PRIVILEGE SO BIG YOU CAN SEE IT FROM SPACE: Amazing Photo Shows The Burning Man Festival As Seen From Space.
Archive for 2024
September 24, 2024
START BY BANNING PRIVATE JETS FOR CELEBRITIES: Flying Into the Future: Cambridge Charts Path to Zero Emissions in Aviation.
STAY TUNED…
Haifa’s northern suburbs (Kiryat Bialik and Kiryat Yam) are now under massive Hezbollah attack as is Akko (Acre).
Me: I asked a senior IDF commander today whether to push back Hezbollah to the Litani River Israel needs to send in ground troops. He said no. Israel needs to…
— Marc Zell (@GOPIsrael) September 24, 2024
BUT THE NARRATIVE! A lie goes around the world before the truth is even out of bed.
Every dope and his brother (or sister) regurgitating the DNC’s talking points will insist — as if it were gospel — that Trump “encouraged” and “incited” the January 6th riots.
Kamala Harris said in the debate that:
“On that day, the president of the United States incited a violent mob to attack our nation’s capital, to desecrate our nation’s Capitol. On that day, 140 law enforcement officers were injured, and some died.”
This is pure ipse dixit. (A legal term for bullsh*t.)
Leave aside the fact that the implication that the riot “caused” any law enforcement deaths is wholly unfounded; leave aside the fact that Harris never had the decency or courage to acknowledge Ashley Babbitt’s death; leave aside that as for an “insurrection” those people couldn’t organize a f@rt after a Hungarian dinner. The media has continued to propel this “conventional wisdom.”
But not so fast. JustTheNews has released sworn testimony that Trump had tried in vain to have the military or National Guard protect the capitol from protestors well before Jan. 6.
And wouldn’t you know:
“[General] Milley confirmed a second time during the interviews that Trump was clear in his wishes. “It was just what I just described, which was, ‘Hey, I don’t care if you use Guard, or soldiers, active-duty soldiers, do whatever you have to do. Just make sure it’s safe,” the general told the IG.”
The Deep State smiles:
“[Rep.] Loudermilk during his subcommittee’s ongoing probe of Jan. 6 security failures show civilian leadership at the Pentagon admittedly openly they would not comply with Trump’s wishes, with some saying they did not like the optics of armed soldiers or Guardsmen roaming the Capitol with weapons during what was supposed to be a peaceful transition of power. (Emphasis added)”
Optics. Freakin’ optics. Somehow I suspect no great strategist — from Sun Tsu to Von Clausewitz to Guderian to Georgy Zhukov to G.S. Patton — ever placed “optics” above efficacy.
“There was absolutely — there is absolutely no way I was putting U.S. military forces at the Capitol, period,” [Defense Secretary Christopher Miller] told the inspector general during his March 2021 interview.
But in my dotage I have come to realize that that stupid people will believe only what they want to believe:
- “He’ll put you back in chains.”
- “There are no U.S. troops in any combat zone.”
- “Trump is the architect of Project 2025”
- “I inherited the worst inflation ever and fixed it.”
- “JD Vance is simultaneously a stupid redneck and a privileged Ivy League white boy.”
I know, I’m in a really cynical mood right now, but I’m beginning to believe that Justice Holmes was correct in his conclusion in Buck v. Bell.
(Read the last line).
ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Is Mercedes-Benz’s Updated Drive Pilot Assistance Ready for American Roads? It’s Complicated.
WELL, SHE IS A CREEPY COMMIE: The Creepy Commie Origins of Kamala’s Catchphrase. “If you think about what Mao had to do to wipe out Chinese history, what Pol Pot had to do, you’re trying to wipe out memory, because the memory has all of this burden.”
ICYMI: Some Disassembly Required: High-Tech Goes to War Against 7th-Century Savages. “This is what happens when you f*** with the people of Einstein and Oppenheimer: you make science & technology your enemy.”
MANCHIN REFUSES TO ENDORSE KAMALA:
Kyrsten Sinema explains why gutting the filibuster to pass Roe V. Wade is a terrible idea for the left:
NEWS YOU CAN USE: Practicing With Small Handguns: Pocket pistols need range time, too.
WELL SAID:
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 24, 2024
HOT! HOT!! WELL … KIND OF HOT: The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights issued a report on facial recognition technology a few days ago. I admit I don’t know diddly squat about facial recognition technology. The one thing I’m sure of is that the Commission Chair is wrong when she argues that “the tech industry’s mostly white workforce and leadership” is to blame for the racial disparities in error rate in facial recognition. technology. My very short statement that says so is here.
LIGHTNING DEAL: Beckham Hotel Collection Bed Pillows Standard / Queen Size Set of 2. #CommissionEarned
THAT IS NOT WHAT ENGLISH TEACHERS SHOULD BE SAYING: Books are too long and boring, say English teachers.
Nowadays, many students rarely read full-length novels, reports AP’s Sharon Lurye. Teachers assign excerpts, “a concession to perceptions of shorter attention spans, pressure to prepare for standardized tests and a sense that short-form content will prepare students for the modern, digital world.”
In a 2022 statement, the National Council of Teachers of English declared: “The time has come to decenter book reading and essay-writing as the pinnacles of English language arts education.” Instead, teachers are urged to focus on “media literacy” and short texts that students feel are “relevant.”
Deep reading builds “critical thinking skills, background knowledge and, most of all, empathy,” said UCLA neuroscientist Maryanne Wolf told Lurye. “We must give our young an opportunity to understand who others are, not through little snapshots, but through immersion into the lives and thoughts and feelings of others,” Wolf said.
“Only 14% of young teens say they read for fun daily, compared with 27% in 2012,” according to federal data, Lurye reports. So, if students aren’t asked to read books for school, most will not read at all.
Longer attention spans are made, not born — and English teachers are supposed to help make them. Instead, they’re making excuses.
TRUNALIMUNUMAPRZURE! Biden’s UN Remarks Are a Sad Ending to His Political Career As He Slurs, Struggles and Lies.
Joe Biden spoke at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday in what is likely his last big world speech to close out his 50 years in political life.
Unfortunately, he’s going out after having left the country in shambles. He’s leaving because he was shoved off his reelection bid by his own party, who knew he was going to lose.
His condition was much in evidence as he spoke, despite the fact that he had a teleprompter.
A handler even had to indicate to him where the podium was that he was supposed to speak from.
He was slurring up a storm and you could see how heavily he was relying on the teleprompter. And he seemed to be getting even older even as he detailed some of the things that had happened over those 50 years.
He claimed that we brought Osama bin Laden “justice.” But he had been against taking bin Laden out at the time, even as he now appeared to be trying to take credit for it.
He spoke about the decision to pull out of Afghanistan and said it was the right decision, but he took no responsibility for the botched way in which he conducted the withdrawal, which led to the death of 13 Americans.
Flashback: Biden Thinks No One Made Mistakes in Disastrous Afghanistan Withdrawal: Report.
MISSED IT BY THAT MUCH: Former AG Barr ‘dumbfounded’ at DOJ’s decision to release letter of Trump would-be assassin. Bill Barr: ‘It served no purpose other than to risk inciting further violence.’
Exactly. That’s why it was released.
HEH:
Democrats Invite Foreign Leader To Meddle In U.S. Elections https://t.co/1fluPY09Jy pic.twitter.com/lnmATARFRy
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) September 24, 2024
CHANGE: One of America’s most iconic retail chains, Kmart, set to close last full-size store in US.
The store, located in the posh hamlet of Bridgehampton, NY — one of just two remaining in a chain that once spanned more than 2,000 stores before the rise of Walmart and Amazon — will close its doors for good on Oct. 20, an employee confirmed to WJAR.
The real estate investment trust, Kimco Realty Corp, which owns the shopping center that houses the Bridgehampton location, also confirmed the store would be closing, according to Newsday.
Soon after its 1996 opening, the Bridgehampton Kmart became the retailer’s proudest and most productive location as well-heeled shoppers flocked to the store alongside the ritzy area’s working class population.
I miss the ’90s almost as much as the ’80s.
Related: These Are the Only 12 Sears Stores Left in America.
THE NYC LOCKDOWN: an orgy of hypocrisy.
‘The only way I could do this job for the city was if I had some way to blow off steam every now and then’, he is recorded saying. Poor Dr Varma. We all remember what a tense time it was. Who could blame the man for getting off his head on ecstasy and going to a couple of orgies here and there?
Certainly not the Atlantic magazine, which published a piece last Friday with the headline, ‘Public-health officials should have been talking about their sex parties the whole time’. And no, this was not satire.
Dusting off NYC’s Covid rule book from 2020, the Atlantic notes that city guidance ‘discouraged – but did not forbid – group sex’. The piece helpfully points out that ‘Varma explained that he’d partied responsibly, noting “Everybody got tests and things like that”.’ There was no word from the Atlantic as to whether or not Varma managed to get his plums sucked by fellow orgy participants when the city guidelines were to only have group sex while ‘wear[ing] a face covering’. Quite the logistical challenge.
* * * * * * * *
In one recording, Varma states that right before he helped push through ‘the vaccine mandate’ in NYC in November 2021, he had a ‘wild night’ involving a dance party on a boat and then a rave with 200 other people underneath a bank. ‘Everyone was rolling, we were all taking molly [MDMA] and everybody was so high, and I was so happy because I hadn’t done that in like a year.’
Sadly for some New Yorkers, not all raves are created equal. There were clearly those attended by the likes of Varmar, which were reported on sympathetically by the New York Times. A 2021 article on the ‘thriving’ illegal rave scene quoted a DJ whose SoHo party was shut down, although the police were ‘very kind’ and gave everyone time to leave before issuing any fines.
The NYPD were less lenient towards raves in Queens – where the plebs live. One raid on an illegal rave in 2020 led to four arrests and over a dozen criminal-court-appearance tickets for misdemeanour offences. Other gatherings of the non-privileged classes were treated similarly harshly. In Borough Park, Brooklyn, cops cited five religious institutions for ‘holding services with more than 10 people’. Each violation came with a $15,000 fine.
The original subhead of the Atlantic piece was “At least it would have shown that they’re relatable.” Tell that to the people who couldn’t visit loved ones in nursing homes, go to funerals, lost their businesses due to lockdown, and/or had their kids’ education setback for years. As Charles Cooke wrote in 2021, “Of all the ills in all the world, duplicity is the hardest to recover from. And, despite the best efforts of our feckless smart set, there can be no herd immunity from its effects.”
UPDATE: Your children couldn’t go to school in 2020, but the elites could attend sex parties.
YEAH, BUT WOULD YOU TRUST THE OPINION OF PEOPLE WHO’VE BEEN HIT IN THE HEAD THAT MUCH? Study of former NFL players finds 1 in 3 believe they have chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
DISPATCHES FROM WEIMAR AMERICA: Son of Ryan Routh, accused in Trump assassination attempt, arrested for child pornography.