#TFG on trial

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Ed Hall

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

May 28, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

MAY 29, 2024

The defense and the prosecution today made their closing statements in the New York criminal case against Trump for falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels. The payment was intended to stop her account of her sexual encounter with Trump from becoming public in the days before the 2016 election, when the Trump campaign was already reeling from the Access Hollywood tape showing Trump boasting of sexual assault.  

The Biden-Harris campaign showed up at the trial today with veteran actor Robert DeNiro and former police officers Michael Fanone and Harry Dunn, who protected the U.S. Capitol and members of Congress from rioters on January 6, 2021. In words seemingly calculated to get under Trump’s skin, DeNiro said, “We New Yorkers used to tolerate him when he was just another grubby real estate hustler masquerading as a big shot,” and called him a coward. 

When Robert Costa of CBS News asked campaign spokesperson Michael Tyler why they had shown up at the trial, Tyler answered: “Because you all are here. You’ve been incessantly covering this day in and day out, and we want to remind the American people ahead of the…first debate on June 27 of the unique, persistent, and growing threat that Donald Trump poses to the American people and to our democracy. So since you all are here, we’re here communicating that message.” 

Yesterday, in remarks at Arlington National Cemetery in observance of Memorial Day, President Joe Biden honored “the sacrifice of the hundreds of thousands of women and men who’ve given their lives for this nation. Each one…a link in the chain of honor stretching back to our founding days. Each one bound by common commitment—not to a place, not to a person, not to a President, but to an idea unlike any idea in human history: the idea of the United States of America.”

“[F]reedom has never been guaranteed,” Biden said. “Every generation has to earn it; fight for it; defend it in battle between autocracy and democracy, between the greed of a few and the rights of many…. And just as our fallen heroes have kept the ultimate faith with our country and our democracy, we must keep faith with them,” he said. 

His speech at Arlington echoed the message he delivered to this year’s graduating class at the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he urged the graduates to hold fast to their oaths. “On your very first day at West Point, you raised your right hands and took an oath—not to a political party, not to a president, but to the Constitution of the United States of America—against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” he said to applause. Soldiers “have given their lives for that Constitution. They have fought to defend the freedoms that it protects: the right to vote, the right to worship, the right to raise your voice in protest. They have saved and sacrificed to ensure, as President Lincoln said, a ‘government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the Earth.’”

“[N]othing is guaranteed about our democracy in America. Every generation has an obligation to defend it, to protect it, to preserve it, to choose it,” he said. “Now, it’s your turn.” Biden spent more than an hour saluting and shaking the hand of each graduate. 

In contrast, Trump ushered in Memorial Day with a post on his social media company, saying: “Happy Memorial Day to All, including the Human Scum that is working so hard to destroy our Once Great Country, & to the Radical Left, Trump Hating Federal Judge in New York that presided over, get this, TWO separate trials, that awarded a woman, who I never met before (a quick handshake at a celebrity event, 25 years ago, doesn’t count!), 91 MILLION DOLLARS for “DEFAMATION.” He then continued to attack E. Jean Carroll, the writer who successfully sued him for defamation, before turning to attack Judge Arthur Engoron, who presided over the civil case of Trump and the Trump Organization falsifying documents, and Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over the current criminal case in New York. 

The message behind this extraordinary post was twofold: Trump can think of nothing but himself…and he appears to be terrified. 

On Saturday, May 25, Trump had an experience quite different from his usual reception at rallies of hand-picked supporters. He was resoundingly booed at the national convention of the Libertarian Party in Washington, D.C., where Secret Service agents confiscated squeaky rubber chickens before his speech. Attendees jeered Trump’s order, “You have to combine with us,” even when he reminded them of his libertarian credentials—tax cuts and defunding of federal equality programs—and promised to pardon the January 6 rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol. 

Trump also promised to pardon Ross Ulbricht, who founded and from January 2011 to October 2013 ran an online criminal marketplace called Silk Road, where more than $200 million in illegal drugs and other illicit goods and services, such as computer hacking, were bought and sold. Most of the sales were of drugs, with the Silk Road home page listing nearly 13,000 options, including heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, and LSD. The wares were linked to at least six deaths from overdose around the world. In May 2015, Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison and was ordered to forfeit more than $180 million. 

Libertarians want Ulbricht released because they support drug legalization on the grounds that people should be able to make their own choices and they see Ulbricht’s sentence as government overreach. Trump has repeatedly called for the death penalty for drug dealers, making his promise to pardon Ulbricht an illustration of just how badly he thinks he needs the support of Libertarian voters. But they refused to endorse him. 

Trump appeared angry, and on Sunday, as Greg Sargent reported in The New Republic, he reposted a video of a man raging at MSNBC host Joe Scarborough. In it, the man says that when Trump is reelected: “He’ll get rid of all you f*cking liberals. You liberals are gone when he f*cking wins. You f*cking blowjob liberals are done. Uncle Donnie’s gonna take this election—landslide. Landslide, you f*cking half a blowjob. Landslide. Get the f*ck out of here, you scumbag.” 

Trump’s elevation of this video, Sargent notes, is a dangerous escalation of his already violent rhetoric, and yet it has gotten very little media attention. 

Last November, Matt Gertz of Media Matters reported that ABC News, CBS News, and NBC News provided 18 times more coverage of 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s comment at a fundraising event that “you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables” who are “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic,” than they provided of Trump’s November 2023 promise to “root out the communist, Marxist, fascist and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.” 

CNN, the Fox News Channel, and MSNBC mentioned the “deplorables” comment nearly 9 times more than Trump’s “vermin” language. The ratio for the five highest-circulating U.S. newspapers was 29:1. 

Clinton’s statement was consistent with polling, and she added that the rest of Trump’s supporters were “people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they’re just desperate for change.” She said: “Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well.”

Sargent noted that news stories require context and that Trump’s elevation of the violent video should be placed alongside his many threats to prosecute his enemies. While there is often concern over disrespect toward right-wing voters, Sargent writes, there has been very little attention to the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s posting of “a video that declares a large ideological subgroup of Americans ‘done’ and ‘gone’ if he is elected.”

Scott MacFarlane of CBS News reported yesterday that Republicans have ignored a law passed in March 2022 requiring the placement of a small plaque honoring police officers who protected the U.S. Capitol and the lawmakers and staffers there on January 6, 2021. It was supposed to be in place by March 2023 but has not gone up. A spokesperson for House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) says his office is working on it. Kayla Tausche of CNN reported today that three of the police officers at the Capitol that day—Sergeant Aquilino Gonell and Officer Harry Dunn, both retired, and Officer Daniel Hodges, who is still with the Washington, D.C., metropolitan police—will be traveling to swing states for the Biden campaign to tell voters that Trump threatens Americans’ fundamental rights. 

Finally, today, Melinda French Gates, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, announced $1 billion in new spending over the next two years “for people and organizations working on behalf of women and families around the world, including on reproductive rights in the United States.” Only 2% of charitable giving in the U.S. goes to these organizations, she wrote the New York Times, and “[f]or too long, a lack of money has forced organizations fighting for women's rights into a defensive posture while the enemies of progress play offense. I want to help even the match.”

—

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[90363462]

One thing abt this "evidentiary hearing" in Fulton Co Now Y'all see in rt what BlkWomn endure daily I can say w/certainty that DA Willis has been disrespected, undermined, 2nd guessed, gaslit, qualifications questioned & side-eyed abt her purse more than once before Misogynoir

I’ll never forgive it!

and the whole trial was just an distraction to prosecute her for nothing while tfg is still running for president again despite having 91 indictments against him and forced to pay back millions of dollars!!!!

[tempus-fuckit]

Watching TFG scramble to delay his trial feels like watching a rat stuck in a corner, and yes, it's satisfying.

But to extend the metaphor, if he beats this charge, he might just gain enough reputational clout to get re-elected, so perhaps it's like the rat has a deadly plague and if it gets out of that corner, the world ends.

These ADAs working long hours to answer all these frivolous motions might just be literally saving the human race. God Bless them.

[trump666traitor]

Imagine, The trial Televised with TFG, in the court room, OJ Simpson in the audience

[cyarskaren52]

-“Tory Lanez is innocent”(for the billionth time, if he’s innocent then why was he not man enough to testify in court during his own trial but bold enough to self snitch while tormenting Megan for three fqucking years?!?!?! He’s in prison. Go join your lover in there instead of riding his meat like the thirsty harlot you are)

-Chrisean & Blueface (enough is enough, they bring out the worst in each other, and if I had to hear anything about one or both of them I’m throwing my phone into the ocean… not really lol but seriously though)

-Body count(how many people do you really have sex with, like who cares?!? If you had sex good if you’re a virgin then that’s fine too)

-What do you bring to the table(who cares?!?)

-Is Cis a slur(um no it’s not get out your feelings snowflake)

- Gender roles(it’s not the 1950s anymore)

-Smash or pass bm & bw (who cares?!?)

-Cheesecake Factory is not a date(i wouldn’t mind going to the Cheesecake Factory)

-Dressing up for your friends birthday (like who cares?!?)

-Birthday make up(who cares?!?)

- nick cannon (seriously if I had to hear about him having another baby i stg)

- tfg(how is he got four indictments, guilty of sexual assault and still running for president for the third time?!?)

- dinner with jay z or a lot of money (haven’t we kinda settled this debate already)

- rage against the machine being a musical political group and being upset about it (what do you think the machine was about the dishwasher?!?) btw the same ones who are complaining about Ratm and Garth brooks being too woke are the same ones who have no problem with Ted nugent or Jason aldean

- Wearing bonnets or du-rags outside

- Use of corporal punishment against children

- Topics involving tax brackets none of our broke asses are part of

- For us straights, anything concerning the LGBTQ community because we REALLY need to mind our own fucking business

Fauxgressives (they ruin or attempt to ruin movements for their own agenda)

PLEASE SHUT ALL OF THIS SHIT UP and others BY 2024

[fahrni]

Saturday Morning Coffee

Good morning from Charlottesville, Virginia! ☕️

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know I did! It’s a time for family and wonderful food at the Fahrni household, especially the pies! Kim’s pumpkin and Haileigh’s Pecan pie are amazing and I always eat a little too much of each. 😋

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Ruth Ben-Ghiat

Some have wondered why the Trump campaign is being so open about the repressive policies they intend to implement. This “transparency” is in line with authoritarian history: Autocrats often tell you who they are and what they intend to do to you before they take office. They do this as a challenge to norms, and they do this as a threat.

If TFG is elected again and destroys our Democracy we will deserve everything we get and I hate the thought of it happening.

Where will people immigrate to if our democracy comes to an end in favor of an autocracy? Canada? Germany? Some other European nation not caught up in this current authoritarian wave?

Anita Chabria • Los Angeles Times

A unicorn costume, a hammer and a belief that pedophiles are using public schools to destroy democracy: The trial of David DePape for attacking Paul Pelosi was strange and disturbing.

It’s frightening how folks can go down these rabbit holes so quickly and turn into complete, frothing at the mouth, lunatics. 😳

Adi Robertson • The Verge

Music streaming service Spotify struck a seemingly unique and highly generous deal with Google for Android-based payments, according to new testimony in the Epic v. Google trial.

Well, well, well, good for Spotify. I’m sure any indie app maker would take a deal like that but it’s always the “big guys” that get preferable treatment.

It can’t hurt that Spotify is a direct competitor to Apple Music and puts a dent in Apple’s bottom line because of it. Not that it’s hurting Apple. 🤣

Law Dork

Monday was a day that crystallized on just how many levels our democracy and its promises stand on a precarious perch.

So a Colorado judge found that his Orangeness is in fact responsible for the insurrection. She also said he’s still eligible to run for President because the 14 Amendment doesn’t apply to the President because he was not “an officer of the United States” that could be disqualified under the amendment.

What?! That makes no sense. 😳

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James Boyd and Dianna Russini • The Athletic

Former Colts LB Shaquille Leonard goes unclaimed on waivers: How injuries derailed his stellar run in Indy

Hearing this bummed me out. I like Shaq Leonard. He’s a true leader on and off the field and he has a motor that won’t stop.

Here’s hoping he finds a new team soon and is able to get fully healthy and back on the field.

Heck, even if things are over for him prematurely, due to injury, he’s had a great career.🏈

Hixie

I do think the clock is ticking, though. The deterioration of Google’s culture will eventually become irreversible, because the kinds of people whom you need to act as moral compass are the same kinds of people who don’t join an organisation without a moral compass.

Interesting read from an 18-year employee of Google. Companies change as they grow. It’s just a fact. WillowTree has changed tremendously since I joined in 2019, especially after the Telus International acquisition. It happens as companies get bigger. ❤️

Oliver Darcy • CNN

NFL denounces hate speech, says it has expressed concerns to Elon Musk’s X

Sure, like Space Karen is going to listen to the puny NFL.

Some advice for the NFL. Get off of X, start a Mastodon instance called nfl.social, and start doing whatever it is you use X for on your Mastodon instance. Problem solved. You’re welcome.

KRISTEN RADTKE • The Verge

Adobe has been issued with a formal antitrust complaint by EU regulators regarding its $20 billion bid for cloud-based product design platform Figma.

I wonder what kind of deal Adobe will have to strike to make this work? It’s obvious Figma is winning the hearts and minds of designers. I feel really bad for the likes of Sketch who are a native Mac only shop. Their work is beautiful and extremely useful but can it survive? I hope so!

Also, please stop using Figma for EVERYTHING in the company. I’ve seen folks make presentations with it and make project plans with it and both of those uses really sucked.

Andrew Wallenstein • Variety

You might as well hitch your wagon to Musk with Krazy Glue at this point, Linda, because despite what your deluded pals on Madison Avenue might think, there’s no going back now. Stacking the events of the past week on top of the mound of insanity that’s already piled high over the course of your short reign has seen to that.

Good luck, Linda. I hope the man is at the very least paying you crap tons of money to destroy your good name and reputation.

Maybe it’s all worth it to her for that CEO title? 🤔

Rodrigo Mesquita

First part of an in-depth guide into developing a native macOS application using Haskell with Swift and SwiftUI. This part covers the set-up required to call Haskell functions from Swift in an XCode project using SwiftUI.

I love seeing other languages integrated into applications! VBA on Windows apps was a huge benefit to app users and gave them the ability to create specialized scripts to help automate their workflows. Even with all of the security implications and exploits it is the best implementation of a scripting environment to date.

I’ve also seen folks integrate Lua with great success and look at how the integration of JavaScript into native iOS and Android apps — ala React Native — has changed the app landscape.

The Eclectic Light Company

Following on from the previous memory leak I have demonstrated in the Finder in macOS 14.1.1, here’s a second, discovered by Kate, which might have a common root cause.

I have questions. Is this a leak or is it memory consumption? Those are two different things. One is not freeing resources because of a coding error, the other is not freeing resources intentionally. An intentional case would be caching things in memory to improve performance.

Also, if the system needs memory at some point and can’t find enough does the Finder relinquish this memory back to the OS?

Either way I suppose it can be seen as a leak. At the very least it could be a performance problem if system performance degrades because of it.

Jason Snell • MacWorld

What I’m saying is that Apple sometimes takes its failures and learns important lessons that inform its future attempts… but sometimes, it seems to just give up.

Apple is a company of people and people make mistakes.

I feel like the Vision Pro could be a mistake. Maybe mistake is too harsh a word? Maybe it’s just a product that’s too immature at the moment? I’m sure they’ll sell a hojillion of them on day one but will there be a great app ecosystem to support it?

My guess is highly specialized applications will drive sales but what do I know? Not much. 😂

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Lauren Goode • WIRED

Harvey’s urgency, even 12 hours later, is a reflex: This is exactly what she did for 13 years as the head of Twitter’s trust and safety team.

It must have been almost impossible to squelch all the crazy and hate on Twitter. Now X just doesn’t care and allows all the crazy and hate to blossom.

Get out, now. ☢️

Ben Wolford • protonvpn.com

Last month, Google launched a new feature for Chrome called IP Protection that makes it easier for the company to spy on you. No surprise, since this is Google’s business model. But what’s concerning is that Google is marketing this as a privacy feature.

I don’t know much about this but it seems like something I need to better understand.

I’m a Safari user and I mix Firefox in there.

I had to install Chrome at work because a client has some Chrome friendly tools we need to use. 😮

Nilay Patel and Alex Heath • The Verge

After an attempted coup by OpenAI’s board that lasted five days, Altman is returning alongside co-founder Greg Brockman.

Dizzying. I hope Altman keeps a good set of ethicists around him to keep him in check.

We don’t want the robots to take over the world, do we. 🤖

Colin Walker

It is this type of definition, however, that holds RSS back. Why does it just have to be updates to a website? RSS can be used to distribute all sorts of information. Once you start adding custom namespaces the possibilities are amazing.

I agree with Colin. RSS can be used for many things and why not? It’s extensible and there are gobs of tooling for it.

Just think of what it did for Podcasting.

I know at one someone maintained an RSS feed of hospitals with extra drugs other hospitals could ask for. You’d be surprised how many hospitals run out of certain drugs and how many have a surplus. It was a nice way to connect folks. Yet another niche served by RSS.

I’ve had the thought of just publishing my blog as RSS only. Sure, discovery would suck, but feed readers are just another type of web browser, only the web comes to the feed reader.😃

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Happy Birthday President Biden! 🥳🎂🔥🚒

[reynard61]

If a defendant decides to waive a conflict and continue with their lawyer, a judge must conduct a detailed colloquy to make sure the defendant has a full understanding of the details of the attorney’s possible conflict of interest and the potential peril it places them in. Almost always in these proceedings, standby counsel is available to answer any questions the defendant has. A failure by the judge to protect a defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel at this stage in proceedings can be fatal to any conviction the prosecution obtains on appeal, and judges have—and exercise in appropriate circumstances—discretion to refuse to accept a waiver from a defendant if they do not believe their rights can be fully protected at trial in light of the conflict. It’s easy to understand how the representation of multiple people connected to the same criminal allegations can result in a conflict. If an attorney is in the position of cross-examining a witness who is also his client, there are two potential issues. Vigorous cross-examination might result in the attorney exposing the witness-client’s confidences to him, which would be improper. Or, the attorney might feel compelled to pull his punches during cross-examination to protect the client’s confidences or to protect the attorney’s own ability to represent both clients (and obtain a fee from both). It is telling that Judge Cannon declined to order the witness-clients to attend the hearing, which would have appraised them of the situation as well. The government plainly argued that they should be there. But because Judge Cannon ruled by issuing a minute order, there is no reasoning that reflects how she arrived at her decision—which seems contrary to clear law. Perhaps she envisions calling them in in advance or at a later time, but it would have been easy to say so, and it’s a striking omission.

Is it just me, or does anyone else get the feeling that "Judge" Cannon is either a) trying to keep Messers. Nauta and De Oliveira firmly under The Fascist Gasbag's thumb on her own, or (worse yet) b) in cahoots with TFG's shysters to do so? *NONE* of what's in that last paragraph looks on the up-and-up to me. 😒

As above, so below.

[pdougmc]

Trials #TFG #New York Donald Trump criminal trial is set for March 2024; judge informs Trump what he can’t say about hush money case https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/23/politics/donald-trump-protective-order-hearing/index.html

[nursingresiliency]

Lai et al.

En el moment de la recollida de dades l’estudi és troba en fase de tria de participants. Els autors preveuen que l’estudi estarà complet a data del 30 de Setembre de 2021.

L'estudi está disenyat en dues parts: dues intervencions, una basada en respiracions de Sudarshan Kriya Ioga (SKY) i una altra de control del cos i la ment (Health Enhancement Program o HEP); ambdues realitzades de forma telemàtica, amb una durada de 5 setmanes i cadascuna amb 60 participants.

Referència: Lai KSP, Watt C, Ionson E, et al. Breath Regulation and yogic Exercise An online Therapy for calm and Happiness (BREATH) for frontline hospital and long-term care home staff managing the COVID-19 pandemic: A structured summary of a study protocol for a feasibility study for a randomised controlled trial. Trials. 2020;21(1):648. doi:10.1186/s13063-020-04583-w.

[lloydisi]

Oath Keepers leader's last-minute effort to delay trial and fire attorneys rejected by federal judge - CNNPolitics

These attorneys are public defenders. One jailed because she tried to change electoral college decision. Stewart tried to fire his attorneys in the 11th hour. Judge would not permit, because that would push trial to summer 2024.

These people and their leader TFG need to lose all voting rights. The amount of money all of them especially TFG is astronomical

. The judge for trump is concerned about ruining his reputation. I say the facts starting in 2016 up until present speak differently. The senators and congressmen that tried to change the vote, need to be removed from government. They should also lose right to vote.

[garudabluffs]

Trump’s attorney was present during the search.

“No innocent explanation.”                           August 12, 2022

He {Merrick Garland] refuted right-wing conspiracy theories that claimed the FBI “planted” evidence by pointing out that Trump’s attorney was present during the search.                                                             ��                                                   He stated (by implication) that the search took place only after Trump refused to comply with a subpoena, refuting the narrative that the search was precipitous.He established that the DOJ attempted to maintain the confidentiality of the search, but that Trump violated that confidentiality.                                             He flipped the perception of which party is playing “hide the ball” by offering to make the information public, subject to Trump’s efforts to keep the information under seal.

READ MORE https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/no-innocent-explanation

84 Comments “Anyone who lived through the sixties, as I did, ought to be shocked to find themselves living in a world where Republicans believe the FBI violates people's rights.  The world is turned upside down.” 

+” Actually, as we saw in Rudy’s legendary press conference outside 4 Seasons Landscaping, they are the party of lawn order.”

++ ”Are the nuke documents payback for MBS’s investment with Jared?”

& “On MSNBC, Barbara McQuade former U.S. Atty for Eastern District of Michigan explained that the DOJ does NOT need tRump's permission to share the subpoena and warrant info. Usually it is the DOJ which does not want this information to be public, but in this case, the truth could set America free.”

_______________________________________________________________

READ MORE https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/what-a-week/comments#comment-8358937

&& ...the former President of the United States may be a traitor.”

“From~ ERIC ALTERMAN  “Here’s a free headline I’m giving away to all MSM publications. “Trump takes Fifth 440 times; faces FBI seizure of documents he illegally stole and hid in his basement, likely to hide additional crimes committed while in office; faces trials in Georgia for racketeering; in NYC, for attempted rape; just had his tax returns sent to Congress, likely to reveal even more crimes; complained that his generals were not enough like Hitler’s; and has been shown by January 6th Committee to be guilty of attempting to inspire the violent overthrow of the government he is pledged to protect: Why this is all bad news for Biden.”  

David Brooks apparently missed the Kansas vote. I think it’s much more likely that voters have had it with all this nonsense. He also misses that a majority of republicans are probably not ok with the possibility of tfg selling nuclear secrets to the kind of tyrants tfg falls for. Check out Stonekettle Station for a look through the eyes of someone that has experience working in national security.

Dan Froomkin of press watch also calls out media on their abetting of stochastic terrorism.

These three writers along with HCR and Mr. Hubbell help me keep my sanity, and I’m grateful to them.”

+&+ “Robert Kasvinsky7 hr agoLiked by Robert B. Hubbell

“I am concerned about the glib comments by several Republican Congressional Members and FOX News hosts minimizing the importance of Trump's handling classified materials. Their attitudes are quite simply stupid!I was an Air Intelligence Officer (AIO) in an A-4 Skyhawk squadron on an aircraft carrier off the Philippines when President Kennedy was shot in Dallas. Prior to shifting to Rolling Thunder bombing missions  over North Vietnam in 1965, nuclear war was our principle concern. That was to be carried out under SIOP (1961-2003) – The Single Integrated Operation Plan.Implementation would have meant millions of deaths which made it a subject of intense interest to historians and social scientists, and the subject of many Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.To shed as much light as possible on how the United States would have waged war in the nuclear age, the National Security Archive has responded to many declassification requests on U.S. nuclear war planning, especially the early history of the SIOP.High security walls around the SIOP have made this difficult but, nevertheless, significant information has been declassified. The Archive recently released (against appeals from the Defense Department) background showing how the SIOP was created and some of its basic features, as well as the problem of presidential control over nuclear planning. This included vintage material that was declassified but later reclassified in the early 1980s.The first SIOP was a massive nuclear strike on military and urban-industrial targets in the Soviet Union, China, and their allies. Since then, the plans have surely evolved into ever more complex organizational schemes encompassing various scenarios.Much of this information remains highly secret and may never be declassified. It has been reported that it is possible that no civilian official has actually seen the entire SIOP. To ensure tight secrecy when the first SIOP was created, its architects established a special information category – Top Secret - Extremely Sensitive Information (ESI), equivalent to today's Top Secret (SCI) classification. This ensured that only those with a need-to-know would have access to the documents. In fact, SIOP was so sensitive that its existence was unknown until 9 December 1973 when the New York Times published an article entitled “The President and the Plumbers” in which the White House raised fears that Daniel Ellsberg (of Pentagon Papers fame) had mentioned it. [Had Soviet interrogators learned this earlier,Robert Kasvinsky7 hr agoLiked by Robert B. HubbellI am concerned about the glib comments by several Republican Congressional Members and FOX News hosts minimizing the importance of Trump's handling classified materials. Their attitudes are quite simply stupid!I was an Air Intelligence Officer (AIO) in an A-4 Skyhawk squadron on an aircraft carrier off the Philippines when President Kennedy was shot in Dallas. Prior to shifting to Rolling Thunder bombing missions  over North Vietnam in 1965, nuclear war was our principle concern. That was to be carried out under SIOP (1961-2003) – The Single Integrated Operation Plan.Implementation would have meant millions of deaths which made it a subject of intense interest to historians and social scientists, and the subject of many Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.To shed as much light as possible on how the United States would have waged war in the nuclear age, the National Security Archive has responded to many declassification requests on U.S. nuclear war planning, especially the early history of the SIOP.High security walls around the SIOP have made this difficult but, nevertheless, significant information has been declassified. The Archive recently released (against appeals from the Defense Department) background showing how the SIOP was created and some of its basic features, as well as the problem of presidential control over nuclear planning. This included vintage material that was declassified but later reclassified in the early 1980s.The first SIOP was a massive nuclear strike on military and urban-industrial targets in the Soviet Union, China, and their allies. Since then, the plans have surely evolved into ever more complex organizational schemes encompassing various scenarios.Much of this information remains highly secret and may never be declassified. It has been reported that it is possible that no civilian official has actually seen the entire SIOP. To ensure tight secrecy when the first SIOP was created, its architects established a special information category – Top Secret - Extremely Sensitive Information (ESI), equivalent to today's Top Secret (SCI) classification. This ensured that only those with a need-to-know would have access to the documents. In fact, SIOP was so sensitive that its existence was unknown until 9 December 1973 when the New York Times published an article entitled “The President and the Plumbers” in which the White House raised fears that Daniel Ellsberg (of Pentagon Papers fame) had mentioned it. [Had Soviet interrogators learned this earlier, imagine how much worse the torture our POWs would have endured while imprisoned in North Vietnam – fortunately pilots knew only their three assigned targets.]According to one author the entire plan amounted to a stack of computer print-outs. That author was correct, because on 23 November 1963 the morning after Kennedy was shot,  we were shown a FLASH message (highest priority) from Commander-in-Chief Pacific (CINCPAC) from headquarters in Pearl Harbor – we had been placed on alert consistent with DEFCON 3 (Google DEFCON conditions). This meant that we were to work with our pilots on their assigned SIOP targets. AIOs having TS-ESI clearances and need-to-know saw the entire SIOP-63 printout containing the interaction of targeting, weapons delivery systems and their flight paths, nuclear detonations over targets, measurements of devastation, and defensive measures, among other elements.SIOP-63 was an integrated attack by strategic bombers, Polaris submarine-launched missiles, and Atlas ICBMs, among other delivery vehicles including carrier-based aircraft.All of this makes it understandable why presidents, even those with deep knowledge of military affairs, have had difficulty grappling with nuclear war plans. (All except "President" Trump, of course!)This is why I find it unconscionable listening to the disdain many Trump apologists voice about the importance of respecting the classification of our Nation's most important intelligence.Their ignorance and denigration of the FBI's counterintelligence experts may well be Trump's undoing because they will be able to track the provenance of each document.  Every Top Secret document is numbered, and there is a chain of custody for each: where, when and who handled the document, and "Lordy, there may even be fingerprints"!This isn't simply about Nuclear Top Secret (SCI), it is about ANY Top Secret (SCI) document. Everyone involved in the chain of custody, including the principal perpetrator, Donald J. Trump is in a world of trouble! The oaths they all swore were meaningless to them!”

“ Silver lining....after FBI discoveries at Mar-A-Lago, maybe Putin will consider swapping Brittany Greiner for Trump.”

“ “The truth is a resilient and irrepressible thing”. ~Congressman Jamie Raskin 7/29/22. If anyone wants a lift up while Robert takes a couple days for a much deserved break  from writing, listen to this 17 minute interview with our esteemed Congressman https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/tnyradiohour/segments/jamie-raskin-january-6th

Raymond Voith “maybe this will clarify classifications:

https://www.nrc.gov/security/info-security.html#class

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Rob Rogers, http://TinyView.com :: @Rob_Rogers

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

October 2, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

The trial of former president Trump, his oldest sons, two associates, and the Trump Organization began today in Manhattan. Jose Pagliery, political investigations reporter for The Daily Beast, noted that the presiding judge, New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, started with a reference to Friday’s rainstorm that flooded New York City, saying: "Weeks ago, I said we would start today 'come hell or high water.’ Meteorologically speaking, we’ve had the high water."

New York Attorney General Letitia James launched the investigation in 2019 after Trump fixer Michael Cohen testified before Congress that Trump had been engaging in fraud by inflating the value of his property. Last week, Justice Engoron issued a partial decision establishing that the organization and its executives committed fraud. Engoron canceled the licenses under which the organization’s New York businesses operated, provided for those businesses to be dissolved, and provided for an independent monitor to oversee the company. 

With that major point already established, the trial that began today will establish how much of the ill-gotten money must be given up, or “disgorged,” by the defendants and whether they falsified records or engaged in insurance fraud in the process of committing fraud. James has asked for a minimum of $250 million in disgorgement, along with a ruling permanently prohibiting Trump and his older sons from doing business in New York, and a five-year ban on commercial real estate transactions for Trump and the organization. 

Trump is attending the trial in person, likely because, as Pagliery noted, he cited this trial as the reason he couldn’t show up for two days of depositions in his federal case against Michael Cohen. If he didn’t show up, he would be in contempt of court. So he is there, but his goal in all his legal cases seems to be to play to the public, where his displays of victimization and dominance have always served him. 

He has already said it is “unfair” that he isn’t getting a jury trial in New York, but his lawyers explicitly said they did not want one, possibly because a bench trial gives Trump a single judge to attack rather than a jury. Today, his lawyer Alina Habba, who along with her law firm and Trump has been fined close to $1 million by a federal judge for filing a frivolous lawsuit, gave a fiery opening statement aimed at “the American people” rather than the judge. When the court broke for lunch, Trump went straight to reporters to rail at the prosecutors holding him to account.

Historian Lawrence Glickman noted that the press is emphasizing Trump’s anger at the proceedings as if a defendant’s anger matters, but it is starting to feel as if bullying and bluster to get away with breaking the rules is not as effective as it used to be. Legal analyst Lisa Rubin notes that this case is a form of “corporate death penalty” that strikes at his wealth and image, both of which are central to his identity and to his political power.

And it is not just Trump; another case announced on Friday suggests the era of real estate crime is ending. The Department of Justice announced that a California real estate executive had pleaded guilty the previous day to a multi-year scheme that looked a lot like the one Trump’s organization is charged with: fraudulently inflating the value of real estate holdings of a Michigan company in order to defraud lenders. 

“My office will not hesitate to prosecute those who lie in order to engage in financial crimes, regardless of the titles they may have,” said U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Dawn N. Ison.

The drive for the impartial application of the rule of law is showing up among the Democrats, as they seek to illustrate the difference between them and the Republicans. New Jersey Democratic senator Bob Menendez is insisting that the federal indictment against him and his wife for bribery, fraud, and extortion in exchange for helping Egypt is a political smear campaign, but more than half of Democratic senators have called on him to resign. 

Trump is increasingly being held to account by former staff, as well. In the wake of his attacks on former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, Trump’s former chief of staff Marine Corps General John Kelly went on the record today with Jake Tapper of CNN, confirming a number of the damning stories that emerged during Trump’s presidency about his denigration of wounded, captured, or killed military personnel as “suckers” and “losers,” with whom he didn’t want to be seen. 

Kelly called Trump: “A person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about. A person who cavalierly suggests that a selfless warrior who has served his country for 40 years in peacetime and war should lose his life for treason—in expectation that someone will take action. A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law…. There is nothing more that can be said,” he added. “God help us.”

The confirmation of Trump’s attacks on wounded or killed military personnel will not help his political support. After reading Kelly’s remarks, retired Army Major General Paul Eaton, a key advocate for veteran voting, released a video he recorded more than two years ago when he first heard the stories about Trump’s attack on the military. “Who could vote for this traitor Trump?” he asked on social media. In the video, Eaton urges veterans to “vote Democratic,” because “our country’s honor depends on it.” 

That Trump is concerned about his ebbing popularity showed tonight when his campaign released a statement demanding that the Republican National Committee cancel all future debates and focus on Trump’s evidence-free allegations that the Democrats are going to steal the 2024 election. If it refuses, the statement says, it will just show that national Republicans are “more concerned about helping Joe Biden than ensuring a safe and secure election.” 

Popular pressure against the extremism of the Republican Party showed up today when Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas recused himself from participating in a case related to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Thomas’s wife, Ginni, was a staunch supporter of Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and in the past, Thomas had voted on related cases nonetheless. Today’s case involved John Eastman, formerly one of Thomas’s law clerks. 

There were interesting signs today that the tide seems to be turning against the MAGA Republicans elsewhere, too. In an op-ed in the New York Times, former South Carolina representative Bob Inglis told his “Fellow Republicans: It’s Time to Grow Up.” He expressed regret for his votes in 1995 to shut down the government and in 1998 to impeach President Bill Clinton, and for his opposition to addressing climate change on the grounds that if Al Gore was for it, Republicans should be against it. 

But he had come to realize that “the fight wasn’t against Al Gore; it was against climate change. Just as the challenge of funding the government isn’t a referendum on Speaker McCarthy; it’s a challenge of making one out of many—E pluribus unum—and of bringing the country together to do basic things.” He called on Republicans to remember that we must face the huge challenges in our future together: language that echoes President Joe Biden, who has been making that pitch since he took office. 

The fight over funding the government has contributed to growing pressure on the extremists. The chaos in the Republican Party as the factions fought each other with no plan to fund the government until McCarthy finally had to rely on the Democrats for help passing a continuing resolution was a sign that the extremists’ power is at risk. 

Today, there was much chafing over the threats of Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) to challenge Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California, and he actually did it this evening, although it is not clear that he has the votes either to remove McCarthy or to prevent his reelection as speaker. What is clear is that Gaetz is forcing a showdown between the extremists and the rest of the party, and while such a showdown is sure to garner media attention, it is unlikely to leave the extremists in a stronger position.

Indeed, when he left the floor after making the motion to vacate the chair, some Democrats laughed.

—

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[fantabulosogamedev]

Status Update: The Plan

Hey guys!  I’ve been writing this post for around a week now, originally as a video script, and it’s ballooned way out of control, so I’ve decided to give y’all the summary of it as best I can here in text.  Come by the Discord if you have any questions!

So here we are, t-minus 26 days before the demo releases, with no majorly new information since the last Progress Update.  What’s the situation?  Am I still on schedule?  The answer is...yes!!  However...

Part One: The Game Itself

Some major changes have come about in terms of my plan for the game as a whole.  Essentially, my original plan (16ish levels total) was just infeasible at this point, and would result in a development time bordering on at least 3 more years at max development speed -- while some people might be cool with waiting that long, I’m not!  I gotta eat, and the amount of money I’d need to fund 3 years of development would be really high to ask for a fresh dev like me.

So, here’s the new plan: The Fantabulous Game will now consist of 6 primary levels, along with a tutorial zone (Cragwell Woods) and a hub accessed after The Fightyplace.  Based on my estimates, this should reduce the development time to approximately 1-1.5 years if all goes as planned, thereby reducing kickstarter costs and wait times.  The levels will consist of a reimagining of the Shamrock path of LFG, featuring the Shamrock City, the prison Ballcatraz, the Shamrock Palace, and more!

To compensate for this drastic reduction in content, some positive changes will be made as well: the game will now cost $15 instead of $20, a Boycap miniboss will be present in each level, brief linear connecting zones between levels will exist to add cohesion and content to the world, and most interestingly the Fantabula sublevels will be expanded!

Previously, the sublevels were going to just be brief platforming challenges, with a gold sausage for a normal clear and a bludsausage for a speedclear.  However, the sublevels are now going to be expanded into proper linear levels, featuring collectibles of several kinds scattered throughout...as well as their own full-blown bossfight!  Why am I bringing this up now?

With only 6 proper levels in the game, I no longer feel comfortable offering the Fightyplace for free in the demo, as it now takes up a much larger amount of the game’s content proportionally.  So instead, I’ll be releasing The Fightyplace’s Fantabula Sublevel, with some tweaks and modifications to give the player as full of an experience as I can!  Unfortunately I can’t say for sure how long the demo will be, as much of it will come down to player skill level -- time permitting, however, I’d like to add a NG+ to it, where players can push themselves against much more powerful enemies.

Finally, in regards to the 8 cut levels: if The Fantabulous Game is successful, I plan on working them into two separate expansion packs to be released after TFG is completed, for around $10 each.  The first of these expansion packs would focus on the antics of a non-Shamrock race from Le Fantabulous Game, and (assuming expac1 was successful) the second would turn its sights to exploring exactly how the world of LFG turned into the one found in TFG.

Part Two: The Crowdfunding

So with that out of the way, I’d also like to talk about my plan for the game’s crowdfunding campaign!  I’ve decided to use a blend of the top options from the poll I posted several months ago: on, or shortly after, the release of the demo, I’ll be launching a Kickstarter campaign to fund the game, with a goal of $40k.  I’ll be putting the currently planned rewards and stretch goals at the bottom of this post, and would love to hear you guys’ feedback on what should be added/removed/adjusted.

However, those looking for Early Access, I hear you as well -- it was the first option on the poll, after all!  Here’s the plan when it comes to EA: the Kickstarter, like many others, will have a backer tier for beta access throughout the game’s development.  This backer tier will function the same as Early Access would, but would not be discounted.  However!

If the game is successful, and I decide to create the two expansion packs I mentioned above, both of the DLCs will be sold on steam via early access with a sizeable discount pre-release.  Considering the expansion packs would make up approximately 50% of the original content of the game, I think this is a great compromise between the crowdfunding options!  This will also apply to any future expansion packs I make beyond those two, such as the hypothetical Boycap xpac.

Part Three: The Specifics

As I mentioned above, I have a rough draft of my plans for the Kickstarter, and would love to have feedback on them.  Here they are:

Reward Tiers:

Get the game (EARLY EGG) - $10, 750 available

Get the game - $15

Deluxe Edition: Get the game, digital manual, & soundtrack (EARLY EGG) - $15, 750 available

Deluxe Edition: Get the game, digital manual, & soundtrack - $20

Beta access: Pay more to get access to the game throughout development, in the form of episodically released levels! (good for those who wished for Early Access!) - $35

Deluxe Beta Access - Beta Access with the Deluxe additions! - $40

Design a Spherefolk NPC: design a friendly Spherefriend or Shamrock to show up in various levels throughout the game!  Design includes clothing, skin patterns, and dialogue (all subject to developer approval).  NPCs would randomly appear chosen from a pool of all backer NPCs. Also, appear in the credits as a “Backerfriend” and receive the Deluxe Beta edition of the game! $80

Design a Spheredog Collectible: Design a Spheredog to show up as a collectible in one of the levels of the game!  Design can be anything subject to developer approval, but must maintain the basic structure of a Spheredog. Also, appear in the credits as a “Supreme Backerfriend” and receive the Deluxe Beta edition of the game!  - $150, 50 Available

Design an NPC: Design a unique NPC that Capboy will encounter several times throughout his adventure!  Design is up to you nearly entirely, but should remain reasonable within the boundaries of TFG’s universe and remains subject to developer approval. Also, appear in the credits as a “Legendariful Backerfriend” and "Character Designer,” and receive the Deluxe Beta edition of the game! - $300

Design one of Boycap’s mechs: Design a mechanical boss based on anything!  You get to decide how it fights and harasses Capboy throughout the level, but specifics and general design are subject to developer approval. Also, appear in the credits as an “Fantabulous Backerfriend” and “Boss Designer,” and receive the Deluxe Beta edition of the game!  - $450, 2 available

Design a Fantabula Boss: Design a boss encountered within The Fantabula!  The boss must somewhat match the level theme and is subject to developer approval.   Also, appear in the credits as a “Fantabulous Backerfriend” and “Boss Designer,” and receive the Deluxe Beta edition of the game! - $600, 2 available

Ultimate Designer’s Pack: Every reward listed above, including every single “Design an X” reward!  Also, get to be brought onto the developer team as a creative contributor, joining private discussion about plans for bosses, enemies, levels and more!  Appear in the credits as a “Creative Contributor” and every corresponding Backerfriend section, and receive the Deluxe Beta edition of the game! - $900, 1 available

Stretch/Funding Goals:

40k - Funding Goal

45k - Mutators -- upon finishing the game, the player can use achievement-unlocked mutators to affect future runs of the game!  Mutator ideas include having every weapon unlocked right away, randomly shuffled stats on weapons, randomly shuffled enemies, and more!  Mutators would be included with the game upon release.

50k - Boss Rush -- The player would be able to rematch any bosses they’ve beaten, including a time trial mode where they’re given a specific build that they must fight each boss with.  Good scores would unlock further achievements, unlocking costumes and mutators.  Boss Rush would be included with the game upon release.

60k - Second Quest -- The Second Quest would essentially be a hardmode, beyond the simple changes offered by NG+.  Unlocked after beating the game, the Second Quest would feature a brand new story set in modified versions of the main game levels, with brand new harder versions of every boss -- which would be included in the Boss Rush!  The Second Quest would be released as a free update after the game’s release.

70k - Local Competitive Multiplayer --Local up-to-4 player PvP multiplayer gamemodes.  Gamemodes would include 1v1 and 2v2 deathmatch, king of the hill, and a flag-football styled gamemode.  Platforming races, “gungame” styled fights, and more would all be further options.  The Multiplayer would be released as a free update after the game’s release.

If you’re still with me after reading that massive post, thank you!!  I greatly appreciate your devotion to the game if you read all of that, and if you just skipped down here I don’t blame ya at all.  Unfortunately though, I can’t really tl;dr this, so you’ve gotta bear with it.

With less than 4 weeks to the demo, it’s exciting to finally see these two and a half years of work start to come to fruition!  Thank you to everyone who’s been supporting the game throughout its development -- here’s to a successful campaign, thanks to you guys’ help!  If you have feedback and/or questions about this plan, swing by the discord to talk about it there, but if not...I’ll catch you guys on the 26th!

-Fantabuloso

[fahrni]

Saturday Morning Coffee

Good morning! I hope your coffee is strong and you’re ready to read some random links? ☕️

The Iconfactory

While this chapter may have ended, our story is not over. We’ll continue improving our other apps, creating new apps, doing amazing design work for our clients, and posting awesome wallpapers to Wallaroo and Patreon.

Tapbots

We have taken everything great about Tweetbot and used it as the starting point for the future of Ivory.

I’ve been posting on this topic for a while now. Musk is a big caca-doodoo-head and shutting down third-party Twitter clients isn’t a good idea. Why? They’re much better than Twitter’s own client.

Twitter should’ve reached out to these tiny app creators and offered to work with them to include advertising in their timeline streams or offered to buy a few of them and turn each app into a unique client for various Twitter endeavors. Like one that specializes in video and one that specializes in news. Something like that. Give folks more options, not fewer. 🫡🐦

By contrast Mastodon, being a completely open platform, is flourishing thanks to third-party clients! There are so many new iOS Apps for Mastodon it’ll make your head spin. Some have been around for years and have seen a resurgence, others are brand new. They give folks options. Variety, the spice of life!

One other very important point to make. Hitching your wagon to a company that can shut off access at any time was a dangerous move. These indie devs knew what they were doing, but it doesn’t hurt them any less.

I’ve been switching between three very good clients; Toot!, Ivory (beta), and Ice Cubes. Each have something about them I really enjoy, but there are so many more just waiting in the wings.

Also, Musk is failing in many ways. Twitter is a mess and Tesla stock is plummeting. I’m surprised Tesla Board hasn’t fired him. 🔥

Salon

So maybe it’s surprising that any defense attorneys for the Proud Boys have said anything coherent, let alone incisive. Yet right there in the opening arguments, Sabino Jauregui, who is defending Tarrio, went straight at the prosecution’s weak spot: The government is putting the insurrection’s foot soldiers on trial, while leaving the man who led and directed them, Donald Trump, not just untouched by the law but running for president again. (Supposedly.)

To this I say “Duh!” Yes, that slimeball TFG should be in jail.

Here’s hoping Justice is served.

Daring Fireball

The best interfaces to Twitter, on any platforms, were all native apps on the iPhone and Mac. We’re now on the cusp of a new frontier with Mastodon, and it’s Apple’s utterly clueless bureaucratic App Store reviewers who are doing their best to lock the new playground’s gates before they even open.

John is talking about a beautiful, highly functional, Mastodon client called Ice Cubes. The Apple App Store review process can throw some really weird reasons at folks why they won’t approve an app. Stream was rejected three times because I use the word subscribe in it and they thought I was collecting money and wanted their cut. They insisted I use in app purchase for subscriptions. 😵‍💫

Short story long, Ice Cubes was finally approved and I honestly believe someone at Apple read John’s piece and fixed the situation. 💪🏼

stitcher.io

From its humble beginnings as a personal project in the mid-90s, PHP has grown to become one of the most popular languages for web development, powering everything from small blogs to large enterprise applications.

I know what you’re gonna say, PHP is garbage. I don’t think so. It’s been used for years and years and while some folks may find it strange I think it’s a much better language than JavaScript and it continues to improve.

Ars Technica

Legislators of the nation’s least-populous state are taking a brave stand against modernity and climate action. They’re sponsoring SJ0004, “Phasing out new electric vehicle sales by 2035,” an uncomplicated bill that expresses the state’s goal to phase out sales of new EVs by 2035 and asks Wyoming’s industries and citizens to do their civic duty in resisting the EV.

These folks are just ridiculous. When the world becomes so difficult to live in they’ll all ask “What caused this.” We all know what’s causing it. Us, continuing to do things we know are destroying the planet.

Dave Rogers

But I’m conscious of the fact that what I’m doing involves writing; and I have two fears when I’m doing this, neither of which has had the good effect of compelling me to stop. I’m afraid that I’m writing badly, and I’m afraid that it’s boring.

I love reading Dave’s stuff, always have. Like Dave I started my weblog to become a better writer. It hasn’t worked but I still enjoy doing it. Keep up the good work Dave!

Support Indie Developers. That’s it, that’s the commentary.

Sam Soffes

This year was a unique year. I started the year without a job or a place to live. My house in San Francisco just sold, so I had house money in my checking account. Now what?

Great read from Sam. I’d love to become a nomad, traveling the country with Kim and our animal family in a big RV. Yes, id like to make it our full time home!

Anywho, Sam talks about his year of Van Life and it sounds so exciting.

Maybe someday.🤞🏼

Dave Rupert

So you want to make a new JS framework

Web development is still way too difficult. In 2011 I realized most of it boils down to DevOps, not the code so much. We could write, debug, and test code locally but were at the mercy of how the network was configured to make it scale. Yes, we found and fixed bottlenecks in code as we went along, but the DevOps folks were the real heroes.

Go read what Mr. Rupert outlines in his post. It’s ridiculous it takes that much to publish a new JavaScript framework.

Also, why are folks still making new JavaScript frameworks? 🤔

Variety

Regal Cinemas, the second-largest chain of movie theaters in the U.S., will close 39 locations after its parent company Cineworld filed for bankruptcy in September, according to legal filings obtained by Variety.

I love seeing movies on the big screen, always have, but the new realities of COVID-19 have made me a very cautious person. I’ve seen two movies in theaters since the pandemic hit, both at very quiet times for a theatre.

It is sad to see our Charlottesville Regal hit by the closures. It is a really nice theatre.

[newsmanmdgn]

California Bans State-Funded Travel Against States that Discriminate

California bans state travel to Florida, 4 other states

California added five more states, including Florida, to the list of places where state-funded travel is banned because of laws that discriminate against members of the LGBTQ community, the state attorney general announced Monday.

Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta added Florida, Arkansas, Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia to the list that now has 17 states where state employee travel is forbidden except under limited circumstances.

“Make no mistake: We’re in the midst of an unprecedented wave of bigotry and discrimination in this country — and the State of California is not going to support it,” Bonta said.

Lawmakers in 2016 banned non-essential travel to states with laws that discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The 12 other states on the list are: Texas, Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, Mississippi, Tennessee.

AP

GOOD. I wish they'd ban flights FROM those states, for everybody. Not just for discrimination but because those same states are COVIDiots when it comes to practicing safe pandemic protocols.

Or, just the ENTIRE SOUTH.

Trump attorneys meet with New York prosecutors to argue that his company should not be criminally charged over its business practices

Attorneys for the Trump Organization met with New York prosecutors on Monday to argue that former president Donald Trump's company should not be criminally charged over its business dealings, according to three people familiar with the meeting.

Previously, the prosecutors — working for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. (D) and New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) — had set Monday as the last day for the organization’s lawyers to make their case.

After Monday’s session, spokespeople for both Vance and James declined to comment. No charges were announced on Monday. Vance has convened a grand jury in Manhattan to vote on potential indictments in the investigation, but so far, no person or entity connected to Trump has been charged. It remains possible that none will be. Those familiar with the investigation spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private meetings.

WP

Of course, #TFG is no Harry “The Buck Stops Here” Truman. But you already knew that.

He will take zero responsibility for anything bad.

Arizona's Maricopa County to replace all voting machines after GOP audit

Arizona’s Maricopa County announced Monday that it plans to replace all of the voting machines that were turned over to the state Senate and other officials overseeing the audit of 2020 presidential election results. 

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors released its response to a May letter from Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D), in which she expressed concerns “regarding the security and integrity of these machines, given that the chain of custody, a critical security tenet, has been compromised and election officials do not know what was done to the machines while under Cyber Ninjas’ control.” 

In response, the county told Hobbs it “shares your concerns” and added that the board acknowledges the secretary of state’s “authority as Arizona’s Chief Election Officer to determine what equipment is acceptable for use in Arizona’s elections.” 

The Hill

Well, this seemed worthwhile! (not)

I do have to wonder if this was the outcome they wanted. I bet there's some grift here we don't yet see.

The Delta variant will cause ‘very dense outbreaks' in these five states, expert says

The Delta variant, a strain of Covid-19 believed to be more transmissible and dangerous than others, is likely to break out in some US communities, a health expert told CBS's “Face the Nation.””It's not going to be as pervasive,” Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, said Sunday. “It's going to hyper-regionalized. There's certain pockets of the country where you're going to have very dense outbreaks.”Those pockets will be ones with low vaccination rates and low rates of prior infection, Gottlieb said, like inmany rural and southern communities.

There are at least 200 known cases of the Delta Plus coronavirus variant worldwide. Here's what we knowAccording to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 46.1% of the total US population has been vaccinated against Covid-19. Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Wyoming are among the states with the lowest vaccination rates, with less than 35% of their population fully vaccinated.

CNN

See above. They can add Wyoming and Louisiana to the list.

Sydney McLaughlin obliterates women's 400m hurdles world record in a day of record heat

American athlete Sydney McLaughlin obliterated the women's 400m hurdles world record at the US Olympic trials on Sunday.

The 21-year-old ran an astonishing 51.90 seconds, smashing the previous record by .26 seconds to become the first woman to run the 400m hurdles in less than 52 seconds.

In the process of winning, McLaughlin beat the previous world record holder Dalilah Muhammad to cement herself as the favorite for the Tokyo Games this year.Following a powerful finish, McLaughlin sank to her haunches, mouth gaping in surprise.

CNN

She did this in 100+ temps. Event officials said the temperature reached a high of 109!

I absolutely love the Olympic Trials, especially track & field.

Dipping Sauce Rage Results In Man's Arrest

JUNE 28–After realizing that dipping sauce was not included with his Chicken McNuggets order, an Iowa man called his local McDonald’s and threatened to blow up the restaurant, according to investigators.

Robert Golwitzer, 42, was arrested Saturday evening and charged with making a false report about an explosive or incendiary device, a felony.

Golwitzer allegedly phoned in a threat to a McDonald’s five miles from his home in Ankeny, a Des Moines suburb.

The phone threat, cops charge, came after Golwitzer discovered that his McDonald’s order was bereft of dipping sauces.

The threatening call to the restaurant was placed “from a phone number associated with [Golwitzer],” according to a criminal complaint. In addition to claiming that he would “blow up” the eatery, Golwitzer threatened to assault an employee, police say.

When questioned by cops, Golwitzer admitted he “called the victim and made threats,” the complaint states. Pictured above, Golwitzer was released early yesterday from the Polk County jail after posting bond.

TSG

I really expected this to start off with…“Florida man…”

The article was originally published here! California Bans State-Funded Travel Against States that Discriminate

[khloaris]

Come out to @3dollarbillbk on Friday, June 21 for Tromadance! KHLOARIS’s animated video for TFG’s “GOP” will play in the 6pm block of shorts. The collaborative video has fluid-squirting original art by Mr. Mike Diana. Stay after the shorts for “Boiled Angels: The Trials of Mike Diana” with Mr. Diana and director Frank Henenlotter in attendance! We’ve been doing a lot of stuff with Mike and we love his rendition of the Toxic Avenger, reproduced here. @boiledmikediana @johnnychiba @mikehunchback @lloydkaufman @tromateam @tromaarmy @tox1e #toxicavenger #thetoxicavenger #toxie #tromadance #troma #tromaville #mikediana #boiledmikediana #boiledangel #boiledangelsthetrialofmikediana #frankhenenlotter #tfg #gop #lloydkaufman #khloaris #animation #musicvideo #filmfestival #undergroundfilm #disruptive #disruptingmedia #weirdmovies #cultmovies #undergroundcomix #productioncompany #screeningcollective #movies #film #art #toxicwaste https://www.instagram.com/p/ByqMATnl8XY/?igshid=1omhnn45z1idj