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Good morning kids. Yesterday I took quite a bit of flak in the comments about my asking what is PresidentTrump's "fixation" about Greenland. I also made it perfectly clear, or perhaps not! That I do indeed recognize the geographical and geopolitical importance of Greenland vis a vis its proximity to America as well as our foreign adversaries'/enemies' obvious interest in having a base on that island or total control over it and indeed the Arctic itself as a means of hemming us in if not outright crippling us economically and militarily in the event of some future hot confrontation. Also, as I thought I clearly stated yesterday, the President's foreign policy initiatives have been nothing short of brilliant in securing our interests and that of our allies and moving the world in a better direction all-around. In that regard he has been more successful than perhaps any president I can think of.
Yet that said, there is an actual hot confrontation happening right now and it is with our nation's most dangerous enemy of all — the anti-American Left and its political epicenter the Democrat Party. Collectively they have, as Abraham Lincoln so eloquently put it long before he became President in the wake of the Democrats touching off the Civil War, the reverberations of which we are still suffering from over 160 years later as a result of permitting the Democrat Party and what it eventually mutated/metastasized into. The anti-American communist beachhead has been here all this time, Greenland or no Greenland. The Democrats are rotting away at the vitals of our nation.
Democrats are playing with fire, but it’s the whole country that’s likely to get burned.
For a democratic republic to function, you need certain key elements.
First, elections must be generally regarded as honest.
Second, candidates and their supporters have to abide by the results of those elections when they occur.
Third, winners of elections must not behave in a way that makes losing the contest a matter of life and death (or lifetime imprisonment).
Democrats are undermining — or just outright wrecking — all three.
Ellen DeGeneres draws criticism for comments on Minneapolis protests
Don Lemon blasts Minnesota churchgoers harassed by anti-ICE protesters for ‘entitlement’ and ‘white supremacy’
On the electoral trustworthiness front, Democrats are standing united against measures to ensure that only legitimate voters can cast votes, and that the votes cast are counted honestly and transparently.
When it comes to abiding by elections, the Democrats have treated President Donald Trump’s victories in both 2016 and 2024 as illegitimate. (In fairness, he did the same in 2020 — but accepted Joe Biden’s presidency after Inauguration Day.)
In Trump’s first term, Democrats formed a “resistance” movement — as if the administration of a duly elected president was analogous to a German occupation government in World War II — and pushed the patently false claim that his victory was a “hacked election” or the product of (nonexistent) “Russian collusion.”
In his second term the “resistance” is expanding, with suggestions that Trump is ruling as a “king” — and now with the often violent protests aiming to block the legitimate enforcement of duly enacted immigration laws.
Democratic governors and mayors in Minnesota, Oregon and Illinois have gone so far as to actively enable the chaos by withdrawing police protection.
Finally, winners of elections must not pose an existential threat to the losers; they can’t carry out, or even hint at, mass imprisonment or blanket prosecution. Finally, winners of elections must not pose an existential threat to the losers; they can’t carry out, or even hint at, mass imprisonment or blanket prosecution.
Take a lesson from history: Julius Caesar led his army across the Rubicon to seize power in Rome because his political enemies were plotting to subject him to political prosecutions that could have led to his death or exile.
Caesar saved himself (for a while) — but his action, and the behavior of his opponents that triggered it, killed off the Roman Republic.
Historically in American politics, electoral losers have accepted the results, however grudgingly, and concentrated on winning the next election.
This new trend of treating Republican electoral victories as inherently illegitimate is a departure — and very dangerous.
It’s made more dangerous by widespread threats from important Democratic figures to prosecute not only Trump and his administration, but lower-level officials — and now, even federal law-enforcement agents.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has been raising this specter for months, and other prominent leftists are following his lead.
In September, Jeffries said that Democrats would prosecute members of Trump’s Justice Department once they regain power: “Donald Trump and this toxic administration will be long gone, but there will still be accountability to be had.”
In December, he issued a message on X to “all these GOP extremists and [Trump] sycophants . . . the statute of limitations is 5 years! It will be well beyond the end of the Trump admin.”
We’ve heard similar statements from Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Democratic consultant James Carville and ex-CNN gadfly Jim Acosta. This month, the drumbeat got louder amid stepped-up immigration-enforcement operations in Minneapolis, Minn.
Leftist commentator Jennifer Welch recently used her podcast to push “relentless” prosecutions of Trump, Elon Musk, Stephen Miller and other Republicans if Democrats regain power, arguing it would be necessary for “true national reconciliation.”
And just last week Jeffries was back warning rank-and-file ICE officers to expect a Democratic administration to prosecute them for any crimes it could discover (or perhaps, given the history of efforts to prosecute Trump in the past, invent).
“Every single one of these people who we see brutalizing the American people, they’re gonna be held accountable,” Jeffries said of ICE agents. “And the statute of limitations . . . is five years.”
As Caesar’s experience demonstrates, you can’t have a democratic republic if every election is an existential struggle in which the loser risks extinction.
People don’t want to be rendered extinct, and they can be expected to take steps to prevent it.
If Democrats keep up this thuggery, Republicans will be all but forced to respond in their own defense — and any action they may take could destabilize the nation even further.
The last time such a breach happened in the United States was in 1860, where pro-slavery Democrats seceded from the country rather than abide by the results of a presidential election. That resulted in a Civil War that killed hundreds of thousands of Americans and devastated much of the nation — a war driven by Southern “fire-eater” rhetoric that’s not unlike what we’re hearing from some Democrats today.
It needs to stop, or the consequences might be much worse this time around.
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.
ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY LINKS
With more than 50 consulates in the U.S. today, Schweizer writes, the Mexican government “is blatantly interfering in our domestic politics, working with American political advisors to turn legal and illegal migrants inside the US into a political force to wield for their benefit.” In particular, Schweizer writes, the Mexican government sends about a million textbooks to American schools every year to teach its version of U.S. history, among other subjects. MEXICO’S ELECTION PLOT UNMASKED: How Mexico’s 50+ Consulates Are Running Shadow Campaign to Sway U.S. Elections (Screw Greenland, maybe annexing Mexico would do infinitely more for our national security - jjs)
Glenn Reynolds:If Democrats keep up this thuggery, Republicans will be all but forced to respond in their own defense — and any action they may take could destabilize the nation even further. The last time such a breach happened in the United States was in 1860, where pro-slavery Democrats seceded from the country rather than abide by the results of a presidential election. ..That resulted in a Civil War that killed hundreds of thousands of Americans and devastated much of the nation — a war driven by Southern “fire-eater” rhetoric that’s not unlike what we’re hearing from some Democrats today. It needs to stop, or the consequences might be much worse this time around. With anti-ICE fury, Democrats are playing with fire
The stage is set for violent confrontations between leftist agitators and law enforcement, and that's been playing out for nearly two weeks, not to mention six years since George Floyd. Is Minnesota the Bleeding Kansas of the 21st Century?
While tensions prevail in Minnesota over immigration enforcement, Trump floated the possibility of invoking the Insurrection Act, which allows the president to nationally deploy troops to quell civil disorder, rebellion and other instances of unrest. Honig argued on “CNN News Central” that while Trump has the legal authority to do this, it would be a “dramatic step.” CNN’s Elie Honig Says Trump Has ‘Broad Authority’ To Invoke Insurrection Act In Minnesota
Confronting delusional, deranged, maniacal radicals. (Logic and reason are useless but I'm told napalm and 20mm cannon are very effective - jjs) The Consequences of Leftist Lawlessness
FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS, MEDIA, BIG BROTHER TECH
The Samizdat Prize honors Charlie Kirk and others who paid the price for speaking freely—reminding us that without free speech, America’s promises are hollow. Charlie Kirk Embodies the Samizdat Prize
Bloomberg reports that Elon Musk has escalated his legal battle against OpenAI and Microsoft by formally requesting damages between $79 billion and $134 billion, claiming he was defrauded when the generative AI company moved away from its original nonprofit structure and formed a partnership with the software giant. Elon Musk Seeks $134 Billion in Damages from OpenAI and Microsoft in Legal Battle
Profanity may suit the powerless, but a victorious president doesn’t need fingers or four-letter words—real authority is shown by restraint, not rage. Heads of State Flipping Out and Flipping Off
How American taxpayers subsidize Europe’s welfare programs — and why Trump’s skepticism isn’t reckless. NATO’s Dirty Little Secret
Chinese-American businessman Eugene Ji, who owns two golf courses flanking Louisiana’s Barksdale Air Force Base, developed a years-long professional and personal relationship with retired Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, which allegedly included expensive gifts and meetings with high-ranking Chinese government officials, according to DCNF translations of Chinese government announcements and Ji’s 2014 Chinese language autobiography “New Circle.” Among other concerning episodes, the autobiography claims the pair organized an event to bring Chinese military officers to a U.S. nuclear base and also repeatedly propositioned Chinese political insiders with a half a billion dollar plan to seize Japan’s Senkaku Islands for China through weaponized migration, which the general denies. EXCLUSIVE: US General Plotted With CCP-Tied Mogul To Seize Strategic Islands For China, Tell-All Claims
The study aims to address gaps in scientific knowledge, though it contrasts with positions held by many major scientific and regulatory bodies. RFK Jr. Instructs HHS to Probe Cellphone Radiation Risks. (about 45 years too late with this - jjs)
“As a cardiologist, I am particularly alarmed by the cardiovascular risks these interventions pose to developing young hearts,” Murthy explained. “Cross-sex hormones, such as estrogen in biological males or testosterone in biological females, are known to alter lipid profiles, increase blood clotting, and elevate the risk of thromboembolic events, stroke, myocardial infarction, and hypertension.” Top Cardiologist Issues Stark Warning on Child Gender Drugs—And It’s Not What Activists Want to Hear
The left still invokes MLK’s name, but having traded liberalism’s moral law for progressivism’s power worship, it now repudiates the very legacy it claims to honor. Liberalism vs. Progressivism: Thoughts on MLK Day
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.
Two things to clarify from yesterday. First, that quote at the top of the post explaining the DRAM Apocalypse was from Jatin Malik, an engineer at Atlassian.
You can use Polecats without the Refinery and even without the Witness or Deacon. Just tell the Mayor to shut down the rig and sling work to the polecats with the message that they are to merge to main directly. Or the polecats can submit MRs and then the Mayor can merge them manually. It's really up to you. The Refineries are useful if you have done a LOT of up-front specification work, and you have huge piles of Beads to churn through with long convoys.
That's from the Gas Town Emergency User Manual which would be a great name for a work of surrealist speculative fiction but is quite literally a user manual.
Looking at Gas Town (and Beads) from the outside, it looks like a Mad Max cult. What are polecats, refineries, mayors, beads, convoys doing in an agentic coding system? If the maintainer is in the loop, and the whole community is in on this mad ride, then everyone and their daemons just throw more slop up. As an external observer the whole project looks like an insane psychosis or a complete mad art project. Except, it's real? Or is it not? Apparently a reason for slowdown in Gas Town is contention on figuring out the version of Beads, which takes 7 subprocess spawns. Or using the doctor command times out completely. Beads keeps growing and growing in complexity and people who are using it, are realizing that it's almost impossible to uninstall. And they might not even work well together even though one apparently depends on the other.
What is Beads?
Beads is a quarter of a million lines of code to manage Markdown files in Git repositories.
I have written entire enterprise systems with paying customers and decade-long track records that are no larger than that.
But I didn't have agentic AI to help me, so they actually worked.
There's a term in programming called technical debt, which measures the cost of a quick fix that you know you will have to rip out and fix properly one day.
It's hard to know where to even start with this. The author - self-reportedly Gen Z - has a crippling codependency with her iPhone, and her friends who have abandoned such devices for dumbphones are crippled without them.
They're like walking, talking, quarter-million line codebases that can only do a single task, and fail even at athat.
As someone whose political views have changed over the years, I have always marveled at the one big, gaping chasm of uncommon ground between the right and the left: liberals can't seem to understand that their actions are 100% related to the unstoppable boot of consequences headed toward their non-binary crotches — and that boot has a steel toe. Kevin Downey, Jr.
Quote II
“The sad truth is, for way too long, antisemitism has been allowed to grow unchecked in this country. Too many institutions have abdicated their moral responsibility to speak up. Too many so-called leaders have stayed quiet. Actions have consequences and inaction has consequences, too,” US Attorney General Pam Bleach Bondi
Quote III
I, for one, can’t afford the nuanced opinions and delicate sensibilities of my more liberal neighbors. Bill Glahn
And finally Dr. Thomas Sowell nails it when looking at the AWFLs ..................
‘This Has Gone Way Too Far': Videos Show Bizarre Sexual Ceremony That Elite Amherst College Pushes All First Year Students To Attend
The event, 'Voices of Amherst,' is paid for by the administration and takes place in the school’s chapel
*****
The ONT Musical Interlude & You'll Never B!TCH About Yoko Ono Again Emporium
Hartland — Which community has had the most epic decade in Michigan history?
Ann Arbor in the 1960s had hippies running wild. Detroit and the auto industry boomed in the 1920s. Grand Rapids officially became “Beer City USA” in the 1990s.
But the title of “Most Epic Decade in Michigan History” belongs to Hartland in the 1970s.
Hartland? Where’s that?
Hartland is a sleepy suburb in Livingston County that’s best known these days for the bad traffic at US-23 and M-59, but in the 1970s it was far and away the coolest place in the entire state. Consider all that happened in this tiny bedroom community back then:
HERNANDO, Fla. (CBS12) — An 81-year-old Florida woman with a criminal past allegedly arranged a murder-for-hire meeting with an undercover detective, landing her behind bars.
Detectives with the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Unit and Major Crimes Unit, with assistance from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, took 81-year-old Elouise Leland into custody after receiving confidential information that she was actively seeking someone to carry out a murder.
*****
Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by Misanthropic Humanitarian's Black Book.
Notice: Posted with permission by the Ace Media Empire & AceCorp, LLC. The views and opinions expressed here are neither condemned or endorsed by same said Media Empire and LLC. The Dental Plan still sucks beats a sharp stick in the eye.
Tomorrow, leftists will be "Walking out of work" -- well, let's say they're walking out of the place that gives them paychecks for sitting on their asses and scrolling TikTok videos all day -- to "peacefully demand" that everyone in the Trump administration be impeached.
Don Lemon asked for "likes and subscribes" as he violated the KKK Act.
Mentally-ill leftwing women love firing up the cellphone and taking narcissistic video of themselves emoting and sobbing.
Liberal: ICE BROKE DOWN A DOOR AND DETAINED A US CITIZEN
DHS: The citizen lives with / is harboring 2 convicted sex offenders (one a pedophile) who have final orders of removal - and he refused to be identified or cooperate.
Virginia Democrats just declared most robberies -- and robbery is theft by force or coercion -- as non-violent, so they can justify releasing these "non-violent" robbers from prison or bail obligations.
They also have banned manual (by hand) recounts, because they intend to steal every election and don't want anyone checking up on them.
Oh, and they're following the Minnesota Model of allowing industrial-scale fraud.
Democrats take absolute power in Virginia and the first thing they do is introduce the “Legalize Crime”, “Steal All Future Elections”, and “Duplicate Somali Daycare Fraud” Acts. pic.twitter.com/qwLglzinfU
Emails: Fauci Knew That Natural Immunity Far Surpassed the Non-Immunity Conferred by the Covid Non-Vaccine, But Lied to the Public Anyway and Fought for Mandated Vaccinations of the Already-Immune
Anthony Fauci privately acknowledged "impressive data" showed stronger immunity from a COVID-19 infection than vaccination while publicly pushing mandated shots, newly released documents show.
Former President Joe Biden's top pandemic response officials discussed a thorough study from Israel showing the superiority of natural infection in August 2021, simultaneous with the initiation of federal vaccine mandates via an Aug. 24 Pentagon memo, according to documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by Protect the Public's Trust, indicating officials who helped compel COVID shots had contemporaneous scientific evidence they were unjustifiable for millions of Americans. The officials distorted the evidence in public statements, repeatedly saying vaccination is necessary for immunity.
"What does it say about our own institutions that, despite billions spent every year, Americans had to rely on Israeli research for their health information, and that our own officials tried to bury what didn't fit their preferred narrative?" Protect the Public's Trust Director Michael Chamberlain told the Daily Caller News Foundation. "There's been a lot of handwringing about reforms and personnel actions by the new leadership at HHS, but this is just more evidence that the public health bureaucracy was ripe for a thorough housecleaning."
The revelation comes amid an ongoing investigation under President Donald Trump's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Marty Makary into deaths following the COVID vaccines in children and young adults. Further details could uncover whether people died from shots mandated by Biden administration officials aware of their redundancy for people with prior immunity.
"This is the evidence right here showing that our nation's scientific leaders were not acting scientifically, and there needs to be accountability," said Stephanie Edewaard Weidle, executive director of Feds For Freedom, to the DCNF. "We in the medical freedom fighting world, we already knew this, but to see it spelled out in these FOIA documents just makes it worse. People lost their jobs and their lives were turned upside down based on the argument that natural immunity was not enough."
The Biden administration grappled with research suggesting natural immunity was more effective than COVID-19 vaccination shortly before federal vaccine mandates in 2021, admitting the rigor of the massive Israeli study and worrying it might undermine its promotion of one-size-fits-all vaccination, newly released emails show.
The Freedom of Information Act production to Protect the Public's Trust, shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation, gives the most compelling evidence to date that federal officials knew their pending mandates were scientifically shaky yet repeatedly asserted in public -- misrepresenting federal research -- that natural immunity couldn't match vaccine-acquired immunity.
The emails add heft to prior claims by a now-former Food and Drug Administration adviser, going back four years, that the feds ultimately rejected natural immunity as an exemption to vaccine mandates for bureaucratic reasons and kept pushing vaccines on all ages and conditions for the sake of simpler messaging, not science.
They also reaffirm the glaring lack of rigorous research by U.S. institutions on basic questions about SARS-CoV-2 and treatment outcomes, with many of the most important findings coming from abroad. The abnormally high risk of heart inflammation in young people post-vaccination, for example, emerged from Israeli data and institutions.
...
He also said Dr. Anthony Fauci, then-director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told him at a 2023 meeting that the feds didn't target "high-risk groups" for vaccination because that was too "nuanced" and some at high risk wouldn't get jabbed unless everyone was told to do it.
...
The newly revealed emails show Fauci telling colleagues including Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky that the Israeli study of nearly 800,000 people, which got wide visibility in Science, was "rather impressive."
The study, then a preprint that hadn't gone through peer-review, showed natural immunity was 13 times more protective than Pfizer vaccination against reinfection and 27 times more protective against symptomatic COVID.
...
FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, then a medical professor, mocked the feds for "fishing" for a study to justify its COVID policy on Fox News.
NEW FOIA'd documents show that Fauci privately acknowledged "impressive" data showed natural immunity was more protective than COVID vaccines even as the Biden admin implemented mandates in 2021.
Privately officials acknowledged the strength of a study of 770,000+ people showing… pic.twitter.com/NeklY4t9GT
Update: Common aspirin stops covid from infecting cells?
Recall that Covid was so deadly because the Wuhan lab inserted a furin cleavage site into a coronavirus, creating the perfect key to unlock human lung cells. Amazingly, it now turns out that aspirin bends the key so it no longer works. Why did it take 6 years to figure that out? pic.twitter.com/fbrSnheteY
Harmeet Dhillon Prosecuting Church-Terrorists Under the KKK Act?
—Ace
The KKK Act -- an act designed to criminalize the terrorism of the Klan -- makes it a federal offense to stop someone from exercising their civil rights by violence, threat, or force.
Don Lemon, who violated church-goers civil rights, now simpers that you musn't violate his civil rights to offend other people's civil rights.
Mary Katharine Ham
@mkhammer
19h
Activist narcissists will violate every boundary there is, interfere with your peaceful assembly, stop your worship, and then lecture you about the proper observance of both the First Amendment and your faith. Political DARVO.
"DARVO" is the antifa tactic: "Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender."
Over the holidays, Tim Walz fumed at the hypothetical possibility that ICE might pick up criminals exiting a church.
Where is his outrage now?
Tim Walz was morally outraged over the holidays, warning that ICE would target church services.
“Because that’s who they are."
Surely Tim will be equally outraged by his far-left radicals storming a church service. pic.twitter.com/Tag65hN98f
Below: The DOJ is looking through emails sent by Minnesota officials. They seem to be coordinating with left-wing antifa-style groups to track and attack ICE agents.
That, of course, is a conspiracy against federal law enforcement.
Let me do the competent lawyer thing again.
No, the DOJ has not arrested anybody yet. You are absolutely correct that that is not happened yet. That’s because this isn’t a TV show and the DOJ under @AGPamBondi and @AAGDhillon are attempting to actually build cases rather than… https://t.co/dv8iAB0bCB
Kurt Schlichter responds to the blackpillers who never stop claiming we're being sold out.
Kurt Schlichter
@KurtSchlichter
Let me do the competent lawyer thing again.
No, the DOJ has not arrested anybody yet. You are absolutely correct that that is not happened yet. That's because this isn't a TV show and the DOJ under @AGPamBond and @AAGDhillon are attempting to actually build cases rather than get one new cycle of coverage. Yes, there's evidence out there. There's video tapes. That's good evidence. But the existence of good evidence is not building a case. This is going to be one where they're going to face a judge and a jury pool that is biased against them, so they're going to need to do every single thing perfectly. That doesn't happen in five seconds.
Stop with this crap. This black pilling nonsense is freaking idiotic. You want to use the legal system, at least that's what you say. Well if that's what you mean then it's going to take time and all your frustration and crying and whining about it doesn't change that fact. If you want to do it right, you've got to do it right. That doesn't mean doing it fast.
Just stop it.
Conservatives have been out of power for our entire lives. And yes, that includes when "Republicans" are in power. We've defaulted to a standard operating procedure of crying "betrayal" and prophecizing doom.
But this is wrongheaded when we actually have people in office who actually listen to us and agree with us. The blackpilling is politically toxic, as it teaches us that any effort is pointless because we are doomed to lose, and on personal level, it must by psychologically destructive.
I have my own problems with Trump but the idea that he's "selling us out" on his signature issue is silly. From time to time he may be too cautious -- for example, many of us are wondering why he hasn't already invoked the Insurrection Act -- but he's not "selling us out," Bush style.
Meanwhile, even the NYT admits that blue cities and states are causing all of this chaos and violence themselves by not simply turning over violent repeat-criminal illegal aliens to ICE when the government politely asks for them.
The NYTimes admits: The danger associated with deportations is mostly a result of blue state policies that prevent law enforcement from transferring criminal illegals to ICE custody, as a result ICE has to make "community arrests" which put citizens and legal immigrants at risk pic.twitter.com/mpBkCahFdC
"Protesters" Now Assaulting Random People on the Streets of Minneapolis Hunting for ICE Agents and Invading Churches
—Ace
Major Error: I had intended to fix a typo in this post, but I accidentally put it back into draft. So apparently this post was only up for five minutes, and there was no new content on the blog until 1:30.
Sorry. I'm going to put this post back up for a while.
...
When leftists passed the FACE Act, to make it illegal to protest outside an abortion clinic, jackass Republicans went along with it, but insisted that it also make disrupting/"protesting" a church service as well. (I say they're jackasses because they didn't block this law entirely.)
Leftists are now violating the FACE Act that Biden used to throw peaceful protesters in jail.
DOJ investigating Gov. Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey over alleged conspiracy to impede immigration agents
The Justice Department is investigating Minnesota officials, including Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, over an alleged conspiracy to impede federal immigration agents, an extraordinary escalation in the Trump administration's clash with Democratic leaders there, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.
One of the sources, a U.S. official, said the investigation stems from statements that Walz and Frey have made about the thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents deployed to the Minneapolis region in recent weeks.
Subpoenas are likely to be issued in the probe, sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.
...
Walz and Frey, both Democrats, have vocally denounced the federal deployment to the Twin Cities, accusing federal agents of creating chaos and undermining public safety through aggressive tactics.
Earlier this week, Frey said the federal deployment had created a situation that was "not sustainable."
"We're in a position right now where we have residents that are asking the very limited number of police officers that we have to fight ICE agents on the street," Frey said. "We cannot be at a place right now in America where we have two governmental entities that are literally fighting one another."
...
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who visited Minneapolis with FBI Director Kash Patel on Friday, appeared to make a vague reference to the investigation earlier this week.
"Walz and Frey- I'm focused on stopping YOU from your terrorism by whatever means necessary. This is not a threat. It's a promise," Blanche wrote on X earlier this week.
They also should be investigated for refusing to arrest antifa and other violent anarchists for attacking citizens in the street:
Stephen L. Miller
@redsteeze
So to catch you up on events:
- Protest group chased two innocent dudes out of a diner.
- Attacked an innocent guy on the street who was actually with them.
- Harassed an innocent guy with an SUV and demanded to see his ID.
- Blocked an innocent guy because of his rental car plates
- Have now stormed into church services.
And I haven't seen a single Minneapolis police officer in any of the previous week's video footage.
A mob of extremists raided a church, hunting a pastor they claimed was secretly an ICE agent.
This is insane. It's also illegal.
🚨BREAKING: William Kelly and a mob of anti-ICE extremists stormed a Cities Church in Minneapolis, disrupting a worship service and hurling baseless accusations that one of the church’s lead pastors is an ICE agent. pic.twitter.com/QYl7q9gkwz
2 - He would have never barged into a Mosque and live-streamed a "protest" if Muslims were involved. This was a direct attack on Christians.
3 - This is what a FACE Act violation is:
"FACE Act violations involve using force, threats, or physical obstruction to interfere with access to places of worship. The FACE Act makes it illegal to intimidate, injure, or obstruct patients, providers, or religious attendees."
Don Lemon and his comrades deserve to be investigated and charged.
Lemon is now talking tough to the "right wing fake media" insisting he didn't violate the FACE act because he was Making a Journolizm, but his statements before he illegally invaded the church make it clear that he was just another scumbag antifa protester. Just one not wearing a mask.
This makes it cleat that Lemon was present as part of the "protest," not a disinterested "journalist." The woman he's kissing is the lead organizer of the illegal protest.
This is Don Lemon giving the organizer of the event a kiss on the cheek before interviewing her. He was totally in on it. He intentionally made sure not to disclose any details of the operation so people wouldn't get tipped off. https://t.co/IdaeFU0F3npic.twitter.com/o0wZHnSLHZ
The organizer of the event -- a lawyer who should definitely be prosecuted -- thanked Lemon for joining the protest. And, I guess, for kissing her fat face.
Disgraced former CNN host Don Lemon colluded with anti-ICE activists now under investigation for storming a Minnesota church on Sunday--a "clandestine" operation that Lemon helped keep secret ahead of time before publicizing it once it began.
Lemon, who was fired from CNN in 2023 over mistreatment of female colleagues, accompanied Minneapolis lawyer Nekima Levy Armstrong on "Operation Pull Up" at Cities Church in Saint Paul to protest the ICE shooting earlier this month of 37-year-old Renee Good. According to Armstrong, the operation targeted Cities Church because an associate pastor is allegedly the acting director of Saint Paul's ICE office.
"We show up somewhere that is a key location," Armstrong told Lemon in an interview prior to the event. "They don't expect us to come there. And then we disrupt business as usual."
Lemon, who kissed Armstrong on the cheek at the beginning of their interview, accompanied the activist and others, including Saint Paul school board member Chauntyll Allen and members of Black Lives Matter Minneapolis, from its staging site in a Dollar General parking lot to the church. At the church, Armstrong and her cohort disrupted the service with shouts of "ICE Out!" and other slogans. The pastor targeted in the operation was not present at the church on Sunday.
The Department of Justice is investigating the incident, and there are growing calls on social media to arrest Lemon. Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon said Sunday that she is investigating the incident for a potential violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which makes it illegal to block access to houses of worship. Dhillon also took a swipe at Lemon, writing that his "pseudo journalism" is not protected by the First Amendment.
"You are on notice!" she wrote.
Lemon responded to Dhillon's remarks, distancing himself from Armstrong's organization.
...
A review of Lemon's live feed shows he was an enthusiastic supporter of "Operation Pull Up," even as he at times denied being a participant.
Lemon opened his live stream saying he had conducted "some reconnaissance" and had been speaking to an organization "that's gearing up for resistance and protest." Lemon said he had been "pleasantly surprised seeing the community coming together" in the wake of Good's shooting.
"These are resistance protesters that are planning an operation that we're going to follow them on," he said. "I can't tell you exactly what they're doing." But he described it as an operation "where they surprise people, catch them off guard, and hold them to account."
"Because they are strategizing, I don't want to get too much of their information there," said Lemon, also admitting that he "turned my camera off" at one point to avoid publicizing the "secret" plans.
The "journalist" turned off his cameras so as not to reveal his "subjects'" plans and strategy.
That doesn't sound like a "journalist."
He thanked Armstrong for inviting him to join the event. After the operation, Armstrong thanked "all of the activists who showed up + independent journalists," listing Lemon and others.
Inside the church, Lemon sought to cast himself as a neutral journalist observing the foray.
...
But moments later, Lemon praised the tactics of "Operation Pull Up."
"That's what I believe when I say everyone has to be willing to sacrifice something," he said. "You have to make people uncomfortable in these times. You have to be willing to go into places and disrupt and make people uncomfortable."
Read the whole thing. I mean Harmeet Dhillon. She should read the whole thing and write up an arrest warrant based on it.
Illinois Governor (and Possible Presidential Candidate) JB Pritzker Signs Law Sealing Criminal Records to Protect Illegals from Deportation by the Feds
—Ace
And also, as many people observe, to stop people from immediately looking up the criminal histories of the next scumbag to kill an innocent citizen. No more "arrested 58 times previously" headlines in Illinois.
They won't stop crime. In fact, they'll promote it.
But they will stop you from noticing crime.
Governor JB Pritzker
@GovPritzker
Jan 16
Today, we're empowering those seeking a second chance.
With my signature, Illinois will create an automatic process to seal the criminal records of those convicted of non-violent crimes.
We're opening up opportunities for those re-entering society to live healthy, stable lives.
Grok:
Illinois Governor Signs Clean Slate Act to Seal Nonviolent Records
Last updated
Jan 18
Governor JB Pritzker signed the bipartisan Clean Slate Act on January 16, automating the sealing of nonviolent criminal records for about 1.7 to 2.2 million eligible residents. It covers misdemeanors after two years, certain felonies after three or more, and petty offenses twice yearly, while excluding serious crimes like murder, sex offenses, and DUIs--law enforcement keeps full access. Supporters like Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth call it justice and redemption, citing higher wages and lower recidivism; critics including Republican lawmakers argue it protects repeat offenders and burdens background checks. The law phases in from June 1, 2026, with a task force monitoring impacts through 2034.
Simulator di tutti i Simulatori
@fleshsimulator
Jan 18
Well, I suppose that's ONE way to prevent news stories about someone with fifty prior arrests cutting an old lady in half with a sawzall on the subway or whatever
wanye
@xwanyex
Jan 17
There are so many things you can spend your time on, things to be motivated by, things that worry you, that bother you, that keep you up at night. And for progressives it just couldn't be clearer that near the top of that list is making life better and easier for criminals.
@amuse
@amuse
Jan 17
LAWFARE: Illinois Governor JB Pritzker's signed of the Clean Slate Act sealing criminal records like theft, drug possession, and disorderly conduct to protect illegal criminals including MS-13 and TdA gang members from deportation.
wanye
@xwanyex
Jan 17
There are so many things you can spend your time on, things to be motivated by, things that worry you, that bother you, that keep you up at night. And for progressives it just couldn't be clearer that near the top of that list is making life better and easier for criminals.
Offenses like property crimes and narcotics charges will be wiped from records -- and taxpayers are told to trust the system
@amuse
@amuse
Jan 17
LAWFARE: Illinois Governor JB Pritzker's signed of the Clean Slate Act sealing criminal records like theft, drug possession, and disorderly conduct to protect illegal criminals including MS-13 and TdA gang members from deportation.
Of course, employers will no longer be able to discover if applicants are career thieves and drug abusters.
Commissioner Sean Morrison
@SeanMMorrison
Jan 17
JB Pritzker and Illinois Democrats passed laws allowing millions of criminal convictions to be sealed.
This isn't "reform" it's protecting criminals over citizens.
The result?
• Employers can't fully vet who they hire
• Landlords can't properly screen renters
• Businesses can't assess real risk
• Citizens lose basic transparency and protection from scammers
Public safety depends on truth and accountability, not hiding criminal histories to satisfy ideological talking points.
Once again, Illinois democrats puts ideology first, and everyday citizens pay the price.
COVERUP: Non-citizens with criminal records are deportable but if their records are sealed most can stay. Illinois’ Clean Slate Act is designed to help non-citizen criminals become Democrat voters. pic.twitter.com/0s9ciaC8or
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro was already irritated by what he describes as "unnecessarily contentious" questions from the team vetting him to be Kamala Harris's running mate when a senior aide made one final inquiry: "Have you ever been an agent of the Israeli government?"
The question came from President Biden's former White House counsel Dana Remus, who was a key member of Harris's vice-presidential search team.
Shapiro, one of the most well-known Jewish elected officials in the country--and one of at least three Jewish politicians considering a run for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination--says he took umbrage at the question. "Had I been a double agent for Israel? Was she kidding? I told her how offensive the question was," Shapiro writes in his forthcoming book, Where We Keep the Light, a copy of which The Atlantic obtained ahead of its release on January 27.
The exchange became even more tense, he writes, when Remus asked whether Shapiro had ever spoken with an undercover Israeli agent. The questions left the governor feeling uneasy about the prospect of being Harris's No. 2, a role that ultimately went to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. After Harris and Walz lost to Donald Trump, many Democrats were critical of her decision to bypass Shapiro, the popular governor of the nation's largest swing state. In his book, Shapiro says that the decision may not have been fully hers; he says he had "a knot in my stomach" throughout a vetting process that was more combative than he had expected. Shapiro wrote that he decided to take his name out of the running after a one-on-one meeting with Harris that featured more clashes, including about Israel.
The Biden/Harris "antisemitism envoy" objected to the question.
Should we also ask Muslims if they are loyal to "the Caliphate"? Actually, question retracted. We certainly should.
The great thing about America is that an actual paid foreign operative (for Qatar) can become a citizen and five minutes later lecture us on who counts as a loyal American https://t.co/0s65wQLq5S
THE MORNING RANT - Volkswagen’s Electric Vehicle Misfire: Its Made-In-America, Flagship EV is the Slowest Selling Vehicle in the United States
—Buck Throckmorton
While I get some schadenfreude from documenting the financial damage that legacy American automobile manufacturers such as Ford and GM have inflicted on themselves with their EV misadventures, the mess at Volkswagen is deeply upsetting to me. Be it right or wrong, I know that the US government will bail out Ford and GM, if necessary, to help mitigate the damage done by their irresponsible executives. Volkswagen, on the other hand, is likely to pull out of the US market and close its US manufacturing operations if it can’t right its ship.
I have long been a fan of Volkswagen products. In the post-Beetle era, its lineup has provided modern German engineering and a German driving experience to the mass market. My wife and I had a Passat which was an exceptional vehicle. I might have bought an American-made VW Atlas for my most recent vehicle purchase if I wasn’t so disgusted by Volkswagen pursuing an all-EV future. I didn’t want to buy a car that VW’s executives were determined to kill off.
If Volkswagen is going to survive in the U.S., it had better re-commit to gasoline-powered (“ICE”) vehicles, because its flagship electric offering, the ID.4, is the slowest selling car in the United States.
It would take 527 days to sell out the inventory of ID.4s in the United States, making it the slowest-selling vehicle in the country in January, according to metrics from CarEdge.
Have you ever heard of the Maserati Grecale? Me neither. It may be obscure and hard to sell, but it turns over faster than Volkswagen’s electric car.
The No. 2 slowest-selling vehicle in the United States in January was the Maserati Grecale.
Normal vehicle inventory takes 60 – 90 days to turn, and dealerships have historically targeted a 60-day supply of vehicles to ensure the optimum mix of vehicles without carrying excess inventory. For a vehicle which moves so slow that dealers are burdened with more than a year’s supply, they’d generally prefer to have zero units in stock. On the off chance a customer came in wanting to buy such a slow-moving vehicle, the dealer could easily get another dealer to transfer one.
Over the past several decades there has been an economic explosion in the American South, thanks in part to so many auto manufacturers locating plants in the region. In addition to those manufacturing operations, numerous suppliers also established nearby operations, and suppliers to those suppliers sprung up too. The cycle of prosperity and economic activity flows well when manufacturing is strong. Pretty much all the major Japanese, Korean, and German car companies have operations in the southern U.S. It’s a golden goose laying golden eggs.
But the EV fever somehow captured the minds of many auto executives and southern politicians, and they pursued EV investments in the South, even though the explicit goal was to kill-off the golden goose of existing ICE auto manufacturing.
Initial expectations were for the EV plant to assemble about 7,000 units per month, with the ability to ramp up to a volume exceeding 100,000 per year.
The actual demand has been negligible, averaging less than 20,000 units per year, even with federal rebates and aggressive pricing. But in Q4 of 2025, after the federal EV incentives expired, Volkswagen sold a nominal 248 electric ID.4s. That averages out to just 83 units per month, and annualizes to less than 1,000 units.
Volkswagen built a taxpayer-subsidized EV plant that was expected to produce about 10,000 electric vehicles per month, but it cannot even sell 100. The company may have no choice but to scrap the glut of unsold ID.4s, since consumers have made it clear that there is virtually no price at which they’re willing to buy them.
The failure of Volkswagen’s EV foray is an overall good thing for the American auto industry. The golden goose of ICE manufacturing lives on. But it is infuriating that politicians wasted taxpayer money on this malinvestment, and it will be especially sad if VW has to pull out of the American market and close its legacy Tennessee manufacturing plant due to the awful EV Gamble.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that acquiring Greenland is “essential” to U.S. national security and that an impending “fight for the Arctic” is real. “President Trump strongly believes that we cannot outsource our security because … let me tell you what will happen. And it might not be next year, might not be in five years, but down the road, this fight for the Arctic is real,” Bessent began.
But as I stated, there are other frozen wastelands much closer to home that if we do nothing about them right here and right now will be our undoing.
It seems that Minneapolis lefties have started patrolling the streets for drivers who happen to be behind the wheel of the same make of SUV as used by ICE and interrogating – not to say threatening – them. This video shows a gaggle of people’s tribunes who have brought an SUV to a stop (the video doesn’t show how) and forced the driver out to explain himself. They surround him, demand that he open the hatch to show them what he has inside, and then commence interrogating him. All that’s lacking are the Mao jackets and the caps with red stars. . . The driver’s attempts to ingratiate himself are almost as annoying: “I really appreciate what you guys are doing.” A century and a half ago, the socialist Commune took control of Paris and immediately started executing people. As they led one businessman to the killing ground, he cried out, “Why must I be shot … I know nothing of politics.”
The communard commander replied: “That is why you must be shot.” A century and a half, and they still haven’t woken up.
This is the mentality of the Cheka, the Red Guards, the Khmer Rouge – of every last attempt to introduce socialism by force -- out in the open and plain to see. One of the worst things about socialism is the way it empowers, encourages, and unleashes the foulest members of the human community. It can’t be crushed soon enough.
The demonstrators with the Racial Justice Network stormed into the Cities Church and called out resident pastor David Eastwood, who they accused of moonlighting as the acting field office director for ICE in Minnesota. A David Eastwood is listed as an employee with the field office, but it’s still unclear if that is the same man as the Cities Church pastor. The Post has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security to check.
Mistaken identity-Schmidentity! Like the Urine-soaked lice-infested whorehouse mattress AKA Jasmine Crockett, accusing Lee Zeldin of accepting donations from Jeffrey Epstein, who as it turned out was not the infamous Epstein but someone unlucky enough to have the same name.
So, they take out the wrong guy, but the message has been sent. Mr. President, there is no alternative but to invoke the Insurrection Act, declare Minnesota in rebellion, arrest Walz, Frey, suspend the state legislature, dissolve Minneapolis' city charter, and appoint a territorial governor and mayor to run affairs and call in the armed forces to patrol the streets and restore order. Anyone who even raises an eyebrow should be arrested for conspiracy to aid and abet insurrection.
What are the risks politically? So we lose the midterms and perhaps 2028. The Democrat rigging machine will no doubt be going all out to make what happened in 2020 look like child's play. To let Minnesota get away with this ultimately means we lose the nation. This cannot stand and must not be allowed to stand. President Trump rightly rails against Joey Sponge-Brain Shits-Pants as "the worst president in history" but if Donald Trump fails to set an example of Minnesota, he may go down not merely as the worst president but as the LAST real president in US history because the USA truly will cease to exist. In the years ahead, we may outwardly resemble America, but the spirit of this nation, the Constitution and the rule of a just and stable law based on the ascendancy of 2,000 plus years of Judeo-Christian and western history, culture and morality will come crashing down around us.
Hyperbole? You tell me.
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.
New York City socialists are marshaling an army of more than 4,000 activists to form “rapid response” brigades to disrupt federal immigration enforcement in an expected crackdown on illegal aliens in America’s largest city. (Dear ICE: open fire and fire for effect - jjs) Socialists Planning to Replicate Minneapolis Chaos to Combat ICE Sweeps in New York City
The demonstrators with the Racial Justice Network stormed into the Cities Church and called out resident pastor David Eastwood, who they accused of moonlighting as the acting field office director for ICE in Minnesota. A David Eastwood is listed as an employee with the field office, but it’s still unclear if that is the same man as the Cities Church pastor. The Post has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security to check. Mob storms Minnesota church during worship to target pastor they say has ICE ties
The St. Paul Downtown DoubleTree by Hilton canceled the rooms of multiple U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, citing concerns over growing protests in Minneapolis following the shooting of Renee Good. Hotel Kicks Out ICE Agents As Threats From Left-Wing Mobs Grow
ICE isn’t creating chaos; politicians and activists are—by turning routine detentions into viral outrage, provoking mobs, escalating encounters, and manufacturing danger for political gain.Chaos by Design
The Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into Rebecca Good, the partner of Renee Nicole Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis earlier this month after she attempted to run the agent over with her car. Federal investigators want to know if Rebecca Good impeded law enforcement in the moments before the ICE agent opened fire on the vehicle. Renee Good’s Partner Is Now Under DOJ Investigation
The violence escalated after an ICE agent shot an illegal alien invader from Venezuela after being ambushed during a targeted” enforcement operation Wednesday, one week after another ICE agent fatally shot Renee Nicole Good during a Jan. 7 immigration enforcement operation. Video taken by Daily Caller News Foundation reporter Jorge Ventura showed anti-ICE rioters attacking a counter-protester with a flagpole. ‘This Is What You F*cking Wanted’: Video Shows Pro-ICE And Anti-ICE Demonstrators Clash As Rioting Continues
The legislation, which is called the “ICE Breaker Act of 2026” is sponsored by Maryland State Del. Adrian Boafo (D). Under the proposed legislation, ICE agents hired under President Donald Trump’s presidency would be barred from working as police officers, according to Fox45 News. Maryland Democrat Pushes Plan to Punish ICE Veterans with Job Ban
Within hours of being sworn into office Saturday, Democrat Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed Executive Order 10, a proclamation rescinding an executive order signed by her Republican predecessor requiring Virginia law enforcement officials to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Critics have framed the move as a “disaster” which will lead to an increase in crime. (RELATED: Moderate Democrat Ends Up In Knife Fight With Own Party After Supporting ICE) Newly-Minted Dem Governor Abigail Spanberger Immediately Repeals Pro-ICE Order In Virginia
Roger Kimball: In the fog of prewar Iran, disinformation, inflated body counts, and diplomatic silence obscure a simple truth: the regime is murdering its people, and the world is running out of time. The Fog of Prewar in Iran
Thad McCotter: Appeasement has failed Iran before; liberty will come not from Western neutrality or foreign bombs, but from standing with Iranians as they force the regime’s implosion. A Human Wave of Hope: The Iranian People Demand Freedom
While taking part in a discussion at the Center for American Progress, Schumer received a question about what he “can do about bringing” the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) back, after DOGE came in and made cuts. Chuck Schemer Says Democrats Will Reverse Most of DOGE Cuts
OFFICIAL DEMOCRAT PARTY/LEFTIST-ENDORSED ANTI-SEMITISM, ANTI-CHRISTIANITY
Heather Mac Donald: President Trump’s public reaction to violent lawlessness is without precedent in recent Oval Office history. Rude but Right on Crime
FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS, MEDIA, BIG BROTHER TECH
“The filing also details hundreds of thousands of dollars flowing to organizations backing ballot initiatives aimed at reshaping education policy and election laws in states, including Ohio, Massachusetts, Arizona and Wisconsin.” Nation’s Top Teacher Union Funneling Millions to Far Left Groups (Your No-Shit-Sherlock item of the day - jjs)
The figures have prompted calls for a national conversation about abortion laws, and renewed pressure for the British government to release the figures for more recent years, which they have been delaying. Culture of Death: Britain Hits 300,000 Annual Abortions. (You can bet your house none were Muslim women - jjs)
THE 2020 and SUBSEQUENT ELECTION HEISTS , SHENANIGANS/FRAUD and AFTERMATH
More than one million Chinese with U.S. citizenship who grew up in communist China will soon start voting in American elections, #1 New York Times bestselling investigative journalist and Breitbart News Senior Contributor Peter Schweizer reveals in his new book, The Invisible Coup: How American Elites and Foreign Powers Use Immigration as a Weapon. ‘Manchurian Generation’ Ballot Flood: More than 1 Million Chinese With U.S. Citizenship Could Vote in 2030 Elections (You can bet your ass their ballots will be monitored by the CCP before being harvested - jjs)
DEMOCRAT/LEFTIST AND RINO SCANDALS, MESHUGAS, CHUTZPOCRISY
“Public records searches reveal no current ownership or leasehold interest held by Eric Swalwell in California, nor any history of any ownership of leasehold interest based on available public records,” said the petition filed by Gilbert on Jan. 8. “Swalwell’s congressional financial disclosers from 2011 to 2024 list no California real estate ownership.” Lefty Rep. Swalwell can’t run for gov in Calif. — because he doesn’t live there: court filing
POLITICS
Plouffe writes, “Right now, Democrats have no credible path to sustained control of the Senate and the White House. After the adjustments to the Electoral College map that look likely to come with the next census, the Democratic presidential nominee could win all states won by Kamala Harris, plus the blue wall of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, and still fall short of the 270 electoral votes needed to win. An already unforgiving map gets more so, equally so in the Senate.” Democrats Are So Screwed and a Former Obama Advisor Just Proved It
Pennsylvania’s steady exodus is a policy verdict: people and billions are fleeing blue-state governance, and a Democrat trifecta would accelerate the bleed. U-Haul’s Election Lesson (People leaving or ballots being shipped in?! - jjs)
Russia has hammered Ukraine’s power grid, especially in winter, throughout the almost four-year war. It aims to weaken Ukrainians’ will to resist in a strategy that Kyiv officials call “weaponizing winter.” Drone Strikes Cut Power to 200,000 Homes in Russian-Occupied Ukraine
Despite having chronically underinvested in its own defence, the socialist government in Madrid appears intent on pushing forward the globalist project of forming an EU Army. Following comments earlier this month from his Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, backing a common defence force, Prime Minsiter Sanchéz publicly expressed support for integrating Europe’s militaries. Socialist Spanish PM Sanchéz Calls for Creation of ‘European Armed Forces’ over Trump’s Greenland Threats
While Brussels lectures and dithers, Prague acts: Babiš’s transactional diplomacy shows how a mid-sized nation can thrive by aligning interests in a Trump-era world. The Czech Republic Shows Europe How It’s Done
The scientists toss out the possibility that the bar is the remains of a rocky planet vaporized at some point in the system’s past, but that is simply a wild guess. Astronomers detect a bar of iron in the center of the Ring Nebula (the Bar of Iron was an S&M club on Tattoine- jjs)
FEMINAZISM, TRANSGENDER PSYCHOSIS, HOMOSEXUALIZATION, WAR ON MASCULINITY/NORMALCY
Affluent, white, female, urban liberals, the “AWFULs,” seem to be everywhere in recent years. What is their problem? Karens and 'AWFULs' making things worse
“To put it another way, black dads don’t matter...A heterosexual, male-headed black family is complicit with structural racism...Married couples only constitute 28 percent of all black households.” The War on Black Fathers
From ramming U-boats to strafing survivors, drone wars, and bin Laden’s killing, America’s critics selectively forget that yesterday’s “war crimes” were applauded when ordered by Democrats. Double Tap Double Standard
ALSO: The Morning Report cross-posts at CutJibNewsletter.com usually within an hour or so of posting here, if you want to continue the conversation all day.
The reason why RAM has become four times more expensive is that a huge amount of RAM that has not yet been produced was purchased with non-existent money to be installed in GPUs that also have not yet been produced, in order to place them in data centers that have not yet been built, powered by infrastructure that may never appear, to satisfy demand that does not actually exist and to obtain profit that is mathematically impossible.
This article gets one important thing right: LLMs are not conscious.
In a 2022 interview with The Washington Post, Google engineer Blake Lemoine made a startling claim about the AI system he was working on, a chatbot called LaMDA. He claimed it was conscious, that it had feelings, and was, in an important sense, like a real person. Despite a flurry of media coverage, Lemoine wasn't taken all that seriously. Google dismissed him for violating its confidentiality policies, and the AI bandwagon rolled on.
I commented on that story at the time. Lemoine is a crazy as a sack of rats on crazy pills. And was also completely and very obviously wrong, which is not the same thing.
As AI technologies continue to improve, questions about machine consciousness are increasingly being raised. David Chalmers, one of the foremost thinkers in this area, has suggested that conscious machines may be possible in the not-too-distant future. Geoffrey Hinton, a true AI pioneer and recent Nobel Prize winner, thinks they exist already.
Taken together, these biases [anthropocentrism, which is irrelevant, human exceptionalism, which is irrelevant, and anthropomorphism, which is actually the key here - Pixy] explain why it's hardly surprising that when things exhibit abilities we think of as distinctively human, such as intelligence, we naturally imbue them with other qualities we feel are characteristically or even distinctively human: understanding, mindedness and consciousness, too.
A little bit of nonsense thrown in at the start but an accurate description of the problem in the end.
But then it all falls apart:
The very idea of conscious AI rests on the assumption that consciousness is a matter of computation.
Which is rather like assuming that water is a molecule made of one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms.
More specifically, that implementing the right kind of computation, or information processing, is sufficient for consciousness to arise.
Because it is.
This assumption, which philosophers call computational functionalism, is so deeply ingrained that it can be difficult to recognize it as an assumption at all.
As much as the molecular structure of water is an assumption.
But that is what it is.
Nope.
And if it's wrong, as I think it may be, then real artificial consciousness is fully off the table, at least for the kinds of AI we're familiar with.
"Kinds of AI we're familiar with"? Do you mean feed-forward models, which are definitely not conscious, or enhanced systems with feedback loops?
Challenging computational functionalism means diving into some deep waters about what computation means and what it means to say that a physical system, like a computer or a brain, computes at all. I'll summarize four related arguments that undermine the idea that computation, at least of the sort implemented in standard digital computers, is sufficient for consciousness.
First, and most important, brains are not computers.
And we're dead.
Brains are obviously computers and it is trivially easy to prove this.
Take a line of BASIC code, like:
10 PRINT 3+7
What does that do?
It prints 10.
How do you know?
Because you can execute that code in your head.
How can you do that?
Because your brain is a computer.
It may be more than a computer - though nobody has produce a coherent, let alone convincing argument for this - but it is unquestionably a computer.
There follow dozens of paragraphs of irrelevancies I won't get into, but suffice to say that it all goes downhill from there.
Quick reminder that Intel's B570 is still available at $200. It's not the fastest graphics card - it's comparable with Nvidia's RTX 3060, a midrange card from five years ago - but it's cheap, in stock, and works. And it has 10GB of RAM, a small upgrade over common 8GB cards.
I'm not really in the market for a new laptop right now, but this seems to get a lot right.
It's a 14" model with an Intel 255H CPU (6P/8E/2LP cores), a 2880x1800 120Hz screen - LCD rather than OLED, but it covers 100% of sRGB so it should be fine unless you're a professional artist of video editor - and a 99Wh battery despite weighing a modest 1.2Kg.
It has two SODIMM slots and two M.2 2280 slots - unusual and welcome in a 14" laptop - and one USB4 port, a 5Gb USB-C port with DP and PD (DisplayPort and Power Delivery), three 5Gb USB-A ports, HDMI, wired gigabit Ethernet, an audio jack, and a full-size SD card slot.
And the Four Essential Keys.
No dedicated graphics, but the CPU includes Intel's Arc 140T graphics which are quite competent and generally comparable to AMD's 780M.
Oh, and the keyboard is backlit and there's a physical privacy shutter for the camera.
Take Larry Page, who [owns] about 3% of Google but controls roughly 30% of its voting power through dual-class stock. Under this proposal, he'd owe taxes on that 30%. For a company valued in the hundreds of billions, that's a lot more than a rounding error. The Post reports that one SpaceX alumni founder building grid technology would face a tax bill at the Series B stage of the company that would wipe out his entire holdings.
Oh, right. It's not the 5% wealth tax. It's the 100%+ wealth tax. I can see how that would be a problem.
David Gamage, the University of Missouri communist kleptocrat retard law professor who helped craft the proposal, thinks Silicon Valley is overreacting. "I don't understand why the billionaires just aren't calling good tax lawyers," he told The San Francisco Standard this week.
That's just it.
They did.
Their tax lawyers advised them to flee. Immediately.
GRU Space, a startup founded by 21-year-old Skylar Chan, hopes to open the world’s first moon hotel by 2032, and is already accepting down-payments from space enthusiasts with very deep pockets. The final cost of the rooms is still unknown, but Chan says it will exceed $10 million. The good news is that you don’t need to pay it all up front. The company is currently taking deposits of $250,000 to $1,000,000, depending on the options selected.
Authorities in Pennsylvania have charged a man with multiple crimes after uncovering what they describe as one of the most disturbing cases of grave robbing in the state’s history.
Jonathan Gerlach, 34, of Ephrata, is facing more than two dozen charges after police allegedly caught him robbing a grave at Mount Moriah Cemetery, a historic site located on Kingsessing Avenue spanning Southwest Philadelphia and Yeadon, Delaware County.
A Virginia woman is drawing national attention after revealing an unusual eating habit: snorting food through her nose. Kathryn, a woman in her 30s, showcased her behavior on the Season 7 premiere of TLC’s My Strange Addiction, where she demonstrated how she blends her meals and consumes them nasally.
The habit, which Kathryn says began five years ago during community college on a dare, involves liquefying entire meals — from omelets to guacamole — and inhaling them through a straw. “It started with a flavored fruit drink. I got a head rush and it tasted even fruitier than drinking it. I was hooked,” she said on the episode.
Carlos, a 26-year-old from Chicago, has a unique habit—he regularly eats live bugs like mealworms, cockroaches, and crickets. His unusual eating behavior is featured in an episode of TLC’s “My Strange Addiction,” where he describes the taste of mealworms as similar to buttered popcorn and compares crickets to vegetables. He even claims the insides of cockroaches taste like custard.
Carlos says he enjoys the sensation of live bugs squirming in his mouth, calling it a satisfying and primal experience. He admits he’s been fascinated with eating bugs since childhood, and now consumes up to 100 live bugs a day. According to the show’s producers, that adds up to around 30,000 insects a year—roughly the weight of a turkey.
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First time for everything! (H/T - Piper)
The first written use of fuck, from 1528, inscribed by a monk who seems to have been pretty pissed off with an abbot. pic.twitter.com/YhhiGcV7iL
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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The Pitti Peacocks
Every January and June, the ancient walls of Florence’s Fortezza da Basso transform into something more than a fashion trade show. Welcome to Pitti Uomo, pronounced “Pete-y Whoa-mo”, the biannual menswear fair launched in 1972. It was originally housed in Palazzo Pitti, hence the name, and has long been the beating heart of international menswear business. Over the past 15+ years, it has also become famous for something else entirely: the Pitti Peacocks.*
These larger-than-life attendees — fashion buyers, influencers, stylists, editors, tailors, and self-styled dandies — treat the event’s courtyard as their personal runway. They strut in slow motion, pause dramatically for street-style photographers, and layer outfits with the confidence of creatures whose very purpose is to be seen.
Florence just wrapped Pitti Uomo 109 (Jan 13–16, 2026) and the street style delivered. Some of these pictures may require the use of a paper fan, you have been warned fellow ‘ettes.
Pitti Peacocks remind us menswear doesn't have to be boring. Show up, turn up the volume, and own every cobblestone. Who's ready to strut?
*Filmmaker Aaron Christian humorously captures the scene in his 2016 mockumentary The Life of Pitti Peacocks, narrated in classic David Attenborough style. It portrays the courtyard as a mating ground where “peacocks” jostle for camera proximity, preen, and perform elaborate rituals — all in the hope of landing that one viral shot
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Thanks, Piper. That was -- whelming.
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DJ Doof - Guess The Theme
Difficulty Level - 2 out of 5
What's the common thread / common meaning / common leitmotif?
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Tonight's ONT brought to you by product misuse
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Another whelming product from Doof Enterprises, LLC. Dare to be average!
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Howdy, Y'all! Welcome to the wondrously fabulous Gun Thread! As always, I want to thank all of our regulars for being here week in and week out, and also offer a bigly Gun Thread welcome to any newcomers who may be joining us tonight. Howdy and thank you for stopping by! I hope you find our wacky conversation on the subject of guns 'n shooting both enjoyable and informative. You are always welcome to lurk in the shadows of shame, but I'd like to invite you to jump into the conversation, say howdy, and tell us what kind of shooting you like to do!
Holy Shitballs! How in the ever-loving Hell did it get to be the third January edition? Who could have seen that coming?!
With that, step into the dojo and let's get to the gun stuff below, shall we?
Do you see? Do you see, people? I am not the only one harping on fundamentals.
Are you a believer or a denier?
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Arrested For Self Defense?
Been watching the news? This is something worth thinking about as Spicy Time approaches.
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More M1 Garand Madness!
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Our Pal the Atlas ICBM
Being on target is nice.
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Stringing And Sagging
As we age, all sorts of problems begin to show up. Are you experiencing stringing or sagging?
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Highway Patrol!
This week's episode: Wounded!
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Plan 9 From Outer Space!
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Here are some different online cigar vendors. You will find they not only carry different brands and different lines from those brands, but also varying selections of vitolas (sizes/shapes) of given lines. It's good to have options, especially if you're looking for a specific cigar.
A note about sources. The brick & mortar/online divide exists with cigars, as with guns, and most consumer products, with respect to price. As with guns - since both are "persecuted industries", basically - I make a conscious effort to source at least some of my cigars from my local store(s). It's a small thing, but the brick & mortar segment for both guns and tobacco are precious, and worth supporting where you can. And if you're lucky enough to have a good cigar store/lounge available, they're often a good social event with many dangerous people of the sort who own scary gunz, or read smart military blogs like this one. -rhomboid
Anyone have others to include? Perhaps a small local roller who makes a cigar you like? Send me your recommendation and a link to the site!
Please note the new and improved protonmail account gunthread at protonmail dot com. An informal Gun Thread archive can be found HERE. Future expansion plans are in the works for the site Weasel Gun Thread. If you have a question you would like to ask Gun Thread Staff offline, just send us a note and we'll do our best to answer. If you care to share the story of your favorite firearm, send a picture with your nic and tell us what you sadly lost in the tragic canoe accident. If you would like to remain completely anonymous, just say so. Lurkers are always welcome!
That's it for this week - have you been to the range?
Food Thread: Render Unto Yorkshire (Pudding) The Things That Go With Yorkshire (Pudding)
—CBD
I recently bought a large chunk of converted vegetarian food to break down into steaks. There was a fair amount of lovely-looking fat which I couldn't bear to waste, so I rendered it into about a pint of gorgeous, pure-white beef tallow.
And what to do with it? Well, aside from using it as a cooking fat for all sorts of delicious stuff like fried eggs, and mixed into hamburger if it doesn't look fatty enough, and sautévegetables in to get them nice and brown and crispy?
Yorkshire pudding! Which goes wonderfully with the aforementioned steaks!
Although...these were a decidedly unimpressive batch. They didn't rise and get puffy and airy as much as I wanted, and I have a sneaking suspicion that I used too much beef tallow. I know...it's strange just writing those words, but that may have been the problem.
However, they were delicious and fatty and absolutely fun to eat, so, I can't complain, just observe.
The mainstream media are woefully, pathetically ignorant of even the most basic scientific principles, and when food and diet is the topic, it gets even worse. They can't even follow a simple rational argument, or even an expansion of a basic point.
Here is a great example. The headline is ridiculously, hilariously wrong. Ben Carson said no such thing. He simply explained that protein comes in many forms and isn't necessarily from animal protein via meat.
For those concerned the new guidance might lead Americans to eat too much red meat, Carson said, "Instead of thinking about it as too much red meat, let's look at the overall recommendation — and that is that you eat 1.2 to 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight per day. Now, how you get that protein doesn't matter. If it's drinking milk, if it's eating cheese — as long as you maintain high-performance fuel for your engine."
Of course he eats meat, and he isn't recommending anything even close to a vegetarian diet. He is simply pointing out that protein comes in many forms.
And this quotation is even better:
While the updated dietary guidelines emphasize whole, nutrient-dense foods, Carson cautioned against relying solely on GLP-1s like Ozempic for weight loss.
"All these artificial methods don't last a very long time. You have to keep taking them, and they're expensive," he said.
About one in eight American adults, roughly 12%, have used GLP-1 drugs for obesity and diabetes, with around 6% currently taking them as they rise in popularity, as Fox News Digital previously reported.
Notice how the media conflate GLP-1 drugs used to control diabetes with the use of them for weight loss? There is a big difference, and Carson is referring only to its non-diabetes use.
Maybe I am being picky, but I grow tired of this hysterical and illogical analysis of complex biomedical issues.
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So...I was sitting in the hotel lounge recently, thinking that a seltzer would be grand, but no, there were none to be had. So I channeled my youthful enjoyment of Diet Coke, thinking that they are probably identical, and since I hadn't had one in about 15 years, I wouldn't know the difference anyway.
Well, now I do know the difference, and that Pepsi was f*cking awful. I am a cheap bastard, even with other people's money, but I didn't finish it. Or come close. A few sips was all it took to convince me of the fundamental rightness of the argument that Coke Is It!
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I like Alton Brown. He knows how to write recipes, and he is sufficiently compulsive for my taste. But...Best Burger Ever? Don't be ridiculous! It has lamb in it! And he puts mayo on the bottom of the bun, which is a perversion and unfitting of a true red-blooded American.
On the other hand (where is the first hand?), his pie crust recipe is clever.
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Screw you Whole Foods. That is the pathetic result of popping their "organic popping corn." And the popped kernels weren't just small; they were tough as well. How they managed that? I have no idea. Maybe, like many other "organic" foods, popping corn that is raised organically simply isn't as good as conventional stuff.
The next batch, after a visit to my local supermarket, was JiffyPop, and it was far better, with bigger popped kernels and fewer old maids.
Speaking of which....what do you call unpopped kernels?
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And why is my current obsession popcorn?
This is why!
Yeah, I guess people make traditional box Mac & Cheese with it, but a dusting on hot popcorn is delicious!
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A friend graciously gave me some genuine grown-in-the-USA garlic, and I tasted one clove and planted the rest, because my pathetic failure last year is an anomaly...right? I hope so, because it's in the ground (actually, a large pot), and it had better work this time!
Send all of your extra antelope to: cbd dot aoshq at gmail dot com.
Rumor has it that the Bourbon Bubble is bursting. I have seen no evidence of decreasing prices, but maybe the bursting started somewhere else! I think the sweet spot is $40-$60 for excellent and interesting bottles, and bumping that to $100 gets you an incremental improvement in quality, but nothing mind-blowing. More than that and I think you are paying for hype and rarity, which may look good in your liquor cabinet, but doesn't translate to more quality in the bottle.
The problem...or the solution...is to buy lots of bourbon, take tasting notes, and eventually arrive at your favorites! It should take forty or fifty years, but it is worth it!
Whether Greenland is a vitally important strategic island that absolutely requires American possession is a question for the ages, but it is a militarily-important bulwark in the North Atlantic. It is an excellent point from which to defend the Atlantic from the Arctic Ocean and the Barents Sea. Does it have enough rare earth elements and other resources to make it even more important? Yeah...probably not. We have plenty of that sort of stuff in America, it's just that we have an insane regulatory state that makes using our own resources a massive undertaking.
Because it is a territory of Denmark, the few people who live there are treated as vassals, when they are treated at all. That is entirely unsurprising, because the track record of European colonialism is mixed at best.
This shouldn't be taken as a sign that Greenland natives are anxious to come over to the United States. Denmark is trying to make amends to the natives who were thusly mistreated, to the tune of roughly $46,000 each in reparations. That's just; unlike the calls for reparations in the United States, these payments are being made to the living people who suffered under an unjust policy, which is quite a different kettle of fish.
Many Greenland natives would rather the island be an independent nation. But that's not a tenable solution, especially in today's tense geopolitical atmosphere, where the Arctic is increasingly a vital strategic area, with all the major nations - the United States, Russia, and China in particular - looking to that region's resources. Greenland has to be under someone's defensive envelope, and even as a Danish possession, they fall under the protection of NATO, as it would as a possession of the United States.
President's Trump's saber rattling with respect to "taking Greenland" is entirely unnecessary, and could have been neatly avoided by playing up the miserable living conditions of the people of Greenland, and the equally miserable way they have been treated by the Danes. America could have been their knight in shining armor, bringing equality and prosperity to their shores. Making some offer to purchase or in some other way take possession of Greenland as a reasonable transaction between allies would have disarmed the reflexive nationalism that is bubbling up in Denmark and Greenland. Is the President's threat of military action a serious one? I doubt it. It is more of his unpredictability, which serves him quite well in many ways. But with Greenland I think it is bolstering the enemies of America.
On the other side of the equation, the idea that the EU will rush in with military force to protect Greenland is clownish in the extreme. Force projection is a joke in the EU. They can barely keep their few planes flying, much less maintain any sort of heavy lift capability. In fact, in a recent military exercise, Germany sent 13 soldiers to Greenland, and they had to use a Polish airline to get them there. And less than two days later they were ordered out, presumably because of President Trump's comments.
And the ridiculousness doesn't end there. Threats to throw America out of Europe if we take Greenland? Sure...that would mean an almost instant Russian victory in Ukraine, the loss of many billions of dollars of American spending in Europe, and the very real threat of an expansionist Russia, because there is simply no real military on the continent.
So...everyone calm down. Greeenlanders? Take nice big checks written by America, and maybe some good high-paying jobs in our expanding military infrastructure and mining efforts. Denmark? Smile, cash the check, and relax now that you don't have to deal with Greenland. And the EU? Just sit down and shut up. Nobody cares what you think.
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
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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
New Yorkers are shocked after footage goes viral of NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani's Tenant Director stating that white people will be HEAVILY impacted after they transition property "as an individual good to a collective good" [CBD]
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