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March 26, 2024

Daily Tech News 26 March 2024

Top Story

  • Europe is investigating Apple for its malicious compliance with the new Digital Markets Act. (The Register)

    And Google.

    And Facebook.

    Do all three companies lie and cheat and steal? Sure.

    Are they all woke beyond possibility of redemption? Well, Google certainly is. Apple while woke as hell notably produces genuinely well-engineered hardware on a regular schedule.

    Do they suck less than the European government even after granting all of that? Absolutely.


Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (230) | Trackbacks (Suck)

March 25, 2024

Monday Overnight Open Thread (3/25/24) White Knuckle Driving Edition

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*****


The Quotes of The Day


Quote I

“Officers recovered over $9,000 worth of stolen merchandise. This demonstrates the ongoing efforts of our department to combat retail theft in our city,” Roseville Police Department


Quote II

“We found that those children who teachers felt had problems with attention, peer relationships and emotional instability did end up earning less in the future, as we expected, but we were surprised to find a strong link between aggressive behaviour at school and higher earnings in later life,” Prof Emilia Del Bono


Quote III

“If you had long terms, for example, they’d have to be long. Why long? Because I don’t think you want someone who’s appointed to the Supreme Court to be thinking about his next job.” Retired SCOTUS Justice Stephen Breyer

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at 10:00 PM | Comments (456) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Budget Deal Just Signed by Biden Contains Ban On Flying Gay Flags at Embassies, and Old Raggedy Joe Biden Is Angry About It

I expect some yelling. Some yelling mixed in with some whispering.

Joe Biden was apparently fooled into signing into law a ban on flying gay pride flags at American embassies, with his administration vowing to fight the measure despite his signature approving it.



As reported by Axios, the ban was included as a provision of the $1.2 trillion spending bill that had been passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate, before being signed into law by Biden on Saturday. Biden's State Department had first authorized the flying of the flags, including the rainbow flag and the "progress" flag featuring colors that represent so-called "transgender" people, as well as black and brown lines, in 2021.



Apparently unaware of the provision's inclusion until after it had been signed, a Biden spokesman issued a statement saying that Biden "believes it was inappropriate to abuse the process that was essential to keep the government open by including this policy targeting LGBTQI+ Americans."

Democrats are angry that Republicans snuck something into a garguantuan 1,000 page must-pas spending bill.

Well, maybe don't write 1000 page spending bills, assholes.

Meanwhile: Time reports that Obama is nervous and had lunch with Biden to tell him that he's f***ing everything up and on the way to a loss.

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TIME reports that Barack Obama has had two private visits with Biden, over lunches, where he has told Biden that changes have to be made to his campaign or Trump will win. Last June, Obama warned Biden that defeating Trump would be harder in 2024. The country is in a Carteresque malaise. Voters are not feeling all the wonderful successes Biden boasts about on the campaign trail. The truth is that 60% of Americans say they are living paycheck to paycheck. No one but the most loyal Biden supporters believe his happy talk about the economy.

Obama advised Biden to move more aggressively to make the race a referendum on Trump. What did Obama think Biden was doing all along? Old Yeller can't deliver a speech or make remarks without trashing Trump and MAGA Republicans. He demonizes Trump and his supporters.

Obama realized over the next six months that Biden didn't get the message. Or, he was simply failing to take Obama's advice. In December, he returned to the White House. Biden invited him to lunch. Obama's message this time was reported to be more urgent. He told Biden that the re-election campaign was behind schedule in building out its field operations. He discouraged Biden from continuing to lean on a small group of White House advisers. Again he told Biden that Trump would win in November if he didn't make changes.

Per CNN, Biden trails by 8 in Michistan.

Former president Donald Trump leads President Joe Biden by 8 points in Michigan, according to a CNN poll released Friday.

The poll shows 50 percent of likely Michigan voters supporting Trump, with only 42 percent supporting Biden. Biden only holds a 35 percent approval rating in the state, while 40 percent of voters view Trump favorably.

Trump's voters are also far more enthusiastic about his candidacy, with 62 percent of likely Trump voters saying it is more of a vote "for Trump" than "against Biden." For Biden, however, these numbers are almost exactly reversed, with only 37 percent describing their vote as being "for Biden" and 63 percent describing it as being "against Trump."

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 06:30 PM | Comments (239) | Trackbacks (Suck)

No Way (x2): Harvard Study Determines That "Disinformation Experts" Are Overwhelmingly Leftists

Because this has been a leftwing information operation all along.

The left wants to censor the right, and to do so, they had to create the rebrand the concept of "disinformation" and then they had to quickly transform a bunch of leftwing Twitter rabble-rousers and gossip-mongers into Credentialed and Officially-Approved-Of "Disinformation Experts."

Then a Consensus of these "experts" -- who, I stress, were just invented in the past five years, precisely so that they could form a "consensus of experts" -- brand rightwing speech "disinformation" and create the predicate for social media companies and the US government itself to suppress it.

That wouldn't work if these "Disinformation Experts" had varied political viewpoints.

So of course the left made sure that only their fellow travelers could be Credentialed Up from Twitter Snitches to Disinformation Experts.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 05:40 PM | Comments (197) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Nelson Peltz Finally Gets Around to Blasting Disney for Its "Woke" Agenda In Filmmaking

He had been dancing around it, trying to let it be the elephant in the room he wasn't speaking of.

I think that's a good strategy, because the minute you breathe a hint that you might be objecting to the left's culture warring, all the good little Marxists will line up to join the culture war.

So I don't know if this was wise.

Perhaps he felt that he wasn't winning the proxy war to get two seats on Disney's board -- and finally have two board members who represent the shareholders, and who aren't just Bob Iger's handpicked cronies -- and felt he had to do something dramatic to shake the proxy race on.

I guess we'll see.

As the Disney board proxy fight nears its deciding day, activist investor Nelson Peltz is taking aim at what he calls the company's "woke" film strategy, particularly as it pertains to Black Panther and The Marvels.

In a recent interview with The Financial Times, Peltz questioned the leadership of Marvel chief Kevin Feige and the larger movie strategy under Disney CEO Bob Iger. Though he said he did not want either leader unseated (Peltz is outwardly campaigning to take the board seats of current members Michael B.G. Froman and Maria Elena Lagomasino), he questioned how long Feige should remain and what the strategy should be moving forward.

"People go to watch a movie or a show to be entertained," Peltz said in the interview. "They don't go to get a message."

"Why do I have to have a Marvel that's all women? Not that I have anything against women, but why do I have to do that? Why can't I have Marvels that are both? Why do I need an all-Black cast?" he later said in the interview.

These comments recall similar anecdotes about former Marvel Entertainment chairman and CEO Ike Perlmutter, who is a friend of Peltz's and a supporter of his proxy fight.

In Iger's 2019 memoir The Ride of a Lifetime, Iger said he had received pushback on his idea to diversify the slate of Marvel movies and stop exclusively featuring characters who were white men. When presenting the idea, Iger wrote that one of the leaders of the Marvel team in New York, run by Perlmutter, told him "female superheroes never drive big box office." But Iger decided to move forward.

And boy did Bob Iger show him!

Is the proxy fight going poorly for Peltz?

Well, he just got a big ally. ISS, a firm that advises shareholders on how to vote during proxy fights, has recommended that Disney shareholders vote the Peltz slate.

In a blow to Walt Disney, activist Nelson Peltz received a powerful endorsement in his battle against the entertainment conglomerate on Thursday, when proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) recommended shareholders elect him to the board.

ISS, whose recommendations can sway hundreds of investors' votes, said Peltz, a large Disney shareholder, could ensure the board does its job well as it tackles questions of CEO succession and strategy at the home of Mickey Mouse.

The recommendation comes as Disney CEO Bob Iger continues to rally support among a high profile cast that included Emerson Collective founder and president Laurene Powell Jobs on Thursday and Star Wars-creator George Lucas earlier this week.

"Dissident nominee Peltz, as a significant shareholder, could be additive to the succession process, providing assurance to other investors that the board is properly engaged this time around," the report seen by Reuters said.

Peltz's Trian Fund Management is vying for two board seats, one for Peltz and the other for former Disney financial chief Jay Rasulo, while another activist firm, Blackwells Capital, is pushing for three board seats.

The fight over who will help guide Disney, valued at $213 billion, is one of the year's most bitter and closely watched board battles, pitting a prominent activist investor, who says he works well with target companies, against a talented media industry CEO who returned to the top job two years ago after the board fired Iger's hand-picked successor.


Peltz and Blackwells said Disney bungled plans for life after Iger, lost its creative spark and failed to properly harness new technology.

At the end of this clip, Jim Cramer mentions some other CEOs who are backing Peltz.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 05:24 PM | Comments (331) | Trackbacks (Suck)

No Way: Complaint Alleges that UWisconsin's "DEI Czar" Is Guilty of Decades of Research Misconduct

Huh, I'm starting to think that DEI is just a grift for people who were kicked out of Rainbow PUSH for ethical violations.


The research misconduct alleged is self-plagiarism for a change. Now, you may say, "You can't plagiarize yourself," and then you might repeat, with no fear of ethical rebuke, "You can't plagiarize yourself."

Which is true.

But he keeps presenting the same research as "new research." Apparently he's Regifted the same freaking "research" five times, counting each regurgitation as a new, separate academic achievement.

Oh and he also strangled a cop in 2011.

The chief diversity officer of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, LaVar Charleston, who also teaches at the university's school of education, has a decades-long track record of research misconduct, according to a complaint filed with the university on Wednesday and a Washington Free Beacon analysis. That misconduct includes presenting old studies as new research, which he has done at least five times over the course of his career.

The complaint, which was filed anonymously, implicates eight of Charleston's publications, many of them coauthored, and accuses him of plagiarizing other scholars as well as duplicating his own work. It comes as the university is already investigating Charleston over a separate complaint filed in January, alleging that a 2014 study by him and his wife--Harvard University's chief diversity officer, Sherri Ann Charleston--is a facsimile of a study he published in 2012.

"This is an extraordinary case of serial misrepresentation and deception," said Peter Wood, the head of the National Association of Scholars and a former associate provost at Boston University. "The closest analogy would be someone who sells the same real estate to five different buyers, all of whom are unaware of the others."

In January, Charleston won a lifetime achievement award for "excellence in higher education." The university trumpeted the award in a press release, praising his "unwavering dedication to creating inclusive environments in academia" and noting his "wealth of academic accolades."

...

"It is academic misconduct to publish essentially the same paper twice with no acknowledgment of the duplication," Alexander Riley, a sociologist at Bucknell University, told the Free Beacon. "It seems fairly clear that Charleston is gaming the system in order to get more on his CV than is merited by the amount of research he has actually done."

...

Each study is framed as a novel survey addressing a gap in the scholarly literature. None cite Charleston's dissertation or indicate that they are drawing on previously published material.

...

Charleston did not respond to a request for comment.

The complaint raises serious questions about how a flagship public university vetted one of its top administrators, whose career has been marked not just by questionable research practices but by criminal conduct.

Shortly after joining UW-Madison as a researcher in 2009, Charleston was charged in 2011 with attempting to strangle a police officer, according to documents obtained by the MacIver Institute, a conservative think tank in Wisconsin. He avoided a conviction through the Deferred Prosecution Program, a local initiative run by the district attorney's office that offers first-time felons the chance to do community service in lieu of jail time and removes their arrest records from public databases.

"Even with a PhD, I'm looked at as a criminal," Charleston said in an interview in 2020. "[I]t has to be because of my color."

Of course.

DEI

Didn't Earn It

Posted by: Just Lily

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 03:19 PM | Comments (321) | Trackbacks (Suck)

MSNBC Hires Democrat-Leaning Romneykin Ronna McDaniel as an Analyst and Chuck Todd Is Triggered

NBC, which also employs Jen Psaki and Rachel Maddow and, well, Chuck Todd, has a strict policy against hiring partisans who lie.

Oh -- and they hired chief RussiaGate conspirator and psyops coordinator John Brennan as a "security and intelligence analyst."


Chuck Todd, former host of NBC's "Meet The Press," publicly criticized NBC News for hiring former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel as an analyst. Todd called for an apology from network bosses, citing McDaniel's credibility issues and the difficult position this puts other NBC journalists in.

Chuck Todd claimed that NBC giving her a contract would somehow change her answers in any interviews of her.

So the media can't hire politicos for fear of somehow altering their answers in future interviews?

Why then is NBC filled with Democrat operatives -- starting with Chuck Todd himself?

Despite the backlash, NBC News currently employs other political figures such as former top Biden White House staffers Jen Psaki and Symone Sanders, as well as ex-RNC chair Michael Steele and former George W. Bush aide Nicolle Wallace. However, Todd did not mention these individuals in his criticism.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 02:10 PM | Comments (352) | Trackbacks (Suck)

You Know That Bizarre Story Biden Told the Special Counsel About a Worker Getting His Penis Burned Off? Yeah, Biden Lied About It.

It wasn't just a random story told by a confused old man. It was that, too, but it wasn't just that.

It was yet another confabulation by a confused old man to brag about himself.

He told the story to indicate that when he was a young (incompetent) lawyer, he fought for the rights of this abused worker. It's a hero origin story.

Trouble is, there's only been one case like that ever reported in legal reporters -- those thick books you see behind lawyers in ambulance-chaser reporters -- and when that case was settled, Biden was still in law school.

It's yet another case of Biden hearing about something and just incorporating it into his ever-expanding self-mythology.

For nearly two decades, President Joe Biden has told a story about why he devoted his life to politics. He repeated the tale, at the risk of facing criminal charges for lying to a federal agent, while speaking to Special Counsel Robert Hur in October 2023.

Fresh out of law school and working as a clerk at a high-powered Wilmington, Delaware, law firm, Biden, in his telling, was tapped to defend a construction company sued by a 23-year-old welder who "lost part of his penis and one of his testicles" to a fire that broke out when he was working inside a chimney at a Delaware City plant. Thanks to Biden's shrewd legal defense on the construction company's behalf, the injured man lost the case.

"I wrote this memo. And son of a b--, it prevailed," Biden told Hur on Oct. 8. "And I looked over at that kid...and I thought, 'son of a b--, I'm in the wrong business, I'm not made for this.'"

Remember that one time in law school when Biden hadn't read the material but gave a 10-minute dissertation on it anyway that caused the class to erupt into spontaneous applause?


Biden said he was so wracked with guilt that he concocted an excuse to avoid a celebratory lunch with one of the firm's named partners and walked into the public defender's office to ask for a job that very day. It's "the only time I ever lied," Biden told Hur on Oct. 8. Thus began, according to a New York Times report on the special counsel interview, "a career that would one day take him to the White House."

But this story is almost certainly a complete work of fiction.

Although Biden did work at a law firm tapped to defend a construction company in a negligence suit like the one he described to Hur, the case concluded in 1968, while Biden was still in law school. And the welder won, walking away with $315,000, more than $2.8 million in 2024 dollars.

Biden, whose 1988 presidential campaign collapsed amid allegations that he had plagiarized speeches and a law school paper, has a long record of embellishments and yarn spinning. Over the years, he has told several stories about himself that don't stand up to scrutiny. Those fibs range from the small and peculiar--he claimed in November 2023 that he was offered a spot on the Naval Academy's football team--to the mendacious, such as his insistence that he never spoke with his son, Hunter Biden, about the latter's foreign business dealings.

He also lied for decades about the death of his first wife. She was killed in a car accident; he constantly claimed the other vehicle in the crash was driven by a drunk -- "someone who'd drank his lunch."

That truck driver got hell for years and years due to Biden's lies.

In fact, the police noted he was not drunk, and the police found that he wasn't at fault. It sounds very much like Biden's wife was at fault.

But having a wife killed by a evil racist trucker who "drank his lunch" is better for the Biden Brand than his stupid wife driving carelessly so into the self-mythology it goes.

There was an episode of Just Shot Me in which Dennis Finch lies profusely about his own origin story. Eventually his lies are discovered. When his co-workers asked him how he could lie so brazenly, he responds: "They're not lies. More like... folklore."

This is the Biden Brand and it has been all of his deceit-filled and filthily-corrupt life

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 01:10 PM | Comments (329) | Trackbacks (Suck)

NY Court of Appeals Lowers Amout of Bond Trump Must Post to Appeal from $454 Million to $175 Million

Trump had moved for the court to accept a $100 million bond, which he said he could afford. Of course the court could not do what Trump asked; they have to punish him and treat him like a rapist.

Hopefully Trump can come up with the extra $75 million to get this appeal started.

Once he exhausts NY state appeals, I think he can then appeal to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals (which is liberal) and then the Supreme Court.

The Court of Appeals also gave him an additional 10 days to come up with the money.

Trump New York fraud bond cut to $175 million in appeal from $454 million


A New York appeals court paused for 10 days a massive civil fraud judgment against former President Donald Trump.

The court also and sharply reduced the bond he would have to post to obtain a longer stay to $175 million.

Trump's lawyers in a court filing last week said that it was "impossible" for him to get an appeal bond of $454 million to satisfy the judgment in that amount, having approached more than 30 surety companies without success.

I'm sure that the order banning him from doing business in New York factored in here -- as it was intended to.

A New York appeals court on Monday paused for 10 days a massive civil fraud judgment against former President Donald Trump, and sharply reduced to $175 million the bond amount he would have to post to obtain a longer stay of that damage award.

The ruling came the same day that New York Attorney General Letitia James would have been allowed to start seizing Trump's real estate and bank accounts to satisfy the $454 million-and-rising business fraud judgment in the case.

The order by the five-judge appeals courts panel prevents James from doing so, for now.

Trump's lawyers, who had previously suggested that the bond be set at $100 million, in a court filing last week said that it was "impossible" for him to get an appeal bond of $454 million after having approached more than 30 surety companies without success.

Trump's two adults sons, his company the Trump Organization and two executives who all were co-defendants in the case owe a total of about $10 million in additional damages.

None of the surety companies were willing to write a bond without Trump posting cash or some other liquid asset, the attorneys wrote in their filing with the Manhattan Supreme Court appellate division panel.

Because of the size of the fraud judgment, the companies insisted that Trump show "cash reserves approaching $1 billion," according to his lawyers. But neither Trump nor the Trump Organization company has that amount of cash on hand, the filing said.

The criminal James and the criminal Engeron purposely made the fine so large that only someone with one billion in cash could even file an appeal to challenge their corrupt orders.

This is all deliberate.


Jonathan Turley
@JonathanTurley

The NY Court of Appeals has finally intervened to offer a modicum of restraint in the Trump case. It has A has given former President Donald Trump 10 more days to post a bond of $175 million. That is likely doable and avoids the cliff drop set up by Engoron and James.

...Both Engoron and James would have gained greater credibility if they recognized the obvious unreasonableness of the original demand. While still a massive bond lift, it should be attainable for Trump to allow for the review of Engoron's controversial ruling...


...For those looking for a thrill kill moment at midnight, this will be a disappointment. Hopefully, the appellate court will restore a degree of objectivity and restraint missing on the trial level...

...The true sunk costs of this controversy are likely born by Democrats who are seen as engaging in raw lawfare. Turning the New York legal system into an inescapable political vortex is repellent for many citizens and companies alike.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 12:10 PM | Comments (338) | Trackbacks (Suck)

THE MORNING RANT: A Few Days After Wipeout of Anti-Voucher Republicans in Texas Primaries, Georgia Republicans Suddenly Pass School Choice

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Local elections are much more important for conservatives than the prominent races for the U.S. Senate and the White House. Not only can real change be brought about by winning state and local races, but local election results can also have an impact on Republicans in other states who watch election results and see how the wind is blowing.

Earlier this month, Texas voters flushed out a significant number of “moderate” Republicans who could always be counted on to align with Democrats on the biggest votes, most prominently school choice. Just a few days later, the Georgia legislature finally passed meaningful school choice legislation. There was correlation between these two events.

This Georgia victory didn’t even require incumbents to be ousted from office. Instead, a group of Georgia Republican House members flipped their position on school choice, and voted for the same legislation they had reliably voted against in the past. They saw what happened in Texas and decided it was better to betray the teachers’ lobby than to be voted out of office in the next Republican primary.

First, let’s take a look at Texas, where the Democrat-RINO alliance in the House not only defeated school choice, but had also aligned to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton. The impeachment trial activated the conservative base, causing moderate and liberal Republican Senators to go into self-preservation mode and acquit Paxton.

But for the anti-school choice, anti-Paxton, anti-conservative Republicans in the House, they had already sealed their fates. They were wiped out in the Republican primary on March 5.

“‘Disastrous’: A shaken Texas House prepares for rightward shift after record GOP primary upsets” [Houston Chronicle – 3/12/2024]

Voters were clear, one Republican strategist said: No more “betraying conservative principles or collaborating with Democrats.”

When Shelley Luther announced she was challenging state Rep. Reggie Smith in this year’s Republican primary, some party members dismissed it as a quixotic bid from the former Dallas salon owner, who rose to prominence in 2020 for defying a pandemic lockdown order.

But despite being outspent more than 2-to-1, Luther scored an upset win over Smith in Tuesday’s primary, virtually ensuring she will represent the bright red North Texas district when lawmakers reconvene in January. Luther is among a crop of firebrand Republican candidates likely headed to the Texas House next year to replace the record nine GOP incumbents ousted on Tuesday.

There are still a few more Democrat-aligned “Republicans” who did not win a majority of votes in their primaries, so they are headed to runoffs. These include House Speaker Dade Phelan, who has persistently worked to kill school choice legislation. The great flushing of faux-conservative Republicans in the Texas legislature is not yet over.

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM | Comments (256) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Mid-Morning Art Thread

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The Prophet Isaiah

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni

Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM | Comments (319) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Morning Report — 3/25/24

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Good morning, kids. Late on Friday, ISIS or an ISIS offshoot went on a sadistic rampage inside a suburban Moscow concert hall and slaughtered 137 people. Meh, screw the ISIS/ISIS offshoot descriptors and call them for who and what they are: MUSLIMS. And not extremists, either. The cold, hard truth is that those who slaughter "infidels" are doing what is written in the koran and hadith and preached every damned day, not in some isolated cave in Tora Bora, but in every mosque around the world. As has been done for the past 1,500-plus years.

To not recognize that is to be ignorant and in far too may cases willfully so. I've seen a link somewhere in one of the more trustworthy sites which no doubt is going to be a very convenient meme-du-jour that the propaganda house organs of the anti-Putin forces are sure to be pimping, in that Putin himself orchestrated the slaughter of his own citizens as a false flag operation in order to deflect whatever pressure is on him vis a vis Ukraine, thereby giving him cover to take off the gloves as it were, or more likely, to bamboozle us rubes to finally open our eyes and let us take Putin out.

Is that possible? I suppose perhaps that it is. Is it likely? I very much doubt it. But given the players involved and the status of the RISK board, this article certainly caught my eye:

So who really committed the terrorist attack on a Russian theatre full of people last week, killing some 133 people? ISIS has claimed "credit" for the attack with its operatives, supposedly Tajik-speaking Central Asians. Whoever they are, they are small fry, well-trained in ISIS attack techniques, but obviously with someone bigger backing them.

There are plenty of others who may have been, not the least of whom is Vladimir Putin, who has been implicated in other terror attacks done for political purposes in his past. . .

. . . Now a new name emerges, none other than pro-Ukraine warmongering Democrat State Department operative Victoria Nuland, who left office for greener, swampier pastures a few weeks ago.

According to Mark Wauck, writing on his Substack:

In the previous post I referenced Victoria Nuland’s recent claim that “Putin will face some nasty surprises on the battlefield”—that’s the actual direct quote. But she also refers in that exact context to “asymmetric warfare.” In the context of her remarks she’s clearly not referring to bombs and missiles and artillery shells. “Asymmetric” is a very specific word, a word intended to distinguish that type of warfare from “symmetric” warfare: shell for shell, bomb for bomb, missile for missile. The next tweet contains the 24 second clip of Nuland making that statement, in which she touts Ukraine’s “asymmetric warfare” capabilities. Yeah, I thought we just gave the Ukro-Nazis money and munitions? How does Nuland know about the Ukrainian “asymmetric warfare that has been most effective"?

. . . Maybe it's all a coincidence, of course, that she bragged about "nasty things" and "asymmetric warfare." Maybe she meant something else, some different "nasty things." And yes, we should consider that possible because it's natural for people like us to suspect her, given that she is so loathesome. As Eric Hoffer once noted, intense haters are the worst forecasters. Because, actually, there are a lot of potential perpetrators. Knowing which one really did it (or more important, who Putin thinks did it) tells us a lot about whether we can expect retaliation here in the states or not, as well as an escalation of the Ukraine war we are mired in. That's why it's important to know. . .

. . . But the Nuland angle is interesting, too, as she's fanatically pro-Ukraine and anti-Putin, and has engaged in warmongering, coups, and other stunning manipulations in the past, and often bragged about it, too.

We don't know what she is doing now that she is out of office but it seems she's unlikely to be suddenly uninterested in the topic now that she's off the government payroll because for the swamp with all its consultant contracts, that could be irrelevant.

It's worth watching what happens now, because it could draw the U.S. into a deeper conflict with Putin, which seems like the kind of thing she would like. That's the main thing to watch for.

I editorialized on this disgusting Foggy Bottom bottom dweller last week on the occasion of her supposed "retirement"

And as a reminder, besides the color revolution that brought down the legitimately elected and Putin-friendly Ukrainian government back in 2014, and lest we forget helped rig/sabotage the 2020 American election that most certainly would have re-elected Donald Trump, Nuland was up to her thick, lipid-engorged rhinoceros-diameter neck in the bloody attack on our embassy in Benghazi, which was a surreptitious Obama/Hilary/McCain operation to run guns to, wait for it, ISIS in Syria in an effort to help them depose Bashar Assad, who remains tied to the hip to, wait for it, Vladimir Putin.

But all that is crazy talk, right?! Look, I have no love for Vladimir Putin. He's a thug who most certainly has his opponents in politics and the press taken out should he perceive them as a threat to his hold on power, and an ex-KGB agent who wept at the fall of the Berlin Wall. Ironically, Nuland and her ilk wept as hard if not harder since Ronald Reagan ended the Cold War grift. But now the current grift is to keep America and the west engaged in endless and pointless wars. Only this time, they're insane enough to actually itch for going toe-to-toe with a nuclear armed opponent. The blathering from French president Macron should scare the shit out of you.

It's yet another example of Munchausen's by Progressivism: create the problem in the first place by isolating, alienating and lying to Russia in particular vis a vis the expansion of NATO, force them (right or wrong) into creating another bloody chapter in an ongoing bloody history with its neighbor, cast the blame entirely on them and then agitate for military conflict that has zero strategic significance on our national security, yet becomes the perfect distraction for the domestic policy disasters at home during an election year. The painting of Donald Trump as somehow an ally and/or stooge of Putin is an added bonus, of course.

While all that is happening, as similar foreign policy insanity helped touch off the bloodiest mass slaughter of Jews since the Second World War, Victoria Nuland and her ilk are abandoning Israel, one of our staunchest allies and arguably the nation that as of right now is the absolute moral authority in the world (America rapidly becoming a banana republic/kleptocracy if not one already) because Jews won't deliver Michigan's and Minnesota's electoral college votes on a silver platter.

That brings us to two other stories involving the preternaturally stupid Kamala Harris. How dumb is Harris?

After delivering remarks in the territory’s capital of San Juan, Harris stopped by the neighborhood of Santurce to tour the Goyoco community center and hear from community leaders, Fox News reports. 

A group of protesters holding signs with messages, including “Kamala Harris war criminal,” and calling the United States “genocidal” met the [spurious] vice president outside of the community center, along with a band playing music. Video captured the hilarious moment when Harris went from smiling and clapping along to dropping her hands when a staffer next to her reportedly translated the Spanish lyrics.

“We want to know, Kamala, what did you come here for? We want to know what you think of the colony,” an activist sang, accompanied by percussion instruments. The song also included the lyrics “Long live Free Palestine and Haiti too,” according to Puerto Rican journalist Istra Pacheco.

You can think of it two ways:

Either "Please clap!"

Or, as I do: "Please. Clap."

Syphilis is a hell of a drug, I guess. In any case, you'd think she'd be the first to tell them that she's doing everything she can to help slaughter every Jew in Israel and America. Well, she is:

In a wide-ranging new interview with ABC News, [fake] Vice President Kamala Harris suggested there could be “consequences” for Israel if it moves ahead with a planned invasion of Rafah in its pursuit of Hamas fighters.… [Senior congressional correspondent Rachel] Scott followed up: “Are you ruling out that there would be consequences from the United States?” “I am ruling out nothing,” Harris replied.

The IDF is literally on the verge of destroying or at least seriously neutralizing Hamas, and doing so contra the blood libels with the most incredible (and frankly unwarranted) concern for supposedly "innocent" civilians, who in the main are neither. And yet, the DC junta is demanding they stop. What possible "consequences" is this fool threatening? American troops firing on the IDF in Gaza? Bitch, please. Your red lines are worthless. Then again, red lines against our actual enemies is one thing. Against our allies? Yikes.

Meanwhile, speaking of the good guys, Harris is firing up the base over here. I assume she thinks it's her base but this garbage ought to fire up ours big time:

The bad news is that the Biden [junta] is ramping up its gun confiscation agenda in the form of a whopping $750 million dedicated to establishing so-called “red flag laws” in every state in the Union. The good news is that epically incompetent Vice President Kamala Harris seems to have been put in charge of the push. . . .

Red flag laws are simply designed to allow communities a vehicle through which they can share, and have somewhere to share it, information about the concern about the potential danger or the crying out for help of an individual and then let’s give it to them before tragedy occurs.

Red flag laws sound reasonable, don’t they, considering how often gun violence is preceded by the perpetrators dropping blatant warning signs of murderous intent (signs which the FBI and DHS then ignore)? But make no mistake – red flag laws, which enable authorities to disarm someone who has been deemed a potential gun violence threat by family members or others in close contact with the “suspect,” will be used to target political enemies of the Biden administration. Under the guise (as usual) of keeping Americans safe, the government will exploit these laws in totalitarian ways.

Own a MAGA hat or a Gadsden flag? The Biden administration sees you as a potential danger. Complain about woke schoolroom indoctrination at school board meetings? The FBI already considers you a domestic terrorist. Post support on social media for the J6 political prisoners? You’re a threat to American “democracy” (i.e. Democrat one-party hegemony). Does anyone doubt that the government will use red flag laws to neuter such “threats”?

Kamala’s second proposal urges state legislatures not only to enact red flag laws but to use federal funding to enforce existing laws to disarm those who might harm themselves or others. The Biden administration says 21 states have enacted red flag laws, but only six have obtained federal funding to implement them. The [junta] wants all 50 states to enact these laws and take advantage of federal funding.

Remember when then-candidate Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke said the quiet part out loud during a 2019 presidential debate? “Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47,” he declared, accidentally giving away the left’s game. The usual dismissive response from the left to conservative concerns about endangered gun rights is some variation of, “We’re not coming for your precious guns, you right-wing conspiracy nuts!”

. . . The woke Left’s fever dream is to ditch the Second Amendment and then move to disarm these law-abiding citizens altogether – or failing that, to make gun ownership so financially, legally, and socially onerous for the average American that patriotic gun owners who believe in the right and the necessity of bearing arms to resist tyranny become a diminished minority and a de-fanged threat to government control.

This is not conspiracy-mongering; this is commonsense realism. . .

. . . Indeed. On the hopeful side, Kamala botches every crisis she is tasked with managing by puppet President Joe Biden, from the border crisis to protecting abortion rights and now to leading the first-ever federal office of gun violence prevention. She is out of her depth on every single political issue; with luck – and with line-in-the-sand resistance from American patriots – her new mission to clamp down on law-abiding gun owners will come to the same dead end as the others.

One hopes that that's not wish-casting. When it comes to America's enemies, the Democrat-Leftists are incompetent and/or in league with them. When it comes to their enemies, they are all too good at stomping their jackboot on our collective throats.

By the way, I have no idea what Russia's laws are vis a vis citizens possessing firearms, concealed carry etc. But if at least one or more Russians were carrying, perhaps the slaughter might have been mitigated or not have happened at all.

Happy Purim. Eat a hamantaschen.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 07:48 AM | Comments (319) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily News Stuff 25 March 2024

Quick one today because I'm a brown paper package tied up with string.

Tech News


Disclaimer: Where is Haruhi Suzumiya when her world needs her?

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:04 AM | Comments (108) | Trackbacks (Suck)

March 24, 2024

Sunday Overnight Open Thread (3/24/24) Not Feeling Kinder & Gentler Edition

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*****


The Quotes of The Day


Quote I

'I think an expression that we all know—don’t pee in your Cheerios—well, (the mayor) kind of peed in his Cheerios right there, and definitely I’m not going to do anything to benefit that community,' Kathy Cargill, the wife of James R. Cargill II, the patriarch of the fourth-richest family in the US


Quote II

“We want to thank all of the fans for their friendship and love for the statue,” Nippon Professional Baseball's Hanshin Tigers tean statement

Quote III

Everything eventually ends, but not all things must end in failure. In the West we have a choice to uphold our moral vantage point, or let it crumble away. But in doing so we should recognise that every lowering of standards to appease extremist Arabs and Muslims is racism dressed up as compassion and disdain masquerading as kindness. It is moral confusion and it is dangerous — suicidally so.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali


*****


What drew me to be a Cob. Here are just a few of the reasons: Funny, witty, insightful and honest comments. And it is time for:


The Comments of The Week


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Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at 10:03 PM | Comments (332) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Gun Thread: Third Edition of March Edition!

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Howdy, Y'all! Welcome to the wondrously fabulous Gun Thread! As always, I want to thank all of our regulars for being here week in and week out, and also offer a bigly Gun Thread welcome to any newcomers who may be joining us tonight. Howdy and thank you for stopping by! I hope you find our wacky conversation on the subject of guns 'n shooting both enjoyable and informative. You are always welcome to lurk in the shadows of shame, but I'd like to invite you to jump into the conversation, say howdy, and tell us what kind of shooting you like to do!

Holy Shitballs! How in the ever-loving Hell did it get to be the third edition of March?

With that, step into the dojo and let's get to the gun stuff below, shall we?

Posted by: Weasel at 07:00 PM | Comments (381) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Food Thread: Ego? In The Kitchen?

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Well...hell.

No, that's not a product of the vast kitchens at Chez Dildo. That's my niece's challah, and it was excellent! And I'm jealous. Especially because she is new to the whole baking game! And that means I have to start baking challah! Yes, I have an ego when it comes to that sort of thing.

Posted by: CBD at 04:00 PM | Comments (231) | Trackbacks (Suck)

First-World Problems...

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Looks normal...right? That's the bit holder on a drill-driver I used to loosen the bolt assembly screw on a Savage rifle. The damned thing is tightened at the factory to a ridiculous degree, and it's impossible to remove by hand. 1/4" hex in the bit holder and zip...zip...zip. Nice and easy, and I can now clean the bolt assembly easily.

Except...The bit holder won't come out! That collar slides up and down just fine...locking and unlocking the holder, but it is jammed so tight that I cannot remove it. Those streaks on the bit holder are from the teeth of my vice!

Yes, we'll just have to sell the house and move.

Posted by: CBD at 02:00 PM | Comments (180) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Whose Side Are We On? Israel...Or Hamas?

The paradigm of Israeli security changed on October 7th, and the Israeli body politic seems united in its rejection of any accommodation with the bloodthirsty savages of Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, Hezbollah, and by extension...Iran.

Israel spent 75 years making concession after concession to these 7th century animals, and nothing worked. Even the acceptance of a certain low level of terrorist activity -- an insane policy to begin with -- wasn't enough.

It seems Israel has had its fill with the brutal murderers on their borders and is now willing to buck the world and destroy them. Except...America has decided that the destruction of Hamas is too much to bear, because Israel's unbelievable efforts to minimize civilian casualties isn't enough. Apparently, any civilian casualties are too much now!

Netanyahu Tells Blinken That Israel Will Launch Rafah Offensive 'Alone' If US Opposes

Mr. Blinken met with the Israeli leader in Tel Aviv on March 22 and urged Israel not to invade Rafah, saying that such an action “risks wreaking greater havoc.”

“As we’ve said, though, a major military ground operation in Rafah is not the way to do it,” Mr. Blinken said at a press conference in Tel Aviv.

“It risks killing more civilians, it risks wreaking greater havoc with the provision of humanitarian assistance, it risks further isolating Israel around the world and jeopardizing its long-term security and standing.”


Yes; civilians die in wars. That is the nature of conflicts, and it is impossible to prevent. But the extent to which Israel has gone to minimize casualties is almost unbelievable...suffering many more deaths and casualties simply to conduct the most humane campaign against Hamas. But that is unacceptable to the Biden/Obama junta, whose goal seems to be to hamstring Israel and force a ceasefire and eventually a "two state solution," an idea that is laughable in light of recent events.

Even worse, America has partnered with Qatar to manage and finance the absolutely ridiculous pier being built in Gaza. Yup...the same Qatar that has financed Hamas, and is therefore responsible for the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust.

For better or worse, Israel is the tip of the Western spear in the fight against Islamism's expansionism. To limit Israel's fight against it is to threaten the safety and security of the West. But it seems as though the Biden/Obama junta is not interested in protecting the West (and America), but rather its goal seems to be to embolden Iran and its terrorist proxies. How else can one interpret its actions?

If this sounds like a broken record, that's because it is! Until America and the West admit that we are in an existential battle with Islam, we will continue to dither and vacillate and die, and Islam will continue its march into Western capitals, where their demand is simple...convert, submit, or die.

We've beaten them before, and we can beat them again, but not before we admit that it is a war!

Posted by: CBD at 12:00 PM | Comments (243) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Sunday Morning Book Thread - 03-24-2024 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]


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Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading. Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...(Does it really make less disturbing if the heads are Lego instead of human? Think about it...)

So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM | Comments (291) | Trackbacks (Suck)

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