Month: July 2024

Man Who Would Be An Assassin

Of course I am talking about the man that broke the media’s back on the Biden age thingy…..the shooter at the Trump rally.

We now have a name to go with the act…..

The FBI early Sunday identified the shooter at former President Trump’s rally as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. Secret Service agents fatally shot Crooks, reports the AP, who attacked from an elevated position outside the rally venue at a farm show in Butler, Pennsylvania, the agency said. Law enforcement recovered an AR-style rifle at the scene. One attendee was killed and two spectators were critically injured, authorities said. All were identified as men. The attack was the most serious attempt to assassinate a president or presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981. It could alter the tenor and security posture at the Republican National Convention, which will begin Monday in Milwaukee. Organizers said the convention would proceed as planned.

A 20 year ‘registered’ Republican had his sights on Trump and basically missed….but what do we know about this person?

he Secret Service has identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the gunman at Saturday’s Donald Trump rally. Some details emerging about Crooks, who was shot dead by Secret Service agents while on a rooftop adjacent to the rally:

  • State voting records have Crooks as a registered Republican, reports Reuters. The upcoming election would have been the first time he would have been able to vote in a presidential contest.
  • However, at age 17, Crooks gave $15 to the liberal group ActBlue, which works to get out the Democratic vote, per the BBC.  (How will this be spinned by those slugs in the campaign?)
  • Crooks graduated in 2022 from Bethel Park High School, per the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The newspaper’s coverage of the graduation notes that he received a $500 “star award” from the National Math and Science Initiative. In a commencement video, “Crooks can be seen crossing the stage to modest applause after his name is called out, a slender young man with glasses in a black graduation gown who briefly posed with a school official and accepted his diploma,” per the New York Times.
  • Crooks’ father, Matthew Crooks, told CNN he was attempting to understand “what the hell was going on” and would “wait until I talk to law enforcement” before talking about his son, per the BBC.
  • “We do not currently have an identified motive,” said the FBI’s Kevin Rojek.
  • Law enforcement swarmed the family residence in Bethel Park in suburban Pittsburgh, reports USA Today. It’s about 40 miles from Butler, where the Trump rally took place. Crooks did not appear to have a criminal record.

Now you know as much about the person as anyone (right now)….and in case anyone is interested the man that died has a name….

Proud “girl dad” Corey Comperatore drove half an hour with his family to see Donald Trump, a man he’d admired for years, the Washington Post reports. Apart from saving his wife and daughters, it would be the last thing he’d ever do. As gunfire erupted at Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, the 50-year-old engineer and father of two from Sarver threw himself on his family, shielding them, and was fatally shot, according to an account given to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who identified Comperatore as a victim on Sunday. He said Comperatore’s wife, Helen, told him her husband, a former fire chief, “died a hero.”

CNN Digital has put together a sort of time line of this incident as it unfolded….

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/14/politics/what-happened-trump-assassination-attempt/index.html

The following came to my attention and please save the BS….I am NOT saying I buy this just wanted to pass it on…..

As footage of the incident circulates, skeptics have raised eyebrows over several peculiar aspects of the alleged assassination attempt. The Secret Service’s handling of the situation has come under particular scrutiny. Typically, in an active shooter scenario, agents prioritize covering the protectee’s head, neck, and torso. Yet, Trump was allowed to stand upright and even raise his fist defiantly, potentially exposing himself to further danger without paying to the very high possibility of there being more shooters.

This moment of bravado, reminiscent of Trump’s dramatic mask removal after his COVID-19 hospitalization, has fueled speculation about whether the incident was staged for political gain. The crowd’s surprisingly calm demeanor following the alleged shooting has also raised questions. In most active shooter situations, one would expect more panic and chaos, not the relatively composed reaction witnessed at the rally.

https://wegotthiscovered.com/politics/was-donald-trumps-assassination-attempt-really-staged/

Like most any situation….someone can turn it into a conspiracy….again I am not saying that I am buying onto this situation….just wanted to let people know what is being passed off as news.

Any thoughts on the possibility?

Will history be changed by the actions of this would be assassin?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Martyr Is Born

Stop the Presses!

Biden’s age is no longer the major news fodder!

I interrupt my normally whimsical Sunday posting for something of a big deal…..Trump shot at a rally on Saturday…..

The shooting at Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania Saturday is being investigated as an attempted assassination of the former president and presumptive Republican nominee, law enforcement officials tell the AP. Trump’s campaign said in a statement that the former president was “fine” after the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania. The suspected gunman and a rally attendee are dead, and two attendees were reportedly injured, authorities say. “President Trump thanks law enforcement and first responders for their quick action during this heinous act,” spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement. “He is fine and is being checked out at a local medical facility.

Two officials who spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity said the shooter was not an attendee at the rally and was killed by Secret Service agents. Trump was showing off a chart of border crossing numbers during his last rally before the Republican National Convention opens Monday when the gunfire began. As Trump was talking, a popping sound was heard. Trump said, “Oh,” and put his right hand up to his right ear as people in the stands behind him appeared to be shocked. Two more pops could be quickly heard and he crouched down.

Updated….

Donald Trump was indeed hit by a bullet Saturday when gunshots rang out during his rally in Pennsylvania. The president himself wrote about the incident hours later on Truth Social, reports the Washington Post.

  • “I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear,” he wrote. “I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening.”
  • Trump offered his condolences to the family of the unidentified rally attendee who was killed. (Two other attendees were injured.) He also thanked the Secret Service and police for their quick response.
  • “It is incredible that such an act can take place in our Country,” wrote Trump.

His son Donald Trump Jr. issued a statement Saturday night: “I just spoke to my father on the phone and he is in great spirits,” he said, per the New York Post. “He will never stop fighting to save America, no matter what the radical left throws at him.” The shooting is being investigated as an assassination attempt, reports the New York Times. No details have surfaced about the gunman, who was killed by Secret Service agents.

Multiple reports following the apparent assassination attempt at a Trump rally Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania, indicate that the shooter may have been on a nearby roof. The incident left one rally attendee dead, two others critically injured, and Donald Trump shot in the ear.

  • A man who was listening to the rally from a spot outside the venue says he saw a suspicious man cross from one side of a nearby roof to the other. He didn’t see a gun, but still informed police, and a few minutes later, shots rang out. The man tells the Wall Street Journal he then saw officers on the roof, apparently standing over the shooter’s body. It was only when he got home that he found out from his wife Trump had been shot.
  • Another witness tells the BBC a similar story, claiming he was listening from outside the venue when he saw a man with a rifle “bear-crawling up the roof of the building beside us.” He also told police what he saw, shortly before the gunfire broke out, and he says he saw Secret Service agents shoot the gunman.
  • Sources tell the New York Post the shooter was on the roof of a manufacturing plant more than 130 yards away from the stage at the rally venue, the Butler Farm Show grounds. Those sources say a counter-sniper team opened fire from a different roof, killing the shooter.
  • CNN has video that appears to show the suspect on a roof near the venue.

I admit I am not a big fan of Trump but this is not the way to handle him and his candidacy.

In the back of my mind I was wondering when this type of thing would happen.

Does anyone remember George Wallace?  (Probably not)  He was a third party candidate back in the Dark Ages, 1972….

On May 15, 1972, he was shot four times by Arthur Bremer while campaigning at the Laurel Shopping Center in Laurel, Maryland, at a time when he was receiving high ratings in national opinion polls.  Bremer was seen at a Wallace rally in Wheaton, Maryland, earlier that day and two days earlier at a rally in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Wallace was hit in the abdomen and chest, and one of the bullets lodged in Wallace’s spinal column, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life.

Will this incident change the tune of the pro-gun violence GOP?

After all their fearless leader has been targeted.

Please, any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

IST Saturday News Dump–13Jul24

Time for another Summer Saturday ‘Dump’….I know you all have been waiting for the ‘Dump’ to drop.  (Sorry could not resist)

Locally a typical Summer in the Deep South….sweltering so much so that the simple act of breathing will bring on a sweat….the extreme heat is also effecting the garden.

Enough chit-chat I have a butt-load of stories to share so let me get to the grits and the gravy.

I will begin with the stupid….every year several people try to take selfies with the bison in Yellowstone and that seldom ends well……and that stupidity is just not for the Americans….

A 43-year-old tourist was trampled to death by elephants Sunday morning while attempting to take photos of them at a South African national park. The AP reports the Spaniard was with his fiancee and two other women at Pilanesberg National Park in North West province when officials there say he exited his vehicle despite protests from his group and people in two other vehicles who were also watching the herd. His approach reportedly “agitated” the matriarch of the herd, which included three calves, per the Guardian.

An adult elephant cow charged at the man, who then ran from the elephant. He was unfortunately not able to escape or evade the elephant, which was now joined by the whole herd, and was caught and trampled to death,” the North West Parks and Tourism Board said in a statement. The board said the elephants paid no attention to the other cars and then moved on.

What fires off in the brain that makes one think this is a good idea?

I recently reported on the ‘poop’ problem on Mt. Everest…..well goes higher than that….

Neil Armstrong left more than his footprints on the moon. As Becky Ferreira writes in Wired, he and his fellow Apollo astronauts also left nearly 100 bags of poop up there over various missions, where they remain to this day. For one thing, this raises the prospect of humans contaminating an extraterrestrial world with their fecal microbes. For another, it illustrates an easy-to-overlook problem that still exists as we humans ramp up our plans for moon expeditions—the complicated and very real logistics of space pooping. This is the main focus of Ferreira’s piece, which provides an earthy education. Start with this, for example: “Basically, in space a human no longer has gravity to assist pulling the feces away from the anus,” explains David Munns of John Jay College, City University of New York.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station use a hose and a head to suction out waste, a big advance from the early days, when phrases such as “fecal popcorning” were invented to describe unfortunate mishaps. “But scientists haven’t developed a circular system that can dispose of all the biological waste produced by humans in space—urine, feces, vomit, and menstrual blood—which is a major technology gap for future human space exploration,” writes Ferreira. The story explores some of the designs under review, which are not only vital to plans of returning humans to the lunar surface but may play a role in solving waste-management problems that still plague billions of people down here on Earth.

Turn it into ‘Soylent Brown’.

The FDA is enforcing a ban on a cancer cause ingredient….

Say goodbye to BVO. The FDA announced Tuesday that brominated vegetable oil, the controversial ingredient found in some citrus-flavored soft drinks, will no longer be allowed in food or beverages in the US due to safety concerns. Used to keep citrus flavoring from rising to the top of drinks, the ingredient includes bromine, a naturally occurring chemical that’s denser than water and, when combined with vegetable oil, ensures certain ingredients are evenly distributed through a liquid, per Live Science. A 2022 study found that rats fed BVO accumulated bromine in their blood and tissues and suffered damage to the thyroid, a gland that helps regulate the body’s metabolic rate, growth, and development.

Already banned in the European Union and Japan, BVO is also linked to nervous system damage, headaches, irritations of the skin and mucous membrane, fatigue, memory lapses, and loss of muscle coordination, according to the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit consumer health advocacy group, per CNN. In proposing a ban last year, the FDA said studies “clearly show adverse health effects” in animals. It added that “animal and human data, including new information from recent FDA-led studies on BVO, no longer provide a basis to conclude the use of BVO in food is safe,” per the Washington Post.

Why does the US always seem late to the game when corporations are involved?

This is for all my readers that enjoy a good glass of wine…..

Researchers looking for fossilized grape seeds across Colombia, Panama, and Peru, have found seeds that are between 60 and 19 million years old – and one example is from the oldest grape ever found in the Western Hemisphere. The researchers think that the proliferation of grapes might have come as a result of the changes in the environment following the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction.

The oldest known fossilized seeds from the grape family were found in India, and are 66 million years old. That is around the time of the Chicxulub impact, which wiped out non-avian dinosaurs and 76 percent of all living species on the planet – but it appears that it might have done wonders for the ancestors of grapes.

“We always think about the animals, the dinosaurs, because they were the biggest things to be affected, but the extinction event had a huge impact on plants too,” lead author Fabiany Herrera, an assistant curator of paleobotany at the Field Museum in Chicago, said in a statement. “The forest reset itself, in a way that changed the composition of the plants.”

https://www.iflscience.com/we-might-owe-wine-to-the-asteroid-that-killed-the-dinosaurs-66-million-years-ago-74893

A toast to the asteroid!

Could Boobs be a problem?

n a new study published in the journal Sexes, researchers have uncovered evidence that physical features, particularly breast size, can influence competitive behaviors among women. The study found that women are more likely to engage in derogatory tactics against other women with larger breasts, shedding light on the dynamics of intrasexual competition.

Intersexual competition, a concept grounded in evolutionary biology, refers to the rivalry between individuals of the same sex to attract and secure mates from the opposite sex. This form of competition is driven by the need to enhance reproductive success and pass on genes to the next generation. In humans, intersexual competition manifests in various behaviors and strategies aimed at increasing one’s desirability to potential mates while diminishing the attractiveness of rivals.

While much research has focused on men’s competitive behaviors and the traits they find attractive in potential mates, less attention has been given to how women perceive and react to these traits in each other. The researchers behind the new study were particularly interested in breast morphology—specifically breast size and firmness—given its significance in male mate choice due to associations with fertility and reproductive value.

https://www.psypost.org/women-show-increased-aggression-toward-those-with-larger-breasts-study-finds/

Do you think that they might have over thought this situation?

I could not close out my ‘Dump’ without a story that just made me laugh…..of course it is that tool Musk…..

Elon Musk has lot going on—Tesla, SpaceX, and X, for starters. But the entrepreneur’s priority is establishing a civilization on Mars, the New York Times reports. That dream might be out of reach—”You can’t just land one million people on Mars,” said an aerospace engineer who knows him—but Musk has told SpaceX employees he expects the planet to have that population in about 20 years. Musk denied the claim in a post on X, but others said he has volunteered his sperm to help make that happen.

Several people, as well as documents reviewed by the Times, indicate that Musk has told employees to work on a design for a city on the planet, down to the details. To most experts, humans living on Mars seems a distant goal in many ways. No one has so much as set foot on the planet, and NASA projects a human landing in the 2040s. When the first arrivals step out of the landing craft, they’ll encounter icy weather, dust storms, and air they can’t breathe. But Musk not only remains committed to the notion, he’s made it the business of the six companies he owns or runs.

He founded the Boring Co., for example, partly to lay the groundwork for burrowing under the surface of Mars. Musk reportedly has said he bought X in part to help test how a citizen-led government might work on Mars. And he’s said he sees Tesla’s Cybertrucks being driven on the planet by residents. Testifying in court about his Tesla compensation in 2022, Musk said this dream is the reason he stockpiles assets. “It’s a way to get humanity to Mars,” he said, “because establishing a self-sustaining city on Mars will require a lot of resources.” One solution to the obstacles would be groundbreaking: Musk has said he hopes to create his own species that would be suited to life on Mars

We know he is a fertile little devil after all he has 12 or so kids and I think I read he got another woman pregnant…..but we should expect this egotism out of this tool….but a whole planet with one father…..scary thought….is there a scifi movie along these lines?

Time for me to end my weekly ‘Dump’ and think of next week……so I hope everyone has a wonderful Saturday and thanx for stopping by…..and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

New Constitutional Amendments?

There is a movement under consideration after the 2024 election to draw up some new Constitutional amendments to be considered for ratification and added to the existing document.

The next wave of constitutional amendments is more than a few years out, but it will arrive sooner than we think (we are late in the gap between such waves, when no or only extraordinary amendments occur). We can anticipate this wave because today’s thought leaders are moving past the late-gap conventional wisdom that amendments can’t happen; they are now proposing amendments, a potentially significant milestone.

So which proposals might prevail? The factors that will determine the survivor amendments are numerous and ever-changing. However, for any amendment to reach the ratification goal line, it must address a genuinely constitutional issue while garnering wide public support and overcoming partisan divisions, a high bar under the best of circumstances.

The most obvious amendment candidates are those involving existing constitutional features, such as the Electoral College or the lack of congressional term limits. While proposals to abandon both are popular, they also generate strong partisan opposition, which reduces their prospects, at least in the short term.

Newer amendment proposals also aim to correct existing provisions. Recently, the National Constitution Center’s Constitution Drafting Project produced five recommendations that united teams of conservative, libertarian and progressive scholars. Among them are replacing the “natural born” requirement for presidents with both citizenship and residency for at least 14 years; creating staggered, single, 18-year terms for Supreme Court justices; and reducing but retaining the supermajorities required for Congress to pass and then states to ratify amendments.

Vetting of and building public support for these amendment proposals are mostly nascent, perhaps excepting the Supreme Court proposal. But it is starting. For example, the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University hosted a Model Constitutional Convention over the Memorial Day weekend. More than 100 student delegates from over 70 universities and law schools devoted half of their deliberations to the CDP recommendations. (Disclosure #1: I participated, and will report on the complete convention in my next writing.)

And then there are proposals, some long-standing as well as some comparatively new, for additions to the Constitution. Among them are an Equal Rights Amendment, an affirmative voting rights amendment and the For Our Freedom Amendment, which calls for reasonable limits on campaign spending. Today, FOFA would seem the most likely to reach ratification, as it also benefits from having popular support and a growing grassroots network.

https://thefulcrum.us/electoral-reforms/amendments-to-the-constitution-2668391664

I will agree that the Constitution needs to be amended…..most of the ones mentioned here are needed and needed badly….the money thing…..the term limit thing…. the ERA…..etc.

These should be already under consideration….I look for some hard charging opposition to most of these especially in Red States….keep in mind the ratification process.

The traditional constitutional amendment process is described in Article V of the Constitution. Congress must pass a proposed amendment by a two-thirds majority vote in both the Senate and the House of Representatives and send it to the states for ratification by a vote of the state legislatures. The amendment becomes part of the Constitution when it has been ratified by three-fourths (currently 38) of the states. This process has been used for ratification of every amendment to the Constitution thus far.

Article V also provides for an alternative process, which has never been utilized. If requested by two-thirds of the state legislatures, Congress shall call a constitutional convention for proposing amendments. To become part of the Constitution, any amendment proposed by that convention must be ratified by three-fourths of the states through a vote of either the state legislature or a state convention convened for that purpose. 

Any thoughts on these ideas?

Just a little something to think about on this Friday as we close in on November.

I sincerely hope that everyone has a lovely and safe weekend.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Can The World Stand A Trump Presidency?

As a person with a degree in international relations I am always looking beyond our borders (they are not as porous as some would have you believe)….while I do not approve of Biden’s world view (a future post) I care less for Trump’s.

Volumes have been written about what a second Trump presidency would do to the country….but few are looking beyond that and staring into what the world will be like with that second shot at greatness.

Since the US has this sort of ‘invisible empire’ thing going on a Trump presidency will effect the entire world with his rants and acts.

So what could we expect for the rest of the world….

Just over six months ahead of the US election, the world is starting to consider what a return to a Trump presidency might mean. While Americans might be weighing up the difference between the two candidates domestic policies, the rest of the globe is more interested in what foreign policy decisions he might make.

Donald Trump has already hinted at some areas he is particularly likely to address: China, Nato, Ukraine and Gaza among them. Recent statements during the campaign and leaked memos – as well as his last stint as president signal moves that may be ahead.

“A handful of successes — and many more failures” is how Harvard professor of international affairs Stephen Walt describes Trump’s global decisions in his first term.

Joel Rubin, deputy assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs in the Obama administration, characterised Trump’s “America First” catchphrase as “America first, but really America alone”, emphasising Trump’s isolationist credentials. But could his assertive attitudes to other nations have some positive fallout?

Take NATO for example….

Trump had a mixed relationship with Nato in his first term. After declaring the organisation “obsolete” in January 2017, he later backtracked on this position. However, much of the damage with America’s Nato allies had already been done, and relations remained frosty.

Trump has been hinting that if reelected he would cut US funding to Nato or indeed not stand by article 5 of its founding treaty, which says that if one Nato member was attacked militarily, others would come to their aid. This has already caused concern across Europe.

Some European allies have taken heed of Trump’s early warnings, and are now starting to increase their defence spending and, in some cases, increase military recruitment and reservist numbers to help deter Russia.

Some might argue that Trump’s intention when he made these comments was to increase the military capacity and spending of America’s European allies – and might suggest this is already a Trump success.

There is so much more….

https://theconversation.com/what-a-second-trump-presidency-might-mean-for-the-rest-of-the-world-227641

Will this be good for the US if he is elected?

From an international perspective my thought is that it will not.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Bad Voting Info

It is that time again when people will start looking for their place to vote….in some states it seems to change yearly….most will go on-line but will they get accurate info?

Could AI give bad voting info?

OpenAI’s ChatGPT was caught spitting out false voting information for battleground states, CBS News discovered, in another grim sign of how AI is poised to upend elections.

The errors came to light after reporters at CBS asked for basic information on voting requirements, polling locations, and other questions that a typical voter would ask if they lived in states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Wisconsin — all places that could determine the outcome of the upcoming US presidential election in the fall.

When reporters at CBS asked ChatGPT questions such as the deadline to mail in a ballot in certain states, it would give different but still erroneous outputs on separate devices.

Though OpenAI released a statement in January saying that anybody entering basic voter queries into ChatGPT would be directed to the non-partisan voting website CanIVote.org, reporters at CBS sometimes didn’t get that link to this website when asking voting questions.

“We’ve also developed partnerships to ensure people using ChatGPT for information about voting get directed to authoritative sources,” an OpenAI spokesperson told CBS News. “We are closely monitoring how our technology is being used in the elections context and continue to evolve our approach.”

https://futurism.com/the-byte/chatgpt-bad-info-vote-battleground-states

AI WILL influence voting and we should do all we can to counter it….

2024 will be the first election year to feature the widespread influence of AI before, during and after voters cast their ballots, including in the making and distribution of public messages about candidates as well as electoral processes. 

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) has been working hard to help address the impact of AI on our democracy, including educating the public about what to expect in upcoming political campaigns and recommending policy solutions lawmakers should adopt to mitigate the greatest risks to our election system.  

CLC has particularly highlighted the danger of political ads that use AI technology to generate deceptively realistic false content — such as “deepfakes,” which are manipulated media that depict people doing or saying things they didn’t say or do, or events that didn’t really occur — to mislead the public about what candidates are asserting, their positions on issues, and even whether certain events actually happened. If left unchecked, these fraudulent and deceptive uses of AI could infringe on voters’ fundamental right to make informed decisions. 

In addition to influencing the voters’ perceptions of candidates, AI could be used to manipulate the administration of elections, including by spreading disinformation to suppress voter turnout.

https://campaignlegal.org/update/how-artificial-intelligence-influences-elections-and-what-we-can-do-about-it

All I can say is ‘Voter Beware’!

If you have question then contact your local election commission directly and get good info….after all it is your vote and it is valuable.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Impeach The Bastards!

There has been a lot of lip service to how bad our cracker jack Supreme Court is and now someone has stepped up to try and repair at least some of the damage it has done to our society.

That someone would be AOC….

As promised, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has introduced articles of impeachment in the House against Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. The New York Democrat cited their failure to disclose gifts from people with matters before the court and their refusal to recuse themselves from cases “in which their benefactors and spouses are implicated,” CNN reports. Although impeachment has little chance of going anywhere in the House, given that it’s controlled by Republicans, Ocasio-Cortez called the justices’ behavior a constitutional crisis that requires action. “Congress has a legal, moral, and democratic obligation to impeach,” she said in a statement.

The accusations against Thomas include his lack of recusal from Jan. 6 cases despite the involvement of his wife, Ginni Thomas, in trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Ginni Thomas has falsely claimed the election was stolen, per USA Today, including to the House committee that investigated the attack on the Capitol. The gifts that went unreported include luxury travel. “Justice Thomas and Alito’s repeated failure over decades to disclose that they received millions of dollars in gifts from individuals with business before the court is explicitly against the law,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

Several Democratic colleagues cosponsored the articles, which CBS News reports are a part of the party’s preelection moves against the court in light of its recent rulings on abortion access, guns, and presidential immunity. A spokesperson for the Supreme Court did not immediately comment on the filing.

Before you go off on some diatribe….I realize this has little chance of success but at least someone has the cajones to make a move….for that I salute her.

That was from the House and the Senate has acting on these two slugs as well….

After a slew of jarring stories tying Clarence Thomas to multiple undisclosed gifts, loans, and other perks from ultra-wealthy friends, two Democratic senators are now trying to get to the bottom of it. The Hill reports that Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Ron Wyden of Oregon have requested that Attorney General Merrick Garland appoint a special counsel to investigate the Thomas allegations, specifically on ethics and tax law fronts. “The breadth of the omissions uncovered to date, and the serious possibility of additional tax fraud and false statement violations by Justice Thomas and his associates, warrant the appointment of a Special Counsel to investigate this misconduct,” the two senators note in their letter to Garland dated July 3.

Whitehouse and Wyden add that “the scale of the potential ethics violations by Justice Thomas, and the willful pattern of disregard for ethics laws, exceeds the conduct of other government officials investigated by the Department of Justice for similar violations.” The senators note that Thomas has been given the opportunity to answer questions about what happened, and that he maintained a “suspicious silence” or provided otherwise “uninformative” answers. Whitehouse and Wyden add that although Thomas “has claimed that some omissions were ‘inadvertent,’ and he has amended some past reports accordingly … [he] has not disclosed all of the gifts that have been uncovered, and there may well be more.”

“No government official should be above the law,” the senators conclude. “Supreme Court justices are properly expected to obey laws designed to prevent conflicts of interest and the appearance of impropriety and to comply with the federal tax code.” The New York Times notes that their request comes as Senate Democrats “are trying to force Supreme Court justices to comply with stricter ethics and financial disclosure rules.” Last year, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said changes that would boost public confidence in the high court were on the way, though Chief Justice John Roberts hasn’t exactly seemed to want to discuss that.

Again these efforts will go unfulfilled for we know what cowards there are in our do-nothing Congress.

I salute anyone who has the gravitas to seek justice for the crimes committed by political hacks……where it will it go from here?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

2024–The RNC Promises

Things you need to know before you vote.

For god’s sake know what you are voting for in November!

Not much has been written yet about the new platform for the 2024 election by the RNC…..promises with no solutions offered.

The first promise (read….Lie) is a return to commonsense.

Seriously?

Then it goes on to list 20 planks of the party….

To make clear our commitment, we offer to the American people the 2024 GOP Platform to Make America Great Again!

It is a forward-looking Agenda that begins with the following twenty promises that we will accomplish very quickly when we win the White House and Republican Majorities in the House and Senate.  (There you have it……only if they control both Houses and the White House….if not then all bets are off.)


1. SEAL THE BORDER, AND STOP THE MIGRANT INVASION

How will you do this?


2. CARRY OUT THE LARGEST DEPORTATION OPERATION IN AMERICAN HISTORY


3. END INFLATION, AND MAKE AMERICA AFFORDABLE AGAIN

Explain the plan to make this happen


4. MAKE AMERICA THE DOMINANT ENERGY PRODUCER IN THE WORLD, BY FAR!


5. STOP OUTSOURCING, AND TURN THE UNITED STATES INTO A MANUFACTURING SUPERPOWER


6. LARGE TAX CUTS FOR WORKERS, AND NO TAX ON TIPS!

From the GOP?  I will believe it when I see!


7. DEFEND OUR CONSTITUTION, OUR BILL OF RIGHTS, AND OUR FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS,
INCLUDING FREEDOM OF SPEECH, FREEDOM OF RELIGION, AND THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR
ARMS

This is pure horse manure!


8. PREVENT WORLD WAR THREE, RESTORE PEACE IN EUROPE AND IN THE MIDDLE EAST, AND BUILD A
GREAT IRON DOME MISSILE DEFENSE SHIELD OVER OUR ENTIRE COUNTRY — ALL MADE IN AMERICA

What’s the plan for this situation?


9. END THE WEAPONIZATION OF GOVERNMENT AGAINST THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

How so?


10. STOP THE MIGRANT CRIME EPIDEMIC, DEMOLISH THE FOREIGN DRUG CARTELS, CRUSH GANG
VIOLENCE, AND LOCK UP VIOLENT OFFENDER

How will this be accomplished?

11. REBUILD OUR CITIES, INCLUDING WASHINGTON DC, MAKING THEM SAFE, CLEAN, AND BEAUTIFUL
AGAIN.

What will be the magic bullet (no pun intended) to accomplish this feat?


12. STRENGTHEN AND MODERNIZE OUR MILITARY, MAKING IT, WITHOUT QUESTION, THE STRONGEST
AND MOST POWERFUL IN THE WORLD

How much more cash will we waste on this pipe dream”?  How much tax payer dollars will be siphoned off for the War Department?


13. KEEP THE U.S. DOLLAR AS THE WORLD’S RESERVE CURRENCY


14. FIGHT FOR AND PROTECT SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE WITH NO CUTS, INCLUDING NO
CHANGES TO THE RETIREMENT AGE

This does not sound like something the GOP would even consider…..this one is the most suspicious of the lot.


15. CANCEL THE ELECTRIC VEHICLE MANDATE AND CUT COSTLY AND BURDENSOME REGULATIONS


16. CUT FEDERAL FUNDING FOR ANY SCHOOL PUSHING CRITICAL RACE THEORY, RADICAL GENDER
IDEOLOGY, AND OTHER INAPPROPRIATE RACIAL, SEXUAL, OR POLITICAL CONTENT ON OUR
CHILDREN

This is so much lies upon lies…..and the perfect way to control the future by indoctrinating the young…..does this sound familiar I asked of those that have a little historical knowledge.


17. KEEP MEN OUT OF WOMEN’S SPORTS


18. DEPORT PRO-HAMAS RADICALS AND MAKE OUR COLLEGE CAMPUSES SAFE AND PATRIOTIC AGAIN

Deport American citizens that oppose genocide….How?


19. SECURE OUR ELECTIONS, INCLUDING SAME DAY VOTING, VOTER IDENTIFICATION, PAPER BALLOTS,
AND PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP

Sounds more like a state problem than a federal one…..and a typical GOP outright lie.


20. UNITE OUR COUNTRY BY BRINGING IT TO NEW AND RECORD LEVELS OF SUCCESS

This is my favorite….how will they accomplish this when hatred is a primary motivator?  The only thing broken in this country is our political discourse….where ignorance is being cultivated and the crop is stupidity.

Who wrote this sh*t?

Which one of these planks will improve your life and standing?

This is typical BS from the GOP…. tell them everything and deliver nothing.

Do not tell me what you will do but rather tell me how you will accomplish to end result…..is how I evaluate this stuff.

At what point do we stop buying into these fanciful statements and start looking for answers to the country’s problems…..none of the 20 planks are those answers.

Stop being a cult member and following some loud mouth bozo blindly and look to your neighbor and vote to improve his life and in doing so you will improve yours.

Stop being a fool!

Stop being a useful idiot!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

American Double Standards

Or in other words the American hypocritical approach to the world around us.

Hypocritical?

Yes, we profess a policy of equality, freedom and democracy but our actions have been anything but….

Here’s a thought that means nothing…..

“If certain acts and violations of treaties are crimes, they are crimes whether the United States does them or whether Germany does them. We are not prepared to lay down a rule of criminal conduct against others which we would not be willing to have invoked against us”. – Chief Prosecutor, Jackson, Nuremberg War Crimes Trials

Americans have a double standard and that is what is American Exceptionalism…..

Since the foundation of the USA about 250 years ago, Americans have seen themselves as the savior of mankind and as the unchallenged leader of the “free world”. Since 1798 the USA has undertaken 469 military interventions. 251 of these interventions alone were undertaken over a 30 year period since 1991[i]. Common to almost all of those interventions is that they were carried out from a high moral position, often with altruistic undertones. The USA perceives itself as a force of good directed by God himself against the evils of the world. The US armed forces intervene from principles of a freedom agenda. Most recently we have seen this during the “liberation” of the Iraqi people from the dictatorial rule of Saddam Hussein. In the name of freedom the US armed forces aimed at introducing the first democratic state in the middle east, according to deputy secretary of Defense, Wolfowitz. However, actions taken by the USA are often in direct contradiction to what it dictates others to do. The USA urges nations to adhere to the Universal Human Rights Principles, while the CIA snatches terror suspects in foreign countries and submits them to torture in secret places or as they did in the prison in Abu Ghraib in Iraq, where the US military and CIA hired mercenaries from such countries as South Africa and Serbia to carry out their dirty work.

Normally such outright conflict between declared policies, built on humanitarian and democratic values on one hand and on the other hand actions which violate these very same values would be met with disrespect and criticism. However, this is not the case when the offender is the USA. Europeans and allies usually meet such American behavior with silence and at best with understanding and support. There is a general acceptance among Western allies that the USA is in its good right to do whatever, it considers best for the USA, even when the implication is that the behavior in question conflicts with internationally agreed-upon conventions. This is referred to as American Exceptionalism. Why does shifting American governments believe that it is not be obliged to follow international conventions, sometimes even ratified by its government, as in the case of the International Human Rights Convention and the Geneva Convention? Why does the US government believe that international commitments are less relevant to it than to other countries? Curiously, and to mislead the public, the official USA has invented a particular vocabulary to conceal its crimes. The bigotry practiced by the Americans in international diplomacy, is also obvious in the use of new terms for old misdeeds. Thus torture is referred to as ‘enhanced interrogation’, and preventive wars are called ‘anticipatory self-defense’.

An Exceptional Nation: American Double Standards

Remember when you were a kid and your father told you to ‘do as I say not as I do’?

That should be the motto of the US.

Biden’s words on foreign policy are indicative of this situation……

The Democratic Party is waging its 2024 electoral campaign by focusing on two themes: first, a denunciation of all that Trump proposes to bring to the presidency, centering on the destruction of American democracy if elected, and secondly, a positive domestic record of the Biden years with several notable benefits for the American people including jobs and wages, climate, energy policy, social protection, gun control, and a stock market at record highs.

What is missing from this rosy picture of America and even more so from Democratic Party advocacy is neither claims nor explanations of foreign policy, only a deafening silence. It is as if the leadership of the Democratic Party wants the voting public to forget that there is a world out there beyond national boundaries. And it has good reasons to adopt this evasive approach, especially in an election year.

And yet this national posture seems strange as the US has so heavily invested in military capabilities to secure its global dominance in the decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union over 30 years ago.  And as a consequence, finds itself currently engaged controversially in the wars raging in Ukraine and Gaza. It appears that even Biden is reluctant to claim credit in national settings for US support of Israel and Ukraine, and prefers to speak in generalities about the greatness of America as a country whose future is bright except to the extent dimmed by the threat advent of Trump and Trumpism. This tendency to ignore the world should be more troubling to American voters than even Biden’s refusal to leave the presidential stage in light of his thinly deniable disabilities of age and mental health that have put his 2024 candidacy in peril. Such an evasive pattern gives voice to absurdly grandiose, yet distorting, assessments of the present broad political situation.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/07/09/critiquing-bidens-worldview-democratic-party-tactics-and-americas-destiny/

We could do so much better….but will we?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Who’s The Boss?

Nope not some nostalgic look back at some sitcom from the 80s.

I recently had a conversation about the who was more important to business, the CEO or the work force.

I say the workforce but not many conservs will agree….they hang on to the outdated idea that the CEO creates the wealth with their leadership and ideas.

Of course I cannot agree with that assessment.

Could AI replace CEOs and save a butt-load of money for the corporations?

CEOs better start endearing themselves to their employees real quick, because oh boy: the case for replacing them with AI just keeps mounting.

“Some people like the social aspects of having a human boss,” Phoebe Moore, professor of management and the futures of work at the University of Essex Business School, told The New York Times. “But after COVID, many are also fine with not having one.”

The idea of subbing bosses for bots is the flipside to all those fears about AI causing widespread job destruction, which often focus on the fact — quite justifiably — that it’ll be regular grunts being shown the door in favor of intelligent automation.

But since c-suite execs tend to command high salaries, there’s ample financial incentive to replace them, too.

“My first instinct is they would say, ‘Replace all the employees but not me,'” former director of MIT’s Computer Science and AI Lab Anant Agarwal told the newspaper. “But I thought more deeply and would say 80 percent of the work that a CEO does can be replaced by AI.”

To a degree, and sorry to all the head honchos out there, the idea makes sense.

Part of the role of a CEO is being a leader, yes — and one imagines that a bot would be ill-suited at rallying the troops — but they’re also decision-makers. And decisions these days are often data-driven.

https://futurism.com/the-byte/ceos-easily-replaced-with-ai

Just think of all that saved profit and the damage it could do to our economy and nation.

No more massive bonuses. no more Congressional hearings to embarrass the CEOs….just blame the program and grin.

Since greed is what corporations are all about these days this could make it more and more acceptable…..the dreams of dollar signs.

But is there a chance that AI will kill capitalism?

These four AI outcomes pose a real threat to capitalism:

  • Disrupting supply and demand further
  • Eliminating wealth creation distribution
  • Dissolving value of human labour
  • Outsourcing management to smart contracts

In the age of rapid technological advancement, artificial intelligence (AI) stands at the forefront of shaping our future economy. As AI becomes increasingly integrated into various sectors, it prompts a crucial question: Could the rise of AI render traditional economic structures like capitalism or socialism obsolete? This article delves into how AI’s influence on work might spur the evolution of new economic systems, the pace at which these changes could occur, the role of Universal Basic Income (UBI), and the potential cultural shifts in a world increasingly governed by AI.

View at Medium.com

AI wins again!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”