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Post by mhbruin on Feb 19, 2023 9:05:56 GMT -8
A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.
It Seems that Biden's Election Made Fox Noise Even Worse
On November 7, Fox had fallen in line with the other major networks and called the election for Biden. There were spontaneous celebrations in major cities and long faces across Fox’s airwaves. The consensus view both inside and outside the network was that Fox’s acknowledgment of reality—and specifically its early projection that Biden had won Arizona—had turned the audience against the network.
I was working at CNN at the time, so I studied the ratings spreadsheets that arrived in the late afternoon. Newsmax, a tiny Fox wannabe, was suddenly surging by catering to MAGA viewers and refusing to call Biden the president-elect. On November 8, I interviewed Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy and aired clips of election deniers speaking on his network. “Your commentators are promoting bogus voter-fraud lies,” I said. He tried to turn the interview into a sales pitch. “Don’t believe you, don’t believe me, just watch Newsmax,” he said, “and make your own judgment about how fair we are.”
Ruddy, in other words, was capitalizing on the business opportunity before him. He was welcoming viewers to Newsmax with a pledge to tell them what they wanted to hear. Fox’s top talent knew it—and freaked out. According to the Dominion filing, Carlson texted his producer that weekend and said, “Do the executives understand how much credibility and trust we’ve lost with our audience? We're playing with fire, for real....an alternative like newsmax could be devastating to us.”
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 19, 2023 9:07:31 GMT -8
Gov DeathSentence Continues to Chop Away At Democratic Institutions
Separate records show, for instance, that the DeSantis administration was directly involved in recent legislation that allowed cities, counties, and towns to stop publishing legal notices in local newspapers. Attorneys for the governor are arguing in courts that DeSantis does not always need to comply with Florida’s public-records laws. And DeSantis hinted last week that he wants to make it easier to sue news organizations for libel and defamation — an idea the governor has been quietly working on for at least a year.
The governor’s efforts to prop up supplicant sources of news — while trying to destabilize and delegitimize independent ones — make for a dangerous combination, said Michael Barfield, the director of public access at the Florida Center for Government Accountability, a watchdog group that supports transparent government and investigative journalism.
“This is what state-run media looks like,” Barfield said. “Russia, China, and Venezuela use it as a tool to control the message. The strategy has far-reaching and negative implications for freedom of the press and democracy. History is full of painful lessons when the government interferes with and manipulates a free and independent press.”
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 19, 2023 9:10:26 GMT -8
Fight Climate Change or Economic Growth? What If I Tell You We Can Have Both?
As you may know (although a surprising number of people don’t), the Biden administration has taken a huge step forward in the fight against climate change. The strategically misleadingly named Inflation Reduction Act is mainly a climate bill, using subsidies and tax credits to promote green energy. Environmental experts I follow believe that it’s a very big deal, which, if successfully implemented, will greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It’s not quite as aggressive as the climate plans in Biden’s original Build Back Better legislation, but modelers estimate that it will accomplish about 80 percent of what B.B.B. was trying to do.
The biggest factor making this kind of climate initiative possible, after so many years of inaction, is the spectacular technological progress in renewable energy that has taken place since 2009 or so. This means that we can greatly reduce emissions using carrots instead of sticks: giving people incentives to use low-emission technologies rather than trying to regulate or tax them into giving up high-emission activities. And the politics of carrots are obviously a lot easier than the politics of sticks.
Strange to say, however, at this precise moment — the most hopeful moment for the environment, as far as I can tell, in decades — my inbox has been filling up with woeful claims that environmental protection is incompatible with economic growth. These claims are oddly bipartisan. Some of them come from people on the left who insist that the planet can’t be saved unless we give up on the notion of perpetual economic growth. Others come from people on the right who insist that we must give up on all this environmentalism if we want to preserve prosperity.
If We Don't Fight Climate Change, the Costs Will Continue to Grow, Crippling Economic Growth
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 19, 2023 9:11:47 GMT -8
Who Won the Week?
Dominion Voting Systems, whose legal filing against Fox News shows that management & hosts knew Biden won in 2020, but spewed the election-fraud lie to viewers anyway for ratings and profit
The College Board, for its fire-breathing response to Florida's rejection of its AP African-American studies course, and Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ) for expanding it next year from 1 school to 26
President Biden: 100th federal judge confirmed; Fires Trump-appointed Architect Of The Capitol; Jan. consumer spending up; aces physical; soothes tensions with China
The New York Senate, for rejecting Gov. Hochul’s chief judge nominee Hector LaSalle, thanks to progressives who threw a light on his record on abortion, civil, & labor rights
The FDA’s independent advisors, for unanimously recommending over-the-counter use of the nasal spray Narcan to reverse opioid overdoses, greatly expanding access to it
U.S. Attorney Cindy Chung, confirmed by the Senate and now the first Asian-American judge on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals
The Arizona Court of Appeals, for rejecting an attempt by governor's race loser Kari Lake (MAGA) to throw out Maricopa County election results and hold a new one
The rescue and relief personnel and agencies continuing their work in the wake of the massive earthquake in Turkey and Syria
Kansas City, Missouri: home of the 2023 Super Bowl Champions
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 19, 2023 9:13:46 GMT -8
Who Lost the Week?
D.C. Police Lt. Shane Lamond, an intelligence officer responsible for monitoring groups like the Proud Boys when they came to Washington for protests … under FBI investigation for giving these groups info on police activity
David Malpass, appointed by Trump as World Bank president, resigning a year before his term expires after being under fire for dodging questions about climate change
Tesla, whose share price shed nearly 6% after being forced to recall more than 362k cars after regulators found that its “Full Self Driving” system increased the risk of accidents and have been known to violate local traffic laws
Norfolk Southern railroad, not attending public hearings after one of its freight trains derailed in Ohio (with several cars containing hazardous materials) due to concerns about the safety … of its own representatives
Newly elected Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) revealed to have lied about: being an economist, a law enforcement officer, a COO of an international organization and an internationally recognized sex-trafficking expert
CNN anchor Don Lemon, under pressure to resign after saying that Nikki Haley "isn't in her prime" (at age 51) and added that women in general are "considered to be in their prime in her 20s and 30s and maybe 40s"
Libertarian enclave Rio Verde Foothills in Arizona, who ensured the lack of a functioning government, now upset at having to obtain drinking water from sources other than the nearby city of Scottsdale (facing water shortages itself)
Brett Blanton, fired as Capitol Architect overseeing the building/grounds following a scathing I.G. report of personal and management lapses (including some complicity in the Jan. 6th attack) and calls from both party leaders
Cleaning firm Packers Sanitation Services, fined $1.5 mill for hiring > 100 children (some as young as 13) to clean industrial equipment in meat-packing plants during overnight shifts, with at least two suffering caustic chemical burns
Letty Lopez, charged with delinquency of a minor (and allowing access to a loaded firearm by children) after her 6 year-old son brought a handgun to school in Norfolk, Virginia and allegedly threatened to shoot a classmate
Rupert Murdoch’s Fox empire, revealed in court filings (in the defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting) as knowing the Trump claims of a stolen election were false … yet saying them anyway, afraid of losing viewers to AON and Newsmax
Marco Goecke, fired as ballet director at the State Opera in Hannover, Germany for being so upset at a scathing review of a premiere by a newspaper critic: not only confronted and threatened her … he smeared dog poo in her face
Tiger Woods, playing in a California PGA golf tournament, under fire for handing his playing partner Justin Thomas (who had hit a mediocre tee shot) … a tampon
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 19, 2023 9:17:43 GMT -8
Carter Was a Better President Than Most People Think.
Former President Jimmy Carter, who at 98 years old is the longest-lived American president, has entered home hospice care in Plains, Georgia, a statement from The Carter Center confirmed Saturday.
After a series of short hospital stays, the statement said, Carter “decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention.”
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His great achievement is the Camp David Accords, with a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt. His other foreign policy accomplishment was the Panama Canal Treaties which he successfully negotiated and got ratified in the US Senate.
He also restored honesty and decency to the US Presidency.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 19, 2023 9:19:43 GMT -8
Breaking News! A QOP Politician is a Hypocrite
Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis reportedly took high-level Advanced Placement classes in high school that he’s now threatening to deny to Florida students.
DeSantis was even named the “AP U.S. History student of the year” as a senior at his high school in Dunedin, Florida, reported the Daily Beast, which obtained pages from his yearbook.
Demanding AP courses are critically important for students seeking admission to the best universities, where competition for a spot is fierce. High AP test scores can also earn college credit.
As recently as 2020, DeSantis praised AP classes, saying they were a “gateway to achieving success in college, career and ultimately in life.”
DeSantis’ AP classes were likely critical to his acceptance at Yale University. Yet he is now threatening to ban the same classes for public school students in his state.
The Republican governor’s continuing war on education in Florida is infuriating parents. They’re concerned about deteriorating education in the state linked to DeSantis’ political battle against what he imagines is progressive “woke” instruction. The governor instead aims to cultivate his right-wing perspectives in classrooms that includes a war on courses about Black history.
Parents and students fear the consequences of the governor’s agenda will diminish the chances of Florida students getting into the nation’s top colleges. As a result, some parents are even considering moving out of the state to protect their children’s education, The Washington Post reported earlier this week.
President Joe Biden slashed DeSantis’ efforts to dumb down education in Florida in a tweet Friday.
DeSantis threatened to block all AP classes in the state earlier this week. He made the threat in a snit after being blasted by the College Board, the nonprofit organization in charge of Advanced Placement courses, for his “slander” denigrating — and blocking — a new AP African American course in Florida public schools.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 19, 2023 9:22:15 GMT -8
In the Game of Thrones, You Win or You Die
President Vladimir Putin likes to portray himself as a new czar like Peter the Great or Ivan III, the 15th-century grand prince known as the “gatherer of the Russian lands.” But Putin’s year-long war in Ukraine has failed so far to secure the lands he aims to seize, and, in Russia, there is fear that he is leading his nation into a dark period of strife and stagnation or worse.
Some in the elite also say the Russian leader now desperately needs a military victory to ensure his own survival. “In Russia, loyalty does not exist,” said one Russian billionaire.
Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began with hubris and a zeal to reshape the world order. But even as he suffered repeated military defeats — diminishing his stature globally and staining him with allegations of atrocities being committed by his troops — Putin has tightened his authoritarian grip at home, using the war to destroy any opposition and to engineer a closed, paranoid society hostile to liberals, hipsters, LGBTQ people, and, especially, to Western-style freedom and democracy.
The Russian president’s squadrons of cheerleaders swear he “simply cannot lose” in Ukraine, thanks to Russia’s vast energy wealth, nuclear weapons, and the sheer number soldiers it can throw onto the battlefield. These supporters see Putin rising supreme from Ukraine’s ashes to lead a swaggering nation defined by its repudiation of the West — a bigger, powerful version of Iran.
But business executives and state officials say Putin’s own position at the top could prove precarious as doubts over his tactics grow among the elite. For many of them, Putin’s gambit has unwound 30 years of progress made since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Putin’s vision of Russia horrifies many oligarchs and state officials, who quietly confide that the war has been a catastrophic error that has failed in every goal. But they remain paralyzed, fearful and publicly silent.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 19, 2023 9:25:23 GMT -8
Just When You Think You Have Seen Every Despicable Thing People Are Capable Of ...
An Alaska woman pleaded guilty to killing her "best friend" after a man she met online said he would pay her $9 million if she sent him photos and videos of her committing murder.
Denali Brehmer, 22, pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree murder in the June 2019 death of Cynthia Hoffman, the Alaska Department of Law said.
Hoffman, 19, died from a gunshot wound to the back of the head. Her body was dumped in the Eklutna River, about 27 miles northeast of Anchorage, court documents state.
The Anchorage District Attorney’s Office previously said that Brehmer, who was 18 at the time of the crime, started planning the murder after a man she met online told her that he would give her money in exchange for evidence of her killing someone.
Brehmer knew the man as "Tyler" and had begun a relationship with him, but authorities said he had catfished her and created a fake persona as a millionaire from Kansas. His real name is Darin Schilmiller from Indiana, authorities said.
Court documents state that Brehmer and Schilmiller started planning several crimes in exchange for money, including the "rape and murder of someone in Alaska."
Brehmer chose Hoffman as the victim and recruited four friends —Kayden McIntosh, Caleb Leyland, and two other unnamed juveniles — to help her, according to authorities. Brehmer told them they would get "substantial shares of money" for helping her kill Hoffman.
Authorities said that Brehmer and two of the teens tricked Hoffman into coming to Thunderbird Falls under the guise of a hiking trip. They bound her hands, feet and mouth with duct tape, shot her in the back of the head, and dumped her body in the river, court documents state.
As the crime was being committed, Brehmer sent photos and videos to Schilmiller, authorities said.
After killing Hoffman, the group destroyed some of her personal belongings and texted her parents that they had dropped her off at a park. Police said there was no evidence Hoffman was sexually assaulted.
Alaska Department of Law said Wednesday that Brehmer "admitted the facts contained in the complaint initially filed in the case." The Anchorage Police Department, FBI and other agencies assisted in investigating Hoffman's death.
Brehmer was arrested in 2019 and indicted on first-degree murder, first-degree conspiracy to commit murder, first-degree solicitation of murder, tampering with physical evidence and two charges of second-degree murder.
Following her plea of guilty to first-degree murder, the other charges were dismissed, the Alaska Department of Law said. She is scheduled to be sentenced in August and faces 30 to 99 years in prison. Her attorney did not immediately return a request for comment on Saturday.
Schilmiller was arrested and indicted on five murder counts, online court records show.
McIntosh and Leyland were indicted on four murder counts, according to court records. McIntosh was also indicted on tampering with evidence. All three have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial. Their attorneys could not immediately be reached.
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Post by blubru on Feb 19, 2023 16:56:51 GMT -8
Who Lost the Week?D.C. Police Lt. Shane Lamond, an intelligence officer responsible for monitoring groups like the Proud Boys when they came to Washington for protests … under FBI investigation for giving these groups info on police activity David Malpass, appointed by Trump as World Bank president, resigning a year before his term expires after being under fire for dodging questions about climate change Tesla, whose share price shed nearly 6% after being forced to recall more than 362k cars after regulators found that its “Full Self Driving” system increased the risk of accidents and have been known to violate local traffic laws Norfolk Southern railroad, not attending public hearings after one of its freight trains derailed in Ohio (with several cars containing hazardous materials) due to concerns about the safety … of its own representatives Newly elected Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) revealed to have lied about: being an economist, a law enforcement officer, a COO of an international organization and an internationally recognized sex-trafficking expert CNN anchor Don Lemon, under pressure to resign after saying that Nikki Haley "isn't in her prime" (at age 51) and added that women in general are "considered to be in their prime in her 20s and 30s and maybe 40s" Libertarian enclave Rio Verde Foothills in Arizona, who ensured the lack of a functioning government, now upset at having to obtain drinking water from sources other than the nearby city of Scottsdale (facing water shortages itself) Brett Blanton, fired as Capitol Architect overseeing the building/grounds following a scathing I.G. report of personal and management lapses (including some complicity in the Jan. 6th attack) and calls from both party leaders Cleaning firm Packers Sanitation Services, fined $1.5 mill for hiring > 100 children (some as young as 13) to clean industrial equipment in meat-packing plants during overnight shifts, with at least two suffering caustic chemical burns Letty Lopez, charged with delinquency of a minor (and allowing access to a loaded firearm by children) after her 6 year-old son brought a handgun to school in Norfolk, Virginia and allegedly threatened to shoot a classmate Rupert Murdoch’s Fox empire, revealed in court filings (in the defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting) as knowing the Trump claims of a stolen election were false … yet saying them anyway, afraid of losing viewers to AON and Newsmax Marco Goecke, fired as ballet director at the State Opera in Hannover, Germany for being so upset at a scathing review of a premiere by a newspaper critic: not only confronted and threatened her … he smeared dog poo in her face Tiger Woods, playing in a California PGA golf tournament, under fire for handing his playing partner Justin Thomas (who had hit a mediocre tee shot) … a tampon |
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Post by blubru on Feb 19, 2023 17:00:47 GMT -8
MH BRUIN:
You've got a hardon for Tesla which makes me think you don't understand EVs. FSD was recalled not the cars. Get your facts straight if you want to continue to be considered a viable poster. BTW Tesla is UP for those of us who buy smart......
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