Quick Hits

There's been such a shift in minority voting preference (towards Trump) that Democrats are now arguing against "blindly" trying to turn out all voters, warning that Democrats may wind up gifting Trump with more votes than Biden.

Things have changed so dramatically that it's likely to affect how Democrats campaign. We're already seeing it happen. Last week, we learned that an influential data scientist had warned major Democratic donors in a confidential memo not to register young and black voters ahead of the 2024 election because they're likely going to vote for Donald Trump.

"Indeed, if we were to blindly register nonvoters and get them on the rolls, we would be distinctly aiding Trump's quest for a personal dictatorship," Aaron Strauss warned in the memo, citing recent polling showing Trump's strength with unregistered voters.

LOL, it's a "dictatorship" when more people vote for Republicans.

Democracy is always in crisis every single election Democrats lose, or even just might lose.

Sounds like the Democrat Party is the organization interested in dictatorship.

...

"The left's challenge with non-white voters is much deeper than it first appears," Adam Carlson, a data analyst with the Brunswick Group, explained. "A less racially divided America is an America where people vote more based on their beliefs than their identity. This is a big challenge for Dems."

How terrible!

Biden might not only miss the ballot in Ohio, because Ohio's deadline for naming a nominee comes before Biden will actually be named the nominee at the DNC on August 15th, but he may miss the Alabama ballot for the same reason.

First, we learned that President Joe Biden's spot on the Ohio ballot was in danger and analyzed how that might play out. We still don't even have a definitive answer to that question, but an almost identical situation has now cropped up in Alabama. The Alabama Secretary of State, a Republican, has informed the Alabama Democratic Party Chairman, letting him know that the deadline for certification of candidate names on the ballot for November falls four days before the DNC is set to begin in Chicago. The rules in Alabama appear to allow for some provisional options to avoid this issue, but Wes Allen, the Secretary of State, appears to be taking a hard line on the question for now.

As Jazz Shaw says, this is down to the DNC's own incompetence. The laws and deadlines of these states have been a literal open book for years, but the Democrat Party decided to hold a convention later than usual so as to give Biden a boost nearer to the election. No one, and certainly not any Republican, should bend the rules for them.

David Hogg's political career with the Democrat Party is off to a perfect start.

Gun control activist David Hogg has been hit with allegations over the spending practices of his group Leaders We Deserve PAC. Conservative outlets are reporting that the group spent comparably little on actual candidates as opposed to travel and expenses. His prior counsel is a familiar name in such controversies in Washington: former Clinton campaign general counsel Marc Elias.

Hogg created a group in the aftermath of the 2022 midterm elections to elect Generation Z politicians to offices throughout the country. The group was given favorable national coverage in major media outlets. He explained that contributions would be used to elect young Democrat candidates...

Federal filings reportedly show that year-end 2023, Leaders We Deserve raised over $3 million. That is impressive for its first year in operation.

The conservative sites allege that the group spent "only about $263,000 on its stated mission of electing candidates from Generation Z to office combined with donations to other Democrat Party committees and groups--and instead spent more than $1.4 million on disbursements to themselves for payroll and to political consulting firms and legal fees, in addition to travel and entertainment expenses like hotels, flights, and meals."

However, it reportedly spent more than $1,314,000 on travel and related expenses while giving $80,000 to the Elias Law Group.

Previously, when allegations of self-dealing and accounting improprieties were raised with regard to Black Lives Matter, the group's attorney, Elias, immediately stood out for many. Elias resigned from his "key role" with BLM as the scandal exploded.

...

The group is only the latest political or business effort launched by Hogg, who previously tried to start a "progressive pillow company" before stepping away from the enterprise.

Biden's former chief of staff Ron Klain was caught on tape blasting Biden's frequent babbling about bridges.

Wait 'til he hears abojut Biden's obsession with choo-choo trains! And the ever-mutating circumstances of Beau Biden's death!

"I think the president is out there too much talking about bridges," Klain said. "He does two or three events a week where he's cutting a ribbon on a bridge. And here's a bridge. Like I tell you, if you go into the grocery store, you go to the grocery store and, you know, eggs and milk are expensive, the fact that there's a f***ing bridge is not [inaudible]."

"He's not a congressman. He's not running for Congress," Klain said. "I think it's kind of a fool's errand. I think that [it] also doesn't get covered that much because, look, it's a f***ing bridge. Like it's a bridge, and how interesting is the bridge? It's a little interesting, but it's not a lot interesting."

He also says Biden should focus more on his "economic message" and "proposals" instead of his "achievements."

Why?

Well, obviously: Because Biden's economy is a disaster. He has no achievements. Every time he claims that inflation isn't real or has been "tamed," people think he sounds even more senile and out-of-touch with the actual world.

So instead, Klain advises him to say things about the future which haven't been proven to be lies yet.

Good advice, really, if cynical.

Because our country has maleducated three generations of kids in a row,
the makers of Scrabble are changing the rules so that morons can play it and feel "included."

This is a game-changer.

For the first time in 75 years, Mattel is making a major change to the iconic board game Scrabble -- and touting a "No More Scoring" gameplay option.

The new launch is a double-sided version of the famous board game -- one side with the original game for those who want to stick to the long-time traditional version, and one side with a "less competitive" version to appeal to Gen Z gamers.

The flip side of the classic game, called Scrabble Together, will include helper cards, use a simpler scoring system, be quicker to play and allow people to play in teams.

Mattel is to launch a new version of Scrabble which is designed to be more collaborative and accessible for those who find word games intimidating.

"The makers of Scrabble found that younger people, Gen Z people, don't quite like the competitive nature of Scrabble," Gyles Brandreth, who co-hosts the language podcast Something Rhymes With Purple, told BBC Radio 4 Today. "They want a game where you can simply enjoy language, words, being together and having fun creating words."

Creating words?

So idiots are allowed to just make up fake words?

...

Scrabble Together is marketed for those who find the classic game to be intimidating or for people who have ever thought "word games aren't for me."

However, some naysayers objected to the changes, calling it "Scrabble for Snowflakes" and "Woke Scrabble" on X.

...

So what's new exactly? In addition to a dual-sided board, there are helper cards, which provide assistance, prompts and clues and can be selected to match the player's challenge level of their choice.

In the new version, scoring is a thing of the past -- now all one has to do is finish a goal and collect the goal card.

Goal cards include challenges such as: "Play a horizontal word," "play a three-letter word" or "play a word that touches the edge of the board."

...

Scrabble Together is marketed for those who find the classic game to be intimidating or for people who have ever thought "word games aren't for me."

Despite having a strong vocabulary, I'm absolute crap at Scrabble. So I don't play it.

Not all games need to be "inclusive" for everybody.

...

The helper cards -- which provide help, prompts and clues -- can be selected to match the player's challenge level of their choice.

Amazingly, this game isn't being made for America, because Hasbro, not Mattel, owns the Scrabble license in America.

I bet Hasbro will in fact license Mattel's new "Scrabble for Morons" rules.

Via David Strom.

Fact Check: True.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 06:17 PM | Comments (323) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Of Course: The Criminal Gang Running the DOJ Is Slow-Walking the Would-Be Supreme Court Assassin, Because He's a Transgender and They Don't Want the Public to Rise Up In Disgust When They Give Him a Sweetheart Plea Deal

They're slow-walking this case while rocketing every J6 suspect to federal prison.

By the way, I never heard the Supreme Court Assassin was a transgender before.

They really covered up that aspect, huh?

President Joe Biden's Department of Justice is dragging its feet in prosecuting Nicholas Roske, the man accused of trying to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, leaving legal experts perplexed about the slow-moving pace of the case.

Roske was indicted for attempted murder of a Supreme Court justice nearly two years ago in June 2022, after allegedly traveling from his parent's home in California to the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., with the intent to kill Kavanaugh. Roske, a biological male who identified in some online posts as a transgender woman, was upset over the leaked Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, according to court documents.

After arriving by taxi at Kavanaugh's house, Roske called the police on himself and was eventually found with a suitcase full of guns, ammo, zip ties, and other tools to carry out the attack. However, Mb "It's noteworthy that after nearly two years, there is still no trial date or plea agreement in this case," Gerard Filitti, senior counsel at The Lawfare Project, told the Free Beacon. "While pretrial motions would resolve questions about the admissibility of some of the evidence, including statements made by Roske, there is no underlying procedural reason why it would take this long to get to trial."M.b<

...

Filitti said that due to the case's high visibility and political ramifications, it was possible prosecutors are seeking to "let public interest simmer down before a plea agreement is quietly announced."

...

Earlier this week, after entering into a plea agreement with prosecutors in December, a Florida man was sentenced to 14 months in jail for threatening to kill Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts last July. That case moved far more quickly than the Roske case. Roske's most recent court appearance was nearly a year and a half ago, and there has been little activity since then, aside from the frequent continuances and motions deployed by Roske's defense.

There have to be consequences for this. Jailtime consequences.

I know we formerly didn't throw politicians and bureaucrats in jail, but the left has breached that particular wall. Game on, motherf*ckers.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 05:20 PM | Comments (168) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Woke Hollywood In a Panic As All Signs Point to a "Full-Scale Depression" in the Industry

From January: More and more customers are cancelling their streaming services.

And Hollywood bet everything on streaming services.

Customers canceled their streaming subscriptions at a higher clip than last year as services like Disney+, Netflix and Hulu jacked up their prices, according to a report.

Defections across premium streamers rose 6.3% in November from 5.1% a year earlier, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

Over the past two years, roughly 25% of those who subscribed to AppleTV+, Amazon's PrimeVideo, Max, Peacock, Paramount+, Nettflix, Hulu and Disney+ have canceled at least three of those options -- an increase from 15% before hikes pushed the combined tab of the ad-free monthly costs for those eight streamers to $112.42 a month, the outlet said, citing November data from analytics firm Atenna.

In late March, Variety reported that few people are watching the new shows that streaming services are making. They're mostly re-watching old shows, back before the Culture-Killer known as "wokeness" infected Hollywood.

Data revealed by Variety in March confirmed that, other than the top 20 shows, pretty much no one is watching any of that woke crap on America's lousy streaming services.

"As series output soared to historic heights in 2022, with nearly 1,000 original titles released on the major [streaming] platforms," the useless, far-left Variety reported without ever explaining why "viewership on most services was concentrated among fewer than two dozen shows."

"Data ... shows the top 20 most-watched TV seasons" on every streaming service other than Netflix "accounted for the vast majority of original series viewership on almost all of the major U.S.-based [streaming] platforms in 2022."

...

Disney+ "released 50 original series in 2022 (not counting kids' content)," and the ten most popular "seasons captured nearly 80% of original series viewing time; the next 10, just over 16%."

Disney seasons that were not in the top 20 "accounted for only about 5% of viewing time." Other than Peacock's three percent, that is the worst of all the major streamers.

The following is by far the most important revelation... The all-important rewatchable factor:

This data also indicates that most streaming originals do not have the rewatch value offered by many older series. Whereas beloved library shows such as "Grey's Anatomy" reliably chart among the most-watched titles on streaming week after week, year after year, new originals are hard-pressed to keep viewers coming back.

Looking again at Disney+, only two of the top 10 original seasons in 2022 reappeared among the top 10 the next year: "The Mandalorian" Season 2 and limited series "Andor," both "Star Wars" properties. (The former actually saw its share of viewing time rise year over year, likely bolstered by the third season's premiere.)

Deadline from March 18: Industry heading for a "major contraction," some call it a "full-scale depression."

LinkedIn is usually used by professionals for networking with people in their field, posting updates when they get a new job or congratulating friends on their promotions.

These days, as one former industry type put it, "it's become a therapy site for unemployed entertainment executives" who share their frustrations over the lack of opportunities in Hollywood amid a major contraction.

"I've seen lots of downturns, lots of job losses but I've never seen anything like this," one veteran top TV executive said. "This is a full-scale depression for the entertainment industry."

Over the past year, there have been waves of layoffs at Disney, Warner Bros Discovery, Paramount, NBCUniversal, Amazon MGM Studios, Lionsgate (which acquired eOne), Netflix, Sony, Fifth Season and most talent agencies including CAA and UTA.

The dire situation, "bordering on worst-case scenario," the seasoned TV executive said, was created by a perfect storm of Covid, strikes and "poor management decisions coming home to roost" driven by short-sighted moves by media companies aimed at goosing their quarterly reports to appease Wall Street.

...

"I have certainly an influx of executives that reach out and say, they're looking for their next [job]," said top Hollywood executive recruiter Jamie Waldron, Senior Partner, Global Head of Sports, Media + Entertainment, at Modern Executive Solutions. His "conservative estimate" is that "a good 20%" of the VP-and-above executive workforce in media and entertainment is out of work from a year ago.

That would qualify as a "depression" in the industry. At the height of the actual depression, 25% of able-bodied men were unemployed.

...

Most of those that have met with Waldron have put on a brave face, saying they feel great about taking a break and are happy to spend time with their kids. "And some are honest, 'No, I'm scared,' " he said.

...

Things bounced back [after prior contractions]. People are divided whether the same would happen this time.

"It's not even remotely coming back," a veteran TV executive said.

Hollywood will be cutting the number of scripted shows it makes by 25% over the next few years.

That means, of course, about a 25% loss in jobs.

FX topper John Landgraf in February declared Peak TV over as the number of original English-language scripted series fell 12% to 516 from the all-time high of 600 in 2022; he projected a further slide to 400-450 series within the next few years. The year 2022 was pivotal, with the industry shifting gears to kick off the current contraction.

...

There is an asterisk with that projection: potential mergers. As rumors continue to swirl about Paramount's future as a stand-alone company, there may be more media consolidation in the next year or so, with Warner Bros Discovery also a target of merger speculation.

Speaking of Paramount: Paramount is at risk of bankruptcy as their bonds take on "junk" status. (Junk bonds are bonds which are judged to have a low likelihood of actual repayment.)

And experts are already forecasting that 2024 will be bust.

After a disastrous 2023 at the global box office, Hollywood's 2024 is already predicted to be even worse.

"Gower Street Analytics has revised its 2024 Global box office projection to $32.3 billion," reads the press release. This is a little better than the original prediction of $31.5 billion, but still "down about 3% from the $39.9 billion grossed in 2023 based on current exchange rates."

Here's the key figure: "It would also be 18% lower than the average of the global box office totals between 2017-19."

Even with population and ticket price increases over the last five to seven years, the movie business is looking at nearly a 20 percent drop.

Wow.

...

The problem is also not a lack of brand titles or a lack of franchises. The problem is that Hollywood's woke crusade has obliterated its customer base. The problem is that Normal People know movies aren't very good anymore. The problem is a lack of appealing movie stars. The problems is that what had once been two hours of escapism is now 2.5 hours of lectures, insults, hectoring, and gay sex.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 04:18 PM | Comments (446) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Woke Extremist Minneapolis City Council Demands $30.60/Hour Minimum Wage for Uber and Lyft Drivers; Uber and Lyft Both Announce They Will Abandon Minneapolis

Faced with public anger about driving out the popular ride-share services, the woke extremists of the city council say they may delay when the order goes into effect.

But they're only doing that to allow other ride-share companies -- are there any? -- to enter the Minneapolis market.

By the way, I base the headline claim of a $30.60 per hour minimum wage on the city council's demand that drivers be paid a minimum 51 cents per minute when ferrying passengers.

With Uber and Lyft threatening to cease operations in Minneapolis on May 1 over a minimum wage ordinance, the City Council is considering pushing the implementation date back in a meeting on Thursday.

Council members Elliott Payne, Katie Cashman and Aurin Chowdhury are seeking to push back the implementation date to July 1, giving more time for new ride-hailing apps to enter the market.

During the council meeting, co-authors are also said to be bringing a notice of intent to amend the ordinance to include offering fare transparency and data disclosures. Furthermore, council member Andrea Jenkins may bring an amendment or motion to dismiss the minimum wage ordinance all together, according to a release on Wednesday.

California recently imposed a $20/hour minimum wage for fast food workers. There's now a $16/hour minimum wage for all other jobs.

Companies immediately began firing workers and closing down stores.

California fast-food chains are laying off workers, raising prices and deciding against opening new stores as the state implements a minimum wage that is more than 175% higher than that required by the federal government.

California implemented a minimum wage for all workers at $16 per hour effective Jan. 1, 2024, although some individual municipalities have implemented higher minimum wage requirements. The new $20-an-hour minimum wage that goes into effect Monday only applies to fast-food workers, who will see their hourly wages rise by as much as 25%.

All fast-food employees, regardless of age, will see a $20 an hour minimum wage in California. This is significantly higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 for adults and the youth minimum wage of $4.25, which applies to employees under the age of 20 during their first 90 consecutive days of work with an employer.

Alex Johnson, who owns 10 Auntie Anne's Pretzels and Cinnabon bakeries across the San Francisco Bay Area said his sales have slowed down in 2024, forcing him to layoff employees and even use his parents to help with human resources, according to The Associated Press.

The wage increase will cost Johnson about $470,000 annually, so he plans on raising prices between 5% and 15%. He is also no longer hiring new employees or looking to open more stores.

A pizza chain announced the closure of five stores in California.

Apizza chain shuttered some of its California locations before the state boosted the minimum wage for fast food workers earlier this month.

Mod Pizza, which has 500 locations nationwide, closed five shops in the state at the end of March, according to local Fox affiliate KMPH.

Those shops were among the over two dozen locations that the company closed across the nation. The company did not specify a reason, but workers in Clovis, whose shop abruptly closed, told the outlet they suspected that the California closures had to do with the new law that took effect in April....

Analysts forecast that this law will gift California with increased unemployment for years.

That's putting it in the best possible light.

Libertarian economist Scott Sumner, a California resident, believes the new mandate could hobble the economy beyond just the state's cost of doing business--it could make the state's unemployment rate higher for the long term.

"If California has more rules that increase costs for businesses--maybe mandating worker benefits or regulations that just make it more costly to do business in California--that could slightly increase the natural rate of unemployment," Sumner told Fortune.

The "natural rate of unemployment" refers to an economic concept that is often confusing to normal people, to wit: Even an economy at full employment includes a small number of unemployed workers, often new entrants to the workforce or people switching from one job to another. It's "the rate at which the unemployment rate settles when the economy itself is relatively stable," as Sumner put it.

Classic economic theory holds that the natural rate of unemployment is related to wages, and that, as wages go up, businesses trying to keep their profit margins may cut employees' hours or lay them off. Higher wages in theory also means that businesses are going to have a higher bar for their workers. After all, if they're paying more money, Sumner argued, they should be getting their money's worth.

"There would be quite a few workers who simply would not be profitable to be hired at $40 an hour," Sumner speculated. "And so there are obvious limits to what you can do in terms of artificially raising wages."

Sky-high inflation and mass layoffs -- man, this Bidenomics Economy is fantastic!

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 03:13 PM | Comments (415) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Inflation Came In "Hotter" Than the Always-Surprised "Experts" Expected

Let's quote CNN to see how they're coping.

Stubbornly high US inflation grew stronger than expected in March

Surging gas prices and sky-high mortgages and rent sent inflation rising more than expected in March, adding to Americans' prolonged and painful battle with high costs. That could force the Federal Reserve to keep its punishing rates higher for longer.

Yup. As I've mentioned, the Fed wants to save Biden by cutting rates in time for the election, thus flooding more newly-printed dollars into the economy, but they can't as long as inflation keeps coming in "hotter than expected."

Just in time for the election, too.

The previous interest rate hikes imposed by the Fed were just not big enough to stop the inflationary tide of Biden's drunken-sailor spending spree.

US consumer prices picked up again last month, vaulting to a 3.5% increase for the 12 months ended in March, according to the latest Consumer Price Index data released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

That's up considerably from February's 3.2% rate and marks the highest annual gain in the past six months. Friday's report further highlights that the path to lower inflation remains extremely bumpy -- and continue to be a drag on Americans' hard-earned finances -- and that any loosening of monetary policy might not happen soon.

The DOW fell 500 points on the unexpected-as-usual news. Sexton quotes Noted Lunatic Dwarf Paul Krugman insisting there is no inflation, there is just the partisan fantasy that inflation is real and painful.

But even the New York Times is dour about the news:

The unexpected re-acceleration in price growth across the economy is at least a temporary setback for President Biden, who has been banking on cooling inflation to lift his re-election prospects...

Wall Street analysts saw Wednesday's surprise pickup in the inflation rate as a sign that the Fed could leave rates on hold for months longer than expected. That could mean no cuts before the November election, a campaign where Mr. Biden's Republican opponent, former President Donald J. Trump, has slammed Mr. Biden for both rapid price increases and high borrowing costs.

Below, Black Conservative Perspective runs tape from an MSNBC focus group of swing state voters (in WI, MI, and PA), who call Biden's inflation "devastating" and that they feel "gaslit" by claims that Biden has fixed inflation.

That's in the first part of the clip if you want to see it. I've cued it up to the adulteress Mika Brzezinski having a meltdown over this and begging certified liar James Clyburn for some soothing talk that will bring her down from her panic.

Clyburn immediately announces that people's 401k's aren't real and no one should care if they're getting destroyed by Bidenflation.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 02:11 PM | Comments (369) | Trackbacks (Suck)

DOJ: Fani Willis May Have Conspired With Her Nasty Snizzbiscuit to Misuse Federal Grant Money

But she seemed to be as ethical as any Democrat alive!

President Joe Biden's Justice Department has uncovered "inconsistencies" in Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis's use of federal grant funds, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

The bombshell discovery comes two years after Willis fired a whistleblower who had warned the district attorney that her office was attempting to misuse a $488,000 federal grant to pay for "swag," computers, and travel. It's that same grant that the Justice Department's Office of Justice Programs now says is plagued with reporting discrepancies from Willis's office, errors that federal authorities only disclosed to the Free Beacon after providing contradictory statements regarding awards Willis's office may have made under the grant.

Remember, Fani Willis has stated that she was "broke" during and after her election, and that she replenished her secret Swag Piles o' Cash with funds donated to her election campaign.

"During our review of the award to respond to this inquiry, we have noticed some inconsistencies in what Fulton County has reported to [the Federal Subaward Reporting System] and we are working with them to update their reporting accordingly," a Justice Department spokeswoman told the Free Beacon on Friday.

The Justice Department did not provide any further details on the nature of Willis's reporting "inconsistencies" on the $488,000 federal grant, which was earmarked for the creation of a Center for Youth Empowerment and Gang Prevention in Atlanta. The grant ended in September 2023, but the center never opened.

You don't say. Kind of like all of the money granted to BLM types just evaporated, too.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 01:13 PM | Comments (251) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Planet Fitness Founder and Former CEO Says the Trans Gym is "Basically Destroyed" by Boycotts

The Bud Light Effect .

Planet Fitness Inc. Founder and CEO Mike Grondahl detailed a history of rampant abuse at the company and alleged it misrepresented its financials during a recent interview with controversial right-wing X user Libs of TikTok.

This comes after weeks of calls for boycotts of the brand after the company canceled the membership of a Planet Fitness gym goer after speaking out about a biological male in the women's locker room.

Planet Fitness's policy allows gym members to use the locker room associated with their gender identity. But this policy has led to a few high-profile cases of women feeling uncomfortable in Planet Fitness women's locker rooms, and some women and children have reported abuse and sexual harassment at the facilities. Many of these incidents resulted in the women losing their membership, but an arrest was made in at least one instance, as previously reported by Benzinga.

In the 15-minute interview, Grondahl outlined the history of the company and the reason behind its founding. Grondahl started the gym, noting the Judgement Free Zone was meant to be a welcoming signal to novice gymgoers looking for a place to start. But when speaking about the company today, Grondahl says it's "devastating" what it's become.

"Planet Fitness was like another child for me. And I put my heart and soul into building that company and it's been pretty much destroyed in, ya know, it's lost all respect within the country within the last couple weeks," he said. "There's no common sense standing behind this."

Grondahl told Libs of TikTok he didn't approve of the policies or the response to them in recent weeks. Grondahl sold the company to private equity in November 2012 and lost control. Following the sale, he remained CEO until he was ousted after he reported that the chief administrative officer (CAO) and general counsel hired by the private equity firm had been found guilty of multiple charges over several years and abused minors on several occasions. In two instances, he was a teacher and was found guilty of abusing his students. The CAO left Planet Fitness in 2017.

"When we went public, the majority of the board knew that this lead attorney was a pedophile. It's in the culture." Grondahl said during the TikTok interview.

The Planet Fitness "culture" includes accusations of widespread abuse at the company.

"It started at the corporate office, this attorney started abusing employees, then he's abusing them sexually, now the culture leads into the people doing the right thing are being thrown out of Planet Fitness," Grondahl said.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 12:14 PM | Comments (357) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Wednesday Morning Rant

Totality Useless

Despite the Horde's penchant for curmudgeonry (yeah, I know it's not a word - deal with it), I took a trip to see the total eclipse. It was fun and the weather was great. I really enjoyed myself and had a very nice time. I went - along with thousands of other people - to Paducah, KY, which was in the path of totality. It was a regional draw, with most license plates being from Georgia, Florida, Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky. People descended on Paducah from all over the south.

And Paducah did a great job of preparing for the eclipse and putting on a fun time. They closed off a few blocks of downtown to turn it into a street fair with normal tourist fare - food, tchotchkes, t-shirts, games, hippie palmists, etc. - all with good preparation and plenty of sanitation facilities. If you've ever been to a well-run street fair, you know the deal. It was pleasant and fun and most people were friendly and in a good mood. One group, however, clearly didn't get the memo because I saw this when I walked into the event:

Click to embiggen

Posted by: Joe Mannix at 11:00 AM | Comments (299) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Mid-Morning Art Thread

Shell and Lemons
Henry Schnakenberg

Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM | Comments (296) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Morning Report: 4/10/24

ALL ENEMIES

FOREIGN

• US Army to Hold Combat Training in Philippines as Tensions Rise
  
• New Zealand Tightens Visa Rules as 'Unsustainable' Migration Soars Hah! Smug pricks who play at being a real nation.
  
• U.S. ready to sanction Chinese banks if they aid Russia's war machine, Yellen says Oh, when it's bad for Ukraine? But when it's bad for America, then Chinese banks are just wonderful!
  
• Why a Brazil Supreme Court judge wants to investigate Elon Musk and X Musk isn't perfect, but the Brazilian judge is a f*cking fascist.
  
• Russia says Ukraine struck nuclear plant; Kyiv denies it was behind the attack A pox on both their houses!
  
• China and Russia agree to boost ties in opposition to West. The Biden/Obama Junta...what can't they screw up?
  
• Eggs, Ammo and Underwear: Inside Ukraine's New Push Against Military Graft Posturing. They are going after the disfavored while the bigwigs go free.
  

AND DOMESTIC

• New York Grand Jury Releases Scathing Report Against Child Protection Services Agency They can't do the one thing they are tasked with...protecting children!
  
• Joe Biden Is Now Chasing The 'Death To America' Voter Otherwise known as "Democrats." [Hat Tip: MTF]
  
• The Corpse You Can't Stop Dancing With "But don't think the problem is solved when the first Stamp Act tax collector runs away in his coat of tar and feathers."
  
• Uber, Lyft to stop services in Minneapolis after city council passes wage requirement for rideshare companies. Economics 101!
  
• Idaho man charged with materially supporting ISIS, planning attacks on churches These damned White Supremacists!
  
• Jamie Dimon Warns of 'Most Treacherous' Time Ahead That Might Eclipse Anything Seen Since World War II
  

Posted by: CBD at 05:44 AM | Comments (504) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 10 April 2024

Top Story

• Intel has announced the name of its 6th generation Xeon server processors: Xeon 6. (AnandTech)
  
  That's it. That's the story.
  
  Slow news day.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:20 AM | Comments (30) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Tuesday Overnight Open Thread (4/9/24)

*****

The Quotes of The Day

Quote I

"I understand that they're not going to relieve any pain. And quite frankly they probably just don't believe me.

"Please know I am truly very sorry." James Crumbley

Quote II

“An open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR, and now, predictably, we don’t have an audience that reflects America,” That wouldn’t be a problem for an openly polemical news outlet serving a niche audience. But for NPR, which purports to consider all things, it’s devastating both for its journalism and its business model.Veteran National Public Radio (NPR) editor Uri Berliner

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at 10:04 PM | Comments (393) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Baby Driver Cafe

Dunnottar Castle, Scotland
from VisitAberdeen

Baby's first diving lesson.

Flamingo shows off his yoga skills.

Supposedly, a lost dog catches scent of his owner in a public square. The owner is actually in a metro car that just pulled up to the square, briefly.

In Soviet Russia, birds give treats to you.

Men when their ladies take the wheel.

Guitar lullaby.

A perfectly-executed 300-point turn.

Soccer looks 60% less dumb.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 07:20 PM | Comments (150) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Sheila Jackson Lee Confidently Pronounces to Schoolchildren That the Moon is "Mostly Made Up of Gases"

She's thinking of her own nasty fart-moon.

The Party of Science (TM) continues to astound.

Democrat congresswoman incorrectly tells schoolchildren that moon is "made up mostly of gases"

During an eclipse event at Booker T. Washington High School in Houston, Texas Monday, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee made puzzling remarks about the moon's composition, incorrectly suggesting it was "made up mostly of gases." This statement diverged sharply from established astronomical facts, sparking both amusement and concern over public understanding of basic space science.

The comments were made as Jackson Lee participated in a community event focused on Monday's eclipse, aiming to engage and educate attendees about astronomical phenomena.

Lee, a former member of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, described the moon as a "complete rounded circle, which is made up mostly of gases," a description that inaccurately represents the moon's solid, rocky nature.

Here are a few Quick Hits:

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 06:20 PM | Comments (292) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Insurrection: Code Pink and Various Pro-Terrorism Jihadis Take Over Senate Dining Hall, Forbidding Senators from Eating There

These insurrectionists are attacking the very pillars of nutrition.

More than 50 people were arrested Tuesday after the Senate cafeteria was shut down by anti-Israel protesters chanting "Senate can't eat until Gaza eats!"

The U.S. Capitol Police confirmed to Fox News that those arrested inside the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., were charged with Crowding, Obstructing, or Incommoding.

"It is illegal to demonstrate inside any of the Congressional Buildings," Capitol Police said in a statement.

LOL. It's illegal for people on the right. Lefties are always welcome to take over whatever building they fancy.

One woman was wearing a shirt that read "Biden's legacy = Genocide."

...
A source told Fox News that Capitol Police at one point shouted "Everybody out or be placed under arrest" -- to which a protester replied "this is the house of the people!"

Sometimes it is the house of the people -- like when rabid pro-abortion activists trap Senators in elevators or block them from entering.

Other times, the government orders up a Woke Nazi dragnet to round up people who profaned the "people's house" with their unsightly presence.

Some of the demonstrators appeared to be same individuals that interrupted testimony from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing this morning.

In March, more than a dozen pro-Palestine demonstrators were arrested at the Russell Senate Office Building.

No jail time though, right?

Sounds like "obstructing the functions" of government to me. But I have a feeling that the DOJ will see it as just more Righteous Protesting.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 05:20 PM | Comments (264) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Rand Paul: I Have Evidence That Fauci Knew That His Partners in Wuhan Were Attepting to Create a "Highly Transmissible" Virus Since 2018. In Fact, 15 Federal Agencies Knew But Kept Government Omerta.

A government of criminals and traitors and mentally-ill degenerates.

How vast was the Great COVID Cover-up? Well, my investigation has recently discovered government officials from 15 federal agencies knew in 2018 that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was trying to create a coronavirus like COVID-19.

These officials knew that the Chinese lab was proposing to create a COVID 19-like virus and not one of these officials revealed this scheme to the public. In fact, 15 agencies with knowledge of this project have continuously refused to release any information concerning this alarming and dangerous research.

Government officials representing at least 15 federal agencies were briefed on a project proposed by Peter Daszak's EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Of course, Daszak has been Fauci's gain-of-function conduit for funding Wuhan all along.

This project, the DEFUSE project, proposed to insert a furin cleavage site into a coronavirus to create a novel chimeric virus that would have been shockingly similar to the COVID-19 virus.

All along, people pointed to the furin cleavage site as a feature of this virus that almost never appears in naturally-occurring viruses, thus indicating it was likely cooked up in a lab.

And Fauci said those people were conspiracy theorists.

Now we know that Peter Daszak told Fauci and 15 other agencies he was planning to create a highly-transmissible virus with the same furin cleavage site that would appear in covid-19.

They knew they made this. This isn't just "the Hong Kong Flu." It's worse.

THIS IS THE AMERICAN PANDEMIC. We paid for it, we made it.

For years, I have been fighting to obtain records from dozens of federal agencies relating to the origins of COVID-19 and the DEFUSE project. Under duress, the administration finally released documents that show that the DEFUSE project was pitched to at least 15 agencies in January 2018.

What does this mean?

It means that at least 15 federal agencies knew from the beginning of the pandemic that EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan Institute of Virology were seeking federal funding in 2018 to create a virus genetically very similar if not identical to COVID-19.

Disturbingly, not one of these 15 agencies spoke up to warn us that the Wuhan Institute of Virology had been pitching this research. Not one of these agencies warned anyone that this Chinese lab had already put together plans to create such a virus.

Rand Paul then begins listing the people who covered this up, starting with Daszak and of course Science Itself, Anthony Fauci.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 04:20 PM | Comments (310) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Ana Kasparian Melts Down Over Identity Politics War in Massachusetts School

If you missed it yesterday, John Sexton wrote up a great, super-fun article from, of all places, the New Yorker.

The article describes a Civil Culture War in "Woketopia" Amherst, Massachusetts. It's got everything -- it's a town which fancies itself "the San Francisco of the East Coast," which has "more BLM signs than actual black people."

It's got a Woman-of-Color principal appointed due to DEI who then discards the double-blind hiring practices imposed in order to stop discrimination, in order to hire her friends and family.

And some of the counsellers she hired are religious, and sometimes tell students to "pray on it" when they are anxious about something.

What's the problem with that? Well, besides the fact that Amherst is a leftwing shithole and therefore aggressively atheist in ethos, they're telling kids to "pray on it" when they ask about their... gender confusion issues.

Oh no! Anything but that!

And ever worse, some counsellors and teachers aren't using the trans students' Preferred Fake Pronouns!

And even worse -- the trans kids are, of course, almost all white, and the students who are allegedly bullying them are, get this, not white.

So there's quite the pickle here as Democrat Client Groups fight each other to determine Who Is the Most Oppressed?

Ana Kasparian related the situation in exasperation. She is annoyed by the left's "identity politics," but she also refuses to plainly say that the Oppression Olympics itself is wrong. And of course she doesn't dare say that the "trans kids" should accept other people's notions of what gender is and stop complaining about everything.

But it's fun to watch a lefty begin to realize that lefty politics are stupid, insane, and evil.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 03:23 PM | Comments (271) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Biden May Not Be on Ohio's Ballot, Top Election Official Warns

He wouldn't win Ohio anyway, of course. There are too many Republican votes to steal it without a major investigation.

Ohio's secretary of state on Friday signaled that the Democratic National Convention may take place too late for President Joe Biden to appear on the general election ballot in the state, according to a letter obtained by NBC News.

"The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to convene on August 19, 2024, which occurs more than a week after the August 7 deadline to certify a presidential candidate to the office," Secretary of State Frank LaRose wrote to Ohio Democratic Party Chairwoman Liz Walters.

ABC News first reported about the existence and content of this letter.

In the note, LaRose goes on to say that the oversight can be rectified in two ways: either by the Democratic Party moving up its nominating convention or by getting the Ohio state legislature to "create an exemption to this statutory requirement" by May 9 in accordance with state law.

Ohio state Rep. Allison Russo, the state House minority leader, and state Sen. Nickie Antonio, the state Senate minority leader, were also copied on LaRose's letter.

A spokesperson for the Biden campaign told NBC News that the campaign is "monitoring the situation in Ohio and we're confident that Joe Biden will be on the ballot in all 50 states."

How much do you want to bet that Ohio Republicans pass a special exemption to get Biden on the ballot, despite Democrat efforts to kick Trump off of state ballots?

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 02:17 PM | Comments (259) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Surprise! Leftwing Pressure Groups Conspire with Propaganda Media to Fill the Airwaves with Fake Climate Panic Stories

I never would have guessed!

The climate panic story they invented and pushed for Easter was "climate change is making chocolate more expensive."

Ahead of the Easter weekend, multiple media outlets reported that chocolate prices are soaring, and according to the coverage, the main culprit driving the inflating costs is climate change.

Across multiple platforms, the reports followed a similar message, using similar language to describe the problem and its causes -- and the reports all came out the same week.

"Easter egg prices soar as cocoa crops are hit by climate crisis and exploitation," the Guardian reported on Good Friday. The article blames the shortage of cocoa, which is used to make chocolate, on rising prices of fertilizers, deforestation, illegal mining practices and "extreme weather events."

The article doesn't provide any details on these alleged events, but it does mention El Niño, which is a warming of the ocean surface in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. It causes changes in weather patterns during the cycle. This cycle was recorded long before carbon dioxide emissions were a factor in the atmosphere.

An National Public Radio segment, which also ran on Good Friday, interviewed its business correspondent, who said "farmers there [in the Ivory Coast and Ghana] have been facing extreme weather, changing climate patterns, which have just decimated crop harvests." NPR provided no data or sourcing for the environmental claims.

Writing in The Conversation, reporter Jack Marley's headline suggests that climate change "may" be the culprit, and he then goes on to write that "food production globally is facing an increasingly hostile climate."

While African cocoa farmers in 2023 may have had a bad year, crop data doesn't show any downward trends in African yields. Between 2007 and 2022, cocoa yields actually went up. This is true for many crops in many regions across the world, including rice, soybeans, wheat and corn. This data is easy to find, but not a single article on rising chocolate prices in any of these media outlets mentioned this mitigating data.

Marley didn't respond to questions if he was aware of this data or if he ever sought it out.

Shaping a uniform narrative

The Guardian, NPR and The Conversation are among the hundreds of media outlets associated with or listed as partners with an organization called Covering Climate Now (CCN), which encourages reporters to insert "climate crisis" narratives into all their stories.

Covering Climate Now boasts partnerships with hundreds of major media outlets across the world. According to CCN, its partners have a combined audience of 2 billion people -- one-fourth of the globe's population -- in 57 countries.

The group provides advice to reporters on all beats to not only insert a "climate crisis" narrative into every beat, but also how to cover the topic. This includes telling journalists not to platform what it calls "denialists," which includes anyone who "ridicules" climate activists or suggests that climate change is not producing a global emergency.

The site is full of tips on what language to use, how to write headlines and suggested stories for journalists to cover, all in line with an anti-fossil message. It suggests avoiding "fake experts." To determine the value of experts a reporter might interview, CCN points them to the activist website DeSmog, which demonizes anyone, even those on the left, who in any way dispute the "climate crisis" narrative.

The Covering Climate Now section on solutions to what it says is an indisputable crisis leaves no room for fossil fuel use, even though experts say that rapidly eliminating them is not only unrealistic, it would necessitate the collapse of civilization.

...

The organization encourages reporters to make statements attributing "extreme weather" to climate change, even in the absence of any data to support the claims.

"Even in the absence of explicit attribution data, it's accurate to say that climate change is making extreme weather more common and more severe," CCN tells its partnered media organizations. It then provides tips for language journalists can use to blame "extreme weather" on climate change for any story.

Read the whole thing at Just the News.

BTW, I barely slept last night and I'm really phoning it in today. It's basically a sick day where I (barely) show up for work.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 01:13 PM | Comments (438) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Hunter Biden's Lawyer Visited the White House, Supposedly Just to Celebrate Hanukkah (?), Just Before Hunter Biden Defied His Congressional Subpoena

He wasn't there to talk to Biden about Hunter, no sirree.

White House visitor logs reveal that Hunter Biden's attorney, Abbe Lowell, and a top aide for First Lady Jill Biden attended a White House event two days before Hunter defied a congressional subpoena. The timing of these visits raises questions about potential coordination between the White House and Hunter's legal team.

Key Details

Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden's attorney, and a top aide for First Lady Jill Biden attended a White House event on December 11, 2023.

The event occurred two days before Hunter Biden defied a congressional subpoena to appear before Congress.

The White House claims the log entry was related to a Hanukkah reception and that no discussions about Hunter's legal issues took place.

Diving Deeper

According to the New York Post, the White House claimed the log entry related to a White House Hanukkah reception and that nobody discussed Hunter's legal woes, Levine reported. The event occurred days before Hunter traveled to Capitol Hill to hold a public relations press conference stunt in which he claimed he was a victim of a House impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.

Levine reported on the history and influence of Jill Biden's aide: The committee identified Bernal as someone who accessed classified material at the Penn Biden Center before they were officially discovered there in November 2022. Bernal, informally known as First Lady Jill Biden's "work husband," has become an infamous figure in the White House, where allegations of bullying and sexual harassment have circulated for years. The aide -- who has been with Jill Biden since 2008 -- is widely considered untouchable because of his closeness to the first family.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 12:03 PM | Comments (357) | Trackbacks (Suck)