Reader’s Links for March 29th, 2024

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Each day at just after midnight Eastern, a post like this one is created for contributors and readers of this site to upload news links and video links on the issues that concern this site. Most notably, Islam and its effects on Classical Civilization, and various forms of leftism from Soviet era communism, to postmodernism and all the flavours of galloping statism and totalitarianism such as Nazism and Fascism which are increasingly snuffing out the classical liberalism which created our near, miraculous civilization the West has been building since the time of Socrates.

This document was written around the time this site was created, for those who wish to understand what this site is about. And while our understanding of the world and events has grown since then, the basic ideas remain sound and true to the purpose.

So please post all links, thoughts and ideas that you feel will benefit the readers of this site to the comments under this post each day. And thank you all for your contributions.

This is the new Samizdat. We must use it while we can.

For those interested, please check out https://vladtepesblog.substack.com/ as an another avenue of expression.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

26 Replies to “Reader’s Links for March 29th, 2024”

  1. Nice new photo of the heavy-lidded owl. He looks really stoned. He’s a good metaphor for the Canadian public. Here is a National Post article about that “Secret” RCMP report giving a five-year outlook on our dystopian state. Note how it incorporates the dialectical machinery by citing man-made forest fires and “populism” as catalyzing events to social unrest! In other words they don’t even tip their bluff bullshit hand to their own political bosses. It feels like there are masterfully dialectically-fluent people running every department of our government to sustain this nonsense. Why a five-year outlook, for instance? Communists make five-year plans, not free societies. Our guide is the BUSINESS CYCLE, not central planning five years out. See? Subtly but significantly a Marxist metric is inserted into the narrative. –Proves how lost our national police force is, how lost our political class is, and how the only sanity that remains is in the curious 15-20% of people who still try to think for themselves, which statistically coincides, oddly, with the number of people who retained bodily autonomy at great cost. Regardless, everyone has paid for, and keeps paying, for what these bastards did.

    Last week I went to a gathering to hear a wonderful doctor of statistics crucify the narrative on which the pandemic was built in this sad country Canada. During question period a man bellowed how Israel was a Godless state. Turns out he was a very prominent pastor. Someone please explain to me his reasoning for this, because it is to me absurd to make such an assertion.

    I wish everyone health and happiness on this Good Friday, when Christ was crucified and died on the cross at Calvary after being sentenced to death by Pontius Pilate.

    https://nationalpost.com/opinion/secret-rcmp-report-warns-canadians-may-revolt-once-they-realize-how-broke-they-are

    • OT I was busy yesterday so I am answering your question in today’s post.

      You ask if I think General Flynn is low information? No I don’t the following is my explination.

      1 He is predicting a Black Swan event, Black Swans don’t have to be enemy action they can be natural events that change everything.

      2 One of my Collage Professors told us (repeatedly) to learn to not be afraid to trust ourselves, that if your experience says that what some expert is saying is wrong it probably is wrong.

      3 While I am not a sailor my father was a maintenance of way worker on the railroad and I have been around the railroad all my life, my best friend was a locomotive engineer (train driver). I have a lot of knowledge about how long it takes to stop a long massive train when it is moving. Cargo ships weigh more then trains and water has less friction then the train wheels on the tracks do plus trains have breaks do this makes ships harder to stop.

      4 I am addicted to reading, I have read a lot of history books written by sailors talking about their experiences, this gives me some knowledge about how the ships engines work and how hard they are to stop.

      5 All of this knowledge says that there is a very real probability that the bridge collapse was random chance not enemy action. I am basing this on the above statements as well as the KISS principle, each portion of a hacking to bring down the bridge would be simple but success on the attempt would require that everything works the way you think they will. Murphy says that everything that can go wrong will go wrong, Jordan’s Corollary says Murphy was an optimist.

      I could be wrong, God knows I am often enough but I don’t think this was sabotage which was my first thought, but after thinking things over it seems unlikely. Having said that Vlad’s statement about how the left takes advantage of all disasters to further their goals in many ways it doesn’t matter if it was random chance or deliberate sabotage the effect is the same. The port is closed for several weeks until the wreckage is cleared and the bridge has to be rebuilt before we once again have rapid transportation of the goods by a direct route.

      • More On The Bridge
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        This deserves a bit more because frankly, I’m getting tired of the nuts.

        Indeed this might get added to my FAQ here (go see the section on “Troofers” for what happens if you run that garbage on my forum, whether in the comment section or otherwise) because it is getting about that stupid.

        Let’s talk a bit about boat handling, especially single-screw vessels. Most props (unless you have twins) are what are called “right hand” screws. When going ahead the torque effect and the rotation of the water column coming off the screw tend to move the stern of the ship to starboard, and since the vessel only has applied moment (force) at the stern this means if the stern goes starboard the bow goes to port. Each vessel has an “effective” pivot center; exactly where it is varies, but it is not in the center of the vessel length-wise. With an outboard it is often at or right near the transom, which can make close-quarter handling quite a mess in snotty conditions at low speed. Gigabite, which was a Hatteras 45′ Sportfish, pivoted at around her engine locations, which was roughly 10-15′ or so from the transom (she had twin Detroit diesels.)

        A twin engine vessel has one RH and one LH screw, and with both engaged she will track more or less straight because the two torque and rotation of the water columns cancel each other out. But a single-screw vessel does not. The other factor is that as way increases the water flow over the keel tends to keep her going in a straight line.

        Further, the rudder gets most of its authority — that is, the ability to steer — from the blast of the prop which is directly in front of it, and at lower speeds through the water it has almost zero authority without the screw turning. Note that the speed over ground does not account for current and the current is almost-never exactly aligned with your direction of travel, so it always, when it is present, attempts to destabilize the path of your vessel. In harbors and similar tidal flow is the primary cause of said currents and of course they shift depending on whether you have a rising or falling tide and exactly where you are. In some cases this can be quite-treacherous, especially if you get other than straight on with or against it; someone who was a dockmate of mine with a sailboat attempted to abort running Destin Pass with friends on board (that was stupid, by the way), got sideways and the boat was knocked down and dismasted. That was a 40 footer too — not a little rowboat. Fortunately nobody was killed and the boat did not sink but two were ejected and had to swim to the jetties.

        It is clear that the power went off on the vessel. Why it went off remains to be determined but that it did, and that the emergency generator started when it did, is known because you can see the power go off and then come back on. It then trips a second time, presumably due to an extreme demand (e.g. the skipper attempting a last-ditch use of the bow thruster at full power to keep off the piling.)

        Until the power went down the ship was in the channel and on a stable heading. It would have had some starboard rudder dialed in — in other words, it was not set dead straight forward — because the normal “walk” of the screw ahead would be to induce a port turn if it was dead straight. When the power goes down that torque and rotational effect disappears and the rudder is now going to try to turn the ship slightly to starboard, and it is locked there with power off. Add to this any current impact if the flow is in any way other than head-on (and as noted it almost never is straight on) and the impact of wind and that the ship began to yaw is not surprising, nor is it surprising it went to starboard.

        Without power you now are riding on 100,000 tons of metal (and cargo) traveling at whatever velocity you were at underway which is subject to external forces you cannot counteract. By the time the power comes back up it is likely there was nothing that could be done to prevent the collision but you can bet they tried — the second power failure made those attempts irrelevant. As you can see from the video when the power comes back again they’re within seconds of impact.

        Older machinery was not reliant on electrical power to work. My boat had two mechanical diesels operated with cables from the bridge to the engines and transmissions; the transmissions (large ships are typically straight-shaft with no gearbox) were hydraulically operated by a pump driven from the engine. Once started so long as they had fuel, air and lubricating oil they run. The steering gear on my boat was hydraulic but with no booster so again, as long as the hoses and lines were intact and it had fluid in it you could steer but without the screws turning you had very little rudder authority. I also had twin screws so at low speed I could steer without the rudder at all, and frequently did, since I could put one screw in forward and one in reverse, along with varying their speed. I did have, during my time owning Gigabite, an electrical failure. It was not a big deal as it occurred during daytime (at night you obviously have no running lights which is serious); we made port without incident and I fixed it.

        Modern emissions requirements make no-electric-required operation impossible. On a modern vessel without electrical power its engine shuts down because it is electronically controlled and the fuel pumps, conditioning equipment for the fuel, any after-treatment of the exhaust and various other required elements all require it, along with mechanical control being insufficiently precise to meet modern emissions standards. While I could operate with no electrical power at all provided the engines were running before the failure occurred this is not true for modern vessels and engines.

        Finally, contemplate that it would be close to impossible to actually know that causing a power loss of this sort, assuming you could, would result in this sort of calamitous outcome. Exactly where that ship goes when the power goes off is determined by facts you cannot know with sufficient precision in advance; if the tide or wind had been different it might have gone right under the span and, if it had, there would have been no calamity at all (however, it might have gone aground on the other side somewhere once it got out of the channel.)

        This does not mean that there should not be liability. Admiralty Law is very different than what you think of as “legal liability code” in this regard and it is both older than the US and time-tested. A ship can literally be arrested under Admiralty Law, for openers and in addition the owners of the cargo on board can be assessed as well in a major casualty incident such as this. Obviously the physical damage is in the billions, never mind the (small, but real) loss of life, all of which is chargeable on a liability basis. That will take time to sort out but it absolutely does exist and can be sorted out — for an example see Ever Given in the Suez which was impounded by Egypt when the owners and insurers refused the original demand to pay a billion in economic damages. The harm here is obviously much-greater although it certainly includes the disruption of port business which was the primary harm (disruption of transit) from the Suez incident.

        Finally, as with the Suez incident there were local harbor pilots on board and in command, as is the case for vessels of this sort and size (yes, including cruise ships) coming into and leaving ports — although in virtually all cases the vessel’s master is still ultimately responsible (and will get tagged if something goes wrong.) That’s done because those local individuals have very extensive experience with that specific passage where a ship’s captain does not — he or she may have only been through there once or twice where these officers run this particular passage, in many cases, every day or every few days.

        Large commercial ships also have data recorders similar to an airliner’s “black boxes” and I’m sure by now the USCG and other US authorities have them in-hand and will be going through them. They include both very detailed machinery logging as well as voice records. From that the precise sequence of events, including the orders given (and by whom) will be able to be determined.

        But from what is known now — and in fact what was known at the time the event occurred I see nothing to suggest that this is anything other than an extremely serious industrial accident. Are there lessons to be learned and mitigations that can be taken on a forward basis? Of course — but whether they’d have been successful if put in place in advance (e.g. “dolphins” around the pylon) in preventing the collapse are, at this point, speculative. Frankly, with 100,000 tons of ship moving at 8kts even if said bollards had been present it is not at all clear thy would have actually prevented the contact and destruction of the bridge

        https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=251017#google_vignette

  2. Loretta Lynn does a pure, sweet job of singing The Old Rugged Cross

    So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross
    ‘Till my trophies at last I lay down
    I will cling to the old rugged cross
    And exchange it some day for a crown.

    Thank you Johnny

  3. ANOTHER ONE: Thug with Long Rap Sheet Sucker-Punches Woman on Street in New York City, Leaving Her With a Broken Jaw – Suspect Charged with Misdemeanor and Will be Released (VIDEO)
    by Cullen Linebarger Mar. 29, 2024 12:00 pm202 Comments

    A violent thug with a long rap sheet was captured on video sucker-punching a helpless Brooklyn school bus aide, knocking out three of her teeth and leaving her with a broken jaw. Unfortunately, in true New York fashion, he was given a slap on the wrist and will soon return to the streets.

    As PIX 11 reported, 57-year-old Dulche Pichardo was returning home from work at about 5 p.m. Tuesday when a man approached and smacked her in the face on the sidewalk of Grand Avenue near Dean Street in Crown Heights.

    “He just punched me on the right side here, very strong,” Pichardo told PIX11. “I was surprised. I said, ‘What’s going on? Why did you hit me? Why did you do it?’ I didn’t do anything. No reason to hit me.”

    Pichardo revealed she lost three teeth and suffered facial fractures and nerve damage from the vicious assault. She also suffered a broken jaw, which has been wired shut.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/03/another-one-thug-long-rap-sheet-sucker-punches/

    • The last time the game was played it was White Men and usually elderly White Men who were targeted, looks like they are now choosing any white person they think isn’t paying enough attention to dodge or block the punch.

  4. Is Something Happening in France?
    by Guest Contributor Mar. 29, 2024 11:40 am129 Comments

    This story originally was published by Real Clear Wire

    By Michael Miklaucic
    Real Clear Wire

    Paris has joined the ranks of cities hosting international security forums, alongside Munich, Warsaw, Doha, Singapore, and more than a few others. It is a fair assumption that this proliferation of security conferences reflects growing insecurity and widespread fear over the unraveling of the liberal, rules-based global order. But two things about the Paris forum distinguish it from the many others; it was a call to mobilize a complacent France; and a call for the adaptation of professional military education through transformative education to prepare the next generation of security leaders for the challenges of the evolving global security environment.

    The Paris Defence and Strategy Forum was held 13-14 March and attended by 2600 participants from 68 countries. In his opening plenary speech Lithuanian President Gitanas NausÄ—da set the sober tone: “Just as Czechoslovakia did not satisfy Hitler; Ukraine will not satisfy Putin. Neither will the Baltic states or Poland… Russia cannot stop; it can only be stopped… (Otherwise) others will learn the lesson that using force against Western interests works… We cannot proceed in a peace-like mode any longer.”

    Indeed, there is war in Europe, war in the Middle East, jihadist insurgency throughout Africa, rising tension across the Taiwan Strait, and Iran and North Korea threaten havoc upon their neighbors. It does appear that mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. World leader after world leader has warned that these are the most dangerous times of our lives. The growing uncertainty and fear is not unjustified.

    Not surprisingly there was much gnashing of teeth at the Paris Forum about the Russia/Ukraine war. Although Putin’s ultimate victory is far from assured, nor is Russia’s defeat and the prospect of a frozen conflict with Russia in occupation of 20 percent of Ukraine would be a serious blow to Europe and the West. Putin is increasingly brutal at home and bellicose abroad, threatening the Baltics, the Nordics, Moldova, and even Poland, not to mention increasingly frequent Russian threats—both implicit and explicit—of nuclear escalation.

    Frontline states including the Baltic and Nordic states, Poland, Romania, and Moldova have been raising constant alarms but leaders of the larger states—particularly France, Germany, and the United States—seem frozen on the back foot—too fearful of escalation to do what is needed to defeat Russia. And their fear of escalation has been completely commandeered by Putin’s “escalate to de-escalate” strategy, leaving the West effectively deterred.

    That was the context of the first Paris Defense and Strategy Forum.

    But wait! on February 26 President Macron said what no other Western leader wanted to say: NATO boots on the ground in Ukraine cannot be ruled out! Was this just another instance of Macron being Macron? Or has Macron finally realized that Putin cannot be appeased, that Europe is at war with Russia, and that the French people must be prepared for a time of war? Was he riffing off the top of his head, or was he cunningly injecting strategic ambiguity to sow doubt into Putin’s final Ukraine plan? Not to mention that this year France will finally reach the NATO target of 2 percent of GDP on defense spending.

    Macron was immediately rebutted by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, but his inconvenient statement has ignited a lively debate. On March 8 Poland’s foreign minister Radek Sikorski stated that the presence of NATO forces in Ukraine is “not unthinkable” and that he “appreciated” the French president for not ruling out the idea. In a March 10 interview Czech Republic President Petr Pavel stated he is not opposed to the official deployment of alliance troops to Ukraine. Just a few days later Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen agreed Western countries should not rule out the notion of sending troops to Ukraine. Baltic leaders have long been outspoken about the gravity of the Russian threat. Last month Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said Wednesday he was grateful for the debate that Macron had initiated, adding “nothing can be taken off the table, no option can be rejected out of hand,” while Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas insisted nothing should be ruled out in the effort to ensure that Ukraine wins and Russia loses the war. The ambiguity in the Western position that Macron has introduced should be welcomed. It is not in the West’s interest to limit its own options.

    In addition to the topical issues of the day the Paris Defence and Security Forum provided insight into the human requirements for future European security beyond just military alone. According to General Benoit Durieux—Director of the Institute of Higher Studies of National Defence—“We must think in a larger framework—the non-military dimension of national defense…. Including how to counter the narratives of the authoritarian states.” A stream of sessions focused on the need to attract France’s best and brightest to the vocation of national security. A session on coercive negotiation underscored the inconvenient reality that not all conflicts have win/win options. At the Ecole Militaire General Durieux encourages transformative pedagogy in professional military education to cultivate the critical thinking strategists needed to prevail in the 21st century and highlighted the Ecole de Guerre’s leadership in this.

    General Thierry Burkhard, Chief of Staff of the French Armed Forces, concluded the forum with a very sober characterization of the current security environment; “The dynamic of force has supplanted the system of law. Using one’s military power has once again become a sign of expression or affirmation of sovereignty… There is a desire to create an alternative order by countries whose common denominator is the rejection of the North, that is to say the West. Russia wants to tear down the edifice of international law put in place after the Second World War.”

    Is this apparent ferment in France sufficient to motivate European and American leaders—to wake them up from their sleepwalking stroll toward defeat? Will it wake up European somnambulant publics? Is it possible Macron’s strategic ambiguity and the Paris Defence and Strategy Forum are indicative of a more strategically resolute France? That would be very welcome, but talk is talk; will French defense spending flatline at 2 percent? Will France be the first to station forces on the ground in Ukraine? Is France willing to call Putin’s bluff? Even if France does take the lead, will others follow? We shall see.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/03/is-something-happening-france/

  5. VFW Honors National Vietnam War Veterans Day
    To all Vietnam veterans: Today and every day, thank you, and welcome home
    March 28, 2024

    WASHINGTON – For the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and for our nation, National Vietnam War Veterans Day is one of high importance and significance. Though long overdue, it is the day when America recognizes each and every Vietnam War veteran, to include those who have yet to return home and are still unaccounted for.

    Made official through the Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act of 2017 and signed into law by then-President Donald Trump, on March 29 we honor the great service and sacrifice of our Vietnam War veterans through ceremonies and celebrations across the nation. The date is significant as on that date more than 50 years ago, the last combat troops were withdrawn from Vietnam and the last prisoners of war held in North Vietnam arrived home on U.S. soil.

    From February 1961 – May 1975, more than 3.4 million Americans served in support of U.S military operations in Vietnam and Southeast Asia; more than 58,000 gave their lives and nearly 1,580 service men remain unaccounted for according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

    On National Vietnam War Veterans Day, we honor and remember our Vietnam veterans for their sense of duty, unselfish devotion and courageous willingness to put their country first. It is because of their service and tenacity that VFW senior leaders continue the VFW’s annual tradition of traveling to Vietnam in support of U.S. government efforts to account for those still missing and unaccounted for, in hopes of finally bringing them home.

    To all Vietnam veterans: Today and every day, on behalf of the more than 1.4 million members of the VFW and its Auxiliary, thank you for your service, and welcome home.

    https://www.vfw.org/media-and-events/latest-releases/archives/2024/3/vfw-honors-national-vietnam-war-veterans-day

  8. There it is: Biden administration ponders blocking Israel with “peacekeeping” force in Gaza

    Prying Gaza open to outside armed force.

    The first thing to be said about this concept – and we’re going to keep this short and focused – is that it’s not fundamentally about the debacle in Beirut in 1983 or about the “Samantha Power” Doctrine of “responsibility to protect.”

    By far the most important thing to be said is that the purpose is to thwart Israel in Gaza.

    This isn’t enacting the pie-in-the-sky Power Doctrine. This is a serious armed power move against Israel.

    The purpose is to subject whatever Israel wants to do in Gaza to an outside veto backed by armed force.

    https://theoptimisticconservative.wordpress.com/2024/03/28/there-it-is-biden-administration-ponders-blocking-israel-with-peacekeeping-force-in-gaza/

  9. (Richard: The corrupt FBI is either trying to protect agents that are still employed or are trying to stop more details of the corruption from being made public, my bet is the former.)

    “It’s As If Bulger Never Existed” – FBI to Bury Boston Mobster Whitey Bulger’s File Forever
    by Cristina Laila Mar. 29, 2024 12:40 pm155 Comments

    The FBI is trying to bury famed Boston mobster Whitey Bulger’s file forever.

    “It’s as if Bulger never existed,” The Boston Herald’s Joe Dwinell said.

    The Boston Herald requested Bulger’s law enforcement records through a FOIA lawsuit, but the FBI came back and said they are no longer releasing any files related to the deceased mobster.

    “The records responsive to your request are law enforcement records; there is a pending or prospective law enforcement proceeding relevant to these responsive records, and release of the information could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings. Therefore, your request is being administratively closed,” the FBI stated in a letter to the Boston Herald.

    he Herald said they will appeal.

    Excerpt from The Boston Herald:

    The FBI is closing the book on the agency’s “corrupt” handling of James “Whitey” Bulger — forever.

    The feds are refusing to make any further installments of Bulger’s case file public, saying the records are “investigative” and no longer subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

    They did not divulge what investigation Bulger’s case could still be linked to, considering the former Southie mobster was murdered while in a West Virginia prison in August 2018 by two fellow inmates. He was 89 and wheelchair-bound at the time of his death.

    It has also long been speculated that Bulger hid millions of dollars in foreign bank accounts that have yet to be discovered.

    Bulger’s former FBI handler, John “Zip” Connolly, is also back in Massachusetts on a compassionate release and is appealing his case. He was given only years to live.

    89-year-old James ‘Whitey’ Bulger was killed in prison by a ‘fellow inmate with mafia ties’ shortly after he was transferred to a West Virginia federal prison in 2018.

    Bulger was reportedly wheeled away from security cameras and beaten with a lock in a sock and also had his eyes gouged out.

    Sources told The Daily Mail that Whitey Bulger was about to out people in the FBI, specifically FBI officials of the informant program.

    In 2022, the Justice Department announced 3 men, including a mafia hitman has been charged for the murder of Whitey Bulger.

    The Whitey Bulger-Robert Mueller connection:

    Robert Mueller’s minions helped mobster Whitey Bulger eliminate mob competitors, says Congressman Louie Gohmert

    In May, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) previously published a 48-page report called “Robert Mueller Unmasked” to expose the Special Counsel’s decades of corruption.

    In the extensive report, Gohmert covered Mueller’s shady past of helping mobster Whitey Bulger by eliminating mob competitors.

    The Boston Globe noted Robert Mueller’s connection with the Whitey Bulger case in an article entitled, “One Lingering Question for FBI Director Robert Mueller.” The Globe said this:

    “[Mike] Albano [former Parole Board Member who was threatened by two F.B.I. agents for considering parole for the men imprisoned for a crime they did not commit] was appalled that, later that same year, Mueller was appointed FBI director, because it was Mueller, first as an assistant US attorney then as the acting U.S. attorney in Boston, who wrote letters to the parole and pardons board throughout the 1980s opposing clemency for the four men framed by FBI lies. Of course, Mueller was also in that position while Whitey Bulger was helping the FBI cart off his criminal competitors even as he buried bodies in shallow graves along the Neponset…”

    Mueller put people in prison for crimes they did not commit:

    “Mueller was the head of the Criminal Division as Assistant U.S. Attorney, then as Acting U.S. Attorney. I could not find any explanation online by Mueller as to why he insisted on keeping the defendants in prison that FBI agents—in the pocket of Whitey Bulger—had framed for a murder they did not commit. Make no mistake: these were not honorable people he had incarcerated. But it was part of a pattern that eventually became quite clear that Mueller was more concerned with convicting and putting people in jail he disliked, even if they were innocent of the charges, than he was with ferreting out the truth,” Gohmert said.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/03/fbi-bury-boston-mobster-whitey-bulgers-file-forever/

  11. Post
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    ?? Mike Davis ??
    @mrddmia
    ?

    California Judge Yvette Roland–handpicked by the Democrat House speaker–is disbarring constitutional attorney John Eastman for making legal arguments with which she disagreed.

    Roland’s a donor to Barack Obama, Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, DNC, ActBlue, and other Democrats.

    https://twitter.com/mrddmia/status/1773408045835358428