58 thoughts on “Picture This”

  1. Ollie’s, Zanza Bar, Onion, and a lot of Colfax bars which opened at 6am to serve breakfast beer.  Lived in Aurora for many years, including one at Lowry AFB. 

    Oh yeah. Ran for city council there in 2007 and 2009. Did not win.

  2. 3 stories in NYTimes on the impeachment front:

    #1

    WASHINGTON — A federal judge handed a victory to House Democrats on Friday when she ruled that they were legally engaged in an impeachment inquiry, a decision that undercut President Trump’s arguments that the investigation is a sham.
    The declaration came in a 75-page opinion by Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell of the Federal District Court in Washington. She ruled that the House Judiciary Committee was entitled to view secret grand jury evidence gathered by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III.
    [click here to read more]

     

    #2
    A key witness in the impeachment investigation filed a lawsuit Friday asking a federal judge to rule on whether he can testify, a move that raises new doubts about whether President Trump’s closest aides, like the former national security adviser, John R. Bolton, will be able to cooperate with the inquiry.
    House Democrats had subpoenaed the witness, Charles M. Kupperman, who served as Mr. Trump’s deputy national security adviser, to testify on Monday. But in an effort to stop Mr. Kupperman from doing so, the White House said on Friday that the president had invoked “constitutional immunity,” leaving Mr. Kupperman uncertain about what to do.

    [click here to read more]

     

    #3  (tangentially)
    WASHINGTON — Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump’s personal lawyer, signaled this month that he planned to open a new front in his attacks against former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. — work done by Mr. Biden’s son Hunter Biden for a wealthy Romanian business executive facing corruption charges.
    But there’s a problem with that strategy: Mr. Giuliani participated in an effort that would have helped the same executive, and was in fact recruited to do so by Louis J. Freeh, a former F.B.I. director who had been brought onto the matter by Hunter Biden.
    In effect, Mr. Giuliani and Hunter Biden were on the same team, if not at the same time. And their work to help the business executive, along with that of Mr. Freeh, stood in contrast to efforts by the United States, including Vice President Biden while he was in office, to encourage anti-corruption efforts in Romania.

    [click here to read more]

  3. bbronc, your not winning was denver’s loss, not yours; but do you ever wonder how different life might have been had you won? 

  4. us news quoted joe:

    “Look one of the reasons I am running is because of my age and experience —with it comes wisdom,” Mr. Biden said. “We need someone to take office this time around who on day one can stand on the world stage, command the respect of world leaders from Putin to our allies and know exactly what has to be done to get this country back on track.”
    “It is required now more than anytime than any time in any of our lifetimes to have someone who has that capacity on day one,” he said. “I will not need any on the job training.”

     

    reminded me of the great line from Oscar Wilde: “With age comes wisdom, but sometimes age comes alone.”

  5. Oscar was quite the sage. Had a distinct gift for stating that which should have been obvious if folks had thought to notice. 

  6. Does any one actually carry their phone in their hip pocket?   That would explain all the cracked phones I see, I guess.

  7. don’t know why, but that “with age wisdom” quote makes me think of this line from Teahouse of the August Moon

    “Pain makes man think. Thought makes man wise. Wisdom makes life endurable.”

  8. Love dat Oscar and Bierce too.  Legend has it that Oscar, on a tour of the US, went down in a coal mine wearing his velvet duds outfit and then afterwards, after  enduring some “fop” jibes from the hardened miners in the nearest saloon, proceeded to drink every last one of them under the table. 

    Be yourself; everyone else is already taken
     

    To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
     

    I can resist everything except temptation.
     

    I have nothing to declare except my genius.
     

    We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
     

    To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.
     

    Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.
     

    The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.
     

    True friends stab you in the front.
     
    There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.

  9. sturge, perhaps it’s not about the pocket but about the butthead for misplacing HIS phone.

    sexist remark I know, but few women would purposefully fatten their bottoms with unsightly bulges. same goes for backpain-causing thick wallets in the back pocket.

  10. the guardian:

    Donald Trump faces a higher risk of being removed from office than is widely assumed if senators vote on his fate by secret ballot, according to a Republican challenging him for the US presidency.
    Bill Weld, the former governor of Massachusetts, is mounting a long-shot challenge to Trump in the Republican primary and he is now suggesting the president might not even be on the ballot in November 2020.
    Conventional wisdom holds that, in the wake of the damning testimony of the acting ambassador to Ukraine, Bill Taylor, of a quid pro quo, House Democrats’ inquiry will inevitably result in Trump’s impeachment before the end of this year but the Republican-controlled Senate will then acquit him.
    “I do think the House will send it over to the Senate for a trial,” Weld said before a recent campaign stop in New Hampshire. “I don’t really have a prediction on the Senate. I have no idea what the chances are.
    “A straw in the wind was provided by former senator [Jeff] Flake of Arizona recently when he said if there was a secret ballot, there would be 30 to 35 votes to convict. Well, all you need is 20. I think from Senator Flake that was a trial balloon to plant the idea in Leader [Mitch] McConnell’s head that maybe a secret ballot would inform his judgment. If they go to a secret ballot, I think you could see some real movement.”

    [continues]

  11. The “Kenny Brent” on the markee is one the fellers we both knew.   We, Kenny’s band, were the “free hot dogs”.

  12. speaking of buttheads and making butt calls.

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-26/giuliani-butt-dials-nbc-reporter-heard-saying-he-needs-money

    Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, accidentally dialed the phone of an NBC reporter and inadvertently left recordings of his conversations with associates, including one where he is heard looking for money.
    “The problem is we need some money,” Giuliani is heard telling an unidentified person in the voice mail left on the phone of NBC reporter Rich Shapiro, NBC reported. Giuliani goes on to tell an unidentified man that “we need a few hundred thousand.”
    NBC said it is unclear what the two men are discussing or who the other man is in the roughly three-minute message left on Oct. 16.
    It wasn’t the first time that Giuliani inadvertently called the reporter, NBC said. Shapiro also received a butt-dial voice mail message on Sept. 28. In that call, Giuliani could be heard attacking former Vice President and 2020 Democratic hopeful Joe Biden, as well as Biden’s son Hunter. Giuliani is a central figure in the impeachment investigation and the allegations that Trump improperly solicited Ukraine’s help in investigating a political rival.
    NBC’s follow-up calls to Giuliani for comment on the voice mails weren’t returned and the phone’s voice mailbox was full.

  13. If they vote by secret ballot, by agreement, one ballot should be pre-marked NO thus giving them all an alibi should that be necessary.

  14. patd – I rarely do a “what if” review of my life.  If I had won it probably would have changed the dynamics of political life for transgender people a decade earlier than it did when Rep. Danica Roem (VA) won in Virginia in 2017.  My running did help some people, but not as much as if I had won.  What is interesting is that Rep. Brianna Titone (CO) who was elected to the Colorado legislature in 2018, had not heard of me.  I left Colorado in 2010.  It shows that if you are out of politics a year it is a lifetime. 
     
      This weekend is going to be very important in the WH.  The dictator wannabe is finding out that limits exist to his dictatorial powers.  Also, that his requirement that federal employees be loyal to him instead of the Constitution is not being followed.
     
      What will he do to refocus attention on his fat ass this weekend?  From past weekends we can say without a doubt he is going to do something.

  15. KGC, better be careful trash-talking flatus’ buckeyes.  they’re 7-0 to your 6-1 badgers and it’s a home game for them.  

  16. nifty editorial by NYTimes editorial board:

    Thanks, Whistle-Blower, Your Work Is Done
    “Where is the Whistleblower, and why did he or she write such a fictitious and incorrect account of my phone call with the Ukrainian President?” President Trump tweeted Thursday night. “Why did the IG allow this to happen? Who is the so-called Informant (Schiff?) who was so inaccurate? A giant Scam!”
    The thing is, Mr. Trump, virtually every piece of information that the public first learned from the whistle-blower’s complaint has been corroborated by the White House’s reconstructed transcript of your call with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine or by the congressional testimony and documents provided by current and former administration officials. In the few remaining cases, save one, journalists have backed up his assertions through reporting.
    Below, the whistle-blower’s assertions are highlighted and annotated.

    [they then proceed blow by blow, page by page to show corroborations of his/her whistle toots]

  17. NYT

    Assertions proven by
    [in yellow] White House transcript
    [in blue] Statements by officials
    [in lavender] Testimony
    [in green] News reports
    [in red] Not proven yet

  18. from the “I told you so & famous last words” files

    the hill:

    Former White House chief of staff John Kelly said Saturday that he warned President Trump against hiring a “yes man” to succeed him at the White House, saying doing so could lead to impeachment.
    Kelly said at the Sea Island Summit, a political conference hosted by the Washington Examiner, that he told Trump that he would be impeached if he did not choose a chief of staff with the strength to blunt some of the president’s more self-destructive impulses.
    “I said, whatever you do — and we were still in the process of trying to find someone to take my place — I said whatever you do, don’t hire a ‘yes man,’ someone who won’t tell you the truth — don’t do that. Because if you do, I believe you will be impeached,” Kelly recalled.
    “That was almost 11 months ago, and I have an awful lot of, to say the least, second thoughts about leaving,” he added. “It pains me to see what’s going on because I believe if I was still there or someone like me was there, he would not be kind of, all over the place.”
    […]
    Kelly, who left the administration at the end of last year, suggested Saturday that the impeachment investigation launched last month could have been averted if a chief of staff had imposed stricter structure on Trump. 
    “Someone has got to be a guide that tells [the president] that you either have the authority or you don’t; or Mr. President, don’t do it,” Kelly said. “Don’t hire someone that will just nod and say, ‘That’s a great idea Mr. President.’ Because you will be impeached.”
    “The system that should be in place, clearly — the system of advising, bringing in experts in, having these discussions with the president so he can make an informed decision, that clearly is not in place. And I feel bad that I left.”

    [continues]

  19. So, julie annie blew up another portion of the defense, and damaged his phone in the act. julie’s crepitation displays his decrepitude.

  20. renee, thanks for posting that; however, let’s hope the gopers don’t cherrypick certain parts where bill points out certain dems being (shall we say) less than moderate and endlessly run them in campaign ads.

  21. That Ohio State Band is really a marvelous group;hearing them play the Alma Mater after a brilliant win is extra special.

  22. Californian officials warned Saturday that “extreme” wind conditions were set to fan wildfires across the north of the US state as residents were ordered to evacuate and millions faced power cuts.

    About 50,000 people were ordered to flee their homes in Sonoma county, north of San Francisco, as the Kincade Fire spread to cover 25,455 acres

    Raw Story (4:12pm)

  23. patd….  of course the goopers will cherrypick the stupid shit some Dems say.   If they don’t want that to happen…   well….   stop saying stupid shit.
     
    I’ve heard Donny Deutsch say more than once that if Warren isn’t careful and she becomes the nominee that trump could win in a landslide.  Don’t know if he’s correct…  but I’d prefer that Liz stop moving too much to the left.

  24. She moved left plus being in the old folks group plus a put down of Hillary.  I’ll still vote for her if she is the nominee, but right now I’m supporting Kamala even if I do still like Amy better. Why?
    I GOT NOWHERE ELSE TO GO!!!

     

  25. If you don’t understand why this is bad, bad, bad, you just may be a wee bit out of touch with the younger and black base of the Democratic party and just why Bernie Sanders & followers helped destroy the nation in 2016.

    HBCU Student asks @BernieSanders,

    “If I were your son, what advice would you give to me the next time I’m pulled over by a police officer”? Bernie: “Identify who the police officer is – and I would respect what they are doing so that you don’t get shot in the back of the head”.

  26. “Don’t jump, little boy, don’t jump off that roof/ you got your whole life ahead of you, you’re still in your youth/ i’d give anything to have skin like you”
    lol ✌️

  27. Donny Douche is a Trumpsky comrade. 
    Crackers said she was on the ocean side, I believe.  I hope all is well.

  28. Bink

    He is mainly saying leave things as they are.  You’re black so expect to get shot unless you are super courteous and subservient and that’s no guarantee.  

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