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Detroit Firefighter Dies Trying to Save Girls From Drowning
Sgt. Sivad Johnson, 49, a 26-year veteran of the Detroit Fire Department, dived in to rescue the girls, who were later safely brought ashore.

The body of a Detroit firefighter was recovered from the Detroit River on Saturday, a day after he dived into the water to save three young girls from drowning, the authorities said.

Sgt. Sivad Johnson, 49, a 26-year veteran of the Detroit Fire Department, was visiting Belle Isle, a 982-acre island park in the Detroit River, with his 10-year-old daughter, Hayden, on Friday evening when he heard witnesses say three young girls were drowning, said Eric Jones, the Detroit fire commissioner.

Sergeant Johnson gave his phone and keys to his daughter, and he and a civilian dived into the river to save the girls, Commissioner Jones said. After the girls were safely brought to shore, Sergeant Johnson’s daughter realized she could not find her father and called 911 around 9 p.m., according to the Michigan State Police.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/23/us/sivad-johnson-detroit-firefighter-dead.html

Sgt. Johnson epitomizes emergency personnel everywhere. People who care about other people, and will jump in where others fear to go. But, it's good to remember that Sgt. Johnson isn't alone. Firefighters, EMTs, police, and medical personnel, all around the world rush in when there is an emergency - often at the risk of their own lives.

Give this man a moment of silence, if you will. And, the next time you have reason to speak to a first responder, you might take time out for another moment of silence. Most first responders never have to sacrifice much more than a little blood, sweat and tears throughout their careers, but, they are there, ready to do whatever is required.

AMD Van Gogh Ultra-Low Power Ryzen Mobile APUs To Feature Zen 2 CPU & RDNA 2 GPUs, Supports LPDDR5 & 7.5-18W TDPs

This looks excellent for low power laptops/2-in-1s and maybe SBCs/SFF. Some details have been known for a while but this fleshes it out a bit. I'm expecting it will top out at quad-core but hexa/octo-core would be hilarious. One piece of information that came out at Hot Chips 2020 was that AMD originally planned for Renoir to have up to 6 cores, but was able to bump that up to 8 cores because of how good the "7nm" node was. It looks like an enhanced version of "7nm" will be used here which should have some performance, power, and maybe density improvements.

If it features RDNA2 graphics, it may have real-time ray-tracing support. This is presumed to work in AMD's IP by repurposing a number of the GPU's cores (i.e. they can't be used for rasterization at the same time). Van Gogh may have more GPU die area than you would expect for low power integrated graphics, just clocked low enough to meet the TDP target.

The main downside I see is that almost every single device will have soldered (non-expandable) RAM. That's the norm these days but it's still disappointing.

Senate's still out, right? Well, ok, whatever, bla bla bla...

Today's story, kiddies, comes from this quote:

The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.

Anybody know if this is meaningful?

Does anyone know if a bill has ever been submitted (in, let's say the last 40 years) by the house to remedy local election issues (everyone's favorite, remaining nameless)?

UPDATE:

(My apologies for the Twitter link)
And speaking of congress... WTF?? What offer was made to them that they couldn't refuse? Were they all filmed together at Epstein Island? Heh, maybe so! Whatever it is, it has to be good.

UPDATE 2:

Look at what you people are voting for! What a slob! Does he really think it makes him look busy?

Feds Indict Steve Bannon for Finessing Racists, and I Don’t Know How to Feel
Michael Harriot broaches the obvious at The Root:

If a white nationalist robs a racist in the woods, can you hear me not giving a fuck?
Should we applaud the fact that the bigoted propagandist who gave us Breitbart, Milo Yiannopoulos and Donald Trump has been indicted for fraud? Or should we be happy that a bunch of xenophobic nitwits had their disposable income stolen? If ever there was a perplexing philosophical quandary, it is this.

Chronic greyscale disease sufferer Steve Bannon, the chief architect in charge of making America great again, has been indicted for defrauding a clusterfuck of Caucasians out of their border wall savings, according to federal prosecutors from the U.S. Justice Department’s Southern District of New York.

Particulars?

According to an indictment unsealed on Wednesday, the SDNY Corruption Unit charged Bannon, along with co-conspirators Brian Kolfage, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. In a statement, SDNY’s Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss alleges that Bannon created a sham non-profit organization and shell companies that funneled over $1 million in donations from “We Build the Wall”—an online crowdfunding campaign that raised over $25 million to erect a privately funded version of Donald Trump’s border wall.

Those poor people!

Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny in coma after suspected poisoning: spokeswoman

Russian opposition leader and outspoken Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny is in a coma after falling ill from suspected poisoning, his spokeswoman said Thursday.

Navalny, 44, started feeling unwell while on a return flight to Moscow from the Siberian city of Tomsk, his spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, said on Twitter. The plane later made an urgent landing in Omsk, she added.

Loud groaning can be heard in video footage apparently filmed on the flight taken by Navalny, which was shared on the Baza Telegram channel. More video apparently filmed through the airplane window shows an immobile man being taken by wheeled stretcher to a waiting ambulance.

He only drank black tea in an airport cafe before takeoff, Yarmysh told Russian radio station Echo of Moscow. "We assume that Alexey was poisoned with something mixed into the tea. It was the only thing that he drank in the morning. Doctors say the toxin was absorbed faster through the hot liquid," Yarmysh tweeted.

Alexei Navalny: 'Poisoned' Russian opposition leader in a coma

The Kremlin said that it wished Mr Navalny a "speedy recovery".

[...] Ms Yarmysh said later that Mr Navalny was on a ventilator and in a coma, and that the hospital was now full of police officers. All of his belongings were being confiscated, she added.

She also said that doctors were initially ready to share any information but then they later claimed the toxicology tests had been delayed and were "clearly playing for time, and not saying what they know". Diagnosis would be "towards evening", she was told.

Both Mr Navalny's wife, Yulia Navalnaya, and doctor, Anastasia Vasilyeva, have arrived at the hospital. Mrs Navalnaya was initially denied access to her husband because authorities said the patient had not agreed to the visit, Ms Yarmysh said, although she was later allowed on to the ward.

Dr Vasilyeva said they were seeking to transfer the opposition leader to a specialist poison control centre in Europe, but hospital doctors were refusing to provide records of his condition.

Alexei Navalny: Plane to bring 'poisoned' Russian critic to Germany

A German peace foundation is hoping to send an air ambulance to bring Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny to Berlin for treatment following his suspected poisoning.

Alexei Navalny.

So glad this didn't happen on a Friday. We don't have to wait over the weekend for a response...

Bannon arrested, exciting, huh? Maybe he'll jump bail. Saudi passport, right? Was that him? I can't remember those things. "We Build the Wall", wasn't that somebody's pet project around here? I can't remember that either.

He (Mr. T) has to prove fraud (where there isn't, and he didn't)

And he (Mr.T) is pleading the 5th (to cover up real fraud)

Now that's out of the way, let's change the subject:

We have to get rid of the lame duck period between an election and taking control.
The new people have to move in right away, they won, they should be in charge immediately, the old ones will hang around as advisors for a month, that's plenty of time. But the real reason for it is to prevent sabotage and destruction of evidence... So, out it goes!

UPDATE:

Anybody think this will help the party?

UPDATE 2:

Trump taxes, are they out yet? No? Oh well, maybe Monday, it's not a holiday, is it?

Oh, and why are people still trying to justify the Afghan War? I bumped into that a while ago, and thought, "that's weird". You know, because they all complain about Iraq, like it was different or something.

UPDATE 3:

Oh yeah, now I remember, why are the democrats so anxious over this Seth Rich thing? They insist that the murder and the email leaks are the same "conspiracy". They can be quite separate, but for the sake of Russiagate, they must be inextricably linked and debunked. However, the most plausible source or the leak, by far, is Rich, not Russia. Thought I'd put it here so the dems can't mod me down :-)

https://yallpolitics.com/2020/08/19/chicago-mayor-blames-mississippi-in-part-for-its-gun-violence-tate-reeves-fires-back/

Chicago Mayor blames Mississippi, in part, for its gun violence – Tate Reeves fires back

“Sixty percent of the illegal guns that come into Chicago every year are from out of state, from Indiana, from Mississippi, from other states that have lax gun laws,” she stated.

Yep, Mississippi, with all their crooked letters. You can't trust them!

Y’all Politics asked Governor Tate Reeves (R) for his response to Chicago Mayor Lightfoot’s comments.

“This ridiculous conspiracy theory from the Chicago mayor—that Mississippians are to blame for the violence in her own city—is bizarre and pathetic,” Governor Reeves said. “No serious person could think that murders are out of control and people are burning police cars in Chicago because of Mississippi’s commitment to the constitution.”

Come on, Governor Reeves, you know there is a vast right wing conspiracy, don't you?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI_SqqJIU14

Why is the race so close? Why aren't they opening up a gigantic lead over a true madman? Are they that repulsive? Don't answer that!

They must be doing their own bit of sabotage. A big win would be a disaster for them. How would they be able to blame the republicans for obstruction if there are so few of them in congress?

The 50/50 split in congress has to be carefully cultivated if the game is to continue. I am fairly impressed at its success for all these years. Just goes to show how effective *Good Enough* is at keeping the boat afloat.

This time is oleandrin:

For months, Donald Trump promoted the off-label use of hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 therapy, even claiming to have taken a course of the anti-malarial drug as a prophylactic. But as the evidence against its effectiveness and potential dangers continues to mount—Dr. Anthony Fauci last month emphasized that studies have “consistently” shown the drug to have “no efficacy” in treating coronavirus—the president may have begun to turn toward a new, unproven miracle cure, this one peddled by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and...MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell?

Yes, you read that right. Carson and the pillow pitchman, a GOP megadonor and Trump ally, have gotten the president interested in an experimental botanical extract they say could treat COVID-19, raising concerns among some government officials, Axios reported Sunday. Trump, who has been searching for an easy way out of the coronavirus crisis since it started, has reportedly “expressed enthusiasm” for Oleandrin, as Carson and Lindell push for Food and Drug Administration approval, though—like hydroxychloroquine—there is no proof that it works.

...

Trump’s fondness for the unproven experimental extract is just the latest instance in which he’s latched on to a quick fix for the coronavirus crisis, the biggest obstacle to bid for re-election, in hopes that he can make it all go away without him having to do anything about it. Nationwide mask mandate? Robust testing regime? Who needs them if you’ve got an oleander extract that hasn’t been adequately tested, but that Lindell—who invests in the company that makes it—swears by?

Out with the old, it out-lived its snake-oil fame and there's no benefit in giving it for free; and in with the new snake-oil

This is how one MAGAs, right? People will be dying anyway (covid-19, third cause of death), so why not make a deal with something US can produce instead of importing it from elsewhere? Who cares it's not effective if the money flows and there are chances of kickbacks or just some electoral donations.

---

Edit: My dad was a healthy 65-year-old. His only pre-existing condition was trusting Donald Trump, and for that, he paid with his life.
Good business, killing your voters. One may argue the guy died because of his own stupidity. I wonder how this correlates with Trump voters base?

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/cnn-poll-bidens-lead-trump-tumbles-10-points-after-two-months-rioting

Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

A new CNN poll has found that Joe Biden’s lead over President Trump has shrunk by 10 points after over two months of unrest and rioting in major American cities.

CNN’s last survey, conducted in early June when riots had largely been confined to Minneapolis, had Biden ahead by 14 points. Now he leads by just 4.

“Biden leads President Donald Trump by just four points nationally — 50 percent to 46 percent — and by even less across 15 battleground states that will determine who wins the electoral college,” reports Breitbart.

“In those 15 states — Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin — the new CNN poll has Biden leading by just one percent, with Biden at 49 and Trump at 48.”

The poll indicates that the riots have not only convinced many independents and moderates to vote for Trump, but that the unrest has also hardened support amongst Trump’s base.

Indeed, the numbers show that the President’s backing among conservatives has been boosted from 76% to 85%. Those between the ages of 35 and 64 now lean towards Trump having favored Biden back in June.

The survey was also conducted after the announcement of Kamala Harris as Biden’s running mate, suggesting her selection has done nothing to help Biden or even harmed his chances.

[ZH: Notably, only 27% of the poll respondents self-identified as Republicans]

I'm waiting for the poll in November. We all know that useless polls are useless.