Zorro
Zorro's JournalGov. DeSantis proposes college 'bill of rights' to party
Governor Ron DeSantis says he would establish a “students bill of rights” in the wake of crackdowns on college parties and other social gatherings that some blame for a surge in COVID-19 cases.
At a news briefing at the Capitol on Thursday, the Republican governor also said he would block local governments from closing restaurants again.
He says there's little evidence such closures have slowed the spread of the coronavirus. On Thursday, Florida reported 2,541 more COVID-19 cases and 177 more virus-related deaths.
This brings statewide totals to more than 693,000 cases and at least 13,795 deaths.
https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/state/gov-desantis-proposes-college-bill-of-rights-to-party
Police raid in Vietnam finds more than 300,000 used condoms being packed for resale
Vietnamese police said they will investigate a factory that was found recycling about 320,000 used condoms for resale, local media reported Thursday.
Following a tip from a local resident, Binh Duong provincial market inspectors over the weekend raided a factory near Ho Chi Minh City where they found used condoms being repacked for sale at the market, the state-owned Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.
A market inspector said the owner of the factory, a 34-year-old woman, confessed that they bought the used condoms from a man in the province. The condoms were washed, reshaped and packed into plastic packages, the newspaper said.
It said police announced they will investigate and track down others involved in the operation. A call to police for comment was not answered Thursday.
https://www.wfla.com/news/international/police-raid-in-vietnam-finds-more-than-300000-used-condoms-being-packed-for-resale/
Elon Musk promises $25,000 Tesla and says Model S 'Plaid' is coming soon
Source: CNN
Elon Musk ended Tesla's big battery event Tuesday evening with some big promises about the pricing of Tesla's future cars and the announcement of a new ultra-fast version of today's Model S.
After reviewing improvements in Tesla's own battery designs and manufacturing advancements that could result in huge reductions in battery costs, Musk promised a $25,000 Tesla electric car that would be available in about three years.
That would be much cheaper than any car Tesla has made so far. Musk has a history of sometimes under-delivering on promises, or even not delivering at all. Years ago, Tesla promised a $35,000 electric car, the Tesla Model 3, but even then the Model 3 was only available at that price for a short time.
Musk also promised on Tuesday that the $25,000 car would be capable of driving fully autonomously, a difficult feat because the sensors and other equipment needed for even partly autonomous driving are expensive. And even as he touted the company's ambitious future plans, he admitted that the company's fully-autonomous driving software experienced unforeseen challenges, prompting a "fundamental rewrite" of the "entire software stack," though he did not detail when that rewrite occurred.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/22/business/tesla-elon-musk-battery-day/index.html
ASH FALLS IN ECUADOR AFTER VOLCANO ERUPTION
A volcanic eruption over the weekend in central Ecuador has covered several nearby provinces with ash, and also caused an area airport to temporarily close. The Sangay volcano erupted early Sunday, sending an ash plume as high as 10 kilometers (6 miles) into the sky.
Such activity is nothing new for Sangay, which is typically described as the country’s most active volcano. The “earliest report of a historical eruption [by Sangay] was in 1628. More or less continuous eruptions were reported from 1728 until 1916, and again from 1934 to the present,”according to Google Earth.
Several videos of the recent rash of falling ash have been posted, including one in which the person filming it says it’s leaving the area “completely dark.” A separate video shows an Ecuador Police patrol car driving down a street completely covered in ash and plagued with poor visibility.
The officer gives citizens safety measures to follow, including staying at home if possible and driving slowly if they must go out — as well as remembering to wear a mask due to COVID-19 precautions.
http://www.sfltimes.com/news/vid-ash-falls-in-ecuador-after-volcano-eruption
Trump's contempt for truth leaves a toxic legacy around the world
IF PRESIDENT TRUMP is defeated in November, much of the damage he has inflicted on the political system and on U.S. international alliances can be reversed. Joe Biden could restore past norms of presidential behavior and revive ties with traditional U.S. friends. But one part of Mr. Trump’s toxic legacy will likely persist: his degradation of truth as a common currency in public life.
Democracies cannot function if ideological differences are compounded by the circulation of conspiracy theories and falsified data; established facts are the foundation for policymaking and legislative compromise. Mr. Trump has greatly accelerated what was already a drift by elements of the Republican Party toward rejection of science and other hard reporting. His incessant lying — from inflation of the crowds at his inauguration to the course of the coronavirus pandemic — has led many of his followers to beliefs that are provably false and, in some cases, are the product of disinformation campaigns by hostile powers.
Mr. Trump, meanwhile, has waged a relentless campaign to discredit the institutions that seek to disseminate truth and discredit false stories, especially the U.S. intelligence community and the news media. Thoroughly documented intelligence reports on Russia’s interventions in U.S. politics, including the current election campaign, are, he says, “a hoax” conjured by a “deep state.” Media revelations of corruption and malfeasance in his administration are “fake news.”
Previous presidents have lied or twisted the truth, but Mr. Trump’s distortions are on an epic scale. As of July, according to a database maintained by The Post, he had made more than 20,000 false or misleading statements in just 3½ years, including more than 1,000 about the coronavirus alone. His mendacity has been accelerating: While his first 10,000 lies accumulated in 827 days, The Post Fact Checkers reported, it took only 440 days to double the total.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/09/22/trump-contempt-truth-editorial/
"This Nomination is a F--k You to the Left": Trump Campaign is Itching for a Culture-War Fight
RBG’s death, and the opportunity to push the Supreme Court further right, is a Comey-level election game changer, Trump’s allies insist. “It just changed the calculus for any conservatives who were on the fence,” says one.As Donald Trump was considering who should succeed Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court in the summer of 2018, he met for lunch with Sean Hannity and Rudy Giuliani at his private golf club in West Palm Beach. According to a source briefed on the conversation, Hannity and Giuliani argued that Trump should nominate Amy Coney Barrett, a federal appeals court judge and Notre Dame law professor, because her conservative credentials would mobilize the president’s base. “Hannity and Rudy said, ‘You’re going to have a confirmation fight anyways, so pick Barrett,’” the source said. Trump told them he was going to pick Brett Kavanaugh, whom he viewed as a safer choice.
With 43 days left until the election, Trump is itching for a fight as he moves quickly to fill Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat. “This nomination is a fuck-you to the left,” a Republican close to the White House told me. Two years later Barrett is the front-runner. According to a source, Trump told Federalist Society cochairman Leonard Leo prior to Ginsburg’s death that he would nominate Barrett to fill her seat if it opened up. The White House did not provide comment.
Barrett’s divisive positions on issues like abortion, which held her back last time, could now be seized upon to goad the left into a culture-war battle in the campaign’s waning months. “It would be malpractice not to nominate Barrett,” former Trump adviser Sam Nunberg told me. “You’ll have a Catholic judicial legal powerhouse who will be attacked by the left,” he said. “This will be especially useful in Pennsylvania to remind Catholic voters that [Joe Biden] supports third-term abortions.” (Biden, also a Catholic, “has not explicitly expressed support for late-term abortions,” notes NPR.) Other sources, however, said Trump is strongly considering Barbara Lagoa, a Cuban-American federal appeals court judge from Florida. Lagoa, it’s believed, would help secure a Florida victory in November.
The SCOTUS drama has infused the Trump campaign with renewed optimism after it has been battered by weeks of devastating book bombshells, widening polls, and a U.S. coronavirus death toll nearing 200,000. Just one day after Ginsburg’s death, the MAGA faithful were chanting, “Fill that seat!” at Trump’s North Carolina rally—and the campaign is already selling T-shirts with the slogan. Sources said Trump sees selecting Ginsburg’s replacement as if he is scripting a new story line in the reality show he’s producing. “I guarantee you he parades female judges through the White House every day for the next week,” a former official said. “This is his thing. He loves the nomination guessing game.”
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/09/trump-campaign-is-itching-for-a-culture-war-fight-over-scotus-pick
Pretty much every thing Republicans do is a "fuck you" to the left. And to common decency.
Shopper flaunting his gun in checkout line shoots himself in the groin, Oregon cops say
A man showing off his gun to a friend accidentally shot himself in the groin and leg, Oregon police said.
Lincoln City Police said in a Monday news release that Nicholas Ellingford, a 29-year-old from Lincoln City, Oregon, shot himself Sunday at a supermarket.
“Investigation revealed that Ellingford was inside the store and as he was waiting in the checkout line, he un-holstered a Glock 9mm semi-automatic pistol from his waistband so that he could show it off to a friend,” police said in the news release.
Ellingford reportedly was holding the gun near the front of his pants when he accidentally pulled the trigger, police said.
https://news.yahoo.com/shopper-flaunting-gun-checkout-line-001726879.html
I encourage all Republicans to own the libs this way.
Range-Busting 2021 Lucid Air Electric Luxury Sedan Revealed
The launch edition costs $169,000, but there's an under-$80,000 version coming, and Lucid says it will start delivering cars to customers in spring 2021.Unveiling a production vehicle with an on-sale date is a huge deal for any automaker. For an automotive startup, it's the opportunity to show the world that it's not working on vaporware but an actual vehicle. But it also gives the general public the opportunity to embrace or reject the company's first offering right away, which could mean success or failure for the company as a whole. We've seen the general design of the Lucid Air for a few years, but now the final production version is here.
The first vehicle will be the launch-edition 2021 Lucid Air Dream. With a starting price of $169,000, it’s more than double the price of the least expensive Air that starts at under $80,000. Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson told Car and Driver that the limited-edition Dream is the vehicle he wants. "It's kind of my choice. It's Peter's choices. It's Peter's car. It's a unique blend of range and performance."
It won’t have the 517 miles of EPA-estimated range that made headlines in August. Instead, Lucid says with the 21-inch aero wheels, it'll hit 465 miles, and with 19-inch wheels, it'll be able to stay on the road for 503 miles between charges. These numbers are all released prior to results of official EPA range tests. But even if they fall short, they would still make the Air Dream Edition the range king of production vehicles.
Lucid says that thanks to the Air's ultra-high 900-volt-plus electrical architecture, custom lithium-ion battery cells, and thermal management system, the vehicle's battery can add 300 miles of range in just 20 minutes when connected to a DC fast-charging station. Owners also get three years of free charging via the Electrify America network and are only charged idle fees after the vehicle has been topped off.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a33960309/2021-lucid-air-electric-luxury-sedan-revealed/
The Falwells, the pool attendant and the double life that brought them all down
For 2½ years, Giancarlo Granda had been telling his family about the generosity of his business partners. The wealthy couple from out of town had taken him under their wing, he said, rewarding the Miami pool attendant’s ambition with a stake in a multimillion-dollar real estate project. Now he wanted them to meet.
In a trendy Italian restaurant inside the South Beach property where he’d become a part owner, Granda introduced his parents and sister to his unlikely benefactors: Jerry and Becki Falwell.
Over wine and pasta, the president of Liberty University and his wife praised the square-jawed 22-year-old, saying he was like an adopted son, Granda and his sister recalled.
“Oh my God. They’re so nice,” Granda’s mother said of the Falwells afterward. “They’re so charming.”
“You see?” Granda recalled replying. “They just want to help me out.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/jerry-becki-falwell-affair-giancarlo-granda-trump/2020/09/18/456a1568-eccc-11ea-b4bc-3a2098fc73d4_story.html
Republicans -- not Democrats -- are the party controlled by extremists
Opinion by Max BootDanielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute has gotten a lot of attention — most of it critical and even satirical — for her Post op-ed about why she might be “forced” to vote for President Trump.
In brief, her case is that the Democratic Party, whose presidential nominee has a record of centrism and compromise going back nearly 50 years, is controlled by the “extreme left.” But the Republican Party, whose nominee is Donald Trump, is not controlled by the extreme right. She concedes that there are “horrible nasties” on the right. She even acknowledges: “These execrable gun-toting racists have received too much tacit encouragement from Trump.” “But,” she blithely asserts, “they do not represent the mainstream of the Republican Party or guide the choices of the vast mass of Republican members of Congress.”
Wait. What? Pletka admits that the president encourages “gun-toting racists,” but somehow his views “do not represent the mainstream” of the party that he leads? How can the views of a candidate supported by 92 percent of Republicans not represent the party? Even if that were true, it would be an argument for voting for Republican congressional candidates rather than for Trump. But it’s not true: Several in-depth studies have shown that the primary reason Trump won in 2016 was because of his appeals to racial, rather than economic, anxiety.
Not all Trump supporters are racists, to be sure, but even those who are not appear to be indifferent to the president’s blatant racism. Either way, the entire Republican Party has become complicit in a presidency that depends on crude appeals to the fears of White voters. Trump warns that if he loses “America’s suburbs will be OVERRUN with Low Income Projects,” champions Confederate monuments, calls Black Lives Matter a “symbol of hate,” denies the existence of “White privilege,” and tells congresswomen of color to “go back” to the “totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/09/17/republicans-not-democrats-are-party-controlled-by-extremists/
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