Information Is Power
Good, solid information is the best resource that the public can use. Primary sources when possible and good discussions and studies when informative.
Is it AI | Elon Musk and Donald Trump Danceathon | Video: 36 Seconds
Haters will say this is AI 🕺🕺 pic.twitter.com/vqWVxiYXeD
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 14, 2024
The Undeniable Hate Of The Left | Elon Musk | X | Video: 59 Seconds
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 30, 2024
20 years ago ‘Freddy Got Fingered’ Disgusted the Nation — Has Its Time Arrived?
Do you remember Freddy Got Fingered? Think 2001, a TV trailer with sausages on strings and Tom Green mashing a keyboard, liltingly singing, “Daddy would you like some sausage?” Rotten Tomatoes: 11%. Winner of 5 Golden Raspberry Awards. Zero out of four stars from Roger Ebert. . .
In Freddy, Green plays Gord Brodie, an aspiring cartoonist with a decent sense of visual design and an awful personality. Leaving his hometown of Portland, Oregon, to pursue an animation career in L.A., he lands a menial job at a cheese-sandwich factory, but he soon melts down and abruptly ends up back at home with Mom and Dad. Gord’s father, Jim (an animalistic Rip Torn), crashes Gord through walls and destroys home and property in a series of slapstick sketches, as Gord hones his artistic skills and enters a bizarre and uncomfortable romantic relationship with Betty, a wheelchair-bound amateur rocket scientist (Marisa Coughlan) who enjoys having her paralyzed legs whacked with a bamboo stick as foreplay. In a moment of petty spite during a family counseling session, Gord falsely accuses his father of molesting his brother, the unfortunate Freddy, ruining his father’s name and condemning his 25-year-old sibling to confinement in the Institute for Sexually Molested Children. Enraged with his eldest son’s malevolence and frivolity, Jim smashes down the door to Gord’s room and tears up his drawings.
Broken, Gord abandons his aspirations and gets a job at a sandwich shop, his earlier factory experience a resume booster. While working, he sees Betty on a TV news segment: she has invented a rocket-powered wheelchair. Inspired, Gord doubles down on his animation efforts, selling a cartoon based on his family’s baroque dysfunction to an animation studio. Enthralled with the neanderthal brutality of the Jim character, the studio cuts Gord a $1 million check and commissions a show. The third act rockets off the rails, with Gord squandering his new fortune on jewels, helicopter rides, and airlifting a portion of his parents’ house, complete with tranquilized father, to Pakistan. This impresses Jim with its scope and expense, leading to an understanding between father and son after several more vulgar sketches and misadventures in the Pakistani underworld.
VV Archive
The Worst of Both Worlds — Genetically Engineered Goats to Produce New Vaccine
By Dr. Mercola
Goats are being genetically engineered to become “pharm animals” that carry vaccines in their milk.
Current experiments being conducted by researchers from Texas A&M are geared toward producing an “edible” malaria vaccine, with the ultimate goal being that children drinking the milk will become vaccinated in the process.
While claiming that bioengineered animals could be “life-savers” for people in third-world countries, the researchers ignore the glaring issue that such biotechnology often produces unknown, and unintended, health consequences that prove tragic for individuals and the environment.
House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy Says Liz Cheney Leadership Ouster Likely Before the End of The Month – Perhaps Tucker Carlson Attacks on McCarthy Are Connected
If you are into the political weeds, specifically the Machiavellian aspects to the deepest political weeds, there’s an interesting article in The Hill today with quotes from people very close to GOP House Leader Kevin McCarthy.
Essentially, the nub of it is that GOP Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney is about to get removed from her leadership position due to her continued antagonism of the MAGA supporters and President Trump.
After Cheney’s latest round of attacks against Trump and his supporters McCarthy is no longer going to defend Cheney from a frustrated republican caucus ready to get rid of her.
Cheney is likely to be voted out of leadership by the end of the month, depending on the timing of the next GOP conference assembly.
WASHINGTON – Top allies of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) are vowing to oust Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), one of the harshest critics of former President Trump in either party, from her leadership post by the end of the month.
Bill Gates hires Warren Buffett’s right-hand man as his lawyer in split from wife Melinda
Bill hires Warren Buffett’s 97-year-old lawyer pal in $130billion split from Melinda: Gates enlists help of ‘the broadest thinker he’s ever encountered’ as it’s revealed there’s no prenup and 27-year marriage is ‘irretrievably broken’.
- Bill Gates, 65, announced on Twitter on Monday that he and his 56-year-old wife Melinda are divorcing
- He has hired Charles T. Munger, a 97-year-old L.A.-based business lawyer and philanthropist
- Both of them worked at Berkshire Hathaway; Gates served on the board until May 2020, Munger is a VP there
- Munger is not a family lawyer – his expertise is in business, real estate and investing
- In the 1950s, he lost all his money to his first wife, Nancy; he recovered to become a billionaire
- Melinda described her marriage as ‘irretrievably broken’ in a divorce petition viewed by DailyMail.com
- The petition revealed the couple did not sign a prenuptial agreement when they wed in 1994
- Gates was already a billionaire; he founded Microsoft in 1975 and made his first billion in 1987
- Since then they amassed a combined net worth of $130billion and raised three children together
- Their eldest daughter Jennifer, 25, responded to the news on Instagram and revealed the family has been going through a ‘challenging stretch of time’
Reaching ‘Herd Immunity’ Is Unlikely in the U.S., Experts Now Believe
Early in the pandemic, when vaccines for the coronavirus were still just a glimmer on the horizon, the term “herd immunity” came to signify the endgame: the point when enough Americans would be protected from the virus so we could be rid of the pathogen and reclaim our lives.
Now, more than half of adults in the United States have been inoculated with at least one dose of a vaccine. But daily vaccination rates are slipping, and there is widespread consensus among scientists and public health experts that the herd immunity threshold is not attainable — at least not in the foreseeable future, and perhaps not ever.
As Global Pandemic Worsens, U.S. Keeps Blocking Vaccine Patent Waivers Amid Big Pharma Lobbying
Big Pharma has hired an army of lobbyists to pressure U.S. lawmakers to block an effort at the World Trade Organization to loosen intellectual property rules on COVID-19 vaccines, which would allow countries around the world to ramp up production, vaccinate more people and bring the pandemic to an end sooner. Dozens of countries from the Global South, led by India and South Africa, are demanding a temporary waiver on vaccine patents, but rich countries, including the U.S. under both the Trump and Biden administrations, have opposed the move. Lee Fang, investigative journalist at The Intercept, says there is a “glut” of vaccines going to wealthy countries while much of the rest of the world is left waiting. “These initiatives that are based on voluntary agreements with the pharmaceutical companies have not worked,” he says. Fang also discusses his reporting on the Biden’s administration’s ties to the vaccine makers: White House adviser Anita Dunn is co-founder of the consulting firm SKDK, which works closely with Pfizer; Biden’s domestic policy adviser, Susan Rice, holds up to $5 million in Johnson & Johnson shares; and White House science adviser Eric Lander holds up to $1 million in shares of BioNTech, which co-developed Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine.
(READ) Trump statement on “The Big Lie”
– May 3, 2021 – Statement by Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America, “The Fraudulent Presidential Election of 2020 will be, from this day forth, known as THE BIG LIE!”
Cheney slams Trump on ‘big lie’ over election
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) on Monday shot back at former President Trump over his claims that the 2020 election was stolen, accusing those who spread the claim of “poisoning our democratic system.””The 2020 president…
Zuckerberg and George W. Bush Partner in Far Left Immigration Push.
Two organizations owned by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg have partnered with Former President George W. Bush to push for mass migration and amnesty for illegal aliens, policies which favor the political left and Big Tech corporations.
George W. Bush told radio host Hugh Hewitt, during an April 22 interview, that “the Bush Center is spearheading a reform movement” concerning mass migration. The former president added, “And you know, we’re talking to people about, you know, what needs to be done.”
The Zuckerberg-owned organization listed on the George W. Bush Presidential Center’s webpage for immigration policy under “Program Partners” is the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
“The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was founded in 2015 to leverage technology, community-driven solutions and collaboration to help solve some of society’s toughest challenges. Our mission is to build a more inclusive, just, and healthy future for everyone,” says the Initiative’s official website. Part of its “mission” is working with Bush to encourage amnesty for illegal migrants.
The Chan Zuckerberg group is the very same that dubiously pumped private cash into the 2020 election process in order to secure a “victory” for Joe Biden. They were rewarded with a position in the Biden administration.
MS-13 Gang Member Nicknamed ‘Terror’ Gets Life In Jail for Killing Texas Teen
An MS-13 gang member nicknamed “Terror” has been sentenced to life behind bars for his role in the shooting death of a Houston-area teenager. Douglas Alexander Herrera-Hernandez was sentenced to life in prison without parole after being found guilty of capital murder in the 2016 slaying of 16-year-old Estuar Quinonez, the Office of the District Attorney, Harris County, Texas, said in a release. The victim had witnessed several gang-related murders and his killers wanted to silence him forever, prosecutors said. “We are trying to break the back of this organization by sending their assassins to prison for as long as possible and we will remain unrelenting in our pursuit of these criminals who band together to terrorize communities,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said in the release. Prosecutors said Herrera-Hernandez admitted to contacting MS-13 gang leaders in El Salvador to sign off on Quinonez’s murder. Herrera-Hernandez and several other …
Judicial Watch: Records Show Iowa State Officials Coordinated with Big Tech to Censor Election Posts
The records show communications between the Secretary of State’s office and representatives of Facebook and Twitter to Target Judicial Watch Posts.
(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch announced today that it received 624 pages of records from the office of the Secretary of State of Iowa, revealing how state officials pressured social media companies (Twitter and Facebook) to censor posts about the 2020 election. Included in these records were emails from Iowa state officials to representatives of Big Tech pressuring these companies to remove Judicial Watch’s posts. The emails show how the state agency successfully pressured Facebook to censor Judicial Watch’s post about Iowa’s management of its voter rolls.
Judicial Watch received the records as a result of a June 2020 Iowa Open Records lawsuit that was filed after the Iowa Secretary of State failed to comply with a February 2020 request for records and communications about a Judicial Watch report regarding the accuracy of the state’s voter registration rolls (Judicial Watch v. Iowa Secretary of State (No. 05771 EQCE085973)). Judicial Watch was represented by Iowa lawyer Alan R. Ostergren of Des Moines, Iowa.
The records show that officials in the Iowa Secretary of State office on multiple occasions contacted officials from Facebook and Twitter to try to have these companies remove Judicial Watch posts that raised concerns about Iowa’s failure to maintain accurate election rolls.
“These records are yet another example of state officials conspiring with Big Tech to deny Americans their First Amendment rights,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “These records further show that Big Tech censorship is a government scandal: Iowa government officials worked with Facebook to remove posts they didn’t like, and Facebook bowed to this political pressure immediately. It should be disturbing to all Americans that government officials are working to censor speech they disagree with and that these behemoth companies often seem willing to roll over and censor free speech.”
Facebook oversight board to reveal decision on Trump ban on Wednesday
Facebook’s “Oversight Board” said Monday that its decision on whether to keep former US President Donald Trump blocked from its social media platforms will come Wednesday.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the decision to block Trump from Facebook and Instagram on Jan. 7, one day after a group of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol in a bloody and deadly riot.
“The shocking events of the last 24 hours clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden,” Zuckerberg wrote in the announcement.
In the same week, Twitter announced the decision to permanently ban Trump from its platform. Trump was also blocked from Snapchat and YouTube after the riot.
The bans ignited a debate about the role of social media giants in society and whether they should have the power to silence users without external policies that are clearly defined.
Gray Television to be second largest broadcaster after $2.7B Meredith deal
Gray Television will spend $2.7 billion to buy the local TV stations of Meredith, a purchase that will make it the second-largest local broadcaster in the U.S., the company announced Monday.
In the deal, Gray will acquire Meredith’s Local Media Group, which owns 17 television stations in 12 local markets including Atlanta, Phoenix, St. Louis, Nashville, Kansas City and Las Vegas.
Gray expects the deal to close at the end of the year, after which it will own stations in 113 local markets and serve approximately 36 percent of U.S. television households, according to the announcement.
Nexstar is the largest U.S. broadcast company, with stations in 116 markets serving nearly 62 percent of U.S. television households, according to its website.
As part of the deal, Meredith will spin off its National Media Group into a separate company.
National media owns numerous magazine brands including People, Martha Stewart Living, Better Homes & Gardens, InStyle, Allrecipes, Real Simple, Shape and Southern Living, as well as digital and marketing assets.
The Gray/Meredith deal is the latest of several significant media deals announced this year.
Modi Resists Pressure to Lock Down India as Virus Deaths Rise
Two weeks ago, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on states to only consider lockdowns “as the last option.” Now everyone from his political allies to top business leaders and U.S. President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser see them as the only way to stem the world’s worst virus outbreak.
The debate has been complicated by Modi’s move last year to impose a nationwide lockdown without warning, spurring a humanitarian crisis as migrant workers fled on foot to rural areas. While Modi is keen to avoid that criticism again, particularly after his Bharatiya Janata Party failed to win an election in West Bengal when votes were counted Sunday, even states run by his party are ignoring his advice.
“One of the problems is this false narrative that it’s either a full lockdown, which equates to economic disaster, or no lockdown, which is a public health disaster,” said Catherine Blish, an infectious disease specialist and global health expert at Stanford Medicine in California. “What’s happening now is a health and an economic disaster. If you have huge swaths of your population getting sick, that’s not good for your population or your economy.”
Sen. Scott ‘Hopeful’ on Police Reform as Democrats Now Looking for ‘Solution,’ Not ‘Issue’
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) on Sunday said that he’s now hopeful on negotiating police reform with colleagues on the other side of the aisle as Democrats have since last year shifted their focus from looking for an “issue” to finding a “solution” to the problem.
Nearly a year after the Republican senator first unveiled his law enforcement reform bill in response to the nation-wide protest against police brutality fueled by the death of George Floyd, Scott said he is more optimistic about working with Democrats on the issue.
“One of the reasons why I’m hopeful is because, in a way, this time, my friends on the left aren’t looking for the issue; they’re looking for a solution,” Scott, the fourth black politician from the South to serve in the U.S. Senate, told CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
“And the things that I offered last year are more popular this year. That gives me reasons to be hopeful,” he told host John Dickerson.
Verizon Agrees to Sell Yahoo, AOL to Apollo for $5 Billion
Apollo Global Management Inc. agreed to pay about $5 billion to acquire Yahoo and AOL from Verizon Communications Inc. as the wireless company exits its ill-fated foray into the media business.
The private-equity firm is paying $4.25 billion in cash for a 90% share of the media assets. Verizon will keep a 10% stake and $750 million of additional preferred stock in the new company, called Yahoo, that will be formed to operate the business.
The Wall Street Journal earlier reported the potential sale of Verizon’s media assets to Apollo. Verizon Media, which mostly struggled to grow against Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Facebook Inc., generated $7 billion in revenue last year.
Apollo’s strategy for the business revolves around getting more revenue from each of its 900 million active monthly users. Verizon’s positioning of the media business as a complement to its core mobile business—aimed at helping it add subscribers and reduce the number of people who quit—meant it hasn’t pursued some opportunities to maximize the value of each asset, executives at the private-equity firm
Trump Lawyer Jenna Ellis Challenges Liz Cheney to Debate on 2020 Election Integrity: ‘Name the Time and Place’
Jenna Ellis, a former Trump campaign lawyer, is challenging Rep. Liz Cheney to debate election integrity in the 2020 election.
On Monday, Rep. Liz Cheney insisted on Twitter that the 2020 presidential election “was not stolen.”
“Anyone who claims it was is spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system.”
Cheney was responding to a Trump statement released Monday morning that “The Fraudulent Presidential Election of 2020 will be, from this day forth, known as THE BIG LIE!”
In response to Cheney’s tweet, Ellis pointed out that “Election officials in at least six states violated the law in the administration of the 2020 election. That’s called cheating.”
“If you have the guts to debate me on this, name the time and place,” Ellis tweeted to Cheney.
Hillary Clinton voices concern on Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal, warns of ‘unintended’ consequences
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is putting a warning label on fellow Democrat President Biden’s decision to pull all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan.
“I know it is a very difficult decision,” Clinton said Sunday on CNN “This is what we call a wicked problem. You know there are consequences both foreseen and unintended of staying and of leaving. The president has made the decision to leave.”
Biden, who during the Obama administration was vice president when Clinton was the country’s top diplomat, said last month that all of the remaining 2,500 U.S. military troops in Afghanistan will leave by Sept. 11 – roughly 20 years they arrived in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks.
Clinton said her major concerns are the potential collapse of Kabul and the Taliban taking over the country, which could result in the resuming of global terrorist activities.
New York area will lift capacity restrictions May 19
The New York tri-state area will jointly lift most of the coronavirus capacity restrictions on businesses and restaurants starting May 19, governors announced Monday.
Govs. Andrew Cuomo (D) of New York, Ned Lamont (D) of Connecticut and Phil Murphy (D) of New Jersey said retail stores, food services, theaters, fitness centers, amusement parks, hair salons, museums and other businesses will be allowed to operate at full capacity for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic.
“The tide is turning against COVID-19 in New York, and thanks to our increasing vaccination rates, as well as our successful, data-based regional approach, we’re able to take more steps to reopen our economy, help businesses and workers, and keep moving towards returning to normal,” Cuomo said in a statement.
The announcement of May 19 represents a significant acceleration from the July 1 target for full reopening set by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) just four days ago.
A day later, Cuomo declared that indoor capacity would increase for restaurants and bars statewide from 50 to 75 percent starting on May 7.