Mark Zuckerberg Admits Biden-Harris Administration Pressured Him to Censor Dissenters on Covid and Hunter's Laptop; Admission Directly Contracits DHS Sec. Mayorkas' Claim He Never Asked Social Media Companies to Censor Anything

Someone needs to go to jail.

And by "someone" I mean a lot of people.

Mark Zuckerberg says he regrets that Meta bowed to Biden administration pressure to censor content, saying in a letter that the interference was "wrong" and he plans to push back if it happens again.

Meta's CEO aired his grievances in a letter Monday to the House Judiciary Committee in response to its investigation into content moderation on online platforms. Zuckerberg detailed how senior administration officials leaned on the company to censor certain posts about Covid-19, including humor and satire, and "expressed a lot of frustration" when the social media platform resisted.

"I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it," Zuckerberg wrote. "I feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards due to pressure from any Administration in either direction -- and we're ready to push back if something like this happens again."

Zuckerberg also expressed regret for essentially hiding content related to coverage by the New York Post about Hunter Biden ahead of the 2020 election that the FBI warned may have been rooted in a Russian disinformation operation.

"It's since been made clear that the reporting was not Russian disinformation, and in retrospect, we shouldn't have demoted the story," he wrote.

The Biden-Harris White House doubled down on censorship:

The White House issued a statement defending the administration's approach to Covid-19 information.

"When confronted with a deadly pandemic, this Administration encouraged responsible actions to protect public health and safety," the statement said. "Our position has been clear and consistent: we believe tech companies and other private actors should take into account the effects their actions have on the American people, while making independent choices about the information they present."

The Biden-Harris White House has a problem: They have repeatedly sent out their cabinet secretaries and other high-ranking officials to perjure themselves before Congress and claim they "never" pressured social media companies to censor anything:

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 12:12 PM | Comments (377) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Morning Rant: Minimalist Edition

Ukraine's border war with Russia is a small conflict. No matter what the hysterics and the military/industrial complex grifters say about it, the odds of it expanding into the rest of Europe are low. Russia has demonstrated its military limitations in a conventional conflict by being unable to achieve its modest goals in Ukraine after 900 days of operations.

If the evaluations of the various European countries that are much closer to that conflict than America were suggestive of an expansion into central Europe, there would be a much more energetic push, including troops on the ground and the use of European air power. It is telling that there is a lot of talk, mostly pushing NATO (that means America) to do more, but absent French and German troops on the front lines, that is political blather designed to maximize American participation.

But...many people see the conflict as indicative of the future of warfare, with cheap commercial drones repurposed as surprisingly effective weapons of war, and the battle space that was expected to be overwhelmed by high tech missiles and stealth aircraft are instead being controlled by counter measures that are surprisingly effective.

But they are still churning through those weapons at a startling rate, in addition to the incredible expenditure of low-tech artillery shells and plain old rifle ammo.

And as Kurt Schlichter observes, In post-industrial America, we can't build those weapons fast enough to supply our own forces in the event of a major conflict. Add in the typical stupidity of our procurement process, the refocusing of our military on more important things like what shade of red pumps goes with BDUs, and the resupply of Ukraine and Israel without a robust system to replace that weaponry, and we are in a bit of a pickle.

What Is Happening in the Ukraine War Should Scare the Hell Out of Us

Here’s what no one talks about because it’s not exciting or cool – America fights with logistics. We overwhelm the enemy with stuff, including stuff that goes “Boom!” In the Gulf War, we moved a city to the middle of the desert, then moved it forward in an attack. But we can’t do that today. Our military-industrial base has withered. The arsenal of democracy has become the gun-safe of democracy. We cannot just spin up to rearm once the next war – which is coming – starts. That goes for artillery tubes, tanks, planes, and ships – the Chinese Navy is now bigger than ours and growing exponentially faster. Maybe their stuff is not as good as ours ship-to-ship – though with the Chinese spies here in America running rampant stealing our secrets because the FBI is busy arresting grandmas for praying at abortion mills, their ships probably are our ships – but the enemy has something we do not have. It’s “quantity.”

The fighting in Ukraine diverges massively from how we train to fight. Look at the drone factor. Both the Russians and the Ukrainians are using drones as precision weapons – the web is full of videos of drones taking out tanks, fortifications, and individual soldiers. Our enemies know about it. Hamas used drones to take ou[t] IDF defenses on October 7th. Our bases in the Middle East are getting hit with cheap drones; we have taken dead and wounded from them. We’re not droning up like the enemy; we’re not prepared to defend against the swarms of them that are coming.

The Ukrainian and Russians are innovating, adapting, and improvising, finding new solutions to new problems. Our ossified military, which once relied on American ingenuity to win, cannot do that. At the procurement level, our methods of buying new weapons are guaranteed to provide the wrong system for too much money far too late. At the soldier level, innovation will be discouraged by a risk-averse officer corps with warfighting as its last priority. Do you think US troops are going to be able to obtain a bunch of cheap drones and make them into tank killers themselves without going through some arduous process? They innovated in Ukraine, though. Our future foe will be nimble, agile, and run circles around our bureaucracy.

Read the whole thing...it is excellent and sobering.

The counter-argument is that what Schlichter describes has always been the status quo before America's wars. And that is correct. Sclerotic and rigid officers and civilian management of our armed forces is typical, but are quickly retired and revamped and refocused as we are blooded. But the logistics time line in modern warfare is measured in years, not weeks. Spooling up to build 300,000 warplanes in World War II took us a short time. Spooling up nonexistent industries to build incredibly complex modern weaponry will take far longer, and even basic stuff like artillery shells and small-arms ammunition will be problematic. And those officers? Where are we going to find the good ones to replace the lipstick-wearing cross-dressers?

The reality is that we are already far behind, and a Harris/Walz/Obama administration will be the final nail in the coffin of American influence in the Pacific, and very possibly everywhere else!

[Crossposted at CutJibNewsletter]

Posted by: CBD at 11:00 AM | Comments (297) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Mid-Morning Art Thread

Cottage Children
Thomas Gainsborough

Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM | Comments (328) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Morning Report — 8/27/24

Good morning kids. Over a few months now, leading up to RFK Jr's announcement of withdrawing from the race and then his endorsement of Donald Ttrump, much has been written about what it means not just in terms of the election but what it says about a diehard Democrat and hardcore liberal (if not leftist) especially given his lineage and what the Kennedy name means to generational Democrat voters.

Had he just withdrawn, his Democrat Left bona fides would have remained intact. But to endorse Trump as well as serve as a hard to ignore megaphone to present ideas and arguments that run contra to Democrat dogma and propaganda in their eyes is an unforgivable sin, to say the least. But does the name Kennedy still carry enough weight and momentum of history/mythology to crack the thick skulls of today's average Democrat?

Yet on top of this, remember that the Democrats have spent much time and effort in trying to sabotage the candidacies of two other notable independent candidates, Cornel West and. . . Jill Stein. And compared to RFK Jr., the both of them make him look like Barry Goldwater in comparison! It looks as if both West and Stein are going to remain on the ballots in the two crucial swing states of Michigan and Wisconsin respectively. Perhaps this is one reason why the Harris and Biden as well as the party openly cheered on the anti-Semites and now are going full Soviet takeover of the economy; to appease their insane base into not seeking alternatives like West or Stein, or RFK.

I cannot see Stein or West openly blasting the Democrat Party for attempting to derail their campaigns, let alone the anti-Semitism (Stein proudly wears the terror towel in public!), and all the other criminality that RFK has railed against, and certainly not endorsing Trump. If the Democrat Party is not now openly bust-out anti-American and not just nod and a wink on the sly to fool the rubes in flyover country, it will be very soon now. And both Stein and West know it, so they are biding their time, Within our lifetimes, they may very well be mainstream Democrats. Meh, between Bernie Sanders and Bro-Fo Omar, they are. Cynthia McKinney's timing was off by a few decades, I guess.

As I've stated a few times, I cannot read RFK Jr's mind nor know what's in his heart, but to go against his own family's history and mythology to me is kind of a big deal, electorally in the short term and hopefully culturally in the long run.

And for whatever it's worth, Harris' old nemesis Tulsi Gabbard has now endorsed Trump.

But with all that said, the story that really underscores the state of play in this nation is not neessarily who endorsed Trump, but see who endorses Harris/Walz?

Hundreds of former aides who served under Republican lawmakers endorsed Democrat presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, stating that “another four years” of a Trump administration would “hurt real, everyday” Americans.

In a letter that USA Today obtained, a group of more than 200 former aides for former President George W. Bush, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), and former Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) write that they are reuniting and joining with former staffers for former President George H.W. Bush to endorse Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D).

“We reunite today, joined by new George H.W. Bush alumni, to reinforce our 2020 statements and, for the first time, jointly declare that we’re voting for Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz this November,” the letter states. . .

. . . Among other people who have also issued support for Harris is former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger. Kinzinger spoke at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) and noted that the Republican Party was “no longer conservative.”

War-mongers, grifters and frauds the lot of them, who made fortunes out of pretending to oppose the dismantling of our constitutional order in service to creating a massive, centralized, oppressive all powerful bureaucracy.

Bitterly ironic that on the third anniversary of the Biden Afghanistan bug-out, which left 3,000 Americans butchered for no good reason in Afghanistan and Iraq (hello Dubya!), these same frauds who are itching to see more of our blood and treasure wasted in Ukraine, among other places have the gall to do this.

Trump warned them all that he was going to drain the swamp, and of course they were not going to allow that. In stark contrast was his paying respects at Arlington Cemetery to the 13 servicemen killed in an Islamikaze suicide bombing at the Kabul Airport. While Sponge-Brain Shits-Pants, Harris and Walz stayed away. and the usual suspects called Trump's genuine compassion a political stunt.

Warts, brian worms and all, I'll take RFK Jr. any day of the week over the likes of the human vermin from the Bush/Romney/McCain camps.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 06:23 AM | Comments (498) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 27 August 2024

Top Story

• If you play games on Windows and have a new system using a Ryzen 9000 chip you're not going to want to miss the Windows 11 24H2 update. (WCCFTech)
  
  No, seriously. It's an average of 11% faster across a broad range of games, and up to 35% in the case of Gears 5.
  
  This is great news if you just got a new AMD system and were disappointed with the performance gains over the previous generation.
  
  If you have a previous generation Ryzen 7000 (or 8000) system, unfortunately it only brings... An average of 10% better performance and a peak of 32% in Gears 5 again.
  
  Reportedly it also provides better performance on Ryzen 5000, though Hardware Unboxed hasn't had time to run all those tests yet.
  
  What doesn't gain huge performance benefits from this update is anything running on chips from Intel... Except for some reason Gears 5 again, where the 14600K showed a 25% performance gain.
  
  It's not clear exactly what's been going on, because this suggests that Windows has been inadvertently tanking AMD performance for years. The update was focused on the new branch prediction features in Zen 5, but somehow it improved the prior two Zen generations as well.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (75) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Monday Overnight Open Thread (8/26/24)

*****

The Quotes of The Day

Quote I

“The deal not only provides funding to support hundreds of new journalists but helps rebuild a robust and dynamic California press corps for years to come, reinforcing the vital role of journalism in our democracy,” Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA)
Gubmint run news? Most excellent. Just as in Gubmint skools.

Quote II

“I’m going to fucking vote for her anyways, no matter what she says in a stupid fucking interview … so don’t fuck shit up.” filmmaker Quentin Tarantino

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at 09:54 PM | Comments (412) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Birds Gone Bad Cafe

This horse looks like he spent the morning putting up sh3lv3s.

Some days you just have to toss a duck.

Pandas are the true apex predators of the animal world. Pandas are also known to be highly agile and aware of their surroundings.

When a sheepdog goes on Undercover Boss. It's hard to spot him. He's there, but don't expect him to jump out at you. Hint: He's there about halfway through the clip.

This dog doesn't blend in so well.

Sitting like a princess.

Dogs are concerned about another dog having nightmares.

Enjoying Sunday afternoon.

Good news: We're going for a ride. Bad news: you have to dress like Mama Cass in 1966.

They finally ran a DNA test on their mutt. Good news, it's 70% werewolf. You usually have to pay thousands of dollars for a good werewolf breed!

Inter-species spooning.

Best surprise gift ever.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 07:12 PM | Comments (404) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Trump Attends a Memorial for the 13 Servicemen Killed in Biden's Disastrous Bug-Out; Biden and Acting President Harris Skip It

Not one member of Biden's staff was fired or even demoted over the disaster that was our chaotic, deadly exit from Afghanistan.

Trump vows he'll do the firing that Biden was too craven to do.

(Because the military would say, properly, that they did just what Biden and Harris demanded in the way they demanded it be done.)

DETROIT -- Former President Donald Trump told a National Guard Association conference Monday that he would can every senior military and diplomatic official involved in the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal fiasco -- hours after paying tribute to 13 service members who died in an ISIS attack during the botched bugout.

On a day in which the 78-year-old hammered the Biden-Harris administration over the removal of US troops and the subsequent reconquest of Afghanistan by the Taliban, Trump told an audience of part-time soldiers that voters "are going to fire Kamala and Joe on Nov. 5, we hope."

"And when I take office we will ask for the resignations of every single official," the Republican nominee added. "We'll get the resignations of every single senior official who touched the Afghanistan calamity, to be on my desk at noon on Inauguration Day.

"You know, you have to fire people. You have to fire people when they do a bad job," Trump added. "You got to fire them like on 'The Apprentice' ... You did a lousy job. You did a terrible, terrible disservice to our country. You get fired when that happens."

The service members and nearly 200 Afghans perished on Aug. 26, 2021 when ISIS-K suicide bomber Abdul Rahman al-Logari detonated an explosive vest outside Hamid Karzai International Airport's Abbey Gate -- the crowning catastrophe on a rushed evacuation that left hundreds of US citizens and Afghan allies behind to face a brutal Islamic fundamentalist regime.

No military or other government official is known to have lost their jobs over the disaster, even though a House Republican-led panel has heard testimony that President Biden ignored the advice of diplomats by insisting the pullout be completed ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack.

In June of last year, a State Department report found officials were not prepared to process more than 125,000 evacuees at once because diplomatic personnel were directed to "continue embassy operations ... in the belief that the security situation would not deteriorate substantially in Kabul for several months at the earliest."

"Nobody ever gets fired in this administration," Trump complained. "It's amazing all the bad things that have happened. Nobody ever gets fired. Problem is, when you fire somebody, they always end up writing a book about you. I've had more books written about me. I fire a lot of people when they don't do a good job."

...

"We will never forget those brave warriors who made the supreme sacrifice for our country," the former president said, adding that "we will honor their memory by restoring a government that puts the American people first."

"The humiliation in Afghanistan set off the collapse of American credibility and respect all around the world," added Trump. "Our country will never be safe again until we have fired those responsible for this disaster."

Despite Biden-Harris lies about this bloody disaster being an "orderly" withdrawal, leaked emails show that the Administration knew it was a bloodbath from the start.

The Pentagon's chief spokesman turned White House spokesman John Kirby, has consistently claimed that the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan was not chaotic, but newly obtained emails reveal that he was acutely aware of the escalating chaos during the operation. These documents, released through a Freedom of Information Act request, show a stark contrast between the Biden administration's public narrative and the reality on the ground.

Key Details:

John Kirby, then-Pentagon spokesman, publicly downplayed the chaos during the Afghan withdrawal, despite receiving numerous reports describing the situation as chaotic and violent, particularly at the Kabul airport.

Internal emails sent to Kirby, obtained by the nonprofit watchdog Functional Government Initiative, use the terms "chaos" or "chaotic" more than two dozen times, directly contradicting Kirby's public statements.

The emails suggest efforts by the Biden administration to manage public perception and minimize the disastrous nature of the withdrawal, with Kirby and other officials instructed to portray the situation in a more positive light.

This is what John Kirby calls "orderly" in public, but admits to be "chaotic" in private emails.

Gee isn't "chaotic" the exact opposite of "orderly"?

Biden and Harris refused to show up for a commemoration of the 13 servicemembers' deaths.

Trump laid a wreath to honor them.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 06:02 PM | Comments (253) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Did "White Fragility" Race Grifter Robin DeAngelo -- A White Woman Profiting Off the Race Hustle Grift -- Actually Plagiarize Her "Work" From Black and Minority Authors?

LOL.

I kind of can't exactly believe this, because her book made a fortune. It's a best-seller years and years on all of the White Racial Indulgences reading lists. It's a book not to be read, but to be placed in a position of high visibility on a white leftie's bookshelf right next to Eat Pray Love and #DoBetter, White People by Ibram X. Kendri (government name, Henry Rogers).

I made up the #DoBetter, White People title but you know that's got to be in the works, right?

Anyway, you'd think after so many years, someone would have already alleged plagiarism.

But that assumes people read this race hustle crap, which they do not.

And also, we've seen the Woke victims of plagiarism claim they weren't plagiarized, because they all know they're simply political actors in a coalition, and the Movement demands complete in-group loyalty and cover-ups for any bad behavior.

An official academic ethics complaint alleges that's just what this White Devil Colonizer did-- stole from Indigenous Marginalized People to make her White Fortune.

Aaron Silbarium at the Free Beacon -- they've broken a lot of these plagiarism stories, all of which were accurate.

Robin DiAngelo, the best-selling author of White Fragility, is a big believer in citing minorities.

In an "accountability" statement on her website, which makes repeated reference to her Ph.D., DiAngelo, 67, tells "fellow white people" that they should "always cite and give credit to the work of BIPOC people who have informed your thinking."

It doesn't matter if their contribution is just a few words. "When you use a phrase or idea you got from a BIPOC person," DiAngelo says, referring to black, indigenous, and other people of color, "credit them."

But the white diversity trainer has not always taken her own advice. According to a complaint filed last week with the University of Washington, where DiAngelo received her Ph.D. in multicultural education, she plagiarized several scholars--including two minorities--in her doctoral thesis.

The 2004 dissertation, "Whiteness in Racial Dialogue: A Discourse Analysis," lifts two paragraphs from an Asian-American professor, Northeastern University's Thomas Nakayama, and his coauthor, Robert Krizek, without proper attribution, omitting quotation marks and in-text citations.

DiAngelo also lifts material from Stacey Lee, an Asian-American professor of education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in which Lee summarizes the work of a third scholar, David Theo Goldberg.

The passage creates the impression that DiAngelo is providing her own summary of Goldberg rather than using Lee's language--a misleading move that Peter Wood, the president of the National Association of Scholars, likened to "forgery."

"It is never appropriate to use the secondary source without acknowledging it, and even worse to present it as one's own words," said Wood, a former Boston University provost who led several research misconduct probes. "That's plagiarism."

The complaint describes dozens of cases in which DiAngelo, who rakes in almost $1 million a year in speaking fees, passed off the work of others as her own. It calls into question the key credential on which DiAngelo built her career, which has relied on the notion that her therapeutic workshops--which can cost up to $40,000 and insist that all white people are racist--are backed by scholarly expertise.

"No one who respected the basic expectations of scholarship would do this," said Steve McGuire, a member of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni and former professor of political theory at Villanova University. "The amount of copying of verbatim language without quotation marks or clear and consistent citations in these examples is appalling."

...

The complaint suggests that the paper responsible for these ideas violated bedrock scholarly norms. Several passages appear to meet the University of Washington's definition of plagiarism, which includes "borrowing the structure of another author's phrases or sentences without crediting the author from whom it came."

DiAngelo, for example, copies a page of material from Kristin Gates Cloyes--her classmate in the university's Ph.D. program--and frames it as original language.

She lifts another page from Debian Marty, an emerita professor of communication at California State University, Monterey Bay, keeping the structure of the passage the same while swapping out synonyms and details.

Turnitin.com defines this sort of splicing as "mosaic plagiarism," in which a source's phrases are interspersed, uncredited, with one's own. "Plagiarism need not be intentional," the University of Washington states, "and 'I didn't know' is not a defense."

DiAngelo did not respond to a request for comment. The University of Washington did not respond to a request for comment.

What. A. Surprise.

More at the link, including side-by-side comparisons of the original black scholars' work compared to DiAngelo's "Mosiac Plagiarism."

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 04:51 PM | Comments (273) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Muslim Illegal Alien and Soldier of the Islamic State Kills Three, Injures More In Knife Attack on German "Festival of Diversity"

Diversity is our strength diversity is our strength diversity is our strength. Keep repeating like a prayer every time an illegal alien murders the citizens of the countries they invade.

John Sexton:

The attack happened Friday at a 'Festival of Diversity' which the German town of Solingen was holding to celebrate 650 years since its founding. There was an outdoor concert and close to the stage three people were killed and several more injured by a man wielding a knife. The attacker reportedly stabbed each person in the neck and then ran away. People at the scene claimed he shouted "Allahu Ackbar" during the attack.

A manhunt was launched but about 24 hours later the killer turned himself in to police. He was identified as Issa al Hasan, a Syrian asylum seeker who should have been deported 18 months ago. I've added in the attacker's full name which German publications aren't allowed to print.

...

Bulgaria was the first EU country he entered so Bulgaria was responsible for handling his asylum case. He was set to be returned to Bulgaria but he filed a lawsuit with the help of a lawyer in Dresden. That case failed but when authorities went to pick up al Hasan to remove him from Germany, he was gone. Six months later, the order of deportation expired.

There is an open question about the expiration of the deportation order. In circumstances where the asylum seeker is apparently hiding from authorities, as in this case, they are allowed to extend the order. But for some reason that wasn't done here.

"For some reason" we couldn't even guess at.

But, spoiler alert: It's because the governments of western nations, against the strong wishes of the majority of their voters, want an open borders regime so they just refuse to prosecute illegal aliens and deport them.

...

It's pretty clear that al Hasan, probably on the advice of lawyers, knew exactly how to game the system in Germany.

...

In a statement on Saturday, the [Islamic State] said the perpetrator targeted Christians and was a "soldier of the Islamic State" who carried out the attack "to avenge Muslims in Palestine and everywhere".

All of this will play into upcoming regional elections in Germany where immigration remains a hot-button issue.

The current German chancellor has it under control, so don't even worry about it.

He says he'll be focusing on the Real Villain: Kitchen knives. He's emphasizing, I kid you not, "knife control measures."

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 03:51 PM | Comments (393) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Robert F. Kennedy Jr: "MAGA" Isn't About Racism. It's About Bringing Vitality Back to America.

Hi everyone.

Some of you did not believe this day would come, but Sh3lving Phas3 Thr33 is now compl3t3d. Ch3ck!

It just took planning, hard work, and hiring a guy off Taskrabbit with an impact driver.

That was the problem. My drill just didn't have the power. I was going to buy one but then thought, damn, it's Sunday and the drill won't get here for two days, let me just hire someone who knows which way "forward" is.

I am relieved it's finally done.

Hope you are all having days as good as mine.

While Democrats continue pretending that going back to the politics and prosperity of the "Dark Ages" -- 1983-1995, or the "New Dark Ages" of 2017-2021 -- RFKJr. finds "MAGA" to be about hope and growth.

The phrase has troubled liberals who think it is a call for a return to an America before civil rights, gay rights, and women's rights. But I have a more generous interpretation, one that is truer to my experience of Donald Trump as he is today. "Make America Great Again" recalls a nation brimming with vitality, with a can-do spirit, with hope and a belief in itself. It was an America that was beginning to confront its darker shadows, could acknowledge the injustice in its past and present, yet at the same time could celebrate its successes. It was a nation of broad prosperity, the world's most vibrant middle class, and a[n] idealistic belief (though not consistently applied) in freedom, justice, and democracy. It was a nation that led the world in innovation, productivity, and technology. And it was the healthiest country in the world. I have talked to many Trump supporters. I have talked with his inner circle. I have talked to the man himself. This is the America they want to restore.

Keith Olbermann @KeithOlbermann Aug 23

To my old friend @RobertKennedyJr:
You're a fucking anti-American disaster

LOL, Keith has a lot of imaginary "old friends." He means people he saw in a green room once.

Rob Reiner @robreiner

I've known Bobby Kennedy for quite a while. Something has happened to him. Maybe it's the worm that got into his brain, but saying Trump will protect your freedoms and keep America from becoming a totalitarian state, he's out of his fucking mind.

Roseanne Barr @therealroseanne

I haven't seen the Kennedys this upset since Chappaquiddick

Posted by: andycanuck

The useless Bitter Clingers of the Kennedy clan -- those without ambition or prospects, so they cling bitterly to their mistresses and pill addictions -- of course are denouncing a family member for... murder?

Nah, they've shrugged off murders before. Michael Skakel is still a Kennedy in good standing.

Manslaughter? Nah, no big deal. You can't prove Teddy Kennedy was drunk when he drove off that bridge. And sure, the fact that he went missing for a day might suggest he just wanted to process the alcohol out of his system, but you can't prove that. Or prove that Mary Jo Kopechne was still alive when Ted Kennedy callously abandoned her to her shallow grave of water.

Adultery? Trading women like pimps? LOL.

But endorsing a Republican is a True Sin.

Multiple members of the Kennedy family denounced Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s decision to endorse former President Donald Trump, calling the move a "betrayal."

"We want an America filled with hope and bound together by a shared vision of a brighter future, a future defined by individual freedom, economic promise and national pride," said a statement signed by five of the former independent presidential candidate's siblings.

"We believe in Harris and Walz," the statement continued. "Our brother Bobby's decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear. It is a sad ending to a sad story."
RFK Jr. suspends presidential campaign and endorses Donald Trump
02:00

The statement includes signatures from Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Courtney Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Chris Kennedy and Rory Kennedy.

Joe Kennedy III, a grandson of Robert F. Kennedy, reacted to the statement, sharing it on X and writing that it was "well said."

Separately, the former candidate's cousin Jack Schlossberg said that he has "never been less surprised in my life."

"Been saying it for over a year -- RFKjr is for sale, works for Trump. Bedfellows and loving it," he posted to X. "Kamala Harris is for the people -- the easiest decision of all time just got easier."

Ugh, look at these ugly people. Ticks on the belly of society.

This was when Joe Biden was still a candidate:

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 02:47 PM | Comments (453) | Trackbacks (Suck)

House Democrats Tell Their Media Allies to Put Out the Word: Don't Worry About Kamala's Communist Grocery-Price-Fixing Scheme, We'll Never Go Full Communist

We should take Communists at their word on this.

Why should anyone ever have to commit to a position publicly? Just leak your (alleged) position to your media allies to propagate.

Under pressure to defend Kamala Harris' grocery price gouging plan, some Democratic lawmakers are delivering a quiet message to anxious allies: Don't worry about the details. It's never going to pass Congress.

The Harris campaign's proposal, unveiled as part of her first big economic policy speech, has become a focal point for her presidential rival, Donald Trump, and fellow Republicans, who claim she's pushing "communist price controls." It has also alarmed food industry officials and even some left-of-center economists, who've warned such policies can hurt more than they help.

While much in Harris' price gouging plan remains vague, a central piece is simply a call for Congress to pass the first-ever federal ban on price gouging in the food and grocery sectors, which largely mirrors legislation reintroduced by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) earlier this year.

But such a bill has no chance of passing Congress anytime soon, even if Democrats win the White House and Congress this November, according to six Democratic lawmakers and five Democratic aides who were granted anonymity to discuss the matter candidly. These people said Democrats in Congress have privately been telling critics that this part of the Harris plan is not viable.

Rather, they've argued it's a messaging tactic -- a way to show that she understands food prices remain an economic burden for many Americans and to redirect voters' anger about inflation to corporations, in a way that progressives in particular have cheered.

In other words, it's a hustle and a lie and everyone understands this. But if you don't, then Politico is here to spread the news to the insiders.

"It's clear to me these are very general, very lofty goals," said one of the Democratic lawmakers, who was granted anonymity to candidly discuss the proposal.

They're also reassuring their tech bro billionaire donors: Don't worry, her proposal to put more money into antitrust actions won't pass either.

And Politico is here to tell the insiders not to worry while Kamala and the Democrats lie to the outsiders. Or vice versa -- who knows what their actual policies are.

It's all Yasser Arafat politics now, speaking in one language to the base and another language -- with different rhetoric -- for the outside world media.

We are all Palestinians now. #FreePalestine. I mean, we're metaphorically Palestinians and need to be freed.

Frank Luntz
@FrankLuntz
This might be why http://KamalaHarris.com doesn't have a single page of policy on it -- she can't even get Democratic lawmakers to support her proposals.

Oh, they support them -- they just want to lie people into communism.

Remember "you can keep your plan"? Remember Baracky Obammy telling you he was in favor of male-female marriage only?

They lie until they get enough power to do what they want, which they keep hidden from the public until it's time to strike.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 01:47 PM | Comments (393) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Judge Shuts Down Democrats' Lawfare Manuevers to Keep Cornell West off the Ballot in Michigan

Trying to disqualify a Proud Black Man from the ballot?

Sounds a little racist to me. Sounds like that "vote suppression" thing to me.

A Michigan judge has ruled that Cornel West, a presidential candidate, must remain on the state's voting ballot after Democrats attempted to remove him over technicalities.

Key Details:

Michigan Judge James Robert Redford ruled in favor of Cornel West, ensuring his place on the ballot after the Michigan Bureau of Elections removed him due to technical discrepancies.
West's campaign argued that the Michigan Democratic Party was using these technicalities to stifle opposition.
Similar challenges have occurred in other states, with varying outcomes for West's campaign.

Diving Deeper:

Presidential candidate Cornel West secured a critical legal victory on Saturday as a Michigan judge ruled that he must remain on the state's ballot. The decision comes after the Michigan Bureau of Elections removed West earlier this month, citing technical issues. The ruling by Judge James Robert Redford overturned that decision, allowing West and his running mate, Melina Abdullah, to continue their campaign in the key battleground state.

West's campaign quickly accused the Michigan Democratic Party of weaponizing procedural issues to suppress his candidacy. "We are confident that these accusations will be seen for what they are--frivolous and unfounded attempts to stifle opposition and debate," said campaign spokesman Edwin DeJesus in response to the ruling.

West, who is running as an independent, celebrated the decision on X, formerly known as Twitter, stating, "Victory in Michigan! We brought thousands of voices to the table, and the court listened, rejecting the Democrats' technical challenges. This is a win for democracy and for every person fighting for truth, justice, and love. Onward!"

Team Trump's analysis is that RFKJr's vote splits +25% in favor of Trump in the battlegrounds. If RFKJr.'s share of the vote is, say, 5%, Trump will take 50% of that, Harris 25%, and undecided/stay at home the rest.

Rich Barris says will work out to an average bump of +2% (or maybe 3%) in the battlegrounds. Not huge but helpful.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 12:16 PM | Comments (416) | Trackbacks (Suck)

THE MORNING RANT: Manufacturer of Sharpie Pens Is Repatriating Jobs from China Due in Part to Trump’s Tariffs

Like so many political issues, tariffs and their economic impact are more complicated than the binary argument that is usually presented by those most invested in both sides of the argument.

The primary pro-tariff argument is that tariffs will bring home manufacturing jobs that have been outsourced to countries with low labor costs.

The anti-tariff argument is usually condensed to “Tariffs are a tax on consumers,” which is as morally vacuous as stating that the abolition of slavery is a tax on consumers.

As I have often stated, I was once a proud free-trader who believed in the benefits of reciprocal free trade, but I soon felt betrayed when I saw that “principled free traders” actually had no interest in reciprocity. Instead, they advocated for “unilateral free trade” – in other words they advocated for a surrender to foreign mercantilism, thus providing foreign countries barrier-free access to the US economy, while also keeping barriers in place to keep US exports out of their countries.

The “Learn to code - your jobs aren’t coming back” attitude of many in the “free trade” camp was especially regrettable, and I know there are plenty of conservatives who now lament the damage done to the concept of foreign trade in general because of the grave dances done by those celebrating blue-collar workers losing their jobs to offshoring.

At Twitter, Scott Adams recently made this comment, ”Tariffs can be a bad idea, unless protecting a domestic industry being targeted by a foreign country. But NOT threatening to use tariffs is a bigger mistake. Trade is a rolling negotiation. And sometimes implementing tariffs is necessary to remain credible.”

If I had to state my opinion on trade now, it would be that I am a “fair trader,” but “fairness” and reciprocity alone are not enough. There are numerous reasons why tariffing a country’s exports makes perfect sense, including for national security, and for a variety of reasons that serve our national interest. If our country’s ability to function can be crippled by just a handful of bad actors blocking the Panama and Suez Canals, then we should re-think how critical it is to export entire supply chains to the lowest-cost overseas producer. A breakdown of supply chains and critical components also leads to a “tax on consumers” as scarcity drives up prices.

In addition, “China, Inc” was another oversold management fad. A great many companies moved manufacturing to China largely because corporate executives saw most of their peers doing so. Many came to regret it to varying degrees. Understanding concentration risk does not require an advanced degree, yet somehow the captains of industry decided they should put as many of their eggs in the Chinese basket as possible.

The Trump tariffs are now giving companies an excuse to unwind their exposure to this fad, and also to extricate themselves from being deeply enmeshed in a hostile country that the United States might be engaging militarily in coming years.

Newell Brands, the manufacturer of Sharpies, is not only aggressively moving operations out of China, but it is bringing many of those jobs home to the United States, specifically to Tennessee. The comments of its CEO, Chris Peterson, make clear that while tariffs are a contributing reason, being concentrated in China was not a good business plan.

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM | Comments (323) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Mid-Morning Art Thread

[Unknown]*
Leonora Carrington

*I couldn't find the title of this work after many seconds of internet searching. "TinEye" was no help, so I will happily admit defeat. The first one to find the title will get a two year cardboard membership with the Garrett-Buster app.

Addendum: Found it! Maybe. Grandmother Moorhead's Aromatic Kitchen

And of course one of you lunatics found it first! Congratulations to commenter "Piper!"

Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM | Comments (434) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Morning Report — 8/26/24

Good morning kids. Well it certainly seems that the reaction of America's foreign enemies and rivals to the prospect of Harris and Walz being installed in the white House is the inverse of every sane, rational American citizen that still has a Pulse and more than two functioning neurons to rub together, unlike the vegetable who was deposed, and who she colluded with to set the stage for the final destruction of America as founded by enemies foreign and most especially domestic. That is, her and her party and those who support their goal of fundamental transformation.

As things heat up in Israel, along its northern border with Lebanon, essentially an armed encampment of Hezbollah and by extension Iran.

Approximately 100 [Israel Air Force] fighter jets, directed by IDF intelligence, struck and destroyed thousands of Hezbollah rocket launcher barrels that were located and embedded in southern Lebanon. Most of these launchers were aimed toward northern Israel and some were aimed toward central Israel. More than 40 launch areas in Lebanon were struck during the strikes. . .

. . . According to some reports, Hezbollah had been planning to launch a barrage of thousands of rockets at Tel Aviv. After the Israeli airstrike, Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets, to little effect. More Hezbollah rockets were expected. Israeli authorities prohibited large public gatherings in the central and northern part of the country, and advised people that while it was safe to go to work (Sunday is part of the work week in Israel), they should only do so if they had access to a bomb shelter. In the event of sirens, people were to enter “safe rooms” or shelters for ten minutes.

Naturally, by refusing to allow themselves to be slaughtered and removing the threat, Israel will no doubt be accused of dangerous escalation, if not war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity from Turtle Bay, to Foggy Bottom and college campuses around the nation, as well as the editorial boards and anchors' desks of the propagandists.

Meanwhile, Iran's Houthi allies blew up a Greek-flagged oil tanker in the Red Sea

Which could give the Junta, whoever the hell is now in charge supposed cover to put NATO forces, meaning Americans, in harm's way. Which is kind of funny since the Junta is pro-Iran, anti-israel and to an extent anti-Saudi. And lest we forget, anti-oil!

At the same time, we are still sending billions of dollars more to the borscht belt belligerent Zelensky to continue the pointless support of a meat-grinder that could, with a miscalculation, potentially force Putin or one of his generals to go ballistic. As in nuclear. Please do not misconstrue this as my approval of Putin's invasion of Ukraine. I only oppose our getting mixed up in a centuries old border dispute and ethnic war, this latest round that could've perhaps been avoided and even ended well over a year or more ago.

Lurker extraordinaire Victor Davis Hanson notes:

There are three current hot or cold wars: on the Ukrainian border, in the regions surrounding Israel, and in the strategic space between Taiwan and mainland China. All three conflicts could not only expand within their respective theaters but also escalate to draw in the United States. And all three involve nuclear powers. . .

. . . Joe Biden has been judged by the American people in the polls as too enfeebled to be reelected and declared by his own party to be too cognitively challenged to remain its nominee. That may suggest to foreign risk-takers that the U.S. president is deemed unfit by Americans themselves and thus conclude there might be a vacuum of rapid-response leadership at the White House.

The unspoken corollary is that the American people and both their political parties are certain that, while Biden is incapable of continuing as a normally engaged president through the last half-year of his tenure, he will nevertheless inevitably do so. And that conclusion is likely shared by enemies abroad, who may surmise that if there ever was a time to alter the current geostrategic map or the relative balance of power, that rare occasion is now on the horizon.

And lest we forget it's the Democrats stated official position that America is an illegitimate nation whose power,position and influence is a mistake of history. Just look at what was stated on the opening night of Nuremberg '38/Chicago '24. That is taken straight from their official Democrat Party Platform. Just as they want to replace Israel with Iran as the key power in the middle East, they want to replace America with Red China as the World's global military and economic authority.

Have a good day.

ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY
• Victor Davis Hanson: Amid doubts about Biden's ability to effectively lead the U.S. in his remaining months as president, our enemies abroad might see an opportunity to alter the global balance of power.
  The Quiet Before the Storms in Ukraine, Gaza, and Taiwan?

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 06:44 AM | Comments (427) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 26 August 2024

Top Story

• Black Myth Wukong is utterly mediocre and undeserving of all the attention it has been getting thanks to games and tech media trying to destroy it. (The Verge)
  
  Black Myth Wukong is a new Chinese computer game based on the 16th century novel Journey to the West. One of many such adaptations, including the TV show Monkey and the anime Dragon Ball.
  
  Anyway, as far as journalists are concerned, the developers of Black Myth Wukong made the unforgivable error of not actively hating their own customers, even going so far as to not hire expert bankruptcy generators Sweet Baby Inc. (Which is a whole 'nother drama in itself.)
  
  That, coupled with guidance encouraging independent reviewers not to be hyper-partisan communist ratbags, spelled death for the game according to journalists. (The Gamer)
  
  Black Myth Wukong has sold ten million copies.
  
  In three days.
  
  
  
• Meanwhile Dustborn, a game which - and I quote - "let me smash fascists and flirt with my situationship on a road trip across America" - in other words, a game that has done everything right according to those same journalists, launched at the same time and has sold... We don't know. (PC Gamer)
  
  The developers have gone very, very quiet after release.
  
  But it has 74 reviews on Steam.
  
  Black Myth Wukong has 379,672 reviews.
  
  Dustborn peaked at 83 simultaneous players.
  
  Black Myth Wukong peaked on the same day at 2,415,714 players. On Steam alone; Black Myth Wukong is available on console as well.
  
  Of course, Dustborn is a much smaller title and was never going to be as popular, but 3,000,000% is a hell of a delta.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (78) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Sunday Overnight Open Thread (8/25/24)

*****

The Quotes of The Day

Quote I

“No one should be put at risk for a serious stroke with any vaccine.” Doctor McCullough

Quote II

“I will say that my mission has been vindicated. To see and feel and sense this room over the last few days made this journey all worthwhile.” Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.)

*****

The Comments of The Week

Predictably so many great comments as it is every week!

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at 09:52 PM | Comments (429) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Gun Thread: Less Than Robust Content Edition!

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 end of August? You may recall last week we had a mini-lesson on how the calendar works, where first we have August and then we have September, so this is the final August Gun Thread and next week we have a September Gun Thread!! I am writing this earlier than usual (on Wednesday rather than Saturday) because I am headed to the farm-o in the morning for a few days. I have a bunch of chores to do there and should hopefully be home by the time this goes up on Sunday. Thanks for understanding this being a content-lite edition, as I need to get back to my roots on the land of the Organic Tree Farm.

Sunday Update - Weasel Down! Weasel Down!!
I'm back a little earlier than expected because I managed to mess up my ankle. Organic Tree Farming is not for the faint of heart nor the faint of ankle! I stepped on a rock and my ankle rolled in a way it was clearly not designed to do. Anyhoo, I drove home and went to an urgent care place for an x-ray and I'll be visiting my ankle guy tomorrow for an MRI. In the meantime, it's a delightful shade of black and blue and purple, and I'm keeping it elevated, using ice and taking drugs. Think I'll go operate some heavy machinery!

Actually I will likely just be snoozing, so please forgive me if I am not in the comments much tonight. Appreciate it!

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 (343) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Food Thread: Frozen Eggs And Mayonnaise Cologne? We Are In The End Times!

I could happily live the rest of my life on passed appetizers. There is something so incredibly pleasing about them that thrills the cockles of my gluttonous heart!

I was at a birthday party yesterday...90-f*cking years is definitely old! I hope I can eat tiny crab cakes, drink champagne, and mingle with my friends and relatives when I am that old! But the more important part was the food!

Passed appetizers are often unnecessarily busy, and that takes away from their purpose...a lovely snack to pop in one's mouth to accompany the booze. Don't make it to complicated or it will be a muddled and probably messy mess. A simple crab cake with a dollop of spicy mayo is damned near perfect. So is a pig in blanket! "Pigs in a blanket? Pigs in Blankets? Saucisse en croute avec moutard?

Anyway, they were mostly excellent, with the two I just mentioned, and a surprise guest...fried mac-and-cheese balls! That's a solid contender, and one that I might make at home. There were a couple more, including sliders that that teetered on the edge of violating the one-bite rule. I managed it, but I saw others struggling.

So...what's the consensus? The greatest appetizers? Share with the class!

Posted by: CBD at 04:00 PM | Comments (366) | Trackbacks (Suck)