News Miscellany

[Ari]

Seinfeld gets out ahead of bad reviews of his new comedy by claiming everything's too PC these days.
Jerry Seinfeld thinks political correctness is killing comedy : Code Switch : NPR

Did everyone else know that when he was 38 and staring in Seinfeld, Jerry Seinfeld met a 17 year old girl in a park and started dating her? Because I had missed that up until a year or so ago and now whenever I hear Seinfeld's name it's the only thing I can think of. It explains so much.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

I’m sure this won’t piss off Newsmax and OAN.

[BrotherMan]

Not just "welcome to Scouting" not even "very welcome to Scouting," but "very very welcome to Scouting."

Gives "please clap" energy.

[specious_reasons]

I was a Boy Scout. When I was in it, the national organization was not something current me would be happy to join. However, my local troop didn't worry too much about religion (it was a mix of Jewish and Christian leaders and hosted by the school), and I didn't pay attention to anything else.

When I last paid attention to the BSA, my kids were of the age to be potentially interested in scouting. It was not an organization I'd be willing to have them join.
The leadership was being taken over by Mormons, who intentionally kept the policy regressive (no girls allowed, no LGBTQ people regardless of gender) until they got sued.

I wonder if that's still true.

Maybe by the time my (currently non-existent) grandchildren might be interested, the scouts will actually be an organization I'd be willing to have them join.

[Stephen Maturin]

Being a corpse is not an impediment to success in the contemporary GOP.

Jennifer Pace was declared the winner [of the Republican primary for state house district 7] by the Indianapolis Star with over 99% of precincts reporting. She had received 31.2% of the vote as of early Wednesday morning, besting retired Army Lt. Catherine Ping who had 29.9% of the vote, retired postal worker Phillip Davis came in at 25.7%, and former Evansville mayor candidate Gabe Whitley, who received 13.1% support.

. . .

Pace, 59, died suddenly in early March . . . .

lol

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Missouri man confesses to murdering hospitalized wife claiming he couldn't afford medical bills, police say | The Independent

[LarsMac]

Video shows Florida deputy announced himself prior to fatal shooting of Black airman
"...
The video shows the deputy banging on the door and stepping aside, seemingly out of view of the door. Twice he shouted: “Sheriff’s office! Open the door!”

Fortson opened the door and could be seen holding what appeared to be handgun pointed down toward the floor. The deputy shouted, “Step back!” and fired off shots. He then shouted, “Drop the gun! Drop the gun!”"


It's just a procedural question, but,...,

Aren't they supposed to say, "Drop the gun!" BEFORE they shoot?

[seebs]

Originally Posted by LarsMac

Aren't they supposed to say, "Drop the gun!" BEFORE they shoot?

Only sort of. They're specifically trained to shout that if they have just shot someone. Like, they're not trained "don't shout that until you shoot", but they're trained "if you shoot, immediately shout that". The reason is that witnesses will edit the memories into an order that makes sense and claim that you warned the person to drop the gun.

[Ari]

I look forward to 2A rights advocates coming up with excuses for why this execution over his 2A rights was justified or otherwise not worth their time to protest.

It's not like they're trying to crush your rights by banning suppressors, that's something worth protesting and anyone who says otherwise clearly hates hearing (which is in fact a current whine by the white guys who make guns their entire personality).

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Waiting for some cops to shoot a black marine and the rest of that marine's squad goes rogue.

[specious_reasons]

Instead of providing a real challenge to the Democratic hegemony in Washington State, a conservative activist decided to pollute the primaries with a bunch of Bob Fergusons. The only problem is that this might actually be a felony in this state...

Bob Ferguson to Bob Fergusons: Withdraw or face possible charges | The Seattle Times

Washington’s candidate filing week ended in chaos — and more than a few jokes on social media — when the field of candidates for governor increased by two more Bob Fergusons.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson, the Democratic front-runner in the race, on Monday urged the two others to withdraw from the race by Monday’s 5 p.m. deadline or else risk felony charges.
[...]
State statute says that it is a felony for a person to file for an election with a surname similar to a person who has already filed for the same office “and whose political reputation is widely known, with intent to confuse and mislead the electors by capitalizing on the public reputation of the candidate who had previously filed.”

I'm not that enamored with the real Bob Ferguson, but the serious Democratic party competition decided to bet on other state/federal offices instead and a bunch of the candidates are literal jokes.

[Stephen Maturin]

Seems magician David Copperfield spent considerable time and effort getting in touch with his inner Cosby. Allegedly.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

David DePape, who bludgeoned Nancy Pelosi’s husband, sentenced to 30 years | Nancy Pelosi | The Guardian

[Ari]

Uvalde Families Accuse Instagram, ‘Call of Duty’ and Rifle Maker of ‘Grooming’ Gunman | NewYork Times May 2024

This is an interesting one, on one hand, even without looking, I can hear the screams of thousands of gamers that video games don't cause violence, and yet on the other their argument is that games primed him to know the weapon to buy and that seems pretty accurate.

Call of Duty and other franchises have many weapons similar to ones you can purchase, and upgrades are very often real world products used to Gucci or kit out rifles, it's really a question how much in game skins are driving the liquid dipping, painting and larping markets. The Kriss Vector is a great example of this, it's never been used in any conflict, or issued by any substantial military or agency, but most players of any modern warefare shooter will recognize it as they've licensed the design to studios.

In this case Daniel Defense used Call of Duty to advertise priming players to already be thinking about their first DD AR purchase and I think they have a decent case of knowingly advertising guns to children, although I have no idea how that legally stands.

[LarsMac]

Now, THERE's some childish shit, right there.

North Korea flies trash balloons over the South as leader Kim doubles down on satellite ambitions

That's right up there with the neighbor's kid filling a bag with dogshit, setting it on your porch, lighting it on fire, and ringing your doorbell. (and, no, I never did that.)

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

And after South Korea respected North Korea's demand that the south stop sending balloons their way.

I'm sure there's more going on but I'd rather have lunch than deep dive this.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Man, 81, Dubbed 'Serial Slingshot Shooter' Arrested in California

Welp

US man, 81, accused of menacing neighbors with slingshot, dies after release on bond | California | The Guardian

[specious_reasons]

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia registers as independent | AP News

I could have put this in the "Republicans Suck" thread, and I probably wouldn't be wrong.

Manchin cites "partisan extremism" for the reason he's doing this. I didn't delve too deeply, but I image his explanation has the word "woke" in it.

[erimir]

As shitty as Manchin is, he's not a Republican. The gap between him and the most centrist Republicans (Susan Collins and Brian Fitzpatrick) is non-trivial and his voting record is far closer to the Democratic mainstream than it is to the Republican mainstream.

The easy way to tell that this is the case, is that I can't think of a single Republican in Congress who I wouldn't replace with a clone of Joe Manchin if I had a magic button that did that.

I would likewise say that for every Republican governor in a red or swing state, and some of the few in blue states as well.

[Stephen Maturin]

Originally Posted by erimir

As shitty as Manchin is, he's not a Republican.

Exactly so. As crucial as OHJB v. PAB is, the Senate is an enormous deal as well. Manchin's stunt leaves Senate composition at 49 Republicans, 47 Democrats and 4 "Independents." Despite his family business fixin' to go into receivership (), WV governor and slobbering trumpanzee maniac Jim Justice (a real name, apparently) looks like a mortal lock to win Manchin's seat come November.

We don't have a U.S. Senate election in our state this year, so I'm sending money to Sherrod Brown's campaign as I'm able. Brown is one of the true good guys in that shithole of a legislative body.

[fragment]

ANC finally loses outright majority in South Africa after 30 years

My fairly uninformed takes:
A party having a decades long lock on power is bad for democracy
Zuma, who was removed from power by said party for being too corrupt and is now back with a new party, is also bad for democracy
An economy in which multitudes of people are shut out from accessing economic security is a fundamental problem for a democracy

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by fragment

ANC finally loses outright majority in South Africa after 30 years

My fairly uninformed takes:
A party having a decades long lock on power is bad for democracy
Zuma, who was removed from power by said party for being too corrupt and is now back with a new party, is also bad for democracy
An economy in which multitudes of people are shut out from accessing economic security is a fundamental problem for a democracy

Yes, yes, and yes.

Some analysts say voters are disappointed with the ANC for not sorting out jobs and infrastructure (power, water, roads). But a lot of voters have simply switched to Zuma's MK party which has campaigned on nationalisation of businesses and land seizure, with no evidence of promoting growth or infrastructure governance. So it looks more like simple race-based populism. And even, since Zuma has to take responsibility for 10 years of the ANC's lack of results, it's effectively a vote for corruption not against the ANC's results.

What happens now is the ANC has to find one or more other parties to form a coalition with. If it goes with the DA, who successfully run the Western Cape province, that could be good for SA ... and quite a surprise as they are very "white". If they go with MK or the EFF or others who are vocal about nationalisation, that could further scare off investment* and push SA into a slump.

* Except from China, which is probably salivating at this

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by Kamilah Hauptmann

Man, 81, Dubbed 'Serial Slingshot Shooter' Arrested in California

Welp

US man, 81, accused of menacing neighbors with slingshot, dies after release on bond | California | The Guardian

The only way to stop a bad guy with a slingshot is a good guy with a slingshot.

[JoeP]

BBC News - Mexico elects Claudia Sheinbaum as first woman president

*smiles in Finnish*

[Ensign Steve]

*frowns in American*