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
"I saw with tears in my eyes how the mob desecrated crosses on the roofs of the churches and in graveyards and ruined church buildings. They burnt so many Bibles and altars... The condition in Pakistan is very bad... So much hatred, jealousy, envy and enmity from the Muslims towards Christians. It seems that we Christians are like animals to them. Whenever they want to kill, they kill, and whenever they want to spare, they give free hand." Rev. Deacon Daud Irshad
Marshals have been brought in to police 'charge rage' between drivers of electric vehicles at motorway service stations.
The boss of Britain's largest motorway service provider said long waits for plug-in points made drivers 'very angry and stressed'.
Moto chief executive Ken McMeikan warned the UK's motorway service stations are facing growing 'public disorder' due to a lack of grid connections preventing him from installing enough car chargers to meet the surge in demand
Is Sen.-to-be Butler Eligible to Represent California?
The residence question is closer than it might appear.
STEPHEN E. SACHS | 10.2.2023 10:40 AM
According to his official website, California Gov. Gavin Newsom on October 1 appointed Laphonza Butler to the Senate, to complete the term of the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Butler was apparently a Maryland resident as of very recently, but according to Newsom's office she plans to re-register to vote in California before her Wednesday swearing-in.
For various reasons, though, that might not be enough, and the Senate will have a real constitutional question to face. As far as I can tell—and I'd be happy to be corrected—if Butler hasn't traveled back to her home in California since deciding to take the job, and if Newsom doesn't wait until she does to make (or re-make) the appointment, she can't represent California, and the Senate can't seat her yet.
(NB: This isn't my area of expertise; I usually just listen to Josh Chafetz on most questions of Congress's procedure and structure. But I've been working on a paper on the Twelfth and Seventeenth Amendments, which is why these questions came to mind. Also, nothing in what follows turns—or should turn—on one's political agreement or disagreement with either Newsom or Butler.)
Good job Gav. I would love to know how much quid was given for pro quo.
You’re on a cruise in the buffet line. You’re politely waiting your turn to access a sumptuous bowl of fresh fruit. In front of you is a fellow passenger picking out certain berries — with their fingers!
The ultraselective and handsy fruit looter who committed this cruising faux paus did it in front of none other than Nick Leighton, a frequent traveler and host of the weekly etiquette podcast “Were You Raised By Wolves?”
It can get worse. Angel Wilson, travel advisor and owner of Dream Journeys, LLC, witnessed a cruising incident that makes the fruit bowl breach seem benign. She recently told CNN Travel via email about an unsettling incident:
“A group of us were sitting at a long table in one of the bar venues on a ship and an intoxicated Scotsman came up to us and asked if we’d like to see what ‘real Scots wear under their kilts.’ He then proceeded to flash us, from the front,” said Wilson, who is a cruise specialist.
Are founders truly keepers or weepers? In the case of the superyacht Alfa Nero, the founders have indeed ended up weeping. The 267-foot vessel was abandoned by its owner in February 2022 at Falmouth Harbor. The ship was eventually seized by the Government of Antigua, but there’s no happy ending to this ship’s tale. In fact, it’s a borderline horror story for the tiny nation of 93,000. Taxpayers are bleeding dry, paying no less than $28,000 weekly for the upkeep of this floating palace that’s being maintained by a skeleton crew.
A 27-year-old woman from Oklahoma was killed by a small plane while riding a lawnmower near Broken Bow Airport. According to KFOR, 70-year-old James Baxter was landing his 1972 Bonanza A36 when he noticed Samantha Hayes on the lawnmower in the field near the runway.
Baxter attempted to take off again so the plane would not strike Hayes. Unfortunately, the wing of his aircraft struck her in the head.
“It is political naivete and cluelessness that has brought us here,” said the Swedish prime minister. “It is an irresponsible immigration policy and failed integration effort that has brought us here.
“Social exclusion and parallel societies feed the criminal gangs. There they can ruthlessly recruit children and train them as future killers,” he said.
***
The ONT Musical Interlude & Falling Barometer Emporium
On this day: October 2, 2017, Tom Petty was pronounced dead at the age of 66, just days after performing a hometown show with the Heartbreakers at the Hollywood Bowl. Fans around the globe mourned the loss of the beloved singer and songwriter, whose catalog of hits spanned four decades. Petty rose to fame with the Heartbreakers in 1977, with whom he released such enduring favorites as “American Girl,” “Breakdown,” “Don’t Do Me Like That,” and “Refugee.” In 1987, the artist embarked on a solo career, topping Billboard’s rock charts with singles like “Free Fallin’” and “I Won’t Back Down,” while in 1988, he joined the supergroup Travelling Wilburys, alongside Roy Orbison, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, and Bob Dylan. Petty continued to tour and record both as a solo artist and with the Heartbreakers until his death. via thisdayinmusic.com
&&&
On this day: 2 Oct 2019
Barrie Masters lead singer with Eddie & The Hot Rods died age 63. Formed in Canvey Island, Essex in 1975, they were part of the pub rock scene and were best known for their top 10 hit in 1977, 'Do Anything You Wanna Do'. via thisdayinmusic.com
Michele Miller is facing her 4th offense drunk driving charge.
A Waukesha woman now charged with fourth offense drunk driving is seen on video chugging a canned cocktail as police arrived at the scene of a crash they say she had just caused. It’s part of the criminal complaint charging Michele R. Miller, 55, in the incident in May at Grandview Blvd and Silvernail Road.
Last week in Georgia, people power made a life-saving rescue possible after a driver was trapped under a 3,600-pound car.
A collision launched the 19-year-old motorist through the sunroof as the car flipped over on its head, pinning him underneath without space to expand his chest.
Moments before, Georgia police sergeant Michael Peterson switched on the lights and sirens after seeing a car pass by at high speeds, but after catching up he found it had overturned with three young men clambering out of the passenger doors.
***
Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by The Perfect Judgmental Gift.
Notice: Posted with permission by the Ace Media Empire & AceCorp, LLC. Dental insurance provided by the Dynamic Dental Insurance Co. Legal expertise & guidance from the capable hands of Dewey, Cheatem & Howe, S.C. And the outstanding wardrobe yours truly is wearing from the fashionable St. Vinnie de Pauls.
Portland School Superintendent: The Real Problem Isn't That There's a Violently Insane Boy Dressing as a Girl and Beating the Hell Out of Girls, The Problem Is That Those "External to the Community" Noticed
Sure, the superintendent admitted that the Hazelbrook Middle School boy wearing a girl's crop top and long hair was in the wrong for beating up a girl, but the situation had gotten outsized only because parents had made a beating at school such a big deal.
Sniveled Superintendent Sue Reiki-Smith, "Because the video of the assault eventually went viral on social media... there were issues raised by the outside community, not internal to the district but external to the district... adults nationwide," and this was a problem, she said, because they were "calling out the student's gender ... [and] that is the hate we're dealing with right now."
It takes a special kind of gall to attempt to divert attention away from the real victim of hate here -- the girl -- to mollify the trans mafia, and this effort was beyond heinous considering what she was trying to paper over.
Sure it's too bad about the girls getting concussions and living in terror... but the real issue is Trans Acceptance.
"Super" Sue Reiki-Smith of @TigardTualSD just accused parents of committing "hate" in a LIVE news conference. As a #Hazelbrookmiddleschool parent myself: Is it not a hate crime when a boy, who dresses like a girl and who beats on girls, only because they are real girls? For the… pic.twitter.com/2cLZrzwn1C
In case you missed the videos of this violent girl-bashing lunatic:
Another angle of the male who beat up the young girl. I can hardly stomach this.
He needs to be jailed in a mens facility. I bet he wouldn't act this bold. @TigardTualSD needs to act immediately and critically. Everyone involved should be held accountable pic.twitter.com/l4dDOjKFZd
We would literally never hear the end of it. But a violent transgender beating the shit out of girls? Who cares! There's important Social Justice to make!
The mother of one of the girls is raising money on GiveFundGo in order to sue the school for failing to expel this violent mentally-ill attacker the first time he bashed a girl. Click the link for more.
Bowman's press secretary, Emma Simon, said the signs confused him. "Congressman Bowman did not realize he would trigger a building alarm as he was rushing to make an urgent vote. The Congressman regrets any confusion," she said, according to Axios' Andrew Solender.
But the signs that perplexed Bowman were deemed to be readable at a third-grade level, according to readabilityformulas.com's Automated Readability Index.
"Today as I was rushing to make a vote, I came to a door that is usually open for votes but today would not open," Bowman, the founder and former principal of a public middle school in the Bronx, said in a statement. "I am embarrassed to admit that I activated the fire alarm, mistakenly thinking it would open the door. I regret this and sincerely apologize for any confusion this caused," he continued.
He knows who's to blame for his profound learning disability, however -- Republican "Nazis."
Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman sent out a list of talking points for his colleagues Monday blaming Republican "Nazi[s]" after he set off a fire alarm as the House of Representatives was in the process of approving a spending bill to avoid a government shutdown, according to a memo.
Republicans called for Bowman's impeachment after he was caught on camera hitting a fire alarm during a crucial vote on a funding package Saturday, despite his claims that it was an accident. Bowman's office distributed a memo to fellow Democrats, with suggested talking points on the "extreme reach" of "MAGA Republicans" and the "Nazi members" of the GOP, according to the document.
"I believe Congressman Bowman when he says this was an accident," one of the prompts reads. "Republicans need to instead focus their energy on the Nazi members of their party before anything else."
The memo was first reported by Politico.
Another talking point claimed that there are "multiple insurrectionist supporters in Congress" and that focus on Bowman was designed to "minimize January 6th," according to the memo. Several points blamed the GOP for trying to "distract from the fact" that they almost "shut down the federal government for no reason."
Bowman argued in a statement Saturday that the signs for the doors leading to the House floor had confused him, leading to him flipping the wrong switch. The signs in question read "Emergency Exit Only" and "Push Until Alarm Sounds."
"Today as I was rushing to make a vote, I came to a door that is usually open for votes but today would not open," Bowman said. "I am embarrassed to admit that I activated the fire alarm, mistakenly thinking it would open the door. I regret this and sincerely apologize for any confusion this caused," he continued.
In the District of Columbia, it is illegal for any individual to "willfully or knowingly give a false alarm of fire," according to district law. As a result, Bowman could potentially face a misdemeanor charge and be sentenced to up to six months in prison with a fine of no more than $100.
Either this motherfucker goes to jail or every J6er gets released from prison and paid $10,000 for each day they were detained.
Someone pointed out this this confessedly-stupid ignorant man used to " " " teach " " " public school. He spent years " " " working " " " in a government school but is mystified about the function of a fire alarm?
"The View" has figured out what really happened:
Just like They did to Brother O.J.!
"I don't want to call it a stunt yet. There's going to be an investigation," Sunny Hostin said. "I know Jamaal, and so again, I'm a little biased, but the doors that are normally open so that he could get to the chambers to read were somehow miraculously closed. How did that happen?"
"Sometimes you're freaking out and you're in an elevator and you're pressing all the buttons," Hostin continued.
So you're saying he's a very low-IQ individual with essentially animal intelligence?
BREAKING: Leftist journalist who downplayed violent crime gunned down in his Philly home
Kruger called a man an "idiot" for suggesting one would die of a gunshot in Philly rather than Covid.
BREAKING: Leftist journalist who downplayed violent crime gunned down in his Philly
Josh Kruger, a leftist journalist and activist who was based in Philadelphia, was shot and killed inside his home on Monday. Kruger had a long history of downplaying violent crime in the city, often openly mocking those who expressed concerns about homicides in Philadelphia.
"Look, it's that lawless land of liberals in Philly where shootings are...dropping to levels not seen in years," read a past post by Kruger.
...
The 39-year-old Kruger was shot seven times at a residence in the 2300 block of Watkins Street around 1:30 am Monday, reports 6 ABC.
He was a "community activist," too, reportedly a "strong advocate" for the (shock) "LGBTQ Community."
I don't want to prejudge the obvious situation but I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that a member of LGBTQ Community turned out to be a "strong advocate" for ventilating his guts.
Philadelphia leftist journalist & activist Josh Kruger @JoshKrugerPHL was tragically shot dead at his home. He has long criticized law enforcement, downplayed gun violence in his city & advocated for political violence against his opponents. pic.twitter.com/YH8vQ5umDZ
Why It Matters: Axios is Politico for Kidz! (TM) and millions of children 13 and under form their political opinions based on what Axios lies about.
The Biden re-election campaign's decision to brand the economy under the president's name (Bidenomics) is looking like an early blunder that misread the public's deep pessimism about how things are going on that front.
Why it matters: Despite some encouraging economic trends -- unemployment is low, inflation seems to be tamed -- polling shows that Americans' overall perception of the economy is sour.
Driving the news: Some prominent Democrats are now openly criticizing the Biden campaign's strategy, arguing that it appears to be in denial of Americans' economic reality.
"We have to do a better job framing this not so much for one person -- for the office of the presidency -- but for the people," Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) told Politico.
"I've never understood why you would brand an economy in your name when the economy hasn't fully recovered yet," Michael LaRosa, a former spokesman for Jill Biden, told the publication.
"Whatever stories Americans are told about the strength of the economy under President Joe Biden, they are not going to be persuaded to look past the issue of their own living standards," liberal economist James Galbraith wrote.
...
His campaign ads laud the passage of COVID emergency funds, the bipartisan infrastructure law, the Inflation Reduction Act and funding for semiconductor manufacturing.
But so far, the message isn't resonating -- especially among the working-class Americans he's trying to win over. Polling indicates that college-educated voters are generally satisfied with the state of the economy, but voters living paycheck to paycheck are disillusioned.
By the numbers: Only 28% of Americans said they were "very" or "somewhat" satisfied with the state of the economy in a new NBC poll -- the lowest level of economic satisfaction in nearly a decade of the network's polling.
Biden's economic approval rating sits at 37%, with 59% of respondents expressing disapproval of his performance.
The NBC survey showed that Republicans hold a whopping 21-point advantage over Democrats on the economy (49%-28%), the largest lead Republicans have held in 32 years.
The poll also shows that Democrats only hold a 2-point edge (36%-34%) on looking out for the middle class, an area in which the party typically holds a significant advantage.
The Wall Street Journal reports this morning Democrats' "fears are growing" that voters may not buy their spin that Joe Biden is mentally competent enough for this term, let alone another. And they wonder how -- and if -- they can pull the plug to salvage the 2024 electoral cycle:
Conversations with more than a dozen leading Democrats revealed the pervasive, but mostly private, sense of worry that hangs over the race. Some compare this moment to the 2016 cycle when many top Democrats brushed aside Hillary Clinton's vulnerabilities only to watch her ultimately lose to Trump. But this is in many ways a different case--a sitting president facing clear frustration from voters, including those within his own party.
"It is a little bit like your grandfather running the company and you know that he's at a point now where the heirs could suffer value if we don't change management at the top," said Philip Levine, a former Democratic mayor of Miami Beach, Fla., who has expressed support for No Labels, a centrist group that has suggested it may run a third-party candidate. "And this is very difficult. How do we get grandpa to relinquish the CEO role?"
Other Democrats would only echo those sentiments in private. Said one member of the Democratic National Committee: "It would be irresponsible for us to not be concerned at this point. People can be hopeful about what the result is going to be. But we don't have any evidence as to why we should be hopeful. The polling is bad. The approval ratings are bad. We know about concerns about both the president's age and about the vice president if she were to take over."
Zoom Out: Biden is old as f*ck and is aging like summer milk.
Never trust a man who will lie to you about things which are self-evidently false.
Among U.S. adults, 52% say they will "probably" or "definitely" not get the new COVID-19 vaccine, according to the latest KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation) COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor poll.
Conversely, 23% of adults "definitely" plan to get the vaccine -- while another 23% will "probably" get it.
Among the people who said they "definitely" or "probably" will get the new shot, most are Democrats and/or at least 65 years old, the poll found.
Seventy percent of Democrats plan to get the new vaccine.
That's compared to just 24% of Republicans.
The survey, which was conducted between Sept. 6 and Sept. 13, polled 1,296 U.S. adults via online and telephone polls.
Based in San Francisco, KFF is a self-described "independent source for health policy research, polling and journalism."
"The poll shows that most of the nation still trusts the CDC and the FDA on vaccines -- but there is a partisan gap, and most Republicans don't trust the nation's regulatory and scientific agencies responsible for vaccine approval and guidance," KFF's president and CEO, Drew Altman, said in a press release.
Less than 50% of the country is now "most of the nation"? 46% of the public (23% will "definitely" get the new vaccine, 23% will "probably" get it) now counts as a majority?
Oh -- they meant what hateful progressives always mean. They mean that most of the people who we count as "people" agree with the left.
There is also a partisan divide in terms of COVID precautions, the poll found.
Among Democrats, 58% are likely to take extra precautions -- including wearing masks, forgoing travel and avoiding public gatherings -- amid rising COVID cases.
But just 16% of Republicans said they would be likely to do the same.
Among the people who said they "definitely" or "probably" will get the new shot, most are Democrats and/or at least 65 years old, the poll found.
Regarding giving the new vaccine to children, more than half of parents say they "probably" or "definitely" will not do so -- despite the fact that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends it for children 6 months and older.
In other words, "most of the nation" trust the CDC, according to KFF.
Note that those pushing Regime Propaganda are permitted to spread lies and disinformation. In fact, the Regime rewards them for doing so.
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., says Speaker Kevin McCarthy is "in trouble" after the last-minute vote to fund the government this weekend, saying the deal was a victory for Democrats.
Donalds made the comments during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday" with host Shannon Bream. He said Republicans "did not get anything" from Saturday's short-term funding agreement. The GOP firebrand fell short of saying he would vote to boot McCarthy, R-Calif., from the speaker's office but said Republicans in the chamber are deeply divided.
Bream referenced comments from House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who declared Saturday that "the extreme MAGA Republicans have lost."
"Look, I'm gonna be honest. We did not get anything out of this continued resolution," Donalds said. "The border is still unsecured in our country. Why is that? That's because Joe Biden and the Democrats got their way. The Democrat members are very happy with what they got. I think this is a terrible deal for the American people."
"Cutting this government's spending down must happen. Inflation is still running rampant. That's not MAGA Republican, that's common sense. Having a secure border -- that's not MAGA Republican, that's common sense," he added.
Bream then pressed Donalds on McCarthy's status with the Republican caucus. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., has threatened repeatedly to file a motion to vacate against the speaker.
"I think he is in trouble," Donalds said. "There has to be some level of strong leadership in our chamber, I'm just gonna be totally blunt. There are a lot of trust issues in our chamber right now, where people feel on both sides of our conference that everybody's not gonna hold hands and continue to do this work together."
Donalds nevertheless fell short of saying he would vote in favor of a motion to vacate against McCarthy. He also said he can't predict whether Democrats would vote in favor of such a motion.
AOC says she'll vote in favor of it.
There is also no money for Ukraine. But Biden will of course spend money on Ukraine whether it is authorized by Congress or not.
This isn't the first time that the Criminal Faction in the US government conspired with foreign criminals to defy US law. From June:
SHOCKING: Watch as a border patrol agent cuts open a razor wire fence to allow illegals entry into the US. Texas placed the wire down after the federal government refused to act.
THE MORNING RANT: A Couple of True Anecdotes About “Range Anxiety” – the Insurmountable Hurdle for EVs
—Buck Throckmorton
For all the problems that electric vehicles have, the greatest impediment to them being widely adopted is their range limitation combined with the lengthy time it takes to re-charge…if a functioning charger can even be found.
I would like to share two true anecdotes about “range anxiety” today:
1) A co-worker (“Zeke”) returned to the office from an out of town trip and was greeted by co-workers who asked him how it went. He replied that it was great until the journey home, at which point he stated loudly, ”I will never, EVER, buy an electric vehicle.” This obviously got my attention, and I joined the group of employees listening as he related his odyssey.
On his flight home, Zeke and his wife were supposed to change planes in Atlanta, but weather caused the plane to put down in a smaller city in a neighboring state. This other city was just under 150 miles away from Zeke’s home, so he and his wife decided to just drive the rest of the way home. They went to the rental car desks in the hope of renting a car, only to find out that they had been cleaned out of all vehicles…except for a couple of EVs. Zeke said he’d love to rent an EV if it could get him home, so they rented him one, which showed a remaining range of almost 200 miles.
It was a hot, Southern, summer night, and with the AC blasting, Zeke soon noticed that the difference between remaining range and the miles to get home was steadily decreasing. When halfway home, he realized this was getting serious, so they turned off the A/C and started searching their phones for charging stations. It was late at night, and they didn’t really care to stop for an hour to get a sip of electricity, but they prefered that to losing all power. Unfortunately, they couldn’t even find any charging stations.
When they reached the outskirts of their hometown, they had less than 15 miles of range left, maybe enough to get home, but not enough to get back to a charging station the next morning. They parked the EV at a facility with a charger, then called an Uber to take them the rest of the way home. The next morning they had to return to the parked EV and spend an hour trying to get some juice in it before finally being able to turn it in at the local rental car office.
*****
2) It was Spring of 2021, and my wife and I had just arrived in Hilton Head for a short getaway vacation when news broke of the ransomware attack on the Colonial gas pipeline. That attack pretty much put a halt to gasoline deliveries in much of the eastern seaboard, including the state of Georgia, through which my wife and I would have to drive to get back home when our stay ended.
I immediately topped off my tank. We were 425 miles away from home. With mostly highway driving, that tank of gas might take us about 400 miles, close enough to home that someone could come fetch us if necessary.
But while in the Low Country, we had also planned to visit Savannah. That round trip would consume about 65 miles of our "range." Plus, we wanted to just slowly drive around Savannah to look at the live oaks, moss, and architecture. That was going to burn more precious range.
We decided to gamble, figuring that even if we burned 100 miles of precious range, we could still make it back relatively close to home and have someone come rescue us if we ran out of gas.
We took back roads to Savannah so as to see the countryside, and as we neared the city, I saw a rural gas station that had gas! I stopped and topped off my tank. We were fully "charged" again. Whew.
Most of the gas stations I saw in the city were out of gas, but I did see one near downtown that had gas, and the cars were not backed up too far. After driving around the city and eating dinner, I drove by that gas station again. It still had gas! I got in line, and after a not terribly long wait, I was able to top off my tank again! We drove the 30-something miles back to Hilton Head and I was relieved at my range situation, but once we arrived, I started thinking about topping off my tank again. There was a station in Hilton Head with gas, but the line was very long, so I didn't.
I obsessed about getting back that final 35 miles of range, so when I woke up early the next morning, I drove over and the station still had gas! I topped it off again.
As it turned out, the pipeline situation resolved before we headed for home, so fueling up on the way back did not turn out to be too difficult after all.
Irrespective of every other reason I despise EVs, I could never drive one simply because of range anxiety. I would be obsessed with keeping it fully charged. That experience of mine in Hilton Head / Savannah was an anomaly, but it would be my daily life if I had an EV, always worried about maintaining range for whatever emergency or trip I must embark on.
Good morning, kids. A few interesting things making waves this morning. First, in the wake of Friday's official fossilization of Feinstein and her soul taking the express elevator all the way down, I had hoped to use the headline "Choosy Mothers Choose Schiff." Alas, as I had suspected would be the case, the greasy governor of California chose a black woman. Shocking right? Meh, had he not done that as he had promised, whatever his chances at winning the Biden replacement derby would have gone right down the same Atlanta toilet that floated the demented criminal into the Oval Office in 2020.
So, congratulations to Senatrix Laphonza Butler. Her experience? Aside from melanin content, chromosomal makeup (which is fast becoming obsolete since leftists don't really know what exactly the definition of a woman is these days) and most crucially, anti-American bona fides, she served as president of Emily's List. Per the invaluable Discover the Networks:
EMILY’s List (EL) is a political action committee that raises millions of dollars each year for Democratic, pro-choice, female candidates running for elected office. The organization strives to make these funds available to the recipients as early as possible in each election cycle, so as to give them every opportunity to gain maximum public exposure and credibility, and thus to access additional campaign donations from a wide variety of sources thereafter. “EMILY” is an acronym standing for “Early Money Is Like Yeast,” which, as EL’s slogan puts it, “helps the [political] dough rise."
In this case, more like a yeast infection. Funny that they refer to dough rising, since it's kind of close to the antithetical "bun in the oven." And what the hell kind of name is Laphonza? But I digress.
As for the real focus of this story, Gavin Newsom, a) he kept his promise and did not alienate blacks, dames and lezbos, and thereby totally sabotage his chances should he decide to seek the Dem nomination, b) it's only to fill out the remainder of Feinstein's term which is up this coming cycle, so Karen Bass, Schiff-for-Brains and whoever else can fight it out amongst themselves thereby allowing Newsom to keep his hair perfect like a London werewolf, c) this makes no difference to the already doomed state of California but courtesy of the 17th Amendment, it affects the rest of the nation just as the framers of the Constitution never intended it.
EMILY’s List — an organization whose goal is to elect pro-abortion Democrat women to public office — told Politico over the weekend about its plans to promote the epically incompetent VP, whose approval ratings have teetered around the low-40s and mid-30s for much of [so-called quote-unquote "president"] Biden’s first term. . .
. . . President of EMILY’s List Laphonza Butler told the outlet that the PAC wants to “push back against the massive misinformation and disinformation that’s been directed towards [Chlamydia Harris] since she’s been elected.” The PAC previously supported Harris in 2020 after she was announced as Biden’s running mate, and Butler also helped guide Harris’s failed presidential bid while working for a leading California political consulting firm.
So, maybe it's a case of "friends close, enemies closer" for Newsom or else an indicator that he believes Harris is on the outs, or promoting an ally of hers as a means to influence her loyalties?
Meanwhile, back in D.C., as the GOP fights tooth and nail to maintain its position as a sham opposition party, during the vote to prevent a dreaded shutdown of the government, this horrid assclown pulled a less than cunning stunt. Emphasis on the word "pulled":
“Rep Jamaal Bowman pulled a fire alarm in Cannon this morning,” House Administration Committee Chair Bryan Steil (R-Wisc.) said in a statement. “An investigation into why it was pulled is underway.”
A spokeswoman for Bowman told Axios that the congressman “did not realize he would trigger a building alarm as he was rushing to make an urgent vote” and that he “regrets any confusion.”
It doesn’t seem that Republicans are buying that story. Reps. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) and Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) are both drafting resolutions to censure Bowman, and Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), has already drafted a resolution to expel Bowman from the House.
Censure appears more likely, as it only requires a simple majority, while expulsion requires a two-thirds vote, meaning that a significant number of Democrats would have to join with Republicans to expel a member of their party. And that’s not likely to happen. According to the report, there is footage of Bowman pulling the alarm, and at least one Democrat is all but denying that it is, in fact, Bowman. . .
. . . According to sources who spoke with Fox News Digital, the alarm was pulled right shortly after House Republicans made the announcement they’d be expediting a stopgap spending bill, commonly referred to as a continuing resolution (CR) to extend government funding for 45 days, for consideration on the House floor on Saturday. According to the report, the announcement caught Democrats off-guard, and they complained that they weren’t given enough time to read the bill.
Based on a publicly released photo of the incident, it is clear that this was not an accidental pulling of the fire alarm but instead a ridiculous effort to delay the vote averting a shutdown.
It's funny because all the multi-thousand-page catastrophes written by lobbyists are shoved down our throats without time to read or debate them. And anyone who objects is viewed as a heinous, uncaring racist who wants to throw grandma off a cliff and see little children starve.
As for Jamal Bowman, in a nest of anti-American, anti-Semitic, sub-literate, shrill, shrieking Maoists, he's about as low a scumbag as you can find. And that's saying something. Then again, look who his biggest booster is:
Anchor Jake Tapper said, “There was an interesting moment over the weekend when your New York colleague, Congressman Jamaal Bowman, he’s under investigation for this now after Capitol Police say he pulled a fire alarm in one of the House office buildings. Democrats were trying to delay a final vote on the bill. There he is, pulling the fire alarm. He says it was an accident. He thought pulling the alarm would open a door based on the fact that the doors to his right there was locked, and there was a sign that I think someone said it was confusing. I’ll be honest. It doesn’t really make sense to me, his explanation. Have you talked to him?”
Ocasio-Cortez said, “I think if you actually do see some of the photos of the signs, I think there’s something to be said about the government’s about to shut down, there’s a vote clock that’s going down, the exits that are normally open in that building are suddenly closed.”
So, he's too stupid to know what a friggin' fire alarm looks like? More like Titty Caca thinks we're too stupid to discern a bald-faced lie. From what I understand one of the reasons they pulled this shit was because the CR did not have any funds going to pay off Zelensky.
In any case, what Bowman did was indeed the dictionary definition of what all of the innocent dupes who were caught up in the FBI/DOJ false flag sting operation on January 6th have been accused of – many of whom tried, convicted and sentenced to long stretches in federal prison. And what he did was worse as it could have led to actual physical harm. As opposed to the crime against humanity of walking around with a police escort dressed as Chief Wild Eagle or putting your feet up on Malig-Nancy Pelosi's desk. The horror. The horror . . .
In a completely bizarre decision, Dem. Rep. Jamaal Bowman (NY) committed a misdemeanor and potential felony in order to stop the Constitutional function of government. I kid you not. . .
. . . We are talking breaking the law here, an act apparently performed with the goal of disrupting Constitutional congressional work. This is a Constitutional crisis because he intended to upend our Constitutional order and to topple our democracy. And stuff. Isn’t that how this works? I think so, according to the Democrats’ own rules, so this felony needs to be pursued and this man held accountable.
The Epoch Times video titled "The Real Story of January 6 "reveals the truth that has been hidden from the American people. While a narrative has been set that what took place that day was an insurrection, key events and witnesses have been ignored until now. The documentary takes an unvarnished look at police use of force and the deaths that resulted in some measure from it."
Robert Spencer asserts that "it is by now abundantly clear that the Jan 6 "insurrection" was not the work of Trump supporters, but of Leftist plants in the crowd at the Capitol[.] Any lingering doubt about this has now been put definitively to rest by the revelation that those who ran the House Jan. 6 Committee show trial did not preserve mountains of evidence that apparently disproved the left's official narrative about what happened on that fateful day. Like the Stalinists they are, it looks as if they framed their enemies and then destroyed the evidence of their own crime."
Christopher Roach points out that "there is now a very clear hierarchy for those caught up within the federal criminal justice system. Left-wing offenders are the least culpable, and they get prosecutors to argue for downward departures. Then come street criminals, who are sentenced within the guidelines. Then there are those on the right, who face novel charges and get the book thrown at them."
There is some precedent for this. Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote in the Gulag Archipelago how political prisoners were treated worse in the Soviet system than regular criminals, whom the regime used to terrorize its political enemies. We also know how the Soviet Union, like other totalitarian regimes, created a whole class of pseudocriminals, who were given extremely harsh sentences for things like telling the wrong kinds of jokes or convoluted claims of sabotage and hoarding.
Between censorship, rigged elections, relentless propaganda, and two-tiered criminal punishment, the system is not leaving many ordinary political options for its opposition.
. . . The prisoners in the District of Columbia Jail have stated that they are "all but slowly murdered in every way except for their very soul being ripped from their famished chests on behalf of this mercilessly sinister institution."
Speaking of "burning," and as to Solzhenitsyn . . .
“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?... The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If...if...We didn't love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation.... We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”
ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY
Richard Fernandez: "Corruption may be extensive in Washington, and there is no reason to suppose it is confined to one party. The problem is that you need a clean rag if you’re to wipe a table. If all the rags are dirty, then you’re only moving the dirt around. If the extent of corruption is unknown then where the clean rags are in Washington will be a basic problem. Perhaps the only reliable way to clean the mess up is turnover. That is to churn Washington, to turn everybody in the capital out of office after a certain period, from every party, regardless. But even that might not be enough." The City Under the Capitol
"In a 43-year career, the only action Mark ["Vanilli"] Milley ever saw was in the war against the American people and their duly elected president." The Armchair General Takes a Seat
"Health authorities and policymakers squandered public trust by lying to the American people." The [Chinese] Covid Cover-up
Clarice Feldman: "Joe Biden, his family, and his [junta] have all been involved in cutting deals against American interests with China, Ukraine, Russia, and most flagrantly of all, Iran." Biden Selling Out the U.S.
"Another memoir from a young American—wow!" (Madison Cornbread fakes orgasms, and the truth- jjs) Enough Is Enough
"The comments from the former Secretary of Defense come after Trump criticized retiring General Mark Milley last week for communicating with his Chinese counterparts '…to give them a heads up on the thinking of the President of the United States.' Trump compared the betrayal by Milley to a 'treasonous act.'” Ex-SecDef Esper Worries Trump Will Retaliate Against Deep State If Elected
The single charge against Littlejohn follows criticism of the Justice Department from IRS whistleblowers who claim the agency sought to hamper a federal tax investigation into Hunter Biden. Whistleblowers say the DOJ thwarted investigative efforts, slow-walked cooperation with tax agents, and even concealed critical evidence implicating President Joe Biden in a criminal bribery scheme. The most significant felonies of which Hunter Biden was suspected, said veteran IRS agent Gary Shapley this summer, “were left off the table.” IRS Contractor Charged With Single Criminal Count for Leaking Trump’s Tax Records and ‘Thousands’ Of Others
CIVIL WAR 2.0: J-6 FBI FALSE FLAG "RIOT" & AFTERMATH, LEFTIST PERSECUTIONS, DEMOCRAT PUTSCH, AMERICAN DISSOLUTION
" Is there no limit to the racial, religious, ideological, political, social, cultural, and ethnic diversity America can accommodate before it splinters into its parts?" Diversity, Division, Disintegration
"Of all the evil that Biden has perpetrated, none is so vile as the imprisonment of Americans known as the J6 defendants." Never Forget the Jan. 6 Defendants
FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS, MEDIA, BIG BROTHER TECH
Miranda Devine: "It’s hilarious that this prince of prevarication [Biden] thinks he should be the arbiter of truth. . . it’s Musk, who must be destroyed if he refuses to join the “Censorship Industrial Complex” as independent journalists Michael Shellenberger and Matt Taibbi call the interconnected web of deep state censors, shady nonprofits, think tanks and universities that police speech on social media platforms." Joe Lies in Wait with His Musk-et
"Imagine being so far gone that you have to crawl onto MSNBC with your tail between your legs to answer the inquisitors about why you weren’t more critical of the most popular candidate in the race when the whole stated aim of their propaganda is to demolish your own party’s electoral chances in November 2024 — then explicitly acknowledging that your “job” is to tear down said popular candidate in service to the political opposition. Profiles in courage." WATCH: Chris Crisco Concedes on MSNBC That His #1 ‘Job’ Is Attacking Trump For the Democrats
RED-GREENS, CLIMATE CHANGE HOAX, DEMOCRAT-LEFT WAR ON FOSSIL FUELS, JUNK SCIENCE, LYSENKOISM
"In the annals of Man's mistakes, this one has to be the worst of all. It will destroy the land, and poison us. And perhaps that is the point." No Farmers, No Food, No Future
"Since [so-called quote-unquote "president"] Joe Biden took office in January 2021, Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 5.7 million migrants who illegally crossed the southwest border between ports of entry, the reports indicate." Two Million Migrants Apprehended at Southwest Border for 2nd Straight Year
“It’s broken. We need to fix it … It doesn’t make any sense,” Clinton said. “They come here, and we’re supposed to shelter people who can’t get work permits for six months. We need to change that. They ought to work. They need to begin working, paying taxes and paying their way. Most of these people have no interest in being on welfare.” (How about sealing the border, disincetivizing and then mass deportations? Meh, go rape an intern and shut the hell up already - jjs) Bill Clinton Agrees New York’s ‘Right to Shelter’ Law Should Be Changed
"Screening immigrants has to take place in order to find enemies and terrorists. Otherwise, everyone enters." (Umm, everyone is entering anyway. Besides, we have more than enough native terrorists and enemies as it is - jjs) Is Ideological Screening of Immigrants Acceptable?
"The Alumni Free Speech Alliance, a group of over a dozen free speech alumni organizations, alleges that bias response teams are used to target individuals and often cause students to self-censor, resulting in less intellectual freedom on campuses. The groups filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in support of advocate group Speech First, which is suing Virginia Tech over its bias-response team." The Supreme Court Could Weigh In on Whether Colleges’ Speech Police are Legal
". . . Bloch’s case should be open and shut. He simply spoke his mind in a conversation, doing so in a civil manner. He then not only peaceably coached his team in a game against this male cross-dresser (my description), he and the teams came home in the same bus with that team and that cross-dresser, with no incident. At no time did he do anything to justify the school’s action." Today’s blacklisted American: Coach fired by Vermont school for simply expressing some facts during a civil conversation
OFFICIAL DEMOCRAT PARTY/LEFTIST-ENDORSED ANTI-SEMITISM, ANTI-CHRISTIANITY
"And while these hypocrites attack good men like Kennedy, they totally ignore the real anti-Semites, and even idolize them. Wasserman Schultz ignores Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) because they sit on her side of the aisle. It needs to be said, and not enough Jewish leaders are saying it: the real anti-Semites in the public arena are often Jews who are using their heritage as a weapon against their opponents." No, Debbie Wasserman "Test" Schultz, Kennedy is NOT an Anti-Semite
DEMOCRAT/LEFTIST AND RINO SCANDALS, MESHUGAS, CHUTZPOCRISY
"Reps. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) and Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) are both drafting resolutions to censure Bowman, and Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), has already drafted a resolution to expel Bowman from the House." Democrat Pulls Capitol Hill Fire Alarm Amid Shutdown Talks
Bowman obstructed an official proceeding and should face the consequences, Smith said. “He better be because that’s exactly what happened on January 6th, according to Biden’s Justice Department. So let’s see how they treat their own member of Congress,” Smith said regarding Bowman possibly being held accountable. (Nothing short of censure, expulsion and jail time will satisfy me. Of course, Jew-hating Maoist he is, that is a non-starter - jjs) GOP Rep. Jason Smith Says Rep. Bowman ‘Better Be’ Held Accountable For Pulling Fire Alarm During Floor Vote
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that it was a “moment of panic” while defending Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) pulling a fire alarm to possibly delay a vote on legislation designed to avoid a government shutdown. Titty-Caca Ocasio-Cortez Defends Bowman Pulling Fire Alarm: ‘Moment of Panic’
Roger Kimball: "Who knows whether Joe Biden the candidate will make it to the November 2024 election? . . . whoever heads up the Dem ticket in November—my money is on Gavin Newsom, with a small hedge bet on Michelle Obama—the entry of RFK Jr. into the race as an independent will act as a serious drag on the Dems." (Kimball penned this before RFK Jr. announced - jjs) RFK Jr. as Independent Would Propel Trump to Deliver Crushing Blow
“I think we need to rip off the Band-Aid,” Gaetz said. “I think we need to move on with new leadership that can be trustworthy.” Gaetz Will Move to Oust McCarthy This Week
"Let’s get over with it, and let’s start governing. If he’s upset because he tried to push us in a shutdown, and I made sure government didn’t shut down, then let’s have that fight.” Mc-Luntz to Gaetz: ‘Bring It On,’ I’ll Survive as Speaker
Deroy Murdock: "By my calculations, Trump’s victory would exceed Biden’s 306 to 232 showing in 2020. Politically, November 2024 is 10 zillion light years away. Surprises will fill that void. But right now, Donald J. Trump looks not just electable but poised for a landslide." Donald Trump Looks More Electable by the Day
"Trump’s mugshot and subsequent nomination have created an opportunity no other candidate can offer." The Primary is Over
Responding to some of his Democrat colleagues who say Party critics of Biden need to ‘chill out’, Phillips said, “In my professional life, both in the public sector and private sector, chilling out has never been a recipe for success in addressing any problem.” He later added, “…chilling out does not make for electoral success.” RED ALERT: Top Dem Warns Party is ‘Sleepwalking Into 2016 Repeat’
"For all the talk of a potential Michelle Obama 2024 presidential run, almost no one mentions Michelle's greatest political vulnerability." (Forget the Wookie. How does Trump beat the cheat, and the kangaroo courts? - jjs) How Trump Beats Michelle Obama in 2024
"Anthony York, an adviser to Newsom, told Politico that Newsom would make his appointment so as not to shift the momentum of the current Democrats running for the seat in 2024. Butler would have to battle it out with the likes of Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) if she wants to secure the seat again for another six years." Report: Gavin Newsom Will Appoint EMILY’s List President Laphonza Butler to Fill Feinstein’s Senate Seat
"With the passing of longtime Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., on Friday, colleagues from across the political aisle have released a bevy of statements remembering the Golden State’s golden gal." The Legacy Dianne Feinstein Left California: Crap and Crime
“We support Ukraine’s efforts to defend its sovereignty against Putin’s aggression,” said Schumer – to which McConnell said he’s “confident” that the Senate can pass more “urgent assistance to Ukraine later this year. But let’s be clear,” that the “alternative,” a shutdown, “would not just pause our progress on these important priorities, it would actually set them back.” “More Deceit”: Gaetz Rages Over McCarthy-Ukraine Side Deal To Pass Stopgap
"They also gave a number of other reasons to postpone a general election until after the war in Ukraine is over, including the inability to ensure that all voters can participate, undermining national unity, the fact that a potential Russian missile strike could make voting impossible on election day, and that it would cost too much." Nazi Collaborator Soros Groups Demand NO ELECTIONS Be Held in Ukraine – to Preserve Democracy?
"UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, poured cold water on [British Secretary of State for Defence, Grant Shapps'] plans on Sunday, explaining: “What the defence secretary was saying was that it might well be possible one day in the future for us to do some of that training in Ukraine. But that’s something for the long term, not the here and now. There are no British soldiers that will be sent to fight in the current conflict.” Confusion As UK SecDef Suggests Ukraine Troop Deployment, But Prime Minister Disagrees
The Financial Times: “Police chiefs have said that Sweden is facing its most serious domestic security situation since the second world war as immigrant drug gangs engage in a bloody conflict.” Sweden Calls in Military to Fight Migrant Crime Gangs
". . . this was the 151st successful launch in 2023, all done in the first three quarters, and strongly suggesting the world will complete more than 200 launches this year. This number will top the record of 179 set last year by more than ten percent, and be more than double the number of launches achieved almost every year since Sputnik in 1957." SpaceX puts another 22 Starlink satellites into orbit
"It appears the Chinese are either having issues with the rover (not surprising as it has been operating on the Moon for almost five years, since January 2019), or they have decided they don’t need to tell anyone what they are doing." Updated map of Yutu-2’s travels on far side of the Moon
FEMINAZISM, TRANSGENDER PSYCHOSIS, HOMOSEXUALIZATION, WAR ON MASCULINITY/NORMALCY
"Hittner, a Ronald Reagan appointee, wrote that the law is unconstitutional because it is a violation of the right to free speech. The judge also argues that performances like drag shows often convey political and social messages aside from being intended for entertainment purposes." Ban on sexual performances in front of minors blocked by Texas judge
Chief Judge Jeffery Sutton wrote the following in regards to the decision: “This is a relatively new diagnosis with ever-shifting approaches to care over the last decade or two. Under these circumstances, it is difficult for anyone to be sure about predicting the long-term consequences of abandoning age limits of any sort for these treatments.” WIN! Court Upholds TN & KY Bans on "Transgender Care"
"The shuttering of the venerable nonprofit that helped support the Met for nearly a century is another sign of the organization’s decline." Swan Song for the Metropolitan Opera Guild
HITHER & YON
"At its 85th anniversary, Munich still haunts our rhetoric—but it is not clear that we’ve drawn the right lessons from the disastrous conference." Appeasement’s Ghosts
When one considers the full extent of the Roman cataclysm leading to the inevitable fall — the plethora of corrupt and self-promoting politicians, the exposure of unwanted infants (open-air abortion) and the consequent decline in the reproductive ratio, the deterioration of road systems and infrastructure, the degrading of a once-mighty military, and the evident degeneration of sexual morality (as the fifth-century Christian historian Salvian declaimed, “Be ashamed of your lives, no cities are free of impurities) — one cannot help but note the affinities and correlations between the Roman Empire and the American Republic. The Decline and Fall of Home: Part Two
"Celebrating the bicentenary of historian Francis Parkman, who produced a picture of America’s origins that remains unsurpassed" American Homer
Peter Hitchens: "“French Communists went voluntarily to the Nazis. . . France was on trial in 1945.” The Shame of Collaboration
"He paused for a moment. ‘Just how’d you do it, kid? We heard shots. There hasn’t been a shot fired from your rifle, and there isn’t a bit of lead in them seven bodies over the hill.’ I didn’t say anything. What could I say?…And then the sergeant spoke again. ‘Kid,’ he said gently, ‘every one of those seven Commies over there is killed by a sword-stroke.’" A U.S. Marine’s Story of Archangel Michael, the Korean War, and a Miracle
NOTE: The opinions expressed in the links may or may not reflect my own. I include them because of their relevance to the discussion of a particular issue.
ALSO: The Morning Report is cross-posted at CutJibNewsletter.com if you want to continue the conversation all day.
"Researchers" are trying to use GPT-4 to prove one way or another whether P = NP.
Broadly speaking, the question is, for a given mathematical problem, if you can prove that a correct answer is in fact correct, is there always an efficient way to find that answer in the first place? (Though "efficient" in some cases might be relative to the lifespan of the universe.)
Nobody knows. Nobody knows if it is possible to know. But we do know that you can't find out by asking ChatGPT.
The only good part of this is that you're not paying for it. The "research" is funded by Microsoft (which owns a big chunk of ChatGPT creator OpenAI) and China.
The scale runs from 0 for Joe Biden, who is only questionably alive, to 10 for the Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, who follows internationally-approved standards for vaccines and suggests that it is not always appropriate to surgically mutilate children for profit.
I wonder what they'll do if they ever encounter a conservative opinion.
Oh, and sub-interpreters, though I don't know what the advantage is of those over just using the multiprocessing module that just celebrated its 15th birthday.
As far as I can tell, absolutely nothing, and possibly less, because the example of the new functionality is noted as not working in 3.12, and probably not in 3.13 in a year or so.
Because creating a specification that is complete and precise enough to mechanically generate fully working is hard, and nothing is going to solve that, and your startup is doomed.
Or you might, depending on how much computer you need, and how much computer you think you need.
Though this article is talking about AMD-based mini-PC, and they genuinely are pretty good. This one in particular is underpowered for me, and I know this because it's the same CPU I have in my notebook.
Speaking of AMD-based mini-PCs, I wondered why anyone would bother with Minisforum's new mini-ITX motherboard with its laptop 7745HX CPU. Money. (WCCFTech)
Orwell was only wrong in thinking it would be over in two minutes.
Definitely Not Tech News
The interest rate on my home loan somehow went down. Not complaining, just slightly confused. (30 year fixed rate mortgages don't exist outside of the US, so we're vulnerable to whatever idiots are currently in government. And right now we have some real corkers.)
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is airing now on Crunchyroll and probably elsewhere.
Frieren is my favorite manga of recent years and the anime adaptation takes great care with the source material. It completely held my attention even though I already knew the story. Head and shoulders above the average anime series that are generally aimed at teens or younger.
The story? Imagine The Lord of the Rings, only the action starts the day after Sauron is defeated, and asks, well, what now?
Disclaimer: Though he also didn't predict that people would line up to pay for telescreens.
Govern? Oh please. While we are drowning in debt, being overwhelmed at the southern border and inflation is spiraling you want to govern and play footsie with the Dems. When the proverbial shit hits the fan, these grifters will be set up with their insider deals while us Common Men suffer. Fuck you Kev is not harsh enough.
***
The Comments of The Week
The world's greatest commenters are at the AoS. Let's take a look at those comments.
TOPLINE Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) told CNN on Sunday he will file a motion seeking to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) this week, after the GOP House leader used Democratic votes to pass a government funding bill that didn’t meet Gaetz’s demands for steep spending cuts—averting a shutdown with just hours to spare late Saturday.
Does he have the votes? Or is this a publicity stunt to increase his campaign coffers in an attempt to have some sa-weet grift?
When it comes to packing for a flight, some travelers are checking off an extra furry box on their carry-on checklist, and it’s not their sherpa blanket!
While pets may seem odd on a packing list, fur buddies inside of travelers’ carry-on luggage are more common than you may think, according to TSA officials.
“We noticed an uptick” of pets coming through the X-ray screening, said Lisa Farbstein, a TSA spokesperson, who urged travelers to remove their pets from their carry-ons and not send them through the X-ray conveyor belt, in a news release.
While TSA officials come across a variety of live animals, including fish, birds and other reptiles, dogs and cats are the most common seen, according to Farbstein.
WAKING up in the morning is hard enough at any time of the year, but it gets even trickier as the darker months roll around.
A cloudy and grey sky can make anyone want to stay in bed for a little longer… or all day.
***
The ONT Musical Interlude & Pumpkin Spice Emporium
&&&
***
The back seat driver is now the hood ornament. And our driver is tonight's: Genius Award Winner.
ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. (KMOV) - A Vinita Park woman is charged with felony assault after allegedly driving away from an argument and traveling for several miles with her husband still on the hood of the car.
St. Louis County prosecutors on Friday charged 38-year-old Stephanie Boyd with first-degree domestic assault and resisting arrest by fleeing. The courts set bond at $100,000 cash only and she is to have no contact with the victim if released.
In a news release, prosecutors said a Berkley Police investigation showed on Sept. 28 Boyd and her husband got into an argument at their home in Vinita Park. She then allegedly got in the car to leave and drove off with her husband on the hood.
***
First it was the toilet. Then the light bulb. That went so well the ceiling fan was next on their list. Not content with those innocuous items the left says Let's fuck with your gas furnace.
Biden admin issues restrictions on gas furnaces in latest war on appliances
Biden administration boasted that the energy efficiency rules will curb residential energy use and carbon emissions
Newly released video footage from the Warren Police Department vividly portrays the gripping moment when officers valiantly rescued the child from the electrified hazard.
Upon arriving at the scene, the officers discovered the 8-year-old clinging to a perilous wire.
"He's still alive. He's breathing," officers can be heard saying in the video.
Without hesitation they sprang into action.
***
Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by Employment News.
Notice: Posted with skepticism and permission by the Ace Media Empire & AceCorp, LLC. Fair warning: It is what it is. And it isn't what it isn't.
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 October?! You know what happens in October? Huh? Do you know? Well here's a hint; it starts with "T" and ends with "E" - guesses anyone? The Texas MoMe! The Texas MoMe happens in October! Oh Sweet Heavenly Jumpin' Jesus, it's almost Texas MoMe time!
With that, step into the dojo and let's get to the gun stuff below, shall we?
Guns, Ammo and Texas
What's a Texas MoMe without Guns and Shooting? Well all by itself it's a fantastic time for visiting with online pals and enjoying exceptional food, drink and the nearly endless hospitality of our hosts Ben Had, Cow Horse Queen and RancherBob. There are simply too many helper-monkeys to count. Anyway, guns and shooting are a big part of the fun too so what if you're traveling to Texas and want to bring your favorite shooting iron?
Traveling with a firearm is surprisingly simple and I have done quite a lot of it, both by car and commercial air, without any problemos. Let's look at some helpful videos, some of which are lengthy, so if you're interested you may want to bookmark and watch them later. If you forget, an internet search on traveling with firearms will turn up a lot more.
Traveling by Car
Traveling by Air
and...
The process with airlines may seem complicated, but it's really not that bad. Believe me, if I can do it, then you can do it. In a nutshell, firearms must be unloaded, locked in a case, and declared to airline personnel and TSA. The airline people may want to see the firearm and they may not. Once checked in for your flight they will typically escort you and the luggage to a TSA checkpoint and who may inspect the case and ask you to open it as well. It usually takes less than a minute, you lock it back up, and the airline baggage people take it from there. If it's a handgun, it can go inside your checked baggage. Unless you have really l o n g luggage, rifles go as a separate item of checked baggage. The next time you see it will (hopefully) be at the baggage claim office at your destination city.
A couple of tips; in addition to locks I always put several zip-ties on my case (after the TSA inspection) so I can tell immediately at my destination if it's been opened, while the airline baggage person is still present. Also, if you make an unscheduled stop enroute, you need to know the laws in that jurisdiction before accepting custody of the bag containing the firearm. An excellent tool for this is the CCW - Concealed Carry 50 State app by Workman Consulting LLC. It's a slick app full of great information and inexpensive at $2.
There are fewer hoops to jump through with car travel, but it's where something like the CCW app can really save you from trouble. None of this is in any way intended to represent legal advice, and should you really be trusting a guy calling himself Weasel on the internet in the first place, but you will generally be OK if you lock the unloaded weapon in a case and keep it inaccessible (e.g., in the trunk). Note I didn't say you will absolutely be 100% fine and dandy-poo. YOU need to know the rules. YOU need to take the time to research the laws in the places you will be traveling through and obey them. They are not complicated, but they are serious, and the cops usually don't have a sense of humor about these things.
Now let's talk a little about bringing ammunition to the TXMoMe. The options are buy it at home and ship it in your airline checked baggage, or just buy it once you get to Texas.
Let's begin with the easiest, first. Texas is awash in shooting and outdoor stores, and you really shouldn't have any trouble using this option. There are a lot of sporting goods stores on the south side of Dallas and in the towns all the way down I-45 to Corsicana. A quick internet search should return several options, and you might want to identify a couple before you leave home. Next, there is a store in Corsicana, Brinson PowerSports, that has a generally reliable stock of major calibers, although ammo is not listed on their website. I'd suggest calling first and asking if they have what you're looking for. The physical address and phone number is:
Brinson PowerSports
1931 Martin Luther King Blvd.
Corsicana, TX 75110
903-229-4330
Honestly, sourcing ammo locally seems like the most logical choice to me, but for those of you with special needs, it's pretty easy to fly with ammunition in your checked baggage. Here I am speaking in very general terms and it is incumbent upon YOU to check in advance with your airline, confirm the requirements, and comply with them.
Southwest Airlines is a popular option into the Dallas area, and I have found them to be gun friendly as far as these things go. Here is what I found on the Southwest Airlines Special Baggage webpage:
Packing Ammunition
Small arms ammunition for personal use (provided it is properly packed) is permissible in checked baggage only.
The ammunition may be placed in the same container as the firearm and must be securely packed in cardboard (fiber), wood, or metal boxes, or other packaging specifically designed to carry small amounts of ammunition.
Ammunition Limits
When checking ammunition, Customers are limited to 11 pounds (ammunition plus container) per person. Gunpowder (black powder) and primers or percussion caps are not allowed in checked or carryon baggage.
Loose ammunition or loose loaded magazines and/or clips are not allowed. Paintballs must be packaged in a leak-proof container and will be subject to limited release.
So my read is that ammunition in its original cardboard container is all you need, and it does not have to be locked inside another container inside your bag as required for a firearm, and you are allowed up to 11 pounds carried in this fashion. Although the instructions are silent on declaring the ammunition to airline personnel, again as you must do when transporting a firearm, I think it's probably a good idea to do so. You may or may not be allowed to check your baggage curbside when traveling with ammunition, so be prepared for a little extra time at the counter. Again, this is my interpretation and as we all know I am mostly full of shit, so check for yourselves.
Every airline has a section like this on their website, usually found in the baggage section, and you may have to dig around a little to find it. I also recommend printing your specific airline's policy and bringing it with you on the trip, just in case you need to help the ticket agent understand how to do their job. I will say in all the years of flying all over the country to matches, I have never once had any problem with airline personnel and their rules and have always found them well informed and helpful.
Helped a friend with one of these last weekend. She got it from her late mother-in-law and it had not been fired in years. It's a nice little rifle, but it jammed constantly. I did a little research and some suggested that the action was so complicated that disassembly for cleaning was not recommended! Well, I took it apart anyhow, and found this.
Ordered a new recoil spring and reassembled. It was tricky getting the new spring in, and I can imagine that I too might have kinked the spring if the previously damaged one hadn't made me aware of the danger. Back to the range and sent a full magazine downrange and it functioned flawlessly.
Nice work, Tom! Appreciate it!
How about all y'all? Do you perform repairs and small part replacements on your own firearms?
******
3am Knock on the Door?
This is well worth your time to watch.
******
Carlos Hathcock
******
US Rifle M14
******
A4 Joyride?
******
What's New in Particle Physics?
******
Texas MoMe Madness!
I'd like to remind everyone of the upcoming MoMe in Texas on October 20-21. If you're in either the northern or southern hemisphere of the planet of the earth, contact Ben Had for details. The dates and email links for MoMes are always helpfully included on the main page, left sidebar, so you really have no excuse!
There is an entire shooting program for both handguns and rifles over two days, world class food and drink, and the even world classier company of your fellow Morons! More on the Friday/Saturday schedule to come, so stay tuned.
Seriously, people. I have said this probably a hundred times now. These gatherings are a really good time, and I know of no one who regrets having attended one. No kidding. Would your ol' pal Weasel lie to you? MoMe veterans will attest to the funness. Don't be a dork, do yourself a favor and get your ass to Texas! If you're a TXMoMe veteran, please encourage the scairdy-cats to join in the fun!
TXMoMe Shooting Festivities
This seems like a good time to talk a little bit about the upcoming shooting program at the TXMoMe, or the Conservative's Burning Man, as it's popularly known. What started years ago as an informal plinking session lasting a couple of hours has matured into a full program of shooting activities over two days. I have to thank Ben Had, Cow Horse Queen and RancherBob for allowing the shooting to comprise such a significant portion of the TXMoMe.
For a while I have been conducting a Rifle Clinic on Friday morning followed by range time Friday afternoon and then again well into Saturday. We have also been steadily refining the handgun portion of the program to now include an IDPA-esque move-and-shoot pistol course designed and run by Nurse R. There is also the usual static pistol range for those who prefer that style of shooting and a separate setup for gun-curious beginners desiring one-on-one supervision and instruction. Lastly and by popular demand, we're hoping to add a gun cleaning and maintenance clinic both days which will run concurrently with the live-fire programs.
Anyhoo, here's a very rough outline of the schedule of events. Times are tentative and subject to modification/change. I'll move this down to the TXMoMe section below in the coming weeks and update as necessary.
Friday, 10/20
Rifle Program
8am - 10am: Rifle Clinic (carport)
10am - 11am: Combined Range and Safety Briefing - Mandatory for Friday Arrivals! (carport)
11:30am - 1pm: Rifle Clinic, Intro to Wind Estimation (rifle range)
1pm - 4pm: Live fire (rifle range - targets to 1,000 yds)
Handgun Program
10am - 11am: Combined Range and Safety Briefing - Mandatory for Friday Arrivals! (carport)
11:00am - 12:30pm: Handgun Clinic (carport)
1pm - 2:30pm: Static live fire (pistol range)
1pm - 3pm: A clean gun is a happy gun (carport)
2:30 - 4pm: Briefing and Move & Shoot live fire (pistol range)
Saturday, 10/21
Rifle Program
9am - 10am: Combined Range and Safety Briefing - Mandatory for Saturday arrivals! (carport)
9am - 1pm: Live fire (rifle range)
Handgun Program
9am - 10am: Range and Safety Briefing - Mandatory for Saturday arrivals! (carport)
10am - Noon: A clean gun is a happy gun (carport)
9am - 1pm: Live fire (pistol range)
Again, these times are approximate and may change as weather conditions and participation warrant.
You will note there are combined rifle and handgun range safety briefings both days and attendance at one is mandatory. We take your safety seriously and ask everyone who plans to shoot to please also plan on attending this important briefing. All shooters are asked to check in with an RSO (sporting an Orange Cap of Dorkiness for easy identification) upon your arrival at either of the ranges who will answer questions and direct you to an open firing position. The RSOs wield unspeakable power so it is in your best interest to be nice to them.
If you are a novice shooter, or even have never been to the range before and think guns are icky, you are welcome to shoot! Just see an RSO and they will set you up with an experienced shooter to help you. If you miss the mandatory range safety briefing which is mandatory and must be attended, all is not lost. See an RSO to plead your case, be harangued and chastised, and then spend some punishment time on the Disciplinary Range of Shame. In the interests of time, please make it to the scheduled range briefings. Thanks.
Finally, please plan on stopping somewhere along your way to Texas and picking up some ammunition if you plan to shoot and aren't bringing your own weapons. Everyone is very generous with sharing, but please don't rely on the generosity of others to provide everything for you. You can really help out by grabbing a box of 9mm or 5.56mm or whatever you want to shoot. I will bring one of my practice rifles and if you would like to engage our new 1,000 yd target, pick up a box of 175gr. Federal Gold Medal Match in .308 Winchester ammunition.
Call for Volunteers
Help! As I mentioned above, the shooting program in Texas continues to grow, and we wouldn't be able to do it without a lot of help. If you're interested in lending a hand in some capacity, please drop me a note at gunthread at protonmail dot com indicating your date and time of arrival, and we'll be in touch. Thank You!
RSOs from prior years: Expect an email from me soon.
If you are attending the TXMoMe this year, and all the cool kids are, please keep an eye on this section for important information and updates in the coming weeks! I also want to reiterate the TXMoMe is not a gun thing with some socializing attached, but rather is a social thing with some shooting attached. If you aren't a shooter, I guarantee you will not feel out of place and will have a great time. No fooling!
Are all y'all getting excited? Weasel are!!
******
Musical Interlude
Here is Lynyrd Skynyrd and Sweet Home Alabama live at the Oakland Coliseum in 1977.
******
Gun Basics 101
New video from the She Equips Herself gal! This week's video is on gun classes.
******
Cigar of the Week
This week our pal rhomboid scores again with this excellent review of the La Aroma Connecticut
La Aroma de Cuba is a line of Ashton cigars, an outfit known for its higher-end offerings, made in collaboration with "Don" Pepin Garcia (the "father" in My Father cigars, made by him and his son). The line is known for its fuller-bodied cigars. I reviewed one, their Edicion Especial, in this space a ways back (it's very nice, and more medium than full). A few months ago, they released their first "mild", Connecticut wrapper cigar.
Like all sticks from this line, construction is impeccable, which results in a very nice appearance. The combustion matches the looks - the burn line requires little attention. Overall, a mild experience, but definitely one with flavor. I think I picked up cedar, and nuts. For those who prefer bolder stuff, this is a Connecticut (along with Joya de Nicaragua's Antano CT) they will probably find worth a try. The La Aroma de Cuba Connecticut is new enough that many online sources still don't have it, but the robustos I tried (picked up at my local) can be had at some sites for around $6.50 and up.
Excellent, rhomboid! Thank you!
******
Here are some different online cigar vendors. You will find they not only carry different brands and different lines from those brands, but also varying selections of vitolas (sizes/shapes) of given lines. It's good to have options, especially if you're looking for a specific cigar.
A note about sources. The brick & mortar/online divide exists with cigars, as with guns, and most consumer products, with respect to price. As with guns - since both are "persecuted industries", basically - I make a conscious effort to source at least some of my cigars from my local store(s). It's a small thing, but the brick & mortar segment for both guns and tobacco are precious, and worth supporting where you can. And if you're lucky enough to have a good cigar store/lounge available, they're often a good social event with many dangerous people of the sort who own scary gunz, or read smart military blogs like this one. -rhomboid
Anyone have others to include? Perhaps a small local roller who makes a cigar you like? Send me your recommendation and a link to the site!
This week's mailbag entry is from our pal WTM. Great one!
******
Please note the new and improved protonmail account gunthread at protonmail dot com. An informal Gun Thread archive can be found HERE. Future expansion plans are in the works for the site Weasel Gun Thread. If you have a question you would like to ask Gun Thread Staff offline, just send us a note and we'll do our best to answer. If you care to share the story of your favorite firearm, send a picture with your nic and tell us what you sadly lost in the tragic canoe accident. If you would like to remain completely anonymous, just say so. Lurkers are always welcome!
That's it for this week - have you been to the range?
Good afternoon Foodies. The Honorable CBD is on a secret mission. If I tell you anymore I will have to ban you. So let's avoid that shall we.
Today's opening photo is Mamma Misanthrope's "Crazy Cake".
My Mother grew up in the great depression. This cake was from that era. She made it frequently as I was growing up. But, I haven't had it in years. As can happen with families when parents pass on or move into nursing facilities her recipe card box and many of her cook books end up missing.
Fast forward to 2023. One of my cousins came to visit Casa Misanthrope this year. In her possession were several recipe card boxes which had been her Mother's. Long story short: As we were going through the boxes I found the recipe for Crazy Cake in my Mother's handwriting. She had written it out and had given it to my aunt.
The handwritten recipe concludes with the following sentence: "I use to put caramel or chocolate frosting. Now I buy the cheapest can in the store."
3 cups flour
2 tsp soda
2 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup oil
2 cups of water at room temperature
Sift first five ingredients together 3 times.
Put into a 9"x 13" pan ungreased
Make three wells in the cake mix
In the first well put the vanilla
In the second well put in the vinegar
In the third well put in the oil.
Pour water over the mixture.
Stir lengthwise with fork until well blended.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
Let cool and add frosting if you so choose.
Too be honest, the cake is good enough not to need frosting. This coming from a pie guy.
Make Better Poached Eggs by Freezing Them First
Freezing eggs locks in their round shape, and makes it harder to overcook the yolk.
The internet says you can and can’t freeze whole raw eggs, so naturally I went and tossed a couple eggs in the freezer. Senior food editor Claire Lower was able to make baby fried eggs with frozen eggs; surely there are other secrets the frozen ovum hides. (Besides the miracle of life.) It turns out there is at least one, and it just might change the way you poach eggs here on out.
The average poaching method is simple on paper. Simmer water and gently drop an egg into it. Cook it for four or five minutes. When you fish it out, the egg white will be set and the yolk will be runny. But in reality, the egg white flies off, the yolk breaks, the yolk overcooks, or the egg sinks to the bottom and cooks flat. Oh, and that 3-D balloon shape? Well, it’s just impossible to get.
The restaurant Appletini still has its place, but it’s far better now
“I shook it myself!” exclaimed the server with glee. One of his arms was ceremoniously folded across his back as he set a Manhattan before me at an upscale Midtown New York City restaurant. There was some impressive froth on that drink, and I didn’t have the heart to send it back for a stirred do-over. I soon found out it was restaurant bar policy that every cocktail, regardless of recipe (with or without juice), was shaken there — not because of a signature style preference, but because they thought they had to.
This Manhattan incident occurred at least 20 years ago, before cocktail culture had caught up to most fine dining beverage programs in mainstream America. During a recent visit to Union Square Cafe, I was presented with a Last Straw. The summer cocktail deftly balances the sweet-tart-aromatic elements of gin, rum, strawberry, rhubarb and basil, served as a clarified punch with a piped savory basil ice cream garnish, ingredients that come straight from the same nearby Greenmarket that also inspires the seasonal kitchen menu (the joke is that the cocktail takes two days to make and as many minutes to drink). Another cocktail on the list is a subtly smoky Margarita twist made with watermelon, mezcal and hot honey that’s neither too sweet nor aggressively spicy. These drinks are a far cry from the “name your tini” culture I remember from the early days of the original namesake location (established by Danny Meyer in 1985, USC relocated to Park Avenue South in 2015). As an in-joke, there’s now a Dirty Appletini on the menu, served with pickled apple.
***
I normally poach my brats in beer and onions then finish them off on the old charcoal grill. A famous Sconnie guy has a different recipe.
Forget Whipped Cream — Where’s the Olive Oil? A good idea has become ubiquitous.
I asked the pastry chef Zoë Kanan. “Olive oil can be a calling card for sophistication,” she explained, and “sophisticated desserts cost more money.” A flourish of EVOO is a quick way to elevate any dessert’s ingredient list that — bonus — adds a nice, natural shimmer. It’s not as if the idea is new — Lilia has offered vanilla soft serve with olive oil, honey, and fennel pollen for years — but the ubiquity is. And before you even ask, yes, Graza has gotten in on the action with a collaboration at Caffè Panna. The shoppy-shop brands — Brightland, Branche, and all the other status oils with bottles that look like they were designed for Byredo hand soap — are almost certainly one reason for olive oil’s current ascent in forward-thinking pastry kitchens.
***
Something from my ONT photo stash, perhaps you'll enjoy.....
Are Mystery Clicks allowed here in this prestigious thread?
***
CBD wanted me to remind you:
And don't think that the rest of you are off the hook with maple syrup and French Toast: I'm still watching you! And I am watching you perverts who shake Manhattans and keeping a list for the Burning Times.
He's not here. Eat your French Toast as you damn well please. You can email him your tilapia recipes & charcoal briquettes to: cbd dot aoshq at gmail dot com
First World Problems: All Good Things Have To Come To An End, Usually In Pairs
—Misanthropic Humanitarian
That my friend is a 1998 Chevrolet 1500 pickup truck Hood Latch Release Handle. Why is it there? I have no idea. It could have been a government mandate. It could have been a slick marketing gimmick by R&D. Any way I digress..............
So anyway. The other day in an attempt to get ready for winter I thought I better get the plow truck going. Oops. It had been awhile. And "Chuck The Truck" wouldn't start.
No problem. I'll get the handy dandy Schumacher Battery Charger out and charge up the not so old Interstate Battery.
The horror when I discovered the earlier mentioned Hood Latch Release wasn't working properly. The hood didn't "pop" so I could access the actual release. Battery, dead. Hood, not opening. Ugh. I cajoled the release. I spoke kindly and friendly to it. I worked and worked and no hood pop. So................
Chuck is a 1998 plow truck with 200,000+ miles. It has dodged deer, trees and other frozen tundra challenges. I had no qualms then to go to the shop and locate Chuck The Truck's new accessory.
Pull the Release. Walk out to truck and pop hood with crow bar. Just because a battery didn't hold a charge.
PS: In case you are wondering about the bug shield. That's another story for another time. Just another First World Problem.
The dedicated Gun Grabber can go to her grave knowing that she made that "Evil" AR-15 rifle the most popular firearm in the United States of America. Thanks to that ill thought out Clinton Era "assault weapons ban," Americans in unison raised their middle fingers to Washington DC, and preceded to buy, make, and import millions of semiautomatic rifles.
Building and modifying and rebuilding your own AR patterned rifle became a rite of passage for freedom loving Americans. We took a standard.223 caliber rifle, and invented a bunch of new rifle rounds like .300 Blackout, .338 Lapua, and a dozen more for it. We made short barrel rifles, pistols, and even T-shirt launchers out of them.
The AR-15 went from a niche product of Colt Firearms to being a popular, well selling product built by almost every US Firearms manufacturer, with dozens of start up companies building their own versions, and hundreds of companies getting into the business of manufacturing parts for AR rifles.
Thank you Diane Feinstein. Without your ham-fisted "Assault Weapons Ban," millions of Americans would never have became firearms enthusiasts.
-- Posted by: rd at September 29, 2023 10:25 AM (aqVJt)
Sunday Morning Book Thread - 10-01-2023 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]
—Open Blogger
Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading. Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...
So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?
Stand up! Yes, you there, wearing the pants woven from cotton candy and silly string! You stand up, too! And put down that weedwhacker!
Take a bow! Together we've achieved a historic milestone since I've taken over as the custodian of the Sunday Morning Book Thread.
Thanks to all of you, we've compiled over 1000 recommendations of reading material. If I had access to the flaming skull, I'd gladly post that at the top of the page as a signal for this amazing achievement.
Now, in actuality, far more than 1000 recommendations have been made since I'm only counting those that I've been able to collect since February of 2022. Still, that's just incredible. To put that in perspective, if you were to read just one of those books a week, it would take nearly 20 years to read them all.
In order for me to really grab onto recommendations, I usually look for the following criteria:
Is it a stand-alone comment? Sometimes people recommend more than one book in a comment, or try to recommend all of the works of an author. This is fine, but it's hard to parse out the books so I can put them in the Libib site sometimes.
Does the comment include both the title of the book and its author(s). This makes it easy for me to look up the book's ISBN, which is what I use to add them to the AoSHQ Recommendation library.
Does the commenter have a unique insight into WHY the book is recommended? Saying a book is great is not enough. I'm sure we'd all like to know why a book resonates with you personally. It is just the quality of the writing? If so, what makes is great? Is it the complexity of the narrative? Please give us a *reason* why you are recommending the book.
The best comments are the ones that are featured in the Moron Recommendations below. I look for recommendations that lend themselves to commentary on my part, either because I can connect it to another story or because it speaks to me in some way.
I would also like to share the top recommenders of books so far:
Just for comparison, trailing along near the bottom of the pack:
2 recommendations - "Perfessor" Squirrel
The bottom line is that there are recommendations aplenty for anyone who is looking for something new to read. If you can't find at least ONE Moron-recommended book to read, you ain't tryin'!
Speaking of recommendations, last week I mentioned that I've been reading Tad Williams' epic fantasy series, Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. A few of you mentioned that you've tried to read it--based on recommendations--and just couldn't get into it. That's part of the nature of recommendations, unfortunately. I read the first half of Gene Wolfe's epic science fiction series The Book of the New Sun and while I enjoyed it for the most part, it didn't quite resonate with me as it might for the person who recommended it. I do see how Wolfe's work has been influenced by previous authors and has served to influence later authors, so I can certainly appreciate it on those merits, even if the story itself doesn't quite grip me as much as Tad Williams' story does. I suspect our favorite books speak to us at certain times in our life when we are most receptive to the lessons they have to share, so while WE might enjoy them, someone who is at a different point in life or with different life experiences might not have the same enjoyment. And that's perfectly OK.
++++++++++
++++++++++
BOOKS BY MORONS + REVIEW
Friend of the blog Bob Zimmerman, who runs the Behind the Black website, a frequently linked website on J.J.'s Morning Report, has asked for a second posting here after having his book favorably reviewed over at American Thinker:
Today my book, Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space, got a nice review at American Thinker: Moral Choices and the Colonization of Space
As I am a regular reader of Ace, as well as having my own worked linked there regularly by JJ Sefton, I thought this review allows me to once again shamelessly ask you to plug my book. You've done it before, but that was awhile ago.
I have attached an image of the book's cover if you wish to use it. From today's review :
---------------
What makes Conscious Choice interesting is that it's not just another social history of what happened, and who did what to whom in a horrible time of man's inhumanity to man. It's an effort to draw concrete knowledge from the past, for application to solving predictable problems in the not-too-distant, not altogether impossible future.
Conscious Choice reads easily, flows smoothly, is linguistically elegant, covers an extremely important topic, and asks important questions. Conscious Choice is also well referenced, with two appendices of additional data and sourcing information for the deepest dive. Conscious Choice is well worth reading simply to revel in the technical merits, which are far too rare these days. It would also pair well with a rereading of Robert A. Heinlein's classic The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, possibly while listening to Jason Aldean's "Rich Men North of Richmond," and sipping a few pints of good New England beer.
---------------
From my original press release (note the italics tags):
----------------
In this ground-breaking new history of early America, historian Robert Zimmerman not only exposes the lie behind The New York Times 1619 Project that falsely claims slavery is central to the history of the United States, he also provides profound lessons about the nature of human societies, lessons important for Americans today as well as for all future settlers on Mars and elsewhere in space.
Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space, is a riveting page-turning story that documents how slavery slowly became pervasive in the southern British colonies of North America, colonies founded by a people and culture that not only did not allow slavery but in every way were hostile to the practice.
Conscious Choice does more however. In telling the tragic history of the Virginia colony and the rise of slavery there, Zimmerman lays out the proper path for creating healthy societies in places like the Moon and Mars.
"Zimmerman's ground-breaking history provides every future generation the basic framework for establishing new societies on other worlds. We would be wise to heed what he says." — Robert Zubrin, founder of founder of the Mars Society.
MORON RECOMMENDATIONS
In historical fiction, classic series of man in a medieval world interacting with technology is The Crosstime Engineer by Leo Frankowski. The title character is accidentally dropped in Poland about 10 years before the Mongols will show up to level the place. So he has to kick start the Industrial Revolution seven centuries early. The author also touches on how his title character must reconcile his socialism and Catholicism.
Posted by: Dread0 at September 24, 2023 09:13 AM (Wzyjq)
Comment: This is a somewhat interesting subgenre of historical fiction, when you drop a man from modern times into the past with only the knowledge they bring with them. Usually it's someone with a verifiable set of skills that will help them survive in the past, such as medical or engineering knowledge. Then they have to overcome challenges of dealing with the local society and culture that may see the character as a threat (e.g., a witch or warlock) if they display knowledge or abilities that would be magical to people in that day and age. One of the most famous versions of this narrative is Mark Twain's classic story, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.
+++++
American Falls by John Calvin Batchelor
It's an unusual Civil War novel dealing with the real Confederate plot to burn down New York City. As such it plays more like a spy novel than a battle novel.
You meet historical characters in various levels of society. Very well done. Very Dickensonian in that the reach of the novel is wide.
The only weakness of the novel is that JCB probably likes his characters too much (it happens), and one that in the context of the story that should've died doesn't.
Still, a great read esp only these long cool fall nights.
Posted by: naturalfake at September 24, 2023 09:34 AM (QzZeQ)
Comment: A Civil War spy novel sounds like a pretty cool concept, actually. I can picture Union and Confederate agents attempting to infiltrate the other side to obtain key information for the generals on both sides. One of the dangers of being an author is that it is possible to get too attached to a character, because sometimes killing them off is *necessary* for the story to have a satisfying ending for the reader. Of course, some authors--like George R.R. Martin--seem to enjoy killing off characters just because they can. So it works both ways.
+++++
Combination of topics here this morning, I recently read Abraham Lincoln:Vampire Hunter. You would think the title would make it obvious fiction but the story actually makes sense and there are speech quotes and writings that appear legit to the point where I couldn't tell if the author was actually quoting or making it up. The history feels real, just the back story for events, fiction.
Pretty unique concept for a novel.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at September 24, 2023 10:29 AM (t/2Uw)
Comment: This may belong to an interesting category of storytelling known as "epistolary fiction" where the majority of the story is told through excerpts of documents, such as journal entries, newspaper clippings, letters between characters, etc. I have this book lurking in my shelves somewhere, but it's still in the TBR pile. It can be a fun genre to read, as you only get bits and pieces of a much larger story. I also have a book by Peter Clines that is supposed to be the "true" account of Robinson Crusoe, as told through the eyes of H.P. Lovecraft...
More Moron-recommended reading material can be found HERE! (1000+ Moron-recommended books!)
+-----+-----+-----+-----+
WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:
The Last King of Osten Ard Book 1 - The Witchwood Crown by Tad Williams -- The immortal Queen of the Norns begins to wage yet anothr war against the troublesome mortals who thwarted the will of her undead son, the Storm King, over thiry years ago. This time it's personal!
The Last King of Osten Ard Book 2 - Empire of Grass by Tad Williams -- Ancient Nabban is on the brink of civil war while an even more ancient enemy threatens all of the lands of Osten Ard in a misguided quest for vengeance.
That's about all I have for this week. Thank you for all of your kind words regarding the Sunday Morning Book Thread. This is a very special place. You are very special people (in all the best ways!). The kindness, generosity, and wisdom of the Moron Horde knows no bounds. Let's keep reading!
If you have any suggestions for improvement, reading recommendations, or discussion topics that you'd like to see on the Sunday Morning Book Thread, you can send them to perfessor dot squirrel at-sign gmail dot com. Your feedback is always appreciated! You can also take a virtual tour of OUR library at libib.com/u/perfessorsquirrel. Since I added sections for AoSHQ, I now consider it OUR library, rather than my own personal fiefdom...
I've mentioned Dan Ariely and Francesca Gino before, and how their research data appears to have frequent disconnects with reality. A team of researchers called Data Colada has been doing a deep dive into over a decade of papers authored or co-authored by the two, and found a lot of problems.
I say that because Data Colada is now facing a $25 million defamation lawsuit for daring to question Gino's methodology, even though it increasingly looks closer to masturbation than rigorous science.
Speaking of which:
George Loewenstein, a titan of behavioral science and a co-author of Ariely's masturbation paper, has refashioned his research program, conceding that his own work might have contributed to an emphasis on the individual at the expense of the systemic. "This is the stuff that C.E.O.s love, right?" Luigi Zingales, an economist at the University of Chicago, told me. "It's cutesy, it's not really touching their power, and pretends to do the right thing."
CEOs and Democratic presidents.
At the end of [Joe] Simmons's unpublished post [for Data Colada], he writes, "An influential portion of our literature is effectively a made-up story of human-like creatures who are so malleable that virtually any intervention administered at one point in time can drastically change their behavior." He adds that a "field cannot reward truth if it does not or cannot decipher it, so it rewards other things instead. Interestingness. Novelty. Speed. Impact. Fantasy. And it effectively punishes the opposite. Intuitive Findings. Incremental Progress. Care. Curiosity. Reality."
It also cannot reward truth if the auditors can be sued into silence.
So what's the fallout for all this, for the discovery that massively popular and highly-cited research in modern psychology may turn out to be a series of just-so stories?
Earlier, the Colada boys had found evidence of fraud in a paper co-authored by Duke professor Dan Ariely. The real juicy bit? There's a paper written by both Ariely and Gino in which they might have independently faked the data for two separate studies in the same article. Oh, and the paper is about dishonesty.
Really.
(Both Ariely and Gino deny any wrongdoing. Since we're now in the business of suing blogs, let me state that I, of course, have no idea if Ariely, Gino, or anybody else ever engaged in research misconduct. There's no evidence that I have any ideas at all! I'm just a bunch of bees!)
Buzz.
This whole debacle matters a lot socially: careers ruined, reputations in tatters, lawsuits flying. But strangely, it doesn't seem to matter much scientifically. That is, our understanding of psychology remains unchanged. If you think of psychology as a forest, we haven't felled a tree or even broken a branch. We've lost a few apples.
That might sound like a dunk on Gino and Ariely, or like a claim about how experimental psychology is wonderfully robust. It is, unfortunately, neither. It is actually a terrifying fact that you can reveal whole swaths of a scientific field to be fraudulent and it doesn't make a difference. It's also a chance to see exactly what's gone wrong in psychology, and maybe how we can put it right.
More recently Helen Pluckrose, James Lindsay, and Peter Boghossian repeated Sokal's work planting ludicrously implausible papers in supposedly academic journals. (Also note in that article that Sean Carroll criticised their essential work for "meanness". He seems like a nice enough guy when he's talking about physics, but he immediately blocked me on Twitter when I corrected him on a topic far outside his realm of expertise.)
But hey, these are just three people, albeit three pretty famous people. Maybe the impact of any single scientist is simply too small to be seen from a distance. If you deleted a whole bunch of papers from across the literature, though, that would really make a difference, and we'd have to rebuild big parts of the field from the ground up. Right?
No, not really. We did delete those papers, and nothing much happened. In 2015, a big team of researchers tried to redo 100 psychology studies, and about 60% failed to replicate. This finding made big waves and headlines, and it's already been cited nearly 8,000 times.
If this happened in physics, it would be like finding out the Moon isn't real.
In psychology, it makes no difference.
But there's no world-changing insight like relativity, evolution, or DNA, nor any smaller-but-still-very-cool discoveries like polymerase chain reaction, CRISPR, or Higgs bosons. Only a few psychological discoveries are mentioned by more than one commenter, except for "most psychology studies are bunk." If Bloom can't think of any major recent discoveries, and if none of his friends can agree on any major recent discoveries, then maybe there aren't any major recent discoveries.
(I know that might be a bummer to hear, but don't shoot the messenger. Besides, good luck trying to shoot a bunch of bees.)
If someone tries to tell you that psychology has proved something, sting them.
The 7840HS would make sense: Eight cores, low power, strong integrated graphics.
The 7745HX also has eight cores, but just one sixth the graphics hardware. It's slightly faster, but why not just use a regular desktop 7700?
Disclaimer: This is not a blog, the opinions found herein do not exist and are merely figments of your imagination, and very likely you do not exist either. We are all but bees.
Caveman CircusThe Most Awesome Men's Entertainment Site On The Internet
“I’ve been a very naughty boy” – Pilot Snorted Coke off Topless Woman’s Chest before Trying to Fly
British Airways pilot Mike Beaton had a night off for “downtime” in Johannesburg before he was scheduled to co-pilot a return flight to London four weeks ago. In his text messages to a flight attendant pal, Beaton said he had met two local men, a Welsh woman on vacation and a “young Spanish bird” at a Johannesburg nightclub.
“I’ve been a very naughty boy,” he told her.
After hours of drinking, the group staggered to a hotel bar for a nightcap before they ended up at one of the local men’s apartments.
“Welsh has decided that I should actually be her boyfriend — Spanish has hooked up with one of the two local lads and is having her t–s sucked on their sofa,” he said. The “girls” were dancing topless when the cocaine arrived, Beaton bragged. “I’ve lost my shirt somewhere and one of the local lads produces a plate with a few lines of coke,” he wrote. “So then there’s a debate about whose chest is the best to do a bump off.”
“That’s the story of how I ended up snorting coke off a girl’s t–s in Joburg,” he gleefully gloated.
“Stayed the night with Welsh, sh– her for ages (I guess the coke played a part),” he continued, “and then was so f–ked I couldn’t even lift my head until gone 2.”
When he tried to fly the following day, the crew member reported the pilot’s alarming night to superiors, who canceled the 12-hour flight to Heathrow Airport, costing British Airways roughly $120,000, according to the outlet. Beaton was suspended and flown home as a passenger the following day. He was drug-tested at the airport — which he failed — and was subsequently fired.
Bid Now, Win a Piece of ‘Legend’ History: Auction for A-Basin Pali Lift Chairs Underway
Arapahoe Basin Ski Area, also known as A-Basin and 'The Legend,' is auctioning off the last two Pallavicini chairlift chairs — and they could be yours. Bonus: 100% of the sales go to charity.
"MisHum, what would you do with that?"
"Who are you, The Fabulous?"
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A recent Make-A-Wish visit by members of the Insane Clown Posse, to survivors of what the media is calling “The Great Tallahassee Airshow Disaster,” left the city’s General Hospital’s intensive care unit an absolute biome of infectious diseases, which had to be re-sterilized, sources who are normally used to this kind of thing confirmed.
“After that terrible accident, we really thought the survivors could use some cheering up — and who would be better to cheer up some newly limbless Flordians than ICP!” explained attending physician Gloria Kerwald. “But between the Faygo spray, grease paint smears and near-solid smog of fecal mist those guys swarmed through here with, it may just be easier to tear the whole building down and rebuild from scratch. If anything it’d be cheaper than the alternative.”
Insane Clown Posse member Violent J commented on the recent visit, which has reportedly left the local hospital’s ICU “in a state so foul it would make God himself want to sterilize heaven out of pure fear.”
How to destroy your friends and family in 4 popular board games
With these tricks, you'll be unstoppable.
Whether it’s bankrupting your family in Monopoly or securing the last victory point against your buddies in Settlers of Catan, there’s nothing quite like the feeling of board-game triumph. We’ve collected experts’ best tips and tricks of the best board games, so you can dominate every time.
MONOPOLY
Most players forget the real goal of this game: It’s not to become rich. Instead, you must bankrupt your opponents before they wipe you out. Brian Valentine, who placed third at the 2015 World Monopoly Championship, recommends going all in on the orange properties. From jail, a rival’s dice toss of six or eight—statistically among the most likely rolls—puts them smack in the middle of this real estate. This makes these amber gems some of the most lucrative on the block.
***
The ONT Musical Interlude & Apple Cider Emporium
&&&
***
Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by October Eve Non-sense. (H/T wordshop2)
Notice: Posted with permission by the International Brotherhood Of Hamsters. They know the Cobs are down with the fight.
CBD and J.J. Sefton discuss: Feinstein finally fossilizes so will Newsom anger minorities by picking Schiff, and who will replace Menendez once he gets the chop? Ken Buck in typical RINO fashion stabs us in the back, AI will make the propaganda press even more insufferable, Israeli leftists riot and the battle to break free from a rogue leftist judiciary, Biden impeachment follies, and more!
Correction: In yesterday's post about the debate, I mistakenly said that Jim Varney was one of the liberal Fox immoderate moderators. Jim Varney is a good reporter at Real Clear Investigations whose work I quote a lot, so I had that name in mind. But he wasn't a moderator at a debate. I meant Stewart Varney. Sorry for the mistake, and sorry to have sullied Jim Varney's name by associating it with that shitshow.
S4,E15: CBD and Sefton discuss: Trudeau and parliament give an ovation to a Ukrainian Nazi, INS eager to deport religious family while letting in millions of 3rd world peasants, Skip Bayliss is a disgusting jerk for inventing a racist attack on Deion Sanders, Jackie Robinson as a shining example of meritocracy, no way Michelle O allows herself to replace Biden at the head of the Dem ticket, and more!
Brooks Robinson, the greatest third baseman that ever laced them up, is now playing the hot corner in heaven. Brooks Robinson, Hall of Fame Orioles third baseman, dies at 86. Brooks was a class act. My dad is a pediatrician, and he knew Brooks. If dad ever had a really sick kid, he could make one call to Brook's office, and a freshly signed photo, personally addressed to the kid in question, would arrive within a day or so. RIP. [Weirddave]
CBD and J.J. Sefton are joined by Joe Mannix to discuss: Bobert and Brand are to be destroyed while pervert criminals like Biden are protected, Menendez finally under the gun?, Impeachment follies and Merrick Garland's "grilling" before Congress, Biden's new unconstitutional Klimate Korps, Government by"QUANGO?" the complete de-fanging of the US military, Colony Ridge and the erasure of the border, Gerontocracy/Kleptocracy and talk of term limits, and more!
I do not even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was good. I do not know who you are but certainly you're going to a famous blogger if you aren't already
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
(1).jpg)
Today my book, Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space, got a nice review at American Thinker: 
Brooks Robinson, the greatest third baseman that ever laced them up, is now playing the hot corner in heaven.