Commenter Archive

Comments by Michael Siegel

On “Zelenskyy’s Pop-In: Why?

Zelensky came to deal. He tried to correct Trump and Vance on the Kremlin-based lies they've been spewing. They threw a hissy fit. And now Trump is (illegally) withholding aide, promising Russia sanctions relief and telling the DOJ stop their anti-cyber-warfare efforts.

This isn't complicated. Trump hates Zelensky. He likes Putin. He likes dictators. He's a weak man who worships false strength. And so he's switched sides in the war. And if 40 million Ukrainians have their culture destroyed, that's what they get for being other people.

On “Group Activity The Full, Unedited Trump, Zelenskyy, and Vance Video

I've been toying with an editorial but it's hard to write about this without getting incandescent with rage. Absolutely shameful display by POTUS and VPOTUS.

On “Thursday Throughput: Doomsday Rock Edition

Yeah, there's a lot of uncertainty in that. The probability distribution is not even over the surface of the Earth -- you can think of the possible course of the asteroid as being a long line that slice through the Earth along the red arc. But that shows a certainty that isn't really warranted.

On “Off With Their (Over)heads: Trump Administration at War with Public Health

I don't think the objection was charging them rent. It was that he was way overcharging them, far beyond what the facilities cost. By comparison, overhead spending has to be documented pretty carefully.

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They do. I work off-campus and pay a lower overhead rate by a significant amount.

On “Trump Term Two, Day One, Executive Orders

Lawlessness. Half of this he doesn't have the authority to do and the other half is BS.

On “From TikTok To ERA, Biden Leaves Taxpayers A Mess

Oh, and he issued a bunch of pardons on the way out. Published this too soon, I guess.

On “Fani Willis Disqualification Ruling: Read It For Yourself

It's unlikely the case will go forward though. Not a lot of interest from other prosecutors starting from page one.

On “All the President’s Nominees: The Legion of Groom

I think you need to re-read that Gabbard piece. She backed off her comments. And your memory of RTFLC is faulty; I expressed skepticism about wikileaks especially about their editorializing of the "collateral murder" video.

On “He Got Away With It

Well, putting aside that most of that didn't happen, his son was prosecuted and convicted and the GOP's own investigation found nothing on Biden himself.

I also think there's a huge difference between:

-vague allegations of influence peddling in Ukraine vs. openly taking millions in bribes

-one allegation by Reade vs. 28 and a civil judgement

But you do you.

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I think it was mostly inflation and immigration. Plus a large part of the public didn't want o hear about Trump's misdeeds. You don't usually have to go spelunking to figure out why people vote the way they do.

On “Missouri Conducts Controversial Execution of Marcellus Williams

They executed a man who is likely innocent. This is why I've moved against the death penalty. Not only does it risk an irreversible punishment on an innocent man, it creates a blood lust in the system that makes killing the innocent more likely.

On “Missing the Forest for the Trees on Springfield

I think my editing obscured my meaning. It was hurting economically. But in the last few years, some businesses have relocated there, creating, ironically, a labor shortage.

On “The Minecraft Trailer Needs to be Fed To a Creeper

People who want to know it's like to drop acid but are afraid to try.

On “Requiem for Raygun

She seems nice. Just think she got in over her head. She'll still be a meme long after most of us are gone, so she has that.

On “The Swing State Shift

I don't trust any polls to translate to election results. The GOP is engaged in all kinds of shenanigans to remove Democrats from voter roll and already have legal teams in place to challenge the results on election night and beyond. Harris may very well win the election with Trump winning the White House.

On “Weekend Plans Post: Reacher Reviewed

Reacher is fun because it's simple: large man beats up bad people. I enjoyed Season One. Have yet to watch Two.

On “Throughput: MPox Redux Edition

Previous iterations were spread by skin-to-skin contact or bodily fluids (or by eating the meat of infected animals). So it would spread rapidly among kids when they were playing and so on. Right now, we still think that's the case and it doesn't spread through fomites. So that can of beans fine. But it may be more easily caught in skin-to-skin contact.

On “Donald Trump and The National Association of Black Journalists: Watch For Yourself

Multi-racial is the fastest growing ethnic identity in the country but sure, GOP, crap all over them.

On “2024 GOP Platform: Read It For Yourself

This isn't a platform. It's Fox New programming notes. The parts that aren't vague meaningless phrases are false.

And no one, no one thinks abortion is going to be ignored.

On “A Semi-Short Explainer of Presidential Immunity Decision

He hid from the National Archives, left them sitting out and shared them with uncleared people, in tape, after he was President.

On “Weekend Plans Post: The Three Body Problem

Have my review of episode 2 up and working on 3 now. Really enjoying the series.

On “The Shifting Politics of Abortion

I agree partially but ... once Kennedy retired, it became obvious Roe was in danger, if not doomed. Dems needed a post-Roe strategy and they never put one together.

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