2024-07-18
etc
Horseshit
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My teenage son had an influencer in his class. This is what it was like
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Why economists are blaming Taylor Swift for sticky UK inflation
Seismologists in Edinburgh said the leaping of her devoted fans in tune to her music made the earth move. Seismic activity was detected up to four miles from her concert at the Murrayfield stadium. In London, telecoms engineers said all the selfies and TikTok posts resulted in the most mobile data use ever at Wembley. Now the country’s economists warn that the growing band of young Swifties could be an economic force to be reckoned with. The UK inflation rate stayed at 2 per cent, rather than continuing to fall as had been expected. This complicates the Bank of England’s decision next month when it considers whether to cut interest rates.
celebrity gossip
Trump / War against the Right / Jan6
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Unbowed by Jan. 6 Charges, Republicans Pursue Plans to Contest a Trump Defeat - The New York Times
Mr. Trump’s allies have followed a two-pronged approach: restricting voting for partisan advantage ahead of Election Day and short-circuiting the process of ratifying the winner afterward, if Mr. Trump loses. The latter strategy involves an ambitious — and legally dubious — attempt to reimagine decades of settled law dictating how results are officially certified in the weeks before the transfer of power. At the heart of the strategy is a drive to convince voters that the election is about to be stolen, even without evidence. Democrats use mail voting, drop boxes and voter registration drives to swing elections, they have argued. And Mr. Trump’s indictments and criminal conviction are a Biden administration gambit to interfere with the election, they claim.
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Trump allies want to "Make America First in AI" with sweeping executive order
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Federal prosecutor accused of withholding evidence in Trump protest cases
A former federal prosecutor who oversaw more than 200 cases related to protests of former President Trump’s 2017 inauguration has been accused of withholding evidence, according to an attorney disciplinary claim. Jennifer Kerkhoff Muyskens, formerly of the D.C. district attorney’s office, allegedly attempted to edit or obscure video evidence used against the defendants that otherwise could have been used to clear them of criminal charges, argued the D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel (ODC).
Disciplinary counsel Hamilton Fox claims that Muyskens relied upon video evidence provided by Project Veritas, a conservative activist group infamous for undercover video, to back the prosecutions, knowing the video was misleadingly edited. Fox also claims Muyskens attempted to hide from the court that Project Veritas was the source of the video evidence by removing references to the group and editing out some clips, which it argued deprived the defendants of a complete legal defense. Muyskens knew that her “editing of the original videos could hurt the prosecution and help the defense,” the complaint said. Fox also claimed Muyskens’s “statements and omissions to the government … were false and misleading.”
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Co-founders of Silicon Valley venture capital firm back Trump's presidential bid
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'It's a Bitcoin Play': Mark Cuban Speaks on Silicon Valley's Support of Trump
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How Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley funded the sudden rise of JD Vance
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The richer, more anti-Black someone is, the more likely they will support Trump
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J.D. Vance will introduce himself to voters with a primetime speech at the RNC
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(audio) Trump Ally Rudy Giuliani Goes Down Hard at Republican National Convention
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Trump allies want to "Make America First in AI" with sweeping executive order
Trump Shooting
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Biden’s Team Crippled Trump’s Security To Allow Murder Attempt
Joe Biden’s security regime deliberately and with malice and forethought created the conditions that led to an attempted assassin shooting Donald Trump in the head. It is by the grace of God that he lived and our nation is not currently in the midst of a violent civil war. They deliberately starved Trump’s security team of the resources it needed. And they did it repeatedly, over many weeks and months.
Given the lies and nonsense from both Biden’s Department of Homeland Security secretary and his Secret Service director, it’s increasingly difficult to believe this was just a series of independent mistakes (Secret Service director Kim Cheatle at one point this week claimed snipers couldn’t be on the roof because it was sloped and they might fall and hurt themselves). In contrast, when you look at the entire picture, what you see better resembles a deliberate plan to make Trump vulnerable but to appear at first glance to be just a couple of innocent mistakes. And when you add in how little information we’ve been given about the shooter — apparently the only person on Earth not on the internet — you begin to wonder if maybe a group of people at a different three-letter agency might have been working on a parallel track to find and encourage people to take action against Trump at the very same time he was kept vulnerable by Biden’s regime.
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It emerged the gunman's' father called police on the day of the shooting because Crooks didn't return from what he thought was a Saturday trip to the local gun range. And it was revealed Crooks was at the former president's rally three hours before opening fire, sparking the suspicions of the Secret Service because he was carrying a rangefinder used by hunters to take long shots.
On the day of the attack Crooks had told his boss he needed the day off from work on Saturday and gave colleagues a final chilling message: That he would be back on Sunday.
His father told law enforcement he assumed his son had gone to the shooting range at the The Clairton Sportsmen's Club to practice with his rifle and would be back by 1pm on Saturday, CNN reported. But as time went on he grew more concerned and phoned local law enforcement. At around 3pm on Saturday, Crooks was spotted at the rally's security screening area and tried to pass through metal detectors with the rangefinder, which is used by shooters to measure distance.The device, which looks like a small pair of binoculars, would not have prevented him getting into the rally but did put him on law enforcement's radar. Witnesses said he was acting strangely, furiously checking his phone and operating the rangefinder. about 40 minutes before the shooting, Crooks was back on the Secret Service radar. A photograph showing the sniper appearing to crawl on the ground while scouring the area was circulated to law enforcement as a suspicious sighting at 5:30pm.
Two more newly released images also show a bicycle owned by Crooks that was recovered close to the scene, and a remote detonator, which was recovered from his dead body alongside his cellphone. It was later revealed that the detonator was connected to explosives found in his car.
Butler County Sheriff Michael Slupe sais a local officer climbed to the roof and encountered Crooks, who saw the officer and turned toward him just before the officer dropped down to safety. Slupe said the officer couldn’t have wielded his own gun under the circumstances. The officer retreated down the ladder, and Crooks quickly took a shot toward Trump, and that’s when Secret Service snipers shot him, according top officials. WPXI reported that Crooks was on the roof with a gun for fewer than seven minutes before he was confronted by the police officer.
Alongside the explosives in Crooks' car, investigators also recovered a bullet proof vest and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, which had been purchased, alongside a ladder, on the same day as the shooting. Another bulletproof vest, and third remote-controlled bomb was later discovered at the house he shared with his parents. The latest revelation that a transmitter was also with him has raised fears that Crooks may have been planning to continue his killing spree if he had escaped from the roof with his life, and may have had an accomplice to help him.
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“I brought up the fact that I’m Hispanic and, you know, I’m for Trump. And he said, ‘Well, you’re Hispanic, so shouldn’t you hate Trump?,’” Taormina recounted. “No. He’s great. He was a great president. He called me stupid – or insinuated that I was stupid.” “He said, ‘Well, that’s kind of stupid.’ He was a know-it-all,” Taormina continued. “So, like, once again, if he was passionate about something, he would just talk, talk, talk and acted like he knew everything, especially politics-related. He would say it in a tone that was, like, ‘I’m better than you,’ in a type of way, and meanwhile, it’s like, dude, we’re in the same classes.”
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A company called Austin Private Wealth LLC shorted 12,000,000 shares of $DJT via a put option. The filing date is July 12th, the day before the assassination attempt.
Pox / COVID / BioTerror AgitProp
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Covid Rates Are Rising Again. Why Does SARS-CoV-2 Spread So Well in the Summer?
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Von der Leyen Commission loses Covid vaccine transparency case
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Moderna wins $176M to develop bird flu vaccine amid outbreak
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How Countries Are Preparing for a Potential Bird Flu Pandemic
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Five people infected as bird flu appears to go from cows to chickens to humans
In a press briefing Tuesday, federal officials reported that four of the avian influenza cases have been confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while the fifth remains a presumptive positive awaiting CDC confirmation. All five people have shown mild illnesses, though they experienced variable symptoms. Some of the cases involved conjunctivitis, as was seen in other human cases linked to the H5N1 outbreak in dairy cows. Others in the cluster of five had respiratory and typical flu-like symptoms, including fever, chills, sore throat, runny nose, and cough. None of the five cases required hospitalization.
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If bird flu sparks a human pandemic, your past immunity could help
Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation
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Microsoft DEI Lead Blasts Company in Internal Email After Team Is Reportedly Laid Off - IGN
The email goes on to assert that DEI programs are in danger not just at Microsoft, but across all businesses: "Unofficially in my opinion, not specific to Microsoft alone, but [conservative policy plan] Project 2025 looms and true systems change work associated with DEI programs everywhere are no longer business critical or smart as they were in 2020. Hence the purposeful and strategic 3-5 year shelf life of many company's inclusion commitments post the murder of George Floyd are being reevaluated," the email reads. "And the way I see it, the timing was impeccable so businesses everywhere could reevaluate the path forward should their U.S. federal contracts be at risk if the work continues on its face."
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John Deere releases statement rejecting DEI policies:'Committed to our customers
Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising
Crypto con games
Economicon / Business / Finance
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Copper market's biggest whale fuels speculation of a major shift
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Philip Morris to build $600M Colorado plant to meet Zyn demand
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IMF lowers outlook for US economy while warning of slower disinflation.
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Can Amazon save luxury US department stores?
At the remaining publicly listed department stores, credit cards — rather than retail sales — now generate a surprisingly large chunk of profits. Credit income accounted for about 47 per cent and 66 per cent, respectively, of Nordstrom’s and Kohl’s operating income last year, according to Bank of America Global Research. At Macy’s, the figure was about 55 per cent in 2022, said Citigroup.
- tx to https://marginalrevolution.com/
Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making
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How CBS News' Hunter Biden reporting backfired on network's 'woke' boss
The stunning fall of the “woke” boss at CBS News last week was a “head on a stick moment” at the Tiffany Network — and was a case of a divisive executive who had long been viewed as untouchable. That’s the story I’m hearing over and over about Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews, a 30-year CBS News veteran who was its highest-ranking woman of color — and who abruptly stepped down as president last week after less than a year on the job. The Dominican-born executive — who for years had weathered CBS firestorms including the sexual misconduct scandals that toppled Charlie Rose and “60 Minutes” boss Jeff Fager in 2018 — had once been described to me as “Machiavellian”.
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How photographers view Trump shooting photos
Multiple photographers worried privately in conversations with Axios that the images from the rally could turn into a kind of "photoganda," with the Trump campaign using them to further their agenda despite the photographers' intent of capturing a news event. A photo editor and photographer from a major news outlet said the "amount that publications have been using Evan's photo is kind of free P.R. for Trump in a way, and its dangerous for media organizations to keep sharing that photo despite how good it is."
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Biden grilled in "tense" call with moderate Democrats: "Complete disaster."
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Biden tones down the heated political rhetoric by claiming Donald Trump wants to block Black Americans from voting and prosecute his political enemies.
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Schiff Calls on Biden to Drop Out of Presidential Race - The New York Times
Representative Adam Schiff of California said that President Biden should end his campaign, restarting a drip of opposition within the Democratic Party that had paused after the attempted assassination of former President Donald J. Trump over the weekend. Mr. Biden “has been one of the most consequential presidents in our nation’s history, and his lifetime of service as a senator, a vice president and now as president has made our country better,” Mr. Schiff said in a statement to The Los Angeles Times. But, he said, “A second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the president can defeat Donald Trump in November.”
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Biden Circle Shrinks as Democrats Fear Election Wipeout - The New York Times
Instead, he is relying on members of his family — a tight-knit clan that includes his son Hunter and the first lady, Jill Biden — along with a tiny group of loyalists to steer him through a self-created crisis and quell a rising rebellion against his candidacy from within his own party. Mr. Biden has not consulted directly with the pollsters on his 500-person campaign team about the state of the race against Donald J. Trump, but has instead relied on Mike Donilon, a longtime friend, former pollster and Biden-campaign messaging guru, to summarize the numbers, with regular memos and numerous daily phone calls. The ever-buzzing phone of Steve Ricchetti, a close counselor to Mr. Biden since his vice presidency, is the main conduit between concerned lawmakers and the president. Mr. Biden speaks frequently to his son Hunter Biden, who calls and texts the president and first lady multiple times a day to see how they are coping with the onslaught of scrutiny surrounding his father’s health, mental fitness and final presidential campaign.
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The changes in vibes — why did they happen?
Clearly it has happened, and it has been accelerated and publicized by the Biden failings and the attempted Trump assassination. But it was already underway. If you need a single, unambiguous sign of it, I would cite MSNBC pulling off Morning Joe for a morning, for fear they would say something nasty about Trump. Another way to put it is that Trump was a highly vulnerable, defeated President, facing numerous legal charges and indeed an actual felony conviction. Yet he now stands as a clear favorite in the next election. In conceptual terms, how exactly did that happen?
The Democrats made a big bet that trying to raise the status of blacks would be popular, but at best they had mixed results. Some part of this failing was due to racists, some part due to immigrants with their own concerns, and some part due simply to the unpopularity of the message.
The ongoing feminization of society has driven more and more men, including black and Latino men, into the Republican camp. The Democratic Party became too much the party of unmarried women.
Biden’s recent troubles, and the realization that he and his team had been running a con at least as big as the Trump one. It has become a trust issue, not only an age or cognition issue.
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Biden tests positive for Covid-19 in Las Vegas
President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 while traveling Wednesday in Las Vegas and is experiencing “mild symptoms” from the infection, the White House said. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden will fly to his home in Delaware, where he will “self-isolate and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time.” The news had first been shared by Unidos US President and CEO Janet Murguía, who told guests at the group’s convention in Las Vegas that president had sent his regrets and could not appear because he tested positive for the virus.
Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security
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Interpol Arrests 300 People in a Global Crackdown Crime on Crime Groups
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Ex-CIA Analyst Worked for South Korea in Exchange for Louis Vuitton Handbag: Prosecutors
A former senior official of the White House National Security Council who also once worked as an analyst for the CIA has been indicted on criminal charges accusing her of working as an agent for the government of South Korea allegedly in exchange for luxury gifts including designer handbags. Sue Mi Terry, the wife of Washington Post columnist Max Boot, was charged with failing to register as a foreign agent and conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act, according to an indictment made public Tuesday in Manhattan federal court. Prosecutors allege that Terry promoted South Korea’s policy positions, disclosed nonpublic U.S. government information to South Korean intelligence officers, and facilitated access for South Korean government officials to their American counterparts.
External Security / Militaria / Diplomania
World
Israel
Russia Bad / Ukraine War
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Netherlands commemorates 10th anniversary of MH17 airline disaster
he Netherlands commemorated the 298 victims of flight MH17 that was shot down over Ukraine 10 years ago with a ceremony attended by the bereaved and representatives from Malaysia, Australia, the UK, Belgium and Ukraine. Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, as fighting raged between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces, the precursor of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
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Russia Classifies Mortality Data after Ukraine War Losses Revealed.
China
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Many US solar factories are lagging. Except those China owns
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Chinese Social Media Buzz with Xi Jinping Suffers Stroke Reports | Republic World
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Xi Jinping has suffered a stroke
Chinese Human Rights reporter, Jennifer Zhang, claims the "brain" stroke was "massive" and Xi Jinping is now in a "critical condition"