Vox Populi, our weekly live chat about the week’s events begings at 7:00pm PDT. Hope to see you then!
AdLib2 hours ago
Hey Murph! How are things?
AdLiban hour ago
well enough
MurphTheSurf3
an hour ago
That’s not the most reassuring response. Are you okay?
AdLiban hour ago
I thought I would sign in and wait to see who gathers….yeah, I’m fine.
MurphTheSurf3
an hour ago
Given where I live and the events of the day plus my enterprise coming to an inglorious end…..well enough is pretty good
MurphTheSurf3
an hour ago
TW is usually the first here, I’d expect him momentarily. Then CL comes pretty soon afterwards so we should have a quorum shortly.
AdLiban hour ago
Right, I understand.
AdLiban hour ago
That would be good
MurphTheSurf3
an hour ago
Which events of the day are you referring to?
AdLiban hour ago
It is the news in general.
MurphTheSurf3
an hour ago
There has been a lot of positive developments, in prosecuting Trump, 1/6 seditionists getting long prison time, the TX AG about to be impeached, and so on.
AdLiban hour ago
DeSantis’ launch being a joke, a debt ceiling deal very possible…
AdLiban hour ago
And Musk looking terrible after the DeSantis debacle.
AdLiban hour ago
Yes….I fear that those are not going to be enough if the GOP gets into even greater power….they have SCOTUS, and the House……the gerry pandering could not be more blatant and so on and on and on.
MurphTheSurf3
an hour ago
DeSantis is a sideshow…..what would help a lot in Trump behind bars….the worst would emerge explosively again and perhaps that event will pierce the general dullness of the electorate.
MurphTheSurf3
an hour ago
Yes, SCOTUS is lost and gerrymandering in red states especially is out of control. But a Dem majority in the Senate without Sinema could repeal the filibuster and Criminal Trump running as the face of the GOP in 2024 could flip the House as help Biden win re-election then passing a Voting Rights bill that ends gerrymandering and one that makes abortion legal nationally could be passed. There is legit hope that things could get better.
AdLiban hour ago
Not to mention a unifed Congress under Dems could enlarge the SCOTUS and cure that problem too.
AdLiban hour ago
Hey all – MURPH!! Haven’t seen you for a time. Hugs to all.
choicelady
an hour ago
Your scenario would be grand…..I just have little faith in the electorate….given all that has happened, an aware and reasonably educated electorate would dismiss the GOP as a legitimate party, but…….
MurphTheSurf3
an hour ago
Yes, I think with the documents indictment coming in weeks along with the GA indictment and the trial in NY set for March 2024, Trump will take a pounding in the GE polls like no other candidate in recent history. And where the GOP goes one, they go all.
AdLiban hour ago
Hey CL!
AdLiban hour ago
His Choice…yes was not here last week…..nothing bad…..a retirement dinner.
MurphTheSurf3
an hour ago
Where’s TW? Is this a rotation – Murph one week, TW the next? Are we sure they’re different people?
choicelady
an hour ago
Murph – perfectly understandable. Hope it was for someone else and not you. Though I’m retired, zero fanfare, and LOVE it.
choicelady
an hour ago
CL…LOL….really…. 
MurphTheSurf3
an hour ago
Murph – Keep in mind that Dems and Biden have a definite edge in 2024 with the three key swing states of MI, PA and WI having Dems in power and AZ and GA showing a history of leaning Dem.
AdLiban hour ago
Well….one likes to point out the obvious….
choicelady
an hour ago
CL – Surprised TW isn’t here, he texted me earlier in the week.
AdLiban hour ago
I have PTSD from my past. When people I love don’t show, I get worried.
choicelady
an hour ago
No one works harder being retired than CL.
AdLiban hour ago
Ad – Thanks! I think…
choicelady
an hour ago
CL – I completely understand.
AdLiban hour ago
Ad – I know you do.
choicelady
an hour ago
So, is DeSantis DeFunct after his Failure to Launch?
AdLiban hour ago
Ad – I LOVE that DeFunct DeSantis. Let’s make that a thing! I think he was defunct WELL before he attempted to announce.
choicelady
an hour ago
I know some candidates can make a comeback but DeSantis was only doing well when most people didn’t know what a cretin and monster he is.
AdLiban hour ago
Glad you liked it, CL!
AdLiban hour ago
I do not think there are any depths to which the GOP will not sink…..it just seems to me that by this time the events of the last year would have solidified opposition to the GOP across the country…helll, the GOP in this state have done one nasty after another TO THEIR OWN PEOPLE AND. MANAGED TO GET THEM TO BUY THE “THE SOCIALISTS DID IT.” It is so inane.
MurphTheSurf3
an hour ago
Ad – I think his attempts to pretend he’s a “regular guy” creep out even the RW.
choicelady
an hour ago
DeSantis is an example of how gullible the electorate is.
MurphTheSurf3
an hour ago
Murph – I do think majority opposition to Trump and the GOP across the country is pretty solidified. Look at the surprisingly strong election results since then for Dems around the country, even in Red areas. I feel that the MSM as exemplified by CNN don’t want a lopsided election in 2024 and spend a lot of time and energy pushing stories abiout how evenly divided the country is. Election results totally dispute that. Remember the phony predictions and polls about how well the Repubs were going to do in 2022?
AdLiban hour ago
Murp[h – years ago I read Hoffstadter’s “Paranoid Style in American Politics”. The extremists today have centuries of predecessors. Don’t know why – and I never thought Hoffstadter proved why – but it’s unique in American political ideology and won’t likely go away soon.
choicelady
an hour ago
Ad – the recent voting is SO good. We need to keep this going. AND that means openly dissing RFK, Jr. Marianne Whoozits.
choicelady
an hour ago
CL – Watching DeSantis display his cringey “laugh” that he has been practicing in the mirror, it’s clear he is lacking some serious sections of his brain.
AdLiban hour ago
Ad – when you aren’t grounded in basic humanity, pretending you’re a ‘regular guy’ falls VERY flat.
choicelady
an hour ago
I know and even sort of LIKE a lot of RW people. Not horrific Nazis, but RW nonetheless. What lets us get along is a bond of humor and humaity on a lot of issues. DeSantis has NONE of that.
choicelady
an hour ago
CL – Yes, elections continue to skew heavily in favor of Dems even in races they should lose. I think the MSM simply doesn’t want to acknowledge that the majority is pulling away from the GOP because it’s bad for business but the election results expose their “both-sides” BS.
AdLiban hour ago
CL – Well said! DeSantis is emotionally stunted, he may have Asberger’s or some other serious mental issue. But he is incapable of connecting and relating with other people.
AdLiban hour ago
All – I think our big push should be to take a lesson from the anti abortion zealots of the 1980s and besiege media. Local and national – demand good reporting, truthful statements, and an end to narcissistic reporting that interjects jerky opinion in every graph. Bring back REAL investigative reporters. Woodward and Bernstein and Cronkite – they told the story without fear or favor. BTW – I went to HS with Bob Woodward. He wasn’t all that bright. He grew.
choicelady
an hour ago
If only Blue States, holding honest elections, clear the field of GOP in their states….is that enough to take control of national government?
MurphTheSurf3
an hour ago
CL…name dropping? Luv it.
MurphTheSurf3
an hour ago
Murph – one of the top RWers said when the JUDGE was elected in Wi that it killed GOP chances for decades. The judge, a liberal woman, will not permit WI gerrymandering. And that doomed them.
choicelady
an hour ago
CL – Whenver a candidate’s numbers keep dropping the more exposure he/she gets, the more doomed he/she likely is. Like I said, DeSantis was most liked when people didn’t know him. Now, people can see what an inhuman, self-serving and emotionally fragile narcissist he is. You can’t announce Disney is your enemy and win broad support in this country.
AdLiban hour ago
Ok….put Wi back in the Blue column….is that enough?
MurphTheSurf3
an hour ago
CL – Completely agree. And considering how much more activist so many in the majority have become, I see that as very doable that the people act as they did with CNN and punish news entities that cross the line from reporting to advocacy cloaked as “fair and balanced”.
AdLiban hour ago
Murph – I was younger, of NO interest to Bob. He was BMOC but dumb as a post. The opening graphs in “All The President’s Men” was about the views held of each man – and the ones about Woodward were true. The staff of WaPo weren’t sure English was his native language. He was NOT bright. He still prevailed. I still think what I thought then – he’s an ass. But he did a GREAT job.
choicelady
an hour ago
Murph – apparently WI was THE tipping point for the RW. And it’s gone.
choicelady
an hour ago
Murph – Here in CA, Repubs are nearly-extinct. I think 2024 will purge more Repubs here, in NY, MA, WI, AZ, and on and on. Especially in WI where the new Dem majority on the SC will throw out the gerrymandered maps.
AdLiban hour ago
I think that a relentless prosecution of Trump such that he cannot field a real campaign, coupled with successful hawking of the atrocity that is being foisted on the nation’s women, and the danger that has become a constant in a nation awash in guns.
MurphTheSurf3
an hour ago
CL – Yes, that was the Milo guy who said that. And with PA, MI and WI trashing gerrymandering and voter suppression, I don’t see a path for any Repub nom for president. Not to mention AZ and GA leaning into the Dem column.
AdLib44 minutes ago
To finish….hit the wrong key…..if all of that were to happen and there would be sufficient funding to promote that truth up against the power of the red billionaires…..things could move in a better direction.
MurphTheSurf3
44 minutes ago
All – As one who lived in NY for 20 years, I once upon a time voted for a wonderful Republican woman for County Supervisor. She was prochoice, pro labor, all kinds of good things, and frankly a lot of the Dem party back then was corrupt. But she would NOT be OK today, and NY won’t have the zealots. So yeah – they’re fizzling out of their own accord.
choicelady
43 minutes ago
Murph – wrong key maybe. RIGHT ON ALL POINTS!
choicelady
43 minutes ago
CL – I always thought Bernstein was the brains of the reporting. Woodward has always spoken and reasoned like a not-too-bright- guy IMO.
AdLib43 minutes ago
As we now see, you were correct, but Woodward during the Watergate stuff pulled his weight. Then, like the dumbo he is, it all went to his head.
choicelady
42 minutes ago
I think Woodward never got beyond wanting to be BMOC as he was in HS. But his work on Watergate was excellent. Bernstein gives kudos for that.
choicelady
41 minutes ago
Murph – Same here, I think you nailed all of that! There is no question now that Trump WILL BE buried in criminal and civil cases throughout the primary and election and he will be having his focus and available time fragmented as well as have constant trial updates in the news throughout. The majority of Americans and a meaningful segment of Repubs do not like him or are willing to even consider voting for him. And as more of his crimes are exposed in courts, he will crash and burn with the majority. While his cult in the GOP will cling to him like Nazis to Hitler.
AdLib40 minutes ago
I did not know about the Woodward/Bernstein roles on that team….interesting.
MurphTheSurf3
39 minutes ago
Ad….oh, let it be so.
MurphTheSurf3
38 minutes ago
Murph – you didn’t know Woodward and Bernstein on WATERGATE? Or have I missed something.
choicelady
38 minutes ago
CL – Those were the days, when a decent Repub could earn the vote of a Dem who opposed political corruption in their own party. Today, there is zero reason for a Dem to vote for a Repub. They no longer have any platforms, they pointedly ran in 2020 without any platform nor did they have one in 2022. Issues to them are all about prejudice, fear and hate, not policy. Whoever supports that is already voting for them, they can’t increase their share, only lose more.
AdLib37 minutes ago
CL….no I was very aware of the team and what they did…what I had never heard was that the two were not evenly matched…..thus Bernstein’s ongoing presence in the world of political writing.
MurphTheSurf3
36 minutes ago
Ad – that is spot ON. Honorable Republican equal Compassionate Nazi today.
choicelady
36 minutes ago
Murph – I think Bernstein was the better writer, but the TEAM was boffo. Woodward had many strengths. HE was the friend of Deep Throat. He pulled his weight. I still think “All the President’s Men” is a superlative book on journalism and investigative reporting as well as on Watergate per se.
choicelady
34 minutes ago
Watch, the Double Whammy on Trump is coming this Summer, it’s basically been announced in ways by Fani Willis and Trump’s lawyers regarding Jack Smith and the DoJ. Trump is definitely going to be indicted by August at the latest, by both the DoJ and Fulton County and all of these charges will be very serious. Meanwhile, the NY cases (two of them, the AG and Manhattan DA) will be coming to trial within the next 9 months or so. Trump will be buried! It is coming.
AdLib33 minutes ago
Lucas Kunce has already launched his effort to bring down Josh Hawley….he seems to be well funded…..from where I do not know. Hawley is pond scum.
MurphTheSurf3
33 minutes ago
I don’t think Woodward has done a thing since that is half so good. He has the higher profile, but he’s the lesser talent.
choicelady
33 minutes ago