Ace: aceofspadeshq at gee mail.com
Buck: buck.throckmorton at protonmail.com
CBD: cbd at cutjibnewsletter.com
joe mannix: mannix2024 at proton.me
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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
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals Overrules Lawless Lowly District Judicial Insurrectionist, Removing Bullshit Restrictions on How ICE Can Handle Violent "Protesters"
—Ace
Who knows, it's possible that this judge's lawless diktat that "protesters" should be allowed to be violent and ICE is barred from responding with non-lethal munitions like tear gas and pepper spray actually led to the death of the violent protesters.
A federal appeals court on Monday stepped in to stop what the Trump administration argued was an extraordinary act of judicial overreach, blocking a Minnesota order that effectively handcuffed federal immigration agents during enforcement operations.
The three-judge panel on the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the Trump administration and issued a full stay of a January injunction that had restricted how officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement could respond while facing aggressive anti-ICE protests.
That lower-court order barred agents from making arrests, detaining individuals, or using pepper spray during confrontations unless heightened legal thresholds were met--rules critics warned would put officers at risk as agitators pressed into enforcement scenes.
The lowly district court judge and insurrectionist had claimed, in the face of all evidence, that the "protesters" were all uniformly peaceful and therefore ICE was barred from using any non-lethal force against them.
Reviewing the same video evidence cited by the district court, the appeals panel flatly rejected the idea that the encounters were uniformly peaceful, writing that the footage showed "a wide range of conduct, some of it peaceful but much of it not," with agents responding to rapidly changing situations.
...
U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez had accepted [violent "protesters'"] claims on January 16, finding the plaintiffs likely to succeed on First and Fourth Amendment grounds and issuing a sweeping injunction against the Department of Homeland Security and ICE.
Her ruling cited alleged instances in which agents used pepper spray, pointed weapons, made arrests, and conducted traffic stops against individuals she characterized as peacefully observing or protesting enforcement activity.
The appeals court was unmoved, emphasizing that the encounters varied widely--different officers, different protesters, different behavior, different locations--making a blanket prohibition not only unworkable but dangerous.
Attorney General Pam Bondi hailed the decision as a decisive stand for law enforcement.
"Liberal judges tried to handcuff our federal law enforcement officers, restrict their actions, and put their safety at risk when responding to violent agitators," Bondi wrote on X, noting that the Justice Department first secured a temporary pause and has now won a full stay.
He also says the FBI is continuing to investigate the fraud network.
FBI Director Kash Patel said Monday the bureau has identified people and groups who are funding leftist protests aimed at Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Minnesota.
During an appearance on conservative commentator Benny Johnson's podcast, Patel confirmed that the FBI's investigation into the unrest is active and expanding.
"We've got ... investigations ongoing into the funding of this," Patel told Johnson, stressing that the protests are "not happening organically" and that investigators have made "substantial progress" in uncovering groups and individuals financially backing them.
Patel also asserted that federal authorities are examining encrypted left-wing chats connected to protest organizers in Minnesota -- warning those involved that they "should be worried" if they have violated federal statutes.
Some people are asking: Is this insurrection being staged not to protect illegal aliens but to protect the Democrat Party's fraud-farmers in blue cities?
In other words, are they attempting to block further investigation of the Somali and other organized crime looting of the federal treasury?
If this is just about protecting criminal illegals, why did the violent "protests" not begin until after the Nick Shirley revelations?!
Arthur MacWaters
@ArthurMacwaters
Let me get this straight:
1. prior administrations deported millions of people, and riots were basically nonexistent
2. the moment trump took office, a coordinated campaign by politicians/legacy media *directly called for resistance to ICE*
3. once riots happen and people are die, the spotlight shifts to stopping deportations and defunding ICE
If this was such a crime against humanity, why did no one riot in 2024?
The intention behind the unrest is NOT empathy.
Empathy is being manufactured on false grounds to achieve political aims. And people are getting hurt.
Internet Claims: Chinese PM Xi Plotted Purge of Chinese Military, So the Military Plotted a Coup and Kidnapping. But Then Xi Launched a Counter-Coup.
—Ace
Allegedly.
The claims of an actual coup attempt, with senior military leaders plotting to kidnap Xi, is an internet-based claim without any legacy media confirmation.
The senior ranks of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) are in tatters.
The weekend purging of China's top general, Zhang Youxia, and another senior military officer, Gen Liu Zhenli, has left serious questions about what triggered the elite power struggles unfolding in the country - and what this means for China's warfighting capacity, whether it be any ambition to take Taiwan by force or engage in another major regional conflict.
Zhang, 75, was vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) - the Communist Party group headed by the country's leader Xi Jinping, which controls the armed forces.
The CMC, usually made up of around seven people, has now been whittled down to just two members - Xi and Gen Zhang Shengmin.
All others have been taken down in the "anti-corruption" crackdown following previous waves of detention.
The CMC is responsible for controlling millions of military personnel. It is so powerful that when Deng Xiaoping was the paramount leader of the country during the 1980s, this was the only position he held for most of that time.
That only Xi and one CMC general remain is unprecedented, according to Lyle Morris from the Asia Society Policy Institute.
"The PLA is in disarray," he told the BBC, adding that China's military now had "a major leadership void".
Asked what was really driving the culling of so many top generals, he said: "There are a lot of rumours floating around. We don't know, at this point, what is true and what is false... but it is certainly bad for Xi Jinping, for his leadership and control over the PLA."
Associate Professor Chong Ja Ian from the National University of Singapore also said he was not sure what the real reason was for Zhang's downfall but that there was a lot of speculation about it.
"Everything from leaking nuclear secrets to the United States to plotting a coup and factional infighting. There are even rumours of a gunfight in Beijing," he said.
"But Zhang and Liu's downfall along with the wild speculation highlight two things: that Xi remains unassailable and there are significant limits to information in Beijing which fuels uncertainty and feeds this speculation."
The official announcement that said Zhang and Liu were "under investigation" also said that they were accused of "serious violations of discipline and law", which is a euphemism for corruption.
...
The targeting of the generals may be about corruption, but it may also be about power politics, given how these purges have panned out in the past.
...
Xi may have stamped his authority, yet again, but the upheaval means ongoing frictions, he said.
"It's certainly a bad look for Xi and I think there's going to be significant turmoil in the PLA, with Xi and his leaders -- especially in the PLA -- for years to come."
The purging of the most senior generals also brings scrutiny on the next layer of officers who may be wondering who is next?
Twitter accounts claim -- again, without confirmation by the fake media -- that the military leaders Xi was about to arrest for corruption decided to strike first and kidnap Xi, but Xi got wind of this and arrested them first.
Cryptoanarhist
@manaxer2
A coup d'etat is being prepared in China.
What happened? I explain:
-- The largest purge of China's military leadership in half a century has recently begun. Generals are being prosecuted on charges of corruption and state crimes.
-- Even General Zhang Youxia, who was considered Xi's right-hand man, was accused of treason for spying on the United States.
-- Unconfirmed information is also circulating online about the suppression of an attempted military coup and an assassination attempt on Xi Jinping himself.
-- There is an active movement of military convoys in the direction of Beijing, now they are located 40 kilometers from the center of Beijing.
-- Local media reports that some of the equipment has already reached Beijing, and armed men have taken control of the historic Forbidden City
-- Along with this, there are reports that the existing PLA system has been stopped and replaced by the direct command of the Central Military Council using encrypted telegrams.
-- All units throughout the army have moved to the first level of combat readiness.
In addition, against the background of the events, Taiwan said it was closely monitoring "abnormal" changes in China's military leadership and urged Japanese fishermen to refrain from visiting islands disputed with China.
What do you think, will there be changes in our political system?
Unfortunately, Xi received intelligence two hours before the incident and has since arrested nearly 3,000 people, including military personnel and their families! pic.twitter.com/I4uSyKGCKF
China was just rocked by an attempted military coup but you'd never guess from the virtually absent media coverage of it. This is a much bigger deal than present Western media coverage implies. pic.twitter.com/7vyFxGQjJv
The recent shootings in Minnesota are a natural result of the breakdown in respect for the legitimate activity of government, and the blurring of the line between legitimate protest against government policy, and violent action to force political change. That it is financed and managed by outside actors is made possible by the failures in our educational systems and our body politic...both have failed to support and defend the political philosophy that created American Exceptionalism
Americans have had numerous avenues to express disagreement with public policy and government behavior. Obviously, the first and most important way is simply to vote. We also have robust legal protections of our right to speak freely and criticize anything in society with which we disagree. And protest is a tried and true American tradition!
For instance, the non-violent protests against legal segregation (separate but equal) focused the country on its fundamental inequality. Yet the violent protests probably prolonged the fight for civil rights! The Supreme Court ruling which struck it down was rejected by some, most famously by Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus, who instructed the National Guard to block integration. President Eisenhower promptly nationalized the Arkansas Guard to end the challenge to legitimate federal government authority and action.
Regardless of what one might think of America's integration efforts (it has been a mixed bag at best), it is a legitimate expression of the will of the people and the equally legitimate action on the part of government.
The massive demonstrations and other legitimate political activity against unfettered abortion bore fruit after many years. The process worked...albeit very, very slowly!
According to the compliant media, many Americans disagree with the current administration's policy on immigration, and are against their efforts and methods to detain and deport illegal aliens who are also violent felons.
Whether that estimation is true is a matter of debate...I doubt very much that more than a small minority of Americans would defend the presence of violent criminals in our midst, regardless of their country of origin!
But there is a way to disagree, and our founders made it a matter of (hopefully) inviolable law!
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Notice that interesting word? "Peaceably!"
Physical interference with the legal activity of government or, for that matter, regular people, crosses the line, and is not protected by the United States Constitution. Our founders would have recoiled in horror had it been suggested to them that violence is a legitimate expression of discontent with an elected government. Any comparison to our revolution is specious and ahistoric. The British ruled us from afar, without any provision for representation or redress. That's the difference, and it is profound.
Violent protest should be met with immediate and overwhelming force. Tear gas, bean-bag rounds, batons, water cannon, bayonet lines...whatever it takes to disperse and render ineffective the attempted violent overthrow of our government and the legal structure of our republic!
Because that's what it is...insurrection, revolt revolution, civil war...call it whatever you wish, but it is the theft of our collective freedoms in service to a minority's belief in their own political philosophy.
Demonstrate, write your newspaper, vote, call your representatives, go door to door explaining your political philosophy. That's all marvelous, even if most people will disagree. But the second violence is used, it loses the protections of our Constitution and becomes law breaking thuggery, and I and many Americans firmly support instant and aggressive action to end it!
Hickory shampoos for the win!
[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. Remember back in the halcyon days of Barack Hussein Obama when he proposed the creation of some kind of a domestic national security force that was to have more funding, perhaps even double that of the Defense (now War) department. Try as I might, I'll be damned if I can find an actual link to that scheme. I know I'm not imagining it, and if anyone can find it, just send me an e-mail or put it in the comments.
Be that as it may, the jug-eared bastard was actually on to something, especially given the sucking chest wound to whatever is left of our Republic as founded that is Minneapolis Minnesota. Speaking of the Republic as founded, perhaps one of the jewels in its crown that made it a milestone of human societal advancement that defines the phrase American exceptionalism (that we as a people and society are the exception to the tyranny and despotism that came before us) is that of free speech and that we must tolerate even the most repugnant and abhorrent of views of our fellow citizens — also makes it one of if not its greatest Achilles heels. When the abuse of free speech leads to the kind of violence we are witnessing, it tears at the very fabric that is supposed to bind us together.
The Left is so fond of trotting out the Chestnut that "The Constitution is not supposed to be a Suicide Pact." Well, they're right about that and the longer we are forced to tolerate a political party and movement that seeks the destruction of our Republic by any means necessary, then we face the prospect of national assisted suicide if not fratricide at the hands of our supposed fellow citizens.
Sunrise Movement is bankrolled by some of the country's most prominent nonprofit organizations, including Open Society Foundations, the Ford Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation. The Minneapolis hotel smashed up overnight by anti-ICE rioters was on a target list created by the Twin Cities chapter of Sunrise Movement, a radical group funded by some of the country's most prominent nonprofit organizations, including George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, the Ford Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation.Video footage shows dozens of anti-ICE rioters descending on Home2 Suites by Hilton near the University of Minnesota late Sunday night. The group used noisemakers and pounded on trash bins before turning violent—the rioters hurled items at people, smashed windows, destroyed the hotel’s façade, lit fireworks, and graffitied the building. As they attempted to force their way in, those inside were forced to use two vending machines to block the hotel’s entrance.
Why are at least two people dead and multiple federal law enforcement officers injured?
What broader principle are Democrats, liberals and leftists rioting over in Minneapolis?
. . . The broader consistent principle at stake isn’t federalism: it’s leftism. The entire political and cultural machine that has been mobilized over Minneapolis opportunistically supports wielding federal authority over states and state rejection of federal authority on immigration law only when the end result, whether state or federal, is open borders and mass illegal alien invasions.
This is true in all areas. The Left has no legal, let alone constitutional, principles, only goals. . . What this means in the broader sense is that we are not a nation of laws, but of leftists.
The Left does not believe in or follow any laws or principles other than its own politics. There is no rule of law (and certainly not of the Constitution) that applies consistently at all times. Laws are just a means to a leftist end. If a law is momentarily suited to that end, it will be upheld and suddenly trumpeted as the great pillar of democracy and all that separates us from the beasts. . . Don’t get the idea that the Left doesn’t believe in anything. It believes in a great many things. But those things don’t include the Constitution, the rule of the people, any laws that they don’t make and any limitations on their power to fundamentally transform America and the world. Everything else is transactional and disposable. . . America will either have the rule of law or the rule of leftists. That’s what this is about.
Daniel Greenfield gets totally gets it.
May God bless every bullet from every barrel of every ICE agent's weapon. May they find their mark right between the beady eyes of every brain dead zombie programmed by the Democrat Left to destroy us.
Here's to the founding of the Tailgunner Joseph McCarthy Defense of the Republic Department. Amen.
Have a great day.
On a personal note, today is Holocaust Remembrance Day and my thoughts turn to my mother of blessed memory who somehow survived Mauthausen, the labor brigades and a death march before finally making it to America to become an American and indeed a truly great one! God bless the Angels who the Lord sent in the form of the GIs from the 11th Armored Division who liberated her and her family.
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.
“I will not perform anesthesia for any surgeries or procedures for MAGA. It is my right, it is my ethical oath, and I stand behind my education,” Florida nurse Erik Martindale recently wrote on Facebook. “I own all of my own businesses and I can refuse anyone!
After the post went viral, Martindale conveniently claimed he was hacked on Facebook and Instagram. Sure you were. The left is truly sick for threatening to deny medical care — and wishing physical harm — to people they disagree with (Do like Muslim doctors do to Jews and shoot air or rat poison in their veins - jjs)
CIVIL WAR 2.0, LEFTIST PERSECUTIONS, DEMOCRAT PUTSCH, AMERICAN DISSOLUTION
“If that leads to a break in the federal statute or a violation of some law, then we are going to arrest people. You cannot create a scenario that illegally entraps and puts law enforcement in harm’s way.” FBI Investigating Minnesota Anti-ICE Signal Chats
Several key organizers of DRUM’s pro-Mamdani get-out-the-vote operation have close ties to the Haqooq-e-Khalq Party—a radical socialist political party in Pakistan widely considered a puppet of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Mamdani-Allied, CCP-Linked Activist Group is Training Anti-ICE Rioters.
The Minnesota State Patrol (MSP) arrested three protesters on Friday at the Whipple Building in Minneapolis for alleged obstruction of legal process, unlawful assembly and public nuisance, an MSP spokesperson told the DCNF. They were released with citations. The agency also arrested one person on a riot charge in the area of 26th Street and Lyndale Avenue on Saturday. Minnesota Cops Surrender Entire City Blocks To Lawless Rioters
Minneapolis chaos followed leaders’ inaction on a costly fraud probe, with anti-ICE rhetoric fueling tensions that spiraled into violence, National Guard deployment, and lost lives. Peace in Minneapolis Won’t Come From Stoking the Fire
Separate from any criminal investigations by the FBI, which has primary jurisdiction to investigate shooting incidents involving federal agents, the actions of Border Patrol agents who use force while performing their duties are measured administratively against the strict standards contained in the current CBP Use of Force (UOF) policy. Border Patrol agents receive months of use-of-force policy training, both at the U.S. Border Patrol Academy at the start of their careers and on a recurring basis throughout each year of employment. Analysis: Border Patrol Agents’ Actions in Minneapolis Shooting Will Likely Fall Within Agency’s Policy
Many of the illegal immigrants detained in Minnesota, in the face of fierce resistance from Democrats and anti-ICE activists, are criminals with convictions for offenses including homicide, child rape, and drug trafficking. The National Pulse has found many examples of dangerous offenders who are in the U.S. despite having been issued final deportation orders as long ago as the 1990s: GET THE FACTS: Here’s Who ICE is Arresting and the Left is Protecting in Minnesota.
The lower chamber passed two bills on Jan. 22, providing $1.3 trillion in funding for seven government departments. The bills also included billions of dollars in earmarks — projects in members’ congressional districts — a practice that the Republican Conference rejected for a decade. Republicans Splinter Over Billions Some Sneaked Into Bills To Fund Their Pet Projects
FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS, MEDIA, BIG BROTHER TECH
Sorry, but I will never apologize for enjoying the implosion of a newspaper that 1) hates me, 2) pretends to be objective in order to further the left’s fascist agenda, and 3) has relentlessly spread misinformation and disinformation. Staff Melts Down as Serial-Lying Washington Post Faces ‘Massive Layoffs’
BBC News reports that the EU’s executive body announced the investigation following similar action taken by the UK’s communications regulator Ofcom earlier this month. The probe centers on whether X has violated provisions of the EU’s Digital Services Act in its oversight and management of the Grok AI tool’s image generation capabilities. European Commission Opens Investigation into Elon Musk’s X over AI Deepfake Scandal
AI cannot add anything to the information it has. It might be able to compile that information well, but its analysis is always going to be limited because it has no true creative spirit. It is merely a software program, albeit a very sophisticated one. “AI isn’t getting smarter. We are getting dumber.”
RED-GREENS, CLIMATE CHANGE HOAX, DEMOCRAT-LEFT WAR ON FOSSIL FUELS,
HHS issued a Notice of Violation to Illinois on Jan. 21, informing the state that the department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) found the state’s Senate Bill 1564 in violation of federal law. The Illinois law mandates pro-life healthcare professionals, against their moral and religious beliefs, refer patients for abortions — a law HHS contends violates the Coats-Snowe and Weldon amendments. Those amendments prohibit government entities receiving federal funds from coercing healthcare professionals and organizations into referring or facilitating abortions. HHS: Illinois Law Forcing Pro-Life Doctors to Provide Abortion Referrals is Against Federal Law
"For the first time in history, you will have the Americas free of communism, dictatorship, and narcoterrorism," she said. Machado has long held the view that if the Nicolás Maduro falls, the dictatorships in Cuba and Nicaragua will follow. Trump's Berlin Wall Moment?
An antisemitic act that is a strong predictor of future danger in a community is cemetery desecration. In Manchester, for example, attackers defaced 100 graves in 2005 at a Jewish cemetery in the heart of the city’s Orthodox community. In a report on another attack on a Jewish cemetery in London a week later, The Guardian said it was the 117th attack on a Jewish cemetery in 15 years. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the last. In 2014, vandals attacked another Jewish cemetery in Manchester, covering it with anti-Semitic graffiti and swastikas. In 2016, attackers smashed 14 headstones at the same cemetery. Against the backdrop of such attacks on Jewish cemeteries, Jewish groups are condemning the attack on the Jewish section of Les Corts graveyard in Barcelona this past weekend. Over 20 graves were desecrated. Is It Time to Offer Spain's Jews Asylum?
The pro-family establishment’s half-measures on the LGBT agenda only accelerate cultural decline, while real reform demands total resistance and no compromise in schools. How the Pro-Family Movement is Failing in America
HITHER & YON
While the reason for the Arnold and Itkin-connected jet being in Maine remains unknown, it is notable that immigration is a major field of practice for the law firm, and Maine has seen significant U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in the last two weeks. Private Jet Belonging to Immigration Attorneys and Dem Mega Donors Crashes.
Such art is rare in life. When it arrives we should never dismiss it, but enjoy it to the fullest. Sadly, modern culture too often now treats the musicals of Rodgers and Hammerstein as passe and overly sentimental, a very unfair criticism illustrating more the ignorance and close-mindedness of the critic than anything about the work of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The profound life's work of Richard Rodgers
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.
Previously the best mainstream integrated graphics were found in AMD chips, like the 780M and 890M units that are included in a three nominal generations of processors. Intel's latest graphics unit runs rings around them - 50% faster or more.
AMD still holds a convincing lead with its Ryzen AI Max family, but those are not cheap or widespread.
The one major catch here is that the B390 is only available in laptops with soldered memory. No exceptions. If you need user-upgradable RAM you get graphics running at one third the speed, half the speed of comparable AMD systems.
It's not until I opened up the full codebase and read its latest state cover to cover that I began to see what we theorized and hoped was only a diminishing artifact of earlier models: slop.
It was pure, unadulterated slop. I was bewildered. Had I not reviewed every line of code before admitting it? Where did all this... gunk.. come from?
Technical debt as a service.
In retrospect, it made sense. Agents write units of changes that look good in isolation. They are consistent with themselves and your prompt. But respect for the whole, there is not. Respect for structural integrity there is not. Respect even for neighboring patterns there was not.
54 hits. Never once do they specify what they mean, but it readily becomes apparent:
On one side are the 'digital elites' - those with the means, skills, or institutional support to obtain high-quality information and online experiences. This group enjoys reliable news sources, can afford ad-free subscriptions or premium content, and benefits from platforms and regulations that attempt to uphold standards of accuracy, privacy, and democratic values. Their internet experience includes credible journalism (e.g., The New York Times, BBC), fact-checked content, and fewer mis/disinformation traps.
Stalin or Mao. Those are your only options, apparently.
A country of geniuses in a datacenter could divide their efforts among software design, cyber operations, R&D for physical technologies, relationship building, and statecraft.
Yeah, "geniuses in datacenters" have a remarkable track record on relationship building and statecraft.
Just... Remarkable.
It is clear that, if for some reason it chose to do so, this country would have a fairly good shot at taking over the world (either militarily or in terms of influence and control) and imposing its will on everyone else - or doing any number of other things that the rest of the world doesn't want and can't stop.
Everyone has a plan until they get a Hellfire missile to the face.
The answer from the plan's boosters is simple: speed. Writing and revising complex federal regulations can take months, sometimes years. But, with DOT's version of Google Gemini, employees could generate a proposed rule in a matter of minutes or even seconds, two DOT staffers who attended the December demonstration remembered the presenter saying. In any case, most of what goes into the preambles of DOT regulatory documents is just "word salad," one staffer recalled the presenter saying. Google Gemini can do word salad.
Great. Now it's regulatory spam.
Musical Interlude
Disclaimer: I lost my hairspray in a freak hurricane accident.
Gazing up into the night sky seems elemental, for reasons I do not understand. Perhaps it is the wonder of the vastness of the universe that attracts us, or maybe just that it is simply beautiful!
We have a fair amount of light pollution (what a silly phrase), so while we can see the beauty of the heavens, it is nothing like looking up during a cold dark night, far from the lights of a metropolitan area.
Sadly, our fixation with modern phones and the admittedly impressive cameras built into them have made photos such as the one above a rarity for most people. I am sure many of you have tried to take photos of the moon with your phones, and it simply does not work!
Once upon a time, there was a marine biologist who absolutely loved dolphins. He'd been fascinated with them since childhood, so marine biology was a natural field for him, and he spent almost all of his time researching, swimming with, and playing with dolphins. He grew to love many of his dolphins and consider them his family. But there was a problem.
Dolphins, like humans, are subject to the ravages of aging, growing feeble and infirm as they get older, until they inevitably died. But dolphin lifespans are much shorter than human lifespans, so as the years went by, the biologist saw dolphins that were very dear to him grow old, become too weak to frolic, and die, and it broke his heart every single time. He never got used to seeing one of his beloved dolphins pass away and leave forever, and he determined to do something about it. His research became increasingly focused on finding a way to keep dolphins from aging. And finally, after decades of experimentation, he achieved a major breakthrough. But again, there was a problem.
He developed a serum that could completely halt the effects of aging in dolphins, allowing them to theoretically live forever in perfect health. But the major ingredient of his formula was a paste made from the ground-up bodies of baby hatchlings of a certain rare species of seagull. In fact, that particular species of seagull was so rare that it was considered critically endangered and had the strongest level of protection. Interfering with these birds, especially their chicks, was strictly forbidden and heavily punishable. So there was nothing he could do to help his dolphins.
Until one fateful day.
On that day, one of his dearest, most beloved dolphins (a female with whom he had a very special and unique relationship) died of old age. Grief-stricken, the marine biologist decided that the law could go to hell, and that saving his dolphins was much more important than some stupid endangered seagull. He loaded a truck with empty cages and, in the dead of night, drove to a beach that had a nesting colony of these seagulls.
He worked through most of the night, going from nest to nest, grabbing any baby birds he could find, and locking them in cages in the back of his truck. Just about an hour before sunrise, he had loaded up his truck with all he could carry and started the long drive back to his laboratory where he could grind up the chicks and make his serum.
Unfortunately, it was late, and after working through most of the night he was tired and unfocused, and by the time he saw the animal lying in the road, it was too late. The biologist caught a glimpse in his headlights, and to his surprise it was a lion, who had been relaxing peacefully in the road before the biologist ran him over.
A state trooper saw the whole thing. He pulled the marine biologist over, and arrested him for transporting underage gulls across a staid lion for immortal porpoises.
It's almost certainly fake, but still extremely funny.
What's the best practical joke you have been involved with, either the culprit or the victim?
******
Ah yes...the Brylcream addict who would be president. And that is his handler, the younger Soros ghoul.The sh*t-show that is California is accelerating into the abyss, and Newsom seems to relish its image as the crackpot capital of the country. Is his political bubble so all-encompassing that he simply does not see reality? Hell, he went to Davos last week and was bitterly critical of America. And he thinks that is going to resonate outside of the wealthy blue enclaves?
******
I am not a Dead-Head...I saw enough of them while living in Berkeley! They would invade for several days while The Dead played The Greek Theater, and the behavior of those lunatics was a powerful impression of how not to love a band! But I do like some of their songs, and Ripple is my favorite.
If JackStraw is around, he can tell you why The Dead are popular in his neck of the woods.
Here is John Mayer's version that he sang at some memorial to Bob Weir. I apologize for the vile people in the background!
******
[Hat Tip: TC]
******
This is fascinating, both as a glimpse into the complexities of building high-quality barrels, and the skill and attention to detail of a master craftsman.
AoSHQ may trigger convulsions and projectile vomiting in some new readers. Please use vomit bag in seat pocket. Knives are to be sheathed at all times unless written waiver is received by our attorneys. Ace and cobloggers specifically disavow all responsibility for content. We are not responsible for any injury, including chafing. Disabling ShowerCamTM is a violation of the terms of use.
Maybe Minnesota's $9 billion in fraud is what we speculate we'll ultimately find, while the current known fraud is, what, a billion? He seems to mean we know California is defrauding the US for $7 billion and the ultimate tally will be much higher.
Vice President JD Vance revealed that about $7 billion worth of fraud has been discovered in California.
"I think we have a fraud problem that is much worse than California than it is in Minnesota," Vance said in an interview Thursday, noting the head of US Small Business Administration gave him the shocking news.
"This is unfortunately a problem that is much bigger than Minnesota."
The vice president also said efforts to block immigration enforcement were a uniquely blue-state phenomenon, adding that some Democratic-led states are engaged in a "small-scale civil war" with the federal government over immigration.
...
The Trump administration has also paused federal child care funding to Minnesota, blaming alleged fraud in daycare programs, and has imposed new documentation requirements -- including attendance records and receipts -- before releasing payments to any state, CBS reported.
...
Vance pointed to Don Lemon and other protestors storming a church in Minnesota as well as the killing of Renee Goode, saying "a small band of very far-left people" are trying to make ICE "the ultimate enemy," including through assaults on officers and raids on churches.
"It's absurd," he said. "It's added a lot of chaos."
The Democrat Party is causing the chaos, to create an argument for returning them to power-- "We'll stop the chaos."
But you're the ones causing the chaos.
It's like the old bit about the man who murders his parents, and then pleads for the mercy of the court, saying that he's an orphan.
The Democrat Party has created a huge block of voters dependent on their enabling of fraud at an industrial scale. Looters are now a huge political constituency.
And to make that point: You can't cover stories in Minneapolis without fraudulent Somali "day cares" and "patient transport services" in the background of your photos.
Minneapolis's primary industry is government fraud.
Can't wait to see what California's doing.
Meanwhile: Democrats rush to give illegals the vote.
Look, I'm not a mind reader. I have to infer intentions from patterns like everyone else. But there's virtually no daylight between the behavior you'd expect from a party that wants illegal immigrants to vote and the behavior of the Democratic Party. https://t.co/llS1pdELkB
Stephen Colbert's Ratings Hit New All-Time Low Update: Washington Post Braces for a FIFTY PERCENT Cut in Jobs
—Ace
Remember, six months ago, in the immediate aftermath of his cancellation, Colbert's ratings rose based entirely on Sympathy Viewing and liberals all claimed he was going to build the show into a juggernaut that CBS would have to un-cancel.
I've got a special delivery: Six barrels of 100% pure pesticide-free Nope Juice.
The Stephen Colbert ratings freefall has reached an undeniable breaking point. As The Late Show with Stephen Colbert approaches its already-announced cancellation, the program is now posting record-low January numbers, marking one of the steepest late-night declines in recent television history.
According to Nielsen data reported this week, Colbert's show is averaging roughly 285,000 viewers in the crucial 25--54 demographic, putting it on track for its worst January performance ever in the category that advertisers actually care about. With just months left before the curtain closes for good, the ratings trajectory suggests viewers have been checking out long before CBS formally pulled the plug.
Stephen Colbert Ratings Hit Historic Lows in Key Demo
While total viewership erosion has been gradual over the past several years, the collapse in the 25--54 demo tells the real story. Late-night television lives or dies by that number, and Colbert's January performance places him firmly near the bottom of the competitive pack.
The show's demo average now sits far below what the franchise once delivered during its peak years -- and even trails where The Late Show performed during periods widely considered transitional or unstable. In practical terms, this means fewer ad dollars, weaker affiliate confidence, and little justification for long-term investment.
For a host once positioned as the undisputed leader of late night, the falloff is stark.
Cancellation No Longer Feels Abrupt -- It Feels Inevitable
...
With Colbert's final shows scheduled for May, the ratings collapse has reframed the narrative entirely -- and it directly contradicts the wave of progressive outrage that followed the cancellation announcement.
Many left-leaning voices rushed to denounce CBS's decision as politically motivated, even attempting to cast it as retaliation linked to President Trump. But the January numbers tell a far less ideological story: an unmistakable audience collapse.
...
The Stephen Colbert ratings collapse is more than a single show's problem. It highlights the fragile state of late-night television as a whole -- particularly for hosts like Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers who have leaned too heavily into predictable commentary rather than entertainment.
Colbert's record-low January figures now stand as a blunt data point: viewers have moved on. And with cancellation already locked in, there is no runway left to reverse the trend.
Speaking of cancellation: The Washington Post continues losing money and Bezos is going to put the paper through another round of massive layoffs.
I missed the scale of the coming layoffs: up to H A L F of all leftwing layabouts may be fired.
Paul Farhi
@farhip
Per former colleagues at the @washingtonpost: In a Zoom meeting today, Post foreign staff was told by editors that up to *half* the Post’s newsroom will be cut imminently. Biggest cuts to foreign and sports staff.
Sickening.
Brian Stelter whines that Bezos isn't being a good "steward" of the Washington Post.
Jon Podhoretz responded that he's not a "steward," he's the owner.
But the bratty, underperforming losers at the paper think that Daddy Warbucks should just keep bailing them out forever.
A top Post reporter tells me "there's now a strong sense" across the newsroom "that neither Jeff Bezos nor Will Lewis are serious, good-faith stewards of The Washington Post." pic.twitter.com/ORtFdFmWbD
As I've said before, rich men buy papers for three reasons. The worst reason is to make money. Papers don't make money. But they'd like to lose as little as possible. The Post is losing lots of money. Bezos' money.
They also buy papers for prestige. But the Washington Post has no prestige. It's a woke clown show. It brings shame, like David French's browser history.
The third reason is that rich men think they know something and they want to spread their ideology. Bezos is trying to do that, trying re-orient the paper to be pro-free-markets, for example, but the bratty employees think Bezos should pay them to push their ideology.
That's not how this works. As they say, he who pays the piper calls the tune.
John Nolte responded to some pussy whining that the Post might shut down its foreign desk:
Christopher Miller
@ChristopherJM
Our journalist colleagues at The Washington Post here in Ukraine provide vital coverage, particularly of the human impact of Russia's ongoing war. It would be a major loss for The Post if it closes or downsizes this team or its other excellent foreign bureaus. But it would especially be a loss to the communities they cover and the American public, too. Hoping The Post leadership comes to its senses.
John Ocasio-Rodham Nolte
@NolteNC
We might care if it weren't for all the lying.
Y'all shouldn't have done all this lying:
· The ICE Detains Five-Year-Old Hoax
· The Hegseth 'Kill Everybody' Hoax
· Trump "Destroying" White House Hoax
· Photo of Starving Gaza Baby Hoax
· Israeli Troops Murdered Food-Seeking Palestinians Hoax
· Trump Tariffs Will Explode Prices Hoax
· Maryland Man Hoax
· Black Newborns Much More Likely to Die If Doc's White Hoax
· Elon Musk Nazi Salute Hoax
· Mass Hysterectomies Performed on Immigrants Hoax
· The All-White Trump Party Hoax
· Springfield Bomb Threat Hoax
· Trump Called for Liz Cheney to Be Executed Hoax
· Violent Crime Down Under Biden/Harris Hoax
· Arlington Cemetery Hoax
· Kamala Was Never America's Border Czar Hoax
· Russia Collusion Hoax
· Hands Up, Don't Shoot Hoax
· Jussie Smollett Hoax
· Covington KKKids Hoax
· Very Fine People Hoax
· Seven-Hour Gap Hoax
· Russian Bounties Hoax
· Trump Trashes Troops Hoax
· Policemen Killed at Mostly Peaceful January 6 Protest Hoax
· Rittenhouse Hoax
· Eating While Black Hoax
· Border Agents Whipping Illegals Hoax
· NASCAR Noose Hoax
· Georgia Jim Crow 2.0 Hoax
· Trump Assaulted Secret Service Agents and Grabbed Steering Wheel of Beast Hoax
· MAGA Assaulted Paul Pelosi Hoax
· COVID Lab Leak Theory Is Racist Hoax
· Hunter Biden's Laptop Is Russian Disinformation Hoax
· Joe Biden Will Never Ban Gas Stoves Hoax
· COVID Deaths are Overcounted Is a Conspiracy Theory Hoax
· Mass Graves of Native Children in Canada Hoax
· Trump Killed Japanese Koi Fish Hoax
· Trump Told People to Drink Bleach Hoax
· Hamas Hospital Hoax
· If Reelected, Trump Will Execute People Hoax
· The 900,000 Kids Hospitalized with Coronavirus Hoax
· Dozens of Environmental Hoaxes
· The Alfa Bank Hoax
· Libs of TikTok Murdered Non-Binary Teen Hoax
· Aaron Rodgers Sandy Hook-Truther Hoax
· 'Bloodbath' Hoax
· Biden 'Sharp-as-a-Tack' Hoax
· Iowa Poll Hoax
Meanwhile, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce won't rule out seeking vandalism and trespassing charges against Sydney Sweeney for a harmless and yet sexiful publicity stunt.
Sydney Sweeney may face vandalism charges after climbing the iconic Hollywood sign and hanging bras on it to promote her new lingerie brand 👀 pic.twitter.com/4gkGfPtAR3
Former Conservative Home Secretary Suella Braverman Defects to Reform, Denounces UK Tories as Traitors
—Ace
Suella Braverman had been Secretary of the Home Office (one of the top positions in government) under former PM Rishi Sunak. She was kicked out of the office for speaking two truths the conservative party had declared heretical:
1, that unlimited third world migration constitutes an "invasion," and
2, that it is evident that the police punish native Britons much more harshly than foreign invaders, and this constitutes "two-tier policing."
So she's always been more #based than the average inbred paper-pusher in the "conservative" party.
But she was loyal to the dying Conservative Party.
Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman has accused the Conservatives of "betrayal" as she became the latest MP from the party to defect to Reform UK.
She is the third sitting Tory MP to join Nigel Farage's party in the last eleven days, and takes Reform's tally of MPs to eight.
At a press conference following her defection, Braverman said she had felt "politically homeless for the best part of two years" pointing to differences over areas including Brexit and immigration.
Her defection comes hot on the heels of Robert Jenrick and Andrew Rosindell, who also left the Conservatives earlier this month.
Responding to her defection, the Conservative Party said it was "always a matter of when, not if, Suella would defect".
As you know, the dying establishment's main weapon is left's weapon of denunciation and defamation:
The party's initial statement also said: "The Conservatives did all we could to look after Suella's mental health, but she was clearly very unhappy."
They later issued a corrected statement which removed the sentence, saying the original lines were "a draft version" which had been "sent out in error".
Braverman said the reference to her mental health was "a bit pathetic" and "more signs of a bitter and desperate party that seems to be in free-fall".
...
She accused the Conservatives of failing on Brexit while delivering "out-of-control immigration" and high taxes.
She said "the final straw came in the last few days" as there appeared to be a "concentrated effort, a witch hunt to hound out right-wingers".
...
In addition to the four sitting Conservative MPs who have now switched to Reform, around 20 former Tory MPs have made the move since the general election, including former ministers Nadhim Zahawi, Nadine Dorries and Jake Berry.
Henry Smith - one of those ex-MPs to make the switch - said Braverman had tried to "steer the last government in a Conservative direction" but had been "very much stopped in her tracks".
Speaking to Matt Chorley on BBC Radio 5 Live, the former Crawley MP said that while the Conservative leadership "might be making noises to the right", many Conservative MPs were "quite frankly more comfortable in a much more Liberal Democrat position".
I saw a Lotus Eaters video in which they predicted -- or put down as a prediction for a 2026 prediction Bingo game -- that the "conservatives" would wither away down to their most liberal members, at which point they would just merge with the Liberal Democrats. As the BBC points out above, that's all they are now anyway.
She now says the Conservatives are "too weak to save themselves, let alone the country".
...
She was not offered a position in Kemi Badenoch's shadow cabinet, and became a vocal critic of the party's record in office on immigration, net zero and what she branded "woke" thinking.
...
At a press conference alongside Farage, she dismissed her former party as dominated by "centrists" and "One Nation wets".
"Wets" has a specific meaning in British politics. I guess we'd call them "RINOs."
Google AI:
In British political slang, "wets" referred to moderate members of the Conservative Party, particularly under Margaret Thatcher, who were seen as weak, unprincipled, or too willing to compromise on her strict monetarist and spending-cut policies, contrasting with her hardline "dries".
The term, used pejoratively by Thatcher and her supporters, described those who opposed her tough economic medicine and favoured more consensus or less drastic reforms, like reducing government spending and challenging unions.
Key Aspects of "Wets":
Origin: Popularized by Margaret Thatcher in the late 1970s/early 1980s to criticize internal party dissent.
Meaning: Lacking firmness, being effete, ineffectual, or weak in character and resolve.
Policy Stance: Opposed to Thatcher's radical economic agenda, including spending cuts and confronting powerful unions.
...
Contrast: Directly opposed to "dries," Thatcher's loyalists who fully embraced her free-market principles.
The first video below is her full 18 minute speech. If that's too long, check out the clip from the press conference she gave after her defection. It's a lot punchier.
She rightly called out two-tier policing and rising Islamism and antisemitism at hate marches. She was sacked as Home Secretary, none of her colleagues backed her.
This behavior would not be tolerated if a mosque was invaded.
Tyler O'Neil
@Tyler2ONeil
HORRIFYING NEW DETAILS
The invasion of Cities Church was even worse than we thought.
Agitators blocked stairs so "parents were unable to get to their children" at Sunday School.
One told a kid, "Do you know your parents are Nazis, they're going to burn in hell?"
...
William Kelly, "DaWoke Farmer," shouted, "This ain't God's house. This is the house of the devil."
About 50 members of the congregation were "stuck" towards the front of the church. Not only did the agitators take over the service, but they "made it nearly impossible for parishioners to get out and leave."
One woman broke her arm.
Congregants "were terrorized, our children were weeping, college students and young women were sobbing, it was impactful and it will take time to work through."
An agitator "continued to scream in the faces of young children while they were crying."
Nekima Armstrong, a main ringleader, said that @citieschurch
"cannot pretend to be a house of God while harboring someone who is directing ICE agents to wreak havoc upon our community and who killed Renee Good."
Make no mistake: this church invasion was an atrocity.
Sadly, Democrats like @Jacob_Frey, are carrying water for the agitators. Judges denied arrest warrants for 5 of the 8 charged defendants.
But @HarmeetKDhillon says this isn't over. Stay tuned.
The Researcher
@listen_2learn
19h
Compare and contrast what these criminals did and how they were quickly released from custody to what they did to the J6ers who simply walked through the Capitol.
The two-tiered system of injustice is going to destroy our country.
As gay sex assailant Don Lemon declared -- and he was privy to the intentions of the invaders, being part of the plot himself -- the entire point of the exercise was to "traumatize" the church-goers. Including the children.
I'm not sure what Walz has agreed to -- maybe letting ICE pick up wanted illegals from their jails and courtrooms?
Or is it Trump who's backing down and needs Walz to provide him cover by pretending to have given up something?
Trump here says that "we're looking for all criminals" in Minnesota's "possession," but I don't see any claim that Walz actually agreed to this.
Walz says that Trump agreed to an "investigation' of ICE agents. Again, I don't see any actual agreement that Minnesota will actually cooperate with ICE. Walz just says he's working to "reduce the number of federal agents in Minnesota," not "reduce the number of foreign pedophiles, killers, rapists, and gangsters."
Walz' office said the call was "productive."
"The Governor made the case that we need impartial investigations of the Minneapolis shootings involving federal agents, and that we need to reduce the number of federal agents in Minnesota," his office wrote in a release.
Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both Minnesota residents and U.S. citizens, were fatally shot and killed by federal immigration officers in separate incidents in Minneapolis.
Trump agreed to talk to the Department of Homeland Security about ensuring the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is able to conduct an independent investigation, Walz' office said, and also agreed to look into either reducing the number of federal agents in Minnesota or working with the state "in a more coordinated fashion on immigration enforcement regarding violent criminals."
I don't know if there's any actual agreement here. This might be the typical result of diplomacy, wherein all parties just celebrate the fact that diplomacy occurred.
Ringleader Behind the Somali Fraud Scandal Says There's No Way that Tim Walz and Jihadi AG Keith Ellison Didn't Know She Was Stealing a Quarter Billion Dollars
HOLY SHIT: Amiee Bock, the mastermind behind the $250 MILLION Somali fraud scandal in Minnesota, claims that top state officials, including Governor Tim Walz and AG Keith Ellison, KNEW about the fraud but did nothing to stop it.pic.twitter.com/kjlqf0FNR9
Jihadi antifa punk Keith Ellison says you can't trust a fraudster. Fair enough -- I trust my own common sense. There's no way you didn't know, dude.
A quarter. Of a Billion. Dollars.
You didn't know?
You seemed on top of the facts when the Somalis stealing this quarter of a billion dollars asked you to run interference for them in exchange for donations and political support:
BOMBSHELL AUDIO: Democrat AG Keith Ellison bragged about helping indict fraudsters who stole $250 million from a federal child nutrition program.
But newly uncovered audio shows Ellison privately offering support to people tied to the scandal. pic.twitter.com/6QTWxnGvOs
Fox Business News reporter Elizabeth MacDonald reports on -- get this -- "problems" in the paperwork regarding Ilhan Omar's and her "husband's" sudden $30 million overnight fortune.
Elizabeth MacDonald
@LizMacDonaldFOX
NEWS Major problems discovered in how Ilhan Omar and her husband went from just $16K net worth to suddenly skyrocketing to up to $30M in *just one year.* 1st, there are no SEC records that either her husband, his partner, or their investment firm are registered with the SEC as investment advisers.
The names "Rose Lake Capital" or "Rose Lake Capital LLC" and the names "Tim Mynett" and "Will Hailer" do not show up listed as registered investment advisers with the SEC. Major reporting also doesn't mention any SEC adviser registrations.
Mynett and his partner Hailer have little to no Wall Street experience. They co-founded a political consultancy in DC, E Street Group, and Mynett was a major Democrat fundraiser in Washington, D.C. for about 15 years, where he helped raise more than $100M for Democrats and worked on Omar's 2019 re-election.
Hailer spent nearly two decades in U.S. politics, especially within Democratic Party leadership, including as a senior advisor to the DNC chair.
Mynett's firm would typically be required to file Form ADV and register with the SEC. The reason there could be no SEC forms here may be because, to stay below reporting thresholds, it only advises a small number of high-net-worth or institutional clients, or it advises only VC firms, or it does not use leverage like hedge funds.
That all means his firm is pretty limited in scope-meaning, it still looks more to be a political advisory firm. Which begs the question: How did his limited firm go from little to no assets to $30M AUM in just one year? How did their net worth rocket from just $16K to $30M in just one year?
First, the winery. In 2020, Omar's husband Tim Mynett and his partner Will Hailer launched their California winery, eStCru. Ilhan Omar first disclosed that winery in her government financial disclosures in 2021, where she valued it at between $15K-$50K. She reported the same valuations for 2022 and 2023.
>b>In 2022, Mynett and Hailer then launched Rose Lake Capital, a venture capital management firm, aiming to do "global financial dealmaking." Documents show there is very little to no information about its actual clients, investments and deal history.
Omar valued Rose Lake at only between just one dollar to $1K in her 2022 filings. Omar reported the same valuation range in her 2023 government disclosures.
But then Omar suddenly reported valuations that rocketed higher in just one year, in 2024. Omar reported Rose Lake's value at between $5M--$25M and the winery between $1M--$5M -- contributing to a combined household asset range of $6M--$30M in Omar's 2025 filings.
Below: Trump is denying applications for naturalization for dirty foreign fraudsters found to have illegally registered to vote as aliens.
Redditor's application for naturalization was denied because he was illegally registered to vote at the DMV.
Special Forces Veteran: This Isn't a Protest, This Is an Organized Insurgency Like We Faced in Iraq
—Ace
Cam Higby infiltrated insurrectionist Signal groups. (Signal is a secure private message app favored by anyone who wants to keep his messages secret, including terrorists and insurrectionists.)
He posted several of the screenshots of the secret insurrectionist chats. Note that Minneapolis police are part of the insurgency.
And one of the top organizers is a former Tim Walz strategist.
@amuse
@amuse
Jan 24
Minnesota anti-ICE Signal group leader identified as Amanda Noelle Koehler, a protest organizer and former Tim Walz campaign strategist, also known by the code name HAH and admin of the MN ICE Watch Signal chat group.
“SALUTE (Size, Activity, Location, Uniform, Time, Equipment) is a mnemonic for providing useful information about opposing forces in your area.” pic.twitter.com/5ROceItumM
A former Special Forces Warrant Officer says: This is exactly what we saw in Iraq and Afganistan.
Eric Schwalm
@Schwalm5132
As a former Special Forces Warrant Officer with multiple rotations running counterinsurgency ops--both hunting insurgents and trying to separate them from sympathetic populations--I've seen organized resistance up close. From Anbar to Helmand, the pattern is familiar: spotters, cutouts, dead drops (or modern equivalents), disciplined comms, role specialization, and a willingness to absorb casualties while bleeding the stronger force slowly.
What's unfolding in Minneapolis right now isn't "protest." It's low-level insurgency infrastructure, built by people who've clearly studied the playbook.
Signal groups at 1,000-member cap per zone. Dedicated roles: mobile chasers, plate checkers logging vehicle data into shared databases, 24/7 dispatch nodes vectoring assets, SALUTE-style reporting (Size, Activity, Location, Unit, Time, Equipment) on suspected federal vehicles. Daily chat rotations and timed deletions to frustrate forensic recovery. Vetting processes for new joiners. Mutual aid from sympathetic locals (teachers providing cover, possible PD tip-offs on license plate lookups). Home-base coordination points. Rapid escalation from observation to physical obstruction--or worse.
This isn't spontaneous outrage. This is C2 (command and control) with redundancy, OPSEC hygiene, and task organization that would make a SF team sergeant nod in recognition. Replace "ICE agents" with "occupying coalition forces" and the structure maps almost 1:1 to early-stage urban cells we hunted in the mid-2000s.
The most sobering part? It's domestic. Funded, trained (somewhere), and directed by people who live in the same country they're trying to paralyze law enforcement in. When your own citizens build and operate this level of parallel intelligence and rapid-response network against federal officers--complete with doxxing, vehicle pursuits, and harassment that's already turned lethal--you're no longer dealing with civil disobedience. You're facing a distributed resistance that's learned the lessons of successful insurgencies: stay below the kinetic threshold most of the time, force over-reaction when possible, maintain popular support through narrative, and never present a single center of gravity.
I spent years training partner forces to dismantle exactly this kind of apparatus. Now pieces of it are standing up in American cities, enabled by elements of local government and civil society. That should keep every thinking American awake at night.
Not because I want escalation. But because history shows these things don't de-escalate on their own once the infrastructure exists and the cadre believe they're winning the information war.
We either recognize what we're actually looking at--or we pretend it's still just "activism" until the structures harden and spread.
Your call, America. But from where I sit, this isn't January 2026 politics anymore.
It's phase one of something we've spent decades trying to keep off our own soil.
Who's organizing this? Peter Schweizer says that one major organizer is a hostile foreign government -- Mexico.
WOW 🚨 Peter Schweizer exposes Mexico runs 53 consulates in the United States, and THEY'RE ORGANIZING ICE PROTESTS
The Mexican consulates in America ARE MEETING WITH THE DEMOCRAT PARTY and organizing protests. There‘s a consulate in Minneapolis
The Mexican consulates in America ARE MEETING WITH THE DEMOCRAT PARTY and organizing protests. There's a consulate in Minneapolis
"Mexico has 53 consulates, and I started looking at what Mexico was doing with those consulates. I found out that they're organizing protests, they're still organizing some of these anti-ICE protests. They've got a consulate up in the Twin Cities right now that's neck deep in what's going on in Minneapolis.
But I also found that they were meddling in our politics. They were literally meeting with Democratic Party activists in 2024 saying, how are we going to stop Trump? We got to stop Trump. We turned California from red to blue. We turned Arizona from red to blue. We've got to stop"
A top Mexico Senator on the Mexican National Defense Committee says, Quote, "Mexicans are in our territories. California, Nevada, Texas, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Wyoming. We're going to take back the territory that was stolen from us -- We already know that the Mexican population in the United States reaches 39.2 million. We Mexicans are reclaiming our territory"
Hello. I hope you're all dug out from out of the ice.
THE MORNING RANT: Lodging Made Torturous by Smart Appliances and Electronics - “The Big Regression”
—Buck Throckmorton
When vacationing, my wife and I are tending to once again stay at hotels rather than renting through VRBO or Airbnb. While we prefer to rent an apartment/condo with a kitchen, laundry room, full size bathroom, and additional living space, the unrelenting hassles involving appliances and electronics is pushing us back to hotels. (As well as the detailed and lengthy “clean-up” instructions we’ve encountered at some places, but that’s a subject for another day.)
It has effectively become part of our unpacking process when we arrive at a rental property to contact the property manager so we can learn how to set the thermostat and operate the TV.
In a crazy paradox, the more “luxurious” the rental unit is, the more complex and user-unfriendly it tends to be. For me, having to watch training videos and download apps before I can set the thermostat or run the dishwasher is not luxury, it’s torture. Programming the lighting through a tablet on the wall is excruciating when I realize that something less upscale would offer me a simple light switch.
Jason Fried, a tech executive who co-founded Basecamp, wrote about this problem at “Hey,” another of his software companies. I first read this essay in its entirety on Mr. Fried’s Twitter/X page, but he also has it posted under the title “The Big Regression” at his website.
My folks are in town visiting us for a couple months so we rented them a house nearby.
It’s new construction. No one has lived in it yet. It’s amped up with state-of-the-art systems. You know, the ones with touchscreens of various sizes, [Internet of Things] appliances, and interfaces that try too hard.
And it’s terrible. What a regression.
The lights are powered by Control4, and require a demo to understand how to use the switches, understand which ones control what, and to be sure not to hit THAT ONE because it’ll turn off all the lights in the house when you didn’t mean to. Worse.
The TV is the latest Samsung which has a baffling user interface just to watch CNN. My parents aren’t idiots, but definitely feel like they’re missing something obvious. They aren’t — TVs have simply gotten worse. You don’t turn them on anymore, you boot them up.Worse.
The Miele dishwasher is hidden flush with the counters. That part is fine, but here’s what isn’t: It wouldn’t even operate the first time without connecting it with an app. This meant another call to the house manager to have them install an app they didn’t know they needed either. An app to clean some peanut butter off a plate? For serious?Worse.
Thermostats... Nest would have been an upgrade, but these other propriety ones from some other company trying to be nest-like are baffling. Round touchscreens that take you into a dark labyrinth of options just to be sure it’s set at 68. Or is it 68 now? Or is that what we want it at, but it’s at 72? Wait... What? Which number is this? Worse.
The alarm system is essentially a 10” iPad bolted to the wall that has the f***ing weather forecast on it. And it’s bright! I’m sure there’s a way to turn that off, but then the screen would be so barren that it would be filled with the news instead. Why can’t the alarm panel just be an alarm panel?Worse.
And the lag. Lag everywhere. Everything feels a beat or two behind. Everything. Lag is the giveaway that the system is working too hard for too little. Real-time must be the hardest problem.
Now look... I’m no luddite. But this experience is close to conversion therapy. Tech can make things better, but I simply can’t see it in these cases. I’ve heard the pitches too — you can set up scenes and one button can change EVERYTHING. Not buying it. It actually feels primitive, like we haven’t figured out how to make things easy yet. That some breakthrough will eventually come when you can simply knock a switch up or down and it’ll all makes sense. But we haven’t evolved to that point yet.
It’s really the contrast that makes it alarming. We just got back from a vacation in Montana. Rented a house there. They did have a fancy TV — seems those can’t be avoided these days — but everything else was old school and clear. Physical up/down light switches in the right places. Appliances without the internet. Buttons with depth and physically-confirmed state change rather than surfaces that don’t obviously register your choice. More traditional round rotating Honeywell thermostats that are just clear and obvious. No tours, no instructions, no questions, no fearing you’re going to do something wrong, no wondering how something works. Useful and universally clear. That’s human that’s modern.
Preach, brother. Preach. Thank you.
For me, simplicity is luxury. An absence of apps is luxury. Not having to watch a training video is luxury. Not having to engage with a wall-mounted tablet is luxury. Those are the luxuries I want when traveling.
Related Business Idea – “The Hostelry TV”: As noted in Mr. Fried’s back-to-basics rental unit in Montana, everything was old-school except for the TV, which was still a burden. There is a business opportunity in the tech / media space for someone to develop a simple, user-friendly TV for hostelries that works like a hotel TV of old, in that the guest simply clicks “Power” on the remote and can then start changing channels with the “Channel” button. Perhaps it might be a 32” desk-top TV (with larger wall-mounted options) and a simple, proprietary remote, along with immediate access to what might have been called “basic cable” in the old days. The TV would immediately connect to the internet via Starlink, or some such. Tech bros could figure that out pretty quickly, I presume. The Hostelry TV manufacturer could contract with one of the streaming services to have the basic cable bundle ready to go. There has got to be a way to provide simple, traditional TV access to patrons of hotels and lodging facilities.
Mexico made a mistake in letting itself become a dumping ground for China’s excess automobile production. (Which, by the way, is overwhelmingly gasoline-powered vehicles, not electric, despite the media buzz about Chinese EVs.) Mexico is finally trying to undo the damage with stiff tariffs on Chinese vehicle imports.
Allowing Chinese vehicles into a market is not “free trade.” China has excess capacity of government-subsidized vehicles, which it is dumping into new markets, causing great harm to existing auto manufacturing operations. Many of these vehicles are manufactured by state-owned entities, whose primary purpose is to provide jobs in China, not to make a profit. Mexico has learned how damaging this trade structure is. Canada would be wise to take note.
My latest piece at The American Spectator: China has made Mexico a dumping ground for its glut of government-subsidized new cars*. To save its auto industry, Mexico just retaliated with stiff tariffs. (*Despite media hype, these are gas cars, not EVs.)https://t.co/ebzHzJy5iV
Good morning kids. With reports of widespread power outages as well as the cancellation of hundreds of airline flights as a result of winter storm Fern, I hope you are all safe, sound and warm and minimally affected or otherwise inconvenienced by the cold and ice that has hit a large swathe of the nation over the weekend.
Of course the top story remains insurrection and revolution — no not in Iran but right here in the good old US of A, which with what is going on in Minneapolis could potentially devolve into a disunited state of chaos. Considering the wastage of life, treasure and human potential for decades in its bloodthirsty drive for absolute power, the Democrat party and anti-American leftist movement have produced some of the worst examples of humanity to ever hold the reins of power. And in recent times among the worst of the worst was and remains Barack Hussein Obama. During his accursed tenure as president, he turned back over 50 years of societal advancement and sowed racial division and enmity that within a few years of his departure from the White House American cities burned to the ground in an orgy of violence unseen since the 1960s, and all based on blood libels against law enforcement and the bogeyman of white supremacy. All because Donald Trump dared to run and win a massive victory that in many ways was a complete repudiation of everything Obama stood for, believed in and foisted in the American people. Now here we are six years later and this despicable, evil, twisted lout is at it again.
The anti-ICE riots aren’t ‘grass roots’. They’re as ‘grass roots’ as the BLM riots that the Obama administration not so secretly nurtured. And, by no coincidence at all, Barack Obama popped up to endorse the latest incarnation of his War on America.
Obama popped up to issue a press release attacking federal immigration law enforcement, falsely claiming that, “people across the country have been rightly outraged by the spectacle of masked ICE recruits and other federal agents acting with impunity and engaging in tactics that seem designed to intimidate, harass, provoke and endanger the residents of a major American city.”
The man who funded and freed Islamic terrorists, spied on political opponents and had a man arrested for making a movie about Mohammed, whines that “many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.”
But apart from all the rants about ICE and the usual propaganda, Obama concludes with “every American should support and draw inspiration from the wave of peaceful protests in Minneapolis and other parts of the country.”
The “peaceful protests” that so far include deadly assaults on federal law enforcement, biting an officer’s finger off, and the usual rioting.
Obama wants back in the treason game. He should face the legal consequences for encouraging an insurrection to overthrow the government and enable the conquest of America.
If you want to know why two people are dead and why many others might very well wind up in a Minneapolis or even Anytown USA morgue drawer just like them, it's because Obama, Walz, Frey and the entirety of the Democrat Party is egging them on.
What’s inside the mind of a pro-crime leftist? Some identify vicariously with the criminal as a source of revolutionary violence while others go into a kind of Stockholm Syndrome driven by white guilt and bleeding heart liberalism.
‘Why I Didn’t Report My Rape’, Anna Krauthammer, writing at the radical leftist The Nation goes all in on pro-crime guilt. The author, a grad student who claims to have been gang raped, read Angela Davis and declares that she’s a ‘prison abolitionist’.
“There in that hotel, a little over four years ago, I was raped by a group of men during a three-day trip I took to Las Vegas with two of my best friends. Of the rape, which lasted all night,” she writes. “The simple answer to the question of why I never reported the rape is that I believe in the abolition of police and prisons.”
“I don’t want to ruin the lives of my rapists and I don’t know if they have children,” she blathers. “I have believed in and used the term prison abolition for at least a decade, but for less time than I’ve felt in my bones that I could never participate in any chain of events that might send someone to prison.”
. . . This is what moral inversion does to morality. It makes the perpetrators into the victims and vice versa. . . Women are told to practice a Gandhiesque liberalism in which they must accept being raped rather than send a rapist to jail. This is the endpoint of ‘Abolish ICE”, “BLM”, “Defund the Police’ and the entire mad spectacle of pro-crime policies.And when you understand that moral inversion is the ultimate sign of evil, you understand everything.
For those of a certain age who remember the 1960s, as bad as the anti-war demonstrations and even the Civil Rights marches and race riots of that era, wha we are witnessing here and now potentially can do what those events could not — erupt into an actual civil war, or into such a state of societal breakdown akin to perhaps Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. And then everything is up for grabs.
When churches and now hotels are invaded by roving bands of deranged people convinced they are the moral equivalent of the FFI and the White Rose movement resisting the Nazis — and an entire political party as well as the media using this gargantuan blood libel nonstop, this will not end well.
Antifa Influencer Declares ‘Guerrilla War’ Against ICE After Minnesota Shooting — Kyle Wagner, a self-described “entrepreneur” and “master-hate-baiter,” posted a series of videos to social media appearing to encourage armed and explicitly non-peaceful demonstrations against federal agents, whom he referred to as “Nazi gunmen.” The far-left influencer uploaded the videos in the immediate aftermath of the day’s fatal shooting, which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claimed targeted a suspect who looked ready to “massacre law enforcement.” Chaotic riots subsequently erupted on the streets of Minneapolis. . . “My name is Kyle, I’m Antifa, and there’s so much rage in me, I’ve had to record this like fifteen times trying to get the message out,” Wagner addressed the camera in one video posted to Instagram. “They fucked up.”
“[I]t’s time to suit up, boots on the ground … show up ready to go,” he said, later noting he was specifically “talking specifically to my fucking followers.”
“No, not talking about peaceful protests anymore. We’re not talking about having polite conversations anymore,” Wagner stressed. “Sorry, but welcome to America 2026 where Second Amendment is the only thing that’s gonna keep you fucking protected from literal fucking Nazi gunmen that are killing innocent people in the street with impunity. This is not a fucking joke. There’s nothing fun to chant about it.”
Can you imagine if someone on our side took to social media to implore ordinary citizens to march on Minneapolis or wherever and help defend ICE agents as they went about their business?!
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.
A Minneapolis man who calls himself “Antifa” urged his nearly 36,000 Instagram followers to “get your fucking guns” and “stop” federal law enforcement, after a Border Patrol agent fatally shot an armed man in his city. Kyle Wagner, a self-described “entrepreneur” and “master-hate-baiter,” posted a series of videos to social media appearing to encourage armed and explicitly non-peaceful demonstrations against federal agents, whom he referred to as “Nazi gunmen.” The far-left influencer uploaded the videos in the immediate aftermath of the day’s fatal shooting, which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claimed targeted a suspect who looked ready to “massacre law enforcement.” Chaotic riots subsequently erupted on the streets of Minneapolis. Antifa Influencer Declares ‘Guerrilla War’ Against ICE After Minnesota Shooting
Speaking to insidious CBS News propagandist Margaret Brennan — the woman who claimed free speech caused the Holocaust — O’Hara falsely claimed that the protester had a First Amendment right to record and challenge Border Patrol (actually, what the protester did is against federal law). Minneapolis Police Chief Says It Doesn't Matter if Shooting Was Justified
Even absent any Second Amendment discussion, rule number one here seems a purely logical point. It's one that seems to be getting ignored by many: You simply do not pull a loaded gun on a federal officer doing his duty enforcing the law and expect to survive. Minneapolis: How Is This Not an Insurrection?
Rory Miller’s Force Decisions shows why emotional snap judgments about police use of force ignore reality—and how facts, training, and restraint are the only path to de-escalation. A Citizen’s Guide to Violence in Minneapolis
“If he had a permit to carry, it’s not unlawful to be carrying while you’re exercising your First Amendment right,” Doar said. “You don’t have to pick between which rights you exercise.” Doar added that video footage appeared to show agents had already removed Pretti’s firearm before they opened fire. Ellison has since filed a lawsuit to preserve evidence in the shooting. He labeled the federal presence in Minnesota an “illegal and unconstitutional occupation” and called for a full investigation into Pretti’s death. Minnesota’s AG Previously Joined Other Blue States Arguing Against Right To Bear Arms At Political Rallies, Protests
Democrats such as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), among others, came out against voting in favor of a bill that would fund DHS. Democrats called for “MAJOR reforms” to be made to DHS. Senate Democrats Threaten to Block DHS Funding Bill After Border Patrol Shooting
Authorities have charged Mexican illegal alien Juan Alvarado-Aguilar with death by vehicle and driving while impaired (DWI). He caused the fatal accident that killed the young couple after making a totally illegal move on the road in Rowan County, according to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) press release. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lodged a detainer request for custody of Alvarado-Aguilar. It remains to be seen if North Carolina authorities will honor the ICE detainer. Unfortunately, the state has a Democrat governor, and Democrats often refuse to honor ICE detainer requests, even for killers (Gavin Newsom, for instance). ICE Seeks Custody of Illegal Alien Who Killed Young N.C. Couple
OFFICIAL DEMOCRAT PARTY/LEFTIST-ENDORSED ANTI-SEMITISM, ANTI-CHRISTIANITY
What some touted as a clear rejection of Christian Zionism by the top Catholic official in the Holy Land was instead an episode in which one church rather disingenuously used a joint forum to drag other institutions into its fight. Far from expressing a unified Christian voice, the statement undermined the shaky trust between the historical churches in Jerusalem. How the Internet Fell for a Supposed Condemnation of Christian Zionism
It’s the same playbook whenever the dying media want to manipulate their audiences and turn public sentiment against a government policy they oppose. In this case, immigration law enforcement. They would have you believe that ICE snatched an adorable little boy out of preschool and marched him into the frigid air of a Minneapolis suburb. Here’s How The Media Are Lying Right Now: ICE And ‘5-Year-Old Boy’ Edition
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AI cannot add anything to the information it has. It might be able to compile that information well, but its analysis is always going to be limited because it has no true creative spirit. It is merely a software program, albeit a very sophisticated one. “AI isn’t getting smarter. We are getting dumber.”
RED-GREENS, CLIMATE CHANGE HOAX, DEMOCRAT-LEFT WAR ON FOSSIL FUELS,
DEMOCRAT/LEFTIST AND RINO SCANDALS, MESHUGAS, CHUTZPOCRISY
Multiple X accounts posted screenshots of a fundraising text message sent from a toll-free number Saturday beginning with the words, “Alex Pretti is the limit,” and calling on recipients to “Stand with us! Donate $50 for 200% MATCH.” The message appeared to have linked to a donation landing page for Democratic Youth Wave PAC hosted by leading Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue. Both the page and the PAC’s website, however, were taken down at the time of publication. Pro-Kamala Group Goes Dark After Getting Caught Fundraising Off Alex Pretti’s Death
How “principled” GOP Senators are betraying Trump, MAGA and the American people. Russian Roulette 2026
POLITICS
The Supreme Court’s request for a response puts California Democrats’ new congressional map in limbo as Republicans argue it amounts to an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. Supreme Court Orders CA Dems To Justify Prop 50 Maps
Software engineer Saikat Chakrabarti is running to succeed Malig-Nancy Pelosi in Congress—but his leftist vision is far more expansive than that. Progressive on a Mission
Roger Kimball: Peace talk aside, the ticking in Iran isn’t diplomacy—it’s a death-rattle, as a murderous regime nears judgment and a brutal people pray that liberation, at last, is real. The Countdown to Iran’s Liberation Has Begun
Iranian security forces may have killed as many as 30,000 people in just two days as the regime crushed nationwide protests with gunfire and heavy weapons. Two senior officials from Iran’s Ministry of Health told TIME Magazine that the government’s internal death count reached approximately 30,000 on Jan. 8 and 9 alone. The slaughter outpaced the state’s ability to handle the dead. Body bag supplies ran out, and 18-wheel trucks took over for ambulances, the officials said. ‘Spasms Of Death’: Up To 30,000 Reportedly Dead After Iran’s Regime Cracks Down On Protestors
Filling Latin America and the Middle East with governments united in peace and development certainly improves the world for America. Regime Change: Antidote to Forever Wars
Trump’s push to bring Greenland under the Stars and Stripes isn’t nostalgia—it’s strategy, blocking Russia and China while expanding American power without firing a shot. From Greenland to Red, White, and Blue Land
With fewer than 8 million new babies in 2025, China is not only down to the lowest level of natality since the Communists took power in 1949. It’s actually back to birth levels last seen three centuries ago, in the early 1700s, when the national population may have been no more than 225 million — less than a sixth of China’s current 1.4 billion. It’s a bitter irony for a regime that enforced a coercive one-child policy for 35 years, until 2015: The new birth figures imply that the total fertility rate has finally fallen below one birth per woman, just as the central planners wanted. China is facing a demographic bomb— and it could handcuff Beijing’s ambitions
REVIEW: ‘Doing Great Harm? How DEI and Identity Politics Are Infecting American Healthcare―and How We Are Fighting Back’ by Stanley Goldfarb Medicine’s Descent Into Madness
How could so many highly credentialed people have been so wrong for so long? (To ask is to answer! - jjs) Food Wars
FEMINAZISM, TRANSGENDER PSYCHOSIS, HOMOSEXUALIZATION, WAR ON MASCULINITY/NORMALCY
Time and again, movements framed as "liberation" overshoot their target, swinging so far in the opposite direction that they become hostile to balance, reason, and restraint. How feminism destabilized modern America
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.
You may have heard about the replication crisis science, and if you haven't, you should. Half of all published medical research, for example, cannot be replicated, and for preclinical trials the rate increases to four fifths.
An interesting point from that Wikipedia article is that 70% of scientists have tried and failed to replicate another researcher's work, but only 20% have been contacted by another scientist trying to replicate their work.
Which is perhaps by design:
This paper in Management Science has been cited more than 6,000 times. Wall Street executives, top government officials, and even a former U.S. Vice President have all referenced it. It's fatally flawed, and the scholarly community refuses to do anything about it.
Management science, huh? Bad as things are in medical research, at least they admit to baseline reality.
When someone tried to correct the record on this particular paper, his efforts were not well received:
The authors ignored me, the journal refused to act, and the scholarly community looked the other way. Two universities disregarded evidence of research misconduct - even after the authors admitted publishing a misleading report.
The article remains largely uncorrected - misleading thousands of people each year.
I believe our systems for curating trustworthy science are broken and need reformation.
A latter-day dissolution of the monasteries?
Having received no response from the authors, I contacted Management Science. After getting advice, I submitted a comment.
It was rejected.
The reviewers did not address the substance of my comment; they objected to my "tone".
As the article says, ah, the tone police.
The authors did admit to the editor that they had misreported a key finding - labeling it as statistically significant when it was not. The authors claimed the error was a "typo." They intended to type "not significant" but omitted the word "not".
That's one hell of a typo.
The story gets worse from there. And that's just a single paper out of millions.
The Verge may have gone full-blown communist revolutionary newspaper but on this they are not wrong. Google is sometimes completely reversing the meaning of tech articles in its AI summaries.
Which is perfectly possible, just not very efficient. After all, dinosaurs breathed air, and all our gasoline comes from liquified dinosaurs.
It takes carbon dioxide and water vapour from the air, electrolyses the water, and combines them to create methanol. Then it goes through a more complicated process to turn the methanol into usable fuel.
The device costs an estimated $20,000, and if you have a free source of electricity, a gallon of gas costs around $1.50, though the article doesn't mention exactly how this was calculated.
Since you probably don't have a free source of electricity, a gallon of gas will actually cost between $10 and $30, which is why dinosaurs always win.
Musical Interlude
Ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the national anthems.
Sunday Overnight Open Thread - January 25, 2026 [Doof]
—Open Blogger
Howdy Hordelings! Welcome to the Sunday ONT. Did you get a lot of snow in your area today? If so, how much? If not, what did you do today? Step on in and let us know what's on your mind tonight!
A man convicted of trying to rob Taco Bell in Ocala using a rock has been sentenced to four years in state prison.
Kewarren Anderson, 40, received the sentence on Thursday. Court records show he was credited for six months and 19 days of time already served.
The incident happened in July 2025 and was recorded on body camera video later shared by Ocala police on social media. The footage shows a K9 unit tracking Anderson from the Taco Bell at 2380 SW College Road to a nearby trash bin. When the dog located him behind the bin, it bit Anderson.
According to the arrest affidavit, Anderson told police he was homeless and needed money. He admitted he tried to rob Taco Bell by climbing through a drive‑thru window while holding a rock and demanding cash from employees.
It's that time of the week - when we turn the ONT over to our good friend Piper for a bit. Here's this week's fashion pr0n.
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Remembering Valentino Garavani – The Last Emperor of Elegance
The fashion world is in mourning. This week, we said goodbye to the incomparable Valentino Garavani, who passed away peacefully at his home in Rome on January 19 at the age of 93. He wasn't just a designer, he helped define glamour, romance, and unapologetic beauty. In an industry that often chases the next big thing, Valentino (as we all lovingly called him) created timeless pieces that made women feel like goddesses. His legacy? Eternal elegance.
Born Valentino Clemente Ludovico Garavani in 1932 in Voghera, Italy, he knew early on that fashion was his calling. After studying in Milan and Paris, he returned to Rome and founded his house in 1960. From the start, it was all about sophisticated femininity, flowing silhouettes, exquisite craftsmanship, and that signature traffic stopping, fiery red.
Valentino dressed the most iconic women of the 20th century: Jackie Kennedy, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Julia Roberts (remember that stunning black-and-white gown she wore to accept her Oscar in 2001?), Gwyneth Paltrow, Sophia Loren... the list goes on.
His magic in action:
In the 1960 Federico Fellini film La Dolce Vita, Anita Ekberg takes a night swim in a black Valentino dress in the Trevi Fountain.
Jackie Kennedy Onassis’ wedding dress paved the way for the modern bride in the late ‘60s by opting for something shorter rather than a long princess gown.
Anjelica Huston worked as a model in the 70s and became the face of several Valentino Haute Couture advertising campaigns. The photo by Gian Paolo Barbieri, where she posed in a yellow floral dress, became one of the designer's favorites.
After divorce with Prince Charles, Princess Diana decided to abandon strict dress code. In 1992, she wore a piquant burgundy midi with a velvet corset bodice and translucent hem by Valentino Garavani.
Anne Hathaway at the 2011 Oscars in signature Valentino Red.
Valentino didn't just design glamour; he lived it. Perpetually tanned, impeccably coiffed, surrounded by his beloved pugs, he hosted legendary parties at his châteaux in France, his Roman villa, or aboard his yacht. The 2008 documentary Valentino: The Last Emperor gave us a glimpse into his world , the passion, the perfectionism, the emotion of his final couture show in Paris where the entire audience (including me, in spirit) wept.
This week in Rome, stars gathered to pay tribute at his funeral – Anne Hathaway in tears, Donatella Versace, Tom Ford, and so many more honoring the man who made beauty his life's work.
Valentino creative director Alessandro Michele arriving at the ceremony.
Donatella Versace
The house of Valentino continues to thrive, but it all began with him – the last true emperor of couture. Rest in peace, Mr. Valentino. You made the world more chic.
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Thanks, Piper!
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DJ Doof - Guess The Theme
This one is probably quite challenging. Difficulty Level - 4 out of 5
What's the common thread / common meaning / common leitmotif?
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Tonight's ONT brought to you by a dude who better be joyous
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Your feedback may or may not be very important to Doof Enterprises. Follow Mr. Doof on X @doof2112 or do the email thing – doof2112 at proton dot me.
Podcast: CBD and Sefton talk about insurrection in MN coming to NYC? Trump's Greenland rhetoric was over the top, the Gaza Peace Panel is anything but, Minnesota churchgoers need to step up, and is it possible that if the Persian people toss out the Mullahs they will begin a Muslim reformation?
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]
Disclose.tv
@disclosetv
30m
JUST IN - DOJ investigating Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for conspiracy to impede immigration agents -- CBS
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!
Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, and an always interesting observer of the human and political condition, has died. RIP. [CBD]
Tousi TV: France closes embassy in Tehran, US Department of State advises all US citizens to get out of Iran He's been saying that Tuesday will be a decisive day. Other reports say that Trump is in the last stages of planning an action against the mullahs. (And other reports say that Tucker Carlson Simp JD Vance is attempting to get Trump to agree to "negotiations" with Iran -- for fucking what? What do we get out of saving the fucking mullahs and letting them kill and torture their own people? Apart from Tucker Carlson getting to pretend he's a Big Man Influencer and that he's worth all the Qatari money he's receiving.)
Asmongold predicted that AWFLs would turn on immigration the moment we started importing hot women into the country, and he was right via garrett
