swordfish

Wait a tick..........Trump was right about a "Wuhan lab leak" after all? Nooooo - can't be.......He was a conspiracy theorist and a racist to suggest the Chinese could be behind this.....Censorship is king! (IMHO) It appears the White House is trying to get ahead of this "classified intelligence report" that will be forthcoming as the Republican committee(s) in the House get going. https://nypost.com/2023/02/26/covid-lab-leak-is-a-scandal-of-media-and-government-censorship/ The Wall Street Journal reports that the Energy Department has concluded that the COVID pandemic most likely arose from a laboratory leak. The conclusion is reportedly based on a classified intelligence report recently provided to the White House and key members of Congress. Many will be exploring why the scientific evidence of a lab leak was so slow to emerge from intelligence agencies. However, for my part, the most alarming aspect was the censorship, not the science. There will continue to be a debate over the origins of COVID-19, but now there will be an actual debate. For years, the media and government allied to treat anyone raising a lab theory as one of three possibilities: conspiracy theorist or racists or racist conspiracy theorists. Academics joined this chorus in marginalizing anyone raising the theory. One study cited the theory as an example of “anti-Chinese racism” and “toxic white masculinity.” As late as May 2021, the New York Times’ Science and Health reporter Apoorva Mandavilli was calling any mention of the lab theory as “racist.” She embodies the model of the new “advocacy journalism” at the Times. Reporters who remained wedded to the dated view of objective journalism were purged from the ranks of The Times long ago. Mandavilli and others made clear that reporters covering the theory were COVID’s little Bull Connors. She tweeted wistfully “someday we will stop talking about the lab leak theory and maybe even admit its racist roots. But alas, that day is not yet here.” However, one former New York Times science editor Nicholas Wade chastised his former colleagues for ignoring the obvious evidence supporting a lab theory as well as Chinese efforts to arrest scientists and destroy evidence that could establish the origin. Others in academia quickly joined the bandwagon to assure the public that there is no scientific basis for their theory, leaving only racist or politics as the motivation behind the theory. In early 2020, with little available evidence, two op-eds in The Lancet in February and Nature Medicine went all-in on the denial front. The Lancet op-ed stated, “We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that Covid-19 does not have a natural origin.” We were also supposed to forget about massive payments from the Chinese government to American universities and grants of some of these writers to both Chinese interests or even the specific Wuhan lab. No reference to the lab theory was to be tolerated. When Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) merely mentioned the possibility in 2020, he was set upon by the usual flash media mob. The Washington Post ridiculed him of repeating a “debunked” coronavirus “conspiracy theory.” In September 2020, Dr. Li-Meng Yan, a virologist and former postdoctoral fellow at the University of Hong Kong, dared to repeat the theory on Fox News, saying, “I can present solid scientific evidence . . . [that] it is a man-made virus created in the lab.” The left-leaning PolitiFact slammed her and gave her a “pants on fire rating.” President Joe Biden accused Trump of fanning racism in his criticism of the Chinese government over the pandemic and his Administration reportedly shutdown the State Department investigation into the possible lab origins of the virus. When Biden later revived an investigation into the origins, he was denounced as “sugar-coating Trump’s racism.” The categorical rejection of the lab theory is only the latest media narrative proven to be false. The Russian collusion scandal, the Hunter Biden “Russian Disinformation,” the Lafayette Park “Photo Op” conspiracy, the Nick Sandmann controversy, the Jussie Smollett case, the Migrant Whipping scandal. On the lab theory, media like the Washington Post piled on senators like Cruz and Cotton for mentioning the lab theory only later to admit that it could be legitimate. All of those experts and writers who were called racists or suspended by social media were simply forgotten in media coverage. That is why this is really about censorship. The media guaranteed that we did not have a full debate over the origins of the virus and attacked those who had the temerity to state the obvious that there was a plausible basis for suspecting the Wuhan lab. None of this has diminished demands for more censorship. Even after Twitter admitted that it wrongly blocked The New York Post story before the 2020 election, Democratic senators responded by warning the company not to cut back on censorship and even demanded more censorship. Recently, the Twitter Files revealed an extensive and secret FBI effort to censor citizens on social media. This included undisclosed efforts by members like Rep. Adam Schiff (D., Cal.) to get Twitter to ban a columnist and target critics. In a House hearing, democratic leaders like Rep. Jamie Raskin (D., Md). called for more censorship and opposed investigations into the censorship efforts. These same figures in politics and media are just moving on to the next approved narrative. President Biden previously called for more censorship and accused Big Tech of “killing people” by not censoring more views deemed “COVID misinformation.” The opposite is true. By suppressing alternative scientific and policy views, the public was denied a full debate over mask efficacy, vaccine side effects, COVID origins and other important issues. Many of those questions are only being recognized as legitimate and worthy of debate. Censorship does not, as President Biden claims, save lives. It is more likely to cost lives by protecting approved views from challenge. It does not foster the truth any more than it fosters free speech. Whatever the origin of COVID-19 may be in China, the origins of our censorship scandal is closer to home.

Start watching for a change in Bobref's dialogue......😁

Enjoy your time sir! I love my vacations.

This story won't die.....Apparently this guy/gal/it has hit more bags than were reported.... https://nypost.com/2023/02/22/fashion-designer-claims-sam-brinton-wore-her-stolen-clothes/ Fashion designer claims Sam Brinton wore her clothes that were stolen from DC airport in 2018 A fashion designer from Houston claimed that disgraced former Department of Energy official Sam Brinton wore the custom-made clothes that she had reported missing from a Washington, DC, airport in 2018. Asya Khamsin, a Tanzanian fashion designer who has made her own clothing for years, shared the shocking connection in a Monday tweet that has since gone viral. Khamsin said she found photos of Brinton wearing her custom clothing that she had packed in the missing bag after learning that Brinton had been charged with stealing multiple pieces of luggage from two US airports. The fashion designer tweeted photos showing some of the clothes she lost and then Brinton — who identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns — wearing the same outfits. “I saw the images. Those were my custom designs, which were lost in that bag in 2018,” she told Fox News. “He wore my clothes, which was stolen.”

https://nypost.com/2023/02/21/biden-says-he-wanted-to-add-ski-to-end-of-his-name/ Biden, 80, who was in Warsaw to mark the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, talked after his bilateral meeting with Poland President Andrzej Duda about his family’s big move. “As a young man, I was born in a coal town of Scranton, Pa., in northeastern Pennsylvania, in an Irish Catholic neighborhood. Then when coal died, we moved down to Delaware, to a town called Claymont, Del., which was a working-class town,” Biden recalled. “But everyone in town was either Polish or Italian. I grew up feeling self-conscious my name didn’t end in an ‘s-k-i’ or an ‘o.'” I got nothing......smh.....

Of course it is. A sympathetic prosecutor made a plea deal instead of trying the case in 2019. But it's not his fault, we need more gun laws. When are we going to learn? ENFORCE THE EXISTING LAWS AND PROSECUTE THE LAWBREAKERS. https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/15/us/michigan-state-university-mass-shooting-wednesday/index.html The Michigan State University killer was previously charged with a felony but was still able to buy guns. Here’s why CNN — Years before Anthony Dwayne McRae killed three Michigan State University students and critically wounded five others, he was charged with carrying a concealed weapon – a felony count that would have prevented him from being able to buy a gun if he were convicted. That felony case never went to trial. Instead, a 2019 deal allowed McRae to plead guilty to a misdemeanor – possession of a loaded firearm in or upon a vehicle, the Ingham County prosecutor’s office said Tuesday. McRae spent a year and a half on probation. Now, questions abound over whether the slaughter at Michigan State on Monday evening could have been prevented.

I know, he isn't in the dead pool yet, but he is getting things ready to jump in soon. Jimmy Carter, 98 years old - He certainly wasn't a good POTUS, (IMHO - kind of a toss-up between he and our current POTUS as to who was/is worse) but his life before and afterwards has certainly been incredible. A former military man, returned home to run the family business. A staunch, humble humanitarian person who gave so much of his time and efforts to so many, especially his work with Habitat for Humanity even up to a few years ago. I will give credit where credit is due. A man who has earned my deep respect - may he pass peacefully and rest in peace. https://apnews.com/article/politics-united-states-government-gerald-ford-ronald-reagan-hospice-care-f4e26c10a7b366f14e62f690da403b0a

We will never know for sure......

The purest definition of "overkill" - Those dang kids and their science projects anyway...... https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cruz-responds-biden-authorized-200-million-fighter-jet-shoot-science-project?fbclid=IwAR0Y6fkIvgY-alF7T8NneE3wfVpSwGR7f7w-o8Phckbetmkw5Fe200mRNBE Sen. Ted Cruz took to Twitter Thursday to criticize President Joe Biden for ordering an F-22 fighter jet to shoot down what may have been a hobby club’s science project off the coast of Alaska earlier last week. Cruz, R-Texas, joked that Biden’s decision to authorize the $200 million fighter jet to use a $400,000 missile to shoot down what may have been a $12 balloon serves as a "powerful deterrence" to high school students interested in creating their own at-home science balloons. The comment came after the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade’s (NIBBB), an Illinois-based hobbyist club, said their pico balloon that was floating off the west coast of Alaska went missing the same day a Lockheed Martin jet shot down an unidentified object matching its description. "To be fair, Biden is providing is powerful deterrence for any high school science clubs that might try to invade America…." Cruz wrote on Twitter. "President Biden needs to tell the American people whether this is true," Cruz added in a separate tweet. The club’s globe-trotting balloon, which was last reported to be hovering at 38,910 ft. on Feb. 10, may have been one of three unidentified aerial objects the U.S. Air Force shot out of the sky via the president’s authorization between Feb. 10-12. The group said that its trajectory put it directly over the central Yukon Territory on Feb. 11, where an object was shot out of the sky. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby also said the objects shot down Feb. 10-12 may not have been from China or another foreign country but "could just be balloons." "I can confirm that the Department of Defense was tracking a high-altitude object over Alaska airspace in the last 24 hours. The object was flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet and posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight. Out of an abundance of caution and the recommendation of the Pentagon, President Biden ordered the military to down the object. And they did. And it came in inside our territorial waters," Kirby added during Friday's White House press briefing.

FIFY.....

A diversity event that is not "Diverse"? https://www.foxnews.com/media/high-school-asks-employees-avoid-inviting-white-peers-event-people-of-color-due-mistrust High school asks employees to 'avoid inviting' White peers to event for people of color due to 'mistrust' A California school district hosted an event for employees of color but warned their White peers were not invited to participate A California school district held an event for employees of color but warned educators that they should not invite their White peers because of "feelings of uneasiness and mistrust." The Acalanes Union High School District (AUHSD), in the Bay Area, hosted an event for all employees of color on February 8, but Dr. Lynnā McPhatter-Harris, the director of Student Support Equity & Inclusion for the district reminded employees their non-White peers should not be invited to participate, according to an email shared exclusively by Libs of TikTok with Fox News Digital. "Hello POCC staff, we are ready for out first coming together in 2023," McPhatter-Harris' email read. "We are looking forward to seeing our people of color in the district. Please invite any employee of color to this event."

Flying out of South Bend for work all these years, I had various opportunities to fly with "Mayor Pete" especially when his focus turned to getting out of SB and moving more into Federal politics. I told him once to stick to his own convictions (he is a smart guy), and to not let the Democrat Party pigeon-hole him into a corner just to keep him where they want him to be. (A gay guy to illustrate diversity) It appears that he didn't take my advice and finds himself in a position he is ill-equipped for and is simply floundering while carrying the Democrat fallback position for everything. (It's Trump's fault) This dude would have been fired in the public sector by now. (Rail strike, Air traffic issues, ports issues - all during which he is noticeably absent from until afterwards https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ohio-residents-erupt-town-hall-wheres-pete-buttigieg) We’re constrained by law on some areas of rail regulation (like the braking rule withdrawn by the Trump administration in 2018 because of a law passed by Congress in 2015), but we are using the powers we do have to keep people safe. https://www.foxnews.com/media/complete-embarrassment-buttigieg-blasted-touting-rail-safety-blaming-trump-ohio-train-derailment 'Complete embarrassment:' Buttigieg blasted for touting 'rail safety,' blaming Trump for Ohio train derailment

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Always knew of him and a few of his songs, but it wasn't until the tributes last evening that I became aware of the multitude of songs he wrote and the amount of artists who became famous with his songs. Truly amazing.

At least LeBron's kids know who the GOAT is......

A $200,000,000 Stealth Fighter (in case the balloon was armed I'm sure) fired a nearly $400,000 missile at a balloon. (After it left US land and would have completed any surveillance it was conducting) JMHO

The wagons are circling to try and protect the Bidens as the President becomes more and more useless and even a true liability to the Democrats......Any guess as to where the funding for this is coming from? https://nypost.com/2023/02/02/hunter-bidens-legal-threats-have-no-merit-raises-political-questions/ Hunter Biden appears to have finally achieved clarity. Months after The Post’s October 2020 reporting, Biden was warning reporters that his “alleged” laptop might be Russian disinformation — or it might be his. He seemed tortured by doubt in a 2021 CBS News interview: “For real, I don’t know. I don’t have any idea — I have no idea whether or not.” It now appears he does know “for real.” His lawyers sent letters Wednesday requesting investigations into figures associated with former President Donald Trump who have used information from the laptop. The first son’s sudden shift to the offense follows a meeting of a Legion of Doom of Democratic operatives reportedly planning attacks on potential witnesses against Hunter. At the same time, Biden agents are planning to create a large legal fund for the next stage. In a city where influence peddling is the leading industry, Hunter’s plight could easily become a cause célèbre. Indeed, there hasn’t been a greater sense of urgency or outpouring of humanity since the Kato Kaelin housing crisis. The letters to federal and state prosecutors seem to confirm the plan for a scorched-earth strategy. The Biden lawyers accuse people using the laptop contents of possibly violating federal and state laws “in accessing, copying, manipulating, and/or disseminating Mr. Biden’s personal computer data.” The Biden team is also threatening media that have covered the story, including Fox News, with defamation lawsuits. (For the record, I appear as a legal analyst on Fox News.) And it’s asking the IRS to consider removing the tax-exempt status of groups that used the material such as Marco Polo, a charitable organization run by Garrett Ziegler — in a letter copied to the agency’s criminal investigation unit chief. The letters raise serious constitutional and political concerns. Critics using publicly available material are allowed to reach their own conclusions about the implications of these files. The Biden team, for example, threatens a lawsuit against Fox News host Tucker Carlson while demanding a retraction of “false and defamatory statements.” It maintains Carlson falsely portrayed Hunter Biden as involved in a “money laundering scheme to finance President Biden’s lifestyle” by paying him $50,000 a month in rent. It claims the story was debunked. But Hunter Biden is a public figure who must shoulder a high standard for defamation of “actual malice,” requiring that a false statement be made “with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.” Courts are highly protective of the exercise of opinion, particularly on subjects of great political significance like influence peddling. The laptop’s legal status is also key. To all appearances, Hunter abandoned the laptop at John Paul Mac Isaac’s Wilmington, Del., computer repair shop. That’s different from the claims of Hunter’s sister, Ashley, who triggered a nationwide FBI investigation into the theft of her diary. While she left her diary at a third party’s home, she insists she did not abandon or forget it. Under standard terms of the agreement, an item left beyond a certain number of days at a business or rental housing becomes abandoned property. It can generally then be left on the curb, sold, or given away. What’s most striking about the Hunter Biden claim is the delay. For more than two years, Hunter has refused to admit the laptop is genuine despite email recipients confirming the content of the communications. The laptop also shows Hunter engaged in potential crimes from drug use to prostitution offenses. Yet he insisted it might all be those pesky Russians again. Now the laptop is his, and he is fighting mad. Indeed, he’s shocked that anyone would treat his property in this fashion — a property he left at a computer shop and failed to claim for years. In the effort to target Marco Polo, the Biden team insists it “has operated as little more than a thinly disguised political operation to attack the Biden administration and the Biden family.” That sounds more vindictive than virtuous. Indeed, if the Biden administration started yanking the tax-exempt status of Biden critics, it would trigger an outcry over weaponizing the IRS. (A similar controversy during the Obama-Biden administration involving IRS official Lois Lerner led to a financial settlement with targeted conservative groups.) Biden’s team seems at points as conflicted as its client. After denouncing the use of his personal property and files, it suggests they might not be his files at all. It claims that “downstream recipients of what has been purported to be Mr. Biden’s hard drive have reported anomalies in the data, suggesting manipulation of it.” You certainly do not want to be downstream in any Hunter Biden scandal, but this raises questions as to whether these files are authentic while claiming ownership of them. Notably, Biden has not brought a civil lawsuit for a privacy tort claim despite the bluster and bombast of these letters. The reason is simple: He does not have a privacy case against the media or critics. Under the tort of “public disclosure of embarrassing private facts,” you can be sued for publishing even true statements that a reasonable person would find offensive. Showing Hunter’s selfie videos allegedly having sex with prostitutes would qualify as embarrassing to most people. But the tort has an exception for “newsworthy” stories or matters of great public interest. Biden may not be the energy or transportation expert his previous positions suggest, but he is most certainly newsworthy.

In light of the recent police beating of Tyre Nichols, SF is left wondering - WTF were the LEO's thinking? Benefit of the doubt - a "perp" (can't say he was a "perp" since there is no evidence to support that) runs after a traffic stop, and is caught, but then you subdue the guy (as humanely as you can) and begin the arrest proceedings. These guys just beat the crap out of him for no reason. (none that SF can see) 5 black LEO's - and SF was taught by the GID actors a loooooong time ago that a black person can't be racist. I'm not buying that one anymore, cause I can't see any other reason these officers did what they did. They were being no different in SF's eyes than any other run of the mill racist pig white guys to a guy that (maybe) deserved nothing more than a ticket or arrest for fleeing on officer. Prove me wrong.