EXPLAINING DURHAM: Quick and Dirty Durham Explainer

This is the long explainer I’ve been promising, finally finished. It’s VIP (FIGHTBACK for a 25 percent discount, or CHARLIE for a 5 percent discount that pays me a little royalty. Yeah, hard decision, I know.) for the next week, but here’s the short form:

In paragraphs 2 through 7, under the heading FACTUAL BACKGROUND, Durham details important points about the indictment that show Sussman working with Rodney Joffe and his firm Neustar, who passed information to researchers under a DARPA contract at Georgia Tech and coordinated an effort to build up a falsified case for investigating Trump’s connections to Russia. This also involved the Clinton campaign, and the Clinton campaign’s general counsel — a familiar name, Marc Elias. This data was, to put it gently, massaged in order to make an incriminating case against Trump that fed into the Clinton campaign’s other efforts, like the “dossier,” and thus into the fraudulent FISA warrants and more intelligence operations against the Trump campaign.

You can see why this caused a lot of agitation on the Democrats’ side: Durham is laying out a case that Perkins Coie, through Sussman and with the active participation of Mark Elias, purposefully manufactured evidence against Trump that factored into the four-year investigation into “Russian collusion”.

EVERYONE IS CONSERVATIVE WHEN IT’S THEIR OWN MONEY: Socialist ‘Current Affairs’ Founder Takes the Red Pill After His Socialist Staff Makes Socialist Demands.

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TECHNICOLOR TOM WOLFE TAKES THE RED PILL: Socialist ‘Current Affairs’ Founder Takes the Red Pill After His Socialist Staff Makes Socialist Demands.

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A QUESTION LOTS OF PEOPLE ARE ASKING: COVID: Yes, There Are Tests for the Delta Variant.

It’s like the misinformation Olympics.

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FROM MY OTHER LIFE: Five Pro Tips for Programming Articles That Will Preserve My Last Nerve.

INSURRECTION! As D.C. Murder Rate Soars, FBI Arrests Jan. 6 Protester Who Spent 17 Minutes in the Capitol, Mostly Snapping Selfies.

WHAT KIND OF FOOLS DO THEY TAKE US FOR? THIS KIND: PSYOPS: If They Can Make You Believe a Big Strong Man Belongs in the Women’s Division, They Can Make You Believe Anything.

RIP: Former U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, Michigan’s longest-serving senator, dead at 87.

MORE DANGEROUS THAN THREE HOURS OF LARPING IN A SHAMAN HAT: COVID: 35 Texas Democrats Endanger Democracy With Superspreader Attack.

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THE PARTY WILL INFORM YOU WHAT THOUGHTS ARE ACCEPTABLE: Buckle Up, Democrats: The Left’s Demoralizing Attacks on Conservatives May Reap the Whirlwind.

BELATED HOLIDAY WISHES: Happy Heinlein’s Birthday, everyone!

IRS RELENTS. GRUDGINGLY: BREAKING: IRS Drops Anti-Christian Witch Hunt, for Now….

“Dear Applicant,” the form letter reads. “We’re pleased to tell you we determined you’re exempt from federal income tax under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 501(c)(3).” The IRS sent the letter to the Texas-based group Christians Engaged along with its law firm, First Liberty Institute. First Liberty provided a copy of the letter to PJ Media.

The letter did not mention the previous denial and it did not offer an explanation or an apology.

READER BOOK PLUG: Savannah 1.0: The Quest for Love Just released today.

Dan Mitchel is a lonely guy, plagued with OCD and terminal social awkwardness, at times so severe he seems robotic. Raised by a cold, overbearing mother, he fails at every romantic relationship and resigned himself to growing old alone–until he buys Savannah, a sexbot, the first one able to pass as human. In many ways, his problems are finally over, but in others they are just beginning. Can a robot teach a man what it means to be human?

***

“I may be terminated over Monday’s incident.”

They had watched both Schwarzenegger movies, and he’d explained that a “terminator” was a killer robot. She had enjoyed both of them, but had cheered for the terminators, calling herself “Team Robot.” He’d found it funny, and cheered with her. But it was her only reference to the word, so she looked confused as she asked, “They’re going to kill you?”

READER BOOK PLUG: My friend and roommate Terry Lacy has a new book coming out, available for pre-order now. The book is Savannah 1.0:The Quest for Love.

Dan Mitchel is a lonely guy, plagued with OCD and terminal social awkwardness, at times so severe he seems robotic. Raised by a cold, overbearing mother, he fails at every romantic relationship and resigned himself to growing old alone–until he buys Savannah, a sexbot, the first one able to pass as human. In many ways, his problems are finally over, but in others they are just beginning. Can a robot teach a man what it means to be human?

---

“I may be terminated over Monday’s incident.”

They had watched both Schwarzenegger movies, and he’d explained that a “terminator” was a killer robot. She had enjoyed both of them, but had cheered for the terminators, calling herself “Team Robot.” He’d found it funny, and cheered with her. But it was her only reference to the word, so she looked confused as she asked, “They’re going to kill you?”

P.S. I read it and think it’s really good. Start of a series.

CLAUDIA ROSSETT ON THE TIANANMEN ANNIVERSARY: Xi Jinping’s Tiananmen Vision for Us All.

Beijing’s grotesque rewrite of history is part of a vast CCP campaign of propaganda and coercion dedicated to ensuring that the people of China do not attempt a replay of the 1989 democratic movement that was, in truth, the People’s Republic of China’s finest hour.

Just read the whole thing.

STANDARDIZED TESTS VS MINORITIES? Will Eliminating Standard Tests Really Reduce Racial Disparities In Education?.

Instead of addressing the failure to educate kids in these communities, the push is to get rid of the testing itself. The deficiencies will remain — but the ability to expose them will be gone.

Eliminating standardized scores will not erase true racial disparities in our educational system. Indeed, it may only exacerbate them.

One does have to wonder if “the ability to expose them will be gone” might not be the real motivation.

ICYMI: Here’s What You Need to Know (and Dr. Fauci Won’t Tell You) About Herd Immunity.

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THEY’RE SELLING SOMETHING: Here’s What You Need to Know (and Dr. Fauci Won’t Tell You) About Herd Immunity.

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THE PROOF OF THE PUDDING: Testing software so it’s reliable enough for space.

It’s very possible that SpaceX and StarLink write more code to test their software than the software they’re testing.

WHY SPACEX IS EATING NASA’S LUNCH: Building A Space-Based ISP.

“There are requirements that make software engineers sweat. Massive distribution to thousands of nodes. High reliability and availability. Multiple distinct platforms. Rapid network growth. his is the world SpaceX’s Starlink program, which has set a goal to provide high-speed broadband internet to locations where access has been unreliable, expensive, or completely unavailable.”

DON’T PUSH THAT BUTTON: Exploring the software that flies SpaceX rockets and starships.

I promised this series was coming months ago. I guess now that they’ve gotten Elon’s SNL appearance out of the way, it’s finally ready to go.

For the tech crew, SpaceX/StarLink really is doing some amazing stuff.

HARRIS SEEMS TO HAVE A REAL PROBLEM WITH THE CONSTITUTION: Supreme Court Seems Primed to Reverse Kamala Harris’s Attack on Free Speech,

IS THIS A LOGAN ACT VIOLATION? John Kerry Divulged HUNDREDS of Israel’s Covert Attacks to Iran, Leak Reveals.

We’ve had a lot of spurious and ignorant cries of “treason” in the last six years. I think a case for this being treason could be made.

YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH? HELL, YOU CAN’T EVEN UNDERSTAND THE TRUTH: Media Should Tell the Truth About Herd Immunity.

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DON’T BET ON THIS LEADING TONIGHT’S NEWS: BREAKING: Trump Eviscerates Democrats’ Impeachment Charges.