OPEN THREAD: Happy Friday.
October 18, 2024
THE NEW SPACE RACE: Nations pursue sovereign space capabilities fortified by commercial services.
FACES IN THINGS: Eerie Discovery on Mars Looks Exactly Like a Human Face.
AN UNSURPRISING DEVELOPMENT: Increased autism risk linked to Y chromosome, study finds.
MAINSTREAM CHRISTIANS ARE A PROBLEM, ISLAMIST FANATICS ARE PROGRESSIVE, QED:
RIOTS FOR THEE, BUT NOT FOR ME:
Her tweet offering to bail out rioters is still up, incidentally: Kamala Harris Lies, Claiming That She Never Promoted the Bail Fund That Bailed Out BLM Rioters As Well As Murderers and R4pists; But the Tweet In Which She Promoted that Bail Fund Is Still Up!
Earlier: Did Tim Walz ‘Let Minneapolis Burn?’
(Classical reference in headline.)
WELL, THAT’S WHAT THEY DO: Gun-Ban Groups Spend Big and Sell Lies To Defeat Pro-Gun Candidates.
EXTRA STRONG CANNABIS CHANGES DRUG USERS’ DNA, STUDY FINDS:
High-strength cannabis changes drug users’ DNA, researchers have found.
Researchers at King’s College London and the University of Exeter discovered high-potency cannabis leaves a distinct mark on DNA, which could provide insight into the biological impact of using the drug.
It raises the prospect of developing a test that could identify cannabis users at risk of suffering psychosis as a result of taking the drug.
High-potency cannabis is defined as having tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content of 10 per cent or more. THC is the psychoactive component of cannabis and causes users to feel high, but it can also cause anxiety and paranoia in higher doses.
The amount of THC has been steadily increasing since the 1990s in the UK and US. In Colorado, where the drug is legal, it is possible to buy cannabis with 90 per cent THC.
Scientists have previously warned that some people who smoke strong cannabis may be at greater risk of developing psychosis or schizophrenia, but the extent of the risk is contested.
Teenagers are thought to be at particular risk of psychosis as the brain is developing during adolescence.
Earlier: Is Mary Jane to Blame For Teen Suicides?
We’ve been looking at almost 30 years of the liberalization of marijuana prohibitions. A recent study looks at an unintended consequence of the move.
Medical, Recreational Marijuana Legalization Associated With Higher Rates of Youth Suicide, Study Shows
Female youth aged 12 to 24 and youth of both sexes aged 14 to 16 living in states with legalized medical marijuana or recreational marijuana between 2000 and 2019 had higher rates of death by suicide than youth in states with no such laws, according to a report in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.“The findings translate to nearly 5,000 excess suicide deaths of female adolescents and young adults related to medical marijuana and recreational marijuana legalization,” the report claims. “Given dramatic shifts in cannabis policy over the past 20 years, it is important for clinicians and policymakers to understand potential downstream public health outcomes related to changing cannabis policy.”
Flashback: Second Thoughts on Pot: “‘Yeah, they all smoke.’ ‘Well . . . other things too, right?’ ‘Sometimes. But they all smoke.’”
IT’S TIME FOR VICTORIA TAFT’S West Coast, Messed Coast™: Just a ‘Throuple’ of Things About Our Election Ejection Edition.
DONALD TRUMP, KING OF COMEDY? ‘I used to think the Democrats were crazy for saying that men have periods, but then I met Tim Walz.’
In spooky season, it’s only appropriate that the “joy” has been drawn out of the Harris campaign like a demon facing an exorcist. It may have found a new host in her opponent: former president Donald Trump brought down the house at the Al Smith dinner for Catholic charities in New York City last night, which Kamala opted to skip. Trump has also faced criticism this week for canceling events and dodging interviews with CNBC and the Shade Room.
His remarks are worth watching in their entirety (you can do so below), but here are some choice one-liners. Clearly Trump has benefited from keeping the company of comedians Andrew Schulz and Theo Von lately.
On Kamala: “Instead of attending tonight, she’s in Michigan receiving Communion from Gretchen Whitmer.”
On Biden: “Joe has almost disappeared from view, the only way he could be seen less is if he had a show on CNN.”
On Schumer: “Chuck Schumer is here, looking very glum… but look on the bright side, Chuck: considering how ‘woke’ your party has become, if Kamala loses you still have the chance to become the first woman president.”
Earlier from Steve: Trump Slays at Al Smith Dinner but Wait’ll You See No-Show Kamala’s Reaction.
STAY COMFORTABLE: 5 Pack Mens Sweatpants Open Bottom Joggers for Men. #CommissionEarned
UNHINGED SEGMENTS OF HER VOTING BASE REQUIRE HER TO AVOID ANSWERING THIS QUESTION: Will Kamala commit to certifying a Trump win?
We find ourselves in a unique situation in 2024, as several close allies of Kamala Harris are signaling that should Trump capture the Electoral College, they will not certify his win this time around, citing everything from his criminal cases against him, to an invocation of the Fourteenth Amendment. Kamala Harris, as the sitting vice president of the United States, must answer if she will certify a Trump victory, despite the calls against doing so coming from those close to her campaign.
Liz Cheney, who led the charge on the January 6 Committee, has said that Trump is disqualified from holding office again, despite having not being charged or convicted of any crime, such as sedition. Cheney has appeared with Harris on the campaign trail and is being considered for a cabinet position, according to Harris herself. The former congresswoman is working with the campaign on moderating Harris’s message and advising her on foreign policy, which includes the US supporting Ukraine.
One Cheney ally on the House January 6 Committee was Representative Jamie Raskin, who also stood in protest of the 2016 electoral results. Raskin is on record saying that even if Trump wins the Electoral College, that Congress will simply refuse to seat him, invoking the Fourteenth Amendment. Raskin has also endorsed Kamala Harris’s campaign and several of her polices. Raskin said in December of last year that Trump is ineligible to hold office again and is on video confirming his support for this as well.
Lawfare activist groups around the country have filed legal challenges to keep Trump off ballots altogether, with a Colorado Supreme Court decision having to be overturned. Kamala Harris has hired heavyweight Democrat lawyer Marc Elias to her election legal team. He was one of the sponsors of many of the groups that attempted to keep Trump off ballots. When those tactics failed, Raskin told Axios, “Congress will have to try and act.”
All of these moves seem to foreshadow several legal and political challenges to a Trump victory — and it will ultimately be up to Harris to rebuff them and carry out her constitutional duty of certifying a Trump victory.
Stay tuned…
NO. NEXT QUESTION? Was Bret Baier Really ‘Unfair’ to Harris? Here are the Receipts.
COMETS AND AURORAE: Space Porn From the Ground Up [VIP]
SHE’S FLAILING:
Kamala had a very bad morning according to some sources.
She tore her campaign manager Julie Chavez apart on a call that lasted around 30 minutes.
Kamala told her that she’s horrible at her job and would be the reason she loses.
It’s all setting in for them. It’s over.
— Ryan Fournier (@RyanAFournier) October 18, 2024
Around this time in 2008, similar stories were coming out about the McCain campaign.
SLOUCHING TOWARD WORLD WAR III: North Korea sends 1,500 troops to aid Russia’s war in Ukraine, South Korea’s spy agency says.
The hermit nation transported its special forces fighters on seven Russian ships earlier in October, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said in a press release on Friday.
Those units had previously been personally inspected by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the agency added.
Large Russian transport aircraft have also been frequently traveling between Vladivostok and Pyongyang, it said.
Meanwhile:
South Korea's Defense Ministry has announced that it's "closely monitoring" reports that Russia is training North Korean troops for deployment in Ukraine.
Should these troops be sent to the front lines, South Korea is likely to respond by starting to send direct military aid to… pic.twitter.com/XskfFasIZA
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) October 16, 2024
The Russo-Ukraine War as a proxy for Korean War Phase II?
JIM TREACHER: Dead Terrorists Are Good, Actually.
Wow. Remind me never to start a war with Israel, huh? The bad guys got a jump on them a year ago, but ever since, the Jews have been kicking ass.
I thought Operation Beep-Beep-Boom would be the highlight, but they saved the best for last. Witness the glorious farewell of October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar:
It’s good to see that before they put him out of his misery, he was literally disarmed.
Sinwar has now ceased firing.
“What has one thumb and just got pwned by the Jews? This guy!”
That scumbag’s last great act of defiance was lobbing a stick at a camera drone. Yet according to his fans (mostly American college students and Congressional Democrats), Sinwar “fought to the end.”
LOL!
Gotta say, putting a hole in this guy’s head only improved his looks. As the great Andrew Stiles puts it: “World’s ugliest terrorist killed in war he started.”
Bye-bye, Yahya. If you didn’t want to go out like a bitch, you shouldn’t picked a fight you knew you couldn’t win.
Score one for the good guys. If only our government had agreed when it mattered.
Indeed: Recalling When Kamala Harris Warned Israel Not to Send Forces Into Rafah.
BIG DEAL, HUNTER BIDEN GETS MORE THAN THAT: A humanoid robot’s painting called ‘AI God’ may sell for over $120,000.
CART MEETS HORSE: Did Inflation Save Us From ‘New Progressive Economics?’
The Biden era’s high inflation has been terrible for the economy and the country generally. But did it save us from a more permanent progressive takeover of federal government policy?
That’s the tantalizing question hanging over a recent piece published by Vox Senior Politics Correspondent Andrew Prokop that chronicles the rise, and pending fall, of “New Progressive Economics.”
President Joe Biden obviously was not the left’s preferred candidate in the 2020 Democratic primary.
But, as Prokop tells it, he staffed his administration with lots of ultra-progressive wonks and political operatives who wanted to overthrow the Democratic Party’s perceived “neoliberal” consensus on trade and regulation in favor of aggressive anti-trust enforcement, proactive industrial policy, protectionism, and a massive increase in social spending.
They basically got most of what they wanted, starting with the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan (ARP)—a law pitched as a pandemic recovery bill that was stuffed full of progressive spending items.
Now, however, depression is setting among the New Progressives. There’s a good chance that no matter what happens in November, they’ll see their influence and policy legacy crumble.
That’s obviously true if former President Donald Trump wins and Republicans get a shot at staffing the executive branch.
But Vice President Kamala Harris also appears a lot less enamored with “post-neoliberal” ideas than her boss. Her campaign trail overtures to big business, friendly relations with select billionaires, and a general instinct to run away from every progressive position she’s ever taken (save on abortion) all have them sweating.
Should she get elected, the New Progressive agenda might still be a dead letter.
If that’s true, they have only themselves to blame.
What did they think would happen? While Biden promised his DNC operatives with bylines in the run-up to the 2020 election that “Milton Friedman isn’t running the show anymore,” Friedman had long ago accurately predicted the trajectory of Biden’s governing efforts, when he warned in 1970 (back when the inflation caused by LBJ’s massive Great Society spending was just beginning to make itself known) that “Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon, in the sense that it is and can be produced only by a more rapid increase in the quantity of money than in output.”
In any case, mister, we could use a man like Paul Volcker again.
FLORIDA MAN FRIDAY [VIP]: Don’t Mess with His Favorite Flamethrower. “It’s time for your much-needed break from the serious news, and this week we learn not to get between Florida Man and his favorite flamethrower, how to ride your jetski indoors, and Minnesota Man’s daring radio tower rescue.”
WHEN PUBLIC HEALTH AUTHORITIES BETRAY THE PUBLIC’S TRUST, THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES: US vaccinations fall again as more parents refuse lifesaving shots for kids.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE:
Starting in fall 2024, taking a climate cult course is a graduation requirement at UC San Diego.
If the "Climate Justice" course isn't woke enough for you, you can also take "Gender AND Climate Justice"!https://t.co/AuriIVC1b0 pic.twitter.com/FpqaUAwazu
— Tom Nelson (@TomANelson) October 18, 2024
There’s a lot more than just DEI to weed out of our universities.
