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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.
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John R. Lott Jr.: Numbers Don't Lie. Trump's Deportation of Foreign Invaders Is Slashing Violent Crime
—Disinformation Expert Ace
Really? You mean there's some connection between incapacitating criminals and reducing crime?
Amazing.
The United States has two primary measures of violent crime. The FBI tracks crimes reported to police. The Bureau of Justice Statistics' National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) estimates both reported and unreported crime. Researchers have known for decades that most crimes never reach the police. Victims report only about 40 percent of violent crimes and roughly 30 percent of property crimes.
The media focuses almost exclusively on FBI crime data. Before 2020, FBI data and the NCVS generally moved in the same direction. During the Biden administration, however, they sharply diverged. While reported violent crime fell by about 8 percent, total felony violent crime measured by the NCVS surged 59 percent -- the largest four-year percentage increase since the survey began more than five decades ago.
Several factors explain that gap. Whether victims report crimes depends heavily on whether they believe police will catch and punish offenders. As cities reduced police staffing through budget cuts, retirements, and, in some places, "defund the police" policies, arrest rates declined. Lower arrest rates gave victims less reason to report crimes.
Some police departments also made reporting more difficult. In some jurisdictions, 911 operators asked whether the offender was still at the scene. If the answer was no -- as it almost always was -- they instructed victims to visit a police station later to file a report. Simply calling 911 does not place a crime in the FBI's statistics; an officer must complete an official report. When governments make reporting more burdensome, some victims understandably decide it isn't worth the effort.
Fortunately, many of those policies have been reversed.
Although reported crime has declined, we will not know whether total crime also fell in 2025 until the Bureau of Justice Statistics releases the next NCVS this September.
...
FBI arrests surged in 2025, rising 184 percent over 2024 levels. Total FBI arrests -- a broader category that includes many joint operations with state and local agencies -- increased by 197 percent.
...
Across the country, President Trump's U.S. attorneys have also pursued criminals far more aggressively than their predecessors. In Washington, D.C., for example, the Biden administration's U.S. Attorney declined to prosecute 67 percent of those arrested. Under U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, that figure has fallen to just 4 percent.
An illegal immigrant from Mexico with multiple deportations was driving with a revoked license when he collided with a vehicle and allegedly killed a 6-year-old North Carolina girl last week, authorities said.
Jaime Santiago Corona was driving a Dodge Ram pickup truck July 3 when he failed to stop at a stop sign and struck an SUV driven by 35‑year‑old Kelli Toler, who was traveling with her two children in Pitt County, the North Carolina State Highway Patrol said.
Toler and her 4‑year‑old child were transported to ECU Health Greenville with serious injuries.
Toler's 6‑year‑old daughter, Calli Toler, was pronounced dead at the crash site.
An online fundraiser for the Toler family said the three were on their way to get lunch before going to a swimming pool when the collision happened.
"This monster caused a car crash that killed a 6-year-old girl and injured a mother and a 4-year-old," said Department of Homeland Security (DHS) acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis.
Did this illegal alien deliver Cultural Enrichment in excess of the pain, misery, and death he caused? I want to see the tally. I want to see the proof that we came out ahead on this deal, Cultural-Enrichment-wise.
Very much related: A woke American woman living in Ireland decided to marry a migrant Muslim she met at a pro-Hamas rally.
The migrant boyfriend suspected of murdering a New York mom at her home in Ireland allegedly asked her for a bunch of money just a week before her death.
Jamey Carney, 43, had told a pal that her beau, Ahmad Al-Saqar, sought the equivalent of around $5,700 about a week before her murder at her house in Killarney, the Irish Independent reported.
Al-Saqar is now wanted for questioning by authorities in connection with the murder of Carney, who is believed to have been beaten and then suffocated in her bed early Tuesday.
Al-Saqar, an asylum-seeker from Jordan, is feared to have fled to the Middle East in the hours after her death.
Authorities are examining the victim's phone calls and texts as well as her social-media accounts and bank statements as part of their probe.
Carney, who was originally from tony Westchester County outside of New York City, moved with her young daughter to Ireland in May 2021.
She is believed to have met Al-Saqar at a pro-Palestine rally in Killarney about 18 months ago and frequently shared pictures of the pair on social media.
He told friends that he and Carney had taken part in a religious marriage ceremony earlier this year and were wed in the Islamic faith, former roommate Husam Salha told the Irish Independent.
Al-Saqar posted a video online around that time with the words, "My bride and my princess," showing Carney wearing a ring on his TikTok.
"Al-Saqar said they had gone to the mosque and accepted to be husband and wife," Salha said.
"In Islam, when you get married, you have to let all the people know that you are husband and wife," he said.
She posted constantly about how her 3rd world Muslim boyfriend wasn't at all like the stereotypes. Turns out he was a scammer who drained her for all she was worth, then brutally murdered her after an argument. He then fled back to the nation he said he needed asylum from https://t.co/fcaxsT2RHG
— Sean Fitzgerald (Actual Justice Warrior) (@IamSean90) July 12, 2026
And he's meanwhile a major investor in Impossible Foods -- the company trying to make non-meat meatlike substance.
Dustin Moskovitz, the billionaire co-founder of Facebook and enterprise software company Asana, has talked openly about how he likes to eat meat.
But in a curious twist, the lefty Democratic megadonor has poured nearly a half-billion dollars into activist campaigns that have made it harder to run animal farms and contributed to the rising cost of eggs and meat for millions of American consumers -- all while one of Moskovitz's foundations holds a nearly $89 million stake in plant-based company Impossible Foods -- meaning it could benefit if pricier meat pushes more consumers toward meat alternatives, The California Post has learned.
The money trail runs through two closely linked entities of Moskovitz's philanthropic empire: Coefficient Giving -- the nonprofit formerly known as Open Philanthropy -- and Good Ventures, the private foundation run by Moskovitz and his wife, former journalist Cari Tuna.
On paper, Coefficient Giving says its mission is simple: reduce suffering on factory farms. Since 2016, the nonprofit has handed out more than $480 million toward that cause.
But farmers and industry insiders told The Post the operation amounts to a well-funded pressure campaign, bankrolling activist groups, ballot measures, corporate pressure tactics, lawsuits and media projects that they say have helped drive up the cost of meat, eggs and pork for everyday Americans.
Hannah Thompson-Weeman, president and CEO of the Animal Agriculture Alliance, told The Post that consumers often picture animal-rights activism as a loose network of shaggy volunteers with protest signs.
That image, she said, badly understates the sophistication and funding behind the movement, which combined with inflation is the reason many grocery shoppers are suffering from post-traumatic sticker shock.
Mexico's president offers an excuse as to why she refuses to oppose the cartels. She claims it's all Biden's fault, which appeals to me, but the trouble is, she's a cartel whore. It's not just Biden's fault. She's on the cartel payroll.
Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum is blaming Biden-era policies of the United States government for having helped set off the fierce turf war that followed. The turf war erupted after the split between the two main factions of the Sinaloa Cartel following the arrest of the fearsome cartel boss Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada.
During her morning news conferences, Sheinbaum claimed that if the Biden administration had shared information with Mexican authorities and let them carry out the arrest, the cartel would not have split, and the violence spreading through Mexico would not have happened. The comments come at a time when tensions are high with the United States over Sheinbaum's refusal to fight cartels. Her comments also come soon after the Mexican president announced that her government would be taking legal action against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in connection with the deaths of migrants in detention centers and during raids.
...
The issue comes at a time when the Trump administration has been pressuring Sheinbaum to eradicate drug cartels, leading to heightened tensions between the two governments.
Recently, the U.S. Department of Justice delivered a heavy blow to Sheinbaum's credibility when it announced a criminal indictment against Sinaloa's Governor Ruben Rocha Moya and nine of his closest officials, who were the heads of the state law enforcement apparatus. As Breitbart Texas has reported, rather than help with the arrests and extraditions, Sheinbaum has used the claim of national sovereignty to refuse U.S. help in fighting cartels and has publicly defended Rocha Moya, who is from the same political party, claiming that there is no proof of wrongdoing on his part. Federal prosecutors in the United States claim that Rocha Moya worked with Los Chapitos, providing them with protection in exchange for bribes and political support.
The News Professionals at CNN did a story about Republicans demanding that Mitch McConnell update the public about his medical status. They didn't have enough Republicans for a proper "Republicans in Disarray" storyline, so they invented one, "Jack Kimble."
You know -- Senator Jack Kimble.
During a segment concerning speculations on the health of Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., CNN included a quote from a fake congressman.
During the segment, host Audie Cornish said that many Senate Republicans have said they've talked to McConnell. As Cornish spoke, quotes from Republicans flashed on the screen, the Daily Wire reported. These included statements from Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota and Majority Whip John Barrasso of North Dakota.
A fourth statement was attributed to Rep. Jack Kimble, which is a parody account. No such congressman serves in the House.
"I spoke to my old friend Mitch McConnell this morning, the senior Senator from Kentucky. He's still recovering in the hospital. We talked for just shy of 45 minutes. He's so sharp. Just like always he let me do all of the talking. He's a great listener. After that we prayed silently for awhile and had a staring contest. Just like always, he beat me. I told him we want to see him back at work as soon as possible."" the fake congressman's statement read.
How disconnected from your "job" as "newspeople" do you have to be to not realize Jack Kimble is a made-up name? Did no one at CNN realize, "Gee, I never heard that name before and as someone paid to watch the news hour-by-hour, I probably should have heard that name before, if it were real"?
The report portrays the United States as having to restrain an out-of-control Israel....
But a key piece of evidence is, in fact, a doctored quote. The authors claim:
In March, President Donald Trump suggested publicly that Israel's assassination campaign was complicating efforts to negotiate with the regime. "You know it's a little tough," he told reporters at the time. "They've wiped out everybody. I don't want them to be killed.''
Trump did, indeed, utter those words, but not together. The authors spliced together two sentences uttered by President Trump in response to two separate questions as if they were part of one cohesive statement. Worse, they omit words in between that entirely contradicted the narrative they advanced.
Here's what President Trump actually said. In response to a question as to who Steve Witkoff, the administration's special envoy, was talking to in Iran, President Trump responded:
A top -- a top person. Don't forget, we've wiped out the leadership phase one, phase two, and largely phase three. But we're dealing with a man who I believe is the most respected and the leader. You know, it's a little tough. They've wiped out -- we've wiped out everybody.
In an apparent attempt to falsify the quote to suggest President Trump was talking only about Israel, The Washington Post omitted the words "we've wiped out" from the middle of the first sentence. Rather than showing American frustration with Israel, the full sentence suggests U.S. and Israeli interests were aligned.
The authors then portray the second sentence, "I don't want them to be killed," as if it was uttered immediately after the first (clipped) sentence. In fact, that remark came in response to a different question that came after another entire question and answer exchange.
After answering a question about the status of the Iranian supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, Trump was then asked whether he could say where the discussions are taking place. The president responded:
I can't. I can't, because I don't want them to be killed. OK? I don't want them to be killed.
Hudson and Nakashima effectively doctored a quote, cutting out separate parts and mashing them together to create a Frankenstein's Monster quote.
Denver DSA activist deletes his post of their meeting after getting roasted because over half the people in the room are wearing masks in July of 2026.
As an observer of media and especially cable news for a very long time, I can say this with utter certainty: there isn’t a more pious and unlikable host than Abby Phillip in my lifetime. https://t.co/TcjmqYxfxE
These people are ridiculous. They have lost all tethers to a sense of self. Their entire identity now relies on this treasonous hate of America. They make up fantasies of how horrible America never was to justify their need to "fight tyranny." They have no identity but this. And… https://t.co/0IBW55TE5r
Ukraine chased the Russian fleet out of the black sea using unmanned boats -- drone boats and drone subs.
The US just deployed the same kind of weapon against an Iranian naval base:
Yesterday, using multiple one-way attack surface drones, CENTCOM forces successfully struck a submarine and ship maintenance facility in Iran. Three Corsair unmanned surface vessels hit the port at Bandar Abbas Naval Base, marking the first time American forces have employed sea… pic.twitter.com/bOM2kmgRxz
Humiliated by His Fawning Over a Nazi Rapist, Ro Khanna Tries to Change the Subject By Trying to Force His Way Past an Israeli Checkpoint and Then Crying "Jews Are Abusing a Brown Man!" When They Stop Him (for Ninety Minutes, to Check IDs)
Ro Khanna backed a Nazi tattooed rapist after he was credibly accused of domestic abuse.
To distract from that, he ran to Israel to enter a government restricted area and stage a PR stunt.
If you're falling for this, you're an idiot. And apparently, lots of idiots exist.
He admits that he knew he was trying to force his way past the checkpoint of a "restricted military area" -- but played the Don't You Know Who I Am? card anyway.
Dan The Zionist!
@DanTheZionist
Jul 12
Ro Khanna's driver intentionally triggered a Security First Response Team.
Israeli Gedaliah Blum explains the tricks that Ro Khanna used to stage a performance.
Ro Khanna was traveling in Judea and Samaria, which are also known as the West Bank. The Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria have experienced many terrorist attacks. So, there are First Response Teams of community guards who monitor for suspicious activity. These teams are governed by laws and work with safety measures, and they coordinate with the Israeli army.
Shabbat is Saturday. On Shabbat, people living in Jewish communities do not drive. On Shabbat, Ro Khanna's team drove off the road, which was already very suspicious. The strange activity of Ro Khanna's vehicle triggered the First Response Team. So, the team checked the vehicles.
Ro Khanna did not tell anyone he was going to be in the area. He was not traveling in a way that identified him as a congressman, he was not in a government marked vehicle. The First Responder Team checked for his identity. Specifically, because Ro Khanna did not tell anyone he would be in the area, it took about ninety minutes to confirm his identity with the Israeli army.
After he was safely identified, he was allowed to continue on his way. Afterwards, Ro Khanna described this security check as being held hostage by wild settlers, which is total nonsense.
Ro Khanna is a liar.
His only defense of his actions is that other Congressmen have gotten into that area before.
Yes, this Fox newsreader points out -- after first clearing it with the government of Israel, which Ro Khanna didn't do, because he wanted a staged confrontation because his campaign for president is failing ludicrously and he wants to court the leftwing Nazi vote.
A Twitter account pointed out that Ro Khanna never referred to himself a "brown" man before, but is now crying that the Jews are abusing a "brown" person.
He really needs you to know that he's part of the BIPOC coalition:
RNC Research
@RNCResearch
Ro Khanna compares the IDF to "Jim Crow" after trespassing in the West Bank:
"You have a police force and the IDF that is aligned by extremist settlers in the same way [that] in Jim Crow during the segregationist south, police were often aligned with the segregationists."
Jim Crow? More like Jim Eagle, Fat!!!
According to a source for the New York Post, Ro Khanna was invited to meet freed hostages and survivors of October 7th.
Khanna's team didn't even bother to respond.
His team was also offered an opportunity to meet with Druze civilians in the Golan Heights and a briefing on how… pic.twitter.com/4Afj0FsVrg
See, earlier I thought Ro Khanna must be some kind of tech mogul. I thought that because he was rich and he said positive things about Elon Musk.
Turns out he just says whatever he thinks his current audience wants to hear. Ro Khanna 1.0 was the "bipartisan centrist who favors innovation and growing the economy.
But Ro Khanna 1.0 failed.
So now here's Ro Khanna 2.0, the Nazi-defending, Rape-Adjacent far-left pimp for Islam.
Ro Khanna, Graham Platner's most stalwart defender, funded a Platner rally from his own campaign funds after the physical abuse allegations emerged. Now that Platner is an accused rapist, Khanna is desperately trying to change the subject with—you guessed it—Israel! https://t.co/5oSpdahO69
In case you missed it: Ro Khanna's money -- to the extent it even is his money-- comes from his father-in-law. He married the daughter of a major auto-parts business owner.
So no, not a tech mogul, not a self-made man. Just another grifter on the make.
Update: The US Ambassador to Israel, Michael Leiter, roasted Khanna.
The joke woke white Karen Margaret Brennan relentlessly defended him, and claimed the avowedly anti-Israel/pro-Hamas group "J Street" is a "Jewish group" that "just seeks a different path for Israel."
That path? Being abolished and subjugated by Hamas.
LEITER: Now, in terms of Ro Khanna, we reached out to him when we heard he was going to Israel, the Israeli embassy here in Washington. As all congressmen do, they coordinate their trip with the Israeli government. We suggested he visit with- with survivors of the October 7th massacre. That he visit the borders, so he understands the, the issues that we have in our borders and so on. He ignored that and he decided to coordinate his trip not with Israel, but with Palestinian activists and with J Street, which is a anti-government, anti-Israeli government advocacy group here in Washington. So you know he coordinated--
BRENNAN: It's a Jewish lobby group...
LEITER: Well, it's--
BRENNAN: ...that is supportive of a different path for Israel.
LEITER: Yeah, yeah. I- I play tennis once a year. That doesn't make me a tennis player. The fact that they call themselves a Jewish organization is- is irrelevant. They're- they're- an advocacy group against the government of Israel. That has to be clear.
BRENNAN: The current government, Netanyahu government.
LEITER: Yes. Yes--
BRENNAN: That's what you mean, the government you work for.
LEITER: And Congressman Khanna, there has been no secret about his antipathy towards the government of Israel as well. So perhaps if he would have coordinated the trip- and then you know to have this incident on Wednesday and wait to release it on Saturday, maybe this had more something to do with his support of- of Graham Platner beforehand and the difficulties he had with that, and trying to shift the focus to something else. Perhaps I'm asking a question.
BRENNAN: Well, we did hear from Congressman Khanna, who said that there was an alert to the embassy on his behalf, and that they asked for the news...
Evidence mounts of noncitizens reaching voter rolls, casting ballots as DOJ speeds crackdown
Trump DOJ has secured about two dozen noncitizen voting arrests, prosecutions or convictions in the last few months, with about another 90 more cases under investigation.
A small town Kansas mayor born in Mexico. A Filipino senior citizen living in Hawaii. Two Pakistani men residing in New Jersey. An Aussie in Louisiana. And a Chinese student studying at the University of Michigan. They all have one thing in common.
Each has been charged in the last year with illegally voting in U.S. federal elections as foreigners, part of a sudden wave of prosecutions led by the Trump Justice Department for a crime that used to be among the rarest in the federal court system.
The Trump Justice Department has secured about two dozen non-citizens voting arrests, prosecutions or convictions in the last few months alone, with about another 90 more cases under investigation, officials told Just the News. And all 50 states were sent notices this month that election officials can and will be prosecuted too if they allow non-citizens to vote.
"It isn't just bad policy to let non-citizens vote in federal elections, it's a crime. And this Department of Justice will intend to prosecute that crime if these election officials, having been informed that they are non-citizens on the voter rolls, knowingly allow those people to vote, enable their enrollment on the voter rolls, are passive in the face of this knowledge, etc. This is not some idle threat," Assistant Attorney General for Ciril Rights Harmeet Dhillon told the Just the News, No Noise television show.
DOJ officials have found three major problems in policing states' voter rolls ahead of the 2026 election: hundreds of thousands of dead people still eligible to vote, tens of thousands of illegal aliens on the rolls and scores of foreigners having gone beyond registering to, in fact, vote in a federal election, which is illegal.
Dhillon, the top election cop inside the DOJ, believes the numbers of foreigners illicitly voting in elections is probably higher but has been frustrated that U.S. Attorney offices across the country haven't made illegal voting a larger priority until just recently.
"We are trying to empty an ocean with a teaspoon because there isn't a culture of U.S. attorneys going after these," she explained.
That's changing with the sudden explosion of cases.
The left is shrieking (as usual) about the possibility that state election officials who turn a blind eye to illegal alien voting might be arrested themselves.
This is PBS so expect bias.
DOJ threatens to arrest state election officials if noncitizens vote
The Department of Justice is threatening to arrest more than a dozen state election officials if a single vote is cast in their states by a noncitizen. The threat was part of a letter giving election officials five days to detail how they will comply with laws on noncitizens voting. Amna Nawaz discussed more with Jessica Huseman of Votebeat, who obtained the letter.
Amna Nawaz:
The Department of Justice is threatening top election officials in more than a dozen states with arrest if even a single vote is cast in their states by a noncitizen. The threats detailed in a letter stating it's illegal for noncitizens to vote and giving elections officials five days to detail how they will comply with federal law.
It's worth noting that noncitizens voting, as well as election fraud in general, is exceedingly rare in this country, with just a handful of reported cases, even in databases kept by conservative legal groups. The letter was obtained by Votebeat.
White supremacist groups are also very, very rare but the left seems keenly interested in stopping them.
Jessica Huseman, Editorial Director, Votebeat:
All of the states got the letter, which that was not initially obvious when this was reported for the first time.
We heard from several states all at once that had gotten it. There were several states that couldn't actually find the letter because the Trump administration sent it to things like info@secretaryofstate.gov for some of these Web sites. So they had to go hunt it down.
But, yes, all 50 states have gotten them. And the letter essentially reminds election administrators that noncitizen voting is illegal and says that there are criminal penalties associated with knowingly allowing a noncitizen to vote.
Of course, that is not new information to election officials. And all of the election officials that I spoke to about this yesterday didn't seem particularly concerned.
Hmm: Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Was Recruited as a Spy by Israel; Israel Hoped He Could Take Control of Iran After Assassinations of Iran's President and His Advisors
But plans tend to not survive first contact with the enemy.
A rector from the University of Budapest sent an invitation to Ahmadinejad to attend a "climate change" conference. His hope was to get him close to Israeli delegates so that they could talk and maybe eventually broker a peace treaty.
The yearslong effort to groom the former Iranian president as an intelligence asset culminated in a dramatic effort to take him to an Israeli safe house in the early days of the war. But the plan fell apart.
...
Mr. Ahmadinejad's 2024 visit to the university and a second one the following year were part of a yearslong Israeli effort to groom him as an intelligence asset who, when the time came, could be installed as Iran's new leader, according to both American and Iranian officials familiar with the operation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive intelligence.
Recruiting Mr. Ahmadinejad was of such priority for Israel that the country's then-spy chief David Barnea even traveled to the Hungarian capital in 2024 to meet with Mr. Ahmadinejad personally, according to former American officials. Soon afterward, they said, Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence service, notified the C.I.A. that it had been in contact with Mr. Ahmadinejad.
Israel's decision to build a regime-change plan around Mr. Ahmadinejad is an extraordinary twist in the saga of the country's relations with the former president, who was known for accelerating Iran's nuclear program, calling regularly for the destruction of Israel and denying the Holocaust.
In recent years, according to American officials, Israel secretly paid money to Mr. Ahmadinejad for housing and travel, and Israeli operatives met him abroad on several occasions, including during his trips to Budapest.
...
The effort culminated in late February of this year -- during the first days of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran -- with an audacious operation to relocate the former leader, who had been living under strict surveillance in Tehran. The goal: to set in motion the plan to topple the current regime and install Mr. Ahmadinejad.
The plan failed.
On Feb. 28, an Israeli airstrike hit Mr. Ahmadinejad's compound, targeting the building of his bodyguards and his armored vehicle. After the strike, according to four senior Iranian officials, a black Peugeot car arrived, picked up Mr. Ahmadinejad and whisked him away at high speed from the chaotic scene.
American and Iranian officials with knowledge of the operation said the car had been driven by Mossad operatives, who took Mr. Ahmadinejad to a secret safe house in Iran.
But the former Iranian leader was upset about the frantic rescue operation, and he appeared to be disillusioned about the Israeli plan to return him to power, according to people with knowledge of what occurred.
He eventually left the safe house under circumstances that are still unclear. Mr. Ahmadinejad was not seen in public again until last Monday, when he made a brief appearance at the funeral procession for the slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
His current status remains uncertain. But four senior Iranian officials said that Mr. Ahmadinejad was in the custody of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' intelligence wing, under house arrest now that Iran has learned about much of his interactions with Israel.
A key part of the plan was that Kurdish Iranians would march on Tehran.
But, as Trump lamented months ago, that never happened. That was supposed to be the ground element which is absolutely essential in actually winning a war.
Israeli officials have not commented publicly about the plan to install Mr. Ahmadinejad as Iran's leader, which was part of a broader attempt to topple the government in Tehran. Another element involved arming and training Iranian Kurdish opposition forces based in northern Iraq to cross into western Iran, hold territory there and eventually move toward the capital Tehran, an effort that never manifested.
...
Mossad officials did not respond to requests for comment.
Ali Akbar Javanfekr, a spokesman for Mr. Ahmadinejad, declined to comment.
It's not clear to me if Ahmadinejad had actually turned spy or was merely taking Israel's money while feigning interest. I guess it's reassuring to know that there was a plan for regime change... but this plan seems to have been pretty smokey from the start.
But I guess the idea is that his sister taking over for the rest of the term would be non-controversial right now. All of the people who want to run for the seat also want to be appointed to fill out the term, because that gives them a huge incumbency advantage. Appointing Graham's sister to the seat avoids that... assuming she really only serves for the remaining months.
Graham raised his sister after his parents died.
President Trump posted on his Truth Social minutes before that he had recommended Graham's "wonderful sister" to serve as interim senator until a special election can be held.
South Carolina Republican Gov. Henry McMaster will be choosing that replacement. He's scheduled a 4 p.m. press conference to make that announcement.
"This would be a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly!" Trump added.
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) agreed and told The Post that he has known the late South Carolina senator's sister "for years and she's a constituent of mine in Lexington County."
"I have faith in Gov. McMaster that he will make the right decision, but I would support the president's recommendation," Wilson said.
Preliminary findings from the Washington, DC, medical examiner's office determined that Lindsey Graham died of a ruptured aorta brought on by chronic heart disease.
Emergency responders arrived at the Republican senator's Capitol Hill home at around 8:30 p.m. after getting a call about an individual suffering from chest pains, according to scanner audio.
Medics performed CPR as Graham went into cardiac arrest a half hour later. He was then rushed to George Washington University Hospital, where he died.
When running for president in 2016, Graham had even joked about his sister serving as his first lady along with a "rotating" cast of other friends.
"I've got a sister, she could play that role if necessary," he told the Daily Mail in a June 2015 interview when asked about being the first bachelor in the White House since former President Woodrow Wilson.
The Graham parents had run a bar and pool hall in Central, S.C., where for a time they had raised their two kids in a backroom, the senator later shared in a memoir.
After their deaths, Graham enlisted in the Air Force and became Darline's legal guardian so he could use his military benefits to support his sister.
...
"Of all the things that have happened in my life, her turning out so well is the highlight of it by far," he was quoted as telling C-SPAN in 2015, per the outlet.
President Trump announced on Sunday that he has ordered "all American Flags throughout the United States" lowered to half-mast until Saturday night at 6 P.M.
"In honor of the remarkable life and achievements of Senator Lindsey Graham, a dear friend of mine, and a truly great man, who achieved so much for our Country, and his beloved Home State of South Carolina, I am ordering all American Flags throughout the United States lowered to Half Mast until Saturday evening at 6 P.M. GOD BLESS YOU LINDSEY! President DONALD J. TRUMP," he wrote on X.
South Carolina polls are scrambling to be appointed Senator, and boy oh boy I sure hope they don't pick the flaky tramp Nancy Mace, who'll be unemployed in months.
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -- The death of Sen. Lindsey Graham, who was running for a fifth term, begins a tumultuous new chapter in South Carolina politics during a year that has already been full of upheaval.
As the conservative state's senior senator and an influential ally of President Donald Trump, Graham was presumed to be on a glide path toward reelection.
Now, Gov. Henry McMaster must choose a temporary replacement who can serve until January while the state also prepares a special primary so voters can choose a new Republican nominee for the general election.
The rare open Senate seat has ignited a scramble among South Carolina's most ambitious conservatives, who have been eager to climb the political ladder.
Republicans just finished a sprawling and bruising contest to figure out their nominee for succeeding McMaster, who is wrapping up his second term. State Attorney General Alan Wilson won the nomination, overcoming a field that included Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, Rep. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman -- all of whom are now eyeing Graham's seat following his death over the weekend.
According to South Carolina law, a one-week filing period for a special primary election begins on the second Tuesday after the candidate's death, or July 21.
The special primary election would be held on the second Tuesday after that filing period closes, or Aug. 11. Any necessary runoff would follow two weeks after that, or Aug. 25.
From that point, the new nominee would have just over two months to campaign for the general election on Nov. 3.
There's a snag in the timetable:
All of this is problematic according to federal law, which requires military and overseas ballots to go out 45 days before any federal election. For the general election primary, that would have been June 27. Federal Election Commission officials didn't immediately return a message seeking clarity about the process.
And including Scott Bessent -- who I think we need to keep where he is.
Meanwhile, we don't have to worry about replacing Mitch McConnell -- for the moment, anyway.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, who has been in the hospital since June 11 with an undisclosed medical diagnosis, said in a statement Sunday that he suffered a fall last month that left him briefly unconscious and landed him in the hospital.
The lawmaker said he also had to deal with a "mild case of pneumonia."
"My doctors have confirmed that I didn't break any bones or suffer a concussion. I didn't have a heart attack or a stroke. I don't have any tumors or hemorrhages. But I was briefly unconscious and was taken to the hospital. While receiving excellent care over the past several weeks, I've also had to deal with a mild case of pneumonia," McConnell said in the statement.
McConnell's office has provided few details about what landed the senator in the hospital last month, despite a growing demand from many, including Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
In the statement, a letter from McConnell to his fellow Kentuckians, he said he hesitated to be more public about what happened to him.
Incredibly, the sneaky, secretive McConnell claimed that his refusal to keep his constituents informed was just some widely-shared penchant for skullduggery shared by all members of his generation:
"You all know how folks of my generation often hesitate to share the vulnerability that comes with growing older. Even in the public eye, I feel that same instinct -- I can't help it," McConnell said in his note.
"I can't help it." Even though I have a responsibility to my constituents and the country, "I can't help it." That's just me and my generation. You young'uns wouldn't understand about, you know, lying.
"But at the same time, I've had more than my share of experience with physical vulnerabilities. Surviving childhood polio meant spending my entire life with mobility challenges. They haven't exactly gotten easier to manage with age. And last month, I took a fall which landed me in the hospital," he said.
Oh my goodness, he played the "childhood polio" card. What an absolute asshole.
We are ruled not just by men without chests, but also, men without souls.
Oh, and he's teaming up with noted moderate centrist perennial Democrat candidate Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke to lock down the drag queen stan vote.
Oh -- and voters whose first allegiance is to Mexico, and also, illegal aliens who have been struck from the voter rolls.
EXCLUSIVE: Talarico Finds His Base -- Drag Show Attendees, Mexico Fans And Purged Voters
Democrat Texas Senate nominee James Talarico is partnering with failed Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke to unleash a voter outreach campaign that will target drag show attendees, Mexico soccer fans, and people previously purged from voter rolls, the Daily Caller has learned.
After several failed candidacies, O'Rourke is now advising other up-and-coming Democrats through his organization Powered by People, which hosted a strategy Zoom call with Talarico's campaign Tuesday night, the Caller can reveal.
During the call, Powered by People Executive Director Aimee Prudhomme revealed Democrats' strategy to target voters ahead of the November election.
"Like Beto mentioned before, we go where the people are," Prudhomme said on a recording of the meeting obtained by the Caller. "We're trying to find likely Democratic voters. Those that are targets of voter suppression, likely to be removed or purged from the rolls come November. We go in places where those people are."
In Texas, people are removed from voter rolls if they are serving a sentence for a felony conviction, if they are illegally in the United States, if they are mentally incapacitated, if they move out of the country or state, or if they die, according to the state's Election Code.
"So whether it’s college campuses, in places of worship, at concerts, clubs, drag shows … We are at those events." - Powered by People Executive Director Aimee Prudhomme https://t.co/BdU7d4XyMS
— Lone Star Liberty PAC (@LoneStar_PAC) July 8, 2026
Talarico has a long and proud history of moderate centrism and serious devotion to Christianity:
TEXAS SENATE RACE: James Talarico (CIS) proudly admits his church leads in transgender activism, promotes atheism, and protects illegals from deportation. He’s dropping in the polls the more Texans learn about him. pic.twitter.com/vyFloXMJQq
— Lone Star Liberty PAC (@LoneStar_PAC) May 28, 2026
James Talarico believes it is fascist ("Christofascism") to keep babies from being killed in their mother's womb and children from being mutilitated in the trans craze. pic.twitter.com/GPlS1mxdPs
He also says that Islam and Christianity are equally valid pathways to the truth of God and that white men must be punished for their privilege and toxicity and white supremacy. You know, as all moderate centrists believe.
Maybe Jasmine Ratchet was right -- maybe Texas Democrats really are racists. Because Talarico does not seem to be a good candidate.
Note that Talarico has been shaped by 30 years of increasingly unhinged leftwing social media activism, whereby lefties just gas each other up and cook each other's brains with stranger and more extreme claims. Talarico's theory of the political case comes straight from leftwing social media preaching: Their great claim is that Americans are secretly hungry for a pro-trans, pro-baby-murder, pro-drag-queen politics, but have only shied away from registering their real preference because Democrats are so mealy-mouthed and evasive about these policy imperatives, causing people to doubt what they truly know in their hearts.
So the way to win is to be vociferously, unapologetically, angrily in favor of the most extreme and divisive planks of the DSA agenda, and that will cause Stupid Americans to think "Gee, he seems confident and sure of himself like Trump, let's make all children transgender."
And note that Trump is a big, big part of this. They see that Trump has been clear about policy choices once called "extreme" and has profited from them. Now, they've been making these same claims (just be unapologetically communist!) since Clinton, but Trump's success put these demands into overdrive.
The difference is, of course, that in Trump's case, the policies he was championing actually were very popular, just ruled anathema by a leftwing Democrat establishment and a liberal Republican establishment. In Trump's case, there really was a popular hunger for policies the corrupt establishment suppressed and refused to implement no matter how clear the voters made their preference for them.
There really was a strong popular consensus in favor of these positions beneath the fake "consensus" imposed on the public by the eite.
There is no such appetite for transing all the children lurking beneath the surface of the elite-imposed fake "consensus."
Indeed, the only reason this monstrous insanity was permitted to infect so many children's minds was that it was artificially, undemocratically promoted as The Only Permissible Position by the leftwing Democrat establishment and the liberal Republican establishment.
Popular conservative positions are suppressed and made radioactive by the leftwing/liberal elite. This means that someone who forthrightly embraces these positions can win elections.
On the other hand, toxically unpopular leftwing positions are championed by the same leftwing/liberal elite. This means that the public's grudging tolerance for these positions only exists because the establishment threatens to excommunicate them if they dissent. The actual popular position is an angry rejection of these policies -- so there is no undercurrent of opinion that can be appealed to by a Talarico-type Preacher for Communism. Quite the opposite.
THE MORNING RANT: Great Economic News You Won’t Get from the Legacy Media
—Buck Throckmorton
You wouldn’t know it if you rely on the legacy media for your economic news, but there are great things happening in this country. New unemployment claims have plummeted to historic lows, the US trade deficit has plunged, and there is massive industrial investment going on in the U.S., due in large part to President Trump’s “America-first” effort to re-shore industrial production.
But the legacy media is trying to tell a different story.
Of course, there is still the inflation issue. Because we haven’t fully recovered from the Biden inflation shock, President Trump is blamed for not deflating prices back to a pre-Biden level.
Core inflation is currently 2.9%, which is higher than desired, but look at the chart below. This is the most recent core inflation chart (through May 2026) from the Bureau of Labor Standards. The years 2021 through 2024 are the Biden years, all the others are Trump years. Notice anything?
Gas prices need to come down, of course, and I pray that President Trump isn’t goaded into a ground war in Iran that will skyrocket oil prices while destroying his presidency. Ground wars in Asia are even less popular than high egg prices.
Speaking of which, I can go to Wal-Mart right now and buy a dozen large eggs for $1.47. At the end of the Biden presidency, eggs were averaging over $4.00 per dozen. There was one point after Trump’s inauguration that the high price of eggs was dominating the news cycle, since the media thought it was a story that would hurt Trump. Strangely enough, the current low price of eggs is not considered newsworthy.
Perhaps the greatest indicator of economic strength is civilian employment, of which something remarkable is going on. As John Carney just documented at Breitbart Business Digest in a piece titled “The First Half of 2026 Saw Lowest Level of Jobless Claims Since 1969,” new unemployment claims in 2026 are consistently at low levels not seen for almost 60 years. As a percentage of the workforce, these low-numbers are unprecedented in the post-war era, because the workforce was so much smaller all those decades ago.
Weekly initial unemployment claims for last week came in at 215,000, which is a very low level. Even more impressive, the average over the first six months of the year is around 213,000. To put that in perspective, the last time the January through July period had claims this low was 1968 and 1969. The workforce was much smaller then, less than half the size it is now.
As for the overall unemployment rate, it was 4.2% and rising in November 2024 when Donald Trump was elected president. Today it is 4.2% and declining. This is also despite the massive reduction in the federal workforce that Trump has imposed.
Meanwhile, the trade deficit is decreasing due to President Trump’s tariffs and re-shoring agenda. Comically, the media is desperate to report just the opposite, as shown in this weirdly-headlined New York Times piece from last week:
“Widens” is an interesting word choice. In this context it apparently means a slight one-month increase in the trade deficit from the dramatically lower monthly trade deficits that Trump has achieved.
The United States trade deficit in goods and services widened to $77.6 billion in May as America imported more goods than it sold abroad.
On average, the monthly trade deficit in goods has been $96 billion in the 16 months since Mr. Trump returned to the White House. That’s down about 5 percent from the monthly average in the 16 months before his second term began.
The chart below shows how the Trump administration has slashed the trade deficit since the end of the Biden administration in January 2025. But the New York Times wants you to know it “widened” in May 2026.
With all the re-shoring, there is a corresponding explosion of domestic economic activity. The publication Freightwaves not only documents the volume of goods being shipped, but also what products are being shipped.
Rail traffic on U.S. carriers totaled 482,121 carloads and intermodal units for the week ending July 4, a gain of 8.7% from the same week a year ago.
An 8.7% year-over-year increase in rail shipments over already solid prior-year results tells a story of very strong economic activity. A deeper dive reveals huge increases in the amount of domestically sourced steel, lumber, and other commodities being hauled to supply the industrial expansion under way.
This headline is just one of many similar announcements of industrial growth and new jobs due to re-shoring:
The investment is expected to create 2,000 U.S. jobs at the facility, add a second vehicle assembly line and roughly double the size of the 2.7-million-square-foot plant by 2030, the automaker said. It will expand the plant’s annual capacity from roughly 200,000 to 350,000 units, Toyota said.
Beyond the $3.6 billion invested and the 2,000 direct jobs at the Toyota expansion in San Antonio, there will be many billions of other dollars spent as that investment gets recirculated through the economy.
The partisan media repeatedly tells American consumers that the economy is terrible, and then it follows-up with “consumer sentiment” polls as verification that the economy is bad. But their propaganda campaign can’t mask the actual industrial expansion going on.
Consumer prices are still too high – rent, insurance, gas etc. By continuing to deport the millions of uninsured, non-citizens working at below-market wages and taking up housing, President Trump can continue to relieve inflation pressure and keep the country pointed to a great economic future.
Good morning kids. So, to paraphrase the revolting blather of Barack Obama, Lindsey Graham is dead but Mitch McConnell is alive. Just like way back when the notion that GM was "alive" McConnell on the other hand conveniently mugging from his bed for the cameras belies his actual heath and fitness to remain in the Senate. In any case as for Graham, condolences go out to his family and loved ones.
President Donald Trump on Sunday expressed his sadness over the sudden passing of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) at 71 years old and called Graham “a true American Patriot.” Vice President JD Vance remembered Graham in a post on X Sunday morning:
Lindsey Graham came from humble beginnings and became one of the most powerful lawmakers in the most powerful nation on Earth. His story was a fundamentally American one. Early in my Senate tenure, I remember getting into a shouting match with Lindsey about a Ukraine funding bill at lunch and then learning the very next day that he was pushing rail legislation I really cared about behind the scenes. That was Lindsey Graham. He fought like hell for the things he believed in, and he was just as willing to go to bat for you when it counted.
For me, Lindsey Graham's record as a warrior for conservative principles was spotty at best if not dismal. After all, his moniker for many years was Graham-nesty and for good reason. As the leader of the so-called "Gang of Eight" he pushed hardest to grant amnesty to the millions of illegal aliens already here during the Obama years. Open borders and illegal aliens are a boon to corporate donors to the GOP and by extension to Graham and his ilk who will gladly wet their beaks at the expense of the indigenous American worker by destroying the wages of real working real Americans. And we all know what massive illegal alien populations do for the Democrats. So, farewell Lindsey Graham and RIP. Here's hoping whoever succeeds you as the Senator from South Carolina will be a real champion of Americanism, America and the free market. Yes, I do realize that Marco Rubio was also a part of that hideous cabal. But his tenure as secretary of State as well as his evolution into a real MAGA stalwart at least in my mind has absolved him of that ill-advised position. Rubio unless and until proven otherwise represents a real hope for our future.
While Graham was only 71 and McConnell 84, both are representative of the entrenched gerontocracy in Washington DC whose sole purpose is the lining of their own pockets at the expense of the taxpayers and in the case of Republicans aiding and abetting the Democrat party's dismantling of America as founded all to get wealthy at the cost of our liberty.
The Trump administration expressed fury at the Democrats for attempting to shield an immigrant who had committed a heinous crime from deportation, with White House Border Czar Tom Homan saying in an interview, “Who pardons a child rapist? That’s how much [Tim Walz] supports illegal aliens over U.S. citizen children.” Trump Deports Convicted Child Rapist Tim Walz Tried to Protect Through Pardon Powers.
The lawsuit highlights ongoing tensions between the Trump administration and Democrat state governments over immigration policy, with the latter attempting to effectively veto federal law by creating sanctuary jurisdictions in which state officials refuse to assist federal law enforcement. While the DOJ has filed numerous lawsuits against similar policies nationwide, challenges remain, as lower courts helmed have occasionally sided with sanctuary states. Trump DOJ Sues Dem-Led Maryland Over Sanctuary State Policies.
Trump’s comments underscore the ongoing volatility in U.S.-Iran relations, particularly following the recent resumption of hostilities following Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. forces have struck dozens of Iranian targets in retaliation, apparently focusing on speed boats, drone facilities, and other infrastructure the Iranians have used against commercial shipping. Trump Leaves Instructions for Unprecedented Retaliation If Iran Assassinates Him.
When Iranians view nuclear power, they view it not through a “mutually assured destruction” filter, but as the fulfillment of prophecy. What Americans Don’t Appreciate About Iran
U.S. District Judge William Orrick granted a preliminary injunction Thursday barring the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice and the Interior from enforcing the contested conditions against 11 local governments, concluding in a 68-page order that the restrictions likely run afoul of both the separation-of-powers doctrine and the Administrative Procedure Act. Federal Judge Blocks Trump Administration’s Anti-DEI Grant Conditions
The push to confirm a permanent intelligence chief comes after Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act lapsed June 12, an authority that allows the government to monitor communications of foreign targets abroad, including when they involve American citizens. Senate Scrambles to Confirm Trump Nominees Before August Recess
WE-ALL-SLAM-FOR-I-SLAM
Many have been asking lately if the onslaught of Islam or the rapid rise of Marxism is more likely to destroy the United States ... Muslims, Marxists, and mayhem in Minnesota
OFFICIAL DEMOCRAT PARTY/LEFTIST-ENDORSED ANTI-SEMITISM, ANTI-CHRISTIANITY, PLUS VARIOUS & SUNDRY GODLESS HEATHENS
FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS, MEDIA, BIG BROTHER TECH
The Justice Department has subpoenaed four New York Times reporters, demanding they testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan next week over their coverage of security concerns tied to the new Air Force One jet gifted to the United States by Qatar, the newspaper reported. DOJ Subpoenas New York Times Reporters Over Air Force One Security Story
Why youths are rampaging in cities across America—and how to stop it (machine guns, napalm - jjs) The Scourge of Teen Takeovers
The lead counsel for the federal watchdog appointed to oversee union activities informed Fain and the senior union member, Rich Boyer, last month that the DOJ had initiated a grand jury investigation into matters detailed in the monitor’s reports, including those involving Fain and his fiancée. The monitor’s office, led by New York attorney Neil Barofsky, issues periodic reports about the union’s inner workings. DOJ opens probe into allegations against United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain
Women who use Depo-Provera face a higher risk of developing a slow-growing brain tumor, known as a meningioma, while the contraceptive’s maker, Pfizer, faces hundreds of lawsuits claiming that it was aware of the potential risks.The brand name for depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA), Depo-Provera, contains the synthetic progestin hormone and is used by roughly 1 in 4 sexually active US women at some point. Now, more research has found other common hormonal birth control drugs that carry the same risk. It’s not just Depo-Provera — study links 5 more birth control drugs to brain tumor risk
DEMOCRAT/LEFTIST AND RINO SCANDALS, MESHUGAS, CHUTZPOCRISY, INSANITY
The politicization of everything creates, in the ruling class, a belief in the infallible righteousness of their mission, which, in turn, legitimizes any tactics necessary to take and hold power. Graham Platner and the Rationalization of Everything
Miranda Devine: It is a little like reading his laptop — without the homemade porn.The lies are the same, but this new Hunter sounds nothing like the whiny, malicious Hunter who revealed himself in seven years of frantic, crack-inspired musings on his infamous laptop.The new Hunter is polished, calculated and utterly inauthentic. He is a skillfully manufactured product, and his sudden explosion into the media landscape is anything but organic. Hunter Biden is on a shameless media blitz to promote an upcoming doc — and attempts to rewrite history
Some leftists went far beyond merely cheering or mocking Widdecombe’s death, welcoming it in graphically violent terms. User @XN2389 wrote that Widdecombe should “Rest in Torture,” while user “Heather Herbert” said she hoped the 78-year-old’s death was “extremely painful,” adding, “I hope she was handcuffed to the bed screaming in agony.” Given the violent circumstances surrounding Widdecombe’s death, this led Raheem Kassam, Editor-in-Chief of The National Pulse, to call for “Heather” to be investigated. Leftist Activists Subhuman Scum Cheer Possible Murder of Christian Politician Ann Widdecombe.
FEMINAZISM, TRANSGENDER PSYCHOSIS, HOMOSEXUALIZATION, WAR ON MASCULINITY/NORMALCY
But this interview really sticks out because she accidentally destroyed the entire argument for trans ideology. When asked about the hostility she's faced since transitioning, Page, of course, played the victim card. Ellen Page Accidentally Makes the Case Against Gender Ideology
CULTURE WARS, NATIONAL SUICIDE
This year, Democrats seem to have sucked the life out of it, but that shouldn’t make us forget that America truly is the greatest and best country in world history. 1976: The Year Of The Magical Bicentennial
As America marks its 250th year, two common-sense victories reaffirm that girls' sports belong to girls and the Bible remains essential to understanding American history. Culture War Victories
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.
Frame generation is a sore spot for many games. It uses AI to generate in-between frames to smooth out game graphics, much the same way upscaling generates in-between pixels to make each frame of graphics look better.
The problem is that the overhead of frame generation makes the game run slower rather than faster, while it looks smoother. The imbalance can be jarring.
Sunday Overnight Open Thread - July 12, 2026 [Doof]
—Open Blogger
Howdy Hordelings! Welcome to the Sunday ONT. Hope your weekend has been a good one. Open thread, as always. Fashion and music, as always. What's on YOUR mind tonight?
They say soda is bad for you, and that is probably right in most cases, but if you happen to have a stomach clogged with undigested food, it can apparently be a big help! A team of doctors from Massachusetts recently reported the unusual case of an elderly woman with a large benzoar in her stomach who managed to dissolve the large mass by drinking 1.5 liters of Diet Coke per day.
Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, the doctors reported that the patient had been experiencing a burning pain in her upper abdomen and right side of her torso for about a month when she finally came in for a checkup. She had tried two common over-the-counter medications for acid reflux, but they had no effect.
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Because of her history of diabetes, the woman was prescribed diet soda, but because she didn’t enjoy carbonated drinks, the recommended 3 liters were cut down to just 1.5 liters per day. Still, the treatment proved remarkably effective! During her second day of treatment, the patient reported a “tugging” sensation in her stomach, after which her nausea and discomfort disappeared. A subsequent endoscopy confirmed that the benzoar had dissolved.
I've used Coca Cola to dissolve corrosion on car battery terminals. I'm not at all surprised at what cola / diet cola can do.
It's that time of the week - when we turn the ONT over to our good friend Piper for a bit. Here's this week's fashion pr0n.
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Paris Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2026: Where Drama met more Drama!
Paris wrapped another round of Haute Couture magic (July 6–9, 2026), and mon dieu, what a week! While the city sweated through record heat, the runways delivered pure escapism. Here’s our playful roundup of the absolute crème de la crème.
Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel: A Whimsical Fairytale Garden
Matthieu Blazy transformed Paris’s Grand Palais into an enchanted garden for Chanel’s Fall/Winter 2026 Haute Couture show. Picture a magical garden alive with oversized blooms, cascading florals, and hanging vines, the perfect backdrop for a collection that blended house heritage with pure fantasy.
Tweed suits got a fresh, romantic update with delicate embellishments while feathery textures, iridescent fabrics, and pops of vibrant color (lunar teals, ember pinks, and acid greens) brought the fairytale to life. Classic codes like camellias and pearls were reimagined in playful ways. Blazy continues to breathe new life into Chanel while honoring its soul.
Jonathan Anderson at Dior: Garden Party Meets Avant-Garde
Anderson continued his Dior journey with a lush, nature-inspired collection full of ruffles, florals, and architectural tailoring. Picture voluminous bubble skirts, pleated masterpieces, and flower-embellished pieces that felt both romantic and modern. The Jardin des Tuileries setting? Perfection. It was a love letter to couture craftsmanship with a cheeky energy. By the way, Mr. Anderson designed Taylor Swift’s wedding gown.
Schiaparelli’s Surrealist Spectacle
Daniel Roseberry stayed true to the house’s playful DNA with “The Call of the Void”: bold, body-skimming pieces, exaggerated embellishments, and the signature surreal touch. Think sculptural latex alongside glittering florals and architectural details that made you do a double-take. Pure theater, and we loved every second.
Iris van Herpen: Sonic Starquakes – Where Science Becomes Wearable Art
No one blends fashion, technology, and the cosmos quite like Iris van Herpen. For her Fall/Winter 2026 Haute Couture collection “Sonic Starquakes,” she dove deep into astrophysics, creating pieces inspired by vibrating stars, exploding supernovae, spiraling galaxies, and the turbulent beauty of plasma.
This wasn’t just inspiration, it was innovation. Van Herpen introduced actual plasma into couture for the first time, with glowing, charged ions captured in hand-blown glass and tulle. The result? Ethereal dresses that looked like they were woven from starlight itself. If you love fashion that commands a room, this was your show
Paris Couture 2026 proved once again that fashion isn’t just clothes, it’s fantasy and storytelling in wearable form. Whether you’re team dramatic or whimsical, this season gave us all the inspiration we need to be a little bigger and bolder in what we wear.
Speaking of music - how many of you have gotten back into listening to vinyl? I've been dabbling in it, but I need a good turntable (recommendations welcomed!) for my growing collection. Anyway, sometimes the old ways are good ways.
In case you hadn’t realised, vinyl is making a bit of a comeback. Who would have guessed that a plastic disc which first arrived on the scene in 1931 would still be bringing so much joy 95 years later?
Although a lot has changed in the world over that time, the format itself and the techniques used to create it haven’t evolved massively. So, is vinyl currently as good as it gets, or could it be improved upon?
Personal opinion - listening to music on vinyl is a great throwback experience. Warmth and imperfections take the listener back to a different era. For my tastes, I say listening to a CD with big-ass, over-the-ear headphones is the best for audio clarity. What say you?
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Tonight's ONT brought to you by whelmage
“Guys, the new 1981 Citation is here. I know you’ve been hard at work with our ad team. What’s the nicest thing we can say about this piece of shit?” pic.twitter.com/WQWugJ85yT
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 the On Vacation Edition? That's right, gals and guys, your ol' pal Weasel & Co. packed up the truck and headed for the NC shore for a week of vacation from the stressful rigors of retirement. I'm writing this early Sunday morning having just returned from the donut and bagel shops, the sun is out, and the doggos are getting used to having sand betwixt their toes. Coffee is on and I'm ready to light a cigar.
With that, step into the dojo and let's get to the gun stuff below, shall we?
Practice them, 'kay?
Here is an advanced element of WeaselDoctrine under consideration for the TXMoMe.
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Colt Revolvers!
and...
and...
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9mm vs .380
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20mm > .38 Special!
Mag-fed with suppressor!
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280mm > 20mm!
Fed with atoms!
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Our Pal The Telephone Lineman
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Highway Patrol!
This week's episode: Killer On The Run!
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X15!
Recognize the narrator's voice?
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Here are some different online cigar vendors. You will find they not only carry different brands and different lines from those brands, but also varying selections of vitolas (sizes/shapes) of given lines. It's good to have options, especially if you're looking for a specific cigar.
A note about sources. The brick & mortar/online divide exists with cigars, as with guns, and most consumer products, with respect to price. As with guns - since both are "persecuted industries", basically - I make a conscious effort to source at least some of my cigars from my local store(s). It's a small thing, but the brick & mortar segment for both guns and tobacco are precious, and worth supporting where you can. And if you're lucky enough to have a good cigar store/lounge available, they're often a good social event with many dangerous people of the sort who own scary gunz, or read smart military blogs like this one. -rhomboid
Anyone have others to include? Perhaps a small local roller who makes a cigar you like? Send me your recommendation and a link to the site!
Please note the new and improved protonmail account gunthread at protonmail dot com. An informal Gun Thread archive can be found HERE. Future expansion plans are in the works for the site Weasel Gun Thread. If you have a question you would like to ask Gun Thread Staff offline, just send us a note and we'll do our best to answer. If you care to share the story of your favorite firearm, send a picture with your nic and tell us what you sadly lost in the tragic canoe accident. If you would like to remain completely anonymous, just say so. Lurkers are always welcome!
That's it for this week - have you been to the range?
Long-time commenter and long-distance shooter "Blake" sent this along, and I must admit, I feel a bit guilty not having smoked the Mac&Cheese I served yesterday. That looks delicious! It is also another data point in my life-long study confirming my theory that everything is better in a smoker. Or at least as good!
There is a difference between the faintly disgusting unripe tomatoes that Big Supermarket tries to pawn off on us, and the late summer green tomatoes that are used in the South to make Fried Green Tomatoes. Sadly, the tomatoes around here are uniformly awful, so I can't even wing it. But damn, a well executed fried tomato is delicious, and it is just my luck that I happened across this recipe when it is at least a month before anything palatable is available!
Yup, that looks faintly disgusting, mostly because I am not an accomplished food photographer and it was impromptu anyway!
So what is it? a delicious cheeseburger (American Cheese Food Product, and a plain-Jane bun), with some avocado and...drum roll...a Poblano and Serrano chile hot sauce that a friend sent me. One might assume that it was going to be on the hot side, but it was perfectly balanced, with the sweetness of the Poblanos balancing the sometimes considerable heat of the Serranos. It was simply spicy, with all of the interesting flavors of the chiles on full display.
Plain old American Baked Beans! A bit too sweet for my taste, but I make them at home and can control the amount of sugar. So that pot turned out very, very well! The onions and green peppers that I was browning in the bacon fat took forever, I think because of the amount of liquid they sweated out. Obviously there is variation in each onion or pepper or whatever, and I think I simply got unlucky. But they eventually gave up enough water to brown a bit, and all was right and true and simple in DildoWorld.
They went well with grilled chicken, baby-back ribs, some great Mac&Cheese, a weird but good pasta salad, and some green stuff.
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Yup...that is a nice big octopus tentacle in a bun! Looks great, and I'll bet it tastes great!
Grilled octopus is wonderful, and when I see it on a menu I usually order it...like a few days ago in an Italian restaurant in Philadelphia! They served it on a ceci bean mash, and it worked well. But a large tentacle in a hot dog bun is minimalist and elegant. That might be the way to go!
[Hat Tip: naturalfake]
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I apologize in advance for how f*cking awful the writing is in this article, but the topic is interesting, so try to suffer through it! Young writers need to put down their phones and pick up a few well-written books!
Anyway, I was exposed to NC barbecue courtesy of my father, who would occasionally lecture in that state, and would bring back their various types of barbecue as often as possible. The one I remember best is the simplest...vinegar and red pepper flakes. Who knew something so simple could be so delicious.
Of course this brings up the existential question: Ginger or MaryAnne should barbecue be sauced to begin with?
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The garlic is harvested! And it looks...well...sigh. Send all of your excellent home-grown garlic to: cbd dot aoshq at gmail dot com.
Rumor has it that the Bourbon Bubble is bursting. I have seen no evidence of decreasing prices, but maybe the bursting started somewhere else! I think the sweet spot is $40-$60 for excellent and interesting bottles, and bumping that to $100 gets you an incremental improvement in quality, but nothing mind-blowing. More than that and I think you are paying for hype and rarity, which may look good in your liquor cabinet, but doesn't translate to more quality in the bottle.
The problem...or the solution...is to buy lots of bourbon, take tasting notes, and eventually arrive at your favorites! It should take forty or fifty years, but it is worth it!
Big Feather has conspired with Big Cushion to create the perfect cartel-like business stream. Big Feather sells Big Cushion feathers whose ends have been carefully machined to poke through conventional fabrics with ease. Then Big Cushion does not use fabrics that are resistant to those needle-like feathers.
It's brilliant! The cushions lose fill while simultaneously irritating the sh*t out of the consumer, who replaces the cushions in a vain attempt to avoid getting poked and prodded by Big Feather's products.
One day the people will rise up and end this cruelty.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) died from a “brief and sudden illness” Saturday evening, his office said in a statement.
“On the evening of Saturday, July 11, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham passed away from a brief and sudden illness,” the statement shared on X read. “Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at the time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period.”
The 71-year-old was elected to the Senate in 2002. During President Donald Trump’s second term, Graham was a close ally, supporting the president’s military actions against the Iranian regime.
A longtime hawk on Iran, Graham leaves a legacy of backing policies aimed at isolating the country and limiting its missile and nuclear programs, among his many other achievements.
Left unsaid is Graham's unbridled excitement at anything that could possibly lead to military intervention anywhere on the planet! And two failed wars in 20 years, and military involvement almost literally everywhere didn't dampen his enthusiasm for spilling American blood and spending American treasure in foreign lands. His excitement at any expansion of the Ukraine border dispute is legendary, although his 10 trips to Ukraine seem a bit over the top, even for a senator. His savage hatred for Putin seemed personal! His recent change in tone with respect to Islamist Turkey getting F-35s was troubling, and doesn't make logical sense when contrasted to his solid and unwavering support for Israel. Although it might have been as simple as supporting his friends in the defense industry with expanded sales, and geopolitical considerations be damned!
Senator Graham seemed to put on the mantle of "maverick" that sadly didn't disappear with John McCain's death. At times he seemed to be running his personal foreign policy that was sometimes at odds with the President.
But the people of South Carolina kept reelecting him, because whatever his quixotic behavior as a senator, he understood local politics very well and took care of his constituents! The big question is what happens now? The governor will appoint a replacement, and the people of South Carolina elect a replacement Republican nominee in a special election in August to contest the general election in November 2026. The Democrat challenger is Dr. Annie Andrews, who last ran against Nancy Mace...and lost.
Is South Carolina in play for the Democrats? Probably not, but the good people of the Palmetto State have been electing Graham for quite a while, so their judgement when it comes to the proper conduct of a United States Senator is just a bit suspect.
Sunday Morning Book Thread - 7-12-2026 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]
—Open Blogger
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 (party's over, pal! Zombie moose out front shoulda told ya!). 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...
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?
Gothic literature is widely considered to have originated with Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto (1764), which is subtitled "A Gothic Story" in its second edition. It established the core tropes that are still used to this day: haunted architecture, hidden identities, dark secrets, ancestral curses, and implications of a supernatural world involving itself in human affairs. Like most powerful influencers, it sparked its share of critics who thought many of the elements were absurd. Since it's in the public domain, you can read The Castle of Otranto for yourself on Project Gutenberg.
Due to its popularity The Castle of Otranto spawned a next generation of Gothic literature authors, such as Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) and The Italian (1787), as well as Matthew Lewis's The Monk (1796). It's notable that Radcliffe tended towards "explained supernatural" elements in her storytelling, where the events have a rational cause, while Lewis included explicitly demonic elements in his own story. This contrast will continue down through the ages, where its not uncommon for a reader to be uncertain if the story has a supernatural component or not. That uncertainty just adds to the sense of unease within the story.
Victorian and lat 19th century authors such as Bram Stoker, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Oscar Wilde embraced the Gothic traditions in their stories, resulting in timeless classics such as Dracula(1897), Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1890), and The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), respectively. (All of these are available on Project Gutenberg, of course!)
So what defines gothic literature? As near as I can tell, there are a few characteristics that when combined will create a gothic story.
Atmosphere - Above all, a gothic story has a very well-defined and distinctive atmosphere or mood that is interlaced all throughout the story. At all times, the reader and the characters in story should feel a sense of unease with the events in the story. Nothing is quite as it seems. Reality itself seems to be twisted in some way, leading to events that could be influenced by supernatural forces, or maybe it's simply the nature of the story to present the ordinary in an extraordinary dark fashion. Shadows are deeper, clouds are gloomier, and whatever light is present is wan, sickly, and fails to illuminate as much as it should. A sense of dread permeates the story, impacting the decisions of the characters, and often leading them to make poor choices. In a way, the atmosphere of a gothic story is itself a character, both influencing the characters and reacting to their choices. There's often a sense of oppression layering their world as they struggle to rise above the challenges they face, which seem to be insurmountable and might very well be beyond their capabilities to face, leading to madness and death for some.
Secrets - At the heart of every gothic story, you will find a secret that's been buried deep. Part of the challenge for the characters (and the reader) is to ferret out those secrets and bring them into the light, though that can often lead to tragic circumstances. For instance, in Robert Bloch's excellent short story "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper" one of the characters uncovers the truth behind the legend of the dreaded serial killer, but it's too late for him. Many dark secrets may be layered on top of one another, burying multiple shames and betrayals that when uncovered result in unforeseen circumstances, such as madness or suicide. In P.C. Hodgell's gothic fantasy novels Seeker's Mask and To Ride a Rathorn, the protagonist Jame is forced to delve deep into her family's history, which is thousands of years old. Going back just a few decades, she finds out the truth of the origins of one her kinsmen (Seeker's Mask) and she discovers the Shame of Tentir (To Ride a Rathorn), which has dramatic ripples in Jame's destiny in future novels.
Characters - Gothic stories are equally character and plot driven. Characters are often interconnected in suprising and complex ways. Many of the characters will have a tragic backstory that leads them to their current circumstances. Some are devils, others are fallen angels, struggling to do the right thing but weighed down by the burdens of family history. Expect a lot of brooding over past regrets. Some characters might struggle against their destiny, while others will embrace it and go with the flow, eventually leading to their own damnation. This often shows up in H.P. Lovecraft's short stories when a character discovers their origins, such as in "The Shadow over Innsmouth."
Although we often link gothic and horror together, gothic elements can be woven into any other genre. I've already mentioned P.C. Hodgell's gothic fantasies. You can also find gothic elements in science fiction (particularly in the Warhammer 40K Expanded Universe), mysteries, and suspense, as well as romance. "Gothic" is as much a layer added onto a genre as it is a genre by itself.
What are some of YOUR favorite gothic stories? Does "Gothic" hold up in the modern era?
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BOOKS BY MORONS
Although not explicitly Gothic, I can tell from the cover of this book that there does seem to be a hint of Gothicness in this story. The description also lends itself to supporting that idea. CBD himself said this book looks like fun and I agree!
Hello!
I know y'all don't do promos in the book thread anymore, but I was wondering if there might be some help for a long time, mostly lurking moron-ette (lurking since 2002!). Sarah Hoyt just promo-d my new book over at her site and I was hoping for some love from the Moron Horde. My daughter says I need to shill myself some more, so here I am.
I read all the time about how conservatives need to contribute to the arts, and there is also the recurring conversation of "modern perspectives" being jammed into period pieces. I set out to write more of what I want to read: Men being men, women being women and both being clever and heroic while still being real-ish people and not cartoons.
If the fine folks at the HQ decide against it, no hard feelings and the lurking will continue.
God Bless, Taleena
A Death In Good Society
+++++ When the body of Maire Beaufort, society's adored "Angel of Waldfeld," is found propped against a canal wall in the city's most fashionable quarter, her death is more than just a tragedy; it threatens to ignite a diplomatic crisis.
Captain John Recht, former intelligence officer, is summoned from retirement to investigate on the heels of burying his wife. What begins as a straightforward murder quickly unravels into a labyrinth of deception, ambition, and betrayal. Powerful families are at odds, the palace whispers of scandal, and the Angel is at the center of it all.
As John and his trusted allies pursue truth through the salons and alleyways of a city built on secrets, they discover that the crime is only the first move in a much larger game—one that could topple governments and destroy the beginnings of John's new life.
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WHAT I'VE ACQUIRED RECENTLY
I was pleasantly surprised by Dune: House Atreides by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (see below), so I bought the sequels in the prequel trilogy:
Dune: House Harkonnen
Dune: House Corinno
WHAT I'VE BEEN READING RECENTLY
Galactic Empires: Volume 2 edited by Brian Aldiss
I'll probably due a Sunday Morning Book Thread focusing on "imperial" stories. I find it to be a fascinating subject as I read a lot of books that are set within a vast galactic empire. Brian Aldiss collected a number of short stories that all explore ideas of where humanity might go as a species as we advance out among the stars. Is a galactic empire even possible?
Saucer: Savage Planet by Stephen Coonts
This is very much a tongue-in-cheek look at an alien first-contact story. It's not meant to be taken seriously at all, though Coonts does pose some interesting questions about how humanity would react as a species if we believed that someone on Earth had access to an alien anti-aging drug that could potentially lead to immortality. Would the drug companies want to mass market it? Or would the suppress it? Or would they deliberately limit supply so only the wealthy elite would benefit? How far will humans go in pursuit of this miraculous substance?
The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
This the classic adventure story by the author of Sherlock Holmes.
Like all great adventure tales, it starts with a young man who wants to get laid. The woman he's courting insists that she can only be with someone of heroic stature.
Edward Malone, a young reporter for a third-rate London publication, decides that in order to win over her heart he will have to embark on a grand adventure. He finds a scientist who had returned from an expedition to South America with outlandish tales of giant monsters never seen before. The scientific society to which Professor Challenger belongs is highly skeptical. But in order to settle the issue, they agree to send him and a couple of observers to verify his claims. Malone is sent along by his newspaper to document the journey.
This is a classic story for a reason and it has inspired countless pulp fiction tales since it was published in 1912. Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park, for instance, is clearly an homage to Doyle's story.
Philip Jose Farmer's The Dungeon is also heavily, heavily inspired by The Lost World, particularly in how the story is framed as an expedition funded by a newspaper to search for a missing noble heir in an explored region of the world (Africa instead of South America).
I definitely recommend The Lost World if you want to read a gripping adventure story. It seems cliche at times, but that's because this is where the cliches *began*.
Willful Child by Steven Erikson
THE TRANSCREDIBLE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN ZAPP BRANNIGAN! HADRIAN SAWBACK!
This is a satire and parody of Star Trek featuring a captain who is approximately 3 parts Captain James T. Kirk, 1 part Captain Zapp Brannigan from Futurama, and 1 part Captain Chode from Tripping the Rift.
He's not quite as cowardly as Brannigan, but he's also not very bright. Mostly Captain Sawback succeeds through a lot of stupendous luck and a towering sense of his own infinite superiority over the Affiliation of Civilized Planets, which is run like most large bureaucracies everywhere.
Dune: House Atreides by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
I had heard mixed reviews of the stories written by Brian Herbert (Frank Herbert's son) and Kevin J. Anderson that are set in the Dune universe. However, I got this cheap at a library book sale recently and decided to give it go.
Prequel novels have one fatal weakness: the characters have plot armor that prevents them from dying if they show up in the main storyline later. However, we do get to see the events that lead up to the main storyline, which can be engaging and interesting when done well. I was pleasently surprised in how Brian and Kevin expanded the lore of the Dune universe. It's not perfect, but they do seem to try to adhere to Frank Herbert's original intent as best they could. In the afterword, Brian and Kevin both share how they came to collaborate on this novel. According to Brian, it would not have happened if somone hadn't discovered Frank Herbert's notes on the unwritten seventh Dune novel, which was supposed to wrap the plot threads from Chapterhouse: Dune, but was never finished due to Frank's untimely death in 1986.
I had some misgivings at first about reading this book, but I wanted to give the story a fair shake and I'm glad I did. I enjoyed it enough that I immediately ordered the next two books in the series. I don't know if I'll read them all, but I may go ahead and read Frank Herbert's last three books in the series.
It's a weird, weird universe that Frank Herbert created and Brian/Kevin have added considerably to that weirdness. It's not for everyone, though. One of the more unusual aspects of this world is that there do not appear to be any alien intelligences on the million worlds of the Galactic Empire. Plenty of alien lifeforms, but none of them have sentience. Humanity has dispersed itself to conquer the galaxy, though some branches have mutated to the point where they've become alien to their original species (looking at you Spacing Guild Navigators).
By the Light of the Moon by Dean Koontz
This is one of Dean Koontz's lighter and wackier horror stories. Two random strangers are injected with "stuff" that's promised to enhance them in some unspecified way. Now Dylan and Jilly must join together, along with Dylan's autistic younger brother Shepherd, to unravel the mystery of the "stuff," understand how it's changed them, and also dodge government operatives who presumably want to capture them and the "stuff" that's inside their veins.
It's not all fun and games, though, as Dylan and Jilly are drawn towards truly monstrous people engaged in horrific activities and it's up to the two of them to use their unique gifts to stop these monsters at any cost.
Tips, suggestions, recommendations, etc., can all be directed to perfessor -dot- squirrel -at- gmail -dot- com.
I panicked and bought half a terabyte of RAM, everything I could find at old prices (and in one case, more than old prices but better than typical new prices).
The company is planning to churn out 140,000 12-inch wafers a month of 28nm DRAM. Given the nuances of DRAM scaling, I'm not sure exactly what that counts for... Hang on.
Looks like it's about 5% of current production by the Big Three, but every drop in the ocean counts.
Earendil - named after the mariner from Tolkien's Silmarillion - is an experimental mirror sixty feet on a side, deployed into orbit to reflect sunlight down to anywhere that needs a little brightening up.
The plan is to launch 50,000 of these. Which used to be a lot.
The reasoning being that if environmental groups can't set them on fire, they're bad and must be illegal.
Research today: The effects of local decompactification of additional spatial dimensions on the formation of exotic ices in the abyssal depths of a water world of around 5 Earth diameters, Irish ferry timetables and fares in Galway Bay in 1911, the arms and armour of the Galatian mercenaries in the service of Nicomedes I of Bithnyia in 278 BC, and the application of scaling laws to the possible size of terrestrial nudibranchs.
No catgirls died in the research of these story elements. Partly because they already went extinct.
Musical Interlude
Yes, I've been rewatching Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon a.k.a Danmachi, prompted by its availability in full on Hidive, which I picked up a subscription to at 75% off during Amazon's Prime Day sale. This song is the closing theme for the first season.
Of course, seasons two and four left the service before I got to them, and season two is not available for streaming on other services in Australia due to the regional rights being a big ball of mud... Not available legitimately.
Oh, and I missed that the new Tenchi Galaxy series is being funded through a Kickstarter project. If you're interested, I regret to inform you that you're too late... It's already reached its goal. You have 57 days to chip in if you'd like, though.
Welcome to Club ONT - a collaboration of The Disco and The Dino. We built this place for you so you can have some fun. Come in in, grab a drink or 3. Keep it light and friendly. Jerks need not enter the premises (the moose out front is keeping track and you do NOT want to disappoint the moose).
My wife asked me to see a psychologist about my anger issues.
The doctor asked, “If a train was coming down the hallway toward you, what would you do?”
I replied, “I’d get in my helicopter and fly away.”
The doctor asked, “Where did you get a helicopter?”
I replied, “The same fuckin’ place you got that train from!”
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"Bless me Father, for I have sinned. I have been with a loose girl."
The priest asks, "Is that you, little Joey Pagano?"
"'Yes, Father, it is."
"And who was the girl you were with?"
"I can't tell you, Father. I don't want to ruin her reputation."
"Well, Joey, I'm sure to find out her name sooner or later so you may as well tell me now. Was it Tina Minetti?"
"I cannot say."
"Was it Teresa Mazzarelli?"
"I'll never tell."
"Was it Nina Capelli?"
"I'm sorry, but I cannot name her."
"Was it Cathy Piriano?"
"My lips are sealed."
"Was it Rosa DiAngelo, then?"
"Please, Father, I cannot tell you."
The priest sighs in frustration. "You're very tight lipped, and I admire that. But you've sinned and have to atone. You cannot be an altar boy now for 4 months. Now you go and behave yourself."
Joey walks back to his pew, and his friend Franco slides over and whispers, "What'd you get?"
"Four months vacation and five good leads!"
*****
Drink of the Night
Today is 7/11, so go grab a Slurpee! Not just ANY Slurpee. One fit for The Club!
Did we just mix a Slurpee drink with booze? You bet we did and it’s delicious.
Grab your favorite Slurpee flavors, add some ice-cold booze and voila! You’ve just reached Hard Slurpee status. Easy, right? It’s like they practically make themselves. So, why are you still reading this? Get that liquor in the freezer, grab a Slurpee drink and start mixing things up. We’ve got our own Hard Slurpee cocktail to make.
7-eleven suggests a few varieties
Party Fuel Hard Slurpee
½ cherrysthebomb.com Slurpee
½ Bloop Razzle Slurpee
2 oz. ice-cold vodka
Poolside Colada Hard Slurpee
½ Pinata Colada Slurpee
½ Peelin’ Out Slurpee
2 oz. ice-cold rum
Sundae Funday Hard Slurpee
½ cherrysthebomb.com Slurpee
½ Peelin’ Out Slurpee Slurpee
2 oz. ice-cold vodka
Freeze vodka / rum before using. Mix after pouring.
*****
Club ONT Department of Pet Training
One of the D's is training a bird to work in the Club. We can't say which D did this, but it's not difficult to figure out
A black bear wandered into the shopping mall on Alaska's Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson to eat a single peach and defecate on the floor before leaving.
The bear was caught on camera entering the Exchange shopping mall on the base - which is commonly known by the acronym JBER, pronounced "J-bear" - about 9 a.m. Sunday.
The bear entered the Commissary, ate a single peach and pooped on the floor before vacating the building, officials said.
*****
Club ONT Department of Eccentric Motorsport
*****
Club ONT Department of Music Theory
Can any among the Horde play the drum intro for Van Halen's Hot for Teacher?
*****
Club ONT Jukebox
Randomness? You betcha!
*****
Top 10ish Comments of the Week
*****
Club ONT is brought to you from far far away in another galaxy:
*****
No, Club ONT staff have not been in contact with The Turtle. The only turtle sightings around here are Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael. They are heroes in a half-shell.
Gore Verbinksi is a filmmaker I enjoy. I, like most of the world, became aware of him with his first Pirates of the Caribbean film which he followed up with his pair of sequels. Ever since, from The Weather Man to Rango to his gonzo masterpiece A Cure for Wellness, I've wanted more Gore Verbinski movies. Heck, even The Lone Ranger, as bloated and unwieldy as it is, has some real entertainment to it.
But, the dual financial failures of The Lone Ranger and A Cure for Wellness seems to have sent him to director jail, and he had to spend nine years scrounging for projects and enough money to put something together. And that something came out earlier this year, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die.
I missed it in theaters. I watched it the second I saw it on HULU. I bought the 4K at full price. I liked it. I enjoyed it. And, I had thoughts about it. Not really about the film itself, but about the nature of influence. Because, you see, I saw an influence, and that influence might not have actually been there.
Only the most naive of filmgoer assumes it's possible to make something completely original. Influence is going to percolate across every aspect of storytelling, and it's a question I'm interested in about when is it good or bad? And, watching Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die, I saw a film that exhibited several different levels of influence from obvious references to structural decisions that I felt were hallmarks of earlier films.
But, first, why? Why use these influences?
The need to use influence comes from a few different places, but many times it's about solving narrative issues. You have a character in a screenplay who is doing things, but you don't buy that he's doing things for a convincing reason, so you reach back into your memory of films that you like, and you say, "My character should be like this character who was in a similar situation." Should the author reject an idea because it came before, or should they use it because it came before and worked well before? What idea hasn't come before? It's a miasma of questions about what should or shouldn't happen when creating something new.
References
The movie makes several overt references to other films. In the opening ten minutes, Sam Rockwell's future traveler character mentions Groundhog Day, the Bill Murray film about a man stuck in a small town, often visiting a diner, as he relives the same day over and over again. In this film, Rockwell is playing a character who is revisiting this diner for the one hundred seventeenth time, so the comparison is obvious for anyone with a modicum of film knowledge. So, the writer, Matthew Robinson, and Verbinski have Rockwell name drop the other film as if to indicate that yes, these are similar, yes, they know, and now it's time to move on.
They also name drop Mars Attacks!, the Tim Burton film when a minor character reveals he's created weapons that attack phones, bricking them and making them inert. Michael Pena's character compares the look of the guns to those from the aliens in Mars Attacks!. Why do that? Well, that could be as simple as Verbinski liked the design of the prop his prop guy came up with, saw the comparison himself, and thought it would be fun to insert as a line of dialogue.
A third movie mentioned is actually a novel, Anna Karenina, and this is the most interesting. Firstly, the movie does get mentioned (it's called ancient and stars Kiera Knightley whom Verbinski directed in the Pirates films, so there's a knowing nod to Verbinski's own film history there). Secondly, Pena's character spends thirty to sixty seconds on the necessity to read the book. It's a weird little detour (emphasis on little, the film is over two hours long) , but it has to serve some purpose, right? Anna herself becomes a character? The book is used as a door stop? Leo Tolstoy comes back from the dead and fights the AI at the end? Something?
Well, the use of it is something more subtle and interesting. Anna Karenina has a parallel character in the film. This would be the Haley Lu Richardson character, Ingrid. She has a love who leaves her for something else (this time, it's an AI existence), and she's despondent and decides that she can throw everything she has away that fateful night. It's not exactly throwing oneself in front of a train, but it is throwing oneself into danger because she feels like she has nothing else.
Do you need knowledge of Tolstoy's film to get Ingrid? To understand what she's going through? Not at all. Could the film have excised the Karenina reference completely? Yes. So, why put it in there? Well, as a signal to the audience of what's to come. It's a writer's convention about foreshadowing, and I thought this was interesting.
The Next Level
The next level of influence never gets mentioned directly in the film. These are the stories that came before that helped pave the path forward for narrative issues as well as narrative goals. The character issue I mentioned earlier? Verbinski felt like there was that exact issue in the script he signed on to direct from Robinson, so during rewrites he zeroed in on a solution.
The solution was Dog Day Afternoon. This isn't a guess. Verbinski mentions it in almost every interview he's done about the film. The character played by Rockwell needed a personal reason to go through this adventure with a group of misfits, much like Pacino in the earlier film, so Verbinski settled on Pacino's character as a model for how to write the story for Rockwell. Rockwell ends up with a personal connection to it all instead of just being Future Man.
The other major influence that the writer Matthew Robinson talks about is Akira, the late 80s, foundational anime film set in a futuristic Tokyo with lots of weird sights and sounds and an expansively epic ending. Robinson wanted the ending of his film to have a similar flavor, so he wrote in the same direction that Akira had gone. The ending is not the same. Our main character doesn't morph and balloon into a skyscraper sized behemoth, but there is an emphasis on scale and activity that mirrors what Akira had done previously.
My Theory
Watching Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die for the first time, I knew of one major influence that had to be there. There was no question in my mind. A group of people who are in a desperate situation, faced with a life or death mission, having to traverse a series of dangerous obstacles that pick them off one by one...AND we have extended flashbacks to give us a portrait of who they were before they showed up in that diner?
That's Sorcerer. To a T (except Friedkin's earlier film front-loads all of the flashbacks to be the first half of the film where Good Luck spaces them out through the first two-thirds of the film). It had to be that.
And neither Robinson nor Verbisnki have ever mentioned it as an influence. Not once. Robinson talks about Pulp Fiction's use of anthology as an influence, which fits with the film as well. But, nope, the obvious influence I KNEW was there...might not be?
What could explain that? Well, first of all, I could have just seen an influence that wasn't there. I could be outright wrong.
Or, it could be one level deeper. Quentin Tarantino considers William Friedkin's Sorcerer to be one of the greatest movies ever (he has a top 12, apparently). Could Sorcerer have influenced Pulp Fiction which then influenced Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die? Easily. That sort of thing happens all the time. Is that the right read of the situation? Maybe. It's just a fun little thought exercise, and no more, though.
Conclusion
Well, firstly, I recommend Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die. It's fun. It wears its influences on its sleeves. It's not the most original thing ever, but it's well directed, well acted, well produced sci-fi fun.
Secondly, I find the influence game an amusing exercise, but I don't think it reflects on the qualities of the films themselves. TS Eliot wrote that bad poets borrow and great poets steal. Pauline Kael remarked at how she could see all the history of American cinema out in the open in a film she loved, Robert Altman's Nashville. Originality ends up being mostly about influences that you are not previously aware of.
Imagine back to 1999 when The Matrix came out. You'd never seen Ghost in the Shell. You'd never read Neuromancer. So, you'd never seen or read anything like it, and it felt like a breath of fresh air in no small part because it felt so original. But...it's actually fairly derivative of works you simply weren't previously aware of. Did the originality make The Matrix good? What if it wasn't actually original? Is it still good? I think so.
Kiss of the Vampire (Rating 2.5/4) Full Review "There's energy, and overall a strong sense of tone and mood to provide a feeling of unease that feels very appropriate for the horror genre. I think the film is a bit of a mess, but it's honestly a fun little mess." [YouTube]
Maniac (Rating 2/4) Full Review "It's just…I'm never quite sure what the story is. It can't commit to any of it all that well, and it's all weirdly deflating." [YouTube]
The Scarlet Blade (or, The Crimson Blade) (Rating 2.5/4) Full Review "I want either a straight drama from this or a pure swashbuckling adventure. The film was ready to present either, so I got this muddled mix. However, it's an interesting muddled mix." [YouTube">YouTube]
The Devil-Ship Pirates (Rating 2.5/4) Full Review "It's a bit disappointing, but I've been more disappointed by Hammer than this. A lot more." [Library]
The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (Rating 1.5/4) Full Review "The movie is a largely limp affair as it languidly moves from one minor plot thread to the next until the incoherence of its final act takes over." [Hoopla]
The Brigand of Kandahar (Rating 2/4) Full Review "A lot of very little things that don't really combine into a whole package. I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call it bad, but, it's mostly because everything is just so unremarkable." [Library]
She (Rating 2.5/4) Full Review "Is it good? Not really, but I do think the finale gets us surprisingly close. A better lead up to that ending would have really helped the film, but that's not there." [Library]
Please check out my videos from the last few weeks:
Email any suggestions or questions to thejamesmadison.aos at symbol gmail dot com.
I've also archived all the old posts here, by request. I'll add new posts a week after they originally post at the HQ.
My next thread will be on 8/1.
CNBC ranks Tennessee as dead last in its “Worst States to Live” analysis. The specific reason is that cross-dressing men in TN are denied access to children and women’s private spaces. Texas finished 49th. The “worst” states were all red states. [Buck]
In response to someone asking why the video tape doesn't show Tyler Robinson's face (PS, it does, but it's crappy video so it's blurry):
Candace Owens
@RealCandaceO
Because as I demonstrated on my show, there were MANY young men that all woke up and decided to dress in Maroon shirts and light shorts on the day of the Charlie's assassination.
The footage can be any one of these young men and in my opinion is likely multiple of them.
If Tyler Robinson's defense would like to contact me-- I'd be happy to supply them the folder of the maroon boys that I began archiving when I noticed the bizarre fashion trend.
I have thus far ID'd two of them, but will focus on IDing the rest of them when I am back on air.
I have maintained that the Feds had multiple decoy maroon boys on the ground that day. Without a clear image, they certainly cannot declare it is Tyler Robinson which is why all the Zionist influencers are hoping they can simply hypnotize the public into trusting blurry images and videos.
For such an "open and shut case" they have thus far provided ZERO evidence of anything outside of a criminal government conspiracy, the likes of which hasn't been seen since the JFK assassination.
More "fedslop" that Cavernous Nostrils is too smart to be taken in by:
Blake Neff
@BlakeSNeff
BREAKING: Lance Twiggs says that Robinson admitted to him in-person on Sept. 11 that the message he had sent the night before (presumably, messages sent while he was trying to retrieve his rifle the night of Sept 10) was true. He says Robinson told him "He wishes he hadn't done it."
Fenix Ammunition
@FenixAmmunition
Photos of the ammunition recovered from Tyler Robinson.
Remington headstamp on the case and despite the somewhat low resolution on the photo you can see the somewhat blunted nature of the projectile's tip.
This is a Remington Cor-Lokt soft point round. It's SPECIFICALLY designed to deform, slow down, and prevent an exit wound. Available at literally every single gun store and sporting goods store that sells ammunition.
In fact, 16 out of the 17 .30-06 varieties manufactured by Remington use some type of expanding, deforming, or fragmenting bullet. Only ONE of their products uses a full metal jacket projectile that could/would be expected to leave an exit wound.
Here's a clip of them sitting in my desk.
This has been the most easily debunked claim of their entire web of lies and it's really mind blowing considering this is exactly what you would choose for an assassination.
But yeah, definitely keep getting all your information from the DEI hire and the Portland pizza boy. I'm sure they know more about this than I do.
Post here, showing Tyler Robinson's ammunition, matching this guy's own box. And it is an expanding-tip hollow-point round.
Boy these Internet Experts (TM) sure do get a lot of things wrong.
Lost 70s Mystery Click And a song with another song as an intro, too: Be it sight, sound, smell, or touch
There's something
Inside that we need so much
The sight of a touch, or the scent of a sound
Or the strength of an oak with roots deep in the ground
The wonder of flowers to be covered and then to burst up
Thru tarmac, to the sun again
Boy do they look like absolute dorks.
Lost 70s Mystery Click Doing alright
A little jiving on a Saturday night
And come what may
Gonna dance the day away
Jenny was sweet
She always smiled for the people she'd meet
On trouble and strife
She had another way of looking at life
Podcast: Is Kentucky's long nightmare over? Maine's resident Nazi might be out, NATO making progress, or is it a fake, Le Pen in France might have a shot, Democrats are simply pinch-faced scolds who hate America, but is our youth going to revitalize the country...and more!
Forgotten 80s Mystery Click It happened one summer, it happened one time
It happened forever, for a short time
A place for a moment, an end to dream
Forever I loved you, forever it seemed
One summer never ends, one summer never began
It keeps me standing still, it takes all my will
An Update about Grammie Winger: She is doing poorly...she is in the hospital and is having a tough go of it. She would love to hear from you folks, so anyone who would like to contact her is welcome to her address! Please contact Bluebell at moroncookbook@gmail.com for her contact info. (I expect her local post office to be furious with us!) [CBD]
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