September 29, 2025
Monday Overnight Open Thread (9/29/25)
*****
Quote III
Quote I “What good does it do me, after all, if an ever-watchful authority keeps an eye out to ensure that my pleasures will be tranquil and races ahead of me to ward off all danger, sparing me the need even to think about such things, if that authority, even as it removes the smallest thorns from my path, is also absolute master of my liberty and my life; if it monopolizes vitality and existence to such a degree that when it languishes, everything around it must also languish; when it sleeps, everything must also sleep; and when it dies, everything must also perish? There are some nations in Europe whose inhabitants think of themselves in a sense as colonists, indifferent to the fate of the place they live in. The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved. They are so divorced from their own interests that even when their own security and that of their children is finally compromised, they do not seek to avert the danger themselves but cross their arms and wait for the nation as a whole to come to their aid. Yet as utterly as they sacrifice their own free will, they are no fonder of obedience than anyone else. They submit, it is true, to the whims of a clerk, but no sooner is force removed than they are glad to defy the law as a defeated enemy. Thus one finds them ever wavering between servitude and license. When a nation has reached this point, it must either change its laws and mores or perish, for the well of public virtue has run dry: in such a place one no longer finds citizens but only subjects.”
―Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America
Quote II Abbas and the sewer he presides over are the problem not the solution. If conjuring into being such a "state" - with embassies in London, Paris and beyond - is the best we can do at this stage in the Great Game, our civilisation deserves to die. Mark Steyn
Quote III
Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at 09:53 PM | Comments (355) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Good vs Evil Cafe
A puffin. Puffins are the eternal enemies
of the evil penguins.
A puffin. Puffins are the eternal enemies
of the evil penguins.
Posted by: Ace at 07:40 PM | Comments (347) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Trump's So Scary That 100,000 Federal "Workers" Say They'll Resign on Tuesday In What Is Supposed to Be Some Kind of Blow to Us
"The largest mass resignation in history."
Wow. Even when Trump isn't doing anything at all, he's racking up the W's. Now, this seems to be woke DEI hires taking Trump's very nice deal of getting a nice separation package instead of being fired.US set for largest mass resignation in history as Trump continues deep cuts Federal workers say they have little choice but to depart, with 100,000 leaving under deferred resignation program The Trump administration is set to oversee the largest mass resignation in US history on Tuesday, with more than 100,000 federal workers set to formally quit as part of the latest wave of its deferred resignation program. With Congress facing a deadline of Tuesday to authorize more funding or spark a government shutdown, the White House has also ordered federal agencies to draw up plans for large-scale firings of workers if the partisan fight fails to yield a deal. Workers preparing to leave government as part of the resignation program -- one of several pillars of Donald Trump's sweeping cuts to the federal workforce -- have described how months of "fear and intimidation" left them feeling like they had no choice but to depart. "Federal workers stay for the mission. When that mission is taken away, when they're scapegoated, when their job security is uncertain, and when their tiny semblance of work-life balance is stripped away, they leave," a longtime employee at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) told the Guardian. "That's why I left." The total resignation program is set to cost $14.8bn, with 200,000 workers paid their full salary and benefits while on administrative leave for up to eight months, according to a Senate Democrats' report in July.I am not pleased by the generosity of this offer.
Let's hope. Thanks to @ComradeArthur.
Trump officials argue this outlay is worth it. The Office of Personnel Management claimed the one-time costs lower longer-term spending by the federal government. It also criticized job protections of federal civil servants, claiming the government should have a "modern, at-will employment framework like most employers".
Posted by: Ace at 06:40 PM | Comments (331) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Eric Adams Drops Out of Mayoral Race to Consolidate the Anti-Communist-Jihadist Vote
Zohran Mamdani leads by about 20 points. Eric Adams did not have nearly that level of support.
It seems that NYC has chosen the form of its destructor.
Zohran Mamdani will, of course, make it so onerous to live in NYC that anyone who can flee, will flee. The city's tax base will depart, and the city will be left with Mamdani's trillion dollars of spending and thimble-full of tax revenue. I think the entire plan is to bankrupt the city and then demand that the federal government bail them out. The real plan of socialism is always to pirate away other people's money. But Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says that Mamdani will get no bailout from the US. And he uses a line from the 70s, when a bankrupt NYC demanded a bailout from the accidental president Gerry Ford.
Mayor Eric Adams' decision to drop his re-election bid provides a boost to Andrew Cuomo in the race for City Hall, but not nearly enough to topple mayoral front-runner and Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, pollsters and campaign strategists said. Before his Sunday announcement, Adams was polling in the high single digits -- not enough alone to change the trajectory of the race, said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist University Institute for Public Opinion. The mayor received 9% support in Marist's poll released earlier this month, a distant fourth behind Mamdani, Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa. There are too few Adams voters to shift elsewhere to make a dramatic difference. "It gives Cuomo a boost -- but it's not enough," Miringoff told The Post. Slingshot Strategies' founding partner Evan Roth Smith, who is also a lead pollster for Blueprint, echoed Miringoff's point. "There just aren't enough Adams voters out there to go somewhere new," Smith said. "So all said, it's probably worth a couple points for Andrew Cuomo, but Andrew Cuomo needs way more than a couple points to catch up to Zohran."
Zohran Mamdani will, of course, make it so onerous to live in NYC that anyone who can flee, will flee. The city's tax base will depart, and the city will be left with Mamdani's trillion dollars of spending and thimble-full of tax revenue. I think the entire plan is to bankrupt the city and then demand that the federal government bail them out. The real plan of socialism is always to pirate away other people's money. But Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says that Mamdani will get no bailout from the US. And he uses a line from the 70s, when a bankrupt NYC demanded a bailout from the accidental president Gerry Ford.
U.S. Treasury's Bessent message to NYC on any bailout: 'Drop dead' The Trump administration will not bail out New York City in any financial crisis if Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani follows through with his plans, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday. "I guarantee you - and there are not a lot of things in life that are sure - that New York City will be coming to the federal government for a bailout if the Mamdani plans are implemented," Bessent said in an interview with Fox Business Network. Asked if he would give the city a bailout under those circumstances, Bessent said, "It will be the same thing that Gerald Ford said: 'Drop dead.'" While former President Ford never actually said those words, a New York tabloid headline used the phrase to capture the moment in 1975 when the Republican president refused to bail out New York as it was on the verge of bankruptcy.Below, Bessent's remarks made to Maria Bartiromo. Bessent notes that NYC already saw the greatest flight of capital in history, from Manhattan to Palm Beach County, under "Red" diBlasio.
Mamdani's office did not immediately return a request for comment on Bessent's remarks.
Posted by: Ace at 05:40 PM | Comments (304) | Trackbacks (Suck)
JK Rowling Finally Blasts Ungrateful Little Rich Bitch Emma Watson For Her Constant Attacks
Emma Watson is a stupid little flake with a weird face and dead eyes who embraced transgender insanity completely when it was trendy and hot.
Now that it's not so trendy and hot, she's attempting to re-position herself as being more moderate. Surely for careerist, conformist reasons. She's a dim bulb and says whatever is popular, when it is popular, because it is popular. (As Ya Boi Zach used to say about bubble-headed feminists who claimed to be into comic books but only after the MCU made them culturally ubiquitous.) After burying Rowling for years, she suddenly announces, "I still treasure JK Rowling." Still? JK Rowling isn't having any of Watson's careerist repositioning.J.K. RowlingShe next turns to Emma Watson's speech at the 2022 BAFTA awards, in which she said "I'm here for all witches." This was taken as a not-so-subtle attack on JK Rowling and a claim of solidarity with transgenders, which is the group she meant by "all witches." (Or maybe she meant that transgenders should be part of the group of (female) witches.) Either way, it was a dunk on JK Rowling.
@jk_rowling 9h I'm seeing quite a bit of comment about this, so I want to make a couple of points. I'm not owed eternal agreement from any actor who once played a character I created. The idea is as ludicrous as me checking with the boss I had when I was twenty-one for what opinions I should hold these days. Emma Watson and her co-stars have every right to embrace gender identity ideology. Such beliefs are legally protected, and I wouldn't want to see any of them threatened with loss of work, or violence, or death, because of them. However, Emma and Dan in particular have both made it clear over the last few years that they think our former professional association gives them a particular right - nay, obligation - to critique me and my views in public. Years after they finished acting in Potter, they continue to assume the role of de facto spokespeople for the world I created. When you've known people since they were ten years old it's hard to shake a certain protectiveness. Until quite recently, I hadn't managed to throw off the memory of children who needed to be gently coaxed through their dialogue in a big scary film studio. For the past few years, I've repeatedly declined invitations from journalists to comment on Emma specifically, most notably on the Witch Trials of JK Rowling. Ironically, I told the producers that I didn't want her to be hounded as the result of anything I said.
The television presenter in the attached clip highlights Emma's 'all witches' speech, and in truth, that was a turning point for me, but it had a postscript that hurt far more than the speech itself. Emma asked someone to pass on a handwritten note from her to me, which contained the single sentence 'I'm so sorry for what you're going through' (she has my phone number). This was back when the death, rape and torture threats against me were at their peak, at a time when my personal security measures had had to be tightened considerably and I was constantly worried for my family's safety. Emma had just publicly poured more petrol on the flames, yet thought a one line expression of concern from her would reassure me of her fundamental sympathy and kindness. Like other people who've never experienced adult life uncushioned by wealth and fame, Emma has so little experience of real life she's ignorant of how ignorant she is. She'll never need a homeless shelter. She's never going to be placed on a mixed sex public hospital ward. I'd be astounded if she's been in a high street changing room since childhood. Her 'public bathroom' is single occupancy and comes with a security man standing guard outside the door. Has she had to strip off in a newly mixed-sex changing room at a council-run swimming pool? Is she ever likely to need a state-run rape crisis centre that refuses to guarantee an all-female service? To find herself sharing a prison cell with a male rapist who's identified into the women's prison? I wasn't a multimillionaire at fourteen. I lived in poverty while writing the book that made Emma famous. I therefore understand from my own life experience what the trashing of women's rights in which Emma has so enthusiastically participated means to women and girls without her privileges. The greatest irony here is that, had Emma not decided in her most recent interview to declare that she loves and treasures me - a change of tack I suspect she's adopted because she's noticed full-throated condemnation of me is no longer quite as fashionable as it was - I might never have been this honest. Adults can't expect to cosy up to an activist movement that regularly calls for a friend's assassination, then assert their right to the former friend's love, as though the friend was in fact their mother. Emma is rightly free to disagree with me and indeed to discuss her feelings about me in public - but I have the same right, and I've finally decided to exercise it.
Posted by: Ace at 04:40 PM | Comments (356) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Former George Soros Fund Manger Arrested for... Running a "Sex Dungeon" Out of His Million-Plus NYC Apartment
The DOJ website:
According to the New York Times, which knows what good sex dungeons are and what bad sex dungeons are, this sex dungeon was used to abuse women beyond the limits of what they consented to and even leave them "maimed."
I don't mean the nice, clean sex dungeons that you guys are accustomed to.
The DOJ website:
Joseph Nocella Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, New York Field Office (FBI), and Harry T. Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, New York (IRS-CI New York) announced the arrests and indictment. "As alleged, the defendants used Rubin's wealth to mislead and recruit women to engage in commercial sex acts, where Rubin then tortured women beyond their consent, causing lasting physical and/or psychological pain, and in some cases physical injuries," stated United States Attorney Nocella. "Today's arrests show that no one who engages in sex trafficking, in this case in luxury hotels and a penthouse apartment that featured a so-called sex 'dungeon,' is above the law, and that they will be brought to justice. Human beings are not chattel to be exploited for sex and sadistically abused, and anyone who thinks otherwise can expect to find themselves in handcuffs and facing federal prosecution like these defendants." "For many years, Howard Rubin and Jennifer Powers allegedly spent at least one million dollars to finance the commercial sexual torture of multiple women via a national trafficking network. The defendants allegedly exploited Rubin's status to ensnare their prospective victims and forced them to endure unthinkable physical trauma before silencing any outcries with threats of legal recourse," stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia. "The FBI will continue to apprehend any trafficker who sexually abuses others for twisted gratification." "It's alleged Rubin directed a sex trafficking enterprise, exploiting women who were transported from across the country to his Manhattan penthouse that was equipped with a soundproof sex room filled with BDSM equipment, including a device used to shock the women," stated Special Agent in Charge of IRS-CI Chavis. "This was not a one-man show. While Rubin dehumanized these women with abhorrent sexual acts, Powers is alleged to have run the day-to-day operations of the enterprise and got paid generously for her efforts. IRS-CI and FBI partnered to see fit that all the facts are detailed in this case and ensure that this pair realizes the full consequences of their ghastly behaviors."
According to the New York Times, which knows what good sex dungeons are and what bad sex dungeons are, this sex dungeon was used to abuse women beyond the limits of what they consented to and even leave them "maimed."
Sounds like it was more than a rape fantasy. Sounds, in fact, like rape, period.
Ex-Wall Street Star Accused of Abusing Women in Penthouse Sex 'Dungeon' Federal prosecutors say Howard Rubin, who faces sex trafficking charges, took victims to his apartment, where a bedroom was painted red, soundproofed and fitted with devices to use on the women.
The penthouse of the sleek, postmodern Metropolitan Tower in Midtown Manhattan offers panoramic views of New York. But for more than five years, a former Wall Street trader used it as a sex "dungeon," luring women in and leaving them maimed and bruised, federal prosecutors say. Howard Rubin, 70, a former Salomon Brothers bond trader who was made Wall Street-famous in a book about the firm, was arrested Friday on sex trafficking charges. Prosecutors said he took women to the penthouse blocks from Central Park, where a bedroom was painted red, soundproofed and fitted with devices to use on the women, according to an indictment unsealed in Federal District Court in Brooklyn. Along with a personal assistant, Jennifer Powers, Mr. Rubin recruited and paid at least a half-dozen women to participate in bondage and sadomasochism, but the acts went far beyond what the women had signed up for, according to prosecutors.
Ms. Powers, 45, was primarily responsible for the logistics of the trafficking, prosecutors said, including by recruiting and paying the women, arranging for them to sign nondisclosure agreements, and taking notes on the encounters and whether Mr. Rubin enjoyed them. Ms. Powers was arrested in Texas and set to be transferred to Brooklyn. Prosecutors said Mr. Rubin took advantage of the women, many of whom were especially vulnerable because of their histories of addiction and abuse. Mr. Rubin was arrested at his rental home in Fairfield, Conn., and appeared before Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo in Federal District Court in Brooklyn on Friday afternoon wearing a blue windbreaker and jeans. He pleaded not guilty to the charges. In addition to sex trafficking, Mr. Rubin was also charged with bank fraud, and both Mr. Rubin and Ms. Powers were charged with transporting people across state lines for the purposes of prostitution. Both defendants face life in prison if convicted. A lawyer for Mr. Rubin declined to comment. A lawyer for Ms. Powers could not be immediately reached on Friday. Though women were told they could use a "safe word" to stop any sexual encounter, prosecutors said, they were often unable to utter it because they were gagged or Mr. Rubin simply ignored their pleas. The room would often remain locked during the encounters, prosecutors said, while the women were shocked, beaten and violated. Mr. Rubin also provided the women with copious amounts of drugs and alcohol before their sex acts, prosecutors said, despite the terms of the nondisclosure agreement. In one encounter, Mr. Rubin gave a female victim a sedative that made her unconscious so he could enact a rape fantasy, they said.
He was previously sued civilly for the rapes. Now he's facing criminal charges.
All told, Mr. Rubin and Ms. Powers spent at least $1 million on the network, which ran from 2009 to 2019, prosecutors said. The women were trafficked to the penthouse, which Mr. Rubin rented for $18,000 per month, from 2011 to 2017, according to court papers. The nondisclosure agreements, which Mr. Rubin kept in the penthouse, stipulated that the women assumed the risks of the activity, that Mr. Rubin had not provided them drugs or alcohol and that they would not discuss the sex acts publicly. If they violated the agreement, they would have to pay Mr. Rubin $500,000, prosecutors said.
... Mr. Rubin gleefully discussed his exploits with Ms. Powers through messages sent from his work email, prosecutors said. In a 2013 email, Mr. Rubin said that the activity would leave a woman "sore and bruised for probably a week." ... Tara McGrath, a federal prosecutor, said there were dozens more victims who had not been named in court papers, and that Mr. Rubin had relied on 10 other people to carry out the scheme who have not been charged. ... He became an object of fascination on Wall Street, Mr. Lewis wrote, for his application of behavioral research to mortgage sales. He later became infamous for his role in a $250 million loss in 1987 at Merrill Lynch, which was at the time one of the largest reported by a Wall Street firm. (That would be more than $700 million in 2025 dollars.) Merrill's executives blamed Mr. Rubin for the loss for making unauthorized trades of mortgage-backed securities.Why are they all demons?
After leaving Merrill Lynch, Mr. Rubin became a fund manager at Bear Stearns and then Soros Fund Management.
Posted by: Ace at 03:40 PM | Comments (326) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Democrat Candidate for NJ Governor Who Was Involved in Annapolis Cheating Scandal Turns Out to be Married to Man Who Also Participated in Annapolis Cheating Scandal
Now it turns out that both of them participated in a massive cheating scandal at Annapolis in which an entire exam was stolen and shared among students.
So there's no reason to suspect that they're grifters who used the ultimate insider information to make themselves rich.
Do you smell that? It smells like the New Jersey Democrats are cooking up another Torricelli Option. If you don't remember that-- back around 2006, Senator Robert Torricelli's fathomless corruption got exposed a month before the election. So the Democrat New Jersey Supreme Court decided that it was now allowed for a political party to replace its candidate with just a couple of weeks before an election. My internet is going down more often than Kamala Harris at a Democrat Mayor's convention so I might be a little off today. #MyToasterIsStillLoyal Update: As a Congressman, "Mikie" is allowed to recommend five New Jerseyans for slots at the Military academies. Two of the people she nominated are... surprise, her own grifter children. Her griftlings, let's call them.
Democratic New Jersey gubernatorial hopeful Mikie Sherrill's husband was also caught up in the Naval Academy cheating scandal that has rocked her campaign, court documents exclusively obtained by The Post show. Jason Hedberg was one of about four dozen midshipmen who sued top officials at the Naval Academy, Navy and Pentagon in 1994 in a desperate bid to block an Honor Board at Annapolis from deciding whether they should be dismissed from the school. "In compliance with the orders of their superior military officers, each named plaintiff was compelled to make inculpatory statements to Navy Inspector General investigators," read the complaint, which charged that the students were denied due process. The details of any "inculpatory statements" by Hedberg are unclear. However, his name is included in the 1994 commencement program, suggesting that he -- unlike Sherrill -- was cleared to take part in exercises some three months after the suit was filed.The candidate Mikie wasn't allowed to walk during graduation due to her own involvement in the cheating scandal. She claims her only sin was being too loyal to her fellow cheaters and not testifying against them -- but she's also refusing to release her military records so that we can see whether that was her "only sin" or not.
LOL. Of course she's The Real Victim Here.
Sherrill told the New Jersey Globe, which first reported Thursday on her being barred from commencement, that her punishment was a consequence of her decision not to "turn in some of my classmates." A source close to a rival campaign questioned that statement. "Nobody, including Mikie Sherrill, was barred from graduation ceremonies for covering for their friends," claimed this person, who has reviewed the documents. "That's a bunch of bulls--. Midshipmen were, however, punished for lying to Naval investigators." While no evidence has surfaced that the future congresswoman was punished for being untruthful to school officials, there are also indications that she has not been up front about what transpired. Sherrill's team has rejected requests to release disciplinary records from her academy days, which would provide details of any involvement in the scandal. In response to inquiries from The Post Friday, Sherril's campaign communications director Sean Higgins said: "The fact [GOP candidate] Jack Ciattarelli and MAGA Republicans are going after Mikie's family is sick and desperate -- Jason graduated [and] served honorably as a Naval Officer. "The illegal disclosure of Mikie's unredacted personal military records, including her Social Security Number, and the unlawful dissemination of those records by the Ciattarelli campaign is a disgrace and must be investigated."
Multiple midshipmen acquired and shared answers to a Dec. 14, 1992, exam for Electrical Engineering 311, a mandatory class for all non-engineering majors. The test was administered to 663 students, according to the lawsuit that involved Hedberg. In a 2002 episode of CBS News' "48 Hours" that reported on the scandal, one of the students involved estimated that "probably 80% of the people who took that test had knowledge and had seen it the night before." ...
After graduating, Hedberg became a Navy intelligence officer and Sherrill a Navy pilot. The two have four children together.
Do you smell that? It smells like the New Jersey Democrats are cooking up another Torricelli Option. If you don't remember that-- back around 2006, Senator Robert Torricelli's fathomless corruption got exposed a month before the election. So the Democrat New Jersey Supreme Court decided that it was now allowed for a political party to replace its candidate with just a couple of weeks before an election. My internet is going down more often than Kamala Harris at a Democrat Mayor's convention so I might be a little off today. #MyToasterIsStillLoyal Update: As a Congressman, "Mikie" is allowed to recommend five New Jerseyans for slots at the Military academies. Two of the people she nominated are... surprise, her own grifter children. Her griftlings, let's call them.
Posted by: Ace at 02:34 PM | Comments (430) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Dictator of Colombia Visits NYC, Urges Pro-Hamas Crowd to Resist the US Government; Trump Revokes This Piece of Shit's Visa
Via Soothsayer, this is what I voted for.
Reuters thinks this is very very sad and that foreign dictators should be allowed to call for US troops to insurrect against the legitimately-elected president.LOL, "cracking down on pro-Palestinian voices." Once again, they mean violence. Their violence is their voice, doncha know.
The United States said it would revoke Colombian President Gustavo Petro's visa after he took to New York's streets on Friday in a pro-Palestinian demonstration and urged U.S. soldiers to disobey President Donald Trump's orders. "We will revoke Petro's visa due to his reckless and incendiary actions," the State Department posted on X. Petro, addressing a crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters outside the U.N. headquarters in Manhattan, called for a global armed force with the priority to liberate Palestinians, adding, "This force has to be bigger than that of the United States." "That's why from here, from New York, I ask all the soldiers of the army of the United States not to point their guns at people. Disobey the orders of Trump. Obey the orders of humanity," Petro said in Spanish. Reuters could not immediately confirm whether Petro was still in New York. His office and Colombia's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Trump administration has been cracking down on pro-Palestinian voices while countries including France, Britain, Australia and Canada have recognized a Palestinian state - moves that have angered Israel and its ally the U.S.
Petro, Colombia's first leftist president and a vocal opponent of Israel's war in Gaza, hit out at Trump in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, saying the U.S. leader was "complicit in genocide" in Gaza and calling for "criminal proceedings" over U.S. missile attacks on suspected drug-running boats in Caribbean waters.
Posted by: Ace at 01:20 PM | Comments (459) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Open Thread
Imma need a little time.
Talk amongst yourselves. Here's a topic: the 1985 Grammy tribute to the talent show in Revenge of the Nerds.Posted by: Ace at 12:24 PM | Comments (401) | Trackbacks (Suck)
THE MORNING RANT: Virtually No One Actually Charges Their Plug-In Hybrid EV
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles ("PHEVs") may be the most preposterous product that was developed during the EV bubble and hype. They are a solution in search of a problem. (Plug-in hybrids are entirely different than traditional Prius-style hybrids, which are gasoline-powered vehicles that use regenerative braking to generate supplemental electricity for propulsion, but which cannot be externally charged like PHEVs.)
The argument for PHEVs is that they "solve" the range problem of pure battery electric vehicles ("BEVs") by having both a standard internal combustion engine ("ICE") and also a lithium-battery electric drivetrain, allowing them to be charged via a cord. But with two entirely separate engines under the hood, PHEVs have more ways to fail and a whole lot of extra weight, making them poor-performing alternatives to either pure ICE or pure electric cars. They also add a gasoline bomb to a potential lithium runaway thermal fire. Of course, the obvious solution to the range limitations of a BEV is not to buy one, and to buy a gasoline-powered ICE vehicle instead. To be fair, PHEVs do solve one problem. They allow people who want to identify as EV-drivers, but who really need (and prefer) ICE cars, to be able to pat themselves on the back for buying a chargeable electric vehicle. The only problem is that they just aren’t charging their PHEVs. Virtually no one who buys a plug-in hybrid EV is actually plugging it in! “Basically No One Plugs in Their Plug-In Hybrids; Toyota Thinks It Has the Solution” [Motor Trend – 9/18/2025] This Motor Trend article states that not plugging-in ”defeats the purpose of a PHEV.”After all, if you're not charging your PHEV, you're basically driving a regular hybrid with hundreds of extra pounds of electronics and other gear on board. That's more inefficient and defeats the purpose of a PHEV.That’s not the case. As I just mentioned, the purpose of buying a plug-in hybrid is for the self-satisfaction of owning a chargeable vehicle without the hassle of ever actually charging it. So Toyota is working to get people to actually plug in their PHEVs by developing apps, games, and notification protocols to remind people to plug their car into the wall.
To achieve these increases, the app delivered just-in-time reminders such as push notifications that were said to be 50 percent more effective than generic prompts. It also applied positive reinforcement in the form of messages that rewarded streaks, delivered encouragement, and summarized their charging habits.As if there weren’t already enough reasons not to buy a PHEV, a car that constantly nags me with electronic reminders and push notifications sounds like pure torture. Perhaps Toyota can name one of its hectoring plug-in hybrids the “Toyota AWFL.”
Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM | Comments (392) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Mid-Morning Art Thread
Carl Larsson
Carl Larsson
Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM | Comments (342) | Trackbacks (Suck)
The Morning Report — 9/29/25
And yet despite all of this, I noted that Fetterman has become perhaps the lone voice of reason within the Democrat Party that of late has ceased even the barest of minimum efforts to try and fake even a scintilla of sanity, rationality and reasonableness. His unequivocal support of the State of Israel in the wake of the Islamic mass wave attack of 10/7 stood in sharp contrast of far too many in his party who at best were silent and at worst blamed Israel for having the temerity to exist. Most recently, Fetterman lamented the rise of the in-your-face socialists like this Mamdani cancer that quite likely will completely subsume the party within the next couple of election cycles if it hasn't already. But, while CBD correctly observed that regardless of what is happening, Fetterman has and will always vote whatever way the Democrat party demands. Regardless, his vocal stances on many things make him a huge pain in their ass and so I assume that once his term is up, the Democrat powers that be will try to shove him aside. Pennsylvania being a swing state and primarily due to the malign influence of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh when it comes to election rigging, yet despite this much of the rest of it is seemingly solid MAGA country.
I bring this up merely as a way of getting to the crux of the biscuit, which is the wave of political terrorism that culminated with the assassination of Charlie Kirk. And with that, Fetterman spoke out again.
Thanks to Lumpy for pointing out the Democrat incitement and violence, but as to this study I call total bullshit. What "Far-Right" violence? Where? A) there is no such thing as the far-right. As I and others have stated, the Right-Center-Left paradigm just does not exist. There is only one side that believes in America as founded,the Judeo/Christian Western underpinnings of our nation and society and the primacy of the individual. The other side does not and has spent the better part of 200 years doing all it can to tear that down in its lust for absolute power. In other words, It is the eternal struggle of Good vs Evil. Before the usual Soros trolls can fart out their bullshit, While no doubt every so often a twisted individual may commit an act of violence against a Democrat/Leftist target – Not that I can even find a single confirmed example – it is never sanctioned let alone supported or funded by any GOP and/or conservative political organization and it is immediately denounced and condemned in the loudest most uncertain terms. Compare and contrast to the reactions when the UHC CEO was gunned down in the street, Charlie Kirk and the attempts on President Trump's life. Meanwhile, this insanity happened over the weekend:
No doubt the media is working overtime to craft some sort of narrative tying the perpetrator to President Trump, MAGA, "right-wing extremism" etc. etc. ad nauseam.
Prayers up for the victims and all affected by this monstrous incident. Before I go too far afield, the one thing I wanted to note was the long overdue and hopefully excruciatingly painful, messy and drawn out departure from this world to an eternity in the Infernal Reaches of one Joanne Chesimard. Hopefully this bitch is roasting and may anyone who heaps praise on her join her for dinner as soon as possible.
God bless the memory of Werner Foerster and the family he left behind who no doubt grieve for him to this day. May they find some measure of comfort that the subhuman animal who took his life is no longer breathing the same oxygen. When President Trump assumed the presidency, one of the things I had hoped he could bring about was the repatriation of Chesimard, either by diplomatic means or if need by via Seal Team 6. The other was a special op to retake the USS Pueblo from North Korea, but I digress. Yes indeed, the CTU and much of academia sadly is a terrorist organization and training camp, having poisoned the minds of several successive generations of American school kids to hate their country, heritage, family and ultimately themselves. That is what ultimately created the likes of Chesimard, Mangione, Charlie Kirk's assassin and on and on and on. The CTU is by no means alone in its praising of this evil cvnt now roasting in hell.
And yet despite all of this, I noted that Fetterman has become perhaps the lone voice of reason within the Democrat Party that of late has ceased even the barest of minimum efforts to try and fake even a scintilla of sanity, rationality and reasonableness. His unequivocal support of the State of Israel in the wake of the Islamic mass wave attack of 10/7 stood in sharp contrast of far too many in his party who at best were silent and at worst blamed Israel for having the temerity to exist. Most recently, Fetterman lamented the rise of the in-your-face socialists like this Mamdani cancer that quite likely will completely subsume the party within the next couple of election cycles if it hasn't already. But, while CBD correctly observed that regardless of what is happening, Fetterman has and will always vote whatever way the Democrat party demands. Regardless, his vocal stances on many things make him a huge pain in their ass and so I assume that once his term is up, the Democrat powers that be will try to shove him aside. Pennsylvania being a swing state and primarily due to the malign influence of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh when it comes to election rigging, yet despite this much of the rest of it is seemingly solid MAGA country.
I bring this up merely as a way of getting to the crux of the biscuit, which is the wave of political terrorism that culminated with the assassination of Charlie Kirk. And with that, Fetterman spoke out again.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) shared a study that showed that left-wing terrorism had reached a “30-year high,” and criticized Democrats for using rhetoric such as “Hitler” or “fascist.” In a post on X, Fetterman included a screenshot of an Axios article titled “Study: Left-wing terrorism climbs to 30-year high.” Fetterman noted that “political violence is always wrong,” and called for everyone to “turn the temperature down.” “Unchecked extreme rhetoric, like labels as Hitler or fascist, will foment more extreme outcomes,” Fetterman said. “Political violence is always wrong — no exceptions.”The article goes on with this
Per Axios, research from the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) found that during the “first six months of 2025,” far-right violence, which has usually “been more frequent,” had decreased significantly. The CSIS “compiled and analyzed a data set of 750 domestic attacks and plots” that had occurred between January 1, 1994, and July 4, 2025. Researchers found that out of the attacks that occurred since 2016, “left-wing extremists” were responsible for more than 40 of those attacks, while right-wing extremists were responsible for 152 attacks “over the same period”
Thanks to Lumpy for pointing out the Democrat incitement and violence, but as to this study I call total bullshit. What "Far-Right" violence? Where? A) there is no such thing as the far-right. As I and others have stated, the Right-Center-Left paradigm just does not exist. There is only one side that believes in America as founded,the Judeo/Christian Western underpinnings of our nation and society and the primacy of the individual. The other side does not and has spent the better part of 200 years doing all it can to tear that down in its lust for absolute power. In other words, It is the eternal struggle of Good vs Evil. Before the usual Soros trolls can fart out their bullshit, While no doubt every so often a twisted individual may commit an act of violence against a Democrat/Leftist target – Not that I can even find a single confirmed example – it is never sanctioned let alone supported or funded by any GOP and/or conservative political organization and it is immediately denounced and condemned in the loudest most uncertain terms. Compare and contrast to the reactions when the UHC CEO was gunned down in the street, Charlie Kirk and the attempts on President Trump's life. Meanwhile, this insanity happened over the weekend:
The madman who killed at least four people and wounded eight others at a Michigan Latter-day Saints church is a 40-year-old Iraq War veteran who served in the US Marines, The Post can confirm. Thomas Jacob Sanford rammed his Chevy Silverado truck into the building before opening fire on worshipers at a Sunday service at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan. The vehicle had two large American flags behind the cab and a set of deer antlers attached to the bumper. He also set the church ablaze, causing the entire structure to burn down. Authorities fear there may be more victims in the fire. A Facebook post by Sanford’s mother says the gunman — who died at the scene in a shootout with cops — served in Iraq from 2004 to 2008. He was killed minutes after the first 911 call came in. A Department of Natural Resources officer and a local township cop responded in about 30 seconds, authorities said. . . Social media accounts believed to be connected to Sanford show he was a family man, with a wife and young son. . . Meanwhile, detectives are probing whether the mass shooting and fire has any connection to the death of longtime national LDS church president Russel M. Nelson, who died Saturday in Salt Lake City at age 101, according to a source briefed on the investigation who spoke to ABC News.
No doubt the media is working overtime to craft some sort of narrative tying the perpetrator to President Trump, MAGA, "right-wing extremism" etc. etc. ad nauseam.
Prayers up for the victims and all affected by this monstrous incident. Before I go too far afield, the one thing I wanted to note was the long overdue and hopefully excruciatingly painful, messy and drawn out departure from this world to an eternity in the Infernal Reaches of one Joanne Chesimard. Hopefully this bitch is roasting and may anyone who heaps praise on her join her for dinner as soon as possible.
Let’s cut to the chase, the Chicago Teachers’ Union is a domestic terrorist organization that runs the city, extracts massive amounts of tax money for its members while openly preaching violence and hate. It’s the best possible argument for the decentralization and privatization of the so-called public school system. Every time you think CTU has hit the lowest low imaginable, it does something worse. This time it hailed cop-killer Joanne Chesimard aka Assata Shakur, tweeting, “Rest in Power, Rest in Peace, Assata Shakur. Today we honor the life and legacy of a revolutionary fighter, a fierce writer, a revered elder of Black liberation, and a leader of freedom whose spirit continues to live in our struggle. Assata refused to be silenced. She taught us that “It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.” . . . That quote from the fugitive cop killer, “It is our duty to fight for our freedom” has become a BLM chant It appears in Shakur’s biography just after she indirectly mentions the shootout that killed Trooper Werner Foerster and hails the “guerrillas” of her Black Liberation Army terrorist group. The phrase just before the chant is, “We must gain our liberation by any means necessary”.
God bless the memory of Werner Foerster and the family he left behind who no doubt grieve for him to this day. May they find some measure of comfort that the subhuman animal who took his life is no longer breathing the same oxygen. When President Trump assumed the presidency, one of the things I had hoped he could bring about was the repatriation of Chesimard, either by diplomatic means or if need by via Seal Team 6. The other was a special op to retake the USS Pueblo from North Korea, but I digress. Yes indeed, the CTU and much of academia sadly is a terrorist organization and training camp, having poisoned the minds of several successive generations of American school kids to hate their country, heritage, family and ultimately themselves. That is what ultimately created the likes of Chesimard, Mangione, Charlie Kirk's assassin and on and on and on. The CTU is by no means alone in its praising of this evil cvnt now roasting in hell.
In the days since her death, numerous prominent Left-wing organizations and personalities have predictably issued statements honoring her criminal legacy as a symbol of brave resistance against racial injustice and imperialism, blah blah blah. . . . . . This outpouring of veneration for a cold-blooded terrorist is disgusting, but what can you expect from today’s Democrat Party? The Left is and always has been, from the French Revolution forward to today, a political movement that rabidly embraces revolutionary violence, including murder and assassination. In the modern era you can add a vicious strain of anti-white racism to their lust for violence.And lastly, a quick shout-out and thank you for your continued support in hitting our tip jar. It truly is appreciated more than you can know. Have a good day!
- ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY LINKS
- Daniel Greenfield: The Chicago Teachers' Union is a domestic terrorist organization
Chicago Teachers’ Union Hails Terrorist Who Murdered Police Officer
- Thad McCotter: The left brands MAGA as “fascist” while embracing socialism itself—projection and deflection masking a radical drift away from America’s founding principles.
The Left’s Political Playbook: Projection and Deflection - Grand Blanc Township police indicated that their investigators, “along with the FBI,” will work to ascertain if there was any relationship between the shooter and the church.
Police: 40-Year-Old Man Drove into Michigan Church, Opened Fire, Was Shot Dead by Officers
- Meanwhile, detectives are also probing whether the mass shooting and fire has any connection to the death of longtime national LDS church president Russel M. Nelson, who died Saturday in Salt Lake City at age 101, according to a source briefed on the investigation who spoke to ABC News.
Iraq War veteran Thomas Sanford ID’d as gunman who attacked Grand Blanc LDS church, killing 4 and setting it ablaze - Victor Davis Hanson: James Comey’s indictment may grab headlines, but the real scandal is how many of his past abuses still escape legal or moral accountability.
Comey Faces Indictment, but His Real Crimes Remain Untouched
Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 07:40 AM | Comments (269) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Daily Tech News 29 September 2025
Top Story
- Intel plans production of its next-gen Panther Lake laptop chips starting in Q1 of next year on its brand new 18A (1.8nm) process node. (WCCFTech)
Chips take a good six months to make it from production start to consumer devices on store shelves, so expect these to appear in laptops in late Q3 next year.
Panther Lake will offer up to 4 performance cores, which is... Not a lot. They will pair these with up to 8 efficiency cores and 4 low-power cores, but at the moment all the models except the fastest are looking pretty anemic.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM | Comments (126) | Trackbacks (Suck)
September 28, 2025
Sunday Overnight Open Thread - September 28, 2025 [Doof]
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Gun Thread: 4th and Final September Edition!
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Food Thread: Foraging For Mushrooms? Deliciousness... Or Death
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First World Problems...
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Nothing To See Here! Please Disperse!
Apparently The Murder Of Christians Is Perfectly Okay With The UN And The World!
Over 50,000 Christians killed in Nigeria by Islamist extremists
And that is two and a half years ago. It has gotten much worse. The conspicuous ignorance of the world media, and the vicious fixation on Israel's defensive war against militant Islam is a stark reminder that Western religions are despised, and their adherents are considered expendable in the post-modern war against everything traditional. Wars against religions are acceptable at the United Nations, as evidenced by their obsessive hatred of every Israeli attempt at defense of the Jewish state, and their disinterest in doing anything about the Muslim war on Christians in Nigeria and elsewhere. But the world rushes to the defense of Islam when it is countered, which suggests that Islam is not a religion, but is a revolutionary political philosophy that uses religion to control its adherents. Communism is similarly protected! Christians and Jews are the primary targets of Islam. It is institutionally fixated on the devout, because they are most capable of refuting Islam's pseudo-religious dictates to conquer and kill. And like communism, Islam understands that the destruction of Western religion will destroy one of the underpinnings of Western culture. And without that culture, Islam becomes the default. But even more than religion's structural support of the West, it provides a template for the world that is far kinder to, and more respectful of the individual, which is anathema to Islam (and communism!). One of these quotations is not like the other...
Apparently The Murder Of Christians Is Perfectly Okay With The UN And The World!
Well, of course! They aren't downtrodden Muslims or transsexuals or leftists, so really, who cares! And besides, they are the worst kind of Christians...they actually take Christianity seriously!
This is nothing more than a continuation of Islam's 1,400 year war against Western Civilization. When Islam is powerful...it kills and conquers. When it is weak...it is obsequious and slithery and migratory. But the goal is the same: to subvert Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc., by any means at their disposal. Christian persecution in Nigeria: 1,200 churches destroyed annually, hundreds killed Over 8,000 Christians killed in Nigeria in 2023, watchdog estimates 7,000 Christians Have Been Killed in Nigeria This Year, Group SaysOver 50,000 Christians killed in Nigeria by Islamist extremists
Over 50,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria since the outbreak of the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency in 2009, a newly-released report published by a Nigerian non-governmental organization has revealed.
And that is two and a half years ago. It has gotten much worse. The conspicuous ignorance of the world media, and the vicious fixation on Israel's defensive war against militant Islam is a stark reminder that Western religions are despised, and their adherents are considered expendable in the post-modern war against everything traditional. Wars against religions are acceptable at the United Nations, as evidenced by their obsessive hatred of every Israeli attempt at defense of the Jewish state, and their disinterest in doing anything about the Muslim war on Christians in Nigeria and elsewhere. But the world rushes to the defense of Islam when it is countered, which suggests that Islam is not a religion, but is a revolutionary political philosophy that uses religion to control its adherents. Communism is similarly protected! Christians and Jews are the primary targets of Islam. It is institutionally fixated on the devout, because they are most capable of refuting Islam's pseudo-religious dictates to conquer and kill. And like communism, Islam understands that the destruction of Western religion will destroy one of the underpinnings of Western culture. And without that culture, Islam becomes the default. But even more than religion's structural support of the West, it provides a template for the world that is far kinder to, and more respectful of the individual, which is anathema to Islam (and communism!). One of these quotations is not like the other...
I will cast terror into the hearts of those who have disbelieved, so strike them over the necks, and smite over all their fingers and toes.-- Quran (8:12)
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.-- Matthew 7:12
You shall neither take revenge from nor bear a grudge against the members of your people; you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.-- Leviticus 19:18
What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.-- Rabbi Hillel In which world would you rather live?
Posted by: CBD at 12:00 PM | Comments (269) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Reading Thread 9/28/2025 
Posted by: Weasel at 09:00 AM | Comments (303) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Daily Tech News 28 September 2025
Top Story
- TSMC's 3nm and 5nm production is projected to be 100% booked next year. (WCCFTech)
If you didn't do your Christmas shopping early, you might run into issues.
- Though Samsung has cut prices on its 2nm node by 33%. (Yahoo)
Now only $20,000 per wafer!
Samsung also scored a $16 billion deal to manufacture chips for Tesla.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM | Comments (174) | Trackbacks (Suck)
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