The US Hamster Wheel

[FD2]

I hope no one drowned or was injured, but no doubt the Admiral General Augustus Donald Bonespurs could take charge of the rescue mission. He's the best qualified person in the whole world to take charge, with his considerable military know how and the amazing respect in which he is held by the US armed forces.

A portentious omen perhaps, but I suspect that the shrill and violent supporters of the rival will cause exactly the result they don't want, when Americans who are fed up with the present chaos decide to support a crackdown instead and the Chump stays for another 4 years.

[Boac]

It was obviously a Democrat inspired attack. Can you vote under water?

[barkingmad]

Hello sailors!

This is the ascribed cause of the choppy waters into which the Chump armada sailed and some foundered;

“Authorities say the choppy water was likely caused by the large number of vessels moving closely together on Lake Travis, near the state capital, Austin.”

Looks like the next regatta in the Solent with hundreds of boats manoeuvring in close proximity will be a tough day for the RNLI?

I don’t suppose the “weather” had any effect on this unfortunate event, but as the Chump knows more about (insert your own choice of meteorology and/or oceanography topic) doubtless we’ll soon have his analysis of the cause.

He will doubtless put it down to the overwhelming presence and enthusiasm of the MAGA matelots.

[PHXPhlyer]

Update on Presidential Sunken Boats Parade:

https://www.12news.com/article/news/pol ... 5a82b4e62f

5 boats sank during 'Trump Boat Parade' on Lake Travis, TCSO says
Three of those boats were towed out and two remain submerged, officials said.

Author: Britny Eubank, Jeff Bell

TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas — The Travis County Sheriff's Office (TCSO) responded to "many boats in distress" during the "Trump Boat Parade" on Lake Travis, a spokesperson with the TCSO confirmed to KVUE. A total of five boats sank during the event.

Reports of sinking boats on Lake Travis began coming in on the Citizen app at around 1:20 p.m. Saturday. TCSO confirmed boats in distress throughout the parade route, including at Paradise Cove, West Beach, Point Venture and Hurst Creek.

TCSO confirmed to KVUE on Sunday that the first call came in at 12:15 p.m., and the last call associated with the parade came in at 1:53 p.m. The various calls included boats taking on water, stalled engines, capsized boats and boats sinking. Five boats sank during the event. Three of those boats were towed out and two remain submerged, officials said.

Trump supporters run boat parade like Trump runs the country.

"Weather conditions on Lake Travis were calm. When a large number of boats began moving together, the wakes generated large waves in areas where participating boats were dense," the sheriff's office said. "TCSO has found no evidence of foul play associated with any of the incidents."

Austin-Travis County EMS confirmed that TCSO had responded to multiple boats, but there have been no reports of injuries. Some of the boats went down near Emerald Point Marina.

Texas Parks and Wildlife also assisted by providing one boat.



Supporters of President Trump had gathered on the lake for a parade Saturday morning and afternoon. According to a Facebook page for the event, more than 2,000 people were planning to attend, with another more than 5,000 “interested.”

The event organizer encouraged "boats of all shapes and sizes" to participate in the parade, which would feature skydivers parachuting from a helicopter "with smoke and flags flying."

After the skydivers, boats were set to line up and head west, turning around at Point Venture and ending back at Emerald Point, according to the event plan.



Similar parades have taken place in other locations around the country, such as Florida and California.

RELATED: Trump boat parade attempts to break world record in Florida

Organizer Pacey Chynow told KVUE’s news partner The Austin American-Statesman law enforcement in the area had been notified of the event, which she expected to be peaceful.

She told the Statesman the intent is not to raise money for President Trump’s reelection campaign but to rally support for the president.

Maybe they could use submarines next time.

PP

[FD2]

Thanks pp - glub, glub, glub



And now 'Sully' Sullenberger, a real man and a real hero has his say:

Sullenberger stressed that Trump is not fit to hold office and urged his more than 120,000 followers to vote against him in the upcoming election.

'While I am not surprised, I am disgusted by the current occupant of the Oval Office. He has repeatedly and consistently shown himself to be completely unfit for and to have no respect for the office he holds,' Sullenberger said in his scathing Twitter thread.

'He cannot understand selflessness because he is selfish. He cannot conceive of courage because he is a coward. He cannot feel duty because he is disloyal.

'We owe it not only to those who have served and sacrificed for our nation, but to ourselves and to succeeding generations to vote him out,' he added with a link to The Atlantic story.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... osers.html

[llondel]

Hello sailors!

This is the ascribed cause of the choppy waters into which the Chump armada sailed and some foundered;

“Authorities say the choppy water was likely caused by the large number of vessels moving closely together on Lake Travis, near the state capital, Austin.”

Looks like the next regatta in the Solent with hundreds of boats manoeuvring in close proximity will be a tough day for the RNLI?

I don’t suppose the “weather” had any effect on this unfortunate event, but as the Chump knows more about (insert your own choice of meteorology and/or oceanography topic) doubtless we’ll soon have his analysis of the cause.

He will doubtless put it down to the overwhelming presence and enthusiasm of the MAGA matelots.

My assumption is that the whole lot were probably travelling way too fast for the conditions. It's also a bit of an allegory for the whole system - the big players generate all the waves and swamp the smaller competition, forcing it to sink.

[FD2]

I used to think the US had a reasonably balanced press. I certainly remember when the Democrats were in power that there were lots of complaints about right wing bias in press coverage, so perhaps that's the way it always is with those in power bitching about the press.

Americans should of course support their system of government just as strongly as other democracies do. The UK is hardly in a position to throw stones after the parliamentary debacle(s) when the poison dwarf speaker was supporting those who were subverting the democratic vote. These things have a habit of working themselves out in democracies, sooner or later. Now Johnson is expected to finally get the UK out of the EU - I hope he does so or he will be finished in politics.

What I cannot understand is why people feel obliged to support Trump, a man who is obviously so unfit to be the leader of the free world. There are complaints about the press being biased in their coverage but why should that be? Why do those who have in the past supported the various incumbents turn against Trump finally? It seems to be a matter of personal integrity, which even they have realised is lacking in the man.

As an outsider I would not care if either side came up with a candidate who had some moral standing and integrity. I really hope the US doesn't descend into civil strife after the election, whichever way it goes. There are plenty of bad guys on both sides just itching to take advantage of it either way.

The bullying oaf in action pre-presidency:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You%27ve_Been_Trumped

Methods to be admired only if you think the same way and shame on those who allowed themselves to be bullied by him.

[Undried Plum]

And now 'Sully' Sullenberger, a real man and a real hero has his say:

Sullenberger stressed that Trump is not fit to hold office and urged his more than 120,000 followers to vote against him in the upcoming election.

'While I am not surprised, I am disgusted by the current occupant of the Oval Office. He has repeatedly and consistently shown himself to be completely unfit for and to have no respect for the office he holds,' Sullenberger said in his scathing Twitter thread.

'He cannot understand selflessness because he is selfish. He cannot conceive of courage because he is a coward. He cannot feel duty because he is disloyal.

'We owe it not only to those who have served and sacrificed for our nation, but to ourselves and to succeeding generations to vote him out,'

[ricardian]

The real reason...

[FD2]

great!

Excuse the mention off the BLM Bollocks thread, but it looks like only some serious fighting is going to sort the present levels of street protest violence out one way or the other and it's only likely to go one way.

[barkingmad]

During the first few minutes of this vid, I really believed it was either a spoof, or I had accidentally stumbled into a parallel universe.

Then Candace Owens appeared and started to talk in a rather more rational language and I stayed with it until the end.

Mind you, it does contain strong language blah blah and though I though it was a sample of ‘Murricane’ culture, I did not twig at first that it was Petrie dish culture initially being ‘praised’ by that ‘pop singer! !



Please do NOT run this video in the presence of the children and/or the dogs.

[PHXPhlyer]

Justice Department wants to defend Trump in E. Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/08/politics ... index.html

Justice Department wants to defend Trump in E. Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit

By Dan Berman, CNN
Updated 7:58 PM ET, Tue September 8, 2020

(CNN)The US Justice Department, in an extraordinary move on Tuesday, asked to take over the defense of President Donald Trump in a defamation lawsuit filed against him by E. Jean Carroll, a woman who has accused Trump of sexual assault.

While the alleged sexual assault occurred long before Trump became President, the Justice Department argued that it must take over because Trump's comments spurring the defamation lawsuit came while he was in office.
Carroll, an advice columnist who for years wrote for Elle Magazine, alleged in a lawsuit filed last fall that Trump sexually assaulted her in a dressing room at luxury Manhattan department store Bergdorf Goodman in the 1990s. Trump has denied the allegation, calling it "totally false" and saying he "never met this person in my life."
The request and possible change of lawyers could further delay the lawsuit, or even kill it entirely. Should the Justice Department be allowed to take over, it could mean the end of Carroll's lawsuit as the federal government can't be sued for defamation, noted CNN legal analyst and University of Texas law school professor Steve Vladeck.
Trump's denials came while he was acting in his official duties as President, the Justice Department said in court papers Tuesday.
"President Trump was acting within the scope of his office as President of the United States at the time of the incidents out of which the Plaintiff's defamation claim arose. Indeed, when providing the challenged statements, the President was speaking to or responding to inquiries from the press, much as the elected officials in the cases cited above were speaking to the press or making other public statements at the time of their challenged actions," the Justice Department's court filing stated.
Judge rules E. Jean Carroll can continue to seek Trump's DNA in defamation suit
"The Westfall Act accordingly requires the substitution of the United States as defendant in this action," the department added.
"Even in today's world, that argument is shocking," said Roberta Kaplan, Carroll's attorney, of the Justice Department's logic.
A New York judge last month ruled that the lawsuit could proceed against Trump.
Carroll is also seeking to require Trump provide a DNA sample to compare with male genetic material found on the black Donna Karan dress Carroll says she wore during the alleged encounter at Bergdorf's.
"President Trump knows that I told the truth when I said that he had sexually assaulted me in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman. He also knows that he was lying when he said that he had never met me before and that I 'wasn't his type,'" Carroll said in a statement.
"Today's actions demonstrate that Trump will do everything possible, including using the full powers of the federal government, to block discovery from going forward in my case before the upcoming election to try to prevent a jury from ever deciding which one of us is lying," she said.

PP

[Seenenough]

You seem to keep on quoting CNN articles-Many more of these stories and allegations will come out in the election run up ,as they did before and as they did with with Kavanaugh also.

Whether they true or not is another matter.

[PHXPhlyer]

Sorry that I didn't use an "approved" source.

ADVICE COLUMNIST E. JEAN CARROLL SUES TRUMP FOR DEFAMATION OVER DENIAL

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/justic ... allegation

Justice Department seeks to defend Trump in E. Jean Carroll lawsuit relating to rape allegation
The filing aims to substitute the US for Trump, meaning the government may have to pay damages if any are awarded
By Alex Pappas, Marta Dhanis | Fox News

The Justice Department on Tuesday sought to intervene and defend President Trump in a defamation lawsuit brought by a columnist who accused him of raping her in the 1990s.

Trump has denied the allegation from E. Jean Carroll, who is suing him personally for defamation. The DOJ argued in new court filings that Trump was operating in his role as president when he denied Carroll’s allegations.

“Because President Trump was acting within the scope of his office or employment at the time of the incident out of which the plaintiff’s claim arose, the United States will file a motion to substitute itself for President Trump in this action for any claim for which the [ Federal Tort Claims Act] provides the exclusive remedy,” the DOJ filing on Tuesday said.

ADVICE COLUMNIST E. JEAN CARROLL SUES TRUMP FOR DEFAMATION OVER DENIAL

The court papers aim to shift the New York case into federal court and to substitute the U.S. for Trump as the defendant. That means the federal government, rather than Trump himself, might have to pay damages if any are awarded.

It will be up to a federal judge to decide whether to keep the case in federal court and to allow the U.S. to become the defendant. A telephone conference for the case has been scheduled for Sept. 30.

Justice Department lawyers argue that Trump was "acting within the scope of his office" when he denied Carroll's allegations, made last year, that he raped her in a New York luxury department store in the mid-1990s. She said his comments — including that she was "totally lying" to sell a memoir — besmirched her character and harmed her career.

An attorney for Carroll, Roberta Kaplan, slammed the move on Tuesday: “Trump’s effort to wield the power of the U.S. government to evade responsibility for his private misconduct is without precedent, and shows even more starkly how far he is willing to go to prevent the truth from coming out.”

Carroll also released a statement saying, “Today’s actions demonstrate that Trump will do everything possible, including using the full powers of the federal government, to block discovery from going forward in my case before the upcoming election to try to prevent a jury from ever deciding which one of us is lying.”

The filing complicates, at least for the moment, Carroll's efforts to get a DNA sample from the president as potential evidence and to have him answer questions under oath.

"Numerous courts have recognized that elected officials act within the scope of their office or employment when speaking with the press, including with respect to personal matters," the DOJ attorneys wrote.

Her suit seeks damages and a retraction of Trump's statements.

PP

[PHXPhlyer]

Apologies in advance for the source.

Judge rules E. Jean Carroll can continue to seek Trump's DNA in defamation suit

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/07/politics ... index.html

Judge rules E. Jean Carroll can continue to seek Trump's DNA in defamation suit

New York (CNN)A New York state Supreme Court judge on Thursday denied President Donald Trump's effort to delay the proceedings in a defamation lawsuit filed against him by longtime magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll, a move that allows her to pursue his DNA sample in an effort to prove claims he sexually assaulted her in the 1990s.

In her ruling, Justice Verna Saunders wrote that a recent Supreme Court decision regarding Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance's subpoena for Trump's financial records demonstrates that a state court can exercise jurisdiction over a sitting President, meaning Carroll's case against Trump should be allowed to proceed.
"This court construes the holding in Vance applicable to all state court proceedings in which a sitting President is involved, including those involving his or her unofficial/personal conduct," the judge wrote.
Lawyers for Trump didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on Saunders's ruling.
Carroll, an advice columnist who for years wrote for Elle Magazine, alleged in a lawsuit filed last fall that Trump sexually assaulted her in a dressing room at luxury Manhattan department store Bergdorf Goodman in the 1990s. Trump has denied the allegation, calling it "totally false" and saying he "never met this person in my life."
In January, attorneys for Carroll served an attorney for Trump with papers requesting a sample of his DNA to compare with male genetic material found on the black Donna Karan dress Carroll says she wore during the alleged encounter at Bergdorf's.
That request was put on hold in the wake of an order from the judge that halted discovery requests until Trump's motion to stay the case has been decided.
Trump's lawyers had argued to the court that the Carroll case should be delayed until a state appeals court rules in another, similar case brought by former "Apprentice" contestant Summer Zervos on the question of whether the state courts have jurisdiction over him while he occupies the White House.
But lawyers for Carroll said Trump shouldn't be allowed to delay the case in light of the fact that he has both continued to handle other cases as a defendant while serving as President and has also continued to file lawsuits. They submitted further arguments in the wake of the Vance ruling, arguing that it should permit their case to move forward.
The judge agreed, paving the way for Carroll's efforts to seek Trump's DNA.
"We are very gratified that Judge Saunders, recognizing the clear holding of the Supreme Court in Vance, has rejected President Trump's assertion of absolute immunity and has denied his motion to stay E. Jean Carroll's case," Roberta Kaplan, a lawyer for Carroll said in a statement. "We are now eager to move forward with discovery so that we can prove that Donald Trump defamed E Jean Carroll when he lied about her in connection with her brave decision to tell the truth about the fact that Donald Trump had sexually assaulted her."

PP

[Seenenough]

How predictable.

ADAM SCHIFFPublished 5 hours agoLast Update 1 hour ago
Schiff reveals new whistleblower complaint alleging suppression of Russian election interference intel reports
'We’ve received a whistleblower complaint alleging DHS suppressed intel reports on Russian election interference'

“Yet another whistleblower complaint pushed into the limelight by Schiff, this one coming shortly before a presidential election - anyone who takes this at face value is ignoring Schiff’s long record of perpetuating hoaxes that are extremely similar to this,”

[Boac]

Another stunning example of how unfit this Republican lot and the Chump are to run the USA.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/1 ... ets-414883

Commander-in-chief eh?

[PHXPhlyer]

D'OH


PP

[boing]

The biggest change is that Florida has tightened in the month and a half since our last analysis and is back in the toss-up category. This means that including states leaning toward Biden, he is just below the 270-vote threshold needed to win the presidency. Currently he has a 268-to-169 advantage in the Electoral College.

Funny how the Dems, hated the Electoral College in the last two elections but now they are quite pleased with it.

.

[llondel]

If it said "support THE troops" without being too specific as to which country's troops it meant...