Patterico's Pontifications

7/2/2021

Weekend Open Thread

Filed under: General — Dana @ 8:16 pm



[guest post by Dana]

Happy weekend! Here are a few news items to chew over. Actually, more than a few. There’s just some interesting stuff happening out there… Feel free to post your own interesting news items and links.

First news item

Sadly sprinting to a silly suspension:

Sha’Carri Richardson, the 21-year-old sprinter expected to star at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, has been suspended and barred from running her signature race in Tokyo after testing positive for marijuana.

The drug has been decriminalized in most U.S. states, including in Oregon, where Richardson’s positive test occurred. Many athletes use it for reasons both medicinal and recreational. The NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL no longer suspend players for it.

And yet, “all natural and synthetic cannabinoids,” including marijuana, remain prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency, or WADA, the International Olympic Committee-affiliated body that regulates drug use in global sport.

WADA deems THC, the primary psychoactive compound of marijuana, a “substance of abuse” on its 2021 prohibited list. All cannabis-based products except for cannabidiol, or CBD, are banned “in-competition.” That means that if THC is found in an athlete’s system on the day of an event, that athlete is subject to punishment.

Because Richardson’s failed test occurred after she won the women’s 100-meter dash at the U.S. Olympic Trials, it nullifies her first-place finish and disqualifies her from the event in Tokyo. USADA announced Friday that Richardson had accepted a one-month suspension that began June 28 and expires July 28, before track and field events begin in Tokyo. USA Track and Field could, therefore, select her for a relay team, but its rules require it to enter the top three finishers at trials in the 100. And Richardson is no longer one of them.

President Biden declined to intervene on Richardson’s behalf.

Second news item

U.S. military leaves Bagram Airbase:

American forces on Friday vacated Afghanistan’s Bagram Airbase, once a bustling minicity that saw more than 100,000 U.S. troops pass through its gates, three senior U.S. officials tell NBC News.

Two of the officials said that the airfield had been handed over in its entirety early Friday to the Afghan National Security and Defense Force.

The U.S. officials, who had direct knowledge of the withdrawal, spoke to NBC News on the condition of anonymity because the decision has not yet been officially announced.

The move is a stark statement of intent on the part of President Joe Biden’s administration, and an indication that the remaining 2,500 to 3,500 U.S. troops have left or are close to leaving the country, months ahead of the president’s Sept. 11 deadline.

Speaking to reporters at the White House later on Friday, Biden said the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan is “on track” but it will not be completed within the next few days. Some U.S. forces will still be in Afghanistan in September as part of a “rational drawdown with our allies,” he added.

Third news item

This just keeps on happening:

The Anti-Defamation League of New England is calling for a hate crime investigation into the stabbing of Rabbi Shlomo Noginski, saying there are indicators of antisemitism in the attack outside a Jewish school in Brighton Thursday afternoon.

“Facts emerging from the stabbing of a Rabbi in Brighton, MA yesterday include multiple indicators pointing towards antisemitism,” ADL New England regional director Robert Trestan said in a statement. “We call on the Boston Police Department Civil Rights Unit to investigate yesterday’s violent attack as a hate crime. Boston’s Jewish community is angry, living in fear and needs answers, accountability and security.”

Boston Police were called to Shaloh House on Chestnut Hill Avenue around 1 p.m. after Noginski was attacked by a man outside. Noginski was rushed to Boston Medical Center with what police described as non-life threatening injuries. He was released overnight.

Police arrested 24-year-old Khaled Awad in connection to the stabbing. WBZ-TV I-Team sources said he was armed with a gun and a knife.

Fourth news item

Oh:

Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch on Friday said the Supreme Court should revisit the breadth of the landmark First Amendment decision in New York Times v. Sullivan and explore how it applies to social media and technology companies.

That 1964 ruling created a higher bar for public figures to claim libel and has been a bedrock of US media law, but the two conservative justices said it’s time to take another look.

“Since 1964,” Gorsuch wrote Friday, “our Nation’s media landscape has shifted in ways few could have forseen.”

He added that “thanks to the revolutions in technology, today virtually anyone in this county can publish virtually anything for immediate consumption virtually anywhere in the world.”

Gorsuch and Thomas wrote as they dissented when the court declined to take up a case from the son of a former prime minister of Albania who claimed several statements were defamatory in a book that was later turned into the Hollywood film, “War Dogs.”

Fifth news item

It doesn’t get any louder or clearer than this:

Filming outside of City Hall in downtown Oakland, Calif., on Monday, a TV news crew was interviewing a city official for a story about a recent spate of violent crime when the journalists became victims themselves.

“I think Oakland deserves better,” Guillermo Cespedes, the city’s chief of violence prevention, told the NBC Bay Area reporters just before two armed men interrupted the interview, knocking a camera to the ground.

The Oakland Police Department said a scuffle broke out as the robbers demanded the cameraman hand over his equipment, the East Bay Times reported. The news crew’s security guard pulled out his own gun and ordered the would-be robbers to leave. They left without stealing any equipment, police said.

The tense moment follows the city council’s decision to cut about $18 million from the mayor’s proposed budget for the Oakland Police Department. That money was instead redirected to social services and violence-prevention programs that are not run by the police, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Sixth news item

To mask or not to mask, that is still the question being asked:

Q: Thank you so much for taking my question. What are — can you tell us more about whether or not Americans may be having to go back to wearing masks in light of the Delta variant? We saw Los Angeles County and the WHO both recommending that even vaccinated people should wear masks. Where does that stand? Should people be preparing themselves to possibly going back to wearing masks if they’re vaccinated?

MR. ZIENTS: Dr. Fauci.

DR. FAUCI: Well, as I was alluding to in my comments, you have a broad recommendation for the country as a whole, which is the CDC recommendation, that if you are vaccinated, you have a high degree of protection so you need not wear a mask either indoor or outdoor.

But also, as is said and as the CDC has recommended, is that there’s a degree of flexibility. People at the local level, depending upon the on-ground situation, will make recommendations or not according to the local situation. But the broad recommendation that the CDC makes, based on the high degree of effectiveness of the vaccine, remains unchanged.

Seventh news item

Horrible:

Residents of the doomed Champlain Towers South complex were told by the condo board in December 2020 that certain sections of the condo’s underground garage were not protected by any waterproofing whatsoever, a flaw that had “exposed the garage to water intrusion for 40 years,” according to documents obtained by The Washington Post. That was on top of the structural damage an engineer’s report noted two years earlier, much of which had occurred due to shoddy waterproofing around the building’s pool. Protecting the garage from further damage was prioritized in a planned $15 million upgrade, the 2020 documents reportedly stated. Another issue involved repairing concrete slabs under the building grounds that had been “overstressed since the day the building went up.” The board’s presentation said “inadequate slab reinforcing” was in fact noted in the building’s original structural drawings. Most of the repairs had not yet begun when the building collapsed last week, killing at least 18 people with more than 140 still missing.

Related:

The city of North Miami Beach ordered the 10-story Crestview Towers Condominium to be immediately closed and evacuated Friday evening after a building inspection report found it not safe for occupancy due to structural and electrical issues, city officials said Friday night.

The Jan. 11, 2021 inspection report [7 months ago!], which the condo association turned in to the city Friday afternoon after the city had threatened to shut down the building on Thursday, said the 156-unit building is :

▪ “Structurally no safe for the specified use for continued occupancy.”
▪ “Electrically no safe for the specified use for continued occupancy.”

Eighth news item

This isn’t good:

Israel may have to destroy up to a million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine due to expire by the end of the month unless another country capable of administering them is found.

A plan to transfer them to Britain seems to have fallen through. About 65 per cent of Israelis, more than 5.5 million people, have received two doses of the vaccine. The country is trying to encourage younger generations to be inoculated, with less success.

The government has been in contact with several countries about transferring the surplus of more than a million doses to one that could use them immediately. In return Israel would receive doses manufactured later.

There have also been inquiries with the manufacturer Pfizer about whether the expiry date could

Ninth news item

How else was it going to end?:

According to the California Retailer’s Association three cities in our state are among the top 10 in the country when it comes to organized retail crime–Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento.

Already we are seeing the negative impact it is having in San Francisco with stores permanently shutting down or closing early. It has become one of the most pressing issues in our city today.

Target has now acknowledged that San Francisco is the only city in America where they have decided to close some stores early because of the escalating retail crime.

For more than a month, we’ve been experiencing a significant and alarming rise in theft and security incidents at our San Francisco Stores, similar to reports from other retailers in the area…Walgreens has already closed several stores for the same reason…

MISCELLANEOUS

Stay cool, cats, and have a good weekend.

–Dana

243 Responses to “Weekend Open Thread”

  1. Hello!

    Dana (fd537d)

  2. ▪ “Structurally no safe for the specified use for continued occupancy.”
    ▪ “Electrically no safe for the specified use for continued occupancy.”

    is that a slip into Cuban spanglish or Creole?

    urbanleftbehind (c073c9)

  3. Aw!

    nk (1d9030)

  4. White House calls Sha’Carri Richardson an ‘inspiring woman’ but stops short of opposing suspension

    And also

    White House backs Olympic athlete Gwen Berry who turned her back on flag in protest

    Biden loves America and that means no weed, and let’s ignore the racist past there, and yes to poor sportsmanship and thinking playing the anthem is a setup.

    frosty (f27e97)

  5. Another checkmark on the Carter list…mishandling Summer Olympic athletes.

    urbanleftbehind (2bdc73)

  6. “all natural and synthetic cannabinoids,” including marijuana, remain prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency, or WADA, the International Olympic Committee-affiliated body that regulates drug use in global sport.

    Was the athlete unaware of this rule? Is that the defense? Or if it a simple middle finger that the people who follow the rules are supposed to get, and this all goes away.

    Maybe truck drivers who fail drug tests should be allowed to drive anyways. Rules are for other people.

    This athlete does not get my sympathy.

    BuDuh (7bca93)

  7. Carter could check off a military service record. Biden’s going to have trouble with that what with the teenage asthma getting him deferments. Biden’s on track to get him some good inflation and gas prices hikes though so maybe another check and check.

    If I were embassy staff I’d reconsider my options.

    frosty (f27e97)

  8. Because Richardson’s failed test occurred after she won the women’s 100-meter dash at the U.S. Olympic Trials, it nullifies her first-place finish and disqualifies her from the event in Tokyo. USADA announced Friday that Richardson had accepted a one-month suspension that began June 28 and expires July 28, before track and field events begin in Tokyo. USA Track and Field could, therefore, select her for a relay team, but its rules require it to enter the top three finishers at trials in the 100. And Richardson is no longer one of them.

    President Biden declined to intervene on Richardson’s behalf.

    So she couldn’t cut the mustard, but he saved her 16 cents on her hot dogs.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  9. President Biden declined to intervene on Richardson’s behalf.

    What authority does Biden have to overturn an athlete’s drug suspension?

    Rep. Matt Gaetz (and MTG, Andy Biggs, Burgess Owens) also stands by Brittney Spears. Why is either an issue requiring Congressional attention-except in an attempt to appear cool.

    Rip Murdock (cbadfd)

  10. “Why is either an issue requiring Congressional attention-except in an attempt to appear cool.”

    It’s obviously more important for congress to intervene with Brittney than to investigate 1/6.

    Davethulhu (13b53b)

  11. Ransomware Group Behind Meat-Supply Attack Threatens Hundreds of New Targets
    The ransomware group that collected an $11 million payment from meat producer JBS SA about a month ago has begun a widespread attack that could affect hundreds of organizations world-wide, according to cybersecurity experts.

    The group, known as REvil, has focused its attack on Kaseya VSA, software used by large companies and technology-service providers to manage and distribute software updates to systems on computer networks, according to security researchers and VSA’s maker, Kaseya Ltd.
    …….
    Upon learning of the attack Friday, Kaseya immediately shut down its servers and began warning customers, the company said. As of Friday evening only customers running the software on their own servers, rather than users of Kaseya’s online service, appear to have been affected, the company said.
    ……..,

    Rip Murdock (cbadfd)

  12. U.S. military leaves Bagram Airbase

    History rhymes:

    “The final U.S. ground combat operations in Vietnam ceased on August 13, 1972, when a residual force of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade stood down in Đà Nẵng. B Battery 3rd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment fired the final U.S. artillery round and the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment finished their final patrols. This residual force was known as “Operation Gimlet”.

    After the US withdrawal from the conflict, in the final stage of the conquest of South Vietnam by North Vietnam, Da Nang fell to the communist forces March 29–30, 1975.

    Vietnam issued two special postage stamps to commemorate this event, within its “total liberation” stamp set issued December 14, 1976.”

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  13. To be clear, I didn’t say that Biden should get involved, or that he has any say in the matter.

    Dana (fd537d)

  14. 5.Another checkmark on the Carter list…mishandling Summer Olympic athletes.

    Toke’n blacks; that’s our Joey.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  15. @9. Rep. Matt Gaetz (and MTG, Andy Biggs, Burgess Owens) also stands by Brittney Spears. Why is either an issue requiring Congressional attention-except in an attempt to appear cool.

    Did you miss the Trump Presidency?!?

    Because Americans don’t want to be governed; they wish to be entertained.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  16. How to Restore Balance to Libel Law
    …….
    Now there’s talk of overturning Sullivan, most notably from Justice Clarence Thomas and Senior Judge Laurence Silberman of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. They make sound arguments. But federal courts could do a lot to restore sanity to the law of libel without touching the Sullivan decision. Most of the legal changes that have made libel recoveries so difficult come from less-famous follow-on cases.
    ………
    Later decisions quickly expanded Sullivan in ways that suggest the justices were more interested in protecting the institutional press than in reining in the excesses of politicians. First, they expanded Sullivan’s coverage. In 1967, “Public officials” were replaced, in Time Inc. v. Hill and Curtis Publishing v. Butts, by “public figures.” A precedent designed to protect coverage of political wrongdoing suddenly made it hard for celebrities to sue over falsehoods about their personal lives.

    In Gertz v. Robert Welch Inc. (1974) and Time Inc. v. Firestone (1976), the category of public figures was further expanded to include ordinary citizens who “thrust” themselves into the debate. Anyone, however obscure, who spoke out would lose traditional protection against libel and slander. The term “thrust” suggests it is vaguely inappropriate for ordinary citizens to take part in public affairs; at any rate, the price for doing so was to make your reputation fair game, a tax of sorts on speech.

    Meanwhile, “actual malice” had also been adjusted, to the detriment of plaintiffs. In St. Amant v. Thompson (1968), the justices held that a plaintiff had to show that the defendant “entertained serious doubts” about the story’s truth. It wasn’t enough that any “reasonably prudent man” would have had doubts.

    Establishing that became even more difficult decades later because of two procedural decisions……
    ……..
    Sullivan—limited to public officials rather than public figures and allowing for a milder version of “actual malice” and more-open discovery, isn’t the source of most of the excessive protections media defendants get in libel cases today. The justices could overturn or limit their subsequent rulings while leaving Sullivan intact. Nobody but media lawyers and their clients would get upset.
    ……..

    Rip Murdock (cbadfd)

  17. Snicker. Wasn’t the entire Russian delegation disqualified from the last Olympics? What’s Biden gonna do that Putin couldn’t? Their club, their rules.

    nk (1d9030)

  18. Virgin Galactic says it will launch Richard Branson to space on July 11

    It will be the company’s first fully crewed spaceflight.

    Richard Branson might beat fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos to space. Branson, who founded the Virgin Group of companies that includes Virgin Galactic, is set to fly to space aboard VSS Unity, Virgin Galactic’s suborbital rocket-powered space plane, on its next flight, “Unity 22.”

    The mission could take off as soon as July 11, depending on weather and other factors, the company announced today (July 1). With this launch window, the flight may happen just before Blue Origin’s launch of its New Shepard suborbital vehicle, which is scheduled for July 20. That New Shepard flight will loft Bezos, who runs Blue Origin in addition to Amazon.”

    https://www.space.com/virgin-galactic-richard-branson-vss-unity-flight

    Memo to Branson:

    You know who liked to ‘rush-in’ and pull one-up-man-spaceship-stunts like this, comrade?

    Nikita Khrushchev.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  19. Rep. Matt Gaetz (and MTG, Andy Biggs, Burgess Owens) also stands by Brittney Spears.

    Trump spoke up in favor of Britney regarding her conservatorship, and the yes-men yessed. That’s all that is.

    nk (1d9030)

  20. You know who liked to ‘rush-in’ and pull one-up-man-spaceship-stunts like this, comrade?

    Nikita Khrushchev.

    But Hollywood kicked their Commie butts when it came to staging the Moon landings.

    nk (1d9030)

  21. Protecting the garage from further damage was prioritized in a planned $15 million upgrade, the 2020 documents reportedly stated.

    Ouch: ‘Owners at Champlain Towers South were facing payments of anywhere from $80,000 for a one-bedroom unit to $330,000 or so for a penthouse, to be paid all at once or in installments.’- source,

    https://fox40.com/news/national-and-world-news/owners-in-collapsed-florida-condo-building-were-about-to-start-paying-9-million-for-major-repairs/

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  22. Watching Summer of Soul (Hulu) about the series of concerts held at Harlem’s Mt. Morris Park in summer 1969. And yes, DCSCA, they had to show footage of interviews where people poo-pooed the moon landing.

    urbanleftbehind (504095)

  23. @22. Dark Side of the Moon, eh.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  24. Gov. abbot and lt. gov. dan patrick get reading of the book the history of slavery in texas cancelled at texas museum.

    asset (871961)

  25. I apologize to Cantafordians. Our new neighbors are from L.A. and are far out and oughta sight conservatives. We could not be happier. They could not take the stiff schiff on the streets of L.A. and S.F. He said keeping his offices open in those cities is easier not being around the human decay.

    mg (8cbc69)

  26. Our Windy City barrister wrote:

    Snicker. Wasn’t the entire Russian delegation disqualified from the last Olympics? What’s Biden gonna do that Putin couldn’t? Their club, their rules.

    Maybe Miss Richardson can make the 2024 Olympics, if someone will warn her not to burn one in celebration. 🙂

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (78a597)

  27. Stolen from Twitter: Bill Gates is going to be launched into space as well, once his ship finishes updating.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (78a597)

  28. I went and “updated”. The Russian flag and anthem are banned from this Olympics, too. The Russian delegation (335 athletes) will participate as the Russian Olympic Committee under its organizational banner, and selections from Tchaikovsky (I’m not kidding) will be played during the awarding of medals. I wonder if they’ll play the Marseillaise passage from the 1812 Overture when there’s a French co-awardee on the dais.

    nk (1d9030)

  29. The NEA is demanding the right to indoctrinate your children is racist, Critical Race Theory programming.

    But it’s not in public schools, right?

    Why do they hate America and want our kids to hate America?

    NJRob (f1b2bc)

  30. https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/07/how-radical-are-the-teachers-unions-2.php

    B. Provide an already-created, in-depth, study that critiques empire, white supremacy, anti-Blackness, anti-Indigeneity, racism, patriarchy, cisheteropatriarchy, capitalism, ableism, anthropocentrism, and other forms of power and oppression at the intersections of our society, and that we oppose attempts to ban critical race theory and/or The 1619 Project.

    D. Join with Black Lives Matter at School and the Zinn Education Project to call for a rally this year on October 14—George Floyd’s birthday—as a national day of action to teach lessons about structural racism and oppression—even in places where it is illegal and requires civil disobedience. Followed by additional days of action that recognize and honor lives taken such as Breonna Taylor, Philando Castile, and others. The National Education Association shall publicize these National Days of Action to all its members, including in NEA Today.

    They make it clear who they hate.

    NJRob (0bbe13)

  31. Have Trump lawyers put out any more denials? (As you no doubt recall, they said the Trump organization wouldn’t be facing charges.)

    Applying the “never believe anything until it has been officially denied” rule, I am hoping for more denials from them, so we will know what will happen next.

    Not being a lawyer I won’t speculate on the outcome, but Trump is facing so many civil and now criminal charges, it seems certain he will lose some of the cases — especially if the jurors come from DC or New York City.

    Jim Miller (edcec1)

  32. So Jim,

    you’re flat out saying it doesn’t matter what the case is, or if it’s a witch hunt, but he will get it because NYC and DC jurors are biased?

    Lavrentiy Beria would be so proud.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  33. Those kitties are so cute.
    I’m truly right down the middle on the dope-smoking Olympic sprinter. One side of me says it’s ridiculous to be dinged for THC, and that it’s a stupid rule. The other side says that it’s still a rule that every athlete has to follow.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  34. “The NEA is demanding the right to indoctrinate your children”

    Rob, what do you think should be done? Most school curriculum matters are local matters. And there will always be extreme cases….that should get attention…..but aren’t indicative of what most people see. To me, this starts to seem a bit like Drag Queen Story Hour…a regular San Francisco Treat….but irrelevant to 99.99% of the country. Yes, parents need to be involved with their kid’s education and aware of what is or isn’t being taught. If your kid is being told that he/she should feel guilty for being white, then there ought to be a fight. If this is just about lumping in all Democrats with the stupid ideas of some liberal activists, so that I should maximally hate all Democrats….then that is just more toxic politics that just creates more polarization….and more excuses for extreme candidates and excuses for their behavior. I fear that ratcheting the rhetoric is just going to ultimately destroy our Democracy….

    AJ_Liberty (a4ff25)

  35. NJRobb – That’s a prediction, not necessarily what I hope would happen. The weather folks here in the Northwest weren’t happy about our heat wave last week, but they predicted it anyway.

    If the Trump organization has been cheating on taxes, I think they should pay the appropriate legal penalties. Do you disagree?

    Similarly, for all the other cases. If Trump slandered the woman who says he raped her, I think he should face the penalties for that. Do you disagree?

    But there are so many cases that he is nearly certain to lose some of them, fairly or not. I repeat, that’s a prediction; I would have to know the details on each case to judge whether the result on each was fair.

    But the prediction is important because Republican leaders should recognize that Trump will be spending much of his time in courtrooms, overseen by judges who are unlikely to have much sympathy for him.

    Bizarrely, you seem to have mixed me up with djt; he’s the one who “loves” Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin, not me. (I’m the one who has studied Orwell, Conquest, Solzhenitsyn, and Applebaum; Trump is the one who studies the gossip page in the New York Post.)

    Jim Miller (edcec1)

  36. I think the NEA should be disbanded, civics should be taught, Zinn’s institution should be shunned, the Pledge of Allegiance and a respect for our history should be instilled in our kids.

    Oh, and maybe teach the 3 R’s which aren’t racism, retribution, and revenge.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  37. I think the business should face the same penalties that any other business in their situation would. No more and no less.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  38. Paul Montagu – The sprinter’s coach may have failed to warn Sha’Carri Richardson about the coming drug test. Or the warning may have been part of a list of a zillion substances you can’t take.

    Jim Miller (edcec1)

  39. If you think that the group involved in the standoff on I-95 in MA are a bunch of white nationalists because they claim to “not recognize our laws”, false, they’re members of Moorish American Arms.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  40. Supreme Court won’t overturn ruling against business that refused service for gay weddings
    The Supreme Court on Friday declined to wade into the contentious issue of whether businesses have a right to refuse service for same-sex wedding ceremonies despite state laws forbidding them from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation.
    ………
    The court said Friday that it would not take up (Arlene’s Flowers v. Washington), leaving the state court rulings against her intact and again ducking the hot-button issue. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch said the court should have taken the case.
    ………
    State courts ruled that (Barronelle Stutzman, owner of Arlene’s Flowers and Gifts) broke a Washington law forbidding businesses to discriminate on the basis of several factors, including sexual orientation. The Washington Supreme Court said providing or refusing to provide flowers for a wedding “does not inherently express a message about that wedding.”

    After ducking the issue in the Colorado case, the U.S. Supreme Court sent Stutzman’s case back for another round in the Washington courts, where she lost a second time and again appealed.

    “Religious people should be free to live out their beliefs about marriage,” her lawyers said in urging the Supreme Court to hear the case. They said states have taken action against calligraphers, videographers and other business that refuse to serve same-sex weddings because of their religious beliefs.
    ………
    But the ACLU, representing Washington state, said Stutzman is not required to participate in any actual same-sex wedding ceremony.

    The state also told the court that the florist refuses to prepare any flower arrangement for the wedding of a gay or lesbian couple, even if the arrangement is identical to one the shop’s employees would prepare for a heterosexual couple.

    “It is thus clear that their objection is not to any ‘message’ sent by the flowers themselves, but rather to the message they perceive would be sent by serving a gay couple,” lawyers for the state said
    ………..
    This case has been in the courts since 2013.

    Rip Murdock (cbadfd)

  41. Including weed in anti-PED test is dumb.

    We have lots of STUPID laws about weed in the US and Biden swore an oath to uphold the federal ones.

    Biden should announce that he thinks she should be allowed to compete and at the same time call on congress to decriminalize weed. I don’t see how he can do the former without the later.

    Time123 (9f42ee)

  42. Sixth News Item:

    Reporter: Can you tell us more about whether or not Americans may be having to go back to wearing masks in light of the Delta variant?

    Dr. Fauci: Maybe.

    Jerryskids (999ce8)

  43. I don’t get the GOP’s desire to loosen our libel laws.
    What’s with the conservative push to make it easier to the rich to punish people who say mean things about them?

    Time123 (9f42ee)

  44. @37, from whet I’ve read they are.

    Time123 (9f42ee)

  45. Consistency in applying the law is a worthy goal.

    Some might even say it’s a necessity.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  46. @39. Odd coverage on this. Seen several cable news packages describing their garb and demeanor and why the patrolling MA State Police initially stopped to ‘help’– but none of those news outlets have expressly stated in their reports what they did wrong that brought about the standoff and 11 arrests by the police. Just reports that they were a group of ‘heavily armed men’ on their way to Maine. Seems broadcasting the smell of fear outranks reporting basic facts.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  47. Mr Liberty wrote:

    “The NEA is demanding the right to indoctrinate your children”

    Rob, what do you think should be done? Most school curriculum matters are local matters.

    What should be done? Sensible people should run for and take over school boards, and fire teachers who will not toe the line.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (78a597)

  48. Mr Miller wrote:

    The sprinter’s coach may have failed to warn Sha’Carri Richardson about the coming drug test. Or the warning may have been part of a list of a zillion substances you can’t take.

    Ignorance of the rules is no excuse. And the notion that athletes wouldn’t be drug tested, well, if the lovely Miss Richardson believed that, then she’s too stupid to be in the Olympics.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (78a597)

  49. @47. The daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in school classrooms is blatant, raw, ‘indoctrination of your children.’

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  50. South Africa is considering legalizing polyandry.

    (Polygamy is already legal there. A former president, Jacob Zuma, was criticized for the cost of his multiple first ladies, some critics arguing that only one wife should get taxpayer support. And he has other legal troubles.)

    Jim Miller (edcec1)

  51. You be you, NEA…

    “The largest teachers’ union will be organizing opposition research against parents and organizations fighting CRT in schools. The big guns are coming, be prepared…”

    https://twitter.com/InezFeltscher/status/1410600238901956613?s=20

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  52. Wasn’t some tennis player recently fined by some tennis association for not giving press conferences? Organized games have their own rules. No excessive celebration at the end zone. Dealer stays on 17 and draws on 16. No guns in the House Chamber. Etc., etc..

    nk (1d9030)

  53. Easy prediction: Tomorrow, Google will ignore the 4th of July; Bing will celebrate it.

    Jim Miller (edcec1)

  54. Speaking of said tennis player, I have a bad feeling her name and Whitney Houston’s maybe mentioned in the same parables.

    urbanleftbehind (504095)

  55. Hours-long standoff between police, heavily armed men in Massachusetts ends with 11 arrests – source, Washington Post

    “No threats were made, but these men should be considered armed and dangerous,” the department said in a statement.”

    Same could be said for the United States Army– and the MA State Police.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  56. Nice moral equivalency between the US Army (and MA State Police) and Moorish American Arms.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  57. NJRob: “I think the NEA should be disbanded, civics should be taught, Zinn’s institution should be shunned, the Pledge of Allegiance and a respect for our history should be instilled in our kids.
    Oh, and maybe teach the 3 R’s which aren’t racism, retribution, and revenge.”

    I’m not sure how you kill off the largest union in the country….but the Robert’s Court in Abood did eliminate compulsory union dues for teachers who chose not to be in the union….so there’s some justice.

    My understanding is the “Pledge” has not gone away….but that schools can’t make a student say it because of Barnette (1947)…those pesky Jehovah’s Witnesses (well, and the 1st amendment). Personally, antipathy toward the pledge, flag, or anthem is mis-directed, unproductive, and unnecessarily divisive, but it’s not going anywhere. It’s a low-cost way for people to push other people’s buttons.

    Yeah I agree about the three R’s….but I would add a fourth, critical reasoning. There’s lots of issues with some public schools….and what they put on teacher’s plates (like differentiated instruction and managing unruly behavior). I don’t envy teachers….and some really shouldn’t be in the classroom because of incompetence or burn out. K-12 teaching doesn’t always attract the best and brightest. Still, I’m more concerned about students not learning enough vice being indoctrinated by the Left. Most young people drift left anyways. It’s not until they have to start paying property taxes and having a family of their own does the wisdom of conservatism usually start to resonate. I’m not saying to give up the fight…but parenting has a bigger role in shaping values than some stupid in-class exercise ham-handedly executed…kids are more resilient than you might think

    AJ_Liberty (ec7f74)

  58. Upstate NY judge’s racist comments from the bench get burglar 10 years off his sentence
    …….
    (Retired Judge Frank Labuda’s remarks at Angelo Johnson’s 2018 sentencing for burglary in Sullivan County) in court, “I feel sorry for you. Because I know that if we were to look in your mind we would find that your brain, your frontal lobes, your decision-making processes are probably retarded in growth.”

    Then the jurist doubled down: ”[T]he sentence here is in a way to make you safe from hurting yourself or others, because I appreciate the fact that your brain is not developed, through no fault of your own.”
    …….
    “It is shocking that any court, in 2018, would refer to this black defendant’s brain, frontal lobes and retardation of growth in concluding that defendant’s brain was not developed,” (the four-judge appellate panel) wrote.

    “To invoke such reasoning today is utterly racist and has no place in our system of justice.”
    ……..
    LaBuda sentenced Johnson to 15 years without parole for the burglary and ordered him to be labeled a “persistent offender,” a designation which allows for a more severe sentence.

    In closing, he told Johnson, “Have a nice day.”

    The Appellate Divsion panel ordered Johnson’s sentence for breaking into an inn in 2016 slashed from 15 to five years and the persistent offender designation removed.

    “Not to be overlooked is the court’s abrupt draconian order to have defendant’s mouth bound with masking tape,” the panel wrote. “The court’s remarks cannot be condoned or countenanced.”
    …….
    (LaBuda) was recently listed as of counsel with the firm Sobo & Sobo, which has offices in the city and upstate. But the practice is washing its hands of him.

    “The comments of Judge LaBuda do not represent those of the firm. Although Judge LaBuda was never an employee of the firm, we have severed ties with him in accordance with our zero-tolerance policy regarding diversity and inclusion,” the lawyers said.

    Reached by phone Friday, LaBuda declined comment
    ……..
    Johnson, now 44, remains in state prison, records show. He has a parole hearing in August.
    ………

    Rip Murdock (cbadfd)

  59. Why is comment 58 in moderation?

    Rip Murdock (cbadfd)

  60. https://legalinsurrection.com/2021/07/gun-owners-in-san-jose-ca-to-face-new-tax-and-confiscation-for-noncompliance/

    More unconstitutional acts by a leftist government trying to take away your rights one tax at a time.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  61. @56. All Royalists know ‘morality’ is a transient. The koppers statement states-‘no threats were made.’ They were from Rhode Island: arrest ’em.

    “Show me the man, and I’ll show you the crime.” – Lavrentiy Beria

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  62. U.S. military leaves Bagram Airbase

    No helicopters were harmed in this evacuation.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  63. The news crew’s security guard pulled out his own gun and ordered the would-be robbers to leave. They left without stealing any equipment, police said.

    Takeaway: You CAN get a carry permit in CA if you know (or are protecting) the right people.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  64. South Florida condos:

    Insurance company’s exit is to the right.
    Attorney’s entrance is to the left.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  65. Kate Smith thinks my guns are dangerous, but her bobcats are cute.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  66. @60: The clock is ticking right now on all these gun-grabbers. Right now the time is 6 to 3.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  67. Ransomware Group Behind Meat-Supply Attack Threatens Hundreds of New Targets

    I argue, somewhat less facetiously, for air strikes.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  68. Reporter: Can you tell us more about whether or not Americans may be having to go back to wearing masks in light of the Delta variant?

    MY answer: “If you have been vaccinated, no. If not, yes. But then that’s what we say now. Note that the mask is not to protect you (and if you’re not vaccinated, that’s not your concern either). It’s to stop you from spreading the virus you seen hell-bent on contracting.”

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  69. Stolen from Twitter: Bill Gates is going to be launched into space as well, once his ship finishes updating.

    Elon Musk’s plan here.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  70. For more than a month, we’ve been experiencing a significant and alarming rise in theft and security incidents at our San Francisco Stores, similar to reports from other retailers in the area…Walgreens has already closed several stores for the same reason…

    I’m sure that the new LA Country DA will put a stop to this.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  71. Mr M wrote:

    Reporter: Can you tell us more about whether or not Americans may be having to go back to wearing masks in light of the Delta variant?

    MY answer: “If you have been vaccinated, no. If not, yes. But then that’s what we say now. Note that the mask is not to protect you (and if you’re not vaccinated, that’s not your concern either). It’s to stop you from spreading the virus you seen hell-bent on contracting.”

    Assuming that Governor Newsom is unseated and you are elected to replace him, can you tell us how you would enforce this? Not wishing to invoke Godwin’s Law and suggesting yellow stars on clothing or six digit tattoos on people’s forearms so that we can identify the vaccinated, and assuming that we could not get the unvaccinated in to place those tattoos on them, how would you enforce this on people walking down the streets of San Francisco or Los Angeles or even Antioch?

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (78a597)

  72. NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll-June 22-29, 2021

    Right/ Wrong Direction (Registered Voters): 48/49
    Democrats: 87/10
    Republicans: 10/87
    Independents: 44/53

    Biden Job Approval: 51/44
    Democrats: 89/5
    Republicans: 11/83
    Independents: 48/46

    Biden Handling:

    Economy: 50/45
    Democrats: 86/8
    Republicans: 13/84
    Independents: 48/47

    Pandemic: 64/31
    Democrats: 93/5
    Republicans: 36/58
    Independents: 63/31

    Foreign Policy: 47/44
    Democrats: 80/12
    Republicans: 14/79
    Independents: 44/43

    Immigration: 38/51
    Democrats: 67/19
    Republicans: 10/84
    Independents: 36/52
    ………
    Democracy alive and well or under threat?

    Alive and well: 27%
    Democrats: 38%
    Republicans: 14%
    Independents: 30%

    Under threat: 67%
    Democrats: 57%
    Republicans: 83%
    Independents: 67%

    Voting:
    Making sure everyone who wants to vote can do so: 54%
    Democrats: 85%
    Republicans: 25%
    Independents: 52%

    Making sure no one votes who is not eligible: 44%
    Democrats: 12%
    Republicans: 72%
    Independents: 47%

    Voter ID:
    Yes/No: 78/20
    Democrats: 57/39
    Republicans: 94/5
    Independents: 57/39
    >>>>>>>>>

    Rip Murdock (cbadfd)

  73. For more than a month, we’ve been experiencing a significant and alarming rise in theft and security incidents at our San Francisco Stores, similar to reports from other retailers in the area…Walgreens has already closed several stores for the same reason…

    I’m sure that the new LA Country DA will put a stop to this.

    Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/3/2021 @ 12:04 pm

    Not sure what the Los Angeles County DA has to do with crime in San Francisco today (though he served as police chief there before carpetbagging to LA).

    Rip Murdock (cbadfd)

  74. All Royalists know ‘morality’ is a transient.

    Nice excuse, DCSCA, trying to justify your bogus moral equivalency.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  75. “The largest teachers’ union will be organizing opposition research against parents and organizations fighting CRT in schools. The big guns are coming, be prepared…”

    “We’re not teaching cultural Marxism, and if you oppose what we’re most assuredly not teaching, then you’re a fascist.”

    Factory Working Orphan (2775f0)

  76. Assuming that Governor Newsom is unseated and you are elected to replace him, can you tell us how you would enforce this? Not wishing to invoke Godwin’s Law and suggesting yellow stars on clothing or six digit tattoos on people’s forearms so that we can identify the vaccinated…….

    The unvaccinated are the ones going full Godwin and placing yellow stars on themselves, so problem solved!

    Washington (State) lawmaker wears yellow Star of David, evoking Nazi persecution, to protest COVID vaccine mandates
    …….
    State Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, had the star affixed to his pink shirt during a speech to conservative activists at a Lacey church basketball gym on Saturday.

    “It’s an echo from history,” Walsh wrote on a Facebook page where a video of the event was posted. “In the current context, we’re all Jews.”
    …….
    In an interview Tuesday, Walsh said he had been given the star by someone at the event, where most attendees were wearing one. He described some of the organizers as “deeply concerned about vaccine passports and vaccine segregation.”
    ……..
    In the interview, Walsh compared the wearing of the stars to the Danish people during Nazi occupation, who, according to a widely shared story, donned yellow stars to keep the Nazis from singling out Jews. (The Danish tale has been debunked as false by the fact-checking organization Snopes.com, which called it “a touching story but not historically accurate.”)

    “I won’t say publicly whether I am vaccinated or not,” Walsh said, likening his stance to the film “Spartacus,” in which former slaves, under threat of crucifixion, refuse to identify the title character to a Roman general.

    Walsh also likened any disparate treatment of unvaccinated people to the Supreme Court’s 1896 decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, which upheld “separate but equal” racial segregation laws targeting African Americans.
    ……..
    He later “apologized, though his original video remains on his Facebook page. The story that non-Jews wore yellow stars is in support of Danish Jews is fictional, as Danish Jews themselves didn’t wear yellow stars.

    Rip Murdock (cbadfd)

  77. I’m not sure how you kill off the largest union in the country

    Vouchers, private schools, and right to work laws

    frosty (f27e97)

  78. has been debunked as false by the fact-checking organization Snopes.com

    That’s a knee slapper. Also, NAMBLA says they’re prepared to setup an organization to replace Boy Scouts.

    frosty (f27e97)

  79. Frosty-

    See also here. A more reputable source.

    Rip Murdock (cbadfd)

  80. Also, NAMBLA says they’re prepared to setup an organization to replace Boy Scouts.

    Aren’t they one and the same?

    Rip Murdock (cbadfd)

  81. Mr Murdock wrote:

    Assuming that Governor Newsom is unseated and you are elected to replace him, can you tell us how you would enforce this? Not wishing to invoke Godwin’s Law and suggesting yellow stars on clothing or six digit tattoos on people’s forearms so that we can identify the vaccinated…….

    The unvaccinated are the ones going full Godwin and placing yellow stars on themselves, so problem solved!

    Alas! My attempt at a serious question regarding Mr M’s point, as to how a mask mandate on the non-vaccinated only would be enforced, was lost.

    On May 13, the odious Governor Andy Beshear dropped the mask mandate for Kentuckians who were vaccinated; on June 11, it was dropped for all. But, at least as far as my unscientific observations are concerned, virtually everybody dropped the masks after May 13th.

    When I received my second dose, on Cinco de Mayo, the county health department gave me the record, complete with a little plastic holder similar to what insurance companies give you with your auto insurance cards, showing that I had both Moderna doses. However, I refuse to keep it on me; that’s too much like zeigen sie uns ihre papiere.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (78a597)

  82. Including weed in anti-PED test is dumb.

    Keep in mind that the IOC and other athletics governing bodies ban some drugs not because they are performance-enhancing drugs but because they mask well-known PEDs. Oftentimes when an athlete gets busted for using PEDs it is because they test positive not for the PED itself, but some other drug that is commonly used to try to fool the tests. I have no idea of marijuana acts as a mask for any PEDs, but it’s possible that is the reason that it is outlawed.

    JVW (ee64e4)

  83. Trump debuts at 41st in C-SPAN presidential rankings
    ……..
    C-SPAN released the rankings from its Historians Survey of Presidential Leadership, which is taken after each presidential transition, on Wednesday. This survey marks Trump’s first appearance on the list, on which the one-term president placed higher than only three other presidents: Franklin Pierce, Andrew Johnson and the perpetually last-ranked James Buchanan.
    ……..
    In the survey, which was first conducted in 2000, participants rate each president based on 10 qualities of presidential leadership: Public Persuasion, Crisis Leadership, Economic Management, Moral Authority, International Relations, Administrative Skills, Relations with Congress, Vision/Setting an Agenda, Pursued Equal Justice for All and Performance Within the Context of the Times. This year’s survey polled 142 respondents — including historians, professors and other professionals with knowledge of the field.

    In the administrative skills category, Trump was ranked last among the 45 former presidents. He also fell in last in the category of moral authority, just below Buchanan — who is most widely known for his failure to prevent the Civil War. Trump fared better in the Public Persuasion category, in which he was ranked 32nd, and economic management, where he was 34th.
    ……..
    In the overall survey, Abraham Lincoln was ranked first, as has been the case since the survey began. George Washington came in second and Franklin D. Roosevelt in third — the same former presidents comprising the top three in the list since 2000. The top nine rankings remained the same as they were in 2017, following Obama’s second term.
    ……..
    Obama’s move into the group of top 10 presidents in this year’s survey edged out (Lyndon Baines) Johnson, who fell to 11th place. Other presidents whose position dropped in this year’s survey include Gerald Ford (28th place) and Bill Clinton (19th place), while others, like Warren Harding (37th place) and Chester Arthur (30th place) moved their way up the list. Still, the rankings remained largely similar to the previous survey, taken in 2017.

    The largest jump since the 2000 survey to 2021 was claimed by Ulysses S. Grant, who served during Reconstruction. Grant was ranked No. 33 in the first survey, and now stands at No. 20.
    ………
    Full survey details. Other Trump scores:

    Crisis Leadership: 41
    International Relations: 43
    Congressional Relations: 42
    Vision/Agenda Setting: 36
    Pursuing Equal Justice: 40
    Performing in Context of Times:42

    Trump can always improve after his second term (whenever that starts).

    Rip Murdock (cbadfd)

  84. Assuming that Governor Newsom is unseated and you are elected to replace him, can you tell us how you would enforce this?

    Why would I want to force stupid people from Darwining each other? It’s not a law, it’s a recommendation. Like putting on a parachute before jumping out of an airplane.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  85. Rip Murdock (cbadfd) — 7/3/2021 @ 1:43 pm

    You’re opening a door into the psyche, and possibly the history, of Rip Murdock.

    frosty (5366c7)

  86. What should be done? Sensible people should run for and take over school boards, and fire teachers who will not toe the line.

    It’s not the teachers, usually. It’s policy set by the school boards or apparatchiks in the blob.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  87. Not sure what the Los Angeles County DA has to do with crime in San Francisco today (though he served as police chief there before carpetbagging to LA).

    The article named 3 cities experiencing this problem; LA was one of them.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  88. This year’s survey polled 142 respondents — including historians, professors and other professionals with knowledge of the field.

    Hahahahahaha!!! Hohohoho!! Hah!

    BuDuh (7bca93)

  89. @74. Bogus? In your opinion. Except “morality” is a transient- unless you still believe in hanging horse thieves and turn crimson at a glimpse of stocking as something shocking.

    But then, Royalists gotta royal.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  90. At what point should insurers no longer be forced to pay for Covid-19 treatments for the unvaccinated?

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  91. At what point should insurers no longer be forced to pay for Covid-19 treatments for the unvaccinated?

    September 1. Not Medicare, Medicaid, public hospitals and clinics, or Obamacare, neither. They had the carrot with the cash and lottery tickets, now it’s time to bring out the stick.

    nk (1d9030)

  92. Interesting study on American friendships.

    The political findings are at the end:

    For most Americans, political affiliation is probably not a prerequisite for forming a friendship, but both Democrats and Republicans are far more likely to have friends who belong to their preferred party. About eight in 10 (82 percent) Democrats and Republicans (80 percent) say they have at least some friends who share the same political identity. Importantly, Republicans have more bipartisan friendships than Democrats do. A majority (53 percent) of Republicans say they have at least some friends who are Democrats. In contrast, less than one-third (32 percent) of Democrats say they have at least some Republican friends.
    . . .
    Although political disagreements are common, few Americans report having stopped talking to or being friends with someone because of their views about government or politics. Only 15 percent of the public have ended a friendship over politics.

    Ending friendships over political disagreements occurs more among liberal and Democratic-leaning Americans. Democrats are twice as likely as Republicans are to report having ended a friendship over a political disagreement (20 percent vs. 10 percent).

    “Only 15 percent”?!?

    Jim Miller (edcec1)

  93. Any survey that pwns Trumpmuffins is a good survey, so I won’t quibble about putting a jumped-up rail-splitter who somehow managed not to entirely fall flat on his face when faced with a crisis ahead of George Washington.

    nk (1d9030)

  94. @83. Golly- wonder how Douglas Brinkley, Michael Beschloss and secret speechwriter for President Plagiarist, John Meecham ‘voted’ in the ranking.

    Next list- best American fast-food hamburger. Have at it, fellas.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  95. What the reports said:

    Hours-long standoff between police, heavily armed men in Massachusetts ends with 11 arrests – source, Washington Post

    What the Sovereign Citizens heard:

    Hours-long gun battle between British peacekeepers seeking an illegal weapons cache and heavily armed bandits near Concord and Lexington ends with tactical regrouping just outside of Boston, Mass.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  96. @84 Yep, the stats on those two things are pretty much the same right?

    frosty (f27e97)

  97. Democrats are twice as likely as Republicans are to report having ended a friendship over a political disagreement

    Yep, that tracks for the party of diversity and inclusion vs the closed minded mules.

    frosty (f27e97)

  98. @91 Can we apply those rules to STDs and smoking?

    frosty (f27e97)

  99. @91 let’s see if this gets past the moderation filter;

    Can we apply those rules to (S) (T)ransmitted (D)’s and (s)m0king?

    frosty (f27e97)

  100. Rip Murdock (cbadfd) — 7/3/2021 @ 1:43 pm

    You’re opening a door into the psyche, and possibly the history, of Rip Murdock.

    frosty (5366c7) — 7/3/2021 @ 2:39 pm

    Given that a Scout leader of my troop when I was younger was later charged with molestation about 20 years later (he immediately committed suicideI know whereof I speak

    Rip Murdock (cbadfd)

  101. @91 or meth or heroin or fentanyl OD’s? We’ve tried the carrot on those too.

    frosty (f27e97)

  102. Californians will want to read this article in the Guardian.

    No, seriously. According to a study by NPR(!), Governor Newsom may have told some tiny little fibs on what he has done for fire prevention.

    (Full disclosure: This is the first time I have recommended anything in the Guardian, other than as a bad example.)

    Jim Miller (edcec1)

  103. @100 Yep, your experience makes them one and the same. And it makes perfect sense that you’d feel entitled to equate everyone in Scouts to nambla. Like I said, your comment made that one of the safest bets in the thread.

    frosty (f27e97)

  104. Can we apply those rules to (S) (T)ransmitted (D)’s and (s)m0king?
    ….
    @91 or meth or heroin or fentanyl OD’s? We’ve tried the carrot on those too.

    No.

    nk (1d9030)

  105. Sha’Carri Richardson, the 21-year-old sprinter expected to star at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, has been suspended and barred from running her signature race in Tokyo after testing positive for marijuana.

    If she rolled and smoked a doobie, karma got her– why would a sprinter inhale MaryJane or any other smoke into her lungs!?

    “I’d walk a mile for a Camel.” – ad slogan, Camel cigarettes

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  106. Amidst rain and tragedy in Miami, Ron DeSantis heads to Trump Rally in Sarasota to meet and speak to the drenched crowds- and The Donald.

    Newsmax carrying it live.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  107. California gas tax climbs 3 cents a gallon

    It’ll now cost you a little more at the pump as the California gas tax climbs. The tax went up by 3 cents a gallon Thursday pushing the overall rate to just over 51 cents a gallon. – source, KERO-TV

    There goes 3 of that 16 cents, Squinty.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  108. “I’d walk a mile for a Camel.” – ad slogan, Camel cigarettes

    Gentlemen’s club in Riyadh, too.

    There are other ways to ingest THC besides smoking it. Pills, capsules, powder, hash butter … brownies.

    nk (1d9030)

  109. U.S. Space Force has new guidelines for working at and around the moon

    A new report educates military space professionals about the cislunar region. The U.S. Space Force has a new primer for activities beyond Earth orbit amid increased NASA and international interest in moon exploration. – space.com

    Lunatics.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  110. @108. Yes, but no brownies for her; apparently she did an interview copping to toking.

    Perhaps she wasn’t aware it’s the Wheaties box not the Weedies box to run for.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  111. It seems that the Lexington, Kentucky, city government is opposed to racial integration:

    The Neighborhoods in Transition task force was appointed in 2018 by Vice Mayor Steve Kay at the behest of Lexington-Fayette Urban County Councilman James Brown, who represents the city’s north and east side, which has seen an influx in new investment that has pushed some longtime residents out.

    “It’s not a silver bullet,” said Brown of the task force’s more than 30 recommendations. Brown chaired the task force that met for more than two years. “It gets us started.”

    Some of the conclusions have already been implemented. The task force shared some of its preliminary proposals with Mayor Linda Gorton’s Racial Justice and Equality Commission, which also addressed housing and gentrification in its October recommendations.

    So, I went to the linked document, and found, on page 5:

    Background & Context
    The Task Force was created out of concern about neighborhood change when that change includes:

    Properties turning over at an accelerated rate;
    Most new owners being more affluent and differing from the traditional residents in terms of race or ethnicity.

    Really? The city is going to work to stop integration of neighborhoods?

    I’ve got a big picture of what would happen if we were talking about “concern” that black or Hispanic residents were moving into neighborhoods which were ‘traditionally’ white, yet, for some reason, the Democratic city of Lexington thinks absolutely nothing about “concern” that non-Hispanic whites, or Americans of Asian descent, are choosing to move into areas in which, ‘traditionally,’ the area residents are black.

    This is where the left are today.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (78a597)

  112. At what point should insurers no longer be forced to pay for Covid-19 treatments for the unvaccinated?

    Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/3/2021 @ 2:58 pm

    I’m fine with denial of treatments for people with COVID as long as we do the same for everyone who makes poor choices regarding their health.

    Medicare and Medicaid Services alone cost nearly $1.8 trillion last year. We’ve had a rising obesity rate for decades that costs billions in treatments for all kinds of related illnesses (including COVID, which hammers the obese elderly in particular).

    Imagine how much money could be saved just by denying fatties heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes medication–“Sorry, you made the choice to shove junk food down your pie hole, insurance and the government can’t afford to keep you alive.” If you’re above a certain BMI–nope, no treatment for you. Lose some weight and you probably won’t even have to get treatment anyway, so instead we’ll prescribe a DVD set of P90X and a diet plan. Come back in 95 days below this BMI level, and if you’re still having issues, then we’ll see about getting you insulin.

    And that’s just for the obese. Imagine the possibilities of denying cancer and emphysema treatments to smokers, liver treatments for alcoholics, life-saving and restorative treatments for people who choose to do high-risk activities and end up injuring or crippling themselves. Let the irresponsible die or live in excruciating pain the rest of their life as a lesson, instead of trying to provide them with heroic medical care to save their from their own hubris or a lifetime of bad decision making that hurts themselves and others. The cost of medical care might actually be something you pay with in cash again, instead of relying on third-party payers–i.e., all the other people who didn’t make such poor life judgements.

    Factory Working Orphan (2775f0)

  113. I’ve got a big picture of what would happen if we were talking about “concern” that black or Hispanic residents were moving into neighborhoods which were ‘traditionally’ white, yet, for some reason, the Democratic city of Lexington thinks absolutely nothing about “concern” that non-Hispanic whites, or Americans of Asian descent, are choosing to move into areas in which, ‘traditionally,’ the area residents are black.

    This is where the left are today.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (78a597) — 7/3/2021 @ 6:14 pm

    They’ve been there for a while.

    If white people are leaving an area that’s filling with minorities, it’s white flight and it’s racist.

    If white people are moving to an area that’s filled with minorities, its gentrification/neo-colonialism and it’s racist.

    This is the circular reasoning of cultural Marxists, New Left professors, and race grifters since the late 60s, it’s just mainstream now thanks to the Gen-Xers and Millennials who swallowed this nonsense hook, line, and sinker, or were too scared to push back on it because they didn’t want their college grades to get nuked or be called “racist.”

    Factory Working Orphan (2775f0)

  114. JVW, that’s interesting. If I have time I’ll try and look that up and see if I’m wrong. Thank you.

    Time123 (9f42ee)

  115. Easy prediction: Tomorrow, Google will ignore the 4th of July; Bing will celebrate it.

    Jim Miller (edcec1) — 7/3/2021 @ 9:55 am

    You lose.

    Rip Murdock (cbadfd)

  116. @115. Depends on your POV; one could say ‘Google give July 4th the bird.’ 😉

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  117. Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 7/3/2021 @ 8:41 pm

    What we need is a national set of panels staffed by experts to make these decisions. We’ll need a catchy name for them, I’m thinking Life Panels. These experts can decide on the details around some of the issues you’ve mentioned.

    I don’t think you’re thinking big enough though. A vast majority of ailments and conditions are probably the result of parents not making the appropriate prenatal genetic screening choices. I’m thinking we can get the list of things covered by insurance down to a fairly small list of accidental injuries.

    frosty (f27e97)

  118. Bogus? In your opinion.

    So what. Your opinion about morality and that Moorish American Arms and the MA State Police are morally equivalent is just your opinion.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  119. The judgment on smokers, drinkers, philanderers, gourmands, motorcycle riders, and mountain climbers has already been made. Only Covidiots are before the bench now.

    nk (1d9030)

  120. Mr Snowman wrote:

    I’m thinking we can get the list of things covered by insurance down to a fairly small list of accidental injuries.

    Insurance adjuster: “I’m sorry, but what were you doing driving at 10:30 on a Saturday night? You know that’s a time when there are far more drunk drivers out on the road. No, you voluntarily assumed that risk when you were going to Kroger for more baby formula, something any responsible person would have thought of during daylight hours, so we’re going to have to deny your claim.”

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (78a597)

  121. I forgot how made the prediction that google would ignore Independence Day but they have eagles himding American flags.

    Time123 (9f42ee)

  122. If white people are moving to an area that’s filled with minorities, its gentrification/neo-colonialism and it’s racist.

    Gentrification is when new residents move, drive up the prices and push long time residents out. So your definition is wrong.

    Also, gentrification goes on the same list as “cultural appropriation” of things I don’t think are actually problems.

    Lack of affordable housing is problem, not gentrification.
    Ignoring meaningful works of art by a minority person is a problems, not “cultural appropriation”

    Time123 (9f42ee)

  123. He’s right as he understands it…

    Colonel Haiku (77a37c)

  124. Hey CH, did you see the example of you lying that you asked for or do you want me to repost it?

    Time123 (9f42ee)

  125. . Some U.S. forces will still be in Afghanistan in September as part of a “rational drawdown with our allies,” he added.

    Indefinitely. Provided that Kabul doesn’t fall to the Taliban before that. The business with Allies has to do mostly with protecting diplomatic facilities.

    The furthest any U.S> military official is prepared to go is “civil war” but others see a possibility or even likelihood of a South Vietnamese type evacuation and there are many Afghan citizens preparing to go out of the country – anywhere – besides those the United States is preparing to evacuate even before they get approved for immigration – to Guam if no other place. It’s been charged the qualifications for U.S. helpers is too restrictive.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  126. Dr. Anthony Fauci thinks his job is to justify anything that any public health official says, even when it is obviously stupid, or probably wrong and going to be changed and that diminishes his credibility.

    Example: It doesn’t matter if someone got the disease – all people need the same exact vaccination.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  127. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9753675/Violence-breaks-spa-customer-complains-transgender-woman-exposing-penis-kids.html

    “Violent clashes broke out between rival protesters outside a Los Angeles spa after viral video showed a customer complaining about a transgender woman who allegedly exposed their penis in front of minors in a women-only steam room.

    Hordes of people showed up outside of Wi Spa on Wilshire Boulevard to support a woman who had complained about the alleged exposure incident when they were met by Antifa counter-protesters supporting transgender rights.

    Protesters were seen assaulting an independent journalist who was hit in the head with what appears to be a pipe, video posted to Twitter shows. It was not immediately clear if the protesters were in support of or against transgender rights.”

    oh lol, antifa shows up and we’re not sure who’s bringing the violence

    JF (e1156d)

  128. Sometimes when you see good behavior you didn’t expect, you can be glad you were wrong. Even if you have doubts about Google’s motives, as I do.

    (I had forgotten that some members of Congress are thinking about reining in our tech monopolies.)

    I do prefer Bing’s picture. And the link at the bottom right to a little history.

    Jim Miller (edcec1)

  129. Mr 123 wrote:

    If white people are moving to an area that’s filled with minorities, its gentrification/neo-colonialism and it’s racist. (Mr Orphan)

    Gentrification is when new residents move, drive up the prices and push long time residents out. So your definition is wrong.

    Except, of course, that the city’s Task Force on Neighborhoods in Transition wrote, on page 5 of their report:

    Background & Context
    The Task Force was created out of concern about neighborhood change when that change includes:

    Properties turning over at an accelerated rate;
    Most new owners being more affluent and differing from the traditional residents in terms of race or ethnicity.

    Emphasis mine.

    No concern is shown if a more affluent new owner does not “(differ) from the traditional residents in terms of race or ethnicity.”

    Gentrification seems to me to be very much a net good. New owners fixing up properties brings up property values for everybody, including the property owners already there. That allows them, if they so choose, to obtain funds to fix up their own properties if needed.

    More, if people moving in are “differing from the traditional residents in terms of race or ethnicity,” does that not mean that they are more tolerant of, and less likely to dislike, their neighbors of different races or ethnicity? Does that not mean that public schools, which are struggling with integration in classrooms due to segregated neighborhoods, now see that problem eased by having more integrated neighborhoods?

    It’s true: some of these neighborhoods are going to lose ‘affordable housing,” but, in general, that means that renters living in dumps might be forced to move, as those dumps get fixed up, but do we really want to preserve situations in which people are living in dumps?

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (78a597)

  130. Other Dana, here’s the definition I’m working from

    gen·tri·fi·ca·tion
    /ˌjentrəfəˈkāSH(ə)n/
    Learn to pronounce
    noun
    the process whereby the character of a poor urban area is changed by wealthier people moving in, improving housing, and attracting new businesses, typically displacing current inhabitants in the process.
    “an area undergoing rapid gentrification”
    the process of making someone or something more refined, polite, or respectable.
    “soccer has undergone gentrification

    Sounds like the Lexington report considered race as part of that. But from the quick read I did, only part.

    I don’t think gentrification is a problem personally. Just because you’ve rented a place for 20 years doesn’t mean you’re entitled to 20 more if you can’t afford it.
    Does lead to outcomes that are sad in some cases. But I don’t think the government should try to distort the market. The better answer is to make more housing.

    Time123 (9f42ee)

  131. ask @JoeBiden if he believes Sha’carri Richardson should be barred

    Biden is so anti-drug he would never consider helping her.

    BillPasadena (5b0401)

  132. I’m fine with denial of treatments for people with COVID as long as we do the same for everyone who makes poor choices regarding their health.

    That wasn’t what I said. Denying coverage is much different from not forcing insurers to go beyond policy limits. Let me spell it out in detail.

    Currently, all insurers are required by law to cover all Covid costs for their customers, waiving co-pay or deductible requirements, and any other policy limitation.

    Uninsured persons are covered by the federal government if the provider agrees to the payment schedule, and full vaccine coverage for the uninsured is mandatory.

    At what point do these special rules cease for those who refuse the vaccine?

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  133. More here on The Rise of the Moors. They are what I thought they were.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  134. Happy Fourth of July!

    Rip Murdock (cbadfd)

  135. Gentrification is when new residents move, drive up the prices and push long time residents out. So your definition is wrong.

    Gentrification is only used in the context of white people moving to an area, so my definition is correct.

    Also, gentrification goes on the same list as “cultural appropriation” of things I don’t think are actually problems.

    Doesn’t matter if you think it’s a problem or not; the activists portray it as a problem and the media boosts their signal.

    Factory Working Orphan (2775f0)

  136. We’ve had a rising obesity rate for decades that costs billions in treatments for all kinds of related illnesses

    Obesity is part of the ageing process, at least for some ethnic groups. People who maintained a constant weight for 50 years suddenly find that only radical, and unpalatable, diet changes prevent, or slow, weight gain.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  137. Clarence Thomas says federal laws against marijuana may no longer be necessary
    ……….
    “A prohibition on interstate use or cultivation of marijuana may no longer be necessary or proper to support the federal government’s piecemeal approach,” he wrote.

    His views came as the court declined to hear the appeal of a Colorado medical marijuana dispensary that was denied federal tax breaks that other businesses are allowed.

    Thomas said the Supreme Court’s ruling in 2005 upholding federal laws making marijuana possession illegal may now be out of date.

    “Federal policies of the past 16 years have greatly undermined its reasoning,” he said. “The federal government’s current approach is a half-in, half-out regime that simultaneously tolerates and forbids local use of marijuana.”

    Thirty-six states now allow medical marijuana, and 18 also allow recreational use. But federal tax law does not allow marijuana businesses to deduct their business expenses.

    “Under this rule, a business that is still in the red after it pays its workers and keeps the lights on might nonetheless owe substantial federal income tax,” Thomas said.
    ………

    Rip Murdock (cbadfd)

  138. Gentrification: Different residents moving in and driving prices up.

    Blockbusting: Different residents moving in and driving prices down.

    Guess which is bad.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  139. @137: Certainly the ruing in Raich, which based a ban on home-grown pot on the requirements of a national regulatory regime (see Wickard), is now kaput.

    The current cases involve state-legal pot businesses trying to file federal taxes and deduct the costs of their business from their revenue prior to taxation. The IRS is denying all such decuctions, as the business is illegal federally.

    I’m sure that Thomas and others see a dandy opportunity to breathe some life into he concept of federalism. Godspeed.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  140. That wasn’t what I said. Denying coverage is much different from not forcing insurers to go beyond policy limits. Let me spell it out in detail.

    The denial you’re proposing is based entirely on the personal choices of the patient. That’s the logical endpoint of such a policy.

    Obesity is part of the ageing process, at least for some ethnic groups. People who maintained a constant weight for 50 years suddenly find that only radical, and unpalatable, diet changes prevent, or slow, weight gain.

    Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/4/2021 @ 8:54 am

    Except you know darn well that the increased obesity rate isn’t primarily attributable to “the ageing process.” The childhood obesity rate alone over the last 50 years debunks that argument. So does the overall obesity rate, which took a rocket ride starting in the 1980s.

    Factory Working Orphan (2775f0)

  141. 29-The NEA is demanding the right to indoctrinate your children is racist, Critical Race Theory programming.

    Funny how they went from, “CRT has never been taught in schools” to “We’ve always taught CRT and it’s entirely appropriate to do so.”

    Orwell was right about these people.

    Factory Working Orphan (2775f0)

  142. @118. Except it’s not. orality IS a transient. Do mini-skirts make you blush, as well?

    “Shocking.” – James Bond [Sean Connery] ‘Goldfinger’ 1964

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  143. but they have eagles himding American flags

    OTOH, Google is giving America the bird over and over ad over. 😉

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  144. Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 7/4/2021 @ 9:05 am

    You are mistaken FWO, childhood obesity no more debunks old-age obesity, than chilhood death debunks old-age death. Rather, it proves that there are more causes of obesity, just as there are more causes of death. If you want to argue that old-age is not the primary cause of childhood obesity, fine – that’s rather obvious, but don’t fool yourself into thinking you’ve refuted Kevin’s assertion.

    felipe (484255)

  145. Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/4/2021 @ 8:58 am

    We’re definitely on The Manor Farm.

    The source of the trouble appeared to be that Napoleon and Mr. Pilkington had each played an ace of spades simultaneously.

    frosty (f27e97)

  146. Neighbor is a Marine in public relations; per his wife, left behind w/an infant new born, they deployed him last week to Palau– for six months — where she said they’ve got him working on airbases and gaming out war scenarios with you-know-who. No, not North Korea.

    Happy July 4.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  147. Rather, it proves that there are more causes of obesity, just as there are more causes of death. If you want to argue that old-age is not the primary cause of childhood obesity, fine – that’s rather obvious, but don’t fool yourself into thinking you’ve refuted Kevin’s assertion.

    felipe (484255) — 7/4/2021 @ 9:20 am

    Except he implied that it was the only reason, not a multitude of them–“Obesity is part of the ageing process, at least for some ethnic groups.” So yes, it refutes his assertion.

    Factory Working Orphan (2775f0)

  148. 144–And if you want to argue that obesity due to ageing is the primary cause, then you need to explain the rapid rise in the obesity rate across all age groups beginning in the 1980s. Whether obesity is part of the ageing process is irrelevant when that trend is taking place across the entire age spectrum.

    Factory Working Orphan (2775f0)

  149. Time123 (9f42ee) — 7/4/2021 @ 7:45 am

    Your comment gave me an idea for a book that should do well in these “special” times: How the West was Gentrified.

    Although I expect brisk sales, there may be one or two demographics to whom this would be a hard sell. You will find it in the “History Revisited” section.

    felipe (484255)

  150. Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 7/4/2021 @ 9:29 am

    I disagree, FWO. You inferred it as the only reason, and you refuted yourself.

    felipe (484255)

  151. Felipe, I’m sure the wine would like it because it would equate tech bros bidding up prices in Silicon Valley with genocidal conquest. I’m sure the woke would also hate it because it makes what we did to conquer the continent sound sort of quaint.

    Cool idea for a train wreck. 😀

    Time123 (9f42ee)

  152. @135, except it’s not. There are lots of examples where that’s the case, but there’s a huge overlap between money and race. Even so, you can find examples of gentrification where the money is coming from a diverse group of people.

    Time123 (9f42ee)

  153. Time123 (9f42ee) — 7/4/2021 @ 9:37 am

    I concur, doctor.

    felipe (484255)

  154. Gentrification is only used in the context of white people moving to an area, so my definition is correct.

    So establishing Israel in the Arab Middle East ‘neighborhood’ was gentrification?!?! 😉

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  155. All I can say is….Fat Lives Matter….now close down the laptop and get out there and do a nice hike

    AJ_Liberty (a4ff25)

  156. DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/4/2021 @ 9:45 am

    I think this proves that DDCSCA is not a racist. A racist would not consider Israel as a “White” nation.

    felipe (484255)

  157. felipe (484255) — 7/4/2021 @ 9:20 am

    The assertion was junk from the beginning. Covid and the vaccine aren’t at all like airplanes and parachutes. Layering more junk on top of that poor foundation won’t shore it up.

    It’s interesting to watch the rhetorical train wreck though.

    frosty (f27e97)

  158. AJ_Liberty (a4ff25) — 7/4/2021 @ 9:51 am

    This is what a wise person says. Yep, I’m outta here, too! As the Beatles would sing, “Here comes the sun.”

    felipe (484255)

  159. felipe (484255) — 7/4/2021 @ 9:53 am

    Only if you define racist as white supremacist. Which you did and which is also racist. Congratulations.

    frosty (f27e97)

  160. I disagree, FWO. You inferred it as the only reason, and you refuted yourself.

    felipe (484255) — 7/4/2021 @ 9:36 am

    No, I said obesity rates in general have skyrocketed starting primarily in the 1980s. Kevin implied that ageing was the main cause. The childhood obesity rate correlating with the overall obesity rate in that time frame refutes the assertion.

    If you’re going to provide an argument, at least take the time to read through things.

    Factory Working Orphan (2775f0)

  161. Frosty, Felipe and everyone else, have a great fourth! I’m going to drink beer at the beach and then try to break the sky with stuff I bought from some sketchy guy in a parking lot.

    🎇🧨🎆

    Time123 (9f42ee)

  162. A liberal concludes that liberals are to blame for culture wars, with charts.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  163. @135, except it’s not. There are lots of examples where that’s the case, but there’s a huge overlap between money and race. Even so, you can find examples of gentrification where the money is coming from a diverse group of people.

    Time123 (9f42ee) — 7/4/2021 @ 9:41 am

    Except it is. Here’s just a random sampling:

    -(University of Stanford: “A new study by a Stanford sociologist has determined that the negative effects of gentrification are felt disproportionately by minority communities, whose residents have fewer options of neighborhoods they can move to compared to their white counterparts.”

    -NYT: “The Neighborhood Is Mostly Black.
    The Home Buyers Are Mostly White.
    By EMILY BADGER, QUOCTRUNG BUI and ROBERT GEBELOFF APRIL 27, 2019

    Nationwide, the arrival of white homeowners in places they’ve long avoided is jolting the economics of the land beneath everyone.”

    The Guardian: “White privilege and gentrification in Denver, ‘America’s favourite city'”

    Like most institutions dominated by cultural Marxist ideology, the class aspect is subsumed far more often to the race aspect.

    Factory Working Orphan (2775f0)

  164. 155.All I can say is….Fat Lives Matter….now close down the laptop and get out there and do a nice hike

    Redemption for Edward Moore Kennedy and Rush Hudson Limbaugh III.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  165. Time123

    Be safe. There’s many a 4th of July stories that start that way and end with “and that’s how I got here doc”.

    frosty (f27e97)

  166. #164

    Don’t forget Chest Pants Nadler who is too fat to even walk to the loo in a timely fashion

    steveg (ebe7c1)

  167. Hope everyone has a blessed Independence Day with their friends and family. Enjoy the time together.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  168. On Sha’Carri Richardson, at first I was not very sympathetic, on the grounds that she knew the rules and ignored them at(almost) the worst possible time. But I was young once too and even now as an supposedly older, wiser person manage to f things up, so I hope this opens her eyes about who is around her and what choices she can make to be in the next Olympics 3 years from now.

    I don’t know if she has taken back her acknowledgement that this was her fault and she let people down (these days “heartfelt” apologies have a short shelf life). At that point of contrition I moved into her corner completely. I’ve watched Olympic Champion level athletes like Ashton Eaton and his wife Bri. Lindon Victor, Kurt Felix, Anderson Peters and others train. They come to work every day and work hard, so I know Ms. Richardson knows how to work hard at her job so I am hoping she does the work and goes to the World Games clean next year and makes it a personal goal to get back into it and show the world whats up with her speed, technique and training

    steveg (ebe7c1)

  169. The first time an athlete was disqualified from the Olympics in connection with taking something, it was for a drug that wasn’t illegal and probably wasn’t performance enhancing and it wasn’t by the International Olympics Committee but by the American Olympic Committee and its president, Avery Brundage, and before the games began, and it was really for violating curfew and carousing.

    http://www.kawasaki-m.ac.jp/soc/mw/journal/en/2006-e12-1/01_kremenik.pdf

    At the 1936 Simmer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, the 1932 Olympic 100-meter backstroke gold medalist, American swimmer Ekeanor Holm, was disqualified for acute alcoholism.

    The team doctor claimed she had acute alcoholism.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  170. 138, Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/4/2021 @ 8:58 am

    , Gentrification: Different residents moving in and driving prices up.

    And potentially endangering incumbent politicians.

    One way for politicians to prevent that: Increase the crime rate.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  171. He added that “thanks to the revolutions in technology, today virtually anyone in this county can publish virtually anything for immediate consumption virtually anywhere in the world.”

    The publisher in that case needs more protection. He doesn’t have a staff of lawyers.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  172. 83.

    In the survey, which was first conducted in 2000

    C-Span maybe started it in the year 2000, but this kind of a poll goes back to the 1948 and it was done by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. He did it again in 1962.

    Here are the results of all the polls of historians (or other scholars) Who would be expected to be familiar with all the presidents of the United States.

    https://web.csulb.edu/~astevens/posc100/files/ratings.htm

    Grant used to rank lower because of all the corruption and everything, but now they like him because of his opposition to the Ku Klux Klan and general support of civil rights.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  173. 130. Time123 (9f42ee) — 7/4/2021 @ 7:45 am

    I don’t think gentrification is a problem personally. Just because you’ve rented a place for 20 years doesn’t mean you’re entitled to 20 more if you can’t afford it.

    In New York City old time residents are usually protected by rent stabilization (provided the bousing still+ stands) but stores are not.

    Does lead to outcomes that are sad in some cases. But I don’t think the government should try to distort the market. The better answer is to make more housing.

    There are many people who don’t want to do that. It would drive down property values.

    Particularly needed is more commercial space.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  174. DCSCA wrote:

    Gentrification is only used in the context of white people moving to an area, so my definition is correct.

    So establishing Israel in the Arab Middle East ‘neighborhood’ was gentrification?!?! 😉

    Best argument ever that gentrification is a good thing!

    But we could also say that English settlers leaving Old Blighty and coming to America was the best gentrification ever.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (78a597)

  175. “I eat daily and do not diet and the fear of fat distresses me.” — From the Book of Uncommon Prayer; Service for Food Nazis

    You know … there’s a big difference between dipsh!ts in white coats pathologizing every enjoyable activity and a Chinese virus that has already killed more than 600,000 Americans without giving a sh!t whether dipsh!ts (in or out of white coats) pathologize it not. Or do you know?

    nk (1d9030)

  176. 53. Well, it’s more obvious with Bing but Google has a 4th of July GIF: Five differently szed eagles in a marching band, (one not walking but riding on a unicycle) with one carrying an American flag instead of a musical instrument.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  177. Using The Philadelphia Inquirer’s site search for gentrification, you’ll find articles like:

    “‘Fecal samples’: The next frontier in fighting West Philly gentrification?”;
    “Kensington faces a new challenge: Luxury development. Can a woke developer mitigate gentrification?”;
    “Philly’s new homeowner protection law is a useful tool for neighborhoods facing gentrification”;
    “A plan to control development in North Philly heightens gentrification fears: ‘Everything is in jeopardy’”; and
    “In a plan for a safer, vibrant 52nd Street, worried West Philly neighbors see gentrification looming.”

    In West Philly, the neighborhood fought a city plan to tear up and replace local, broken, dilapidated sidewalks because they were afraid some white people might move in if the place was made nicer. Much better for your kids to trip and skin themselves up than to have honkies move in!

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (78a597)

  178. The team doctor claimed she had acute alcoholism.

    She claimed Brundage didn’t like his sexual advances being rebuffed.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  179. In New York City old time residents are usually protected by rent stabilization

    In Santa Monica old time residents have pretty much died off, but are still being protected by rent-stabilization ordinances. It’s a town where the lucky few who get these cheap beachfront residences can afford pricey cars and dining out. Just don’t ask the landlord to fix anything.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  180. But we could also say that English settlers leaving Old Blighty and coming to America was the best gentrification ever.

    But of which place?

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  181. A liberal concludes that liberals are to blame for culture wars, with charts.

    Paul Montagu (5de684) — 7/4/2021 @ 10:11 am

    Robin DiAngelo just released a book titled, “Nice Racism: How Progressive White People Perpetuate Racial Harm,” somewhat similar in methodology to Regina Jackson and Saira Rao’s grift where white liberal women pay them thousands of dollars to come in to their homes in Denver, eat their food, and call them a bunch of disgusting racists all night.

    One thing DiAngelo and I can certainly agree on–as a white progressive, she’s a racist sack of garbage.

    Factory Working Orphan (2775f0)

  182. This is from the NEA:

    The NEA will, with guidance on implementation from the NEA president and chairs of the Ethnic Minority Affairs Caucuses:

    A. Share and publicize, through existing channels, information already available on critical race theory (CRT) — what it is and what it is not; have a team of staffers for members who want to learn more and fight back against anti-CRT rhetoric; and share information with other NEA members as well as their community members.

    B. Provide an already-created, in-depth, study that critiques empire, white supremacy, anti-Blackness, anti-Indigeneity, racism, patriarchy, cisheteropatriarchy, capitalism, ableism, anthropocentrism, and other forms of power and oppression at the intersections of our society, and that we oppose attempts to ban critical race theory and/or The 1619 Project.

    C. Publicly (through existing media) convey its support for the accurate and honest teaching of social studies topics, including truthful and age-appropriate accountings of unpleasant aspects of American history, such as slavery, and the oppression and discrimination of Indigenous, Black, Brown, and other peoples of color, as well as the continued impact this history has on our current society. The Association will further convey that in teaching these topics, it is reasonable and appropriate for curriculum to be informed by academic frameworks for understanding and interpreting the impact of the past on current society, including critical race theory.

    D. Join with Black Lives Matter at School and the Zinn Education Project to call for a rally this year on October 14—George Floyd’s birthday—as a national day of action to teach lessons about structural racism and oppression. Followed by one day of action that recognize and honor lives taken such as Breonna Taylor, Philando Castile, and others. The National Education Association shall publicize these National Days of Action to all its members, including in NEA Today.

    E. Conduct a virtual listening tour that will educate members on the tools and resources needed to defend honesty in education including but not limited to tools like CRT.

    Dana (fd537d)

  183. @182

    I recommend Ross Douthat’s column on CRT. For those blocked by the paywall, here’s the gist:

    But the basic claim that structural racism exists has strong evidence behind it, and the idea that schools should teach about it in some way is probably a winning argument for progressives. (Almost half of college Republicans, in a recent poll, supported teaching about how “patterns of racism are ingrained in law and other institutions.”) Especially since not every application of the structural-racist diagnosis implies left-wing policy conclusions: The pro-life and school choice movements, for instance, regularly invoke the impact of past progressive racism on disproportionately high African-American abortion rates and underperforming public schools.

    What’s really inflaming today’s fights, though, is that the structural-racist diagnosis isn’t being offered on its own. Instead it’s yoked to two sweeping theories about how to fight the problem it describes. First, there is a novel theory of moral education, according to which the best way to deal with systemic inequality is to confront its white beneficiaries with their privileges and encourage them to wrestle with their sins. Second, there is a Manichaean vision of public policy, in which all policymaking is either racist or antiracist, all racial disparities are the result of racism — and the measurement of any outcome short of perfect “equity” may be a form of structural racism itself. The first idea is associated with Robin DiAngelo, the second with Ibram X. Kendi, and they converge in places like the work of Tema Okun, whose presentations train educators to see “white-supremacy culture” at work in traditional measures of academic attainment.

    […]

    But precisely because they don’t follow from modest and defensible conceptions of systemic racism, smart progressives in the media often retreat to those modest conceptions when challenged by conservatives — without acknowledging that the dubious conceptions are a big part of what’s been amplifying controversy, and conjuring up dubious Republican legislation in response. Here one could say that figures like Kendi and DiAngelo, and the complex of foundations and bureaucracies that have embraced the new antiracism, increasingly play a similar role to talk radio in the Republican coalition. They represent an ideological extremism that embarrasses clever liberals, as the spirit of Limbaugh often embarrassed right-wing intellectuals. But this embarrassment encourages a pretense that their influence is modest, their excesses forgivable, and the real problem is always the evils of the other side.

    That pretense worked out badly for the right, whose intelligentsia awoke in 2016 to discover that they no longer recognized their own coalition. It would be helpful if liberals currently dismissing anxiety over Kendian or DiAngelan ideas as just a “moral panic” experienced a similar awakening now — before progressivism simply becomes its excesses, and the way back to sanity is closed.

    lurker (59504c)

  184. “Provide an already-created, in-depth, study that critiques empire, white supremacy, anti-Blackness,…”

    This is so poorly thought through….the NEA president should be embarrassed. Does she really think blatantly and unapologetically injecting politics into the classroom is going to go unchallenged? I would hope to see teachers dropping their membership in opposition.

    AJ_Liberty (a4ff25)

  185. Structural racism does exist. It’s called affirmative action and discriminates against whites and asians.

    NJRob (de3d6a)

  186. I admit to being a cishetero-anthropocentrical capitalistic ableist.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  187. Zinn Education Project

    Oy!

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  188. I would hope to see teachers dropping their membership in opposition.

    In a world where a homonym can get you fired?

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  189. I did quote the NEA indoctrination project in post #30.

    But we’ve been told time and time again that it has nothing to do with our public schools. Someone was mistaken.

    NJRob (de3d6a)

  190. 178. Kevin M (ab1c11) — 7/4/2021 @ 3:33 pm

    She claimed Brundage didn’t like his sexual advances being rebuffed.

    That didn’t show up in the few sources I consulted, including her New York Times obituary – but then the New York Times sanitizes the news. When did she say that?

    Sammy Finkelman (b434ee)

  191. Results of test of people combining vaccines.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/28/health/mixing-pfizer-astrazeneca-results.html

    The researchers found that volunteers reported more chills, headaches and muscle pain than people who get two doses of the same vaccine. But the side effects were short-lived.

    Dr. Snape and his colleagues then drew blood to measure the immune response in the volunteers. They found that those who got two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech produced levels of antibodies about 10 times as high as those who got two doses of AstraZeneca. Volunteers who got Pfizer followed by AstraZeneca showed antibody levels about five times as high as those with two doses of AstraZeneca. And volunteers who got AstraZeneca followed by Pfizer reached antibody levels about as high as those who got two doses of Pfizer.

    Levels of antibodies 10 times as high doesn’t mean ten times as effective, as people get exposed to different amounts of virus, and if the antibody level is enough to take care of it without even once testing positive in periodic testings, it’s enough.

    Somewhere else I read that if someone was infected the level of antibodies is (usually) high, but one dose of Pfizer can boost it somewhat. Two shots of Pfizer contributes nothing in that case.

    Sammy Finkelman (b434ee)

  192. Re vaccination hesitancy…if he was a thinner man, would he give 2 spits?

    https://www.rawstory.com/jim-justice-lottery/

    urbanleftbehind (1a0ed1)

  193. At least a third of GOP House/Senate candidates are embracing the cult, supporting the bogus notion that the election was “stolen”. And this…

    Similarly, of the nearly 600 state lawmakers who publicly embraced Trump’s false claims, about 500 face reelection this year or next. Most of them signed legal briefs or resolutions challenging Biden’s victory. At least 16 of them attended the Jan. 6 protest in Washington.

    Not good, my goddam GOP.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  194. That didn’t show up in the few sources I consulted

    She said that much later.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_Holm

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  195. Not good, my goddam GOP.

    Glorious.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  196. Where are you moving to?

    Rip Murdock (cbadfd)

  197. NPR is the only national media organization that reads aloud the Declaration every year. Maybe if a conservative media outlet did the same its reverence could be restored.

    Rip Murdock (cbadfd)

  198. I bet from the late 50s to late 60s a lot of southern local news affiliates explicitly barred its anchors, weathermen and sports guys from reciting the Declaration on-air, showing the restraint that a college TV station in San Diego aa weekend ago didnt.

    urbanleftbehind (1a0ed1)

  199. OT: Keystone XL lawsuits.

    Not only have 23 states now joined in the lawsuit against the Biden administration, claiming that his cancellation of the project on his first day in office was unlawful, but now the Canadian company involved is suing, under provisions of the original NAFTA treaty, for damages totalling $15 billion.

    The company behind the now-abandoned Keystone XL pipeline hopes to obtain more than $15 billion from the U.S. government, alleging damages from President Biden’s revocation of its permit for the project.

    TC Energy announced in a Friday press release that it had filed a notice of intent with the State Department’s Office of the Legal Adviser to “initiate a legacy North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) claim under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.”

    The company, which announced last month that it was officially scrapping the pipeline project after Biden revoked a key permit on his first day in the Oval Office, said that it is seeking compensation for losses “suffered as a result of the U.S. Government’s breach of its NAFTA obligations.”

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  200. @199. 50’s to late 60’s???

    In the early 1980’s, did a TV spot for a product w/Reggie Jackson [he was under contract to the company and we had to use him to market as many products in the various divisions as possible.] Several TV stations across the South refused to air the spot. Guess why.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  201. @199. Postscript; worse, he showed up for a sales meeting w/all the distributors in attendance in Phoenix w/a white woman on his arm. She was just the local newscaster, a person to escort him for the evening– but it didn’t go over well w/t Southern boys.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  202. One would hope that NPR would focus on what was remarkable about the Declaration….at the time….rather than caveating about the deficiencies of 18th century societies or discovering structural racism at every turn. The courage to break away from mother England and launch a grand experiment that culminated in another imperfect but remarkable document….the Constitution….was extraordinary. This remains a country of immense opportunities….and one on the right side of history’s struggles against despots and tyrants. We’ve made historic strides toward justice for women and racial minorities (and “teh gays”)….and it all traces back to those signers of the Declaration who wanted to chart a different course. Remove the founding fathers, what would have been the history of North America and liberty? I still choose to believe in an optimistic America looking ahead….rather than looking backwards always cynically. We’re amazingly meritocratic….if you have the brains, talent, ambition, and drive….this is the place to be.

    AJ_Liberty (a4ff25)

  203. NPR is anti-American propaganda for those with a torn soul that are looking to explain why they are so unhappy in life.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  204. Several TV stations across the South refused to air the spot. Guess why.
    DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/5/2021 @ 11:22 am

    Lemme see, for the same general reasons that other media refuse to air pro-life adverts? You know, “too controversial?” Gotta protect the snowflakes on both sides.

    felipe (484255)

  205. NPR just chummed the ‘Waters.’ And she bit.

    Plenty of minstrel players on the national stage these days. It’s after noon–how many shot in Chicago before lunch today?

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  206. NJRob (eb56c3) — 7/5/2021 @ 11:59 am

    You are not wrong, NJRob. The human heart has a hole in it that can only be filled by its creator.

    felipe (484255)

  207. The DoI is a lot like the Wright Flyer; for its time, it was a start.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  208. Weren’t minstrel players, at first, just white guys in black-face whose avocation was to perform for those who wished to be entertained? Not much has changed since then, but the players.

    felipe (484255)

  209. DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/5/2021 @ 12:15 pm

    Q: Not get morbid, but do you know why Vegas does not provide odds/ take bets on the number of murders in Chicago?

    A: Because there is no source for results on which all participants can agree.

    felipe (484255)

  210. Kevin M @194.

    This is what I had read in the Wikipedia article:

    …After a drinking party aboard the SS Manhattan on the way to the Olympics, the team doctor found Holm in a state approaching a coma.

    According to David Wallechinsky in The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics, the Olympic team doctor’s diagnosis was “[a]cute alcoholism”. Various charges were made against her which Holm did not deny. U.S. Olympic Committee President Avery Brundage promptly expelled her from the Olympic team. Holm admitted to having had a few glasses of Champagne but subsequently maintained that her dismissal arose from a personal grudge held by Brundage.

    This chaperone came up to me and told me it was time to go to bed. God, it was about 9 o’clock, and who wanted to go down in that basement to sleep anyway? So I said to her: ‘Oh, is it really bedtime? Did you make the Olympic team or did I?’ I had had a few glasses of Champagne. So she went to Brundage and complained that I was setting a bad example for the team, and they got together and told me the next morning that I was fired. I was heartbroken.

    I had seen that Wikipedia article but I didn’t read down to see as far as this, though:

    . Decades later, Holm told Olympic sprinter Dave Sime that Brundage held a grudge from an incident in which he propositioned her and she turned him down.[8]

    That would have been some time earlier – not aboard that ship.

    That’s from a 2008 book about the Rome Olympics of 1960. Only extensive familiarity with books about the Olympics, or Google books, would find that, but somebody did.

    She had quite a promiscuous life.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  211. Republican Voters Largely Want to Move On From Jan. 6. The Rest of the Country Doesn’t
    ……..
    Republican voters are now more likely to blame President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats for the events that led to the Capitol attack than they are Trump and GOP lawmakers, many of whom supported his false claims of widespread election irregularities. That stance puts them at odds with the broader electorate, whose views on the matter have gone virtually unchanged.
    ……..
    While voters have become less likely to agree that the Jan. 6 rioters are representative of Trump rather than the whole Republican Party, they are now more likely to say that the insurrectionists represent the GOP overall. Among Republicans voters, however, the share who pushed back on both statements increased notably – especially the one regarding Trump.

    But most voters have no illusions about whom the Capitol’s attackers were fighting for: 64 percent said the people who breached the Capitol were Trump supporters, down 6 points from January. That drop was driven by Republican voters, 45 percent of whom still agreed with the sentiment.

    Among GOP voters, 27 percent said the rioters were opponents of Trump, aligning with some of the conspiracy theories propagating on the right that allege the presence of outside meddlers.
    ………
    The survey also found Republicans are tired of hearing about the event. Six months later, 68 percent of GOP voters agreed with the statement that “there has been too much focus on the January 6th events at the U.S. Capitol,” while half of the electorate disagreed.
    ……..
    Despite aligning with the statement that too much attention has been paid to Jan. 6, a 46 percent plurality of GOP voters said it was important that the federal government continue to investigate what happened six months ago, joining 9 in 10 Democrats and 67 percent of self-identified independents.
    ……..
    Other selected poll results (Registered Voters):

    Right Track/Wrong Track: 53/47
    Democrats: 82/18
    Republicans: 19/81
    Independents: 41/59

    Biden Job Approval: 57/40
    Democrats: 91/8
    Republicans: 16/82
    Independents: 50/45

    Favorable/Unfavorable of the following groups:

    Antifa: 13/59
    Democrats: 21/49
    Republicans: 4/77
    Independents: 10/57

    White Supremacists: 9/80
    Democrats: 10/82
    Republicans: 8/73
    Independents: 5/82

    White Nationalists: 12/67
    Democrats: 11/76
    Republicans: 14/51
    Independents: 10/69

    Proud Boys: 12/58
    Democrats: 11/72
    Republicans: 14/43
    Independents: 10/54

    Police: 69/25
    Democrats: 57/36
    Republicans: 65/11
    Independents: 69/32

    Pride in being an American (Very and Somewhat/Little and None): 83/15
    Democrats: 79/19
    Republicans: 92/8
    Independents: 79/18

    Republican Party Right Track/Wrong Track: 33/57
    Democrats: 19/73
    Republicans: 60/30
    Independents: 23/63

    Democratic Party Right Track/Wrong Track: 49/45
    Democrats: 83/11
    Republicans: 11/84
    Independents: 32/57

    …Do you believe the people who broke into the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. are domestic terrorists, or not?: 57/27
    Democrats: 78/12
    Republicans: 30/47
    Independents: 53/29

    How responsible do you believe each of the following (groups) are responsible for attacking police and breaking into the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.?

    Democrats in Congress: 33/55
    Democrats: 19/73
    Republicans: 52/32
    Independents: 32/50

    Republicans in Congress: 50/38
    Democrats: 72/21
    Republicans: 22/64
    Independents: 48/37

    Donald Trump: 61/32
    Democrats: 83/13
    Republicans: 30/61
    Independents: 67/34

    Joe Biden: 27/62
    Democrats: 18/77
    Republicans: 41/44
    Independents: 25/59

    The people who broke into the U.S. Capitol: 83/11
    Democrats: 86/10
    Republicans: 82/10
    Independents: 80/11

    Agree/Disagree: The people who broke into the U.S. Capitol are representative of Donald Trump, but not the Republican Party. 43/44
    Democrats: 56/34
    Republicans: 25/59
    Independents: 44/40

    Rip Murdock (80e6b4)

  212. NPR is anti-American propaganda for those with a torn soul that are looking to explain why they are so unhappy in life.

    NJRob (eb56c3) — 7/5/2021 @ 11:59 am

    I am very happy in my life, thank you.

    Rip Murdock (80e6b4)

  213. I think the dictator of North Korea, Kim Jon Un, had Covid in April. I had this idea last week

    Reasons:

    1) He disappeared from public view from Sunday April 11 to Friday May 2, 2021 missing out on the annual observance of Kim Il Sung’s birthday on April 15. “The celebration, known as the “Day of the Sun,” is the most important event in the North Korean political calendar.”

    https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/kim-jong-un-s-appearance-put-death-rumors-rest-world-ncna1199886

    2. In the interim, he lost weight. The U.S. intelligence community proved that by noticing that the strap on his wrist watch was pulled another hole or two.

    3. In a speech on June 29, Kim Jong Un admitted there was coronavirus in North Korea. Previously, North Korea had reported 0 cases. (it still did)

    4. One of these cases pf coronavirus was a “crucial case”

    https://www.thehansindia.com/news/international/crucial-case-could-undermine-north-koreans-anti-epidemic-efforts-kim-jong-un-693393

    According to his own central news agency, hHe said senior officials neglected implementing important decisions of the party regarding the worldwide health crisis and caused a crucial case creating a great crisis in ensuring the security of the state…and entailed grave consequences.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  214. @196 how to read this other than npr prefers we had remained part of a race and class stratified monarchy

    they probably envy a state media like the bbc which enjoys a mandatory license fee and doesn’t have to beg for money via pledge drives

    JF (e1156d)

  215. @212 morning consult is a leftist org leveraged by leftist outlets like nyt and vox, leftist politicians, and rip

    i wonder why

    JF (e1156d)

  216. Another Wall of DooDoo from RIP…

    Colonel Haiku (5d3e21)

  217. You are all free to post opposite polling numbers…….

    Rip Murdock (cbadfd)

  218. Colonel Haiku (5d3e21) — 7/5/2021 @ 3:35 pm

    Heh. That is funny to me because of the band, Wall of Vooodoo.

    felipe (484255)

  219. Passed out drunk is the definition of acute alcoholism. And breaking training and sassing the manager is grounds for being benched without it. And the substitute won the bronze in the end.

    nk (1d9030)

  220. NPR can be informative at times. It’s wise to get a balanced intake of cable news and talk radio.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  221. I absolutely agree, Paul.

    Dana (fd537d)

  222. caught npr by accident a few weeks ago and kept listening

    in that time i learned “those experiencing homelessness” is the correct inoffensive term now instead of “the homeless”, or alternatively you can use “houseless”

    defund the language police

    JF (e1156d)

  223. I don’t need to clink the rick:

    He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

    So NPR warned its snowflakes that was coming, and thereby undermined our nation’s foundation like it was Florida condo or something? Take an aspirin!

    nk (1d9030)

  224. NPR can be informative at times. It’s wise to get a balanced intake of cable news and talk radio.

    Paul Montagu (5de684) — 7/5/2021 @ 5:03 pm

    I find it useful to listen to because they are, without question, the media voice of the left-liberal upper middle class and social elite, and the stories they run are fully reflective of the DNC public relations dossier.

    For instance, last year when Soleimani was tagged and left-liberals and lolbertarians were freaking out that World War III was about to start, NPR in Texas ran a story about a Model UN session in San Antonio. The airstrike came up and one of the kids who was interviewed said he had planned at one point to enlist in the Air Force, but the airstrike made him reconsider because “he didn’t want to go to war.”

    Leaving aside the absurdity of a high schooler acting shocked that joining the military might entail being put in harm’s way, it was clearly a soft-handed variation of “here’s what the young folks are saying about this act by a Republican that threatens World War III!” that they’ve run since Reagan was in office.

    Factory Working Orphan (2775f0)

  225. Mr M wrote:

    But we could also say that English settlers leaving Old Blighty and coming to America was the best gentrification ever.

    But of which place?

    His Majesty the King was perfectly happy to rid himself of those turbulent religious dissidents, and our English forebears certainly turned this wilderness into as much of a paradise on earth as we’ve seen since Eden. Win/win?

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (78a597)

  226. So NPR warned its snowflakes that was coming, and thereby undermined our nation’s foundation like it was Florida condo or something? Take an aspirin!

    nk (1d9030) — 7/5/2021 @ 5:29 pm

    White liberals whining about us living on “stolen land” is nearly as obnoxious as them lecturing other white people about their “privilege.” If they actually had any principle about that, they’d have sold off their house, quit their jobs, and moved back to the land of their ancestors already. Most of those countries even have the generous welfare states they desire.

    Factory Working Orphan (2775f0)

  227. RIP film director Richard Donner (91).

    Rip Murdock (cbadfd)

  228. RIP Terry Donahue (77). Winningest football coach at UCLA (151-74-8, 10-9-1 against Southern Cal).

    Rip Murdock (cbadfd)

  229. The 10 Senate seats most likely to flip in 2022
    ……..
    Two Biden states are trading places, with New Hampshire leapfrogging above Nevada. It’s true that Biden carried the Granite State by a wider margin, but the potential GOP candidate options there are enough to move it above the Silver State for now. Of course, that could change if two big name Republicans in New Hampshire pass on the race.

    Two Trump states are also switching spots. Florida is now above Ohio in terms of likelihood of flipping. Democrats have done better recently at the presidential level in Florida than they have in Ohio…..
    ……..
    1. Pennsylvania-R
    Pennsylvania — where GOP Sen. Pat Toomey is not running for another term — remains the seat most likely to flip, in large part, because it’s an open seat in a state that Biden carried last fall. And while this race may come down to whatever the national environment looks like next year, Democrats regard it as their top pick up opportunity — even if they don’t yet know who their candidate is going to be. …….
    ……..
    2. Georgia-D
    Republicans are eager to redeem their trifecta of recent losses in Georgia. But they’re still in a waiting game when it comes to who will avenge the loss to Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, who’s now running for a full six-year term. That’s because Herschel Walker, encouraged by Trump to run, continues to have a freezing effect on the field.
    ………
    3. Wisconsin-R
    GOP Sen. Ron Johnson is keeping everyone guessing — will he run for a third term? His indecision could be putting a possible successor at a disadvantage if he decides not to run. Johnson is the only Republican potentially running for reelection in a state Biden carried last year, so the seat is a top target for Democrats, regardless of whether he runs or not…….

    4. Arizona-D
    Republicans are no longer without candidates to take on Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, who is running for a full six-year term after winning last fall. Several contenders have recently jumped in the race, including Attorney General Mark Brnovich, with others still considering.……

    5. North Carolina-R
    The biggest news in North Carolina was Trump’s surprise endorsement of Rep. Ted Budd to succeed retiring Sen. Richard Burr. Trump did it on stage at the state GOP convention just minutes after his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, said she was passing on the race. ……. But Trump’s endorsement isn’t clearing the field in this race. Former Gov. Pat McCrory and former Rep. Mark Walker, who were both in the crowd when Trump made his announcement, are still running.…….

    6. New Hampshire-D
    …….. Republicans know exactly who they want to run here — and even if he doesn’t do it, the GOP may have a back up. Gov. Chris Sununu had originally said he’d make a decision after the end of the legislative session in June, but he seems to have pushed back his timeline, telling “Good Morning New Hampshire” last month, “I won’t make a decision for a really long time…….

    7. Nevada-D
    ……. Republicans (are) waiting on former Attorney General Adam Laxalt to get in. ….. Republicans think he could motivate the base and gain traction as a former statewide elected offici………

    8. Florida-R
    ……The two-term (Marco Rubio) starts the race with the advantage, and some Republicans think they dodged a bullet when Rep. Stephanie Murphy, a more moderate Democrat, passed on the race. ……

    9. Ohio-R
    ….…JD Vance is not just a famous author (whose book has been turned into a movie). He comes with the backing of a super PAC that already has a $10 million commitment from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. In a primary that has so far been all about loyalty to Trump, however, those outside connections may only get him so far. …….

    10. Missouri-R
    …….. [T]he main reason this seat, in a state Trump carried by 15 points, is remotely competitive is because of one of the other candidates: former Gov. Eric Greitens, who resigned from office following a probe into allegations of sexual and campaign misconduct……. And the more Republicans who run in Missouri, the more the primary vote will be splintered, potentially lowering the threshold that Greitens would need to win the nomination.…….

    Rip Murdock (cbadfd)

  230. 226, after the colonization of India, the troublesome north american territories became the “old heau'”

    urbanleftbehind (872311)

  231. I wouldn’t think Marco Rubio is in any serious danger of losing re-election. Who is CNN’s expert listening to?

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  232. If non-Hispanic base R voters see him wanting to join too many bipartisan legislative “Gangs of…”, he might get ballot-blanked, but I think he’s a safe bet for re-election.

    urbanleftbehind (872311)

  233. Voting is for losers. Let me know when the purple ink is at the ballot box.

    mg (8cbc69)

  234. 225. Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 7/5/2021 @ 6:02 pm

    I find it useful to listen to [NPR] because they are, without question, the media voice of the left-liberal upper middle class and social elite, and the stories they run are fully reflective of the DNC public relations dossier.

    Most of the time it mightt be the other way around: The DNC public relations dossier might be reflective “of the left-liberal upper middle class and social elite” with the exception of election related themes. A lot of this wouldn’t help win elections.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  235. Future Hurricane Elsa:

    Whenever there is a hurricane on the Gulf Coast there usualy is a storm and rain in New York, even though, for some reason, the weather forecasters never connect them as one system.

    Starting about 6:30 pm it got somewhat darker (clouds) and there is wind, although no rain so far. But I think I can some thunder in the distance.

    They probably didn’t need to knock down the rest of the building in Surfside Florida, although that was stopping them from doing some searching. They say the pile was even holding up some of the remaining building. Some people were begging to look for pets, but they say they did conduct a search for pets, as much as they were willing to do.

    As for other buildings, they probably won;t fall down right just now. The building by the way was missing some rebar that was in the design. Concrete can support weight but rebar is needed for sideways stress. The New York Times has had some stories om the building. I think it is qute possible the repair (maybe the wrong priority) they were doing now could have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.

    There was enough warning for ione family that lived on the 11th floor whose apartment was destroyed to wind up escaping. They had come back home about half an hour before.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  236. New York City ranked choice primary eelection:

    The Board of Elections has twice postponed the release today of the first round of results that included most of the absentee ballots and they are now scheduled to be released at 7:30 pm EDT.

    I think it will show Kathryn Garcia winning. That is because a disproportionate number of the absentee ballots are from Manhattan and she carried that borough. And rhat delayed release is itself a sign. (as I said the extra 135,000 votes last week had almost no effect on the count. They were apparently random and half would have ranked Kathryn Garcia over Eric Adams and half would have ranked Eric Adams over Kathryn Garcia.

    If Maya Wiley beats Kathryn Garcia for runner up, – and they are close – Eric Adams will win, not Maya Wiley. There must be more lower choices for Eric Adams than for Maya Wiley among people who selected Kathryn Garcia above Eric Adams. Even though some people voted for two women.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  237. Kelly will win in AZ.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  238. It’s starting to rain. The radio says it will go on for another 45 minutes. This is Hurricane Else I’m telling you. It is not a coincidence.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  239. Eric Adams still has a 1% lead. Kathryn Garcia would have had to get 57% of the 2 person absentee votes to reverse the outcome I read. (would that be assuming that all ballots mentioned at least one of them?)

    The deadline was July 2 for going to couurt so candidates had to do that before knowing the results.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  240. It’s still raining.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  241. The rain last night stopped but was followed by firecrackers.

    Now they are oredicting Elsa. It is on about the boundary between Florida and Georgia and is moving up north. The rain is on the eastern side, It should go to South Carolina by about Columbia (inland) woth winds about 45 miles per hour. But later it will go out to sea and get stronger again, and eventually reach Philadelphia or New York by about 7 am Friday. It will hit Long Island, This time the rain willl be on the western side of the storm, By 4 pm oor later Friday it will be by Maine.

    They are calling this Elsa but they did not call yesterday’s rain Elsa but I think it was related. There also should be some rain tonight.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  242. Kathryn Garcia was right that the absentee ballots would make the race closer. The margin between her and Eric Adams went down by some 6,000 when 120,000 plus votes were added, It is now around 8,000. But there are on;y about 3,400 possible votes outstanding (and in reality less): Affidavit votes and absentee ballots with some defects that can be cured.

    All the camoaigns coulld be present when the absentee votes were opened up and counted.

    After Yang was eliminated, Garcia went into second place.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)


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