Gardening, Home and Nature Thread, Feb. 28

The photo above, of a Lady Banks' Rose not too far from where we live, is a repeat. But I thought the flag was appropriate for today. And the flag is up over the rose bush again, too. This is a prime season for lovely flowering shrubs and small trees. This rose only blooms once a year, but it stays in bloom for several weeks, and it is worth changing your traveling route a little to see it if you have one in the neighborhood. We have several in our neighborhood. Not all this big.

Wee Kreek Farm Girl first alerted us that this rose, Rosa banksiae, both the yellow one and the white one, grow in the desert, including a record-setting huge rose in Tombstone.

Posted by: K.T. at 01:00 PM | Comments (11) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Reactions: All the Right Nazis and Islamic Apologists Is Losing Dey Shit

Noah Pollak
@NoahPollak

1h

One of Trump's greatest legacies will be how he blew up a half-century of western diffidence, restraint, and failure on terrorism. As the era of Islamic terrorism began in the 1970s, western countries (very much including Israel) spun up all kinds of pseudo-sophisticated theories and excuses to avoid carrying out the only successful policy, which is killing terrorists -- as many as you can, whenever you can.

There are entire university departments, think tanks, media outlets, NGOs, foundations, and political parties devoted to promoting self-defeating, enervating fictions about terrorism designed to tie the hands of the West. We just have to live with it, deal with it, accommodate it, accept the barbarism. Terrorists have grievances. It's partly our fault, after all, because reasons. There are no military solutions. If we're nice to the terrorists they will actually help us stabilize the region. The tropes go on forever and they are invented by people who want the west to lose, and who would rather be wrong but appear sophisticated than be right and appear crude.

Trump wants our side to win. The winning approach to terrorism is very simple. Bomb them to smithereens. Kill them off. Decapitate the regimes. Sanction them until they have no more money for jihad. Trump gets it, because unlike so many people in politics, he doesn't care whether Harvard likes him.

Winning is going to generate a real peace dividend for America. Finally dealing with Iran -- the head of the snake -- will enable the US to step away from the Middle East. It will send a message to our adversaries that the big dog is still in charge. And very enjoyably, it will sweep aside decades of dumb elite groupthink about how we have no alternative but to cut deals with terrorists. Thank you President Trump.

Guy Benson
@guypbenson

1h

The emerging consensus among many elected Democrats is some version of:

'To be a clear, Iran's outlaw regime is deeply evil, exports terrorism around the world, pursues genocidal nuclear weapons, is drenched in American blood, and slaughters its own civilians en masse. But..."

@CAGovernor
Gavin Newsom:

"The corrupt and repressive Iranian regime must never have nuclear weapons. The leadership of Iran must go. But that does not justify the President of the United States engaging in an illegal, dangerous war that will risk the lives of our American service members and our friends without justification to the American people. President Trump is putting Americans at risk abroad because he is unpopular at home."

"As this unfolds, California stands with the Iranian-American community in our state, recognizing they have many friends and loved ones who have fought bravely to chart their own future to end decades of state violence and denial of basic rights."

Cavernous Nostrils weighs in:

Candace Owens
@RealCandaceO

51m

We will never forget that they MURDERED Charlie Kirk for this war and he knew they were going to do it.
His spent his final days mentally anguished, texting the very people who would ultimately betray him.

In honor of Charlie, I STAND AGAINST ISRAEL.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 12:00 PM | Comments (511) | Trackbacks (Suck)

REPORTS: THE AYATOLLAH HAS BEEN KILLED

Also killed, reportedly:

The head of Iran's "Justice" Department, responsible for the mass killing of protesters

the Ayatollah's number two

The commander of the Revolutionary Guards

You know how Muslims always pretend to want to have "negotiations" while they prepare for their next sneak attack?

Well Trump just did that to them. He's been pretending he wants to talk as he's been moving US assets into strike position, trying to get them to stop murdering citizens while he prepared the death-strikes on the regime. Awesome.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 09:58 AM | Comments (742) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Classical Saturday Morning Coffee Break & Prayer Revival

[There is something dreadfully wrong when you can see the bottom of a coffee cup.]

*****

Good morning boys and girls and everything in between. Before we enter the Prayer Revival just a few housekeeping matters to take care of. (Rulz for those of you in Kip's Bay)

1) This is an open thread. Feel free to lurk, opine and/or bloviate.
2) Be exceptional, don't be Pretti Good.
3) Running with sharp objects will result in permanent record activity.
4) Have a great weekend!

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at 08:00 AM | Comments (276) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The US and Israel Have Launched Military Strikes to Take out the Iranian Government

News is breaking fast.

Much of the Iranian leadership is alleged to now be dead or to have fled.

Donald Trump: “When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations. For many years, you have asked for America’s help, but you never got it.”

Benjamin Netanyahu: “Our joint operation will create the conditions for the brave Iranian people to take their fate into their own hands.”

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at 06:36 AM | Comments (320) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 28 February 2026

Top Story

• OpenAI has raised $110 billion in new investment from Amazon, Nvidia, and SoftBank - sort of - valuing the company at somewhere between $730 billion and bankrupt. (Trading View)
  
  A lot of the stories just report the numbers and not the strings wrapped around them.
  
  Amazon for example chipped in $50 billion, but only $15 billion up front. The rest requires OpenAI to either deliver AGI - human-level intelligence - or a successful IPO. And the deal requires OpenAI to commit to an additional $100 billion in spending on Amazon's cloud services, on top of the $38 billion deal they've already signed.
  
  Nvidia invested $30 billion - much less than the $100 billion discussed previously but not a small amount either - apparently on similar conditions that OpenAI spend all of that and more on Nvidia chips.
  
  SoftBank is also in for $30 billion, but I've seen no details of what they are getting out of it other than a slice of the pie.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (281) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Do You Believe In Miracle Memes?

Howdy Horde! Welcome to Friday night. This week, the hottest subject in meming has been the meltdown of our neighbors to the north over the US beating Canada for the gold, so there's more than a couple of memes on that topic.

Posted by: WeirdDave at 10:00 PM | Comments (495) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Rumor of War Cafe

Bridge over Colorado River at bottom of Grand Canyon
by @eamberg

Dog who's lost all of his hair due to terrible skin allergies gets his fur back.

Baby duck is reuinted with his brothers after behing rehabbed.

Baby elephant just being cute.

A golden retriever Christmas.

Little girl teaches puppy how to get down from the stoop.

This better not be AI. Or this one.

The problem with AI slop is now I don't even post really good videos because most really good videos are fake. I now search for moderately-good videos, figuring you wouldn't use AI to make a fake moderately-good video.

Airport police dogs go on break together.

If we could all take as much pleasure in life as this dog...

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 07:20 PM | Comments (237) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Week In Woke

Everybody is Insane
@colorblindk1d

The New York Times ran a piece on their homepage about a guy getting deported even though he had lived in the US since a teenager and had been here for 20 years, and waited until the end of the article to mention that 19 of those years were spent in prison for murder.

"Bioethicist:" drinking milk is Nazi (cuz it's white).

I would like to enter into evidence Exhibit A: Bioethics Professor at New York University, Arthur Caplan. As with most bioethics experts, we can stipulate based on undisputed public statements by Professor Caplan that he is ignorant of when life begins, so he supports abortion. He also does not know the difference between the DNA structure of a man and the DNA structure of a woman, so he believes in transgerderism. Others may argue that killing and mutilating human beings is an act of malice, but a) that does not disqualify anyone from being a bioethicist, and b) there is no rule that a professor has to be born with common sense or even a brain.

His ignorance of basic biology in these areas is not the point. It is more about his knowledge of chemistry. Under consideration is his public assessment of the properties of whole milk. "Nazis were enamored of whole milk as well," he wrote in his blog. "I am suspicious. Milk drinking is political. Drinking whole white milk has played a big role in racist and far-right thinking. In America, drinking whole milk has for years been a part of alt-right, white nationalist messaging in tweets, memes, and videos."

Per Google's AI digest, he finds RFKJr.'s and MAHA's preference for whole milk, with mlkfats included, is actually a Nazi Plot.

Bioethicist Arthur Caplan has argued that the recent, high-profile promotion of whole milk by certain political figures is linked to white supremacist, neo-Nazi, and eugenicist ideologies
.
Key details regarding this argument include:

The Argument: Caplan suggests that the push for whole milk in schools is not just about nutrition, but acts as a "dog whistle" for far-right, white nationalist, and fascist groups.
Historical Context: Caplan notes that the Nazi regime was, in fact, "enamored" with whole milk as part of their ideology.
Modern Political Context: Caplan has connected this rhetoric to the promotion of whole milk by figures in the Trump administration and others, arguing that the effort is tainted by racism.
Reception: Critics have labeled this argument as "woke nonsense," arguing that the efforts are solely intended to improve health, not to promote bigotry.

In a February 2026 post, Caplan specifically referred to milk as a "symbol of neo-Nazi hate" and a "long standing obsession of fascists".

Remember about eight years ago 4chan was doing pranks where they claimed various outrageous things were "Nazi code" to get the media (and the very smart professors) to repeat these made-up lies? Well, one of those hoaxes was the claim that White Supremacists drink white milk to signal their allegiance to each other.

And now? A "bioethicist" claims it's really real, man.

The so-called "godfather of evidence-based medicine" is asked why he signed a statement calling genital mutilation for children "medically necessary" despite a complete lack of evidence. First he denies he signed such a statement, then concedes he signed it, because he hadn't bothered to read it first.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 06:20 PM | Comments (277) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Science: Statistical Analysis Shows That Electing a Republican as DA Immediately Reduces the Murder Rate in Cities

Almost as if prosecuting criminals for their crimes and separating them from the law-abiding population stops them from victimizing the innocent.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 05:20 PM | Comments (191) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Leftwing Groomer Netflix Bows Out, "Trump-Aligned" Paramount to Win Battle for Warner Bros./Discovery

I don't know why they'd want it. This feels like trying to swallow a big jagged bone.

Netflix Backs Out of Warner Bros. Bidding, Paramount Set to Win

In a stunning twist, the streaming giant's co-CEOs say the major studio "was always a 'nice to have' at the right price, not a 'must have' at any price."

In a stunning twist, Netflix is declining to raise its bid for Warner Bros., positioning David Ellison's Paramount as the winner in the battle for the fabled studio.

Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters released a statement Thursday outlining their decision, namely that the deal is "no longer financially attractive" and that it "was always a 'nice to have' at the right price, not a 'must have' at any price."

"The transaction we negotiated would have created shareholder value with a clear path to regulatory approval. However, we've always been disciplined, and at the price required to match Paramount Skydance's latest offer, the deal is no longer financially attractive, so we are declining to match the Paramount Skydance bid," the co-CEOs said.

...

With Netflix out, Paramount's latest bid is almost a sure thing to be accepted by the Warners board, which determined earlier Thursday that it was a "superior proposal" to Netflix's deal.

...

PSKY's latest proposal was for $31 per share, but had a number of other sweeteners, including a ticking fee payable to shareholders equal to $0.25 per quarter beginning after Sept. 30, 2026, as well as a $7 billion regulatory termination in the event the transaction does not close due to regulatory matters.

Paramount has also agreed to pay the $2.8 billion termination fee that Warner Bros. would be required to pay to Netflix to terminate the existing merger agreement.

Doesn't Warner Discovery come with $80 billion in debt from the last acquisition?

People are spending billions to own $80 billion in debt plus the right to remake Lord of the Rings in ten years. Which will fail.

i completely forgot about CNN. It's a very easy thing to forget, because its latest ratings are 6. Not a six rating, six people.

But staffers at CNN are reportedly in "a panic."

Mood is 'horrific' inside CNN as staffers brace for change amid potential Paramount takeover, insiders say

Netflix backing out of bid for Warner Bros Discovery paves way for CNN to fall under David Ellison's control

The mood inside CNN was "horrific" on Friday as network leadership sought to calm fears of anxious staffers, with parent company Warner Bros. Discovery appearing set to hand control of the network to Paramount CEO David Ellison.

...

"The mood is horrific," a CNN insider told Fox News Digital. "People are very upset."

...
A second CNN insider told Fox News Digital that staffers feel "a mix of despair, apprehension and curiosity."

...

A second insider said the two main concerns are "job loss" and "editorial indifference," noting the former "greatly outranks" the latter. Specifically, CNN staffers worry about a potential "bloodbath" if CBS News and CNN were to merge.

...

The first CNN insider is trying to keep an "open mind" but said it's easy to understand why staffers are upset given the reporting on Ellison and Trump discussing changes.

"It's existential for the brand to be owned by an individual who has personal allegiance to a political figure and is not even answering to public markets," they told Fox News Digital.

"But -- I mean what I'm saying. It's not just me trying to take a deep breath. I truly believe we can only react to what is, not what might be," they continued. "And we have no idea what the world will look like when this closes."

Waaah, Oliver Darcy reports on the Sads! and A-scareds! of his former colleagues at CNN:

Brian Stelter said two very funny things. Noting that Larry Ellison wants a fair and fact-based news outlet, Stelter said, hilariously, "That sounds like CNN."

It sure does, Tater. It sure does.

But he also worries about whether Ellison will allow CNN to keep the, giggle, "editorial independence that CNN is known for."

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 04:20 PM | Comments (204) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Surprise! Even as Fani Willis and Her Monster Box Pursued Trump on Specious RICO Charges, Biden Encouraged Her to Apply for Free Federal Graft-Money

Weird how the Biden Administration targeted its political enemies and also paid off its Soviet Secret Police using taxpayer funds.

As Georgia prosecutor pursued Trump, Biden DOJ 'invited' her to get lucrative grant, memos show

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' records, turned over to Just the News after an open records lawsuit, show her office received millions of dollars from the Biden Justice Department as she built her case against then-former President Donald Trump.

The Biden Justice Department "invited" Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to apply for a lucrative sole-source grant in 2022 at the same time that she was pursuing an election interference investigation against Donald Trump, the eventual GOP competitor to President Joe Biden, internal correspondence obtained by Just the News reveals.

"I want to document your recognition of our progress and services provided with dynamic partners, as we complete sole source steps for our new grant award, a grant in which you invited us to apply," Willis wrote to Justice Department Senior Policy Advisor Scott Pestridge in the Office of Justice Programs in December 2022.

The district attorney was highlighting the Justice Department's 2022 Office of Justice Programs Community Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative grant, from which her office ultimately received $2,000,000 to implement its programs, agency records show.

That award, which was opened in April 2022 as a competitive grant, appears to have been provided to Fulton County as the "sole source," according to the district attorney. The Justice Department defines a sole source procurement as "noncompetitive," meaning no other entity competed against Fulton for the award.

...

Both [Darrius "Sweetdick" Honeycum, Esq.] and Willis [and her roomy, spacious 8x12 box] faced scrutiny in 2023 after their romantic relationship was exposed in court by a lawyer for one of the Trump allies charged in the Georgia case. Financial records showed that Willis hired her romantic partner to prosecute Trump and paid him more than $600,000 in legal fees while they were in a relationship.

And from Paul Sperry:

Paul Sperry
@paulsperry_

NEW: Fulton County officials falsely claimed no ballots existed four (4) times in response to requests by elections watchdog, VoterGA, for copies of 2020 ballots; yet the ballots it asked for "were the same 2020 ballots that the FBI seized on Jan. 28, 2026, at the Fulton County Elections Hub and Warehouse in Fairburn, Georgia," noted VoterGA founder Garland Favorito

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 03:20 PM | Comments (260) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Trump, GOP Push "Dahlia's Law" to Block Illegal Aliens from Getting Commercial (Tractor Truck) Drivers Licenses; Democrat Says That the Injuries Suffered by the Child Dahlia by the Third-World Driver Are No Big Deal

Dahlia is one of the lucky ones -- she survived her encounter with Third-World Highway Safety Protocols, albeit with serious injuries.

Many other Americans are not so lucky.

A GOP Senator answered Trump's call to pass Dahlia's law, and introduced it in the Senate.

Sen. Jim Banks is moving swiftly to carry out President Trump's call from the State of the Union, introducing the "Dalilah Law" just one day after the president urged Congress to bar states from issuing commercial driver's licenses to illegal aliens.

Trump used his nationally televised address to press lawmakers on a range of border and public safety measures. Among them was what he said should be a clear federal standard: no state should be permitted to hand out CDLs to individuals in the country unlawfully. The president tied that demand to the case of 6-year-old Dalilah Coleman, whose life was permanently altered after a 2024 crash involving a semi-truck driven by a man who had entered the United States illegally.

Banks formalized that request Wednesday.

The Indiana Republican's bill would restrict CDLs to U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and certain foreign nationals holding valid work visas. It would also require that CDL tests be administered exclusively in English and mandate the revocation of commercial trucking licenses previously issued to illegal aliens or individuals granted Temporary Protected Status, regardless of whether they possess work permits.

By the way, this doesn't really raise any federalism concerns, because the federal government has always had, as it must have, exclusive power to regulate interstate commerce and travel.

If these left-wing third-world states want to issue purely intrastate CDLs, so that third-world terrorists can murder American citizens in their states alone, they can do so.

But the CDLs are granted to give the foreign savages carte blanche to drive 50-ton trucks across the country. Georgia has no say about California's standards for issuing them, and is forbidden by the Constitution from setting up border check-points -- therefore the problem demands a national response.

"Too many people have been hurt. Too many have been killed," Banks said in announcing the legislation. "Americans are paying the price because illegal drivers are being handed commercial driver's licenses like candy and put behind the wheel of 80,000-pound trucks. That stops now. The Dalilah Law makes it clear: If you are here illegally, you do not get a CDL. We need to act, and we need to act now."

According to prior reporting, the truck driver involved in the June 2024 crash had crossed the southern border in 2022 and was later released into the country's interior. He eventually obtained a CDL from the state of California, allowing him to operate a commercial semi-truck. Dalilah, who was five at the time, suffered a traumatic brain injury and was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy. A GoFundMe established to support her long-term treatment has raised nearly $150,000.

Trump argued during his address that language proficiency and legal status are basic safety requirements when operating heavy commercial vehicles. "Many, if not most, illegal aliens do not speak English and cannot read the most basic road signs as to direction, speed, danger, or location," he told lawmakers. "That's why tonight, I'm calling on Congress to pass what we will call the Dalilah Law, barring any state from granting Commercial Driver's Licenses to illegal aliens."

Democrat Val Jennings says hey, people kill each other all the time, let's let foreigners do the Murders Americans Just Won't Do.

A former congresswoman who prosecuted an impeachment of President Donald Trump dismissed the severe injuries suffered by Dalilah Coleman during a Wednesday panel discussion on CNN.

Trump called for passage of "Dalilah's Law," legislation that would prohibit states from granting commercial driver's licenses (CDLs) to illegal immigrants named after Coleman, during Tuesday's State of the Union address. Former Democratic Rep. Val Demings of Florida dismissed Coleman's injuries from a 2024 accident caused by an illegal immigrant driving a tractor-trailer on "CNN NewsNight" after bringing up the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good during "Operation Metro Surge" in Minneapolis.

"How do you not mention -- mention that two people died and that -- in that environment?" Demings, who was one of seven House Democrats who prosecuted Trump during his first impeachment, asked. "And the president was one of the most unifying speeches, the president who said, 'Look at the Democrats. Aren't they crazy?' He obviously does not understand that when he won election, he is supposed to represent all people."

"When you go through some of the moments he went through, right, he pointed to a little girl Dalilah, who was almost killed by an illegal alien, miraculously came back," New York Post reporter Lydia Moynihan responded. "She was there with her dad. When you have Democrats who won't stand and applaud her recovery, yeah, I think that's crazy."

Democrats remained seated during a moment in Trump's speech when the president asked if they could agree to put American citizens ahead of illegal immigrants.

"Sadly, people are killed in America every day, sadly, and the majority of them are killed by U.S. citizens. So whether an undocumented -- undocumented immigrant --" Demings said, with Moynihan cutting in with, "I'm saying, think about --"

"Whether it's an undocumented immigrant or a U.S. citizen who is the perpetrator, bottom line is, somebody has died or someone has been seriously injured," Demings said.

Hit the link to watch the infuriating exchange.

Democrats say this is no big deal. Dahlia, now crippled, disagrees.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 02:20 PM | Comments (229) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Hillary Clinton Claims She Never Even Met Epstein, Had No Idea About Any of His Crimes

Hillary Clinton testilied yesterday. Bill Clinton is testilying today.

• Former President Bill Clinton's deposition is underway in the House Oversight Committee's Jeffrey Epstein investigation, according to a source familiar with the matter. His testimony comes on the heels of Hillary Clinton's deposition. The sessions mark the culmination of a legal standoff with Republicans over the couple testifying.

• The former president and his lawyers expect that he could be in for a long day of questioning, according to a source. The Clintons and members of the House Oversight Committee have agreed to five topic areas for the depositions.

• Clinton traveled on Epstein's private plane at least 16 times, according to a CNN review, and was pictured with women in a jacuzzi in files released by the US Department of Justice. He was also pictured with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former girlfriend and accomplice in trafficking victims.

James Comer revealed that, in addition to flying on Epstein's plane 27 times -- I trust his number more than CNN, which I'm sure deployed various bad-faith excuses to claim a lower number -- Epstein also visited the White House 17 times.

I'm sure Epstein just came as an ordinary DC tourist.

By the way, Mark Halperin claimed that Democrats are "worried" that Bill Clinton will have a "Joe Biden moment" during his testimony, because, allegedly, his brain is slipping.

I haven't noticed Clinton showing Biden-like dementia. Let me propose a suspicion: Democrats are claiming Clinton might be demented to explain away the many, many "lapses of memory" Bill Clinton's lawyers have coached him to claim, and to provide himself with a perjury defense for all the lies he's going to tell.

"A well-meaning old man with memory issues," redux.

Hillary Clinton claimed, like all of Epstein's pals do, that she had "no idea" about any of his crimes.

She added, "Buh Muh Trump."

Hillary Clinton told a congressional panel she "had no idea" about Jeffrey Epstein's crimes, as she called for lawmakers to question President Donald Trump under oath about his past association with the late sex offender.

"I want to see the truth come out," the ex-US secretary of state said after testifying behind closed doors for hours to a congressional committee investigating Epstein.

She continues insisting she "did not know" Epstein.

Nancy Mace says that the elderly alcoholic lesbian was "screaming" during her questioning. We've certainly seen her raise her voice when she lies. But I wonder if the attention whore Nancy Mace isn't counter-productively hyping this up, setting us up for later disappointment, as leaks about a "red faced" Bill Clinton yelling during his Monica Lewinsky testimony did.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 01:20 PM | Comments (288) | Trackbacks (Suck)

US Evacuates Embassies in Israel and Iraq, China Orders Citizens Out of Iran as Strike Appears Imminent

Recall the words of wisdom:

And so it begins.

-- Guy who thinks things are always beginning

But joking aside, it looks like Trump's had enough.

Iran once again pretended to "talk" while conceding nothing. The USS Ford is now in place for a strike.

Open Source Intel
@Osint613

Al Arabiya: The U.S. State Department has evacuated non-essential staff from the U.S. Embassy in Iraq.

AFP: The United States authorised the departure of non-emergency embassy staff from Israel on Friday, as it threatened strikes on Iran and pressed its biggest military build-up in the Middle East in decades.

"True Conservative" Tucker Carlson, meanwhile, is now being feted Obama's pro-Iran foreign policy A-Team, including architect of the pro-Iran "Echo Chamber," Ben Rhodes, aka "Obama's Mind-Meld Second Brain.

Ben Rhodes, whom you undoubtedly know as Barack Obama's Deputy National Security Advisor, once bragged that he persuaded the media by gaslighting them and creating an echo chamber. Since establishment Washington, rightly, opposed the Iran deal that he and Obama so desperately wanted, they invented a new establishment and sold it to America.

As Malley and representatives of the State Department, including Wendy Sherman and Secretary of State John Kerry, engaged in formal negotiations with the Iranians, to ratify details of a framework that had already been agreed upon, Rhodes's war room did its work on Capitol Hill and with reporters. In the spring of last year, legions of arms-control experts began popping up at think tanks and on social media, and then became key sources for hundreds of often-clueless reporters. "We created an echo chamber," he admitted, when I asked him to explain the onslaught of freshly minted experts cheerleading for the deal. "They were saying things that validated what we had given them to say."

When I suggested that all this dark metafictional play seemed a bit removed from rational debate over America's future role in the world, Rhodes nodded. "In the absence of rational discourse, we are going to discourse the [expletive] out of this," he said. "We had test drives to know who was going to be able to carry our message effectively, and how to use outside groups like Ploughshares, the Iran Project and whomever else. So we knew the tactics that worked." He is proud of the way he sold the Iran deal. "We drove them crazy," he said of the deal's opponents.

Ah, the "expert" class. We know them well.

Ben Rhodes helped pioneer and refine the "echo chamber" strategy Obama used so well--the creation of what I call The Narrative(TM). Ben is part of the Obama team's Crooked Media, which is known for its shows Pod Save America and Pod Save the World. Crooked Media was founded by the worst of the worst: Jon Favreau, Tommy Vietor, and Jon Lovett, all part of Obama's communications and foreign policy/intelligence teams.

Below, they praise Tucker and encourage all other media figures to follow him in his Iran propaganda. Tommy Vietor -- "That was like a 100 years ago, man" -- says he's a Text Buddy with Tucker Carlson, The True Conservative.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 12:16 PM | Comments (397) | Trackbacks (Suck)

THE MORNING RANT: Following SNAP Restrictions on Junk Food, Pepsico Cuts Prices Due to Softening Consumer Demand

Some basic economic truths are playing out in the junk food market – the market where Pepsico engages in commerce. Much of its revenue has been in the form of redistributed taxpayer money, which passes through government to the recipients of what was once called “food stamps.” The recipients of SNAP benefits (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) have historically spent considerable amounts of their federal food assistance on Doritos, Mountain Dew, and other low-nutrition foods sold by Pepsico.

But thanks to President Trump and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., that is changing, as documented in a piece of mine from early January (“Thanks to MAHA, Several States Just Implemented Bans on Using SNAP Benefits for Junk Food” in which I wrote “the USDA granted individual states the authority to implement waivers to federal regulations, thus allowing state-level determination of food products which may be considered ineligible for federal SNAP benefits.”

It didn’t take long for Pepsico to feel the pinch. By early February, the company was finding itself needing to cut prices in response to slowing sales.

But a few months earlier when SNAP recipients were still spending government money, Pepsico was able to steadily increase prices. Now that those same consumers are forced to buy Fritos and Cheetos using their own money, they have suddenly become price conscious.

In the media reports about Pepsico dropping prices, there is no discussion about the lost SNAP business. There is, however, an acknowledgement that the company had been very aggressive in raising prices at a rate well in excess of inflation. Suddenly, Pepsico finds itself having to cut prices by a rather significant 15%.

“PepsiCo cuts prices of Cheetos, Doritos and other snacks” [CBS News – 02/03/2026]

PepsiCo is lowering the prices of its Cheetos, Doritos, Lays and other snack brands by up to 15%, saying it wants to bring "relief" to consumers facing an affordability crunch.

------------------------------

The move comes amid a pullback in demand from consumers after PepsiCo instituted a series of price hikes. In the fourth quarter, PepsiCo increased beverage prices by 7% in North America, while its snack prices were up 1%.

So Pepsico raised prices in the fourth quarter (October, November, December) and then in January came “a pullback in demand from consumers.” Coincidentally, this pullback in demand occurred exactly when the SNAP restrictions commenced.

As Lauren Chen stated on Twitter/X, “SNAP no longer subsidizes buying junk food, and now the price of junk food is dropping. Could you imagine if we applied this principle to college? Or healthcare?” Yep, everything we subsidize with taxpayer money has the effect of driving the price of that product higher.

Peter Schiff had an excellent post on Twitter/X last week expanding on this subject:

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM | Comments (255) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Mid-Morning Art Thread

The Ameya
Robert Frederick Blum

Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM | Comments (282) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Morning Report — 2/27/26

Good morning kids. I'll start off with something that frightening though it may be is still nevertheless completely unsurprising.

A Somali driver caught barreling an “80-ton truck” the wrong way down a Missouri highway failed an English proficiency test — and wasn’t able to read road signs, authorities said.

The trucker was filmed driving in the northbound lanes on Highway 61 near Troy, about 55 miles outside of St. Louis, at 8 a.m. on Wednesday before finally crossing over and heading the right way, terrifying video shared by US Transportation Security Sean Duffy on X shows.

“We have learned that a truck driver with a Minnesota CDL who couldn’t read basic road signs spent MILES driving the wrong way in an 80 TON truck!” Duffy wrote on Wednesday.

Duffy confirmed that the “dangerous trucker is now out of service. . .

Authorities said the driver had a valid commercial driver’s license and exhibited no signs of impairment or medical issues.

However, during the traffic stop, police said that the “driver was unable to complete the English proficiency test,” Sgt. Dallas Thompson told the outlet.

“In Missouri, they have to be able to understand English, take the test in English, and pass the road sign test here,” Thompson said, adding that state and federal regulations mandate English proficiency for commercial drivers.

If this story neither shocks nor surprises you, seek help because you have either been in a coma for several years or you're a Democrat. That said, I suppose if I wanted to put a positive spin on this story, given the fact that at a minimum, that we know of, $9 billion dollars has been stolen/swindled goniffed from the Minnesota state treasury and US federal treasury by the Somalian immigrant (legal and otherwise) populace of that state and who knows how many untold billions more from other foreigner/immigrant communitiess and native-born amoral Americans from coast to coast whose concept of the American dream is grifting other people's money — and now the positive spin: at least this illiterate Somali maniac somehow felt compelled to want to actually hold down a job and EARN an honest paycheck!

Meh, then again I'm sure some of you are thinking, as I now am, that the poor sap was likely duped, swindled and/or otherwise coerced into obtaining that CDL lest he be ratted out to ICE and be deported. If that was the case then he really was a chump considering God knows how many thousands of his fellow countrymen and other foreigners are raking it in hand over fist via the aforementioned welfare swindling. But being preyed upon by some of your own is part and parcel of dog-eat-dog third world societies and is nothing new, sadly, to the immigrant experience in America.

BE that as it may, there are other things going on in the world worthy of note. As we await a potential AMerican strike against the Iranian Mullahs, just a scant couple of hundred miles to the east this happened!

Pakistan bombed Taliban government forces in Afghanistan’s major cities overnight, the first time it has directly targeted its former allies, and described the situation as “open war,” raising tensions in a volatile, nuclear-armed region.

The Pakistani strikes hit the capital Kabul and the city of Kandahar, where Taliban leaders are based. It was the first time Islamabad has attacked the Taliban rather than militants allegedly backed by them, a stark rupture in ties between the Islamic neighbors.

Security sources in Pakistan said the strikes involved air-to-ground missile attacks on Taliban military offices and posts in Kabul, Kandahar as well as Paktia province. . .

There were ground clashes in multiple sectors along the border between the Islamic nations.

The Taliban said it launched what it described as retaliatory attacks on Pakistani military installations.

Both sides reported heavy losses, issuing sharply differing figures that Reuters could not independently verify.

“Our cup of patience has overflowed. Now it is open war between us and you (Afghanistan),” Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said on Friday.

The strikes threaten to unleash a protracted conflict along the 1,615-mile frontier with relations between Kabul and Islamabad shattered by a long-running dispute over Pakistan’s accusation that Afghanistan harbors militants carrying out attacks across the border.

The Taliban have denied the charge and said Pakistan’s security is an internal problem. 

To this, all I can say is pass the popcorn.

Then again, maybe I shouldn't be so smug, considering right here at home...

A brouhaha ensued at Tuesday’s Wylie Independent School District school board meeting in Texas, when dozens of attendees demanded answers about how an outside group called “WHY ISLAM” which that had nothing to do with the school was able not only to enter the school, but to “set up a table on campus during school hours earlier this month without district approval.” According to CBS News, “in a viral video, the president of the school’s Republican Club describes what he saw:

They were giving out hijabs to girls throughout the high school, and they were giving our Qurans, and they also had pamphlets about Sharia law.

If I have an alternate universe Muslim doppelgänger, he just wrote Pass the Shawarma!

Oy gevalt . . .

Have a great weekend!

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.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 07:33 AM | Comments (316) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 27 February 2026

Top Story

• If your corporate wifi has a guest network active, tell whoever is responsible that they might not want to do that. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Same goes for home wifi though it's less of a target.

  AirSnitch "breaks worldwide Wi-Fi encryption, and it might have the potential to enable advanced cyberattacks," Xin'an Zhou, the lead author of the research paper, said in an interview. "Advanced attacks can build on our primitives to [perform> cookie stealing, DNS and cache poisoning. Our research physically wiretaps the wire altogether so these sophisticated attacks will work. It's really a threat to worldwide network security."

  Fortunately for us - less fortunately for Zhou's credibility - this is horseshit.
  
  But what AirSnitch does - and his co-authors have taken rather more care to make this clear - is break through the protections that supposedly separate the guest and private networks on many common wifi routers, ranging from cheap home models to open-source software with a focus on security to expensive enterprise systems from supposedly security-focused companies like Cisco.
  
  
  
• Speaking of which Cisco just fixed a level 10 security vulnerability that has left their SD-WAN systems wide open to attackers since 2023. (Bleeping Computer)
  
  Oops.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (141) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Thursday Overnight Open Thread - February 26, 2026 [Doof]

Photo from Seaeyes on X

Howdy Hordelings! The Thursday ONT is here for your perusal and enjoyment. Open thread, as always. What's on YOUR mind tonight?

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:03 PM | Comments (426) | Trackbacks (Suck)