Ace: aceofspadeshq at gee mail.com
Buck: buck.throckmorton at protonmail.com
CBD: cbd at cutjibnewsletter.com
joe mannix: mannix2024 at proton.me
MisHum: petmorons at gee mail.com
J.J. Sefton: sefton at cutjibnewsletter.com
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published.
Contact OrangeEnt for info: maildrop62 at proton dot me
I had a magical experience with a bumblebee yesterday. I saw her on the bike path and thought she was a goner, she couldn’t move her front legs but I still didn’t want her squished so I tried bringing her to a flower and she starting eating! But the coolest thing was… 1/ pic.twitter.com/gNhT5TywI5
— Danica Priest🦇🦎🦇🦎🍃💚🍃 (@DanicaPriest) June 20, 2026
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Meet The PetMorons
Hi KT,
Here you see Purry trying to get the bird (you can see the nest on the drain pipe under the eaves).
He's a very springy cat!
Miley
That's where Publius and I were married, right there on the screen porch.
Spring, indeed! And ambitious!
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Precious:
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Boo-Boo:
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Two's Company:
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Alcatraz Farewell
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HISS:
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Cupboard Cat
Dear K.T.,
Meet Precious (f) and Booboo (m), born in '88. Both Siamese mix, one "seal point", one "flame point". When I picked them up from a Humane Society associated lady they were from two different litters nursing on the same female. I was told they were ready to adopt, but the vet I took them to told me they were barely five weeks old. It was only several years later that I discovered by accident that Booboo was deaf. Thank goodness I'd raised them as indoor cats, or he wouldn't have survived long.
They lived for almost twenty years, dying a year apart from kidney failure. Nothing prepared me for the end. My heart and soul went with them, and I still can't talk or write about them without weeping.
I know space is limited, so I'll leave you to select the images that may appear in Pet Thread. Bless you and all the fine pet-lovers whose babies grace your pages.
My AofS handle is "Born Free".
So sorry to learn that you have lost Precious and BooBoo, such good friends for so long. They were clearly loved well. Thanks for letting us get to know them.
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About ten years ago a cocky little three-legged pit bull walked into my condo as my latest foster dog. Nobody had shown interest in her in the 18 months she’d been in the rescue, mainly because she was obstinate, judgmental, and wholly untrainable.
So of course I adopted her. My only foster fail in the ten years (thus far) that I’ve fostered.
She spent the next 9+ years antagonizing the most socially awkward dogs at the rescue’s weekly socialization training sessions, turning 30 minute walks into two hour exasperating marathons as she would randomly sit down and refuse to get up until she was good and damn ready, and eating the sausage off my pizza. She also regularly chewed on rocks, tried to kill all the squirrels and possums, and took naps in the middle of the road in my condo association, occasionally at midnight. And never once listening to me.
In short, she was the best damn dog ever.
On Tuesday, 23 June we took our last ride to the vet. She could deal with being a tripod, the arthritis and the hip dysplasia, but kidney failure was the last straw. I held my Eartha Kitt in my arms as she crossed the rainbow bridge.
Long ago I told myself that once Eartha passed I would stop fostering. I’d taken a break from it as her health declined, and thought it might be nice to have some time to myself.
After one night in a dog-free house I was on the phone to the rescue director, telling them in 4 weeks I’d be resuming full-time fostering.
It’s amazing how empty an 1100 square foot condo is without a dog.
Longtime lurker Rabidsquirrel
Thanks for the wonderful photos and description of Eartha. We love her now, too. And it's understandable that you want to foster again. You will be a blessing to another dog.
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Thank you for sharing your pets and animal photos and stories with us today.
If you would like to send pet and/or animal stories, links, etc. for the Ace of Spades Pet Thread, the address is:
petmorons at protonmail dot com
Remember to include the nic or name by which you wish to be known when you comment at AoSHQ, or let us know if you want to remain a lurker.
I closed the comments on that post so you wouldn't get banned for commenting on a week-old post, but don't try it anyway. Last comment, by EyeofSauron, noted a connection to a charming bear hunter in the thread.
Happy Saturday! Don in Kansas has posted severa; interesting recent snapshots, some of which remind me of fireworks. Flower fireworks could come in handy where sensitive pets live, or where drought has resulted in restrictions on noisy fireworks.
Balloon flowers are easy from seed and can bloom their first year, as can Silene regia.
The place I live is allegedly the real "Smallville," Superman's home town. Every June there is a "Smallville Festival" here celebrating comic books and related cultural matters. This year's festival was smaller than usual, with less cosplay than I expected, but at least there was Supergirl.
Braille flag
I spotted this flag near the festival site.
Sounds interesting! Love the Braille flag. Click on the link for more great photos of Supergirl and Krypto, Don's delightful daylilies at their peak, fiery-looking Asclepias tuberosa and more.
Another daylily expert in The Horde!
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Edible Gardening/Putting Things By
By-Tor has more milestones from his container garden:
June 4:
A warm almost summer day calls for a fried green tomato sandwich, straight from my garden.
It's sweet, it's sour, it's salty, it's perfect. Slice, dip in flour, salt and pepper then fry until crispy. Eat on white bread. Nothing fancy here.
Not fancy, just good.
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June 22 Garden is progressing nicely. One tomato plant is almost as tall as me.
Also, this week’s haul.
RED TOMATOES IN JUNE! And more! Impressive for a container garden!
Is there anything better than a homegrown tomato out of your own garden?
Here I had two tomatoes, Greek olives, pepperoni and Korean pickled radishes, drizzled with olive oil.
So the answer is no, nothing better.
Mmmm Thanks for the recipe!
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Puttering
Surviving the summer heat in the UK
Good morning. I’m on my way to the fair to see if there’s any treasure to buy! Then back to just finish off the flowers I cut yesterday evening. I’ll catch up later ☀️☀️☀️ pic.twitter.com/nQisXK93ep
The Japanese raccoon dog was once thought to be capable of shape-shifting, even to human form. Suspicious!
Covid-19 really destroyed trust in the medical field
I remember seeing clips of meetings, before Covid-19 was invented, suggesting that some emergency would be necessary in order to kick-start progress into new ways of, say, making vaccines. One concern was that people would want to wait for safety data.
Having once been part of medium-sized pharma (as opposed to "Big Pharma", I am familiar with some of the political changes that contributed to our current vaccine situation. One problem was our legal system, which allowed for big punitive damages to be awarded to people injured by vaccines in the USA. Vaccine manufacturers were leaving the business. Congress panicked and passed legislation which limited liability for manufacturers and set up a fund to reimburse people who were injured by vaccines. This system didn't work very well. Other parts of the law discouraged development of non-vaccine treatments where vaccines were considered the only viable treatments.
Our company held big meetings concerning this legislation, even though we did not make vaccines. It was a big deal.
Meanwhile, we had a healthy respect for the FDA, and surprise visits were occasions of anxiety. FDA agents sometimes wore sidearms. People had to sign in and out of meeting rooms. Not that there had never been ethical concerns. There had been a "generic drug scandal" in which favors consisted of changing the order in which inspections of facilities were done and so forth, to give an edge to certain companies.
But no one expected to be allowed 75 years to turn in raw data from clinical trials, as in the first Covid-19 trials.
On June 21, CBD wrote a short, lucid commentary on the pending approval of an mRNA vaccine for influenza: Another mRNA Vaccine? Really?
They created a disease, they lied about its origins, they used it to destroy our civil liberties and manipulate the country to be more compliant, and perhaps worst of all, they sabotaged possible treatments to favor their dangerous and expensive vaccine and treatments.
So why should the American people think that all of those failings have magically disappeared, and the new and improved FDA/Pharma/Deep State is any more invested in the health and well being of America?
The same mRNA technology that is implicated in some serious side effects? The same mRNA technology that was used to create the COVID vaccine that was famously awful? And all for a disease that has shifting antigens that are very difficult to identify quickly enough to create an effective vaccine? The flu vaccine works adequately, but it is by no means impressive, and the mRNA vaccine won't change that, so why risk the documented side effects of an mRNA vaccine when the traditional vaccine is safe?
Oh. Look! Money!
More at the link.
What will we do as Artificial Intelligence starts to make its presence known in medicine? Will people get over-excited and head off in wild directions? We can be more rational if we try, I think.
On the other hand, medical progress is being made. I, for one, am grateful for much of it. Perhaps some physicians and other health care professionals could learn more about nutrition, etc. And some respect for the observations of people on the front lines is sometimes more valuable than waiting for results of a double-blind trial of a single drug agent.
But recently, a friend's teenage son received a kidney transplant and a relative's baby was born with cystic fibrosis. I have learned a lot about medical advances both in drugs and in team treatment of conditions like this. Did you know that salt was important for newborns with cystic fibrosis? Bet no double-blind study was involved in that clinical change.
Anyway, it's easy to lose trust in EVERYONE involve in the system. But maybe we don't have to go this far:
Via Powerline, October 2022:
Medical students at the University of Minnesota must now take an oath to "honor all Indigenous ways of healing that have been historically marginalized by Western medicine" and fight "white supremacy, colonialism, [and] the gender binary."
And we don't have to reject all advances. Interesting thread in response to this statement. You have probably seen other statements like it.
One topic mentioned in the thread is cystic fibrosis, where advances mean that my newborn relative can now look forward to a long life - not possible in the fairly recent past:
I find it curious that the modern medical community has cured exactly zero diseases in the last several decades.
The medical community has cured a mountain of diseases in the past several decades.
Benjamin Rush is sometimes called “the forgotten Founder,” but his influence on early America was anything but small. Born in 1746 in Pennsylvania, Rush became a leading physician, a civic reformer, and one of the most intellectually energetic voices of the young republic. He signed the Declaration of Independence at just thirty years old, advised presidents, and helped shape the nation’s emerging institutions in medicine, public education, and moral reform.
Rush worked during a moment when the United States was trying to define not only its governing structures but also the habits and character needed for a self-governing people. His life’s work reflected a single belief: a republic depends on educated, healthy, and virtuous citizens.
As one of America’s most prominent doctors, Rush helped establish medical training in the United States and served as Surgeon General for the Continental Army. His medical practices reflected the theories of his era—some of which are now obsolete—but his commitment to scientific inquiry and public health was pioneering.
During the Revolutionary War, Rush treated soldiers, wrote medical guides, and pushed for improved sanitation in military camps. He also advocated for the humane treatment of people with mental illness, arguing that compassion—not confinement—should shape care. His 1812 writings on mental health are considered foundational in the history of American psychiatry.
Rush applied the same reforming energy to civic life. He opposed slavery, supported women’s education, fought for expanded access to schooling, and urged the young nation to cultivate civic virtue among its citizens.
So my site access has been restored but my WiFi access continues to be spotty as my ocean-going continues, but it did prompt the first graphic in this week’s gallery by the producers of the Ricochet podcast, where I ended up being a mostly silent spectator this week between 10-second bursts of connection, which was about all I needed for my very few five-second bursts of lucidity.
Meanwhile, I still haven’t been able to restore my old hijacked Twitter account, so I have launched a new one: @RealStevenHayward. Follow if you’re into the whole social media thing. I think I’ll be more like that RealOtherGuy and do more polemic entries than my old account, which I used mostly to tell jokes.
Speaking of jokes, I’m so old I can recall the 1970s when we embraced the proposition: “That government is best which McGoverns least.” What the hell do we say now about the DSA takeover of the Democratic Party? These guys make McGovern look like a Truman Democrat. (Recall that McGovern had supported Henry Wallace in 1948.)
The Classical Saturday Coffee Break & Prayer Revival
—Misanthropic Humanitarian
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Good morning boys and girls and everything in between. Before we enter the Prayer Revival just a few housekeeping matters to go over. (Rulz for those of you in Elroy)
1) This is an open thread. Feel free to lurk, opine and/or bloviate.
2) Be kind. Be nice. If not, adios.
3) Running with sharp objects has not been approved by upper management.
4) Have a great weekend!
Please submit any prayer requests to me, “Annie’s Stew” at apaslo at-sign hotmail dot com. Prayer requests are generally removed after four weeks unless we receive an update.
Prayer Requests:
4/3 – Teresa in Fort Worth posted an update. Her chemo seems to be holding things steady for now. Unfortunately, as she is receiving a steroid, she has gained about 25 pounds. Her blood sugar has also jumped up about 40 points (which only happens when she is on steroids).
6/1 Update – Teresa had a CT scan and has seen the surgeon. Everything looks good/stable. There are no new tumors and the ones that are there have pretty much stayed the same or shrunk. No metastises seen. Additional good news is that she can stay on the current medication, and just alternate it with other meds. She continues to respond extremely well to the protocols. She sends her gratitude for each and every prayer.
6/19 – Teresa in Fort Worth sent an update. Her cancer marker numbers continue to go down; hopefully that means everything is working! In other news, she has started working on another stocking, this time for her grandson, who will be implanted soon via IVF. Prayers for a successful procedure and pregnancy would be greatly appreciated!
5/16 – Tonypete asked for prayers for Jane who is dying of breast cancer, and for Cheri who is in jail (again) for drug related crimes.
6/13 Update – Jane and her husband have sold their home and have moved back to Green Bay, to be with family when she dies.
5/20 – D gave an update on his wife Susan and her continued battle with cancer. Her cancer markers are still headed in the right direction. She is on a new antibiotic, and it is causing some side effects, but it is keeping her out of another surgery, so that is a win. Thanks again to everyone for their prayers. May 1 marked one year since they found out about the cancer, and Susan is doing so well.
6/24 Update – Everything is going well. The chemo seems to be working, but it’s very hard. The prayers help, so please keep praying for them.
5/23 – I used to have a Different Nic could use some prayers as he waits for the results of a biopsy of a mass on his prostate.
6/2 Update – I used to have a Different Nic sent in an update. He has been diagnosed with risk group 2 prostate cancer. It appears to be localized to the prostate but this will be verified via another scan. He has doctor appointments lined up for the next month or so before he starts treatment.
6/23 Update – The latest update is that he has stage 2, “unfavorable intermediate”, which he notes is an awful name, but what it means is, it is in the middle, but bad enough that they want to treat it. It’s more aggressive than previously thought. He is at the point where he has to decide on treatment options, which means choosing which set of pretty unfortunate side effects he prefers.
5/26 – Doof posted a request for prayers for his mom. She is back in the hospital. She is very weak from one or more infections, and is sleeping a lot. She isn’t really talking when she is alert for a few minutes.
6/14 Update – Doof’s mother passed away.
5/29 – Bulg requested prayers for his sister, her husband, their four children, and the rest of the family as his sister is dying. She is in palliative care in the hospital, with a lot of blood clots, and is not expected to last long.
6/5 Update – Bulg asks for continued prayers for his sister and the family. He visited, and her condition had improved a lot. She was conscious and lucid. Bulg and his brother had a nice visit with their sister, and also got to visit with her family (husband, kids, grandkids). Bulg is grateful for the reconciliation with his sister and prays that she may be with them for a long while.
6/14 Update – Bulg’s sister passed away on 6/14. They all could use prayers of comfort.
5/29 – huerfano requested prayers for her brother, R, whose appendix “got hot”. Luckily he was with his daughter, who got him to ER quickly, and surgery was scheduled for 5/29.
6/6 Update – R had surgery, but his appendix was already leaking, so the surgery was more complicated and required lavage of his internals. He has been back at his daughter’s house since 6/1, and is thinking he’s ready to go home. Unfortunately, that’s 500 miles.
5/30 – RandomDave posted that he would appreciate prayers as he searches for work. He has had some good job prospects/interviews over the past week.
6/2 – Ellipsis (…) sent in an update. We had prayed for a friend of hers who was going through cancer treatment. It’s been a little over a year, and her port is out now and her hell is over. She is battered and bruised, but clear. Thank you to the Horde for prayers, and praise to Jesus.
6/4 – Teresa in Fort Worth’s niece (Amanda) received a heart transplant a few months ago. One of the complications of that was that her kidneys started failing, and she needed a kidney transplant. On 6/3, she received a new kidney and it appears to be working. Hallelujah! The family is so grateful for the gift from the donor’s family.
6/6 – Skip requested prayers for his boss and wife. Their oldest daughter passed away the day before her 30th birthday. They had also lost a son some years ago unexpectedly. They still have 2 daughters.
6/9 – “A” requested prayers for a long-time friend now suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease, who just fell and broke his hip. He came out of the anesthetic really confused. His wife and family also need prayers of support and strength to help him.
6/13 – Dash my lace wings asked for prayers for a friend named Lisa, who was diagnosed with liver duct cancer. She has been in the hospital for a couple of weeks and is afraid she will never leave.
6/20 Update – Lisa has been allowed to go home for hospice care. Cancer has metastasized throughout her body; this looks like the end for her.
6/13 – Tonypete requested prayers for an acquaintance (B), who has destroyed every relationship she has ever been a part of and spreads hate and torment to everyone around her.
6/18 – buzzion asked for prayers for a friend named Christina, who has struggled with drug addiction and is in jail again. Buzzion prays that this really is rock bottom and a true wake-up call for her – even if it requires her to stay in jail.
6/20 – bluebell gave an update on grammie Winger. Grammie had some major surgery related to her cancer in March and is pretty much housebound. She said she isn’t keeping up on news since her diagnosis; she doesn’t have the energy. She said she thinks of her grey-box friends often with fondness. Please keep praying for her. Your prayers are a source of great comfort to her.
6/20 – Polliwog the ‘Ette said that prayers for Inspector would be much appreciated. Inspector is still in the hospital. They are working on getting his strength up so it’s safe for him to go home. He is more alert and focused than when he was admitted, and he has been able to eat multiple full meals, which is an improvement and will help him continue to improve.
6/21 – B posted a request for prayers. He said that, due to his own shortcomings, and a moment of madness 6 years ago, B has been estranged from his two sons (age 41 and 36). He has tried to reach out and apologize to them over the past 6 years, to no avail. B asked the Horde to pray for their hearts to open, to allow him to properly apologize, and try to be the father he should have been. The boys are losing their mother to early-onset Alzheimers, and B needs them to know that he’s a better person today than he was then, and he can be counted on.
For submission guidelines and other relevant info, please contact Annie's Stew, who is managing the prayer list. You can contact her at apaslo at-sign hotmail dot com. If you see a prayer request posted in a thread comment, feel free to copy and paste it and e-mail it to Annie's Stew. She tries to keep up with the requests in the threads, but she's not here all of the time, so she may not see it unless you e-mail it to her. Please note: Prayer requests are generally removed after four weeks or so unless we receive an update.
2 Corinthians 4:8-9
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.
The allegations were that CXMT was dumping DDR4 chips on the market not only below manufacturing cost for the Big Three, but below the price of second-hand modules.
The allegations were true, but that hardly matters at this point.
AMD's 5800X3D matches Intel's 14700K in gaming performance when both are paired with DDR4 memory, but the 20 core Intel chip mops the floor with the 8 core AMD model for multi-threaded productivity workloads.
On the other hand, the 5800X3D used a maximum of 120W in testing; the 14700K drew over 300W.
A basalt column is one solid piece of basalt rock, and basalt is just lava that has cooled and turned into stone.
Millions of years ago, parts of New South Wales were shaped by volcanic activity. This happened mainly during the Cenozoic era… pic.twitter.com/rpy6kOdGjH
You see, they had to make Oprah Winfrey a required part of a historical education.
On Wednesday, the Texas State Board of Education voted to remove the American Revolution from 11th-grade U.S. History. The Battles of Lexington and Concord, the opening shots of the war that created this country, gone. In their place? Oprah Winfrey.
Let that sink in.
...
The result: the American Revolution, one of the most consequential events in human history and the founding act of this nation, was stripped from 11th-grade U.S. History. Three Republican members crossed the aisle to join five Democrats in passing this and dozens of other ill-conceived amendments.
The progressive vision of social studies curriculum treats the TEKS as a storytelling anthology, a collection of interesting characters and compelling narratives that whoever sits at the table that day can swap in and out. Every story has value, the thinking goes, so every story deserves a slot. But that is precisely the wrong framework for a standards document.
...
Oprah Winfrey is a remarkable American success story. Her place in the cultural and business landscape is undeniable.
I'll deny it. Rush Limbaugh was a more important broadcaster and businessmen and no one's including him in a high school history textbook. (And I wouldn't ask for him to be included.)
But Oprah's a Stronk Black Woman, so.
We're now choosing what counts as history by DEI "standards."
Angela Davis, the black radical murderess protected by the Democrat Establishment, learns that she is descended from one of the 101 original colonists of The Mayflower.
Details of the alleged vandalism to the recently refurbished Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C. were revealed in a court filing.
According to Deputy Director for the National Park Service Frank Lands, the incident took place shortly after the resurfaced pool was filled again with water on June 9, ABC News reported.
"The U.S. Park Police responded to an NPS report of damage to the reflecting pool, including a caulk over the foam sealant that was cut with a sharp knife or razor and destruction of delaminating surface material. In addition, approximately 70 fence post tops were thrown into the pool," Lands said in a declaration.
An Interior Department spokesperson said the vandalism is believed to be an isolated incident, and details weren't disclosed in order to prevent "deranged individuals" from copycatting the crime. Several days after the incident, the spokesperson said, there were recurring cases and videos of people ripping at the coating.
"We then knew this was not an isolated incident, but a new trend to attempt to damage the Reflecting Pool," the spokesperson told ABC.
As of Thursday afternoon, there have been seven arrests, seven federal citations and 18 police reports filed related to intentional damage to the pool, according to the Interior Department.
The Washington Post blames Trump for standing water being a broth for algae.
Because Trump is causing global warming and global warming causes algae. Q.E.D.
The left is psychologically compelled to destroy civilization in all cases, but in this specific case, they have a reason to destroy attempts to beautify a city: The left has reigned over a 100 year decline of cities into dangerous and dirty shitholes, and their excuse is, as always, "there's nothing that can be done about it, don't blame us, it's just how things go."
It is therefore imperative that they block any attempts to bring order and beauty to cities. Once their excuse is shown to be a lie, a few liberals might actually ask why they're being forced to live in a shithole due to Democrat policy choice.
Update: A scoop from Deb Heine. The pair of mutants currently protesting the pool -- yes, they're protesting a pool -- were previously seen protesting outside of Brett Kavanaugh's home.
As part of the deliberately-intimidating "protests" designed to warn Brett Kavanaugh that his safety wasn't guaranteed if he didn't vote to uphold Roe v. Wade.
Two of the "Team Algae" demonstrators photographed in front of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool wearing pro-algae tee shirts earlier this month, were also involved in loud and disruptive pro-abortion demonstrations outside of Justice Brett Kavanaugh home in 2022.
Pro-abort agitators terrorized the entire neighborhood for weeks after the Supreme Court's draft majority opinion overturning of Roe v. Wade was leaked to the media.
A neighbor told Fox News in June 2022 that the agitators would show up at approximately 7:00 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
"It's a horrific experience," the neighbor told Fox. "It's not great if you have kids of any age, but it's unbelievably stressful, and the kids are very upset. The kids have to be sent inside, and it's so loud you can't put your kids to sleep."
"They have drummers. They have a megaphone, and they chant. They yell all kinds of things ... They have told neighbors 'F-ck you, f-ck your children,' things like that--and, so they're abusive toward the neighbors and intimidating," the source told the outlet. "They were very, very loud, very, very aggressive. They dance in the streets as well," the person added.
In May 2022, The Atlantic published a sympathetic article supporting the agitators, titled: What's the Point of Going to Brett Kavanaugh's House? "Demonstrators have largely given up on changing the Supreme Court justices' minds. But they're still showing up," the subheader read.
"It's imperative that they know that we exist," said Karen Irwin, described as "a reproductive-rights activist who splits her time between D.C. and New York."
Gays and trannies (self-identified) demand that Minneapolis make gay sex bathhouses legal again, because they're places of "deep connection" and the straight community has gained so much from gay sexuality.
Remember George Galloway? He was the left-wing Labour MP who was too pro-Saddam Hussein even for Labour. So he quit (or was forced out) and formed the "Respect" party, whose raison d'etre was the idea that Muslims just weren't getting enough Respect in British politics. He then is a key innovator in the Islamic-Communist political alliance.
And guess who's a Big Fan now?!
Nathan Livingstone (MilkBarTV)
@TheMilkBarTV
THIS is who Tucker Carlson believes should be Prime Minister of the UK and openly admires...
"I just love George Galloway."
A self-described socialist who pushed for full-blown, China-style lockdowns in the UK during COVID; praised some of the world's worst regimes, including Chávez, Castro and Saddam Hussein; worked for Russian and Iranian state media; aligned himself with Iran's theocratic regime; and backed Hamas and Hezbollah.
Tucker Carlson told Galloway on Tucker's show: "I didn't even know much we agreed on."
THIS is who Tucker Carlson believes should be Prime Minister of the UK and openly admires...
“I just love George Galloway.”
A self-described socialist who pushed for full-blown, China-style lockdowns in the UK during COVID; praised some of the world’s worst regimes, including… pic.twitter.com/x4BmklQNUA
— Nathan Livingstone (MilkBarTV) (@TheMilkBarTV) June 26, 2026
🚨 LMFAO! JD Vance just CALLED OUT a leftist protesting him at the Nixon Library
"We've got people waving the Palestinian flag outside, hollering at us in SPANISH. By the WAY — the Vice President CAN'T understand what you're protesting about if you don't speak the language of… pic.twitter.com/Msua4g2a2M
Democrats Recruited Antifa As their Zombie Street Enforcers. Now the Antifa Zombies Are Running the Show.
—Disinformation Expert Ace
Darializa Avila Chevalier, founder of the pro-Hamas, pro-October 7 group CUAD and committed to -- quote -- the "total eradication of Western civilization," will soon officially be a Democrat congresswoman.
Avila Chevalier, the most overtly radical of the three, is an interesting figure because she represents a stunning triumph for modern campus progressive activism; she will be the first person elected to Congress who comes directly from that world. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D--N.Y.) is a democratic socialist and a progressive activist, but she was not a central figure in those movements until well after she graduated from Boston University. Avila Chevalier, on the other hand, was a prominent far-left activist at Columbia University throughout the 2010s and remained involved with the pro-Palestinian campus protests there in 2023 following Israel's attacks on Hamas in Gaza.
She co-founded Columbia University Apartheid and Divest (CUAD), an organization that did not merely oppose the state of Israel but also celebrated terrorism outright. After the death of Yahya Sinwar, CUAD's Substack published a glowing eulogy of the Hamas terrorist who masterminded the October 7 attack on Israelis. CUAD hailed him as a "hero of the revolution" guided by "pragmatic optimism." The group called on its followers to "reflect on how we can make ourselves more like him."
Avila Chevalier was also involved with the related group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which explicitly celebrated the October 7th terrorist attack as a "historic win."
...
So it should come as no surprise that Avila Chevalier is not merely furious about the state of Israel. She is part of an activist movement that favors "the total eradication of Western civilization," a goal that--somehow--is not viewed as in tension with the movement's stated desire to prevent genocide. (One wonders how Avila Chevalier plans to make Western civilization go extinct without anybody getting hurt.) In keeping with her stated desire to eliminate the U.S.-led West, Avila Chevalier has previously commented in favor of Russia's invasion of Ukraine; i.e., she is not merely opposed to American involvement in the conflict (a defensible position) but affirmatively on the side of the attackers.
Indeed, Avila Chevalier's past statements on X--Twitter at the time--are a veritable gold mine of 2010-era radicalism. For instance: She wants to abolish not just the police but the very concept of policing entirely. For good measure, she views interracial relationships with suspicion, thought COVID-19 originated in France, and thinks white people are not hygienic.
Whatever you do, don't be racist. It's the worst thing in the word.
For you, I mean. For the left, it's political rocket fuel.
She refuses to answer when asked if she's a communist. So, obviously, yes. She's happy to identify herself as a terrorist. I'm not sure what's holding her back from admitting she's a communist.
'I'm Done, I'm Not in That F*cking Political Party': James Carville Freaks Out After Progressives Win Big in Democratic Primaries
Democratic strategist James Carville called for a "schism" in the Democratic Party, stating that he wants nothing to do with the likes of three candidates who won their Democratic primaries in New York.
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On Wednesday's Politicon podcast, Carville freaked out at the results. He noted that Avila Chevalier, who was born to Dominican immigrants, once said white people should not be in interracial marriages.
"Lady, I ain't in the same party as you," Carville said. "I'm sorry. I'm just not. And I actually do think it's time for Democrats to talk the 's' word: schism. I really do. Everybody's always said, 'No, no. We're a coalition. We're a big tent. And there's just some sh*t I can't be in the same tent with."
Carville then insisted that despite winning their Democratic primaries, "these people are not Democrats." He then suggested that establishment Democrats "negotiate the terms of a schism" with democratic socialists in the party.
"But I'm done," he continued. "I'm not in that f*cking political party. I am totally comfortable in a political party that spends time questioning the policies of the government of Israel. In fact, I'm enthusiastic about that. I don't want to be in a political party that denies the right of the state of Israel to exist. That's just not-- I just can't do that."
Why am I the only Democrat in the U.S. Senate that refuses to excuse this or defend any of those self-identified communists? pic.twitter.com/nKE3Yprp10
— U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) June 24, 2026
This is the DSA co-chair. Let me summarize what he says in this video:
We’re using the Democratic Party as a ballot-access vehicle, not because we share its goals. We build our own organization, get elected under the Democratic label, caucus with Democrats when it’s useful,… pic.twitter.com/zYwsv4J8Bt
Below, Jewish ultra-gay Senator Scott Wiener discovers that the new Islamic-Communist coalition doesn't like Jews very much at all, and isn't too fond of gays, either.
You can see the fear in his eyes, and while I have little in common with him, there is something relatable about this moment. It's no real consolation to point out that he tried appeasing the hatred (letting the rest of us be victimized). This is what we look like before the end. https://t.co/bwLJvRxjWM
Action thriller "Citizen Vigilante," starring Armie Hammer, has been banned in Germany for its extreme violence and alleged anti-migrant message, according to director Uwe Boll. The film, billed as a modern-day riff on "Death Wish," is being released in the U.S. on Friday by Quiver.
"The rating system refused to give us a rating [in Germany], so now you can only watch it if you bring in a Blu-ray from Austria or Switzerland," Boll told the Daily Telegraph. "And I think they did that on purpose. It was a deliberate censorship decision. I hired a lawyer to complain about it, but we lost in a six-two vote as I was told that the film was inciting violence against migrants."
"Citizen Vigilante," which begins with a mother being stabbed to death by migrant criminals in front of her son, features Hammer as Sanders, an ordinary man who is enraged by the breakdown of law and order and decides to deliver vigilante justice to criminals and the corrupt officials that protect them. His targets are mostly, but not exclusively, migrants.
"Citizen Vigilante" was inspired by a notorious case in Hamburg in 2016, when a group of teenagers gang-raped a 14-year-old girl and left her for dead, only for the perpetrators to walk free with suspended sentences.
"If you look at what happened in Hamburg, where the rapists walked free without any penalty, the coverage in the media was like 'Oh, the poor perpetrators,'" Boll told the Telegraph. "It's as if we're living in a completely insane and absurd political environment, especially in Europe, where people have completely lost track. There is a huge difference between so-called 'hate speech' and stabbing people in the neck. But facts don't matter anymore."
"It's absurd how I feel politically," Boll added. "Now you're being told that if you're a conservative about anything -- social, sexual, political -- that you're a Nazi. But this is how things stand at the moment. If you question anything -- such as the hundreds of billions being pumped into Ukraine -- then you're either a friend of Putin or a Nazi or both." When the Telegraph asked him if he was a Nazi, Boll laughed before answering: "I am not a Nazi!"
Just because he can, Elon Musk posted the entire movie on X. I assume he worked out some kind of payment for the filmmakers to compensate them. I guess he just wants the movie seen, including in Germany.
Well, Hollywood put out an explicitly pro-terrorist/pro-antifa/pro-bombing movie last years and then showered it with Oscars.
Paul Thomas Anderson's political thriller One Battle After Another earned 13 Academy Award nominations at the 2026 Oscars. It took home six awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay.Total Nominations (13)The film was the second most-nominated movie of the year, with nods in the following categories:
Best Picture - Adam Somner, Sara Murphy, Paul Thomas Anderson
Best Director - Paul Thomas Anderson
Best Adapted Screenplay - Paul Thomas Anderson
Best Actor - Leonardo DiCaprio
Best Supporting Actor - Benicio Del Toro
Best Supporting Actor - Sean Penn
Best Supporting Actress - Teyana Taylor
Best Original Score - Jonny Greenwood
Best Casting - Cassandra Kulukundis
Best Production Design
Best Film Editing
Best Sound
Best Cinematography - Michael Bauman
So I guess "Our Betters" have laid down the rule that a movie that can incite people to easily-achievable real-world violence is not only acceptable, but laudable.
As Evidence of Gavin Newsom's Corruption Grows, He Placates the Left By Announcing He'll Support a Communist Seizure of the Estates of His Rich Enemies
MacDonald said Tuesday that the DOJ probe "is about California Democrats' modern-day machine politics," which she described as a "feedback loop of Sacramento-corporate lobbyists-governor/wife nonprofit-behested nonprofit donations-lucrative state contracts-Sacramento."
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"The modern Sacramento machine trades corporate compliance and nonprofit funding/donations for policy access and state business," MacDonald added, and then explained how that grift (allegedly!) worked for the Newsoms:
According to IRS Form 990 disclosures, her nonprofit frequently buys from Siebel Newsom's for-profit film company--Girls Club Entertainment LLC--writer, producer and director services and the licensing and production rights for her documentaries. Then it sells the docs to the state and public schools.
IRS records show that her nonprofit has paid her Girls Club Entertainment LLC roughly $1.64 million for these production and licensing rights since 2012, which includes a steady annual contracting fee of $150,000 since 2018.
TL;DR: Siebel Newsom produced unwatchable propaganda videos for children, for which Democrat-dominated schools then paid her handsomely. Or as MacDonald summed it up, "Over the past decade, Siebel Newsom has collected over $3.7 million in combined personal salary and LLC payouts funded by the nonprofit."
Then there are behested payments, which MacDonald explained are "a unique mechanism in California politics where an elected official asks a corporation, labor union, or wealthy individual to donate money to a specific charity, nonprofit, or government program." Unlike campaign donations, there are no caps.
As governor, Newsom requested a record $226 million in behested payments in one year. "Hundreds of thousands of dollars went to the California Partners Project," MacDonald wrote, "a nonprofit founded by his wife."
"Many of the biggest donors were corporate giants (like health insurers and utility companies) actively bidding for lucrative state contracts or fighting state regulations."
As federal agents examine Newsom's connections, we decided to do the same. We reviewed records dating back to his tenure as mayor of San Francisco. They reveal that, over nearly three decades in politics, Newsom has amassed a network of appointees, employees, and associates implicated in a range of ethical violations and criminal offenses--including, in some cases, serious felonies.
Newsom has suggested he wants to improve California's culture of self-dealing. Last year, his spokesperson said that "the governor expects all public servants to uphold the highest standards of integrity." Our review reveals that, in fact, Newsom has surrounded himself with corruption and criminals.
This is Gavin Newsom's circle of corruption.
Dana Williamson
Governor Newsom appointed Dana Williamson, a "bareknuckle political brawler," as chief of staff in January 2023. Less than two years later, she left the governor's office after becoming the subject of a federal corruption probe. Last month, she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, among other charges.
Williamson was involved in multiple corrupt schemes that began before she joined Newsom's office. In one, prosecutors say, she and two others conspired to drain $225,000 from a dormant campaign account belonging to Xavier Becerra. In another, Williamson claimed bogus business expenses worth $1.7 million, which she used to purchase luxury vacations and "private jet travel."
She also faced a charge stemming from the investigation itself. Last month, Williamson pleaded guilty to having made false statements to federal agents. The DOJ reported that Williamson had hoped to distract the FBI from her criminal conduct by, among other things, concealing her "involvement in passing information to former clients . . . to give them an advantage in litigation against the state."
According to one Democratic consultant, Williamson operated "like a mafia boss."
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Mohammed Nuru
Mohammed Nuru was a public works official under Mayor Newsom. For years, Nuru was a major figure in city politics, exercising "substantial power and influence over" San Francisco's "business and policy, including its public contracts, permits, and construction projects."
In 2020, Nuru was arrested for his role in a massive bribery and corruption scandal. For more than a decade, he had orchestrated a bribe-and-kickback racket, exercising his political power in exchange for cash and gifts. In 2022, Nuru pleaded guilty to federal charges and was sentenced to seven years in prison.
Newsom's ties to Nuru predate his mayoralty. Nuru had reportedly volunteered on Newsom's first mayoral campaign while serving in city government. In 2003, Nuru allegedly helped orchestrate a coercive voting scheme through the San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners (SLUG), a city-funded nonprofit under contract with his department.
The alleged scheme involved coercion. In January 2004, nine SLUG street cleaners spoke to the San Francisco Chronicle and claimed that Nuru pulled them off work to campaign door-to-door. Four workers said that SLUG "crew chiefs" requested their voting receipts. "I felt like I was in another country, like it was some kind of dictatorship," one said.
Newsom won a narrow runoff. He received roughly 25,600 more absentee votes than his opponent--the same ballot type that nine workers alleged they were coerced into casting for Newsom. San Francisco's city attorney later confirmed that SLUG had misused city funds to influence an election, and the nonprofit was barred from receiving future city contracts.
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"For at least twelve years, Nuru shook down contractors eager for City business, trading his authority and influence for millions of dollars in cash, construction work, travel, meals, and gifts," U.S. Attorney Stephanie Hinds said in a statement after Nuru's sentencing. "His abhorrent conduct erodes the public's trust in its government, and this case demonstrates the justice system can and will punish corrupt public officials."
You get the idea. Read the whole thing for more.
Now that the hard left has almost completely taken over the Democrat Party, Newsom is giving up his former resistance to a communist seizing of the estates and embracing it.
And he needs to -- he needs to change the topic of conversation from "Newsom is a corrupt caudillo" to "Newsom is a communist."
He'd rather have the latter argument -- at least there's a growing constituency for communism in the Democrat Party.
Gavin Newsom opposes a California wealth tax. He's proposing a national billionaire tax instead
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday proposed a national tax on billionaires that he says is the first part of an "economic reset for America" agenda, which aides explicitly say is part of his considering to launch a presidential campaign.
"The system America's founders built was designed to prevent the concentration of power in a few hands, but we have allowed that concentration to happen anyway, slowly, in plain sight, over decades," Newsom writes. "We can reverse it together, as a country."
It is extremely early in the presidential campaign cycle for a policy proposal -- but comes as Democrats continue to embrace economic populism
"Economic populism," CNN? Isn't there a more accurate term for the confiscation of the estates of the wealthy?
and moves against the wealthy. It also comes as California voters in November will decide on a billionaires' tax after the governor and opponents of the tax late Thursday failed to reach a deal to keep it off the ballot.
Newsom, who is term-limited in California and will leave office in January 2027, lays out his proposal in a Substack post that went live on Friday morning, calling for a minimum tax on anyone worth more than $100 million so that they pay at least the same rate, rather than less, than the average American worker who doesn't have loopholes and other maneuvers to benefit from.
Newsom's shift is an important moment in Democrat-Communist Politics. He would allegedly be considered an "establishment" Democrat, meaning, as David Strom says, he's part of the Organized Crime Democrat Party that Hillary Clinton belongs to, the wing that's primarily interested in extorting money from corporations and putting it into their own pockets.
By now siding completely with the DSA communists, he's announcing that the Democrat establishment is now fully communist as well.
Robert Sterling
@RobertMSterling
Three things:
1. "It's time for an economic reset" is the most terrifying thing I've ever heard an American politician say. If you don't get what those words portend, you don't understand 20th century history.
2. Among Democrats, Newsom is considered a moderate, not a progressive. His endorsement of a wealth tax makes it an official part of the Democratic Party platform for moderates and progressives alike; the policy is now table stakes for any Democrat seeking office at any level and in any region. We are no longer going to be able to escape this by simply claiming it's the fringe left advocating for it.
3. Notice that Newsom calls it a "billionaires tax" but references the wealth of the top 10%. If you think a tax such as this would be limited to billionaires, you are delusional (remember that the income tax originally applied to less than 1% of earners). Billionaires have an entire industry of wealth managers, lawyers, and tax advisors helping them shelter assets. When this "billionaires tax" fails to collect even a small percentage of what Democrats promise it will, they will quickly expand it to apply to anyone with even $5M of assets (which is a top 2% net worth). Ordinary people far below the level of the ultra-wealthy--main street small business owners, mom-and-pop real estate investors, farmers, anyone with a decent-size nest egg in their IRA or 401k account--will quickly feel the pain as well.
Pay attention. This is serious, it's not going away, and it's going to come for all of us, billionaire or not.
Below, Gavin Newsom femsplains that he's only being accused of corruption (originally by the Biden DOJ!) because, unlike the right, the left has no media machine to amplify political attacks on their enemies.
Gavin Newsom says he doesn’t think there’s a Democrat-friendly media ecosystem. I’m beginning to admire Newsom on a sheer-balls level pic.twitter.com/ycjnTzPIUe
Former Colorado DNA analyst pleads guilty to manipulating data in agreement with prosecutors
A former DNA analyst with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation changed her plea to guilty in court on Tuesday to four charges, as part of an agreement in which prosecutors dropped 100 other counts she was facing.
Yvonne "Missy" Woods reached a plea agreement with prosecutors after she was accused of mishandling or manipulating data in dozens of criminal investigations, casting doubt on many cases in which she was involved. She pleaded guilty to one count each of cybercrime, perjury, attempt to influence a public servant and forgery.
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Woods agreed to a stipulated sentence of between eight and 16 years of prison as part of the guilty plea agreement.
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CBI said it launched an investigation into over 1,000 cases in which Woods had some sort of involvement. The agency said it looked at cases from 1994 to 2023, when she was placed on administrative leave and then retired.
According to an arrest affidavit, investigators said Woods intentionally left DNA samples out of tests or reports and sometimes would test samples until the results showed what she wanted....
Investigators alleged that Woods deleted some findings of what are called "specific values" in more than 30 sexual assault cases. She was accused of submitting reports that said no male DNA was found, when there was, in fact, male DNA or possible contamination that should have been retested.
Woods worked at CBI's Denver regional laboratory in Lakewood until the facility moved to Arvada in 2016, where she worked until she retired in 2023.
Her shoddy work resulted in a convicted murderer going free. I don't know if he was actually innocent and framed, or if this woman's incompetence freed a guilty man.
A Colorado man convicted of murder over a decade ago in Boulder was released from prison in April 2025 after his lawyers say DNA evidence in the case was mishandled by Woods. Michael Clark spent 12 years behind bars but always maintained his innocence in the 1994 murder of Marty Grisham.
The district attorney in Boulder, Michael Dougherty, says the DNA evidence wasn't the only problem with the case.
"The Clark case I look at somewhat differently, because in addition to the concerns we had about Missy Wood's involvement, we also had really significant concerns about juror misconduct, also ineffective assistance of counsel," said Dougherty. "But there are other cases where the DNA evidence played a really important role, and the misconduct by Missy Woods had an incredibly damaging effect on our ability to do justice for the case. And it's caused us to revisit different cases and open old wounds for victims and their families, and that's true in offices around the metro area."
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"She doctored testing results to avoid testing," pointed out Jud Lohnes, an attorney with the Korey Wise Innocence Project at CU Boulder Law. "And that has a dramatic effect on both defendants and victims. Defendants who may have been deprived of DNA testing that could have proved their innocence, and victims of crimes who, whose cases may have withered on the vine because she didn't conduct the DNA testing that could have brought the true perpetrator to justice."
The bureau's investigation revealed that Woods' misconduct impacted a total of 1,003 cases. A second internal affairs investigation report, which says Woods admitted to purposefully deleting data, states she omitted facts in criminal justice records and tampered with DNA testing by altering or omitting test results from case files.
According to the CBI's investigation report, an intern found an anomaly in Woods' past DNA work during a research project on sex assault kits, which triggered the internal affairs investigation.
According to the 35-page arrest affidavit, Woods admitted to investigators that she deleted data in some cases to avoid taking additional steps. This included reporting she had not found male DNA in several sexual assault cases, despite having found small amounts.
Woods admitted she purposefully deleted data, according to an internal affairs investigation conducted by a team in Kansas. That investigation found she omitted facts in criminal justice records and tampered with DNA testing by altering or omitting test results from the case file. The internal affairs investigation did not find evidence Woods falsified DNA matches, but instead that she deviated from standard testing protocols.
This woman should receive the same sentence that everyone else did who was innocent and spent time behind bars, simultaneously. Pure evil. pic.twitter.com/9XfHqP3U3z
— The Disrespected Trucker (@DisrespectedThe) June 26, 2026
Islamic call to prayer faces ban under Left-wing Danish government
Parts of country feel like 'a suburb of Islamabad', says immigration minister
Denmark's immigration minister has announced plans to ban the Islamic call to prayer, claiming parts of the country felt like "a suburb of Islamabad".
Morten Bødskov, a member of the centre-Left Social Democrats party, said the new government would resume an investigation into the legality of imposing a ban.
"The call to prayer should not be heard over Danish rooftops," the minister told news outlet Ritzau. "It has no place in Denmark, and you shouldn't be in any doubt whether you've ended up in a suburb of Islamabad when you walk around Denmark."
Denmark has previously prided itself as being "the happiest place on earth," according to polls about satisfaction with the country.
In parts of the country, such as Copenhagen, bylaws already forbid the call to prayer being broadcast from loudspeakers in minarets because of strict noise limits.
Mr Bødskov also claimed that a creeping "Islamisation" in Denmark was "taking up too much of the public space".
The Adhan, or call to prayer, is performed five times a day to summon Muslim worshippers to their mosque, traditionally via loudspeakers in minarets.
It is the third time a Danish immigration minister has tried to build a legal framework for banning the call to prayer, after similar attempts by the Social Democrats in 2020 and 2025.
Denmark has imposed some of the toughest migration rules in Europe under Mette Frederiksen, the country's Left-leaning prime minister, who began her third term earlier this month.
Under its so-called "ghetto" laws, Danish authorities are allowed to force migrants to relocate from a neighbourhood if it has too many foreign residents.
In some cases, asylum seekers are required to give up their jewellery and other valuable possessions to cover their housing costs, and they receive no financial support if their claim is rejected.
🇩🇰 The Danish Minister of Immigration announced plans to ban the Islamic call to prayer, stating that some areas of the country resemble the “suburbs of Islamabad”
“The call to prayer should not sound from the roofs of Danish houses,” the minister told the news outlet Ritzau.… pic.twitter.com/U5JUUvQvdL
DHS General Counsel: It's Closing Time. Haitians Don't Have to Go Home, But They Can't Stay Here
—Disinformation Expert Ace
Bill Melugin
@BillMelugin_
NEW: I asked DHS General Counsel James Percival if DHS will allow a grace period for the 300,000+ Haitians who are having their TPS terminated to leave the country, or will arrests and deportations begin immediately?
"It's closing time, they don't have to go home, but they can't stay," Percival said.
He urged the Haitians to use the CBP Home app and take advantage of a $2,600 payment to self deport instead of being subjected to ICE arrest & detention.
Immigration promoters claim it's not safe to send them back to Haiti, because the aftershocks of that 1993 earthquake are still being felt.
But this is yet another lie. They didn't come from Haiti. Most of the Haitians let into the United States took shelter in other third-party countries, but then tore up their documentation to make asylum claims in America.
Jessica Vaughan
@JessicaV_CIS
A large share of Haitians (and Cubans & Venezuelans) who were allowed in under Biden did not come from their home countries but from 3rd countries like Chile, Brazil and Spain, where they had residency & work permits. So they can return there if they don't want to go home.
Bill Melugin
@BillMelugin_
100% correct. When I was at the Del Rio, TX Haitian bridge camp in 2021, many of the Haitians told me they had been living in Chile & Brazil for years before coming to the US illegally for economic (not safety) reasons. The Haitians were dumping & tearing up their Chilean documents at the river's edge hide this fact from the US so it wouldn't hurt their fraudulent asylum claims.
The idea that all these Haitians came directly from Haiti after an earthquake or assassination is false. Many of them were living happily and safely for years in South America until Biden's open border policies became too attractive to pass up. Others also flew into the US via Biden's CHNV mass parole program which was supposed to be for only 2 year humanitarian parole grants. Of course, most never left.
100% correct. When I was at the Del Rio, TX Haitian bridge camp in 2021, many of the Haitians told me they had been living in Chile & Brazil for years before coming to the US illegally for economic (not safety) reasons. The Haitians were dumping & tearing up their Chilean… https://t.co/KbbX55bKdapic.twitter.com/okEZkjRoqI
THE MORNING RANT: Apple and the NFL Are Diverging on the “Financialize Everything” Business Fad
—Buck Throckmorton
A subject I frequently return to is the destructive business trend that some critics refer to as “The Financialization of Everything,” which seeks maximum short-term profit through whatever means, irrespective of the long-term damage it causes.
MGM Resorts and Panera Bread are two vivid examples of companies who did immense damage to their brands by pursuing a strategy of slashing headcount, reducing quality, and gouging customers. As I wrote in a piece last November about their greedy self-harm, “A corporation can target its loyal customers for revenue mining and temporarily increase its profits. It can also slash employee headcount and customer service, thereby reducing labor expense to produce a short-term increase in profits. It can even reduce its product size and cheapen the product’s quality to reduce cost of goods sold, also giving a short-term boost to gross profit. But in every case, these actions tell customers that rather than being valued, the corporation sees customers as marks to be exploited. A great many customers may get hoodwinked once, providing the short-term profit boost that was being sought, but then never come back, thus destroying the company’s long-term prospects. A downward spiral of alienated customers, declining revenue, deteriorating facilities, and degraded reputation ensues.”
Related to this, there are two recent business stories that have caught my attention. On the positive side, Apple may have re-discovered the value of having a loyalty-building “loss leader.” On the negative side, the NFL has reached the “eating its seed corn” level of revenue mining, by forsaking long-time customers and future fans to gain a short-term increase in streaming revenue. Here’s a quick look at both of them:
1) APPLE
An individual named Aakash Gupta explained on X/Twitter how Apple TV+ loses over a billion dollars per year, but rather than being a money-losing problem, Apple TV+ is instead a strategic “loss leader” which draws in users and revenue for its other products. Mr. Gupta wrote:
Apple deliberately built the only money-losing service in its entire company, and it might be the smartest line item they have. Apple TV+ loses over a billion dollars a year.
Music, the App Store, iCloud all print money. TV+ bleeds. And this was the plan: the projections written before launch budgeted $15 to $20 billion in losses across the first decade. Here's the math that makes it rational. Apple cleared $93.7 billion in profit last year. A billion-dollar TV loss runs about 1% of that. For that 1%, Apple gets Severance, Ted Lasso, a wall of Emmys, and a legendary game designer telling his millions of followers he couldn't stop watching their new horror show until 2am.
Netflix spends $18 billion a year on content to own that cultural slot. Apple spends $4.5 billion, eats a $1 billion loss, and buys a version of the same prestige for a fraction of the price. The show is the marketing. Every awards sweep quietly answers the only question that matters to someone choosing between a $1,200 iPhone and a cheaper Android: which company makes things worth your time. TV+ has under 1% of US streaming viewership. By streaming math, that's a flop. By Apple math, it's a rounding error that makes a $3 trillion hardware company feel like culture. Cheapest marketing budget in the building.
Matthew J. Peterson of the Claremont Institute reposted Mr. Gupta’s tweet about Apple TV+ with the advice to “Internalize this.” Good advice. More businesses need to do so.
In fact, that was pretty much the thesis of a piece I wrote for The Blaze which discussed how Buc-ees provides gas at loss-leader pricing and has famously clean restrooms that are free to all. In return, patrons flock in and spend their money on other goods. Buc-ees is also well staffed and pays its employees very well, ensuring that customers receive excellent service and that the store is immaculately maintained. Everything Buc-ees does is contrary to the business school practices that caused so much damage to Panera and MGM Resorts.
2) The NFL
The NFL, which is a monopoly without competition, has shown that it is fully committed to this familiar strategy of short-term revenue-maxing, irrespective of how it affects long-term customer retention.
Clay Travis testified before Congress a few days ago (the transcript is here) about the NFL divvying up its product among numerous subscriber-only streaming services, and how this is a betrayal of the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961. That congressional act from 65 years ago provided professional sports leagues with anti-trust protection and other special privileges. In exchange, the sports leagues were required to sell viewing rights to their product to over-the-air television networks.
What should we expect from a reasonable fan and what should Congress do to ensure he's not being taken advantage of by sports leagues who are exploiting laws put on the books back in 1961, when television was a new technology and its implications were just being tested, to extract more money from the reasonable fan while giving him less in return for his money? I would submit that the absolute bare minimum a reasonable fan should expect is a fair price for a fair product. That bargain no longer exists. I would submit that reasonable fans have been taken advantage of over the past generation, that at some point we all started getting charged way more and getting way less, and I would submit that this is the exact opposite direction that a successful marketplace should move in a capitalistic society. Our sports fan viewing experience is broken when it comes both to affordability and access.
Mr. Travis points out in his testimony that to watch the full slate of NFL games and his favorite MLB baseball team, he must have 12 different subscription services beyond the ever-shrinking number of games that are shown on over-the-air television.
This sparked an interesting online discussion among some friends of this blog:
Hampton Prescott: “Sports leagues used to recognize the set up they had – benefiting from monopoly under the implicit knowledge that they maintained at least a resemblance of accessibility. Now nosebleeds going for $10K & spreading coverage behind multiple paywalls risks blowing the whole thing up.”
George MF Washington: “I can’t believe the number of smart people who don’t see the problem here. I think I watched two, maybe three NFL games last season. Ten years ago I would’ve laughed if you told me that.”
Hampton Prescott: “As you know very well being in the entertainment industry, eventually the reservoir of goodwill dries up if neglected.”
Buck Throckmorton: “’Goodwill’ is an actual Balance Sheet asset that has value. The short-term spike in revenue that comes from degrading a sports league’s customer goodwill is no different than removing equity from a business, running it through the Income Statement & then announcing record Revenue.”
Hampton Prescott: “This is a vital point that the financial engineers frequently miss.”
It’s time to revoke the anti-trust protections of these monopoly sports leagues. Ace himself advocated this point in a recent piece about MLB forcing players to wear uniforms advocating for the LGBT agenda while prohibiting those same players from displaying their Christian faith.
Look at the despair and the sorrow of the people unable to rescue their injured loved ones from beneath the tons and tons of rubble, some of them calling out, dying, in homes transforming by the hour into tombs. . . There's no search and rescue, there's no ambulances, there's no hospitals, there's no fire trucks, and yes, fires are breaking out nightmarishly enough -- Venezuela's health care lies in ruins - nor is there an organized effort to dig out.
Socialism has well and truly taken over in that country, and as this leftish but still good essayist in the Caracas Chronicles notes, one of the effects is that the state has abandoned its basic functions of government. . .
Since at least 2022, the Venezuelan state has increasingly adopted a hands-off approach to governance. This shift, shaped by a post-socialist form of laissez-faire economic policy, reduced state control over large parts of the economy and contributed to a modest but visible revival in business activity. In many ways, the tate appeared to retreat from major areas of public administration while preserving absolute control over others, particularly the security apparatus and the machinery of censorship and political repression.
Young urban voters across the country are flocking to the hip new politics of urban socialism.
Across urban America, the socialists are on a roll.
This week, all three democratic socialist candidates backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani won their primaries for the U.S. House in deep blue New York City. You might be tempted to dismiss the latest victories on the grounds that New York City — which recently elected Mayor Zohran “Warmth of Collectivism” Mamdani — is America’s designated socialism containment zone. But the far-left’s momentum is by no means unique to The Empire State. Arguably more important are the democratic socialists’ victories in some of America’s other largest cities, representing a realignment where the urban, educated base of the Democratic Party increasingly sees the once-poisonous s-word in a candidate’s biography as a credential rather than a liability.
Political scientist John Sides recently dropped a data-heavy report detailing a massive vibe shift that has left the professional panic-mongers utterly bewildered. For decades, the media smugly preached the gospel of the "inevitable liberal consensus." The theory was simple: as old conservatives died off, the enlightened youth would usher in a progressive utopia of gender-neutral communes and government-mandated weed dispensaries. It was a nice little fantasy for the faculty lounge, but the data shows it has officially crashed at high speed into the brick wall of reality. . .
. . . The beautiful irony in all of this is that the left’s aggressive push to colonize every corner of American life has utterly backfired. By turning every major institution—from universities to comic books to Fortune 500 companies—into a humorless, hyper-woke HR department, they did the unthinkable: they made conservatism cool again.
So, as we approach America's 250th birthday whither our future? Will the era of Donald Trump be merely a one-off last desperate gasp of the last remnants of the saner children of the Greatest Generation to stave off disaster or will it be the harbinger of American revival?
As Tina Turner sang it "Will our story shine like a light, or end in the dark?!"
The attack casts further uncertainty on the stability of the recent agreement between the U.S. and Iran, which is aimed at ending the conflict. Specifically, the attack is likely to complicate the ongoing dispute over shipping routes. The U.S. wants to allow vessels to sail freely along the Omani coastline, while Iran is opposed, arguing that all vessels should seek permission before entering the Strait of Hormuz. Iran Attacks Ship in Strait of Hormuz, Defying U.S. Deal.
Obviously, the U.S. would never adopt the Soviet approach. However, what the Soviet’s response reveals is that in any negotiations with Iran, there can be no quarter. Dealing With Islamic Extremism: How The Soviets Did It
CIVIL WAR 2.0, LEFTIST PERSECUTIONS, DEMOCRAT PUTSCH, AMERICAN DISSOLUTION
Sammie Lee says she was leaving Whiskey J’s bar in Longview, Texas when she was attacked by a group of girls she had never met before, Fox News reported. Lee alleged that the crowd was angered by the verdict against Karmelo Anthony — the 19-year-old who was sentenced to 35 years in prison after being found guilty of murdering Austin Metcalf in a fatal stabbing at a high school track meet. Mob Shouting ‘Free Karmelo’ Violently Assaults ‘The Smallest White Girl They Could Find,’ She Claims
If convicted on all three arson charges, Rinderknecht could face up to 45 years in prison. In a summary of Rinderknecht’s answers during questioning, investigators wrote: “[Rinderknecht] responded that it would be out of resentment of the rich enjoying their money as ‘we’re basically being enslaved by them.'” This case could potentially represent another instance of far-left terrorism, comparable to the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024, allegedly carried out by Luigi Mangione. Alleged Palisades Fire Arsonist Wanted to Punish ‘The Wealthy’ for ‘Destroying the World.’
Chevalier, a convert to Islam, has called for the abolition of police, prisons and the country’s borders. She also co-founded Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a Muslim Brotherhood front group whose goals are the “full eradication of Western civilization” and the cultivation of “unrest and violence in America.” All three candidates made ending American support for Israel a centerpiece of their campaigns. All three used the “genocide” libel against the Jewish state. Chevalier has doubled down on the support she voiced for Hamas the day after the terrorist group led the attack against Israel on Oct. 7. NYC’s black-red alliance of Islamism and ultra-leftism wants us to hate Israel and America
On Thursday, Judge Evelyn Padin, appointed to the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey in 2022 by Biden, dismissed the DOJ’s case against the cities of Newark, Hoboken, Jersey City, and Paterson for their sanctuary policies that shield illegal aliens from federal immigration law. Biden-Appointed Judge Throws Out DOJ Lawsuit Against New Jersey Sanctuary Cities
“The Trump Administration greatly improved the integrity of SNAP, but cooperation from the states remains vital to ensure that federal funds go only to eligible Americans,” said DOGE Chairman Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) “In Fiscal Year 2024, SNAP cost taxpayers $100 billion, despite a payment error rate of nearly 11 percent.” House DOGE Committee Launches Investigation Into Blue States That Refused to Provide SNAP Data to USDA
The unspoken assumption of the UK rape gang scandal: Muslims are at war with us. Rape as a Weapon of War
Because the religion’s clearly stated rules are hostile to Western norms and our Constitution, Western governments fail their citizens by refusing to address it. The Tenets Of Islam: License To Kill
FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS, MEDIA, BIG BROTHER TECH
Race hustling commentator Joy Reid claims that, because of slavery that she nor anyone she knows experienced, black people don't celebrate the 4th of July. It's like they made her in a moron factory. Joyless Reid Speaks For ALL Black People...Apparently
Grassley agreed to allow lower-profile executives to testify in their places at the hearing scheduled for July 28, Politico reported, citing five sources familiar with the events. In return, the White House said it would support the James T. Woods Act, a package that would combat online child exploitation. Washington’s Special Rules For Tech Oligarchs Reportedly Let Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai Off Hook
The price increases could set a precedent for other PC and tablet manufacturers. While Apple’s loyal customer base is expected to absorb the hikes without significant backlash, the broader tech industry may face challenges in maintaining affordability. Apple Announces Huge Price Hikes, Citing Soaring Chip Costs.
RED-GREENS, CLIMATE CHANGE HOAX, DEMOCRAT-LEFT WAR ON FOSSIL FUELS,
Ferrari expressed gratitude for Galliera’s contributions and stated that he had “decided to embark on a new chapter in his professional journey — a decision shared with the company some time ago.” The announcement notably made no reference to the recent launch of the Luce, Ferrari’s inaugural electric vehicle, which has generated massively negative attention when revealed in May. EV Loser: Ferrari Marketing Chief Steps Down After Electric Car Fiasco
We already know that Joe Biden tried to turn our border into a free-for-all and treated narcos with kid gloves, but now, we're learning it's even worse than we imagined. . . According to a new report out by the Associated Press, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) "permitted hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to hit the streets of New Mexico between 2023 and 2025." Essentially, the agency knowingly allowed the drug to hit U.S. communities, so it could focus on going after bigger fish. Trump's Blowing Up Narcos. Biden Ignored Them — Now We're Learning Just How Bad It Was.
EDUCATION, AND WHAT PASSES FOR IT
A defense of Western meritocracy against the academically destructive DEI incursion. The Decline Of Academia
While the issue of voter fraud will always be subject to debate and scrutiny, Scanlon’s claim that voter ID would disenfranchise voters falls short when examining the facts. In Georgia, for instance, where similar laws were put into effect, voter turnout either went up or stayed relatively the same. During the 2022 midterms following several reforms, early voting actually tripled from 2018 and doubled from 2020, with black voters casting over 100,000 more early ballots than they did in 2018. Fact Check: Democrat Mary Gay Scanlon Claims SAVE Act Would Disenfranchise Half of Pennsylvania Voters (Translation: 50% of PA voters are foreigners and or dead and 100% Democrat - jjs)
DEMOCRAT/LEFTIST AND RINO SCANDALS, MESHUGAS, CHUTZPOCRISY, INSANITY
The four-minute video. . . intersperses headlines and news-anchor segments about allegations and controversies surrounding Platner with clips of Democrat senators, representatives, governors, and candidates being pressed on whether they support him, whether he has the character to serve in the U.S. Senate, and whether they would campaign with him. Exclusive — RNC Video Shows Democrats Squirming over Support for Graham Platner
As socialist candidates surge in New York and New York City, it’s worth noting that one leader of New York City’s Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) chapter is the niece of Neville Roy Singham — a propagandist for the Chinese Communist Party and ardent supporter of Maoism and socialism. NYC Socialist ‘Leader’ Is Billionaire CCP Propagandist’s Niece
POLITICS
Today's young conservatives have looked at the mandated chaos of modern progressivism and realized that the ultimate middle finger to the regime isn't self-destruction but self-mastery. America's young conservatives are leading a counterrevolution
Tuesday’s Democratic Socialist romp can’t be blamed on outside factors like inflation or Israel or the national party’s mad obsession with countering President Donald Trump’s every move.
No, it’s the result of 15 years of New York Democrats’ single-party rule — and the monstrous ego of Andrew Cuomo. (No it's 80-200 years of the lust for absolute power of the thousands who voted for it over and over again - jjs) Look in the mirror, New York Democrats — your misrule paved the DSA’s way
Young urban voters across the country are flocking to the hip new politics of urban socialism. Big City Socialism In Every Pot
The California congressman embodies the uneasy place of Indian Americans in progressive racial politics. The Meaning of Ro Khanna
FOREIGN AFFAIRS, INTERNATIONAL
Rogers’ remarks are likely to resonate with those advocating for a stronger post-Brexit Britain, while also serving as a critique of the country’s current leadership, and policies that have failed to deliver on Brexit’s potential. Her comments echo those of President Donald J. Trump during King Charles III’s recent state visit to America, where he also emphasized the shared heritage of Britain and America. Under-Secretary Rogers Backs Britain: ‘Our Greatness Comes From You.’
Fred Fleitz: Putin’s war machine is facing mounting pressure as Ukraine’s drone strikes expose Russia’s vulnerabilities, leaving the Kremlin leader with one choice: negotiate before the window closes. Why Putin Needs a Deal with Trump Now
In a 7-2 decision authored by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Monsanto’s parent company Bayer, stating that U.S. states cannot require pesticide label warnings beyond those mandated by federal regulation. In handing down its decision, the Court halted thousands of lawsuits alleging that the Big Pharma company failed to warn consumers about the weedkiller’s potential cancer risks. (RELATED: Anna Paulina Luna Takes Swing At John Thune As GOP Factions Battle Over MAHA-Backed Pesticide Provision) MAHA World Livid After SCOTUS Pesticides Ruling
“Wave after wave of therapeutic fads have washed over our society...This ship is unlikely to turn around any time soon.” Stop Talking About Mental Health
ACTUAL SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY
One interesting tidbit: Though the data suggests both planets are spherical, this is not confirmed with certainty. Overall, the nature of such puffy planets is not really understood at this time. Astronomers discover two exoplanets as dense as cotton candy
Iger’s “approach to the Trump administration was scrutinised when Kimmel was taken off the air following his comments about the shooting of the rightwing culture warrior Charlie Kirk,” writes the Financial Times. “Iger says people mistook the move as being politically motivated.” Ex-Disney CEO Iger Says Trump Had Nothing to Do with Kimmel Suspension
ALSO: The Morning Report cross-posts at CutJibNewsletter.com usually within an hour or so of posting here, if you want to continue the conversation all day.
I bought 96GB of RAM six months ago for $300. Yes, it was older, slower DDR4, but that was already months into the Rampocalypse and Apple now charges that much for 12GB.
Meanwhile we're still waiting for the M5 Ultra - there was no M4 Ultra - but not making any plans to buy it given the pricing of the M3 Ultra models I just mentioned.
It has a lower resolution screen than the MacBook Neo, but has ten I/O ports including wired Ethernet compared with just three on the Neo. Weight is almost identical as well.
And it's now significantly cheaper rather than just barely.
It's back and it's exactly the same as it was before but $100 cheaper.
If you mostly want to play games and you have a good graphics card and already have a bunch of DDR4 memory, it might make sense. But at $350 the eight core 5800X3D costs more than the sixteen core 5900XT, and unless you only play games it might not be the best choice.
I think I might go for the 5900XT. I checked the Passmark subscores and it actually performs well except on a couple of specific tests where it is limited by the DDR4 bandwidth. For the stuff I tend to do it will be twice as fast as the 5800X3D.
This isn't expected to reach production for another five years, but in the photos you can see the true scale of the advance because you can count the individual silicon atoms. They use a transmission electron microscope to scan the chip, and it can actually resolve that level of detail.
It's a compact 8"x8"x6" box with a sixteen core Intel CPU, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of SSD, and an Nvidia graphics card, and starts at just $239.
There's a catch or two: The CPU is an Intel Xeon E5-2698v3 from 2014, the memory is DDR4 (which might be good or bad depending), and the Nvidia GPU starts with the GTS 450 from 2010. For $369 you get upgraded to the much more capable GTX 1650.
Congrats to an 87-year-old man named Lee McFarland for making a hole-in-one—but also for taking one of the best hole-in-one photos ever.
McFarland made his ace at Chippewa Golf Club just outside Toledo earlier this week by knocking in a driver from 135 yards out. And did he celebrate his impressive accomplishment? Your damn right he did.
A beer AND a cigarette in hand by the time you pluck your golf ball out of the hole is amazing stuff. That guy was ready to rock.
And apparently, he kept up the good play as well. As you can see, Lee also shot his age.
I'm sure as writers we all feel the pressure of The Big Scenes—and we know when we're coming to them. Usually, they approach like a landmark in the writing process, if you visualize writing a script like traveling the Oregon Trail. You have to reach them and make sure they count.
These scenes are usually huge, pivotal character moments or the big confrontations. Sometimes they are dialogue-heavy, which I find is the bigger challenge than writing straight action. What are characters communicating in the silence between words? What are the minuscule differences between their potential word choices? How can you make sure it's both emotional and realistic?
That's why I love looking at scenes like this one from the end of Tombstone, in which Doc Holliday delivers one of the film's biggest gut-punches of dialogue: "There's no normal life, Wyatt. There's just life."
Val Kilmer was one of my favorite actors. This is a great example of why.
Now for the not so good article. Some AWFL writer from ScreenRant takes umbrage with Tombstone when viewed through modern day woke lenses.
Whether it’s Val Kilmer’s legendary delivery of "I’m your huckleberry" or the sheer, kinetic energy of its iconic shootout, Tombstone feels like an immovable object in our collective pop culture consciousness. Who among us doesn't have a soft spot for this movie? It is a quintessential crowd-pleaser that demands to be watched on a loop, forever cemented as a high-water mark for the genre.
However, the nature of the movie—and the culture that consumes it—is inherently fluid. As the years have marched on, rewatching Tombstone through a contemporary lens reveals that even the most beloved classics are not immune to the passage of time. Looking back at the movie in 2026, it becomes clear that its status as a perfect western is complicated by evolving standards in storytelling, character depth, and the ways in which historical narratives are presented on screen.
This is not a condemnation of what Tombstone achieves, but rather an exploration of why certain elements that once felt like standard genre conventions now land with a bit of friction. By examining these aspects, we aren't trying to tear down a legend, but rather engaging with the reality of how our perspective shifts three decades later. Let’s look at the elements of this legendary film that make it a bit tougher to process through modern eyes.
You really need to read this whole thing for yourself. It's a hoot.
Female Characters Suffer From Lack Of Agency
Outdated Tough Guy Tropes Feel Cartoonish Today
Historical Accuracy Takes A Backseat To Myth
Those are just a few of the AWFL problems with Tombstone. Go read the article for the rest. And be sure to check out the comments - some of them could have been written by Hordelings!
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This guy needs to bring that beauty of a weapon to the ranch in October!
An Update about Grammie Winger: She is doing poorly...she is in the hospital and is having a tough go of it. She would love to hear from you folks, so anyone who would like to contact her is welcome to her address! Please contact Bluebell at moroncookbook@gmail.com for her contact info. (I expect her local post office to be furious with us!) [CBD]
Podcast: Sefton and CBD commiserate about the NYC primaries and whether the contagion will spread, J.D. Vance is becoming a cypher, Texas Antifa gets a wake-up call, and more!
NEW: Just heard something extraordinary from a former White House official who worked with former National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster in Trump45's NSC: "McMaster had weekly phone calls with George Soros. We have no idea why." Neither could be reached for comment.
Podcast: CBD and Sefton dissect the Iran treaty but praise the great U.S. military, decry the deep state's influence on SAVE and FISA, talk marijuana and guns, mock the Northeast's racism, and Go Knicks!
Update to Gavin Newsom Under Investigation story: This investigation was begun under Senor Dementia:
Adam Housley
@adamhousley
As I have reported several times and now acknowledged by the Governor of California... Gavin and his wife are under federal investigation... what he failed to tell you... This began during the Biden Admin. Kind of a big detail.
