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Post by mhbruin on Feb 12, 2024 9:20:03 GMT -8
Church Bulletin Bloopers
At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What Is Hell?" Come early and listen to our choir practice.
Please Sir, May I Have Some More?
Donald Trump is fond of telling self-aggrandizing stories where otherwise strong individuals throw themselves at his mercy, gratuitously calling him "sir," and MSNBC's Joe Scarborough said his latest version shows the former president is "losing it."
The ex-president told a rally crowd that he told a foreign leader that he would let Russia to "do whatever the hell they want," in violation of the NATO treaty, and the "Morning Joe" host said that was an obvious lie.
"By the way, it was one of those crazy, and someone stood up and said, 'Sir, sir,' and he said they were from a big country – 'Sir, sir, if we don't pay, what will you do, sir?'" Scarborough said. "Nobody is saying that! What a jackass. How stupid would you have to be in the audience to go, 'Oh, well, did they really say that? That's amazing.' I didn't believe a big country president would say that. It's just stupid."
"Like, he is now so desperate to support Vladimir Putin and undercut America's allies in Europe, he's making up a 'sir' story?" Scarborough added. "It's not even a good lie for Donald Trump. Like, you can tell he's losing it. like, he's losing his touch. This is when Elvis couldn't even get -- he's so fat, he couldn't even get the scarves from around his neck to throw to the audience. He kind of sat there, looked down, and sang. Remember when they had to hold the microphone for fat Elvis when he was playing piano? He lost all his moves. This is Donald Trump. It's a story that a third-grader would go, 'Why is he lying to me?' You know, the people in the audience, they can't be that dumb to say, 'Oh, big country person said, 'Sir, what if we don't?' This guy will do anything to justify defending and supporting Vladimir Putin and getting us all ready for -- this is the dangerous part, when he is president again, he's getting us ready for him to be an autocrat, a dictator and a guy who is going to tell Vladimir Putin, sweep in."
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 12, 2024 9:25:00 GMT -8
The Super Bowl was a Lose-Lose for MAGA
Those on the right were ridiculed on Sunday night as the 2024 Super Bowl began pitting the Kansas City Chiefs against the San Francisco 49ers.
The moment came after a conspiracy theory was launched about the Chiefs' participation having to do with a CIA operation involving Taylor Swift and her refusal to support Donald Trump in both 2020 and 2024. Among the conspiracies is that Super Bowl 58, when added together, 5+8=13 and "13" is the name of Taylor Swift's album, as FoxNews.com explained this week.
Either way, it puts conservatives in a position where they must either support Swift's team, for whom her boyfriend Travis Kelce plays, and a San Francisco team championed by Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who flew to Las Vegas for the big game.
"I don’t usually root for the Kansas City Cultural Appropriations but the possibility of Taylor Swift making incel heads explode is too delicious to resist," quipped legal analyst Elie Mystal.
"Taylor Swift or Nancy Pelosi, the libs can't lose," posted Andrew Fleischman.
Former attorney general candidate Daniel Uhlfelder pointed out the factoid to conservatives as well.
"MAGA, Kamala Harris and Nancy Pelosi are cheering for San Francisco 49ers," he said.
NBC News' Danny Cevallos noted the mistake of not showing enough of the Kelce fan during the game. "They are not showing enough Taylor in this game. At least 1/5 of the audience is tuning in just for her."
Another account (@dc_Draino) was shredded after tweeting a meme of "Team Jesus" showing a San Francisco player and "Team Soros" with Kelce and Swift.
"MAGA calling the team that represents the city of San Francisco as 'Team Jesus' is the funniest damn thing I’ve ever seen," laughed Hayden Clarkin.
Previous Guy Has Always Been Stupid
The Kansas City Chief's Super Bowl LVIII win on Sunday solidified the Missouri team's dominant run, securing back-to-back Super Bowl victories.
The Chiefs won 25-22 in overtime against the San Francisco 49ers at Las Vegas' Allegiant Stadium on Sunday.
Following the Chiefs' win, a congratulatory post from former President Donald Trump in which he appeared not to know where the Chiefs were from, attracted attention online.
The Claim
A post on X, formerly Twitter, on February 12, 2024, by user Republicans against Trump/RpsAgainstTrump, viewed 334,000 times, included what appeared to be a tweet by Donald Trump that said " Congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs on a great game, and a fantastic comeback, under immense pressure. You represented the Great State of Kansas and, in fact, the entire USA, so very well. Our Country is PROUD OF YOU!"
Republicans against Trump posted alongside "Donald Trump is an absolute moron."
The Facts
Donald Trump's tweet is genuine but is from the Chiefs' Super Bowl win in 2020, also against the 49ers. The date of Trump's tweet can be seen in Republicans Against Trump's post.
However, the timing of the post—after the Chiefs' win this Sunday—with no attempt to draw attention to that date, may not make that immediately clear.
Trump was infamously banned from Twitter in 2021 following the January 6 Capitol riot. Although his account was reinstated following Elon Musk's takeover of the platform, Trump has only posted once since with a copy of his Fulton County mugshot in August 2023 alongside the subheading "ELECTION INTERFERENCE NEVER SURRENDER!"
Trump did reference the wrong state in his tweet from 2020, as the Kansas City Chiefs are a Missouri team.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 12, 2024 9:26:18 GMT -8
No More Dutch Treat for Israel
A Dutch appeals court has ordered the government to block the delivery of parts for F-35 fighter aircraft to Israel over concerns they are being used to violate international law.
The court sided with human rights groups who argued the parts provided from a Dutch warehouse contributed to law violations by Israel in Gaza.
Israel denies committing war crimes.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says more than 28,100 Palestinians have been killed in just over four months.
Israel launched its operations in Gaza after about 1,200 people were killed by Hamas on 7 October, who also took 253 people hostage.
"It is undeniable that there is a clear risk the exported F-35 parts are used in serious violations of international humanitarian law," the Appeals Court in The Hague said.
"Israel does not take sufficient account of the consequences for the civilian population when conducting its attacks," the court added.
The Dutch government has to comply with the order within seven days, but it could launch an appeal at the Supreme Court.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 12, 2024 9:28:47 GMT -8
It's Time for Luxembourg to Pay Their Fair Share.Trump’s Russia threat against NATO: What US allies are spending on defenceSeven years later, NATO military spending has changed significantly, even though most members still do not commit 2 percent of their GDPs to defence. By 2022, the number of NATO nations meeting that bar had reached eight — the US, UK, Greece, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Croatia. Then, as the war in Ukraine continued and fears over Russia’s expansionist ambitions mounted, more European members increased their military budgets. The number rose to 11 in 2023 with Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and new NATO entrant Finland all spending more than 2 percent while Croatia tipped under the threshold.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 12, 2024 9:31:30 GMT -8
Bad Science Leads to Bad Law
A medical journal has retracted two studies claiming to show the harms of the abortion pill mifepristone, citing conflicts of interest by the authors and flaws in their research
Two of the three studies retracted by medical publisher Sage Perspectives were cited in a pivotal Texas court ruling that has threatened access to the pill. The U.S. Supreme Court will take up the case next month, with a decision expected later this year. The court’s ruling could impact nationwide access to mifepristone, including whether it continues to be available by mail.
Sage, the publisher of the journal, retracted the study on Monday along with two other papers, explaining in a statement that "expert reviewers found that the studies demonstrate a lack of scientific rigor that invalidates or renders unreliable the authors' conclusions."
It also noted that most of the authors on the paper worked for the Charlotte Lozier Institute, the research arm of anti-abortion lobbying group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, and that one of the original peer reviewers had also worked for the Lozier Institute.
Regarding the 2021 and a follow-up 2022 paper using the same dataset, the experts found “fundamental problems with the study design and methodology,” “unjustified or incorrect factual assumptions,” “material errors in the authors’ analysis of the data,” and “misleading presentations of the data.”
The 2019 article, using a different dataset, contained “unsupported assumptions,” “misleading presentations of the findings,” and “demonstrate a lack of scientific rigor and render the authors’ conclusion unreliable,” the experts found.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 12, 2024 9:33:46 GMT -8
If Only the Media Paid Attention to Reality
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 12, 2024 9:36:09 GMT -8
Hispanics for Previous Guy Should Take Notice
Trump’s ‘Knock on the Door’
The former president and his aides are formulating plans to deport millions of migrants.
Cumulatively these clashes demonstrate how much the terms of debate over immigration have moved to the right during President Joe Biden’s time in office. But even amid that overall shift, Trump is publicly discussing immigration plans for a second presidential term that could quickly become much more politically divisive than even anything separating the parties now.
Trump has repeatedly promised that, if reelected, he will pursue “the Largest Domestic Deportation Operation in History,” as he put it last month on social media. Inherently, such an effort would be politically explosive. That’s because any mass-deportation program would naturally focus on the largely minority areas of big Democratic-leaning cities where many undocumented immigrants have settled, such as Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, New York, and Phoenix.
“What this means is that the communities that are heavily Hispanic or Black, those marginalized communities are going to be living in absolute fear of a knock on the door, whether or not they are themselves undocumented,” David Leopold, a former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told me. “What he’s describing is a terrifying police state, the pretext of which is immigration.”
A Look at the Future
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 12, 2024 9:37:28 GMT -8
About that Election for Santos Old Seat
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 12, 2024 9:39:36 GMT -8
Ukraine Aid Seems More Likely
Eighteen Republican senators joined Democrats on Sunday in voting to advance a $95 billion national security bill that contains funds for Ukraine and Israel, putting the bill on a path to pass the chamber early this week in what could be seen as a rebuke to former president Donald Trump’s recent comments deriding the NATO alliance.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is unlikely to take up the legislation if it ultimately passes the Senate, after many hard-right lawmakers have drawn a line on sending funds to Ukraine as it fends off a Russian invasion.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said an “obvious choice” to improve the bill’s chances in the House would be for Democrats to use a discharge petition to circumvent Johnson’s will. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) said discussions are being held with House lawmakers to follow such a path.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 12, 2024 9:43:00 GMT -8
He's So Sorry It Is Pinned to the Top of His Profile
A $7 million Super Bowl ad touting Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s run for president prompted an apology from the independent candidate. (Watch the video below.)
The ad, produced by a super PAC backing Kennedy, American Values 2024, borrowed heavily from a 1960 spot for his uncle John F. Kennedy’s winning presidential bid. It uses the same jingle and co-opts the vintage vibe.
RFK Jr. shared the ad on X but hours later added an apology to his family after his cousin, Bobby Shriver, the son of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, slammed the ad. “She would be appalled by his deadly health care views,” Bobby Shriver wrote.
Notably, the ad not only remained on RFK Jr.’s account — but was pinned to the top of his profile as of Monday morning.
“I’m so sorry if the Super Bowl advertisement caused anyone in my family pain,” Kennedy wrote. “The ad was created and aired by the American Values Super PAC without any involvement or approval from my campaign. FEC rules prohibit Super PACs from consulting with me or my staff. I love you all. God bless you.”
I Had No Idea That Ad Was Going to Run When I Used the Original in my UCLA at Cal Game Preview
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