Mid-Morning Art Thread

Mr Oldham and his Guests
Joseph Highmore

I had some more modern "art" ready to go for today, and it was a particularly ridiculous example. But you were measured and clever and amusing yesterday, so I will hold off!

Maybe I should buy a box of "Liv-A Snaps" as treats for you maniacs. Does anyone remember them? My parents once gave us a taste of them.

Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM | Comments (294) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Morning Report — 7/17/25

Good morning kids, Let's start off with this . . .

Federal judge James Boasberg advised Chief Justice John Roberts and some two dozen other judges that his D.C. colleagues were “concern[ed] that the Administration would disregard rulings of federal courts leading to a constitutional crisis,” according to a memorandum obtained exclusively by The Federalist. That Judge Boasberg and his fellow D.C. District Court judges would discuss how a named Defendant in numerous pending lawsuits might respond to an adverse ruling is shocking. Equally outrageous is those judges’ clear disregard for the presumption of regularity — a presumption that requires a court to presume public officials properly discharged their official duties

"A Constitutional crisis?!" You don't say?!

The left chants “No kings!” in the streets—then cheer judges who rule like monarchs, imposing policy from the bench with all the subtlety of a royal decree . . . “Trump must go now!” they chanted, waving signs that likened the president to a dictator and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to his Gestapo.

Their complaint was alleged despotism. But if Democrats really opposed authoritarianism, they wouldn’t be celebrating its emergence in the courts.

When U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani brazenly overstepped her authority on July 7 to block Congress from stripping Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid funding through the budget reconciliation bill – a clear usurpation of the legislative branch’s power of the purse – the response from the Left wasn’t outrage but praise.

“Good,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) wrote on X. “Democrats will never stop fighting this backdoor abortion ban from the Republicans.”

As an aside, I am pro abortion in this instance — that is by ramming an Alligator Alcatraz alligator up Schumer's rectal orifice and having it navigate all the way up his accursed GI tract to clamp down on his vocal cords, reverse direction and pull them out so they can never vibrate their despicable noises and disturb the peace of the known universe again, But I digress.

As CBD and I discussed on the latest episode of the podcast linked here and in the sidebar as well as available on the popular platforms listed below, When a hack-in-black judge on any bench decides to usurp both the authority of the Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch in one fell swoop, well there's your Constitutional Crisis right there.

And yet, God bless President Trump, all he can do, or at least is willing to do is to seek redress in the courts, the very institution that metaphorically shot, stabbed, gang-raped and set you on fire in the first place. Of course unless and until the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice are willing to stop this madness, and at the same time Congress will do what it must and impeach these hacks-in-black, defrock and disbar them so that they can never appear in a court of law ever again, unless in an orange jumpsuit and in shackles and leg irons.

Of course that there is a tall order given their collective at best personal dislike if not incandescent hatred for Donald Trump and his threat to their power and influence on the nation and society.

I do not know the technical or bureaucratic details of how funds move from the treasury to the various institutions of government, but if the President were to put his foot down and override Talwani and prevent a single penny from being transferred to Planned infanticide, I can just see Schumer, Crockett and the rest of the Democrat Party issuing overt calls for people to take Trump out, if not for the US military to do the job. Well, if Butler PA, the 2020 summer of mostly Peaceful race riots and the current wave of insurrection against ICE won't convince you, HOW ABOUT THIS:

Car Laden With Weapons Including a Rifle, Rapier, and Bow Discovered at Capitol.

On top of an unknown number of Iranians, Afghanis and other mostly peaceful jihadists roaming the countryside.

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. The crisis is now way beyond merely the Constitution. We are on a knife edge.

Have a great day!

ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY
• Churan now faces a series of charges, including Carrying a Pistol without a License, Carrying a Rifle without a License, Possession of a High-Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device, and Carrying a Dangerous Weapon – Sword.The Capitol Police Threat Assessment Section is continuing to investigate to determine Churan’s intent. USCP officials released a statement noting, “Currently, there does not appear to be a nexus to the Congress.”
  Car Laden With Weapons Including a Rifle, Rapier, and Bow Discovered at Capitol.
  
• Voters sharply split over whether government's prepared for inevitable terror attack.
  Americans Agree Terrorism’s A Threat After Iran, But Are We Doing Enough To Prevent It? I&I/TIPP Poll
  
• Victor Davis Hanson: In half a year, the impossible became obvious: borders closed, recruits returned, Iran retreated, and elites were exposed—all because people finally said, “Enough.”
  The World Woke Up
  
• The reckoning we face.
  Democracy’s Perennial Weakness

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 07:38 AM | Comments (344) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 17 July 2025

Top Story

• Grok 4 is out and researchers at competing companies are mad that it has a girlfriend and they don't. (Tech Crunch)

  "It concerns me when standard safety practices aren't upheld across the AI industry, like publishing the results of dangerous capability evaluations," said Steven Adler, an independent AI researcher who previously led safety teams at OpenAI, in a statement to TechCrunch. "Governments and the public deserve to know how AI companies are handling the risks of the very powerful systems they say they're building. Without proper testing Grok 4 might answer people's questions, and then where will the industry be?

  Where indeed, Steve?
  
  Where indeed?

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM | Comments (144) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Wednesday Overnight Open Thread - July 16, 2025 [TRex]

Good evening Horde. The time has come for mid-week shenanigans of the overnight variety.

This is the Wednesday night ONT. Pull up a chair and sit a spell. Be nice to your fellow commenters and AoS contributors.

[Top photo: Little Sahara State Park, Oklahoma (bet ya didn't know that Oklahoma had sand dunes!)]

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:00 PM | Comments (435) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Untouched and Horny Cafe

Meteor falling while volcano erupts
by Daniel Kordan

Fox glides through pretty forest.

Dog wants to be included. Dog wants to help.

Dog tries to do CPR.

Supposedly a man lost his dog for three years, then found him on the street.

Poodle calls for an infield shift.

Very satisfying: Storekeeper locks a criminal rat in a trap.

No horseplay in the pool!

Nice rack!

The cat looks very confused by the new visitor.

Little kid has a dance-off with a bird.

Punking a seagull.

Big dog is tired and wants daddy to carry him.

Dancing with your cat.

Posted by: Ace at 07:30 PM | Comments (243) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Bird Hands: A National Concern

A mentally-distressed leftwing woman deploys
"bird hands" to aggressively punctuate her
nonsensical points in a Car Cry video

Posted by: Ace at 06:45 PM | Comments (210) | Trackbacks (Suck)

"Crowds on Demand" CEO: I Turned Down a $20 Million Contract to Provide a Rent-a-Mob to Honor "Civil Rights" Leader John Lewis

Well, the bought-and-paid-for mob was really for the purposes of attacking Trump in the guise of honoring John Lewis.

The CEO of a "publicity" firm specializing in paying dregs and skels to come out to "protest" says he turned down an offer of $20 million to provide fake supporters for an event. He won't name the people who approached him.

He says he turned down the offer because... leftwing mobs keep turning violent.

During an interview on NewsNation, Adam Swart, CEO of Crowds on Demand, told the host that the people behind the planned "Good Trouble Lives On" protests scheduled for Thursday tried to enlist his services to bolster the size of the demonstration.

...

The CEO clarified that "the value of the contract [$20 million] would have been worth around that amount nationwide to organize huge demonstrations around the country."

However, Swart said he declined because he didn't believe it would be effective. "I'm not trying to call myself virtuous for rejecting it," he explained. "What I'm saying is I'm saying I'm rejecting it not because I don't want to take the business, but because, frankly, this is going to be ineffective. It's going to make us all look bad."

Swart would not divulge the identities of the people who approached him. The interviewer noted that Swart also "had some concern about violence based on what he's seen in the past."

If you're wondering, Was this guy involved in hiring fake crowds for the No Kings "protest," the answer is, allegedly yes:

Crowds on Demand came under fire from supporters of President Donald Trump for allegedly supplying paid protesters for the anti-ICE and "No Kings" protests that cropped up across the nation. Demonstrators protested against the White House’s immigration policies.

Video at the link.

I keep thinking we have to allow lawsuits against protest organizers and funders for any damage or carnage they cause. I can't fully commit to that because I know it will be abused to go after the right -- see the years-long prosecution of Trump for telling people to go to the Capitol to protest "peacefully" -- but it may be a bad idea whose time has come.

And we need to seize this motherf***er's estates and exile him.

The NY Post:

Socialist Zohran Mamdani has declared billionaires shouldn't exist, but it's unlikely he'd be the front-runner to become the Big Apple's next mayor if it wasn't for one -- far-left kingmaker George Soros, financial records reviewed by The Post show.

Mamdani recently told NBC News' "Meet the Press, "I don't think that we should have billionaires, frankly" while doubling down on his plan to jack up property taxes on "richer and whiter neighborhoods" if elected mayor.

But in less than a decade, Soros' ultra-woke grant-making network Open Society Foundation has indirectly funneled a combined $37 million to the Working Families Party and at least other nine left-wing groups whose endorsements and get-out-the-vote groundwork played a pivotal role in helping Mamdani upset ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic mayoral primary, the foundation's records show.

Since 2016, the far-left, socialist-friendly WFP -- which helped score Mandani the Democratic line by brokering cross-endorsement deals that squeezed out Cuomo -- has pocketed a staggering $23.7 million from Soros through its nonprofit fundraising arm Working Families Organization Inc.

And at least another $13,944,005 went to the nine nonprofits and their offshoot fundraising entities -- including the Make The Road Action ($3,515,00), and social justice nonprofits Community Voices Heard ($2,635,000) and Move On ($2.3 million), and the anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace Acton ($650,000), according to records.

Here's a post about what the author calls the "quiet money" paying for this communist's campaign. It's not exactly secret money, but it is shuffled through several sub-grantees so that most aren't aware that, gee whiz, it's coming from the nihilistic world-destroying communist George Soros. Just like Anthony Fauci's grants were laundered through grantees and then sub-grantees before paying the Chinese to create a bioweapon that shut down the world for one politically-critical year.

Not secret, per se -- but quiet.

Posted by: Ace at 05:44 PM | Comments (203) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Rhode Island Progressive Assemblyman Attacks ICE as "Nazi" "Gestapo" For Arresting Another Maryland Man

He declares the Maryland Man (of Rhode Island) wasn't arrested -- he was "kidnapped" in an "act of terror."

Posted by: Ace at 04:39 PM | Comments (376) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Home Depot Co-Founder: I Opposed Trump's Tariffs, Now That I See That They're Working -- and Are "Needed" and "Right"

He also says that Trump will likely go down as one of the "best presidents ever."

I mean, it's too early to say that. His next three years could be a disaster, and his last week is pretty iffy.

But going by what he did in his first term and the first half-year of his second term? He definitely could wind up being the best president in modern history, if he gets over his current habit of shooting himself in the foot and if some risky bets he's made pay off.

Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone, once a sharp critic of President Trump's tariff policies, now says he's fully "sold" on the president's economic instincts. Langone said Trump could go down as one of the "best presidents ever."

Key Details:

Langone previously called Trump's tariffs "bulls***" but now praises them as "needed" and "right."

He cited unfair trade imbalances, particularly with Germany and Japan, as validation for Trump's tough stance.

The shift comes after Trump's economic record and a near-death experience in Butler, PA shifted Langone's view.

Diving Deeper:

Ken Langone, billionaire co-founder of Home Depot and longtime GOP donor, made waves Tuesday when he publicly reversed his opposition to Donald Trump's trade policies. "I am sold on Trump," Langone told CNBC's Squawk Box, just ahead of new inflation data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. "In fact, I'll say this: I think he's got a good shot at going down in history as one of our best presidents ever."

Langone's endorsement carries weight, not only because of his business stature, but because of his history: he previously backed Nikki Haley in the Republican primaries and expressed deep frustration with Trump after the January 6 Capitol protests. But his views appear to have shifted dramatically--both in response to Trump's recent economic moves and, perhaps more significantly, following the July 13 assassination attempt at Trump's Pennsylvania rally.

"Knowledge implies one thing: When you made a mistake, admit it," Langone said, acknowledging his earlier dismissal of Trump's tariff strategy. "I think this guy is turning out to be a president, right?"

Trump's "reciprocal tariffs" were designed to push back against long-standing trade imbalances. Langone cited the 10% tariff Germany slaps on American cars, compared to just 2.5% for German vehicles imported to the U.S. "That's wrong," Langone said. "Every other car in America is a Mercedes... most of them are foreign."

He also credited Trump's foreign policy accomplishments, including economic agreements in the Middle East he claims are worth "$3 trillion." That, combined with the president's gut instincts on trade, defense, and economic strength, has convinced Langone the country is better off with Trump in the Oval Office.

"This is a real turnaround because you didn't want to vote for him," co-host Joe Kernan pointed out. "I want to tell you, I'm a believer," Langone replied. "What I'm seeing happening is absolutely nothing short of a great thing."

Below, the video, plus: Scott Jennings vs. CNN's Lack of Brain Trust on the price of eggs.

Posted by: Ace at 03:38 PM | Comments (355) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Antifa Assassin Who Shot ICE Agents Arrested, Along With Two Other Antifa Terrorists Who Aided and Abetted Him

Andy Ngo:

Breaking: Texas Antifa gunman fugitive captured

North Texas Antifa member Benjamin Song has just been captured, and two more of his comrades have been charged for allegedly abetting his escape

Armed and dangerous North Texas Antifa gunman fugitive Benjamin Song has just been captured, and two more of his comrades have been charged for allegedly abetting his escape.

Benjamin Hanil Takeshi Song, 32, had been evading arrest from the FBI following the ambush shooting on the Prairieland Detention Center, an ICE facility, on the Fourth of July. Between 20 and 30 rounds were fired at the agents and responding police in Alvarado, Texas. One local officer was shot in the neck and survived.

11 members or associates of the heavily armed cell have been federally charged so far with attempted murder and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. They also face local terrorism charges. At least 14 firearms have been recovered in the investigation, in addition to a cache of ammunition and body armor.

Democrats tried to shut down a hearing on the border because reporter Julio Rosas accurately stated that Democrat rhetoric was encouraging violence from Democrat supporters and voters.

"I'm here testifying today as a proud Latino, but most importantly, I'm here as an American citizen!"

"The rhetoric coming from one side of the aisle...They want to view Latinos simply as a underclass, to siphon votes and fear-monger from every time that there's an election."

"It is DISGUSTING to see them criticize that recent raid in Ventura County, where they found unaccompanied minors working alongside convicted sex offenders at a cannabis farm!"

"Now we got to keep them there or else are we gonna get high, If we can't have unaccompanied minors harvest our weed?!"

Posted by: Ace at 02:16 PM | Comments (446) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Trump: Don't Fall For the Epstein "Hoax"

While Trump isn't clear in his message -- and he needs to be clear, because this is big shakes -- I'm pretty sure when he calls this a "hoax and scam" he specifically means the media's/Democrats' (but I repeat myself, as usual) to suggest that the reason the Epstein "list" isn't being produced is because he's on it.

I think that's what he means by "don't fall for the hoax." Not that there was a pedophile named Jeffrey Epstein, but that he's one of the clients.

Or that there's a conspiracy in the Trump administration to cover up for Jeffrey Epstein and his "clients."

But he keeps just saying that his supporters are "falling for this hoax" without making it clear that the hoax he means is the claim that he's on "the list."

If you read his comments in that way, they're no so objectionable.

Because serious: Trump is not a "client" of Epstein's. The Democrats made up a whole bullshit story about him being a RUSSIAN FUCKING AGENT. If there were any evidence suggesting that Trump was cozying up to Epstein to have sex with underaged girls, for crying out loud, they would have released all the evidence in 2015.

MXMNews:

President Trump on Wednesday launched a full-throated attack on renewed attempts to link him to the late Jeffrey Epstein, calling the controversy a "Hoax" and slamming both Democrats and the mainstream media for fueling what he sees as another baseless smear campaign.

In a lengthy Truth Social post, Trump wrote, "The Radical Left Democrats have hit pay dirt, again! Just like with the FAKE and fully discredited Steele Dossier... and even the Russia, Russia, Russia Scam itself." He accused Democrats of pushing the latest scandal to distract from their failures and called them "no good at governing, no good at policy, and no good at picking winning candidates."

Trump went further, blaming the so-called Epstein Hoax for luring in even some of his former backers. "My PAST supporters have bought into this 'bulls***,' hook, line, and sinker. They haven't learned their lesson, and probably never will," he wrote, adding that the smear efforts have been orchestrated "by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years."

He also said the left's unity is their strength: "Unlike Republicans, they stick together like glue."

Trump closed by expressing frustration that the mainstream media is focusing on this "hoax" instead of his record. "All these people want to talk about, with strong prodding by the Fake News and the success-starved Dems, is the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax. Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work," he wrote. "Don't even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don't want their support anymore!"

As you can see, he's putting this in the worst possible way, making it sound like he's attacking his supporters for believing him when he himself pushed the Epstein story.

So if I'm right and he's attacking only the "hoax" that he's connected to the scandal, then he has to speak a lot more clearly on that point, rather than sounding like he's attacking his supporters for being gullible conspiracy theorists.

Otherwise he's going to take a massive hit in support. Loyal supporters will not stand being called fools for having believed Trump in the first place.

I don't think he means that, but he sure keeps sounding like he means that.

Update: Christopher R. Taylor wrote:

Trump literally referred to people as "PAST supporters" who bought into this "BULLSHIT" as he put it. Those are direct quotes in context from his Truth social post. He strongly implies that this is a Clinton/Obama joint despite Epstein being investigated during the Bush administration and his own administration.

Based on that, it sounds like he's talking about Elon Musk, who accused Trump of being "on the list." So his anger might be over Musk putting that disinformation out there, and so many supporters/Republicans buying into it.

Posted by: Ace at 01:10 PM | Comments (522) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Jill Biden's Chief of Staff and "Work Husband" -- the Man Identified as Actually Running the White House Under Biden -- Takes the Fifth Rather Than Answer Congress's Questions

Rep. James Comer
@RepJamesComer

🚨🚨🚨

Anthony Bernal -- Jill Biden's Chief of Staff -- just invoked the Fifth Amendment during his congressional deposition.

This week new reporting confirms President Biden's aides took unauthorized executive actions during his presidency amid his cognitive decline. It's no surprise that Anthony Bernal is pleading the Fifth Amendment to shield himself from criminal liability. During his deposition today, Mr. Bernal pleaded the Fifth when asked if any unelected official or family members executed the duties of the President and if Joe Biden ever instructed him to lie about his health. This is a historic scandal and Americans demand transparency and accountability. We will continue to pursue the truth on their behalf and examine options to get the answers we need.

MXMNews:

Anthony Bernal, a top aide to First Lady Jill Biden often referred to as her "work husband," invoked the Fifth Amendment during a closed-door deposition Wednesday. The move comes amid a growing House Republican investigation into what they allege is a cover-up of President Joe Biden's cognitive decline.

Key Details:

Bernal's decision to remain silent follows a similar move from Dr. Kevin O'Connor, the president's longtime physician, who also invoked the Fifth during his recent deposition. Neither responded to media inquiries after their testimony.

House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) confirmed he asked Bernal two central questions: whether President Biden was capable of fulfilling his constitutional duties, and whether anyone unelected -- including family members -- had acted on his behalf.

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) accused Bernal of hiding "corruption at the highest level" and said the First Lady should now testify herself. "If [Biden] was not in charge of his administration," Donalds added, "then every order, every bill that was signed, every memorandum... are null and void."

Diving Deeper:

Anthony Bernal, a senior advisor to Jill Biden, refused to answer questions during a congressional deposition on Wednesday, citing his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. The move immediately drew backlash from House Republicans, who have launched an aggressive probe into whether President Joe Biden has been shielded from public scrutiny regarding his mental and physical health.

According to Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, Bernal was only asked two questions before invoking his rights and ending the session. "Was Joe Biden fit to exercise the duties of the president?" Comer recounted asking. "Did any unelected official or family member execute the duties of the presidency?" Bernal offered no answers.

Speaking to reporters afterward, Comer said Americans have every right to be alarmed. "They're concerned that there were people making decisions in the White House that were not only unelected but no one to this day knows who they were," he said.

Now we know why the Vegetable called up his media spinners at the New York Times to claim he was totally in charge and "orally" approved all of the pardons: Because he knew that all of his staff and his personal physician would be taking the Fifth Amendment rather than answer questions about his mental competency, and he wanted to once again lie and claim he was Totally Sharp and Running Circles Around 25 Year Olds. Literally zero of his doctors, staff, or family are willing to claim, under oath, that he was mentally fit to be president, so he has to call people up on the phone and do it himself.

While not under oath.

How are you? Humpday, baby.

Posted by: Ace at 12:07 PM | Comments (370) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Wednesday Morning Rant

Goring Oxen

Nobody likes it when his ox is gored. When the ox in question is a "public service" or something "in the public interest" or "in the name of the people" or that "is for the greater good," the response to potential goring becomes absolutely hilarious. You see, someone who is ostensibly all about "public service" (gag) or "the greater good" (double gag) can't get all upset over his ox getting gored, because he has to pretend that it's not about him, about his empire, his power, his wealth or his influence. He has to pretend it's about "The People" or, even better, about "The Children."

With the current administration trying to shove a tiny rescission through a deeply corrupt Congress, everyone with an ox is making tremendous amounts of noise. Cuts to "Global AIDS funding" have already been stripped from the bill and the pigs are lining up at the trough to save the rest. When the bill finally passes, it will probably be a barely-cut. One thing that might - will hopefully - be in the final barely-cut is an organization running full tilt to avoid the goring. The rescission includes an effective defunding of a particularly pernicious agency: PBS. PBS' head hencho is, of course, warning of dire consequences if her ox gets gored.

Posted by: Joe Mannix at 11:05 AM | Comments (233) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Mid-Morning Art Thread

Girl With A White Dog
Lucian Michael Freud

Yes, yes, I know.

Freud was a tremendous 20th century painter, and if you take a moment and think about how few real artists there were and are in our age, perhaps you will see him in a different light. It is easy to categorize him as a modern artist, and of course that fatally tars him with the brush of upside-down toilets presented as art, or splashes of paint considered masterpieces. But he had skill and talent. Whether you like the work is a personal decision, and his view of humanity is certainly suspect (he was a prick in real life), but the man could paint!

Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM | Comments (323) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Morning Report — 7/16/25

Good morning kids, Yet again the revolting combination of Democrat/Leftist chutzpocrisy, outright incitement and cognitive dissonance reveals itself in this combination of links this morning.

First up we have

During a recent appearance on MSNBC’s “Velshi,” MSNBC contributor Joyce Vance, also a law professor at the University of Alabama, argued that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents wearing masks during immigration enforcement could face “lawful” violence. . . Protesters Might Exercise ‘Lawful Right’ to Attack ICE

Must have been hired on a Roland Freisler fellowship to advance the Nuremberg Laws in Jive. This charmer must have thought Alabama meant Allah+Obama . . .

So, when someone who is supposed to represent the upholding of law and order gives what is essentially a green light to commit domestic terrorism, it's small wonder that . . .

‘Reprehensible’: Assaults On ICE Agents Skyrocket, Up 830% Over Last Year

Of course, ICE agents are not the only targets of the evil entity within our midst known as the Democrat Party and its constituents of the (anti)-American Left. Over the weekend this happened:

"Genderfluid" 19-Year-Old Attempts to Firebomb GOP Office in Michigan. Arcand admitted to throwing the Molotov cocktail, which failed to ignite, at the Republican Party office “to send a message against the corruption.” The suspect acted out of dissatisfaction with Trump administration policies, according to authorities.

I may not know, nor do I really want to know the definition of "genderfluid," but between GOP offices, Tesla dealerships, churches, synagogues, pregnancy crisis centers and sleeping subway riders, I know the chemical composition is at least 87 octane with 10% ethanol.

Apologies in advance for inflicting this festering, gaping, sewage-seeping sepsis on civilized society on you, but it's the cherry on the parfait, if you will:

Democrat Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett went on a tirade Tuesday about why Americans must spend their taxpayer dollars on a “Sesame Street” program in Iraq.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in February over its misuse of taxpayer dollars, including its funding of a “Sesame Street” program for children in Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries. Crockett claimed during a House Judiciary Committee hearing that USAID must fund the children’s television program at the American taxpayers’ expense because it stops other countries from being “radicalized” against the U.S.

I've got some news for this shambling shit-stain of a subhuman, Middle Eastern countries which are 100% Islamic (Israel the lone exception) have been "radicalized" against the USA and western civilization for nigh on 1,500 years.

Besides, How many Muslim parents, especially in and around Gaza and the so-called "Palestinian" authority who have children to turn them into human Islamikaze bombs are going to let their little darlings watch Sesame Street in Arabic when they've been glued to Farfour the Hamas mouse for decades. Meh, Elmo is now turning into a Nazi courtesy of AI as we reported the other day.

All that aside, my concern is the anti-American radicalization of America's children to hate their own country, history, heritage and themselves that has been going on for at least the past 50 years and more right here on our own soil, where 87-octane gender fluids are lit on fire and tossed at ICE agents and any other Democrat approved targets.

And while ICE are dodging flaming gender fluids or Crockett's eyelash glue, this has been slipping in across the border for years already. On top of murderers, rapists, drug- and human-traffickers and other assorted future Democrat voters.

Fox News reported that “a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesman confirmed Tuesday that five Iranians were arrested while attempting to illegally cross the U.S. northern border with Canada.” CBP's Swanton Sector stated that “on July 1, Border Patrol Agents from the Champlain, New York Station, responded to suspicious activity near Mooers Forks, NY. Agents located a minivan occupied by five citizens of Iran and two citizens of Uzbekistan." Swanton, Vt., is a small town just south of the U.S.-Canadian border. 

It's important not to jump to conclusions. Maybe these guys were really, really lost. Or maybe they were sneaking across the border in search of a better life, ready to do the jobs that Americans aren’t willing to do. It’s also a genuine possibility, however, that they were coming into the United States to try to make good on what by now are repeated threats from the Islamic Republic of Iran to assassinate President Donald Trump, along with members of his administration.

Increasing the suspicious aspect of this incident is the fact that “CBP said that all seven men had been previously arrested for attempting to cross the border illegally.” Now, however, because Donald Trump is president rather than Old Joe Biden’s autopen, “all seven aliens are detained and awaiting deportation.” One hopes that none of them will ever see delightful Swanton ever again. 

This comes amid concerns that the Islamic Republic is bent on avenging the strikes on its nuclear program with strikes of its own inside the U.S. Jonathan Gilliam, a former FBI special agent, explained: "Where these sleeper cells may be is in plain sight. And that's the real terrifying part of this is that putting people in place, as we've seen over the past four years, everyone's scrambling because certain amounts of people could come in here and get in here." 

Let us switch gears completely. While the Epstein files release/non-release drama continues, I am at a loss as to what President Trump is thinking on this:

Though endlessly critical of his predecessor, President Trump has adopted a Ukraine strategy similar to that of former President Joe Biden: Arm the Ukrainians to the teeth and threaten Russian President Vladimir Putin with even more sanctions if he does not agree to a peace deal.

Some of Trump’s closest domestic allies are already warning that the “expanded American role in the Ukraine War” will be “quite shocking” to the America First voters who returned him to the Oval Office.

But the same president who vowed to end the war in 24 hours has lost patience with Putin after six months. “He’s fooled a lot of people,” Trump said of the Russian leader. “He fooled Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden. He didn’t fool me.” Seated in the Oval Office next to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, the president offered a glimpse into the negotiation process and his seemingly shifting mood on the war.

Psaki-Psircling back to Crockett shedding her Alligator Alcatraz tears for Sesame Street in Arabic getting the chop (pun intended), we have other scummy politicians who are as revolting as she is in their own, venal, amoral, vainglorious way.

Vice President JD Vance cast two tie-breaking votes in the Senate Tuesday to move forward a $9.4B rescissions package — which would rip federal funding from PBS and NPR — in the upper chamber. 

The Senate deadlocked, 50-50, on two procedural votes to start debate on the multibillion-dollar spending clawback package before Vance’s votes advanced the measure requested by the White House. 

Three Republicans – Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) – joined all Democrats in opposition to the bill. 

If only some flaming gender-funds could be hurled at the offices of those three and the other RINOs like them.

I"M JUST KIDDING! (nudge nudge wink wink!)

Rounding things out, this story gives me a sense of hope that perhaps there is a sea change in the culture and a move away from the socieal/cultural dissolution of the past 60 years back towards American values of morality and personal responsibility. Am I reading too much into it, who knows. Only time will tell.

But after years of being blasted as cruel for wanting to end welfare, government benefits and insisting on the inculcation of personal responsibility and morality, as well as the propaganda against the American work ethic and promotion of socialism, It's refreshing to see someone who knows what the right thing is and despite her own situation is willing to jump into the breach to do the right thing. She is to be applauded and lauded. We need more people like her. And the more we can convert and attract to our side like her, the sooner we can rid ourselves of the cancer that Leftism/socialism has wrought on our nation and society.

She and her attitude are the anti-Momdani/Sanders/Titty Caca. Anyone and everyone like her is antithetical to those three.

Yes, thank God for Trump, but it's the Nykia Hamiltons out there that will truly make America great again.

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
• Michael Walsh: One solution is simply to abolish an individual judge's appointment or his jurisdiction. . . There's one other possible remedy that should be on the table as well. Nowhere in the Constitution does it say the Chief Justice position is irrevocable: demoting the hopeless Roberts and replacing him with Justice Clarence Thomas would go a long way toward solving some of the problems "Brutus" identified two centuries ago, along with saving the Court from itself, and helping to heal the nation's divide. A continuation of this farce should no longer be countenanced. 
  THE COLUMN: Et tu, Brute?
  
• A South Carolina Burger King employee is being praised for her commitment to providing for her three children after she was forced to run an entire store by herself when her co-worker quit on her.
  Burger King worker, mom of 3 Nykia Hamilton forced to run South Carolina store by herself: ‘Nobody wants to work anymore’

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 07:23 AM | Comments (480) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 16 July 2025

Top Story

• Claude AI is now rolling out AI for financial services companies. (CNBC)
  
  This is going to be a disaster.
  
  
  
• What it's like to work for OpenAI. (Tech Crunch)
  
  Chaos.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:35 AM | Comments (162) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Tuesday Overnight Open Thread - July 15, 2025 [scampydog]

Good evening and welcome to the Tuesday ONT - cheaper than a weekly therapy session. Jump into the comments for some fun after you have skimmed, perused, or read the content.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:00 PM | Comments (307) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Bed-Hoppers Cafe

Painting of the Bridge of Sighs in Venice
by Gustave Dore
If memory serves, it's called the Bridge of Sighs
because the bridge leads from a prison to the
place of execution. You get a few sighs of regret
as you cross it. Swell view, though!

My memory didn't quite serve. The bridge led not from the prison to the gallows, but from the courts where the accused were tried to the prisons where they were subsequently jailed.

Dog never goes anywhere without his teddy bear.

Another happy customer.

Re-Post: They thought it would be nice to be married at a farm. They thought wrong.

This cat's been riding her dog-brother since she was a kitten.

Cuddling an otter.

Head-tilting with a friend.

Cats will steal anyone's bed.

Drone captures images of great white sharks gliding just beneath the surface. Good video, just excuse his relentless Shark Apologism. ("The most misunderstood of creatures" -- nah, I understand them just fine. We just disagree on whether I'm food.)

Cute dog is moved by seeing Simba suffer in The Lion King.

Dungeons & Dragons TV commercial from the early eighties.

Women feeds and raises an orphaned fawn, "Thor."

Replacing Timothy Chalamet in Dune with Elmo the Muppet. I don't really see much difference.

A couple's dog passed. Then the goofiest-looking stray dog decided they should adopt him.

Beaver enjoys a good rub.

Posted by: Ace at 07:30 PM | Comments (283) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Quick Hits

Stay Gold, NYT:

That is adorable!

Bill Melugin
@BillMelugin_

BREAKING: CBP reports June was the lowest month of illegal crossings ever recorded at the southern border, w/ just 6,072 for the month. The Biden admin routinely had 6,000+ in a single day.

CBP reports ZERO releases of illegal aliens into the US in June, compared to 27,776 in June 2024.

CBP says June was second month in a row of zero releases of illegal aliens at the southern border.

Bill Melugin
@BillMelugin_

A reminder, President Biden routinely claimed he had "done all he can do" with the border, and that bipartisan legislation was needed to fix it.

That claim turned out to be unequivocally false.

Alan Derschowitz now clarifies: There's not an "Epstein client list," just names that have come up in grand jury testimony of largely-innocent people. And he says these records are redacted by the New York courts, not by the DOJ.

arvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz on Tuesday asserted that juges in New York were responsible for suppressing information related to the Jeffrey Epstein case rather than the Trump administration.

"So, many of the things that are being suppressed are being suppressed by two judges in Manhattan, and they're doing it largely to protect the alleged accusers who are, in the view of the judges, victims, even though we don't know what their actual status is," he told Chris Cuomo.

He further asserted that, while there is no one client list, the FBI possessed an affidavit from Epstein accusers, that he said "accuse various people of having improper sex, and that has been redacted, the names of the people accused have been blacked out."

Dershowitz went on to assert that the redactions could be reversed were the matter to reach a court.

Julie Kelly points out that while MAGA is roiling about Epstein, we're ignoring major victories.

Among others:

Many DOJ employees are leaving voluntarily rather than anxiously refresh their email inbox for a message with the subject line, "Notice of Removal From Federal Service." Dozens of employees working at the DOJ unit responsible for defending the administration against a nonstop deluge of lawsuits have resigned, according to a Reuters analysis this month. Prosecutors complained of a heavy workload--boo hoo!--and ideological differences with the new boss.

"Many of these people came to work at Federal Programs to defend aspects of our constitutional system. How could they participate in the project of tearing it down?" one lawyer who recently quit told Reuters.

A similar exodus is underway at the DOJ's civil rights division where nearly 70 percent of the division's attorneys have headed for the exits rather than work for Harmeet Dhillon, the president's pick to run the office. Apparently the totally nonpolitical lawyers object to doing things like keeping boys out of girls' sports, protecting children from surgical mutilation, and combating religious bias--just a few of Dhillon's stated objectives.

All of this comes on top of months of success in identifying and firing known partisans at both the DOJ and FBI, an historic purge with no signs of stopping. The moves are "creating rampant speculation and fear within the workforce over who might be terminated next," former staffers told the Washington Post.

Trump's DOJ has sent out subpoenas to butcher-shops still performing "gender affirming" mutilations on children.

Watch how the left-wing garbage blog United Press International reports this:

he Justice Department on Wednesday announced that it had sent more than 20 subpoenas to doctors and clinics performing gender-affirming care for minors, as the Trump administration ramps up its attacks on this marginalized community.

No information about the doctors and clinics subpoenaed was provided by the Justice Department, though it suggested the subpoenas were part of investigations into "healthcare fraud, false statements and more."

"Medical professionals and organizations that mutilate children in the service of a warped ideology will be held accountable by this Department of Justice," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.

The Pentagon is snubbing the left-wing, Deep State operation called "The Aspen Security Forum." This is a subsidiary of the Aspen Institute, which infamously brought in the FBI to wargame a "table simulation" instructing the media to suppress any reportage on a hypothetical leak of Hunter Biden's laptop.

The Pentagon has pulled all military speakers from the event, calling the organization "globalist."

The Pentagon has pulled roughly a dozen high-ranking U.S. military officials who had been slated to participate in this week's annual Aspen Security Forum, Just the News has learned.

The Defense Department cited the left-wing nature of the Aspen Institute and the participation of such critics of President Trump as Biden administration National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

The annual forum put on by the Aspen Institute -- which has been dubbed "the mountain retreat for the liberal elite" -- describes the event as "the premier national security and foreign policy conference in the United States."

Roughly a dozen top Defense Department officials -- including the secretary of the Navy and the commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command -- are still listed as speakers on the Aspen Security Forum agenda this week, but a source told Just the News over the weekend that that will no longer happen.

"The Department of Defense has no interest in legitimizing an organization that has invited former officials who have been the architects of chaos abroad and failure at home," Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson told Just the News.

"They are antithetical to the America First values of this administration. Senior representatives of the Department of Defense will no longer be participating in an event that promotes the evil of globalism, disdain for our great country, and hatred for the President of the United States," Wilson also said.

A professor of music was punished by his left-wing fake "university" for saying the unsayable: That classical music is not racist.

It took a lawsuit, but he just got a $750,000 settlement.

More than four years after suing the University of North Texas for punishing him in a spat over alleged racism in classical music, distinguished research professor Timothy Jackson accepted a $725,000 settlement with the taxpayer-funded school in a legal fight that pitted embattled state Attorney General Ken Paxton against former state Solicitor General Jonathan Mitchell.

The parties filed a joint stipulation of dismissal earlier this month, signed by Paxton's office as counsel to UNT and Mitchell as co-counsel to Jackson. The settlement also gives back Jackson the music theory journal he founded and edited and even reduces his teaching load.

UNT kicked Jackson out of the Journal of Schenkerian Studies, named after German music theorist Heinrich Schenker, and put it on ice for five years after Jackson published an issue responding to a black peer's claims that the Jewish Schenker was an "ardent racist."

...

The university opened an investigation of the journal and editors including Jackson after anonymous graduate students condemned the Ewell response issue for "platforming of racist sentiments" and demanded its editors be punished. Ewell wrote and circulated an "open letter on antiracist actions" against the journal as well.

To encourage learning English and assimilation, Trump slashes the budgets for translation services to the minimum necessary levels.

The Department of Justice said it is coordinating a government-wide effort to reduce the use of foreign languages in public-facing services, calling many such programs "non-essential."
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the DOJ will lead efforts to codify Trump's executive order and eliminate "wasteful virtue-signaling policies," emphasizing a focus on national unity through shared language.
According to Breitbart News, DHS has also been instructed to discontinue translation services for calls regarding immigration or employment matters.

Tom Cotton wants to close the birthright citizenship loophole, at least for criminals.

Sen. Tom Cotton has introduced a bill to end birthright citizenship for children of illegal aliens, terrorists, and foreign spies. The move backs President Trump's America First agenda and targets a key driver of illegal immigration.

Key Details:

Cotton's bill would deny automatic citizenship to U.S.-born children of illegal aliens, foreign terrorists, and foreign spies.

The legislation responds to what Cotton calls a major contributor to the illegal immigration crisis under President Joe Biden.

The Supreme Court has never explicitly ruled that children of illegal immigrants must be granted citizenship under the 14th Amendment.

You might think that doesn't go far enough but I know what he's up to: He's using the left's tactic of making a "test case" for the courts that they will have a lot of trouble knocking down, thereby establishing the precedent to go further with the next bill.

Comer subpoenas Biden's former chief of staff/Lead Puppeteer.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer on Tuesday subpoenaed Joe Biden's deputy chief of staff when Biden was president.

The committee had requested the former White House official, Annie Tomasini, to appear for a deposition on Friday.

Tomasini appeared for a transcribed interview in May, and her legal counsel has confirmed her voluntary appearance for July 18, according to the subpoena. However, on Monday, her lawyers requested a subpoena to compel her appearance on July 18.

"The Committee seeks information about your assessment of and relationship with former President Biden to explore whether the time has come for Congress to revisit potential legislation to address the oversight of presidents' fitness to serve pursuant to its authority under Section 4 of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, or to propose changes to the Twenty-Fifth Amendment itself," the subpoena reads.

Posted by: Ace at 06:25 PM | Comments (289) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Paul Sperry: The Criminal Case for Comey's and Brennan's Perjury is Real and It's Spectacular

They have repeatedly lied to Congress.

Explosive new evidence suggests that some of the highest-ranking officials in the Obama-era CIA and FBI perjured themselves regarding their claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin helped Donald Trump secure his victory in 2016.

A newly released CIA review challenges their sworn denials to Congress that the Steele dossier -- a discredited set of allegations about Trump funded by Hillary Clinton's campaign -- was used as the basis for the years-long Russiagate probe that hamstrung President Trump's first term.

The eight-page review conducted by career CIA analysts found the dossier did, in fact, worm its way into the text of the highly classified report known as an Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) to buttress the thinly sourced, yet inflammatory allegation that "Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help President-elect Trump's election chances."

"Ultimately, agency heads decided to include a two-page summary of the dossier as an annex to the ICA, with a disclaimer that the material was not used 'to reach the analytic conclusions,'" the CIA review said on page five. "However, by placing a reference to the annex material in the main body of the ICA as the fourth supporting bullet for the judgment that Putin 'aspired' to help Trump win, the ICA implicitly elevated [the dossier's] unsubstantiated claims to the status of credible supporting evidence, compromising the analytical integrity of the judgment."

The CIA's "lessons-learned" report contradicts Obama administration officials' claims -- most of which were made under oath -- that they did not use the since-debunked dossier.

Former CIA Director John Brennan, for one, insisted in his sworn May 2017 testimony before Congress that the Steele dossier was not "in any way" used as a basis for the so-called ICA completed in late December 2016. Later, during a May 2023 House Judiciary Committee interview, Brennan claimed: "The CIA was very much opposed to having any reference or inclusion of the Steele dossier in the Intelligence Community Assessment."

Likewise, then-National Intelligence Director James Clapper said in an official January 2017 statement that "we did not rely upon [the dossier] in any way for our conclusions." Several months later, he assured Congress the dossier was "not a formal part of the Intelligence Community Assessment."

More recently, Clapper also swore, "We didn't use [the dossier] in our Intelligence Community Assessment" and "We didn't use it for the Intelligence Community Assessment, we didn't draw on it." [Emphasis added.] In the same May 2023 House Judiciary interview, which was conducted in closed session but during which he was advised of federal perjury laws, he expounded that "the team that put together the Intelligence Community Assessment was not to draw on it as a source for the Intelligence Community Assessment. So you won't find a footnote using the dossier as a source."

While testifying in a December 2017 deposition, moreover, former deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe asserted that although a written summary of the dossier was appended to the classified version of the ICA, it was never referred to "in the main body" of the intel report.

"I participated in conversations [with Brennan and Clapper] in the consideration of how to handle the Steele reporting with respect to the ICA. And ultimately it ended up being included in 'attachment A,' rather than in the main body of the report," he told the House Intelligence Committee, according to a transcript of the closed-door interview. "It's handled and referred to in an appendix," he added, "and not in the main body."

McCabe's boss, former FBI Director James B. Comey, swore the same thing during a September 2020 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing: "It was significant enough and consistent enough with other intelligence that it ought to be included, but it wasn't sufficiently corroborated to be in the body of the Intelligence Community Assessment."

The CIA review shows that the unverified and now-debunked dossier was used as support for the intelligence analysis, not just as a sidebar as Obama officials have maintained. And they relied on it to back the most inflammatory finding in the intelligence report.

The new report also raises fresh questions about the candor of the Obama administration's top intel operatives and whether they politicized intelligence to paint incoming GOP President Donald Trump as compromised by the Kremlin.

In an X post last week, deputy CIA Director Michael Ellis said newly declassified CIA emails "show how Brennan personally intervened to insert the Steele dossier's lies into intelligence analysis" over the objections of his top Russia analysts at Langley.

Margot Cleveland of the Federalist writes that the case is even worse than Ratcliffe's report suggested.

A still-classified staff report compiled by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) found the John Brennan-led 2016 Intelligence Community Assessment ("ICA") on Russian Election Interference significantly worse and significantly more corrupt than conveyed in the memorandum released last week by CIA Director John Ratcliffe, according to sources familiar with the report. The HPSCI staff report also reveals more details of the corruption, the sources told The Federalist.

...

But those problems and the others detailed in the CIA report pale in comparison to the real corruption at play, according to sources familiar with a separate HPSCI staff report. Those sources told The Federalist that HPSCI, under the leadership of then-Chair Devin Nunes, "found the ICA significantly worse and significantly more corrupt than was conveyed in the CIA report." The staff report also reveals more details related to the ICA's report on Russia's 2016 influence campaign.

The HPSCI staff report, however, remains classified. In a letter to President Trump last week, current HPSCI Chair Rick Crawford, R-Ark., noted there was a strong public interest in the report being declassified. A HPSCI spokesperson told The Federalist that "it is the Committee's view that the information in this report should be released to the public." The spokesperson added that Chairman Crawford has raised this issue with CIA leadership.

...

Given his record, there is no reason to doubt that Director Ratcliffe will ensure the HPSCI staff report will be declassified when the time is right. Here, the public would be well advised to remember that transparency and accountability may sometimes be at cross purposes: It may well be that Director Ratcliffe or the other members of the Trump Administration working to rid D.C. of the Augean-stable levels of corruption have not yet finished investigating the additional details and/or individuals implicated in the HPSCI staff report. And if that is the case, perjury may be the least of Brennan's worries.

Matt Taibbi thinks that this dispute is mostly a "misunderstanding." He says that Ratcliffe wrote his short 8-page report in order to give Kash Patel the grounds to open a perjury investigation, but one shouldn't take this as Ratcliffe's last word on the subject. He says the other allegations can come in once the investigation has begun.

He says that at least the full report on Brennan's and Comey's crimes has now been released from the CIA vault in which it had been hidden.

The HPSCI report has remained classified and "in a vault at the CIA" for seven long years. This followed the same pattern as the WMD episode, where the CIA did not release its full 93-page National Intelligence Estimate* on Iraq until 2015, thirteen years after a redacted version was released to the public to sell the invasion. The full document, hidden from the American public before the war, determined there was no operational tie between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda.

HPSCI investigators who hoped the new Trump administration would aggressively pursue the leads Kash Patel's team dug up in 2017 and 2018 were both puzzled by the release of Ratcliffe's relatively tamer report last week, and upset that their more hard-hitting work remained locked up. After Crawford sent his letter, however, Trump interceded and Ratcliffe returned the original HPSCI report to Crawford on the Hill. The HPSCI material remains classified, but at least it's no longer being "held hostage" at Langley, as Crawford put it, in a public note of thanks tweeted last Thursday.

The news that the FBI is now opening criminal investigations into Brennan and Comey seems to have mollified some of those close to the original HPSCI investigation. "I don't know how the fuck they got here, but I'm happy they did," laughed one source familiar with the full HPSCI report.

The same source was not disappointed that the FBI is "only" looking at charges like perjury or conspiracy. "You have to understand, there's no statute that really fits what these people did," the source said. "But there is one against lying to Congress, and given that that's what they have to work with, the Ratcliffe report makes more sense to me now."

Posted by: Ace at 05:29 PM | Comments (266) | Trackbacks (Suck)