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
Jay Guevara 2025 Jim Sunk New Dawn 2025
Jewells45 2025 Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024
Captain Hate 2023
moon_over_vermont 2023
westminsterdogshow 2023
Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022 Dave In Texas 2022
Jesse in D.C. 2022 OregonMuse 2022
redc1c4 2021
Tami 2021
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published.
Contact OrangeEnt for info: maildrop62 at proton dot me
Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan - I swear I am not making this up - said that nothing Media Matters was doing was illegal and in any case they had already stopped with most of the illegal stuff.
If you saw "The Verge" and guessed they were screeching inanely about the Trump administration, you can collect your Kewpie doll in aisle five, next to the mayonnaise.
Saturday Night "Club ONT" August 16, 2025 [The 3 Ds]
—Open Blogger
Club ONT Recognizes Establishments of Similar Caliber
Welcome to Club ONT! A collaboration of your Sunday through Wednesday Thursday ONT Crew - The Disco, The Doggo, and The Dino. Your membership application has been approved (with only mild sighing and minimal regret). The secret phrase/password this week is: You'll get used to it.
Paddy and Mick flew to Canada on a hunting trip. They chartered a small plane to take them into the Rockies for week hunting moose.
They managed to bag six. As they were loading the plane to return, the pilot said the plane could take only four moose.
The two lads objected strongly. "Last year we shot six. The pilot let us take them all and he had the same plane as yours."
Reluctantly, the pilot gave in and all six were loaded. The plane took off. However, while attempting to cross some mountain even on full power, the little plane couldn't handle the load and went down.
Somehow, surrounded by the moose bodies, Paddy and Mick survived the crash.
After climbing out of the wreckage, Paddy asked Mick, "Any idea where we are?"
Mick replied, "I think we're pretty close to where we crashed last year!"
Wilkinson knew the Royal Navy couldn't use traditional camouflage to their advantage. The giant ships with massive amounts of smoke pouring from their stacks would be difficult to conceal.
So, Wilkinson proposed that the Navy utilize a different type of camouflage — one meant not to conceal but to confuse. Dazzle camouflage utilized zebra stripes, bold patterns, and vivid colors to make it difficult for German U-boats to determine the speed and course of battleships. Without knowing exactly which way the vessels were headed, the U-boats couldn't calculate where to launch their torpedoes.
Just 4 ingredients. Make this refreshing cocktail with vodka, orange juice, grenadine, and lime-flavored seltzer water. The lime slice and maraschino cherry garnish are optional, but highly encouraged.
It looks just like a summer sunset. Skip the cocktail shaker. Pour the ingredients directly into the glass to create the gorgeous gradient.
-----
Ingredients
Ice
2 ounces orange juice
1 ounce vodka
1/2 ounce genadine
3 ounces cold lime-flavored seltzer water
Lime slice, for garnish (optional)
1 maraschino cherry with stem, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
Fill a highball or Collins glass halfway with ice. Add 2 ounces orange juice and 1 ounce vodka, and stir to combine. Slowly pour 1/2 ounce grenadine into the center of the glass, letting it settle on the bottom. Do not stir. Top with 3 ounces cold lime-flavored seltzer water. Garnish with a lime slice and a maraschino cherry.
***
Not the drink of the night. But caption worthy. Nothing says classy like loudly ordering this at the bar.
Dr. George Emery Goodfellow, who would come to be known as the “Gunfighter’s surgeon,” fully embodied what it meant to be a surgeon in the Wild Wild West. As was common for life in the frontier, improvisation was the theme of the day and, in that vein, Goodfellow challenged himself to perform previously unreported operative interventions in his efforts to save his patients. The Gunfighter’s surgeon also doubled as the coroner, using his gift for scientific inquiry in his post-mortem observations. His inquisitive nature also led him to reinvent a fundamental urologic procedure, the prostatectomy. No catalogue of the American Southwest would be complete without detailing his life and contributions.
***
Notorious for its “shoot for the guts” approach to resolving disputes, the colorful activities of the Tombstone residents provided Goodfellow with ample opportunity to study the consequences of being one of the “festive or obstreperous citizens (who) delighted themselves with toys such as the 44 or 45-calibre Colt revolver and the 45-60 and 44-40 Winchester rifles and Carbines.”
While he left the bravado of gunfights behind him, George Goodfellow brought the same pioneering spirit to defining himself and a surgical field that was in its infancy – urology - and centered his work on prostatic disease, which was in the lime-light of the surgical theater. Goodfellow’s most significant contribution to urology—the perineal prostatectomy—was reported to be performed by him upon his arrival in Tucson on October 13, 1891 (likely at St. Mary’s Hospital) almost 13 years prior to his formal publications claiming credit for performing a pure perineal prostatectomy, the first so far as known to me, deliberately devised and carried out.
*****
I don't think the Gunfighter's Surgeon could help this 'bro with his bromide problem.
Hospital put a psych hold on him which likely saved his life.
He also shared that, after reading about the negative effects that sodium chloride, or table salt, has on one's health, he was surprised that he could only find literature related to reducing sodium from one's diet. Inspired by his history of studying nutrition in college, he decided to conduct a personal experiment to eliminate chloride from his diet. For 3 months, he had replaced sodium chloride with sodium bromide obtained from the internet after consultation with ChatGPT, in which he had read that chloride can be swapped with bromide, though likely for other purposes, such as cleaning.
emphasis added by one of the D's
*****
Club ONT Window Shopping Department
Did you know that Bring a Trailer hosts military vehicles? Did you know that tanks have been listed? In fact, a 1982 Soviet T-54 was recently sold for a little over $221,000. I would like to think that a Moron bought it to make a big entrance at the Texas MoMe.
*****
Club ONT Department of Phobias
Whatcha got?
[Disco says: This one hit my X feed today while working on the Club. Now I'm looking for a duck!]
*****
Club ONT Department of Parental Care
*****
Club ONT Music
Guitar awesomeness
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Bonus music - Remembering "The King" on the anniversary of his death (Aug 16, 1977)
This spirit of Elvis lives on here at Club ONT. Please raise one in his honor. Thank you. Thank you very much!
*****
Top 10ish Comments of the Week. Or thereabout...
*****
Club ONT brought to you by International relations:
*****
Club ONT is officially in back to school mode. Please prepare backpacks with standard essentials for Club ONT patrons in need and drop them off in the bin near the door. Your favorite adopted Moron would appreciate a Sony Walkman, a Speak n Spell, a 64 crayon set for coloring, graph paper and a protractor, a bottle of Hoppes 9, and a battery powered rotary phone. Some Morons could use a map to help them get out of the barrel too.
Those were the days. Although this store is much larger than the two original record stores Pipe Dreams and Beggar's Tune in my old hometown. Then a big one moved in called The Exclusive Company. All gone.
Or were you a member of the Columbia Record Club? I joined once to get a number of LPS for cheap and then regretted it. Why? The selection sucked and the prices did as well.
Opinions, as in noses, everybody (except for a leper) has one. From Long Bow vs. Crossbow and Chevrolet vs. Ford, Mary Ann vs. Ginger will this be another AoSHQ dispute?
Who is the greatest song writer and/or song writing team in history?
Off the top of my head I would have to nominate Bob Dylan. However stats say that Paul McCartney holds the Guinness World Record for the most successful songwriter of all time.
Although both artists have music in my collection. Dylan far outnumbers McCartney by quite a large number.
"Damn that television, what a bad picture"
"Don't get upset, it's not a major disaster"
"There's nothing on tonight, " he said, "I don't know what's the matter"
"Nothing's ever on, " she said, "so I don't know why you bother"
We've heard this little scene, we've heard it many times
People fighting over little things and wasting precious time
They might be better off, I think, the way it seems to me
Making up their own shows, which might be better than TV
Judy's in the bedroom, inventing situations
Bob is on the street today, scouting up locations
They've enlisted all their family
They've enlisted all their friends
It helped save their relationship
And made it work again
And the hole in the screen
Is barely big enough for you
And not near enough for me to go
And the whole damn complicated
Situation could've been avoided
If I'd only shut the window
[Chorus]
And I may be leaving myself open
To a murder or a heart attack
But I'm leaving the back door open
'Til you come back, 'til you come back
And I may be moving myself closer
To a real untimely end
But I'm leaving the back door open
'Til you come home again, you come home again
Shadows are fallin' and I'm runnin' out of breath
Keep me in your heart for a while
If I leave you it doesn't mean I love you any less
Keep me in your heart for a while
When you get up in the mornin' and you see that crazy sun
Keep me in your heart for a while
There's a train leavin' nightly called "When All is Said and Done"
Keep me in your heart for a while
I lay my head on the railroad tracks
And wait for the Double E
The railroad don't run no more
Poor, poor pitiful me
No throwing 8 tracks, cassettes and/or reels of tape if you are not in agreement with your host and/or fellow commenters. If you are all good little boys and girls maybe you can head out to Club ONT later on.
Pissing, moaning, complaining, bitching and all other forms and matter of dissatisfaction can be taken up directly with Ace or CBD or someone who may care.
Posted by Misanthropic Humanitarian (ONT Cob Emeritus) at 07:30 PMComments
Hobby Thread - August 16, 2025 [TRex]
—Open Blogger
Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread. Good news! The Ace of Spades Wheel of HobbiesTM) is back in service. We gave the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies(TM) a spin and it landed on small scale restorations.
I have faith that you can either find something in the content that resonates or contribute your own hobbying interests.
You might be tempted to say "I have no hobbies or interests." Bah. Dig around in the content and soak in the comments. Be curious. Glad you're here.
[Top photo: Totality over Texas (oils on a 12x24 inch cotton canvas)- tankascribe]
As per usual Hobby Thread etiquette, keep this thread limited to hobbying. All (legal) hobbying is welcome. However, politics, current events and religious debates can live in threads elsewhere. Pants are optional. Puns are welcome and encouraged.
Play nice. Don't be a troll and do not feed the trolls.
***
I had a different theme for this week but put it on hold for now when I stumbled onto this video:
A lot of hobbying involves building new things, but what about giving old things new life? What could be more fun than restoring an old Tonka fire truck. The first five minutes are solely disassembly. The simple fire truck has 84 pieces.
After watching, the sheer breadth of skills involved impressed me. The more I watched videos like this, the more it struck me how many individual skills are utilized to make restorations work. In some cases, the need is stripping and repainting metal. In other cases, it is re-manufacturing fasteners or missing parts.
One noteworthy aspect that stuck out to me on this one: a process called "retrobrighting" submerged yellowed plastic material in hydrogen peroxide and hit it with UV lights for several days. The process restored the yellowed plastic to its original bright white color. May be old news to everyone else, but news to me.
With that introduction, let's talk about small scale restorations. We'll leave restorations of houses, structures and vehicles for another thread. I'm thinking tools, household goods, toys, and furniture.
An item is only original once, so there is always peril in "restoring" something to make it "better than new." Some old is earned patina and character, but some old just needs to be cleaned and fixed.
I had no idea that restoration videos were such a big thing on the interwebs. As you might imagine, the worse starting condition, the more dramatic the transformation and end result. The fire truck above has 7.7 million views. Disappointingly, so many videos have been infected by the clickbait disease and/or people trying to make money from repairs and reselling. (Furniture videos especially: "YOU'LL NEVER BELIEVE THE TRANSFORMATION!! I WAS ABLE TO REPAINT THIS SIDE TABLE AND MAKE A HUGE PROFIT!!!") I've tried to pick a few for this thread that have an interesting subject and inoffensive commentary (or no commentary where possible).
***
With so many scale modelers among the Horde, seemed appropriate to start with an X-wing restoration. This one also includes a retrobrighting process to address yellow plastic.
Have you gone back and overhauled models you built previously?
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There are others on the interwebs, but here's a Matchbox car restoration. This one caught my eye because of the shark nose Ferrari F1 subject car. It also caught my eye because of the small-scale home zinc-plating process shown.
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A 1911 restoration - complete with test fire at the end? Sure!
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This video of a sewing machine restoration has over 26 million views. Amazing. Can you imagine the person that made this 1864 Singer seeing it now?
***
Wonder how this safe got to this state, but the restoration journey is very satisfying. This is one for those that enjoy metal work.
***
Some people are into restoring arcade video games. More power to them. Personally, I try to avoid anything with that much wiring and electronics.
***
I had thoughts of doing a stained glass theme for a Hobby Thread, but thought it might be too narrow. True?
***
Top photo:
I love seeing how things are made. Same goes for hobbying projects. Tankascribe sent the eclipse photo at the top along with work in process photos and notes. Not enough room to include all of it here but it took 10 hours so we can make some space for a glimpse of the origin story.
Before we get into the painting process, here's a closer look at the sun part of the painting so you can appreciate the layering and colors. I don't know if tankascribe would agree, but this is a painting that got more impressive the closer I looked.
How did it start?
I had a ready-primed canvas long narrow canvas. Used a circle template to plop down a circle for the eclipsed sun (carefully off center but within the area of interest), with another larger one around it to approximate the corona, then just started to paint.
Roughed in the Texas landscape at the bottom, with the Llano river bordered by the trees and farther hills on the opposite side. Roughed in the "sunrise" colors on the left and right with more clouds above it. Got a lot of orangish primer to cover up with more overcast and clouds, but it was a good start.
This is how it evolved:
Mixed up a lot of mid-tone grey and used that to cover up all of the orange primer. Of course the entire thing immediately got duller, without having the orange/blue complements playing off each other and the primer is still shining up through some of it, making those areas look warmer.
"False sunrise" colors during the eclipse go in the exact opposite order than they would normally. Normally, the closer in towards the sun you go on the horizon, the warmer and more yellow the color becomes. As you move away from the sun it goes orange and into red, then cool red and purples. But in this case, because the sun itself was blocked out and the light on the horizon was what was leaking around the moon's shadow, the light is brighter and warmer the farther away from the
shadow band you go.
Spent an hour working on the sun's corona, getting that to shine brighter and making it more uneven. Started also working on giving the moon more dimension.
Next up was working the sky holes and clouds. Darkening up things, working to get that impression of the very dark shadow running right up the sky. Making the sky between clouds go from the regular light warm blues into cooler ultramarine and then the very dark Prussian blue traveling inward and upward. Then the clouds which will have the greatest contrast and range of values up around the eclipsed sun, becoming even softer and less distinct traveling downwards to the horizon.
Worked on extending the dark shadow band down the sky, a lot more
work over the top edge and down along the right side of the sky. Thought there should be more, brighter sunrise color over on the right side so put some of that in, being careful to edge it upwards a ways so the thing isn't totally symmetrical, which would be boring. Placed some bluish-green lighter cloud in the sunrise areas down by the horizon, and was quietly proud that I mixed up that color and matched it perfectly to that in the photos.
Got out the T-square and trued up the horizon line, which had gotten squiggly. Put some edge-lighting on some of the clouds around the sky hole where the eclipsed
sun appears.
The band of clouds down the dark shadow band were all too close in value - when squinting my eyes, it just turned into one dark blur down there. So spent time adding some good darks in some places and lighting edges of clouds in
others.
Tried to make everything have more blue the farther down the sky you go, while warming up the clouds up near the sun. Interjected more color into the false "sunrises" on either side of the shadow band. Pulled the corona out farther to give it three prongs instead of just two.
Final touches: Got more values going in the clouds in the lower third, making them a bit more highlighted but careful to use more blue in everything so they recede. Did some more cloudy detail work up around the sun making them more warm and rosy. Did a bit of highlighting on the line of trees along the river bank, lightened the distant hills just a touch more, and added a little more warm color to the water at either edge to reflect the "sunrises" in the sky above. Done!
Final result at the top.
Remember this painting when someone asks "How much detail can you put in clouds? How long can it really take to paint clouds?" It takes about 10 hours and involves a lot of color shading and highlights. I thought this level of detail would be interesting to the painters among the Horde.
Thank you for sharing! Well done tankascribe!
Remember - the Hobby Thread mailbox is always open if you would like to share your own hobbying projects.
***
Not a word of commentary and over 15 million views in 7 months. Amazing.
Same guy. Over 5 million views of a guy building a small hut out of pallets with no power tools.
***
This is more of a commercial endeavor than a pure hobby, but you'll understand why it got included.
***
Did you miss the Hobby Thread last week? We did a telescopes and night sky photography theme. The comments may be closed, but you can re-live the content.
Both were linked in the comments, but both deserve a place in the content. Beckoning Chasm lunar photo:
Q: Can astronauts burp in space?
A: Not really - at least not the kind of burping we do here on Earth.
In space, astronauts are in a constant state of freefall, so gravity doesn't help separate gases from everything else in their stomachs. This means that the gases don't naturally stay near the top of the stomach, while the heavier liquids and solids settle to the bottom. Without the affect of gravity, the gases, foods, and liquids stay floating together. So if an astronaut tries to burp in space, a little bit of everything comes up (solids, liquids, and gases). Basically, burping in space means throwing up a little.
You're welcome.
***
Notable comments from last week:
And a big bright gold star to Ben Had for this gem:
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Words of wisdom:
"Because despite all our troubles, when things are grim out in that wide round world of ours, that's when it's really important to have a good hobby." Posted by: tankascribe at June 22, 2024 07:41 PM (HWxAD).
***
Would TRex include a mystery click behind the top photo in a Hobby Thread? Maybe... If you have trouble finding something in the content or comments that resonates with you, hijack the thread for your hobbying as you see fit. We will feature a different theme next time. What are you hobbying? We love showing off Horde hobbying. Send thoughts, suggestions and photos of your hobbying to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Do mighty things.
I once took photos of a lion (perhaps a juvenile - its mane was not as dark or majestic as the one on the lion above - in a hotel room, with his trainer. The lion's mane had a waxy feel. He had come up the fire escape of the hotel for photos.
The next night, he bit one of my friends in a college show. He had been okay in rehearsal, but reacted badly to the wig she wore for the final production.
He left her with part of her scalp peeled back, but it was repaired. She still has lion tooth marks on her forehead. Lions are wild animals.
Meet The PetMorons
This is Ollie. He's a three year old dachshund and the photo accurately reflects his attitude towards life.
Have a super week!
DJ Jazzy Mel
I love Ollie! Your description is delightful.
* * *
This is Kroger. We had to buy a new dog bed from Chewy. As you can see it was a big hit. He pretty much planted himself there for the rest of the evening with his bear.
NR Pax
Kroger is loved! And he loves his bear!
* * *
&&&
&&&
Good Day K.T. and Fellow Pet Morons,
We had a big event at the house a few days ago, Chicks A & B took their first flight. This is a major milestone and has triggered changes in their living arrangements and feeding.
They have been moved into a proper bird cage now so they can learn how to balance and perch. We've also begun the weaning process to slowly get them off of the formula and on to a normal diet. We are using RowdyBush Crumble as a starter food and they are eating it, but we will continue to offer them formula twice a day. I expect in a few days to a week they will start refusing the formula all together.
Chicks C & D are both doing well and starting to flap their wings, but they don't have all their flight feathers yet, so their first flight is at least a week or more away.
Today pictures are of A & B. I don't know if you can see, but their plumage is just so pristine at this point. One image has A getting ready to launch himself for a fly about, and there is one of them looking at us. The last picture is from a previous post of these same 2 babies about 8 weeks ago. Nature never ceases to amaze me.
Regards, David
What a difference in 8 weeks!
* * *
PetMoron Adjacent Animals
Encountered by Members of The Horde
* * *
&&&
Hello,
I just saw a most unusual sight.
I found a deer resting in the shade in my backyard.
I live in a semi-rural community and my house is only a few blocks from several patches of woods that are home to deer. It's not too unusual to see them roaming my neighborhood at night.
I've lived here for 13 years and this is the first time I've seen a deer chilling out in my backyard on a hot summer day. Pretty cool.
Thought you'd enjoy this.
Best regards,
"Perfessor" Squirrel
Fun! Deer in the perfect spot for photos!
* * *
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.
Agapanthus flowers, commonly known as African lilies or Lily of the Nile.
Blue flowers are a treasure in summer. This looks like one of the more compact, prolific varieties of agapanthus. Love it.
*
Edible Gardening/Putting Things By
From By-Tor:
Made the mistake of taking a nibble on one of my 2 million Scoville units Ghost Peppers. Instant pain and ten minutes of regret. It not a “sneaks up on you” heat; it’s instant full blown heat.
Not sure what I’m going to do with them, actually.
This summer heat here in SoCal seems to suit them, though.
This is NOT something that I would try. I have heard stories of guys doing challenges with extremely hot peppers, keeping ice cream on hand for themselves without informing "the mark" that eating ice cream after such a challenge is a good idea.
I also read a tip from J.L. Hudson, Seedsman on how to use these extremely hot peppers once. As I recall, he used one pepper in this class to flavor a bathtub full of sauce, which he canned. Or something like that.
Any other tips for By-Tor?
*
Here's a much milder pepper I grew years ago with marigold plants. The first flush of marigold flowers was about over in this photo. The peppers changed color from green to yellow to orange to red. Attractive and quite tasty, with heat in the range of an Anaheim pepper. The plant was bred to stay short, so it could be left in flower beds. Don't remember its name.
Zucchini and Tomato Casserole
• 4 medium zucchini, cubed
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill weed or 1.5 teaspoons dried dill
• ground black pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon margarine, melted
• 2 large tomatoes, sliced
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaves
• 3/4 cup grated Romano cheese (feel free to substitute to your tastes)
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 2-quart casserole dish.
2. Place zucchini in a pot fitted with a steamer basket over boiling water. Steam 5 minutes, or until tender but firm. Transfer to the casserole dish. Mix the dill, pepper, and margarine, and stir into the casserole dish, evenly coating zucchini. Layer tomato slices over zucchini, and sprinkle with basil and Romano cheese.
3. Bake 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until bubbly and golden brown.
Notes: You could mix some green pepper or chile and onion slices with the zucchini and maybe substitute a pinch of oregano for the dill for a nice variation.
If you want to peel the tomatoes, you could pay attention to whether or not the tomatoes you grow are easy to peel without blanching, like the great, early Cosmonaut Volkov, (Plants with Stories) or Sweet Tangerine. There are others.
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Tomato Stories
We are starting to get tomato reports from The Horde, and it's time for a reminder that some information on different varieties is more reliable than other information. The story about Cosmonaut Volkov being chosen over 300 different varieties in honor of a cosmonaut who was killed in an accident is probably legit.
Last week, there was an exchange of legitimate information about the variety 'Black Strawberry' in the comments:
34 I recommend Black Strawberry for its prolific fruiting and long-lasting tomatoes, especially for sauce.
Posted by: Miley, okravangelist at August 09, 2025 02:40 PM
Never heard of it. Gonna have to order some seeds. Thanks.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at August 09, 2025 02:52 PM
Black strawberry tomatoes have been around for centuries and were first discovered by Italian farmers in the 18th century. The tomato variety was so named due to its unique dark-purple hue that resembles a large strawberry. They are grown in clusters of climbing plants, making them an ideal choice for home gardening and greenhouses.
The flavor of black strawberry tomatoes is more intense than traditional red tomatoes. They are also known to be very juicy and have a hint of sweetness, making them popular among chefs and cooks alike. We often find black strawberry tomatoes in farmers’ markets during the summer or in grocery stores sold as organic produce.
The story about the 18th Century Italian Farmers was just make up out of whole cloth. This is an anthocyanin (blue) tomato. They are a class of tomatoes which has only appeared on the market recently.
60 days, indeterminate. A very early cherry tomato with high levels of anthocyanins. The colors vary widely depending on the sunlight shining directly on the fruit. More sun means darker colors, resulting in fruit ranging from strawberry to purple to nearly black. Very sweet flavored 2 ounce fruit. Derived from a cross between 'Bosque Blue' and 'Strawberry Tiger' tomatoes.
There is a slideshow of photos at the link. Their appearance varies a lot.
Fantastic, sugar-sweet tomato flavor, that is fruity, with a hint of grape and plum flavors. If you relish the experience of digging into a bowl of high-quality cocktail tomatoes, then the Black Strawberry is your tomato. This 2-ounce fruit is marbled in purple, pink, green, and gold. This extremely productive and early variety is an obvious choice for gardeners and market farmers who want rugged, early-producing plants but do not want to sacrifice eating quality. This variety produces much diversity in color, and some plants may produce grape-shaped fruit. One of the best-tasting tomatoes we have tried!
Some of the variation in these tomatoes may come from throw-backs in individual plants to the parent varieties, because this variety was only bred recently.
I’d like to announce I’m back on this app but since I don’t pay for premium, it will be seen by 4 people. Anyway to those 4 people, I captured something amazing this month 🐻 pic.twitter.com/f9ke1oU2NO
Hi KT! I thought I would send some pictures of the sunflowers I grew this year. In past years, I grew sunflowers that turned into dinner-plate sized seed heads. Unfortunately, the neighborhood squirrels were murder on these flowers, knocking them over in their quest to get the seeds. What a mess! This year I chose an heirloom variety (see package). 6-8 feet tall with multiple flowers in a variety of colors. Rather than one large flower, I get to enjoy many more smaller flowers. The bees and goldfinches really love them!
The big pot of flowers is a tribute to my mom. She always planted petunias and marigolds. They are the easiest flowers to grow-sunlight, water and a little fertilizer and they grow like crazy. I cut them back from time to time and they continue to bloom all summer
Thanks for giving us the garden thread. It's a peaceful place to visit every Saturday!
Mrs. Leggy
I love those sunflowers, and the pot of flowers in honor of your mother is dreamy!
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Gardens of The Horde
This spring, Hrothgar sent us a photo of Rhododendrons "Bee Blooming"
And Azaleas (Fading Fast)
But I can't tell they're fading. They're beautiful!
Anything new happening in your garden? We have an aggressive gopher.
*
Hope everyone has a nice weekend.
If you would like to send photos, stories, links, etc. for the Saturday Gardening Thread, the address is:
ktinthegarden at g mail dot com
Remember to include the nic or name by which you wish to be known at AoSHQ, or let us know if you want to remain a lurker.
For decades, we have been hearing from advocates of "green energy" that nuclear plants cannot be considered as a replacement for fossil fuels to provide energy for homes and businesses. I haven't seen this argument used much against the proposals to build small nuclear plants to power Artificial Intelligence capacities. Where are the campaigns to cover the countryside with solar panels or windmills to power AI?
Sam Altman (born April 22, 1985, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.) is an American entrepreneur who was president of the start-up accelerator Y Combinator from 2014 to 2019 and chief executive officer (CEO) of the artificial intelligence (AI) company OpenAI beginning in 2019. He has been compared to tech visionaries, including Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, and is known for his belief that artificial general intelligence (AGI) will be able to do anything that humans can.
But Sam is starting with things that humans have done. And often copyrighted.
Last week in this space, we noted that government entities in Canada were going way overboard in "land acknowledgements" at the start of public meetings. These acknowldements are theoretically directed toward the descendants of various indigenous groups, but are not very useful to them. Although one recent court ruling concerning aboriginal property rights in Richmond, Canada could be.
Here's an interesting view on intellectual property.
I think Sam Altman should have to recite "intellectual property acknowledgements" every time he speaks in public
AI industry groups are urging an appeals court to block what they say is the largest copyright class action ever certified. They've warned that a single lawsuit raised by three authors over Anthropic's AI training now threatens to "financially ruin" the entire AI industry if up to 7 million claimants end up joining the litigation and forcing a settlement.
I guess we're not finished with this issue. Perhaps we should get some clarity sooner than later.
Confession: I actually used to be part of the “blacker than black, ‘cause I’m black, y’all…” crowd.
First time I watched “Blazing Saddles,” I hated it. I thought it was racist. I remember watching it with some fraternity brothers and damn near causing a scene because they were all laughing while I was pissed they could laugh at something so racist.
Post college, rookie cop, newly into my right-leaning, conservative awakening, I had a girlfriend who wanted to do a movie night. She said she wanted to watch her favorite comedy, “Blazing Saddles.” After asking if we could watch something else and her being dead set on wanting to watch it, I gave it a new shot. I was prepared to be mad, though, just in case.
I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard in my life.
Point is, to everyone who still views the world through a racial lens, there’s a whole world out there that you could enjoy if you simply take off those lenses. It’s holding you back and you don’t even realize it.
Today — August 15 — marks the 80th anniversary of the surrender of Japan. Actually, it was August 15 in Japan, but more accurately August 14 on this side of the Date Line. And yet today I can find little notice or commemoration of this date. It was probably the zenith of American power and patriotism, which has been an exponentially decreasing quotient ever since.
There is a personal component to this day. I was five-year-old visiting relatives in suburban New Jersey and my mom decided to take me over to the City to see a Giants game at the Polo Grounds. (We were Yankee fans, but they were out of town that day.)
On the subway segment to the Jersey PATH trains after the game, mom decided to stop at a now long-defunct Childs restaurant in mid-town for a quick supper. So we get off at the Times Square subway stop and come up to the street to be greeted by probably a million, give or take another half million, people yelling and dancing and celebrating. It was a terrifying scene for a runty little five-year-old. I asked mom what was going on and she read off the moving electric news sign on the Times building “The War is over! The War is over!”
When you see that historic photo of the million(s) jammed into Times Square on V-J Day, yep, that’s me right there. No, not that sailor guy – that little speck over by the copy of the Statue of Liberty at the far end.
Even for a little kid, the importance of that moment was not lost. . .
Today, a scan of the media shows nearly none of the that historic day will be remembered or solemnly celebrated.
Few will have the joy that I was so lucky to experience on that wonderful day in 1945.
It was “God Bless America” and “America the Beautiful” and “You’re a Grand Old Flag” and “Over There” in one glorious medley. You should have been there.
The Classical Saturday Coffee Break & Prayer Revival
—Misanthropic Humanitarian (ONT Cob Emeritus)
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 Little Suamico)
1. This is an open thread, feel free to lurk, opine and/or bloviate.
2. Be kind, be nice. Even trolls and certain weirdos have feelings.
3. No. Don't. Even. Ask. No running with sharp objects.
4. Have a great weekend!
Please submit any prayer requests to me, “Annie’s Stew” at apaslo atsign hotmail dot com. Prayer requests are generally removed after four weeks unless we receive an update.
Prayer Requests:
7/9 - Teresa in Fort Worth asks for prayers for her niece Amanda, and her husband Barkley. They are at Vanderbilt Hospital, where Amanda seems to be rejecting her second heart transplant. She is only 40 years old, and has been having heart issues for 20 years. She had her first heart transplant 4 years ago, and things are not looking good.
8/2 Update – Amanda isn’t out of the woods yet, but her condition is improving each day.
7/11 – JR requested prayers for the families of those killed in Gaza.
8/2 – JR asked for prayers for the starving children in Gaza.
7/11 – Screaming in digital asked for prayers for her mother. Mom is still recovering from a UTI plus 3 falls within the last couple of days. During the day, there is some improvement. But once she starts sundowning, she is terrified and clings to whatever she can hold onto. She only weighs about 105-110, and isn’t eating much, but it is hard to move her when she is like that. If she doesn’t improve her mobility and cooperate/help with transfers to and from the wheelchair, etc., and consistently feed herself, she won’t be able to stay at the assisted living facility.
7/19 Update – Screaming in digital’s mother passed away.
7/11 – Matthew Kant Cipher requested prayers for Layne, a family friend who is also his son’s FIL. He was diagnosed with bladder cancer and is awaiting further test results to determine whether they treat with chemo or remove his bladder. As of now, it appears to be contained. Please pray that he and his family are blessed with God’s love and grace through this time of trial.
8/13 Update – Layne has had some good news. His PET scan indicated that the cancer hasn’t spread beyond his bladder. Also, it seems to be a less aggressive form of cancer than originally diagnosed. The Horde prayers are blessing him greatly and are immensely appreciated. Please keep them coming!
7/18 – Tecumseh Tea had a heart attack and needs prayers.
7/23 Update – Tecumseh Tea had a Type 2 heart attack, which is considered mild. She sends prayers of thanks for that! The angiogram showed a healthy heart, with little plaque and clean arteries, so no stent was needed. They did find a myocardial bridge, which is a congenital defect. The goal is to keep BP 140/70 with a pulse of less than 60, but so far they have not been able to meet that goal. She can’t get a cardiologist appointment until 8/22, so the GP is helping, but so far they have not been able to get the right BP meds. Please pray for a sooner visit, and the right meds that work for her, and answers.
7/19 – Huerfano asked for prayers for a rapid and full recovery for brother R, who had hernia surgery. He cannot see his grandsons until he has recovered. He misses them, and they miss him.
7/19 – Farmer Bob posted an update. He is doing well. He is competing in 5Ks and triathalons, and sends his thanks for the prayers. His ex-wife has “gone off the deep end” (or just remains so), with weird lies and accusations. She could use a prayer or two.
7/19 – Tonypete asked for prayers for Cheri and Gretchen, church ladies of his acquaintance. Cheri had a medical incident while driving and veered off the road and struck a number of pedestrians, sending 3 or 4 to the hospital. Gretchen and her husband were passengers in the car and her husband had a heart attack after the accident and died. Cheri is just sick about it and has kind of snapped. Gretchen has lost her best friend of 65 years.
7/19 – H asked for prayers for Brandon, a homeless man in San Marcos, TX, who has a broken ankle and has to seek care for that injury, specifically prayers that he would see God providing for him. He is asking for God to help him advocate for his care.
7/23 – D sent an update on his wife Susan, as they deal with cancer. The last few weeks have been a roller coaster. They cannot operate on the cancer, because it has spread too much. They have started chemo and hope to get it to shrink. Susan’s gallbladder is inflamed, but they cannot remove it, due to the chemo, and her blood sugar is having issues. Thanks to everyone for their prayers; Susan has pulled through all of this and is looking great as they keep praying to the Lord.
7/26 – Stateless asked for prayers for his neighbors. The nice lady across the street lost her husband of 30 years about 3 months ago. And a different neighbor lost his beloved wife of 34 years in July.
7/26 – Fenelon Spoke requested prayers for J, a dear lady who attends her church. J has been going downhill since she had a heart procedure several months ago and now cannot speak. She may have dementia and is living in an assisted living facility.
7/26 – Coelacanth sent his thanks for prayers for his son. He has come a _very_ long way but could still use more prayers as he deals with vax and black mold injuries. Also, Coelacanth cut his left hand pretty badly and severed two tendons. He will be on light duty at work for 6+ weeks. Prayers are appreciated.
7/26 - Brother Tim was discharged from the cancer rehab facility and has returned to his routine of living out of hotel rooms, while working on better housing prospects. He is praising God for all the blessings and mercies!
7/30 Update – Brother Tim found out that the cancerous mass impinged on a blood vessel. He needs a full body scan to make sure it has not spread. He is relieved that he only needs radiation and not chemo to make sure the original cancer stays gone. He’s also out of PTO. He said that sometimes it feels like 2025 will be the death of him – possibly literally.
8/1 – Jmel requested prayers for her husband, whose father just passed away after fighting cancer for two years.
8/2 – “Perfessor” Squirrel asked for prayers. His job seems to be in dire jeopardy.
8/2 – Teresa in Fort Worth received the good news that her cancerous tumors continue to shrink. She had some not-so-good news, that she has 2 pulmonary emboli, and has been put on a blood thinner, which should dissolve the clots and prevent any new ones.
8/4 Update – The oncological surgeon said everything is looking great. After her next CT scan, they will be planning surgery to remove the tumors. The largest tumor is showing signs of calcification, which means that it is dying.
8/2 – FenelonSpoke requested prayers for P. She was to have an experimental but successful heart procedure which the surgeon thinks will help her arrythmia, pain, and fatigue, but insurance will not pay for it. Prayer that rough places are made smooth for her to have this procedure.
8/4 – Moki posted that s/he could use some prayers. A daughter has gone AWOL, claiming that they don’t love her.
8/9 Update – Moki reported that her daughter has come home.
8/4 – Inogame asked for continued prayers. Baby #5 continues to grow, and the genetic test came back clean. Prayers for mom and baby (daughter #4), and also dad and son are appreciated.
8/13 – MkY sent an update on his wife Judy’s battle with cancer. Her immunotherapy is scheduled for every 3 weeks. Six weeks ago, she had a cold and had to skip it, and it was the best she had felt in a year. So they skipped the last one, too. She is scheduled for it again on 8/14. She’s not hurting. She is sleeping. She’s not healthy, but she’s got stage 4 cancer! September is the next CT scan, and they will find out if the immunotherapy is making enough of an impact to continue. They are very grateful for the prayers.
8/13 – MkY would appreciate prayers for Butch and Harry, who have worked with him for 20 years. Both have recently been diagnosed with cancer. Butch has liver cancer and Harry has cancer in his larynx.
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.
A coyote was separated from his pack so he made friends with the neighborhood dogs. That's not a great situation for a coyote so they brought him to a refuge and gave him a friend.
Mild violence caution on this clip from Steve Inman: A goat shows that he's no fan of influencers or selfies. Ask permission before you photograph someone else for your stupid TikTok feed!
Leftists are trash. Look how many Gen Z and Millennial lefties are eager to Disconnect from family members for challenging their cult's evil doctrines:
The left is made up of a lot of hateful, malignant, worthless, vile, and deeply stupid people. Did you know that?
The bio of this Nobel Laureate:
evan loves worf
@esjesjesj
one piece, communist, prison abolitionist, Elon Musk--obsessed much, anti-zionist | alt @eeesssjjj, esjesjesj on bsky
An MS-13 gang member who is serving time for murder filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump and the Bureau of Prisons, demanding they recognize the inmate as a "woman" despite being born male.
Oscar Contreras Aguilar was sentenced to 21-years in prison for the 2016 murders of a 14-year-old and 17-year-old Edvin Mendez. The gang member killed the teenagers over the belief they were cooperating with law enforcement, per the Daily Wire.
Contreras Aguilar filed the lawsuit last month, claiming the bureau and Trump have "refused to recognize" his gender identity. The inmate changed his name to Fendi G. Skyy in 2024 and identified as female. Contreras Aguilar then complained that transgender inmates were mistreated in comparison to other prisoners.
"Transgender women prisoners in men's prisons," he claimed in the July filing, are often met with "harsher, more degrading treatment than their cisgender counterparts."
I should hope so!
The Supreme Court "banned" racism in school admissions, but they didn't really mean it. Anti-white/anti-Asian/anti-male discrimination is still going on with barely-covert "proxy" factors used to favor members of one race over another.
The current scheme is to find zip codes of mostly white people and impose quotas on those zip codes so that only a certain number of applicants from them can be accepted. And then the schools say, "We're not technically discriminating against whites, we're just discriminating against zip codes where mostly white people live."
And meanwhile the standards for zip codes where "black and brown" people live are lowered to the lowest possible level.
But they'll have a new chance to hear another appeal. I guess we'll just have to wait to see if Amy Coney Barrett decides the Constitution is in force this week, or not.
What good is the Supreme Court's two-year-old ban on racial preferences in educational admissions if the high court lets other high-demand schools flagrantly flout it?
That's what justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas asked their colleagues last year when SCOTUS declined to review a ruling that upheld an admissions scheme explicitly designed to change racial demographics in Boston's most prestigious public high schools, several months after the duo scolded the court for declining a similar Virginia case across the river from D.C.
The plaintiffs in the Boston challenge have come back with a new 14th Amendment lawsuit claiming the mid-litigation pivot to a different admissions scheme for the so-called exam schools, based on socioeconomic "tiers" instead of the original zip codes, has created the "disparate impact" result required by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals: underrepresentation.
"Now, by clustering most white students together in one 'tier' where they compete only against each other for Exam School seats, the current Tier System 'succeeded' in reducing the proportion of white students admitted to the Exam Schools below the group's share of the applicant pool three years in a row," the suit says.
Filed by the Boston Parent Coalition for Academic Excellence on behalf of dozens of parents of white and Asian-American students denied and seeking admission to Boston Latin School, Boston Latin Academy and John D. O'Bryant School of Science and Mathematics, the lawsuit includes data on the composition of the applicant pool from a public records request.
"Because these students were denied admission to their Exam School of choice due to their race, court-ordered admission to those schools is the only remedy for this race-based harm," and a permanent injunction on the tier system is the only remedy for future applicants, the suit says.
"Boston Public Schools cannot launder racial quotas through socioeconomic labels" in the tier system, said the coalition's lawyer, Chris Kieser of the Pacific Legal Foundation. "The Equal Protection Clause forbids government discrimination, whether done openly or by proxy."
'Whitelash': Professors say white students get angry, frustrated by 'anti-racist education'
Social work professors call out 'whitelash' in classrooms pushing anti-racism lessons
Two social work scholars argue that their "anti-racist education" efforts in the classroom faced "whitelash" from white students, who became emotionally distraught, pushed back by using "color-blind rhetoric," or later wrote negative course reviews.
Oh no, they used "color-blind rhetoric"? Is there no end to all of this White Supremacist Fascism?
Quinn Hafen from the University of Wyoming and Marie Villescas from Colorado State University recently published an article in the Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research detailing their experience creating a "pedagogy of discomfort" to challenge white supremacy in the classroom. The research was conducted at CSU.
The method was criticized by two scholars in interviews with The College Fix, who called the experiment somewhat abusive.
"[T]he more I reflect on that paper, the more I find it cruel to shame students based on immutable identities they hold, regardless of identity," one observer said via email. "For the professors, it appeared that White and male students were their target."
We should not be content that some "experts," speaking anonymously, venture a tepid opinion that racially humiliating whites and males may be abusive.
This is where we are.
Defund the academy.
The College Fix reached out via email to both Hafen and Villescas regarding some of the concerns raised about their teaching methods. Hafen and Villescas did not reply.
'White backlash' and 'white fragility'
Hafen and Villescas wrote in their July paper -- which was taken down from the journal's website on Saturday -- that as "social work moves in the direction of anti-racist education and practice, social workers of color have urgently called attention to how theme [sic] profession continues to perpetuate white supremacy and harm BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color)."
The two scholars wrote that when anti-racist educators attempt to bring attention to how their field advances white supremacy in the classroom, white students attempt to "re-establish the white supremacist status quo" through resistance and the espousal of "color-blind rhetoric."
This "[r]etaliatory white backlash," they wrote, is best referred to as "whitelash," which they describe as intimately entwined with the socio-relational process of white emotionality and the maintenance of racial hierarchies.
Thus, in an attempt to "expose" and "disarm" this white resistance to anti-racist education, the scholarly duo documented their own exploration of the pedagogical strategies they utilized while co-teaching two different undergraduate social work courses in 2023.
Specifically, the strategies were "interracial teaching partnerships" and the "pedagogy of discomfort," both of which the authors highlighted as having the potential to "promote student and instructor self-reflexivity and accountability" while "challenging the reproduction of whiteness in the classroom."
The former they described as "an anti-racist pedagogical approach in which two or more racially diverse instructors co-teach a course." The latter they characterized as a teaching method "that seeks to make visible the ways in which emotional comfort maintains structural oppression" and that "requires both instructors and students to embrace vulnerability and discomposure and question what they have been taught to see."
Through assessments based on classroom surveys and their own self-reflection, they wrote that they found their white students did not always respond favorably to lessons on their "white fragility" and "social work's role in perpetuating whiteness."
Some white students, the scholars noted, became emotionally distraught during these and similar lessons while others pushed back or later wrote negative course reviews.
Through the documentation of their experiences and analyses, the scholars wrote, they hope to illustrate "how whitelash against anti-racism education can be transformed from an inevitable setback, into an opportunity to disrupt the social production of whiteness."
I mentioned that Billie Eilish is being cancelled by the left for saying she liked being in Ireland, where everyone was as "pasty" as she is. (She's of Irish descent.) Apparently this is unconscionable White Supremacy.
The New York Times and everyone else in the Gaslight Media will soon be claiming it's the right who are obsessed with Billie Eilish's cultural sentiments, and that no one on the left ever brought it up at all.
Gutfeld’s appearance drew 1.7 million viewers, marking the highest-rated "Tonight Show" of 2025 and giving the program a 57% increase compared to its year-to-date average of 1.1 million viewers, according to data from Nielsen Media Research.
So of course Jimmy Fallon, who went woke years ago after resisting it for a year or two, is now being cancelled for platforming Gutfeld and White Supreamcism.
And yet, liberal mainstream media figures are furious that Fallon did this. Just look at the headlines. "Jimmy Fallon kisses the conservative ring," said Vulture, as if bothering to engage a conservative was an explicit endorsement of everything the conservative thinks.
The Daily Beast spun it this way: "Jimmy Fallon Fawns All Over MAGA Late-Night Host Greg Gutfeld in Softball Chat" -- as if a humorous late-night show needs to be some vicious skewering of non-liberal perspectives.
And of course, what remains of BuzzFeed was eager to attack Fallon for daring to platform Gutfeld. "'This Seals It For Me': People Are Completely Turning On Jimmy Fallon For His Recent Talk Show Guest, And It's Not Pretty."
In one month, the New York Times will report the news from the Mandela Effect Zone where no one on the left made a big deal about one talk show host appearing on a different show, and it was all the crazed righties making a big deal about it.
🚨 HOLY CRAP! President Trump has surged 14 POINTS in the eyes of Americans in handling of crime - even CNN is now warning Democrats. pic.twitter.com/6Hy0HrhXfA
The DC federalization is going to be popular.
"Democrats have to get it around their heads - Americans are FAR MORE…
Below, a woman laments having wasted her time and money pursuing a worthless gender studies degree, and in fact regrets having gone to college at all, as all they "taught" her was how to be pessimistic, fragile, ineffectual, and mentally toxic.
She notes that she was under-confident coming into college, and was attracted to the gender cult's promise that their demonic religion would "empower" her. She now realizes that college is supposed to be about learning things so that you can pursue a productive career, not to "empower" people who have at this point achieved almost nothing and thus should not be taught to feel "empowered" over nothing.
She says the gender cult taught her a "theory of everything" in which "everything is bad" and there is "no hope."
If you want to skip the guy's commentary-- which I would, it's not new news -- skip to 4:58.
A former NPR "reporter" decided she would defend yet another illegal alien killer. The monster drove drunk with a BAC three times the legal limit and slammed into another car, killing a mother and her 11 year old daughter.
He was so drunk he was speeding the wrong way down a one-way street.
And he had a prior history of DUIs, for which he was not deported.
Illegal migrant — not deported despite multiple DUI and domestic violence raps — allegedly kills mom, 11-yr-old daughter in horrific wrong-way crash https://t.co/4ZQXyjoW9Jpic.twitter.com/wLc0bVZOiY
This former NPR "reporter" wants to emphasize that, prior to the double manslaughter, and excepting all of his previous DUIs, his driving record is "largely clean."
It was a Fiery But Mostly Peaceful Family Annihilation.
She was attacked for this monstrous claim, and eventually deleted her twitter account.
And the media is still babbling about George Floyd and January 6th, the most violent day in history, in the entire universe.
Although the backlash to the overturning of Roe v. Wade appears to have subsided, vandals, arsonists, and worse targeted hundreds of churches in 2024, according to a new report.
Travis Weber, vice president for policy and government affairs at the Family Research Council, which released the report Monday, said most Americans would be surprised to hear that 383 churches suffered 415 attacks in 2024.
"We have a tendency in the West and in the United States to think of ourselves as safe and freedom-loving, tolerant, and protective of religious freedom, including religious freedom to practice Christianity," he told The Daily Signal in an interview Friday. "So, I think the fact that we have hundreds of incidents--specifically, 415--in the year 2024 is very revealing."
While these 415 attacks represented a decrease from the 2023 high of 485 attacks, it still included hundreds more incidents than in 2022 (198), 2021 (98), and previous years.
...
The Family Research Council used open-source documents, reports, and news articles to assess attacks against Christian churches. The 2024 report identified 284 acts of vandalism, 55 incidents of arson or other fires, 28 gun-related attacks, 14 bomb threats, and 47 other incidents, such as physical assault, disruption of church services, and general threats of harm.
In August, four churches in southern Ohio caught fire, and authorities suspected one person may have set all four fires. Authorities have yet to name a suspect. Also in August, a man allegedly killed the secretary of St. Mark AME Zion Church in Athens, Tennessee, before setting fire to the building, completely burning down the roof.
Other attackers disrupted services by entering churches with guns. These gun-related incidents increased from 12 in 2023 to 28 last year.
The left continues mainstreaming the idea that violence is just politics by other means.
I just wish he hadn't said the n-word. If he hadn't said the n-word, he could continue to run in a damaged state.
But the Democrat Cult won't support anyone saying the n-word. Not unless they're already in office, I mean. They defended blackface before, Lord knows.
Wild, newly released dash cam footage shows the Democrat's choice to run for governor in South Carolina getting arrested recently in just his underwear -- with him swearing and using the n-word while referring to himself as both God and Superman.
Married father-of-four William "Mullins" McLeod, 53, is facing calls from his own party to step down from the gubernatorial race he only formally entered Monday after video emerged a day later of his bizarre arrest just months earlier in May, according to WCBD.
The prominent attorney was stopped in downtown Charleston while "yelling at the top of his lungs" wearing only underwear and shoes, according to a police report -- which suggested he showed signs "typical of an individual under the influence of a stimulant narcotic."
The Dem referred to his upcoming election race -- even threatening to kick an opponent's "f--king teeth in" -- while refusing to tell cops his name, instead referring to himself as God and Superman, the hour-long video released through a Freedom of Information Act request shows.
"It doesn't matter, my friend, trust me," he told one officer when asked his name.
"I'm one of the most just humans to ever walk this soil," he said.
"Superman sounds good," he added, bizarrely.
McLeod, who only entered the Democratic race for Governor in the Palmetto State on Monday, also issued threats toward current and former South Carolina politicians during the profanity-laden rant.
"I'm gonna kick your f--king teeth in," he says at one point, appearing to reference Republican Attorney General Alan Wilson, who announced his bid for governor earlier this summer.
McLeod -- who is heard uttering the n-word at least twice in the video -- also refuses to get out of the patrol car when it arrives at the jail, instead telling an officer he would sleep in the back seat.
"No, I'm not doing it, no. I'm not getting out of this car. It's time to go to bed," he shouts at the officer, before being forcibly removed and booked into the jail shortly before 1 a.m., according to an arrest report retrieved by WCBD.
...
It wasn't immediately clear whether McLeod -- who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2010 and served two terms as Charleston County Democratic Party chairman -- was tested for drugs during his arrest.
"Mullins" demanded the public show him "grace," and promised that when the Full Story came out, people would see he was in the right to be on drugs calling himself God and Superman and dropping n-bombs like a rapper.
"And when they learn what happened around my unlawful arrest, it will be a reason why I absolutely need to be our state's governor," he said, adding that he had been exercising his "God-given, constitutional right to be in a public place" when he was arrested.
He then flashed gang signs and said "Smell you later, n-bombs."
A former Emmy-nominated TV news anchor convicted in a billion-dollar COVID fraud scheme sent a scandalous text to her partner in crime that joked about cheating taxpayers out of taxpayer money.
Stephanie Hockridge-Reis, who worked for a local station in Phoenix before becoming a fintech entrepreneur, sent the message to her husband, Nathan Reis, after applying for Payment Protection Program (PPP) loans during the height of the pandemic.
"This is us trying to apply for free money -- when we don't quite qualify. lol," she texted Reis, 47, according to a federal indictment obtained by The Arizona Republic.
The couple was accused of fraudulently obtaining over $300,000 in PPP loans for themselves, including one application that falsely claimed he was a veteran and an African American.
You'd think that would be enough to get the propaganda media to cover this. (This report is in Murdoch's NY Post, which doesn't count.)
Nope.
Reis took a plea deal on Monday and will be sentenced in November.
Hockridge-Reis, 42, was found guilty on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in June by a jury in the Northern District of Texas. She was acquitted on four additional counts of wire fraud. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 10.
She faces up to 20 years in prison.
The Post has sought comment from the duo.
The couple's Scottsdale-based fintech firm, Blueacorn, which the couple co-founded in 2020, processed over $12.5 billion in PPP loans -- with somewhere between $250 million and $300 million going to the company's ownership, including Hockridge-Reis.
Blueacorn received over $1 billion in taxpayer-funded processing fees for facilitating PPP loans but spent less than 1% ($8.6 million) on fraud prevention and only $13.7 million on eligibility verification, according to a congressional investigation.
In other words: They defrauded the government of a lot more than the $300,000 in PPP loans they did not qualify for.
It's important on its own, and its important to let the left know that we do not respect them and we no longer fear them.
Trump Moves To Rid Smithsonian Of Left-Wing Spin, Highlight American History
'Our goal is for the Smithsonian to be fact-based, scholarly, and historically sound.'
By Mary Margaret Olohan
WASHINGTON -- Some of Washington's top museums feature exhibits laced with an aggressively left-wing spin on American history, a Daily Wire review of Smithsonian exhibits found. Ahead of America's 250th anniversary, President Donald Trump is taking action to weed out that ideology and historical spin from these institutions.
Americans who visit the Smithsonian museums in Washington, D.C., might expect to learn about the factual history of the United States, to view American art and artifacts, and to be inspired by tales of American courage and valor. But visitors are often greeted with overt ideological content, gender ideology, and LGBTQ propaganda, or aggressive reframing of events like the COVID-19 pandemic or the Black Lives Matter movement.
In an August 12 letter, Trump officials Lindsey Halligan, Vince Haley, and Russ Vought informed Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch that the Trump administration will be conducting a "comprehensive internal review of selected Smithsonian museums and exhibitions" in fulfillment of the president's executive order "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History."
"This initiative aims to ensure alignment with the President's directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions," the Trump officials told the Smithsonian, noting that their review is "rooted in respect for the Smithsonian's vital mission and its extraordinary contributions" and that they want to "support a broader vision of excellence that highlights historically accurate, uplifting, and inclusive portrayals of America's heritage."
The move comes amid widespread concerns about how Washington institutions have repackaged and represented American history in the nation's capital -- or interspersed woke ideology throughout the Smithsonian museums. While critics and media such as ABC News argue that the president is trying to make the museums align with his personal "view of American history," the president's team maintains that American history should not be framed or packaged through any ideological lens.
"It is an honor to work alongside the Smithsonian in reviewing its museums and exhibits, with the shared goal of ensuring this treasured institution reflects the very best America has to offer -- accuracy, excellence, and the richness of our shared history," Halligan, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Associate Staff Secretary, told The Daily Wire. "While certain ideological influences have permeated the Smithsonian over time, our goal is for the Smithsonian to be fact-based, scholarly, and historically sound."
"The current Smithsonian exhibits are publicly available so everyone can see firsthand what we have observed," she added.
That includes the National Museum of American History, where visitors were greeted upon entry by a "Pride Progress" flag that consists of the white, pink, purple, black, and brown stripes representing the transgender pride flag and "LGBTQ people of color." That flag is featured at the museum's entrance on Constitution Avenue, according to tourists and visitors of the Smithsonian.
The museum's "Change Your Game" exhibit "showcases dynamic stories and objects related to diverse inventors, athletes, and technologies that have changed how sports are played." The exhibit includes a big display on gender testing in athletics featuring Caster Semenya and Mack Beggs. Semenya, who is not American, was born with a rare condition called hyperandrogenism, which causes higher testosterone levels in women. Beggs, a woman who identifies as a man, competed in female high school wrestling in Texas despite taking high doses of testosterone.
The display does not contain examples of men competing as women and dominating in female sports, which the majority of Americans oppose.
Much more at the link.
This caused a minor furor on CNN (naturally), and the argument turned heated.
Abby Philips is, of course, a woke DEI leftist but she pretends to "moderate" the panel discussion on her show, but she is always telling the lone Republican to be quiet and accept the claims made by the six liberals present.
Two nights ago, Julie Roginski, another Regime liberal and a Guest of Last Resort on panel shows, decided to make a play for a permanent CNN job by repeatedly launching irrelevant personal attacks on Scott Jennings, deciding, somehow, that Jennings' support of Trump proves that he must be wrong about crime and woke museums Because January 6th. She made an extremely strained hypocrisy attack on Jennings, something along the lines of "well you said January 6th was bad in the past but now you support Trump so you must love crime."
Jennings called foul, and Abby Philips, of course, rode to the rescue of her fellow Regime DEI liberal, telling Jennings he needed to let her "finish her point," which was just to insult him.
Okay none of that is interesting. But the interesting -- or semi-interesting -- thing is that Scott Jennings then began calling out Abby Philips for letting her liberal panelists insult him all night while always counseling him alone to be respectful.
Jennings doesn't usually do that, and I think the reason is simple: He also never calls out CNN for its intense partisan bias. And I think that's because his contract specifies that he cannot impugn CNN nor its other "talent," like Abby Philips.
So it's telling that he's violating what I'm pretty sure is a term of his contract, that he never mention the Big Secret that CNN is a nasty leftwing propganda organization.
The entire premise of the Left's George Floyd-era argument was, in fact, "white people bad," and it is a sign of weakness, rather than strength, that the left-wing CNN panelists are now pretending that they never made that argument at all. Good, @JillianMichaels. https://t.co/FmLODARVER
And this Guest of Last Resort also claimed that cleaning the woke sermons out of the Smithsonian is "whitewashing slavery" and saying slavery is good.
The surprisingly based Jillian Michaels rejected this. Abby Philips, naturally, claimed if every exhibit in the Smithsonian isn't anti-white/anti-male propaganda, you're saying slavery is good.
🚨 THIS IS THE EXACT MOMENT CNN FOREVER BANS JILLIAN MICHAELS
She’ll never be allowed on their airwaves again after saying what they didn’t want you to hear. pic.twitter.com/HIJIlIWycB
BTW, Jillian Michaels used to be the trainer on The Biggest Loser. She's a lesbian and used to be pretty leftwing, but I think covid and transgenders in women's sports radicalized her to the right and now she's based.
Gavin Newsom Gives "Rally" Speech to Nearly Empty Room to Push for an Amendment Allowing Him to Gerrymander the State Even Harder
—Ace
California is already heavily gerrymandered, as Scott Jennings in a clip below points out. 40% of voters are Republican, but Republicans only have 17% of the state's congressional seats.
Liberals like to pretend that they are far better people than they are, so state law mandates that congressional lines be drawn by an "independent commission," this commission being Democrat-dominated and producing the congressional split of 40 Democrats to 12 Republicans.
But this fake "independent commission" presents impediments to Newsom's presidential primary stunt of redrawing the maps now, and only on his own authority, so he staged a "rally" filled with Democrat office-holders and almost no one else to propagandize for a constitutional amendment that will give him all of the power.
A new poll shows strong opposition to Gov. Gavin Newsom's plan to shift redistricting power from California's independent commission to the Democrat-led Legislature.
Key Details:
Newsom's proposal would transfer congressional map-drawing authority from the constitutionally mandated independent commission to the state Legislature, requiring voter approval in a November referendum.
A Politico--Citrin Center--Possibility Lab survey found Californians prefer the independent panel over legislative control by a wide margin, undercutting Democrats' justification for the overhaul.
Newsom has threatened to redraw California's maps to net Democrats new seats, claiming it would "offset" GOP gains in Texas. Proposed maps are expected to be unveiled Tuesday.
I don't believe this, though. I think this leak is intended for one audience: Governor Abbott of Texas. I think Newsom's pretending he can cut this many seats to get Abbott to back off.
Because I don't believe you can gerrymander 40% of the population so hard they only have five districts where they form the majority.
And also: Abbott has already threatened to re-district and take eight seats from Democrats, so bring it on, Hair-Gel.
In a recent defense of Republican efforts to redraw Texas' congressional maps with a greater Republican advantage, Vice President JD Vance criticized the current maps in California as an extreme gerrymander. There, he suggested, Democrats had already given themselves an egregious number of safe blue seats in Congress.
While Mr. Vance ignored that California's maps are drawn by an independent commission, not Democrats, he cited a seemingly simple statistic as proof: the partisan breakdown of the state's congressional delegation as compared with the statewide partisan vote share.
The "independent" commission is dominated by Democrats. The Democrats like to pretend they're for "reform" and "good, clean government," so they set up "independent commissions," supposedly, to take the politics out of politics.
But then they pack those "independent commissions" full of partisan Democrats. Democrats want the appearance of non-partisan politics, but not the reality of it.
Democrats control about 80 percent of California's seats in the U.S. House but earned roughly 60 percent of the statewide vote in the 2024 presidential election, a more than 20 percent point disparity. Texas Republicans won 58 percent of the vote, yet hold 66 percent of the seats -- an 8-point gap.
This is why I say this is a "typical fact-check:" They concede that a "simple statistic" proves that the Republican is telling the truth, but they then say: But what are statistics anyway? Just lies told by the White Man with numbers.
But this statistic, taken by itself, ignores several critical factors, like how voters are geographically sorted in a state; how close the elections were in some of those congressional districts; the importance of protecting the rights of voters of color; and the ability of a popular congressional incumbent to run against statewide trends.
All of this is just commie gobbedlygook to distract from the main point: Yes, California much more heavily gerrymandered than Texas was.
Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday night issued a directive that places the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Terry Cole, as Washington, D.C.'s "emergency police commissioner."
The position will give Cole the same authority as Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith, who reports directly to Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. It is not clear what Smith will be doing while the Trump administration takes over the city's law enforcement.
President Donald Trump on Monday federalized the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and deployed 800 National Guard troops in the capital city to help curb the district's high crime rate.
Cole, who previously worked as Virginia's Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security before leading the DEA, will assume the "powers and duties vested in the District of Columbia Chief of Police," and the MPD must "receive approval from Commissioner Cole" before issuing any orders, according to the Associated Press.
We can't have an outsider seeing the real crime figures!
We'll all go to jail!
The suit appeared inevitable since Bondi made the announcement Thursday afternoon, as part of President Trump's initiative to send federal agents to the nation's capitol to curb violent crime, and top D.C. officials challenged Bondi's move last night.
DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb said in the lawsuit that Trump is overreaching with his authority, The according to the Associated Press. Schwalb asked a judge to find that control of the Metropolitan Police Department remains under DC's authority and sought an emergency restraining order.
"The administration's unlawful actions are an affront to the dignity and autonomy of the 700,000 Americans who call D.C. home. This is the gravest threat to Home Rule that the District has ever faced, and we are fighting to stop it," Schwalb said.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and Schwalb late Thursday, calling the move "unlawful."
[Bondi] has ordered an END to dangerous sanctuary policies in Washington, DC", wrote the Department of Justice's Chad Gilmartin.
In the order, Bondi lamented the state of crime in the city, saying "[t]hese dangers are multiplied by the District's sanctuary city policies, which actively shield criminal aliens from the consequences required by federal law."
"The proliferation of illegal aliens into our country during the prior Administration, including into our Nation's capital, presents extreme public safety and national security risks to our country," she continued.
First time at Union Station this morning since Trump’s crime crackdown and there wasn’t a single crazy person screaming, vagrant or person doing drugs. Instead, lots of families visiting D.C. Wonderful!!! pic.twitter.com/axTanM4iFj
Hunter Biden, the black sheep of the Biden family, has long flirted with legal trouble, and he has benefited greatly from his father's blanket pardon for any alleged crimes committed over a ten-year period. Yet he now faces a new legal threat, one that even daddy's pardon can't shield him from.
Melania Trump is taking a firm stand against Hunter Biden's reckless and defamatory claims linking her to Jeffrey Epstein, threatening a lawsuit seeking over $1 billion in damages. Hunter alleged in a recent YouTube interview that Epstein introduced Melania to Donald Trump -- a baseless accusation that has been widely circulated and condemned.
Hunter Biden, in an interview with British journalist Andrew Callaghan, stated, "Epstein introduced Melania to Trump. The connections are, like, so wide and deep." He doubled down with "Jeffrey Epstein introduced Melania, and that's how Melania and the first lady and the President met," repeating these false remarks despite their glaring lack of credibility. These inflammatory claims hinge on assertions made by Michael Wolff, an author with a notorious reputation for fabricating stories.
Wolff's allegations appeared in a Daily Beast article, which was swiftly retracted and apologized for after Melania's legal team challenged its veracity.
Melania Trump's attorney, Alejandro Brito, issued a scathing demand for Hunter Biden to immediately retract his defamatory statements and issue a public apology. Brito described the comments as "false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory," emphasizing how the allegations caused "overwhelming financial and reputational harm" to the First Lady. The lawyer made it clear that failure to comply would lead to pursuing all legal remedies, reflecting the seriousness of this reckless defamation.
The narrative of Epstein introducing Melania to Donald Trump has been thoroughly debunked. Melania and Donald Trump have consistently maintained that they first met at a New York Fashion Week party in 1998 through modeling agent Paolo Zampolli--not through Epstein. Though Trump and Epstein were acquaintances in the 1990s and early 2000s, their relationship soured by 2004, and Donald Trump has no connection to Epstein's criminal legacy. Meanwhile, Democrats keep trying and failing to weaponize Trump's past associations, ignoring that figures like Bill Clinton have far deeper and more troubling links to Epstein.
The life Hunter has lived since birth -- always privileged, always skating on every crime because Daddy will make a phone call, always "earning" a million per year to sell out the interests of the United States to disgusting corrupt foreigners -- is over.
He needs to accept this and adjust.
No one is going to pay him $100,000 a pop for his "watercolors" anymore. His "honey brother" isn't going to cover a $20 million judgement against him.
But he'll keep on going. He's a drug addict and he has the damaged brain of a drug addict.
Update: Asked if he would ever issue an apology for his defamation, he said "F*** that" and laughed.
He thinks he's judgment-proof. But Trump has enough money to sue him without an expectation of getting money in return. And he can attach Hunter's future earnings, whatever those turn out to be.
And if the crack-addict hides his money -- which he will -- Trump can get a judge to throw him in jail.
Melania Trump threatened Hunter Biden with a billion dollar lawsuit, demanding we retract our last interview and Hunter issue a formal apology. His response: pic.twitter.com/d4KYqxPcxz
THE MORNING RANT: Marsha, the Recovering Gluten Sufferer with a Trans Child, is Now a Witch
—Buck Throckmorton
I recently documented here and at The Blaze the story of “Marsha,” the daughter of a couple I am close to. A few years ago, Marsha was a loud and vocal sufferer of gluten intolerance (self-diagnosed, of course.) Miraculously, she recovered from her gluten allergy once that fad played out. With trans children being a status symbol in her progressive circles, Marsha subsequently began cross-dressing her children, including a tween daughter that now identifies as a boy.
My thesis was that the trans fad is a short-term social contagion, much like the inexplicable epidemic of gluten intolerance that swept the country for a few years. Obviously, no one was prescribing the amputation of body parts during peak-gluten, and neither should children be receiving “gender affirming care” just because they have been swept up in a social contagion.
Now, there is another fad sweeping the Marsha demographic – identifying oneself as a witch. Predictably, Marsha is now proclaiming herself to be a witch. And of course, she is producing Tik Tok videos that talk about casting spells, her coven, etc.
Ace recently documented – and heartily mocked – this witch fad. Specifically, he featured the “4 AM Club,” which is made up of self-proclaimed witches, mystics, and mediums who believe we have been living in an alternate reality since November 6, 2024 (e.g. Election Day.)
Feel free to rib me for being aware of this, but on reality TV shows, a lot of the millennial-aged, white women are now proclaiming themselves to be witches.
Naturally, universities are now providing courses for these women to get college credit by talking about being a witch.
Witchcraft has been feared, mocked and romanticized — but rarely has it been fully understood as a story of feminist resistance and enduring cultural power. Feminist studies scholar Jane Ward has set out to change that narrative. Her latest book — a collaboration with co-author Soma Chaudhuri — introduces “feminist witch studies,” a new interdisciplinary field that explores the power, persecution and political dimensions of witchcraft across cultures.
The witch fad will blow over, just like the gluten fad did, and so will the transgender fad. Those fads appeal to people like Marsha, a demographic that seeks victim status while also seeking inclusion in the latest trendy identity group. But only one of these social contagions disfigures people for life. As I wrote in this piece titled “Her son wears dresses, her daughter’s a ‘boy,’ and it’s all for status” [The Blaze – 6/28/2025]”:
Marsha has once again been swept up in a social contagion — a phenomenon especially common among her age group. The gluten craze ended with little more than inconvenience. But the transgender trend leads to lasting harm. It encourages confusion, medicalization, and, in many cases, the sterilization of children.
Marsha is no longer gluten intolerant. In a year or two she will no longer be a witch. There are many of us praying that her daughter will survive the trans fad without being permanently harmed.
Lost Seventies Mystery Click: The Darkest Song Ever Recorded? I think Professor of Rock (on YouTube) claimed this song was so upsetting that people used to pull over to the side of the road when it came on the radio. It's about a fatal plane crash, but obviously it suggests a fatal car crash too, which could wig out a driver. It's like one of those nasty 70s anti-war body horror movies. Not for the squeamish. I'm not even going to post the lyrics because they're upsetting too.
Compilation of Naked Gun intros That theme gets me charged. Compilation of all Police Squad! openings. They're all the same except for the last few seconds where they reveal the Special Guest Star and the title(s).
Lost 90s Mystery Click: College Radio Edition
Well you look fantastic in your cast-off casket
At least the thing still runs
This nine to five bullshit don't let you forget
Whose suicide you're on.
Also: You wax poetic about things pathetic
As long as you look so cute
Believe these hills are starting to roll
Believe these stars are starting to shoot
Podcast: In the last Episode of the season CBD and J.J. Sefton chat about Texas Gerrymandering, The Islamist who is about to be the mayor of NYC, Jim Acosta's ghoulish interview, Israel needs a new strategy for Gaza, and more!
I'm frankly surprised the title is 107 Days. I would have thought it would be:
Days Are Important:The Amount of Days Was a Number and That Number Was 100 Plus 7 Which is 107. 107. One Hundred and Seven. It's a Memoir and Memoirs are About Remembering Things Because Remembering Things is Good. Not Bad. Good. Memoir. A Memoir. Like a Reservoir But With Memory. We Have to Let it Flow. We Have to Let It Flow Into the Reservoir of Our Mind and Our Heart. Our Heart Which is the Beating Heart of Not Just Our Blood, But Our Progress. And Our People. And Democracy. The End.
Soft weak poop from the early 80s Mystery Click I never liked this song, but it is memorable. In a weak, annoying way. The kid's in shock up and down the block
The folks are home playing beat the clock
Down at the golden cup
They set the young ones up
Under the neon light
Selling day for night
It's alright
Nobody rides for free (nobody, nobody)
Nobody gets it like they want it to be (nobody, nobody)
Nobody hands you any guarantee (nobody, nobody)
Nobody
Former CIA operative John Kiriakou talks with Matt Taibbi about the Brennan/Comey Coup Both guys are old liberals, maybe even of the far-left variety, and both are appalled by the Democrat/Deep State coup against the US. Kiriakou says that CIA officers were legally obligated to report to the Inspector General John Brennan's repeated overruling of actual intelligence to encode his partisan conspiracy theories into US intel product, but of course they didn't.
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