April 23, 2024

THE NFL IS ONCE AGAIN SEEKING TO TANK ITS OWN REPUTATION: NFL Funded Left-Wing Group Bailing Out Anti-Israel Bridge Blockers.

Community Justice Exchange set up a “bail and legal defense fund” for those arrested during last week’s A15 protests. The protests targeted major airports, highways, and bridges in dozens of U.S. cities including San Francisco, Chicago, New York City, and Philadelphia. Their explicit goal was to disrupt economic “choke points” to maximize financial disruption, as explained on their website.

The online fundraiser, hosted by ActBlue and organized in conjunction with A15 Action, told donors that the funds will “support community members who are criminalized in the U.S. for their solidarity with Palestine.”

As an official “Inspire Change” partner, the Community Justice Exchange received grants and publicity in its work “to end money bail and pre-trial detention at the local level and immigration detention at the national level.” The NFL’s partnership with the Community Justice Exchange was last extended in June 2022, according to an announcement from the league. The league touted the left-wing group’s “work with organizers, advocates, and legal providers across the country that are using community bail funds as part of efforts to radically change local bail systems and reduce incarceration.” The grants went toward “coordinating and supporting the 100+ local protest to bail funds and a centralized rapid response fund to support those protesting for racial justice.”

The partnership appears to have since lapsed—the nonprofit wasn’t on the list of grantees announced in May 2023. The NFL’s “Inspire Change” website lists Community Justice Exchange under “Previous Grant Recipients” and still includes a link to the group’s website.

The NFL did a pretty good job over the past couple of seasons to minimize its Trump-era days of peak-wokeness. However, the above news sounds like that was simply a smokescreen to placate its fans on the right-hand side of the stadium.  And it’s a reminder that Pete Rozelle left the building a very long time ago, indeed.

Posted at 6:00 pm by Ed Driscoll

IN PRAISE OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS. “Acknowledging the people whose way of life we have appropriated.”

Posted at 5:00 pm by Glenn Reynolds

SAD: Jerry Seinfeld Says the ‘Movie Business Is Over’ and ‘Film Doesn’t Occupy the Pinnacle in the Cultural Hierarchy’ Anymore: ‘Disorientation Replaced’ It.

Jerry Seinfeld is finally a movie director with the upcoming premiere of his feature debut “Unfrosted.” Backed by Netflix, the star-studded comedy is a fictional account of the creation of Pop-Tarts toaster pastries. In a new interview with GQ magazine, Seinfeld reflected on his experience jumping into moviemaking for the first time so late in his career.

“It was totally new to me. I thought I had done some cool stuff, but it was nothing like the way these people work,” Seinfeld said. “They’re so dead serious! They don’t have any idea that the movie business is over. They have no idea.”

Asked to elaborate on a more serious note, Seinfeld continued: “Film doesn’t occupy the pinnacle in the social, cultural hierarchy that it did for most of our lives. When a movie came out, if it was good, we all went to see it. We all discussed it. We quoted lines and scenes we liked. Now we’re walking through a fire hose of water, just trying to see.”

So what, if anything, has replaced film? “Depression? Malaise? I would say confusion. Disorientation replaced the movie business,” he answered. “Everyone I know in show business, every day, is going, ‘What’s going on? How do you do this? What are we supposed to do now?’”

There’s no secret to good storytelling. Give audiences flawed but admirable heroes they can identify with, and then put them through hell on the way to victory.

It seems impossible that Hollywood can’t — or won’t — remember that simple lesson, but here we are.

Posted at 1:44 pm by Stephen Green

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD ONCE AGAIN DOING STRAIGHT UP REPORTAGE:

And as Jonathan Turley writes: “Deactivated:” Columbia Reportedly Blocks Jewish Professor from Access to Campus.

Meanwhile, it’s back to the (virtual) bunkers for the rest of the students and faculty there, as the demons of 1933 and 2020 converge: Columbia University faces calls for tuition refunds as school moves to hybrid classes for rest of semester in wake of anti-Israel protests.

Exit question:

Posted at 1:22 pm by Ed Driscoll

IT HAD A REALLY GOOD RUN: After 48 years, Zilog is killing the classic standalone Z80 microprocessor chip. “Last week, chip manufacturer Zilog announced that after 48 years on the market, its line of standalone DIP (dual inline package) Z80 CPUs is coming to an end, ceasing sales on June 14, 2024. The 8-bit Z80 architecture debuted in 1976 and powered a small-business-PC revolution in conjunction with CP/M, also serving as the heart of the Nintendo Game Boy, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, the Radio Shack TRS-80, the Pac-Man arcade game, and the TI-83 graphing calculator in various forms.”

The faster eZ80 — introduced more than 20 years ago — remains in production.

Incredible.

Posted at 12:42 pm by Stephen Green

SKYNET SMILES, KNOWING THAT THE TERMINATOR FINALLY HAS A BEST FRIEND TO ROMP AROUND WITH: Watch: Flamethrowing robot dog goes on sale.

A US company has built a flamethrowing robot dog that is available for purchase online.

Called the Thermonator, the four-legged robot comes equipped with an ARC Flamethrower mounted on its back, which is capable of shooting jets of fire up to 30 feet.

Designed by Ohio-based firm Throwflame, the $9,420 (£7,600) robot is not advertised as a weapon, with the manufacturer suggesting possible uses include wildlife control, snow and ice removal and general entertainment.

Throwflame described its creation as the world’s first-ever flamethrowing quadruped robot dog, capable of delivering “on-demand fire anywhere”.

What could possibly go wrong?!

Posted at 12:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

IT’S COME TO THIS:

Posted at 12:00 pm by Glenn Reynolds