When Trump is finally out, will Putin call in the debts?

Putting money into Trump was the best investment Vlad ever made.

Colonoscopy... chicken broth for prep day?

My gf bought some chicken broth to mix/drink with that god-awful laxative junk you have to drink.

Low salt, fat free.

I don't know where she got such an idea.

Supposed to be clear liquid but ?????

Anyone heard of such a thing?

Actually, it will not be 'Trump pardons war criminals'.

It will be 'America pardons war criminals'.

Trump will eventually be gone.

The pardon will not.

http://vaincourt.homestead.com/common_soldier.html

JUST A COMMON SOLDIER
(A Soldier Died Today)
by A. Lawrence Vaincourt

He was getting old and paunchy and his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the Legion, telling stories of the past.
Of a war that he had fought in and the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies; they were heroes, every one.

And tho' sometimes, to his neighbors, his tales became a joke,
All his Legion buddies listened, for they knew whereof he spoke.
But we'll hear his tales no longer for old Bill has passed away,
And the world's a little poorer, for a soldier died today.

He will not be mourned by many, just his children and his wife,
For he lived an ordinary and quite uneventful life.
Held a job and raised a family, quietly going his own way,
And the world won't note his passing, though a soldier died today.

When politicians leave this earth, their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing and proclaim that they were great.
Papers tell their whole life stories, from the time that they were young,
But the passing of a soldier goes unnoticed and unsung.

Is the greatest contribution to the welfare of our land
A guy who breaks his promises and cons his fellow man?
Or the ordinary fellow who, in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his Country and offers up his life?

A politician's stipend and the style in which he lives
Are sometimes disproportionate to the service that he gives.
While the ordinary soldier, who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal and perhaps, a pension small.

It's so easy to forget them for it was so long ago,
That the old Bills of our Country went to battle, but we know
It was not the politicians, with their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom that our Country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger, with your enemies at hand,
Would you want a politician with his ever-shifting stand?
Or would you prefer a soldier, who has sworn to defend
His home, his kin and Country and would fight until the end?

He was just a common soldier and his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind us we may need his like again.
For when countries are in conflict, then we find the soldier's part
Is to clean up all the troubles that the politicians start.

If we cannot do him honor while he's here to hear the praise,
Then at least let's give him homage at the ending of his days.
Perhaps just a simple headline in a paper that would say,
Our Country is in mourning, for a soldier died today.

The fifth estate, the fifth column

Terms often used in politics and war (the politics of war?) (the war of politics?).

They are not the same but do have some equivalence and you will often see one used for the other.

Not to worry….. the far left and the far right both consider the other side to be the “fifth ______”.

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Estate

Fifth Estate
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about grouping in society with non-mainstream viewpoints. For other uses, see Fifth Estate (disambiguation).

The Fifth Estate is a socio-cultural reference to groupings of outlier viewpoints in contemporary society, and is most associated with bloggers, journalists publishing in non-mainstream media outlets, and the social media or "social license". The "Fifth" Estate extends the sequence of the three classical Estates of the Realm and the preceding Fourth Estate, essentially the mainstream press. The use of "fifth estate" dates to the 1960s counterculture, and in particular the influential The Fifth Estate, an underground newspaper first published in Detroit in 1965. Web-based technologies have enhanced the scope and power of the Fifth Estate far beyond the modest and boutique[1] conditions of its beginnings.

Nimmo and Combs assert that political pundits constitute a Fifth Estate.[2] Media researcher Stephen D. Cooper argues that bloggers are the Fifth Estate.[3] William Dutton has argued that the Fifth Estate is not simply the blogging community, nor an extension of the media, but 'networked individuals' enabled by the Internet, e.g. social media, in ways that can hold the other estates accountable.[4]

Making reference to the medieval concept of

"three estates of the realm" (clergy, nobility, and commoners)

and to a more recently developed model of "four estates", which encompasses the media,

Nayef Al-Rodhan introduces the weblogs (blogs) as a "fifth estate of the realm". Blogs have potential and real influence on contemporary policy-making, especially in the context of elections, reporting from conflict zones, and raising dissent over corporate or legislative policies. Based on these observations, Al-Rodhan suggests moving beyond traditional thinking that limits the “estates of the realm” to governmental action and proposes a broader perspective in which civilians or anyone with access to a computer and the Internet can contribute to the global political change and security.[5]

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

"fifth column" -

https://www.cato.org/blog/what-fifth-column-anyway

But the piece raised another question for me: “What’s a ‘Fifth Column,’ anyway?” The expression has been around forever, but what does it really mean?

Ahead of the Siege of Madrid in the Spanish Civil War, a general under Francisco Franco claimed that he would take the city with the four columns of troops under his command and a “fifth column” of nationalist sympathizers inside the city.

The city never fell to the nationalists, but fear of this “fifth column” caused the Republican government under Francisco Caballero to abandon Madrid for Valencia and it led to a massacre of nationalist prisoners in Madrid during the ensuing battle.

So a “fifth column” is not so much an insidious group of spies or traitors as it is the threat of such a group which causes the incumbent power to miscalculate and overreact. That doesn’t clear up what Kouri is trying to get across, but it does have the air of unintended
confession."

…

Biden and shoulders? Remember Dubya creeping out Angela Merkel?

She recoiled in disgust.

(Posted it in the wrong forum earlier)

Biden and shoulders? Remember Dubya creeping out Angela Merkel?

She recoiled in disgust.

Barr summary? Need more investigations.

As many as the republicans did for Benghazi and emails.

D'ya think Snowflake Trump could handle 11 hours in one stretch?

737 Max vs Ford Pinto gas tanks?

After a financial analysis, Ford decided it was cheaper to pay off the lawsuits than change the gas tank design.

?cb=1375094208

Different ways of voting. Updated from a previous version.

Inputs requested.

----------------------------

Plain old majority wins.

Might require a runoff.

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

Duverger's Law and the Two-Party System Explained

This can actually help a third party.



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

How does ranked choice voting work?

http://www.rcvmaine.com/how_does_ranked_choice_voting_work

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

Fusion voting - the practice, rarely used in other states, which allows candidates to appear on multiple ballot lines under the endorsement of multiple parties.

As deployed in New York, fusion voting typically means minor parties endorsing a major-party candidate. Think about the Working Families Party endorsing Democrat Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo last year and the Conservative Party backing Republican Marc Molinaro.

https://www.newsday.com/news/region-state/cuomo-jacobs-democratic-party-1.27929485
======================

How Does the Electoral College Work?

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/09/us/politics/how-does-the-electoral-college-work.html

For Presidential elections, we do not actually vote for the candidate.

We are voting for an elector who has ‘committed’ to voting for the candidate.

Funny thing…. The Electoral College elector is not legally bound to vote for his supposed candidate.

Some low population states actually have more proportionate voting strength than bigger states.

Candidates/parties know this and concentrate their efforts for those particular Electoral College votes.

It is possible to lose an election and actually get more popular votes than the ‘winner’.

Many people are trying to get rid of the EC.

=========================
What is a causus? ... mini party primaries to determine convention delegates

A caucus is an open meeting, at which voters who are registered with the party discuss and debate presidential candidates. When they’re finished talking, they vote for the delegates who will back their favored candidate at the national convention.

On a state’s caucus day, these meetings are held all over the state, divided into precincts. At the end of the day… a number of delegates will emerge from each precinct who will go on to the national convention. The number of delegates from each state’s caucus are decided differently depending on the party.

Unlike primaries, which are run by state governments, caucuses are run by political parties.

https://informationstation.org/video/what-is-a-caucus/

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

Parties of some states can select, for state/national office holders, whether they want a

1. Primary. .. open/semi/closed, all voters (or all voters of that party/unaffiliated) can vote for their choice.

2. Convention… Party representatives from around the state/country select their choice.

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

Which method of voting do the people/candidates prefer?

The one that they feel gives them the best advantage.

Sometimes there are some pretty good internal squabbles trying to decide which to use.

.............. edited to add:

Absentee ballots - especially good for overseas military who cannot be there in person. And other voters who must be gone.
Some hijinks have occured with absentee ballots, such as improper handling, voided because of 'mistakes', and outright tossing out wholesale because the count would not have changed the result or sometimes, politically, because they 'might' change the results.
With great rationalization, of course.

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

Early voting - convenient for folks who might have difficulty getting to the polls at a single designated time only.
Again, subject to political hijinks if the folks in power feel threatened that it might help the other side.

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