The Dallas Mavericks have not played the national anthem all season long, but they’ll start playing it again right away.
Despite an order from Mavs Owner Mark Cuban to not play the anthem reportedly because “many feel it does not represent them,” the league has stepped-in and mandated that “all teams” will play the anthem before games.
“With NBA teams now in the process of welcoming fans back into their arenas, all teams will play the national anthem in keeping with longstanding league policy,” the league’s Chief Communications Officer Mike Bass said in a statement.
The Mavericks have not played the anthem in any of their 13 home preseason and regular-season games. Cuban had not publicly given a reason why the anthem was being nixed until Tuesday night when he confirmed to ESPN that the team was not playing the Star-Spangled Banner and had no plans to resume playing it.
A report from the Athletic’s Shams Charania cited a source claiming that Cuban’s decision to not play the song stemmed from a belief that “many feel the anthem doesn’t represent them.
Cuban has supported the desire of NBA players to kneel during the anthem as a form of protest.
“Whether it’s holding their arm up in the air, whether it’s taking a knee, whatever it is, I don’t think this is an issue of respect or disrespect to the flag or to the anthem or to our country,” Cuban told ESPN’s Outside the Lines in June. “I think this is more a reflection of our players’ commitment to this country and the fact that it’s so important to them that they’re willing to say what’s in their heart and do what they think is right.
“I’ll defer to [Silver] on any final judgments and [players’ union executive director] Michele Roberts. But the reality is, my hope is we’ll let the players do exactly what they think is the right thing to do.”
The NBA’s move comes as somewhat of a surprise given that the initial ESPN report claimed that Cuban had arrived at his decision to ban the anthem after consulting with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.
At the direction of owner Mark Cuban, the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks have stopped playing the national anthem before home games this season and do not intend to play it for home games moving forward. As noted by Tim Cato, who broke the story at The Athletic on Monday evening, the anthem-snub by the Mavericks is […]
Rapper and songwriter Pitbull (real name Armando Christian Pérez) warned during an appearance on RevoltTV how quickly freedom can be taken away, especially amid a crisis like the one sparked by the novel coronavirus. Pitbull is a first-generation Cuban-American whose family escaped Communism under the rule of Fidel Castro. “The reason I can have this […]
Barely a week after Davos luminaries met with world leaders and Silicon Valley oligarchs to plot their latest phase of the Great Reset, the underlying provenance of their entire ‘climate emergency’ thesis is still struggling to correspond with reality.
Their much-celebrated “Zero Carbon” agenda which virtue-signaling leaders like Justin Trudeau, Boris Johnson and Joe Biden are currently advocating for – is proving to be a lot more difficult to achieve in reality than it is on their elaborate UN Agenda 2030 Powerpoint slides, computer modeled projections and Zoom calls.
No one is being hit with this sobering reality more than the Europe’s premier green trailblazer, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country is currently in the grips of Europe’s record-breaking freeze this winter.
Germany’s held up as the world’s wind and solar capital. But, at the moment, the ‘green’ stuff can’t be purchased, at any price.
Its millions of solar panels are blanketed in snow and ice and breathless, freezing weather is encouraging its 30,000 wind turbines to do absolutely nothing, at all. [Note: don’t forget about the constant supply of electricity from the grid that these things chew up heating their internal workings so they don’t freeze up solid!]
So much for the ‘transition’ to an all wind and sun powered future – aka the ‘Energiewende’.
Despite being the object of consternation and much vilification over the last 20 years, Germany’s coal-fired plants are now being appreciated for what they are: truly meaningful power generation sources, available on demand, whatever the weather. With a Nationwide blackout a heartbeat away, the German obsession with unreliable wind and solar is like a time bomb set to explode.
Last month, Pierre Gosselin from No Tricks Zone explained how tradition energy sources like coal, nuclear and gas have bailed out Germany’s failing solar and wind green boondoggle…
Berlin On The Brink! Winter Blackouts Loom As Coal Plants Run At 100% Capacity, Struggle To Keep Lights On In
Wintertime wind and solar energy “between 0 and 2 or 3 percent – that is de facto zero,” says German power distribution professor.
Berlin’s power supply severely strained:
Germany now finds itself in the dead of winter. Much of the country has seen considerable snowfall, meaning solar panels are often covered by snow and thus rendered useless. Even without snow cover, the weeks-long overcast sky prevents any noteworthy solar power generation.
Moreover, this winter there have been many long windless periods, and so Germany’s approx. 30,000 wind turbines have been largely out of operation. In a world 100% reliant on green energies, this would mean near 100% darkness at home.
Luckily Germany’s still existing coal and nuclear power infrastructure is (still) there to step in and keep the power on and the country running. This has been the case for Berlin this winter an RBB German television report reveals:
German RBB (Berlin-Brandenburg) public broadcasting recently aired a report (above) on the region’s winter energy woes titled: “Germany’s green energies strained by winter.”
Coal to the rescue
The report acknowledges that all the power is “currently coming mainly from coal, and the power plants in Lausitz” are now “running at full capacity”.
Strangely the RBB report has been taken down from the archives, yet is fortunately available on YouTube thanks to wind energy protest group Vernunftkraft.de.
In the report Daniel Bartig, a mechanic at the LEAG Lausitz plant, tells RBB he is skeptical that green energy can do the job, and says “the greatest share of power is currently coming from coal.”
Green energies will not keep pace with demand
Next in the report, RBB interviews Harald Schwarz, professor of power distribution at the University of Cottbus, who tells RBB he’s very skeptical of wind and solar energy doing the job. As Germany moves to shut down its reliable nuclear and coal power plants, the gap between supply and demand will grow dangerously wide.
Physical reality “totally neglected” by policymakers
According to Prof. Schwarz:
With this supply of wind and photovoltaic energy, it’s between 0 and 2 or 3 percent – that is de facto zero. You can see it in many diagrams that we have days, weeks, in the year where we have neither wind nor PV. Especially this time for example – there is no wind and PV, and there are often times when the wind is very miniscule. These are things, I must say, that have been physically established and known for centuries, and we’ve simply totally neglected this during the green energies discussion.”
Will have to rely on foreign energy in the future
RBB then warns of the increased odds of blackouts for the region, like the blackout in Berlin in 2019.
So what will happen in the future?
The reporter says the plan is that Germany will have to rely more on natural gas (from Russia), coal power from Poland and nuclear power from France.
Green energy dumbness and obstinance on full public display.
Appearing on Fox & Friends on Monday, a Virginia sheriff blasted the Biden administration for its policy on illegal immigration, saying that President Biden has “effectively and functionally dismantled ICE, basically telling the agents to stand down.”
Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy prompted Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins to comment on the issue, remarking, “Out on the campaign trail, Joe Biden said, ‘During the Obama-Biden administration, we deported too many people.’ … Well, he certainly has taken a big step in that direction.”
Among those arrested was a Bay County EMS captain named Eddie Kemp, who was arrested for traveling to have sex with a minor. Kemp has now been placed on unpaid administrative leave.
Police fired gunshots in Myanmar on Tuesday as large numbers of protesters ignored the military junta’s ban on public gatherings. Police reportedly arrested 27 people and injured five, one of them critically.
According to a doctor in the capital city of Naypyidaw cited by Sky News, several of the injured people were struck by rubber bullets the police fired. Shots were also fired in the air when crowds in the capital and other cities refused orders to disperse.
Reuters reported that one female demonstrator was critically injured after police shot her in the head. Her doctor said the round was a “live bullet,” not rubber, and he was “100 percent certain the injury is fatal.”
Video of the shooting circulating on social media showed the woman was wearing a motorcycle helmet when she was struck in the head and collapsed. Photos of her helmet displayed a hole consistent with penetration by live ammunition. The Associated Press cited local media accounts that said the victim is 19 years old.
The United Nations on Tuesday noted that “numerous demonstrators have been injured, some of them seriously,” and said the “use of disproportionate force against demonstrators is unacceptable.”
The military junta imposed an 8:00 p.m. curfew and banned gatherings of more than five people in Myanmar’s large cities, with penalties of up to six months in prison for disobedience, but protesters still filled the streets to demonstrate against the overthrow of the civilian government and imprisonment of top officials, including de facto national leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Protesters hold images of de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 09, 2021 in Yangon, Myanmar. Police fired rubber bullets, tear gas, and water cannon to disperse protesters at demonstrations across the country, and at least two people were in critical condition from the injuries sustained. (Photo by Hkun Lat/Getty Images)
The junta claims it had to overthrow the government due to widespread fraud in the last parliamentary election, where Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party won a commanding victory. Election officials insist there is no evidence of the fraud claimed by the military.
The protesters disdainfully rejected military leader Gen. Min Aung Hlaing’s televised promise to create a “true and disciplined democracy,” hold a “multiparty election” within a year, and “hand the power to the one who wins.”
Reuters observed that civil disobedience by hospital, school, and government employees appears to be growing, but crowds in the streets of Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar, were noticeably smaller on Tuesday. Unconfirmed reports from Naypyidaw, Yangon, and several other cities claimed some police officers switched sides and attempted to defend the protesters.
Another sign of short-term success for the coup is that many foreign governments have called for the release of its political prisoners, but few have taken concrete action against the junta or demanded the return of power to Suu Kyi’s government. One of the few exceptions is New Zealand, which suspended all high-level contact with Myanmar on Tuesday and imposed a travel ban on military leaders.
New Zealand’s leftist Prime Minister Jacinda Arden said on Tuesday her government would “make sure any funding we put into Myanmar does not in any way support the military regime,” potentially freezing an aid program worth about $10 million per year.
“We do not recognize the legitimacy of the military-led government and we call on the military to immediately release all detained political leaders and restore civilian rule,” declared New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta.
Another important neighboring country, the Philippines, initially described the coup as an “internal matter” and pledged not to “interfere,” but later the Philippine government expressed “deep concern,” and on Tuesday Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr. called for “complete restoration of the status quo ante.”
The Associated Press noted that the situation in Myanmar could become much worse, very quickly, because so far the government has deployed the police to confront the protesters, not the military units that brutally crushed past uprisings and conducted an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Rohingya Muslims. After a week of attempting to ignore the protests, military-controlled state media outlets on Monday began ominously denouncing them as threats to national security.
Parents in Mason, Michigan, are organizing to demand students return to classrooms full time as coronavirus-related school closures drag on.
Students in the Mason School District currently go in-person two days a week and virtually the other three.
“I feel the options don’t work for everyone,” parent Amber Rodriguez, who was one of 514 parents to sign the petition, told WILX.
“These kids’ mental health is struggling a lot. Especially a lot of the older kids. They need to be in school. They need to have their sports,” she said, referring Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s (D) ban on winter contact sports that was recently lifted after parents put pressure on the governor.
Neighboring districts have already shifted to fully in-person, proving “that option is safe,” parents said.
“I’m not understanding why my child can go only two days a week to learn but then the school is unlocked and he’s able to get into the weight room five days a week,” Rodriguez told the news station.
Mason superintendent Ronald Drzewicki argued the district’s hybrid model “provides flexibility to possibly increase in-person instruction in the future. At the direction of the Mason Board of Education, the administration is continuing to look for ways to meet the in-person learning needs of as many students as possible.”
Meanwhile, the number of failing grades is on the rise across the state.
Michigan students saw more Fs on their report cards than usual this year as many kids have struggled to keep up with online-only classes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite the efforts of teachers to keep students on track, K-12 schools have faced immense challenges with conducting distance learning. The abrupt closing of schools last March forced teachers to pivot quickly to remote learning at an unprecedented scale.
School leaders say students at all grade levels have struggled with online classes because of the lack of face-to-face interaction with teachers, as well as other issues such as technical glitches and the lack of access to technology.
“It takes a lot to be an online learner, and a lot of kids weren’t ready for that,” Jenison High School Principal Brandon Graham said. “We discovered that there were a lot of barriers that prevented them from being successful.”
Nearly one-third of students who took a class online received a failing grade.
In Detroit, schools eliminated D and F grades after “about 20% of elementary and middle school students and 35% of high school students failed at least one class in the first quarter.”
In Minneapolis, Minnesota, district administrators are leaving it up to teachers whether they return in person, who have “been pleading with the district to keep from returning to the classrooms until there have been more teachers vaccinated,” for the coronavirus, according to WCCO.
A “Hennepin County judge ruled that the district can’t force teachers back into classes if they’ve got a reason to continue to work from home,” the radio station said.
Kyle Olson is a reporter for Breitbart News. He is also host of “The Kyle Olson Show,” syndicated on Michigan radio stations on Saturdays–download full podcast episodes. Follow him on Parler.
Florida residents had a lucky escape after water treatment plant operators prevented dangerous levels of lye from being added to the local water supply by a hacker that penetrated the computer systems of the City of Oldsmar’s water treatment facility.
NBC News reports that a hacker managed to gain access to the water treatment plant of Oldsmar, Florida, and attempted to increase the amount of lye in the water to extremely dangerous levels. Plant operators quickly noticed the issue and fixed the systems before anyone was put in danger.
In a news conference this week, Pinnella County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri stated that on Friday morning a hacker gained access to a program intended to allow water treatment operators in Oldsmar to troubleshoot problems with the treatment systems. The program gives authorized users full remote access to the plant.
It is believed that the hacker made no changes during the first breach but the system was breached once again late on Friday afternoon. During this attack, the hacker took control of the computer and changed the acceptable level of sodium hydroxide — or lye, the main ingredient in most drain cleaners — from 100 parts per million to 11,100 parts per million.
Luckily, a water plant operator noticed the issue immediately and corrected the issue, according to Gualtieri. He added that if the operators had not noticed the issue and trigger the plant’s alarms, the lye could have seeped into the water supply in 24 to 36 hours.
Gualtieri stated: “Because the operator noticed the increase and lowered it right away, at no time was there a significant adverse effect on the water being treated.”
Gualtieri stated that currently there are no leads on where the hacker was operating from but the Sheriff’s Department is working with the FBI and Secret Service to find out.
Oldsmar City Manager Al Braithwaite stated that the system that the hacker used to gain access to the water treatment plant has been disabled and the city plans to find a replacement.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolanor contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com
The latest fundraising plea from Democratic congresswoman Cheri Bustos tells potential donors their money is desperately needed to fund struggling post offices—but every dollar raised is going straight to her campaign.
