2024-07-14
Worthy
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(Apr 2024) Syndicate Science - The Definition
what do we call a science that has made an appeal to popularity and authority its foundation and working mechanism? What if the ‘Zombie Theory’—a theory that refuses to die or is promoted widely as truth despite lacking empirical support—is not just a fringe phenomenon but has become the mainstay conclusion of science itself? What if there exists a pervasive form of science more concerned with wielding power and securing funding than with any genuine pursuit of knowledge?
etc
Horseshit
Obit
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Famed sex therapist, media personality Dr. Ruth Westheimer dead at 96
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police and fire responded to a call from his housekeeper just before 10 AM Saturday and pronounced him dead at the scene. We're told no foul play is suspected at this time, and cops are investigating it as a natural death. Law enforcement sources say Richard took a fall last night, which may be connected to his passing. Shockingly, RS posted multiple times on Facebook recently ... including thanking fans for all the birthday wishes he received.
Musk
Trump / War against the Right / Jan6
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Rudy Giuliani has lost bankruptcy protection, and creditors can now go after his assets, a New York judge ruled Friday. The former New York mayor turned Donald Trump lawyer was found liable for defaming two Georgia election workers in December, with a jury awarding them $148 million. Giuliani then applied for bankruptcy protection, arguing that he was unable to pay the judgment because of the other many sizable debts he owes. Judge Sean Lane, of New York’s federal bankruptcy court, made the ruling partly due to Giuliani’s lack of transparency, writing in his 22-page opinion that the disgraced lawyer hadn’t opened the books of the companies he owns, which have recently received thousands of dollars in wire transfers. Lane also said that Giuliani hasn’t explained other financial dealings, from book contracts to what his podcast and radio show earn.
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Opinion | Trump’s Appeal Runs Deep - The New York Times
If New York is anything remotely like a battleground, then Trump is going to win this election in a landslide. What is going on? The proximate answer of course is that many voters think Biden is too old. But that doesn’t explain why Trump was ahead even before the debate. It doesn’t explain why Trump’s candidacy is still standing after Jan. 6. It doesn’t explain why America is on the verge of turning in an authoritarian direction.
In public discourse, identity politics is more associated with the left. Progressivism used to be oriented around how to make capitalism just; but now in its upper-middle-class form, it’s oriented around proper esteem for and inclusion of different identity groups. But as Hunter notes, Donald Trump practices identity politics just as much as any progressive. He tells the story of how small-town, less-educated Christians are being oppressed by elites. He alone is their retribution. That story resonates with a lot of people. In the 1950s, Billy Graham assumed that his faith was central to American life. By the 2020s his son Franklin considered himself a warrior under siege in an anti-Christian culture.
The problem with this form of all-explaining identity politics is that it undermines democracy. If others are evil and out to get us, then persuasion is for suckers. If our beliefs are defined by our identities and not individual reason and personal experience, then different Americans are living in different universes and there is no point in trying to engage in deliberative democracy. You just have to crush them. You have to grab power and control of the institutions and shove your answers down everybody else’s throats.
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Facebook lifts restriction on Trump, giving equal footing with Biden on the site
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“It’s time to put Trump in a bullseye,” President Biden is heard telling supporters in a recent conversation. Will he be accused of advocating violence the way, say, Governor Palin of Alaska was accused of inspiring an attempt on a congresswoman’s life? On Monday, in a donors-only call given to Politico, Mr. Biden said he wanted to “move forward” and was “done talking about the debate.” It was then that he made the remark about “bullseye.”
“I have one job, and that’s to beat Donald Trump. I’m absolutely certain I’m the best person to be able to do that. So, we’re done talking about the debate, it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye,” Biden said.
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A Terrible New Era of Political Violence in America - The Atlantic
If this was an assassination attempt on Trump, that would be rare but not unheard of.
Trump’s campaign rallies have frequently witnessed violence or the threat of it, though not in the past directed at the candidate. Protestors demonstrating against Trump have been assaulted, and Trump himself has encouraged attacks against them. The most serious incident of political violence in recent American history occurred on January 6, 2021, following a Trump rally in Washington, D.C., when a crowd incited by Trump attacked and sacked the U.S. Capitol, bloodying police officers and disrupting Congress. Some protesters erected a gallows, carried zipties, and said they were hunting for then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence.
What happens in the wake of the incident today will depend in great deal on what details emerge about this shooting and how Trump recovers. But it will also depend on the way the nation’s leaders react. Many national politicians immediately responded with condemnations of violence and prayers for Trump. Political scientists have found that even voters who hold anti-democratic attitudes are influenced strongly by top political figures. In this fragile moment, the nation desperately needs prudent and wise leadership.
Shots fired
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The former president appeared to have blood on his face as he was rushed from the stage by the Secret Service following a series of loud pops during a rally in Pennsylvania. A spokesman for the Secret Service said Mr. Trump was safe after “an incident.”
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Former US President injured after Pennsylvania shooting
Shooter dead and rally attendee killed at Trump event. A local prosecutor has told AP the suspected gunman and at least one attendee are dead. Butler County district attorney Richard Goldinger said in a phone interview that the suspected gunman was dead and at least one rally attendee was killed.
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Secret Service rushes Trump off stage after shots fired at Pennsylvania rally
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Gunshots reportedly fired at Donald Trump rally; walked off-stage
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Secret Service rushes Trump off stage after he falls at rally
Secret Service agents rushed former President Donald Trump off the stage after he fell to the ground at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Loud bangs were heard before Trump fell. Agents then helped him stand, and he had blood on his face. He was yelling back to the crowd and raised his fist. He was then taken to a vehicle and evacuated from the scene.
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Donald Trump Pennsylvania Rally Shooting: Photos - Bloomberg
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Second witness says police weren't interested in suspicious rood crawler
"that was where I last saw him, ... at the end of his day."
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Donald Trump 'Fine' After Gunshots Fired at Campaign Rally; Suspected Shooter Killed: Live Updates
Former President Donald Trump is "fine" after shots were fired at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., Saturday. The Secret Service shot and killed a suspected shooter, according to law enforcement officials. At least one attendee was killed at the rally, according to a law enforcement official. A spokesman later said Trump is “fine and being checked out at a local medical facility” after being hustled off stage.
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Donald Trump 'safe' after gunshots fired at rally in Pennsylvania
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Gunman behind attempted assassination on Trump shot and killed by Secret Service: sources
The gunman believed to have been behind the attempted assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump Saturday was shot and killed by Secret Service, sources told The Post. The shooter, identified only as a white male, was in a sniper position located hundreds of yards away from Trump’s podium in Butler, Pa. as he spoke to a campaign crowd, sources said.
Bullets rang out in the middle of his remarks, Trump putting his hand to his right ear before being tackled to the ground by Secret Service agents. Seconds later, Trump rose to his feet and told his security detail to “wait” before pumping his fist and shouting “fight” to the badly shaken crowd.
“He came within inches of having his face shot open,” a senior law enforcement source told The Post. One witness told BBC News that he alerted Secret Service to a gunman who was “bear-crawling up the roof” of the building” of a nearby building.
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MAGA Responds With Outrage After Donald Trump Injured at Pennsylvania Rally - Newsweek
Staunch supporters of Donald Trump were quick to react with outrage on Saturday after the former president was escorted from the stage at his Pennsylvania rally with blood on his face after loud popping was heard. Trump was escorted off stage during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday afternoon. Shots were heard minutes into his speech before he was then rushed off-stage by security staff. The AP later reported that the shooter was dead and a rally attendee was killed. Trump appeared to fall to the ground as he presented his speech and appeared to have blood on the side of his face. He was quickly surrounded by armed security and stayed down for around a minute.
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I’m not going to narrate what you can witness with your own eyes and ears. The camera lens is pointed toward two U.S Secret Service protective detail snipers on the roof behind President Trump. One is the spotter. Turn on sound. You can clearly see both USSS spot the shooter, do nothing, wait for the incoming fire, then respond.
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I want to extend my condolences to the family of the person at the Rally who was killed, and also to the family of another person that was badly injured. It is incredible that such an act can take place in our Country. Nothing is known at this time about the shooter, who is now dead. I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear.
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"I Was Shot": Trump Responds After Assassination Attempt; Shooter Dead; Secret Service Reportedly Ignored Warnings | ZeroHedge (Archive)
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Thomas Matthew Crooks ID'd as gunman who shot Trump during Pa. rally
The gunman who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump Saturday was identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, sources told The Post. Crooks, of Bethel Park, Pa., squeezed off shots — one of which grazed Trump in the ear — at an outdoor rally in Butler, just outside Pittsburgh. Sources said Crooks was planted on a roof of a manufacturing plant more than 130 yards away from the stage at Butler Farm Show grounds. He was killed by Secret Service snipers. An AR-style rifle was later recovered. Bethel Park is a village 40 miles south of where the Butler rally was held. Why Crooks fired on the presumptive Republican presidential nominee is unclear.
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A few short minutes after Trump took the stage, shots rang out
Even as Trump was driven off, rallygoers stayed low. Some had heard the bullets ricocheting off the grandstand, severing a hydraulic line connecting to the speakers, which began to topple. Others quickly called family or looked on their phones to find out what had happened to the former president. “Is he all right?” people began to ask. “Is he OK?” Eventually, people began to trickle out. A small group of about a half-dozen stopped at the fenced area holding the media. “It's all your fault!” they yelled.
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some random comments from the web, un-attributed because they're my edits; and people are venting emotions, not arguing rationally. it's like passing through a bar and overhearing some phrases as you pass.
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On Right Wing sites, they’re claiming that Biden ordered a hit on Trump while ignoring the fact that Trump’s own Supreme Court said it’s perfectly legal for Biden to do so.
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the secret service head won’t last. Just unacceptable. And even worse, the head is a former member of Biden’s VP detail, which will only lead to more rw conspiracy theories.
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Trump’s so far gone he won’t appreciate the irony of being shot at after having himself attempted an assassination of Mike Pence.
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when I saw him raising and pumping his fist I almost felt like maybe he staged the whole event or maybe it was one of those false flag things so they could pin it on the left wing... and that audience... every time I've seen videos of shootings everybody is running and screaming to get away as fast as they can .. these people just stood there gawking and taking photographs
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And apparently people told the secret service a guy was climbing up to the roof and they did nothing. will wait on judgement but everything seems weird especially Trump claiming he got hit by a bullet instead of glass.
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There are a substantial number of people on this forum who sincerely believe that if Trump is elected there will not be another election. If enough people sincerely believe that, one of them will eventually decide that it's worth it to sacrifice their own life to ensure the survival of democracy in America.
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Pretty much every president in the last century has had at least one assassination attempt.
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America has been edging itself with talk of a "cold civil war" for years now. It's like a morbid game of chicken.
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they avoid saying shot, while describing the consequences of being shot near the ear. Are they thinking he might've scratched the ear when his security jumped on him?
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Trump proved in two minutes that whatever else you can say about him, he's very capable of responding well to pressure.
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Remember that Trump supporters in particular have a long history of using violence to further their political aims including an attack on the capitol building with the intent to interfere, through violence and intimidation, with a free and fair election by preventing congress from counting the Electoral College votes. They've gone so far as to attempt to kidnap a political rival, but what they haven't done (to my knowledge, correct me if I'm wrong) is actually shoot one. Considering that Trump's supporters were calling for violent retribution just weeks ago over a verdict against Trump, I think it's reasonable to conclude that more violence after a successful assassination would be likely. Everyone I've seen on the left has spoken out against the shooter. The left does not want violence or war. Long before this incident Trump supporters have been asking for exactly that
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He was not shot. There was gunfire at his rally but he was not shot.
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Perhaps it was a good thing because he’ll be more careful from now on. Hopefully the further attempts will be unsuccessful.
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Not sure I've seen too many 900-page long "dismantle modern life" documents from the Democrats.
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After years of violent rhetoric and attacks like the one on Paul Pelosi, I doubt anyone is surprised.
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Honestly, I'm not saying that it wasn't, or couldn't have been gunshots, but something about this is off. The sound was just not sharp enough, and the way he touches his head after being shot was just weird, if it was a gun/bullet, it definitely was not a direct impact.
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Pox / COVID / BioTerror AgitProp
Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising
TechSuck / Geek Bait
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Intel's woes with Core i9 CPUs crashing look worse than we thought
Cassells reckons there's a more substantial underlying problem here than mere glitches of instability solved by motherboard configurations. "Over the last 3–4 months, we have observed that CPUs initially working well deteriorate over time, eventually failing," he claims. "The failure rate we have observed from our own testing is nearly 100%, indicating it's only a matter of time before affected CPUs fail." Incidentally, this vulture just so happens to have given his old Intel Core i9-13900K to an acquaintance a couple of weeks ago, and it now no longer functions. This 13900K went into a gaming PC with a lower-end motherboard that by design can't max out the chip's power usage. Previously, it chugged along in SSD and GPU testing without issue.
AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World
Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO
Economicon / Business / Finance
Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making
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Susan Collins won't vote for either guy, opting for Nikki Haley instead
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Threat of AI earthquake creates growing political rift in Silicon Valley
An election season is always a good time to take the political temperature in the tech world, and this year it definitely feels like Silicon Valley — a traditional bastion of Democratic support — is swinging right. Loud-mouths like Elon Musk have been leading a vociferous campaign against the president. And as FT colleagues in San Francisco and Washington DC have recently noted, the tech world’s pro-Trump faction seems bigger and is certainly louder in this election cycle than in 2020 or 2016. But the high-decibel cacophony coming from the Valley makes it easy to read too much into this. I’m guessing I’m not the only one who sees Elon’s ravings at the top of the page every time I look at X. (I’m also guessing I’m not the only one who goes there less often — whatever your political views. Who has the emotional energy for so much hate and trolling?)
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How Biden’s Stumbles Collided With a Right-Wing Conspiracy Theory - The New York Times
For years, far-right commentators have floated a conspiracy theory that Democratic Party elites were secretly plotting to replace President Biden on the ticket — a switcheroo that could give the party an advantage in November. Suddenly, Mr. Biden being replaced by another Democrat as the party’s presidential nominee seems like a distinct possibility. There is no evidence that the chaotic events following June’s debate were planned or that Mr. Biden’s halting performance was intentional. But the crisis over his candidacy has right-wing influencers heralding the moment as a conspiracy theory turned true. Far-right social media is rife with outlandish, unproven stories of Democratic crimes and rigged elections. Most of those ideas fizzle over time as they fail to come true. But every now and then, one of those stories collides with reality. The influencers who spread the ideas seize on their luck, using the moment to lend credibility to their work and cement their relationship with followers.
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Behind the Curtain: Committee to Unelect the President - Axios
President Biden beat back the initial public campaign by Democrats to oust him from the party's presidential ticket, swiftly and decisively. But very-connected Democrats, mostly veterans of the Obama and Clinton administrations, are plotting hourly to get him to withdraw quickly. They're commissioning polls, lobbying former presidents, back-channeling Democratic leaders, organizing donors and taking the fight to Biden in a very public way. They're the unofficial Committee to Unelect the President. The mission: Push Biden out of the presidential race — the sooner, the better.
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The talent agency mogul Ari Emanuel (a brother of Rahm Emanuel, Biden’s ambassador to Japan), recently said Biden “is not the candidate anymore.” In a post on X, the best-selling author Stephen King said that it’s time for Biden “to announce he will not run for re-election.” Abigail Disney, an heiress to the Walt Disney fortune, said, “I intend to stop any contributions to the party unless and until they replace Biden at the top of the ticket.” They seem to believe that they can kill his candidacy, by a thousand cuts or by starving it to death. But none of this sits well with me. First, because Biden is, in fact, his party’s presumptive nominee. He won the primaries. He has the delegates. He got there via an open, organized and democratic process. Forcing him out, against his will, seems to me an invalidation of that process. And the apparent justification for this, that polls, which are highly fluctuant, now indicate that some voters want him replaced, is insufficient; responses to polls are not votes.
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If Biden is smart, he’ll follow Nixon’s example
"There's no place in America for this kind of violence," the president said. "It's sick. It's sick. That's one of the reasons we have to unite this country. You cannot allow for this to be happening. We cannot be like this. We cannot condone this." The president said Trump's rally should have been able to take place peacefully, "without any problem." "But the idea, the idea that there's political violence or violence in America like this is just unheard of," he said. A reporter asked the president if he believes this was an assassination attempt. "I don't know enough to — I have an opinion, but I don't have any facts," the president said. "So I want to make sure I have all the facts before I make any more comments."
External Security / Militaria / Diplomania
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What Happens If the President Issues Potentially Illegal Order to the Military?
given presidential campaign rhetoric as Americans head to the polls in November, Military.com spent several months trying to unearth what existing safeguards and policies are in place to protect what has long been considered a hallmark of the U.S. -- an apolitical military that uses its power to fight the country's enemies, not its own citizens. In speaking with more than a dozen Pentagon officials as well as outside experts, what emerged was a landscape where few concrete legal protections exist to prevent an abuse of power by a president, especially if that president chooses to lean on the Insurrection Act, a vaguely worded law originally passed in 1792.
Military.com reached out to the civilian and military leaders of every uniformed branch of service with a trio of direct questions: If a potentially unlawful order is received from the White House or issued by a defense secretary, what is the review process to determine whether the order is legal, who triggers the review, and who conducts the review? The requests made no mention of a specific president or the specifics of potential orders, but rather asked about existing policies.
None of the services offered any comment on the record, and some didn't even reply to the inquiries. Military.com reached out to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who also declined to comment. Finally, the office of the defense secretary, after several weeks of queries, provided a response. Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in an emailed statement that "lawyers are available to advise military leaders -- including the secretary of defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and combatant commanders -- regarding the legal and prudential impacts of orders, as well as the legal effects and consequences such orders may have."
Israel
Health / Medicine
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Five doctors on the supplements they swear by, from Vitamin D to lion’s mane
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Weight-Loss Drugs Close in on Hong Kong So Doctors Are Gearing Up for a Frenzy
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I wonder how much the marketing spend on this shit is propping up the news media the past couple years.
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Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda
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In the South, sea level rise accelerates at some of most extreme rates on Earth
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Rising seas could initiate coastal wetland within decades across the US
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Houston area frustrated as it enters 6th day without power, AC in punishing heat
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Las Vegas sees record-breaking 7 days of scorching 115+ degree temperaturess