Quote of the Day
Carpenters, "Hurting Each Other"
Quote of the Day
It is dangerous to be sincere
Carpenters, "Bless the Beasts and the Children". A peronal favorite...
Quote of the Day
[E]ven our Commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand:
Carpenters, "Superstar". Probable the most covered Carpenters' hit in singing competitions.
Quote of the Day
We are closer to God when we are asking questionsCarpenters, "Rainy Days And Mondays"
I have got to admit at the start that like most other academics I've met, historian Brion McClanahan has left himself a lot of wiggle room on the topic of Trump. He has criticized Trump enough times in passing that most MAGA cultists would not confuse him as a follower. He has basically called Trump a New Deal/FDR Democrat, and he does think Trump has overstepped his Constitutional role with his executive orders and such--but the difference I have is how McClanahan does it,, by arguing Trump is no different than the last several Presidents who also abused their auhority, no worse.
As any regular reader of my daily blog posts knows, I have regulasrly posted and promoted Brion's content over the past few years. And a lot of this discussion is based on fragmentary ad hoc comments he has made over several episodes. I don't have transcripts and I'm not a prosecutor. But let me explain via certain talking points.
First, McClanahan is utterly dismissive of Trump's impeachments and unduly imptessed by Senate dismissals. I have written several posts on the Trump impeachments and know that they were substantive in nature, although I believe the second impeachment should have charged Trump with dereliction of duty. The second impeachment got a majority of trial votes but not the super-majority needed for conviction. And several Republicans who voted to acquit argued Trump was no longer POTUS.and/or Trump could/should be criminally prosecuted--including then Majority Leader McConnell.
The first impeachment was based on Trump's abuse of foreign relations authority to extort Zelensky using Ukraine aid, which Trump unconstitutionally froze in the hopes Zelensky would open a criminal case against Biden, sabotaging a prospective 2020 challenge to Trump. This is unambiguously corrupt, abusing authority for personal political gain. The fact is Trump's pretext involved a notoriously corrupt Ukrainian chief prosecutor falsely alleging Biden was targeting him in the hopes of staving off a Burisma investigation putting Hunter's lucrative compensation at risk. In fact, the US was upset at Shokin's sabotaging a money-laundering case against the Burisma oligarch and other corrupt acts, and the move against Shokin went beyond Biden, including the IMF, the EU, and local Ukraine anti-corruption groups.
Now is it possible that Trump's predecessors were just as bad if not worse than Trump? It's possible; I certainly freely admit that McClanahan has more academic training than I've had as a historian and he has more detailed knowledge about the Presidents and American history than I do. I can't respomd to unspecified allegations. But of all incumbents who lost, reelection, Trump is unprecedented in refusing to concede; he is also the first President on whose watch rioters occupied the Capitol since at least the War of 1812.
Let's be clear: not only did Trump enter his reelection campaign with record low job approval but 2020 saw a pandemic economic collapse and economic uncertainty that had analogously doomed the reelections of GHW Bush and Hoover. Keep in mind Trump had won by razor thin margins multiple usually Dem states in the rust belt without a public sector record to weigh him down. And in 2016 Trump faced one of the most polarizing Dem nominees in recent history in Hillary Clinton, not to mention a close nomination battle where arguably the more popular candidate, Bernie Sanders, lost. No doubt Trump in 2016 benefited from a change election year, a divided political opposition, and celebrity status. Biden, on the other hand, was the well-known likable VP to a highly popular Obama with his party base.
Keep in mind that Trump won only about 46% of the popular in 2016. There were polls going into 2020 showing Trump's record low job approvals eroding his standing among independents, a critical part of his winning coalition.. The polls showed Biden, backed by a unified Dem base, leading Trump not only in the popular vote but in several battleground states, including earlier Trump-won narrowly blue states like MI, PA, and WI and even trending purplish southern states like AZ and GA. Now, granted, Trump held the incumbent's advantage and polls persistently have understated Trump's numbers (whether that is a sampling bias, social desirablility response bias among some Trump supporters, etc.)
Granted, some 2020 polling was flat out wrong: some showed Biden with a double-digit lead nationally and some late polls showed Biden taking Florida and North Carolina.. McClanahan concedes Biden won the largely symbolic national vote (by over 7 million votes) but dismissed that as California surplus. Not quite; it is true that the 5-million California difference was a large part of that advantage, but the Dems improved on their share of their vote over 2016 in about 3/4 of states.
Trump's appalling failure to concede the 2020 election had been signaled months in advance when he refused to commit to accepting election results before a single vote was cast:
.As he did in 2016, Trump leaned into fraud allegations before his reelection bid, warning that August 2020 that "the only way we're going to lose this election is if the election is rigged."
The last part of my rant on how McClanahan dismissed charges against Trump's unconstitutional pressure on GOP GA Gov. Kemp and Secretary of State Raffensperger to flip election results as little more than Trump's "free speech" rights.:
During the call, Trump falsely suggested that Raffensperger could have committed a criminal offense by refusing to overturn the state's election results.Legal experts have suggested that Trump's behavior and demands could have violated state and federal laws.
Note that Trump tried and failed to primary the 2 statewide officials. But by impliciely threatening to sic the Justice Dept on the SoS, Trump undeniably abused his power, an inpeachable offense. Let's point out all but 1 of Trump's 60-odd election challenges were denied in court all the way to SCOTUS; I think the one case where Trump prevailed was not counting late-arriving mailed ballots in PA.I'm particularly angry because McClanahan, normally a federalist/states' rights guy, had no issue with Trump's purely corrupt, self-serving moves to flip election results by jawboning GOP state officials and legislatures, not to mention ordering his own VP to reject Biden clinching state elector slates, hoping to force the election into the House, where red states outnumbered blue states. The Constitution and federal law codifying the twelfth amendment gave Pence no such authority.
Quote of the Day
Travel only with thy equals or thy betters;The Carpenters, "For All We Know"
Wow, some real Will Moseley hate on this thread. Not me, he has been the runaway winner for several episodes. He's a talented vocalist, and I haven't heard him miss a note all season. No matter how the final vote goes, he's the real winner this season.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 20, 2024
#AmericanIdol
Congratulations to American Idol winner Abi Carter. I preferred Will Moseley, but it was clear Ms. Carter had a very vocal support group at the finale, and I wish her best in her future endeavors. But I'm more likely to buy a Moseley recording.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 20, 2024
Reason Roundtable was talking about "Word Salad" Harris when the question was who is your favorite VP? I was thinking Tyler or Coolidge, but then one cited Burr's killing Hamilton. I can't argue with that...
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 25, 2024
Some leftist tweeted a question of the sort would I be willing to pay more taxes for other people's food or healthcare. HELL NO! It is not about virtue signaling about using the government monopoly for individual needs. I'm in favor of voluntary charity and the private sector.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 25, 2024
Some, but educated people understand COVID-19 virus is not that stable allowing sterilizing immunity. New variants are able to some extent evade natural or acquired (vaccine) immunity. Current vaccines aren't designed for the FLiRT variants but boost your defenses against illness
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 25, 2024
It's not unexpected that leftist jurists regret the loss of judicial power out of balance with other branches of government. Cry me a river, Sotomayor. https://t.co/uQRdAI7NMm
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 25, 2024
Yes, if the disease is contagious and the vaccine has been adequately tested.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 25, 2024
If a Republican Administration is elected, the party and nation would be better served to represent the 20% or so of the party that has continued to vote for her even after she withdrew from the race.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 25, 2024
Just a reminder that Ashli Babbitt was an unarmed protestor who was executed by a killer cop. She was guilty of nothing beyond trespassing and denied her day in court. https://t.co/i4m0SKrGTs
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 25, 2024
This fat libertarian will not be shedding his clothes in public. Even my own girlfriend wouldn't give me a tip. https://t.co/xVinCMMQop
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 26, 2024
Trumpkins are the most cringe, obnoxious humans on the planet. Have you ever seen a Trump pep rally? Or Trump masturbating with a flag? https://t.co/q5h1aEfngF
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 26, 2024
Trump speaking at a libertarian convention makes it a shitshow. Trump is the $8T man. https://t.co/q0tQZAIFUH
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 26, 2024
Trumpkins are intrinsically stupid. Just a reminder Trump, while claiming to be war averse, escalated unconstitutional drone wars, started corrupt trade wars, killed a member of the Iran government (an act of war), launched an unprovoked attack on Syria & got biggest DoD budgets. https://t.co/tNpifgxQQh
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 26, 2024
Having the most unlibertarian people on the planet like RFK Jr. and Trump address libertarians is a failure in leadership of the LP. These Statist political whores are trying to siphon off support from the LP nominee. RFK Jr. is trying to blame Trump for state shutdowns.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 26, 2024
Pro-abort MN Gov.Waltz, as usual, is dead wrong. Dobbs was not a decision by "Trump's Supreme Court". Trump nominated 3 9f 9 justices, not a majority. There was no quid pro quo on Trump's nomination. Abortion was a matter of state regulation from day 1 of the Constitution.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 26, 2024
It was amusing to see much of the LP convention boo Trump. I have publicly opposed the insanity of some fellow libertarians flirting with Trump (mostly due to Trump's lip service vs record on foreign policy). Trump had chutzpah, inviting the LP to nominate him. Over my dead body
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 26, 2024
I had cringed at the flood of MD Dem US Senate primary ads, nearly 80% pro-abort, not a federal issue. I thought it was risky against likely GOP nominee former 2-term Gov. Hogan. I recently caught the latest Hogan ad, full of pro-abort soundbites, pro-Roe codification.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 26, 2024
Biden thinks he was appointed to the Academy? That's what happens when you fall asleep watching "Top Gun"...
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 26, 2024
"Naval Academy"
Biden thinks he was appointed to the Academy? That's what happens when you fall asleep watching "Top Gun"...
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 26, 2024
"Naval Academy"
Leftists are intrinsically uninformed and stupid. One of the first impeachments was of Associate Justice Samuel Chase (1804-1805), who was accused of political crimes (like this troll accuses Alito). The partisan impeachment did not result in conviction. https://t.co/GktNJtoWuM
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 26, 2024
Quote of the Day
Man is so made that
Merry Christmas, Darling - The Carpenters
The latest CDC weklylatest CDC wekly stats:
Other related news of interest include but are not restricted to:
Blog readership seems to have stabilized at a more stable, realistic rate. Most posts, even the daily miscellanies, seem to be hitting double-digits. Not dozens of pageviews even for my essays but progress. My Twitter/X publication rate is still infrequent, particularly on weekdays given long commutes, but I have surged to 100+ impressions largely based on 2 popular tweets on the recent American Idol finale (no, the singer I supported did not win).
WWE had its King/Queen of the Ring PLE from Saudi Arabia earlier today. For the most part, the results were expected. The only title flip was Liv Morgan winning over Becky Lynch, who hasn't yet signed a new contract with her current deal expiring. They did make the King/Queen contests more interesting by giving them a Rumble-like championship shot at SummerSlam. I didn't like the Logan Paul challenge to Rhodes. Paul's brass knuckles gimmick is tired and annoying.
I had to go to a federal building in DC this past week where I had to go through TSA-like screening twice (the second time for a coffee with my escort). This includes the stupid requirement to take off my belt. Trust me, nobody wants to see a fat man's pants fall down (and yes they did). And then the security rent-a-cops were useless. I had luckily entered the escort's phone number (that may seem obvious but I was planning to meet with a co-worker who wasn't there). The escort's phone went unanswered. The security idiots literally didn't know the agency's phone number, office location, etc.They literally had no suggestion beyond call agaim. The POC didn't know me; luckily he finally called me back. Never mind the congested driving to the north beltway to the Metro station. It turns out you can't buy a refillable SmartTrip card at the statiom. I ended up unintentionally buying a $30 3-day pass which didn't even cover parking at the station.
The drive back from Metro was hellishly bad. I had some weird thing going on with Google Maps where it seemed to have a GPS malfunction, occasionally speaking irrelevant gibberish directions, and then there's the highly annoying "kerplunk" alert (usually it tells you things like it's found a new better route, there's a speedtrap ahead, etc.) So I got a series of kerplunks without messages. It was bumper-to-bumper some distance from the tunnels, then I found myself behind 2 disabled cars within a couple of miles apart, the first seeming stalled out, no lights, etc., and traffic in both adjacent lanes cutting me off. I really, really didn't want to do this meeting to begin with, but I wasn't given a choice by my boss
Quote of the Day
New ideas are as valuable as any others,The Carpenters, "We've Only Just Begun"
Quote of the Day
Look back over the past,
The Carpenters, "Close to You". A personal favorite: I once sang it to my then girlfriend.
Quote of the Day
Great hopes make great men. - Thomas FullerThe Carpenters, "Ticket To Ride". Huge Carpebters' fan. I didn't realize this Beatles' remake was their first Top 100 hit.
Quote of the Day
One of the lessons of history is that
Art Garfunkel /James Taylor/ Paul Simon , "What A Wonderful World". And this concludes this artist series.
Quote of the Day
Ideas are great arrows,
Simon & Garfunkel, "My Little Town" . My personal favorite. Their post-breakup original hit.
Quote of the Day
You don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note.
Simon & Garfunkel, "America"
Mylatest essay looks at the abortion-obsessed US Senate race to succeed MD Sen. Cardin.https://t.co/UKk8CNzlxL
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 13, 2024
Well, Trumpkins have been exaggerating the size of Trump's crowds at least since his 2017 inauguration.https://t.co/RH83nYReJa
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 13, 2024
"Rod Stewart"
I'm used to American Idol contestants singing songs I haven't heard since finding pop music a wasteland 15 years ago, but I thought I would recognize at least a song or two on Disney night. Not so far...
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 13, 2024
I'm pro-life and this is not only absurd but unconstitutional. Trump doesn't have a clue as to the nature and extent of the Prestdent's enumerated powers, https://t.co/6AePjTSyH5
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 13, 2024
I finally recognize a "Disney song" on American Idol: Abi doing a cover of the Fleetwood Mac classic, "The Chain"
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 13, 2024
I just recognized another "Disney song" on American Idol: Jack's cover of Bowie's "Space Oddity".
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 13, 2024
Yet another "Disney song": Will doing a cover of Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild" from when I was a kid.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 13, 2024
I've been in my fair share of men's locker rooms over the years, and I've never heard any real man say anything as juvenile as what Trump said in that clip
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 14, 2024
""Access Hollywood"
I believe any man should leave this world with dignity but how sad is it that most people will remember Jimmy Carter, not because of his political legacy but his activities outside of office.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 15, 2024
Just a reminder that for some Angry Orange RINO Criminal in denial,Trump did ask the Russians to find Hillary Clinton's emails and his eldest met with Russians during the campaign. Trump is responsible for setting conspiracies in motion https://t.co/GjtLMSRDpq
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 17, 2024
It reminds me of living through a hurricane as a UH doctoral student https://t.co/T8GwjdQAvB
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 17, 2024
No, all 3 have proved to be equally incompetent, unconstiutional and flawed Commanders in Chiefs, all of who have run up record massive defense spending amd none of whom has downsized our deployments overseas or worn a uniform a single day of their lives https://t.co/khhLy5URcK
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 18, 2024
It's a bad idea for the government to have a monopoly over moneyI certainly don't want government meddling in my financial affairs and violating my economic liberty.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 19, 2024
As usual, leftist career political whores are attacking SCOTUS majority justices who they don't control. Everyone knows this is about Mrs. Alito's feud with leftist neighbor troublemakers. Spouses don't lose free speech rights when they marry ambitious jurists
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 19, 2024
"Durbin"
Remember the kerfuffle in 2007 over Presidential candidate Obama not raising his hand to his heart during the national anthem? Hypocritical leftists hold spouses of jurists to a higher standard of the US Flag Act than future Presidents.https://t.co/w7TMhokxvq
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 19, 2024
"Durbin"
As if we needed any more proof of federal gpvernment dysfuntion, there's the MTG eyelash kerfuffle. Really, I don't care whether a legislator's boobs, hair or eyelashes are "fake"; it has nothing to do with making bad general government policy.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 19, 2024
Apparently Trump's issues with teleprompters aren't all that different from when Republicans were mocking Obama's embrace of the technology.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 19, 2024
Why should we be surprised that Trump had a senior moment without reading his script from the teleprompter? I'm sure he had a lot of those while starring on his fake Celebrity Apprentice show where he played a successful business executive.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 19, 2024
"Mitch McConnell"
Well, the surest path to conviction is to give the prosecutors a chance to cross-examine the Angry Orange RINO Criminal. However. it's also clear Trump signed onto the hush money and more importantly passed it off as a business expense. Questioning one phone call isn't a defense https://t.co/SFc3ojR4ol
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) May 19, 2024
Quote of the Day
We know what we are,
Simon & Garfunkel - El Condor Pasa (If I Could)
Tle latest weekly CDC stats:
A slight uptick in the recently introduced hospitalization ratio measure although other measures remain steady or in decline, i.e., deaths. However, even Fed Reserve chairman Jerome Powell has contracted COVID and is currently working remotely. CDC believes COVID is rising in DC and a dozen states. Will the newly dominant omicron FLiRT variant ignite a new summer surge? Experts are currently undecided. We know Singapore is facing a new surge and has resumed masking guidelines.
Related news items include but are not limited to:
It looks like the blog readership is settling towards a more familiar readership pattern for the first time in several weeks. Who knows? Maybe next week I'll be griping about that. The Twitter/X stas have marginally improved but remain at near record lows. It's sad when a tweet I write on the latest episode of American Idol or WWE swrestling draws more impressions than my well-written political tweets. But perhaps that's not surprising given the fact the LP probably will draw less than 3% this fall and I may well write in Jacob Hornberger if not nominated.
Some things have changed for the better at the USPS. In context, I have a grandniece graduating from high school. She posted an Amazon wishlist. I purchased multiple small items. But for some reason they wouldn't ship one item to her--but would ship it to me. (she, unlike me, is a talented musician and this was a related accessory). Now part of the thing I've dreaded is having to write those little cards at the post office. My handwriting has sucked since a medical issue a few years back, so I make use of mail labels. I don't know for sure but it looks like they have OCR software that could read my package labels. They also seemed to have bundled tracking and email receipts in an affordable bundle price. I'm not sure my grandniece in Texas will get the package in 3 days, but I'm pleased. I'm just puzzled why I had to resort to a workaround for Amazon.
Wow, I've spent a lot of time in these posts promoting Hallmark cable Christmas movies. I'm mildly surprised I haven't seen them yet promoting their usual Christmas in July break. I think last year HC had a Christmas movie every Friday in prime time and on HMM every Thursday. That seems to have changed. I don't thing HMM is doing it this year and I think HC is doing a Christmas double feature spanning Friday prime time. Hallmark also seems to have renamed Hallmark Drama "Hallmark Family". I saw a puzzling reference to Hallmark's trademark Countdown to Christmas being "history". I now think they meant the last season is over, not that they are canceling their most successful series. In fact they are already promoting new content this year, including a sequel to three brothers looking over a baby left at their front door..
Quote of the Day
Simon & Garfunkel, "Cecilia"
Quote of the Day
The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it.Simon & Garfunkel, "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
Quote of the Day
Simon & Garfunkel, "The Boxer"
Quote of the Day
He left us and we rejoiced;
Simon & Garfunkel, "Mrs. Robinson"