Last Call For Cadillacs And Dinosaurs

After years of legal wrangling and tens of millions in tax breaks, Kentucky's status as anti-science embarassment full of slack-jawed yokels enters a new phase with the grand opening of Ark Encounter in nearby Grant County.

A 510-foot-long, $100 million Noah's ark attraction built by Christians who say the biblical story really happened has opened in Kentucky.

People lined up as much as an hour before the Ark Encounter opened near Williamstown at 9 a.m. 

Since its announcement in 2010, the ark project has rankled opponents who say the attraction will be detrimental to science education and shouldn't have won state tax incentives. 

"I believe this is going to be one of the greatest Christian outreaches of this era in history," said Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis, the ministry that built the ark. 

Ham said the massive ark, based on the tale of a man who got an end-of-the-world warning from God about a massive flood, stands as proof that the stories of the Bible are true. The group invited media and thousands of supporters for a preview Tuesday, the first glimpse inside the giant, mostly wood structure. 

"People are going to come from all over the world," Ham said to thousands of people in front of the ark during a Tuesday preview. 

Ham's group has estimated it will draw 2 million visitors in its first year, putting it on par with some of the big-ticket attractions in nearby Cincinnati.

I'm thinking Ham is overestimating that number by an order of magnitude or so, which means this place is probably going to go belly up before too long.  Frankly, I hope the drainage at the park is so bad the place floods and the ark sinks, but I'm nowhere near that lucky.

Still, it'll bring a couple hundred jobs (for good Christians only, mind you) in Grant County, which does badly need them.  Sure, those jobs are coming at a cost of a quarter-million in tax breaks each, but what would I know about math, I live in Kentucky, right?

Bevinstan needs some attractions to pull the rubes in.  We can't be the nation's laughing stock 100% due solely to Matt Bevin, after all.

Meanwhile In Gunmerica, Con't

So apparently the House GOP won't be holding those gun control votes they promised to hold after all, becuase they're either too busy grilling James Comey or that the gun fetish wing of the party is threatening full revolt.

House Republican infighting has forced GOP leaders to indefinitely postpone a vote on an "anti-terrorism package," leaving Congress with no legislative response to last month's massacre in Orlando. 

As Democrats are pushing Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) for votes on their gun control proposals, taking to the House floor Thursday to read the names of victims of gun violence, Republicans can’t agree among themselves on what they will support in a gun package.

While some in House leadership hold out hope for a vote before the July 15 recess, a source cautioned that "there is a lot of work to do to get there."

So Paul Ryan is bailing on his word to Democrats, and there's basically no reason why anyone should ever belive the guy again.

Can't say you didn't see this coming, though.

Black Lives Still Matter

On Tuesday Alton Sterling was murdered in Baton Rouge by police, yesterday Philando Castile was killed in Falcon Heights, Minnesota.  

A 32-year-old man has died after an officer-involved shooting Wednesday night in Falcon Heights.

Philando Castile’s mother, Valerie Castile, says he died at Hennepin County Medical Center after 11 p.m.

St. Anthony Police said in a press release that officers pulled over a vehicle at Larpenteur Avenue and Fry Street at about 9 p.m. They said “shots were fire” during the traffic stop, and a handgun was recovered at the scene. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating.

Castile’s family says his girlfriend, Lavisha Reynolds, and her 4-year-old daughter, Diamond, were in the car at the time. Reynolds was taken into custody Wednesday night.

They pulled him over for a busted tail light with a woman and a 4-year-old in the car. Castille informed the officer that he had a legal handgun in the glove compartment, and that he was reaching for his wallet in his back pocket.

And then the officer shot him 4 times.  Lavisha Reynolds recorded the stop and the aftermath on her phone.

Reynolds, who was in the front passenger seat, says in the video that they were pulled over for a broken tail light. She says police asked Castile, who was driving, for his license and registration.

She says as Castile was reaching for his wallet, he informed officers that he had a firearm in his possession, and a conceal-and-carry permit.

Reynolds says in the video that an officer then shot her boyfriend four times.

The officer in the video at one point screams, “I told him not to reach for it! I told him to get his hand out …”

Reynolds tells the officer, “You told him to get his I.D., sir, his driver’s license.”

She pans the cellphone camera over Castile, who is covered in blood.

“Oh my God, please don’t tell me he’s dead. Please don’t tell me my boyfriend just went like that,” Reynolds said.

The officer, whose gun is drawn the entire time, tells Reynolds to, “Keep your hands where they are.”

“Yes I will, sir, I’ll keep my hands where they are,” she said.

In the video you can see Castille writhing in pain in the driver's seat, his final moments passing. Reynolds is very, very calm considering the officer just blasted the person next to her, because she knows that if she gets hysterical here, she will be murdered too.

The cop is screaming and cursing because he knows he screwed up big time, and he's been caught.  In no way was this justified.

And so another black man died to a cop in America last night.

Black lives do matter.

StupidiNews!

• A second black man is dead from a police shooting in two days as Philando Castille was killed in St. Paul, Minnesota at a traffic stop for a broken tail light, two witnesses were in the car.
• The United Nations has leveled new sanctions against North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un over human rights abuses in response to several North Korean missile tests this year.
• An attack by Islamic militants in Bangladesh has killed 3 and wounded 14 as police were protecting an Eid festival marking the end of Ramadan.
• Sen. Bernie Sanders is reportedly in talks to endorse Hillary Clinton at a joint event in New Hampshire next week ahead of the Democratic National Convention.
• Cable giant Comcast says that it's not economically viable or even technically possible to comply with new FCC rules governing third-party cable boxes and applications.