July 22, 2024
Here is a list of the fattest countries on Earth.
from Zero Hedge:
Notice the U.S. is pretty low down the list. Most countries are Pacific island nations, or other islands, or in the tropics.
These island nations started importing processed foods and replaced fish and native fruits and vegetables in the early 20th century.
One thing is certain; these island nations have limited meat production - especially beef - and so it's not fatty meats causing this. Probably the excess sugar put in processed foods.
Interestingly a lot of Pacific islanders smoke, and we all know smoking cuts appetite, so the obesity problem isn't caused by that. One wonders if they had smoking rates comparable to the U.S. if the islanders wouldn't be too fat to walk through the doors of their homes.
So if you vacation in Kiribati or Tahiti when you chew the fat you really chew the fat!
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So Gretchen Whitmer is out of the Presidential race.
Gretchen Whitmer endorses Kamala and will serve as co-chair of campaign.
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Guess what? The Trump shooter's school denies he was bullied.
So what WAS his motivation?
He had a phone encrypted that the FBI couldn't break. He had multiple foreign accounts. He had no social media presence.
Sounds like a spook to me. Or a patsy.
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Another gift of the Biden era.
Rape Soars 11% in NYC Amid Illegal Alien Crisis
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Asian-descent Americans have long enjoyed notably higher incomes than their white countrymen do. It’s also true that men earn more money than women do. Now, question:
Are both, neither, or just one of these wage gaps seen as a "problem” to be "remedied”?
Feminist Nobel Laureate Economist Says Men Earn More Due to "Greedy Work”
thenewamerican.com
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This is a true report that is straight out of science fiction.
The weightlessness of the ISS has allowed a microbe being studied to mutate into a "superbug" whatever that means.
"It’s a startling find straight out of the dark depths of sci-fi horror: Aboard the International Space Station, NASA discovered 13 strains of a superbug, a multidrug-resistant bacterium. Its name? Enterobacter bugandensis."
Sci-fi horror bug discovered on International Space Station
fox8.com
Tim adds:
Fascinating. I supposed it was bound to happen; the station is a contained space with all sorts of unoccupied biological niches and extra radiation to help drive mutations.
The station was badly infected with e-coli just a year or so ago and if they wiped all the e-coli out by sanitizing the station they left it open for a new bacterium to take over. It really wan't a matter of if but when.
I've long considered this; as Man moves into space the microorganisms will undoubtedly mutate. Different space habitats will probably become quite insular as they limit tourism to avoid upsetting the careful biological balance they have. In time it may become impossible for normal human interaction between colonies.
S-F writer Isaac Asimov touched on this with the quarantine of Earth by the "Spacers" in his Elijah Bailey novels.
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On Facebook a fellow named Paul Chen observed:
One of Kamala Harris’ problems is that she would not prepare for speeches and so got caught up in weird verbal sandwiches. Big yellow school bus, anyone?
But when she prepares well, she can be devastatingly effective, like during one of the early 2020 Democratic candidates’ debates, when she excoriated Joe Biden on his decades-ago support for segregated school busing. That fire and sharpness does show on rare occasion.
You can be sure she will be well-prepared for the debates (if she becomes the nominee) and carefully coached, as the party insiders know her weakness and her strength.
Trump is going be look like a blatherer next to her.
Worse, she energizes White liberals, women, Blacks, Black women, progressives and leftists who want "racial justice”, etc. Donations jumped $60 million as soon as Biden announced he would be stepping down and endorsed Harris.
Remember, Harris polled as winning over Trump even as Trump polled as winning over Biden.
Now, the entire Tennessee DNC delegation has announced they will be pledging all their votes to Harris. More will come. The Democrats are suddenly enthusiastic again. Not necessarily for her, but they’ll take anybody over Biden.
Many independents, the same ones who delivered defeats to Trump-endorsed candidates in the 2022 midterm elections, well, they hated Biden but are open to Harris.
This is going to be an uphill battle now. The entire mainstream media and most of the social media and tech platforms like Google, and pundits will be working overtime to elevate Harris and compare him unfavorably to Trump.
Just look at this ad from back in 2020.
https://old.reddit.com/r/TikTokCringe/comments/1e8uwc2/probably_not_a_real_attack_ad_yet/
I agree and left the following reply:
I have been warning for some time that there are multiple state laws that demand Trump be stricken from the ballots and the Democrats will probably use a pet judge to disqualify him come September or early October - too late to win on appeal and put him back on.
He actually couldn't win on appeal anyway because the laws are clear; he would have to argue this from a Constitutional perspective and that will not happen quickly. Remove Trump from just one battleground state (like Wisconsin,which has just such a law) and Harris could take it. We are still way behind and need to understand that until Trump swears the oath they can still steal this from us. (After too, for that matter, as Crooks wasn't the only guy out there with an AR weapon.)
Missouri has such a law. It states quite plainly:
Wisconsin - one of the battleground states, has a similar law/ So does Arizona. so does Texas and Tennessee. So does Michigan. So does Pennsylvania.
Lose just a couple of those states and the Kamel wins.
The Democrats surely have thought of this. In fact, it is why they were so desperate to get Trump convicted of a felony, desperate enough that they twisted the law into a pretzel as they did in New York. It was the key to ruining him. And it is perfectly legal and should Trump be put on the ballot anyway it would trigger a Constitutional crisis in both the states where he runs and at the Federal level.
Is it hypocrisy? Absolutely; the Democrats have preached restoring felon rights for a long time now and have worked diligently to reverse such laws, many of which were put in place by Republicans to avoid having a system as corrupt as the one we have now. But the Demo-left is great at using our own decencies against us, and while they worked to eliminate such laws so they could win the felon vote they now want to hold Mr. Trump to strict account.
I see no way they don't try this before election day.
So if they run Kamela they gain certain benefits, particularly the "historic" nature of a woman President (she's only half black like Obama but the minority status sure doesn't hurt). Also, as the gal who rose on her back, she wins the skank vote. With the media doing everything in it's power to make her look good, and with the short campaign period she will have limited exposure so is less likely to be caught making a fool of herself, there is every reason to be worried at Mar-A-Lago.
Trump needs to have lawyers working on all this now. He needs to get the battleground states to clarify his ballot position by law. He needs to work to find a legal way to disrupt the Harris bandwagon. He needs to find a way to encourage chaos next month in Chicago.
Trump should find a conservative judge and have a friendly party bring suit to keep him off the ballot so the judge will rule he can remain, then force the Democrats to appeal. Tie THEM up in court until after the election. That's what they would do if the situation were reversed. Trump needs to get out in front of this now or the Democrats will put him behind the eight ball.
I assure you Kamala will be more focused now than ever. Also, her policy of invisibility during the Biden disaster makes her a fresh face, untouched by the problems of the Biden junta. While she can be blamed for the disaster at the border, will it stick? She'll argue she was in favor of other policies but that Biden wouldn't listen and many will believe her. Joseph Stalin seized power by a similar move, remaining behind the scenes while his rivals wiped each-other out.
Kamala CAN give a good speech when she focuses. She's not actually stupid.
Also, her running mate will make a big difference. I think the Veep candidates are going to be either decisive in this election, or at least very influential. Trump shot for a newbie with limited experience. Who will Kamala pick? That will be her first major test.
Remember too that many of Trump's new-found voters - black folks, labor Democrats, etc. still gnash their teeth when pulling the R. lever and would be happy to vote for a Democrat if they don't feel ignored by them. (Of course Kamala was abusive to the black community when she was a prosecutor, but she'll use that to win votes in the working class community by claiming to be a "law and order candidate" and Trump - the convicted felon - will be the candidate of chaos.)
We are still in grave peril. So enjoy the temporary fruits of victory, celebrate the downfall of Joe Biden, but keep your powder dry. This is far from over.
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7/22/2024
Leviticus 1:17
shots that miss their mark
anoint the king, blood on ear
the sad old man weeps
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July 21, 2024
Actorand comedian Bob Newhart passed away. He was 94.
Newhart was famous for his mild, dry as white toast manner and his unflappable nature. He generally played "the little gray man" and did so with aplomb.
I heard Newhart discuss getting into comedy once. He said people used to laugh and tell him what funny guy he was and he was just speaking normally. He suddenly realized he could make a living just being himself. So he perfected his craft, becoming one of America's iconic comic figures of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
He will be missed.
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Facebook founder and information suppressor Mark Zuckerberg speaks well of Trump after the assassination attempt.
Mark Zuckerberg Praises Trump’s Fist Pump Reaction After Assassination Attempt
What does this tell us? It tells us Zuckerberg knows Trump will win the election and he's trying to get on the right side of the winner.
Here's the money quote:
"The main thing that I hear from people is that they actually want to see less political content on our services because they come to our services to connect with people,” the tech billionaire said.
"I think you’re going to see our services play less of a role in this election than they have in the past.”
In other words Zuck plans to suppress political content from Republicans on Facebook, even more than they did last time.
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Buh-bye Biden!
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Laura Loomer:
"Every single conservative who is saying @SecretService Director Kim Cheatle should simply "resign” is LOW IQ.
We now know she and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas @AliMayorkas intentionally denied President Trump more security resources when his campaign asked.
We also know that they identified a shooter at least 30 minutes before shots were fired, which was 10 minutes BEFORE President Trump took the stage at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
This means Cheatle and Mayorkas are both now accessories to the MURDER of Corey Comperatore, and accessories to the attempted murder of President Trump, because they, along with other agents on the ground, had knowledge of a plot to kill Donald Trump since they admitted they identified a shooter before Trump took the stage but still allowed him to take the stage and didn’t warn him or the attendees.
We need to be talking about CRIMINAL CHARGES AND PROSECUTIONS.
So many low IQ conservative influencers push weak messaging by simply setting the standards so low.
A resignation won’t do shit. We have enough evidence for CRIMINAL CHARGES AND PROSECUTIONS.
Time for @HouseGOP @SenateGOP to take action and get to work. Vacation time and letter writing time is over."
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We are allowing the government to tax and overspend our future into financial ruin.
The US debt crisis is terrible. Currently, every new dollar of US public debt generates just $0.58 of GDP, near the lowest on record. By comparison, in the 1960s this metric was as high as $9.80, and in 2000 it was $4.00, or 7 times above current levels.
Over the last 4 years, US national debt has skyrocketed by $11.6 trillion while US added $6.6 trillion in GDP. In other words, the US economy's productivity has declined near the worst levels in modern history.
What’s the long-term plan here?
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I watched an interview about JD Vance, and it was mentioned that Ronald Reagan was actually a protectionist, not a free trader. This surprised me because I always thought Reagan supported free trade. I was wrong. I also changed. I used to believe that free trade without any restrictions was always the best approach. Now I understand that this isn’t always the case. Sometimes, especially when national security or the general welfare of the nation is at risk, strict adherence to philosophical principles must yield to practical considerations.
Therefore I did some research. >>>>>>>>
Ronald Reagan, while advocating for free-market principles, implemented several protectionist measures during his presidency, leading to the perception of him as a protectionist rather than a free trader. Key actions contributing to this view include:
1. Imposing Tariffs and Quotas: Reagan imposed tariffs and import quotas on several industries, notably steel, automobiles, and motorcycles, to protect domestic industries from foreign competition. For example, in 1983, he imposed quotas on Japanese car imports to support the U.S. auto industry.
2. Voluntary Export Restraints (VERs): Reagan negotiated voluntary export restraints with countries like Japan, limiting the number of goods (such as cars) they could export to the United States.
3. Supporting Domestic Industries: Reagan supported the domestic semiconductor industry by imposing tariffs and trade restrictions to counter perceived unfair practices by foreign competitors.
4. Strategic Trade Policy: His administration used strategic trade policy to support key industries deemed vital for national security and economic competitiveness.
These measures, aimed at protecting American jobs and industries, contrasted with the free trade principles of minimizing government intervention in international trade. As a result, Reagan's actions often reflected a pragmatic approach to trade, balancing free-market ideals with protectionist policies when economically necessary.
Tim adds:
You're right Carlos. Reagan was not the anarcho-trading champion he is portrayed as now.
That was part of why he fell out with David Stockman. Not the sole reason but part of it. (Stockman wanted no trade restrictions, among other things, and Reagan just wasn't willing to do that.)
You can't do free trade with an unfree trader. It's like keeping your marriage vows to a serial adulterer.Somebody is getting mistreated and it isn't the adulterer.
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July 20, 2024
CO2 actually cools the planet!
Industry Experts: CO2 Worse Than Useless in Trapping Heat/Delaying Cooling | Principia Scientific Intl.
principia-scientific.com
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2023 was twice as warm as would have been expected from increasing CO2, so at least half of that "record warm" year's warmth was due to natural causes.
An unusually warm year or two cannot be blamed on climate change « Roy Spencer, PhD
drroyspencer.com
Tim suggests:
Perhaps this is a result of the eruption of hunga Tonga? Lots of water vapor released into the atmosphere.
Judith Curry thinks so:
Hunga Tonga volcano: impact on record warming
judithcurry.com
Dr. Spencer replies:
I doubt it. Calculations of the changes in stratospheric radiation and their effect on the troposphere show only a tiny effect. CERES satellites radiative budget measurements show fewer clouds, so more incoming sunlight. Don't know why.
Bjørn K Vottestad adds: more...
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July 19, 2024
Ok so here are the strange elements:
1. The decision not to secure the roof goes against all common sense and normal procedure. The roof was close enough to be an ideal sniper position, and you don’t need to be a sniper, a combat veteran or a ballistics expert to know that.
2. The explanation that it was a sloping roof is absurd. The slope was very slight anyway, and posed no danger to fit security teams whose job, anyway, is to risk danger themselves in order to protect a target.
3. Crowd witnesses spotted the shooter and notified security. How was that not responded to?
4. Reports and footage seem to indicate the shooter was in the sights of the SS or law enforcement for some time. How come that didn’t result in action against the shooter until after he was firing?
5. Lack of action when you have a shooter in sight means either a pre-existing order not to engage, an instruction not to engage, or a trained security team deciding not to notify anyone higher up the chain AND not to engage an identified threat. Do any of those reactions make sense?
6. Prior calls from Democrats to remove Trump’s SS protection suggest a desire for such an event to occur and Trump to be without protection when it does occur.
7. The reactions of the team when on the podium with Trump and getting him to his vehicle don’t look like the reactions of a highly trained team. The Melissa McCarthy looking agent looks confused, frightened and incompetent in multiple ways. Several of the female agents seem to be acting as if they don’t know what they are doing. Again, you don’t have to be a security expert to spot things like struggling to holster a pistol or fiddling with sunglasses or cowering behind the target you are supposed to be protecting.
8. If access to the roof was via a large ladder, that made the actions of the shooter all the more obvious. Again, why wasn’t that spotted and reacted to?
9. The claim that a building is secured just by going into it, without looking at the roof, is another obviously absurd explanation.
10. Reports now indicate that the security team were aware of the shooter on the roof for 30 minutes. That’s a damning length of time with no action taken.
All of these errors represent decision points that are pretty basic. You can only make ALL of these errors from gross incompetence. But some of these errors must have been decisions made prior to the event, or decisions made higher up the chain of command during the event.
In other words, it’s bad planning as well as bad reactions in the moment. It’s higher up, as well as on the ground, decision making that goes against what you would think all security service training and normal procedure demands.
You don’t need to hire the shooter if you DECIDE to provide a very poor level of protection. If you cut corners or don’t do basic things because the people in charge don’t like the person being protected. That’s setting that person up to be killed, even if it’s not an actual conspiracy to kill him.
I’m as far from being a security expert as it’s possible to get. I’ve only fired live ammo once in my life. I have no military training. I’m unfit. I’m not even very good at shooting people in video games. But I can say this. I know a bloody nearby roof needs to be secured, and if I was looking at a strange guy on a roof with a gun for thirty minutes I might consider him a threat that needs dealing with BEFORE he starts shooting people.
Because I’m not retarded. You have to be retarded to leave that roof unchecked and not respond to people telling you there’s a guy on that roof. Or there has to be another explanation like you haven’t been given the personnel you need to do it. Which would be ANOTHER decision higher up the chain designed to set up a successful assassination. There are of course reports that Trump’s team requested more security, and were declined.
My view is
that even if they didn’t have any involvement with the shooter, the
people in charge didn’t want to expend normal effort or follow normal
procedures to protect Donald Trump, because they hate Donald Trump.
Even without a conspiracy to kill, there’s a bias there, a petty
malice, that made them slapdash, lazy, and recklessly unprofessional.
That isn’t just a matter of incompetence. It’s a matter of malice. Like a cop on a beat hearing screams from a house and deciding not to investigate because he’s had previous interactions there and doesn’t like the occupants. Sure, him going for a coffee and a doughnut instead is incompetent. But it’s also a decision. A decision that takes malice.
There is no way this level of separate and glaring errors, errors obvious even to anyone of us with zero training, should occur without decision makers being held accountable for it and losing their jobs. If it was anyone other than Donald Trump, if it was a senior Democrat, there would already have been senior resignations or sackings.
Am I wrong?
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The best online researcher ever, Dr. Chris Martenson , PhD, has decided to apply his amazing research and analytical skills to the attempted assassination. And it's not pretty but it is helpful and eye-opening. The details he reports are from the national media that have documented what professors in acoustics, for example, have uncovered. It's fascinating and terrifying. Terrifying because what he uncovers and reports from currently public sources has made him vulnerable and he now fears for his life which he says toward the end of the video. So, please watch the video and share it widely before #Fascistbook or YouTube deletes or cancels it.
PS: in another video following this one, Dr. Martenson documents that the FBI is cleaning up the roof and, unbelievably, patching up the bullet holes in the tarmac without doing any normal tracing of bullet paths.
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A good read for travelers who have concerns about the growing surveillance of our activities.
In the US, over 80 airports are currently piloting facial recognition technology. The TSA’s goal is to roll out the tech in all of the more than 430 airports that it covers, arguing that this kind of automation would reduce "friction” at airports — meaning, presumably, how long it takes passengers to move through security.
That should raise some eyebrows, because there are known risks with this AI technology, from the possibility that your face data will be stolen due to breaches to the chance that you’ll be misidentified as a criminal suspect — and jailed. Neither of these are hypothetical scenarios; the former has happened due to CBP system vulnerabilities and the latter has happened at the hands of police. And then, of course, there’s AI bias; facial recognition tech is known to disproportionately misidentify people of color.
But as dangerous as face recognition can be if it goes wrong, a greater concern could be what happens if it’s seen to work as intended. When I asked Joy Buolamwini, the founder of the Algorithmic Justice League, what worries her about the use of this tech in airports, she said, "The big one for me is normalizing surveillance.”
Buolamwini argued that airport face recognition is a way of acclimating the public to having more and more sensitive information taken. "I see this on a longer trajectory,” she said. "And they’ve shown you the trajectory.”
Traveling this summer? Maybe don’t let the airport scan your face. — Vox
apple.news
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David C. Moyer
I wonder if Trump owes his life to video games. On one hand, I can't imagine how someone can miss a shot like that at 150 yards. I can do that off-hand 99% of the time- prone should be 100% of the time.
But the shooter had a history of being a bad shot and being a video game enthusiast.
I teach a lot of young people to shoot. One person, I had being an excellent shot. But hunting season was 6 months away. When he came back for hunting season we didn't get to do any target shooting before hand. He missed two deer at less than 100 feet. When they are that close I pull out my handgun. But somehow he missed at that range with a scoped rifle. Eventually, we figured out that he had decided that having the cross-hairs on the target was sufficient- no need to have the cross-hairs in the center of the scope picture. Video shooting games always have just the cross-hairs. They are always centered. Putting the cross-hairs even close to the target achieves hitting the target. Reality is something different, but they develop the habit of shooting whenever the cross-hairs are on target. Possibly, that is why the assassin missed.
I recall that other students who were
trained on open sights decided on their own that only the front sight
needed to be on target. The rear sight wasn't involved. It took me
quite a while to figure out this misunderstandin
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