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Friday’s Forum
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26 responses to “Friday’s Forum”
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Looks like Paxton and Talarico are pretty much tied in the polls. I’m a little more optimistic.
https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/senate/general/2026/texas/paxton-vs-talarico
And from the prediction markets: 50-50
https://kalshi.com/markets/senatetx/texas-senate-race/senatetx-26
https://polymarket.com/event/texas-senate-election-winner
Side comment: Did the academic experiment Iowa Electronic Markets lead to Kalshi and Polymarket? What hath they wrought?
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What we were doing to the Russians in Ukraine is now being done to us:
It could take the US military 3 years to restock its missile defenses
Since the war with Iran began in February, U.S. forces in the Middle East have burned through their supply of ground-based air defense missiles to fend off Iranian attacks.
Now the U.S. military could need about three years — and possibly longer — to restock its inventory of Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, missiles to pre-war levels, experts told Task & Purpose.
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Meanwhile, Russia is hitting Ukraine with increasing numbers of ballistic missiles (126 so far in July), and China appeared to ramp up missile production last year by the most since Xi Jinping became president in 2013.
Just restocking the U.S. missile defenses could leave us well behind in 3 years.
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I and many others would be glad to have something extraordinary occur to enliven our daily lives. Thus, I was quite interested to see a headline saying that Ross Douhat and JD Vance saw a miracle. https://www.rawstory.com/amp/conservative-new-60-minutes-hire-details-divine-intervention-with-jd-vance-at-a-bar-2677287447
Howver, the miracle turned out to be rather quoditian. No healing of a leper, no restoring the sight of a blind person, no turning aside of an avalanche from a village. A glass fell off a shelf and broke. I’m going to need something more spectacular to quiet my doubts.-
I assume they took that as confirmation of their correctness, but why would you do that other than motivated reasoning? Wouldn’t the Holy Spirit miraculously refill their beer (via a “this one’s on the house guys” friendly bartender no doubt) rather than have a tantrum and break shit if it was pleased?
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If you want to keep track of the FUBARed Iran War, go here.
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In no way, shape, or form are regular news outlets giving enough attention to the words of the most powerful people in the current regime. Case in point: Stephen Miller’s speech at the “Ministerial On The Resurgence Of Political Terrorism,” a.k.a. “All The BS Reasons We’re Going To Monkey With The Mid-Term Election And Silence Our Opponents.” The language is straight out of Nazi propaganda. That is not an exaggeration. It’s definitely the same, including the description of people on the left as being deformed.
As painful as it is to watch, I would argue that it’s required viewing. Otherwise, we’re living as blinkered a life as the people in the press who aren’t talking about it.
And Marco Rubio is all in. The language may be gentler, but the message and intent are just as fascistic.
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Now Iran is striking oil tankers under US escort.
That’s a clever move on their part, showing what such protection from the world’s preeminent superpower is worth.
This would be a really good time for El Taco to honor his name and chicken out.
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The sexbot repurposed to be a teacher that no one asked for, rolled out in the worst possible way.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/25/new-york-humanoid-robot-teachers-school
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The RW press are all a flutter because Troy Jackson, Maine Dem Senate candidate has had a long time romance with a second cousin.
Can’t imagine that bothering many from the south.
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there seems to be a schism in the making in international soccer.
UEFA had this to say: “..Every decision shaping the future of football (sic) is no longer driven by what best serves the game, but by what best serves shareholders.”
Absolutely true.
But, it’s soccer. I’ve a hard time caring if its governing body wants to ruin its appeal.
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I wonder if there can be a malicious prosecution lawsuit. The charge was ridiculous from the start.
Now, the contractor might still be a good one. In a corrupt government, what matters is not whether the work got done well or at all. What matters is whether the kickbacks were paid on time and in full.
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