Vox Populi, our weekly live chat about the week’s events begins at 7:00 pm PT. Hope to see you then!
AdLib7 hours ago
Hi again, Ad!
choicelady
5 hours ago
Hey, TW!
choicelady
5 hours ago
Hey there CL!
AdLib5 hours ago
Hi TW!
AdLib5 hours ago
Hello everyone
twilson117
5 hours ago
Hoping “Guest” is one of our friends!
choicelady
5 hours ago
MURPH!!!
choicelady
5 hours ago
Murph if in the house hey Murph
twilson117
5 hours ago
Hey Murph!
AdLib5 hours ago
Hey, TW – how are the fall colors coming?
choicelady
5 hours ago
CL believe it or not things are still kind of green but they colors are coming
twilson117
5 hours ago
Well, it’s early yet. But I always loved the sense of possibility this time of year. We don’t get FALL until almost Thanksgiving in Sacramento.
choicelady
5 hours ago
Howdy…just in from Kansas City…Rep Cleaver…..planning meeting.
MurphTheSurf3
5 hours ago
Murph good to see you
twilson117
5 hours ago
Well, Murph – pull up a comfy chair and relax with friends.
choicelady
5 hours ago
Thank you all for your enthusiastic welcome.
MurphTheSurf3
5 hours ago
Seems like Trump’s mini convention was a total bust
twilson117
5 hours ago
We miss you when you’re not here.
choicelady
5 hours ago
TW – I think that’s being kind. It was a shameful event on every level.
choicelady
5 hours ago
That so called convention was an embarrassment and it stank of desperation.,
MurphTheSurf3
5 hours ago
Murph – so did the main speaker.
choicelady
5 hours ago
I miss you all every week…….
MurphTheSurf3
5 hours ago
I’ve decided. I’m giving you all $5,000 if I win a Nobel Prize.
AdLib5 hours ago
Murph – we’re glad you’re so involved but will be glad when it’s over.
choicelady
5 hours ago
CL I agree but it’s getting close to Christmas and I want Santa to be nice to me if you believe that I have a bridge for sale 
twilson117
5 hours ago
Ad…so generous.
MurphTheSurf3
5 hours ago
Ad – I’m holding you to that promise.
choicelady
5 hours ago
TW!!!
choicelady
5 hours ago
Vote for me and my bribery skills!
AdLib5 hours ago
TW…..how are things in your world?
MurphTheSurf3
5 hours ago
I have never been more disgusted than his stories about his heroism in 9/11
choicelady
5 hours ago
CL and those stories have changed again and again and again…what a toad.
MurphTheSurf3
5 hours ago
Murph things are fine been busy with my project finding myself deep into Montesquieu’s The Spirit of The Laws jus a little light reading.
twilson117
5 hours ago
Murph – someone parodied him about a 5th plane into which he jumped from HIS plane, subdued the hijackers, and other heroics. It didn’t even seem fake. He’s so over the top anyway.
choicelady
5 hours ago
TW = I confess even teaching political theory I’ve never read that.
choicelady
4 hours ago
TW…the Renaissance Man!
MurphTheSurf3
4 hours ago
CL It’s an intimidating book but it’s just words and I have to admit having an AI reference I can go to helps
twilson117
4 hours ago
Murph – TW is one of the best-read people I’ve ever met.
choicelady
4 hours ago
TW – I think that’s a useful application of AI.
choicelady
4 hours ago
CL I don’t know about that but I appreciate the compliment.
twilson117
4 hours ago
I am assuming it’s typeset? Wading through cursive would be a nightmare.
choicelady
4 hours ago
TW…..you do have an extraodrinary broad sense for research.
MurphTheSurf3
4 hours ago
I also am assuming, TW, it’s translated to English? If you’re reading it in French, I will be too slack-jawed to know what to say to you ever again. Yikes!
choicelady
4 hours ago
CL the trick is not to be enamored by AI, but I have a slight advantage I do have a tech background I was a programmer for a number of years not to mention a big scifi fan
twilson117
4 hours ago
TW – I think those are perfect skills for using AI well.
choicelady
4 hours ago
Speaking of reading…I am highlly recommending “The Breakup” by Kurt Anderson The story of a fractured America in the near future.
MurphTheSurf3
4 hours ago
I just heard about that, Murph. I will read it.
choicelady
4 hours ago
It is hard to put down…..prophetic in perspective and realistic in tone.
MurphTheSurf3
4 hours ago
I remember historically the great splits – The Great Schism, the dividing of the world between Spain and Portugal, the Reformation. We survived them. Hope we can survive this one.
choicelady
4 hours ago
CL those splits had the advantage of a pace that was generally slow in communication…..today…..lightning strikes
MurphTheSurf3
4 hours ago
Off topic but did you see Trump made his crowd pledge to cheat in the election?
AdLib4 hours ago
Ad…well he is bribing them with 5 grand bonuses if he wins…..
MurphTheSurf3
4 hours ago
I recommend some of Barbara Tuchman books, The Guns of August, The Proud Tower, and The March of Folly
twilson117
4 hours ago
A bribe, a pledge to cheat, the Orangutan is going ape at losing Congress.
AdLib4 hours ago
Ad I think using the word crowd for what I saw for the short time I watch is an overstatement
twilson117
4 hours ago
Ad as we know the man has No Honor!
twilson117
4 hours ago
TW – those were some of my father’s favorite books.
choicelady
4 hours ago
CL when I started reading them I couldn’t put them down great insight on her part.
twilson117
4 hours ago
Efforts here to control access to the vote are falling apart. I have been a judge of elections for many years. Our briefings have made it clear…our loyalty must be to the voter and that loyalty is to protect access.
MurphTheSurf3
4 hours ago
I’ve read Guns of August. Excellent insights, absolutely.
choicelady
4 hours ago
Murph what worries me about what Trump is doing is the fact there are people who are more than willing to go along with it.
twilson117
4 hours ago
So will Trump declare election results fraudulent and try to prevent Dems from being seated in Congress?
AdLib4 hours ago
Murph – Doomscrollers are missing how hugely his plot is failing. I admit to bone-level skepticism that Musk did anything to the vote 2024. He’s a liar and braggart currying favor with Trump. Nobody can find a single way he did it or COULD have done it.
choicelady
4 hours ago
TW….this worried me too but the disapperarance of his flags, the shallow interest in his proxies efforts to raise enthusiasm, and the position being taken by government here….are nullifying his supporters efforts. There is nary a MAGA flag to be seen.
MurphTheSurf3
4 hours ago
Ad you know he will. But, if things go the way the Dems hope they will, it will be time to stock up on popcorn, peanuts, and orange soda
twilson117
4 hours ago
TW – I just don’t see how he can do anything in even a purple state. As Murph said, elections people are pretty honorable.
choicelady
4 hours ago
Only place he could have toadies are places he already has a cult.
choicelady
4 hours ago
CL I think we can agree Trump will try, that is his MO he will push and push until he is stopped.
twilson117
4 hours ago
TW – Indeed, the deranged maniac will really be splashing the ketchup in Nov.
AdLib4 hours ago
Ad,,,a fellow academic….professor of political law…..tells me that he thinks the SCOTUS has chosen sides….the side that holds their place in puiblic opinion as one of integrity.
MurphTheSurf3
4 hours ago
Murph can you say more, I ask because from my view I feel certain members of the SC have pledge their allegiance to Trump
twilson117
4 hours ago
Really? I doubt the integrity of SCOTUS judges who take bribes.
AdLib4 hours ago
Murph – their rulings are not to my pleasure, but when it has come to compliance on national issues, they have ruled against him pretty routinely. Most of what they let him get away with is administrative not statutory general issues.
choicelady
4 hours ago
TW – there ARE those who have pledged to Trump = Thomas, Alito, sometimes Kavanaugh. But on “letter of the law” issues, they have ruled against him.
choicelady
4 hours ago
Murph – I agree. They are seeing the long view on their image now.
choicelady
4 hours ago
Oh I agree that the GOP Scoti are corrupt but my law professor friend believes that it all comes down to what serves the GOP justices best….and for them that is not becoming a target for charges of corruption which woiuld be a real possibility if the Dem win and that seems more likely.
MurphTheSurf3
4 hours ago
SCOTI! Perfect!!!
choicelady
4 hours ago
It was better than Scroti….which actually might be more fitting.
MurphTheSurf3
4 hours ago
Murph – very true, and very gentlemanly of you.
choicelady
4 hours ago
I have been keeping track of Trump/Maga signs and flags in my ultra red back yard….nary a one.
MurphTheSurf3
4 hours ago
Murph – I do think your area is a bellwether.
choicelady
4 hours ago
Well they did seem to put Trump in his place on tariffs
twilson117
4 hours ago
The last thing the right wing scoti want is an expansion of the court seats led by angry dems.
MurphTheSurf3
4 hours ago
AND birthright citizenship AND the post office now it has a “policy”. If something goes beyond his own branch, they are not very lenient.
choicelady
4 hours ago
Murph – I think the expansion won’t happen unless we have a Dem president and majorities. But it WILL happen because it’s not just wanted, it’s logical.
choicelady
4 hours ago
CL….agreed.
MurphTheSurf3
4 hours ago
CL for a long time I wasn’t for SC expansion, but after seeing what has happened over the years it makes sense to me and I think it’s needed
twilson117
4 hours ago
For me, Kavanaugh is the largest disappointment legally because my SIL in DC worked a case w him years ago and found him really brilliant. She’s a tough cookie lawyer. She’s disappointed in him starting w the hearings and ever since.
choicelady
4 hours ago
But everything SCOTUS has done has made so many converts in this country to add seats and the House Repubs were so worried they tried to pass a law to prevent the expansion of the court. They can see what’s coming in 2029.
AdLib4 hours ago
Ad – they brought this on themselves.
choicelady
4 hours ago
Wish there were a way to impeach a SCOTUS justice for lying in briefs. Alito flat out lied in Dobbs. I know that law. He wasn’t just wrong, he LIED.
choicelady
4 hours ago
CL can you elaborate
twilson117
4 hours ago
Not being complacent, but for every person who said democracy had no guardrails, it turns out it does. Lots of them. And Dems have used what they could well. Courts even more. States more.
choicelady
4 hours ago
CL – The SCOTUS 6 havelied, taken bribes, ignored settled law, made unconstitutional decisions, they are as corrupt as the GOP.
AdLib4 hours ago
TW – Alito said abortion had always been illegal until Roe. Dead wrong. It as LEGAL for centuries until the 19th. He said Justice Matthew Hale in 17th C. England cited the law in his written opposition to abortion – that was Hale’s PERSONAL OPINION not the Common Law. The English law we inherited made abortion legal until “quickening” which is about the 5th month. Roughly what Roe holds to in trimesters. Upon those points he rested most of his opinion that is flawed at the outset by those lies.
choicelady
4 hours ago
Ad – who besides Alito and Thomas and Roberts via his wife’s conflict of interest has taken bribes. What other unconstitutional decisions did they make? I’m not aware of them.
choicelady
4 hours ago
CL thank you for providing the clarity
twilson117
4 hours ago
I am in agreement they did not adhere to settled law.
choicelady
4 hours ago
Sorry to step away…..call from county exec….meeting on Monday about election procedures. Of note police here have made it clear that interference by national badge carriers will not be well received/Arrests will be made.
MurphTheSurf3
4 hours ago
The decision that voters of color who have their representation taken away from them have no constitutional right to it, that’s unconstitutional.
AdLib4 hours ago
TW – that opinion enraged me for it’s falsehoods.
choicelady
4 hours ago
Ad – they said nothing of the kind but did construct it so that it was POLITICAL gerrymandering not racial. Any fool could see two flaw – there is no reason they can’t rule on political gerrymandering. Second of COURSE it’s racial when the ONLY heavily Dem district are Black ones. But they had argued earlier, possibly in preparation, that they had no authority over political lines drawn which is BS.
choicelady
4 hours ago
MURPH! That’s AMAZING news!!!
choicelady
4 hours ago
TW – “for its falsehoods”. My grammatical imperialist mother is rolling in her grave over my bad punctuation.
choicelady
4 hours ago
CL from what you provided tells me what he wrote comes from his personal views and not from true judicial prudence sounds like he just found some things he could use to twist and turn the fact around to meet his personal preference and overall goals to eliminated what he didn’t like.
twilson117
4 hours ago
CL – They are denying people of color the right to representation by cynically hiding behind political gerrymandering being legal, even if it clearly disenfranchises their right. That is unconstitutional and a clear gambit to cement racism into elections.
AdLib4 hours ago
TW – exactly. Alito ruled on his biases not on the law.
choicelady
4 hours ago
Ad – of course they are. But we needed to call it out YEARS ago when the “oh, we can’t rule on political divisions” in earlier cases. We didn’t.
choicelady
4 hours ago
CL this is what Leonard Leo has managed to do with the SC.
twilson117
4 hours ago
TW – Leo certainly has achieved his goals.
choicelady
4 hours ago
One thing this administration has made clear is that NOTHING can be ignored in litigation. NOTHING.
choicelady
4 hours ago
CL – Agreed but it is made even worse by the racists on the court.
AdLib4 hours ago
CL litigation is one of the lessons Trump learned well from his mentor Roy Cohen
twilson117
4 hours ago
I am gettinng a lot of calls…….still following the discussion…..
MurphTheSurf3
4 hours ago
We screwed up big time when SCOTUS correctly shot down the barring of Trump as a felon from CO ballot alone. We should have created a nationally-focused case. They might have ruled the same way, but it would have been MUCH harder if MANY states were seeking to keep Trump off the ballot esp. if the class action had people from different state including red ones.
choicelady
4 hours ago
So Murph – Do you think your MAGA neighbors just won’t vote in Nov than vote for Trump enablers?
AdLib4 hours ago
TW – actually he didn’t learn FEDERAL law from Cohn. And that’s been his undoing. He’s really good at state level corruption fighting, but he loses his way with federal laws because he has such bad attorneys.
choicelady
4 hours ago
I’ve seen the types of attorneys Trump now has at work in NY federal court. They’re incredibly stupid.
choicelady
4 hours ago
CL I am going to use a phrase that one of Trump’s college professors said about him, that he was one the stupidest students he ever had in his class. And as Forest said, ‘stupid is as stupid does’
twilson117
4 hours ago
TW – both of those apply!
choicelady
4 hours ago
Well folks I have to bale as I have a few things that I need to attend to which means a long night for me. Have a great weekend folks see you all next week.
twilson117
4 hours ago
Lovely to see you, TW. Have a grand week. Hope to talk next week!
choicelady
4 hours ago
Bye TW!
AdLib4 hours ago
Murph – you still here?
choicelady
4 hours ago
I think we just lost Murph. Thanks again for the VERY useful talk today. I haven’t discussed it with Greg because he was on a call, but you sure took a load off MY mind! It’s nice not to have to come up with 40 grand!
choicelady
4 hours ago
Oh well, at least Murph’s doing the good work he is!
AdLib4 hours ago
He is so good at what he does!
choicelady
4 hours ago
So glad to be able to help. You already knew the best path though, I just agreed!
AdLib4 hours ago
Did he tell you he has something well over 100 people living on his land?
choicelady
4 hours ago
Well, I had no idea how lucky we have been to have SMUD and low costs. It makes a difference. And not having a McMansion helps, too!
choicelady
4 hours ago
Yeah, you’ve got it very good.
AdLib4 hours ago
We are just 300 sq/ ft over being a “tiny home” legally. Smallest house on the block and perfect for us. Even a full dining room which is good since we have a lot of dining room furniture!
choicelady
4 hours ago
Our only problem is being chock a block full of STUFF since we don’t have a garage for storage anymore.
choicelady
4 hours ago
Books mostly.
choicelady
4 hours ago
Ah!
AdLib4 hours ago
I’d love for Rick and AJ to get a place, but AJ would have to work to make that happen, and he’s not yet ready to do more than minimum wage work.
choicelady
4 hours ago
Well, I hope he changes his mind.
AdLib4 hours ago
He’s terrified to leave his Dad since Rick almost died 4 years ago. I think AJ is afraid to let him out of his sight.
choicelady
4 hours ago
I see. Well, maybe things won’t change.
AdLib4 hours ago
I worry if anything happens to Rick where will AJ go since his mother is awful. I hope Rick will encourage him to go to Sac City. He had a really good GPA in high school. I think he can get there by bus from here. I think…
choicelady
3 hours ago
Anyway, things are stable for now. We will cross bridges, etc…
choicelady
3 hours ago
There is a BBQ going on in the back. That’s nice. Probably 8 people here, all of them nice.
choicelady
3 hours ago
Stability is very valuable.
AdLib3 hours ago
How fun!
AdLib3 hours ago
We are now down to 4 residents. The others are friends, good people. I’m lucky I like them all!
choicelady
3 hours ago
Greg just ignores the whole thing for the most part.
choicelady
3 hours ago
Heh! Greg has the right idea?
AdLib3 hours ago
Well, I’m getting nudged by cats to feed them since they had an early snack. “Tummy clock time” is, to them, infallible.
choicelady
3 hours ago
I dispute it. I lose. You know the old saying, “If the cats ain’t happy, NOBODY’s happy”?
choicelady
3 hours ago
Can’t argue with cats!
AdLib3 hours ago
It’s true.
choicelady
3 hours ago
Cat’s right!
AdLib3 hours ago
Hope to talk to you next week. We go to court on the restraining order at 8:30 am, so we should be done pretty quickly. I would be surprised if they show up.
choicelady
3 hours ago
How do you defend yourself against being an asshole?
choicelady
3 hours ago
Wow, hope that goes smootlhly! Get a good defender?
AdLib3 hours ago
No attorneys on our side. They have no money, and what would they say? “I have a right to shove people around in their own home?” That won’t fly.
choicelady
3 hours ago
Yeah, not very convincing.
AdLib3 hours ago
Nope. She was asked to leave years ago. She seems to feel she doesn’t have to. Welp. We shall see.
choicelady
3 hours ago
Anyway, I’ll let you know IF they got served and IF they show up. Will be interesting.
choicelady
3 hours ago
Please do keep me updated.
AdLib3 hours ago
Have a good weekend and week ahead. Talk to you Friday I expect. Take care and love to the two Ds.
choicelady
3 hours ago
Thanks!
AdLib3 hours ago
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