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
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
FBI Now Investigating James Comey for Posting "86 47" on Instagram, Widely Seen as a Call to Kill ("86") Trump, the 47th President
—Ace
Pine-Scented Druid Philosopher James Comey is at it again.
This time, he's not taking pictures of himself communing with Treebeard in Fangorn Forest.
Now, he's posting wannabe Gay Thrist-Trap pictures of himself summoning Aquaman with a magic conch:
He's also pretending he just came across shells arranged to spell "86 47," and totally didn't arrange the shells that way himself.
When people pointed out that to "86 someone" means to get rid of them and usually to kill them, James Comey, who worked at the FBI for decades, claimed he had no idea this mob slang was ever used in that way.
This is despite the fact that the left is now using the code "8647" in direct connection with threats of murder.
In Holland, Mich., Redmond, Ore., and elsewhere, grinning marchers wore shirts and carried placards emblazoned with the number "8647," pairing the old slang term for murder with a 47 for Trump.
One 8647 protester stood right alongside Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison in Minneapolis.
"Hands off or heads off," read the message on a life-size guillotine paraded about in Denver.
Wait, a life-sized guillotine?
Didn't the presence of a very fake, half-sized "gallows" get used against the J6ers to claim that their incitement could really lead to mass killings of congressmen?
Yes, I think it did.
This cockgargler is now under investigation by the Secret Service, Kash Patel says, who have primary responsibility for investigating threats to the president or incitements to assassinate him.
I hope they find some convoluted way to throw his well-traveled ass in prison.
Secretary Kristi Noem
@Sec_Noem
Disgraced former FBI Director James Comey just called for the assassination of @POTUS Trump.
DHS and Secret Service is investigating this threat and will respond appropriately.
Give him the J6 treatment -- put in jail for months in pre-trial detention.
If they don't throw him in prison, we'll have to find some other way to 86 James Comey.
INCITEMENT: First the former FBI Director James Comey called for Trump’s assassination, now the top Democrat influencer is repeating the call… pic.twitter.com/mJ1lVyNQJg
President Trump has already survived TWO assassination attempts.
Now, former disgraced FBI director James Comey is either threatening to kill Donald Trump or suggesting someone should. This is as outrageous as it is dangerous.
Grateful @Sec_Noem and @FBIDirectorKash are looking into this.
Gabbard says that yes, she does think James Comey should go to prison.
🚨BREAKING: DNI Tulsi Gabbard calls for former FBI Director James Comey to be thrown behind bars over his threat against President Trump.
WATTERS: “Do you believe Comey should be in jail?”
GABBARD: “I do. I'm very concerned for the president's life. We've already seen… pic.twitter.com/yrZty7WWkw
To be honest, I don't know if there's any chance of that. Threats can be criminal, but incitement to commit violence can't be criminalized, the Supreme Court says, unless there is a clear and present danger that that incitement will almost immediately result in the crime called for. And courts, surprise surprise, never find that such inciting speech is a clear and present danger when it comes from the Privileged Left.
Maybe we have no legal recourse against James Comey.
As I linked the gang talking to one lawyer, I'm obligated to link to The Lawyer.
THE MORNING RANT: Would Venture Capitalists and Startup Accelerators Invest in Entrepreneurs Who’ll Be Remediating Derelict Wind Farms?
—Buck Throckmorton
I’m going to try to marry two different ideas going through my head into one thesis today. I apologize if it comes across a little clunky.
1) The Venture Capital / Accelerator types in my area have no interest in real industrial businesses. Instead, they keep chasing the same startup fads - either worn-to-death digital/software ideas, or green feel-good concepts.
2) There is a looming industrial/entrepreneurial opportunity to undo and remediate the environmental wastelands created by solar and wind projects, especially wind.
I was about to write about topic #1 when I got an email from co-blogger Mr. CBD stating: “We drove back from the Loire Valley yesterday, and for about 30 minutes we drove through an area of the valley that was covered in wind turbines. Hundreds of them! I saw a grand total of four that were spinning, and it was a typical windy day. And those four were clustered together, which tells me...something!”
I then responded to Mr. CBD: “There will be an amazing business opportunity in 15 to 20 years removing these derelict monstrosities and remediating the concrete-damaged soil where they now stand. I'd mention it to the local VC guys as a great business opportunity, but the only non-digital business opportunity with a tangible product that they care about is startups related to EVs and their batteries.”
Over my career, I have worked with many people who have started and built businesses, from construction to contracting to manufacturing to retail to distribution, etc. Pretty much all of them have some tangible product which they are buying, manufacturing, shipping, or selling. I do understand, of course, that this is a world where some of the most valuable publicly traded companies are only selling bits and bytes, but even the likes of Amazon and Apple are moving a lot of physical products.
But there is also a huge world outside of digital and high tech, and as best I can tell, those interested in startup and venture capital investing (at least locally) are generally uninterested in any tangible product, with one exception – pitches related to EVs and their batteries.
The willingness to be seduced by the EV hype, while abstaining from all other industrial startups is telling. It tells me that these are credulous investors who want to invest in fads rather than in companies with an actual product or service for which there is a market.
A local “startup accelerator” that provides funding and “mentoring” recently let go almost half of its staff amidst a reorganization. I’m not going to link to the story nor name this company, because I am not seeking to mock it by name. Rather I want to point out the myopic focus I observe in the venture capital and “accelerator” arena, at least locally. This is part of the report on where the accelerator will be targeting its time and money going forward:
[These] include companies focused on electric and autonomous vehicles, supply chain innovations, urban planning, smart traffic solutions, automotive battery technology and quantum technology.
That is one trendy list. And clearly, any companies engaged in most of these areas would be relying on government grants and contracts for revenue, especially in regards to urban planning, smart traffic solutions, and the EV related stuff. There are not consumers and businesses clamoring to buy urban planning software or smart traffic solutions.
So, to circle back to my two clunky points. That giant field of static wind turbines that Mr. CBD observed in France will soon be a field of derelict wind turbines. And there are thousands of such fields across the globe. There are over 75,000 ”active” wind turbines in the U.S. alone. “Active” doesn’t necessarily mean that they are spinning or producing any electricity – they just haven’t been decommissioned. But they will. All 75,000 of those monstrosities will have to come down as the wind debacle plays out and they reach the end of their relatively short life span.
There will be a great business opportunity for entrepreneurs to start-up businesses to get into the wind turbine remediation business. But those entrepreneurs won’t be skinny-jean guys who live in lofts and talk about AI and the blockchain. They’ll be guys wearing steel-toe boots and using equipment financed by a bank, because the VCs and “accelerators” will be focused on the latest feel-good fads.
Pharmaceutical companies now operate under a politically dangerous business model. They enjoy government-granted patent protections to block competition, while squeezing insurers and patients to extract maximum profit. This isn’t capitalism. It’s a merger of legal monopoly and short-sighted corporate greed — a textbook example of protectionism paired with profit-maximization stripped of ethical restraint.
It’s behind a paywall, but if you’re a Blaze subscriber, I’d be honored if you’d give it a read.
My latest piece at The Blaze has been published: “America Last? Not Anymore as Trump Targets Big Pharma”https://t.co/l9TjUQ7hMi
— Buck Throckmorton (@BuckThrockmort) May 14, 2025
Compared to yesterday's dreck, this is a competent portrayal. What the point of the art is a different issue, and I do not have high hopes for an answer that isn't a hodgepodge of socialist babble and anti-capitalist nonsense.
Yeah...the artist was a communist sympathizer. But at least he could paint!
Buzz Patterson, a retired Air Force pilot, White House military aide, and carrier of the nuclear football, has stepped in to inject a dose of reality—and firsthand experience—into the conversation. While critics scramble to paint the move as some kind of scandal involving President Trump, Patterson makes clear this is nothing new or scandalous, and absolutely nothing that warrants the breathless outrage.
“I’m going to try one last time,” Patterson began in a post on X. “The Qatar B-747 was built in the US by Boeing. They are offering a newer 747 to replace one of the two current AF-1s that have been flying for 40 years. Which are tired and need to be replaced.”
That last point is key. The current Air Force One planes are aging relics that first entered service when Ronald Reagan was in the White House. Replacing them has been a long, slow, and—thanks to bureaucratic delays—frustrating process. Patterson, who served as a military aide during the Clinton administration and has flown on Air Force One over a hundred times, says the Qatar aircraft would simply help fill the gap until Boeing completes new replacements—something that won’t happen for years.
House Republicans are moving to block an estimated 1.4 million illegal aliens from receiving American taxpayer-funded Medicaid as Democrats struggle to message their support for the unpopular position.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee completed its markup of its portion of the budget reconciliation bill Wednesday morning after an all-night session which included a provision blocking anyone unable to verify citizenship, nationality, or satisfactory immigration status from coverage. The committee projects 1.4 million illegal aliens will be removed from the program due to those requirements.
House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) ignored a question from CNN’s Wolf Blitzer about the cost savings from striking illegal aliens from the taxpayer dole Wednesday and if fighting it would “open up” Democrats to attacks that they support tax dollars going to illegal aliens. . . Newsom has moderated some of the radical left-wing stances that sent him to Sacramento but are seen as politically toxic in a national general election — suggesting House Democrats are fighting a battle they may be destined to lose on ensuring taxpayer-funded Medicaid for illegal aliens. Complicating Democrats’ messaging is their repeated calls for decades to rid Medicaid of waste, fraud, and abuse – the very initiative they now insist to loathe.
I don't know where this 1.4 million figure comes from. Biden's four-year border erasure allowed perhaps 10 times that number in if not more, and there were probably close to at least 40 million illegal aliens already here long before he was wheeled in as Obama's puppet. And it doesn't even come close to the fictitious 11 million illegal aliens figure that has been bandied about at least since Reagan was duped into signing the Simpson-Mazzoli amnesty travesty in 1986.
the reality is that the Democrat Party is far beyond distressed. As a functioning political entity, it has no reason for existing beyond opposing Trump, and secondarily Republicans. It is completely devoid of any issues, policies or even philosophies relevant to the majority of Americans. Their top issues are protecting violent illegal aliens and drag queen story hour for kiddos while trashing Martin Luther King’s dream by insisting on hiring people based on skin color. The economy is right there! (It won’t be by the end of the year or before, but it is right now.)
Meanwhile, President Trump remains steadfast in his efforts on all fronts. ICE is so overwhelmed trying to remove Biden’s unknown millions of illegals that Trump is doubling down on deportation efforts. On Friday, he ordered the Department of Homeland Security to increase the deportation force of the United States by 20,000 officers. It would be an enormous and needed expansion of immigration enforcement. Details to be ironed out, but also expect him to seek creative ways to house the illegals in various facilities on their way out, because the existing ones are also overwhelmed.
Politically speaking, Democrats have ripe targets of opportunity. But with a base of radicals and extremists they insist on playing to, they are resolutely avoiding them. The question is: Can they recover any purpose on behalf of the American people or will they continue to slide into political second class citizenship?
The Democrat Party was, is and always will be ANTI-American, insofar as that all it cares about is the acquisition of absolute power, and so that last last question answers itself. Party politics is one thing, but evil never rests.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Secret Service have launched an investigation into an alarming social media post published by former FBI Director James Comey.
Former FBI Director James Comey on Thursday shared an image on Instagram that many people saw as an unsubtle threat to President Donald Trump. Comey posted a photo of a rock formation on a sandy beach that spelled out “86 47,” and captioned the post “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.”
. . . DHS Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on X that Comey’s post was being viewed as an assassination threat and an appropriate investigation has been launched. “Disgraced former FBI Director James Comey just called for the assassination of @POTUS Trump,” Noem said. “DHS and Secret Service is investigating this threat and will respond appropriately.”
Considering, the Left went apeshit about Sarah Palin's "target" imagery, and the fact that James Comey was a co-conspirator in he various and sundry plots to derail Donald Trump's candidacy in 2016 via the Russia Collusion hoax and that the FBI and CIA used foreign and domestic intelligence assets to gin up that smear campaign and that both have been implicated in the use of assassination in their operations (legitimate and otherwise). That President Trump has already been the target of at least two known attempts on his life prior to the 2024 election, Comey to me is a very sick and dangerous threat to our national security and needs to be investigated thoroughly with a view towards imprisonment for a very long time in a Federal prison.
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.
Trump’s order “discourages criminal enforcement of regulatory offenses, prioritizing prosecutions only for those who knowingly violate regulations and cause significant harm” and requires each agency to produce “a list of all enforceable criminal regulatory offenses, the range of potential criminal penalties, and applicable state of mind required for liability.” One Of Trump’s Most Important Executive Orders Went Entirely Unnoticed
The justices debated the procedural and legal frameworks surrounding the matter, with liberal Justice Elena Kagan questioning Sauer on how the Court could rule on the issue without allowing nationwide injunctions. Kagan, during the session, asked Sauer to assume the executive order was “dead wrong” and explain how the judiciary could address the matter efficiently: “And, you know, look, there are all kinds of abuses of nationwide injunctions, but I think that the question that this case presents is… it’s quite clear that the EO is illegal; how does one get to that result, in what time frame on your set of rules without the possibility of a nationwide injunction?”“ Once Again, Amy Coney (Island Whitefish) Barrett is Helping the Far-Left.
THE ECONOMY, STUPID
The Inflation Reduction Act will burden the American economy for years. Biden’s Worst Law
Agents from the disbanded squad will be reassigned to other duties, as the FBI shifts its focus toward immigration enforcement. This reallocation of resources coincides with broader changes within the Department of Justice (DOJ), which downsized its Public Integrity Section earlier this year and saw resignations from members who opposed dropping a federal corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Kash Patel Crushes Anti-Trump Weaponization Arm of FBI.
House Democrat Summer Lee, a little-known congresswoman from Pennsylvania, is looking to make her mark this week with a new measure titled “Reparations Now,” calling for the federal government to spent trillions of dollars’ as their “moral and legal obligation” to black Americans for slavery that ended nearly 200 years ago. Democrats Introduce Congressional Resolution Demanding 'Reparations' For Blacks
“The bar associations exist with a sort of monopoly, but they also exist at the discretion of the courts,” he said, noting they mostly target conservatives. “I’ve seen the impact on the legal system, not only advocates like myself who are targeted, but rank and file prosecutors who are abused by the system because the left wants to have sort of lawlessness.” EXCLUSIVE: Ed Martin Teases Potential Target For His DOJ Weaponization Group’s Microscope
Trump’s lawyers argued that the many national restraining orders abort the evolution of courtroom and public debates on the issues, and they also block administration planning for how their electoral mandates should be implemented. SCOTUS Zig-Zags on National Injunctions Vs. Democracy, Birthright Citizenship
Democrats are doing exactly what President Donald Trump needs them to do regarding his hard-line immigration policy. Still, the Courts are going to be a tougher nut to crack. The Trump administration recently announced it is considering suspending habeas corpus in Trump’s pursuit to deport illegal immigrants. The left immediately lost their minds. “He’s ignoring the constitution! He’s a fascist!” they screamed. Trump Got Democrats To Do Exactly What He Wants
The House Energy and Commerce Committee completed its markup of its portion of the budget reconciliation bill Wednesday morning after an all-night session which included a provision blocking anyone unable to verify citizenship, nationality, or satisfactory immigration status from coverage.
The committee projects 1.4 million illegal aliens will be removed from the program due to those requirements. Yet, every Democrat on the committee opposed the bill, with even Democrats not on the committee blasting the proposal to block illegal aliens from the program. Democrat Messaging Falters as They Ask Constituents to Foot Medicaid Costs for 1.4 Million Illegal Aliens
“I’ll tell you, you know me, I’m not a shrinking violet,” Gorka told Breitbart News. “I looked into the black eyes of this man and I saw the pits of hell, an absolute human with no soul.” Gorka said Jafar did not say anything to him, but stared back at him. “He looked at me—he looked at me for an extended period,” Gorka said. “I could see he was broken. He realized this is the end of the road for you my friend. His eyes had this deep, just kind of apocalyptic evil to them.” While Jafar did not say anything to him, Gorka said he looked defeated. Exclusive — Gorka on Staring into ‘Apocalyptic Evil’ Eyes of Abbey Gate Bombing Mastermind ‘Jafar’: ‘I Saw the Pits of Hell, an Absolute Human with No Soul’
The Department of Justice (DOJ), under Attorney General Pam Bondi, has announced a significant shift in funding priorities. Resources will be redirected away from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) projects to focus on law enforcement and public safety initiatives.The decision comes after Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley sought clarification regarding the DOJ’s recent move to cut $811 million in grant funding. Grassley’s inquiry prompted the DOJ to disclose that much of the affected funding had been awarded to non-governmental organizations rather than directly to state or local agencies serving communities. DOJ Redirects Trans, DEI Grants to Bolster Law Enforcement Funding.
So the dude — and I say “dude” because instead of man sometimes, because you have to earn enough respect to be called a man — who is trying to impeach President Donald Trump for no actual criminal reason apparently doesn’t even know who he’s representing in Congress. Dem Rep. Trying to Impeach Trump Can't Name Michigan Cities He Represents
CONFIRMATION HEARING News and Views
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) general counsel nominee Sean Donahue on Thursday became the 67th civilian nominee of Trump’s second term to be confirmed, more than doubling the number of civilians that were confirmed by May 15, 2017 during the president’s first term. The Senate GOP leadership’s aggressive pace comes as Senate Democrats have sought to place historic roadblocks in the confirmation process by requiring roll call votes for all of the president’s nominees. Senate GOP Races Ahead With Trump Confirmations Despite Historic Roadblocks From Dems
“The Democrats decided to run a third ad-hominem campaign. . . At some point, and under whatever auspices, this is a game that will have to end.” Ten Years and a Hundred Days of Trump
Just roughly one-third of Democrats said they were “very optimistic” or “somewhat optimistic” regarding the future of their own party, according to a Wednesday poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Cillizza said on his YouTube channel that this survey, alongside another poll, underscores how damaged the party has become. ‘Pretty Stunning’: Chris Cillizza Says New Data On Dems ‘Incredibly Telling And Problematic’
In recent months, Ocasio-Cortez—often referred to as AOC—has toured the country, holding political rallies with Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), a self-described democratic socialist. The rallies, part of the two far-left lawmakers’ Fighting Oligarchy Tour, have buoyed progressive voter support for Ocasio-Cortez, leading to speculation she could mount a primary challenge to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) or even seek the Democratic Party’s 2028 presidential nomination. It’s TItty-Caca AOC’s Democrat Party Now, Data Shows.
"Our team identified an issue in the ground support system during overnight checks. We’re now in an extended hold to work through it. Our next target is the Friday morning launch window."
With an alliance now of 55 nations (which is also likely to grow), the present Trump administration is well positioned to force some action on changing or eliminating the Outer Space Treaty’s limitations on private property and the ownership of territory on other worlds. Obviously this is not the most important item on Trump’s plate, but it does need to be addressed if Americans (and everyone else) are to have the freedom to establish colonies on other planets, protected by the same laws that protect Americans on Earth. Norway signs the Artemis Accords
FEMINAZISM, TRANSGENDER PSYCHOSIS, HOMOSEXUALIZATION, WAR ON MASCULINITY/NORMALCY
Well, it is a copy, but it's a very authorised copy. Authorised by Edward I in the year 1300, and subsequently lost in 1762, and likely worth over $20 million.
A manuscript once considered an unofficial copy of Magna Carta is now believed to be a genuine version and ''one of the world's most valuable documents'', according to UK academics.
Harvard Law School paid $27.50 (then about £7) for it in 1946 and for years it has remained tucked away in its library, its true identity unknown.
But two medieval history professors have concluded it is an extraordinarily rare and lost original Magna Carta from 1300, in the reign of King Edward I, that could be worth millions.
''This is a fantastic discovery," said Prof David Carpenter from King's College London, who began analysing it after seeing digitised images of it on the US university's website.
Of course it's at * spit * Harvard. Why couldn't Hillsdale have found a copy?
Republican Senator of Utah Mike Lee introduced a bill that would effectively ban porn at the federal level in the United States.
The Interstate Obscenity Definition Act (IODA), introduced by Lee and Illinois Republican Rep. Mary Miller on Thursday, aims to change the Supreme Court’s 1973 “Miller Test” for determining what qualifies as obscene. “Obscenity isn’t protected by the First Amendment, but hazy and unenforceable legal definitions have allowed extreme pornography to saturate American society and reach countless children,” Lee said in a press release. “Our bill updates the legal definition of obscenity for the internet age so this content can be taken down and its peddlers prosecuted.”
The site I use to get around paywalls is down, so I don't have any more than that. Anyone know about this bill? If it passes, but stock in VPN companies.
As you might expect, understanding how this works isn't easy for the non-algebra geniuses amongst us. Essentially, polynomials are equations that include variables raised to non-negative powers (e.g. x3). When those powers are five or above, that's a higher-degree polynomial.
Mathematicians have figured out how to solve lower-degree versions, but it was thought that properly calculating the higher-degree ones was impossible. Before this new research, we've been relying on approximations.
Wildberger and Rubine took a new approach to the problem, which is based on Catalan numbers. These numbers are used in advanced number counting and arrangements, including counting how many ways polygons can be subdivided into triangles.
By extending the idea of Catalan numbers, the researchers were able to demonstrate that they could be used as a basis for solving polynomial equations of any degree. Part of the clever method involved extending polygon counts to other shapes besides triangles.
It's beyond me, but I bet there are some of y'all who understand it.
Alberta's leader told Postmedia this week that many disaffected Albertans see the threat coming from the east, like other Canadians perceive the threat from the south.
"As scared as these people are of what Donald Trump is going to do to their economy, that's how scared Albertans are of what the Liberals are going to do to the Alberta economy," Smith said.
And just as heightened anti-American feelings have risen broadly — including in Alberta — the separatist movement is aiming to transform the long-brewing anti-Ottawa sentiment into an anti-Canada sentiment.
I don't know if Alberta could make it as a stand alone country, but as the 51st state? It would be nice to be a fan of an American hockey team.
Three children were dramatically rescued from a COVID lockdown house of horrors after being forced for years to stay inside and wear face masks long after pandemic restrictions ended.
The siblings — 8-year-old twins and a 10-year-old — were finally freed from the home in Oviedo in Spain’s northwest on Monday after being locked inside since 2021, local outlet El Comercio reported.
“As soon as we got them out, all three children began to breathe deeply, as if they had never been outside before,” an investigator said.
Harrowing photos published by Spanish media showed the kids, who are German, emerging from the home wearing face masks.
Immediately after stepping outside, cops said, the children appeared to be amazed and went to touch the grass.
Long used in Indigenous Brazilian rituals, the jurema preta plant, which contains a potent psychedelic, is gaining ground as a potential treatment for depression.
At street stalls where medicinal herbs are sold, customers can buy the plant's root which contains dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a hallucinogenic substance that researchers say could be used to alleviate symptoms.
Following instructions he found on the internet, Guaracy Carvajal extracted DMT at home in 2016 from roots he bought on the street.
The 31-year-old software programmer, who had tried various treatment for chronic depression he has suffered since adolescence, said the drug makes it "feel like you've solved something in your life."
I dunno. If it helps folks with depression, that would be a boon for mankind.
Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by the power of boobs:
Whoops, that incontrovertible proof I posted earlier this week demonstrating that unquestionably bears are out of control turns out to have been an AI Cheapfake. (See the note, hit translate.) I guess bears are not officially out-of-control... for the moment.
Big cats, like Republicans, are biologically programmed to seize and pounce.
Axios: "Hard Data Suggests Tariff-Driven Inflation and Recession Fears May be Overblown"
—Ace
The media has pushed the idea that Trump's tariffs would spark rampant inflation and provoke a deep recession harder than they pushed the idea that Biden was a "super-ager" who routinely "ran circles among his Millennial staffers."
And now Axios, in a brave Jake Tapper sort of way, actually bothers to look at the evidence and the numbers, and assigns its Market Watch Repoter Emily Litella to say, "Nevermind."
Hard data suggests tariff-driven inflation and recession fears may be overblown
With major indicators from April -- the month of peak tariff uncertainty -- now in, none show the kinds of recessionary or inflationary conditions implied by business and consumer surveys.
Why it matters: Warnings and anecdotes are taking on greater importance as signs of how tariffs are working their way through the economy.
The big picture: New data out Thursday showed steady retail sales and a surprising drop in wholesale prices in April. So far, so good.
But also Thursday morning, the country's largest retailer warned that it will not be able to absorb tariff-related price increases -- even considering the trade war pullback announced earlier this week.
Walmart, known for its low prices, will pass some of those costs onto the consumer. If Walmart can't hold the line, it's hard to see how other retailers might be able to.
Walmart is particularly dependent on China for Cheap Plastic from China.
I do enjoy how they admit the facts momentarily, only to immediately undermine the facts with more spin and more premonitions of doom.
What they're saying: "We're wired for everyday low prices, but the magnitude of these increases is more than any retailer can absorb," Walmart CFO John David Rainey told CNBC on Thursday.
"It's more than any supplier can absorb. And so I'm concerned that consumer is going to start seeing higher prices. You'll begin to see that, likely towards the tail end of this month, and then certainly much more in June."
Oh, you have Concerns?
Your Concerns are:
[ ] Noted
[ ] Not Noted
[X] Ridiculed
By the numbers: Retail sales rose by 0.1% in April, after a massive spending surge that was even stronger than initially reported. The control group, used to calculate personal consumption expenditures in GDP, fell by 0.2%.
It's almost as if business optimism and consumer confidence are spiking under Trump.
Axios again attempts to re-establish its predictions of doom by speculating that spending only increased due to people rushing to make purchases before the dreaded tariffs.
No doubt, that may be a contributor. But they push aside all other explanations in favor of the negative one that reinforces their prior beliefs.
Meanwhile, inflation fell. Axios concedes that falling inflation might disprove their predictions of inflation falling.
What a major concession.
...
Between the lines: The Producer Price Index, a gauge of wholesale prices, showed little sign of tariff-related price pressures that businesses have warned about.
PPI fell by 0.5% in April after a flat reading in March, rounding out an upbeat inflation snapshot after the index's consumer counterpart released Tuesday.
Goods prices were flat last month after falling almost a full percentage point in March. Services prices fell by 0.7%, the biggest drop since the index began in 2009.
The bottom line: "There is little evidence, so far, that tariffs are inflationary and instead profit margins are being squeezed. But as Walmart suggested Thursday morning, that is a situation that may not last long," ING chief international economist James Knightley wrote in a note.
If it's the sources you rely on for every DNC press release story-- are you going to apply more skepticism to their claims going forward, or not so much?
Supreme Court Hears Arguments Over Nationwide Universal Injunctions Issued by Lowly District Court Justices Who Keep Electing Themselves President
—Ace
A lowly district court issued a One Man Universal decision stating that birthright citizenship was the law of the land and always would be, and then issuing various nationwide injunctions purporting to control President Trump's actions.
Trump appealed, but only on one part of the ruling: The arrogance of a lowly district court judge, who only has jurisdiction over the area (the literal jurisdiction) he is seated in, issuing what he purports to be nationwide "universal" injunctions. (An injunction is a judicial order forbidding someone from doing something.)
Nationwide injunctions are highly controversial, especially by lowly district court judges, because they are at the very, very bottom of the federal judicial system, and yet they keep arrogating to themselves plenary power to dictate the elected government actions.
Even more importantly, district courts only have jurisdiction over the small, um, jurisdiction they're appointed to judge cases in. In other words, a district court judge from southern Massachusetts has the power to rule on cases in southern Massachusetts. But these low-level bureaucrats keep claiming to have nationwide or "universal" jurisdiction, and instead of limiting their rulings' effect to just the jurisdiction they are seated in, they claim they can rule for the entire country.
These rulings have long been considered out-of-bounds -- including by Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, who argued against universal injunctions issued by district courts when she was Obama's Solicitor General.
She has a different opinion now, of course.
Jonathan Turley
@JonathanTurley
The Supreme Court argument is now concluded and there was far more heat than light offered inside the courtroom...
...Justices Thomas, Alito, and Kavanaugh seemed strongly in favor of the Administration. Roberts also made repeated points that seemed to support some of the arguments of the Administration, though it was not clear how he would vote...
...On the left, Kagan repeatedly strived to distinguish this case from her earlier objections to universal injunctions under the Biden Administration. She seemed solidly with Sotomayor and Jackson...
...That leaves Gorsuch and Barrett. Gorsuch has previously expressed criticism of universal injunctions but asked probing questions on both sides. Barrett seemed more accommodating in seeking a way to uphold universal injunctions...
Of course this c*nt did.
...In other words, this could be a nail-biter. I think that the Administration still has an advantage in curtailing universal injunctions. However, I did not come away with the sense of a lock with a majority, particularly given Barrett's questions. I am also unsure how Roberts and Gorsuch will play out on the details. Fortunately, we will likely know within a couple of weeks.
NYT legal reporter Adam Liptak sums this up with fair accuracy:
The justices have been struggling with two contrary impulses. Many are troubled by injunctions issued by individual federal judges that block executive branch initiatives nationwide. But many of them are also troubled by the executive order seeking to ban birthright citizenship and frustrated by the difficulty of reaching the merits, as the Trump administration has only appealed on the first point.
New Jersey's lawyer may have offered a middle ground, arguing that this is the rare case in which nationwide relief is needed because it is the only way to grant complete relief to the more than 20 plaintiff states.
@ShipwreckedCrew predicts the justices may split, and uphold the universal injunction only as to the ban of Trump's order reversing so-called "birthright citizenship," but setting up oversight/checks-and-balances for universal injunctions in all other cases.
The "wise Latina" Sotomayor kept Asking Statements of the Solicitor General. She would "Ask" a Declaration and then cut off the Solicitor General before he could respond.
Even Roberts eventually had enough of her, and interrupted her interrupting to tell her that he actually wanted to hear the Solicitor General's answer to her statement.
Martin Harry
@MartinHarryFL
Listening to the birthright citizenship oral argument at the US Supreme Court. Justice Sotomayor continues to be argumentative, ask questions without allowing a response and monopolizes the Court's time. Chief Justice Roberts had had enough and cut her off. Later, he directly contradicts her belief that Supreme Court review takes 4-5 years, even in emergency cases.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts reined in Justice Sonia Sotomayor during argument over birthright citizenship and nationwide court injunctions on Thursday.
Sotomayor dominated questioning for several minutes at the outset of Thursday's argument after taking over from Justice Clarence Thomas. She pressed U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer for President Donald Trump's administration on several points relating to the authority for federal courts to issue nationwide injunctions, often speaking over the lawyer and interrupting him.
Sotomayor argued that Trump's order invalidating birthright citizenship violated four Supreme Court precedents, and that it was justified for a federal judge to grant an injunction against such a controversial order.
"You are claiming that not just the Supreme Court, that both the Supreme Court and no lower court, can stop an executive from universally violating holdings by this court," Sotomayor said.
"We are not claiming that because we're conceding that there could be an appropriate case only in class only," Sauer said.
"But I hear that--," Sotomayor said, beginning to interrupt Sauer.
"Can I hear the rest of his answer?" Roberts then interjected.
HUGE SMACKDOWN!!! Trump's Solicitor General fact-checked Sotomayor on birthright citizenship so brutally that she started interrupting him constantly.
Sotomayor: "Right now we have novel courts who've percolated this issue and said you're violating precedent, not only precedent… pic.twitter.com/Udx3JFIG2R
Amy Coney Barrett, naturally, demanded to know if Trump would not only abide but agree with a lower district (Hawaiian) judge's assumption of the powers of the presidency.
🚨 Justice Amy Coney Barrett just grilled the Trump admin over rogue activist judges' national injunctions.
Barrett: You’re saying you would respect the judgment, but not necessarily the opinion of a lower court? pic.twitter.com/bn7MkytzII
A three-judge panel at the United States Court of International Trade in lower Manhattan heard arguments in the case Tuesday, and reportedly "appeared skeptical" of the president's arguments.
If the panel decides that Trump's emergency declaration was unlawful, it would effectively block the president's global tariffs and upend his economic agenda.
The chief judge of the United States Court of International Trade is Mark A Barnett, who joined the court in 2013 after a nomination from President Barack Obama. He became chief judge on April 6, 2021.
According to the well-placed source, rather than drawing the panel at random, Chief Judge Barnett "fixed" the outcome by selecting three judges whom he knew would "overrule the president" and render his tariffs "null and void."
Rachel Maddow has gone back to her one-day-a-week gig, collecting $25 million per year for this tiny amount of "work" like a good socialist, and it's now on the slender shoulders of Ginger Clownwhore Jen Psaki to keep the dying cable channel alive.
Former Biden press secretary Jen Psaki tanked with a key demographic in her new show's second episode -- indicating possible trouble for her future ratings.
Her new gig features her show "The Briefing" in MSNBC's prime time slot, at 9 p.m. on Tuesdays through Fridays, while "The Rachel Maddow Show" pivots to only being on air Mondays.
"The Briefing" had a strong showing of 1.2 million viewers on Tuesday, with 139,000 viewers in the key demographic of people ages 25 to 54.
But viewership quickly dropped Wednesday, with 1 million viewers tuning in -- and just 65,000 people in the coveted demographic tuning in, according to Fox News.
"The demo" is usually defined as ages 25-54. That kind of a range. People with jobs who can afford to buy stuff, and people who are young enough and callow enough to have their buying choices influenced by advertising.
In other words, "the demo" is all of us. We're right in the meat of the demo with our nearly-universal "almost 29" age demographic.
For comparison, Fox News' Sean Hannity got 2.64 million viewers on Tuesday at 9 p.m. with 312,000 in the highly desired demographic, while CNN's Kaitlan Collins eked out 468,000 total viewers but scored 75,000 people ages 25 to 54 watching.
The former press secretary had left her job at the White House in 2022 to pursue a gig at the liberal outlet, and began hosting "Inside with Jen Psaki" on Sundays in March 2023.
...
[M]addow had managed to bring in better numbers when she held the prime spot.
The host averaged a total of 1.9 million viewers and 141,000 among viewers aged 25-54, per Fox, meaning that Psaki's Wednesday episode had brought down the number of viewers by a total of 46% and 54% in the important demo.
Adweek, a publication which seems left-wing and very pro-MSNBC, spins MSNBC's collapsed ratings as "mixed" and says it's merely experiencing a "slow start" with its new lineup.
MSNBC's new programming lineup finished its first full week, and the numbers were mixed. The network experienced week-to-week declines in total viewers and the Adults 25-54 demo during primetime and total day. MSNBC continued to miss Rachel Maddow's nightly presence as it fell by double-digits in both measured categories during primetime.
So MSNBC's ratings fell in all categories by double-digits and that's "mixed"?
Meanwhile, Fox News had 96 of the top 100 cable news telecasts and was the most-watched cable news network during the announcement of Pope Leo XIV's election.
...
MSNBC's primetime lineup averaged 892,000 total viewers and 77,000 A25-54 viewers for declines of -12% and -13%, respectively.
During total day, MSNBC averaged 564,000 total viewers and 52,000 demo viewers for respective dips of -2% and -5% in those measured categories.
Among all basic cable networks, MSNBC stayed at No. 4 in total viewers and dropped four spots from No. 15 to No. 19 in the demo during primetime. Across total day, it remained at third place in total viewers and remained at No. 13 in the demo.
Lawmakers are investigating whether Pfizer waited to share results of the Covid vaccine in 2020 until after that year's presidential election, based on new allegations that a former Pfizer scientist has said he was part of an effort to "deliberately slow down" the testing, according to a new letter from the House Judiciary Committee.
The House panel is seeking information from Pfizer and from the scientist, Philip Dormitzer, after learning he allegedly told colleagues in 2024 at a subsequent job he was worried he would face an investigation of his role in the vaccine's release and asked to be relocated to Canada.
— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) May 15, 2025
Lemme just slip this in here real quick, as P. Diddy would say to his unconscious victim:
To promote his own book, Jake Tapper had on the two Wall Street Journal reporters who reported that many congressmen worried about Biden's compromised mental state. Back when it mattered -- before the election.
He called them "heroes," and said they had been "smeared by Democrats."
I didn't know human beings were capable of the level of audacity and fraud that drives Jake Tapper's book tour: pretending he's the angry victim of the WH which prevented him from knowing about Biden's cognitive decline.
A former National Guard member from Melvindale, Michigan, near Dearborn, was busted for attempting a mass shooting at a base in nearby Warren, Mich.
Dearborn, you say? The Fallujah of Michigan?
Very diverse. Very strength.
Ammar Abdulmajid-Mohamed Said, 19, was arrested and charged with providing training and materiel to undercover federal agents. Investigators claim the planned attack is related to ISIS.
The plan was to launch a mass shooting at the U.S. Army's Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command (TACOM) facility just north of Detroit. This is not a military base but more of an Army facility.
Breanna Morello
@BreannaMorello
ISIS TERROR PLOT
A Michigan Army National Guard member was arrested for allegedly plotting a mass shooting at the U.S. Army's Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command facility in Warren, Michigan, on behalf of ISIS, according to the Justice Department.
Ammar Abdulmajid-Mohamed Said was apprehended Tuesday after traveling near the military base and launching a drone as part of his attack plan.
In conversations with an undercover FBI agent, Said reportedly advised, "I recommend everyone have about seven magazines because you don't want to be in there and run out of ammo," as detailed in a criminal complaint.
He faces charges of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and distributing information related to a destructive device, with a potential penalty of up to 20 years per count if convicted.
A Michigan Army National Guard member was arrested for allegedly plotting a mass shooting at the U.S. Army’s Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command facility in Warren, Michigan, on behalf of ISIS, according to the Justice Department.
Judge Patricia Giles of the Eastern District of Virginia ordered President Donald Trump's administration to release Suri after two months of detention in Texas for allegedly violating his student visa.
Giles released Suri "without bond and imposed minimal conditions beyond requiring him to continue attending court proceedings."
The media glosses over the root of the problem regarding Suri. They've done the bare minimum while burying the lede: DHS accused Suri of spreading Hamas propaganda and antisemitism on social media and has links to Hamas.
Suri is married to Mapheze Saleh, an American citizen, the daughter of Ahmed Yousef.
Yousef served as an advisor to Ismail Haniyeh...a top Hamas leader taken out by Israel in Tehran in July 2024. Also:
Ahmed Yousef was a senior Hamas figure in Gaza and an adviser to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. He also founded the United Association for Studies and Research, which had ties to officials at Georgetown and its Alwaleed Center where his son-in-law, Suri, now works. The United Association for Studies and Research was a Hamas-affiliated think tank that operated in the United States from 1989 to 2004. According to the Investigative Project on Terrorism, it was established by Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook and served as a front for Hamas activities in the United States, including propaganda and fundraising.
Jake Tapper Reportedly Hires a Crisis Communications Firm to Stop Criticism
—Ace
Whaaaa...? Jake Tapper getting enraged and defensive about valid criticism and using sneaky social media tactics to push back on it? That makes no sense at all!
Tapper is getting a lot of criticism from a lot of people for posing as a "reporter" on Biden's Dementia.
He made a PR move yesterday, offering a non-apology on CNN. It's the standard non-apology, where you say something that sounds a little reflective and self-critical but in fact you're doubling down.
If you didn't see the wormy non-apology, it's here. He says, prompted by his CNN colleague who was certainly told to ask him this question, claiming that only "conservatives" are criticizing him, "some of it [the conservatives' criticism] is fair, to be honest... but knowing then what I know now, I look back at my coverage, and I did cover some of these issues but not enough, and I look back in humility."
He then insists that Biden only became demented around 2023-2024, continuing to insist there was no story before then. Though he also does acknowledge that the separation of Biden into the "functioning one and non-functioning one" began in 2019-2020. But he is firm that it wasn't that bad at that time, thus absolving himself and all his fellow Regime Conspiracists from having noticed it until June 2024.
We can now see that this non-apology was almost certainly offered only because the crisis manager he'd hired told him to offer a fake, non-specific statement about the indisputable and now-notorious fact that Tapper himself was one of the main architects of the very cover up he now wants to be paid to "expose."
And wait until you see the crisis manager's client list!
Breaker reported earlier this month that Tapper has hired Risa Heller, a crisis communication expert described as the "warrior of choice" for "cancellable elites" trying to survive a scandal. In 2022, Heller met with former CNN boss Jeff Zucker days before he was forced to resign for, among other things, concealing a romantic relationship with a subordinate executive. She helped Anthony Weiner navigate his (first) dick-pic scandal in 2011. Jeffrey Toobin, the disgraced CNN personality, sought Heller's counsel in 2020 after he was caught pleasuring himself on a Zoom call with colleagues. She worked with convicted Theranos fraudster Elizabeth Holmes on a sympathetic puff piece in the New York Times ahead of her sentencing. She represented an Estée Lauder executive who posted a Sesame Street meme using the n-word, and defended the voice of Elmo against allegations of sexual impropriety with minors. Now she's helping Tapper learn how to be "nicer" to fellow journalists.
Some context: Tapper is a notorious crank with a habit of sending indignant DMs to journalists and other commentators who criticize him on social media. Some have described his stubbornness, thirst for vengeance, and refusal to admit fault as "positively Bidenesque." There's at least some evidence that Heller's human decency training has rubbed off. The day after Breaker revealed the PR flack's involvement in the book rollout, Tapper praised his co-author, Alex Thompson of Axios, as a "great reporter and a kind person and a good friend," which was awfully sweet of him.
...
Mark Halperin, among others, has a different view. "One thing that's not true is that the cover-up was so good that no one could see this, that we couldn't possibly have gotten to the bottom of this during the election," he said. "It is not true that it's only after the election that Jake Tapper could've gotten to the bottom of this, and the rest of the Washington press corps could've gotten to the bottom of this." The media were not simply "stymied from getting to the truth" by lying White House aides, Halperin argued. "No, they were part of the conspiracy and the cover-up. They allowed themselves to believe the ridiculous spin on TV and in public, and privately they allowed themselves to be browbeat," he said. "They were told, you will lose access ... Reporters who covered any story the Biden people didn't like were denied access."
Media reporter Dylan Byers noted Tapper's insane levels of "self-promotion and sanctimony" are even bothering to annoy his fellow leftwing hacktivists.
And now we know who made that deceptively-edited video that both Tapper and Thompson linked, which purported to show, through cheapfake manipulation, Tapper showing any interest in the story.
From February, when Tapper brazenly announced that he would be uncovering the cover-up that he so energetically participated in:
Stephen Green
@VodkaPundit
Watching @jaketapper cash in on his own professional malfeasance is probably the most Beltway thing ever.
Some memories of the media joining Tapper in the conspiracy:
Via Drew Holden: NBC "News" cited "brain experts" to reassure citizens not to worry about Biden's clearly-shot memory, that doesn't affect his ability make decisions at all!
It's like when people lose their sight and their other senses get very sharp to compensate. So Biden's brains are rotting garbage when it comes to memory. That just means that his wisdom and judgment functions must have gotten super-sharp.
Right? That's how it works, right, "brain experts"?
"No one could have known!"
September, 2023. Jake Tapper has on a writer from The Atlantic named Franklin Foer. Foer had just written a "behind the scenes" book about Joe Biden's presidency and his ability to do the job.
The Atlantic writer claimed that Biden was still up for the job. Shocker, right?… pic.twitter.com/MMylFotDSk
Today, CNN’s Jake Tapper lambasted the Biden White House for falsely labeling videos showing Biden's cognitive issues “cheap fakes.”
Following Jake’s clip are a few examples of Jake’s own network actively perpetuating the “cheap fake” hoax, dismissing concerns about Biden’s… pic.twitter.com/NoiofXLiWK
Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., plans to introduce a sweeping "Reparations Now Resolution" this week, calling for trillions in federal spending to support Black Americans. The move intensifies the Democrats' push for reparative justice, even as critics question the economic and social impact.
Key Details:
Seeks trillions of dollars in reparations, citing slavery, Jim Crow, and systemic racism as justification.
Follows Rep. Ayanna Pressley's February legislation proposing a federal reparations commission.
Blue states like California have also floated reparations programs amid broader DEI-focused efforts.
Diving Deeper:
Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., is preparing to introduce the "Reparations Now Resolution" on Thursday, escalating House Democrats' efforts to secure massive federal payouts for descendants of Black Americans. Lee announced her plan during a Capitol Hill event this week, declaring reparations a "moral and legal obligation" that America must confront.
"This is a moment in time where societies are shaped [and] new societies are built. We should be the ones who are shaping it," Lee said, emphasizing the urgency behind her legislation. In remarks directed at the Trump administration's rollback of DEI initiatives, Lee warned that conservatives aim to shape the nation's future and urged progressives to "fight like hell" to advance their vision instead.
...
Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., introduced a related bill earlier this year to establish a federal commission tasked with studying the lasting effects of slavery and crafting specific reparations proposals. At the time, Pressley claimed the country was experiencing "anti-Blackness on steroids," vowing to continue the pursuit of what she described as racial justice.
People are tired of this, and the Democrats just keep doubling down on it. They still haven't been delivered enough of a rebuke. They won't stop this until Republicans win supermajorities in both chambers.
It was once said, "It takes a village to raise a child." Unless one of the villagers is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Then the Professional Know-It-Alls cry like like toddlers having their Teddy Bear confiscated.
Over the years we have heard the mantra, "It is for the children!!!" But, it basically boils down to the cool villagers and their acolytes grifting off the rest of the village. Lording their position over the uncool villagers. The money drips here and there on children. But, most of it finds its way into a certain number of private hands and other body parts and/or orifices.
It isn't about the children. It is about a certain group of elected and non-elected officials who cannot admit they are wrong or the science isn't settled (Unless they cling to their beliefs)
Let's examine one of these "Politicians" who questioned Secretary Kennedy. The politician in question is one U.S. Congressman Mike Simpson (R-ID).
Rep. Simpson is a dentist. But, I'm not sure how much practicing he has been doing since he has been a congressman since 1999. Before that he was busy with the Idaho state legislature where he served from 1984-1998.
As a "Dentist" Rep. Simpson should have known better than to match wits with Sec. Kennedy without doing any type of home work regarding fluoride use. Do better "Doc" Simpson, do better. Or at least your overpaid and under employed staff
could do better.
The congressman cares about the children and the need for dentists yet doesn't know about the HHS own report. The HHS which he is a member of an oversight committee. Fluoride Exposure: Neurodevelopment and Cognition.
Application
An association indicates a connection between fluoride and lower IQ; it does not prove a cause and effect. Many substances are healthy and beneficial when taken in small doses but may cause harm at high doses. More research is needed to better understand if there are health risks associated with low fluoride exposures. This NTP monograph may provide important information to regulatory agencies that set standards for the safe use of fluoride. It does not, and was not intended to, assess the benefits of fluoride.
And here you thought you could get by without seeing the congresscritter who identifies as a "Wicked lesbian witch of the east".
Posted by Misanthropic Humanitarian (ONT Cob Emeritus) at 10:53 AMComments
Mid-Morning Art Thread
—CBD
Eros
Helen Frankenthaler
If Helen thinks that painting depicts Eros in any way, then Helen needs to work on her love life.
I am sure she had some grand message she thought she conveyed with this absolute mess of a painting. And I am equally sure that the critics gobbled it up, ascribing all sorts of esoteric nonsense to what is an amateurish skill with a brush. No matter how deep and complex the supposed meaning is, if the work is junk, what's the point?
Give me a skillful artist who takes pride in the task over a clown with obvious lack of skill masquerading as a serious artist. The skillful artist produces works that please the eye. The clown produces works that must be deconstructed to reveal...anything!
“Today in Qatar, President Donald J. Trump signed an agreement with Qatar to generate an economic exchange worth at least $1.2 trillion,” the White House noted in a fact sheet. In addition to the agreement, the document states the U.S. and Qatar companies have come to terms on economic deals equaling $243.5 billion.
The $243.5 billion in deals between the nations is headlined by Qatar Airways’ $96 billion agreement with Boeing and GE Aerospace to buy as many as “210 American-made Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 777X aircraft powered by GE Aerospace engines,” a White House fact sheet noted.
On Wednesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thania stated that a deal between Israel and Hamas can’t be reached when there’s a “fundamental difference between the two parties. One party wants just to retrieve the hostage[s] and continue the war and the other party wants to end the war and doesn’t think about the hostages.”
Qatar has been a safe haven for top Hamas terrorist leadership for years where no doubt much of the strategy and tactics of the October 7th attack on Israel were planned and perhaps even directed once the IDF initially began its counteroffensive.
Unfortunately, the capital of that viper's nest Doha is home to a significant American air base and our warships are docked there as well. As the home of al-jazeera, Qatar, broadcasts anti-western and anti-semitic propaganda 24/7 all across not only middle east but to the world at large.
Significantly, they are not and have no intention of signing onto the Ahraham Accords, which was one of President Trump's most significant foreign policy achievements from his first term and upon which many had hoped would change the course of history in the region for the better. And then came Biden and then October 7. And the rest is history. Figuratively and quite literally.
Trump has done it again. That much is clear. He has outmaneuvered and out-thought everyone else, and did what many others assumed to be impossible.
But what exactly has he done? On Wednesday morning, during his trip to Saudi Arabia, Trump met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who from 2017 until January of this year, was known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani. Al-Sharaa was the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the “Syrian Liberation Group,” a Sunni jihad group that had been linked to al-Qaeda and was working to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. . .
. . . In many ways, Trump’s meeting with al-Sharaa is as momentous, and could be more momentous, than his first-term overtures to Kim Jong Un. The two meetings come from the same wellsprings: Trump is attempting to break longstanding logjams and end the status quo that the foreign policy establishment, both inside the U.S. and elsewhere, had come to take for granted. . . So Trump wants to make peace with old foes based on mutual economic interests. He is giving al-Sharaa a chance to demonstrate that he really is no longer a jihadi and wants to build a stable and prosperous Syria. It could happen. The global jihad, although it is ignored everywhere, continues nevertheless. It never goes away. Individuals and states, however, can and do put it aside for considerable periods in order to pursue other interests. . .
. . . Nevertheless, Trump’s attempt to create peace based on common interests and move beyond the present logjam is as welcome as it is audacious. Once again, Trump appears to be way ahead of everyone else, as he was when he established the Abraham Accords even as John Kerry was confidently telling the world that such a thing was impossible.
The fly in the ointment as it were is "Islam." Spencer correctly states "The global jihad, although it is ignored everywhere, continues nevertheless. It never goes away. Individuals and states, however, can and do put it aside for considerable periods in order to pursue other interests. . . Bingo. the only way it goes away is either the internal reformation of Islam or its defeat/destruction.
Spencer seems to ignore his own words vis a vis that the jihad never goes away. But for Donald Trump or any American political leader to even attempt to articulate this is tantamount to committing political suicide. Despite the fact that the last American political leader to articulate the mortal danger of Islam and to act to defeat it was Thomas Jefferson.
All that said, Trump's moves in the middle east vis a vis Qatar and Syria are perhaps very good in the short term. Is a legitimate rapprochement and transformation of the Muslim theocratic/political mindset vis a vis the West and Israel likely if not actually possible in the long-term? Well, we'll have to wait and see. If 1,500 years of history teaches us anything, I wouldn't hold my breath. But to not try, whatever this President's motivations may be, would be a moral failing of massive proportions IMHO.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has confirmed the arrest of 19-year-old Ammar Abdulmajid-Mohamed Said on May 13, 2025, for plotting an Islamic State-inspired mass shooting at the U.S. Army’s Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) facility in Warren, Michigan.Said, a Melvindale, Michigan resident, faces charges of attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State (ISIS) and distributing information related to a destructive device, each carrying a maximum 20-year prison sentence. According to the Justice Department, Said supplied armor-piercing ammunition and magazines, recruited two conspirators, and flew a drone over TACOM for reconnaissance. His plan was set to unfold on the day of his arrest, but law enforcement stopped him cold.“This defendant was stopped dead in his tracks as he conspired with others in planning a deadly attack on a U.S. military base here at home for IS,” the Justice Department said. The swift intervention prevented a potential catastrophe at TACOM, a critical hub for military vehicle development.Said’s alleged betrayal, as a former National Guard member, underscores the insidious reach of radical Islam, even among those sworn to protect the nation.
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.
Victor Davis Hanson: Trump's first 100 days mark a chaotic counterrevolution, tackling crises long ignored—and infuriating the very forces that allowed them to fester. The Real First 100 Days
The far-left Politico grudgingly admits: “Trump tariffs have little impact on prices so far, defying grim forecasts,” reads the headline. “Inflation climbed at the slowest pace since early 2021 in April, surprising economists who anticipated tariff-related increases,” reads the sub-headline. Regime Media Forced to Admit Tariffs ‘Have Little Impact on Prices’
State Farm dropped many policyholders in the months leading up to the devastating fires in Los Angeles, and has dragged its feet in helping those homeowners who retained their policies, often “lowballing” estimates of repairs. California’s Ricardo Lara Lets State Farm Raise Insurance Rates
“One by one, the left turned their back on the Jews,” he says. “It’s happening the same way now in South Africa. There are 140 anti-white race-based laws, more than under apartheid. There are laws telling you who you can hire and who you can’t fire, what percentage of your business you have to give up — 30%. They are using democracy to institute socialism, and it’s horrific.” Miranda Devine: The left tries to claim white South Africans aren’t worthy of refugee status
Robert Spencer: The peace and stability of the Middle East, and of the entire world, are riding upon the President's success. Trump Shocks the World — Again
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has confirmed the arrest of 19-year-old Ammar Abdulmajid-Mohamed Said on May 13, 2025, for plotting an Islamic State-inspired mass shooting at the U.S. Army’s Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) facility in Warren, Michigan.Said, a Melvindale, Michigan resident, faces charges of attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State (ISIS) and distributing information related to a destructive device, each carrying a maximum 20-year prison sentence. According to the Justice Department, Said supplied armor-piercing ammunition and magazines, recruited two conspirators, and flew a drone over TACOM for reconnaissance. His plan was set to unfold on the day of his arrest, but law enforcement stopped him cold.“ Justice Dept Charges Ex-Soldier with Plot to Attack Base for ISIS.
CRIME & PUNISHMENT, NON-DOSTOYEVSKY
"I want to be clear. No student who commits a serious criminal offense (Title V felony) is permitted to participate in the graduation ceremony. Additionally, anyone who trespasses on Frisco ISD property or at a District event will be subject to immediate removal and possible arrest by law enforcement,” Waldrip wrote. "Frisco ISD does not condone violence or crime in our schools or at our events and will not reward or celebrate those who hurt others.” Karmelo Anthony to Graduate High School With 'Full Credit' White Awaiting Trial for Murder
FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS, MEDIA, BIG BROTHER TECH
RED-GREENS, CLIMATE CHANGE HOAX, DEMOCRAT-LEFT WAR ON FOSSIL FUELS,
Over the past nine months, “rogue communication devices” not listed in product documents were found in solar power inverters and batteries from several Chinese suppliers, according to sources familiar with the matter who spoke with Reuters. The undocumented devices were found after U.S. experts disassembled the renewable energy equipment to check for security issues, prompting officials to review the potential dangers of the Chinese-made devices, according to the publication. Rogue Devices Capable Of Triggering Blackouts Reportedly Found In Chinese Solar Panels
Whether it’s a 12-hour-long protest on the Capitol steps about inflation, assaulting police officers during a protest at an ICE facility, or the threat of ousting the newly elected leadership of the DNC, it’s safe to say that since President Donald Trump retook the White House in November, Democrats have found themselves lost as a party, if not in total disarray. ‘Hang It Around Their Neck’ — Against Long Odds, GOP Operatives Have A Plan To Win In 2026
Among registered voters who watched the Sept. 10 Harris-Trump debate, 63% thought the former vice president won the face-off, according to a CNN flash poll that surveyed 605 registered voters. Luntz argued on “This Is Gavin Newsom” that Harris should have won the 2024 election based on her debate performance and the exorbitant funds in support of her candidacy, but said she made critical errors that cost her. Kevin McCarthy's Cabana-boy Frank Luntz Tells Gavin Newsom That Kamala Harris Should Look In Mirror To Find Reason She Lost 2024 Election
POPE LEO XIV COMMENTARY
Leftist media will have you believe that Leo XIV is a ‘social justice’ pope. But the pope he named himself after says something different. Where the New Pope Came From
THE UKRAINIAN "FRONT"
President Donald Trump, who is in Qatar, had hinted at possibly attending the meeting himself if Putin was present, but a Kremlin statement announced Wednesday that presidential aide Vladimir Medinksy would lead the Russian delegation, the BBC reported. Putin called for a direct conversation between Russia and Ukraine on May 10, according to CNN. Trump then requested that the Ukrainians attend the meeting in a post on his Truth Social platform on May 11, saying that the Russian president was open to negotiating “a possible end to the BLOODBATH” in Istanbul, Turkey. Putin Refuses To Attend Peace Talks With Zelensky After Trump Backed Negotiations
President Donald J. Trump and Qatari officials signed a “joint declaration of cooperation” on Wednesday during Trump’s visit to Doha. The agreement comes as part of a broader diplomatic push by the Trump administration following his stop in Saudi Arabia earlier in the week. Trump Secures $1.2 Trillion Deal with Qatar.
Ben Shapiro: President Trump is a realist. He wants to be involved where it is in the interests of the United States to be involved. Trump’s Saudi Triumph
Trump’s freewheeling Persian Gulf tour continues a string of recent moves that the president has made in the Middle East with little apparent regard for Israel's wishes—and in some cases, in direct opposition to them. But both Israeli and U.S. officials have denied talk of a growing rift, and the two countries have remained directionally aligned against Iran’s "axis of resistance." Is the Trump-Bibi Rift Overblown?
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, known for calling President Donald J. Trump a “neo-Nazi sympathizing sociopath” in the past, has been accused of assaulting a European taxi driver over a bill costing over $780. Lammy and his wife used a taxi service to take them on a 360-mile trip from Italy to a French ski resort on April 10. Anti-Trump UK Foreign Sec Allegedly Assaulted Euro Cabbie.
The German intelligence agency’s attempt to label the AfD as extremists is yet another example of the EU moving steadily toward tyranny. European democracy is dying
DC AIRLINER/COPTER COLLISION, Philly, Toronto Air Crashes AFTERMATH
In testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee, FAA official Franklin McIntosh said the Pentagon-maintained hotline had been down since March 2022, and the FAA wasn’t aware of the outage. The testimony came just days after a Virginia-based Army unit resumed flights following a Jan. 29 helicopter collision with a commercial jet that killed 67 people. FAA Confirms Government Failure At Pentagon In Wake Of Deadly DC Plane Crash
The data suggests we are seeing one small aspect of Titan’s atmospheric methane cycle, where the liquid methane in the lakes evaporates to form clouds, which later than condense to rain back down. Though superficially similar to the water cycle here on Earth, the details suggest it will be very different on Titan. Astronomers observe cloud changes above the northern polar lakes of Titan
“Neoliberal globalists, meanwhile, are moving in the opposite direction.Nationalism, rather than threatening European breakup, is being brought in-house.” The Techno-Populist Convergence
The bill has strong bipartisan and industry support, which means it is just astoundingly awful.
"Apple is pleased to offer our support for the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). Everyone has a part to play in keeping kids safe online, and we believe [this] legislation will have a meaningful impact on children's online safety," Timothy Powderly, Apples senior director of Government Affairs, said in a statement.
Everyone involved in the creation of that sentence should be summarily executed.
This is slightly slower than the top-of-the-line 395, with 12 Zen 5 cores and 32 RDNA3 graphics cores, cut down from 16 and 40 respectively.
Since the full chip is likely to be thermally limited in a mini-PC (read: it would overheat) this seems like a reasonable decision. If the price is right.
Yes, it's guaranteed to work 100% safely and automatically. Correctly? You're asking a bit much, bucko.
ArtificialCast is a demonstration of what happens when overhyped AI ideas are implemented exactly as proposed - with no shortcuts, no mocking, and no jokes.
It is fully functional. It passes tests. It integrates into modern .NET workflows. And it is fundamentally unsafe.
TRex has an early morning, so looking for the Horde to behave itself. If you can't behave, at least be entertaining. Please observe proper ONT etiquette. Legally Sufficient has the Ruler of Dread and is authorized to wield it was warranted. JQ has the key to the kegerator, wine cellar and liquor cabinet. She also has apple juice if you desire an alcohol-free ONT. Ciampino has the sock drawer but mostly needs to stay away from cats. tcn in AK has a telescope on the roof so make an orderly line if you want to look in to the heavens or just spy on the neighbors. Miklosbot will scan the perimeter for intruders.
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Guess how many Peeps are the jar. No clues other than the two photos:
I asked an AI tool to make an estimate based on the photos. It gave me a guess and a very convincing explanation of the logic. It was also nowhere close to the right answer.
The correct answer will be posted...later. Maybe next Wed.
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New Yorker cartoon captions are generally insipid at best. The illustrations, however, offer a blank canvas for your own caption creations.
Do your worst. Just identify which cartoon you are captioning in your post.
1. Bunny
2. Cupid
3. Sand
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If Youtube was made for cat videos, AI was made for baby videos:
Point Nemo, the loneliest and most remote expanse of ocean on Earth, is where spacecraft go when they die.
This spread of water, 34 times larger than France, has been used as a dumping ground for space vehicles since 1971. An estimated 263 decommissioned spacecraft, including the Russian space station Mir, have been deliberately brought down and sunk here.
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Three riddles - answers further below:
You're in a mansion with a lightbulb in the attic and three switches in the basement. It's late in the evening, and you're tired, so you can only go from the basement to the attic once. How do you figure out which switch controls the lightbulb?
Two people ordered the same cocktail at a restaurant. They both drank it at different paces, but one person died while the other survived. How?
A man was pushing his car when he stopped in front of a hotel and knew immediately that he was bankrupt. How?
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Props is the best Whose Line is it Anyway? game:
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Plinko is the best Price is Right game (but I still can't get used to Drew Carey's current look):
Number 1: You're in a mansion with a lightbulb in the attic and three switches in the basement. It's late in the evening, and you're tired, so you can only go from the basement to the attic once. How do you figure out which switch controls the lightbulb?
Answer: Turn on the first switch and wait for 5 minutes. Then turn it off and turn on the second switch. Go to the attic. If the light is on, the second switch controls it. If the light is off, touch the bulb: if it's warm, the first switch is the correct one; if it's cold, the third switch controls the light.
Number 2: Two people ordered the same cocktail at a restaurant. They both drank it at different paces, but one person died while the other survived. How?
Answer: The cocktail contained poison in the ice. One person drank quickly before the ice melted, while the other waited, allowing the poison to spread.
Number 3: A man was pushing his car when he stopped in front of a hotel and knew immediately that he was bankrupt. How?
Answer: The man was playing Monopoly.
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The Pittsburgh police scanner keeps giving:
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Oldest living Llama in captivity for a Guinness Book of World records? Guess so.
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Ace of Base for our big ONT finish:
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Written correspondence can be sent to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Are you lurking? Come out and play. Hall of Fame reinstatement pending.
Podcast: CBD and J.J. Sefton chat about the Trump initiatives in the Middle East, and how his desire for a deal might jeopardize long-term stability, judicial overreach, Newark Airport, and more!
Mark Levin goes off on "schmuck" and "little bastard" Tucker Carlson He revives Rush Limbaugh's insult of Carlson as "Chatsworth Osbourne Jr." The dispute is over whether the term "neocon" is being used as a paper-thin euphemism for "Jew" or not. I don't know, I think maybe Levin is flying off the handle over this one thing, but there is no doubt that Chastworth Osbourne Jr. has been getting friendlier and friendlier with the "Jews Manipulate and Control Us" Unz Reader crowd.
Character actor Joe Don Baker, who was played for most of his life by Brian Dennehy, has died at age 89
Baier: Why did you spend $221K on private jets to your 'fighting oligarchy' rallies?
Bernie: "You think I can sit on a waiting line at United while 30,000 people are waiting? That's the only way you can get around. No apologies for that."
Podcast: Sefton and CBD jabber about India vs. Pakistan as a placeholder for the larger battle between Islam and the West, Israel finally decides to complete the job in Gaza, Tom Tillis is a toad, and more!
Forgotten 80s Mystery Click, Dutch Masters Edition Mumbled spoken intro:
Somewhere in a lonely hotel room, there's a guy starting to realize
That eternal fate has turned its back on him, it's 2 a.m. Focus on the "it's 2 a.m." If that didn't rumble it, try this: I'm falling down a spiral, destination unknown
Double-crossed messenger all alone
Can't get no connection, can't get through, where are you?
Well, the night weighs heavy on his guilty mind
This far from the borderline
When the hitman comes, he knows damn well he has been cheated This song rocks. Unjustly forgotten!