Ace of Spades HQ

July 21, 2025

Margot Cleveland: Memo Reveals Left-Wing Judges Scheming to Thwart Trump's Agenda

—Ace

At The Federalist: Democrat judges openly proclaim their hostility to Trump and their determination to protect the country from the president that voters elected making the policy choices he told them he would make.

Federal judge James Boasberg advised Chief Justice John Roberts and some two dozen other judges that his D.C. colleagues were "concern[ed] that the Administration would disregard rulings of federal courts leading to a constitutional crisis," according to a memorandum obtained exclusively by The Federalist. That Judge Boasberg and his fellow D.C. District Court judges would discuss how a named Defendant in numerous pending lawsuits might respond to an adverse ruling is shocking. Equally outrageous is those judges' clear disregard for the presumption of regularity -- a presumption that requires a court to presume public officials properly discharged their official duties.
During the week of March 11, 2025, members of the Judicial Conference met in Washington, D.C., for the first of its two regular meetings. As the U.S. Court's webpage explains, "[t]he Judicial Conference of the United States is the national policymaking body for the federal courts."

The Judicial Conference consists of Chief Justice Roberts, who presides over the body, as well as the chief judge of each judicial circuit, the chief judge of the Court of International Trade, and one district judge from each regional circuit, making for a group of approximately thirty judges. While the Judicial Conference mainstay is considering "administrative and policy issues affecting the federal court system," and "mak[ing] recommendations to Congress concerning legislation involving the Judicial Branch," a side conversation at the group's most recent meeting revealed a disturbing detail -- the predisposition of supposedly unbiased judges against the Trump Administration.

In a memorandum obtained exclusively by The Federalist, a member of the Judicial Conference summarized the March meeting, including a "working breakfast" at which Justice Roberts spoke. According to the memorandum, "District of the District of Columbia Chief Judge James Boasberg next raised his colleagues' concerns that the Administration would disregard rulings of federal courts leading to a constitutional crisis."

...

Judge Boasberg's comments reveal he and his colleagues hold an anti-Trump bias, for the Trump Administration had complied with every court order to date (and since for that matter). The D.C. District Court judges' "concern" also went counter to the normal presumption courts hold -- one that presumes public officials properly discharged their official duties. Apparently, that presumption does not apply to the current president, at least if you are litigating in D.C.

And what is both troubling and ironic is that only a few days later, Judge Boasberg, in a case in which he completely lacked jurisdiction, as the Supreme Court would later confirm, entered a lawless order commanding the Trump Administration to halt removals to El Salvador. So, one of the judges concerned about Trump following the law, ignored the law. Nonetheless, Judge Boasberg would later find "the Trump Administration committed criminal contempt of court" by failing to turn the planes around or fly the gang members back to the U.S., even though the court's written (and unlawful) injunction ordered neither.

Could it possibly be? Could we be living in the Bad Timeline in which partisan, tyrannical judges seek to overturn the mandate of the voters? Could the Time Witches be right?

Yes, the Time Witches be right.

That's exactly what's happened, reports Fox News.

EXCLUSIVE: An environmental advocacy group accused of trying to manipulate judges organized a years-long, nationwide online forum with jurists to promote favorable info and litigation updates regarding climate issues -- until the email-styled group chat was abruptly made private, Fox News Digital found.
The Climate Judiciary Project (CJP) was founded in 2018 by a left-wing environmental nonprofit, the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), and pitches itself as a "first-of-its-kind effort" that "provides judges with authoritative, objective, and trusted education on climate science, the impacts of climate change, and the ways climate science is arising in the law."

But critics, such as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, say CJP is funded by China and left-wing activists for one purpose.

"They fund CJP to train judges," Cruz said during a June hearing. "So, quote, unquote, train in climate science and make them agreeable to creative climate litigation tactics. Then, these left-wing bankrollers turn around and fund the climate litigators who will bring these bogus cases before those same judges that they've just indoctrinated.

"This is like paying the players to play and paying the umpire to call the shots the way you want."

The group, however, says it provides "neutral, objective information to the judiciary about the science of climate change as it is understood by the expert scientific community and relevant to current and future litigation."

This article runs with a picture. The caption reads:

Protester holds sign that reads, "There is no planet B."

FALSE. There are at least two timelines we're aware of, thanks to the work of dedicated palm-reading nurses who get "drops" from "Spirit."

One of the efforts CJP launched included rolling out an email-styled listserv by which leaders from the Climate Judiciary Project could message directly with judges, documents obtained by Fox News Digital show. The listserv was launched in September 2022 and maintained until May 2024, according to the documents. A portal website page for the forum was previously publicly available, with an archived link saved in July 2024 showing there were 29 members in the group.
...

A link to the forum now leads to an error warning, stating, "Sorry, but that group does not exist."

Fox News Digital obtained the archived chat history of the forum, which detailed numerous messages between at least five judges and CJP employees trading links on climate studies, congratulating one another on hosting recent environmental events, sharing updates on recent climate cases that were remanded to state courts, and encouraging each other to participate in other CJP meet-ups.

One message posted by Delaware Judge Travis Laster, vice chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery, features a YouTube video of a 2022 climate presentation delivered by a Delaware official and a Columbia University professor that focused on the onslaught of climate lawsuits since the mid-2000s. It also included claims that such lawsuits could one day bankrupt the fuel industry.

Laster shared the video in the group with a disclaimer to others: "Because the link is of a judicial event that is otherwise not public, please do not forward or use without checking with me. I suspect that goes without saying, but the powers that be will be happier that I said it."

A handful of other judges responded to Laster's video and message, praising it as "great work."

...

Judges quietly working behind the scenes with climate and environmental activists have drawn criticism from conservative lawmakers in recent years as climate-focused suits increased, including those who have accused CJP of manipulating the justice system.

Cruz, for example, has been at the forefront of condemning CJP for joining forces with the National Judicial College. Cruz argued in a 2024 opinion piece that he is "concerned that this collaboration means court staff are helping far-left climate activists lobby and direct judges behind closed doors."

Posted by Ace at 05:30 PM Comments

The 4am Club: Meet The Lunatic Women Who Believe We're In the "Wrong Timeline," Who Claim We Have to Get Back to the "Right Timeline" Where Kamala Harris Won the Election

—Ace

Oh you stupid rural and Christian MAGA voters, why can't you be educated and sophisticated like leftwing women are?

You're probably thinking, "Oh, this is just a couple of dozen random lunatics on TikTok, it doesn't mean anything more than that."

But according to Suzy Weiss of The Free Press, these Tik Toks by floridly insane women garner millions of views.

As Weiss points out, if QAnon was a story for the leftwing media, this story of millions of AWFLs who all believe that the "timeline" split at 4am on election night between the "right timeline" where Kamala won and the "wrong timeline" where Trump won is just as much a story.

But something tells me that the leftwing Traitor's Press won't see it that way.

Suzy Weiss: If Kamala Harris Were President. . .

The 4 a.m. Club is made up of self-proclaimed witches, mystics, and mediums who believe we have been living in an alternate reality since November 6, 2024.

It's been another bizarre week, online and otherwise. While you, hopefully, were staring off into the ocean, or at least enjoying a cold beverage on a patio, I was tunneling deep into an alternate reality where Kamala Harris is president. Let me take you there.

The Left-Wing Version of QAnon Is Here

Let me object: The left-wing version of QAnon was already here. It is BlueAnon, the Democrats and media types (but I repeat myself) who believed every dotty conspiracy theory Rachel Maddow shat into their mouths and still believe in RussiaGate, despite overwhelming evidence that it was a fiction ordered up by Hillary Clinton.

Are we heading toward World War III? Not according to Gia Prism, a self-proclaimed psychic, and the founder of a movement that's the closest thing the left has to QAnon.
It's called the "4 a.m. Club."

It isn't about getting up before the sun to go on a run or to get a head start on work, but rather a confederation of spiritually inclined women who all claim to have woken up suddenly around 4 a.m. on November 6 with a sinking feeling that Donald Trump had won the election. Checking their phones, their feminine intuitions were confirmed.

Except that they don't really believe that he won. Stick with me here. The 4 a.m. Clubbers believe that, really, we might be living in an alternate reality where Trump is president. At 4 a.m. on November 6, 2024 is when the timelines "split." And it's only a matter of time before we all realize it and get back on the "correct" timeline, where Trump failed and Harris took her rightful place as chief executive.

"I have been steadfast, so rock-solid in my belief that she won, and it was only a matter of time before we all got onto that timeline," said one member, @KelleyDaring, who posts on TikTok. "My friends have looked at me like I'm crazy and told me I'm delusional."

And then she found the others just like her. "Those of us in the 4 a.m. Club viscerally experienced that timeline split."

"This is the vision, this is the light that we have been holding," another 4 a.m.-er explained.

There are hundreds of videos with millions of views on 4 a.m. Club videos on TikTok, and additional chatter on left-wing Reddit; and their popularity has only grown since Trump's inauguration. A lot of them are made by self-proclaimed witches, mystics, mediums, clairvoyants, intuitives, and the like. Many, it seems, are nurses with autoimmune disorders.

Yes, the many women who claim to have persistent diseases with very vague symptoms (that pretty much just sum up to "I feel the blahs, I have low energy, and do not take joy in my life") that no doctors are ever capable of diagnosing.

I am not saying that autoimmune disorders are fake, by the way. I know they're real. But it's also a syndrome with many vague and hard-to-pin-down symptoms that simple hypochondriacs tend to glom on to. Hypochondriacs and Munchausen Syndrome people do not claim to have easily-identifiable ailments like a broken shinbone. No, there's an easy test for that. It's always vague stuff like "I just don't feel good" and "I just feel sad a lot." Only certain maladies offer this kind of vague complaint, and they're choosing "autoimmune disorder" en masse to justify their lifelong malingering.

Basically, the 4 a.m. Club is QAnon, but for left-wing women on TikTok who believe they are receiving messages from God in the passenger seat of their Toyota Siennas.
Just as QAnon believed the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, the 4 a.m. Club believes it was stolen from Harris in 2024; both movements see it as their job to alert the rest of the country to what's happening right under their noses.

According to 4 a.m. Club doctrine, it's just a simple matter of collapsing the timelines, so that we enter the correct one, where Harris is the president--in other words, where the Divine Feminine wins."

"It's more than just waking up that morning," says one 4 a.m Clubber. "It's actually about a Great Awakening."

One of these lunatics is going to try to kill the president, imagining this will "collapse the timeline" just like measuring a particle collapses the probability function.

Whereas the most exciting thing in the QAnon world is getting "drops" from "Q"--the supposedly high-ranking but anonymous government official who released predictions about the deep state on 8chan--4 a.m.-ers get "downloads" from "Spirit." As in, Gia got "messages from Spirit about the spiritual purpose of what's happening with ICE." Sometimes, 4 a.m.-ers refer to multiple "spirit guides," which show them visions of Harris's victory (she wore a pin-striped purple pantsuit), or telling them which members of Trump's administration will eventually be prosecuted (Pam Bondi, Marco Rubio, Kristi Noem). It's like when Q foresaw mass arrests of Democrats who would be sent to Guantánamo Bay and imprisoned for their crimes.
I don't think you're going to find the 4 a.m. Club scaling the side of the Capitol building anytime soon, since they believe they can bring down the federal government from their lanais. In one video, Gia insists: "We're toppling a regime via spiritual awakening."

Below, "Gia," one of the "psychic intuitives" and Timeline Witches who claims that she had a feeling that Trump would win the 2024 election at 4am in the morning so she knew that the timeline was "splitting."

By the way, everyone in the country knew Trump would win by 4am; he had been projected to win the election by like 1:30 am.

But she was psychic because she saw a tweet when she woke up.

Posted by Ace at 04:30 PM Comments

Democrats' Fundraising Collapses, Causing People to Wonder: Was the Democrats' Funding Almost All Government Money Laundered Through NGOs?

—Ace

Teddy Schleifer @teddyschleifer
Cash on hand as of June 30:

Republican National Committee: $80.8 million

Democratic National Committee: $15.2 million

A TIPP poll finds that a near majority of the country brands the Democrats as the party of radicals.

Posted by Ace at 03:30 PM Comments

Two Illegal Aliens Released Into the Country By Biden Shoot An Off-Duty CPB Officer In the Face

—Ace

More Cultural Enrichment, one attempted murder at a time.

An off-duty Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer was shot in the face in New York City on Saturday night during an attempted robbery involving a previously-deported illegal immigrant, according to authorities.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) identified the suspect as Miguel Francisco Mora Nunez, a Dominican national who was caught by Border Patrol in April 2023.

After being apprehended at the Arizona border, Nunez was released into the U.S., though he still has an active deportation order.

Video released by DHS showed two suspects ride up to the officer on a motorized scooter in Riverside Park.

They raced away to their basement lab where they work on cancer cures and carbon nanotubes.

According to police, Nunez then got off the scooter and approached the officer while he was sitting and speaking to someone near a body of water. The officer has not yet been identified.
The officer, who was not in uniform, pulled out a gun to protect himself, and a shootout ensued.

The agent was hit in the face and forearm and transported to a hospital, where he is currently in stable condition. He is expected to survive.

...

DHS also told Fox News that Nunez has an active warrant for kidnapping in the state of Massachusetts, in addition to prior felony arrests.

...

President Donald Trump weighed in on the shooting Sunday afternoon, writing that "an incredible CBP Officer was shot in the face by an Illegal Alien Monster freed into the Country under Joe Biden."

...

The incident comes two months after a Fox News Digital report found a high number of migrants committing thefts, assaults and drug crimes, as well as grand larceny incidents and sex crimes.

According to the data, 3,219 migrants living in 48 shelters across the city were arrested a total of 4,884 times between Jan. 1, 2023, and Oct. 31, 2024.

Posted by Ace at 02:16 PM Comments

Revealed: Comey Didn't Even Bother Investigating Hillary Clinton's Top-Secret-File-Filled Thumb Drives Before Rushing to Exonerate Her

—Ace

This is what partisan "justice" looks like. Sweeping Hillary Clinton's actual retention of top-secret files under the rug while arresting Trump for keeping some napkins he scribbled notes on.

Paul Sperry @paulsperry_
BREAKING: Sen. Grassley just released the long-classified "Clinton Annex" (finally declassified by AG Bondi) which proves the Comey FBI exonerated Hillary of email server crimes DESPITE NEVER INVESTIGATING THUMB DRIVES w/ COMPROMISED CLASSIFIED EMAILS--inclg PRESIDENT OBAMA EMAIL

Paul Sperry @paulsperry_
DEVELOPING: DOJ has declassified key new documents detailing how the Comey FBI and Peter Strzok ignored a major national security breach by Hillary Clinton they should have thoroughly investigated as part of a counterintelligence case, but they went after Donald Trump instead ...

Grassley's press release:

"This document shows an extreme lack of effort and due diligence in the FBI's investigation of former Secretary Clinton's email usage and mishandling of highly classified information," Grassley said. "Under Comey's leadership, the FBI failed to perform fundamental investigative work and left key pieces of evidence on the cutting room floor. The Comey FBI's negligent approach and perhaps intentional lack of effort in the Clinton investigation is a stark contrast to its full-throated investigation of the Trump-Russia collusion hoax, which was based on the uncorroborated and now discredited Steele dossier. Comey's decision-making process smacks of political infection."

The actual files release are here, but there are a lot of redactions so it's hard to read.

Regarding the other Comey-led conspiracy -- this one to frame Trump, at Obama's orders -- an unnamed former Washington Post investigative "journalist" admits that Tulsi Gabbard's document drop establishes a clear conspiracy.

Paul Sperry
@paulsperry_

NEW: This from a Pulitzer-winning former Washington Post investigative reporter: "The [Russiagate] documents that came out in the past week are jaw-dropping. It's rare to see such slam-dunk evidence of a conspiracy."

Posted by Ace at 01:10 PM Comments

One Year Ago Today, Joe Biden, Who Was Totally Mentally Fit to be President, Dropped Out of the Presidential Race

—Ace

From Ed Driscoll, posting at Instapundit.

Driscoll notes that NBC was still pushing the "cheap fakes" psyop just one month and one day earlier, on June 19, 2024.

And now?

Hunter Biden can't stop talking to the media (now that he has the one pardon actually signed by his vegetative-state criminal pederast father).

@stanleyFosha commented: "He's running!"

Hunter Biden goes on a profanity laced rant about illegals being deported:

"People are really upset about illegal immigration? Fuck you. How do you think your hotel room gets cleaned? How do you think you have food on your fucking table? Who do you think washes your dishes?" pic.twitter.com/OETugq51H7
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) July 21, 2025

It may sound absurd but he needs another grift, he needs another reason for Democrat donors spending $300,000 a pop for his "artworks."

We know from Mark Halperin that the Biden, Inc. revenue stream is all dried up. Beau Biden was supposed to be the guy to continue buckraking for the crime family, but he died in Commando-style combat in Iran. Or Iraq. Whichever, he's a hero, okay?

So as absurd as the idea of Hunter Biden running for office is: They may just be desperate enough to try it. All of the various states in which Hunter Biden has donor-funded safe-houses are probably stacked to the rafters with corrupt Democrats already holding offices, but the Democrat Party is purging its old guard, so an office might open up.

I don't think he'd win.

But winning isn't the point. Francis "Beto" O'Rourke runs for office every two or four years, and is soundly defeated. But he collects all that sweet donor money in each of his doomed fake candidacies.

If this sounds too horrifying: The only other possibility is gay OnlyFans pornography.

I know I sound crazy. But other people agree: It's crazy enough that the drug addict daughter-denying gun-criminal whore-collector is probably thinking about it.

Stephen L. Miller @redsteeze
The reason he is making these rounds is mostly because of money. He thinks he has a future in pundrity or politics, and the DNC's skin must be crawling right now.

Ah, punditry. Would MSNBC hire him as a commentator? I don't think so. He's an embarrassment to the left, and the left airbrushes out its embarrassments.

Update: runner says this is... blackmail.

13 no, no , no , it's blackmail ! he is threatening to run, and thinks Ds will pay him big mula NOT TO.
-- runner

huh. That is a real possibility. "Pay me or I'm going to keep doing media and reminding the public about my vegetable father and his corrupt drug- and sex-addicted spawn."

-- ace

Close it up

Posted by Ace at 12:04 PM Comments

THE MORNING RANT - Artificial Intelligence Follies: Dave Barry Battles Google AI to Prove He’s Not Dead

—Buck Throckmorton

I confess to being a bit of an AI skeptic. It’s not that I doubt it will someday be a widely adopted tool that is used as casually as spreadsheets and word processors are now used. It seems reasonable to expect that AI will be invaluable for mining data and organizing it much faster than any human could ever do, but nothing I’ve seen so far indicates that there is actual cognitive replacement of the human brain. So far, in fact, AI appears to be quite gullible about believing anything it reads on the internet.

I wrote about this a few weeks ago in a piece titled Revolution or Evolution? Maybe AI is Simply this Decade’s Microwave Oven or Calculator: “Most of these revolutionary new products simply turned out to be tools that were adapted into daily use. Microwaves are a tool in the kitchen, mainly used for re-heating. Word processors replaced typewriters. With “lane assist” and cruise control, my car has the ability to drive itself on highways without any inputs from me. These are all cool improvements, but they did not replace cooking, writing, or driving.”

Since I’m not normally a tech guy, our own Pixy Misa’s “Daily Tech News” hasn’t always been as interesting to me as the topics I write about. But now, however, I eagerly read his post every day because of Pixy’s mockery of how AI is being over-hyped, and especially how it being used to scam gullible investors. Keep it up, mate!

My own dabbling in AI has shown that it can sometimes produce cool pictures, but it struggles to even spell accurately in the pictures it produces for me. I quickly gave up on Bing’s AI picture-generator because most of my picture requests were prohibited by its woke programming.

It seems likely that much of the business reporting I read is AI-generated, because it is so illogical that I don’t want to believe any human journalist could have composed it. Revenue is conflated with profit, sales volume is conflated with production numbers, and results exceeding analysts’ predictions is conflated with actual growth.

Major corporations are fearful of being late to adopt AI, so they are aggressively rolling it out in some form or fashion to their employees, but it typically comes with a caveat - that although AI should be employed, it cannot be fully trusted. Therefore, employees are encouraged to verify what AI produces. Can you imagine using Excel while not trusting that it can accurately do calculations?

It was barely two weeks ago that Grok praised Hitler and accused Israel of being behind 9/11, “Elon Musk's AI chatbot, Grok, goes on antisemitic tirade; xAI team swiftly addressed Grok's posts with system improvements.” Why? Because it found that filth on the internet and regurgitated it. xAI (Twitter) had to do some quick “system improvements” (e.g. re-programming) to fix the problem. Chat GPT is also having a serious problem with its AI “hallucinating” incorrect information, “A.I. Is Getting More Powerful But Its Hallucinations Are Getting Worse.” But that’s what AI is – programming that mines the internet. Garbage in, garbage out. It’s not “intelligence.”

Just today I decided to check the denominational affiliation of two nearby Presbyterian churches. Google AI informed me that both of them were PCA churches (“Presbyterian Church in America”), but that turned out to be incorrect. I then visited those churches’ websites and learned that one is actually EPC (“Evangelical Presbyterian Church.”)

I’ve read that what gives AI its “intelligence” is that it is interactive and “learns” as it interacts with users. Maybe, or maybe not. Humorist Dave Barry just published a piece at his Substack about his interaction with Google AI, which was reporting him as deceased. Mr. Barry sought to advise Google AI that he was not in fact deceased, and his accounting of all this is hilarious.

Like many of us sometimes do, Mr. Barry plugged his name into Google and then clicked on the prompt that read “What happened to Dave Barry?” Google AI showed a picture of Mr. Barry and advised that he was now deceased, specifically it said, ”Dave Barry, the humorist and Pulitzer Prize winner, passed away last November 20 after a battle with cancer.” It went on to state that the specific cause of death was renal failure. Mr. Barry wrote about what he had just read:

Give Google AI credit for what it got right: That is, in fact, a picture of me, and I did, in fact, win a Pulitzer Prize (trust me, I'm just as shocked as you are). But to the best of my knowledge, I did not pass away last November 20. That is not just my opinion. In recent months I have been examined by two different licensed physicians, and if I had been dead, I'm pretty sure at least one of them would have mentioned it. ("Dave, your pulse is zero, and your blood pressure is zero over zero. I'm going to try your other arm, but frankly at this point I'm concerned.")

Mr. Barry then goes into some detail about how he tried to correct Google AI by using its “Submit Feedback” feature to explain that he was not, in fact, dead. His feedback was ”I’m Dave Barry. The ‘AI Overview’ about me says that I am dead. I am not dead. In fact I am alive.” Google was not having it. It updated its AI overview on Dave Barry to report that he was very much dead, and that ”He was known for behind-the-scenes political activism, working tirelessly for various candidates and causes, always putting others first. He was remembered as a fiercely loyal friend and a fighter for what he believed was right.” AI was now intermingling the biographies of a Dave Barry in Dorchester, Massachusetts with the Pulitzer Prize winning Dave Barry in South Florida. About this confusion, Mr. Barry wrote:

For the record, it sounds as though that Dave Barry was a much better person than I am. He fought for what he believed was right, whereas the only principle I ever have really stood for, over the course of my journalism career, is that Americans should not be required to use low-flow toilets. I'm confident that the late Dave Barry from Dorchester would not have wanted to be mistaken for me.

He continued to try to help Google AI get the facts right by accepting the invitation from a Google AI chat box. Mr. Barry again informed Google AI via the chat box that he is quite alive, but again, Google wasn’t having it, as it repeatedly told Mr. Barry that it didn’t understand him.

The whole thing is very funny, and worth a minute or two to read. This paragraph from Dave Barry’s piece sums up my current sentiments about AI:

What can we learn from my experience? We can learn that although Artificial Intelligence is an awesomely powerful tool that according to experts is going to completely transform human existence, it is not very bright. So for now we probably should use it only for tasks where facts are not important, such as writing letters of recommendation and formulating government policy.

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

Close it up

Posted by Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM Comments

Mid-Morning Art Thread

—CBD

Current Disturbance
Mona Hatoum

Referencing both the human body and rigid systems of abstraction, the installation Current Disturbance 1996 is made from an immense grid of over 200 cages, light bulbs and the amplified sound of electric currents. As the bulbs light up and fade out at irregular intervals, they sporadically illuminate the surrounding gallery. Inside each of the cages rests a single lightbulb, all interconnected via a central convergence. Another single bulb is suspended inside the structure, illuminating the junction box at the centre. The grid of metal cages sets up a contrast between the sense of systematization and the chaos of randomised flashing lights and the mess of wiring covering the floor. The tension arising from this juxtaposition of elements serves to intensify the feeling of suspended energy and instability, inspiring a certain discomfort in the viewer.

There's more at this link, but even I am not cruel enough to subject you to it.

This would be a mildly amusing installation if it were not taken so seriously. The description is laughable, using the post-modern technique of obfuscation by vocabulary. None of those descriptors make any sense in the real art world of evocation of beauty and emotion!

Posted by CBD at 09:30 AM Comments

The Morning Report — 7/21/25

—J.J. Sefton

Good morning kids. Hopefully you all had a nice, relaxing weekend and that none of you were adversely or otherwise affected by that Alaska Airlines IT glitch that shut down the airline for a brief time last night. Considering what's been going on in the world and what has been flooding in across our borders for years, and not just to pick lettuce and mow our lawns, but to spy on us, commit terrorism and sabotage in the name of Islam and the PRC, I hope the powers that be are on the case. Of course, in years past, the powers that be were focused on preserving, protecting and defending their and their party's hold on power and generational drive to dismantle America as founded, by any and every means necessary.

With that out of the way let's dive right in, shall we. As we are fond of saying in righteous indignation to the depredations that have been visited upon us, that there aren't enough lamp posts, yards of rope and pitchforks to deal with the criminals, tyrants and criminal tyrants who openly hate and despise us. Then again, I think we have an abundance of all of the above, but what we are sorely lacking in, are the stones to use them, figuratively speaking, despite the fact that our mortal enemies have proven time and again that they indeed have no compunction in using direct violent action (in the form of their street thugs, corrupt law enforcement officers and intelligence agents) or the power of the state via a corrupt judicial system and bureaucracy to wield power as punishment via process.

The Department of Justice under former [so-called quote-unquote] President Joe Biden actively sought a “federal hook” to justify sending federal law enforcement after parents it labeled “domestic terrorists” because they were concerned about their children’s education.

Documents obtained by America First Legal (AFL) show that prior to the infamous Oct. 4, 2021, “domestic terrorist” memo from former Attorney General Merrick Garland, staff were looking for any possible way to go after parents concerned with coronavirus mandates, critical race theory, and “transgender” policies.

“We’re aware; the challenge here is finding a federal hook. But WH has been in touch about whether we can assist in some form or fashion,” Kevin Chambers, then an associate deputy attorney general, wrote in an Oct. 1 email, trying to manufacture a way to respond to a teed-up letter sent by the National School Boards Association (NSBA). Career staff at the time were even concerned, saying there was no authority or legal basis for going after parents speaking out at school board meetings, particularly since they were protected by the First Amendment.

And so, for me the entire l'affaire Epstein is bullshit in light of the fact that, what we all knew for years is at long last being revealed to a wider and wider audience. That is, all of the above and of course what was done to candidate and then ultimately President Donald Trump.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced this week that John Brennan is under investigation, and with good reason. Brennan is the most corrupt former CIA director ever. His transgressions against the U.S., coming to light more succinctly with each passing week, portray an individual who should have never been in government service, let alone CIA director. Now is the time to nail him. . . Russiagate was a complete fabricated lie and yet Brennan, still serving as Obama’s CIA director, put in place a surveillance system to monitor at least two dozen Trump campaign staffers and advisors. Brennan wiretapped and eavesdropped on the conversations of Donald Trump’s most prominent political supporters. . .
When Trump ran in 2020, Brennan, as a private citizen, continued his despicable tactics. He was prominent among the 51 former intelligence agents who proclaimed that Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop was a product of Russian disinformation. Brennan knew this assertion was false from the get-go and that the fake stream media would run with it for months.
. . . Brennan believes that he had, and still has, a sacred duty to determine who should lead our nation. Deluded over many decades, he cares nothing about American voters, the will of the people, or democratic processes. He readily lied and deceived the populace to demonize Donald Trump and all others who he deems to be unworthy.

I've asked this before and I still don't understand it. How does someone get a job at the CIA in 1980 who four years earlier voted for the CPUSA presidential ticket of Gus Hall and Angela Davis. I take it back, I totally get it. It means the anti-American rot that permeated much and still permeates quite a bit of our governmental bureaucracy including areas we long thought, or prayed, immune to it, that is our law enforcement and intelligence agencies tasked with preserving our liberties and physical security and safety, must have been corrupt going back well before John Brennan slithered into Langley for a job interview.

And so, our current Director of National Intelligence, DNI Tulsi Gabbard had this to say . .

On this week’s broadcast on FNC’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said former President Barack Obama directed a “treasonous conspiracy” against President Donald Trump during his first term. Gabbard said, “The implications of this are, frankly, nothing short of historic. Over 100 documents that we released on Friday really detail and provide evidence of how this treasonous conspiracy was directed by President Obama if just weeks before he was due to leave office after President Trump had already gotten elected. This is not a Democrat or Republican issue — this is an issue that is so, so serious, it should concern every single American because it has to do with the integrity of our democratic republic.”

That's her talking, not me. Treason is a hell of a word to toss out there. She surely understands the ramifications of Treason, that is what the appropriate/potential punishment is for those who are convicted of it.

Again for me Epstein is bullshit. Obama, Biden, Hillary should swing alongside, Brennan, Comey, Clapper and all of their underlings/henchman who engineered the plot against Trump and all of the crimes against the citizenry of the United States of America. Be nice if she developed a case against all of the above and Malig-Nancy Pelosi for engineering the fake J-6 Reichstag Fire/Weenie Roast.

Then again, it's probably not a stretch to connect the dots between Epstein and the aforementioned vis a vis the plots against Trump.

The Rot is Ugly Dark and Deep. It's going to take at least 100 years of Trumps and Trumpian presidents to get to the bottom of it all and begin the process of restoring not just the Republic but the public's trust in it.

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!

ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY

“At approximately 8 p.m. Pacific on July 20, we experienced an IT outage that resulted in a temporary, system-wide ground stop for Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air flights,” the airline wrote in a statement on X. As of 11 p.m. Pacific, the ground stop has been lifted, and our operations have resumed. As we reposition our aircraft and crews, there will most likely be residual impacts to our flights.”
Alaska Airlines grounds all flights after IT outage disrupts systems

* * * * *
Victor Davis Hanson: The cure may be painful, but it’s the cancer—unchecked borders, foreign appeasement, DEI overreach, and green delusions—that’s killing the patient.
The War Between Trump’s Chemotherapy and the Biden Cancer
Daniel Greenfield: The globalist fantasy of global stability.
Why Trump Should Embrace World Chaos

DOMESTIC AFFAIRS, THE COURTS, WASTE/FRAUD/ABUSE

In the ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Loren AliKhan—appointed by former [so-called quote-unquote] President Joe Biden—cited a 1935 Supreme Court decision that limited the President’s ability to remove independent agency officials without cause. AliKhan stated the ruling upholds “clearly established law” and prevents the President from exerting unchecked control over so-called independent agencies. “As the Court recognized today, the law is clear, and I look forward to getting back to work,” said Slaughter following the ruling.
Biden Hack-in-Black Rules Trump’s Dismissal of FTC Democrats ‘Unconstitutional.’
The Hill reported Sunday that his administration is “culling the ranks of career officials,” the news coming after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi fired former FBI Director James Cummy’s daughter, Maurene Comey, from her role as a federal prosecutor this week, per Breitbart News.
Trump Administration’s ‘Culling’ of DOJ Officials Continues in Wave of Firings

* * * * *
‘It’s become routine this Congress, but it’s not new. We all remember what Democrats did to Justice Kavanaugh,’ Sen. Chuck Grassley said.
Emil Bove Will Be An Effective, Pro-Liberty Judge, And That Makes Democrats Angry
There have been two significant local investigations by local news outlets, each of which came to different — though not necessarily contradictory — conclusions about Fire Aid’s money.
Questions Surround $100 Million in ‘Fire Aid’ for Los Angeles (Check Newsom's and Bass-tard's bank accounts - jjs)

"BIDEN/HARRIS BORDER BLOODBATH," AMNESTY, IMMIGRATION, BORDER SECURITY, NEWSOM/DEMOCRAT VIOLENT INSURRECTION RIOTS
Benjamin Song, 32, was apprehended by the FBI Dallas Field Office on Tuesday following a manhunt that included a $25,000 reward for information leading to his arrest. Song is accused of shooting at federal officers during a riot at the Prairieland Detention Center in Texas on July 4. The ambush resulted in a local police officer being shot in the neck.
Radical Views of Suspect in Anti-ICE Sniper Ambush Uncovered.
The agent was attacked while with a female companion at 11:50 p.m. Saturday night by two men on a moped in Fort Washington Park in Manhattan, the New York Post reported. DHS said the incident appeared to be an attempted robbery in a Sunday post on X. (RELATED: ‘Have To Own This’: Jonathan Turley Says Democrats, Media Have ‘Bill That Is Coming Due’ Over Anti-ICE Violence)
Illegal Accused Of Shooting, Attempting To Rob Off-Duty Border Patrol Agent In Moped Ambush
Immigrant Defenders Law Center also works to spring illegal immigrants from federal custody
Gavin Newsom Pushed Private Foundation To Donate $500,000 to Anti-ICE Defund Police Group, Records Show

* * * * *
The historical party of slavery is at it again!
Democrat Power Depends upon Open Borders
The H-1B visa has faced increased scrutiny, with some supporters of President Donald J. Trump pushing for stricter immigration rules. Meanwhile, figures like former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) frontman Elon Musk and others in the tech industry have defended the program. Critics argue that the current lottery system disproportionately benefits larger companies such as Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft, and leaves American workers at a disadvantage, having to compete with cheap foreign labor.
The Trump Admin Wants to Change H-1B Visa Immigration.
How many times have we heard the excuse 'broken immigration system'?
To Be a 'Broken System,' Someone Had to Break It
Bass said, “Let me tell you, we have a Los Angeles Police Department that has to deal with crime in this city every single day, and they’re not masked, they stay here. The masked men parachute in, stay here for a while and leave. So you enter a profession like policing, like law enforcement, I’m sorry, I don’t think you have a right to have a mask and snatch people off the street.”
LA Mayor Bass-tard Decries ICE — No ‘Right’ to Be Masked and Snatch People off the Street

CIVIL WAR 2.0: J-6 FBI FALSE FLAG "RIOT" & AFTERMATH, LEFTIST PERSECUTIONS, DEMOCRAT PUTSCH, AMERICAN DISSOLUTION
Gabbard said, “The implications of this are, frankly, nothing short of historic. Over 100 documents that we released on Friday really detail and provide evidence of how this treasonous conspiracy was directed by President Obama if just weeks before he was due to leave office after President Trump had already gotten elected. This is not a Democrat or Republican issue — this is an issue that is so, so serious, it should concern every single American because it has to do with the integrity of our democratic republic.”
DNI Gabbard: Obama Directed a ‘Treasonous Conspiracy’ Against Trump
After colluding with the NSBA to produce a letter calling for a crackdown on concerned parents, Biden DOJ officials rushed to draft a memo to weaponize the federal government against those parents, emails show.
Biden Justice Department Sought ‘Federal Hook’ To Go After Parents As ‘Domestic Terrorists’: Documents
These people should be tried for treason.
Obama’s Real Legacy Comes into Focus
The people who peddled Russiagate, the Hunter laptop hoax, and the now-laughable myth of [so-called quote-unquote] President Joe Biden’s cognitive abilities are the same types of bureaucrats who sterilized the truth in 1996 to protect their golden boy: President Bill Clinton. Because make no mistake: What happened to TWA 800 wasn’t just a tragedy. It was a cover-up soaked in blood.
The Anniversary They Want You to Forget: TWA Flight 800 and the Deep State’s Deadliest Lie
Trump is looking at an Augean stable of corruption cases to clean out.
Where's the Reckoning?
Daniel Greenfield: It may be time for the federal government to step in and liberate California. (There has been ample justification in just this past year alone to strip California of statehood, return it to territorial status, dissolve the state legislature and let President Trump appoint a territorial governor - jjs)
Gov. Newsom Announces Plan to End Democracy in California

THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Friedrich Hayek’s visionary proposal is now public policy.
The Dollar Gets a Clone: Congress Puts Crypto in a Collar
“The executive order did not end the digitization of money.”
Why Crypto Won’t Free You
It’s subtle, but it couldn’t be more important.
What a Strong America Requires
. . . Newsom left California in the midst of over a dozen wildfires to travel to rural South Carolina, testing the waters for a presidential run in the state Democrats have promoted to the first in the list of primary contests.
As Newsom Campaigns, California Has Highest Unemployment Rate in U.S. (At least illegal aliens have full benefits - jjs)

ISRAEL AND USA vs IRAN
And Iran's crazy search for spies.
Israel’s Spies, Iran’s Counter-Spies

ASSAD REGIME COLLAPSES"
Fighting escalated in Syria Saturday in the predominantly Druze region of Sweida as the government struggled to implement a ceasefire.
Fighting Rages in Syria Despite ‘Ceasefire’ As Government Forces Struggle To Maintain Peace

OFFICIAL DEMOCRAT PARTY/LEFTIST-ENDORSED ANTI-SEMITISM, ANTI-CHRISTIANITY
Okay Twin Cities, in the immortal words of Max Bialystock "THAT'S OUR HITLER!" - I can see it now: Momdani/Fateh '32 - jjs
Democrat Party Endorses Minnesota State Sen. Omar Fateh for Minneapolis Mayor

WE-ALL-SLAM-FOR-I-SLAM
Daniel Greenfield: When Israel prevents a genocide, it's accused of genocide.
World Condemns Israel for Preventing Al Qaeda Genocide of Druze
Retake Constantinople. Deus vult!
Five Years Later, the Hagia Sophia Remains Occupied by Islamic Supremacists

FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS, MEDIA, BIG BROTHER TECH
Faced with defunding, PBS and NPR now pretend to be the only thing standing between rural Americans and death by tornado, ignorance, or lack of Ken Burns documentaries.
PBS and NPR to America: We’re Here for YOU (Dummies)!
That the left-wing media machine pounced like a frustrated guard dog on Trump’s bruise should evoke a laugh from an audience that endured years of reporting on Biden.
Inside the Media Matrix
Miranda Devine: If you listened to the rest of the media — both mainstream and social media — you would think Donald Trump was on the skids, that MAGA was at last turning on the president over the so-called Epstein Files. But nothing could be further from the truth, according to polling the president crowed about over the weekend and, also, according to history. Every single time his enemies count him out, Trump roars back with a vengeance.
Trump wins the Epstein battle — as the left, media foolishly believe prez on the skids

RED-GREENS, CLIMATE CHANGE HOAX, DEMOCRAT-LEFT WAR ON FOSSIL FUELS,
On July 16 it was reported via a leaked internal memo that proposed wind and solar projects must now obtain signoff from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum before they can begin development of new projects across tens of millions of acres of federal lands or on the federal offshore waters.
Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill Spells Bad News For Renewables
It's a simple way to save millions of lives (and bring back DDT - jjs)
Forget Climate Spending, Buy Air Conditioners Instead
Despite the taboo, rising CO₂ and warming temps have helped fruit crops flourish—boosting yields, nutrition, and resilience from North Carolina to outer space.
The ‘Fruitful’ Results of Increasing CO₂

CRIME & PUNISHMENT, NON-DOSTOYEVSKY
I don’t know if this story will return Minnesota to the national news today, but it should. David Brom is a quadruple ax-murderer. In 1988 Brom killed his parents, his brother, and his sister with an ax. Brom was 16 at the time he wiped out his entire family. He is being freed under a law passed by the “let’s go crazy” 2023 session of the DFL-controlled legislature and signed by Governor Walz. (Hat tip to commenter and friend MTF! - jjs)
AX-MURDERER LOOSE: THANKS, DFL
Thirty-five percent of felony cases ended in convictions in 2024, down from the 37 percent reported in 2023, the New York Post (NYP) reported, citing data from the state Division of Criminal Justice. In 2022 and 2021, the conviction rates were 40 percent and 42 percent respectively. In 2019, 64 percent of felonies resulted in a conviction, the Post reported.
NYC DA Alvin Bragg Sees Falling Conviction Rates As Public Access To Data Is Pulled

EDUCATION, AND WHAT PASSES FOR IT
Welcome to the haunted house of DEI’s medical school infiltration.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Horror Stories

SECOND AMENDMENT
The Court’s three Second Amendment decisions have not ended the controversy and socialist/communist states continue to write unconstitutional laws restricting the right to keep and bear arms.
Reflecting on the third anniversary of Bruen

SHAMPEACHMENTS, 2016 CLINTON/OBAMA COUP, CONGRESSIONAL PERSECUTION, SPYGATE, DEEP STATE, MUELLER DECEPTION
Gabbard said all parties'"involved in this conspiracy must be investigated and prosecuted.'
‘MUST Be Prosecuted’: Conservatives React To Tulsi Bombshell On Obama Russia Hoax
The Granddaddy of hoaxers.
Will John Brennan Finally Be Indicted?
Robert Zimmerman: "What should infuriate every ordinary American is that the Russia and Trump collusion accusation was clearly utter garbage and unbelievable from day one. I noted this fact in 2017, stating that "on its face it is absurd. As noted repeatedly by even Trump’s critics, there is no evidence of any illegal acts by anyone.'"
2016 documents now prove Obama and his top intelligence officials conspired to create the Russian collusion hoax

DEMOCRAT/LEFTIST AND RINO SCANDALS, MESHUGAS, CHUTZPOCRISY
People have been trying to mess with Trump for years over his Epstein connection.
Did Ghislaine forge the Trump letter?
Pam Bondi now claims there’s no Epstein list—sparking fury on the right and raising the question: is justice being served quietly, or buried permanently?
Regarding the Jeffrey Epstein Matter
The U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency filed a criminal referral against Sen. Adam Schiff, alleging violations of federal laws tied to mortgage and tax fraud.
Schiff-for-Brains Gets Criminal Referral to DOJ.
How many other senators and representatives have played fast and loose with the status of their residency… mostly for financial gain?
Pencil Neck Schiff-for-Brains: The tip of the iceberg?
Unrig Our Economy, a left-wing advocacy group, launched a $1 million ad buy on July 8 against Republican Pennsylvania Rep. Rob Bresnahan following his vote in favor of President Donald Trump’s One Big, Beautiful Bill Act (wow, Democrats pump out phony agitprop, who knew. - jjs)
EXCLUSIVE: ‘Constituent’ In Attack Ad Torching GOP Is Actually A Dem Activist
Kentucky businessman and Senate Republican candidate Nate Morris told Breitbart News Saturday that Kentucky Senate Republican candidate Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) is using the same playbook as Hillary Clinton to attack Republicans that want to curb legal immigration as “nativists.”
Exclusive — Nate Morris: ‘RINO’ Andy Barr Using Same Playbook as Hillary Clinton ‘Basket of Deplorables’ to Attack MAGA Immigration Activists

POLITICS
"Wow, time flies!" the president remarked.
Six Months In: Trump Celebrates Revival of ‘Hottest’ Country In The World
REVIEW: '2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America' by Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager, and Isaac Arnsdorf
With Opponents Like These, Who Needs Elections?
Kamala Harris may run for California governor in 2026—third time’s the charm, or just another flop for the most over-promoted politician in modern memory?
Run, Kamala, Run! (But Would She Lose?)
Daniel Greenfield: Jewish Ivy League students who identify as “very liberal” fell from 40% to 13%.
Campus Riots Made a Generation of Jewish Students Abandon the Left
I am focused on my job in the Senate, and I’m really focused on our great candidates that are up all across the country. Anyone else that’s not doing that right now, I think that they better look at what Donald Trump is doing to our economy and doing to our democracy and constitution.”
Klobuchar Won’t Rule Out Presidential Bid in 2028 (not enough melanin, Astroglide and Swastikas to make her viable - jjs)
In early 2023, Democrats were concerned about the prospect of Abrams trying to get elected again . . . Abrams saw her star power take a hit in December of last year for her poor financial management in the wake of her failure to unseat Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.
Democrat Stacey "TANK" Abrams Will Not Rule Out Another Run for Office

FOREIGN AFFAIRS, INTERNATIONAL
This was the agenda of the Deep State and liberal Left, not of the American people. Yet, anti-American sentiment was growing worldwide.
Under Trump foreign policy is a return to sovereignty for the US and global nations
Just a week later, all three members of a UN Commission of Inquiry set up specifically to clobber Israel — Chairwoman Navi Pillay, Miloon Kothari and Chris Sidoti — quit.
Marco Rubio’s sanctions on a key UN antisemite may already be paying dividends
Friedrich Merz changes his tune at the Hague Summit and announces his intention to create the strongest conventional army in Europe. (Nothing to worry about until/unless Germany goes at least 50% Islamic - jjs)
German rearmament becomes a reality?
Roger Kimball: In modern Britain, you can be flagged by police for a joke, banned from pubs for banter, and blacklisted for thoughts deemed hostile—even when no crime occurred.
There’ll Always Be an England—But Will It Be Free?
Voters cast ballots for half of the 248 seats in Japan’s less powerful upper house, and early results suggest the coalition—comprised of Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior partner Komeito — suffered significant losses. NHK projected the coalition would win between 32 and 51 seats, far short of the 50 needed to maintain a working majority with their current 75 seats.
Big Political Changes Possible In Japan

DEFENSE, MILITARY, SECURITY AFFAIRS
Trump's Iran campaign may very well mark a turning point: away from invasions and occupations, and toward an era where targeted, effective action spares not just civilians abroad, but soldiers at home.
The end of forever wars can help cure the stigma surrounding veterans mental health

HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE
The rejection prevents expanded WHO authority over U.S. public health measures and safeguards domestic sovereignty.
RFK Jr., Rubio Reject World Health Org’s Pandemic Power Grab.

ACTUAL SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY
On Saturday, footage, albeit from a vantage point of someone who should not have been that close to the recovery operations, showed the aft end of a Booster with most of its Raptor engines still attached, being lifted out of the water.
Is SpaceX doing ocean salvage operations near Boca Chica?

FEMINAZISM, TRANSGENDER PSYCHOSIS, HOMOSEXUALIZATION, WAR ON MASCULINITY/NORMALCY
The former president recalled a 'valuable' relationship with a gay college professor.
Obama Says Men Need Gay Friends Because They Might Have ‘Non-Binary’ Sons
A children’s hospital stay should comfort families—not confront them with activist symbols, controversial ideologies, and (a)moral agendas masked as care.
Lurie Children’s Hospital Leftists Increase Stress for Parents
Why men and women are diverging ideologically, even as they become more alike economically and educationally.
Sexual Politics

CULTURE WARS, NATIONAL SUICIDE
Daniel Greenfield: Senators try to intimidate CBS into keeping an unfunny leftist on the air.
Dems Convinced Colbert Cancellation is a Conspiracy
Here is a look back at 10 times Stephen Colbert used The Late Show to brainwash viewers and peddle leftist talking points.
10 Cringiest Moments Of Stephen Colbert’s Career As An Unfunny Democrat Mouthpiece
They said it was 'instincts.' (Or ticket sales stinks. - jjs)
Steve Miller Band cancels entire 2025 tour due to climate change
“The display of the flag was an unauthorized action by the artist,” the opera company said in a statement on Sunday. “It was not approved by the Royal Ballet and Opera and is a wholly inappropriate act.”
Royal Opera House Performer Turns Finale into Pro-'palestine' Protest
The show’s soundtrack, while praised, is marred by songs with lyrics that reject Jesus or ask, “Do you want to be a satanist with me?” The minor teen characters are also heavily sexualized and drink entire bottles of wine in front of their parents.
Prime Video’s Woke Teen Drama ‘We Were Liars’ Drowns in Anti-White, Anti-Wealth Preaching
A mass rejection of nonsense is exactly what society needs.
Shane Gillis’ ESPY Monologue Proves Woke Is On The Run
Christian Toto: SF Gate raves over production - 'Shot Me Through the Heart'
Pro-Luigi Mangione Musical Selling Out in San Francisco (I don't suppose my Kyle Rittenhouse musical has a snowball's chance, eh? - jjs)

HITHER & YON
Thad McCotter: The Deep State wasn’t born in secret—it was sired by a “reformer” president who rigged the rules to protect patronage and planted the roots of today’s unaccountable bureaucracy.
Chester A. Arthur: Foppish Dupe or Father of the Deep State?
Michael Walsh: ...in which we discuss some of the battles that proved to be turning points in Western cultural and political history, and what lessons men of today can learn from their heroic forbears.
THE CONVERSATION: 'A Rage to Conquer,' with Frank Gaffney
Today is the 250th anniversary of the First National Call to Prayer and Fasting, marking the beginning of a year of extraordinary 250th anniversaries in America.
Coolidge’s Wisdom As We Contemplate The Declaration’s Upcoming 250th Anniversary

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Posted by J.J. Sefton at 07:39 AM Comments

Daily Tech News 21 July 2025

—Pixy Misa

Top Story

Microsoft has announced it is no longer using engineers from China to work on Department of Defense computer systems. (Tom's Hardware)

The Department of Defense when contacted responded, and I quote, They did WHAT?

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth expanded:
Foreign engineers - from any country, including of course China - should NEVER be allowed to maintain or access DoD systems.
I expect the emails have been pretty toasty since this one dropped.

Posted by Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM Comments

Sunday Overnight Open Thread - July 13, 2025 [Doof]

—Open Blogger

Howdy Hordelings! Thanks for stopping by the ONT to close out your Sunday and weekend. What's going on in your world? Any lurkers out there ready to jump into the commenting pool? C'mon in - the water's fine!

Posted by Open Blogger at 10:00 PM Comments

Gun Thread: Late Middle July Edition!

—Weasel

Howdy, Y'all! Welcome to the wondrously fabulous Gun Thread! As always, I want to thank all of our regulars for being here week in and week out, and also offer a bigly Gun Thread welcome to any newcomers who may be joining us tonight. Howdy and thank you for stopping by! I hope you find our wacky conversation on the subject of guns 'n shooting both enjoyable and informative. You are always welcome to lurk in the shadows of shame, but I'd like to invite you to jump into the conversation, say howdy, and tell us what kind of shooting you like to do!

Holy Shitballs! How in the ever-loving Hell did it get to be late middle July? I've been working on some long neglected projects around the house before WW divorces me, including fixing the smashed back fence from the storm a couple months ago. Having said that, retirement is going so well I might need to hire an assistant!

With that, step into the dojo and let's get to the gun stuff below, shall we?

Posted by Weasel at 07:00 PM Comments

Food Thread: Pork Ribs Smoked In A Wide Spot On The Road, And What's Up With Beef?

—CBD

That is JackStraw's new smoker! I'm surprised it fits in Rhode Island!

His first cook will be pork ribs, which is an excellent choice, because they are quite forgiving, and pretty inexpensive. I wonder what his second cook will be?

That is a pellet grill, which have become quite popular, and are certainly easy! I know that the traditionalists swear that if you aren't cutting your own hardwood, slaughtering and butchering your own animals, and sailing to the South Seas to harvest the pepper, then you are inauthentic and should slink away.

But sometimes convenience is a powerful thing. I would rather be inauthentic and eat good smoked meat than be overwhelmed by the insanity of some so-called experts, and never make it at home.

On the other hand, I have made smoked chicken, and while it was good, the skin was...eh...and the breast was a bit dry every time. So maybe I should embrace authenticity and start harvesting my own salt and pepper and making my own chili powder and grow my own garlic and onions and mustard seed and chopping my own wood and....

Yeah...maybe not.

I have a Weber R2D2 smoker, and while it works well, temperature regulation is a bit of an art, and for long cooks it is a pain in the ass. So a pellet smoker sounds positively decadent.

For those of you who don't obsess over this sort of stuff; most pellet smokers have electrically-driven feeds that drop pelletized fuel into the fire, and the rate is adjusted with a thermostat. So dialing in your preferred temperature is straightforward.

Posted by CBD at 04:00 PM Comments

First World Problems...

—CBD

Oh yes....one more example of the inherent superiority of America over Europe!

That is a bottle of Vodka. Generic vodka from France, with a supposed Russian pedigree. It's produced (as far as I can tell, and I don't care) in France, for the European market, and is bottled at a pathetic, effeminate, better for teenagers 75 proof. And before you suggest that I shop around; this is a big brand, but the other ones are also bottled at that anemic strength.

For F*ck's Sake! Man up!

Luckily, I don't drink that sh*t, and prefer American whiskey, which is imported at its normal proof. Oddly, some are stupidly expensive (Jack Daniel's for $40? No thanks). But some are reasonably priced, which is why I am drinking Bulleit 10-Year! And yes, I caved, and bought a bottle of Weller 12-Year-Old. And no, it wasn't reasonably priced, but I have never seen it anywhere in the United States, so I had to buy a bottle.

The worst part about it? The damned stuff is delicious.

Posted by CBD at 02:00 PM Comments

The Damage Done By The Biden/Obama Junta Will Not Be Repaired Quickly

—CBD

Their foul paws were in everything, from child mutilation disguised as medical care; to payoffs to their political cronies; to multi-billion dollar boondoggles in "green energy; to the destruction of our border defenses; to making the armed forces an LGBTQ+ lunatic asylum; to the weaponization of our legal system; to the evisceration of the Constitution, beginning with the 2nd Amendment; and much, much more.

Here is an example of a shockingly craven political act that will take a huge amount of money, and a long time to repair.

Biden drained the nation's energy stockpiles, but 'Big Beautiful Bill' allocation won't refill it

Upon taking office in January, President Donald Trump proclaimed that “We will bring prices down, fill our strategic reserves up again right to the top, and export American energy all over the world.” The statement referred to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), the nation’s energy stockpile. It wasn’t the only time Trump stated his administration would replenish the stockpile.

However, the Big Beautiful Bill allocated only $171 million for petroleum acquisitions toward that goal. To get back to where it was when former President Joe Biden took office, the federal government needs to purchase approximately 236 million barrels of oil. At current oil prices, which have been hovering around $65 per barrel for the past few weeks, the $171 million Congress allocated will only add a few million barrels to the reserve.

Sure, we can pile on and criticize the Trump administration for not going full-steam ahead and refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). After all, it is an important part of our national security, and something that seems relatively straightforward to do. Except.... we need Congress to appropriate about $20 billion to get it done, and that will be a political fight that in light of other issues, might not be realistic.

A more optimistic view of our national security needs should probably recognize that the United States is now the world's largest petroleum producer, and that is far different than in 1975 when the SPR was created. A far more pressing issue is our refining capacity that is concentrated in just a few facilities.

We have about 125 petroleum refineries in the United States, and the top 10 produce about 5,000,000 barrels/day. So an attack on just those 10 would decrease our refining capacity by 25%. Five are in Texas, and three are in Louisiana, so the attack wouldn't even have to cover most of America.

Of course, the most significant damage the traitorous Biden/Obama junta may have done is opened the border to many thousands of military-age Chinese, rabid Islamists, and others. Is it beyond the realm of possibility that some of them are here for the express purpose of industrial sabotage in the event of a conflict? Or even just garden-variety Muslim terrorism?

The Big Beautiful Bill funded an additional 10,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

Maybe that isn't enough.

Posted by CBD at 12:00 PM Comments

Sunday Morning Book Thread - 7-20-2025 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

—Open Blogger

(Click for larger image)

Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading. Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...(you know Ace lounges around in these on Sunday mornings...)

So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

PIC NOTE

This is a shelf of books in he dictionary section of the library in which I work (but do not work for). If you click on the image to enlarge it, you can see some interesting books, such as the Code Names Dictionary, The Dictionary of Cofusable Words, and Origin of the Term Shyster, written by an etymologist it's been my pleasure to work with over the years in my professional capacity as an instructional designer. Also my German professor. I don't remember anything I learned in three semesters of German, though.

ON THE PASSAGE OF TIME

I am fascinated by the passing of time in a story. We may not consciously realize it, but understanding how the events unfold over time can lead to a deeper appreciation of the story. Or, if the author is terrible about tracking time, it can also lead to a break in immersion, causing us to go, "WTF? How and when did that happen?"

Consider the murder mystery plot. Establishing a time of death of the victim is an important component in unraveling the mystery. Once that time of death has been determined, the investigator(s) can backtrack through the timeline to see which of the possible suspects had the greatest possibility to be in the vicinity of the crime when it took place.

In an action thriller or spy story, we may have a "ticking timebomb" scenario which limits the actions of the protagonist as they are forced to deal with a situation that will rapidly become unpleasant at a well-defined point in the future. Prophecies in fantasy stories can also work this way sometimes, as characters may be destined to fulfill the prophecy during a cosmic alignment.

Here on Earth, we have a time system that's relatively easy to understand. 24-hour days, 7-days a week, 28-31 days per month, and 365 days per year. The world is divided into time zones, but not all time zones are equal, so that can complicate things in a story. We also have several different calendars in use, depending on culture and society. And in a story set in a culture/society before regular clocks were discovered, people largely moved around the hours of daylight and responded to the rhythms of the seasons. All of these need to be factored into quality storytelling.

Once you leave planet Earth and move out into the solar system, things get stranger. We are used to our 24-hour days here on Earth, but in space, that's irrelevant other than as a useful tool for maintaining humanity's natural circadian rhythms. On Mars, days are slightly longer (24.6 hours), so humans can adjust to that easily, but the period of revolution around the sun is much longer (687 Earth days). As humanity achieves greater and greaters speeds for traveling, a necessity due to the vast distances between planets, moons, and asteroids, relatavistic effects will begin piling up, as characters start aging at different rates relative to their frames of reference.

Now leave the solar system and explore the galaxy. How do you track days, weeks, months, or years? What standard do you use for time? Most science fiction stories seem to use a "local time" and a "galactic standard time" that's set by the central government of the galactic civilization, though alien civilizations will have their own methods of tracking time. For instance in the Star Wars universe, the galactic standard time is based on Coruscant, the seat of power for for the Republic. However, the Chiss, who are not part of the Galatic Republic no doubt use their own clocks (they are also highly xenophobic).

Finally, things get truly bizarre when we leave our little corner of the cosmos and explore the multiverse, either in planes of existence in fantasy, or in alternate dimensions in science fiction. In those stories, you may as well throw out any of the rulebooks regarding time. In The Chronicles of Narnia, for instance, where characters travel back and forth between our world and Narnia, it's well-established as early as the first book that Narnian time moves to the beat of a different drummer. The Pevensie children grow up to become young adults in Narnia in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe but return to their childhood ages when they cross back into our world. In Prince Caspian, over a thousand years have passed in Narnia when they cross back over, while only a few months or so has passed in our world.

It's fun to play around with time in stories, though you do have to watch out for some gotchas. In Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn series, for instance, it's clear that the story takes place over several months. Two female characters become pregnant early in the story (from the same man--it's complicated), yet neither character shows any progress in their pregnancy during that time. Confederacy medical technology is incredibly advanced, but they don't seem to have the ability to hide pregnancies for nine months. It's a weird little detail that bugged me during the otherise enjoyable story.

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(HT: Pete Zah)

(Runner-up HT: CBD)

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CHANGING TASTES IN READING

As I've reached the ripe and dignified age of 29+, I've noticed that my tastes in reading have shifted. Oh, I still love my fantasy and science fiction stories, of course, but I don't seek out NEW authors anymore. I did a brief look back through the books I've purchased over the past several years based on their publication dates. They basically fall into the following categories:

Books written by authors I already know.
Reprints of books that may have been written decades ago.
Moron Recommendations.

I only have FOUR books published in 2025, and all of them fall into the categories above. I only purchased ELEVEN books that were published in 2024, and again they all fall into these categories.

Does this make me an old fogey? I dunno. I just know that I am not at all interested in the hot new thing among fantasy and science fiction writers, preferring to read the many, many books that exist in the past. Far too many for me to read in one lifetime. I'll continuing reading new books from authors I enjoy, like Larry Correia or Robert Jackson Bennett, but I've given up on a few authors like Raymond E. Feist and Terry Brooks who have basically ended their long-running series and therefore I don't feel to compelled to keep buying their books.

Has this happened to you?

RESPONDING TO MORON COMMENTS

Thanks to one of my other gigs, helping out at church on Sundays, I don't get to respond to the comments as much as I might like. Usually, I have about an hour or so on Sundays to read the comments before I go to church. But when I am "working" on the tech team, I have to get there early, so I post the Sunday Morning Book Thread and hurry on down there to get things set up for worship. I then come home and read the comments after church.

Perfesser, top pic should be titled Feline dreams of android mice
Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at July 13, 2025 09:06 AM (sT/8C)

Definitely my favorite comment from last week!

One of the Weinsteins (Bret?) has been deriding physics as having become constipated by its obsession with string theory. He speaks of that often when he appears on podcasts.
Apologies, it is Eric Weinstein.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) Point&Laugh! Point&Laugh! Point&Laugh![ at July 13, 2025 09:01 AM (Tv15w)

Physicist Lee Smolin wrote an entire book on the subject of string theory in physics and how it has held back advancements in scientific inquiry: Trouble with Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next (2006). It's an untested and untestable theory (with current technology), but for at least a couple decades it's been the "hot new thing" as physicists everywhere pursued it to find a "theory of everything." Like climate change, it was a sure way to secure funding for various projects that *might* lead to breakthroughs. Although the mathematics behind it are interesting, I don't think string theory has yet yielded any tangible results.

What book have you read that you want it to be made into a movie?
I would really like them to make Armor into a movie. I understand that it has a Shamalamadingdong twist but I think some innovative screenwriter can make it work.

Posted by: polynikes at July 13, 2025 10:10 AM (VofaG)

I would not trust anyone in Hollywood to make a movie about *any* of my favorite books. They've already butchered one of my favorites (The Wheel of Time) beyond recognition. They did the same to the Shannara series. I turned that show off after less than five minutes.

Some of Clifford Simak's books could make for interesting movies, though. He wrote amazing Western stories. Every time I read one of Simak's Western short stories, they feel very cinematic. You could take a few of those, rewrite them to have the same protagonist, and stitch them into a pretty good Western movie.

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

Witness by Sandra Brown is a thrilling tale of mystery, lies, intrigue, and a secret conspiracy too horrible to contemplate. The story begins with a horrible auto accident in the rain, a series of escapes to avoid not only the evil doers but those on the side of law and order who seek only justice, and one main character's amnesia from the wreck. Great character development and a twisting, tangled plot that unravels slowly and with surprises around each bend. Secrets are kept until the last page and then - ta da! - still not revealed. Brown writes great tales of thrills and suspense that keep you hanging on to the end. Recommended.
Posted by: Legally Sufficient at July 13, 2025 10:10 AM (kB9dk)

Comment: Sounds intriguing. I may have to read this. I like a good story that winds around itself, revealing just enough to give you a hint that something larger is afoot, but also tantalizing you with darker secrets within secrets until you aren't quite sure who the good guys are, though in the end it should be obvious who the main antagonist is so that you can root for justice to be served. Unless it's part of a series with a much larger metaplot that keeps you coming back for more.

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Comment:

MORE MORON RECOMMENDATIONS CAN BE FOUND HERE: AoSHQ - Book Thread Recommendations

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WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:

After reviewing some of OregonMuse's old Book Threads, I thought I'd try something a bit different. Instead of just listing WHAT I'm reading, I'll include commentary as well. Unless otherwise specified, you can interpret this as an implied recommendation, though as always your mileage may vary.

Bobby Dollar Trilogy Book 2 - Happy Hour in Hell by Tad Williams

In the previous book, angel Bobby "Doloriel" Dollar found himself enmeshed in a weird conspiracy between an angel and a demon that sought to create a "Third Way" between Heaven and Hell for the souls of the departed. Along the way, Bobby fell in love with a demoness, a strict no-no among the Heavenly choirs. Now he's pledged to rescue her from Hell, as she's now the plaything of Eligor the Horseman, Duke of Hell.

This book is full of dark and twisted humor as Bobby navigates the intricacies of the infernal plane of Hell. Some truly gruesome stuff.

Also, and I don't understand this, Williams inserts a gratuitous swipe at Donald Trump. He does it again in the next book (see below). This series was written long before Donald Trump announced he was even running for President the first time. But I guess he was a public celebrity figure and so authors like Tad Williams and Richard Kadrey (who also frequently swipes at Trump) feel like a rich NYC real-estate developer is an acceptable target. Fortunately, Williams only does it a couple of times and doesn't derail the story with long tirades against Trumpism.

Bobby Dollar Trilogy Book 3 - Sleeping Late on Judgement Day by Tad Williams

Minor spoiler: Bobby Dollar failed in his quest to rescue his ladylove. Returned to Earth, he's still embroiled in a new conflict between Heaven and Hell that threatens to undo the delicate balance between the two forces that has led to an unpleasant, but workable system. He now knows which angelic Power is after him. It's up to Bobby and his allies to unmask the Power so that Heaven's justice can be applied where it belongs.

Although I like Tad Williams writing and I enjoy his other series quite a bit. The Bobby Dollar trilogy is his weakest work in my opinion. Think of it as a combination of Dresden Files meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Supernatural. That about sums up this series.

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle

The Bobby Dollar Trilogy is pretty dark and depressing, so I thought I'd try for a lighter, more enjoyable read. The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood lives up to the title. The words "merry" and "marry" are sprinkled liberally throughout every story. Like The Sword in the Stone, it's a very silly book, full of light-hearted adventures of the titular Robin Hood and his Merry Men. According to this book, Robin became an outlaw after killing a man in self-defense (though Robin did just shoot a King's deer right before that, which is also a capital offense). He swore after that he would never take another life. Though he's quite fond of thumping his enemies with a quarter-staff.

The stories get a bit repetitive after a while, as many of them can be summed up as follows:

Robin or one of his Merry Men set out on a quest (such as going to buy Lincoln green wool for new outfits).
They meet someone coming the other way. A non-lethal fight ensues, usually involving quarterstaffs.
Either Robin (or his Merry Man) wins the fight or Robin loses. Regardless of the outcome, Robin recruits his opponent to join the Merry Men.
The man accepts the invitation without hesitation, throwing away his old life and relationships immediately.

Other stories involve Robin or his Merry Men playing tricks on the Sheriff of Nottingham or local rich bishops and lords that Robin wants to steal from.

The dialog is all written in Ye Olde English, which takes a while to get used to with all of the "thees" and "thous" and "wots." Still enjoyable for the most part once you can decipher the dialect.

PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 7-13-2025 (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)

Tips, suggestions, recommendations, etc., can all be directed to perfessor -dot- squirrel -at- gmail -dot- com.

"There is no book so bad...that it does not have something good in it."

Disclaimer: No Morons were physically harmed in the making of this Sunday Morning Book Thread. Never accept a dinner invitation from a man dressed in a Lincoln green outfit.

Close it up

Posted by Open Blogger at 09:00 AM Comments

Daily Tech News 20 July 2025

—Pixy Misa

Top Story

If you gaze long into an LLM, the LLM also gazes into you: Geoff Lewis is managing partner and co-founder of Bedrock Capital (no, you're thinking of Blackrock) and guided his firm to be an early investor in OpenAI. He used ChatGPT to help him in his work on a daily basis.

He went stark raving mad. (Futurism)

There is a website called the SCP Foundation that documents the work of a secretive organisation that finds, catalogues, and if possible imprisons various kinds of cosmic horror and more innocuous but equally strange entities. It's a work of collaborative fiction organised as a wiki, and has been running for more than 15 years.

It's all online where tools like ChatGPT can scan it and incorporate it into their hallucinations, which is exactly what it fed to Geoff Lewis, providing the perfect reinforcement loop to drive him into psychosis.

Which in a strange form of recursion, layering reality upon fiction, makes ChatGPT into precisely the kind of psychic terror that the SCP Foundation pretends to investigate.

(Hat tip to commenter Blonde Morticia.)

Tech News

Are you looking to spend $900 on a replica of the Data General Dasher terminal keyboard from 1977, used as the basis for prop design in the Apple TV sci-fi series Severance? (Tom's Hardware)

Nope, me neither.
Are you looking to spend $1299 on a 32" 6K (6016x3384) monitor covering 98% of the DCI-P3 colour space? (Hot Hardware)

If you are, the Asus ProArt PA32QCV is exactly that and costs exactly that much, or will do when it launches next month.

It has two Thunderbolt 4 ports with 96W power delivery, DisplayPort, HDMI, two 2W speakers with a headphone jack, and a built-in USB hub with KVM support.

It only offers a 60Hz refresh rate, so definitely more suitable to professional artists than competitive gamers.

I want one. But since I run a triple-monitor setup, that could get kind of expensive.
Speaking of expensive, TSMC has leased land in Central Taiwan Science Park to construct four new 1.4nm fabs. (Taipei Times)

No numbers attached, but expect it to cost more than three 6K monitors.

The company also plans to build eleven wafer manufacturing plants (creating silicon wafers to turn into chips) and four packaging facilities (where the bare slivers of silicon are packaged into the products that other companies package into the boards that still other companies package into consumer products).
Intel is laying off 5500 employees in Oregon, California, and Arizona. (WCCFTech)

Assuming these are new layoffs, this brings the total job losses at the company to over 20,000 in the past year.
OEM laptop maker Sixunited has announced a burger with the lot. (Notebook Check)

The company's new XN77-160M-CS - forgive them, this is not a retail brand - uses AMD's Strix Halo CPU, which has integrated graphics on par with Nvidia's laptop 4070 model, paired with up to 128GB of RAM.

The RAM is soldered due to timing constraints of the 256-bit bus - Framework tried modular RAM on this processor but couldn't make it work reliably at the required speeds - but it does have two M.2 slots.

Plus a 2560x1600 165Hz display covering 100% of sRGB, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, two regular USB ports, wired Ethernet (though only gigabit), HDMI, what looks like a full-size SD card slot, a headphone jack, a barrel jack power connector, and the Four Essential Keys all in their rightful place.

No pricing specified since this will be sold to other companies who will then market it to the public.

Musical Interlude

Disclaimer: Ask the children. The children have many dollars.

Close it up

Posted by Pixy Misa at 04:40 AM Comments

Saturday Night "Club ONT" July 19, 2025 [The 3 Ds]

—Open Blogger

Welcome to Club ONT! A collaboration of your Sunday through Wednesday ONT Crew - The Disco, The Doggo, and The Dino. Feel free to interrupt - particularly if you are saying it better.

Posted by Open Blogger at 10:00 PM Comments

Saturday Evening Movie Thread - 7/19/2025

—TheJamesMadison

Yasujiro Ozu

Hyperbole has the opposite intended effect most of the time. We live in a saturated information age where anyone has a voice, and every voice wants to be heard. You don't get attention by saying something is pretty good. You have to be loud, and saying things are the greatest or worst things ever becomes ever-present, making each successive declaration less convincing than the last. So, when someone with a (tiny) voice discovers something they genuinely think may be one of the best ever, one must be careful, especially if that thing is fairly far removed from the audience's expectations.

When considering the top-most tier of talent behind the camera of film history, one is met with titans. Akira Kurosawa. Charlie Chaplin. Martin Scorsese. Federico Fellini. Ingmar Bergman. Steven Spielberg. John Ford. Men who shaped the medium, made great art, and entertained millions. But sometimes, you encounter someone quieter, less assuming, and more refined (I use that word very specifically), and you realize that perhaps the greatest of them is someone fewer people take notice of.

Yasujiro Ozu was one of the earliest of Japanese feature filmmakers, beginning his filmmaking directing career in 1927 (in the American context, I would consider him second generation like Howard Hawks). By the time Akira Kurosawa was a young director, Ozu was a titan in the Japanese filmmaking world, able to override Imperial censorship objections of Kurosawa's The Men Who Tread on Tiger's Tails through simple praise of the work at the censorship meeting as recounted by Kurosawa in his (something like an) autobiography. He'd dominated the Japanese film world artistically for years, winning the Japanese equivalent of the Best Picture Oscar (the Kinema Junpo Award) a total of six times, including three years in a row (1932-1934).

And yet, his films are deceptively simple. Once he gained as full control as one can in the industry, roughly the mid-30s, he made, almost exclusively, quiet family dramas with little obvious visual flair. It was these kinds of movies that moved him from critical darling to box office champion in Japan. This was happening concurrently while the aforementioned Kurosawa was bringing Western filmmaking technique (and advancing it on his own) to action movies in the same country with movies like The Hidden Fortress and Yojimbo. And yet, Ozu's films were just as popular in Japan.

Now, books have been written about Ozu, his Zen influences, and his technique. One major reason I decided to dig into Ozu's work, of which I was passingly familiar beforehand, was reading Paul Schrader's Transcendental Style in Film, a largely academic work he wrote in his twenties that features Ozu prominently. I'm not going to dig into that stuff in any significant manner in this essay (though, I imagine an unwritten book to be had would be about the use of clothing). This is more of an introduction, an effort to get people unfamiliar with even his name to check him out. I think, though, that it's going to be a challenge.

Posted by TheJamesMadison at 07:45 PM Comments

Hobby Thread - July 19, 2025 [TRex]

—Open Blogger

Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread. We gave the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies(TM) a spin and it came up with birds.

Birds? Yes. Birds. Quack, quack.

You might be tempted to say "I'm not really into birds as a hobby." Dig around in the content and soak in the comments. You might find that you're really into birds and didn't know it or you might find reasons to get into birds. Either way, glad you're here.

[Top photo: Kingfisher by polynikes]

Posted by Open Blogger at 05:30 PM Comments