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Morgan Spurlock, Documentarian Known for ‘Super Size Me,’ Dies at 53

Morgan Spurlock, a documentary filmmaker best known for the Oscar-nominated 2004 film “Super Size Me,” which followed him as he ate nothing but McDonald’s for 30 days, died on Thursday. He was 53.

His brother Craig Spurlock confirmed the death in a statement to The Associated Press, and said the cause was complications from cancer. The statement did not say where he died.

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So high doses of fast food causes cancer as well?

New York airport workers who refuel planes have planned Memorial Day weekend walkout

Passengers waiting to take off from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) this holiday weekend may have longer to wait until liftoff, as plane refueling workers are planning a strike to begin Friday. 

Teamsters Local 553, which represents commercial and cargo jet fuel workers and mechanics at JFK, is in disagreement with the company that services airplanes there, Allied Aviation Services, Fox News has confirmed. The New York Post first reported the planned walkout. 

The union, which previously went on strike in 2005, said in a press release it has been working without a collective bargaining agreement for nearly a year.

"This has been a coordinated effort by Allied at airports across the country, to have unions give up on this jurisdiction issue," Demopolos said. "They are trying to get other unions to give up their rights in exchange for a contract. They might have succeeded in some cities, but they failed against us at Newark, and they will fail again here at JFK."

Allied is the only fuel provider at JFK, the union said, making it the only company airlines can use there for services including receiving, delivering, storing and testing fuel.

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Reddit’s 'Squat Plug' Joke Is Now Google AI’s Fitness Advice

Google thinks people use butt plugs at the gym, because its AI was trained on Reddit ****posts.
 

When you become part of a community (or at least lurk in it long enough), you begin to learn that community’s inside jokes. Unless you are an AI, that is, because large language models are not programmed with a sense of humor. Google’s AI overview, trained as it is on Reddit user-generated content, has begun telling people to use sex toys to lift more in the gym. 

(The AI overview, which you may have noticed at the top of your search results lately, is a word salad drawn from the top results for your query. Sometimes it summarizes those results. Sometimes it gets them completely wrong. The AI overview used to be an opt-in feature, but it’s now available by default. You can turn it off (after searching) by clicking on the Web filter, or by adding udm=14 to the end of the URL.)

I search a lot of fitness-related topics, and I’ve noticed that the AI overview doesn’t always understand things correctly. It thinks a small wooden block under your heels is a replacement for a squat rack. But nothing compares to the laugh I had when I realized Google has fully bought into Reddit’s “squat plug” lore. Yes, it’s telling unsuspecting users—who are likely searching because they’re checking whether this is a joke—that people commonly prepare for a heavy squat by inserting a butt plug into their rectum.

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German politician's video of licking public toilets goes viral

Martin Neumaier, Germany’s politician, filmed himself licking public toilets of a railway station, as confirmed by the local media reports.

The Free Democratic Party (FDP) candidate for the district of Ostalb was seen putting his face inside the toilet and also licking toiletries including a brush present there, according to Times Now.

He also shared disturbing and explicit videos of himself doing sexual acts online.

In one clip, Neumaier was seen singing the Nazi-era German national anthem along with "m*********** rectally with a s** toy." Moreover, several videos of him have surfaced on social media and gone viral.

His act of licking the metal fittings of a urinal and a seated toilet received disgust by several users on social sites including German native speakers. Without describing much, Neumaier can be heard saying it was part of his "punishment” in the video.

He also made a mustache from feces while roleplaying as the former Chancellor Adolf Hitler in one more such footage. 

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You can find images of him covered in **** if you are so inclined to search for them.

NOAA issues its most severe May hurricane season forecast ever

The upcoming hurricane season is likely to be especially active due to factors including the return of La Nina and extremely warm waters in the Atlantic, NOAA forecasters announced Thursday.

The outlook amounted to the most severe the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has ever issued for the Atlantic basin in its May analysis, just ahead of the start of the season. 

The forecast for the season beginning June 1 and ending November 30 predicts 17-25 named storms, 8 to 13 hurricanes and 4-7 major hurricanes of Category 3 and above.

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Florida hearing in Trump classified documents case devolves into shouting match

During a marathon day of proceedings in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, a morning hearing in front of Judge Aileen Cannon devolved into a shouting match amongst the attorneys, and the afternoon series of arguments prompted the judge to wonder if the legal nuances of the case may be too difficult for jurors to understand.

The heated arguments played out in a morning proceeding in Fort Pierce, Florida, that had been scheduled for Walt Nauta, one of former President Donald Trump’s co-defendants, to present arguments that special counsel Jack Smith’s team had selectively and vindictively brought charges against him.

But the hearing quickly diverted into a longstanding disagreement over an August 2022 meeting between prosecutor Jay Bratt and Nauta’s defense attorney, Stanley Woodward. Woodward has claimed in court proceedings and filings that Bratt attempted to pressure him into convincing Nauta to cooperate against Trump by threatening to affect a potential judgeship nomination. Cannon did not issue a ruling from the bench on Nauta’s motion that the case be dismissed on those grounds.

Nor did Cannon rule on a motion she heard during an afternoon session Wednesday, brought by all three of the case’s defendants, who claimed that the indictment suffers technical flaws that required the dismissal of the charges.

Cannon seemed skeptical of those arguments, while also expressing concern about a jury’s ability to understand legal nuances in the case at a future trial.

“Real people have to decide these issues,” Cannon said.

Nauta claims that he was criminally charged in the case as retaliation for declining to cooperate with the Justice Department’s investigation into the former president’s retention of classified documents at his estate.

“I had been recommended for a judgeship, that’s beyond dispute,” Woodward said Wednesday. “There was a folder about defense counsel on the table” during that meeting, he said, claiming Bratt referenced that judgeship recommendation.

“I think the implication was that I was to travel and convince Mr. Nauta to cooperate with the investigation, and if I didn’t that, there would be consequences,” Woodward said.

Prosecutor David Harbach then rose and accused Woodward of engaging in “procedural gamesmanship” by making a “garbage argument” about the meeting.

“Mr. Woodward’s story of what happened at that meeting is a fantasy,” Harbach shouted, banging his hand on the lectern in front of him. “It did not happen.”

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In related news...

Trump supporters are now sending threatening letters to get people to vote for him

“We see you haven’t voted yet. Your voting record is public,” a recent mailer to Texas Republicans says. “Your neighbors are watching and will know if you miss this critical runoff election. We will notify President Trump if you don’t vote. You can’t afford to have that on your record.”

The mailer, which says it was sent by “The America First Conservatives Election Department,” showed up to voters leading up to the state’s May 28 primary election. Trump is likely to win the primary regardless – his opponents have all dropped out of the primary – but the mailer still strikes an ominous tone.

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Stunning Lawsuit Accuses Texas Election Officials of Failing to Protect Ballot Secrecy — And Now the Texas GOP Chair’s Ballot Has Been Leaked

The eyes of Texas were upon the ballots cast by several high-profile Texas politicians on Wednesday, after documents were leaked related to a stunning lawsuit accusing state election officials of failing to properly protect ballot secrecy. The leak included the purported ballot for the chairman of the Republican Party of Texas (RPT) — catching him in a lie about how he voted in the presidential primary.

The 77-page complaint was filed by an elections security researcher who lives in Williamson County, Texas and four other Texas voters, two of whom also live in Williamson County, one from Bell County, and one from Llano County. Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson, Director of the Division of Elections Christina Adkins, and the county election administrators for Williamson, Bell, and Llano Counties are named as defendants, accused of “willful and systematic disregard of election laws” that put at risk the secrecy of potentially millions of ballots cast by Texans in recent elections.

The complaint describes the plaintiffs as all “consistent voters” who “voted in the most recent Texas elections in November 2023 and March 2024,” but either do not qualify to vote by mail under Texas law or prefer to vote in person.

This is an issue, the complaint explains, because the state has an interest in “preventing, detecting, and punishing fraud and ensuring the integrity of Texas elections,” as enshrined in the Texas Constitution and Texas Election Code, but the way some counties treat in-person voters fails to protect ballot secrecy:

Quote

Texans who vote by mail receive a consecutively-numbered paper ballot that preserves that secrecy. However, many Texans who vote in person, including Plaintiffs, have no choice but to use paper ballots that lack consecutive numbers. Instead, the paper ballots Plaintiffs have been required to utilize at the polls contain computer-generated randomly assigned unique identifier “ballot tracking” numbers, which do not comply with Texas law and, importantly, do not preserve the secrecy of Plaintiffs’ ballots, as described more fully herein. As a result, Plaintiffs are relegated to a class of in-person voters whose votes are neither assured secrecy nor protected from being undermined, diluted and debased by lawlessness and fraud.

A substantial section of the complaint details the various technology for the electronic poll books, electronic voting machines, and software used in the affected counties, and how “unique identifier ballot numbers” are printed on every in-person ballot cast therein, resulting in an actual ballot being traceable back to the actual name of the voter who cast it.

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RFK Jr. Is Even Crazier Than You Might Think

He’s a conspiracy theorist who has made a lot of money pushing baseless or disproven notions about vaccines, Covid, and other hot-button subjects. At the start of his 2024 presidential bid, the media reported his history as a disinformationalist on multiple fronts. Yet now he’s largely covered as another character in the ongoing presidential horse race.

Most of the recent stories about him focus on his standing in the polls, what voters he’s attracting, and speculation regarding his potential impact on the outcome. In such pieces, his extreme conspiracism is often not conveyed fully and sometimes not even mentioned. A recent Washington Post story on Kennedy family members endorsing President Joe Biden noted in mild fashion that  RFK Jr. “has embraced controversial, unfounded claims on issues including vaccines and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.” A Wall Street Journal article on chaos within his campaign merely said Kennedy “has promoted conspiracy theories—in particular on vaccines—and espouses political views from across the spectrum.” A New York Times piece referred to him as a “vaccine skeptic” who has promoted “vaccine misinformation and conspiracy theories about the government.”

Those descriptions of Kennedy do not do him justice. He is much further around the bend than they indicate. With his advancement of unhinged and outlandish conspiracy theories, RFK Jr. is in the league of Alex Jones. There’s at least one difference. While Jones comes across as a shameless charlatan grifting his audience, Kennedy does seem to fervently believe the dark nonsense he spews. That makes him particularly dangerous, not merely because he may influence a critical election but because his presidential run is something of a super-spreader event for false information, lies, and paranoia. 

One could spend countless hours examining and countering the long list of hair-raising and unsubstantiated allegations Kennedy, once known mainly as an environmental lawyer, has peddled over the years in books, interviews, articles, and public appearances. But I took a deep dive into one that serves as an example of how far out-of touch from reality he can be—and how far he will go to twist the truth to serve his ideology of conspiracy. 

In May 2022—about a year before he announced his presidential bid—Kennedy appeared on the podcast of comedian and reality TV star Theo Von, a recurring guest on Joe Rogan’s podcast, and he presented a harrowing tale: A global elite led by the CIA had been planning for years to use a pandemic to end democracy and impose totalitarian control on the entire world. He claimed to have proof: the ominous-sounding Event 201.

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🎶And the worms ate into his brain...🎶

45 House Democrats Call On Samuel Alito To Recuse Himself From Jan. 6 Cases

More than 40 House Democrats are calling on Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito to recuse himself from cases involving the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection over the display of an upside-down U.S. flag at the conservative justice’s home shortly after the attack on Congress occurred.

In a letter addressed to Alito and obtained by HuffPost, Reps. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), and 43 other House Democrats argued that the presence of the upside-down flag ― a symbol of the “Stop the Steal” movement opposing Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory ― revealed political bias and requires the justice to recuse from pending cases relating to the Jan. 6 riot.

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Only 43?  That's weaksauce.  They should have a full roster.  

9 minutes ago, CousinsCowgirl84 said:

I am sure they are. I assume the rebuilt bridge will feature high design and not just utilitarian.  

New design for collapsed Baltimore bridge unveiled

A new design for the collapsed Baltimore bridge has been unveiled.

The first proposal for a replacement bridge sees a wider span and improved clearance height to minimize the chance of collision.

Italian design firm Carlo Ratti Associati (CRA), has worked together with structural engineer Michel Virlogeux and international construction group Webuild on the reconstruction proposal for the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

The expanse collapsed on March 26 when the container ship MV Dali struck one of its piers.

In a proposal letter to the US Secretary of State for Transportation, the Governor of Maryland, and the Director of the Maryland Port Administration, Webuild CEO Pietro Salini wrote: "We at Webuild and our US subsidiary Lane are ready to make ourselves available, to quickly restore this strategic bridge for local mobility.

"We will take part in the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA)’s Virtual Industry Forum for the reconstruction of the bridge, and we are ready to help in any way we can at this stage in the spirit of pro bono service."

The design, which follows a cable-stayed approach, improves several functional characteristics of the old bridge to enhance safety and long-term adaptability.

By enlarging the bridge’s main span from 1,200 ft to 2,230 ft (700 m), the primary support pillars will be situated in very shallow water (a depth of approximately 23 ft), well away from the navigation channel used by large vessels.

The design also increases clearance from 185 ft to 230 ft (70 m), in accordance with the shipping industry’s latest standards and enables the Port of Baltimore to remain a major international harbor in the years to come.

The concept also proposes a larger roadway, with a new lane added in each direction, to accommodate increased vehicle capacity, addressing the high traffic levels across the bridge.

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A Second Dairy Worker Has Contracted Bird Flu, C.D.C. Reports

A farmworker in Michigan has been diagnosed with bird flu, state officials announced on Wednesday, making it the second human case associated with the outbreak in cows.

Officials said that the individual became infected with the virus, called H5N1, after exposure to infected livestock. The individual had only mild symptoms and has fully recovered, officials said. They did not provide additional details in order to protect the privacy of the farm and farmworker, they said.

In 2022, a person in Colorado with direct exposure to infected poultry became the first confirmed human case of H5N1 in the United States. 
 

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One Dead and Dozens Injured After ‘Extreme Turbulence’ on Flight

A 73-year-old man from Britain died and dozens of people were injured after a plane encountered “sudden extreme turbulence” about 10 hours into a flight from London to Singapore, officials said on Tuesday.

The plane, a Boeing 777-300ER operated by Singapore Airlines, was diverted to Bangkok, the airline said in a statement, and landed at 3:45 p.m. local time on Tuesday.

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Trump Adviser Scanned and Saved Contents of Box That Had Classified Docs: Report

An unnamed witness, reportedly an adviser to Donald Trump, scanned the contents of a box that had contained classified documents, and saved those digital files to her laptop, which belongs to a political action committee which pays Donald Trump’s legal expenses.

The stunning revelation was tucked away in the footnote of an 87-page court document unsealed by U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell on Tuesday, in response to a separate filing in which Trump’s attorneys are claiming prosecutorial misconduct, according to Politico’s Kyle Cheney who reported the details.

The filing revealed that at least four more classified documents had been found at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and resort, in his bedroom, even after FBI agents executed and completed a search warrant months earlier, in August of 2022.

Judge Howell, Politico reports, “noted that [a] Trump adviser connected to his Save America PAC had acknowledged scanning the contents of the box that contained the classified materials in 2021 and storing them on a personal laptop provided by the PAC.”

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But, by all means, indefinitely delay Trump's trial for stealing these documents.   The failure of our criminal justice system with regard to holding Trump accountable is criminal.

1 hour ago, Long n Left said:

My favored expression:

 

It amazes me how (said person) makes it through a day without sticking a fork in their eye.

Ex-Overstock CEO ‘once again violated’ protective order hours after hearing to disqualify ‘Kraken’ lawyer, Dominion tells judge

After a U.S. magistrate judge warned that a disqualification hearing would not be moved again, a “Kraken” lawyer facing multiple felony charges in Michigan showed up to court last Thursday in Washington, D.C., and made her best pitch for remaining on Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit after a massive discovery breach. Just hours later, Stefanie Lambert’s client, former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne, “appears” to have “once again violated” the protective order, a Dominion lawyer has since informed the judge.

Dominion attorney Davida Brook told U.S. Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya on Monday that Byrne, who was ordered to appear in person for last week’s hearing and was pressed along with his lawyer on whether he understood the protective order, apparently “used X to further disseminate the impermissibly leaked documents” from Dominion discovery that led to the plaintiff’s motion to disqualify Lambert from the case.

“On May 16, 2024, the same day as this Court’s most recent hearing on Dominion’s Emergency Motion, third party Patrick Colbeck, through the X.com account @pjcolbeck, published a string of posts promoting false claims about the Dominion documents Mr. Byrne and Ms. Lambert leaked, and attaching screenshots of what appear to be certain impermissibly leaked documents,” the Dominion filing said. “A few hours later, at 1:45 AM ET on May 17, Defendant Byrne, through his account @PatrickByrne, used X’s ‘quote’ function to repost one of Mr. Colbeck’s posts to Mr. Byrne’s hundreds of thousands of followers.”

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You wonder how these people can take care of everyday tasks like bathing and feeding themselves (let alone holding down a job) when they clearly have significant brain damage.

So what is the penalty if he violates this agreement?  Anything?  Obviously there's no point in financial penalties as he's already declared bankruptcy and can't pay what he owes.  Are criminal penalties on the table?  Can he be jailed?

Atlanta officer accused of killing Lyft driver allegedly said victim was ‘gay fraternity’ recruiter

An Atlanta police officer who shot and killed a Lyft driver who was driving him home was arrested and charged with murder, authorities said.

Koby Minor, 34, was being held without bond after his arrest early Wednesday in Union City, an Atlanta suburb, according to Fulton County Jail records. The slain man was 35-year-old Reginald Folks, of Atlanta, the county medical examiner’s office said.

A woman who stopped her car when she saw Minor waving for help after the shooting told Union City police Minor told her that the Lyft driver “is in a gay fraternity and was trying to recruit” him and that he thought he was being kidnapped, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by WSB-TV.

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10 minutes ago, Larry said:

 

I'm reluctant to click the link.  

 

 

It's not a link to a Russian site.  It's a link to a Daily Beast article.

Ship that caused deadly Baltimore Key bridge collapse towed to port

Recovery teams have refloated and begun towing the cargo vessel that crashed into a bridge in the United States city of Baltimore in March, bringing down the span and killing six people.

Live television images of the operation on Monday morning showed a flotilla of tugboats pushing and towing the MV Dali away from the remains of the shattered Francis Scott Key Bridge and towards a marine terminal.

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'A lot of sweating, it's really hot' | Lazybrook, Timbergrove residents remain without power days after storm hit

Several communities in the Houston area are approaching five days without power after last Thursday's destructive and deadly wind storm. 

"We're still all in the dark," Danecia Sellers said.

Sellers lives in the Timbergrove neighborhood. She and other families in her community watched the forest around them come crashing down during the storm.

"The trees were going swoosh, swoosh," said Sellers. "It was so scary. The cats came shooting in. I said shut the door, shut the door. It gave me heart palpitations. I've been through hurricanes, but that was very different."

A lot of those trees fell on roofs and power lines that crews are still working to assess and repair. 

"A lot of sweating, it's really hot," Sellers said. 

Not too far from Seller's home, Sharon Williams returned home hoping the power was back on.

"Nope, no power in here," said Williams. 

Frustration continues to build among neighbors. 

"The freeze was bad, but this is crazy," said Williams. "It's 95 degrees. We're 4 days without power."

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Man Nicknamed ‘Live Wire’ Pleads Guilty, Faces 6-Year Prison Stretch For Capitol Police Assault Plot On Jan 6

A Kentucky man, known online as “Live Wire,” and allegedly linked to a far-right militia group, has confessed to scheming to harm police officers during the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.

Confronted with an overwhelming abundance of evidence, Dan Edwin Wilson, 48, of Louisville, pleaded guilty to conspiring to obstruct or injure a federal officer, as well as federal firearms offenses for possessing an unregistered firearm, the Justice Department announced Monday.

Prosecutors revealed Wilson’s premeditated plans dating back to winter 2020, using encrypted apps to organize violence. Referring to himself as a “gray ghost ranger” and hinting at militia ties, he discussed bringing firearms to D.C. for potential government takeovers.

Days before the attack, Wilson pledged allegiance to the cause: “I am ready to lay my life on the line. It is time for good men to do bad things.”

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Exclusive-Donald Trump foreign policy advisers met Israeli PM Netanyahu, source says

Three former U.S. foreign policy officials in Donald Trump's administration met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other public figures in Israel on Monday, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

The delegation was comprised of Robert O'Brien, who served as Trump's fourth and final national security adviser, as well as former Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates John Rakolta and former Ambassador to Switzerland Ed McMullen, said the person, who requested anonymity as the trip's itinerary was not public.

In addition to Netanyahu, members of the delegation were set to meet with Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid and several other Israeli officials, the person said.

Among the main goals of the trip was to obtain a better understanding of Israel's complex domestic political situation, said the person familiar with the visit. Netanyahu's coalition is beset by internal disagreements, with many Israelis blaming his government for failing to prevent an Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

It was a rare case of Trump allies traveling abroad as part of an organized delegation to meet foreign officials. It took place amid strains between Israel and the Biden administration about Israel's conduct of the war in Gaza.

On Monday, the International Criminal Court's prosecutor in The Hague said he had requested arrest warrants for Netanyahu, his defense chief and three Hamas leaders over alleged war crimes.

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