I don't normally post things about the #NBA , but I am thrilled to see two teams on the top of their conferences who have players I have ZERO knowledge about.
Teams led by no one named #Lebron #Luka #Steph #Giannis #Kevin #Devin #Nikola
If Cleveland and OKC aren't careful, you're going to have the one of the #Kardashians come sniffing around soon.
Despite America's own best (worst) efforts, we've managed to make it through 2024.
I had four goals at the start of the year. How did I do with them
2024 Goals - Year In Review
2024 Cleveland Zoo Wild Winter Lights
Photo Credit: Kevin Gamin
Zat you, Santa Claus?
Santaday – December 14, 2024
Incarcerated journalist #Kevin “#Rashid” #Johnson, who first drew attention to self-harm at the state facility in October through his work on "Prison Radio", a non-profit activist organization.
Johnson reported that he had met an individual in September named #Ekong #Eshiet, who claimed to have returned from the hospital the day before after being treated for self-inflicted burns.
On Prison Radio, Johnson said Eshiet had told him that “the racism and abuses, the hard and inhumane conditions at Red Onion, were so intolerable that he and others were setting themselves on fire in desperate attempts to be transferred away from the prison”.
About a week later, Prison Radio also released an audio recording from Ekong Eshiet himself, in which Eshiet talked about how he had started a hunger strike since returning from being treated for his burns.
He said he was protesting “discrimination”, which he says he has to deal with every day at Red Onion.
“I’m going about this the right
way, I guess, like with the hunger strike way,” Eshiet said.
“But if I have to, I don’t mind setting myself on fire again. This time, I would set my whole body on fire before I have to stay up here and do the rest of my time up here. I would rather die before I stay up here, because every day I’m dealing with discrimination, whether it’s behind my race, my last name or my religion.”
According to reporting from Al Jazeera, Johnson, the incarcerated journalist, was put into solitary confinement in early November, shortly after he first drew attention to the self-harm.
Noelle Hanrahan, the founder of Prison Radio, said in an interview that she had spoken with Johnson’s attorney and been told that Johnson had been placed in solitary confinement.
After Flurry of Cabinet Picks, Trump Rethinks Candidates for Treasury Secretary
Donald Trump is expected to invite the contenders for the role, including Kevin Warsh and Marc Rowan, to Mar-a-Lago this week
Trump is eyeing a new candidate for Treasury Secretary amid internal debate over who should have the role:
the former Federal Reserve governor #Kevin #Warsh.
Trump is also considering the Wall Street billionaire #Marc #Rowan.
He had been expected to pick either #Howard #Lutnick, the chief executive of the Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald,
or #Scott #Bessent, the founder of the investment firm Key Square Capital Management and a former money manager for George Soros.
And he had been seen as likely to make the selection late last week.
But he has been having second thoughts about the top two candidates, and has slowed down his selection process.
He is expected to invite the contenders to interview with him this week at Mar-a-Lago.
Mr. Lutnick, who has been running Mr. Trump’s transition operation, has gotten on Mr. Trump’s nerves lately.
Mr. Trump has privately expressed frustration that Mr. Lutnick has been hanging around him too much and that he has been manipulating the transition process for his own ends.
A person familiar with the process, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the battle between Mr. Lutnick and Mr. Bessent as a "knife fight", with Mr. Lutnick as the primary aggressor.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/17/us/politics/trump-treasury-candidates.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Every fall, it happens. My yard goes from green grass to yellow, orange, and brown leaves.
Autumn Leaves, 2024 Edition (So Far)
https://medi-nerd.com/2024/11/10/autumn-leaves-2024-edition-so-far/
Project 2025 ex-director condemns Heritage president’s ‘violent rhetoric’
The former director of the right-wing policy and personnel blueprint known as #Project2025 is condemning what he sees as
“violent rhetoric” from Heritage Foundation President #Kevin #Roberts
and calling on Republican vice-presidential nominee JD #Vance to retract the foreword he wrote for Roberts’s book.
“If we’re going to ask the left to tone it down, we have to do our part as well,” #Paul #Dans, who led Project 2025 until July, said in an interview.
“There’s no place for this sort of violent rhetoric and bellicose taunting, especially in light of the fact that President Trump has now been subject to not one but two assassination attempts.”
Roberts, who took over Washington’s preeminent conservative think tank in 2021, declared ️a “second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless, if the left allows it to be,”
during an appearance on a pro-Trump podcast in July, before a gunman attempted to assassinate Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania.
That same month, Roberts started marketing his book, whose cover proposed “Burning Down Washington” and featured an image of a match.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/10/16/project-2025-heritage-violent-rhetoric/
From 08 Oct: Kevin Smith Has Exciting Plans for Dogma‘s Anniversary - Twenty-five years ago, at the height of his powers, Kevin... https://gizmodo.com/dogma-rerelease-kevin-smith-harvey-weinstein-2000509527 #fantasy #kevin-smith
On July 1, four days after Biden’s disastrous performance in the first presidential debate,
the Supreme Court declared Donald Trump basically #immune from criminal prosecution.
At that point, a sense of impending, almost inevitable #doom was engulfing (small-d) democratic America.
But the Right was enthused.
On July 4, #Kevin #Roberts celebrated the Court’s disastrous decision in an interview on Steve Bannon’s show.
Roberts rejoiced that “we are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”
These bold assertions of dominance and brazen threats of violence caused outrage that was directed at Trump as much as at Heritage.
In the broader perception, Roberts was Project 2025, and Project 2025 was Trump
– this, then, was the dark future the country was barreling towards.
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/how-project-2025-became-toxic-and
Project 2025 ex-director accuses Trump campaign advisers of ‘malpractice’
Rightwing criticism of Trump’s campaign staff has grown in recent weeks as the former president has sought to at least appear to moderate his position on some policy proposals and issues, including reproductive rights.
While there has been little direct criticism of Trump himself, a #FireLaCivita hashtag trended briefly on social media.
#Dans, who served for two years in the White House under Trump,
spearheaded work at the conservative #Heritage #Foundation thinktank that produced #Project2025.
The 922-page tome proposes an array of radical plans to reshape government – such as replacing tens of thousands of career civil servants with Trump loyalists, abolishing the education department and drastically restricting abortion and contraception.
The document has been described as a manifesto for Trump’s presidency,
and #Kevin #Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, said in a podcast that the project would herald “a second revolution that would be #bloodless if the left allows it to be”.
As criticism grew, Trump eventually responded by claiming to disown the plan,
falsely stating he did not know its architects
– even though most used to work for him and he gave the keynote address to their annual conference
– and calling its suggestions “ridiculous and abysmal”.
LaCivita described the project as
“a pain in the ass”
at the Republican national conventionin Milwaukee.
A New York Times/CNN poll found 75% of American voters had heard of Project 2025,
while 63% strongly opposed its contents.