Watched Sen. John Kennedy while interviewed. Commented about Vance being nominated as VP. He said the only person that would be better was CC!!!
If you don't know him, he is really funny!

WTF is going on here.

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My wife has at least 7 of all different sizes. Three big ones, one small, two medium. One that has three small ones together. They just take up space. I’m not sure we’ve ever used more than two at a time. What a waste of valuable cabinet space

.

What do you say Bears fans? I say trade back for MHJ

From UI Athletics:
Seibert Earns Promotion with Iowa MBB



IOWA CITY, Iowa – Long-time University of Iowa men’s basketball staff member Al Seibert has added the role of General Manager to his Chief of Staff duties with the program.

Seibert is entering his 14th season on head coach Fran McCaffery’s staff, including stints as the director of operations and video coordinator.
In his expanded role, Seibert becomes the program’s point person between athletics administration and Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL). He will direct a recruiting process for NIL, while maintaining the NIL-related records and contracts for student-athletes.

Seibert will also serve as the program’s liaison with the Athletics Department senior staff.

Prior to joining the Hawkeyes, Seibert served as head coach at the University of New Haven from 2005-10. He also spent time coaching at the University of Hartford, Western Kentucky, Duquesne and Pittsburgh.

What a shame. Looks like America has already taken Melania's, "I really don't care, do u?" advice.

Interesting stuff.

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Why do you hate him?

Weird, a bunch of our MAGA posters have been posting about how Putin "prefers" Biden. Me? I will believe the NSA and CIA.

Russia Seeks to Boost Trump in 2024 Election, U.S. Intelligence Officials Say​

Other foreign-influence operations in the U.S. include attempts by Iran to covertly encourage protests against the war in Gaza, officials say​

By
Dustin Volz
Updated July 9, 2024

WASHINGTON—The Russian government has launched a “whole-of-government” effort to influence the outcome of the U.S. presidential election and favors Republican candidate Donald Trump in the race, senior U.S. intelligence officials said Tuesday.

The officials didn’t mention Trump by name, but said that Russia’s current activity—described as covert social-media use and other online propaganda efforts—mirrored the 2020 and 2016 election cycles, when Moscow also favored Trump and sought to undermine Democratic candidates, according to U.S. intelligence agencies.

“We haven’t observed a shift in Russia’s preferences for the presidential race from past elections,” a senior official in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said, during a media briefing summarizing intelligence on foreign threats to the election.

Along with Russia, Iran has become “increasingly aggressive” in its foreign influence efforts, including in recent weeks by covertly encouraging protests against the war in Gaza, Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, said in a separate statement on Tuesday.

The warnings underscore how U.S. adversaries are continuing to exploit social-media platforms and other avenues to manipulate public opinion, despite efforts by the intelligence and law-enforcement agencies to expose and crack down on the influence operations.

The Russian embassy in Washington didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for the Iranian government didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

Russia was seeking to influence specific voting groups, including those in swing states, promote divisive narratives and denigrate specific politicians, the officials who briefed reporters said. They declined to provide details about the voters or politicians who have been targeted

The Kremlin is also working to influence members of Congress and is broadly seeking to undermine U.S. support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, the officials said.

Moscow employs commercial firms to obscure its involvement and attempts to spread propaganda by planting it with influential Americans, the senior ODNI official said.

Officials indicated that the activity witnessed so far this election cycle isn’t on the scale or scope seen in 2016, when Russia’s actions included a hack-and-leak of Democratic Party emails, rudimentary cyber-probing of some state election systems and other actions intended to undermine Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

But they said Moscow and other countries were likely to increase their efforts to influence the race as the November election date drew closer.

Russia was the “pre-eminent threat” to the presidential election, the ODNI official said. By contrast Iran was a lesser threat at the moment, aiming to be a “chaos agent” in the election by exacerbating social tensions, the official said.

“We have observed actors tied to Iran’s government posing as activists online, seeking to encourage protests, and even providing financial support to protesters,” Haines said.

The statement didn’t describe how extensively the Iranians have sought to penetrate Gaza protests, which have occurred in many U.S. locations.

“Americans who participate in protests are, in good faith, expressing their views on the conflict in Gaza—this intelligence doesn’t indicate otherwise,” Haines said. Protesters may not be aware they are “interacting with or receiving support from a foreign government.”

In contrast to Russia and Iran, China doesn’t appear to be seeking to interfere in the U.S. election, the official who briefed reporters said. U.S. intelligence agencies came to a similar conclusion concerning China’s involvement around the 2020 presidential election.

“We assess China, for now, doesn’t plan to influence the outcome of the presidential race because it sees little gain in choosing between two parties that it perceives as both seeking to contain Beijing,” the ODNI official said.

China has told its diplomatic officials in Washington to avoid even the appearance of interfering with U.S. elections, fearing the kind of backlash Russia faced in the years after 2016. China’s diplomats have been told to avoid even discussing a preference between the candidates, senior Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said.

The findings highlight the rising concerns by U.S. officials and security experts about foreign adversaries potentially pouring resources into the 2024 presidential election contest eight years after Russia engineered a multipronged interference campaign seeking to help Trump defeat Clinton.


The efforts observed so far haven’t included attempts to disrupt procedures of the election itself, officials said.

---

Developments in artificial intelligence pose additional risks to the 2024 election, the intelligence officials said, calling it a “malign influence accelerant” that allowed bad actors to quickly create convincing audio and video deepfakes. The technology was used during recent elections in Taiwan and India for deceptive purposes, the officials said.

“We are monitoring foreign actors seeking to create deepfakes of politicians, flood the information space with false or misleading information, to sow doubt about what is real and to amplify narratives,” the ODNI official said.

The Justice Department announced Tuesday a takedown of computer infrastructure in the Netherlands that enabled a Russia-linked disinformation bot farm that had been operating on X, formerly Twitter. The bots, numbering nearly a thousand accounts, relied on artificial intelligence to create bogus user profiles and spammed posts in support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the Justice Department, which relied on cooperation from Dutch authorities to disrupt the operation.

U.S. officials said the operation was financed by the Kremlin and organized by an employee of a state-owned media outlet who is a member of a Russian intelligence service. It was the first time the U.S. had publicly accused a foreign government of using generative AI technology in support of a foreign-influence operation against Americans, officials said.

Putin and everyone else involved with targeting this hospital should enjoy an extra-special place in hell.

Good luck?


Since his disastrous debate last month, President Biden has embraced a laundry list of left-wing policy proposals, strong-armed the party's nomination process and still tried to limit spontaneous, unscripted moments.

• It's saved his candidacy — for now.

Why it matters: Biden's moves have kept top Democrats from stampeding away from him — even as many remain privately uneasy with the 81-year-old president staying at the top of the ticket and serving another term.

• Amid worries he could lose and drag down Democratic House and Senate candidates with him, just 20 Democrats in Congress have called on him to step aside.

Driving the news: That's partly because of promises that Biden — long a centrist Democrat — has made to his party's progressive wing.

• Biden said this past week that if he's re-elected, he'd call for legislation to cap landlords' ability to hike rent prices, push for a large-scale elimination of medical debt, and pursue other plans that have been applauded by progressives such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

Biden's chosen leadership at the Democratic National Committee also is pushing to use an electronic roll call to lock him in as the party's presidential nominee weeks before its convention begins Aug. 19 in Chicago.

• The sooner Biden is technically the nominee, the sooner he and the party can quash Democratic rebels' push to replace him on the ticket.

Biden's team also has continued to tightly control his public appearances, even as many allies have urged him to be more spontaneous and ditch Teleprompters.

• Biden's few unscripted moments in front of cameras since the June 27 debate haven't inspired wide confidence, but have been good enough to prevent many more defections.

Zoom in: Biden has done some interviews with subtle crutches.

• In a phone chat with MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Biden could be heard shuffling papers and acknowledged at one point that he was reading from "a list of lies."
• In his first interviews after the debate — radio calls with Black radio stations in Philadelphia and Milwaukee — his team later acknowledged it had drafted and pre-submitted the questions to the hosts.

Biden's team also managed his calls with Democratic lawmakers.

• Mayors and members of Congress could not unmute themselves in recent Zoom calls, as the White House controlled who was able to speak. The White House said that was standard procedure for such group calls.

When the Congressional Hispanic Caucus jumped on a call with Biden, members were informed that "this is a Zoom managed by the Biden campaign."

• Biden's team said it was indeed controlling the call, but did not ask for nor receive questions in advance.

What they're saying: White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told Axios that "in the last two weeks, President Biden has done a one-hour, in-depth press conference and unscripted interviews with ABC News, 'Morning Joe,' BET, NBC News, Speedy Morman, and the Houston Chronicle."

• Bates added: "He has spoken off the cuff to world leaders — who highlighted the leadership he showed at NATO — as well as to members of Congress, the AFL-CIO, and to American veterans."

Progressives also have cheered Biden's recent moves.

• After the Congressional Progressive Caucus had a call with Biden, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) told Axios the president teased many policies the caucus wants — which he said is "not a complete coincidence," based on where Biden is now drawing support on Capitol Hill.
• "This is his base," Sherman said of the Progressive Caucus, "You see who has called upon him to move on, and who has called upon him to stay, and the Progressive Caucus lines up with those who have asked him to stay."

Sanders penned an effusive op-ed in the New York Times for Biden's re-election over the weekend, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) also has been publicly supportive.

• Sanders wrote: "Enough! Mr. Biden may not be the ideal candidate, but he will be the candidate and should be the candidate."

The influential Congressional Black Caucus also has largely been effusive in its support.

• That's given Biden a lifeline with lawmakers representing two of the most important parts of the Democratic Party's base.

Bottom line: Some moderates are frustrated that they'll pay the price if Biden remains at the top of the ticket, unlike many progressives and members of the CBC who are largely in safely Democratic districts.

• But the Biden team's moves have been sufficient to keep many Democrats from speaking out publicly.

All dems are scum and a threat to our democracy >

My god what a shit show this administration is.

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White House officials, congressional Democrats and several labor leaders say they are angry about Teamsters President Sean O’Brien’s prime-time address to the Republican National Convention on Monday night, which marked a striking departure for a powerful union that for decades has supported Democrats.


In a speech closely watched by other union officials, O’Brien praised former president Donald Trump — calling him “one tough SOB” after Saturday’s assassination attempt — as well as his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, for “truly [caring] about working people.”

Breaking from nearly all other speakers at the Republican convention, O’Brien did not publicly endorse Trump. He also criticized corporate greed and took pains to emphasize that he would work with any lawmaker who would support union priorities, regardless of party affiliation. But his very presence in Milwaukee — among GOP lawmakers and a former president who have pushed a policy agenda sharply at odds with that of the unions — sent shock waves through labor and Democratic circles.



White House aides were particularly furious over O’Brien’s appearance, which they viewed as a betrayal of the administration’s support for many of the Teamsters’ top priorities, according to two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.

Biden secured a pension bailout that restored retirement accounts for around 350,000 Teamsters members, appointed staunchly pro-labor allies to the National Labor Relations Board and instituted labor requirements for federal contracts. The backlash against O’Brien’s speech reflects the high stakes of the 2024 presidential election for the nation’s labor movement, which fears Trump will undo these policies.
“How could the Teamsters not endorse the man who is transparently the most pro-labor president in history? There is no question the White House is furious,” said one person in communication with White House officials. “Everybody is p---ed. Everybody is like, ‘What on Earth? How could this have gotten so messed up?’”



A White House spokeswoman declined to comment.
In his address, O’Brien acknowledged that Trump’s invitation to him to speak at the convention had sparked “political unrest” on both sides of the political spectrum. “The left called me a traitor,” he said to a round of boos from the audience. O’Brien has explained his decision to wait to endorse this year as an effort to carefully assess the union’s options, saying that his members’ votes “will not be taken for granted.”
Kara Deniz, a Teamsters spokeswoman, responded to the criticism with a statement: “The corporatists that the Teamsters exposed on the floor of the RNC own the Washington Post and were likely upset by how many times Sean O’Brien directly called out Amazon’s atrocious employment practices.”

“The Teamsters refuse to be pressured to fall in line by those who continue to applaud a broken system,” Deniz continued. “We will continue to participate in the political process at all levels on behalf of working people.”


Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.
At least one labor leader, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, defended O’Brien’s speech. And some labor leaders say they hope they can cultivate the support of a minority faction of GOP leaders — including Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who has worked with O’Brien — who have suggested an openness to backing some priorities of organized labor.

“Today, the Teamsters are here to say we are not beholden to anyone or any party,” O’Brien said at the Republican convention. “The Teamsters and the GOP may not agree on many issues, but a growing group has shown the courage to sit down and consider points of view that aren’t funded by big-money think tanks.”

Still, O’Brien’s embrace of Trump on the national stage drew criticism from other labor unions, congressional Democrats and even members of his own union.


John Palmer, a Teamsters executive board member and vice president at-large, said Tuesday that he was “embarrassed” by O’Brien’s convention speech. “Without Joe Biden, myself and many other Teamsters would lose our pensions. So this is really disrespectful,” Palmer added.

Other labor officials were also critical of O’Brien’s appearance.
Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, the country’s largest federation of unions, said in a statement that although she agrees with O’Brien’s critiques of corporate greed, “Donald Trump and J.D. Vance are on the bosses’ side.”

“We won’t be fooled,” Shuler said.
“It’s disappointing to see a national labor leader speak like that at the GOP convention,” said Matthew Biggs, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, which has 90,000 members. “Make no mistake about it, their intent is to crush federal unions and have mass firings of federal employees and turn the government into an at-will employer where people are hired and fired based on their political leanings.”


Jimmy Williams Jr., president of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, representing 140,000 skilled trades union members, called O’Brien “a brother of mine” but noted that “on this issue we respectfully disagree.”

“The Republican Party platform doesn’t do a thing to help unions or working people,” Williams said. “And what we are hearing in this campaign is no different.”
It’s not surprising that a number of top labor unions are angry, experts say.
“Many labor leaders and rank-and-file members, inside and outside the Teamsters, are upset and feel betrayed by O’Brien’s speaking at a convention of the party that has been vehemently anti-union,” said Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research at Cornell University, citing conversations with union officials. “We have the Teamsters now endorsing, whether directly or indirectly, a Republican candidate that is very antilabor.”


Democrats on Capitol Hill also expressed astonishment at O’Brien’s appearance at the convention. The Teamsters have received backing from Democrats to launch campaigns against Amazon’s labor practices and save its union members’ pensions.



“The Democratic Party is pro-labor union and pro-worker,” said Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), the son of a Teamster, responding to O’Brien’s address. “Every single Democrat in Congress voted to save the pensions of hundreds of thousands of Teamsters workers. And every Republican voted against it.”
O’Brien’s Republican convention appearance rankled one progressive group so much that it is taking the unusual step of mounting an official campaign urging O’Brien specifically to endorse the Democratic nominee. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee is asking Teamsters members to speak out against O’Brien. “It is misinformation to stay neutral in 2024 if Donald Trump and Republicans won’t publicly match the Democratic Party’s strong pro-worker agenda,” the group said.
Most major unions have rallied behind Biden, and some are likely to be prominently featured at the Democratic National Convention next month. O’Brien has requested to speak at the Democratic convention but has yet to receive an invitation, Deniz, the Teamsters spokeswoman, previously told The Post.

I think I would rather kill myself. She looks like skeletor

New name, new frontpage, new forum layout, same old us. We had been talking about making these changes since this past spring, and the timing's finally right with the Rivals network refresh to make it official. Huge thanks to the Rivals network staff for facilitating this change.

Let us know what you think!

I mean, we all know why. Vance will do whatever Trump wants including never stepping down. But from a purely political perspective, wouldn't Haley have been the smarter pick?

"JD made headlines 'cause he said Democrats caused the shooting by comparing Trump to Hitler. He also made headlines in 2016 . . . by comparing Trump to Hitler."

"Kristi Noem Shot Them Dogs for Nothing!"

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Chip stocks — Several large chip stocks fell after Bloomberg News reported that said the Biden Administration is considering clamping down on companies that are exporting their chipmaking equipment to China. Nvidia fell 6%, while ASML slid 11%. AMD slipped 8%. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company tumbled about 7%. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) was down roughly 6%.

Florida man arrested, accused of graphicly threatening to kill Biden​

President Joe Biden speaks at a news conference following the NATO Summit in Washington, Thursday, July 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)(Matt Rourke | AP)
By Chasity Maynard and Amanda Alvarado
Published: Jul. 17, 2024 at 9:23 AM CDT|Updated: 59 minutes ago





TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV/Gray News) - A Florida man was arrested after federal authorities accused him of making multiple violent threats against the lives of President Joe Biden and a Secret Service agent.
Jason Alday is facing three federal charges of making threatening communication, making threats against the president of the United States and making threats against federal officers.
In court documents, a Secret Service agent described a series of statements made in June and July by Alday where he allegedly threatened to violently kill Biden and one of the Secret Service agents investigating Alday.
The Secret Service started investigating Alday in June when he allegedly told a healthcare provider, “I don’t like President Biden. I want to kill him, slit his throat.”

A few days later, a Secret Service agent traveled to Florida and interviewed Alday with Gadsden County Sheriff’s deputies. During the interview, Alday denied threatening the president.
According to a criminal complaint, Alday became agitated with the agent’s questioning and stated that he did not like Biden.
The Secret Service said Alday then began posting violent threats on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Alday allegedly posted, “Sources: Joe Biden’s health is declining rapidly, Not doing too good at all. Should I finish him off?” on X.

Other social media posts mentioned in the court documents included racial slurs and references the Secret Service agent who questioned Alday.
Other posts allegedly written by Alday mention wanting the Secret Service agent “dead” and that he will “slit Biden’s throat.”
On Monday, the U.S. Magistrate judge approved a motion to keep Alday in custody.
“The evidence in the case is strong and provides probable cause to believe Defendant committed the offenses as charged,” the order said.

The judge in the trial said he was worried about Alday’s mental state and cited a history of “competency problems,” according to court documents.
Alday’s lawyer called his mother as a witness. She testified that her son has a history of mental illness and relies on her as a caretaker, according to court documents.
Alday’s lawyer said that he was not capable of carrying out the threats he was accused of making.
The judge said Alday is a threat to the community and he remains in federal custody.