Rich Woman Blues

Joe Rogan isn't impressed by Oprah's act:

Neighborhood Trash

this is what happens when you don't take out the garbage:

The worst of New York City’s worlds have collided on one Brooklyn block – where junkie squatters rented out an abandoned home to migrants, whose dozens of apparently stolen bikes and scooters sparked an inferno that scorched two neighboring homes, The Post has learned. But even the Aug. 17 conflagration couldn’t keep the squatters away from the East 36th Street abode in Marine Park. “For the next two days, people were coming back again and again,” a 45-year-old neighbor told The Post, even after the city boarded up the second-floor windows and poured cement across the first-floor doors and windows. Neighbors estimated around 10 junkies and an unknown number of migrant squatters frequented the dilapidated two-story, three-bedroom duplex, which was built in 1925.

So, what are local officials doing about> Not much:

Councilwoman Mercedes Narcisse said her office was contacted about “the ongoing and deeply troubling issue of squatters and drug activity” on the property for the first time on the day of the fire. “More must be done to protect our neighborhoods from the dangers posed by neglected properties. I strongly support the need for stronger state laws that empower communities and homeowners to address the problem of squatting effectively,” she said. A mayoral spokesperson said, “We are going to review laws surrounding squatting to protect homeowners in the city, particularly working-class New Yorkers, and we will look for ways to partner with the City Council to resolve this issue.”

In other words, the trash stays put...

Flagged Down

Illinois is getting a new flag for some reason:

The measure creating a 20-member Illinois Flag Commission (IFC), was signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker last year. The commission is currently deciding whether to change the flag. "History is living, breathing, and ever-evolving," said Democratic state Sen. Doris Turner, a co-sponsor of the legislation that started this effort. In a statement, Turner said, "We need to ensure government is evolving with the times, so people are engaged and a part of what is going on across the State. To start the conversation, I led the initiative to create the Illinois Flag Commission….[It] is tasked with deciding whether the current State flag should be replaced with a redesigned State flag. We need a flag that truly represents Illinois – a state with a strong workforce, an agriculture champion, and so much more." Turner of Springfield and Democratic state Rep. Kam Buckner of Chicago created the legislation to allow officials to "evaluate if a new State flag would better represent the state’s diversity of urban, suburban and rural communities and inspire renewed state pride among Illinoisians," the Illinois secretary of state’s office said in a press release.

Wanted: New woke flag...

Scare Tactics

Real data versus fake:

Per a new study, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) utilizes “inappropriate assumption and speculation,” as well as non-real-world models of “imaginary data,” to claim CO2 emissions derived from fossil fuel burning function “weirdly,” far differently in the atmosphere than CO2 molecules derived from natural emissions (e.g., plant respiration, ocean outgassing) do. “The ambiguity is accompanied by inappropriate assumptions and speculations, the weirdest of which is that the behavior of the CO2 in the atmosphere depends on its origin and that CO2 emitted by anthropogenic fossil fuel combustion has higher residence time than when naturally emitted.” While the IPCC acknowledges emissions from natural sources have an atmospheric residence time of only 4 years, they have simultaneously constructed model outputs that assert CO2 molecules derived from fossil fuel emissions remain in the atmosphere for hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, even several one hundred thousands of years. .... Instead of relying on models built on assumption and speculation, Dr. Koutsoyiannis utilizes a well-established, hydrology-based theoretical framework (refined reservoir routing, or RRR) combined with real-world CO2 observations to robustly conclude the residence time for all CO2 molecules, regardless of origin, is between 3.5 and 4 years.

This is what happens when you use real science...

No Names

So this has happened in Vermont:

The department advised using the terms "child" or "kid" instead of saying "daughter" or "son," suggesting they are more "gender-neutral" words. Libs of TikTok, a prominent, right-wing social media account known for reposting far-left content that often entails anti-LGBTQ themes, shared a screenshot of the guidelines saying "yes, this is real." "The Vermont Department of Health says to stop using the terms ‘son’ and ‘daughter’ in order to be more inclusive. This erosion of the meaning of words and the dismantling of family as the building block of society is wrong. Christians must stand for truth and not give in on these issues," the Dansbury Institute, a group of issue-based, nonpartisan churches that focuses on public policy issues, wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. Asked about the post, the Vermont Department of Health told Fox News Digital that the guide was "intended to encourage using inclusive language when you don't know someone's family situation."

Don't know, don't identify...

Space Cases

Don't be perfect, or something:

Ornamental End

Lamenting (and imagining) a lost world of ornamentation:

We can imagine an alternative history in which demand for ornament remained constant across the twentieth century. Ornament would not have remained unchanged in these conditions. Natural stone would probably have continued to decline, although a revival might be underway as robot carving improved. Initially, natural stone would have been replaced by wood, glass, plaster, terra-cotta, and cast stone. As the century drew on, new materials like fiberglass and precast concrete might also have become important. Stock patterns would be ubiquitous for speculative housing and generic office buildings, but a good deal of bespoke work would still be done for high-end and public buildings. New suburban housing might not look all that different from how it looks today, but city centers would be unrecognizably altered, fantastically decorative places in which the ancient will to ornament was allied to unprecedented technical power.

"Modern" architecture can look more alien than inviting...

The Baseman's Lament

The era of the first baseman may be over:

These are not easy times to be a hitter in Major League Baseball. Pitchers throw harder than ever, and teams have cracked the code on defensive positioning. League-wide offense has been in the toilet for years and has remained there in 2024. But offense is really down among first basemen, who this year have posted a .729 on-base plus slugging percentage. That is the position’s worst OPS since 1968. It’s not a matter of a low offensive tide lowering all boats. Historically, first base is baseball’s most productive offensive position. But in 2024, first basemen are only hitting 2 percent better than the rest of the league, according to the era- and environment-adjusted “runs created” stat from FanGraphs. It is the position’s worst season relative to other MLB hitters since 1949, and it keeps with an extended decline. It’s a baseball bummer. A huge percentage of the greatest hitters in history played first base, and over decades, they built the position into something worth mythologizing. The thick-bodied, heavy-hitting first baseman is as classic a baseball archetype as the flamethrowing closer or the rangy center fielder. Quickly think up a list of the best hitters you’ve ever seen in your life, and you will invariably put lots of first basemen on the list. Just in this century, Votto, Albert Pujols, and Miguel Cabrera would make anyone’s top handful. Now, the best hitters play elsewhere, and first base is undergoing a devaluation.

From first base to last place...

Don't Go Away

The long, strange trip of Oasis:

Even though the online beef devolved into what Noel called "ugly" hate projected onto his family — the band is reuniting. At the time, Noel said of their online feud that Liam's messages "only heightens my resolve that I’ll never walk the stage with that band again for that reason." The rumblings of a reunion came as the Sunday Times reported that industry sources are "adamant" that the brothers will reunite for high-profile concerts in the summer of 2025. Liam had also been dropping hints to people online. In a thread about the Sunday Times article on X, he responded to a comment, "See you down the front."

The brothers Gallagher have returned...

Social Stone Age

Why Venmo might be the last social network:

On Venmo, you won’t see influencers pushing affiliate links. Scrolling the app feels like a throwback to a lost era of social media, to a time when people used their feeds to connect with friends and share updates on what they were doing. That used to happen on Facebook, but the site is now more of a place for “Shrimp Jesus” than genuine social networking. TikTok, and to a lesser degree Instagram, are mainly platforms to watch short videos posted by strangers. And Twitter is now, well, X. Somehow, Venmo—Venmo!—lives on as one of the last real social networks.

Where chatting lives on...

Blogging In The Years: 1966

Why the government is now so cared of pot:

The black cloud of negative propaganda on marijuana emanates from one particular Source: the US Treas. Dept. Narcotics Bureau.2 If the tendency (a return to common sense) to leave the opiate problem with qualified M.D.'s prevails, the main function of this large Bureau will shift to the persecution of marijuana. Otherwise, the Bureau will have no function except as a minor tax office, for which it was originally purposed, under aegis of Secty. of Treasury. Following Parkinson's Law that a bureaucracy will attempt to find work for itself, or following a simpler line of thought, that the agents of this Bureau have a business interest in perpetuating the idea of a marijuana "menace" lest they lose their employment, it is not unreasonable to suppose that a great deal of the violence, hysteria & energy of the anti-marijuana language propaganda emanating from this source has as its motive a rather obnoxious self interest, all the more objectionable for its tone of moralistic evangelism. This hypocrisy is recognizable to anybody who has firsthand experience of the so-called narcotic; which, as the reader may have noticed, I have termed an herb, which it is -- a leaf or blossom -- in order to switch from negative terminology and inaccurate language.

Government and morality don't mix...

Freedom Of Health

The White House defends its censorship:

When asked, the White House washed its hands of the ordeal and declined to acknowledge Zuckerberg's use of terms regarding censorship and pressure. "When confronted with a deadly pandemic, this administration encouraged responsible actions to protect public health and safety,” a White House spokesperson said, per the Guardian. The White House official then attributed responsibility to tech platforms for making "independent" choices about the content posted on their apps. "Our position has been clear and consistent," the statement continued. "We believe tech companies and other private actors should take into account the effects their actions have on the American people, while making independent choices about the information they present."

It was for the safety...

Big K Lies

Kamala Harris broke the rules:

During Kamala Harris’ first-ever run for a major office back in 2003, the future vice president was mired in controversy for inflating her prosecutorial record and separately ran afoul of campaign finance rules. At the time, Harris was vying to be San Francisco district attorney general, and she was eager to fashion herself as a “veteran” prosecutor with “thirteen years of courtroom experience” who could overhaul the DA. “Kamala has tried hundreds of serious and violent felonies, including homicide, rape, and child sexual assault cases,” a mailer put out by her campaign claimed at the time. However, she didn’t actually prosecute hundreds of those cases by that point in time, as she was later forced to admit in a debate. .... In a separate instance during that election cycle, Harris got slapped with a fine for flouting San Francisco’s campaign finance laws Back in January of that year, Harris had signed a commitment to stay within a $211,000 spending limit, but her campaign later informed the San Francisco Ethics Commission that she blew past that cap by about $91,446. As a result, she wound up with a penalty of $34,000, according to the San Francisco Ethics Commission website. That was the second largest fine of its kinda listed on that site.

It's an incovenient past...

Monkey Business

Apes aren't just furry people:

Boiled Water

The oceans aren't boiling after all:

"surface ocean temperatures are plunging rapidly around the world with scientists reported to be puzzled at the speed of the recent decline, according to Chris Morrison at The Daily Sceptic this week. "Less puzzlement was to be found when the oceans were ‘boiling’ during the last two years," Morrison dryly noted. When things are getting worse, climate scientists enjoy the certainty of knowing exactly what's going on and why. When the trend lines improve, it's a much less newsworthy mystery. "Until recently, the surface sea temperature (SST) graph below showing measurements up the Arctic and down to Antarctica was rarely out of the public prints... This year the temperature shown by the black line flatlined until April compared with the substantial rise in orange for 2023. It then fell more sharply than last year and is now 0.2°C lower."

The panic is over...

Big Recorder

Big Monitor is recording you:

In an apparent effort to create a “zero tolerance” approach to hate speech, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is reported to be planning on reversing restrictions from her predecessors to bring back the mass recording by police of the Orwellian non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs), The Telegraph reported. The recording of such incidents by police was restricted by former Tory Home Secretary Suella Braverman to instances in which they were “clearly motivated by intentional hostility” and risked “causing significant harm or a criminal offence”. While, as the Newspeak-style name implies, they don’t actually rise to the level of an actual crime, non-crime hate incidents logged by police can have serious implications for those caught up in the dragnet, as a police record is created which can be accessed by some employers through background checks. Additionally, many are never even notified that their name has such a record attached by police. According to The Telegraph, the new left-wing government is considering encouraging blanket recording of the incidents in a push against a supposed rise in “Islamophobia” and antisemitism in the UK.

When a crime isn't a crime...

Campaign Vs. Campaign

There seems to be a lot of bad internal blood in the Harris campaign:

The “internal worries about cohesiveness … with multiple power centers,” is due to the blending of former Biden campaign and Obama campaign officials within the Harris team,” Thompson detailed:

“The entanglement of these different entities has led to many people feeling a real lack of role clarity,” one person involved in the campaign told Axios. Another person involved with the campaign said there isn’t “as much tension at the very, very top, where the question is more: ‘Who is the first among equals with the vice president?'” The confusion about who’s in charge is happening more often “two or three rungs down,” this source said.

The leaks are the second batch this week. Politico Playbook reported on Tuesday that “tensions” were hot over who the decision maker was for Harris’s first media interview. About seven people were vying for influence, according to the leak. Last week, a damning Politico report described the Harris campaign as rife with “friction,” “internal tensions,” “anxiety,” “raw emotions,” “bad-mouthing,” and “grumbling” that mirrored the dysfunction that plagued Harris’s Senate and vice presidential offices.

It seems the Queen needs to get things under control...

Bug Bites

Bug food is no longer a wacky conspiracy theory:

A research centre backed by the Government will work to get insects and other meat alternatives onto supermarket shelves and make them more palatable to the public. Innovation in meat alternatives has risen in recent years amid growing recognition of the environmental impact of animal agriculture, which accounts for around 80 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions from food production globally. Mince created from crickets harvested in Cambridge and pet food made of chicken cultivated from egg cells are two of the products recently launched by British-based companies which it is hoped will become more widely available. The National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre (NAPIC) will look at how to cut red tape and ensure food safety, while also exploring ways to sell meat alternatives to shoppers through focus groups and surveys.

You will eat your bugs and like them...

Green Corrections

Bad science gets a bad review:

Roger Pielke Jr., a former environmental studies professor at the University of Colorado, requested that NOAA correct its billion dollar disasters (BDD) dataset in January, alleging that the dataset’s sourcing and methodology are not sufficiently transparent for the metric to inform policy. NOAA responded to Pielke’s correction request on Aug. 21, admitting that the dataset has not undergone external peer review since 2015 and committing to improving its “documentation and transparency” of the dataset’s component parts going forward. BDD data keeps track of natural disasters that caused $1 billion or more in inflation-adjusted damages going back to 1980, with NOAA and the Biden White House contending that the increasing frequency of BDD events evidences worsening climate change. However, BDD is an economic statistic rather than an indicator of changing meteorological conditions; the same exact hurricane could hit the same exact city 100 years apart, but the damage totals for each storm would be vastly different given that there are more assets to be destroyed in harm’s way now than there were a century ago. In response to Pielke’s request, NOAA said it would start disclosing more of the publicly available sources that it uses to craft its data, formalize and disclose the steps the agency takes to ensure the BDD data’s “robustness” and set up a peer-review system that is consistent with NOAA’s own policies. “NOAA made some difficult admissions here about the fact that the BDD tabulation has failed to meet their standards for scientific integrity and information quality,” Pielke, who believes climate change is a serious problem, told the DCNF. “The BDD tabulation is clever marketing and the media love it. However, no one should mistake it as science.”

Because it never was...

Blogging In The Years: 2015

Alex Jones warns about gay frogs:

Not For Sale

Votes can't be bought:

The Harris-Biden Regime sought to revive its vote-buying gimmick and cancel student loan debt in an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court after the high court already struck down the plan. The Supreme Court on Wednesday denied the plea seeking to lift the nationwide injunction and said the appeals court will render its decision. “The application to vacate injunction presented to Justice Kavanaugh and by him referred to the Court is DENIED,” the order said.

They'll have to steal the election the old-fashioned way...

Electric Stall

Kamala Harris isn't as much for mandates as she was:

Back in July, the Washington Free Beacon reported that Harris's billion-dollar effort to get thousands of electric buses rolled out across the nation ended up being yet another green energy clown show:

As part of the first tranche of Clean School Bus program funding two years ago, Harris and EPA administrator Michael Regan unleashed nearly $1 billion in federal rebates for 389 school districts across all 50 states to help deliver a total 2,463 electric school buses. According to federal data reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon, just 27 of those districts have proven to the EPA that their buses were delivered and that their diesel-fueled buses being replaced have been discarded. Collectively, those districts have deployed a total of 60 battery-electric or low-emissions propane-fueled school buses. And 55 additional districts have pulled out of the program, according to other federal data shared with the Free Beacon, citing a variety of technological and infrastructure concerns. In other words: More school districts have withdrawn from the program than proven that they have completed it.

So, Kamala Harris went from being an EV warrior to someone who isn't about to push this nonsense she's been pushing relentlessly during an election season. It's too politically risky, as "I keep trying to push failed attempts to push enviro-wackadooism that could potentially put Americans out of work" doesn't exactly sell well.

You still can't sell what people aren't buying...

Waving The Flag

Let your freak flags fly:

Space Madness

No individuality for them:

NASA is entrenched in some of the most extensive diversity training of any government entity. Each sector of NASA seems to have its own DEI mission statement on top of an exhausting amount of planning and resources. NASA's Astrophysics Science Division, for example, published a breakdown of its demographics in 2022 to promote equity and inclusion. The results showed that the majority of the division is still male (64%) and white (54.1%). The second-highest demographic is actually "foreign national" at 12.2%, while "Asian" was third-highest with 10.2% representation. The space agency's dedication to diversity has, of course, not helped its latest mission on the Boeing spacecraft known as the Starliner. The vessel has been in space for about 12 weeks after what was supposed to be an eight-day mission.

NASA has become lost in space...

Crowd Patrol

Make way for the Queen:

The Gateway Pundit documented, "Secret Service agents violently pushed peasants out of the way so Jill Biden could go on a shopping spree on Friday afternoon. Jill Biden made a 'surprise visit' in Los Olivos and bystanders with cameras were roughly cleared out." Get the hottest, most important news stories on the Internet – delivered FREE to your inbox as soon as they break! Take just 30 seconds and sign up for WND's Email News Alerts! One security detail member screamed, "Out of the roadway! Move now! Go!" at the public, while violently pushing a woman. A local report explained Jill Biden was out for "a little shopping" accompanied by Hunter Biden and family. The report explained, "Jill Biden and the rest of the Biden parasites spent just 30 minutes in Los Olivos. They disrupted the small town and spent taxpayer money on nearly a dozen Secret Service agents and local law enforcement officers so Queen Jill could go on a shopping spree."

Move or be moved...

Case Dismissal

Trump's conviction could be overturned:

Fischer explains, “The Supreme Court’s definition of what constitutes an ‘official act’ is broad. Even conduct in the ‘outer perimeter’ of the President’s duties is ‘presumptively immune’ and cannot be used in a trial ‘even on charges that purport to be based only on his unofficial conduct.'” Bragg, predictably, has opposed that argument in Trump’s request to dismiss the conviction, saying the then-candidate directed his former attorney to make a six-figure payment to an adult film star to quell rumors of a possible extramarital affair. “Bragg’s prosecutors, however, introduced substantial evidence at trial that clearly falls under the rubric of ‘official acts.’ (The alleged crime took place when Donald Trump was president.),” Fischer continued in an op-ed on reporter Julie Kelly’s Substack page.

No crime, no time...

Green Crash

Ford EVs go bust, forcing Ford to switch to alternatives:

From the Wall Street Journal:

Ford instead will offer hybrid gas-electric versions of future large, three-row SUVs, a popular vehicle category that includes the brand’s Explorer and Expedition nameplates. The company’s moves are the latest example of automakers unwinding EV-investment plans they made years ago, when it looked like there was big untapped consumer demand for battery-powered models. There has been more hesitancy among car shoppers than auto executives initially expected, with surveys showing concerns about high prices and finding places to charge. [...] Ford also pushed back the launch of a new electric pickup truck by one year, until 2027, the second time it has pushed back the timeline. In addition, Ford said it would trim its capital spending on fully electric vehicles to about 30% of its budget, from 40%. “Based on where the market is and where the customer is, we will pivot and adjust and make those tough decisions,” Ford Chief Financial Officer John Lawler said.

Ford said its EV business is on track to lose an eye-watering $5 billion this year alone. In the three-month period ending in June, the automaker lost about $44,000 on every electric vehicle it sold. That is not sustainable.

"Sustainable" living often isn't...

Democracy Survives

Democracy lives in Wisconsin:

Democrats worry that Stein could take away enough votes from Democrat presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to end up winning the crucial swing state, which could propel him to the 270 electoral votes he needs to win the election. The court said that it would not take up the case because “the petitioner is not entitled to the relief he seeks.” “This is a big win against the anti-Democratic Party’s war on democracy and voter choice,” Stein said in a statement. “The Democrats constantly preach about ‘saving democracy,’ when in reality they’ve been doing everything they can to crush democracy by trying to remove the Green Party and others from the ballot.”

As they say, let every vote count...

Grant Drop

Leftist racism came to Washington hospitals:

The GWCF says its “Health Equity Fund” prioritizes grants to “BIPOC-led organizations” in order to achieve “equitable health outcomes for Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and other marginalized populations in Washington, DC.” Applicants are required to submit a “letter of intent” that lists demographics such as race, gender and ethnic background of board members from partner organizations, according to an informational webinar posted online in October 2023. (RELATED: Medical Internship Program Under Fire For Rejecting Anyone Who Doesn’t ‘Identify’ As Black) “It appears the Greater Washington Community Foundation is more interested in racial discrimination than improving people’s lives,” Laura Morgan, senior director of programs at Do No Harm, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The fact that recipients must be members of certain races reveals that this initiative is less about improving overall health outcomes and more about advancing the [Diversity, Equity and Inclusion] agenda through targeted wealth distribution. If the Greater Washington Community Foundation were truly concerned about improving health outcomes among Washington residents, they would invest in tangible healthcare solutions over ideological projects.” The grants are issued for projects that focus on implementing “economic mobility models that increase strategic economic participation and build community wealth for people and communities with the greatest economic and health disparities.” The projects must also address the “root cause” of the subject of their research while also ensuring that “no harm is done” to the community when funding ends by adopting “sustainability” plans.

It seems that harm was done, after all...

Lawless And Ordered

America has too many laws:

Our country has always been a nation of laws, but something has changed dramatically in recent decades. Contrary to the narrative that Congress is racked by an inability to pass bills, the number of laws in our country has simply exploded. Less than 100 years ago, all of the federal government’s statutes fit into a single volume. By 2018, the U.S. Code encompassed 54 volumes and approximately 60,000 pages. Over the past decade, Congress has adopted an average of 344 new pieces of legislation each session. That amounts to 2 million to 3 million words of new federal law each year. Even the length of bills has grown—from an average of about two pages in the 1950s to 18 today. .... “On the one hand, we need laws to keep us free and safe. On the other hand, if you have too many laws, you impair those same freedoms…because who can deal with the world with so much law? James Madison said it’s going to be money and connections and as a judge, now for 18 years, I just came to see case after case in which ordinary Americans just trying to live their lives, not hurt anybody, raise their families, were just getting whacked. Case in which ordinary Americans just trying to live their lives, not hurt anybody, raise their families, were just getting whacked by laws unexpectedly.”

Laws might be on the books, but perhaps the books need to be a lot shorter...

Ditching The Green

Whatever happened to climate change?

After casting the tiebreaking vote for the biggest climate bill in U.S. history, Vice President Kamala Harris would seem to have some environmental bragging rights. Yet Harris and other top Democrats have not highlighted climate change or the environment in recent stump speeches, including keynote remarks at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this week. Former president Donald Trump, by contrast, has continued to attack Harris for her alleged “war on American energy,” and several speakers at last month’s Republican National Convention lambasted gasoline prices under President Joe Biden. The split-screen approach suggests that Democrats see talking about the environment as a lose-lose proposition. If they call for curbing fossil fuel production to fight global warming, they risk alienating voters in Pennsylvania, a pivotal swing state where natural gas powers the economy. But if they tout record U.S. oil production that has helped lower energy costs, they risk angering young voters, a crucial constituency for Democrats. There is no doubt that climate change has fueled extreme weather this summer, bringing longer and more extreme heat waves to wide swaths of the country. But with most voters ranking other issues as more important, and with Democrats wanting to paint a rosy picture of the future, party leaders appear to have calculated that climate silence is the safest strategy.

The silence is deafening...

City Shopping

Chicago wants to try state-run stores:

Chicago could fill its “food desert” with a three-store network of city-owned grocery stores for an upfront cost of $26.7 million, a consultant has concluded. The new 200-page report from HR&A concludes Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plan to open a city-owned grocery store is “necessary, feasible and implementable.” Necessary because volatility in the grocery market has led to a wave of consolidations and store closings concentrated in South and West Side neighborhoods. Feasible because the city need not become a store operator, but instead could act to limit the risk for a private operator. Implementable because the city’s “significant land ownership, funding tools,” storage and “community engagement capacity” makes it “well-positioned” to provide “support and resources to an established operator.”

High prices and shortages guaranteed...

Blue Pass

Democrats aren't impressed with Harris's price plan:

While much in Harris’ price gouging plan remains vague, a central piece is simply a call for Congress to pass the first-ever federal ban on price gouging in the food and grocery sectors, which largely mirrors legislation reintroduced by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) earlier this year. But such a bill has no chance of passing Congress anytime soon, even if Democrats win the White House and Congress this November, according to six Democratic lawmakers and five Democratic aides who were granted anonymity to discuss the matter candidly. These people said Democrats in Congress have privately been telling critics that this part of the Harris plan is not viable. Rather, they’ve argued it’s a messaging tactic — a way to show that she understands food prices remain an economic burden for many Americans and to redirect voters’ anger about inflation to corporations, in a way that progressives in particular have cheered. “It’s clear to me these are very general, very lofty goals,” said one of the Democratic lawmakers, who was granted anonymity to candidly discuss the proposal.

Vague is as vague does...

Red Paper

This is what Communists actually believe:

School Daze

Harris wants your kids in public school whether parents like it or not:

According to EdChoice, "There are 74 educational choice programs on the books in 33 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico." But the Left—which includes Kamala Harris—hates school choice because every time a parent chooses to send their children to a non-public school, they lose the ability to indoctrinate that child forever. They can no longer secretly trans those kids or induct them into the sexual revolution at the tender age of six. They also can't teach them that 2+2=5. The Left's primary weapons in the war against school choice and homeschooling (it's the same war) are lies and dissembling.

They lie "for the kids..."

Hunter Hunt

Mark Zuckerberg comes clean:

In a letter to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Zuckerberg wrote that after being warned by the FBI about a possible “Russian disinformation operation” regarding President Joe Biden’s family, Facebook went on to kill an article from the New York Post. In response to the article about “corruption allegations” about the Biden family, Facebook “sent that story to fact-checkers” and had it “temporarily demoted.” “It’s since been made clear that the reporting was not Russian disinformation, and in retrospect, we shouldn’t have demoted the story,” Zuckerberg added. “We’ve changed our policies and processes to make sure this doesn’t happen again — for instance, we no longer temporarily demote things in the U.S. while waiting for fact-checkers.”

Better late than never...

More Women Wanted

The EU wants gender quotas:

Each European Union (EU) member state is granted one candidate for a role at the Commission, but to achieve gender parity, Von Der Leyen is asking states to submit both a man and a woman for consideration. Despite the pressure from the EU president, though, many member states have ignored the request, with only six women being nominated so far alongside sixteen men. Denmark and Italy are also expected to nominate men in the coming days, making the Commission’s composition two-thirds men, a higher rate than when Von der Leyen first became Commission president in 2019. Meanwhile, Thierry Breton of France is among those already selected for Commission positions. .... The European Union Commission and its thousands of bureaucrats are the most powerful arm of the European Union. They can propose new laws, allocate European funding to member states, represent the bloc internationally, and enforce EU laws. President Von der Leyen was only recently re-elected by the European Parliament’s center-left, center-right, and liberal factions, although she was the only candidate in the vote.While several left-wing female European politicians have slammed the idea of a male-dominated Commission—such as Germany’s Europe Minister Anna Lührmann—the broader implications could indicate countries have less confidence in President Von der Leyen and pay less heed to her demands.

Nobody wants to listen to dictators...

Blue Ink

California wants to "save" journalism:

Under the California Journalism Preservation Act, which this agreement would stop from advancing, social media companies and search engines would be required to pay a share of their advertising revenue to news organizations based on how much organizations’ content shows up in social media feeds or search results. As protest, Google stopped showing local California news organizations in its search results to some California users. The new deal would see the California government pitch in $70 million and Google put up $172.5 million towards newsrooms. “In the latest draft of the framework, there is also a provision that 12% would go to “underserved” and “local” news outlets,” wrote Steve Waldman and Anna Brugman of Rebuild Local News. “It’s a bit hard to know what that means, but based on what we’re hearing, it’s likely that means members of California’s ethnic press and outlets with fewer than five employees.” Media Guild West, which represents California journalists, has come out in opposition to the deal. “This isn’t regulation. It’s ratification of Google’s monopoly over our newsrooms,” wrote Media Guild West President Matt Pearce in a bulletin to his members. “News executives don’t speak for journalists.”

Only the government is supposed to do that...

Truth Be Told

They can't handle the truth:

Real Insanity

Trump derangement syndrome is a mental disease:

Neighborhood Watchers

Not on their block:

Dust Buster

Woke games don't sell:

The aggressively advertised game features a cast of queer activist “punk rock” characters that set out on a road trip across an America controlled by “conservative oppressors” that are really uncool. Set in North America in 2030, The American Republic is under the iron fist of “Justice” and The Puritans, a fascist police force presided over by President Samuel Ward. California has gained independence and is now Pacifica, a corporatocracy ruled by the wealthy few. Texas has seceded, rebranding itself as the libertarian Columbia. .... The collapse of Dustborn comes not long after the uproar over the impending release of Ubisoft’s ‘Assassin’s Creed: Shadows’, another highly marketed woke game set in feudal Japan. Leftist developers claim that the game is based on “true historical figures”, yet the primary protagonist is a gay black samurai (there was never a black samurai in feudal Japan, let alone a gay black samurai. The idea is based on faulty evidence provided by a fraudulent historian who worked with Ubisoft and who is now under investigation by the Japanese government). The game is expected to suffer dismal sales upon its launch in November.

From dust to bust...

Bad Plan

Democrats aren't too thrilled about Kamala Harris's price control plan:

Central to the plan is a call for congress to pass the first-ever federal price gouging ban on food and grocery stores – mirroring legislation reintroduced by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) earlier this year, for which Warren was taken to task by CNBC‘s Joe Kernen. Now, six Congressional Democrats and five Democratic aides tell Politico that they’ve been privately telling critics that the plan isn’t viable – and is instead a messaging tactic to to divert blame over inflation from the Biden-Harris administration. Even many Democrats remain skeptical, or at least uncertain about how Harris would carry out her proposal, if elected. They’re still working on getting details, but many have left that for after the DNC. -Politico “It’s clear to me these are very general, very lofty goals,” said one of the Democratic lawmakers. “I honestly still don’t know how this would work,” said a second Democratic lawmaker.

Because it couldn't...

French Toast

So this has happened:

According to BFMTV, the Telegram founder — often referred to as the “Mark Zuckerberg of Russia” — had not regularly traveled to France and Europe since the arrest warrant was issued. Durov, 39, was wanted under a French arrest warrant due to the lack of moderation on Telegram which led to it being used for money laundering, drug trafficking and sharing pedophilic content, according to BFMTV. European Union regulators have recently stepped up efforts to crack down on online platforms to combat disinformation and illegal content. The Russian Embassy in France on Sunday confirmed Durov’s detention and said it is in contact with Durov’s attorney. “Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act — its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving,” Telegram said Sunday in a release on its public board. “It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform,” Telegram added in the release.

Beware, Mark Zuckerburg and Elon Musk...

Wind Storms

A wind farm disaster is looming:

The Biden-Harris offshore wind plan calls for 30,000 megawatts of generating capacity by 2030. That’s 2,500 gigantic 12-MW offshore turbines. But it’s barely enough to meet New York State’s current peak summer electricity needs, before all these extra demands kick in. Offshore wind’s contribution toward meeting future demands for all Atlantic Coast states could easily require 5,000 such turbines: 15,000 blades, weighing a combined 2 billion pounds and spanning a combined 5,250,000 feet (995 miles)! Even more disturbing, the entire Atlantic coastline is hurricane country. Every year, almost without fail. The only questions are how many hurricanes, how powerful, and where each one will hit. NOAA records for landfalling hurricanes – those that actually hit US beaches and cities – reveal that 105 Category 1-5 hurricanes struck the Atlantic seaboard, from Florida to Maine, from 1851 through 2023. Add in those that remained at sea, where the turbines will be, and that number could double. Of that total, 23 were Category 3-5 (111-157 or higher mph winds). Most struck Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. But 39 made landfall between North Carolina and Delaware – and 19 hit Northeastern States, including nine Category 2-3 monsters (96-129 mph winds). Mind you – these turbines will be weakened by constant corrosive salt spray and frequently by sub-hurricane storms. When the inevitable big hurricane roars up the coast, devastation will follow.

There's a fan storm brewing...

Fake Freedom

Freedom and the Deomcrats don't fit:

Remember how President Joe Biden and his merry band of Democrats in Congress sought to ban menthol cigarettes? The plan was later delayed and is now sitting in legislative purgatory. But these people actually tried to impose a federal law that would prevent people from using menthol tobacco products. How can a party claim to value freedom support using the force of government to dictate what people are allowed to put into their bodies? Even more recently, Harris vowed to enact price controls on food companies if she is elected. This move is ostensibly aimed at preventing “price gouging.” This policy was even too authoritarian for many on the left, who criticized the proposal. What about Democrats’ attack on independent contractors, an issue RedState has covered extensively over recent years? The Department of Labor issued a rule that took effect in March 2024 that makes it harder for workers to be categorized as independent contractors rather than employees. Apparently, “freedom” means allowing the government to dictate how people choose to work. Of course, there is also the fact that Democrats love the idea of continually raising taxes on everyone (not just wealthy people) to give the state more power to provide for us. Nothing says “freedom” like enabling the state to steal more money from the people, does it? Democrats also adore regulations on business – especially the type that make it harder for small companies to thrive. Apparently, making it harder for enterprising Americans to start flourishing businesses is the very epitome of “freedom.”

Freedom doesn't mean what they think it does...

Der March

A German frigate trolls the UK:

Germany’s navy says there was “no deeper message” in the choice to blast the famed Imperial March — Darth Vader’s theme song in the “Star Wars” films — from one of its warships as it cruised down the River Thames through London this week. A bystander captured the spectacle Monday on video, which quickly went viral on social media. The song selection made waves across Europe. The warship was in the area for training and dropped anchor in London for a normal supply stop, the German navy said. “The commander can choose the music freely,” the navy said in a statement Thursday. “The choice of music has no deeper message.”

I have a bad feeling about this...

Swamp Rats

The Swamp doesn't care about you:

The Washington Examiner reported Thursday that the will of the people just doesn’t matter to Beltway bureaucrats: “Washington’s bureaucracy, expanded and emboldened by the Biden-Harris administration, feels so secure that most managers would impose new regulations even if voters ‘overwhelmingly’ rejected their plans.” According to a new survey, fully 54% of “federal government managers would defy voters to do what they want.” The Napolitan Institute, which states that “we recognize that the only legitimate authority for government comes from the consent of the governed,” and that “our mission is to amplify and magnify the voice of the American people so clearly and powerfully that it becomes the driving, framing and shaping force for the crucial conversations of our nation,” conducted a survey of 500 swamp denizens, aka federal bureaucrats. One of the questions these arrogant usurpers were asked was this: “Imagine that you work for a government agency and have the ability to draft new regulations. After carefully researching an important issue, you determine that a new regulation is needed. If voters overwhelmingly oppose that regulation, what should you do?” The Examiner notes that “just 35% would follow the wishes of voters and trash their regulation while 54% would ‘follow your research and issue the regulation.’ The rest were unsure.” Nor was this a one-off. Another recent poll showed that a majority of swamp denizens think we peasants are getting out of line: “51% of federal managers believe that people have ‘too much individual freedom.’ Just 31% said they have ‘too little.’” Who do these people think they are? Like all leftists, they think they possess superior knowledge and wisdom, and thus should be entrusted with political power at the expense of the ordinary Americans for whom they have so much contempt.

Real people just don't matter to them...

Billionaires' Row

Jon Stewart isn't impressed by Blue billionaires:

Point Made

Bill Maher makes a point:

Blank Page

Nobody knows what Harris's policies are:

The poll found that 78% of voters surveyed were unaware that Harris promoted a fund that aided violent BLM agitators to be bailed out of jail during the 2020 unrest. Seventy-four percent said they were unaware that Harris supported decriminalizing illegal immigration, and 72 percent had no clue that Harris “never visited a conflict zone on the border as Border Czar.” Those surveyed stated that they get news information primarily from ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and MSNBC. “This suggests that the knowledge gaps found by our poll reveal a failure of these outlets to report on radical positions once (and perhaps currently) supported by the now-Democratic nominee for President,” Media Research Center noted.

But she brings "joy," or something...

No Change

Whatever happened to climate change?

Harris — who called climate change an "existential threat" in 2019 — previously probed major oil corporations as California's attorney general and co-sponsored the Green New Deal as a senator, but she has mostly avoided climate change and green energy on the campaign trail, framing the issues in terms of economics, jobs and investment when she does bring up the subject. That many major eco-activist groups are still supporting her indicates that Harris is trying to broaden her appeal to more moderate voters in order to win the election and subsequently govern as a climate hardliner once in office, energy experts and political strategists told the DCNF. "The Democrats have figured out that the apocalyptic vibe isn't really likely to bring people along for this particular ride," Mike McKenna, a GOP strategist with extensive energy sector experience, told the DCNF. "So, they have obviously made a command decision to focus only on the carrots and ignore anything that looks like a stick." Harris and her running mate, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, have campaigned on climate issues in passing, but eco-activist leaders are generally unconcerned about the lack of focus on the issue, according to The New York Times. Walz did not address climate change during his Wednesday night speech at the Democratic National Convention , sticking primarily to his background as a rural American.

Where hysteria doesn't sell...

Manly Blues

Real men wanted:

During night four of the DNC, Joy Reid took a moment to praise "21st century masculinity," which is just another way of saying "little to no masculinity," and used Tim Walz as an example. Reid noted that Walz being a coach and joining with the LGBT activists is going to push "the message" to men, and it's going to stop bullying. "I mean, what's really been fascinating is to watch the men of the Democratic Party model a kind of masculinity that is simply 21st century masculinity," said Reid. On Thursday, CNN was also forced to address the lack of masculinity in the room: "They are doing so in trying to put forward male figures — Tim Walz being one of them, Doug Emhoff last night, who can speak to men out there who might not be the sort of testosterone-laden... ya know, gun-toting kind of guy who wants to listen to Hulk Hogan, and the kind of players that came out of the RNC," said Bash.

When in doubt, use fake men...

Burning Burnout

The party's dying:

This year, the forecast for the weather is clear, but ticket sales are looking cloudy. Whatever they're blaming - extreme weather events or the economy - people aren't forking over the cash. Burning Man, the annual desert bacchanal that last year became a mud-soaked quagmire, has released a last-minute pool of around 3,000 tickets in response to sagging sales. Attendance has faltered post-pandemic due to extreme weather events, from heatwaves to flooding, which last Labor Day Weekend sent many burners, including comedian Chris Rock and DJ Diplo, fleeing from the Nevada desert. While it’s not unusual for a pool of tickets to be released in the weeks before festivities, the festival’s organizers have usually required those who want last-minute tickets to pre-register earlier in the year. Organizers have also reopened their ticket aid program, giving people access to lower-priced $220 tickets, to encourage newcomers and returning burners who were turned off by their experience last year. Those who snapped bunches up in the early rush to try to scalp those usually tough-to-get tickets later? They're getting burned badly. Demand for tickets at Burning Man — the notorious Nevada desert festival beloved by Silicon Valley elites — has cooled, with the event failing to sell out for the first time in years. The festival usually attracts artists, activists and revellers, known as Burners, to a sprawling stretch of the Black Rock Desert for a week of uninhibited celebration. Free love and drugs are said to be warmly embraced among the hedonistic crowd and each year reports of an “Orgy Dome” raise eyebrows among those unfamiliar with the festival’s excesses. I'm not sure if organizers looked around before setting prices and crowd expectations, but Silicon Valley has had a rough year of it. From thousands upon thousands of tech workers at all levels losing their jobs to companies leaving the Bay area and taking those salaries with them to the failure of a number of tech-related Silicon banks. ...The 44,900 tech layoffs in the Bay Area consist of about 10,300 job cuts in 2022, nearly 21,600 layoffs in 2023 and about 13,000 staffing reductions by the high-tech sector during the first half of 2024, according to the WARN letters on file with the state EDD. Have they seen downtown San Francisco lately, or is it too dangerous for them to go anymore? I don't know that I'd blame the weather for their little party losing its glow.

Burning Man seems to have lost his fire...

Party Crusher

Why RFK Jr. turned:

Island Whopper

Islands are doomed, or something:

Visiting the Polynesian island country of Samoa, Guterres said “rising sea levels pose an enormous threat to Samoa, to the Pacific and to other small island developing states, and these challenges demand resolute international action.” “You are on the front lines of the climate crisis, dealing with extreme weather events from raging tropical cyclones to record ocean heatwaves,” the veteran Portuguese socialist stated. “Sea levels are rising even faster than the global average, posing an existential threat to millions of Pacific Islanders,” he added.

There's just one problem:

In a June 26 article titled “The Vanishing Islands that Failed to Vanish,” the NYT climate reporter, Raymond Zhong, wrote that as “the planet warms and the oceans rise, atoll nations like the Maldives, the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu have seemed doomed to vanish, like the mythical Atlantis, into watery oblivion.” Zhong wrote:

Of late, though, scientists have begun telling a surprising new story about these islands. By comparing mid-20th century aerial photos with recent satellite images, they’ve been able to see how the islands have evolved over time. What they found is startling: Even though sea levels have risen, many islands haven’t shrunk. Most, in fact, have been stable. Some have even grown.

Undeterred by these data, on Thursday Guterres urged wealthier nations to pony up to pay climate reparations for the consequences of climate change in developing countries.

Another green scammer demands payment...

Hard Truths

The truth stuns:

Power Blues

Jill Stein finally says something right:

Stein likely took exception to Obama’s remarks because she and other independent candidates, such as Robert F. Kennedy, have been the targets of lawsuits by Democrats and Democrat-aligned groups that want to kick independent candidates off the ballot wherever possible. As ABC News reported Wednesday: Challengers seeking to throw Robert F. Kennedy Jr. off Georgia’s November ballot told a judge on Monday that the independent presidential candidate must be disqualified because the New York address he used on Georgia ballot access petitions is a “sham.” It shows how a decision by a New York court last week finding Kennedy doesn’t live at the address in the New York City suburbs is being used to attack Kennedy’s ballot access in other states. The judge ruled Kennedy shouldn’t appear on New York ballots, but Kennedy is appealing. … Democrats are also challenging ballot places for independent candidate Cornel West, the Green Party, which has nominated Jill Stein, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s Claudia De la Cruz. Democrats also sued in 2020 to change the voting rules in many states so that vote-by-mail would be widespread. They also maneuvered internally to remove President Joe Biden as the party’s candidate, and to replace him with Vice President Kamala Harris, when party insiders and donors decided after the first presidential debate in June that Biden was a liability.

They had to get the coup to work...

Banking Bust

Conservatives need not apply:

Alliance Defending Freedom, the organization SPLC attacked, has raised the alarm about financial institutions denying banking services to customers based on their religious or political affiliations. ADF has pointed to numerous instances of what it describes as debanking, though the banks in question claim the denials of service were not religiously or politically motivated. SPLC not only took the banks’ word for it, but acted as though its own calls for financial institutions to stop “funding hate” did not amount to a debanking pressure campaign. “By conflating the market consequences for supporting hate and extremism—such as customers choosing not to patronize and shareholders not investing in corporations that do business with extremist groups—ADF has perpetuated a false conspiracy theory that claims big government and big corporations are victimizing conservative Christians,” the SPLC’s R.G. Cravens wrote. Cravens faulted ADF for supporting the Fair Access to Banking Act, which Cravens said would “coerce banks and financial institutions to violate their corporate DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] values, forcing them to do business with hate and extremist groups.”

Darn that fairness...

Electric Stall

Ford cuts back on EV's:

Ford's course change comes amid lower-than-expected demand for electric vehicles, The Wall Street Journal reported. This spring, Ford, a major U.S. automaker, delayed plans for the electric SUV to 2027. Ford blamed the cancellation on pricing pressuring as other automakers use aggressive discounts to move electric vehicles. Ford has another electric vehicle project for a pickup truck, which the company recently pushed back to 2027. "Based on where the market is and where the customer is, we will pivot and adjust and make those tough decisions," Ford chief financial officer John Lawler said.

You can't sell what people won't buy...

Debt Generation

Never mind the debt, just party on:

Rainbow Fallout

Nuclear weapons are the gay:

The Biden-Harris administration announced Sneha Nair had been appointed as special assistant at the National Nuclear Security Administration in February 2024. Nair believes in eradicating purported "White supremacy" in the nuclear field as well as "queering nuclear weapons" as part of a diversity, equity and inclusion push she believes is essential for deterring threats to nuclear energy facilities in the U.S. "Finally, queer theory informs the struggle for nuclear justice and disarmament," she wrote last year. "Queer theory helps to shift the perception of nuclear weapons as instruments for security by telling the hidden stories of displacement, illness, and trauma caused by their production and testing." Nair argues that DEI, more broadly, "is essential for creating effective nuclear policy."

At least the nukes won't be offended...

Greening World

The climate change cult is in trouble:

With desertification no longer the existential threat it once was, the climate alarmists have had to pivot yet again. Now, the narrative is all about the potential dangers of greening. The fear is that as drylands become more vegetated, they could lose their unique biodiversity. Specialist species that have adapted to arid conditions might be displaced by fast-growing plants better suited to the new, CO2-rich environment. “As we pump yet more CO2 into the air, arid-land greening seems set to continue, according to two recent modeling studies. But ecologists warn that, despite appearances, going green may have downsides for arid ecosystems and for the people who depend on them. Desert plants and animals will often lose out, and the extra vegetation may soak up scarce water supplies. Drylands cover roughly 40 percent of the planet’s land surface. The deserts at their core are surrounded by wide expanses of savanna grass, dry woodlands, and sometimes irrigated fields. They are home to more than a third of the world’s population and are among the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the international organization for conservation scientists.” But let’s be honest: the greening of deserts is hardly the catastrophe it’s made out to be. In fact, it’s a testament to the resilience of nature and the adaptability of ecosystems. Yet, the alarmists seem intent on framing it as yet another crisis that requires urgent intervention. It’s almost as if they can’t bear the thought of a world where CO2 might actually have some benefits.

Actually going green isn't good for them...

Joyless Blues

There is no joy in the Democratic Party:

Democrats are united by their hatred of Donald Trump. They like to pretend that it is just Trump who they feel that way about, but their unhinged loathing of Republicans and conservatives long predates the political ascent of ORANGE MAN BAD. Because we all have the internet and functional memories, we haven't forgotten that George W. Bush was Hitler years before Opinion columnists in The New York Times conferred the title upon Trump. Antipathy, rancor, and pettiness are all baked into the Democrats' ideological cake, especially in the 21st century. Al Gore's failure in 2000 may have broken them just as much as Trump's 2016 victory. Naturally, I believe that the Democrats are experiencing a perverse kind of joy when they're discussing the dismantling of the Constitution of the United States and the subsequent "fundamental transformation" of the once-proud Republic into a cheap ChiCom knockoff. That's not really something that would put a smile on the faces of regular Americans though, is it?

They don't like normal people, either...

Labor Loss

The case of the lost jobs:

The Bureau of Labor Statistics revised down its total tally of jobs created in the year through March by 818,000 as part of its preliminary annual benchmark review of payroll data. That suggests the economy added an average of 174,000 jobs per month during that time period — below the previous 242,000 estimate. On a monthly basis, that amounts to about 68,000 fewer jobs. It marks the largest downward revision since 2009. "The labor market appears weaker than originally reported," said Jeffrey Roach, chief economist at LPL Financial. "A deteriorating labor market will allow the Fed to highlight both sides of the dual mandate and investors should expect the Fed to prepare markets for a cut at the September meeting."

Kamalanomics continues...

Panning Pan

Disneyland continues to spiral down the woke path:

The move follows a recent update to the attraction at Disney World Resort in Orlando. There, Disney's "imagineers" updated a scene featuring the Never Land Tribe to remove a chief in a headdress and several braves drumming and sitting around a fire along with Tiger Lily. The updated scene now features Tiger Lily and her mother performing a dance around the fire, while other tribe members play a ceremonial drum. Disneyland officials told the New York Post the changes at Disneyland's version of the attraction are likely to be similar and that the company's "imagineers" are focused on "thoughtful" changes that will be made over an unspecified timeline.

I blame Captain Hook...

Judge's Orders

South Park comes to school:

Duck And Cower

Biden gets ready for the big one:

President Biden has signed off on a highly classified plan that shifts America’s nuclear strategy to focus on China as a nuclear threat — and prepare for the possibility that the communist nation could team up with North Korea and Russia against the US, according to a new report. Biden made the shift in March because the Pentagon believes China’s nuclear arsenal will rival the US and Russia, the New York Times reported Tuesday, citing sources. The new strategy is called the “Nuclear Employment Guidance” and also readies the US for a possible coordinated threat between China, Russia and North Korea, the newspaper reported.

The balloon is ready to go up...

Blogging In The Years: 1994

The Democrats, as explained by the Simpsons:

Reactor Time

Atomic energy is making a comeback:

Juliann Edwards, the chairwoman of Women in Nuclear, said industry leaders in energy are predicting our demands for electricity will grow at a faster clip than ever before, and there is no better time than now to discuss how nuclear energy could help the U.S.'s energy supply meet that demand. "The Nuclear Frontier bus tour was our way to inspire, educate and mobilize public support for the development of nuclear power across America," said Edwards, an executive with the brand-new Nuclear Company. It makes sense for the company to begin its tour in western Pennsylvania, where just down the Ohio River in Shippingport's Beaver County, the first commercial nuclear reactor, a full-scale atomic electric power plant, began operating in 1957. Edwards was here in Pittsburgh with the U.S. Women in Nuclear Conference and said the choice of Pittsburgh was natural because of the nuclear energy history in the region, not just at the Shippingport plant but also because of Pittsburgh industrialist George Westinghouse's contribution to the industry.

What was once radioactive is new again...

Gamer's Lament

Games are good:

For starters, gaming has been shown to improve cognitive functions. Research revealed that video games can help enhance problem-solving skills, adaptability, and even creativity. For example, a study published in JAMA Network Open found that children who played video games for three hours or more per day performed better on tasks involving impulse control and working memory than those who did not. These skills translate into real-life abilities that can be valuable in personal and professional settings. Video games often require players to think strategically, make quick decisions, and adapt to new challenges. I’ve seen this throughout my gaming life. Whether I’m planning out how to eliminate my target while playing “Hitman,” or solving complex mysteries as Sherlock Holmes, my brain is fully engaged in accomplishing my objective. Gaming also carries with it numerous mental health benefits, something that is often overlooked by critics. A global survey involving over 12,000 gamers showed that 71 percent of respondents felt less stressed after playing video games and 61 percent reported that this activity helped to reduce their anxiety. These findings are no surprise for those who enjoy the immersive experience of “Red Dead Redemption 2” or any of the “Assassin’s Creed” games, which happen to be my favorites. As someone who lives politics on a daily basis, sometimes escaping to other worlds where I can kill bandits in the Wild West or explore the world as an assassin is a welcome distraction from the nastiness that American politics has become. The same can be said for people in other stressful professions as well.

Gaming gives good fun...

Blogging In The Years: 2004

Donald Trump wants to give you wings:

Scary News

Van Jones is upset that propaganda isn't heling Harris:

Jones, a former advisor to Barack Obama, said he finds it “scary” that Harris is still “tied” with Trump in the polls, despite the Democrat allegedly running a “flawless” campaign. “This is the big opportunity to go from a tied race to push our numbers up 1 point, 2 points, maybe 3 points. “We come out of this convention with a major bounce, that puts us in the best possible position after Labor Day. “We don’t want to be tied. “I don’t like being tied with Donald Trump because we‘ve had now 20-plus days of positive press. “He’s been falling down the stairs, slipping on banana peels and poking himself in the eyeballs. “We should not be tied. We want to pull ahead,” Jones said.

You can't pull ahead if you're tied for last place...

Blogging In The Years: 2020

Here comes the Queen:

Dead Man's Party

It's literally dead at the DNC:

Jesse Watters on the DNC: "This place is dead!" pic.twitter.com/dxtsmFCffb

— DailyNoah.com (@DailyNoahNews) August 20, 2024

The Normal Apocalypse

The horror of normal people:

The evil Americans think that crime should be punished, immigrants should arrive legally, and that embracing the mental illness of body dysphoria should be discouraged, not encouraged. Ho also boasts that, in the Utopia of San Francisco, she need not fear wearing a “Notorious RBG” shirt, forgetting that conservatives in that Utopia risk physical assault, vandalism, and job loss for daring to voice their political opinions. By contrast, Ho could have worn her “Notorious RBG” shirt to that fair without worry. Republicans believe in free speech. For Ho, her nightmare in the dystopia of the heartland culminated with the crowd at the rodeo singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The horror was too much for her. “I’d had enough. I stayed seated, head in my hands, and waited for the bulls to come charging out of their pens.”

The horror...the horror...

The Harris Trip

She's had it too easy:

Red Drive

Cuba looks to China for EVs:

After 65 years of communist rule repressing natural economic activity, blocking access to the U.S. market, and replacing the nation’s educated class with poorly prepared regime elites, Cuba’s power grid is potentially more unreliable than its old cars, making electric vehicles (EVs) a gamble. Once the wealthiest country in Latin America, Cuba now endures regular blackouts — and nationwide collapses of the power grid are not unheard of — as a result of the ruling Castro family regime neglecting to maintain any sector of Cuba’s infrastructure. While the Morning Post depicted the rise of EVs as a viable solution to fuel shortages and the communist economic crisis, tens of thousands of EVs relying on the power grid to function will likely impose significant strain on the fragile power grid, leading to more electrical failures and the increasingly common protests accompanying them. The rising presence of EVs in Cuba is largely the result of its close relationship with China. The Morning Post highlighted one especially productive joint venture, an electric motorbike factory owned by the Chinese company Tianjin Dongxing Industrial and the Castro regime. The regime participates in the manufacturing through one of its many corporate entities, “Caribbean Electric Vehicles” (Vedca), which it co-owns with Tianjin Dongxing.

Communism, the non-viable solution...

Equal Agendas

Everybody is not equal:

The idea that every individual human is equal in all abilities and traits is too self-evidently ridiculous to earnestly believe, so what the group egalitarians do is simply push the issue back one layer—believing instead that each group of humans is actually equal. These two beliefs are in reality identical; one necessitates the other. If individual human beings are unequal, then the groups consisting of those human beings are also unequal—and vice versa. Group egalitarianism isn’t any less ridiculous or self-evidently wrong than individual egalitarianism, but the slight process of abstraction necessary to form the concepts of different groups is seemingly all that is necessary to cloud and obfuscate this fact in the mind of the modern progressive. Now comes the central issue: if all groups are equal, how come there are wide varieties in outcomes in every conceivable area of social activity between every conceivable group of human beings? For progressives, the explanation lies in their theories of social power dynamics. These theories divide societies into oppressors and the oppressed. The determining factor for which category any given group falls into is its degree of societal dominance and influence. Groups that are identified as broadly holding said dominance and influence in a society are designated as the Oppressor Group, while the rest constitute the ranks of the oppressed (or the “marginalized”).

Equality doesn't mean what the Left says it does...

High Crimes

Biden is impeachable, they said:

The report’s details, published by the House Oversight Committee, Judiciary Committee, and Ways and Means Committee, found that Biden abused his office and violated his oath of office as vice president by engaging in a conspiracy to peddle influence to enrich his family. As president, Biden and the Biden-Harris administration obstructed the House’s impeachment inquiry and the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden, according to the report. “The totality of the corrupt conduct uncovered by the Committees is egregious,” the committees wrote

Corruption is the family way...

Speech For Some

Free speech for me, not for thee:

Traditionally, in America, it has been people on the Right who have been most willing to ban books and restrict some personal behaviors. Today, and with the Biden-Harris and Trump-Pence administrations as recent examples, the greater threat to basic freedoms comes from the Left. .... The public can count on a vigilant adversarial press to expose any violations of basic freedoms by a Trump-Vance administration. Judging from the press' complacency with Harris' refusal to undergo interviews or to say anything about public policy, it cannot count on the same if the Harris-Walz ticket wins.

The speech police are waiting for their orders...

Land Gab

The Democrats give a woke history lesson:

The platform, which the Democrats will vote to endorse alongside presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in Chicago, Illinois, over the coming days, further acknowledges that the Chicago area, specifically, comprises “the traditional homelands of the Anishinaabe, also known as the Council of the Three Fires: the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Nations.” The Democrats also “acknowledge the many other tribes who consider this area their traditional homeland, including the Myaamia, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sac and Fox, Peoria, Kaskaskia, Wea, Kickapoo, and Mascouten.”The “traditional homelands” of the American Indians changed hands between the native tribes over generations of warfare long before the arrival of the first European settlers. Much of the Great Sioux Nation, which warred with the United States through the 19th century, was established on territory the Sioux had stolen from the Crow tribe, for instance.

Maybe they should demand reparations from each other...

Bagged

California's bag ban only created more waste:

Specifically, the weight of plastic bag waste per capita increased after the original ban was passed. Even a study called “Plastic Bag Bans Work,” done by environmental and public interest groups, features a table showing that the amount of plastic bags thrown away per 1,000 people in California rose from 4.08 tons in 2014 to 5.89 tons in 2021. The report blames this on a “loophole” in the law. When the ban on thin, single-use plastic bags went into effect, shoppers were left with a choice between paper bags or heavier, multiuse plastic bags. But many people apparently didn’t reuse these thicker plastic bags as often as politicians imagined that they would, leading to the overall increase in plastic garbage. As a fix, the state Assembly and Senate are moving now to crack down on these carryout bags, which have been permitted for the past 10 years. Yet the legislation doesn’t cover sturdy, reusable bags made of non-woven polypropylene (NWPP), which feels like canvas but is made of plastic. Grocers don’t mind if the government bans other bags if they can sell these at about a dollar or two a pop. But as New Jersey found out after it passed its own plastic bag ban, NWPP ends up in the trash, too, and plastic consumption went up.

Plastic doesn't go away just because you don't use it...

Joe Go

Time for Joe to be retired?

Is anything off the table in this weird election cycle? I don’t think so. At some point, might it become politically expedient to the Democrats to elevate Harris to the presidency for the remainder of the campaign? To be sure, there are serious and growing questions about Biden’s perceived cognitive issues and decline. Is he honestly capable of fulfilling his duties? If not, who is now running the country? Might the Democrats invoke the 25th Amendment to remove him from office before the election? There is an argument to be made that such a move should at least be considered for the welfare of the country.

He has outlived his usefulness...

Forbidden Lessons

No gender for them:

A video and photos taken by a Herald-Tribune reporter Tuesday show books from the school’s Gender and Diversity Center filling a dumpster outside the Jane Bancroft Cook Library. The newspaper reported that students were not given the option to buy the books before they were discarded, the newspaper reported. The college tossed books such as “Nine and Counting: The Women of the Senate,” “The War of the Worlds,” and “When I Knew,” which tells the stories of individuals realizing their sexual orientation. The Sarasota institution released a statement Thursday clarifying the incident. “Gender Studies has been discontinued as an area of concentration at New College, and the books are not part of any official college collection or inventory,” it stated.

Biology not wanted here...

Left Review

No less than the Washington Post has come out against Kamala Harris's plan:

"Whether the Harris proposal wins over voters remains to be seen, but if sound economic analysis still matters, it won’t," the liberal-leaning Washington Post editorial board wrote on Friday. If enacted, the Harris campaign’s proposal would give authority to the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general to impose harsh penalties on companies for setting excessively high prices. "There’s a big difference between fair pricing in competitive markets and excessive prices unrelated to the costs of doing business," the Harris campaign said in a statement. "Americans can see that difference in their grocery bills." The Post’s editorial board took Harris to task on the idea, stating it’s not even clear what her plan is. "Ms. Harris says she’ll target companies that make ‘excessive’ profits, whatever that means." It also expressed relief that the plan was getting pummeled out of the gate. "Thankfully, this gambit by Ms. Harris has been met with almost instant skepticism, with many critics citing President Richard M. Nixon’s failed price controls from the 1970s." A prominent Washington Post opinion columnist was even harsher on Harris’ price control proposal this week. Columnist Catherine Rampell wrote on Thursday, "It’s hard to exaggerate how bad this policy is. It is, in all but name, a sweeping set of government-enforced price controls across every industry, not only food." Rampell added that it flies in the face of free market economics, adding that "Supply and demand would no longer determine prices or profit levels. Far-off Washington bureaucrats would. The FTC would be able to tell, say, a Kroger in Ohio the acceptable price it can charge for milk." The columnist also said the policy gives credence to those saying Harris has "Communist" political leanings. "If your opponent claims you’re a ‘communist,’ maybe don’t start with an economic agenda that can (accurately) be labeled as federal price controls," she wrote.

Communism is what it is...

Women's Law

The Supreme Court protects actual women:

The Supreme Court voted 5-4 Friday to reject a Biden administration emergency request to enforce portions of a new rule that includes protections from discrimination for transgender students under Title IX. The request would have permitted biological men in women’s bathrooms, locker rooms and dorms in 10 states where there are state-level and local-level rules in place to prevent it. The sweeping rule was issued in April and clarified that Title IX’s ban on "sex" discrimination in schools covers discrimination based on gender identity, sexual orientation and "pregnancy or related conditions." […] More than two dozen Republican attorneys general sued over the rule and argued it would conflict with some of their state laws that block transgender students from participating in women’s sports. The Biden administration insisted the regulation does not address athletic eligibility. However, multiple experts presented evidence to Fox News Digital in June that Biden's claims it would not result in biological men participating in women's sports weren't true and that the proposal would ultimately put more biological men in women's sports.

Men are still men...

Hurting Words

The ACLU is forced to eat crow:

The A.C.L.U. acknowledges that Ms. Oh, who is Korean American, never used any kind of racial slur. But the group says that her use of certain phrases and words demonstrated a pattern of willful anti-Black animus. In one instance, according to court documents, she told a Black superior that she was “afraid” to talk with him. In another, she told a manager that their conversation was “chastising.” And in a meeting, she repeated a satirical phrase likening her bosses’ behavior to suffering “beatings.” .... Michael A. Rosas, an administrative law judge, said that the A.C.L.U.’s accusation that she had targeted people of color “is not borne out by the facts.” He noted that her complaints were not about colleagues but superiors within the organization, and that she had also complained about white managers... The judge ordered the A.C.L.U. to reinstate Ms. Oh, who was fired in May 2022, and to give her back pay. Ms. Oh said the ruling sent a message that “no one is above the law,” according to a statement she issued through the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union, which represented her. That includes, Ms. Oh added, “powerful management officials claiming to champion civil liberties with their words while illegally doing the opposite with their actions.”

You can still make fun of your bosses after all...

Losing Streak

Ouch:

Crazy Talk

Liberal women are literally nuts:

The historic data from a 2020 Pew American Trends Panel study asked respondents whether a doctor or healthcare provider had ever told them that they have a mental health condition. Results show that white liberal women aged 18-29 were the most likely to have been diagnosed with a mental health condition with 56.3% of respondents answering ‘yes’ in response to the question. This dropped to 27.3% when 18-29-year-old conservative women were questioned. Trends show a decrease among all political affiliations in older age groups, with the exception being white moderate women aged 30-49 (32.8%) compared to the 18-29-year-olds of the same political viewpoint (28.4%). White conservatives over 65 were around ten percentage points lower than their liberal counterparts, with only 4.5% of conservative men aged 65 and over answering ‘yes’.

Older and wiser also equals saner...