The 'Gravitas Gap' Continues To Widen

Don't worry, be happy:

Obama Heads to Dem Fundraiser After Ukraine Remarks: 'Officially Happy Hour With the Democratic Party'

To be fair, I'd be drinking too. Maybe after a few rounds the President can lead a chorus of "Red Line".

 

Comments

[rich@gmu]

he could invite Vlad over for a vodka summit.

[Miss Marple]

This is both embarrassing and dangerous.

I am to the point I expect to see Russian paratroopers like in "Red Dawn."

And frankly, I wouldn't be that upset.

[narciso]

Ahem, TM

http://twitchy.com/2014/02/28/i-could-see-this-one-from-alaska-hey-journos-stupid-sarah-palin-was-right-about-ukraine-all-along/

also that fellow who ran for office, I forget his name, had a point as well,

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/02/russia-invades-ukraine-obama-declares-happy-hour.php

Listen to the short video. It is something.
Obama says has the authority to declare happy hour & then points out someone else who is "pickin' up the tab".
It is unbelievable.

[Danube on iPad]

Were it not for this fool's race, the national embarrassment over his ineptitude would exceed that felt about Jimmy Carter.

[Stephanie]

Meh. The 'folks' picking up the tab will just tax deduct it.

We need to add it to the recipients' taxable income for fairness.

[rich@gmu]

good grief.

[narciso]

there's also this detail;

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2570335/Former-British-Ambassador-Moscow-warns-Russia-invaded-Ukraine-difficult-avoid-going-war.html

do they have any political analyts worth there salt, I don't spasibo and I could figure it out,

[rich@gmu]

he really said that.

[Captain Hate]

Jimmy Carter, in his own inept awkward way, at least exhibited concern over the results of his dumbass policies and would never have gone to a fundraiser at a time like this.

[narciso]

Well he reluctantly acknowledge his stupidity and reversed some policies after the Afghan invasion,

[Captain Hate]

A Tammy Army ally attacks DeCommio:

http://twitchy.com/2014/02/28/few-things-piss-me-off-more-jedediah-bila-shreds-bill-de-blasio-for-war-on-charter-schools/

[narciso]

Yes Mayor Bane, proved even stupider then I though possible,

[Jane]

He is such an asshole.

[Jim Eagle]

Jedediah you are blowing in the cold, cold wind of NYC where more LIV live than the rest of the universe.

[rich@gmu]

the president? the mayor?

it is a target rich environment.

[Ignatz]

We're heading, I'm afraid, for bad things which will make the last five years of bad things seem small.
Incompetence and bad policies take time to ferment into gall.

[Jim Eagle]

Early bred tonight.

Slaaap Lekker, tots morgen!

[narciso]

smart as a whip this guy;

http://twitchy.com/2014/02/28/jake-tapper-obama-does-not-seem-like-someone-who-has-more-flexibility/

[rich@gmu]

another issue in the news (going ot)

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101452976

>>>The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has filed its first lawsuit against a for-profit educational company, accusing ITT Educational Services of making predatory loans to its students.<<<

>>>According to the bureau, the ITT misled prospective students by overstating job prospects and likely salaries after graduation. In reality, the lawsuit claims, ITT knew the most students (about 64 percent, by its own estimate) would default on their loans and not finish school.<<<

[Ignatz]

--Slaaap Lekker, tots morgen!--

I can't be the only one who thinks that sounds a little naughty, can I?

[Frau Wasserkopf]

"He (Warren Wilhelm, Jr.) is such an a predictable asshole.

FIFY,Jane a/o Sydney

[Captain Hate]

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

That is the scam organization created by Dodd/Frank (thanks a lot, Scotty Centerfold) and headed by that skidmark from Ohio, Cordray, for whom McRINO caved on a recess appointment. Shocking that ITT is held to higher standards than kollidges and younivercities on predicting employment prospects in this wonderful economy.

[narciso]

this was the other Keibler pic I promised;

[Frau Wasserkopf]

"Sleep tasty until tomorrow."

What's not to like, Iggy?

[Frau Schiessgewehr]

Are those in CA and CT just going to roll over as gun rights are being destroyed?

If it happens there, won't it happen in your state?

[Captain Hate]

Thanks, narc; I'll be in my bunk for a few seconds.

[Ignatz]

I'm not sure if it's naughtier in German or English, Frau. :)

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

What should we do, Frau? I tell ya, I don't know what to do.
Extraneus brought that up awhile ago....what realistically will a law abiding individual do if government comes for our guns?

Where is Extraneus?

[Ignatz]

Is there something new going on in CA Frau, gunwise?

[narciso]

that was a little casual for a party dontcha think:

http://www.interpretermag.com/ukraine-liveblog-day-11-airports-seized/#0135

[Frau Schiessgewehr]

Iggy -
CA attempts to invalidate 9th Circuit decision.
LUN

[Frau Schiessgewehr]

"Slaap lekker" may be naughtier in Belgian/Duch. JiB can let us know. I think it's cute.

[Steve]

Live Streaming the Ukrainian Crisis from Kiev:

http://commoncts.blogspot.com/2014/02/live-stream-ukraine-protest.html

[Frau Schiessgewehr]

Janet, I believe only numbers will decide the battles. There are a lot of us out here. I still dream of surrounding the WH with mature, polite citizens of all ages.
(I might throw a shoe in leaving the scene.)

[sbwaters]

Always thought it meant "sleep deliciously."

[Skoot]

Vlad just left an Uncontested Arrival in Zero's mouth.

[matt]

en banc was expected, gnaedige Frau. The freaks in Sacramento have no other choice in their fascist agenda. The Supremes will most likely see this case and the law nationally is well established. With the exception of the Blue Hells reasonable concealed carry is the law of the land.

In those Blue Hells the fact that the cops are usually stretched so thin they can't respond within a reasonable time is a very strong factor. The right to self defense is a given, and yet New York, Connecticut California and Illinois make a mockery of public safety in many locales. Oakland, Chicago, and DC come to mind most quickly.

I think slaap lekker may be Flemish. You know those Flems. A lusty bunch they are. It's either them or those wild and crazy Walloons.

[Ignatz]

Commie-ala Harris seeking to overturn the 9th's decision was to be expected Frau. I'd have been shocked if she hadn't.

Nothing matters until it gets to the SCOTUS which, with different circuits ruling differently, it surely will.

[Ignatz]

Or, alternately, what matt said.

[narciso]

Interesting Radchenko, I mean Zhironovsky, pops up in that Interpreter piece, yes it'd Dutch,

[miss Marple]

Testing. Can't get on from my PC, so thought I would try iPad.

[miss Marple]

Ah, it worked!

[narciso]

this is some of the deep think, that Sandy Burglar engaged in;

http://clintonlibrary.gov/assets/storage/Research%20-%20Digital%20Library/formerlywithheld/2008-0702-F.pdf

[narciso]

so he may have come from Syria, he may have been born in Texas, but we're confident he's the right target

http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2014/02/american_jihadist_in_pakistan.php

[Jim Rhoads f/k/a vnjagvet]

Were it not for this fool's race, the national embarrassment over his ineptitude would exceed that felt about Jimmy Carter.

We only had four years to endure Carter. El Jefe's performances in Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico -- and the list goes on and on -- far surpass Carter's ineptitude in Iran. If El Jefe were a white Republican, he'd have been hounded out of office by now. If he were a white Democrat, I'm not so sure. Being a black Democrat, he is untouchable.

[Danube on iPad]

"The Czech 1938 analogy seems apt, not to mention France 1940"

(Narc from the previous thread.) Never forget Budapest 1956.

Historically, except for a period of a brief half-century, it hasn't been about communism. It's been about Russia. It is now, and it always will be. Communism was a spectacularly foolish idea that has been thumpingly discredited everywhere in the world except North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia. "Russia" has had its own unique meaning for millenia.

I doubt that either Hillary Clinton or John Kerry has the slightest inkling of any of this.

[Frau Dolmetscherin]

sbw - you are more eloquent than I. In German, a pretty girl can be described as "lecker" which is generally applied to food.

IMHO (ducking and running)- there is not a lot of difference between Dutch and Flemish, the latter being Belgisch-Nederlands or Vlaams.
As with Ukraine, the national borders were not drawn along linguistic boundaries. The lower Rhine and Holland are closely related, linguistically speaking.

[narciso]

True they thought themselves, the Third Rome, the heir to Constantinople, but their Czarist
conquests were directed against Turkey, that's how they got parts of the Ukraine, and Persia,
Azerbaijan and the like,

http://dailycaller.com/2014/02/28/4-out-of-5-authors-of-invasive-fcc-media-study-donated-to-obama/

[Threadkiller]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1975601-hs-soccer-player-blasts-67-yard-goal-the-second-the-game-starts-is-impressive

Dizam!

[DrJ]

The lower Rhine and Holland are closely related, linguistically speaking.

I have found that after a week or so that I could read Dutch (or Danish or Swedish or Norwegian) pretty well because it is so close to German. Speech was more difficult, but everyone I ran into knew either English or German.

[Frau Ami]

That's been my experience, too, Dr.J. The easiest is Dutch which seems to be just between English and German. Having lived in the Rhine area with its different low German dialects made it easy.

[Account Deleted]

"has the slightest inkling of any of this"

For Progrssive Fascists, history begins at every dawn, as the SkyDragon draws the sun in its chariot over the horizon to begin its daily orbit of the earth.

This Ukrainian nonsense on stilts owes more to the utter blindness of the EUnuch fascists in Brussels than to our own feckless idiots. They will need food tasters equipped with Geiger counters when Putin starts looking for cause.

[narciso]

True, Catherine Ashton, is such a mark, it's not even funny,

[narciso]

the support for intervention, maybe overstated,

http://vostokcable.wordpress.com/2014/02/24/are
-crimeans-really-russian-nationalists-and-separatists/

[henry]

TK, I always wanted to do that... But getting benched 5 seconds into the game kinda sucks. ; )

[Threadkiller]

I can't have an honest debate even if I answer.

So I won't.

[DrJ]

Frau,

The easiest is Dutch which seems to be just between English and German.

Agreed. The most difficult, for me at least, are the Swiss. I can't understand them in English or in German.

I have no opinion on Austrian. :)

[Threadkiller]

Team Arpaio: Major Media Heavily Involved In Sheriff Joe's Obama Criminal Investigation

http://www.birtherreport.com/2014/02/team-arpaio-major-media-heavily.html

[jimmyk on iPhone]

"(Narc from the previous thread.) Never forget Budapest 1956."

Actually that was me, echoing NK. Yes, Budapest, and Prague 1968. History keeps rhyming.

[Skoot]

I just played the video of the helos (LUN) for my 14 yr old. Incredible.

[rich@gmu]

evening all.

[Frau Ami]

I noted before that I watched Swiss TV programs while in the Black Forest area of Germany and they had to have German subtitles. Pretty funny. I swear Swiss German has more gutturals than Dutch. Have you seen the Ricola ad with Chrüterchraft?

I never learned Austrian but have wrestled with Bavarian.

[narciso]

can one tell what direction, they are coming from, if it's from the northwest it's Vladikavkav, 58th Army headquarters

[DrJ]

have wrestled with Bavarian.

Same here. My family is from the North, and Bavarians are from a (seeming) different world.

Of course with my work I meet more Bavarians than any other group from Germany.

Go figure.

[rich@gmu]

Rick-

>>>This Ukrainian nonsense on stilts owes more to the utter blindness of the EUnuch fascists in Brussels than to our own feckless idiots<<<

was it extending EU membership (or whatever it was the Ukrainian's were voting on before the protests started) to them or did they interfere politically in the Ukraine?

[Frau Atomkraft bitte]

Found this about German energy policy failure via Insty:

Much like Obamacare in the United States, the governing coalition has staked too much on the Energiewende to admit its failure so openly. Unlike Obamacare, however, the Energiewende has been embraced by both of Germany’s main political parties and remains wildly popular with the electorate. A new poll published by Spiegel Online, for instance, shows that 83 percent of Germans want Merkel to advocate even more ambitious, binding EU emissions reductions targets.

That way, at least, everyone can suffer.

LUN

[rich@gmu]

CH-

Was interested in the claims because the action of "misled prospective students by overstating job prospects and likely salaries" was the very thing that got some former law school students (and some mba students) suing various schools. Not sure of the disposition of those cases, but the federal student loan program includes disclaimers about post graduation employment.

[Account Deleted]

Rich,

I believe this piece offers a reasonable synopsis of the state of play wrt to the EUnuchs desire to add another bankrupt and demographically failing country to Club BK. Where does the EU get the money to loan to the Ukrainians to enable them to comply with the Brussels regulations slowly choking the life out of the entire continent? Cyprus? Greece? Spain? Italy?

Does adding another drunk to the support group make the last step off the cliff easier?

[rich@gmu]

spain had a study a while back too. we've been subsidizing it for about 40 years...and still subsidizing it.

start remaining the subsidy farms and subsidy mills...

[narciso]

Rajoy, is still picking up the pieces that Zapatero's 'Island of Misfit Toys' left,

[Ignatz]

--The easiest is Dutch which seems to be just between English and German.--

I can't even understand my Dutch step father in law when he's speaking English, and he's been here for 60 years.

For some reason they decided to have him do their voicemail message. Heaven knows what number, or country, people think they get when they hear it.

[Captain Hate]

Exactly rich; holding a school of any type responsible for subsequent employment in any field is just as dumb as the disparate impact garbage that the race hustlers employ. That disclaimer on the federal student loan program should be enough to blow Cordray, a truly pompous ass who must be in possession of some very compromising photos, out of the water.

[rich@gmu]

renaming them...

thanks for the article Rick.

[Captain Hate]

Late to the party again:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304026804579409551405115662

She must really like that word "mischief" because I've heard her use it on the dead intern show before and thought it rather odd; because that's the word you employ for children doing things relatively harmless. That's not what we have here. At all.

[narciso]

For Noonan to acknowledge that would require her to realize she's been wrong the last six years, I used it in quotes, to show my displeasure,

[rich@gmu]

CH-

at first blush I think if the action against ITT succeeds there may be a nontrivial risk to community colleges, hbcus, and some 4 year schools.

it is amazing to me how much debt someone can rack up even at a 4 year state school.

what can't go on won't.

[narciso]

Of course, Taranto points out the obvious;

"Venezuela is now the world champion of inflation, homicide, insecurity, and shortages of essential goods--from milk for children to insulin for diabetics and all kinds of indispensable products. All this despite having the greatest oil reserves in the world and a government with absolute control of all state institutions and levers of power."--Moisés Naim, TheAtlantic.com, Feb. 25

[DrJ]

rich,

You have the wrong picture. The public (government) schools will do fine. The private (trade schools) ones will not. The Harvards of the world have too much money to have trouble.

It is the Chicago Way.

[Frau Atomkraft bitte]

Iggy, Dutch can be like the Amityville horror. A college friend of mine spent thirty-five years in Amsterdam and, even though she visited the US often enough, could barely wrap her lips around American sounds. It was painful to listen to her. She also picked up rolling her own cigarettes.

[rich@gmu]

thanks for that article Rick.

[narciso]

True, they went after the Post's only profitable section, Kaplan Publishinh,

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304026804579411362742506066?mod=Opinion_newsreel_1

[Captain Hate]

Yeah I agree with DrJ. Entities like ITT are what used to be referred to as trade schools. In IT they have a certain value because they'll teach subjects and offer Oracle licensing, for example, which regular kollidges don't offer. And large companies will usually send their bright young (or not so young) things out to Oracle headquarters at a much greater expense.

But those places can't be expected to have a handle on what the future job market will be, no more than the experts who are "unexpectedly" wrong for years.

[rich@gmu]

I won't be going to Harvard anytime soon. it does seem that the administration has their sights set on the for-profit sector.

wonder if any trouble came of the Dept of Ed employees who leaked that for-profit education report that was so well timed and so handsomely profitted some on Wall Street...

[Ignatz]

--It was painful to listen to her.--

Frau,
I just smile and nod.
If it turns out that was inappropriate he lets me know by repeating it.
I then frown and shake my head.
If that still doesn't make it I shrug my shoulders in a "what are you gonna do" kinda way.

Works every time; what else is there?.

[narciso]

'what is it, you do here'

http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2014/02/28/yesterday-cnns-christiane-amanpour-insists-russia-will-not-mobilize-military-into-ukraine-today-russia-mobilizes-military-into-ukraine/

[rich@gmu]

now I'm wondering if there are bigger financial risks for the EU (than is generally believed) if Ukraine were to default...seems rather odd the Eu would have wanted to add another bankrupt appendage to the union.

also doesn't seem wise to antagonize your neighbor while also waving a tin cup.

[Frau Schlafmuetze]

Peggy needs to open her dictionary to the word malicious which means intending to do harm.

Goede nacht. Slaap zacht.
(just shrug your shoulders, Iggy, and keep your powder dry)

[rich@gmu]

just read it...welcome to the party pal.

[jimmyk]

The Harvards of the world have too much money to have trouble.

They also, like Goldman-Sachs, have "their people" at the levers of power.

[Threadkiller]

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/patrick-goodenough/russia-seeks-access-bases-eight-countries-its-ships-and-bombers

Awesome

[daddy]

Late to the topic but here's my question:

Is there anything that Putin wants from Obama that he would accept that is more valuable to Putin than Putin publicly rubbing Obama's nose in the dirt on the world stage?

[daddy]

Obama: there will be costs for any military intervention in Ukraine."

To who?

[Threadkiller]

Alaska?

[jorod]

Mr. President, how's that partnership working out for you?

[Eric in Boise]

"there will be costs"…

Stoli will be replaced by Tito's at official White House functions.

Win-win!

[Boric]

Daddy,
I think that Obama is showing enormous flexibility while reaching to his ankles.

[Gus]

Meanwhile back in the U.S.A. Obama is focused like a LAZER on JOBS. He is winning the WAR ON WYMYN. The WAR against Religious Freedom is in full swing, Food stamps feed 50 million Americans with money provided by BERNANKE and a printing press, and by BONDS bought by our SWORN ENEMIES. Unemployment can no longer be calculated, because those whose benefits,(which have been doubled in length) have expired, ARE NO LONGER COUNTED. We have spent TRILLLLLLLLLIONS in stimulus and over the last 5 years, and we have NOTHING to show for it.
But there is good news. Obama may SOON, quit smoking cigarettes, and his Golf game is nearly as good as his Basketball game. And both are as pathetic as a 50plus year old man wearing Mom jeans. Oh!! And GITMO is CLOSED for BIDNESS!!!

[Gus]

Daddy @12;24. The people of The Ukraine is your answer. Obama cannot use the IRS and thos 2 ROGUE AGENTS in Cincinnati to stop Putin. And Putin, like most PREDATORS, see's the week animal in the herd.....OBAMA....and acts accordingly. Obama is fucking Boss Hogg. He's tough when he has the POWER. Micro-Obama, Obama has forsaken, the U.S. for his own personal ideological dreams (from his Father) and for his own NARCISSISTIC EGO.

[Gus]

Daddy, Putin's goals have nothing to do with Obama. Obama is a pathetic pussy, and Putin realizes that so long as Obama is in charge HERE, Putin can run roughshod all over the world. Obama is a clown. Obama has no idea about our security nor global politics.
Now BIDEN!!! He is our FOREIGN POLICY GENIUS!!!!

Think about that for a moment. We've been told the Uncle Joe, the clown, IS OUR FOREIGN POLICY GURU. We are FUCKED.