Airbrush

Nancy Pelosi just had her say, following Mitch and Chuck, 30 minutes each. She won't talk about impeachment anymore. The senate is not getting the Articles until Mitch is a good boy, and agrees to have a REAL senate trial with relevant witnesses, like Bolton and Mulvaney. How long can Nancy delay sending the Articles to the senate? Now is a good time for a few weeks of sweating the GOP. Maybe the poles will start moving, and GOP senators start taking notice of their own popular support.

George Washington was a star of the Revolution, and Eisenhower was a star of WW2. Then there was Jesse Ventura, the star wrestler, governor of Minnesota for 4 years.

Thank you I had forgotten Reagan. Any other presidents were previously a "star"?

“I’m automatically attracted to beautiful women — I just start kissing them, it’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything, grab 'em by the pussy." Trump was not only boasting of his sexual prowess to Billy Bush, but he was advocating this kind of behavior for "stars." “You [Billy Bush] can do anything when you’re a star.” Implying that Billy Bush could grab women, like Trump does, IF he is a star. “Are you important enough, a real star, to grab women by their private parts?” https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-hot-mic-when-you-re-star-you-can-do-n662116 It is funny how Trump apologized on TV for this spoiled-8-year-old behavior. It looked like a hostage video, like he was forced into it. Then he got a bright idea, just call it “locker room talk” meaning it was a tall tale, and it's all good. Then it’s no big deal, just idle tall tales. The problem is that locker room talk is more likely honest confessions. Melania Trump even said that Billy Bush was "egging him on." Trump was egging Billy on. Many Trump supporters were probably satisfied with that explanation. “Oh, it’s not true, it’s just men boasting by telling tall tales." That is a lie. Most men don’t make up tall tales in a locker room. At least not to my experience when I was in locker rooms when I played soccer and track and field. I finally figured out Trump’s vise-like grip on 1/3 of Americans. Because he’s a “STAR” that means all things are permitted to him. Americans are often suckers for celebrity. Trump can grab models by their private parts and he can extort the president of Ukraine. He can also cheat in the next election, because all things are permitted (if you're a star). Why not? He thinks he IS the US. What is good for him, must be good for the country. The ends justify the means. He keeps saying he is making America great again. Celebrity has great force in US politics. Trump was a reality show “star” on The Apprentice for 14 years! Can anyone think of any other president of the US that was a “star”? Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor of California for 8 years (2003 - 2011), but he acted like an adult, not a spoiled 8-year-old. I voted for Arnold twice and I was happy with most of his performance.

Do you realize that by NOT voting for Clinton, you indirectly enabled Trump? In 2006 Trump went to war with the comedian Rosie O'Donnell. This was when I learned who Trump was. He was, and is, a spoiled 8-year-old, in the body of a big hulk of a man. He has always been a big fan of pro wrestling (WWE), which we know is fake. He, like his base, loves fakery. He is even in the pro wrestling hall of fame, not for wrestling, but as a big-mouthed promoter. He lived his entire life in a bubble of privilege, protected by his lawyers. My initial assessment of Trump was correct, and has been confirmed daily since 2006. What I want is an ADULT for president. Is that too much to ask for? It would also be nice if my president was not afflicted with a severe personality disorder. I want a president that will have enough humility to listen to experts and not say absurd things like "I know more about ISIS than the generals do, believe me!" "She added that Trump is "not a self-made man" but a "snake-oil salesman on Little House On The Prairie," and she proceeded to slam his multiple marriages: "[He] left the first wife -- had an affair. [He] had kids both times, but he's the moral compass for 20-year-olds in America. Donald, sit and spin, my friend." Following those comments, Trump fired back at the comedian and told People Magazine that O'Donnell is "a real loser" and "a woman out of control. You can't make false statements. Rosie will rue the words she said," referencing her claims that he went bankrupt. "I'll most likely sue her for making those false statements -- and it'll be fun. Rosie's a loser. A real loser. I look forward to taking lots of money from my nice fat little Rosie." There are few things I hate more than someone in power calling someone else a loser. That is a permanent condemnation to be a lifetime loser. It is a curse, plain and simple. That is pure EVIL. That is antichrist shit. https://www.cnn.com/2015/08/07/politics/donald-trump-rosie-odonnell-feud/index.html

Nixon won the 1972 election in a landslide, he took 49 of 50 states. Nixon remained very popular, with high approval, until near the end, when evidence against him became overwhelming. The Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the White House stonewalling of the investigation. The House decided to not wait until the courts could order Trump to do anything. They need to impeach asap to not interfere with the 2020 election. Of course it will never make it past the Senate, unless there is a huge flip in the polls within a month. Trump will boast all day, everyday, about how he totally beat the hell out of the impeachment attempt. "It was a total witch hunt!" Then the voters can decide in November of 2020 what they REALLY think about him and his enabling Senate. I have great hopes that the impeachment process will be hanging over Trump enough to damage him just enough. We saw the GOP lose 40 seats in the House in the 2018 midterms, as a referendum on Trump's bizarre performance. Enough of the GOP finally got tired of his stink. But Democrats often seem to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, so I don't know what will happen.

"Impeachment is about cleansing the office." About 3:00 into this YouTube, Lindsey Graham gives his famous speech in favor of impeaching Bill Clinton. This should be replayed over an over. "Impeachment is not about punishment. Impeachment is about cleansing the office. Impeachment is about restoring honor and integrity to the office."

We are talking about 2 different groups of Trump voters. You are talking about the 10% fringe GOP that held their nose as they voted for Trump. Many of them voted for Obama. They really hated Hillary Clinton, even more than they hated Trump. I, however, am talking about his die-hard base, about 25% to 33% of Americans, or 1/3 of Americans susceptible to a clever con. The suckers of America, they exist somewhere along a continuum of suckiness. The butt to every traveling salesman joke. Many of them, such as those attending his rallys, like Trump's nastiness, sarcasm, cynisism, and self-centeredness. They love to chant "Lock her up, lock her up!"

This merger happened 1 to 2 billion years ago. When it happened we were closer than 8 billion light years. "...The study team used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to study the galaxy 3C186, which lies about 8 billion light-years from Earth. Hubble images revealed a quasar—the incredibly bright energetic signature of a supermassive black hole—within the galaxy. "...Why did this strange object go rogue? Hubble data also revealed that 3C186 has arc-like features called tidal tails, which are generated by gravitational forces during galaxy mergers. Based on this observation and theoretical work, the study team thinks everything started with the collision of two galaxies 1 to 2 billion years ago." https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/gravitational-waves-send-supermassive-black-hole-flying/

Since 3c186 is 8 billion light years away, even if it was headed directly for us, it would never get here. The expansion of space at that distance is faster than the quasars speed of 1300 miles/second.

I never ever heard ANY lamenting about Trump being an a$$hole on Fox news during the last 3 years. I check on them periodically. Fox News and Trump supporters simply ignore his obnoxious mannerisms. To them it looks normal because in their local bar there is someone with a big mouth like that. They think Trump is funny, just Trump being Trump, big deal. I agree that people voted for Trump NOT ONLY because he is a skilled con, although that WAS clearly a factor. But it is more than just agreeing on policy. It is a personality cult, and members are trying to ignore reality, watch only Fox News or listen to Rush, and accept Trump's delusional interpretations. "Don't believe the lame stream media, believe me!"

This is my return to the subject of quasar 3c186 in the topic "Hypervelocity Supermassive Black Hole." There are a few interesting facts I learned about this and if anyone knows something else, please say so. Some of this comes from this article: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/gravitational-waves-send-supermassive-black-hole-flying/ 1 Two supermassive black holes, of different masses, merged in such a way to send it flying out of its' galaxy at 4.7 million miles per hour (1300 miles per second) or 0.7% light speed 2 The combined mass was estimated as three billion solar masses, according to this article: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1611.05501.pdf "...The magnitude of the host galaxy of 3C 186 as derived from our 2-D fit, is mF140W=18.86 ± 0.06. Using the WFC3 Exposure Time Calculator tool, we determine that this corresponds to a near IR K-corrected K-band magnitude K=17.1 (in the Vega system), assuming the spectral energy distribution of an elliptical galaxy. Using the relation that links the K-band magnitude to the BH mass (Marconi& Hunt 2003), we obtain a BH mass of 3 × 10^9 solar masses." 3 The merger was equivalent to 100 million supernovae exploding at once. I tried calculating the energy released in terms of megatons. I arrived at over 10^36 megatons, and on a list of numbers in the US scale that would be an undecillion megatons 4 Of the mass of 3 billion solar masses, 0.1% (ONE THOUSANDTH) of the total mass was converted into energy, in what I think would be a short pulse 5 This quasar is 8 billion light years away 6 The size of 3c186 would have a radius out to the orbit of Uranus, IF it was ONE billion solar masses. But it is estimated as THREE billion solar masses, so the radius of the SBH would extend out into the Kuiper Belt, beyond Pluto I guess. Anyone know how far? Out to the Oort Cloud? So the cannon works like this. A cannon ball that is dense as a black hole, with a radius out to the Oort Cloud(?), was fired at a speed of 1300 miles per second, propelled by an undecillion megatons of powder, with a muzzle flash equal to 100 million supernovae. What can top that? Anyone have other info or corrections to my bullet points?

Trump's base is about 1/3 of US citizens. To this 1/3 base, it no longer matters what Trump says or does. They simply LIKE HIS ACT. They appreciate an entertaining con, like fans of pro wrestling. Trump is now setting a NEW standard. IF a political party has control of congress and the presidency, then the president should have the license to lie constantly. The ends (make America great) justify the means (constant lying). Burn the constitution and bring on the new dictator for life.

Welcome aboard Alfa. That is an interesting subject. In 2013 New Scientist magazine had this article about "the closest earth-like planet." "Based on the distribution of red dwarfs in the Milky Way, Dressing estimates that a potentially habitable planet is only 13 light years away." Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23144-closest-earth-like-planet-may-be-13-light-years-away/#ixzz66bP94836 But since then, have red dwarfs been demoted in likelihood for habitable planets, since red dwarfs "flare" too much for their narrow Goldilocks Zone, which is too close to the red dwarf?

Here is what will most likely happen: 1 House impeaches Trump 2 Senate excuses him 3 Up until the elections Trump constantly boasts that he beat the impeachment attempt 4 Voters finally decide on election day about president, and the members of the senate that supported him

ETs have nothing to gain by being detected by any other civilization. I agree that they would likely mask their presence and use stealth. Aliens that use UFOs with colorful blinking lights would be likely robotic probes to attract attention. The next question is why would they want to be seen?

Republicans keep reminding everyone that all Obama gave to Ukraine was blankets, Trump gave them javelin anti-tank missiles. It wasn't until May of 2019 that the issue of Ukraine corruption had been satisfied, and should not stand in the way of the anti-tank missiles delivery. During Obama's administration there were still open questions of Ukrainian corruption.

The word bribery is very important because it appears Trump bribed Ukraine, and bribery is one of the specific crimes listed in the constitution as impeachable, the other being treason. Yet Democrats never mentioned "bribery" until recently. It was just "quid-pro-quo." Yet Republicans keep saying what Trump did was not impeachable. Can any Republicans out there please explain HOW what Trump did was NOT bribery? But not only bribery but also extortion. Trump said (in effect) "nice country you have here...it would be a shame if it was overrun by Russian tanks."

Did Trump bribe or extort Ukraine? Here are a few definitions I could find in some dictionaries. It looks like extortion is a special kind of bribery, to extort is a bribe that includes a threat, such as threatening Ukraine to cope without military aid, in a hot war in the east. Trump committed bribery, but a bribery that was also extortion. bribe - bribery "dishonestly pay someone to act in one’s favor -- pay with javelins for personal political favor the giving or offering of a bribe -- Trump offered Ukraine a bribe persuade someone to act in one's favor, typically illegally or dishonestly, by a gift of money or other inducement money or favor given or promised in order to influence the judgment or conduct of a person in a position of trust something that serves to induce or influence to influence the judgment or conduct of someone with or as if with offers of money or favor to induce or influence extort - extortion to obtain from a person by force, intimidation, or undue or illegal power to gain especially by ingenuity or compelling argument To extort is literally to wrench something out of someone. Extortion is a mainstay of organized crime. Just as the school bully extorts lunch money from the smaller kids in exchange for not beating them up, thugs extort "protection" money from business owners with threats of violence. But that's only one kind of extortion; a mobster might extort favors from a politician with threats of revealing some dark secret, just as you might extort a favor from a brother or sister by promising not to tell on them."

This title is in quotation marks because I don't agree with it. I am only acknowledging the new motto of the GOP/Trump party. Trump's "ends" is stated as "Make America Great Again." That sounds good, but his real ends is constant attention he is getting for outrageous behavior. He loves the power and attention more than life itself. I learned about Trump in 2006 when he engaged in a twitter war with Rosie O'Donnell. She criticized his treatment of beauty pageant contestants, and he got down and dirty criticizing her as a loser, stupid, ugly, fat, etc. He sounded like a spoiled 8-year-old. How could such a person become a billionaire? I later found out his wealth was GIVEN to him by his Dad, the real clever businessman. Even a spoiled 8-year-old, who is a clever con, can become president? Because "Trump's Ends Justify Trump's Means." He set an example for how a president can become a dictator. Trump is just not clever enough to get away with it. But in the future there may be another president, GOP or Dem, who is as devious and insidious as Trump, but also clever enough to get away with what Trump cannot get away with. I read somewhere that the scientist's ethic is "The Ends and the Means are Equal." Trump's followers, however, prefer the Trump ethic. One third of Americans like the way he acts. They think he is cute, funny, tough, and fighting against the "deep state" for them. The evidence for his popularity among his base is the fact that he has done far worse than Bill Clinton to get impeached, Clinton for merely lying about sex, Trump for what looks like bribery, extortion, obstructing congress, etc, etc. Ken Star began investigating Bill Clinton's "Whitewater" but found NOTHING. However, he found Monica Lewinski, and that alone was enough to begin impeachment of Bill Clinton. Trump has the advantage of being a "star" host on a 14-year reality show "The Apprentice." Like he said, "when you are a star, they let you do anything, grab them by the #####" or "shoot somebody on 5th Avenue and not lose any votes." He is still trying to do ANYTHING for his own pleasure because he survived the Mueller investigation. He will cut corners and break laws and norms, just to STAY in power, so he can't be indicted for his crimes. My impression is "make America great again" in Trump's mind, is really "make America 1960s again." This is because, IMHO, the most memorable period in most people's life is their time in high school, and maybe also college if they go on to college. For me high school was most memorable because I got to know other students over a sustained period of time. But after that college was a blur, and my work career in accounting and bookkeeping was also a blur. Trump fondly remembers the 1960s because that is when he was having a great time in his military academy high school, and later business college, all of which was during the great 1960s.

If "aliens" have the ability to travel such great distances, don't you think they can mask their "byproduct emissions?" They should have better stealth than we do.

Has anyone wondered why most UFO sightings are objects with lights on them? It seems like the aliens want to be seen. If they were capable of traveling the distance to reach us, and they obviously haven't announce themselves, they why would they have lights, even blinking, colored lights, on their spacecraft? Could that be a diversion to allow a more stealthy spacecraft to fly in or out of their Earth bases? Is it possible that if aliens have been hiding here for a long time, they may have learned enough about us, maybe more than we know about ourselves. They could stay one step beyond our ability to detect them. As camera technology improves and becomes more common, aliens would be aware of that, and maybe the aliens have simply become more careful. So only blurred photos are ever taken of them? Also maybe they are very careful to pick up after themselves, so no undeniable evidence is left behind.

You mean fish are not very intelligent. They don't scream in pain. I question your use of the word "sentient." You cannot say that fish are not sentient creatures. Here are a number of definitions of sentient I found in 3 different dictionaries: SENTIENT: 1 responsive to or conscious of sense impressions - fish do this 2 aware - fish are aware 3 finely sensitive in perception or feeling - we don't know how finely sensitive fish perceive, but they generally have good eyesight "...Most fish possess highly developed sense organs. Nearly all daylight fish have color vision that is at least as good as a human's (see vision in fishes). Many fish also have chemoreceptors that are responsible for extraordinary senses of taste and smell." https://www.bing.com/search?q=eye+sight+in+fish&form=EDNTHT&mkt=en-us&httpsmsn=1&msnews=1&rec_search=1&plvar=0&refig=ec317fccee804ea8acf42c064026a1dc&sp=-1&pq=eye+sight+in+fish&sc=1-17&qs=n&sk=&cvid=ec317fccee804ea8acf42c064026a1dc 4 able to perceive or feel things - fish do 5 having a faculty of sensation and perception - fish do 6 one who has the faculty of perception - fish do I was referring to Trump and many golfers, who drive golf carts. Not much exercise involved. Good for you that you walk! "...After college, after Trump mostly gave up his personal athletic interests, he came to view time spent playing sports as time wasted. Trump believed the human body was like a battery, with a finite amount of energy, which exercise only depleted. So he didn't work out." https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/15/politics/donald-trump-exercise/index.html

Maybe you are correct. But it doesn't make much sense to explode stun grenades all around your squad, including next to your dog. It does not look like breaching charges, or exploding locked doors. Why would you set off half a dozen breaching charges all around your squad at once? They did ONE breach at a time, methodically, in the Bin Laden raid. The explosions show massive debris (shrapnel?) flying away from the center of each blast through great force, much greater than a stun grenade. The optical illusion is that the squad was destroyed by a cluster bomb. Just an illusion right? The video makes no sense to me at all.

I posted the video above 4 days ago. It was shown on cable news many, many times. In the beginning of the video it shows what looks like soldiers with their dog. Then bombs explode all around them. The bombs explodes in such quick succession they could not have been IEDs or mortars, or RPGs. They could only be US munitions. It looks like an airstrike. The narrator mentions choppers at the moment of the explosions. Reports said only a few ISIS members were killed in the raid. This video shows either a dozen soldiers or ISIS fighters (with a dog?) getting blown up. Still nobody can answer my question.