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WASHINGTON, Monday, July 1. I think I have obtained a sight of the small live coal that made so much compromise smoke a few days since. There has been talk of a compromise, and I have no doubt there is a compromise sentiment in the Cabinet, and in the army, or rather a desire to arrange with the rebel States for a peaceful separation. Those entertaining this feeling sought to ascertain the public pulse, and they put out this compromise suggestion as a feeler -- very much as some good loyal men, acting under Gen. MCDOWELL's orders, send up rockets...

Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna have both said their two-dose vaccines are protective for at least six months

Welcome to The Bicycle Thread. A monthly PING List for bicycle enthusiasts to share experiences, information and ideas.

A Republican-led drive to recall California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, will go to a special vote on Sept. 14, the lieutenant governor declared on Thursday, shortly after the state's top election official certified the recall petition. The race to oust Newsom 2-1/2 years into his four-year term is shaping up to be chaotic, as several high-profile Republicans - including transgender celebrity Caitlyn Jenner - have said they will run to replace him.

When cruise ships depart from Florida’s ports in the coming months, some won’t require passengers to get the most effective pandemic life preserver there is — a Covid-19 vaccination. That’s because of new legislation Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed that bars businesses from requiring customers to show proof of vaccinations. The law goes into effect Thursday and opponents say it could threaten the recovery of an industry that is vital to the state’s economy, in addition to making it difficult for cruise ship companies to put some teeth into the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccination recommendations. At...

As parents across America take to school board meetings to challenge state-sanctioned racism being taught in schools, the National Education Association (NEA) wants them to know it’s just about had it with their interference. But it’s hard to swat away thousands of parents who refuse to capitulate when their children are at stake. So NEA has vowed to go after organizations that it believes are instigating the uprising. This strategy fundamentally misinterprets what’s going on in the nation’s school districts. It will fail. The issue, of course, is Critical Race Theory (CRT), sometimes called (as by the NEA) antiracism. The...

Former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) on Friday claimed that the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol was worse than the 2012 Benghazi attack. McCaskill said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that she does not want to “minimize the loss of life in Benghazi” but argued the Capitol riot was “more foundation-shaking to our democracy.” She noted that Benghazi had numerous investigations and called into question why Republicans are refusing to investigate the riot the same way they did Benghazi.

College athletes’ rights, including their economic rights, have long been denied. American college sports have existed under an antiquated and oft-changing definition of amateurism that requires athletes to forfeit any pay for their efforts on the field or court. Despite the revenue explosions in the industry, and the wealth flowing into athletics departments, amateurism has been the rule. Moreover, college athletes are also denied basic freedoms that most college students and Americans take for granted such as the right to protest under the First Amendment and the freedom to transfer between schools. However, the rules for American college sports are...

Amy Mek (@AmyMek) Tweeted: Islamic Attack: Jihadi Khaled Awad stabbed a Rabbi in Boston Awad is being charged with “assault and battery” not terrorism!? At what point will the Democrats be forced to address Islamic antisemitism? They seem way to busy creating fake “islamophobic” “hate crimes.”

When it comes to government control, there is usually a slippery slope into the depths of authoritarianism. Canadian Minister of Justice and Attorney General David Lametti recently introduced Bill C-36 to Parliament, titled "An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Canadian Human Rights Act and to make related amendments to another Act (hate propaganda, hate crimes and hate speech)." If the name was not obvious enough, this is code for censoring speech the Canadian government does not agree with. The bill, if passed, would allow the government to fine its own citizens for content that violates their definition...

According to city data, there have been 41 homicides in Minneapolis so far in 2021. That is a 46 percent increase on the number for the same period in 2020. It is more than double the average for the same period in the ten years from 2010 to 2019 — 16. Violent crimes more generally are up 29 percent for the period since the start of 2021 compared to the same period last year. Indeed, violent crime in this period of 2021 is up 44 percent from the average of the same period for the ten years from 2010 to...

Donald Trump has long claimed that investigations of him are a partisan “witch hunt.” Manhattan DA Cy Vance seems determined to make Trump’s point for him by indicting the Trump Organization along with its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg. The 15-count indictment throws a kitchen sink of charges, including grand larceny, conspiracy, scheme to defraud,and tax fraud. But the whole thing comes down to paying perks to Weisselberg — such as his parking garage fees, tuition for family members and reimbursement of holiday gratuities — and not reporting them as taxable income, or reporting that the wrong Trump entity paid...

On July 1, 2021, the Hennepin County District Court issued a Writ of Mandamus which orders the Minneapolis City Council and Mayor Jacob Frey to “immediately take any and all necessary action to ensure that they fund a police force” of at least 730 sworn officers, or more if required by the 2020 Census to be published later this year, by June 30, 2022. The City had projected that the Minneapolis Police Department would only have 669 sworn officers as of June 1, 2022, so the order requires the City to take strong, immediate measures to increase its hiring substantially...

Nowhere is the paranoia and overreaction to the (imaginary) threat posed by COVID's "Delta" variant more intense than in Australia, where tiny clusters of mostly mild COVID cases (most of which have reportedly been identified as instances of the Delta variant) have prompted another wave of lockdowns, involving not just Sydney (the island nation's most populous city), but six other cities encompassing half of the Australian population (more than 12MM people). The cities now under lockdown include: Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Darwin, Townsville and the Gold Coast. And on Wednesday, the outback town of Alice Springs also entered a snap lockdown...

The U.S. economy added 850,000 jobs in June as the pace of the recovery surged — quieting simmering fears, at least temporarily, of more lasting harm from labor and supply shortages. The unemployment rate changed little, ticking up to 5.9 percent from 5.8 percent. The news is likely to be seen as a good sign for the economy more than one year into the pandemic, after numerous wrinkles have emerged to complicate a labor recovery many hoped would be faster at this level of vaccinations. “It’s a pretty strong report,” said Kate Bahn, an economist at the Washington Center for...

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said Thursday that he had “never considered” switching his party affiliation to the Republicans, despite drawing ire from far-left Democrats over his opposition to scrapping the legislative filibuster. “If switching a party, or whether you have a ‘D’ by your name or an ‘R’ by your name changes who you are as a person, then you’re in the wrong profession, and it’s all about you and not about the oath you take to the office, the oath to the Constitution, to protect and defend,” Manchin told Fox News’ “Special Report”. “That shouldn’t be a party affiliation,...

First Friday Devotion “Behold this Heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming itself in order to testify to its love! And in return, I receive from the greater part only ingratitude, by their irreverence and sacrilege, and by the coldness and contempt they have for Me in this Sacrament of Love. … “I feel this more than all that I suffered during My Passion. If only they would make Me some return for My Love, I should think but little of all I have done for them and would wish, were...

Pope calls for an end to ‘intransigent defense of tradition’In his homily for the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, the Pope appeared to compare ‘rigid’ Catholics to St. Paul’s persecution of the ChurchVATICAN CITY, June 29, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — In his homily for the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, Pope Francis has once again launched an attack on so-called “rigid” Catholics, seemingly comparing them to the way St. Paul acted before his conversion, claiming that Paul was freed by God from his “rigid and inflexible” religious zeal.Pope Francis celebrated Mass in the Vatican today — with the largest...

As New York headed into the home stretch of last week's mayoral primary campaign, progressive New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg considered the prospect of a victory by Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president running as the most unabashedly pro-police, anti-crime candidate in the race. "For New York Democrats to choose a law-and-order mayor now," Goldberg wrote in the New York Times, "would be seen as a rebuke to progressives all over the country." Four days later, it appeared that Adams had come in first in the June 22 primary. The final tally hasn't been released, but it seems more...

Monty Watkins had just left the post office in Elk Grove Tuesday when he pulled up alongside another car and saw a Confederate flag flying on the dashboard. But that was not the only symbol he noticed. There was also an Elk Grove Unified School District logo. It was a district van.