The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

In The Mailbox: 01.10.23

Posted on | January 11, 2023 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 01.10.23

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Interesting facts about today’s OS-tan.
Silicon Valley delenda est.

The original OS-tan: Windows 95.

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: I’ll Take “Social Justice” For $1000, Alex
EBL: Lynette “Diamond” Hardaway, RIP, Remember, 10% for the Big Guy, and Stacey Abrams is going to run again
Twitchy: Brutal Thread Of 21 Blatant Lies Joe Biden Has Told – Some More Than Once, also, Mexico’s President Thanks Biden For “Putting America Last” – On Live TV
Louder With Crowder: Check out Stacey Abrams claiming her boyfriend dumped her for being ‘too ambitious’, Absolute badass ‘porn-sniffing dog’ dies after years of putting sickos behind bars, and Joy Behar tries to explain why Biden taking classified docs is totally different from Trump
Vox Popoli: Is Elon Lying Again?, Too Little, Too Stupid, Too Late, Foreigners Defend Fake Democracy, Evil Wizards, and Germany Implodes

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
American Conservative: Temptation Of The Psychonauts, Armenia Under Siege, and Benedict XVI: It Is The Time Of Antichrist
American Greatness: McCarthy Confirms He Will Strip Democrat Reps Omar, Swalwell and Schiff of Their Committee Assignments, Morning Greatness: House GOP Passes Legislation to Block New IRS Funding, and Virginia Attorney General Announces Investigation into Fairfax County Public Schools
American Power: Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) Announces U.S. Senate Bid, Prince Harry’s Bridge-Burner of a Memoir Signals a Bigger Royal Rift, and House Passes Rules Package as Republicans Regroup After Speaker Fight
American Thinker: With McCarthy’s Election, the Struggle Continues, How About if We Hear from the People This Time? and Steve Almond’s Failed Ambush of Laura Ingraham
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Daily Wildlife News
Babalu Blog: Cuban political prisoner threatened after refusing to participate in prison ideological events, Reports from Cuba: Cuban army exhibits its new acquisitions: Russian and Chinese trucks, and Mentally ill Cuban prisoner with epilepsy denounces physical abuse, lack of medical attention
BattleSwarm: A Failure Of The Victim Selection Process, Joe Rogan Interviews Peter Zeihan (Part 1: Russo-Ukrainian War), and Joe Rogan Interviews Peter Zeihan (Part 2: China, Cartels and Drug Wars)
Behind The Black: SpaceX successfully launches 40 OneWeb satellites, Red China’s Mars orbiter and rover in trouble, January 10, 2023 Quick space links, and Starlink and National Science Foundation sign deal coordinating spectrum use
Cafe Hayek: More on the Difference Between Losses and Costs, also, Daniel Hannan on Free Trade
CDR Salamander: The Surface Force’s Lost Generation
Da Tech Guy: I’ll never forget the death of Chuck Hughes, the only player to die during an NFL game, Report from Louisiana: Gibson out as Endymion Grand Marshall, Good News Bad News on the Rules Package, and Pennsylvania: A worthwhile recount
Don Surber: Highlights of the News, McCarthy cleans House, and Gun control lady retires on a 21-state losing streak
First Street Journal: The #ClimateChange activists really, really don’t understand how many Americans live, The left are pro-choice on exactly one thing, and Killadelphia – Lies, damned lies, and statistics!
Gates Of Vienna: Iranian Plotters Thwarted in NRW, Teach Those Anti-Maskers a Lesson!, In Pursuit of a Greater Idaho, and “Masks Restrict Freedom”
The Geller Report: House Republican Files Articles of Impeachment Against DHS Sec. Mayorkas, Where Is The FBI Raid Of Joe Biden?, and New GOP House Votes To Repeal Funding for Biden’s 87,000 New IRS Agents
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post of the Day, NGC 2, and Molon Labe
Hollywood In Toto: Denver Critics Hail Everything Everywhere, Banshees for Annual Awards, What Hollywood Can Learn from M3GAN, and The 17 Most Anticipated Shows of 2023
The Lid: Wash Post Finally Admits Russians Had Very Little Influence On 2016 Election
Legal Insurrection: Former College Soccer Player Who Claimed She Was Benched for not Kneeling for BLM Wins $100K Settlement, Democrats Want U.S. to Extradite Jair Bolsonaro, But WH Said Brazil Hasn’t Asked, House Adopts New Judiciary Subcommittee on Weaponization of the Federal Government, Twitter Files #13: Former FDA Head Dr. Scott Gottlieb’s Ties to Pfizer Exposed in Latest Revelations, and Analysis: The Destructive Power Of ‘Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’ Doesn’t Stop At Higher Education
Nebraska Energy Observer: So…
Outkick: AF Academy Offensive Linesman Hunter Brown Dead At 21, EA Sports Is Removing The CPR Celebration From Madden After The Damar Hamlin Incident, Army Athletic Trainer Named Conference Player Of The Week After Life Saving Actions At Hockey Game, Kyler Murray Will Have ‘Input’ On New Cardinals Coach, and Georgia Players Savagely Start Eating Food From Fans With 10 Minutes Left In National Championship Game
Power Line: Solar Energy Is Useless, Biden unclassified, and El Paso goes Potemkin
Shark Tank: House Proposal Authorizing Military Action Against Cartels Gets Bipartisan Support
Shot In The Dark: Opportunity Drifts, also, A Guy With A Gun
STUMP: Hatsu Basho 2023: Time to Update the Sumo Scatterplot!
The Political Hat: Texas vs. Critical Gender Studies
This Ain’t Hell: Korean War Memorial. Get it right!, FBI RAIDS BIDEN HOUSES! HOUSE CALLS FOR IMPEACHMENT! DEATH PENALTY PROPOSED FOR BIDEN!, and The U.S. government appeals decision that blamed the Air Force for the Texas church shooting
Transterrestrial Musings: More Gaslighting By The Leftist Media
Victory Girls: Biden Admin Wants To Ban Gas Cooktops
Volokh Conspiracy: No-Lockdown Sweden Seemingly Tied for Lowest All-Causes Mortality in OECD Since COVID Arrived
Watts Up With That: SoCalGas Shock: California Gas Prices Skyrocket 128% in One Year, Confessions of an Environmentalist, and No, New Study Does Not Link Gas Stoves with Asthma in Children
Weasel Zippers: El Paso Dem Mayor Says Biden Didn’t See Any Illegal Immigrants, Biden Refuses To Take Questions About Classified Documents Discovered At His Private Office, WaPo Admits Russian Trolls On Twitter Had No Effect On 2016 Voters, and Israel Transfers Palestinian Cash To Terror Victims, Bans PLO Flags
The Federalist: Forget Playing Outside – Big Pharma’s Solution To Childhood Obesity Is More Drugs, Minnesota Will Soon Make Teachers Endorse Child Mutilation To Get A License, Biden White House Hounded Facebook To Censor Tucker Carlson, New Emails Show, There’s A Difference Between Biden And Trump’s Classified Documents Snafus, But It’s Not What You Think, and This Place Rules Isn’t Original, It’s The Tired Jan. 6-QAnon Playbook With A Fresh Cover
Mark Steyn: Tanks for the Memories, also, “Chaos” and “Insurrection”

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Category: Linkagery

In The Mailbox: 01.09.23

Posted on | January 10, 2023 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 01.09.23

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Silicon Valley delenda est.

Madobe Touko, the OS-tan for Windows 10.

OVER THE TRANSOM
EBL: Separated at Birth?, Hotel Artemis, and Rescue beaver tears up Christmas
Twitchy: Biden’s Slam On Trump Over Classified Docs At Mar-A-Lago Ages Poorly, also, Corey DeAngelis Pwns Randi Weingarten After She Lies AGAIN About Closing Schools
Louder With Crowder: Newsflash – Lizzo Still Disgustingly Fat, also, ‘We got a child predator here’
Vox Popoli: The Fake Doctors, Israel Confirmed Vaxx Harm, The Algorithm Gods, The Troll Hunter’s Guide, and A Stalker’s Defense
Stoic Observations: The Cabin Of Secrets

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: New Year’s Resolution
American Conservative: False Democracy, also, To the Republic for Which Wyoming Stands
American Greatness: Joe Biden Awards Presidential Citizens Medals To Infamous 2020 Election Workers, A Rendezvous With Rwanda?, and Jim Jordan to Lead Select Subcommittee on ‘the Weaponization of the Federal Government’ 
American Power: Brazil Detains Hundreds More People, Ousts Capital’s Governor After Attacks, ‘Life-Threatening’ Flooding Feared in Northern California as Storms Cause Rivers to Swell, and How DEI Is Supplanting Truth as the Mission of American Universities
American Thinker: Election Fraud Infrastructure – Your Government At Work!, Where are the Intellectually Curious Doctors?, and Who Gave the Government the Right to Push LGBT Propaganda into Schools?
Animal Magnetism: Goodbye, Blue Monday
Babalu Blog: Absolutely offensive and disturbing video tour of Cuban apartheid tourist resort, Bolivia may be on its way to becoming another Nicaragua, Cuban dictatorship purchases record amount of chicken from U.S. in November, and Rumor of the day: Are conservatives at Vatican forcing Pope Francis to retire?
BattleSwarm: LinkSwarm for January 6, also, A Tale Of Two Governors
Behind The Black: Red China launches twice today to start 2023, Decision on leaking Soyuz and its replacement to be made by Russia on January 11th, Defrosting Martian Dunes, Two nearby galactic neighbors, and Virgin Orbit launch from Cornwall, Great Britain a failure
Cafe Hayek: Such Is Some Modern “Scholarship”, also, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: “If tomorrow is irrelevant”
CDR Salamander: Midrats 13th Anniversary Show
Da Tech Guy: One Quick Note on McCarthy Winning the Speakership on the 15th vote, Navy FLOCs and BNA…not worth the paper they are written on, My Damar Hamlin Deal with the Doctors, NFL & MSM, and Five Thoughts Under the Fedora
Don Surber: Hundreds in school system had sex with students in Chicago, No, NBC, the FBI failed to stop Twitter child porn, and How much did taxpayers pay Fallon?
First Street Journal: We tell you what the government will not: you’re going to get poorer this year, also, Not enforcing the law has not made Kensington wealthier
Gates Of Vienna: An Anti-Democratic and Anti-Constitutional Nightmare, Clown World Election in Berlin, Blaming Immigrants for the Riots is WAYCISM!, and Toxic Feminism
The Geller Report: EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE: Drag Queen Story Hour Protest at Stavros Niarchos Library in NYC, RINO Stooge Dan Crenshaw Is DEFEATED In Race For Chair of the Homeland Security Committee, and GREAT NEWS: Jim Jordan Will Chair “Weaponization of Government” Select Committee
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post of the Day, Messier 2, AIs Behaving Badly?, and Bonus Team Kimberlin Post of the Day
Hollywood In Toto: Women Talking Isn’t What We Expect, On the Trail of Bigfoot: Last Frontier Will Get Under Your Skin, and Lizzo: ‘Cancel Culture Is Appropriation’
The Lid: Schiff Had Better Lawyer Up … A PO’d Journo Is Coming For Him!, also, 11 Signs The Economic “Tipping Point” Everyone Has Been Waiting For Has Arrived
Legal Insurrection: Published Jan. 6 Files Included Social Security Numbers of Trump Officials and Republicans, Former Artist-in-Residence at U. Wisconsin Who Claimed to be Native American is Actually White, Democrats Continue Lying About J6, Falsely Claim Five Capitol Police Deaths, Chair of California’s Reparations Task Force Says Black People are Really Owed $1 Million Each, and Canadian Doctor Who Euthanized 400 People Described It as the ‘Most Rewarding Work’
Nebraska Energy Observer: Classic Sports Saturday, First Sunday of Epiphany: Lectionary Year A – The Baptism of Christ, and Protect the Nation
Outkick: Rising MMA Star Dead At 18, Texans Lose No. 1 NFL Draft Pick By Winning Final Game In Final Minute As Bears Play QBs With More INTs Than TDs, Old Dominion Basketball Player Imo Essien Collapsed During Game, NFL Made Bengals Fan Take Down Sign Making Fun Of Roger Goodell, Jim Kelly: ‘Prayer Is Real. Miracles Are Real.’, and Tim Tebow Thought He Was Snubbed, Then Found Out On Live TV He Made CFB Hall Of Fame
Power Line: DeSantis Marches On, Abbott to Biden: Do Your Job, Duke Energy Apologizes, and House GOP Causing Panic on the Left
Shark Tank: Florida’s House GOP Delegation All In On Defunding IRS
Shot In The Dark: Because Of Course, Clarity, and Context
STUMP: Preliminary look at 2022 U.S. Total Mortality – Continuing Excess Mortality
This Ain’t Hell: Pig Butchering – Warning, Soldier featured in a traffic stop video takes officers to court, Prince Harry is a ‘Bitter, delusional, paranoid, family-trashing halfwit’, and National Guard General Relieved of Command
Transterrestrial Musings: Roman Concrete, Ideological Capture Of Scientific Institutions, and Adam Schiff
Victory Girls: Hakeem Jeffries Loses Speaker Vote 15 Times, Gives Hack Speech, Will There Be Blowback for Boebert and Gaetz?, and Byron Donalds to Steer the GOP Wagon
Volokh Conspiracy: En Banc Fifth Circuit Denies Chevron Deference to ATF in Bump Stock Case, also, “Father Has Held Himself Out as ‘the Father’… But Father Has Also Referred to Himself as ‘the Mother'”
Watts Up With That: Green Energy Revolution? Oil Use Growing at a Million Barrels per Day Per Year, Vital Energy Lessons for Virginia and America, German Green Energy Fail: Demolishing a Village to Expand a Coal Mine, and Do Google Search Options Conceal Climate Data that is Contrary to Government Alarmists Propaganda?
Weasel Zippers: Biden Ripped For “Gaslighting” Americans With Border Visit, New Woke Batman Comic Has The Joker Getting “Pregnant”, Speaker Kevin McCarthy: Republicans’ Very First Bill Will Repeal Funding For New IRS Auditing Army, and Local El Paso News Confirms Police Were “Arresting People” At Border In Advance Of Biden’s Drive-By
The Federalist: Washington Could Use More Fistfights, What Spygate Tells Us About The Google, Facebook, And Twitter Files, Biden Comes Away From First Border Trip Having Seen Nothing And Learned Nothing, Ohio Republicans Score Major Win For Election Integrity With New Voter ID Law, and There’s A Reason Moving In Before Marriage Makes Divorce More Likely, But Barstool Can’t Figure It Out
Mark Steyn: Unwelcome Guests – Bette Davis and The Man Who Came to Dinner, The Man Who Invented Elvis, and Remembering Kathy

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Category: Linkagery

Can You Guess Who Won the Court Case of Brett Kimberlin v. United States?

Posted on | January 9, 2023 | Comments Off on Can You Guess Who Won the Court Case of Brett Kimberlin v. United States?

Hint: Not Brett Kimberlin.

My podcast partner John Hoge has followed the long trail of this court proceeding, whereby the diminutive bomber endeavored to have his felony convictions voided because . . . Well, reasons!

Last year, the World’s Worst Pro Se Litigant™ got curb-stomped by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Because you can’t argue pro se before the Supreme Court, the pipsqueak perjurer enlisted the legal assistance of well-connected Democrat lawyer Neal Katyal’s firm, but Kimberlin’s case was so preposterously weak that not even a big-dollar law firm could salvage it. So, if you’re keeping score at home, the final tally:

United States ………… 1
Brett Kimberlin …….. 0

The new year is off to a propitious start, I’d say. By the way, today is the 11th anniversary of the incident at the Montgomery County Courthouse that led to Kimberlin filing a peace order against Aaron Walker, and subsequently getting Walker arrested, which was the proximate cause of the Brett Kimberlin story becoming nationwide news.

PREVIOUSLY:



 

Category: Supreme Court, The Kimberlin Files

Rule 5 Sunday: Annalisa Greco

Posted on | January 8, 2023 | Comments Off on Rule 5 Sunday: Annalisa Greco

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Seen on Reddit; an Italian actress & model since 2012. Also, greetings to Flappr, “a fledging right of center website that publishes blogs, video essays and makes entertaining historical documentaries on revolutions (from a conservative perspective).”
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley esse delendam.

ANIMAL MAGNETISM: Rule Five Beam-Down Power Friday, and a Saturday Blondepocalypse.

EBL: MAGA – Speaker Of The House, The Pretenders, Lili Simmons, Native American Fake, The Most Wisconsin Story Ever, The Menu, Treason, SWA Back In The Day, “Rose Parade”, White Noise, and The Legend Of Waffle House Wendy. 

A VIEW FROM THE BEACH: Cindy Prado, Fish Pic Friday – Kelsey Arndt, Tattoo Thursday, The Wednesday Wetness, Flotsam and Jetsam – Waiting on McCarthy, Midnight Rapture, The Monday Morning Stimulus, Sunday Sunrise, Happy New Year!, and Gone Fishin’

FLAPPR: 2022 Milkers Of The Year

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Category: Rule 5

White House Pressured Facebook to Censor Tucker Carlson on COVID-19

Posted on | January 8, 2023 | Comments Off on White House Pressured Facebook to Censor Tucker Carlson on COVID-19

“Since we’ve been on the phone — the top post about vaccines today is Tucker Carlson saying they don’t work. Yesterdaty was Tomi Lehren saying she won’t take one. This is exactly why I want to know what ‘Reduction’ actually looks like — if ‘reduction’ means ‘pumping our most vaccine hesitant audience with Tucker Carlson saying it doesn’t work’ then … I’m not sure it’s reduction!”
— Rob Flaherty
Director of Digital Strategy
The White House

Can you get any clearer example of abuse of power than this? The safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines was, and is, an important matter of public policy. Perhaps you don’t have any concern on this subject — I got vaccinate in September 2021, so its moot to me — but the point is that the White House wanted to stifle all criticism, to silence anyone expressing their concerns, so that the “discussion” became a one-sided propaganda message. And they were muscling Twitter to enforce this.

Furthermore, and I’ve raised this point repeatedly in recent months: Follow the money. The giant pharmaceutical companies producing the vaccines had an obvious motive to maximize the number of people who were getting vaccinated, without regard for their objective risk from COVID-19. Even if you were healthy and under 40, even if you had natural immunity because you’d already had COVID and recovered from it, the message was EVERYBODY MUST GET VACCINATED!

Such a message contradicted what anyone with common sense and a basic familiarity with contagious diseases could see. Even before the vaccines were available, states like Florida and Texas had ended the lockdown-and-mask regimes that were the norm in Democrat-controlled states, and the results were . . . nothing. That is to say, despite the “experts” (e.g., Fauci) predicting disaster, life in the “red” states was just fine. Unless you were elderly or obese or in some other way particularly vulnerable to the virus, COVID-19 was basically the common cold.

It was argued (not very convincingly, in my judgment) that vaccinating healthy young people was necessary because, even though they were at little risk of death or serious illness from the virus, these people could get infected and thereby spread the virus to the vulnerable population. But if (a) the vaccine was effective and (b) the most vulnerable people got the vaccine, then (c) it didn’t matter who else might be carrying the virus.

No, this official urgency about “reduction” of anti-vaccine messages wasn’t about public health. It was about selling the vaccines, and thereby enhancing the profits of Big Pharma. You can’t convince me otherwise.

Ian Miller at Outkick:

It’s yet another example of the federal government using tech companies to violate first amendment rights.
Flaherty’s cozy relationship with Facebook, as he references a phone conversation, meant he could reach out to get unfavorable opinions ”reduced.”
Sure enough, just a couple hours later, he got a response saying Facebook was ”running it down.”
Private companies censoring users at the behest of government is a direct violation of the First Amendment. But Biden and many on his ideological allies on left don’t care much for freedom of speech.

This is not merely about the First Amendment in some abstract, intellectual sense. It is about corruption, and the Biden administration’s secretive behind-the-scenes manipulation of public discussion.



 

Category: Conspiracy Theories

FMJRA 2.0: She’s Got A Face That Could Stop A Clock

Posted on | January 8, 2023 | Comments Off on FMJRA 2.0: She’s Got A Face That Could Stop A Clock

— compiled by Wombat-socho

SOTD, by Cheap Trick
Earlier this week, it was noted in the news that former congresscritter Liz Cheney (R-WY) left office considerably more wealthy than she was when she arrived in DC as a freshman. On r/Conservative, someone said they’d be willing to be Mr. Cheney for a slice of all that cash, and I promptly posted a link to the SOTD in reply. Which, considering I hadn’t heard the song since I was a young PFC studying Russian at DLI, seems to indicate my memory’s not completely shot. Yet.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley esse delendam.

Pic somewhat related,

Another Bloody Year in ‘Killadelphia’
The DaleyGator
First Street Journal
357 Magnum
EBL

FMJRA 2.0: New Year’s Eve Edition
A View From The Beach
EBL

Rule 5 Sunday: Happy New Year!
Animal Magnetism
A View From The Beach
EBL

‘Monday Night Football’ Postponed; Buffalo Player Critically Injured
EBL

In The Mailbox: 01.03.23 (Morning Edition)
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum
EBL
Proof Positive

In The Mailbox: 01.03.22 (Evening Edition)
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum
EBL
Proof Positive

In The Mailbox: 01.04.23
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum
EBL
Proof Positive

Twitter Files Reveal Hillary Clinton — Of Course! — Was Behind Censorship Push
The DaleyGator
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum
EBL

GOOD NEWS from Chicago!
The DaleyGator
357 Magnum
EBL

In The Mailbox: 01.05.23
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum
EBL
Proof Positive

In The Mailbox: 01.06.23
357 Magnum
A View From The Beach
EBL
Proof Positive

Top linkers for the week ending January 6:

  1.  EBL (11)
  2.  (tied) 357 Magnum & A View From The Beach (8)
  3.  Proof Positive (5)

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Category: FMJRA Award

Football: Good News and Bad News

Posted on | January 7, 2023 | Comments Off on Football: Good News and Bad News

The good news is, Damar Hamlin is alive and improving:

Bills safety Damar Hamlin continues to make progress in his recovery as he remains breathing on his own and his “neurological function is excellent,” according to physicians at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center via a statement from the team Saturday.
Hamlin remains in critical condition, the statement said, but is progressing after having his breathing tube removed overnight Thursday to Friday.
The 24-year-old still has a long road to recovery, with doctors from the UC Medical Center saying Thursday that there were many steps ahead for Hamlin, although he accomplished the first by having the breathing tube taken out. . . .
Hamlin was able to speak with teammates on a Zoom call Friday during the Bills’ team meeting. He told his teammates, “Love ya boys,” made a heart with his hands, gave them a thumbs-up and even flexed on them. Bills players reacted to seeing Hamlin by standing up, clapping and yelling in excitement.
“We got our boy, man, you know what I’m saying,” left tackle Dion Dawkins said. “It’s all that matters. We got our boy. The excitement was beautiful. It was amazing. It has given us so much energy, so much bright, high spirits, whatever you want to call it. It is giving it to us. To see that boy’s face, to see him smile, see him [flex his muscles] in the camera, it was everything. And then to hear him talk to us. It was literally everything. And that’s what we needed. Literally, that’s all we needed.”
CPR was administered to Hamlin on the field at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati on Monday night for multiple minutes after he suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed following his tackle of Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins.

So that’s the good news. Honestly, I thought he was dead after he collapsed on the field Monday. It’s certainly encouraging to hear that he’s getting better, even though that means the Bills are likely to be fired up for Sunday’s game against my New England Patriots who, depending on the outcome of other games, are likely to be facing a must-win situation, if they want to make it into the playoffs on the final wild-card spot. So we’ll be hoping that (a) the Jacksonsville Jaguars win tonight, eliminating the Tennessee Titans, (b) the New York Jets win Sunday, eliminating the Miami Dolphins, and (c) the Cleveland Browns win Sunday, eliminating the Pittsburgh Steelers. Only if all three of those things happen can the Patriots make the playoffs without beating Buffalo and, to be honest, the odds are at least 5-to-1 against them beating the Bills. Meanwhile . . .

The author of that article, Tracie Canada, “is an assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Duke University. Her research uses sport to theorize race, kinship, care, gender and the performing body, and she is currently working on a book project about the experiences of Black college football players. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia.” And after publishing the Dumbest Article Ever Written About Football, she has locked her Twitter account. Far be it from me to “participate in targeted abuse” on Twitter, but that doesn’t mean you can’t participate by saying rude things to Professor Canada.



 

Category: Football

FINALLY: McCarthy Becomes Speaker

Posted on | January 7, 2023 | Comments Off on FINALLY: McCarthy Becomes Speaker

What is normally a pro forma exercise on the first day of the new Congress instead dragged on for four days before reaching its final conclusion in the wee hours of the night:

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was elected House speaker after midnight Saturday on the 15th round of voting, marking the conclusion of an intense week of negotiations with Republican defectors and a dramatic Friday night packed with tension and a physical altercation.
McCarthy received 216 votes, House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) received 212 votes, and six Republican members voted “present.”
No speaker race had lasted 15 rounds or more in 163 years, according to House records. The last race to take more than one ballot occurred in 1923, when reelecting then-Speaker Frederick Gillett took nine ballots.
The roughly 20 members who had been voting against McCarthy throughout the week — many of whom are in the House Freedom Caucus — sought various structural changes to the House and other commitments from the leader, aiming to shift power away from leadership and to rank-and-file members and Freedom Caucus members specifically.
Their asks included, among many items, bringing the motion to vacate down to a one-member threshold and putting more members of the Freedom Caucus on the Rules Committee, as well as budgetary provisions and vows to bring votes on certain legislation to the floor. . . .
In a sign that members were nearing an agreement, more than half of the holdouts changed their vote to McCarthy Friday morning, leaving the pressure on six members who could derail McCarthy’s speakership should they continue to refuse to vote for him.
Those six members, Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Bob Good (R-VA), and Matt Rosendale (R-MT), and Rep.-elect Eli Crane (R-AZ), voted “present” in the 15th round, meaning their vote would not count toward the final tally, effectively assuring McCarthy the gavel. . . .
In a stunning turn of events after Gaetz cast his vote, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) appeared to yell at Gaetz and lunge toward him, and he was physically pulled back by another member before Rogers stormed out of the chamber.

Was this protracted battle motivated by personal grievance?

Among the major factors in McCarthy losing more than a dozen speakership ballots, people familiar with the matter say, was the severity of Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz’s enmity toward the Republican leader. Gaetz’s intense and personal distaste for McCarthy has been an open secret in Washington political circles for years, so much so that Gaetz and McCarthy’s colleagues would argue it isn’t even a “secret” at all.
But Gaetz’s hatred curdled into something even more powerful after it was revealed in early 2021 that the MAGA congressman was the target of a federal investigation into the sex trafficking of a minor. (No charges were filed against Gaetz, but his “wingman” Joel Greenberg was sentenced to 11 years in prison.) McCarthy, in Gaetz’s opinion, failed to mount a forceful enough defense on his behalf. According to two sources familiar with the matter, Gaetz has been furious at McCarthy for the perceived lack of support ever since — despite the fact that McCarthy did not strip him of any committee assignments during the probe.

So says Rolling Stone, anyway, and while I’m skeptical that this left-wing publication has informed sources inside the GOP caucus, at the same time I don’t like Republican sex scandals. Republicans should be the party of boring middle-class married life. Let the Democrats have a monopoly on sex scandals. It’s an American tradition.



 

Category: Congress
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