User-Supported News Commentary Hosted by Craig Crawford
Art Against Tryanny
Inspired by the bombing of the Basque city, Picasso’s mural Guernica is one of the most famous anti-war paintings in history (Credit: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía)
The head of the Federal Judges Association is taking the extraordinary step of calling an emergency meeting to address the intervention in politically sensitive cases by President Trump and Attorney General William P. Barr.
U.S. District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe, the Philadelphia-based judge who heads the voluntary association of around 1,100 life-term federal judges told USA Today that the issue “could not wait.”
“I say things in the manuscript about what he said to me,” he said. “I hope they become public someday. He tweets, but I can’t talk about it. How fair is that?”
tyranny aims at three things, one to keep its subjects humble （for a humble-spirited man would not plot against anybody), second to have them continually distrust one another （for a tyranny is not destroyed until some men come to trust each other, owing to which tyrants also make war on the respectable, as detrimental to their rule not only because of their refusal to submit to despotic rule, but also because they are faithful to one another and to the other citizens, and do not inform against one another nor against the others); and the third is lack of power for political action （since nobody attempts impossibilities, so that nobody tries to put down a tyranny if he has not power behind him).
Guernica has always been one of my favorite paintings. The history behind it is fascinating.
Been following the polls a bit and reading the comments over at Wapo – just read Robinson’s opinion piece from today. while reading it I thought I might be having a deja vu moment but realized that instead I’m having a deja vu nightmare.
So Poobah, if the current trends continue through March, do you see a 3-4 person convention fight on the horizon?
Roger Stone ……well pardon me. I heard he is having his tattoo of Nixon reworked to look like sfb
A few things to digest in this new poll comparison to December other than Mike’s big jump: Pete down 5, Amy up 5; Biden down 9, Bernie up 9; Is Liz gone?
Ever wonder why SFB did not himself hang the (now worthless) freedom medal around the blue pill guy and drug addict and had Melania do the job? I have wondered that and cannot come up with a logical reason except the guy might not be able to lift his arms. Again, I cannot come up with a logical reason for that other than he might not have a sense of balance to do that, or he cannot lift his arms without tremors. Questions that happen while pondering what it will take to remove a criminal from a fortress.
craig, warren comes in 4th in today’s marist poll well within margin of error to biden’s 3rd place. she’s third in delgates (ahead of joe). she has a better folks in the field game than pete, amy and joe SOOO why do you say she’s done? put a fork in the others first.
When her caucus-night speech in Iowa was cut off, her campaign aides complained privately to cable networks. When her speech after the New Hampshire primary was not carried live at all, they took their criticism public.
“Elizabeth hasn’t been getting the same kind of media coverage as candidates she outperformed,” read a recent fund-raising email to supporters. “We can’t count on the media to cover our campaign fairly, so we’re taking our case directly to voters.”
Pat, I once favored Warren but something went wrong, might have been her waffling on Medicare for all, dunno. Cannot see her way forward.
Teevee alert, Town Halls from Vegas tonight on CNN:
Bernie 8pm ET
Pete 9pm
Amy 10pm
Klobuchar is a uniter, not a divider. She’s the strongest candidate. Right now, Bernie has the strongest (loudest) supporters. That will change.
Now, pardon me while I barf after hearing today’s Trumpsky news.
Mike Bloomberg on Tuesday rolled an ambitious plan to rein in Wall Street, echoing platforms of some of his more liberal Democratic rivals,” CNBC reports.
“Bloomberg’s plan would bolster many of the reforms either put in place or strengthened as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act in response to the Great Recession, a crisis that some blamed on Wall Street banks.”
New York Times: “Perhaps the most surprising proposal, given the billionaire’s close personal ties to Wall Street movers and shakers, is a plan for the Justice Department to create a dedicated team to fight corporate crime by ‘encouraging prosecutors to pursue individuals, not only corporations, for infractions.’”
Bloomberg is a fascinating character in this drama, a progressive billionaire?
Like 2 Irishmen walking out of a bar…..it COULD happen.
Can’t remember the year but the only time I met Bloomberg was in the entrance hall at a lavish after-party he hosted for the WH Correspondents Dinner. Standing offsides he seemed the least happy person there. “You’re not having fun?” I asked. “Not a fan,” he unsmilingly said.
The oligarch you don’t know is better than the despot you do.
Liz is better than both of them.
Maybe bernie! can have another heart attack between today and Saturday.
Also, it’s nice that bloomie shut down the topic of Steyer trying to buy the election.
It’s gotta be the death-knell of Progressivism if a billionaire can just buy his way to the Democratic nomination, eh?
Once again, i’ll vote for Bloomberg if i have to, in a desperate and likely futile attempt to stave-off authoritarian assaults on the Constitution, but i’d rather vote for an actual progressive.
i’ve grown convinced that the systemic rot in all levels of government can’t be papered-over, but hey, pretending offers some comfort, also.
Systemic rot……that’s what did in those plucky Romans.
Expect pardons for flynn, papadopoulos, stone, assange, snowden, jeff skilling, tom delay, and aldrich ames,
plus special posthumous pardons for john gotti and juan corona.
Justice for Noriega!
From the time of Spartacus to the final fall of Constantinople is roughly 1,560. That’s a really durable systemic rot.
Don’t know if y’all have cast eyes on it lately, but “Dragnet 68” is a real hoot. Jack Webb’s character and his partner, Harry Potter, are always interacting with “black people”, hippies, cultists, gangs, and all manner of riff-raff…..It’s all Jack Webb doing the talking but the actors in the show are interesting…..just the last couple days there was Bobby Stroup, and then Jack Shelton. And Webb’s take on marijuana and hippies is hilarious.
Rome got so rotten they had to move it.🙂
“Hey! We ova HEAH, now!”
—Rob Bartlett impressioning Dice Clay
Poobah, Liz is about as alive as Joe, and is in a real sense in a similar position – bad trend lines since January 1. Barring good showings in NV, SC and on ST, they are done.
Yep, the rot can be long lived, but at the hairy end of the rot when it comes, when it all collapses with much moanin’ and gnashin’ of de teet…..will it also just happen to be your time as well? How can one tell if the systemic rot is peaking again? Jeez, looks like the walls come a-tumblin’ down again.
One guy don’t make the rot……it took Marius and Sulla before Jesus Caesar and Pompius ever got near the joint.
With the advent of King Octavian, The Rot had carried the day.
Not like Augustus had any real choice in the matter….eat, or be eaten, at that point.
That old Chinese hacksaw about “interesting times”…..bullshit. Can anyone think of one un-interesting time, ever?
Maybe that one time in Iowa, in 1953.
I keep thinking, “Is this Friday? Is this Friday?” And, when it’s not, and Friday’s so far away, the senses lull as Friday sails thru the inlet and crosses the bar.
“Sunset and evening star!” he was screaming as they hauled him orf.
Now, why do you suppose SFB pardoned high-profile criminals today? Oh, yeah. There is a big debate in NV tomorrow night; Klobuchar is getting stronger; Bloomberg is making waves. He wants everyone to look at his newest, stinking pile of crap instead.
The thought of having to write something once a week is cray-cray. That’s gotta be a tough gig, writing a column.
Sturg, you are like I once thought about Gingrich (sorry for the comparison), I seldom know what he’s talking about but I like listening to it.
Me too.
Wait a minute, wait a minute. I do NOT like listening to Newt Gingrich. I’d sooner hear a table saw cutting into my thumb.
That boy been a fat poser since he first showed his mug.
He keeps trying to come back…….come back to what, pig?
Aiee, Carramba!
Sturgeone
Jack Webb was nice to his ex wife and her new husband. He even gave them a whole TV series of their own.
Bobby Troup and Julie London in Emergency
…best thing about Friday was that he was non-judgmental.
Well played.
Buttigieg on Trump-Limbaugh talking about family values. “The one thing about my marriage is it has never involved me having to send hush money to a porn star for cheating on my spouse.”
Why is Stormy Daniels’ career relevant to trump’s infidelity?
The whole polyglot thing, though. Pete is a walking Tower of Babel. His real service was as luggage porter.
Good question Sturg. I have no idea…and don’t give a shit. If it didn’t get traction in 2016 it ain’t gonna get traction in 2020. Let’s focus on 2020 corruption in SFB world. There’s plenty of it.
Yes, I’m afraid Liz is coming to the end of the trail. Amy is still picking up steam.
It must be relevant, Mr Bink, you used her career name.
…asked “why” not “if”
Why assumes it is – I don’t agree with that premise. If we try to focus on trumpshit that is before 2016 we’ll get interest and lose to the fat bastard.
pete doesn’t need to tear down women is my point
Pete – he’s tearing down women? I didn’t watch the town hall, so I missed the point. FWIW, i agree, Bink. You can probably tell that.
lol i’m coincidentally watching a “Portlandia” sketch about overly-enthusiastic male feminist-allies
Bink, well said! “The oligarch you don’t know is better than the despot you do.”
Looking forward to tomorrow night. Gotta make a decision here this week. It’s agonizing. The last election was easy!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/02/18/judges-meeting-trump/
Bolton quoted today in wapo:
“I say things in the manuscript about what he said to me,” he said. “I hope they become public someday. He tweets, but I can’t talk about it. How fair is that?”
NPR/Marist poll out today
dems: Bernie 31%, Bloomberg 19%, Biden 15%, Warren 12%
indies: Bernie 29, Bloomberg 19, biden 18 and warren 11%
plus/minus 3%
That means Bloomberg can debate tomorrow night! Let’s see what he’s got, you know, besides money.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/18/politics/bloomberg-qualifies-democratic-debate-nevada/index.html
Yep.
on subject of tyranny, Aristotle had this to say:
Guernica has always been one of my favorite paintings. The history behind it is fascinating.
Guernica Wiki
Guernica and WW II
Been following the polls a bit and reading the comments over at Wapo – just read Robinson’s opinion piece from today. while reading it I thought I might be having a deja vu moment but realized that instead I’m having a deja vu nightmare.
So Poobah, if the current trends continue through March, do you see a 3-4 person convention fight on the horizon?
Roger Stone ……well pardon me. I heard he is having his tattoo of Nixon reworked to look like sfb
A few things to digest in this new poll comparison to December other than Mike’s big jump: Pete down 5, Amy up 5; Biden down 9, Bernie up 9; Is Liz gone?
Ever wonder why SFB did not himself hang the (now worthless) freedom medal around the blue pill guy and drug addict and had Melania do the job? I have wondered that and cannot come up with a logical reason except the guy might not be able to lift his arms. Again, I cannot come up with a logical reason for that other than he might not have a sense of balance to do that, or he cannot lift his arms without tremors. Questions that happen while pondering what it will take to remove a criminal from a fortress.
craig, warren comes in 4th in today’s marist poll well within margin of error to biden’s 3rd place. she’s third in delgates (ahead of joe). she has a better folks in the field game than pete, amy and joe SOOO why do you say she’s done? put a fork in the others first.
NYTimes on warren camp complaints:
Pat, I once favored Warren but something went wrong, might have been her waffling on Medicare for all, dunno. Cannot see her way forward.
Teevee alert, Town Halls from Vegas tonight on CNN:
Bernie 8pm ET
Pete 9pm
Amy 10pm
Klobuchar is a uniter, not a divider. She’s the strongest candidate. Right now, Bernie has the strongest (loudest) supporters. That will change.
Now, pardon me while I barf after hearing today’s Trumpsky news.
Mike Bloomberg on Tuesday rolled an ambitious plan to rein in Wall Street, echoing platforms of some of his more liberal Democratic rivals,” CNBC reports.
“Bloomberg’s plan would bolster many of the reforms either put in place or strengthened as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act in response to the Great Recession, a crisis that some blamed on Wall Street banks.”
New York Times: “Perhaps the most surprising proposal, given the billionaire’s close personal ties to Wall Street movers and shakers, is a plan for the Justice Department to create a dedicated team to fight corporate crime by ‘encouraging prosecutors to pursue individuals, not only corporations, for infractions.’”
Bloomberg is a fascinating character in this drama, a progressive billionaire?
Like 2 Irishmen walking out of a bar…..it COULD happen.
Can’t remember the year but the only time I met Bloomberg was in the entrance hall at a lavish after-party he hosted for the WH Correspondents Dinner. Standing offsides he seemed the least happy person there. “You’re not having fun?” I asked. “Not a fan,” he unsmilingly said.
The oligarch you don’t know is better than the despot you do.
Liz is better than both of them.
Maybe bernie! can have another heart attack between today and Saturday.
Also, it’s nice that bloomie shut down the topic of Steyer trying to buy the election.
It’s gotta be the death-knell of Progressivism if a billionaire can just buy his way to the Democratic nomination, eh?
Once again, i’ll vote for Bloomberg if i have to, in a desperate and likely futile attempt to stave-off authoritarian assaults on the Constitution, but i’d rather vote for an actual progressive.
i’ve grown convinced that the systemic rot in all levels of government can’t be papered-over, but hey, pretending offers some comfort, also.
Systemic rot……that’s what did in those plucky Romans.
Expect pardons for flynn, papadopoulos, stone, assange, snowden, jeff skilling, tom delay, and aldrich ames,
plus special posthumous pardons for john gotti and juan corona.
Justice for Noriega!
From the time of Spartacus to the final fall of Constantinople is roughly 1,560. That’s a really durable systemic rot.
Don’t know if y’all have cast eyes on it lately, but “Dragnet 68” is a real hoot. Jack Webb’s character and his partner, Harry Potter, are always interacting with “black people”, hippies, cultists, gangs, and all manner of riff-raff…..It’s all Jack Webb doing the talking but the actors in the show are interesting…..just the last couple days there was Bobby Stroup, and then Jack Shelton. And Webb’s take on marijuana and hippies is hilarious.
Rome got so rotten they had to move it.🙂
“Hey! We ova HEAH, now!”
—Rob Bartlett impressioning Dice Clay
Poobah, Liz is about as alive as Joe, and is in a real sense in a similar position – bad trend lines since January 1. Barring good showings in NV, SC and on ST, they are done.
Yep, the rot can be long lived, but at the hairy end of the rot when it comes, when it all collapses with much moanin’ and gnashin’ of de teet…..will it also just happen to be your time as well? How can one tell if the systemic rot is peaking again? Jeez, looks like the walls come a-tumblin’ down again.
One guy don’t make the rot……it took Marius and Sulla before Jesus Caesar and Pompius ever got near the joint.
With the advent of King Octavian, The Rot had carried the day.
Not like Augustus had any real choice in the matter….eat, or be eaten, at that point.
That old Chinese hacksaw about “interesting times”…..bullshit. Can anyone think of one un-interesting time, ever?
Maybe that one time in Iowa, in 1953.
I keep thinking, “Is this Friday? Is this Friday?” And, when it’s not, and Friday’s so far away, the senses lull as Friday sails thru the inlet and crosses the bar.
“Sunset and evening star!” he was screaming as they hauled him orf.
Now, why do you suppose SFB pardoned high-profile criminals today? Oh, yeah. There is a big debate in NV tomorrow night; Klobuchar is getting stronger; Bloomberg is making waves. He wants everyone to look at his newest, stinking pile of crap instead.
The thought of having to write something once a week is cray-cray. That’s gotta be a tough gig, writing a column.
Sturg, you are like I once thought about Gingrich (sorry for the comparison), I seldom know what he’s talking about but I like listening to it.
Me too.
Wait a minute, wait a minute. I do NOT like listening to Newt Gingrich. I’d sooner hear a table saw cutting into my thumb.
That boy been a fat poser since he first showed his mug.
He keeps trying to come back…….come back to what, pig?
Aiee, Carramba!
Sturgeone
Jack Webb was nice to his ex wife and her new husband. He even gave them a whole TV series of their own.
Bobby Troup and Julie London in Emergency
…best thing about Friday was that he was non-judgmental.
Well played.
Buttigieg on Trump-Limbaugh talking about family values. “The one thing about my marriage is it has never involved me having to send hush money to a porn star for cheating on my spouse.”
Why is Stormy Daniels’ career relevant to trump’s infidelity?
The whole polyglot thing, though. Pete is a walking Tower of Babel. His real service was as luggage porter.
Good question Sturg. I have no idea…and don’t give a shit. If it didn’t get traction in 2016 it ain’t gonna get traction in 2020. Let’s focus on 2020 corruption in SFB world. There’s plenty of it.
Yes, I’m afraid Liz is coming to the end of the trail. Amy is still picking up steam.
It must be relevant, Mr Bink, you used her career name.
…asked “why” not “if”
Why assumes it is – I don’t agree with that premise. If we try to focus on trumpshit that is before 2016 we’ll get interest and lose to the fat bastard.
pete doesn’t need to tear down women is my point
Pete – he’s tearing down women? I didn’t watch the town hall, so I missed the point. FWIW, i agree, Bink. You can probably tell that.
lol i’m coincidentally watching a “Portlandia” sketch about overly-enthusiastic male feminist-allies
Bink, well said! “The oligarch you don’t know is better than the despot you do.”
Looking forward to tomorrow night. Gotta make a decision here this week. It’s agonizing. The last election was easy!
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