I like it pic.twitter.com/DymVisMBSP
— marc tracy (@marcatracy) September 23, 2019
Trump: I did it
Rudy: He did it
Whistleblower: He did it
Senate Republicans: Well, guess we'll never know…
— Brian Tashman (@briantashman) September 24, 2019
Ukraine potentially presents a much clearer story on impeachment for Democrats than Russia ever did. And it's new, not something that was covered at max volume for 3 years. I still tend not to think that public opinion on impeachment will move much, but it's hard to know.
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) September 23, 2019
“The last time he was accused of collaborating with a foreign power to influence an election, he denied it and traveled the country practically chanting, ‘No collusion!’ This time, he is saying, in effect, so what if I did?” https://t.co/WhtjL0Nf1Y
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) September 24, 2019
? UPDATE: I said awhile back that a formal #ImpeachmentInquiry would likely move forward not when 50% of the *full* Dem delegation was onboard with it but 50% of the *40 "flipped district" freshmen.*
Guess what? That number just hit 19: https://t.co/w21aAjGiAD
— Charles Gaba (@charles_gaba) September 24, 2019
Finally… Seems like a nice guy, Andrew Yang, but *not* a visual thinker:
This car goes not left or right, but forward. ???? pic.twitter.com/yjfGaWT0WH
— Andrew Yang (@AndrewYang) September 23, 2019
(… into an actual, physical brick wall!)
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
sukabi
Hey rikyrah ???
Yang really needs to rethink his visuals…that car literally has to go backwards to get out of the spot he’s in.
satby
@rikyrah: Good morning ?
Great article in the Irish Times on why a certain subset of white men are so triggered by Greta Thunberg. A follow-up to the discussion about the right wing hate unleashed on that young woman.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@sukabi:
*Great, now Steve in the
ATL(Wherever the fuck he is today) will wake upTony Jay
Over here in the Land of the Neverending Brexit Story it’s about a quarter of an hour until the Supreme Court starts to deliver its ruling on whether Clown Prince Flobalob of Royal Toryshire violated the constitutional traditions surrounding the prorogation of Parliament.
I’m not expecting much, and what I am expecting will be buried under a tidal-wave of Brextremist bullshit from the Usual Suspects, but you never can tell. Most legal talking-heads think the case went very, very badly for the Government last week and expect the SC to lay down some stern judgementalising, but that doesn’t mean they’ll rule that Parliament wasn’t lawfully shut down or that the Government doesn’t have the right to prorogue while Parliament dissents. They might just say that Johnson was a very, very bad boy but, since this was a political decision outside of the remit of the Courts……nada.
Otherwise, I’m up to my eye-sockets in an absolutely stinking cold, outside my window it looks like week two of a nuclear winter, and the National Crime Agency just quietly announced that they’re dropping the case against the money-laundering owl-pellet Aaron Banks and his Leave E.U. racket. I’d like to think this means the wanker has been flipped as a source, but that would be less likely than pressure being exerted from above (say, by a complicit Government) to make investigations into Brexit criminality go away.
And the Guardian’s coverage of the Labour Party Conference is just as bad as I expected it to be.
These fucking people.
WereBear
@satby: I love her straightforwardness. “This is happening. We have to do something.”
Yes, wingnuts, it is that simple.
Tony Jay
@WereBear:
It is that simple, and that’s why they hate her so very much. Hard to argue with someone who just stares through your bullshit and walks off to do something inspirational.
Just a pity she’s an Aryan sockpuppet of the Hitlerite Left. /s
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Tony Jay
And the verdict is…….
11 judges unanimously rule that the Supreme Court CAN rule on the lawfulness of this prorogation.
Wow. Okay. But what is their actual ruling?
Baud
Why would I want a car that doesn’t go left or right?
Baud
@Tony Jay:
That’ll be out in six months.
Baud
@satby:
Via Reddit
https://gfycat.com/fancycoarsekrill
Tony Jay
Woah! I’ll just copy and paste what the Chief Justice just said.
Hale says there are two issues with a prerogative power.
First, does the power exist?
Second, is it subject to judicial review?
Hale says there is no doubt that the courts can review a prerogative power. All the parties accept that. What is at issue is what are the limits of this power.
Hale says parliaement must be able to make laws everyone can obey.
This principle would be undermined if the government could close parliament, she says.
She says parliament must also be able to hold the executive to account.
She says at the moment prorogation will be unlawful if it has the effect of preventing parliament form being able to carry out its constitutional functions.
And boom goes the dynamite. This has got to mean that they find this prorogation to be unlawful, doesn’t it?
Hale says the prorogation did impede parliament.
The effects on the fundamentals of democracy was extreme.
She says the government has not justified such a long prorogation.
Pull the bloody trigger!!!
Hale says the court is “bound to conclude that the decision to advise her Majesty to prorogue parliament was unlawful”.
Bang!
Shot through the heart, you slovenly fuck.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: So you can stay on the straight and narrow.
Baud
@Tony Jay:
Arrest the Queen!
OzarkHillbilly
Blech to the nth.
Tony Jay
Further to add, just to rub it in.
Hale says prorogation is not a proceeding in parliament.
Although it takes place in parliament, it is not their decision. It is something that has been imposed on them from outside.
The PM’s advice to Her Majesty was “unlawful, void and of no effect”.
That means the order in council was also “unlawful, void and of no effect”.
That means the prorogation had no effect. She says it is as if the royal commission had no effect.
Parliament has not been prorogued, she says.
She says it is for the Speaker to decide what happens next.
Sweary John the Bear-Cow, saddle up your vocal chords, my man, the stage is set and yours.
“The Nays have it! The Nays have it! Unlock those fucking doors and get that lying swine in here, I’ve got a size ten brogue here with his name on it.”
This is good news.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Tony Jay: Our “leaders” just tell the courts to fuck off and mind their own bidness.
Amir Khalid
@Tony Jay:
So the VAR ruling, as it were, is NO PROROGATION? What if BoJo just tells the Queen to prorogue Parliament again, as he has threatened? It seems to me that such a prorogation would be as unlawful as the first, but could he buy time that way?
TS (the original)
@Tony Jay: BBC Live
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-49810261
geg6
@Tony Jay:
Wow! Boris has to be stomping his feet and pulling out that mop of hair. Love it!
TS (the original)
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
US leaders simply stack the courts
Baud
@Amir Khalid:
Would Liz say no the next time because of the Supreme Court ruling?
TS (the original)
@Tony Jay: How does this impact the monarchy? Did the Queen do something illegal?
Tony Jay
@Baud:
Are you saying that in your role as President-Elect-in-Extremis or in a purely personal capacity?
OzarkHillbilly
@satby:
I will by a smartphone when they come up with an app for bitch slapping.
Amir Khalid
@Baud:
That would be my guess, but I’m going to need it checked by someone more knowledgeable like Tony Jay.
OzarkHillbilly
@Tony Jay: I guess Dominic Cummings isn’t an evil genius after all.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly: Time for you to pony up for an iPhone.
Baud
@Tony Jay:
In the U.S. we have a thing called citizen’s arrest.
Brachiator
Speaker Bercow has weighed in, saying that Parliament must convene without delay.
This is so much fun.
Tony Jay
@Amir Khalid:
He may well try, but since the ruling stated that stopping Parliament doing its thing was the reason for it being unlawful, it’s hard to see how he could force another prorogation without triggering an immediate Vote of No Confidence (which is what I’ve always said he really wants).
TS (the original)
@OzarkHillbilly: Andrew Bolt is much more than a climate denier – RW bigot, anti anyone other than white skinned men.
From Rational Wiki
Brachiator
@TS (the original):
No, the court was careful to say that the Queen was given bad advice. She is bound to agree with the judgment of the prime minister. So the burden is on him or her to be lawful and correct.
But Boris Johnson done fucked up. The Sun and Daily Mail will blame Meghan Markle.
Tony Jay
@TS (the original):
@Baud:
Imagine that The Queen is but a conch, through which you must speak for your decisions to have the force of law. The conch doesn’t get to decide what gets spoken through it.
Though it does get to live in the lap of luxury when it’s not being used as a puke-funnel. So swings and roundabouts.
TS (the original)
@Brachiator:
As well she is out of the country at the minute. As for Boris – getting voted in as the leader of his party was as bad as trump being elected president. The saving grace for the UK is that it was a party vote, not a vote of the people.
Baud
@Tony Jay:
No conch is above the law.
Brachiator
The Financial Times reports that Boris Johnson is in New York conferring with his aides. I think he will ask Trump to hold his hand like he did with Modi, to comfort him.
Raven
The weather is good, there were a good many tuna brought in yesterday so here we go!
OzarkHillbilly
@?BillinGlendaleCA: No. I want to literally reach thru the ether and feel my hand go across their faces. Repeatedly. Anything less is… Less.
OzarkHillbilly
@TS (the original): All 3 of them are complete assholes, so full of themselves that no room is left for anything else.
Tony Jay
@geg6:
Outside of the fetid rant-swamps of the Right Wing Media, the big question now is does Johnson have to resign.
Fucker straight up lied to the Queen and tried to unlawfully prevent Parliament from doing its job. As long ago as Summer there wouldn’t be any question, he simply has to be writing a grovelling apology-cum-resignation letter right now. He won’t, of course, because he’s a gobshite, but I’d expect a slew of Cabinet level resignations to start before Parliament gets its chance to start flaying the guilty party.
Nice.
?BillinGlendaleCA
After my trip to the beach Saturday night to get a last glimpse of the Milky Way(I’m planning on going again tonight), I was up bright and early Sunday morning to head to another StreetMeetLA shoot at the San Gabriel Valley Airport(a small airport in El Monte, east of LA). A couple of pics:
https://flic.kr/p/2hk5Vei
https://flic.kr/p/2hk3Anv
Amir Khalid
@Tony Jay:
So the way to prevent that would be the Queen refusing to prorogue, as she now has grounds to do?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly: That was not what you requested, so take your bad self to the Apple store and get your new iPhone 11*.
*I would suggest a Samsung, but they don’t seem to have that app on Android.
Bruce K
With regard to the decision of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (or whatever its official title is), is it still appropriate and timely to respond with “Alexa, order ALL the popcorn”?
Tony Jay
@Baud:
This conch might not BE the Law, but there’s a whole Upper Establishment of People Who Know People ready and willing to close ranks and make sure Betty Windsor does NOT have any of this shit stick to her.
Johnson’s days are numbered. As are Brexit’s.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: It vas only followingk orders.
OzarkHillbilly
@Raven: Tight lines!
Chyron HR
@OzarkHillbilly:
Sure, but only a real American will have the guts to come out and call her the antichrist.
Brachiator
I like the way the Financial Times put it
For some reason, BREXIT weasel Nigel Farage has climbed out of his hole to demand that Boris Johnson’s special advisor, Dominic Cummings, resign.
What a circus this is becoming.
OzarkHillbilly
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Sorry, that is exactly what I requested.
Tony Jay
@Amir Khalid:
@OzarkHillbilly:
More likely the message goes down the line that The Queen will not be receiving any visitors from the Privy Council until Parliament has reconvened and spoken, If Cummings is stupid enough to try and force the matter his head will be in a basket with his balls stuffed in his mouth faster than you can say “How d’ya like the taste of them apples?”
?BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly: No, you asked for an app, I found the app for you.
Tony Jay
@Brachiator:
And with Johnson out of the country, I wouldn’t expect that to be the only resignation letter on his (current) desk when he returns.
Tory Conference should be an absolute belter this year. I can’t wait. 8-)
Brachiator
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
The camera on the new iPhone is getting crazy praise for its night mode, as well as general performance.
Baud
@Brachiator:
Apple was behind on night mode tech, but they apparently caught up.
Brachiator
@Baud:
Yep. A couple of previews of the camera in the new Pixel phone suggests that Apple has overtaken Android for now.
FelonyGovt
I’m excited for the UK. It looks like there is a way out of the darkness. I only hope our national nightmare here is about to end.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Brachiator: I will not go to the dark side.
@Baud: Are those actually reviews or the pics from Apple’s d&p show.
@Brachiator: And the next Sammys will overtake the Crapple phone.
ETA: Generally, night mode on all these devices work the same. It takes multiple pictures in succession at a high ISO and then averages the exposure stack to create a lower noise image. I use this technique for Astro pics.
OzarkHillbilly
@?BillinGlendaleCA: No, you found AN app, that has the temerity to call itself “bitchslap”, not THE app that allows for one to reach thru the ether and physically deliver a bitchslap to the deserving. There is a difference. I’m still waiting for the app.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I get tempted sometimes. Mostly because of the longer security updates. Then I look at the prices.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: There’s very little I’ll give Apple credit for, but their longer maintenance of older devices is one. My Note8* has reached the end of it’s version update cycle, I’ll still get security updates for a couple of years.
*I’ve only had this phone for 21 months, it’ll be 2 years in December.
Brachiator
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I have to admit I am tempted. Fortunately I can’t throw money at new phones as soon as they are released.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Brachiator: Admit it, you just want the slow-mo selfie.
OzarkHillbilly
Revealed: how the FBI targeted environmental activists in domestic terror investigations
She’s in good company.
montanareddog
@Tony Jay good tweet from Guy Verhofstadt
montanareddog
@Tony Jay: Good tweet from Guy Verhofstadt
OzarkHillbilly
Brachiator
This just in: General Francisco Franco, still dead. But his body is on the move.
This is a bit like the controversy over Confederate statues. Some do not want Franco’s remains to be in the same memorial as the remains of those he killed during Spain’s civil war. And some people have long memories.
Steve in the ATL
@?BillinGlendaleCA: a disturbance in the force woke me up. Where’s the crisis?
Brachiator
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Ha. That’s the one feature I have no interest in.
Aleta
OzarkHillbilly
@Aleta: Riiiiiiiiiiggghhht….. //
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Steve in the ATL: See comment #2.
Tony Jay
@montanareddog:
I saw that. Twisting the knife.
Plus it’s always a delight to see the Quiteratti losing their shit in the comments below.
debbie
@satby:
Going on on my FB page this very minute. Apparently, the fact that parts of the boat she sailed over on were not produced in a net zero way totally compromises her entire message. //
I may have just triggered a few people by posting that Greta represents the “fierce urgency of now” for a new generation.
Steve in the ATL
@Raven: my ears are still ringing from Saturday night!
debbie
@Tony Jay:
How could she have believed him in the first place?
Dorothy A. Winsor
I’m back from an out of town visit during which I didn’t read about politics and holy cow, I should do that more often. Things seem to be moving right along on our corrupt president and his party. Maybe it’s like a pot that won’t boil when I’m watching it. Or possible this much happens every in every 4 day period and I’m just used to it when I follow along.
ETA: Also suspending parliament is illegal, says the UK Supreme Court. Holy cow.
OzarkHillbilly
Woman discovers Renaissance masterpiece in her kitchen
(checks walls) Nope.
BretH
The President spends his regards to Greta Thunberg this morning. And yes, Just when you think he couldn’t stoop any lower…
Immanentize
@Raven:
Let the Great Gulf Rumpus begin!
Immanentize
@Tony Jay:
After reading the opinion — very lightly I admit, I was also thinking, “I’m very sorry, but Regina is not home right now, if you would like, please leave a message….”
Baud
@BretH:
I never think that.
Immanentize
@Brachiator: @Brachiator:
I still think the One Plus might have the camera edge. Especially the pop up selfie camera….
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: two American teen girls scaled it in 15 and 18 seconds respectively. I shared that YouTube in FB specifically to mock the wall concept to the two stubborn right wingers who still occasionally pop up to argue with me.
Baud
Richard Cohen is retiring. Good.
SRW1
@Baud:
Is there no end to good news today!?
Ken
@OzarkHillbilly:
One out of two ain’t bad.
@Tony Jay:
Aha! I knew the monarch retained some useful powers, other than that weird thing with the swans and porpoises.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Immanentize: I’ve heard rumors that the next Sammys will have a pop-up selfie camera.
(Personally, I’ve never had a problem with a top bezel with the cameras and shit.)
satby
@debbie: by law, the Queen had to follow the recommendation of her Prime Minister or that would have triggered a UK constitutional crisis itself. But she probably didn’t believe him for a second, her hands were tied.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
Something is amiss.
Kay
So many people either knew about this or were directly involved in it that it’s kind of amazing there had to be a formal “whistleblower”.
Immanentize
@Baud:
But will there be any difference between Cohen now and when he is in retirement?
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Disappointed they’re getting rid of the headphone jack. Inevitable, but I still find it useful.
Ken
@Kay: Surprising parallels to the Epstein case.
Well, not that surprising.
SRW1
@Baud:
What’s two centuries or so among friends?
Baud
@satby:
It’s interesting. I wonder what would happen if the PM advised her to violate a Supreme Court decision.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I’ve not used my headphone jack in years, got Galaxy Buds for Fathers Day.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I use wireless too, but I still use the wired headphones.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: There is no such thing as a wall that can’t be climbed.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Wires get in the way when I’m walking, I’ve used bluetooth headphones for several years. The Galaxy Buds are amazing.
Immanentize
@?BillinGlendaleCA: my son is an Android die hard — or more accurately, anti-Apple and it’s ecosystem. He loves his new 1+ Pro. I just got a new 6T as well (smaller by a bit). We had the earlier version 3Ts for more than three years…. I had to replace the camera in mine, but his 3T never wavered. The battery life on them is also extraordinary.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud:
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Immanentize: I get great battery life on my Note8, even after 2 years. But, then again, I’m not constantly on my phone, but Bluetooth is always on for my Buds, my car and my watch.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
My Bluetooth earphones are chaep and generic, so maybe I’m missing out, but I like the simplicity of plugging in earphones.
Kay
@Ken:
How many people is this, including staff? At least 100, right? The “GOP Senators” who challenged had to know why it it was being withheld. The whistleblower should defend with “oh, bullshit- I revealed nothing- everyone knew” :)
Ken
@OzarkHillbilly: This is sounding like a Dan Brown novel. “We have to find all the missing pieces and assemble Cimabue’s diptych…”
NotMax
@OzarkHillbillly
Also too, still no app via which the phone may confidently and unobtrusively be used to make stable and decipherable phone calls.
;)
Immanentize
@?BillinGlendaleCA: my son uses Jabra buds — his Bluetooth is always on too. Jabras are cheaper than most but better than almost any other brand. And they can go a couple days without recharge too….
JPL
@Aleta: Qatar bailed out Kushner’s company when it was on the verge of bankruptcy. Surely the press will be on that.
eric
@Kay: i am still not convinced that this was the promise that sent the whistleblower into motion. If it has anything to do with Putin and spies, then Bill Weld may not be far from the truth.
Immanentize
@Baud: I also like plugging in. Especially on a plane when I pull out the noise cancelling headphones….
OzarkHillbilly
These environmentalists are out of control.
Kay
@Ken:
It never made any sense that they got rid of Bolton because he was too much of a hawk. Like any of these people care about policy. It’s just power for personal enrichment and personal gain.
Immanentize
@eric:
I agree with you on this — these days the Ukraine stuff would probably not set a high level IC official’s hair on fire. Nor does it completely smack of the US being security compromised. I think it was other stuff too….
Ken
@Kay: Not that there’s any way it would happen, but imagine if the “GOP Senators” had to recuse themselves from an impeachment trial on the grounds that they’re unindicted co-conspirators. The law is “two-thirds of the Senators present“…
Amir Khalid
@debbie:
I don’t think she really has the power to disregard his advice in normal circumstances.
Tony Jay
@debbie:
It doesn’t matter what she believed. The Civil War and the Glorious Revolution took away the power to say no from the Monarchy and left it with the luxurious trappings.
Hilarious to see Quittlings online bemoaning how Parliament is stealing away the Queen’s Divine Right to do whatever the Prime Minister tells her to do. Historically colonic idiots. 8-)
Kay
@Ken:
Well, they can certainly be asked. “Did you think this was illegal? Why didn’t you say anything?”
If the whistleblower complaint includes actions they were all aware of one has to ask why we needed a “whistleblower” – GOP Senators actually involved wasn’t enough to ensure legality? They need an undercover cop observing their every move or they’ll go along quietly with lawbreaking?
Tony Jay
@Immanentize:
Yeah, it’s about as solid a boot to the teeth as could be imagined.
I did not expect this ruling. I’m smiling even through this shitty cold.
Ken
@Kay: More and more, GOP Senators being involved seems to ensure the exact opposite of legality.
Kay
@Ken:
It would just be so delicious if Trump finally involved Congressional R’s in one of his schemes in a way that is verifiable. About time. This one didn’t just stay within his rotten, corrupt “team”. It bled over to Congress. Oozed.
JPL
@Kay: This is the day that Bolton comes across as reasonable… How low we have gone.
Aleta
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
You’re a great street photographer (too). And portraitist. Why am I not surprised? Impressed.
Spanky
@OzarkHillbilly: There’s a pic on that thread with a guy wearing a MAGA tee shirt. Mexicans Always Get Across.
NotMax
@Baud
Advances in speaker tech have been nothing short of astonishing. Realized some time back that had misplaced, lost track of or maybe loaned out my little battery operated emergency radio and finally got around to ordering a replacement for situations when the power goes out. The one I got during a wild sale at Amazon (final cost was just over a sawbuck) is incredible when it comes to that. AM/FM/SW, just a smidgen larger than a deck of cards, Li-ion rechargeable battery, and the tiny speaker in it puts out a room-filing sound coming supernaturally close to rivaling that of any stereo system.
Although I do miss the days when learning to use a radio involved switching it on and twisting the dial to receive a station. This little unit comes with so many other inbuilt features (most of which, like the onboard recorder, I’ll never use) that it arrived with a nine page instruction booklet.
Should anyone be in the market for such a device, a link.
Leto
@OzarkHillbilly: So a bit late to this shindig, but here’s a gaming comic about what you proposed for your phone. A bit more hearty than a slap, but it’ll do.
Spanky
There’s a mockingbird outside the open window here rattling off his patois. Nothing cheers me like that. Hilarity, and he don’t care.
Gin & Tonic
@Kay: I do not believe the whistleblower was blowing the whistle about the military aid to Ukraine. I think that’s what Trumpco wants you to think.
Immanentize
@Gin & Tonic:
Sit by me. And they are doing excellent work in that regard.
chopper
@Baud:
boris: “we don’t need the conch anymore, we know who ought to say things!”
Gin & Tonic
@NotMax: Impressive device: “Built in three languages Chinese English Spanish;”
eric
@Immanentize: I think the dems know what is in the complaint and that it gets out only with an actual impeachment inquiry. that does not explain the media feeding frenzy, but i think the dem turnaround is inexplicable just for this quid pro quo that is so in the trump wheelhouse. i have no evidence, but the turnaround has been swift.
chopper
@OzarkHillbilly:
is a velvet painting of dogs playing poker worth anything? asking for a friend.
Bruce K
I wish I could remember where I read it, but I recall reading once upon a time that the Crown theoretically has the right to cast a veto, but realistically, it has one veto, so the circumstances had better be extremely dire. And as Charlie Stross points out, if the UK losing India wasn’t enough for QE2 to exercise that veto…
Baud
@eric:
We know the complaint exists, so I’m not sure how Trump’s misdirection helps them. But I also agree there’s more to the story.
Leto
@NotMax:
The first half of my career involved single channel transmitters and receivers, which meant manual tuning of the RF path. Take operating frequency and divide by 4 for UHF, 2 for VHF, and input that freq on the dials, then adjust the tuning cavities (bandpass filter/cavity) to pass that freq. After that were power/control adjustments and then you could talk/listen. That procedure was for the 10W transmitter. The 50W amplifier? Yeah, everyone hated that.
Now? Now the assholes have all digital sets that have built in encryption (no third party module), cover multiple different frequency ranges, line-of-sight or satellite capability with multiple modulations available, and a whole host of other shit… all with a fricking LCD punch pad to just TYPE IN THE FREQUENCY YOU WANT… roughly the size of a new 11” iPad Pro! It’s about 4-5 playing card decks thick, but still, they’ll never the joy/pain of that needle movement when you find the sweet spot and see the power jump. Up hill both ways, snow, sleet, hurricane rain… (looks up at the clouds and waves his cane)
Immanentize
@Gin & Tonic: @eric: @Baud:
IIRC, Trump’s initial response to the news of the whistleblower complaint was, “I can declassify whatever I want to.” Which makes no sense in the Ukrainian folderol.
Baud
@Immanentize:
He can declassify anything. Do you think that’s a more politically explosive story than trying to force a foreign country to interfere on the election?
eric
@Immanentize: i have a case right now against some folks that made some strategic blunders and have just said they will something that is going to be absurd. Our client commented that it was the dumbest thing they could do. I responded: dumb, sure, but name one other option that is objectively better….there are none. So it goes here. Trump’s choices are not good and the Ukraine mess (I think) is his best option because it has the potential to hurt an opponent, even though the actual allegations against Trump in normal times would be a presidency killer.
eric
@Baud: yes, if it is promising the removal of spies from Putin’s Russia.
Baud
@eric:
Why? He gets to do that. I don’t think that’s impeachable by itself.
montanareddog
@Immanentize: Indeed he can declassify what he wants. And if the whistleblower’s complaint were about improper declassification, the ICIG would have rejected it on the grounds of that. That the ICIG found that the complaint was credible, indicates that it is about something else – the so-called “promise”. There’s a quid pro quo in there, I wager, and that is something Americans can understand “just ain’t right”
Immanentize
@Baud:
If what he declassified was information about our spies in Russia, yes.
NotMax
@Leto
The breadth of experience on this here family blog never ceases to amaze.
Once coming across a radio from, I guess, the 1940s (one of those which was as much a formidable piece of furniture as an entertainment device) which one tuned by watching a soft green light, an inch or so across. An iris opened or shut over it as one tuned in a station, the optimum being only a green dot.
Way back when dabbled in radio broadcasting, keeping an eye on the needles(s) of the VU meter(s) was crucial. There was one single (can’t remember the specific song but memory tells me it was by Black Sabbath) that had the sound so tightly compressed that the needle moved up and then stood stock still during the entirety of playing the record.
Baud
@Immanentize:
While I don’t buy that the IC will save us, I think if he actually told Putin who are spies were, that information would have leaked. We wouldn’t be dealing with an internal whistleblower. But who knows?
Immanentize
@montanareddog:
Agreed. He says it was his right to say anything. But there will be a quid pro quo somewhere that makes it horrific. So he says, declassify, the whistleblower says selling out US interests.
So may possibilities to choose from. Russia? Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Iran. Israel and the elections? Brexit? The list of things he would compromise for personal gain is nearly endless.
Kay
Yay! Maybe another country can get some of them since our gross, corrupt infatuated by celebrity prosecutors had him and let him go.
Maybe the trail leads back to the Americans who got away with it.
eric
@Baud: he is telling an “enemy” that he promises to recall all US spies from Russia (or something like that). It is not about that he can do it; it is that it is against US interest. That seems like the kind of thing that would spook people into action.
Baud
@eric:
I personally see the Ukraine thing as worse. But I’m obviously not representative of most people.
Sab
@Kay: Wow. I thought Portman was teflon coated. Maybe he is not.
Gin & Tonic
@Sab: There are a lot of Ukrainian-Americans in Ohio. They vote, and they are not happy about military aid being withheld. If it’s provable that Portman was in on the delay, or even knew about it, that’s bad news for him.
A thing that’s also being missed here is how much damage this is doing to American influence in Ukraine. Cynics here may scoff, but outside the US there a lot of people in a lot of countries (like Ukraine) who view the US as still being guided by principles, and that if you can convince the US of the rightness of your cause, you may get support. If it looks like it’s just transactional, then the US is no different than Russia or China.
Leto
@NotMax: I’ve seen a number of older radios like that and they weren’t much different than what I started out on. The radios i maintained were first introduced in the mid 50’s and stayed in use until the mid aughts? The FAA had transitioned over to digital radios a long time before the military. I visited an FAA facility, saw those, and basically said, “WTF? Why are we using those POS?” I was then taught about contracts, logistics, and other esoteric points that a brand new airmen didn’t really need to know about, but my NCOs passed that knowledge along anyways. It helped quite a bit when, five years later, I went back to the school house to teach the same courses to all the brand new airmen.
That Sabbath song sounds like Spinal Tap: “You see, other songs just go to 10 on the VU… ours go to 11.”
Cheryl from Maryland
@Baud: Nerd art history alert. Even though you are correct that the date of 1280 is odd for a Renaissance painting as it is smack dab in the High Middle Ages (only 60 years after Chartres Cathedral was completed), art historians classify Cimabue and Giotto as Renaissance (or Proto-Renaissance to be picky) rather than Medieval. Especially with Giotto, his figures look like they are acually standing on actual human feet, unlike the floaty figures of Medieval art. Also, since there are now at least three paintings, it is no longer a diptych. The panels in question are so small, probably from a predella (placed under the main painting of an altarpiece — the Life of Jesus is a popular topic for predellas).
rp
@eric: Yes.
That said, i don’t think that’s what the whistleblower complaint is about. My guess is that it is about Ukraine, but not Biden. I think Trump demanded that Ukraine cede territory to Russia in exchange for additional aid or something.
captnkurt
This is how you’re supposed to use those CAUTION signs, right?
Cheryl from Maryland
@chopper: If you have an actual oil of Dogs Playing Poker by Cassius Marcellus Coolidge, it could sell at auction for up to a million dollars.
Betty
@Tony Jay: Yay for common sense! May the British all come to their senses very soon.
Alien Radio
@debbie: she almost certainly did not believe boris, but it’s another case of handing someone enough rope.
NotMax
@Tony Jay
If it were the U.S., Republicans would immediately initiate removal proceedings against the judges.
Amir Khalid
@Bruce K:
Huh? India gained independence in 1947. The Queen’s reign ony began in 1952.
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
Thank you; was hoping someone would point that out.
Immanentize
@Cheryl from Maryland:
Thanks for that! My favorite Giotto is the Stigmatization of St. Francis which is not only ‘modern’ but downright science-fictiony. There is a version of it in the Fogg in Cambridge.
ETA. For those who haven’t seen it:. Christ on a cross flying, flapping his angel wings like a hummingbird shooting Lazer beams from his wounds into a kneeling St. Frank. Wow! (On train, can’t link)
Gin & Tonic
@Amir Khalid: Look at you, with your dates and facts and shit.
rikyrah
@Tony Jay:
Tell it , Tony Jay!
clap clap clap
rikyrah
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Very good, Bill :)
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA AH HA
rikyrah
@Immanentize:
NOPE
rikyrah
@Kay:
I hope so.
Ladyraxterinok
@NotMax: Wow, we had one of those when I was a kid (b 1940)
Had forgotten the tricky way you had to tune it!
Ruckus
Hey Annie
(… into an actual, physical brick wall!)
I said that.
Was it yesterday? It’s so hard to keep track of the mass of stupid out there. Like this picture.
Ruckus
@Brachiator:
Becoming?
Seems to me that it’s pretty much been a circus for a while now. Even has a buffoon act.
SWMBO
https://youtu.be/CTfB_h8e-6k
The Lodger
@Immanentize: What, no pogo stick?
Tony Jay
@rikyrah:
They keep doing it, I’ll keep doing it. 8-)
J R in WV
@Kay:
I still don’t think the formal whistleblower report has anything to do with the Ukraine affair at all. While it’s clearly illegal, just as all the other actions of Trump’s minions, it isn’t a clear threat to the national security.
Something else, something much more important to our national security is going on and still is pretty much secret. I think Trump delivered a ton of highly secret information to Putin, but that’s just a hillbilly’s barely informed guess.