I like the Reuters image The Atlantic used with their report.
I realize that at this hour on a Friday I won’t have a lot of takers, but here goes:
- Shooting Kills 6 in Munich; City Shuts Transit to Hunt Gunmen — So not ALL mass shootings occur in this country. It’s interesting — it’s harder to get guns in Europe, yet otherwise it seems easier for terrorists to operate.
- “I Alone Can Fix It.” — Here’s a place for y’all to comment on the speech last night by the Great and Powerful Oz. Here’s what his team did for that speech: They took all the stuff he likes to say, and wrote it into complete sentences. Same crazy, but more coherent. Amazingly, he actually read it. For more observations from me, go to Twitter and scroll down to last night’s stuff.
- Clinton is getting ready to pick Kaine as her VP … we think — I hope that’s right. He seems the best of the lot in the short list.
- My name is Michael Caine … actor changes name due to Isis — I love this. His real name is Maurice Micklewhite, but airport security people refused to believe that, so he’s legally changing to his stage name.
Related Posts
“Great and Powerful Oz”, I can’t wait for next week and read all the cute names you’ll have for Hillary Clinton.
See, Bud and Prof. Carlton? This is what I was on about before. I get this sort of thing all the time. Which is one among many reasons why I’m so aboveboard about what I dislike about both parties.
Of course, it does no good. These people continue to have this chip on their shoulders, maintaining I am unfair if I don’t say EXACTLY the same things about Hillary Clinton that I do about Donald Trump.
Wnich is ridiculous. Donald Trump is a national nightmare, a completely clueless, abysmally ignorant, malevolent narcissist who must never, EVER be allowed anywhere near the White House.
Hillary Clinton is a petulant control freak who is nevertheless a normal, center-left candidate who has a pretty deep understanding of most areas of policy that bear on the job requirements of the presidency.
So no — you will never, EVER hear me say she’s “just as bad” as Trump, because that is a laughable notion. She’s got her problems, but she’s qualified. On that point, she and Trump are as different as night and day.
You’ll read me being candid about her actual flaws (not the crazy, fantasy flaws like “she killed those Americans at Benghazi”). But I will never lose focus on the fact that she is ALL that stands now between us and the complete and utter degradation of the highest office in the land.
So everybody got that? Everyone know what to expect? So don’t be asking me for stuff other than what I’ve told you you’re going to get. I am nothing if not candid with you…
OK–I’ll believe you if you remain consistent about this. But drawing an equivalence between two parties’ conventions when one of them *hasn’t even happened yet* is neither nuanced nor evidence-based–it’s prejudicial. BTW–I subscribe to your former newspaper online, and this morning get a front page that read “Trump Promises Safety, Prosperity” (well, I suppose that’s one way to characterize that speech) and “‘Blue Collar Billionaire’ accepts GOP’s nomination for President” (they’re really swallowing this?). Sure looks like “normalization” to me.
Actually, I thought Blue-Collar Billionaire was a flattering way to put the fact that this guy comes across as someone with no education whatsoever. (Flattering because unlike him, blue-collar people EARN every dime they bring home.)
Does he seem to you like someone who went to Wharton and whose Dad started him on his way with a million dollars? He doesn’t. He seems like the very prototype of a guy who came up from nothing and made it big and on a certain, fragile level thinks he’s God Almighty for having done so — but who is extremely insecure around educated, polished members of the bourgeoisie, and therefore unnaturally ready to take offense at anything he perceives to be a slight.
This rough, unpolished persona is what appeals to people who have nothing and think some of what he has might rub off on them, so they follow him.
The Balkans serve as a source for illegal firearms with somewhere around 3-6M AK47s available for export, with criminal gangs and terrorists cooperating in that transfer. Last year the French Interior Minister said that police have seized nearly 6,000 weapons from criminal groups each year since 2013, 1,200 of which were military assault weapons, mostly AK47s.
Right now it really looks like there was one shooter who committed suicide; he may have been a native German upset about foreigners. No word if he was wearing a Trump campaign button…
The big challenge is getting practice with the firearms as well as their overall serviceability. Firing ranges are not common and usually run by hunt clubs with restricted membership. Bursts of automatic fire would attract a lot of attention. And even though the AK47 does not require a lot of TLC, cleaning equipment and materials are probably not readily available. A lot of the attacks in Europe fail when the firearm “jams.” A tour in Syria would take care of the training, but a lot of the terrorists don’t come from a heritage known for careful maintenance of mechanical items.
The criminal gangs probably have depot-level maintenance and armorers, but I doubt that they extend those services to the terrorists.
3. Tim Kaine is a bad pick. He’s likely to lose some Bernie voters. This was a safe pick in a year where safe is a liability.
Is Hell getting chilly? I just agreed with bud.
And why Friday at 8:00? Isn’t that the slowest news cycle?
He’s perfect, from what little I know about him. He’s likable and clean, and she needs both of those qualities on her ticket.
Job One for November is overcoming the reluctance of independents and Republicans disgusted by Trump to vote for Hillary Clinton. Kaine is the most likely of the people who had been mentioned to do that, so she chose well.
Just look at this way, I’m happy with her selection. I’m sure Trump is equally happy.
Job 1,2&3 is keeping Bernie voters like me in the fold. I’m on board but many others won’t be. This idea of reaching out to moderates is so 2008. Probably won’t matter but I think it’s an unforced error.
Look at you, pretending to be a cheerleader… Kaine brings little to nothing to the table. Maybe he can sway some of the many pro-life Democrats or Wall Street big bank folks who were on the fence. Hispanics, he brings nothing… Blacks,he brings nothing… Women who are pro-choice will hate him… Virginia isn’t a swing state, it was already leaning left. The guy is an old white male career politician. .. even bud doesn’t like him.
“even bud doesn’t like him.”
How is that a bad thing? Seriously, what’s Bud going to do — vote for Trump?
A guy like Kaine definitely makes THIS old white guy like the ticket a lot better…
Looks like Hillary selected a running mate who will do absolutely nothing for her… just a boring old white guy who’s famously known throughout Virginia as the governor that shut down all the rest areas in the state. She needed someone that would balance the ticket out, she selected a wet mop who offers nothing more than someone she can boss around, she might as well selected Bill. Not that I’m complaining, I’m actually thrilled she selected him.
Will the Wikileaks dump of emails coordinated effort by the DNC to sabotage Bernie have any impact on Democrat voters? Of course not. Not even the ones that suggested challenging Bernie’s religion? Of course not. Just keep saying “She’s not as bad a Trump. She’s not as bad as Trump.” It’s either a mantra or a self-hypnosis trigger word.
Or it’s true.
I am appalled that anybody can listen to him speak and not see right through him. He totally reminds me of a 5 year old saying “When I’m in charge there will be no bedtimes and no homework and we’ll eat candy all day and we’ll be the smartest healthiest kids in the world. It’s gonna be great”. The reasoning, the feasibility, and the blatant pandering are all about the same.
So you can’t see through Hillary? She’s the kid that will lie to your face, cheat at every opportunity and then throw a tantrum when caught.
Doug, George W. Bush was not the threat Trump is. And–hang onto your hat, cause you know how I feel about the next guy I’m mentioning—-Dick Cheney was not the threat to our democracy that Trump is. I’d vote for Mullah Mike Huckabee before I’d vote for Trump. So yes, by any objective standard, Hillary is not as dangerous as Trump.
I don’t know much about Kaine, except that he has loads of experience, speaks fluent Spanish, even Republicans like him and the folks I know who live in VA thought he was the best governor they can remember.