April 18, 2024
National Guard Whistleblower Accuses Government of Lying About Millitary's January 6th Response
Via Twitchy, a National Guard captain who served as aide-de-camp to the general commanding the DC National Guard says that the Guard was ready to deploy on January 6th, but the Secretary of the Army told him to stand down -- and then lied about it.
He also says he's been a confidential informer on this matter -- a whistleblower -- but of course his anonymity was breached, presumably by someone he's implicating.Kyle BeckerHe also alleges Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy is lying about having been on the call. See the tweet for that.
@kylenabecker
National Guard Captain Blows Up J6 Narrative, Accuses U.S. Govt of Lying to the American People "I'm here today to aid the subcommittee in resolving factual errors in the official record of what happened on January 6th, 2021, specifically regarding the alleged District of Columbia National Guard delayed response caused by a critical presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed Pentagon senior officials," Captain Timothy Nick testified under oath on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. [...] "First, I want to explain my role on January 6th. I was assigned as aid to camp the personal assistant to Major General William Walker, the commanding General of DC National Guard. It was my only second day on the job (!). Please focus on alleged facts found in the November 16th, 2021 Department of Defense Inspector General's multidisciplinary review into the DC National Guard response and Department of Defense's role that day." "I can say unequivocally that the Inspector General's Review is riddled with inaccuracies, misstatements, and perhaps false flags and narratives regarding how critical Pentagon senior officials responded when our republic was under great stress (!!)." "For instance, during a conference call at 2:31 PM with members of United States Army, US Capitol Police, Metropolitan Police Department, District of Columbia Government, and US Secret Service Uniform Division, the US Army's Lieutenant General Walter Piatt, Director of Army staff and the Army's Lieutenant General Charles Flynn, Director of Chief of Staff of Operations were on the call." Also was Colonel John Lubas, executive officer to the Secretary of the Army." "The Army FALSELEY DENIED that General Flynn was ever on the call. This is false and material on its face. Lieutenant Flynn was on the call and even participated in discussions. The defense inspector's review also rounds language papering over the fact that Lieutenant General Piatt, Lieutenant General Flynn, while on the call discussed how they did not like the OPTICS." "That is a direct quote, and they stated it would be in their best military advice to recommend to the Secretary of the Army, Ryan McCarthy, to deny the request from Command General William Walker to deploy the DC National Guard and aid US Capitol Police in restoring restoration of Order Liberty on Capitol Hill."
"We arrived too late. One American laid dead with other sisters and brothers injured, including federal and local law enforcement officers. We were ready and standing by. I know if we were able to deploy immediately, when General Walker made the request, the National Guard could have helped and civil disturbance and restored public order quickly." "The Army National Guard motto was always ready, always there. The DC National Guard was ready to help and assist Capitol Police, but we were NOT ALLOWED to do our job due to paralyzed decision-making by acting Secretary of Defense,Chris Miller and Secretary of the Army, Ryan McCarthy..." "This led to a crisis in federal leadership at the Pentagon and delayed the DC response by 3 hours and 19 minutes." .
Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 01:24 PM | Comments (411) | Trackbacks (Suck)
28 Google Layabouts Stage a Sit-In in the Company's NY and California Offices to Pressure It Into Dropping a Contract With Israel; Google Actually Fires the Radicals
Has even Google had its bellyfull of 24/7/365 woke?
Google has fired 28 employees over their participation in a 10-hour sit-in at the search giant's offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California, to protest the company's business ties with the Israel government, The Post has learned. The pro-Palestinian staffers -- who wore traditional Arab headscarves as they stormed and occupied the office of a top executive in California on Tuesday -- were terminated late Wednesday after an internal investigation, Google vice president of global security Chris Rackow said in a companywide memo. "They took over office spaces, defaced our property, and physically impeded the work of other Googlers," Rackow wrote in the memo obtained by The Post. "Their behavior was unacceptable, extremely disruptive, and made co-workers feel threatened."Uh-oh, they're using the Wokies' power word against them.
In New York, protesters had occupied the 10th floor of Google's offices in the Chelsea section of Manhattan as part of a protest that also extended to the company's offices in Seattle for what it called "No Tech for Genocide Day of Action." "Behavior like this has no place in our workplace and we will not tolerate it," Rackow wrote. "It clearly violates multiple policies that all employees must adhere to -- including our code of conduct and policy on harassment, discrimination, retaliation, standards of conduct, and workplace concerns." Rackow added that the company "takes this extremely seriously, and we will continue to apply our longstanding policies to take action against disruptive behavior -- up to and including termination." The fired staffers are affiliated with a group called No Tech For Apartheid, which has been critical of Google's response to the Israel-Hamas war. ... The protesters have demanded that Google pull out of a $1.2 billion "Project Nimbus" contract -- in which Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services provide cloud-computing and artificial intelligence services for the Israeli government and military.Google only did this because of the $1.2 billion contract being threatened.
LOL. Anyone want to bet that these 28 employees are all loss-leader DEI hires?
"This evening, Google indiscriminately fired 28 workers, including those among us who did not directly participate in yesterday's historic, bicoastal 10-hour sit-in protests," the workers said in the statement. "This flagrant act of retaliation is a clear indication that Google values its $1.2 billion contract with the genocidal Israeli government and military more than its own workers -- the ones who create real value for executives and shareholders."
They got the fake numbers up to 100,000 already? Well done, Hamas propaganda unit. Google's email took a hard line:
"Sundar Pichai and Thomas Kurian are genocide profiteers," the statement added, referring to Google's CEO and the CEO of its cloud unit, respectively. "We cannot comprehend how these men are able to sleep at night while their tech has enabled 100,000 Palestinians killed, reported missing, or wounded in the last six months of Israel's genocide -- and counting."
We are a place of business and every Googler is expected to read our policies and apply them to how they conduct themselves and communicate in our workplace. The overwhelming majority of our employees do the right thing. If you're one of the few who are tempted to think we're going to overlook conduct that violates our policies, think again. The company takes this extremely seriously, and we will continue to apply our longstanding policies to take action against disruptive behavior -- up to and including termination.That's saying, in so many words, "Don't expect your skin color or sexual identity to save you, Wokies."
Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 12:16 PM | Comments (468) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Israel vs. Iran [Diogenes]
There was an interesting story in the news the other day following the Iranian attack on Israel, discussing how "surprised and disappointed" the Iranians, Syrians, Yemenis, and their assorted allies in Hamas and Houthis and Hezbollah were. The attack failed and failed spectacularly. And this is being studied in places such as Washington DC, Moscow, Seoul, Tokyo, Beijing, etc., Just how did Israel pull off such an incredible defense? All know of the Iron Dome over Jerusalem and much of Israel. During the attack on Oct 7, when thousands of missiles and artillery rounds were fired, the Dome mostly did its job and while people were surprised, and pleased, it wasn't exactly unexpected. It has worked before. But the Iranian attack was a three-pronged event using slower drones, faster cruise missiles, and intermediate-range ballistic missiles. This was different, not just in who was attacking, but the methodology. The success of the defense has got a lot of people thinking and planning and, frankly, worried.
Being over 29, I can recall back in my youth the days of East vs West...The Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact vs the United States and NATO. Berlin and Europe were divided. Each side had enough nukes to destroy each other several times over. Fortunately, to date the nukes have not been used. There are a lot of reasons for this, but a primary one is called Mutually Assured Destruction, commonly known as MAD. This was the subject of jokes and derision by comics and lefties for years, and yet MAD works. MAD says that you cannot achieve a successful first strike because one side cannot kill enough of the other before they strike back. Simple. So, in a the bi-polar global war scenario, this was stabilizing, and accepted by each side.Posted by: Open Blogger at 11:00 AM | Comments (398) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Mid-Morning Art Thread
Johannes Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer
Posted by: CBD at 09:32 AM | Comments (343) | Trackbacks (Suck)
The Morning Report — 4/18/24
The inside story of how House Speaker Mike Johnson was flip-flopped on Ukraine aid starts with his top policy adviser, a former lobbyist whose clients include a number of major companies who have issued corporate statements indicating some kind of interest in the war. Johnson’s policy director, Dan Ziegler, was–until he joined the Speaker’s office as his top policy aide when Johnson won the Speakership last year–a lobbyist with the firm Williams & Jensen. He had previously worked for Johnson in other capacities, but left Johnson to become a lobbyist and accumulated a client list that included several top companies–some of which seem to have a financial interest in seeing Congress pass Ukraine aid. The lobbying firm for which he worked represents a number of top companies. Lobbying disclosures reveal Ziegler represented many of these companies, including several that have made corporate statements about the war in Ukraine or issued press statements or other public guidance saying it could affect their business operations. What’s more, Ziegler also represented the highly controversial News Media Alliance, which was lobbying Congress when he worked for Williams & Jensen to push a dangerous proposal that would have severely hurt conservative media. That proposal, called the Journalism Competition & Preservation Act (JCPA), has died several times in Congress but has kept coming back to life thanks to lobbyist pressure. Ziegler is not the only one in Johnson’s inner circle who has issues. Several other staffers working for Johnson have a series of troubling developments in their backgrounds, and as of now it is unclear if the Speaker himself is aware of all of this or not. Either way, this raises serious questions about his management of the conference and his handling of major legislative proposals like the foreign aid plan before Congress this week–and it undercuts the explanation several Johnson apologists have offered up that he is just having a tough time managing a one-seat majority and things would not be different if he resigned and Republicans picked a new Speaker. . . . . .The Speaker intends to set up a Saturday evening vote in the House of Representatives on the plan that completely abandons border security and instead pushes to funnel tens of billions more U.S. tax dollars to foreign countries like Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. In a string of recent betrayals by the Speaker–the recent government funding plan and last week’s reauthorization of section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) without a requirement for warrants for surveillance on American citizens–this one stings America First conservatives even more. Despite calls for his resignation from top conservative Republicans like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY)–who say they are prepared to vote to remove Johnson by force if necessary–Johnson has tripled down in moving forward on the matter, not just completely ignoring conservatives aligned with former President Donald Trump who are openly criticizing the effort, but authorizing staff and allies like House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) to attack them in order to achieve congressional passage of this radical agenda.But Marjorie Taylor-Greene is an unprincipled, undisciplined, loose cannon wackadoo that needs to shut up, sit down and behave or else, or else . . . or else what? Meh, what do these bills mean anyway when Joey's puppet masters pull shit like decreeing student loan debt forgiveness – for the second or third time already (I've lost count) – despite a Supreme Court decision declaring it unconstitutional and illegal? How is that EO even carried out in practical terms? And doesn't the House of Representatives control the purse strings? I'm sure Mike Johnson will be all over this, right? Pfft. Well, at least he's tight with . . . Jake Tapper. Speaking of the border and the GOP stepping on a rake, the vote to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas was effectively shut down in the Senate by Chuck Schemer. Even if it succeeded, Mayorkas would've been replaced with someone equally ideological and incompetent and nothing would have effectively changed. The Deep State bench is indeed dark and very, very deep. That said, considering that the open border and all the concomitant disasters that have happened with the massive invasion of foreigners as a result has made it the #1 issue that will decide the election. Dao-Min Yen, martial law and/or assassination by the courts or otherwise of Trump notwithstanding, did the Dems blow it? Here's something to consider. Maybe this time, the Dems stepped on a rake by not making Mayorkas the scapegoat, declaring the problem solved and screaming "Roe Roe Roe the Vote!" nonstop for the next seven months, or however long it will take to find the counterfeit ballots to put Biden over the top. C'mon, now! I need something, anything, to cling to!
- ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY
- Richard Fernandez: ". . . the risk from authority can frequently outweigh the risk from disunity and innovation. Among the Global Risks in 2024 must be counted the threat posed by those who in their zeal, would ruthlessly save the world from dissent."
The 'Disinformation' Game
- ". . . as is obvious to everyone watching, the people who are really determined to obstruct an official proceeding are the very legal operatives like Prelogar who are doing their damnedest to obstruct the most sacred official proceeding in the United States: the right of Americans to choose their own president. And that, even if it will never be prosecuted, is the real crime at issue."
SCOTUS Asks the Right Questions in the Case That Determines the Fate of Hundreds of J-6ers—and Donald Trump
- "The Abraham Accords, centered on regional peace and prosperity, brought the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, and Kosovo into normalized relations with Israel."
The American Peace Initiative: Lessons Learned from the Abraham Accords
- Lloyd Billingsley: "Leftist Democrats recast a murderous gang as heroic agents of empowerment."
Fundamentally Transforming the Black Panther Party
Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 07:40 AM | Comments (326) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Israel War
***
Left-wing journalist: If the Right wins, we won't accept the results of the elections
Whoops! He said the quiet part out loud! The left in Israel is every bit as evil as the left anywhere else. They care not a whit about the security of the state of Israel, and are willing to embrace any ally of convenience in their naked pursuit of power. Sound familiar?
Lebanon and Hezbollah will most likely be Israel's second front in this war, and it will be even nastier than Gaza. Luckily southern Lebanon doesn't have Gaza's population density, but Hezbollah has more rockets, and has had even more time to prepare the battle space. They claim to have 100,000 terrorist fighters, although saner estimates suggest that it is more like 20,000-40,000. They have been trained and supplied by Iran's IRGC, with more than 150,000 rockets, drones, and missiles of various sophistication, and significant numbers of anti-tank weapons. They also have some air defense capability, which complicates Israel's planning.
Drone and missile attack in northern Israel: 14 soldiers wounded, 4 civilians Hezbollah is Iran's attack dog in the north, and has kept the Lebanese border simmering. Whether they launch significant attacks is going to be the big question, especially if Israel responds to Iran's recent missile attacks. But Israel cannot allow a huge terrorist presence to remain on its borders if they are serious about "Never Again." Hezbollah should be next. US approves Rafah op. in exchange for no Israeli counterstrikes on Iran - report Yeah..."report" is usually nonsense, but who knows. Rafah is a vital target. Without it being controlled by the IDF, Hamas will regroup and return to their savage ways. As galling as it is for the Biden junta to attempt to control Israel's military response to both the October 7th pogrom and the Iranian attack, it might be politically advantageous...for the time being...to refrain from any overt attacks on Iran. Covert is another story, and as I have said before; Israel should ramp that up. Except...Israel unlikely to retaliate against Iran until after Passover - reportIn an interview with Galei Israel radio, the host asked Edelist, "Let's say we hold elections today, the Right wins and forms a government. Will you accept the decision of the public, or will you go out again to burn the streets?" Edelist responded, "No, we certainly won't accept [that]. We will certainly continue with the same protest, as we are doing now. There's no argument about that now."
Whoops! He said the quiet part out loud! The left in Israel is every bit as evil as the left anywhere else. They care not a whit about the security of the state of Israel, and are willing to embrace any ally of convenience in their naked pursuit of power. Sound familiar?
Posted by: CBD at 06:00 AM | Comments (110) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Daily Tech News 18 April 2024
Top Story
- Turns out I was wrong: Google had nine of yesterday's pro-Nazi protesters arrested, then fired all of them. (CNBC)
I still wouldn't trust Google with anything sharper than a rubber spoon, but this is a rare positive sign.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:05 AM | Comments (66) | Trackbacks (Suck)
April 17, 2024
Wednesday Overnight Open Thread (4/17/24)
*****
A Portion Of George Washington's Farewell Speech The unity of government which constitutes you
one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so; for
it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real
independence, the support of your tranquility at
home, your peace abroad, of your safety, of your
prosperity, of that very liberty which you so highly
prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from different
causes and from different quarters, much pains will
be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in your
minds the conviction of this truth; as this is the point
in your political fortress against which the batteries
of internal and external enemies will be most
constantly and actively (though often covertly and
insidiously) directed, it is of infinite moment that you
should properly estimate the immense value of your
national Union to your collective and individual
happiness; that you should cherish a cordial,
habitual, and immovable attachment to it;
accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of
the palladium of your political safety and prosperity;
watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety;
discountenancing whatever may suggest even a
suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned, and
indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every
attempt to alienate any portion of our country from
the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link
together the various parts.
Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at 09:57 PM | Comments (497) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Humpday Cafe
Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 07:40 PM | Comments (229) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Quith Sick
Boeing whistleblower: the entire 787 fleet should be grounded as too dangerous to fly.
LOL: Harvard has tapped an "expert" to help it pick its next president.
The expert? A McKinsey-trained DEI grifter. (McKinsey is the leftwing woke consulting group that preaches diversity to corporations. Pete Bootyjudge is one of its disgraceful alums.)Harvard University on Monday tapped an ex-McKinsey consultant who has criticized meritocracy and published controversial research on the benefits of diversity in business to help select the university's next president.She wrote a paper, which McKinsey used to preach the economic benefits of woke diversity hiring to corporations, which claimed (as they always claim) that adopting leftwing political aims would lead to bigger profits. The conclusions in this paper are "non-replicable." Other researchers could not replicate her results. That's a nice way of saying that her results were fraudulent, with the evidence tweaked and mutilated to support the conclusion she wanted. And now she'll be bringing that kind of academic integrity to Harvard's presidential search.
FreeBeacon Vivian Hunt, who in 2015 co-authored McKinsey's influential paper, "Why diversity matters," has been appointed to lead the Harvard Board of Overseers, the head of which has historically sat on Harvard's presidential search committees along with all 12 members of the Harvard Corporation, the university's top governing body, according to the Harvard Crimson. The overseers can also veto presidential appointments with a majority vote. The system means that Hunt--who has argued that meritocracy "isn't good enough" and urged companies to adopt explicit diversity targets--will likely play a major role in picking former Harvard president Claudine Gay's successor. Her appointment comes amid plummeting donations and a major drop in applications to the Ivy League school, which has been at the center of a debate about diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in higher education. Critics of those programs say Hunt's selection is a red flag as Harvard gears up to find a permanent replacement for Gay--a major champion of DEI--who resigned in January amid allegations of plagiarism. "Vivian Hunt leading the search for the next president of Harvard perfectly encapsulates the rot in higher education and corporate America," said Will Hild, the executive director of Consumers' Research, a nonprofit that has led a campaign against ESG initiatives, including diversity programs, in the business world. "If Harvard was serious about rebuilding their floundering reputation, Hunt would be the last person chosen to lead this search."
Hunt has been a driving force behind the proliferation of DEI initiatives. Her 2015 paper has been cited by countless companies and institutions, including the Pentagon, to justify their diversity programs, even as more recent research has challenged her findings. A study in Econ Journal Watch this March found that diversity has no effect on company returns and that Hunt's results don't replicate. The findings were a major rebuke of Hunt, now the CEO of Optum Health, who has spent nearly a decade making the business case for diversity--and against meritocracy.I love it -- the meritless all oppose the meritocracy. What are the odds?!?! Biden's dying demented brain confabulated another bit of Biden Crime Family Lore, this time claiming an uncle died in WWII due to being eaten by "cannibals." His plane was lost at sea. Few cannibals in the sea, although some shipwrecked men might go that way eventually.
President Biden twice implied Wednesday that his uncle Ambrose Finnegan was eaten by cannibals in New Guinea after his plane crashed during World War II -- even though military records show that the aircraft plunged into the Pacific. "He got shot down in an area where there were a lot of cannibals at the time," Biden initially told reporters after visiting a war memorial that bears his uncle's name in Scranton, Pa. "They never recovered his body, but the government went back when I went down there and they checked and found some parts of the plane." After arriving in Pittsburgh for a speech on steel tariffs, the 81-year-old president told the same story. "He got shot down in New Guinea and they never found the body because there used to be -- there were a lot of cannibals, for real, in that part of New Guinea," Biden told United Steelworkers union members. The Pentagon's Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency says that Finnegan's plane actually was lost over the open ocean on May 14, 1944. "For unknown reasons, this plane was forced to ditch in the ocean off the north coast of New Guinea. Both engines failed at low altitude, and the aircraft's nose hit the water hard," the military's account says.Every single time this blowhard opens his lying mouth and vomits up some new anti-Blarney, I curse my Irish heritage. Only 34% of the public thinks Trump acted illegally in the "hush money" political prosecution, and only 31% expect him to receive a fair trial. That doesn't sound like the public will be swayed by a (short-lived) "guilty" verdict. George Soros bailed the pro-terrorist bridge-barricaders out of jail.
Scores of "Free Palestine" protesters across the United States took to the streets Monday to block major airports, highways, and bridges. Those who are arrested will receive bail money and legal support from a left-wing dark money behemoth funded by George Soros, an online fundraising page shows.Attempting to "cause pain" to a nation through blockading its bridges, roads, ports, and airports? And all of this coordinated and financially backed by communist revolutionaries...? I dunno, sounds kind of Insurrectioney to me.
The protests, which took place in dozens of U.S. cities including San Francisco, Chicago, New York City, and Philadelphia, were organized by A15 Action, a newly formed group that worked to "coordinate a multi-city economic blockade on April 15 in solidarity with Palestine." The group's website directs users to a "bail and legal defense fund" hosted through ActBlue, the Democratic Party's online fundraising juggernaut. Those who donate to the fund, the ActBlue page says, are sending money to the Community Justice Exchange, which provides "money bail, court fees and fines" and other legal services to "community-based organizations ... that contest the current operation and function of the criminal legal and immigration detention systems." The exchange is a project of the Tides Center, a left-wing dark money network funded by Soros and other liberal billionaires. The protesters, who organized the global event under the title A15, targeted economic "choke points" with the express purpose of causing as much financial disruption as possible, according to their website. Ahead of the protests, A15 said it identified "major choke points in the economy" that it would "blockade" to "cause pain." The group listed more than 50 participating cities, including Chicago, where dozens of protesters shut down access to the O'Hare International Airport for nearly an hour, forcing some travelers to walk with their luggage to the airport. ... Police across the country made dozens of arrests in connection with the protests, with defendants set to receive support from Community Justice Exchange. "On April 15th, people from over 30 cities around the world will take action to demand a free Palestine," A15's fundraising page reads. "Donate here to support community members who are criminalized in the U.S. for their solidarity with Palestine." "Should the actions of the state result in the need for it, these funds will be used for bail, legal defense, and support for defendants." The Tides Center houses a variety of left-wing groups, including the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation. It funnels millions of dollars from wealthy donors to those groups. The center acts as a "fiscal sponsor" to a number of liberal nonprofits, allowing the groups under its umbrella to avoid registering with the IRS. Some of those groups are known for their anti-Israel activism. The Tides Center, for example, fiscally sponsors the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, which last year organized a "direct action" protest that attempted to block a U.S. military ship bound for Israel from leaving a port in Washington. It also sponsors the Adalah Justice Project, one of America's most vocal Hamas apologists. Soros and fellow liberal billionaire Pierre Omidyar are among the Tides Center's major donors.
Boeing whistleblower: the entire 787 fleet should be grounded as too dangerous to fly.
Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour said in a Tuesday interview that he thinks all 787 jets should be grounded to allow for proper safety checks of the plane, which has come under fire in recent months following a slew of incidents.New York resident Hillary Clinton also failed to disclose in contributions in 2016 -- specifically, she claimed her payment for the fake Steele Dossier was for "legal service" and was fined by the Federal Elections Committee for that lie -- but New York State declined to prosecute her for it.
The new interview -- which will air in full Tuesday on "NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt" -- comes one day before Salehpour's scheduled testimony before Congress about the safety concerns at Boeing that he laid out in a complaint filed with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) earlier this year. "The entire fleet worldwide, as far as I'm concerned right now, needs attention," Salehpour said in a preview of the interview NBC News released Tuesday, when asked about the 787 plane model specifically. "And the attention is, you need to check your gaps and make sure that you don't have potential for premature failure," he added. In a letter addressed to FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker in January, attorneys for Salehpour said the Boeing engineer "repeatedly reported to Boeing management serious concerns about Boeing's current production and quality control processes, which he believes are creating potentially catastrophic safety risks." The letter outlined problems with the production of the company's 787 and 777 jets, saying specifically that sections of the fuselage of the 787 Dreamliner are improperly fastened together and could break after thousands of trips. Salehpour told the agency these issues were the result of changes to the fitting and fastening of sections in the assembly line and alleged that the concerns were brushed off. "I have come forward, and I have extended my neck," Salehpour said in the interview. "But you know, I'm at peace with myself. Because this is going to save a lot of people's lives."
In his Monday analysis, [Greg] Jarrett shredded Bragg and other Democratic officials involved in the case for prosecuting Trump even though he says 2016 presidential nominee Hillary Clinton essentially did the same thing during her unsuccessful campaign, though she, of course, was never prosecuted. "Hillary Clinton did pretty much the same thing," Jarrett said. "She, too, used a lawyer to secretly pay for the phony Steele Dossier and booking it as legal expenses. She was fined by the [Federal Election Commission], but she wasn't prosecuted, and neither was Barack Obama, even though he was fined a whopping $375,000 for hiding donors and keeping illegal contributions." The Daily Caller added: Jarrett pointed out similarities between the case and the lack of prosecution towards Clinton, whose campaign financed a since-discredited dossier assembled by Christopher Steele alleging Trump colluded with Russia during the 2016 election. "But, if your last name is Trump, the standard of justice is completely different and turned on its head," Jarrett added.
Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 06:50 PM | Comments (164) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Fascist Leftwing Mayor of Brussels Orders Police to Shut Down Conservative Conference Featuring Nigel Farage, Possible Future UK PM Suella Braverman, and Hungary President Viktor Orban
They're no longer hiding their intentions.
Police in Brussels have stormed a right-wing conference attended by Nigel Farage and Suella Braverman after orders for the event to be shut down. Local authorities ordered the controversial National Conservatism (NatCon) Conference to be closed to "guarantee public safety". Ms Braverman, the former home secretary, and Mr Farage, the former Ukip leader, were among the political names advertised to speak at the event on Tuesday alongside right-wing Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orban. Officers arrived after the event began at Claridge's, a venue in central Brussels, to tell organisers it would be shut down. According to a report on social media, police arrived while Mr Farage was addressing the event, giving attendees 15 minutes to leave the venue. However, officers did not appear to force the event to shut down and speeches continued. Police have now said they will not let anyone else into the venue and people can leave and not re-enter. The conference has already had to move location twice after mayors within the Brussels region refused the meeting's chosen venues. Emir Kir, mayor of the area where the conference was held, said: "I issued an order from the mayor to ban the National Conservatism Conference event to guarantee public safety. "In Etterbeek, Brussels City and Saint-Josse, the far right is not welcome." Conference organisers said they were launching a legal challenge to Mr Kir's order, adding: "There is no public disturbance and no grounds to shut down a gathering of politicians, intellectuals, journalists, students, civic leaders, and concerned citizens. "The police entered the venue on our invitation, saw the proceedings and the press corps, and quickly withdrew. Is it possible they witnessed how peaceful the event is?"Politico attempts to pretend that the "mayhem" here is due to right-wing people having a lawful and peaceful conference, rather than the Red-Black fascist who gave the order to shut down speech.
In a video on social media, Mr Farage said the Brussels authorities were behaving "like the old Soviet Union".
Farage and Orbán's Brussels jamboree descends into mayhem amid police siege "Tinpot dictatorship," a National Conservatism Conference organizer fumed at local mayors.At least Belgium's PM condemned the mayor's illegal thuggery:
BRUSSELS -- A gathering of Europe's hard-right elite in Brussels descended into chaos on Tuesday as police moved to shut down the conference, barricading the venue's entrance and causing widespread outrage. The National Conservatism Conference had been set to welcome Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán and U.K. politician Nigel Farage over the next two days, but law enforcement arrived two hours into the event at the Claridge venue, near the European Quarter, to inform organizers that the shindig would be terminated. "The authorities decided to shut the event due to possibility of public disorder," a police officer heard by POLITICO told one of the organizers. The shutters had already come down on the venue where Brexit architect Farage was due to give a keynote speech at 11 a.m. When he got on stage, as drama continue to unfold outside the venue, Farage lambasted the Brussels authorities as "simply monstrous" for attempting to cancel the event. "I knew I wouldn't be welcome back in Brussels," the former MEP chafed. The Brexit champion wasn't alone in his stinging critiques of the city's bureaucracy. "It's really something out of a tinpot dictatorship," Frank Füredi, one of the organizers from right-wing think tank MCC, which is co-sponsoring the event, told POLITICO. "They're trying to use a technical reason to make a political point. They told the owner that if it doesn't get shut down they're gonna cut the electricity."
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, a Flemish liberal, also said: "What happened at the Claridge today is unacceptable. Municipal autonomy is a cornerstone of our democracy but can never overrule the Belgian constitution guaranteeing the freedom of speech and peaceful assembly since 1830. Banning political meetings is unconstitutional. Full stop."The thug mayor who shut this down is Emir Kir, a son of Turkish immigrants. We're importing illiberal thuggish fascists and blasphemy-police into formerly free societies. And the left, meanwhile, encourages those anti-western, anti-liberal, anti-freedom impulses because they are anti-western revolutionaries themselves. We cannot continue importing the left's Street Muscle into the country. Update: A Belgian court has overruled this fascist mayor, and the conference is now continuing.
Organisers National Conservatism mounted an emergency legal challenge against the order to shut down its event at their third venue, which was selected after two previous sites cancelled their booking following left-wing pressure. The legal challenge was backed by legal advocacy firm, ADF International, and in a late-night ruling, the Conseil d'État, the highest court in Belgium relating to issues of public administration, announced that the conference, scheduled for April 16th-17th, was free to meet today for its second day without interference from state authorities. In the decision, the court decided that the Belgian Constitution "grants everyone the right to assemble peacefully," and although the mayor has the authority to make police ordinances in case of "serious disturbance of the public peace or other unforeseen events," in this case there was no sufficient threat of violence to justify this. The court argued that "it does not seem possible to infer from the contested decision that a peace-disrupting effect is attributed to the congress itself". Rather, as the decision notes, "the threat to public order seems to be derived purely from the reactions that its organisation might provoke among opponents".Yes, that's how the left forces theaters to cancel right-leaning comedians' shows: The threaten violence themselves, then press for the venue to cancel the show to "protect the community." Protect the community, from their violence. We cannot go on much longer like this. Related: Last week, Biden operatives were asked to lie by their allies in the media and claim they are NOT seeking the votes of the radical Muslim terror supporters who chanted "Death to America" in Michiganistan last week.
The Biden campaign said it does not want the votes of those caught on video chanting "Death to America" during a recent anti-Israel rally in the 2024 battleground state of Michigan. A Dearborn crowd was led in chants of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" by Michigan-based activist Tarek Bazzi during last Friday's International Al-Quds Day rally. When asked if the president was still courting those agitators, who typically lean Democrat, Biden campaign spokesperson Charles Lutvak replied, "No.""No" spelled "Y - E - S." The more Biden falls behind in the swing states -- partly due to Muslims withholding their support -- the more support he offers to Iran and its terrorist armies of Hamas and Hezballah.
Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 05:35 PM | Comments (219) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Schumer Vows to Block Constitutionally-Required Impeachment Trial of Open Borders Czar Mayorkas
We had to burn the Constitution in order to save it.
Members of the United States Senate signed the "oath book" to assume the role of jurors on Wednesday afternoon, set to begin the impeachment trial for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. After the formal process of convening a court of impeachment, however, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) addressed the upper chamber and confirmed he would attempt to prevent the trial from taking place. The norm-breaking, duty-abdicating move by Schumer and Senate Democrats upsets 227 years of congressional history. In his remarks from the Senate floor, Schumer said he would make two motions, one to dismiss each of the two articles of impeachment passed by the House earlier this year: the first article deals with the DHS secretary's "willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law" and the second article addresses Mayorkas' "breach of public trust." The majority leader said seven points of order would be allowed on the motion to dismiss the first article but only one point of order would be allowed on the motion to dismiss the second article. Both motions would have 60 minutes of debate, Schumer outlined. Schumer said he would then move to adjourn the court of impeachment with just four minutes of debate on that question. Schumer then raised a point of order to claim that the first article of impeachment against Mayorkas does not allege conduct that rises to the level of a high crime or misdemeanor and is therefore "unconstitutional," an ironic attempt to claim adherence to the Constitution in order to abdicate the Senate's constitutional duty.Meanwhile, Sanctuary City Denver is cutting funding for the police in order to provide welfare to the illegal aliens they've invited to illegally squat in the city.
* The sanctuary city's progressive Mayor Mike Johnston unveiled a budget proposal on Wednesday, allocating $89.9m to assist undocumented migrantsBut Denver officials are meanwhile telling illegals to go to other blue state sanctuary cities.
As a result of this reallocation, the police and fire department are some of the those expected to face budget cuts * The amount will be drawn from approximately $45 million that's used for public programs and services * The city of Denver has announced plans to defund the police to pay for the migrant crisis as the democrat city strips cops' budget of $8.4 million. The sanctuary city's progressive Mayor Mike Johnston unveiled a budget proposal on Wednesday, allocating $89.9 million to assist incoming undocumented migrants, whom he refers to as 'newcomers.' The amount will be drawn from approximately $45 million that's used for public programs and services. As a result of this reallocation, the police and fire department are some of those expected to face budget cuts. Johnston claimed this was the best option available to provide services to migrants.
In February 2018, Denver city leaders sent a valentine to foreigners interested in relocating to the progressive mountain city and a message to any elected officials looking to stop them. Draped on Denver's City and County building was a large, blue banner: "Denver [HEART] Immigrants." If it wasn't clear enough, then-mayor Michael Hancock posted on social media that it was a statement of "love" to let immigrants know that Denver is "an open and welcoming city." Denver leaders unfurled that welcome banner six months after they passed an ordinance curtailing the city's ability to cooperate with federal immigration agents during a Trump-era crackdown on illegal immigration. Hancock also issued an executive order at the time directing city agencies to aid illegal immigrants in Denver and setting up a legal defense fund for them. But six years later, amid a crisis that has seen more than 40,000 migrants arrive in the city since late 2022, Denver leaders appear to have a new message for some of their so-called "newcomers": If you stay in Denver, you will suffer. "The opportunities are over," an official with new mayor Mike Johnston's office told a gathering of migrants in Spanish inside a city shelter in late March, according to a video obtained by a local television station. "New York gives you more. Chicago gives you more." Denver has run out of resources, he told them, offering bus fare to somewhere, anywhere else. "If you stay here," he added, "you are going to suffer even more, and I don't want to see this." While the immigration crisis has hit Chicago and New York City hard, in large part due to Texas governor Greg Abbott's program of busing migrants to deep-blue sanctuary cities, it has absolutely hammered Denver, which is only a fraction of their size. ... To address a migrant-driven financial crunch, the city is now cutting hours at local rec centers, slashing park programming, and freezing hiring in some departments. To save a little money, the city has decided against planting flowers in some of its parks and medians this spring.
Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 04:32 PM | Comments (219) | Trackbacks (Suck)
The House Intelligence Subcommittee Added an Amendment to the FISA Reauthorization Bill ing All Citizens Into the Business of Spying on Other Americans
Bob Goodlatte and Mark Udall urge the Senate to block passage of the Everybody's a Spy Act:
Senators, including Rand Paul (of course), are vowing they'll block a vote on this sell-out.
It's being called the "Everybody's a Spy" act.
If you own a small business, and someone hops on to your wifi, the government can demand you become its unpaid spy and turn over all data it demands.
The US House of Representatives agreed to reauthorize a controversial spying law known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act last Friday without any meaningful reforms, dashing hopes that Congress might finally put a stop to intelligence agencies' warrantless surveillance of Americans' emails, text messages and phone calls. The vote not only reauthorized the act, though; it also vastly expanded the surveillance law enforcement can conduct. In a move that Senator Ron Wyden condemned as "terrifying", the House also doubled down on a surveillance authority that has been used against American protesters, journalists and political donors in a chilling assault on free speech. Section 702 in its current form allows the government to compel communications giants like Google and Verizon to turn over information. An amendment to the bill approved by the House vastly increases the law's scope. The Turner-Himes amendment -- so named for its champions Representatives Mike Turner and Jim Himes -- would permit federal law enforcement to also force "any other service provider" with access to communications equipment to hand over data. That means anyone with access to a wifi router, server or even phone -- anyone from a landlord to a laundromat -- could be required to help the government spy. The Senate is expected to vote on the House bill as soon as this week, and if it passes there, Joe Biden is likely to sign it. All Americans should be terrified by that prospect. ... While the Turner-Himes amendment lists some business types that are excepted from the requirement to help spy -- like dwellings and restaurants -- an almost limitless number of entities that provide wifi or just have access to Americans' devices could be roped into the government's surveillance operations. Using the wifi in your dentist office, hiring a cleaner who has access to your laptop, or even storing communications equipment in an office you rent could all expose you to increased risk of surveillance.
Bob Goodlatte and Mark Udall urge the Senate to block passage of the Everybody's a Spy Act:
As RISAA comes to the Senate, attention is now being cast on another amendment -- one from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) that many have come to call the "Everyone's a Spy" provision. This measure was portrayed as a "narrow" definitional change to the law concerning electronic communications service providers -- big telecom and Internet companies -- which obligated them to cooperate with NSA surveillance. These big companies can be compelled to spy for the government, and then be subject to gag orders, forbidding them from telling customers they have been surveilled.
... The HPSCI amendment achieves this by including any service provider who has access to equipment that transmits communications. After critics complained that digital loungers in hotel lobbies and coffeehouses would have their data hoovered up by the government, the authors of this amendment provided carve-outs for hotels, restaurants, dwellings, and community centers. This was a good PR move. But this measure still applies to most everyone -- owners and operators of any facilities (other than the exempted categories) that house equipment used to store or carry data. If this became law, millions of American small business owners would have a legal obligation to hand over data that runs through their equipment. These small businesses could be forced to give the NSA direct access to their equipment, or else they might just copy messages en masse and turn them over. And when they're done with doing their part in mass surveillance, these small businesses would then be placed under a gag order to hide their activities from their customers.
Senators, including Rand Paul (of course), are vowing they'll block a vote on this sell-out.
Johnson has shown himself to be a sell-out as bad as Kevin McCarthy was.
Senators in both parties are warning the expanded surveillance authority under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) could lapse after Friday because of a battle over amending the House bill, which has become a target of conservative Republicans and some Democrats. Opponents of the bill could drag the Senate debate past the 11:59 p.m. Friday deadline, which threatens to cause a lapse in warrantless surveillance authority that some lawmakers warn could leave the nation exposed to an attack at a dangerous time. "It would be a very big problem. FISA's incredibly important to alerting us of terrorist plots, for example. And I believe the threat of a terrorist attack is much higher than is being discussed," warned Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. ... [I]t would take more than a week to process the bill on the Senate floor, and opponents of the legislation are threatening to push the debate past the Friday deadline unless they get time to debate and vote on changes to the bill. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), an outspoken critic of the FISA program, said he's willing to let it lapse over the weekend if he doesn't get changes to the bill considered on the Senate floor. "We need to debate -- we've had five years [to reauthorize the program] -- I would think we've got time to debate whether or not it's appropriate for our government to spy on its own citizens without a warrant," he said. Paul said he would agree to speed up the process depending on "how much debate the Democrats are willing to allow." But he said he would have no problem with letting the program lapse, arguing that the country and its intelligence agencies functioned well enough before Congress passed FISA in 1978.
Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 03:36 PM | Comments (322) | Trackbacks (Suck)
ACLU Fires Asian Lawyer For Using "Racially Harmful" Language to Complain About Black Boss. She Didn't Say Anything Racist; the ACLU Contends That Simply Criticizing a Black Boss Is Inherently "Harmful" Because It Caused "Hurt Feelings" Among Other Blacks
Nice to have it laid out like this.
You are now claiming it's racist to disagree with a black person or to dislike their management style. No backtracking; you said what you said. "Racism" now means simply "failure to sufficiently praise a privileged minority."She complained about him "chastising" -- criticizing -- an Asian woman. That's not racist. When she complained of the criticism, that was racist. Because he's higher on the Oppression Pyramid of Privilege.
The ACLU has fired an Asian employee, Kate Oh, for what it describes as creating "racial harm" through her critiques of Black supervisors, inciting a complex legal and ethical debate over workplace dynamics and free speech. Key Details: The ACLU claims that Kate Oh, a Korean American lawyer, used language in complaints that perpetuated racist stereotypes against her Black supervisors. Oh's interactions, including describing a discussion as "chastising" and expressing fear of a Black male superior, were used as examples of alleged anti-Black animus.
The case has escalated to an unfair-labor-practice trial, with the National Labor Relations Board accusing the ACLU of retaliating against Oh for her complaints about workplace conditions.
Kate Oh, a former lawyer at the ACLU, finds herself at the center of a contentious legal battle after being terminated for allegedly using racially coded language in complaints against her Black supervisors. The ACLU argues that Oh's expressions, such as stating she was "afraid" to speak with a Black superior and calling another meeting "chastising," contributed to a pattern of "willful anti-Black animus." These claims have raised substantial questions about the boundaries of acceptable speech in the workplace, especially within an organization renowned for defending free speech. The complexity of the case is underscored by the ACLU's own defense strategies, which hinge on a broad interpretation of what constitutes racially harmful speech. This stance seems at odds with the ACLU's historical advocacy for expansive free speech rights, sparking criticisms of hypocrisy and overreach.
Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 02:36 PM | Comments (362) | Trackbacks (Suck)
NPR Whistleblower Resigns, Stating He Cannot Work For an Organization Whose CEO "Disparages" Him
Disparages?
Or defames? Might be a promise of a lawsuit to come.Longtime NPR editor Uri Berliner, who was suspended after blowing the whistle on liberal bias at the organization, announced Wednesday he has resigned. "I am resigning from NPR, a great American institution where I have worked for 25 years. I don't support calls to defund NPR. I respect the integrity of my colleagues and wish for NPR to thrive and do important journalism. But I cannot work in a newsroom where I am disparaged by a new CEO whose divisive views confirm the very problems at NPR I cited in my Free Press essay," Berliner wrote in a statement published on X. Berliner was referring to Katherine Maher, who took over last month as President and CEO and has gone viral for past social media posts showing far-left personal views. ... His piece angered colleagues, with some telling in-house media reporter David Folkenflik they didn't want to work with him any longer. Berliner was suspended for five days without pay and NPR told him it was a "final warning" and he would be shown the door if he violated NPR's policy about working with outside news organizations going forward. Instead, he walked away on his own terms.Christopher Rufo and Matt Taibbi and many, many other people are going through Maher's twitter feed, finding one woke bon-bon after another. Matt Taibbi picks out woke Tweets from Maher posted for various holidays.
Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 01:28 PM | Comments (393) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Illegal Alien Released by Biden Charged in Hit-and-Run Death of Senator's Aid
The Third Worldization of America continues.
An illegal alien released by the Biden administration in 2021 has been arrested in connection with the fatal hit-and-run of Kurt Englehart, a senior adviser to U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV). Key Details: Elmer Rueda-Linares, 18, was initially detained at the Texas border in March 2021 and subsequently released into the U.S. in June 2021. The accident occurred early Saturday morning at Kietzke and Peckham lanes in Reno, resulting in the death of 38-year-old Kurt Englehart. The incident has sparked further debate over the Biden administration's immigration policies, particularly regarding the release of detained illegal immigrants. Diving Deeper: The community and political circles in Nevada are mourning the loss of Kurt Englehart, a dedicated public servant and senior adviser to Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, who died tragically in a hit-and-run incident this past weekend in Reno. The suspect, Elmer Rueda-Linares, is an 18-year-old who entered the U.S. illegally and was released by federal authorities last year. This case has intensified scrutiny of the Biden administration's immigration enforcement policies, which critics argue may contribute to such heartbreaking incidents.Meanwhile, Mayorkas claims the border "is as secure as it can be." That's a lie, obviously. He means the border is secure as The Regime is willing to make it.
n a recent exchange with Rep. August Pfluger, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas asserted that the U.S. southern border is "as secure as it can be," despite evidence of over 1.8 million illegal immigrants evading capture and concerns over national security threats. Key Details: During a heated discussion, Secretary Mayorkas told Congressman Pfluger that the border security is at its optimal state, sparking widespread criticism. Reports indicate that since Mayorkas took office, there have been over 1.8 million instances of illegal immigrants successfully evading law enforcement at the southern border. Critics point to instances where individuals on the terrorist watchlist were reportedly released into U.S. communities, questioning the DHS's handling of security.
Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 01:12 PM | Comments (384) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Wednesday Morning Rant
"Consultants"
That's what they often call themselves, anyway. Traditionally, consultants are third parties who come into a company to help solve a problem by bringing their expertise to bear. It's a mixed bag to say the least and the idea of outside consultants has its fans and detractors, with the latter often outnumbering the former. It is more complicated than ever because alongside the traditional consultancy market, a new breed has emerged.
Well, a very old breed, just with a new name. Next to the traditional consultancies - efficacy notwithstanding - are the undisguised ideological gangsters. These new-school consultancy firms aren't there to help their clients' businesses, aren't there to provide technical or regulatory expertise and aren't there to deliver accurate information. They exist to enforce ideological conformity under threat of destruction.
Posted by: Joe Mannix at 11:00 AM | Comments (318) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Mid-Morning Art Thread
Alberto Giacometti
Alberto Giacometti
Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM | Comments (353) | Trackbacks (Suck)
The Morning Report — 4/17/24
Tesla, the most iconic of EV manufacturers, seemed to be avoiding this skid. Unfortunately, the realities of being a niche market with every increasing costs associated with production have caught up with the firm headed by billionaire Elon Musk.As we discussed with friend and friend of the blog Bob Zimmerman a couple of podcasts ago, we are actually fans of Elon Musk, mostly because SpaceX is a giant thumb in the eye of a the Junta's drive to wipe out independent, free market entrepreneurialism as well as for X/Twitter being perhaps the last large bastion of free speech open to conservative voices of opposition. As for Tesla, well, EVs are nothing more than souped-up golf carts; status symbols that at present are just not capable of supplanting gasoline and diesel powered vehicles. That assessment is the sane, rational one. And yet, the Junta and the enviro-Marxists persist. Hint: they do so for anything but altruistic reasons. Hold that for a while as we examine another category entirely, the entertainment industry. The collapse of the movie industry as a whole, with Disney being the prime example, as a result of backlash from ticket buyers and content subscribers against "woke" agitprop strangling golden-egg-laying gooses from the Marvel universe to Star Wars to James Bond and everything in between, should be seen as a lesson to the Bob Igers and Kathleen Kennedys of this world. Should be. Before answering that question, here's another little bit of schadenfreude to have with your "covfefe":Tesla ill lay off more than 10% of its global workforce, according to a memo sent to employees by CEO Elon Musk. The company’s shares closed down more than 5% on Monday. “As we prepare the company for our next phase of growth, it is extremely important to look at every aspect of the company for cost reductions and increasing productivity,” Musk said in the memo obtained by CNBC. “As part of this effort, we have done a thorough review of the organization and made the difficult decision to reduce our headcount by more than 10% globally,” the memo said.. . . Furthermore, EV sales continue to decline and other car companies are beginning to make alternative production plans as a result. Until there is a charging infrastructure network that can accommodate the entire American public, an electric grid that can handle capacity, enough natural resources to build models at a moderate price, and technology that doesn’t ignite when it gets wet or won’t start when it gets too cold, this may be the beginning of the end of the road for EV-mania. Well, except for in the minds of lunatic eco-activists who are pushing their insane “Net Zero 2050” agenda. If we could power cars with their hot air and smugness, then we would be able to run our vehicles forever.
Left-wing billionaire Jeff Skoll’s woke film studio Participant is reportedly shutting down operations and eliminating most of its staff — the latest victim of Hollywood’s sharp downturn that has seen a bloodbath of layoffs and budget cuts. Participant, founded in 2004, often financed projects with social justice and globalist themes, including former Vice President Al Gore’s climate change documentary An Inconvenient Truth and its sequel. Other titles include the Obama’s Netflix documentary American Factory and the Ruth Bader Ginsburg doc RBG. . . . . . Hollywood’s tectonic shift to streaming entertainment has wreaked havoc with the specialty movie model that depends heavily on theatrical distribution to generate word-of-mouth business and awards-season buzz. Specialty titles that would once have received a theatrical release now almost all end up on streaming platforms in lieu of cinemas. Participant also experienced a number of high-profile box office flops — including the environmentally themed Dark Waters, starring Mark Ruffalo, and the Matt Damon thriller Stillwater. . . Hollywood studios have been hit hard in the past year, enacting deep budget cuts amid a perfect storm of economic chaos that includes Americans continuing to cancel their cable TV subscriptions, the steep downturn in TV advertising, and streaming losses in the billions of dollars.For sure, the rise of alternate personal venues from computers to smart phones to streaming services put intense pressure on traditional movie theaters. The COVID lockdowns, rising costs and then skyrocketing costs since the installation of Joey-Sponge Brain-Shits Pants, plus the rejection of the majority of normal Americans of ham-fisted "woke" propaganda is the death knell. Or at least should be. Here to, they still persist. The question is, why? Why continue to waste billions of dollars producing films and shows or EVs no one wants to see and no one wants to drive? Why take the far and away #1 selling beer in the nation and kill it as well as taint all the other labels of the corporation that brews it? Elon Musk and Tesla aside, since he is essentially an enemy of the State, the reason is because ideology now trumps sanity. Plus the fact that the corruption that has all but destroyed the American system of government and the Constitution, has crept into the so-called private sector mostly via at least three generations of academic brainwashing. Considering brainwashed Marxist automatons and power-mad venal tyrants control virtually all of the instrumentalities of government that, because of their lack of ethics, morals, aforementioned lust for power and in-your-face hatred of this nation, people, history and culture as founded, and now their willingness to use it to crush is like insects as can plainly be seen with Donald Trump's show trials among many other things, nothing can force them to slam on the brakes instead of flooring the gas pedal, or potentiometer?, before driving the car into the Grand Canyon. Even if woke studios go broke, even if EVs are no longer to be made, that does not mean ipso facto that non-woke if not pro-American Judeo-Christian-affirming or plan old normal stories will be made or that a return to the sanity of gasoline powered vehicles is guaranteed. Quite the opposite. It makes no difference. The bottom line is total control of the citizenry by an all-powerful State. How? By seizing control of "the means of production" and prohibiting alternatives. Any voice that challenges accepted State policy or woke worldviews will be silenced. Total control is the goal. Whether you refuse to purchase an EV because you don't like it, or because you can't even afford one and the strangulation of the internal combustion engine leaves no alternatives, and essentially stranded in place, the end result is the same. Total control by the State.
Soon the government might shut down your car. [So-called quote-unquote "president"] Joe Biden's new infrastructure gives bureaucrats that power. You probably didn't hear about that because when media covered it, few mentioned the requirement that by 2026, every American car must "monitor" the driver, determine if he is impaired and, if so, "limit vehicle operation." . . . The kill switch is just one of several ways the government proposes to control how we drive. California lawmakers want new cars to have a speed governor that prevents you from going more than 10 miles per hour over the speed limit. That would reduce speeding. But not being able to speed is dangerous, too, says Fix. If "something's coming at you, you have to make an adjustment." New cars will have a special button on the dash. If you suddenly need to speed and manage to find the button when trying to drive out of some bad situation, and it lets you speed for 15 seconds. For all these new safety devices to work, cars need to spy on drivers. Before I researched this, I didn't realize that they already do. The Mozilla Foundation reports that car makers "Collect things like your age, gender, ethnicity, driver's license number, your purchase history and tendencies." Nissan and Kia "collect information about your sex life." How? Cars aim video cameras at passengers. Other devices listen to conversations and intercept text messages. Then, says Mozilla, 76% of the car companies "sell your data." . . . Finally, Biden's infrastructure bill also includes a pilot program to tax you based on how far we drive. "A mileage charge seems fair," I say to Fix. "You pay for your damage to the road." "Correct," she replies. "But when you start allowing them to do this, they could say, 'We don't want you to buy a firearm.' ... 'We don't want you to go to that destination. So we're not going to let you start your car.' It's about control." I push back. "They're not controlling me." "They can," she replies. "Wait until you get a bill for your carbon footprint. 'You're at your maximum for carbon credits. We're not going to let you drive today! Take the train. Take the electric bus.'" "This is paranoia," I suggest. "Maybe," says Fix. "But so far, everything that I've said about these things, each step keeps coming through.""Control" was supposed to be a Janet Jackson song, not a how-to-do-it manual. Meanwhile, Speaker Mike Johnson, the alleged sane alternative to Luntz cabana boy Kevin McCarthy and your GOP, Grifting Oleaginous Parasites, just rammed through an extension and probably expansion of FISA. The law aimed at "foreign" terrorists and spies. Well, since the government we have is the furthest thing from America as founded, those of us who still identify as American-Americans are in point of fact foreigners now. And terrorists. And insurrectionists.
- ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY
- "A police state isn’t about having too many police officers on the streets arresting criminals. It’s about having too many security agencies in your life threatening you and keeping your mouth shut. That’s precisely what America has become in 2024."
America is Already a Police State; It Just Hasn't Captured You Yet
- "SCOTUS will rule in June 2024 on a First Amendment free speech case that has massive implications."
A Massive Government-Censorship Industrial Complex
- "The Left might pine for a 2020 redux. But they shouldn’t hold their breath."
There Will Be No George Floyd 2.0
- "Iraqi refugee and Michigan resident Mohammed Saadi Khudhair Al-Ani received a voter registration form from the Voter Participation Center."
Why Did This Left-Wing Elections Group Send an Iraqi Refugee a Voter Registration Form? (To get to the other side? - jjs)
Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 07:44 AM | Comments (377) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Israel War
Gee....I wonder why? Would anyone be surprised if one of Iran's agents or friends within the Biden Administration or the State Department communicated that targeting information to Iran?
***
New footage shows how a stabbing attack was thwarted
That is the mindset Israel faces. There is no middle ground. There is no accommodation. There is no peaceful, or even cold coexistence. Emergency campaign for farm heroes: The Hashomer in Judea and Samaria is launching a crowdfunding campaign to purchase 80 satellite phones to protect shepherds on the agricultural farms.
See the difference? Israel and Judaism values life as a gift. It is precious. Islam sees it as a tool.
It is obvious that the October 7th pogrom has caused a sea change in the Israeli psyche...both among the people and, more importantly, among many of its politicians. Decoupling Israel's legitimate security interests from the geopolitics that have pushed the country to take half measures and carefully titrated responses to threats that any other country on earth would have tried to destroy, is long overdue.
Whether that lasts remains to be seen, but the blinders are off. And sadly, the current American administration has shown that it is no longer a trusted partner and ally, pushing for the status quo ante bellum so that its plans for Iranian hegemony in the Middle East can move forward. The news that Biden may have given implicit approval for the Iranian attack is disgusting, but not surprising. The assumption is that Israel will return to its failed policy of half measures, by choice or by pressure. Israel to carry out 'limited' strike within Iran, according to a U.S. officialAccording to the American news channel, officials within U.S. President Joe Biden's administration are expecting Israel to make this decision but have not been sharing its "targeting."
Gee....I wonder why? Would anyone be surprised if one of Iran's agents or friends within the Biden Administration or the State Department communicated that targeting information to Iran?
New footage shows how a stabbing attack was thwarted
Prior to leaving to carry out the attack, the suspect posted on social media that, "The most important thing is that I end my life with satisfaction, because there is no fulfillment other than paradise."
That is the mindset Israel faces. There is no middle ground. There is no accommodation. There is no peaceful, or even cold coexistence. Emergency campaign for farm heroes: The Hashomer in Judea and Samaria is launching a crowdfunding campaign to purchase 80 satellite phones to protect shepherds on the agricultural farms.
See the difference? Israel and Judaism values life as a gift. It is precious. Islam sees it as a tool.
Posted by: CBD at 06:00 AM | Comments (82) | Trackbacks (Suck)
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