Ace: aceofspadeshq at gee mail.com
Buck: buck.throckmorton at protonmail.com
CBD: cbd at cutjibnewsletter.com
joe mannix: mannix2024 at proton.me
MisHum: petmorons at gee mail.com
J.J. Sefton: sefton at cutjibnewsletter.com
Jay Guevara 2025 Jim Sunk New Dawn 2025
Jewells45 2025 Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024
Captain Hate 2023
moon_over_vermont 2023
westminsterdogshow 2023
Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022 Dave In Texas 2022
Jesse in D.C. 2022 OregonMuse 2022
redc1c4 2021
Tami 2021
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published.
Contact OrangeEnt for info: maildrop62 at proton dot me
Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread. We gave the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies(TM) a spin and it wobbled and lurched and shook and made terrible scraping sounds. Apparently, it either needs a tune-up or a vacation. Either way, the wheel was of no help which means this edition of the Hobby Thread is a random grab-bag of miscellaneous content.
I have faith that you can either find something in the content that resonates or contribute your own hobbying interests.
You might be tempted to say "I have no hobbies or interests." Bah. Dig around in the content and soak in the comments. Be curious. Glad you're here.
As per usual Hobby Thread etiquette, keep this thread limited to hobbying. All (legal) hobbying is welcome. However, politics, current events and religious debates can live in threads elsewhere. Play nice. Do not be a troll and do not feed the trolls. Pants are optional. Puns are welcome and encouraged.
It is no F-111, but what a thing!! Anna Puma - are you out there??
Thanks much to Patches for the submission and rabbit hole of aviation.
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Speaking of scale models, the scale model world lost a legendary figure recently. Tamiya Chairman, Shunsaku Tamiya, passed away on July 18, 2025 at the age of 90.
Notable nuggets:
Yoshio Tamiya, Shunsaku's father, had a company that produced trucks and vans until Allied air raids in 1945. After his factory was destroyed, he went into the lumber business. He also began making high quality wooden toys. His son, Shunsaku, was there as well.
The lumber mill burned down and Tamiya pivoted to focus on making wood model kits.
Shunsaken worked alongside his father as plastic injection mold technology arrived in the 1960s. The company expanded and grew, particularly with a 1967 Honda F1 car and a Porsche 934 radio controlled car. The company remains privately owned.
Shizuoka City, home to Tamiya and other model makers, is reportedly responsible for 80% of the plastic model market. When you visit, look for public sculptures that echo the plastic model world.
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Wow. $204k+ for an Acura Integra Type R on Bring a Trailer?!
Here's some insight for why:
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More Horde Hobbying:
This is titled D&D given the Dungeons and Dragons imagery. It is a 24x18 in oil by polynikes (naturally). I was going to save this painting for a travel theme that referenced castles, but decided that it it fit well with the theme of a grab-bag of hobbying.
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Hobby Thread News: As you might guess, Hobby Lobby is fully decked out with fall decorations and crafting. They're already 30% off.
The real news is that I can confirm that Christmas crafting supplies are currently being stocked. I repeat. Christmas supplies are available.
Can someone to explain the pink mini-Christmas tree thing?
Is anyone working on fall or Christmas crafting projects? What about Halloween?
Is anyone wise in the ways of Magic: The Gathering? Seems like a lot of people are.
But the biggest driver of Hasbro's recent earnings has been Magic: The Gathering. That's thanks to a recently released expansion set, Final Fantasy Universes Beyond. The set dropped in June and almost instantly shattered records, earning $200 million in one day and becoming the fastest-selling expansion in MTG history.
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I know what you're thinking: "TRex, I'm interested in doing some Bonsai hobbying, but I'm not great with living things. Any suggestions?"
How about Lego Bonsai?
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Forgot to include this when we did puzzles as a theme:
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I was saving this for a bicycling theme (and may re-use it if we do that theme at some point) but it seemed grab-bag eligible:
Here's the last panel zoomed in if your eyes need a little help to read the words.
"Because despite all our troubles, when things are grim out in that wide round world of ours, that's when it's really important to have a good hobby." Posted by: tankascribe at June 22, 2024 07:41 PM (HWxAD).
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Would TRex include a mystery click behind the top photo in a Hobby Thread? Maybe... If you have trouble finding something in the content or comments that resonates with you, hijack the thread for your hobbying as you see fit. We will feature a different theme next time. What are you hobbying? We love showing off Horde hobbying. Send thoughts, suggestions and photos of your hobbying to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Do mighty things.
Greetings to all those lovers of nature and pets. It's always great to see all the pictures submitted and always look forward to seeing what everyone submits. Just a couple of pics of life out in the country of both pets, visitors, and guests (some uninvited).
(Note: Non-mammals are in the PetMoron Adjacent Animals)
-"Baby" testing his tree climbing
-"Bo", a Manx mix enjoying one of the few cool evenings we've had
-"Taco", our newest edition who was dumped at our local church. Not sure what breed she is but she immediately staked her territory and is fitting right in with the rest
v/r "Sua Sponte"
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A great crew of cats!
(Note: Non-mammals are in the PetMoron Adjacent Animals)
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PetMoron Adjacent Animals
Encountered by Members of The Horde
Hi!
I commented in a Cafe that I had a marmot, and somebody asked if I'd send in a pic. Then the marmot disappeared for a month, and today I discovered I have two (at least.) This photo is from about 25 yards away, so not very sharp.
I didn't know whether to send it to Pet Thread or Gardening Thread. Hope I guessed right :)
Thanks So Much!
gp
Not everyone has a marmot. Or TWO marmots!
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Greetings to all those lovers of nature and pets. It's always great to see all the pictures submitted and always look forward to seeing what everyone submits. Just a couple of pics of life out in the country of both pets, visitors, and guests (some uninvited).
(Note: Non-mammals are in the PetMoron Adjacent Animals)
-Rainbow Scarab
-Black Snakes, of course, one caught with the goods and a bigun measuring 6' 5"
-Bee who was worn out from collecting pollen taking a power nap
-Stick Bug
v/r
"Sua Sponte"
Interesting assortment of insects!
I'm not wild about seeing those sneks around the kittehs.
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Thank you for sharing your pets and other animals with us.
If you would like to send pet and/or animal stories, links, etc. for the Ace of Spades Pet Thread, the address is:
petmorons at protonmail dot com
Remember to include the nic or name by which you wish to be known when you comment at AoSHQ, or let us know if you want to remain a lurker.
Spotted in a raised garden bed at a local assisted living facility where my mother lives. Not ours but they caught our attention.
Cheers, TRex
A lovely scene for residents of that facility and a great photo! Thanks for sending it in!
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Bleg:
Hello,
I hope you can help me. I've been a (really) long-time lurker at Ace of Spades HQ, and was wondering if you still have links to the old gardening threads.
Way back when-- unfortunately, I don't have a date, or this would be much easier -- there was a thread on Christmas/Thanksgiving cactuses. The advice in it was invaluable..... among other things, we finally understood why my father's cactus, would bloom twice a year, once around thanksgiving, and once again in early spring.
Unfortunately, I didn't think to save the thread, and various internet searches have turned up nothing.
Is there any hope?
Thanks, Heather
There's a video with information in the post on 12/2/23 and more information on 11/22/14.
There are a couple of other mentions and photos, too. Anybody else have tips on growing these cacti?
My second “learn by doing (it wrong)" garden lesson: The first one was letting tomato vines grow to maturity in the compost pile. I didn’t get many tomatoes, and all their roots made it hard to dig out and use that compost.
Lesson Two: Last fall, I put my “Largest Zucchini” Fair entry atop the compost and let it sit. This spring, I noticed sprouts growing from its seeds, so I took one (composted the rest!) and planted it, thinking I would get a jump on the season that way. These blimps are what I got. I believe the zucchini got… promiscuous… with the pumpkins, since they’re both Cucurbita pepo. I had to pull out the plant and put in fresh seed. I’m hoping I’ll get a few actual zucchini by the end of the summer.
Yes, this is a common result if you allow squashes to cross-breed in the garden. If you get volunteers, you can try eating them when they are extra-small.
Melons are the same way. And you can also get weird offspring from hybrid seeds even if you only plant one variety! Offspring of hybrid melons can be especially weird!
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Ah, Nature
Bringing nature home:
Carnivorous plant bog from Field Marshal Zhukov
Nice idea!
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My pitcher plant is small but mighty--it put out a flower. Oddly enough the flower is bigger than the pitcher top. Not due to perspective!
Lirio100
Beautiful! Both the flower and the pitchers are features. Compare to the pitcher plant in the photo just above.
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Puttering
We had a question about fennel recently. See mythology below. It may be possible to be too attractive for your own good.
This is a good time of year to plant fennel and lettuce on broken terra cotta if you want them to wither quickly and die.
On the other hand, if you decide to make sausage after hunting wild boar (be careful), some fennel seed from plants located where they will not interfere with the growth of other plants could be a tasty addition.
Daily Dose of History:
One of the most popular and enduring stories from Greek mythology is that of Aphrodite and Adonis. It has inspired numerous pieces of art and has been the subject of many adaptations and retellings. Shakespeare’s narrative poem “Venus and Adonis,” for example, is believed to be his first published work.
As with most Greek mythology, the backstory is complicated and bizarre. Suffice it to say that Adonis was regarded as extraordinarily beautiful and the goddesses Aphrodite and Persephone both fell madly in love with him. They went to Zeus to have their rivalry resolved and he decreed that Adonis would spend one third of each year with Aphrodite, one third with Persephone, and one third however he liked. According to the story, Adonis chose to spend his one-third allotment with Aphrodite, so that he was with her two-thirds of the year and with Persephone (Queen of the Underworld) the other third. While Adonis was in the arms of Aphrodite, the story went, crops and fruit grew abundantly, and the sun shined brightly. But when he was with Persephone, winter set upon the land.
Adonis met a tragic death. He was gored by a wild boar while hunting and died in the arms of his weeping lover Aphrodite. The death of Adonis is associated with red roses and anemone. Although the details vary among the accounts, the first red roses (ever after a symbol of romantic love) sprang up from the blood of Adonis and anemone are said to have sprung up from the ground when Aphrodite’s tears dropped to earth (in some versions the associations are reversed).
The veneration of Adonis and the remembrance of his death is attested to in documentary evidence as early as the 7th century BC. Ancient Greek women celebrated the Festival of Adonia annually, with singing, dancing, ritual mourning, and the planting of “Gardens of Adonis”— fennel and lettuce seeds sown in broken pieces of terracotta and placed on rooftops to sprout, wither, and die, in representation of the tragic life of Adonis.
The painting is “Adonis Changed into Anemone” by Nicolas Bernard Lépicié (1782).
As a reminder, the anemones would likely be the red anemones below, the State Flower of Israel (from Biden's Dog)
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Gardens of The Horde
We have toritos (Tribulus terrestris, Puncturevine) in our garden. What's going on in your garden?
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Hope everyone has a nice weekend.
If you would like to send photos, stories, links, etc. for the Saturday Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, the address is:
ktinthegarden at g mail dot com
Remember to include the nic or name by which you wish to be known at AoSHQ, or let us know if you want to remain a lurker.
Any thoughts or questions? Pest control tips, fungicides, harvest reports, eic. Kindltot had directions for plum jam:
Plum jam: about 4-5 cups of cooked plums, add the powdered pectin and lemon juice, let come to a boil on high heat until you get foam you can't stir down. add 4-6 cups of sugar, bring to a boil, and then bring up to the jelly stage either by thermometer, or by knowing how to judge how the jam runs off a wooden spoon (or both)
Can in a hot water bath.
I closed the comments on this post so you wouldn't get banned for commenting on a week-old post, but don't try it anyway.
Above, a cartoon borrowed from a lefty. I'm surprised that he's still hanging on to this issue. Can't decide if that lefty agrees that networks like the one Colbert dissed should die, too. Would you be okay with that?
The Colbert kerfuffle is widely misrepresented as involving his cancelation after CBS gave in to Trump concerning the way Trump was portrayed on CBS. But remember that Trump's lawsuit concerned the refusal of CBS to release the transcript of the interview of Kamala Harris on "60 Minutes". It was NOT about programs like Colbert's criticizing Trump.
One of my lefty's own commenters said, "He's still alive but no longer caged!" What repression!
Their misrepresentation of the Trump suit against CBS in current memes demonstrates that they aren't used to people fighting back.
He then posted a worrisome meme about the impending transformation of CBS into another Fox News with the upcoming buy-out of the network. You get the idea . . . Progressives are under siege in the mainstream media. Heh.
“Threatening television networks” lol. I seem to remember the IRS coming to my house and House Democrats threatening me with jail and not a peep of protest from the supposed civil liberties party
This seems to me to be an example of the left's ability to create images in our minds. Trump is from the world of entertainment, and they don't quite understand his non-linear, fun-house version of the ways they "mold" the truth. But the left still has the edge.
The notion that NPR can somehow become unbiased is about as believable as the IRS sending you a fruit basket to commend you for filing your taxes.
Once again, making Adam Schiff your muse is a bad idea.
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Russiagate hurt people
Many on the left say that we should just forget about Russiagate and move on. But in addition to the obvious people hurt (in the Trump Administration, etc.), other people were deeply hurt. This surprised me:
Scott Adams: Obama's Russia Hoax & 'Fine People' Lie Ruined My Life and Divided America!@ScottAdamsSays: "Let me say that again. Those two hoaxes, Russia, Russia, Russia and the fine people hoax ruined my life because those are the hoaxes that allowed my entire social group to… pic.twitter.com/wCHJ46yORc
— Quotes By Scott Adams ☕️ (@QuotesFromCWSA) July 24, 2025
Walter Kirn was treated very badly by members of the press when he was trying to get information about issues involved in Russiagate back when the issues were first in the news. He still seems quite passionate about this. He and his commenters have thoughts:
Growing up we laughed at the sick old people running the Soviet Union.. Brezhnev, Chernenko, Andropov... I must say I was surprised to find the press over here in the states treat Biden much the same way Pravda treated Soviet heads of state!
Our society was torn in two by the deliberate lie that Trump was a Russian agent & his supporters, by extension, Putin patsies, fools, traitors. This lie was amplified by the media into a years-long chainsaw roar by media, from news to comedy shows to the NYT. Out with them.
Simply ignore, turn off, delete, & unsubscribe from the outlets that lied to you, loudly, relentlessly, knowingly.
Instantly doable.
And the reporters, observers, & companies remaining will be the rootstock for the future.
On this day in 1945 the governments of the United States, China, and Great Britain issued what would come to known as the “Potsdam Declaration,” calling upon the Japanese government “to proclaim now the unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces, and to provide proper and adequate assurances of their good faith in such action.” The final sentence of the Declaration announced, “The alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction.”
U.S. President Harry Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, had gathered in Potsdam, Germany, on July 17, ten weeks after the German surrender, to reach an agreement on how the disarmament and occupation of Germany would be handled. With the war against Japan still continuing, Truman decided to use the opportunity to issue a demand for Japanese surrender, having been advised a day before the conference began that an atomic bomb had been successfully detonated at a test site in New Mexico. Although Stalin had agreed to enter the war against Japan, the Soviet surprise attack was not scheduled to occur until August 9, so he declined to join the Declaration (the Soviets would adopt it later, after their invasion of Manchuria).
The 13-paragraph Declaration first described the Allied intention to continue the war until Japan ceased resistance, employing all the military power that had destroyed the Nazis. “The full application of our military power,” it stated, “backed by our resolve, will mean the inevitable and complete destruction of the Japanese armed forces and just as inevitably the utter devastation of the Japanese homeland.”
Although three members of the six-man Japanese Supreme War Council were in favor of opening negotiations for surrender, the war minister and the chiefs of staff of the Japanese army and navy flatly rejected the terms as too harsh and urged that the war continue. Meanwhile the moderates were still holding out hope that the Soviet Union might mediate a peace deal, unaware that the Soviets were on the eve of declaring war against Japan. Finally, the Japanese government publicly announced that their response to the Potsdam demands was “mokusatsu.”
Kazuo Kawai had been an editor of the Nippon Times in Tokyo during the war. Afterwards, when he was a professor of Far Eastern history at Stanford University, he lamented the poor decision by the Japanese government. “Mokusatsu,” he wrote, “is a word which has no exact equivalent in the English language. It is a word which is ambiguous even in the Japanese. It might be translated roughly as ‘to be silent’ or ‘to withhold comment’ or ‘to ignore.’ ‘To withhold comment’ probably comes closest to its true meaning, implying that something is being held back, that there is something significant impending. Certainly, that is what the Japanese government meant.” The Japanese government had never intended to reject the Potsdam Declaration outright, Kawai argued, but was counting on the Soviets to make known the Japanese willingness to surrender.
Further, the ambiguity of “mokusatsu” gave the military hardliners room to construe it as meaning rejection by ignoring, and they insisted that Japanese media construe it that way. A Tokyo newspaper printed the Potsdam Declaration terms under the heading “Laughable Matter” and the Japanese English-language propaganda agency “Radio Tokyo” declared flatly that Japan was “ignoring” the Declaration.
Thus, to the Allies the Japanese response seemed plain enough—they had decided to reject the Allied demands by “ignoring” them rather than responding to them. Accordingly, Truman authorized the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and August 9. . .
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Music
How many of you knew that Clint Eastwood was quite the singer?
Well here he is in a 1962 episode of Rawhide, entertaining us with his cowboy crooning 🤠 pic.twitter.com/nnFWTQa7pp
— Farm Girl Carrie 👩🌾 (@FarmGirlCarrie) July 26, 2025
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Hope you have something nice planned for this weekend.
Comments are closed so you won't ban yourself by trying to comment on a week-old thread. But don't try it anyway.
At root, the NPR story and the Colbert story are the same: progressives took over a product, made it so that people didn’t want to pay it for it—whether via advertising, subscriptions, or donations—and they’re now upset that it won’t be perpetually bailed out by a third party.
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) July 19, 2025
The Classical Saturday Morning Coffee Break & Prayer Revival
—Misanthropic Humanitarian (ONT Cob Emeritus)
Good morning boys and girls and everything in between. As much as I love coffee it does not inspire me to utter unsolicited opinions. I can do that on my very own, thank you very much.
So before we enter the Prayer Revival, just a few housekeeping matters to take care of. (Rulz for those of you in Valders)
1) This is an open thread. Feel free to lurk, opine and/or bloviate or try all three!
B) Be kind, be nice. Trolls have feelings or so I'm told.
3) No. You will not have our endorsement or condolences if you run with sharp objects.
D) A big Thank You to Annie for her stellar work on the Prayer Revival.
5) Finally, please have a wonderful weekend.
Please submit any prayer requests to me, “Annie’s Stew” at apaslo atsign hotmail dot com. Prayer requests are generally removed after four weeks unless we receive an update.
Prayer Requests:
5/10 – Cosda asked for prayers for his wife, who recently had a mole removed that came back as melanoma cancer. She is scheduled for surgery next week, and it looks like that should remove it completely.
6/20 Update – The PET and brain scans showed no active cancer cells, which is great. But since it’s melanoma, and cancer was found in a lymph node, she is going to receive immunotherapy for the next year. Thanks to all. The prayers are working!
5/29 – Teresa in Fort Worth sent an update and her thanks for all the prayers and words of encouragement. They have sustained her and her family as she continues to battle cancer. She continues to receive good news: her oncologist is quite pleased with her response to the current medication protocol; they are decreasing the lab work frequency to every other week instead of weekly; the side effects from chemo have been barely noticeable; she can just take 4 tiny pills for chemo instead of spending one day a week at the cancer center. It’s been 7 months so far, and she expects that at some point the tumors will start growing again, but for now, they are encouraged.
6/6 Update – Teresa has a side effect from the chemo – her fingernails and toenails are starting to loosen and “lift” off their nail beds. It is painful, and also carries a risk of infection.
7/9 Update – Teresa in Fort Worth sent an update – all is well for her for now. She will have more lab work done on 7/15, and then a CT scan on 7/28 to see if the tumors have shrunk any more. She is still losing hair, and her fingernails and toenails are still being “wonky”. She is not nauseous, so she is happy with her current situation.
6/11 – Legally Sufficient asks the Horde’s prayers for her friend, Bubba, who was in a bad auto wreck on 6/8. Prayers for comfort, healing, and strength are needed for Bubba and his family. He is in ICU and will be there for a couple more weeks. Thank you!
7/15 Update - Legally Sufficient asks for continued prayers for healing, strength and comfort for her friend Bubba. God is great! Bubba continues slow and steady improvement following his horrific vehicle accident. She received a photo of him visiting a job site this week and she said she doesn’t mind telling you that it suddenly got dusty here. Bubba was not able to stay very long before the heat and humidity took a toll and he was forced to retreat to air conditioning. Bubba is still under doctor’s orders to not drive, but has an able and willing chauffeur (his wife) who takes him where he wants to go. The prayers are working, please keep them coming for a little while longer!
6/14 – Inspector Cussword requested prayers for Brother Tim. He has had a horrible time, living in his car and has just been handed a cancer diagnosis. Please pray for God’s Provision to be clear and comforting to him, and for his healing.
7/5 – Update - Brother Tim posted a comment that he learned on 6/30 that the lymph nodes showed no signs of the cancer, which means that it has not spread.
7/11 Update – Brother Tim posted that he was moved to a rehabilitation facility on 7/7, and God willing, he will continue to make progress and be hobbling around normally soon.
6/28 – Dave R requested prayers for healing, strength, recovery, and curing, as he was recently diagnosed with non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. He is 62 and a long-time AoSHQ reader.
7/5 Update – Chemo starts on 7/7.
6/28 – H asked for prayers for a mom of two elementary aged boys who lost her mother 3 weeks ago, and her husband on 6/28, both to cancer.
7/19 Update – The visitation was good, but prayers are still appreciated, especially for the boys, as they go through a hard stage of life without their dad.
6/28 – Ben Had requested prayers for Jay Guevara, as he was seriously ill.
6/30 Update – IrishEi posted that Jay Guevara has passed away, and offered prayers for peaceful repose in God’s hands and for comfort for his loved ones.
7/3 – 469 requested prayers for some medical tests he has coming up.
7/3 – Ciampino’s daughter posted to let us know that Ciampino is back in the hospital. He is dehydrated again. His kidney cyst is back and bigger, so he will need to have another surgery, but they don’t know when.
7/7 Update – Ciampino passed away. His daughter posted how much he loved everyone’s witty humor on the site, and sent her thanks for giving him years of enjoyment and community.
7/19 Update – Please contact Annie’s Stew for more information if you would like to contribute to Ciampino’s cremation fund raiser.
7/5 – Boswell asks for prayers for his best friend Mark’s mother. She is 90 years old and was diagnosed with sepsis after her colon burst. She had surgery on 7/3, but her recovery is not going well. She is too weak for the tests she needs to find out what is wrong. Please pray that she recovers fully, as she and Mark are very close. He is devastated.
7/16 Update – Mark’s mother passed away peacefully in her sleep. Mark is, of course, quite saddened by this, but at least she did not suffer at the end, and her family was by her side when she went. Boswell hopes that his friend finds solace that she lived a long, happy life and she raised such a wonderful son.
7/9 - Teresa in Fort Worth asks for prayers for her niece Amanda, and her husband Barkley. They are at Vanderbilt Hospital, where Amanda seems to be rejecting her seond heart transplant. She is only 40 years old, and has been having heart issues for 20 years. She had her first heart transplant 4 years ago, and things are not looking good.
7/11 – Racially Ambiguous Honky, the brother of G’rump/toby928, sent his thanks for the prayers on his behalf, after his appendix burst and he had sepsis. He says he is recovering well.
7/11 – JR requested prayers for the families of those killed in Gaza.
7/11 – Stateless sent his thanks to all for their thoughts and prayers for him. His house officially became his on 6/30, ending 6 months of uncertainty since his Mom passed. He is getting stronger and is learning about and working to process emotions differently, after losing so much.
7/11 – Screaming in digital asked for prayers for her mother. Mom is still recovering from a UTI plus 3 falls within the last couple of days. During the day, there is some improvement. But once she starts sundowning, she is terrified and clings to whatever she can hold onto. She only weighs about 105-110, and isn’t eating much, but it is hard to move her when she is like that. If she doesn’t improve her mobility and cooperate/help with transfers to and from the wheelchair, etc., and consistently feed herself, she won’t be able to stay at the assisted living facility.
7/19 Update – Screaming in digital’s mother passed away.
7/11 – Frankie asked for prayers for her friend “R”, who is back on hospice for Huntington’s disease. He was on hospice before, but went off for an experimental medication, but unfortunately it wasn’t helpful.
7/11 – Igotnothing sent a prayer of praise. A grand-nephew, quadriplegic since birth due to deformities, and now age 10, after many surgeries and care and prayers, is able to walk. The boy and his family (mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, great-aunt and great-uncle) went on his first ever walk in the woods. What joy!
7/11 – Matthew Kant Cipher requested prayers for Layne, a family friend who is also his son’s FIL. He was diagnosed with bladder cancer and is awaiting further test results to determine whether they treat with chemo or remove his bladder. As of now, it appears to be contained. Please pray that he and his family are blessed with God’s love and grace through this time of trial.
7/18 – Tecumseh Tea had a heart attack and needs prayers.
7/23 Update – Tecumseh Tea had a Type 2 heart attack, which is considered mild. She sends prayers of thanks for that! The angiogram showed a healthy heart, with little plaque and clean arteries, so no stent was needed. They did find a myocardial bridge, which is a congenital defect. The goal is to keep BP 140/70 with a pulse of less than 60, but so far they have not been able to meet that goal. She can’t get a cardiologist appointment until 8/22, so the GP is helping, but so far they have not been able to get the right BP meds. Please pray for a sooner visit, and the right meds that work for her, and answers.
7/19 – Huerfano asked for prayers for a rapid and full recovery for brother R, who had hernia surgery. He cannot see his grandsons until he has recovered. He misses them , and they miss him.
7/19 – Farmer Bob posted an update. He is doing well. He is competing in 5Ks and triathalons, and sends his thanks for the prayers. His ex-wife has “gone off the deep end” (or just remains so), with weird lies and accusations. She could use a prayer or two.
7/19 – Tonypete asked for prayers for Cheri and Gretchen, church ladies of his acquaintance. Cheri had a medical incident while driving and veered off the road and struck a number of pedestrians, sending 3 or 4 to the hospital. Gretchen and her husband were passengers in the car and her husband had a heart attack after the accident and died. Cheri is just sick about it and has kind of snapped. Gretchen has lost her best friend of 65 years.
7/19 – H asked for prayers for Brandon, a homeless man in San Marcos, TX, who has a broken ankle and has to seek care for that injury, specifically prayers that he would see God providing for him. He is asking for God to help him advocate for his care.
7/23 – D sent an update on his wife Susan, as they deal with cancer. The last few weeks have been a roller coaster. They cannot operate on the cancer, because it has spread too much. They have started chemo and hope to get it to shrink. Susan’s gallbladder is inflamed, but they cannot remove it, due to the chemo, and her blood sugar is having issues. Thanks to everyone for their prayers; Susan has pulled through all of this and is looking great as they keep praying to the Lord.
For submission guidelines and other relevant info, please contact Annie's Stew, who is managing the prayer list. You can contact her at apaslo at-sign hotmail dot com. If you see a prayer request posted in a thread comment, feel free to copy and paste it and e-mail it to Annie's Stew. She tries to keep up with the requests in the threads, but she's not here all of the time, so she may not see it unless you e-mail it to her. Please note: Prayer requests are generally removed after four weeks or so unless we receive an update.
2 Corinthians 4:8-9
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.
And being a "women-only" app, it required users to upload government-issued photo ID for their protection. So a site dedicated to doxing other people just doxed all its own users.
Raw speeds are exactly the same as WiFi 7. Rather it's designed to deliver better real-world speeds by reducing errors and dropped packets in, uh, the real world.
This happened in Anchorage. Two girls were thrown out of a bar for starting fights. They returned with 2 large men, both “recently arrived” from Somalia. Security spotted them coming and coordinated a response on their radios, which is why one of them goes out to his car to kit up. When the Somali started fighting another security guard, then pulled out a gun and started shooting, the second guard canceled all of his birthdays.
Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney [George's wretched wife], you passionately called for the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged 'genocide in Gaza.' Yet, curiously, as the daughter of a Syrian Druze father, you've remained silent while over 1,000 Syrian Druze have been massacred, amid reports of rape, abduction, and other atrocities. But since Jews aren't involved, the story seems to attract far less attention.
The 51-page report comes after the FBI under former director Christopher Wray circulated an internal memo dubbed the Richmond Memorandum, created by the Richmond field office in 2023, which labeled traditional Catholics as "racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists."
The report accuses the bureau of creating a "manufactured narrative to insert federal law-enforcement agents into places of worship." The report includes revelations that the FBI allegedly spied on a priest because he refused to discuss a private conversation that he had with a parishioner.
...
"There appeared to be no legitimate law-enforcement purpose for investigating this priest," the report determined. "This new information suggests that the FBI's religious liberty abuses were more widespread than the FBI initially admitted and led the public to believe."
The report also found that the Richmond memorandum was not an isolated incident as previously believed, and that terms like "Radical Traditionalist Catholic" were used in 13 documents between 2009 and 2023.
"These new findings make it apparent that the FBI under President Biden and Director Wray withheld key information responsive to the Committee's oversight," the report reads. "The Committee remains committed to conducting oversight of the Biden-Harris Administration's abuse of federal law-enforcement resources against Catholic Americans."
New York ended four years of litigation by Christian wedding photographer Emilee Carpenter by paying her $225,000 in legal fees and promising not to enforce several laws that infringe Carpenter's First Amendment rights, leaving her free to avoid photographing same-sex weddings.
The consent decree between Attorney General Letitia James and Carpenter's lawyers at the Alliance Defending Freedom follows a May ruling by U.S. District Judge Frank Geraci, nominated by President Obama, that it was "beyond debate" the Empire State cannot apply public accommodations laws to "expressive activity to compel speech."
Minneapolis DFL Chair John Maraist confirmed to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that State Sen. Omar Fateh won the party's endorsement through a show of badges on Saturday night.
An endorsement of Fateh, who is running as a Democratic Socialist, would create a unique moment for the city's DFL Party, possibly signaling a further shift for the party.
"People are starting to accept, you know, some more socialist and more, you know, to the left politics, which, in my view, is a good thing. It's a progressive thing," said Colton Baldus, a delegate in support of Fateh.
Current Mayor Jacob Frey's campaign manager released the following statement:
"This election should be decided by the entire city rather than the small group of people who became delegates, particularly in light of the extremely flawed and irregular conduct of this convention. Voters will now have a clear choice between the records and leadership of Sen. Fateh and Mayor Frey. We look forward to taking our vision to the voters in November."
I saw someone point out that Frey kneeled and cried for George Floyd. But he just wasn't woke enough for today's Democrat Communist Party.
They want to be promoted after only a few months, treat the office like their bedroom, show up in sweats or skimpy office-siren fits, FaceTime friends from their desks, and ghost their managers.
This is the gist of employer complaints about Gen Z workers, who seem to be having a uniquely hard time getting along in the office -- much worse, managers say, than the generations before them. In a December 2024 survey of 1,000 employers by Intelligent.com, 12.5% said a Gen Z candidate had brought Mom or Dad to a job interview. The bosses are fed up.
Gen Zers, meanwhile, see things differently: From their perspective, millennial and Gen X managers have no work-life balance.
In other words: they work at work.
The generational divide has become starker in the past few months, as return-to-office policies have brought in Gen Zers for the first time -- in many cases after years of working and attending school remotely. In the Bay Area, the culture clash has led employers to a new solution: hiring etiquette experts to train young employees in basic workplace manners.
Rosalinda Randall, a Marin-based etiquette coach, said inquiries have risen 50% over the last two months. The requests come from tech campus managers, winery execs, and even country clubs. All are a variation on the same complaint: Gen Z employees are treating the office like an extension of their homes.
Netflix will not be renewing their eye-popping $100 million deal with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex signed the lucrative deal in 2020 to earn some cash after quitting royal life and moving to the US.
However, the couple still have other plans for the future.
"There are more TV projects coming soon with both the duke and duchess," a source told Page Six. They also are set to sign a first-look deal with the streamer when their exclusive deal ends this year.
Ugh. I think a first-look deal is just a kind of option. You're selling the option to someone to have the first chance to buy a show. It's much, much cheaper than buying a show. Like an option to produce a screenplay might cost $10,000, but if the screenplay is actually produced, you'd get $100,000.
So I don't think this is a big payday for the unemployed losers but still Netflix is paying them for something. Why? Do they literally just want to spend themselves into unprofitability? After three years of wretched duds that no one likes, what is left of the Markles that you'd need a "first look" contract for?
Where are the lefties screaming about this? The Markles are woke AF, too. Shouldn't they be guaranteed lifetime media contracts like Stephen Colbert?
Legendary musician Billy Joel told Bill Maher he doesn't care if the far left complains about his statements or music anymore.
During the latest episode of Maher's "Club Random" podcast released Monday, the two discussed the "woke" left's reaction to anything it disagrees with, with Joel admitting he is over being concerned about what that group thinks of him.
"At this point... I'm inured to it," Joel said in reply to Maher asking if he doesn't care if woke people criticize him any longer.
...
The host continued, noting how mad leftists get when people don't declare, "'Trump's the worst.'"
...
"And you don't care what they say about you -- the woke?" Maher asked.
"At this point, no," the musician replied, though he noted how he tries to understand the point of view of people who disagree with him.
In the UK, students were told to wear clothing advertising their cultures and ethnic identities.
Baltimore Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh delivered a masterful response to a nasty reporter when asked why he met with Trump:
“Why do you frame that question [like that]? … It was amazing—it was awesome. And I promise you, I root for our President. I want our President to be… pic.twitter.com/h7QXXNIZk0
The modern civil rights regime, both inside and outside of government, has been wielded like a weapon...to engineer a radical new social order built upon the deliberate dispossession of huge swathes of our country. pic.twitter.com/tgFFoQzMBH
Jeff Daniels: “I still think about Kamala, and how I think she would have been a good choice. I don’t care what they say, because she would have done what Lincoln did. Liz Cheney would have been Secretary of State.”
A Palestinian-American took her Black friends to the West Bank to volunteer.
Palestinians called them “monkeys” and “slaves” during the trip. When they complained, she defended it, saying that they should just accept the abuse. pic.twitter.com/hjPVRPaJoD
Ninth Circuit Panel: No, You Can't Discriminate Against Christians Just Because They Refuse To Say They'd Support Transing Their Children
—Ace
Oregon attempted to block a Christian woman from adopting a child because she refused to say she'd support genital mutilation for the child if the child hypothetically decided to be "Trans."
Judges nominated by presidents Trump, Clinton and George W. Bush walk into a First Amendment case about compelled affirmation of gender identity and facilitation of medicalized transitions as a condition of adoption. The punchline may surprise you.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday blocked Oregon's Department of Human Services from denying Jessica Bates' application to adopt the siblings she is fostering based on her refusal to honor the asserted gender identity of "hypothetical adopted children" in speech or actions, with the Trump and Clinton nominees overruling the Bush nominee.
U.S District Judge Adrienne Nelson, nominated by President Biden, denied a preliminary injunction for the widowed Christian mother of five in 2023, arguing the failure to "respect a child's LGBTQ+ identity imposes collateral harm on the child's development, safety, and physical well-being."
Of course. Note that is the lowly district court judge making the original lawless ruling. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, acting through a three-judge panel, then overruled this woke cow.
Oregon has "training materials" for prospective adoptive parents, called "RAFT." One of the "guidances" this woke manual demands is fealty to the trans cause for all adoptive parents.
"Oregon only initiated its investigation into Bates's beliefs after she expressed disagreement with the RAFT training," which it said defines its "expectation" for adhering to the regulation that adoption applicants "respect, accept and support" the gender identity of adoptive children, said the opinion by Judge Daniel Bress, joined by Judge Michael Hawkins.
"In the context of raising children, such respect and support inevitably both restricts and compels speech," as Judge Nelson found, they said, dinging Bush nominee Judge Richard Clifton's dissent for botching the factual record and hence the correct review standards.
"The situation would be no different if the state had restricted parental speech favoring more 'progressive' views of sexuality and gender identity, while compelling speech along the lines of Bates's more traditional understanding," according to the opinion.
The duo said a "state's general conception of the child's best interest does not create a force field against the valid operation of other constitutional rights," such that it could deny adoption based on the "political view, race, or religious affiliations" of prospective parents.
This is unbelievable: Oregon will refuse you an adoption if you won't take your children to "pride" sexual kink events and fetish parades.
Oregon deems as unfit prospective parents who won't take young children "to events like pride parades," as ODHS explicitly demanded of Bates, which is "false and incredibly dangerous," Bates's lawyer Jonathan Scruggs of the Alliance Defending Freedom said in celebrating the ruling.
"The 9th Circuit was right to remind Oregon that the foster and adoption system is supposed to serve the best interests of children, not the state's ideological crusade," he said.
...
Oregon's RAFT training is far-reaching even by the standards of gender affirmation, resembling a Canadian gender studies course more than American adoption requirements.
The Bress opinion recounts its distinctives, referring to children by the LGBTQ variant "LGBTQI2-S," which is common in Canada and whose last abbreviation means "two-spirit," a modern indigenous term of disputed authenticity.
RAFT claims "an infinite number of pronouns" exist and that prospective parents must always ask for them first. Regardless of whether their children identify as LGBTQ, parents should display "symbols indicating an LGBTQ-affirming environment" and provide books and media that celebrate LGBTQ people such as "transgender women in history."
The materials take aim at religion, claiming "faith-based communities" can be sources of "prejudice and rejection" and instructing parents not to force youth to attend religious activities "openly hostile or unsupportive of people with diverse" sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.
...
Adoptive parents must give children "the ability to discuss, provide, and obtain authorization for medically necessary, transition-related treatment, if desired," referring to puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries to resemble the opposite sex that allegedly improve mental health and reduce suicides, a claim with little rigorous evidence.
...
The majority repeatedly cites RAFT examples as both strong suggestions and mandates, "broadly reflective of a particular viewpoint on sexual orientation and gender identity, which parents must actively promote under Oregon's policy."
The state's claim that it's regulating speech only "incidental to conduct" would have been "much stronger" if it "simply outlawed harassment or denigration of LGBTQ children --which Bates strongly avers she would not do," but its speech regulation "predominates," they said.
That's not the only big win this week.
Due to Trump's E.O. demanding that women's sports be reserved for -- now here's a twist -- women, the Olympic and Paralympic Committees have banned men from participating in women's sports.
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee quietly changed its eligibility rules on Monday to bar transgender women from competing in Olympic women's sports, and now will comply with President Trump's executive order on the issue, according to a post on the organization's website.
The new policy, expressed in a short, vaguely worded paragraph, is tucked under the category of "USOPC Athlete Safety Policy" on the site, and does not include details of how the ban will work. Nor does the new policy include the word "transgender" or the title of Mr. Trump's executive order, "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports," referring to it instead as "Executive Order 14201." ...
The committee's new policy means that the national governing bodies of sports federations in the United States -- which oversee sporting events for all ages, from youth to masters' competitions -- now must follow the U.S.O.P.C.'s lead, according to several chief executives of sports within the Olympic movement.
The Olympic Committee is so afraid to make this change that they basically hid it and refuse to comment further on it. But apparently their hand was forced by Trump's E.O.
NPR's top editor has tendered her resignation days after the radio station lost $500million in federal funding for an alleged bias against conservatives.
Edith Chapin, who serves as editor-in-chief and acting chief content officer at National Public Radio, announced her departure on Tuesday.
Chapin told an NPR reporter she quit rather than being fired and that she was not leaving due to the funding cuts.
I mean...
She also said she handed in her notice two weeks ago ahead of the cuts, which Trump repeatedly promised on the campaign trail.
...
Supporters of the cuts to federal funding - which also affected PBS - said it was unfair to expect all Americans to subsidize a network with such an isolated worldview.
...
'I have had two big executive jobs for two years and I want to take a break. I want to make sure my performance is always top-notch for the company,' she said, after joining NPR from CNN in 2012 as chief international editor.
'It's not a good time to do it, but it's never a good time.'
'I needed to pick a date and share my decision.'
'The best thing we can do is do the best work possible every day,' she said as debate continues over whether the company really engaged in systemic bias as the administration claims.
'We need to hear from all kinds of people - and that is our job.
'And we need to be as clear and transparent as we possibly can, and our audiences can decide how useful we are for them.'
'One of the things that was attractive when I came here was this philosophy of all things considered,' she continued.
...
Maher also addressed statistics that showed the broadcaster having 87 registered Democrats on-staff this time last year and not a single Republican.
The disparity, Maher conceded, was 'concerning - if true.' She insisted NPR does not track such affiliations.
Apparently this editor was hired to review stories for "fairness and balance."
Crackerjack job.
I don't know what's going on here, but here's my speculation: This woman was hired as a fig-leaf concession. NPR had been exposed as hopelessly leftwing by Uri Berliner, who they then suspended and forced out, and they needed to placate Congress by pretending they cared about balance.
But the moment Congress cancelled their funding, they decided they were all done with this very weak effort at pretending, so they had no further use of their "fairness and balance" fig-leaf editor.
"This argument about public media being 'biased' is a stalking horse. We report on soybean farmers and LGBTQ activism. We report on coal miners and eco-warriors," she continued. "Having non-White voices and perspectives on air does not make us woke. Covering the existence of disagreement and difference in our country does not make us biased. It makes us reflective of the complex, diverse nation we serve."
Maher said NPR would "take a moment to mourn" and ultimately move forward.
Ex-NPR editor Uri Berliner roasted the outlet last year over its biased coverage on such issues as COVID-19, Hunter Biden's laptop and the Russiagate saga. He soon after resigned and joined The Free Press.
Woke white CEOs are very eager to deny job opportunities to white men to give the jobs to "diverse, marginalized people." Strangely, they never give up their own jobs, despite being whiter than Bjork's thighs in winter.
And now: a former NPR CEO says that maybe we don't need state media at all.
Former NPR CEO Vivian Schiller acknowledges that "mixing journalism and federal funding is just a recipe for disaster" after Congress votes to cut funding for NPS and other outlets.
Related: Brian Stelter continues his Colbert Denialism, refusing to concede that Paramount may have cancelled Colbert for the reasons that they've stated: Financial ones. Colbert was losing $40-50 million per year with no hopes whatsoever of a ratings recovery.
CNN "Media Reporter" Brian Stelter
Chef's Conception
By Jeremy Portnoy, RealClearInvestigations
July 25, 2025
Topline: Erin Elmore, director of the State Department's "Art in Embassies" program, has vowed to "Make Art Great Again," and taxpayers will be footing the bill.
The Art in Embassies program has spent at least $6.4 million on grants and contracts since 2008, according to OpenTheBooks' review of federal spending data.
Key facts: Art in Embassies was created in 1964 with guidance from first lady Jackie Kennedy to display U.S. artwork in diplomatic buildings around the world.
Since then, its spending has arguably gotten out of hand. There is artwork displayed in 189 countries including Suriname, Malta and Tajikistan. Since 2008, taxpayers have spent $361,805 to display artwork in Beijing and $8,000 on artwork in Moscow.
Insurance for the artwork has cost at least $416,000 since 2008, including $111,382 in the past year. Shipping has cost $202,370.
During the government shutdown in 2019, the State Department spent $84,375 to install a sculpture of Bob Dylan in Mozambique.
In 2021, the program bought a "brass Art in Embassies medal with 4.25 rosewood presentation box" for $799. The program also spent $24,909 for a "catering event" in May 2023.
This year the State Department planned to spend $2 million on seven sculptures, including a $650,000 "triple-height suspended sculpture" in Brazil and a $105,000 "textile work" in Malawi, but the purchases were cancelled, according to PBS.
According to its X account, Art in Embassies has been "cultivating diplomacy thru art in U.S. embassies since 1963" as the "Department of State's heart of art." The program has stuck around despite a planned 15% reduction to the Department of State's staff headcount.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said Friday that the Department of Homeland Security has started flying illegal immigrants out of his state's "Alligator Alcatraz" detention facility.
"I'm pleased to report that those flights out of Alligator Alcatraz by DHS have begun," DeSantis said, Fox News reported. "The cadence is increasing. We've already had a number of flights, in the last few days, we've had hundreds of illegals [that] have been removed from here."
...
"The whole purpose is to make this be a place that can facilitate increased frequency and numbers of deportations of illegal aliens, and that is the goal. And one of the reasons why this was a sensible spot is because you have this runway that's right here. You don't have to drive them an hour to an airport. You go a couple thousand feet and they can be on a plane and out of here," DeSantis also said.
Vice President JD Vance defended the Trump administration's immigration policies in a speech Wednesday, predicting that the United States was on the cusp of "net negative immigration."
Speaking at an artificial intelligence summit hosted by the All In Podcast and the Hill and Valley Forum in Washington, the vice president addressed conservative critics who claim the White House is not doing enough to fight illegal immigration.
Noting that the Trump administration has faced legal and practical struggles while pursuing its goal of 1 million deportations this year, Vance nevertheless said that if you consider the "net number" of deportations, the Trump administration has been "wildly successful."
"In 2025 we will have the first net negative immigration number in about 50 or 60 years in the United States," Vance said.
He also responded to a claim that Biden, get this, deported more illegals than Trump. He called that a "totally fake statistic," noting that Biden counted simple turn-arounds at the border as "deportations." That is, if you're turned away at the border, you're "deported."
We have never before counted simple turn-aways as "deportations."
This is the same fakery Obama perpetuated, in order to laughingly call himself "the Deporter In Chief" while flooding the country with illegals.
That article recounts the Guatamalan liar who claimed her grandfather -- who had died peacefully of natural causes in 2019 -- had been "disappeared" by ICE two weeks ago.
It then cites a couple of other recent "disappearing" hoaxes:
In another hoax, Yuriana Julia "Juli" Pelaez Calderon, a 41-year-old illegal immigrant, was charged with conspiracy and making false statements for orchestrating a fake kidnapping by supposed ICE agents to scam donations and discredit federal law enforcement.
On June 30, her family and attorneys claimed she was ambushed at a Los Angeles Jack in the Box, taken to San Ysidro, and pressured to self-deport, sparking a GoFundMe campaign that raised $80 before being shut down. The family and their attorneys held press conferences, where their claims were eagerly repeated by local media.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) denied the kidnapping claims, and surveillance footage and phone records confirmed the story was a hoax, showing Calderon freely leaving the restaurant.
...
In another disturbing incident of disinformation, in a TikTok post with over 800,000 views, a woman says, "They're throwing the deportees out of the planes and into the ocean. [...] they're shackling people, flying out into open ocean and throwing them out. The flight patterns, there is people tracking them on this app, the flights going out with the deportees. Watching them go out to the open ocean and circle back. A family in Italy saw five shackled bodies wash up on the shore."
These claims have surged on social media since the original posting, and got millions of views before others posted comments noting that the claims were wholly unsubstantiated.
These hoaxes are spread to drive up leftwing enthusiasm and also to encourage the left's street assassins to start killing people. They intend to use hoaxes to win either by the ballot or the bullet.
Note that the leftwing media is not pushing back against this dangerous misinformation, offered WITHOUT EVIDENCE, at all, just like they never push back on any of the left's misinformation.
And speaking of the left encouraging its various foreign assassins and domestic terrorists to kill American police: One of the thugs who shot the off-duty CPB officer was cleared for entry into the country via a Zoom call.
AThe illegal immigrant accused of shooting an off-duty border officer in a Manhattan park was only vetted using Zoom before being released into the US under the Biden administration, The Post has learned.
Dominican Republic national Miguel Francisco Mora Nunez, 21, waltzed across the US-Mexico border into Arizona in April 2023 -- during the raging migrant crisis that saw federal agents take drastic measures in an attempt to free up resources.
That month alone, the US saw a wave of more than 183,000 migrants come across the southern border.
"The whole system was overwhelmed by what the Biden administration was allowing," Charles Marino, former senior law enforcement adviser to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, told The Post.
"The endgame was to facilitate the processing of as many illegals into the country as possible," Marino said.
How Obama Took Hillary Clinton's Dirty OppoDump Cocaine and Cooked Off the Impurities to Turn It Into Clean, Healthy Psyops Crack
—Ace
The DOJ announced that it is forming a "strike force" to investigate and potentially prosecute Obama and his co-conspirators in the anti-Trump Putsch:
GRAHAM, CORNYN CALL FOR SPECIAL PROSECUTOR: Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) are jointly calling for Attorney General Pam Bondi to appoint a Special Prosecutor to assess evidence former President Barack Obama managed the Russia-gate effort to undermine Donald Trump during his first term in the Oval Office.
-- Mark Tapscott at Instapundit
UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Special prosecutors don't seem that good at getting to the bottom of things.
Yeah, he's right, special prosecutors seem to mostly pursue political ends, and the end here is to bury the story, because it's too big. Once you give a matter to a special prosecutor, his office is a black box from which no information flows until, one day, many years from now, he emerges from his office to declare "No intent."
The Obama intelligence community's claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized dirty tricks to try and help Donald Trump win the 2016 election was based on "one scant, unclear and unverifiable fragment of a sentence from one of the substandard [intelligence] reports," according to a just-declassified report that had been locked away in a CIA vault.
Nevertheless, former CIA Director John Brennan ordered agency analysts to use the claim in the Intelligence Community Assessment issued during the Obama administration's final days -- even though the ICA itself noted that how the information on Putin's plans was obtained was "not explicitly clear."
A 46-page report by the House of Representatives released Wednesday found that the source of the claim about Putin -- reportedly a Russian defector living in Northern Virginia described as "anti-Trump" -- merely speculated to Brennan about something he had been told by somebody else: namely, that Putin was "counting on" Trump winning.
I thought this was Iggy Danchenko, the permanent floating employee of various Democrat grifter operations who wanted a position in the would-be Hillary Clinton administration. But Sperry thinks it's someone else.
ICA participants interpreted the informant's phrase "counting on" several different ways, the report said. Many NSA and CIA officials viewed "counting on" as meaning the same thing as "expected," which is much different than the language -- Putin "preferred" Trump -- Brennan's five handpicked drafters used in the ICA.
The congressional review determined that "the ICA did not cite any [classified] report where Putin directly indicated helping Trump win was the objective." (Emphasis added.)
No Corroborating Intelligence
The report then drops a bombshell: "The ICA judgment on Putin's thoughts about helping candidate Trump does not stand if [Brennan's] single interpretation of the fragment [from the tip that Putin was 'counting on' Trump winning] is wrong, because there is no other intelligence corroborating it."
The 2019 report, which investigated the spycraft that went into the highly classified and restricted version of the ICA, found that the Obama intelligence community's assessment of Russia's intentions changed sharply after Trump's surprising victory.
On the eve of the 2016 election, Brennan sent a "Fusion Cell" memo to Obama summarizing all the most secret, compartmented intel gathered on Trump and Russia. According to the House report declassified and released by DNI Tulsi Gabbard on Wednesday, that memo " made no mention of Putin 'aspiring' for a Trump victory." Although the Russian defector had shared his thoughts about Putin with Brennan in July, the CIA director's Nov. 6 memo concluded, "Putin expected [Clinton] to win."
But then in early December, after Obama ordered a new assessment, Brennan dusted off the informant's second-hand hearsay, which had been shelved as unreliable. The CIA director, who had previously worked for Obama in the White House, suddenly insisted it underpin the new conclusion about Putin's motives.
"The major 'high confidence' judgment of the ICA rests on one opinion about a text fragment with uncertain meaning," the House report found. "This text -- which would not have been published without [Brennan's] orders to do so -- is cited using only one interpretation of its meaning and without considering alternative interpretations," in violation of Intelligence Community Directive 203. One alternative was that Putin was "counting on" Trump winning the primary and nomination at the GOP Convention that July, just two weeks after the informant provided the tip, not the general election in November 2106.
...
Brennan, who could not be reached for comment, has strongly defended his work. Requests for comment from Comey and his attorney went unanswered.
Harvey and other investigators spent hundreds of hours inside a highly secure room called a SCIF at CIA headquarters poring over the raw intelligence materials that supposedly backstopped the ICA's conclusions. In an exclusive interview with RealClearInvestigations, he said it became clear, after closer inspection, that the raw information the informant provided lacked credibility. "There really was no evidence that Putin supported Trump," Harvey said.
Even so, Brennan as well as Comey, who also handled the informant, pushed to include his tip in the ICA to back the judgment Putin worked to help Trump win the election, all the while concealing their star source's identity, background and reliability from most of the participants involved in the crafting of the ICA.
"They knew he was not reliable and they tried to hide access to him," Harvey said. "They knew he had bad sources. This stuff was weak."
...
Brennan's informant is believed to be Oleg Smolenkov, who previously worked in the Russian Embassy in Washington and later as a government foreign policy adviser in Moscow, before moving back to the D.C. area in early 2017.
Brennan said his source could not be revealed because Putin might have him executed. However, reporters easily found Smolenkov living in a six-bedroom home in Stafford, Va., listed in his and his wife's real names.
It's not known if Smolenkov was paid for his information. The CIA and FBI declined to comment.
...
Explaining why NSA dissented from the key Putin conclusion, former NSA Director Adm. Mike Rogers argued the human source it was based on "did not have direct access" to insider information about Putin. Also, he added, "I didn't see multiple sources."
Foreign press outlets have noted that Smolenkov "would not have direct access to secret information at either the Russian Embassy in the U.S. or while working for the presidential administration in Moscow."
Mollie Hemingway has a fresh report about all of the professional, career intelligence analysts -- the ones we're supposed to always trust above political appointees like John Brennan -- who objected to Brennan's dirty oppo file cocaine and did not believe it could be cooked into pure, healthy Organic Crack with probiotis and anti-inflammatory riboflavin.
Senior intelligence officials strenuously fought the demands of former FBI Director James Comey and other Obama intelligence chiefs to include the false and unverified Steele dossier in an official assessment of Russian activities ordered by President Barack Obama in the closing weeks of his presidency, records reviewed exclusively by The Federalist show. The records, which are related to ongoing criminal investigations into Comey and other top intelligence officials for their roles in launching the Russia collusion hoax, provide damning evidence of Obama intelligence chiefs' malfeasance beyond the explosive information released Wednesday by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
Previous government investigations into the Russia collusion hoax dryly described the opposition merely as officials having "expressed concern" about using the infamous Steele dossier because it was "not completely vetted." But records reviewed by The Federalist reveal career intelligence officials expressed outright shock at the poor quality of the reporting that the FBI repeatedly insisted be included in the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) -- and objected to any reference to the dodgy dossier.
"Based solely on what we DO know now, my bottom line is this -- unless FBI is prepared to provide much better sourcing -- I believe this should NOT be included in the paper," one official wrote, caps and all. Noting that the document had not been formally issued as an FBI product, the official stressed it suffered from "POOR SOURCE TRADECRAFT," had "extremely sketchy" sourcing, and "simply does not meet normal [intelligence community] standards."
The Steele dossier, a product of the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, was a collection of salacious and unverified stories about rival presidential candidate Donald Trump supposedly colluding with Russia. Clinton secretly funded the information operation and the group she hired to create the dossier spread the false information it contained to reporters, politicians, and the FBI.
...
Former FBI Director James Comey's demand the ICA include the Steele dossier helped Brennan develop the false but explosive narrative that Russia interfered in the 2016 election in order to help Trump. Intelligence officials immediately pushed back on including the dossier in the ICA, with one senior official recorded as saying, in materials reviewed exclusively by The Federalist, that the fact that the source was paid at first by an "anti-Trump Republican, and later a different Democrat client" meant the author knew what his clients wanted. He "clearly had a motive to pass along info, however poorly sourced, since it generated revenue," the official warned.
Intelligence officials also worried that Steele had relied on sub-sources whose identity and credibility were unknown to the FBI. The concern was validated in January 2017 when interviews with the primary subsource, Igor Danchenko, showed the document's scurrilous allegations lacked credibility. Rather than admit their error, FBI officials continued to defend their use of the dossier for years and hid Danchenko's identity from congressional scrutiny by hiring him as an informant.
FBI officials insisted to the officials working on the ICA that the information in the dossier was good. One intelligence official wondered why, if the information was as good as the FBI claimed, Democrats did not deploy it against Trump during the campaign, the records stated.
The FBI countered that Steele was a credible source whose reporting had, at least somewhat, been corroborated. The intelligence officials were skeptical.
"If, as we have been told, FBI has some corroborating material from an ongoing investigation, can that be used? I thought they never do that? If they feel this overrides the investigation, some of the corroborating reporting must be included in the paper. If not, I would argue for dropping the page," the official said, explaining in detail "Why we should oppose inclusion of the FBI material."
The previously unreported records reviewed by The Federalist also showed the FBI stressing that since the Steele dossier was already "out there," it should be included in the body of the ICA.
A senior intelligence official eviscerated the argument, responding: "Just how 'out there' is it? All we know for sure is that much of the content of the document appeared in [Mother Jones] in October and a copy of something is in Sen. McCain's hands." The senior official added that including the dossier in the ICA would essentially confirm the salacious reporting, punctuating his point by comparing the Steele reporting to a December 12, 2016 National Enquirer story headlined, "MUSLIM SPIES IN OBAMA'S CIA!" That article included quotes from sources alleging that the agency had 55 double agents, so the analyst asked rhetorically if that detail should be included in an intelligence assessment as well.
DAMAGE CONTROL? Fake News CNN cuts away just as @DNIGabbard outlines the lengths to which the Obama Administration went to manufacture the Russia collusion hoax pic.twitter.com/qmzx5wQ60d
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 23, 2025
BREAKING: James Clapper admits he is concerned about prosecution and has "lawyered up."
You can even hear the trembling in his voice. Good.
That's the sound of a person who just found out that he is not "above the law."pic.twitter.com/m5esx5bztC
CNN's racist witch-faced left-wing "national security" (and social justice) "analyst" explained that Clapper is just sad to see that Muh Pillars of Muh Republic is crumbling.
Juliette Kayyem
@juliettekayyem
Knowing Clapper, I think that is the sound of a man distraught that a nation he spent his life defending as an intelligence chief now has one who is using the position to defame people Trump doesn't like in order to deflect from his scandals. That's the sound.
Biden's Former Top Aide Ron Klain Testifies, Sticking to the Party Line That Biden Was Not "Politically Viable" But Still Was Totally Competent to Remain President Hunter Biden: Hot Damn, Crack Is My Jam!!!
—Ace
This is the line Nancy Pelosi created to push Biden out of the race while keeping him in office. (Because Biden never, ever would have agreed to step down as president.)
The Democrats kept insisting that he wasn't "viable" as a candidate, while denying he was incapacitated to serve as president.
But why was he not "viable"? Because, of course, the country had seen that he was not mentally fit to continue on as president.
But they don't concede that part. They just say "The polls showed him losing, despite being the most successful president of the modern era."
Well if he's the most successful president of the modern era -- spoiler, he was not -- then why are the polls showing he can't win?
Because, of course, the country had seen that he was not mentally fit to continue on as president.
But they keep pretending these two questions -- about his political viability and about his mental fitness -- are entirely unrelated.
Because only by separating the two questions could they get the stubborn senile Biden to back out of the race.
Former White House chief of staff Ron Klain revealed Thursday that former President Joe Biden wasn't seen as "politically viable" by either his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, or by ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during his final year in office, a source told The Post.
Klain -- a member of a purported "Politburo" that made high-level decisions as Biden grew less clear-headed during his term -- made the stunning claims to the House Oversight Committee in response to accusations that senior aides shielded the 46th president's physical and mental infirmity.
In the sitdown, Klain denied that Biden, now 82, lacked the cognitive acuity to govern or that he was too old to run for re-election in 2024, according to a source familiar with his remarks.
But the longtime adviser admitted his boss was "less energetic," had a poorer memory and frequently mixed up names -- a problem that worsened with time, the source added.
Sullivan confided to Klain that Biden was also "less effective" in 2024 than in 2022, the source said.
Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for Sullivan, told The Post Thursday night that "Jake did not have a conversation with Ron about Joe Biden running for president before the [June 27] debate."
Elsewhere in his interview, Klain divulged that he'd donated $5,000 for then-first son Hunter Biden's legal defense fund at the behest of attorney Abbe Lowell, who repped the younger Biden.
"Evidence emerges on a daily basis that would suggest Joe Biden wasn't mentally fit to be president," Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) told reporters, citing claims that the former chief executive was put on "mind-altering" sleeping pills before his debate flop against former President Donald Trump.
Klain told the Oversight panel he was not aware Biden was taking Ambien ahead of the performance, a claim Hunter Biden made in a Monday interview with YouTube personality Andrew Callaghan.
...
Former Biden White House aides weren't surprised that Klain would be answering questions -- noting that he's had a rocky relationship with his former boss over his willingness to be quoted in tell-all books like Chris Whipple's tome "Uncharted."
"Ron Klain taking the opportunity to speak is so classic -- always yapping," said one former official.
Ed Morrissey quotes passages from Uncharted which certainly suggest that Biden was mentally unfit (which then made him "politically unviable.")
Klain, the White House chief of staff from 2021 to 2023, was "startled" by Biden's declining mental and physical state when he went back to work for the octogenarian president in June 2024, according to excerpts from Chris Whipple's upcoming book Uncharted published in the Guardian.
Klain had "never seen [Biden] so exhausted and out of it," Whipple writes. "Biden was unaware of what was happening in his own campaign. Halfway through the session, the president excused himself and went off to sit by the pool." ...
Klain had to cut short the two mock debates he had organized for Biden.
"The first was scheduled to last 90 minutes but Klain called it off after 45. The president's voice was shot and so was his grasp of the subject," Whipple writes. Less than 30 minutes into the second mock debate, Biden went off to bed, saying he was "just too tired to continue," according to Whipple.
Morrissey points out that Hunter Biden's new "Ambien Defense" -- of course the drug addict fabricates a drug-related defense -- makes no sense. Taking an Ambien the night before would not continue affecting Biden at 9pm the following night. And besides, Biden was also flailing, failing, and floundering in his debate prep.
This was not a one-night thing.
Speaking of Hunter Biden -- I said he was running for office, but I thought he'd be running for a House seat.
David Strom may be trolling me but he figures that Biden, Inc. is going to need a bigger office to continue grifting from. You can't support a big Crime Family on the minor ducats you can collect as a congresscrackhead.
Hunter for President. He's done it once; he can do it again. If you liked Joe Biden's presidency, elect the man who helped run the autopen.
I am only half joking, folks. Hunter Biden might be running for President of the United States. He's already mused about what he would do as president, and he is on a tour of the podcasts to defend the Joe Biden administration.
Update: I heard about this, but didn't listen: Hunter Biden extols the virtues of smoking crack and I'm not kidding.
"Safer than alcohol," he proclaims. It's not "dirty," he insists, but is in fact cleaner than cocaine because "all of the impurities have been cooked off."
Democrats Post Graph To Show Prices Are At the Highest Ever, But There's a Problem Update: The US Loses $200 Billion Per Year in Foreign Remittances
—Ace
The graph showed that the monster inflation occurred solely under Biden. Yes, prices continue to be high -- we never actually deflate prices, the best we do is not inflate them further -- but the graph plainly showed that Biden, not Trump, was responsible for all of the inflation.
And the Democrats, who are super-smart you guys, thought this chart was an Own.
After it was pointed out that the chart was an Own but a Self-Own, they deleted it.
The Democratic Party on Thursday deleted a questionable social media post that appeared to try to blame President Donald Trump for "record high" grocery prices.
The post on X shared a graph that showed grocery prices in all major food categories going up over the past four years due to inflation, but did not include a spot for 2025. However, a caption on the graph claimed the prices were higher now than in July of 2024.
The original post included the caption "Trump's America." Just The News has verified that the post existed and has since been deleted. The Trump administration has also shared the post.
The party has not commented on why the post was removed, but the post was ratio'd with 9,500 comments, compared to 6,200 likes and 4,700 reposts.
Trump's Rapid Response account reposted the chart, this time showing Biden's term in comparison with the price hikes.
The U.S. loses at least $200 billion per year from our economy in remittances. This number is likely even higher now as the last reliable, bilateral data were published in 2021.
At least 134 countries received remittances from the U.S. in 2021, with amounts ranging from a few thousand dollars to tens of billions of dollars.
In 2021, the top five recipient countries of remittances from the U.S. were: Mexico ($52.6 billion), India ($15.8 billion), Guatemala ($14.7 billion), the Philippines ($12.8 billion), and China ($12.7 billion). Some of these totals have grown significantly even since 2021.
U.S. remittances account for around 20 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of multiple countries in Central America, including Honduras and El Salvador.
Billions of dollars sent in remittances to Mexico are potentially linked to cartels. Some of these funds are in the form of cryptocurrency, making them even harder to trace than conventional funds.
THE MORNING RANT: The EV De-Transition Is Accelerating– 7/25/2025
—Buck Throckmorton
The electric vehicle era has brought forth a terrifying new hazard on the open seas – unextinguishable fires on automobile transport ships as the EVs on board produce a cascade of runaway thermal lithium fires. Several ships have been lost in recent years, most recently the Morning Midas, which ultimately sank. As I documented a couple weeks ago, ”The next big conversation needs to be on where these explosive ordnance vehicles are allowed and not allowed. Following the Morning Midas’ sinking, it may become tougher for cargo lines to obtain insurance for ships carrying EVs. Insurers would also be well within their rights to deny coverage to buildings with parking garages put at structural risk by EV fires.
Pacific Ocean carrier Matson has come up with a real simple solution. It just announced that it is not going to transport EVs any longer. This prohibition also applies to plug-in hybrid vehicles and stand-alone lithium-ion phosphate batteries.
Transportation services company Matson has suspended shipments of electric vehicles (EVs) and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries – a subtype of lithium-ion battery chemistry commonly used in EVs – over concerns related to fire risks during transit.
More carriers will likely follow, especially when insurance becomes too expensive, or completely unattainable.
[h/t to Scampydog for sending me this story.]
*****
Team EV tried to use the power of government to deny me the right to buy an internal combustion (“ICE” ) vehicle, making EVs my only legal option. Thanks to Donald Trump, Lee Zeldin, and the Republican Congress, EV mandates are being rolled back and the $7,500 federal incentive for EV purchases goes away in a few weeks. But the EV bros and their eco-communist allies will never give up on trying to force you and me into their lithium-laden external combustion vehicles. Team EV will just sit tight until the next Democrat is elected President, and then try to once again outlaw ICE vehicles
At this point, I am receptive to an “ICE mandate” in retaliation for the EV mandate they tried to impose on me. Team EV needs to suffer a total defeat in the EV battles, not just a setback. As I wrote at The Pipeline a year ago,”They came after us and we repelled their first assault, but simply repelling an adversary’s attack only sets the stage for their next assault. They must suffer a loss, and they must put all their energy into not suffering any more losses, to ensure that they don’t get the opportunity to come after our gasoline-powered cars again.”
Which brings me to this big, beautiful, tariff-related attack on the EV market:
It is not possible to manufacture EV batteries without graphite, which is almost exclusively sourced from China. EV fanboys are panicking, because this will make EVs much more expensive, further killing off what little demand actually exists without federal subsidies. Spencer Hakimian lamented on Twitter, ”How are we supposed to build electric cars then?” To which our own Comrade Arthur replied, ”That’s the neat thing. You don’t.”
This is effectively an ICE vehicle mandate! When Joe Biden’s EPA mandated unachievable emissions results from automakers, it may not have been labeled an “EV mandate,” but it served that purpose. This is much the same. There will be nothing stopping manufacturers from building and selling all the EVs they want, they just need battery suppliers to mine the graphite domestically or pay the 93% tariff.
This is beautiful. It’s effectively an “ICE vehicle mandate” from Trump, but not technically. Manufacturers can build and sell all the EVs they want. They’ll just need battery suppliers to mine the EV battery materials domestically (good luck with that) or pay the 93% tariff.
To paraphrase Kurt Schlichter, we had three options regarding the introduction of electric vehicles.
1) Everyone can buy and drive whatever they want.
2) The left denies me the freedom to buy what I want, making EVs the only option.
3) People like me deny the left the freedom to buy EVs, making ICE vehicles the only option.
I very much wanted Option #1. My principles are strongly aligned with Option #1. But my principles also state that when someone tries to deny me the freedom of my principles, then my principles become more flexible. The left decided to reject Option #1 and instead jammed Option #2 down the throat of freedom-loving Americans, therefore Option #3 is the default choice. EVs should therefore be banned.
But what about Tesla and Rivian, which only build electric cars? No worries, they can simply obey the “ICE mandate” and start building ICE vehicles if they want to survive. That is really no different than what Team EV tried to impose upon traditional auto manufacturers when blue states starred banning EVs and Biden imposed his mandates.
*****
Related…Tesla fanboys and stock promoters rejoiced when California passed legislation banning the sale of ICE vehicles by 2035. Well, they are now learning that cozying up to California leftists is like cozying up to a rattlesnake.
The State of California is moving to ban the sale of Tesla cars amid claims that the company and its CEO, Elon Musk, have misled buyers about the self-driving capabilities of their cars.
It may just be a one-month suspension of Tesla’s license to sell vehicles in California, but that is one month of sales in Tesla’s largest market. Ouch.
*****
I am conflicted about Elon Musk. I am profoundly grateful to him for buying Twitter and saving free speech from the censorious left. I am also profoundly grateful to him for his work on DOGE, which is defunding the left. Regarding his business endeavors, I am in awe of his space program, and likewise Starlink.
But then there is Tesla…
Had there not been a widespread effort to deprive Americans of the freedom of gasoline powered cars, I would not have as much animosity as I do toward EVs. But I would still be incensed by Tesla’s business model, for which it receives about $9,000 in revenue per vehicle sold from non-customers.
There is the $7,500 per unit tax incentive which is paid by all of us taxpayers. Almost as objectionable is the regulatory (carbon) credits awarded to Tesla by governmental agencies, which are then sold to ICE manufacturers to allow them to build and sell ICE cars. Tesla sold $2.76 billion in regulatory credits in 2024, which amounted to (approximately) an additional $1,500 profit on each new Tesla it sold.
Think about it. When you buy an ICE vehicle, the purchase price includes a premium so that the manufacturer of your car can pay Tesla for the right to sell you a non-EV. I don’t know what economic model that is, but it darn sure isn’t capitalism or a free market.
Well good news! Thanks to the Big Beautiful Bill that eliminated the $7,500 tax incentive, it also eliminated all fines for auto manufacturers not achieving Biden-era emission regulations. Without fines, they won’t have to pay Tesla any longer for those government issued chits.
For years, Tesla has earned billions of dollars from its competitors just for selling electric vehicles. But that windfall is about to go away, just when the company may need it the most.
According to a recent note from analysts at William Blair and Co., the automakers “that fail to meet standards no longer incur fines, eliminating market demand for Tesla’s credits.” The analysts expect Tesla’s regulatory credit revenue to fall by 75% next year and disappear completely by 2027.
Tesla is about to lose about $9,000 per unit of revenue that is being paid by you and me. If Teslas are as amazing as all its fans keep writing me, they shouldn’t mind paying $9,000 more so that I don’t have to keep subsidizing them.
Good morning kids, as I have written about, or at the least have attempted to write about in my tenure as your personal envoy/sherpa of the news, the differentiation and identification of the disease from merely the symptoms of societal rot and dissolution.
A or at least the shining example that is coming to the fore, despite the media's shameless and desperate attempts to obfuscate and distort if not completely bury it is Obamagate, which Tulsi Gabbard to her credit has revealed what we all knew or at the barest of minimums suspected, was that Barack Obama either orchestrated or at the very least knew about and/or approved ofthe Intel community's combined operation with Hillary Clinton to manufacture a case that Donald Trump colluded with Vladimir Putin to somehow sabotage the 2016 election. And then afterward, use this manufactured case of treason to destroy his presidency if not him personally by tarring and feathering him as a traitor. Dear Lord, you talk about projection, especially given the background of Obama himself.
But as I stated how is it that institutions that are in place which are intended to safeguard our freedoms and society at large turn out to be the greatest threat to both of those things? Where is the failing? Well, as Shakespeare wrote "The fault lies not in our stars but in ourselves."
As President Trump though so accurately observed, they're not out to get me, they're out to get you! I'm just standing in the way. So terribly true as we have learned and seen with our own eyes despite the attempts by the Propagandists to convince us otherwise. As horrendous a crime as this was, and remains a stain on our society, so long as the perpetrators are left unpunished which the corruption being as dark and deep as it is I sadly have to assume will forever be the case. Regardless of the culpability of the perpetrators, the lack of resolve (so far Gabbard notwithstanding) of those to attempt to right his most horrendous of wrongs is just as bad. Yes, fear of both political and personal retribution if not the justified fear for personal safety of oneself and one's families surely are factors. But that said, if you cannot take the heat, then get out of the kitchen. The crime is bad enough, lack of resolve to preserve, protect and defend the Republic has just as deleterious consequences going forward.
The House Judiciary Committee has released an interim staff report showing that the Biden administration and the FBI manufactured a false narrative of Catholic Americans as violent extremists.
New documents obtained by the Committee show that the 2023 Richmond memorandum from former FBI Director Christopher Wray that described traditional Catholics as “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists,” wasn’t an isolated incident.
Commenting on Report: How the Biden-Wray FBI Manufactured a False Narrative of Catholic Americans as Violent Extremists,” Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said, “we now know that the Biden Admin’s targeting of Catholics was worse than we thought.”
Yes indeed, they're after us and they always will be. And as I noted yesterday and in days past, it begins and ends in the schools where future generations of our tormenters are "groomed" so to speak as our supposed elites/superiors and the rest are conitioned to believe that monstrous fiction and that we must believe and obey them for our own betterment.
Some continuing good news on the economic front, with unfortunately the continuing corruption of hack-in-black judges on the immigration front. Oh well. . .
And lastly, a quick shout-out and thank you for your continued support in hitting our tip jar. It truly is appreciated more than you can know.
President Donald J. Trump chastised Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in person over the nearly $1 billion in cost overruns for renovations and new office construction undertaken by the American central bank. On Thursday, July 24, 2025, Trump became only the fourth President in American history to visit the Federal Reserve, and the only President to enter the building for nonceremonial purposes. Previously, former Presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Gerald Ford, and George W. Bush each visited the Fed. Trump Hits Powell Over Renovation Costs During Historic Fed Visit.
To reduce the taxpayer cost and locate the USDA “closer to the people it serves,” much of the Agency’s headquarters and employees will be relocated from the D.C. area to one of five hubs with lower living cost pay adjustments: Raleigh, North Carolina (22.24%)Kansas City, Missouri (18.97%) Indianapolis, Indiana (18.15%) Fort Collins, Colorado (30.52%) Salt Lake City, Utah (17.06%) USDA Flees D.C. Area ‘Plagued by Rampant Overspending, Decades of Mismanagement’
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released a new report laying out how it will evaluate budgetary proposals to end the government’s control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Although the report is officially nonpartisan and descriptive, its implications are clear: the best deal for taxpayers—the cleanest and most fiscally responsible path forward—is to put the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) into receivership. (and Barney Frank, Franklin Raines and Jamie Gorelick in leg irons - jjs) Breitbart Business Digest: CBO Sees Fannie and Freddie Receivership as Best for Taxpayers
By far, the most dramatic testimony from the hearing came during an exchange between Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) and witness Ali Hopper, the president and co-founder of GUARD Against Trafficking. Crane asked Hopper what, if any, guardrails did the Biden junta put in place to monitor the well-being of UACs after they were placed with sponsors. 65,000 Calls to Biden Junta Hotline for Unaccompanied Alien Children Reportedly Ignored
“President Trump is keeping his promise to the American people to carry out the largest mass deportation operation in history!” a White House spokesman said, adding: “American communities will be safer with these dangerous criminal illegal aliens gone. Promises made. Promises kept.” Arrests of Criminal Illegals Are Up by Triple Digits.
A series of interviews and media reports from the “Russia Russia Russia” era show Joe Biden’s total and complete deception. Obama? What of Biden’s Complicity?
President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday via Truth Social that his administration had secured a trade deal with Japan, which included a $550 billion investment in the United States. Lutnick explained to Daily Caller Editor-in-Chief Dylan Housman how he thought up the deal and negotiated with Japan for six months to secure the historic investment. Howard Lutnick Reveals How Trump Admin Secured Massive Trade Deal With Japan
Mediators have been working for over two weeks to facilitate discussions between the Israeli and Hamas delegations, but the talks have not yielded results. The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire, with warnings of “mass starvation” spreading among the population. U.S. and Israel Leave Gaza Ceasefire Talks, Blame Hamas.
FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS, MEDIA, BIG BROTHER TECH
Gilbertson said that “the establishment media, I got the sense yesterday, they’re going to fight tooth and nail to just make this go away. There were murmurings in the briefing room as Gabbard was laying some of this out. I heard somebody murmur liar in the back of the room, there was some grandstanding from some veteran establishment journalists that were in the back of the room, too.” The Cover-Up Begins: Establishment Media Is Going to Fight Tooth and Nail to Bury Obamagate
RED-GREENS, CLIMATE CHANGE HOAX, DEMOCRAT-LEFT WAR ON FOSSIL FUELS,
Zeldin met with his Mexican counterpart, Alicia Bárcena, in Mexico City on Thursday to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the countries to stop the flow of raw, untreated sewage polluting southern California. Trump’s EPA Secures ‘Win’ with Mexico to Solve Tijuana River Sewage Crisis
The deal was controversial both inside and outside the Trump administration. While the president is getting a pound of flesh and the university was forced to commit in writing to complying with a multitude of federal laws, the agreement did not include several structural reforms to the school that the parties had previously discussed. Trump’s Columbia Deal
Oversight Chairman James Comer said the committee’s new ranking Democrat, California Rep. Robert Garcia, joined Republicans in authorizing subpoenas for Bill and Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, Merrick Garland, Robert Mueller, William Barr, Jeff Sessions and Alberto Gonzales. Oversight Committee Moves To Subpoena The Clintons, Comey, Garland And Others In Epstein Probe
All the reasons, however, for shifting away from the Biden administration’s plan to fund an endless war in Ukraine—and for finding ways to talk to Russia about other issues—are still valid. Trump Should Resist Russia Hawks
The initial law weakened the independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption institutions, raising fears that Zelensky is not serious about reforming the country at best, and attempting to actively cover up his government’s misdeeds at worst. Zelensky’s justification, that the law protected against Russian influence, was criticized as contradictory and self-defeating. Zelensky Backtracks After Gutting Anti-Corruption Bodies.
The UN building would make a nice hotel by the river. We gotta get out of this place (From the East River to Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, the Parking will Be Free! - jjs)
If this behavior doesn’t prove Sheinbaum’s lust for power and control, nothing will. She doesn’t really care about Mexico’s beaches or environment. If she did, she would celebrate SpaceX’s salvage operations. What she really doesn’t like is that someone is doing something without her permission. She is the boss, and SpaceX better remember that! Mexico’s president says it will investigate SpaceX for doing salvage operations off its coast
DEFENSE, MILITARY, SECURITY AFFAIRS
Chinese state-affiliated hackers have exploited a critical vulnerability in Microsoft SharePoint software to infiltrate several U.S. government agencies, including the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which is responsible for America’s nuclear weapons. According to multiple cybersecurity reports, the cyberattack began on July 18 and also affected organizations across Europe and the Middle East.Microsoft has linked the attackers to groups it tracks as Linen Typhoon, Violet Typhoon, and Storm-2603. These groups reportedly took advantage of a zero-day flaw in SharePoint to gain unauthorized access, enabling them to steal cryptographic keys. This theft may have allowed them to impersonate legitimate users or services within affected systems. Microsoft has since issued security patches to mitigate the vulnerability and is urging all users to update their systems. China Exploits Microsoft Flaw to Hack US Nuclear Agency.
iRocket’s Shockwave launch vehicle is uniquely designed for recovery and reuse of all of its stages. Just as airplanes fly multiple flights, iRocket will Recondition, Reload, and Relaunch™ its rockets in under 24 hours. iRocket’s patented liquid rocket engines will maintain high efficiency through descent as well as ascent. iRocket’s engines will be fueled with sustainable liquid oxygen and methane, which burns cooler, imparts less stress on components, and further supports iRocket’s unique 24-hour turn-around time. Being on a leading edge with its rocket engine expertise, iRocket is also developing solid rocket motors that will transform boosters, missiles, and interceptors. Rocket startup IRocket mergers with investment company
FEMINAZISM, TRANSGENDER PSYCHOSIS, HOMOSEXUALIZATION, WAR ON MASCULINITY/NORMALCY
Kmuel King is serving an 80-year sentence inside the Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln, Illinois — supposedly a women’s facility — while the state labels him as “male,” according to prison records first reported by Reduxx. The Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) declared in 2021 that inmates would not be separated based solely on “anatomy” and that it would respect “gender identity,” though the prison records do not say when or why King was placed in the Logan facility. (RELATED: DOJ Says It’s Pulling Funding From State That Let Male Murderer Into Women’s Prison) Illinois Keeps Man Who Murdered His Mother In Women’s Prison
CULTURE WARS, NATIONAL SUICIDE
My apologies for the glib headline on such a serious topic. But I decided early on, if only for one moment, that I'd treat the most deadly serious topic in history with as much seriousness as those currently throwing around the word "genocide" like confetti at a parade. I promise you the headline is as glib as I'll get today. Mostly. Thursday Essay: Hey, Kids — Let's Talk About Genocide!
Cosmetic retailer Ulta Beauty just partnered with a gay man dressed in drag to peddle their latest line of - wait for it - hair products for women. Because nothing says "Buy this, ladies!" like a bearded dude in a dress and heels bouncing around like an over-caffeinated chihuahua and making a mockery of their entire gender. Ulta Beauty Partners With Dude in Drag to Peddle Women's Hair Products
Conservative thinkers Edmund Burke and Roger Scruton share a belief that civilization is a delicate inheritance, not a machine to be engineered. To Love and Preserve
All those "allegedly" claims I mentioned in the first announcement a couple of days ago now seem to have been confirmed by the company officially - including misappropriating half a million dollars of funds raised for a charity drive.
When he was sworn in as president in December 2023, the Argentine economy was a seemingly incurable basket case. In 2023, its gross domestic product had shrunk by 1.6 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Perhaps more strikingly, per capita gross domestic product (GDP) on an inflation-adjusted basis was lower than it had been in 2007. Public finances were in disarray. The last time the government had run a surplus was in 2008. The IMF estimated total public debt at around 90 percent of GDP, but the important thing was how much of that debt—more than $40 billion—Argentina owed to the IMF, the culmination of no fewer than 22 programs.
The previous Peronist government’s reckless fiscal and monetary policies had created annualized inflation exceeding 200 percent. Indeed, wholesale price inflation in December 2023 was 54 percent month over month—technically hyperinflation, according to the widely accepted definition. To give you some idea, in 2023 the price of a latte roughly tripled from around 1,500 pesos to around 4,500. For the last three years, Cuervo Café—the coolest coffee shop in Buenos Aires—had to adjust its prices twice a month.
After less than 20 months, Milei has eliminated the fiscal deficit, cutting it from 5 percent of GDP to zero. He has reduced the number of government ministries from 18 to 8. (“Ministry of Tourism and Sports—out!” he declared in a campaign video, tearing its name off a whiteboard. “Ministry of Culture—out! Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development—out! Ministry of Women, Gender, and Diversity—out! Ministry of Public Works—out, even if you resist!”) With Executive Order 70, issued a few days after his inauguration, he deregulated key markets, including property rentals, commercial airlines, and road freight transport. Labor market reforms took longer but were enacted after a fight in Congress.
It truly is amazing what he's done. I wish politicians up here were paying attention.
When the average American is at the grocery store shopping for beef, you are likely to see labels that say, “MADE IN THE USA.” Sadly, and outrageously, these labels mean next to nothing:
The USDA has passed new regulations that won’t take effect until 2026, that are aimed at tightening up the rules around “Made in the USA” labeling on beef and pork. Shockingly, however, labeling the country of origin is totally voluntary! Beef and pork are almost the only food products where country of origin labeling isn’t required:
The rest of the article is an ad. But you should do what I do: Buy a ¼ or a ½ from a local rancher. No only do I know my beef is from the USA – I met the cow it came from before it went off to the slaughterhouse.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard just lit a fuse under the deep state—and it’s about time.
Appearing Sunday on “Sunday Morning Futures” with Maria Bartiromo, Gabbard dropped a stunning accusation: that Barack Obama personally directed a “treasonous conspiracy” to undermine Donald Trump’s presidency before it even began. And now, according to Gabbard, the floodgates are opening—whistleblowers who were sickened by what they witnessed are starting to come forward.
“The implications of this are frankly nothing short of historic,” Gabbard said. She pointed to more than 100 newly released documents that she says show how Obama, just weeks before leaving office, greenlit a coordinated effort to sabotage Trump—after he was elected. “This is not a Democrat or Republican issue. This is an issue that is so serious it should concern every single American.”
According to Gabbard, Obama and his inner circle simply refused to accept the outcome of the 2016 election. Instead of stepping aside and respecting the will of the people, they weaponized the intelligence community and pushed a phony Russia narrative to kneecap Trump before he even took office.
“They decided that they would do everything possible to try to undermine his ability to do what voters tasked President Trump to do,” she said. “So, creating this piece of manufactured intelligence that claims Russia had helped Donald Trump get elected contradicted every other assessment… that said exactly the opposite—that Russia neither had the intent nor the capability to ‘hack’ the United States election.”
I'd like to think there will be consequences, but my hard won cynicism tells me there won't be.
Leaping Lizards!
Webster officials are warning residents to be on the lookout for a potentially dangerous water monitor that is on the loose in the lakeside town.
“There is a water monitor loose in the area of Blueberry lane off from upper gore,” Webster Animal Control wrote on its Facebook page Friday. “If you spot this reptile, please immediately contact animal control or the police department. Please DO NOT approach and let the professionals handle the animal.”
How can you tell if the newest Supreme Court Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is an "activist" judge? She admits it. Worse, she appears to think it is her job, if not her duty, to engage in (left-wing) judicial activism.
In an interview with CBS News, Jackson explained what she hopes to accomplish in her many dissents. "I just feel that I have a wonderful opportunity to tell people in my opinions how I feel about the issues," she said, "and that's what I try to do." She added, "And I'm not afraid to use my voice." This sounds like a podcaster rather than a judge.
You might be forgiven for thinking judges are supposed to interpret the law as intended by the legislature and apply the law to resolve disputes before the court.
When even Sotomayer is disagreeing with you, you've got issues.
The images come in every day. Thousands of them.
Men and equipment being hunted down along Ukraine's long, contested front lines. Everything filmed, logged and counted.
And now put to use too, as the Ukrainian military tries to extract every advantage it can against its much more powerful opponent.
Under a scheme first trialled last year and dubbed "Army of Drones: Bonus" (also known as "e-points"), units can earn points for each Russian soldier killed or piece of equipment destroyed.
And like a killstreak in Call of Duty, or a 1970s TV game show, points mean prizes.
"The more strategically important and large-scale the target, the more points a unit receives," reads a statement from the team at Brave 1, which brings together experts from government and the military.
"For example, destroying an enemy multiple rocket launch system earns up to 50 points; 40 points are awarded for a destroyed tank and 20 for a damaged one."
Call it the gamification of war.
Call of Duty: Kiev
Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by range day:
Podcast: Israel protects the Druze, and Western Culture, Tulsi Gabbard is tenacious, NYC's mayoral race is a catastrophe, The Democrat Lying Machine, and more!
At Budokan Mystery Click Now I had heard the WACs
recruited old maids for the war
But mommy's neither one of those
I've known her all these years Maybe I'll stop linking obscurities and start linking more crowd pleasers. If you can stand the sight of Dan Rather, three members of the band talk about how they got famous in Japan before they ever even played in Japan. Hint: Manga.
Warner was in Costa Rica on a family vacation and drowned while swimming near Cocles after allegedly being caught by a high current on Sunday afternoon. The incident occurred between 2 and 2:30 p.m. local time.
Costa Rican National Police told The Post that Warner was pulled from the water by people in the area and taken to shore, where the Costa Rica Red Cross tried to revive him but were unsuccessful in their efforts.
His body was taken to the morgue at San Joaquin de Flores for an autopsy. The cause of death is listed as asphyxiation by "submersion."
Forgotten 80s Mystery Click Hint: Chopper noises on an oscillator/synthesizer City nights, summer breeze makes you feel all right
Neon lights, shining brightly, make your brain ignite
See the girls with the dresses so tight
Give you love Give you love if the price is right
Black or white, in the streets, there's no wrong and no right, no!
Podcast: The economy is good, and tariffs aren't causing inflation! Is selling arms to Europe for Ukraine any better? AI spells the end of the Green Energy boondoggle, Epstein's getting boring, And ICE needs to be unleashed!
Update on Jasmine Ratchet: The DEI Dum-Dumb is eyeing a Senate run, because why should Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke get paid millions every two years to get blown out in the Texas senatorial election? Shouldn't she get some of that sweet sweet Act Blue graft?
Crockett addressed the possibility in an Instagram post where she said she would make a decision "depending on how many people reach out," but that her main focus has been legislating in the House of Representatives.
The post came after a poll from the National Republican Senatorial Committee was published showing that she was leading the pack of candidates with 35 percent in a hypothetical primary and was leading former Senate candidate Colin Allred, who was at 20 percent, per the Latin Times.
The Republican Senatorial Committee claims that she's ahead? LOL, that might be a little troll-poll.
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