Talk About Tennis 2.0

A Fallen Officer’s Flag-Wrapped Body Makes a Somber Journey to a Mosque
The “dignified transfer” is a New York Police Department rite. Its choreography honors those who died for their fellow citizens.


The Police Department’s ceremonial unit arranges each detail of the transfer of a slain officer’s body.Credit...Olga Fedorova for The New York Times


By Michael Wilson
July 29, 2025, 6:55 p.m. ET

t is carefully choreographed and deeply dreaded, an event the New York Police Department plans for, stands ready for every day: the laying to rest of an officer killed in the line of duty.

No matter the particulars or the cause of death, longstanding traditions and powerful symbolism govern the aftermath, all arranged by the department’s Ceremonial Unit. That unit oversees everything from the somber blue-and-black bunting that is hung at the officer’s precinct to the specially trained pallbearers on call for the funeral.

But among the first displays of police unity after a death in the ranks is what is known as the dignified transfer. The department moves the body from the Office of Chief Medical Examiner’s custody to a funeral home or place of worship.

The transfer on Tuesday that followed the killing of Officer Didarul Islam in a Midtown skyscraper was no different — a quiet show of blue unity outside a mosque in Parkchester, in the Bronx.

Reporters Maia Coleman and Wesley Parnell spent all Tuesday outside Officer Islam’s nearby home and were present to witness the minutes when officers began to arrive outside the Parkchester Jame Masjid. They reported what they saw.


Tuesday’s sun bore down on those who gathered in solemn ranks.Credit...Olga Fedorova for The New York Times


The procession was heralded by a cavalcade of officers on motorcycles.Credit...Olga Fedorova for The New York Times

Video at the gift link
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/29/nyre ... =url-share

The Familiar Suicide and Final Wish of the N.Y.C. Gunman
Shane Tamura is not the first former football player to shoot himself in the chest and request that his brain be examined.

By Juliet MacurJohn Branch and Ken Belson
July 29, 2025, 5:42 p.m. ET

The scenario has become grimly familiar to football fans: A former player experiencing cognitive issues kills himself with a gunshot to his chest, rather than his head, to allow for his brain to be examined for the disease linked to repeated blows sustained on the field.

Dave Duerson, the Chicago Bears great, took his life that way in 2011, and Junior Seau, a Hall of Fame linebacker, did the same a year later. Even a teenager in Missouri, Wyatt Bramwell, killed himself that way in 2019, after recording a sober farewell to his family. He requested that his father donate his brain to researchers.

“I would like that to be done,” Mr. Bramwell said into the camera in a video shared with The New York Times by his parents. “I want you all to be happy that I’m free and that I can rest easy, because my life for the past four years has been a living hell inside of my head. I love you. And goodbye.”

The shooter in Midtown Manhattan on Monday was the latest former football player to choose this fate, though only after more carnage. The gunman, Shane Tamura, shot himself in the chest after killing four others. The police said Mr. Tamura, who played high school football in California, carried a note that referred to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or C.T.E., the degenerative brain disease that has been linked to repeated blows to the head in contact sports.

“Study my brain please,” the note said.

Mr. Duerson, Mr. Seau and Mr. Bramwell were found to have C.T.E., which can be diagnosed only posthumously.

(...)

The risk of developing C.T.E. was long considered limited to those who toiled for years in professional football or boxing, sustaining an untold number of blows to the head. But more recently it has been diagnosed in much younger athletes in a range of contact sports, including those who never played professionally — or, in some cases, did not even play in college.

In a Boston University study released in 2023, researchers examined 152 brains of contact-sport athletes who died before turning 30 and whose families had concerns about brain disease. Of the 152 athletes studied, more than 40 percent had evidence of C.T.E. Most played at no higher than the high school or college levels. Of the 63 who died with C.T.E., 48 played football.

The disease has garnered national attention in cases involving violent crime. Aaron Hernandez and Phillip Adams, both former N.F.L. players, murdered people and died by suicide. In 2012, Jovan Belcher, the former Kansas City Chiefs linebacker, killed his girlfriend before killing himself.

Mr. Nowinski said there were similar cases that had not yet been made public. A handful of former athletes — including football players — murdered people, killed themselves and later were found to have C.T.E., he said.

It is unclear if Mr. Tamura played college football or had a contract with a professional team. But even someone who played only at the high school level and never sustained a concussion could have C.T.E., Dr. McKee said, because repeated hits to the head — including those less severe than a concussion — can cause the disease.

Mr. Tamura’s mental state in recent months is unknown. Investigators are likely trying to piece together how long he planned Monday’s attack. And the medical examiner’s assessment of his brain will reveal whether he did in fact have C.T.E.

His last wish for a brain examination was similar to the request made in a note by Mr. Duerson before he died, and the video by Mr. Bramwell, the 18-year-old.

“Hello. So what this is, this is me explaining what’s wrong with me,” Mr. Bramwell said. “Um, I’ve been depressed for a long time. My head is pretty messed up and damaged. The voices and demons in my head just started to take over everything I wanted to do.

“I took a lot of hits through football, a lot of hits through football. I took a lot of concussions. And a lot of times I never told anybody about how I was feeling in my head after a hit. You know, I just kind of kept playing, which was not smart on my end. I know that.”

In a text message to The Times on Tuesday, Mr. Bramwell’s parents, Bill and Christie Bramwell, said they were “extremely saddened by the tragic loss of life,” and that the decision to let a child play football is an individual one for each family.

“With our loss of Wyatt, our new role is to inform that football injuries involve more than just broken bones. They are the unseen injuries that later show and sometimes with a devastating loss,” they said in the text message. “Continue the conversation.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/29/us/n ... lence.html

After the huge earthquake in Russia:

Steve Herman‬
‪@newsguy.bsky.social‬
· 16m



Tsunami watch for Alaska, Canada’s BC, California - PTWC www.tsunami.gov

‪Phyllis Levin‬
‪@nothing2lose.bsky.social‬
· 19m
www.ksbw.com/article/tsun....




Tsunami watch issued for Central Coast after 8.7 quake near Russia
A tsunami watch was issued for the entire West Coast on Tuesday after an 8.7 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Russia, according to officials.
www.ksbw.com

Phil Lewis‬
‪@phillewis.bsky.social‬
· 9m
HONOLULU (AP) — Tsunami warning sirens blare in Honolulu and people are told to move to higher ground after earthquake off Russia.

Susan Kiyo Ito‬
‪@thesusanito.bsky.social‬
· 7m

‪Media Matters for America‬
‪@mmfa.bsky.social‬
· 4h
Since Monday, Fox News has spent an hour and 25 minutes covering an American Eagle commercial in which Sydney Sweeney talks about her “good jeans,” and just 3 minutes of coverage to developments in the administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein saga.



I have no idea who this woman is.

Latest pop princess.
And they are not covering her commercial. They are covering the response from the "left/woke" side to the commercial.
Straight from MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 31, 2025 11:36 pm Latest pop princess.
And they are not covering her commercial. They are covering the response from the "left/woke" side to the commercial.
Straight from MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.

A response that is said to be fabricated out of whole cloth by the way. Another distraction from the Epstein fiasco.

ti-amie wrote: ↑Thu Jul 31, 2025 11:16 pm I have no idea who this woman is.

Sydney Sweeney was in the first season of The White Lotus - she was Connie Britton's daughter - and also starred in Euphorbia. I have watched both of these, but I still had to look her up to know who she was. I haven't seen the ad because who watches ads these days.

California harbor suffers close to $1 million in damage from tsunami waves
Crescent City's harbor sustained major damage after tsunami waves battered California's North Coast
By Matt LaFever,
North Coast Contributing Editor
July 31, 2025

Crescent City — one of California’s northernmost towns and Del Norte County’s lone city — took a close-to-$1 million hit to its harbor after tsunami waves battered the North Coast earlier this week.

Harbormaster Mike Rademaker told SFGATE in a call that initial estimates put the damage from rough seas triggered by the 8.8-magnitude quake off Russia’s coast at $100,000. Now, Rademaker said, “It’s probably getting closer to $1 million.” 

Although tsunami warnings were issued for the entire West Coast and Hawaii late Tuesday night into Wednesday, most areas saw minimal impact. Crescent City was the exception. It recorded the highest tsunami waves in the continental U.S. — up to 4 feet — with powerful surges arriving just before dawn, lifting docks off their pilings and slamming the harbor.

Rademaker said the city is “probably bearing the largest brunt of … the entire United States impact.” 

Crescent City isn’t just prone to tsunamis — it’s a bull’s-eye. According to a 2008 Cal Poly Humboldt study, the town has “suffered more impacts from historic tsunamis than any other community on the west coast of the United States,” with 31 events recorded since 1933. Offshore topography funnels wave energy straight into the harbor. One 2006 event, triggered over 3,500 miles away, tore through the small-boat basin with currents like a “river in flood,” the researchers wrote.

Crescent City Harbor District’s H Dock was built to take a hit, engineered with closely spaced pilings designed to disrupt and dissipate tsunami energy before it reaches the inner harbor. During Wednesday’s surge, it did just that. The dock’s decking lifted off its pilings and jammed in place before the structure failed completely, according to a Harbor District news release Wednesday.

The collapse caused visible sparking due to damaged wires. Harbor officials said H Dock “appears to have functioned as intended,” sacrificing itself to protect the rest of the harbor infrastructure.

“The story is still that H dock served its purpose of being a sacrificial structure to preserve the boats from being damaged,” Rademaker said. “... That’s a huge win and a huge validation of the engineering design.”

But now, with H Dock out of commission, the harbor is exposed. Rademaker said the city is now working to secure the funds to rebuild the harbor.

“We won’t be eligible for FEMA funding because that requires more of a widespread disaster,” Rademaker told SFGATE. Instead, he said, the cost will likely fall to local and state sources.

Amid assessing the damage and the pressure of keeping the harbor running while the city recovers, Rademaker told SFGATE he’s been in “turbo mode.” Now, the exhaustion is setting in. “I got a half hour of sleep the first night, and maybe, maybe four hours last night.”

https://www.sfgate.com/northcoast/artic ... 796767.php

Acyn‬
‪@acyn.bsky.social‬
· 2h
Virginia Giuffre’s brother: I think we were shocked by it—especially the use of the term “stolen.” Because she’s not an object. She’s a person. Someone who was recruited at Mar-a-Lago—his property… it just kind of makes us wonder… how much he knew

https://bsky.app/profile/acyn.bsky.soci ... cbwfn73k2k (Video)