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Never before has a boon to public health been met with such hysteria and ingratitude. Vaping is almost all upside in comparison with traditional smoking, a wanton destroyer of health and lives, and yet the nation is in the grip of a panic about e-cigarettes. In a rarity for the Trump era, the anti-vaping sentiment jumps traditional geographic and political bounds, running from the Oval Office to San Francisco, from President Donald Trump to his most fervent enemies. Trump announced a Food and Drug Administration ban on flavored e-cigarettes last week, while not too long ago the San Francisco Board...

The election campaign to date has been an exercise in idiocy and cowardice. It is obviously embarrassing for Justin Trudeau to have had to admit to attending an Aladdin-themed party in 2001 made up to look like Aladdin (although Aladdin was an Arab not an African, and blackening his hands was oddly laborious). But Maxime Bernier is right that Justin is not a racist, just a hypocrite. As Tucker Carlson, the Fox News commentator, said on Thursday night, the prime minister’s conduct is “sort of like finding out your super-sensitive brother-in-law, the one who tells you he’s a feminist, the...

[Elizabeth Warren's] now a prime target for rivals and their supporters.

She was US ambassador to Ukraine during the 2016 election when the Ukrainian government was colluding with the DNC and Hillary Campaign to undermine the US presidential election. Starting in 2018 Yovanovich denied Ukrainian officials visas to enter the United States to hand over evidence of Obama administration misconduct to Trump administration officials. US Ambassador Yovanovich, an Obama appointee, was removed from her post in Ukraine early in May 2019. John Solomon at The Hill reported: According to interviews with more than a dozen Ukrainian and U.S. officials, Ukraine’s government under recently departed President Petro Poroshenko and, now, Zelensky has...

The American Left, which manifests itself in the Democrat Party, is no different than the Communist and Socialist Left of the 20th century. They are just as diabolical, just as authoritarian, and just as adept at convincing young people that their political ideology is the way forward. Rich people shouldn’t be rich. It’s not fair that someone has something you don’t have. You have every right to their stuff because we’re ALL supposed to be “equal!” Or some such BS. What the lying Democrat socialist commies never say is that people who earned what they have should keep what they...

People in the US are now the world’s wealthiest citizens, just ahead of the Swiss, a new global report shows. The average net financial assets of people living in the US total €184,411 (around 202,900 Swiss francs) per capita against €173,838 for Switzerland, according to the latest Global Wealth Report published by German insurer Allianz. The rise of the US to the top of the rankings is thanks in no small part to the strength of the US dollar, the report states. While the US took top spot in the report, Switzerland continues to boast the highest gross financial assets...

Sen. Cory Booker’s presidential campaign manager is warning in a memo to staff that the Democratic senator from New Jersey must raise an additional $1.7 million by the end of the third quarter of fundraising – just 10 days away – or the campaign will not have a “legitimate long-term path forward.”

When you invite someone into your home, you might consider them to be guests. But what happens when you want them out and they choose to stay? No rent paid. No lease. You still must go to court. Meanwhile, you may be out of a home... She called the cops. “Cory said you can’t kick us out. You’ll have to get us evicted. We can stay for as long as we want,” said Dubuque. “The police were there when he said this. They said, ‘Yep. If you invited him in.’”

Winter has (probably) arrived in Sweden, with the first snowfall of the season in northern parts of the country. But first, let us explain the “probably”. Sweden determines the seasons not based on dates, but on meteorological definitions, according to which winter is considered to have arrived when temperatures drop below an average of 0°C five days in a row. And Tarfala in the Kebnekaise mountains is currently on its fifth day of –3°C temperatures. So unless it experiences a sudden heatwave, it means that when the clock strikes midnight, winter has arrived. […] In the Värmland region, the first...

For the first time since it was formed after the 9/11 attacks, the Department of Homeland Security is adding white supremacist violence to its list of priority threats in a revised counterterrorism strategy issued Friday. "The continuing menace of racially based violent extremism, particularly white supremacist extremism, is an abhorrent affront to our nation, the struggle and unity of its diverse population, and the core values of both our society and our department," said Kevin McAleenan, the acting Homeland secretary, in a speech at the Brookings Institute in Washington. DHS is stepping up its focus on what McAleenan called "targeted...

Today's Quotefall Puzzle features a quote by Herbert Hoover. Click puzzle (or click here) for full size rendition, then use your browser's print command to print puzzle. Herbert Hoover was the President of the United States during the stock market crash of 1929. Essentially, he was the George H. W. Bush of his day, who succeeded capitalist Calvin Coolidge and preceded socialist Franklin D. Roosevelt.Note: The name in the title is attributed to the famous radio malaprop by Harry von Zell, attempting to announce Hoover's name in a birthday tribute. All hints, along with the answer, are provided in the first reply...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Marx Meets With Pope Francis and Cardinal Ouellet About German Synodal Plans The Sept. 19 meetings followed a public exchange between the German hierarchy and the Vatican over the draft statutes for a ‘Synodal Assembly.’ VATICAN CITY — Cardinal Reinhard Marx, president of the German Episcopal Conference, has held talks with Pope Francis and Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, about the German bishops’ plans for a “binding synodal path.” The meetings, held in Rome Sept. 19, followed a public exchange between the German hierarchy and the Vatican over the draft statutes for a...

Italy has seen a rise in so-called “phantom” boat arrivals as traffickers ferry migrants across the Mediterranean from Tunisia rather than Libya without being spotted, a prosecutor warned Saturday. The closing window of opportunity to reach Europe before the onset of winter has also seen a spike in the numbers of crossings, just ahead of a meeting of interior ministers on the hot-button topic of migration on Monday in Malta. Of the more than 6,620 people to have arrived in Italy since the start of 2019, some 5,500 have done so autonomously, managing to approach the coast or land without...

The rise of killer robots is now unstoppable and a new digital Geneva Convention is essential to protect the world from the growing threat they pose, according to the President of the world’s biggest technology company. In an interview with The Telegraph, Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, said the use of 'lethal autonomous weapon systems' poses a host of new ethical questions which need to be considered by governments as a matter of urgency. He said the rapidly advancing technology, in which flying, swimming or walking drones can be equipped with lethal weapons systems – missiles, bombs or guns –...

“When the scorner is punished, the simple is made wise: and when the wise is instructed, he receiveth knowledge” (Proverbs 21:11).

Plans to accommodate “unwanted” migrants on Lindholm, an uninhabited Danish island, have been officially scrapped by the Social Democratic government. Minister for Immigration and Integration Matthias Tesfaye gave on Thursday official confirmation that the facility, plans for which were put in place by the previous government, has now been permanently shelved. Tesfaye’s ministry confirmed the decision via email. “It is very expensive to sail criminal foreigners back and forth between Lindholm and the mainland. One night on the island costs the same as one night at a luxury hotel,” read a Tesfaye statement included in the email. “But that is...

A former Ukrainian prosecutor general is speaking out after Vice President Joe Biden forced him out of his job. Speaking to ABC News, former Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin said he has “no doubt” Biden wanted him gone to help protect Hunter Biden’s employer. At the time, Shokin was investigating Burisma Holdings while Biden’s son Hunter was on the board earning as much as $50,000 a month. “Biden was acting not like a U.S. vice president, but as an individual,” he said to ABC News, “like the individual interested in having me removed — having me gone so that I did...

The term “useful idiot,” often credited to Vladimir Lenin, applies to people supporting a cause or movement injurious to their own self-interest. Nowhere is this more relevant these days than in Silicon Valley ...seem to have the social and political acuity of middle schoolers, as evidenced by their strong support for progressive Democrats poised to destroy the underpinnings of their businesses. California governor Gavin Newsom is expected to sign the recently passed Assembly Bill 5, which will effectively turn many contractors into employees. AB5 codifies the California Supreme Court’s unanimous May 2018 ruling in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior...

A total of 106 demonstrators were arrested at “yellow vest” and climate protests in Paris by 1 pm Saturday as more than 7,000 police were deployed to quell any violence by the movement and its radical, anarchist “black blocs”. […] Several hundred protesters were in the streets of the French capital around 11 am (09:00 GMT) on Saturday. By then, police had arrested 39 of them, police headquarters said, adding that some protesters had been found to carry hammers or petrol canisters. By 1:00 pm (11:00 GMT), police had arrested 106 demonstrators, police headquarters said, adding that some had been...

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one...