Effective July 2025, teacher licensing rules passed last year in Minnesota under Democrat Gov. Tim Walz will ban practicing Christians, Jews, and Muslims from teaching in public schools. Walz is now the presidential running mate of current U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. His resume includes a stint as a high school social studies teacher who sponsored a student queer sex club in 1999.

Starting next July, Minnesota agencies controlled by Walz appointees will require teacher license applicants to affirm transgenderism and race Marxism. Without a teaching license, individuals cannot work in Minnesota public schools, nor in the private schools that require such licenses.

The latest version of the regulations requires teachers to “affirm” students’ “gender identity” and “sexual orientation” to receive a Minnesota teaching license:

The teacher fosters an environment that ensures student identities such as race/ethnicity, national origin, language, sex and gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical/developmental/emotional ability, socioeconomic class, and religious beliefs are historically and socially contextualized, affirmed, and incorporated into a learning environment where students are empowered to learn and contribute as their whole selves.

“Then you admit confirming not denying you ever said that?"
"NO! ... I mean Yes! WHAT?"
I’ll put 'maybe.' ~ Bloom County

You’ve probably heard someone use the phrase, “We can neither confirm nor deny.” This non-specific saying, known as the “Glomar response,” has a fascinating history behind it, and it originated to answer questions about a dicey CIA operation.

In the late 1960s, the United States and the Soviets were engaged in a dangerous political game, and they were using their nuclear submarines to play. In 1968, the Soviets lost K-129, one of their nuclear submarines, northwest of Hawaii in the Pacific. It sank to the bottom of the ocean under unknown circumstances.

The US knew the Soviet sub had sunk with nuclear missiles on board and knew that it would hold a treasure-trove of intelligence information if they could get to it. The CIA eventually located the vessel three miles beneath the sea and began to come up with plans to get to the submarine.

Because of the depth where the submarine sat, it was decided that the best course of action would be to retrieve it by lifting it from the ocean floor. The CIA ran through several different scenarios before they ultimately settled on using a claw-like device to lift the submarine from the seafloor and raise it into a ship’s hull. The problem was the operation had to be done entirely in secret. //

Things came to a head when the Los Angeles Times was set to publish a story about the operation. The CIA tried to stop it but was unsuccessful, and a request for disclosure about the project was made by the LA Times. The CIA had to find a way to respond.

The task of coming up with an appropriate response fell to an attorney at the CIA named Walt Logan, the Associate General Counsel. Logan was bound by law to tell the truth, but he also had to adhere to the CIA’s policies and not reveal any secrets or intelligence sources that could be detrimental to national security.

He came up with a response to the request that was neither untruthful nor did it compromise national secrets. It became known as the “Glomar response.” In it, Logan said about the existence of the secret operation and the request for disclosure, “We can neither confirm nor deny the existence of the information requested but, hypothetically, if such data were to exist, the subject matter would be classified, and could not be disclosed.”

The response by the CIA stood after being challenged, and the Freedom of Information request was declined. A precedent was then set for any government organization to use the “Glomar response” as they saw fit when there was a Freedom of Information request. The courts have so far supported the response by governmental agencies, but only if they provide enough information to justify using it.

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It's also just not that relevant and ignores the bigger issue at play. Harris couldn't even be bothered to show up for the dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base despite taking credit for the withdrawal that got the service members in question killed. She was never going to show up for this wreath-laying ceremony and everyone knows it. It's also been established that she won't return the calls of the families anyway so Harris not receiving a formal invite isn't surprising. You'd need to pick up the phone for that.

I have no idea why Harris continues to lean into this. The right move from the beginning was to shut up about the issue and just let it fade. By attacking Trump (and by proxy, the Gold Star families who wanted the pictures taken), the vice president has pumped new life into a story that does not play in her favor. Going after Gold Star families is never a good look, and using the biased press to do it via anonymous sources (in this case, an aide) looks even worse.

Harris has had the opportunity to do the right thing for years. She hasn't done so. She has no moral authority to criticize others over respecting America's war dead when she clearly doesn't do so herself. //

Outerlimitsfan
2 hours ago
Trump is a good guy. Apparently he has been in contact with the families for years, and even hosted them before at a private event. He is actually friends with them now. Which is exactly why they invited him to this.

He didn't just show up to Arlington for 10 minutes either, but was with them for over 4 hours.

Yeah, I'm shocked the Gold Star families support the guy who actually cares about them and the fact their children needlessly died. //

anon-608f Bluepillprofessor
an hour ago
You beat me to it. This is intentional. She and her staff despise, they HATE, these families because they put the lie to the Afghan "success" story...and have been quite vocal about it.

It's just that simple. These families never targeted her for any attacks or lies, and they didn't need to. All they needed to do was tell the truth, show some grief, and Heelz Up let that hatred flow!

Holden Culotta @Holden_Culotta
·
Drea de Matteo on Fox News: “I’ll never have another gig. At the moment, all I care about is … trying to wake up a few more of my fellow liberals”

“I support Kennedy all the way, and I’m happy that there’s unity right now.

I don’t think Trump is a lifelong politician, and… Show more
0:16 / 2:45
12:31 PM · Aug 31, 2024

She said that "all of that weaponization on the left is camouflaged":

Any true liberal is anti-war, anti-censorship, pro-health ... They would be anti-mandate. That's totalitarian, that was authoritarian. That was on the left! I know that there's a lot of deep-rooted corruption, and sometimes they capture each party. Right now, that capture is on the Left. //

Photog 1
10 hours ago
The thing is, people conflate leftists with liberals, and that's a deliberate redefining of the word BY the leftists. Here's a little ditty I've been posting for years:

Stop Calling Them “Liberals”
Please, folks, I've said this for years. Please stop calling them “Liberals” - call them out for what they really are: Leftists/Progressives/Socialists/Marxists/Communists. "Leftists," for short, if nothing else.

They stole, and redefined, the term “Liberal” (as is their wont, to redefine words to suit their needs), to cash in on the actual Classical Liberal’s positive points while possessing none of them.

Even the word "Progressive" has been redefined by the left, because their actions are actually REgressive, but the classic example is the word “liberal” itself, which the far-left co-opted. It was adopted because of its positive connotation, and used as a cover for imposing greater leftist/marxist control under the false guise of liberty.

In reality, there is nothing “liberal” about failing to protect life [or actively taking it under the also redefined lie of “women’s reproductive health care”], releasing multiple-time violent felons back onto the streets with no bond, burdening individuals with regulations and taxes, allowing unlimited illegal aliens into the country with no repercussions, forcing individuals to provide services to others, or “mandating” what health actions that individuals must take, and penalizing them in multiple facets of their life if they do not comply.

This is no accidental misnomer, but a strategic messaging attempt to influence people. Of course, who doesn’t want to support a policy that is “progressive,” “pro-choice,” “common sense,” or “affordable’ (all also chosen for their positive spin, while not meeting their own definitions)?

Today’s Leftists/Socialists/Progressives/Marxists, calling themselves a “Liberal,” have absolutely nothing in common with the Classical Liberal - the Classical Liberal advocated civil liberties under the rule of law with an emphasis on economic freedom - more in tune with today's Libertarians.

I’m neither - I’m so conservative I make Ronald Reagan look like Gorbachev’s even further leftist cousin, but I respect the Classical Liberal, who has more in common with the Libertarian today.

The more we call out the so-called “Liberals” for what they are, the more the mask of their eventual intent (full fledged socialism leading to communism) might become clear to some.

Spread this message far and wide, everywhere and every time you see someone incorrectly referring to a “Liberal” when they mean Leftist/Progressive/Marxist - create a wave of understanding of their true nature.

The Problem with far-left progressives, who are maybe 20% of the population, is they think themselves morally and intellectually superior to you and me, the other 80% (which includes non-progressive Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Non-affiliated, Libertarians, etc.). And because far-left progressives feel that our 80% has created an inferior society, they believe it’s their duty to overrule us by passing laws that will create the “correct society," the society that “should be." Of course, on all counts they are profoundly wrong. Unfortunately, their loud voices currently drown out the sensible portion of society. But being loud does not make you right or superior, either morally OR intellectually..

Most Democrats and actual liberals (not leftists) are quietly aware that it’s their current progressive far-left leadership that has let them down, a leadership that has not represented them properly.

They too, are being held hostage.

Regular non-progressive main-stream Democrats are over-taxed and over-regulated, too. They experience the outfall of illegal immigration, off-shoring, lawlessness, little upward mobility, drug abuse and expensive health care, just like you and me. Obviously, they live in houses and apartments, have children, jobs, hopes, expectations and fears just like anyone else.

Let’s not confuse these Democrats with their current far-left leadership, which is a tiny contingent of leaders…whose incompetence is only exceeded by their hostility and vocality.

Israel ישראל @Israel
·
He was 𝐦𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝.

CNN @CNN
Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin has died, his family says in a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs https://cnn.it/3z1kyTk
9:06 AM · Sep 1, 2024

Ritchie Torres @RitchieTorres
·
Newsflash for the media:

Hostages like Hersh Goldberg Polin did not just “die.” They were murdered by Hamas.

Hostages like Noa Argamani were not just “released.” They were rescued by Israel.

The rockets did not just “land” on Druze children and civilians. They were fired by Hezbollah.

Words matter because the truth matters.
11:07 AM · Sep 1, 2024 //

Incredibly, CNN didn’t even mention the murders in their entire earlier story:

Hallen
15 hours ago
Hollywood always had the annoying 'church lady' type. She'd snoop and pry and judge. She'd complain to everyone about how unusual or degenerate others were. It was an overblown caricature and wasn't a true representation, but it's the perspective the left has of the 1950's.

Now we have real live church ladies all over the place except they're obnoxious instead of snooping, and they're all hard-core leftists who only vote for Democrats. They're judgmental, uncompromising, brash, arrogant, condescending, and loud. Very, very loud. They belong to the church of Marx.

They are rude and obnoxious. They think they can get away with just about anything without reprisal. They are mostly right because their victims are all conservatives who don't like to make scenes and are unerringly polite. It's very easy to take advantage of civilized people and that's what these barbarian church ladies do. They attack our culture, all the while knowing that they will be protected by our culture.

It's amazingly evil.

As Politico put it on Sunday, Kamala Harris' "secret power" is "she is whatever you want her to be." The question is, could Kamala's "secret power" be her key to victory in this whacked-out election season?

I've said it before and I'll undoubtedly say multiple times before November 5: Nothing — and I mean nothing — could surprise me throughout the rest of this crazy campaign. //

As I wrote on August 18, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich admonished voters to "ask yourself two questions whenever you hear one of Kamala Harris' empty questions."

As you hear each new false promise and nice sounding agenda item, you should ask yourself two simple questions:

1. Why haven’t they implemented them over the last four years?

2. And why should we believe they would now?

Those two questions will reveal how phony and staged the entire Democratic National Convention will be. //

Rainy Day Patriot
5 hours ago
The campaign of JOY: Joke's On You.

The claim that Trump made "campaign content" at Arlington National Cemetery is simply false. None of the pictures with the family have been used in ads or placed in a political context by the Trump campaign. He was there at the behest of the Gold Star families. Given their children died defending this country, I think they have a right to snap a few pictures if they'd like.

This game has long been played left and the federal bureaucracy. When John McCain took some video of him walking among the gravestones, the press attacked him for it. When Barack Obama and Joe Biden did the same thing (including Biden being pictured in Section 60), no one said a word. No ANC official came running out telling them to put the cameras away while accusing them of breaking the rules. Let a Republican show up to honor the fallen though, and suddenly it's a scandal. The entire thing is so transparent.

"The Manchurian Candidate," a 1959 novel by Richard Condon, posits the son of a prominent American political dynasty who is captured by a Soviet Union commando unit during the Korean War and brainwashed into becoming a Soviet sleeper agent, an assassin who is triggered into action by, of all things, a card game. The goal of the Soviet Union in this exercise? To have their sleeper agent kill a presidential candidate to install his running mate, who is secretly controlled by his wife, a secret KGB operator. //

Trump War Room @TrumpWarRoom
·
DUFFY: Walz taught in China, he visited China 30 times, he honeymooned in China, and he promoted Chinese communism to his American students as a teacher. Is Tim Walz a national security risk?

@KristiNoem: Absolutely. I am 100% convinced he's a national security risk. Show more

10:51 AM · Sep 1, 2024 //

When I was on a general staff, working for the Command Surgeon, U.S. Army, Europe (USAEUR), I had to have a Top Secret clearance. It was quite the process; the FBI talked to my parents, they talked to my in-laws, they talked to old friends; they even talked to my first wife, who later mentioned to me that she told them that while she and I had our differences, I was as solid an American patriot as one was likely to find. I give her full honesty points for that.

But had I had Tim Walz's China background, I doubt I would have received my clearance. //

Trump War Room @TrumpWarRoom
·
.@KristiNoem on Tim Walz: He's a bully, and he pushes mandates down on his people. He's got ties to companies in China. You don't go to China 30 times to be a tourist. You go because you have an affiliation with their government. Show more

10:35 AM · Sep 1, 2024. //

In summary: Tim Walz is a national security risk. Governor Noem points out that Tim Walz wants America to become more like China. China, I remind you, is entering into an economic crisis because of all their years of economic fakery. They are entering into a demographic collapse because of decades of the idiotic "one-child policy." China, I remind you, tightly controls every aspect of the lives of Chinese subjects; I will not call those poor people citizens, as they are not. One cannot own a home in China; land and apartments are leased from the Chinese Communist Party. China is on a dark road into an uncertain future, including very possibly a complete collapse.

"China Tim" Walz wants to take us down that same road.

Israel must be returned to a reasonable routine... We must reach a deal. A deal is more important than anything else. We are getting body bags instead of a deal. //

Shoo
2 hours ago
What deal do they think could be made?

JCsGIRL70 Shoo
2 hours ago
That Hamas would keep? //

JCsGIRL70
2 hours ago
Even the Israeli's don't understand Hamas - they are without honor & any deal would be broken as soon as they had rebuilt their terrorist ranks.

Ed in North Texas JCsGIRL70
an hour ago
Honorable people are usually "taken in" by evil people with no conscience. The honorable people think a deal can be made with the Devil. //

Samuel Ross
2 hours ago
I cry for the dead, but to trade a nation's safety for one life is not wise. Gilad Shalit was traded for 1000+ Hamas terrorists, one of whom was Yahya Sin War, who killed 1200 Jews after he was unwisely freed. //

anon-7iuo
2 hours ago
Mike, be clear: This agitation comes from the suspiciously funded left in Israel. It is not what most Israelis think.

Bibi Derangement Syndrome is a close variant of TDS. Don't fall for it.

Fatesrider Ars Legatus Legionis
11y
21,506
Subscriptor

llanitedave said:
I hadn't thought about the space sickness angle. Yeah, NASA made the reasonable choice, but it does suck. And YES, Boeing is to blame here.
The quote in the article is pretty low key:

A non-trivial percentage of professional astronauts succumb to space sickness during the initial hours of their spaceflights.

The figure is 60-80% of all professional astronauts.

Non-trivial indeed.
https://www.colorado.edu/today/2024/02/29/space-travel-comes-motion-sickness-these-engineers-want-help

wagnerrp Ars Legatus Legionis
14y
26,915
Subscriptor
faffod said:
The question I have from the article, that I haven't seen an answer for is :

• Are experienced astronauts less susceptible to space sickness?

I assume that is the case, which would explain changing the pilot assignment, but if it is not then what does the change gain?

They probably take extra Dramamine.

butcherg Ars Centurion
11y
292
wagnerrp said:
They probably take extra Dramamine.

Sadly, I have some experience with this...

Zero-G and unfamiliar motion present two different causes for so-called 'motion sickness. Without gravity to provide a steady downward tug to internal organs, the feeling of them floating around in your body cavity is horrid, initially. This is in addition to the lack of weight on the fluids in the inner ear, which is a bit different than the stimulus provided by irregular motion. Same result, however, puke your guts out. While motion stimulus is usually short-lived, weightlessness is with you All The Freaking Time in space.

According to the Wikipedia page on space adaptation syndrome (nice term for it), they tend not to medicate it for newbies, the preference being to have them accommodate it over time. They do however use Dramamine dermal patches for spacewalks, because vomiting in a spacesuit is quite egregious.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_adaptation_syndrome

I got motion-sick as a kid, probably a stupid idea to try pilot training. While there, however, got to push the stick over a few times to make stuff float around the cabin, horrid feeling the first time, but you could just stop pushing and it would go away, go figure. They did send me to 'sick school' at Brooks AFB, where they were doing research on the causes, came back with some tools that helped me get through T-37s. However, it really was just becoming familiar with the environment that did the trick. Moving to Colorado, flights to and from the Front Range were fraught with turbulent motion, again, got used to it over time. Worst feeling on an airplane ever was riding in a E/RC-135 during refueling as receiver, keeping the boom connected required maneuver that, in the rear of the airplane, felt absolutely horrible, worse than the zero-g stunts.

Spent 4 days on the USS LaSalle in the Med, flat-bottomed hull and worst-riding ship in 6th Fleet, collecting data from an exercise, staring at a screen all day in the TIC. Speed-ate Dramamine for the entire time, kept things down, but I was a nervous wreck for about a week after. So, medicating not such a great idea...

butcherg Ars Centurion
11y
292
alisonken1 said:
Every time my ship pulled out of port, I would be feeling really dragged for about a week (or until I puked), then I was fine the rest of the voyage.

Unfortunately, it happened every time we left port. Seems like my body reset itself whenever we hit dry land.

And Dramamine didn't help. BTW - I was a cruiser sailor (think Belknap-class CG's type).
I had a pattern too; typical training flight was to trundle over to the aux field, do some touch-and-goes, then climb up to the areas for aerobatic work. The place I'd get sick was on climb-out from the aux field, go figure. Got good at handling it, I'd ask the instructor to take the airplane, and in about 10 seconds pull out the bag, ralph into it, close and stow it, and take back the airplane. Didn't want to give 'em the idea it was a problem... :biggreen:

The USDA recorded 69 violations in a year. So far, 9 people have died in the outbreak. //

While it's always lurking, L. monocytogenes especially plagues the food industry because it has the notable ability to reproduce at refrigerator temperatures—a condition that typically limits the growth of other nasty germs. //

According to USDA documents, the agency has not taken enforcement actions against Boar's Head, and there is no data available on swab testing for Listeria at the Virginia facility. The plant has been shut down since late July after health investigators found the outbreak strain of L. monocytogenes in unopened containers of Boar's Head liverwurst.

Rocky debris caused by a NASA mission could create the first human-made meteor shower.

In Sept. 2022, NASA’s Double Asteroids Redirect Test (DART) intentionally collided with a tiny moonlet named Dimorphos, which orbited the asteroid Didymos, to test its asteroid deflection technology.

Scientists believe the crash produced over 2 million pounds of rocks and dust — and a new study suggests fragments of Dimorphos could land around Earth and Mars in 10 to 30 years, and the meteor showers could last for up to a century.

“President Trump has called. President Trump shows up. President Trump takes the time to hear our loved ones’ stories, why won’t you do the same?”

Kamala Harris @KamalaHarris
·
As Vice President, I have had the privilege of visiting Arlington National Cemetery several times. It is a solemn place; a place where we come together to honor American heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service of this nation.

It is not a place for politics.

And… Show more
12:14 PM · Aug 31, 2024

The statement was disgusting on its face. While claiming to "never politicize" the deaths of American soldiers, she quite literally politicized them by using their families to attack Donald Trump for the grave sin of actually showing up to honor the fallen. That was something Harris herself couldn't be bothered to do, and to this day, she has never spoken to any of the Gold Star families involved. //

As of this writing, eight different families have released video responses criticizing Kamala Harris for both her behavior and her failures while in office.

Kamala is taking what was a solemn remembrance for the families and is now making it a political issue herself. She's doing what she's accusing Trump of doing.

That's just vile and disgusting. She truly has no shame; she's effectively attacking the families. But it's all about trying to wreck the fact that Trump was doing the job that she and Biden were supposed to be doing here. And it's right in line with how badly the Biden-Harris team has treated the families for years. //

JD Vance @JDVance
·
President Trump was there at the invitation of families whose loved ones died because of your incompetence.

Why don’t you get off social media and go launch an investigation into their unnecessary deaths?

Kamala Harris @KamalaHarris
As Vice President, I have had the privilege of visiting Arlington National Cemetery several times. It is a solemn place; a place where we come together to honor American heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service of this nation.

It is not a place for politics.

And…
Last edited
12:54 PM · Aug 31, 2024

WAGO lever nuts are typically used for household electrical - often in place of wire nuts.

They can also be used for splicing or splitting audio lines.

Here is a simple distribution box with WAGO components mounted on a DIN rail:

The WAGO 221-413 lever nuts are mounted on a 221-500 mounting carrier which is mounted in turn on a 222-510 angled DIN-rail adapter.

The end stops on the DIN rail are "DIN Rail Terminal Blocks End Stopper Bracket" (Amazon).

A 2FA Mule is a mobile phone configured to forward SMS 2FA codes via email.

This divorces 2FA from the mobile phone you carry with you and makes it possible to perform 2FA without your phone, after having your phone lost or stolen, while on an airplane, or while roaming in a foreign place with an alternate SIM card.

In my case, the 2FA mule sits in my office lab connected to mains power.

It is an unlocked Google Pixel phone with no google account and no apps installed except for "SMS Forwarder".

It is configured to forward all SMS to an email address via encrypted SMTP.