Category Archives: Republican

1. Biden admin's closed-door briefing on Chinese spying blasted by top Republican as 'unspecific, insufficient'  Fox News
2. White House rejects Republican fire over wait to down Chinese spy balloon  The Guardian US
3. House Republican blasts Biden administrations closed-door briefing on Chinese spy balloon  New York Post

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Biden admin's closed-door briefing on Chinese spying blasted by top Republican as 'unspecific, insufficient' - Fox News

Youve heard of preppers, right? Survivalists? If youve watched TV shows like Doomsday Preppers, you know about their strange, apocalyptic beliefs: that a disaster could strike at any time, overwhelming first responders and the social safety net; that this crisis could disrupt supply chains, causing scarcity and panic and social breakdown; that authorities might invoke emergency powers and impose police curfews. Crazy theories like that.

In fact, many perfectly reputable organizations including the US federal government and the Red Cross recommend Americans maintain extra food and emergency supplies. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) advises keeping a two-week supply of food, as well as water, batteries, medical masks, first-aid supplies and a battery- or hand-powered radio, among other things.

In mainstream society, however, interest in prepping usually invites ridicule about bunkers and tin-foil hats. Preppers have spent years as the objects of our collective derision.

Until now. Today, were all preppers or rather, wish we had been. Non-preppers have been caught in a rain shower without an umbrella. I dont know if preppers are laughing right now, but perhaps theyre entitled to some vindication.

Now, Im not a prepper. I am an effete quasi-intellectual with no practical skills of any kind. My current emergency supplies are some Hungry-Man Dinners and a liter of bourbon. If things get really bad I will finish the bourbon, lie down and wait to be eaten by stray cats.

But Ive come to respect the preppers ethos of survival and preparedness. One of my friends is one, or at least on the spectrum. When coronavirus hit, he wasnt one of the millions of people scrambling for surgical masks; he already had them in his survival kit. He kept a few and gave the rest to elderly people.

It has become fashionable to argue not entirely accurately that there are no libertarians in a pandemic. Certainly, this crisis has been a stark reminder of the importance of collective action. Were all on this ship together; Covid-19 has laid bare the pathetic inadequacy of the US social safety net, our lack of investment in the common good, and our governments short attention span for preparing for crises that dont involve terrorism or war.

But collective action also requires some level of individual responsibility and preparedness, too, at least for those with the ability and the means. You cant aid your elderly, immunocompromised or poorer neighbors if you havent taken the bare minimum of preparations. Theres a reason that airplane safety demonstrations warn passengers to put on their own air-masks before assisting others.

Were right to be angry at the people stripping supermarkets bare and hoarding desperately needed supplies. Those people arent preppers, however. Preppers dont engage in panic-buying. Thats the whole point. Thats why it is called prepping.

Prepping is a choice that occurs before a panic, not during, a prepper recently complained on Reddit. If you didnt stock up over time, you are a hoarder or, perhaps worse, an opportunist. In times like these we need to come together and support one another. That doesnt mean giving away your supplies, but it does mean living in a society.

Another added, We arent the reason that elderly or immunocompromised people cant find hand sanitizer, masks or toilet paper. We bought things in small increments when it made zero impact on the supply.

Yes, some preppers are individualistic to the point of being antisocial. Rightwing survivalists, in particular, are often motivated by paranoid, apocalyptic, and racist or conspiratorial beliefs. A massive doomsday industry caters to their fantasies with expensive survival supplies of questionable utility.

The preppers we encounter in popular culture are invariably the worst examples - religious or political zealots, eccentrics, middle-aged men suffering crises of masculinity, and, in the case of shows such as Doomsday Preppers, caricatures selected for entertainment value.

But not all are gun and gear fetishists with delusions of grandeur; many are apolitical or even leftwing. Global warming, environmental degradation and anxiety about the Trump administration have spurred liberals and leftists into the fold. Websites such as ThePrepared offer useful, non-alarmist advice on disaster preparedness.

The more sophisticated practitioners have always understood that prepping is a matter of both individual and collective wellbeing. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, better known as the Mormon church, operates a massive network of grain silos and food depots. People undergoing hardship receive food and household goods, for free or in exchange for volunteer service, at the churchs Costco-style warehouses. The system is vertically integrated, with food supplied by church-owned farms. All Mormons are also encouraged to maintain emergency stockpiles in their home not only for their own sake, but to assist neighbors when a hurricane or flood strikes.

When disaster strikes, not if. The problem is that disasters always look like remote possibilities before they occur, and historical abstractions afterward. Even the coronavirus, as insurmountable as it seems, will eventually pass; we will return to normalcy, and then complacency, and maybe even go back to ridiculing preppers.

Yet global warming probably means more and more of these kinds of crises natural disasters, but also economic instability and possibly more pandemics, as thawing ice releases long-dormant pathogens.

I suspect the real reason many people instinctively recoil from prepping is psychological. Prepping comes across as pessimistic or even cynical. But perhaps it is better to think of it as pragmatism. We should prepare for disasters for the same reason we buy life insurance or back up computer files: hope for the best, plan for the worst.

Recently, while doing some quarantine cleaning, I found several books I acquired during younger less lazy, and more idealistic days: The Boy Scout Fieldbook; The US Army Survival Manual; Living Off the Country. It seems unlikely theyll prove too relevant here in Brooklyn, New York, but Ive decided to brush up anyway. I also found a book called Home Brewing Without Failures, by the unimprovably named HE Bravery. The utility of that one should speak for itself.

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We mocked preppers and survivalists until the pandemic hit

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1. Some House Republicans concerned McCarthy speakership would continue 'past and ongoing Republican failures'  Fox News
2. McCarthy commits to key concession in call with frustrated lawmakers but it's no guarantee he'll win speakership  CNN
3. A look at the House GOP holdouts on McCarthy's Speaker bid  PBS NewsHour

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Some House Republicans concerned McCarthy speakership would continue 'past and ongoing Republican failures' - Fox News

Trumps Republican Critics Lash Out On Morning Shows With Calls For Criminal Charges And Alternative Candidates For 2024  Forbes

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Trumps Republican Critics Lash Out On Morning Shows With Calls For Criminal Charges And Alternative Candidates For 2024 - Forbes

[this works for other headsets too, including HyperX Alpha and Flight; I also have to note here that I decline all responsibility in the case of direct or indirect damage to your equipment]

Hello everyone, so I got this HyperX Cloud II and among all the pros it does have (comfort, audio etc) I noticed the microphone is very quiet compared to the previous headsets I had. Also it's not easy at all to adjust this feature and it is a very common issue as I read on the forums.

Anyways I have the solution, I found a way to boost the mic volume using the software Equalizer APO and it's extension called Peace (only the software itself is not working on the microphone, you have to install the basic software first and then use the extension). It's quite simple to use, tested by myself and works perfectly. All you have to do is

1) download and install the software here

Launch the software, the Configurator will ask you to select the devices for which the program is to be installed (if it does not ask, open the program directory and launch the Configurator.exe), go to "Capture devices" and select/tick the Cloud 2 microphone. Reboot if asked

2) download and install the extension here

Now you can run the Peace extension directly. Choose "Simple interface" when asked and now you are ready to boost your mic. First choose your HyperX Cloud 2 microphone from the bottom right menu (where it says "any device") and then adjust the Pre Amplifying level from the top slider, that one going from -30 dB to +30 dB (obviously you low down the volume going left but you want to boost it going right). Click "Done" in the bottom right and you are actually done. Here is a screenshot, as you can see I boosted the mic to +15 dB and it sounds perfect now!

So guys tell me if I missed anything in this little tutorial, hope it was useful 😉

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HyperX Cloud 2 - quiet mic SOLVED! : r/HyperX - reddit

1. 2024 Republican rivals put Trump on notice - POLITICO  POLITICO
2. A Crowd of Possible Trump Rivals Renews G.O.P. Fears of a Divided Field  The New York Times
3. GOP 2024 hopefuls chart paths to run against or around Trump  The Washington Post
4. Analysis: As Republicans look to 2024, jockeying to take on Trump begins  Reuters
5. 'Window-shopping' GOP elites weigh Trump -- and the alternatives -- at high-profile Vegas gathering  CNN
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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2024 Republican rivals put Trump on notice - POLITICO - POLITICO

A Progressive Perspective: The Republican Party has become a White Grievance Party (IRWIN STOOLMACHER COLUMN)  The Trentonian

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A Progressive Perspective: The Republican Party has become a White Grievance Party (IRWIN STOOLMACHER COLUMN) - The Trentonian

Criminal justice under a Republican state Supreme Court, more lessons from the midterms, and same-sex marriage gains bipartisan support in U.S. Senate: The week's top stories on Policy Watch | The Pulse  The Progressive Pulse

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Criminal justice under a Republican state Supreme Court, more lessons from the midterms, and same-sex marriage gains bipartisan support in U.S....

Republicans need to rebrand and "build something new" after they failed to retake a majority in the U.S. Senate or meet general expectations for the 2022 midterm elections, one of the partys younger members said.

On Saturday, shortly after Democrats picked up a key victory in Nevada, where incumbent Democrat Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto defeated Republican challenger Adam Laxalt, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley took to Twitter to say the Republican Party "is dead."

"The old party is dead. Time to bury it. Build something new," Hawley wrote.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Miissouri, with Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

The 42-year-old Missouri Republican is among a younger group of Senate Republicans, who have expressed reservations for or straight opposition to current Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, 82.

2022 MIDTERM ELECTION RESULTS

Hawley has been vocally critical of the Republican Party after they failed to win in Pennsylvania, where Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz fell short of defeating Senator-elect John Fetterman, and in Arizona, where Sen. Mark Kelly fended off Republican hopeful Blake Masters.

"You cant expect independent voters to vote Republican unless you give them an agenda they care about," Hawley added in a tweet on Friday.

The day before, Hawley said the Republican machine "lost big" in the midterms and said their legislative priorities were not being supported by the American people.

"Washington Republicanism lost big Tuesday night. When your agenda is cave to Big Pharma on insulin, cave to Schumer on gun control & Green New Deal (infrastructure), and tease changes to Social Security and Medicare, you lose," he wrote.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

He also suggested Republicans failed to present their own ideas and initiatives to voters and only pointed to failures of the Democratic Party.

"Not enough to say the other side is no good. Have to offer an actual agenda," he wrote.

TRUMP SCOLDS MITCH MCCONNELL AS GOP SENATE MAJORITY BECOMES UNLIKELY AFTER DEMOCRATS KEEP CRUCIAL ARIZONA SEAT

Hawley was also among a group of Republicans, joined by Sens. Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Rick Scott, and Cynthia Lummis, who urged the Senate to postpone its leadership election until after the Georgia runoff election with Republican Hershall Walker and Democrat Raphael Warnock.

"The Senate GOP leadership vote next week should be postponed," Rubio tweeted.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, walks to the Senate floor at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

He added: "First we need to make sure that those who want to lead us are genuinely committed to fighting for the priorities & values of the working Americans (of every background) who gave us big wins in states like Florida."

Hawley agreed.

SENATE GOP WONT MOVE LEADERSHIP ELECTIONS DESPITE CALLS FOR DELAY

"Exactly right. I dont know why Senate GOP would hold a leadership vote for the next Congress before this election is finished. We have a runoff in #GASenate - are they saying that doesnt matter? Dont disenfranchise," he wrote.

Several other Republicans, notably including former President Donald Trump have expressed frustration with McConnell following Tuesdays election results.

"He is the WORST!" Trump wrote on social media.

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Despite calls for a postponement, a Senate GOP aide confirmed to Fox News Digital that the leadership elections will go on as planned.

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Republican Party 'is dead' after major midterm election losses in ...