NoVaMoMe 2020:
Rescheduled for August 29, 5:00-10:00 pm, Fairfax, Virginia. Contact Bluebell & Weasel with questions.
July 06, 2020
Monday Overnight Open Thread (7/6/20)
—Misanthropic Humanitarian
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The Quotes of The Day
Quote I
Those who cry out that the government should 'do something' never even ask for data on what has actually happened when the government did something, compared to what actually happened when the government did nothing. Thomas Sowell
Quote II
The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased. Alexander Hamilton
Quote III
“The executive order is a good thing, mainly because you saw the support of law enforcement there … There is movement in the direction of a database for bad cops,” Van Jones
Quote IV
"Darwin's theory is as dead as he is. Everyone is surviving, fit or not. Years ago, any kid dumb enough to chase a shiny object down a well was dead and out of the gene pool. Now they got the technology and medicine to save the fool so he can breed more open-mouth breathers..." Lenny Bruce, Comedian
[Says the guy found dead on the floor of his bathroom after a heroin overdose.
Posted by: Mr. Peebles at July 06, 2020 10:04 PM (oVJmc)]
Quote V
“It took four long years, but today justice has been served at Standing Rock, If the events of 2020 have taught us anything, it’s that health and justice must be prioritized early on in any decision-making process if we want to avoid a crisis later on. ”Earthjustice attorney Jan Hasselman
Unlike the Washington Redskins and the Cleveland Indians, the Atlanta Braves do not appear to be considering changing the name of their team.
In the wake of the Redskins and Indians going public about the possibility of changing their names because they are disrespectful to Native Americans, the Braves released a statement about their team name.
In the release, Atlanta said their team “honors, supports, and values the Native American community” but conceded there is “much work to do on and off the field.”
“We have also held meetings with our Native American Working Group which will collaborate with us on cultural issues, education and community outreach to amplify their voices and show our fans they are still proudly here,” the statement said. “The Atlanta Braves have a meaningful commitment to honor the Native American community and we are excited about working together to ensure this happens.”
The Michigan House of Representatives has passed a controversial bill to microchip humans voluntarily in the state under the guise of protecting their privacy. The Microchip Protection Act would allow Michigan employers to use microchipping of their workers with their consent. However, research has shown that RFID transponders causes cancer.
Nope, don't see how this could be abused by the government. They are always looking out for you.
Acting Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli revealed that a rioter in Portland, Oregon was arrested with materials used to create a pipe bomb on Saturday night.
Cuccinelli shared an image of the rioter’s terrorist paraphernalia on his Twitter Sunday, announcing that the rioter would face federal criminal charges for his possession of the destructive device.
The California Faculty Association released a statement in light of George Floyd’s death and recent protests. The group also created a list of demands for California State University that it says will provide "redress for systemic anti-Black racism in the CSU.”
The CFA demanded CSU “provide free tuition for all Black, Native, and Indigenous students.” Trends show that enrollment of these students has been decreasing within the CSU system. To increase admission of these “marginalized students,” the CFA proposes that the universities make efforts “to overturn Proposition 209, the ban on affirmative action.”
According to the CFA, “racial pay equity” is necessary because “workload is also higher for Black faculty given that CSU faculty are majority-white, and CSU students are majority of color resulting in 'cultural taxation.'”
There is now powerful observational evidence that outdoor air is extraordinary safe regarding COVID-19, and the recent protests have helped provide it. The protests/riots began in Seattle and other cities on May 26th. Thousands gathered without social distancing and a good 10% had no masks. They participated in chanting, singing, screaming and other activities that ensured plenty of droplets were injected in the air, and that unhealthful environment was “enhanced” by coughing from tear gas and other agents.
Did this huge exposure result in increased spread of COVID-19? The answer is clearly no.
Consider Washington’s King County, a hotbed of protests starting 26 May (see below). Both hospitalizations and deaths showed no upward spike after the protests (the blue line shows May 26th). We should have seen a signal by now, since the average time to symptoms is approximately five days.
Three years ago, when the National Music Publishers’ Association presented Yoko Ono with their Centennial Song Award, Sean Lennon pushed his mother onto the stage at Cipriani 42nd Street in a wheelchair — shocking some who didn’t realize the formidable avant-garde artist was incapacitated.
But in her signature shades, black leather jacket and white Panama hat, the widow of John Lennon didn’t seem to miss a beat when she began a short acceptance speech by addressing the elephant in the room.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she said, clutching the award in one hand and a microphone in the other as Sean whispered to her about what was going on. “I’ve learned so much from having this illness. I’m thankful I went through that.”
While it’s not clear what “illness” she was referring to, Ono, now 87, is still ailing, requires round-the-clock care and rarely leaves her sprawling apartment in The Dakota, a source close to her staff told The Post. In photos taken at rare public appearances — including a women’s march in Columbus Circle last year and at a commemoration of John in Liverpool in May 2018 — Ono is confined to a wheelchair, or walks with great difficulty using a cane, often leaning on a caregiver or Sean for support.
No need to thank me, but...........You're welcome.
Need a rinse after that Yoko clip? Here ya go................
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On this day: 6 Jul 1971
American jazz trumpeter, singer and bandleader, Louis Armstrong died. Had many hits including the 1964 US No.1 'Hello Dolly!', 1968 UK No.1 'What A Wonderful World’ plus ‘When The Saints Go Marching In’, ‘Ain't Misbehavin’, and ‘We Have All the Time in the World.’ He made frequent use of laxatives as a means of controlling his weight, resulting in Armstrong appearing in humorous, advertisements for laxative product Swiss Kriss; the ads bore a picture of him sitting on a toilet, as viewed through a keyhole, with the slogan "Satch says, 'Leave it all behind ya!" via thisdayinmusic.com
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Born on this day: 6 Jul 1925
Bill Haley, (William John Clifton Haley), singer, guitarist, 'The first Rock 'n' Roll star.' As Bill Haley and his Comets he had the 1955 UK & US No.1 single 'Rock Around the Clock' Haley was one of the earliest acts to bring rock and roll to the attention of white America and the rest of the world. He sold over 60 million records during his career. Haley died on 9th February 1981. via thisdayinmusic.com
RIP Charlie Daniels
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I just asked Mrs. Mis Hum if she wanted to go out sometime. It seemed rather easy compared to this. Tonight's Genius Award Winner.
Suspect simply can’t stop attempting to meet women in the worst possible way.
On 11 June, a 43-year-old woman exited a supermarket in Higashiura, Aichi Prefecture and drove away in her car. However, she didn’t get far before noticing that her driver’s side rear tire had gone completely flat.
While examining the flat another car drove up. The driver, 32-year-old Yoshito Harada, offered to replace her damaged tire. While a kind gesture from an apparently total stranger, the woman was struck with a sudden case of déjà vu. This is because the exact same thing had happened to her in June of the previous year.
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Those of us past the age of 29 know a thing or two about knees. I wish this stuff had been around over the past cough, cough, cough few years. Tonight's Feel Good Story of The Day.
It's no surprise that scientists have struggled to find an artificial substitute for natural knee cartilage: it's an amazing biological substance that combines the properties of a soft cushion and a tough barrier to keep our busy leg joints from harm.
But it looks like we've arrived at a long-awaited breakthrough - researchers think they may have finally developed a material that is a match to the cartilage found in our bodies, and could be used as a replacement after injuries or in old age.
"We set out to make the first hydrogel that has the mechanical properties of cartilage," says chemist Ben Wiley from Duke University.
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Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by Adventures.
Notice: Posted with permission by the Ace Media Empire and its redheaded step child, AceCorp, LLC. Satisfying your ONT needs since 2008. Don't be afraid to hit up the Tip Jar. It doesn't hurt.
For whatever deeply idiotic reason, there is a benign image of Joe Biden that the ignorant embrace; he is a kind and wise leader who is always willing to reach across the aisle. Is it his nice hair and kind-but-vacant eyes? Is it that he is carefully kept from actually articulating his positions?
The conventional wisdom right now is that Joe Biden is semi-senile, and that his choice of a vice president is all-important as it is likely this person (almost certainly a black female) will become president at some early point in the next few years if Biden wins in November. This conventional wisdom may be narrowly accurate, but ultimately wrong. Why?
First, there is an imperceptible difference between a senile Biden and a feeble-minded Joe Biden. Let’s face it, Biden has been feeble-minded since he entered national politics almost 50 years ago. What is decisive is that even if he isn’t trending toward senility, he has already sold out to the far left of the Democratic Party, and has signaled his intent to implement a far-left agenda if he wins.
That's the thing...his positions are Obama's with a heartland twist. Nothing more than the progressive cant that we have been fighting since Woodrow Wilson.
Kayleigh McEnany: I'm Stunned. I Was Asked 12 Questions About the Confederate Flag, and Not a Single Question About People Being Killed Due to the Riots
I was asked probably 12 qs about the confederate flag…I didn’t receive one on the deaths that we got in this country this weekend. I didn’t receive one question about NYC shootings doubling for the 3rd straight week, and for the last 7 days shootings skyrocket by 142% -@PressSecpic.twitter.com/F2yXbGPiKJ
Fox News’ @HarrisFaulkner reacts to @PressSec@KayleighMcEnany's abrupt end to the WH press conference: "Well, that was quite the mic drop, because that's true with the grandfather and his daughter were saying....The question looms today, do black lives matter or not?“ pic.twitter.com/4gdRyLooHP
They name teams out of STRENGTH, not weakness, but now the Washington Redskins & Cleveland Indians, two fabled sports franchises, look like they are going to be changing their names in order to be politically correct. Indians, like Elizabeth Warren, must be very angry right now!
Derek Hunter tells there a story about SE Cupp. She was disappointed she wasn't being given a Fox contract, so she announced she would work for a Think Tank, because she was An Intellectual of Renown.
There have been ongoing protests near the Wendy's restaurant in the aftermath of the death of Brooks and George Floyd, who was killed by police in Minneapolis on Memorial Day.
"Enough is enough," Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said at a Sunday news conference.
"You shot and killed a baby. And there wasn't just one shooter, there were at least two shooters," Bottoms said. "If you want to be part of a solution and not the problem, you need to clear out the area."
The shooting occurred near the Wendy’s where Rayshard Brooks was fatally shot during a struggle with police last month. Brooks’ death escalated protests that had already been ongoing since the death of George Floyd, who died in Minneapolis Police custody May 25.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms said during a press conference on the shooting that it’s time for people to “clear out of that area” where Rayshard Brooks was shot.
“This discussion, this mediation, and … it’s over. At a point where an 8-year-old baby is killed, the discussions have ended.”
The 8yo was shot as she and her mom tried parking in a liquor store lot, near armed civilians’ barricades around the Wendy’s where Rayshard Brooks was killed.
Her family is pleading for help to bring her justice.
Progressives have the memory of mayflies. They're all like:
Progs: OK, we're going to have a new rule that says X.
Cons: Uh, it wasn't that long ago that you said you wanted a rule that said the exact opposite.
Progs: ( *pause* )
Progs: No, we didn't.
Cons: Yes, you did. See right here: ( *proffers indisputable evidence* )
Progs: ( *pause* )
Progs: But this situation is totally different.
Cons: You just want a different rule because it's to your advantage.
Progs: ( *pause* )
Progs: You're a white supremacist.
Of course, sudden and opportunistic rule changes are just one aspect of progressives' miniscule attention span. We also get sudden and opportunistic rewrites of history like this:
It’s sad that before Trump, both left and right got along (for the most part). Since Trump, he’s purposely driven a wedge between us that may be too deep to pull out. That’s the strategy. Divide and conquer. It wouldn’t have happen without Barr and McConnell. #indictments
So this looks like it's going to turn into a 2020 campaign theme for the Democrats. That is, everything was great until the divisive Trump came along and dragged us all down to hell, we can go back to the status quo ante by getting rid of Trump. And this lame tweet was in response to another lame tweet by fake conservative uber-grifter Bill Kristol, so you know the NeverTrumpers are going to be solidly behind this, too.
But the reason it's so noisy is that we finally have a leader on our side who actually fights. And part of being a good fighter is knowing exactly who and what the enemy is and not being afraid to call them out publicly. And this includes refusing to go along with the pretense that the media is just sitting there on the sidelines refereeing the game when they're actually blocking and tackling for the other side.
The point is, the howling SJW mobs didn't start with Trump. They just got a lot louder.
And when they call for peace, peace, when there is no peace, the meaning of peace is actually different for each side. For their side, it'll be the peace of victory, for us, it's the peace of servitude.
If you don’t want a “left-wing cultural revolution,” or want to minimize the illiberal and deleterious aspects of such a revolution, I think it’s pretty clear you should want Biden as president for the next four years, not a re-elected Trump.
Friday's Who Dis: Lisa Gaye retired from acting in 1970 to raise her daughter, but she was in the 1957 musical comedy 10000 Bedrooms, whose big star was Deabn Martin. Character actor Dewey Martin was also along for the ride.
Today's Edition Of The Morning Rant Is Brought To You By Sloppy Joe Hot Dogs:
... For this America, stunned by the senseless violence which pours salt in the wounds of [Chinese] COVID-19 and a shattered economy, the president's speech was just what the doctor ordered.
He paid homage to the "56 patriots" who gathered in Philadelphia in 1776 to sign the Declaration of Independence, which "enshrined a divine truth that... all men are created equal."
He even dared to say America was "founded on Judeo-Christian principles" with the family "the bedrock of American life," where "every child, of every color -- born and unborn -- is made in the holy image of G-d."
And in his forthright way, he fingered a "new far-left fascism that demands absolute allegiance. If you do not speak its language... recite its mantras and follow its commandments, then you will be censored, banished, blacklisted, persecuted and punished."
"It's not going to happen to us..."
Boom. No other President or politician allegedly on our side in my lifetime ever dared to directly indict and damn the Democrat Party and the Leftist-Progressive-Globalist agenda for their record of pain, misery and destruction and for warning about the consequences should they succeed. Not even the great Ronald Reagan. Actually, Donald Trump just declared the Democrat Party and the totalitarian thugs in it and supporting it to be an "evil empire." It's not hyperbole either. His speech was as factual an indictment of what they have done and intend to do and he essentially laid down the marker of what amounts to "over my dead body."
... With this video, Biden has irreversibly thrown in his lot with the "America is racist" crowd. He started off bashing Thomas Jefferson -- who, not coincidentally, is one of the men depicted on Mount Rushmore and the principal author of the document for which we celebrate American Independence.
He then proceeded to declare that America is plagued by fundamental and "systemic racism," and declared the political canonization of the new patron saint of race-baiters, the martyr George Floyd. Rather than memorialize past presidents or true civil rights leaders, Biden saw fit to move our heroes to the back of the proverbial bus so that he could elevate Floyd above them in status...
... Biden himself helped to make the case for the incumbent president by being very clear about his plans to fully accommodate the vile anti-American forces on the rise in our country.
Just as President Trump vowed to protect American history, Joe Biden seeks to rewrite it in a way that would put even Orwell to shame...
... Although talk of a possible second civil war in our country is often breathless and exaggerated, it's fitting in the context of the 2020 election. Throughout most of our history, both parties have maintained that they love America, but simply have different ideas about how to improve it.
Now it is beyond clear, as articulated by both candidates, that only one party truly loves our country, while the other is ashamed of it. One party is campaigning on building on the past to create an even more glorious future, while the other seeks to tear down what we have already built so that we can start from scratch. Not since the election of 1860 has there been such a complete polarization between the two rival factions in American politics.
This election, put simply, is the first election since the Civil War to be about one thing and one thing alone: the grateful versus the ungrateful. There is no nuance anymore, nor is there any illusion of civility. One side loves America, while the other side loathes it and wants to replace it with something unrecognizable to our heritage...
Bingo. After this speech, I am much more confident that, barring anything unforeseen between now and November 3rd (both a blink of an eye and an eternity in politics), as well as the potential for election fraud on a massive scale now thanks to mail-in voting, Trump will win a second term. The only fly in that ointment is will the GOP retain the Senate let alone retake the House? The conventional wisdom states that unlike midterms, general elections tend to favor the incumbent and, the economic destruction brought about by the phony pandemic as well as the violence and mayhem of the past month aside, Trump should have some coattails that the party can ride in on. Albeit, not nearly as long as they might have been at the beginning of the year. That said, there are at least four hardcore anti-Trump Senators as well as organized pseudo-conservative establishmentarians overtly or barely covertly working to destroy his chances. And on the most crucial, unambiguous threat this nation has ever faced, instead of standing shoulder to shoulder with Trump and the American people, the GOP-e is pulling out all the stops to serve up the corpse of the Constitution on a silver platter to the Marxists. Thank you and fuck you Ron Johnson, Jim Lankford, Mike Braun and everyone of your ilk who are worse than useless. For fuck's sake, if this is what passes for opposition, my advice for the GOP is don't just do something; sit there.
Meanwhile, BLM - as in Burn Loot Murder - are drawing the ire of a lot of Black lives who supposedly matter, but mostly as political and physical cannon fodder for the movement. Even leftist Democrat Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms calls them out for the shooting death of an 8-year-old child. Along with the tearing down of monuments, the burning of the American flag and using it as a doormat on July 4th, the continued rioting and mayhem in Portland and elsewhere, and the media-embargoed wave of shootings in NYC, Chicago and elsewhere where police departments have been under the gun - forget the media, forget the Democrats; this is not playing well across a wide swathe of the nation.
With the election, as I stated, either a blink of an eye or an eternity away, the question is will all of this be forgotten by then?
CIVIL WAR 2.0: LEFTIST REIGN OF TERROR, WAR ON POLICE
"The [Chinese] coronavirus panic was starting to ebb after the successful state re-openings of May and enthusiastic public protests of June. Rather than acknowledging this good news story, the same lunatics are clamoring to tighten the screws again." A Second Wave of Stupidity
"Its obvious implausibility immediately directs the reader to consider the underlying allegation, which is that pneumonia deaths are being deliberately understated in order for the Centers for Disease Control to reclassify them as [Chinese] COVID-19 deaths, thus fanning public panic." Chinese COVID-19 Did Not "Cure Pneumonia"
Julie Kelly: "For two years, as Robert Mueller tried and failed to find evidence of a criminal conspiracy, Never-Trump Republicans tended to the right flank of the Trump-Russia collusion front. But their role in pushing the hoax went much deeper." Weapons of Mass Collusion
OFFICIAL DEMOCRAT PARTY-ENDORSED ANTI-SEMITISM, ANTI-CHRISTIANITY
"Trump's Mount Rushmore speech was unifying and uplifting. But the NY Times could only see 'dark and divisive' things in it, and other media were just as bad. They seem to like to sit in the mud instead of embrace the nation on its 244th birthday." Trump's Finest Speech -- And a Press That Beclowns Itself in Boiling Hate
"To those of us steaming as we watch Democrat governors and mayors, media, major corporations, and educational institutions fold in the face of the regressive psychology of these mobs, it is cheering to see a president standing firm." A Night at Mt. Rushmore
"He's back! President Trump's brilliant Mount Rushmore speech Friday laid out a winning campaign theme to restore national optimism. Of course, his media antagonists fell over themselves to find fault with it." Rushmore Was Trump at His Best
"For the first time in modern history, the presidential election will be a choice between a party that loves America and a party that hates America." The Civil War Election
"Steve Schmidt, who works for the Never Trump Lincoln Project, said, 'The analogy would be in the same way that fire purifies the forest, it needs to be burned to the ground and fundamentally repudiated. Every one of them should be voted out of office, with the exception of Mitt Romney.'" Never Trump Republicans Plot to Give Democrats the Senate Majority
"So how is Joe Biden going to end this nonexistent systemic racism? By throwing money at it, of course. His cynically named 'Lift Every Voice: The Biden Plan for Black America' is a smorgasbord of government-funded incentives, audits, and regulations." Joe Biden's Race-Baiting Fourth of July Message
"It's a bit rich for the 'free enterprise' crowd's first response to a surge toward a Twitter alternative to be so publicly negative, nasty, dismissive, and crude." If You Build It, We Will Trash It
"Joe Biden has been struggling to walk the line between his position on abortion while in Congress -- a position that, at one time, amounted to a nearly 'pro-life' platform -- and the Democrat Party's increasingly extreme position on the issue -- a position that now includes support for abortion up until the moment of birth, as well as full Federal funding for abortion services." Democrats Save Joe Biden, Take Federal Abortion Funding Off 2020 Spending Bills
"Yes, tensions with Russia are ongoing. Russia does bad things. But when it comes to threats to America, China must be our overwhelming focus. And playing the Russia card would shake them to their core." Playing the Russia Card
"The drills came as the Pentagon said it was 'concerned' about Chinese military exercises in the South China Sea, warning the maneuvers will 'further destabilize' the region." US Aircraft Carriers Conduct Drills in in South China Sea
DOMESTIC AFFAIRS, THE BUREAUCRACY, WASTE, FRAUD, ABUSE
"Analysts and local politicians estimate that $250 billion to $900 billion is now stashed in South Dakota trusts by the likes of Chinese billionaires looking to keep their fortunes out of reach of the government, Europeans looking to avoid taxes and Americans looking to shield wealth from spouses." A "Mini-Switzerland": South Dakota's Status As Tax Haven Emphasized By High-Profile Divorce Case
"The failure of the state's leadership means recovery is a long way off in Minneapolis." Minnesota Madness
"Local politicians see the government of the District of Columbia, with its bloated bureaucracy and annual multi-billion-dollar federal payment, as their own fiefdom-cum-business. Now only statehood, accompanied by the likely demand for reparations, will do." Swamp Within A Swamp
Our intrepid science reporter with " cool image of a strange crater on Mars." I was hoping for a Hanging Judge Crater here on Earth... A Hanging Crater on Mars
FEMINAZISM, TRANSGENDER PSYCHOSIS, HOMOSEXUALIZATION, WAR ON MASCULINITY/NORMALCY
"In recent years, Black Lives Matter activists have been fond of quoting a speech in which Douglass called the Fourth of July a 'sham' because of slavery. However, in the remainder of the speech, Douglass praises America's founding and its principles." Statue of Frederick Douglass Torn Down in Rochester
"If we are to strip the names of admitted slaveholders from public memorials, might we also want to demand an apology from the party that gave us slavery, secession, and a century of segregation?" Bring Me the Head of Harry Truman
Victor Davis Hanson: "The brand of all cultural revolutions is untruth about the past and present in order to control the future. Why we have this happening to our country is the only mystery left." An Industry of Untruth
"Auschwitz survivor Primo Levi said, 'It happened, therefore it can happen again. It can happen everywhere.'" Could IT Happen Here?
NOTE: The opinions expressed in some links may or may not reflect my own. I include them because of their relevance to the discussion of a particular issue.
ALSO: The Morning Report is cross-posted at CutJibNewsletter.com if you want to continue the conversation all day.
“The officers’ actions in these photos are appalling and inexcusable and will not be tolerated by the Interim Chief or by me,” Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman
DiAngelo isn’t the first person to make a buck pushing tricked-up pseudo-intellectual horseshit as corporate wisdom, but she might be the first to do it selling Hitlerian race theory. White Fragility has a simple message: there is no such thing as a universal human experience, and we are defined not by our individual personalities or moral choices, but only by our racial category.Matt Taibbi
Quote IV
“They’re making money now, plotting to give seven billion, five-hundred million people a vaccination. Dr. Fauci, Bill Gates and Melinda — you want to depopulate the Earth. What the hell gave you that right? Who are you to sit down with your billion to talk about who can live, and who should die?
… I say to my brothers and sisters in Africa, if they come up with a vaccine, be careful. Don’t let them vaccinate you with their history of treachery through vaccines, through medication.” The Honorable Minister Farrakhan
Quote V
The left has been laying the groundwork for this anarchist takeover for a long time. But even they must be amazed that the conservative response was to roll over and play dead. Except maybe they’re not playing. Ann Coulter
Quote VI
We celebrate the 4th of July and not April 15th because, in America, we celebrate our independence from the government and not our dependence on it. Former WI Gov. Scott Walker
After a second-stage failure, Rocket Lab loses seven satellites
“The In-Space team is absolutely gutted by this news.”
On Sunday morning, local time in New Zealand, Rocket Lab launched its 13th mission. The booster's first stage performed normally, but just as the second stage neared an altitude of 200km, something went wrong and the vehicle was lost.
In the immediate aftermath of the failure, the company did not provide any additional information about the problem that occurred with the second stage.
"We lost the flight late into the mission," said Peter Beck, the company's founder and chief executive, on Twitter. "I am incredibly sorry that we failed to deliver our customers satellites today. Rest assured we will find the issue, correct it and be back on the pad soon."
ATLANTA — An 8-year-old girl was shot and killed Saturday night in Atlanta near the Wendy’s where Rayshard Brooks died last month.
Police identified the child Sunday as Secoriea Turner.
Officers said they responded to a shooting call near University Avenue and I-75/I-85 around 9:50 p.m. The location of the shooting was in a parking lot across the street from the now burned-out Wendy’s, which has been occupied by demonstrators since Brooks’ death.
Earlier, reports noted that the group identifies as NFAC — literally standing for “Not F*cking Around Coalition” — and its leader calls himself Grand Master Jay.
Videos showed the leader discussing the group’s demands, which include a black ethnostate within the U.S.
“The solution is very simple,” he responded. “We file a declaration of liberation, declaring every African-American descendant of slavery a political prisoner here in the United States, that was affected by the Portuguese slave trade, and after that, the United States then has a choice, either carve us a piece of land out here — we’ll take Texas — and let us do our own thing, or don’t stop us when we exit this body here and go somewhere where they will give us our own land to build our own nation.
o fireworks on Independence Day, said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. To hell with that, said the people.
Ignoring the mayor’s order and a lack of traditional municipal displays, Los Angeles residents set off their own celebration, lighting up Southern California skies with their own fireworks.
Fireworks are illegal in the city of Los Angeles and all firework displays were banned in L.A. County this year. But explosions and roman candles have been going off for weeks, culminating in a massive display on Saturday night.
Police claimed more than 1,000 fireworks complaints came in to various branches, and they tried to respond. But the task was akin to shoveling the ocean with a spoon, and while not every citizen was happy – particularly those with nervous pets – the city was ablaze with lights and sounds for many hours on Saturday night
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NFL To Play "BLACK NATIONAL ANTHEM" Before National Anthem
You too can be a Karen at an NFL game in 2020.
It would have been nice to know this before I shelled out a shitton of cash.
Washington Redskins head coach Ron Rivera said work is underway to rename the NFL franchise, and revealed his hopes for the club to unveil its new name before the NFL season's mid-September start.
It was announced on Friday that the team was conducting a "thorough review" of the team's name, and a host of outlets have suggested that a name change could be implemented before Week 1 of the 2020 NFL season, when Washington will take on the Philadelphia Eagles on September 13.
Coach Rivera shares that optimism, and told the Washington Post that he would love for things to be finalized and made public in time for the start of the season.
"If we get it done in time for the season, it would be awesome," Rivera said.
Why should we watch the NFL or shop at any of its sponsors?
Bennett Rhodes was scrolling through Instagram early last year when he came across a young woman named Andi Galland. Twenty years old, she posed on beaches and at music festivals; she displayed an impressive command of yoga. To Bennett she epitomized the perfect bikini-clad California girl.
From his Hollywood apartment, Bennett slid into her DMs. To his delight she quickly hit him back. She liked what she saw as well: Only 18, he was a good-looking if unlikely white trap rapper with a burgeoning Instagram following. They got to chatting. Despite his hardcore raps he came from a well-to-do family in San Diego—and so did she, it turned out. She still lived there. Bennett put his cards on the table.
“I’ll bet you won’t come up and see me in Hollywood,” he said.
“I’ll bet I will,” she replied.
Bennett didn’t believe her until she arrived on his doorstep that same day. He was immediately charmed. She was funny, kind and down to do absolutely anything. She, likewise, was won over by his energy and charisma. He carried himself like the star he wanted to be.
Andi stayed with Bennett the entire weekend, joining him and his friends at parties and restaurants. She’d brought Xanax pills with her, and the pair indulged, helping fuel an immediate infatuation. “It became recurring; she ended up visiting us for weeks at a time,” says Bennett’s then-roommate, Daniel “Gibby” Gibb.
Dem Senator Tammy Duckworth says we should consider tearing down George Washington statues
She says we should listen to that argument and then runs off talking about how Mount Rushmore is a racist monument. It drives me crazy that she acts as if these monument-topplers are rational agents even offering arguments for what they do. They don’t. They just stupidly and blindly attack ANY statue whether it makes sense or not.
I recall a certain POTUS being laughed at when he suggested the Founding Father statues would be next.
Drunk people are unable to properly socially distance, the chairman of the Police Federation has said as pubs reopened in England for the first time since lockdown.
John Apter said it was “crystal clear” revellers would not adhere to the one metre plus rule as restrictions were eased on Saturday.
Prof Chris Whitty said the pandemic “is a long way from gone” and urged the public to follow social-distancing rules as pubs and restaurants reopened.
But images from London’s Soho showed packed streets into the early hours of Sunday.
Apter, who was on shift in Southampton where he dealt with “naked men, happy drunks, angry drunks, fights and more angry drunks”, said: “What was crystal clear is that drunk people can’t/won’t socially distance.
Te Lincoln Project objected to the President of the United States, and the nation’s commander-in-chief, for saluting during his July 4th celebration from Mt. Rushmore.
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) July 4, 2020
The jab at the president was one of many by the political action committee formed by Republicans – and some former Republicans – for the express purpose of preventing Trump’s reelection. The group has launched several ads aimed at attacking the president in the 2020 race, including one with Russian language and English subtitles in a mock “endorsement” from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Former Republican political strategist Rick Wilson and GOP campaign strategist Steve Schmidt, who co-founded The Lincoln Project along with George Conway, the husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, spewed a barrage of insults at the president and his supporters.
One person in Hillsborough County has been infected with a potentially lethal amoeba that can cause brain tissue damage, according to a Hillsborough County Health Department release on Friday.
The Naegleria fowleri is sometimes referred to as a “brain-eating amoeba.” The “microscopic single-celled living amoeba” is usually found in ponds, rivers, lakes and other warm freshwater environments. It can lead to primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), a rare infection that can result in destruction of brain tissue and is often fatal.
The Health Department news release did not disclose the water body involved, the identity of the person infected or their condition.
OK, I understand HIPAA laws. But not disclosing the body of water involved is wrong. Why does this agency even exist? (Rhetorical in nature, of course)
The majority of Georgia Tech professors, including some the university’s most acclaimed faculty members, have launched a revolt over reopening this fall amid the coronavirus pandemic, saying the current plan “threatens the health, well-being and education of students, staff, and faculty.”
More than 700 of Tech’s 1,100 faculty members outlined their concerns to the Georgia Board of Regents in a letter titled “Statement of Academic Faculty of Georgia Tech on the COVID-19 Crisis and Fall 2020 Semester.”
“We are alarmed to see the Board of Regents and the University System of Georgia mandating procedures that do not follow science-based evidence, increase the health risks to faculty, students, and staff, and interfere with nimble decision-making necessary to prepare and respond to COVID-19 infection risk,” the professors wrote.
The letter, dated July 2, was shared with GPB News and can be read in full here
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The ONT Musical Interlude
On this day: 5 Jul 2003
Johnny Cash made his last ever live performance when he appeared at the Carter Ranch. Before singing "Ring of Fire", Cash read a statement about his late wife that he had written shortly before taking the stage: “The spirit of June Carter overshadows me tonight with the love she had for me and the love I have for her. We connect somewhere between here and heaven. She came down for a short visit, I guess, from heaven to visit with me tonight to give me courage and inspiration like she always has.” Cash died on Sept 12th of this year. via thisdayinmusic.com
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Born on this day: 5 Jul 1943
Canadian musician, songwriter, film composer, producer, actor, Robbie Robertson. He joined The Hawks in 1962 who became know as The Band. Bob Dylan and the Hawks toured the United States throughout 1965 and a world tour the following year. As a songwriter, Robertson is credited for writing 'The Weight', 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down', 'Up on Cripple Creek', 'Broken Arrow' and 'Somewhere Down the Crazy River'. via thisdayinmusic.com
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Those of us who go out to eat for whatever reason have been disappointed. I know I have. But there comes a time when you walk away to battle another time. Unless you are tonight's Genius Award Winner.
An Arkansas man shot out the front window of a Little Rock pizzeria after arguing with an employee about a purported paucity of toppings on a pie he ordered, police allege.
Michael Brown, 44, was arrested on multiple felony charges following a violent confrontation Monday afternoon at the Pie Five restaurant.
According to a Little Rock Police Department report, after Brown and a female acquaintance placed an order, Brown “became upset about the portion size of the order.” Specifically, Brown thought he was shorted on his pizza’s toppings (a further description of which is not contained in court records).
When Brown asked to speak with a manager, worker Eboni Smith called her supervisor and handed the phone to Brown (seen above). Brown subsequently “threw the phone at Ms. Smith striking her on the side of the face.” After another Pie Five employee asked Brown to leave, he “began arguing and went outside.”
Brown retreated to his work van and “walked back to the business holding a gun.” Brown was unable to enter the pizzeria since a worker had locked the front door. Unable to gain entry, Brown “shot out the glass to the front door,” cops charge.
Shinwari, 42, worked as an interpreter with the US military for eight years in some of the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan.
Knowing he was risking his life and endangering his family, he managed to save the lives of five American soldiers, including one who helped bring Shinwari and his family to the US.
As an interpreter, Shinwari wasn't supposed to fight when he joined the US military.
But during one particularly ambush in 2008, Shinwari saved the life of Capt. Matt Zeller, an American soldier he had only met 10 days earlier.
"I saw Matt Zeller, that he was alive in a ditch and there were two Taliban behind him to kill him," Shinwari told NPR. "I shot the two Taliban and I saved Matt Zeller's life."
Zeller recalled Shinwari standing above him and saying, "I'm Janis. And I'm one of your translators. You're not safe."
Top 10 sockpuppeteers:
1 [440 names] 'Miklosov "Bubba" Miklosevich' [61.74 unique names/day]
2 [65 names] 'Two Weeks From Enjoying a 4th of July Party With My Zooey Deschanel Blowup Doll, Which is Tomorrow'
3 [59 names] 'Duncanthrax'
4 [40 names] 'Count de Monet'
5 [34 names] 'Bete'
6 [32 names] 'Notorious BFD'
7 [30 names] 'The Joker'
8 [28 names] 'Adriane the Rhetorical Critic ...'
9 [25 names] 'Sponge - China is asshoe!'
10 [23 names] 'I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper'
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Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by Business Acumen.
Notice: Posted with permission and blessings from the Ace Media Empire and AceCorp, LLC. ONT tips, loose change, drink tokens and burner phones to petmorons at gmail dot com. Complaints? Not here.
Gun Thread: Day After Independence Day Edition [Weasel]
—Open Blogger
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Let's take a look at some gun stuff below, shall we?
So on Thursday evening, our pal Ace posted a thread which included this video of a confrontation taking place earlier in the week in Lake Orion Michigan.
Later in the comments of the subsequent thread, our pal Jen the original made the following comments and observations.
In response to the previous post about the couple at Chipotle in Lake Orion Michigan I will say this.
I do a lot of shooting sports and I carry every single day. I take that responsibility seriously. Besides taking shooting clinics, classes, etc. I also regularly attend legal seminars in regards to use of force. Specifically for the state I live in and when I travel I review the laws of the states I'm traveling in to know what I can and cannot do in each state.
Something that is emphasized over and over in legal and in tactical classes is NOT turning into the aggressor. The law in Michigan is clear, if you are in imminent danger of harm you can defend yourself with deadly force. That includes in your home. There is no duty to retreat, but there is an implied duty to descalate whenever possible.
I personally do not want to shoot anyone, nor do I want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and a year in court trying to defend myself, or worse, end up in jail. And to prevent all of those things, you must have a clear plan at all times on how you are going to get out of a situation without using force.
I have no idea if the precipitating event that started this even happened. But once the screaming started, MO woman had quite a few better choices than what she made. She could have kindly apologized for any perceived issue. If that didn't work, she could have told black women that she was not interested in arguing with them and left. If they continued to block her, she could have immediately gone to the manager of Chipotle and told them she was being harrassed and felt in danger and let Chipotle handle these women who were likely doing this on a dare. Once she got outside, if they were blocking her from getting to her car, THEN she should have either called 911 or gone back into the Chipotle and let them call. Once she got in the car, she should have stayed in the car. If they started to surround the car, call the frickin' police.
You are in a state you don't reside in, you're pregnant, and instead of calling for help, you decide to escalate the screaming match like you're going to educate these assholes about racism, then you jump out of the car screaming, and whip out a gun and point it at the women, while standing there like you're Deputy JimBob, going to hold them under arrest until the local law gets there. There is almost no scenario in Michigan where that is legal.
It won't matter if they face trial or a judge, she at least is going to do some time in Michigan for this. And they both are going to lose their guns, including their home protection weapons in Missouri while this legal battle goes on.
Was it really worth it, over being called a racist white lady by some 15 year old black brat?
As Jen was typing (thanks Jen!), I was thinking pretty much the same thing. I was also thinking this was a great case study to start a conversation I have wanted to have here for some time. That conversaton is about our responsibilities as gun owners, and more specifically our responsibilities as gun carriers.
This sort of random confrontation has happened as long as there have been people, with the liklihood even greater in today's social climate. How would you handle the situation if it were you? First, let me preface the discussion with the acknowledgement that each state's law differs, sometimes significantly, with respect to self defense. Also, the video doesn't show everything that ocurred between the two parties, so there could easily have been important aspects of the exchange which we don't see. Having said that, I didn't observe anything even remotely approching a threat of grave bodily harm which would cause me to draw a weapon if I were in the same situation. What I did see was extremely annoying and even provocative behavior on the part of the 'aggrieved" party, and ultimately a disproportinate and unproductive escalation by Gun Lady.
As long as I've been writing the Gun Thread, I have implored everyone to do two things; to buy ammo, and to carry a weapon for self defense everywhere they go. However, carrying a weapon comes with significant responsibility. I'd argue it requires you to be much more circumspect in just this sort of confrontation. You significantly limit your options when you introduce a gun to the equation, period. Drawing a gun from it's holster is an act of last resort, and just one very final step away from pulling the trigger. It's that serious. A gun is not on your hip to intimidate or to teach someone a lesson by waving it around.
So Gun Lady went from a situation that might have only been infuriating, upsetting and then forgotten in a day or two, to jail. She likely faces some very serious charges, and will probably spend an enormous amount of time and money on her legal defense because she couldn't simply walk away from the situation. That's right, all she had to do is get in the car and leave. That might have been somewhat humiliating, but it's a much better trade than jail time and all of your life savings.
As Jen said, do you think it was worth it? How many of you think she is regretting her choices now? Gun Lady, now Former Gun Lady, had an assload of better options than drawing her weapon, none of which would have been particularly difficult. Do not let your pride and ego take over your critical thinking and make choices for you.
All of you, I hope, are familiar with the work of Attorney Andrew Branca, the author of the popular book The Law of Self Defense, and a recognized subject matter expert in the area of self defense law. Mr. Branca has an informative website and devoted his July 2nd Q&A; Show to an analysis of the incident in Michigan. The show is about 40 minutes long and well worth your time (later) to see how this real world event is viewed from a legal perspective. After watching his presentation, you may be surprised at how your view of the incident changes.
Finally, you have to know the laws in your state and anywhere else you go while armed. It's your responsibility as an armed citizen, and the butt you save may very well be your own. Always be thinking and always have a plan. Sometimes that plan should simply be to un-ass the situation.
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So there has been a lot of general commentary and discussion lately regarding the implications of the use of deadly force. As usual. it seems like there are two sets of laws, one for the "peaceful protesters" and another for the property owners whose shit is being destroyed by them. I think it safe to assume the law is going to land on you with both feet in the event, God forbid, you have to defend yourself with a firearm. It was in this context the other day when someone wondered if their homeowners policy, specifically a liability umbrella policy, would start spewing cash in a self defense shooting. Our ever alert pal ibguy sent in this helpful information on concealed carry, self defense and insurance.
ibguy adds emphasis to the following from the article:
"The policy extends coverage for this type of claim, but then excludes those claims that arise due to intentional acts. In this case, it's pretty clear that you intended to shoot your attacker, so it seems as if you're on your own."
This seems academic until it's your freedom and potentially all of your assets at risk. If you're going to place yourself in that situation, you owe it to yourself to have a damn good reason for doing so.
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We don't have a Gun Thread video this week, but it occurs to me I have been filming a lot of rifles lately featuring the M1907 sling. If you have one, it's not only for carrying the rifle on your shoulder, but serves a purpose in stabilizing the weapon to the shooter. Here's a helpful video on how to put one on your rifle so you don't look like a dork.
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As with most everything in the shooting sports, one thing leads to another as our pal C K is finding:
Well getting the chronograph led to a series of things. I had to get a better scale, a trickler a funnel etc. Now I'm working up test loads that are very precisely measured. Man, that's a lot of work, I can see why you guys shoot bolt guns. The good news is after much testing my Lee dispensers vary less than a gn so when I decide on a load I can deal with a gn variance.
Keep up the good work, C K!
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Next or pal Butch sends the following picture of a way too orderly and uncluttered workspace and an interesting project:
Here is a picture of my humble work bench and a picture of my current project gun, rebuilding a Lee-Enfield No 4 Mk1. The barrel is totally shot out and I have to send it off to get a new barrel installed & head spaced. Next project is building an M1917, starting with just the receiver and other minor bits and bobs.
Sad people who cannot make the new NoVaMoMe date of August 29th
Due the Chinese Cooties hysteria in Virginia, the NoVaMoMe 2020 has been postponed until Saturday, August 29th. The time and location remain the same. If you haven't already, please check your email and let the Central Planning Committee know if you are able to make the new date. If not, your registration fee will be refunded and we will open your spot to those on the wait list. Questions? Just email us at NoVaMoMe2020 at gee mail dot com. Thank you!
Commenter TX Marko sends us (via CBD) this great video from Black Rifle Coffee Company. Both their coffee and sense of humor are Weasel approved! Thanks TX Marko!
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Please note the new and improved gmail account morongunthread at gmail dot com. An informal Gun Thread archive can be found HERE. If you have a question you would like to ask Gun Thread Staff offline, just send us a note and we'll do our best to answer. If you care to share the story of your favorite firearm, send a picture with your nic and tell us what you sadly lost in the tragic canoe accident. If you would like to remain completely anonymous, just say so. Lurkers are always welcome!
That's it for this week - have you been to the range?
Food Thread: A Lamb Chop A Day Keeps The Doctor Away
—CBD
Lamb takes to garlic and Rosemary quite well, and as I have recently discovered, Sous Vide makes those loin chops particularly easy to cook. One of the challenges with them is that they are small and cook fairly quickly, so small variations in thickness or fat result in inconsistent doneness. But with Sous Vide those inconsistencies disappear because every bit of each chop is heated to the same temperature. And a relatively long cook time gives the lamb fat extra time to soften and melt and become unctuous rather than remain sort of hard and faintly greasy. Yeah, I have eaten badly cooked lamb (not in my kitchen!) and that is a deal breaker. Well, I'll still eat it, but I'll sulk afterward.
The chops I bought on a whim were fairly thin, so I was concerned that simply grilling them would require careful attention, and with several other things on the grill (hot dogs, ribs, asparagus) I didn't feel like worrying about it. The large Gin & Tonic had nothing to do with it.
So I popped them into a vacuum bag with garlic and fresh Rosemary, salt, pepper and a splash of olive oil. Then into the water bath at 131° for about 90 minutes. They came out ugly and gray and perfectly cooked! On to the grill for about five minutes and I was rewarded with juicy medium-rare chops that disappeared far too quickly. Next time I will get a double portion and have some leftovers.
One of the many advantages of Sous Vide cooking is the ease of timing. Everything was cooked in advance and required just a quick trip to the grill to be ready for dinner. And it doesn't even have to rest!
One thing I have noticed though, the more fat the better the results. That's why pork ribs turn out magnificently, but leaner cuts are good but not great. That may also be a function of my inexperience with the technique, but I think I am onto something.
I saw some ridiculous headline about "Food Insecurity," and it struck me anew how lucky we are that the hysterical soft left has to be ever more inventive with their crisis fomenting because let's face it, one of the biggest problems among the poor in America is their weight...a surfeit of it. It's difficult to convince any sentient American that there are millions of people starving when any drive through even the poorest neighborhoods in America yields a fair number of fatty sightings.
Diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and several other problems are highly correlated to excess weight, so maybe we can blame the Federal Government for its decades-long program of HIGH-CARB IS GRAND messaging.
Eh...just a thought.
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From commenter "vendette" comes an uncomfortable confession and an even more uncomfortable description!
I'll admit that the only way I eat pineapple is if it's accompanied by pork products and presented in the form of a pizza.
This, though...
There's a restaurant in the DC area that serves a lot of pizzas. The Hawaiian pizza has an olive oil base instead of pizza sauce (that's OK). Then there are the toppings: mozzarella cheese, ham, pineapple, mandarin oranges, and shredded coconut.
I don't know know what to think about this. And no, I haven't tried it.
I know exactly what to think about it, but this is a family blog and I must protect your tender sensibilities.
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I think I have seen this video before, but it's still an interesting walk through a bit of Americana. A History of American Barbecue is interesting, if a bit pedantic. Fun stuff.
[Hat Tip: Curmudgeon]
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I made this a couple of times, because I do the heavy lifting so you don't have to. It's good, but the ice separated from the booze very quickly. I am no expert when it comes to frozen drinks..in fact I usually screw them up, so if anyone has some advice for me and the Horde it would be much appreciated.
From commenter "Lurker Lou Here for Five Minutes,"
So this one time our team flew from subarctic Alaska all the way to a meeting in Charleston. Took us a red eye and 12 hours and arrived to be boarded in a boutique hotel where the rooms were decorated with a female version of the haunted Vigo portrait from Ghostbusters 2.
She watched us.
Among other adventures we had a late and crappy breakfast, some tense meetings, and then went to the lunch conference where we were greeted by...
Three olives
A sprig of arugula
Yellow sauce swoopdy woops
And sad sad sad farm salmon “fresh from Alaska”
Now we can all admit people think Alaskans are bumpkins, that we are somehow an unholy alliance of Deliverance for the lifestyle, the Clampetts for the camp, Palin for the flannel, and mushroom eating hippies...
But we know our fish. We starved for several more hours as you can imagine.
I am attaching a not so great but still impressive pic of fresh king salmon (one day outta the water, was a long drive). Now thatsa fish!
As to your recipe, perhaps lose the crumbs, add soy sauce for umami and brown sugar for caramelizing and grill it...(salmon not my favorite so the internet might be better on recipes, although strong yes to the mustard. If fresh, salt and pepper is all you need.)
Sigh...everyone is a critic! I stand by my recipe and challenge "Lurker Lou" to make it and then get back to us.
If you still don't approve, I'll toss in a Platinum Membership with Troll-B-GonTM and ampersand utility. But only one year...
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Why? What is the point? At first glance it is just a silly affectation, or a food company trying to pick up a few extra sales. But on further examination I suspect it is also a component of a concerted effort to demonize animal products; part of the environmental lobby's attempt to decrease our standard of living. Seriously!
[Hat Tip: ibguy]
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Long-time commenter and chef extraordinaire "artisanal 'ette" sent along an interesting recipe for a coffee-based dry rub. it's simple:
Cowboy Java Rub
1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Ground Coffee
1/4 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon Crushed Black Peppercorns
She used it on pork tenderloin, which is a good idea, because it is a mildly flavored cut of the pig and needs a bit of a kick to get the most out of it. I usually make it with an herb rub, but this sounds good!
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Food and cooking tips, Large-breasted Muscovy ducks, young wild pigs, bartenders who use vermouth in Martinis (but not too much), pork belly that doesn't have 5-spice, low-temperature-roast chicken, and good tomatoes that aren't square, pale pink and covered with Mestizo E.coli: cbd dot aoshq at gmail dot com. Any advocacy of French Toast with syrup will result in disciplinary action up to and including being nuked from orbit. And yes, shaking a Manhattan is blasphemy...it's in the Bible!
On a lark, because these things usually disappoint. But this one was worth the $5. Lots of sparks and sound and colors and best of all it went really high!
The Anti-Trump Left Pulls Out All The Stops With Their Lies About The President's Mt. Rushmore Speech: "Divisive," Racial Division," "Flouts Virus Rules," "Ominous" Apparently They Didn't Read It!
—CBD
"Große Lüge," a big lie. Sound familiar? Hitler and Goebbels understood it and used it, and the American media, whoring for the Democrat party is an enthusiastic user of this anti-freedom technique to manipulate public opinion.
Or maybe they just didn't read it and used the talking points that the DNC sent them. Because they are catastrophically wrong about its tone and intent. Just read it for yourself!
The president’s speech was a passionate celebration of American freedom and American greatness—a greatness, he noted, that was embodied by the sublime majesty of the heads of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt sculpted into the granite pinnacle of Mt. Rushmore.
Our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values, and indoctrinate our children. Angry mobs are trying to tear down statues of our founders, deface our most sacred memorials, and unleash a wave of violent crime in our cities. Many of these people have no idea why they are doing this, but some know exactly what they are doing. They think the American people are weak and soft and submissive. But no, the American people are strong and proud, and they will not allow our country, and all of its values, history, and culture, to be taken from them.
The Left's mouthpiece on 43rd street (The Whore Of 43rd?) is particularly vile...
His ominous remarks were a reflection of his political standing: trailing in the polls, lacking a booming economy or a positive message to campaign on, and leaning on culture wars to buoy his loyalists.
They embrace the polls, in spite of their rather poor record from 2016, they ignore the most current employment report that suggests a rapid return to economic health, and they can't stomach the idea that Americans like to be reminded that we have a great nation. As for culture wars? Defending Western culture and American Exceptionalism is anathema to the elites of the Upper West Side, if they even understand it.
I see the same old and tired techniques that are falling on increasingly deaf ears. Even Alinsky said that "A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag." The NYT and its ilk in the big blue cities need to move on to something a little more interesting, or they risk an America that tunes them out and tunes in to a president whose love for America and Americans is obvious.
Good morning to all you 'rons, 'ettes, lurkers, and lurkettes, wine moms, frat bros, crétins sans pantalon (who are technically breaking the rules), and you deplorables who just want to be left alone, only you're slowly coming to the realization that Your Betters are not going to allow you to be left alone, even those who claim to be on your side. Welcome once again to the stately, prestigious, internationally acclaimed and high-class Sunday Morning Book Thread, a weekly compendium of reviews, observations, snark, witty repartee, hilarious bon mots, and a continuing conversation on books, reading, spending way too much money on books, writing books, and publishing books by escaped oafs and oafettes who follow words with their fingers and whose lips move as they read. Unlike other AoSHQ comment threads, the Sunday Morning Book Thread is so hoity-toity, pants are required. Even if it's these these pants, which look like they might be functional for something, but I'm not sure what. Wait, I know. If you suffer from nocturnal incontinence, these are the pants for you.
Pic Note:
Yes, this is a repeat library, (for previous pics see this thread and that thread) but I found this photo and thought wow, the Horde has got to see this. I mean, that ceiling. Wow.
A couple of weeks ago, I discussed ways by which readers can secure ownership of their e-books, and by ownership, I mean true ownership, the kind where your book can never be stealth-edited or confiscated. 'Ette author/publisher Gunnar Grey e-mailed more thoughts on this topic:
There is one certain way to ensure you own the ebooks you buy, and that's by purchasing them through Smashwords. Like Baen Books, Smashwords sells ebooks without DRM encryption, and while they only carry about half of the books that Amazon and the other big sellers carry, and you do have to load your own ebooks into your reader — once you load it, it's yours.
To my knowledge, which isn't complete, Smashwords is the only ebook seller set up this way.
Yes, I had forgotten about Smashwords, an excellent alternative to Amazon, assuming they have what you want. Of course, once you purchase an ebook from Smashwords, you need to side-load it onto your device. Ms. Grey's instructions are more helpful than mine were:
For most e-readers, loading an ebook is as simple as plugging it into your computer. It turns into an external hard drive, similar to a flash drive, and you can drag and drop the ebook. It's no different than loading a book from Gutenberg (and I have a lot of those). You do need to figure out where on that e-reader, or into which folder, the ebook should be dropped, but the titles of the files in the folder should guide you there.
Physical books are great, only they are susceptible from damage due to fire, water, pests, and age-related deterioration. Also confiscation,
So a little Binging or Googling to find out where the book folders are on your device. And invest in a USB cable.
Who Dis:
(Last week's 'who dis' was actress Joan Fontaine. And thanks to 'ette 'CN' for this week's who dis.
Moron Recommendations
A lurker e-mailed and asked-- well, heck, I'll just post his e-mail, that would be easier:
[H]ave you seen these Osprey Series books? I strongly recommend them for those who like military history, which I know includes many fancy pants Book Threaders. Each book is just under 100 pages, and they have first class maps and graphics that show you how various battles or campaigns unfolded. They cover all the bases, too, from Alexander the Great and Hannibal, Napoleonic Wars and on to our 20th century cataclysms. They are strictly military history, and do an excellent job of providing thumbnail sketches of all the commanders involved on all sides, and a quick overview of how things got to the point of the battle (or a broader campaign, e.g., the bombing campaigns in WWII or Vietnam that went on for years). Here's some I got recently; you'll see it provides a window into many places U.S. readers rarely go (e.g., the British fighting v. Japan on the India/Burma border in 1944).
Osprey Publishing has more books on military than you can shake a stick at.
There is a line where fact and fiction meet. This is the realm of Osprey Adventures.
Unlike bookstores, the world is not divided into fiction and non-fiction. There are many subjects, such as myths and legends, secret histories, folklore, conspiracy theories, cryptozoology, UFOs and aliens that often don’t fit neatly into either category. Osprey Adventures was created to explore these topics, and produce books filled with interesting stories, whether they be factual, fictional, or somewhere in between.
Osprey is located in Great Britain, and, speaking for myself, I find their prices a bit high, but don't let that deter you fans of military history on this Smart Military Blog.
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This looked interesting:
256 By the way, whoever mentioned, "On the Run: A Mafia Childhood," the book by the kids of Henry Hill, thanks.
Great read and to say the book "Wiseguy" sanitized the home life of the Hills in an understatement.
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing at June 28, 2020 10:30 AM (WEBkv)
The children of notorious Mafia wiseguy and informant Henry Hill-the real-life subject of Goodfellas-tell their own story of danger, hurt, and family in this extraordinary account of growing up with an out-of-control father in the federal witness protection program...Unfortunately for his children Gregg and Gina, they're dragged along for the ride. Like nomads, they're forced to wander from state to state, constantly inventing new names and finding new friends, only to abandon them at a moment's notice. They live under constant fear of being found and killed.
But Henry, the rock Gregg and Gina so desperately need, is a heavy cocaine user and knows only the criminal life. He is soon up to his old tricks and consistently putting their identities in jeopardy. And so it continues until the kids, now almost grown, can no longer ignore that the Mob might be less of a threat to them than remaining under the roof of their increasingly unbalanced father.
263 I finished David Hackett Fischer's great "Washington's Crossing" last year. None of the brats screeching about Washington are worthy to lick his boots. An observation by Revolutionary war hero Benjamin Rush heartened me. He said that it is the nature of Americans, and possibly of republics in general, to ignore problems until things get so bad we can't anymore and only then do we act. I hope the good doctor was correct and that that is true of the present moment.
Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V; at June 28, 2020 10:34 AM (oWAzz)
The American Revolution was hanging by a thread:
Six months after the Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution was all but lost. A powerful British force had routed the Americans at New York, occupied three colonies, and advanced within sight of Philadelphia.
Yet, as David Hackett Fischer recounts in this riveting history, George Washington--and many other Americans--refused to let the Revolution die. On Christmas night, as a howling nor'easter struck the Delaware Valley, he led his men across the river and attacked the exhausted Hessian garrison at Trenton, killing or capturing nearly a thousand men. A second battle of Trenton followed within days. The Americans held off a counterattack by Lord Cornwallis's best troops, then were almost trapped by the British force. Under cover of night, Washington's men stole behind the enemy and struck them again, defeating a brigade at Princeton. The British were badly shaken. In twelve weeks of winter fighting, their army suffered severe damage, their hold on New Jersey was broken, and their strategy was ruined.
Wait, wasn't one of the reasons the Hessian garrison "exhausted" could have been because Washington sent in a bunch of hookers the night before?. I think we have receipts for this. I also believe this is discussed in the book George Washington's Expense Account.
Of course, this daring, odds-defying attack is the history and the America that our children are being systematically taught to hate. The George Washington of Washington's Crossing (Pivotal Moments in American History) is indeed a great man.
Flexner peels back the myths surrounding Washington to reveal the true complexity of his character. The only founding father from Virginia to free all his slaves, Washington was a faithful husband who harbored deep romantic feelings for his best friend’s wife. An amateur soldier, he prepared for his role as commander in chief of the Continental army by sending out to Philadelphia bookshops for treatises on military strategy...The George Washington that emerges in these pages is a shrewd statesman, a wise commander, a brave patriot, and above all, “an ordinary man pushed to greatness by the extraordinary times in which he lived” (The Christian Science Monitor). In tracing Washington’s evolution from privileged son of the landed gentry to “the indispensable man” without whom the United States as we know it would not exist, Flexner presents a hero worthy of admiration not only for his remarkable strengths, but also for his all-too-human weaknesses.
Big damn hero.
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They Don't Publish Books Like This Any More:
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Books By Morons
One of my twitter peeps has just published a new novel, The Gentleman Farmers. She says
It's about losing your hometown, the lies feminism tells, American heritage, the media, the cowardice of the respectable, sublimating demographic anxiety into heritage livestock breeding, and a statue of Robert E. Lee.
The Amazon blurb has more details:
Maggie Kingsbury, single middle-aged alcoholic lawyer, joins her in-laws Molly and Kevin on a homestead in the mountains of North Carolina, where their trustafarian college frenemies Brock and Sandra have just bought their third home. Molly commissions Brock to renovate an old Appalachian tobacco barn on their property. But when maverick hillbilly throwback Uncle Billy shows up to live in their field in a camper van, power struggles ensue. Meanwhile, Kevin has become dangerously obsessed with breeding heritage livestock. When Maggie's beloved niece Juliet asks her to take on a mysterious client, Maggie becomes implicated in a national political furor.
So that's all for this week. As always, book thread tips, suggestions, bribes, insults, threats, ugly pants pics and moron library submissions may be sent to OregonMuse, Proprietor, AoSHQ Book Thread, at the book thread e-mail address: aoshqbookthread, followed by the 'at' sign, and then 'G' mail, and then dot cee oh emm.
What have you all been reading this week? Hopefully something good, because, as you all know, life is too short to be reading lousy books.
Today our little town celebrated by still holding its annual 4th of July Parade. Mrs. Mis Hum and I belong to the local ATV Club and our club was represented very well at the parade with machines proudly displaying American and Armed Forces flags.
A local radio station was doing a remote live broadcast. And as our machine was inching toward the official starting point the "news guy" shoved his microphone in my face and asked, "What does the 4th of July mean to you?"
My response, "Independence and freedom."
He then asked, "Aren't you afraid of the ......(long pause)?
All I could think to say was, "Oh Hell no!" And he shook his head and we rolled on.
I'm horrible at estimating crowd sizes. However, I estimate the crowd size at about 2,000-2,500 people that spanned the parade route of 3/4 of a mile. Not a Karen to be spotted. People of all ages were there, smiling, giving us waves and or the thumbs up. Children gathering candy that we were tossing at them. Just Americans celebrating the birth of our great country.
Yeah, Mr. Fake News wanted to start up with the Covid Kung Flu crap. But, I wouldn't let him ruin an enjoyable portion of my day. We all forgot about our nations troubles and gathered to celebrate the goodness, after all we are Americans.
1. My partner’s American and whenever we travel to the States I’m always struck by how ridiculously friendly everyone is. I’ve had long conversations with people I’ve only just met who are just genuinely interested in what life is like in other countries/how I’m finding America etc. And people tend to be very giving of themselves as well. In Britain the standard response to ‘How are you?’ is ‘Fine/great’ whatever, whereas American’s can give you a complete breakdown of their life at the momen. It’s nice though.
A couple of years ago I was flying in to meet my b/f, a blizzard hit and I got stranded in Newark. The airline was NO help (‘act of God’) and I ended up spending 6 hours in a blizzard trying to catch various trains to Philadelphia. Everyone I met along the way was so helpful. When I finally got to the Philly suburb where my bf was he insisted on taking me to his cousin’s party at a bar before we went home. I was tired, soaking wet and pissed off, but as soon as I walked through the door a barful of people I hadn’t seen in a year all yelled my name, ran up and treated me like a long lost sister. I cried ��
That’s what I like about Americans.
2. Americans think “in trial balloons”. They always explore new ideas, ways of doing things. A lot of times, silly and mediocre stuff comes out of it, but when a balloon flies, boy, does it go a long way.
“Hushpuppi,” a Nigerian scammer suspected of trying to launder hundreds of millions of dollars, was taken into FBI custody in Chicago on Thursday evening.
Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, a.k.a. “Ray Hushpuppi” and “Hush,” a Nigerian national, had just been expelled from the United Arab Emirates for various suspected crimes after his arrest last week.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office says that Abbas will face criminal charges “alleging he conspired to launder hundreds of millions of dollars from business email compromise (BEC) frauds and other scams, including schemes targeting a U.S. law firm, a foreign bank and an English Premier League soccer club.”
TEL AVIV/ZURICH (Reuters) – Israeli start-up Redefine Meat plans to launch 3D printers to produce plant-based steaks mimicking real beef next year in a bid for a slice of the fast-growing alternative meat market. Meat substitutes are increasingly popular with consumers concerned about animal welfare and the environment, boosting sales at Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods and Nestle. Redefine Meat, based in Rehovot, south of Tel Aviv, will first market test its “Alt-Steak” at high-end restaurants this year before rolling out its industrial-scale 3D printers to meat distributors in 2021.
“You need a 3D printer to mimic the structure of the muscle of the animal,” CEO Eshchar Ben-Shitrit told Reuters. The machines to be launched next year will be able to print 20kg an hour and eventually hundreds, at a lower cost than real meat.
You don't need a machine to mimic, just buy the Goddamn steak, you know you want to.
Let's face it, the name "2021 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat" really lacks length and gravitas, especially for something with 707 horsepower. Luckily, Dodge has rectified that situation, adding one more word to the moniker—Redeye—while also pouring 90 more horsepower into this four-door doom sled. Still, you had to see this coming.
After all, the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat offers a Redeye version (the most powerful iteration since the demise of the Demon) and shouldn't the mechanically similar, four-door Charger sedan be extended the same opportunity? It's also in keeping with the Dodge playbook of keeping its relatively aged lineup of cars fresh by constantly pumping them full of 'roids. And so the 2021 Dodge Charger Redeye offers 797 horsepower and 707 lb-ft of torque from its 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi V-8, all of which is shuttled to the rear wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission that's received a beefier torque converter to handle the greater output.
THE PEOPLE WHO DREAM OF BEING AMPUTEES
People who suffer from BIID — Body Identity Integrity Disorder — go through life believing their arms or legs don’t belong to them. How far will they go to feel ‘complete’?
Sofi didn’t hate her feet, she just never really felt like they belonged to her. In fact, everything below her knees seemed more like stilts, due to an ever-present identity dysphoria causing lifelong, emotional anguish. Even a passing glance at her toes could incite months of depression and suicidal ideation.
And so, in 2005, at the age of 19, Sofi began contemplating ways to chop them off. The freight train was an option. It hauled cement and trundled past her seaside home in Scotland at 2 p.m. every day. She considered draping her shins across the tracks, but envisioned being dragged by her legs for miles and opted against it. A shotgun could work, but firearms are nearly impossible to obtain in the U.K. She even thought about staging a car crash, but the unpredictability of an “accident” that could injure others seemed imprudent.
Born on this day: July 4, 1938 - Bill Withers
Bill Withers, American singer-songwriter who had the 1972 US No.1 single 'Lean On Me', 1988 UK No.4 single 'Lovely Day', which was first released in 1978. Toward the end of the song, Withers holds a note for 18 seconds. This is believed to be the second-longest note in UK chart history. Morten Harket of A-ha's 20-second note in "Summer Moved On" is the longest. Withers died from heart complications in Los Angeles on March 30, 2020 age 81. via thisdayinmusic.com
&&&
Born on this day: July 4, 1958 - Kirk Pengilly
Kirk Pengilly, guitarist from Australian rock band INXS, who had the 1988 UK No.2 & US No.1 single 'Need You Tonight'. Their 1987 album Kick has sold over 10m copies in the US alone and features four Top 10 singles; 'Need You Tonight,' 'Devil Inside', 'New Sensation,' and 'Never Tear Us Apart.' INXS has sold over 55 million records worldwide. via thisdayinmusic.com
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I guess there is a different way to swim with fishes. Just ask our Genius Award Winner.
WATCH: Louisiana Man Enjoys Swim in Bass Pro Shop Aquarium; Gets Arrested
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Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by Fine Furniture.
Notice: The Ace Media Empire and AceCorp, LLC have no idea what the hell we have here tonight.
The Occasional Fishing Thread, Best Laid Plans Edition [Bandersnatch]
—Open Blogger
Welcome Piscators and Piscatrixes, Nimrods and Nimrettes, and Rough Riders of all genders to the current installment of the occasional fishing and hunting and other wholesome outdoorsness thread, Bander’s Not Here Edition. .
I had the best gag for this post. I was going to be off the grid because I need it and just leave you rapscallions to yourselves, but much as I wanted to I couldn’t avoid a couple absolutely have to be done things, so I haven’t set off. I will leave within a couple of days and I’m going without an agenda or timeline so I’ll be offline as much as possible.
If you’re on around the Cape and want to say hi I’m the guy with the long beard, a red XTerra and likely a blue Pungo kayak atop it. Or write the mail address below and I’ll break OpSec.
One of the things that slowed me down while life was catching up was the forecast.
Wunderground is the best thing ever. The bit that I’m really paying attention to is the arrows at the bottom which show wind speed and direction. They’ve been N-NE for too long, and while you can always possibly catch fish “East is least” is not a phrase for nothing. Anyway, it looks like the prevailing SW is coming back to town.
People used to get nutty about “spot burning” on the internet, but (i) that’s old hat, (2) there are almost no secret spots, ( C ) fish that were there today and made it to the internet may be elsewhere tomorrow, and (vier) you guys are all my buddies and pals anyway. There is an arc to these things. In the early internet it was open channel, then it went to code, then it died. Now I have assholes trying to sell me their fishing secrets on the internet. So this is a nod to the old days.
I like this spot on the outgoing. The bar in front of the mouth changes every year, so this picture is not reliable. By outgoing I mean from mid-tide (three hours in) to an hour or less before low. Slack low and slack high are nobody’s friend. That’s when you move.
I like this spot on the incoming. Bait comes in the channel and spreads out on the flats, fish follow bait. You can wade the flats if you figure out how to get there.
The Barnstable Flats is a pretty good kayak spot. There are actual oyster beds where the oyster beds show in this image. It’s from a legitimate Google maps picture, but I never figured out whether it was a gag on google’s part.
This is my real Holy Grail, the outer beaches of Cape Cod. Ocean-facing, unspoiled, pure raw surf from Provincetown to the bottom of Monomoy Island. No honky tonk, no boardwalk, no private property, Wading the surf was a peak experience.
But then it got ruined.
Twenty years ago there were two smallish colonies of these stinky bastards. One was sort of hidden and the other supported a couple of seal watching businesses that ran down to see them on Monomoy. Then they figured out that we’re not allowed to eat them and they multiplied. There are at least 80,000 of these brutes lining the coast and they’re better fishermen than we are. Fishing in the surf now means competing with these.
Of course, it’s not as if the seals have nothing to fear:
I took this at dawn. There was no one on the beach and the little girl had not returned for her flip flops.
Anyway, despite all the fishy hubris I’ll probably spend half the time at the Land Ho.
So, are you going to drop off the grid this summer? Where and how? Please to be telling stories as that’s the point of this place.
From the mailbag, we have John the Lurker:
Technically this may not be a "Fishing" pic, but what the heck. I took this picture of an Osprey in Virginia Beach VA a couple weeks ago while on a business trip. I wish it was framed better but the pesky bird refused to be agreeable. They were flying around all day showing off their catch. Beautiful bird!
I’ll say. Meanwhile, Celia Hayes was moved by the critter thread from last episode.
A good few years ago, I had a family of opossum kits at large in my back yard. At one point, when I was peacefully reading on the back porch glider, one of them climbed up onto the glider, climbed up onto my lap, experimentally gummed the edges of the book I was reading, a fold of my blouse and my finger ... and then upon concluding that none of those were any good, went to gambol among the other stuff in the back yard.
My next door neighbor, upon being told this story, confessed that if one of those hairy little rat-tailed things had ever climbed onto her lap - she would be screaming still. Possums are OK, really - they are just uber-ugly, rat-tailed cats.
And with that we move on to the raison d’etre of this here HQ, the comments section. Brickbats, praise, and fish brag pics are welcome at aoshqfish at sign gmail thing
Note: Due to my being involved with the prep for the 4th of July festivities here at Casa de Muse, all of the problems and the pics are repeats from earlier chess threads. Except for the Melania pics, which are from yesterday. And the flag dress.
We will have a fishing thread later. As always, the chess/dress pr0n thread is an open thread, so there is no such thing as an off-topic comment.
Beginner Problem - White To Play
Goal: White can force mate in 3
Hint: Deflect the rook
So the answer is: not much. The problem is, Black can get counterplay by pushing his own pawn down the 'c' file. So White needs to eliminate this threat.
1. Kd3!
Trying to get to c4. But Black easily counters.
1...Kb3
2. Kd4 Kb4
And now White has the position he wants. Black's King has been maneuvered far enough away from the c1 queening square that he will not be able to get back there in time to protect his queening pawn from capture. White may now push his passer.
3. h5 c5+
White has nothing to fear from this check.
4. Ke3 c4
5. h6 c3
6. h7 c2
7. Kd2!
Aha! And now Black is schlonged. He has to drop his King all the way back to c2 in order to protect his pawn, but he just doesn't have enough time.
7...Kb3
8. h8=Q Kb2
9. Qc8 and wins
White wins the pawn and the game.
Hope to see you all next week!
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Note: that cryptic line of letters and numbers you see underneath each board diagram is a representation of the position in what is known as "Forsyth-Edwards Notation", or F.E.N. It's actually readable by humans. Most computer applications nowadays can read FEN, so those of you who may want to study the position, you can copy the line of FEN and paste into your chess app and it should automatically recreate the position on its display board. Or, Windows users can just "triple click" on it and the entire line will be highlighted so you can copy and paste it into your chess app.
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So that about wraps it up for this week. Chess thread tips, suggestions, bribes, rumors, threats, and insults may be sent to my yahoo address: OregonMuse little-a-in-a-circle yahoo dott com.
Good afternoon and a Happy Independence Day to you and yours. Since it's a national holiday there isn't much of an almost world famous Ace of Spades Pet Thread today.
Open thread, dogs, cats, skunks, it really doesn't matter.
Happy Independence Day to all gardeners, putterers, outdoor enthusiasts and dreamers! Don in Kansas has posted a Garden Report that includes the photo above. It sort of reminds me of fireworks. There are more at the link.
The Nigella damascena flowers are pleasingly complicated and alien-looking, but nearly all of them are either white or blue. Blues are always welcome, but the package promised purples and reds as well. At least a third of them are single, and Nigella is one instance where double flowers are preferable. It's probably time for the seed producers to re-select their stock.
To go with that blue flower, here are some red and white geraniums. Remember our Swiss Garden Dog Guide? Her American Dog Cousin lives at the home where these geraniums are in the window.
And here are the geraniums in Gioia's window in Switzerland
In addition to loving gardens, Gioia is a nature lover
And a cow lover.
Speaking of large hooved animals, a note on last week's crippled deer from Admirale's Mate:
I noticed, in the comments, that there was some concern the deer had Chronic Wasting Disease (comments 26, 27, 36, and 42). My sister had the following response:
The year before last, the dear was probably shot in her back left leg which left it useless. Then last summer it seemed she may have been hit by a car and her right front leg is pretty crippled, leaving it very difficult for her to get around. We contacted the game commission and even sent them pictures, thinking they would put her down, but no..............then, somehow, she got bred. I will never know how she was able to get bred, but now has a little fawn with her. She has such a time getting around, I am sure between that and feeding the fawn, she is literally wasting away, but does not have chronic wasting disease. Very sad indeed. She could never protect herself or her fawn if she had to, as deer rear up on their hind legs and strike with their front feet. Not an option for her. I expect that we won't see her next year.
Nature can be hard . . .
Plant that sounds edible
Last week, we discussed mushrooms and their prospective edibility. This week, another plant, thanks to Misanthropic Humanitarian:
I have planted grapes, but no wine.
We grew up with a huge veggie garden. After leaving the house never had the urge. Now flower beds are a different story. Someday we might have some nice ones.
Our move from 2018 has been interesting. Rabbits, deer, crappy soil & incredibly short growing season.
Sounds challenging. Then there are slugs:
So, growing potato vines, the kinds that don't make potatoes, Solanum jasminoides, S. laxum or the one above, S. crispum.
Winter hardy to USDA Zones 9-11 where it is best grown in organically rich, medium moisture, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. Also does well in average soils. In St. Louis, it may be grown in pots/containers overwintered indoors or as an annual vine. Grow from seed started indoors 6-8 weeks before last frost date. Pots may be overwintered indoors as houseplants in bright sun rooms with reduced watering or as dormant plants by cutting back stems and placing in a cool, dark corner of a basement or frost-free garage. Cuttings may also be taken in late summer for overwintering.
Makes little fruits, but they're not edible.
Actual edible things from the garden
Gordon promised to send us a photo:
The remains of the second strawberry rhubarb pie, and strawberry balsamic jam, strawberry jam with Jamison's Irish whiskey, and strawberry jam with half sugar/half stevia for a diabetic friend.
And from his garden:
This patch is finally starting to propagate. Last year I harvested enough for four half pints of jam. This year there should be much more.
Mmmmm.
And here's a fruit report from the desert, too. From the end of May:
Thought I would send a few pictures I took while puttering around this morning. I have a ton of fruit on the go in the yard. Mulberry season has just ended, but I got a bumper crop this year and froze some as well. I managed to make a mean Mulberry Margarita out of some of them.
I am getting a nice crop of Kaffir limes this year, and the Dorsett apple is doing itself quite proud.
I am going to get a few Mangoes as well which is nice because the last two years the Mango got damaged in the frosts but this year we managed to get through the winter unscathed and get some Carrie mangoes.
I am finally getting some Asian pears, I have had this tree for about 9 years, moved it twice and then heard that you need two pear trees to get fruit, and so last year I put in another Asian pear and I hand pollinated and am finally getting some fruit.
This is also my first year to get nectarines, the tree is about 4 years old so it must have needed some time to settle in.
It also looks like I will be getting my first Sapote fruit. It has started fruit before but they all fell off when quite small but I am finally getting a few that are getting bigger so hopefully they will get to full size this year.
Lastly my peach tree is putting on a spectacular show. Last year the frost/snow late in the spring took away all but 20 of my peaches. It is certainly making up for it this year. I have a feeling I will be freezing a lot of peaches and I may have to just make a batch of peach margaritas.
Wee Kreek Farm Girl
I asked about the Sapote:
The fruit get to be about as big as a lemon, but rounder, if that makes sense. The fruit has a custard type consistency and the flavor is kind of like a peach banana maybe a hint of vanilla and pear you eat the skin and flesh and there are seeds inside. The tree itself can get to be 15-20 ft tall. Mine is a white sapote. The fruit is still hanging in there so I am hopeful.
Gardens of The Horde
Jewells sent in some photos:
One is a my prickly pear cactus in bloom..so beautiful! The other is something that was here when we moved in in 2008 and I never could figure out what it is. It grows quite tall at 3-4 feet.
Anybody want to I.D. the last plant?
Here in the Central Valley, our first slicer-sized mater is ripe today. Anything going on in your garden?
If you would like to send information and/or photos for the Saturday Gardening Thread, the address is:
Happy Independence Day! The folks at Maggie's Farm got going earlier than I did this morning. Bird Dog reminds us that,
It's a good day to think about all of the wonderful things about the USA.
What wonderful things about the USA come to mind for you today?
The Mount Rushmore event yesterday got some great reviews.
I noticed this one from Quint and FenelonSpoke in the EMT this morning, which includes a review of the live Fox broadcast:
Great speeches last night by Governor Kristi Noem,
The Secretary of the Interior, and President Trump. Thanks to Trump's
speechwriter Steven Miller, If you didn't hear the speeches last night
you can hear them on C-Span. God bless America!. Lord have Mercy!
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 04, 2020 07:37 AM (M7/zw)
Fox made a right mess of it. Whenever you are trying to watch a speech like that, a convention, dedication, or some other presentation, you are almost always better off going with Cspan. You can go between the two channels and it will be striking. Half the time Fox will be at commercial and the other half some blow hard will say he is "monitoring" the event.
Seems like good advice. Be prepared for the next one you watch live. The White House video of the event is included below.
Also below the fold, one reason why we need to remain vigilant about our independence.
This week, the legislature in California voted to remove the constitutional prohibition on "discriminating against or granting preferential treatment to persons on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in public employment, public education, and public contracting." That's right, California just voted to allow racial and gender discrimination in all its public activities. The bill will move to the ballot in November for a popular vote.
It's all because of the COVID virus and George Floyd, of course. Not really.
It's not like people don't know better. Gail Heriot:
The best reason for retaining Proposition 209 isn't that repealing it will encounter opposition. It's that the initiative has been good for Californians -- of all races -- and would have been even better if followed more faithfully. Opponents argued in 1996 that if the University of California system were required to apply the same admissions standards to all students regardless of race, under-represented minority students would suffer. The reality was the opposite: It enhanced their academic success.
The plight of Asian applicants to colleges is interesting.
In Malaysia, after the British colonial administration departed, the fledgling nation faced simmering ethnic tensions among native Malays (bumiputeras/"sons of the soil") and overseas Chinese and Indians. After race riots and the balkanization of political parties along ethnic lines, the Malaysian government promulgated a vast quota system to boost the Malay majority. This system ranged from the customary university sinecures and public contract set-asides to reserved storefront spots in public spaces. The term "Ali Baba" there describes an arrangement wherein "Ali," the native Malay, acts as a frontman for the actual Chinese/Indian business owner "Baba." Despite state discrimination, the overseas Chinese and Indians remain far wealthier and better educated than native Malays.
Contrast with California after prohibition of state discrimination. Gail Herriot again:
In the year immediately prior to Proposition 209's implementation, only one African American student in the entire freshman class was an honor student. Following implementation, a full 20% of African American freshmen were. That was higher than the rate for Asian Americans (16%) and extremely close to the rate for whites in the same year (22%). Even more impressive, the number of under-represented minority students in academic jeopardy collapsed.
As Richard Sander and Stuart Taylor Jr. show in their 2012 book, "Mismatch: How Affirmative Action Hurts Students It's Intended to Help, and Why Universities Won't Admit It," in the years immediately following Proposition 209, it had three effects on under-represented minorities in the UC system. It increased (1) graduation rates, (2) GPAs, and (3) the number of science or engineering majors.
Call it a Triple Crown.
And before Prop. 209, early efforts at affirmative action in California had not always achieved sterling results. Even when the truly disadvantaged, like street gang leaders, were promoted in college admissions. Here's the story of the 1969 gunfight at UCLA. Not long after that, a California academic invented Kwanzaa. It was not all based in sweetness and light.
Be careful about how the Left uses words like "diversity" and "equity". This is very disturbing:
Kendi writes, "The defining question is whether the discrimination is creating equity or inequity. If discrimination is creating equity, then it is antiracist. If discrimination is creating inequity, then it is racist." It is on this line of thought precisely that we have recently seen the California State Legislature vote to remove the anti-discrimination verbiage from its state constitution. (Emphasis mine) "Equity" would require us to discriminate against "dominant" groups and in favor of "oppressed ones," as Theory has defined it, so achieving "Equity" means doing identity-based discrimination, potentially endlessly because they'll be virtually impossible to achieve just due to random fluctuations in population dynamics.
Even creating "Equitable" outcomes like perfect parity won't be enough, however, because Critical Race Theory is also what might be described as "ethno-historical." Thus, even if there are no current disparities to be found (and there always will be because they can also be made up at the level of culture or subjective feelings), in any cases where there are historical ones to appeal to, those will have to be made up for too in order to achieve "Equity." Thus, applying "Equity" from a Critical perspective results something like a combination of affirmative action and reparations, in one form or another.
Be that as it may, if we believe the Theory upon which it is now based, the demand for "Equity" becomes hopeless and perpetual. . .
Good morning Americans, Morons and Lurkers. A Happy Independence Day to you.
Just an open thread, so feel free to opine and bloviate away. The regulars know the rules. To the uninitiated, just a couple. No running with sharp objects, no pissing in the pool, no pulling the 'ettes hair and be nice to one another.
It's not an exclusively black problem. The pathologies exhibited by children raised without fathers in the home are the same across all races. Unfortunately, what the black community does have is the highest percentage of children raised in such circumstances. Why has this come to pass?
A fun topic of debate among history minded individuals is “Who was the worst president?” Buchanan has his champions, and Wilson usually carries off the trophy. Both are excellent choices, but for my money LBJ deserves a seat at the table. The article linked above describes his Great Society as “well intentioned”. Don't you believe it. Johnson was an unrepentant racist who one remarked that he'd “have those (blacks) voting Democrat for 200 years” by destroying the structural underpinnings of the black community and making them dependent on big government. We ended slavery in this country, but Johnson was clever enough and evil enough to ensure that serfdom replaced it. Vile man.
Fathers Matter
What I want to know is, what did he go back into the car for? Did his son drop his wallet?
One band I'm surprised isn't on the list here is Styx. Growing up in the 80s you couldn't go to a yard sale, thrift store or tag sale without finding a copy of The Grand Illusion, Pieces of Eight or Cornerstone. Wiki says they sold 54 million albums, so they should be on that list. Weird.
This is off their Paradise Theater album. If someone wants to know about early 80s fashion looked like, and you have no pictures of Hall and Oates handy, Dennis DeYoung here would make a pretty good substitute. That 'fro! The porn 'stache! And how about Chuck Panozzo randomly in a tux? Classic.
Paradise Theater would be their last triple platinum album. Here's a song from their first:
In this one DeYoung's sartorial sense echos Freddie Mercury, again, pretty typical for 70s prog rock.
A Warning
Why you should care about statues coming down. Sound advice from a Venezuelan who lived through a socialist revolution. pic.twitter.com/GCTgIcrryd
You think it can't happen here? Dream on. I wonder, however, how many of these sunshine leftists realize that revolutions justified on “equality” always wind up eating their own?
I'm sure that Mr. Stalin would be shocked to find out what was really going on in the gulags! These fools will be standing naked against the wall in the basement of the Lubyanka, and their last words will be “Black lives matter!”
Random Links
Cirque du Soleil filing for bankruptcy Due to CoronaVirus, or more accurately, the reaction to CV. I've seen maybe 4 or 5 Cirque shows, and while all of them were fantastic, only the first one metaphorically knocked me flat on my back in amazement. Don't get me wrong, the others were great, especially Ka, but they didn't have that “I've never seen anything like this in my life!” impact. Anyone else feel similarly?
I had it on my phone. Never really used it, but I deleted it when the malware aspect of it started coming out. Still, I wonder, is it too late? Is my phone irredeemably compromised?
Why Yes, That Is A Pig In Flight! Judge Agrees With The Firing Of Political Apointees
—CBD
Michael Pack's nomination was held up by McConnell and the "Republican" senate for far too long, but it seems as though Mr. Pack is making up for lost time. And, shockingly, an Obama-appointed Judge agrees that administrative decisions belong to the administration!
Federal District Court Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell, appointed by President Barack Obama, ruled in favor of U.S. Agency of Global Media (USAGM) CEO Michael Pack, dismissing a request from Ambassador Ryan Crocker, Ambassador Karen Kornbluh, and Michael Kempner, former members of the dissolved Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) and replaced members of the boards of directors of plaintiff OTF, RFE, Radio Free Asia, and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, and Ben Scott, a member of the board of directors of plaintiff OTF, to reverse Pack’s decision to replace them on the broads of directors of USAGM’s non-federal entities. Judge Beryl denied their motion, stating that they “have fallen short of making the requisite showings“ to rule in their favor on their motion for for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction.
It's appointments like these that make me feel all tingly inside for President Trump. Is it happenstance or a plan? I have no idea, but Pack and Grennell and a few others are the ones to drain the swamp, and hopefully pave it over and build a shooting range. And a fundamentalist church. And a Proud Boys Club house. And the national chapter of Keep America Great.
A surprising new study found that the controversial antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine helped patients better survive in the hospital.
A team at Henry Ford Health System in Southeast Michigan said Thursday its study of 2,541 hospitalized patients found that those given hydroxychloroquine were much less likely to die.
Dr. Marcus Zervos, division head of infectious disease for Henry Ford Health System, said 26% of those not given hydroxychloroquine died, compared to 13% of those who got the drug. The team looked back at everyone treated in the hospital system since the first patient in March.
I notice that AllahPundit, who literally writes up every single negative story about HCQ, generously permitted John Sexton to field this one at Hot Air.
S.E. Cupp, will you be noting this complete repudiation of your hysterias?
So the CHAZ in Seattle is no more. The police moved in and cleared it out. Probably take weeks, if not months, to clean up all of the filth and debris. Most likely the murders that took place there will go unsolved.
So why were the Seattle police finally ordered to shut it down?
192 Mayor DumBitch had BLM thugs show up to her house. Now CHAZ is being taken down by the police. But remember she is a woman of the people and stuff.
Posted by: Hotgas VIP Member at July 01, 2020 11:53 AM (SjAGT)
In other words, BLM overplayed their hand. They pissed off the wrong people. I'll bet you anything that as soon as the mob showed up outside her house, Mayor Derpaderp was on the phone giving the 'go' order to shut down what she had previously called 'a big block party.'
And so the 'summer of love' officially became 'the winter of discontent.'
The Burn-Loot-Murder crowd should learn a lesson from this, but they won't.
But you know who could've told them this would happen? That crazy-ass college prof who made a multi-state nuisance of herself starting about, oh, what, 14-15 years ago, I'm not going to mention her name because I don't want to attract attention because the last thing ace needs is a mentally ill stalker pounding on his door, and yes, stalking and harassing is what she likes to do. When she's not in jail. It was like she was getting high from her psychotic behavior, only, like other drugs, she needed larger and larger doses to get the same high. So she went from extremely vile comments about a blogger's little kids to stalking ex-girlfriends and then random bar hook-ups, becausse yes, drinking was involved, too.
I saw the whole thing play out over the years like a slow-motion train wreck, and this is when my attitude toward law enforcement changed. Before this, I pretty much thought that LE could do no wrong, if you got your ass beat by the police, you obviously did something wrong, and the innocent had nothing to fear. Well, nothing happened to this crazy lady. She got warnings, citations, stern talking-tos, and that fearful punishment, probation. In other words, nothing. Nobody who could do something would do anything, not really, and she just kept up her psychotic behavior.
Personally, I think that LEOs are like the rest of us and simply don't want to have to deal with persistently crazy people, especially since involuntary psychiatric commitments are pretty much illegal, and you just can't shoot them, so what you can do? I think they just did whatever they could to push her out the door, get her out of their faces, and hoped for the best.
But the nutty professor just couldn't get that same old high, so she had to escalate. From her run-ins with the law, she came to know cops and lawyers and DAs and other LEOs, so she started to harass and stalk them. And then it wasn't long before they arrested her and when probation didn't work, she went to jail. That is, for the first time, something actually happened to her because of something that she did. And when she got out and violated the "no internet" condition of her early release (and also started harassing again), and then tried to run away, they eventually caught her.
Oh, and I suppose I should mention her parents as a contributing factor, they supposedly helped with her legal expenses and argued for lenient sentencing in court. In other words, they pretty much acted as her chief enablers.
But my point is, her crime spree only ended when she pissed off the wrong people, i.e. individuals with clout. The powerful. The privileged, if you will. I hate sounding like a damn commie, but there it is. If she had been able to show a bit of restraint and confine herself to harassing unimportant people such as bloggers and lovers who had jilted her, I think she'd still be free, even today.
So now I'm seeing cities burn while the police are told to stand down -- until the protestors suddenly show up in the posh neighborhoods. It's happened in Seattle, as ace discussed the other day, and also Portland, which maybe you didn't hear about. Antifa scum tried to set up their own autonomous zone, there, too, but the idiots made the mistake of creating a ruckus outside the Portland mayor's house, so they were quickly dispersed, and the autonomous zone never really got off the ground.
And apart from all this, I was also reading accounts of RICO abuses, civil asset forfeitures, and no-knock raids that went horribly wrong and the refusal of LE to take responsibility for the damages and deaths they caused. So let's just say that my views on LE and LEOs were becoming more, as they say, nuanced.
( *General Flynn nods sagely* )
Anyway, it must be absolutely infuriating to be a business owner caught inside the CHAZ, watching the police being ordered out and Antifa scum turn the neighborhood into a 3rd-world slum. And then have to listen to the mayor publicly announce that she's on the same side as the looters and antifa thugs. You can read some of her outrageous statements in the class-action lawsuit against the city of Seattle. Also see lovely photos of the utopia that the CHOPsters had set up. A second federal lawsuit was filed a day or two ago, but I haven't been able to find it online.
I hope there are a bunch of others.
This could be a red-pill experience for these people, but it most likely won't be. They'll most likely continue to vote for the most extreme Democrat on the ticket and as they see their city crumble into ruin before their eyes, they won't think of it any differently than they do an earthquake or flood. Eh, sh*t happens. They don't need a red pill, what they need is a red suppository. A real BIG one.
#UPDATE: First look at the #CHOP zone since Seattle Police cleared it out this morning.
Good morning, kids. The weekend is here along with the 244th birthday of the United States of America. Tragically, the word "United" is very much in doubt, perhaps more than at any other time in our history. Strange, and rather ironic that it lands so close to the anniversary of my uncle's death in battle on Saipan. Given the situation we find ourselves in, you can imagine some of my emotions as I lit his "yahrzeit" (memorial) candle.
A yahrzeit is supposed to be a time of peaceful, somber reflection and remembrance. But within a few seconds of striking that match, I could not help but feel utter hatred and loathing, not so much for the blind pig-ignorant rabble burning, looting and killing but their leaders who have usurped and twisted the meaning of the words truth, justice and freedom - our very identity - to justify subjugation and destruction. The gargantuan lie of self-proclaimed oppression and victimhood while oppressing and victimizing what are supposed to be one's fellow citizens as evil demons and monsters to be eliminated is beyond my capacity to describe the sheer gall of the presumption. Stonewall Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Junipero Serra, Teddy Roosevelt, Christopher Columbus or even Mahatma-freaking-Gandhi - whether crude, spray-painted epithets or worse, the government-sanctioned removal, the demonization and erasure of our history is an abomination. Worse are the censorship and outright persecution of those who dare utter an opinion against this madness, and worse still, millions more who are scared into silence.
Antifa and BLM, dangerous as they are, are not the instruments of our doom; it's going to be corporate America, now occupied not by bedraggled citizens - now ex-citizens - of CHAZ-CHOP, but by equally brain-damaged stooges with Ivy League degrees and C-suite titles that potentially will bring us to our knees. Things like Nike no longer selling Washington Redskins merchandise may very well lead to the rapid demise of that team's name in a way that several decades of petitions never could have. And that's just one incident. When you consider the terrifying prospect of China's "social scoring," which our very own Google had a big hand in developing, being implemented here - and it may already be implemented - that is how 315 million of us will be made to care by a relative handful of insurrectionists. Couple that with one political party that is a de-facto enemy alien entity and another that is pretending to defend the Constitution, as well as a thoroughly corrupt bureaucracy and courts, propaganda-spewing media and brainwashing mills for schools and we have ourselves a situation.
That is the real desecration. That is akin to defecating on my uncle's memory and I cannot accept it. While despite the gloom and doom of the headlines I feel that President Trump will still prevail come November, we will still be a nation divided. The terror campaign as well as the economic front and psychological warfare that will be waged on him and us in the next four years will make the first go round seem like a picnic. And G-d help us if he loses. That said, and assuming victory, the question is what lies ahead at 12:01 PM on January 20th, 2025? Just like the distance between now and this November is both an eternity and a blink of an eye, so too is the former time frame.
In any case, all I can say is have courage, keep the faith, live for the joys and surprises life brings us, and preserve, protect and defend the memory of those who came before us. That is the America that is at stake. The collective memory of what was and what should be.
Happy Fourth of July. To independence, once again.
CIVIL WAR 2.0: LEFTIST REIGN OF TERROR, WAR ON POLICE
"NYC mayor Bill de Blasio had uncharacteristically strong words for protesters 'occupying' City Hall, vandalizing city buildings and public statues, and taunting NYPD officers, but the mayor refused to say whether he would double down on efforts to remove the 'autonomous zone' growing around the city's government buildings." De Bolshevik Calls NYC City Hall Protests "Vile" But Won't Break Up "Autonomous Zone"
"The real problem with the NYPD budget isn't officer headcount; it's spiraling retiree fringe-benefit costs." The Wrong Cuts
"Even in states Republicans control, they refuse to punish the rioters unless they shoot someone, they refuse to clear the roads, they refuse to protect the police from unjust lawfare, and they refuse to empower the citizenry to fight back and defend themselves. When they do, they are the ones who get prosecuted, and those sheriffs who call for their defense get fired." Republicans Won't Even Fight for Self-Defense
"'[E]very deputy who issues a ticket will be sued, every fine dropped!! U didn't enforce it at march of city hall political cronies, u cant enforce it against everyone else, that' an abuse of power and a VIOLATION OF PEOPLES RIGHTS!' wrote one person on Twitter." No Mask In West Hollywood? $5,000 Fine!
"While the evidence is clear that President Trump didn't ignore the uncorroborated and disputed intelligence about alleged Russian bounties on U.S. troops, we do know that President Obama was repeatedly briefed about the rise of ISIS, but failed to respond to this intelligence." Susan Rice Accidentally Proved Barack Obama (Not Trump) Is Guilty of Dereliction of Duty
"The union [AFGE] is closely affiliated with the Democrat Party: It endorsed Hillary Clinton for president in 2016 and [former union president Jeffrey David] Cox served in several posts in the Obama administration. The union also provided an early boost to Biden's campaign." Federal Workers Accuse Biden Labor Ally of Sexual Misconduct, Racial Discrimination
OFFICIAL DEMOCRAT PARTY-ENDORSED ANTI-SEMITISM, ANTI-CHRISTIANITY
"Whenever you try to cancel us and do these movements that pop up once every couple years, it only makes us stronger because normal people want an escape for a couple fucking seconds from this fucked up world... It just makes them like us more, so alright, keep trying to cancel us, we'll keep growing stronger." Anti-Israel Group Expands Boycott From Jewish State to Barstool Sports
"Under the new leadership of Jonathan Greenblatt, a former high-level partisan of the Obama administration, the ADL has made its focus the destruction of political conservatism and President Trump." Anti-Defamation League Elevates an Anti-Semite and Hurts America
"Democrats concluded that if they must destroy our economy with false lockdowns and open rebellion to regain power, they will do so because they would rather rule in the ashes than be the minority party in a prosperous republic." Nothing Is Off Limits to Defeat Trump
"Joe Biden... is running on the most progressive platform in Democratic Party history, and whose election would create an opportunity for the big, structural changes this country needs." MoveOn Blows Up the Myth That Joe Biden Is a Moderate
Julie Kelly: "Republicans need to wield their power forcefully and unflinchingly over the next four months -- or they will deserve to lose it in November." Sheep in Elephant Costumes
"The Marxist blood running in the veins of the media, of celebrities in Hollywood, in nearly every Democrat politician, and unfortunately some weak sister Republicans, demands that we do not question the Left." If It Weren't for Double Standards, Our Media Would Have None
"Through Roberts and his application of stare decisis the Court, as it is currently constituted, will continue the legal farce that there is a right to abortion in the U.S. Constitution." A Conflict of Visions on the Supreme Court
"Survivors of the camps have testified to the prevalence of indoctrination, torture, rape, slavery, murder, and forced organ harvesting, sterilization, and abortion. Reports have identified dozens of multinational corporations -- including American companies like Nike and Apple -- as having ties to factories in China believed to use Uyghur slaves for manufacturing." "Forced Labor": US Seizes $800,000 of Human Hair from China's Uyghur Region
He [Tom Cotton] suggested that this assault on Hong Kong's liberties may be the most important event of 2020, even more monumental than the coronavirus pandemic or the George Floyd riots. (assuming the propagandist media doesn't embargo it - jjs) The Biggest Story of 2020 Won't Be COVID or Riots, Tom Cotton Warns
"Either Iranian scientists are unlucky or incompetent, or someone is targeting the Iranian nuclear program and trying to eliminate it piece by piece." Another "Accident" at Iran Nuke Site
"In her rationale for the APTA, Cheney indirectly referred to a New York Times report - which was denied by the Defense Department - alleging the offering of bounties by Russian operatives to the Taliban for the killing of American soldiers." Liz Cheney Joins Democrats Opposing Trump's Afghanistan Withdrawal
"The November ballot is settled and we all know how Californians will vote for president, but their initiative decisions will really define the state's future." Some Scary Propositions
"The future looks a lot rosier than it did a couple of months ago. The gains in employment are only part of the story, as the economy seems poised to rev up to levels not seen before." Record Job Growth in June as Unemployment Rate Plummets
"Whatever the benefits are of getting the kids out of the house more regularly, the long-term lockdown and accompanying hemming & hawing on the part of various school districts have more parents considering homeschooling." Parents Everywhere Agree: Reopen Schools -- Immediately!
"The Supreme Court eliminates a legal vestige of anti-Catholic prejudice." Support All Schools
Victor Davis Hanson: "How can so many sheltered and prolonged adolescents claim to be all-knowing? Ask questions like these, and the answers ultimately lead back to the university." Universities Sowing the Seeds of Their Own Obsolescence
Daniel Greenfield: "The inherent problem with science is that it requires objectivity. And objectivity is the thing that leftists hate for the same reason that any cult does. Objectivity asserts that we can find the truth by stepping back from our beliefs and emotions in any field from journalism to particle physics." Why the Left is Afraid of Objectivity: The Great Struggle Between Truth and Lies
FEMINAZISM, TRANSGENDER PSYCHOSIS, HOMOSEXUALIZATION, WAR ON MASCULINITY/NORMALCY
"The left has been telling women for a generation that they're our best chance to build our hopes for justice and equality into a new edifice of rights and protections. Their support for transgenderism proves it all a lie." Transgenderism's War on Women Betrays Left's Claims to Champion Our Rights
CULTURE WARS, NATIONAL SUICIDE
"Last week, three letters signed by 87 different investment firms and shareholders asked Nike, FedEx, and PepsiCo to end their business relationships with the Washington Redskins until the team decides to change its name." Nike Caves to Activist Investors, Removes All "Redskins" Gear From Website
"The tale of the gay Jewish Confederate soldier who sculpted some of America's most notable memorials and statues just goes to show how dogmatic and shortsighted today's iconoclasts really are." The Artistic Value of a Statue Is More Important Than Its History
HITHER & YON
Dennis Prager: "The damage the left is doing to so many blacks -- to their moral compass, to their happiness and to their relations with their white fellow citizens -- is not in the realm of 'may do.' It is done." The Present Moment Has Set Blacks Back a Half-Century
"July 4, 2020, will be an Independence Day celebration like never before. In fact, it won't be a celebration at all, but merely a commemoration of what we have lost and hopefully a reminder of what we need to fight for all over again after 244 years." We Can No Longer Celebrate Our Independence. We Must Fight for It Again
NOTE: The opinions expressed in some links may or may not reflect my own. I include them because of their relevance to the discussion of a particular issue.
ALSO: The Morning Report is cross-posted at CutJibNewsletter.com if you want to continue the conversation all day.
So Gavin Newsom is closing down restaurants and bars and destroying family-owned businesses all over California. Oh wait, here’s one that’s still open! 👇🏼 pic.twitter.com/LwTVRejYBL
The media -- including the very liberal pseudoright media like the New York Post (Seth Mandel's old paper, right?) -- immediately declared that the pregnant woman defending herself from unending menace was to blame:
White woman ALLEGEDLY bumps into black teen. Black teen calls her racist, her black mom then harasses the white couple for several minutes/threatens to beat their ass, they try to drive away, black woman follows then hits their car, white woman then gets out of car and pulls gun https://t.co/5RIAc0BIzv
You know, in most states, anyone in a physical altercation has a duty to retreat before using force.
But if the person keeps trying to retreat, and an aggressor continues pursuing -- not permitting retreat -- as little miss Struggle Session did here -- then the duty to retreat is satisfied and then someone can proceed to using force.
The white woman was arrested.
Because of course.
The cops have decided to make us each fight for our own lives.
There is no help coming but self-help.
So what the fuck do you expect us to do? Just... go along with any street vigilante who decides to subject us to an involuntary, physically-coerced struggle session?
Just say, "Ah well, the permanent brain damage I suffer from this savage gang-assault is a small price to pay for the cause of ending White Supremacy?"
Fuck you. That's false imprisonment -- and people are allowed to use a reasonable amount of force to free themselves from it.
This is getting very dangerous. People have no choice but to resort to self-help -- force -- to defend themselves, and they're going to start doing so.
And don't count on having a lot of SJWs on the jury to convict them for defending their lives.
Politicians -- mayors, chiefs of police, prosecutors -- need to make it plain to the rioters, street-beaters, car-blockers, car-attackers, looters and shooters that no one is required by the law to make themselves a martyr for Black Lives Matter and yes, in some situations, deadly force to escape from some situations is legal and will be permitted.
But they won't -- they don't want to upset people.
So they'll say nothing... and then the shooting will start in earnest.
The police better put the Racial Vengeance Vigilantes in hard check before the Counter-Vigilantes start traveling in packs.
Profs to America and Israel: Burn, Baby, Burn! "We are witnessing right now in the United States one of the most remarkable uprisings of black people against the structural regime of racial domination..." [CBD]
Chris Hayes @chrislhayes
Just remembered when I was little kid I was strictly forbidden from watching the Dukes of Hazzard by my mom because of the flag on the car. Good work, mom!
Yeah, making Juneteenth a holiday is going to appease these wild-eyed zealots and savages. I mean, all they want are some small symbolic gestures and tweaks to police procedure. They're not looking for racial vengeance and a Maoist cultural revolution or anything. (By the way, please ignore them when they expressly state they want racial vengeance and a Maoist cultural revolution.)
This is what a kleptocracy looks like "Does @federalreserve actually believe buying foreign company bonds with US taxpayer dollars helps America?" [CBD]
And So It Begins "For many New York City police officers, the realization has finally hit them like a ton of bricks. Literally. Neither the city, the mayor, nor the command staff has their backs, so officers are deciding to get out while the gettin's good.
Believe me when I tell you, this is not just a New York phenomenon. It's everywhere." [CBD]
Greetings From Norway
