Scattershots – 30jul19 (updated 2aug19)

George Rebane

SB27 just signed by Sleazebag Newsom. Just when you think it can’t get worse, something occurs that shows there is still a long way for us to go down from the dire straits in which we already find ourselves.  Newsom and his single party super socialists just made a law in CA, specifically targeting President Trump to keep him from appearing in our state’s primary next spring.  From now on you can’t appear in a CA primary, specifically for POTUS and governor, unless you have filed your recent years tax returns with the CA SecState.  This is so blatantly unconstitutional as to invite an immediate suit against such obvious mischief, a most fiendish form of federalism practiced by America’s leading klatch of collectivists who want nothing to do with federalism.  And the CA GOP is filing exactly such a suit, but the real legal counter should come from the DoJ.  Candidates for federal office appearing on state ballots should have uniform requirements under the Constitution, and it’s the AG who should bring and argue the case in the SCOTUS.

Split Pill Problem.  Here’s a change of pace for some of you puzzlers and critical thinkers out there.  Suppose a patient is given a pill bottle with N pills in it.  He’s told to take ½ pill per day until the bottle is empty.  When he dispenses a whole pill into his palm, he is to split it, take a half, and put the other half back in the bottle.  When he shakes out a half pill, he takes it and recaps the pill bottle.  He knows that every whole and half pill in the bottle has an equal chance of being dispensed.  He continues in this manner until the bottle is empty after 2N days.  Then he wonders, what is the average (or expected) number of days that must pass before the bottle only contains split pills, and he doesn’t have to do any more pill splitting.  Can you help him figure it out?

[31jul19 update] Last night’s Democrat debate left me with the feeling that half the gaggle of assembled candidates was going through a kabuki performance, while the other half tried to bring the dialogue back to something that more closely matched things possible on this Earth and this universe.  They didn’t have a chance as the CNN lamestreamers kept tossing puffballs at the progressives.  Seeing people like Reps Delaney and Ryan gave me momentary hope which quickly faded as we saw the kabuki performances overwhelm their voices.  And the last vestige of hope was dashed later when, in a more sober moment, Jo Ann and I considered their chances of making it to the convention.  From reading first person histories of 1932 Germany – e.g. Der Führer (1944) by Konrad Heiden (more here) - there sure are a lot of comparisons that can be made with our electorate today, the overwhelming numbers of whom don’t know history, current events, geography, economic basics, and to boot are totally innumerate.  And then there are the Silicon Valley vote vultures well-practiced in turning out the correct constituent cohorts on election day (more here).

[1aug19 update]  The second half Democrat debate was populated by solid progressives, not many leavening opinions were heard.  But we did learn that progressives are strong believers in race-based criminality, and race-based punishments – colorblind application of ‘you do the crime, you do the time’ is racist and must no longer be applied.  And it also became clear that when our Left calls for ‘unity’ and ‘let us come together’, that means what the Left has always defined it to mean – party line opinions only, dissent not allowed.  Examples of that in practice are emerging from leftwing corporatist entities like Google which has been shunning then quietly firing conservative employees when they make their views known to fellow employees.  Cory Booker came out as the fastest and smoothest talking mouth on the stage; DeBlasio showed his true colors as radical wingnut; Biden and Harris faded; and all of them called each other liars.

Russ Steele has assembled some revealing temperature data for all you climate crusaders. (here and here)  As usual, the government’s (NOAA) hanky-panky on reporting global warming goes on unabated.  The full court press on the looming climate catastrophe – they can’t agree whether it’s in 10, 12, or 30 years, but it’s a’comin’ – has been heightened recently as the Dems are using it to rally their true believers.  The rest of us would still like to see a public debate on the matter that features their vaunted climate mavens defending their narrative viz data measurements, data manipulation, data availability, atmospheric physics (e.g. earth’s carbon cycle), the estimation problem, climate model designs, climate model programs, replicable computer runs, … .  So far, none of them want to show up to defend the Gospel according to Gore.

[2aug19 update] Wow, ‘lamestream media’ is now a national meme that President Trump broke out in a tweet (here) about the withdrawal of Rep John Ratcliffe as nominee for DNI, and then FN reported on his use of it this afternoon  Not sure if it’s true, but IMHO I came up with that pejorative for journalism on RR years ago.   My earliest use that I could find was in a 21jan11 post (here).  It didn’t take off too quickly, even with RR readers.  But then readers started using it (ToddJ introduced it on his blog in Nov 2011), and now and then I started seeing it used on other blogs – things can go viral at various speeds, it doesn’t have be overnight.  And lately it has cropped up pretty regularly in unexpected places on the web.  So out of curiosity I’m asking readers to see if they can find, either on RR or elsewhere, a confirmed use of ‘lamestream media’ that pre-dates 21 January 2011.

Comments

[Scott O]

You really didn't expect the Dems in Sacto to spend time addressing the problems facing the once great state, did you? Pissing on Trump's leg is way more fun.

[Russell Steele]

Wait, wait, wait, 3-2-1 Trump declares San Francisco and Los Angles "shit hole cities"

[Barry Pruett]

Natural born citizen and 35 years old and 14 year resident. States cannot create additional qualifications for president. Gavin is dumb.

[L]

George and responses so far are on the mark, but I'd rather see Trump raise a one-finger salute to Gavin and announce his unconcern inasmuch as it is impossible for him to get any support whatsoever from one-partyt CA, so fuck'em. CA republicans can voice their concurrence by refusing to vote for the office at all, or better yet, change parties and vote to screw the dems at every opportunity. Thank God for the wisdom of the founders in establishing the electoral college, otherwise this would already be a "shit hole" country.

[Scott O]

B Pruett 6:02 - Ca is not establishing a 'new' qualification to be POTUS. They are only saying you can not be on the ballot in Ca for the primary without this new rule. Not that I'm in favor of this law. As is typical of all laws that are aimed at one person it will prove to be overturned or eventually proven to be a mistake to the party that passed the law in the first place. Since Ca is a winner take all state, any vote for a Republican POTUS in the general is thrown in the trash. That's how much the Dems love 'democracy'. Every vote counts as long as you vote for us. Got it.
The law will be overturned. But I don't think it will be because of Barry's concern. We'll see.

[AVMan]

,,,PO ol tax evader trump,,, show your taxes you fraud!!!

Bwahahahahaha!!!

[fish]

Posted by: AVMan | 30 July 2019 at 08:10 PM

Looks like somebody was an extra good boy at the group home today and wrangled himself some extra computer time.....

[George Rebane]

re AVMan 810pm - This sackhead can never get enough exposure for his ignorance in these pages. He actually believes that the reason a person doesn't want to show his tax returns is because he evaded taxes. An extremely unfriendly and aggressive IRS has audited Trump continually for years. Liberals have no idea of how thoroughly that tax collector does its job; and if it errs, it invariably errs in its own favor. But "tax evader trump" is the delivered wisdom and obligatory narrative for all the socialist snuffies in the hinterlands, and this one is just doing his Pavlovian duty (no questions asked).

[Barry Pruett]

Scott O. On what legal basis will the law be overturned then?

[Rock Hunter]

Rebane 9:20
Please tell us why Trump refuses to release his taxes. I can think of one reason and one reason only. He has made billions and hasn't paid a dime in taxes. Bad optics. I'm sure you can spin it some other way. Or you can leave it to Todd to say something brilliant.

[Todd Juvinall]

Oh RodkHeadm,how short your vile little noggins memory. A copy of his return was leaked and showed he paid one year from one sector about $35 million in taxes. You ghetto libs are just jealous. BTW did you start that fire in the homeless camp?

[Scott O]

Barry 10:02 - Good question. I am allowing that you could be correct and that your argument might be the one that overturns this stupid law.
I haven't read the text of the law but it appears to only apply to the primary. If it was the general, then I think you would be correct. A qualification for the office of POTUS and a rule regarding a candidate's name appearing on a state ballot in the primary will be argued as two separate things. Whether that argument wins the day in court is anyone's guess. Some judgements I've read about lately make me wonder where they source their jurists.
A tax return is considered to be a protected private and privileged matter between the individual and the IRS. Since the IRS has found no fault or illegality with Trump's return, it will (I believe) be argued that there is no public need or good in forcing him to release his return to the press and his political enemies. There is good reason for a person in business not to have his or her tax returns available to their competitors in the financial world.

[Scott O]

Rocky at 12:05 - "I can think of one reason and one reason only."
Your limited reasoning ability does not define reality.

[Scott O]

Perhaps the AV dude or Rockhead can show us their evidence for tax evasion or tax fraud by Trump.
Or not.
Probably not.

[Barry Pruett]

Privacy is a solid argument as well. 👍

[Todd Juvinall]

Let's see their tax returns. Or their welfare check stubs.

[Barry Pruett]

If I had to pick to see somebody’s tax returns in this climate, I would pick Elijah Cummings. These politicians getting stupid rich while representing their constituents??? Something is not right

[Barry Pruett]

“No Barry, Gavin isn’t ‘dumb.’ He’s a smart politican, shining a light on a President who is afraid to show his tax return. And he’s going to get a lot of mileage out of it.”

First nobody has a right to see anyone’s tax returns. Second this silly statement above demonstrates clearly a complete lack of moral character by the writer and the politician (and other leftists in general). Right and wrong do not matter. The only thing that matters is power over others and any means justify the ends. No doubt that it is easy to imagine these leftists behind a gun pointed at our fellow freedom loving Americans because they won’t obey their dictates.

[Gregory]

So, the usual socks think eight years of Trump being audited by Obama's IRS (not to mention 12 years under various Bushs and the occasional Clinton audit) let him slide on tax dodging. Riiiight.

The simplest explanation is that Trump decided he could get elected without disclosing his 1040's and it would be more trouble than it was worth to expose so much of his life to the financial proctologist, professional and amateur, looking for something to get angry about.

I second Squire Pruett's nomination of Elijah Cummings as being a more interesting target, but the same laws protect his privacy.

[Rock Hunter]

"Candidates for federal office appearing on state ballots should have uniform requirements under the Constitution"
Absolute and total bullcrap.

Rebane, are you suggesting that all states are supposed to use the same ballot laws? Maybe you should bone up on Ballot Access Laws that are specifically defined by each state before preaching about how unconstitutional California is for deviating from the norm. Here, this might be helpful https://ballotpedia.org/Ballot_access_for_presidential_candidates

[George Rebane]

RockH 918am - With your reading skills, you're barely worth answering. I made no such blanket statement. But I am suggesting that ballot laws for federal offices should be uniform. See if you can parse my considered opinion from what is currently on the books.

But your 1205am is in your favor (finally!). Yes, every politician who refuses to release his tax returns does it for privacy and, more than likely, 'bad optics' reasons. I'm sure there are things in Trump's returns that, while perfectly legal, he would not like broadcast all over the world.

[Gregory]

Let's see... the usual suspects think it fine and dandy to require Presidential candidates to release multiple years of tax returns as a requirement to appear on the ballot.

What's their right to privacy compared to the public's right to know?

What about drug screen results? All medical exams? If cis-female... did she ever have an abortion?

"Volt for Eagleton!"
-campaign slogan in 1972

[Jiggling Jugs]

Rock Hunter.

What are you hiding? Have you sought mental health help? What is your obsession and sick attraction with fat people and Todd’s fat ass? There is help available. Get help.

Are you upset because Antifa lost its first comrade? A fallen soldier for the cause. An angry old white man tried to blow up an ICE facility in Tacoma, using a rifle and a 500 gallon propane tank to kill all the immigrants inside by burning them alive. He left a manifesto rambling repeatedly about ICE concentration camps. Concentration Camps rhetoric set him off. A nice memorial service has held for their fallen comrade.

[George Rebane]

Jiggling 1103am - Careful about 'sick attractions' and 'fat asses', and stay on the posted topics.

[Barry Pruett]

“Sue the pants off them President Trump! Only third world despots remove their political opponents from the ballot.” Gavin Newsome Third World Tyrant.

[Bill Tozer]

Re: update

Spending, spending, spending. They should have started off the debate last night with a show off hands of how many are there to pronounce “more free stuff”. Maybe they did.

Free Bacon put together a analyst of promises from the Socialist Democrats.

https://freebeacon.com/politics/analysis-dem-candidates-call-for-more-than-200-trillion-in-spending/

[Gregory]

There is no 'e' in Newsom.

[Gregory]

The County Fair is next week.

The high temperatures forecast for the five days range from 75 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit.

Remember, that's weather, not climate. To be indicative of climate it would have to be bloody high temps, the sky is burning sorts of numbers.

[Bill Tozer]

Re: Update, night two of second debate.

“and all of them called each other liars” —Dr. Rebane

Since I did not watch one millisecond of the debate last night, I cannot really comment. However, for those of us who missed it, we can catch the essence of the affaire by the tweets.

“Ten bucks says the de Blasio heckler was the governor of New York”

https://thefederalist.com/2019/08/01/top-tweets-night-two-second-round-democratic-debates/

[George Rebane]

BillT 308pm - I will not bet against that ;-)

[Bill Tozer]

The VP weights in on the debates. My, my,Mike, I did not know you had it in you. Learn something new every day. 19 seconds

https://news.grabien.com/story-vp-pence-dem-debate-they-were-standing-so-far-left-i-thought

[Walt]

Speaking of the debates, not one American flag to be found.

[Scott O]

Walt 4:37 - Does Dracula keep garlic or a cross around the premises?
The American flag would be 'triggering' to the folks they want to entertain.

[Walt]

Well,,,, you do have a point.
They couldn't even do the Pledge of allegiance properly.
A hand over your stomach?,, Really????

[Bill Tozer]

Local supervisor attended the debates!

https://www.facebook.com/PatriotPost/photos/a.82108390913/10156560911135914/?type=3&theater

[Bill Tozer]

Q: "You would agree that 2 + 2= 4?"‬
‪A. "Oh, stop with the republican talking points."‬
‪#DemDebate2‬—-Larry Elder

[Don Bessee]

NOW THATS FUNNY AND IRONIC! -

New Age guru, self-help author, and Democrat presidential candidate Marianne Williamson said on Real Time with Bill Maher in 2015 that the corporate news media would all be fired if the “truth was the minimum standard.”

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/08/02/flashback-marianne-williamson-entire-media-establishment-would-be-fired-if-truth-mattered/

;-)

[Steven Frisch]

"Lamestream" first appears in the WSJ in 2000. It appeared in Lexis-Nexis searches before that in 1999 at small newspapers and on blogs.

[George Rebane]

StevenF 835am - That sounds plausible; thanks Steve. I wonder in what context it was then used.

[Steven Frisch]

Posted by: George Rebane | 03 August 2019 at 09:40 AM

The earliest I see is a Waukegan Illinois paper using it in the same context you do, as a pejorative to describe the mainstream media, followed by a reference in a WSJ column in 2000 that I can't see due to the firewall.

[Bill Tozer]

Re: Russ Steele has assembled some revealing temperature data:

“The scientific consensus is that roughly 10-12 years from now, the world will be flooded with new doomsday predictions. This can all be avoided if we overhaul the economy and become socialists, according to non-political, unbiased sciencey type guys.”

https://babylonbee.com/news/experts-warn-we-have-only-12-years-left-until-they-change-the-dates-on-global-warming-again?

[George Rebane]

StevenF 1000am - Thanks again; now all can see how properly humble was my opinion as to the first use of 'lamestream media' ;-)

[Bill Tozer]

Compared With the Democrats, Donald Trump Is a Moderate

“Higher tariffs, which many of us believe are destructive and counterproductive, have been part of our economic debate forever. We shouldn’t forget, either, that while reflexive anti-Trumpism may have transformed a number of Democrats into temporary free marketers, most progressives share Trump’s protectionist instincts. Hillary Clinton, for instance, was compelled to change her long-standing position on both NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership during 2016 campaign to appeal to her left flank. Presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren’s new trade proposal not only makes Trump look like Milton Friedman, it allows environmental groups and unions to dictate terms.

Debt? Sadly, no one cares.”

https://patriotpost.us/opinion/64694-compared-with-the-democrats-donald-trump-is-a-moderate?