Jared Can’t Catch a Break

found online by Raymond

 
From Vixen Strangely at Strangely Blogged:

Leaving aside the obvious problem of nepotism, Kushner is crazily in debt, his family has shown a willingness to use his position to get mad unethical, and, as was revealed today, a pattern of financial insecurity and poor, naïve decision-making has made foreign countries decide he is a super great halfwit to work with. This was kind of a no-brainer–Kushner should not have high security access because his position is really insecure.

It’s also probably a no-brainer to suppose that this means he either can’t do his presumed job (which is, last I checked, all the foreign policy things we’re supposed to have a State Department for) or, Daddy Trump and Ivanka are going to let him crib from their notes. This is a situation of such abominable stupidity it could only be happening in the Trump White House.

But in the world of “Jared can’t catch a break”, he’s also facing a Hatch Act violation for talking up President Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, Brad Parscale, while using his official White House title. Kushner, of course, brought Parscale on to the 2016 campaign and worked closely with him, so he has a good idea about the quality of his work-product from the digital end of the campaign, but even that is darn problematic. Parscale went from being pretty much no one in politics, to being a weird 2016 success story, but the funny thing is, he’s tied to Cambridge Analytica, which is tied to Steve Bannon, Mike Flynn and, obviously, the Russia investigation. Parscale has already had a chat with Congress, and is probably going to get another one with Robert Mueller and friends. (Don’t sweat, pets, there’s other hang-ups this cat likely has.)

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Democrats Increase Early Voting In Texas By 105.12%

found online by Raymond

 
From Ted McLaughlin at jobsanger:

Early primary voting is now over in Texas. It shows that Democrats seem to be energized to vote in this off-year election. In 2014, Republicans outvoted Democrats by 138,693 in the primaries. That was flipped in 2018 — with Democrats outvoting Republicans by 44,916.

Both parties increased their votes in the primary early voting. The Republican increase was a respectable 15.02%. The Democrats increased their primary voting by a whopping 105.12%.

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“Thirsting” for God Led to Dehydration, Almost Killed Me

found online by Raymond

 
From The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser:

It took me until I was in my 40s before I realized that striving for holiness and perfection was a fool’s errand; that no matter how much I devoted myself to God and the ministry, my life was never going to measure up. Decades of denying self had destroyed my self-worth. Jesus was preeminent in my life, but Bruce was nowhere to be found (and my wife, Polly, could tell a similar story). I spent a decade trying to be a “normal’ Christian, but I still battled with thoughts about not doing enough for the cause of Christ; not doing enough to win souls; not doing enough to advance God’s kingdom to the ends of the earth. By the time I left the ministry in 2005, a lifetime of thirsting for God had led to dehydration and almost killed me. I have no doubt that my commitment to serving God day and night; to burning the candle at both ends; to working while it is yet day, for night is coming when no man can work, played a part in my declining health. And, at some level, I knew this, but I told myself, it’s better to burn out than rust out.

Come November, it will be ten years since I walked away from Christianity; ten years since Jesus and I divorced; ten years since I realized that the Bible was not what Christians claim it is; ten years since I concluded that the Christian narrative was false.

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The Clear Putin Conclusion

found online by Raymond

 
From Dorian de Wind, Military Affairs Columnist at The Moderate Voice:

Navy Adm. Michael S. Rogers, commander of U.S. Cyber Command, director of the National Security Agency (NSA)and chief of the Central Security Service, testified today at the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Cyber Command’s posture.

It was an eye-opening hearing during which the NSA chief bluntly told lawmakers that President Trump has not given our intelligence services the specific authority or direction to confront the Russian election cyber attacks and that the U.S. response to Russia’s attacks has been insufficient to prevent ongoing attacks or prevent future ones. “We have not opted to engage in some of the same behaviors we are seeing…They have not paid a price that is sufficient to change their behavior,” Rogers said.

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Thinking Atheist Fanpage – Sensing a Theme

found online by Raymond

 
From PZ Myers:

Is it just me, or do you see it too?

Several of those guys pictured are dead. One, Neil deGrasse Tyson, doesn’t want to be associated with movement atheism. But that isn’t what bothers me most.

One problem is that they’re all guys, every one, except for Ayaan Hirsi Ali. They couldn’t be bothered to copy and paste a picture of Susan Jacoby or Annie Laurie Gaylor or Madalyn Murray O’Hair or Margaret Downey in there — heck, not even Ayn Rand, but maybe that would be too revealing of their political philosophy. If you wanted to demonstrate that atheism is a boys’ club, all you have to do is look at how they advertise themselves.

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Make Shooters Nicer, Saner, Add More Guns,

Saturday Rate of Exchange:
Trump Thumped

from Raymond

This week’s exchange happens off campus.

Vladimir Putin announces development of a new nuclear über-missile. He exhibits crude video, borrowed from earlier decades, that implicitly threatens the United States.

President Trump responds, the next morning on Twitter, with an angry attack on … a television comedian.

Alec bumps Trump:

Then stomps:

In all fairness, credit should be given to Dick Cavett a few weeks ago:

Have a safe, peaceful, non-nuclear weekend.

Trumped Out, Robbery Ain’t Burglary, and Willie the Dishwasher

found online by Raymond

 
From Bill Formby at MadMikesAmerica:

Look, I know that everyone in this country is not a cop or a criminal justice junkie but there are certain people who do certain things, that they should understand certain things. For example. if you lay your phone down at a fast food restaurant while you go get a refill on your drink and you come back and it is gone, well, yes you are stupid, but that’s not my point. My point is that you don’t call the police and tell them you have just been robbed. Why? Because there was no damned robbery.

See it is like this. Terminology in the world of cops and robbers is really important. Robbery must involve either force or a threat of force which actually makes it a violent crime as much as it is a property crime. Police tend to react somewhat differently to your complaint of “I have just been robbed” then they would if you called them and said I was an idiot and left my phone on the table and someone stole it.

Granted, it seems to be the same to you, but not to a police officer. To the police officer, someone has just forcefully taken your phone from you or threatened to do you serious bodily harm if you did not give them your phone.

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