyer on the possible end of populism? https://gwynnedyer.com/2023/populism-end-of-an-era-or-just-a-pause/

[marvpelkey]

I've never quite understood the populism/populist thing.

Paired down, isn't a populist just somebody who has correctly read the crowd, played to their emotions, anger, frustration, disillusionment and preaches "they" (current leaders) lie to them, don't understand them, don't have their best interests at heart, while "I" do? And choose themes that are currently popular with the masses. Don't they all try to do that?

The author of the article, however, literally states that a populist has to be a swindler, cheat and prolific liar, but I have not read any definition that includes those traits.

[Jonathan Cross]

I've never quite understood the populism/populist thing.

Paired down, isn't a populist just somebody who has correctly read the crowd, played to their emotions, anger, frustration, disillusionment and preaches "they" (current leaders) lie to them, don't understand them, don't have their best interests at heart, while "I" do? And choose themes that are currently popular with the masses. Don't they all try to do that?

The author of the article, however, literally states that a populist has to be a swindler, cheat and prolific liar, but I have not read any definition that includes those traits.

See this article for an opinion.

https://www.ips-journal.eu/topics/democracy-and-society/why-the-term-populism-is-harmful-6317/#:~:text=The%20term%20populism%20is%20not%20only%20harmful%2C%20but%20also%20superfluous,for%20a%20great%20many%20opinions

[Robert Roaldi]

See this article for an opinion.

https://www.ips-journal.eu/topics/democracy-and-society/why-the-term-populism-is-harmful-6317/#:~:text=The%20term%20populism%20is%20not%20only%20harmful%2C%20but%20also%20superfluous,for%20a%20great%20many%20opinions

Thank you.

I am confused about the notion of "populists" rejecting elites. If that's true, how come they cozy up to rich people so much.

[marvpelkey]

I think like all things these days, in the beginning populism was perhaps a somewhat noble cause. Over time, however, the jackals realized they could use/morph the cause to their own advantage, and that included the softening of their rejection of the elite. The hard truth is you just can't get elected without support (silent even)  from the elites. They control the money, media and other influences.

[marvpelkey]

Funny, just after I typed the previous, I got up to get my grand-daughter a snack.

The TV was on the Knowledge Network and was previewing some future programs.

I heard, but did not see, a guy saying (paraphrasing here) "When you support a cause, like Black Lives Matter, you have to be committed to being there as much as possible, getting up each day and joining the struggle, then doing it the next day and next day. But the oligarchs (his actual word, but replace with elite) use their money, power and influence 24 hours a day, even when they sleep, when they are on the golf course, anywhere, all the time."

Quite fitting for this recent conversation.