Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Mike 03

Mike 03's Journal
Mike 03's Journal
June 6, 2020

Your point about the Lincoln Project ads is spot on.

They are profoundly effective but if they are not getting beyond Twitter and like social media platforms and MSNBC they are all but useless exercises in self-indulgence.

We need that kind of ad content (Lincoln Project/the Bloomberg ads) but sprayed the way Bloomberg placed his ads, on often-accessed television channels, plunked down in the middle of major televised events and so forth. This is so basic it shouldn't have to be stated.

June 6, 2020

Trump Illegally Eliminates Protections for First and Only Monument in the Atlantic Ocean

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
June 05, 2020

Teeming with ancient coral, marine mammals, seabirds, and undiscovered species, the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument is no place for commercial fishing.

Just one day after issuing an executive order that allows polluters to skirt bedrock environmental laws, President Trump signed an order today—in the middle of a nation in crisis—this time stripping essential protections from the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. Located off the coast of southern New England, these nearly 5,000 square miles in the Atlantic are home to more than 1,000 remarkable species. Today’s decision is an illegal attempt to open the region up to industrial fishing and to pad Trump’s record as the most environmentally-destructive president in the nation’s history.

...skip...

The Trump administration claims the decision to roll back protections will boost jobs and grow the fishing economy in the wake of COVID-19. These claims are empty. As a Washington Post report revealed, the administration’s own staffers intentionally hid information in 2017 that undermined their case for opening the monument back up—specifically, the fact that fishing vessels near the monument generated a mere 5 percent of their annual catch from within the monument. And the government’s own data shows that revenues and catch in the relevant fisheries are up or the same since the monument’s designation.

But regardless of the impact on industry, the president simply does not have the authority to issue such a rollback. “A significant change to the monument or its protections, such as allowing commercial fishing, must be done by Congress, not by the president,” Sewell says. “The Antiquities Act gives the president power to protect special areas for future generations, not the opposite power to abolish those protections.”

The monument’s status has already been defended by the courts, including in 2019 by an attack from fishing industry groups. “We are prepared to sue the administration to protect these ocean treasures from harm and exploitation by commercial fishing and other extractive industries,” Sewell says.


Read more: https://www.nrdc.org/experts/nrdc/trump-illegally-eliminates-protections-first-and-only-monument-atlantic-ocean
June 4, 2020

I really hope this isn't a virus that can trigger ME/CFS

The exact cause of chronic fatigue syndrome is still unknown. But mounting evidence suggests that an underlying biological process, such as an immune dysfunction, triggered by an infection, plays an important role in the onset of disease.

Not surprisingly, CFS is often referred to as an immune dysfunction syndrome. It frequently appears in people who have been sick. An estimated 50% to 70% of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome report that their symptoms started after they had a viral-like illness 2 or infection. 3


https://www.moleculeralabs.com/chronic-fatigue-immune-dysfunction-syndrome/

That would be a hellish price to pay on top of getting a terrible virus.
June 4, 2020

Rudy vs Piers Morgan: Partial Transcript

This is a quickly put-together transcript of the exchange from this post which documents an interview between Rudy Giuliani and Piers Morgan that goes completely off the rails. I just felt like doing this for the pure joy of it.

Thanks to kingofalldems for the original post.

"Rudy Giuliani goes off"
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213541145

There’s crosstalk between Rudy and Piers, so some of the dialogue is missing.


Rudy: You’re a disgrace! This interview is over as far as I’m concerned.

Piers: You sound completely barking mad. You know that.

Rudy: No I don’t!

Piers: You’ve lost the plot.

Rudy: You are a big liar!

Piers: You’ve lost the plot. And it’s sad to see.

Rudy: You, you, you’re the one that got thrown off the television!

Piers: Yeah?

Rudy: Because you had ratings that were about a 2! So don’t tell me I’ve lost anything!

Piers: Keep going, Rudy.

Rudy: I know what happened to your show, Piers! And I remember the mistakes you made!

Piers: I remember…

Rudy: And I remember how you (“sucked” or “f#$ked”) up! So don’t give me that stuff, I know who you are!

Piers: Well, we’d like to apologize for the language.

Rudy: You can say anything you want about me, but you’re defaming my president, and you are helping to create violence in this country (by) the way you’re covering this.

Piers: When I used to interview you, you were an intelligent, reasonable man. And you’ve gone completely mad, and you sound deranged… It’s really sad to see what’s happened to you.

Rudy: It was really sad to see the way your career imploded in the United States, Piers!

Piers: Yeah?

Rudy: If you think I have any respect for you after this. Well, maybe you don’t care. But everyone in America knows you’re a failed journalist!

Piers: Really? Well you know what?

(Three people talking over each other, then they argue about the lack of gun control in the U.S.)

Rudy: But I tried to keep my mouth shut about you because I liked you.

Piers: Well you’ve come on here.

Rudy: You were thrown out of your job!

Pies: You’ve come on here, you’ve been rude and abusive, you sound unhinged, you’ve been using profanity.

Rudy: I haven’t been rude!

Piers: And you were somebody I used to admire, Rudy.

Rudy: I didn’t use profanity! Tell me what profanity I used?

Woman: Okay. Rudy Giuliani, thanks very much indeed.

Rudy: What profanity did I use, liar? What profanity did I use!

Woman: Well I don’t think we can repeat it, unfortunately.

Rudy: I didn’t use any profanity!

Woman: Well, what words did you use that we misheard in the studio?

Rudy: You tell me the profanity that I used! That’s exactly what you do to President Trump!

Woman: Rudy Giuliani, thank you very much indeed.

End Interview

Sorry for “Woman” but I don’t know who this third person is in the interview.

(Any mistakes are mine alone).

June 4, 2020

Lincoln Project, Team Bloomberg, Joe Biden's ad folks all need to

get video/images of all of this. These are images of weakness and cowardice unlike most of us have ever seen in our lifetimes. These images are the epitome of a failed presidency, an unelectable president.

June 4, 2020

It's revealing that, at this point in his presidency, Trump has to work

this ridiculously hard just to hold onto his base when it was believed that virtually nothing could hinder that support. As so many pundits have pointed out, at this point he needs to expand his base or he's toast; that expansion isn't going to materialize.

June 3, 2020

I admit, I'll be shocked if our medical system isn't totally overburdened in southern

and some other states by the end of June. But I can tell you here in AZ we are seeing our highest new case numbers since this thing began. In March and April we averaged 150 to 250 new cases a day and we are now up around a thousand new cases a day. 1127 yesterday and nine hundred something today, and higher death totals. It has moved gradually upwards through May. Now AZ is just one state, but I've noticed Florida totals are high and peripatetic.

This prediction isn't based solely on the protests but the Memorial Day opening debacle and some states moving to Stage 2 of the reopening despite climbing case numbers.

June 3, 2020

You might have to read several books.

Craig Unger's book House of Trump, House of Putin goes way back to trace Trump's relationship with Russian underworld figures and some of his financial crimes.

There are several books focusing specifically on his financial crimes. Check out David Kay Johnston's recent books, especially The Making of Donald Trump. There's also the new book about Deutsch Bank, Dark Towers

For the sexual crimes, try All the President's Women: Donald Trump and the Making of a Predator by Barry Levine and Monique El-Faizy.

For all the recent stuff, The Apprentice, Fire and Fury, The Mueller Report and A Very Stable Genius are all good books, as is Woodward's Fear.

I really wanted to read Susan Hennessey's book Unmaking the Presidency: Donald Trump's War on the World's Most Powerful Office which I think gets into his abuse of office to destroy our institutions but haven't had a chance.

I know of no single volume that can encompass it all. And I'm sure more are coming. An avalanche, even.

June 3, 2020

Hopefully. Watching that video closely, with Chauvin adjusting his weight

to increase the pain and pressure on George Floyd's neck whenever he cried out, it's ridiculous to argue he lacked the time or foresight to form intent (premeditation), especially with Officer Lane warning him twice to turn Floyd on his side and bystanders narrating the entire thing and saying, "He can't breathe" and "He's not moving."

June 3, 2020

Joe and Mika need to hit back

with Katie Johnson, the thirteen year old.

https://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/wait-katie-johnson-actually-exists/content?oid=29023196

“Katie Johnson” and “Jane Doe” are pseudonyms the woman used to sue Trump and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in California and New York federal courts three years ago, before Trump was elected president in 2016 and before authorities say Epstein hung himself in a jail cell in August while facing child sex trafficking charges.

According to the filings, “Johnson” was an aspiring model in 1994 when, after a string of unsuccessful meetings with agencies in New York City, she was at a Port Authority bus terminal getting ready to make her cross-country trip back home. Instead, a woman told Johnson how she could make money and modeling connections attending parties. It was at these parties—allegedly featuring other underage girls and wealthy guests—that Johnson says she was forced to sexually gratify the future president on four occasions, each one escalating in its described level of depravity.


Take the gloves off, guys.

Profile Information

Gender: Male
Hometown: Modesto California
Home country: United States
Current location: Arizona
Member since: Mon Oct 27, 2008, 06:14 PM
Number of posts: 16,616
Latest Discussions»Mike 03's Journal