Quick Hits
Update: Mitch McConnell Has Died?

—Disinformation Expert Ace

BREAKING: Mitch McConnell has passed away, according to a source close to the White House. - per Laura Loomer

Thanks to rickb223.

Trump spoke of God and against communism on July 4 which Axios thinks is just terrible.

Axios is one of those shills who would tell you Democrats are also opposed to communism. But when Trump speaks out against communism, it's just the worst thing for some reason.

I thought we agreed on this, Axios...?

Trump's God, guns and anticommunist Fourth of July

President Trump championed American military might, a Christian U.S. and his top legislative goal in a delayed Fourth of July speech from the National Mall, wrapping just minutes before the calendar switched to Sunday morning.

...

Driving the news: Throughout the speech, Trump nodded to a modern-day battle against communism, a frequent element of his midterm messaging.

"We don't want communists in our country," he said. "Never worked, and it never will work."
Trump later added, "Communism is a loser, and it always will be."

Zoom out: The president's language was also markedly religious -- in line with the tone from the White House and its allies that has steered America's 250th birthday toward prayer and divine guidance, Axios' Russell Contreras reports.

"All over the world, they try and be like us, nobody can be like us, and with God's help, we will always be this, or even better," he said.
"As our Declaration of Independence tells us, we are all made in the image of one almighty God, and a communist will never say that, that's for sure," he added.

Speaking of July 4th: they had a Mostly Peaceful holiday in California.

Fourth of July descended into mayhem across parts of Southern California as unruly crowds overwhelmed packed-out fireworks displays, looted stores, ignited fires and saw cops charge on horseback.

The worst unrest erupted in Newport Beach, where Independence Day revelers poured into Orange County, choking traffic and triggering a police response as disorder spread near the pier.

Authorities ultimately shut down businesses from the Newport Pier to Pacific Coast Highway as officers moved in to restore order.

Officers were swarmed by hundreds of people who hurled bottles and other debris at them before the crowd turned on one another and began fighting.

Mounted officers rode horses into them to clear the area so additional arrests could be made.

Video from the scene also appeared to show the aftermath of the reported looting of a Pavilions grocery store in Newport Beach, with merchandise strewn across the parking lot while groups of people lingered outside the business, laughing and joking.
Newport Beach police with riot shields and bean bag rounds disperse a crowd on July 4th.

Also a Mostly Peaceful 4th in communist NYC.

Eight people, including four children, were shot during a Fourth of July family barbecue in Brooklyn's Coney Island when a masked gunman opened fire on the group without warning, police officials said.

New York Police Department (NYPD) detectives are working to identify the suspect, who fled the scene on foot and remains at large, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference on Sunday.

"There is no place for this kind of violence in our city. We will not tolerate it. We will fight it with every single tool at our disposal," New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at the news conference.

Uh-huh.

Another "migrant" -- immigration status withheld -- killed people while driving a truck.

A migrant driver of a semi-truck was arrested and charged with running down and killing a Chicago man who was trying to change his tire alongside a suburban highway late in June.

The accident occurred early in the morning of June 24 when 24-year-old Sebastian Stone pulled off to the side of I-80 near Torrence Ave. to change a flat tire. While in the process of changing the tire, Stone was struck and killed by a semi-truck, which did not stop after running him down, CWBChicago reported.

Police were called to the scene by witnesses, and officers found Stone dead on the side of the road.

Witnesses described the truck that struck the stranded motorist and gave police the license plate number, the name of the company on the side of the truck, and the truck's company ID number. By 9 a.m., police had confirmed the witness statements with license plate reader data.

Officials also confirmed that the semi was being driven by Kulgeet Kang, 34, whose name is of Punjabi origin and common among Sikh communities.

Further information on Kang's immigration status has not been released.

Investigators contacted the company Kang was driving for and informed them of the incident, and company officials called the driver on his cell phone to alert him that he was being sought for killing a motorist. Company officials told police that Kang answered the phone, but then allegedly hung up on his bosses without speaking to them. He then refused to answer follow-up calls.

maybe danielle 💻🚛🇺🇸 @maybedanielleee

This will be very interesting to follow.

> Death by hit-and-run --> semi-truck.
> Found the semi-truck, abandoned, at a truck stop near I-65/State Road 2 in Hebron, IN.
> The truck and trailer were towed for processing.
> The truck driver was not found with the truck.
> The truck driver may have been found.
> Person taken into custody.

"The driver, according to my sources, ditched the semi at a truck stop in Indiana and hours later showed back up to his company in Illinois, where he was taken into custody." -@CourtSpinelliTV

A Muslim murder priest urges Muslims to "sacrifice blood" to make Islam the official, legally-mandated religion in the US.

A Muslim murder-priest said this in Maryland, and no one is doing anything about it.

Yossi BenYakar
@YossiBenYakar

An imam in Alabama, Ragab Abdelmoneim of the Islamic Academy of Huntsville, openly told his audience that Muslims must be ready to sacrifice their lives through jihad in order to establish "the religion of Allah" in the United States.
He claimed that victory over America is closer than ever.
This isn't being preached in some remote village overseas. This is being said openly on American soil.
At what point does this stop being protected "religious speech" and become a national security threat?
How is he not arrested?

Graham Platner: Any Suggestion That I Strong-Arm Raped Someone After Bursting Into Her Home Uninvited Is Categorically False, But I'm Now Working Out a "Path Forward" from This Totally False Accusation

—Disinformation Expert Ace

No one who speaks German could be an evil man.

Unfortunately, this comes a week too soon.

David
@davidslosttt

I'm sworn to secrecy and I can't prove any of this but:

- If what I heard is real, it's a problem
- I think he drops out if it's real, because he's already facing significant financial problems
- I doubt this is a smear, the GOP would want him to stay in

Politics & Poll Tracker 📡 @PollTracker2024

I've heard the allegation as well and Platner would have to drop out if confirmed by a reputable news outlet

(It's worse than the NYT story from last month)

So what is the allegation? It's not sexual assault back in his days at Hotchkiss boarding school.

Rather, it's an allegation of sexual assault just five years ago:

Bill Melugin @BillMelugin_

1h

BREAKING: Politico reports that a Maine woman who dated Graham Platner says he forced her to have sex with him almost 5 years ago despite her repeated objections.

"I remember him grabbing my pelvis and being really forceful of me," she said. "I remember the specific moment where I thought to myself, like, 'This is no longer my choice.'"

Platner has immediately posted a video denying the allegations.

Extremely serious allegations here. The woman says Platner came to her house in 2021 despite her telling him not to. She claims he let himself in, was drunk, raped her over her objections, and ejaculated inside of her despite her telling him not to because she wasn't on birth control.

More:

Racicot said she was torn over coming forward in part because she agrees with Platner politically.

"One of the reasons I didn't come forward sooner was, the huge moral conflict that I had between supporting his politics, but not supporting him as a person," she said. "I just want the truth out there. I just want people to have a whole scope of who he is as a person."

I'm sure we'll be told he's "grown a lot" and "matured" since.... 2021.

It was the Quarantine. We all got a little assault-y back then, huh?

POLITICO @politico

1h

A woman who dated Graham Platner says he sexually assaulted her.

"I just want the truth out there. I just want people to have a whole scope of who he is as a person," she said of the Maine Dem, who has faced a string of scandals over past offensive online comments and accusations of mistreating women.

Platner responded: "These allegations are troubling, serious, and false. Any accusation of non-consensual behavior is categorically untrue."

POLITICO @politico

32m

BREAKING: Graham Platner said he is "taking the time to reflect on the best path forward" for his candidacy minutes after POLITICO reported that a woman who dated him said he forced her to have sex with him, which he denies.

Robby Soave @robbysoave

37m

The sexual assault accusations against Graham Platner by Jenny Racicot are really quite severe. She says that he entered her home in a blackout state after she had definitively told him not to come. Then he forced himself on her. She cut off all contact afterward.

Barging into someone else's house really puts this in a different category. It doesn't leave room for mixed messages about given or withdrawn consent or something like that.

He can maintain he did no such thing, but I think a reasonable person would find that doubtful.

There was a report from Washington Reporter that said that Platner already decided to drop out:

Washington Reporter @DC_Reporter

🚨A well-placed source told us that Graham Platner is dropping out of the Maine Senate race this week.

Note that Platner has yet to release his Q2 fundraising totals, a sign he may have underperformed expectations.

If true, that would explain the attempt to poll Maine to see the best replacement.

James Gunn's Job Is Definitely At Risk as His Woke Partygirl Movie Supergirl Not Only Opens Worse Than Morbius, but Suffers Humiliating -73% 2nd Weekend Drop

—Disinformation Expert Ace

The movie never should have been made, period.

First of all, they just released Superman last year. Their follow-up is the Superman-knockoff character Supergirl, who has the same costume and same backstory (pretty much) and same powers. The only difference? She's a Strong Empowered Woman, and hooboy, people just can't get enough of those these days.

Even if you think Supergirl is a big enough character to do a movie about -- she's really not, she's a C level character -- surely you don't make a movie about this gender-flipped clone less than a year after the last Super-Family movie.

Worse yet, because Supergirl is so similar to Superman, and they were releasing the movie so close on the heels of Superman, they decided to completely change Supergirl's personality to make her seem different from her more famous Kryptonian cousin.

The Supergirl of the comics is the ultimate good girl. Just like Superman is a boy scout, Supergirl is a girl scout.

But they just did a movie about a Kryptonian boy scout so they changed Supergirl into a "messy," selfish, "trauma scarred" (can we stop making every character scarred by trauma) alcoholic party-girl. (Hollywood also doesn't like making morally good characters generally, and especially not morally good female characters, because women shouldn't do Emotional Labor for you Racists.)

So nothing like the actual Supergirl. And because alcoholic party-girls are usually -- sorry to be so direct -- promiscuous, this is the last movie a parent would want to take a young girl to see. That should be the target audience, parents bringing young girls to the movie to have a role model, but they made the character a substance-abusing partygirl so who's going to bring their daughter to that?

In fairness, Supergirl does pass out on a toilet (as one does) but doesn't have promiscuous sex with any rando dudes.

But that's not because she's moral. It's because all Empowered Female Characters must be lesbian-coded and have no sexual or romantic interest in males at all.

So again: Most parents will not want to take a young girl to see a movie about a drug-abusing lesbian.

So because Superman came out less than a year ago, they had to show that Supergirl isn't your grandfather's Supergirl by making her a grungy drunken whore.

If that's the only way to differentiate her from Superman -- then don't make the movie at all. It will be a disaster.

Which is what it was.

The movie made less than $38 million its opening weekend. Warner Bros kept lying and claiming that it made $38 million, but many disbelieved them, because they saw the daily numbers getting worse everyday. But Warner Bros. kept saying it made $38 million because they didn't want the real headline -- Supergirl made $37.1 million, less even than the disaster called Joker: Folie a Deux.

And while it opened so low you'd think it would have nowhere lower to go, you'd be wrong.

It also has a huge drop in its second weekend, one of the worst drops of any superhero movie.

'Supergirl' suffers catastrophic 73% drop, gets obliterated at box office by patriotic 'Young Washington'

Friday grosses plunged 80% in week two, with domestic totals stalling at $58.4M against a $275M cost

James Gunn was supposed to revamp and revitalize DC Studios at Warner Bros. The director of "Guardians of the Galaxy" would, in theory, bring the type of overarching creative vision that Kevin Feige had so successfully demonstrated at Marvel Studios.

Two movies into Gunn's vision of DC Studios, it's safe to say that this reboot has been an unmitigated failure.

The 2025 edition of "Superman" was, at best, a moderate success. While hardly the type of franchise-changing success the studio and Gunn hoped for, box office results and reviews were acceptable, if not a bit underwhelming. Thanks in some part to Gunn's bewildering decision to tell audiences that the film was about politics, calling the Superman character an "immigrant."

...

Alcock spent most of the press campaign making herself as unlikeable as possible, insulting potential moviegoers, bizarrely claiming that audiences felt "ownership" of her body, then doubling down after the inevitable backlash. The trailers looked awful, with a predictably sloppy anti-hero feel, atrocious visual effects, and an uninteresting plot and villain.

Still, as recently as May, hopes were that "Supergirl" could make as much as $65 million in its opening weekend. In actuality? It made just over $37 million.

With an estimated production budget of around $175 million, and a massive marketing campaign that likely cost Warner Bros. at least $100 million, the film needed to reach at least $450-500 million globally to break even. That opening weekend, and an anemic international debut, meant it was tracking towards a significant loss. The only hope? That positive word of mouth would overcome the apathy towards the film's plot and the off-putting remarks from Alcock.

Well, we now have the second weekend box office data, and not only did word of mouth not help "Supergirl," it may have destroyed it.

Friday grosses dropped an astonishing 80.4% from opening day on June 26 to just $3.6 million. Saturday estimates are for just $2.6 million, another 77% drop, despite the Independence Day holiday. All told, it's a remarkable 74% drop from the first weekend to the second. Total domestic gross for "Supergirl" now sits at just $58.4 million. On a $275 million production, from a major studio, with a massive marketing campaign, and the creative backing of James Gunn.

If the third weekend has a similar fall, grosses would plummet to just $2.49 million. For an entire weekend. A film that needed to make $200 million+ at US theaters to break even may not even reach $80 million. And considering the woeful international numbers, it's going to cost Warner Bros. hundreds of millions in losses.

It its first weekend, this very female-skewing movie was attended by 59% men, and only 41% women and girls -- the very audience it was designed, theoretically, to appeal to.

And you know what that means -- it's time for the leftwing media to blame men for women refusing to show up a movie supposedly made for the female audience.

The film received a "rotten" rating from the review-aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes. Ticket buyers were similarly unimpressed, giving "Supergirl" a B-minus grade in CinemaScore exit polls.

...

Still, box office analysts on Sunday noted an uncomfortable truth: Female-led superhero movies have been rejected almost uniformly over the past five years or so, perhaps reflecting a resurgent misogyny among the core fan base, which is largely male. Before its release, "Supergirl" became caught up in a now-familiar cycle of online abuse, with some fanboys attacking Milly Alcock's casting and appearance. Warner Bros. executives said they were surprised by both the ferocity of the backlash and its reach, believing the culture had evolved past that sort of campaign.

I repeat: 59% of tickebuyers were men. Yeah, a specific gender failed this film, and that gender was female.

I don't like Bill Burr, but this reminds me of his rant about women attacking men for not giving the WNBA good ratings: "You complained and complained so we gave you a stupid women's basketball league, and now you're telling us we have to watch it for you, too??!"

BTW: I don't mind Supergirl being a "girl boss" because, well, canonically she's one of the most powerful beings in the DC Universe, so it's not like they're reinventing the character (as they did with Captain Marvel) to make her a girlboss.

So the girlbosshood is justified... by the lore, at least.

But man oh man, are people just tired of girlbosses, whether justified by the lore or not. I hear Furiosa was pretty good, but people rejected it anyway.

We're just tired of it. Hollywood keeps making the same movie (basically) about the same female character (basically). How often do they think we want to keep seeing the same movie about the same unlikable bitch character?

Hot New #RaceHoax Drops, The Left Is So Excited You Guys

—Disinformation Expert Ace

The fake "hate" group -- almost certainly funded and directed by the left -- "Patriot Front" staged a fake little march in DC.

That was fake enough, but then the left amped up the hoax by arranging for a lone black woman to be photographed on a subway while surrounded by fake-menacing fake "Patriot Hoax" actors.

Note that she suffered no harassment or assault -- a far cry from other women that the left refuses to mention and in fact demands go without any murals to mark their deaths.

As this guy says: It's so staged it hurts.

Female Cops Beaten Up While Trying to Break Up "Teen Takeover" in North Charleston

—Disinformation Expert Ace

I don't think woke police forces are working.

The North Charleston Police Department has released a statement regarding the viral video where several individuals can be seen assaulting officers in the Chicora-Cherokee community on Saturday evening.

According to their statement, the incident depicted in the video is the result of a neighborhood block party that escalated out of control leading to the arrest of several individuals and the recovery of multiple firearms and a makeshift spear. Three juveniles and one adult were arrested as a result of the incident.

The initial report states that officers responded to a neighborhood block party in the Chicora-Cherokee community after receiving reports of gunfire and individuals firing fireworks toward passing vehicles. Officers had reportedly met with event organizers earlier in the day to discuss the event and ensure that emergency vehicles could safely access the area if needed.

Upon arrival on scene officers met with attendees who stated that several people had begun discharging firearms at the event. In an attempt to safely disperse the crowd officers repeatedly made public announcements advising that the event had ended and that everyone should leave the area.

Despite those efforts, multiple fights broke out and additional gunshots were reportedly fired. Officers exited their patrol vehicles to intervene and separate the individuals involved in the fight. During the response multiple officers were physically assaulted, with two female officers sustaining minor injuries, the release states.

Herr Docktor Bugfokker Cancels Campaign Events as Unknown Parties Begin Polling the Strength of Other Candidates to Replace Graham Platner

—Disinformation Expert Ace

There are rumors of a fresh Graham Platner scandal about to drop, even as the drop-dead deadline for replacing a candidate in Maine fast approaches. (I believe the deadline is July 13.)

Political Polls @PpollingNumbers

Graham Platner has canceled a campaign event for unclear reasons.

The cancellation comes as polls are testing other candidates against Collins, while rumors continue to circulate about a possible new scandal involving Platner.

The Maine Wire @TheMaineWire

🚨🚨Graham Platner cancels MULTIPLE scheduled town hall events as progressive allies tease another scandal is about to hit his campaign.

Augusta town hall for last night - CANCELED

Gorham town hall tonight - CANCELED

Sanford town hall tonight - CANCELED

There are no other upcoming events listed on his FB page, or on Mobilize

Steve Robinson @SteveRob

Wild rumors re Graham Platner circulating this morning...

Sources Downeast say Platner showed up for the 4th of July parade in Eastport but left early after getting struck in the face by a teen-tossed water balloon.😂

He was a no-show later that evening for the Machias parade.

Meanwhile, Platner's key ally and fellow lazy-ass scumbag Bernie Sanders commsplained that party leaders are above party "rules."

Vermont's senior senator, a key supporter of Maine Democrat U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner, Sunday rejected the alleged hypocrisy of flying charters while blasting oil-executive salaries.

"Independent" Bernie Sanders' use of private jets for his political campaigns and tours has drawn scrutiny from critics who argue it contradicts his advocacy against corporate wealth and environmental issues.

In an interview on Fox News, Sanders pushed back on the apparent contradiction.

"You campaign and you do three or four or five rallies a week," he told Fox News anchor Bret Baier.

"The only way, the only way, you can get around to talk to 30,000 people."You think I'm going to be waiting around sitting on a waiting line at United? While 30,000 people are waiting? No apologies for that.

"That's what campaign travel is about," Sanders added. "We've done it in the past and we will do it in the future."

Sanders tried to argue that President Trump doesn't fly commercial while campaigning either, asking Baier, "When's the last time you saw Donald Trump during a campaign at National Airport?"

"But he's also not fighting the oligarchy," Baier replied.

So what's the Graham Platner scandal going to be about? I would guess that it's about him being expelled from tony boarding school Hotchkiss for sexually abusing a girl or several girls.

And I think, if it's anything less than that level of serious, it won't mean anything at all. They're already all-in for a Nazi and communist. Unless it's something that rhymes with rape, he's insulated against it.

Formerly-Famous Leftwing Non-Celebrities Spend Entire Fourth of July Weekend Obsessing Over (Get This) Trump

—Disinformation Expert Ace

Sorry to drop that huge surprise on you without a warning.

Star of Seabiscuit Sarah Jessica Parker joined some other obsessives reading parts of an anti-Trump book and congratulating themselves for their Demonic Virtue.

A host of members from the cosseted Hollywood elites including Sarah Jessica Parker, Mark Ruffalo, Molly Ringwald, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Bradley Whitford released a joint July 4 video with author Timothy Snyder in an effort to challenge President Donald Trump on the day the nation paused to celebrate its 250th birthday.

They got Molly Ringwand and Sheryl Lee? (Laura Palmer from Twin Peaks, from 30 years ago.) What a coup!

They reportedly viewed their collective effort as "a call against tyranny" as Trump stood at the fore of his America 250 festivities and addressed the gathered tens of thousands and through them the country as a whole, as Breitbart News reported.

The Wrap reports how the sneering Hollywood effort went public with this claim:

"Two-hundred-fifty years ago, a revolutionary idea was born, not that freedom was guaranteed, not that democracy would take care of itself, but that ordinary people could govern themselves," Parker says in the 10-minute clip.

"Every generation since has faced the same question: What will you do when our country asks and needs something of you?"

..

"To celebrate a rebellion is to know that, from a flawed world, we can make new things," Snyder wrote in his intro to the video release, per the Wrap report.

"We can hold on, we can find each other, and not just imagine but create a much better America. It is a special 250th -- it is ours."

The clip featured -- but was not restricted to -- those mentioned earlier as well as Lisa Rinna, Canadian Margaret Atwood, Tony Goldwyn and Leslie Odom Jr. declaiming the book's 20 lessons to stand against tyranny.

Wow, decrepit spinster Margaret Atwood showed up for a left-wing event? Now I'm impressed.

And some other people who haven't been relevant since 2002 as well. Astonishing.

Speaking of old lefties with dwindling relevance, the site's official pick for most overrated piece of shit "rocker" ever, Bruce Springsteen.

I'd rather let Gary Glitter babysit my kids than listen to this gravel-voiced Cookie Monster of MOR "rock."

Left-wing rocker Bruce Springsteen declared himself a "patriot" for trashing President Donald Trump. "I believe in critical patriotism," the "Dancing in the Dark" singer proclaimed.

"I believe in critical patriotism," Springsteen told PBS NewsHour in a recent interview, after being asked, "You said before that loving your country means telling the truth about it. How has that guided your work?"

The "Born In the U.S.A." singer, who was interviewed on the PBS special, Bruce Springsteen: Finding America in Song, added, "I believe that's the definition of a patriot, you know?"

I love that the only album/songs people can remember is the absolute turd "Born in the USA."

"That you love your country so much, that you are willing to look at it clearly, recognize its faults, encourage it to be a better place, and believe that you carry in your heart the country that is waiting," Springsteen said.

"I was very angry," the 76-year-old rocker said of his new protest song, "Streets of Minneapolis," which he wrote after the fatal shootings of ICE agitators Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and later performed at an anti-Trump "No Kings" rally.

"And usually, I write songs that have a lot of political implications, but very often are not directly political," the "Born to Run" singer added.

You're a moron.

Finally, archleftist and completely inadequate man Larry David produced a -- get this -- anti-Trump fake "history" series.

Rob Reiner was in it, in his last role. He played -- are you ready to laugh? -- George Washington, ranting about -- get this -- Donald Trump.

Barack Obama produced this POS. This is the show Michelle Obama forbade from featuring RFKJr's wife and Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm co-star, Cheryl Hines.

Director Jeff Schaffer says Rob Reiner's final role as George Washington in Larry David's Obama-produced HBO show is Reiner's "last laugh" against President Donald Trump.

Rob Reiner -- who was killed late last year along with his wife, Michele -- filmed his final role a month before his death, portraying George Washington in Larry David's historical sketch comedy show, Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness.

The late film director's appearance on the HBO show was kept a secret until the second episode aired on July 3, according to a report by Variety.

He died as he lived -- ranting obsessively and futilely about a man he'd never even met.

The show's director, Jeff Schaffer, told the magazine that the role allowed Reiner to get the "last laugh" against President Trump.

"It's coming out on Fourth of July weekend, and if it in any way spoils a sad octogenarian's weekend, then oh well!" Schaffer added.

Yeah I don't think it did.

The unbridled narcissism of these people. It's just a cult of self-worship.

Hello everyone! My goodness, I did not enjoy this very hot weekend. It's nice that it cooled down but I spent the weekend just laying around and checking a weather app to see when the heat would break.

How was yours? Any one have corn on the cob? I did. Dang corn on the cob is good.

THE MORNING RANT: Ford Rehires Engineers, Blames AI (not Its EVs Debacle) for Having Dismissed Them in the First Place

—Buck Throckmorton

There was some great news last week when Ford announced that it was re-hiring hundreds of engineers who were let go a few years back. Those engineers had been dismissed from their jobs for two reasons:

1) To free up cash for Ford’s ill-fated “electric vehicle transition.”

2) Ford thought it wouldn’t need them any longer. The childishly “green” great-grandson of Henry Ford, Bill Ford, along with Bill’s pet CEO, Jim Farley, didn’t think they’d need engineers whose area of expertise was gas-powered, internal combustion (“ICE” ) vehicles. In obedience to Bill Ford’s climate religion, Farley had committed the company to pursuing an all-EV future. He didn’t see the need to further develop ICE vehicles, nor to employ the engineers who could do so.

The EV transition has been a catastrophic failure, costing Ford more than $35 billion before the company finally canceled its flagship electric vehicle, the Ford F150 Conflagration Lightning.

As I documented several years ago, ”Ford is terminating valuable engineers and other personnel involved in traditional internal combustion car manufacturing, all in an effort to free up money for its cash-sucking EV boondoggle.”

Ford was unambiguous that the reason it was gutting its corps of ICE employees was to fund its EV future, as documented by Bloomberg in this piece from 2022 titled “Ford Plans Up to 8,000 Job Cuts to Help Fund EV Investment.”

The good news is that even though Bill Ford is a naïve nepot who fell under the spell of the climate doom cult, Ford’s customers and dealers are considerably smarter. Despite the massive losses Ford took trying to get consumers to take delivery of its EV offerings, there is virtually no price that could move the needle and make Ford’s EVs anything more than a low-volume gimmick. For Ford to survive, it had to turn its focus back to products that Americans will buy in mass-market volume.

It’s funny that Ford is blaming a failed reliance on artificial intelligence for the need to re-hire engineers, rather than blaming its commitment to EVs. Perhaps Farley and Ford feel that it is politically safer to blame AI than to blame their EV debacle.

“Ford Rehires Experienced Engineers after AI Misses the Mark” [NY Post – 6/29/2026]

Ford has rehired experienced human engineers to help address the shortcomings of artificial intelligence (AI) tools meant to tackle quality issues in the automaker’s production processes.

-----

“Over prior years, we didn’t pay as much attention as we should have to the experience of our most knowledgeable engineers that have been with us through many product cycles…”

-----

“Mistakenly, we thought that by just introducing artificial intelligence and ingesting the design requirements that we had, that would produce a high quality product…”

-----

[Ford’s VP of Vehicle Hardware Engineering] also noted that the AI tools lacked the training and expertise that veteran technicians have, and many of the company’s veteran technicians left Ford before their knowledge could be used to improve the performance of the AI tools.

The “EV transition” failed, and the American auto industry is now de-transitioning back to a focus on manufacturing (gasoline-powered) vehicles which Americans are willing to buy.

But for old times’ sake, here is an update on Ford’s misguided efforts to become an EV manufacturer. The sales report is out for last month (June 2026). It’s awful:

• Ford sold only 2,322 EVs, which represented just 1.3% of its total US vehicle sales.

• Those 2,322 EVs included discontinued F150 Lightnings, which Ford is practically giving away to make them go away. I’d call it a “fire sale,” but that seems a little insensitive considering the Lightning’s propensity to spontaneously erupt into flames.

• The 1,715 Mustang Mach-Es that we were sold represented a 32% decline from June 2025’s already abysmal numbers.

The next big milestone for Ford’s EV de-transition is for it to formally announce that manufacture of the Mustang Mach E is being terminated.

The many descendants of Henry Ford still hold a controlling interest in Ford stock. A Ford-family revolt against the destruction wrought by Bill Ford would also be in order.

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

Mid-Morning Art Thread

—CBD

Imaginary View Of The Grande Galerie In The Louvre
Hubert Robert

The Morning Report — 7/ 6 /26

—J.J. Sefton

Good morning kids. I hope you all had a wonderful, blessed and relaxing July Fourth Independence Day holiday weekend. In spite of all the challenges, and in reality existential threats that we face from those who seek to deprive us of that which our Founding Fathers fought and bequeathed to us 250 years ago, we're still here, keeping the faith and the flame of liberty alive as best we can. Sadly, the greatest existential threat that we face is from our mortal enemy from within. Our alleged fellow citizens of the left who in point of fact — considering their actions over our history and their perveted beliefs bout the legitimacy of our history, heritage not just since 1776 but the past 2,000 years of it — constitute a foreign national entity that exists within our midst.

No great mystery as to how we got here.

“A combination of laziness, yes, and the liberal indoctrination that has been taking place in our education system for far too long,” Leavitt argued on X about the factors leading to the far left’s rise. “There are far-left educators pumping students’ heads with garbage, convincing them that hard work and sacrifice won’t pay off down the road because they want them totally reliant on the government instead,” she wrote... “As the President has correctly warned, ‘communism is the enemy of free people everywhere. It is the enemy of the Constitution. Above all, it is the enemy of July 4, 1776.’ ” During her interview with Watters, Leavitt warned that a full-blown “communist revolution” was unfolding in Congress and called communism “the biggest threat” to America in 250 years. . . Trump warned about the rise of communism during his addresses at Mount Rushmore and the National Mall for Independence Day. “Our warriors did not fight communism on battlefields across the world only to have that menace rear its ugly head right back here in America. We’re not going to let it happen,” he vowed Saturday.

This madness did not happen overnight but has metastasized over the course of several decades. While this cancer certainly existed 50 years ago at the time of the bicentennial, for the most part it was not in evidence from what I recall and the July Fourth holiday that year was even more patriotic and celebratory across the board than in any years before or since. And yet the Left is still on the march, and unless there really is a drastic sea change in our culture, I have a dread of what will happen in the coming years.

Switching gears for now, as CBD and I kvetched about on the last episode of the podcast, linked here and somewhere in the sidebar as well as on the popular outlets listed at the bottom of this post . . .

it's hot outside. In case you missed it, it's summertime. It gets unbearably hot especially when one has no air conditioning.

Well, air conditioning is both a crime against the planet and white supremacist!

During his inaugural speech on Jan. 1, Mayor Zohran Mamdani declared, “We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.”It certainly feels warm these days. As temperatures climbed during the heat wave that blanketed much of the eastern United States, the mayor took to social media with a familiar message from the government. “New York: it’s hot out there, and the power grid is working overtime to keep us cool,” he tweeted. “Set your AC to 78 degrees, turn off lights/electronics you’re not using, and unplug what you can.” This is the real face of the political left: Individual comfort and convenience should be subordinated to collective priorities, with government officials deciding how much energy ordinary people ought to consume. Over the pond in Europe, we are seeing the effects of that warm glow of collectivism in full force. Decades of climate policy, energy restrictions and cultural hostility toward air conditioning have left millions of Europeans sweltering without one of the greatest public health innovations of the modern age.

They are trying to stay cool with fire trucks spraying water in public squares and parks. Even hospitals and the homes of medically fragile individuals are overheating. It is hard to imagine a clearer illustration of the cruelty of collectivism in practice.

A healthy group of neighbors has decided that one disabled man’s ability to breathe comfortably matters less than preserving their preferred aesthetic and soundscape. They insist they are acting for the common good. The person who bears the greatest burden is the one least capable of bearing it.

And the price is being counted in bodies.

The only reliably cool buildings in parts of Paris are its morgues. Funeral homes and mortuaries in and around the French capital have been overwhelmed in recent weeks, with some running out of refrigerated space for the dead. France recorded roughly 1,000 excess deaths during the peak of the heat wave, most of them among the elderly.

well, I guess I wasn't shifting gears at all. It's a scam, a sham and a dodge to steal our freedom and destroy the engine that built the prosperity that fueled American greatness creating the greatest and freest society in history. For that, it must be destroyed

As Europe and much of North America endured record heat in recent days, headlines quickly appeared claiming that the heat wave was "virtually impossible" without human-caused climate change.

To many readers, that sounds like a conclusion drawn directly from observations. It is not. It is the product of a branch of climate research known as extreme weather attribution, which relies heavily on computer models rather than direct measurements.

This was not an isolated claim. Whenever a major storm, wildfire, flood, or heat wave occurs, similar headlines soon follow. We are told that climate change made an event "twice as likely," "35 times more likely," or even "virtually impossible" without human influence. These figures are widely repeated by politicians, journalists, and activists as though they were direct scientific observations. . . This does not mean that climate never changes. Of course it does. Earth's climate has always changed. The question is whether modern attribution studies can confidently separate natural variability from human influence to the extraordinary degree claimed.

Have a good day,

Daily Tech News 6 July 2026

—Pixy Misa

• AI companies led by OpenAI and Anthropic say they're definitely not going to put hundreds of millions of people out of work so please don't lynch them. (MSN)
  
  Sorry, best I can do is a meteor strike.
  
  
  
• Companies making the heaviest use of AI are... Hiring the most humans? (Tech Crunch)
  
  Everyone gets a meteor strike!

Sunday Celestial Bodies ONT - July 5, 2026 [Hour of the Wolf]

—Open Blogger

Time to take another whack at creating an ONT. Let's see if I've learned anything, shall we?

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Galileo

Galileo was a NASA exploration spacecraft launched October 18, 1989, from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on space shuttle Atlantis (STS-34). It crashed into Jupiter on September 21, 2003, after completing its primary mission, and three secondary missions.

Top 10 Science Results
• The descent probe measured atmospheric elements and found that their relative abundances were different than on the Sun, indicating Jupiter's evolution since the planet formed out of the solar nebula.
• Galileo made a first observation of ammonia clouds in another planet's atmosphere.The atmosphere seems to create ammonia ice particles of material from lower depths, but only in "fresh" clouds.
• Io's extensive volcanic activity may be 100 times greater than that found on Earth's.The heat and frequency of eruption are reminiscent of early Earth.
• Io's complex plasma interactions in Io's atmosphere include support for currents and coupling to Jupiter's atmosphere.
• Evidence supports a theory that liquid oceans exist under Europa's icy surface.
• Ganymede is the first satellite known to possess a magnetic field.
• Galileo magnetic data provide evidence that Europa, Ganymede and Callisto have a liquid-saltwater layer.
• Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto all provide evidence of a thin atmospheric layer known as a 'surface-bound exosphere'.
• Jupiter's ring system is formed by dust kicked up as interplanetary meteoroids smash into the planet's four small inner moons. The outermost ring is actually two rings, one embedded with the other.
• Galileo was the first spacecraft to dwell in a giant planet magnetosphere long enough to identify its global structure and to investigate its dynamics.

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(Mystery click with more impressive sport?)

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My doctor told me I need to find a "low-impact hobby" to help me relax. I told him I've taken up professional napping.
He asked if I was getting any results, and I told him "I'm currently ranked #1 in the bedroom, but the competition from my cat is fierce. She has better form and doesn't snore as loud".
He didn't write me a prescription, but he did look like he wanted to join the league.

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A woman went to the doctor's office and was seen by one of the new young doctors. After about four minutes in the examiniation room, she started screaming and ran down the hall. An older doctor stopped her what the problem was, and she told him her story. After listening, he told her to sit down and relax in another room.
The older doctor marched down the hallway to the back where the first doctor was and demanded, "What's the matter with you? Mrs. Terry is 63 years old, she has four grown children and seven grandchildren, and you told her she was pregnant?"
The new doctor continued to write on his clipboard and, without looking up, said, "Does she still have the hiccups?"

-----

Godzilla, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot stomp on, courage to shoot them with atomic breath, and wisdom to do a big roar afterwards.

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'Ette Couture (Courtesy of Piper)

It's that time of the week - when we turn the ONT over to our good friend Piper for a bit. Here's this week's fashion pr0n.

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Gentle Readers of these United Colonies,

In this most auspicious time when the Continental Congress hath declared these Colonies free and independent States, the fashionable world yet turns its gaze to the latest modes. Though the drums of liberty beat loudly in our streets, the ladies and gentlemen of taste continue to adorn themselves with elegance befitting persons of quality. News of the newest toilettes from London and Paris (and such as may be had from our own clever mantua-makers) arrives even amid these stirring times.

For the Fair Sex: The Graceful Polonaise and Towering Coiffure

The mode most admired this summer among ladies of fashion is the Robe à la Polonaise. The overskirt is looped into graceful swags by means of cords or ribbons, falling in elegant drapery over a contrasting petticoat. This creates a charming, picturesque silhouette, neither so stiff as the old sack-back nor so plain as the new English styles. Striped silks and floral chintzes are all the rage, as are light muslins for the warmer months.

Stays continue to mould the figure into the fashionable conical shape, while wide hips are supported by panniers or hip rolls (somewhat reduced from former years, yet still essential to the mode). A fine fichu of lace or muslin crosses the bosom, and large hats with wide brims shade the face most becomingly.

The hair, or coiffure, remains a subject of much discourse. Powdered white or ash, it is built high upon pads and frames, sometimes reaching extraordinary heights. Feathers, ribbons, artificial flowers, and even small ornaments are placed with artful care. A lady may appear a walking garden or a miniature ship at full sail, most becoming at assemblies and balls.

For Gentlemen of Fashion: The Frock Coat and Embroidered Waistcoat

Gentlemen of taste favour the frock coat of fine wool or silk, cut with skirts that fall gracefully. Beneath lies a long waistcoat, often richly embroidered in gold or silver thread upon grounds of crimson, blue, or green. Knee breeches, white silk stockings, and shoes fastened with handsome silver or paste buckles complete the toilette.

The hair is powdered and dressed in a queue or bag-wig, surmounted by the tricorn hat cocked with becoming smartness. Ruffles of fine linen at throat and wrist add the final touch of gentility.

In These Times of Liberty

While many worthy patriots now wear garments of good American homespun, plain yet honest and serviceable, the assemblies and levees of Philadelphia and New York still display the full splendour of European modes. A lady in her striped polonaise or a gentleman in his embroidered waistcoat lends grace and gaiety even to these momentous days.

Thus, dear readers, whether you celebrate independence with a glass of Madeira or attend a private ball, may your attire be as elegant as your principles are just.

Yours in the latest mode,

The Fashion Correspondent

Philadelphia, this Fifth Day of July, 1776

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Thanks, Colonist Piper!

In 250 years, be sure to check out Colonist Piper's X page.

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Tune Time!

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Tonight's ONT brought to you by voices

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AOSHQ disclaims all content by guest posters.

Complaints about content should be directed to the Law Offices of Dindu Nuffin. Complaints about broken treats should be directed to the Law Offices of Howl and Meow.

Try the veal. I'll be here most of the night!

Close it up

Gun Thread: First July Edition!

—Weasel

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

Holy Shitballs! How in the ever-loving Hell did it get to be the First July Edition? I told you it was coming, people! I told you, and dang if it isn't here!

Happy Birthday, America!! Did you have a fun and celebratory July 4th? Tell us how you marked the 250th in the comments below.

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

Food Thread: We Will Just Muddle Along...

—CBD

Well, a few days ago it was 103 degrees outside, and as an accommodation to the warmth I decided to have a Gin & Tonic as opposed to a Manhattan (stirred, you animals!) or a Martini, or an Old Fashioned.

But a typical G&T out of a bar gun is a crap drink. The tonic is too sweet, the lime is an afterthought, and it's mostly ice.

So...a good G&T requires a half a lime muddled on the bottom of the glass to get some of that delicious oil out of the skin and into the drink! Yes, they are monoterpenes (and some other stuff)...why do you ask?

And then no more than two parts tonic to one part gin. The name of the drink starts with "GIN!" It should taste of it.

And for f*ck's sake, use a fresh bottle of tonic. There is nothing worse than flat tonic water in a G&T.

Put it in a glass with some ice, but not a huge amount. Diluted G&Ts are sad and painful reflections of what the drink can be.

What? NO...I am not obsessive-compulsive!

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30 Popular Recipes of the 1970s That Deserve a Comeback

That is Misanthropic Humanitarian's weekly trolling. Although, to be fair, there are some dishes that don't look too bad at all!

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I had an impromptu Bourbon tasting this afternoon with some friends who stopped by...thus the abbreviated Food Thread. They brought a couple of bottles to taste, and the Old Ezra 7 Year was my favorite! Just delicious. Just enough proof to make it an adult drink, with some lovely and complex aromas followed by a delightfully smooth mouth feel. There was a delicate hint of sweetness, but definitely not enough to interest your kids. And that's good, because this stuff is nowhere to be found around here, so I will have to hunt for it, because it is definitely worth some legwork!

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A friend of my MiL made these for our Independence Day get-together. She is obviously a professional baker, and these were absolutely delicious, as well as looking spectacular! She uses a lot of butter cream rather than fondant, so the icing isn't quite as sweet as is typical. Wow, they were great!

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I hope all of you had successful food experiences yesterday, no matter what you ate. A massive Independence Day barbecue, or a quiet meal of microwave burritos eaten over the sink...it's all good!

America...Happy 250th Birthday!

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The garlic is harvested! And it looks...well...sigh. Send all of your excellent home-grown garlic to: cbd dot aoshq at gmail dot com.

Rumor has it that the Bourbon Bubble is bursting. I have seen no evidence of decreasing prices, but maybe the bursting started somewhere else! I think the sweet spot is $40-$60 for excellent and interesting bottles, and bumping that to $100 gets you an incremental improvement in quality, but nothing mind-blowing. More than that and I think you are paying for hype and rarity, which may look good in your liquor cabinet, but doesn't translate to more quality in the bottle.

The problem...or the solution...is to buy lots of bourbon, take tasting notes, and eventually arrive at your favorites! It should take forty or fifty years, but it is worth it!

Close it up

First World Problems...

—CBD

If that is a problem, I don't want a solution!

And Open Thread...

The Declaration Of Independence Is As Important Today As It Was in 1776

—CBD

It is depressingly axiomatic that our current crop of pathetic, ahistoric, crass, rapacious, unpatriotic sub-wits in our government have no understanding the unique drive for freedom and liberty that animated our founders.

And what makes it worse is that they have no appreciation for what those men created: a template for the greatest country in the history of Man.

They think they can do better.

They are wrong.

In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

The last one could describe the last two Democrat presidents!

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

It is easy to dismiss the convulsions of our society as just another blip in the never-ending success of our glorious country. After all, America has survived 250 years, and the end result is absolutely amazing.

But the transportation, the technology, the communication that the United States has mostly created for the world has conspired to create vulnerabilities that are new, and we are unsure how to protect our wonderful country from the depredations of the rest of the world, and the enemies within.

Will we survive for another 250 years? That is up to us and our children and our grandchildren. I think that is the timeline for the survival of this great experiment.

Book Thread: July 5th, 2026 (MP4)

—Open Blogger

Good morning, ‘rons and ‘ronettes. It’s time once again for the monthly MP4-hosted Sunday Book Thread. Dress for men, as always, is country club casual. Women are encouraged to wear their best Lilly Pulitzer:
https://tinyurl.com/8n8dd49y

So ask the barman for a cocktail, covfefe or tea and let’s get started!

‘we hold these truths to be self-evident’

By the time this is posted, I expect Independence Day will be behind us. What will happen that day? Nationwide hate-Trump riots? More “No Kings” marches? Democrat politicians of all skin hues and aspirations lecturing Americans about the inherent, inborn, unforgivable evil that is the United States? I don’t know. I do know that the 250th anniversary will be (or was) a sadder, more divisive and ultimately poorer celebration than that of 1976.

During the Bicentennial, I had the pleasure of visiting Filthadelphia, where I saw the meeting room of the Continental Congress (much smaller than that version seen in 1776) and came away with a copy of Edmund Morgan’s The Meaning of Independence, a collection of three lectures he gave in 1975 regarding Adams, Washington and Jefferson. It was the first book I had ever bought regarding the Revolution and to this day I still pick up the occasional volume that catches my eye. Allow me to mention a few:

Spies of the Revolution by Katherine and John Bakeless. My copy is from Scholastic Book Services and is a YA adaptation of their 1959 Turncoats, Traitors and Heroes. It’s a fad these days to write about Washington’s network of spies, but the Bakelesses covered that and more decades ago.

A.G. Langguth’s Patriots: The Men Who Started the American Revolution is, IMO, probably the best one-volume history of the Revolution and one written to appeal to all reading levels, charting the course of the conflict from the Stamp Act all the way to Yorktown and beyond.

For a close look at the Declaration itself, Pauline Maier’s American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence is a must-have. She examines not only the writing of the Declaration, but its antecedents, its mirror declarations in various colonies and how, in the 19th century, the document itself was ‘sanctified.’ An appendix reprints Jefferson’s original draft, enabling you to see how and where he was improved or watered down.

Thomas Fleming’s Liberty: The American Revolution was a companion volume to the 1997 PBS series. It’s a lavishly-illustrated book which begins in the aftermath of the French and Indian War, proceeding through the various Parliamentary attempts to squeeze money from the colonies and on into war, victory and the framing of the Constitution.

And, of course, if you happen to prowl used bookshops, you might come across any one of the various American Heritage books about the Revolution, colonial settlement or American history. An excellent example is their two-volume 200 Years: A Bicentennial Illustrated History of the United States.

And I can’t finish without mentioning Westholme Publishing, who specialize in the 18th century and have a companion website, Journal of the American Revolution. I’m looking forward to the publication of City Tavern: The Founding Table by Becky Libourel Diamond.

What about you? What books captured your imagination or influenced your thinking about independence? Will our 300th anniversary be as celebratory as 1976, or are we a rusty clock, winding down to a sad, empty silence?

[A Personal Request:
My new Theda Bara novel, Ten Thousand Midnights, is at reading draft stage and I'm looking for a few people to share thoughts. If you've read my first two, you know the scene - silent star Theda Bara is an amateur detective along with her makeup artist Toby Swanson. The new book has her asked by the LA police to help solve the 1922 murder of Paramount director William Desmond Taylor.

If you're interested, email me at christopherdigrazia@gmail.com and I'll send you a word file and what I'm looking for.]

Daily Tech News 5 July 2026

—Pixy Misa

• Apple's upcoming A20 Pro phone CPU could be the company's first chip to use LPDDR6 memory - and to increase the bus width from 64 bits to 96 bits. (WCCFTech)
  
  The 96-bit width is actually a natural result of DDR6 architecture, which instead of having two 32-bit subchannels (each with optional ECC) is broken down into four 24-bit channels (each comprised of two 12-bit subchannels) with extra ECC bits coming from a multi-word burst. If you read twelve 12-bit words from memory, for example, you get four 32-bit words plus 16 bits of error-correcting data.
  
  Which means that while all DDR5 memory has on-die ECC, all DDR6 memory has both on-die and end-to-end ECC.
  
  And 50% more bandwidth. Actually more than that in time, as DDR6 will support higher speeds than DDR5.
  
  
  
• Though you won't be able to afford it. (WCCFTech)
  
  Budget phones are expected to disappear for at least a couple of years as memory prices simply push them out of the market. If manufacturers have to spend $200 for 8GB of RAM, saving $5 on the CPU makes no sense.
  
  
  

USA-250 Club ONT - July 4, 2026 [3 D's]

—Open Blogger

Welcome to Club ONT - a revolutionary collaboration of The Club's "founding fathers", The Disco, The Dino, and The Doggo. That's right - even the prodigal pooch couldn't stay away from our USA-250 celebration!

We built this place for you so you can have some fun. Come in in, grab a drink or 3. Keep it light and friendly. Jerks need not enter the premises. No loyal British subjects of the king are allowed either! Club ONT is for citizens, not subjects.

Please rise for a salute to the ragged old flag.

Thank you.

*****

Saturday Night Jokes and Other Funnies

Why did Paul Revere ride his horse from Boston to Lexington? It was too heavy to carry.

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So it's July 4th night, and all of the dead presidents are gathered around a campfire for a party. They're drinking, eating, and having a good time when President Washington puts President Lincoln on the spot.

"Hey, Lincoln, do your thing!" asks Washington.

"What thing?" Lincoln asks. "What is it?"

"Lincoln, do the thing!" Washington says. The speech, address or whatever! "You know what I'm talking about!"

"Oh, yeah, the speech," Lincoln says. That thing, yes. I'm afraid I can't. "I can't recall the words."

"What do you mean you can't remember the words?" exclaimed Washington. "You've given the speech a million times! You've got that like burned in your brain, right?!"

Lincoln says, "Well, yeah, normally, sure, I've got it memorized, but that was four s'mores and seven beers ago!"

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Drink of the Night

A red, white, and blue layered cocktail for USA-250? Of course!

Here's how to make it

I want to make this drink called the USA Lemonade. Looks pretty simple. All you'll need is:

Here's what you'll need:
1 oz Grenadine
4 oz lemonade
1 oz blue curacao
1.5 oz vodka
Ice

🍋 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/mnaGCavUJm

— DocumentingLibs (@HistorianUSA1) June 28, 2026

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Club ONT Department of Bicentennial Artifacts

Who still has their Bicentennial mug, T-shirt, pin, button, commemorative plate... or harmonica?

Is it proudly displayed? Tucked away in the attic? Hidden in a box with the avocado-green Tupperware and other "too sentimental to toss" treasures?

Hit the comments if you've held onto a Bicentennial keepsake or two.

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Check out this cool poster from our good friend and barkeep, JQ!

Hopefully JQ will take a break from pouring drinks and explain how this came into her possession and where she currently has it displayed.

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Yes... one of the D's still has a Bicentennial harmonica. It's safely tucked away in a home office desk drawer, just waiting for a Yankee Doodle rendition.

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And here's one from The Disco's personal collection. A well cared for piece of Bicentennial drinkware!

[Disco says: This belonged to my grandfather, was given to my mom when she and my dad bought a house with a bar in the basement, then I took it several years ago when my mom sold that house. It has become my favorite glass for sipping bourbon.]

Grok says it is a "sour cream" tumbler made by Hazel Atlas Glass Company.

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So - what do you still have? And what have you acquired as a collectible for USA-250?

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Club ONT Department of Flyover Country

4 cents per acre. Jefferson and that land purchase. Very casual reading at the link - plenty of other details to parse in the comment section.

By the time Monroe arrived in Paris on April 12, 1803, the French had made a stunning offer to Livingston. For various reasons, Napoleon had decided to abandon his plans for Louisiana, and he had Prime Minister Talleyrand offer not just New Orleans but the entire territory to the United States for $15 million. Monroe and Livingston agreed to the purchase, and they signed a treaty with France on April 30, 1803.

How is that Greenland thing coming along?

*****

Club ONT Department of Patriotic Paint Jobs and Styling

Patriotic Special Edition Cars and Trucks Hit the link to check out the 1976 Cadillac Eldorado Bicentennial Edition.

Hurst Performance had a thriving business as a specialty car builder for major automakers in the late 1960s, producing special high-performance models for Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Plymouth, and others, but the AMC Hurst SC/Rambler is undoubtedly one of the most visually distinctive vehicles that emerged from these collaborations.

Nice story about a kid tracking down his dad's 1976 Kenworth - Bicentennial edition.

During the nation's bicentennial celebration in 1976, automakers introduced special edition cars and trucks honoring America's 200th anniversary, while Kenworth answered the call with one of the most distinctive heavy-duty trucks it had ever produced.

Known as the VIT 200, the limited-production package transformed the company's flagship W900 conventional into a patriotic showpiece through a red, white, and blue paint scheme, special trim, commemorative badging, and the introduction of Kenworth's groundbreaking Aerodyne raised-roof sleeper.

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Club ONT Jukebox

250 years of this great nation deserves a party!

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Top 10ish Comments of the Week

Bonus comments of the week:

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Club ONT is brought to you by the Weather Report

Florida Man meets Hurricane Matthew (with help from Slayer)

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Club ONT Disclaimer: Side effects may include wild flag waving, excessive potato salad consumption, Roman Candle duels, and convincing yourself a second or third hot dog is a good idea. Professional fireworks should be left to professionals. Uncle Billy is not a professional fireworks technician, no matter what he says - and neither are you Morons.

This ONT is fueled by charcoal, confidence, and mosquitoes. No Founding Fathers were consulted in the planning of these festivities, though we're reasonably certain they'd have questions.

Sparklers are not lightsabers. Lawn chairs and coolers are not defensive positions. The bald eagle is watching all of you. America has thrived for 250 years. Don't be the reason it doesn't survive the weekend.

Close it up

Saturday Evening Movie Post [moviegique]: The Most Pro-American Movies of the 21st Century (to date)

—Open Blogger

On this 250th Independence Day, I thought it would be fun to revisit three films that came out in the 21st century that reflected the most positively on this great and glorious nation. There's a thread running through all this, which is probably really obvious. If you're not drunk, it'll probably leap out like a firework with a surprisingly short fuse.

You don't even have to be a great detctive to figure this one out.

The World's Fastest Indian

Released widely in the spring of 2006, this Roger Donaldson (Species, Dante's Peak) biopic tells the story of Burt Munro, a kiwi who (on hearing he has serious heart disease and little time left) mortgages his house and grabs a ship (he cooks and cleans to earn his passage) to Long Beach, California with an idea of getting to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah to race his Indian (a motorcycle made in Springfield, Massachusetts) and break the world land speed record.

After a rough start in Los Angeles, he's helped out by Tina, a friendly transvestite (Chris Williams, brother of Vanessa, "Dwight" from Dodgeball), buys a junker from Fernando (Paul Rodriguez), who accepts repayment in the form of quick tune-ups, is saved from a breakdown by Jake (a Native American played by Saginaw Grant of the Ridiculous 6), has a one-night stand with Ada (Diane Ladd) and finally makes it to the Flats where he is immediately disqualified before he can enter for not registering on time and for having a motorcycle that's essentially hand-made on the cheap with no safety devices.

The obscure Kiwi is saved through the bold actions of a wired-in white guy who browbeats the officials into letting Burt race where he breaks the speed of sound, then the speed of light, and crashes into the 8th Dimensions to fight Lectroids with Buckaroo Banzai.

OK, maybe not that last part.

But Walton Goggins is in it. So it's got that going for it. (Which is nice.)

Actually, maybe not any of it: In real life Munro knew exactly what he was doing, had no time for charming side-quests, wasn't in poor health particularly, and was legendary at the Flats.

Great movie, though. Hopkins performance was true enough to make the Munro family cry. Composer J. Peter Robinson ("Charmed", Wayne's World) channels Thomas Newman and other turn-of-the-century movie composers effectively. The cinematography is gorgeous and the color-coding is spot on. Mornings in New Zealand are pastoral blue, the roads in America are amber-waves-of-grain, and the salt flats are white hot. 

Some of this doesn't play the same in 2026. The aggressively diverse encounters Burt has stick out now in a way they didn't twenty years ago. Even though the intention here is to showcase Burt's general laid back attitude, in today's world it can feel overengineered.

Still, fine film. Wherever Burt goes, there's an American who wants to help. 

Just don't call him a POHMie.

Schultze Gets The Blues

An old German salt-miner retires and finds himself with nothing to do but play polkas and cough ominously. One day, while avoiding a report on lung cancer on the radio, he stumbles across zydeco music which, in true Teutonic fashion, he shrugs off. But then, shocka: He turns back to it, listens to it for a while, picks up his accordion and plays it by ear.

The dance hall scenes are adorable. The people can't stop looking at the camera.

This becomes a kind of obsession—and you know I love movies about obsessed guys, right?—and he decides to try to raise the money to go to the swamps of America where the music is made. This involves a lot of low paying jobs to cover the ever-increasing fare.

His playing gets negative reactions from most of the townsfolk, but a core group really enjoys it, and because Schultze's a likable guy, they manage to get Schultze to represent them at the traditional German music festival in their sister city in Texas.

So it's an hour into the movie before we get to America, but it looms as a presence throughout. Schultze's quarrelsome friends (one Prussian, the other Saxon) talk about "the Yanks" dismissively, but they envy Schultze and his escape to the New World. They presume he's getting rich and famous and probably lucky and he'll forget all about them. The Americans are nice, they concede.

Schultze, after the traditional music conference, gets himself a rundown houseboat to sail into the swamps to find the home of zydeco. All along the way he encounters people who are eager to help him out, offering guidance, resources, dancing, food, all around a loose theme of "You like music? I like music! We should hang out!" And this when Schultze can barely say "music".

I can (and someday might) do an extensive post on how this film was shot. Each sequence is: The camera is set down, often at a medium-long distance, and the action plays out in front of it. It never moves. Even when attached to a vehicle, it stays fixed staring back at the passengers. At 48 minutes, it swivels about 90 degrees—from Schultze and his friends to the mysterious and sexy Lisa, a waitress who performs an impromptu Flamenco dance to dramatize unplugging the newfangled electronic slot machine.

It's got none of the slick camera movement of Indian and there's no color correction or enhancement. When Lisa does her Flamenco dance, she is wearing a drab tan skirt and dark brown sweater. There are elements of Tati here, and a Wes-Anderson-without-the-twee sense of humor that makes me laugh to beat the band. And it makes me want to take a crummy houseboat into the swamps of Louisiana.

This is apparently a genre called "European Deadpan".

Detective Chinatown 2

At the opposite end from these earlier films is Detective Chinatown 2. I did a full review when I saw it the first time, but it's interesting to revisit it now after the coof swallowed Detective Chinatown 3 and its sequel Detective Chinatown 1900 didn't get an American release either. (There is a spin-off television series of the original movie called "Detective Chinatown". There's also a spin-off series of this movie called, naturally, "Detective Chinatown 2". They do not feature the actors from the movies, nor do they feature the main detective from the movies, but a different actor plays the comic sidekick, who I guess is the real catalyst for the stories. They are not comedies, and I don't understand Asian television.)

While World's Fastest Indian is a big-budget, carefully constructed Hollywood fantasy, and Schultze Gets The Blues is practically cinema verité when it gets to America (the director just dropped actor Horst Krause into situations with whoever was there, and Krause didn't speak much English), DC2 is just trying like crazy to make you laugh and feel good.

It reminds me of Mel Brooks or Benny Hill. There are mobs chasing the heroes through the streets of New York, tough motorcycle gangs with a romantic streak, sassy Chinese bureaucrats, cartoonishly broad racial stereotypes, and an undercover scene where our three heroes dress in nurse drag.

Subtlety is not the watchword here.

New York City in DC2 is like Paris in Amelie: There's no sign of graffiti, dog droppings, vagrants—even the crime is stylish and in good fun. When the boys go to a school to check out the number one suspects, all of a sudden the walls are completely plastered with the most aesthetic graffiti imaginable. (Set deisgn!)

Even though there's a shockingly grim set of crimes underneath it all, it's done with the kind of tone-switching the Asians do (on the whole) way better than the West.  The final chase scene is reminiscent of Ferris Beuller's Day Off, as the three heroes on the lam rush to stop a grisly murder, riding in a horse-drawn carriage and leading their pursuers in an impromptu parade, while Taylor Swift's "Welcome To New York" plays.

It's so utterly un-PC, it's one of the best times I've had in a theater in ten years.

Yes, this is also how I do stealth missions.

American Exceptionalism

The common thread between all three movies, if you haven't picked it up, is that all three are based around the perspectives of foreigners of this great land of ours. If we look at @FreddieLa7's adventures, among many similar cases, we find that not only are these foreigners' views accurate, they're understated if anything.

While awful things happen every day, we are overly focused on them. The fact is, a country like this doesn't just happen: It exists because every day, ordinary people go out of their way to help others. Part of this is our tremendous affluence. But American hospitality goes back to Plymouth Rock. It is perhaps our greatest inheritance.

Sometimes it takes an outsider to remind us of that.

Close it up