THE DEMAND FOR RACISM AND HATE IS GREATER THAN THE SUPPLY:
Breaking: An investigation into racist, pro-Trump graffiti messages at @RhodesCollege in Memphis, Tenn. that caused a panic has revealed that it was a hoax from a student.
The college is not releasing information about the student behind the hoax. The n-word and "Trump rules"… pic.twitter.com/ugzxFpUdKw
— Andy Ngo 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) December 18, 2024
OPEN THREAD: Be here now.
THE NEW SPACE RACE: Axiom Space revises space station assembly plans. “Axiom Space is revising the assembly sequence for its commercial space station, a move it says will allow it to get to a free-flying station sooner.”
WOULD YOU WANT TO KNOW? Simple Blood Test To Detect Dementia Before Symptoms Appear.
THIS DOESN’T SURPRISE ME: In new study, team sports improve executive function in kids.
SO AT THE RANGE THE OTHER DAY, I SHOT THIS Smith & Wesson 9mm folding carbine. I’ve never owned a pistol-caliber carbine, unless you count my grandfather’s WWII M1 Carbine, made by IBM. But this one has gotten a lot of buzz, so I put a box of ammo through it.
Thoughts: Easy to handle and shoot. Pretty accurate at the short ranges I was shooting at the indoor range (I shot at 10 and 25 meters). Stock has two holders for spare magazines. It comes with one 17 round and two 23 round magazines, so fully loaded you’ve got 63 rounds to hand. Removing a mag from the holder in the stock was a bit awkward at first — the release is like a rocker switch, and you press down on the side that’s above the magazine you’re not trying to remove. Easy once you know, but not intuitive. Each round put a puff of smoke in my face so that I smelled noticeably like cordite in my car afterward. The stock is one-size-fits-all (it looks like it should telescope, but it doesn’t.), and it was a bit short for me, something I didn’t notice at first, but was definitely noticing by the end.
As a 9mm carbine, it uses pistol-caliber ammo, which is cheaper. But the big appeal, of course, is that it folds. With the stock folded it’s short enough to keep in a backpack, and it’s safe because it can’t fire in that position. (As the linked review says: “The design offers a couple of advantages: It’s perfectly safe when folded because the action cannot go into battery, and the bore is easily accessed for cleaning.”) I guess the appeal is that you could keep it as a “truck gun” (or a “trunk gun”). That’s not something I typically carry, but some people do. I don’t like to leave a gun in my car as it’s just something someone might steal. At best I’m out the price of the gun, and if it’s a fully loaded and ready-to-rock gun then it’s likely dangerous in the hands of whoever would steal it. Under circumstances of civil disorder I might do differently, but if things reach the point that I have to go strapped against rioting mobs, I think I’d either carry an M4 or just stay home.
Still a cool little gun, uses relatively cheap ammo, usefully accurate out to 100 meters or so, and not terribly expensive.
PUSHBACK WORKS:
DOGE is here & this is the first test. https://t.co/lS8kPsWeXv
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) December 18, 2024
So keep pushing.
THIS IS MY PRIME CARRY GUN: Guns We Love: Sig Sauer P365 9mm Review.
THEY KEEP GOING BACK AND FORTH ON THIS: Drinking a moderate amount of wine may lower the risk of serious cardiovascular disease in high-risk people. “Previous studies on the effects of wine on cardiovascular health have produced inconsistent results. This may be in part because research often relies on people reporting how much wine they drink. Instead, in the new study, researchers measured the amount of a chemical, called tartaric acid, in participants’ urine. Researchers say this is an ‘objective and reliable measure’ of wine consumption.”
TRUMP’S AMERICA IS LOOKING AWESOME: Start-up putting ammo vending machines in grocery stores plans to grow.
THE 21ST CENTURY: Many experience ‘techno-strain’ from demands of working online.
I’m sure it’s real, but 14th Century peasants probably had more strain from the demands of working in the fields and so on.
THIS SEEMS LIKE A TOUGH SELL: Self-Replicating mRNA Vaccine for COVID Prevention.
THREAD:
I wanted to read the full 1,500+ page bill & speak with key leaders before forming an opinion. Having done that, here's my view: it's full of excessive spending, special interest giveaways & pork barrel politics. If Congress wants to get serious about government efficiency, they…
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) December 18, 2024
HEH:
🥁roll please …
The Worst Media Quote of 2024 goes to "Morning" Joe Scarborough for the second consecutive year for saying, "this version of Biden intellectually, analytically, is the best Biden ever" back in March. https://t.co/JSnPopCkK0
— MRC NewsBusters (@newsbusters) December 18, 2024
“Start your tape right now, because I’m about to tell you the truth. And f-you if you can’t handle the truth. This version of Biden intellectually, analytically, is the best Biden ever. Not a close second. And I’ve known him for years. The Brzezinskis have known him for 50 years. If it weren’t the truth, I wouldn’t say it.”
— Co-host Joe Scarborough on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, March 6 rejecting claims Biden was slipping mentally.
INTERESTING POINT: “Perhaps I’m overlooking someone, but I can’t think of another high-level politician in America who’s saying, stop the war, stop the killing, stop the destruction. Cease fire. Negotiate a settlement. Peace. Not one. WTF? How can that be? On this fact alone, if you hate Donald Trump, it’s time for an agonizin’ reappraisal.”
Plus: “Not a peep from Code Pink, not when they’re seeing orange.”
DIVERSITY PROBLEM: Just 19 Republican professors found at ASU compared to 284 Democrats.
WOEING: Stranded Boeing Starliner astronauts face new delay in return to Earth from ISS. “Two Boeing Starliner astronauts, stranded at the International Space Station in June after what was supposed to be a weeklong test flight, are facing a new delay in their return trip to Earth, NASA revealed Tuesday. Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore had been scheduled to return on a SpaceX Dragon flight in February, after they were forced to abandon Starliner due to helium leaks and thruster issues. The pair will now return to Earth no earlier than late March, 10 months after they originally launched, as they wait for their replacements to arrive at the ISS.”
If I’m gonna be lost in space for that long, I need a talking robot. And maybe June Lockhart or Marta Kristen.
I’M NOT SURPRISED:
This YouGov survey is fascinating. Americans from both parties are overwhelmingly united behind Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s food reforms despite views of RFK himself becoming profoundly polarized. https://t.co/72IISsqw9A pic.twitter.com/vuPxgtgy85
— Tristan Justice (@JusticeTristan) December 18, 2024
Like a lot of stuff that seemed “stuck” for decades, a lot of Americans had a problem with this but the establishment didn’t want to hear it. Now, for a while at least, things have come unstuck all over.
WAR ON AMERICA: Biden launches ‘striking escalation’ in costly regulations.
MARK JUDGE: The Return of Due Process.
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