Hua Guofang

https://twitter.com/ianbremmer/status/1274500099054370816

Oh dear, tumbleweeds outnumber supporters at Trump's big rally in Tulsa. That's gotta hurt. Scary thing is that a desperate Trump will be far more dangerous than a confident Trump. Gonna get worse before it gets better.

I can't even tolerate hairy arms, even if the face and bod are 10s.

The guy Barr is trying to 'resign' is another Trump appointee. All the best people, they just don't like it when they do their jobs properly.

And there it is; implied confirmation that the SDNY case is a threat to Trump. Clearly, there is something there to find and Barr is doing everything he can to stop them from finding it.

Where was that? Can't think of a rail bridge where there would be a concert happening. Actually, thinking of the Domain and the East Line.

Yeah, that's obviously some one who's strung out for more reasons than what we can see here. This thread also proves that there are good cops, those that speak out against corruption, illegal orders and police brutality. I hear that the cop in Atlanta will testify against his partner for what happened at that Wendy's or wherever it was.

https://www.axios.com/trump-nsc-russia-director-70b0ae9a-089d-417b-bc08-408f556a6871.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic&utm_content=1100

I think a lot of this is right; his base is unlikely to shift and everything they are seeing only drives them harder. But I think it also ignores what's happening on the Dems side. Their platform is 'get rid of Trump', and that's enough mobilise the base and then some - 500k more Dems registered for their super-Tuesdays but Reps membership has flatlined. Plus, Trump has lost the middle class white woman vote (so folks are saying), and that was no insignificant the last time around. The worst thing the Dems have to face is that Biden is their guy. Trump's whole presidency is a fucking gaff, but he can get away with it because his following is religious and they'll always make excuses for his behaviour. Unlikely Biden's supporters will stick by him if he drops any serious clangers, though. One thing that everyone has to remember is how useless polling has become over the last decade and that 150 days is a fucking long time in politics. BTW, you do realise that you and the Qanon crowd are the only people left who don't believe the 'Russia farce', right? Even the Republican Party admit that it happened. Why do you hold onto that so hard?

Saw that today, it is unequivocally a Nazi symbol. What else can you make of that?

The same people who are the same people are the same people as the same people.

Make Channel Zero Great Again.

Excepts from Bolton's WSJ article today, underlinging by me (sorry, can't post that link either). Pay attention to the bit where THE PRESIDENT'S OWN NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR ARGUES THAT THERE ARE GROUNDS FOR REMOVING TRUMP FROM OFFICE: Trade matters were handled from day one in a completely chaotic way. Trump's favorite way to proceed was to get small armies of people together, either in the Oval Office or the Roosevelt Room, to argue out these complex, controversial issues. Over and over again, the same issues. Without resolution, or even worse, one outcome one day and a contrary outcome a few days later. The whole thing made my head hurt. In Buenos Aires on Dec. 1, at dinner, Xi began by telling Trump how wonderful he was, laying it on thick. Xi read steadily through note cards, doubtless all of it hashed out arduously in advance. Trump ad-libbed, with no one on the U.S. side knowing what he would say from one minute to the next. One highlight came when Xi said he wanted to work with Trump for six more years, and Trump replied that people were saying that the two-term constitutional limit on presidents should be repealed for him. Xi said the U.S. had too many elections, because he didn't want to switch away from Trump, who nodded approvingly. Trump came close, unilaterally offering that U.S. tariffs would remain at 10% rather than rise to 25%, as he had previously threatened. In exchange, Trump asked merely for some increases in Chinese farm-product purchases, to help with the crucial farm-state vote. If that could be agreed, all the U.S. tariffs would be reduced. It was breathtaking. Trump then, stunningly, turned the conversation to the coming U.S. presidential election, alluding to China's economic capability and pleading with Xi to ensure he'd win. He stressed the importance of farmers and increased Chinese purchases of soybeans and wheat in the electoral outcome. I would print Trump's exact words, but the government's prepublication review process has decided otherwise. Trump's conversations with Xi reflected not only the incoherence in his trade policy but also the confluence in Trump's mind of his own political interests and U.S. national interests. Trump commingled the personal and the national not just on trade questions but across the whole field of national security. I am hard-pressed to identify any significant Trump decision during my White House tenure that wasn't driven by re-election calculations. These and innumerable other similar conversations with Trump formed a pattern of fundamentally unacceptable behavior that eroded the very legitimacy of the presidency. Had Democratic impeachment advocates not been so obsessed with their Ukraine blitzkrieg in 2019, had they taken the time to inquire more systematically about Trump's behavior across his entire foreign policy, the impeachment outcome might well have been different. There was plenty to criticize in Trump's response, starting with the administration's early, relentless assertion that the disease was "contained" and would have little or no economic effect. Trump's reflex to try to talk his way out of anything, even a public-health crisis, only undercut his and the nation's credibility, with his statements looking more like political damage control than responsible public-health advice. The article goes on with a lot of bad shit. Bolton is clearly trying to stop Trump from being re-elected. Bolton should have testified in the impeachment trials. He shouldn't have waited to publish a book or media pieces instead. .

Oh yeah, I'm only listing the people that he personally chose to work for him. The list of qualified people, including even the worst president before Trump came along, speaking out against him is just astounding. Most damning for me are the national security professionals. The point being that Trump cares more about winning a second term than he does about the nation's security. Without security, you have nothing.

Love that Aero.

From WSJ, page is behind a workplace paywall so I can't share the link: Six months into the coronavirus crisis, there's a growing consensus about a central question: How do people become infected? It's not common to contract Covid-19 from a contaminated surface, scientists say. And fleeting encounters with people outdoors are unlikely to spread the coronavirus. Instead, the major culprit is close-up, person-to-person interactions for extended periods. Crowded events, poorly ventilated areas and places where people are talking loudly -- or singing, in one famous case -- maximize the risk. These emerging findings are helping businesses and governments devise reopening strategies to protect public health while getting economies going again. That includes tactics like installing plexiglass barriers, requiring people to wear masks in stores and other venues, using good ventilation systems and keeping windows open when possible. Two recent large studies showed that wide-scale lockdowns -- stay-at-home orders, bans on large gatherings and business closures -- prevented millions of infections and deaths around the world. Now, with more knowledge in hand, cities and states can deploy targeted interventions to keep the virus from taking off again, scientists and public-health experts said.

No president in history has had so many of his own appointed staff speak out against him: - Secretary of Defence - Secretary of State - National Security Advisor - Chief of Staff - Press Secretary The list actually goes on, but just think about those people alone.

You're focusing on the wrong thing, though. It's not the fatality rate that is the scary thing. It's the ability to make a lot of people sick at the same time. That would see the fatality rate climb much higher whilst people with unrelated problems also die because there is no space left in the hospitals. The US has largely avoided that outcome so far. Secondly, 'glorified cold is BS'. I know it's just hyperbole but colds kill something like 0,05% of affected people. This desease kills a fuck load more than that, and if everyone gets sick at the same time, it will be a fuck load higher. Added to that, when you're contagious with a cold, you are already feeling the symptoms and you can stay home. This virus makes you contagious before you know you have it so you spread before you know you should stay home. Either way, washing/sanitising hands, not touching your face and avoiding big crowds is the right response, so not sure where the issues is anyway, to be honest.

My info, which is pretty reliable, is to expect at least 12 months of border closures for Aust. If they open up, there will still be 14 days quarantine for incoming folk, which effectively keeps the tourists and business travelers out anyway. The initiative by the ANU and UC to start flying in students is interesting and might get legs. Iran seeing a spike, India ramping up, South America starting to see increasing numbers, Brazil is obviously fucked. It's interesting to see that countries with populist and authoritarian leaders have been hard hit: UK, US, Iran, China, Brazil, India. The caveat there is that there are also non authoritarian countries being badly impacted as well: Sweden, Belgium, Spain, etc. There are also some authoritarian countries which have handled it well: Singapore, Thailand and I guess some would argue that China should be in this list too.

Yeah, I probably should have made that connection....

IF the bear and silverback are matched for size I reckon the ape would die from his wounds but still come out on top in the end.

Sorry to be the rain on that parade but your numbers are about to spike again, by the look of it and that means come Autumn, things are likely to be grim. Those early counts of hundreds of thousands dead in 12 months are going to come true, if we don't discover some wonder-drug.

Whilst I don't like reposting GT for any reason, fuuuuuuuuu.......