Spin

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

Okay, I’m going to need all of you to do me a favor, okay?

Learn when you’re being spun, and stop spinning.

This is absolutely essential if you’re going to survive this presidency. Oh, not because Trump is doing it — though he’s gotten better at doing spinning of his own — but because it’s all the left has done, and boy do they do it 24/7.

I first realized this is not just the left, but it’s in everything, when I wrote the article yesterday about for Mad Genius Club about owning ebooks. (You do, btw. But unless I put it in my own store (working on it) no other vendor is going to let you claim ownership. They can’t.

Before you take offense, the reason they can’t is not you gentle reader. The big guys are probably not terribly afraid of Americans setting up shop to sell infinite copies of the one book you bought. I mean, look, not race but culture. Certain cultures don’t GET copyright or IP at all (Portuguese were still iffy in the 70s) and these shops are global. Note I’m not being mean, almost every instance of “steal book, set up store selling it” is based abroad. And moves around.

Granted the ebook stores aren’t very good at security measures. But they keep trying and mostly annoying everyone.

The point is, though, that if I announce a new book, half a dozen people will tell me I need to go wide because they don’t buy from Amazon, because Amazon evil bad reached into kindle and took out book someone had bought.

It wasn’t till I wrote that post that I realized the two books to which this happened — Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 couldn’t be a coincidence. I would bet you money the person who complained the books were taken was the same or an employee of the one who put it up without having the rights, thereby setting up the situation.

The point is, any other store would have done the same. BUT this brilliant bit of spin attaches to Amazon only.

In fact in the comments someone (Becky J, I think?) said that Barnes and Noble does a rights grab in their contract, in which case I can’t go with them anyway. But do you hear anyone say “All stores” or — as I say — “Amazon is bad but the others are worse?”

Nope, because THAT WAS A BRILLIANT BIT OF SPIN.

In the same way, if you’re still spinning over Epstein don’t be. Look, it was OBVIOUSLY a planted spin because they knew Tulsi Gabbard was about to lower the boom on the Obamanation.

It came out of nowhere. It was based on a big lie: that Bongino and Patel had threatened to quit if Bondi wasn’t fired. Etc.

It was actually a brilliant piece of foofahrah to get the right going. It tapped into our deep distaste for sexual shenanigans (We’re not the prudes the left claims, but anything with minors is RIGHT OUT) and also in our frustration with Bondi’s first approach to the matter.

(And on that, like on the Amazon thing, yep, I’m sure she was set up. By someone in her office. Not a coincidence the big flop with influencers happened at the same time as a big event calling reporters to the white house. It was stupid of her, and I’m sure Trump read her the riot act. BUT if he replaced it, whoever he could get confirmed would be worse. Bet you. The left already have that warmed up.)

But for the love of little apples: It was almost entirely a twitter-storm. All the extremely online people were going nuts. No one else cared.

It’s not that people don’t care about pedophiles and stopping them. They — we — do. It’s that Epstein is dead. While it would be great to see justice on that front, I bet you whoever he supplied has been plentifully supplied from the accompanied minors over auto-pen’s open border.

Sorry, but the people know that to topple the admnistration is to invite the return of open borders and child trafficking on a grand scale.

And note the left that was righteously demanding Epstein papers releases never cared about that. Or about the Epstein files WHEN THEY WERE IN THEIR CONTROL.

All attempts by them at bringing up the subject should be met with “Where were you the last 5 years, dude?” And that should be the end of that.

Mind you, “that” seems to have ended anyway. Because without USAid money none of this is catching fire outside the net.

In the middle of the sad, sad trombone solo, let’s hold a minute of silence for the WSJ who dirtied themselves beyond repair and might — even with an Obama judge on the case — end up bleeding money to publish the whole stupid birthday card bs. A “reveal” so profoundly stupid that if it were absolutely true would still mean nothing except “Trump asked his secretary, an English Major, to write some profound sounding drivel for the birthday of a guy who, back in 2003 wasn’t know to be anything illegal. Or anything, besides a rich playboy financier who frequented Florida resorts. Oooooh Stop the presses. Super-scary. And to make it worse, they did this just before the Gabbard bomb went off, meaning they didn’t even get to spin the very stupid and unaware.

(And guys if that’s the best they have? Trump once more shocks me by being cleaner than could be hoped for.)

Look, as we go forward, Trump seems intent on kicking over a lot of fire ant hills. When he does — or likely just before, because they have spies in the admin offices — they are going to spin like bright colorful tops.

Your job is to stop the spin.

Their techniques involve finding something the right cares for and using that to stir up outrage.

Say for instance, any day now “prices on food are still going up”.

At which point your job is to not get enraged but think “Yes, but much slower. Also, weren’t you calling me a treatler because I wanted affordable eggs?” And then ask them that. Make them justify their actions. Get inside their spin and stop it.

They also use mostly bot/foreign foreign-bot accounts on twitter. Anyone worth their salt should check the date the loudest screamers were created as accounts, and look at their page.

It’s stupid that people who are supposedly influencers don’t and continuously fall for these tricks and spin.

So, it’s up to us to lead the way.

When some big foofarah comes out of nowhere, stop, drop and think. Who is pushing this and why? Is it entirely too cutesy? — like the books Amazon took back — What are they trying to hide/distract from? Who benefits? And what did the screamers do about whatever they’re screaming about when they had the chance?

Oh, yeah, another one: Okay, so it’s a problem. Is it the biggest problem? And why is it so d*mn urgent this time.

Trump 47 learned what Trump 45 didn’t know. He’s become massively more based and able to fight back.

It’s time for us to do the same.

Know when you’re being spun. And stop it.

214 thoughts on “Spin”

  3. It is all rather simple.

    ….

    If you can be persuaded to turn on Trump, we can all get back to Dictat by Donk, the proper form of government.

    ….

    At this point, if Trump sprouts horns, a tail and a cloven foot, as long as the pitchfork goes in the Donkey’s tail, stay the course. (grin) Because we -know- they sold out to the Infernal long, long ago. Trump is merely somewhat naughty in comparison.

    Sure. At some point, Trump may overreach. I rather doubt it will do any major damage, unlike, say another century of Proggyvism.

    And no, we do -not- need to nuke the filibuster. Soon enough the Donks will have their turn. No need to make the overthrow of the republic a cakewalk for them. Throw The Ring back in the volcano, dumbbass. No, you -cannot- do a better job with The Ring than the last donglehead.

    Liked by 2 people

      1. Of coarse not.

        Trump is not stupid.

        Tad naive as #45. But weren’t most of us a bit back then? Difference between Trump #45 and Trump #47, and (most of) us, is that Trump had the ability to dig in and learn to navigate. It is a joy to watch him navigate (and certain talking heads “explode”, make absolute fools of themselves and get themselves canceled … The View, Colburn, etc. Not that I watched either. But still.)

        Also:

        https://twitchy.com/samj/2025/07/24/memes-x-reacts-to-news-that-hillary-was-on-rage-meds-n2416134

        Liked by 1 person

        1. And the funny thing is, this was all avoidable.

          I was convinced President Trump was going to be Democrat-Lite — and considering some of the compromises he offerred, had Democrats taken him up on the offers, he would have been! And a full-on Democrat would probably be President today, able to do even more damage because of the groundwork laid down by “Democrat-Lite Trump”.

          Instead? They went full scorched earth, absolutely determined to destroy him.

          And I am also convinced that had President Trump won the first re-election (rather than have it stolen from him) he would have given us four more years of Trump 1.0, mostly-ineffectively pushing the Republican agenda forward somewhat — and we’d probably have a Democrat President today, undoing everything President Trump had done so far.

          Instead? They cheated him out of the White House by installing a brain-dead puppet, they tried to destroy him and everyone associated with him, and they even tried to kill him … and not only did he survive all this, he managed to win even stronger the third time around.

          And he’s now out for Revenge — and he’s been able to carefully plot how he was going to seek that revenge, knowing now how everything is organized, and uncovering the weak spots of his enemies — and he was able to start what is practically his third term running, filling his cabinet with people who also want revenge, acting so fast, his enemies (who are enemies of America and even mankind itself) have spun around dizzy, wondering what happened.

          And while the Democrats may think they are distracting the Trump Administration by pushing Epstein … I strongly suspect that Trump is simultaniously using the Epstein story himself, to distract us (and especially the Democrats) from other things he is doing behind the scenes.

          Had the Democrats taken stock of the situation, they’d be ahead today — but because they went into a blind rage over a non-politician upstart who dared challenge their Annointed Successor, and were determined to destroy him for his hubris — whether or not he succeeded — the Democrats have chosen their destructor, and it’s a beautiful sight to behold!

          Liked by 1 person

          1. Excellent analysis! I also said that Trump was non-ideological in 2015, and had the Dems not gone crazy, Pelosi et al could have worked with him to get 3/4 of what they wanted. But as usually happens in politics, they overreach and destroy themselves.

            Liked by 1 person

          2. Agree.

            I’ve mentioned this too in passing to others. You’ve written a better case than I could articulate.

            Democrats have 100% chosen their destruction, starting with President Trump, including RFK, Jr., and Tulsi, as the obvious democrats who have joined Trump, and others.

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            1. Indeed as Mr. Reynolds at Instapundit jokes they have chosen the form of their Destructor (and to their disdain it is NOT the Stay Puft Marshmallow man) . The Democrats are essentially being hoist on their own petard. Their reaction to Bush the Elder and then the Gingrich Congress was to purge their ranks of ANYONE who even vaguely had any middle of the road leanings so that no one would ever cooperate with the Republicans again. The last few of the Blue Dogs are gone or switched parties early 2000’s. Also although the Legislators are not pure Ivy league/Seven Sisters/Upper rank school based their aides ARE in spades. Essentially, the legislators have imbibed water with the brain-rotting amoeba in the form of Marxism blended with anti-Semitism and a great disdain for the hoi polloi. This is leading us to AOC, The Squad, and Folks like Mamdani and the gent in Minneapolis running for mayor. I keep feeling that we are in the throes of what the “historians” call a party shift. The republican party is moving to a more isolationst, America first, pragmatic stance shedding some of its relation to the monied classes. The Democrats are still trying to decide where they go and it seems like the best result is a party like the more European Socialists, with a heavy dose of Marxism thrown in for flavor. That may work in some of the cities, but even there (places like say LA and on Maui) there are realizing that the Democrat standard is that what is the governments is the governments and whats yours can be the governments if/when we want it. Part of me feel’s bad for them but the other part says they were part of the issue when the things being grabbed weren’t theirs.

              Liked by 1 person

              1. “realizing that the Democrat standard is that what is the governments is the governments and whats yours can be the governments if/when we want it.“

                –

                As those who have been burned out, both LA and Maui, have been learning the hard way.

                That is one direction TPTB in Oregon have not gone, yet. It is slow, but those burned out in 2020 are rebuilding. By reports it isn’t the permit process slowing them down. But location, location, location.

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            2. I most fervently hope and pray that total destruction is indeed what they have chosen/set in motion. For the good of everyone, not just us in the US.

              Liked by 1 person

          3. And the Republicans did no better. This interview with Bob Dole in 2016 was and is a rich vein of amusement. All they had to do was be polite…..

            https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/01/20/bob-dole-ted-cruz-donald-trump/79079408/

            Donald Trump would “probably work with Congress,” though, Dole mused, because he’s “kind of a deal maker.”

            Dole characterized Cruz as an “extremist” unwilling to work with his own party. The Times’ Maggie Haberman notes that Dole’s comments reflect a larger tension that establishment Republicans feel with Cruz, who portrays himself on the campaign trail as their antithesis.

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      2. All of the shopped-judges TROs are in the form “Put It Back!!! (Stompyfoot Scowlyface, arms crossed)”, and all of those are getting stayed because elections have consequences and “I don’t like it” is not a legal principle.

        The also-greased-back-hair California Attorney General just sent out an email bragging:

        This week, California DOJ filed lawsuits 31, 32, and 33 against the Administration. We’ll see Trump in court, again.

        Ever read about any of the prior thirty winning? Nope.

        So now they are desperately focus grouping to find anything they can spin up that will maybe work. And crying when those fail too.

        Be not afraid. This is what winning looks like. Keep Calm And Carry On.

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        1. Like the Jefferson Davis absolutely sure the Confederacy was going to start driving them Yankees back against the Canadian Border!

          Liked by 2 people

          1. On this webpage of Sarah’s, we don’t discuss the Late Unpleasantness.

            I am personally forbidden by the Internet PTB to start War of 1812 discussions with Canadians.

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            1. What’s wrong with 1812? You guys stopped the Brits from kidnapping your sailors, we burned down the White House, you guys burned down Parliament.

              …. could you maybe go for a repeat of that last bit?

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                2. Fair enough. I kinda like the current White House occupant, but there are a ton of office buildings that look flammable…

                  Liked by 1 person

          2. On this webpage of Sarah’s, we don’t discuss the Late Unpleasantness.

            I am personally forbidden by the Internet PTB to start War of 1812 discussions with Canadians.

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    3. I disagree on the filibuster simply because the Dems will next time they get their turn as they proved in judges.

      Why let them strike first?

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      1. Throw the ring in the volcano. No you will not be better using it than the last donglehead.

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    4. I disagree on the filibuster simply because the Dems will next time they get their turn as they proved in judges.

      Why let them strike first?

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      1. Unless your objective is “destroy the Republic before the Donks do”, then no, do not help them destroy the Republic by handing them a key objective they need.

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  4. Re the two books purportedly pulled from an e-reader by Amazon, if the purchaser was in Europe, it is quite possible those two books were pulled due to EU or national “hate speech and disinformation” laws which try to ban anything that questions the power, ideology and policies of The State. Those countries do not have a First Amendment and have been threatening to censor not only their own citizens, but people in the USA at all if the speech is made available in the EU (yeah, you know what my response to the EU for that nonsense is).

    At this point, while people shouldn’t black pill over it, one should not underestimate the desire to control people and the abused of power that will be committed to do so, especially by the totalitarian socialists of the the EU and UK.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. IIRC the two books were put into the Kindle Store by somebody who didn’t own the rights to those books.

      Amazon Had To Remove Them From Their Store.

      As for “removing them from an e-reader”, I seem to remember hearing that there a bunch of nonsense involving that.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. If you’re concerned about them clawing back a book from your Kindle (or the app in my case), then simply download them for off line reading, and then copy the whole directory to another hard drive outside their reach. Done. As you say the original story is not as simple as put out, but now someone has probably given someone the idea….

        I haven’t felt the need to use software to break the Amazon DRM because they have behaved and kept their end of the bargain with me personally. They start that crap however….

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Nod.

          While I still purchase most of my non-Baen eBooks from Amazon, I keep all of my eBooks in a “library” on my PC (and back it up).

          Of course, I routinely deDRM Kindle eBooks and convert them to ePubs.

          Liked by 1 person

        2. There was a big froofrah a couple months back that Amazon was no longer going to let you download books to your computer where you can archive them.
          You can evidently now only download to Amazon devices and their own proprietary app on smartphones/tablets.

          (I don’t see the level of encryption stopping anyone truly determined. I think it’s probably more of an attempt at tracking at-scale piracy than anything else. But I don’t see how that questionable outcome would outweigh the negative press.)

          Liked by 1 person

          1. Is it defeatable? Yes

            Do I prefer to not have to expend the effort? Also yes.

            Remember DVDs with unskippable ads? They invited piracy because they made the paid experience worse than the pirates one. Amazon needs to be wary of that

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              1. It seems to be the current strategy of most larger companies.

                Whenever you see “extracting more value” you know management either doesn’t know how to create value to trade value for value or is too lazy to do so. In either case their strategy is to eat their seed corn (which is all extracting value as opposed to trading it is) in the hopes they’ll have moved on before planting comes with no seed.

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          2. Is it defeatable? Yes

            Do I prefer to not have to expend the effort? Also yes.

            Remember DVDs with unskippable ads? They invited piracy because they made the paid experience worse than the pirates one. Amazon needs to be wary of that

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          3. You can still download to a computer. Because you can still use their app. If they drop that …

            They try to limit the version on the computer that can be downloaded with. Can get away with older installed versions for awhile before having to “upgrade”; usually.

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            1. OK, the way it is right now (subject to unannounced change, of course):

              If you buy a book released before 22 April 2025, it can be opened in the Kindle for PC version 2.40 or earlier. Books released 22 April or later will not open in earlier versions; they will download to later versions or directly to the Kindle device. If you have a Kindle (Paperwhite for sure, dunno about others) you can download any book directly to the device, and that downloaded copy can be de-DRMed using a licensed copy of ePubor (and maybe by Calibre with the appropriate plugins; dunno about that, either). The resulting epub can be handled via Calibre exactly like any other non-DRM book. Yeah, it’s a PITA, but I much prefer using Calibre for my ebook manager to anything from Amazon, partly because I set it up to list the books the way I want them listed; it only took a bit of customizing using the “Metadata plugboards” section in “Preferences”.

              To summarize, if you have a copy of Calibre, a licensed copy of ePubor, and a Kindle Paperwhite reader, you can manipulate your library the way you want, not the way Amazon thinks you should. And once you buy a book it can’t be clawed back whenever Amazon gets in a snit.

              Just please don’t use it to violate copyright by making copies for your friends; that hurts the people who do so much to entertain us. Use it to customize your library and preserve it from “recall”.

              Liked by 1 person

              1. I don’t.

                There are only a few (very few) overlaps between what my sisters, mom, and I read. They typically buy the hardback on those. Others can be lent.

                I only use Calibre, as you said, to protect my copies, and manage the way I like them. Besides I have more than a few earlier (Baen) purchases that don’t go under either Kindle or epub. Yes, could (somehow, have not bothered) copy into Nook PC or phone, “my books” location. Or I can wait until B&N has them for free – $1.99, and get them from there, again.

                When I die, one of my sisters will get the Calibre Library. That’s fair use.

                Tried the back door with older version Kindle and ePubor. Like you said, books wouldn’t download. Waiting for ePubor to catch up. I don’t have an older Kindle to backdoor the fix.

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                1. All we can do is wait; from what the nice lady at ePubor wrote to me they’re working on it, but the fix is not trivial, and for now only downloading directly to a Kindle (which if I understand it essentially converts the KFX to an AZW3 with DRM, which ePubor can handle) will allow the usual Calibre processing to work.

                  Amazon vs. Calibre/ePubor is like a business version of an arms race; at the moment Amazon is ahead, but if you have the right tools (Paperwhite and ePubor license) there’s a clunky workaround.

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                  1. No Paperwhite.

                    Right now it is a category of “2-JailBreak” for the purchases that ePubor can’t handle right now. Eventually they’ll get it.

                    Liked by 1 person

        3. That is my Amazon concern. They have started limiting downloads not via the app or Kindle and wonder if the app is next.

          They have all those cloud servers and companies are backing off. I can see them limited downloads or requiring pure cloud with just a local cache.

          It doesn’t mean I refuse to buy Amazon but it does mean I’m using others as well

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              2. The B&N contract has been modified since that clause was caught, but if it happened once, I wouldn’t put it past someone to try and slip it back in using different wording at a later date.

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                1. Their previous set of contracts was like bad publisher contracts, that tried to take the right to anything else the author wrote in this world. And their promises they would never do that amounted to “trust me, bro.”

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                  1. Makes sense you wouldn’t trust that. From what you’ve said, you’ve been through that before with a series with a publisher.

                    Liked by 1 person

                  2. Aha! OK, a variant of the “yellow dog” inventions contract, but with no time limit. Sheesh…

                    I’m surprised the lampposts remain undecorated.👿

                    Liked by 1 person

      1. No, we haven’t. Tulsi Gabbard keeps using the term “democratic republic”, which is what the US is (a republic with democratic trappings), but the connotations tend to turn me off. I wish she’d simply say “republic”.

        Liked by 1 person

  6. Some time back, BGE left a comment here that stopped me in my tracks. He said that whenever some Big News comes out, he always asks himself, “who wants me to know this?” Not only who, but why, and especially why NOW?

    It was very helpful to me, especially in the crapstorm of the 2024 election season. I’ve been asking myself what will change in the world if I just don’t care, followed by what if I focused my actions on this problem, and the answer to both questions almost always is…nothing. Except maybe that if I don’t get worked up about it, I’ll be a little bit less stressed and have time to think a bit more clearly and keep my own personal shit together.

    Liked by 2 people

    2. In addition to wondering why do they want me to know I this, I also ask myself, why do they want me to hate this person?

      Maybe because I was a target of severe bullying in Jr. High, but I am very sensitive to all the mean girls pointing to someone else and saying, “Go get her, minions! She’s the WORST. No one should like her.”

      All the corporate press mean girls turn on a dime and shriek like pod people at a person who crosses them.

      Trump and Melania were the toast of NY, until they weren’t. It was extremely unnerving. Still is. The same people acted the same way about the jab, masks, and stupid arrows on the grocery store floor.

      Never listen to pod people. It wouldn’t be prudent. They act like they hate Hitler while using every one of his methods.

      Liked by 1 person

          1. Imaginos, stop being brilliant. It’s scary when you do it too often.

            it may be scary. And I am a church lady so I don’t normally do scary.

            But I am soooo stealing this.

            Which makes me sad about the penance I will have to do when next I approach the confessional.

            Liked by 1 person

      3. the first questions investment people who want to survive ask are “why do I know this, who is telling me this, and what do they have to gain?” The truth or falsity comes distantly later.

        Im pretty sure Epstein didn’t kill himself, and I’m pretty sure that there was blackmail involved, let’s not throw out the baby with the bath water, I’m also pretty sure that it was not Obama’s people involved but rather Clinton’s and the current conspiracy is in place to protect Obama and Clinton is his primary enemy …. Trump threatens both but Obama’s crowd will happily throw Clinton under the bus. that Trump went after the money effectively seems to have surprised them and that’s a wildcard.

        They’re desperate and we should expect all sorts of monkey shines by themselves and their flying monkeys in the press.

        Liked by 1 person

  7. The Left treated the Epstein thing like a wacky right-wing conspiracy theory a year ago and now they can’t shut up about it.

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  8. “In the same way, if you’re still spinning over Epstein don’t be. Look, it was OBVIOUSLY a planted spin because they knew Tulsi Gabbard was about to lower the boom on the Obamanation.”

    Yeah. And isn’t it simply -fascinating- how all the media were suddenly screaming “EpsteinEpsteinEpstein!!!” just before the Gabbard releases the “RussiaRussiaRussia!!!” bomb.

    I read into this two things.

    First, Gabbard’s department (and all the freakin’ departments, lets be real) is riddled with helpful DemocRat spies. That woman can’t use the bathroom without messaging going forth. (Or use it alone for that matter, I’m sure she’s got security 24/7.) The media seems to have gotten a week or so of advance notice.

    Second, whatever and whoever is hanging fire in the #EpsteinDidn’tUnaliveHimselfFiles is as nothing compared to the catastrophe that is “RussiaRussiaRussia!!!”

    They’re going to sell #Bill&Hill down the river to save #Barry&BatlethGirl. Because where #Epstein is salacious salacious enough to Arkancide over, the other thing is treason. Tulsi used the “T” word. She’s got her finger on the big red button.

    Ultimately, I don’t care. Even if all the #RussiaGate hoaxers go to jail forever, I don’t get anything out of it. It does not show up in my paycheck. You know what does? DOGE.

    Let the circus expand from three rings to twelve, let the media go full 24/7 turbo-nitrous overdrive, the only thing that actually matters remains DOGE. Because that’s where the MONEY comes from. Anybody think US-AID was the only propaganda engine funding the Left? No way.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Obama is safe, barring an Impeachment as a going-away Eff-you. (Since Impeachment prevents -future- holding of Federal office, yes they can use if after the term ends.) Trump argued for “official acts” being immune, and Obama can certainly -argue- he thought he was doing his duty and office -as he saw it-.

      Everyone else? Better hope they have one of those autopen-pardons. Else they may have some very, very unpleasant court proceedings.

      Must buy more popcorn…. and some of those flavored salts.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Actually, mentioning the “auto-pen” pardons after the fact, reminds me of a Clancy fictional use of pardons (actually signed, not auto-penned) stashed in certain organization’s safe. Not a safe at the White House, but off the books, not funded by government, agency that the son, Ryan Jr., of the fictional president, Ryan Sr., works for. Of coarse Ryan Jr., has a reason to despise terrorists as they tried to un alive him, his toddler older sister, and mother, when he was still dependent on his mother’s womb (exact wording in one of the books).

        Pardons written presuming that the out of office president was immune, because the actions were for the good of the US and part of his duties to protect even while out of office. Author’s thumb on the fictional scale. So validity of said pardons in the real world is moot/not-relevant.

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        1. Dec. 3, 1627

          “It is by my order and for the good of the state that the bearer of this has done what he has done.

          “RICHELIEU”

          Neat plot device.

          Liked by 2 people

          2. Can you imagine any recent President but Trump taking accountability like that?

            Can you imagine Obama pulling a Col. Jessup and declaring, “You’re Goddamn right I did!”

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        2. Yeah, apparently there isn’t any mechanism for assessing or revoking forgeries of the President’s signature on official documents.

          This is, apparently genuinely a Thing That Hasn’t Been Done before, so there’s just no legal precedent to handle it, at all.

          It would be the stuff of black comedy of it wasn’t actually happening.

          My personal take is for forged pardons that get entered, they stay, but the intentional forgery itself is a major felony with heavy jail times.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. I like the idea of “charge those with what needs to be charged, and let the courts, cherry picked”, why not they do it, “sort it out.”

            Even if “Guilty but ‘Pardon’.” Is the result. Reputation is everything. Tarnish their legacy. Make their closest allies and family want distance from them. Also, their pardons do not insulate them from Civil Judgements …

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          2. This is, apparently genuinely a Thing That Hasn’t Been Done before, so there’s just no legal precedent to handle it, at all.

            Which is one reason I expect Trump / Bondi to go ahead and at least test it by filing a charge on some of these, to force SCOTUS to consider it.

            There’s also Rand Paul’s going after Fauci. Fauci was pardoned, but since Steve Bannon and another guy were actually sent to jail when they refused to testify to Congress, Rand is filing on Fauci. Can you be sent to jail for refusing to testify to Congress about conduct covered by the pardon?

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          3. If they treat a pardon as valid, they cannot jail someone for “forging” it. It is valid, or it is not.

            I doubt even Justice “Pretzel” Roberts could doublespeak that one.

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            1. So, I think it falls under the double jeopardy prohibition.

              Essentially if the legal system tells you you have been pardoned, then they cannot take it back, even if they were knowingly or unknowingly lying to you.

              Picture, if you will, an underhanded judge telling a defendant they have been granted a full pardon for some crime they’ve been accused of. Now they can be compelled to testify, and give up all the goods in their crime, only to be told syke! the pardon was a lie and completely not valid. And they’ve just defacto waived their 5th amendment rights, so have fun in jail sucker.

              If that is allowed, every one granted a pardon or reduction in sentence in exchange for testimony can legitimately and honestly say they don’t believe the pardon is valid, so they are still free to take the 5th. If there is no point at which a pardon cannot be revoked, there is no point at which it can be trusted either.

              That is how a pardon can be real and durable, even though it was created illegally. It passed the stage which any pardon must be treated as valid, regardless of how it came to be.

              Like

        3. I read that first book Clancy wrote about Jack Ryan’s son…

          And I decided there were a lot of things about that setup that made me distinctly uncomfortable, and I didn’t want to read any further in that series.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. I like the Jack Ryan Jr series, in general (some are better than others) better than I do the Ryan Sr ones.

            Like

            1. I’ll admit the idea behind the “Campus” is better in fiction than the thought of it in real life. Because no matter what, a real life “Campus” would be corrupt.

              Like

          2. Try LTC Kratman’s “State of Disobedience”.

            A President decides to clean house in a big way, and pardons the sweepers. No State has say on actions in the Federal District. If he moved fast enough, who could stop him?

            I am reminded of “Lethal Weapon 2”, where the Big Bad has a large “waterproof” tarp in his office as a carpet protector. Someone who disappoints him greatly gets shot and rolled up for discreet disposal. Later, one of his flunkies reporting bad news looks down first to make sure he is not standing on a tarp. One of the better sight gags in that otherwise execrable movie. (South -African- drug lord, SMH. One of those later YGBFSM sequels has a bunch of hard-ultra-left bumper stickers and posters in the cop locker room. As Bill Cosby said, “Riiiiiiiiight.”)

            ….

            I can almost imagine…

            “Special Agent Schmudlapp!”

            “Sir?”

            “Shoot this idiot.”

            BLAM

            “Hand me that pardon of yours. I will add the idiots name to it for you.”

            “Thank you sir.”

            “Getting to be a rather long Post Script. I may need to give you a scroll instead of more pages.

            “As you say, sir.”

            “And thanks. You dropped him on the throw rug, so you get another star for your attaboy ribbon, and the housekeeping crew doesn’t puke in the Oval Office.”

            …..

            Like

            1. I think you mean Caliphate, in the historical interludes. ASoD is about a 2nd American Civil War

              Like

    2. By the way, it may surprise no one that the usual suspects/lurking idiots are finding it Very Alarming that nobody at ATH/MGC is buying the “EpsteinEpsteinEpstein!!!” spin.

      We are all Double-Plus Ungood.

      Yes, thank you, I’m doing my best to be as wrongthink as I can manage without rising from my lazy chair. Please p1ss off, there’s a good lad.

      Liked by 2 people

        1. No fair Sarah, you’re holding them to account for their own actions. How could you? ~:D

          Personally I find it hilarious how fast they switch tracks. Almost as if they were terrified they’d end up on the wrong side of something because they didn’t jump quick enough.

          It’ll be fun to see them all hurling #Bill&Hill under the #Epstein bus to save #TheLightbringer&Moochelle. I got a whole bag of popcorn just for that.

          Liked by 1 person

    3. “First, Gabbard’s department (and all the freakin’ departments, lets be real) is riddled with helpful DemocRat spies.”

      This might be reading too much into it, but the delay between Tulsi’s announcement and the response from the Obama camp could mean they don’t know exactly what she has. The Epstein flare-up makes sense as chaff/suppressing fire, but so far the direct response has been cautious. Opsec seems to be tighter this time around (e.g., the Iran bombing), even if there are still moles everywhere.

      Liked by 1 person

    4. RE: Department spies –

      DoD is pretty blatant about it too, what with the constant stream of “leaks” regarding supposed bad behavior by Sec. Hegseth.

      Liked by 1 person

          1. But now Ozzy and Hulk Hogan can intercede for us!

            Even in Purgatory, I am sure they would be pretty cool intercessors, and fully in Heaven they would probably kick butt.

            But yup, praying for all the souls of the recent dead.

            Liked by 2 people

          2. But now Ozzy and Hulk Hogan can intercede for us!

            Even in Purgatory, I am sure they would be pretty cool intercessors, and fully in Heaven they would probably kick butt.

            But yup, praying for all the souls of the recent dead.

            Liked by 1 person

          2. I’m just going to assume that I’ve got at least another 20 years or so, which I’ll need since I’ve got a disabled kid I’ve got to get set up financially, and I’m not even set for *my* retirement (and I’m 64). Given that my mother is 85 and in good health, and if daddy hadn’t died last month of frontotemporal dementia he’d have been 89 today, I’m hopeful.

            Now I just need to finish recovering from that concussion last October so I can think about going back to work. Physiatry says I am probably up for something, but no more than 4 hours a day, and preferably, not more than 4 days a week. There aren’t a lot of options which don’t involve bright lights and lots of background noise. :(

            And folks wonder why I buy lottery tickets. I routinely ask the cats to intercede with the lottery spirits, pointing out that more money would mean a bigger house, more cat toys, and more fancy tinned food, but so far they have failed the assignment.

            Liked by 2 people

            1. Unfortunately given family history I can’t assume that amount of time. Hope for, maybe, I didn’t grow up in a smoking household and my relatives did. But can’t count on it.

              …I’ve been given lottery tickets a few times. Even the lowest level never wins. Book sales may be the only (tiny) lottery I can win!

              Liked by 2 people

      2. Someone elsewhere today claimed that the wrestling guys back then were constantly on uppers (for their public appearances) and downers (so they could get some rest), provided by their managers. Plus a lot of them probably used steroids.

        So he might not have been in as good of health as he appeared to be.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Hogan has admitted to using Steroids. That he still made it to 71 is impressive. There were plenty of others, in a number of industries, that have fessed up to playing in a PED-permissive culture.

          As a general rule, no one gets that big that fast without chemical boosters. A whole bunch of sportsmen and showmen are now paying the cardiologist’s piper for the PEDs used earlier.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. Drugs of all kinds (include booze in that list) were SO common in wrestling in the ’80s into the ’90s. Look at the sheer number of pro wrestlers from that era that died young. When you combine all the abuse their bodies take, heavy drug abuse, brutal schedules, it’s no wonder.

            I still can’t figure how Ric Flair isn’t dead. He was doing roids (not to a Hogan level) and partying until dawn for decades. I would’ve never figured that Nature Boy would outlive the Hulkster, but here we are.

            Like

      1. That’s too bad. I never bought much of their stuff, as the models I’ve built have generally been airplanes or tabletop miniatures, and Tamiya iirc mostly does armored fighting vehicles and cars. But I have used some of their sprays. They’ve got a good reputation.

        Liked by 1 person

  10. Shrugs. I buy very little from Amazon. I make exceptions for a few authors, including you Sarah.

    Reason? I started pre-epub with the old B&N format from multiple small non-B&N, sources (since purchased by B&N and those books, took couple of years, converted and added to my B&N library by B&N itself).

    The Amazon stuff I can’t DRM break currently (could probably dig into it myself, don’t want to) via ePubor, go into a category called “2-jailbreak”. Once I have a few, the books are removed from download, I then go through the “back-door-recommended” and fix that problem.

    I use Calibre to store the jail-broke-no-longer-DRMed copies on my laptop, on a thumb-drive, and external HD. I’m digitally paranoid.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. I often buy ttrpg books. in pdf format, they might be watermarked but otherwise readable on

    any device: like desktop pc and android phone and tablet.

    I try to avoid social media: no X, mostly whatsapp.

    Like

  12. I finally realized that even the people I admire rely on DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA! the world is ending call your congressman… or whatever, in order to spread their podcast/website/brand.

    I can’t deal with it, so I’ve turned them all off. I read a bit of “news,” but no more obsessing on the current “THE WORLD IS ENDING WE MUST HAVE TRANSPARENCY” garbage.

    All is well, and all I have the energy to do is focus on my own situation and my own work.

    Liked by 1 person

  13. My bet is this … In the 10’s of thousands of docs around the Epstein nonsense there was a grand jury transcript where someone said Donald Trumps name … like grand juror asked “Was Trump ever at the island ?” or a prosecutor asked witness that … So magically Donald Trumps name is somewhere in the docs …

    Well when Bondi assigned dozens of old DOJ worker bee’s to go thru the docs one of them told her “Donald Trumps name is in there” … most likely with no context … Bondi panicked and didn’t dig deep enough to figure out it was a nothing burger … (and fire the worker bee who tried to set her up)

    So given that Bondi is juggling 10 flaming chainsaws at once I can maybe understand her not digging deep enough right out of the gate … my bet is someone is getting a pink slip over this and maybe several someones (not Bondi) …

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Note how the DOJ submitted a request to release the grand jury testimony. It doesn’t look like the administration is scared of the details getting released

      Judge denied the request, though.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. That points to the documents having differing version inside DOJ. Any docs in the court record, annd especially the Grand Jury transcripts and exhibits, are not subject to fiddling.

        Like

  14. It does seem like people are primed to black-pill at the drop of a hat. In one of the games I play, a big rules update leaked a few days early, and a vocal chunk of the community is absolutely foaming at the mouth over it.

    There’s some stuff in it I’m not happy with, but those are things I can work around, and a lot of new and interesting stuff will be coming out with it. Yet people are completely losing their noodles over it. It’s just weird.

    Like

      1. Actually, no. It’s the Grey Knights codex.

        The Horus Heresy stuff, I get why people are put out: they moved a lot of stuff to Legends, which in 40K usually means you never get to play it again, unless you’ve got established exceptions in your personal gaming groups.

        I think they’re trying to do things differently in HH, but it looks there like GW may have fumbled the ball. Which does mean I can get the box cheaper to kitbash into an Iron Warriors army…

        The Grey Knights codex, they did drop one of the popular named characters, which does suck, but you can still use the model for one of the other leaders, and they spread his important rules across the rest of the army and rules, so you can still get the big effects he had, without needing his specific model on the table.

        There are a couple of spots where I think they did not add enough, and may need to change a could of effects to make it all hold together, but there are a lot do people going off about how this is The End of The World!!!1!1!1

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    2. Trump has apparently just signed an executive order asking the various departments to start looking for ways to roll back the various consent decrees and rulings that shut down the mental institutions.

      Good…

      Liked by 2 people

        2. On the one hand, yes.

          On the other hand, this is a small part of a much larger order aimed at getting the homeless of the streets, and it’s a tool that’s desperately needed for that.

          And, frankly, if “they” get back in during the next eight years, we’ll likely see Trump’s changes undone so fast that you’ll get whiplash. And they’ll make their legal shenanigans so far look like the work of a conservative order of nuns. I think the mental institutions threat isn’t so bad under those circumstances. We’ll likely see much worse if the current left gets power back again.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. Yes. i do get that absolutely. I believe in personal liberty, but letting those who are a danger to themselves and others be homeless in our streets is bad for us… and them.

            Like

            1. Yup. The sooner they’re off the streets and into a care facility, the better for everyone.

              We’ll just have to hope that any attempts to use those sorts of laws to go after political wrong think get nipped in the bud.

              Liked by 1 person

        3. Not just them. One of my parents, in the context of a custody battle, threatened to have me institutionalized so I wouldn’t be a “bad influence” on my younger siblings.

          Unfortunately for him by the time he tried this I was – just barely – eighteen and so it went nowhere.

          Note, I’d never been in trouble with the law, not so much as a parking ticket, I had all the “dress acceptably and try not to say anything too autistic in public” bits down, I had good grades, I was going to college.

          He tried to do it anyway. And the local community didn’t object. Would, flat out, have not gotten involved.

          So… I have to say I see both sides of this. There are a lot of people who sincerely need help in a structured environment. Unfortunately there are also a lot of undiagnosed (because they’re so good at the social stuff) actual sociopaths who would be willing and able to abuse mental institutions to get rid of enemies who are just personal, much less political.

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          1. From everything you’ve posted about your family life over the past few years I have to congratulate you; you have the patience of a saint. I would probably be in jail (or no longer among the living) after going full berserkergang on them. Your way is better.

            Liked by 2 people

            1. Saint, definitely not. “Outlast them, outlast them all,” more like.

              It wrecked me enough that even before the allergies got really bad, I was never quite able to get a job that would last. Some contract work, yes, and people liked my work – but my ability to play social games ranks in the negative numbers and people just don’t want that around. Makes them uncomfortable.

              On top of that after all the family stuff, near a decade being 24/7 caregiver and then multiple bouts of Covid…. I’m perpetually exhausted, worse just by a few minutes dealing with people, and I have a reflexive flinch when someone tells me to smile. (I literally cannot do it on command, or by trying to. My face freezes.)

              Ironically one of the jobs I can best hold down is cashier – I know what I’m doing, I have a very limited social script I can use for most things, and I can follow the rules when customers blow up on me. The hours and pay suck, being on your feet all the time sucks worse, but… so far it’s kept the lights on, just barely.

              This is the really lean time at work, though, so… well, currently going through stuff to find things I can clear out to eBay, hopefully that’ll help a bit.

              Liked by 1 person

                1. For your amusement, I’m currently 33K into the draft of White Cat’s Bluff (working title Tactical Error).

                  Basically, after the isekai’d party’s Great Quest to rescue the Princess from the Dreaded Bone Dragon has been over at least a few months and they’re finally settling into new lives… there’s a Mongol Horde invasion. With vampires.

                  And our ranger, Matt Ross, ends up working with an apothecary from the other end of the Horde’s conquered area – a vampire herself, with a deep-seated hatred of the Horde’s best general and a sacred vow she means to fulfill….

                  Picture a world in which the Celestial Empire is called that in part ’cause there’s a lot of elven blood in the area, vampires are never bats (though some are cats), and many of the ronin and samurai are very cultured orcs!

                  G As long as day job’s cut back, I might as well write as fast as I can while I try to figure out something more permanent.

                  Liked by 1 person

                    1. It “feels” like the rough should finish in around the 70-90 K range – I’ve just finished the first arc of “how did these two meet, anyway?” Second arc should be a lot of “trying to find the crazy necromancer and meanwhile not die from the invasion/suspicious people on both sides”, and the third arc should see Justice Done.

                      (Capital letters a must.)

                      …I think the bunnies are in part grumping about, “sure, you’re in another world – your past still matters because it made you who you are now.” And the fact that Matt was a cop will be critical.

                      Liked by 2 people

                    2. shorter books are good. I’m hoping to start serializing the rest of Witch’s daughter tomorrow. Took today off for 40th (civil ceremony) anniversary, because some things are worth it. I think I’m five chapters from t he end, which will make it around 90k, I THINK.

                      Liked by 1 person

  15. The Epstein thing doesn’t tie up as neatly as Sarah presents it here; it was the Trump administration that brought it back into the news cycle. That said, it was weird that I never heard anything about it from the left (which may say more about my ignorance than anything else) for most of a week.

    Which made it feel, to me, like there was a back-room search for consensus on whether it was better for the Party to push for more transparency on Epstein (with concomitant worries about a Trump rope-a-dope) or just pop more corn as their opponents attacked each other.

    Did forewarning about the DNI Russia drop push them to prop up the Epstein kerfluffle? No idea. It’s certainly being used that way now that the first documents have dropped, and it’s amazing how incurious they are about how little the Biden administration did considering how shrill they’ve become on the topic these past couple weeks.

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  16. When you spin certain tops they make the same sound, sounds a lot like bullshit. The source matters, and it always seems the bullshit comes from the same sources.

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  17. Trump makes an excellent case study in political efficiency. He spent several election cycles studying the election system, he made a couple of trial runs, he went all out and won his serious attempt (apparently to his own surprise as well as po’ widdle Hillarity.) It was plainly evident that total lack of experience in office is what made him so vulnerable to the Democrat and Swamp attack machine. 4 years of Biden to beat off the continuing attacks and reflect on what he’d learned got him over the finish line this past election, and have stood him well these past 6 months. As long as the GOP doesn’t stab him in the back (Et tu, Brute’?), consider how much he may achieve in the next 3 and a half years.

    Liked by 1 person

  18. there’s a few that should spin at the end of a rope. Fair trial and all due process then ….. up the long ladder and down the short rope. Just sayin. Life in Leavenworth would come a distant second.

    Liked by 1 person

    3. That’s why I really prefer having game cartridges. Or SD cards or whatever they are on.

      And this whole “virtual card” thing (buying a blank card with the game’s name on it and downloading the game from their servers, according to rumor, I don’t know how true it is) Nintendo is apparently on is… well, I don’t have any reason to buy a Switch 2 is all I’m saying about that.

      Like

  20. Not a comment (no time), but spin? It always falls apart. Too much later to make a difference, all too often. Some of it we even get to see. What might have actually happened in this apocryphal case? In this abominable incident? Or this corruption of truth and decency?

    How much of what we are learning now was spun in its own time? Far too much, and not enough of it at once. And, on the same note, a man once said “the powerful will not burn.” As in, the ringleaders. The decision makers. The corrupt autocrats, the filthy bureaucrats, the slimy sycophants just below the top- maybe those last ones, thrown to the dogs.

    Stories spun from whole cloth, aye. Many a one seen. Whole swathes of nooz networks, entertainment, and various other media marching to the same beat, occluding the truth until truth can ne’er be found. Who indeed knows where the bodies are buried anymore?

    Watch what they do. What results, not merely what is said. Truth lies all too often in the doing. If it wasn’t the intent to corrupt, why does corruption always result? Every freaking time? If the intent was not to destroy, why is destruction what follows every single time?

    Same with Turmp. He misleads. Cunningly, carefully, with showmanship. But what he does? Restoring the economy. Punishing the wicked. Raising up those who have been wronged, and giving them power. Standing tall by our allies. Shutting the open border. Digging up the dirty files. He’s our guy. Through and through. By all that is good, YES I voted for this. And on our worst day, it’s better than the last four years combined.

    Avoid vertigo-related boggling. Eschew credulity. Trust the doubt. And never put your faith in the words of Commie bastards.

    Liked by 1 person

  21. I have not heard anyone complain about Amazon removing books (although I remember the 1984 one) lately.

    I have preferred other vendors as Amazon has increasingly locked up downloads not through a Kindle. I have concerns the app will be neglected to try to drive sales of the Fire for those of us who use tablets for eReading.

    But that’s not a refusal to buy, just a preference and not based on spin but the patterns of tech walled gardens. It’s the same reason I’m not on Apple although not nearly as strong.

    Like

  22. So one news item to counter to the ongoing attempt to blackpill spin everyone not on the side of Trotsky that all is lost and losing is all we have left, some good news in California from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals:

    A panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a lower court decision by that patron saint of the second amendment in the 9th circuit, Judge Roger Benitez (pbuh), that blocked a California law which required a state background check and approval, with a fee, for every ammunition purchase, prohibited mail order ammunition purchases, and criminalized carrying ammunition purchased elsewhere into California across state lines. From a story by Sonja Sharp in the LA Times (typing her story while weeping in distraught anguish at people having inalienable rights):

    Writing for two of the three judges on the appellate panel, Judge Sandra Segal Ikuta said the law “meaningfully constrains the right to keep operable arms” guaranteed by the Constitution, by forcing California gun owners to reauthorize before each ammunition purchase. 

    “The right to keep and bear arms incorporates the right to operate them, which requires ammunition,” the judge wrote.

    The ruling was 2-1 for the three judge panel, and the dissent went full “It’s only a little infringement!”:

    Judge Jay S. Bybee dissented, writing that the background check law does not constrain the right to keep and bear arms, like a law imposing a blanket ban might. Bybee wrote that “The vast majority of (California’s) checks cost one dollar and impose less than one minute of delay.”

    Cool, Judge. Now do Voter ID.

    We’re winning. They’re losing. Be not afraid.

    Like

    1. These sorts of decisions are actually quite common in the 9th Circuit, believe it or not. The problem is that this is only a three judge panel, and it will be appealed to an en banc hearing.

      The 9th Circuit is so big that en banc hearings in this circuit don’t follow the normal pattern. Ordinarily an en banc hearing would involve all of the appeals court judges in the circuit. However, 9th Circuit en bancs are composed of the chief justice of the circuit, and a panel made up of randomly selected judges. And wouldn’t you know it, but despite the random nature of the panel membership, there’s yet to be a single pro-gun rights decision that’s made it past the 9th Circuit en banc.

      I expect the ruling to be reversed during en banc.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. True. That’s one reason why the U.S. Senate needs to get off their butts and start filling 9th Circuit Judge vacancies with alacrity, to rebalance the pool of 9th Circuit judges away from all the Sotoero and Autopen appointments (and frankly the GWB appointments too).

        The weird thing is that the CA AG did not instantly file an appeal to en banc, as they have in the past, basically letting this ruling’s stay on enforcement go into effect.

        So the online vendors, including big ones like Brownells, are now taking mail orders for ammo to ship to California.

        The majority ruling does hammer the stupid “historical” examples California put up to try and meet the Bruen requirements. They are really dumb.

        And the fairly long dissent, in addition to being very whiney, is actually pretty shallow, centering on comparing this “re-check every time, oh, and pay a fee every time” restriction to what the Supremes said about “shall issue” CCW rules, which skips right past the basic assertion from the majority about “it’s not really bearing arms with no ammo”.

        And my point about voter ID is real – the dissent argument about “only slightly infringed, so it should still be okeydokey” would cause the left to go nuclear if the same words were applied to a law requiring voters to show ID.

        Like

        1. Hmm…

          AG Bonta not instantly appealing the decision is interesting.

          Though it might just be that his office is distracted due to the constant stream of lawsuits he’s filing against the Trump administration.

          Maybe I should go check CalGuns tomorrow and see what they’re saying over there.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. Mrf.

            Calguns is again experiencing hard-to-get-on-the-site.

            What little I could read is about the same as other places (X, reddit/CAguns, caguns.net); maybe things will be different tomorrow.

            Liked by 1 person

  23. I will probably be burned for heresy for saying this, but I couldn’t care less about Epstein or his stupid island. I don’t think that teenagers should be counted as “children” in the endless pedophile-hunt. When I was one myself, about the only thing I was sure those junior sociopaths I grew up among were innocent of was the Lindbergh kidnapping. When I was fourteen, I was considered old enough (albeit with an adult as co-pilot) to drive a car—a two-ton Chugg-a-Bug of Death! But if I’d been caught having (OH HORRORS!) sex, the shrieks of outrage would have cracked the very firmament. Never mind that I never knew of anybody I knew dying of merely having sex, in and of itself—but I buried about five classmates who’d made critical failures around automobiles, one way or another.

    I’d be far more interested in that damned White House autopen—and just WHO was in control of it. It’s like a Great Seal back in the Middle Ages—it “authenticates” any document it’s used on. One of the big complaints against Edward II of England was that he let his best pal Piers Gaveston be in charge of the Great Seal of England, and nobody but Edward trusted him to be careful with it. He could have “pre-sealed” all sorts of blank parchments, and then filled in whatever, and there’d be no way to prove that the documents he’d pre-sealed had been done so without authorization.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I will probably be burned for heresy for saying this, but I couldn’t care less about Epstein or his stupid island. I don’t think that teenagers should be counted as “children” in the endless pedophile-hunt.

      No, we’ll just point out why that’s wrong.

      Know a lot more folks destroyed because their most intimate selves being a worthless thing that near-strangers could demand access too, and then complain about the quality of, and knowing a large number of folks with trauma they cannot admit because they killed their own first-born…. no. Children are children. Even if some of them have started puberty.

      Additionally– I was noted down, medically, as being a liar because I insisted I was not having sex. No medical examination involved, but I was 14 and thus must be having sex– so, you grew up in a very odd location.

      I also have been driving farm equipment since I was very small, and that resulted in a lot of outrage.

      The Epstein mess is in large part a result of trauma that is not allowed any other outlet, because so many people had their ability to pair-bond horrifically damaged by repeated bond-break-bond-break cycles that are required to be A Normal Person, and the realization that the “blob of tissue” was your own child, who you paid to slaughter, because you were Doing The Right Thing– well, finally there’s an outlet. Someone it’s allowed to hate, for doing a flashier version of what society has pushed for ages. And people are going nuts. You can see the same in the Catholic Priest scandals, where even accusations of assault by a priest who was in a different state and dead for five years were treated as rational.

      The folks who were The Youth Generation are dying. They are old. They are great-grandparents old. Many are alone, because of variations of Free Love, hammered into them when they were young teens. Many are alone because they killed their children– that it was because they were pressured into it, up to and including abandonment to die in the street if they did not, doesn’t change that. It’s been pulled back up by the horrible violation of what might have been worked out decades ago, Roe v Wade, was finally being overturned. So the wounds are opened back up, again, but with all that time of the hammering of “you must have sex, you must kill the results, the only safe sex is sterile,” and they are alone.

      And it’s driven them insane.

      ##############

      Yeah, the forged signatures is way more important as a national, legal consideration.

      It doesn’t have the gut level impact.

      Like

      1. Cons often go -way- overboard on incarcerated pedos. They get downright creative. I do understand why.

        Even such folkas they, sometimes sense that something is just inherently -wrong- in molesting children.

        Like

      2. I favor post-partum abortion up to age 85.

        I have a little list, starting with the House of Representatives and the Senate…

        Like

    2. A lot of European countries have “learner” licenses, sometimes coupled with “learner” license plates, before a teenager can learn to drive. Motorcycles are often limited to 125cc for the first year, etc.

      I’ve made some of them boggle be pointing out that where I live, any 16-year-old can get an Operator’s Permit (driver’s license) by taking a ten-minute written test and proving they can parallel park, and then climb into a Class A motorhome with a trailer (as long the the overall length doesn’t exceed 65 feet), get on the freeway, and put the hammer down, even if she has to sit on a stack of pillows to see over the dashboard.

      Like

  24. Obama is safe, barring an Impeachment as a going-away Eff-you.

    I begin to wonder. Just today it was reported that Obama was “on site” the day his chef drowned.

    Why are they telling us this today? Before now, it was Nothing to See Here Now Go Away. Tragic Accident. How Very DARE you enquire.

    There is NOTHING and NO ONE who is safe when the pod people come for them.

    Not even the Lightbringer.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Trump might not push for it.

      Remember that he ran on chants of “Lock her up!” in 2016. But when he was in office, nothing happened to Hillary Clinton.

      Like

      1. Because he had the naive belief that if he didn’t start such post-election retribution, they would also refrain.

        Was it ultimately HRC that induced it? She is irrationally vengeful. She makes roidbois look like Mimbari monks. Yes, she apparently really did rage-smash the noggin of her own driver while underway.

        That isnt sane, folks.

        If there is one thing for which I will thank Obama, shake his hand even, he first spared us HRC in the Oval Office. For that one thing, I can be persuaded to let go the rest, provided it stops.

        It wont, sadly. The left doesn’t understand that they are enabling trump by attacking him. If they just step back and ignore him until his term is up, then go back to proggyplotting their marxist utoipia, he would be largely defanged.

        But no, they must rage against the enemy. And like that rage-eating thing on Start Trek (TOS “Day of the Dove”), they just empower him with every dirty trick and outrage.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Because he had the naive belief that if he didn’t start such post-election retribution, they would also refrain.

          Which, again, is why I don’t understand your insistence elsewhere that it’s Trump who would be “crossing the Rubicon” if he prosecuted Obama. That ship has sailed.

          At this point, all we can do is demonstrate the FO.

          Like

  25. Oh, joy.

    WB is making an animated movie with an alternate universe “Aztec Batman”. And no, he’s apparently not on the side of the conquistadors.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Oh, and one of the conquistadors gets his face scarred by Aztec Batman, and paints it up so that he looks like a clown!

      /rolleyes

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        1. *Seconds scream*

          I saw a thumbnail of that on YT and refused to click. Because no. No. Batman would be with the conquistadors kicking down doors and burning things down, to rescue every slave and war captive – including children – destined for the altars.

          I want to have a word with someone. Possibly with a Vlad Special.

          Liked by 1 person

          2. Young Bruce-Wayne-localized saw his parents seized and dragged off for sacrifice. When the conquistadors arrived, he allied with them.

            Liked by 2 people

        1. Actually nope.

          Cortez got a scarred face and became a version of “Two Face”.

          One of “Batman’s” fellow Aztec Priests went insane, painted his face like a clown, and started Sacrificing Humans thus becoming a version of “Joker”.

          Never mind that historically all Aztec Priests sacrificed humans.

          Which is why historically the Spanish gained Mexican Allies because they hated the Aztecs for “kidnapping” their people to be sacrificed.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. That would probably be better than the slop that WB will push out.

            The best option would probably have been to make Batman a Tlaxacan. That was the biggest ally that aided Cortes. They were the ones who were able to successfully negotiate partial autonomy and rights with the Crown. But that would probably involve more nuance than WB’s writers can come up with.

            Liked by 1 person

            1. Nod.

              To make matters worse, WB is partnering with a Mexican group that likely was willing to ignore the historical facts about the Aztecs.

              Liked by 1 person

              1. Some of them aren’t ignoring the facts. They’re pulling the old “it’s not real -and if it does happen you oppressors deserve it” line.

                And then there’s a few who legit want to go back to the “old ways”, and figure they’ve got their preferred Western sacrifices already picked. Pfui.

                Like

  26. Amazon isn’t where you should be looking for censorship right now.

    A few months ago, word got out that Visa and MasterCard were both going after Japanese manga and anime companies. What they were saying was basically, “Do what we say, and follow these rules with the stuff that you use, or we cut you off, and no one can buy your stuff anymore using our credit cards.” And their credit cards are probably used in 99% of sales. So this threat is a big deal.

    And now just within the last few days, the situation has repeated itself in video games. First it happened with the online video game retail storefront Steam, and then today I saw reports that it happened with another company that apparently works similarly to Steam, but that I’m not familiar with. Steam was “asked” – and ultimately complied with the request – to delist a large number of games that are supposedly objectionable for things like sex with minors, etc… Reports are that at least one game on the second game retail storefront has actually been pulled from the libraries of people who have already purchased it.

    And there’s some small non-profit in Australia that’s apparently started publicly crowing about their coup in getting Steam to bow. The claim is apparently that this outfit put pressure on the credit card companies to go after Steam, and provided a list of games that Steam needed to delist.

    However, there are two problems –

    1.) Steam already carries out limited censorship, and won’t allow games with particularly obscene content. So while you can list a game that has porn in it, Steam won’t allow a game that has incest with the protagonist’s ten year old sister. They already check for that sort of thing, and if they find it they won’t put the game up for sale. So at least some of the claimed rationales are crap.

    2.) I haven’t checked the list of games that were removed on Steam to confirm. But reports are that there’s stuff that got pulled that doesn’t exactly fit the supposed reasons announced. That has people saying, “Hmm…”

    Gamers are used to having to deal with attempts to censor what should be reasonable game content, so there are already concerns that this is going to be escalated into the next GamerGate front. Steam has been *very* easygoing so far, and very open to indie developers (which is why most people don’t worry too much about its absolute market dominance in this area), which has helped block attempts by the big game developers to shovel woke DIE crap to gamers. But threatening Steam over the site’s ability to get paid could shut that down in a hurry.

    Getting back to Japan, the government has decided to get involved in support of their manga and anime industries. They don’t intend to roll over while outside groups try to censor some of the country’s most famous industries. The decision to get involved was just made within the last few days, so it’s too early to say how the government will react.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Kicking Gamers? YGBFSM. That exceeds “stupid”.

      And Anime/Manga and the derivative (NSFW) stuff is an economic powerhouse in Japan. I think they would prefer to lose Mitsubishi Industries in total than allow that publishing niche to get gelded. Again, YGBFSM

      Sigh. The last years of my life are going to be a large measure of YGBFSM and “Am I hallucinating? Seriously?”

      Like

      1. Anime and manga don’t just represent economic power. They’re one of the greatest forms of soft power available to Japan.

        So, yeah, it’s very much in Japan’s own interest to block anyone who attempts to meddle with those mediums.

        Like

  27. Pingback: Instapundit » Blog Archive » DON’T: Spin.

  28. It rather feels like the administration is playing a game of jenga whack-a-mole. They have an enormous number of possible targets, but which can they hit without bringing it all down?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Good arms and upper body workout. Use a light hammer in each hand and go for speed/endurance. As you gain, slowly up the hammer weight, always something you can move fast.

      Like

  29. Our hostess said

    In the same way, if you’re still spinning over Epstein don’t be. Look, it was OBVIOUSLY a planted spin because they knew Tulsi Gabbard was about to lower the boom on the Obamanation.

    And indeed this is a classic bit of Obama/Obama handlers tradecraft often referred to as stray voltage. If you know the feces are about to strike the whirling blades, make sure some unrelated feces hit the blades first so your much larger deposit is ignored or mistaken as a response to your news. This is a tell or an M.O. that points to Obama as clearly as autopen signature indicates the Biden herd have been acting. One does not have to have the little gray cells of Hercule Poirot to know that it is not the butler that did it.

    Liked by 1 person

  30. So…

    Recently (possibly just a couple of days ago) a new app was made available on phones that’s called “TEA”. The idea behind the app is that women can post troubling bits of information about guys that they’ve encountered, particularly guys that they’ve gone on dates with. i.e. “I went out with this guy, and he turned into a stalker,” etc…

    That’s the idea, anyway. Whether it would actually be used for that is a discussion for another time. But that’s the officially declared reason for the app.

    The app is members only, and you have to “prove” that you’re a woman by providing a photo of yourself and a picture of an official photo ID, such as a drivers license or passport. These pictures are uploaded, and presumably some form of checking is done to confirm that the pictures look like women, and not men. Mind you, it doesn’t sound that difficult for a guy to get around those requirements, but that’s what I’ve heard.

    All of those photos were stored in a database.

    An unencrypted database.

    A *PUBLIC* unencrypted database. Which someone quickly found.

    Hoo boy…

    Like

    1. Yeah, that app sounds like the latest incarnation of “let’s write the names of college guys we don’t like on bathroom mirrors under the word rapist” from the 90s.

      Only this incarnation is even less anonymous than the original.

      Liked by 1 person

  31. “(Obama’s) legal shield, ironically, may come courtesy of Donald Trump himself. “President Trump’s immunity victory last year in the Supreme Court’s gonna protect Barack Obama. Barack Obama should send a thank-you card to Donald Trump,”“

    –

    Quote from an article on why Obama won’t be frog marched into a court room, ever. OTOH anyone else? Depending on timelines and statue of limitations, probable.

    Also regarding Obama:

    “But while Obama may avoid prosecution, that doesn’t mean he’s off the hook entirely. “You could imagine a scenario where they lay out a conspiracy, and Barack Obama is named as an unindicted co-conspirator,” Solomon continued. “That would be one hell of a legacy for the 44th president.”“

    –

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    1. Counter argument.

      “Democrats branded the ruling as the Supreme Court granting “blanket immunity” for presidents, but that’s not what it does at all. While the Court recognized a degree of immunity for official acts of the presidency, it drew a sharp line between what a president does in his constitutional role and what he does as a private individual or political actor.“

      –

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      1. If Trump crosses the Rubicon of prosecuting a predecessor, it will be for something much bigger than “he was mean to me”.

        Ridicule and destruction of rep? Those are in play already.

        If he does go hammers and tongs prosecuting prior presidents, his successor won’t dare allow an election to occur, without some sort of safe harbor guarantee.

        Past flunkies, however, that’s just political Skeet, at this point.

        If regime prosecution becomes the norm, I would expect targeted violence to follow. That then rapidly escalates. Then the system fails and we reshuffle the deck. Too much at stake.

        I think Trump values the country more than personal satisfaction at destroying foes. For which we should be grateful.

        Now, to stir the pot, we should put Harriet Tubman on the $20, Reagan on the $100, and Trump on the reintroduced $500.

        Like

        1. If Trump crosses the Rubicon of prosecuting a predecessor,

          I’m genuinely curious why you refuse to admit that Rubicon has already been crossed as of Jan 6 2021.

          Like

        2. Agree.

          I am not advocating prosecuting Obama, himself. Discrediting him. Destroying his legacy with the truth while he is still around to know how his actions strengthened the very foundation of the United States because the masses learned the bitter truth on how too easily we could have lost everything. Worse, for Obama, look at what he has done to Mexico? Even Canada? Be ironic if indirectly because of Obama that the US expands, but only to include Canada provinces who clamor to join (no invasion required) with the other territories already have? Not exactly what Obama and company had in mind. They want US kneeling (I mean US both ways, our country, and us). That he and they failed is the bitter pill that he has to be swallow. Oh, bankrupting him would be a bonus. Leaving him with just his pension and secret service he is due for the 8 years, is enough (more than most have, but can’t have everything). Oh, he has to live in Chicago too.

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        4. Leave Obama/Hillary and their *immediate* subordinates alone in term of jail time. Humiliate them, make them political untouchables useful mostly as bad examples. Everyone at least 2 levels down? Jail time. Doesn’t matter how vile the guy at the top is – he needs flunkies to get things done.

          Like

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