Good morning one and all to another incorrigible day!
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Tehran attack
Evidence gathered since Jan. 6 shows Select Committee investigation missed key security failures
Harris to hold rally with VP pick Tuesday before they blitz swing states
Head of Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 Steps Down
Kari Lake and Ruben Gallego win Arizona Senate primary — other state races remain close
American taxpayers are now on the hook for $35,004,415,930,299.
McDonald’s Same-Store Sales Fall for 1st Time Since 2020 as Tapped-Out Customers Hold on to Cash
Majority of renters say they will never be able to afford to buy a home
Republicans, Democrats united in outrage, accountability for CenterPoint power outages
Young Men Are Becoming More Conservative, Poll Finds
That’s all I got for today. I’ll leave you with a song and move along with my day
McDonald’s global same-stores fell for the first time in nearly four years in the second quarter as inflation-weary consumers skipped eating out or chose cheaper options.
In the United States, same-store sales fell nearly 1 percent. McDonald’s saw fewer customers but it said those who came spent more because of price increases. Mr. Kempczinski defended the higher menu prices, saying the costs for paper, food, and labor increased as much as 40 percent in some markets over the last few years.
It started in the lower-middle tier (Hooters, Cracker Barrel, Red Lobster) and is now filtering down. The top tier is holding on… for now.
Same thing with consumer staples. Folks who wouldn’t be caught dead in a Wal*Mart five years ago are now shopping there, and regular Wally World shoppers are moving from name brand to store brand / generics.
Fortunately for us, the economy is roaring and you’re just too stupid to realize it.
I’ve seen some rumblings in the local news about how there’s no middle tier at all, there’s the high end steak houses, and then there’s the more bar than restaurant locations (or a modern take on the fast casual). In the past year, one of our local chains (Melt) has gone from multiple locations throughout the state to closing all but the original one, and retooling after a bankruptcy. I personally know of at least four different expansions that were cancelled due to rising costs (especially on the construction side).
Hey that’s me. I used to shop at Wegmans because I work there and it was convenient to get my groceries there. Now we go to Walmart because we end up spending about 30-60$ less per week on groceries. I’ve always bought store brand when it’s available, so I’m not sure what happens when I’m priced out of Walmart store brand. Soup kitchens?
Wegman’s drove me off when they started hiking their family pack prices on steaks.
Been shopping Weis/Landis markets depending on who has the better sales each week. And definitely saving money over shopping at The Fresh Market & Wegman’s.
Ha I moved to a Wegmans town last year and it is WAY more affordable than anything available where I lived for the previous 25 years (NYC).
There is a WalMart somewhat less conveniently located which I have not checked out yet.
interesting, Sean – looking online, my benchmark 4-pack of ribeyes at Wegmans is $13.79/lb right now, which is about what I recall.
ISTR it was as high as $15.99/lb during the pandemic.
slumbrew:
$15.99 is the current price per pound for ribeyes in value packs at Giant Eagle. Looks to be ~$20/pound at Heinen’s (the more upscale local chain).
Interesting – not sure if the website just lies but I’m seeing the same prices for Erie, PA (as far west as they go). Same for State College.
Non-family pack ribeye is $15.29/lb.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Slumbrew:
Wegman’s was recently at $14.99/lb the same week I was buying steaks at local chains for $6.99/lb AND getting them custom cut.
Nobody sells for $7/lb.
Aldi, my friend. Aldi.
I am a simple guy, so I have shopped for certain items there for a long time. But seeing much nicer cars and SUV’s in the parking lot the past couple of years.
~$3/lb if you are willing to buy beef and then get it processed or have the knowhow (or a friend).
That’s a great price, Sean. I don’t think I can get that anywhere, though I should visit the Brazilian butcher – my Portuguese is non-existant, though.
When I refer to “steaks” I mean boneless strips/ribeyes or full porterhouses.
The best prices seem to occur on the weekends on the 3 day store flyers or in store specials.
https://www.weismarkets.com/flyers/229562/print
Their london broil cut is $4.99 all month. If I remember, I’ll link up the next time I see an ad for you.
The recession won’t officially kick off until the upper middle class joins in on the pain. Right now they’re collecting 5% on their cash and the stock market has made them 10%+ over the last few years, not to mention the price of their home has doubled in the last 5 years. When the yield curve un-inverts they’ll begin feeling the pain as all their paper gains begin to evaporate. Once they cut back on their disposable spending the economy really takes a dump.
The upper middle class is gonna largely vote D, so they might get there sooner, rather than later.
The recession has been here already for at least a year…they are just hiding it.
Longer than that. We are hiding a global depression.
Morning, Banjos.
“cow nuts”
McDonald’s needs to go back to using beef tallow instead of veggie oil.
Also, repudiate the national debt!
I saw a story that interns aren’t allowed to look Kamala Harris in the eye. Probably because her reptilian pupils are easiest to see up close.
It reminded me of a story, way back when Bill Clinton was first elected. Someone who had done a lot of work to get him elected was hired on as part of the White House staff. He greeted Hillary one morning as she passed by, but she didn’t respond. He was visited by someone else a short time later who told him to never speak directly to her again.
Clearly he should have simply stabbed her to death in passing to save many many lives.
Do you think everyone is just carrying the Daggers of Megiddo around with them?
You don’t?
Seriously. What happens when we just say “we aren’t paying the debt back”? I suppose that’s not a realistic scenario since we don’t owe it to a single entity.
“What happens when we just say “we aren’t paying the debt back”?”
Since the debt is also our currency, in effect, I guess we go back to the barter system.
Certainly the banking system implodes, globally, causing a financial and economic crisis that would make 2008 look like the warm-up act. From there, it’s hard to say. Do governments fall? What kind of social strife is there? Etc.
Ive worked for people in upper management that would only talk to managers and never the workers. I can tell ya, it isn’t how you build a team.
Why?
That’s just… wow to me.
WTF is wrong with people? Completely expected from the likes of Hillary and Kamala – you can spot that character trait from miles away.
Same reason we get stories about Kamala acting like this. They either know they were put there for reasons other than their abilities or they feel they are owed some undue respect like a general on the battlefield.
That’s insane.
I’d occasionally share an elevator with the chairman of the board and he without fail would initiate chitchat.
Same with the CEO – he’s quite friendly. I suspect it helps greatly that he founded the company.
The depths of depravity in FedGov is no easy thing to understand.
Back in the old days (when I had a job) I would visit one of the stores in my district. Take all the employees to lunch, nothing fancy but a sit down. It was always coordinated with the manager before hand. As we were gathering to leave for the restaurant, I’d ask, “Do you think the manager can handle it while we’re gone?”
Spend a couple hours at lunch, employees enjoyed the extra treat. Then in the evening take the manager and significant other out for a slightly more upscale dinner.
The employees are the producers and need to treat them with respect.
4x gets it. Respect for hard work is a two way street.
Hamas said Haniyeh was killed “in a Zionist airstrike on his residence in Tehran after he participated in the inauguration of Iran’s new president.”
What’s the leader of a religious paramilitary organization based in the northern Sinai doing at “his residence in Teheran?” Shouldn’t be be with his soldiers?
Leaders haven’t been on the front lines in centuries now. Why fight when you can count your money beside your pool?
I propose a Constitutional amendment requiring all Congresscritters, and the President and his staff, have to fight on the front lines of any war they get America involved in.
They only get a saber.
Do they still get to rattle it?
For most of human history, it was the standard for leaders and their offspring to risk themselves and their offspring in direct combat. A nobleman with no martial background was rarely respected. Perhaps the fact that we diverged so far from that model is how we ended up with the horrors of Verdun, the Somme etc.
One of the biggest effects of WWI was that decimation of the English officer class for leading troops directly into battle. Which, in WWI, was going over the top, as they said, and walking in formation straight into German machine gun nests.
Remember, the junior officers in that war were kids of about 17-19 years old, who had up till then been away at boarding schools, and who had parents who were members of the landed class. They were expected to lead by example, which meant being the first in line in combat. You can read about it in Siegfried Sassoon’s and Robert Graves memoirs of the war.
I was referring to perhaps not kings and their retinue, but dukes and other Colonel or Brigadier (more or less) equivalents frequently getting stuck in, which was the standard up to and including the 19th century.
Most fights don’t really have front lines now days , though.
He’s following the Zelensky model of leadership. Between jetting between Davos and LA, I’m surprised if he ever sets foot in the country. Although to be fair, he is of greater value to the Ukraine shuttling around on a fundraising campaign than he would be picking up a rifle and waiting for a platoon of Russians to come shoot at him.
But he wears olive drab t-shirts!
Many of the Qatar based HAMAS leaders have never resided in Gaza and rarely visited even before the war started. The Numero Uno HAMAS leader is a billionaire living in Qatar and only has set foot in Gaza one time- and that was over a decade ago.
The Gazan people are only a disposable means to a rich end for these bastards.
Years of investigation and multiple reports later, the official January 6 probe from the Select Committee missed several key developments that have now come to forefront in the debate over how the U.S. government can learn from what happened on the day the U.S. Capitol was breached.
I have an idea: don’t “fortify” elections in a manner that can be seen from low earth orbit.
They didn’t “miss” developments; they actively suppressed developments.
“Missed”; “hid”
potayto – potahto….
Wait, wait, The Wokelympics were focing a vegan diet on the athletes?
Is there anything they haven’t stained with their filth in these games?
Meat is murder!
Dairy is rape!
Fermentation is double parking next to a fire hydrant!
Eggs are abortions!
Now everybody has to eat eggs.
You would think the French would be the last people to fuck up the food at an event. It’s like the Marxist scum and the Islamist scum are in a race to, err, what’s the term? Oh, yeah, “fundamentally transform” the country.
All the meat in France went to the trannies at the Last Supper.
Feast of the God…duh! Still waiting for the answer if they are willing to dress up and play out the scene of how Muhammad brought the world of Allah to the Muslim world…
Stunning and brave has its limits.
You would think the LGBTQ+++ crowd would be all about Muhammad marrying a tween. Wonder why they didn’t do that.
It’s the impromptu flying lessons.
Ugh…the severe storm that just passed overhead literally made my dog evacuate her bowls right then and there. Poor thing. We had thunder and lightning in Vegas, but for some reason here, she absolutely is terrified of it.
Thunderbolt and lightning was very, very frightening?
Scaramouche, Scaramouche.
That would have been more of a Galieo moment but you botched it from being magnifico
Last week I stumbled going down some small stairs on a ship and my ankle was a little sore for a few days.
Woke up yesterday with a swollen ankle and couldn’t put any weight on it.
Went to the ER and they said X rays were fine, no bone damage.
It’s the same ankle I had reconstructive surgery on in Nov 2015.
Dr. thinks I tweaked it and all the old damage got inflammed..
So I am stuck on my couch with my foot elevated. They gave me a walking boot, but I still can’t put weight on it.
On the bright side, it was horrifically painful yesterday so I took one oxycodone. I haven’t had enough pain today to take any.
Fun…
Very sorry to hear it. May your inflammation shrink soon.
May your inflammation shrink soon, said Winston’s Mom
“Foot Job” takes on new meaning.
Sorry to hear about your accident, Ron, I feel your pain, not meant to be sarcastic.
This whole aging thing is bullshit.
To be 25 and indestructible again…
Sorry for your troubles, Ron.
おだいじに！
Yeah, I was taking a load to the dump, which they have made “safe”, meaning that you have to carry all the heavy stuff four feet to throw over an edge into a container of some kind. Anyway, after doing that, I cleaned the cat boxes, and, lo-and-behold, my back has been acting like it did before surgery. I am pretty sure it is just the scar tissue getting inflamed, but, fuck this sucks.
In other words, I feel your pain Ron.
But Biden has assured us that inflammation has gone down.
This is how you know people just really don’t care about the candidate or how they act/don’t act, they care about the policies that the candidate (or rather, the benefits they will get from those policies) brings
+1 bottle of hot sauce in purse
“I’m SO ‘tard.”
Waiting for several maintenance folks to show up today to get what I can from the home warranty that expires in two months. Got me thinking, I need to sabotage my old AC unit which uses R22 so they will have to either retool or upgrade it. Probably should look through the policy to see if they will do upgrades to AC units or tell me to pound sand.
Don’t. R-22 works so much better than any of the blends that they are forcing on people these days. It might be pricy, but the unit is probably much better than the crap being built and sold today.
Oh I get that, but I feel I am 6 months from a failed compressor and/or condenser unit.
You are better off at this point saving the R-22 in that is in it, replacing the compressor and condenser and then reusing your old refrigerant. Who is the maker of the unit, and how old? Unless it is some off-brand, you will still be able to get parts (assuming the unit wasn’t made before WWII), as they didn’t really change a whole lot it residential AC units.
Forget it. Run it till it drops, you can’t buy a 22 condenser in the US anymore
We are country of laws, right?
IRS keeps dozens of intentional tax cheats on payroll
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/jul/29/irs-allowed-tax-cheat-employees-to-keep-their-jobs/
Seen in the FAA and military world. If they want you to stay aboard, it will be done. They want you gone, it will be done.
What sort of chump am I? I don’t cheat on my taxes and I pay my loans back.
Shit, how do rank-and-file IRS employees even cheat? There’s not that much opportunity if you’re a waged employee.
They don’t report their bribes as income like they are supposed to.
They get their buddies to “audit” them.
A (literal) autistic guy analyzes the Trump assassination attempt audio. He swears that there’s a second shooter using a suppressed rifle with subsonic ammo shooting at the snipers. His evidence seems legit.
https://rumble.com/v592h7h-coffee-and-a-mike-john-cullen-update-crooks-never-fired-a-shot.html
Seems we got ourselves a cowboy. A real JFK conspiracy theory
My problem with the second hidden shooter conspiracy is this: How can a professional miss multiple times at such a close range?
Spastic kid, I can see missing, but if this was all a setup and there was some real deal assassin out there, how did he/she miss?
Cause its nonsense. Analyzing audio from whatever cellphone (don’t know the make, model, etc) captured is a stretch in my opinion.
My question is – where did all those bullets go? I get the 12 mph wind could cause them to miss, but did they all fly off into a field? And who shot Trump and the people behind him? Those were definitely 5.56 or .223.
Was at the range with a friend last weekend. He was shooting .300 blackout with a suppressor. Not much louder than the bolt cycling. But also not a sniper rifle.
Headshots on live targets are always easy to miss.
Also, this autistic dude is a complete flake. I own a few suppressors and rifles set up for subsonic 300BO, and they sound *nothing* like what he’s pointing out.
An actual sniper, of the SAS or Spetznatz variety, would have been practicing making shots in all sorts of wind conditions, at all sorts of distances. This is what they do, and they are very good at it. The SAS, for instance, has recorded one mile kill shots in heavy weather in Northern Ireland using modified Lee Enfields (L42) in .308.
There are big holes in the story we’re supposed to believe – which is now being memory-holed.
Overall, it looks like they tried to get Trump dead on the cheap with patsies and amateurs.
Abby and Gibbs would have had this figured out in 72 hours or less.
re: last night’s gardening thread:
https://x.com/Yoda4ever/status/1815789006216683950
Pretty sure that’s a pet that’s being given a treat.
As a kid, I remember coming home one day and as we were coming down the driveway we saw a groundhog happily rolling a beefsteak tomato across the yard into the woods.
Mom was not pleased. The next day she sat out next to the garden with her 20 ga. and a book. The ground hog came back for seconds, but never got them. Instead he was sent to his just rewards.
So, how does tomato-fed Groundhog taste?
Catch ’em in a livetrap, put a mafia hit on them with a .22 pistol.
Pretty sure that is some sort of animatronic cleaned up with AI.
Look closely at it, the fur and facial features are deep in the uncanny valley. Plus, no wild animal would let you get near enough to capture it on video like that.
Hah, you should come around here – the rabbits are fearless and you could easily get that close.
The only predators they seem to have are outside cats and the occasional hawk.
My prediction of an influx of coyotes has yet to come true.
Agreed re: being a pet – it looks way too clean to be a wild rabbit.
*looks out window at the city rabbits hopping around*
I don’t think rabbits have long, naked tails.
We refer to those as long-tailed rabbits and they are plentiful as well, sadly.
The new, covered public trash cans are helping a lot, though (we live next to a little park)
We have “swamp rabbits” that really are some form of rabbit but has very scrawny rear legs.
“Young Men Are Becoming More Conservative, Poll Finds”
They’re working on that problem, one snip at a time.
So the choice is MAGA or transitioning? I don’t think they’ll like which choice the young men would make with those options.
That’s why they have to start early with indoctrination via porn books at school and drag queen story hour. It all makes sense now doesn’t it?
/Adjusts foil hat, connects string to photo on bulletin board
Did you know public schools in NJ are now taking 3 and 4 year olds?
3 year olds belong in state institutions so mommy can bang on a keyboard sending emails out all day.
so mommy can bang
on a keyboard sending emailsout all day.What could go wrong?
The FBI Gets Back on Social Media
The feds will brief the tech sites about ‘foreign malign influence.’ Transparency is needed to prevent First Amendment violations and political mischief.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-fbi-gets-back-on-social-media-inspector-general-election-1de9e450?st=jsgknjvqksrf2eo&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
What could go wrong, Part 2, with a bill passed 91-3 in the Senate called the “Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA)”?
Thus the Senate bill would empower the Federal Trade Commission and 50 state Attorneys General to serve in loco parentis and police the platforms. Companies would have a legal “duty of care” to design their platforms to prevent harm to minors. This means the FTC could sue platforms if it says their features, including algorithms, harm minors.
While the bill narrowly defines what constitutes “harm,” it doesn’t specify the kinds of features that would violate this legal duty.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/senate-kids-online-safety-act-house-social-media-regulation-federal-trade-commission-30cfe079?st=trztnz9lc1hohsd&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Gonna be as affective as COPA. It will bring in revenue when they want it to.
That can’t possibly go wrong.
The Minnesoda Fond du Lac Band of Chippewa are suing social media companies for disrupting their traditional way of life or something
Big talk from the people who didn’t warn us white eyes about the negative health consequences of tobacco.
Amazing I see how awesome (and they are) Suni Lee, Jordon Chiles and Simone Biles are…but that token white bitch we have on our team? Oh ya, she’s okay I guess.
Apalling
Trump’s history both with the news media and Black people at large has come under scrutiny amid racist comments and positions.
In addition to broad attacks against the media — including decrying coverage he views as unfavorable as “fake news” and encouraging rallygoers to chant anti-media rhetoric — he has also specifically gone after Black women reporters.
——-
“Y’all just made the only safe haven that Black journalists have, potentially unsafe, all because y’all want to look ‘smarter than everybody else,’ when this is….idiotic at best,” Carron Phillips, a two-time NABJ award-winning journalist, wrote on X.
Jim Trotter, the 2023 NABJ journalist of the year, wrote: “This is such a poor decision by @NABJ that it’s difficult to put into words.”
April Ryan — White House correspondent for The Grio who Trump had repeatedly attacked while in office — also expressed her frustration with the decision.
“The reports of attacks on Black women White House correspondents by the then president of the United States are not myth or conjecture, but fact,” Ryan wrote. “To have a presumed orchestrated session with the former president is an affront to what this organization stands for and a slap in the face to the Black women journalists (NABJ journalists of the year) who had to protect themselves from the wrath of this Republican presidential nominee.”
She continued: “I object to this NABJ session with Donald Trump in Chicago.”
Trump will give them all ass cancer.
KJPs and Strawberries absolute disdain for the African reporter are totes okay though.
“who Trump had repeatedly attacked while in office…”
Zero examples given of these repeated attacks. Huh. Wonder why.
April Ryan…duh! He called her out so thus…an attack!
NPR is such a bizarre alternate universe.
Their readership nods in unison at the “appalling racism” that never happened.
And contrast this with the complete and utter hatred of any black conservative as evinced by the left/Dems.
“…amid racist comments and positions.”
Go on.
Trump attacked everyone in the media.
NO! Just stop it. Stop trying to hype up this shit stain.
I would imagine there are people polishing up their essays about what an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, HISTORIC person the VP pick is.
[Insert Name Here] is the bestest!
The most qualified ever even. No other VP pick in history could even come close.
I think we’re in the wrong business. We could all be MSM writers if we’d just abandon our souls.
The left needs a white dude to make the sale out side the coast.
NABJ extends an invitation to presidential candidates to address the convention every four years, and Trump had previously declined to attend.
But facing a difficult and historic race against Vice President Harris, who would be the first Black woman elected, Trump has doubled down on his attempts to court Black voters.
In a statement announcing Trump’s attendance at the journalists convention, the campaign wrote that Trump had “accomplished more for Black Americans than any other president in recent history.”
You’d think ab actual journalist who is black might look forward to a chance to ask him to expand on that.
Far right savages
Far-right protesters violently clashed with British police on Tuesday near a mosque in the northwest English town of Southport, a day after three young girls were stabbed to death in one of the worst assaults against children in the country in decades.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the group had “hijacked” a peaceful vigil held for those killed and injured in the attack “with violence and thuggery” and “insulted the community as it grieves.”
Those involved “will feel the full force of the law,” Starmer added in the post on X.
The violence followed a peaceful vigil in the seaside town attended by hundreds of mourners who laid wreaths, toys and candles in an emotional tribute to the three girls who were killed during the attack during a Taylor Swift-themed event at a dance school.
Protesters, believed to be supporters of the far-right English Defence League, took to the streets in anger throwing bricks at a local mosque, setting cars and police vehicles alight and hurling bottles at police, Merseyside Police said in a statement.
Police believe the crowd took to the streets over unconfirmed reports speculating on the identity of the teenage suspect, who was arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder following Monday’s knife attack.
Why would they attack a mosque?
Well, what do you think would happen when you conceal the identity of the attacker? Natural fears will arise.
Whenever I see Keir Starmer, I think of a retard.
I think of the same thing I thought when I saw Sunak, the regional manager of the British Isles economic zone.
You’re not wrong.
Daily Ray of Sunshine
I briefly met Shaq..he seems like a good guy or knows how to hold his position in the community.
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) paid tribute to the girls killed in the attack and said in a statement that “Southport’s tragedy was shamelessly exploited to spark outrage, with Islamophobia fueling the fire and leading to tonight’s violence.”
“This began with a false rumour on the internet, stoked by misinformation from a Russian news site, which wrongfully associated the crime with Muslims,” it said.
The MCB said the government “must address the increasing rise of violent far-right extremism targeting Muslim communities. More must be done to tackle Islamophobia and offer reassurance at this time.”
Put out a warrant for Elon Musk.
Simple way to solve all this…forget your under 18 law and release at minimum the name of the 17 year old who did the stabby-stab.
Well, no, because we don’t want to fuel a backlash against Muslims. Not that this had anything to do with Muslims, no siree!
No, no need to change the law. This needs to be delt with by addressing the root cause: open immigration. And until they deal with that, these things are gonna get bigger and bigger.
Enoch Powell says hi.
’bout time on the Haniyeh whack. The most obvious missing link in Israel’s prosecution of the response in Gaza has been that the Hamas leadership and decision-making has been happily living in luxury in Qatar, which is politically untouchable for the IDF. And that same leadership was perfectly content to let the population of Gaza feel all the impact, since all it did was bolster their own position and wealth. Imagine if Hitler and Tojo had been running things from a villa in Stockholm instead of (to some degree) being there under the bombers.
A war ends when one side loses the will to fight. As long as Haniyeh and other leadership felt like they were only ever going to benefit from the ongoing pounding, there was never going to be a loss of will. As of last night, that changed (some).
And the message to Qatar, if they hadn’t heard it explicitly already, is that their “guests” are marked men, and for now Israel’s playing along with Qatar’s neutrality-ish-ness, but if that ever changes then the IDF can definitely reach right into Doha.
I don’t like potential escalation but this is how you do it if you are being restrained. Let no country feel they can harbor people who have hurt your people.
Escalation is how you end wars and minimize the final, total suffering on both sides. Proportionality means it never ends.
Anyway, I wouldn’t even call this escalation; I’d say it’s finally normalization. The IDF has been fantastically restrained with respect to the Hamas leadership situation, because Israel was basically playing by the rules and Qatar was NOT. Being neutral classically means you can’t let belligerents act from your territory (think German warships in South American ports – they had to leave or be interned). Qatar letting Haniyeh run things from there was WAY out of bounds.
100% agree with all that. Just putting out the normal I don’t like using force unless needed disclaimer and IMO, was needed.
Proportionality causes more violence. It simply makes it safe for weaker powers to attack stronger powers, guaranteeing a never ending cycle of violence. Without proportionality weaker powers would never dare attack for fear of annihilation.
Being neutral classically means you can’t let belligerents act from your territory
Paging Germany and Poland…
Meanwhile Blinken is still blathering on about a ceasefire.
Diageo sales dropped slightly, stock dropped 5%.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/30/diageo-plunges-10percent-on-sales-decline-but-guinness-a-bright-spot.html
Given pricing increases, my wag is that the sales numbers are masking a volume decrease.
Say it to my face seems like a taunt to get Trump to go after her, so hopefully Trumps apparent new team understand how to attack with nuance.
And…leaning into the ‘weird’ without realizing the Right has completely demolished that talking point.
It’s weird to be against the Washington establishment? Ok then.
I’m thinking her staff is like fresh out of high school. Totes.
Interns even more pliable than Astrid, et al?
I would have thought it’s weird to laugh about how you threw people in prison while withholding exculpatory evidence.
[cackle, cackle] What did that cost me??? [cackle]
All of which means that she isn’t the official nominee. At least, not yet.
And Trump is right to make the D’s do the final work on that, push them into a corner with her.
Majority of renters say they will never be able to afford to buy a home
Wasn’t that the idea? To not own anything and like it? What a bunch of whiners.
The majority of renters couldn’t afford my rent anyway. They deserve the gulags and ghettos. Fuck em all, I got mine. /no I really don’t believe all this, but if I did, I wouldn’t be here now would I?
Trump wasn’t extreme enough for him?
The FBI has found a social media account featuring antisemitic and anti-immigration comments that investigators believe to be associated with the gunman who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump, a senior bureau official said Tuesday.
FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate told members of Congress that the account could be linked to the shooter, Thomas Crooks, but he cautioned that officials are still working to verify the account’s authenticity.
“There were over 700 comments posted; some of these comments, if ultimately attributable to the shooter, appear to reflect antisemitic and anti-immigration themes to espouse political violence and are described as extreme in nature,” Abbate told a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security committees.
——-
The details about the account came as lawmakers questioned Abbate and the acting director of the Secret Service about security failures and other details of the July 13 shooting targeting Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, in Butler, Pa. Crooks was able to fire eight shots from the roof of a nearby building; a bullet or bullet fragment struck Trump, killed a person at the rally, and injured two others before Crooks was killed by a Secret Service sniper.
Make sure you get the really important details in the story.
Anti-immigrant can be both sides right now, and anti-Semetic is coming from the left, which is not too surprising.
They really, really want to pin this on the right, and no one believes that outside the the fringe left.
My question about the bullet fragment thing:
Bullets don’t just fragment in midair. They do so after hitting something. So what did the bullet that “fragmented” hit? Not the teleprompters, we know that. Just where did each of the multiple shots at Trump land, anyway?
And of course, there’s that photo showing the bullet going right past his head. The actual bullet, in flight, was photographed.
Nice to see the govt trying to make money on their services.
I’m thinking of a Blondie/Tuco type conversation where the mom tells her suicidal kid that he isn’t worth the $342 and refuses to call the crisis hotline.
It’s not the callers being billed.
My guess is the bills are to try to get insurance/Medicaid reimbursement from the service.
Callers are getting billed directly. It looks like they try to get it from insurance first, but if that doesn’t cover it, the callers are billed for the difference.
Patients, not callers. Family friend above made the call, Haidet got the the bill.
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/boeing-names-kelly-ortberg-new-ceo-2024-07-31/
Boeing names aerospace veteran Kelly Ortberg CEO to steer turnaround
Boeing on Wednesday named aerospace industry veteran Kelly Ortberg as its President and CEO after a months-long search, tasking the former Rockwell Collins executive with the monumental job of turning around the struggling planemaker.
Former CEO of a supplier takes over the CEO role of the OEM. Quite surprising.
I guess he has no reservations working for a convicted felon /s
For Big Companies, Felony Convictions Are a Mere Footnote
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/corporate-criminal-convictions-lack-consequences-boeing-28e4e06c?st=2yf7e72qeerds31&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Lemonade I can make from this is that maybe more companies will refuse to settle with FedGov and force them to take them to trial with possibility of a felony conviction.
I played https://squaredle.com/xp 07/31:
*21/21 words (+9 bonus words)
📖 Top player by bonus words
I played https://squaredle.com 07/31:
*35/35 words (+10 bonus words)
⏱️ In the top 13% by speed
🔥 Solve streak: 469
Skin in the game
The U.S. military is in a crisis. Through the second month of FY2024, active Army and Navy recruitment fell 30-40 percent short of recruiting goals. Army Reserves, Navy Reserves, and Air National Guard recruitment fell by 20 percent or more.
These numbers are a continuation of a grim trend. Over the last decade, the propensity to serve has declined from 15 percent to 9 percent, while the proportion of recruiting-age Americans qualified for service has fallen from 30 percent to 23 percent. There is a growing disconnect between servicemembers and civilian society, as less than 1 percent of Americans actively serve and the number of living veterans could decrease by upwards of 34 percent over the next 25 years.
——-
A lottery-based draft of all eligible Americans, regardless of gender, in any fiscal year where recruiting goals are not reached, would minimize military intervention, bolster national security, and reduce the likelihood of nuclear war. Conscription (without the possibility of deferment or exemption) would make up for the deficit in recruitment. And we must put an end to funding wars through foreign loans; instead, they would be funded by buying bonds and levying taxes.
Taxpayer-financed, mandatory service would transform how the U.S. conducts itself militarily. The American public would be necessarily invested in the costs of war, as their health, families, and funds are at stake. This would dispel the notion that war is simple, cost-free, and something to rush into headlong. Moreover, a military composed of more than just the most willing 1 percent would foster increased trust in the institution itself as more people become involved in its functioning. It would put weight behind our threats, allowing us to more effectively discourage attacks and prevent nuclear war.
The U.S. government has demonstrated to the public that they are willing to lie their way into constant conflict. The only way to restore trust, interest, and caution in our military is by ensuring all Americans have skin in the game.
Maybe we should focus on getting rid of the liars.
“Everyone” would be invested if we just started enslaving a subset of society.
Or, you know, maybe dump all the woke bullshit that is suppressing recruitment.
I suspect that there are other factors in play, not that that one isn’t a biggie.
This is it. Their current marketing plan to the cadre of prospective enlistees is: “We hate you. We hate your families and your whole culture. DEI uber alles. And your bosses will be Joe, the Ho, and a DEI SecDef. Also, we hate you.”
Forgot a couple – sorry: “We, the US Gov’t who are trying to recruit you, have spent years actively facilitating an actual invasion of the country. Largely because we hate you. And to juxtapose against that, here’s a few casual threats from POTUS himself to use the US Military against the American people. You are the enemy.”
Also, you need to carry Pvt Splittail’s load while
shexe is held to lower standard than you are.Fuck off. My children are not your property.
How about we close some of the 4,790 military bases/sites around the world? How about we stop sticking our collective dick is wasp nest around the globe.
How ’bout we stop trying to bribe voters?
A lottery-based draft of all eligible Americans, regardless of gender
What does eligible mean?
author of Skin in the Game: Poor Kids and Patriots
Well damn.
Ahh, the ole skin in the game bullshit.
What I can never get an answer to when the question of military funding and recruiting comes up is the first question we should be asking:
What is our military really for? What is its purpose? An honest answer to that is needed before we get all bowed up about how it’s underfunded and undermanned.
And if your answer is “So we can attack anybody, and as many anybodies as we want, anywhere, anytime, for any reason”, expect some pushback.
“Doctors pull 26-inch EEL out of a man’s backside after he forced the live creature into his anus (along with a lemon)… and it started to bite his large intestine
When quizzed about how the eel could have ended up in his belly, the patient couldn’t provide an answer.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13693493/Eel-doctors-pull-eel-anus-Vietnam.html
I get there are fetishes out there, but, with all due respect, WHAT THE FUCK
Million to one shot doc
The lemon is an interesting touch. Maybe he was planning to cook it after?
after you make jellied eel some lemon will not make it palatable
Ceviche!
The lemon was to hold it in!
Anti Trump propaganda has been high in the Romanian press these days. There was a big article about countries facing great risk from Trumpy poo. Countries where many illegal immigrants come to the US and they send money back and countries who depend on the US for security and trump may want to make them pay for it.
Also it is an eternal source of fascination for me how the local NPCs talk about voter suppression regarding id laws given than in no EU country can you vote without a photo ID. This shows rather clearly the local NPCs have zero though process and just parrot the USistani lefty media.
I hope you got your mail in ballot!
I did, though would have preferred to get a free bottle of good Rye instead
We are security, a piggy bank, and a relief valve (“they’re not sending us their best!”) all in one.
The peons are showing signs that they’ve had enough of it. The pols who are mostly getting rich off it, not so much.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Tehran attack
Things were getting a bit too peaceful for my taste, I say we need a little bit more war.
Well I think yer gonna be disappointed, ’cause this is how you get less war.
The onslaught continues
Sofia Nelson is a public defender in Detroit, a graduate of Yale Law School and a former close friend of JD Vance — the Ohio senator hoping to be the next vice president of the United States.
Vance is known these days for being a far-right politician. He’s expressed his opposition to marriage equality. He’s opposed abortion, including in cases of rape and incest. He’s aimed to criminalize gender-affirming care for minors.
All of that is in stark contrast to the JD Vance who Nelson knew for more than a decade. The JD Vance who was at Nelson’s bedside with homemade baked goods after they went through a gender transition-related surgery. The friend who called Donald Trump a racist and a “morally reprehensible human being.”
These are some of the sentiments that came to the surface in the dozens of emails and text exchanges with Vance that Nelson shared with The New York Times and then NPR. They shed light on a shift in Vance’s political and personal views over the past few years. Nelson says, “I felt like I had a duty to speak out, tell the truth, so that voters can make an informed decision.”
He makes Vlad the Impaler look like a Campfire Girl.
He has a trans friend but also opposes gender surgeries for kids? What a scandal.
“Far right”!
Who is pro union, tariff, and trade war.
If this is the best oppo research they can come up with, I doubt he’s losing any sleep at night.
I heard he became… a Catholic!!!! zOMG!
For fans of the Replacements. Tommy Stinson is touring very small (<100 people) outside venues with fire pits.
https://www.tommystinson.com/tour-dates/
My friend was contacted to book them at a small brewery. They are bringing a large horn section. Sounds like a great amount of talent for a small venue and low cost ticket.
TOMMY STINSON wants to have some fun playing with his friends and he wants you to join him. Plan for an evening of Tommy solo PLUS Tommy with his buddies Ma'am backing him, singing Tommy songs, Perfect, Bash N Pop, Cowboys in the Campfire and some wild covers. Ma'am will be doing a set of their own outlaw spirited alt-country & greasy garage rock. Hailing from somewhere in Central Pennsylvania Ma’aM is a seven headed cow poke racing their horse & buddy off the road.
Mrs. TOK went to a Brett Michaels show last night. One of her running buddies knows Brett and got her back stage. Which was cool because Poison was her first concert at age 13. After the show they got to hang with the band at a bar, everyone but Brett showed up.
Tundra will go nuts over that. If they come close to here, I will go and check it out.
On the Olympic front, I feel this is the year Romania gets more medals than the US
It was a really difficult decision. I still care about JD and his wife and his family. But I am a transgender person living in the Midwest. I am living in a community that houses the largest Muslim population in the United States. I’m living in the Blackest city over 100,000 people in America. I represent people struggling with addiction, mental health and poverty. And the person that JD Vance has become and the issues that he is pushing threaten to strip me of my civil liberties and members of my community. And I felt like I had a duty to speak out, tell the truth, so that voters can make an informed decision. And also given that he’s one of the culture warriors leading an attack against trans children, as a transgender person who has privilege and a supportive family and community, I felt like I needed to speak out on behalf of those kids and let them know that the JD Vance that I knew doesn’t hate them. He’s not scared of them. Unfortunately, he’s just chosen a path a political opportunism to amass wealth and power.
Bless your heart.
But fixing “born in the wrong body” is being done out of the goodness of their hearts.
Venezuelan Jacobins
By
George Ciccariello-Maher
Only the Venezuelan sans culottes can save the Bolivarian Revolution.
Venezuela’s Jacobins are in the news again. Whether in the commemorations of the first year since the death of Hugo Chávez — a veritable Toussaint — or in Nicolás Maduro’s recent interview with Christiane Amanpour, discussions of Venezuela continue to center on the towering heights of political power. To some extent this is defensive: in recent weeks, those seeking to restore the feudal privileges of the deposed Venezuelan ancien régime have attempted to harness largely middle-class student protests to depose the Maduro government, and the international community has heeded their call.
…
While the reactionary protestors’ slide towards brutality may doom their cause in the short run,questions of violence and the revolution remain unresolved. But it does reflect something that appeared a truism for C.L.R. James: that “[t]he cruelties of property and privilege are always more ferocious than the revenges of poverty and oppression.” The disproportionality of reactionary violence has been a feature of the Bolivarian revolutionary process from the very beginning.
…
When the protests went nationwide, gocho pride swelled, but as a recent tweet demonstrates, this is about more than simply regional identity: “Los gochos son los putos amos de Venezuela,” “the gochos are the fucking [rightful] masters of Venezuela.”
While urban elites often mocked the gochos as backward hillbillies, the region produced an astonishing seven presidents (dictators included) — in the twentieth century. Gocho identity as hard-working mountaineers emerged in direct contrast to the perceived laziness of coastal slaves, and their pride was never fully separable from caste superiority: “they contrasted their austere way of life with that of the darker-hued lowland Venezuelans, whom they depicted as being descendants of fun-loving and frolicking slave ancestors.”
Politically conservative, disdainful of the racially inferior, and with a celebration of industriousness that slides quickly into scorn for the poor: picture something like a Venezuelan Tea Party constituency.
Most recently, elites nationwide had no trouble agreeing on a president who was himself nicknamed El Gocho: Carlos Andrés Pérez, who imposed the 1989 neoliberal reform package that sparked the Caracazo rebellion and everything that has come since. The poor rebels of the barrios, meanwhile, found little difficulty in the inverse: during the rebellion, “fuera el Gocho, out with the Gocho,” was a common refrain.
…
https://jacobin.com/2014/03/venezuelan-jacobins
a nice little throwback from the year of 2014
These days the revolution must be conserved.
Stephen Gibbs
@STHGibbs
Maduro just said Hitler was a creation of British and American imperialism to attack the Soviet Union.
https://x.com/STHGibbs/status/1818379932420002198
the comments agree so it must be true
I despise LinkedIn as much as the next person, but this is a stitch.
https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/linkedin-laid-off-california-workers-19607067.php
Techies don’t like the platform because they feel compelled to be exposed to capitalism in order to do so.
Since Brooks continues to grace us with NPR links, I have to share a bit from this.
Mariana Morais in Slow Motion / Miami Swim Week | Sony FX3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LhR7JDl1XU
thicc?
Microsoft officially denounces AI deepfake abuse with a plea to the US government
Microsoft has officially called upon the US government to implement new laws against AI-generated deepfake videos that would holder creators accountable.
https://www.tweaktown.com/news/99663/microsoft-officially-denounces-ai-deepfake-abuse-with-plea-to-the-us-government/index.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=tweaktown
yes that is the solution
AI doesn’t create deep fakes. People create deep fakes. Punish the people that use AI with evil intent. Don’t restrict AI itself.
Did I get that right?
Seems that I have heard a similar argument somewhere else about some other technology. But it’s not coming to mind yet.
Brooks continues to grace us with NPR links
I like to keep track of what the truly enlightened members of civil society are thinking and saying.
Well, between you and OMWC and his fetish, we are sure to be perpetually refreshed on that perspective.
I’m confused by all the JD Vance news. Who exactly is running for president for the Republicans?
I’m seeing hit piece after hit piece on Vance and far fewer on Trump.
I would imagine they hope they are hitting a target that won’t return fire.
The cat lady remark drew blood. He needs to do a better job of owning it and doubling down on it.
Cat ladies are simply female incels.
The reaction to male incels is “we need to ostracize them harder” while for female incels it’s “look at what The Patriarchy is doing to us”.
Yup.
https://youtu.be/h3-FbseDp2w
You are proably confused because your education lacked sufficient critical theory
He’s very smart and analyzes details of issues before making a decision. He’s their worst nightmare.
It makes no sense to me at all. I can’t explain it. It’s not even like him being the butt of jokes (like the days of Dan Quayle) but full on hit pieces about the VP candidate.
It’s almost like they’re trying to get him forced out as the VP pick to replace him with someone else.
And/or get out ahead of an impending pathetically weak D running mate?
All the criticism I’ve seen is that he’s a terrible choice. I have even seen “[Democrat operative] thinks Vance will not be Trump’s VP pick at the time of the election” more than once. They want him out. If they didn’t we would see something more like “Vance is just like Trump” type attacks.
The establishment R’s saddled Trump with Pence the first time around, and he did a fine job of quietly subverting the first Trump administration. All of Trump’s enemies, both D and R, would love a repeat, but they’re not going to get that with Vance. They need a squish like Rubio.
I saw a video that was all about making fun of Vance’s laugh. Okay. But y’all might not want to get into a battle about who has the most awful laugh in this election.
They are afraid of him because of his appeal to working class voters in rust belt swing states, who may well decide the election.
Trump already appeals to those voters.
I see Vance as Trump telling those voters “I mean it this time” by putting one of “those people” in the VP slot.
It nails down the deciding block of voters in most of the swing states. Which is why the dem party is trying to crucify Vance.
I wonder if they expect something to happen to Trump…you never know….and they will be stuck with someone whom they cannot control.
Yeah, good luck with all of that. [Oh yeah, TW: Politico]
As demonstrated by something 92% of her staff having turned over during her term as VP.
This time she’s got all the MSM, the deep state, and the entire Democrat party behind her. We’re already seeing how they’re propping her up.
Yes, but those pesky voters that are so misogynistic and racist – you know, like the ’20 Democratic primary voters.
This whole thing smells like some combination of flop sweat and peaking too early to me.
Vile slander
The former president seemed quite worked up on the issue, ranting that Harris dislikes both Israel and Jews — it’s something “everybody knows,” Trump said, reality notwithstanding — while adding that Jewish voters are “fools” to vote Democratic.
The radio host, Sid Rosenberg, proceeded to say that Harris’ Jewish husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, is “a crappy Jew” and “a horrible Jew.”
And while Trump didn’t use those words himself, as an audio clip makes clear, he seemed to agree with the condemnations.
Not only is she a she, shes’s black and Asian, and a jewess by marriage.
Yahtzee!
If she was truly brilliant, she never would’ve talked about when she was a little girl. Instead, she would’ve been born a boy, Kamal, who bravely transitioned!
She’s so antisemitic that she married a bad Jew!
From Juris’ link:
Kamala Harris launched her first presidential campaign five years ago to great expectations. She had a growing profile as a no-nonsense interrogator in the Senate, heavyweight support from Hollywood to Wall Street and the raw talent of a once-in-a-generation leader.
Wheeeee!
I said it was Politico – you weren’t expecting a luxurious tongue-bath?
Kamala Harris launched her first presidential campaign five years ago to great expectations.
She proved everyone wrong with her 0 delegates.
I actually laugh when Malice says Tulsi wrecked her first campaign because as a hawaiian she knows how to roast a pig.
It’s almost as if all the reasons we should worship and praise her are fabrications. You know what isn’t a fabrication? The giant FUCK YOU the party gave to their voters. That is for realsies.
knows how to roast a pig
Makes me think of this.
Strangely, Google image search didn’t find that pic. DDG did.
A lavish lobster dinner for King Charles III cost the French president’s office €475,000 (£400,000), according to the country’s audit office.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4ng50pj2l8o
It is good to be the king… Who cares about the climate. But in the end I blame the state of Maine for the high cost of the lobster dinner. 50k for a lobster roll is way to much
I read that and did the math. About $3k (maybe Euros I forget) per person.
50k for a lobster roll is way to much
Those lobster treats are carefully rolled and shaped on the soft silky smooth thighs of virgins. Do you how hard it is to find a virgin these days?
It’s fascinating to contemplate JD Vance’s spineless opportunistic lack of any sort of guiding principles even as his doctrinaire radical extremism will bring the nation to ruin and despair.
“American taxpayers are now on the hook for $35,004,415,930,299.”
I ain’t on the hook for shit. When the bill comes due, and it will, I’ll take out the nearest commie/nazi and expire. The world will then be a better place for the kids.