jerrymahoney

I was once in the waiting area at KhonKaenRam where I was the onl;y non-Thai. I asked one of the nurses (who knew me from repeated visits) how many of the Thai people here have private insurance? Her answer: All of them.

Key in the apologists with NothingBurger.

Amateurs.

Per the above, official Groundbreaking on their J&J NC plant was Updated 3/21/2025, 9:28:28 PM Johnson & Johnson to pour $2B into North Carolina biologics plant, add 420 jobs Oct 1, 2024 3:59pm J&J is planning to build a state-of-the-art biologics plant to provide supplies for treatments across the oncology, immunology and neuroscience treatment areas, J&J said in a Tuesday press release. Construction is slated to begin in the first half of 2025, and the site will have a workforce of 420 once fully operational. <SKIP> At a Tuesday meeting of the state's Economic Investment Committee, officials approved a 12-year reimbursement grant worth nearly $13.7 million, according to a press release from North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. The money is contingent on J&J meeting certain job creation and investment targets. https://www.fiercepharma.com/manufacturing/johnson-johnson-plots-1b-north-carolina-manufacturing-plant-adding-420-jobs-reports

POTUS Trump wrote on TRUTH SOCIAL: The “Pardons” that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT. -- Isn't that how it works?

Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005)

This is a quote from the movie "The Shawshank Redemption": -- You know what the Mexicans say about the Pacific? They say it has no memory. That's where I want to live the rest of my life. Similar to that, I wanted to move to a place where nobody really knew me or had no memory of me unless I want them to.

Some 7-11 staff like to practice their English esp. in areas where they do not have many farang customers.

They have nice salads.

Surely you must realize that you can't take anything the President of the United States says seriously. On May 22, 1782, the Newburgh letter was sent to George Washington who was camped at Newburgh, New York; written for the army officers by Colonel Lewis Nicola, it proposed that Washington should become the King of the United States. Washington reacted very strongly against the suggestion and was greatly troubled by it. * -- Trump maybe would have pondered that king-thing a bit longer. * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newburgh_letter

In fact, it has been stated by many that the first month of our presidency — it’s our presidency — (applause) — is the most successful in the history of our nation by many. (Applause.) And what makes it even more impressive is that — do you know who number two is? George Washington. How about that? (Laughter and applause.) How about that? I don’t know about that list, but we’ll take it. https://www.whitehouse.gov/remarks/2025/03/remarks-by-president-trump-in-joint-address-to-congress/

Chinese woman arrested at Mar-a-Lago had device to detect hidden cameras, officials say Yujing Zhang "lies to everyone she encounters," Assistant U.S. Attorney Rolando Garcia told judge during a bond hearing. April 9, 2019, 9:55 AM GMT+7 By Associated Press WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Chinese woman recently arrested at President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club lied repeatedly to Secret Service agents while carrying computer malware unlike anything a government analyst had ever seen and had more than $8,000 in cash at her hotel room, along with an electronic device that detects hidden cameras, federal authorities told a judge Monday. He said the FBI is investigating whether Zhang is a spy. Zhang was arrested March 30 after Secret Service agents said she lied to gain admission to the president's Palm Beach resort and was found to be carrying two Chinese passports, four cellphones, a laptop computer, an external hard drive and a thumb drive containing the malware. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/chinese-woman-arrested-mar-lago-had-device-detect-hidden-cameras-n992301

From NY Times via archive: Social Security Administration Will No Longer Allow Changes Made by Phone The new rule would require people who want to make changes to first verify their identity online or in person. March 18, 2025 The Social Security Administration said on Tuesday that people who wanted to file for benefits or change the bank where their payments were deposited could no longer do so by phone and must first verify their identity online or go into a field office. The change, which takes effect on March 31, is expected to add stress to the agency’s already thinning work force, which is being significantly downsized as part of the broad effort to aggressively shrink the federal government. At the same time, the change would also make things more difficult for older and disabled beneficiaries who might have trouble getting into an office or struggle with online services. https://archive.ph/qoUEi#selection-811.0-841.326

The Federal Judiciary versus the Trump Administration Constitutional history reveals a few exceedingly rare times when a president must defy a court order. This is not one of those times John Yoo, Senior Research Fellow <SKIP> Setting aside the merits of the constitutional question, refusing to honor a court order in this case would represent political malpractice. Defying the courts would waste President Trump’s political capital and even deprive himself of an ally in his fight against the administrative state. There may be times when a president must defy a court order. This is not one of those times; it’s not even close.<SKIP> Enforcement of judicial decisions is one of the foundational elements of the rule of law in the United States, which has fostered stunning economic growth, a vibrant civil society, and limited government. Defy judicial orders and refuse to enforce court decisions, and Trump could cause systemic uncertainty and disruption that could inflict far greater harm on the nation than winning a short-term political victory over a few wayward district judges. https://www.civitasinstitute.org/research/the-federal-judiciary-versus-the-trump-administration

The judge in the case is a Reagan appointee.

NB January 23, 2025 Judge blocks Trump’s ‘blatantly unconstitutional’ executive order that aims to end birthright citizenship A federal judge said Thursday that President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship was “blatantly unconstitutional” and issued a temporary restraining order to block it. Judge John Coughenour, a Ronald Reagan appointee who sits in Seattle, granted the request by Washington Attorney General Nick Brown and three other Democratic-led states for the emergency order halting implementation of the policy for the next 14 days while there are more briefings in the legal challenge. “I have been on the bench for over four decades. I can’t remember another case where the question presented was as clear,” Coughenour said. https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/23/politics/birthright-citizenship-lawsuit-hearing-seattle/index.html

Anyone as of now without a pardon who wanted a pardon would have to get the pardon at least for the next 4 years or so from Mr. +Trump.

WH Press Secretary Ms. Leavitt in her recent press conference suggested that there may be criminal behavior regarding these pardons. So, they would have to get a grand jury in Washington DC to indict a former Biden administration staff member.

Seems to me the issue of whether the Biden pardons are valid is moot until one of those e.g. Ms. Cheney is indicted by a federal grand jury for something like evidence tampering.

Even if the Republican controlled House could vote for the impeachment of a federal judge, there would likely not be 2/3 vote in the Senate to convict.

What To Know In the court order issued on Friday, the judge found that Willis' office had been "openly hostile" to Merchant's requests for documents, and that they were "handled differently than other requests." The judge added that this indicated a "lack of good faith." Willis now has 30 days to hand over all the requested records and pay $54,264 to Merchant, based on nearly 80 hours of work on the case, according to the order. https://www.newsweek.com/fani-willis-ordered-pay-54000-court-documents-trump-election-case-ashleigh-merchant-michael-roman-2045859 ______________ OK about Ms. Willis but to me, the real interesting person here is Ms. Ashleigh Merchant who blew the whole thing open with her request for Willis/Wade documents. I read a comment from Ms. Merchant that much of her legal experience was working as a public defender where she had little financial resources available, so she was used to going after records that maybe someone else didn't.

Trump was only ‘begging the question’ that Biden’s autopen pardons may not be legal, White House says Published March 17, 2025, 2:56 p.m. ET WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that President Trump was “begging the question” when declaring former President Joe Biden’s apparently auto-penned pardons were “void, vacant, and of no further force of effect” — as the practical effect of the current commander in chief’s pronouncement remains in question. Leavitt said that Trump — who wrote on Truth Social media early Monday that recipients were henceforth “subject to investigation” — was “raising the point” that the clemency might not be legal. “The president was raising the point that, ‘Did the president even know about these pardons? Was his legal signature used without his consent or knowledge?'” Leavitt said at her regular briefing Monday. https://nypost.com/2025/03/17/us-news/trump-was-begging-the-question-when-calling-bidens-autopen-pardons-void-white-house-says/

In the February 25, 2025 NY Times interview that this references, Carville said: Allow the Republicans to crumble beneath their own weight and make the American people miss us. Only until the Trump administration has spiraled into the low 40s or high 30s in public approval polling percentages should we make like a pack of hyenas and go for the jugular. Until then, I’m calling for a strategic political retreat.

Winner Winner chicken dinner! I could answer the less than 50% repub favorability as above but going back & forth with a guy that has almost 800 posts in one week is like the old saw about wrestling with a pig.

OOPS got lost in too many topics