Senator Lindsay Graham, Rudy Giuliani, and John Eastman have been served subpoenas over their involvement in a suspected attempt to unduly alter the results of Georgia's Presidential election. These are perhaps the three idiots of the apocalypse, with Senator Ron Johnson playing the fourth.
Once you get through the mountain of statistics (5:30 or so,) this bike looks insanely fast. I believe electric bikes run afoul of Ducati's second philosophical pillar, however, as they won't break down a lot. It will be impossible to work on, however.
It sounds like a toy.
Image: screen grab
I find "Three Slick Pigs" delightful as it comments on several critical issues related to policing in America. The artist, OG Slick, is extremely clear about his intention in creating the art. City leaders in Escondido, California have chosen to stray close to stifling free speech and are certainly taking action intended to have a chilling effect on a group that rents space from them.
The piece, "Three Slick Pigs," is on display at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido as a part of a larger exhibit on street art in the region. The artist, OG Slick, told KUSI the piece is intended to draw attention to some police officers' excessive use of force and abuse of power. The work features a sculpture of three pigs in police uniforms, dancing and cross-eyed, as they stand in front of an image of officers in riot gear. The image behind them appears to be spray-painted with the letters APAB, which is an acronym deriding police officers.
…
The city council owns and subsidizes the center that put on the exhibit, Voice of San Diego reported. The mayor used that to argue the council had a responsibility to "at least talk about this management relationship" due to "this recent incident and, in my opinion, the tone deafness of it," McNamara said at a special council meeting, according to the outlet. In response, the center argued that it operates as an "independent, not-for-profit foundation," and that the City of Escondido "does not review, approve, or in any way inform the artistic choices that CCAE makes." The institution's employees are also "employed by the foundation, not the City," the center said. The artist released a statement about the work on June 28, saying on Instagram that "Three Slick Pigs" is based on some of his previous work and that it's supposed to offer a "satirical look at excessive police force and abuse of power by some individuals who hide behind the badge of the largest 'gang' in the U.S."
This is certainly an intimidating attempt by the City of Escondido to limit what this not-for-profit foundation features.
Image: screen grab/YouTube/Fox 5
This video clearly stops far too early, but I admire this valiant, besweatered pup. Showing that one can reach freedom if they merely believe!
A gentleman in Florida claims to have been testing Disney security in an attempt to prove his worth as a future security guard. Certainly, this lack of good sense will impress someone in his home state.
According to deputies, the 44-year-old Kissimmee resident was discovered acting suspiciously in the lobby of the Swan Reserve Hotel on May 31; the hotel is owned and operated by Marriott but is located on the grounds of the Disney World Resort. When hotel security approached the man, he was allegedly pushing a cart containing the Stars Wars droid and wearing a Disney nametag with the name "David" on it. He nonetheless appeared lost, and sheriff's deputies were called to the scene.
The man told them he was a Disney World employee but couldn't locate the employee locker rooms, deputies say, leading them on a wander around the Boardwalk area until he was eventually asked to show them the ID in his wallet. No such employee was found in Disney records, deputies say.
The man then allegedly claimed he submitted a job application with Disney World security and had been stealing items to "show weaknesses in the security of the resorts." Deputies say they have linked him to thefts at Fort Wilderness, the Boardwalk resorts and the Grand Floridian, all Disney properties. According to deputies, they found some of the missing items, including light fixtures and a towel cabinet, in the man's home.
From President Bill Clinton's inaugural address:
There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.
Happy 4th of July!
The breakfast cereal aisle is far less colorful and entertaining now than it was when I was a child. Eat This, Not That! covers the devestation pretty well, with this 23 cereal trip down memory lane:
ETNT:
5 C-3PO's
Star Wars and cereal go hand in hand. In the 1980s, we were all enjoying C-3PO's, a honey-flavored cereal similar to cereal but shaped like little B's and 8's. This cereal conveniently came out right after the first Star Wars trilogy wrapped, but it didn't stick around for long. And though this cereal could easily be brought back—Star Wars hasn't exactly gone away—it hasn't been.
Image: Screen grab of advertisement
California's Governor Gavin Newsom has bought time on Fox "News" in Florida to implore Floridians to wake up and dump Ron Desantis. Newsom invites Floridians to join California in trying to treat people more fairly than we have in the past or to just move to California and escape the fascism rapidly building in the home of hanging chad.
"It's Independence Day — so let's talk about what's going on in America," Newsom says in the ad, standing in the California sun, tieless, as "America the Beautiful" fingerpicks in the background. "Freedom is under attack in your state."
Those last words flash across the screen in red, followed by a photo of DeSantis shaking hands with former President Donald Trump, and then another of the Florida governor as Newsom ticks through Florida laws to ban books and restrict voting, speech and access to abortion.
"I urge all of you living in Florida to join the fight — or join us in California, where we still believe in freedom: Freedom of speech, freedom to choose, freedom from hate, and the freedom to love," Newsom says as the images proceed from an aerial shot of the Santa Monica Pier to a rainbow flag waving in the hands of two women with arms around each other. "Don't let them take your freedom."
The ad is paid for by Newsom's reelection campaign, though this clearly isn't about racking up potential absentee voters who have retired to the Sunshine State for what's expected to be an easy win for California governor in November.
Image: Screen grab
This Daily Show video offers up some July 4th history they did not teach in California's public schools.
Image: screen grab
Time wasting, and making sure everyone knows who they do not like, seems to be the point of this new legislation brought by some of Michigan's GOP legislators.
TPM:
When Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) accused Republicans of manufacturing "fake issues," several Republicans apparently took that as serious advice.
During a press conference on Thursday, Michigan state House Reps. Beau LaFave (R), Andrew Fink (R), Greg Markkanen (R), Steve Carra (R), Ryan Berman (R) and Luke Meerman (R) unveiled a bill that would ban K-12 public schools from doing anything that would "expose" students to "a drag show or drag presentation."
Under the legislation, parents would be allowed to sue school districts for up to $10,000 in damages.
GOP Michigan gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon, a supporter of the legislation, claimed during the press conference that the bill was an earnest solution to a joke Nessel made several weeks ago proposing "a drag queen for every school" as she slammed Republicans for coming up with "fake issues."
…But the stunt did little to refute Nessel's point about Republicans contriving outrage over nothing; the bill's sponsors admitted they couldn't actually think of a time when schools put on drag shows.
Somehow I missed this one back in May: Meta's "Integrity" department sure seems to lack in the integrity department. Kitty Lixo has taught us the true nature of the gram and hopefully does not get viral but Meta can not be trusted.
An OnlyFans creator who goes by the name Kitty Lixo said on the podcast "No Jumper" that after her Instagram account got banned, she managed to get it reinstated by systematically having sex with Meta employees (formerly known as Facebook employees).
Lixo didn't say what got her banned in the short clip podcast host Adam Grandmaison posted on Twitter yesterday. But she did say that the first time it happened, she started sleeping with a friend at the company to get the account restored.
Later on, when she got banned again, she said she approached things even more organized manner.
"I went on his LinkedIn and I searched up [his connections] in the integrity department," Lixo said in the clip. "We met up. I fucked a couple of them. I was able to get my account back two, three times."
Due to the extremely high volume of calls coming through smaller carriers, the FCC is requiring them to migrate to a Caller ID protocol earlier than planned. This probably will not help for longer than 1 hot minute, but I am glad the FCC is trying.
Ars:
The Federal Communications Commission today said it closed a robocall loophole by requiring small phone companies to implement the caller ID authentication technology known as STIR and SHAKEN.
Large voice providers were required to implement STIR/SHAKEN a year ago. But there was an exemption for carriers with 100,000 or fewer customers that would have given those smaller companies until June 30, 2023, to comply.
The FCC voted in December to move that deadline up to June 30, 2022, because small phone companies were apparently carrying a disproportionately high number of illegal robocalls.
It is easy to understand why many folks prefer dogs over people. This person is a gosh durn a-hole.
I'll never understand why someone is cruel to a dog, but going out of your way — even as minimally as this moron does — absolutely earns this outcome.
Tesla's Fremont plant has generated yet another discrimination lawsuit for the beleaguered EV automaker. This time a group of former and current employees who happen to be black alleges that the company knew about discrimination and did nothing to stop it.
Electric car-maker Tesla was sued again Thursday, this time by a group of current and former African-American workers at its Fremont factory who say they were subject to racist graffiti, slurs and harassment they said the company and managers knew about but did nothing to stop.
The complaint lists more than a dozen current and former Tesla workers, but also lists dozens of Tesla employees as plaintiffs.
…
The plaintiffs, "have been subjected to offensive racist comments and offensive racist behavior and discipline by colleagues, leads, supervisors, managers, and/or Human Resources personnel on a daily basis," the suit said.
I would have expected Texas to make this worse, but once the ridiculous rebranding of slavery was brought to their attention, the Texas State Board of Education pushed back. In the name of protecting the children, it appears Texas nor Florida desire to teach history accurately.
The suggested change surfaced late during its June 15 meeting that lasted more than 12 hours. Board member Aicha Davis, a Democrat who represents Dallas and Fort Worth, brought up concerns to the board saying that wording is not a "fair representation" of the slave trade. The board, upon reading the language in the suggested curriculum, sent the working draft back for revision.
"For K-2, carefully examine the language used to describe events, specifically the term 'involuntary relocation,'" the state board wrote in its guidance to the work group.
"I can't say what their intention was, but that's not going to be acceptable," Davis told The Texas Tribune on Thursday. In 2015, Texas attracted attention when it was discovered a social studies textbook approved for use in the state called African slaves who were brought to the United States, "workers"
This is just an amazing performance:
Image: screengrab
This version certainly offers a more cocaine version of "Cocaine" than I have heard previously. I am a huge Leo fan.
Image: screengrab
Bonus:
DJ, dancer, rap artist, and actor Brian Austin Green, best known for his series-spanning portrayal of David Silver on Aaron Spelling's highwater mark, the acclaimed Beverly Hills 90210, has a new child. Green and his wife Sharna Burgess shared the news that Zane Walker Green was born on June 28th.
Brian Austin Green and Sharna Burgess have a new reason to celebrate. The Beverly Hills, 90210 alum and the Dancing With the Stars pro have welcomed their first child together, Zane Walker Green.
On Thursday, Green and Burgess shared a photo of their newborn gently holding his dad's finger on Instagram, with Burgess writing, "My heart is now forever outside of my body."
Zane, born June 28, is Burgess' first child. Green has four other sons: three with ex-wife Megan Fox and one with his former 90210 costar Vanessa Marcil.
US Senator from Cancun, Ted Cruz, lost this fight before he even picked it. Elmo is vaccinated and Ted is a jerk. The Late Show weaponizes some classic Sesame Street for a musical send-up of the traitorous Texan.
I love the perfect salty and buttery, but always crispy and never soggy popcorn you can get at good movie theaters and theme parks. I finally figured it out.
I tried microwave popcorn. I tried making my own microwave popcorn in paper bags, and glass bowls, adding butter before, adding butter after. I tried an air popper. All of these were fine but did not achieve that awesome level of pro-made popcorn. The microwave stuff always gets a bit soggy as soon as it cools, and lacks the texture I was looking for, the air popper never got even enough coatings of butter and salt that some pieces were salt bombs, and some were just soggy with butter.
After a lot of experimentation, I found 3 things in addition to popcorn to be the secret.
I am making my popcorn on the stovetop in a Whirley Pop. The made-for-popping corn pan lets the steam escape as the popcorn is popped as it evenly pops all the popcorn perfectly without burning. I start with 1/2 cup of popcorn and I use a heaping tablespoon of butter-flavored coconut oil in the pan, and it gives every piece exactly the butter flavoring I am looking for. When the popping is done, which is easy to determine with the Whirley Pop, I sprinkle the popped corn with the evil sounding, but quite excellent Flavacol.
Flavacol is a sodium salt and butter flavoring with some yellow dyes in it. I use about ½ tsp sprinkled over and shaken into the popcorn.
That is it. I used to add nutritional yeast and still enjoy it but rarely add it as my daughter hates it.
Whirley Pop in red with metal gear via Amazon
Flavacol via Amazon
