mspart

I can't, got tendinitis in my shoulder. But to my point that you dismissed, where are you aiding in this discussion? jross and a few others are but you are not, yet you complain they are not aiding this discussion. Projection is what they call that. mspart

To your points. I have not heard anyone call Biden a child eater. Dementia yes. Senile yes. I'm happy you have people in your life you can discuss things rationally with. It does not seem to carry over here though. Dimon is not saying every progressive needs to talk to every conservative, he is saying the powers that be need to listen to the concerns of those leaning towards Trump and address those issues positively. That is just practical politics. The fact he had to say the Ds should grow up, shows that this will be more difficult in practice than on paper. mspart

Dimon sees there is a danger to the Biden Presidency continuing due to his positioning of all things Trump are evil. Everyone associated with those ideas are evil. And that is essentially what they are saying with their rhetoric of "Democracy is at stake here". So the obvious remedy to that is to decrease democracy and curtail the ability to vote for who is running. Everyone can see this and sees different motives for this. Bret Stephens says it well here. https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2022/07/25/bret-stephens-i-was-wrong-about/ Bret Stephens: I was wrong about Trump voters Telling voters they are moral ignoramuses is a bad way of getting them to change their minds. ...What were they seeing that I wasn’t? That ought to have been the first question to ask myself. When I looked at Trump, I saw a bigoted blowhard making one ignorant argument after another. What Trump’s supporters saw was a candidate whose entire being was a proudly raised middle finger at a self-satisfied elite that had produced a failing status quo. I was blind to this. Although I had spent the years of Barack Obama’s presidency denouncing his policies, my objections were more abstract than personal. I belonged to a social class that my friend Peggy Noonan called “the protected.” My family lived in a safe and pleasant neighborhood. Our kids went to an excellent public school. I was well paid, fully insured, insulated against life’s harsh edges. Trump’s appeal, according to Noonan, was largely to people she called “the unprotected.” Their neighborhoods weren’t so safe and pleasant. Their schools weren’t so excellent. Their livelihoods weren’t so secure. Their experience of America was often one of cultural and economic decline, sometimes felt in the most personal of ways. It was an experience compounded by the insult of being treated as losers and racists — clinging, in Obama’s notorious 2008 phrase, to “guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them.” No wonder they were angry. Anger can take dumb or dangerous turns, and with Trump they often took both. But that didn’t mean the anger was unfounded or illegitimate, or that it was aimed at the wrong target. ... This was the climate in which Trump’s campaign flourished. I could have thought a little harder about the fact that, in my dripping condescension toward his supporters, I was also confirming their suspicions about people like me — people who talked a good game about the virtues of empathy but practice it only selectively; people unscathed by the country’s problems yet unembarrassed to propound solutions. I also could have given Trump voters more credit for nuance. For every in-your-face MAGA warrior there were plenty of ambivalent Trump supporters, doubtful of his ability and dismayed by his manner, who were willing to take their chances on him because he had the nerve to defy deeply flawed conventional pieties. Nor were they impressed by Trump critics who had their own penchant for hypocrisy and outright slander. To this day, precious few anti-Trumpers have been honest with themselves about the elaborate hoax — there’s just no other word for it — that was the Steele dossier and all the bogus allegations, credulously parroted in the mainstream media, that flowed from it. But I would also approach these voters in a much different spirit than I did the last time. “A drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall,” Abraham Lincoln noted early in his political career. “If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend.” Words to live by, particularly for those of us in the business of persuasion. He is saying essentially what Jamie Dimon said. There are concerns out there that Trump addresses that the Democrats spit on. There are independents that have concerns that Trump addresses and the Ds spit on them too. At their peril. It would be wise for the Ds to consider these concerns and address them. They are doing that with the border but I think it is too late because of all the damage done over the past 3 years. I think it is too late for the admin to say, "look we did something positive here" after 3 years of saying the border is closed, the border is safe, the border is under control. Tell that to the folks in NYC and Chicago and every other D controlled sanctuary city that is receiving thousands. It is now too late to reverse what has been done to this country because the admin really didn't care to control the border. There are other things that folks are alarmed about with the Ds and by calling them all racists, MAGA haters, the issue is not resolved. Hillary did herself no favors with her deplorables comment. You would think there would be some learning going on but apparently not. Biden does the same without using that word, but the same intent is there. mspart

She just needs to pay the carbon offset and all is well. As a Disney, she should be able to do that and absolve herself. mspart

Interesting read from the foremost authority on climate and weather of PNW at U of WA. https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-cold-truth-about-renewable-energy.html The Cold Truth About Renewable Energy in the Pacific Northwest Renewables no good in extreme cold weather. And for that matter, hot also here in the PNW. mspart

Les Gutches comes to mind. World champ at every age level, 2 time NCAA champ from Oregon State. He didn't have the advantage of a Gable as coach, or an Iowa as a training ground. But he was dominant. mspart

Whatever makes you feel good. mspart

This is a horrible bait and switch situation that the government, in their infinite wisdom, and with clear conscience, have pushed on us. I'm glad it is called out. More evidence the government is screwing the public over. mspart

Like you are aiding the discussion? mspart

Pretty damning. This should come out in the campaign and let them answer for it. mspart

https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/hunter-biden-faces-up-to-17-years-in-prison-if-convicted-201777733504 Hunter Biden faces up to 17 years in prison if convicted I would be concerned but I'm not Hunter. He's brave enough to arrive at the Capitol and rail on and on about the deposition he is there not to give on the day he is to give it. That takes some chutzpah. And so far, nothing has happened to him so well played I guess. Except he also crammed it down their throats in the contempt hearing he attended unnanounced. Major chutzpah there I might add. I hope he gets held accountable for these behaviors. His lawyer should but he has otherwise been just defending him telling him these would be good ideas. mspart

Vak - it is really hard to make a coherent argument on this point. You're statement is just sour grapes. Since when has Dimon been political? I have never seen it. He advocates in front of Congress for Wall Street and to be left alone. And his statement seems to say that the Ds should listen or they will lose this election because of their obtuseness. If anything, he is trying to tell the Ds what to do to not screw this up. mspart

So the laptop was not Russia Disinformation. The peddlers of disinformation disinformed the public on this front. Not only that, but the laptop that everyone knew about is corroborated by the i-cloud data that the DOJ received some time ago. So DOJ has known all along about all this and have slow walked it all. 1. They have Hunter dead to rights on tax evasion and slow walk that one until the statute of limitations happened and they did nothing to keep the case going which they easily could have done. 2. They dropped all of the gun charges on Hunter that are now pending due to the plea deal being blown up. 3. They dropped most of the tax charges except the weak ones that he pled guilty to originally in the plea deal that blew up. Now all of the sudden he is not guilty of those as his new plea. So now that this is out there, what is the DOJ to do? This will determine how corrupt the DOJ is in my mind. They have Hunter dead to rights for a long prison sentence. Will they pull the trigger? We shall see. mspart

Well Nikki is certainly more centrist than the other two that are still in the running. And I remember both Rs and Ds playing games in the primaries to get desired results for the main election. Just last time in 2022, numerous Ds voted for Trump candidates in the Primary so they could beat them in the general because some were felt to be weak candidates. This happened, and the Ds got the R candidates they wanted so they could be beaten. Trumps candidates did well in the primaries but not the general election. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/11/15/democrats-boosted-trump-gop-primaries-helping-midterms/10670042002/ mspart

https://thehill.com/business/4413609-dimon-democrats-should-grow-up-listen-to-trump-supporters/ Dimon: Democrats should ‘grow up,’ listen to Trump supporters JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon slammed Democratic messaging about MAGA, or “Make America Great Again,” Republicans on Wednesday, telling Democrats to “grow up” and “listen” to supporters of former President Trump. “When people say MAGA, they’re actually looking at people voting for Trump and … they’re basically scapegoating them,” Dimon told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “I don’t like how [Trump] said things about Mexico … but he wasn’t wrong about some of these critical issues, and that’s why they’re voting for him,” Dimon continued. “And I think people should be a little more respectful of our fellow citizens.” “I mean, really, can we just stop that stuff and actually grow up and treat other people with respect and listen to them a little bit,” he said, adding, “I think this negative talk about MAGA is going to hurt Biden’s election campaign.” Dimon has stayed out of politics but I think what he is saying here is true. People who support Trump are concerned about things. People who support Biden are concerned about things. Best to listen to all of them and deal with all the concerns. This is a nice fresh take and I hope the nation gets it. mspart

Yep, its rough. The government should not be making things rough on their citizens. There is no reason for it. But that is what is happening all over. We need budgets cut and spending cut so that the government is not so onerous on it's own people. Remember, we do this to ourselves because we are the government and have voted in these nut jobs that want ever more power. That's what the tax code enables. More power over the governed. Not supposed to be that way. mspart

That should make her feel better. mspart

Glad he is gone. mspart

I thought I'd get it. mspart

Fences don't stop illegal immigration. Wait! mspart

It won't get her anywhere and allows DeSantis free reign to discuss his policy objectives unfettered ( my new word of the day!!). mspart

Did not research it because it sounded extremely plausible. CA would do something like that. mspart

You would not want to see anything I chisel. Which is why I find renaissance sculptors so fascinating. mspart

I feel very fortunate to be a US citizen. You have stated yourself you don't want an open spigot but you have not detailed why. When you do so, then we can discuss who is worthy and who is not to come across the border. Do you think as a US citizen you can just go park yourself in any other country, claim asylum and you get to stay indefinitely? It does not work that way in any other country. Why does it work that way here? For what intrinsic national reason would we have unfettered immigration? I can tell you there is an intrinsic reason to have fettered immigration and that is spelled out in the law Biden is ignoring to the tune of millions of undocumented, and unknown people have come. Does a country not have a right to regulate that? Of course it does. That's why we have immigration laws that are being ignored. mspart

According to my dad, his dad was very inventive on the farm and invented tools to do the job he needed done. I don't know what these would be, and they are gone now. My grandpa died about 20 years before I was born. I only have stories about him. The tools I have of his is a notebook with his writing, a shoulder drill, old style drill bits, hand planers, and measuring tools. My dad kept his old shovel and I have it now. Still works. mspart