Saturday’s Forum

FILED UNDER: Open Forum
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Kathy says:

    Mira Furlan, who played Delenn in Babylon 5, passed away yesterday from complications of West Nile virus.

    Damn.

    She was only 65.

    7
  2. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @Kathy: It’s a nasty one. A buddy of mine was in a coma for over 2 weeks with it.

  3. OzarkHillbilly says:

    Dogs y’all, we don’t deserve them: Patient dog waits for days outside hospital

    A devoted dog has spent days waiting outside a hospital in Turkey where her sick owner was being treated.

    The pet, Boncuk, which means bead, followed the ambulance that transported her owner, Cemal Senturk, to hospital in the Black Sea city of Trabzon on 14 January. She then made daily visits to the facility, the private news agency DHA reported. Senturk’s daughter, Aynur Egeli, said she would take Boncuk home but the dog would run back to the hospital.

    A hospital security guard, Muhammet Akdeniz, told DHA: “She comes every day around 9am and waits until nightfall. She doesn’t go in. When the door opens she pokes her head inside.”

    On Wednesday, Boncuk was finally reunited with Senturk when he was pushed outside in a wheelchair. “She’s very used to me. And I miss her too, constantly,” he told DHA. Senturk was discharged from the hospital on Wednesday and returned home with Boncuk.

    Damned wife… Cutting onions this early in the AM.

    Video

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  4. OzarkHillbilly says:

    ‘Gondor has no king’: pro-Trump lawsuit cites Lord of the Rings

    “Gondor has no king,” the lawsuit states, a footnote providing an explanation of the woeful fate of Tolkien’s entirely imaginary land populated by dragons, wizards, hobbits and elves, all threatened by a baleful Dark Lord backed up by an army of orcs and with famously little time for due democratic process.

    The suit explains how Gondor’s throne was empty and its rightful kings in exile, presumably positing the idea that Trump is the true king of America – a land happily monarch-free since 1776.

    “This analogy is applicable since there is now in Washington DC a group of individuals calling themselves the president, vice-president and Congress who have no rightful claim to govern the American people,” the case states.

    It adds: “Since only the rightful king could sit on the throne of Gondor, a steward was appointed to manage Gondor until the return of the King, known as ‘Aragorn’, occurred at the end of the story.”

    The lawsuit then suggests that America’s version of the stewards of Gondor should be selected from among – surprise, surprise – Trump’s cabinet members, who should run the country.

    The punchline?

    The case was launched in Texas, in the name of small conservative groups including Latinos for Trump and Blacks for Trump, and was filed by Paul Davis, an attorney who lost his job after posting Instagram videos of himself at the attack on the Capitol.

    Now about to lose his law license.

    8
  5. OzarkHillbilly says:

    Rolling Stone seeks ‘thought leaders’ willing to pay $2,000 to write for them

    Rolling Stone magazine is offering “thought leaders” the chance to write for its website if they are willing to pay $2,000 to “shape the future of culture”.

    The storied magazine, which has published journalism by writers including Hunter S Thompson, Patti Smith and Tom Wolfe, approached would-be members of its new “Culture Council” by email, telling them that they had the chance to join “an invitation-only community for innovators, influencers and tastemakers”.

    Emails seen by the Guardian suggest that those who pass a vetting process – and pay a $1,500 annual fee plus $500 up front – will “have the opportunity to publish original content to the Rolling Stone website”. It suggests that doing so “allows members to position themselves as thought leaders and share their expertise”.

    That message is reinforced by the Council’s website, which, under the headline Get Published tells would-be members: “Being published in one of the best-known entertainment media outlets in the world sets you apart as a visionary, leader, and bold voice in your industry.”

    Publication is not guaranteed and prospective first-person pieces are vetted by Rolling Stone’s partner, The Community Company.

    The grift is strong with this one.

    5
  6. CSK says:

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    Well, if Rolling Stone paid me $2000, I might write a short piece for them.

    This is even more blatant than the “deal” Arianna Huffington offered her writers for the Huffpo: Write for me! I won’t pay you, but you’ll get lots of great exposure.” Bullshit.

    3
  7. MarkedMan says:

    Prediction: Paul Ryan will embrace the Trump wing of the party and start to promote their agenda of grievances. He wants back in and he sees which way the wind is blowing. It wasn’t Trump, it was the base after all. Embracing that is now table stakes

    6
  8. Mikey says:

    Yesterday Dr. Taylor put up a post titled “Peak Both-Siderism” and it’s already been obsoleted.

    I give you Kevin McCarthy: ‘Everybody Across This Country’ Is To Blame For Capitol Attack

    He stood by his assertion that Trump does bear some responsibility for what happened. But, he added, so does every other person around the country.

    “I also think everybody across this country has some responsibility,” he said.

    McCarthy then started pointing to Democrats who opposed Trump, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), people who are rude on social media and law enforcement authorities who didn’t prepare for the attack as some of the people who were somehow responsible.

    You know, fuck this guy. I don’t bear one quantum of responsibility for that seditious insurrection. I was at work, supporting and defending the Constitution, while a bunch of Trumpist traitors were doing their level best to tear it up. Fuck McCarthy and fuck all of them, too.

    14
  9. CSK says:

    Larry King has died. He was 87.

    1
  10. PJ says:

    @CSK:
    And he was hospitalized with covid symptoms.

    1
  11. Mikey says:

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    The lawsuit then suggests that America’s version of the stewards of Gondor should be selected from among – surprise, surprise – Trump’s cabinet members, who should run the country.

    The stewards of Gondor? Let’s see how that worked out…

    Also I nearly vomited myself to death at the implication Trump, who rode a golf cart a couple hundred yards while the rest of the world’s leaders were able to walk it, is in any way similar to Aragorn.

    4
  12. CSK says:

    @PJ:
    I know. No cause of death has been given yet, but Covid-19 certainly didn’t help. King had multiple health problems in the past–heart disease, cancer, and type 2 diabetes.

    1
  13. CSK says:

    @Mikey:
    Oh, that’s really cute of McCarthy. Sorry, Kev. In the words of your lord and master, “I take no responsibility at all.” I didn’t vote for Trump, and I was vocal in my opposition to him.

    4
  14. CSK says:

    Helpful hint of the day: If you refresh the page after you post your comment, the edit function appears.

  15. CSK says:

    @CSK:
    And then vanishes. Sigh.

  16. SC_Birdflyte says:

    @OzarkHillbilly: Hey, he could start a new career as a writer of fantasy fiction.

  17. CSK says:

    This is worth a read for the title alone:

    http://www.nationalreview.com/2021/01/witless-ape-rides-helicopter/

    Bonus point: It’s making the Trumpkins crazy.

    7
  18. CSK says:

    Robt. F. Kennedy, Junior claims that Hank Aaron’s death was a result of being vaccinated against Covid-19.

  19. Mikey says:

    Holy. Shit.

    WASHINGTON — The Justice Department’s top leaders listened in stunned silence this month: One of their peers, they were told, had devised a plan with President Donald J. Trump to oust Jeffrey A. Rosen as acting attorney general and wield the department’s power to force Georgia state lawmakers to overturn its presidential election results.

    The unassuming lawyer who worked on the plan, Jeffrey Clark, had been devising ways to cast doubt on the election results and to bolster Mr. Trump’s continuing legal battles and the pressure on Georgia politicians. Because Mr. Rosen had refused the president’s entreaties to carry out those plans, Mr. Trump was about to decide whether to fire Mr. Rosen and replace him with Mr. Clark.

    The department officials, convened on a conference call, then asked each other: What will you do if Mr. Rosen is dismissed?

    The answer was unanimous. They would resign.

    There’s a lot more in the story.

    4
  20. Mikey says:

    Dr. J., the security cert on the website has expired.

    2
  21. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @SC_Birdflyte: He can plagiarize all the best SyFy/Fantasy writers!

    1
  22. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @Mikey: So that’s what’s been going on this morn. Mystery solved!

  23. gVOR08 says:

    @CSK:

    Helpful hint of the day: If you refresh the page after you post your comment, the edit function appears.

    Some days yes, some days no.

  24. Owen says:

    @CSK: Is OTB just a Skinner Box for Dr. Joyner and Dr. Taylor to justify a federal grant? Stranger things have happened!

  25. Michael Reynolds says:

    @CSK:
    Thanks for that. A very refreshing artcile.

    1
  26. CSK says:

    @Owen:
    Damn, I didn’t think of that possibility. OTB is really a virtual operant conditioning chamber! We’re being conditioned!

  27. CSK says:

    @Michael Reynolds:
    When it comes to writing about Trump, few wield a more acid pen than Williamson.

    1
  28. Sleeping Dog says:

    Update on NH vaccination progress.

    Yesterday the wife and I got registered via the NH website. As part of that registration process, it asked if there was another household member qualified in the 1b tier, but the website didn’t ask for any of the registration info that it asked for me. Nor did it explain how the added household member would be scheduled. Since we were both trying to register, we noted each other and figured it would get sorted out. At the completion of registration, we were instructed that we’d receive a scheduling email in 3-5 days, but not who that email would be from.

    Just before heading to bed around 11, I decided to check my email one last time and found a communication from the CDC about scheduling an appointment. It was sent out by an agency called, Vaccination Administration Management Service. Given I’m pretty suspicious about phishing expeditions, I took time to verify that this was legit before completing the process.

    The NHDPH had announced earlier in the day that about 150000 eligible residents had signed up the first day with vaccination beginning on 1/26, the first available appointment in my general area was 2/4. After getting the confirmation from the CDC, I woke my wife up, so she could complete the scheduling. and she got in on 2/5.

    This morning we both received an email sent from the NHDPH after midnight, that explained that we would be contacted by the CDC/VAMS and finally had an explanation of the process for additional household members. With that information now available to us, it appears that we may have double booked and I doubt that we will be the only ones. In the initial registration, there was a note that the CDC did intend to filter for double bookings, so perhaps it’ll be captured.

    All in all, the process was pretty painless, but the explanation and communication could be better.

    1
  29. Mikey says:

    The site’s security cert has been renewed, the new cert turns into a pumpkin on March 24.

  30. gVOR08 says:

    Balloon Juice has been doing a series of front page posts by commenters on what the new administration should focus on. Today’s is very on-point and eloquent in it’s brevity. Provided by none other than our homey OzarkHillbilly.

    7
  31. CSK says:

    @Mikey:
    I’m still getting the “insecure” warning page.

  32. Bob@Youngstown says:

    @Sleeping Dog:
    Somewhat similar experience here in FL, but with an added twist.
    Back in December, the Gov DeSantis, insisted that snowbirds would be eligible to receive vaccinations in FL. In January he proclaimed that vaccine tourism would be prohibited, but that snowbirds would remain eligible.
    We registered with the Sarasota County for an appointment on Jan 20, were notified by email that our registration was successful and the the next email would notify us of our appointment.
    On Jan 21, the state decided that snowbirds had to produce additional documentation to qualify.
    You must have a least two of the following: a) lease agreement, b) utility bill, c) statement from an financial institution showing your FL address, d) letter from a governmental institution showing your FL address.
    The registration process asked for none of these things, probably because State established these rules after the registration process had already begun.
    Seems like “their changing the rules after the game is in progress”.
    Bottom line is…. I’ve no idea if my registration is still valid or if I will even be given an opportunity to “show my papers”

  33. Sleeping Dog says:

    @Bob@Youngstown:

    All you can really do is hope that if you have a confirmed appointment, that you’ll get vaccinated. I, as well, would drag along all my supporting paperwork to the appointment.

    This morning, the local paper had this article detailing the writers experience in more detail.

  34. Scott says:

    @Sleeping Dog: Yesterday, I went on about the random, free for all, that Texas has for getting in line. Turns out that two events happened yesterday. One, my company (a defense contractor headquartered in MA) did a survey of what employees would like to be vaccinated if a vaccine is available. Two, around 7pm, I get a text from University Health System (a taxpayer support health system here in Bexar County) saying registration is now open for the next four weeks. After multiple tries, I did get a reservation for Feb 8th, subject to the available of vaccine. I guess it is one step.

    A couple of thoughts. How are private firms getting their hands on vaccines to offer them to employees? Makes you go hmmm. Two, the second points out the digital divide at least here in San Antonio. I set up a notification. When notified, I jumped on the laptop which had UHS site already bookmarks on the browser. Browser could fill in most of the info automatically, etc. Voila! I have an appointment.

    I have neighbors who complain how the poor southside are getting special treatment. More nearby sites, more healthcare workers to register people, and so forth. Yet grievance happens.

    I hate people.

    5
  35. CSK says:

    Per The Daily Beast, Palm Beach International Airport will NOT be renamed the Donald J. Trump International Airport.

    5
  36. Owen says:

    I took my aged mother (75+) for her first dose (Pfizer) at State Farm Stadium in Glendale. My wife had taken a former co-worker (educator, who doesn’t own a car) a few days earlier. The process in Arizona (at least in Maricopa County) is being run through the AZ Department of Health Services website. The site is a bit wonky, I registered my mother, my wife registered her friend, because both had been unable to navigate the site on their own. Registration included receiving a confirmation e-mail with a verification link. The two biggest challenges were 1) the act of navigating back often resulted in data having to be re-entered, and 2) the user has to select a date and a location, then press next. If there are appointments available they are displayed, if not, a blank window shows up. The user then can navigate back, select a different date and location, then press next, a very un-intuitive process (I found an appointment on the 4th day I entered). We were able to schedule appointments three and four days out respectively.

    Both of our appointments were at State Farm stadium. The state’s current intent is to administer 6000 shots a day at that location, and from local reporting they have come close. Based on many “processing” lines I was involved with in my military career, the location was well and competently staffed and equipped. If not constrained by the availability of doses, I think the site could easily be ramped up to a throughput of 25,000-30,000 a day with existing infrastructure, but it would be draining for the staff.

    I’m concerned about a number of things. First, Arizona is currently focusing on a few big sites where shots are administered to vehicle passengers, and a number of mobile teams (mostly for assisted living facilities and other institutions). There are many, especially in the higher risk population, who like my wife’s friend do not have ready access to a personal vehicle. The website also asked for Health Insurance information, which we were able to enter, but even if that information doesn’t have to be entered, how many will choose to stop the process at that point. Additionally, in order to receive the vaccine, even showing up with the printed appointment letter, the staff needs to see a photo ID. And finally, there is, especially among our older populations, large numbers of people without convenient internet access. I’m a library geek, and pre-COVID, going to libraries here was great as long as you weren’t trying to use one of the computers, because there were always waiting lists to get access.

    2
  37. Mister Bluster says:

    I have seen the

    This Connection is Not Private

    warning several times today. Most recently just seconds ago when I reloaded this page. Reloaded this same page again and the warning was gone and the page actually reloaded.
    I wonder what will happen when I hit Post Comment now?
    ……….
    Well tickle my pickle! Not only did the comment load without a hitch, I got the EDIT function too!

    1
  38. Sleeping Dog says:

    @Scott:

    The CDC email I received telling me to schedule had this paragraph:

    Your organization or employer designated you in a priority group for immunization.
    Please schedule an appointment with a participating clinic through the following link.

    And I recall on the state registration form, I’d noticed that there was a line for organizational sponsorship and the option to add other sponsors (sponsor isn’t the actual word, but you get the idea). The state has already filled in “NH National Guard,” as my sponsor. My guess is that this ‘sponsorship’ quirk goes back to phase 1A, when they were trying to focus on healthcare workers and congregate care residents. Also, governments don’t have available lists of potentially eligible that they can simply access, but employers and social organizations do and the government is using those avenues to reach people.

  39. Sleeping Dog says:

    @Owen:

    When I sought a vaccination site, within 10 miles of my zip, there was 1 open only to Federal employees, expanding that to 20 miles there are a half dozen. Given that NH doesn’t have significant population density, they have them pretty well distributed, but you will need a car or transportation. Getting a date, once registered seems to be a bit different in AZ, the CDC website presented a calendar and when you clicked on a date, you were shown available appointments at your desired location of vaccination. It was pretty easy to skip through the dates.

    Overall, I believe that if you are someone with diminished capacity, the process would be confusing.

  40. Erik says:

    As a follow up to my Dec 17 open thread post about my first COVID vaccination (summary: Pfizer, it was unremarkable) I have now had my second dose. About 6 hours after vaccination I felt tired, like I was coming down with something. I went to bed early and woke up a few hours later (about 18 hours post vaccination) feeling febrile and with bad myalgias. It pretty much felt like I had moderately bad flu. I slept fitfully, but by the next morning (24 hours post vaccination) other than feeling like I hadn’t slept at all I was symptom free. I was glad that I didn’t have to work, but I could have if I had needed to. In talking with co-workers my course was fairly typical, although some people had mild symptoms or even had less severe symptoms than after the first vaccination (definitely a minority) and quite a few people had more severe and/or longer lasting symptoms and couldn’t work the next day, although everyone I talked to felt fine after about 36 hours post vaccination. Moderna seems to be a much tougher second dose with many people reporting several days of symptoms, often preventing work the next day or even two days. Clearly worth it to get vaccinated, but forewarned is forearmed etc etc.

  41. CSK says:

    Politico has an interesting article on why there probably won’t be a Trump Presidential Library. And no, it’s not because Trump doesn’t read, although that’s certainly the first reason that would spring to anyone’s mind.

  42. Kathy says:

    At last, I came across an explanation why the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine might work better when given a half dose first, then followed weeks later by a full dose.

    The vaccine uses a viral vector, in this case an inactive simian adenovirus, to get the RNA into cells, which then produce the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, which then causes the immune system to make antibodies.

    Well and good. But the immune system also reacts to the adenovirus, meaning by the second shot there may also be antibodies against it, preventing many from entering cells to deliver their genetic material. Therefore, a smaller initial dose makes for a fewer antibodies for the virus, letting more on the second dose reach cells.

    I learned, too, the Russian Sputnik V vaccine is also a virus vector one, but uses different kinds of human adenovirus in each dose. There remains the problem the Russians haven’t published their results.

  43. gVOR08 says:

    God’s on his heaven, Biden is in the White House, and I have my first dose in my shoulder and my second scheduled. So all may not be well with the world, but there’s hope of it getting better.

    Florida is turning vaccination over to Publix, the dominant grocery/pharmacy chain. It was still a jump ball with tens of thousands of people trying to get hundreds of doses. But our daughter in law has a fast phone and the fastest Refresh finger in the west (south west FL). So I got an appointment and getting the shot was easy peasy.

    I’m sure Republicans will say; “See, private companies do things better than the government.” And given FL state government, that’s often true. But the real change appears to be handling management and IT at a statewide, or chain-wide, basis. The state could have done as well, but they dumped it on county health departments with minimal management and IT resources.

    But the base problem hasn’t changed, it’s still a big jump ball when small batches show up with little or no notice. I would hope the Biden admin will sort that out, and maybe deal directly with Publix. Cutting Governor DeUseless out of the loop would be a major improvement. Logistics is pretty much a solved problem in the 21st century, if properly used.

  44. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @CSK: My experience is that refreshing the page after posting gets me an edit button about one out of every 4 or 5 times. I’ve sometimes gotten two in a row, but I’ve also gone so many times without getting one that I’ve stopped doing it except when I really want a chance to edit.

    1
  45. CSK says:

    @Just nutha ignint cracker:
    Yeah; same here, except that it seems to work a little more often for me.

  46. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @CSK: The article was sort of meh to me, but the tagline/subtitle was worth going to see:

    “Goodbye to Donald J. Trump, the man who wanted to be Conrad Hilton but turned out to be Paris Hilton.”

    1
  47. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @gVOR08: Provided by none other than our homey OzarkHillbilly.

    You left out the ‘L’ in “homely”.

    1
  48. CSK says:

    @Just nutha ignint cracker:
    I liked “witless ape” myself.

  49. MarkedMan says:

    @Just nutha ignint cracker: I honestly think that is unfair to Paris Hilton.

    3
  50. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @Bob@Youngstown: @Sleeping Dog: Cowlitz County, WA, (where I live) followed Reynold’s advice and declared Safeway Pharmacy as the destination of record. Of the 5 stores in the area that have pharmacies, one gives shots, it’s used up its supply, and is not taking appointments but will start again when (if??) they get new supplies of vaccine. It is not clear whether appointments will be prioritized to give second vaccinations to those who have only had one (which would be approximately 100% of those vaccinated) before they start vaccinating others.

    The Cowlitz County vaccination website recommends that people contact their healthcare providers for vaccination information, and in the very next sentence informs people that Peace Health–the largest provider in the area–has requested that their patients NOT contact them for vaccination information but to wait for the provider to schedule appointments.

    I have qualified for vaccination–the process is easy–but don’t know when, if ever, there will be vaccine available. Fun stuff!

    1
  51. gVOR08 says:

    Continuing my vendetta against the Federalist Society, I see Jeffrey Clark was chair of the Federalist Society’s Environmental Law and Property Rights Practice Group and active in other groups. He’s the guy who conspired with Trump to oust Acting AG Rosen, replace him with himself (generously offering to keep Rosen on as deputy), and advise the GA legislature that in light of non-existent investigations by DOJ they should challenge their state’s vote. The FS is a threat to democracy. Does disbarment cancel your FS membership?

    1
  52. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @CSK: Lemme guess. Is it because there’s nothing to put in a Trump Library because he shredded/refused to hand over everything that typically goes into such an archive or because nothing he did is worth saving/commemorating?

    1
  53. OzarkHillbilly says:
  54. Mikey says:

    @Just nutha ignint cracker:

    I have qualified for vaccination–the process is easy–but don’t know when, if ever, there will be vaccine available. Fun stuff!

    It’s really infuriating that this is so hard for so many.

    I qualified for a vaccine in group 1b. It took me two minutes to register for an appointment within the week. I showed up to the most efficiently-run operation I’ve seen in recent memory, with dozens of vaccination stations. From the moment I walked up to the entrance and showed my paperwork and proof of eligibility to the moment vaccine was in my arm was about three minutes. In between I got my temperature checked, a dollop of hand sanitizer, and my paperwork and eligibility confirmed again. I didn’t stand still for more than 15 seconds at any point until I sat down to get the shot.

    I understand that outside a big suburban area like where I live there may not be staff available to do this–it seemed like where I went there were nearly as many people working as getting vaccinated–but your experience should just not be happening anywhere in America.

  55. CSK says:

    @Just nutha ignint cracker: @OzarkHillbilly:
    Good guesses. But it turns out that he’d have to raise the money himself from donors (good luck finding any big ones now), which he’s too lazy to do. More importantly, he couldn’t keep the money for himself. Third, no one trusts him not to try to steal it, given his history with the Trump Foundation.

    1
  56. flat earth luddite says:

    @Mikey:
    @Just nutha ignint cracker:

    Well, as Cracker and I have repeated noted over the years, YMMV.

    Half an hour south of Cowlitz County, you’re in another state, but the same (general) major metropolitan area. Here, we don’t know exactly how many doses of each vaccine are available, or which groups they’re going to go to. Rumor has it that first responders, then teachers, then so on and so on. However, several groups of nurses from local health organizations have reported not getting vaccine (while administrative staff of same organizations jump ahead of them). Our governor steps in for 60 minute briefings on a near-daily basis, providing changing agendas, talking heads, plans, schedules, and generally confusing bloviating. I’ve listened to her, and if she’d stop after the first comment (rather than repeating it 6 different times, each with a different emphasis) where we are would be a lot easier to comprehend. As an overaged, overfed Luddite working in retail (open by order throughout this pandemic), I may be in group 1b… or maybe 2b… or maybe 4. In the meantime, local distribution of vaccine is unknown, and no scheduling is available. All I can think is that I’m profoundly grateful that I’m not doing chemo, and so far have avoided covid (despite customers breathing at me daily).

    I’m looking forward to a day when this is at least organized into a fuster-cluck, as opposed to the random Brownian movement it’s been for most of the past 9 months.

    2
  57. Kurtz says:

    @CSK:

    But you see, that IS why you’re responsible. If you had just shut your mouth and supported Trump, the rioters wouldn’t have needed to riot. You know, like Republicans did when Obama was in office. Or when W.J. Clinton was in office. Or…

    1
  58. CSK says:

    @Kurtz:
    What I’m enjoying the most is when the rioters get busted and charged, their defense is: “But I was only doing what my president told me to do.”

    Don’t think that won’t be raised during Lardass’s* impeachment trial. In a way, the two week postponement is good. It gives the impeachers more time to gather ammunition.

    *I know, I know. We’re not supposed to call Trump names. Sorry. I couldn’t resist.

  59. Kathy says:

    @CSK:

    Well, while in prison, one of these people can write a book called “Lies Mein Fuhrer Told Me.”

    1
  60. Franklin says:

    @OzarkHillbilly: there goes by hot chocolate!

    2
  61. Gustopher says:

    Meanwhile, in Tacoma, the police are running over protestors. If you want to see a body rolling as an SUV drives over it, there’s video to be had.

    I will not link to it.

    I’m not sure what they were protesting. I think they were mad that ICE had not been disbanded in the first few days of the Biden Presidency or something like that. It doesn’t really matter what stupid or not-stupid thing it was.

    If the police ran over proud boys or other right wing fanatics like this, there would likely be dead police before long. That would not be the right solution, but there’s only so much of this a society can take before people start getting radicalized. Police SUV bouncing as it drives over a protester, repeated stories of illegal immigrants killing people, a Black Man in the White House… I don’t know what holds this country together at all sometimes.