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Monday’s Forum
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21 responses to “Monday’s Forum”
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Best newspaper political endorsement so far this season.
Mary Ann Perez for Texas House 144. She’s not a drunk idiot. |
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A minor political observation.
Just got back from a family wedding in Wilmington, NC. There were just a whole lot of political signs on the streets. What was interesting is they were all for local figures: council people, judges, school board, etc. Not one sign for the two US senate candidates: Cooper and Whatley. Not sure what that all means other than politics was far more intense for local government than the national. Which is a good sign, I think.
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His Hastert Rule (Speaker will not allow a bill to come to the floor unless a majority of his party support it) along with Gingrich’s 50%+1 strategy (Keep adding things that Democrats hate until the limits of a bill being able to pass have been reached) have resulted in what I call the de facto Hastert rule: Republican bills are so toxic to Dems that they pass with only Republicans in favor. This in turn means that they need every Republican vote, and so much court the weirdos, flakes and extremists in their party, resulting in ever more extreme legislation
It has essentially destroyed the Congress as a representative body
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I made enchiladas the hard way. or at least the long way.
First I got a rotisserie chicken, this one from Costco, and shredded it. I placed the bones, skin, cartilage, and some of the meat in the instant pot with some slightly browned onions, carrots, celery and garlic, as well as some peppercorns and some herbs, in the instant pot and made chicken stock.
For the salsa I browned like 1/4 onion, thinly sliced, then added a small can of chipotle salsa, a large bottle of green salsa, 210 gr. tomato pure, and about two ladlefuls of chicken stock. I seasoned with paprika and garlic powder, and let ti simmer a bit.
To assemble the enchiladas, I first heated some tortillas in the microwave for 15 seconds. Cold tortillas tend to break when folded or rolled, whereas warm one are pliable. I added some chicken and salsa to each tortilla, rolled it up, and placed it in a baking dish. After completing one layer, I added salsa on top. Next I assembled a second layer and poured the rest of the salsa on top.
And that’s when I realized there wasn’t enough salsa.
I should have known it wouldn’t be enough, because the exact same thing happened the last time I made them. I remembered it when I used it all up, though.
So, well, next day I got some more ingredients and made a second batch of salsa. That got me the saturation required, and I’ve some left over.
You can add some shredded cheese in layers, or just on top, and bake the whole thing in the oven, too. I didn’t because I’m trying to lose weight, so I’m cutting out things like cheese. You can still bake them without the cheese, but I fail to see much point in that.
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We all know that Iran is the source of all the terrorism in the world. I was not surprised that the Brits made some arrests last week near an RAF base in Fairford. The five men arrested drove three vans near the base. I don’t know how near. They were arrested on suspicion of explosive offenses. No explosives were found, but there was petrol in the vans. At least one of the perps has dual UK-Iranian citizenship. The arrestees were bailed out.
This base is used by the USAF, and the Air Force has evacuated its aircraft.
Was this anything serious? Bail for the suspects makes me think that this was no big deal. Was there real danger to the USAF? Is this an example of the stuff I’m supposed to be terrorized by?-
Speculation that I read this morning is that any evidence that this was a terrorist plot perpetrated by Iran is classified. Authorities it is speculated, were unwilling to reveal that evidence in court, so the charges as they stand, would allow bail.
Now on recalling the aircraft. Frankly this is another administration attempt to embarrass our allies and the alleged plot is just pretext.
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Speculation is not evidence. I think that in the event of realistic concern about bombing or other terrorist activities prosecutors are able to hold people without putting all their cards on the table. I read that the UK is conducting a large investigation. To me that means they have no prima facie evidence. They will find that one of these guys watched a movie about Carlos the Jackal, and they will leverage this evidence into a big case.
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That they got out on bail is a strong indication they were just a bunch of knuckleheads. Possibly out syphoning gas.
There are politicians trying very hard to make it an Iranian terror plot, but anybody for whom any terrorist case, even the shakiest case, can be generated against doesn’t make bail. Period.
That we got our bombers out of there? Why not? Trump is highly unlikely to escalate the Iran war until after the mid-terms and they are less vulnerable within the US. Get the planes closer to their parts and give the crews a few weeks close to home before what is likely to be a long, long overseas deployment, perhaps two years…
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Yes, if the police believe there is a terrorist threat, they can arrest and detain without a warrant or charges for 48 hours, and with approval of a magistrate for 14 days without charges. With approval of a high court judge, for 28 days.
The implication is whatever the arrested persons were up to, the police do not believe it was terrorism.
My guess would be some sort of perimeter breach protest.
That would be rather unwise, given the presence of armed military police at Fairford. Unless of course, the idea was to provoke being shot at? -
John,
I admire the words you Brits have for stupid petty criminals, particularly “Plod”. Fits just right.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it turned out to have been a pack of drunken Plods who, after a certain amount of beer, hit upon the brilliant idea of snipping through the fence of an air base to syphon gas out of the vehicles therein. “Nobody would expect that!”
Base security captured on video…
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Synchronicity. On the day we read that Denny Hastert has died, I read that Jim Jordan is going to go all in for House Minority Leader if the Repubs lose the house. Some of us may remember that Hastert was sentenced to prison for serial child sex abuse (or rather, for lying to the FBI since the statute of limitations on the original crimes were up). Jim Jordan was an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State while the team doctor was sexually abusing at least 177 student athletes. Jim Jordan denied all knowledge of what was going on despite multiple people involved saying he had been informed and he was named in a lawsuit against the university.
So, the Epstein Coverup Party (TM) may very well elect someone credibly accused of covering up sexual abuse. Sounds about right.
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Trump is about 22 points underwater yet the generic vote still has Democrats up by only around 7 points. Charlie Cook says we’re looking less at a possible Blue wave and more of a Red undertow. I think he’s right and we need to fix that.
We should move fast and hard on ethics, and not just the investigations. We should have legislation on ethics, serious legislation, no special carve-outs for our team. We have a fantastic opportunity to make it clear even to low information voters that we are righteous and the Republicans are crooks in the pockets of the oligarchs.
Chuck Schumer is not the guy for that message. I don’t know who is, but he’s not it. AOC can carry that ball in the House, but in the Senate? Suggestions? Is Caesar’s wife in Congress?
Beyond ethics and corruption issues, we need to avoid a liberal vs. DSA fight. Our tactic should be to embrace all who hold our core values. Let what works in Alaska work in Alaska, and what works in North Carolina work in North Carolina. The overlap of the Lib/DSA Venn diagram is anti-corruption, health care and abortion. That’s a good core, but we also need an economic message closer to DSA than to the current gang. We need to knock the oligarchs down a notch or two. Or five. Maybe ten.
Reduce, reform and professionalize ICE and stop dragging nannies off in handcuffs, but anyone who starts talking about open borders should be beaten with a stick.. Trans rights shouldn’t be a headline, it should be increments snuck into bigger bills, we’ll get further by stealth. And as much as I worry about unintended consequences, it’s time to demote Israel to just another sometimes useful ally, like, say, Bahrain. We should do all we can for Ukraine but until we have the WH that’s going to be limited.
I’m more with the DSA side than with the old (so old) Schumer crowd, but if we win we aren’t winning a mandate to enact every fucking Lib or DSA wish list, we’re earning a chance to make a compelling case for the future, and that case cannot simply be about turning the clock back to 2015.
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