Bernie is my Uncle Seymour after he had too much wine and then went into politics.

I'd say he's the new George McGovern, but that's probably about the same thing.

(Do you remember McGovern, Amy? You were around when he ran for President, but maybe a bit young to be paying attention to politics.)

I'm the same age as Amy, and I somewhat remember McGovern. The main thing I recall about him is an interview that he did after the chaos at the 1968 Democratic convention, in which he just didn't seem to have a clue what had happened or what it meant. That year was probably the first time in my parents' lives that they voted Republican.

I remember "1000%" McGovern from 1972, as well as his first Veep choice, Thomas Eagleton. Don't remember who replaced him when dropped out. *reads wikipedia* ah Sargent Shriver of the Kennedy Clan.

And of course, McGovern is (in)famous for pushing the food pyramid in the late 70s and early 80s, which propelled this country down the road of low fat, high carb diets.

On one hand, I'm pointing and laughing at you, Rep. Wilson. Send your storm troopers to come and get some.

On the other hand, Florida Woman.

Democrat Rep. Frederica Wilson led a congressional delegation to inspect an immigrant detention facility on Tuesday and following her visit she said that people who are "making fun of members of Congress" online "should be prosecuted."

https://www.dailywire.com/news/49109/frederica-wilson-people-should-be-prosecuted-ryan-saavedra

Third hand, Declaration of Independence.

The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.

At least George the III was an actual king. Frederica, not so much.

"Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." ~ Mark Twain

Hey, now, I might be an idiot, but I'm not a member of Congress!

Interesting observation.

Those women from black white movies were tough in a realistic way. They were not like today’s ridiculous female heroines—chicks who are all of 95 pounds and beating up men three times their size. The women in the movies of the 1930s and ’40s were resilient, resourceful, and intelligent. In other words, they were tough in a feminine way. They were not just carbon copies of male heroes.

https://www.amgreatness.com/2019/07/02/scarlett-laughs/

Oy.

Last week, though his military forces are deeply engaged in next-door Syria's ruinous civil war, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to launch a military campaign in another former Turkish Ottoman Empire colonial possession: Libya.

Don't dismiss the Ottoman link as a quaint historical reference. Ottoman rule influences contemporary Libyan politics in odd but evident ways. Empire connections have some resonance in 21st-century Turkey. Imperial glory may well have psychological import for the authoritarian Erdogan. His nickname is Sultan Recep.

https://strategypage.com/on_point/2019070375644.aspx

In case you missed it: you don't actually own those e-books. At least they'll refund your money.

Anyone who bought ebooks through the Microsoft Store is in for a rude shock in the coming days. The good news? You can get a refund. The bad news? All of your books are going to be deleted this month.

Microsoft announced in April that it would stop selling ebooks and that any books the company already sold would stop working in early July because the DRM servers were being shut off. Yes, you read that correctly. Those books that you “bought” are going to disappear. Even the “free” books that you downloaded through Microsoft will be deleted.

https://gizmodo.com/ebooks-purchased-from-microsoft-will-be-deleted-this-mo-1836005672

A quickie search on "how to remove drm from e-books" turns Calibre. Never used it, so no opinion.

https://medium.com/@angeldan1989/calibre-drm-removal-plugins-2019-remove-ebook-drm-with-calibre-4ec9c07cae80

An old article, but interesting. Good thing the SWJs have already thrown Lincoln under the bus. This would make their heads explode.

"In these addresses Lincoln set forth the themes that he would carry into the presidency six years later," writes Princeton's James M. McPherson in the Battle Cry of Freedom. McPherson summarizes Lincoln's argument:

The founding fathers, said Lincoln, had opposed slavery. They adopted a Declaration of Independence that pronounced all men created equal. They enacted the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 banning slavery from the vast Northwest Territory. To be sure, many of the founders owned slaves. But they asserted their hostility to slavery in principle while tolerating it temporarily (as they hoped) in practice. That was why they did not mention the words "slave" or "slavery" in the Constitution, but referred only to "persons held to service."

https://www.weeklystandard.com/john-mccormack/lincoln-said-it-best-the-founding-fathers-opposed-slavery

...Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to launch a military campaign in another former Turkish Ottoman Empire colonial possession: Libya. Don't dismiss the Ottoman link as a quaint historical reference. ~ from the link by I R A Darth Aggie at July 3, 2019 10:28 AM

The Ottoman link is very important.

Once, Turkey ruled the Middle East; was an important player in global affairs. Today, the Middle East's regional power players are Shi'ite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia.

Turkey wants back in; or, at least, Erdogan does. Like Putin, he pines for lost empire and faded glory. If he can't put Turkey at the table of global power players, he can at least put it at the regional table.

Faded glory is an important element in the Middle Eastern (Muslim) psyche. That's why the agitators there keep bringing up the Crusades and lost Andalusia (the Moorish al Andalus); bin Laden even put the return of Andalusia as a demand in his manifesto and declaration of war against the West. Andalusia was lost to the Spanish Reconquista in 1492.

Mini-AOC has been doxxed, leading to death threats. Remember, tho, the progressives are the tolerant ones.

https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1146439143234387970

A multinational corporation has been Metoo'ed

Agencies that now make up the FCB network (which merged with Draft Worldwide in 2006 and rebranded as FCB in 2014) have worked with Nivea for more than 100 years, according to the people familiar with the account. But people close to the account said client-agency tensions had been mounting since 2017. It is unclear exactly when the alleged "we don't do gay" remark was made. Murray in the memo stated that FCB informed Nivea of its decision to resign the account in April.

https://adage.com/article/agency-news/fcb-parts-nivea-amid-rising-tensions-including-allegations-homophobic-remark/2180031

It never happened.

Speaking of lost empires...

The Monarchist Party of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia has sent a formal request to the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic to promote Archduke Karl von Habsburg as the next President of the European Commission.

http://royalcentral.co.uk/europe/archduke-karl-von-habsburg-proposed-as-president-of-the-european-commission-125172

Lileks fisks a Vox article.

Anyway, BARBEQUES ARE GENDERED AND WE NEED TO DO BETTER

http://lileks.com/bleats/archive/19/0719/070319.html

I thought making women cook was sssssssssseeeeeeeeeeexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxiiiiiiiiiiissst?

"In other words, they were tough in a feminine way."

The women are pretty masculine and the men are pretty feminine in Hollywood these days. The perfect example of that was the Hunger Games.

First you have Katniss Everdeen:
1. Hunter
2. Athletic
3. Revolutionary

And then you have her husband Peeta Mellark:
1. Baker
2. Not athletic
3. Followed and supported his woman
4. If the ending is to be believed, stayed home and raised the kids

Now envision the Hunger Games with Clint Eastwood as Katniss and Carrie Fisher as Peeta.

A taxonomy of pessimism. If I were to fall for one of these, it would probably be the Cyclical Pessimist.

So have you made changes to policy to call off those dumbass SWAT raids? Have you made changes to policy not to send cops out to harass people for not paying bills? Have you thrown the participating cops in jail?

Over what, you ask? Withholding evidence, animal cruelty, breaking and entering, assault with a deadly weapon, trespassing, damage to private property, and kidnapping. But no, instead of the cops paying for this, the taxpayer is left with the tab.

Over unpaid utility bills. Over unpaid utility bills.

http://www.captainsjournal.com/2019/07/02/st-louis-county-settles-for-750000-in-case-where-swat-team-shot-family-dog/

Anybody here tried this?

https://twitter.com/lporiginalg/status/1146432754734657537

The Free Thought Project has reported on multiple instances in which entire groups of people were detained and forced to show ID or submit to a search. However, during these questionable situations, police were able to reasonably articulate suspicion that a crime had been committed or was about to be committed. Over the weekend, at a popular Michigan City bar, there was no crime and no one had been suspected of committing a crime.

Despite these facts, more than a dozen officers raided this peaceful establishment in which patrons were enjoying their Saturday night. Police officers with the Michigan City Police Department blocked all the exits and the rights violating process began.

https://thefreethoughtproject.com/police-violate-rights-bar/

Darth, regarding slavery, I wonder if that has anything to do with (IIRC) the word "servant" getting used more often in "Huck Finn" than "slave"? (Most of the time, of course, it's just "n-----.")

Oddly, I can't find anything about that use of "servant" online - offhand.

On preventing teen suicide:

Whether you agree with Rosemond on this or not, it's kind of refreshing to see a no-nonsense parental approach to those young people who aren't seriously depressed; they just want unearned attention, IMO. (Yes, there are plenty of teens who are committing suicide for the same truly crushing problems that adults have, but there are also plenty who commit suicide for reasons that most TEENS wouldn't have considered serious, a generation ago.)

But at the same time, while I often appreciate his philosophy, I think he should think twice about HOW he suggests phrasing it when talking to teens directly. (Especially in one of the last paragraphs - that is, the third "statement" he suggests making.)

https://www.herald-dispatch.com/features_entertainment/john-rosemond-mother-seeks-advice-for-year-old-son-expressing/article_01b67b9c-156d-5e12-a899-d8cdeda8ec80.html

Q: "On several occasions over the last six months or so, our 12-year-old son has told us he's been thinking about suicide. Apparently, he's been the target of a couple of school bullies and sometimes feels like life is too much. We've talked to him, tried to help him express his feelings, and tried to help him figure out how to solve these problems, but do you have other suggestions? Other than these three episodes, by the way, things in his life seem to be great. He has lots of friends, is liked by his teachers, and doesn't act generally depressed."

Can you guess the response?

It's the boots that really sell the maneuver.

And yes, Amy, the following idea was just as bad when Eeeeevil Trump (TM) proposed it some years ago.

Federal wealth taxes and the incremental erosion of liberty

The Facebook spy who loved me:

Nobody does it better . . .

And another feel-good story:

Running Didn’t Save My Life, But Here’s Why It’s Still a Miracle

Bill de Commio.

"In case you missed it: you don't actually own those e-books."

In semi-related news, the Department of Energy has declared that Office 365 will be the application suite of choice for its contractors.

So every e-mail goes to Microsoft Exchange, at office365 dot com.

Building plans, schedules for work, payroll issues, medical information, maybe even the handling of Special Nuclear Materials. All on the deranged idea that "your information is more secure if it is handled by a third party!"

Oh, yeah, it's encrypted. Sure it is.

Bernie Sanders wouldn't be so frantic if he had not been eclipsed by his cousin, the Colonel.