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According to the Free Press, Jonathon Toews has been absent from the Blackhawks due to a severe COVID infection.

CNN reveals that a man from the Capitol riot joined House Republicans on a border trip Anthony Aguero, a far-right YouTuber and ally of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, was reportedly among the group at the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, though at this point he has not been charged with any crime related to the insurrection. And his proximity to the shocking attack, apparently, isn't preventing some House other Republicans from associating with him. According to CNN reporters Andrew Kaczynski, Em Steck and Drew Myers, Aguero "accompanied Republican members of Congress" on a visit to the U.S./Mexico border earlier this week and served as a translator for them. "During his livestream of the Tuesday visit," the CNN journalists explain, "Aguero interviewed and chatted with Reps. Tom. Tiffany of Wisconsin, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, Chris Jacobs of New York, Michael Cloud of Texas, John Rose of Tennessee, Ronny Jackson of Texas and Mary Miller of Illinois."

Former cop arrested for Capitol riot who was told to stay away from guns went out and purchased 34 firearms When Thomas Robertson was granted release by a federal judge in January, the decision was made under a number of very clear conditions. The judge made it clear that he "could not own any firearms, destructive devices or dangerous weapons while his case was pending." If he owned any firearms, he was given two days to move them. However, Robertson has reportedly failed miserably in holding up his end of that agreement. According to The Washington Post, Robertson was prohibited from owning firearms but just days after his release, local authorities found approximately eight firearms at his home. He was given a reprieve for that occurrence but to no avail. Former cop arrested for Capitol riot who was told to stay away from guns went out and purchased 34 firearms - Alternet.org (In the cop business this is called "professional courtesy")

Workers Abandoned Repairs to Doomed Surfside Condo Last Fall, Says Report Reuters/Marco Bello Last October, construction workers were brought into Champlain Towers South to assess and repair worsening concrete damage in the building. But, according to documents obtained by USA Today, they discovered that the concrete deterioration had gotten so bad that workers couldn’t carry out repairs out of fear they would destabilize more areas of the condo complex. A summary of the work carried out on Oct. 13 reportedly said restoration and repair work “could not be performed” because it “could affect the stability of the remaining adjacent concrete constructions.” It’s still not known what caused last week’s collapse, which killed 18 people and has left 145 people still missing as of Friday morning. Meanwhile, officials are weighing up a plan to demolish the ruins of the complex after the search operation was paused Thursday over fears of a secondary building collapse. Boy Scouts Reaches $850 Million Settlement With Sexual Abuse Victims George Frey/Getty The Boy Scouts of America reached a mammoth settlement agreement with representatives of tens of thousands of victims of sexual abuse, according to a Thursday filing in Delaware bankruptcy court first reported by Reuters. The settlement, worth some $850 million, will go to roughly 60,000 people who brought claims against the organization over abuse. The Scouts filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February of last

Now, that's a stupid overreaction that will only strengthen the views of the racists.

'This is very bad news for the Trump Organization': MSNBC host breaks down the huge 15-count indictment -Ari Melber (MSNBC) MSNBC's chief legal correspondent broke down the key take-aways after Manhattan prosecutors unsealed a 15-count indictment against the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg. "What has stood out to you so far from what you've been able to gather?" Ayman Mohyeldin asked Ari Melber. "They have thrown the kitchen sink at the Trump Organization and Allen Weisselberg. This is very bad news for the Trump Organization because the D.A. has taken an aggressive tact indicting, the entire Trump Organization, in references to the payroll company and others. So, if you were the company hoping to pin this on the employee or get out of it, as far as the D.A. is concerned, game over there — they're going after the whole company." "Highlight number two, there are 15 counts here," he said. "Now we have 15 counts, including larceny, tax fraud, false statements, filing false instruments, falsifying business records. They are taking, what the D.A. argues was a conspiracy to intentionally and habitually defraud the government, steal money and pay people off the books. That is the language of the indictment. They're alleging that went on for 15 years."

Trump Organization and its CFO have been criminally indicted by a grand jury: reports A Manhattan grand jury has criminally indicted The Trump Organization and its longtime Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, according to CNBC and The Washington Post. The Post calls this indictment "the first from prosecutors probing the former president's business dealings," and says Weisselberg is expected to turn himself in to authorities Thursday morning.

Cultural changes happen in increments, so awareness is the first step in that. Next comes closure (cessation of dysfunctional behaviours) and then we can install new and helpful behaviours and attitudes. We here in Canada do not have the mountain to climb that the Americans do. although we have some of the same idiots- just not as many.

Apparently Kim Kardashian has been diagnosed with COVID-19. Nor surprising, considering that the virus can live for long periods on plastic.

"We" did not do this terrible thing whereby children died sick, abused, neglected, alone and frightened in the hands of those who where supposed to care for them. But it is part of the history of our country and the scars are still everywhere. We, as a country, need to remember and mourn for all the children who never came home, the parents and families who never knew what happened and the communities who fractured under the grief and fear. We live in a wonderful country- not a perfect one, and you cannot heal what you will not feel. Going fast-forward past these tragedies will not serve anyone, and only ensure it or something like it will happen again.

But the Pennsylvania Supreme Court determined Wednesday that Cosby’s conviction in a second trial ― after the first ended in a hung jury ― was invalid. The court found that Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele, who initiated Cosby’s arrest, was obligated to stand by a promise his predecessor had made not to charge Cosby, though there is no evidence that promise was ever put in writing, The Associated Press reported. The predecessor who made that promise to Cosby was Bruce Castor, who defended former President Donald Trump ― another man with dozens of sexual misconduct allegations against him ― in his second impeachment trial. Money talked and a predator walked.

Its so hot that I saw a dog chasing a cat- and they were both walking.

Proving, once again, how screwed up the American legal system is.

Was hoping we would be in the 30's or 40's by now.

And at the moment of death, there was a distinct, lingering smell of Sulphur in the air.

At one time there were 5 popes at the same time, and the Lateran Palace was a gay brothel run by one of them.

And a heckuva receiver who is tough to bring down after the catch.

I disagree. There is an undercurrent of intolerance in all monoculture communities that manifests when one of their own dares to challenge the cultural norms. The simmering distrust and resentment may be silenced for awhile, but it will simply have gone underground, waiting for the next opportunity.

The Free Press today reported that a Steinbach pastor who appeared in PSA to promote the vaccine has been verbally attacked as a traitor. There is no reasoning with fanatics.

Misinformation, vaccine accessibility hurdles result in hundreds of COVID-19 deaths each week. Most COVID-19 deaths are among the unvaccinated — and their rationales aren't all partisan The number of deaths from COVID-19 has drastically declined since the beginning of the year. In January 2021, the country's deadliest month of the pandemic, the U.S. hit a grim record of nearly 4,000 people dying from complications of COVID-19 in one day. For the week ending June 28, 2021, only 168 new deaths were reported, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While this is a promising trajectory that tangibly shows the success of the country's mass vaccination program, Americans are still dying every day. Most of those deaths are of those who are not yet vaccinated, generally due to either lack of accessibility to the vaccine or anti-vaccine attitudes. "In my experience treating COVID patients, the ones I'm seeing now are all exclusively unvaccinated individuals," said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center, in a phone interview. "Most of which have some high-risk condition, they were obese or they're elderly people who just have refrained from getting vaccinated, that's exclusively what I've been taking care of for at least probably the last two months or so." Adalja, who works in an intensive care unit in Pennsylvania, recently had a 45-year-old patient die from COVID-19 complications. "More people need to be vaccinated, there's still not enough," Adalja said. "There are still major gaps in vaccine coverage that's causing some people to get infected, and some people to require hospitalization, and a couple hundred people to die every day." Misinformation, vaccine accessibility hurdles result in hundreds of COVID-19 deaths each week | Salon.com

The American political system is polarized and broken, probably beyond repair. Fox News Fined $1 Million Following Sexual Harassment And Retaliation Investigation NEW YORK (AP) — The New York City Commission on Human Rights has fined Fox News $1 million, the largest penalty in its history, for violations of laws protecting against sexual harassment and job retaliation. As part of a settlement agreement announced Tuesday, Fox also agreed to mandate anti-harassment training for its New York-based staff and contributors and to temporarily drop a policy requiring people who allege misconduct to enter into binding arbitration. The penalty stems from an investigation that began in 2017 following several reports of what the commission called “rampant abuse” at the popular news and opinion outlet. The first indication of problems at the channel came in 2016 when former anchor Gretchen Carlson charged that now-deceased network chief Roger Ailes had made unwanted advances and derailed her career when she rejected him. Both Ailes and former Fox personality Bill O’Reilly lost their jobs over misconduct allegations. Several other women have come forward with lawsuits and their own harassment allegations, including former Fox anchor Megyn Kelly. The $1 million fine groups four separate “willful and wanton” violations that each carried a maximum penalty of $250,000. The commission would not identify the people involved in those cases, or whether there were more. Fox News Fined $1 Million Following Sexual Harassment And Retaliation Investigation | HuffPost White nationalist "groyper" leader doubles down on Jan. 6 Capitol riot, calling it "awesome" With hundreds of felony criminal cases pending against Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, you might assume most organizers of that day's events would express regret for what transpired, or perhaps simply stay silent. Instead two people in leadership roles on Jan. 6 have since struck a different tune, calling the riot "awesome" and floating the idea that it might have to happen again — perhaps bigger the second time. "Stop the Steal" leader Ali Alexander, along with white nationalist Nicholas Fuentes, leader of the far-right "groyper army," have emerged from the aftermath of the Capitol riot unfazed, and with larger audiences than ever. On Friday evening, with his longtime friend and fellow white nationalist Tim Gionet (aka Baked Alaska) facing felony charges over breaching the Capitol building, Fuentes said how pleased he was the events of Jan. 6. "I am unapologetic. I thought the Capitol [riot] was awesome; it was awesome! And so was Trump. And Trump was awesome because he was racist. Trump was awesome because he was sexist," Fuentes stated. "The only thing Trump wasn't awesome for was being anti-semitic; he wasn't anti-semitic." White nationalist "groyper" leader doubles down on Jan. 6 Capitol riot, calling it "awesome" | Salon.com

TIME FOR HILARITY: Noem Using A GOP Donor’s ‘Private Donation’ For Guard Deployment To Texas The South Dakota governor and 2024 presidential hopeful says the troops are necessary to protect the southern border from migrants trying to enter the country. WASHINGTON ― South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is using “a private donation” to pay for her deployment of state National Guard troops to Texas, in essence turning them into a mercenary force against migrants at the southern border. “The border is a national security crisis that requires the kind of sustained response only the National Guard can provide,” the Republican governor said on the eve of former President Donald Trump’s visit to the Mexican border at Weslaco at the invitation of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R). “My message to Texas is this: Help is on the way.” It’s unclear under what legal authority Noem, a possible 2024 Republican presidential candidate, is accepting the money or whether she has the authority to send National Guard troops to another state for this purpose. Noem Using A GOP Donor’s ‘Private Donation’ For Guard Deployment To Texas | HuffPost

It is a tenet of the Catholic dogma that the pope is infallible, being a reincarnation of St Peter.

Augustine has not impressed me as being an heir-apparent to Harris. He looks ok but those are pretty big shoes to fill. Oliviera showed promise but his injury after-effects may be a concern.