Martin Amis, era-defining British novelist,
dies aged 73
Posted By: Dreadnought, 5/20/2023 3:49:27 PM
Martin Amis, the influential author of era-defining novels including Money and London Fields, and the memoir Experience, has died at the age of 73 at his home at Lake Worth in Florida . His wife Isabel Fonseca said that the cause was cancer of the oesophagus. Amis was among the celebrated group of novelists including Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan and Julian Barnes, whose works defined the British literary scene in the 1980s. His 1984 novel Money was named by Robert McCrum in the Guardian as among the 100 best novels written in English. Money, wrote McCrum, was a “a zeitgeist book that remains one of the dominant novels of the 1980s”.
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Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said on Sunday that a call he had with President Biden about the debt limit and looming default earlier in the day was “productive” and that the pair will meet in-person on Monday upon the president’s return from Japan.
“I believe it was a productive phone call,” McCarthy told reporters, noting that Biden had spoken to him from Air Force One. The White House had arranged the call in an effort to reignite talks as Biden heads back to Washington from the Group of Seven (G7) summit. He cut his international trip short early to return to the U.S. for the talks.
The White House
Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein reportedly tried to use Bill Gates' affair with a Russian bridge player to threaten the Microsoft co-founder. "Mr. Gates met with Epstein solely for philanthropic purposes. Having failed repeatedly to draw Mr. Gates beyond these matters, Epstein tried unsuccessfully to leverage a past relationship to threaten Mr. Gates," a spokeswoman for Gates told The Wall Street Journal in an article Sunday.
The "past relationship" was an affair Gates had with Russian bridge player Mila Antonova, whom he met around 2010 when she was in her 20s, according to people familiar with the matter cited by the Journal.
As the nation barrels toward defaulting on our debt, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Saturday that negotiations are on pause until President Joe Biden returns Sunday from the Group of Seven summit in Japan. Both sides are accusing the other of being intractable in negotiations over raising the debt ceiling, which Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says we could hit as soon as June 1, causing “economic chaos.”
Said McCarthy about the latest developments (or lack thereof):
Unfortunately, the White House moved backwards.
I don’t think we’re going to be able to move forward until the president can get back in the country.
Are Republicans actually about to win a political messaging battle? It’d certainly be shocking given the party’s track record, but that’s the story of a new Associated Press poll that is just brutal for the Democrat narrative on the debt ceiling fight.
According to the results of the AP-NORC poll, a whopping 63 percent of Americans want a debt ceiling deal that includes measures to decrease the federal deficit. That compares to just 19 percent who want a debt ceiling increase to be passed without any conditions.
Twenty-one percent of adults are following the debate over increasing the national debt limit closely and another 38% are following it somewhat closely.
Democrats continue to vent over how they have been forced to negotiate with Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on a potential debt ceiling deal after months of saying they would not consider discussing such a compromise.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) said that he regrets that Democrats did not raise the debt ceiling during the lame-duck session in 2022 before Republicans formally took back the House in January. “If I could do one thing different. And I was saying it at the time … ‘Hey, we got the votes,'” Kaine remarked, saying he believes that even the purportedly fiscal hawk Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) would have backed a debt ceiling hike.
Martin Amis, the influential author of era-defining novels including Money and London Fields, and the memoir Experience, has died at the age of 73 at his home at Lake Worth in Florida . His wife Isabel Fonseca said that the cause was cancer of the oesophagus.
Amis was among the celebrated group of novelists including Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan and Julian Barnes, whose works defined the British literary scene in the 1980s.
His 1984 novel Money was named by Robert McCrum in the Guardian as among the 100 best novels written in English. Money, wrote McCrum, was a “a zeitgeist book that remains one of the dominant novels of the 1980s”.
Report: NY Non-Profit CEO Accused of Lying
About Veterans Being Displaced from Hotels
for Migrants 2 replies
About Veterans Being Displaced from Hotels
for Migrants 2 replies
A New York State Assemblyman is calling on the state’s attorney general to investigate a non-profit group and its CEO over claims the group lied about homeless veterans being displaced from hotels for migrants, according to a local news outlet. The New York Post originally reported the group’s claims which were later alleged to be a hoax.
New York State Assemblyman Jonathan Jacobson (D-Newburg) called on the state’s attorney general to investigate the Yerik Israel Tooney (YIT) Foundation and CEO Sharon Toney-Finch, the Mid Hudson News reported.
New Poll: DeSantis Is Only GOP Presidential
Candidate Who Leads Biden in Crucial Swing States 19 replies
Candidate Who Leads Biden in Crucial Swing States 19 replies
Before we dig into the main course, a few words about polling in general. First, it’s been my experience that many—if not most—casual poll watchers tend to pay selective attention to polls, not unlike Fox News or CNN viewers who watch various on-air personalities to be told what they want to hear.
Second, we’ve seen candidates laud the results of a particular poll when its results favor them, then turn around and call the exact same polls “fake” when they don’t like the poll’s latest results. Third, while pre-primary polls conducted among likely voters of a single party might be lauded by various candidates and their followers, polls conducted among
Debt ceiling talks resumed Friday night on Capitol Hill, after multiple sources told CNN that earlier discussions between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s office and the White House had hit a snag, triggering a pause.
McCarthy told Fox Business Friday evening that they would “be back in the room tonight,” adding that he remained “very frustrated” with the White House’s position. A source familiar with the negotiations separately told CNN Friday evening that negotiators would convene shortly.
Negotiators had met briefly in the Capitol earlier Friday before breaking up, dashing hopes that there could be a deal in principle by the weekend.
GOP Rep. Dusty Johnson, an ally of McCarthy and chair of
NFL legend Jim Brown dead at 87
13 replies
Cleveland Browns legend Jim Brown has died at the age of 87.
Brown is one of the greatest running backs of all time, having won three MVPs (including in his rookie season in 1957) and being named to nine All-Pro teams, eight of which he was a First-teamer.
Brown led the NFL in rushing yards eight times and rushing touchdowns on five occasions - he won the NFL Championship in 1964. His 106 rushing touchdowns are the sixth-most all-time, and his 12,312 rushing yards rank the 11th most in NFL history. He was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971.
Feeling pret-tee smug right now about my home state, yes sirree, Bob.
And not for the first time, either. But in the middle of some pretty wretched economic numbers and an absolutely abysmal administration doing it’s best to sink the country in a morass of fiscal distress and racial division, all the while doing their damnedest to deride and destroy everything Americans once held dear, Florida is like an oasis of calm, sanity, courage, and FREEDOM.
It’s sure looking as if we Floridians aren’t the only ones who think so, either.
Today, Governor Ron DeSantis announced that Florida has the lowest unemployment rate among the top 10 largest states
Bezos' Blue Origin wins NASA astronaut
moon lander contract to compete with SpaceX’s Starship 8 replies
moon lander contract to compete with SpaceX’s Starship 8 replies
WASHINGTON — Jeff Bezos has his NASA moon ticket.
The billionaire's space company, Blue Origin, won a key contract from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on Friday to develop a crewed lunar lander for delivering astronauts to the moon's surface later this decade under the agency's Artemis program. The effort is effectively a more than $7 billion project. NASA's contract award is worth just over $3.4 billion, officials said Friday, and Blue Origin Vice President John Couluris said the company will contribute "well north" of the contract's value as well.
"We're making an additional investment in the infrastructure
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White theatregoers in London were urged to stay away from a play about African American history so that black audience members could enjoy the performance “free from the white gaze”.
The Theatre Royal Stratford East, in east London, has caused uproar after it told white people to stay away from a “Black Out” performance of the Tambo & Bones play on July 5.
Although the theatre claimed that “no one is excluded”, it went on to make it abundantly clear that white people would not be welcome at the performance that tells the story of a pair of African Americans on a journey from mistrels to rappers,
The NAACP's national board of directors has issued a formal travel advisory for Florida, warning black and LGBTQ people against visiting the state due to Governor Ron DeSantis' policies.
'Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals,' states the advisory issued on Saturday night by the civil rights group.
'Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of color,' it adds.
Brittney Griner made her return to the WNBA on Friday night, but her coach believes the fans in Los Angeles should have turned out in greater numbers to support her.
[Snip]
“Come on now, L.A.,” Nygaard said. “We didn’t sell out the arena for BG? Like, I expected more, to be honest. It was great, it was loud. But how was it not a sellout? How was it not a sellout
Every so often, the race industry in America — let’s call it what it is — seemingly feels like they are not getting enough attention, and so they come forward with some new absurd way to get that attention, apparently clinging to the notion that there is no such thing as bad publicity. The latest to attempt that is far-left congressional squad member, Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO). Bush has glommed onto an idea that is certainly not new and is hugely unpopular with roughly half the country. But Bush has decided to give it the old college try and float it once again.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, said in a new interview Sunday that migrants from the U.S.-Mexico border should be sent to every city "throughout the entire country." "We have 108,000 cities, villages, towns. If everyone takes a small portion of that, and if it's coordinated at the border, to ensure that those who are coming here to this country in a lawful manner is actually moved throughout the entire country, it is not a burden on one city," Adams said in an appearance on CBS's "Face the Nation" Sunday. "And the numbers need to be clear. We
The upcoming week or two should provide more clarity on 2024 candidate field as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott are all likely to make their enlistment official. Of course, most eyes will be on the Jeb! lane for 2024 which is currently occupied by Ron DeSantis.
Current Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, another approved Republican, is in a holding pattern above the race in the event that DeSantis does a big stupid. Meanwhile, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu is now pushing himself into the foray, while simultaneously meeting with DeSantis to talk shop.
Things are starting to become clearer
On Sunday's Meet the Press, moderator and former Senate Democrat staffer Chuck Todd parroted the kind of talking points you frequently hear from those in support of tyrannical regimes: if you haven't done anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about. Todd put his own spin on that while interviewing Florida Republican Congressman Byron Donalds about the looming debt ceiling deadline. Todd took issue with Republicans wanting fewer IRS agents as part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling.
Worried about too much systemic rigging and fraud for a Republican ever to win office again? Good news! The riggers themselves are quietly starting to worry it may happen.
Politico ran a story on Friday, and I must say, the title quickened my pulse. Tellingly titled, “Hurricane Trump Is Coming — And Washington Hasn’t Bothered to Prepare,” the story ran with the subhead, “After 2020, reformers vowed to erect guardrails against a rogue chief executive. They ran into a wall of complacency, partisanship and distraction.”
As if Leftists would have done a single thing to curtail executive overreach while they held office. Puh-lease.
President Joe Biden in December began working to replenish the 180 million barrels he sold last year from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Nearly six months later, he still has zero barrels to show for it. Biden's Energy Department on Monday announced its intention to purchase up to three million reserve barrels as a "continuation" of the president's "replenishment strategy." So far, however, that "strategy" has seen the Democrat fail to purchase a single barrel of reserve oil.
President Joe Biden on Sunday said he would consider using the 14th amendment to solve America's debt limit but conceded it is probably too close to the June 1st default deadline to use it in this round.
'I'm looking at the 14th Amendment as whether or not we have the authority,' he said at a press conference in Hiroshima.
'I think we have the authority. The question is could it be done and invoked in time that it would not be appealed and, as a consequence, pass the date in question and still default on the debt?'
A student-athlete at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette died “suddenly” at the age of 18 two weeks ago, according to statements from his school, his team in his native country of Canada and his heartbroken family.
According to his obituary, Michael Arthur “Micky” Geller had recently completed his first year as a member of the school’s Ragin’ Cajuns Waterski Team.
On May 6, Geller died, but no cause of death has been released.
Finally, a Solution to the Problem of
Intermittent Power Generation - the "Virtual
Power Plant" 14 replies
Intermittent Power Generation - the "Virtual
Power Plant" 14 replies
As discussed here many, many times, the big problem with generating electricity from wind and solar sources is that they are intermittent. Sometimes they work, and sometimes they don’t. And sometimes they don’t work for days on end. The times when both wind and sun fail at the same time for multiple days tend to be concentrated in the very coldest days of the winter. This poses a huge problem for central planners’ dreams of “net zero” electricity. Try to solve the problem with grid-scale batteries, and suddenly you’re talking wildly unaffordable costs in the trillions of dollars.