I’m a BRAT, that means that I grew up as a military dependent.

BRATs agree on a few things, regardless of political party.

BRATs grew up with DEI before it was DEI. It’s the way of the military, everyone is equal, and the best at their jobs, succeed.

One thug of interest: in the last few months, many cannot abide with the blatant ignorance of constitutional law. We had to learn those things.

Many of us adrift right now because we know what’s right and wrong. We know you don’t give up military secrets, we know things because we lived them

Our dads were not losers and suckers.

What is interesting to me is that the majority in the BRAT groups see what’s happening. It went from 50/50 to 80/20. We know what’s right and what’s wrong.

Giving Elon Musk keys to the kingdom is like your dad saying “here’s some secret information, feel free to share with your friends “

Just announced a little bit ago.
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In the lates Mitch McConnell thread about him falling I am having a back and forth with a poster who really likes Mitch. My own thoughts is he has abused his position on occasion and the most egreious was not bringing Merrick Garland, Obama's nominee for a scotus seat and a very good jurist, to the Senate for Senate interviews, questioning in front of Grassley's Judiciary Committe, or to a vote. The other poster seems to think there are no "rules" or outlines in the Constitutioin for the Senate that they have to advise and consent. I say the text below from the Constituiton would tell any jurist that it is the Senate's duty to advise and consent. And to advise the president the Senate has to interview and question the nominee and vote in committe and maybe on the Senate floor to pass the nomination. Read below if you want but what are your thoughts about Mitch telling the REpub senators not to have a meeting to interview Garland and not to question and vote on Garland and his reasoning is that Feb. of 2024 was too close to the Pres Election. I look forward to reading your thoughts.

The president has the power to nominate supreme court justices. It is also stated that "The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate" Now back then recesses might be a month or two long so a strict reading of the Constitution should agree with a rather quick process to fill a scotus vacancy. I dont think anyone can argue that. There is no logical way on Earth that it would or should take 9 months for the Senate to interview and confirm a scotus nominee.

And just before the recess nomination part of Article Section 2 it states that He being the president "He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court,"

So the US Constitution states that the Senate's job is to advise and consent on the nominations of the president of people to the Supreme Court. So to do that job the Senate has to perform some sort of advise and consent as in voting for the nominee. Mitch McConnell held back and did neither of those things with the help of Grassley who was Judiciary Comm Chair. It was a terrible stain on them but of course they do not care that they evaded their duties.

But Mitch M stonewalled the process and the process of the rules of the Senate are they are supposed to confirm or deny the appointment, once again not doing their job and even blocking procedure.

Again, from the Bulwark.

A bit depressing, but realistic. As they point out, probably still a little easier path for Harris than Trump but it will be/is a true dogfight now.

She HAS to kick ass at the debate or things will get very, very uncomfortable. The fact this is the case makes me so, so sad for America, sigh.

Kamala Harris Is Falling Behind​

But her pathway to victory remains clear.​

Jonathan V. Last
Sep 09, 2024





US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign event at the Throwback Brewery, in North Hampton, New Hampshire, on September 4, 2024. (Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)

1. Where Are We?​

​

Let’s be clear-eyed: With 56 days to the election Kamala Harris is not where she needs to be.
I’m going to give you three reasons to be concerned. And then three reasons to be optimistic. Let’s take the medicine first.

---

(1) 50.5 or Bust
Donald Trump is going to get somewhere between 46.0 percent and 48.0 percent of the vote.1 In order to have a solid chance to win the Electoral College, Harris needs to be over 50.5 percent; for a good chance she’ll need to be at 51 percent.2
No matter which polling average you look at, she’s not there.


Where are those last 2 or 3 percentage points supposed to come from? She’s not going to take from Trump. His voters are locked, cocked, and ready to rock.
Harris is going to have to achieve at least one of three outcomes:

1. Win late-breaking undecideds by a large margin.
2. Juice Democratic turnout so that it swamps Trump’s turnout of low-propensity voters.
3. Hold down the numbers of those low-propensity Trump voters, either by making herself unobjectionable to them or dampening their enthusiasm for Trump.

Of those, (1) and (2) seem like the best bets.
One more thing: It is concerning that Harris’s post-convention ceiling never broke the 50 percent mark in the polling averages.
She had the best month any presidential candidate has had in a long time. Her convention was an unalloyed success. Yet in the dozens of polls taken since she became the nominee, she’s touched 50 percent in only seven.

---

(2) Her momentum is gone.
When Harris entered the race and performed at a high level, it seemed possible that she could slingshot on that momentum all the way to Election Day. Shooting the moon was always going to be hard—a hundred days is a short campaign but it’s a long time to maintain fever-pitch excitement.
We now know that she isn’t going to shoot the moon.
Democrats ran a letter-perfect convention and Harris’s bounce coming out of it was still only about 2 points. Last week she started drifting backwards.
You have to zoom in pretty tight to see it, but the numbers are there:

After a month of hockey-stick growth, Harris flattened and then ticked backwards over the last two weeks.
This isn’t the end of the world, but it is the end of one of her pathways to victory. She isn’t going to swamp Trump with a tsunami of momentum. She’s in a dogfight.

The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said on Tuesday that the Trump administration would start handpicking which media outlets were allowed to participate in the presidential pool, the small, rotating group of journalists who relay the president’s day-to-day activities to the public.
The change announced by Ms. Leavitt breaks decades of precedent. The White House Correspondents’ Association, a group representing journalists who cover the administration, has long determined on its own which reporters would participate in the daily pool.
Because presidents often hold events in smaller settings like the Oval Office, where not every reporter who covers the president can fit, the pool format has long been used to ensure that journalists accurately record a president’s comments. The reporters who witness the events distribute a series of “pool reports” to a wider group of journalists, including hundreds of news outlets that cover his daily activities and remarks.



The pool is most often made up of journalists from organizations like CNN, Reuters, The Associated Press, ABC News, Fox News and The New York Times.
Image

Ms. Leavitt said that the new policy was intended to allow “new media” outlets — such as digital sites, streaming services and podcasts — “to share in this awesome responsibility.”
The White House Correspondents’ Association rebuked the move in a blistering statement.
“This move tears at the independence of a free press in the United States,” Eugene Daniels, the president of the association, wrote. “It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president. In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps.”

Anyone started watching this on Netflix? I have a feeling it is going to violent.

We’ve had one fire at police, another turned out to be a pedo, and now there’s a rapist. Congrats, MAGAts…

Holy hell.
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I liked this sculpture - always enjoyed riding past it on my riverfront excursions.

Libs always delusionall🤡.
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Should be fun. Popcorn anyone? Oh, bout that Obama birth certificate fraud….glorious!🔥

AP Top 25 (2/17)
1. Auburn (59) (23-2)
2. Florida (1) (22-3)
3. Duke (22-3)
4. Alabama (21-4)
5. Houston (21-4)
6. Tennessee (21-5)
7. Texas A&M (20-5)
8. Iowa State (20-5)
9. Texas Tech (20-5)
10. St. John's (22-4)
11. Wisconsin (20-5)
12. Michigan (20-5)
13. Purdue (19-7)
14. Michigan State (20-5)
15. Missouri (19-6)
16. Marquette (19-6)
17. Kentucky (17-8)
18. Clemson (21-5)
19. Arizona (17-8)
20. Maryland (20-6)
21. Mississippi State (18-7)
22. Memphis (21-5)
23. Kansas (17-8)
24. Mississippi (19-7)
25. Louisville (20-6)

Others Receiving Votes
New Mexico, St. Mary's, UCLA, Creighton, Illinois, Connecticut, George Mason, Gonzaga, High Point

================================

Coaches Top 25 (2/17)
1. Auburn (31) (23-2)
2. Florida (22-3)
3. Duke (22-3)
4. Alabama (21-4)
5. Houston (21-4)
6. Tennessee (21-5)
7. Texas A&M (20-5)
8. Iowa State (20-5)
9. St. John's (22-4)
10. Texas Tech (20-5)
11. Wisconsin (20-5)
12. Michigan (20-5)
13. Michigan State (20-5)
14. Purdue (19-7)
15. Marquette (19-6)
16. Missouri (19-6)
17. Clemson (21-5)
18. Arizona (17-8)
19. Memphis (21-5)
20. Maryland (20-6)
21. Kentucky (17-8)
22. Louisville (20-6)
23. Mississippi State (18-7)
24. St. Mary's (23-4)
25. Kansas (17-8)

Others Receiving Votes
Mississippi, UCLA, New Mexico, Creighton, Gonzaga, Connecticut, Illinois, UC-San Diego, Virginia Commonwealth, George Mason

===================================

NCAA NET (2/17)
1. Auburn
2. Duke
3. Houston
4. Florida
5. Tennessee
6. Alabama
7. Texas Tech
8. Iowa State
9. Arizona
10. Gonzaga
11. Texas A&M
12. Wisconsin
13. Purdue
14. Maryland
15. Kansas
16. Missouri
17. Kentucky
18. Illinois
19. Michigan
20. St. Mary's
21. Michigan State
22. St. John's
23. UCLA
24. Marquette
25. Mississippi
---------------------------
30. Ohio State
32. Oregon
46. Nebraska
57. Indiana
61. Northwestern
64. Iowa
66. USC
78. Penn State
80. Rutgers
93. Washington
94. Minnesota