Daily Tech News 20 August 2025

Top Story

• A three judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals handed a win to Tesla in its fight over prosecution by the NLRB when it ruled that the entire bureau was probably unconstitutional. (Tech Crunch)
  
  Oof.
  
  
  
• Meta is shaking up its AI group again. (Tech Crunch)
  
  At some point it plans to launch AI products.
  
  Maybe.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM | Comments (156) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Tuesday Overnight Open Thread - August 19, 2025 [scampydog]

Most problems can be resolved with a Corn Boil

Would you look at that. It's Tuesday ONT time. Let's see what fun we can get into this evening.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:00 PM | Comments (636) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Unruly Elephants Cafe

That baby elephant grew up to be a criminal.

Baby elephants don't understand that they are massively heavy and try to be lap-cats.

Fox evades a persistent hawk.

This Golden Eagle caught the fox, and is able to carry it away even in a high wind.

Waterfall in Iceland.
Inside a kangaroo's pouch. I guess I should have known this, but didn't -- a kangaroo's teats are inside the pouch.

Pandas are devoted to disproving the entire concept of Darwinian survival of the fittest.

Horse takes a quick dip in a creek.

Man and his best friend surf.

A father and daughter debate the curfew and proper dress policies.

Florida Man is just different.

This may be a bad sign.

Posted by: Ace at 07:40 PM | Comments (297) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Bank Executives Admit: Obama and Biden Pressured Us to "Debank" the Democrat Party's Political Enemies

They're speaking anonymously for fear of reprisal.

The banks faced reprisals under Obama and Biden: Do what we demand, punish our enemies for us, or we'll sic bank regulators on you and make your life a nightmare.

Obama and Biden are gone but the Democrat Party is now communist and Maoist and they will get their vengeance if they're given the chance.

Bank executives blow the whistle on how Obama, Biden admins pressured them to debank conservatives

In the wake of President Donald Trump's executive order outlawing debanking, major bank executives told Fox News Digital that they were under pressure by the Obama and Biden administrations to deny services to individuals and businesses for political reasons.

"Those pressures were very, very real. When your regulator gives you a suggestion, it's not a suggestion, it's an order. The political stuff is very real, those pressures are real," a senior banking executive told Fox News Digital.

...

The executives said that ambiguity in federal laws was exploited by regulators under the Obama and Biden administrations in order to pursue political objectives. According to one executive, banks were pressured to deny services to certain industries as part of Operation Choke Point and Operation Choke Point 2.0.

"When there's ambiguity in the law, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and for a long time the beholder was the Obama and Biden administration," the official said.

A House Oversight Committee report found that "Operation Choke Point," a DOJ task force whose aim was to "choke out" legal companies disfavored by the Obama administration, worked with bank regulators to label certain industries, including firearms sales, as "high risk."

Trump ended "Operation Choke Point" in 2017 during his first term. However, a House Financial Services Committee hearing last week heard accusations that former President Joe Biden had rebooted the initiative and targeted crypto firms for debanking as part of "Operation Choke Point 2.0."

Trump claimed to be a victim of debanking, and accused JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and others of refusing more than $1 billion in his deposits. First lady Melania Trump wrote in her memoir that she and her son Barron were debanked, as well.

"I was shocked and dismayed to learn that my long‑time bank decided to terminate my account and deny my son the opportunity to open a new one.... This decision appeared to be rooted in political discrimination, raising serious concerns about civil rights violations," Melania wrote.

...

Former Republican Sen. Sam Brownback accused JPMorgan Chase of having debanked his nonprofit, the National Committee for Religious Freedom, in 2022. JPMorgan maintains that they never engaged in political debanking, but updated their code of conduct to state that they do not discriminate based on political views or religious beliefs in 2025 -- which the bank stated was merely the codification of existing policy.

...

According to Inspire Investing's Tim Schwarzenberger, CFA, whose firm has been deeply involved with combating debanking, banks would use the criteria of "reputational risk" to deny services to politically disfavored groups and individuals.

...

Another senior banking executive said that negative news coverage was considered criteria for "reputational risk." During the period between the 2020 presidential election and Trump's return to the Oval Office in 2024, he was subject to a flurry of lawsuits and negative press. Banks, according to the official, responding to the wishes of regulators, would use the negative press directed at conservatives as a pretext to debank them.

"It's all kind of set up, it's like somebody set the table, and it all ends up focusing on Republicans and conservatives," the executive said.

The executive added that banks were under constant regulatory pressure to file more "suspicious activity reports," reports submitted to the Treasury about unusual banking activity, and to debank more customers. He said the regulators didn't need to explicitly tell banks to deny services to any particular individual or business. The administration's preferences were well known, and the banks were expected to comply.

...

"It's better for us to just not take on certain business if we suspect an examiner can come in and say six months ago you shouldn't have taken this client," the bank official told Fox News Digital.

And speaking of weaponization of government: Tulsi Gabbard revoked the security clearances of 37 officials involved in the RussiaGate Coup Attempt.

DNI Tulsi Gabbard
@DNIGabbard

Being entrusted with a security clearance is a privilege, not a right. Those in the Intelligence Community who betray their oath to the Constitution and put their own interests ahead of the interests of the American people have broken the sacred trust they promised to uphold. In doing so, they undermine our national security, the safety and security of the American people and the foundational principles of our democratic republic.

This is why, at @POTUS
' direction, @ODNIgov
directed the revocation of the security clearances of 37 current and former intelligence professionals who have abused the public trust by politicizing and manipulating intelligence, leaking classified intelligence without authorization, and/or committing intentional egregious violations of tradecraft standards.

Our Intelligence Community must be committed to upholding the values and principles enshrined in the US Constitution and maintain a laser-like focus on our mission of ensuring the safety, security and freedom of the American people.

I guess that's why this Deep State scumbag is salty.

A former FBI agent and friend of Peter Strzok who recently resigned from the bureau after he says his relationship with the disgraced ex-FBI official was scrutinized by Dan Bongino is now defending Crossfire Hurricane, suggesting Donald Trump was in contact with Russian intelligence, comparing the FBI under Kash Patel to the KGB and Chinese spy services, throwing around Nazi comparisons, and more.

Michael Feinberg, who was recently the assistant special agent in charge at the FBI's Norfolk field office in Virginia, left the FBI at the end of May after he claims his direct superior told him that FBI deputy director Dan Bongino was scrutinizing his longtime friendship with Strzok, the disgraced FBI special agent who played a key role in the Trump-Russia investigation and was fired following the emergence of biased anti-Trump texts he had exchanged with FBI lawyer Lisa Page, with whom he was having an affair.

Rather than take a polygraph test about his relationship with Strzok, Feinberg says he quit the FBI instead of risking the possible demotion he says he was facing in place of the big promotion to FBI headquarters which he had been expecting.

The FBI's website says that "although we have used polygraphs to screen new employees for many years, since the 2001 Robert Hanssen spy case, we have also been requiring regular polygraph examinations of FBI employees with access to sensitive compartmented information."
Anti-Trump operatives' new hero

Since leaving the bureau, Feinberg has been hailed this summer by some as a possible "Resistance 2.0"-style hero by multiple anti-Trump foes. He has appeared on CNN and MSNBC, talked with Daily Show host and Trump critic Jon Stewart, got a job at the Brookings Institute-affiliated anti-Trump outlet Lawfare, and more, all while lashing out at the FBI under FBI Director Kash Patel.

Feinberg has hinted at a nefarious connection between Trump and Russia, has compared the current bureau to Communist-style spy agencies, and has suggested that the Trump administration had commonalities with the Nazi regime, all while promoting the views of his friend Peter Strzok and seeking to downplay the FBI's wrongdoing during its politically-motivated Crossfire Hurricane inquiry into now debunked claims of Trump-Russia collusion.

Posted by: Ace at 06:40 PM | Comments (262) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Feds Charge Thirty Tren de Aragua Gang Members with Drug Dealing, Murder-for-Hire, and Illegally Owning Guns That Americans Should Own

Are you listening to yourself, Martha?

Thirty alleged members and leaders of Tren de Aragua (TdA), a Venezuelan gang designated as a foreign terrorist group, were indicted in Colorado on charges including murder-for-hire, drug trafficking, and firearms offenses.

The gang has been tied to murder, extortion, kidnapping, and drug and human trafficking.

Several TdA members are accused of unlawfully entering the U.S. and introducing its gang violence to communities across America, including those in Colorado.

"These defendants include Tren de Aragua leaders, members, and associates," U.S. Attorney for Colorado Peter McNeilly said during a press conference on Monday. "The charges include firearms trafficking, drug trafficking, and a barbaric murder for hire plot in which several of the defendants agreed to kill two people for $15,000 and return their severed heads as proof of the murders for just an extra $5,000."

A nine-month investigation tied to crime at a Denver-area apartment complex led a grand jury to charge 28 people in a 39-count indictment.

Charges include firearms trafficking, using guns in drug crimes, illegal possession of firearms and drug trafficking.

Five defendants also face conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire.

"The charges tell a story of people selling guns and drugs -- lots of them," McNeilly said. "The affidavits which have been filed in this case also tell a story of a murder-for-hire plot and other crimes that the defendants were willing to commit, such as sex trafficking.

"One of the people who offered to commit murders in this case bragged to the undercover officers that the people he would use to commit those murders were the very same people that we had seen committing crimes on the news in these apartment complexes in Aurora," he continued.

During the investigation, officers with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) recovered 69 firearms, including machine guns. Authorities claim that several of the firearms have been linked to shootings, carjackings, robberies and drive-by shootings in Denver and Aurora.

...

ATF Special Agent in Charge Brent Beavers said during the press conference that some of the firearms recovered were privately made, adding that at least one was equipped with a machine gun conversion device.

Also, a chainsaw bayonet.

The left claims it's bothered by guns. It's not. It's bothered by law-abiding American citizens (aka Republicans) owning guns.

...

In a separate indictment, Luis Fernando Uribe-Torrealba and Luis Henriquez-Charaima, both 29, face six counts including murder-for-hire, carjacking, and trafficking drugs and firearms.

Posted by: Ace at 05:39 PM | Comments (303) | Trackbacks (Suck)

No Surprise: 88% of Students Confess They Pretend to be Left-Wing Just to be Left Alone

It's not a surprise, but I'm glad there's confirmation. We can only roll back this evil once it is acknowledged.

On today's college campuses, students are not maturing -- they're managing. Beneath a facade of progressive slogans and institutional virtue-signaling lies a quiet psychological crisis, driven by the demands of ideological conformity.

Between 2023 and 2025, we conducted 1,452 confidential interviews with undergraduates at Northwestern University and the University of Michigan. We were not studying politics -- we were studying development. Our question was clinical, not political: "What happens to identity formation when belief is replaced by adherence to orthodoxy?"

We asked: Have you ever pretended to hold more progressive views than you truly endorse to succeed socially or academically? An astounding 88 percent said yes.

These students were not cynical, but adaptive. In a campus environment where grades, leadership, and peer belonging often hinge on fluency in performative morality, young adults quickly learn to rehearse what is safe.

The result is not conviction but compliance. And beneath that compliance, something vital is lost.

Late adolescence and early adulthood represent a narrow and non-replicable developmental window. It is during this stage that individuals begin the lifelong work of integrating personal experience with inherited values, forming the foundations of moral reasoning, internal coherence, and emotional resilience.

Of course, this is the whole point: You can only mold impressionable minds, not older, more mature minds whose beliefs and political leanings are already set.

Get 'em while they're young, says the Groomer Cult.

But when belief is prescriptive, and ideological divergence is treated as social risk, the integrative process stalls. Rather than forging a durable sense of self through trial, error, and reflection, students learn to compartmentalize. Publicly, they conform; privately, they question -- often in isolation. This split between outer presentation and inner conviction not only fragments identity but arrests its development.

This dissonance shows up everywhere. Seventy-eight percent of students told us they self-censor on their beliefs surrounding gender identity; 72 percent on politics; 68 percent on family values. More than 80 percent said they had submitted classwork that misrepresented their views in order to align with professors. For many, this has become second nature -- an instinct for academic and professional self-preservation.

To test the gap between expression and belief, we used gender discourse -- a contentious topic both highly visible and ideologically loaded. In public, students echoed expected progressive narratives. In private, however, their views were more complex. Eighty-seven percent identified as exclusively heterosexual and supported a binary model of gender. Nine percent expressed partial openness to gender fluidity. Just seven percent embraced the idea of gender as a broad spectrum, and most of these belonged to activist circles.

Perhaps most telling: 77 percent said they disagreed with the idea that gender identity should override biological sex in such domains as sports, healthcare, or public data -- but would never voice that disagreement aloud. Thirty-eight percent described themselves as "morally confused," uncertain whether honesty was still ethical if it meant exclusion.

Authenticity, once considered a psychological good, has become a social liability. And this fragmentation doesn't end at the classroom door. Seventy-three percent of students reported mistrust in conversations about these values with close friends. Nearly half said they routinely conceal beliefs in intimate relationships for fear of ideological fallout. This is not simply peer pressure -- it is identity regulation at scale, and it is being institutionalized.

Posted by: Ace at 04:42 PM | Comments (326) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Tucker Carlson Is Just Asking Questions, and Those Questions Keep Turning Out to Be "Shouldn't MAGA Support Hamas?" and "Shouldn't the US Join Hamas to Destroy the Zionist Entity?"

When Ted Cruz told Tucker Carlson he was "obsessed" with Israel, the jowly nepo baby Tucker Carlson elegantly responded "No, you're obsessed."

He has always been as superficial as the sheen on a glossy magazine. He should do Firing Line again, this time with Bill Kristol, and they can both pose as intellectuals together.

Let's check the tape to see who's obsessed:

Posted by: Ace at 03:46 PM | Comments (413) | Trackbacks (Suck)

DC Crime Plummets In Just One Week; White Out-of-Towner AWLFs are Angry

Newsmax:

The D.C. Police Union released new crime statistics on Monday, showing an 8% drop in overall crime in the nation's capital following President Donald Trump's announcement of a federal takeover of the Washington, D.C., police force last week.

According to the union, which represents the Metropolitan Police Department's 3,000 personnel, carjackings are down 83% since federal control was enacted, while robberies dropped 46%.

Violent crime fell 22% in the seven days since federal law enforcement began patrolling D.C.'s streets, and car theft came down 21%. Assault with a deadly weapon and property crime are also each down 6%.

"While federal assistance gives us a boost, we must repeal the misguided Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Act in order to make these changes permanent," the union wrote on X, Monday morning.

The D.C. city council passed the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022 in December of that year. According to USA Today, the measure was voted down by both the House and the Senate after it was submitted for congressional review in January 2023. Then-President Joe Biden vetoed Congress' decision, however, and the law took effect in April 2023.

The legislation established restrictions on the use of force, set parameters for the hiring and firing of officers and increased access to disciplinary police records.

Huh -- more cops, less crime. Who would have imagined it?

Scott Jennings points out that at the end of a New York Times article, it admits that judges are empowered and encouraged to treat anyone under 25 as a juvenile for sentencing purposes. In other words -- don't sentence anyone 25 or under for serious crime.

He points out that most street criminals in DC -- indeed, most criminals throughout history -- are young men, either older teenagers or younger twenty-somethings.

When the left embraced "decarceration" and defunding the police, they did not have the strength to do so frontally. The public wouldn't have it.

So they got sneaky. They couldn't actually legalize crime, so they passed thousands of "reforms" post George Floyd's heart becoming a Hero for the first time in its life. And the purpose of these reforms was to (I keep saying this, but it's true) legalize crime for black people, but in the guise of "small commonsense reforms."

The left complains that black criminals are punished -- they call this the "school to prison pipeline," but they always forget the middle step in that pipeline, "committing a serious, likely violent felony."

And they responded by passing "reforms" making it almost impossible to send a young black career street criminal to jail.

And of course it's this group that is responsible for 75% of all street crime.

This wasn't an accident -- this was the whole point. We are living in the crime-wracked world the left wanted.

If you haven't been to DC in a while, you might not know that every bit of grass in the city, from parks to green medians between roads, is now taken over by the homeless in big tent shanty towns.

Under Trump's direction, the tent shantytowns have been pulled down and put where they belong, in garbage trucks. There's a video below showing one DC resident marveling that he can finally walk down the street and not see a homeless encampment on the grassy strip beside the street.

Caution on this video, because she drops an n-bomb, but here's what one (black, female) DC resident says: "'Finally able to chill at a red light with my windows down, not worried about if one of them young n***as is coming. Riding through the city -- feeling more safe than I've ever felt."

Posted by: Ace at 02:36 PM | Comments (308) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Woke NFL to Introduce Male Cheerleaders In Attempt to Out-Gay Than Soccer

The NFL is begging for the Bud Light Treatment.

They're already getting "backlash."

Two male Vikings cheerleaders don't seem to be taking any of the backlash that they've gotten from some football fans to heart since the team announced their inclusion in the 2025 squad in a post on social media.

Blaize Shiek and Louie Conn will be members of the Vikings cheer team, which sparked criticism and even some fans threatening to not be fans of the team anymore.

However, Shiek seemed to address the controversy by poking fun at all of the people discussing him.

"Wait...did someone say our name?" Shiek wrote in a post on Instagram that included a photo of himself and Conn in their cheer uniforms.

The Vikings also responded to the controversy in a statement last week, defending Shiek and Conn.

"While many fans may be seeing male cheerleaders for the first time at Vikings games, male cheerleaders have been part of previous Vikings teams and have long been associated with collegiate and professional cheerleading," the team said in a statement.

"In 2025, approximately one-third of NFL teams have male cheerleaders. Every member of the Minnesota Vikings Cheerleaders program has an impressive dance background and went through the same rigorous audition process. Individuals were selected because of their talent, passion for dance and dedication to elevating the game day experience. We support all our cheerleaders and are proud of the role they play as ambassadors of the organization."

The Rams are said to have been the first NFL team to include men on their cheerleading squad back in 2018.

I know that college squads feature male cheerleaders. These "cheerleaders" don't dance like girls, though, and don't wear girlish costumes and bippy-shorts. They mostly do things like shouting for one team to kill the other team and throw tiny girls dangerously high into the air. You know, manly stuff.

I think it's like male dancers: Yeah, half of them are gay, but the other half are absolutely rekking mish.

That's not the kind of cheerleader the NFL is bringing in, of course. They are bringing in the dancingest, swishiest, gayest male cheerleader you can imagine.

Because every moment in your life must be devoted to Centering Queerness. Any moment not spent Centering Queerness is a wasted moment you'll never get back.

Posted by: Ace at 01:35 PM | Comments (341) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Cameras Catch a Michigan City Council Member Stuffing the Drop Boxes at Night

That thing that never happens just keeps happening.

In the days before the August 5 primary election in the troubled city of Hamtramck, Michigan, surveillance videos caught several people allegedly stuffing the municipal ballot drop box with suspicious ballots.

An August 1 video shows two men in a car handling stacks of ballots and placing them into Hamtramck's drop box during the day. In another video, a pickup truck arrives at the drop box after dark with three people inside. The driver gets out of the truck and crams stacks of ballots into the box but has trouble because the box is so full.

Stuffing drop boxes while no one watching for cheaters is a recipe for election corruption. That is why President Donald Trump announced this week he will lead a movement to get rid of mail-in ballots, which can be cast by using a drop box. Trump also wants to stop using voting machines and return to voting with paper ballots.

Big dumps of ballots are suspicious because Michigan election law allows ballots to be dropped off only by the individual voter, a member of the voter's immediate family, or someone living in the voter's home.

Local news reported that Abu Musa, an incumbent city council member who is up for reelection, appeared to be in both vehicles caught on video. But the identities of the people in the vehicles have not been confirmed by officials, and no charges have been filed.

...

Musa received 1,129 votes, winning the primary with 13 percent of the vote. Residency is required to hold office as a city councilor. The weekly Hamtramck Review reports that Musa's wife and two daughters live in another town, yet Musa says he lives in another home in Hamtramck and is not separated from his wife.

Musa and city councilor Mohammed Al-Somiri were named in a 2023 election fraud case but were not charged. Others named in that case are city councilors Muhtasin Sadman and Mohammed Hassan, who were charged last week for election fraud, specifically two felonies each: forging a signature on an absentee ballot application and forgery under Michigan's election law, Michigan Public reported.

As Logan Washburn reported for The Federalist last year, investigative reporters at Project Veritas heard officials may be ballot harvesting and bullying people for their ballots in Hamtramck, so it investigated. Project Veritas contacted Musa and city councilman Mohammed Hassan and offered to connect them with blank ballots from immigrants who didn't know how to fill them out, so the ballots would not go to waste. Neither man rejected the offer and both knew how to get the ballots counted.

The Third-Worldization of America is almost complete. It's not fair that America should be an orderly, law-abiding, prosperous, high-trust society when the rest of the world is disorderly, crime-ridden, poor, and low-trust, so we'll just have to Make America the Middle East.

Posted by: Ace at 12:18 PM | Comments (386) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Morning Rant: Minimalist Edition

Pax Americana has been so thoroughly discredited that I am amazed that there are presumably sentient humans who still believe that we can be the world's policeman without any downsides.

We carried NATO for its entire existence, and gave the Euro-trash a perfect excuse to spend their money on welfare rather than defense. So the taxpayers of America paid for those cool fast trains and 32 hour work weeks and month-long vacations and cradle-to-grave benefits that have been one of the main drivers of Western European senescence, and the current sclerotic and pathetic societies that focus not on their culture, but on insane woke policies and appeasement of their soon-to-be conquerors...Islam.

We tried to create some sort of weird Jeffersonian democracy in Iraq...and that failed. Afghanistan was a fiasco. Our billions of dollars that are funneled into every failed state in the world is mostly looted, and our soldiers are restricted by insane rules of engagement that get them killed!

And that's just recently. Do you want to talk about Korea and Vietnam and Somalia and Lebanon and....

US Envoy Says Putin Agreed to Security Protections for Ukraine as Part Trump Summit

Special U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin agreed at his summit with President Donald Trump to allow the U.S. and European allies to offer Ukraine a security guarantee resembling NATO’s collective defense mandate as part of an eventual deal to end the 3 1/2-year war.

“We were able to win the following concession: That the United States could offer Article 5-like protection, which is one of the real reasons why Ukraine wants to be in NATO," he said on CNN's “State of the Union.” He added that it "was the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that.”

If "security guarantee" means selling American arms to Europe and Ukraine, then I'm all for it. But if it means some sort of informal membership in NATO for Ukraine, which is EXACTLY what "Article 5-like protection" means, then no. No. NO!

Let Europe protect Ukraine. Let them risk their soldiers. Let them risk their cities. Let them risk a charming little tactical nuke exchange with Russia. But keep America out of it. We have done enough for the security of Europe, and it is time for them to put their big-boy pants on and defend themselves, and whatever shared culture they have left (aside from Pakistani rape gangs).

Trump doesn't rule out sending US troops to Ukraine as part of peacekeeping efforts: 'We'll be involved'

Speaking during a brief media availability alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters that both Europe and the United States would be involved in securing a post-war peace for Ukraine, but he refused to say outright that American troops would not be put on the ground to maintain that peace.

Et Tu Donald?

No American boots on the ground. Let some hapless Belgian battalion be the tripwire for another European war. Or even better, make it some pathetic United Nations blue-helmeted rapist battalion, so they get their balls shot off by the Russians if and when they decide to take a bigger chunk of Ukraine.

But I don't care... as long as it isn't American blood and treasure being expended for the miserable post-modern cowards of Europe.

[Crossposted at CutJibNewsletter and X/Twitter] And the Apple and Spotify feeds for CJN's podcast should be working!

Posted by: CBD at 11:00 AM | Comments (337) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Mid-Morning Art Thread

Interior with Woman in Red Seen from Behind
Félix Vallotton

Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM | Comments (235) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Morning Report — 8/19/25

Good morning kids. Well for what it's worth, President Trump and Shecky Zelensky of Ukraine reportedly had a cordial meeting, coming on the heels of the former's meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska. At the very least there are strong indications that there will be some sort of trilateral meeting between all the parties with the aim of ending the Russo/Ukraine war.

President Donald J. Trump has said he hopes today’s bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and summit with major European leaders will pave the way for a trilateral meeting between Zelensky, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and himself to negotiate an end to the war between the two Eastern European countries. Zelensky—and the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, NATO, and the European Union (EU)—gathered for an unprecedented summit at the White House on Monday after President Trump held bilateral discussions with Putin last Friday in what could mark a significant breakthrough towards ending the Ukraine war.“If everything works out well today, we’ll have a trilat—and I think there will be a reasonable chance of ending the war when we do that,” President Trump said. The America First leader emphasized that any trilateral meeting must be aimed at securing an enduring and lasting peace between Russia and Ukraine.

So while there was jaw-jaw war-war was still happening. . .

Ukrainian Drones Hit Refineries, Drive Russia’s Gas Prices to Record Highs . . . “Russia, one of the world's largest energy producers, relies heavily on oil exports to fund its full-scale war against Ukraine. Ukrainian forces have increasingly targeted Russian energy facilities that both supply fuel to its military and generate revenue for the Kremlin.”

No doubt this will have an effect on Putin, both personally and politically. From my perspective, it's imperative that we stay as far away from this mess as possible. There is talk of President Trump sending weaponry to Zelensky I assume to try and force the issue vis a vis Putin to make some sort of concessions. We shouldn't be sending even a Nerf Gun refill. And US troops? No way. Putin is not going to give an inch of what he has captured and I cannot envision Zelensky making any sort of concessions to stop the bloodshed, even though it's his people's blood being shed in the main and it's Russia that's the aggressor. The whole situation is a mess that's been going on since before the Soviet and Tsarist eras.

If President Trump can at least end this latest round of conflict, it certainly is a huge feather in his cap, and regardless of everything else, the end of the fighting is certainly a desirable outcome for the world, and not least of all for the people on both sides of the lines.

Meanwhile, back here in the States, while the Texas Democrat Flee Circus seems to have ended with their capitulation. . .

Yay for Texas, but . . .

. . . Yet another hack-in-black takes a rusty hacksaw to whatever is left of the Constitution:

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has denied Louisiana‘s request to enforce its congressional redistricting map, initially passed by the Republican-majority legislature in 2022. Judges ruled the map violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by diluting the votes of black residents through practices described as “packing” and “cracking” black voters, undermining their voting power.Notably, 83 percent of black voters nationwide backed Democrat candidate Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.The court rejected Louisiana’s argument that race-based remedies are no longer necessary, stating, “There is no legal basis for this proposition, and the state offers no evidence that conditions in Louisiana have changed.” One judge issued a stay before the decision could take effect, though the Supreme Court had already stayed the map earlier in the year.The Supreme Court is also currently reviewing the case in Louisiana v. Callais and has requested additional arguments from both sides. The focus remains on whether Louisiana’s redistricting efforts were narrowly tailored to meet constitutional requirements. Justices are expected to weigh in further during the fall term.

Yes, we must have naked disgusting racialism in order to end naked disgusting racialism.

And then there are things that go boom in the night. . .

A cargo ship exploded in Chesapeake Bay near Baltimore on Monday evening.

“At this time, numerous emergency crews are responding to a cargo ship fire in the Baltimore Harbor on Chesapeake Bay, according to Maryland officials,” noted Rawsalerts. “The Baltimore City Fire Department reported that the ship caught fire in the Patapsco River near the site of the Key Bridge collapse.”

“While initial reports described it as an explosion, officials clarified that the incident involved an under-deck fire that sent smoke billowing into the air. The fire has since been contained, and the vessel is being removed from the channel. The cause of the fire remains under investigation,” it added.

Remember, we are still dealing with over four years and more really of at best a porous and at worst an intentionally wide open border where anyone and everyone from mere human traffickers and drug traffickers to terrorists and foreign saboteurs and agents can and have no doubt drifted in, meaning to do us harm.

In the wake of 9/11 (and I don't think I am giving away any big ideas or secrets here) I had often thought that as bad as that attack was, can you imagine multiple cargo ships (that are always sailing up and into New York Harbor) each loaded to capacity with AN-FO sailing up the harbor and grounding themselves under the bridges and over the Battery, Lincoln and Midtown tunnels then exploding. The death and destruction would've been orders of magnitude greater than 9/11.

AN-FO is a mixture of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil. As was used to devastating effect in Oklahoma City in 1995. And that was just a single Ryder Truck.

And so with the revelations and confirmation about the Deep State and the criminal traitors who ran it and sadly the many underlings that are likely still embedded in it, this item makes me go hmm?

It has always been hard to believe that the truck-bombing of the A.P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, which killed 168 people, including 19 children at a daycare center, was planned by just one or two perpetrators acting alone. However, the official story states that the mastermind was Gulf War veteran Timothy McVeigh, and that the two others sentenced with him only helped him in various ways.

The bombing happened at the height of the Clinton era. And in the immediate aftermath Clinton was quick to blame conservatives and right-wingers, specifically he singled out Rush Limbaugh, his harshest and most effective critic, as perhaps inspiring the attack itself via his radio program. Later Clinton tried to explain/obfuscate that he was blaming some ham radio operator out in the sticks and not El Rushbo.

Remember that this is the same Clinton machine that engineered the Russia Collusion hoax with the same FBI and Intel agencies that worked their fingers to the bone to sabotage and attempt to take down candidate and then President Trump. And the very same operatves, Brennan Comey and Clapper and many if not all of their underlings were working in the FBI, CIA, DoJ and elsewhere in the Deep State when the Murrah Building was leveled.

So, engineer a right-wing terrorist attack as a pretext to drive the GOP and conservative movement as well as the alternative media completely out of existence. Just like they attempted with Trump. Rush Limbaugh broke the Leftist stranglehold on news dissemination and in a similar fashion, the MAGA movement if indeed it flourishes into a legitimate movement is an existential threat to Leftists/Democrats/Globalists. And so, by any means necessary.

As I said, Hmm. . . indeed. If they are willing to steal elections, subvert the Judiciary, open the borders and flood the nation with criminals, illegals and terrorists as well as use the apparatus of government to take down elected political enemies and as we know all too well, merely lowly citizens, there is nothing they will not consider beyond the pale to preserve protect and defend their hold on power (hello the J-6 Pelosi engineered Reichstag weenie roast).

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 great day!

ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY
• “While initial reports described it as an explosion, officials clarified that the incident involved an under-deck fire that sent smoke billowing into the air. The fire has since been contained, and the vessel is being removed from the channel. The cause of the fire remains under investigation,” it added.
  Watch: Cargo Ship Explodes in Chesapeake Bay near Baltimore

• When accusation becomes law, fatherhood becomes a crime.
  I Lost My Freedom, Money, And Guns Based On No Evidence And With No Chance To Defend Myself
  
• A new book details a web of connections, coincidences, and “suicides” far too broad to ignore.
  Was the FBI Behind the Oklahoma Bombing?

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 07:33 AM | Comments (286) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 19 August 2025

Top Story

• If a Linktr.ee fell in a forest in India and nobody knew why, would it make a sound? (Tech Crunch)
  
  Because it did.
  
  
  
• England has declared war on 4Chan. (Think Broadband)
  
  This seems unwise. 4Chan is a US company so England has less than no authority here.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM | Comments (166) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Monday Overnight Open Thread - August 18, 2025 [Doof]

Howdy Hordelings! Time for the Monday night ONT. How has your day been? Do anything fun or exciting today? Grab a beverage of your choosing, peruse the content, then rendezvous in the gray boxes. OK? OK!

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:02 PM | Comments (404) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Monday Cafe

ICYMI: Border collie is going to train this baby to play fetch one day.

A Belgian Malinois being cute but also showing his chompers.

Dad Law, penguin style.

A nice secluded beach in Greece.

Stacked buildings in Singapor.

Vertical forest.

Hong Kong is a bit crowded.

Baby falcons, gawking.

A rescue tiger has his first dip in a pool.

Saving a sea turtle who went too far inland.

Why you should have an owl.

Steve Inman:

Purse snatcher gets paid in pain.

Would-be church robber enters the Valley of the Shadow of Beat-Downs.

Carjacker tries to stop a car, but the driver decides he'd rather drive straight on through the carjacker.

Spree carjacker gets the Ludacris treatment and then gets shot.

Drunk Karens can't stop laying hands on people who are tired of their shit.

Drunk dude knocks himself out.

A TikTok stunt goes wrong right.

TikToker should really mind her surroundings rather than always posing for the camera.

Pigs agree: bears are out of control.

Posted by: Ace at 07:42 PM | Comments (289) | Trackbacks (Suck)

MSNBC Rebrands Itself "MS NOW," Which Stands for, Stupidly, "My Source for News Opinion World"

Somehow I'm thinking that they just decided to call themselves "MS NOW" and worked out what those letters could stand for later.

Even basket-case propaganda network NBC is embarrassed by the association with MSNBC and wants them to change their name.

Tater claims that MSBNC is doin' great!

an Stelter
@brianstelter

As the cable news channel MSNBC splits up with NBC News, it is also dropping the "NBC" from its name: Later this year, it will become MS NOW, which stands for My Source for News, Opinion, and the World.

MSNBC -- excuse me, MS NOW! -- has been on a hiring spree of late, out of necessity, scooping up dozens of journalists for a new newsroom that will compete with NBC News, along with countless other outlets. (And I hear there are even more new hires that have yet to be announced.)

Maybe he needs to believe that "MS NOW" is doin' great and hiring lots of journalists because he has to believe that CNN has a future, too.

Tater, I'll make you a bet. If I win, you pay me a thousand dollars. If you win, I buy you five (5) McDonald's apple pies. I bet you that by January next year, after the post-Christmas layoffs, "MS NOW" has at least 100 fewer employees than it does now. What do you think, Tater? Are we on?

See, dying companies shed staff, they don't increase staff.

PBS probably thinks this is all great for leftwing propaganda media, too.

Television's MSNBC news network is changing its name to My Source News Opinion World, or MS NOW for short, as part of its corporate divorce from NBC.

The network, which appeals to liberal audiences with a stable of personalities including Rachel Maddow, Ari Melber and Nicole Wallace, has been building its own separate news division from NBC News. It will also remove NBC's peacock symbol from its logo as part of the change, which will take effect later this year.

READ MORE: NBC's Lester Holt to step down as 'Nightly News' anchor after a decade

The name change was ordered by NBC Universal, which last November spun off cable networks USA, CNBC, MSNBC, E! Entertainment, Oxygen and the Golf Channel into its own company, called Versant. None of the other networks are changing their name.

MSNBC got its name upon its formation in 1996, as a partnership then between Microsoft and NBC.

Name changes always carry an inherent risk, and MSNBC President Rebecca Kutler said that for employees, it is hard to imagine the network under a different name. "This was not a decision that was made quickly or without significant debate," she said in a memo to staff.

"During this time of transition, NBC Universal decided that our brand requires a new, separate identity," she said. "This decision now allows us to set our own course and assert our indepedence as we continue to build our own modern newsgathering organization."

Still, it's noteworthy that the business channel CNBC is leaving "NBC" in its name. MSNBC argues that CNBC has always maintained a greater separation and, with its business focus, is less likely to cover many of the same topics.

Whoops! A little admission slipped by there. NBC doesn't want MSNBC associated with them, but they don't mind at all if CNBC continues using the "NBC" acronym.

Apparently they thought of different letters for that backtronym.

CNBC will retain its initials, which stand for "Consumer News and Business Channel," but will be accompanied by a new logo without the peacock when the separation is complete, which is expected by the end of the year.

Bonus:

Posted by: Ace at 06:48 PM | Comments (283) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Illegal Alien, Previously Convicted of DUI, and Who's Current Grift is Doxxing ICE Agents on TikTok, Is Arrested and Will be Deported

She apparently speaks no English whatsoever and yet has worked enough in America to buy a Tesal.

TikTok influencer Tatiana Martinez was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents while she was shooting a livestream from her car on Friday.

Video of the encounter went viral after taking place, where agents could be seen forcibly removing Martinez from her car. Martinez was known for alerting protesters when ICE operations were underway in California.

Her TikTok account, @tatianamartinez_02, which boasts over 30,000 followers, was centered around helping protesters "disrupt, harass and disrespect ICE and law enforcement officers in California," according to independent journalist Hernando Arce, who posted the videos to X.

A statement from Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin to The Post Millennial confirmed, "On August 15, ICE arrested Leidy Tatiana Mafla-Martinez, a criminal illegal alien from Colombia who was convicted for driving under the influence in Los Angeles. This criminal illegal alien entered the country in 2022 and was RELEASED by the Biden administration. During her arrest, Martinez claimed to experience shortness of breath. She was given proper medical treatment and will be held in ICE custody pending removal proceedings."

...

"During the arrest, an individual unlawfully towed a government police vehicle. He mocked and videotaped ICE officers chasing after him. Secretary Noem has been clear: Anyone who seeks to impede law enforcement will be found and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

Note that she apparently speaks no English at all. She keeps saying "espera," or "wait" in Spanish.

She doesn't even know the word "wait" in English.

It's not a hard one.

Even better: They dragged her out of her Tesla mid-TikTok.

Posted by: Ace at 06:00 PM | Comments (274) | Trackbacks (Suck)

James Comey, On Eve of Being Indicted for High Crimes, Makes a Pitch to the AWFLs That Will Be On His Jury: I Hate Trump and Love Love Love Taylor Swift

Hey AWFLs, I'm just like you. I'm also a rapidly-aging elderly white socialist obsessed with a thinly-talented white woman.

Collin Rugg
@CollinRugg

NEW: Former FBI Director and 'Swiftie' James Comey releases a 5-minute video talking about how Taylor Swift inspires him and how she helps him deal with Trump.

"At my second Taylor Swift concert in Hartford, CT, 14 years ago, she sang a song about this topic, asking..."

"Why you gotta be so mean?" Comey said while quoting Swift's 2010 song 'Mean' as he discussed how mean people on X are.

It's truly mind-blowing that this man served as the FBI director.

Trump has kicked over all the rocks of "expertise" and "institutional authority" and citizens are seeing, for the first time in their lives, how incompetent, malign, and mentally-ill our "elite cadres" are.

Posted by: Ace at 04:15 PM | Comments (489) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Drunken Democrat Assistant Attorney General for Rhode Island Plays the Karen Card: "But I'm the AG!"
Maryland Man Governor Confesses Guilt for Stolen Valor

I don't know what precipitated this, but this drunk woman and her drunk AWFL wing-woman were asked to leave a restaurant and refused. The cops were called in to escort them out of the place, and they continued insisting they had the right to stay.

The "Assistant Attorney General" insisted that she was an AG 12 times. She also lied about the law, telling the cop he had to turn off his bodycam if she demanded.

Collin Rugg
@CollinRugg

NEW: Rhode Island assistant AG 'finds out' after telling an officer how to do his job, arrested for trespassing.

Devon Flanagan: If I ask you to turn off the body cam, you have to.

Friend: She's a f*cking lawyer, so she knows.

Officer: Well, that's BS.

Left-wing women seek credentials so that they can spout their stupid, evil bullshit and then claim "But I'm an expert" when challenged.

Obviously she had a momentary moment of lucidity and realized her drunken Karen caterwauling would hurt her reputation with the public.

Instead of simply leaving as the restaurant owner and police demanded, she Karenned herself into an arrest for trespass.

Videos below.

Meanwhile, Maryland's Democrat governor admits that he lied when he claimed he was a Bronze Star winner on an application for a fellowship.

Well, he admits this wasn't true. But he says it was an "honest mistake."

He claims his superior officer told him to claim he had received the Bronze Star. He hadn't. Allegedly his name was submitted for one, but the Army denied him the award.

His claim that this was an "honest mistake" is belied by the fact that he continued running for governor as a "Bronze Star winner" and never corrected press profiles that credited him with the award.

Democratic Maryland Gov. Wes Moore claimed Thursday that it was "an honest mistake" when he lied about being a prestigious Bronze Star recipient on a 2006 White House fellowship application.

Moore, who was 27 years old when he applied for the White House position, blamed his Army superiors for the inclusion of the falsehood on the application and said he never corrected the mistake because he was eager to "begin the next phase" of his life, in a statement released after the New York Times reported on the embellishment.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore claimed lying about being a Bronze Star recipient was "an honest mistake."

"These are the facts," the Maryland governor wrote in his lengthy statement. "While serving overseas with the Army, I was encouraged to fill out an application for the White House Fellowship by my deputy brigade commander. In fact, he helped me edit it before I sent it in. At the time, he had recommended me for the Bronze Star. He told me to include the Bronze Star award on my application after confirming with two other senior-level officers that they had also signed off on the commendation."

Moore noted that his deputy brigade commander "felt comfortable with instructing me to include the award" on the application because he was under the impression that the medal for heroic or meritorious service had already been "approved by his senior leadership."

"In the military, there is an understanding that if a senior officer tells you that an action is approved, you can trust that as a fact. That is why it was part of the application, plain and simple," the governor explained.

"Towards the end of my deployment, I was disappointed to learn that I hadn't received the Bronze Star. But I was ready to begin the next phase of my life," Moore continued.

During his 2022 run for governor, Moore was credited with receiving the Bronze Star during media interviews and never indicated that he had not received the award, according to the Associated Press.

In his statement, Moore did not explain why he failed to correct the record during those interviews, only noting that he regrets not correcting the application.

Posted by: Ace at 03:15 PM | Comments (381) | Trackbacks (Suck)