Diapers jo Gets Called Out by President Trump
- By Here_4_a_Day
- Off Topic
- 14 Replies
Slap on a fresh pair of Depends, rip those adrenaline shots and step up, big guy!
www.foxnews.com
Trump calls for debates with Biden 'anytime, anywhere, anyplace'
Former President Donald Trump is calling for debates between himself and President Biden ahead of the 2024 general election, saying he is willing to participate "anytime, anywhere, anyplace."
Welker and Deede named finalist for Wrestler of the Year - Vote to support the Hawks
- By Todd Conner
- Iowa Wrestling
- 0 Replies
Welker and Deede named finalist for Wrestler of the Year
Kylie Welker and Marlynne Deede of the University of Iowa have named as finalists for the 2024 USA Wrestling Women’s College Wrestler of the Year Award. Welker(170)and Deede(155) both won NCWWC national titles in leading Iowa to the NCWWC team title in the first year of competition for the...
iowawrestlingblog.com
It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.
Go Hawks!
Clark invited to Olympic camp
- Iowa Men's Basketball
- 1 Replies
Clark invited to Olympic camp before Final Four
Iowa's Caitlin Clark has been invited to United States Olympic training camp before the Final Four.
Everywhere he turns, jo just keeps phucking up!
- By Here_4_a_Day
- Off Topic
- 2 Replies
The U.S. Breaks Its Self-Imposed Oil Price Ceiling of $79 to Refill the SPR | OilPrice.com
The latest crude oil purchase that the Department of Energy made as part of its effort to refill the SPR cost an average of over $81 per barrel.
oilprice.com
NEW STORY - The Hyball: Carry That Weight
- By Bobby Loesch
- The Press Box
- 2 Replies
The Hyball: Carry That Weight
Bobby Loesch • Go Iowa Awesome
Staff Writer
@bobbystompy
The Hyball is a weekly basketball column.
I keep drifting back to the Minnesota game.
You remember that one -- exactly one month ago today. Iowa won 108-60. The nets in that gym are still sitting there in ashy piles.
Almost a full regular season removed from Iowa's drama with LSU in the national title game, I wonder if we will look back at that as the last pure time of the Caitlin Clark era.
Since then? Clark declared for the pros. Senior night. An epic comeback in the Big Ten title game. Getting bashed in the face against Holy Cross. A West Virginia game so stomach churning, its vibes could only be compared to the devilish sport that is college football.
And I'm just talking about the game itself. Now we've got the the refs thing. And the -- /gulp -- backlash to Caitlin Clark. Backlash? Pardon? I've been around the block to know every high level hooper not named Steph Curry is going to have some detractors (hi, LeBron and KD!), so it really doesn't worry me about some sort of big picture narrative changing on Clark, but still -- it feels shitty.
This team, as often as they make us feel coated in freshly fallen snow, isn't perfect. Nothing, really, is perfect. They lack size. Athleticism. Clark does complain a lot (and has been on that for a while).
READ MORE HERE:
Go Iowa Awesome - The Hyball: Carry That Weight
The Hyball is a weekly basketball column.I keep thinking about the Minnesota game.You remember that one.
iowa.rivals.com
Takeaways on First Spring 2024 Depth Chart
- By RossWB
- The Press Box
- 0 Replies
Does the first depth chart of spring football mean a whole lot? No. Absolutely not. Two guys atop the listed two-deeps are out this spring due to injury rehab.
Still -- it's something and it gives us a (very) early idea of what the 2024 depth chart will look like when it matters, five months from now.
Some takeaways from the first depth chart:
iowa.rivals.com
Still -- it's something and it gives us a (very) early idea of what the 2024 depth chart will look like when it matters, five months from now.
Some takeaways from the first depth chart:
Go Iowa Awesome - Thoughts on Iowa's First Spring Football Depth Chart
Taking a look at the first depth chart for Iowa football in spring 2024.
iowa.rivals.com
Court rejects claim challenging North Carolina map for diluting Black vote
- By cigaretteman
- Off Topic
- 4 Replies
A federal appellate court on Thursday rejected an emergency challenge to North Carolina’s Republican-drawn legislative map, all but ensuring elections will go forward this year under contested lines drawn up in late 2023 that Democrats and voting rights advocates say were created to weaken Black representation.
Cut through the 2024 election noise. Get The Campaign Moment newsletter.
That means 2024 elections will go forward with a map experts say will help Republicans retain a supermajority in the state legislature that can block North Carolina’s Democratic governor from vetoing bills. The new maps are also expected to give Republicans at least three more seats in Congress. There are challenges in federal court to those changes as well, but none with a chance at being heard before this fall’s elections, for which primaries have already occurred.
“The election is ... happening right now,” Judge Allison Jones Rushing wrote for herself and J. Harvie Wilkinson III. They agreed with U.S. District Judge James C. Dever III that these maps did not create “the extraordinary circumstances necessary for a preliminary injunction that would disrupt the status quo and compel the race-based sorting of voters for the 2024 Senate elections.”
The case was heard first by a George W. Bush appointee who represented Republicans in North Carolina redistricting disputes before becoming a judge, and then by a panel of three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit that included two GOP nominees. The ruling comes the same day a federal court in South Carolina ruled that state could hold this year’s elections under a map the same judges had declared an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, because an appeal is still pending in the Supreme Court.
Follow Election 2024
This cycle is the first time North Carolina is drawing new maps after two key, seemingly contradictory Supreme Court rulings. In the first, from 2013, the court said places with a history of racial discrimination no longer need approval from the Justice Department or federal court to change district lines. But last year, the court surprised observers by ruling that states still cannot draw lines that prevent minority voters from electing their preferred candidates.
Republicans in North Carolina argued, and Dever agreed, that the new lines were drawn with partisanship in mind rather than race. The Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that gerrymandering that is partisan, not racial, is something federal courts have no power to correct.
Minority votes can be diluted in two ways — “packing” them into a small number of districts where they dominate or “cracking” them across several where they have little sway. In past cases, the 4th Circuit and the Supreme Court have ruled that North Carolina Republicans illegally “packed” Black voters into the fewest possible districts to limit their voting power. Dever used those decisions to argue that the GOP cannot now be faulted for “cracking” the state’s Black Belt in a way that leaves no seat in the area with a Black majority.
“Instead of making that same mistake,” Dever wrote, this time Republican leaders “did not have race in the computer.” He added that evidence of racial animus in the state is “outdated” or unconvincing, as is evidence of racially polarized voting, because both White and Black voters show no particular loyalty toward candidates of their own race.
Nicholas Stephanopoulos, a voting rights expert at Harvard University, said that’s not how the law works. “It’s way too simplistic to say, ‘Because on a certain fact pattern a decade ago, one or two particular districts were found to have a predominantly racial purpose; therefore, North Carolina never has to consider race again when it’s redistricting’ — one doesn’t follow at all from the other,” he said. Under the Voting Rights Act, states cannot engage in racial gerrymandering — unless there is evidence that a White majority regularly defeats the candidates preferred by a minority group.
If that is the case, Stephanopoulos said, “the motives or the data that the line-drawers used are irrelevant.” Minority votes must then be protected either through majority-minority districts or “crossover” districts where enough White voters support minority-backed candidates.
The ruling drew a sharp dissent from Judge Roger L. Gregory, who warned that the ruling further weakened the voting rights protections already diminished in recent years by the Supreme Court.
“A conclusion that polarization is explained by partisan affiliation is not a conclusion that polarization is not explained by race,” he said. “… Permitting evidence of partisan motivation to explain away racial polarization converts Black voters’ motivations for voting into an impediment to Black voting power.”
Gregory, who in 2001 became the first Black judge on the 4th Circuit, said Dever “went out of [his] way to minimize the racial appeal” in Republican campaigns from as recently as 2020, “defying common sense.”
He agreed with the advocates that a new primary could and should be held in versions of the two state Senate districts that are similar to how they looked before redistricting. (Neither seat was contested when primaries were held on March 5).
Rushing said that the fact that the groups challenging the map took a month to file their lawsuit undercut any argument for urgency, and that the evidence was too ambiguous to justify intervention before a full trial. Voting rights activists say the Republicans who control the state legislature intentionally waited until October to put out the maps, with only a week of comment beforehand, making it harder to mount challenges before the election.
“They did it all behind closed doors; we had to go back and figure out what they did,” said Hilary Klein, an attorney for the Southern Coalition for Social Justice.
North Carolina’s Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that drawing districts for political advantage violated the state constitution’s commitment to free and fair elections. But when Republicans took control of the court last year, they threw out that ruling, saying that “courts are not intended to meddle in policy matters.”
Paul Shumaker, a senior Republican consultant in North Carolina, said while the ruling will have a direct effect on this year's election, he doesn't expect the legal challenge to go away.
“It is just the final page of one chapter of one book in the ongoing saga of gerrymandering and redistricting in North Carolina,” he told The Washington Post.
“They’re going to write a new chapter starting now,” he said of opponents of the latest redistricting map.
Cut through the 2024 election noise. Get The Campaign Moment newsletter.
That means 2024 elections will go forward with a map experts say will help Republicans retain a supermajority in the state legislature that can block North Carolina’s Democratic governor from vetoing bills. The new maps are also expected to give Republicans at least three more seats in Congress. There are challenges in federal court to those changes as well, but none with a chance at being heard before this fall’s elections, for which primaries have already occurred.
“The election is ... happening right now,” Judge Allison Jones Rushing wrote for herself and J. Harvie Wilkinson III. They agreed with U.S. District Judge James C. Dever III that these maps did not create “the extraordinary circumstances necessary for a preliminary injunction that would disrupt the status quo and compel the race-based sorting of voters for the 2024 Senate elections.”
The case was heard first by a George W. Bush appointee who represented Republicans in North Carolina redistricting disputes before becoming a judge, and then by a panel of three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit that included two GOP nominees. The ruling comes the same day a federal court in South Carolina ruled that state could hold this year’s elections under a map the same judges had declared an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, because an appeal is still pending in the Supreme Court.
Follow Election 2024
This cycle is the first time North Carolina is drawing new maps after two key, seemingly contradictory Supreme Court rulings. In the first, from 2013, the court said places with a history of racial discrimination no longer need approval from the Justice Department or federal court to change district lines. But last year, the court surprised observers by ruling that states still cannot draw lines that prevent minority voters from electing their preferred candidates.
Republicans in North Carolina argued, and Dever agreed, that the new lines were drawn with partisanship in mind rather than race. The Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that gerrymandering that is partisan, not racial, is something federal courts have no power to correct.
Minority votes can be diluted in two ways — “packing” them into a small number of districts where they dominate or “cracking” them across several where they have little sway. In past cases, the 4th Circuit and the Supreme Court have ruled that North Carolina Republicans illegally “packed” Black voters into the fewest possible districts to limit their voting power. Dever used those decisions to argue that the GOP cannot now be faulted for “cracking” the state’s Black Belt in a way that leaves no seat in the area with a Black majority.
“Instead of making that same mistake,” Dever wrote, this time Republican leaders “did not have race in the computer.” He added that evidence of racial animus in the state is “outdated” or unconvincing, as is evidence of racially polarized voting, because both White and Black voters show no particular loyalty toward candidates of their own race.
Nicholas Stephanopoulos, a voting rights expert at Harvard University, said that’s not how the law works. “It’s way too simplistic to say, ‘Because on a certain fact pattern a decade ago, one or two particular districts were found to have a predominantly racial purpose; therefore, North Carolina never has to consider race again when it’s redistricting’ — one doesn’t follow at all from the other,” he said. Under the Voting Rights Act, states cannot engage in racial gerrymandering — unless there is evidence that a White majority regularly defeats the candidates preferred by a minority group.
If that is the case, Stephanopoulos said, “the motives or the data that the line-drawers used are irrelevant.” Minority votes must then be protected either through majority-minority districts or “crossover” districts where enough White voters support minority-backed candidates.
The ruling drew a sharp dissent from Judge Roger L. Gregory, who warned that the ruling further weakened the voting rights protections already diminished in recent years by the Supreme Court.
“A conclusion that polarization is explained by partisan affiliation is not a conclusion that polarization is not explained by race,” he said. “… Permitting evidence of partisan motivation to explain away racial polarization converts Black voters’ motivations for voting into an impediment to Black voting power.”
Gregory, who in 2001 became the first Black judge on the 4th Circuit, said Dever “went out of [his] way to minimize the racial appeal” in Republican campaigns from as recently as 2020, “defying common sense.”
He agreed with the advocates that a new primary could and should be held in versions of the two state Senate districts that are similar to how they looked before redistricting. (Neither seat was contested when primaries were held on March 5).
Rushing said that the fact that the groups challenging the map took a month to file their lawsuit undercut any argument for urgency, and that the evidence was too ambiguous to justify intervention before a full trial. Voting rights activists say the Republicans who control the state legislature intentionally waited until October to put out the maps, with only a week of comment beforehand, making it harder to mount challenges before the election.
“They did it all behind closed doors; we had to go back and figure out what they did,” said Hilary Klein, an attorney for the Southern Coalition for Social Justice.
North Carolina’s Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that drawing districts for political advantage violated the state constitution’s commitment to free and fair elections. But when Republicans took control of the court last year, they threw out that ruling, saying that “courts are not intended to meddle in policy matters.”
Paul Shumaker, a senior Republican consultant in North Carolina, said while the ruling will have a direct effect on this year's election, he doesn't expect the legal challenge to go away.
“It is just the final page of one chapter of one book in the ongoing saga of gerrymandering and redistricting in North Carolina,” he told The Washington Post.
“They’re going to write a new chapter starting now,” he said of opponents of the latest redistricting map.
Top Democrat in tight Senate race backs citizenship, voting rights for millions of illegal immigrants
- By Here_4_a_Day
- Off Topic
- 23 Replies
Maryland Rep. David Trone says illegal immigrants should 'have all the rights' US citizens have:
Top Democrat in tight Senate race backs citizenship, voting rights for millions of illegal immigrants
Rep. David Trone, a Democrat running for Senate in Maryland, says he supports citizenship and voting rights for the millions of illegal immigrants residing in the U.S.
www.foxnews.com
Top Democrat in tight Senate race backs citizenship, voting rights for millions of illegal immigrants
Rep. David Trone, a Democrat running for Senate in Maryland, says he supports citizenship and voting rights for the millions of illegal immigrants residing in the U.S.
Refugees Given $6,000 To Help With Housing
- Off Topic
- 123 Replies
Refugees given $6,000 to help with housing
A wide array of new refugees in Michigan can be provided $500 per month for rental assistance but must meet some basic requirements.
www.newsweek.com
The Electric Vehicle Market Didn't Burst. It Imploded!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Off Topic
- 4 Replies
The electric vehicle (EV) market has been touted as the future of the automotive industry, with ambitious growth forecasts and government incentives driving the push towards widespread adoption.
However, recent indicators suggest a more challenging road ahead for the EV industry, with several factors contributing to potential headwinds in the market.
The once bullish forecasts for EV sales are encountering obstacles that are impeding the anticipated growth. While initial projections indicated a continuous surge in demand, the reality appears to be different. Reports from Germany and the U.S. highlight declining sales following the reduction or withdrawal of government subsidies, indicating that affordability plays a crucial role in consumer decision-making.
The rollback of governmental incentives, which previously provided tax credits for EV purchasers, has resulted in a price differential of 5.5% between electric vehicles and their internal combustion counterparts. This price disparity, combined with the reduction in models qualifying for tax credits, poses a significant challenge to sustaining the rapid sales growth experienced in previous years.
Technological limitations have also emerged as a barrier to broader EV adoption. Instances of EVs being left stranded at charging stations during extreme weather conditions underscore the challenges associated with battery performance in adverse climates.
While advancements in technology may eventually address these issues, they currently contribute to consumer apprehensions about the practicality and reliability of EVs, particularly in regions with harsh weather conditions.
The EV market's trajectory is also influenced by broader market dynamics and consumer behavior. Rising interest rates and loan delinquencies in the auto finance sector have added financial strain for potential EV buyers, potentially curbing their willingness to invest in more expensive electric vehicles.
Additionally, the industry is grappling with the challenge of appealing to a broader consumer base beyond early adopters, who have already embraced EVs, posing a significant hurdle to sustaining rapid growth 2.
The recent indications of a potential slowdown in the EV market raise important questions about the industry's trajectory and its ability to meet previously lofty growth projections.
As manufacturers navigate these challenges, a critical reevaluation of market strategies and technological advancements will be crucial in addressing affordability concerns, enhancing infrastructure, and overcoming consumer hesitations.
The future of the EV market hinges on the industry's ability to adapt to these evolving dynamics, innovate to address technological limitations, and engage with consumers to build confidence in the viability and practicality of electric vehicles.
As these challenges persist, the ability of the EV market to sustain its growth trajectory will depend on its responsiveness to these critical factors.
By closely monitoring these developments and responding with strategic initiatives, the EV industry can chart a path towards overcoming the hurdles it currently faces, ensuring a more sustainable and successful future.
In the US, Elon Musk's success with electric vehicles centers around his leadership at Tesla, where he has been instrumental in driving the company's innovation, growth, and market impact.
Under Musk's guidance, Tesla has achieved milestones such as the production of the mass-market Model 3, the development of cutting-edge battery technology, and the expansion of its global charging infrastructure.
Musk's vision and strategic acumen have played a pivotal role in popularizing electric vehicles, catalyzing industry-wide advancements, and reshaping perceptions of sustainable transportation.
However, recent indicators suggest a more challenging road ahead for the EV industry, with several factors contributing to potential headwinds in the market.
The once bullish forecasts for EV sales are encountering obstacles that are impeding the anticipated growth. While initial projections indicated a continuous surge in demand, the reality appears to be different. Reports from Germany and the U.S. highlight declining sales following the reduction or withdrawal of government subsidies, indicating that affordability plays a crucial role in consumer decision-making.
The rollback of governmental incentives, which previously provided tax credits for EV purchasers, has resulted in a price differential of 5.5% between electric vehicles and their internal combustion counterparts. This price disparity, combined with the reduction in models qualifying for tax credits, poses a significant challenge to sustaining the rapid sales growth experienced in previous years.
Technological limitations have also emerged as a barrier to broader EV adoption. Instances of EVs being left stranded at charging stations during extreme weather conditions underscore the challenges associated with battery performance in adverse climates.
While advancements in technology may eventually address these issues, they currently contribute to consumer apprehensions about the practicality and reliability of EVs, particularly in regions with harsh weather conditions.
The EV market's trajectory is also influenced by broader market dynamics and consumer behavior. Rising interest rates and loan delinquencies in the auto finance sector have added financial strain for potential EV buyers, potentially curbing their willingness to invest in more expensive electric vehicles.
Additionally, the industry is grappling with the challenge of appealing to a broader consumer base beyond early adopters, who have already embraced EVs, posing a significant hurdle to sustaining rapid growth 2.
The recent indications of a potential slowdown in the EV market raise important questions about the industry's trajectory and its ability to meet previously lofty growth projections.
As manufacturers navigate these challenges, a critical reevaluation of market strategies and technological advancements will be crucial in addressing affordability concerns, enhancing infrastructure, and overcoming consumer hesitations.
The future of the EV market hinges on the industry's ability to adapt to these evolving dynamics, innovate to address technological limitations, and engage with consumers to build confidence in the viability and practicality of electric vehicles.
As these challenges persist, the ability of the EV market to sustain its growth trajectory will depend on its responsiveness to these critical factors.
By closely monitoring these developments and responding with strategic initiatives, the EV industry can chart a path towards overcoming the hurdles it currently faces, ensuring a more sustainable and successful future.
In the US, Elon Musk's success with electric vehicles centers around his leadership at Tesla, where he has been instrumental in driving the company's innovation, growth, and market impact.
Under Musk's guidance, Tesla has achieved milestones such as the production of the mass-market Model 3, the development of cutting-edge battery technology, and the expansion of its global charging infrastructure.
Musk's vision and strategic acumen have played a pivotal role in popularizing electric vehicles, catalyzing industry-wide advancements, and reshaping perceptions of sustainable transportation.
