Walker88

If you need specifics to squelch your attempt at Whataboutism, read the War Powers Act. That congressionally-passed Act allows the President to engage in military action when US personnel of US interests are threatened. The President has such power for 60 days from the first action. He merely needs to inform Congressional leadership of his actions, which President Biden has done. He also must continue to inform leadership of the ongoing actions, which Biden has done. So you, and your strange bedfellow Cori Bush can relax. Meanwhile, trump is still guilty.

I suppose trumpers who agree with their messiah that military personnel, especially those who died, are 'suckers and losers', they expect that---if military targets come under attack---they first have to send a FLASH cable back to the Joint Chiefs, who then call up the President, who then has to call Sen Majority Leader and House Leader to wake up their fellows and get to the Capitol, then take a vote---probably after debate that would run largely along partisan lines---then tell POTUS, who tells the Joint Chiefs, who then cables back to those under attack, and let them know if they can, or cannot, fight back. Of course something that Cori Bush et al might have forgotten, is that under her namesake Dubya, the Bills related to the War on Terror, give POTUS authority to call such strikes. Thus, Biden won't need the immunity. Oh, and yesterday, when questioned, trump agreed with his 'crack' legal team that a President is totally immune and, if he wants, can assassinate critics or political opponents and suffer zero consequences.

Don't you know? trump's crack legal staff is trying to argue, at least in his Georgia case, that trump is innocent because "he didn't know it was illegal to try to overthrow an election".

Really? I guess Cori Bush is a Constitutional Scholar. Please don't tell her that trump did the same thing in Syria. Oh, and trump ordered those strikes while having dinner with some foreign officials at his country club. He even announced to the table that "Excuse me, but I have to go order some air strikes against Syria". I'm always amused when trumpers demonstrate the degree in Whataboutism they earned from the now-defunk trump university. It's quite a stretch trying to go after Biden for taking steps to protect US military personnel and international shipping, albeit ignoring or excusing trump's attempt to overthrow 250 years of US democracy, theft of highly classified documents, etc.

555 Please provide proof of all the illegalities of Biden and Obama. As for trump, pointing out his illegalities is only limited by time itself, as his crimes come so fast and furious. Insurrection, fake electors, browbeating State officials to commit election fraud, theft of highly classied documents, sexual assault, business fraud, bank fraud, insurance fraud, charity fraud.... What trump should worry about is if Presidential immunity actually comes to pass. That would allow Biden to have trump assassinated, and then resign. Come to think of it, sounds pretty good.

Did you see trump's "Loser Face" sitting in that court yesterday. He knows he's up against it. He knows his years of fraud are going to cost him. Even if he appeals the judgement, he will still be required to post cash while he appeals. Interestingly, trump still has loans, via SIVs set up off Deutsche Bank's balance sheet, whose monetary source is Russian oligarchs. This was confirmed several times in the past by both of trump's sons. Stiffing US bondholders and subcontractors is one thing, but trump would be in a world of trouble if he stiffed Russians. A couple of Secret Service agents are hardly capable of keeping the hired help of the Russians away from trump. On Friday, another NY court will hear from E Jean Carroll, who is suing trump for ongoing defamation, and was already awarded $5 million for trump's sexual assault of her in a Bergdorf-Goodman dressing room years ago.

The actual sad reality is that his cult excuses every single crime their messiah commits, whether it is bank and insurance fraud, fomenting insurrection, stealing highly classified documents, trying to browbeat State officials to commit election fraud, appoint fake electors to try to overturn an election, get away with sexual assault, etc. trump's "crack" staff, just this week, argued to two different courts (Georgia State system, DC Circuit Court) the following: 1) In Georgia, his team filed a defense stating "trump did not know trying to overturn an election was illegal" 2) In front of the DC Circuit Court, his lawyer argued that a President is immune from prosecution unless first found guilty in the Senate after impeachment in the House, and this means a sitting President can have his political opponents or critics assassinated and be immune from prosecution, unless impeached and convicted in the Senate first. That means, according to trump's lawyers, he could have had Biden assassinated, and then resigned before impeachment, getting off scot free. Silly trump had better hope the DC Circuit Court strikes down this immunity nonsense, lest Biden decide to have trump killed, and then Biden could simply resign before getting impeached, and walk away scot free.

Yes. Imagine a country where people are held accountable for their crimes! What's next? No automatic immunity? How is a dictator wannabe going to be able to assassinate his critics and political opponents? The HORROR! I'm sure you either don't know or are incapable of escaping the vapors from trump's bloated backside, but here is the crux of the NY trial: trump lied on his financial statements in the hope of getting reduced rates of interest (which is a crime in NY). At that time he was heavily investing in NJ casinos, too, so he was cash strapped. Had he not been able to get the reduced interest rates, he would not have been able to service the loans from NY. Also, the NY borrowings had personal guarantees, so non-payment would hit his wallet. In NJ, he did a few things differently. He set up each property as an independent entity, with no personal guarantee. Collateral was the land and project itself. He borrowed from 72 banks, plus he issued junk bonds. As CEO of each of the NJ projects, he paid himself a massive salary, and used that money to repay his personally-guaranteed NY loans. He then declared bankruptcy for each of his NJ casino and hotel properties, stiffing the banks, bondholders and subcontractors who did the construction and renovation. He violated the covenants of both his NJ loans and the junk bonds, but lenders and bondholders knew he was tapped out and settled for 30 cents on the dollar or less as they assumed his land and properties. As you might know, those losses eventually get passed on to taxpayers, as the stiffed entities---banks, bondholders, subcontractors---put their losses against profits in order to reduce their taxes. An amusing side story is that trump's father co-signed the NY loans, so was also personally liable. (The supposed "self-made" donny had his dad as co-signer of all his loans until his dad passed. trump also inherited $412 million when dad died, and had been receiving a massive allowance from dad since the age of 3, which amounted to over $100 million by the time his actually successful dad died. When a loan payment was due in NY, dad had an associate go into one of donny's NJ casinos and purchase $3 million in chips. That cash was then used to meet a loan payment in NY. Dad was charged with making an illegal loan. One key part of the lawsuit is that it is illegal in NY to lie on bank loan applications and also to lie on insurance applications. The crime doesn't even require a victim, though there are victims in the fact that lenders and insurers---and their shareholders---earned less revenue. trump's claim that the banks should have done their own "due diligence" is both legally irrelevant and silly. If borrowers are not required to be honest, there would be no point in filling out a loan application. Lenders have to rely to a large extent on what loan applicants attest to with their signature on applications. Oh, and the whining about an unfair judge is immaterial. trump's legal time had the choice of a bench trial or jury trial. They chose a bench trial, which means only one person---the judge---determines guilt or innocence. Judge Engeron (who received a bomb threat at his home just this week by a typical violent trump cult member, like the goobers who attacked the US Capitol at trump's urging), ruled that trump and his company committed fraud according to the NY law. This is all a matter of public record, and can be accessed with a bit of Googling.

Amber

He did get to speak, so that's one less thing the snowflake can whine about. For unknown reasons, trump's legal team chose a bench trial rather than a jury trial. They had a choice. The judge then ruled that trump had committed fraud. trump was able to get much lower rates because of his lies. At that time he was also heavily investing in Atlantic City casinos, so he had poor cash flow. The low rates he got via his lies helped, but he also siphoned money off of his casino projects, which he funded via 72 banks plus via the issuance of junk bonds. So he was only able to repay the fraudulently favorable NYC rates because he siphoned off his NJ projects. A key part of these deals is that the NYC borrowings had personal guarantees, while his NJ properties were only guaranteed by the land and projects themselves. So bankruptcy of his NJ properties would not hurt him personally, while non-payment in NYC would have hit his own wallet. When he had siphoned off enough from NJ to repay his NYC borrowings, he filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for his NJ properties, stiffing the banks, bondholders and the subcontractors he had used in the construction of his casinos. It is possible that the AG of the State of New Jersey will consider doing what the NY AG James has done, and charge trump with fraud for siphoning off funds to use in areas not entitled by the junk bond covenants for his casinos. That would also fall under SEC rules, so federal charges might result.

trump tapped into the Loser Demographic, which are people who cannot make it in a modern, competitive world or who feel entitled to things because of their ethnicity. He tapped into those who are incapable of accepting personal responsibility for their own failings and who need someone else to blame. He also tapped into losers who jump on to every conspiracy theory whackjobs make up. He tells them what they want to hear to salve their fragile loser egos. Look at his cult: the racist tikitorch slimeballs from Charlottesville, who chanted "Jews will not replace us". trump owns the QAnon Cult. He has the entire Incel movement. He has the vast majority of non-college educated, below average wage, below average intellect demo. He has the Talibangicals, who even hold the silly belief that some deity sent a serial philandering, pathological liar, corrupt, self-centered, misogynistic Narcissist to 'save 'Merica'. He has the gun nuts, who think the US has no First Amendment, but just the Second. Oh, and his cult hates the Fourteenth Amendment, which prohibits anyone to run for elected office if they have engaged in insurrection against the government, which trump most surely did (fake elector scheme, pressuring election officials to change votes, calling his goobers to DC on 6 Jan 2021 and then encouraging them to go disrupt a pro forma election certification). Analysis of his demo groups paint a picture of losers, the forlorn, the unsuccessful. Consider: trump won 85% of all US Counties, but collectively they represent only 38% of US GDP, while Biden (and HRC in 2016) won only 15% of US Counties, but they represent 62% of total US GDP. Doing the math, that means Biden areas are 9.25 times more productive than trump areas. trump owns the Red States, but they lead the US in being parasitic (taking more from the Federal Govt than their citizens pay in taxes), lead the US in % of citizens on Social Security Disability Insurance and SNAP Cards, also opioid addiction rates. It's no wonder they have little connection to reality. They think trump was a success, when the reality includes: trump was the first President since Herbert Hoover in 1932 to leave office with fewer Americans employed than when he entered, and his economic growth (as measured by GDP change) was the worst since Hoover...and that was even before Covid hit. Oh, and trump's tenure was 80% finished when Covid hit the US, so "Covid" is hardly an excuse for his failure. In any society there are always going to be losers. There is also likely to be self-serving clowns whose one skill is telling the losers what they want to hear. trump sings that siren song. The thing is, losers will still be losers.

Heaven? A fantasy, dipped in hope, covered in superstition. My heaven is right here, right now, because it is all I will ever have. Enjoy it while you last.

Had a memorable flight on Saudia many years ago, on a business trip from NY to Jeddah. Got put next to a Saudi woman holding a baby. Mom's face was covered, but she decided to breast feed shortly after takeoff. Her 'milk carton' was out in the open about a foot from my face. It was......uncomfortable. I asked the flight attendant if I could be moved. She found an empty row in Economy, and asked if that was okay. I went back there, and the entire section was all female, all Western. Apparently the women were temp hires to be used on charter Hajj flights. So back section economy was one guy and 100 temp flight attendants. While it sounds entertaining, the lines for the bathroom went forever. I was kind of disabused of the fantasy of 'doing the flight attendant'. I kept thinking of the Robin Williams' skit about 'AIr Jihad': "Will you be sitting in armed, or unarmed?" Since I had an entire row (seating back there was 3-5-3), I put all the arm rests up in my row and made it a bed. No booze, but overhead compasses let me know the exact direction of Mecca, just in case I felt the need to pray (which I did not). I would not recommend Saudia, unless the flight was free. Even then, no.

Classical: Julian Bream Finger style: Leo Kottke, Ton van Bergeyk Fret Tapping: Stanley Jordan Popular: Prince Offbeat: Michael Hedges

As they say on Late Night Infomercials.... But wait! There's more! In the last day, here's some absurdities spewing from that abomination known as trumpistan: ---trump hopes the US economy crashes, thinking it will help him ---trump's legal defense in his Georgia case is, "He didn't know trying to overthrow an election is illegal" (This is what his 'crack' legal team filed with the court in the US State of Georgia yesterday.) ---trump re-posted on his Lie Truth Social a video where he is portrayed as a messenger from god. The video actually says: "And on June 14, 1946, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, ‘I need a caretaker,’ so God gave us Trump.” Ostensibly that sort of nonsense appeals to the US Talibangicals.

How ignorant does someone need to be, and how broken is one's logic to think trump meant anything less than HE WANTS A CRASH BECAUSE HE THINKS IT WILL HELP HIM? The reason the Nigerian 419 Scam still exists i because their are such people.

And you have proof of politicization of the FBI and the courts, or is it just your delicate sensibilities that conclude anyone doing his/her job, albeit against your messiah, is being "political"? You certainly sniff the vapors coming out of trump's backside. It's "politicization" when the FBI investigates stolen classified documents and the guy who lied about it? When the same thief engaged in a plot to appoint fake electors to subvert an election, or browbeat a State official to "just find me 11.780 votes" Perhaps Brits like you call it "politicization", but in American English we call what the bureau and the courts have done "doing their job". Not investigating/prosecuting would have been a dereliction of duty. You are quick to accuse on other topics, yet have a couple dozen comments here trying to play Lancelot, coming to the defense of an anachronism. Apparently your anachronism is a very poor judge of character, as most people needed only one meeting with Epstein---particularly those who went to one of his residences---to understand what sort of miscreant he was. Your boy was a regular.

I'll repeat what I always write about wine. If actually enacted, this will have impact almost exclusively on cheaper wines, such as supermarket wines, Wine Connection wines, etc. Higher quality wines will see minimal to no impact, as they have never gone through Customs where the actual cost was declared. Solaia and Sassicaia get declared as a couple hundred baht plonk. If someone is from the US, and you drink better quality wines, you are unlikely to see any price difference. Something like $30+ Italian wines (e.g., il Bruciato, Le Volte) cost the same in Thailand as in the US. I've even seen some more expensive wines (e.g., Fattoria Le Pupille Saffredi~$125) priced at a Thai restaurant at the same price I pay retail in the US. Folks from the EU or maybe Australia might notice some price difference, but it will be minor, unless it's a 300 baht wine.

Short Version for the tl:dr folks: It is highly unlikely, because there is no physical law to explain it, that sentience exists outside of the physical as a result of a random boom boom.

The Brandenburg Concertos are great for stress reduction and evoke a feeling of optimism. I already noted a personal appreciation of Brahms' 1st, particularly the last few movements, as it elicits the same feelings. I can listen to Bach, Brahms, Liszt, SL Weiss' famous Passacaglia in D Major, Julian Bream playing Sevilla...and enjoy them all, but if I put on Beethoven's 9th (I have the von Karajan on LP), what hits hardest is the incredible complexity of it. It is no wonder the symphony is so famous, as it is arguably the zenith of Western classical music.

Yes, I have studied it. Pre-med who turned down med school for a paying job, as undergrad produced enough debt Some things are written tongue-in-cheek. I am not a believer in any sort of extra-corporal consciousness. I also find it kind of funny that we attribute all sorts of mystery and romance and 'spirtuality' to something that is driven purely by somebody wanting physical relief. As for the post, I was in the mood to write something different than the usual love-Thailand/hate-Thailand, bargirls are dirty/salt of the Earth, Russians/Chinese/Indians/British are bad, etc.

No, that was facetious. Dally at will.

Good for you.

We all know how humans get here, but we tend to cloud the clinical reality with myth, superstition, romance or anything that might allow us to believe it is anything more than the result of a biological urge put into action. The plain and simple fact is that we’re all here because somebody was in the mood. Sure, maybe some parents engaged in the act for the primary purpose of producing a child, but one or both being randy was the main cause. Whether Mozart or Hitler or a guy who pours Slurpies in a 7-11 at a highway rest stop in Keokuk, Iowa…we and they exist simply because somebody wanted to get his rocks off. Life may or may not have any meaning, but it does have a purpose, and that purpose is more life. Living things are driven by instinct to propagate, to pass on their gene pool. In humans, that instinct is given a term: Horny. We’re propagation of our parent’s gene pool because somebody was horny. Kind of gives existence an element of farce. Most of us develop and reach puberty in such a way that certain things attract us. Certainly, the majority of us are attracted to our opposite gender, though that isn’t everyone. As a male, some obvious things and some odd things seem to get my juices flowing. To be drawn to a beautiful face is something easy to understand. Where it gets somewhat silly---though natural---is that a shapely body draws us in. A nice pair of legs. Maybe large bosoms. A tight female backside that defies gravity. Where it gets almost embarrassing is that an orifice framed in different fleshy bits, naturally surrounded by hair follicles, and with a particular hormone-filled aroma emanating from said orifice, makes us hellbent on penetrating that orifice with our specialty male appendage. The desire is almost out of our control, though we learn to sublimate it, when to give in to the urge would be inappropriate. When the time is right, however, the behavior tends to take on a momentum all its own. And so it goes. All of that urge or romance or desire or passion is followed by a wonder of biology and chemistry, though we don’t usually think about it at that time. Instead, we think about snuggling, or doing it again, or going to watch the football game on TV. Despite those unrelated thoughts, there’s something going on inside the female, especially if she is ovulating. At the culmination of the recent act, the male released a liquid filled with millions of motile little sperm, each wiggling a tail and on a mission to be first to reach the woman’s egg, or at least inadvertently or serendipitously collide with it. The waiting egg releases progesterone, which chemically attracts the sperm and causes their tails to wiggle faster. Generally, the sperm that gets there first causes a reaction to occur that creates kind of a barrier or membrane around the egg so that no other sperm are welcome. The two entities’ nuclei fuse, the zygote exits the Fallopian tube and eventually takes up residence on the wall of the uterus. Differentiation then begins, as the initial zygote begins to divide into cells that will go on to form organs and appendages, muscle and bone, brain and neurons. The differentiation and cell specialization, plus growth, continues for about nine months, and then the combined gene pool is ready to make an appearance and join the same path to maturity so that it, too, can propagate its gene pool. From a scientific perspective, there isn’t much more than that….intercourse, fertilization, pregnancy, development, birth,,,,and then rinse and repeat. That isn’t enough for most people. They need there to be more to it than gene propagation. They need meaning. Many also need reassurance that existence is not finite, so they make up stories. Somewhere along the path from sperm-meets-egg to a finished human being emerging from where the male had inserted his appendage, many people are intent on thinking something else happens, such as a “soul” is inserted or the neurochemicals and electric impulses running through neurons create a consciousness that---somehow---has existence outside of the physical body. There is no indication that any of this is the case, but the human need to believe insists, or hopes, it’s true. If it is true, when does this infinite consciousness enter? How does it materialize? What is this “soul” thing, and how does it get there? There is nothing about the chemistry resulting from sperm-meets-egg that in any way suggests some miracle emerges that creates an immortal and non-physical consciousness. No known chemical reactions of proteins or enzymes or lipids yield a consciousness independent of the chemicals that created it. There is no branch of physics that can offer any explanation or proof that sperm-meets-egg creates some essence that exists outside of the physical elements of the body. For those who believe in souls or independent consciousness, perhaps you will offer the explanation as to what atomic process results in this non-physical entity. Methyl groups? Oxidation? Is a catalyst, such as zinc or magnesium, required? There’s a Nobel Prize awaiting whomever provides the answer. I don’t know how either an infinite consciousness or a “soul” are supposed to enter into the physical body. Did this soul always exist and some deity just shoved it into the emerging infant? Or does the deity manufacture a new soul after each successful intercourse and put it in? That would require monitoring every ovulating female 24/7. If these souls always existed, why are they not all here now? There’s about 8 billion humans currently on the planet, but since homo sapiens developed from other human-like forms, there have been about 125 to 150 billion of us. What happened to the other souls? Are they all going to reappear at the same time and be ‘judged'? What about the humans that existed before anybody’s modern deity? Are they shut out of eternity for all….eternity? Seems kind of unfair. Even more ‘unfair’, perhaps, is that deities make no exception for the manner of the intercourse that leads to the insertion of a ‘soul’. Two people committed for life via a legally recognized marriage? That one’ is easy. Pre-marital intercourse? Quite often. A pick-up in a bar? It happens. Broken condom? Sorry! Two silly teens doing it for the first time because their parents are out of town? Sometimes. How about rape or incest? No exceptions, goddamnit! For those who believe consciousness can exist outside of the physical body, has it been in existence since time began, or is there some magic that occurs when sperm-meets-egg that gives rise to this immortal consciousness? It floats away somewhere upon death of the body? Another question is why does this consciousness diminish with the aging of the physical body? Most all humans, if they reach a certain age, develop some sort of dementia. For some it is so severe that by the time death occurs, the human is in a vegetative state. What is this magic that, upon death of the physical body (all human death results from lack of oxygen to the brain, whether because organs shut down, disease destroys the body’s ability to transport O2 to the brain, there’s blood loss from accidents, whatever) all is suddenly and instantly restored? All the memories and personality and everything the person was comes back and then goes….somewhere…Where? Some people are of the belief that the consciousness or soul get recycled into another living form, but if it does, it seems to forget any and all previous iterations (but sometimes imagines it can remember, and usually because it believes it was some ancient warrior fighting a battle in Mesopotamia, or was a princess in some long lost monarchy). Being infinite and immortal would be a wonderful thing, as life---especially in this modern world---is glorious. It’s great fun. It would be nice if it lasted forever, but I think our eternity is defined by our individual birth and death. Life hasn’t always been so good, so I appreciate the need for many to hope there was more to life than pain and struggle. I just don’t see how any of the ‘spiritual’ beliefs make any sense. I don’t see when this infinite consciousness or soul gets inserted into the zygote or developing fetus. Certainly, if somehow these souls or some infinite consciousness results simply from my carnal desires, I should probably be a lot more responsible on how and with whom I dally, because my horniness could create an entity that will exist until time itself ends…..and all that just because I was horny. That puts a lot of pressure on me, and might get in the way of the fun when I’m in flagrante delicto with a woman. If that is the case, the ability to procreate ought to be doled out a lot more judiciously, yet good or bad, moral or immoral, we all have that ability. It makes one wonder.

Job creation under the last two Presidents, including the one who barks about 'best economy ever'. POTUS 45 2017: +2.2 million 2018: +2.7 million 2019: + 2.1 million 2020: -9.4 million President Biden 2021: +6.4 million 2022: +4.8 million 2023: +2.7 million (Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics) POTUS 45 was the first President since Herbert Hoover in 1932 to leave office with fewer Americans working than when he took over from President Obama. Obama left POTUS 45 4.8% unemployment (after inheriting 10% UE from Bush), and POTUS 45 left Biden 6.8% UE. Yes, Joe is underestimated. Toss in economic growth (after Biden inherited a Recession from POTUS 45, 800,000 new manufacturing jobs, and finally a bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, and old Joe has done a pretty good job. (As for "blah blah blah" about Covid, note that Covid had zero impact in the US until March-April 2020, fully 38 months into POTUS 45's 48 month tenure.)