Biden isn’t the “official nominee” yet but under DNC rules, the pledged delegates are essentially required to vote for the candidate their state selected in the first round. Only if no one has the required 1,968 pledged delegates in the first round does it go to a second round. At that point, 739 Superdelegates — party officials, basically — are allowed to vote and pledged delegates can switch to another candidate.
Biden currently has 3,894 pledged delegates. Second is Dean Phillips with 4. So, you’d basically have to convince thousands of Biden loyalists to change the party rules so they could vote for another candidate. And then, in the potential second round, convince the Superdelegates to also reject Biden.
That won’t happen unless he’s literally dead or incapacitated. Both primaries are over and the nominating conventions are a formality. It’d probably be easier to convince the electoral college to vote against the candidate that specifically chose them for their loyalty.
I do think he believes he’s the best shot against Trump. He’s a politician. Basically every elected official in DC or a governor’s mansion thinks they’d be the best presidential candidate ever. Plus, he already beat Trump once and (according to 538’s polling average) is slightly ahead nationally.
I didn’t support Biden in the 2020 primary and I’m not thrilled with a replay of 2020 but with everyone even older. But at this stage, Biden might be the best candidate. If he did step aside, the convention could easily divide the party and be a total disaster. Do they go with Kamala? A popular governor like Gavin Newsome or Gretchen Whitmer? Could the candidate even put together a campaign staff and raise the necessary cash in time to be a good candidate? They’re already booking TV ad time for September.
I mean, I don’t have an answer to those questions. Maybe voters would be like, “Thank god, someone under 75.” and it’d be a landslide. But it could just as easily be total chaos.
The left isn’t who made him a cause célèbre. That was the right wing media. He wasn’t interviewed by fucking Jacobin or whatever. He was interviewed on Fox News. And he didn’t “defend” himself unless you ignore everything that happened leading up to the killings. He got driven across state lines with a AR-style rifle “to protect businesses” like a dumbass.
I want medical reforms as much as you, believe me, but I also want a dumbass exception to self-defense laws. If you arm yourself and appoint yourself a vigilante, you are no longer acting in self defense. You are an untrained dumbass creating the conditions for violence. It’s like showing up to an Alabama - LSU game and going into the LSU student section in a Bama jersey. If you get a beer thrown at you and it ends in a brawl, nothing you do is self defense. It’s your own dumbass fault.
Texas megachurch pastor Robert Morris, who Donald Trump once named as a spiritual adviser to his administration, announced he was stepping down from Gateway Church amid allegations he molested a 12-year-old girl in the 1980s....
I don’t think you’re giving normie white American evangelicals enough credit. Aside from kids and very old people, most join megachurches for community and status reasons. It doesn’t matter at all if the pastor preaches the exact opposite of what the Bible says — prosperity gospel, for example — it’s about showing up, seeing friends, and being part of a community. They aren’t being duped.
I don’t want to say no Evangelicals are sincere in their faith because, obviously, that isn’t true. Plenty people practice their faith by doing good works and helping the poor. But as that Niebuhr quote says: “Religion makes good people better and bad people worse.” A lot of white American Evangelical churches are about giving bad people excuses to be worse. Trump hasn’t been good for much but he did create a big “mask off” moment for lots of American “Christians.”
More than a month after a news report revealed that the Combat Infantryman Badge Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, wears on his lapel was revoked since he was never eligible for the award to begin with, the congressman refuses to take the pin off....
During official proceedings of the G.O.P.-controlled chamber, speaking about former President Donald J. Trump’s felony conviction has been forbidden, while disparaging President Biden and Democrats is routine....
Or maybe the two countries with a larger population than the United States have significantly lower per capita income and so fewer people own desktop/laptop computers. Most of the world probably has, at most, a smartphone.
If anything, Brazil seems like the outlier on the that map. You’d expect the U.S. to have the most computers. But Brazil and China are roughly similar in terms of income.
No one needs to be educated on Bitcoin. It’s like 15 years-old, raises electricity bills, enables organized crime, and is too volatile to be a currency. Developers know blockchain is too slow to ever be valuable beyond a few very niche use cases. What else is there to learn?
If anything, Bitcoin fans need to be educated on economic history — maybe start with the free banking era — so they’d know why central banks were created in the first place. But to do that, they’d have to read real textbooks instead of screeds containing dozens of long discredited economic theories. It’s just a modern version of right wing goldbuggism.
I don’t know anything about New Brunswick but according to Wikipedia, “A powerful corporate concentration of large companies in New Brunswick is owned by the Irving Group of Companies.”
They own all types of companies, most of them heavy industry with lots of pollution, but also lots of media outlets. And also:
“In 2016, the National Observer released an eight-part investigation on the family called House of Irving. It looked at many parts of the businesses including the expansion into Maine, its media monopoly, how they intimidate their critics and issues within the family.“
I’m no Scooby Doo but I think that’s where I’d start my investigation.
Trump (or any other president) can’t issue pardons for state-level crimes, only federal crimes. So, if you’re friends with any presidents, make sure to only do crimes in DC (which isn’t a state for anyone not familiar with America’s absurd system).
I think if they do a full-blown invasion, they’ll find out that Hezbollah (and quite possibly the regular Lebanese military) is a much bigger, experienced, and sophisticated enemy than Hamas. Also, an invasion of Lebanon could easily attract third parties (like Syria-based militias or even other countries).
If it’s a limited, restrained operation to create a buffer zone, it might not lead to escalation. There’s apparently a peace deal on the table that would accomplish just that but Hezbollah wants Israel to agree to the “ceasefire for hostages” deal in Gaza first.
But let’s not forget that Netanyahu is going to jail on corruption charges as soon as he isn’t prime minister. He’s alienated everyone except the extremist parties on the right so, ultimately, they’ll be able to control policy just by threatening to leave the fragile coalition government. So, I don’t know if I’d bet on a limited, restrained operation.
Black’s conviction has presented another challenge for U.S. authorities already working to gain the release of several Americans in Russian jails on what the White House says are spurious charges.
Does it? He isn’t a political prisoner. It sounds like he’s a horny, apparently violent dumbass who secretly went to Russia against military rules (and common sense) and then did crimes.
Louisiana has become the first US state to order that every public school classroom up to university level must display a poster of the Ten Commandments....
Our new governor — I live in Louisiana — is a complete jackass who said he can’t wait to get sued over this. He knows it’s unconstitutional and just wants attention.
Also, there’s not one version of the 10 Commandments. Protestants, Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Jews, etc. all have different versions. The one that the law requires was written by the Fraternal Order of Eagles in 1954 and Cecil DeMille raised funds to have them donate monuments to cities around the country as marketing for the movie Ten Commandments. So, it’s not even historic.
Some say its presence on the seal makes it our national bird. But if we follow that reasoning, we could say that the pyramid, which also appears on the seal, is our national edifice.
If this ever happens, I will raise a volunteer army of foxy sex addicts to ensure adultery is committed. It’ll be like this Onion article but as a free, gender-neutral service. theonion.com/government-to-defend-marriage-from-d…
You think you don’t like no fault divorce? Then I’ll make it my fault.
At the start of the video, Lauren Windsor of The Undercurrent presents herself as a true believer who showed up at a Catholic Prayer for Trump event seeking a photo op with Stone. From there, Windsor starts asking Stone for his thoughts about the coming presidential election....
One of the funniest Twitter moments was when the FBI arrested Roger Stone and [American football player] Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson teeeted, “FBI arrested my neighbor Roger before my morning jog, I’ve only seen shit like that in movies, crazy to start to my Friday.”
I think more people learned about it from people sharing that Tweet than from any news organization.
I love the “spend smarter” bullshit when the Pentagon has failed 6 straight audits — and there have only been 6. The audits aren’t even hard to pass. There’s nothing about no-bid contracts, cost-plus contracts, or any Military-Industrial-Complex-related corruption.
If we actually “spent smarter,” nearly a trillion dollars a year^1^ would be fucking plenty. It’s already twice as much as Russia and China combined.
^1^ Probably over a trillion if you count the Department of Veterans Affairs, intelligence agencies, and other military-related things that aren’t under DoD.
I doubt Germany (or anywhere in Western Europe) needs knowledge transfer on technology but if China set up a factory in the EU, it’d probably be in an Eastern European country that could probably use a little.
The Israeli military had advanced notice about a plan by Hamas to raid southern Israel including accurate predictions about the number of hostages the group would seize, a new report has found....
As absurd as it seems sometimes, the One China policy has kept the peace for decades. I wouldn’t toss it out without a very, very good reason.
I mean, to people under 50ish, Taiwan is a stable, functioning democracy with an advanced economy but that didn’t really happen until 1987. It was basically a fascistic military dictatorship prior to that. It’s a much more complicated history than we sometimes acknowledge. …wikipedia.org/…/History_of_Taiwan_(1945–present)
I’m an elder millennial, I guess, and I was alive but too young to remember Taiwan’s first real elections. I get that the One China policy might feel like a relic of a bygone era since I know it from history books too. But most world leaders are old enough to remember when Taiwan was a dysfunctional, fascistic military dictatorship. It might require another few generations of peace before it’s fully consolidated.
I mean, to put it in perspective, Robocop, Lethal Weapon, and Predator came out in 1987. People old enough to see those movies in theaters remember a different era and likely have a fundamentally different understanding of Taiwan/Mainland relations. Xi, Biden, and Trump are all over 70.
It’s weird to call Brittney Griner “weak and gay” when she’s clearly very strong and gay.
Also, basically no rookie should be on the Olympic Squad. For one thing, the Team USA minicamp (or whatever it’s called) is during the NCAA Tournament so they miss that. Then, because the calendars aren’t aligned, they get basically no off-season to recover before the WNBA season starts. She probably doesn’t need another tournament to play in in 2024.
Caitlin Clark is better off being a rookie, learning to play physical basketball against grown ass women, and making her Olympic debut at the Los Angeles games. Every conservative dipshit can cry tears of pure racist joy when she wins a gold medal against France or whomever.
Also, I’m an LSU fan who doesn’t even root for Caitlin Clark. I bet on South Carolina in the final because I thought it’d be funny if she lost to a second SEC team. It’s absurd that a hater like me has to be the one saying, “Be patient, let her develop, get enough rest, and she maybe can be the best ever.”
They found macroplastics in my sample. Plastics so dang macro, they skipped the microscope and put my sample straight in the recycling bin to be sent off and become a 2 liter bottle of Pepsi.
I don’t think she’s even German. She might have been born on a U.S. base in Germany — there are conflicting reports where some say she was born at Ft. Knox in the U.S. — but if she was, they came back to America when she was a toddler. Her dad has a German last name (her mom has an English one) and they were from Oklahoma and Kentucky.
So, at best, she’s an army brat who has an obsession with Germany but apparently not the beer and schnitzel aspect. Some other aspect.
It isn’t that odd for Americans to say “I’m Italian” when they’re like 5 generations removed from the generation that actually immigrated. But it’s weird as fuck to say what she said how she said it.
Even beyond the moral arguments, it’s just stupid. I went to Iceland last summer and I don’t know what 100 fin whales are worth but I guarantee just the people on the two boats I went whale watching on spent more money than Japanese whale meat fetishists. And that was only two boats from two companies. There were dozens of boats going out from Reykjavik and Húsavík every day, at least during the high season.
Minke whales aren’t endangered but even that hunt creates bad publicity for the country and probably harms the tourism industry. If you have bad luck on your whale watching day, you’ll still see a few minke whales and come away happy. It was mostly families with kids and the kids were stoked to spot any whale.
I get making exceptions for indigenous people in the Canadian Arctic or wherever but they have a cultural tradition, harvest like 4 whales a year, and use the meat and blubber themselves. But from what I read on my trip and was told by the guides, Icelanders didn’t even eat whale meat unless the whale beached themselves. It wasn’t some key cultural tradition.
Whalers were literally the oil companies of the 1800’s. I say “Fuck” to them just as much as I say “Fuck” to Exxon, Chevron, Aramco, et al.
The Israeli government insists that Hamas formally sanctioned sexual assault on October 7, 2023. But investigators say the evidence does not stand up to scrutiny. Catherine Philp and Gabrielle Weiniger report on eight months of claim and counter-claim...
I get what you’re saying but I’m pretty sure it matters in international law for additional charges against Hamas leadership. There’s, tragically, sexual violence in basically every conflict, and individuals who do it have committed a crime for sure. But proving it’s systematic and used as a tactic would make higher ups in Hamas guilty of (even more) war crimes.
So, it is important for prosecuting Hamas leadership that there be a proper, legal investigation and that it be proven to be either knowingly allowed or (even worse) ordered as a tactic.
Obviously, Hamas and Israel have both committed enough war crimes already that the senior leadership will likely be found guilty of something at The Hague (if ever arrested). But properly accounting for all of the war crimes is important for both justice and history.
I don’t think there’s any sign of foul play. It was apparently too foggy to fly a helicopter in the mountains and Iran’s president did it anyway (knowingly or by accident). Namibia’s president was 82 and died of cancer.
Qatari news network Al Jazeera is stridently denying any link to Gaza-based journalist Abdallah Aljamal, amid unverified rumors that hostage Noa Argamani had been held at his home in central Gaza’s Nuseirat....
How many terrorists have to be at the table? Itamar Ben-Gvir is a convicted terrorist. Should the cabinet adjourn every time a Kehanist or two shows up? Or does it require a 5/6 ratio before guilt by association kicks in?
For the 60th anniversary of D-Day, I was in college in DC and we were invited to go to the French embassy’s event to show that appreciation for WWII veterans was multi-generational. They were all being flown to France for a free trip to be thanked.
I was in line at the buffet and I’m from Louisiana and was a sous chef. A veteran was asking what certain food items were so I was like, “Oh, beef bourguignon? That’s basically beef stew. It’s delicious.” And he was like, “Louisiana? LA. I’m also from LA: Lower Alabama!” and we ended up cutting up and hanging out. He had the best stories.
It’s one of my favorite memories. Appreciation for D-Day vets is definitely multigenerational and that France does appreciation events for them is really a great thing.
Look, this is America. We all agreed that if you want to break laws, you have to go to Louisiana or Nevada. He should have moved to one of our semi-autonomous lawless zones if he wanted to get fucked up and shoot a gun.
A politicized judiciary, legislatures drawing districts, the electoral college making the popular vote irrelevant, and militarized police are starting to make me question whether we’re actually a democracy.
Oh well, at least I can vote for alderman and NBA All Stars or whatever.
A lot of newspapers do that in headlines. They don’t necessarily mean scare quotes.
Not defending it or implying he’s lying. Just that many newspapers — especially in England — do that a lot and it doesn’t necessarily carry connotations. It often means they have a direct quote. He probably was tortured and they more using it for emphasis rather than doubt.
I think it’s perfectly possible to use Mint, Ubuntu, or Fedora without the terminal. But a lot of online tutorials are like, “Just run this command.” because it’s faster.
I’m an experienced terminal user but I know with my Steam Deck, I barely ever use it. Really the only time is when I want to update packages quicker than using the GUI tool. But you could successfully use a Steam Deck without ever launching into Desktop mode, much less opening a terminal.
Don’t forget that it’s essentially owned by the Falun Gong cult/religion. The Washington Times is similarly run by a cult/religion (the Unification Church aka Moonies).
The line between cult and religion is obviously blurry so I’ll leave it as an exercise to the reader to form their own opinions on Falun Gong and Unification Church.
An earlier version of this article said that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) was the reimbursement program’s top spender for 2023. That analysis was based on data released by the House as of last week. But additional data The Post reviewed Tuesday showed that Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) was reimbursed for more than Gaetz was. This article has been updated.
Rep. Gaetz tried to spend the most but his “policy meetings” with the Woodrow Wilson High School dance team just couldn’t compete with whatever the hell Rep. Jack Bergman was expensing.
Matt Gaetz being like, “No, I don’t have a receipt. It was 2am and I needed to order a bottle of Pineapple Malibu and chicken nuggets for my chief advisors. I used Uber Eats but I don’t use my real email or number for that shit.”
And a weird front for the Falun Gong cult/religion. The Washington Times, the conservative newspaper in DC, is owned by the Moonies (aka Unification Church) a different cult/religion from SE Asia.
If only there was some connection between U.S. conservative media and weird cults of personality.
He’s an openly corrupt coal baron whose daughter quadrupled the price of EpiPens when she was CEO of Mylan (while the company donated the max allowed to Joe Manchin’s campaign and probably more to Super PACs).
I realize Republicans are worse but he and his whole family should at least be required to sit in the exit row of unrefurbished Boeing 737 MAX planes. The first good thing they’ll have done for humanity will be helping identify a plane that didn’t get the exit door bolted on properly.
There’s refugee resettlement charities if you need people to help. Like, in Atlanta, New American Pathways helps families fleeing awful situations to get English classes. jobs, housing, enroll kids in school, etc. Lots of cities have similar charities. People who teach English at libraries and the like.
Jail time isn’t realistic but I want him sentenced to community service tasks that have the funniest photo potential. I want pictures of him in a hairnet and apron holding a ladle at the soup kitchen.
Thousands of Iran-backed fighters offer to join Hezbollah in its fight against Israel (apnews.com)
Kyle Rittenhouse’s family: We’re his collateral damage (www.thedailybeast.com)
The far-right darling is accused of leaving his mom and sister high and dry as they fight eviction....
Trump’s Spiritual Adviser Resigns Amid Allegations He Molested 12-Year-Old (www.thedailybeast.com)
Texas megachurch pastor Robert Morris, who Donald Trump once named as a spiritual adviser to his administration, announced he was stepping down from Gateway Church amid allegations he molested a 12-year-old girl in the 1980s....
Texas congressman won’t stop wearing combat Infantryman Badge that was revoked (www.military.com)
More than a month after a news report revealed that the Combat Infantryman Badge Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, wears on his lapel was revoked since he was never eligible for the award to begin with, the congressman refuses to take the pin off....
On the House floor, Republicans gag mentions of Trump’s conviction (www.nytimes.com)
During official proceedings of the G.O.P.-controlled chamber, speaking about former President Donald J. Trump’s felony conviction has been forbidden, while disparaging President Biden and Democrats is routine....
Flathub has passed 2 billion downloads
flathub.org/statistics
Winklevoss twins say they each donated $1M in bitcoin to Trump (thehill.com)
Second Canadian scientist alleges brain illness investigation was shut down (www.theguardian.com)
Trump ally Bannon asks the Supreme Court to delay his 4-month prison sentence on contempt charges (apnews.com)
Israel ready for ‘all-out war’ in Lebanon (www.aljazeera.com)
The Israeli military says its Northern Command has approved operational plans for war with Lebanon....
A Russian court has sentenced a U.S. soldier to nearly 4 years in prison (www.npr.org)
Louisiana orders Ten Commandments poster in every classroom (www.bbc.com)
Louisiana has become the first US state to order that every public school classroom up to university level must display a poster of the Ten Commandments....
You probably think this is our national bird. Think again. Yes, the bald eagle appears on our Great Seal, but it has no official designation. (www.washingtonpost.com)
The Christian right is coming for divorce next (www.vox.com)
Before the 1960s, it was really hard to get divorced in America....
Scientists enlist AI to interpret meaning of barks (www.bbc.com)
Trump confidant Roger Stone caught on tape talking about Mar-a-Lago judge and the real reason trial delays matter (lawandcrime.com)
At the start of the video, Lauren Windsor of The Undercurrent presents herself as a true believer who showed up at a Catholic Prayer for Trump event seeking a photo op with Stone. From there, Windsor starts asking Stone for his thoughts about the coming presidential election....
Send all the Marines to the Pacific, a top Trump adviser says (www.politico.com)
Europe gives China a taste of its own trade medicine: Europe is using the threat of tariffs to press Chinese electric car makers to set up in the EU and share know-how. (www.politico.eu)
The EU is having a radical rethink of how to cope with the trade threat from Beijing — and its response has a very Chinese flavor to it....
Israeli army knew of Hamas plot to take hostages before 7 Oct (www.newarab.com)
The Israeli military had advanced notice about a plan by Hamas to raid southern Israel including accurate predictions about the number of hostages the group would seize, a new report has found....
In historic first, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis vetoes most arts funding in Florida (www.heraldtribune.com)
China's Xi accused the US of trying to trick him into invading Taiwan, but said he won't take the bait, report says (www.businessinsider.com)
Xi Jinping accused the US of trying to trick China into invading Taiwan, the Financial Times said....
Surgeon General: Why I’m Calling for a Warning Label on Social Media Platforms (www.nytimes.com)
GOP candidate demands Brittney Griner get sent back to Russian prison (www.lgbtqnation.com)
Microplastics found in every human semen sample tested in study (www.theguardian.com)
Martha-Ann Alito Fantasizes About Flag Designs to Piss Off Her Neighbors (www.jezebel.com)
Globally, Biden Receives Higher Ratings Than Trump (www.pewresearch.org)
Iceland issues license for 128 fin whales to be hunted this year (apnews.com)
Israel says Hamas weaponised rape. Does the evidence add up? (www.thetimes.com)
The Israeli government insists that Hamas formally sanctioned sexual assault on October 7, 2023. But investigators say the evidence does not stand up to scrutiny. Catherine Philp and Gabrielle Weiniger report on eight months of claim and counter-claim...
A military plane carrying Malawi's vice president has gone missing and a search is underway (apnews.com)
A military plane carrying Malawi’s vice president and nine others went missing Monday and a search was underway, the president’s office said....
Unaired footage shows chaos, anger of congressional leaders amid Jan. 6 evacuation (www.politico.com)
Al Jazeera denies rumor that hostage was held at employee’s home (www.timesofisrael.com)
Qatari news network Al Jazeera is stridently denying any link to Gaza-based journalist Abdallah Aljamal, amid unverified rumors that hostage Noa Argamani had been held at his home in central Gaza’s Nuseirat....
A figure who worked in the shadows on D-Day awarded France's highest honor (www.independent.co.uk)
Is Hunter Biden being prosecuted because of politics? (www.vox.com)
Thomas has accepted $4M in gifts during career: Watchdog (thehill.com)
Donald Trump's "foamy saliva" in campaign video raises questions (www.newsweek.com)
GOP governor candidate says abortion is only for women who won't "keep your skirt down" (www.lgbtqnation.com)
Gay man ‘tortured’ in Qatar for his sexuality is sentenced: 'This is a breach of my human rights' (www.advocate.com)
Is it possible to use Linux without the command line?
We’ve all heard it before: People claiming Linux isn’t a viable alternative cause you can’t run it without using the command line....
House passes GOP bill to sanction ICC as it seeks arrest warrant for Netanyahu (abcnews.go.com)
The Epoch Times CFO charged with $67m money laundering scheme - BBC News (www.bbc.com)
Lawmakers expensed millions in 2023 under new program that doesn’t require receipts (wapo.st)
Must be nice not having to keep track of receipts to blatantly engage in corruption. I’m sure that was a minor inconvenience before.
Epoch Times CFO Bill Guan is charged in alleged $67 million global money laundering scheme (www.cnbc.com)
Joe Manchin leaves the Democratic Party, files as independent (www.axios.com)
Trump campaign donation page crashes after guilty verdict (www.thehill.com)
Former President Donald Trump found guilty on all counts in NY criminal hush money case (www.courier-journal.com)