Thursday Open Comments

I was going to publish something else this morning, but I came across this article in the Houston Chronicle.  Of course, it’s not original reporting by the Hearst Corporation, now the largest cut & paste website operator in the nation.

But the real reason I posted this is the complete lack of shame in the vacuum of journalistic ethics regarding this piece, by the writers and their editors.  Unsurprisingly, the NYT byline includes Maggie Haberman, a woman who seems to have been driven to the brink of psychotic breakdown by the mere existence of Donald Trump.

I have emboldened words and phrases that have no place in non-editorial reporting.

He raged at his staff for violating a rule that the White House entourage should begin each trip tuned to Fox — his preferred network over what he considers the “fake news” CNN — and caused “a bit of a stir” aboard Air Force One, according to an email obtained by The New York Times. The email, an internal exchange between officials in the White House Military Office and the White House Communications Agency last Thursday, also called for the ordering of two additional televisions to support Beam, a TiVo-like streaming device, to make sure the president and first lady could both watch TV in their separate hotel rooms when they travel.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the President leaked the email himself just to humiliate CNN.

The channel-flipping flap was the latest example of how Donald Trump, at a pivotal moment in his presidency, is increasingly living in a world of selected information and bending the truth to his own narrative. As his aides work to keep him insulated from the outside world, Trump is doubling down in his efforts to tell supporters to trust him over the words of critics and news reports.

and,

On Tuesday, the president effectively said black was white when he claimed without evidence that Russians would be helping Democrats — but not him — in the coming midterm elections.

and,

Over the weekend, Trump claimed with no evidence in a series of tweets that his administration’s release of top-secret documents related to the surveillance of a former campaign aide had confirmed that the Justice Department and the FBI “misled the courts” in the early stages of the Russia investigation.

Pathetic.


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63 responses to “Thursday Open Comments”

  1. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    We have a Thursday thread!
    Thanks, Texpat.
    Mornin’ Gang

  2. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    MAXINE WATERS: I’ve been sent by God to get Trump!
    Isn’t there a way to get this idiot committed…..Dang,….

  3. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    This is a great story.

    Twins Monica Sparks and Jessica Ann Tyson are identical in almost every way.

    The African American sisters running for local office in the US state of Michigan forged an unbreakable bond during a childhood tarred by abuse. They wear the same white dress and even finish each other’s sentences.

    But their choice of jewelry — a blue flower pin for Sparks, a red one for Tyson — gives away the one key thing separating the 46-year-old women: their political stripes.

    Sparks is a Democrat. Tyson is a Republican.

    They say they are proof positive that political differences can be overcome, even in an increasingly polarized America.

  4. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    If ever there was poignant evidence of the incompetence of Congress and the American press, this is it.

    Ed Morrissey:

    It took the House of Representatives sixteen months to pass HR 1689, the Private Property Rights Protection Act, which finally happened yesterday by acclamation. It took Congress thirteen years to act on this issue [note: for at least the fourth time — see correction below] after the execrable Kelo v City of New London Supreme Court decision, which held that eminent domain could be used to seize property from one private owner to another in the name of “economic development.” Rep. James Sensenbrenner, who authorized the PPRPA, celebrated the belated victory yesterday in a story that no major media outlet covered

  5. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    RE: The OC headline story today.

    Monica Showalter at American Thinker is as disgusted as I am at this nonsense in the NYT.

    We all know the trope about CNN playing in airports. Every airport, it seems, is tuned to CNN, the bottom-ranked cable major among the news outlets, with less than 1,000,000 prime-time viewers. Diversity of information isn’t the airports’ strong suit.

    So now President Trump doesn’t want CNN played on Air Force One, and suddenly he’s getting flak for it. The New York Times is particularly adamant about this, absurdly calling it new evidence that Trump lives in a bubble. Look at this pious rubbish…

  6. Bonecrusher Avatar
    Bonecrusher

    #2 SD: Somewhere in that lizard brain of hers, she believes that her corruption is necessary to help the people. She feels, not thinks, that she is doing what she does for the good of her people and no amount of facts and evidence will sway her. She is insane as are most leftists/progs/commies.

  7. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    It’s no wonder our children enter college with no intention of ever becoming an adult. They’ve grown up in a society that increasingly treats its citizens as helpless imbeciles.

    Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), passed in 1990, colleges are obligated to accommodate disabled students. What does this mean? First, to be classified as “disabled” requires only a letter from a doctor. The student then makes a request to the college for special accommodation. Thousands of these requests have resulted in colleges spending millions of dollars for special testing centers, extended exam periods, soundproof testing rooms, etc. The biggest rise in disability requests involves mental health issues. Many colleges are forced to provide “low-stress testing centers,” which allow students suffering from mental health problems to walk around during exams and even to bring “comfort animals” into exams.

    and,

    In their article, “The Disabling of America,” Mario Loyola and Richard Epstein report for The American Interest, “Overall employment of disabled persons (which the ADA was supposed to increase) actually dropped as a direct result of the law.” Similarly, a report published last month by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that the employment rates for disabled men in all categories and disabled women under the age of 40 had actually fallen sharply since the passage of the ADA. This legislation appears to have harmed the work prospects for the legitimately disabled, while simultaneously creating a gigantic new class of disabled applicants claiming government support or special treatment, many at our most prestigious universities.

  8. Bonecrusher Avatar
    Bonecrusher

    HEADLINE: DeVos’ $40 million yacht vandalized at Huron dock

    HURON, Ohio — A boat owned by the family of U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was vandalized over the weekend while moored at a Huron dock, according to the Huron Police Department.

    The Seaquest was moored at the Huron Boat Basin, 330 Main St., according to a police report. The captain of the 163-foot yacht, worth a reported $40 million, called police at about 6 a.m. Sunday, telling them that he and the crew realized at sunrise that someone had untied Seaquest from the dock, setting it adrift.

    The crew eventually got control of the yacht, but not before it struck the dock, causing an estimated $5,000 to $10,000 in damage from large scratches and scrapes, according to the police report.

    Officers were searching for surveillance video that may show who untied the yacht.

    Has anybody heard of this anywhere on the news?

    Imagine the wails of anguish and outrage if Horseface Kerry’s yacht had been similarly attacked. . . . . . .
    It would be wall to wall coverage on all the news, etc, etc. Has anybody heard of this anywhere

  9. Tedtam Avatar

    Sarge…another product for you to review. One comment was that it was useful for seeing scorpions in the dark.
    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007SIR08C?ie=UTF8&tag=elitedaily653-20&camp=1789&linkCode=xm2&creativeASIN=B007SIR08C

  10. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    10 Tedtam

    It says the flashlight detects bedbugs. I think Shannon needs to get one for Fay.

  11. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Happy Birthday, Texpat.

  12. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    #13 Really?! Happy Birthday Texpat!

  13. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    #3 Texpat, that is a neat story, another “Made My Day”, story.
    #10 Tedtam, I need one of those.

  14. Tedtam Avatar

    Happy birthday, Texpat!

  15. Tedtam Avatar

    I am operating on about 2 hours’ sleep, folks. Forgive me if I get a little loopy later on.

    Currently on my second cup of coffee, with my green/peppermint tea backup for after.

    Caffeine is my engine today.

  16. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    I was looking through some pictures on my phone and stumbled across my wife’s first Tahoe, a 95 2 door. I wish that we still had that thing.

  17. El Gordo Avatar

    #12 – I was looking on line to try to find where to order one of those snakes. I can think of a few people I would like to gift one of them to. In reading the article, they found the snake dead too, so did the bite that killed the woman also kill the snake? In other words, was the woman also venomous? Inquiring minds need to know these things. Cold front should keep the local temps back down under 110 today, but still in triple digits. Ranchers around here are out of grass and out of hay, so selling off the herd is the next step. Really need rain. OK, I’m still recovering from yesterday’s surgical procedure. They didn’t give me any pain medication, but I can still act crazy can’t I? Have a great day you all.

  18. phil Avatar
    phil

    They smile to your face…the backstabbers.

    and look, there’s John Abney Culberson’s name on that list.

    Surprise, surprise, surprise.

  19. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    #18
    Dave, are you still using your same phone from 1995?

  20. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    I finished up a project done as a volunteer to my HOA, now today I am starting a new one. Time to start cranking out the next newsletter.

  21. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    #21 Iron Mary, Yup, Dave’s phone.
    😀
    Actually, no, I got my first phone in August of 2009 and replaced it last fall with one almost just like it…..Not sure just how the picture wound up on my phone,…..Russians, maybe???

  22. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Super Dave says:
    JULY 26, 2018 AT 9:01 AM EDIT
    #13 Really?!

    Yes. Texpat, Mick Jagger, and other assorted peacocks.

  23. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    The opening guitar riffs on these two songs are eerily similar….

    Stones
    https://youtu.be/g8hwTG4wbo0

    Mitchell
    https://youtu.be/iWUgPIQNgGo

  24. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    26 Shannon

    Maybe the Stones figured nobody would notice they stole a riff from Joni 33 years later.

  25. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    In my #26, the bass in the Mitchell song always put a smile on my face. This guy was the bassist on the recording:

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaco_Pastorius

    corrected

  26. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    28
    You bass guys should read his whole bio. It’s just great.

  27. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    24 Shannon

    Hey, it’s Sandra Bullock’s birthday today too. I should give her a call.

    On a sad note, Sam Houston died on this day 155 years ago.

  28. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    My #22 from yesterday. I thought somebody might comment on the FakeNews absurdity of my fake headline.

    Texpat says:

    JULY 25, 2018 AT 11:07 AM EDIT

    Impending Bill in Canadian Parliament to Introduce Tariffs on Smuggled Illegal Guns from US

  29. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    I’m the only famous person born on my birthday. Well, me and Nikola Tesla.

  30. Tedtam Avatar

    #25

    First the silverware now the shower curtains.

    I saw her picture next to a table covered in a tablecloth of the same fabric.

  31. Tedtam Avatar

    #32

    I’m the only famous person born on my birthday.

    Since I’m partial to the Mother of Jesus, I’ve always found it satisfying that we share a birthdate. Well, according to the Church.

  32. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    20 phil

    This is from your linked article by David Horowitz at Conservative Review.

    Everyone needs to read this article.

    For years, conservatives have been begging House Republicans to use the power of the purse in the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bills to stand for our borders, fight sanctuary cities, defund amnesty, and block judicial tyranny on immigration. Yet no matter how brazenly Obama and the courts defied immigration law, congressional Republicans refused to ever consider defunding the lawless acts in the budget bills. Fast-forward to the Trump administration, where Attorney General Sessions has finally committed to upholding the proper letter and spirit of asylum law — and almost every Republican on a top committee voted to defund the only effective means of ending the ruination of America’s borders.

    Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee, during a markup of the fiscal year 2019 DHS funding bill, voted to block the new USCIS guidance to properly interpret “credible fear” as fear of an individualized persecution by a government. As we noted before, this is the lynchpin of the entire border surge, and unless we properly interpret the law as written, the border surge, drugs, gangs, and all of the fiscal and social ills that come with them will never stop. Yet Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-Kan., — yes, that Kevin Yoder — gave his support to this Democrat amendment, and it passed by voice vote.

    Yoder, as chairman of the Homeland Security subcommittee, should be a warrior for the American people and law enforcement. Instead, he is a voice for illegal immigrants. He inserted numerous amendments tying the hands of DHS and giving illegals more rights. He inserted language mandating more free phone calls for illegals and more access to facilities by members of Congress so they can further agitate and hamper our brave agents.

    and this,

    It gets worse. The committee also passed an amendment codifying Obama’s amnesty, preventing deportations of all individuals illegally granted amnesty by Obama. Rather than defunding DACA, it defunds enforcement! And of course, no defunding of sanctuary cities.

    And remember when we said this bill is the only opportunity to block the courts from mandating open borders? The committee explicitly invited the courts back in. It passed an amendment barring ICE from paying for abortions … unless the courts say they have to! Well, the courts are the entirety of the problem. So rather than strip the courts of jurisdiction, this amendment explicitly crowns the courts king to create a right for an illegal to come here and have an abortion because her home country doesn’t permit elective abortions.

    Rep. John Carter, R-Texas was the only Republican to object to these amendments out of 30 Republican members of the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

  33. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    Well, good.

    House Freedom Caucus co-founder Jim Jordan will formally announce his campaign for speaker of the House Thursday at noon, The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.

    TheDCNF confirmed the announcement with two sources with direct knowledge of Jordan’s plans.

    Jordan has received an onslaught of support from conservative groups and his colleagues in the House Freedom Caucus to run for speaker.

    Jordan’s team did not respond for immediate request for comment, but the congressman gave a formal statement after TheDCNF was the first to report his announcement.

  34. fat albert Avatar
    fat albert

    #7 Texpat:

    Some of the idiocy associated with the ADA stuff in Schools is staggering. As an example, one semester I had a Vietnamese student enrolled in a video editing class. No problem until he showed up with not one but TWO interpreters. It seems he was profoundly deaf – completely incapable of detecting any sound at all. He also did not know English. So he had one interpreter to translate from English to Vietnamese, and another to translate Vietnamese into whatever he was using for sign language. Lunacy. . . .

    It took me 3 hours to convince a panel of “Disabilities Counselors” that you cannot successfully edit video if you cannot hear the dialog. . . .

  35. Tedtam Avatar

    As far as all of the snowflake accommodations in colleges….
    ….if you don’t learn how to handle stress (e.g., testing scenarios) in college, how the heck are you going to handle stress in real life? Like when you have a hard deadline of tomorrow and the project isn’t finished? Do these idiots think you can take a cuddle kitty into your office to deal with the fact you didn’t get a promotion because you are unable to handle a difficult customer?

    Un-freaking-believable.

    Only 2 days into a new contract job I was asked for 40 personnel profiles by the VP. I found a bug in the program they’d been using for years and it took me until 10:00 pm to debug and fully test the change. I also set up an additional screen that allowed multiple IDs to be run; originally only one could be run at a time and the report could take 5-10 minutes to complete. (Incredible, I know, but there it is.) I didn’t have phone numbers to call to see if this job could wait or not, so I assumed it had to be done by next day and called Hubby to let him know he was on Daddy duty until I got home.

    My monitor would cut off if I didn’t keep the screen active. I had the security guys escort me to my car which was parked a few blocks away to the sidewalk in front of the building so I wouldn’t have to walk so far in the wee hours, as I anticipated would be my completion time. At 2:00 a.m. I was literally laying on the floor, half dozing, waking up enough every few minutes to tap a key on my keyboard so I didn’t lose my session.

    At six a.m., I looked out at the sunrise and cried a little. At seven, I moved my car back to the parking garage. At eight, my direct supervisor arrived and I asked her to help me review the reports, as security had not yet given me my password for the employee system. “You can do it,” she said, a little ticked. “Seriously, Karen, I’ve been here all night and I don’t trust myself to not miss anything,” I told her. She looked at me again, and noted that I *was* wearing the same clothes.

    She and I reviewed everything for accuracy, since I had changed the program. By ten I was able to deliver the reports to the VP. At noon, the department head had heard about my overnight work shift and sent me home.

    It was nine days’ wonder that I had worked 28 hours straight. To me, it was just what the job required; I didn’t think anything special of it. But I did go home and crawl into bed.

  36. squawkbox Avatar
    squawkbox

    Just a drive by for a small mia culpa.

    A long while back Hamous asked what my thoughts was on Trump tariffs. I stated I was against tariffs. After watching Trump tackle tariffs against us from other markets with reciprocal tariffs, Well I must withdraw my angst. Trump gets two thumbs up from me for his plans.

    TRUMP 2020.

  37. Bonecrusher Avatar
    Bonecrusher

    The contrast between the Jugeared Jackass and Trump is stunning. Where everything the former accomplished was destructive the later accomplishes 3 times as much and it is all very beneficial for We The People. One would struggle to find a more stark contrast between bad and good for the country.

  38. GJT Avatar
    GJT

    I just wish the farmers bailed out to keep them quiet would have been required to wear MAGA caps the rest of their days.

  39. El Gordo Avatar

    Takes a big man to admit his mistakes. But I’ll tell you, you will never make it as a politician – those guys never admit their mistakes.

  40. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    Well, I got highjacked and had to grab my camera and go off with 2 board members who had brought in 3 lending-library stands that were donated to the neighborhood by HISD. It will be a children’s lending library system. Bizarre that I am not on the board but they came to me to find out where to put them. And of course I knew — we’ve been talking about this since last October. Took my new camera and got pix I can use for Page 1. Serendipity.

  41. phil Avatar
    phil

    35

    Yep the backstabbing GOOPees make it possible for 32 million Central Americans to illegally enter the USA.

    They want to throw the election.

    I just called Culbersome’s office.–Thoroughly disgusted with him and them.

    Of course the person answering the phone is useless.

    I bet his neighborhood still looks like 1950s Leave it to Beaver much like Joe the Pizza Guy Biden.

  42. Katfish Avatar

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY Big Brudda TP!!!!!

    mannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnny HAPPY returns!!

  43. El Gordo Avatar

    You mean to tell me that a swamp dwelling political animal tells the voters one thing and goes to DC, contracts Potomac fever, and does something else? That could never happen in America, could it? A pox of all of them. Culberson, Brady, that little lying Rice grad shix representing CD 22. The only one you can honestly count on to do what she says she will do is SJL. She’ll never let you down, at least if that’s what you want in a politician.

    In spite of the absolute fools that the Dems have made of themselves with the upcoming mid-terms, the eReps seem determined to do everything possible within their power to see the Dems take the House.

  44. Tedtam Avatar

    I spent an hour or more today on trying to do an IRA rollover from one management company to another.

    Their online system has poor documentation. I had to use a chat system (because their verification on their phone system sucks, too) and the lady assisting me admitted it was not intuitive.

    “Not intuitive”? Try “Counter intuitive”. To do the rollover, I had to maneuver through 4 screens (which trying to figure out how to get to them requires a rope line and breadcrumbs, because I had to go backwards 3 times to move forward). When I got to THE SCREEN, it turns out I had to set up a new financial institution. Error messages occurred, which meant I had to start all over with a different browser. /facepalm

    Got into the system on the new browser, lightninged my way through the screens, only to find out….clicking on the “To do A” button wasn’t where I wanted to go to do task A. WTH? Make a selection based on what the very patient lady told me do…only to find out it wouldn’t work, either.

    Tried again, but ran into a situation where I was asked to both accept their privacy terms AND make one of two other choices, and it locked up the system. WHY ARE THERE TWO BUTTONS ON ONE SCREEN THAT WAS SET UP TO TAKE ONLY ONE OPTION!? (It was here that I asked the nice lady to go shoot whomever designed their system.) Tried to back door through another web page….only to hit a dead end.

    Holy Wiss, what do I do now? She told me how to force my way past the phone roadblock, and I finally talked to a REAL PERSON. They aren’t going to wire the money; they’ll be sending a check. Which means I have to make sure I don’t forget to check for my emails to make sure the check arrives.

    Ask me how confident I am on that one… /simmering

  45. El Gordo Avatar

    You think they want to part with “their” money which belongs to you easily? They’ll probably eventually make you sue them for it. And you know what? You’ll find out that it’s not actually your money at all – it belongs to them, since you loaned it to them – you didn’t just let them hold it for safekeeping. These things are a real mess.

  46. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    Thanks for the birthday wishes. I’m getting ready to go out for an enormous steak dinner. Prime bone-in New York strip at El Cid.

  47. Adee Avatar
    Adee

    Happy birthday Texpat. Enjoy that dinner out and stay there all night if you so wish.

  48. Hamous Avatar

    26, 28 Shannon

    I never cared too much for Joni Mitchell. If it weren’t for Jaco’s bass playing on Hejira I wouldn’t care for any of her music. He’s in my top five of bass players.

  49. GJT Avatar
    GJT

    That steak be lookin real good. Don’t know about rice with it. Happy Birthday Texpat, send Shannon the bone.

  50. phil Avatar
    phil

    Mick and Texpat born on the same day.

    Is it a conspiracy or is it….

  51. phil Avatar
    phil

    It’s amazing how the 30 H.A.P. GOOPees for unlawful carnal knowledged the country right before the go/went on August recess.

    Unlawful carnal knowledging is hard work for these masters of the bait and switch mayo staining salami sliders.

  52. GJT Avatar
    GJT

    The hybrid collage of MST3K meets The Three Stooges vs Godzilla has kilt the blog.

  53. Adee Avatar
    Adee

    Perhaps some of the really annoyed real conservative Republicans ought to consider being write-in candidates, presuming the time has not expired to get on the ballot.

    Then campaign as the alternative selection rather than allow the RINO that won the primary to sail in. If enough real conservatives did this, the RINOs might be seriously worried they don’t have a lock on things. And if one or two conservatives who go the write-in route actually win, it would sure send shockwaves through the establishment.

  54. Tedtam Avatar

    Seen over yonder:

    Twitter is Trump’s laser pointer and the Democrats are all cats.

    LOL!

  55. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Russian technology threatens America.

    https://youtu.be/xG2mbL4QyZQ

  56. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    #47 TT
    I had my IRA rolled over to a financial management company that I had selected to handle all our accounts. This was done with me sitting in the mgmt.co’s office and my manager making all the phone calls. Everything I had done previously, I had done on my own: Creating IRA at Vanguard; creating SEP IRA at Fidelity, etc. So it was nice to sit back and have that rollover done for me. My sympathies, dear lady.

  57. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    OMG, I think I’ve been so busy today that I never formally wished Senor Texpat a very happy birthday, and many more to come.

  58. GJT Avatar
    GJT

    Happened to catch Hannity interviewing Roseanne. Interesting, but she is a nutjob.

  59. Bonecrusher Avatar
    Bonecrusher

    Shabbat Shalom Texpat and happy barf day to boot.

  60. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    You know it’s hot in Texas when…

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