TreasonousBastard
TreasonousBastard's JournalListening to BBC radio last night-- they estimate 2 months until Taliban...
completely take over Afghanistan.
Why are there so often no good answers?
I have absolutely no problem with Governor Hochul, but I do...
have some serious problems with her presumed opponent when Election Day rolls around.
Rep. Lee Zeldin (NY 1) has been given the torch as the presumptive challenger. Zeldin first won his seat thanks to dirty tricks when he ran against the popular Tim Bishop.
He is a notorious Trumpsucker and has arranged, or been involved in, a number of Trump motorcades, parades, and marine extravaganzas. He has a habit of making grand promises and statements in his press crowing and emails, but just as quickly forgetting about them. He has been taking credit for things like federal farm supports, clean water bills, and such, but never really makes clear just what he did to get any of it done.
We have an excellent candidate for his House seat, and Cuomo stepping down now gives Hochul plenty of time to secure her reputation.
Do NOT steal the police chief's bag of sex toys and Viagra...
unless you have the right friends in high places.
https://patch.com/new-york/northfork/s/hq1r7/exsuffolk-county-da-tom-spota-aide-sentenced-to-5-years-feds
Talking about R&D in the infrastructure discussions reminds me of my high school years...
I have probably told this story before, but bear with me.
Sputnik went up in 1957, and shocked the world. Seems the Soviets got a better deal with German scientists after the war, and we went nuts. Eisenhower immediately pushed for scientific advancement, and everyone agreed.
AT&T, IBM, ITT, Kodak, and others had major research facilities that got some money, but a lot of it went to local schools. And that money was simply a grant, with no strings or regard to other aspects of the school. My high school was a Lutheran school with a strong religious curriculum, and we were asked not to read the Biology text chapter on evolution (but the chapter wasn't cut out of the books).
We were awarded fully functional Chemistry, Physics, and Bio labs. We were also given a Typing lab, with nice new IBM Selectric typewriters.
If they gave all this to every high school in the country, or even just most of them, it must have cost an incredible fortune. Add to that what universities got for their science curricula. And the funding for NASA, NSF, and other programs was not small.
Well, we no longer have the big labs-- Bell Labs is now owned by Nokia, or at least the parts not passed on to the Baby Bells. I saw the writing on the wall when AT&T said Bell Labs would be firing the discoverer of black holes and such research would be stopped because black holes had no profit potential. I'm not sure wassup with the rest of the labs not doing Pentagon work, but their parent companies are struggling. Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, Google, Symantic, Oracle, HP, and other new high-flying companies don't seem to be interested at all. They'll spend small fortunes on anything that will make them a buck, but pure research with no immediate payback is a waste.
So, here we are. Back in the '60s we still had that post war can-do attitude, and a national purpose. And the costs now would be up there with world GDP. Costs and our present poisonous politics would kill off any such program.
But, the Chinese are working on such programs. They have the advantage of not pissing away vast sums on a cold war military. Their investments in Africa, SA, and Asia are factories and schools, not tanks or rockets.
Can you imagine anyone with a MAGA hat majoring in astrophysics or any engineering discipline?
It just passed the Senate 69-30.
Dogfighting ring broken up on Long Island...
10 people charged and 89 dogs impounded. I used to hear about dogfights in New Jersey-- Hillside had a big ring busted, but this is the first I've heard on Long Island.
https://tv.newsday.com/watch/long-island/crime/suffolk-dog-fighting-ring-1.50329469
Refusing the COVID-19 vaccine isn't just immoral - it's 'un-American' ...
https://theconversation.com/why-refusing-the-covid-19-vaccine-isnt-just-immoral-its-un-american-165564[A] woman's objection was driven by her suspicion that the MMR vaccine, for measles, mumps and rubella, caused autism. This claim has been shown, repeatedly and conclusively, to be without merit. Still, she was not entirely wrong. Many vaccines do contain live agents, though they are in a weakened or attenuated state. And while adverse and even serious reactions have been known to occur, such a risk is infinitesimally small. Indeed, the preponderance of evidence shows that the risk of harm or death to the unvaccinated child from infections such as MMR is far greater than any associated with receiving the vaccine.
“Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks – no forms of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.”
While we don’t know what Madison would have said about a vaccine, we do know what President Dwight D. Eisenhower said after the development of the polio vaccine. Eisenhower’s words likewise affirm the idea that our democracy requires that we show concern for one another.
“We all hope that the dread disease of poliomyelitis can be eradicated from our society. With the combined efforts of all, the Salk vaccine will be made available for our children in a manner in keeping with our highest traditions of cooperative national action,” he said.
WF happened to Mac&Cheese? Found a box of the stuff, and it's damn near poisonous...
What looks like freeze dried cooked macaroni straws and a bag of orange powder. Cook the decidedly un-elbow macaroni, drain it, and mix in the orange stuff with a little milk and butter.
Did all that, and it not only doesn't look like the stuff on the front of the box, it doesn't much smell like food. Tastes terrible, too.
IIRC, my mother used to make the stuff by cooking real elbows and cutting Velveeta into the drained macaroni. Maybe something else to make it a little special, but it had the requisite gooiness and taste. I threw in some shredded cheddar and a little paprika and turmeric to spice it up, but it didn't help.
This week I get a box of elbows and a box of Velveeta and see what happens.
Jane Mayer (The New Yorker) was interviewed today on Fresh Air...
You can hear it at:
https://www.npr.org/2021/08/05/1024741930/jane-mayer-dark-money-challenge-to-the-election-results
Some excerpts:
And the picture began to clarify that actually there's a money stream and an awful lot of it is coming from one single huge foundation in Milwaukee, Wis., which is funding all of these other groups that are pushing the idea that voter fraud is a serious problem in America and that we can't trust our elections. And that one huge foundation is the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The Bradley family — these two brothers that founded this company, the Allen-Bradley Company — they defined the far-right fringe. They were dedicated anti-communist zealots who feared that the United States government was run by communists. And they were fringe figures politically, but they were extraordinarily rich by the time they died. And their fortune has funded this far-right foundation.
On Public Interest Legal Foundation, also founded by the Bradley Foundation. Cleta Mitchell is its chair.
That group is based in Indiana, and it litigates all over the country, accusing people and election officials of voter fraud. If you take a close look at it, what you can see is there's just a short leap from accusing people of voter fraud to then arguing that an election should be nullified. And this is where it gets really radical. Among the directors of the Public Interest Legal Foundation is, for instance, a lawyer named John Eastman who was one of the speakers at Trump's rally on Jan. 6. And at that rally, he argued that people needed to challenge the election returns and stop the certification of the vote on Jan. 6. As we all know, that just preceded by a couple hours the crowd charging the capital, ransacking it and trying to stop the certification. So you can see the connections between a huge foundation on the right, the Bradley Foundation, which funds the Public Interest Legal Foundation, whose director spoke at the Jan. 6 rally and tried to overturn that election or at least stop it, halt it at that moment. And the money flows from one to the other, and the same characters are involved.
Ali V. subbing for Rachel, interviewed an heroic Afghani interpreter who can't get a visa...
His life has been threatened, his family got out, but even with the military and Senators speaking up for him, he's stuck there on a technicality.
He has a very realistic fear the Taliban will kill him. Right now, he's hiding, but who knows for how long...
Profile Information
Gender: MaleHometown: Long Island, NY
Member since: 2003 before July 6th
Number of posts: 43,049
