January 23, 2023

New College officials deny new board member's request for prayer

In a possible sign of the conflicts to come, new board of trustees member Eddie Speir says his request to open New College of Florida's meeting with a prayer was rebuffed by college officials.

The founder and chairman of a Bradenton Christian school, Speir and five others were appointed to New College's board earlier this month by Gov. Ron DeSantis in a bid to take the school in a more conservative direction.

The DeSantis administration has talked about modeling New College on Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian school in Michigan. That has raised concerns among some New College supporters about overtly religious elements being introduced at New College, a public liberal arts school.

Speir's early efforts to inject religion into the college's proceedings could heighten those concerns.

https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/23/desantis-appointee-to-new-college-of-florida-board-says-prayer-request-denied/69832118007/

Here we go...

January 23, 2023

Trump's MAGA forces threaten to upend vote for RNC chair

NEW YORK (AP) — By week’s end, the Republican National Committee is set to resolve a bitter leadership feud that has exposed perilous divisions within a party that has struggled to move past a disappointing midterm ahead of a critical race for the White House.

Those inside the fight believe the days ahead of Friday’s secret ballot at a luxury seaside resort could get even uglier as rebel forces within former President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement threaten to upend RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel’s reelection bid.

The attacks have been led by McDaniel’s chief rival, Harmeet Dhillon, a Trump attorney who has accused the incumbent of religious bigotry, chronic misspending and privately claiming she can control the former president — allegations McDaniel denies. Also in the race is My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, a pro-Trump conspiracy theorist who secured enough support to qualify for the ballot.

Trump hasn’t made a public endorsement, but he and his team are privately advocating for McDaniel, whom he tapped for the position shortly after his 2016 victory. Still, many Trump loyalists blame McDaniel, the niece of Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, for some of the party’s recent struggles.

https://apnews.com/article/politics-republican-national-convention-arizona-2022-midterm-elections-donald-trump-e20246a295992ec41ddd0cfb7a505a47

Would not mind seeing Ronna Romney lose. She's awful and Harmeet Dhillon would certainly be worse, but installing a certified MAGA loon in her place would expose the stark differences between the parties. And to top it off, apparently Dhillon is from San Francisco -- I'm sure that would go over well with the Republican rank-and-file.

January 23, 2023

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin marries longtime love on 93rd birthday

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin announced on Facebook that he has married his “longtime love” in a small ceremony in Los Angeles.

Aldrin, who made history along with Neil Armstrong as the first humans to set foot on the surface of the moon, said the wedding took place on Friday, which was his 93rd birthday.

“I am pleased to announce that my longtime love and partner, Dr. Anca V Faur, and I have tied the knot. We were joined in holy matrimony in a small private ceremony in Los Angeles, and are as excited as eloping teenagers,” he wrote.

The post received 53,000 Facebook “likes” and “loves” by Saturday and was accompanied by several photos of the newlyweds.

https://apnews.com/article/marriage-michael-collins-neil-armstrong-buzz-aldrin-los-angeles-e8a3947a8a3b5dcd0dee57987db6be6e

January 23, 2023

Splash Mountain Closes Today. Here's Why it Should Have Happened Sooner.

Thousands of Guests flocked to Walt Disney World Resort on Sunday to ride Splash Mountain for the last time. Wait times reached over 200 minutes, breaking a record for the Magic Kingdom log flume ride. Disneyland Resort’s Splash Mountain will also close to make way for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, a Princess and the Frog (2009) retheme, though a date hasn’t been announced.

While many fans mourned Frontierland’s only water ride, activists are happy to see it go. While the ride seems innocuous, it’s based on an objectively racist film, Song of the South (1946). The movie is so problematic that while The Walt Disney Company streams films containing offensive content on Disney Plus with a cultural sensitivity warning, such as Peter Pan (1953)and Dumbo (1941), it refuses to offer legal means to view Song of the South.

Some Splash Mountain fanatics will point to modern-day “woke” ideology that led to the ride’s “cancellation.” But activist groups like the NAACP protested Song of the South upon its release in 1946 – the film presents an idealized version of post-Civil War era life for Black Americans. Additionally, while #SaveSplashMountain campaigners will point to the honorary Oscar awarded to James Baskett (Uncle Remus), the African-American actor wasn’t allowed to enter the film’s premiere or Academy Award ceremony due to racial segregation laws at the time.

Uncle Remus presents a sanitized, white-washed version of the Jim Crow-era South. Black Americans, though recently freed of slavery, were subjected to racist laws, violence, and underpaid labor. Song of the South does not mention this.

https://insidethemagic.net/2023/01/splash-mountain-racist-history-jc1/

January 23, 2023

'Are Americans Being Poisoned?': Diamond's Memorial Goes Off the Rails

“People are dropping dead around here, and nobody is talking about it!” Silk said at her sister’s celebration of life ceremony. “They are dropping dead suddenly and unexpectedly.”

Trumpworld figures converged at Lynnette “Diamond” Hardaway’s remembrance ceremony on Saturday afternoon to celebrate the life of the pro-Trump pundit who died suddenly at 51—but the memorial took a dark turn as her sister suggested a nefarious plot behind her death.

Diamond’s sister—half of the “Diamond and Silk” duo—Rochelle “Silk” Richardson addressed the crowd at the Crown Theatre in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and appeared to fall back into her old anti-vaxxer ways.

“Instead of asking if Americans are vaxxed or unvaxxed, the real question to ask is: Are Americans being poisoned?” she asked the pro-Trump crowd filled with friends and family.

“In the wild, when they want to depopulate and sterilize a large group of animals, they usually inject one animal, and that one animal infect the rest of the animals,” Silk said, suggesting, without evidence, that the COVID-19 vaccine creates harm. “People are dropping dead around here, and nobody is talking about it! They are dropping dead suddenly and unexpectedly.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/are-americans-being-poisoned-diamonds-memorial-goes-off-the-rails

You can't fix stupid.

January 20, 2023

China plays down COVID outbreak with holiday rush at full tilt

People across China crowded into trains and buses for one of its busiest days of travel in years on Friday, feeding fears of new surges in a raging COVID-19 outbreak that officials say has hit its peak.

In comments reported by state media late Thursday, Vice Premier Sun Chunlan said the virus was at a "relatively low" level, while health officials said the number of COVID patients in hospital and with critical conditions was on the decline.

But there are widespread doubts about China's official account of an outbreak that has overwhelmed hospitals and funeral homes since Beijing abandoned strict COVID controls and mass testing last month.

That policy U-turn, which followed historic protests against the government's tough anti-virus curbs, unleashed COVID on a population of 1.4 billion that had been largely shielded from the disease since it emerged in the city of Wuhan in late 2019.

Some health experts expect that more than one million people will die from the disease in China this year, with British-based health data firm Airfinity forecasting COVID fatalities could hit 36,000 a day next week.

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-says-covid-outbreak-easing-eve-travel-rush-2023-01-20/

Forecasting 36k Covid deaths a day(!) in China next week...I'm looking at you, Florida...

January 20, 2023

After Dobbs, Republicans Wrestle With What It Means to Be Anti-Abortion

Activists are pushing for tougher abortion restrictions, while politicians fear turning off swing voters who don’t support strict limits like a national ban.

For decades, opposition to abortion was a crucial but relatively clear-cut litmus test for Republican candidates: support overturning a constitutional right to an abortion, back anti-abortion judges and vote against taxpayer funding for the procedure.

But now, six months after the Supreme Court overturned federal abortion rights, the test has grown a whole lot harder — and potentially more politically treacherous.

Even after a backlash in support of abortion rights cost Republicans key seats in the midterm elections, a restive socially conservative wing is pushing the party’s lawmakers to embrace deeper restrictions. That effort is likely to be on stark display on Friday in Washington, when anti-abortion activists gather for what is expected to be a lower-key version of their annual march.

Historically, the event attracted top Republicans, including former President Donald J. Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence and former Speaker Paul Ryan. This year, the list of speakers circulated in advance included two lawmakers: Representative Steve Scalise, the Republican majority leader, and Representative Chris Smith, one of the leaders of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus.

These activists and their allies are pressuring potential Republican presidential contenders to call for a national ban. Raising the stakes nearly two years before the 2024 contest, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, one of the most powerful anti-abortion groups, said that any candidate who does not support federal restrictions should be “disqualified” from winning the party’s nomination.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/20/us/politics/abortion-republicans-roe-v-wade.html?unlocked_article_code=BW8cIeaCbJrneftZ2TgPuiF-BRKw0Xh2LTbqBOPMNenV5qbD4L3pGbGHr9BK5lPvUo0yqJbFPVZitCfHfI6jJZz1l_uyMjjEhzxpmhSxhHPcu6SPptY10YqsMhbfIAQ3J9-wRLT0YjnRwPakgohejOVfpXhHlzHxuoWGvgwTLnXP-jklCWst5Y830Zo1VisBreOCzzclHAWQdhQlGwD3bM2edEWHSLLTw5CzXeOhW1Uq828lnGDu4yw7pchjGFAjO-wvEkBiZdPF0g9upeiauRtlDoc_3yeysYx7RXaM3_oWCNoqdX0jbjllWaH_qsEEPbaQT2zv4-_LKgZtJwJBY6F_Ve8wfwCdLZDQgn8&smid=share-url

Go for it, assholes.

January 20, 2023

Ronna McDaniel Swears She's Beating the Monster She Created

Ronna McDaniel and Harmeet Dhillon are both vying to lead the Republican National Committee. And despite McDaniel seeming to have it locked up, it may actually be a race.

Ronna McDaniel says she has commitments from more than 100 of the 168 Republican National Committee members who will decide whether she’s re-elected as RNC chair. And yet, a week before the election, no one’s quite sure that the race will be that simple—not even McDaniel herself.

The normally quiet, bureaucratic process of choosing a leader of the RNC has become a proxy battle for… perhaps not the soul of the Republican Party, but at least a key appendage. In a matter of days, RNC members will flock to a scenic resort in Southern California to cast their ballots—in the first contested race for RNC chair since 2011—and help decide the direction of the GOP.

At stake isn’t so much whether Republicans should turn the page from Donald Trump. Both McDaniel and her primary challenger, Harmeet Dhillon, are diehard Trump fans. What’s more at stake is whether the GOP will make any changes after disappointing performances in the last three elections.

The battle between McDaniel and Dhillon is largely non-ideological and increasingly personal, with Dhillon drawing both ultra-MAGA supporters and those who want a change at the top for the sake of a change at the top.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ronna-mcdaniel-swears-shes-beating-the-rnc-monster-she-created

January 20, 2023

Andrew Tate Will Be Locked Up for Another 30 Days, Romanian Court Rules

The notorious sexist Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan, will be kept behind bars for at least another month in Romania on allegations of rape and human trafficking.

Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan will remain in custody until Feb. 27 after a Romanian court extended their detention on Friday.

The British-American kickboxing champion-turned-sexist influencer and his brother are being investigated over allegations of rape and human trafficking. A judge at the Bucharest Court determined that the pair should remain in police custody for another 30 days while authorities carry out their inquiries.

The Tate brothers and two Romanian women were arrested last month over allegations of being part of an organized crime group that local authorities say exploited women by coercing them into making pornography. Prosecutors say Tate would pretend to want romantic relationships with the alleged victims before forcing them into creating the explicit content. All four suspects deny the allegations.

Before the hearing Friday, lawyers for the Tate brothers argued that prosecutors had failed to produce any new evidence against the defendants and that they were “optimistic” the detention extension would be denied, the BBC reports.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/andrew-tate-will-be-locked-up-for-another-30-days-romanian-court-rules

January 20, 2023

CNN Anchor Nails GOP Rep. Byron Donalds for His George Santos Hypocrisy

“You called for President Biden to resign,” Blackwell shot back after Donalds said it wasn’t his job as a lawmaker to call for resignations.

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) told CNN on Thursday that it wasn't his place to call for his truth-allergic colleague George Santos’ resignation, only for anchor Victor Blackwell to remind him he’s had no problem demanding President Joe Biden to step down.

Amid growing uproar for Santos to resign over the non-stop flood of allegations that he fabricated most of his résumé and biography, the freshman New York congressman has remained defiant. Even with most lawmakers from his home state urging him to quit, Santos has said he won’t leave Congress unless everyone who voted for him individually calls on him to do so.

Despite the vast web of lies he’s been accused of weaving, House Republicans rewarded Santos with two assignments earlier this week on the small business and science committees.

As a member of the influential House Steering Committee, which decides which lawmakers get committee seats, Donalds was asked on Thursday about Santos’ qualifications. (Donalds, one of the MAGA holdouts during this month’s contentious speaker vote, obtained his own marquee committee assignments after flipping his vote for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.)

The GOP lawmaker essentially told Blackwell his hands were tied when it came to placing Santos on various committees—while simultaneously justifying the disgraced congressman’s new assignments.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/cnns-victor-blackwell-nails-gop-rep-byron-donalds-for-his-george-santos-hypocrisy