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2024-07-16
Culture as Much as Economy
“The first night of the RNC was supposed to be about the economy, with the goal of uniting voters of all ideological persuasions who are frustrated by high prices. But some of the biggest applause lines came from harsh criticisms of transgender people.
“It’s a reminder that cultural issues motivate the GOP base as much as financial ones. A trio of speakers unabashedly went after Democrats who have sought greater acceptance for transgender people. Of particular outrage to Republicans this year was Biden marking Transgender Day of Visibility. It happened to overlap with Easter in 2024, a byproduct of the Christian holiday being based off the lunar calendar.
“To many in the LGBTQ+ community, it was a coincidence. But to many Republicans, it was an insult.
“They promised normalcy and gave us Transgender Visibility Day on Easter Sunday,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.”
(Transgender Visibility Day has been on March 31 since it began. Easter Sunday is always on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. This year, those two things happened on the same day.)
https://apnews.com/article/rnc-day-one-takeaways-38a19cbcff05d5422330fcc8ae6df7c3
2024-07-16
Vance Becomes Trump Convert
Vance was the quickest and loudest to blame the shooting on Democrats.
“Eight years ago, in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, J.D. Vance was a bitter critic of Donald Trump.
“Publicly, he called the Republican presidential candidate an “idiot” and said he was “reprehensible.” Privately, he compared him to Adolf Hitler.
“But by the time the former president tapped Vance to be his running mate on Monday, the Ohio native had become one of Trump’s most ardent defenders, standing by his side even when other high-profile Republicans declined to do so.”
“In particular, Vance’s vocal opposition to U.S. aid for Ukraine in its war with Russia has delighted Trump’s most conservative allies, even as it has upset some Senate colleagues.
“He understands what Trump is running on and, unlike the rest of the Republican Party in Washington, agrees with it,” conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, a vocal Vance supporter, told Reuters.” [“Unlike?” That should tell you something.]
2024-07-15
Cave on the Moon
“Scientists have confirmed a cave on the moon, not far from where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed 55 years ago, and suspect there are hundreds more that could house future astronauts.
“An Italian-led team reported Monday that there’s evidence for a sizable cave accessible from the deepest known pit on the moon. It’s located at the Sea of Tranquility, just 250 miles (400 kilometers) from Apollo 11’s landing site.”
“The findings suggest there could be hundreds of pits on the moon and thousands of lava tubes. Such places could serve as a natural shelter for astronauts, protecting them from cosmic rays and solar radiation as well as from micrometeorite strikes. Building habitats from scratch would be more time-consuming and challenging, even when factoring in the potential need of reinforcing the cave walls to prevent a collapse, the team said.
“Rocks and other material inside these caves — unaltered by the harsh surface conditions over the eons — also can help scientists better understand how the moon evolved, especially involving its volcanic activity.”
More details in these articles:
https://apnews.com/article/moon-caves-nasa-astronauts-2dc57751f41a6e24f377c2259e8668ba
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce784r9njz0o
2024-07-15
New Tone Same as Old Tone
The media has suggested that this event “would usher in a new tone by Donald Trump,” saying he has a chance to redefine himself.
“Trump’s new tone sounds an awful lot like his old tone.” Especially because in a posting today he called his legitimate prosecutions hoaxes and witch hunts and frames himself as the victim.
Brian Tyler Cohen explains:
2024-07-15
Judge Dismisses Trump’s Federal Case in Florida
Judge Eileen Cannon has decided to dismiss the case against Trump for stealing top secret documents, lying about having them, and violating the Espionage Act, not because he didn’t do it, but because she decided that the appointment of a special counsel was unconstitutional.
Special Counsels have been used in the U.S. since the 1800s and this decision was based on Clarence Thomas’s unprecedented advisory opinion that was not even related to the case they were trying. He threw out a suggestion that these special counsels could be unconstitutional (despite 150+ years of precedent) in an effort to help Trump.
But the dismissal CAN BE APPEALED, and that would take it out of Judge Cannon’s biased courtroom (she has been giving special treatment to Trump from the beginning) and into an appeals court. Eventually it could get to the Supreme Court, where Thomas has already said what he would do, but there are 8 other justices.
Brian Tyler Cohen and Glenn Kirschner discuss it in this video:
2024-07-15
Finding Books in Different Libraries
If you are looking for a book in a nearby library, WorldCat can tell you. And it’s FREE!
Just go to WorldCat.org and search for a book by author or title and WorldCat will tell you what libraries have the book, showing you the libraries that are closest to you (and how far they are).
You can also contact your local library and ask for something via InterLibrary Loan. Every library can borrow from other libraries, so your local library can get things on your behalf, even they don’t own a copy themselves.
2024-07-15