Ace: aceofspadeshq at gee mail.com
Buck: buck.throckmorton at protonmail.com
CBD: cbd at cutjibnewsletter.com
joe mannix: mannix2024 at proton.me
MisHum: petmorons at gee mail.com
J.J. Sefton: sefton at cutjibnewsletter.com
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published.
Contact OrangeEnt for info: maildrop62 at proton dot me
Gavin Newsom Admits That California Pays for Free Healthcare for Illegal Aliens
—Ace
We already knew this, but Gavin Newsom admits it. As you know, in the propaganda media, no amount of evidence is ever enough to disprove a left-wing talking point. A point is only settled against a leftist if he admits it.
What is even more astounding is Regime Apologist Ezra Klein's reaction to this admission.
Newsom's admission doesn't cause Klein to say, "Well, it turns out Trump wasright when he said Democrat states pay for health care for illegals."
No, it causes him to re-assert that Trump "lies" about this, followed by praising Newsom for having the guts to make Trump's "lies" a reality.
This is a work of art. This is their magic trick: Once they label something Trump said “a lie,”no amount of proof, no towering mountain of evidence, will force them to rethink https://t.co/23Jktsv7eb
It's just totally a "lie" that all Democrats plan to provide free health care to illegals.
For the left, the concept of lying is not dependent on whether or not someone tells the truth. It's not based on actions. It's based on status -- if you're an enemy of the left, you're a "liar" even when you're telling the truth. The truths you say "mislead" the public away from a Greater Truth -- race-based socialism managed by carefully-selected leftwing credentialed priests -- and are therefore "lies," in a deeper sense.
The “Affordability Crisis” - Home Prices and Apartment Rents Are Decreasing as Deportations Increase
—Buck Throckmorton
Let’s talk some more about the “affordability crisis” that the media and President Trump’s critics are hammering him about. As I keep mentioning, it is a ridiculously unfair argument that because overall prices haven’t deflated from the runaway inflation of the Biden-era, Trump is to blame.
But some prices are actually coming down. As Ace and I have been discussing, gasoline prices are historically low thanks to Trump’s drill-baby-drill energy policy.
But the largest item in most household budgets is the mortgage or rent. So how are those prices doing? They’re coming down too.
This piece mentions that inventory of homes has expanded, which would certainly impact the supply/demand equation, and that prices are returning “back down to earth” following the “frenzy” of the Covid-era.
But it also mentions that some of these metropolitan areas simply have “lighter demand” now than in recent years. Interesting. It’s almost as if there is some other force affecting supply and demand of housing units if there is suddenly lighter demand for housing.
Rental housing is also seeing rents drop and vacancies rise:
Per this article, the median national rent payment is declining, including 1% in just the past month alone. In some places the decrease is quite significant. For instance, in Austin the median rent has decreased by 6.8% in the past year. Meanwhile, the national vacancy rate for multi-family properties (e.g. apartments) just hit a record high in November, with 7.2% of units unleased.
This article offers some explanations for the decline in rents and the glut of unleased apartments, including a cooling labor market, and hundreds of thousands of new housing units coming online in the past year.
Yes, new units becoming available for lease certainly is an input into the supply/demand equation, but even in a cooling labor market, people need a place to live.
Again, it just seems that there might be another force at work here that is not being discussed.
The Department of Homeland Security announced on Wednesday that an estimated 2.5 million illegal aliens have left the country since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term.
Over 600,000 aliens have been deported and another 1.9 million have self-deported. Those 2.5 million people were occupying a lot of housing that is now competing for new tenants.
The “affordability crisis” is a term being thrown around by those who want to sabotage the Trump presidency and help Democrats defeat Republicans in the mid-terms next November. But by causing millions of illegal aliens to depart the country, the Trump administration is actually taking powerful action to reduce the cost of housing and shelter. Coincidentally, most of the NeverTrump critics trying to kneecap the Trump agenda with the “affordability” issue are hell-bent on stopping deportations and throwing the border back open to illegal labor.
Those people parroting the “affordability crisis” talking points need to be challenged to admit that Donald Trump’s deportations and closed border are bringing down the cost of housing.
Reducing the cost of housing is the highest priority when talking about “affordability,” and President Trump’s policies are making it happen.
Is this great art? No, but it is competently executed, the artist has obvious skill, and there is no obvious political bent to the work. And the scene is sufficiently complex that it suggests questions. What is going on? Who is the woman ascending the stairs? Why didn't John Moses Browning design a .50ACP?
Good morning kids. In its nearly 200-year rampage to attain absolute power, the Left and its political epicenter have worked feverishly via the Communist playbook to tear down every pillar of our society, history and heritage that undergirds the American experiment that had made us the exception to every other one that has come before us and since in human history, hence the term "American exceptionalism." We are or were the exception to all other forms of government that degraded, demeaned and relegated the individual as mere servants, serfs and slaves to all powerful rulers, kings and dictators. One of the key pillars of our society, and a source of pride and inspiration has been our military, especially those who serve and have served honorably and most especially to those who gave their lives to keep us free and preserve the bastion and beacon and shining example of freedom for the world (which sadly has decided that the opposite is preferable so that for the most part, we have 200 or so Cubas and Somalias all over the globe).
Coming back from that tangent and to our military, one of the greatest achievements that President Trump and his outstanding Secretary of War Pete Hegseth have done is to restore our military to razor-sharp readiness and effectiveness in the defense of this nation and its interests. That which had deteriorated to such an extent in the wake of 9/11 and the muddled insanity of the so-called insane Global War on Terror which in point of fact under Dubya, Cheney and various and sundry others became the eternal state of War on Terra and the equally mad nation-building scam that did nothing but demoralize Americans at home as their sons and daughters came home in flag-draped caskets while inspiring foreigners whose nations we pulverized while alienating them to hate us even more than before we arrived to "liberate" them from that which they did not want to be liberated, primarily ISLAM.
Because this President is putting an end to all that nonsense, he has earned some of the bitterest of enemies within the global militarist (not military) and corrupted failed diplomatic circles that have created much of the Post World War 2 mess that we find ourselves in. In rejiggering our military and foreign policy to one that is America-centric, he has put himself and his allies like Hegseth firmly in the crosshairs of some very pissed off individuals who do not appreciate their decades long power and influence taken away from them. And given the attempts on Trump crosshairs is for sure appropriate. And now, with first the strikes on Iran's nuclear capabilities and now the interdiction and elimination of narco-terrorist smuggling boats, some if not all aided and abetted by central and South American nation states along with Red CHina, the chattering classes are yammering away endlessly about war crimes.
In the 1990s, Captain Michael Cronin, a Navy pilot who had been captured and tortured in Vietnam, began to lobby for a bill that would hold his Vietnamese torturers accountable.
The ‘War Crimes Act’ was passed and Cronin died in 2020 without his torturers facing justice.
The bill, originally sold as a way to hold torturers of Americans accountable, did nothing to stop abuses of American prisoners, either by Communist or Islamist foes. Its criminalization of Geneva Conviction violations was never going to matter to our enemies, instead it became a weapon used by them, and their radical allies in the United States, against our troops.
Republican House and Senate majorities allowed the ‘War Crimes Act’ to sail through even though it had been loaded with the biggest poison pill of all, applying its provisions to American soldiers, and President Bill Clinton, a former anti-war protester, gleefully signed it into law.
The ‘War Crimes Act of 1996’ was the fever dream wishlist of every anti-Vietnam War protester, threatening to prosecute American soldiers for international law violations, and would probably never have become law if it hadn’t been smuggled through using a Vietnam War POW as an unwitting human shield. Once the bill had been passed, it was weaponized against Americans.
In a not necessarily unrelated story from a few weeks ago, Zohran Mamdani the mayor-elect of NYC announced his intention to arrest Bibi Netanyahu and hand him over to the International Criminal Court for the unspeakable crime of defending Jews from Islamic genocide. Mamdani's election is I fear not merely a one-off but given the embrace of socialism by the younger generations of voters and sadly older ones as well, and the vicissitudes of American electoral politics, sadly one day we will once again have a Democrat in the White House, will he/she/It be merely a typical liberal schmuck or a full-on Maoist like Mamdani and his ilk?!
Regardless, America as founded, what remains of it and what had been restored and please God is yet to be restored by the second half of Trump 2.0 and perhaps two terms of a President Vance, will once again be ripped apart by the next incarnation of Obama on radioactive steroids.
I predict that if/when (ugh!) that nightmare becomes a reality, Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth and perhaps most of the flag officer corps involved in the sinking of the Venezuelan drug boats as well as the bombing of Iran will be charged with war crimes. Given the nature of the lawsuits and shampeachments that Trump has gone through, as well as the persecution via prosecution of the J-6 protesters, you can guess the rest.
And with that, will be the final nail in the coffin of the United States armed forces. It will be transmogrified into something akin to the Red Guards or Iran's IRGC.
The Indiana State Senate rejected a plan to redraw the Hoosier State’s congressional map before the 2026 midterm elections. President Donald J. Trump and Governor Mike Braun (R-IN) pushed Republican lawmakers in the legislature to back the plan, but Republican defections scuttled the bill that would have redrawn the map on Thursday.Under the failed proposal, the congressional districts for Representatives Frank Mrvan (D-IN) and Andre Carson (D-IN) would have essentially been eliminated and replaced with two Republican-leaning seats, making the entire state’s delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives a Republican one. Currently, Republicans hold seven of the state’s nine U.S. House seats.The setback in Indiana follows a recent Supreme Court decision allowing Texas to use its newly redrawn map, which creates five additional GOP-favorable districts. Indiana had become a focal point in Trump’s nationwide effort to reshape congressional districts ahead of the 2026 midterms, a strategy aimed at maintaining the narrow Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
CIVIL WAR 2.0, LEFTIST PERSECUTIONS, DEMOCRAT PUTSCH, AMERICAN DISSOLUTION
“The Department of Justice is committed to unraveling and prosecuting fraud in the Black Lives Matter organization, and this case illustrates how some in the group’s leadership allegedly used donor money to bankroll their own lifestyles,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement provided exclusively to Breitbart News. “We have zero tolerance for any kind of fraud perpetrated against the American people and will continue bringing fraudsters to justice as cases arise.” (I care more about their terrorism than scamming clueless liberal stooges - jjs) Exclusive — BLM Official in Oklahoma City Charged with Wire Fraud and Money Laundering
Americans are seeing relief in the housing market, with rents decreasing and housing availability improving due to the significant drop in illegal immigrants. DHS Claims Record 2.5 Million Illegal Immigrants Have Left U.S. (about 40 million more to go - jjs)
The affordability crisis will likely worsen if current trends continue and political leaders refuse to address the root causes. Five Solutions to the Affordability Crisis
The hearing focused on transparency and how much information should be shared to the public in order to ensure a fair trial. While this issue is being considered, Utah Fourth District Judge Tony Graf closed the first part of the hearing while they discussed what should and should not be made public. (Suddenly the name Jack Ruby popped into my head - jjs) Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Smirks During First In-Person Hearing
FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS, MEDIA, BIG BROTHER TECH
Leavitt didn’t just answer questions—she schooled the press, hit media narratives with facts, and defended the administration with precision and force. It’s so nice to have someone honest and competent behind the podium again. Karoline Leavitt Torches the Media in Epic Fashion
It is incredibly difficult to find points of agreement with our political foes when they prefer to scream in our faces and call us “fascists.” Leftists Choose Censorship Over Debate
The Right can’t win a fair media fight while Washington keeps conservative broadcasters capped at 39%—scrap the 1940s rule and let real competition decide. Big Brother Is Holding Conservative Media Back
RED-GREENS, CLIMATE CHANGE HOAX, DEMOCRAT-LEFT WAR ON FOSSIL FUELS,
Our children's futures—and America's. These homeschooled trailblazers are the assets of national security: Think Jefferson's diplomats negotiating peace, Lincoln's strategists holding the line, Roosevelt's visionaries expanding horizons. Homeschoolers built this country—It’s time the law recognized their diplomas
Trump may have garbled the specifics, but he got the upshot of the story right. Omar’s family brought Elmi over from London in 2009 to try to extract him from a gay lifestyle, and that is the context in which the congresswoman tied the knot with him. Yes, Bro-Fo Omar Married Her Brother
With the 2026 midterms fast approaching, seven intense Democratic primary contests are taking shape across the country and highlighting divisions regarding the future of the party. Seven Primaries That Could Tear Democrats Apart In 2026
“On the far left, there’s a growing bloc of disaffected activists who see politicians that alarm conservatives, like Mamdani, as not nearly radical enough simply because they operate inside electoral politics. For them, politics itself — and the Democrat Party in particular — looks like counter-insurgency.” Some Of Mamdani’s Radical Base ‘Already Seething’ At His Decisions
He’ll be remembered either way. But there’s a huge difference between a Julius and an Augustus. (I prefer Augustus Pinochet to an Orange-man Julius - jjs) What Kind of Caesar Will Trump Be?
The unidentified ship was reportedly flying the flag of E-Swatini and was part of what Iran alleges is a massive trafficking scheme to steal Iranian oil and sell it abroad. The IRGC revealed the news on the same day that the Iranian government condemned the United States for staging a similar seizure of a ship accused of carrying illicit oil in the Caribbean following an appropriate warrant process. The U.S. government accused the seized ship in question of carrying sanctioned oil being used to profit the narco-regime governing Venezuela and its allies in Tehran. Iran’s Terrorist IRGC Seizes Oil Tanker Day After U.S. Captures Alleged Oil Smuggling Vessel
Reuters is reporting — via anonymous sources — that the Trump administration says that this may be the first oil tanker it seizes, but it won't be the last: "Further direct interventions by the U.S. are expected in the coming weeks targeting ships carrying Venezuelan oil that may also have transported oil from other countries targeted by U.S. sanctions, such as Iran, according to the sources familiar with the matter who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue." The U.S. Seized an Oil Tanker Off the Coast of Venezuela. So, What's Next?
The MAS Party ruled Bolivia for two decades, first under its original leader Evo Morales and later under Arce. The brief period between Morales and Arce in 2020 was marked by Morales attempting to unconstitutionally retain the presidency, allegedly committing widespread electoral fraud and being forced to flee the country. As his top MAS officials fled the country at the time as well, the highest-ranking person left in the chain of command was conservative Senator Jeanine Áñez, whom Arce later had imprisoned on dubious “coup” charges. Bolivia Arrests Socialist Ex-President Luis Arce, Accused in $52 Million Corruption Scheme
Trump’s foreign-policy edge lies in blunt moral clarity, reshaping global power dynamics while warning adversaries that America is once again willing to defend its interests. Trump’s America First Foreign Policy Gives Moral Clarity
DEFENSE, MILITARY, SECURITY AFFAIRS
A UN tribunal has been embedded within the DOJ. It threatens our troops. (one day when we God forbid ultimately will have a Democrat president, you can bet your ass that Hegseth and Trump will be indicted - jjs) Abolish the War Crimes Act of 1996
HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE
Four Republicans: Sens. Susan Collins, Josh Hawley, Lisa Murkowski, and Dan Sullivan voted with the Democrats, but the legislation needed 60 votes to proceed, as did the Republican bill, which was also blocked on a 51-48 vote. Senate Rejects Extending Obamacare Subsidies
This strain appears to be a combination of Clade Ib (which causes more severe infections and is more readily spread) and Clade IIb (the one responsible for the “Pride Summer” global outbreak in 2022). A New Monkeypox Strain Identified in England
ACTUAL SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY
Using multiple solar observatories in space, scientists have now been able to map the approximate location of the outside edge of the Sun’s atmosphere, the point “where the speed of the outward solar wind becomes faster than the speed of magnetic waves.” Scientists map the outside edge of the Sun’s atmosphere
Scientists doing new computer modeling of the known data now posit that Neptune and Uranus might not be as icy as previously believed and instead could be more like the inner terrestrial planets like Earth, much rockier in their interior. Scientists posit that Neptune and Uranus might be rockier than previously theorized (But still no detectable Klingons on Uranus - jjs)
FEMINAZISM, TRANSGENDER PSYCHOSIS, HOMOSEXUALIZATION, WAR ON MASCULINITY/NORMALCY
The lawsuit is specifically filed against the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), the Endocrine Society, and the American Academy of Pediatrics and accuses the organizations of pushing mutilating sex changes for minors without proper evidence proving safety and efficacy, in violation of consumer protection and racketeering laws. Florida Sues Medical Organizations Pushing Sex Changes for Minors
CULTURE WARS, NATIONAL SUICIDE
“Your statement is extremely inappropriate and disrespectful. Such malicious remarks are unacceptable.” Kids Toys Can Be Spying for China
ALSO: The Morning Report cross-posts at CutJibNewsletter.com usually within an hour or so of posting here, if you want to continue the conversation all day.
It's a 5k model which is good enough for almost anything, and runs at 180Hz which is also good enough for almost anything. But if you drop the resolution to 2560x1440 you can boost the refresh rate to 330Hz, which is more than enough.
HDR 600 and 97% of DCI-P3 colour. One small catch: It doesn't work at its full resolution and refresh rate on an Nvidia 4000-series card, because those only support an older version of DisplayPort. Previous generation Radeon 7000 series cards do work, as do all current-generation cards.
Thursday Overnight Open Thread - December 11, 2025 [scampydog]
—Open Blogger
Welcome to the Thursday night ONT. Thank you for braving the traffic and holiday crowds to be here - the best place on the internet to spend your Thursday evening.
Been about a year since my first ONT post (with CBD patiently doing all the back end work - I figured it out eventually).
Your regular host, Doof, is in parts unknown - not saying he is on a secret mission, he will be back soon with a proper alibi.
Before we get started, please grab a snack and a second look at your therapy pamphlet.
Undergrounds - plenty of interesting and historical visits out there. Have you roamed any?
Dixia Cheng, Beijing, China. The whole communist, totalitarian side of this is fascinating. Build, deny, reveal, conceal, deny (again), obfuscate.
Built 1969 - 1979 as a bomb shelter - they were worried about the Soviets (how things change). It is beneath Beijing and has somewhere between 33 to 53 square miles of tunnels - near Tiananmen Square (Walz was not there). A decade or so of black market living quarters, eventually squashed by the government. Much of the system/network of tunnels is now sealed off and closed to the public.
The subterranean world of Dixia Cheng consists of a network of tunnels and chambers under Beijing that stretches across 33 square miles of underground catacombs. Also named the “Underground Great Wall” for its vastness and military purpose, the tunnel complex was dug by hand by local citizens throughout the 1970s to serve as a shelter during invasions, air raids, or nuclear attacks. At the height of its readiness, there were more than 90 entrances to the underground corridors which were hidden in the backs of homes and businesses.
Civilians seeking shelter from Soviet bombardments in the underground complex would have been safe from boredom as well as bombs. Classrooms were constructed for the children living in the underground city, and recreational amenities like a movie theater, barber shops, restaurants, and a roller skating rink were all awaiting a potential flood of refugees. Chambers in auxiliary tunnels held grain, weapons, and other supplies. The underground city also held sites for growing sunless crops like mushrooms and areas prepared for well drilling.
Pendleton, OR. Way back days Pendleton boasted a lot of bars, 18 brothels, and what is now an underground (sounds Moron worthy).
Pendleton used to be known as the entertainment capital of Eastern Oregon, and with thirty two bars and eighteen brothels, it's easy to see why this was a hot spot of the old west.
Blame the distractingly attractive person you sat next to in Biology for your forgetfulness.
For anyone whose little(s) brought homework home expecting your help / decades old brilliance: which subjects betrayed you? Logarithms perhaps? Prompting a response of, "I'll drop you off early tomorrow. Go meet with your teacher."
Plyler v. Doe. A lot of left leaning articles out there.
Send this decision back up the ladder.
At least one state is currently proposing action to limit undocumented students’ access to a free, public education. Recent efforts to challenge Plyler in five other states have been paused or failed, according to an Education Week analysis. At least one state has enacted protections of this right.
Across a large swath of academe, teaching is perceived as a burden to be endured. Faculty bemoan heavy teaching loads. Prized faculty teach light loads, with courses “bought out” by research grants or fellowships. (Deans and department chairs similarly negotiate for reduced teaching loads.) In short, a lighter teaching load is a badge of professional success.
*****
This administration continues to savage the legacy media. What's not to love about that?
The White House page of Media Offender of the Week. Scroll to the bottom of the page. From there you can click the various page numbers. They're calling out: The Claim, publication, reporter, and category.
THE OFFENSE
The Washington Post’s Alex Horton and Ellen Nakashima published an article from two unnamed sources claiming Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a Joint Special Operations commander to “kill everybody” during an anti-terrorist operation in the Caribbean Sea.
THE TRUTH
The Department of War killed 11 narco-terrorists in a coordinated strike designed to “kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people.” This attack was the first in a series of lethal kinetic strikes against Designated Terrorist Organizations. The Washington Post published this unsubstantiated claim in an attempt to discredit the United States’ warfighters and inflame anti-American sentiment.
*****
Spent entirely too much time on this section. What a rabbit hole.
A four act musical tour. So many songs are written around love and relationships - could link a hundred for each act. Let's take a tour through the highs, lows, and the magic of it. Use link shortener if pasting songs in comments - don't blow out the margins!
Sparks Fly. Music and new love? The first few weeks were always exciting. Pure dopamine, everything electric.
Wilhelm Friedrich Füchtner (1844-1923), hailing from the quaint town of Seiffen in the Ore Mountains of Germany, is known worldwide as the “Father of the Nutcracker.” For good reason, as he created the world’s first mass-produced nutcracker around 1870 with a water-powered lathe, revolutionizing the craft and saving himself from the laborious task of carving each statue by hand.
*****
Christmas traditions. Plenty in the scampyhouse. Favorite: Kids can get after their stocking whenever they awake. The presents wait until the cinny rolls are baked and mom has a cup of coffee. What are your traditions, Horde?
Track Santa
Come Christmas Eve, it's time to track Santa Claus as he delivers presents! Kiddos can use a computer or phone to follow Santa's journey from the North Pole, thanks to the free tracker from NORAD. The suspense is just magical!
*****
This ONT brought to you by: Wrapping presents.
Madonna Cones picture taken from elsewhere - unknown who to credit
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More "Strandbeasts" or "Beach Animals." This is actually not AI. Just some sticks, some serious engineering know-how, some wind, and a lot of free time. The artist calls these weird creations "kinetic sculptures."
An oldie: A dog decides he's really what the paying public came out to see.
Sea otters rub their faces to groom their fur; driving out moisture, adding air, and spreading natural oils secreted by their skin.pic.twitter.com/zPHt28zn6I
When billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein needed legal advice, help responding to negative press, or just moral support, he often turned to an unexpected confidante -- Kathy Ruemmler, an elite attorney who served two US presidents and was once a top candidate for US attorney general.
As thousands of new documents tied to Epstein have been released, many of those closest to him have paid a steep price for their friendship by forfeiting influential jobs and weathering fierce public blowback. Yet Ruemmler, a former White House counsel for Barack Obama, has maintained a prestigious post as chief legal officer for Goldman Sachs.
Friendship? Really?
The bank has continued to stand by her -- even as emails show Epstein calling her "my great defender" and seeking her help pushing back on reports detailing his abuse of underage girls.
A CNN KFile review of Epstein's emails and travel schedules sheds new light on his relationship with the power-broking lawyer and shows that their ties went far beyond professional advice and into the realm of a friendship.
Among the many high-profile and notable names that appear in the Epstein messages, Ruemmler is one of the most frequently referenced, with more than 100 exchanges between her and Epstein over several years. Epstein's schedule reveals that he was set to meet with Ruemmler more than 50 times between July 2014 and May 2019, including for lunches and dinners with celebrities, apartment hunting, and personal beauty appointments.
As early as 2014, the year that Ruemmler left the Obama White House, the pair already appeared close, with Ruemmler telling Epstein in one email, "I'll be here all week -- you may get sick of me."
Note this is after Jeffrey Epstein's conviction for prostitution. Which was understood to actually be about underaged child sex trafficking.
But their "friendship" endured.
In a statement to CNN, Ruemmler said, "In 2014, I barely knew Jeffrey Epstein. My remark was a throwaway line in response to his invitation to attend multiple meetings with business contacts."
Across the many messages, Ruemmler emerges as a confidant and advocate for Epstein, at times helping him manage his public reputation following his 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor.
Epstein's estate is fighting to keep hundreds of additional emails between Ruemmler and Epstein private, arguing that they are protected by attorney-client privilege. The privilege log shows that Ruemmler continued to communicate with Epstein through at least June 2019 and suggests she was more involved with Epstein's legal affairs than previously known.
In a statement to CNN, Ruemmler referred to Epstein as a "business referral source" when she was at the law firm Latham & Watkins and that she knew him in a "professional capacity" when she served as head of the white collar defense group at the firm. But she said she "did not represent him and was not compensated by him."
Perfect! Then the emails are not privileged.
CNN sent a series of questions to Ruemmler and Goldman Sachs prior to publication. Ruemmler provided answers to several of them, but others she declined to directly answer -- including whether she was involved with drafting a public relations statement for Epstein or took part in discussions to help him respond to media inquiries about his sexual abuse.
I assume this is the statement she drafted for her "friend" the pedophile sex trafficker.
In 2019, as major outlets reexamined Epstein's long history of sexually abusing minors, he invoked her advice directly. In a text message from that year, Epstein said Ruemmler helped him craft a public-relations statement in response to a forthcoming Washington Post editorial calling for Congress to investigate him.
At 4 a.m. on March 7, 2019, Epstein texted a draft statement to a contact redacted by House investigators, calling it a "Ruemmler proposal" and writing, "this is what Kathy suggests we tell Waco," correcting the typo seconds later to "Wapo." The statement -- which Epstein said Ruemmler provided -- rejected claims he received a "sweetheart deal" in his 2008 conviction and argued prosecutors had pursued him too aggressively.
"The criticism is wrong and reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of both [the] facts underlying Mr. Epstein's case and how it was prosecuted by both local and federal authorities. Far from a receiving a sweetheart deal, Mr. Epstein was subjected to a lengthy, aggressive, and highly unusual federal investigation for what were, in essence, local offenses of sexual solicitation. He accepted responsibility, served time and prison, and paid significant monetary settlements to the victims involved," said the statement.
While Jeffrey Epstein's other "friends" have paid a price, this Democrat woman -- no privilege here! -- continues working for Goldman Sachs.
But Ruemmler has managed to fly under the radar despite working as the top lawyer for one of the world's largest banks, where she made $22.5 million last year.
Obviously no lawyer is actually worth $22.5 million per year. She's being paid for political influence. She's a fixer. She knows what officials to call when you need a favor or you're in a jam. That's why she was "friends" with Jeffrey Epstein.
And I do not believe that her "friendship" was uncompensated.
I think, based on this revelation, that The Walls Are Really Closing In on Trump now.
Lowly District Judge Orders "Maryland Man" and Human Trafficker Kilmar Abrego-Garcia Released from Custody
—Ace
The judge was appointed by Obama. Weird how the media never points that out. They only note which judges were appointed by Republicans.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis issued the order, granting Abrego Garcia's petition for relief.
"Since Abrego Garcia's return from wrongful detention in El Salvador, he has been re-detained, again without lawful authority. For this reason, the Court will GRANT Abrego Garcia's Petition for immediate release from ICE custody," Xinis wrote.
...
Federal law enforcement have floated deporting him to an alternate destination, though they have struggled to secure the judicial go-ahead.
"Maryland Obama Judge Panagiota (Paula) Xinis is a lawless and dangerous radical," Article3Projecte found Mike Davis posted on X.
She just illegally ordered the release of "Saint" Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an MS13 terrorist and the Democrat patron saint of wife-beating and human trafficking."
Camilo Montoya-Galvez
@camiloreports
5m
BREAKING: Kilmar Abrego Garcia is being released from ICE detention in Pennsylvania after a federal judge ordered his release, his attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg tells me.
"They're booking him out as we speak."
Meanwhile, the communist press is badgering Republicans about missile strikes on... "fishing boats."
President Trump revealed Wednesday afternoon that U.S. authorities intercepted a Cuba-bound oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast, a dramatic move aimed at tightening the squeeze on illicit oil networks operating throughout the region. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump described the vessel as "a very large tanker -- the largest one ever seized in action," hinting that more developments are coming. He declined to get into specifics, saying only that the operation happened "for a very good reason." When asked about the tanker's crude, Trump didn't overcomplicate it. "Well, we keep it, I guess," he said.
According to a U.S. official familiar with the operation, the seizure was executed by the Coast Guard with support from the U.S. Navy after a federal judge green-lit the warrant roughly two weeks ago. Another official told the New York Times the ship -- identified as the Skipper -- had been sailing under a falsified flag and has a documented history of trafficking illicit Iranian oil. The vessel, although carrying Venezuelan crude at the time, was seized because of those Iranian smuggling ties, not because of any direct connection to Nicolás Maduro's regime.
Vanguard, a UK-based maritime risk firm, confirmed Wednesday that the Skipper fits the profile of a tanker previously sanctioned by the United States for operating under the alias Adisa while moving banned Iranian oil. A source speaking to Politico said the ship was on its way to Cuba, where state-run Cubametales intended to flip the cargo to Asian brokers -- an increasingly common workaround as U.S. sanctions isolate both Havana and Caracas from traditional buyers. With most Venezuelan product now flowing to China under the sanctions regime, oil traders began recalibrating almost immediately after the news broke. Prices ticked upward modestly as markets waited to learn whether any Venezuelan crude was on board and how much would be effectively taken off the table.
Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Coast Guard, with support from the Department of War, executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran. For multiple… pic.twitter.com/dNr0oAGl5x
Tom Homan, President Donald Trump's border czar, said during a Newsmax appearance on Monday that the administration is investigating Representative Ilhan Omar for alleged immigration fraud.
"I just got advised by a fraud investigator the other day on that. I asked the question, can we review the files? You know, there was immigration fraud involved," Homan said on Newsmax. "The statute of limitation became an issue in the last four years when this was first brought up."
He continued, "Pulling the records now, pulling the files, and we're looking at it. But this fraud investigator, who I know personally, one of the best fraud investigators in HSI, Homeland Security Investigations, said there's no doubt he'd review the file. So, I'm running that down this week as a matter of fact, and we'll see."
The following has been credibly alleged and supported with evidence:
Ilhan "Omar" Nur committed immigration fraud twice.
The second time was when she married her own brother -- while already married to her real husband -- to get her gay brother permanent residence in the US.
The first time was when she first came over. The patriarch of the Omar family had refugee status for his family. But Ilhan was not his daughter -- she is the daughter of a man named Nur, who she repeatedly called her "father" before people noticed her calling this man Nur "father" instead of her supposed father Omar. (She would later claim that it's a custom in her particular village in Somalia to call people who aren't your father "father" out of respect. No one else has ever heard of this "custom.")
She pretended to be part of the Omar family when she came over. But she wasn't. She's part of the Nur family, and never had legal permission to come.
The Atlantic Admits That the 100% Safe Covid Vaccine Killed Children (But Finds Room to Attack Vaccine Skeptics Anyway)
—Ace
Steve Jobs' Widow's Vanity Magazine The Atlantic takes a "pox on both their houses" position on the covid vaccines: The "health authorities" and their I-Believe-In-Science allies are criticized for denying the undeniable, that the covid vaccines did cause myocarditis and death in children, particularly young boys.
But the article of course also criticizes those who correctly and honestly pointed out that the vaccine was dangerous for children, particularly young boys, because... well, because they're On the Other Side and it's very gauche of them to be right about The Science.
On the Friday after Thanksgiving, Vinay Prasad, the FDA's top vaccine regulator, made a claim that shocked the public-health establishment. "For the first time," he wrote in a leaked email to his staff, "the US FDA will acknowledge that COVID-19 vaccines have killed American children." The agency had supposedly identified at least 10 children who died from getting COVID shots.
...
To say the email was poorly received by vaccine experts and physicians would be an understatement. Prasad's claim provoked a rapid series of rebuttals. A response from 12 former FDA commissioners, published in The New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday, called Prasad's memo "a threat to evidence-based vaccine policy and public health security." All of the potential vaccine-related deaths reported to the government, presumably including those to which Prasad referred, had already been reviewed by the agency's staff, the former commissioners wrote, and "different conclusions" had been reached. Elsewhere, doctors and scientists declared that absolutely no evidence links COVID-19 vaccines to death in children; and that in order to suggest otherwise, Prasad and his colleagues had engaged in an "evidence-manufacturing mission," a "dumpster dive" for shoddy data, or--worse--a campaign of lying.
...there's something troubling--and telling--in the fact that his memo has provoked people to deny even the possibility of COVID-vaccine-related deaths. The idea that mRNA-based shots have, tragically, killed a very small number of children is not far-fetched. It also doesn't imply a catastrophic threat to public health, given that tens of millions of doses of these vaccines have safely been given out to young people. From the start of the coronavirus pandemic, lack of nuance has been a problem with public-health messaging--one that anti-vaccine advocates have made use of to great effect. Now, in a moment when public health in America is under existential threat, this insistence that no evidence exists for vaccine-related deaths risks adding to the crisis.
But children did not need the "vaccines," meaning that the risks of mandating it to them -- and the deaths that then occurred -- were absolutely unnecessary.
No public-health authorities deny that COVID shots can have some ill effects. Adverse reactions are possible with all medical interventions. The mRNA-based vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna, in particular, are known to cause myocarditis--inflammation of the heart--on rare occasions, especially in teenage boys and young men. The form of myocarditis that occurs after vaccination is typically far less severe than the one caused by viruses; for unclear reasons, mRNA-related cases have largely disappeared in recent years. But this condition can be deadly, and considering the hundreds of millions of mRNA doses that have been administered to Americans, even extraordinarily unlikely outcomes may well be inevitable.
He doesn't want to lose his Leftwing Pinhead Membership Card, so he now pivots to attacking those who correctly said that children do not need the vaccine and in fact seem to be harmed by it:
The possibility--perhaps the likelihood--that a handful of vaccine-related deaths occurred and were downplayed by medical authorities does not undermine the fact that COVID vaccination, on the whole, has prevented death on a massive scale. Nor does it justify sweeping changes to vaccine regulations. Rather, it suggests the need for some targeted reforms, such as improvements to the country's vaccine-adverse-event reporting system--and also tells us that a strategy of minimizing tragic outcomes, however rare, may not be the best way to protect a vital instrument of public health.
Strom points out that this joker believes that RFKJr. is an "existential threat" to public health. Not the people who mandated that children take a vaccine that they did not need and which actually murdered a couple dozen of them, but the guy saying "Let's review the necessity and efficacy and safety of vaccines."
Strom mentions that once upon a time, he assumed the best of public health officials. Not any longer, of course.
I've written about this, but I'll mention it again: My own realization that public health officials consider it a badge of honor to blatantly lie to the pubic about public health -- to convince the uneducated to do what the educated want them to do, through any means necessary, including public disinformation campaigns -- came when I saw CNN's health correspondent Sanjay Gupta interview Obama's head of the CDC during the ebola outbreak.
During that outbreak, "The experts" decided to downplay the risk of the disease, instead of being hyper-alarmist. They did so because Obama had decided that the First Black President must never impose a temporary travel ban to any African country, even one in the midst of an ebola outbreak. So the marching orders went out to public health officials to convince the Uneducated Bigots of America that ebola was no big deal, really, You Racists.
Obama's CDC director claimed that ebola wasn't a danger for spreading because it could not be spread by "airborne transmission" but only by "direct contact." He said this specifically to allay fears of people on planes, trains, and buses that they could catch ebola from a fellow passenger.
Gupta asked, "So there's no risk if someone with ebola sneezes on another passenger? "
Obama's lying CDC directed reiterated that "ebola cannot be spread by airborne transmission," asserting that this statement answered the question.
But it didn't. Because we later learned that "airborne transmission" refers to disease-carrying bodies remaining in the air for hours and hours after the infected person has left the room. It refers to particles so light that they just "bounce" up and down in the air and don't sink to the ground for days.
But a sneeze is not considered "airborne transmission," even though it sounds like it should be, and even though Obama's CDC director insinuated that a sneeze would be a case of airborne transmission and ebola could not be spread by airborne transmission.
No, Gupta later told viewers in an update: A sneeze is considered direct contact with the infected person -- the spittle passes directly from them to anyone hit by the spray -- so yes, ebola is easily spread by a sneeze. And Obama's CDC director knew this, but he wanted to lie to the public, per Obama's wish to downplay the outbreak, so he told the world that ebola could not be passed via a sneeze.
It was a straight up lie. But he told it because the "experts" had decided that the value of keeping travel open to Africa outweighed Racist Americans' bigoted ideas about ebola being a killer disease that could literally liquify your internal organs, so "The Science" was changed to convince people of the political decision the "experts" had decided was best for them.
Earlier this year I started watching House, MD. The main character is an arrogant sociopath who routinely lies to patients about the risks or benefits of a course of treatment. He justifies this by noting that he went to medical school whereas most patients did not, and so he knows the right course of action and they simply don't. When told that this violates the law of informed consent, he snaps back that informed consent is a lie because informed consent is impossible for non-experts. So might as well lie to them or trick them into doing "the right thing," at least according to "the experts."
I mention that, of course, because it's not just a trait given to a fictional character on a TV show. There are a lot of people in medicine and particularly in the highly political field of government "public health" who share House's view on the impossibility of true informed consent and therefore the justification for simply lying to people to get them to do the "right" thing.
If you meet with a doctor, you're the client.
But you are not the client of "public health officials." The government, specifically the President or the state governor, is their client.
That's the person they are working for. You are just the rubes they're hustling to sell a product to.
The founder of the left-wing Code Pink organization, Medea Benjamin, hailed outgoing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., on Wednesday, saying she will "miss" her support for peace.
Many on social media expressed shock and criticism at the odd pairing, while some observers mentioned "horseshoe theory" -- the idea that the extremes on the right and left have more in common with each other than with moderates.
"We visited Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene today to thank her for becoming such a strong anti war voice in congress and tell her we will miss her," Benjamin wrote in a statement on X.
Greene faced heavy backlash for the meeting from conservative commentators who argued it was a betrayal of values.
...
Greene herself explained the meeting in a statement on social media, saying he was committed to her anti-war stance.
...
"I've learned to find bridges with others and that's how we all win and ultimately leads to peace," she added.
I noticed a while ago that some people on the "right" -- the psuedoright, I call it -- seemed to be so happy to finally be able to be frenz with left-wingers that they rushed to adopt their positions. I remember being glad myself that some far-left people like Jimmy Dore seemed kind of based on a lot of issues, like covid vaccinations and Russiagate. It felt good to end the long political war with at least some members of the left.
But then I noticed that people like Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly weren't just happy to hear Glenn Greenwald and Anna Kasparian agreeing with some rightist positions. They decided to return the favor and begin endorsing some extremist left-wing opinions themselves, like blaming Israel for Hamas' 10/7 massacre and generally adopting the Islamofascist talking point that Islam is a religion of peace and the only group making trouble between Christians and Muslims are, get this, The Jews.
Glenn Greenwald is apparently so charismatic that he honeytrapped Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson. He honeydicked them.
They've literally all adopted the exact positions held by the far left a year after 9/11. Except they don't just Blame America First, they Blame Israel First, and Blame America Second.
Other than that: Identical.
In their rush to oppose every part of neoconservativism, they've now made themselves enemies of foundational basic conservatism as well.
We visited Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene today to thank her for becoming such a strong anti war voice in congress and tell her we will miss her. pic.twitter.com/KW87d4vPBK
And here is @mtgreenee pictured hanging out with an org that mocks our troops at military parades with fake caskets. Unbelievable. https://t.co/iEqdG0YHZa
MTG promoting Code Pink and attacking Republicans.
Candace trying to destroy TPUSA.
Tucker suggesting we should abandon all our current allies and instead prioritize siding with Islamist slave states and anti-American dictators.
All coordinating together and promoting each other.
At some point you have to realize these people aren’t on your side. They snuck into the tent are trying to tear it down from the inside. Only question is if you let them.
Tucker is coming home to the left. He will be marching with Code Pink in 2026. https://t.co/m08hQBpg43
House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., says he is willing to subpoena Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor and failed vice-presidential candidate, over a fraud scheme in his state that reportedly saw hundreds of millions of dollars routed through nonprofits to Somali immigrants and others.
"If anyone that has received correspondence from us thus far requesting information, if they don't turn over that information, then they will get a subpoena. And we're serious about this. We're not going to back down," Comer warned in an interview with Just the News.
...
Comer noted to Just The News that Walz and other Minnesota officials, like Attorney General Keith Ellison, have "hid" as the investigation proceeds.
"You know, Walz gets due process, but the way he's handling this, and the way Ellison, the attorney general, has kind of hid right now, makes me pretty confident that there's a massive amount of waste, fraud and abuse that's about to be detected here, and I'm going to predict that Walz's political career is closer to an end than somewhere in the middle."
Walz is running for his fourth term as Minnesota governor. I'd like to think that even leftwing Minnesotans have had enough, but we can't forget that left-wing Virginians happily voted for an AG who advocated for killing cops and killing political opponents' wives.
...
Comer reiterated that sentiment and suggested this is not an anomaly. "I think what we're going to find in Minnesota is probably happening in many other states. Minnesota could be, and hopefully is, the worst offender, but there are other blue states run by Democratic [Party] governors who refuse to turn over any data, not only to Congress, but to cabinet secretaries like Brooke Rollins who are trying to get a handle on programs like SNAP."
Of course, Democrats have a long history of enriching themselves in office:
During his tenure, Comer uncovered bank records showing that Hunter Biden received $6.5 million from Ukrainian energy firm Burisma, where he served on the board despite lacking expertise, with testimony from Devon Archer revealing that Hunter placed Joe Biden on speakerphone over 20 times with foreign associates to sell the "Biden brand" for influence, and allegations that Joe Biden's push to oust prosecutor Viktor Shokin in 2015 aligned suspiciously with Burisma's pressure on Hunter for protection.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio directed all diplomats to revert to using the Times New Roman typeface in official communications and criticized his predecessor for shifting to Calibri, a font deemed too woke for the Trump administration.
Two years ago, Rubio's predecessor, Antony Blinken, switched to Calibri, a softer, simpler-shaped, and wider font than Times New Roman, in part to assist individuals with certain visual disabilities such as low vision and dyslexia.
"Switching to Calibri achieved nothing except the degradation of the department's official correspondence," Rubio wrote in an "action request," obtained by Reuters and the New York Times.
Times New Roman is lean and angular and masculine. Calibri is "plus-sized" and effeminate. It's a Gay Font.
Rubio reportedly dinged the Blinken-era switch to Calibri as "wasteful" and woke in his Dec. 9 cable to personnel.
"To restore decorum and professionalism to the Department's written work products and abolish yet another wasteful DEIA [Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility] program, the Department is returning to Times New Roman as its standard typeface," Rubio reportedly wrote.
Okay, so this is super-silly, but I'm in a spiteful mood and I don't oppose the instinct to wipe away all vestiges of the old demented Regime, even the trivial ones.
The smug pomposity of Western Europe in the face of overwhelming data that show a rapidly collapsing culture and society is fascinating to behold. Birth rates among natives are far below replacement, church attendance has cratered, tax rates are onerous, crime is exploding, Churches are being burned or turned into mosques, free speech is now at the mercy of increasingly totalitarian governments, and on and on.
But they have "free" (but rationed) healthcare, and their trains are lovely and fast and mostly on time! Oh...lots of vacation too!
Apparently, being able to get around on nice trains trumps the loss of freedom, the lack of purchasing power to own an automobile (freedom's conveyance), Muslim rape gangs, life in tiny apartments with no air conditioning, minuscule appliances, sclerotic municipal services, and all the other complexities of an overweening regulatory and administrative state.
I have a bit of experience with living in America, and had the opportunity to live in Paris for several months, in an upscale neighborhood far from the crime and the Islamic hordes in the midst of their conquest. And I can tell you unequivocally that life in America is better.
Do you know why those hip Parisians shop every day for food on their quaint and lovely streets filled with wonderful food shops? Because their f*cking kitchens are tiny, and their toy refrigerators don't hold enough for more than a day or two of cooking! Do you know why they are...to be polite...rather odoriferous? Because they sweat all the time (remember; no A/C!), their access to clothes washing is problematic, and their bathrooms are a joke, with hand-held showers and poor water pressure.
If you want good service in a store or a restaurant, don't bother. That wonderful living wage that they pay waiters translates into disinterested and mediocre service. And in stores? Hah! Good luck. Buying a box of band-aids can take 15 minutes. And their vaunted socialized and "free" medical care is strictly rationed, and only the well-off can get speedy and high-quality care. Or...you know...just fly to America, which many people around the world do, in spite of our health-care issues.
Our poor people own cars, and have more freedom than anyone else in the world. But the privilege of paying obscene marginal tax rates so that government can subsidize public transportation is better? I don't think so.
Western Europe should pay more attention to its own existential problems, and simply appreciate that America has paid for their defense since World War II. it is disingenuous in the extreme to claim that we do not subsidize Europe...the many trillions of dollars we have spent on NATO, either directly or indirectly, is distinct from any economic benefit that a rebuilt Europe has afforded our economy.
Are many parts of Western Europe beautiful? Absolutely! Many of their cities are marvels of architecture and culture, and its physical beauty is often stunning. But it is increasingly becoming a Potemkin Village, as their governments carefully minimize or hide (Rotherham or Malmo anyone?) their massive problems.
But the biggest problem by far is Europe's curious disinterest in their own freedom. Speech is carefully controlled by government and compliant corporations, and with that control comes a diminution of the very concept of freedom and liberty. Until that changes, Western Europe will continue down the path toward totalitarianism, either externally applied by Islam, or internally applied by...themselves!
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom - go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!
-- Samuel Adams
[Crossposted at CutJibNewsletter and X/Twitter]. If you folks who are on X/Twitter would follow us it would be much appreciated!
Good morning kids. So, on the latest episode of the podcast, linked here as well as in the sidebar and on the outlets listed at the bottom of the post, CBD and I discussed the outstanding leadership of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth in terms of revitalizing and reviving the readiness, capability and morale of our armed forces. With the ever present threat for sure posed by the Chi-Coms and a number of other bad actors including Iran, it is vital that President Trump has the absolute cream of the crop in terms of leadership at the Pentagon and so far Hegseth has proven himself quite capable. Now, with the President determined to thwart the influx of deadly fentanyl and other narcotics from overseas (primarily via south and central America, over land and via the sea lanes) that over the past decade and longer has left a staggering body count of dead and wasted lives that is akin to a small war or a very large and sadly ongoing bloody battle. To swipe the hyperbole of the Left when describing the January 6th non-insurrection non-riot, the body count is likely akin to several 9/11 style attacks combined. Add in the pain and suffering of their loved ones and the toll we have taken on so many levels is staggering. Lest we forget, the successful smuggling of these chemical weapons of mass destruction, and that's what fentanyl and opioids in the last analysis truly are, could not really happen without people in place on our shores to facilitate in the offloading and ultimate distribution of them right down to the dime-bag pushers on a street corner. Hence the crucial nature of border and immigration enforcement as well as the general law and order push vis a vis the ordering of National Guard troops to aid and assist local law enforcement in the apprehension of criminal elements, resisted by local politicians who are beholden to the insane policies of defunding the police, and decriminalization of crime by blue shit hole mayors, governors and DAs exclusively of the Democrat/Leftist persuasion.
So the shedding of oceans of crocodile tears for the drug smugglers that the US Navy has blown out of the water is disgusting in the extreme, although quite instructive as to who and what the anti-American Democrat Left actually care about. Hegseth as both a man and as a leader is everything that the Left is not and will never be. He, and of course Donald Trump, who Hegseth represents, is a nemesis to be destroyed. Not just because of that which is reason enough for the Left, but for what he is accomplishing, which to a large extent is the will of the people, but also for his potential future as a national political leader. — no I am not endorsing him for POTUS in 2028, but merely pointing out the salient fact that if he is allowed to continue with his successes without being hindered by his and our enemies, or should he step on a rake down the road (the laughable at best charges of infidelity or some other concocted closet skeleton), he does indeed from where I sit have a shot at national office at some time in the not too distant future (he's only 45)
The U.S. seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump confirmed Wednesday.
The tanker’s ownership and origin were not revealed, but Trump said the vessel was “very large” while speaking to reporters on Wednesday. The president did not offer the rationale behind the seizure during his remarks. “As you probably know, we’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela,” he said. “Large tanker, very large, largest one ever seized actually.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi posted video of the U.S. raid on an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday.
The video shows U.S. forces boarding and taking control of the vessel as part of an operation to enforce U.S. sanctions on the sale of Venezuelan oil.
“[T]he Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Coast Guard, with support from the Department of War, executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran,” said Bondi. “For multiple years, the oil tanker has been sanctioned by the United States due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations,” she added. “This seizure, completed off the coast of Venezuela, was conducted safely and securely—and our investigation alongside the Department of Homeland Security to prevent the transport of sanctioned oil continues.”
. . . The decision to seize the oil tanker strikes directly at Venezuela’s main source of revenue, its state-controlled oil industry. The oil it can produce through its state-owned oil company, PDVSA, is often sold internationally to countries such as Iran and China at steep discounts because of the risk of running afoul of U.S. sanctions.
Neither of the links state the final destination of the tanker, but although I cannot find where I read it, I'm fairly sure that I read somewhere that the tanker was bound for Cuba. Oh boy! Chee-Wah-Wah on so many levels if so. First, Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chavez have been a gigantic pain in our ass for years, let alone the long suffering Venezuelan people who, despite being awash in petroleum are among the poorest in Latin America and the world. But yes young Americans, let's all rush to transform the USA into a socialist paradise on earth, but I digress.
Venezuela aside, a number of South and central American nations are running in the opposite direction, much to the dismay of the Castro regime that still lords over the giant tropical gulag of Cuba. Thank you JFK. As for Venezuela, that regime has a long-standing partnership and close relationship with the mad mullahs of Iran, as well as Xi and the Chi-Coms who are itching to set up shop right on our doorstep to hamper if not strangle us economically, politically and if push comes to shove militarily.
That's why it is refreshing and sane that President Trump as well as Secretary of War Hegseth and Secretary of State Rubio are speaking with one very loud and clear voice in the aggressive reassertion of the Monroe Doctrine.
Western Hemisphere: The Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine
After years of neglect, the United States will reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere, and to protect our homeland and our access to key geographies throughout the region. We will deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets, in our Hemisphere. This “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine is a common-sense and potent restoration of American power and priorities, consistent with American security interests.
It would be quite something to finally see Cuba libré after 65 or more years of being a communist slave state, if for no other reason than to see the jug-eared dog-eating piece of shit Barack Obama (who propped up the regime after Fidel was dragged down to Hell) shriek in agony as Donald Trump dynamites the statues of Castro, Lenin and Marx at that Havana reviewing stand, in the same manner as that giant Swastika was blasted off the reviewing stand at the Nuremberg Nazi rally site at the end of World War 2 – I Have a Dream Today!
Of course the treasonous, traitorous venal tyrants in our midst will do their best to prevent that from happening:
During a recent interview with the far-Left Daily Beast, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), one of six Democrat lawmakers who collaborated on the infamous video telling service members they have a duty to refuse “unlawful orders,” made an extraordinary claim. She said they felt compelled to act because:
There [were] so many people coming to us, who were on active duty who — recent veterans, family members of service members — who were coming to us individually and saying two things: One, ‘I’m concerned I’m going to sent in uniform to an American city, you know, like L.A., Chicago, Memphis, and I’m going to be asked to do things I either don’t think are legal or I’m not trained for. What do I do?
As CBD and I noted on the podcast, while President Trump perhaps ought to have informed Congress of his intentions to interdict and destroy Venezuelan drug running terrorists on the high seas and that he considers the Maduro regime and Maduro himself as complicit in running drugs and de facto terror leaders in doing so, the fact that he didn't do so beforehand makes little difference to me.
Given who and what the Democrats are, if past is prologue, someone for sure would have spilled the beans to Maduro ahead of time. Even if it meant putting the lives of American military personnel in danger. They hate Trump with the heat of 10,000 suns and hate America itself as much if not more because they, for the time being, have been thwarted in seizing absolute power. When they say "By any means necessary" they're not kidding as we have seen for almost 200 years now.
Sowing mutiny in the ranks. Look what was done to Derek Chauvin who merely did his job as a police officer, and how that affected police morale and recruitment. Luckily Trump and Hegseth are at the top of the heap and the average soldier and officer have little to fear in terms of a politicized attempt to drum someone out of the service for following orders, no matter how ridiculous or loudly SLUTkin and her ilk shriek "WAR CRIMES!" But if God-forbid a Democrat administration once again takes power, then you better believe a Stalinesque purge will sweep through the flag officer corps if not go down the line to just the average dogface for obeying, legitimate orders handed down by the C-in-C Donald Trump.
And so, with no other means to prop up their allies, that is America's enemies, resort to destroying morale and readiness. It's the Chicago/OBAMA way...
Unto my last breath, the greatest threat to America's national security was is and always will be the Democrat Left.
Have a good day.
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.
ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY LINKS
Victor Davis Hanson: America warns Europe that only one of them is truly fighting to reverse the West’s decline—and the clock is running out for the other to follow suit.
Cry the Beloved Europe?
“I grew up in a Somali clan-based society … [where] Loyalty to kin was absolute. Loyalty to the nation was theoretical at best,” she writes ... (The Democrat Party is KLAN-based!, with a culture of civic corruption! - jjs)
Hirsi Ali: Americans Must Suppress Somali Culture of Civic Corruption
More than 8-in-10 households headed by Somali refugees in the state of Minnesota are on one or more forms of American taxpayer-funded welfare, new data published by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) reveals. Minnesota: ‘Nearly Every’ Somali Household with Children Is on Welfare
Out-of-control tort litigation makes American businesses less competitive, decreases worker productivity, and discourages companies from investing in their operations – instead having to hold money back for the potential of a rent-seeking lawsuit. American Families Pay The Price For Excessive Litigation
“President Trump has made enormous strides in reversing the affordability crisis left behind by Democrats. From the historic working families tax cuts to over $18 trillion worth of investment in America, the benefits of the Trump economic agenda have only begun to kick in and there is more work to be done in the new year,” the spokesperson said. White House Deploys JD Vance To Bolster Affordability Messaging
The truth is that the Trump administration is working hard to address the root causes of the high cost of living. They're doing this with intelligence, foresight, and experience, and basing their policy on bedrock economic principles. And even better: It's working. Stop Worrying About the Midterms — Trump Prosperity Will Be Undeniable by Then
When Providence police officers responded to a party on Liege Street last week, they discovered “four students passed out in the front yard of the home,” Fox News reported. Police said seven people overdosed at the party and were given Narcan. The individuals were transported to a hospital and were later reported conscious and alert, according to the report. Three People Arrested After Seven Rhode Island College Students Overdose at Party
John Stossel: “Justapedia,” says Rindsberg, “was founded by a veteran Wikipedia editor who couldn’t handle the left-wing bias.” “This is exactly what we need . . . people to be able to choose among different sources, so we’re not all forced into the Wikipedia information funnel.” Wikipedia won’t fix its woke bias — so competitors are on the rise
It's a message that every single member of our American Congress should be able to agree on, but when there were calls for objections, Sen. Dick Turdbin (D-Ill.) stepped his pretty little self up and did just that. In a Not so Shocking Move, Senate Democrats Refuse to Condemn Socialism
The tanker’s ownership and origin were not revealed, but Trump said the vessel was “very large” while speaking to reporters on Wednesday. The president did not offer the rationale behind the seizure during his remarks. “As you probably know, we’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela,” he said. “Large tanker, very large, largest one ever seized actually.” US Seizes Oil Tanker Off Venezuelan Coast, President Trump Confirms
Microsoft’s deep entanglement with China, exposed in a new report, shows how the tech giant’s pursuit of profit is undermining U.S. security and handing leverage to a hostile regime. New Report Exposes Microsoft’s Disturbing Ties To China
The record-breaking launches highlight China’s ambition to become a space superpower, with plans to expand its orbital infrastructure. China Surpasses SpaceX Rocket Launch Record.
The science team labels this “Exposure of North Polar Layered Deposits,” an apt description of the horizontal red and grey and blue layers that dominate the image and make this geology look more like an abstract painting than a natural landscape. Abstract art produced by nature within Mars’ north pole ice cap (It's no Rothko - jjs)
If anything, these stories illustrate again the corruption in our modern propaganda press. Such stories would have been considered junk four decades ago. Then it was traditional practice that a story needed at least two independent sources, one of which was not anonymous. No longer. Anyone can push any lie, and these news outlets will publicize it, for the sake of clicks. Unconfirmed anonymous sources at Reuters and Bloomberg claim SpaceX is planning a public stock offering
FEMINAZISM, TRANSGENDER PSYCHOSIS, HOMOSEXUALIZATION, WAR ON MASCULINITY/NORMALCY
Futurism reports that in an attempt to embrace the growing trend of generative AI, McDonald’s Netherlands division collaborated with ad agency TBWA\Neboko to create a 45-second AI-generated Christmas advertisement. However, the fast-food giant’s foray into AI-powered marketing backfired as the ad was met with intense criticism and mockery from viewers for both its “AI slop” features and anti-Christmas message, ultimately leading to its removal from the company’s YouTube channel. The video is available in archive form, and has been reuploaded to YouTube by others: McDonald’s Calls Christmas ‘Most Terrible Time of the Year’ in AI-Generated Ad
ALSO: The Morning Report cross-posts at CutJibNewsletter.com usually within an hour or so of posting here, if you want to continue the conversation all day.
Had a thunderstorm roll through last night and some of the lightning strikes came pretty close, but it passed without event. Or so I thought.
When I went to turn off the lights in the kitchen, it got very dark and very quiet. The only light remaining was the clock on the oven; everything else had lost power. And when I went downstairs to reset the breaker, it wasn't having it.
Put the fridge on an extension cord overnight - the rest of the house had power - and left it for the morning.
This morning I unplugged absolutely everything, reset the breaker - which now accepted its fate - and plugged things in again one at a time, waiting for it all to go phut.
Got down to the bar fridge and the dishwasher, which are on the same plug somehow. Took a deep breath, and plugged them in.
We have built a social platform that will look familiar to those that used legacy Twitter, but with new tools that provide a safer experience and empower the user to decide what types of content they engage in.
It's a hugbox for crazies.
Like Bluesky. But we already have Bluesky. For now; it's dying pretty swiftly.
Intellectual property attorney Douglas Masters says he is doubtful that Operation Bluebird's claims will be successful. "I don't know that the record ultimately will show that even though they [X Corp.] switched to X, that they intended to give up all of their commercial use and rights in the word Twitter," Masters tells The Verge.
Well, yeah. You can go to twitter.com right now and it works.
In a recent paper, researchers found one of the more delightful ways to bypass artificial intelligence security systems: Rephrase your nefarious prompt as a poem.
It's a bit like saying colanders will always have holes. Yes. We know.
It's pocket-sized - or at least coat pocket sized - and has a custom 12 core ARM processor, an NPU capable of 190 trillion operations per second, and 80GB of RAM.
It will be shown off at CES. No pricing yet, but 80GB of RAM suddenly costs a fair bit of money.
Musical Interlude
Disclaimer: And more, much more than this, I did it my way, or no way at all.
Wednesday Overnight Open Thread - December 10, 2025 [Frosty Rex]
—Open Blogger
Good evening Horde. The time has come for mid-week shenanigans of the post-cafe overnight variety.
Welcome to the Wednesday night ONT which means another edition of overnight fun and games. Pull up a chair and sit a spell. Good will offerings of amusing puns are happily accepted. Pants are optional. Be nice to your fellow commenters and AoS contributors.
[Top photo: "The Strip" by polynikes - Thank you!!]
"This is easy to understand. Doof has Thursday night, Weird Dave does memes on Friday night (but he used to do Thursday night), Doof (also known as Disco) posts on Sunday night with posting stats and a fashion report from Piper, TRex (also known a Dino) has the Pittsburgh scanner on Wednesdays, Doof has Tuesday night (formerly done by Doggo), the three D's (Disco, Dino and Doggo) host Club ONT on Saturday (which is now is open from time to time with a limited menu in other ONTs upon request), and Monday is a rotation between MisHum (who used to do ONTs five nights a week) and CBD. Launch times are predictable unless they're not. Got it?"
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Wednesday ONT Department of Fine Art
This is the Winter Egg, commissioned by Emperor Nicholas II from the firm of Faberge, and presented to his mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, on Easter Day, 1913.
The naturalistic design is not the only outstanding thing about this egg. The approach to materials, too, is rare and peculiarly timeless. Rock crystal, from which the shell and the base are made, is not the most lavish choice - and it had been used in previous eggs to create a kind of ovoid display case. But the Winter Egg is different. Transparent quartz is deployed here, because in the right hands it can be made to emulate both hoar-encrusted glass and jagged ice. A beautiful material has been rendered priceless by the artistry invested in it, by an ineffable human touch.
There are, of course, plenty of precious metals and gems in the egg, too - but always they serve the design. The trickling meltwater on the craggy base is made of platinum, while the sparkling effect of the whole ensemble is produced by the careful placement of minuscule diamonds, more than 4,000 of them in all.
The surprise inside the egg is a separate work of art, and also a feat of botanical mimicry. The wood anemones are arranged informally in a woven basket that is made of platinum and set with rose-cut diamonds. Some of the windflowers - as wood anemones are also known - are fully in bloom, some still half-closed. Their pale petals are of white quartz, and at the centre of each head is a demantoid garnet set within a gold stamen. The leaves on the golden stems are carved from pale green nephrite. Source: Christies
One of 50 made. Only 43 survive.
Sold at auction recently for USD$30.2 million. Where are you going to find another one for sale?
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The Wednesday ONT has no time for hidden musical themes. Just turn the volume up:
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Some days are better than others...
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Jesus will be at the Club ONT Christmas party on Saturday. Will you? Don't miss it and get a mark on your permanent record.
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ONT Department of Military History
On November 4, 1965, CDR Clarence W. Stoddard, Jr., Executive Officer of VA-25 "Fist of the Fleet," flying A-1H Skyraider Bu. No. 135297, NE/572, from Carrier Air Wing Two aboard USS Midway, carried a special bomb to the North Vietnamese in commemoration of the 6-millionth pound of ordnance dropped. This bomb was unique because of the type... it was a toilet!
Also unique to this mission is the fact that this aircraft was named "Paper Tiger II" (a temporary name used for just this one flight.)
The following is an account of this event, courtesy of Clint Johnson, Captain, USNR Ret. Captain Johnson was one of the two VA-25 A-1 Skyraider pilots credited with shooting down a MiG-17 on June 20, 1965.
"I was a pilot in VA-25 on the 1965 Vietnam cruise.
572 was flown by CDR C. W. "Bill" Stoddard. His wingman in 577 (which was my assigned airplane) was LCDR Robin Bacon, who had a wing station mounted movie camera (the only one remaining in the fleet from WWII.)
The flight was a Dixie Station strike (South Vietnam) going to the Delta. When they arrived in the target area and CDR Stoddard was reading the ordnance list to the FAC [Forward Air Controller], he ended with "and one code name Sani-Flush." The FAC couldn't believe it and joined up to see it. It was dropped in a dive with LCDR Bacon flying tight wing position to film the drop. When it came off, it turned hole to the wind and almost struck his airplane. It made a great ready room movie.
The FAC said that it whistled all the way down.
The toilet was a damaged toilet, which was going to be thrown overboard. One of our plane captains rescued it and the ordnance crew made a rack, tailfins and nose fuse for it. Our checkers maintained a position to block the view of the air boss and the Captain while the aircraft was taxiing forward. Just as it was being shot off we got a 1MC message from the bridge, "What the hell was on 572's right wing?"
There were a lot of jokes with air intelligence about germ warfare. I wish that we had saved the movie film. CDR Stoddard was later killed while flying 572 in Oct. 1966. He was hit by three SAMs over Vinh." Source
Bonus points if you know why an "E" was added to the toilet bomb.
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ONT Department of History and Languages
Hat tip: OrangeEnt
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REMINDER
Saturday's Hobby Thread requires Horde participation. We are honoring the Christmas ornament. Please send photos of ornaments from your collection to the Hobby Thread email address. What qualifies?
Could be something sentimental, something you made as a child or an adult, something special given to you, something you picked up on your travels, something whimsical or fun, something particularly novel, something really old, something handmade, something intricate or fancy, something irreverent and cheeky, etc.
Don't worry about sending your "favorite." We all know that many ornaments are treasures for different reasons.
If there is a story behind your photo, send a brief description. I may edit or inappropriately embellish, so be warned.
Send individual photos - one ornament for each photo (unless there is a cohesive set that go together). No limit, but the humble Hobby Thread only has so much space to work with.
If you don't usually drop into the Hobby Thread, this weekend would be a good time to stop by and say hello. It is going to be fun.
THANK YOU!
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Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was from Chicago? Apparently so.
From Wikipedia:
Robert L. May created Rudolph in 1939 as an assignment for Chicago-based Montgomery Ward. The retailer had been buying and giving away booklets for Christmas every year and it was decided that creating their own book would save money. May considered naming the reindeer Rollo or Reginald before deciding upon using the name Rudolph. May chose a reindeer because of his daughter's love of the deer at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, IL. May also said he was treated like Rudolph as a child. In its first year of publication, Montgomery Ward distributed 2.4 million copies of Rudolph's story.
While May was staring out his office window in downtown Chicago, pondering how best to craft a Christmas story about a reindeer, a thick fog from Lake Michigan blocked his view - giving him a flash of inspiration. "Suddenly I had it!" he recalled. "A nose! A bright red nose that would shine through fog like a spotlight."
You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen
Comet and Cupid and and Donner and Blitzen
But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all - LEROY!!!
Amazing that TSO started as a side project from Savatage. Songs like Prelude to Madness are thinly disguised orchestra metal. Warning: 80s Savatage isn't for everyone. Take in small doses.
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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.
Yesterday I posted a too-good-to-be-true video I was sure was AI. Today, I present one that's even more obviously fake as f***. I don't even need your help in finding the fakery and AI slop here.
High speed photographs of goofy dogs catching treats in dey moufs.
Felix Hernandez is a photographer, digital artist, and miniature creator who builds detailed scale models and dioramas by hand, then blends them with photography and digital compositing to craft immersive, surreal scenes.
Podcast: Pete Hegseth is everything the left hates...and we love! Illinois is the next flashpoint for federal supremacy with regard to our borders, Trump's communication leaves something to be desired, and more!
I have happily forgotten what Milo Yiannopoulos sounds like, but I still enjoyed this impression from from Ami Kozak.
Well, bamboo is actually a type of grass, and underground, it's all connected in a sprawling network, just like the parts of this story I never wanted to tell. I wish I hadn't been put in this position, that I didn't have to write about any of this, that I didn't have to subject myself or my loved ones to embarrassment and further loss of privacy.
We're back to the fucking bamboo. Guys, I don't think I can pay for bamboo ruminations.
I think he added that because he was embarrassed about all the bamboo imagery from Part 1. He's justifying his twin obsessions: His ex, and bamboo. Which is not a tree but a kind of grass, he'll have you know.
On Tuesday, the book arrived in stores. At lunchtime, in the Midtown Manhattan nexus of media and publishing, interest in Nuzzi's story seemed more muted. The Barnes and Noble on Fifth Avenue had seven copies tucked into a "New & Notable" rack next to the escalator, below Malala Yousafzai's "Finding My Way." Not many had sold so far, a store employee said.
A few blocks uptown, at a branch of the local independent chain McNally Jackson Books, a few volumes lay on a table of new and noteworthy nonfiction near the front of the store. No one was lining up to get them, or even browsing. Bookseller Alex Howe told CNN around 3 p.m. that though the store had procured "several dozen" copies, not a single one had yet sold -- a figure he said was surprising, considering how many people in media and publishing work in the area.
"We ordered a lot and so far, people have not been beating down the door," Howe said. "I'm not sure where we're gonna put them because right now, supply is outpacing demand." (A manager at McNally Jackson noted that Howe was speaking only in a personal capacity, not as a representative of the store.)
She trashes Ryan Lizza for his "Revenge Porn" here. Emily Jashinsky says that when the Bulwark's gay grifter Tim Miller asked why she didn't report on the (alleged) use of ketamine by RFKJr., she broke down in tears and asked to end the interview.
Podcast: Sefton is back with CBD to discuss killing narco-terrorists (we are both for it!), the TN special election, Trump's communication skills, and more!
Incumbent Senator John Cornyn (RINO - TX) betrayed his party and his country by voting in favor Biden's Afghan resettlement bill in 2021. Cornyn voted to bring in the Afghan who shot two National Guard soldiers on US soil. A vote for Cornyn is an endorsement of importing unvetted, radicalized murderers. [Buck]
Podcast: Jim Lakely of Heartland Institute joins CBD for a discussion of their recent polling that shows a majority of 18-39s want socialism, the Epstein files, what will Mamdani do, and more!
