Wednesday Overnight Open Thread - July 2, 2025 [TRex]

—Open Blogger

Good evening Horde. The time has come for mid-week shenanigans of the overnight variety.

This is the Wednesday night ONT. Pull up a chair and sit a spell. Be nice to your fellow commenters.

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By somewhat popular demand:

Weekly commenter stats for week of 6-28-2025
Top 10 commenters:
1 [757 comments] 'TheJamesMadison, reflecting on change and permanence with Ozu' [107.51 posts/day]
2 [447 comments] 'polynikes'
3 [426 comments] 'Oldcat'
4 [403 comments] '...'
5 [360 comments] 'Boss Moss'
6 [329 comments] 'toby928'
7 [319 comments] 'Warai-otoko'
8 [294 comments] 'Blonde Morticia'
9 [294 comments] 'Hadrian the Seventh '
10 [285 comments] 'Bulg'

Top 10 sockpuppeteers:
1 [177 names] 'The Paolo' [25.14 unique names/day]
2 [98 names] 'Spud Webb'
3 [69 names] 'Ciampino - pray for a safe launch'
4 [68 names] 'Quarter Twenty '
5 [57 names] 'Duncanthrax'
6 [55 names] 'Quarter Twenty '
7 [47 names] 'LeenCorp LLC'
8 [44 names] 'Count de Monet'
9 [35 names] 'Moron Analyst'
10 [32 names] 'toby928'

***

Time for a mid-year check of progress for those participating in the official Ace of Spades ONT 2025 Prediction Challenge. As a refresher, Morons made guesses on a range of current events and economic metrics. We'll tally the results at the end of the year and see whose crystal ball was the most clear.

But we're six months in and everyone wants to know who has the early edge, so... We have economic metrics for all the items except one (a TRex small brain glitch is going to require one of the items to be dropped).

Some event-related predictions have been determined (such as Trudeau stepping down). Some of the event-related predictions have seen change but have not fully materialized yet (a good example is NPR/PBS de-funding where there is legislation that has not passed or some Epstein files were released but no client list).

The top two Morons on the economic metrics are no one of any consequence and Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan. Their predictions are excellent with a meaningful margin to third place from predicting pookysgirl.

For predicting events, Pale Rider currently has a commanding lead with a perfect prediction record. Dr. Claw, Methos and Luca I are tied for second.

Well done! We'll see what the remainder of the year brings. Plenty of time for change.

***

What could be more America than celebrating July 4th by launching cars off a cliff?

The Glacier View Fourth of July Car Launch in Alaska has become an annual tradition.

Here's what it looked like last year:

If you don't already have your tickets for this year, you're too late. SOLD OUT.

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I had thought this was a parody. It is not.

Serve up a winning combination of big crunch and bold flavor with Vlasic Pickle Balls Dill Pickle Flavored Corn Puffs. Crunch into the perfect doubles team of dill and vinegar flavor in every bite and have a pickle-ball with this gluten free pickle flavored snack that rivals all other salty snacks on the court.

Pickles and corn puffs are fine on their own. Pickles are among the few vegetables that find favor with TRex. Mixing them diminishes each. We mourn the unfortunate sacrifices made by dill pickles in the pursuit of potential pickleball playing patrons.

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Makes sense:

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Astronomy photo of the week: ISS passing in front of the sun:

Photo credit: Andrew McCarthy

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Medical knowledge:

An SPF 15 sunscreen blocks 93% of UVB radiation, and SPF 30 blocks 97%. After that, the difference in protection is small. SPF 50 blocks 98%, and SPF 100 stops 99% of UVB rays from reaching your skin.

If you pick SPF 30 and reapply at least every two hours, George says you'll be making a good choice. "A higher SPF might give you a little more wiggle room if you didn't apply enough sunscreen, or you forgot to reapply," says George. "But after a point, going higher doesn't mean you are getting dramatically more protection."

TRex has a small brain (and short arms) but this comes as news.

***

This isn't the food thread, but I can't let this pass. I only recently learned about the BRL.

This is a quasi-smart military blog at times, so we should address the BRL (Barge, Refrigerated, Large). The barge was towed by the Navy in the Pacific theater of World War II to store frozen and refrigerated food. It stored tons of frozen meat, vegetables, eggs and dairy products. More importantly, it also produced ice cream in large quantities - 10 US gallons of ice cream every seven minutes.

The U.S. Navy had (in)famously outlawed alcohol aboard ships in 1914, six years before Prohibition, but it still needed to fill the gap in morale boosting power a sailors daily drink left behind. As any noncommissioned officer who has overseen junior enlisted Americans will tell you: if you don't give them something to boost their morale, they can get into anything...and you might not like what they find.

Not everyone was thrilled with ice cream's rampant popularity. At the end of the war, then-Col. Lewis "Chesty" Puller allegedly decried ice cream as "sissy food" and lobbied for beer and whiskey instead. The newly formed Department of Defense opted to stick with ice cream instead.

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History is fun:

Roland the Farter was a medieval flatulist who lived in 12th-century England. He was given Hemingstone manor in Suffolk and 30 acres of land in return for his services as a jester for King Henry II. Each year, he was obliged to perform "saltum, siffletum, pettum" (a jump, a whistle, [and] a fart that were all done at once) for the king's court at Christmas.

Valerie Allen, professor of literature at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, investigated Roland's story in her 2007 book, On Farting: Language and Laughter in the Middle Ages.

Read more about professional flatulence at Atlas Obscura. Among other things, you will learn that "not all performing farters were land owners."

Hat tip: inspired by scampydog's ONT last night that referenced Operation Frequent Wind

***

Sotheby's recently sold the sweater vest that Matthew Broderick wore in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

The sweater and a collection of related memorabilia with exceptional provenance sold for $279,400. Shockingly, the pre-sale estimate was $300,000 to $600,000.

***

If the name Mansour Ojjeh means something to you, you will appreciate the sale of 19 McLarens from his estate. If you don't recognize the name, take my word that the person had an outsized role in automotive history.

That collection was built around a central theme, with the McLaren F1 as its "jewel in the crown." This particular F1 is a one-of-one example, finished in a unique colour named Yquem, after the esteemed and rare dessert wine. It was also the last McLaren F1 ever produced.

To reflect the significance of this vehicle, McLaren subsequently renamed the colour Mansour Orange, a custom hue used exclusively on his cars. This shade could not be specified by any other customer. Furthermore, Mansour requested the final chassis number for each model, ensuring his cars incorporated all the technical updates made during the production cycle.

The result is without equal. With the exception of the F1 (which has just 1,810 km) and the P1 GTR (used occasionally during McLaren track days), every car remains unused, in factory-delivered condition, and maintained under direct instruction by McLaren themselves - a service no other collector has ever received. Tom Hartley Jr.

Sadly, TRex has no available garage space at the moment.

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I have mixed feelings about this video, but sharing in the name of knowledge and science (although the absence of scales on the TRex head makes the results questionable):

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Who knew utensils were so complicated?

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Winning!

Egg-cellent news…as of June 2, the egg surcharge is officially off the menu. Thanks for understanding! pic.twitter.com/xXE6giZhRe

— Waffle House (@WaffleHouse) July 1, 2025

***

Hat tip: Grateful

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The Pittsburgh police scanner is like a slow motion car crash. You can't bear to watch but you can't look away. Fewer entries than usual, but this is more about quality than quantity.

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John Philip Sousa for the big ONT finish (naturally):

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Written correspondence can be sent to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Are you lurking ?? Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Close it up

Wednesday Week Cafe

—Ace

Eltz Castle, built AD 1157

Grumpy cat will not be ignored.

Mama dog is so proud.

Matching munchers.

Husky and owl have quick make-out sesh.

Horses playing some game that we humans will never understand.

The enchanted couch.

Rescuing a stray puppy wandering in the street.

Happy dog hops down the street.

A bear and tiger say Love Is Love, H8rz.

Grandma is a magician. She just conjured a divorce proceeding.

Elephant's got some shake with those fries.

Claws.

Giving a good boy his birthday pinata.

Puppy found wounded and dying in the street due to being run over by a car is nursed back to life. The first images are tough but it gets a lot better from there.

Quick Hits

—Ace

Trump to Hamas: I worked out a 60 day ceasefire deal for you. You'd better take it.

Israel has continued vaporizing Hamas terrorists.

Israel's military "eliminated" a founding Hamas military leader and mastermind behind the Oct. 7 attack, Tel Aviv officials said Saturday.

Hakham Muhammad Issa Al-Issa was killed during a targeted airstrike on the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City, Israel Defense Forces said.

Al-Issa was one of the final remaining founding members of the terrorist organization's military wing and played a crucial role in the Oct. 7 attack that launched the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

therine Herridge @C__Herridge · 9h Took a legal settlement to mandate more transparency @60Minutes @CBSNews in the future

• 16 million will be allocated to PresidentTrump's future presidential library + plaintiffs' fees, costs.
• Prompt release presidential candidate interview transcripts in the future
• No apology

As the senior CBS News investigative correspondent, I insisted CBS release the fulll, unedited transcript of my 2020 interview with President Trump.

I was surprised that it was not standard practise at the network.

My training is that releasing full, unedited transcripts with a major newsmaker is about standing behind the integrity of the final edit and report.

That's what good journalism does.

Note: FCC news distortion complaint remains open

Hamas terrorist supporters like Mamdani always demand that Israel agree to a ceasefire but literally never demand that Hamas do likewise.

Bill Melugin @BillMelugin_

A real quote from Karine Jean-Pierre on August 31st, 2023:

"The President [Biden] has done more to secure the border and to deal with this issue of immigration than anybody else. He really has!"

Illegal crossings surged to the highest levels in recorded history 4 months later.

ABC "News" -- a Disney operation -- doesn't want to call the murderous MS-13 foreign criminal gang a foreign criminal gang, so they invent a new euphemism.

This may be better than Maryland Man:

ABC News @ABC

The leader of an MS-13 clique in the suburbs of New York City faces sentencing Wednesday in a federal racketeering case involving eight murders, including the 2016 killings of two high school girls that focused the nation’s attention on the violent gang.

It's a clique you guys. Like in Mean Girls.

Libs of TikTok
@libsoftiktok

BREAKING: Randolph Moss, an Obama-appointed judge, just issued an order OVERTURNING Trump's declaration of invasion at the southern border.

This activist judge wants to turn the US into the Biden-era open border disaster.

Justice Alito warned that Amy Coney Barrett's weak opinion in the universal injunctions case would just send lefties scurrying to file class action lawsuits.

He was right.

Eric Daugherty @EricLDaugh

HOLY SMOKES...Justice Alito CALLED IT.

Remember the victory we had at SCOTUS over nationwide injunctions last week?

Alito wrote: "...district courts should not view today's decision as an invitation to certify nationwide classes without scrupulous adherence to the rigors of Rule 23. Otherwise, the universal injunction will return from the grave under the guise of 'nationwide class relief,' and today's decision will be of little more than minor academic interest."

JUST DAYS later, a judge grants SWEEPING class protection for asylum seekers who are trying to enter the country.

The nationwide injunction cabal lost a battle, but the war is not over.

The CIA Covered Up Their Role in the RussiaGate Coup, Says a New Report

—Ace

Jake Tapper is writing Original Sin 2: CIA Boogaloo. He'll be telling us what we already knew in 2030.

Miranda Divine:

A bombshell new CIA review of the Obama administration's spy agencies' assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to help Donald Trump was deliberately corrupted by then-CIA Director John Brennan, FBI Director James Comey and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who were "excessively involved" in its drafting, and rushed its completion in a "chaotic," "atypical" and "markedly unconventional" process that raised questions of a "potential political motive."

Further, Brennan's decision to include the discredited Steele dossier, over the objections of the CIA's most senior Russia experts, "undermined the credibility" of the assessment.

The "Tradecraft Review of the 2016 Intelligence Community Assessment [ICA] on Russian Election Interference" was conducted by career professionals at the CIA's Directorate of Analysis and was commissioned by CIA Director John Ratcliffe in May.

The "lessons-learned review" found that, on December 6, 2016, six weeks before his presidency ended, Barack Obama ordered the assessment, which concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin "aspired" to help Trump win the election.

The review identified "multiple procedural anomalies" that undermined the credibility of the ICA, including "a highly compressed production timeline, stringent compartmentation, and excessive involvement of agency heads."

It also questioned the exclusion of key intelligence agencies and said media leaks may have influenced analysts to conform to a false narrative of Trump-Russia collusion.

"The rushed timeline to publish both classified and unclassified versions before the presidential transition raised questions about a potential political motive behind the White House tasking and timeline."

The review found that Brennan directed the compilation of the ICA, and that his, Comey's and Clapper's "direct engagement in the ICA's development was highly unusual in both scope and intensity" and "risked stifling analytic debate."

Brennan handpicked the CIA analysts to compile the ICA and involved only the ODNI, CIA, FBI and NSA, excluding 13 of the then-17 intelligence agencies.

He sidelined the National Intelligence Council and forced the inclusion of the discredited Steele dossier despite objections of the authors and senior CIA Russia experts, so as to push a false narrative that Russia secured Trump's 2016 victory.

"This was Obama, Comey, Clapper and Brennan deciding 'We're going to screw Trump,'" said Ratcliffe in an exclusive interview.

"It was, 'We're going to create this and put the imprimatur of an IC assessment in a way that nobody can question it.' They stamped it as Russian collusion and then classified it so nobody could see it.

Here's what the evidence showed happened here. If any of the co-conspirators want to correct this and tell us how the paperclipped dossier made it to CNN airwaves in mere days, please contact me and I'll correct.

But this is what the evidence shows:

Comey and Brennan were trying to get the press to report on the "dossier." But even CNN wouldn't report on it, because nothing in it was verified. Comey himself said -- I think in a 60 Minutes interview -- that CNN told him they couldn't report it without a "news hook."

What's a news hook? It's a dishonest pretext for publishing false information that you want to smear someone with. For example, you might not be able to report a slander, but you can report that "DC insiders are buzzing" about the contents of the slander. That way you avoid saying if the slander is true or false, and you avoid a lawsuit, while still pumping that information out into the world.

The New York Times used this backdoor defamation when they reported not that John McCain was having an affair with a lobbyist, but merely that "insiders" were "concerned" about the excessive time and attention he was giving this woman. Hint, hint. See, they can't say he's having an affair, because they don't have confirmation, so they'll just talk about his "insiders" worrying he's having an affair.

Now I totally believe he was having an affair -- he is and always was trash -- but "reporters" aren't supposed to report claims they can't verify.

The "news hook" approach lets them get around that impediment.

Now, when CNN told Comey that they needed a "news hook" to report on the "dossier," he got together with Brennan and Clapper to paper-clip the dossier to one of Trump's intelligence briefings. They told Trump not to even worry about it, because it was all unverified "scurrilous" gossip, so he didn't.

But then they immediately leaked the fact that it had been paperclipped to the intelligence briefing to CNN, providing CNN with its "news hook" for reporting Hillary Clinton campaign oppo nonsense with no verification. CNN didn't report the contents of the dossier, which was unverified and WITHOUT EVIDENCE as Jake Tapper's snarky chyrons like to say, but they could not report that Trump was briefed about its contents.

This achieved just what the conspirators Brennan, Clapper, Comey, as well as Tapper, Perez, Bernstein, and Sciutto wanted -- they legitimized the dossier by having the highly-partisan "intelligence" heads recognize it as worth briefing to the president, which made it worth Tapper telling his seventeen viewers about.

From the start, the paperclipping of the dossier wasn't intended to inform the president, it was to create a pretextual "news hook" for Hillary Clinton's oppo dump lies that were otherwise unreportable.

"This led to Mueller [special counsel Robert Mueller's inquiry, which concluded after two years that there was no Trump-Russia collusion]. It put the seal of approval of the intelligence community that Russia was helping Trump and that the Steele dossier was the scandal of our lifetime. It ate up the first two years of his [Trump's first] presidency.

"You see how Brennan and Clapper and Comey manipulated [and] silenced all the career professionals and railroaded the process."

The CIA review notes that, before work even began on the ICA, "media leaks suggesting that the Intelligence Community had already reached definitive conclusions risked creating an anchoring." The term "anchoring" refers to a cognitive bias in psychology and suggests that the media leaks may have influenced the analysts working on the ICA to shape their findings to conform with the leaked narrative rather than conducting an objective analysis.

On December 9, 2016, both the Washington Post and New York Times reported the IC had "concluded with high confidence that Russia had intervened specifically to help Trump win the election."

The Post cited an unnamed US official describing this as the IC's "consensus view."

The "highly compressed timeline was atypical for a formal IC assessment which ordinarily can take months to prepare, especially for assessments of such length, complexity, and political sensitivity," the review found. "CIA's primary authors had less than a week to draft the assessment and less than two days to formally coordinate it with IC peers before it entered the formal review process at CIA on December 20."

...

The review criticizes the ICA for including the Steele dossier, a salacious and discredited opposition-research product written by former British spy Christopher Steele, who was working for the Hillary Clinton campaign, which claimed Russia possessed sexually compromising blackmail material on Trump.

Despite the fact that "the ICA authors and multiple senior CIA managers -- including the two senior leaders of the CIA mission center responsible for Russia -- strongly opposed including the Dossier, asserting that it did not meet even the most basic tradecraft standards," Brennan insisted it be included.

"CIA's Deputy Director for Analysis (DDA) warned in an email to Brennan on December 29 that including it in any form risked 'the credibility of the entire paper.'"

But Brennan responded that "my bottom line is that I believe that the information warrants inclusion in the report."

Brennan showed "a preference for narrative consistency over analytical soundness," said the review.

No, he included the dossier just so he could then phone Tapper and say, "It's done, we paperclipped it to Trump's report, you can report on the dossier now, we made your 'news hook' for you."

None of this caused Tapper, Perez, Sciutto, or Bernstein any consternation, and none of them admitted that their sources were so riven by partisan political animus that they tricked Trump into accepting a "briefing" just so that briefing could be reported within days on CNN.

Read all of Miranda Divine's report. It's good.

Paul Sperry
@paulsperry_

BREAKING: The highly classified version of the Obama-ordered CIA report on Russian 2016 interference includes in main body a reference to the debunked Steele dossier "as the 4th supporting bullet for the judgment Putin 'aspired' to help Trump win," new after-action review reveals

HUGE: Just-released CIA after-action review of Obama/Brennan's 2017 ICA re Russia-Trump shoots down media narrative ICA didnt rely on Hillary dossier. IT DID. The dossier not only was summarized and attached as an annex but referred to in "the main body" of the classified version

BREAKING: In a Dec. 29, 2016 email, the CIA's deputy director for analysis warned director Brennan that inclg the debunked Steele dossier in the classified ICA risked "the credibility of the entire paper," but Brennan insisted: "The information warrants inclusion in the report."

BREAKING: On Dec. 18, 2016--before the ICA was finalized--Brennan sent a pressure note to CIA officials and analysts that he'd met with Comey and Clapper and that "there is strong consensus among us on the scope, nature and INTENT of Russian interference in our recent election."

BREAKING: In crafting the 2016 Intelligence Community Assessment on "Russian interference," Brennan shut out not only DIA and DOS' Bureau of Intelligence and Research but also the National Intelligence Council, which w/ NSA might have added dissent re his Putin-Trump conclusions.

REAKING: Brennan withheld the fact he was including the Hillary dossier from key CIA analysts authoring the ICA until Dec. 20, 2016, when the first ICA draft was entering the review process. When CIA officials confronted Brennan with flaws in the dossier, Brennan overruled them.

Meanwhile: Christopher Wray blocked a report about China interfering in our politics on Biden's behalf because he had previously falsely declared there was no such interference.

So he ordered the Albany FBI office to withdraw their report so as not to discredit his perjurious congressional testimony.

Catherine Herridge @C__Herridge

NEW: Heavily redacted @FBI emails released via @ChuckGrassley @FBIDirectorKash

* FBI HQ interfered with Albany NY investigation into alleged Chinese 2020 Election Interference

* Designed to shield then FBI Director Wray from political blowback over his Congressional testimony

* Emails suggest FBI HQ was focused on optics, not fact finding two months before the election

AMONG KEY EMAILS: pg. 23

"A new 1023 will be needed, that will have updated date of acquisition and contact, with an updated source context statement. AND it will have to run the gamut at HQ for review/approval.

Again, the reporting will contradict Director Wray’s testimony."

NOTE: FD-1023 is used to record information from
confidential human sources

Paul Sperry
@paulsperry_

BREAKING: Internal FBI emails released by Senate Judiciary reveal the FBI suppressed intelligence of alleged pro-Biden Chinese interference in the 2020 election to insulate then-director Wray from criticism, after Wray provided "inaccurate and contradictory testimony" to Congress

BREAKING: A declassified Sept 2020 intel report from an FBI CHS warning a Chinese plot to use data from U.S. TikTok accounts to create "tens of thousands" of fake Chinese student mail-in votes for Biden was recalled by FBI HQ "for a political reason," FBI intel analyst complained

Grassley's report:

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) today released internal Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) emails revealing the FBI suppressed intelligence of alleged Chinese interference in the 2020 election to insulate then-FBI Director Christopher Wray from criticism, after Wray provided inaccurate and contradictory testimony to Congress.

The FBI declassified and provided the requested records to Grassley, along with an accompanying cover letter, after Grassley initially received some information from whistleblower disclosures. The FBI emails offer an inside look at the Bureau's decision to recall and suppress an Intelligence Information Report (IIR) from the FBI's Albany Field Office on September 25, 2020. The IIR contained information from an FBI Confidential Human Source (CHS) alleging the Chinese government was producing "tens of thousands" of fraudulent drivers' licenses to manufacture mail-in votes for then-presidential candidate Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

According to the FBI, these allegations, despite showing initial signs of credibility, were allegedly never fully investigated due to the FBI's sudden and "abnormal" decision to halt the investigation and bury the IIR's existence, preventing any additional FBI field offices, as well as other Intelligence Community elements, from accessing or studying the document. The FBI's stated reason for doing so was because "the reporting will contradict Director Wray's testimony."

"These records smack of political decision-making and prove the Wray-led FBI to be a deeply broken institution. Ahead of a high-stakes election happening amid an unprecedented global pandemic, the FBI turned its back on its national security mission," Grassley said. "One way or the other, intelligence must be fully investigated to determine whether it's true, or if it's just smoke and mirrors. Chris Wray's FBI wasn't looking out for the American people -- it was looking to save its own image. Now's the time to rebuild the FBI's trust. Director Patel's willingness to work with me to establish renewed transparency and accountability is a critical part of that process, and I applaud him for his efforts."

Political Reasoning

Following the IIR's recall, an FBI Albany intelligence analyst summarized the concerning series of events that led to the suppression:

"Most concerning to me, is stating the reporting would contradict with Director Wray's testimony. I found this troubling because it implied to me that one of the reasons we aren't putting this out is for a political reason, which goes directly against our organization's mission to remain apolitical and simply state what we know. Likewise, at the field operational level, I do not feel it is our job to assess whether or not our intelligence aligns with the Director.... My concern is that I think it gets dangerous if we cite potential political implications as reasons for not putting out our information."

Source Credibility

An FBI Albany official noted "the IIR was coordinated and disseminated in textbook fashion." Further, a re-interview of the FBI CHS yielded additional context that supported the initial IIR's findings. An FBI Albany official described the CHS as "competent" and "authentic in his/her reporting." The CHS described the confidence in his/her sub-sourcing as a "9-10 range. [V]ery, very confident."

Decision for Recall

According to an Assistant Section Chief in the FBI's Counterintelligence Division, the IIR immediately generated "a lot of attention from all [Headquarter] divisions."

Upon receiving the IIR, an FBI Albany official stated, "We have no reason to recall at this point." Minutes later, the Albany Field Office was commanded to recall the IIR at the direct request of officials at FBI Headquarters, including Nikki Floris, then-Deputy Assistant Director (DAD) of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division. Months before dismissing the IIR, Floris provided an unnecessary briefing to Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) regarding their investigation into the Biden family. The briefing -- though classified -- was later leaked to the press in an effort to falsely smear the senators' investigation as Russian disinformation.

Following the IIR's recall, FBI Headquarters informed field offices that "all raw reporting concerning the election will now require [Headquarters] coordination," which had not been previously required.

In other words: The political commissars at the FBI get to scrub any reports vindicating Trump or proving that the Chinese rigged the election to Biden.

Was Wray pardoned? I don't think he was.

Disney Pixar's Latest Bomb Elio Was Filled With Gay Themes and Messaging Before Executives Ordered Them Excised
Plus: Marvel's New "Superheo" is a Black Teen Genius Girlboss and Sociopathic Criminal Who Literally Sells Her Soul to the Devil

—Ace

Hire gay activists who are only interested in gay activism and this is what you get, every time.

BTW, the Hollywood Reporter's spin is that the movie wouldn't have bombed, and would have been a hit, if only the children's cartoon had released still containingall the in-your-face gay propaganda that its gay propaganda "creatives" had stuffed into it.

Because yes, you know that what the American public is clamoring for is "more gay propaganda for our too-young-to-know-what-sex-even-is children. Especially now. Especially when even "nice" normies have had so much of this crap they're now rudely saying ENOUGH.

Inside 'Elio's' "Catastrophic" Path: America Ferrera's Exit, Director Change and Erasure of Queer Themes

Creatives at Pixar who saw the original director's previous cut of 'Elio' tell THR about the movie's challenging production process: "'Elio' just [became] about totally nothing."

If a movie isn't about gay propaganda then it's "totally about nothing."

Got it.

Doesn't that mean the film, as originally made, had nothing in it except for gay propaganda

But no, they're saying that the original movie was nothing but the gay propaganda, so that the removal of that gay propaganda resulted in a film "totally about nothing."

Those who worked at Pixar while its latest film release, Elio, was in production were delighted by footage they saw roughly two years ago.

Oh that's right -- this stinker was in the can for years. Disney executives were probably just delaying because they didn't want to release yet another gay propaganda bomb, but also didn't want the PR headache from their gay "creatives" boohoo whinin' and cryin' to the leftwing media.

Among the moments cited as favorites by those at the animation studio at the time included a sequence in which the titular boy collected trash on the beach and turned it into homemade apparel that included a pink tank top; the movie's team would refer to Elio showing this off to a hermit crab as his "trash-ion show."

Is this Ru Paul for Kidz?

But if you bought a ticket to Elio and don't remember seeing this, it's not just that you chose the wrong time to refill your soda. According to multiple insiders who spoke to The Hollywood Reporter, Elio was initially portrayed as a queer-coded character, reflecting original director Adrian Molina's identity as an openly gay filmmaker. Other sources say that Molina did not intend the film to be a coming out story, as the character is 11. But either way, this characterization gradually faded away throughout the production process as Elio became more masculine following feedback from leadership. Gone were not only such direct examples of his passion for environmentalism and fashion, but also a scene in Elio's bedroom with pictures suggesting a male crush. Hints at the trash fashion remain in the released film, with the boy wearing a cape decorated with discarded cutlery and soda can tabs, although without any explanation for the unusual attire.

Elio's turbulent ride began well before its calamitous nosedive at the box office durin the June 20-22 corridor. Indeed, the summer of 2023 became a fateful one for the animated film about a lonely boy beamed into outer space by an intergalactic organization after being misidentified as the leader of Earth. The writing was first on the wall for the troubled production when the film from Molina, known as the co-director of Pixar's Oscar-winning 2017 hit Coco, conducted an early test screening in Arizona. Although viewers expressed how much they enjoyed the movie, they were also asked how many of them would see it in a theater, and not a single hand was raised, according to a source with knowledge of the event. This sounded alarm bells for studio brass.

It was around this same time that Molina screened his latest cut of the film to Pixar leadership. There are differing accounts of the exact feedback that the director received from Pixar boss Pete Docter when the lights went up, with rumors circulating in some of the studio's circles that Molina was hurt by the conversation. The part that is clear is that Molina exited the project soon after, and much of Elio was reworked under new co-directors Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi.

Remember when adults of both sexes were expected to act professionally if they were members of a profession? Remember how they used to be expected to take criticism and direction gracefully?

No more. Now it's nothing but hysteria and tantrums at the lack of required Affirmation.

After a yearlong delay, the film arrived in theaters June 22 and bombed with just $20.8 million domestically, the lowest opening frame at the box office in Pixar's history.

"I was deeply saddened and aggrieved by the changes that were made," says former Pixar assistant editor Sarah Ligatich, who provided feedback during Elio production as a member of the company's internal LGBTQ group PixPRIDE. Although she praises Sharafian and Shi as filmmakers, Ligatich notes that a number of creatives working on the film stepped down after the directors shared their first cut of the movie. "The exodus of talent after that cut was really indicative of how unhappy a lot of people were that they had changed and destroyed this beautiful work." Another Pixar source disputes that people stepped down in response to Molina's departure.

Nobody cares about your endless f*cking Teen Goth Girl feelings, you f*cking basket-cases.

The changes to Elio were clear to one former Pixar artist who worked on the film and asked to remain anonymous: "It was pretty clear through the production of the first version of the film that [studio leaders] were constantly sanding down these moments in the film that alluded to Elio's sexuality of being queer."

...

"Suddenly, you remove this big, key piece, which is all about identity, and Elio just becomes about totally nothing," says the former Pixar artist.

...

Media reports have cited its production budget as $150 million, but former Pixar employees tell THR that the film cost far more than that. The artist who worked on the movie was not privy to the specific figure but estimates it was well north of $200 million, given that Molina's version was nearly complete, which she says makes the "catastrophic box office" feel worse....

The Elio production resulted in fraught feelings for those with ties to Pixar who have come to question whether the company intends to prioritize diversity. Docter sparked debate when he noted in a 2024 interview that the studio should make the "most relatable films" possible, which was perceived as advocating for a shift away from underrepresented characters and voices.

...

In the meantime, the pain of the Elio process still stings for the creatives who saw the movie's trajectory become something of a cautionary tale. "I'd love to ask Pete and the other Disney executives whether or not they thought the rewrite was worth it," says the artist. "Would they have lost this much money if they simply let Adrian tell his story?"

When you're spending over $200 million of other people's money, you don't get to tell "your story," especially if your story is all about niche themes that resonate only with 3% of the audience plus their "allies."

Again: Where did professionalism go? That is a huge topic that people need to discuss. Gone are the days where a professional could be expected to put aside his personal bullshit and dispassionately deliver services to a client. Now it's all about "bringing your whole self to work," and demanding that a mere job provide you with the personal satisfaction and fulfillment that only family, friends, and church can provide.

Unprofessional "professionals" are all bleating, Why doesn't the public trust us any longer?

Well, it's because you exclusively serve yourselves.

Meanwhile, Disney's other bomb factory Marvel has produced what sounds like the most morally repugnant kid's show in history, one in which the supposed "superhero" main character goes on a crime spree of armed theft and extorting millionaires into signing over their companies to the crime ring. In one case, her fellow criminals shoot and murder mere security guards.

Under the law, this makes her guilty of felony murder. When you and a group all go out to commit a crime, each member of the gang is legally responsible for any of the murders which ensue, given that everyone knows that a crime may result in killing people.

But this "superhero," "Riri" Williams, remains absolutely certain in her own entitlement and her unshakable belief that the world owes her fame and wealth and she is justified in committing any crime necessary to achieve these selfish goals.

ThatParkPlace.com on the first half of the six-episode "season:"

There really isn't a way to review Ironheart outside of just calling it what it is: bad.

It's a bad show. It's bad on every level. From the lazy bad cinematography to the lackluster bad graphics, bad wooden performances, and bad writing, Ironheart is the culmination of everything that's gone wrong with Marvel television. It's not just a misfire--it's a final nail.

If Echo was lifeless and Secret Invasion was dull, Ironheart is downright insufferable.

The show feels like the endgame of the M-SHE-U, where every creative decision revolves around identity first, and storytelling last--if at all. There's no subtlety, no nuance, no curiosity about heroism or conflict. Instead, what we get is a self-righteous character surrounded by a parade of unlikable people delivering one smug lecture after another.

...

Riri Williams is not just unrelatable--she's unlikable. She's arrogant, cold, and completely lacking in empathy. She constantly reminds the audience that she doesn't want to be a hero, has no moral obligation to anyone, and is building her suits and AI "because I can."

That's not strength--that's narcissism. Her every action is self-serving, yet the show insists we root for her because of her identity and not her choices. They try to dress it up in a narrative about her dead stepfather but it just rings hollow.

By the end of episode three, Riri commits a stone cold murder.

There's no ambiguity.

She has the ability to save someone--easily--and instead she watches him die and then agonizes over that and the fact that she left a crucial piece of tech behind at a crime scene.

This is our protagonist...

Well, not just the protagonists. Lots of movies have criminal protagonists (but usually those criminal heroes show much more regard for human life than this entitled sociopath does).

She's supposed to be a hero.

And not just a hero, a superhero.

Some thought that Riri Williams might learn from her cold-bloodedly murderous ways and go through some kind of growth and personal redemption in the second half.

Nope!

Riri's criminal "friends" turn on her--and we're supposed to feel bad. But this is just karma on a platter. She lied, manipulated, used people, and now the consequences have arrived. Characters tell her flat-out that she's selfish and wrong, but Riri never truly owns it. She doesn't evolve. She doesn't reflect. She simply powers through with the same arrogant attitude, insisting she's in the right.

Then comes a baffling action sequence where these gang members--who previously took down grown men with ease--get beaten by Riri without her armor. Not only does she magically win, but she scores multiple kill shots... and no one dies or even gets hurt. Slug, one of the thugs, literally survives a vehicle crash that should have turned anyone into pavement paste. But Slug just climbs out without a scratch, shrugs it off, and walks away. Real stakes? Real danger? Forget it.

How can they up the stakes after Riri has already committed a felony crime spree and actually murdered an innocent guard?

Would you believe... Marvel's version of the devil, Mephisto, appears and offers to buy Riri's soul?

And she... accepts Satan's bargain?

And then... the grand finale of this Ironheart finale review. Mephisto appears. Yes, Sacha Baron Cohen makes his long-awaited debut as the literal devil. And what does Riri do? Does she fight him? Does she rise up to battle the ultimate evil and finally become a hero?

Nah.

She sells her soul to him. Seriously.

No big battle. No showdown. Just a straight-up soul trade to bring back her dead best friend, Natalie.

...

And that's how it ends. No resolution. No meaning. No point.

I think there is a point, but not one the "creatives" here would admit to.

So that's how the show ends. It's supposed to be a cliffhanger. It's not, because they'll never make another Ironheart episode. She ends the show as a murderer damned to hell not just by her callous murder but by literally selling her soul to the devil.

Yay, minority and female empowerment...?

This is another piece of "entertainment" that Disney has had in the can for years but has been waiting for the right moment to release it. Like when you hold in a fart in church until they come by with the donations plate and you let it out then to blame it on the altar boy.

I heard someone remark that this show is like what a racist KKK grand cyclops would create to attack black people. It thinks it's "empowering" black youth. How? By telling them to be criminals and to murder people without a second thought?

Oh, and of course the show stars a transgender.

CNN Poll: Trump Now More Beloved By Republicans Than Even the Great Ronald Reagan Was

—Ace

Before getting to that: CNN's and MSNBC's ratings are falling. Again.

From the NY Post:

MSNBC and CNN suffered staggering losses in viewership over the past year -- while Donald Trump's ascendancy supercharged Fox News in the cable news ratings war.

The left-leaning networks -- which will both be spun off by their respective parent companies -- suffered year-over-year declines in all major metrics for the second quarter compared to the same period last year, according to the latest Nielsen data, which was reported by AdWeek.

Comcast-owned MSNBC, with its rabid anti-Trump lineup of anchors, drew an average 1.008 million primetime viewers from April to June, a year-over-year decline of 15%, Nielsen figures show.

In the the advertiser-covered 25-to-54 demographic, primetime viewership plunged 20%, to 91,000 compared to last year -- despite star anchor Rachel Maddow returning to full-time duty during the first 100 days of the Trump administration.

Jen Psaki took over her 9 p.m. primetime slot Tuersdays through Fridays midway through the second quarter ratings period.

The exodus of eyeballs was even worse during the day, with total viewership plummeting 26%, to an average of 596,000, and 31%, to 57,000, in the key demo compared to the same quarter last year.

CNN, which has languished in last place despite paying anchor Anderson Cooper a reported $18 million in salary, averaged 538,000 total viewers in primetime for the three-month period and 105,000 in the demo, according to Nielsen

Year-over-year, the network saw declines of 13% in total viewers in primetime and a 15% drop in the 25-54 demo.

The cable news pioneer, owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, dropped 14% in total viewers during the day, to an average of 406,000, and 16% in the demo, to 71,000, year-over-year, according to Nielsen.

It's not just ratings. We know the deranged left thinks and dreams and obsesses about politics and defeating TRUMPHITLER!!! every waking moment. They are voracious propaganda addicts and doom junkies.

They are not watching the news because:

1, Trump keeps on winning,

2, the leftwing propaganda outlets cannot hide this fact no matter how hard they try,

3, they're beginning to suspect that their propaganda outlets are lying to them,

and

4, the Democrat-Media Party seems completely unable to even get a simple information operation going that the public cares about. Ten years of hysteria and hoaxes have finally ended the left's ability to mount a proper psyop. Leftwing lunatics not only know they're losing, but they look at the Democrat-Media Party and see no signs and no reasonable hope for improvement in the near term.

So they tune out. The plummeting ratings aren't just doom for CNN and MSNBC. They're also a strong signal of complete demoralization of the left.

On to the finding that Trump is the most popular president among Republicans in history:

I say this not to slight Trump but to boost Reagan: Most liberal Rockefeller/Bush Republicans remained in the party under Reagan. They didn't approve of Reagan, but they still called themselves Republicans.

Liberal fake Republicans hate Trump so much they're now just Democrats, though some still continue to play True Conservative on MSNBC. So Trump's Republican Party is more Republican and conservative (and Trumpian) than Reagan's Republican Party was.

But still, this is wild: 65% of Republicans strongly approve of Trump. Not just approve, which I think is at something like 90%, but strongly approve.

Rarely do presidents deliver so much to their base that a supermarjority are strong supporters.

Trans Erasure: The University of Pennsylvania Agrees to No Longer Allow Men in Women's Sports and to Expunge All of Will "Lia" Thomas's Fake Records

—Ace

We're finally getting that much-promised "trans erasure" that extremists have been screaming about for ten years and it's beautiful.

The University of Pennsylvania and the U.S. Department of Education announced a deal on Tuesday that will strip Lia Thomas of the swimmer's records and titles.

Thomas, who is the first openly transgender athlete to win a Division 1 title, last competed for Penn in 2021-22, setting program records in the 100, 200, and 500 freestyle races and winning a national title in the 500 freestyle. However, moving forward, those accomplishments will be updated and marked with an asterisk in the official record books.

Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. Department of Education opened an investigation into Lia Thomas, claiming the swimmer competed at a heightened advantage over other swimmers. The situation, which is part of the Trump administration's investigation into transgender athletes in women's sports, came to a close on Tuesday when the Department of Education and Penn came to an agreement.

As part of the deal, Penn will restore records that Thomas broke to their original holders and send personal apologies to those swimmers and any swimmers who lost to Thomas. Additionally, the Department of Education said Penn now must "not allow males to compete in female athletic programs" while using "biology-based" definitions of male and female athletes moving forward.

"While Penn's policies during the 2021-2022 swim season were in accordance with NCAA eligibility rules at the time, we acknowledge that some student-athletes were disadvantaged by these rules," J. Larry Jameson, Penn president, said in a statement, via ESPN. "We recognize this and will apologize to those who experienced a competitive disadvantage or experienced anxiety because of the policies in effect at the time."

The trans extremists could have gone the path of just seeking and accepting a compromise accommodation. Instead, they insisted on complete and utter humiliation of their opponents, going scorched earth on anyone who dared question whether it's fair or even safe to allow men to dominate girls in their own sports divisions.

Having rejected compromise and accommodation in favor of humiliation of their opponents and unconditional surrender, the trans movement will now suffer the same terms in their defeat.

And now on to the true enemies, the insane woke falsely-"educated" class of jihadi wine-moms and fake intellectuals fomenting social revolution and civil war just because they can't get over having lost a couple of elections. (Well, they lost three, but were credited as "winning" the presidency in one loss.)

CBS, Paramount Settle With Trump Over Word-Salad Election Interference Case
Update: CBS Lies About the Settlement

—Ace

CBS continues insisting it will never apologize.

But it has agreed to a key demand Trump made: that they will always release a full transcript of every interview with a presidential candidate. I wish they could have gotten them to agree to release the full video of an interview, and extended this to all interviews.

But this will limit CBS's ability to butcher interviews to either boost or slander their presidential candidate interview subjects.

Paramount will settle President Trump's lawsuit over a "60 Minutes" interview with Kamala Harris for $16 million, the company announced late Tuesday.

CBS News' parent company worked with a mediator to resolve the lawsuit. Under the agreement, $16 million will be allocated to Mr. Trump's future presidential library and the plaintiffs' fees and costs. Neither Mr. Trump nor his co-plantiff, Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson, will be directly paid as part of the settlement.

The settlement did not include an apology.

Paramount also agreed that "60 Minutes" will release transcripts of interviews with presidential candidates in the future, "subject to redactions as required for legal or national security concerns," the statement said.

This report is from the guilty party themselves, CBS. They point out that this suit was filed in a Texas jurisdiction with only one judge, a Trump appointee.

The lawsuit was filed in Amarillo, Texas, a portion of a federal district court where the sole judge is a 2019 Trump appointee, and it was based on a state consumer protection law that is intended to prevent advertisers from misleading the public about a product being sold. CBS News is not headquartered in Texas, nor did the interview take place there.

Oh, so now forum-shopping is a bad thing? Now it's a bad thing when people sue in an area with adverse political leanings?

But it's still okay for a New York or LA judge to preside over Gavin Newsom's $800 million lawsuit against Fox, right?

It's still okay for every Democrat or Republican to be tried in 85% Democrat jurisdictions, right?

Update: CBS is lying. Shock! They didn't report of the free advertising they'd promised Trump in addition to the $16 million payoff.

In addition to the lump sum payment, it is anticipated that CBS will air eight figures worth of advertisements, PSAs, or similar content promoting conservative causes for free, a source familiar with the negotiations and settlement deal told the Washington Free Beacon. While Paramount's current brass has disputed that provision, the incoming management team that is expected to take over after the company's merger with Skydance plans to honor it, the source said.

Jury Mostly Exonerates P Diddler

—Ace

I haven't followed this, but I think they got this mostly right. Half of the charges I didn't even understand. It was like Jack McCoy on Law & Order, portrayed as a crusader hero for twisting the law to fit iffy facts. Half of the fictitious people he convicted had actually committed no actual crime.

Or much like the J6 prosecutors did, coming up with strained theories about "parading" being part of a "conspiracy to defraud the United States."

There's no doubt that this guy is an absolute degenerate pervert, and a weird gay dude into cuck fantasies, but unfortunately we've pretty much made simple sexual degeneracy legal, or even approved by the state.

Diddler was found guilty of two minor charges of paying for prostitutes to cross state lines. The "crossing state lines" is what gives this law some kind of a federal pretext. Usually prostitution is handled by state courts, and usually it's not seriously prosecuted.

He was found not guilty on all of the serious charges, like some kind of a RICO charge -- I guess they argued that he was the head of a criminal syndicate to commit "Freak-Offs" -- and two counts of sex trafficking.

Hip-hop icon Sean Combs was stunningly acquitted Wednesday on federal charges of forcing his former lovers to live out his degrading sexual fantasies -- but found guilty of lesser prostitution raps.

Combs, better known by his stage name Diddy, dodged charges that carried a possible life sentence after a two-month trial that revealed twisted details about the mogul, including his preference for "freak-offs" -- watching his girlfriends have grueling, drug-fueled sex romps with male escorts.

The embattled entrepreneur, 55, had faced life in prison after being charged with racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking.

But a jury convicted him only of prostitution charges stemming from shipping the escorts across state lines, which could send him to prison for up to 20 years.

Jurors had deliberated for 13 hours total over three days, leading to a dramatic scene in a Manhattan federal courtroom Tuesday morning.

Combs nodded his head repeatedly as the verdict was read out and pumped his fist as the jury cleared him on a sex-trafficking charge, saying "thank you" for being cleared on the most serious charge.

He then held his hands in the prayer gesture and waved them in the direction of the jury approvingly

The jury ultimately found Combs guilty of two Mann Act Transportation counts, which are prostitution charges, each carrying a maximum prison term of 10 years.

If you're charging someone with the Mann Act you're pretty desperate.

Megyn Kelly is angry about the judgment, and insists Diddy should have been convicted for sex trafficking. Based on her reportage, apparently the prosecutors tried to prove that Diddler's "girfriends" -- or whatever they were -- were "sexually trafficked" because Diddler sometimes hit them and otherwise exerted his will over them.

In other words, she's arguing that two grown-ass women were incapable of simply leaving. She's arguing that they were essentially kept in captivity for sex, and hence, "sex trafficked."

But they weren't. They were not held against their will. They were free to come and go whenever they liked. At any time, they could have hired a lawyer to sue him or bring charges against him for assault.

But they stayed (until they didn't). Kelly argues that the fear of Diddler hitting them constituted some kind of physical/psychological prison they were kept in.

There are some women I'd say could be said to be "trafficked" even if not kept in cages. I can definitely see children being so intimidated by a man that the man can be convicted of sex trafficking even if they're allowed mostly free movement. I can see illegal alien women transported by criminals for sexual purposes. Even if they're free to walk around and go where they like, I could see an argument that they would feel imprisoned by the people who smuggled them into the country. I could see them feeling that their smugglers have leverage over them. And they also might not know that American cops are responsive to citizen complaints. They won't just yell at you and tell you to go back to your husband (or owner) and be a better concubine, as they might in some countries.

There are American women who know that American cops actually will investigate your claims, and that any lawyer would love to sue Diddler to extract money from him.

I can understand why the jury bought the defense's claim that these women could come and go as they wanted but stayed because they liked the lifestyle and the huge amounts of money Diddler spent on them. I have a hard time agreeing that if a woman chooses to stay with a man, for whatever crazy or corrupt reason, that man can be prosecuted for "trafficking" them.

Trafficked to where? To whom? The whole idea of the charge is that women and children are being taken from their homes and brought to an alien and frightening new land are put to work in actual prostitution. These women were born in America and continue to live in America. They are not isolated and alone in America. They know their way around, and they know how to leave a man if they want to.

If Diddler hit these women, absolutely, prosecute him for assault. But I can't see how he becomes, basically, a kidnapper when the women don't leave.

But again, I didn't follow the case closely. You may have a very different view. If I've missed something, let me know.

Below, Megyn Kelly is angry. She says that Diddler wasn't prosecuted for assault because the statute of limitations had passed long ago.

But... I'm sorry, but that means you can't bring that case. You can't do a Jack McCoy and twist the law to fit the facts to let you prosecute the charge under a different name.

As for the arson-- I completely forgot this was a charge. Or was it? Did the statute of limitations run on that, too, so they re-cast it as part of a RICO charge to overcome the statute of limitations?

I'm just reflexively opposed to this type of shenanigans. Yes, the law imposes limits on prosecutors. That's a feature not a bug.

Wednesday Morning Rant

—Joe Mannix

The common refrain among many regarding poor corporate performance when it correlates with knee-jerk, all-in wokeness is "get woke, go broke." It's sometimes true, but it's often the exact opposite. It is not unheard for essentially healthy companies to go through the "Woke Pivot." When that happens, results are mixed. For Gillette and Bud Light, it is certain that their lurches into contemporary leftist ideology and marketing caused catastrophic and irreparable damage to their brands. Others have had a different experience. Nike and Target were both early boarders of the woke train, and it doesn't appear to have hurt them. It's now part of the brand identity.

But otherwise healthy companies jumping into wokeness with both feet is somewhat unusual. Often, it's more of a high-risk gambit to turn things around. Companies or brands will go through a Woke Pivot in response to structural problems in their businesses. This is almost certainly behind Victoria's Secret's disastrous leftward lurch. For companies like VS, it isn't a matter of "get woke, go broke" - it's a matter of "go broke, get woke." So, too, is likely the case with Jaguar.

As Ace covered yesterday (standard warning: don't comment on old posts), Jaguar has seen a total sales collapse in Europe as compared to last year. Last year's weak performance was followed by this year's disastrous performance. People are pointing at last year's equally disastrous ultra-woke, ultra-stupid, ultra-poorly-timed and extremely loud Woke Pivot as a major cause. It might be - but there's more to this story. From the Daily Caller article:

Jaguar's European sales plummeted by 97.5% and year-to-date figures show a 75.1% decline in sales, with just 2,665 units sold from January to April 2025. Globally, Jaguar's performance dropped sharply from 180,833 units in 2018 to 26,862 units in FY24/25, holding a market share of just 0.1% in both Australia and the U.K.

So European sales were an unmitigated disaster, but worldwide saw nowhere near the declines that Europe did - but declining they are, and across the board.

So how common is this? I decided to look at a decade's worth of Jaguar/Land Rover (JLR) annual reports and the chart of global Jaguar units sold (taken from the summary of each year's report) paints a stark picture:

With the exception of a modest bump last year, Jaguar's sales have been collapsing since 2018. Jaguar is a dying brand. It's also doing other dumb things many others have mentioned (going all-EV at precisely the wrong time, just at it went all-woke at precisely the wrong time, etc.), but the core problem is that people aren't buying Jags anymore. This year's sales decline and the European sales catastrophe - while notable and extremely dramatic - is just an acceleration of the long-existing trend. The car-buying market has no love for Jaguar, and its sales reflect that.

So they tried for the Woke Pivot. Facing brutal sales declines, an engineering pipeline focused entirely on EV powertrains, shifting market preferences and various other issues, Jaguar made a different play. It is a common and downright normal play: make a lot of noise, do something they think will shock the squares, and go hard at prog messaging in the hopes of bringing in new customers to replace their old customers. It didn't work, and almost certainly made things worse.

From what I could find, Jaguar's customers are, for the most part, well-to-do people who are solidly into - or even on the cusp of exiting - middle age. More men than women buy (or, rather, bought) Jags. With their traditional market of well-off middle-aged men and their wives drying up, they tried to bring in young people and women, and did it in the stupidest way possible - by alienating their core customers and turning themselves into a laughingstock. This was never going to work anyway (young people, by and large, can't afford Jags), but the way they pursued it was also perhaps the most destructive and dumbest way available to them. Alienating your core customers is never likely to get new customers to beat a path to your door.

But like so many companies, Jag is not an example of "get woke, go broke." They were going broke, so decided to get woke. As usual, it didn't work.

Close it up

Mid-Morning Art Thread

—CBD

Feast of St. Nicholas
Jan Steen

The Morning Report — 7/ 2 /25

—J.J. Sefton

Good morning kids. And so this so-called Big Beautiful Bill has passed the Senate. No I did not read this phone book-sized bill, nor if I had would I have had the time to go through it to see what's really what. Given the nature of the Leviathan of a bureaucracy that we have been saddled with at least as far back as FDR's New Deal which has been metastasizing to this day, regardless of who sat in the Oval Office and which party controlled Congress.

With that admission, I still feel that perhaps a corollary to the revolting 'We have to shred the Constitution in order to preserve the Constitution: We have to borrow and spend trillions in order to stop borrowing and spending trillions?

So, okay, Trump so far scores a political "win" thanks mostly to VP J.D. Vance casting a tie-breaking vote because 3 RINOs decided to cross the aisle and vote No on the bill.

Yeah, I didn't read the bill but here are the Cliff's notes:

Chuck Schemer retitled the bill, but they kept all the waste, fraud and grift, added a couple dozen extra "This Page Left Intentionally Blank" pages, and changed the dedication from Satan to Paul Ryan, and Chuck Schumer's Mohel and Trichologist.

So we absolutely had to pass this monstrosity because MAGA!

RUFKM?!

The Senate began what is known as a vote-a-rama on Monday morning — a rapid series of votes on dozens of proposed amendments to Trump’s big, beautiful spending bill. As of 5:00 a.m. on Tuesday, the vote-a-rama was still ongoing. One of the most disappointing results came on a measure seeking to block illegal immigrants from receiving Medicaid benefits, which failed by a vote of 56–44. Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough had previously determined that the “Byrd Rule” applied in this case. Because a reconciliation bill — a type of budget bill — requires only a simple majority of 51 votes for passage, the Byrd Rule imposes restrictions on what provisions can be included. Measures deemed to be “extraneous” to the budget must secure a supermajority of 60 votes to pass. As a result, the proposal to remove undocumented immigrants from Medicaid failed by just four votes. . . If it weren’t for the Senate Parliamentarian’s interference, this vote would’ve succeeded with just 51 votes. pic.twitter.com/7eztg2RicE

Yeah, we can blame this Cunning Runt parliamentarian (transpose the C and the R) all we want, but the fact remains, the Wetbacks get our money when they should be running "Serpentine!" in Alligator Alcatraz. Meh, keep the Medicaid, send Murkowski, Collins and Thune there. Or strap them to a MOP and drop them onto the FOrdow Foundation!

Look, God bless President Trump and for the miracle of his victory last November and for his amazing accomplishments here and abroad in just six months. But if I'm out of line about the criticism of this bill, I'm open to any reasonable argument as to why.

And what's up with the President's position on illegal aliens vis a vis farm and hospitality workers? They get dispensation because why?

It was a great decision on his part, to show mercy to farmers, whose crops would be rotting in the fields in short order if every farm worker had to be in pristine immigration status. Crops need to be harvested immediately or there are no crops. Like food shortages? No farmers, no food.

Yeah, I get it. While I suppose it does avoid temporary short-term pain as well as political blowback if shortages mess up a booming economy. But then again, the whole point as he and others have been touting is the creation of jobs for Americans. No pain no gain. It also allows his enemies to paint him as a hypocrite and ridicule a key component of the MAGA agenda. Perhaps to be charitable it's a strategic retreat.

Elsewhere, Los Angeles is continuing its devolution with anti-ICE demonstrations that Karen Bass-tard is doing nothing about and/or encouraging. And we did capture an Iranian spy scoping out Jewish targets for mass murder attacks, along with some Chi-COm spies.

Meanwhile, the rise of this Mamdani momzer in NYC is causing the relatively sane among the Democrat base in NYC and nationally to be freaking out. Why, I have no idea, because the conventional wisdom is that this maniac is where the Democrat Party has been heading for decades. The objection is not necessarily his policies and worldview, it's the fact that he's open and honest about it that is causing the Dems to freak out. They win when they pretend to be as American as apple pie, hot dogs and Chevrolet (and can make their election thievery look kosher).

Whose Side Are Democrats Really On? . . . Cheering for the enemy

It's not that the Democrats are on the side of the enemy, It's that the Democrats have been America's greatest enemy for two centuries and counting.

Mamdani? Everywhere you turn it's Mamdanis all the way down.

Boston Muslim Illegal Alien Councilwoman Replaces July 4th Before Going to Prison. . . July in Boston will now be Cabo Verde Independence Month.

BUT . . . there is some good news to report, here's a smattering:

for example on the illegal alien front,

as well as the religious freedom front

And the Second Amenment...

and the transexual madness front.

Looks like Will Thomas had to tuck his tail, instead of his John Thomas and head for the hills at UPenn,

And lastly, a quick shout-out and thank you for your continued support in hitting our tip jar. It truly is appreciated more than you can know.

Have a great day!

Daily Tech News 2 July 2025

—Pixy Misa

• Search engines like Google and Bing will be required to verify the age of users from Australia by the end of 2025, forcing them into safe mode if they are logged in and under the age of 18. (Information Age)
  
  Which is stupid for many reasons, not least of which even under the law it doesn't work if you're not logged in.
  
  
  
• In more surprising but more welcome news, Chris Elston - "Billboard Chris" on Twitter - and Elon Musk won in separate cases against Australia's "eSafety Commissioner" Julie Inman Grant and some random crazy lady who goes by the name of Teddy Cook. (MSN)

  In the post, Mr Elston, who goes by the name Billboard Chris on X, slammed the proposed appointment of Mr Cook, a biological female, to a World Health Organisation panel on healthcare delivery.

  The post reads: "This woman (yes, she's female) is part of a panel of 20 'experts' hired by the WHO to draft their policy on caring for 'trans people'. People who belong in psychiatric wards are writing the guidelines for people who belong in psychiatric wards."

  Speaking of random crazy women:

  Ms Grant labelled the remarks "degrading" and issued a takedown notice to X on March 22, threatening the company with a fine of up to $782,500 for any refusal to remove the post.

  Not only is the relevant law stupid - which is the ground state in these matters - but Australia's Administrative Review Tribunal ruled that Grant broke the law in forcing the content to be taken down.
  
  Elston and Musk sued separately to have the posts restored, and both won.

Tuesday Overnight Open Thread - July 1, 2025 [scampydog]

—Open Blogger

Good evening and welcome to the Tuesday ONT of digital sanitation. A collation of abandoned drafts, lukewarm takes, and general decluttering.

Attention Lurkers

Per the Official AoS Handbook, subsection 4b, all lurkers are encouraged to submit one (1) comment per quarter. Today marks the start of Q3 on the Gregorian calendar, so go ahead and check this task off your list. Dive in and join the lively chatter.

Acceptable topics are whatever you want. This is an open thread. Some ideas to get you going:

-Anything chaotic
-Commentary on the content (lightly skimmed/ignored is expected). We know about the content reading/lack thereof
-Anything random, weird, or questionably relevant (weird is very on-brand)

Members of the 50 Cent Army, Internet Research Agency, and other state-sponsored propaganda squads: you're excused. Sit this one out.

*****

As the cool kids say, "Stay with it to the end."

Watch this vid before you take your kids with you to work 😂🤣 pic.twitter.com/63fDs3KAKW

— 🔥⭐️Edwin⭐️🔥 (@Nuked4Every1) June 24, 2025

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Operation Midnight Hammer is officially in the books.

Let's see what else is tucked away in the archives. Some amusing military operation names.

Operation Frequent Wind. And more.

Operation Frequent Wind was the 1975 evacuation of Americans and Vietnamese citizens from Saigon before it fell. So we’ve established this was a pretty big deal and our side comes up with “Operation Frequent Wind” for a name. Leave it to a bunch of military guys to make a fart joke around one of the most visible missions in history.

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There are a fair amount of thoughts around: What the hell is the DOJ spending their time doing?

The Tuesday ONT is here for you. Here is the link to their press release page. Searchable by date and keyword. Some interesting reading.

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Life Skills - Rites of Passage: Polishing shoes - dead art? Walk in heels (only those that can define what a woman is). Properly pressing a shirt? Dressing appropriately for any occasion? Change a tire? Apply nail polish? How to tie a tie? Share some life skills - rites of passage in the comments.

Had the opportunity to have an incidental learning session with a young man recently on how to properly tie a tie. I prefer the 1/2 Windsor but the military knot and full Windsor have their time and place. My mother actually taught me how to tie a tie.

Pretty much every imaginable knot at this link. Never learned how to tie the bow tie - they do make it looks sexy in the movies when a woman ties it on a man.

High heels seem like a torture device. I suspect there is value - on those occasions when they must be worn, in knowing how to operate those creatures. Is there a song or something? Heal, toe, short step, short step.

Don't take long strides in your heels. As tempting as it can be to strut your stuff, you've got to learn how to walk before you can run. Take small steps by planting your heel firmly on the ground. Roll through the ball of your foot, push off with your toes, and keep your strides controlled and short. Avoid overextending your legs. Focus on maintaining a steady pace and distributing your weight evenly. Take your time to adjust to the height and feel of the heels, gradually increasing your stride length as you gain comfort and support.

*****

Not what you expect it to be.

Such a good boy😂😂. pic.twitter.com/06oj8V6Lh5

— SonnyBoy🇺🇸 (@gotrice2024) June 24, 2025

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What could possibly go wrong? Large banks are ramping up leverage again.

In the early 2000's, large bank leverage was roughly 20 to 1. Sometime around 2008 they increased to 30 to 1 (and I lost my mind). Previous life - the company I worked for did some deals with Lehman - thankfully prior to their demise. Current ratios are running about 10/15 to 1.

Uh huh, tell me about those low-risk assets. Way too deep of a topic to litigate in an ONT post, but plenty of room in the comment section for those interested or read in on such things.

ESLR (enhanced supplementary leverage ratio).

Large U.S. global banks can expect as much as $6 trillion in additional balance sheet capacity and billions in freed up capital under a Federal Reserve plan to relax leverage rules, Wall Street brokerages estimated Thursday.

The U.S. Fed unveiled a proposal on Wednesday that would overhaul how much capital large global banks must hold against relatively low-risk assets, as part of a bid to boost participation in U.S. Treasury markets.

Here is a deeper dive.

The relationship between the Treasury market and leverage ratios, and the ESLR in particular, is intuitive: Since a leverage ratio requires the same amount of capital for every asset with the same nominal value, it incentivizes banks to move away from low-risk assets like Treasuries and toward higher-risk, higher-yielding assets. Risk-weighted capital requirements incentivize banks in the opposite direction-toward lower-risk assets. But when the minimum required leverage ratio is high enough, it can dominate bank decisions on how to allocate capital among asset classes and activities. This effect is likely to be especially pronounced for banks with relatively higher amounts of trading activity-both because Treasuries are the most traded asset in the world and because of their use as collateral in repo transactions.

Before the ESLR was adopted in 2013, Federal Reserve officials (including me) discussed internally whether the new requirement of a 5% SLR for G-SIBs might interfere with monetary policy implementation or the smooth functioning of the Treasury market. Given expected levels of Treasury debt and reserves, they did not anticipate a problem. But many, both inside and outside the Fed, recognized that the ESLR might in some future circumstances adversely affect the Treasury market, especially during a period in which hedge funds and other institutions holding Treasuries needed to monetize them to obtain liquidity. Banks approaching their minimum leverage ratio would not be able to take more Treasuries onto their balance sheets.

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One of those silly songs that has hung in there.

Charlie Rich, Behind Closed Doors from 1973. Went to #1 on US Country Songs and #15 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

I'm not on Spotify, but it is a popular tool. Most streamed song by year. A lot of streaming! Streaking was the '70's, or so I was told.

Parents, what have you done, or do you still do that embarrasses your littles?

Poker Face - Lady Gaga, 2008. Some Moron used that as their alarm on their phone for a couple of years to annoy their children. Daaaad!!!! You're not cool enough to know that song. You're embarrassing!

*****

Technically, none below are wrong - all will be consumed. However, let's not pretend there isn't a hierarchy of proper "doneness." Prepare for opinions. Loud ones. Friendships may be tested. Some of you will get this wrong - the correct response is somewhere between 1.5 and 2. Scampywife insists that 6 is the correct carbon state of bacon.

Good Morning Y’all ☕️🥓
3-4 perfect bacon pic.twitter.com/e0Mi96XLIB

— LaylaTexas77🌹 (@LaylaTexas77) April 3, 2025

This ONT is brought to you by: If you're here, you survived Pride Month. Congrats.

Also, No Go Zones.

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Last minute ONT additions:

Happy Bobby Bonilla Day. One of the greatest sports stories of this generation.

As has been the case since 2011, Bonilla today will receive a $1.19 million annual payment from the Mets, a continuation of a deferral structure created in 2000, and lasting until 2035. Overall, the Mets deal, thanks to the deferrals and compounded interest, has turned an initial $5.9 million contract obligation to Bonilla into nearly $30 million for the six-time All-Star.

Trump wins again. UPenn male swimmer cosplaying as a woman has swim records stripped.

The university will also issue formal apologies to every biological female competitor who lost out to a transgender competitor following an investigation by the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR).

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My proton email account is kaput. I'd like to say it was something clever that I did, but it wasn't. Testing out - coming soon, the new and improved... Atomic mail.

Close it up

Big Cats Cafe

—Ace

A golden tiger, a snow white tiger,
a Bengal tiger, and a white tiger

An old vid: lions run to hug and kiss their old caregiver.

Sassy snow leopard. Fixed: Now contains infinity percent more snow leopard.

When you're on safari, you have to expect some cheetahs are going to get into your car.

Baby tiger pounces on mom.

Mother cat introduces her kittens to the dog.

An "octopus tree" grows suspended above a trail. It's not the Octopus Tree in Oregon.

Rollin' up to the cops wearing a Michael Myers mask.

Dog slithers through a fountain.

Dog slithers down a hill.

Dog loves seeing the FedEx guy even more than the owners do.

Compilation of older dogs meeting the new puppies.

A little tough to watch but very poignant: A compilation of dogs grieving the fellow pets that have passed.

Dog meets the new pupper.

Caution: Falling trees.

Baby elephant plays chase with dog until he gets frustrated and goes cryin' to mama.

Steve Inman:

A quick street beatdown for a skel who attacked a citizen's car.

More street justice for car-assaulters.

Classic street justice for antifa road pirates.

The street tax paid for bothering people on the street is getting higher.

Teaching some hooligans some manners.

Some beatdowns for people who have earned it.

Old man breaks out the pimp hand.

Not Inman, but related: How Switzerland deals with Hamas street-blockers.

Also related: Would-be arsonists and low-IQ criminals succeed only in setting themselves and their car on fire.

Being funny wasn’t enough — had to hit every beat too!😂🎵🎬 pic.twitter.com/lMo8sjvWlE

— Nina Deer (@longdepzai_n) June 25, 2025

Kings of the valley 🐐 pic.twitter.com/u7zGqbxhFR

— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) June 26, 2025

It can't all be cats:

A new kind of therapy pic.twitter.com/wkiggDErkr

— dog (@Dog__Dog0) June 30, 2025

AI is making me doubt every video I post here:

Can you tell the difference between reality and AI?pic.twitter.com/XhOvH20Txw

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) July 1, 2025

Close it up

Quick Hits

—Ace

New absurd Hamas jihadi propaganda drops:

This may surprise you, but the 33-year-old former "rapper" and jihadi communist Zohran Mamdani has about the same level of basic competence as Alexandria Donkey-Chompers.

He claims he will pay for his "government run grocery stores" using "subsidies" that are currently paid to for-profit grocery stores.

But the government isn't paying these stores money -- they're merely giving them tax breaks. And these tax breaks are offered to accomplish the left-wing goal of opening grocery stores in the left-wing hallucination of "food deserts."

There is no money just sitting around waiting to be spent.

When Zohran Mamdani, the New York Democratic mayoral nominee, defends his idea of socialist grocery stores, he says he can pay for them by cutting city subsidies to "corporate grocery stores."

This claim is based on a basic misunderstanding of the city's current grocery subsidies. The money he plans to use to pay for his city-owned grocery stores is money the city doesn't have.

Specifically, he wrongly believes that the city is spending $140 million to subsidize private grocery stores, and he thinks he can take half of that money and use it to build government groceries.

..

According to Mamdani, his five grocery stores would cost $60 million.

"That should be compared to the city's existing program called City FRESH, where they are set to spend $140 million, subsidizing corporate grocery stores ... So we would take less than half of the money the city is already set to spend, and actually deliver results," he said.

What is this FRESH program?

The Food Retail Expansion to Support Health is a bundle of tax breaks and special regulatory relief for grocery stores that open up in so-called food deserts: poor neighborhoods where the city has concluded residents don't have adequate access to produce and other healthy foods.

The subsidy includes some tax breaks: building taxes stay at the pre-improvement level for a few years, land taxes are abated, there are some tax breaks for building the store, and some of the transfer taxes are cut. (The store still collects and remits sales tax, pays payroll taxes, pays corporate income taxes, et cetera.)

The FRESH program can also include some zoning and regulatory relief.

The tax breaks have saved the grocery stores a few million dollars each year.

If you take those tax breaks away, these stores in the "food deserts" will probably close because companies have determined it's a money-losing proposition to open up stores there. Which is fine by me, but ending the tax breaks does not suddenly make money appear in the government's bank accounts.

The Democrat-Media Party keeps claiming that Mamdani isn't a communist just as much as Biden wasn't senile.

You will not be surprised to learn that the Democrat-Media Party is lying.

Just the News:

Zohran Mamdani, the self-described "democratic socialist" and presumptive Democratic Party nominee to be mayor of New York City, has been supported by so-called "fact-checkers" and legacy media in denying that he is a Communist -- but his oft-repeated past comments strongly contradict his denials. Mamdani is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), but he denies that he is a Communist.

An investigation by Just the News shows that in tweets, speeches, and affiliations, Mamdani, at his core, holds a strong affinity for straight-up Communism: praising and campaigning with a Marxist state senator in New York; declaring that NYC needed a mayor just like a famously young Indian mayor who was a member of an explicitly Marxist and Communist Party; praising the 1917 Russian Revolution which led to the overthrow of the Czar and, soon, the establishment of the Soviet Union at the cost of millions of lives; arguing about the need to "seize the means of production" in a reference to a core Marxist principle; praising famous radical Communist figures; and much more.

After the win by Mamdani on Tuesday, President Trump weighed in by declaring Mamdani "a 100% Communist Lunatic."

...

The self-described fact-checking website PolitiFact declared last week that "Zohran Mamdani is favored to win the NYC mayoral primary. Claims he's a communist are False." The outlet said that "some politicians and social media posts falsely labeled him a communist" and that "experts say he hasn't espoused key tenets of communism, such as government takeover of industry and private property."

PolitiFact also alleged that "accusing Democrats of being communists or communist sympathizers is a frequent misleading attack line by some Republicans" and that "it is a red scare tactic that has existed in U.S. politics for decades, but has been transformed by the success of some democratic socialists."

...

The denials notwithstanding, Mamdani's own words may very well reveal what is behind the facade.

Mamdani has repeatedly praised his fellow "comrades" in the DSA, and seems to have been especially close with New York State Sen. Julia Salazar, who endorsed him and with whom he campaigned during his 2020 run for the New York state assembly, and whom he also praised and thanked for her endorsement when he was running for mayor in 2025.

Salazar is a self-described "Democratic Socialist" who has repeatedly declared that she is an avowed Marxist. Mamdani made it clear in 2020 that he was well aware of Salazar's Marxist views -- and strongly suggested he agreed with them, meaning Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour is not Mamdani's only controversial close associate.

...

[Salazar] tweeted that "I'm a Marxist" in January 2019, and tweeted again in April 2020 that "I have a Marxist worldview." Salazar tweeted again that "to be clear, as ever, I'm a Marxist" in October 2023.

Salazar also played a role in helping Mamdani win during his 2020 race for New York state assembly. Mamdani repeatedly touted being endorsed by Salazar in his 2020 race, and the two collaborated on issues and virtually campaigned together in the lead up to the election.

...

Mamdani has also repeatedly praised famous Communist figures and leaders. A tweet by him from December 2020 was especially striking, as it suggested that he believed NYC needed a Communist mayor -- a job he would pursue himself just a few years later while denying that he is a Marxist.

"them: so what kind of mayor does nyc need right now? me:" Mamdani tweeted as he shared a Twitter thread from the Indian Puducherry State Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) -- or the CPI(M).

"Comrade Arya Rajendran, age 21, new Mayor of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. She will be the youngest mayor of a major city in the world. Here she leads a detachment of Red Volunteers in @CPIMKerala. #CPIM #LeftAlternative #Communist," the Indian Communist Party tweeted. The profile for that branch of the Communist Party included a hammer and sickle emoji in its Twitter description.

...

When Mamdani tweeted in June 2020 that NYC should pull down a statue of Christopher Columbus, among the three options he suggested for statues to replace Columbus was a famous Italian Communist.

"In 2017, NYC ordered a review of public works constituting "symbols of hate" for potential removal. But a statue of Columbus remains in Astoria, in defiance of the values of humanity, empathy & justice that we stand for. It has to go. Sign the petition," Mamdani tweeted. He then ran a Twitter poll, asking, "The Italian-American community has a rich history in Astoria. Who should we honor instead? Tony Bennett (Astoria native, music icon) Walter Audisio (Communist partisan, killed Mussolini) Sacco & Vanzetti (Executed due to anti-Italian sentiment)."

...

Mamdani has repeatedly posted approvingly about the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the fall of Czar Nicholas II, which soon ushered in Communist rule in Russia and the establishment of the brutal Communist-led Soviet Union.

Mamdani tweeted in March 2023 -- and then again with the exact same language in March 2024 -- praise for the 1917 February Revolution in Russia, which led to the abdication and murder of the Romanov family and the Bolshevik takeover.

"On March 8, 1917, women textile workers in Russia organized a massive strike, calling for 'bread and peace,' an end to war and the fall of the Czar. A week later, he abdicated. Women received the right to vote. The 1st #InternationalWomensDay in Russia was a revolution," Mamdani tweeted in both 2023 and 2024.

An analysis by History.com made it clear that this February Revolution -- named such because the Russians used the Julian calendar -- led almost directly to Vladimir Lenin's dictatorship in Russia.

...

Mamdani spoke of "the end goal of seizing the means of production" in 2021 while he was a New York state assemblyman.

Karl Marx's book Das Kapital repeatedly uses the term "means of production," which has become a central pillar of Marxist theory. "Capital is dead labor, that vampire-like, only lives by sucking living labor, and lives the more, the more labor it sucks," is just one example of the phrase appearing in Marx's work.

...

Momdani seemed to have previewed this sentiment in a December 2020 tweet. The Democratic Party had tweeted that "the Biden-Harris administration is committed to rebuilding an economy that welcomes everyone as full participants." That didn't go far enough for Mamdani, who responded by saying that "if we want everyone to be full participants in the economy, we need worker ownership of the means of production."

Mamdani hasn't just used the "Comrade" moniker for his Marxist ally Julia Salazar, but it is rather a term of endearment he repeatedly uses with his fellow DSA members and allies.

The term "comrade" has a long -- but not exclusive -- association with Communist movements. Soviet Union dictator Joseph Stalin was referred to as "Comrade Stalin" and Chinese Communist Party dictator Mao Zedong called himself "Comrade Mao" -- among many such examples. When Mamdani spoke at the YDSA winter conference in February 2021, he referred to the other elected socialist officials as his "comrades."

Mamdani loves to call his fellow leftwing and socialist candidates his "comrades" on Twitter. As one example, he tweeted his congratulations to Lee J. Carter in November 2019 when the Virginia socialist won reelection in the Virginia House of Delegates.

The Cheapfake Media is claiming that it was just some youthful exuberance that has led Mamdani to repeatedly call for the seizing of the "means of production" and delivering them over to the proletariat.

He was 30 when he said these things. He's now 33.

The Democrat-Media Party is also trying to claim that "seizing the means of production" Akshually Isn't Communist at All. It's just seizing the money and equipment of the exploitative capitalist class and turning them over to the revolutionary proletariat to be held communally, that's all.

Where are you seeing "communism" in this, Bigot? Is it because his face is slightly more brownish than yours, Racist?

Trump's DOJ is suing California for its insurrectionary blocking of federal agents from carrying out their appointed duties.

The DOJ lawsuit targets Los Angeles' sanctuary city ordinances, claiming they directly violate federal law and enable illegal aliens to evade deportation. The complaint links Los Angeles' refusal to cooperate with immigration enforcement to recent "rioting, looting, and vandalism" that forced the deployment of the National Guard and U.S. Marines. U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said the city's policies "contributed to a lawless and unsafe environment," adding that the Constitution "prohibits the City from picking and choosing which federal laws will be enforced."

FBI chief Kash Patel says he will shut down the J. Edgar Hoover Building and move FBI operations to the Ronald Reagan Building.

FBI Director Kash Patel is shutting down the J. Edgar Hoover building and moving its headquarters across Washington to the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, with President Donald Trump touting the move, telling Fox News Digital that the FBI "will finally have the kind of building they deserve."

Fox News Digital exclusively obtained a Tuesday memo Patel sent to the FBI, notifying employees of the relocation, and stressing that it is "most cost-effective way" to serve the American people, Fox News Digital has learned.

Patel, in May, first hinted that the bureau would be reallocating its workforce around the country, and would move agents out of the J. Edgar Hoover Building, which opened in 1975.

The FBI and the General Services Administration (GSA) have been looking at options for a new FBI headquarters for more than a decade, including locations near D.C. in Maryland and Virginia.

"Team, the FBI Headquarters will be moving down the street to the Ronald Reagan Building, and the Hoover building will be shut down," Patel wrote in the memo, exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital.

Trump told Fox News Digital that the Ronald Reagan Building is "a wonderful building," and said the FBI is "a wonderful group of people.

"The FBI will finally have the kind of building they deserve," the president told Fox News Digital. "Congratulations to Kash Patel, Dan Bongino and all the great people at the FBI."

At least they're not going with the Wray/Biden plan of spending billions of taxpayer dollars on a new, completely-undeserved Palace of Justice.

Nick Sortor @nicksortor

BREAKING: USAID has OFFICIALLY ceased operations, Secretary Rubio announces

This was a TOP priority of @ElonMusk while he was at DOGE, even calling it a "CRIMINAL organization."

The Democrat slush fund for kickbacks and corruption is no more.

Here's how CNN reported it:

The Fake Republicans in the Senate Screwed Us and the Fake Republicans in the House Are Complaining They Didn't Screw Us Enough

—Ace

Here's how our liberal "Republican" Senators screwed us on the Big Bloated Bill:

Changes to phase-outs of clean energy tax credits in the bill remained central to the final hours of debate among Republicans, as hard-line conservatives have called for strict, swift cuts and more centrist lawmakers pushed for extended wind-downs to avoid major market and investment disruptions.

The now-passed Senate bill includes steep cuts for these tax credits, ending incentives for wind and solar projects placed in service, meaning operational and plugged into the grid, by the end of 2027.

Moderates were able to squeeze in a carve-out allowing projects that begin construction less than one year after the bill is enacted to claim the credit. Any projects that start construction after that time frame must be operational and in service by 2027 to be eligible.

This is a fake cut: they have rigged these "cuts" so that no money will be cut at all.

Alex Epstein @AlexEpstein

Senate fails to terminate Green New Scam

The Senate bill *looks like* it has a 2027 "placed in service" cutoff for new solar/wind subsidies.

But one last-minute paragraph makes it worthless--because projects making a recoverable 5% investment in the next 12 months are exempt!

The idea of a 2027 "placed in service" cutoff was that new subsidies would actually end during the Trump administration.

But under the last-minute carveout, Big Green has 12 months to initiate as many subsidized projects as it wants using the insanely-easy-to-meet "construction" threshold. (All you need to do is commit 5% of expected project cost to buying re-sellable assets like solar panels.)

Once they declare "construction"--e.g., in July 2026--they'll have 4 years (e.g., July 2030) to "place in service." And then some of those projects, e.g., most wind projects, will get 10 years of subsidies.

So we'll still have wind subsidies on Donald Trump's 94th birthday!

Here's how much worse the Senate bill just got:

* Two days ago: "Placed in service" by 12-31-27--with new subsidized solar/wind projects stopping very quickly, and Trump being able to let subsidies truly end.

* Today: "Placed in service" by JULY 2030--with new subsidized solar/wind projects absolutely spamming the rid and ripping off taxpayers like never before, and Trump having no control over whether the subsidies end.

The current Senate bill is arguably worse than the original Senate Finance one. At least that bill decreased solar/wind subsidies starting in 2026 to 60%. The current bill just increased them to 100%.

The current bill is a solar/wind lobbyist's dream. It does not terminate the Green New Scam in any way, shape or form. It absolutely perpetuates it. And offensively so, I might add, by keeping the "placed in service" cutoff language so many people courageously fought for, then totally undoing it with a single last-minute paragraph that makes it worthless.

If the Senate wanted to extend the Green New Scam it should have said so, not insulted our intelligence by trying to bury the extension in one sneaky little paragraph.

PS Several Senators have already told me they didn't know about or understand this last-minute paragraph. If that's the case they should do whatever they can to fix the situation.

An unnamed Republican congressman sounds off about the "shit sandwich" the Senate RINOs are trying to force on the House.

But unfortunately he's not calling for more cuts, but for fewer. He objects to the Senate cutting Medicaid.

Reese Gorman @reesejgorman

Vibe check in the House from one GOP member:

"The Senate took a bill that had a year's worth of work in it - and in a month turned it into a shit sandwich. They're trying to jam the House, because they think they're this sacred body. In reality they're sending back a bill that members of my Congress can't defend because they don't understand Medicaid like they need to."

The Hill talks about the Medicaid cuts in the Senate version of the Big Bloated Bill.

Senate Republicans on Tuesday passed the largest cuts to Medicaid since the program began in the 1960s, a move that would erode the social safety net and cause a spike in the number of uninsured Americans over the next decade.

The tax and spending bill is projected to cost more than $3 trillion during that time, but it would be partially paid for with about $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid.

Almost 12 million lower-income Americans would lose their health insurance by 2034, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

It still needs to pass the House again, where some moderate Republicans have expressed concerns about the cuts.

The Washington Examiner's fact check says that Medicaid isn't being cut, only the rate of growth is being slowed. But it does impose work requirements on able-bodied adults without children who were allowed to enroll in Medicaid by Obama.

Senate Republicans are defending their changes to federal Medicaid spending in their final push to pass President Donald Trump's budget reconciliation bill before Independence Day, arguing that the bill does not technically cut the health insurance program for disabled and low-income people.

Republican leadership has insisted for weeks that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is not primarily a healthcare reform package, but reductions in Medicaid spending have been a crucial piece to recoup some of the costs from the sweeping tax cuts that take center stage in the legislation.

...

Democrats have waged a multimonth campaign against what Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has called the "big ugly betrayal" by saying that the bill will decimate coverage for low-income people.

...

"We are fiscally making Medicaid more sound," Marshall said. "It's only in Washington, D.C., that you increase spending at a rate faster than inflation and you call it a cut."

Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) posted on X on Sunday evening that Medicaid spending has increased by more than 200% since 2008 and by roughly 51% since 2019, largely due to increases in enrollment from the Medicaid expansion population of able-bodied adults without dependents.

The Congressional Budget Office's projected federal spending on Medicaid and Obamacare increased by $1.9 trillion, increasing 25% from 2021 to 2025, according to conservative think tank the Paragon Health Institute.

Robing Rudowitz, vice president at the healthcare think tank KFF and Medicaid policy specialist, told the Washington Examiner that the CBO's analysis of the most up-to-date version of the bill "will reduce federal Medicaid spending over the next ten years by about $1 trillion relative to expected federal spending without the legislation."

Much of the spending cuts come from imposing work requirements on able-bodied adults without dependents and changing federal reimbursement rates for the Medicaid expansion population.

Medicaid eligibility was extended to able-bodied adults without dependents under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, better known as Obamacare.

No wonder that craven RINO congressman spoke anonymously, and to the left-leaning The Hill.

Unrelated: What's a Cuck Chair?

What's a cuck chair? You might have seen the term online, often in jokes about hotel rooms. But is there more to it?

A "cuck chair" is a slang term for a chair facing a bed, linked to the idea of passivity. The word "cuck" comes from "cuckold," an old term for a man with an unfaithful wife.

In this post, you'll learn the history behind the term, its cultural impact, and why the meme continues to spread.

...
The term "cuck chair" has an unusual yet fascinating history, deeply rooted in language evolution, cultural shifts, and internet meme culture. While it may seem like a recent phenomenon, its origins trace back centuries to the words "cuck" and "cuckold."

...

In contemporary online debates, the term often symbolizes perceived emasculation or powerlessness, particularly in discussions surrounding masculinity and vulnerability. This usage appears frequently in social media, forums, and satirical commentary.

Design Features of a Cuck Chair

Traditional Design

Historically, cuck chairs were designed for practicality and affordability, often found in homes of the less affluent. Their defining characteristics include:

Armless Design A simple structure without armrests, making it easier to move and reposition.

Low-Seated Typically sits lower than standard chairs, emphasizing a subtle, passive seating posture.

Portable & Lightweight Designed for convenience rather than comfort, allowing for easy relocation.

You'll want it light so you can move it to the closet at your convenience.

These features made cuck chairs affordable and functional. They were often used as secondary seating, not meant for extended relaxation but rather temporary use in different settings.

Kristi Noem: We Are Investigating CNN for Promoting an App That Allows Radicals and Criminals to Track Indivdual ICE Agents' Movements

—Ace

The Democrat-Media Party's browshirts are attacking ICE agents and posting pictures of their family members along with threats to harm them, and CNN decides to advertise an app that allows antifa, trantifa, and assorted other criminals to track them.

Wesley Hunt @WesleyHuntTX

Is CNN pushing an app that helps DOXX ICE agents in real time?!

The app "ICEBLOCK" tracks the movements of federal agents and has the potential to put their lives at risk, and CNN is running a "story," on it.

Will Apple and Google keep this in their app stores?

Will Congress act as fast to ban this as they did with TikTok?

Because if exposing American law enforcement to danger doesn't raise red flags, what will?

Poll: Thomas Massie Would Lose to a Republican Challenger?

—Ace

Thomas Massie votes against all spending bills because he wants to be able to fundraise off of that questionable honor.

And now Trump and Musk are on opposite sides of Massie's reelection. Musk wants the House to vote against the Big Bloated Bill, and Trump wants them to vote in favor of it.

Musk says he will support Massie if he's primaried:

Tesla CEO and former Trump administration special employee Elon Musk says he'll back Rep. Thomas Massie in his 2026 primary race after President Donald Trump vowed to fund a primary challenger for the Kentucky Republican.

"Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame! And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth," Musk, who led the administration's Department of Government Efficiency, posted Monday on X.

Former Michigan GOP Rep. Justin Amash replied to Musk, asking whether he'd support Massie after he came out against Trump's "big beautiful bill" over concerns of it adding to the deficit.

"I will," Musk responsded.

Trump is highlighting a new poll showing that Massie is on thin ice.

Not just for the budget dispute, but for opposing Trump's strike on Iran.

Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie is losing support among Republican primary voters in his own district, a new Kaplan Strategies poll shows. He now trails challenger Nicole Lee Ethington as voters turn on him for opposing major parts of President Trump's agenda.

Key Details:

Only 19% of likely GOP voters in Kentucky's 4th Congressional District say they would vote to reelect Massie no matter who challenges him -- a number that drops to 14% if Trump endorses an opponent.

In a head-to-head matchup, Massie trails Ethington 31% to 19%, with a majority of voters still undecided.

Massie's unfavorable rating stands at 62%, while Trump's favorability among respondents hits 89%.

Diving Deeper:

Congressman Thomas Massie is entering his 2026 reelection bid with little margin for error, according to a new poll from Kaplan Strategies released Monday. The poll, conducted June 23--24 among 368 likely Republican primary voters in Kentucky's 4th District, shows Massie lagging well behind challenger Nicole Lee Ethington in early support -- and facing sharp disapproval over several key votes.

Ethington, a registered nurse, currently leads Massie 31% to 19% in a hypothetical primary matchup. A significant 50% of voters remain undecided, but the underlying numbers signal deep dissatisfaction with Massie's record. Just 23% of respondents view him favorably, compared to a commanding 62% who view him unfavorably. President Donald Trump, by contrast, enjoys 89% favorability in the same poll -- and a Trump endorsement would drop Massie's support to just 14%.

The poll highlights a growing rift between Massie's libertarian-leaning approach and the prevailing MAGA sentiment in the GOP base. According to Kaplan Strategies, large majorities of voters expressed concern with Massie's past votes:

72% say they're less likely to support him because he opposed Trump's tax cuts and budget,

69% disapprove of his vote against the Take it Down Act, which would criminalize deepfake revenge porn,

58% are less likely to vote for him due to his opposition to Trump's pro-Israel policy stance.

Hey, it's a slow news day. Give me a break. I've got to put up anything close to newsy.

Trump Tours "Alligator Alcatraz;" Agrees to Let DeSantis Deputize National Guardsmen as Immigration Judges to Speed Up Deportations

—Ace

The left is always complaining that we need judges to handle the huge wave of illegal third-world immigration they encourage.

Okay, how about National Guard soldiers sworn in to be immigration judges?

This is the kind of innovation in government I'm looking for.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would approve Florida's plan to expedite deportations by having qualified National Guard members work as immigration judges.

Trump made the announcement during his visit to a new state-run immigration detention center in South Florida dubbed Alligator Alcatraz.

For months now, Gov. Ron DeSantis has sought the approval of the federal government to deputize Florida National Guard Judge Advocate General Corps. officers to act as immigration judges.

On Tuesday, Trump said he is in favor of the plan.

"He didn't even have to ask me. He has my approval," Trump said during a roundtable discussion at the immigration detention center in the Everglades.

DeSantis on Monday said having the National Guard work as immigration judges on site at the detention center could fast-track deportations.

On Tuesday, DeSantis said his goal was to cut through "bureaucracy."

Because the detention center is built on an old airstrip, DeSantis and others have also said it will speed up the deportation process by allowing the federal government to fly migrants out of the site.

Attorney General James Uthmeier, who was instrumental in the detention center's planning, said on social media Tuesday that it was a "one stop shop for immigration enforcement."

"Come in, get your 'process,' and fly out," Uthmeier said.

I love it. Unfortunately he's not talking about just making thousands of National Guardsmen judges, just Guardsman in the judge advocate corps. Lawyers, then.