Gromnir

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Israel-Hamas War Day 14 | Red Cross Says It Has Two American Hostages Released by Hamas

Kenneth Chesebro: Pro-Trump attorney who helped craft fake elector plot pleads guilty in Georgia election subversion case An attorney who worked to undermine the results of the 2020 election, Chesebro helped develop the Trump’s campaign’s plot to put forward unauthorized slates of GOP electors in Georgia and six other states. (In previous court filings, Chesebro’s lawyers have denied that he devised the plan.) HA! Good Fun!

"A Manhattan judge tore into former President Donald Trump on Friday for failing to delete a post attacking his clerk on his campaign page, weeks after the imposition of a gag order." https://themessenger.com/politics/trump-gag-order-blatant-violation-judge-engoron HA! Good Fun!

*snort* and we thought Gromnir were old. hoon is so stuck in 20th century thinking. never read a cyberpunk novel? multinationals is not near concerned with the old power politics models as they is with the bottom line. when the inevitable amazon-berkshire hathaway-johnson & johnson and microsoft-disney mergers final and inevitable occur... HA! Good Fun!

am agreeing, but am gonna note we might not be the best judge o' such things. for instance, we heard a good way to keep a dog from engaging in destructive digging is to lay down cayenne pepper where you is trying to discourage your canine's unwanted behaviors. sounded like a good idea, so we sprinkled/poured a fair amount o' cayenne on a patch o' landscaping. *sigh* the pepper attracted all our dogs, and not just the digger. am frequent giving the pups table scraps which is featuring capsaicin-heavy ingredients, so am guessing the dogs ordinary olfactory reactions had been overwritten a bit with a counter-intuitive pavlovian response to the hot stuff. ... in retrospect, we shoulda' seen that coming. HA! Good Fun!

killers of the flower moon is released on the 20th. our understanding is that scorsese original had a faithful adaption o' the book for his script but then he met with osage tribe representatives and afterwards made considerable changes. is that good or bad? dunno. recent deceased robbie robertson wrote the music for the film. HA! Good Fun!

got a very powerful 80 synth-pop influence, which is not a criticism. see what he thinks o' tainted love, don't go (yazoo)... and 'bout 1000 others. edit: am s'posing the downside is your son might really like take on me, or one o' the other 80s synth pop tunes. can't imagine the agony o' listening to those over and over and overandoverandoverandover... HA! Good Fun!

hopefully you are still close enough to work to commute by bike. HA! Good Fun!

have shared multiple melt singles on this board, including family snapshot and biko not too long past, but has been a while since we listened to intruder and glen campbell is a challenge for us 'cause while am typical left with our jaw on the floor after listening to his guitar solos, is almost none o' his songs we enjoy. that shouldn't be possible, but still is. HA! Good Fun!

the false electors cases in michigan, georgia and the fed courts has overlap, which is one reason why numerous defendants were pushing for their state trials to become fed. the problem for those defendants is each state chooses electors for the Presidency based on state laws and regulations and the individuals who were acting on behalf o' the trump campaign were not acting as officers o' the US government when they encouraged folks such as james renner to sign forgeries o' official state documents. for the fraudulent electors scheme to have been dreamt up simultaneous, insular and discreet in multiple states challenges credulity o' even the most naïve. am gonna suggest that trump campaign lawyers and staff were organizing the conspiracies for the benefit o' one guy: donald trump. however, while it is illogical and difficult to believe james renner could be guilty o' a conspiracy regarding fraudulent electors w/o somebody(s) from the trump campaign also being guilty, each defendant is gonna get due process. in any event, is multiple flippers in multiple false elector cases. HA! Good Fun!

*chuckle* am knowing that were not meant as a self own, but... made even more amusing 'cause again, zor misses the important part: what reasonable person would argue against waiting for more/better info before making accusations and casting aspersions? curious, and beyond the ordinary reasonable we got at least one advocate o' the irrational and obdurate. moving on, and regarding the recent US veto, "Thomas-Greenfield said the United States was disappointed the draft resolution made no mention of Israel's rights of self defense and she blamed Hamas for the Gaza humanitarian crisis." am disappointed 'cause am not thinking a humanitarian ceasefire requires the establishment o' blame. sure, israel wants it to be understood that they is responding to the murder and kidnapping o' its citizens, but to make a ceasefire contingent upon such a recognition does strike us as... inhumane. the ownership o' the moral high ground territory is extreme subjective, but refusing a humanitarian ceasefire does not look good for those claiming such a lofty perch. HA! Good Fun!

stated with far more brevity than our previous post: as for the venezuelan sanctions deal, "Maduro's government and the opposition reached an agreement in Barbados on Tuesday on electoral guarantees for an internationally monitored vote to be held in the second half of 2024. But the deal stopped short of Maduro agreeing to reinstate opposition candidates who had been barred from public office." that last portion is more than a little disappointing. HA! Good Fun!

Trump attorney Sidney Powell pleads guilty in Georgia election subversion case “This is a really big breakthrough for the prosecutors,” CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig said on “News Central.” “And it’s so important to understand there is no such thing as halfway cooperation. If you’re a prosecutor, you would not enter into this deal with Sidney Powell unless you had been thoroughly convinced that A, she is telling the truth, B. she is going to be able to testify for you credibly in the way that you can put in front of a jury, and justify and see she is not going to be splitting hairs,” added Honig, a former federal prosecutor. am tending to think this news is not the big breakthrough being suggested, but am offering nothing save conjecture based on trump campaign treatment o' powell. keep in mind that trump called powell crazy and worse on more than one occasion. the fact sidney were advancing unsupported conspiracy theories were helpful for trump, but am not sure she were part o' the inner circle o' accused insurrectionists. the lawyers who put trump in obvious and considerable jeopardy are jeffery clark, kenneth chesebro (sp?), john eastman and rudy giuliani. am just not sure how much info was entrusted to powell, though clear she did have interactions with rudy, so maybe that is a thread worth tugging? maybe. this is how rico cases ordinary unravel for defendants-- one nogoodnik at a time. even so, am not expecting sidney to be pivotal as a prosecution witness and am uncertain if her plea will be isolated or if it inspires other defendants to reach out to fani willis. edit: 'cause the internet allows for misunderstandings, am gonna state what we ordinarily wouldn't think needs be stated: we do not believe sidney powell deserves to be harmed and we would be appalled if somebody did attack her. the movie scream messed with our head a bit and now whenever we hear "sidney," we instant recall the "hello sidney" phone call from the first scream movie, but we couldn't find a good and short clip from the original flick. ... shouldn't make a difference, but am admitting that now that sidney will be available as prosecution witness, am even more concerned with her health and well being. shouldn't make a difference. HA! Good Fun!

am a bit jealous although not o' the great ape surgeon mind you. we had our appendix removed a few years past and it were s'posed to be laparoscopic-- tiny incision. surgery were six am during summer. we mention the time 'cause when we regained full consciousness in a hospital room, our first reaction were to note it were pitch black outside. dark. nighttime. huh. then we realized we were in some considerable discomfort and we clear had a much larger surgical wound than had been described to us. oopsies. HA! Good Fun!

am embarrassed to admit we know there is a pepper with more heat than the carolina reaper. the source o' our knowledge is not scientific, not data driven but rather is based on a a recent episode o' hot ones, hence our embarrassment. ff to 20:14. pepper X maybe/possibly is higher on the scoville scale. am personally not understanding the point o' such heat in a sauce save as part o' a hazing ritual for special forces. edit: from the previous linked story "Pure capsaicin has a measurement of 16 million SHU while bell peppers, which contain no spice, measure at 0 SHU. Pepper X measures in at an average of 2.69 million units, per Guiness World Records. In comparison, standard pepper spray averages 1 million SHU, while bear spray is advertised around 3 million SHU. The Carolina Reaper measures about 1.64 million SHU. " am serious not understanding the motivation to make a hot sauce, meant to be consumed by human beings, that is similar on the scoville scale as bear spray. HA! Good Fun!

sounds familiar. so sorta like blaming an obvious error about police actions at uvalde on initial washington post info even after more contemporaneous and full video coverage o' the event were available? oh, wait, that ain't really the same, is it? we can go down the lists and is not gonna be helpful. you can misrepresent from 2014 and we can show receipts from numerous and far more recent. but even if it were a tit-for-tat situation, such revelations would only further cement the obvious. the more examples there are o' Gromnir and zor being wrong about facts uncertain, the more such works to support the proposition that waiting is your best option. selective quote also don't help you 'cause as we noted, being wrong is not the problem. just as a rando example, lots o' people were wrong about the russian invasion o' ukraine, but not all o' em made fools o' themselves by lambasting the media for banging the drums o' war and other such nonsense. as if that ever made sense. never saw any western media encouraging war but perhaps it happened in rare ultra hawkish sources. regardless, were not the reporter's narrative but rather they were accurate quoting sources which claimed russians were preparing for an actual invasion... which is kinda what reporters is s'posed to do, right? even if there were no invasion, the reporters woulda' had nothing to apologize for. 'cause would be stoopid to suggest accurate quoting and reporting o' the views o' arguable experts were deserving criticism. who would do that? oh, right. if the facts surrounding an event is unclear, it is best to wait for info before getting up on a soap box and criticizing police, world leaders, media or fellow posters based on those uncertain facts, 'cause even if is no way to svengali your way out o' a russia invasion having happened, what makes you look bad (yet again) is the pontification based on error. wait for clarification of facts is good advice 99.9% o' the time. why somebody would argue against such a proposition is curious. edit: "“There’s just been this massive sort of pressure to get videos out there, get your take, get your analysis, and it’s like a perfect storm for chaos,” Kolina Koltai, a senior researcher at open source intelligence (OSINT) news outlet Bellingcat, tells WIRED." https://www.wired.com/story/al-ahli-baptist-hospital-explosion-disinformation-osint/ "“I think one of the most disturbing aspects of studying disinfo is when you realize that even fact-checking has become weaponized,” Orr wrote on X. “Most people don’t care about the truth about the hospital being bombed; they just care about finding a truth to use against the other side.”" people with genuine expertise ain't sure. wait is reasonable given the lack of certainty. HA! Good Fun!

am aware there is a couple better than bullion proponents who frequent this thread. am also gonna admit we didn't know about the idf info regarding box stock. HA! Good Fun!

the following likely belongs in the funny thread, but oh well... HA! Good Fun!

once you embrace a narrative, it is tough to change your pov. is another reason to wait before becoming invested in a particular explanation. ‘Stunned and sickened.’ Wexner Foundation cuts ties with Harvard over ‘tiptoeing’ on Hamas “Harvard’s leaders were indeed tiptoeing, equivocating, and we, like former Harvard President Larry Summers cannot ‘fathom the administration’s failure to disassociate the university and condemn the statement’ swiftly issued by 34 student groups holding Israel entirely responsible for the violent terror attack on its own citizens,” the Wexner Foundation letter reads. “That should not have been that hard.” ... not that it is particular relevant from our pov, but while "34 student groups" sounds like many, it ain't, and there is comical overlap 'tween the groups. African American Resistance Organization Bengali Association of Students at Harvard College Harvard Act on a Dream Harvard Arab Medical and Dental Student Association Harvard Chan Muslim Student Association Harvard Chan Students for Health Equity and Justice in Palestine Harvard College Pakistan Student Association Harvard Divinity School Muslim Association Harvard Middle Eastern and North African Law Student Association Harvard Graduate School of Education Islamic Society Harvard Graduate Students for Palestine Harvard Islamic Society Harvard Law School Justice for Palestine Harvard Divinity School Students for Justice in Palestine Harvard Jews for Liberation Harvard Kennedy School Bangladesh Caucus Harvard Kennedy School Muslim Caucus Harvard Kennedy School Muslim Women’s Caucus Harvard Kennedy School Palestine Caucus Harvard Muslim Law School Association Harvard Pakistan Forum Harvard Prison Divest Coalition Harvard South Asian Law Students Association Harvard South Asians for Forward-Thinking Advocacy and Research Harvard TPS Coalition Harvard Undergraduate Arab Women's Collective Harvard Undergraduate Ghungroo Harvard Undergraduate Muslim Women’s Medical Alliance Harvard Undergraduate Nepali Students Association Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee Middle East and North African Graduate School of Design Student Society Neighbor Program Cambridge Sikhs and Companions of Harvard Undergraduates Society of Arab Students our understanding is the nepali students association withdrew their signature, so were only 33 groups protesting. additional, the harvard protest letter were posted over the weekend and by monday there were at least one harvard counter protest letter which garnered more than two thousand signatures. maybe, just maybe, this is tempest in a teacup material? a person donating money has zero obligation to continue funding a university whose values do not align with theirs. heck, if harvard changed their colors from crimson, ink and white to emerald and orange, we would not begrudge a philanthropist from deciding harvard no longer deserved millions in free money. sure, we would see a color change rationale for ending donations as kinda petty (even recognizing how vulgar is an emerald and orange color scheme,) but is not as if the contributor owes anything to the university. likewise, am suspecting we would not be shocked if at least a few people current donating money to byu became reluctant to do so if dozens o' student groups protested the misogyny and pedophilia o' john smith w/o any pushback from the university. even so, as a general proposition, the silence from universities regarding student protests o' israel following the hamas attack and kidnappings doesn't bother us and am thinking the taciturn approach is the right move. personal opinion: a university is in the business o' teaching students how to learn, but it should be reluctant to tell those who matriculate what to think. yeah, if students engage in violence, or verbal attack individuals based on race, color, religion, national origin or gender identity (am not sure what is the proper identifier in 2023... and am not being flippant when we says so; am genuine uncertain,) then am thinking a university should step in and condemn clear wrongs o' their students. the byu situation we imagined earlier is a bit murkier for us, but we get it if a religious university decides to take a more vocal stand when defending the reputation o' their prophet. most other situations? well, what is the point o' a university if not to have students expand their world view and perhaps even challenge the dominant paradigm? is a gross oversimplifications, and there will be exceptions, but we do no believe a university should criticize students for speaking their minds. harvard, penn and other schools remaining silent after a small number o' students declared they were more outraged by israel's treatment o' arabs living in the west bank and gaza than they were by hamas' recent attack were to us understandable even if you think it were the wrong choice. we would hope those who believe in a university's capabilities and mission such that they donate millions o' dollars to the school's endowment would be reluctant to stop funding 'cause o' silence regarding students peaceful expressing their opinions. but again, a person could and should donate money to causes in which they believe and if folks no longer believe in harvard and penn 'cause a few university student groups failed to recognize that criticizing israel immediate after the hamas mass attacks and kidnappings was poor timed and less than wise, then am not begrudging the withholding o' donations... even if we disagree with the angry philanthropist's judgement. just our opinion. HA! Good Fun!

Takeaways from AP’s reporting on who gets hurt by RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine work In June 2019, Kennedy and his wife, the actress Cheryl Hines, visited Samoa, a trip Kennedy later wrote was arranged by a local anti-vaccine influencer. Vaccine rates had plummeted after two children died in 2018 from a measles vaccine that a nurse had incorrectly mixed with a muscle relaxant. The government suspended the vaccine program for months. By the time Kennedy arrived, health authorities were trying to get back on track. Kennedy was treated as a distinguished guest and met with the prime minister and other officials. He also met with anti-vaccine activists, one of whom wrote on Instagram that the meeting was “profoundly monumental ... for this movement.” A few months later, a measles epidemic broke out in Samoa, killing 83 people, mostly infants and children. Helen Petousis-Harris, a vaccinologist from New Zealand who worked on the response, told AP that local and regional anti-vaccine activists took their cues from Kennedy. “They amplified the fear and mistrust, which resulted in the amplification of the epidemic and an increased number of children dying. Children were being brought for care too late,” she said. In an interview for a forthcoming documentary, “Shot in the Arm,” Kennedy said he bears no responsibility for the outcome. ... on the downside, adopting a code is mostly theatre as each Justice would need voluntarily interpret and follow whatever ethics rules were adopted by the Court. HA! Good Fun!

gonna once again state what should be obvious: there is no internet prizes for being first. the curious drive to immediate share ignorance when history shows time and time again that cautious reflection is the superior course is as predictable as it is unfortunate. whether is a crimean bridge explosion, an anticipated ground assault or even a police shooting in wisconsin, folks will rush to share their confident evaluations in spite o' being proved wrong after the fact over and over and over again. btw, is nothing wrong with guessing and being wrong, but all too often the speaking-out-their-kiester pundits mix their guesses with pontification. wait. best advice when info is new, conflicting, and/or unclear is to wait. nobody looks like a fool 'cause they waited. a couple days or weeks to start proselytizing 'bout the evils of ________ does not suffer 'cause an individual waited for more accurate info before sharing their outrage or scorn. am not knowing who was responsible for the carnage at the gaza hospital. am sure as hell not gonna be convinced by fellow boardies and their educated guesses, particular given how cruel history has treated vocal resident experts. HA! Good Fun!

is not as if we got any hard data, but am suspecting those maga hats helped biden more than the trump campaign. am thinking that people who buy maga hats is already diehard trump voters. the campaign contribution from hat sales is a nice bonus for trump, but he ain't getting new voters from hat sales. converse, am betting that for every X number o' hats sold, a democrat who wouldn't have otherwise voted is inspired to do so. in some cases all it takes is one dork in a maga hat acting like an arse to convince people to vote not trump, but seeing those red hats in crowds numbering hundreds and thousands adds a heaven's gate/moonies/children of the corn vibe to trumpy spectacles as the adherents parrot the nonsense o' their beloved leader. as bartimaeus implies, there is a creepy cult quality to trumpism which is driven home by the willingness o' acolytes to adopt a uniform and mindless quote scripture. ritualistic abandoning individuality is swell if you join the usmc, and it makes for great horror film fodder... but in real life, ordinary people is reasonable afraid o' cultists in red hats. admitted equal disconcerting as the maga swag from our pov are the following head coverings: HA! Good Fun!

mauritius? am having a rough understanding that modern pirates is not much like those we learned about from gilbert & sullivan, but that shouldn't prevent @Gorth from living out his secret pirate king fantasy and retiring to mauritius. HA! Good Fun!

given the kinda funds involved, the numbers always go up as long as you take a long enough view. over the course o' a worker's career, assuming +40 years, you got what amounts to a guarantee o' substantial growth... unless the apocalypse happens and then none o' your investment plans matters anyways, right? however, there is gonna be peaks and valleys, and a person retiring can't necessarily wait five years to recover from a major cratering which impacts even the most diversified portfolio and occurs at just the wrong time for a person who don't have time enough remaining to take a long view. HA! Good Fun!