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If Kayden Proctor Can Change His Mind, So Can CC

I would think CC can change her mind today.

The WNBA players seem jealous of CC. I sure hope she changes her mind and stays at Iowa one more year to get her degree, compete in the Olympics and play with a fantastic coach and teammates who love her at Iowa.

After this year, she should take the $5 million for that 10 game league and give a big FU to the WNBA and then coach.

  • Poll
Poll: What's your biggest worry?

What's your biggest worry?

  • Job/economy/finances

    Votes: 41 33.9%
  • Family issues

    Votes: 21 17.4%
  • Health issues (not COVID-related)

    Votes: 12 9.9%
  • COVID

    Votes: 4 3.3%
  • International terrorism

    Votes: 1 0.8%
  • Domestic terrorism/crime

    Votes: 17 14.0%
  • Political issues (includes race, gender issues)

    Votes: 8 6.6%
  • Sports-related issues

    Votes: 6 5.0%
  • Celebrity-related issues

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Something else (and not OP's mom)....

    Votes: 11 9.1%

Kentucky GOP House candidate ordered to stay out of all Walmarts as condition of bond agreement

A Republican primary candidate for an open seat in the Kentucky General Assembly was recently arrested by law enforcement in a neighboring county and charged with several crimes.

According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, 53-year-old Brian Ormes was booked Monday night on charges of first-degree strangulation, menacing and fourth-degree assault. Ormes is running in the GOP primary for House District 67, which encompasses most of the city of Newport, just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. The district is currently represented by Rep. Rachel Roberts, who is the second highest-ranking Democrat in the Kentucky legislature. Roberts is not seeking reelection, making the seat far more competitive in the upcoming election.

While details of the alleged crime are scarce, Ormes was ordered to not contact the alleged victim as part of his bond agreement from Kenton County District Court, and to "stay out of all Walmarts" in order to remain in compliance with the court.


Link

brian-ormes-photo-by-kenton-county-detention-center.jpg

Uber and Lyft will cease operations in Minneapolis in response to new minimum wage law, 10,000 drivers to be out of work...

Great job, dumb ass liberals....

DWAC’s stock surge gives a $1 billion boost to the value of Trump’s stake.

Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp. soared in active trading Monday, after the blank-check company’s merger with former President Donald Trump’s social-media company officially closed.

The name of the special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, has changed to Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., and the public company’s stock will begin trading under the ticker symbol “DJT” on Tuesday.

DWAC’s stock ran up $13.01, or 35.2%, to close at $49.95 ahead of the ticker-symbol change. That’s the biggest one-day gain since it rocketed 88.4% on Jan. 22 in the wake of Ron DeSantis’s dropping out of the presidential primary race and throwing his support behind Trump.

Trading volume ballooned to more than 21 million shares, compared with the full-day average over the past 30 trading sessions of about 2.1 million shares.

The company said in February that Trump would own 78,750,000 shares of the post-merger company, or 69.4% of the shares outstanding assuming maximum redemptions by DWAC shareholders. That means the value of Trump’s holdings got a $1.02 billion boost on Monday, and would be valued at $3.93 billion at the closing price.

With the merger’s closing, which came 29 months after the agreement was first announced, TMTG Chief Executive Devin Nunes, and the existing management team, will continue to lead the company.

“As a public company, we will passionately pursue our vision to build a movement to reclaim the internet from big tech censors,” said Nunes, a former Trump-aligned congressman from rural central California.

DWAC had said in a release late Friday that a “vast majority” of the votes cast at the special meeting of shareholders were in favor of the acquisition of Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., which is the parent of Truth Social.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission after Friday’s close, the SPAC showed that 26,633,233 shares were voted in favor of the merger, while 66,010 shares voted against and 51,890 abstained.

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Reactions: cigaretteman

  • Poll
what are your solar eclipse plans on Monday 4/8?

?

  • working inside - won't even see it

    Votes: 19 27.9%
  • working outside - will stop and see it

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • not working - won't bother going outside to see it

    Votes: 4 5.9%
  • not working - will go outside to see it

    Votes: 12 17.6%
  • traveling - in state to see it better

    Votes: 4 5.9%
  • traveling - out of state to see best possible viewing

    Votes: 5 7.4%
  • other

    Votes: 4 5.9%
  • worki

    Votes: 2 2.9%
  • Working inside - will go outside to see it

    Votes: 18 26.5%

are you doing any thing special?

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Top 10 Safeties in America


1. CALEB DOWNS, OHIO STATE

Downs is the first rising sophomore to lead one of PFF’s position rankings since Brock Bowers topped the tight ends list heading into the 2022 season. Unlike Bowers, Downs will try to build off his stellar true freshman campaign at a new school, transferring to Ohio State from Alabama in January.
He entered Tuscaloosa as the highest-rated safety recruit since Derwin James Jr. in 2015 and immediately showed why. The true freshman was named a first-team PFF All-American and was second among Power Five safeties with 16 coverage stops. His 88.9 PFF coverage grade ranked third among that same group.
Downs has no glaring weaknesses in his game, which is pretty ridiculous considering he’s not even a year removed from his senior prom. He’ll surely be joining his older brother, Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Josh Downs, in the NFL in a couple of years. In fact, he’d likely be the first safety off the board next month if he was in this year’s class.



2. MALAKI STARKS, GEORGIA

Like Downs, Starks lived up to the hype he had coming out of high school. As a true freshman in 2022, the former top-10 recruit led all Georgia defenders with 847 snaps during its national championship run. His eight combined interceptions and forced incompletions that year were tied for fifth among SEC safeties.
Starks built off his freshman year by earning an 84.8 PFF run-defense grade as a sophomore, which placed him seventh in the Power Five for his position. He was also tied for sixth in that same group with seven forced incompletions in 2023.
The rising junior is an elite athlete who’s a standout run defender and tackler for the position while also consistently making plays in coverage. He’s the favorite to be the top safety off the board in 2025 and will likely end up being a first-round selection.



3. DILLON THIENEMAN, PURDUE

Thieneman entered Purdue as the No. 90 safety recruit in the 2023 high school class according to On3 Sports. Just a year later, he’s a top-five safety in college football entering his sophomore year.
His 89.5 PFF grade trailed only Tyler Nubin among FBS safeties this past season while his 90.2 PFF run-defense grade was tied for fifth. The true freshman also tied for second among all safeties in the nation with six interceptions while only allowing five catches. While Downs is the favorite to be the top safety in the 2026 draft, Thieneman isn’t too far behind.



4. XAVIER WATTS, NOTRE DAME

Watts took home the Bronko Nagurski Trophy in 2023, given to the best defensive player in college football. While his underlying metrics didn’t necessarily paint the senior in the same light, there’s no denying that he was a big-time playmaker for Notre Dame’s defense.
Watts led the FBS with seven interceptions last season and didn’t allow a touchdown into his coverage. His 37.8 passer rating allowed in 2023 was the eighth-best mark by a Power Five safety.
To take his game to the next level, Watts needs to improve in the run game and as a tackler. He posted just a 62.5 PFF run-defense grade last year and missed 18% of his tackle attempts. The latter figure placed him in just the eighth percentile for the nation’s safeties in 2023.



5. KEVIN WINSTON JR., PENN STATE

Winston has no such issues as a tackler. The sophomore posted just a 2% missed-tackle rate last year, which was second among all safeties in the country. His 90.6 run-defense grade was third among FBS safeties as well.
Winston was far more than just a safety who excelled at stopping the run. In fact, he was the only safety in the nation who posted 85-plus PFF grades both as a run defender and in coverage last year. His well-rounded game will likely evoke some comparisons to another great Penn State safety in Jaquan Brisker.



6. XAVIER NWANKPA, IOWA

Nwankpa finished the 2023 season as the most valuable safety in the country according to PFF’s wins above average metric. He did that by posting an 88.4 PFF coverage grade, which was tied for fourth among Power Five safeties.
The rising junior is an athletic player with great instincts who will be a major part of what should still be one of college football’s best secondaries.



7. ROD MOORE, MICHIGAN

Moore had a relatively down junior season (71.3 PFF grade) compared to what he did as a sophomore (83.9 PFF grade). However, he still has been the sixth-most valuable returning Power Five safety over the past two years according to PFF’s wins above average metric. His six interceptions in that stretch are tied for third in that same group.
Unfortunately, he won’t have much of an opportunity to rebound in his senior campaign as he just recently tore his ACL in practice. He’ll still be a leader of Michigan’s defense from the sidelines until he can get back onto the field, which might not happen until later in the season.



8. HUNTER WOHLER, WISCONSIN

Wohler was the second-most valuable safety in the country this past season according to PFF’s wins above average metric. His 89.9 PFF coverage grade trailed only Tyler Nubin among the nation’s safeties.
He also doubled as an excellent run-defender as well. His 11 tackles for loss/no-gain were the most among Power Five safeties while his 28 run-defense stops were second. Wohler is an excellent downhill player who’s capable of making plays deep in coverage as well.



9. KEON SABB, ALABAMA

Sabb wasn’t even a starter for Michigan last season, but he made the most of his 360 snaps. The sophomore was one of six Power Five safeties who earned 80-plus grades both in coverage and as a run-defender. Despite only playing the 161st most coverage snaps among Power Five safeties (221), Sabb forced the third-most incompletions (eight).
While replacing Downs is nearly an impossible task, Alabama still picked up a top-10 safety through the transfer portal in Sabb.



10. AUBREY BURKS, WEST VIRGINIA

Among returning Power Five safeties over the last couple of seasons, Burks has the best PFF coverage (90.3) and is second in overall PFF grade (90.2). The junior’s 22 coverage stops in that span is third among all Power Five safeties.
Burks needs to improve as a tackler, but the rising senior is a rangy player who consistently makes plays in the backend of the Mountaineers’ defense.



HONORABLE MENTION: QUINN SCHULTE, IOWA HAWKEYES

Schulte is the third member of Iowa’s secondary to be mentioned in our lists, showing how elite the Hawkeyes’ secondary will be even after losing projected first-round pick Cooper DeJean.
No returning Power Five safety has been more valuable than Schulte since 2022 according to our wins above average metric. The fifth-year senior is one of three returning Power Five safeties who’s earned 85-plus grades both in coverage and as a run defender.

Iowa recruits competing at Women's U20 Nationals







It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

DNC says RFK Jr. should be ashamed of himself.


Democrats are stepping up their criticism of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after he announced his pick of Nicole Shanahan for vice president Tuesday, arguing the duo will benefit former President Trump.

Kennedy’s allies say the selection of Shanahan, a philanthropist and patent attorney, will generate buzz for the campaign heading into the general election, while also allowing him to check a necessary box in several states that require an Independent to have a running mate to qualify for their ballots.


But many pro-President Biden figures in the party are criticizing Kennedy as a “spoiler” propelled by GOP funds and conspiracy theories, slamming his presidential campaign shortly after he unveiled his running mate in Oakland, Calif.

“I am personally offended and just disgusted by his campaign,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) said during a call hosted by the Democratic National Committee (DNC). “He should be ashamed of himself. He should stop running for president.”

Democrats have disregarded Kennedy during most of the 2024 presidential cycle, speculating that he had no shot of winning the battle for the White House. While Biden’s polling is perilous for an incumbent, many in his orbit have avoided going after Kennedy in order to focus fully on Trump.

That apathy toward Kennedy, however, has morphed in recent weeks into anguish and anger. As both parties’ primaries pointed to a Biden-Trump rematch, Democrats started examining more closely the third-party candidate who could create an unpredictable and possibly unfavorable outcome for their side in November.

Tasked with enabling a second Biden victory, the DNC has become preoccupied with Kennedy in recent weeks, allotting resources to weaken his campaign and paint him as a helpful reelection tool for Trump. Just after Kennedy made his pick of Shanahan public, the DNC convened a call with elected Democrats from swing states to warn about what Kennedy’s bid could mean for Biden’s chances to beat Trump twice.

“He’s a spoiler,” Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis said on the call. “He was drafted into this race by Donald Trump’s top supporters.”


“He has no realistic path to victory in Pennsylvania,” he added.

Hills school closure prompts city to consider changing districts

Many parents are mad the Iowa City Community School District is closing its elementary school in Hills, but that doesn’t mean they want to send their kids to a lower-ranking district instead.



This is despite offers from two Republican state lawmakers to help the Johnson County community move its students to another school district, such as Lone Tree.


“The Iowa City school district offers so many more opportunities for foreign languages, clubs and swimming,” Nancy Hebl said Monday night at a Hills City Council meeting. “I want my grandchildren to go to the No. 1 high school in the state, not the 139th.”




U.S. News & World Report ranked Iowa City West No. 1 in the state and 398th in the nation. Iowa City Liberty is ranked 6th and Iowa City High ranked 12th. The Lone Tree high school is number 139 out of 317 ranked Iowa high schools on the list.


The Iowa City School Board decided last month to close Hills Elementary at the end of this school year to save the district about $1.66 million toward the $7.5 million leaders need to cut over the next two years.


Only about 40 of the 100 students enrolled at Hills this year live in Hills. The rest are bused from the southern part of Iowa City or unincorporated areas of Johnson County.


Changing districts would require votes​


Sen. Dawn Driscoll, R-Williamsburg, and Rep. Heather Hora, R-Washington, met with the Hills City Council last week to talk about the possibility of changing school boundaries to move Hills students to the Lone Tree Community School District instead.





Hora said she and Driscoll — both running for re-election this year — had talked with the Lone Tree school district leaders, who were interested in the idea.

“We wanted to bring it to Hills and say, ‘Is that something for you to have a conversation with your residents about?’ and see if that's even something that would be entertained,” Hora said.


Iowa law provides two paths for changing school boundaries.


  • A majority of residents from both the current school district and proposed school district would have to vote to approve the changes.
  • Or both school boards would have to agree.

Neither one of these paths is quick and potential legislative changes to speed the process aren’t likely to happen in the waning weeks of the 2024 legislative session, said Mark Stutsman, a Hills resident who spoke at Monday’s meeting.


Jody Bailey said she and other residents are forming the Hills Coalition 2.0 to help gather community input on school boundaries and potential uses for the building.


What will happen to an empty Hills school?​


Hills Mayor Tim Kemp last week asked Lone Tree Superintendent Tyler Hotz why his district would want Hills’ students. Kemp joked it felt like Hills had entered the transfer portal, a status when college athletes are looking for new schools.


Hotz said the two communities had a lot in common, and that there had been interest in busing students from Hills to Lone Tree, which has about 450 students in two buildings. As for maintaining an elementary in Hills, Hotz said more information was needed.


“We want to make sure its financially responsible for us to keep it open and what that would look like,” he said.


But Hills leaders and residents agree they want to regain ownership of the Hills school building, built by the Liberty Township in the 1960s and sold to the Iowa City school district for $1 when the town joined the district later that decade.


The building could be used as a child care center or for home-schooling opportunities, residents said.


“We need to find out their plan for that physical structure,” speaker Ron Stutsman said of the Iowa City school district. He’s heard of other districts getting federal funding to remove structures and remediate contamination to create a “greenfield” site desirable for new development.


Iowa City Community School District spokeswoman Kristin Pedersen said Tuesday the district was not asked to participate in last week’s work session with lawmakers. Discussions have not yet started at the district about what to do with the Hills building.


Hills students will attend Alexander Elementary School next fall, she said. That school is 8 miles, or about 12 minutes, from the Hills school.

Judge to backers of Jan. 6 rioter: Don’t condone political violence

A Republican-appointed judge said he plans to send a written response to supporters of a Jan. 6 rioter who claimed that he did nothing wrong, warning the man’s friends and family members that justifying political violence risks further violence in a “vicious cycle” that “rots republics.”

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In an unusual step, U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth filed on the public docket the statement he prepared to sentence Taylor James Johnatakis to more than seven years in prison. Even more atypically, he said he would order his clerk to mail copies to 20 people who wrote letters supporting the defendant — the first time he had done so in his 37-year career — to explain his reasoning.

“January 6 must not become a precedent for further violence against political opponents or governmental institutions,” Lamberth wrote. “This is not normal. This cannot become normal. We as a community, we as a society, we as a country cannot condone the normalization of the January 6 Capitol riot.”



The judge’s move is the latest in a wider public push by federal judges in Washington to counter what polling shows is an uptick in public acceptance of the violent breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, fueled by former president Donald Trump’s escalating rhetoric casting defendants as “political prisoners” and “hostages” who did nothing wrong. Trump has pledged to pardon Capitol riot defendants, including those who assaulted police.

Johnatakis did not directly address the judge’s comments but told Lamberth after his sentence: “I do honor what you have done for the country, and what you’ve done in your career.” In an interview Thursday, Johnatakis’s father — who gave his name as J. Johnatakis — said he did not condone violence and appreciated the judge’s response to his letter for his son. But he said he believes the government is punishing conservatives at the Capitol on Jan. 6 more harshly than liberals who committed violence during racial justice protests in 2020.
“I think a lot of it was overblown, especially when you compare it to other things,” he said.
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In federal court in D.C. on Wednesday, Lamberth said he took “no great pleasure in locking up defendants who led good lives until their actions on January 6, 2021,” but explained, “In our system of justice, we punish people not for their overall character, but for their actions.”
The judge — a Texas-born son of an Army pool mechanic who served in Vietnam as an Army lawyer and who was appointed to the bench in 1987 by Ronald Reagan — said Johnatakis, a 40-year-old from Washington state, appeared to show no true remorse for what he did. The judge also said he was struck that few of his supporters “seem to know what he actually did.” One wrote that the defendant “never would” do anything violent and another said he got “caught up” in the crowd, the judge said.


“In fact it was Mr. Johnatakis himself who organized protesters to violence that day,” Lamberth said. “Mr. Johnatakis was a leader. He knew what he was doing that day.”



One day before the riot, trial evidence showed, Johnatakis posted on social media, “Burn the city down. What the British did to DC will be nothing.”
As he marched to the Capitol the next day, he posted video of himself saying, “We’re walking over to the Capitol right now, and I don’t know, maybe we’ll break down the doors.”
There, he made his way to the front of a mob. Yelling through a megaphone he brought, Johnatakis organized a charge against police, shouting, “One, two, three, go!” and getting rioters to raise a metal bike rack barricade and slam it against police. The assault was confirmed on body-camera video and by officers who said they were seriously injured and feared for their lives.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md...mc_magnet-jan6courtcases_inline_collection_19

“Mr. Johnatakis and the others then raised the barriers higher until they were about head-level with the officers, so that the mob could brawl with the officers without the barriers getting in the way,” Lamberth wrote in the filing.


The attack permitted rioters to overwhelm the final police line defending a staircase on the southwest side of the Capitol and to breach the building immediately afterward, forcing the evacuation of the Capitol.
As he left, Johnatakis boasted on video, “We probably would have murdered a few of” the lawmakers “had we seen exactly who they were.”
Johnatakis apologized to his police victims at trial. But his message changed following his conviction in November on felony counts of obstruction of an official proceeding, rioting and assaulting police as well as four misdemeanors, Lamberth said. In a YouTube video, the defendant said, “We did nothing. We touched a gate. We got pepper-sprayed. We moved back. That was it,” adding “Everything about January 6 is just overblown.”

Johnatakis, a self-employed installer of septic systems and father of five who was supported by family members in attendance, represented himself at trial with an attorney on standby. He invoked anti-government “sovereign citizen” arguments, asking the court after sentencing, “Does the record reflect that I repent in my sins?”


Lamberth’s remarks came one week after another U.S. trial judge in Washington, Reggie B. Walton, denounced Trump’s social media attacks against the judge presiding over his hush money trial in Manhattan and his daughter, calling them assaults on the rule of law that could lead to violence and tyranny. Lamberth previously decried the mainstreaming of “meritless justifications of criminal activity” by Republican politicians defending the actions of Jan. 6 rioters, saying: “I have been dismayed to see distortions and outright falsehoods seep into the public consciousness.”


Five people died in the Jan. 6 attack or in the immediate aftermath, as pro-Trump rioters injured more than 100 police officers, ransacked Capitol offices and forced lawmakers to evacuate. About 486 defendants have been charged with assaulting or impeding officers or employees, including 127 charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury.
Lamberth’s remarks appeared to be part of an ongoing civics lesson by judges to a nation deeply split over the meaning of and lessons from Jan. 6. Lamberth stressed that the First Amendment enshrines the American public’s rights to freedom of speech and protest, but it “obviously does not give anyone the right to assault the police.”

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