Posts Made By: Rod Kaufman

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

I'm glad that I never did have a wife.  I've had plenty of loving girlfriends over the decades.  

I have many women friends today that I see on a fairly regular basis.  

Had breakfast with Sue this morning at Panera bread.  

"Had breakfast with Sue this morning at Panera bread."

Did you pay for it?...

Originally Posted by Jim Moscheck

That one gave me a chuckle.

Being laid up with this broken ankle I have a lot of time on my hands and with his hypocrisy of denigrating my late wife while calling me out years ago for dissing his late father which he constantly brings up? He had it coming.

Sure wish we had the treasure trove of his past posts before 2021 to throw back at him, but his history only goes back to then. Convenient for him. He is so over the top I sometimes think he's just Herb in disguise f'ing with us. LOL. But then I think Herb, while opinionated, isn't as crass or a big asshole like the screamer is.

Sorry to to hear you're dealing with a broken ankle. Well, next time, perhaps you'll take my advice and go out observing instead of globetrotting around the world and then tripping and falling on something! Then we'd both be swapping stories about what we've seen in our scopes! Instead, we gotta put up with an obnoxious and abhorrent jerkoff from Colorado Springs, Colorado. This is the same smuck who decried anyone bringing up his own family while he brought them up first by describing their supposed plight during covid and then derided anyone who dared discuss it. You may recall he claimed his brother was gasping oxygen in a hospital bed in Texas, only to be saved by Ivermectin, while he simultaneously argued with his sister to get a covid vaccination which he said he eventually did. But to respond to any of that was a supposed no-no in his book and said something to the effect of "how dare you" bring up my family!...(with righteous indignation!)

Originally Posted by James Lacey

RFK Jr. is probably one of the most uniquely unqualified people to be in charge of the HHS. I would say that I hope he will have to quit, given the recent senior CDC leadership that resigned due to political interference in the CDC's scientific research. However, I'm sure that Trump would find someone even worse than RFK Jr. to put in charge. Therefore, it may be better to stick with the devil we know and hope that a future administration can undo all the harm being done quickly.

While it's entirely possible Trump could appoint someone else as bad or, if possible, even worse than JFK jr to head the NIH, the amount of damage being inflicted upon the agency, from the undermining of its credibility with the public trust, to its mission to deliver safe and effective vaccinations as well as its life saving research in ultimately delivering optimum healthcare, is such that its board of directing doctors/researchers resigned in protest.

And I have little faith that Senator Cassidy, who is also a physician, will provide essential congressional oversight into JFK jr's ministration within the agency.

That said, a relevant impact of JFK jr actions can be seen in today's action by CVS pharmacies: 

"CVS withholding COVID-19 vaccines in 15 states and DC, citing ‘regulatory environment’"

Colorado happens to be one of those states, so someone like Jim Brown won't even be able to get an updated covid booster from a CVS pharmacy unless he goes through the trouble of first getting a prescription for one from his doctor:

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5477209-cvs-covid-vaccines-hhs-fda-rfk-jr/

Originally Posted by James Brown

Please read your link, including the final paragraph, and explain to me how this is RFK’s fault. It is actually impossible to tell why CVS is withholding the vaccine. (without a prescription) in these 15 states. Some of the states are blue, some of the states are red. Apparently the vaccine will not be delivered by CVS in Massachusetts at all, prescription or not.

i’m not particularly interested in defending RFK. (He does have some good policies on discouraging junk food I think.) But I personally disagree with his vaccine hesitancy. In any case, I don’t see how you can blame him for CVS’s actions without citing some regulatory policy that is causing this CVS course of action in just a selected and kinda random subset of the states.

Don’t worry about me, though, we don’t use CVS.

"Following Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s major curtailing of COVID vaccine eligibility on Wednesday, many Americans are left confused about whether and how they'll be able to get shots amid a surging "stratus" variant."

"Following RFK Jr.'s announcement, The New York Times reported that CVS and Walgreens, the country's two largest pharmacies, restricted vaccines in more than a dozen states."

https://www.axios.com/2025/08/29/cvs-covid-vaccines-kennedy-rfk

I think that's pretty clear. And while you may not use a CVS pharmacy in Colorado, there's plenty of people who do and anything that potentially impedes their ability to readily access a vaccination, such as having to go the extra step of seeking a doctor's prescription first, will lead to less people being vaccinated and more people potentially becoming ill or dying.

Originally Posted by James Lacey

The Trump administration is criminally incompetent. They don't know what they are doing, or how to run a country, and they don't know how to do it except through illegal means. And to think it's only been 7 months. I hope MAGA and the GOP get wiped out in the midterms and that Trump's last two years are nothing but all these clowns getting dragged before Congress. I mean I knew Trump's second term would be a s4!t show but they have exceeded my imagination completely.

"The Trump administration is criminally incompetent. They don't know what they are doing, or how to run a country, and they don't know how to do it except through illegal means."

Even more distressing is the overtly partisan SCOTUS failing to act as a guardrail to reign them in. For example, legal issues in the form of questions before the court for a hearing were routinely ignored or denied during the Biden administration while the same questions from the Trump administration are being granted expedited or emergency hearings by the court. Worse yet, most are being handled through the shadow docket with no oral arguments before the court and no explanations provided regarding the outcome. Given the brief amount of time issues are being decided in favor of the Trump administration through the latter process, there is no way, particularly in comparison to the lengthy and comprehensive explanations provided by an appeals court, that such actions decided on the shadow/emergency docket can possibly be analyzed with the legal precision necessary in order to provide a lawfully correct outcome. I, like many others, find the actions of the conservative Roberts court to be quite despicable in this regard.

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

"The Trump administration is criminally incompetent. They don't know what they are doing, or how to run a country, and they don't know how to do it except through illegal means."

Even more distressing is the overtly partisan SCOTUS failing to act as a guardrail to reign them in. For example, legal issues in the form of questions before the court for a hearing were routinely ignored or denied during the Biden administration while the same questions from the Trump administration are being granted expedited or emergency hearings by the court. Worse yet, most are being handled through the shadow docket with no oral arguments before the court and no explanations provided regarding the outcome. Given the brief amount of time issues are being decided in favor of the Trump administration through the latter process, there is no way, particularly in comparison to the lengthy and comprehensive explanations provided by an appeals court, that such actions decided on the shadow/emergency docket can possibly be analyzed with the legal precision necessary in order to provide a lawfully correct outcome. I, like many others, find the actions of the conservative Roberts court to be quite despicable in this regard.

“I’m confident the Supreme Court will … uphold the president’s authority to use IEEPA,” Bessent told Reuters in an interview published Monday."

(So am I)

"The Treasury secretary said Section 338 of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 would authorize the president to set new or additional duties on nations discriminating against U.S. commerce. The measure would permit tariffs of up to 50 percent for five months against imports from other countries, he added."

(For those who we'll remember their history, the Smoot-Hawley tariff act was credited with driving the US and the world into the great depression)

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5481468-scott-bessent-supreme-court-tariffs/

Remember Rich Davis is all in on the tariffs so what could go wrong?...

"A federal appeals court on Friday struck down President Donald Trump’s use of emergency powers granted by Congress to impose tariffs, opening the door for the administration to potentially have to repay billions worth of duties."

"The 7-4 ruling raises doubt about deals Trump has struck with the European Union, Japan, South Korea and other major trading partners to reduce the “reciprocal” tariff rates on their imports, from the levels the administration originally set in April."

“We conclude Congress … did not give the president wide-ranging authority to impose tariffs” of the kind Trump imposed in his sweeping executive orders, the majority wrote.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/29/federal-appeals-court-strikes-down-major-chunk-of-trumps-tariffs-00537643


Trump, as usual, concluded a court action such as this one is the result of a  "highly partisan court." So, as usual, he'll run to a highly partisan supreme court to overturn it. BTW, two of the dissenting judges were Obama appointees while the remain two dissenter were appointees of George W Bush.

"A dozen federal judges across the political spectrum have spoken out against the Supreme Court’s handling of cases involving President Trump amid intense public scrutiny of lower court rulings."

"The 12 judges spoke to NBC News on condition that they not be identified out of fear of retaliation, so it’s unclear who they are or where they located. NBC reported the slate includes judges “appointed by Democratic and Republican presidents, including Trump, and serving around the country.”


"They told NBC News they fear that the Supreme Court’s handling of cases involving Trump has validated the president’s criticism of lower court judges."

“It is inexcusable,” one judge told NBC News. “They don’t have our backs.”


"The judges said they’ve observed a concerning pattern in the appeals process, wherein the Supreme Court issues swift rejections of the judges' decisions in emergency rulings. Often, no explanation is provided."



https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5485867-federal-judges-trump-cases/

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/federal-judges-criticize-scotus-17-dead-lisbon-funicular-crash-morning-rcna228995

Here's my long title paragraph insertion, inspired by the subject of the thread:

"Job Market In The Potty Flushed By Manufacturing Jobs/Trump's Botched Commando Raid In North Korea"

The details:

"Trump’s job market promises fall flat as hiring collapses and inflation ticks up"

"The U.S. job market has gone from healthy to lethargic during President Donald Trump’s first seven months back in the White House, as hiring has collapsed and inflation has started to climb once again as his tariffs take hold."

"Friday’s jobs report showed employers added a mere 22,000 jobs in August, as the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.3%. Factories and construction firms shed workers. Revisions showed the economy lost 13,000 jobs in June, the first monthly losses since December 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic."

"The new data exposed the widening gap between the booming economy Trump promised and the more anemic reality of what he’s managed to deliver so far." 


https://apnews.com/article/trump-economy-jobs-promises-inflation-time-employment-e0ca5354f6cd426d25f353e1a54d1fb5

Extra long bonus post (inspired by the Dick):

"US Navy Seals killed North Korean civilians in botched 2019 mission, report says"

"New York Times says Trump authorized mission to plant listening device; team killed fishers they encountered"
"The newspaper also revealed that the plan was based on a similar 2005 operation approved by George W Bush." (So you know it's got to be good!)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/05/commando-team-north-korea-civilians-2019-mission

From the accounts on the news, it appears the elite navy seals team spent a couple of hours in a water filled sub at 40 degree temps while in breathing apparatus and then emerged on the north korean coast only to encounter civilians diving for shellfish. So, to avoid detection, they immediately killed the civilians, probably with a Dick-approved technique and then sliced open their chests in order to deflate their lungs so they's sink and not give away their position. (They probably used a Dick-approved bowie knife to do it, too.)

Trump, for his part, denies it so you know it's got to be true!...

Originally Posted by James Brown

Do you think the Ds can rise to the occasion?  (question to James, Jim, Rod, David, anyone...) The polling indicates the Ds are continuing to hemorrhage support. Will it matter in 2026?  We'll see.  For 2028, it seems that the D front runners are extreme lefties, or the left's own Trump-style blowhard - Gavin Newsome.   I, for one, am worried the opposition has nothing significant to offer the electorate.  Just like 2024.

FWIW, I am hoping Colorado's governor Jared Polis will run in 2028.  Smart guy, and reasonably moderate.  Unfortunately, Buttigieg seems to have the white, gay, intelligent, democrat "lane" tied up.  Polis has tons more experience than Buttigieg, and is not tainted by a crappy run as transportation secretary under Biden.  I hope Shapiro from PA runs too.  

Of course I would vote for Nikki Haley over any of these guys...  But please Lord, how about a Haley v. Schapiro, or even a Rubio v. Polis race in 2028?  That would be so great.  Between now and then, let's have the D's take the House in 26, assuming they have any political strength and strategy at all... which remains to be seen.

I more worried about how much more damage SCOTUS will allow Trump to inflict under the guise of "executive branch authority and independence."

That said, I agree with James--if the economy continues to tank as it clearly is--then the pendulum will swing back to the Democrats. That, and the impact of "the big beautiful bill" on health care and its overall strongly negative polling ought to be more than enough. 

As far as choices go, Polis/Shapiro/Besheer would be my preferences. I've never understood your favoritism with Haley...