Tuesday’s Forum
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42 responses to “Tuesday’s Forum”
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The hope is that Vance is really as much of a cynical, disingenuous hypocrite as he appears to be.
If the U-Turn towards full MAGA craziness is a cynical move to boost his popularity and advance his career, and the 2016 Vance who said Trump was a danger still lurks somewhere within the psyche of 2024 Vance, and he’s just leading the rubes on a merry dance when he says the mad things he’s said the last two or three years then that’s a much better thing than him actually having converted into a MAGA true believer.
If he actually believes the things he says, then that’s a big big problem.
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The climate crisis is causing the length of each day to get longer, analysis shows, as the mass melting of polar ice reshapes the planet. The phenomenon is a striking demonstration of how humanity’s actions are transforming the Earth, scientists said, rivalling natural processes that have existed for billions of years. The change in the length of the day is on the scale of milliseconds but this is enough to potentially disrupt internet traffic, financial transactions and GPS navigation, all of which rely on precise timekeeping.
The length of the Earth’s day has been steadily increasing over geological time due to the gravitational drag of the moon on the planet’s oceans and land. However, the melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets due to human-caused global heating has been redistributing water stored at high latitudes into the world’s oceans, leading to more water in the seas nearer the equator. This makes the Earth more oblate – or fatter – slowing the rotation of the planet and lengthening the day still further.
The planetary impact of humanity was also demonstrated recently by research that showed the redistribution of water had caused the Earth’s axis of rotation – the north and south poles – to move. Other work has revealed that humanity’s carbon emissions are shrinking the stratosphere.
Those Chinese don’t miss a trick.
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From Newsweek:
The widow of Corey Comperatore, the heroic volunteer firefighter killed while shielding his family during the shooting at a Donald Trump campaign rally, said that the former president has not reached out to the grieving family.
The silence from Trump contrasts with an attempted call from President Joe Biden, which the Comperatore family declined. Helen Comperatore, speaking from her home in Sarver, Pennsylvania, told the New York Post in an exclusive interview, “I didn’t talk to Biden. I didn’t want to talk to him,” adding, “My husband was a devout Republican and he would not have wanted me to talk to him.”
It’s not surprising Trump would not offer any condolences, but turning down a call from a sitting President because your dead husband was a “devout Republican?”
“Devout” is a religion thing, it shouldn’t be a politics thing, but it’s a cult so here we are.
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Now researchers hope to scrutinise 99942 Apophis as it makes its close encounter in an effort to bolster our defences against other space rocks. The European Space Agency (Esa) has announced funding for preparatory work on the Rapid Apophis Mission for Security and Safety (Ramses) in which a spacecraft will be sent to the asteroid to glean information about its size, shape, mass and the way it spins as it hurtles through space.
The mission will also shed light on the composition and internal structure of Apophis, as well as its orbit, and explore how the asteroid changes as it passes within 20,000 miles (32,000km) of Earth – about one-tenth of the distance to the moon – on Friday 13 April 2029.
Uh oh…
“The flyby it does with Earth is absolutely unique,” said Dr Holger Krag, the head of the Esa’s space safety programme office, adding that no asteroid is expected to come as close for a few thousand years. “If the sky is clear, you should be able to see it with your naked eye.”
Apophis will pass closer to the Earth than the geostationary satellites used for TV broadcasting, GPS navigation and weather forecasting. At that distance, Krag said, the asteroid would start to interact with Earth.
“It’s the gravity field of the Earth that will basically slightly reshape the asteroid, causing it to change its form,” he said, adding the gravitational pull could also cause landslides on the asteroid’s surface.
Pretty cool. I’d like to stick around long enough to see it.
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@Chris: As a Chris who regularly comments on OTB, I think I’ll have to change my handle in this arena to avoid any confusion going forward. However, in a measure of “Chris” comradery, let me say I generally agree with Chris’ comments. Vance is either the biggest political sellout and scheming political hack or a neophyte true believer with no good moral compass.
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@~Chris: i suspect it’s the hack side of things. Anyone who can have the conversion-to-Damascus behavior that he did as easily as he did has no integrity whatsoever.
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@Mikey: “…turning down a call from a sitting President.”
Well, she did take a call from the Democratic Governor of PA and gave him permission to speak of their conversation.
PA Gov address on Trump rally shooting: A good look at Josh Shapiro in action. It’s about 9 minutes; he starts taking questions halfway through.
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@Eusebio: Thank you for posting this. Everybody on here should give it a listen. This is the kind of young talent we have in the Democratic Party. No offense to the President, but this is what we need to take on Trump. I live in a 70% Trump eastern Ohio county. Until Saturday I had some hope that Trump’s turn out might be depressed. There seemed to be a lack of enthusiasm compared to 2016 and 2020. Saturday ended that hope. The job of defeating the malevolent looming menace just got harder. I don’t think a declining 81 year old man is capable of meeting that threat.
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@Mikey: The word ‘devout’ is misplaced here, and well it sounds uncomfortably subservient for her to defer to his apparent fervor. But look, the woman’s husband just died while shielding the family from bullets. I’d give her all the leeway she needs to decide how she wants to handle her grief.
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@Eusebio:
I expect Shapiro to be a strong contender in 2028. He has done an excellent job as Governor and feels incredibly genuine.Jared Polis from Colorado is another one to watch–though CO’s governor is far administratively weaker than the PA governor position.
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@Eusebio:
I expect Shapiro to be a strong contender in 2028. He has done an excellent job as Governor and feels incredibly genuine.Jared Polis from Colorado is another one to watch–though CO’s governor is far administratively weaker than the PA governor position.
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@Michael Reynolds: Except, the Republican Party will not go away once Trump does.
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@mattbernius: Sure let’s not use the talent we have now. We’ll just wait until 2028. In the mean time everything will just be fine. Keep on whistling past that graveyard.
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@DK: For the GOP, “lowering the temperature” means nothing more than Democrats no longer speaking the truth about the threat Trump poses to American democracy. It is not meant to constrain their own vitriol at all.
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@Steven L. Taylor: Will Trump ever go away? Reagan has stuck around long past his death, ándate only thing pushing him out of the limelight is Trump.
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@Mikey:
There was a thing I read Sunday showing Comperatore’s social media, which included posts on January 6th calling for Pence to held accountable for his “crimes” as well as numerous racist and queerphobic posts.
So I don’t see the need to posthumously valorize someone who seems like a terrible person just because they got caught in the crossfire of internecine Republican political violence…
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@Steven L. Taylor: To be fair to MR for a change, neither did the Unification Church, among other examples. That being said, I don’t see Trump as cult leader as much as a current figurehead for a preexisting movement started by others over 40 years ago. Seeing Trump as cult leader gives him too much credit.
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@Mikey: Ah, okay. Well…how about if Democrats just stick to agreeing with JD Vance that Trump is the “American Hitler.” Is that acceptable, or no?
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@mcnp:
Sure let’s not use the talent we have now
Exactly how would we use the talent we have now pray tell?
Shapiro has no incentive to not serve out his full term. And he will be campaigning for Biden/Harris in PA. Ditto Polis.
Unless Biden decided to abdicate everything else is magical thinking under the current UD system.
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@mattbernius: Sadly, I suspect that more moderate voices on the Biden question are going to have to live with the “do something, anything, even if it’s wrong” drumbeat for the rest of the campaign. Whether it’s wiser to shrug or push back is beyond my expertise.
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@Mikey:
I’d feel better about this verdict, were it not that I’m sure he’ll argue on appeal these were all gratuities and perfectly legal.
Or he might argue some novel theory on senatorial immunity. If he can afford to pay Uncle Thomas and Scalito enough.
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@CSK:
So sorry to hear that. Hope you recover soon. -
@CSK:
I’m back in the hospital yet again with c. diff
Oh geez. Bummer. What’s next after antibiotics? Surgery?
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@CSK: Yuck indeed. And yet again? Very yuck.
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@CSK:
Hope you get better soon.
@DK:
Some hasty web searching suggests the treatment consists of antibiotics, probiotics, and fecal transplant.
Speaking of which, what can be done to undo the scatophilic Convicted Felon v US supreme court decision?
Would a law specifying that the president, as well as all personnel in the executive branch, are subject to all other existent laws? Or would a constitutional amendment be required?
To the former, I’d also add all members of Congress, and all judges in the judiciary, emphatically including the supreme court justices.
As to the latter, you’d think passing an amendment saying “ABSOLUTELY No One Is Above The Law,” should pass unanimously in Congress, and be approved by all 50 states within days. But we know all Republiqans would vote it down, if they even allow a vote.
It’s one of those things that would be easy when no one thinks it’s necessary, and impossible when ti becomes necessary.
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@Kathy: If the Supremes didn’t want Democrats to hide behind this technicality, they shouldn’t have made it so close to the time a Democrat was on trial for that type of corruption. Personally, I’m not sure that the Supremes care about who benefits from corruption as long as they get to, though.
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@Mikey: I think I’d have turned down a call from Trump while he was president had the situation presented itself.
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@CSK: Oh no…hope you’re back to 100% very soon!
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The supremes seem intent on legalizing payoffs to government officials. Enlightened self interest in action.
@Jen:
I would have, too, for two reasons: 1) his voice makes me want to throw up, 2) I’d have let loose such a tirade of invective, I’m sure the Secret Service would pay me a few visits.
On to things I’ve a measure of control over for next week I’m thinking a beef stew with beans, tomatoes, and tomato sauce, cooked in the pressure cooker (I haven’t used it in two weeks). I’m told I can’t call it chili if it has beans. I’m finalizing the spice mix.
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@Kathy: That must be some kind of Mexican or regional TX/NM/AZ rule. Where I’ve lived, chili always had beans in it. It’s how you spread the beef/meat out over more servings. There are some arguments over what varieties of beans you can use, tho.
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Just in: Biden to push for supreme court ethics code and term limits. And also an constitutional amendment “that would eliminate a sweeping immunity for presidents and other officials”.
But he’s not looking to expand the court…
These are good ideas, but I don’t see when they may have a chance of passing. The first two could be accomplished with legislation. But if you believe the GQP will allows the power of their pet court to be diminished, when it’s carrying out their agenda, I’d like to know what you’ve been smoking (and please send me two pounds of it). So, it wouldn’t pass the House as constituted today.
Even if it did, or if the Democrats win it back this year, and they keep their Senate majority, the filibuster would end it all. Even without Sinema, and who knows about Manchin, eliminating the Senate filibuster will be a tough sell. I think they should, as most significant legislation is just stalled. On the other hand, Kathy’s Law: There are downsides to everything. We may find when the GQP takes Congress, they just reverse everything.
And I think expanding the court would be the best idea, combined with term limits. Even if the Convicted Felon Party reverses everything, it would be hard to remove, say, four new justices who’ve been sworn in and are term limited to, I don’t know, 12 years.
Major structural reforms are exceedingly difficult. I just don’t see it happening. Still, as I often say: it certainly won’t happen if we don’t even try.
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I’ve never had chili without beans, and that includes restaurants in the US. But the last time I described this as chili, I got an earful of protests about beans being the spawn of the Devil or something…
I’ve grown far more permissive in my not-so-old age, and less prone to argue about what constitutes a certain dish or not. I mean, why do I care if someone takes toast and mayo and broccoli and calls it a taco? How does that affect me?
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@Kathy: I’m sure I don’t know. On the other hand one of my fellow teachers in Korea studied and tested for a certification in Japanese Tea Ceremony and another friend asks me for advice on the “genuine” way to eat things like sushi and kim chee and whether the bagels his store sticks are “legitimate.”
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