[PJ] It’s the logo that Costco shoppers dread: when the "Death Star" appears next to their favorite item, indicating that the discount retail giant won’t restock once current inventory has sold out. Just this year, the Death Star has appeared on Filthy brand blue cheese olives, Kinder’s organic toasted onion dip mix, and Jonny Pops chocolate dipped strawberry pops.
Now the Death Star has been spotted adorning the price signs for Bud Light, which was the most popular beer in America back in the olden days of [...checks notes...] a couple months ago.
If you think that’s a bad sign for Bud Light sales, you’re wrong. It’s much, much worse.
I first became aware of Bud Light’s Alderaan-like fate on Wednesday evening, when my friend and former RedState colleague Kira Davis tweeted that "they’re not even selling Bud Light at my local Costco anymore. Don’t know when it stopped but I’ve noticed it’s not in stock anymore." Kira was reporting from southern California, which, as I noted on Instapundit earlier today, "isn’t exactly overrun with conservatives."
Sure enough, sharp Costco buyers have been sharing photos on social media of the Death Star menacing Bud Light signs across the nation.
#3
My understanding is that August is important in the beer business because it determines how much shelve space is allocated for a good part of the year.
#5
...because it determines how much shelve space is allocated for a good part of the year.
In "big box stores" much of the 'how many feet' each brand gets is decided by regional execs with some input from the store managers. Of course it didn't hurt when the regional exec was personally flown on a fishing trip by the company president and plant manager (an avid fishermen) to Mexico ...for free. Any further remunerations tendered to the exec were tastefully left out of the story. I wonder how much AB is willing to *cough* donate to 'distributor outreach'.
#7
I think the human factor in the decision process is minor to non-existent. They have real time data on what's moving and what's not and their merchandising space is priced out to a fraction of a cent.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/14/2023 11:02 Comments ||
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#8
The Alderaan of beers.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/14/2023 11:52 Comments ||
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#9
What the asterik in the Costco sign likely means is that the pallet load stock area (much easier to refill, you just need a pallet jack) is going to be filled with something that justifies the space.
Bud-non may not be gone completely, it's just moved to a stack that the route drivers will have to fill themselves. They will not be happy.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
07/14/2023 13:13 Comments ||
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[Epoch Times} Where else would you read this?
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) spoke on the House floor on Thursday about the origins of The Epoch Times, telling the story of John Tang, founder of the publication, who was pursuing a doctorate in physics at Georgia Tech in 1999 when, after an unexpected turn of events, he decided to launch a newspaper.
"He never imagined that 20 years later he would be heading the fourth-largest American newspaper by subscription count," Mr. Norman stated.
In 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) initiated a brutal campaign against the spiritual discipline Falun Gong, which an estimated 70 million—100 million Chinese people were practicing at that time. The CCP, deeming the practice’s popularity a threat to its power, sought to demonize and isolate the group using state and private media outlets, "playing nonstop hate propaganda attacking the peaceful group" in order to justify the persecution, he said.
Mr. Tang, who had immigrated to the United States, watched from afar in horror as friends were persecuted for their beliefs while Western media amplified the CCP’s propaganda. Mr. Tang felt compelled to take action, Mr. Norman explained.
With no prior experience or resources, Mr. Tang established Dajiyuan, the Chinese-language edition of The Epoch Times, in his Atlanta basement. Mr. Tang’s goal was to provide uncensored information not only to people in China but also to everyone worldwide. Soon, other Chinese Americans, including those with advanced degrees, abandoned their well-paying careers to join Mr. Tang in "this seemingly impossible endeavor," Mr. Norman said.
The congressman talked about the paper’s first reporting group, which was established in China in 2000 and mainly focused on the CCP’s human rights abuses. Independent reporting on such sensitive topics, however, posed a direct threat to the CCP’s control.
Within months, Chinese police raided the newsroom in China, arresting all reporters and editors, some of whom faced harsh sentences and endured frequent torture, the congressman said, noting that two Epoch Times staff members, Zhang Yuhui and Shi Shaoping, were each sentenced to 10 years in prison. They also publish a monthly 100-page magazine called American Essence, - "For Everyone Who Loves This Country". I read most of it every month.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/14/2023 11:13 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11126 views]
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[LifeSiteNews] ‘The popular narrative about climate change reflects a dangerous corruption of science that threatens the world’s economy and the well-being of billions of people,’ Dr. John Clauser has said.
A Nobel Prize-winning physicist has criticized alarmist climate predictions and said that he does not believe that there is a climate crisis.
During his speech at the “Quantum Korea 2023” event, Dr. John Clauser said, “I don’t believe there is a climate crisis,” according to a report by Seoul Economic Daily that has been translated into English by the CO2 Coalition.
Clauser added that “key processes are exaggerated and misunderstood by approximately 200 times” and accused the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of spreading misinformation.
In his keynote speech addressed to young Korean scientists and students, Clauser said that “Misinformation is being spread by those with political and opportunistic motives.”
“Even chatbots like ChatGPT can be better at lying than humans,” he said, adding that “distinguishing truth from falsehood is a challenging task for both humans and computers.”
“In an era of rapid advancement in AI technology, the role of scientists as judges is necessary,” he said, urging scientists to fulfill their role by verifying information and educating the public about it.
Clauser won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2022, alongside two other scientists, for his work in the field of quantum mechanics. In May 2023, the renowned physicist joined the board of directors of the CO2 Coalition, a scientific organization that highlights the benefits of CO2 for the environment and criticizes alarmist climate models.
Dr. William Happer, chairman of the CO2 Coalition’s board of directors, said that Clauser’s “studies of the science of climate provide strong evidence that there is no climate crisis and that increasing CO2 concentrations will benefit the world.”
Commenting on climate alarmism, Clauser has said that “The popular narrative about climate change reflects a dangerous corruption of science that threatens the world’s economy and the well-being of billions of people.”
“Misguided climate science has metastasized into massive shock-journalistic pseudoscience,” he continued. “In turn, the pseudoscience has become a scapegoat for a wide variety of other unrelated ills. It has been promoted and extended by similarly misguided business marketing agents, politicians, journalists, government agencies, and environmentalists. In my opinion, there is no real climate crisis.”
“There is, however, a very real problem with providing a decent standard of living to the world’s large population and an associated energy crisis. The latter is being unnecessarily exacerbated by what, in my opinion, is incorrect climate science.”
The renowned physicist has criticized President Joe Biden’s climate policies and the fact that the 2021 Nobel Prize was awarded for work done on computer models predicting climate change. Clauser has criticized the faulty models used by the IPCC and others that he says ignore important factors.
Clauser has developed climate models that emphasize the impact of cumulus clouds reflecting sunlight, which cover around half of the Earth on average. These clouds reflect around 90% of the sunlight back into space. Sunlight that reaches the earth in areas without clouds evaporates seawater which, in turn, produces cumulus clouds.
“It produces clouds at an increasingly abundant rate when the cloud-cover fraction is too small and the temperature is too high and vice versa when the fraction is too large,” according to the CO2 Coalition.
These clouds, therefore, act as “a very powerful input-power thermostat” that stabilizes the earth’s surface temperature.
Temperature changes caused by the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are “nearly two orders of magnitude smaller” than the impact of the cumulus clouds, rendering it negligible by comparison, Clauser argues.
“It should be noted that reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and National Academy of Sciences repeatedly concede that the effects of clouds do indeed represent the greatest uncertainty in their climate predictions,” the CO2 Coalition writes. “But these organizations have made little progress in dealing with these deficiencies.”
#2
This has infected all aspects of population management. Education, discrimination all opportunistic motives for power control. Each practicing this seek to carve out their niche; BLM, Peta,trans, media, COVID and so many more.
#3
Kerry remains the unlikeable ass that he has been since prep school. The fact that they have trotted him out yet again in another role demonstrates how weak their bench is and how little they value this position. Kerry’s usefulness is that everyone understands that he is too stupid the defend climate change scientifically. He supposedly is the international contact guy. Realistically, he is just a bag man like Hunter with a better resume, prestigious hair helmet and is more reliable about not misplacing his coke and laptop.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/14/2023 6:26 Comments ||
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Speculation. But even if he does this, there are still plenty of other things both can be prosecuted for later.
[AmericanThinker] As the revelations of potential bribery, bank fraud and tax evasion swirl around Joe Biden and Hunter Biden, both men, who are increasingly appearing together, seem extraordinary calm and unconcerned in public as Joe flashes his signature supercilious and mocking smirk whenever he is asked about the various investigation into his and his son’s activities over the past 12 years. Thanks to pre-emptive presidential pardons, Joe knows that he, Hunter, and the family will never have to answer for any of their alleged egregious criminality.
The Supreme Court has ruled that a president can issue a pardon before charges have been filed. That pardon power:
...extends to every offense known before the law, and may be exercised at any time after its commission, either before legal proceedings are taken or during their pendency, or after conviction and judgement.
Apparently the strategy over the past two and a half years has been for Joe Biden to rely on his sycophants in the Justice Department to stonewall the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate him and to negotiate an absurdly lenient jail-free plea deal with Hunter while the legacy media continued to deliberately ignore or conceal any alleged criminality.
With a court-approved plea deal on the books, the Justice Department could then continue to obfuscate by blithely claiming that they criminally charged Hunter Biden. Thereafter, they could ignore the calls for a full-scale investigation of bribery and bank fraud allegations until after the 2024 election, when Joe would be safely ensconced once again in the Oval Office and pre-emptive pardons could then be issued with no political fallout for Joe or the Democrat party.
However, on July 26th a federal judge in Delaware has to approve of Hunter’s recently announced absurdly lenient plea deal on criminal gun and tax evasion charges, unless the Justice Department requests a delay for fear of an adverse ruling. After the ongoing revelations by the whistleblowers from the IRS, there is certainly ample reason for the judge to reject the plea deal.
If the deal is rejected, the well laid plans of Joe Biden and the Justice Department will require a major revision, as the federal prosecutors and Hunter Biden would have to discuss a possible jail sentence as part of a new plea deal knowing that Hunter would never opt for an open trial.
Even if the judge does accept the plea deal as filed, the Republican House of Representatives is continuing its investigations. Thanks to a phalanx of patriotic whistleblowers and dogged determination, it appears the House will be able to publicly reveal potentially irrefutable evidence of Joe and Hunter’s criminal activity. Thus, the Justice Department is finding it difficult to continue burying their heads in the sand and refusing to pursue a criminal investigation of Hunter and possibly other Biden family members without implicating Joe.
This scenario is further complicated by 2024 political considerations as Joe Biden is ostensibly seeking re-election. The endless disclosures coming out the House are undermining Joe’s standing with the American citizenry and the Democrat party’s ability to retain the presidency. So, what to do and when with Joe, Hunter, and the family, particularly if Hunter’s plea deal is rejected?
Hunter Biden, as the bag man for his father, has the goods on Joe and he, Hunter, likely is not going to spend years in jail for bribery and fraud without threatening to take Joe down with him. As their respective careers have underlined, both men are devoid of decency or scruples. Hunter also knows, thanks to Joe being President, that pre-emptive pardons would be uniquely available for him and the other members of the Biden Crime Family.
At some point soon, Joe will be faced with having to issue pardons for Hunter, James Biden and others. Does he do it now or wait, as planned, until after November 5, 2024 during the interregnum period between the election and inauguration to grant the pardons?
Posted by: NoMoreBS ||
07/14/2023 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
Is it possible for a sitting president to pardon himself?
#3
Presidential pardoning power is absolute. Biden may negotiate a pardon from his successor as he steps down or do one on the DL. The plea deal clears Hunter.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/14/2023 5:39 Comments ||
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#4
Well, once Bidet does it, the dems can shut up about a Pub prexident doing the same in the future.
Not that they will, of course...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/14/2023 6:45 Comments ||
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#5
The deeper crime question is whether the Secret Service bothered to test the found coke for the presence of mozzarella.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/14/2023 13:52 Comments ||
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#6
Are we in the last stages of the Republic where Pre-Emptive Pardons are de rigeur for a departing President?
"As the stress reaches the value of the tensile strength, however, a material, if ductile, that has already begun to flow plastically rapidly forms a constricted region called a neck, where it then fractures."
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[PJ] It’s the logo that 
In 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) initiated a brutal campaign against the spiritual discipline Falun Gong, which an estimated 70 million—100 million Chinese people were practicing at that time. The CCP, deeming the practice’s popularity a threat to its power, sought to demonize and isolate the group using state and private media outlets, "playing nonstop hate propaganda attacking the peaceful group" in order to justify the persecution, he said.
[AmericanThinker] As the revelations of potential bribery, bank fraud and tax evasion swirl around Joe Biden and Hunter Biden, both men, who are increasingly appearing together, seem extraordinary calm and unconcerned in public as Joe flashes his signature supercilious and mocking smirk whenever he is asked about the various investigation into his and his son’s activities over the past 12 years. Thanks to pre-emptive presidential pardons, Joe knows that he, Hunter, and the family will never have to answer for any of their alleged egregious criminality.
