Weekend Open Thread
[guest post by Dana]
Yay, Friday! Hope you have nice plans for the weekend, and take some time to just breathe. Here are a few news items to chew over. Feel free to include anything you think would interest readers. Please make sure to include links.
First news item
Anti-Semitic attacks continue to increase:
Several Jewish people have been attacked in cities across the United States this week.
Authorities are investigating assaults in New York and Los Angeles as tensions flare over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict amid days of violence between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza that have left hundreds of people dead.
A man was arrested after a 29-year-old Jewish man was punched, kicked and pepper-sprayed Thursday during an incident in New York’s Times Square…The assault involved about five to six men who allegedly yelled anti-Semitic statements…The suspect has been identified as 23-year-old Waseem Awawdeh, the NYPD said, and investigators are recommending several charges, including one hate crime assault… New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said the man was assaulted by protesters.
A video recorded by a bystander shows several people kicking a man on the ground and hitting him with unidentified objects. It’s unclear what happened before the video began…
In Los Angeles, police are investigating after reports that several Jewish people dining at a sushi restaurant on Tuesday were targeted by a group of pro-Palestinian men who were driving past them.
A woman who said she was dining at the restaurant told CNN that the people in the cars began throwing bottles at them and yelled anti-Semitic slurs, including the words “dirty Jew.” Five people suffered minor injuries and no arrests had been made as of Thursday…
Or as L.A. Eater hilariously put it, there was a “scuffle”:
“Scuffle” is one word for it.
How eager everyone is to diminish this. https://t.co/BcEonXr8BY
— Caitlin Flanagan (@CaitlinPacific) May 20, 2021
And then they decided, no doubt after well-deserved criticism and mockery, that it was indeed an attack. But they aren’t fooling anyone:
Also in New York City:
The attacks are not just happening in U.S. cities:
Pro Palestine protestors beat an elderly Jewish man in Canada. They also sexually assaulted a Jewish girl (whom I just spoke with). This is not normal. pic.twitter.com/aSSdW9NAHN
— Eli (@EliKohn3) May 16, 2021
Trying to smash the windows of a kosher shop and a car in North London has nothing to do with Israeli government policy. It’s an antisemitic attack. One of hundreds in the U.K. over the last week. https://t.co/rFcamwfAji
— Ben Judah (@b_judah) May 21, 2021
Per the Anti-Defamation League, they have received more reports of possible anti-Semitic incidents since the conflict broke out in Israel, with 193 reports in the week after the crisis began, up from 131 the previous week. You can see a round-up of videos showing Jews being targeted attacked here. In 2021.
Second news item
Oh, hello today’s Republican Party: he’s hoping to replace Rep. Liz Cheney:
U.S. House candidate Anthony Bouchard had a relationship with and impregnated a 14-year-old girl when he was 18, he told the Star-Tribune late Thursday, hours after he disclosed the relationship in a Facebook Live video to his supporters.
Bouchard, who did not specify the girl’s age in the video, said he went public with the information to get ahead of the story after learning that people were investigating it in opposition to his candidacy. A Wyoming state senator since 2017, Bouchard has risen in prominence since announcing he would challenge Rep. Liz Cheney following her vote to impeach then-President Donald Trump.
“So, bottom line, it’s a story when I was young, two teenagers, girl gets pregnant,” he said in the Facebook Live video. “You’ve heard those stories before. She was a little younger than me, so it’s like the Romeo and Juliet story.”
Bouchard told the Star-Tribune he married the girl when she was 15 and he was 19. At the time, they were both living in Florida…The two were legally able to get married at the time…
Third news item
Eh,a trillion here and a trillion there:
The White House on Friday offered Republicans in Congress a counterproposal on President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan that would lower its total cost from $2.25 trillion to $1.7 trillion, press secretary Jen Psaki said.
Psaki called the counteroffer “reasonable” and said it shifted proposed investments in research and development, supply chains, manufacturing and small-business initiatives into other pieces of legislation, such as the Endless Frontier Act and the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act, or the CHIPS Act.
The new proposal also reduces funding for broadband to match the Republican offer and reduces investments in roads, bridges and other major projects, she said.
Fourth news item
Oh:
A Sunday school teacher was arrested at Thursday night’s Timberlane Regional School Board meeting moments after she and several other unmasked attendees showed up to demand an end to a school mask mandate.
The meeting was planned to be held in person at the district’s Performing Arts Center, but board Chairwoman Kimberly Farah quickly shut it down before it began and required that it be held remotely.
“I didn’t want to jeopardize the health of the staff and the students,” Farah said as several Plaistow police officers and state police troopers swarmed inside and outside the auditorium.
…
The abrupt end to the 7 p.m. in-person meeting happened shortly after Atkinson resident Jackie Wydola watched as police arrested her mother, Kate Bossi, when they entered the building without masks as required by school policy.
Fifth news item
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, during an interview on a conservative podcast this week, compared House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to continue to require members of the House to wear masks on the chamber floor to steps the Nazis took to control the Jewish population during the Holocaust.
Greene, in a conversation with the Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody Real America’s Voice TV show “The Water Cooler,” attacked Pelosi and accused her of being a hypocrite for asking GOP members to prove they have all been vaccinated before allowing members to be in the House chamber without a mask.
“You know, we can look back at a time in history where people were told to wear a gold star, and they were definitely treated like second class citizens, so much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany,” Greene said. “And this is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about.”
Sixth news item
Everyone was safe, but holy cow, what a wild ride. Literally:
On May 6, an armed Fort Jackson trainee allegedly hijacked a school bus in Richland County, South Carolina, holding 18 children and a bus driver against their will. All the children were kept safe and the suspect, Jovan Collazo, now faces dozens of charges, including 19 counts of kidnapping.
And bus driver Kenneth Corbin is being hailed as a hero, with South Carolina Senator Mia McLeod introducing a resolution to honor and commend Corbin “for enduring courage in a life-threatening situation and offer heartfelt gratitude for his heroism,” CBS affiliate WLTX reports.
But Corbin said it wasn’t just him — the kids on the bus also helped thwart the suspect too.
“The kids started asking lots of questions to the suspect,” Sheriff Leon Lott, of Richland County, said during a news conference. “The suspect got a little frustrated.” …Corbin said the suspect had all the kids move to the front of the bus. “That’s when especially some of my kindergarteners, they started asking questions.”
…
“They asked him, ‘Why are you doing this?’ He never did have an answer for this one,” Corbin said. “They asked, was he going to hurt them? He said ‘No.’ They asked, ‘Are you going to hurt our bus driver?’ He said, ‘No. I’m going to put you off the bus.'”
“He sensed more questions coming and I guess something clicked in his mind and he said, ‘Enough is enough already.’ And he told me to ‘stop the bus, and just get off,'” the bus driver said.
Seventh news item
Good:
A group looking to oust Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon over his progressive criminal justice policies has been cleared to begin collecting the thousands of signatures needed to trigger a recall election.
The Los Angeles County Registrar approved the petition drive by the Recall George Gascon campaign, which must collect roughly 579,062 valid signatures – 10% of county voters — by Oct. 27, the agency told Fox News.
“They can now begin public circulation and signature gathering,” a Registrar spokesman said Thursday.
The drive comes amid mounting criticism of Gascon months after he was elected on a progressive platform to hold police officers accountable and create a more equitable criminal justice system in the country’s largest prosecutors office.
…
Desiree Andrade signed up to be an organizer with the recall campaign over Gascon’s prosecution of her son’s killers. Her son, Julien, 20, was killed in 2018 and his body was thrown off a cliff.
Under Gadon’s sweeping reforms, special circumstances charges against the three suspects were dropped, meaning they could be eligible for parole after serving 25 years in prison instead of a life sentence without parole.
“I felt at that that I was slapped in the face,” Andrade told Fox News upon hearing the news of the dismissal of charges during a Thursday interview. “Here you have a district attorney that took an oath to serve and protect the community and that’s far from what he’s doing right now.”
Eighth news item
Employees aren’t eager to go back full time. In an anonymous survey, the Los Angeles Times Guild found that only 1.4 percent of respondents want to work in the office five days a week. The most popular alternative was coming in two days per week (31 percent); almost as many people (28.2 percent) said they’d prefer not to be there at all. “I do all the work that I need to do, but if I do it in six hours then I don’t feel like I need to just be like, sitting there,” De León told me. “Whereas, when you’re in the office, there’s more of that performative aspect of work where you kind of have to look busy even if there’s nothing to be busy with.”
The biggest factor in not wanting to return to the office full time: commuting. A respondent to the LA Times survey remarked that “my therapist and I determined that my commute was a major contributor to my anxiety issues”; another described the trek as “soul-crushing.” Someone said it didn’t make sense to spend fifteen hours per week commuting when “there are no good stories to be found at my desk.” Matt Pearce, a technology reporter at the LA Times and president of the guild, called the survey “a damning indictment of what commutes do to workers; how much it hurts their physical and mental wellbeing; how much it impedes their family life; and in fact, how much it impacts their productivity.”
Miscellaneous
A linguist friend once told me that language is always in a state of flux, or perhaps more artfully, like a lava lamp:
“In fact, however, the most useful analogy to keep in mind is that a language is like a lava lamp. The “lava” slowly swirls and clumps and rises and falls in its fluid in an eternal, mesmerizing flow. Although constantly changing, in no sense is the clump of lava decaying—if one piece is beginning to drip or split into strands, we can be sure that a few inches away, other pieces are joining together. At any given point, we do not see the present configuration of the lava clump as somehow “better” than the one thirty seconds ago—the joy is in the infinite variations that the clump can take while at all times remaining consistent in its expressive motility. DIFFERENT SPINS”
― John McWhorter, Word On The Street: Debunking The Myth Of A Pure Standard English
Have a good weekend.
–Dana
Hello.
Dana (fd537d) — 5/21/2021 @ 8:31 pmI just love it when people immigrate to this country and then proceed to act in a manner that made their home country unlivable in the first place.
Leave your grievances at the border.
norcal (6e6099) — 5/21/2021 @ 8:47 pmMore about Bouchard:
Rip Murdock (663335) — 5/21/2021 @ 8:50 pmRest in Hell:
Boko Haram Leader, Responsible for Chibok Schoolgirl Kidnappings, Dies
Abubakar Shekau, the fundamentalist warlord who turned Boko Haram from an obscure radical sect into a jihadist army whose war with the Nigerian state has left tens of thousands dead across four nations, has died, according to officials, mediators, phone calls intercepted by a West African spy agency and internal intelligence memos seen by The Wall Street Journal.
His death, which Nigeria’s military has erroneously reported at least three times before, was confirmed by five Nigerian officials who detailed how he detonated a suicide vest during a confrontation with rival insurgents to avoid being taken alive.
It removes one the world’s most brutal and effective terrorists, who plunged four nations, including Africa’s most populous, into a religious war. ………
Rip Murdock (663335) — 5/21/2021 @ 8:53 pm………..
Oh, hello today’s Democrat party: First news item
FTFY
JF (e1156d) — 5/21/2021 @ 9:23 pmI wonder how Bouchard’s son was impacted not only by having an extremely young mom but this as well:
Dana (fd537d) — 5/21/2021 @ 9:34 pmPeople who attack people of different ethnicities when something like Covid or the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict are just racists looking for an excuse.
Also, Anthony Bouchard is a statutory rapist. Even high school students think seniors who date freshmen are creepy and as a mandated reporter, I would definitely be both required and very very willing to report anyone like him that I ran into. And my guess would be that the girl didn’t escape that relationship unscathed and maybe it wasn’t really a just problem with a different relationship that led to her suicide. An adult who sleeps with a kid messes that kid up, and 14 yr olds are most definitely still kids. He can F right off and when he gets there he can keep fing off. Nope nope nope nope nope nope all the nope.
Reducing the bill is a gesture in bipartisanship, though I suspect it will not be rewarded.
They were very kind to Ms. Bossi in that article. She should send them a thank you note.
Dear MTG, I’m pretty sure they are not requiring your group of crazies to get a q tatooed on your forehead, even though it would help the rest of us immeasurably. I am also pretty sure they are not throwing you in a concentration camp or any kind of equivalent there-of. Stop talking, you sound like an idiot.
I’m glad Mr. Corbin and his students are safe. Total nightmare scenario there, I’m glad they all came through it OK.
Gascon does not appear to be a very good DA. He doesn’t even appear to be good at criminal justice reform, if that is his goal. Maybe he should try doing something else for a living. Soon.
Bosses like to see you working. And if you get something done well and efficiently, you don’t get rewarded for it when they can see you, you just get more work. Hell, work from home might even increase productivity. (not that it’s a thing I can do with kids on-site, when the kids are on-site my actual job requires being onsite. 😛 )
Linguistics is fun.
Nic (896fdf) — 5/21/2021 @ 10:29 pmhttps://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/05/critical-race-theory-comes-to-my-backyard.php
Critical Race Theory poisoning children’s minds nationwide.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 5/21/2021 @ 10:54 pmhttps://pjmedia.com/columns/paula-bolyard/2021/05/21/how-partisan-facebook-fact-checkers-silence-debate-and-punish-those-who-stray-from-the-narrative-n1439473
This post that shows how Facebook controls the narrative has been banned by Facebook.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 5/21/2021 @ 10:56 pmhttps://legalinsurrection.com/2021/05/report-usps-internet-covert-operations-program-is-much-broader-in-scope-than-previously-known/
East German spying has come to our shores. The Secret Lives of Others in real time.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 5/21/2021 @ 10:57 pmhttps://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/trump-rising-73-gop-want-him-to-run-beats-harris-49-45
It’s just a poll. No need to go crazy.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 5/21/2021 @ 10:59 pmhttps://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1395354856504889348.html
John Hayward is always worth reading in full.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 5/21/2021 @ 11:00 pmhttps://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/05/republican-state-legislators-run-cover-k-12-lawrence-lockman/
CRT brainwashing happening in Maine whether parents want it or not.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 5/21/2021 @ 11:02 pmhttps://hotair.com/allahpundit/2021/05/21/pro-palestinian-protesters-openly-harassing-attacking-jews-in-nyc-n391666
The disgusting spitting on a woman just trying to eat dinner brings me back to last summer with BLM doing the same to other citizens.
Sammy, do you still support open borders for all?
NJRob (eb56c3) — 5/21/2021 @ 11:04 pmA “centrist” Democrat I know and respect tells me he is not very happy with Biden’s spending. He’s in his 70’s and knows what happens when you go to the printing presses and monetize the debt. And he’s right. Johnson and Nixon tried this, fighting Vietnam while spending billions on new domestic programs and it took a decade and several deep recessions to get out of the spiral.
Last time we ended with a $2 trillion debt. Now it seems we add that much in a fortnight.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 5/21/2021 @ 11:09 pmhttps://therightscoop.com/i-started-running-for-my-life-jewish-man-chased-by-cars-waving-palestinian-flags-shouting-allahu-akbar-in-america-where-are-dems/
As the intifada comes to our shores with the support of the radicals on the left and BLM.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 5/21/2021 @ 11:10 pmOne possible answer to “Are you Jewish?” would be “right at this moment we are all Jewish you pigfu*ker”
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 5/21/2021 @ 11:13 pmAlso, Anthony Bouchard is a statutory rapist. Even high school students think seniors who date freshmen are creepy. . .
I always thought that too, especially when I was a freshman and had to watch the senior boys steal away the best looking girls in my class. Having said that though, I know of at least two cases where a senior-freshman high school romance has evolved into a marriage of nearly 30 years, so even though I would be wary of these relationships I now acknowledge that in some cases they really might be legitimate.
JVW (ee64e4) — 5/21/2021 @ 11:13 pmhttps://twitter.com/TulsiGabbard/status/1395765298830012422?
JVW, Tulsi is your lady, right? Something for you and nk.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 5/21/2021 @ 11:22 pmAlso, Anthony Bouchard is a statutory rapist.
Not in every state. A number of states have “Romeo & Juliet” laws that allow sex between young people who are close in age. Wyoming has such a law, but its application in this case is confusing.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 5/21/2021 @ 11:24 pm@NJRob@8 I see you are still not reading the articles you link. “this class is not yet part of the required curriculum at Pyle” (and it isn’t going to be because no curriculum including it has gone before the school board.). Since you have spent the last 2 years (at least) scouring the internet for any kind of proof that the evil public education system is forcing critical race theory on our vulnerable student’s minds and found nothing, nada, bupkis, no evidence, do you think maybe you could just admit that the evil public education system is not, in fact, forcing critical race theory on our vulnerable student’s minds.
(If you want to know what they are actually teaching at Thomas Pyle middle school, here’s a link to the page where you can check each grade level and their social studies curriculums. For the love of God.)
Nic (896fdf) — 5/21/2021 @ 11:25 pm@21 I can see that you’re in one of your wicked funny moods again. 🙂
norcal (84cdee) — 5/21/2021 @ 11:29 pmNic,
You are the one that seems not to read. We know how the left claims something is options yet quickly becomes mandatory. I’m showing how it infects states all throughout the nation. Perhaps you need to read instead of try and insult me.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 5/21/2021 @ 11:34 pmNic,
That you are claiming that a course that is optional for the moment, but is virulently racist and lies to their kids about themselves and our nation makes it okay says all I need to know about the institutions where you claim to educate our young.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 5/21/2021 @ 11:39 pmWhen I saw the tweet from Caitlin Flanagan I got excited thinking the underlying story was hers too. Alas, no. She’s such a great writer. If you haven’t read her piece on the college admissions fraud, do yourself a favor. Yeah I know it was two years ago, so who even remembers, much less still cares about something that old, right? Trust me. You won’t regret it. It’s a really good read.
lurker (59504c) — 5/21/2021 @ 11:43 pm@NJRob@13 Nobody is teaching critical race theory in public schools in Maine. That’s why they don’t need a bill banning it. It’s like those idiots who wanted various legislatures to ban sharia law, even though no American anywhere in the US was suggesting that anywhere in the US govern using Sharia law.
@Kevin@20 There are, but generally there are both legal and ethical guidelines. An adult and a 14 yr old generally falls under statutory rape and ethically would need to be reported, even if a report is not necessarily mandated by law. It can get complicated, but that particular age difference is severely suspect.
Nic (896fdf) — 5/21/2021 @ 11:51 pmAs far as masks are concerned, nearly every store in my area has dropped mask requirements, and nearly every shopper wears a mask. It’s almost as if people will do what they consider correct even if the state doesn’t mandate it.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 5/21/2021 @ 11:56 pmAn adult and a 14 yr old generally falls under statutory rape
In Wyoming, when the age difference is “3 or 4” years, and the younger person is 13 or older and there is no line of authority, it can be charged as 2nd, 3rd or 4th degree sexual abuse, or maybe a R&J defense applies. The law there seems to be fairly muddled. I guess there is case law…
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 5/21/2021 @ 11:59 pmI think there is an obvious difference between 18 and 14, versus 32 and 14.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 5/22/2021 @ 12:01 am@27 My observation on mask-wearing in Reno: 80% at Trader Joe’s, 90% at Whole Foods, 0% at my mechanic’s shop.
Oh, and most of my neighbors couldn’t give a flying f*ck.
norcal (84cdee) — 5/22/2021 @ 12:01 am@29 I believe the key question is whether both are under 18. In that case, it’s two juveniles having sex. 18 is a big threshold, whether it’s voting, emancipation, etc.
norcal (84cdee) — 5/22/2021 @ 12:03 am2.I just love it when people immigrate to this country and then proceed to act in a manner that made their home country unlivable in the first place.
Leave your grievances at the border.
Is this a Poor Richard’s Almanack original or was it plagiarized from Ben Franklin directly? 😉
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 5/22/2021 @ 12:13 am@32 Now I’m a plagiarist? 🙂 Good Lord.
norcal (84cdee) — 5/22/2021 @ 12:15 am@Norcal@22 We all have our Don Quixote moments. 😛
@NJRob@23. I literally (and I do mean literally in a literal sense) included a quote from the article that says it isn’t a class they are teaching as part of the curriculum. I also literally included a link the the curriculum they do teach. It is not a class taught at all as part of the curriculum. I tracked down the source of this particular extremely misleading article and AFAICT the class he is het up about isn’t a class at all, it was a 4 day volunteer summer funsie option. Your paranoia about the subject is not based in facts and you, yourself, have proved that via your linked articles over the last several years.
(The middle school students in my district are doing fun physics type projects as part of their voluntary, non-curriculum summer program, in case you are interested. I’ve seen some of the plans, they should have a blast. Possibly literally. Though only a small one because middle school and not wanting any fingers blown off.)
Nic (896fdf) — 5/22/2021 @ 12:18 am17.One possible answer to “Are you Jewish?” would be “right at this moment we are all Jewish you pigfu*ker”
Another: Just rye and seedless, but you can still eat me.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 5/22/2021 @ 12:20 am@33. Now I’m a plagiarist? 🙂 Good Lord.
Franklin was never president; take the compliment. 😉
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 5/22/2021 @ 12:22 amWow. A compliment from DCSCA. I will take it!
norcal (84cdee) — 5/22/2021 @ 12:27 amnews.yahoo.com/ufos
‘After decades of public denial, the Pentagon now admits there’s something out there, and the U.S. Senate wants to know what it is.” A declassified report from the directorate of national intelligence and the Pentagon is due to be handed over to the Senate Intelligence Committee in June.’
More shiny objects.
So WHO shot and killed Ashli Babbitt, senators?
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 5/22/2021 @ 12:29 amI know you’re a fan of space, DCSCA. Does that extend to UFOs? Honest question.
norcal (84cdee) — 5/22/2021 @ 12:36 am@39. I expect that in the harsh reality of sunlight, they’re black ops DoD projects of a sort. No advanced entities would travel light years to get here then play hide and seek for decades.
OTOH, if they’re not DoD– I’d venture to guess they’re man-made all the same: time probes of some sort from our future. Which is strangely reassuring.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 5/22/2021 @ 12:47 amNo advanced entities would travel light years to get here then play hide and seek for decades.
Two thumbs up!
norcal (84cdee) — 5/22/2021 @ 12:49 amWelcome to Biden’s America! It’s great as long as you don’t identify Jewish!
Hoi Polloi (b28058) — 5/22/2021 @ 5:04 amThat comment seems logical at first but kind of reeks of anthropomorphism after further review. While that may seem logical to a human, an alien might have – and probably does – a whole different way of thinking.
Maybe just watching is what it wants to do. Or better yet, what it programs its autonomous space vehicles to do. Observe and report.
Hoi Polloi (b28058) — 5/22/2021 @ 5:07 amBefore H. G. Wells: Dragons and witches on broomsticks.
nk (1d9030) — 5/22/2021 @ 5:32 amAfter H. G. Wells: UFOs.
Get real!
MLB has seen six no-hitters in just over 1.5 months of regular season play. The MLB season record is seven. Batting average for MLB hitters hovers at .230. I guess tinkering with the baseball worked…
Hoi Polloi (b28058) — 5/22/2021 @ 5:39 am“Observe and report.” and steal votes for Biden….those stinking illegal lurking aliens
AJ_Liberty (a4ff25) — 5/22/2021 @ 5:45 amAs for the Bouchard sub-species:
nk (1d9030) — 5/22/2021 @ 5:55 am— Is why Florida Man move to Wyoming?
— Wyoming have sheep farms. Florida have alligator farms.
Cicadas are now loud enough that I can hear them in my house with all windows and doors shut.
Hoi Polloi (b28058) — 5/22/2021 @ 7:10 am“I guess tinkering with the baseball worked…”
I’m not sure that the baseball explains why the strikeout rate….25%….is making average pitchers look like Nolan Ryan (25.3%) and Sandy Koulfax (25.2%). Certainly it is routine now to have guys throwing in the mid to upper 90’s…..but batters’ approaches to hitting have also changed. Everyone is swinging for the fences….and less contact is being made. Last year baseball had the lowest incidence of triples ever, the lowest incidence of doubles since 1992, and lowest attempted stolen bases since the 1960’s. I think batters are not changing their approach with the count. Everyone is trying to get the ball up in the air…launch angle and exit velocity is what is being preached. There is no more shortening up and making contact (the Sox’s Mercedes is one exception and he’s leading the league in batting average). It’s no longer embarrassing to strike out…and all the incentives are to hit the homerun. It’s going to kill interest in baseball….
AJ_Liberty (a4ff25) — 5/22/2021 @ 7:58 amI think the former is causing the latter. You can’t afford not to sit on the fastball. If you don’t, you’ll never catch it.
Hoi Polloi (b28058) — 5/22/2021 @ 8:13 amMissouri Senate race shapes into battle between controversial firebrands and GOP officials
The Republican Party’s chaotic Senate primary in Missouri has divided into two early lanes: the ambitious and the indicted.
……….
On the other hand, there is a disgraced former governor who resigned his post halfway through his term, and a lawyer who became a celebrity on the right after brandishing a rifle at Black Lives Matter protesters, for which local prosecutors slapped him with felony charges.
………
Republicans have expressed alarm since March about former Gov. Eric Greitens, who was the first candidate to launch a bid two years after resigning his governorship amid allegations he sexually assaulted and blackmailed a woman. St. Louis prosecutors also charged Greitens in the case, though the charges were later
But the rest of the field has been slower to develop. Eric Schmitt, the state attorney general who won easily in 2020, launched his campaign in late March. Attorney Mark McCloskey announced his bid this week with a splashy video, which highlighted the incident when McCloskey and his wife pointed firearms at protesters.
Meanwhile, four members of the congressional delegation — Reps. Billy Long, Jason Smith, Ann Wagner and Vicky Hartzler — are seriously considering running but haven’t announced yet.
Rip Murdock (663335) — 5/22/2021 @ 8:20 am………
Gregg Keller, a Republican strategist with experience in Missouri, said the jockeying early on has been about who has the ability to prevent Greitens from seizing the mantle.
………
James Harris, a veteran GOP strategist in Missouri, said McCloskey’s entrance could hurt Greitens, since the two are not currently in office and could appeal to a similar group of primary voters, as candidates stoking past controversy for political capital.
……..
McCloskey is making his first run for office. In a launch video, which included images of him brandishing his rifle, he framed himself as a defender against liberals. McCloskey and his wife currently faces felony gun charges for the 2020 incident with protesters, but GOP Gov. Mike Parson has said he will pardon them if they are convicted.
………
GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn said he missed 15 House votes because he was fulfilling his ‘service as a husband’
………
Data collected by the legislative-analysis firm Quorum and reported on by Axios found that Cawthorn had missed the highest percentage of votes — 16.2% — of any freshman House member during the 117th Congress. The top five freshmen to miss the most votes are all Republicans.
“To that, I really laugh. It shows how the Democrats feel about the nuclear family in America right now. I was doing the only thing that I find more important than my service in Congress, and that’s my service as a husband,” Cawthorn told host David Brody when asked about Axios’ reporting on his missed votes.
Cawthorn said that “they had the votes pile up” the week he was away for his honeymoon after marrying his wife, Cristina Bayardelle, in his home state of North Carolina in early April, which resulted in him missing out on 15 votes.
Rip Murdock (663335) — 5/22/2021 @ 8:29 am……….
Their Own Private Idaho: Five Oregon Counties Back a Plan to Secede
……….
………. A majority of residents in five eastern counties said in nonbinding votes that they would like to leave Oregon and join with their more like-minded conservative neighbors further east in Idaho.
……….
The “Greater Idaho” movement that spurred the special election vote on Tuesday has also been simmering for years, but it has picked up steam amid the growing political polarization that accompanied the November presidential election and the fractious debates over government response to the pandemic.
……….
The odds against success are long. Oregon’s Legislature, which is dominated by Democrats, who also control every statewide office, would have to go along with it, as would Idaho’s Republican-dominated Legislature — not to mention the U.S. Congress.
The proposal could also face serious economic headwinds: Recreational marijuana is legal in Oregon but not in Idaho, which has led to a tax revenue boom on the Oregon side, where Idahoans travel to buy. (There is even a drive-through weed store in the town of Ontario, the largest community in Malheur County, an hour’s drive from Boise.) Oregon also has no sales tax, a fact that leads many Idahoans to cross the border to shop.
Grant, Baker, Lake, Sherman and Malheur Counties, the five currently in revolt, are huge in area but minuscule in population and thus political clout at the capital in Salem. The counties contain 63,000 people over about 26,000 square miles, an area about the same size as Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Delaware combined.
Rip Murdock (663335) — 5/22/2021 @ 8:39 am………..
The few rural places that have grown in that part of the state — notably Bend, a former timber town in central Oregon bisected by the Deschutes River — have shifted largely to the left as newcomers arrive, many of them from Portland.
……….
In the late 1930s, residents of Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota dreamed of forging a conglomeration of like-minded communities into a new state that would call itself Absaroka. The idea of a vast new political entity called Cascadia that would stretch up through the Pacific Northwest into Canada has fluttered in the regional consciousness for decades. More recently, residents of Northern California and southern Oregon hatched the idea of a state that would be called Jefferson.
……….
To dream, the impossible dream!
This is interesting re Florida and two challenges to the age of consent in the 1980’s:
Dana (fd537d) — 5/22/2021 @ 8:44 am@52…Thanks for that submission. After reading all the other comments, I needed something to make me smile.
Fred (ffa60f) — 5/22/2021 @ 8:45 amJVW, Tulsi is your lady, right? Something for you and nk.
Yeah, I saw that last night. She absolutely does not care about her future in the Democrat Party, does she? God (and JVW) love her.
JVW (ee64e4) — 5/22/2021 @ 9:33 amMeow! Sheathe the claws, Samoa cookie! Mayor Lightfoot said that on one day only, the two-year anniversary of her tenure as Mayor, she would grant one-to-one, sit-down, interviews only to black and brown reporters. Anniversary interviews. On anniversary day.
Not said by Da Mare, but reflexively inferred by at least one reporter with a Hispanic surname, they can go back to the back of the bus for the rest of the year. The thing about feeding cannibals, comrades, is that they don’t stop eating when they reach the hand you’re feeding them with.
nk (1d9030) — 5/22/2021 @ 10:27 amhttps://www.the-american-interest.com/2017/02/24/trump-isnt-sounding-like-a-russian-mole/
Flashback to 2017. And now that we’re in 2021 we have Biden banning the Keystone XL pipeline, supporting the Russian pipeline to Europe, restricting fracking and coal and gas, destroying our military, focusing on supporting Iran again, and on and on.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 5/22/2021 @ 10:29 amSo what Da Honolula Honey really did is join the rock-throwers from the Left with a lob ostensibly from the Right.
nk (1d9030) — 5/22/2021 @ 10:31 amWho was chanting “Jews will not replace us” while out marching with tiki torches? There have been a lot of anti-Semitic memes and statements coming from the Trumpite far right. And Jews still identify as Democrats far more than Republicans.
Also, all the BLM and Antifa violence of 2020 happened in Trump’s America.
Radegunda (aea52f) — 5/22/2021 @ 10:40 amBrent Bozell, a stalwart conservative, calls Bouchard “the kind of man I want to see in Congress.”
Radegunda (aea52f) — 5/22/2021 @ 10:45 amNB: This is an equivalency, not just an analogy.
Radegunda (aea52f) — 5/22/2021 @ 10:47 amMore proof that things were better under the Empire, the new Disney animated series “Star Wars:Bad Batch”, about four clone troopers who take a clone (engineered?) girl-child under their wing, immediately after the execution of Order 66 and the ascension of Palpatine to Emperor, is far superior to “The Mandalorian” in every respect — writing, direction, plot, pace, dialogue, special effects, and … acting.
nk (1d9030) — 5/22/2021 @ 10:54 am@43. Maybe just watching is what it wants to do.
Doubtful– and a bit creepy. Why travel light years to do that when they could stay home and observe our TeeVee broadcasts beamed out into the cosmos for decades. And after watching a few episodes of ‘I Love Lucy’ and ‘Milton Berle’– they’d realize there’s no intelligent live here anyway.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 5/22/2021 @ 10:57 amTrump is sliding toward online irrelevance. His new blog isn’t helping
On the Internet, former president Donald Trump is sliding toward something he has fought his entire life: irrelevance.
Online talk about him has plunged to a five-year low. He’s banned or ignored on pretty much every major social media venue.
In the last week, Trump’s website — including his new blog, fundraising page and online storefront — attracted fewer estimated visitors than the pet-adoption service Petfinder and the recipe site Delish.
……..
But Trump’s continued influence isn’t translating into a bigger online audience, according to a Washington Post review of data from four online-analytics firms. Social engagement around Trump — a measure of likes, reactions, comments or shares on content about him across Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and Pinterest — has nosedived 95 percent since January, to its lowest level since 2016.
…….. His “From the Desk of Donald Trump” blog, which he and his team have promoted heavily in TV interviews and social media posts, has in the last week been shared to Facebook on average fewer than 2,000 times a day — a staggering drop from last year, when his Facebook page fielded tens of millions of comments, shares and other interactions every week, according to data from the social media analytics firm BuzzSumo and the Facebook-owned content-tracking tool CrowdTangle.
………
……… To win back the spotlight, his team is working on a project they’re calling “Trump Media Group,” which would launch this summer and could include a new social media platform of Trump’s own. Advisers say Trump talks about the project regularly and gets updates from the team building it, though a final product is not ready. Other advisers say he could still join another platform if he received enough money from the platform and could control the terms……..
……….
(Trump’s senior adviser, Jason) Miller dismissed the drop in mentions on social media. “A lot of our people aren’t on those platforms anymore. When they kicked off Trump, millions of Trump supporters are no longer on Twitter or Facebook having rejected these big tech oligarchs for their censoring of President Trump.”
But there’s no evidence that millions of Trump supporters have left those platforms. Facebook’s daily active user base in the United States and Canada hasn’t changed since Trump’s ban, remaining at 195 million during the first three months of the year, while Twitter’s actually grew by 5 million, to 38 million, company filings show.
………
Since the blog’s launch, however, online data shows relatively few people have paid attention. Trump’s entire website, including his blog, saw roughly 4 million visits in the week ending May 18 from desktop and mobile devices in the United States — about 60 percent of the week’s traffic for the right-wing websites Newsmax and the Gateway Pundit, according to an analysis by the online-analytics firm SimilarWeb, which tracks and estimates traffic and referrals for millions of websites.
In the same week, the Trump website’s traffic was beaten by not just Delish and Petfinder but the website builder Squarespace, the news magazine the Atlantic and the food site Eat This Not That, according to SimilarWeb. (Facebook and Twitter had 896 million and 329 million visits in the same time period, respectively.)
Rip Murdock (663335) — 5/22/2021 @ 11:04 am……….
All that was precisely done in order to taint his presidency so that comments such as this can be made.
felipe (484255) — 5/22/2021 @ 11:12 amKevin, please get a grip.
The infrastructure spending is amortized over eight years. It represents a 6% increase on the pre-COVID FY19 annual budget.
Also, it includes revenue (taxes) to offset the cost.
Dave (1542be) — 5/22/2021 @ 11:17 amAs if Trump’s presidency needed anyone else’s help to taint it…
Dave (1542be) — 5/22/2021 @ 11:24 amYou are right, Dave. There can never be enough said to taint Trump’s Presidency. The evidence is ample and right before our eyes.
felipe (484255) — 5/22/2021 @ 11:36 amVersion #3,578 of “Everything unpleasant that happened from Jan. 2017 to Jan. 2021 was done just to make Trump look bad.”
Radegunda (aea52f) — 5/22/2021 @ 11:38 amTo be fair, then: The people attacking Jews on the street — in LA, New York, London, or Canada — are just trying to taint the Biden presidency so thoughtless comments about “Biden’s America” can be made.
U.S. seizes $90,000 from man who sold footage of U.S. Capitol riot
………
According to the court filings, (John Earle) Sullivan portrayed himself as an independent journalist who was reporting on the chaos, but actually encouraged other participants to “burn” the building and engage in violence.
Sullivan recorded video of the confrontation between rioters and police just outside the U.S. House of Representatives chamber that included the shooting of protester Ashli Babbitt and, according to court filings, boasted to an unnamed witness that “my footage is worth like a million of dollars, millions of dollars.”
………
Sullivan has been charged with:
The DOJ said he was seen outside the Capitol with a microphone telling the crowd “we about to burn this s— down,” and was videotaped outside the Speaker’s Lobby when a Capitol Police officer shot a woman.
Rip Murdock (663335) — 5/22/2021 @ 11:39 amCovid vaccine profits mint 9 new pharma billionaires
Topping the list of new billionaires are Moderna (MRNA) CEO Stéphane Bancel and Ugur Sahin, the CEO of BioNTech (BNTX), which has produced a vaccine with Pfizer (PFE). Both CEOs are now worth around $4 billion, according to an analysis by the People’s Vaccine Alliance……..
Senior executives from China’s CanSino Biologics and early investors in Moderna have also become billionaires on paper as shares skyrocketed, partly in expectation of profits earned from Covid vaccines, which also bode well for the companies’ future prospects. The analysis was compiled using data from the Forbes Rich List.
………
Pfizer expects its sales of the vaccine to total about $26 billion by the end of this year, with a profit margin approaching 30%.
(Albert Bourla, the CEO of Pfizer) has defended the decision to profit from the vaccine, saying his company assumed all the risk to develop it and invested as much as $2 billion in research and development.
……….
BioNTech made a net profit of €1.1 billion ($1.3 billion) in the first three months of the year, largely thanks to its share of sales from the Covid-19 vaccine, compared with a loss of €53.4 million ($75.9 million) for the same period last year.
Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine sales hit $1.7 billion in the first three months of this year and it had its first profitable quarter ever, the company reported earlier this month. Goldman Sachs (GS) expects Moderna to make $13.2 billion in Covid-19 vaccine revenue in 2021. The company has received billions of dollars in funding from the US government for development of its vaccine.
………
The 9 new billionaires are:
1. Stéphane Bancel – Moderna’s CEO (worth $4.3 billion)
2. Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech (worth $4 billion)
3. Timothy Springer – an immunologist and founding investor of Moderna (worth $2.2bn)
4. Noubar Afeyan – Moderna’s Chairman (worth $1.9 billion)
5. Juan Lopez-Belmonte– Chairman of ROVI, a company with a deal to manufacture and
package the Moderna vaccine (worth $1.8 billion)
6. Robert Langer – a scientist and founding investor in Moderna (worth $1.6 billion)
7. Zhu Tao co-founder and chief scientific officer at CanSino Biologics (worth $1.3 billion)
8. Qiu Dongxu, co-founder and senior vice president at CanSino Biologics (worth $1.2)
9. Mao Huinhoa, also co-founder and senior vice president at CanSino Biologics (worth $1 billion)
Rip Murdock (663335) — 5/22/2021 @ 12:01 pm46.“Observe and report.” and steal votes for Biden….those stinking illegal lurking aliens
He’s one of them, AJ.
The comfort zone of a shielded environmentally controlled bunker-like habitat; those squinty slits for eyes sensitive to bright sunlight; the bulbous dark glasses to shield from the harsh UV rays of our sun; the obvious instability attempting bi-podial motion shuffling along in Earth’s gravity field– particularly up stairways. Not to mention the jibberish language when attempting to communicate using Earth English.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 5/22/2021 @ 12:07 pmHoi Polloi (b28058) — 5/22/2021 @ 5:07 am
They have this thing called a “prime directive.”
felipe (484255) — 5/22/2021 @ 12:11 pmAmerica did become thuggier and trashier under Trump. It was inevitable. When the ruler lacks virtue, ills visit the land. When the ruler is virtuous, Heaven guards the land and showers it with blessings.
nk (1d9030) — 5/22/2021 @ 12:13 pmnk (1d9030) — 5/22/2021 @ 12:13 pm
Ha! Kinda reminds me of that time I and my friends went to a party were the booze flowed freely and then some jerk turned on the lights. Then another guy turned them off and everything was chill.
felipe (484255) — 5/22/2021 @ 12:20 pmYeah I know “where.”
felipe (484255) — 5/22/2021 @ 12:22 pmPost #52(?) conjures up a certain Ron Kovic in Mexico scene in Born on the Fourth of July.
urbanleftbehind (ab28e2) — 5/22/2021 @ 12:40 pmYour whataboutism is noted.
I was told only Trumpists were anti-Semites. Turns out that was just the media and Democrats spinning again…
Hoi Polloi (b28058) — 5/22/2021 @ 12:42 pmFile under Iran-Iraq War comparisons:
https://news.yahoo.com/greta-thunberg-calls-chinese-state-114210403.html
urbanleftbehind (ab28e2) — 5/22/2021 @ 12:43 pmThat you are willing to admit there was violence is a great first step. Now take the next one and put the blame solely on Antifa/BLM.
Hoi Polloi (b28058) — 5/22/2021 @ 12:43 pmI will not add to the outrage. But I will make observations in a hope that some self-awareness might be sparked by them.
I like outrage. It’s the mother’s milk of lazy bloggers. Have you heard the latest about California’s High-Speed Rail Authority?
JVW (ee64e4) — 5/22/2021 @ 1:12 pmWhen did I ever deny there was violence? Or deny that BML and Antifa were responsible for it?
Radegunda (aea52f) — 5/22/2021 @ 1:17 pmI was pointing out that when you say This is what’s happening in Biden’s America, as though Biden were directly responsible — never mind what’s happening in Toronto and London and Germany — it’s pretty inconsistent to hold the view that nothing bad that happened during the Trump administration could possibly be his fault in any way or any measure.
IMO, what’s happening to Jews in various countries right now is primarily a product of a theological hatred of Jews written into the heart of Islam. That’s why Muslims in London are chanting “Jews, remember Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning.”
They want to reprise a 7th-century massacre that has nothing whatsoever to do with anything the state of Israel is doing. It has to do with the temerity of Jews refusing to accept Muslim domination — and the temerity of Jews (with UN agency) establishing a nation in the place that was their own homeland many centuries before Islam existed, and settling land that had long been left empty and barren. It has to do with the idea that any place once conquered by Islam should never, ever escape Muslim control. I’m not saying that Israel does nothing wrong, but the hostility toward Jews and the Jewish state goes much deeper than any particular actions by Jews or Israel.
Because Islam started as a doctrine of conquest and still aims to control the whole world, by force if necessary, while Judaism has not been a conquering or even a missionary religion, there are vastly more Muslims in the world than Jews, and therefore Muslims not only have the numbers to inflict serious harm on Jews, but also more leverage on the non-Muslim world.
I have no doubt that some people purporting to take an even-handed, principled view of the conflict are really thinking “Which side is it most dangerous to offend?” In the years following 9/11 there was a lot of “Oh, we need to try harder not to hurt the feelings of Muslims” — probably less out of concern for Muslim feelings than out of worry about what offended Muslims would do. It’s the bully’s veto, exercised by people pretending to be victims.
Radegunda (aea52f) — 5/22/2021 @ 1:42 pmIf Donald Trump faces criminal charges, few think it will hurt him with his base in 2024
……….
Criminal charges would, at the very least, create political problems for Trump, but allies and analysts said they would not necessarily prevent him from campaigning for Republicans in 2022 congressional races and even pursuing another presidential campaign in 2024.
“None of this matters,” pollster Frank Luntz said. “It doesn’t matter for his decision making or for anyone who votes for him.”
He added: “It’s just so irrelevant.”
If anything, indictments over past business practices might trigger Trump to mount another campaign if only to spite his enemies, some Republicans who spoke to USA TODAY said. The ex-president and his supporters would claim that indictments are the products of a Democratic plot to derail him and his agenda.
……….
“It’s just going to (tick) him off,” said one former Trump administration official, who, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive subject.
The former official and others said they believe Trump would prefer not to run again because he likes his current lifestyle, including frequent rounds of golf at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., and his country club in Bedminster, N.J. Some allies said Trump is only teasing a run in order to keep his name in the news, maintain influence in the Republican Party and raise money.
One thing could change Trump’s mind, allies said: An indictment that triggers his intense need to strike back at his enemies.
“If they indict him, I think he will run,” the former official said.
Rip Murdock (663335) — 5/22/2021 @ 1:58 pm………
Any prosecutor who pursues an indictment against an ex-president needs to have a strong case, legal analysts said. Otherwise, Trump and allies will be more able to turn the case into a political weapon.
………
“If you come for the king, you best not miss,” said Bradley P. Moss, a national security lawyer. “An indictment alone won’t necessarily hurt Trump with his base, which will view this all as part of a political witch hunt.”
…….
“Ironically, you can’t get hired for most government jobs with a felony conviction, but you can be elected president,” said Barb McQuade, a former federal prosecutor and now a law professor at the University of Michigan.
……….
He could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue in broad daylight, in front of a MAGA rally, and the base would claim that prosecuting him was a political witch hunt.
Radegunda (aea52f) — 5/22/2021 @ 2:09 pmHis base would claim they saw nothing.
Rip Murdock (663335) — 5/22/2021 @ 2:44 pmJVW (ee64e4) — 5/22/2021 @ 1:12 pm
Heh! I should have said “manufactured outrage,” which was what I meant, of course. I will be the first to acknowledge and support righteous outrage.
felipe (484255) — 5/22/2021 @ 2:57 pmWe spent four years hearing the media blame any violence in America on Trump. Fine. Game on. Now the same is true for Biden.
Hoi Polloi (b28058) — 5/22/2021 @ 2:57 pmHis base would claim it was a normal New York tourist visit. And the funny thing is that they would be right. 😉
nk (1d9030) — 5/22/2021 @ 2:58 pm@87 we do know cuomo can sexually assault women and get away with it in the same state where trump faces legal jeopardy
cuomo’s base seems to be okay with it, though the media hasn’t taken note, and the trump obsessed don’t much care
JF (e1156d) — 5/22/2021 @ 3:06 pmLife is unfair to Republicans!
nk (1d9030) — 5/22/2021 @ 3:46 pmI didn’t. Nor did I deny that there was violence — as you implied.
We also spent 4+ years hearing Trumpers constantly complain about things being done “just to hurt Trump.” Most absurd is the claim still being spouted by the likes of Michael Flynn that Covid-19 was nothing but a leftist plot to hurt Trump. My elderly neighbor won’t get a vaccination because she believes the media narrative that it was all about hurting Trump.
It’s a mystery why so many people have invested so much concern in whether Trump is hurt — particularly when he has so little concern about whether anyone but himself is hurt.
Radegunda (aea52f) — 5/22/2021 @ 3:46 pmKevin, please get a grip.
“seems” would indicate “not actually.” Maybe I should make it an analogy or something.
Such as saying that “spending is amortized over eight years.” and “[I]t includes revenue (taxes) to offset the cost” is like Joe Spendthrift maxing out his credit cards and saying “Oh, but I have years to pay it off and I’ll make more money next year!”
Of course, analogies are tricky.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 5/22/2021 @ 4:29 pmI will be the first to acknowledge and support righteous outrage.
I think the best I can offer is middling outrage.
JVW (ee64e4) — 5/22/2021 @ 4:29 pmhttps://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22272267/biden-economic-covid-19-stimulus-package
This isn’t about adding a few percent to previous spending, this is about a multi-trillion dollar printing-press expedition. Even Janet Yellen says this will lead to inflation, and higher interest rates.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/04/treasury-secretary-yellen-says-rates-may-have-to-rise-somewhat-to-keep-economy-from-overheating.html
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 5/22/2021 @ 4:37 pm“If you come for the king, you best not miss,” said Bradley P. Moss, a national security lawyer
Plagiarist! The quote is from Omar Little, in The Wire, the best cops & robbers TV show ever.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 5/22/2021 @ 4:41 pmA conviction for treason, followed by a nationally-televised half-hanging, drawing and quartering on the National Mall, might stop him from running again.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 5/22/2021 @ 4:42 pm@85 A small bit of data in support of Radegunda’s argument that Muslims have a “bully veto”, for many.
I recently went through four New Yorker cartoon collections (2011, 2012, 2015, and 2016) looking for Muslim cartoons. I found just one in the 2011 collection: a woman on a beach, completely covered, with the caption “Taliban de Soleil”.
Considering that radical Islamists have been at war with us (and many others) during all that time, I can only conclude that cartoonists (and those who publish them) prefer to leave Muslims, even Muslim terrorists, alone.
And if you are wondering about this, yes the magazine does routinely publish Christian cartoons and Jewish cartoons, and even the occasional Buddhist cartoon.
(I almost never watch late night TV, but I expect that Colbert and company in recent years also see no reason to tell jokes about Islam, even Islamic terrorists.)
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 5/22/2021 @ 4:48 pmYou forgot the tar and feathers.
Dave (1542be) — 5/22/2021 @ 5:42 pmNo serious person ever said that. Anti-semitism is and long has been bipartisan. Trump’s innovation was to shower the far-right MAGA-festooned Jew-haters with so much love that they’re convinced they act in his name. To my knowledge, no previous president winked at antisemitism like that.
By contrast, not only don’t you see the bands of thugs currently attacking Jews wearing Biden regalia, I guarantee most would tell you they detest Biden for his longstanding Zionism. Trump’s Braunhemden don’t care that he supported Israel. Some of them even support Israel themselves, so long as American Jews vacate this country to move there. All they care about is that Trump welcomes despite their professed hatred of Jews, so they’ll do anything for him, even overthrow American democracy.
lurker (59504c) — 5/22/2021 @ 6:18 pm*welcomes them*
lurker (59504c) — 5/22/2021 @ 6:20 pmJim Miller,
A good test is how South Park routinely has jokes at Jesus’s expense, mocks Jews multiple times per episode, had the most insightful Mormon and Scientologist criticism/discussion I’m aware of, yet the infamous episode where Muhammed is shown for a few seconds is utterly banned.
Fascinating. Terrorism works. It’s power. When people tried to keep terrorism from working, they may not have realized the lesson their failure taught, but it has a lot to do with the BLM protests, Trump’s success, 1/6. Words are weak, fear is effective.
Dustin (4237e0) — 5/22/2021 @ 6:28 pmI loved the Mormon episode of South Park. Humor combined with animation can be very piercing.
norcal (c1da7b) — 5/22/2021 @ 6:34 pmHere’s the cartoon (which I should have linked to in my first comment.)
Admittedly, it is not a great cartoon, but I have to give the cartoonist and editor credit for a little courage.
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 5/22/2021 @ 6:46 pm@106 Hey, it’s a first step!
norcal (c1da7b) — 5/22/2021 @ 6:53 pmExplaining HIPAA: No, it doesn’t ban questions about your vaccination status
………
Some Americans, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), are balking at such questions and are claiming that asking about or requiring proof of vaccination is a violation of the HIPAA federal privacy law.
“Vax records, along with ALL medical records are private due to HIPPA rights,” Greene recently tweeted, misspelling the law’s acronym.
……..
……..(HIPAA) only applies to specific health-related entities, such as insurance providers, health-care clearinghouses, health-care providers and their business associates.
……… There are other federal and state confidentiality laws that may require employers and schools to protect your privacy. [T]here is nothing in HIPAA that bars asking people about their health — including vaccination status — or requiring proof that the information is accurate.
“It’s not really a prohibition on asking, it’s a prohibition against sharing,” said Kayte Spector-Bagdady, an associate director at the Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine at the University of Michigan. The law, she added, “doesn’t mean you never have to tell anyone about your health information.”
……..
Under federal laws, there are very few, if any, situations in which businesses, airlines, employers, schools and even those covered by HIPAA are prohibited from asking you to share your vaccination status or show your vaccine record card, experts said.
It would, however, be a violation of HIPAA if your health-care provider shared your vaccination status without your consent to someone who asked. “I can’t call your doctor and say, ‘Hey, this is Kim from Target, and I want you to tell me whether this customer standing in front of me is vaccinated,’” Spector-Bagdady said. “As that doctor, under HIPAA, I am prohibited to share that medical information without my patient’s permission.”
Employers are also legally allowed to ask about or require proof of vaccination from employees. In a December guidance, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces federal workplace anti-discrimination laws, essentially confirmed that “there’s no indication that there’s any federal law that would be violated by the employer asking this question,” Cohen said.
Rip Murdock (663335) — 5/22/2021 @ 7:24 pm……….
No serious person or no True Scotsman?
Hoi Polloi (b28058) — 5/22/2021 @ 7:36 pm109. Show me the quotes from people you consider serious.
lurker (59504c) — 5/22/2021 @ 7:43 pmNic (896fdf) — 5/21/2021 @ 10:29 pm
I’d be a little late to complain at that point wouldn’t it? But it’s good to know that if that happens there will always be someone around saying “at least they aren’t gassing you or taking you outside of town and shooting you in shallow graves, even though that would help the rest of us, so shut up”.
frosty (f27e97) — 5/22/2021 @ 8:57 pmKevin M (ab1c11) — 5/21/2021 @ 11:13 pm
And also a colorful and creative one. I’m a fan of the Han shot first theory and I’d have no issues with a possible answer involving less wordplay.
frosty (f27e97) — 5/22/2021 @ 9:05 pmfrosty @111
MTG is the one who initiated the ridiculous rhetoric. Hence, she richly deserved Nic’s satirical response.
norcal (c1da7b) — 5/22/2021 @ 9:18 pmNJRob (eb56c3) — 5/22/2021 @ 10:29 am
RussiaGate was always a long con. The funny thing is it’s not the first time in recent memory. During Bush II we had everything bad about the WoT. It was a big part of BO’s campaign and what happened after he won? Even funnier it wasn’t the last time. BLM wants to defund cops and isn’t congress set to spend some money on more cops?
But don’t mention it to the marks. They’re really invested.
frosty (f27e97) — 5/22/2021 @ 9:25 pm@114 Nobody is contesting that these cons happen on both sides. The challenge is to sort through the smoke and mirrors.
norcal (c1da7b) — 5/22/2021 @ 9:38 pmhttps://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/05/two-court-defeats-for-racist-policies.php
More racism by the Biden administration thankfully defeated in a court of law. But just imagine how the radical leftists on the highest court would rule if they gained power.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 5/22/2021 @ 10:43 pmI disagree. There are people on here that cited RussiaGate as proof that Trump was their agent. They still haven’t retracted those insane remarks.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 5/22/2021 @ 10:44 pmThere are people on here that cited RussiaGate as proof that Trump was their agent.
Egos are a thing, even online.
norcal (c1da7b) — 5/22/2021 @ 11:06 pm@frosty@111 MTG is complaining about a rule that treats everyone equally, requiring all to wear a mask. That is not in any way at all like anything the Nazis did to Jewish people. I suspect that MTG may not really know what the Nazis did to Jewish people and is using it as a “generic bad thing” comparison, which is stupid. Everything bad isn’t Nazis. For the love of Pete.
Nic (896fdf) — 5/22/2021 @ 11:27 pmAnd moreover the mask requirement is a response to an inarguably real threat.
Jews were persecuted by the nazis based on a Trump-style big lie, when in truth they were no threat to anyone.
Dave (1542be) — 5/23/2021 @ 12:05 amIn her first competition in over 18 months, US gymnast Simone Biles becomes the first woman to complete a “Yurchenko double pike”.
Awesome!
Dave (1542be) — 5/23/2021 @ 12:28 amTrump is still a Russian asset. Just in a different capacity. But then he was a Russian asset in a different capacity before he became President too. Double agents need to be resilient and adaptable. Say “moose and squirrel”, Melania!
nk (1d9030) — 5/23/2021 @ 4:13 amI have not foreclosed the probability that 1/6 was intended as a distraction from the truckloads of national security secrets he turned over to Putin in his last days in office, and hopefully neither have our national security agencies. Run for President in 2024? Heh! Do the cellblocks in Gitmo elect a president?
nk (1d9030) — 5/23/2021 @ 4:39 amThat is no theory. I’m old enough to remember seeing the original Star Wars – Han shot first.
Hoi Polloi (b28058) — 5/23/2021 @ 5:26 amRight now my assumption is that not opposing the nordland pipeline is a request from Germany that’s being poorly explained. I expect the Biden administration to try and do a lot of things that in a boring way and make the explanations murky in order to avoid scrutiny.
I think this is evidence of the gap between what BLM wants and what the democratic party wants.
Time123 (66d88c) — 5/23/2021 @ 7:18 amIt’s too bad the Arab on Jewish attack metioned in the post and upthread didnt occur at an artisanal pizza restaurant…there could have been a good scene where the Jewish protagonist subdues the Arab and proceeds to toss him into…and says Who’s Jewish Now?!
urbanleftbehind (c54319) — 5/23/2021 @ 7:37 amCNN Drops Rick Santorum After Dismissive Comments About Native Americans
…………
Mr. Santorum’s departure from CNN came after comments he made about Native Americans at a Young America’s Foundation event last month.
“We birthed a nation from nothing — I mean, there was nothing here,” Mr. Santorum said at the event. “I mean, yes, we have Native Americans, but candidly, there isn’t much Native American culture in American culture.”
Days after the event, Mr. Santorum walked back his comments on CNN’s “Cuomo Prime Time.”
“I misspoke,” Mr. Santorum told the program’s host, Chris Cuomo. “I was talking about the founding of our country. I had given a long talk about the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the ideas behind those, and that I was saying we sort of created that anew, if you will. And I was not trying to dismiss Native Americans.”
Rip Murdock (663335) — 5/23/2021 @ 7:48 am…………
The mob made me do it: Rioters claim Jan. 6 crowd at fault
Christopher Grider said he came to Washington on Jan. 6 with no intention of rioting. But he got caught up in the mob of angry supporters of then-President Donald Trump as they surged into the U.S. Capitol, breaking through police barriers and smashing through doors.
It wasn’t his fault, he said, that he ended up inside the building with a yellow “Don’t Tread on Me” flag around his neck as lawmakers ran for their lives.
………
………[B]laming the mob is part of an attempt to restore reputations tarnished by their presence at an event of such infamy. Others may try to broach the issue at trial or at least during sentencing in bids for leniency.
……….
The insurrectionists descended on the nation’s capital that day to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory. Many attended a rally by Trump, who was refusing to concede even though there was no evidence to suggest the election had been rigged and his own administration said it wasn’t.
………
Grider, accused of helping to break a glass door to the House chamber, never planned to storm the building, his lawyer has said in filings and comments to reporters after Grider, was charged with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
“He would never have anticipated finding himself in the situation, but for the president and the rally and the way everything went down,” Brent Mayr told the Houston Chronicle. “We’ve heard ‘mob mentality’ — and he describes it to a T.” Mayr more recently declined to comment further.
………
“Even though I’m a criminal defense attorney, it sounds like a desperation move,” said Miami lawyer Joel Hirschhorn, insisting that would-be rioters who traveled long distances to Washington had to understand what they might be getting into. “It’s sort of like, ‘The devil made me do it.’ Come on.”
………
When U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson ruled in February that she would release Grider on bond pending trial, she didn’t speak directly to whether crowd dynamics might be relevant to his case. His legal team hasn’t said it will attempt to make that a feature of a trial defense.
But Jackson showed no sympathy for claims that Grider was more of a bystander than anything else that day.
Rip Murdock (663335) — 5/23/2021 @ 7:58 am……….
“Make no mistake, Mr. Grider, you did participate,” the judge said, addressing him directly. “You did have a role in one of the most egregious assaults on our democracy in the history of this country.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>
Dave (1542be) — 5/23/2021 @ 12:05 am
Masks have become a badge. The person wearing a mask driving by themselves isn’t responding to a real threat. Neither are the latest round of people who are explicitly deciding whether to wear a mask based on their politics. This is happening on both sides.
That some people are making a rational decision on masks doesn’t change the fact that it’s also become a political statement.
frosty (f27e97) — 5/23/2021 @ 8:06 amNic (896fdf) — 5/22/2021 @ 11:27 pm
I get it. It’s much better to wait until the comparison is better. Waiting until the tattooing starts like you suggested seems like it will work out well.
frosty (f27e97) — 5/23/2021 @ 8:12 amIt’s like keeping your sunglasses on when you step indoors for a few minutes.
Not.
Dave (1542be) — 5/23/2021 @ 8:20 amA.
Big.
Deal.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 5/22/2021 @ 10:43 pm
You may remember that I am a business owner. I, along with most businesses, suffered harm from the government ordered lock-down, which made it prudent for me to take out a loan from the SBA. I received a notification from the SBA that preferential treatment, as outlined in part in your comment, would be primarily conditioned on the business being physically located in an area defined as “poor.” Imagine my frustration (since I am supposed to be in the preferred group) that my address of record is just across the street from such an area, so not eligible.
I support the injunction, not just because of the discrimination that is supposed to favor me, but because of the insane and arbitrary way it is structured, in an attempt to survive scrutiny.
felipe (484255) — 5/23/2021 @ 8:27 amToo bad about Santorum.
On the handful of occasions when I saw him doing commentary on CNN (I only watch TV a few times a year…), he seemed more honest than most so-called Republicans these days, while still articulating conservative ideas.
Dave (1542be) — 5/23/2021 @ 8:32 am“Injunction” refers to the granted TRO, of course. I let my passion control my typing.
felipe (484255) — 5/23/2021 @ 8:43 amMr. Santorum’s departure from CNN came after comments he made about Native Americans at a Young America’s Foundation event last month.
“Departure?” The right wing nut job was fired.
‘CNN finally fired Rick Santorum, nearly a month after the former Pennsylvania Senator made racist, pro-colonization comments about Native Americans at an event for young conservatives.’ – dailybeast.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 5/23/2021 @ 8:44 amFrosty, I don’t think sane people can see death camps from where US politics are today.
Time123 (66d88c) — 5/23/2021 @ 9:24 amit’s an analogy
JF (e1156d) — 5/23/2021 @ 9:31 amI see Trump is threatening the AG of Arizon with a primary challenge if he doesn’t start openly supporting his election lie.
https://twitter.com/politicoalex/status/1396217968602882048
Time123 (66d88c) — 5/23/2021 @ 9:33 amA court ruled that a Trump spokesperson must pay $42,000 to Gizmodo Media Group for wrongfully claiming the outlet defamed him
Jason Miller, spokesperson for former President Donald Trump, must pay about $42,000 to G/O Media after a Florida court found that the outlet is not guilty of defamation, court documents show.
Miller accused G/O of defaming him in a report on an allegation made by his former girlfriend AJ Delgado last year in a sealed filing in a custody battle for their son. The report said Miller had given a dancer at a strip club in Florida abortion drugs in a smoothie after getting her pregnant.
He has strenuously denied the allegation and said the story was untrue.
………
When Miller first filed the defamation suit in 2019, a court struck it down and sided with Gizmodo.
But Miller in 2020 revived the lawsuit, filing an appeal with the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, court docs show.
…………
During oral arguments, attorney Shane Vogt called the allegation against Miller “indisputably false.” Miller had been seeking $100 million from G/O in damages.
The appeals court rejected Miller’s lawsuit and ordered him to pay about $42,000 in legal fees.
Rip Murdock (663335) — 5/23/2021 @ 9:38 am>>>>>>>>>>>
For the record: As far as I know, that Jason Miller is no relative of mine. (I do have a nephew by the same name.)
And I would be pleased if the Trump spokesman would change his last name to something more appropriate, for example, Ming, after the Flash Gordon character.
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 5/23/2021 @ 9:48 am153, indeed…sweater vest man received a sincere R primary vote from me back in 2012.
urbanleftbehind (c54319) — 5/23/2021 @ 10:12 amExplaining HIPAA: No, it doesn’t ban questions about your vaccination status
You can, for example, prevent your doctor from sharing information with an insurance company. This may lessen your chances of getting insurance claims approved, but it’s your call. But so long as you sign off on it, your doctor can share nekkid pictures of you with his friends and not violate HIPAA.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 5/23/2021 @ 10:19 am“Make no mistake, Mr. Grider, you did participate,” the judge said, addressing him directly. “You did have a role in one of the most egregious assaults on our democracy in the history of this country.”
Um, The southern secession was rather more egregious.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 5/23/2021 @ 10:23 amTime123 (66d88c) — 5/23/2021 @ 9:24 am
Sane people? Maybe if people worried about it a little sooner it wouldn’t be so common.
Cambodia circa 1974; I don’t think sane people can see the killing fields from where we are today. Rwanda circa 1990; … Ukraine circa 1930; … Timor circa 1975; … Guatemala circa 1960; … Darfur circa 2002; … Bosnia circa 1990; … Iraq circa 2012; …
But sure, it’s nothing to worry about unless it involves literal cattle cars, tattoos, and camps.
frosty (f27e97) — 5/23/2021 @ 10:30 amSane people? Maybe if people worried about it a little sooner it wouldn’t be so common.
Cambodia circa 1974; I don’t think sane people can see the killing fields from where we are today. Rwanda circa 1990; … Ukraine circa 1930; … Timor circa 1975; … Guatemala circa 1960; … Darfur circa 2002; … Bosnia circa 1990; … Iraq circa 2012; …
All of which we highly dysfunctional authoritarian states involved in civil wars, and some with deep seated ethnic or political divisions, none of which exist here.
Rip Murdock (663335) — 5/23/2021 @ 10:52 amRip Murdock (663335) — 5/23/2021 @ 10:52 am
and also
You’re starting to win me over. I’m starting to think this is ok so long as it doesn’t have any catchy German-sounding names.
frosty (f27e97) — 5/23/2021 @ 11:13 amAT&T’s Hollywood Ending Erased Billions in Value
………
AT&T said Monday it will spin off its sprawling media empire, including HBO, CNN, TNT, TBS and the Warner Bros. studio, into a new venture with Discovery Inc. That follows a February agreement to hive off a 30% stake in satellite broadcaster DirecTV and give up operational control of its pay-TV unit, which was hollowed out by customers trading pricey channel bundles for less expensive alternatives.
All told, the two reversals erased tens of billions of dollars of equity value, as AT&T cut deals to exit its investments and shed debt. AT&T said the full value of the media transaction includes not just the equity value but also the cash AT&T will receive for divesting itself of the business.
Rip Murdock (663335) — 5/23/2021 @ 11:22 am………..
Both of the big deals were hobbled by strategic miscalculations and lapses in execution. AT&T bought DirecTV in 2015 near the peak of the pay-TV market, just before cord-cutting started to pick up pace. After winning the antitrust fight for Time Warner, AT&T was slow to launch a streaming service and struggled to keep up with rivals plowing billions of dollars a year into content.
………..
The market did what the Trump DOJ couldn’t.
No, it’s an equivalency: “And this is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about.”
“Exactly” means “in a manner or measure or to a degree or number that strictly conforms to a fact or condition”; or, “in every respect.”
An analogy, OTOH, means “a comparison of two otherwise unlike things based on resemblance of a particular aspect”; or “resemblance in some particulars between things otherwise unlike.”
Radegunda (aea52f) — 5/23/2021 @ 11:48 amWhat our esteemed host presented the other day was a resemblance in particulars between otherwise unlike things. What MTG is claiming is literally an “exact” likeness.
Felipe,
I do remember that you’re a business owner. I know you are also against government trying to destroy businesses while trying to save them. That they then pick and choose the survivors is doubly repugnant. They live by the motto “we have to destroy the village to save it.”
NJRob (eb56c3) — 5/23/2021 @ 11:50 amI’m glad you agree that antifa, BLM, Talib, AOC, etc are insane. But how does that help reducing their power and influence on society today?
NJRob (eb56c3) — 5/23/2021 @ 11:52 amhttps://nypost.com/2021/05/22/eugene-chung-nfl-team-said-im-not-right-minority-in-interview/
Racism is considered fine when it’s against an approved target.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 5/23/2021 @ 11:55 amPro-Trump Conspiracy Theorists Are Taking Over State Republican Parties
………
A VICE News review of public positions of all 50 GOP state chairs shows a significant number are openly pushing conspiracy theories, spouting unhinged rhetoric, and actively undermining voters’ trust in democracy. That includes the chairs of nearly every swing state in the U.S. And the trend is accelerating: Many of the most extreme chairs just won their chairmanships or have been reelected since Trump left office four months ago, a number of them with his explicit endorsement.
………
The most common and pernicious conspiracy pushed by state party chairs is the one that’s come to define the Republican Party: the big lie that the 2020 election was rigged against Trump and marred by widespread voting fraud. A significant plurality have publicly undermined voters’ trust in their elections, and those chairs who aren’t explicitly repeating his lies have pointedly refused to dispute them, while pushing “election integrity” measures to make it harder to vote.
………
Of the six GOP state party chairs serving on the (RNC Election Integrity Commission), just one has come close to acknowledging the legitimacy of Biden’s 2020 victory…….Three others on the commission pushed Trump’s claims that the election was stolen from him or argued the election wasn’t settled even after the Electoral College had voted to officially cement it in mid-December.
That includes Wyoming Republican Party Chairman Frank Eathorne, who penned a January 2 letter claiming “extensive evidence” of voter fraud in “numerous states,” attended the January 6 Trump rally in D.C. that turned into a riot, defended that protest as mostly peaceful, and in early January floated the idea that Wyoming and other “self-reliant” conservative states should consider seceding from the United States. ……..
………
In Oklahoma, former state Rep. John Bennett won a battle to become party chairman in April following a long history of incendiary comments……..Bennett (has) grouped himself with Trump, Flynn, and top election conspiracists Mike Lindell and Lin Wood, saying they were “out there speaking the truth boldly” and needed backup in the face of media attacks.
………
On January 6, as pro-Trump rioters descended on the U.S. Capitol, (Oregon state Sen. Dallas Heard, state party chair), told the crowd at a satellite “Occupy the Capitol” protest in Salem that anti-Trump lawmakers were “the enemy of the people.”
……….
(Texas State chair Allen) West fully embraced the lie that the election was stolen from Trump, pushing false claims that Dominion Voting Systems had changed votes from Trump to Biden.
……..
Maine’s Republican chair was reelected in January, after she’d claimed the coronavirus was intentionally unleashed by the Chinese government in order to hurt Trump’s reelection chances.
Massachusetts GOP chair Jim Lyons said on November 12 that Biden was “falsely posing as the winner of the 2020 presidential election,” claimed Democrats were “committing voter fraud,” and insisted “dead people voted.” …….
Rip Murdock (663335) — 5/23/2021 @ 12:10 pm………
……… New Mexico Republican Party chair Steve Pearce, a former congressman who pushed the birther lie that President Obama wasn’t born in the U.S. and claimed two days after the Capitol riots that “our democracy has been tarnished” by the 2020 election because of “anomalies and issues that were never addressed.”……
………..
……….. (Arizona Republican chair Kelli Ward) called Biden’s win a “coup” on Dec. 20, and called on Trump to “cross the rubicon” to stop it, a reference to Julius Caesar’s historic decision to overthrow the Roman Republic. When Stop the Steal leader Ali Alexander tweeted in early December that he was “willing to give my life in this fight,” the Arizona Republican Party retweeted it, asking: “He is. Are you?”
……….
Georgia GOP chair David Shafer actively spread false information about the results in Georgia, buttressing Trump’s repeated false claims that the state had been stolen from him. ……..
………
North Carolina Republican chair Michael Whatley falsely claimed in February that “we certainly saw evidence of voting irregularities, of election counting irregularities in a number of places around the country,” and invented the claim that the reason Trump won North Carolina was his state party’s vigilance against Democrats’ attempts to cheat………
………
In Pennsylvania, GOP chair Andrew Tabas publicly floated the possibility of his state’s Republican-controlled state Legislature overriding the election results and appointing Trump electors if he lost the state—before the election. ………
………
State party chairs are chosen by the most dedicated, hardcore party activists—the types willing to spend their Saturdays arguing over party rule arcana at conventions. Because people showing up to vote are convinced that Trump really won in 2020, Republican state party chairs must agree with his premise, or at least pretend to stay in power.
……..
I’m glad you agree that antifa, BLM, Talib, AOC, etc are insane.
Please link to statements where these groups and individuals advocate for death camps. Otherwise this is another fact free post.
Rip Murdock (663335) — 5/23/2021 @ 12:13 pm\
Pretty much do think they’re nuts, or nut adjacent. I’m glad that their preferred candidates (Bernie or Warren) lost the primary and didn’t get positions in the administration.
Time123 (b0628d) — 5/23/2021 @ 12:24 pmNo doubt some of the crazy was in the party in the B.T. era — just as Dems have their own insane factions. But the crazy in the GOP was mainstreamed when a small group (initially) of “intellectuals” along with a big chunk of the base decided that the only person who could save America was a profoundly selfish man who believes that whatever doesn’t go as he wants must be outrageously rigged against him, and whatever thwarts his will is ipso fact corrupt.
Then, most of the GOP and most of its allied thought-leaders began to align their own conception of patriotic virtue with whatever serves the wishes and feeds the ego of a sociopathic narcissist. They decided that whatever goes against their idol is the result of a corrupt conspiracy.
There had certainly been conspiratorial thinking on the right previously — as there is on the left — but DJT and the cultish devotion to him put it front and center.
Radegunda (aea52f) — 5/23/2021 @ 12:40 pmExhibit A: Michael Flynn
Radegunda (aea52f) — 5/23/2021 @ 12:43 pmExhibit B: Lin Wood
Exhibit C: Marjorie Taylor Greene
et al.
Rip Murdock @4
The Wall Street Journal headline doesn’t quite capture what happened. The leader of Boko Haram detonated a suicide bomb to avoid being captured by TSWAP – the Islamic State West Africa Peovice, a group which broke off from him in 2016, and now, had gotten enough of Abubaker Shekau’s top people to betray him so that they were in a position to do so.
The Nigerian government, and maybe even the U.S. government may have helped ISWAP because they think they can negotiate better with them to stop their terror.
This didn’t happen on Friday, but on Wednesday, but the Wall Street Journal is convinced it is true because so many people say so, and have shown internal Nigerian intelligence documents to the paper, and they say their sources include transcribed intercepted internal communications by Boko Haram whose authenticity was verified by geo-location. Too many people within Boko Haram and mediators dealing with them seem to believe it is true. (as I once said, the death of a person in charge of an organization or country is impossible to hide – Mullah Omar’s death was kept secret fpor two ears because he wasn’t in charge. When Howard Hughes died in 1976, we knew it right away, even though before that nobody knew much about what was going on with Howard Hughes)
There seems to be a little more content online than in the printed Saturday/Sunday, May 22-23, 2021 edition of the Wall Street Journal, including that some people were saying there was no such person as Abubaker Shekau.
Shekau was originally the chief aide to someone else, who was killed by police while in custody in 2009.
U.S. drones spotted him in 2016, and that was followed up Nigerian airstrikes, but the Nigerians instead killed others, including at least 10 kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls. This was confirmed by several of the school girls who were later released. There is probably a lot of corruption in Nigeria.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 5/23/2021 @ 1:25 pmSomebody’s about to be Brown Shirted:
urbanleftbehind (c54319) — 5/23/2021 @ 1:35 pmhttps://news.yahoo.com/trumps-dc-hotel-raised-prices-115550231.html
@frosty@130 I have to follow the speed limit. It’s like the Nazis. I have to go to work to support myself, clearly it’s like the Nazis. I have a hangnail, the Nazis probably did it.
Words have meaning. My tomato, while it might be compared to a ruby, is not comparable to a sapphire.
However, if you see a similarity, please feel free to explain how a rule that singles out no one for any kind of special abuse is in any way comparable to rules that singled out very specific people for very special abuse.
Unless it is just rules in general are all the result of Nazism, then, of course, everything would be Nazis and it becomes another term with no meaning.
Nic (896fdf) — 5/23/2021 @ 2:00 pmINB4JVW:
A Year After George Floyd: Pressure to Add Police Amid Rising Crime
Dave (1542be) — 5/23/2021 @ 4:50 pm@160 That’s outrageous. Social workers are more equipped to deal with gun violence. Give the money to them.
norcal (6e6099) — 5/23/2021 @ 5:08 pmhttps://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2021/05/23/whitmer-apologizes-after-photo-shows-her-bar-violating-own-order/5234477001/
Once again, why should we believe politicians and their dictats when they don’t follow the same rules.
It’s all about showing who rules you.
NJRob (402c27) — 5/23/2021 @ 5:30 pmRob – politicians occasionally commit murder.
Does that make it OK for the rest of us to commit murder too, since they don’t follow the same rules?
Dave (1542be) — 5/23/2021 @ 5:45 pmBelated R.I.P. Glynn Lunney, 84, NASA Flight Director
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2021/03/20/Glynn-Lunney-NASA-dead/6171616269196/
Glynn Lunney was a rare bird; a stellar manager and superb engineer. A private man in a very public endeavor, Lunney was there from the start, literally getting America’s manned space program off the ground.
He led the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs before retiring from the agency in 1985, then led human spaceflight activities in private industry with Rockwell International and, later, United Space Alliance until his retirement in 1995.
Gene Kranz got much of the publicity, chiefly due to the movie, Apollo 13 for younger people, but it was Lunney who, along with the rest of the teams, ‘worked the problem’ and made the right decisions to get Apollo 13 home. He received the Presidential Medal Freedom as part of the Apollo 13 Mission Operations Team in recognition of actions that made it possible to save three Apollo 13 astronauts aboard a spacecraft that became disabled on the way to the moon on a 1970 mission.
Truly saddened learning of this. Another American hero gone.
Ad Astra, Glynn.
Ad Astra.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 5/23/2021 @ 5:52 pmOnce again, why should we believe politicians and their dictats when they don’t follow the same rules.
Is that a trick question? You should never believe politicians.
But the
seat ofhead up the pants “handling” of the Covid has been an especially egregious example of their worthlessness. The only ones who know what they are doing, which is making tons and tons of money, are the drug companies.Just do what you think is the right thing to do to keep yourself, your family, and your neighbors safe and reasonably unharassed.
nk (1d9030) — 5/23/2021 @ 6:17 pmDoes that make it OK for the rest of us to commit murder too, since they don’t follow the same rules?
Dave (1542be) — 5/23/2021 @ 5:45 pm
Crafting public policy is a bit different from violently ending another person’s life, but we have to squeeze that false analogy in there somewhere.
Factory Working Orphan (f916e7) — 5/23/2021 @ 6:26 pm@166 This appears to be another instance of confusing an analogy with an equivalency.
norcal (7c1f06) — 5/23/2021 @ 6:43 pmLaws regulating homicide are also public policy crafted by politicians. And I mean “regulating”.
nk (1d9030) — 5/23/2021 @ 6:50 pm@166 This appears to be another instance of confusing an analogy with an equivalency.
norcal (7c1f06) — 5/23/2021 @ 6:43 pm
It was a lame one either way.
Factory Working Orphan (f916e7) — 5/23/2021 @ 6:55 pmnk,
Hand to God, I was going to say something similar to your comment at 168. I went with what was, in hindsight, the lesser offering. Even so, does this mean I’m approaching an nk level of awareness?
norcal (7c1f06) — 5/23/2021 @ 7:10 pm😉
nk (1d9030) — 5/23/2021 @ 7:55 pmTo some comrades here, norcal, the only apt analogies are the ones which compare Trump to Moses, David, and Sampson.
nk (1d9030) — 5/23/2021 @ 7:57 pmSamson did have that disconcerting comb over.
lurker (59504c) — 5/23/2021 @ 8:27 pmThe Capitol ‘armed insurrection’ narrative is crumbling
The more we know about January 6, the less we see
Horatio (d44271) — 5/23/2021 @ 9:13 pmThat some people are making a rational decision on masks doesn’t change the fact that it’s also become a political statement.
So, I live in a county that is 70% vaccinated in part, 60% in full. It went 50/50 in the last election in a state that went 60/40 for Biden. Not a blue hotbed, not particularly anxious about Covid at this point. Stores are not requiring masks, nor is the state. Yet at every store I’ve been to, nearly everyone is wearing a mask.
I don’t see your assertion happening here.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 5/23/2021 @ 9:35 pm@166 This appears to be another instance of confusing an analogy with an equivalency.
Where was the analogy? Or the equivalency?
Rob was saying that politicians make rules that they don’t follow; Dave convolved that somewhat by asking if that means we should not follow their rules, which is not really the same thing. But it wasn’t about analogies or equivalencies, it was about swapping subject and object.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 5/23/2021 @ 9:40 pmThe Capitol ‘armed insurrection’ narrative is crumbling
There may be some BS on the side of those trying to made a bigger mountain out of the mountain, but the lying gets really intense when people try to turn the mountain into a molehill.
I watched this live, and the moment that people broke into the Capitol it changed from a demonstration into something else. Was it an attempt to overthrow the government? Maybe in a few deranged minds, but there was no chance of that happening. We are not that far gone yet.
By entering the Capitol, past the overwhelmed security, while Congress was in session counting electoral votes a legal-ish political demonstration became an active threat to the lives of elected officials. No matter what you may think of them, they are our duly-elected Congress and attacking them is not acceptable. At all.
The best that I can say about this event is that Congress ought to recongize anger that is out there and perhaps both extremes that inhabit that place ought to stop and reflect. I don’t expect it. This will become just one more brick in the wall.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 5/23/2021 @ 10:08 pmTo some comrades here, norcal, the only apt analogies are the ones which compare Trump to Moses, David, and Sampson.
nk (1d9030) — 5/23/2021 @ 7:57 pm
Moses: Disobeyed God’s edict to not strike the rock and was forbidden from entering the Promised Land as a result.
David: An adulterer whose child with Bathsheba was killed by God.
Sampson: Let lust blind him figuratively into telling Delilah what the source of his strength was, before he was blinded literally.
What’s the problem?
Factory Working Orphan (f916e7) — 5/23/2021 @ 10:13 pmDave couldn’t rephrase my remarks and either misstated them due to lack of understanding or he maliciously chose to attack a strawman instead. Not a good job of it either. Doesn’t speak well of him or his education.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 5/23/2021 @ 10:22 pmWhat’s the problem?
Factory Working Orphan (f916e7) — 5/23/2021 @ 10:13 pm
Nothing, unless you think Trump was chosen by God.
norcal (ad7fce) — 5/23/2021 @ 10:52 pmNot at all.
Rob said:
Rob suggested that if politicians violate their own “dictats”, we are justified in ignoring those “dictats” (in an attempt to discredit COVID prevention measures that Rob prefers to ignore).
Politicians passed “dictats” making murder a crime. And some politicians violated those “dictats”.
This is simple logic.
Dave (1542be) — 5/24/2021 @ 2:35 amLOL.
Dave (1542be) — 5/24/2021 @ 2:36 amHappy 80th birthday, Bob Dylan!
Dave (1542be) — 5/24/2021 @ 2:38 amIf your doctor warns you that smoking causes cancer, and you later find out that he indulged in a cigar at his son’s wedding, does that make it a good idea to ignore his warning?
Dave (1542be) — 5/24/2021 @ 2:44 amFrankie bought Johnny a new suit of clothes but he stepped out with Nellie.
nk (1d9030) — 5/24/2021 @ 4:14 amNothing, unless you think Trump was chosen by God.
norcal (ad7fce) — 5/23/2021 @ 10:52 pm
God doesn’t have to choose people for their positive qualities. Habbakuk went over this same question. In fact, I’d say Trump becoming the leader of a nation that’s grown increasingly carnal and solipsistic since the end of World War II would be the very definition of a divine punishment.
Factory Working Orphan (f916e7) — 5/24/2021 @ 6:07 amThe douchebag from WI added “armed” to “insurrection” to apologize for the domestic terrorism by MAGAs on that day. That said, 31 have been criminally charged for use and/or possession of “dangerous weapons”.
Paul Montagu (a05eda) — 5/24/2021 @ 8:05 am“Raffiniert ist der Herrgott, aber boshaft ist er nicht”.
Dave (1542be) — 5/24/2021 @ 8:06 am– A. Einstein
@187, and 140 police officers were injured.
Time123 (d1bf33) — 5/24/2021 @ 8:09 amFrankie and Johnny. Fancy lady who expected her kept man to be faithful.
nk (1d9030) — 5/24/2021 @ 8:18 amMost of the mentions of “armed insurrection” I’ve seen are coming from Trumpers who are trying to argue that it’s all a media lie.
But it’s also not true that the rioters were all unarmed.
Also :
Radegunda (aea52f) — 5/24/2021 @ 8:48 amIf your doctor warns you that smoking causes cancer, and you later find out that he indulged in a cigar at his son’s wedding, does that make it a good idea to ignore his warning?
No, but Rob was mostly saying “What a hypocrite!” not “Smoking is good!”
What your scenario says to me, is that one should find a different doctor. Sadly, finding [meaningfully] different politicians is hard. That Trump guy didn’t work out very well.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 5/24/2021 @ 9:11 am@188: “Put not your trust in princes…”
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 5/24/2021 @ 9:13 amThe DOJ indictment accuses defendant Christopher Alberts of carrying a Taurus G2C semi-automatic handgun on Capitol grounds on January 6. The indictment also says he had a “large capacity ammunition feeding device.”
Illegal anywhere in D.C.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 5/24/2021 @ 9:14 amFactory Working Orphan (f916e7) — 5/23/2021 @ 10:13 pm
People ask what was his sin?
It’s no mystery.
The problem was he did not have confidence that water would actually come out of the stone when he spoke to it, and tried to play it safe. Also, he didn’t like the means. It was too much like treating the stone like an intelligent object.
So he went back to what happened 39 years before, but in a way so that he would not be embarrassed if nothing happened.
The whole thing was obviously a test, because what was the need for him to bring the stick? It was superfluous, except to get him to stumble more easily. Why? Moses had to agree that he was not the one to lead at that point.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 5/24/2021 @ 10:35 amOne thing Joe Biden said was that all the nations surrounding Israel need to accept it in order for there to be peace – I think he said that.
That obviously includes Iran. (as well as Syria and Lebanon)
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/biden-no-peace-until-region-recognizes-israels-right-to-exist-668803
Iran has shown it has the ability to block any peace. I suppose you could say it is possible if Iran is frozen out.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 5/24/2021 @ 11:13 am