Jilly_in_VA
Jilly_in_VA's JournalGrammatical pet peeves
There are some things that just grind my gears, yet they are so common, even in journalism, that they are almost standard today. I can't really tell you which is my no. 1, so I'll just list them in no particular order.
1. Could of, would of, should of. NO! It's could HAVE, would HAVE, should HAVE! I learned this in fourth grade, FFS!!! Where were you? This is just lazy.
2. "Here's what" to know. Grrr. Unnecessary verbiage, and silly besides. Either "What to know", which makes perfect sense and is concise and to the point, or "This is what to know," which is grammatically correct but unnecessary verbiage. "Here's what" is lazy.
3. What I call the "sportscaster glitch" because that's where I hear it most often, and usually (forgive me) from male sportscasters. The women don't seem to do it as much. "He ran such and such, did Lawrence," is my imperfect example, but anyone who's listened to or watched football or basketball has heard this absolutely cringey thing repeatedly.
Okay, what are yours? This is my diversionary tactic on a Monday morning.
Behind the Somali daycare panic is a mother-and-son duo angling to be top Maga influencers
YouTube influencer Nick Shirley, whose viral video alleging fraud by daycare centers servicing Minneapolis’s Somali American community came days ahead of the Trump administration’s declaration of a national funding freeze, has for years published conspiracy-minded takes on hot-button rightwing issues.
He also has close ties to the White House, Republicans, and to representatives of an earlier generation of rightwing partisan “ambush journalists” such as James O’Keefe. He worked with Minnesota Republicans to produce the viral video on Somali-run daycares.
Shirley has collaborated closely with his mother and fellow influencer Brooke Shirley, with the pair traveling together to flashpoints elevated by rightwing discourse online and in conservative media, and publishing across platforms including TikTok and YouTube.
Their US destinations have included the southern border, Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington, but they have also traveled overseas for big-ticket rightwing and anti-immigrant events including the Tommy Robinson-organized “Unite the Kingdom” rally last September.
Shirley’s videos frequently sensationalize conflict, or focus on street violence. The titles of recent videos include Dearborn Michigan has Fallen… Christians and Muslims Battle, Portland has Fallen… ANTIFA has Taken Control of City, and I Confronted Dangerous Migrant Scammers in NYC | Canal Street, the latter of which highlights a physical confrontation between Shirley and a street vendor in New York.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/10/nick-brooke-shirley-maga-influencer
What I said previously. He's just another O'Keefe wannabe. A mommy's boy too. Go to the link and look at the little slimeball's picture.
Just Another day in Shitler's America
I find it increasingly hard to get out of bed each day. I had the flu over Christmas and I still feel what my husband describes as "wimbly", so maybe that contributes to it, but I think 90% of it is pure depression. I just don't want to get up and face another day in this country. I don't want to look at what the orange asshole has done now. If I were younger I'd try to move somewhere else, maybe, but I'm too old now. I'm sad that I didn't go to Canada when I was in my 20s, no matter how cold it is there. Of I could have gone somewhere in the Caribbean, or even Mexico. Anywhere but here. I just don't want to be here any more, and each day I feel increasingly hopeless. If I could see an end to this, I might feel better, but I can't.
The Declaration of Independence
Here are the charges against King George III as set forth in the Declaration of Independence. See how many of them apply to Shitler and then think about whether we might need a SECOND American Revolution.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of [English] Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
How long
are we going to have to put up with Shitler's lawlessness? Are we just going to sit here and let him go ahead and continue to do things like kidnap the president of another country and threaten the territory of still another one? What is wrong with us? Are we going to continue to let what is now a demonstrable MINORITY run this country, or are we going to do something about it?
Preschool Teacher, 22, Arrested on TV After Condemning Trump
A preschool teacher was arrested on camera as soon as she finished a TV interview criticizing Donald Trump, fueling the debate over protest policing and free speech.
Jessica Plichta, 22, said she was the only person arrested among roughly 200 demonstrators at an anti-war protest in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Saturday, hours after Nicolas Maduro was detained in Caracas by the U.S. military.
In the broadcast footage, two officers could be seen approaching from behind as she wrapped her interview with WZZM, the city’s ABC affiliate, then escorted her away as she told them, “I am not resisting arrest.”
WZZM said an officer cited “obstructing a roadway and failure to obey a lawful command,” and that Plichta had been charged with failure to obey a lawful command.
Plichta later told Zeteo: “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that as soon as I finished an interview speaking on Venezuela, I was arrested.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-critic-arrested-on-camera-after-speaking-out-against-maduro-venezuela-capture/
Same excuses as the 1960s, only worse.
Claire's and The Original Factory Shop near collapse, putting 2,550 jobs at risk
The retailers Claire’s and The Original Factory Shop are on the brink of administration, putting 2,550 jobs at risk.
Both chains are owned by Modella Capital, a private equity firm, which recently bought the high street arm of WH Smith – renamed TG Jones. Modella said in a statement that the climate on UK high streets was “extremely challenging” and data suggested “an alarming drop-off in pre-Christmas footfall”.
It said administration was the “only option” for both Claire’s and The Original Factory Shop, and it had started insolvency proceedings for both chains
The investment group has 154 Claire’s stores after buying about half the UK chain from administrators in September last year. It is understood that the advisory firm Kroll is lined up to handle the proposed administration, which would affect about 1,350 jobs at the accessories and ear-piercing chain.
The 140-store cut-price homewares chain The Original Factory Shop, which was bought by Modella less than a year ago from the private equity group Duke Street Capital, has filed a notice with the high court to appoint administrators. About 1,200 jobs are at risk.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jan/05/claires-the-original-factory-shop-collapse-jobs-modella
I kind of hate this. I had the second piercing in my ears done at Claire's some 30 years ago. It was my reward for surviving my hysterectomy.
Minneapolis Hilton cancels ICE agents' hotel reservations
The Department of Homeland Security on Monday said a Hilton hotel canceled reservations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minnesota, where the Trump administration has deployed officers after allegations of fraud against Somali immigrants.
After ICE officers booked rooms using official government emails and rates, Hilton canceled their reservations, the department said in a post on X.
The department also posted screenshots of emails, in which the hotel’s operators said they had “noticed an influx of GOV reservations made today that have been for DHS”, and that they were not allowing any ICE agents to stay at the property.
In a statement, a Hilton spokesperson said the brand’s hotels “serve as welcoming places for all” and that the hotel that canceled the reservations was independently owned and operated. The cancellations “are not reflective of Hilton values”, the spokesperson said.
“We are investigating this matter with this individual hotel, and can confirm that Hilton works with governments, law enforcement and community leaders around the world to ensure our properties are open and inviting to everyone,” the spokesperson said.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/05/ice-hilton-minneapolis
Oh, give over, Hilton! I'm done with you anyway.
Well. it always has to be someone
There's a long-standing joke in my family that someone is always sick on holidays, especially Thanksgiving and Christmas. My daughter had strep on Thanksgiving, so I guess it was my turn to be sick for Christmas this year. And it's a besut, too...some kind of viral thing with cough, ears plugged up, runny nose, the works. Yesterday I didn't even get our of bed and couldn't indulge in one of my favorite sick day pleasures, which is reading. Today I am vertical but can't eat---food tastes yucky. So much for Christmas dinner! I will probably spend the day on the couch. The only thing I know for sure is that it's not flu or covid as I had my shots for both, so here's a big razzberry to RFK Jr. and may rats spit in his plum pudding!
US sees surge in violence against journalists under Trump, report says
The United States has seen a dramatic increase in violence against journalists since Donald Trump again took office.
Most of the reporters and photographers who were allegedly attacked by law enforcement officials were covering protests over the Trump administration’s efforts to deport undocumented immigrants, according to the Freedom of the Press Foundation, a non-profit that tracks such incidents.
The US press have suffered about as many assaults this year as in the previous three years combined, the organization states in a new report.
That rise is largely because whenever there is significant civil unrest, journalists cover it, which makes them more vulnerable to attacks. But anti-media rhetoric from the US president and other public leaders has also increased hostility towards journalists, which can lead to more violence, according to press freedom advocates and journalism researchers.
Trump has repeatedly lambasted the mainstream US media, baselessly accused it of lying about him and his policies and repeatedly insulted several journalists in public.
“When the president models ridicule and delegitimization, it signals to supporters that journalists are fair targets,” said Lars Willnat, a Syracuse University professor who has studied the impact of political polarization on perceptions of journalists. “That shift matters because violence becomes easier to justify once journalists are seen as political combatants rather than neutral observers.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/23/violence-against-journalists-increase-trump
Right out of the Nazi playbook
Profile Information
Gender: Do not displayHome country: USA currently
Current location: Virginia
Member since: Wed Jun 1, 2011, 06:34 PM
Number of posts: 13,829