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February 13, 2020



In the dot connecting logic pathway, that question has to come after the question “Does Trump engage in deception/kabuki?”

If the answer is Yes then who knows what Trump really thinks about Comey (who was likely the person who told him the White House was bugged).

If the answer is Yes, nothing Trump says matters to any argument, right? If you can dismiss anything that doesn't fit your theory as "deception/kabuki," what difference does it make what Trump says?

Just yesterday, you were harping about how Trump called the Mueller report an exoneration. In my reply, I supposed he was putting the report's conclusions in a favorable light, and went from there. How much easier it would have been to simply dismiss it as kabuki!

The Infamous Ignatz

It was great to see CH and DocJ again and to meet KK.
He looked just like what I thought he would and has that ready, easy laugh that always indicates a good soul.
Haven't met a JOM chump yet.


how about the dodgy juries


It was an exoneration because there was no substance, but that wasnt spelled out.

The Infamous Ignatz

--Winston Churchill described when he said:

"We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us."--

Didn't we go over this not too long ago? Winny dinny say it. Nor did Orwell.
The late great Richard Grenier paraphrased Orwell in 1993 and stated that quote for the first time.


oh really


When Tomeka Hart was interviewed during the jury selection process as part of the Roger Stone trial, the former Democratic congressional candidate said she was generally aware of developments in the Russia investigation, but that she didn’t “pay that close attention” to the probe.
She also insisted that Stone’s affiliation with President Donald Trump would “absolutely not” color her views of the longtime Trump confidante, according to a copy of a court transcript obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.



The fact you, JMH and so far pretty much everyone else refuses to answer the simple question about Rosenstein forces me to reject your criticism.

Tom R,

Your question has been discussed ad nauseam and answered repeatedly. I haven't read every single remark made, but on the whole I believe that people here find Rosenstein to be unimpressive, untrustworthy and IMO somewhat repulsive.

If it turns out that he was a loyal player in some 3D chess game, I'll be happy to retract my criticism and thank him for his contribution to "truth, justice and the American way." It will take an effort on my part to erase his pitiful performances before Congressional Committees, but I'll do it. We're not there yet, however. So please assume that your question has been asked and answered.


Most characters in this tableau have proven very dissapointing one has an inkling why that is, but its that circumstance.



Captain Hate

Great time with KK, DrJ and Iggy. I think this was even better than the original meet ups since we all knew each other better, at least for me because I think this was the first time KK met the two from the northeast. The trip home was a bit of a nightmare over and beyond the interstate being a parking lot; that would have been ok because I knew exactly where I was going. The problem was caused by the VW rental, a car LITERALLY LOVED BY HITLER, having the tire pressure light come on as I was about to get on the interstate. I quickly pulled to the side and didn't see anything visually wrong so figured I'd try to find a gas station on the way that was on an exit that wasn't going to Los Something Or Other. So I pulled off on some A Avenue exit in Hayward and filled each tire to 32. End of problem except the light didn't go off. Needless to say I was furious and just drove to the airport, which was on the way, and went to the rental place and got a replacement (they were very accommodating). So all ended well.


Good move, CH--Glad you guys all had a good time.

JM Hanes

Tom R:


I've concluded that you claim nobody's answered your questions just to provoke people into talking to you, so this is the last time I'm going to respond to that canard.

I have answered the Rosenstein question multiple times, you ass. And I've told you so multiple times as well. You've been asking it almost continuously since last May, and I'm not the only one who has offered up alternatives. You simply refuse to acknowledge the answers you get, presumably because they don't fit your dotted template, and then ask the same questions again.

Nothing forces you to reject the criticism you get. "Look what you made me do!" is just narcissistic responsibility shifting. As for other folks' lack of responses, it's more likely that you're nearly alone in the little political echo chamber you've got going here. "Pretty much everyone else" isn't even listening any more. I know I'm done.


From John Nolte on Breitbart on the sentencing of Roger Stone:

"...for all my flaws, I am not some angry, partisan, sore-losing goddamned monster out to see people annihilated, especially by way of government power, and that includes scumbags like Wolfe.

And let me close by saying God bless President Trump for having the moral courage to point out the obscene abuse of prosecutor power being directed at Roger Stone. It’s an outrage, and Trump knew he would take flaming arrows for pointing this out, and did so anyway.


Captain Hate

Clarice, Tonto met up with KK and me on Tuesday but was unable to free up time for today's get together. It was a really good JOM vacation for me.

Captain Hate


Not to beat an already excessively tenderized dead horse but I, and I believe clarice, still think that all is not yet known about Rosenstein. Where I decidedly disagree with Tom is on Mueller having exonerated Trump. Stating that DJT claims exoneration, while completely justified, runs counter to anything stated verbally or otherwise by the former special counsel and I believe it's extremely disingenuous to claim otherwise. That's the last thing I want to say on the topic.

jim nj


DNA Study: We may be More Neanderthal than Previously Thought


It's kind of funny. They make these amazing new genetic discoveries almost every year now for the past 10 years or so. They shatter previous concepts and yet set new boundaries, only to see those new boundaries wiped away by a later study.

I must have been born a skeptic because the ideas that mankind had killed off the neanderthals and that the Indians had hunted the mammoths to extinction never made sense to me.

jim nj


jim nj


Lebanon wants the IMF to create a fig leaf it can hide behind.

The March Eurobond is the first, but not only issue.

There are competing issues just on that first move. Default and they are no longer credit-worthy. Pay in full and the Lebanese banks that are solvent, but illiquid become more liquid. That money then can't be used to revive the economy. Right now the banks don't have the capacity to finance the money needed to buy imported raw materials and goods to get the economy moving again.

Maybe there is a deal with some haircuts for all the bond-holders, but if the Lebanese banks have to take a haircut I don't know if they will be solvent after that.

Some of the Euro countries, like France, the traditional patron of Lebanon, are willing to step up with loans, but there is more debt due later in the year.

I don't see the IMF providing money for this first bond payment or restructuring. And, I forget the exact structure of the IMF, but I believe the US has veto power, or at least very strong influence, over any future loans to Lebanon.

Let the Europeans try to figure it out on their own.

jim nj


Seven Militants Killed in Israeli Strike on Syria, Reports Say

Last week, Israeli air strikes killed up to 23 Syrian government soldiers and allied militia ■ Earlier this week, Iran threatened Israel with 'crushing response' to any action against its Mideast interests

jim nj


Women protesters in Iraq defy radical cleric, take to street

"Influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, leader of Parliament’s Saeroon bloc, issued an 18-point code of conduct Sunday for protesters in which he cautioned against the mixing of men and women at sit-in areas.

In response on Thursday, women flooded the streets of Baghdad and the southern city of Nasiriyah.

“Whoever accuses women of being weak doesn’t understand Iraq,” said protester Baan Jaafar, 35. “We will continue to defend our rights through demonstrations and participate in the decision to build a new Iraq after the demonstrations.”


Happy to hear about another great JOM meet-up. jim in nj and I are going to have one when the weather gets warmer. It's been such a mild winter, however, I think that means when it hits eighty.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone.


-6, supposed to drop a few more degrees before the sun comes up. I will note that in the absence of complete information fuzzy logic (or worse, misused statistics labeled AI) is more appropriate on computers. Since no one cares, I’ve only been at the computing thing forty years (after seven dabbling in school), bailed on a PhD in computing (punted on dissertation), and have customers that make things flying on the space station today, and others who make dirt. All of which means -6 is cold.


Have a Happy Valentine’s Day one and all!


Just us zeroes here.


Happy Valentine’s Day.


Anyone curious about the Imram Awan status? Well, he’s decided to sue the Daily Caller. I wonder what discoveries lay in front of him. Or behind.

I may need some popcorn for this.



78 on it’s way to mid 80s.

Looks like we may get some rain today.

Head home on Saturday, car probably under snow at the airport.

Another Bob

“I may need some popcorn for this.”

Probably not. Awan (and the people who could be hurt by him) must be pretty confident in their positions.

Another Bob

Anyone else feeling like we’re being teed up for a recession and maybe a stock market plunge, both to come at the peak of the election campaigns?

Jack is Back!

Me? I am staying put in my corner of the first coast. Now that Trump is coming to the 500, it will be crazy on steroids. Then add in the early birds for bike week and you have the perfect storm.

I won’t go further south than Flagler Beach and evening there it is the outer fringe of crazy times.


AB, I worry about that a bit, but don’t see any sign of it. Who are your suspects? Powell is probably. It a fan of Trump, but he seems to be pretty middle-of-the-road in his approach.


Probably not



No. Earnings coming in too strong.

James D.

So Peggy N's heart is all aflutter with Bloomberg now as well.

Peggy's expiration date passed about 30 years ago. She's literally still cruising along on one speech she wrote for President Reagan in 1986.


The Economist??11??!

Miguel Faria e Castro
Ouch: WB chief economist leaves job after higher officials block publication of internal research showing a correlation between foreign aid to developing economies (including WB aid) and jumps in their deposits in foreign financial havens


[No idea how they let that sneak through....]


Might be a paywall. I can C&P later.

Another Bob

Jimmy, Mel, I’m just Joe Sixpack running my retirement money, but stocks seem awfully frothy.

Buybacks seem to be driving a fair amount of earnings growth. It’s still being done on the back of free money (which continues to kill the mom and pop savers). The total joke that is Tesla and (to a lesser degree) the other big tech companies.

I’m not seeing any fundamental change that supports it. Feels like it’s all momentum, brittle. Something small could bring it all down.

And it’s clear that there are people who really, really want Trump destroyed, and they haven’t shown us where their limits are yet.

Jack is Back!

We have gone from the mid 80's with strong southwesterlies, to low to mid 60's, damp, and strong nor'easters. I call it fickled Florida.

If the rain holds off it will be the perfect temperature for the race.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Another Bob

“ correlation between foreign aid to developing economies (including WB aid) and jumps in their deposits in foreign financial havensL

Plus the very deep levels of corruption were only now learning of... ;)



on a more fun note.

henry-yesterday was at a legal program and I don't think the law prof speaking on cybersecurity grasped that the cloud was someone's server and that the MS he had hyped as no longer being evil was a likely choice.

Another lawyer going over CA and EU privacy laws that we talk about really seemed to believe their purpose was privacy protection. No sense of what the data was really all about.

No procedure this morning as the insurer had not preapproved it as of late yesterday afternoon when we got a phone call. Apparently this particular insurer can take up to two weeks to determine any outpatient test is in fact necessary. Not exactly consistent with limiting stress.


You might want to alter your sources of info, because that sounds like straight up MFM.

Tesla just had the premiere example of a predatory short squeeze, live, in the stock market for all to see and learn. That $948 high print was all from shorts being forced out. Beautifully executed and stall speed was reached. Now comes the homesick brick part of the trade! (Pull up a two week chart, with volume, and you'll see what I mean. Like This )


rse, no surprise here. The legal profession and theiur side kicks in insurance have no idea what privacy requires, nor what the true liabilities are. Especially on the cloud, where it is not "someone's server" but "someones UX server tied to some other folks (ie more than one) back end adn database servers." The entire compliance complex responds as if a single data center is reserved for the exclusive use of each account in a cloud setting -- despite demanding "multi-tenant database architecture" in the rfp.

Suddenly it becomes clear why law school is the main path to politics... it creates idiots by the score.

Manuel Transmission

Welp, we may have our very own WuFlu candidate here on the rock. Rumors started yesterday afternoon. No specifics, but either a student or teacher at our little International School at the top of Spring St. is most likely given that someone was bound to have gone home for the holidays.



R. Christopher Whalen @rcwhalen

Tesla Faces a New S.E.C. Investigation nyti.ms/2HjnKuW


""Angry, divided and confused - this is how Trump wins.""

Believing that horse shit, is exactly why TRUMP uses TWITTER. Buy the crap that the MFM tells you is designed to dumb you down to FULL COMMIE levels.

Apparently it works on some people.


It is paywalled, mel, and I ain't paying for the Economist. As best as I can tell, the story is not so much that Goldberg left, as it's not clear why, but that the WB suppressed the research, as it would be embarrassing to their whole mission. I'd like to think she left on principle, upset that important research was smothered.


That's in reference to mel's 8:02 and 8:10.


MiniMike on a spending spree. (narrator: it won't make him taller)

SalenaZito @SalenaZito

40 staffers in Pennsylvania right now over 100 by the end of the month along with ten field offices with unheard of in politics salaries—and what he is dumping in 💰 in Mississippi to shore up that state votes for their primary is unprecedented.


Adding air doesn’t turn off the tire light. I have to push the tire light button. 06 Toyota Matrix (aka Red Pill) YMMV.

Another Bob

Whether short squeeze or tulips, Tesla has no business being equally valued with Volkswagen.

Apple has had its primary iPhone factory shuttered by the Covid-19 outbreak. Should have had some substantive negative effect right? Hasn’t so far.

You see the markets as fundamentally healthy, and representative of the economy?

Jack is Back!

Read rse's 8:19 link just to enjoy the biting opinion of Katie Hopkins on Meghan Markle.


Eric Felten: Buried in IG Report: How an FBI Team in Rome Gave Steele Highly Guarded Secrets



That's precisely what I took from it. And the landing zone for aid cited was lil' ole Switzerland.


Jeff Carlson: Durham Reportedly Investigating Whether CIA Withheld Information From FBI in Russia Probe


If Barr doesn’t like Trump’s tweets then he ought to make sure his team doesn’t do stupid stuff.



Keep in mind, the IG (Horowitz2) report has a fresh history of being "live edited", so what was once known, no longer applies. I'm waiting for the dust to settle on it.


Good piece by Strassel on the Barr kerfuffle. As it's presumably paywalled, here's the key part:

Democrats claimed Mr. Trump politically interfered with justice, bullying the department into going easy on a political crony. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer proclaims “a crisis in the rule of law.” Rep. Adam Schiff (D., Impeachment) declared another “abuse of power.” The press is casting it as Example A of how a postacquittal Trump feels emboldened to ignore the law.

This has it entirely backward. Here’s what actually happened: Justice sources tell me that interim U.S. Attorney Tim Shea had told the department’s leadership he and other career officials in the office felt the proposed sentence was excessive. As the deadline for the filing neared, the prosecutors on the case nonetheless threatened to withdraw from the case unless they got their demands for these stiffest of penalties. Mr. Shea—new to the job—suffered a moment of cowardice and submitted to this ultimatum. The filing took Justice Department leaders by surprise, and the decision to reverse was made well before Mr. Trump tweeted, and with no communication with the White House. The revised filing, meanwhile, had the signature of the acting supervisor of the office’s criminal division, who is a career civil servant, not a political appointee.

This is Mr. Barr getting rid of politics in justice—as he promised.




You have mail.



But at least the WB is all on board with the Mind, Brain, Behavior purpose of education globally. Complete with Proper Nouns.

Somehow I suspect it is a lucrative model for the Oligarchs. Creating malleable minds while profiting from public private partnerships aligned to poorly understood MBE tied definitions of achievement that merit the apyouts.

Yes, jib, the researching of Di's favorite perfume and then wearing on 1st date is predatory behavior, especially given subsequent behavior.

Maybe one day we can refer to her as the Formerly Royal Narcissist. Also liked the snark on how she changes her toted color of identity depending on who she is manipulating.


Good morning!

President Trump has a tweet up which I can't seem to get here When I hit "copy" and then com to this site, when I click my mouse I do not get the "paste" command in the box at all.

I am going to see if it is jut that tweet or my entire system.



Glioblastomas are relentless, hard-to-treat, and often lethal brain tumors. Yale scientists have enlisted a most unlikely ally in efforts to treat this form of cancer — elements of the Ebola virus.



Twice is coincidence...

Among the guests at Nygard’s luxury property over the years was Prince Andrew, who came under scrutiny for his close ties to Jeffrey Epstein before the accused sex fiend committed suicide last year.



Gee, henry, look what the currency manipulator is interested in:

Civil Society Organizations and General Data Protection Regulation Compliance: Challenges, Opportunities and Best Practices, a new report from the Open Society Information Program, looks specifically at the ways that the world’s most comprehensive data privacy law impacts nongovernmental organizations.

It examines, in practical terms, what these kind of organizations have done to comply with the law. It also presents research showing ways that governments, businesses, and some powerful individuals have tried—so far unsuccessfully—to use the law to prevent these organizations from pursuing public interest research and reporting.

Finally, the report provides a best practices guide that can be used to ensure compliance and limit risk.



Well, it seems I cannot copy and paste ANYTHING. Now why would that be?

I am going to be totally useless around here if I can't provide links or copy and paste tweets!


rse, of course the criminal left wants to be immune from data privacy liability. They get away with it on taxes, a slightly higher vig to the pols and they will get away with it here too.


i'm of the grossly underinformed opinion that the Barr "rebuke" of POTUS tweeting is a pump fake to stem the bull rush over the Stone sentencing sitch.

what will the sentencing judge do? call for an investigation by Barr and company or put her hand in the dirt?

meanwhile i'll show little concern if POTUS dusts off his lines used during the Sleepy Jeff era to encourage more MFM huffing and puffing while Barr does his job.


Man Who Pointed Gun at Family Released Under New York Bail Law

Mel, not seeing any mail from you.


Trump is shadow banned on my feed. But I can go to his page.


“The President has never asked me to do anything in a criminal case.” A.G. Barr This doesn’t mean that I do not have, as President, the legal right to do so, I do, but I have so far chosen not to!


Thanks, henry!

I usually keep a separate tab open for his Twitter page as he only sneaks through onto my feed every once in a while.

Of course, HILLARY shows up all the time. Grrr.

I am going to try the only repair procedure that ever works for me. Unplugging the computer and then restarting it.


MM: i know little about how puters work.

on my phone however i've learned that when my clipboard fills up it wont allow me to paste.

"...don't know much about history, dont know much biology..."

Tom R

AB @ 11:13

You misunderstand. Someone who is open minded and reasonable will be willing to change their opinion based on new facts. Someone who is close minded and unreasonable won’t do that. We have a couple people here who fall into the latter category.


.edu addy

If that's not a good one, lemme know.


James Comey
Feb 12
Mr. President, a couple minor corrections: (1) I have never committed a crime, which is an important pre-req for jail in most countries, still including ours; and (2) there’s just one book, but I think there is a movie coming and I hope you get to see it.


James Comey
Feb 12
What really matters today is the crisis at the Justice Department. “This is not normal and it is not right, and it is dangerous territory for the rule of law.”

Opinion | This is a revolting assault on the fragile rule of law
Is there justice in the Justice Department?



Fog breaking over Tamalpais

Song of the Wind

Tom R

Barbara @ 12:53

Incorrect. You are correct there are plenty of Rosenstein haters here who have expressed their negative opinion of him. What hasn’t occurred is any of them who thinks Rosenstein was part of the coup against Trump giving their explanation for why he got treated as a hero.


Doomsday sells ads.


It’s “apocalyptic,” Shanghai-based photographer Nicoco says about the desolate Chinese streets amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Our special report airs tonight at 7 p.m. ET.


Got it, mel. I think the WB made your message go to my spam folder. :)



Pompeo ‘outraged’ by UN list of firms with settlement ties

JERUSALEM (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday said he is “outraged” by the U.N.’s publication of a list of companies accused of violating Palestinian human rights by operating in Israel’s West Bank settlements.

In a statement, Pompeo said the list supports a Palestinian-led boycott movement and “delegitimizes” Israel. He urged other countries to join the U.S. in rejecting the effort.


Ha!. Unplugging, plugging back in, and re-starting did the trick!

Tom R

JMH @ 1:52

You can keep claiming as many times as you want that you have answered my question about Rosenstein’s retirement ceremony. I’ve told you I never saw your answer. Isn’t that a clue that instead of wasting your time telling me you’ve already answered the question that you could admit I might not have seen your answer so you answer it again?


8 planes on lockdown at Heathrow.



Very, very few of the people here think RR was part of a coup. That should be obvious. The majority think he was a dupe angling for the best retirement scenario.

As I have said multiple times, he was given a nice retirement party because he decided to play ball with Trump. Secondly, and more Kabuki-ish, he was publicly praised so his old teammates would sweat out how much RR may have ratted them out. It is a crime show favorite.

Perp:”Man I ain’t telling you shit!”

Cop:”that’s ok, We made sure your bros saw us buying you a happy meal, so they are going to beat the hell out of you anyways.”

Perp:”oh damn!!”


Buck Sexton
Reminder that just yesterday prominent elected Democrats were suggesting Attorney General Barr should be impeached and maybe Trump should be impeached again-

In case you were wondering if Trump has psychologically and emotionally broken the Democrat Party

They are nuts
I really think this is true of a certain percentage of them. They got to thinking they were "this" close to having complete control, and then Hillary didn't win.


Inner City Press @innercitypress

OK - US v. #Avenatti, jury deliberations Day 3, after objection to Judge Gardephe's answer to "state of mind" inferences question patreon.com/posts/34008185 - March 21 meeting recording at issue - Inner City Press will live tweet as things develop - thread



The President retweeted this:

Donald J. Trump
Feb 13
DRAIN THE SWAMP! We want bad people out of our government!

Tom R

MJW 12:20

Correct. That’s how uncertainty works. I can’t prove my theory is correct but others can’t prove its wrong. Hopefully we find out the answers soon from Durham

Tom R

I’m off to New Orleans for the weekend. Y’all have fun

Captain Hate


My experience with multiple Toyota Corollas, a 2008 Yaris, and a Mustang rental has been otherwise. You're probably correct in the current case but it's not like this was a first time event for me.


Gordon G. Chang
#China's millennia of history has been scared by absolute rulers making disastrous mistakes. That, unfortunately, is occurring now with #XiJinping. As a result of his horrible rule, the Chinese people are suffering. #coronavirus #COVIDー19
I think Gordon meant "scarred" instead of "scared".


Just whose definition of "Uncertainty" are you redefining now?

It's a mathematical conundrum, within a proof, accepted as a duality.


.@RudyGiuliani: A “bunch of Democrats” are involved in Ukraine corruption, “it’s not just Biden”.

“They say that we went searching for dirt on Joe Biden.. No, No.. We were given crimes on Joe Biden.”

The documents are “in the right hands now”


— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) February 14, 2020

Link goes to video, Rudy talking to Trish Regan.


i find it adoreable when TomR dons his tutu and does that little banana toed dance to the "some people here" tune.

Jack is Back!

Competing headlines:

Senate approves a bipartisan measure limiting President Donald Trump’s authority to launch military operations against Iran:


Iran is ready to strike the US and Israel if they give it any reason to do so, says the head of the Revolutionary Guards:



Error propagation in a chain of probability does not favor certainty... especially as the chain lengthens. (Math... multiply the individual probabilities to get the final. Hint: multiplying numbers between 0 and 1 approach zero mighty quickly).

Captain Hate

Only the U.N. could discourage countries from assisting their citizens in having homes. DJT should zero them out and begin eviction procedures.


Fighting uncertainty with certainty.

i like it!


Greed strikes again. By the usual greedy subjects.

The Wall Street Journal @WSJ

States reject a $18 billion settlement deal from drug distributors over the opioid crisis, a letter from more than 20 attorneys general shows on.wsj.com/2SMSSbx


TM's watching Bloomie closely.

Tom Maguire
Here is the progressive orthodoxy on the causes of the housing crisis. Set aside "truth" and whether it is knowable for a moment - Bloomberg's CRA explanation is something no liberal would say or believe. Awkward moment!


[Also implies new thread threatening over the horizon...]

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