Tracker

ALL RIGHT!! SHOWTIME!!!

I had initially thought to post this but chose not to out of a vain attempt to look classy.

That problem was solved with the return of the Stove.

Gonna be hair, teeth and eyeballs all over the field tonight. Elks ought to be in a surly mood and the Bombers are on a roll. This should feel like a playoff game. with finesse out the window. Time for the Bomber to grab grass (Astroturf) and growl.

This was inevitable and violence is probable.

They've been been honing their skills for 50 years and after a couple of dry runs, they are nearly ready to take over the American government by guile and force.

'This is American fascism': A disturbing event will bring together gun nuts, Trumpians and 'End Times' Moonies Freedom Festival is a far-right event held in Greenley, Pennsylvania and organized by a combination of Moonies and gun manufacturers. The speakers at this year's event will include former National Rifle Association spokesperson Dana Loesch and former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, and according to Daily Beast reporter Jose Pagliery, their presence at Freedom Festival underscores the ever-increasing radicalization of the Republican Party. "Few Americans are even aware that the gun company Kahr and a rural Pennsylvania doomsday church — both run by the same ultra-rich Korean family — hold an annual 'Freedom Festival' that attracts gun enthusiasts and the type of people who attach 'Don't Tread on Me' flags to the back of their trucks," Pagliery explains in an article published on October 8. "But in the wake of the failed January 6 insurrection, the event's amalgamation of sovereign citizens and alt-truthers has taken on a new meaning. And now, it's even got an all-star lineup." Ryan Busse, a former gun industry executive, warns that the presence of a former NRA spokesperson at Freedom Festival is "legitimizing" extremism. Busse told the Beast, "It's going to send a message across the country that this is normal, that this is OK. This is American fascism being developed right before our eyes. This is like 1936 Germany in a symposium." Busse went on to say, "The one that concerns me the most is Dana Loesch. She's treated by gun consumers like royalty, and here she is legitimizing this insanity. That scares me." Pagliery notes that Kahr Firearms Group, which manufactures semi-automatic weapons, is run by a family of Moonies. Founded by the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon during the 1950s, the Moonies are a Christianist cult known for conspiracy theories, End Times themes and a far-right ideology. "While Sun Myung Moon became a prominent figure in the American conservative movement — founding the Washington Times newspaper — one of his sons, Justin Moon, founded the Kahr gun company in 1995," Pagliery explains. "And another son, Hyung Jin Sean Moon, inherited an offshoot of the church that goes by the World Peace and Unification Sanctuary and warns about 'the End of Times.' With the patriarch now deceased, his sons have largely merged their worlds." Pagliery continues, "The reverend son now refers to his church with a more militant name — Rod of Iron Ministries — an allusion to his unification of disparate ideas: faith and guns. And churchgoers wear metal crowns on their heads, signifying individuals' ultimate sovereign authority over themselves. They also carry semi-automatic rifles like AR-15s and AK-47s, fashioning their guns like pious medieval knights would a sword." The Moonies are not white supremacists; Rev. Sun Myung Moon was Korean. But according to J.J. MacNab of George Washington University's Program on Extremism, that doesn't make them any less dangerous. MacNab told the Beast, "They've never really gotten the attention I think they should, because they're not a White supremacy group. Anybody that's pushing such a hearty mix of guns and religion are problematic to me. And the doomsday element is there. It's effectively talking about death." Busse finds Freedom Festival's combination of religious extremism, guns, conspiracy theories and Trumpism to be incredibly toxic. The former NRA member told the Beast, "It's what I fear: anything that will gin up people to buy more guns, hate people more, and vote for people like Trump. It's all of that on steroids. Doesn't the Klan meet in the dark out back behind uncle's barn? This is right out in the open." 'This is American fascism': A disturbing event will bring together gun nuts, Trumpians and 'End Times' Moonies - Alternet.org

It looks like a cold and wet forecast for gametime tomorrow, so that likely means few long passes and more reliance on the short passing and running game. I like our chances.

Another good guy fades into history, but leaving a great legacy for his community.

The news this morning regarding the Catholic financial settlement will hurt them again.

New Report Details Trump's Dramatic Efforts To Undercut 2020 Election In Waning Days Top Justice Department officials and White House attorneys threatened to resign en masse if then-President Donald Trump followed through on plans to aggressively pursue unfounded claims of election fraud in his final days in office, according to an upcoming Senate Judiciary Committee report examining his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The New York Times first published details of the document late Wednesday, which includes the most detailed information yet about a meeting on Jan. 3 in which Trump fought with top officials in hopes of installing a loyalist as his acting attorney general. The plan was part of his final attempt to retain power after his loss to Joe Biden by more than 6 million votes and came amid his ongoing, and false, claims that widespread voter fraud had cost him the race. According to the report cited by the Times, White House counsel Pat Cipollone likened Trump’s effort to a “murder-suicide pact” and threatened to resign alongside his deputy. Trump later relented and didn’t follow through with the plan. New Report Details Trump's Dramatic Efforts To Undercut 2020 Election In Waning Days | HuffPost Latest News

How the once-feared mu variant all but disappeared In September, news broke that a new coronavirus mutation — the mu variant, formally known as B.1.621 — could potentially evade vaccine-induced immunity. "This variant has a constellation of mutations that suggests that it would evade certain antibodies, not only monoclonal antibodies, but vaccine- and convalescent serum-induced antibodies," President Joe Biden's COVID-19 adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci told reporters in September. "But there isn't a lot of clinical data to suggest that. It is mostly laboratory in-vitro data." At the time, the idea of a vaccine-resistant variant sent a shockwave of fear through the world. The dreaded delta variant was already known to be more resistant to vaccines than the original SARS-CoV-2 virus. Could mu, which was first discovered in Colombia, be worse than delta? Indeed, mu appeared to have specific mutations that have been associated with resistance to immunity, as well a mutation known as P681H that has been linked to accelerated transmission. Now, nearly a month later — long after the World Health Organization dubbed the mu variant one "of interest" that needed to be monitored — data from outbreak.info shows the mu variant hasn't been detected in the U.S., nor anywhere in the world, since September 21, 2021. Does that mean the mu is no longer a threat? The short answer is: probably. But Joseph Fauver, an associate research scientist at the Yale School of Public Health, wouldn't go as far as saying it's been "eradicated," as some news outlets have reported either. "To say it was 'eradicated' would imply that we, humans, went out of our way to make that happen … but as far as mu or B.1.621 longer being around, yeah, I would totally buy that," Fauver said. Fauver clarified: "What actually happened was that it was effectively out competed by delta." How the once-feared mu variant all but disappeared | Salon.com

‘**** These People’: Bodycam Shows Minneapolis Cops Praised for ‘Hunting’ Protesters After George Floyd Death Minneapolis police officers tasked with restoring order and defusing tensions amid the city’s George Floyd protests last year made a sport of “hunting” demonstrators, newly released bodycam footage shows. The footage, released at the request of a defense attorney for a St. Paul man who was cleared of all charges after he fired back at Minneapolis SWAT team members in an unmarked vehicle, shows officers treating protesters more like enemy combatants—all because they were out after curfew. “**** these people,” Minneapolis Police Commander Bruce Folkens can be heard telling one officer who said it had been a “busy night.” “It’s nice to hear that we’ve moved to—tonight it was just nice to hear ‘We’re gonna go find some more people.’ Instead of chasing people around… you guys are out hunting people now. It’s just a nice change of tempo,” Folkens told the officer, per the Minnesota Reformer. The “busy night” saw officers unleash rubber bullets on demonstrators out after curfew on May 30, 2020, just five days after the police killing of George Floyd sparked infuriated protests. Jaleel Stallings was among those to come under attack by officers firing marking rounds without warning. After police in an unmarked van fired rubber bullets at Stallings, striking him with one in the chest, the Army veteran returned fire with a handgun he was licensed to have. Stallings later said he had no idea the occupants of the van were law enforcement and that he had fired back in self-defense. The bodycam footage released Tuesday by his attorney, Eric Rice, shows Minneapolis police officers punching and kicking him as they took him into custody, with one calling him a “piece of ****.” He appeared to try to explain the misunderstanding to the officers, repeatedly saying “Listen, listen, sir,” as they pinned him to the ground. He faced a slew of charges in the wake of that incident—including second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault, second-degree assault, and second-degree riot—but he was cleared on all counts at a July trial. The footage also showed Minneapolis police officers puncturing vehicle tires while out on the prowl, and unleashing rubber bullets at a gas station owner and several ordinary citizens who were simply guarding the gas station. After a SWAT officer pepper-sprayed a Vice News reporter directly in the face even after he had displayed his press credentials, officers railed against the media, with one complaining that “they think they can do whatever they want.” Lt. Johnny Mercil joked about the encounter, saying, “Hold on a second, let me check your credentials, make a few phone calls to verify…” “There’s a [expletive] curfew,” he said. Members of the press were exempt from the governor’s curfew order amid protests. In the wake of the video’s release Tuesday, Garrett Parten, a spokesman for the MPD, told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune an internal-affairs investigation had been launched. Bodycam Footage Shows Minneapolis Police Officers Praised for ‘Hunting’ Protesters After George Floyd Killing (thedailybeast.com)

Physically healthy if not emotionally.

You do not have to be a chicken to detect a rotten egg.

If there is another, would they have to change their names to Cha-Cha houses?

But bullet proof backpacks for kids are so cheap these days....

All's well that ends well, to quote the Bard of Avon (no connection to cosmetics)

All these resurrections of old TV shows confirms the dearth of creativity in the TV industry.

Overpants or underpants? Or both?

French Report Finds 330,000 Children Were Victims Of Church Sex Abuse PARIS (AP) — An estimated 330,000 children were victims of sex abuse within France’s Catholic Church over the past 70 years, according to a major report released Thursday that is France’s first major reckoning with the devastating phenomenon. The figure includes abuses committed by some 3,000 priests and other people involved in the church — wrongdoing that Catholic authorities covered up over decades in a “systemic manner,” according to the president of the commission that issued the report, Jean-Marc Sauvé. The head of the French bishops conference asked forgiveness from the victims. The group is meeting Tuesday to discuss next steps. The commission urged the church to take strong action, denouncing “faults” and “silence.” It also called on the French state to help compensate the victims, notably in cases that are too old to prosecute via the courts. About 80% of the victims were boys.

Bad Odor there.

Ain't no "could be" about it. Assassinating the leader who fails to deliver a majority is a Tory tradition. I'm just surprised that it took so long to come to this.