One of the protesters is already accustomed to getting away with anything, up to and including murder. At 16, she crossed the center line (whether intentionally or through inattention; video from the car behind her showed her remaining the oncoming lane for some time) and rammed into an elderly couple, killing them both. Her wealthy parents pitched a fit that her name was made public in the accident report, even though that was consistent with the laws of the state. But the only punishment she received (unless she had her wrist slapped in juvenile court) seems to have been a $220 traffic fine. https://nypost.com/2024/04/21/us-news/columbia-protester-who-killed-elderly-vermont-couple-in-crash-should-be-in-jail-not-on-campus-furious-family-says/
No protestors should be allowed to cover with a mask, keffiyeh or any face covering at all, so that they can be identifiable to the public & law enforcement.
Also, Biden needs to federalize the National Guard across several states (like JFK did in 1962) to restore order on these college campuses, but he doesn't have the political will or courage to do that.
Ah but that takes courage to do right and enforce the laws. Something in very short supply with this band of clowns. Now if you want that gas stove, well we are watching.
So does that mean people should be required to give their correct names in any context where where their expressing themselves, such as when commenting on news articles?
The internet makes things tricky. My anonymity here has more to do with not trusting data trawlers and bad actors than not being willing to identify myself with my speech.
That said, you are probably right that my phrasing was far too absolute. Maybe I should have put it something like "I'm not going to respect or take seriously someone's speech that chooses to hide while giving it". Or something like that.
Yes the internet does make things tricky. I understand why people not want to reveal themselves and risked being harassed. But I guess the same might be true of people who are attending a protest. Frankly, I agree with you that hiding our identities is a problem in that it invites almost too much freedom inviting more impulsivity and carelessness in our speech.
I began identifying myself as B. when I was a teacher and wrote in comments to The New York Times. I tried to keep my classroom a free if regulated place where my students could express opinions that did not break my rules of etiquette, and I made it my business to stay neutral as far as I was able. Hence the B. in public forums.
Which did not mean that there weren't debates or that we didn't have a good time. I still laugh when I think of some of the things they said.
But I have kept B. because I prefer to be judged by what I say (and do) and not by who I am.
To me, in the instance of a protest, it feels like a way to try to avoid the hard part of protesting. The part where you may get punished for the laws or social norms you broke in order to get your point across. And trying to avoid that makes the protests less meaningful.
When you see that picture of the guy in China standing in front of a tank, it works because you know that person it truly sacrificing for their principals. When you see a bunch of Ivy league students doing a sit in on the quad with masks on, it makes me think they want attention, but no possibility for negative attention. It is cowardly, basically.
I read "Death of a Salesman" over the weekend. What a pile of crap. I've known many salesmen, none even remotely like this guy. And I thought "who falls for this BS?" And of course the answer is New York intellectuals. They have to be told in a play "how" people of that sort "are" because they would never dream of having a beer with one, the same way they would never go to Peoria, find the local watering hole with the Budweiser sign outside and a bunch of pickup trucks, and go in an have a conversation with anyone about anything.
The whole thing is intellectual inbreeding, and we all know inbreeding gets worse the longer it continues. And it got hallucinatory and monstrous many decades ago.
The idea of authoritarian Communism should be dead. But lies and contextual schizophrenia are clearly keeping it alive.
I was thinking along the same lines as this over the weekend when another piece of shit made in China tool I bought at the big blue hardware store broke on it's second use. We're told by the intellectuals and their chattering class friends that this is what Americans want; cheap disposal goods. NO! All the people that I know work decently hard for their money and don't want to waste it on crap that doesn't work. That all these things *have* to be made in China is a lie and was done to enrich THEIR pockets, not save money for ours! As a play on another saying, if you don't have the money to pay for it the first time, where will you find the money to pay for it a second time?
Re: the slave labor - I'm capitalist through and through - small business' are (Were? After the China Virus, I'm not sure) the lifeblood of this country. When manufacturing was off-shored, saving those corporation huge dollars, the US transitioned into its vaunted "intellectual economy". So many of those corporate jobs are salary/exempt; the college degrees turned into a new class of indentured servitude.
In their world most of us exist solely as possible pawns—what I tend to call Operative Pretexts—for their delusional and grandiose fantasies of power and relevance. It was “the working class” for a while—in this case even a supposedly oppressed middle class. Then blacks, then Persons of Color generally, then women who screwed around and wound up with babies they didnt want, and in recent years gays and the gray world of adolescent kids who they manipulated in gender delusions.
And of course “the environment” throughout. First overpopulation, then ACTUAL pollution, which really WAS a problem. But that was a bipartisan problem. Most early environmentalists were hunters and fishers. People forget Nixon founded the EPA.
Then global cooling, then global warming, and in the present era “weather”, which is more or less the honest translation of Climate Change.
Lost at present is plastics EVERYWHERE—in our oceans, bays and streams. They dont want to talk about, much less address, that, other than through token authiritarian measures like banning straws.
I just had this discussion with my daughter. Back before Iran lost its mind, there were all these "students" protesting. I always wondered why they weren't studying something. All the Iranians at my university were focused engineering students. You could tell by their extremely expensive calculators attached to their belts. They hardly had time to eat.
I am assuming liberal arts majors don't have a very demanding class load...or that one of their classes is just "Protesting 101". What sad is, I meant this as a joke, but it has a better than average chance of being true.
That's nothing. Back When, the Taliban was referred to as a student group. And Someone (might have been Doonesbury) did a riff on the alleged students who took over the US embassy in Tehran being concerned about final exams. Must be a great life, student; no wonder so many never grow up.
"When they said they could be fair and impartial, I believed them. So did Judge Merchan. So did most of the reporters in the overflow room."
Are you drunk?
How you can suspend your disbelief enough to feel optimistic about this jury being unbiased and fair is staggering to me. And when you wrote "most of the reporters in the overflow room thought the same" is interesting. I assume that by using 'most' that there were at least some that didn't? If that's the case, you should have included that in the story IMO.
The very fact that this man is on trial for this case is laughable, but to think he might get an impartial jury & a fair trial in Manhattan, and with this judge, is so maddening it makes me want to throw my computer out the window.
The alleged crime that Trump’s been charged with, falsification of business records, a misdemeanor under New York law, but elevated to a felony when it’s done to facilitate another crime, which is what prosecutors are alleging here—all 34 counts against Trump are classified as felonies. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg arguing that the allegedly falsely labeled payments were done to cover up other crimes, including Cohen’s campaign finance crimes and alleged tax issues, as the payments to Cohen were falsely characterized as income rather than repayments.
Trumps attorneys have argued that Trump’s reimbursement checks to Cohen were not unlawful, submitting that Trump “cannot be said to have falsified business records of the Trump Organization by paying his personal attorney using his personal bank accounts.”
And lets not even get started on Judge Merchan. His wife, daughter, hell, his entire family are neck deep in the democrat party in New York. What we are witnessing is lawfare and its changed the landscape of politics & equal justice under the law in this country forever. Merchan, before even hearing any motions, has stated he won't entertain motions on selective prosecutorial claims. He has a history of ruling against the Trump organization. And just for hoots & grins, lets put a gag order on the defendant so that he can't invoke his right to free speech. Now Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Stormy Daniels can say anything they want, at any time, to anyone, but Trump must stay silent lest he be charged with contempt. Settlement payments bound with NDA's take place every day in this country and that's what this was. It doesn't make Trump a good guy, but it damned sure doesn't make him a felon.
The Firm in DC has the long knives out because Trump is a threat to their very existence. Even RFK Jr remarks that "the weaponization of government against" former President Donald Trump is unprecedented.
I agree. And I hope this supremely selfish, capricious, and angry man gets off scot-free and trounces Biden and the leftist crazies and incompetents who control him.
I have tended to use something I will call the Alan Alda Principle. Would Alan Alda in 1978 have been OK with this, as an UberLiberal? No, of course not. The whole trial, and nearly everything connected to the patent abuses of police authority and the law with respect to Trump are obviously latent Fascistic Authoritarianism.
There was a time, kids, way back when, when people understood that what could be done to any of us could be done to all of us. It may be that the GOVERNOR of New York told New York City businessmen and women that they didn't need to worry, because they were only after Trump, but you know what? They are New Yorkers, and they know better than that. The fallout from the weaponization and corruption of the law will take a few years, but New York City is at serious risk of losing a lot of what made it one of the financial capitals of the world, all because the legal system went Communist/Fascist.
And they call it the rule of law. How many believe that the issue is merely if stormy was paid under AN NDA? Or that other matters are relevant to the case at hand? They word justice has been subsumed by politics and the nebulous phrase social justice often used never defined
The Trump case is nothing more than attention seeking media craze — which is what the news is for (to grab the populations attention). However what I found interesting and would argue most of us on Substack would find interesting as well is the man who set himself on fire outside the courthouse. He had a Substack and I wonder if this will be another attack on the platform and those narratives that go against the mainstream media: https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/the-man-who-set-himself-on-fire-had
As was the case brought by E Jean Carrol. Between an activist judiciary and biased prosecutors; the US is sliding down the slope to third world banana republic justice.
I am telling you these "novel theory" prosecutions and the prosecutors who pursue them are a direct road to hell. They also violate separation of powers.
“Reagan Republicans” never supported a “strong foreign policy against Russia.” They supported a strong foreign policy against the Soviet Union, which they defeated 35 years ago.
Please stop mischaracterizing conservatives, a group you don’t understand at all. We don’t support alienating Russia and feeding a war machine that won’t move the front lines back, but will only enrich the greedy palms that fund our congressional campaigns.
Congratulations to 112 House Republicans for not selling out American families.
What's funny is that when it WAS in our national interest the Left actively opposed standing up to what clearly WAS an "evil empire"; but now that our only national interest is in deescalation and avoiding conflict, all they want to do is fight for a war none of them would EVER contemplate sending their kids to fight. If I wasn't watching it happen, I would not have believed such absurd hypocrisy and madness was possible. This is literal, clinical mental illness. It is contextual, which is how these people hold jobs and more or less have social groupings reasonably called families, but it is hallucinatory schizophrenia nonetheless.
And I will add you can both be pushed and pulled by bad ideas. There are bad ideas like Nazism or Communism that pull you in, because like all bad ideas they have a superficial coating of whatever good things some people value.
But you can also be pushed, in the sense that you do the OPPOSITE of whatever the people you hate do. But you are not free in this. You are pushed, first here, then there. As the joke went, all that was needed to make the Left solidly pro-2nd Amendment would have been for Trump to come out in favor of "gun control", which is to say the government restricting gun ownership to their people.
One would think grown ass adults would somehow awaken from this spell, but the problem is that it is suffused with a radical and undefinable fear that touches the core of their sense of self, and they are all cowards. If they were not cowards, they would have awoken long ago. And cowardice is very hard to address, much less fix.
100% agree. The left liked Russia when it was a communist dictatorship and global superpower. Now that it’s a regional power and shitty corrupt dictatorship, the left hates it. What changed? Oh, yeah, they made up Russian collusion as an excuse for reset button Hillary losing to Trump in 2016. For the sixteen years prior to that, including the aforementioned Madame Secretary’s tenure, they had no problem with Russia persecuting its opposition or its 2014 invasion/occupation of Ukrainian territory.
And all it took was ten years of nonstop propaganda!
On a related subject, Glenn Greenwald is reporting on how Brazil's leftist government, allies of the Democrats, have their former president in jail and a judge demanding total censorship powers.
We'd already be there if Hillary had taken the Supreme Court.
Also, everybody writing comments should now understand that the feds just voted themselves the power to surveil everything we do on the internet. With no warrant.
Apparently our right to privacy doesn't extend to anything transmitted online, including the information from your smart devices.
We're racing towards a totalitarian autocracy at a shocking pace.
Since 2020, we've been watching the northbound train go by on the single track on which we were expecting the southbound express. Dunno when or where the train wreck happens -- but it WILL happen.
Speak for yourself! I am as conservative as you can get and I am all for rebuilding our dormant armaments/weapons capacities and arming Ukrainians in order for THEM to kill Russian invaders in a most righteous cause. The Russians invaded a sovereign country, revealing that they are our enemies as well as the Iranians and especially the Communist party that controls China.
I truly don’t understand this isolationist strain in the Republican Party; As a Marine I fully understand that this is a dangerous world with nations that hate America and hate the West.
Can you explain to me why the border of Ukraine with Russia is more important than the border between the United States and Mexico? China is buying land here and seems to literally be building military bases--and certainly spy bases--on US soil, and doing so almost openly.
No money for the border was voted in this bill, as far as I know. Alejandro Mayorkas will face no consequences for obeying the orders he was given to order the Border Patrol to allow in every single person who crossed our border, and in a great many cases to buy them plane tickets from as far away as Venezuela. We are literally using taxpayer dollars to pay for people to break our laws by coming here illegally.
Surely you will grant that tough and smart are two different things?
Also the idea that we are going to funnel money to a small corrupt country to fight a proxy war for us that will somehow rout that evil Russian empire has been completely absurd from the get go. Honestly, who runs a war they seriously want to win against a top nuclear armed country that spans 11 time zones thru a 3rd rate totalitarian leader with his own agenda? And if Blackrock took over Ukraine's agriculture, its unclear who really is running the country.
Its time to move past Rocky &His Friends Boris and Natasha darlink views of Russa and look at threats to the US in this world. Ahem, maybe look at China? (Oh, wait, somehow their lobbyists deflected our great leaders again and TikTok, farmland & manufacturig purchase, funding of major colleges, gain of function research continues unabated. And then some how we end up with congress & Biden authorizing unchecked surveillance on "we the people", the citizens of the US...what just happened?
It dawned on me the other day how just plain weird it is that legacy media has provided almost NO video coverage of war torn Ukraine territory. Certainly its been a deliberate move to keep folks from reacting to the reality and horrors of this "proxy" war to rid us of the evil empire.
If anyone thinks photos don't count, consider the anti-war reaction of folks to a pictures of crying children in Gaza (we really weren't shown many pictures of Israel's victims after the Hamas Oct 7 attacks, were we?). If we werre shown actual photographs of a ground war of the magnitude now going on in the Ukraine, we'd see the terrible destruction of the countryside, the buildings, homes, farmland, roads & bridges. And yes, the bombs and mortar deployed in the Ukraine also kill and mutilate children, old people and anyone unable to leave. Has anyone ever seen the graphic nature of war photos & film shorts shown during WW2 and Vietnam? Naw, we get treated to a stupid photo op of our foolish congress waving little blue & yellow flags as if this shows "support" for those poor Ukrainains. What a horrible terrible joke. Meanwhile the MIC and most likely our folks in congress make lots of money. Why else would congress refuse to require any accountability for the hundres of billions spent?
BTW, you can watch the Russian advance and actual bombing and destruction of the Ukraine on the regular internet brought to you via satellite survellance cameras (much like the pictures Google takes of your home). You won't see this real life livestreams on CNN or MSNBC. If you do watch, it quickly becomes obvious how this war exploits the Ukrainians citizens in the most horrible manner. However did they stay fed and sheltered over winters these past few years? Ukrainians were treated in the most ghastly manner by the Nazis and then by the Russians around WW2. Did we think oh heck, well they are used to it. Pray for these folks.
I've been saying since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war that the only thing I was sure about was that neither side was telling the truth, and that I had no idea what was really happening.
Steven Greer has been saying for years that we live in the Truman Show. Nothing is real. Nearly all our perceptions are doctored and managed, and that was true before AI. It just took more work.
One interesting tidbit about that war, though. I was watching combat footage filmed on the Ukrainian side, and these particularl guys kept calling the Russians "Jews". They were fighting the Jews. They wanted to kill "the Jews". We've all seen the swastikas on the tanks and elsewhere. There genuinely seem to be actual Nazi's with actual connections going back to the actual German Nazis, who have significant troops and combat capability.
We are left to dream of a world where journalists still just wanted to tell the truth, the full truth, and nothing but the truth. That world seems to be gone, though. Even the Free Press is not committed to that ideal. Their de facto Mission Statement is something like "To suck less than the New York Times, but to still hate all the right people." That's about right.
I KNOW, I can feel it clearly, that there is a LOT that we are not being told, about a lot of things. Those gaps drive me crazy, but I can't plug them.
Apparently a couple of months ago (gee, how time flies) there was a Senate bill passed on the border that never even made on to the House floor for a vote. According to the vast majority of posters here, it was simply because it was no damn good (I think it was Trump..) and that it deserved to die. But if border security is so sacrosanct to so many, how come there was no effort on the part of the House GOP to make the bill better?
It is against the law to enter the United States illegally. That's pretty much what illegal means.
Nothing has changed. Joe Biden's people simply put a piece of paper in front of him telling Mayorkas to tell the Border Patrol not just not to do their jobs, but to in all cases facilitate people entering this country illegally in getting everywhere possible. We are apparently even paying for plane flights from places like Venezuela to places well inside the US.
The whole thing is an indefensible absurdity. If you want me to think of you as an idiot, then by all means tell me Joe Biden is not in charge of the Border Patrol and that no laws concerning entry into this county exist.
Every effing day I feel like I have somehow stumbled into Alice in Wonderland, except that I am the only one not eating magic mushrooms, and everyone is telling me that it is absolutely a logical certainly that 2 plus grapes equals SHAZAM.
Great post - but you neglect to answer my question. You said in an earlier post there was no money for border security in the funding bill for Ukraine you don't like. But there was a prior bill (my point) that had all kinds. It was flawed but it simply died on arrival. But did it have to except for the intransigence of certain Republicans?
Yeah, Biden is shit on the border, old news, it's been that way for three years - and it appears to me that Trump and his acolytes quite like it that way.
Fair. I'm heading out the door and I really don't have anything intelligent to say at the moment. I wish we were fighting over a few degrees of the middle. But it is insanity fighting everything to the right of Chairman Mao.
And the point I was trying to make, even if I have to admit your critique is valid, is that if there is a border that should matter to Americans, it should be our OWN border.
You are entitled to your opinion. I however am as conservative as you get and I am not in that Ukrraine train. You completely overlook the Obama Ad.inistration's role in that 2014 invasion by its complicity in the overthrow of a duly elected, albeit pro-Russia president of Ukraine. Unlike our allies with whom we have enforceable obligations we owe Ukraine nothing. Biden's promises are not enforceable obligations. And Zensky grows more and more autocratic by the day. My prediction is US troops on the ground.
And, lest we not forget that the Bidens were already being paid in millions from corrupt Ukrainians to interfere in their government. This whole Ukraine issue is some kind of cover up and money grab. It stinks of rotten fish.
They don't call him Quid Pro Joe for naught. I was listening to a Senate hearing in which Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm was being grilled about releases from the petroleum reserve. It was pretty epic. She knew nothing. Nothing I tell you. But it turns out that while our reserve is at a historic low China's is flush. Surplus in fact. Seems they bought 900,000 gallons released from the US. And guess who was the go between for the sale? That lil ole company Hunter and the Chinese fella created.
Anne Applebaum would devour Tucker and spit him out in the first 5 minutes. The rest of the debate would involve cleaning his remains off the stage floor.
Our government's first and primary job is to keep US citizens safe. This Bill does nothing to help the US, and prolongs a war that the Ukraine will never win. All of that money should be spent on OUR borders and making OUR country safe and stable.
At a fundraiser Biden told his crowd of enablers, I mean donors, that the United States is closer to WW III than at any time since the Cold War. I’m really curious as to how this administration has made us safer. There are US advisors and, as reported in the New York Times at least a dozen CIA bases in Ukraine at the Russian border. Biden likely ordered the bombing of the Nordstream pipelines, or at least assisted in the project, in what is the most provocative military maneuver in recent history. This man and his party is an existential threat to the US, and that’s not hyperbole.
I understand that feeling but there are certain things only the government can do. The main one protecting us and creating order as per our constitution.
Those certain things are few though. And the two the federal government are specifically charged with are borders and military defense. US military defense.
I 100% agree Stella, but I would argue that our federal government no longer has a priority to the people. Therefor we should focus more energy on our local government and communities. Louisiana is a prime example and I discuss that here: https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/the-rise-of-the-rebel-state
Mike Johnson didn’t “meet the moment.” He sold out his principles. It took about four months in power for the system to throughly corrupt him. Sixty billion more of our hard-earned money to prolong the war and kill more Ukrainians and Russians, all for the benefit of Lockheed, Raytheon, and the military-industrial complex about which Dwight D. Eisenhower- who knew of what he spoke- tried to warn us.
Thank you FP for highlighting the fact that Hilary Cass has suffered abuse and the fact that the thing which has made hr so angry is the misinformation. Benjamin Ryan has been investigating the operation to torpedo Cass and it makes for interesting reading. Despite claiming to leak an early Cass report, the activists linked to something else entirely. The whole story behind story. https://twitter.com/benryanwriter/status/1781856791627743657
The whole problem of the school to gender clinic pipeline is becoming clearer in the UK. Gillian Philip writing for Spiked examines the part children's publishing played (and continues to play) in this. This was something Bill Maher highlighted at the weekend. Gillian was famously cancelled for putting 'I stand with JK Rowling' in her bio. She is now a truck driver, having previously been a successful children's author. https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/04/22/will-the-trans-activists-who-cancelled-me-ever-apologise/
Finally the 'Openly Jewish' row with the Met Police continues. An ex-commissioner has likened it to football supporters but the government ministers are having none of that -- calling what the officer did 'appalling'. It remains to be seen if Jewish people will be allowed to be 'openly Jewish' in London on a Saturday when pro-Palestinian marches are happening. For the sake of decency and democracy, one can only hope so. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/met-police-pro-palestinian-protest-errors-6rz6f2st0 or https://archive.ph/m6x43
I'm been very alarmed by the incident with the Met Police. Indeed, most of the news that comes out of the UK is deeply disturbing. Cass's report and the decision to shut down the gender clinic are notable exceptions. I noticed that Scotland failed to repeal the insane "hate speech" law.
Just finished the third episode of Mr Bates and the Post Office. I am so enraged for those people. Twenty Years they were fighting the lies and deceit and that’s just so far.
England certainly has fallen far (on so many levels)
And don’t forget, the police in England have been on the side of Muslims as far back as the Rotherham incident from the early 90’s! They covered for the Muslim Pakistani rapists and went after the fathers if the white girls for complaining.
My husband and I were shouting at the telly when it was broadcast over here. Now you can understand why there was such a move to strip Vanellis of her honours -- she had no honour. She testifies in May.
The Rotherham scandal was dreadful on many levels.
As a Brit now living in (and a citizen of) America, I was shocked to hear about the Subpostmaster scandal. But I am heartened that the people in the UK are starting to prevail against a tyrannical regime, especially when it comes to the scandal of gender ideology permeating the schools and the health care system. There is hope that the insanity will be overturned emphatically in the UK and this will then affect policy in the US (although unlikely to change here until Biden and his unhinged administration are removed from office).
$95 billion aid package that included $60 billion for Ukraine, $26 billion for Israel, and $8 billion to help defend Taiwan.
$60 more in borrowed money that goes down a rat hole for a war that should have been ended a year ago and which was completely avoidable. $26 billion for a nation that is worthy of our support but which is quite wealthy in its own right. And $8 billion of borrowed money for another wealthy nation but - given our own stupidity in off shoring vital good and services - is probably the most vital to our security. We are governed by fools.
When will we see any reporting about the Biden administration's atrocious policies that are allowing, encouraging, every single point in this delusional reporting? This is TFP's unfortunate blind spot. Unseriousness is an understatement when the symptoms of the Democrat cabal are more important than the disease. But Trump! Wake up!
Maybe wealthy parents who are funding their children’s miseducation and activism at elite universities should bring their children home for a gap year based in reality. Although it may be difficult for their relationship, parents may want to take a stand and stop supporting children who have no respect for their parents, country or their values. These privileged students don’t understand the value of the money that is showered on them, while they wage war on colonialism and capitalism. Parents might be able to save their children by withdrawing financial support and taking a stand. They would also be doing the rest of us a huge favour.
I think you'll find that most of these wealthy parents are, themselves, Leftists. Or at least Democrats. Over the last 50 years, more and more of "the rich" have been flocking to the Left.
I am curious...have they been flocking left or simply following the power. I also wonder how many of then have become rich BECAUSE of their affiliation with the Democrats.
I think it is a combination of factors. Following power is almost certainly the biggest one. And that is closely tied to their *ability* to become rich(er).
But there's a major factor that plays into all of this: the virtue-signaling that makes it possible to be rich and not feel guilty for whatever one did in order to become rich.
Don't forget that Trump was a huge NYC hero to the Left...until he stopped being a Democrat. And he was a Democrat for decades.
Dishonest and dishonorable behavior in business dealings is perfectly allowable, as long as one mouths the "correct" views and donates to the "correct" causes.
There's a reason that blue-collar workers and the Left have been parting ways: the Left is led and funded by the wealthy oppressors of the laboring class.
"Don't forget that Trump was a huge NYC hero to the Left."
I don't get this, Celia. To the rich-rich in New York City, who came in all political colors, Donald Trump was a crass wannabe who attended their parties but whose immodesty and multiple bankruptcies were off-putting.
To my family, also varied Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, and to our friends, he was a joke -- a playboy publicity hound. He liked glitter and gold leaf. He flaunted his women.
He stiffed his contractors. He left everyone but himself holding the bag.
What did he do to ingratiate himself to the left? Rehabilitate one ice-skating rink? Create a golf course across from the Whitestone Bridge that no one wanted?
Not even my Uncle Bill, a diehard Democrat, liked Trump.
I still have no use for Andrew Sullivan. FOX news is worse than the litany of ideological distortion that gushes out of liberal media? I would love to see a real comparative study with the evidence to support his assertion. Am I FOX fan? No. But the weight and volume of leftist excess is overwhelming.
Radical cant is all these kids hear and see. One of my first brushes with wokism was a raised fist, hostile, intersectional and racialist article in Teen Vogue browbeating young girls to vote for black women. It was pre- George Floyd, after Trump was elected. There was a deliberate paucity of white faces and perspectives. Teen Vogue is about as classic or legacy American as Mao's Little Red Book. It's a political endeavor run by people who want to wash young brains against their own country. Here's their self- description:
"At Teen Vogue, we pride ourselves on publishing reported pieces and essays that are inclusive and disruptive. With smart, authentic takes on culture, identity, and politics, we tell the stories that normally go untold, defining the zeitgeist for a new generation that demands style and substance. As our Editor-in-Chief Versha Sharma says, we aim to be a “guide and resource for young people who want to change the world for the better, all the while reminding them to have fun and find joy doing it.”
I bet. It is published by none other than Conde Nast, the Newhouses. Conde Nast is going, or emphasizing, "global." The new head of NPR explains elsewhere that truth is relative because of the new "scale"-- global. The pod people at Gemini boasted that the erasure of the West and white faces was due to its global reach. American colleges, especially the ivys, are prioritizing international students over American ones. Rich capitalists ushering in Marxist governance; Radical Chic realized.
The left is akin to a neutron bomb; the institutions are standing, but they're completely hollowed out. It is denaturing the U.S. and making it global. We're here to pay for it.
"Amid all the pressure to root out corruption, I assumed, perhaps naively, that officials in Ukraine would think twice before taking a bribe or pocketing state funds. But when I made this point to a top presidential adviser in early October, he asked me to turn off my audio recorder so he could speak more freely. “Simon, you’re mistaken,” he says. “People are stealing like there’s no tomorrow.”
So where exactly has 30 years of US aid gone? An aggressive Russia was met with a seemingly unprepared Ukraine military that allowed their country to be invaded again under Biden's watch.
I think you know the answer Jen. Ukraine is just another facility in the US governments international money laundering chain and most of our politicians are shareholders.
Exactly! To not acknowledge this is delusional. I'd like to know exactly what Biden's role in Ukraine corruption has been. A president impeached for asking. Hunter laptop that never was until it was. If it's nothing more than a "conspiracy theory", TFP should have no problem "debunking" it. Ya, know, journalism.
Thanks for the link to the article. If you read the entire thing it shows the tremendous, and mostly successful, efforts that Ukraine and Zelensky are engaged in to eliminate the corruption and use the aid we send them correctly and purposefully. They’re in a very difficult situation created by Putin and not helped by the asymmetric warfare that includes Iran backing the Hamas attack on Israel that has gone a long way to take the world’s eyes off Russian aggression and redirect that attention to the Middle East. All of this in turn will make it that much easier for China to move on Taiwan, so it’s a good thing that the aid bill that was passed on Saturday includes money to shore up defenses (and build up US Navy assets such as submarines) in the Indo-Pacific. Lots of good work by the US Congress this week.
"Even the firing of the Defense Minister did not make officials “feel any fear,” he adds, because the purge took too long to materialize. The President was warned in February that corruption had grown rife inside the ministry, but he dithered for more than six months, giving his allies multiple chances to deal with the problems quietly or explain them away. By the time he acted ahead of his U.S. visit, “it was too late,” says another senior presidential adviser. "Ukraine’s Western allies were already aware of the scandal by then. Soldiers at the front had begun making off-color jokes about “Reznikov’s eggs,” a new metaphor for corruption. “The reputational damage was done,” says the adviser."
"But some of the accusations have been hard to deny. In August, a Ukrainian news outlet known for investigating graft, Bihus.info, published a damning report about Zelensky’s top adviser on economic and energy policy, Rostyslav Shurma. The report revealed that Shurma, a former executive in the energy industry, has a brother who co-owns two solar-energy companies with power plants in southern Ukraine. Even after the Russians occupied that part of the country, cutting it off from the Ukrainian power grid, the companies continued to receive state payments for producing electricity. "
This was published in Oct 2023. Aside from thirty years of US aid and 10% for the "big guy", more aid is great.
More aid is great and I’m super glad it’s happening. So are 50% of the GOP congressmen. So are the NATO countries. So are the Ukrainian people. So is everyone with any sense that understands what is actually at stake in Ukraine, and it’s not the price of eggs or fictional payments of “bribes” to Biden. Freedom and democracy won this week. Russian propaganda lost. It’s all good.
An aggressive Russia was met with a seemingly unprepared Ukraine military that allowed their country to be invaded again under Biden's watch. Ukraine is a member of NATO? A 'partner' is not a member. Corruption is fiction? Ok. I guess good thing Trump pushed for NATO members to pay their commitment of 3% of GDP. That's what smart countries do when they have an aggressive neighbor, they protect themselves from the threat.
Oh dear, Jen. A little reading comprehension is in order.
(1) did I say Ukraine was a member of NATO? No.
(2) did I say Ukraine was a partner of NATO? No.
(3) did I say the NATO countries were happy the aid passed? Yes. The NATO countries are very much afraid that Russia will invade the Baltics and Poland if Russia is allowed to conquer Ukraine. That is what all their intelligence agencies say and it has been made clear to Mike Johnson by multiple European heads of state over the last 6 months. Pay attention.
(4) did I say corruption in general was a fiction? No.
(5) did I say the Biden bribes were fictitious? Yes. There is no proof that any of that happened. Even Hunter’s laptop failed to prove it.
(6) Trump pushed the NATO countries to pay their required 2%, not 3%. Facts matter, including the actual requirements of our agreements.
(7) I assume your last statement is supposed to reflect back on your first, ie, a “seemingly unprepared Ukraine military”. False. If they were “seemingly unprepared”, then how did they drive the Russians out of Kiev, destroying all the Russian tanks of the initial invasion and killing half of the Russian troops originally sent in to capture Kiev. Luck? Not bloody likely. The “seemingly unprepared military” was the Russian army who thought they would capture Kiev in 3 to 5 days, overthrow the existing government, install a puppet government handpicked by Moscow (and already in place, ready to go) and be home in time for Easter. Two years later that still hasn’t happened, with no end in sight.
Personally, I recommend you go take a remedial reading class at your local community college, and maybe also enroll in a debate class. But thanks again for the Time magazine article. It was interesting.
"If they were “seemingly unprepared”, then how did they drive the Russians out of Kiev". Hello? Why did they let them in in the first place? Your screed is so devoid of reality and sense. Remedial at best is generous.
Please explain clearly what the alleged crime was that Trump is accused of under NY law? Is it making a hush money payment ( pretty simple) or something much more complex? Is there a clearly worded NY statute? Was the alleged crime looked into at thr federal level ? If so by whom and what did the federal authorities conclude? Please only report the law and the facts regarding THIS CASE. And feel free to also let us know exactly how NYT WAPO MSNBC et al have framed( no pun intended) the law and the facts ( which together form the basis of what we used to call the rule of law).
According to the court documents, he "made and caused a false entry in the business records of an enterprise." In other words, Trump didn't straight up say in his business records that he was paying a ho for a non-disclosure agreement. The payment was recorded, but it was not explained as such. Seriously. That's it. DA Bragg, who campaigned on "I'll get Trump," is pumping this up into a felony using a law that was meant to be used to prosecute serious financial corruption.
That’s not “it”. The full charge is that the false business records were falsified with the intent to cover up another secondary crime, or to further a secondary crime, which in this case is campaign fraud, ie, burying news stories that might have hurt Trump if they got out prior to the election. Complex? Yes. Complicated? Yes. Illegal or unfair? No. It’s the equivalent of nailing Al Capone for tax fraud instead of all the other crimes he committed.
Your analogy of Capone's tax fraud conviction is a nuance I'm not sure is readily appreciated here..
It's interesting that Cohen, Trump's fixer, was convicted and served three years by doing what he was told to by his boss, but, according to 99% of the posters on this thread, his boss is guilty of nothing..
Haha, true! Here’s what I just wrote to Rob, who asked me if Trump had ever been charged with or convicted of campaign fraud. Now, of course, the amazing thing is 99% of TFP posters never read anything that explains this stuff, they just assume. But anyway, here’s my explanation to Rob:
In this particular case, the DA is alleging that Trump falsified business records to cover up or commit one of 3 possible other crimes. From the opening statements it appears that the prosecutor is going to go for conspiracy to commit campaign fraud under NY state law. Since it’s a conspiracy to commit, the actual committing of the campaign fraud does not have to be proven, just the conspiracy.
While a hush money payment is not necessarily illegal, Cohen and AMI have both admitted they broke laws by making these payments in an effort to hide unflattering information before the 2016 election.
Cohen pleaded guilty to two campaign finance charges in August 2018: causing an unlawful campaign contribution for his involvement orchestrating the payment from AMI to McDougal, and making an excessive campaign contribution for the payment to Daniels.
AMI, now known as a360media, was not criminally charged by federal authorities but did admit to making the payment to McDougal. The company paid a $187,500 fine to the Federal Election Commission for making an unlawful campaign contribution.
So… the chain of events to be proven in this trial is that Trump engaged in a conspiracy with Cohen and AMI to commit campaign fraud by (1) covering up facts that might have influenced the election - the sex stories, (2) getting entities like AMI and Cohen himself to make in kind campaign donations in excess of the $100k limit - the payments to Daniels and McDougal, (3) fraudulently making the in kind campaign contributions look like business expenses.
The conspiracy will be proven by the prosecution witnesses that Trump participated in various meeting at Trump Tower with Cohen and Pecker (AMI, parent company of The Enquirer) to plan the fraud. They are going to use Cohen to prove both the conspiracy and the falsified business records, but also Trump Co accountants. Hope Hicks is expected to testify, so I’m guessing maybe she was at some of the meetings, dk.
Trump’s lawyers argued in their opening that this was a simple NDA agreement that people use all the time and that it had no connection to the campaign, Trump did it to keep his family from finding out about his sex scandals and keep Melania from getting hurt. At least that’s the gist of the argument. Trump, of course, also denies the allegations of Daniels and McDougal. Trump also denies knowing that his staff was making the reimbursement money to Cohen look like a business expense, or that he asked anyone to do that. Trump denies meeting with or discussing with either Cohen or Pecker with respect to the possible repercussions on the campaign if the Daniels story got out.
So we’ll see what happens. Should be a fun 6 weeks.
The number of politicians who could be prosecuted under this logic, for payments to "consultants" who make bad stories go away, is endless. If they convict Trump this way, knives (in pen form of course) out in red states fellas - I see some creative prosecutions firing up.
The crime is not paying to make a story go away. It’s doing that as a form of campaign finance fraud. This is a multi layered crime, not just a simple “catch and kill” or NDA. If other politicians have committed the same crime, then yes, they should also be prosecuted. But since this a NY state law, it might be different in other states and not actionable.
The type of law ultimately will not matter. The Democrats have upped the ante. The entire nation will be old school Alabama - eating its own every turn of the elections. If I were an elected Democrat in a red state, I would be checking my closet regularly to make sure the skeletons are secure.
No, but that is not required by the NY state law in question. In this particular case, the DA is alleging that Trump falsified business records to cover up or commit one of 3 possible other crimes. From the opening statements it appears that the prosecutor is going to go for conspiracy to commit campaign fraud under NY state law. Since it’s a conspiracy to commit, the actual committing of the campaign fraud does not have to be proven, just the conspiracy.
While a hush money payment is not necessarily illegal, Cohen and AMI have both admitted they broke laws by making these payments in an effort to hide unflattering information before the 2016 election.
Cohen pleaded guilty to two campaign finance charges in August 2018: causing an unlawful campaign contribution for his involvement orchestrating the payment from AMI to McDougal, and making an excessive campaign contribution for the payment to Daniels.
AMI, now known as a360media, was not criminally charged by federal authorities but did admit to making the payment to McDougal. The company paid a $187,500 fine to the Federal Election Commission for making an unlawful campaign contribution.
So… the chain of events to be proven in this trial is that Trump engaged in a conspiracy with Cohen and AMI to commit campaign fraud by (1) covering up facts that might have influenced the election - the sex stories, (2) getting entities like AMI and Cohen himself to make in kind campaign donations in excess of the $100k limit - the payments to Daniels and McDougal, (3) fraudulently making the in kind campaign contributions look like business expenses.
The conspiracy will be proven by the prosecution witnesses that Trump participated in various meeting at Trump Tower with Cohen and Pecker (AMI, parent company of The Enquirer) to plan the fraud. They are going to use Cohen to prove both the conspiracy and the falsified business records, but also Trump Co accountants. Hope Hicks is expected to testify, so I’m guessing maybe she was at some of the meetings, dk.
Trump’s lawyers argued in their opening that this was a simple NDA agreement that people use all the time and that it had no connection to the campaign, Trump did it to keep his family from finding out about his sex scandals and keep Melania from getting hurt. At least that’s the gist of the argument. Trump, of course, also denies the allegations of Daniels and McDougal. Trump also denies knowing that his staff was making the reimbursement money to Cohen look like a business expense, or that he asked anyone to do that. Trump denies meeting with or discussing with either Cohen or Pecker with respect to the possible repercussions on the campaign if the Daniels story got out.
So we’ll see what happens. Should be a fun 6 weeks.
Can someone explain to me why they don't apply the antiKKK and antiterrorism laws to these protestors? Were the laws repealed and I simply did not see that anywhere? Are these progressive mayors, DAs and POTUS still trying to ass kiss these Hamas lovers and America haters thinking that somehow they are going to vote for them in November? Do they really think that by coddling these anarchist, marxist, and islamists that the average American is going to think its ok and ignore the havoc in our streets and the threat to our everyday? If this continues I see a big win for the GOP in November in not only red but blue states as well.
Not surprised that Teen Vogue profiled Hirsi. They have been consistently promoting an illiberal progressive agenda and are blatantly antiIsrael/antisemitic for years now. That they hold her on a pedestal and promote her Jew hatred does not surprise me. But it does poison the minds of young women in this country.
That Dr. Cass cannot take public transportation after her report is again a symbol of how useless the police and governments have become in the west. They have let the violent extremists take over.
The common denominator in almost all these stories today is that there are elements of society that think they are entitled to be violent because they disagree with someone's politics or they don't like the truth when they are confronted with it. What is worse is that they seem to be able to get away with it. This does not bode well for society.
Ideally it would mean getting Russia out of Ukraine altogether and securing Ukraine’s 1991 borders as a sovereign Russia-free country. Unfortunately, at this point it might mean ending the fighting and leaving the territorial borders frozen where they are like North and South Korea. Putin will refuse to accept that, however, as long as he thinks he has a chance of conquering all of Ukraine, which is his ultimate goal as both he and the Kremlin have stated many times (and continue to state inside Russia on Russian state television and radio). So for now the goal must be to pound Russia into accepting the territory gains they have and stopping the war. Putin has to be made to accept that he will lose and truly believe that or he will never stop fighting. He is willing to kill as many Russians and Ukrainians as necessary to rebuild “Greater Russia” and it will take an ungodly amount of force to disabuse him of that goal.
Thanks, Ann P. I have NEVER heard one politician express this. And "pound Russia" until they agree to stop. WTF? With whom? Ukrain is out of warriors. "Defeating Russia" with a proxie is almost laughable if not for the lives lost. This is a QUAGMIRE orchestrated by MIC to force regime change (which never works, btw) that has backfired on everyone. Sanctions didn't work. Saying "Don't" doesn't work. Providing weapons without air support is practically worthless. This is a half ass attempt to prevent Russia from stealing the graft that our politicians want for themselves. QUAGMIRE, pure and simple. Oh, and that "ungodly amount of force" includes folks like my daughter in the Navy. And for what?
Mike Johnson’s son is also in the Navy. He wants to stop Russia in Ukraine so his son doesn’t have to fight in the Russia/NATO war that will follow if Russia wins in Ukraine. Johnson has seen the intelligence that shows that if Russia conquers Ukraine, they move next on the Baltics and Poland. At that point his son and your daughter are deployed. If the US falls back on aid to Ukraine, China sees that we’re weak and they move on Taiwan. His son and your daughter are deployed.
Lack of air support doomed Ukraine’s counterattack this past summer. That is Biden’s fault for sure. However, the F-16’s are arriving soon if they’re not already there. Ukrainian pilots have been training on them all winter in Texas, Poland, and England. Ukraine is not out of soldiers, although they need more. Moral is already up since the aid package passed, so that’s good. The weapons are already being prepped for delivery and some of them are already in Poland ready for immediate transport and delivery. The Czech government has just sent 500,000 rounds of artillery shells and will be sending another 500,000 rounds soon.
Biden is very much at fault for slow walking everything and refusing to give Ukraine what it needed when it needed it. His fear of escalation has severely damaged Ukraine and created the quagmire. But the fact is that now we have no choice but to dig out of the quagmire and get the job done. If you really want to keep your daughter safe, this is essential. China is watching to see if we mean business or if we’re all just a bunch of cowards who can be intimidated into backing away from imperial aggression. Isolationism will get your daughter killed faster than anything else. Just ask her.
I appreciate your correspondence. China saw all they needed to see when we pulled out of Afghanistan. The Biden Administration already calls Taiwan China. There is so much behindb the scenes we will never know. We egged Putin on in Ukraine. $60 Billion ADDITIONAL dollars will NOT defeat Russia. Lol to even think that. 45 days to wrap this up you say. Sounds like theater. "Defeating Russia" was a wet dream. Putin WILL NOT take on NATO. NO EFFING WAY.
Oh, and let's not even get into the Nordstream pipeline we blew up. We are provoking all of this. My daughter stands ready to defend the USA. Lmk when Putin invades it. Oh, China already sending military age men over our border, but LOOK AT UKRAINE. BORDER IS SECURE.
Btw, the US Navy has aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean helping to defend Israel, and n the Red Sea getting bombed by Houthi rebels. Does your daughter serve on an aircraft carrier? She could be sent anywhere. Is the Navy defending Israel making sure that our Navy only defends the continental US from a ground invasion? It’s absolutely ludicrous that you don’t know what the US Navy does. My cousin in the Marines served in Afghanistan for god’s sake. Educate yourself.
Your daughter is going to be deployed either to some EU country when Russia invades NATO or to Taiwan/South China Sea when China starts the war in the Pacific. Better to accept the truth than continue to believe MAGA propaganda. Did you really honestly believe that when your daughter joined the Navy she would only ever fight to defend an invasion of the continental US? I can’t believe that you are that ignorant and uninformed. Perhaps you are, but I bet your daughter isn’t, assuming this Navy daughter actually exists. Your posts are devolving into all caps MAGA nonsense, which makes me think you were never interested in a serious conversation to begin with. Congress is doing the right thing. Mike Johnson did the right thing. Ukraine will get what they need. The US will get more and better weapons. The Navy is going to get new ships and submarines. It’s all good and about time. Have a nice day.
No MAGA here, Ann. Just a born again isolationist who wants our borders CLOSED. I guess having a kid in the service tends to change the lens you view these BS conflicts with.
Re: TFP immigration debate. Yes, the silence on that is deafening, isn’t it? I suspect it wasn’t sold out or they’d have broadcast that loud and clear. They did say about 700 people showed up, but they’ve never said how many people the venue was capable of seating. So half full? We’ll never know if we have to rely on TFP to tell us.
Btw, I read yesterday that the aid bill that passed includes a requirement that the WH issue a detailed written plan for the end goal in Ukraine within 45 days of the President signing the final legislation. That should tell us something.
I have no issue with the Dems waving Ukrainian flags after passing the aid package. But I do have a question especially for Jewish congressman ( and the former Madame Speaker) : did you also wave an Israeli flag or a Taiwanese flag when you presumably voted for those aid packages and if not why not ?
I have zero issue with showing support for an ally. I am.aware of Ukraine issues. Right now they are fighting against our enemies ( including those who are supplying russia). I view this as distinguishable from a congressman waving a Chinese or Palestinian flag ( which is their right as it would be mine to castigate them) . Symbolic support for a Ukraine or an Israel in the time of war has its benefits. That is my opinion. The failure to wave Israeli flags should have been noted. All about the dems and the election. Again my opinion
To each his own. Throughout history countries have waved flags of other countries to show support. Examples: liberation of Europe, support after 9-11. So I gather you would also object to someone waving a replica of the Israeli flag or a pin w the Israeli flag displayed? Or is it just Ukraine.
But given that Islamist terrorists murdered 3000 Americans on September 11, and pro-Hamas demonstrators are cheering on Muslim terrorist groups and waving their flags, it's a little like waving a Japanese or a Nazi flag or the flags of their proxies and allies during World War II and cheering them on, no?
Lynne, I understand the Ukraine arguments . We just disagree on the geo political aspects. My point re no Israel flags still stands vis a vis the Dem lawmakers especially guys like Raskin. Fetterman would have had an Israeli flag were he a Congressman ( Schumer maybe not).
" . . . you’ll be shocked to discover that these revolutionaries are not exactly working-class heroes."
Who's shocked? Working class people are exactly that -- working.
Columbia University darlings, Islamist moles, and Marxist "intellectuals" have all the time in the world to lie about, burn flags, scream, and spit.
One of the protesters is already accustomed to getting away with anything, up to and including murder. At 16, she crossed the center line (whether intentionally or through inattention; video from the car behind her showed her remaining the oncoming lane for some time) and rammed into an elderly couple, killing them both. Her wealthy parents pitched a fit that her name was made public in the accident report, even though that was consistent with the laws of the state. But the only punishment she received (unless she had her wrist slapped in juvenile court) seems to have been a $220 traffic fine. https://nypost.com/2024/04/21/us-news/columbia-protester-who-killed-elderly-vermont-couple-in-crash-should-be-in-jail-not-on-campus-furious-family-says/
I know. Pretty awful.
Thanks for the info.
Disgusting but typical
No protestors should be allowed to cover with a mask, keffiyeh or any face covering at all, so that they can be identifiable to the public & law enforcement.
Also, Biden needs to federalize the National Guard across several states (like JFK did in 1962) to restore order on these college campuses, but he doesn't have the political will or courage to do that.
Ah but that takes courage to do right and enforce the laws. Something in very short supply with this band of clowns. Now if you want that gas stove, well we are watching.
They have the will to enforce laws against some people.
I am a believer that for you to invoke your Free Speech rights, you have to actually be identifiable.
So does that mean people should be required to give their correct names in any context where where their expressing themselves, such as when commenting on news articles?
Everyone doing so here could be identified if necessary.
The internet makes things tricky. My anonymity here has more to do with not trusting data trawlers and bad actors than not being willing to identify myself with my speech.
That said, you are probably right that my phrasing was far too absolute. Maybe I should have put it something like "I'm not going to respect or take seriously someone's speech that chooses to hide while giving it". Or something like that.
Yes the internet does make things tricky. I understand why people not want to reveal themselves and risked being harassed. But I guess the same might be true of people who are attending a protest. Frankly, I agree with you that hiding our identities is a problem in that it invites almost too much freedom inviting more impulsivity and carelessness in our speech.
I began identifying myself as B. when I was a teacher and wrote in comments to The New York Times. I tried to keep my classroom a free if regulated place where my students could express opinions that did not break my rules of etiquette, and I made it my business to stay neutral as far as I was able. Hence the B. in public forums.
Which did not mean that there weren't debates or that we didn't have a good time. I still laugh when I think of some of the things they said.
But I have kept B. because I prefer to be judged by what I say (and do) and not by who I am.
To me, in the instance of a protest, it feels like a way to try to avoid the hard part of protesting. The part where you may get punished for the laws or social norms you broke in order to get your point across. And trying to avoid that makes the protests less meaningful.
When you see that picture of the guy in China standing in front of a tank, it works because you know that person it truly sacrificing for their principals. When you see a bunch of Ivy league students doing a sit in on the quad with masks on, it makes me think they want attention, but no possibility for negative attention. It is cowardly, basically.
Don't be so hard on the ever senile Joe. He doesn't know what planet he's on much less he's the president of the US.
Evans, surely you aren’t serious, even tho some of RFK Jr. relatives have a campaign ad out saying, “Biden reminds them of JFK”
Biden can’t call out the National Guard, or anyone! He’s too desperate for these college terrorist votes!
I read "Death of a Salesman" over the weekend. What a pile of crap. I've known many salesmen, none even remotely like this guy. And I thought "who falls for this BS?" And of course the answer is New York intellectuals. They have to be told in a play "how" people of that sort "are" because they would never dream of having a beer with one, the same way they would never go to Peoria, find the local watering hole with the Budweiser sign outside and a bunch of pickup trucks, and go in an have a conversation with anyone about anything.
The whole thing is intellectual inbreeding, and we all know inbreeding gets worse the longer it continues. And it got hallucinatory and monstrous many decades ago.
The idea of authoritarian Communism should be dead. But lies and contextual schizophrenia are clearly keeping it alive.
I was thinking along the same lines as this over the weekend when another piece of shit made in China tool I bought at the big blue hardware store broke on it's second use. We're told by the intellectuals and their chattering class friends that this is what Americans want; cheap disposal goods. NO! All the people that I know work decently hard for their money and don't want to waste it on crap that doesn't work. That all these things *have* to be made in China is a lie and was done to enrich THEIR pockets, not save money for ours! As a play on another saying, if you don't have the money to pay for it the first time, where will you find the money to pay for it a second time?
I feel your frustration. I am now on pressure switch number four for my water well. In less than four years.
I coined the term CCC years ago: cheap Chinese crap.
Of course this phone was probably made in China by de facto slave labor. I tried to source a phone made elsewhere but failed.
Re: the slave labor - I'm capitalist through and through - small business' are (Were? After the China Virus, I'm not sure) the lifeblood of this country. When manufacturing was off-shored, saving those corporation huge dollars, the US transitioned into its vaunted "intellectual economy". So many of those corporate jobs are salary/exempt; the college degrees turned into a new class of indentured servitude.
I wonder if “Death of a Salesman” ever rang true for any real working class person?
The “great American Tragedy” has always seemed to me an elitist dreamscape, and nothing more.
In their world most of us exist solely as possible pawns—what I tend to call Operative Pretexts—for their delusional and grandiose fantasies of power and relevance. It was “the working class” for a while—in this case even a supposedly oppressed middle class. Then blacks, then Persons of Color generally, then women who screwed around and wound up with babies they didnt want, and in recent years gays and the gray world of adolescent kids who they manipulated in gender delusions.
And of course “the environment” throughout. First overpopulation, then ACTUAL pollution, which really WAS a problem. But that was a bipartisan problem. Most early environmentalists were hunters and fishers. People forget Nixon founded the EPA.
Then global cooling, then global warming, and in the present era “weather”, which is more or less the honest translation of Climate Change.
Lost at present is plastics EVERYWHERE—in our oceans, bays and streams. They dont want to talk about, much less address, that, other than through token authiritarian measures like banning straws.
As usual, right on target.
I just had this discussion with my daughter. Back before Iran lost its mind, there were all these "students" protesting. I always wondered why they weren't studying something. All the Iranians at my university were focused engineering students. You could tell by their extremely expensive calculators attached to their belts. They hardly had time to eat.
I am assuming liberal arts majors don't have a very demanding class load...or that one of their classes is just "Protesting 101". What sad is, I meant this as a joke, but it has a better than average chance of being true.
Most of them get extra credit from their professors for participating in Leftist protests.
That's nothing. Back When, the Taliban was referred to as a student group. And Someone (might have been Doonesbury) did a riff on the alleged students who took over the US embassy in Tehran being concerned about final exams. Must be a great life, student; no wonder so many never grow up.
Casey, they’re “fragile” and get “triggered” easily!
I sorta heard a loud shot of sarcasm when he used the word “shocked.”
You're probably right! But always good to clarify.
"When they said they could be fair and impartial, I believed them. So did Judge Merchan. So did most of the reporters in the overflow room."
Are you drunk?
How you can suspend your disbelief enough to feel optimistic about this jury being unbiased and fair is staggering to me. And when you wrote "most of the reporters in the overflow room thought the same" is interesting. I assume that by using 'most' that there were at least some that didn't? If that's the case, you should have included that in the story IMO.
The very fact that this man is on trial for this case is laughable, but to think he might get an impartial jury & a fair trial in Manhattan, and with this judge, is so maddening it makes me want to throw my computer out the window.
The alleged crime that Trump’s been charged with, falsification of business records, a misdemeanor under New York law, but elevated to a felony when it’s done to facilitate another crime, which is what prosecutors are alleging here—all 34 counts against Trump are classified as felonies. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg arguing that the allegedly falsely labeled payments were done to cover up other crimes, including Cohen’s campaign finance crimes and alleged tax issues, as the payments to Cohen were falsely characterized as income rather than repayments.
Trumps attorneys have argued that Trump’s reimbursement checks to Cohen were not unlawful, submitting that Trump “cannot be said to have falsified business records of the Trump Organization by paying his personal attorney using his personal bank accounts.”
And lets not even get started on Judge Merchan. His wife, daughter, hell, his entire family are neck deep in the democrat party in New York. What we are witnessing is lawfare and its changed the landscape of politics & equal justice under the law in this country forever. Merchan, before even hearing any motions, has stated he won't entertain motions on selective prosecutorial claims. He has a history of ruling against the Trump organization. And just for hoots & grins, lets put a gag order on the defendant so that he can't invoke his right to free speech. Now Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Stormy Daniels can say anything they want, at any time, to anyone, but Trump must stay silent lest he be charged with contempt. Settlement payments bound with NDA's take place every day in this country and that's what this was. It doesn't make Trump a good guy, but it damned sure doesn't make him a felon.
The Firm in DC has the long knives out because Trump is a threat to their very existence. Even RFK Jr remarks that "the weaponization of government against" former President Donald Trump is unprecedented.
Like him or hate him, this case is bullsh*t.
"Like him or hate him, this case is bullsh*t."
I agree. And I hope this supremely selfish, capricious, and angry man gets off scot-free and trounces Biden and the leftist crazies and incompetents who control him.
'The Firm in DC has the long knives out because Trump is a threat to their very existence.'
The sheer, massive effort put forth by the cabal for the last eight years to take down Trump should tell everyone all they need to know.
I have tended to use something I will call the Alan Alda Principle. Would Alan Alda in 1978 have been OK with this, as an UberLiberal? No, of course not. The whole trial, and nearly everything connected to the patent abuses of police authority and the law with respect to Trump are obviously latent Fascistic Authoritarianism.
There was a time, kids, way back when, when people understood that what could be done to any of us could be done to all of us. It may be that the GOVERNOR of New York told New York City businessmen and women that they didn't need to worry, because they were only after Trump, but you know what? They are New Yorkers, and they know better than that. The fallout from the weaponization and corruption of the law will take a few years, but New York City is at serious risk of losing a lot of what made it one of the financial capitals of the world, all because the legal system went Communist/Fascist.
And they call it the rule of law. How many believe that the issue is merely if stormy was paid under AN NDA? Or that other matters are relevant to the case at hand? They word justice has been subsumed by politics and the nebulous phrase social justice often used never defined
The Trump case is nothing more than attention seeking media craze — which is what the news is for (to grab the populations attention). However what I found interesting and would argue most of us on Substack would find interesting as well is the man who set himself on fire outside the courthouse. He had a Substack and I wonder if this will be another attack on the platform and those narratives that go against the mainstream media: https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/the-man-who-set-himself-on-fire-had
I predict it will. Despite the fact that he was a registered Democrat.
As was the case brought by E Jean Carrol. Between an activist judiciary and biased prosecutors; the US is sliding down the slope to third world banana republic justice.
I am telling you these "novel theory" prosecutions and the prosecutors who pursue them are a direct road to hell. They also violate separation of powers.
Word.
“Reagan Republicans” never supported a “strong foreign policy against Russia.” They supported a strong foreign policy against the Soviet Union, which they defeated 35 years ago.
Please stop mischaracterizing conservatives, a group you don’t understand at all. We don’t support alienating Russia and feeding a war machine that won’t move the front lines back, but will only enrich the greedy palms that fund our congressional campaigns.
Congratulations to 112 House Republicans for not selling out American families.
What's funny is that when it WAS in our national interest the Left actively opposed standing up to what clearly WAS an "evil empire"; but now that our only national interest is in deescalation and avoiding conflict, all they want to do is fight for a war none of them would EVER contemplate sending their kids to fight. If I wasn't watching it happen, I would not have believed such absurd hypocrisy and madness was possible. This is literal, clinical mental illness. It is contextual, which is how these people hold jobs and more or less have social groupings reasonably called families, but it is hallucinatory schizophrenia nonetheless.
And I will add you can both be pushed and pulled by bad ideas. There are bad ideas like Nazism or Communism that pull you in, because like all bad ideas they have a superficial coating of whatever good things some people value.
But you can also be pushed, in the sense that you do the OPPOSITE of whatever the people you hate do. But you are not free in this. You are pushed, first here, then there. As the joke went, all that was needed to make the Left solidly pro-2nd Amendment would have been for Trump to come out in favor of "gun control", which is to say the government restricting gun ownership to their people.
One would think grown ass adults would somehow awaken from this spell, but the problem is that it is suffused with a radical and undefinable fear that touches the core of their sense of self, and they are all cowards. If they were not cowards, they would have awoken long ago. And cowardice is very hard to address, much less fix.
100% agree. The left liked Russia when it was a communist dictatorship and global superpower. Now that it’s a regional power and shitty corrupt dictatorship, the left hates it. What changed? Oh, yeah, they made up Russian collusion as an excuse for reset button Hillary losing to Trump in 2016. For the sixteen years prior to that, including the aforementioned Madame Secretary’s tenure, they had no problem with Russia persecuting its opposition or its 2014 invasion/occupation of Ukrainian territory.
And the Clinton’s have made many many dollars on their relationship with putin .
Remember, Russia was to blame for Hunter’s laptop, too!
Oh, and blame Russia for gas prices going up, even tho gas was going up BEFORE the Ukraine
Russia war, but hey, let’s FOCUS here!
Blame Russia or blame Trump!
And all it took was ten years of nonstop propaganda!
On a related subject, Glenn Greenwald is reporting on how Brazil's leftist government, allies of the Democrats, have their former president in jail and a judge demanding total censorship powers.
We'd already be there if Hillary had taken the Supreme Court.
Also, everybody writing comments should now understand that the feds just voted themselves the power to surveil everything we do on the internet. With no warrant.
Apparently our right to privacy doesn't extend to anything transmitted online, including the information from your smart devices.
We're racing towards a totalitarian autocracy at a shocking pace.
Since 2020, we've been watching the northbound train go by on the single track on which we were expecting the southbound express. Dunno when or where the train wreck happens -- but it WILL happen.
I suppose I should have been expecting a train metaphor from you!!!!
😁
Speak for yourself! I am as conservative as you can get and I am all for rebuilding our dormant armaments/weapons capacities and arming Ukrainians in order for THEM to kill Russian invaders in a most righteous cause. The Russians invaded a sovereign country, revealing that they are our enemies as well as the Iranians and especially the Communist party that controls China.
I truly don’t understand this isolationist strain in the Republican Party; As a Marine I fully understand that this is a dangerous world with nations that hate America and hate the West.
Can you explain to me why the border of Ukraine with Russia is more important than the border between the United States and Mexico? China is buying land here and seems to literally be building military bases--and certainly spy bases--on US soil, and doing so almost openly.
No money for the border was voted in this bill, as far as I know. Alejandro Mayorkas will face no consequences for obeying the orders he was given to order the Border Patrol to allow in every single person who crossed our border, and in a great many cases to buy them plane tickets from as far away as Venezuela. We are literally using taxpayer dollars to pay for people to break our laws by coming here illegally.
Surely you will grant that tough and smart are two different things?
I agree.
Also the idea that we are going to funnel money to a small corrupt country to fight a proxy war for us that will somehow rout that evil Russian empire has been completely absurd from the get go. Honestly, who runs a war they seriously want to win against a top nuclear armed country that spans 11 time zones thru a 3rd rate totalitarian leader with his own agenda? And if Blackrock took over Ukraine's agriculture, its unclear who really is running the country.
Its time to move past Rocky &His Friends Boris and Natasha darlink views of Russa and look at threats to the US in this world. Ahem, maybe look at China? (Oh, wait, somehow their lobbyists deflected our great leaders again and TikTok, farmland & manufacturig purchase, funding of major colleges, gain of function research continues unabated. And then some how we end up with congress & Biden authorizing unchecked surveillance on "we the people", the citizens of the US...what just happened?
It dawned on me the other day how just plain weird it is that legacy media has provided almost NO video coverage of war torn Ukraine territory. Certainly its been a deliberate move to keep folks from reacting to the reality and horrors of this "proxy" war to rid us of the evil empire.
If anyone thinks photos don't count, consider the anti-war reaction of folks to a pictures of crying children in Gaza (we really weren't shown many pictures of Israel's victims after the Hamas Oct 7 attacks, were we?). If we werre shown actual photographs of a ground war of the magnitude now going on in the Ukraine, we'd see the terrible destruction of the countryside, the buildings, homes, farmland, roads & bridges. And yes, the bombs and mortar deployed in the Ukraine also kill and mutilate children, old people and anyone unable to leave. Has anyone ever seen the graphic nature of war photos & film shorts shown during WW2 and Vietnam? Naw, we get treated to a stupid photo op of our foolish congress waving little blue & yellow flags as if this shows "support" for those poor Ukrainains. What a horrible terrible joke. Meanwhile the MIC and most likely our folks in congress make lots of money. Why else would congress refuse to require any accountability for the hundres of billions spent?
BTW, you can watch the Russian advance and actual bombing and destruction of the Ukraine on the regular internet brought to you via satellite survellance cameras (much like the pictures Google takes of your home). You won't see this real life livestreams on CNN or MSNBC. If you do watch, it quickly becomes obvious how this war exploits the Ukrainians citizens in the most horrible manner. However did they stay fed and sheltered over winters these past few years? Ukrainians were treated in the most ghastly manner by the Nazis and then by the Russians around WW2. Did we think oh heck, well they are used to it. Pray for these folks.
I've been saying since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war that the only thing I was sure about was that neither side was telling the truth, and that I had no idea what was really happening.
Steven Greer has been saying for years that we live in the Truman Show. Nothing is real. Nearly all our perceptions are doctored and managed, and that was true before AI. It just took more work.
One interesting tidbit about that war, though. I was watching combat footage filmed on the Ukrainian side, and these particularl guys kept calling the Russians "Jews". They were fighting the Jews. They wanted to kill "the Jews". We've all seen the swastikas on the tanks and elsewhere. There genuinely seem to be actual Nazi's with actual connections going back to the actual German Nazis, who have significant troops and combat capability.
We are left to dream of a world where journalists still just wanted to tell the truth, the full truth, and nothing but the truth. That world seems to be gone, though. Even the Free Press is not committed to that ideal. Their de facto Mission Statement is something like "To suck less than the New York Times, but to still hate all the right people." That's about right.
I KNOW, I can feel it clearly, that there is a LOT that we are not being told, about a lot of things. Those gaps drive me crazy, but I can't plug them.
Apparently a couple of months ago (gee, how time flies) there was a Senate bill passed on the border that never even made on to the House floor for a vote. According to the vast majority of posters here, it was simply because it was no damn good (I think it was Trump..) and that it deserved to die. But if border security is so sacrosanct to so many, how come there was no effort on the part of the House GOP to make the bill better?
It is against the law to enter the United States illegally. That's pretty much what illegal means.
Nothing has changed. Joe Biden's people simply put a piece of paper in front of him telling Mayorkas to tell the Border Patrol not just not to do their jobs, but to in all cases facilitate people entering this country illegally in getting everywhere possible. We are apparently even paying for plane flights from places like Venezuela to places well inside the US.
The whole thing is an indefensible absurdity. If you want me to think of you as an idiot, then by all means tell me Joe Biden is not in charge of the Border Patrol and that no laws concerning entry into this county exist.
Every effing day I feel like I have somehow stumbled into Alice in Wonderland, except that I am the only one not eating magic mushrooms, and everyone is telling me that it is absolutely a logical certainly that 2 plus grapes equals SHAZAM.
Great post - but you neglect to answer my question. You said in an earlier post there was no money for border security in the funding bill for Ukraine you don't like. But there was a prior bill (my point) that had all kinds. It was flawed but it simply died on arrival. But did it have to except for the intransigence of certain Republicans?
Yeah, Biden is shit on the border, old news, it's been that way for three years - and it appears to me that Trump and his acolytes quite like it that way.
Fair. I'm heading out the door and I really don't have anything intelligent to say at the moment. I wish we were fighting over a few degrees of the middle. But it is insanity fighting everything to the right of Chairman Mao.
And the point I was trying to make, even if I have to admit your critique is valid, is that if there is a border that should matter to Americans, it should be our OWN border.
You are entitled to your opinion. I however am as conservative as you get and I am not in that Ukrraine train. You completely overlook the Obama Ad.inistration's role in that 2014 invasion by its complicity in the overthrow of a duly elected, albeit pro-Russia president of Ukraine. Unlike our allies with whom we have enforceable obligations we owe Ukraine nothing. Biden's promises are not enforceable obligations. And Zensky grows more and more autocratic by the day. My prediction is US troops on the ground.
And, lest we not forget that the Bidens were already being paid in millions from corrupt Ukrainians to interfere in their government. This whole Ukraine issue is some kind of cover up and money grab. It stinks of rotten fish.
They don't call him Quid Pro Joe for naught. I was listening to a Senate hearing in which Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm was being grilled about releases from the petroleum reserve. It was pretty epic. She knew nothing. Nothing I tell you. But it turns out that while our reserve is at a historic low China's is flush. Surplus in fact. Seems they bought 900,000 gallons released from the US. And guess who was the go between for the sale? That lil ole company Hunter and the Chinese fella created.
Any argument including the words “as a _____” is fallacious and boring
I tend to agree although there is much about this conflict I don't understand/am ignorant of.
Related, I'd love to see TFP host a debate on Ukraine/Russia between two people like Tucker Carlson and Anne Applebaum.
Anne Applebaum would devour Tucker and spit him out in the first 5 minutes. The rest of the debate would involve cleaning his remains off the stage floor.
I would pay to see it!
Me too!
That!
And Regan had no qualms signing treaties with the Soviet Union to dial down the tensions
Our government's first and primary job is to keep US citizens safe. This Bill does nothing to help the US, and prolongs a war that the Ukraine will never win. All of that money should be spent on OUR borders and making OUR country safe and stable.
At a fundraiser Biden told his crowd of enablers, I mean donors, that the United States is closer to WW III than at any time since the Cold War. I’m really curious as to how this administration has made us safer. There are US advisors and, as reported in the New York Times at least a dozen CIA bases in Ukraine at the Russian border. Biden likely ordered the bombing of the Nordstream pipelines, or at least assisted in the project, in what is the most provocative military maneuver in recent history. This man and his party is an existential threat to the US, and that’s not hyperbole.
I’d have preferred the government never took it from us in the first place.
I understand that feeling but there are certain things only the government can do. The main one protecting us and creating order as per our constitution.
Those certain things are few though. And the two the federal government are specifically charged with are borders and military defense. US military defense.
I 100% agree Stella, but I would argue that our federal government no longer has a priority to the people. Therefor we should focus more energy on our local government and communities. Louisiana is a prime example and I discuss that here: https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/the-rise-of-the-rebel-state
Mike Johnson didn’t “meet the moment.” He sold out his principles. It took about four months in power for the system to throughly corrupt him. Sixty billion more of our hard-earned money to prolong the war and kill more Ukrainians and Russians, all for the benefit of Lockheed, Raytheon, and the military-industrial complex about which Dwight D. Eisenhower- who knew of what he spoke- tried to warn us.
Or he and his family were threatened
Sort of a John Roberts club, eh?
Why do you say that?
It’s been speculated. And I wouldn’t put it past our “security” forces or any democrat, but I repeat.
I asked because my spidey senses are up about McConnell. And remember Harry Reid and all his mysterious injuries.
Harry Reid’s injuries were caused by his rogue athletic exercise band.
Oh that's right. Silly me.
Thank you FP for highlighting the fact that Hilary Cass has suffered abuse and the fact that the thing which has made hr so angry is the misinformation. Benjamin Ryan has been investigating the operation to torpedo Cass and it makes for interesting reading. Despite claiming to leak an early Cass report, the activists linked to something else entirely. The whole story behind story. https://twitter.com/benryanwriter/status/1781856791627743657
The whole problem of the school to gender clinic pipeline is becoming clearer in the UK. Gillian Philip writing for Spiked examines the part children's publishing played (and continues to play) in this. This was something Bill Maher highlighted at the weekend. Gillian was famously cancelled for putting 'I stand with JK Rowling' in her bio. She is now a truck driver, having previously been a successful children's author. https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/04/22/will-the-trans-activists-who-cancelled-me-ever-apologise/
Finally the 'Openly Jewish' row with the Met Police continues. An ex-commissioner has likened it to football supporters but the government ministers are having none of that -- calling what the officer did 'appalling'. It remains to be seen if Jewish people will be allowed to be 'openly Jewish' in London on a Saturday when pro-Palestinian marches are happening. For the sake of decency and democracy, one can only hope so. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/met-police-pro-palestinian-protest-errors-6rz6f2st0 or https://archive.ph/m6x43
I'm been very alarmed by the incident with the Met Police. Indeed, most of the news that comes out of the UK is deeply disturbing. Cass's report and the decision to shut down the gender clinic are notable exceptions. I noticed that Scotland failed to repeal the insane "hate speech" law.
It is my understanding that many people are alarmed by the Met Police's actions.
I doubt Scotland will repeal the Hate Crime Act until after Yousaf has departed. The polls are not looking good for Yousaf and the SNP. It is not just the Hate Crime, but the state of the schools in Scotland, health and of course the ferries. The SNP did this massive u-turn re the climate change and thus the Greens (who have been driving much of the trans madness imho) may withdraw from the coalition which has been propping up the SNP in Scotland. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/22/humza-yousafs-house-is-crumbling-around-him/ or https://archive.ph/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/22/humza-yousafs-house-is-crumbling-around-him/
Meanwhile convicted trans-rapist Isla Bryson has complain of Hate Crimes from being misgendered. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/transgender-rapist-isla-bryson-claims-victim-hate-crime-98m3z8x9r or https://archive.ph/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/transgender-rapist-isla-bryson-claims-victim-hate-crime-98m3z8x9r
Just finished the third episode of Mr Bates and the Post Office. I am so enraged for those people. Twenty Years they were fighting the lies and deceit and that’s just so far.
England certainly has fallen far (on so many levels)
And don’t forget, the police in England have been on the side of Muslims as far back as the Rotherham incident from the early 90’s! They covered for the Muslim Pakistani rapists and went after the fathers if the white girls for complaining.
My husband and I were shouting at the telly when it was broadcast over here. Now you can understand why there was such a move to strip Vanellis of her honours -- she had no honour. She testifies in May.
The Rotherham scandal was dreadful on many levels.
As a Brit now living in (and a citizen of) America, I was shocked to hear about the Subpostmaster scandal. But I am heartened that the people in the UK are starting to prevail against a tyrannical regime, especially when it comes to the scandal of gender ideology permeating the schools and the health care system. There is hope that the insanity will be overturned emphatically in the UK and this will then affect policy in the US (although unlikely to change here until Biden and his unhinged administration are removed from office).
England has simply become a bunch of Wankers!
As London moves closer to Beijing, they embrace total surveillance and enforced social order.
It's fine to be Jewish, of course! Just quietly, invisibly, at home. So the leftists can march in peace. Like religious people in China.
$95 billion aid package that included $60 billion for Ukraine, $26 billion for Israel, and $8 billion to help defend Taiwan.
$60 more in borrowed money that goes down a rat hole for a war that should have been ended a year ago and which was completely avoidable. $26 billion for a nation that is worthy of our support but which is quite wealthy in its own right. And $8 billion of borrowed money for another wealthy nation but - given our own stupidity in off shoring vital good and services - is probably the most vital to our security. We are governed by fools.
Call it the WWIII bill.
Pretty cool how Democrats moved from "Trump is causing world war three" to supporting and funding world war three. Only took three years, too!
Wrong-o. Fools don't know better. (I say reluctantly; but They've long overrun my usual mantra about evil vs stupidity.)
And Donald seems to have signed on to it. Who knew?
When will we see any reporting about the Biden administration's atrocious policies that are allowing, encouraging, every single point in this delusional reporting? This is TFP's unfortunate blind spot. Unseriousness is an understatement when the symptoms of the Democrat cabal are more important than the disease. But Trump! Wake up!
Maybe wealthy parents who are funding their children’s miseducation and activism at elite universities should bring their children home for a gap year based in reality. Although it may be difficult for their relationship, parents may want to take a stand and stop supporting children who have no respect for their parents, country or their values. These privileged students don’t understand the value of the money that is showered on them, while they wage war on colonialism and capitalism. Parents might be able to save their children by withdrawing financial support and taking a stand. They would also be doing the rest of us a huge favour.
I think you'll find that most of these wealthy parents are, themselves, Leftists. Or at least Democrats. Over the last 50 years, more and more of "the rich" have been flocking to the Left.
I am curious...have they been flocking left or simply following the power. I also wonder how many of then have become rich BECAUSE of their affiliation with the Democrats.
I think it is a combination of factors. Following power is almost certainly the biggest one. And that is closely tied to their *ability* to become rich(er).
But there's a major factor that plays into all of this: the virtue-signaling that makes it possible to be rich and not feel guilty for whatever one did in order to become rich.
Don't forget that Trump was a huge NYC hero to the Left...until he stopped being a Democrat. And he was a Democrat for decades.
Dishonest and dishonorable behavior in business dealings is perfectly allowable, as long as one mouths the "correct" views and donates to the "correct" causes.
There's a reason that blue-collar workers and the Left have been parting ways: the Left is led and funded by the wealthy oppressors of the laboring class.
"Don't forget that Trump was a huge NYC hero to the Left."
I don't get this, Celia. To the rich-rich in New York City, who came in all political colors, Donald Trump was a crass wannabe who attended their parties but whose immodesty and multiple bankruptcies were off-putting.
To my family, also varied Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, and to our friends, he was a joke -- a playboy publicity hound. He liked glitter and gold leaf. He flaunted his women.
He stiffed his contractors. He left everyone but himself holding the bag.
What did he do to ingratiate himself to the left? Rehabilitate one ice-skating rink? Create a golf course across from the Whitestone Bridge that no one wanted?
Not even my Uncle Bill, a diehard Democrat, liked Trump.
A slice of a family conversation:
Mom: Billy, you'd vote for Mickey Mouse if he
were a Democrat.
Bill: Damn right I would!
Yes, they are a generation in at this point.
I still have no use for Andrew Sullivan. FOX news is worse than the litany of ideological distortion that gushes out of liberal media? I would love to see a real comparative study with the evidence to support his assertion. Am I FOX fan? No. But the weight and volume of leftist excess is overwhelming.
Radical cant is all these kids hear and see. One of my first brushes with wokism was a raised fist, hostile, intersectional and racialist article in Teen Vogue browbeating young girls to vote for black women. It was pre- George Floyd, after Trump was elected. There was a deliberate paucity of white faces and perspectives. Teen Vogue is about as classic or legacy American as Mao's Little Red Book. It's a political endeavor run by people who want to wash young brains against their own country. Here's their self- description:
"At Teen Vogue, we pride ourselves on publishing reported pieces and essays that are inclusive and disruptive. With smart, authentic takes on culture, identity, and politics, we tell the stories that normally go untold, defining the zeitgeist for a new generation that demands style and substance. As our Editor-in-Chief Versha Sharma says, we aim to be a “guide and resource for young people who want to change the world for the better, all the while reminding them to have fun and find joy doing it.”
I bet. It is published by none other than Conde Nast, the Newhouses. Conde Nast is going, or emphasizing, "global." The new head of NPR explains elsewhere that truth is relative because of the new "scale"-- global. The pod people at Gemini boasted that the erasure of the West and white faces was due to its global reach. American colleges, especially the ivys, are prioritizing international students over American ones. Rich capitalists ushering in Marxist governance; Radical Chic realized.
The left is akin to a neutron bomb; the institutions are standing, but they're completely hollowed out. It is denaturing the U.S. and making it global. We're here to pay for it.
"Amid all the pressure to root out corruption, I assumed, perhaps naively, that officials in Ukraine would think twice before taking a bribe or pocketing state funds. But when I made this point to a top presidential adviser in early October, he asked me to turn off my audio recorder so he could speak more freely. “Simon, you’re mistaken,” he says. “People are stealing like there’s no tomorrow.”
https://time.com/6329188/ukraine-volodymyr-zelensky-interview/
So where exactly has 30 years of US aid gone? An aggressive Russia was met with a seemingly unprepared Ukraine military that allowed their country to be invaded again under Biden's watch.
"So where exactly has 30 years of US aid gone?"
I think you know the answer Jen. Ukraine is just another facility in the US governments international money laundering chain and most of our politicians are shareholders.
Exactly! To not acknowledge this is delusional. I'd like to know exactly what Biden's role in Ukraine corruption has been. A president impeached for asking. Hunter laptop that never was until it was. If it's nothing more than a "conspiracy theory", TFP should have no problem "debunking" it. Ya, know, journalism.
Understandable that; there's at least an even chance that there is no tomorrow.
Thanks for the link to the article. If you read the entire thing it shows the tremendous, and mostly successful, efforts that Ukraine and Zelensky are engaged in to eliminate the corruption and use the aid we send them correctly and purposefully. They’re in a very difficult situation created by Putin and not helped by the asymmetric warfare that includes Iran backing the Hamas attack on Israel that has gone a long way to take the world’s eyes off Russian aggression and redirect that attention to the Middle East. All of this in turn will make it that much easier for China to move on Taiwan, so it’s a good thing that the aid bill that was passed on Saturday includes money to shore up defenses (and build up US Navy assets such as submarines) in the Indo-Pacific. Lots of good work by the US Congress this week.
"Even the firing of the Defense Minister did not make officials “feel any fear,” he adds, because the purge took too long to materialize. The President was warned in February that corruption had grown rife inside the ministry, but he dithered for more than six months, giving his allies multiple chances to deal with the problems quietly or explain them away. By the time he acted ahead of his U.S. visit, “it was too late,” says another senior presidential adviser. "Ukraine’s Western allies were already aware of the scandal by then. Soldiers at the front had begun making off-color jokes about “Reznikov’s eggs,” a new metaphor for corruption. “The reputational damage was done,” says the adviser."
"But some of the accusations have been hard to deny. In August, a Ukrainian news outlet known for investigating graft, Bihus.info, published a damning report about Zelensky’s top adviser on economic and energy policy, Rostyslav Shurma. The report revealed that Shurma, a former executive in the energy industry, has a brother who co-owns two solar-energy companies with power plants in southern Ukraine. Even after the Russians occupied that part of the country, cutting it off from the Ukrainian power grid, the companies continued to receive state payments for producing electricity. "
This was published in Oct 2023. Aside from thirty years of US aid and 10% for the "big guy", more aid is great.
More aid is great and I’m super glad it’s happening. So are 50% of the GOP congressmen. So are the NATO countries. So are the Ukrainian people. So is everyone with any sense that understands what is actually at stake in Ukraine, and it’s not the price of eggs or fictional payments of “bribes” to Biden. Freedom and democracy won this week. Russian propaganda lost. It’s all good.
An aggressive Russia was met with a seemingly unprepared Ukraine military that allowed their country to be invaded again under Biden's watch. Ukraine is a member of NATO? A 'partner' is not a member. Corruption is fiction? Ok. I guess good thing Trump pushed for NATO members to pay their commitment of 3% of GDP. That's what smart countries do when they have an aggressive neighbor, they protect themselves from the threat.
Oh dear, Jen. A little reading comprehension is in order.
(1) did I say Ukraine was a member of NATO? No.
(2) did I say Ukraine was a partner of NATO? No.
(3) did I say the NATO countries were happy the aid passed? Yes. The NATO countries are very much afraid that Russia will invade the Baltics and Poland if Russia is allowed to conquer Ukraine. That is what all their intelligence agencies say and it has been made clear to Mike Johnson by multiple European heads of state over the last 6 months. Pay attention.
(4) did I say corruption in general was a fiction? No.
(5) did I say the Biden bribes were fictitious? Yes. There is no proof that any of that happened. Even Hunter’s laptop failed to prove it.
(6) Trump pushed the NATO countries to pay their required 2%, not 3%. Facts matter, including the actual requirements of our agreements.
(7) I assume your last statement is supposed to reflect back on your first, ie, a “seemingly unprepared Ukraine military”. False. If they were “seemingly unprepared”, then how did they drive the Russians out of Kiev, destroying all the Russian tanks of the initial invasion and killing half of the Russian troops originally sent in to capture Kiev. Luck? Not bloody likely. The “seemingly unprepared military” was the Russian army who thought they would capture Kiev in 3 to 5 days, overthrow the existing government, install a puppet government handpicked by Moscow (and already in place, ready to go) and be home in time for Easter. Two years later that still hasn’t happened, with no end in sight.
Personally, I recommend you go take a remedial reading class at your local community college, and maybe also enroll in a debate class. But thanks again for the Time magazine article. It was interesting.
Your hairsplitting over 2% 3% is ridiculous. You know who pays 3%? Poland! Know why? They know their Russian neighbor.
"If they were “seemingly unprepared”, then how did they drive the Russians out of Kiev". Hello? Why did they let them in in the first place? Your screed is so devoid of reality and sense. Remedial at best is generous.
Please explain clearly what the alleged crime was that Trump is accused of under NY law? Is it making a hush money payment ( pretty simple) or something much more complex? Is there a clearly worded NY statute? Was the alleged crime looked into at thr federal level ? If so by whom and what did the federal authorities conclude? Please only report the law and the facts regarding THIS CASE. And feel free to also let us know exactly how NYT WAPO MSNBC et al have framed( no pun intended) the law and the facts ( which together form the basis of what we used to call the rule of law).
According to the court documents, he "made and caused a false entry in the business records of an enterprise." In other words, Trump didn't straight up say in his business records that he was paying a ho for a non-disclosure agreement. The payment was recorded, but it was not explained as such. Seriously. That's it. DA Bragg, who campaigned on "I'll get Trump," is pumping this up into a felony using a law that was meant to be used to prosecute serious financial corruption.
That’s not “it”. The full charge is that the false business records were falsified with the intent to cover up another secondary crime, or to further a secondary crime, which in this case is campaign fraud, ie, burying news stories that might have hurt Trump if they got out prior to the election. Complex? Yes. Complicated? Yes. Illegal or unfair? No. It’s the equivalent of nailing Al Capone for tax fraud instead of all the other crimes he committed.
Your analogy of Capone's tax fraud conviction is a nuance I'm not sure is readily appreciated here..
It's interesting that Cohen, Trump's fixer, was convicted and served three years by doing what he was told to by his boss, but, according to 99% of the posters on this thread, his boss is guilty of nothing..
Oh well..
Haha, true! Here’s what I just wrote to Rob, who asked me if Trump had ever been charged with or convicted of campaign fraud. Now, of course, the amazing thing is 99% of TFP posters never read anything that explains this stuff, they just assume. But anyway, here’s my explanation to Rob:
In this particular case, the DA is alleging that Trump falsified business records to cover up or commit one of 3 possible other crimes. From the opening statements it appears that the prosecutor is going to go for conspiracy to commit campaign fraud under NY state law. Since it’s a conspiracy to commit, the actual committing of the campaign fraud does not have to be proven, just the conspiracy.
While a hush money payment is not necessarily illegal, Cohen and AMI have both admitted they broke laws by making these payments in an effort to hide unflattering information before the 2016 election.
Cohen pleaded guilty to two campaign finance charges in August 2018: causing an unlawful campaign contribution for his involvement orchestrating the payment from AMI to McDougal, and making an excessive campaign contribution for the payment to Daniels.
AMI, now known as a360media, was not criminally charged by federal authorities but did admit to making the payment to McDougal. The company paid a $187,500 fine to the Federal Election Commission for making an unlawful campaign contribution.
So… the chain of events to be proven in this trial is that Trump engaged in a conspiracy with Cohen and AMI to commit campaign fraud by (1) covering up facts that might have influenced the election - the sex stories, (2) getting entities like AMI and Cohen himself to make in kind campaign donations in excess of the $100k limit - the payments to Daniels and McDougal, (3) fraudulently making the in kind campaign contributions look like business expenses.
The conspiracy will be proven by the prosecution witnesses that Trump participated in various meeting at Trump Tower with Cohen and Pecker (AMI, parent company of The Enquirer) to plan the fraud. They are going to use Cohen to prove both the conspiracy and the falsified business records, but also Trump Co accountants. Hope Hicks is expected to testify, so I’m guessing maybe she was at some of the meetings, dk.
Trump’s lawyers argued in their opening that this was a simple NDA agreement that people use all the time and that it had no connection to the campaign, Trump did it to keep his family from finding out about his sex scandals and keep Melania from getting hurt. At least that’s the gist of the argument. Trump, of course, also denies the allegations of Daniels and McDougal. Trump also denies knowing that his staff was making the reimbursement money to Cohen look like a business expense, or that he asked anyone to do that. Trump denies meeting with or discussing with either Cohen or Pecker with respect to the possible repercussions on the campaign if the Daniels story got out.
So we’ll see what happens. Should be a fun 6 weeks.
A fun six weeks? Guaranteed.
The number of politicians who could be prosecuted under this logic, for payments to "consultants" who make bad stories go away, is endless. If they convict Trump this way, knives (in pen form of course) out in red states fellas - I see some creative prosecutions firing up.
The crime is not paying to make a story go away. It’s doing that as a form of campaign finance fraud. This is a multi layered crime, not just a simple “catch and kill” or NDA. If other politicians have committed the same crime, then yes, they should also be prosecuted. But since this a NY state law, it might be different in other states and not actionable.
The type of law ultimately will not matter. The Democrats have upped the ante. The entire nation will be old school Alabama - eating its own every turn of the elections. If I were an elected Democrat in a red state, I would be checking my closet regularly to make sure the skeletons are secure.
He was charged and convicted of a campaign finance by the fec?
No, but that is not required by the NY state law in question. In this particular case, the DA is alleging that Trump falsified business records to cover up or commit one of 3 possible other crimes. From the opening statements it appears that the prosecutor is going to go for conspiracy to commit campaign fraud under NY state law. Since it’s a conspiracy to commit, the actual committing of the campaign fraud does not have to be proven, just the conspiracy.
While a hush money payment is not necessarily illegal, Cohen and AMI have both admitted they broke laws by making these payments in an effort to hide unflattering information before the 2016 election.
Cohen pleaded guilty to two campaign finance charges in August 2018: causing an unlawful campaign contribution for his involvement orchestrating the payment from AMI to McDougal, and making an excessive campaign contribution for the payment to Daniels.
AMI, now known as a360media, was not criminally charged by federal authorities but did admit to making the payment to McDougal. The company paid a $187,500 fine to the Federal Election Commission for making an unlawful campaign contribution.
So… the chain of events to be proven in this trial is that Trump engaged in a conspiracy with Cohen and AMI to commit campaign fraud by (1) covering up facts that might have influenced the election - the sex stories, (2) getting entities like AMI and Cohen himself to make in kind campaign donations in excess of the $100k limit - the payments to Daniels and McDougal, (3) fraudulently making the in kind campaign contributions look like business expenses.
The conspiracy will be proven by the prosecution witnesses that Trump participated in various meeting at Trump Tower with Cohen and Pecker (AMI, parent company of The Enquirer) to plan the fraud. They are going to use Cohen to prove both the conspiracy and the falsified business records, but also Trump Co accountants. Hope Hicks is expected to testify, so I’m guessing maybe she was at some of the meetings, dk.
Trump’s lawyers argued in their opening that this was a simple NDA agreement that people use all the time and that it had no connection to the campaign, Trump did it to keep his family from finding out about his sex scandals and keep Melania from getting hurt. At least that’s the gist of the argument. Trump, of course, also denies the allegations of Daniels and McDougal. Trump also denies knowing that his staff was making the reimbursement money to Cohen look like a business expense, or that he asked anyone to do that. Trump denies meeting with or discussing with either Cohen or Pecker with respect to the possible repercussions on the campaign if the Daniels story got out.
So we’ll see what happens. Should be a fun 6 weeks.
What second crime ?
Can someone explain to me why they don't apply the antiKKK and antiterrorism laws to these protestors? Were the laws repealed and I simply did not see that anywhere? Are these progressive mayors, DAs and POTUS still trying to ass kiss these Hamas lovers and America haters thinking that somehow they are going to vote for them in November? Do they really think that by coddling these anarchist, marxist, and islamists that the average American is going to think its ok and ignore the havoc in our streets and the threat to our everyday? If this continues I see a big win for the GOP in November in not only red but blue states as well.
Not surprised that Teen Vogue profiled Hirsi. They have been consistently promoting an illiberal progressive agenda and are blatantly antiIsrael/antisemitic for years now. That they hold her on a pedestal and promote her Jew hatred does not surprise me. But it does poison the minds of young women in this country.
That Dr. Cass cannot take public transportation after her report is again a symbol of how useless the police and governments have become in the west. They have let the violent extremists take over.
The common denominator in almost all these stories today is that there are elements of society that think they are entitled to be violent because they disagree with someone's politics or they don't like the truth when they are confronted with it. What is worse is that they seem to be able to get away with it. This does not bode well for society.
When you look at the videos from Columbia and compare to Charlottesville…. And yet the Dems say there are good people on both sides…
Has anyone in government defined what "winning the Ukrainian war" looks like? I need help understanding what our aid is going for.
Also, I haven't seen or heard very much about TFP immigration debate in Austin. How'd that go?
All the hype! When you hear nothing it must not have been all that great. Not reporting on the ugly means it never happened.
Ideally it would mean getting Russia out of Ukraine altogether and securing Ukraine’s 1991 borders as a sovereign Russia-free country. Unfortunately, at this point it might mean ending the fighting and leaving the territorial borders frozen where they are like North and South Korea. Putin will refuse to accept that, however, as long as he thinks he has a chance of conquering all of Ukraine, which is his ultimate goal as both he and the Kremlin have stated many times (and continue to state inside Russia on Russian state television and radio). So for now the goal must be to pound Russia into accepting the territory gains they have and stopping the war. Putin has to be made to accept that he will lose and truly believe that or he will never stop fighting. He is willing to kill as many Russians and Ukrainians as necessary to rebuild “Greater Russia” and it will take an ungodly amount of force to disabuse him of that goal.
Thanks, Ann P. I have NEVER heard one politician express this. And "pound Russia" until they agree to stop. WTF? With whom? Ukrain is out of warriors. "Defeating Russia" with a proxie is almost laughable if not for the lives lost. This is a QUAGMIRE orchestrated by MIC to force regime change (which never works, btw) that has backfired on everyone. Sanctions didn't work. Saying "Don't" doesn't work. Providing weapons without air support is practically worthless. This is a half ass attempt to prevent Russia from stealing the graft that our politicians want for themselves. QUAGMIRE, pure and simple. Oh, and that "ungodly amount of force" includes folks like my daughter in the Navy. And for what?
Mike Johnson’s son is also in the Navy. He wants to stop Russia in Ukraine so his son doesn’t have to fight in the Russia/NATO war that will follow if Russia wins in Ukraine. Johnson has seen the intelligence that shows that if Russia conquers Ukraine, they move next on the Baltics and Poland. At that point his son and your daughter are deployed. If the US falls back on aid to Ukraine, China sees that we’re weak and they move on Taiwan. His son and your daughter are deployed.
Lack of air support doomed Ukraine’s counterattack this past summer. That is Biden’s fault for sure. However, the F-16’s are arriving soon if they’re not already there. Ukrainian pilots have been training on them all winter in Texas, Poland, and England. Ukraine is not out of soldiers, although they need more. Moral is already up since the aid package passed, so that’s good. The weapons are already being prepped for delivery and some of them are already in Poland ready for immediate transport and delivery. The Czech government has just sent 500,000 rounds of artillery shells and will be sending another 500,000 rounds soon.
Biden is very much at fault for slow walking everything and refusing to give Ukraine what it needed when it needed it. His fear of escalation has severely damaged Ukraine and created the quagmire. But the fact is that now we have no choice but to dig out of the quagmire and get the job done. If you really want to keep your daughter safe, this is essential. China is watching to see if we mean business or if we’re all just a bunch of cowards who can be intimidated into backing away from imperial aggression. Isolationism will get your daughter killed faster than anything else. Just ask her.
I appreciate your correspondence. China saw all they needed to see when we pulled out of Afghanistan. The Biden Administration already calls Taiwan China. There is so much behindb the scenes we will never know. We egged Putin on in Ukraine. $60 Billion ADDITIONAL dollars will NOT defeat Russia. Lol to even think that. 45 days to wrap this up you say. Sounds like theater. "Defeating Russia" was a wet dream. Putin WILL NOT take on NATO. NO EFFING WAY.
Oh, and let's not even get into the Nordstream pipeline we blew up. We are provoking all of this. My daughter stands ready to defend the USA. Lmk when Putin invades it. Oh, China already sending military age men over our border, but LOOK AT UKRAINE. BORDER IS SECURE.
You're following the wrong QUAGMIRE.
Btw, the US Navy has aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean helping to defend Israel, and n the Red Sea getting bombed by Houthi rebels. Does your daughter serve on an aircraft carrier? She could be sent anywhere. Is the Navy defending Israel making sure that our Navy only defends the continental US from a ground invasion? It’s absolutely ludicrous that you don’t know what the US Navy does. My cousin in the Marines served in Afghanistan for god’s sake. Educate yourself.
Your daughter is going to be deployed either to some EU country when Russia invades NATO or to Taiwan/South China Sea when China starts the war in the Pacific. Better to accept the truth than continue to believe MAGA propaganda. Did you really honestly believe that when your daughter joined the Navy she would only ever fight to defend an invasion of the continental US? I can’t believe that you are that ignorant and uninformed. Perhaps you are, but I bet your daughter isn’t, assuming this Navy daughter actually exists. Your posts are devolving into all caps MAGA nonsense, which makes me think you were never interested in a serious conversation to begin with. Congress is doing the right thing. Mike Johnson did the right thing. Ukraine will get what they need. The US will get more and better weapons. The Navy is going to get new ships and submarines. It’s all good and about time. Have a nice day.
No MAGA here, Ann. Just a born again isolationist who wants our borders CLOSED. I guess having a kid in the service tends to change the lens you view these BS conflicts with.
Re: TFP immigration debate. Yes, the silence on that is deafening, isn’t it? I suspect it wasn’t sold out or they’d have broadcast that loud and clear. They did say about 700 people showed up, but they’ve never said how many people the venue was capable of seating. So half full? We’ll never know if we have to rely on TFP to tell us.
Btw, I read yesterday that the aid bill that passed includes a requirement that the WH issue a detailed written plan for the end goal in Ukraine within 45 days of the President signing the final legislation. That should tell us something.
I have no issue with the Dems waving Ukrainian flags after passing the aid package. But I do have a question especially for Jewish congressman ( and the former Madame Speaker) : did you also wave an Israeli flag or a Taiwanese flag when you presumably voted for those aid packages and if not why not ?
Waiving Ukrainian flags in the United States of America House of Representatives? And you’re okay with that?
Why bother having a country at all then.
I have zero issue with showing support for an ally. I am.aware of Ukraine issues. Right now they are fighting against our enemies ( including those who are supplying russia). I view this as distinguishable from a congressman waving a Chinese or Palestinian flag ( which is their right as it would be mine to castigate them) . Symbolic support for a Ukraine or an Israel in the time of war has its benefits. That is my opinion. The failure to wave Israeli flags should have been noted. All about the dems and the election. Again my opinion
I have a huge issue with it. Last I checked, this is the United States of America.
To each his own. Throughout history countries have waved flags of other countries to show support. Examples: liberation of Europe, support after 9-11. So I gather you would also object to someone waving a replica of the Israeli flag or a pin w the Israeli flag displayed? Or is it just Ukraine.
I see your point. Again, this is the United States of America.
Just like in classrooms, government buildings, etc. the only flag flying should be the American flag (and, in some cases, the state flag).
Otherwise you introduce the situation we have now.
But given that Islamist terrorists murdered 3000 Americans on September 11, and pro-Hamas demonstrators are cheering on Muslim terrorist groups and waving their flags, it's a little like waving a Japanese or a Nazi flag or the flags of their proxies and allies during World War II and cheering them on, no?
We have no enforceable agreements with Ukraine. None. Just Biden's quid pro. We do have enforceable agreements with Israel. Not sure about Taiwan.
Lynne, I understand the Ukraine arguments . We just disagree on the geo political aspects. My point re no Israel flags still stands vis a vis the Dem lawmakers especially guys like Raskin. Fetterman would have had an Israeli flag were he a Congressman ( Schumer maybe not).