So I have been dealing with it for about 15 years. I have had to go to the ER for cardioversion 7-8 times during that period, most recently, yesterday. That was after one about five weeks ago too. The cardiologist I'm working with strongly recommended the ablation surgery so I am going to bite the bullet and do that on October 23rd. Curious if any of you have had it and what your experience has been? Also, any recovery time needed? I am looking forward to getting off all the medication and hopefully, no more ER visits.

TIA.

Why are they there and do you actually eat them?

Serving the Quad City area since 1940, Ross' was a great local spot for breakfast 24 hours per day.
Founded by Harold Ross, Harold's family ran the business throughout it all.
Multiple Presidential candidates and sitting presidents have eaten there including: Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich.

It was the home of the magic mountain.
That culinary climb features a slice of grilled Texas toast covered in loose ground beef and piled with a mountain of French fries or hash browns and smothered with cheddar cheese sauce.

good to see people getting second chances in life

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My wife is 38+ weeks pregnant with child #1 and we are expecting the arrival any day. We have taken courses, read books on sleeping, etc., spent an outrageous amount of money on stroller, crib, etc. and are very excited.

I have been acutely aware of the controversy around vaccinations and an alleged link to autism, but because I had no kids, I never looked into it. From what I can tell, there have been no scientific studies that prove causation between the MMR vaccine (generally given at around 8 weeks) and autism. The anti-vaccination movement has been largely grassroots (parents of austistic kids who were supposedly healthy before the vaccine) and a Dr. Wakefield in the U.K. Hollywood types like Robert De Niro and Jenny McCarthy have also hopped on board.

Fast forward to today, a dear friend (well-educated, level-headed father of two) started pleading with me to not vaccinate. He went so far as to say that our friendship means far too much to him to allow me to make the mistake of vaccinating, and asked that I meet up with him to discuss. My friend believes that the vaccinations are a huge money-maker for "Big Pharma," who is in bed with the CDC. He is a great guy and friend, but his behavior seems almost cultish. We are both committed Christians, and he compared his pleading with me about vaccinations to sharing the Gospel of Christ with an atheist friend.

Obviously, we would not do anything that could increase the risk of our child having autism. With that said, my look at the data seems to indicate that the odds of vaccine-induced autism (or other complications) are less than the odds of contracting disease due to not vaccinating.

What say you, HROT?

It was dramatic last year v. Oklahoma, Creighton, Clowns. I kind of quit paying attention after that. Last night v Clowns it was more of same.

Would any of Iowa's players start for the Clowns? Sixth man? Seventh man?

Who is the big money man directing all of that talent to the Clowns? Seems to be a bit of a stretch to think that TJ's personality is the reason.

And for the record, when does Fran's contract expire and what is the buyout?

That could be $276,923 each year for each of the 13 scholarship players.

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President-elect Donald Trump suggested Thursday that an imminent government shutdown will be blamed on President Joe Biden after Trump tanked a spending bill that would have kept the government open.
“If we don’t get it, then we’re going to have a shutdown, but it’ll be a Biden shutdown, because shutdowns only inure to the person who’s president," Trump told ABC’s Jonathan Karl.
The government shut down twice during Trump’s first term, both times in 2018.

New thread.

Hydroxycholoroquine...

Politico Europe reports:

Nearly 17,000 people may have died after taking hydroxycholoroquine during the first wave of COVID, according to a study by French researchers. The anti-malaria drug was prescribed to some patients hospitalized with COVID-19 during the first wave of the pandemic, “despite the absence of evidence documenting its clinical benefits,” the researchers point out in their paper, published in the February issue of Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy.
Now, researchers have estimated that some 16,990 people in six countries — France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the U.S. — may have died as a result. In fact, they say the figure may be far higher given the study only concerns six countries from March to July 2020, when the drug was prescribed much more widely. It was also considered something of a “miracle cure” by the then-U.S. President Donald Trump, who said: “What do you have to lose? Take it.”

Click to expand...

To those of you on the right -
This board is probably 2/3 left and 1/3 right. It's easy for you to take a little glee in Trump's victory after having to suffer through the attacks and name calling for the last 8 years. In truth, Trump deserved much of it, and many of his followers are rabid fans whom ignore all of Trumps flaws and behavior. I was horrified when Trump was nominated the first time, when he decided to run again, and was nominated again. There's really no need to mimic Trump and troll the left leaning posters. Trump still has his major flaws, and all of his ideas aren't good, and need to be evaluated individually on their own merit.

To those of you on the left -
Trump won. Yes, we know about January 6, the GA election interference, the payments to a porn star (that weren't illegal), classified documents, and about all of Trump's other faults. If anyone should forget, they will be reminded within 10 posts on any thread remotely supporting Trump. Trump won. None of the things you constantly mention will matter going forward. It is what it is. Failure to accept it serves no purpose, and is no different than Trump failing to accept the 2020 election results. Every Trump idea won't be bad, and a few might actually work. Evaluate each Trump decision on its own merit, and not automatically reject it, and call supporters of the idea stupid or MAGA. That serves no good purpose.

The daily trolls and pissing contests are tiresome. Yeah Trump lies, but he also tells the truth. Yeah, Democrats lie, but they also tell the truth. Criticize a distortion or lie, and OMG the poster must be a MAGA or flaming liberal, depending on which team the reader is on. Frankly, team politics is intellectually dishonest for most of you, assuming you are intelligent. For the rest of you playing team identity politics, you are just sheeple.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year! Choose to be happy. Choose to make this earth a better place. Treat everyone with the same respect as if they just met you and bought you your favorite beverage. Endeavor to persevere.

POS Bastards:
The federal government is careening toward a weekend government shutdown deadline as congressional Republicans, egged on by President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk, feud over legislation to keep agencies open over the Christmas holiday.

Republicans on Wednesday rejected a plan by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) for a three-month stopgap funding extension, called a continuing resolution or CR, with more than $100 billion in aid for natural disaster survivors, bipartisan health-care policy changes and other unrelated provisions.

In scrapping Johnson’s plan, Republicans cast doubt on his ability to maintain the speaker’s gavel in next year’s Congress. Johnson must run for the position again when the new House is sworn in on Jan. 3, and enough GOP lawmakers to deny him the position have already declared they won’t support him, according to two members who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.


“I am hearing from an increasing number of people, both inside and outside the Freedom Caucus, that they’re not viewing how this was handled favorably,” Rep. Andy Harris (R-Maryland), chair of the pugnacious and ultraconservative Freedom Caucus, separately told The Washington Post on Tuesday.

Johnson had declared repeatedly over his nearly 14-month speakership that the House would not pursue “Christmas tree” bills, so named for all the legislative ornaments that hang on a year-end funding measure.

But in trying to funnel additional disaster aid to farmers, Johnson cracked the bill open to broader negotiations with Democrats, upsetting Republicans who were licking their chops at reshaping broad swaths of federal policy under unified conservative control in 2025.

Musk, sometimes boosting false claims on X, the social media site he owns, trashed the bill in an hours-long tirade, calling it “terrible,” “criminal,” “outrageous,” “horrible,” “unconscionable,” “crazy” and, ultimately, “an insane crime.”

That catalyzed opposition from Republicans who were wary of the bill. Soon lawmakers piled on, decrying what had become a major funding package on the eve of Musk and his partner Vivek Ramaswamy’s pledge to “chainsaw” federal spending through the “Department of Government Efficiency,” the nongovernmental panel Trump has named them to run.
Hours into Musk’s campaign, Trump ordered Republicans to “GET SMART and TOUGH” or force a shutdown by walking away from a deal that the GOP’s top congressional official negotiated. The president-elect called for a CR that preserves certain items that Johnson supports — such as aid for farmers and disaster relief spending — but strips out Democratic priorities and pairs it with a suspension of the debt limit, which caps the amount the federal government can borrow to pay its bills. The current suspension is set to expire early in Trump’s term next year, under a bipartisan 2023 deal.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/busi...government-shutdown-2024_inline_collection_19

Vice President-elect JD Vance huddled with Johnson and House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma) late Wednesday evening to try to break the impasse.

“We had a productive conversation,” Vance told reporters as he left. “But I think we will be able to solve some problems here, and we will keep working on it.”
Democrats responded by declaring there would be no renegotiation.
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) secured language in the Johnson bill to fully fund the reconstruction of Baltimore’s collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge, transfer RFK Stadium from federal control to Washington, D.C., which could pave the way for a new home for the NFL’s Washington Commanders, and lower some prescription drug costs by going after health plan administrators.



Schumer told Democrats, “We have a deal with Republicans and we’re sticking with it,” according to a person familiar with the Senate leader’s message, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe private discussions.


“House Republicans have now unilaterally decided to break a bipartisan agreement that they made. House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government and hurt everyday Americans all across this country,” Jeffries told reporters Wednesday night. “House Republicans will now own any harm that is visited upon the American people that results from a government shutdown, or worse; an agreement is an agreement.”

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That's it. War is over. Putin won't know what hit him.

I don't know what they're gonna do in Haiti. Maybe teach the locals how to properly gender the cats they're cooking for dinner?

Too much fake news.​

​

CNN Sees One of Its Lowest Ratings Ever as Massive Layoffs Loom​

CNN’s ratings woes reached a new low this year, plunging in in a key age group—all as the Warner Bros. Discovery network is set to lay off hundreds.

The network managed to score second place between Fox News and MSNBC in a year-end average of the advertiser-coveted 25-54 demographic, averaging 92,000 total-day viewers, according to Nielsen data obtained by Mediaite. While that beat MSNBC, which averaged 86,000 total-day viewers in the demo this year, it is still CNN’s lowest demo average ever—down 1 percent from last year’s previous low of 94,000. (All networks were up in primetime viewers this year, likely due to the election.)

The blow comes as Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav reportedly seeks to cut hundreds from CNN’s payroll, coinciding with its planned digital-first strategy and their vanishing viewership. Just last month, MSNBC beat CNN on election night, once CNN’s crown jewel of programing, for the first time ever.

One CNN staffer told the Daily Beast that staff has been kept in the dark on any layoff news, and all they’re learning about what’s coming is from public reports.

“Everyone’s just waiting,” they said.

The source also noted the specter of a sale, particularly as Zaslav siloed CNN and other cable networks as part of a “Linear Global Networks” division in a company restructure last week. The move has launched speculation that Zaslav could be open to selling off companies—and networks—should Donald Trump’s second presidency offer a better regulatory environment.

A CNN journalist blamed the flailing ratings to the Ankler on a poor job covering Trump. “When we were aggressively covering Trump, we did well,” they told the publication. “When we are flaccid covering him, the ratings tank.”

CNN declined to comment, instead pointing to its ratings release that touted it as “the top digital news outlet in the world” and a top five cable outlet. In the release, however, it noted how “media habits change and the industry evolves,” emphasizing how it’s publicly trying to posture ratings as less relevant—all while it’s sagging behind Fox News and MSNBC in viewership.

The network has already seen some high-profile exits. Chris Wallace, the esteemed newsman who abandoned Fox News after its rampant (and litigated) election denialism for CNN, chose to leave the network last month to make the leap into streaming. The space, he told the Daily Beast, is “where the action seems to be.”

Anchor Alisyn Camerota also announced last week that she’d leave the network after 10 years, and Gloria Borger, a longtime CNN analyst who became a fixture during the network’s seemingly unending political coverage, departed the company on Wednesday. “My first order of business is to spend time ungoverned by a TV schedule,” she told the Daily Beast in a statement. “I’ll always be watching and cheering for CNN.”

CNN also laid off 100 people in July as part of its first round of digital “expansion,” later instituting a paywall and promising moves into lifestyle coverage.

“Turning a great news organization toward the future is not a one-day affair,” Thompson wrote in a staff memo at the time, according to The New York Times.

It appears it may not be a one-year affair either.

Elon Musk was taking his company to bankruptcy to make him just like the Orange Dumpster Donald who went bankrupt some 6 times.

These guys are not the great business people they say they are and what a lot of people think they are. They are chaotic, knee jerk reaction, chaos people.

Why did SpaceX get going so well, because a whole bunch of Nasa people went to work there after the shuttle program and some other programs were shut down and moved to private companies. They are the people along with younger aerospace engineers and managers that got the company going.

Controversies have begun to emerge from President Joe Biden's decision to conduct the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history. Among those benefited by it are people who were widely condemned for their crimes, including Rita Crundwell, a former public official convicted of embezzling over $50 million from a city in Illinois.

Crundwell was the comptroller of Dixon, Illinois, and was sentenced in 2013 of embezzling $53 million in actions that went as far back as 1990. She pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to 19 years in prison.

Crundwell was due to serve 85% of her sentence, meaning that she was set to remain behind bars until October 2029. However, she was released in August 2021 during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic along with several thousands of prisoners as the disease was rapidly spreading in facilities across the country.

"America was built on the promise of possibility and second chances. As President, I have the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities," Biden said in a statement when announcing the clemency.

Overall, he commuted the sentences of 1,500 people released from prison and placed under home confinement during the Covid-19 pandemic and pardoned 39 more who had been convicted of nonviolent crimes.

Crundwell was in the former group, staying in home confinement since 2021. According to her plea deal, she opened in 1990 a bank account under the name of Dixon but used her for personal expenses, including a horse breeding business, credit card purchases and several properties. She also created fake invoices to make it seem like the funds were being used for legitimate expenses and justified shortfalls saying the state was late in payment of tax revenues to the city.

Then-Dixon Mayor Jim Burke reported Crundwell to authorities after an employee took over her duties while she was on extended vacation and found evidence of her crimes. Current Dixon City Manager Danny Langlossa criticized Biden's decision in a statement obtained by CBS News.

"The City of Dixon is shocked and outraged with the announcement that President Biden has given Rita Crundwell clemency for the largest municipal embezzlement in the history of our country. This is a complete travesty of justice and a slap in the face for our entire community," he said.

"While today's news in unimaginable, the City of Dixon is in an incredible place today. We will continue to focus on the future and work to capitalize on the momentum we have created."

T’s and P’s needed. Pretty sure I’m addicted now. Going down a bad road. That road is also leading me to bed. But it’s a bad road.

I hope you all are having a good night, except @ANYCHawk and @SolarHawk.

@Moral if you see a weed zombie walking down your culdesac tonight, it’s not me.

Fed cut Fed Funds rate today and 10 Year Treasury went down in value and yields went up. If Federal Reserve has to start raising rates to stop inflation from getting worse and God forbid, cut the massive budget deficits by raising taxes and cutting spending, Trump will be in his worst nightmare.

I wonder if Trump's second term will be like the Carter years (1977-1981) with rising inflation. Carter ended up appointing Paul Volcker to be the Fed Chairman and he was great but he jacked up rates so we had a 20% Prime Rate which led to a severe recession.

This old school soviet union style "justice," boys and girls >

Democrats are lobbying President Joe Biden to get as many illegal migrants into the United States as possible and ensure they stay indefinitely before he leaves office and President-elect Donald Trump enters the White House.

This week, Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), and Alex Padilla (D-CA) sent a letter to Biden asking him to reward large groups of illegal aliens in the U.S. with immigration benefits before he exits office next month.

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Yep, suppressing wages is great for the poor and middle class ... on no, I mean it's great for the elites who hate the aforementioned groups.