Sun - The Security at Mar-a-Lago is So Bad Liberals Get In

The Punishment Doesn't Fit the Crime

A Duke University women’s volleyball player was called racist slurs and threatened during a match against Brigham Young University in Utah on Friday, resulting in a fan being banned from sporting events, according to her family and the school.

Rachel Richardson, a Black starter on Duke’s team, was called the n-word “every time she served,” and was threatened by “a white male that told her to watch her back going to the team bus,” her godmother Lesa Pamplin said on social media.

A police officer had to be placed by the Duke team's bench as a result of the alleged harassment, Pamplin said.

The game drew a crowd of more than 5,000 people at the Smith Fieldhouse in Provo, Utah.

Gloria Richardson, Rachel's mother, told NBC News her daughter called her crying Friday evening.

“To have our strong independent daughter call and cry …. it hurt. She didn’t feel safe,” she said.

She said her daughter, a sophomore from Ellicott City, Maryland, initially didn't tell her parents or coach about the heckling. After the second match, the referees had a police officer come down.

“She was incredibly fearful,” her mother said. “It was just really frightening for her, here you have over 5,500 people at this game all in Blue, she just felt singled out."

They get 5,500 people for women's volleyball?

Russia's New Soldiers Cannon Fodder

Starting in July, we started hearing about Russia working hard to sign up new volunteers, offering hefty signing bonuses appealing to a Russian culture of deep indebtedness. Big monthly paychecks were designed to draw in desperate recruits from Russia’s most impoverished, neglected regions.

In a normal army, in a normal war, those recruits would spend several months training, then be integrated as replacements in existing units. Remember that Russia went to war with undermanned units, and death and injuries have further depleted those ranks. And since Russian dictator Vladimir Putin won’t declare an actual war, Russia can’t deploy conscripts to Ukraine or hold on to contract soldiers past their contract dates. Those contracts run 4-6 months. What month are we in this war? Six months.

Russia’s manpower shortage is real, so common sense would dictate that any new recruits would reinforce those existing, depleted units. Not only do they need the warm bodies, but they would presumably have experienced combat vets in their ranks to guide those new recruits.

Of course, Russia is not a normal or logical or efficient army. So things have taken a weird turn, one that will inevitably lead to more calamity for Russia’s ruinous war effort.

Meet Russia’s 3rd Army Corps, an entirely new unit.



Again, none of this would be remarkable if these poor sods were simply being thrown as replacement fodder into existing units. However, this 3rd Army Corps is completely new, with completely new leadership. There are no NCOs to bring expertise, and Russia’s officer ranks have been decimated, as they were thrown in with cannon fodder early in the war to fill manpower gaps. Their leadership are local officials and retired officers.

And they trained these volunteers for about a month.

So, we have a bunch of old, scraggly, out-of-shape men signing their 4-6 month contracts for debt relief, training for a handful of weeks, and led by their local constabulary or something. Pretty bad, for sure.

One month training is unfathomably short. For context, my son is currently finishing his infantry training at Fort Benning (I’ll be there for his graduation in three weeks). The length of that program? 22 weeks, almost six months!

For armor crewmen, training is also 22 weeks.

And remember, in the U.S. Army, that is just initial training. Initial training graduates then head to their units, where they continue their training and education under the watchful eyes of experienced sergeants (NCOs) with years of experience.

The only thing you learn in a month is how to press a trigger and move forward. I don’t even want to know what the armor people learn. Probably, “drive forward until you hit a mine. Next guy, drive around him, hope there isn’t another mine.” I mean that literally.



Mine!  I Mean "Watch Out for the Mine!"

Who Won the Week?

Florida's Maxwell Frost, 25, the first member of Gen Z to win a primary (FL-10) for the U.S. House---if elected, he'll be the youngest rep in DC.

Ukraine, which marked its 31st Independence Day by lining its parade route with destroyed Russian tanks…and securing more aid from the U.S. to fight Putin

Colorado state senator Kevin Priola, for leaving the MAGA cult to become a Democrat because of the Jan. 6 insurrection and 2020 election denialists

The organizers and attendees at Netroots Nation 2022 in Pittsburgh, for putting on another fine convention. (See you in Chicago next July for NN23?)

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel that ruled gender dysphoria is covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, potentially derailing MAGA efforts to ban gender-affirming care

The nerds behind the James Webb telescope, which revealed astounding infrared details over in Jupiter's corner of the solar system

President Biden: Student loan relief order brings cheers from minorities/middle class; OKs more aid for Ukraine; gas prices down 73 straight days

Democrat Pat Ryan, who defeated MAGA Marc Molinaro in the NY-19 House District, an earthquake that has midterm forecasters tossing their pro-GOP narratives in the post-Roe v. Wade era

British-Belgian teen Mack Rutherford---at 17 the youngest pilot to complete a solo flight around the world (34,000 miles) in a small plane

The federal jury that convicted two MAGA terrorists who plotted to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer because she relied on science during the pandemic