I hear they had 66 positive tests out of ~1,000.

https://www.13abc.com/2020/07/14/dozens-test-positive-for-covid-on-put-in-bay/

Keep yourself safe. :)

Rolling onto the ferry and seeing the unprotected, unfazed crowd, I couldn't help but think of "lemmings." More so when we approached the dock at Put-In-Bay and the crowds got bigger and drunker.

Once we cleared the town and got out on the water we were probably safer than at home. Biggest risk was sunburn. At least until we had to get on the ferry and had to roll down the window to present our ticket for the trip home.

Normally I would have been upset about the Mayflies...which were pretty thick this year. I think we were one day past peak.

Except to say that I wouldn't be surprised if Comey ends up as AG in a Biden administration because, Biden will be looking for the best!

No way in Hell will that happen. Too many conflicts of interest.

I think you are quite right about that.

I don't have to see Comey's testimony. I don't need links fed to me, and I haven't seen the new column yet.

Longstanding protocol should always apply. If it is determined that it shouldn't be, there's likely a reason for taking that direction, and it's likely not just one person driving that determination. :)

I agree.

But, given what happened in 2016 and how polarizing a figure Hillary is, I think it best that she not be too publically involved this time around.

Do you think Hillary should campaign for Biden, following all Pandemic I rules and protocols, of course?

She's been doing it for multiple months now, and I know he calls her for advice. There's more than one way to campaign for a candidate.

You won't be surprised to hear that I think she should just leave well enough alone.

Too late for that. She's already involved and has been involved for a long time. Al Gore made a huge mistake when he shunned Bill Clinton during his campaign. Biden would be equally stupid to do likewise. If you see her coming out to campaign publicly for Biden beyond the normal convention "goings on," it'll be out of necessity and won't be a good sign.

Early voting begins in some states in less than 60 days. People keep talking about campaigning as if it's going to be starting any day now... when, in fact, it's been well underway for months now... campaigning pandemic style but still going on. I think the pandemic has changed forever the way lots of things are going to be done in the future. :)

The bottom line is that I am so done with the Clintons, all of them who aren't into bringing da funk.

I love you, too, Kick.

Except to say that I wouldn't be surprised if Comey ends up as AG in a Biden administration because, Biden will be looking for the best!

Did Comey divulge that Trump was being investigated simultaneously? No, he did not? Why?

Too obvious to repeat here.

You really need to review Comey's congressional testimony on this issue.

I think Hillary lost because she didn't campaign well. In the final analysis, she has only herself to blame.

In normal "final analysis"... just saying... people don't insist that things happen for only one reason:

* Bill Clinton "alone" is to blame for Comey's actions *shakes head*

* Hillary Clinton has "only herself to blame." Wouldn't that preclude blaming Bill Clinton as you are wont to do?

Oh, how can I get my point across? *thinks*

Okay, got it. You know how Don Harris blames "Big Money" for every damn thing? Right. Don't fall into that rut. I wouldn't take the time to explain it to you except that I think you're worth it. :)

Too obvious to repeat here.

You really need to review Comey's congressional testimony on this issue.

And, what do you think would have been the reaction if Comey had just said that there would be no charges in the Clinton case without any further explanation?

You're making our point.

Comey cares deeply about the reputation of the FBI and he argues that reputation could very well have been severely damaged by acting other than the way he did. A classic case of damned if you do it one way, damned for sure if you do it another way.

That's obviously part of the "directing" job. So why wouldn't you err on the side of following longstanding rules? Did Comey divulge that Trump was being investigated simultaneously? No, he did not? Why not?

Comey is a decent and honourable public servant thrust into political chaos with no good options.

Partly factual. He had a great option of following longstanding protocol.

It will be infinitely instructive for you to review Comey's testimony before Congress on this matter.

I'm ever lurking! Stay safe as well...

:)

You're not following along, Russ.

He appears to be following along quite nicely and not making the mistake of "assuming" facts not in evidence and excluding a myriad of other facts and factors.

There is no Comey press conference if Bill doesn't board the AG's plane.

Oh, I quite disagree. Lynch could have been shamed into that decision in any number of other ways, and Comey and other actors at the FBI weren't just chess pieces sitting around waiting to be moved. Quite the contrary.

It doesn't get any simpler than that.

I don't think Russ would disagree that your explanation is simple; that's the major flaw in it... (just saying like it's 88 degrees). Comey wasn't some wallflower sitting there uninvolved in the events of the day who just got coaxed into speaking because of one decision made by Clinton to visit Lynch on a tarmac and another decision made by Lynch to allow the visit. Comey was the Director of the FBI. Directors have this job of directing things; it's in the title. :)

well it certainly wasn't george clinton!

Roger* Heh.

___________________

* Not to be confused with "Roger" Clinton.

But, absent Bill Clinton, he wouldn't have been so PUBLICALLY involved. And, that's the whole point.

I'm pretty sure Comey knows which Clinton to blame for getting him involved in this mess and it wasn't the presidential candidate and her email server.

He was the Director of the FBI, for _____ sake; he was already involved!

She sure shootin' could have.

Well, Comey said it did and, I'm with Comey.

You seem "married" to your beliefs, but you're wrong about this one... for multiple reasons.

And, it wasn't just that Bill boarded her plane on a tarmac in Phoenix for 30 minutes but, that he did so just days before his wife was to be interviewed by the FBI. This changed everything.

No, it likely didn't... because Bill Clinton wasn't the only driver of events at the time. If you can't get to your destination because the highway is shut down, you simply take a different road.

Who knows what Bill was thinking when he boarded that plane days before Hillary's FBI interview but, it doesn't matter.

Bill Clinton knows. Who knows what Lynch was thinking when she allowed it? Lynch. She could have come up with a million reasons not to open the plane door, but she allowed it.

And, Bill should have known better.

You think he didn't know better? Why would someone that did know better take an action anyway? Other factors.

Glad we could clear that up. :)

“It is 74 degrees outside right now and you have no idea how public safety agencies work.”

74... I want some of that.

Thanks for making the music suggestion in my absence....great choice!

:)

Sad thing is, it fits Trump to a "T".

Do you think Hillary should campaign for Biden, following all Pandemic I rules and protocols, of course?

You won't be surprised to hear that I think she should just leave well enough alone.

I would wager they might both be called again. Hope so. :)

Oh, you and me, both!

Looks like even Big Money can't buy you love.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBSpmoA8V78

I said that opinion should be informed by the matter of fact that Bill Clinton's help was at least one magnitude of order more beneficial to Trump in that he and he alone paved the way to Comey's involvement to the extent that it helped Trump in the first place - honourable as Comey's involvement was, it should be stated.

I know... and I said "no, no, no, no, no." I'm only taking issue with you keep saying him "alone."

In other words, without the inordinately stupid actions of Bill Clinton, there is no Comey press conference on July 5 with regard to the Clinton emails and server and little or no public involvement by Comey after that.

It's more complicated than that. There were other factors guiding Comey's decision. I have no reason to lie about this.

It would have been AG Lynch who would have been called to testify before Congress and she, I might add, would have had quite a lot of explaining to do!

Comey made a choice; he could have chosen otherwise regardless of Clinton's actions and Lynch's actions. I think Comey would have been called also. I would wager they might both be called again. Hope so. :)

Made a real difference in what? Her defeat? I'm already on record saying that the only person who could have made a difference is Hillary, herself.

Honestly, no worse than their reaction was with his explanation! It is not the explanation that was the problem. Her offense did not rise to the level that it warranted charges being fired. That’s all he needed to say to explain his decision. It was after that when he started going off on everything he thought she should have done differently that was not his place to hold a fucking news conference so he could share his personal opinion with the world!!! The moment that he stopped speaking on behalf of the FBI and began sharing his personal opinions is where I had a problem.

Comey cares deeply about the reputation of the FBI and he argues that reputation could very well have been severely damaged by acting other than the way he did.

Liz, if you think Comey did what was needed to be done and that it made a real difference, then maybe you can explain why Republicans still scream “Lock her up!”??? Trump has severely damaged the DOJ and FBI in this country in ways that Comey’s inaction could have never done!

Glad you were able to distance from the cray-cray and still enjoy a bit of fishing. Rural or urban, we've all got to keep our eyes on the ball to stay safe.

I think Hillary lost because she didn't campaign well. In the final analysis, she has only herself to blame.

These were unprecedented times and I believe Comey made the best of a very bad situation.

Comey cares deeply about the reputation of the FBI and he argues that reputation could very well have been severely damaged by acting other than the way he did. A classic case of damned if you do it one way, damned for sure if you do it another way.

Comey is a decent and honourable public servant thrust into political chaos with no good options.

I'm ever lurking! Stay safe as well...

There is no Comey press conference if Bill doesn't board the AG's plane.

It doesn't get any simpler than that.

Comey chose to give that damn press conference where he chose to criticize Clinton’s actions AFTER he said they did not rise to the level where charges were recommended — breaking with how the FBI conducts press conferences announcements. His “opinion” was not appropriate nor welcomed under DOJ guidelines regarding interfering with current presidential elections. Yet, Hillary still received over 3 million more votes than Trump. So I guess unless we can find swing state voters who only decided to vote for Trump AFTER & BECAUSE OF Comey’s press conference, it’s really a moot point.

You'll have to bring more of that or, how do you say, bring da funk? on Sunday ...

But just think about how much funkier it would have been if it had been him?!?!

I got a contact high just typing about him!

https://youtu.be/3HU-KdHmYeA

So when the President is under investigation by federal agencies, they should not have any contact with the Attorney General or Directors of the FBI, CIA, or any of the other intelligence agencies, is that it?

Of course, not! Not sure who the 'they' are that you're referring to, though.

AG Loretta Lynch would have been quite right to recuse herself but, that isn't actually what she did. She merely committed to deferring to the FBI Director on whether charges should result from the Clinton email investigation - an investigation, not coincidentally, she wanted Comey to call a "matter".

And, it wasn't just that Bill boarded her plane on a tarmac in Phoenix for 30 minutes but, that he did so just days before his wife was to be interviewed by the FBI. This changed everything.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that, given the deeply polarized political landscape that exists in your country and given the context of a highly corrosive presidential election campaign, this meeting became an issue that forced the AG to concede in public that she would defer to the FBI recommendation on whether Hillary should be charged.

Who knows what Bill was thinking when he boarded that plane days before Hillary's FBI interview but, it doesn't matter. This is a classic case of appearances taking over. Besides, if Bill's intent was nefarious then he didn't have to come right out and converse with the AG about his wife and her FBI interview to get a message across to the AG. I don't actually believe that happened but, appearances trump reality. And, Bill should have known better.

So when the President is under investigation by federal agencies, they should not have any contact with the Attorney General or Directors of the FBI, CIA, or any of the other intelligence agencies, is that it?

Really?

I personally think that it was the AG’s fault for removing herself from the process simply because she had an unrelated personal contact with Bill! If Bill wanted to ask a favor, he has her cell and home phone numbers in his Rolodex, I am quite certain! He isn’t gonna do it in public! Yes, it is great that she did not want there to be anything that people could point to and say that the outcome was tainted... but it’s the GOP we are talking about! They are gonna lie and cry like bitches no matter what!

I was gone when you asked me for a song suggestion. I literally posted and got a phone call the moment I hit the “Submit Comment” button.

Based on this post, I feel confident that you have absolutely no idea how public safety agencies work! I am not saying this to insult you, I am stating this just as I would any other factual statement: “It is 74 degrees outside right now and you have no idea how public safety agencies work.”

As an E911 call receiver, I had a notebook filled with different agencies that I would direct callers to in order to provide them with the assistance they needed. Yes, I worked at one of the premier call centers in the country, but what you were describing is something public safety agencies have been doing for years.

Have you ever done a ride along with your local police to see for yourself what their jobs are like and what all it is that they do? I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that you haven’t. Do you know which calls are the most dangerous for police? The ones that seem the least likely to result in danger and therefore the officer lets their guard down.

Traffic stops are especially dangerous. The officer pulls a person over for a minor violation, not knowing that the driver just killed his family. The driver believes that the officer must be stopping him for the murders and has his gun ready to fire the moment the officer reaches his window. See, many shootings start when officers are called to “loud music” or similar complaints that are not normally violent. That is why all officers need to be armed and wearing protective gear when responding to all types of calls!

My ex-supervisor’s husband was a detective who was on his way home when he volunteered to take a noise complaint call because the department had calls backing up. Normally, detectives do not respond to service calls like this, but he was being helpful. He knocked on the door, radioed in that there was no answer but he could hear the TV blaring...and then it sounded like an explosion and his radio went silent. He was shot through the door and he bled out before medics could get to him. Every potential E911 call receiver listens to that call and other similarly heartbreaking and tragic calls as part of their training class. I have seen people walk out of the room and never come back after listening to these types of calls. There are no calls that cannot turn into a shitstorm in the blink of an eye!

What you are suggesting would probably triple the number of people needed on every shift at a time when most departments are understaffed. I know this will surprise you to learn, but federal intelligence agencies are probably the only employers who do back ground checks on applicants that are as thorough as those done by police departments. That is why departments have such a hard time filling empty positions, there are not enough qualified applicants.

Your plan will have 3x the number of full time staff that sit around for hours waiting for their type of call to come in. Cost efficient? NO WAY! Not when one officer can currently handle the calls you describe and even they will sometimes sit for hours doing nothing on slow nights.

Thanks for making the music suggestion in my absence....great choice!

-R

Looks like even Big Money can't buy you love.

No, no, no, no, no. Trust me on this already, please. Bill Clinton "alone" did not pave the way to Comey's involvement. :)

I said that opinion should be informed by the matter of fact that Bill Clinton's help was at least one magnitude of order more beneficial to Trump in that he and he alone paved the way to Comey's involvement to the extent that it helped Trump in the first place - honourable as Comey's involvement was, it should be stated.

In other words, without the inordinately stupid actions of Bill Clinton, there is no Comey press conference on July 5 with regard to the Clinton emails and server and little or no public involvement by Comey after that. It would have been AG Lynch who would have been called to testify before Congress and she, I might add, would have had quite a lot of explaining to do!

Then, one day, after a game at Maple Leaf Gardens I got his autograph and many other of the Flyers. They had just lost to Toronto and none of them were very happy or in anywhere close to good moods - but they all took the time to sign their autographs!

Clarke retired soon after and I lost interest, as I usually do. Mostly because, ironically enough being a Broad Street bullies fan, the fighting got to be ridiculous, especially the inordinate amount of cheering for it coming from the stands.

I hope y'all were able to watch the video of Gowan's A Criminal Mind.

I listened to them all. In regard to your Canadian theme, are you a hockey fan?

Next time, tell him to post the damn link!

Okay, but if I do it like that, I'll get busted for my potty mouth. ;)

That doesn't sound too practical ...

We already have that last-resort force. It's just that the last-resort option is also the first resort.

Are you familiar with the model in Camden, NJ

Not Particularly. Here's what WaPo has to say:

In reality, Camden’s police restructuring was deeply undemocratic and involved a doubling-down on “broken windows” policing strategies that increased excessive-force complaints. It was only tireless efforts from local activists and watchdogs that eventually pressured the new police force to adopt a new force policy requiring officers to avoid escalation, training them to do so and requiring them to intercede if another officer was incorrectly using force. It is this local activism — not disbanding the police force — that is the key to understanding the gains made in Camden.

Dead on accurate, John M.

By the way, they are finding that even those who had such a mild case they didn't even know they had it, if you now x-ray their lungs, their lungs show scar tissue and diminished capacity. Like if you get even very mild pneumonia but recover, you can still end up with chronic asthma, or COPD, etc. years later. No one knows yet what the long term effects will be even for those who had only a mild case, since it can lead to inflammation of your other organs as well that you may not even detect or notice at the time, especially your heart, liver and kidneys.

There can be serious effects on the brain too and blood clotting throughout the body.

For some patients, their immune systems fight off COVID-19 and do a great job of expelling the virus... so much so that they go into "overdrive" and their own immune response begins attacking them (happening in children too). It's called a "cytokine storm" and not unique to COVID-19.

https://www.idse.net/Covid-19/Article/03-20/COVID-19-Brings-Cytokine-Storm/58061

Well, for the record then, that opinion should be informed by the matter of fact that Bill Clinton's help was at least one magnitude of order more beneficial to the Russians' in that he and he alone paved the way to Comey's involvement to the extent that it helped the Russians in the first place - honourable as Comey's involvement was, it should be stated.

"He and he alone." *shakes head*

No, no, no, no, no. Trust me on this already, please. Bill Clinton "alone" did not pave the way to Comey's involvement. :)

Dang, TS. Stay safe! :)

Again, as long as you are making the issue about HOW I comment you don't have to address the points I make in my comments.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. He doesn't have to address the points you're making at all; in fact, no one does. No one needs a reason not to address them either; however, that's not to say that you don't provide multiple reasons.

Deflection and rationalization with the rationalization based on what you want to believe instead of reality.

It's a fairly common trait of people that they will indeed believe what they want to believe. Don't knock it until you've tried it... oh, wait!

Very nice! :)

And we need a last-resort option, people who are authorized, equipped, and trained to use force when necessary.

That doesn't sound too practical ...

Are you familiar with the model in Camden, NJ where they disbanded, reimagined and reworked the police department?

Represents Donald Trump, which was who Russ's post was about. :)

You got a song in there, somewhere, Russ?

The song that represents Russ's post:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwfmbXJEBtY

We need to have first-responders for general-purpose emergency assistance. When you call "911 or your local emergency access number", as the phone-answering computers always say, with something that doesn't need either a fire truck or an ambulance, and the dispatcher decides it needs to have a human being sent to deal with it, there has to be some department, some category of municipal employees, that they refer the call to.

We need to have criminal investigations. When there's probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed, that is likely warrant prosecution, there has to be some department, some category of municipal employees, that gathers evidence.

And we need a last-resort option, people who are authorized, equipped, and trained to use force when necessary.

When all three of those things go together in one department, that's police.

Having police makes as much sense as designing one tool to be both a hammer and a desktop computer, when you know that most of the time it will actually be used as a life jacket. We need hammers. We need computers. And we need life jackets. But we don't need hammer-computers stockpiled on ships, ready to be handed out if the ship sinks. Abolish police.

In the short run, I think it will cost more. Transitions always bring SNAFUs, and there are sunk costs involved in doing it the old way. So I don't want to frame it as though it were an immediate savings, even though I think that, in the long run, doing it more efficiently will save money.

I have seen multiple stories on this, but they always start Trump’s quote at “A friend of mine said...” and fail to include Trump’s mumbling the, “I’ve got to be...” Why leave that out?

I know, right!?

We all know that anytime he says anything along the lines of, “people are saying”, what he truly means is “I want you to believe this about me!”

Trump wants everyone to believe he's the perfect person when he doesn't even believe that himself. If he believed he was perfect, he wouldn't wear lifts in his shoes, smear his fat face with orange bronzer, and wear a tie that reached halfway to the ground in order to cover his girth... am I right!?

This ain't rocket science. :)

Charles Brown, Esq.! Good to "see" you.

Stay safe. :)

The WHAT is simply they published private emails of the DNC and prominent Dems that showed that Hillary and her allies had stacked the Dem primaries against Sanders, and the HOW is to conclude that Sanders' supporters would be so angry, they'd vote for Trump instead of Hillary.

That argument is so prima fascia stupid as to hardly be worthy of refutation!

It's your argument, and it definitely fits your description. Congratulations on pinpointing your problem.

Everybody's submissions were really good, I thought. If I get a chance to come to another Sunday, there is simply no telling the stuff I'll post due to love of chord changes -- even stuff other people would consider "silly" -- because of the genius behind the music/chord combinations/changes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ZHlp6atUQ

It's one of my favorite movie scenes and favorite operas also. My father was such a fan of Mozart, this is what we grew up listening and playing. He also loved Sinatra and the Beatles and British pop/rock so it's not all boring.

I was going by memory when I quoted that -- and under the influence of rum and Coca-Cola -- so naturally I goobed up the quote:

EDIT 105

I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don't wanna know. Some things are best left unsaid. I like to think they were singing about something so beautiful it can't be expressed in words and makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free.

It pissed the warden off something awful. ~ "Red" Redding

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzuM2XTnpSA&t
(the movie scene)

I love all kinds of music, you name it, but especially love music with awesome chord changes and music that mixes the theatrical with pop/rock... what they called "progressive rock"... Queen (Freddie Mercury, genius), Elton John (genius), Genesis, Phil Collins solo, Peter Gabriel solo, lots and lots from Britain, the aforementioned Beatles... Electric Light Orchestra, Stevie Wonder (genius), Brian Wilson (genius) and too numerous to list from America.

Don't even get me started on the classics; I love too many of them, especially Mozart (genius), Beethoven (genius), Rachmaninoff... okay, they're all geniuses... John Williams, Lin-Manuel Miranda... the list is endless.

continued...

I don't have anything good to say about either one of them.

"I remain pretty skeptical about the whole thing, wondering if it makes sense to destroy the national economy over a minor 'plague' that is so mild that a high percentage of it's victims don't even realize they were infected. I don't know single person that got it, much less anybody who died from it."

Come to Miami Florida, or Houston Texas, or Phoenix Arizona and ask all the people who have lost a loved one in the ICU who died alone in a gruesome way if it is just a "minor" illness. Or look at all the newly installed refrigerated trucks to hold all the bodies overflowing from the morgue.

By the way, they are finding that even those who had such a mild case they didn't even know they had it, if you now x-ray their lungs, their lungs show scar tissue and diminished capacity. Like if you get even very mild pneumonia but recover, you can still end up with chronic asthma, or COPD, etc. years later. No one knows yet what the long term effects will be even for those who had only a mild case, since it can lead to inflammation of your other organs as well that you may not even detect or notice at the time, especially your heart, liver and kidneys.

I guess this is what passes for an edit function around here. :(

Well, for the record then, that opinion should be informed by the matter of fact that Bill Clinton's help was at least one magnitude of order more beneficial to the Russians' in that he and he alone paved the way to Comey's involvement to the extent that it helped the Russians in the first place - honourable as Comey's involvement was, it should be stated.

Address the point I DID make!

I absolutely did address your "point".

You took a statement made by Mueller and then you said that lefties need to explain his conclusions for you because that "would reveal the pathetic weakness of your contention".

Small isolated populations can blow up with COVID pretty quickly. I witnessed such at Bass Island Lake Erie during the lead up to the 4th of July. Crossed over from the on the Ferry from the safety of a sealed pickup cab on a ferry with about 500 unmasked college kids standing/sitting shoulder to shoulder - or closer. The ferry makes 6 crossings per day.

As we drove through town we encountered crowds of unmasked party goers on the waterfront, heading to the bars, or in the bars. No masks among the revelers. The manager of the local liquor store was in a panic and couldn't believe that those in charge of public safety had not thought shut the island down. Unlike other establishments, he was taking the longer view of profitability. We stayed isolated on the boat, and caught enough bass to eat well (the walleye were napping). Not the best trip, but far from the worst. Home for the 4th, some sunburn, insect bites, but no coughs no fevers. Probably should have stayed home, but we had reservations, tradition - and we did take recommended precautions.

Put-In_Bay has not fared so well. The Island's Summer Work Force are showing the array of COVID symptoms. The Coast Guard is testing the "hospitality industry" of the island.

https://fox8.com/news/national-guard-health-officials-begin-testing-all-put-in-bay-employees-for-covid-19-after-outbreak/

The college students and their viruses have dispersed to the mainland. I have witnessed what appears to be a "super spreader event."