Despite continuous prime-time attention by a fawning media, Chris Christie fails to sell over 2,500 copies of his book

Ex-New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is best known for three things:

Closing Island Beach State Park during a government shutdown then taking an expensive taxpayer-funded family holiday there.
His disastrous handling of the deadly lane closure of the George Washington Bridge, which he is suspected of ordering to exact revenge on a mayor who didn't support his reelection bid.
Running against Trump by declaring him unfit to lead (January 4, 2016: "Showtime is over. We are not electing an entertainer-in-chief. Showmanship is fun, but it is not the kind of leadership that will truly change America." and becoming an embarrassing Trump sycophant after failing in the primary (February 26, 2016: "There is no one better prepared to provide America with the strong leadership that it needs both at home and around the world than Donald Trump.".
You'd think Christie would be a pariah, but for some reason the news channels like to bring this unsavory Tony Soprano-esque character on their shows and act like he's some kind of respected statesman. For the last few weeks it's been impossible to turn on the TV and not see Christie fibbing about, denying, and backpedaling on every terrible thing he's said and done for the last ten years. But despite the countless hours of free promotion for his new book, he's only managed to sell 2,300 copies in its first week, making it clear that no one but the news netoworks thinks this double-talking know-it-all is worth anything other than making fun of.

https://boingboing.net/2021/11/29/despite-continuous-prime-time-attention-by-a-fawning-media-chris-christie-fails-to-sell-over-2500-copies-of-his-book.html

Prosecutors have accused former President Donald Trump's ex-adviser Steve Bannon of attempting to try his criminal case through the media instead of in court and have asked a judge to limit what Bannon can release publicly throughout the case, according to a new filing in DC District Court.

Bannon is trying to convince a judge not to bar him and his lawyers from sharing documents he receives from the Justice Department with the public before his trial.
The DOJ prosecutors said in the filing Sunday some of those records must stay private while the case is pending, because they include internal communications between congressional staffers and notes of FBI interviews with witnesses who could testify against Bannon at trial.

"Allowing the defendant to publicly disseminate reports of witness statements will have the collateral effect of witness tampering because it will expose witnesses to public commentary on their potential testimony before trial and allow a witness to review summaries of other witnesses' statements recounting the same event or events," the prosecutors wrote on Sunday.

Bannon is charged with two counts of contempt of Congress for failing to testify and turn over documents in response to a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack at the US Capitol. He has pleaded not guilty. The defense team and prosecutors are set to be back in court on December 7, when they'll talk about a trial date and potentially discuss confidentiality issues in the case again.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/29/politics/department-of-justice-steve-bannon-court-filing/index.html

President Joe Biden, his appointees and Democratic surrogates have worked to reassure us that passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill is critical to our post-pandemic recovery, but a crucial part of the law addresses something that plagued our nation well before Covid-19: the college-is-for-everyone fantasy.

A vital part of this bill, as Biden noted in a recent speech, includes creating sorely needed jobs in communities across the country. But to fill those jobs, we must collectively change our psyche and fundamentally shift how we think about the role of education and entry into the workforce. Why? Because many of the jobs supported by the infrastructure bill — jobs in fields like construction, carpentry and plumbing — don’t require a four-year college degree.

So the big question we have to answer is: What messages are our kids getting about the value of a college education? Perhaps more importantly: What messages are we — parents, teachers and mentors — giving them when it comes to their future in the workforce?

If you were to stop a group of students on the street and ask them if a college degree is necessary to secure a successful career path in this country, the answer is likely to be yes. Interestingly, just how often can depend on the group’s demographics. A recent Washington Post-Ipsos poll found that “minority teens are more likely than white teens to say graduating from college is important to them.” While 73 percent and 59 percent of Asian and Black teenagers, respectively, believe the cost of higher education is worth the sacrifice, only 55 percent of their white counterparts agree with this sentiment.

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/politics-policy/college-myth-biden-bipartisan-infrastructure-bill-rcna6710

Within hours of former congressman Beto O’Rourke announcing his intent to run for governor of Texas against incumbent Greg Abbott, the Republican party apparatus began tweeting about “Robert Francis O’Rourke.”

It harkened back to the days the GOP referred to “Barack Hussein Obama”. But instead of suggesting to the American people that Obama might be some kind of foreigner, the recent GOP maneuver has the opposite goal: reminding voters of O’Rourke’s all-American, all Anglo pedigree.

“Robert Francis O’Rourke thinks it is ‘dangerous’ for you to have a gun to defend yourself,” Abbott tweeted of the Democrat on his campaign account after the acquittal of murder suspect Kyle Rittenhouse in Wisconsin. “Texans know that self-defense is a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution. We won’t let dangerous progressive policies hijack your God-given rights.”

It should be an interesting maneuver by Abbott who, pre-O’Rourke, was waging an aggressive anti-immigrant campaign that many view as anti-Hispanic. Now, with O’Rourke in the race, Abbott appears to be following the Ted Cruz campaign model of trying to appeal to Hispanic sentiment by accusing the Democratic challenger of cultural appropriation.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/nov/29/beto-o-rourke-greg-abbott-texas-governor
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But narya word about their own Rafael E. Cruz?

Throughout 2021, websites associated with far-right extremist groups and extremist-friendly platforms and hosts have suffered from data leaks and breaches that have exposed the inner workings of far-right groups, and the nature of the movement as a whole.

The data has been exfiltrated in breaches engineered by so-called “ethical hackers” – often assisted by poor security practices from website administrators – and by activists who have penetrated websites in search of data and information.

Experts and activists say that attacks on their online infrastructure is likely to continue to disrupt and hamper far-right groups and individuals and makes unmasking their activities far more likely – often resulting in law enforcement attention or loss of employment.

Numerous far-right groups have suffered catastrophic data breaches this year, in perhaps a reflection of a lack of technical expertise among such activists. Jim Salter, a systems administrator and tech journalist, said: “Extremists, and extremist-friendly entities, have a noticeable shortage of even-tempered, thoughtful people doing even-tempered, thoughtful work at securing sites and managing personnel.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/29/far-right-extremist-groups-data-breach-hackers

What do China, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have in common? The answer might not be as obvious as you think. But all three countries are accused of human rights violations, and all three are also playing host to some of the largest and most lucrative sporting events in the world.

China is hosting the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Qatar is putting on next year's soccer World Cup and Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in staging high-profile, international sporting events.

But human rights organizations and others have been voicing concerns that behind this seemingly innocuous trend is a concerted effort by these and other nations to use sports as a way to cover up their poor human rights records.

"They are using and increasingly seeing sport as an opportunity to launder their image," Felix Jakens, Amnesty International UK's head of campaigns, told NPR.

The human rights group even uses a recent term to describe this practice: "sportswashing."

https://www.npr.org/2021/11/29/1058048696/saudi-arabia-formula-1-china-olympics-human-rights-sports

When British Prime Minister Boris Johnson attended the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow last week, he was a man of contradictions. He condemned delegates by saying current targets for the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)—a catchall term for green, renewable jet fuels used in airplanes—were “pathetic.” He called on world leaders to do more to move the aviation industry away from fossil fuels and aggressively adopt SAFs.

And yet he opted to fly to and from the meeting, even though he could have taken the train, a greener transportation option.

Inadvertently, Johnson’s actions were characteristic of the SAF market, which is full of its own contradictions. Although the technology and wherewithal to produce SAF exists today, a lack of government incentives has led producers to hold back on production because of lean profit margins, hindering what could be an easy solution for airlines to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

The world certainly wants SAFs to grow. On Wednesday, more than 23 countries attending the UN’s COP26 climate conference signed a declaration calling for the aviation sector to be carbon-neutral by 2050—including through the use of renewable fuels. U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced the U.S. would pledge $200 million “to advance aviation technologies that will reduce fuel use, emissions and noise… Our view is that just like vehicles on the ground, the future of aviation is a sustainable one.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/sustainable-aviation-fuel-could-make-air-travel-carbon-neutral?ref=home

The other week, Dave Portnoy, the founder and chief of content of the sports blog Barstool Sports, did what he and fans of his site always do: ratcheted up an online spat to a fever pitch, transforming their collective rage at a perceived enemy into content. Even if it meant leaning into the type of social-media harassment and misogyny that Barstool is infamous for.

This particular roiling conflict dates back to October 2017, when ESPN announced it would be bringing in two Barstool personalities, Eric “PFT Commenter” Sollenberger and Dan “Big Cat” Katz, as hosts of a televised version of their wildly popular Barstool podcast, Pardon My Take. Sam Ponder, the host of ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown, was less than thrilled.

She tweeted out screenshots of a 2014 Barstool blog post in which Portnoy called her a “BIBLE THUMPING FREAK” whose primary job requirement was to “make men hard.” In a podcast that same week, Portnoy went on a rant while Katz egged him on, calling Ponder a “fucking slut” who should “sex it up and be slutty” instead of talking about being a working mother. ESPN canceled the TV show, Barstool Van Talk, after one episode, thanks in part to an internal pushback by more than a few ESPN employees, according to Sports Illustrated.

On Sept. 11, Ponder added a new allegation: Portnoy had said in a video that her daughter should have been aborted. Further, she claimed to have never wanted the network to pull the plug and was willing to make an appearance on their now-canceled show. Portnoy vehemently denies ever having made the abortion comment—though he and Katz admit they made disparaging remarks about Ponder’s daughter—and both Katz and Sollenberger insist Ponder had no interest in speaking with them and very much wanted their show gone.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-barstool-sports-culture-of-online-hate-they-treat-sexual-harassment-and-cyberbullying-as-a-game?ref=home

Alex Jones is standing next to a heap of concrete slabs. There’s one piece jutting out, to eye-level with his squat frame. Jones puts a hand on it. This is “monument to the wreckage of the police state,” he tells the camera.

“Welcome to the New World Order.”

It’s the year 2000. Seven years earlier, on the exact spot where Jones is ranting to camera, federal agents moved in on the Mount Carmel Center. Inside were 100 members of the Branch Davidian cult. The results were a disaster.

The Branch Davidians, led by their prophet David Koresh, swore they would not be taken alive, and they lived up to the promise: 82 members of the sect died during the standoff and ensuing raid.

Jones, who was until recently a marginal and out-of-work radio host in Austin, was visiting the former site of the compound, just outside of Waco, Texas to shoot a documentary for his fledgling online media network.

From behind black sunglasses, he nods to the industrial carnage: “They always destroy the evidence and don’t let locals in to document anything. What do they have to hide?”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-a-crazy-plan-to-rebuild-waco-compound-gave-us-alex-jones?ref=home
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Very long, but fascinating, article on the conspiracies that led up to Alex Jones. Very well done, IMNSHO.

In yet another sign of an apparently fracturing QAnon movement, extremist attorney and QAnon conspiracy acolyte Lin Wood is now claiming that the “stop the steal” campaign alleging voter fraud in the presidential election is a concoction of the “deep state.”

“After doing the research and connecting the dots, I have reached the conclusion that the Stop the Steal organization is a Deep State organization to raise money for purposes other than to FIX 2020. … WATCH OUT for anyone affiliated with Stop the Steal. Every lie will be revealed,” Wood wrote on the right-wing social media platform Telegram on Friday, Rolling Stone reported.

Wood has been one of the biggest proponents of the baseless claim that the presidential election was rigged against Donald Trump.

The bizarre development comes after Kyle Rittenhouse, who was acquitted last week of killing two people at a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin last year, has publicly criticized Wood, who was Rittenhouse’s first attorney.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lin-wood-qanon-kyle-rittenhouse-insane-critics-stop-the-steal_n_61a2d78be4b0ae9a42af32f2
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The wackadoodles have completely lost the thread......