Episode 929 – Missing the Point

Kamala has a lot of flaws, but it’s too early to point them all out for Republicans. That gives the media a head start negate all those negatives.

Disney continues on their quest for bankruptcy.

And sharks seem to be more aggressive lately. Could them being wired on smack have something to do with it?

This Is a Reason

This is an article by Jessica Gross of the New York Times:

On Sunday, almost immediately after prominent Democrats started endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for president, attacks from the political right started pouring in. Will Chamberlain, a conservative lawyer who worked on Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign, posted on X that Harris “shouldn’t be President” because she doesn’t have biological children; “becoming a step-parent to older teenagers doesn’t count,” he wroteadding that “The concerns of parents and families will always be abstract to her” because she doesn’t have “skin in the game, a stake in the future, and the lived experience of raising children.”

First, let’s note the obvious: If elected, Harris wouldn’t be the first American president with no biological children. There were five others: George Washington, James Madison, Andrew Jackson, James Polk and James Buchanan. (Warren Harding had a child out of wedlock and publicly denied paternity; that he was the father was confirmed by DNA testing almost a century later.)

But more to the point, if you think that the concerns of parents and families will always be “abstract” to someone who doesn’t have children, you’re telling on yourself. It’s not simply that, by all accounts, Harris has a close, loving relationship with her stepkids. It’s that it’s possible for people who have basic empathy to understand the needs, aspirations and concerns of fellow citizens who aren’t exactly like them — and to commit to their well-being.

It actually should be a requirement for presidential candidates to have compassion for people they’ll never meet. And it strikes me as anti-American to argue that a politician is any less invested in families or our country’s future because of his or her own parental status. It should go without saying, but: Having children doesn’t necessarily make you a better person.

This argument is also appallingly dismissive to so many adults who dote on the children in their lives and devote time, money and care to helping them grow, regardless of whether they are related by blood. It’s even more hurtful to people who really want to have children but are unable to.

This is, also, not a new tactic for the right. As a way of clinging to the tag line that the G.O.P. is the pro-family party — despite working, during the Biden years, to defeat federal legislation that included paid family leave and affordable high-quality child care — some Republicans are content to paint the Democratic Party as the party of “childless cat ladies.”

When JD Vance, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, was running for Senate in 2021, he told Fox News’s Tucker Carlson:

We’re effectively run, in this country, via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too. And it’s just a basic fact, if you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, A.O.C. — the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children. And how does it make any sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?

Vance has taken his feud with the childless even further than that, floating the idea in 2021 — apparently earnestly — of giving children votes that would be controlled by their parents, something that would have the effect of giving parents a greater say in our democracy than people without kids. (Vance has also spoken out against divorce and people who “shift spouses like they change their underwear,” but that criticism seems not to apply to his thrice-married running mate.)

Buttigieg has become a father since Vance and his fellow conservatives began this line of attack. But these critiques are part of the right-wing obsession with the traditional nuclear family. As the former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy put it: “The nuclear family is the greatest form of governance known to mankind.”

Instead of using Harris’s biography as a way to dismiss her family-friendly bona fides, we should be looking at her record. By that measure, Harris could be one of the most pro-family candidates we’ve had in recent memory. She was the public face of Democrats’ efforts in 2022 to promote the expanded child tax credits that families received as part of the American Rescue Plan, and in his endorsement of Harris, Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado praised her commitment to this policy and her “dedication to our country’s security and our children’s prosperity.”

By contrast, when CNN’s Jake Tapper asked a question about child care in the presidential debate last month, Donald Trump responded with a word salad about firing a bunch of people, draining the swamp and how President Biden is terrible.

Elder care often gets left out of discussions about caregiving in this country, though many people without children are spending a great deal of resources caring for older family members. This will only become a more important issue in the next decade, as by 2030, an estimated 73 million Americans will be seniors. In April, Vice President Harris announced two rules that help support older Americans and their caregivers, including a minimum staffing rule at nursing homes that receive federal funding and a wage requirement for home care workers.

When Vice President Harris spoke at a child-care center in 2021, she looked out at the crowd and referred to the kids in attendance as “our babies.” They’re our babies, she said, because “I was raised to understand that the children of the community are the children of the community.”

I want a future for my own children in which everybody looks out for the babies of the whole community and isn’t distrusting of people who live their lives differently, whether by circumstance or by choice.

Walt Disney is Turning in His Grave

Walt Disney continues their descent into bankruptcy. They are doing this buy continually alienating their fanbase to promote their DEI crap. Here are two more stories.

According to the Post Millennial:

Marvel Studios has junked the origins of a Jewish superhero which many claim is in response to threats of boycotts from anti-Israel activists. The character, portrayed by Shira Haas of “Unorthodox,” first appeared in an issue of The Incredible Hulk in 1980.

Last week, the Disney-owned studio dropped the trailer “Captain America: Brave New World.” One of the characters featured is Ruth Bat-Seraph, also known as Sabra, a term used for a person born in Israel. The character is a Mossad agent with super strength, super speed, and healing abilities.

The Times of Israel received a statement from Marvel Studios that the Disney-owned filmmaker would be “taking a different approach to the character Sabra” for the movie.

Haas is seen in the trailer. Calls came to boycott the film in 2022, when the movie, the character’s inclusion, and the casting of a Jewish actress were announced. Thoce calls from anti-Israel activists have continued after Palestinian terrorists attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and through Israel’s war against Hamas.

In the movie’s announcement, which was released with the trailer, there is no mention of Sabra, only the character’s original name, Ruth Bat-Seraph, and she is described as “a former Black Widow” that is now a “high-ranking U.S. government official.” Black Widows are assassins for Russia, a country that is known for its antisemitism and persecution of Jews.

According to Marvel, “While our characters and stories are inspired by the comics, they are always freshly imagined for the screen and today’s audience, and the filmmakers are taking a new approach with the character Sabra who was first introduced in the comics over 40 years ago.”

Yes, the Disney Company has their finger on the pulse of the movie going public. So far, they have alienated:

  • White people.
  • Straight people.
  • Men.
  • Marvel fans.
  • Star Wars fans.
  • Christians.
  • Muslims (yeah, LGBTQ-thing doesn’t go well with Muslims).
  • And, now, Jews.

So, I guess the market they are targeting is the trans-lesbian-Native-American-wiccan. Maybe we can throw druids in there too.

That’s not it.

One of the problems with Leftists is they have distinct picture on what groups of people actually look like. Apparently, Disney has an idea of what the typical alcoholic is like.

According to the New York Post:

Disney World has removed a beloved character that has been a staple at the amusement park for over 50 years as the character was deemed “insensitive and outdated” — and could offend alcoholics.

Liver Lips McGrowl, one of the 18 animatronic bears of the “Country Bear Jamboree” at Magic Kingdom, will not be making his grand return alongside the other robotic mammals when the attraction reopens Wednesday after a seven-month hiatus.

The term “liver lips,” which is considered derogatory and offensive, is associated with alcohol abuse and the damage it does to the liver, Disney blog Inside the Magic said.

The term is also seen as a derogatory and offensive stereotype used against black Americans to describe the shape of their lips as sickly or unhealthy, according to the Street.com.

Instead, McGrowl will be replaced by Romeo McGrowl, a bear with the same last name and a similar facial appearance as Liver Lips but with a James Dean-esque coif.

Romeo joins the furry ensemble of Harry, Big Al, Wendell and Teddi Barra, Ernest the “Dude,” Terrence “Shaker,” and Trixie along with the “Five Bear Rugs.”

The removal of Liver Lips McGrowl is part of a bigger trend in Disney under which the park has made a “commitment to addressing and rectifying outdated or culturally insensitive elements within its attractions,” the blog post said.

The attraction, a “knee-slappin’ good time” inside the rustic theater Grizzly Hall, will reopen as the “Country Bear Musical Jamboree” ride at Magic Kingdom’s Frontierland.

https://thepostmillennial.com/disney-owned-marvel-studios-takes-different-approach-to-jewish-super-hero-erases-israel-judaism-from-backstory
https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/disney-world-removes-beloved-character-from-park-after-50-years-over-fears-it-could-offend-alcoholics/ar-BB1q7OSB

Stoned Fish

According to the New York Post:

Sharks taken from the waters off the coast of Brazil have tested positive for cocaine, with wild theories emerging about how they came to ingest the drug.

Researchers bought thirteen sharpnose sharks from fishermen operating near Rio de Janerio.

The sharks were dissected and their liver and muscle tissue tested for cocaine with all the samples coming back as positive.

The concentration of cocaine was as much as 100 times higher than had been previously recorded in other marine animals.

The results have confirmed long held fears that drugs are affecting sea life.

The research was taken out by six Brazilian research groups, alongside the Cape Eleuthera Institute in the Bahamas and published in the science journal Science of the Total Environment.

Theories of where the cocaine comes from include a spillover from an illegal drug lab or from the excrement of drug users.

Another theory is that they could have been feeding off bundles of cocaine that were lost or dumped in the sea by drug traffickers.

While it is not known how the drug affected the sharks it is possible it made them more aggressive and unpredictable.

“This may be the case, as cocaine targets the brain, and hyperactive and erratic behaviour has been noted in other animals. It’s a possibility and further studies are required,” said Dr Enrico Mendes Saggioro, an ecotoxicologist.

https://nypost.com/2024/07/23/world-news/sharks-off-the-coast-of-brazil-test-positive-for-cocaine-prompting-wild-theories/?utm_campaign=nypost&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

Of Course You Never Heard About This

According to the New York Post:

A Michigan man suspected of running down an 80-year-old with an ATV in a politically motivated attack has been found dead by apparent suicide, according to reports.

The 22-year-old suspect was found in his home with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound on Monday, after having called police looking to confess, according to WLUC.

“Send someone to pick me up,” the unidentified suspect told cops, who responded to his Quincy home and found him dead.

He was wanted for a spree of vandalism on Sunday afternoon that left an 80-year-old man in critical condition.

The suspect had accosted the elderly man as he placed pro-Donald Trump signs in his yard, initially ripping them up while speeding by on the ATV.

Prior to the vicious attack, the suspect was seen smashing car windows and slashing tires.

https://nypost.com/2024/07/23/us-news/suspect-who-allegedly-ran-over-mich-trump-supporter-with-atv-kills-himself-report/?utm_campaign=nypost&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

Oh, Please God, End the Misery!

According to Fox News:

A hydrothermal explosion inside Yellowstone National Park sent rocks and debris flying Tuesday morning, damaging a pedestrian boardwalk and forcing the closure of the area, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) officials said Tuesday.

Footage captures images of a pillar of dirt and debris shooting upward near Sapphire Pool within the basin, sending the debris onto a boardwalk and park visitors below.

“Back up! Back up! Back up!” says a visitor in one video, as others can be seen running away from the explosion.

The eruption occurred at around 10 a.m. local time at the park’s Biscuit Basin, according to the National Park Service. Various videos on social media show people were nearby when the explosion occurred, but there are no reports of any injuries

According to the USGS, the Biscuit Basin parking lot and boardwalks are now temporarily closed for visitor safety.  They noted that geologists are investigating the event. 

Hydrothermal explosions occur when water suddenly flashes to steam underground, and they are relatively common in Yellowstone, USGS officials said. 

“It’s sort of an underappreciated hazard in the Yellowstone region,” said Michael Poland, scientist-in-charge with the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory and geophysicist with the USGS. 

https://www.foxweather.com/earth-space/yellowstone-biscuit-basin-national-park-explosion