Everyone Else Is A Realist, Love...

Someone struggles with reality...

I have spent most of the last week on Zoom calls with accountants in New York, trying to figure out the personal finance implications of moving to the UK – lugging dual citizenship behind me. (Short version: they’re not good.) Since these conversations deal with economic outcomes it has felt, as a matter of form, necessary to mention that given the US just elected a maniac, at some level – don’t we think? – all bets are off. Joking not-joking: we can talk about pensions or college savings until the cows come home but really, why aren’t we screaming? A remark that has elicited, to a man, either blank looks or cheerful entreaties not to be so alarmist.

I'd entreat you to get psychiatric help, personally... 

The spectacle of Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, co-hosts of the fiercely anti-Trump MSNBC show Morning Joe, beetling down to Mar-a-Lago to meet with the president-elect as fast as their little legs could carry them, was presented by the pair as a necessary piece of journalistic engagement.

It's their job, of course they will want to do that. Not everyone has the luxury of acting like a spoiled child and refusing to do something they find distateful. 

Under the auspices of pragmatic engagement, or “holding Trump to account”, or the reasonable accommodation of a new American reality, there is the usual sucking up to money and power. Despite Trump’s conviction that the entire mainstream media is against him, it seems unlikely that he will be sitting alone in a ballroom at the White House Correspondents’ dinner next April while the US news media takes a stand.

And it’s true: sulking or ranting does nothing.

I wouldn't say that. It clearly gets you a column in the 'Guardian'...

Pay No Attention To The (White) Man Behind The Curtain!

Did you think they'd reached the bottom of the barrel when it came to finding things that were 'racist and sexist'? Well, think again. Next in the crosshairs: magicians! Black ones (no, not Alastair Crowley).

Cardoza is one of the US’s only Black female magicians with her own touring show. Her Black Magic Tour blends stage magic and storytelling that highlights the Black illusionists who came before her.

Cardoza first fell in love with the craft when she saw a rabbit being pulled from a hat during her first magic show at five years old. But she didn’t begin practicing until about 20 years later, citing a lack of representation that hindered her ability to see herself in the performances she loved so much.

I think anyone who uses this excuse lacks imagination. 

Bias in the industry is also influenced by public perception. A 2019 study showed that the quality of magic tricks performed by women are perceived to be worse than the same ones done by men.

Magic books also tend to cater to male performers by referencing men’s clothing, such as suit breast pockets. And magic kits for children often feature pictures of white boys on the cover. A hollowed thumb tip made from plastic, a common prop in kits that can be worn to hide objects, usually resembles the color of a white person’s finger.

“Representation is so huge,” Cardoza said, “because people don’t think they can be things unless they see them.”

And you'd think imagibation would be a prime skill for an illusionist, wouldn't you? 

For Cardoza’s part, she plans to make magic more accessible to diverse practitioners and audiences. She launched a Kickstarter campaign to create an inclusive magic kit for children that recently met its fundraising goal. The kit will include a digital app where a diverse group of magicians will teach tricks and the etiquette of stage magic, such as asking for consent before touching a participant.

Surely in the modern age, stage magic is a thing of the past anyway? 

"Your scientists were so preoccupied by whether or not they could...."

"...that they didn't stop to think if they should."

A trans woman has been helped to breastfeed her grandchild, in what is thought to be a world first.

The unidentified 50-year-old was helped to express up to 30ml of milk at a time, after a four week course of hormone treatment.

Researchers from Duke University reported the woman ‘lactated for a total of two weeks’ and was able to feed the four-month-old baby.

The motivation for inducing lactation was to create a ‘bond from breastfeeding that she had not been able to experience with her own five children’.

And we revile Dr Frankenstein? Not sure why. He was clearly a rank amateur. And at least he never used a live child as a prop in his revolting experiments. You know who did? Dr Mengele. And if he'd been caught, he'd have been hanged. If that's who you want to emulate, Duke University researches, god help you. 

‘The patient tearfully reported this was a significant and emotional experience for her that felt very different from formula feeding her other children. ‘She states she has a special bond with this baby for which she is grateful.

‘The patient did not experience any side effects from her treatment regimen.’

What the hell is wrong with the actual mother allowing her child to be subjected to this? If the scientists are blinded by personal glory, what's her excuse? 

The issue of trans women breastfeeding is subject to controversy – gender-critical campaigners described the study as ‘absolutely shocking’.

The ordinary person on the street would, I'm sure, have a more pithy, and more accurate, response.  

Bad Laws...

For years, Sweeney has run the accounts to track the jet use of public figures and measure their carbon footprints. Sweeney’s coverage, which uses publicly available data from Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and broadcast signals from aircrafts, has been widely praised and earned the 21-year-old a Forbes 30 under 30 nod.

And can't the slebs do anything about someone exposing their hypocrisy? Well, no. Not if it's public information.

Oh, hang on! 

Swift’s lawyers sent a cease-and-desist letter to Jack Sweeney, a University of Central Florida student who runs several social media accounts tracking the private jet use of Swift and other public figures, the Washington Post first reported this week.

So...how? 

...Swift’s attorneys from the Washington-based law firm Venable accused Sweeney of engaging in “stalking and harassing behavior” over his tracking of Swift’s jet activity.

*sighs* 

The Feminisation Of The Justice System...

The US district judge Colleen McMahon on Friday granted James Cromitie, 58, compassionate release from prison six months after she ordered the release of his three co-defendants, known as the Newburgh Four, for similar reasons. The four men from the small river city 60 miles north of New York City were convicted of terrorism charges in 2010.

Yes, it seems that these men - all the usual suspects, of course - wouldn't have dreamed of being terrorists if some undercover agents hadn't said 'Hey, buddy, fancy doing a bit of terrorism?'...

And we aren't talking about small acts here, either: 

Prosecutors in the high-profile case said the Newburgh defendants had spent months scouting targets and securing what they thought were explosives and a surface-to-air missile, aiming to shoot down planes at the air national guard base in Newburgh and blow up synagogues in the Bronx. They were arrested after allegedly planting “bombs” that were packed with inert explosives supplied by the FBI.

But for Colleen, that's apparently not enough to mark them out as terrorists. 

Cromitie was bought into the phony plot by the federal informant Shaheed Hussain, whose work has been criticized for years by civil liberties groups. McMahon called him “most unsavory” and a “villain” sent by the government to “troll among the poorest and weakest of men for ‘terrorists’ who might prove susceptible to an offer of much-needed cash in exchange for committing a faux crime”.

Yes, their only 'crime' is to be susceptible to incitement to terrorism. Apart from that, they are just normal American citizens... if you believe that, I've got a bridge to sell you, Colleen!

Lawrence, Cromitie’s attorney, said on Saturday he had not yet been able to reach his client, but that Cromitie’s family was very happy. “I’m obviously thrilled that Mr Cromitie will be released from prison, but still believe that his conviction was entirely the product of government entrapment,” Lawrence wrote in an email.

You know how he could have avoided that conviction? He could have said 'No, sorry, I'm not a terrorist' when the government agents came looking for a patsy. 

He Who Pays The Piper, Robert...

A particularly troubling aspect of Gay’s resignation concerns the apparent clout of wealthy Harvard alumni​...

You want their money, and they want...well, not to be hectored and told black is really white. And while you need their money, they get to call the tune.  

I can understand the frustrations of these donors. But to use their influence to force the ouster of these university presidents is an abuse of power. It sets a dangerous precedent of mega-donor intrusion into university life. It endangers the autonomy of America’s universities to determine for themselves how to strike the right balance between freedom of expression and hateful speech.

But they aren't using that autonomy properly, are they? They are taking that money and spitting in the faces of those who are giving it. And they've decided enough is enough. 

As have I. What is it? Is it ''We have to employ more smart well-educated black minorities to show us their worth' or is it 'Oh noes, our smart well-educated black minorities have fallen into a trap so obvious a child could see it coming'..?

It can't really be both, can it? 

The core problem is that one of the major jobs of today’s university presidents is to solicit money.

It does make the world go round, after all... 

As a Jew, I also cannot help but worry that the actions of these donors – many of them Jewish, many from Wall Street – could fuel the very antisemitism they claim to oppose, based on the age-old stereotype of wealthy Jewish bankers controlling the world.

If they really were doing that, Ms Gay would still be in the kitchen or on reception. or wearing a janitor's uniform. Assuming she's smart enough to know which end of the broom to push.  

Hey, It Was Panto Season, After All…

 

Well, actually… oh yes there was!

Usual suspects, of course!

No, This Is Not A Failure Of The Justice System...

“I thought any sensible judge would dismiss the charge completely. It’s just asinine,” Moore said. “There were failures in the criminal justice system all the way around.”

...this is the justice system working as it should. To prevent First World countries looking (and smelling) like Third World ones.

The child’s mother has said her son urinated behind her vehicle while she was visiting a lawyer’s office in Senatobia, Mississippi, on 10 August. Police officers in the town of about 8,100 residents, 40 miles (64km) south of Memphis, Tennessee, saw the child urinating and arrested him. Officers put him in a squad car and took him to the police station.

Public urination is an offence. Don't want to be arrested for it? Don't do it. Ten years old is surely old enough to learn this. 

It was initially unclear whether prosecutors would take up the case. Moore said he had planned on going to trial, but shifted strategy after prosecutors threatened to upgrade the charges and the child’s family chose to accept the probation sentence because it would not appear on the boy’s criminal record. The 10-year-old is required to check in with a probation officer once per month.

In the States, they probably have those in schools too, as well as police officers. But what's an attorney to do in a case like this?

"Race Card?"

"That'll do nicely..." 

Moore said he doesn’t believe a white child would have been arrested under similar circumstances.“I don’t think there is a male in America who has not discreetly urinated in public,” Moore said.

Does that make it right, then? 

“Sentencing anyone, let alone a young child, to probation under these facts is sure to add to the trauma and denigration this child has suffered since their arrest,” Ndiaye said. “This is all the more proof that we need to severely limit police interactions with civilians, from petty retail theft to traffic stops and even so-called ‘quality of life’ offenses. For Black people in America, it is a matter of life and death.”

Oh, please! Could you lay on the hyperbole any thicker? How exactly are the police supposed to do their job without interacting with civilians? 

Maybe The Voters Don’t Regard Biden’s Record As That ‘Impressive’, David?

One has signed historic climate and infrastructure legislation, steered the economy past a recession and rallied the west against Vladimir Putin. The other spent Monday on trial for fraud ranting and raving against a judge in a puerile display from the witness stand.

And if a presidential election were held today, Joe Biden would lose to Donald Trump by a lot, according to the latest swing state polls.

Those pesky voters, eh, David? It's almost as if they don't actually believe those things are the triumph that you and your crowd believe they are, isn't it? 

Conventional wisdom used to hold that Trump’s myriad legal woes would help in the Republican primary and hurt him in the presidential election.

Now even that no longer seems certain as Trump appears politically bulletproof and Democrats sweat over the disconnect between Biden’s record and his flagging numbers.

Maybe stop thinking about it as 'a disconnect' when it's entirely possible it's the cause. The voters don't seem to want what Biden's selling, do they? Or maybe they don't want it because Biden's selling it?

Only one thing isn't in doubt; 2024 is going to be a very interesting Presidential election...

Do You Need A Dictionary, Joe..?

 

Faced by stagnant approval ratings and worries about his advanced age, the US president attempted to stir his dormant supporters and animate the undecided by spelling out the dangers he insisted a second Trump presidency would pose to the US’s status as the world’s leading beacon of democratic government.

Isn't letting people vote for whoever they want the very essense of democracy? 

“There is something dangerous happening in America,” he told an audience in Phoenix, Arizona. “There is an extremist movement that does not share the basic beliefs of our democracy: the MAGA movement … History has brought us to a new time of testing. “All of us are being asked right now: What will we do to maintain our democracy?”

Well, hopefully not re-elect someone with one foot in his mouth and the other in a care home... 

He was forced to pause early in his speech when a heckler interrupted to demand why he had not declared a climate emergency, according to reporters in the auditorium. “If you shush up, I will meet with you immediately after this, OK?” the president responded. He then added pointedly: “Democracy never is easy – as you just demonstrated.”

Isn't being able to fire questions at your leader (even if they are stupid ones) in a public forum a sign of democracy then, Jow? 

Democracy, he said, “means rule of the people, not rule of the monarchy, not rule of money, not rule of the mighty.

“Regardless of party, that means free and fair elections, respecting the outcome, win or lose. It means you cannot love your country only when you win.”

And what would a Democrat know about loving their country? 

The threat of violence continued unabated, he said, most recently aimed at general Mark Milley, the chair of the US armed forces joint chiefs of staff, whom Trump recently said in a social media post was guilty of “treason”. “Frankly, these MAGA extremists have no idea what the hell they’re talking about,” Biden said.

Now, that's chutzpah! 

"We don’t train officers to pick up something and throw it at a suspect..."

Well, why not? It works!

Law enforcement officials have said Duprey had been trying to sell narcotics to a group of plain-clothed narcotics enforcement officers. As Duprey tried to flee on a motorbike down the sidewalk, an officer identified as narcotics Sgt Erik Duran flung the cooler at him.

He fell off and died. Oh dear, how sad, never mind.  

A witness also told the Daily News that Duprey was moving north on the bike with the police in pursuit.

“Then he took a U-turn and was riding on the sidewalk … The cop then took my cooler, which was filled with soda cans, water bottles, and hit him,” the witness said.

So he prevented this animal mowing down an elderly person or a child. He should be given a medal, not a suspension.  

A lawyer for Duprey’s family, Jonathan Roberts, called it “tragic” that “yet again a poorly-trained NYPD officer has taken the life of another young man so unnecessarily”. He added that the family planned to seek justice.

You got that. No, we did, the law abiding majority. And it seems what the US starts, we here in the UK slavishly follow... 

'In two years, the next state election, I will run for state representative again.'

Doubtful, as you'll no doubr be behind bars yet again, and for a much longer time if convicted this time, yet again. 

Despite her (Ed: Why does everyone persist in this fantasy? 'She' is a man, and always will be..) criminal past, Laughton still ran for a second term in 2022 and was elected to represent Nashua, New Hampshire. She was elected to represent the Hillsborough 3 district along with Democrats Cote and Fred Davis. Republican Joost Baumeister lost earning one of the three seats by about 100 votes.

However, once again, she was unable to take office having been jailed on stalking charges.

We'll see if child abuse is enough to make the deluded voters of Hillsborough 3 District of Nashua Country say 'OK, that's too much for us!'. 

And if it isn't? Then they deserve each other, don't they, Reader? 

Sure You're Worrying About The Right Identity Group, Progressives?

Oh, those awful white right wing Christians, eh?

Oh! Ooops...

Don't They Say In Texas "You Can Run, But You Can't Hide"..?

I really hope it's true.

An investigation led by Republican Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, has sent doctors at an Austin hospital into a panic, causing all the physicians in its adolescent medicine department to depart.

Hmmm, 'adolescent medicine'? Treating acne and growth spurts? 

Not quite! 

Earlier this week, Dell Children’s Clinic, which provides gender-affirming care for trans children, announced to parents that they would need to find new providers for their children in transition.

Let's hope this is just the start of the pushback against this insidious trend... 

Paxton’s office claimed the investigation was being conducted on the grounds that the care these children were receiving was illegal because they were under the age of 18.

How much under, I wonder? 

Have They Thought Of Taking This To Its Logical Conclusion?

McDonald's has opened up a fully-automated restaurant in Texas, which is completely run by machines so you don't have to speak to anyone, and it has left people on the internet divided.

Between those who think it's a great idea, and those who think it's a wonderful idea, I assume? 

In a press release, the fast food chain explained that the restaurant, which is now open, is geared towards customers who are planning to 'dine at home or on the go,' so there is no seating inside the restaurant and it's 'considerably smaller than a traditional McDonalds.'

It described the new concept as a 'fast and seamless experience for both customers and crew.'

'There's never been a McDonald's restaurant quite like this before,' the press release stated.

And oh, what the 'staff' will miss! So...why stop at automating just the food delivery?

 You know it makes sense!

Still Think He's Absolutely Not Suffering From Dementia..?

President Biden announced a new crackdown on...

Ooooh, wait, wait!

This should be good! 

...what he describes as 'junk fees' to ease inflation pressures, including surprise legroom charges that he says affect 'low-income folks and people of color' the most.

Wait, what...? 

'Some airlines if you want six more inches between you and the seat in front you pay more money, but you don't know it until you purchase your ticket,' Biden griped in remarks Wednesday. 'Look folks, these are junk fees are unfair and the hidden marginalized Americans the hardest, especially low income folks, and people of color.'

Did he just call all minority people in the US fat..? 

Some scratched their heads at Biden making legroom charges a race issue.

Umm, well, yes!  

Instead of hitting the campaign trail, Biden is pushing out messaging from the White House that those worries are being heard.

Translation: his handlers daren't let him leave the White House. Not to visit any of the 54 states...

Why Isn't It Up To A Company To Choose Where It Spends Its Money?

Media mogul Byron Allen's $10billion racial discrimination lawsuit against McDonald's was given the green-light to proceed by a US court on Friday, nearly a year after it was dismissed last December. Allen alleges McDonald's intentionally chooses not to pay to place advertisements on black-owned networks - including his own AMG Entertainment Studios and Weather Group - costing the networks millions in potential annual revenue.

So..? Isn't a company eentitled to choose where it spends its advertising revenue, then? 

An attorney for McDonald's, Loretta Lynch, reiterated that Olguin did not rule on the case's merits, and insisted the allegations were baseless.

'[The decision] has nothing whatsoever to do with the merits of the case, but simply allows Mr. Allen to continue to try, as he has for more than a year now, to substantiate his speculative and conclusory claims,' Lynch said, 'We believe the evidence will show that there was no discrimination and that Entertainment Studios' claims are meritless.'

Why shouldn't there be discrimination, though? Why should any company be forced into advertising with specific sectors of the population, rather than where it feels that advertising will do the most good? 

Allen, in a statement, said the case was 'about economic inclusion of African American-owned businesses in the U.S. economy. McDonald's takes billions from African American consumers and gives almost nothing back.'

No, it gives them burgers and fries in exchange for their money. And that's all they are entitled to.  

Don't Blame The Tech, Blame The Idiots Working It...

The man, only identified as Mark by the New York Times, took pictures of his son’s groin to send to a doctor after realizing it was inflamed. The doctor used that image to diagnose Mark’s son and prescribe antibiotics. When the photos were automatically uploaded to the cloud, Google’s system identified them as CSAM.

As the system is programmed to do. But it's OK, because humans are in ch... 

Two days later, Mark’s Gmail and other Google accounts, including Google Fi, which provides his phone service, were disabled over “harmful content” that was “a severe violation of the company’s policies and might be illegal”, the Times reported, citing a message on his phone.

He later found out that Google had flagged another video he had on his phone and that the San Francisco police department opened an investigation into him.

Oh.

Mark was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing, but Google has said it will stand by its decision.

Wait, what..?!? 

“We follow US law in defining what constitutes CSAM and use a combination of hash matching technology and artificial intelligence to identify it and remove it from our platforms,” said Christa Muldoon, a Google spokesperson.

And when that proves to be in error, you...refuse to acknowledge it? 

“These systems can cause real problems for people,” he said. “And it’s not just that I don’t think that these systems can catch every case of child abuse, it’s that they have really terrible consequences in terms of false positives for people. People’s lives can be really upended by the machinery and the humans in the loop simply making a bad decision because they don’t have any reason to try to fix it.”

They need to be given one, then. Perhaps by passing a law that says if your software makes an error and you don't resolve it to the customer's satisfaction, you face huge, swinging fines?  

Rather Refreshing, Eh?

The visibly disgusted sheriff described Black as 'the most despicable excuse for a human being I've ever seen in my life.'

He added: 'There is a special place in hell for this woman. Until she gets there, she's going to rot in our jail'.

Wow! No doubt this will have the Guardian-reading progressives clutching their pearls in horror... 

Ivy said the video was taken last October by a home surveillance camera and provided to the Sheriff's Department by a former roommate of Black's. Ivy called the incident sickening and showed visible anger and disgust as he walked Black into the women's annex of the Brevard County jail.

'If I hear as much that she has a pet rock, I will lose my cr*p because this woman doesn't deserve to have anything,' Ivy said. 'You know, usually when I'm walking people in, I have something to say to them,' he tells Black. 'I'm disgusted by you.'

But isn't it refreshing not to hear a law official sound like a social worker for once? We could do with some of that over this side of the pond...

Oooh, I Think I Know The Answer...

...is it 'Because they are even worse'..?

Some commentators think Democrats have moved too far to the left – too far from the so-called “center.” This is utter rubbish.

Really? So what do you put it down to? 

The real failure of the Democratic party is its loss of the American working class.

As Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg concluded after the 2016 election: “Democrats don’t have a ‘white working-class’ problem. They have a ‘working-class problem’, which progressives have been reluctant to address honestly or boldly. The fact is that Democrats have lost support with all working-class voters across the electorate.”

That's true, indeed. And why do they no longer support Democrats? Because they've moved too far to the left! 

The most powerful force in American politics today is anti-establishment fury at a rigged system.

You only have to look across the water to Europe, don't you?