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
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published.
Contact OrangeEnt for info: maildrop62 at proton dot me
Communist Foreign Jihadi Theater Kid Zohran Mamdani Loves the Homeless So He Stopped All Police Sweeps of Homeless Encampments During Severe Weather. Now He's Killed 17 Homeless People With His "Caring"
—Ace
Homeless people want to be homeless. That's the fact. Cities build shelters for them but they don't want to go to the shelters.
During weather emergencies, cops used to force the homeless to go to the shelters. So they wouldn't die.
The communist jihadi foreign theater kid and Gaytard Zohran Mamdani really really loves the homeless, so he forbids the police from rousing them and bringing them to shelters when the overnight temperatures plunge down to ten degrees (less than zero with windchill).
His new policy was, as Actual Justice Warrior put it, to "try to convince them extra-super-hard" to go to the shelters voluntarily.
They didn't agree to go voluntarily. Because they're mentally ill and incapable of caring for themselves and legally incapable of making decisions about their own health and safety.
Mayor Mamdani said Friday he still will only force homeless New Yorkers off the streets "as a last resort" -- even as his office revealed 13 people have now died outdoors, with even colder temps coming this weekend.
The Democratic socialist continued to insist that city workers will compel homeless people to get indoors only if they pose a danger to themselves or others. He dug in his heels as the real-feel temperature was forecast to dip as low as -1 degree Saturday into Sunday.
Pressed on how city workers will determine if someone is a danger to themselves, Mamdani said numerous factors need to be taken into account before getting someone to shelter, including whether they have enough clothing on.
"There are a number of specific criteria that is used in determining whether one is a danger to themselves or to others," Mamdani told reporters at an unrelated event in Long Island City.
"I think we can find some of this criteria also in how an individual is clothed, whether they are deemed to actually be warm in those settings, as well as their behavior," Hizzoner said.
"And for the New Yorkers who are deemed to be a threat to themselves or to others, there is a process of involuntary confinement which is a last resort," he continued. "However, it has been utilized a number of times whenever city workers have come to that conclusion."
Hours later, his office announced that the outdoor death toll had tragically risen by three since last Saturday, when the Big Apple began getting walloped by unrelenting below-freezing conditions and Winter Storm Fern.
A City Hall spokesperson said in a statement the number of deaths has increased to 13 -- up from the 10 officials reported earlier this week, spanning from Saturday to Tuesday. The mayor's office didn't provide any additional details about the three newly-tallied deaths, and it wasn't known when they had taken place.
The death toll of homeless people frozen to death in the streets has since risen to 17. And NYC is bracing for another arctic blast of cold air this weekend.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani's pick for top Big Apple lawyer on Wednesday praised the administration's "extraordinarily high-level" handling of the current deadly cold snap -- even as the death toll climbed to 17 people.
Testifying before the City Council's Rules Committee for his approval to become the city's corporation counsel, Steve Banks was pressed by Speaker Julie Menin on how he would advise the fashionably-focused mayor during future extreme weather events.
"What I have seen is exactly what should be happening, which is adhering to the state law to evaluate people, bring them inside when the state law permits people to be brought inside, continually to engage people," said Banks, who served as the former Department of Social Services commissioner under Mayor Bill de Blasio.
He added that the city is "redoubling efforts, 24/7, to engage people and bring them inside" with temperatures set to dip below freezing for the umpteenth day this winter.
Banks, however, rejected a broad removal policy when Menin asked if the city could relocate people "in the interest of health and safety" during extreme cold, particularly those with serious mental illness.
"I think the state law doesn't permit that kind of blanket approach. It requires an individualized evaluation, and that is exactly what I see being implemented right now," Banks said.
"That requires nursing evaluations, that requires clinical evaluations. And that's what I see is going on right now at, quite frankly, an extraordinarily high level."
BREAKING - Shocking footage out of Zohran Mamdani’s New York City, captured by NY Scoop, is going viral, showing homeless people sitting over manholes for warmth as snow and garbage line the streets, while 16 people have already died from the cold pic.twitter.com/JiVYTlK2IH
On 12/05/25, I begged then Mayor-elect Mamdani not to reverse our policy that kept homeless New Yorkers from freezing outdoors in makeshift encampments.
That press conference held by Mayor Zohran Mamdani was a disaster and showed a mayor unprepared to lead in a crisis. Ten homeless New Yorkers died during extreme cold, and the administration failed to act with urgency. By prioritizing encampment policies over emergency… pic.twitter.com/abNf9hhM8t
Several people who stayed at the Las Vegas home apparently doubling as an illegal Chinese biolab became sick after their visit, with two people becoming "deathly ill" a few days after entering the home's garage, according to documents reviewed by Las Vegas journalist David Charns.
And that's just the beginning of today's updates. We've also learned more about how investigators believe the equipment ended up at that home, the relationship between the property manager, Ori Solomon, and the Chinese scientist charged with running the lab, Jia Bei Zhu.
Federal gun charges have now been filed against Ori Solomon, the man serving as property manager for the home. Solomon, 55, appears to have lived in the Las Vegas area for more than a decade, according to public records, but the complaint filed Monday evening states that he's currently in the United States on a Non-Immigrant Visa (E-2) that expires in May, 2026, "which precludes him from owning or possessing a firearm per 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5)(B)."
...
Zhu is still in frequent contact with his girlfriend/wife/baby mama, Zhaoyan Wang, who is also facing federal charges but fled to China with their baby in 2023, contacting her 3,524 times in January, per the 8 News Now report. Investigators also believe that Wang has had access to video surveillance on the property.
An illegal biolab in California raided by the FBI in 2023 and a separate hazardous lab inside a Las Vegas garage searched by the bureau this weekend are both tied to a CCP-linked Chinese national currently awaiting trial for fraud, false statements, and the adulteration of medical devices, according to court filings, police officials and members of Congress.
Jia Bei Zhu was arrested in 2023 on allegations he was running an illegal biological laboratory in Reedley, Calif. On Saturday, the FBI and local police raided a similar biolab in Vegas, arresting the home's property manager, Ori Salomon (also spelled Solomon).
Police and lawmakers say the two labs are closely connected.
"An illegal bio lab was just raided in Vegas" and "it is directly linked to the secret Chinese lab found in California in 2023, which was oozing with E. Coli, HIV, and Malaria," Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., tweeted on Tuesday.
"The lab just raided in Vegas was operated by the same LLC and same Chinese nationals as the one discovered in Reedley," Kiley said in a House floor speech. "Now we know there was at least one other such lab, but we still don't know how many others."
...
Congressional investigators allege that Zhu (also known by the aliases of Jesse Zhu, Qiang He, and David He) had significant connections to the Chinese Communist Party apparatus and allege he ran an illegal laboratory in California that housed approximately 20 types of infectious disease samples -- including HIV, Tuberculosis, and the deadliest known form of Malaria. It also allegedly sold oft-counterfeit or Chinese-origin COVID-19 tests without a proper permit, the investigators said.
...
The filings also demonstrate the DOJ's concerns that the bail deal repeatedly proposed by Zhu is actually a scheme to help him flee to China, which is where Wang jetted off to with their child shortly after Zhu was raided a few years ago.
...
The prosecutor said that "this company, David Destiny Discovery, is currently the owner on ... a house in Las Vegas valued at approximately $800,000" and two condos in Las Vegas that together are worth approximately $800,000." Barton said that Zhu and Wang "are both listed as principals or managing members of this David Destiny Discovery, so the Government believes they control these properties and assets."
Barton argued that "the Government believes this shows that He has control over these assets, even though they're in the name of David Destiny Discovery" and thus that it was a "lie" when Zhu allegedly claimed in his pretrial services report to only having $10,000 to $20,000 in assets."
Zhu's lawyer filed an April 2024 motion pushing the court to review his client's detention, stating that "the defendant is a Chinese citizen with a Chinese passport and lives in a house in Las Vegas, Nevada that is owned by David Destiny Discovery" and that "Ms. Wang states in her declaration that David Destiny Discovery, LLC, invests in real estate with money from her family in China."
I don't know if this is true -- but it's plausible.
Note, however, they still support sterilizing artificial cross-sex hormones which cause irreversible effects, of course. They're just opposing the most visible and most politically toxic part of the Trans All Children agenda.
Another domino has fallen in the war against child mutilation as the American Medical Association (AMA) has renounced gender surgeries on children. This is the second major medical group this week that's taken such a stand. On Tuesday, I reported that the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) was the first to come out against sex change surgeries for minors.
More to the point, the AMA said that gender surgeries should wait at least until patients are adults. Prior to this week, the majority of the medical community and its professional associations fought against restrictions on gender surgeries and related care. Their earlier stance was to push for "evidence-based" decisions that center on what they had described as the unique needs of the person, regardless of age.
In other words, the ghouls favored making gender surgery decisions on a case-by-case basis, even with children. In addition to surgery, such decisions may also have considered pharmaceutical puberty blockers and hormone therapies.
In making its announcement, the AMA said that while it continued to support treatment for gender-confused minors, there is not enough research on the risks and benefits of surgical procedures for young patients. This stance is very similar to that of the plastic surgeons, which the AMA acknowledged: "In the absence of clear evidence, the AMA agrees with ASPS that surgical interventions in minors should be generally deferred to adulthood."
So what happened that has caused so much of this new enlightenment? My colleague Rick Moran covered an interesting legal case and a $2 million award that may have single-handedly destroyed the sex change industry for minors.
...
Last week, [a detransitioner named, supposedly, "Fox"] Varian won a $2 million jury award -- not an out-of-court settlement -- in this landmark case. The court victory for Varian has sent shockwaves throughout the medical industry.
Cutting healthy tissue off children didn't bother them.
But having to pay higher malpractice insurance rates? That finally roused their consciences.
If you're keeping score, there's one organization we have not yet heard from in terms of changing its position on the issue, and that's the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). In fact, when the New York Times reached out to the AAP for comment, it said its position on gender surgeries for minors hasn't changed.
Maybe every new generation has to learn for themselves that socialism is the ultimate political evil, and every attempt at a better version always...ALWAYS ends in death and destruction on a massive scale.
One would be forgiven in thinking that after the Holodomor, the Great Leap Forward, the Cambodian genocide, 45 years of Eastern Europe's enslavement, and smaller but no less brutal country-killing communists in Venezuela, Cuba, Ethiopia, North Korea, etc., that people wouldn't need personal experience to understand the true nature of socialism.
One would be wrong.
And I will be making popcorn and watching with amusement at the klown-car antics of our newest communist/Islamist at the helm of New York City.
New York's Democratic Socialist Party Mayor Zohran Mamdani thinks that these special programs that elevate some kids over others based on talent and gifts are an abomination and need to end. Catering to the lowest common denominator in education, the workplace, and government is how socialists keep everything nice and equal — equally mediocre, at least.
It doesn't really matter that only about a quarter of eligible voters bothered to vote in the mayoral election. Not voting is a decision just like voting for one's preferred candidate.
NYC got what it wanted, and the consequences of that will reverberate for the next four years. Gutting the cream of the public schools because too few blacks and other pressure groups can get their kids into those schools is absolutely expected, but will be a painful surprise to the willing fools who voted for Mamdani.
Decaying public service (and it was bad before!) was baked into Mamdani's policy cake, but far too few people actually spent the time to figure out what those policies were.
Actual death! That wasn't in his campaign speeches, but anybody who didn't expect this is a fool.
New York City will enjoy four years of chaos, hyper-politicized administrative decisions that bolster Mamdani's political beliefs but penalize NYC, an increasingly vicious tone directed against Jews, Christians, Whites, the well-off, and anyone else who doesn't fit neatly into the top of the grievance hierarchy.
Hopefully they will leave, and NYC will cascade into insolvency, because the top of the grievance hierarchy doesn't pay taxes! And even if NYC can muddle through without a financial catastrophe, the quality of life will decay significantly, and it will take a generation to repair it. Just take a look at how long the horror of the 1970s and 1980s took to be banished! And that's assuming that there will be a tax base to finance it, and that is by no means a given.
So...visit NYC if you want, because it won't be better than it is today for a very long time, and there is a long, dark night coming!
[Crossposted at CutJibNewsletter and X/Twitter]. If you folks who are on X/Twitter would follow us it would be much appreciated!
Good morning kids. As the spouse is going into hospital this morning for a scheduled surgical procedure, I'll have to keep it short and sweet (if you could call it that). . .
The assault on the rule of law and the fomenting and leveraging of violence and terrorism for political gain by the Democrat Party and its base and operatives in and out of government continues with the epicenter now in Minneapolis and likely to metastasize into a firestorm that will sweep the nation, especially as warmer weather approaches and especially the midterm election push gets into full swing. As history dictates, and should be obvious there can be no parlaying with an intractable enemy that seeks our destruction. And instead of marshaling every possible uniformed agent we can to utterly crush what can only be now described as an armed insurgency and insurrection that seeks not only the prevention of enforcement of federal immigration law but in point of fact, the effective overthrow of the federal government.
Negotiating with terrorists, whether Islamic in Iran or Gaza, or Marxist/Islamic in America, doesn’t bring peace, it shows weakness and then the terrorism never ends and neither do the negotiations.
Ceding on ICE won’t buy peace. And it won’t even change the topic or end the violence.
There are very good arguments for why this administration should make domestic kitchen table economics its larger focus. If it doesn’t do that, the midterm situation may be catastrophic. But it can do that and fulfill core responsibilities like national defense. Immigration was a major reason, perhaps the biggest reason that Trump is here, because it embodies national survival. We can and should kick the can down the road on some global issues which have been too much the focus lately, but this is a primal issue which is why the Democrats have gone to the mattresses on it and why retreating on it would be a mistake.
Illegal aliens are the political power behind the ghost districts that Dems use to rig elections and maintain outsized political influence. That’s why it’s the one battle they can’t afford to lose.
The theft of the 2020 election, and everything that made the theft possible primarily both the Fauci/Chi-Com biowarfare, lockdowns, erasure of the most basic election voting integrity measures, and the George Floyd race riots that resulted from it and the J-6 Pelosi/Deep State-engineered J-6 fake "insurrection" put a giant sucking wound into the heart of whatever remains of our Republic as it is, but what we are witnessing here and now really is for all the marbles. They know it, and are surely acting like it and we better start doing the same right now, or else I fear that we are a dead nation walking . . . mostly right off a cliff.
Have a great day.
And lastly, a quick shout-out and a huge thank you for your continued support in hitting our tip jar. It truly is appreciated more than you can know.
Kaufman, Texas, residents didn’t think much of it when Kaufman Solar LLC bought a massive parcel of land in 2022. However, now that a mysterious buyer from the Middle East is looking to purchase an estimated 2,000 acres of land right next door to the planned solar farm to establish a sustainable city, they are worried about the impact. A Small-Town Immigrant Takeover In Realtime? Local Officials Don’t Want You To Know About It, Residents Fear
One Pennsylvania fire company said Tuesday that the local water authority barred it from accessing fire hydrants and instead advised firefighters to let a building burn. The MMP&W Volunteer Fire & Ambulance Co. posted a statement on social media Tuesday, warning that it “should concern everyone” that the Mercersburg Borough’s Water Authority prohibited MMP&W firefighters from using Authority-owned hydrants over water supply concerns. The statement claimed that the Authority called the MMP&W following a Monday incident where the company used an Authority hydrant to fight a barn fire that resulted in several animal deaths and a total loss. ‘Let The Building Burn’: Firemen Say Water Authority Banned Them From Using Hydrants
FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS, MEDIA, BIG BROTHER TECH
“I was laid off by The Washington Post today. This is gutting for our readers and our section, but I’m grateful for the 4 years I had to cover sports alongside friends and legends,” wrote Spencer Nusbaum, former Washington Post sports reporter, on Wednesday. The paper shuttered their sports department earlier in the day. Nusbaum added: “Anyways, yeah. This is an incalculable loss for the region and sports journalism. It will be jarring to wake up in the morning — in one of the biggest metro areas in the country — and not have a sports section (and so many other great parts of The Post) to turn to.” Fired WaPo Reporter’s Tweet Perfectly Sums Up Why Everyone Hates The Media
In addition to being consumed with left-wing politicking, the teachers’ unions inflict significant harm on the nation’s children. The National Miseducation Association
A developer tied to Newsom allegedly looted millions meant for homeless housing, exposing massive fraud, lax oversight, and cozy political donations. Newsom Won’t Cut Ties to Homeless Fraudster Firm
“I first ran for election to Congress in 2014 and, as I stated then, representing the people in Congress is a service, not a career; and although I continue to have strong support from the people of the Eleventh Congressional District, I believe it is time to contribute to my community, state, and nation in other ways,” Loudermilk said. “Therefore, I have decided not to seek re-election at the end of my current term in Congress.” GOP Rep. Barry Loudermilk Will Not Seek Reelection After 6 Terms in Congress
“As District Attorney for the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit, and Air National Guard Officer, Clay knows the Wisdom and Courage required to Defend our Country, Support our Brave Military/Veterans, and Ensure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH.” Trump wrote. “As your next Congressman, Clay will fight tirelessly to Grow the Economy, Cut Taxes and Regulations, Promote MADE IN THE U.S.A., Unleash American Energy DOMINANCE, Keep our Border SECURE, Stop Migrant Crime, Safeguard our Elections, Champion School Choice, and Defend our always under siege Second Amendment.” Trump Endorses Prosecutor, Military Vet to Fill MTG’s Seat in Georgia’s 14th District
Recent migration numbers emphasize how population gains, economic growth, and political power are shifting toward Republican strongholds. Blue States’ Demographic Nightmare
As politics harden into moral warfare, friendships fray—and only shared prosperity, grounded in pragmatic policy, may yet keep America’s fragile center from collapsing. Can the Center Hold?
Saab, a Colombian-Venezuelan businessman, is pretty well known as Maduro's primary money launderer, front man, and financial fixer, as well as one of Maduro's closest confidants. Huge: Another Major Member of the Maduro Regime Arrested
FOREIGN AFFAIRS, INTERNATIONAL
Petro, Colombia’s first leftist president ever, met with President Trump on Wednesday afternoon in an encounter largely described as amiable. The meeting followed an entire year’s worth of Petro boasting a fierce and highly controversial hostile stance toward President Trump. Gustavo Petro Celebrates Trump Meeting: ‘We Didn’t Hit or Scratch Each Other’
In 2002, Newsom’s mother, Tessa, was dying of cancer. She called her son, leaving a voicemail. If he wanted to see her one more time, he would have to visit within the week because she was planning on committing assisted suicide, The Washington Post reported. Gavin Newsom Admits The Bitter Truth About Assisted Suicide After Watching His Mother Kill Herself (She realized what she spawned? - jjs)
ACTUAL SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY
The moon’s weird ravioli shape is thought to be caused by the accretion of dust and ice from the nearby rings along Atlas’s equator. One of Saturn’s many weird moons
The paper is an excellent summary of practically all the research that has been done in space and on the ground studying the impact of the harsh environment of space on reproduction. It notes above all that we really know very little despite this research, because the risks to the newborn have precluded direct study. A nice summary of all space-based research of reproduction in space
FEMINAZISM, TRANSGENDER PSYCHOSIS, HOMOSEXUALIZATION, WAR ON MASCULINITY/NORMALCY
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.
The article points out limitations of current Chinese DRAM production: It's slower than the best chips from the Big Three, uses more power, and is produced on an older technology node, making it larger and more expensive to manufacture.
I think, for example, that CXMT in China and Nanya in Taiwan are both limited to 16Gbit chips, well short of Micron's 32Gbits.
But who cares if it's slower and uses more power and take a little more space on the module which is module-sized anyway, if you can actually buy it?
The first launch attempt (effectively the fifth wet-dress test), in late August, was scrubbed due to hydrogen leaks and other problems. A second attempt, a week later, also succumbed to hydrogen leaks. Finally, on the next attempt, and seventh overall try at fully fueling and nursing this vehicle through a countdown, the Space Launch System rocket actually took off. After doing so, it flew splendidly.
That was November 16, 2022. More than three years ago. You might think that over the course of the extended interval since then, and after the excruciating pain of spending nearly an entire year conducting fueling tests to try to lift the massive rocket off the pad, some of the smartest engineers in the world, the fine men and women at NASA, would have dug into and solved the leak issues.
You would be wrong.
Eric Berger is the token sane man at Ars Technica.
Solar Winds - a very widespread network management system - has just patched a flurry of horrible security flaws. The latest one is a remote code execution bug, joining a hardcoded authentication nightmare and two authentication bypass holes.
SolarWinds was the epicentre of a massive supply-chain attack in 2020, and related suspicions of insider trading when executives sold stock after the breach was detected but before it was announced. I don't think anything was ever proven there, though.
Wednesday Overnight Open Thread - February 4, 2026 [TRex]
—Open Blogger
Good evening Horde. The time has come for mid-week shenanigans of the post-cafe overnight variety. Was it time 30 minutes earlier? No, it wasn't.
Welcome to the Wednesday night ONT which means another edition of random overnight fun and games. Pull up a chair and sit a spell. Good will offerings of amusing puns are happily accepted. Pants are optional, but be advised that Virginia applies an additional tax to zippers. Be nice to your fellow commenters and AoS contributors.
An archaeological team in Utah exhumed a bottle of alcohol estimated to be 150 years old - and experts gave it a taste test.
Ian Wright, Utah's state public archaeologist, said the bottle was among thousands of artifacts dating back to approximately 1870-1890 found on U.S. Forest Service land used by Alta ski resort.
Wright said the find is the only known intact bottle of alcohol to be found from the time period.
Wright's team enlisted the help of High West, Utah's oldest legal distillery, to analyze the bottle's contents.
Isaac Winter, director of distilling at High West, was the first to taste the liquid.
"I had a little bit of trepidation going into it, but you have to try it," Winter told FOX 13 Utah. "It didn't smell like gasoline, didn't smell like tobacco spit."
He said the flavor is "fruity, there's a little bit of leather, there's quite a bit of age on it."
The experts said the liquid appears to be a low-alcohol beer, rather than liquor. They are now hoping to recreate the beverage.
***
My caption-o-meter is broken. Maybe stick the old truism that if you can't say anything nice, then don't say it?
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Department of Music Trivia
Maybe I am late to the game but I just learned that the same guy wrote "Dazed and Confused," the Army recruiting jingle "Be All that You Can Be," and the "I'm a Pepper" jungle for Dr. Pepper.
Jake Holmes is that man. I didn't know the story behind Dazed and Confused either.
Per Wikipedia, Holmes recorded Dazed and Confused for his debut album "'The Above Ground Sound' of Jake Holmes" in June 1967. The album consists of songs played on bass and two electric guitars with no drummer.
The Yardbirds heard Holmes perform the song in August 1967 when Holmes opened for them at Greenwich Village's Village Theater. The Yardbirds reworked it with a new arrangement during the brief time that Jimmy Page was part of the band. It became a centerpiece of their tours.
In 1968, Page's new group Led Zeppelin recorded their own version of "Dazed and Confused" with new lyrics and vocal line. It was released on their debut album.
Holmes attempted to contact Page in the 1980s regarding the songwriting credit, but received no response. Starting in 2010, Holmes filed multiple lawsuits against Page for copyright infringement. In August 2025, the case was settled out of court and the terms remain confidential.
And now you know...
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Just quirky enough to qualify for the ONT:
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Seems logical to me...
I used to get nagged nonstop by my husband for buying two robot vacuums. Now he’s gone and turned them straight into tanks 🙂 pic.twitter.com/OiqhXeheNn
Tourists hoping to get close to the Trevi Fountain had to pay 2 euros ($2.35) starting Monday as the city of Rome inaugurated a new fee structure to help raise money and control crowds at the one of the world's most celebrated waterworks.
"Before, there were problems accessing the fountain. There were a lot of people. Now, it's very easy," said Ilhan Musbah, a tourist from Morocco. "You can take photos, you feel good, you're comfortable, and on top of that 2 euros is not much."
The tourist fee was rolled out in conjunction with a new 5-euro (nearly $6) tourist ticket fee for some city museums. In both cases, Rome residents are exempt from the fees and the extra revenue will actually expand the number of city-run museums that are free for registered Roman residents.
"I think tourists were shocked by the fact that the city of Rome is only asking for 2 euros for a site of this level," Alessandro Onorato, Rome's assessor of tourism, said Monday. "I believe that if the Trevi Fountain were in New York, they would have charged at least $100."
***
I know what you're thinking. "Is there some way to combine soccer, rugby and basketball and make it way dumber?" Yes. Yes there is. Welcome to Bubbleball. I initially thought it was a parody but it seems to be real(ish).
With all of the sporting possibilities around the world, Bubbleball somehow gets airtime on ESPN.
Live long form Led Zeppelin for the big ONT finish (naturally):
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The Wednesday ONT has been approved by Statler and Waldorf. Written correspondence can be sent to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Are you lurking ?? The Washington Post is not reporting on this ONT. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
The Supreme Court has okayed California's new highly gerrymandered map, while GOP-controlled states continue refusing to fight fire with fire, because of Muh Princibuhls.
Femcels created fake boyfriends and fake husbands using a ChatGDP AI program. But now that specific program is being deactivated, and the femcels are freaking out.
Media pricks are whining that some other media pricks are losing their jobs because they're losing the owners money.
Noam Blum
@neontaster
5h
Washington Post staffers thought they were sticking it to Bezos by talking anonymously to other outlets and egging on subscription cancellations. What did they think was going to happen?
Peter Baker
@peterbakernyt
Jeff Bezos wealth in 2024: $194 billion
Jeff Bezos wealth in 2025: $215 billion
Jeff Bezos wealth today: $249.4 billion
Net increase in Bezos wealth since 2024: $55.4 billion
Cost of Bezos's 417-foot superyacht: $500 million
Amazon investment in "Melania": $75 million
Original Bezos purchase price of the Washington Post in 2013: $250 million
Bezos net worth in 2013: $25.2 billion
Net increase in Bezos wealth since buying the Post: $224.2 billion
Last reported annual losses of Post: $100 million
Number of years Bezos could absorb those losses with what he makes in a single week: 5
You reposted
Fusilli Spock
@awstar11
Now do WaPo financials year over year.
WaPo is a business, not a charity. The audacity of the expectation that Bezos is going to personally fund WaPo's losses year over year is exactly the entitled crap we expect from folks like Baker
The Post lost $100 million in 2022, $77 million in 2023, and $100 million in 2024.
And these upper-class rich bitches all say: Other rich people should put my rich friends on their personal welfare systems.
Confessions of a Conservative
@TwisteChristian
A modest proposal: Perhaps @peterbaker and all the other hack journalists bitching and moaning should donate to keep the WaPo as it was, put their money where their mouth is so to speak?
Their entitlement is infinite, their contributions are nonexistent.
Nope. The Washington Post deliberately lied about me in an attempt to ruin my reputation, and although the editors were forced to issue a retraction, the reporter paid no price for it. The paper is rotten and its mercenaries will get no sympathy from me. https://t.co/hbjgj5teSx
Ah, yes. Normal people, who, to a man, are devastated that Jeff Bezos will not agree to indefinitely lose hundreds of millions of dollars underwriting a product that people clearly don’t like. https://t.co/nzarIfRt9G
I don't disagree with this quote, the problem is that it's utterly insincere.
What everyone in the media actually wants is some rich guy to backstop them pushing a partisan agenda in perpetuity, declining audience and influence be damned. https://t.co/qJyFO0NHlL
This spittle-spewing genius is the visual avatar in my head every time I see or hear the words "peaceful protests" or "resistance." This is the man Dems desperately want on their side and are encouraging to continue his loyal support for the cause.
American Association of Plastic Surgeons Becomes First Major Medical Association to Warn Against "Gender Affirming" Mutiliations for Children
—Ace
They say these irreversible mutilations should be reserved for mentally ill patients of at least 19 years of age.
Coming after yesterday's report of a $4 million malpractice judgement against genital butchers, this is another huge blow for the child mutilators.
Plastic Surgeons' Group Advises Delaying Gender-Affirming Procedures Until Age 19
The organization's latest guidance is a departure from the prevailing views of several other major medical organizations.
By Andrew Jacobs
Feb. 3, 2026
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons recommended on Tuesday that its members refrain from performing gender transition procedures on young patients until they reach age 19, a shift that comes at a time of mounting opposition to such care at the state and federal levels.
The group's new position stands in contrast to those taken by most major medical associations in the United States, which endorse a range of treatments for adolescents and teenagers struggling with gender dysphoria. The treatments include puberty-blocking drugs, hormone therapies and, in rarer cases, surgeries.
This is the New York Times, so of course they play this as a tragedy.
But don't let them fool you. These leftists long knew that this was insanity and were secretly terrified the mind virus would infect their own children, but they hid those feelings and supported the Transition All Children movement because they are depraved cowards who will sacrifice their children before they sacrifice one tiny bit of social position.
They're secretly happy about this.
In its statement, the society said the new recommendations were prompted by what it described as a lack of quality research on the long-term outcomes for young people who had undergone surgical interventions like mastectomies and cited "emerging evidence of treatment complications and potential harms."
The announcement drew praise from the Trump administration, which issued a statement commending the group for "disavowing pediatric sex-rejecting procedures." In the statement, Jim O'Neill, the deputy health secretary, said, "Today marks another victory for biological truth in the Trump administration."
Kinnon Ross MacKinnon, a social scientist who studies transgender medicine at York University in Toronto, said the medical group's new position reflected the growing political backlash over gender-affirming care as well as liability concerns for practitioners in the field.
Last week, a jury in New York State ruled in favor of a woman who claimed a mastectomy she received as a teenager had left her disfigured, making it the first malpractice verdict against providers of gender transition care by a patient who later came to regret the decision.
"I would imagine that this is a potentially protective decision for the field, but it also comes at time when we increasingly are seeing governments around the world step in and respond to some of the debates and uncertainty," Professor MacKinnon said.
That includes the Trump administration, which announced in December that it would pull federal funding from hospitals that provide medical treatment for transgender young people.
We were told these surgeries weren’t happening. And they accused us of misinformation, hate speech, and incitement for saying they shouldn’t be happening. https://t.co/3PNI5g7fIH
L.A. Children's has shut down its youth gender clinic under federal pressure.
They treated kids as young as THREE YEARS OLD.
They performed over 160 surgeries on minors.
Clinic director Johanna Olson-Kennedy is being sued for prescribing puberty blockers after one visit-- and admitted hiding study data to avoid backlash.
This wasn't medicine.
It was radical experimentation on children.
And it's finally being stopped.
JUST IN: California Attorney General Rob Bonta is SUING Rady Children's Hospital over ending s*x change treatments for minors
California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against Rady Children's Health on Friday after the hospital dropped gender-affirming care for patients under the age of 19.
Rady Children's Health announced it will no longer provide gender-affirming care for those patients after "escalating federal actions" and a possible federal investigation. However, Bonta said that by complying with the Trump administration in this instance, they are violating California law.
"Rady Children's Health has chosen to violate its merger agreement and California law in response to the Trump Administration's illegal campaign against providers of gender-affirming care," Bonta said in a statement. "Rady flagrantly disregarded its legal obligations by unilaterally deciding to preemptively comply with the Administration's demands and cease medically necessary care for roughly 1,450 patients."
For reasons no one will explain, four would-be "Male Models" targeted properties and cars belonging to Totally-Straight UK PM Keir Starmer last year.
Why did these obvious homosexuals, claimed to be "rent boys" in the British media (that is, gay prostitutes), have some kind of beef against Fiercely Heterosexual Keir Starmer? Why did they risk jail to set them afire?
And how did they even know what properties and vehicles he owned? That's non-public information, but Tree Hugging Sister says that the Pyromaniacal Rent Boys seemed to be very well-informed about Starmer's holdings:
Whoever it was, they seemed to have extraordinary knowledge of Starmer's property around the suburbs of London and even the vehicles he drove. The Starmer family had either rented the homes -- one of them to his sister-in-law, who was luckily on a vacation or something -- or they were vacant, and had recently sold the vehicle the arsonists torched.
Again, no one will explain why these gay prostitutes are so pissy at the Dedicated Mish-Hound Keir Starmer, who is so heterosexual that he ****s women so hard he gives them sexually-transmitted scoliosis.
One notes, inter alia, that, with respect to the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, last week was also the week that the fifth twink dropped. Why every Ukrainian "male model" on the books of Mayfair agencies wants to incinerate Keir Starmer is an interesting question, although evidently not to Fleet Street's investigative reporters.
And, as he says, the UK media -- centered around Fleet Street -- continues to be entirely uninterested in why five gay foreign "male models" are so singularly angry at the married heterosexual man Keir Starmer.
Three young men sent to the Old Bailey over arson attacks linked to Sir Keir Starmer yet the Prime Minister who never misses a chance to lecture the country has been completely silent about it.
I can report EXCLUSIVELY about video I have just received which shows the Rent Boys torching one of Starmer's vehicles. It's like they were playing some sick game or something!
But that's not the only news about Keir Starmer's dubious associations.
Starmer is facing, some reporters say, the worst days of his career, and given that his popularlity is something around 12%, you will appreciate that his minister-ship has been almost nothing but bad days.
And it's not even about the Rent Boys. Or, at least, we don't think it is.
Yet.
I mentioned on Friday that a man named Peter Mandelson was instrumental in shaping the "New Labour" party by essentially turning Labour into the party of leftwing millionaires and billionaires. (Stop me if you've heard this joke before.)
He was the architect of both Tony Blair's rise, as well as Keir Starmer's.
Mandelson is also a devoted friend of Jeffrey Epstein. Like a real friend. They were constantly emailing each other. He even stayed at Epstein's apartment in NYC when Epstein was in jail.
Keir Starmer appointed Mandelson to be Ambassador to the US -- and then had to recall him back to England when his close friendship with the convicted pedophile got some press exposure.
Starmer maintained he had no idea Mandelson continued his close friendship with Epstein when he appointed him Ambassador to the US.
This was a lie, it was just exposed. Starmer knew full well that Mandelson continued his close association with Epstein, even after his conviction. We know he knew because a reporter told him all about it and asked him if he was comfortable with this friendship.
"Conservative" leader Keri Badenoch grilled Starmer about his lie:
Keir Starmer now lies further, and says when he previously said that he didn't know about Mandelson's continued close friendship with Epstein, he was telling the truth, because sure, he was told about it, but when he asked Mandelson about it, Mandelson said it wasn't true. Case closed.
Should he have believed Mandelson? Well, Mandelson had been sacked from two previous cabinet postings over scandals, and his nickname is "The Prince of Darkness" so... absolutely, you should believe him, Totally Heterosexual PM Keir Starmer.
Starmer also attempts some jive by saying sure, I knew he had some continued friendship with Epstein, but I didn't know the "depth" or "extent" of that continued friendship. So I told the truth, in a "it depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is" kind of way -- sure I knew they were friends, but I didn't know they were friend-friends!
How good of a friend-friend was Mandelson to Epstein? This good: When the UK government decided it would bail out the banks after the 2007-8 collapse, Mandelson immediately told Epstein this non-public, secret, incredibly sensitive information.
And Epstein, of course, presumably made a fortune trading on this incredibly valuable inside information.
Starmer's opponents are demanding that he release all documents in his possession about Mandelson and Epstein, and he's saying... I will release all documents that I decide do not compromise "national security."
Oh. Well, as the entire affair involves international financier and international fixer Jeffrey Epstein, and the UK's former Ambassador to the US, everything in this candal is a "national security" matter, so Starmer is giving himself justification to release nothing.
Relating this back to the story about the Five Fire-Fingered Rent Boys: Mandelson is also gay. Does this stuff connect up? I don't know.
We won't see any documents about it, though, because... national security.
There are even rumors that Labour will force Keir Starmer to resign:
Grok
@grok
Reports of Keir Starmer's imminent resignation are unconfirmed as of Feb 4, 2026. Speculation centers on the Peter Mandelson-Jeffrey Epstein scandal, where Starmer admitted knowing of ties during Mandelson's appointment. Other factors include Labour infighting, poor polls, and potential election setbacks, per sources like The Guardian, Reuters, and betting odds.
I saw one commentator, Tousi TV, pointing out that Starmer's hands are shaking during his baldfaced lies, and that he uses one hand to hold the other one to keep it from shaking so much.
Meanwhile, actually based MP Rupert Lowe issued this statement about what he's seeing in the hearings on police complicity in the Muslim Grooming Gangs:
Rupert Lowe MP
@RupertLowe10
One of many lessons from our hearings today.
In many cases, the police were complicit in these rapes. I do not say that lightly.
The lack of any desire to investigate these men is criminal. It happened again and again and again.
And yes. It's mainly because the rapists were Muslims.
Parents pleaded and begged. The police all too often did nothing. Staggeringly, they even suggested the parents work with the rapists, as we heard today. This went on for years, years and years and years. We will be releasing further evidence on this over the coming days.
These children were torn away from their families, through alcohol, drugs, fear or blackmail. They were then raped and abused, on an industrial scale. These rapists knew exactly what they were doing. It's evil. Pure evil. Turning these children against their families. It is psychological torture.
Honestly I feel sick going over it.
To have that happen to your child must be the most unimaginable pain.
To those parents who have been campaigned so that others don't go through that same pain? They have my greatest respect.
This was an important topic to start our hearings with, because it's not just the survivors who have their lives ruined.
It's entire families. The impact is more brutal than most of us could ever imagine.
We had three parents tell us their unique stories - there are thousands and thousands and thousands of others. It is almost endless, and it absolutely does continue today.
But today was a small step in the right direction.
Fulton County officials filed a motion in a Georgia court to reclaim election records seized by federal agents in January at a Georgia election office.
The motion filed by county officials under seal in a federal court in Georgia on Wednesday seeks the return of the election records taken by agents at a warehouse in Fulton County, according to The Washington Post.
The officials also requested the judge unseal the investigative affidavit that federal agents submitted to secure a search warrant, Rob Pitts -- Fulton County board of commissioners chairman -- said, according to the outlet.
More: Did an FBI Straight Arrow deliberately tip off the Fulton County election fraudsters in advance, so that they could have a shredding party?
It is almost beyond belief that the agent in charge of a major FBI field office sent this astonishingly shoddy letter to the Fulton County election office, effectively giving advance notice of an impending federal action. His firing does not even begin to address the gravity of… https://t.co/6IL2j2LCM5pic.twitter.com/fcJBFi2gYY
Would-Be Trump Assassin Ryan Routh Sentenced to Life In Prison, Plus 84 Months
—Ace
Just when you're looking forward to the end of your life sentence, bang, now you have to serve 84 months.
He was sentenced in Florida, by Trump-appointed judge Aileen Cannon. Compare this judge to the one in New York overseeing the prosecution of Luigi Mangione -- she just threw out two charges against him so that he would not be eligible for the death penalty.
By the way, that makes it likely that Luigi Mangione will eventually get off. Prosecutors often use the death penalty as a bargaining chip to secure a plea deal where the killer gets life in prison, rather than death. Prosecutors no longer have this leverage, so the case will go to trial -- where Luigi Mangione will likely get one or two lefties on the jury who will jury-nullify because they're pro-assassination.*
Unless the government offers Mangione such a sweetheart deal that he feels compelled to take it.
Hate to remind you of that bad news. But the country is coming apart.
We cannot remain at peace with fellow "citizens" who believe that they have moral (and even legal) justification to murder us.
* I know a hung jury is not an acquittal -- the state can re-file charges -- but at some point, if lefties keep jury nullifying, they'll be forced to offer him a sweetheart deal.
I guess there are now so many internet sports outlets that no one cares about what a stinky old liberal thought about the latest "Commanders" game.
The Washington Post announced on Wednesday that it is laying off hundreds of its employees, which marks one of the newspaper's deepest workforce cuts in its history.
This development is part of a broader trend as legacy media outlets are rapidly losing viewers and readers.
From CNN:
Executive Editor Matt Murray and human resources chief Wayne Connell sent an email to staffers Wednesday morning instructing employees to "stay home today" but attend an 8:30 a.m. ET meeting via Zoom during which the Washington Post's leadership will announce "significant actions across the company."
Those actions include shutting down almost the entire Sports section, closing the Books section and cancelling the daily Post Reports podcast, sources at the newspaper said.
One of the most severe cuts comes in the form of a "restructuring" of the Post's Metro desk, which covers D.C., Maryland and Virginia.
Papers like the NY Times and Washington Post were criticized for years for not sufficiently covering the cities in which they were based. All they cared about was national politics. I guess the Washington Post is now acknowledging they don't really cover Washington so they'll save a buck by ending the pretense that they do.
The paper will also be drastically chopping its budget for international reporting.
As opposed to sports, international coverage is very expensive. Even when they rely almost exclusively on foreign "stringers" who are not-so-secretly part of the Hamas terrorist organization.
The cuts are required because the #Resistance leftists at the Post have shed one half of the former audience, and the paper loses almost $100 million a year. That's practically Stephen Colbert level losses!
...
When Jeff Bezos first acquired The Washington Post in 2013, he expanded operations and invested heavily in the outlet. But recent years have seen drastic financial losses, a severe increase in subscriber cancellations, and a mass exodus of top talent.
Ed Morrissey writes that the new leadership has been warning the #Resistance lefties at the paper that Winter Is Coming for two years:
Lewis warned in response that he wasn't going to stick with the plan that involved losing $77 million a year to float a vanity project for progressive activists:
At one point Lewis was asked whether he was intentionally bringing in people who come from a different culture than the Post. "We are losing large amounts of money. Your audience has halved in recent years. People are not reading your stuff. I can't sugarcoat it anymore," Lewis said. "So I've had to take decisive, urgent action to set us on a different path, sourcing talent that I have worked with that are the best of the best."
Part of this is just the fact that traditional media is entering the hospice phase. For whatever reason, people are just out of the habit of reading these legacy newspapers. (Or seeing movies in legacy theaters.)
Another factor is that the specific politics being pushed by the Washington Post's #Resistance lefties. It's not that #Resistance leftist politics don't have a market. They do. One third of the country are, alas, woke communist psychopathic nihilists. You should be able to sell a paper appealing to this lunatic cohort.
The trouble is, every media outlet, pretty much, panders to this same lunatic cohort. They're all reading from the same depraved Marxist prayer book.
Plus, what #Resistance leftists are selling is not at all a difficult product to produce. They've shifted from reporting on news, which does take some time and effort, and which is something people will pay for, to just ranting endlessly that Bad Orange Man Is Getting More Orange and More Bad and shrieking the same six propaganda slogans forever.
You don't need an organization that spends $300 million on salaries and rent to do this. Any deranged leftwing imbecile with a $500 camera can do this from their basement. And they're almost all doing it -- so what does any lefty need the lefty press for?
The religion has just as many preachers as adherents. That's too many. Some will need to leave the poisonous church of Marxism and find work that's actually productive.
I can't imagine what that might end up being, but I'm sure they must be good at something.
Right? Right?
Hello everyone! I got decent sleep, not great but decent, so I won't be whining as much today. I hope you're all doing great.
I got my humidifier out of the garage and cleaned it but apparently it broke so I'm waiting for Amazon to send me my next one.
With 2025 in the books and 2026 well underway, it is time for the pundits and wonks to start turning their thoughts to the various trappings of academic prestige afforded to the advanced civilizations they decry but to which they nonetheless belong. Their favored outlet, of course, is the award. There are countless awards. The Pulitzer for excellence in propaganda, the Emmy for excellence in propaganda, the Oscar for excellence in propaganda, The EU Prize for Literature for excellence in propaganda - the list goes on forever.
Of all the awards, however, none are more coveted than the various squishy Nobel Prizes. Economics. Peace. Literature. All are fraught with meaning. To earn such a prize means that one belongs, that one is firmly a part of the academic and cultural elite. In keeping with the true meaning of such prizes, there is a new nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. You might think it's Donald Trump, the most prolific peace negotiator in the postwar era - but you know, deep in your heart, that it isn't. He doesn't belong. Someone will surely nominate him, but not this week.
No, this week, the nomination comes from The Nation. For what may be the very first time, it is a nomination not for a person, but for a place. And that place is, of course, Minneapolis.
No, I'm not kidding.
Why did The Nation nominate the city that has stolen billions and launched an insurgency for the Nobel Peace Prize? In their own words:
The people of Minneapolis have suffered countless abuses, including harassment, detention, deportation, and injury. And, in incidents that shocked the world, federal agents have killed multiple residents, including poet and mother of three Renee Nicole Goode and intensive care nurse Alex Jeffrey Pretti.
In response to these horrific developments, elected officials, clergy, and labor leaders in Minneapolis and Minnesota have called for nonviolent protest, in accordance with the US Constitution's promise that Americans have a right to assemble and petition for the redress of grievances. ...
Through countless acts of courage and solidarity, the people of Minneapolis have challenged the culture of fear, hate, and brutality that has gripped the United States and too many other countries. ...
The people of Minneapolis and their elected leaders have demonstrated an extraordinary and sustained commitment to human dignity and to the protection of vulnerable communities. They have exemplified the desire for democracy and equality and the celebration of difference.
This turgid prose is absurd, overwrought, deceitful, superficial, hilariously political, manipulative and out of all proportion to actual events. It is, therefore, the perfect nomination.
Don't laugh. I mean it. The apparatchiks in Stockholm have bestowed this prize on so many equally deserving parties.
Yasser Arafat was an international terrorist. He won a Nobel Peace Prize.
Al Gore is a generational con artist. He won a Nobel Peace Prize. He shares it with the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an organization that systematically destroyed climatology as a legitimate science in order advance global authoritarianism.
Barack Obama destroyed domestic race relations, weaponized the US government and made a name for himself drone-striking American citizens and toppling Libya for no reason. He won a Nobel Peace Prize.
The UN's World Food Programme is a nexus of corruption that delivers food to warlords. It won a Nobel Peace Prize.
The European Union is an imperial superstate masquerading as a democratic organization that destroys the freedoms and economies of Europe. It won a Nobel Peace Prize.
I could go on, but I needn't bother.
Through its preposterous and hysterical nomination, The Nation has - purely by accident - nominated the single most deserving party for this prize. The Nobel Peace Prize has been in the skin suit stage for generations, and the rotting flesh peeling off the shambling corpse of yet another irrelevant and unfit-for-purpose international organization might as well fall on the Twin Cities.
But whatever became of his promise to confiscate private property?! Surely that would solve the homeless problem. Displacing those already housed is merely restorative justice, especially whites and Jews since they are the reason there are so many homeless colored people of color in the first place.
Feh, I've wasted too many pixels on this Momzerdani fiend already and there's so much more heinous fiendishness yet to cover.
Democrat Congressman Jerry Nadler referred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents as “goons” and argued people would be “justified” in shooting them during masked arrests in remarks at a House Judiciary Committee hearing. . . Nadler’s comments come amid a broader pattern of aggressive rhetoric toward ICE from some Democratic officials. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz previously described the agency as “Trump’s modern-day Gestapo,” while Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas compared ICE to “slave patrols.”
There isn''t a construction crane sturdy enough or with anti-corrosion paint sturdy enough to resist the flatus and halitosis to hang this repulsive criminal degenerate lipid mass from.
The correct number of illegal alien cops should be zero, but as Maria Medvin notes that with the arrest of the latest illegal alien recruit in New Orleans, the number is now up to three.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested a New Orleans Police Department recruit from Cameroon who was issued a firearm despite an active deportation order, just one week before he was set to graduate from the police academy.
You may also remember the one in Maine.
“Jon Luke Evans not only broke U.S. immigration law, but he also illegally attempted to purchase a firearm. Shockingly, Evans was employed as a local law enforcement officer,” said ICE ERO Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde. “The fact that a police department would hire an illegal alien and unlawfully issue him a firearm while on duty would be comical if it weren’t so tragic. We have a police department that was knowingly breaking the very law they are charged with enforcing in order to employ an illegal alien.“
Somehow, I cannot imagine Nadler rushing to the defense of anyone who preemptively shoots an ICE or Police Officer and claiming self defense because they couldn't be sure he was a real officer or a foreign national posing as one! Especially if the officer was an illegal alien which is a distinct possibility these days!
Hundreds of thousands of Canadians could face prison time if they do not turn in their newly prohibited guns under a supposedly “voluntary” gun buyback program that is testing the strength of Canada’s bureaucratic regime.
Since May 2020, the Canadian government has attempted to institute a massive “assault-style firearms compensation program” that will purportedly trade cash for prohibited guns. If Canadians do not turn in a prohibited gun by October 2026, they could face up to five years in prison. The program has faced massive pushback from provincial leaders and gun rights organizations who say it will only disarm law-abiding Canadians. . . Today, the government describes participation in the gun buyback program as “voluntary” but that compliance with the gun ban is required. . . “This is not about confiscation. This is about voluntary return of firearms for compensation,” Carney said during a podcast in September 2025. “People aren’t going around confiscating guns. Anyone who says that, that is a mischaracterization, what it is is an opportunity for Canadians to return guns for compensation.
A University of Minnesota student group has emerged as a leader behind illegal—and sometimes violent—anti-ICE agitation gripping Minneapolis. It's a significant shift for the school's Students for a Democratic Society chapter, which roughly one year ago stormed a campus building in an anti-Israel raid, trapping employees inside and causing tens of thousands of dollars in property damage.
The group, known as UMN SDS, organized a Jan. 28 protest outside a hotel located on campus that was allegedly housing ICE agents. Dozens of agitators swarmed the Graduate by Hilton and rocked police barricades, pounded on drums and pans, set off noisemakers, and shouted "Fuck ICE" at local and state law enforcement. University police eventually declared it an unlawful assembly and arrested 67 protesters, including Jack Louis Nimz—a public school teacher, the president of SDS's national arm, and one of the radicals arrested for storming the campus building in October 2024.
I give you the headline and subhead which is really all you need to know.
Trump's Gaza Plan Can Overcome Ideology — History demonstrates that when parties gain a direct stake in peace through finance and security, behavior changes.
The author clearly has zero understanding of Islam and its history of bloodletting coupled with deceit in its eternal quest to dominate all of humanity. Unfortunately, as I have said and written about many times over the past year or so, it seems as if President Trump also does not understand or refuses to consider this as it would derail his political agenda at home and abroad. There is no such thing as radical or fundamentalist Islam. Islam in and of itself is both those things. Of course that is a political third rail that cannot be touched. Perhaps there are moderating forces in some of the countries that have established relations with Israel via the Abraham Accords, as well as political and even some strategic benefits in the short term. But the ultimate aim is the destruction of the state of Israel, the death or subjugation of every Jew and other infidels and the establishment of the global caliphate.
Anyone who expects the Islamic/Arab world to reject some let alone all of Koranic teaching vis a vis the aforementioned is clueless, period full stop. Go read any of Robert Spencer's brilliant scholarly works on this and then get your mind right.
Dig far enough down, meh just below the surface, and you will find the Democrat National Committee.
“Federal investigators have reportedly uncovered a “massive underground fraud network” in Minneapolis linked to the anti-ICE movement.. . . [I]t’s not just coincidence that these massive numbers of protesters and rioters and agitators show up at the same time, and they’re pushing back on what has been a profit center for fraudsters.” – Todd Blanche
Have a great day.
And lastly, a quick shout-out and a huge thank you for your continued support in hitting our tip jar. It truly is appreciated more than you can know.
One such organization calls itself Defend the 612 (the numbers represent a Minneapolis zip code), according to City Journal. “This cycle reveals the core strategy of Defend the 612’s leadership,” City Journal reports, “using casualties as a catalyst for further escalation. Organizers continue to push volunteers into unpredictable scenes, ensuring continued confrontations between residents and federal agents, while the professional architects of the chaos remain shielded from the consequences.” Left-Wing Groups Push for Protesters to Get Hurt by ICE for Propaganda Effect
“[I]t’s not just coincidence that these massive numbers of protesters and rioters and agitators show up at the same time, and they’re pushing back on what has been a profit center for fraudsters.” – Todd Blanche . . The investigation is ongoing, with an emphasis on tracing financial connections to the alleged fraud network. DOJ Says ‘Massive Underground Fraud Network’ is Funding Anti-ICE Movement in Minneapolis.
The Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) on Monday cleared traffic cones and other debris that the mob used to direct traffic and deter Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) vehicles from Cedar Ave., footage from the left-leaning X account Minneapolis Spring shows. News of the blockade first broke on Sunday, but it remained standing by Monday, when Ventura was harassed and shoved into a car by masked men for investigating it. (RELATED: Masked Anti-ICE Thugs Assault Reporter At Illegal Minneapolis Roadblock) Police Tear Down Anti-ICE Road Blockade After Masked Men Assault Reporter
Los Angeles Magazine noted that McDonnell made clear that while not enforcing the mask ban, the LAPD will continue its practice of not cooperating with ICE on immigration enforcement . . . (Mealy-mouthed bullshit artist scumbag - jjs) LAPD Chief: We Will Not Enforce California Mask Ban for ICE Agents
A catalogue of dysfunctions metastasizing throughout our institutions. Suicidal Bad Ideas
“This is lawless activism,” responded Tricia McLaughlin, the spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, adding: Haiti’s TPS was granted following an earthquake that took place over 15 years ago, it was never intended to be a de facto amnesty program, yet that’s how previous administrations have used it for decades. (If it's lawless then you can ignore it, nein?! - jjs) Biden Judge Blocks Trump’s Cancellation of Haitian Migrants’ ‘Temporary’ Amnesty
Lawmakers voted 217-214 to approve the Senate-passed deal that funds nearly 80% of the federal budget through Sept. 30, including the Departments of War, Treasury and State among other agencies. The House also signed off on a two-week extension of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding while Senate Democrats and the White House continue to negotiate reforms to immigration enforcement. (RELATED: Senate Approves Funding Package Following White House-Schumer Deal) 21 Democrats Buck Hakeem Jeffries To End Four-Day Government Shutdown
Minnesota is getting a lot of the attention, but California is the king of fraud and corruption. Welcome To Sunny Cali-fraudia!
Wrongdoing isn’t cheap—and until it’s brought under control, affordability is just a word. Nothing Costs Like Crime
Not every juvenile criminal is reclaimable, and some commit crimes so horrific that they must for the safety of society be treated as adult criminals. Unfortunately, pro-crime Minnesota Democrats disagree. Walz's Rules Release Ax Murderer Who Massacred His Family
Moreno was sentenced to 36 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice after his jury trial in Travis County, according to court records. The Third Court of Appeals affirmed his conviction, sealing his fate after an investigation that started after police in Austin were called to his home to investigate a complaint of domestic abuse in 1999. Texas Man Freed After Decades in Prison After Accuser Admits She Lied About Sexual Abuse (Where does he go to get his life back?! - jjs)
The investigations could lead to significant legal and reputational consequences for X, with both French and British authorities scrutinizing the platform’s practices. France Raids X Offices; UK Launches New Probe.
After decades of GOP dominance, a shocking Texas special election and collapsing approval ratings suggest independents are abandoning Republicans—and the political ground is shifting fast. (define "independent" - jjs) A Texas Political Shock Republicans Can’t Ignore
IRAN ON the BRINK?!
The tanker, identified as the Stena Imperative, was transiting international waters around the Strait of Hormuz when it was approached by armed vessels linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced. The heavily-armed gunboats threatened to board and seize the ship, but the tanker maintained its course and is now under escort by the guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul and defensive air support from the U.S. Air Force. Heavily-Armed Iranian Gunboats Attempt To Seize US Tanker
“USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) was transiting the Arabian Sea approximately 500 miles from Iran’s southern coast when an Iranian Shahed-139 drone unnecessarily maneuvered toward the ship,” said U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins. U.S. Aircraft Carrier Shoots Down Iranian Drone over Arabian Sea
FOREIGN AFFAIRS, INTERNATIONAL
According to the White House foreign press pool, Petro arrived at the White House at 10:53 a.m. and an hour later the U.S. press pool reported the meeting was ongoing. It is the first time Trump and Petro have met face-to-face. . . The meeting comes after Trump issued stern warnings to Petro regarding Colombian-produced cocaine entering America, especially after the United States captured former Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro in Operation Absolute Resolve on January 3. Far-Left Colombian President Petro Meets Trump at White House
“Many minority peoples have no connection to nature in the UK because their parents and their grandparents did not feel safe enough to take them or had other survival preoccupations.” – Woke UK report. The plans aim to reshape rural areas to appeal to a more multicultural demographic, potentially altering traditional British countryside culture. Govt Draws Up Plans to Force Diversity on ‘White’ Countryside.
When power protects you in DC, even torture gets rebranded. The Death Cult Congress Calls “Democratic” (For a moment I thought the author was referring to what Democrats call their party - jjs)
DEFENSE, MILITARY, SECURITY AFFAIRS
. . . as the last remaining treaty limiting their nuclear arsenals is set to expire in a matter of days.The New START treaty, signed in 2010 to cap U.S. and Russian nuclear stockpiles, is scheduled to expire on Thursday. If it lapses, Washington and Moscow would be left without any binding limits on the number of long-range nuclear weapons they can deploy, marking the first time in more than half a century that no such constraints exist. US And Russia Barrel Toward First Nuclear Arms Race Since Cold War
Importantly, nearly every military service branch has a presence as well, with the U.S. Space Force serving as the area’s hub of command—including building out what will essentially become an air traffic control system, but for rocket launches by NASA, the Department of War, and around a half-dozen private-sector companies EXC REPORT: WarSec Hegseth Takes Trump’s Space Dominance and Moon Landing Plan on the Road.
I think Isaacman is telling us indirectly that he is going to demand a perfect dress rehearsal countdown before he will be willing to sign off on the actual launch [of Artemis-2]. Based on SLS’s track record, it is therefore very likely that a launch this spring will not take place. Right now the launch has been delayed until March. If one or two dress rehearsals push it back into April and later, NASA will simply run out of time in this launch window. Isaacman: SLS stands on very thin ice
This is the raw image from that camera, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here. It is also the first time in human history we had a sharp look at these two planets that sit at the outer fringes of the solar system. Pluto and Charon come out of the dark
FEMINAZISM, TRANSGENDER PSYCHOSIS, HOMOSEXUALIZATION, WAR ON MASCULINITY/NORMALCY
“What sensible forward thinking cutting edge leading nation is having a DEBATE on whether or not there should be VOTER ID?!?!!!! Like?!?!? They’re actually fighting NOT to have ppl present ID while voting for your leaders!!!!!” she wrote. “Do you get it?!?!!!! Do you get it now?!?!!!” Nicki Minaj Endorses Voter ID Laws in Viral Post Calling out Politicians Fighting Against Them
One of the greatest mysteries of the Bible is the Nephilim. If you want to get a room full of theological nerds careening into debate, mention the Nephilim. But what do we actually know about them? The Nephilim Debate Just Got a Boost From Ancient Egypt
Robert Zimmerman: "Once there, almost everything described in David Lean’s movie occurred, though for dramatic reasons some events and individuals were combined or rearranged. Lawrence did save a man who was lost in the desert, against the advice of the Arabs with him. He did execute a man in cold blood to prevent a tribal war. Unlike the movie, these were separate events spaced in time, and involved two different men. But both happened, in exactly the circumstances describe." Lawrence of Arabia: Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction
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.
Forrester frames much of this as a sovereignty play, and it is hard to argue otherwise. Across Europe, money is going into sovereign cloud platforms, AI-ready infrastructure, and tighter rules on where data lives and who can access it.
This is not a privacy question. It is a control question.
AWS has moved quickly to flood the European continent with its elastic compute fabric, but while it may take two years to bring a new datacenter online, securing power for the facilities can take up to seven years, Pamela MacDougall, who heads energy markets and regulation for AWS EMEA, said in an interview with Reuters this week.
I can fit you in at 2PM on the eleventh of Never.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), in some European datacenter meccas, like Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Dublin, this wait can extend to as much as a decade.
I'm not sure this is going to work as you planned, guys.
The government also accuses Güven of having kept two separate sets of financial books. One of those sets included "false and inflated numbers," and was presented to investors or potential investors to hide the "true financial condition of the company," the government claims. The DOJ also alleges that Güven used lies about Kalder as well as forged documents to obtain a category of visa reserved for individuals of "extraordinary ability," that would allow her to live and work in the United States.
I am shocked, shocked, to find fraud going on in this fraud farm.
A 13-year-old boy has been hailed as a hero after swimming 4 hours through rough seas to rescue his family.
A family of 4 was enjoying a holiday in Australia’s southwest coast near Quindalup when strong winds blew their inflatable paddleboards out to sea. The boy was separated from his mom and 2 siblings before his canoe began to take on water.
Wearing a life-jacket, he began to swim against the wind towards the shore, knowing every second counted in the race to get help to save his family.
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“And the brave fella thought he’s not going to make it with a life jacket on, so he ditched it, and he swam the next 2 hours without a life jacket,” said Bresland. “I thought, ‘Mate, that is incredible.'”
Once ashore he successfully raised the alarm and a multi-agency search and rescue operation was mobilized, including Western Australia state Water Police and its rescue helicopter. The teen provided detailed descriptions of the paddleboards, and within the hour, his family was rescued by boat, having drifted 7 miles out into the Indian Ocean.
2 hours of swimming?!? Wow, way to go young dude!
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Speaking of good stuff from the younger generation
The wraparound windshield once was a trend in the automotive world. It's a design solution in which the windshield is built forming a curve toward each side of the cabin. As a result, the frontmost pillars, the ones between the windshield and the front window of each side, are displaced away from the car's front end, and the window next to it becomes narrower. That solution has been used on the rear windshield, too, where the wraparound design displaces the rearmost pillars in the opposite way — or, sometimes, wraps around the other way.
This trend is credited to the 1951 GM Le Sabre, a concept car dreamed up by Harley Earl and inspired by jet fighters — remember, jet design was all the rage in America back then. The Le Sabre's wraparound windshield resembled the canopies used in jet fighters and only became a reality after the industry spent years improving the technology for it. After GM started using it in mass production in 1953, Ford and Chrysler quickly followed suit. Over the following years, it was used on other cars despite the need to adapt the original design — the Le Sabre was a convertible concept car, so it didn't have the conventional roof and windows of a sedan or station wagon.
Sadly, wraparound windshields were largely dropped from automotive design in the 1960s; newer examples are much rarer. Among the practical reasons, having such a large glass area made the cabin excessively hot, especially in warm weather, and occupants would feel too visible from the outside. From a technical point of view, the curved glass causes some distortion on the sides. Besides, using larger glass areas led to making the pillars thinner, which raised concern that the cabin would become less resistant in a collision.
Check out the whole thing. Article contains some cool links to other car stuff.
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Do not even try to pretend THIS guy has a dildo!
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Those of you who were here on Sunday night were treated to an amazing sunset photo from lurker "Howard in Alberta". I previously featured one of his sunrise photos. Anyway, there were some questions in the comments about his photo
Did Howard in Alberta say where that pic was taken? I'd have to go about 30 miles West to see the Rockies like that. They are just below the horizon for me.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 01, 2026 11:09 PM (8zz6B)
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Maybe he's lurking and will chime in. If not, I will ask him.
Posted by: Doof at February 01, 2026 11:15 PM (QMAsf)
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That line of brush looks like a caragana hedge. Commonly planted all over Alberta and Saskatchewan as a windbreak.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 01, 2026 11:18 PM (8zz6B)
From the photographer himself!
Just read the comments, and here are answers to some questions/comments:
Location of the Alberta sunset (and previous photo of sunrise) is extreme SW Alberta, east of Waterton Lakes National Park. The mountains are the southern Canadian Rockies.
And yes, the hedge is caragana. Anyone can have one, but the secret is to have personally planted it fifty years ago.
Howard
Thanks for the follow-up, Howard! Keep those photos coming!
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DJ Doof - Guess The Theme
New difficulty scale in effect. Easy / Moderate / Difficult. This one is Easy.
What's the common thread / common meaning / common leitmotif?
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Weekly commenter stats for week of 2-1-2026
AoSHQ Commenter Statistics:
Number of posts: 109
Number of comments: 25562
Number of unique hashes: 2080
Top 10 commenters:
1 [479 comments] 'TheJamesMadison, searching for twisted thrills with Park Chan-wook' [68.02 posts/day]
2 [409 comments] 'Sponge - F*ck Cancer'
3 [358 comments] 'whig'
4 [349 comments] 'Bulg'
5 [347 comments] 'Joe Mannix (Not a cop!)'
6 [312 comments] 'Skip'
7 [280 comments] 'Aetius451AD work phone'
8 [252 comments] 'man'
9 [245 comments] ' Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _'
10 [244 comments] 'FenelonSpoke'
Top 10 sockpuppeteers:
1 [152 names] 'Blind Monk Miklos of Shaolin' [21.58 unique names/day]
2 [137 names] 'Quarter Twenty '
3 [109 names] 'Bang! Ding! Ow!'
4 [109 names] 'RIP you big dummy'
5 [62 names] 'Count de Monet'
6 [54 names] 'Randolph Duke'
7 [46 names] 'Duncanthrax'
8 [37 names] 'pookysgirl, trying to keep crackers down'
9 [35 names] 'Most people '
10 [33 names] 'Moron Analyst'
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Tonight's ONT brought to you by acceptable vaccines
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Long-time Coblogger and commenter "Niedermeyer's Dead Horse" is having significant health issues, and would appreciate the thoughts and prayers of The Horde. If you wish to reach out, use @NiedsG on X/Twitter. [CBD]
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Podcast: CBD and Sefton chat about the end game in Iran, what to do about the Fed, its supposed "independence," and its hyper-politicized chairman, the housing crunch, and Trump's harebrained suggestion to decrease credit card interest!
