Guardian, this opening screen capture -
 | |
| click the image, to view the image |
My advice? Ditch the pinkie ring.
Monday, February 28, 2022
Guardian publishes about Rudy G, and "legal problems." If you had advice to give Rudy, what would it be?
Guradian headline: "Romney: Marjorie Taylor Greene a ‘moron’ for speaking at white nationalist event"
Link. In discussing MTG, is "for speaking at white nationalist event" necessary?
From the item -
Greene, from Georgia, and Gosar, from Arizona, spoke at the America First Political Action Conference, or AFPAC, organised by the far-right activist Nick Fuentes. Greene defended her attendance, saying she did not know Fuentes or endorse his views.
Calls for the censure of the two Republicans, familiar from previous instances of extreme behaviour, rang out again on Saturday.
Ammar Moussa, a spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee, said: “In any other world, Greene speaking at a white supremacist conference where attendees have defended Vladimir Putin and praised Adolf Hitler would warrant expulsion from the caucus, to say nothing of her advocacy for violence and consistent antisemitism is disgusting.
“Quite simply, the longer [House Republican leader] Kevin McCarthy gives Marjorie Taylor Greene an unfettered platform and promises to elevate her, the more complicit he is.”
So, both sides have morons?
If you care, websearch = Nick Fuentes
He gets his money from somewhere. Do you suppose web searching will disclose from where? Give it a try? And where did MTG and family get their money? That might be the most relevant question about the Rep. Try searching it. It might disgust you. It might not.
Sunday, February 27, 2022
Strib editorial board writes, "Reform policing through better hiring -- Tough times require even higher standards in a now-beleagured profession."
Strib's item. Apart from detail, the headline stands.
Here is an image of Bob Kroll.
Is worse hiring feasible?
For a perspective, the neighborhood where I live includes a retired police officer. He is a decent and intelligent human. No complaints, only respect for him. Hiring is a hit and miss thing, which no amount of editorializing can paper over.
Sometimes a weed in a garden, when starting, looks like something else. When it shows itself a weed the thing is to remove it. Prompt, Clean, Better removal might deserve editorial words.
In searching out that image it was linked with this URL, stating in part:
Case in point: the flap this week over Minnesota Lynx players wearing warm-up T-shirts expressing their views on the killing of Philando Castile, the five Dallas cops and other recent violence. Four off-duty city cops walked off their free-lance security jobs at Target Center in protest and Minneapolis Police union president Bob Kroll weighed in, like a sledgehammer on a moth, a move that earned his remarks the apt description of “jackass” from Mayor Betsy Hodges. Additionally, we had an op-ed and an editorial in the Star Tribune that whipped up enough hostile emotion that protesters took their cause to the ground atrium of the paper’s offices.
And we’re not done yet. In some of the crannies of social media there were complaints that other than Mark Rosen, WCCO-TV’s long-tenured sports anchor, not one of the two cities’ hard-boiled columnists, metro variety or sports, waded into the Lynx/Kroll episode, as ripe a target for passionate commentary as you could hope for. [...]
Says Mark Rosen, “All I said, following a ‘Reality Check’ Pat Kessler did, was something to the effect of, ‘Sorry Sgt. Kroll, but the Lynx players have every right to speak up about something like this.’ [...]
“What bothers me, really bothers me, though, with the attitude of Kroll, is this kind of ‘You run along now ladies and bake cookies’ thing. It’s a form of the old ‘Everyone has to stay in their lane’ thinking, where athletes should just play their game and stay out of the serious stuff going on all around them. I mean, what would Muhammad Ali say to something like that?”
Ali had to fight bum-of-the-month because of warmonger backlash. Colin Kaepernick is a quarterback without a job quarterbacking. Fairness weeps.
While Ukraine and Russia are at war on Ukrainian soil, some links.
The Munich Speech. Try following the links of that Wikipedia post. Some failed to work today for me.
UPDATE: Putin's Crimea speech text. Wikipedia.
Another link.
FURTHER: Link.
FURTHER: Neighboring nations working things out.
FURTHER: RT. (W/o effort to second-source any of this history.)
Saturday, February 26, 2022
Annoka County Attorney - It will be an open seat - Palumbo is bowing out.
From this SoS page: https://www.sos.state.mn.us/election-administration-campaigns/become-a-candidate/candidate-filing-periods/
County Offices
Candidates for county offices such as County Commissioner and Soil and Water Supervisor may file from May 17, 2022 until May 31, 2022 at 5 pm.
From that it appears it is premature to find who has filed for that vacancy.
Unhelpful: https://www.anokacounty.us/3890/Candidates-Filed-for-Office---2022
No further web searching today, by Crabgrass. It looks to be, today, a clean slate for an open seat. Too early to pop any popcorn.
Thursday, February 24, 2022
Guardian and RT each this morning is focused on Ukraine coverage.
https://www.theguardian.com/us
Between the two sources, readers can see a spectrum of outlooks. Enjoy. The Biden position seems to be to condemn and sanction, without any new U.S. boots on the ground, drone strikes, or warplanes in the air, outside of force buildup within NATO nations, especially including the Baltic Republics.
Talk about cold comfort. From the New York Times, "We won’t publish any part of your submission without contacting you first."
Boy is that ever one loaded sentence. The entire NYT item:
David Fahrenthold, a reporter for The New York Times, is in Minnesota this week, reporting on the F.B.I.’s investigation into possible fraud involving government programs meant to feed hungry children.
We are examining whether the Minneapolis nonprofit Feeding Our Future, and some of its partners, carried out a scheme to siphon millions of dollars from the Summer Food Service Program and the Child and Adult Care Food Program, both of which are federally funded.
In three applications for search warrants, which were filed in federal court in Minneapolis, the F.B.I. said that it was investigating a “massive fraud scheme” involving misuse of federal funds meant to feed children. To date, no one has been charged with a crime.
If you’re familiar with Feeding Our Future or the allegations against it, we want to hear from you.
We won’t publish any part of your submission without contacting you first.
No byline. Just, contact us, without any on/off record assurances. Jump in, find out?
There reportedly are three publicly open search warrants filed in federal court by the FBI.
Presently unable to find them posted in a convenient pdf form online, nor able to find links without a paywall to get useful copies online of the warrants, posting substantively on Feeding Our Future will be forestalled for now, until later.
It is interesting how the story is unfolding, and readers are encouraged to pursue media coverage, doing their own research. This websearch return list might prove helpful. Strib published this last night. This over a month ago. Sahan Journal, here and here. Dave Orrick, Pioneer Press, a month ago, here. Scott Johnson did some posting at his Powerline outlet earlier this month, aimed by innuendo in substantial part against Rep. Omar (see links, per the above referenced websearch link).
This YouTube item, still online at time this post is published - a screenshot 2 min into it:
MPR, chrono order - days apart, here and here.
Later, this post may be updated. I.e., additional Media coverage may be linked and/or quoted, if judged worthy of reader interest.
For now, Das ist Alles. For today.
Tuesday, February 22, 2022
There is value to now looking at RT. Eating only one-side's propaganda can cause indigestion. Mental and emotional constipation.
One wonders what oil expert Hunter Biden has to say about developments and market impacts. How much need he be paid, to voice an opinion?
Monday, February 21, 2022
Money IS on the table. Why not be open and up-front about that being a dimension of things? Circumspection = good manners, or something else?
This is not about the person being reported. It is about the report.
Absent from the report:
1. From here, data = legislative service compensation:
Minnesota annual salary = $46,500 per year
plus
57.5/mile. One round trip per week. Tied to federal rate.
For senators: $86/day. For representatives: $66/day.
2. From here, data = Wash. Cnty. Board compensation:
The five board members will be voting on a 2.5 percent increase for themselves, which would bring their salaries to $70,725 for 2020. The commissioners in May passed a policy to set commissioner salary increases “at the same amount of general adjustment given to give county employees represented by bargaining units,” said Molly O’Rourke, county administrator.
The commissioners last year increased their pay by 30.9 percent — to $69,000 — after going nearly a decade without a raise.
Commissioners are reimbursed for mileage and other county-related expenses and receive an annual $750 technology and equipment stipend “to ensure they can receive board-agenda packets electronically and access county email and calendars,” O’Rourke said. “It’s less costly than printing and mailing the information and assures they get information more quickly.”
They also receive the same county-paid medical-insurance premium, flexible medical-credit amount, life insurance and long-term disability coverage as the county’s elected department heads.
If money and the benefits package is not deemed a report-worthy fact as a factor with regard to how one might choose to seek or exchange one job for the other, or for other editorial reasons is not included in a media outlet's report, is the public being fairly served by the reporting?
__________UPDATE_________
Another way to view the question, who in your reader's judgment has the better job in terms of burdens of doing the job, and pay for doing it - Anoka County Board member Robin West, or her son, Nolan? Readers are urged to guess, would those two swap jobs? Would you?
Sunday, February 20, 2022
Either black lives matter as much as mine, or these agitated people over black lives lost might be suffering "excited delirium." (What sort of idiot or appologist would invent "excited delirium" and call it "real" and not a lying excuse to blanket-medicate police detainees whenever cops on the scene say to?)
Disgruntled and distrustful in writing this, but neither excited nor delirious over news that Frey lied, or was lied to and exceptionally "negligent" in doing hollow follow-up, or both.
The beat goes on.
Strib, local content; " Mayor Frey: Hennepin Healthcare doctor failed to follow directive on 'excited delirium' training -- Leadership for the hospital issued an apology Monday and pledged to review medical contract with police."
Strib, more local content, "Minneapolis Mayor Frey's credibility on police battered by false claims about reform --'This is on me, and I'm going to fix it,' the mayor says."
Yes, Bob Kroll is no longer a cancer on the system from atop the police union. No, that seems to have made little difference. And - Klobuchar never prosecuted a cop for criminal misconduct all the while she was the top attorney having the discretion to do so, or not. Not fit her liking more than doing something.
This from the first cited Strib item - links in original:
In an interview Monday, Frey said he was "irate" when he learned from a Star Tribune article that a Police Department training video, given to officers last fall, still included mentions of excited delirium, cited studies on it and suggested officers merely call the syndrome by another name.
"The direction we gave was very clear. We wanted this to be a substantive — not a cosmetic — change," said Frey. "I directed very clearly to move away from excited delirium as both a term and a concept. … The video you're referencing was not in line."
Leadership for Hennepin Healthcare also issued an apology Monday saying they "failed to follow through on our promise to no longer teach excited delirium and to be intentional in addressing systemic racism."
"We are extremely sorry for the further harm this has caused to our community," said the letter, signed by Hennepin Healthcare CEO Jennifer DeCubellis, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Daniel Hoody and Chief Health Equity Officer Dr. Nneka Sederstrom.
"Systemic racism is deeply imbedded in law enforcement and health care systems, including ours," the letter continued. "We failed to address it here when we had the opportunity and, in doing so, have caused further pain and mistrust."
The training video, obtained through a public records request, featured Hennepin Healthcare's Dr. Paul Nystrom teaching that the terminology "excited delirium" has become "triggering" for the public, suggesting they call it "severe agitation with delirium" or another euphemism. "That being said, the condition exists," he says. "We all agree the entity exists"
"I wouldn't go to an operating room and tell an anesthesiologist how to practice," says Nystrom, who moonlights as a sworn police officer. "Most of us don't appreciate somebody else getting in our lane when they don't do the things that we do."
Last year, the American Medical Association (AMA) publicly rejected excited delirium, calling the diagnosis a vague umbrella term and the "manifestation of systemic racism" used to justify excessive police force and unneeded sedatives, disproportionately on people of color.
Excited delirium has become a central part of the defense for three former Minneapolis police officers currently on trial in federal court in connection with George Floyd's death. One of the former officers, Thomas Lane, wondered aloud if Floyd was suffering from excited delirium as they detained him. Over the past three weeks, attorneys for Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao have pored over slideshows and cross-examined police witnesses on the teaching of excited delirium, suggesting the officers were only following their training.
Earlier this month, the Police Department and Frey's office contacted the Star Tribune claiming that the training was updated last year, after the AMA published its new policy rejecting the diagnosis. But a group of doctors who evaluated the video at the request of the Star Tribune called the changes "window dressing" and a "superficial adjustment in language" filled with shoddy research that attempts to debunk, rather than adopt, the AMA recommendations.
After the story published online Saturday, Frey, who initially did not comment, issued a statement saying he had "directed the department to immediately terminate their contract with Dr. Nystrom."
Blame him, the mayor says. Don't really blame me, the mayor implies. It looks as if Frey arguably overreacted in scapegoating the doctor, as if doing so in a fit of excited delirium without daring to look in the mirror and say, "You! You first! Then others." Saying "I reformed," without actually doing so, or checking to see if an order given was one followed, is a questionable show of competence or caring earlier, when "I reformed" was first packaged and sold, on the mayor's word and with no other counter-evidence back then.
Not only Frey at fault? What about the two healthcare officials who sat out the opportunity to institute true reform, while merely giving a little-caring lip-service directive.
You tell me - Is a directive absent competent follow-up worth a pinch of dirt? Frey says so, but what do you say? Mayors caught in newspaper follow-up, with none on their own - what's that worth as coin of the realm?
Busy man. Excuses easy. Being mayor of a large and diverse city is no easy job. But excuses should likewise be something besides too easy.
Don't blame me. I blog while living in the rabid-Republican north 'burbs, so I
had no chance to vote against Frey in favor of Kate Knuth, the
progressive woman running against him. Some favor ranked-choice-voting
while I do not and offer Frey's reelection in evidence. He did not deserve a second term, in my view, and you can decide whether he even deserved the first.
How is the water these days in Flint, Michigan?
Saturday, February 19, 2022
The RU headline says, " Suspected Epstein associate found dead in Paris prison -- French fashion agent, Jean-Luc Brunel, has been found dead in his cell while still awaiting trial on charges of raping minors "
Just like Epstein. They say, "Suicide."
Nothing to see there. Move on. Ukraine. Canadian truckers.
The truckers - Can they name names?
Is the Minnesota Republicans' landscape changing? People change. The Gestalt? That is its own story.
Pioneer Press - Mary Kiffmeyer leaves politics will leave the legislature after redistricting. May she never transition to the UM Board of Regents.
Sorensen reports on the upcoming procedure for filling the CD1 vacancy after Hagedorn's death.
Sorensen (as of the time this post is authored) has not yet posted of Kiffmeyer's latest move. Sorensen has, however, in the past used a quintessential MK image, and may again.
UPDATE: If Kiffmeyer can do it, others can.
FURTHER: That would be "Bipartisanship," DiFi.
Thursday, February 10, 2022
Put down that spoon and show your hands!
If ignorance is bliss, who is more blissful?
UPDATE: Different soup, same police?
FURTHER: MTG in DC accompanied by Rufus T. Firefly, in a WaPo image.
Shots exchanged between two shooters, neither of the firing perps were injured, but two bystanders received wounds.
The incident described -
LaShawn K. Nicks-Bey, 50, of Brooklyn Park, was charged Monday in Anoka County District Court with two counts of second-degree assault and one count of illegally possessing a firearm.
What charges say happened
[...] Security video revealed Cannedy pulled a gun from a Jeep Compass in the parking lot and began shooting toward the bar's north entrance. Cannedy fled the scene and remains at large, though he has been charged via warrant with one count of second-degree assault.
Nicks-Bey then returned fire, estimating that he fired four or five rounds in the direction of Cannedy, though two of his shots struck two bystanders who had been at the bar with Cannedy, charges said.
A female victim was shot in the leg and suffered a broken femur. She was found on the ground near the Jeep Compass, while the other victim was shot in the leg while sitting in a vehicle parked next to the Jeep, according to the charging documents.
Both victims were taken to Hennepin Healthcare for treatment.
Nicks-Bey, who was aware that he isn't legally allowed to carry a gun due to prior felony assault convictions, said he returned fire "out of fear" and that he didn't intend to shoot the bystanders, charges said.
No one inside the bar was struck despite bullets shattering a glass door at the entrance.
The charging documents state that the shooting followed an altercation between security staff and others during bar closing time that escalated to "shoves and punches" in the parking lot.
With the exchange of multiple rounds between the two men firing, it is interesting to note that the online report from Bring Me The News identified the venue for the incident, "Two Stooges Sports Bar and Grill."
Even a novice plaintiffs' personal injury - products liability lawyer would see potential from a headline, "Snowmobile crash that seriously injured state senator included DNR enforcement chief. - Rodmen Smith reported that Sen. John Jasinski's snowmobile struck his snowmobile from behind, starting a collision that ended with Jasinksi under another sled."
Polaris is the deep pocket in things, and collision avoidance technology is mature enough that it is routinely included in this year's range of modern automobiles.
Isn't it negligent to not put collision avoidance technology onto snowmobiles? For as much as they cost? Surely a jury might say so.
From that item -
Jasinski told Smith at the scene that the left turn came up suddenly and that he was slowing to make the turn when the ski on his snowmobile crashed into the rear of the snowmobile track on Smith's machine.
[...]
Scott Wakefield, president of the Minnesota United Snowmobilers Association, said the ride is part of a weekend program that his lobbying and safety group hosts for legislators and DNR officials. He estimated that nine legislators attended this year's event and five of them joined the ride.
Wakefield noted that riders were split into four groups, with about eight per group. Local guides went out with each group and all riders were prepped with safety information that reminded them to maintain proper spacing. They were reminded of fresh snow that would be churned into "snow dust'' that could impair vision, he said.
Wakefield said he doubted Smith's report that the left turn into the woods was not marked. Local snowmobile clubs are responsible for marking trails and they do an excellent job, he said.
[...]
Smith was not injured, and he reported that his DNR snowmobile was not damaged. The Polaris 850 sleds ridden by Johnson and Jasinski were loaded onto a trailer and returned to Cragun's, the DNR reports said. The windshield on the sled Jasinski was riding was broken off.
Conservation officer Westby said in his report that he contacted Morrison County dispatch to have a sheriff's deputy take over the investigation because "a Minnesota Conservation Officer was involved in the crash.''
Late Tuesday afternoon, the Morrison County Sheriff's Office filed a follow-up investigative report that offered a third and more detailed version of the crash. The latest report noted that Jasinski and Johnson were riding 2022 snowmobiles owned by Polaris, "demo models with no registration displayed."
Also in the group, the report noted, was Smith, the DNR enforcement director. He told sheriff's deputy Mark Dziewczynski at the crash scene that Jasinski and Johnson were state senators, and "they are requesting that [the Morrison County Sheriff's Office] write the crash," the report read.
The follow-up report said that "Jasinski might have been traveling a little bit too fast heading into a left-hand turn in the trail and clipped the back of the snowmobile ridden by Chief Rod Smith, and then Jasinski's snowmobile rolled, causing him to fly off the machine receiving injuries." A prior report indicated Jasinski and Johnson were driving 10 mph.
Jasinski's snowmobile was then hit by Johnson's machine, the report continued.
Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Mary Swenson said that law enforcement did not test any of the snowmobile operators for alcohol- or drug-related impairment because there was no evidence that anyone was under the influence at the time of the crash.
Dzieweczynski, who wrote the revised report, said he asked Johnson, 38, whether he had a valid snowmobile safety certificate, which is required of anyone born since Jan. 1, 1977. Johnson explained that he has a certificate, and it was noted on his driver's license. However, the endorsement "did not transfer over" when he received his enhanced driver's license, the report read. The deputy wrote that the same scenario happened to him but advised Johnson that he would have to provide the certificate upon law enforcement's request.
Aplikowski said Johnson went to the DNR office in St. Paul and got his snowmobile safety certificate.
A neat little case. No proof anyone was impaired. New 2022 loaner sleds to the two legislators, so latest technology - with operating unfamiliarity a factor. Proper distancing counseling before the group took off. With the lack of collision avoidance on the brand new loaner sleds, there was havoc, not safety.
Polaris is the deep pocket, and if they make the things safer, even if costing a bit more, who'd complain about a few extra dollars?
Some lawyer could hustle a few bucks.
Saturday, February 05, 2022
Another sulfide mine being promoted. Rio Tinto wants it. Minnesota does not need it.
Dan Burns, posting here. He hedges a bit on sulfide-mining characterization, but the Talon firm's promotional material from last year clearly says: sulfide (however, per British alternative spelling "sulphide" - e.g., here and here). This one - unlike Polymet and Twin Metals - is not on federal lands within the State of Minnesota.
Curious readers can web search = Inco Sudbury
It appears that shaft mines are anticipated by the "Talon" firm, as in Sudbury, and on-site processing of the sulfide ore is planned.
Black Lives Differ.
It's gotta be true. I read it on the Internet.
********************************************************************
Joking aside, Clarence Thomas took the seat Thurgood Marshall held.
Enough said?
********************************************************************
Yet more is due. And it is posted at Down With Tyranny, citing and quoting content from WaPo and The Prospect.
To avoid confusion over the theme, DWT titles its post, "I Can't Think Of Many Worse People To Pick A SCOTUS Justice Than Lindsey Graham & Jim Clyburn."
READ. OR WISH YOU HAD.
READ ALL THREE LINKS, IF YOU'VE TIME. ELSE GO TO THE DWT ITEM, WHICH INCLUDES EXTENDED QUOTES FROM THE OTHER TWO.
UPDATE: DWT's item also had a Politico link. One worth consideration. Not necessarily agreement. Consideration.
Friday, February 04, 2022
ENCRYPTION IS A WEB COMMUNICATION RIGHT. NOT A PRIVILEGE. STOP PERNICIOUS SPYING ON THE PEOPLE. STOP IT IN ITS TRACKS. TODAY. NOW.
EFF is watchful and on YOUR side. Not on the side of the SURVEILLANCE STATE.
So, this link allows you to add the weight of your privacy wishes with regard to an encroaching Senate effort where citizen privacy is THE REAL ISSUE.
Act now or wish you had.
AGAIN - This link.
https://act.eff.org/action/stop-the-earn-it-act-to-save-our-privacy
For a context, check out this websearch -
https://html.duckduckgo.com/html?q=earn%20it%20act
A number of credible sites returned from that search, each a critique -
https://protonmail.com/blog/earn-it-anti-encryption/
https://www.wired.com/story/earn-it-act-sneak-attack-on-encryption/
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/03/earn-it-act-violates-constitution
https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2020/03/13/earn-it-act-threatens-end-to-end-encryption/
REMEMBER: Curbing child exploitation is something nobody will directly speak against. That means curbing child exploitation is a tailor-made excuse to curb freedoms of everyone, in the name of saving the children. (However it was Epstein died, nobody gave eulogies.) So - The game goes like this - Because nobody likes Chester Molester you make him the face of something with much larger implications for the rights and wishes of YOU and your peers. It is akin to how some can try to gin up enthusiasm for going to war by equating pacifism with a lack of patriotism.
" , , , brought to the bidding of leaders . . ." is an informative way to say things.
Whether it was Barack Obama or Donald Trump, I'd want neither to have somebody reading my email. We are surveilled enough already.
Over surveilled? Autos and cell phones that track time and location form quite a reach already. Surely such capability helping to convict a murder perp is great; but do you want a government official always capable of knowing what rallies or meetings you attend? Knowing the politicians' campaigns to which you contribute? Knowing the nonprofits you support or those you might mock or disdain?
Yes, if you publish. No if you so choose. "Freedom" was the last word uttered in the film Braveheart. That is a fact worth remembering.
_____________UPDATE____________
Those new computerized automobiles - of interest to readers, Ars Technica
[...] the controversy points to a bigger and woolier question about whether consumers understand just how much data is flowing from their vehicles and where it goes. There’s money to be made from a car’s GPS location, temperature data, biometric info, and data on key parts. A few years ago, Siegel and his colleagues estimated that the US connected-car data market could be worth up to $92 billion, with everyone from manufacturers and parts suppliers to dealers and insurers racing for a share. “The most important thing is to show people their own breadcrumbs,” Siegel says.
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