Forgotten Man No More
Posted By: earlybird, 12/22/2022 11:45:29 AM
“Remember, no man is a failure who has friends,” wrote Clarence Oddbody to George Bailey at the end of Frank Capra’s 1946 classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Clarence is an angel-in-training, and is waiting to earn his wings. To do this, he must save George Bailey from committing suicide. But wait . . . let’s pause for a moment and start from the beginning. It’s important to learn who George Bailey really is. In order to save George’s life, Clarence is taken on a journey into George’s past and present, leading to the very dark, alternative future. We see George as a boy, saving his brother’s life, and then saving a
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earlybird"
After selling out their base on marriage and gun control, Senate Republicans decided to finish out 2022 by helping Democrats pass a $1.7 trillion omnibus spending package on Thursday that will keep the federal government funded through the end of 2023.(snip) Sens. Roy Blunt of Missouri, John Boozman and Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Susan Collins of Maine, Mitt Romney of Utah, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, John Cornyn of Texas, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rob Portman of Ohio, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Mike Rounds and John Thune of South Dakota, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Roger Wicker of
Traitors
5 replies
A picture, they say, is worth a thousand words. But there are only a few profane words to describe the obscene scene as the two women closest in line for the presidency hoisted the Ukrainian flag from the dias of the House of Representatives while swooning over Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Congress cheered on December 21. (This appears to be the first time in history the flag of another nation essentially flew inside the U.S. Capitol building.) (snip) even more telling—sickening?—was the image in the same photo of a House staffer wearing a black face mask standing silently, eyes cast downward, behind a tri-folded American flag in a
House Republicans offered mixed reactions to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s address to a joint meeting of Congress, foreshadowing a bumpier road that his country will face in securing future U.S. aid once the GOP takes control of the House in a few weeks.
(snip) he likely had little chance of swaying the fiercest GOP opponents to aid.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) tweeted that he was not in Washington, D.C., and would not attend the speech of a “Ukrainian lobbyist.” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who did not attend the address, tweeted earlier in the day that global foreign aid is like Americans being “raped everyday at the hands of
The Senate on Dec. 22 passed a mammoth $1.8 trillion spending package in a bipartisan vote.
See how each senator voted below.
Senators that voted for the bill:
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.)
Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.)
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.)
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.)
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.)
Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.)
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash)
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.)
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.)
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.)
Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.)
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine)
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.)
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas)
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.)
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.)
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.)
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)
Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.)
Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.)
Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.)
Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii)
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.)
Ten Establishment Senators Help Mike Lee’s
Title 42 Amendment Fail, Enabling Omnibus Advancement 20 replies
Title 42 Amendment Fail, Enabling Omnibus Advancement 20 replies
Ten establishment senators on Thursday helped Sen. Mike Lee’s (R-UT) Title 42 amendment fail, enabling the $1.7 trillion omnibus bill advance in the Senate, while providing political cover for 2024 endangered Democrat senators.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) worked with Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and Jon Tester (D-MT) Thursday morning to circumvent Lee’s amendment by crafting a side-by-side amendment to provide political cover for ten senators to ignore Lee’s Title 42 amendment, which was thawing a wrench into the passage of the omnibus bill.
Russia’s government spokesmen and diplomats responded scathingly to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s brief visit to Washington, DC, on Wednesday, mocking it as a “Hollywood-style trip” and claiming it confirmed America’s resolve to engage in a “proxy war” with Moscow.
Zelensky arrived in D.C. as lawmakers mull over an end-of-year omnibus spending bill that would grant his government $45 billion in humanitarian and weapons aid, potentially bringing the total American taxpayers’ dollars spent on Ukraine this year to upwards of $110 billion. While some Republicans have questioned the wisdom of such an expense, Zelensky was greeted warmly in Congress on Wednesday evening, receiving bipartisan applause.
Democrat Senators defeated the Senate GOP’s plan to preserve the Title 42 border barrier by offering a fig-leaf Title 42 plan that would have accelerated the inflow of migrants.
The amendment, prepared by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), was defeated by 87 votes to 10 votes after pro-migration groups opposed any changes to the 2023 omnibus bill. If the amendment had passed, it might have caused the entire bill to be defeated in the House.
The Democrat amendment worked because it gave political cover to nine Democrat Senators to justify their vote against the GOP Title 42 amendment.
Bidenana Republic
4 replies
Zelensky visited a banana republic on Wednesday, a country rife with corruption and a state police that protects the crooked politicians while attacking dissidents.
We call that banana republic the United States.
It's fitting.
America invented banana republics. More than a century ago, businessmen went to tropical countries in Central America, paid off the politicians, and made a mint. Red China is following the plan throughout the world with its Belt and Roadway Initiative.
The giant in the banana business was United Fruit Company.(snip)Readers may believe calling America a banana republic is an exaggeration but think about it.
If, as some recent polls suggest, Florida’s popular governor, Ron DeSantis, is able to mount a serious primary challenge to former President Trump, it will be because the governor understands political power is meant to be used. If DeSantis runs and wins, it will be because he persuaded Republican voters that he will be a more effective leader than Trump — not because he repudiated the former president’s policies or followers.
The governor’s appeal is founded on his use of power. In this, he contrasts with the many conservatives who, upon gaining power, tend to be like the dog who caught the car — unsure what to do with it.
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky is slated to receive a hero’s welcome in the U.S. capital today, just as Congress is poised to award him another $45 billion in its mammoth inflationary spending bill.
It may be Zelensky’s first time leaving Ukraine since the war with Russia began, but it’s not his first time appearing before an American audience to beg for more money. And it certainly won’t be his last. Already, Zelensky is prepared to use his congressional address to complain that the beaucoup bucks the U.S. has thrown at Ukraine in the last 10 months — more than $100 billion total if the omnibus passes — is still “not enough.”
There are probably hundreds of thousands of men and women who, because of political differences, maintain minimal or no contact with their parents and, even more cruelly, do not allow their parents to have any contact with their children—their parents’ grandchildren.
Probably an unprecedented number of Americans with grown children will be alone this Christmas because their children will neither visit them nor invite them for the holiday dinner.
In some rare instances of horrific parental behavior, this may be excusable, but when the reason is politics, it is inexcusable.(snip) In virtually every case, the parent is conservative, and the child is on the Left.
Forgotten Man No More
3 replies
“Remember, no man is a failure who has friends,” wrote Clarence Oddbody to George Bailey at the end of Frank Capra’s 1946 classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Clarence is an angel-in-training, and is waiting to earn his wings. To do this, he must save George Bailey from committing suicide. But wait . . . let’s pause for a moment and start from the beginning. It’s important to learn who George Bailey really is.
In order to save George’s life, Clarence is taken on a journey into George’s past and present, leading to the very dark, alternative future. We see George as a boy, saving his brother’s life, and then saving a
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“Entrenched systemic racism” is a significant risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia in non-white Americans, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) claimed in its 2022 update on how to fight the disease.
The HHS’ “National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease” said black, Hispanic and low-income populations are more likely to face health-related risk factors that contribute to Alzheimer’s and said this disparity is due to “structural inequities” that are the result of racism.
A furious Joe Biden was 'dropping f-bombs' throughout the White House as his team scrambled to find answers to the migration crisis, according to a new book on his presidency.
Biden's aides told author Chris Whipple that the situation on the U.S.-Mexico border 'made his blood boil'.
Along with vaccine misinformation, it was the problem that most aggravated Biden.
Whipple's book, The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden's White House, details how the Biden administration struggled to deal with surging migrant arrivals from Mexico throughout 2021 - and faced mounting criticism.
Who needs those icky rank-and-file Republican voters who ring the doorbells, make the calls, and write the checks? Not the Republican Party! At least that’s what some at the top of the party pyramid think. Some of this elite cabal is utterly disregarding what amounts to the base’s effective unanimity that current GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel needs to go away. After three terms of ignominious failure, she is pushing for a fourth go ‘round as the Republican National Committee (RNC) head honcho
A stunning pre-print study by the Cleveland Clinic published Monday at medRxiv shows that MRNA vaccines raise the risk of contracting COVID-19 and that each MRNA vaccine booster increases the risk of contracting COVID-19, while those who have not received any MRNA vaccine have the lowest risk of contracting COVID-19. While the increased risk was relatively minimal, the result is the opposite of how the vaccines have been sold and mandated by government authorities. The highest risk was for those who received more than three vaccines.(Snip)ABSTRACT: Background The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether a bivalent COVID-19 vaccine protects against COVID-19.
Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah said Thursday that he backed a $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill because he did not trust House Republicans to handle crafting a budget in light of Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California’s difficult campaign for speaker of the House.
“House Republicans say that they want to craft a budget, but they haven’t yet been able to select a speaker,” Romney said, referencing the fact that several House Republicans came out in opposition to McCarthy’s bid for speaker. Romney noted it would be very difficult to sort out budgets for the current fiscal year and the following fiscal year.
A winter weather system and cold blast is set to impact nearly every state and bring what the National Weather Service is calling a 'once-in-a-generation event' to the United States - crippling travel just days before Christmas.
The strengthening storm will bring more than a foot of snow and possible blizzard conditions to the Midwest, as the weather service warns of 'life-threatening' wind chills for millions.
More than 90 million people are under winter weather alerts and more than 87 million are under wind chill alerts. The alerts stretching across 37 states, dipping as far south as the Texas/Mexico border.
Are Universities Doomed?
31 replies
In a famous exchange in the The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway wrote: "How did you go bankrupt?" Bill asked. "Two ways," Mike said. "Gradually, then suddenly."
"Gradually" and "suddenly" applies to higher education's implosion.
During the 1990s "culture wars" universities were warned that their chronic tuition hikes above the rate of inflation were unsustainable.
Their growing manipulation of blanket federal student loan guarantees, and part-time faculty and graduate teaching assistants always was suicidal.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell laid blame on former President Donald Trump and a segment of his base for critical losses in key states during last month's midterm elections. McConnell told NBC News on Wednesday that Republicans failed to take the Senate due to Trump's hand-picked candidates, and promised to back "quality candidates" in the 2024 primaries. He also said Trump's "political clout has diminished."
"We lost support that we needed among independents and moderate Republicans, primarily related to the view they had of us as a party—largely made by the former president—that we were sort of nasty and tended toward chaos,"
The WHO doesn’t mess around. At least when it comes to spreading propaganda.
I will assume for the sake of civility that the WHO genuinely believes that the COVID vaccine is safe and effective. I will even assume that for most people the vaccine is safe, and at least somewhat effective in reducing the likelihood of severe disease in people likely to become deadly ill from COVID, such as the very old and very sick.
But I will not concede that critics of the vaccine are spreading misinformation nor stoking unreasonable fears. Quite a few sober scientists and even the health officials of many OECD countries have expressed real and reasonable skepticism
El Paso locals are rallying together to support the influx of thousands of migrants coming across the border just days before Christmas - some are even opening their homes to asylum seekers with children.
Residents in the small border town have been quick to purchase blankets, jackets, shoes and even toys for the children left sheltering on the streets as temperatures plummet.
Thousands of asylum-seekers have been lining up at the border, waiting to get into the country to be processed by border control as 400 members of the National Guard are positioned along the Rio Grande.
Fallen FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried will be released on a $250million bond, according to a deal struck today in a New York City courtroom.
The disgraced financier had recently claimed to have just $100,000 to his name.
He was arrested in the Bahamas last week on a range of fraud and money laundering charges for what prosecutors described as one of the biggest financial crimes in American history.
They allege that he used his crypto-trading platform as a 'personal piggy bank', convincing investors to mark their billions with him only to funnel their assets into his own company.
Here’s one part of the nearly $2 trillion American Rescue Plan passed last year that few people apparently read. The bill included more than half a million dollars in grants for tech researchers to develop artificial intelligence algorithms capable of identifying and suppressing “microaggressions” in social media posts. Part of the money was quietly gifted to researchers at the University of Washington earlier this year and they expect to receive the rest of it in coming years as the development work proceeds. You may find yourself wondering how the federal government wound up handing out taxpayer money to develop ways to automatically censor the free speech of its citizens.
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I have never seen this film, which has become a Christmas season classic. It is the “favorite movie’ of one family member who watches it every year. Melonic’s article is as much about actor Jimmy Stewart and the changes he went though after experiencing war as it is about the film. A read will tell you why. Well worth your time - a brief respite from the news? I’ll be looking for a rerun of this film on TV...