Saturday, August 31, 2019

The New York Times Has a Jewish Problem (Part 1)

The New York Times Has a Jewish Problem (Part 1)
Excerpt: An editor at the New York Times has recently apologized for having written several anti-Semitic and racist tweets. Tom Wright-Piersanti is a senior staff editor at the Times. In the years 2008-2010, Wright-Piersanti wrote several offensive tweets, which were uncovered by the website Breitbart. On New Years’ Day 2010, Wright-Piersanti tweeted, “I was going to say ‘Crappy Jew Year,’ but one of my resolutions is to be less anti-Semitic. So… HAPPY Jew Year. You Jews.” The previous month, during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, Wright-Piersanti shared a picture of a car with a lit menorah on its roof and wrote, “Who called the Jew-police?”

Molotov cocktail toss in Florida is latest attack against DHS facility: report

Molotov cocktail toss in Florida is latest attack against DHS facility: report
Excerpt: A suspect was arrested Friday after allegedly tossing a lit Molotov cocktail into the lobby of a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Florida, according to a report. It was the latest in a string of attacks against Homeland Security facilities. Authorities said the unidentified woman walked into the office in Oakland Park -- about 33 miles north of Miami -- and hurled a bottle of gasoline with a lit fuse. But the fuse detached from the bottle before it could ignite, according to a report of the incident sent to administration officials and viewed by The Associated Press. No major injuries were reported. (Encouraged by the left. ~Bob)

California appeals court overturns sole conviction in Kate Steinle death

California appeals court overturns sole conviction in Kate Steinle death
Excerpt: A California state appeals court Friday overturned the lone conviction against an undocumented immigrant who shot and killed Kate Steinle on the San Francisco waterfront in 2015, a case that drew national attention and became a flashpoint in the debate over illegal immigration. Jose Inez Garcia-Zarate, who was in the U.S. illegally and had been deported to his native Mexico five times, was acquitted in November 2017 of first- and second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, and assault with a semi-automatic weapon. He was convicted of one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. On Friday, the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco overturned that conviction, saying the judge failed to give the jury the option of acquitting Garcia-Zarate on the theory he possessed the weapon for only a moment. (I’m all broken up about his rights...Dirty Harry, more relevant today than ever...GS. The courts can't protect us and the cops aren't allowed to. Vigilantism is coming. `Bob)

Friday, August 30, 2019

Fallout from Russia's mysterious missile disaster suggests a nuclear reactor blew up

Fallout from Russia's mysterious missile disaster suggests a nuclear reactor blew up
Excerpt: A mysterious explosion at a Russian weapons testing site earlier this month released various radioactive isotopes, creating a cloud of radioactive gases that swept across a nearby town, the country's state weather agency said Monday, and experts said the mixture removes all doubt about what blew up earlier this month. The deadly August 8 blast at the Nyonoksa military weapons testing range released a handful of rapidly decaying radioactive isotopes — strontium-91, barium-139, barium-140, and lanthanum-140 — which have half-lives ranging from 83 minutes to 12.8 days, the Roshydromet national weather and environmental monitoring agency said in a statement. "These are fission products," Joshua Pollack, a leading expert on nuclear and missile proliferation, told Insider. "If anyone still doubts that a nuclear reactor was involved in this incident, this report should go a long way toward resolving that." [If true, this would have to be a reactor design very different from the ones in use in the USA, EU, France, Japan, or China as those older designs might possibly be able to melt down, but cannot explode as the fuel will never be able to be compressed enough to create the necessary density to support that rapid a reaction. Modern reactor designs (from MIT and others) aren’t even able to melt down, they simply stop reacting. Ron P.]

Americans Have Shifted Dramatically on What Values Matter Most

Very revealing. The breakdown of the nuclear family and the capture of curriculum in public schools bodes ill for the politics of the coming cohorts. Yours truly, Larry Greenberg
Americans Have Shifted Dramatically on What Values Matter Most By Chad Day
Excerpt: The values that Americans say define the national character are changing, as younger generations rate patriotism, religion and having children as less important to them than did young people two decades ago, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey finds.

Electric scooters are good for the environment, right? Here’s why it’s not so simple

Electric scooters are good for the environment, right? Here’s why it’s not so simple
Excerpt: So he and his students decided to tally up the full environmental impact of electric scooters over their lifetimes. The results, published Friday in the journal Environmental Research Letters, suggest that e-scooters aren’t quite as eco-friendly as they may seem. While traveling a mile by scooter is better than driving the same distance by car, it’s worse than biking, walking or taking a bus — the modes of transportation that scooters most often replace. That’s primarily because of the energy-intensive materials that go into making the vehicles, and because of the driving required to collect, charge, and redistribute them. “That actual trip somebody’s taking on the scooter — that’s pretty green,” said Juan Matute, the deputy director of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies who was not involved with the study. “What’s not green is everything you don’t see.”

Americans Are Richer Than We Think.

Americans Are Richer Than We Think. Our flawed measures of inflation understate wealth and improvements in consumer well-being. By Phil Gramm and John F. Early
Walking around is ample evidence, but here is an explanation of how economic indexes are making Americans less confident about our country. Yours truly, Larry Greenberg

Tough Fighters Hanging on in Vietnam

Tough Fighters Hanging on in Vietnam
Excerpt: The region’s indigenous people, the Montagnards, took extraordinary punishment during the war, eventually losing not only their nation but also their way of life. Their name, a holdover from French colonialism, translates roughly as “people of the mountain,” and accounts for a swath of Malayo-Polynesian tribes. They are ethnically, culturally, linguistically, and, once as animists but now increasingly as Christians, religiously distinct from Vietnam’s kinh majority. They are also easily singled out for another attribute. Around 70,000 Montagnards fought alongside US Special Forces against North Vietnam, serving as infantrymen, paratroopers, guides, and spies. “The [U.S.] military asked me, and I just joined.” Dim, a 71-year-old former paratrooper, told me. “Everybody joined. The Montagnards took part in this effort because they believed the Americans would deliver them some form of political autonomy, or even American resettlement, as some Special Forces promised. But the Montagnards suffered greatly: more than 250,000 of their men died, according to community leaders and historians, and by 1975, 85 percent of their villages in ruins or abandoned

A Teen Is A Child Pornographer For Sexting A Video Of Herself To Her Friends, A Court Ruled

A Teen Is A Child Pornographer For Sexting A Video Of Herself To Her Friends, A Court Ruled
Excerpt: For the first time, the Maryland Court of Appeals said it had to grapple with applying the state’s child pornography law to minors who consensually engage in sexting. The court decided that the state’s child pornography statute does apply to a 16-year-old girl who texted a one-minute video of herself to her teenage best friends. In the video, she is seen performing a consensual sex act on a male. (I think the court is correct. Either you are responsible or you are not. If you are not responsible, you should be denied access to the tools. I think the analogy is closer to driving. But I like the idea of being held accountable. I’m sure her parents are proud. --GS)

Meritocracy Is Killing High-School Sports

Meritocracy Is Killing High-School Sports
Getting tired of the war on success. --GS

Making a 'Gunlike Hand Gesture' Is a Crime, Pennsylvania Court Rules

Making a 'Gunlike Hand Gesture' Is a Crime, Pennsylvania Court Rules
Let's see, burning the flag, and actual physical action involving objects, is OK, it's freedom of speech. Flying a Nazi flag or a hammer&sickle flag is also OK, same reason. Screaming at your neighbor that they are an idiot and you hope they get hit by a meteor is likewise OK, and of course, giving the not just the finger, but for emphasis, the double finger, is still fine. But shape your finger to a pistol outline and that's disorderly conduct, even though it wasn't a public place with a crowd, and lasted for a few seconds. I can only say... WOW, WTF!!! I suppose doing the old "evil eye" gesture will get you taken away as well, maybe spitting on the ground in the other person's general direction, and certainly "mooning" them would do it. But they can do the double finger salute, see, that's not really upsetting or mean or anything like that. Feeling confused? Me too. Apparently it all depends on the mindset of the judge, although assumption of a mind may be hazardous. We are indeed living in a time when craziness is the new normal --Del

Is the world real?

New Technology Makes It Plausible the World Is a Simulation
EXCERPT: How long until memories, desires, thoughts are implanted through exactly the same neural chips that sucked them out? If they work, observer-created reality and a world-as-simulation can be implemented within an individual mind. There is nothing in principle to prevent software developers from creating games or worlds so immersive that people with brain interfaces might actually prefer to live in the simulated reality. Nor is there anything to prevent states from creating experiences so repulsive to match the worst imaginings of hell. If it were good enough, one would never know it wasn't "real." (Maybe this is how Brave New World arrives, --Bill)

Taxpayer-Funded 'Islamic Propaganda,' Attacks on Christianity Forced on Michigan Teachers

Taxpayer-Funded 'Islamic Propaganda,' Attacks on Christianity Forced on Michigan Teachers
Ecxcerpt: New documents unearthed by the Thomas More Law Center show how a Muslim instructor pushed "Islamic propaganda" on teachers in Novi, Mich., in 2017. According to the Law Center, the instructor also denigrated Christianity and America in her "diversity" training. "We found that the teachers were subjected to two days of Islamic propaganda, where Islam was glorified, Christianity disparaged, and America bashed—all funded by Novi taxpayers," Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Law Center, said in a statement. "This type of infiltration amounts to an Islamic Trojan horse within our public-school systems. No other religion gets this kind of special treatment in our schools."

'Palestinian' organizations applaud murderous terror attack

'Palestinian' organizations applaud murderous terror attack. 'Heroic action' and 'great merit': Terror groups praise attack which killed 17-year-old, wounded her father and brother.

Big Tech Censors Strike Again

Big Tech Censors Strike Again
Excerpt: Many free speech advocates may disagree with some of the commentaries Vincent James has offered, but he is absolutely right about the First Amendment, and he is absolutely right about these social media companies. They are either platforms or they are publishers. They cannot be both at the same time. This is a matter that requires executive action, or an urgent court battle, or legislative remedy. (...) Unwanted commentators can also be attacked by throwing them off of subscription platforms such as Patreon, or even by expelling them from the payment processors such as PayPal. Anyone who doesn’t think this is happening, and happening disproportionately to conservatives, is ignoring a mountain of evidence. Here, compiled by Vincent James, is a list of websites that have been censored by the social media companies. Here, published earlier this year by American Greatness, is a similar list of politically incorrect vloggers, and here is a list of politically inconvenient climate information websites.  [I’m leaning toward declaring “social media platforms” to be public utilities that are bound by the same requirements for free and open debate that would apply to any other utility. That would require them to be non-discriminatory. The alternative, to declare them to be “publishers,” would allow them to continue to discriminate at will, but would also subject them to libel laws and “truth in advertising” laws. Either (or both) could work to the mutual benefit of all parties except those platforms. What we have right now is the equivalent of having only three national newspapers that all say the same thing every day and suppress any divergent thought. Ron P.]

Anti-Progressive British School For Poor Kids Leads Nation In Latest Test.

Anti-Progressive British School For Poor Kids Leads Nation In Latest Test. ‘Britain’s strictest school’ for the underprivileged, where discipline and order sparked controversy, just got its first major results, which are four times better than the national average By Sumantra Maitra.
Excerpt: A small-time earthquake happened in the British education system. Fifty years of progressive dogma were shattered last week, when “Britain’s strictest school” got its first national exam results, and they were four times better than the national average. The school is a free school, the U.K. equivalent to a U.S. charter school. That means it is government-funded but privately run. Free-schooling was a controversial reform made under the David Cameron government. It is still opposed by the Labour Party and has come under increasing fire from the liberal-left.

"Excellent message for those healthy individuals who feel sorry for themselves."

Rick Valdes (O-2) sent this inspirational link, writing; "Excellent message for those healthy individuals who feel sorry for themselves."

Which is a good message for anyone who feels sorry for themselves.  ; >   There is always somebody around who is in worse case than you are.

I enjoyed his humor, esp. the story about the Marine NCO who gave him a pep talk.  When I was hospitalized in the old NRMC Oak Knoll in Oakland, CA, they used to send the hard cases to me. The word on the wards was “Give him to Sarge Taylor. He’ll take care of him!” - and so I did, in a number of cases, both Navy and Marines. 

I basically gave them an “amputee boot camp” and verbally smacked the shit out of them. I once took two of my charges out on liberty. We went down to Jack London Square and had a few drinks, then we went out into the parking lot and did close order drill - on crutches!  The cadence was “Crutch! Crutch! Crutch Right Crutch!”  ;  >  

SF,

Bagpipes

MAJORITY OF FEDERAL ARRESTEES ARE FOREIGNERS, THOUSANDS OF “UNKNOWN CITIZENSHIP”

MAJORITY OF FEDERAL ARRESTEES ARE FOREIGNERS, THOUSANDS OF “UNKNOWN CITIZENSHIP”

Satellite photos show burning Iran space center launch pad

Satellite photos show burning Iran space center launch pad
ttps://apnews.com/66edcdd9d8634a06b51073af45be12b8

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Sydney shopping centre (Muslim) security guard jailed for the indecent assault of a three-year-old

Sydney shopping centre (Muslim) security guard jailed for the indecent assault of a three-year-old
Excerpt: Mohammad Hassan Al Bayati, 30, received a report of a lost child and was captured on CCTV walking into the play area and kneeling down as he spoke to the girl. He waited as she sat down to put her shoes on, then grabbed her hand just after 1.22pm and led her down a secluded corridor and into a set of fire stairs where he exposed his penis and touched her underpants. The pair disappeared for more than 11 minutes before the girl was brought back.

Trump-Hating ISIS Admirer Threatens to 'Blow Someone's Brains Out' at Tenn. State Capitol

Trump-Hating ISIS Admirer Threatens to 'Blow Someone's Brains Out' at Tenn. State Capitol

Thursday, August 29, 2019

MSNBC

MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell apologizes for unverified Trump-Russia report: 'We are retracting the story'


Eric Trump: Trump Organization taking legal action over MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell's 'reckless attempt to slander family'

Biden Fabricates Emotional War Story While Campaigning in New Hampshire

Biden Fabricates Emotional War Story While Campaigning in New Hampshire
Learned well from Obama and Hillary. ~Bob

Neither True, Nor Good, Nor Beautiful . . . But Redeemable

Neither True, Nor Good, Nor Beautiful . . . But Redeemable
EXCERPT: I belong to about a dozen “groups” on Facebook, all of which are conservative or Christian in outlook, except for one. This group is for college professors. I won’t mention the name, because the moderator has been generous with me and genuinely open-minded. I’d like to describe what I see there, as it reveals some things about the state of affairs in our schools. The discussions almost always have to do with current politics. On other sites, people may discuss books they have read or films they have seen, or interesting articles they have come upon that have to do with astrophysics, archaeology, history—especially history. But the college professors seem to be strangely unlikely to be reading things that inspire them by their revelation of what is true, good, and beautiful.

Kirsten Gillibrand and America’s Meritocracy

Kirsten Gillibrand and America’s Meritocracy
Excerpt: Kirsten Gillibrand is out of the presidential race. I’d like to think that Tuesday’s Corner post, declaring that she was only delaying the inevitable, was the straw that broke the camel’s back....There’s a particular circle of elite New York Democratic party and media voices who found Gillibrand to be exactly what they wanted; she had risen to the top, and other people at the top found her to be as close to perfect as they could imagine. Their swoon spurred those ridiculous-in-retrospect overestimations of her appeal as a presidential candidate: Politico (“Her moment has arrived”), GQ (“the most fearsome contender”), The New Yorker (“the new face of moral reform”), and Vogue (“she’s got newfound street cred among lefties and progressives”). The swoon started soon after her appointment to fill Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat. I love making fun of Vogue’s 2017 profile of Gillibrand, but the gushing in the 2010 profile — entitled, “In Hillary’s Footsteps” — is pretty over-the-top, too: “Gillibrand is nothing if not genuine, and through sheer force of personality she bends the occasion to suit her style, which is essentially folksy and earnest. She radiates kindness. But she is also direct and no-nonsense. Despite the fact that she is a Democrat (and a fairly progressive one, at that) and worked for fifteen years as a hotshot Manhattan lawyer, she seems utterly at ease among this crowd of mostly Republican farmers, with their rough hands and weathered faces.” For some reason, Iowa and New Hampshire farmers did not find her as appealing.

DOJ Inspector General: ‘Comey Set a Dangerous Example’ by Leaking Trump Meeting Memos

DOJ Inspector General: ‘Comey Set a Dangerous Example’ by Leaking Trump Meeting Memos

'Green New Deal' preview? Texas town's lofty environmentalism leaves residents with a nightmare

'Green New Deal' preview? Texas town's lofty environmentalism leaves residents with a nightmare
For all but tiny areas of the world, wind and solar can never be anything but secondary power sources, at least, assuming people want to live with the convenience of ample power and not go bankrupt to pay for it. --Del

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

I Guess She Can Stop Preening About the President’s Morality.

Ilhan Omar’s Campaign Has Paid Over $200,000 to Her Alleged Lover for ‘Fundraising Consulting’
Excerpt: Representative Ilhan Omar’s (D., Minn.) campaigns have, since 2018, disbursed roughly $230,000 to a consulting firm owned by Tim Mynett, a fundraising strategist whose wife accused him of having an affair with Omar in a recent divorce filing obtained by the New York Post. Omar’s 2018 campaign spent $62,674 on “fundraising consulting” services provided by the E Street Group and the spending has only increased since. The freshman Democrat’s 2020 reelection campaign has, according to FEC data, spent $160,000 on Mynett’s services thus far in 2019, nearly one-third of its total expenditures, despite it being an off year. Mynett, who has a partnership stake in E Street, told his wife that he had fallen in love with Omar over the months they had been working together and rejected her attempts to salvage their marriage.

Ilhan Omar: Adulteress Home Wrecker? I Guess She Can Stop Preening About the President’s Morality.

Monday, August 26, 2019

Anti-gun idiot....

An anti-gun guy walks into the Walmart sports department and asks, repeatedly, for a gun that will let him kill 200 people. His way of telling Walmart to "wake up" about gun violence. Duhh... 1- he doesn't get a gun, 2- he does get a visit later from the cops. But he now admits maybe what he did was "in poor taste". I would have used a different characterization. --Del
I can kill 200 people with a baseball bat, if you give me a little time...Bob

Saturday, August 24, 2019

New Jersey Democrat: We Need Illegals To Mow Our 'Beautiful Lawns'

New Jersey Democrat: We Need Illegals To Mow Our 'Beautiful Lawns'

Election machine keys are on the Internet, hackers say

Election machine keys are on the Internet, hackers say

NY & NJ Give Housing & College to People Here Illegally Before Americans

NY & NJ Give Housing & College to People Here Illegally Before Americans
Heard this discussed on Hannity radio yesterday afternoon. Said NYC Mayor putting illegals in expensive NYC hotel rooms free of charge, while others with reservations are paying through the nose for such rooms....while native NY homeless are left to the park benches and streets..... Is this vote buying? No IDs required for housing; probably none for voting.....Barb

Satire: Obamas Strike Blow for Economic Justice, Donate Millions in Exchange for Massive Beachfront Estate

Satire: Obamas Strike Blow for Economic Justice, Donate Millions in Exchange for Massive Beachfront Estate
Excerpt: Former president conquers 'wealth anxiety'. Celebrity authors Barack and Michelle Obama are striking a blow for social, economic, and climate justice, vowing to donate an undisclosed eight-figure sum to Boston Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck in exchange for his massive beachfront estate on Martha's Vineyard, the luxury island vacation spot popular with Northeastern elites, boat-shoed bon vivants, and other rich freaks who use "summer" as a verb and donate to Pete Buttigieg. The 29-acre property, which includes a 7,000-square-foot main house with seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms, and two guest wings, is listed at $14.85 million—well within the Obamas' price range after signing a "high eight-figure" production deal with Netflix, in addition to a joint book deal reportedly worth$65 million. There's also an outdoor pool and fireplace, balcony jacuzzi, chef's kitchen, and a private boathouse. (what happened to Global Warming and Rising Seas? ~Bob)

Friday, August 23, 2019

Must Read: Rediscovering the Wisdom in American History

Must Read: Rediscovering the Wisdom in American History by Wilfred McClay, Author, Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Story

Yes the President’s Behavior is Abnormal. But the Democrats’ Policies are Bat Crap Crazy.

Yes the President’s Behavior is Abnormal. But the Democrats’ Policies are Bat Crap Crazy.
Excerpt: I'd rather a President who wants to build a big beautiful wall than a Democrat who pretends there is no problem at the border. I'd rather a President who moves our embassy to Jerusalem than a Democrat who'd put one in Havana. I'd rather a President who imposes tariffs than a Democrat who wants to ban paper straws, plastic bags, and human consumption of cows while imposing a carbon tax. I'd rather a President who makes it difficult every day to support him than a Democrat who would make it difficult for a person of faith to exercise their religion in their work and daily life. The President may be nuts in his behavior, but I'll take his crazy over the insanity the Democrats who unleash on the United States.

Climate-Change-Focused Politicians Paying Top Dollar for Oceanfront Property

Climate-Change-Focused Politicians Paying Top Dollar for Oceanfront Property
Excerpt: Former president Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, are reportedly looking at buying a $14.85 million dollar mansion on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. The estate overlooks the coastal Edgartown Great Pond. “A thin strip of beach called a ‘barrier beach’ separates the shoreline of the Pond from the Atlantic Ocean. Four times a year the narrowest portion of the barrier beach is cut open to the Atlantic Ocean.” Former vice president Joe Biden “purchased a $2.7 million, 4,800-square-foot vacation house near the water in Rehoboth Beach, Del., to go along with his primary residence.” John Delaney also has a waterfront home in Rohobeth Beach. Do these seem like people concerned about rising sea levels and more intense hurricanes driven by climate change?

Thursday, August 22, 2019

NYPD Union Tells Cops To Ask Supervisor Permission Before Arresting Anybody

NYPD Union Tells Cops To Ask Supervisor Permission Before Arresting Anybody - Blue Lives Matter

Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc challenging Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire.

Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc challenging Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire.
Excerpt: The first Republican to challenge two-term Democratic New Hampshire senator Jeanne Shaheen is a decorated Army veteran who led a Special Forces team through Afghanistan on horseback to fight the Taliban. Retired Brigadier General Don Bolduc spent 36 years in the U.S. Army, during which he earned two awards for valor, five Bronze Star medals, and two Purple Hearts. He was deployed for 10 tours of duty in Afghanistan and was part of the legendary "Horse Soldiers" who traveled across Afghanistan's mountainous terrain to fight the Taliban immediately after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

San Francisco board rebrands 'convicted felon' as 'justice-involved person,' sanitizes other crime lingo

San Francisco board rebrands 'convicted felon' as 'justice-involved person,' sanitizes other crime lingo
I reserve the right to be called ‘VICTIM of justice-involved person’. Maybe that will hurt someone’s feelings. --GS. I hope they wake at 2 am to find a "justice involved person" with a gun in their bedroom. ~Bob

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Everyone is a White Supremacist! So...Where Do We Go From Here?

Excerpt: American conservatives have - unfortunately - become used to having unsubstantiated accusations hurled at them by the Left. Almost by default, every conservative politician is labeled as a racist, with other mischaracterizations chosen from an expanding grab-bag of insults. Conservatives are frequently seen as ignorant, stupid, xenophobic, misogynistic, or intolerant. (If the charge of racism is the rhetorical atomic bomb of the left, is it already so hackneyed that the mass of people are inured to it and barely pat it any attention? Is it already the case that such rhetoric is already discounted, even rejected, as meaningless blather? As a proud member of the hoi polloi, I see myself long past delving into every utterance of AOC, Omar, Bernie, Warren, Abu Abbas, etc. I know what they say and what they always say and always will say. I expect that many people disregard their remarks or trash them unread-unheard. Yours truly, Larry Greenberg)

Pa. Supreme Court Strikes Down Part of State Gambling Laws

Pa. Supreme Court Strikes Down Part of State Gambling Laws
Excerpt: (T)he gambling expansion bill that was signed into law back in 2017 includes a provision that requires all casinos to contribute 0.5 percent of their total slot machine revenue to Casino Marketing and Capital Development Account. Upon a deeper and more comprehensive look at this particular clause, it was found that what it was doing was, in essence, taking from the rich operators and giving to the poor ones. This is because the money in the Casino Marketing and Capital Development Account was distributed to the state’s weakest casinos where the funds would then be used for marketing and property improvement expenses. Sands Bethlehem is the operator that uncovered this issue and opted to sue the Keystone State ins a bid to have the law struck down. The operator’s argument was that what the law was doing was somewhat unfair since it was more like having the profits of better-performing casinos shaved off and redistributed to the casinos that were not performing as well. [Socialism lives in the casino industry, too. No, it won’t work there, either. Ron P.]

Democratic Congresswoman: These 'Peaceful' Antifa Protesters Are Simply Trying to 'Safeguard' Portland

Democratic Congresswoman: These 'Peaceful' Antifa Protesters Are Simply Trying to 'Safeguard' Portland
One can only look at this stuff and again marvel at the truly monumental idiocy of some people. They can actually say this stuff, and perhaps even believe it. Wow.....Del

Massachusetts’ Addiction to Regulation Keeps Most Pot Sales on the Black Market

Massachusetts’ Addiction to Regulation Keeps Most Pot Sales on the Black Market
Excerpt: Since Massachusetts residents passed a 2016 referendum legalizing recreational cannabis, the fate of the industry has largely been in the hands of the state’s Cannabis Control Commission. Having licensed 23 pot stores across the state, and set rules for individual growers, the commission is now drafting rules for marijuana delivery services. You may be chuckling right now at the possibility of a stereotypical stoner’s dream to never leave his home coming true, or because Massachusetts, never coy about heavy-handed regulations, has created something called the Cannabis Control Commission.  (...) The result is that every black market pot transaction is a lost opportunity for a consumer to park blocks away from a licensed store, wait in line an hour or more, and give state and local governments 20 percent of the cut. Viewed through this lens, Massachusetts has not legalized cannabis products so much as entered the drug market via a handful of chosen franchisees, with the extra competitive advantage that you could be fined or jailed if you buy from the competition. [Although I do not use marijuana in any form, I voted to legalize it and urged others to do the same. My reasoning was that it would deprive the drug gangs of their most lucrative product. Surely this would result in fewer illegal sales and likely, lower prices. Wrong. Unmentioned in the article is that contrary to the expectations of almost everyone, the street price has remained relatively steady rather than going down. The taxes proposed in the authorizing referendum were specifically chosen to undercut the street prices; so of course, the first thing the elected politicos did was to raise the taxes in crafting the authorizing legislation. What will eventually bite the pols on the butt is that every individual is allowed to cultivate up to eight plants of their own–which THEY ARE THEN FORBIDDEN TO SELL, BUT THEY MAY GIVE AWAY FOR FREE. So, while cash may not openly change hands, I expect a lot of “I’ll mow your lawn for an ounce” sort of non-cash transactions that are inherently untraceable and nearly impossible to prove. So, at some future point, street prices will drop as availability goes up. The lesson here is that “control minded politicians” will cooperate among themselves to make life as difficult as possible for everyone else. ADDED: The actual tax paid is higher than the 20% mentioned, it's closer to 30%, but a lot of it is 'included in the shelf price.". Ron P.]

Study on cannabis chemical as a treatment for pancreatic cancer may have 'major impact,' Harvard researcher says

Study on cannabis chemical as a treatment for pancreatic cancer may have 'major impact,' Harvard researcher says
Excerpt: (W)hile scientists long suspected that cannabis flavonoids may have therapeutic potential, the fact that they make up just 0.14 percent of the plant meant that researchers would need entire fields of it to be grown in order to extract large enough quantities. That changed recently when scientists found a way to genetically engineer cannabis flavonoids — making it possible to investigate their benefits. (...) “The most significant conclusion is that tumor-targeted delivery of flavonoids, derived from cannabis, enabled both local and metastatic tumor cell kill, significantly increasing survival from pancreatic cancer,” Ngwa tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “This has major significance, given that pancreatic cancer is particularly refractory to current therapies.” Ngwa says that the study is the first to demonstrate the potential new treatment for pancreatic cancer. But on top of successfully killing those cells, the scientist found FBL-03G capable of attacking other cancer cells — which was startling even to them. “We were quite surprised that the drug could inhibit the growth of cancer cells in other parts of the body, representing metastasis, that were not targeted by the treatment,” says Ngwa. “This suggests that the immune system is involved as well, and we are currently investigating this mechanism.” [In the middle 1990s, the owner of the company I then worked for was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in early Spring. He was buried in late August. Any improvement in its treatment has to be a goodness. Ron P. my step mom started having pain in September, died of it January 5. She was 64. ~Bob]

Air Force F-16 fighter jet from 1980 for sale in Florida

Air Force F-16 fighter jet from 1980 for sale in Florida
Excerpt: Palm Beach, Fla.-based Jet Lease has listed a 1980 F-16 A/B Fighting Falcon for sale — and the rare offer made waves online. The 1980 multirole fighter jet, which has an $8.5 million price tag, is being offered alongside two other F-16 Vipers, according to The Drive, an automotive website that also writes about defense topics. This is not your average “used” fighter jet — the plane is a fully functioning combat aircraft and not demilitarized. (...) The purchaser of the F-16 will be required to comply with the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITARS), which implements the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) and is overseen by the State Department. (Be the first kid on your block....  I added emphasis.  Ron P.)

PA BANS LGBTQ ACTIVITIES IN WEST BANK.

PA BANS LGBTQ ACTIVITIES IN WEST BANK. The ban came after LGBTQ group Al-Qaws was planing to hold a gathering for its members in Nablus. BY KHALED ABU TOAMEH
https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/PA-bans-LGBT-activities-in-West-Bank-598980

The Atoning Sacrifice of the Union Soldiers Means Nothing to the New York Times’ 1619 Project

The Atoning Sacrifice of the Union Soldiers Means Nothing to the New York Times’ 1619 Project
Excerpt: The United States very literally paid an atoning sacrifice for the sin of slavery. Union preachers of the day and the President of the United States came to see the war in that light. Prior to the Civil War, more and more prominent Americans began discussing it in that light. The war was divine wrath poured out on the nation for enslaving a population. While the New York Times may get there, its revisionist, reframing exercise right now totally misses all of that. In fact, the progressive rhetoric of the day and calls for reparations from Democrat politicians are poured out into a void of willful ignorance as they ignore the body count of mostly white Union soldiers who died that slavery might end. They paid reparations with their lives, The nation lost 2% of its male population. (My great, great grandfather, Sgt. Oliver Vernal, fought through the war with the 6th Connecticut Volunteers, was badly wounded twice. If he'd been killed, I would have been killed too, as he had no kids at the time. ~Bob)