Welcome to The Now

  Call it the, "Who Do You Believe, Me Or Your Lying Eyes?" Convention. President Trump is hoping that by expanding his alternate reality bubble to more Republicans across the country, turnout will get a boost. My guess is this "plan" will come with no real strategy for Republicans to follow, and electoral success will be determined on the state and local level. 

 

 When nature shows meet Looney Tunes:

 

 "Door Dash Grandma" is more than meets the eye . Donald Trump may not be the "dealmaker" he promotes himself to be (stop laughing).  " Deed Theft ?" When did that become a thing?  Iranian Jews respond to Israel's attacks on their synagogue .  Is the US Military is disarray ? 

 Via the Associated Press : News organizations including The New York Times, The Associated Press and the conservative Newsmax television network said Monday they will not sign a Defense Department document about its new press rules, making it likely the Trump administration will evict their reporters from the Pentagon. Those outlets say the policy threatens to punish them for routine news gathering protected by the First Amendment. The Washington Post, The Atlantic and Reuters on Monday also publicly joined the group that says it will not be signing. AP confirmed Monday afternoon that it would not sign. “Reuters is bound by its commitment to accurate, impartial and independent news,” the agency said in a statement. “We also steadfastly believe in the press protections afforded by the U.S. Constitution, the unrestricted flow of information and journalism that serves the public interest without fear or favor. The Pentagon’s new restrictions erode these fundamental values.” Defense S...

 When you're indebted to the West and decide to not  play ball, you get a quick lesson on how much power you really have...

 " Spain is cancelling the purchase of anti-tank missile systems that were to be manufactured in Spain by a subsidiary of an Israeli company , the Defense Ministry said Tuesday, confirming Spanish media reports." "Mongolia's Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene has stepped down after losing parliamentary support following corruption claims that erupted into street protests last month, the country's parliament said on Tuesday." "Pakistani police on Tuesday said a 17-year-old TikTok star was shot dead by a man who had repeatedly contacted her online." " Dollar General set a quarterly sales record of $10.44 billion and it upgraded its annual profit and sales outlook as Americans tighten their budgets and spend more at dollar stores and off-price retailers amid economic uncertainty." " NBA games will not be airing on TNT starting next season when the league’s new television package kicks in — an 11-year media rights deal worth at ...

 

 

It's hard for people to accept claims that Palestinians and/or Hamas are vicious characters when you turn around and destroy food and medical supplies: Apparently there have been arrests since this video came out. Keep in mind that these are also supplies that could have been given to the Israeli hostages that Hamas still have. Oh and this is worth noting: The White House condemned the destruction of the aid, calling it “completely and utterly unacceptable behavior.” “It is a total outrage that there are people who are attacking and looting these convoys coming from Jordan going to Gaza to deliver humanitarian assistance,” said National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in a press briefing on Monday. “We are looking at the tools that we have to respond to this and we are also raising our concerns at the highest level of the Israeli government. One "tool" is "stop selling weapons that are being used to kill civilians" but hey, keep looking.

 There is an explosion of college protesters being arrested for being on the side of Palestinians, including Emerson College , USC , Columbia University , Yale and NYC .  Friendly reminder that connections exist: the covert / overt pushback against protests , the creation of Cop Cities nationwide , the hypocritical ban on TikTok ...all related to maintaining control of the narrative and the people that the narrative is directed to.  And just to show that I'm not alone, here's Rachel Blevins and Sabrina Salvati hitting some of the same points: And here's Lee Camp's coverage:

  Very odd story :

 According to a 2017 Boston Today report, " of the workers entering Boston, 95,000 drive alone, 83,000 take transit, and 36,000 carpool ." Well as of Friday, one of the most used lines will be down for 30 days (just in time for schools to start): Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker is asking everyone to "be patient" with the MBTA's unprecedented move to shut down the Orange Line for a month for repairs starting Friday because it will affect everyone in the Boston area. Baker, MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak, MassDOT Undersecretary Scott Bosworth and Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver held a news conference at the state transportation building in Boston Monday to warn the public to pay attention to the changes. The shutdown of the entire Orange Line will start at 9 p.m. Friday, August 19 for upgrades and repairs. It will last until September 19. The move will not only affect subway riders, it's also expected to have a huge impact on the Boston area f...

Here's a Good Samaritan-like story about a women publicly scamming an old guy out of his house . The reader is supposed to answer the question, "Would you intervene?" but I think the better question is, "Would you or any old person you know fall victim to such a scam?" I like the second question because the "intervene" question can be applied to any scenario where one person is taking advantage of another: a mugging, a kidnapping, a murder. Hell, it could be an overheard conversation about someone admitting that they're having an affair. Is the "the old man is gonna get tricked out of his house" scam any dire?

Looks like ABC has decided to report on the rising gun violence . Wonder why the media has been so slow to react .

First off: go here for some background on the Bush Doctrine (or rather, its utter failure). Ok, here's one opinion I think is pretty valid: Each of us has areas we care about, and areas we don't. If we are interested in a topic, we follow its development over the years. And because we have followed its development, we're able to talk and think about it in a "rounded" way. We can say: Most people think X, but I really think Y. Or: most people used to think P, but now they think Q. Or: the point most people miss is Z. Or: the question I'd really like to hear answered is A. Here's the most obvious example in daily life: Sports Talk radio. Mention a name or theme -- Brett Favre, the Patriots under Belichick, Lance Armstrong's comeback, Venus and Serena -- and anyone who cares about sports can have a very sophisticated discussion about the ins and outs and myth and realities and arguments and rebuttals. People who don't like sports can't do that. It...