🇺🇸 Penny For Your Thoughts

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🐘 Wednesday, May 17: 2024 Republican Presidential Nomination: Trump 62, DeSantis 17, Pence 6, Haley 5, Ramaswamy 2, T. Scott, Elder, Christie, Hutchinson 3, Sununu (Rasmussen Reports)

🐘 Wednesday, May 17: General Election: Trump vs. Biden: Trump 44, Biden 42 (Economist/YouGov)

🟰 Wednesday, May 17: General Election: DeSantis vs. Biden: DeSantis 41, Biden 41 (Economist/YouGov)

📉 Wednesday, May 17: Direction of Country: Right Direction 32, Wrong Track 60 (Economist/YouGov)

TRENDING

Left: DeSantis & Pence Are Running Scared Alex Shephard, The New Republic

Left: A Brief, Concerning Conversation With Dianne Feinstein Jim Newell, Slate

Left: The Case for Increasing Aid to Ukraine Tom Nichols, The Atlantic

Right: Trump Stabbed in Back By Deep State Michael Goodwin, New York Post

Right: The Great Underestimation of DeSantis Unravels Salena Zito, Washington Examiner

Right: The Blind Path to War Micah Meadowcroft, The American Conservative

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QUICK CLICKS

Disney Scraps Campus, Feinstein's Fight With Shingles, Eight Super Bowls

Business: Disney is scrapping plans for a new $1 billion Florida campus (CNN) + DeSantis Mocks Disney Over Company’s Latest Political Stunt (Daily Wire)

US: Democratic tensions rise as Biden narrows debt ceiling talks (Axios) + 210 Democrats endorse plan to sidestep House Republicans in debt limit fight (Fox News)

US: Dianne Feinstein suffered brain inflammation as complication from shingles, aide confirms (ABC News)

World: US, G7 to unveil new sanctions targeting Russia over Ukraine (Reuters)

Tech: Montana TikTok users file lawsuit challenging ban (The Verge)

Sports: 2026 World Cup: New York, New Jersey promise '8 Super Bowls' (ESPN)

NYC

Penny For Your Thoughts

On May 1, a former Marine subdued a homeless man on a New York City subway, after he was allegedly being threatening to other riders. The Manhattan District Attorney has since charged 24-year-old Daniel Penny with manslaughter, as the Medical Examiner determined 30-year-old Jordan Neely had died from a chokehold.

Reporting from The Left: Daniel Penny surrenders to police to face manslaughter charge in chokehold death of Jordan Neely on NYC subway Steve Almasy, John Miller and Kara Scannell, CNN

Reporting from The Right: 'I would have wanted you on the subway': Donors send messages of support to Daniel Penny amid criminal charges Michael Lee, Fox News

From The Flag: Donations to Penny's legal defense fund have grown above $2 million, with many convinced he was acting in self-defense, and in defense of his fellow riders. Others have decried his actions as violent vigilantism, while many agree more needs to be done about mental illness and homeless living within the subway. Here's more from both sides.

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Conservatives Cheers on the Marine, and Mental Illness Is Ignored

• People on the right fail to see the humanity in Jordan Neely, while cheering the fact Penny took his life by showing a supposedly "protective instinct."

• This is a tragedy that largely stems from our complete failure as a society when it comes to mental illness, and how to respond.

• The right is carrying out mental gymnastics to try and convince people it's "pro-criminal" to arrest someone for using a chokehold for 15 minutes.

Daniel Penny and the Sheepdog Defense Sarah Jones, New York Magazine: "The right had already embraced white vigilantes by the time Penny killed the unarmed Neely on May 1. Before there was Penny, there was Daniel Perry; before there was Daniel Perry, there was Kyle Rittenhouse. Penny isn’t even the first servicemember or veteran to be celebrated for his vigilantism. But the reaction to Penny uncovers another disturbing phenomenon. To conservatives, Penny’s military service grants him special status. His defenders call him a marine, present tense, as though he were still serving the day he killed Neely. Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio, a Republican and a Marine veteran, remarked upon the “protective instinct” Penny showed. Such comments never mention Neely. The man is a nameless threat, a wolf. Penny, in killing him, was simply a marine doing his job. ... Penny’s defenders populate the world with vicious caricatures. ... there are only sheep, sheepdogs, and wolves."

Charging Jordan Neely’s killer is just a start LZ Granderson, LA Times Opinion: "Neely, a 30-year-old unhoused man well known on the subway system, was begging for food and water... in 'the greatest city in the world'... If there were ever a place a desperate person like Neely could get help, you would think New York City would be it. Instead, he was killed. Daniel Penny, a 24-year-old ex-Marine, crushed Neely’s windpipe while trying to protect people who might not have been in any immediate danger. It’s all awful. Neely’s lifeless body left lying in his own feces on the floor of the F train. A tragic ending to a story already riddled with tragedy. ... But with the backdrop of the growing number of mass shootings committed by people in need of mental health treatment, the manner in which we help people like Neely should be viewed with a much wider lens — and with much more urgency."

One more opinion piece from the Left: Conservatives: It’s “Anti-Hero” to Arrest Daniel Penny for Killing Jordan Neely Prem Thakker, The New Republic

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

The Media May Hate Penny, but the People Have His Back

• The leftist media has been typically deranged, painting a violent schizophrenic as a worshipful figure, and smearing a heroic Marine as a criminal.

• In reality, the bulk of New Yorkers have faced scary moments on the streets or in the subways, where they wished someone like Penny was there for them.

• Sadly, New York City does not have a justice system, but rather a political system run by one party that enforces a hard-left agenda.

Penny Deserves A Medal, Not Jail Time Peachy Keenan, The Federalist: "Because the violent schizophrenic — or as The New York Times slobbered, 'a gifted Michael Jackson impersonator who captivated commuters with his fluent moonwalking' — died following the incident, Penny stands accused of second-degree manslaughter. If the district attorney, left-wing fanatic Alvin Bragg, gets his way, Penny will get sent up the river and spend 15 years at Sing Sing. ... They have been broadcasting worshipful hagiographies of the dearly departed... (but) haven’t done much reporting on the dark side of Saint Neely. Few mention his attempt at kidnapping a child. Or the fact that he was on the city’s list of the 50 most notorious homeless troublemakers. ... Where are the Daniel Penny hagiographies? ... He’s a decorated Marine who served two tours of duty. He is studying architecture. ... He is by all accounts an exemplary citizen and, yes, a hero. That’s why the system must take him down."

Free Daniel Penny Willian McGurn, Wall Street Journal Opinion: "When Daniel Penny stepped forward on a New York subway to protect his fellow commuters from an obviously deranged man, the former Marine sergeant couldn’t have imagined that two weeks later he’d be perp-walked in handcuffs before news cameras outside Manhattan’s Fifth Precinct. In one of the worst decisions by one of America’s worst prosecutors, Alvin Bragg on Friday charged Mr. Penny, 24, with second-degree manslaughter. ... In a civilized society, the strong protect the weak. A Marine uses his strength to fight for those unable to fight for themselves. Today it’s common to lament the state of American manhood—how many of us have been appalled by videos showing men standing by and doing nothing as a woman is attacked. Yet when a good man does step forward, he is treated, literally, as a criminal."

One more opinion piece from the Right: Why Daniel Penny Was Charged Andrew McCarthy, National Review

FLAG THIS

Majority Disagree With Arrest, Crime in Cities a Deterrence

Last week, on the day Penny was charged with manslaughter, YouGov conducted a "live chat" that prompted, "Agree or disagree: Daniel Penny should be charged with the death of Jordan Neely?"

The majority said they disagreed (59%) while 36% agreed, and 5% weren't sure.

When we last covered the story, 53% of our readers said the threat of crime would make them "think twice about visiting or living in America's big cities."

FLAG FINDS

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WATERCOOLER

Sykes-Picot Finalized, How Your Senses Change, If Neanderthals Had Prevailed

On May 19, 1916, representatives of Great Britain and France secretly reach an accord, known as the Sykes-Picot Agreement, by which most of the Arab lands under the rule of the Ottoman Empire are to be divided into British and French spheres of influence with the conclusion of World War I.

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The Conversation: 8 Billion People: How Different the World Would Look if Neanderthals Had Prevailed

Rolling Stone: The Biggest, Messiest Band Breakups in Music History

Today I Learned birth rates in the U.S. have dropped more than 20% since 2007.