One of the most quoteable movies ever.

30 best quotes according to this guy. He definitely missed some (“How’s your wife and my kid?”) but solid list.

http://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/...ersary-of-a-classic/2lfm6xoy9tgt1n4pnrz824l1m

The CIA has become politicized and will work to stop Donald Trump from becoming president in 2024, a Georgetown University professor has sensationally claimed.

Ex-CIA analyst Dr John Gentry warned that politicization of the CIA has become a "significant" problem, citing its response to the New York Post's story on Hunter Biden prior to the 2020 vote.

At the time, 51 former intelligence officials signed onto a letter to denounce the story, saying it had "all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation."

Dr Gentry told Fox News Digital: "My guess is that the the proverbial deep state within the intelligence community will reemerge because presumably a Republican candidate will again be seen as a threat to the internal policies that many intelligence people like."

The CIA approved the publication of the Hunter Biden laptop story, according to documents obtained by Fox News Digital in 2023.

Do you want up-to-the-minute news, tantalizing celebrity insights, sports updates, and lifestyle stores delivered straight to your phone? All it takes is a simple click on this link, entering your US phone number, and clicking "continue".

Dr Gentry added that the scepticism surrounding the Hunter Biden story was "clearly political" and that a well-placed source told him "in no uncertain terms" that it was done "explicitly" with the "intent to help the Biden campaign."

He continued: "I long have thought we are likely to again see former intelligence officers be politically active against Trump or whomever the Republican presidential candidate is next year, and I expect leaking to resume.

"The activities of 'formers' have resumed already, a bit before I expected."

CIA Director William Burns addressed allegations that the intelligence community had become politicized during a speech at the Aspen Security Forum in July.

He said: "My obligation, and President Biden reminds me of this frequently, is to offer the best intelligence that we can collect and analyze straight up, even when that's inconvenient to policymakers.

"I spent enough time on the other side of the table to know when it's inconvenient to, when somebody's telling you that the big new idea is actually not so big, not so new, and not so effective.

"Our job is to be straight about that, whether it's welcome downtown, at the White House, or other parts of the executive branch or not. It's not an easy role to play, but it's an incredibly important one. It's one I take seriously.

"I know Director Haines does and others across the US intelligence community. That's what our officers do their very best to provide."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...E&cvid=e228938da52048c9b85621509bd1171b&ei=29

Can’t be healthy with how good it is when you add some eggs, but it is a great weekend breakfast.

If you grew up on the SE side you have to remember Elmer. Riding around with his bike full of cans. RIP in peace. I figured he had died a long time ago.

There are national articles but I am curious what you are seeing locally, at least, anecdotally. We are not looking to move but I like to check out zillow once a week or so to see what homes are selling for, and if by chance, some dream property came up which we would want to consider. There are homes around Ankeny that I would consider low end relative to most properties in Ankeny, and they are starting at 250, but really almost sitting at 300. Who knows what they actually get for those houses but I would have thought they would be listed for 50 less, especially given interest rates. Or is the game now that since rates have gone up, the "starter" type homes have become more expensive to allow people equity to facilitate trading up to nicer homes? Just curious what other people are seeing.

Under HB 317, drivers on a road, street or highway "with two or more lanes" where the speed limit is "at least 65 miles per hour … may not operate a motor vehicle in the furthermost left-hand lane, except when overtaking and passing another vehicle; when preparing to exit … or when otherwise directed by an official traffic control device."

https://www.npr.org/2024/02/23/1232229060/nra-wayne-lapierre-corruption-trial-verdict-new-york

They concluded that he had caused roughly $5.4 million worth of harm to the nonprofit group's finances — though they also found that LaPierre had already repaid about $1 million.

LaPierre sat in the courtroom looking on as the jury verdict was read and later declined to comment as he left the courthouse. His legal team said it plans to appeal.

The lawsuit also named NRA general counsel and secretary John Frazer and former chief financial officer Wilson "Woody" Phillips.

Jurors found Phillips liable for $2 million in damages. While they concluded that Frazer acted inappropriately, they verdict found no measurable financial harm.

"For years, Wayne LaPierre used charitable dollars to fund his lavish lifestyle, spending millions on luxury travel, expensive clothes, insider contracts, and other perks for himself and his family," James said in a statement. "But today, after years of rampant corruption and self-dealing, Wayne LaPierre and the NRA are finally being held accountable."

The decline of NRA as a political force​

LaPierre spent three decades growing the NRA's political and lobbying influence. Even as mass shootings became commonplace, LaPierre rejected attempts to change gun policy, branding gun control proponents as enemies of freedom and using the threat of firearms regulation to fundraise.

His resignation was announced just days before the trial began, with the NRA instead citing health as the reason for his departure.

NATIONAL ​

Longtime NRA leader Wayne LaPierre steps down​

NATIONAL ​

Former top NRA official admits wrongdoing in New York corruption case​

The NRA's grip on politics has weakened in recent years as it's faced declining membership and revenue, and concerns within the group over leadership's direction and misuse of funds.

After James' office launched an investigation into the NRA's financial misconduct, the attorney general filed the corruption lawsuit against the organization in 2020.

The NRA tried declare bankruptcy in 2021, but a judge dismissed the group's petition, ruling that the filing was not made in good faith.

The NRA won a legal victory in 2022 when a judge denied James' bid to dissolve the organization, but the case against the NRA was allowed to moved forward.

Great come back by Penn St!

• More Chinese spy balloons appear to be drifting around.
• This time, Beijing is flying the balloons over neighboring Taiwan.
• Last year, China sparked a diplomatic crisis when it floated a spy balloon over the US.

China's high-altitude balloons are back.

And this time Beijing is flying the balloons over neighboring Taiwan, possibly as an ominous warning message before the self-governing island's high-stakes elections.

Last year, China floated a spy balloon above the continental United States, sparking a diplomatic crisis before the device was shot down by a US fighter jet.

Since last month, Taiwan's defense ministry has reported more than a dozen sightings of balloons from China floating over the Taiwan Strait and into the island's airspace before ultimately disappearing.

Four Chinese balloons crossed the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday with three of them reportedly floating near the major Ching Chuan Kang Air Base in the city of Taichung, according to Taiwan's defense ministry.

Three more Chinese balloons with altitudes of 36,000, 24,000, and 15,000 feet were again spotted on Wednesday, the defense ministry said. Another balloon was detected on Thursday.

Taiwan defense ministry spokesperson Maj. Gen. Sun Li-fang told reporters this week of the balloons that the government "is closely monitoring and tracking them, responding appropriately, and is also assessing and analyzing their drift patterns," according to The New York Times.

The ministry has previously said it seems like the Chinese balloons were primarily being used for weather monitoring purposes, but it didn't comment on the latest balloon sightings, Reuters reported.

Experts told the Times that the Chinese balloons could be seen as a warning sign before the Jan. 13 presidential and parliamentary election in Taiwan.

"It's more an intimidating effect in what happens to be a quite sensitive time, with we in Taiwan holding our election on Jan. 13," Ko Yong-Sen, a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a Taiwanese think tank, told the Times.

Ko explained that China "may want to tone it down."

"People say that it has recklessly used major weapons like planes and ships for harassment, so it's shifted to balloons that can be used for a certain kind of lower-intensity intimidation and harassment," Ko told the news outlet.

Beijing claims Taiwan as its own territory, while Taiwan considers itself independent from the mainland.

On Taiwan's upcoming election, a senior Chinese official recently urged the island to make the "correct choice," noting the vote could shape the prospects for peace or war.

China, which rejects any notion of Taiwan's sovereignty, favors other Beijing-leaning political parties, such as the Kuomintang, over the ruling, independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party.

Law to restrict citizen petition constitutional amendments.

Now would require majority of vote (current rule) plus majority of vote in at least 82 of 163 House districts (new addition).

So basically 20% of citizens can block constitutional amendments that 80% support.

Today’s GOP: f them people.

Because of course

IVF may be under assault in the post Roe world. I often asked anti abortion posters what they thought about IVF embryos and now the Alabama SC has decided they are children.

The Alabama Supreme Court ruled Friday that frozen embryos are people and someone can be held liable for destroying them, a decision that reproductive rights advocates say could imperil in vitro fertilization (IVF) and affect the hundreds of thousands of patients who depend on treatments like it each year.

The first-of-its-kind ruling comes as at least 11 states have broadly defined personhood as beginning at fertilization in their state laws, according to reproductive rights group Pregnancy Justice, and states nationwide mull additional abortion and reproductive restrictions, elevating the issue ahead of the 2024 elections. Federally, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide this term whether to limit access to an abortion drug, the first time the high court will rule on the subject since it overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

The Alabama case focused on whether a patient who mistakenly dropped and destroyed other couples’ frozen embryos could be held liable in a wrongful-death lawsuit. The court ruled the patient could, writing that it had long held that “unborn children are ‘children’” and that that was also true for frozen embryos, affording the fertilized eggs the same protection as babies under the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act.

I don't want this to be tl/dr so I'll post the rest of the article in subsequent posts. How do you feel about frozen IVF embryos being declared children?

Can't find an online KCCI link. Attached is an article from the Newton paper.

The last official PLE/PPV before WrestleMania XL (40) begins at 3:30 central standard time AM................

Y'all asked for it, and I said if I was drunk enough and still awake that I would post some updates from the match.

Well here we f***ing are.

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

In the end the war in Europe was won and lost on the Eastern Front all else was secondary.

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recipe

New commit. 6'8" 225 # with 78 inch wingspan. Shot 41% from 3 and 64% overall. 16 rebounds per game. Had average of 4 blocks per game. 42 inch vertical jump.
1st love is defense.
Father is Cuban and mother is Somalian.
Played on Iran national team.
Cannot give name at this time to protect parents who are trying to escape Iran.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett said on Monday that she favored an ethics code for the Supreme Court, joining the growing chorus of justices who have publicly backed adopting such rules.
“It would be a good idea for us to do it, particularly so that we can communicate to the public exactly what it is that we are doing in a clearer way,” she said during a wide-ranging conversation at the University of Minnesota Law School with Robert Stein, a longtime law professor and the former chief operating officer of the American Bar Association.
Addressing a full auditorium that seats more than 2,600 people, Justice Barrett added that “all nine justices are very committed to the highest standards of ethical conduct.” But she said she could not speak for the court on a timeline, or precisely what such a code might look like.
The justices have faced intense pressure over their ethics practices in recent months after revelations that some had failed to report gifts and luxury travel. That includes Justice Clarence Thomas, who repeatedly took lavish trips with Harlan Crow, a Texas billionaire and conservative donor, and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who flew on the private jet of Paul Singer, a hedge fund billionaire who frequently has had business before the court.



There was a heavy security presence at the event on Monday, held on the leafy campus in Minneapolis, including sweeps with police dogs and rows of metal barricades.

​

Demonstrators interrupted shortly after the conversation began. As Justice Barrett spoke, a handful of people in a balcony stood up and unfurled banners, nodding to her vote to overturn the landmark ruling Roe v. Wade and end a constitutional right to an abortion after nearly 50 years. One sign read, “Abort the court” in black letters.

Image



“Not the court, not the state, people must decide their fate!” they chanted. Law enforcement officers escorted the group from the auditorium.
Several questions by Mr. Stein alluded to Justice Barrett’s role in solidifying a conservative majority on the Supreme Court. But the justice painted an image of the court as a collegial place, regardless of how vehemently they disagreed in their written opinions.
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“The fire gets put on the page, but it is not expressed in interpersonal relationships,” she said. “We are in the building with each other. Justices have lunch every day that we have oral argument and every day after conference.”
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Pointing out that the justice was one of four women on the court, Mr. Stein asked whether they “get together” for any reason. Justice Barrett laughed.

The companionship of the other women on the court was delightful, she said, adding: “I don’t think that my perspective — or that anybody’s perspective — is different just by virtue of being a woman.”
Justice Barrett described throwing a welcome party for Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the newest justice and the first Black woman on the court. After some sleuthing, Justice Barrett said she discovered her colleague’s love of the musical “Hamilton” and hired a Broadway actor to serenade her.
She said Justice Sonia Sotomayor showed Justice Barrett kindness from her first moments at the court, making Halloween candy bags for her children days after she was confirmed in October 2020.
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When Mr. Stein pointed out that Justice Barrett, who has seven children, “may be the first mother with minor children to serve on the court,” she replied that she probably faced the same struggles as most working mothers.
She mentioned missing a lunch with the other justices because of a child care issue. She said her evenings were often spent at volleyball games or other events for her children and that she recently volunteered to serve hot lunches at one child’s school.
Still, she said, the contrast between her personal and professional life can be surreal.
One morning, her 11-year-old son, Benjamin, who has Down syndrome, asked to listen to the 2000 hit song “Who Let the Dogs Out” while waiting for the school bus. Hours later, Justice Barrett described walking into the grandeur of the Supreme Court, past the portraits of justices who have preceded her — “these dignified men” — with her son’s choice of song stuck in her head.
As the talk neared the end, Mr. Stein bluntly asked Justice Barrett if she enjoyed being on the court.
“It has its ups and downs,” she said to laughter from the audience. “Enjoying myself isn’t quite the right word that I would use. But it’s a privilege to serve, and I have no regrets about undertaking the service.”
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She added that she struggled with the real-world consequences of the court’s rulings. She recalled announcing from the bench a unanimous decision that denied a disability benefit to a military veteran and having to look service members in the eyes as she did so. The death penalty decisions also weigh heavily on her, she said.
But, she added, “It’s your head, not your heart that has to make the decisions, but you should never lose sight of the fact that your decisions affect real people, and you should never lose your heart.”

First off I know, how stupid can I be for asking something so dumb.

But, has anyone else wondered how we have one party that is against abortion but also does anything it can to make sure people from another county are not coming into our country for a better life.

The other party, is totally fine with terminating a life but is all about letting anyone and everyone to come life with us in our country and not have to worry about anything.

This is what I don’t understand about politics. Why do you have to be all on board with one thing or the other.
Why can’t you be against tons of people coming into our country illegally but also realize a women should have the right to decide if they want to or can afford to bring another life into this world.

Once again, stupid question I know, how dare someone think anything other then what a party tells you to think.

Officiating in women’s ball is bad everywhere but my God those 3 tonight were absolutely horrid. And both teams benefited/got screwed by this crew. A pretty big game for the conference and these 3 should MAYBE do middle school games.
I can’t believe Lisa can restrain herself afterwards because it was just amazing how bad they were. Indiana played harder/better tonight and deserved to win but with the nation watching, put 3 with a clue on that game.

So I’m carrying something way to heavy down to the basement and had a slip and next thing I know I’m face first into said thing. Bit the ever living shit out of my tongue. Turns out you can bruise your tongue and you sound weird for 7-10 days.

Look at the laundry list of shit he's done/lied about. It's as if he's doing all he can to appear as the biggest piece of shit he can be.

Why on earth would republicans invite this guy to their top conference? Has CPAC been taken over but right-wing nutbag trolls. Is it even a serious thing anymore? Why would a US republican politician of any stature be ok rubbing elbows with somebody like this?

Not FDA approved yet, however, very promising tool. The obvious utility here is that it's blood based and can find things before symptoms set in. (even if it doesn't find everything -- it's a great starting point)


Some people are requesting it and using it already. This lawyer from Silicon Valley used it -- via his own request -- to detect early stage pancreatic cancer.
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Login to view embedded media Good stuff