The Morning Report — 7/14/25

Good morning kids, Happy Bastille Day, Le Quatorze Juillet en Francais. All things considered, here's an item that is both heartening and frightening in its implications for where we are as a nation and society.

Video posted to Facebook appears to show a woman plow through anti-ICE protesters Saturday in New Jersey, injuring three, and is now facing charges, according to police. The videos shows a gray SUV slowly approach a crowd of protesters marching against ICE raids when a one protester approaches the driver. The woman behind the wheel, Linda Roglen, then begins to proceed and the protester falls to the ground while others gather around to stop the car. Roglen then rolls up her window and drive through the crowd and leaves the scene. (RELATED: Los Angeles ICE Riots Cost City $20 Million — And Counting)

Roglen has been charged with careless driving, reckless driving, leaving the scene of an accident and four counts of assault with a car resulting in bodily injury, according to the New York Post. Several protesters suffered injuries and one was taken to the hospital, News 12 reported.

The protest was organized by a group called “United Against Fear,” according to the New York Post. Several witnesses described the scene, with one man saying “I don’t know what they said, but they just say something to each other and he spits in her face.” “I was scared though, honestly, like for those people. Because you never know, man. Something like that, you could die. That’s scary,” the man added. . . It is unclear if the man who allegedly spit on Roglen will face charges.

Let's see. New Jersey? I wouldn't bet on it.

Across the political left, from orthodox Democrats to Antifa in the streets, the opposition to President Donald Trump has lost its collective mind.

there is the so-called “left-wing Resistance” and the street mobs’ descent into violence and terrorism.

Sometimes, thugs ambush ICE agents.

Sometimes, they firebomb Tesla dealerships.

Sometimes, they attack federal buildings, shut down freeways and pelt patrol cars with concrete. They continue with impunity because they know the Democrat Party cannot and will not censure them. . .

Finally, the left is outraged that so far, the Trump counterrevolution is working. . .

. . . Add it all up, and the impotent left in all its orthodox and street manifestations has become unhinged. And why not when it rightly fears that not just its power, but the very sources of its power, are in mortal danger?

From my perspective, it's not so much that the polices of the Trump counterrevolution are working, and so far they are firing on all cylinders. It's that their success underscores and puts a gigantic spotlight on the decades of abject failure and disaster of Leftist/progressive/socialist/Democrat policies. To me that is the mortal danger and existential threat to Democrat power and influence going forward. This is the golden moment of opportunity that potentially marks the sea change in the culture going forward that puts America on the path to restoration. And erasing the "long march through the institutions" that got us to the brink of destruction.

This is why we are seeing the ugly naked violence against ICE and the cops as well as the gleeful mockery of Christian children swept away and drowned in torrential flooding in Texas. Rejection is a hell of a thing to deal with, especially among those who view themselves as the absolute moral authority of this nation, and who view those who have rejected them – that is all of us! – as evil and an existential threat not only to them but to democracy, the human race and even the planet itself.

The Democrat/Left are playing with fire, but given the fact that the have targeted law enforcement yet need them at the same time, it remains to be seen who in the end is going to get burned.

Two years after BLM rioters picked up $6 million in damages because the police officers trying to stop their rampage didn’t wear face masks, Democrats are trying to ban law enforcement from wearing face masks. California state senators are introducing a bill to make local, state and federal law enforcement personnel, especially ICE, wearing face masks into a crime.

In two years, the Left has gone from demanding face masks to trying to outlaw them. . . The real purpose of masks at public events is to conceal the wearer’s identity and to intimidate the public. That is why rioters and Hamas supporters wear them. Especially while committing crimes. ICE personnel wear masks because of a rise in doxxing and attacks against them. The Left is trying to ban masks now to enable the stalking and threats aimed at ICE employees.

Masks are another form of power. And the Left seeks to preserve any and all forms of power as its exclusive privilege under the pretext of various forms of victimhood and identity politics. When the Left set out to protect mask wearing by rioters, it claimed that regulations, first imposed to fight the KKK, banning mask wearing in public discriminated against the disabled.

Only last year, the pro-crime activists at the Marshall Project claimed that antisemitic rioters should be able to wear masks to protect their privacy against the police and Jewish groups. The pro-crime organization cited the example of the participants in the Boston Tea Party. But while rioters and terrorist supporters deserve the right to be protected from “harassment”, law enforcement officers putting their lives on the line to stop gangs, terrorists and cartels don’t.

And as we recognize the anniversary of the French Revolution, it comes also on the on-year anniversary of the attempt on President Trump's life in Butler, PA

It’s been one year since President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. The gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, missed Trump’s head by an inch—a bullet grazed his ear while he was speaking at a campaign rally.  It could have been much worse. 
Though Trump obviously survived, the attack did result in the death of 50-year-old firefighter Corey Comperatore and injured rally attendees. 

It’s strange that we still know so little about Crooks, his motives and what exactly happened July 13, 2024. Conspiracies swirled in the immediate aftermath about whether Crooks was somehow involved in an “inside job” or perhaps coordinating with enemies abroad. Those all resulted in dead ends. 

Even now, questions about Crooks still abound: Who was he? Why did he attack Trump? Did he really act alone? What about the Secret Service’s role?

And with all of that, there's this:

Police in San Antonio arrested a Texas man Thursday night after he allegedly threatened to assassinate President Donald Trump. The alleged threat was made in a Facebook post, where the man reportedly wrote, “I won’t miss.” San Antonio police officers arrested 52-year-old Robert Herrera for threatening to assassinate President Trump via a Facebook post. The threat happened three days before the first anniversary of the attack that nearly took the then-presidential candidate’s life.

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
• Two people are dead, and a Kentucky State Trooper injured after a traffic stop shooting was followed by a church shooting in Lexington, Kentucky, on Sunday.
  Two Dead, State Trooper Wounded After Traffic Stop Shooting Leads to Church Shooting

• Victor Davis Hanson: They would rather be dead wrong and anti-Trump than correct.
  The Decline and Fall of Our So-Called Degreed Experts

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 07:33 AM | Comments (336) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily News Stuff 14 July 2025

Top Story

• Intel is laying of - apparently has already laid off - another 4000 staff. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  The cuts were supposed to mostly target middle managers, but an analysis found that just 8% of jobs cut had "manager" in the title, while technicians and engineers were heavily affected.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM | Comments (124) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Sunday Overnight Open Thread - July 13, 2025 [Doof]

(Photo and song - courtesy of nurse ratched)

Howdy Hordelings! Hope your Sunday and your weekend have been enjoyable. Thanks for stopping by the ONT tonight. Regulars - please be nice to the lurkers so maybe some will consider joining in the comments.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:02 PM | Comments (303) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Gun Thread: Vacation Edition Number Dos!

Howdy, Y'all! Welcome to the wondrously fabulous Gun Thread! As always, I want to thank all of our regulars for being here week in and week out, and also offer a bigly Gun Thread welcome to any newcomers who may be joining us tonight. Howdy and thank you for stopping by! I hope you find our wacky conversation on the subject of guns 'n shooting both enjoyable and informative. You are always welcome to lurk in the shadows of shame, but I'd like to invite you to jump into the conversation, say howdy, and tell us what kind of shooting you like to do!

Holy Shitballs! How in the ever-loving Hell did it get to be Vacation Edition Number Dos? As I write this on Friday it's hard to believe our vacation week is almost over, and it will soon be time to return to my rigorous retirement schedule. It's been a good week though, the weather was mostly beachy, and we enjoyed just hanging out in someone else's house at great expense.

With that, step into the dojo and let's get to the gun stuff below, shall we?

Posted by: Weasel at 07:00 PM | Comments (219) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Food Thread: Pâté, Sweet Tea, And Cheese Puffs? Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad!

That is called Oyakodon, and it's a very simple dish that lots of different food cultures make, or at least their version of it. Some sort of flavored protein (in this case it is chicken simmered in dashi), eggs, onions or some other aromatic, and starch. This is obviously rice, but potatoes or pasta or beans will work.

It's delicious, and one of my favorite simple meals. But as I said, lots of other countries make something like it. America's Hash & Eggs works just fine for me. Eggs in Purgatory (Italy), or Shakshuka (Mediterranean), etc. Hell, I guess Chinese fried rice falls into this category. And Chilaquiles.

Maybe it's just a "whatever leftovers we have goes into the skillet" sort of dish, but I like them all!

[What? Life intrudes? How dare it! The Food Thread^TM will be a little light today, since I have been busy eating and drinking as research for future additions!]

Posted by: CBD at 04:00 PM | Comments (159) | Trackbacks (Suck)

First World Problems...

Closed? Sure, even the best shops close. And this is a great butcher, so I guess they are entitled.

But...it's going to be closed for a month. A Month! Not for maintenance. Not for illness in the family.

No. It's their summer vacation!

They sell perhaps the best pork I have ever had, so this isn't a casual observation of the difference in work ethic and cultural views of the work/life balance between America and France.

No...this is an existential crisis!

[Below the fold is why it is a catastrophe!]

Posted by: CBD at 02:00 PM | Comments (201) | Trackbacks (Suck)

If Wishes Were Horses, Beggers Would Ride

Flipping a blue state sounds eminently doable in our brave new world of President Trump. He has knocked the Democrat party flat on its corrupt ass with a flurry of executive orders, bills, and foreign policy changes that are designed to remake our economy, culture, and relationship with the rest of the world. The Democrats are scrambling everywhere, and it is a gratifying thing to see!

But the GOPe, or failed Republican Party, or whatever you want to call them is still a powerful force in many states, and their sclerotic vision for America has created significant issues for the Trump Doctrine. And no more so than in NJ, which has a pathetic, useless, feckless, corrupt state Republican apparatus.

The proof is their perennial candidate for governor, Jack Ciattarelli. He ran in 2017 and 2021, and obviously lost both times, the second time in the general election to a pathetic, chinless scumbag Goldman Sachs apparatchik who is the quintessential machine Democrat.

But hope springs eternal in the Garden State! I guess the third time will be the charm.

New Jersey's Blue Wall Is Crumbling, and Democrats Know It

New Jersey, a state that reliably votes blue in national elections, has long been considered a Democratic stronghold. But the political winds have shifted. The party that once took victory for granted now finds itself in a full-blown panic, pouring cash into a race that should have been an afterthought. The reason? Voters are restless, and the Democratic brand is tarnished.

This isn't just about one election. It's about the growing sense that Democrats are losing their grip on New Jersey. Donald Trump's support in New Jersey has grown with each election, hitting a record 1.9 million votes in 2024.

Sounds great! Except Ciattarelli is a machine politician without a coherent political philosophy other than he wants to be governor. He was an anti-Trumper until he saw which way the wind was blowing, but even then he tried to titrate his responses to keep the image of a maverick. Like when he denied knowing that a "Stop The Steal" rally he headlined was...you know...a "Stop The Steal" rally!

He offers nothing other than the GOPe pablum with a dash of faux-Trump muscularity to keep the base interested. He also has presented nothing substantive to combat the obvious crookedness of NJ elections. And if you dip into his policy statements, you will discover a central planner in disguise.

Can he win? Sure. Will he win? I doubt it. He is a boring politician without a clear message for New Jersey: otherwise known as a typical Republican. He is running against another boring politician, Mikie Sherrill, but she has the massive backing of the Democrat machine that will manufacture votes in whatever way it can to ensure her victory.

Until the Corporate Republican Party recognizes that it is not business as usual, it will continue to lose these sorts of races, because its lack of vision into the sea change that is possible in the United States prevents them from supporting the types of candidates that will be successful in Trump-curious areas.

Posted by: CBD at 12:00 PM | Comments (161) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Sunday Morning Book Thread - 7-13-2025 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading (crunchy slaad not included). Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...(are pants a sandwich?)

So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM | Comments (286) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 13 July 2025

Top Story

• Well, that was quick: The Commodore 64 Ultimate is the first hardware from the eponymous company since around the time of the Peloponnesian War. (Liliputing)
  
  For certain values of "new". It is based around an existing hardware emulator kit and a very slightly modified version of the original case. Or more than slightly modified if you choose the translucent RGB Starlight or Founders Edition models.
  
  It's been updated just a little, of course. The original user port is gone, replaced with a selection of HDMI, Ethernet, and USB ports. The RAM capacity has been increased slightly, from 64K to 128MB. And the CPU is a FPGA emulating the original 6510 (a modified 6502) in hardware, apparently at around 168MHz.
  
  It also includes two ZIF sockets for optional SID audio chips, though those are only required for purists since the FPGA is quite happy to emulate those as well.
  
  Apart from that, though, any original hardware that is still operational should simply plug in and work.
  
  And it comes with a 64GB USB drive full of software and demos, the equivalent of about half a million floppy disks.
  
  Priced at $299 for the basic beige model and $349 for the Starlight version.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM | Comments (162) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Saturday Night "Club ONT" July 12, 2025 [The 3 Ds]

Welcome to Club ONT! A collaboration of your Sunday through Wednesday ONT Crew - The Disco, The Doggo, and The Dino. We have been expecting you - everyone breaks eventually. Pull up a chair and grab some peanuts and pretzels.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:00 PM | Comments (465) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Saturday Evening Movie Thread [moviegique]: The Return of the Living Dead

It was another good fortnight-and-a-half at 'casa 'gique, starting with the indie/arty/actorly Everything's Going To Be Great, where a theater kid born into a theater family struggles with convincing people he's heterosexual and ultimately learns he's not the center of the universe, and ending with the taut Persian thriller Tatami, about a Persian judoku who is doing well in a competition, so the Iranian government calls up and tells her to fake an injury—because she might have to go up against an Israeli and they have to boycott Zionists and since they can't, they have to pretend they're not, and, my God, what a bunch of whiny-ass bitches running that country.

We bookended this with two '90s(ish) movies, Shall we Dance? and In The Mood For Love from Japan and China respectively.

And what was between the bookends? The glorious year of 1984(ish). We started with Tsui Hark's Shanghai Blues, went to a double-feature of Return of the Living Dead and Repo Man, then followed up with the 40(ish) anniversary of This Is Spinal Tap.

With the exception of Tap, none of these '80s films are (generally) regarded as classics—more cult classics, than anything. Shanghai Blues strikes me as under-rated: It's a romcom, almost a screwball comedy with a kind of kung-fu sensibility to the physical humor (think a less frenetic, less violent Jackie Chan). It, like the other three movies, has a surprisingly light, almost casual regard for things which would be ponderously heavy today. These films touch lightly on promiscuity, homelessness, pedophilia, assault, sexual assault, dismemberment, PTSD, death—in ways you really can't anymore.

I gots things to say about all of 'em, but tonight, let's just talk about the movie Simon Pegg called "a piss take" on the zombie genre.

Standard first level opponents of an '80s side-scroller fighting game.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 07:44 PM | Comments (262) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Hobby Thread - July 12, 2025 [TRex]

Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread. We gave the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies(TM) a spin and it came up with rocks.

Rocks? Yes. Rocks.

Not like "Let there be Rock" or "Can you smell what the rock is cooking?" Think more like "Welcome to the Rock" or "dumb as a box of rocks."

You might be tempted to say "I'm not really into rocks as a hobby." Tough. Dig around in the content and soak in the comments. You might find that you're really into rocks and didn't know it or you might find reasons to get into rocks. Either way, glad you're here.

[Top photo: Sea Stacks by polynikes (16x20 oil)]

Sea stacks qualify as ocean-based rock formations.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:30 PM | Comments (228) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Ace of Spades Pet Thread July 12

Courtesy Misanthropic Humanitarian

* * *

Good afternoon and welcome to the almost world famous Ace of Spades Pet Thread. Thanks for stopping by. Kick back and enjoy the world of animals.

Would you like a treat?

Let's relax a little with the animals and leave the world of politics and current events outside today.

* * *

Posted by: K.T. at 03:27 PM | Comments (84) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Gardening, Home and Nature Thread, July 12

Some lovely alstromeria from Neal in Israel.

Which color do you like best? I currently have some that resemble the pale ones above in a florist's bouquet.

*

Posted by: K.T. at 01:28 PM | Comments (51) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Can the Democrats of New York help out California??

Recently, a young friend on social media posted a short clip suggesting that the harsh rhetoric of many prominent Democrats toward Zorhan Mamdani, candidate for mayor of NYC, demonstrated why they were ineffective at "fighting fascism".

On Thursday, Ace picked up the following squabble: Zohran Mamdani's communist supporters say they're going to primary leftwing racist Hakeem Jeffries next. And then:

Jeffries' team fired back with their new, dumb insult.

Leader Hakeem Jeffries is focused on taking back the House from the MAGA extremists who just ripped health care away from millions of Americans," Jeffries senior adviser André Richardson told CNN.
"However, if Team Gentrification wants a primary fight, our response will be forceful and unrelenting. We will teach them and all of their incumbents a painful lesson on June 23, 2026," he warned.

"Team gentrification". Heh. There's some harsh rhetoric for you.

But "prominent Democrats" in NYC are not the only ones with communication problems lately.

On Thursday, J.J. Sefton provided some excellent commentary on untoward behavior by Democrats recently. J.J. featured a piece by Victor Davis Hanson which included a wide variety of such behavior, The Roots of Leftist Rage. VDH concludes:

Add it all up, and the impotent left in all its orthodox and street manifestations has become unhinged.

And why not when it rightly fears that not just its power, but the very sources of its power, are in mortal danger?

There are a couple of nutty things from California that you may have missed this week with Gavin on the podcast trail. He may not have covered all the issues, either. I have been wondering in particular if the state and local officials who have decided to require the building of low-income housing in Pacific Palisades might not want to take some tips from Zorhan Mamdani, whose ideas for "community housing"seem to be among the most popular parts of his campaign.

Together, California and NYC could show us how his ideas would work! Maybe they need a little "Team Gentrification". Instead of this:

Posted by: K.T. at 11:13 AM | Comments (209) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Classical Saturday Morning Coffee Break & Prayer Revival

[Meme H/T The Grateful]

Happy Bastille Day you Froggy McFrogs.

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at 07:30 AM | Comments (277) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 12 July 2025

Top Story

• Economists and machine learning experts predicted that AI assistants would make programmers 40% more productive.
  
  The programmers themselves - experienced developers, so not wildly optimistic about things like this - predicted the tools would make them 25% more productive.
  
  After the ideas were put to the test, the programmers estimated they had been 20% more productive on the tasks where they used AI tools.
  
  They were 20% less productive. (Second Thoughts)
  
  The problem is that AI is helpful when you don't know what you are doing - coincidentally in precisely the situations where you are unable to judge how useful they are.
  
  When you know what you are doing, they are of less value. Of less than no value, on average.
  
  So the best approach to taking advantage of AI is to use it for tasks where you can't judge the results and don't care whether they are correct.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM | Comments (96) | Trackbacks (Suck)

In Through The ONT Door

Friday night, let's have some fun!

Posted by: WeirdDave at 10:00 PM | Comments (414) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Stairway to Stardom Cafe

Mons Olympus on Mars

Little kid group "The Greystones" play "Don't Stop Believing."

Flashback: Metal heads hanging out in the parking lot before a Judas Priest show, back in the 80s.

Lion and tiger cubs roughhousing.

Juvenile bat squeaks for pets.

Dog tries to keep a family of bears under control.

Bulldog loves to skateboard.

Playing hide and seek with a golden retriever.

Impression of a guy at a party who only knows one part of "Tiny Dancer."

Baby has seven shepherd siblings.

Out of control.

Dog is a fan of the ponies.

Posted by: Ace at 07:30 PM | Comments (333) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Week in Woke

Zohran Mamdani's mother, a "famous director," lobbied hard to get Gal Gadot disinvited from the Oscars because she's a Jew.

The 2025 Oscars ceremony has drawn renewed attention to New York City mayoral candidate and Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, thanks in part to his mother's alleged role in a campaign to have Israeli actress Gal Gadot barred from the Academy Awards.

Mira Nair, Mamdani's mother and acclaimed director of Monsoon Wedding, was one of the signatories of a letter demanding that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences disinvite Gadot from presenting at the Oscars. The letter, signed by 21 Academy members and more than 75 other filmmakers, condemned Gadot's "vocal and unwavering support" for Israel's military and described her presence as "deeply offensive."

The letter falsely claimed Israel's actions in Gaza were a "genocide," and accused Gadot of using her celebrity to "endorse violence against innocent civilians." It went on to pressure the Academy to remove Gadot from the ceremony -- a move critics say targets her based solely on her Israeli identity. "This is a moment to choose integrity over complicity," the letter stated. "The Oscars should be a space for artists who uplift humanity, not those who justify its destruction."

A source familiar with the matter told Page Six, "They spent a few hours trying to get Gal removed from the Oscars. It was disgusting." This isn't the first time Nair has aligned herself with anti-Israel activism. In 2013, she joined a cultural boycott and refused to attend a film festival in Haifa.

Mamdani's father, Mahmood Mamdani, is a Columbia University professor and chancellor of Kampala International University in Uganda. He has also drawn scrutiny for anti-Israel comments. In a 2014 speech at Columbia, Mahmood argued that "the longtime security of a Jewish homeland in historic Palestine requires the dismantling of the Jewish state," and stated that "Jews can have a homeland in historic Palestine, but not a state."

There's a "publishing scene" in LA -- they read books in LA? I thought they only read coverages of scripts -- and apparently it's getting "anti-woke," according to woke propaganda rag Rolling Stone.

Rolling Stone doesn't like this revolt against censorship.

Inside the 'Anti-Woke' Literary Scene Growing in L.A.

They felt excluded by "millennial moral censorship" -- but is their work pushing boundaries, or just pushing buttons?

Matt Pegas neatly arranges stacks of books atop the red tablecloth at the reception table in the front yard of the house party. Surrounding the books is a tableau of candles, rose petals, a tarot deck, and packets of wildflower seeds, which guests are encouraged to take home and plant. Midnight will mark the spring equinox, and the pagan decor is meant to celebrate a rebirth, because, they say, after years of being tacitly driven underground, the "anti-woke" arts scene in Los Angeles is ready to blossom in full view.

"We have been in hibernation. We have been in the cold. We've been hiding. Now we're out in the open," says party organizer and emcee Adem Luz Rienspects, clad in a white linen shirt and pants.

The function, held in a single-family home in L.A.'s Lincoln Heights, is, at a glance, your standard collection of Eastside scenesters -- nebbish guys in glasses; handsome bros in black leather jackets; guys with long Seventies rocker hair; doughy, bearded guys in ball caps, accompanied by women several magnitudes hotter than them; a man in a tweedy three-piece suit; a woman who's a dead ringer for Naomi Watts. Several women wear lacy white dresses and flower crowns, in accordance with the theme. The requisite amounts of woo woo and pretension. Nearly everyone is white.

"Nearly everyone" is white in a majority white country. What a crisis. I'm so sorry this is happening to you.

Say, what's the racial composition of Rolling Stone's editorial staff, I wonder...?

...

More generally, the event is an act of defiance against "wokeness," which, these critics say, has for too long stifled free expression, at the expense of creating quality art.

...

"There's a massive cultural pushback against millennial moral censorship," Chris Zeisscheig, a former porn performer turned indie novelist, tells me while watching the party crowd with removed awe.

...

The backlash in historically liberal cultural circles has been deemed the Vibe Shift, a term coined by Substack writer Sean Monahan in 2021, and later adopted by the mainstream press, to describe the growing number of young people rejecting the "woke" identity-based politics largely embraced by the contemporary Left. Wokeness first rose to prominence during the Obama years and went mainstream after the gender reckoning of #MeToo, the racial awakening of Black Lives Matter, and the anti-Trump Resistance of his first term.

For a while, woke had a positive connotation -- co-opted from Black communities, it had come to mean being awoken to the historical wrongs perpetrated against women and people of color. At first, this was a welcome development, a long overdue correction to the racial and gender inequities in artistic endeavors. But after a while, a backlash started brewing, one that felt wokeness was overly censorious and punitive of anyone who dared challenge identitarian political ideals. To them, woke became synonymous with Cancel Culture, people being publicly shunned for their political views, and in some cases losing their career opportunities and social connections over them. To be woke, they believed, was to be scolding and off-putting. That anti-woke movement exploded into public view in recent years, culminating with Trump's re-election last fall.

...

In this way, the alt-lit scene is part of the cyclical nature of pop culture. A school of thought (woke) takes hold, becomes popular among a certain set of creatively-minded young people, becomes so popular that it becomes uncool, only to be replaced by a counter movement (anti-woke), restarting the process. What is transgressive, indie and anti-woke today will one day be normie, derivative, and cringe.

The woke backlash is a manifestation of the horseshoe theory of politics, which posits that the poles of the political spectrum are more alike than different, Pegas says. "The post-Trump Right and the post-Bernie Left merged around creative disaffection somewhere around 2020, 2021," he tells me before his reading. "Culturally, it's about getting rid of woke and the censorship therein."

The left isn't just plotting a fake, Deep-State-organized color revolution for America.

They're also begging foreign countries to intervene in American politics and pursue a policy of regime change, warns Jonathan Turley.

'Hit Us, Please' -- America's Left Issues a 'Broken Arrow' Signal to Europe

"Broken arrow" is arguably the most chilling and desperate order that an American military commander can issue. When faced with an enemy about to overrun a surrounded force, a commander uses it to call in an air or artillery strike on his own position.

This month, many on the American left are issuing their own "broken arrow" signals, including calling on globalist allies to hit the U.S. with sanctions and other measures. They are seeking to achieve through sanctions what they could not achieve through elections.

The most recent such call came from commentator Elie Mystal on "The Joy Reid Show" this week.

"Our country needs to be sanctioned," he said. "We are the bad guys on the world stage. We are a menace to not only free people everywhere, but we are a menace to peaceful people everywhere at this point, and I'm not even going to say that we've only been a menace for the past three or four months."

Mystal's call was hardly a surprise for those familiar with his writings. A regular commentator on MSNBC, he previously called the Constitution "trash" and urged not just the abolition of the U.S. Senate but also of "all voter registration laws."

Yet, he is not alone in signaling that his position is being overrun by his fellow citizens.

After Elon Musk bought Twitter with a pledge to dismantle its censorship system, former Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called upon Europe to use its infamous Digital Services Act to force him to censor fellow Americans.

Nina Jankowicz, the former head of Biden's infamous Disinformation Governance Board, appeared recently before the European Parliament. She called upon the 27 EU countries to fight against the U.S., which she described as a global threat.

To the delight of globalists, she declared, "Before I describe the details of Russia's recent online influence campaigns, I would like to call upon you to stand firm against another autocracy: The United States of America."

This year, I spoke in Berlin at the World Forum and was surprised to see many Americans joining European leaders in support of the forum's slogan, "A New World Order with European Values." Attended by figures such as Bill and Hillary Clinton, the conference heralded Europe as key to countering the threat posed by the U.S.

Others denounced America as the world's villain with boycotts and protests during Fourth of July celebrations. One leading influencer declared that "this country is beyond f**ked" and encouraged citizens to "walk away from the illusion that they built" around this country.

...

Yet the fact is, this country is not being "overrun." Those are fellow citizens who are calling for these policy changes and rejecting far-left policies. Just as many in Europe are calling on the EU to block far-right democratic victories, many in this country are advocating for the trashing of the Constitution or transnational interventions to reverse political voting trends.

The fact is, the far left is not truly surrounded. They have simply retreated into smaller and smaller echo chambers rather than engage the rest of the country on these issues. Viewed from within the protected spaces of MSNBC or BlueSky, you can feel surrounded, but it remains a type of self-isolation. It is like watching wagons frantically circling on the plains without a hostile in sight. The problem is that most of America has moved on.

In the end, the calls for a globalist intervention are a final desperate call of America's self-isolated left.

CNN's woke, corrupt "medical reporter" Sanjay Gupta pushed masking and social distancing and shutdowns during covid, but now pretends he was skeptical of these measures all along.

Update to the earlier story of Gavin Newsom screaming about Trump's raid on the illegal pot farm that employs illegal aliens and children: Gavin Newsom wasn't just protecting illegals.

He was doing donor service. One of his political donors owns the pot farm.

Of course. We should have seen that coming.

The Bee:

The Austin Fire Department delayed sending swimmers to the areas expecting floods.

The fire chief in Austin, Texas has been accused of not deploying firefighters to help those who were being impacted by flooding that took place in Kerrville County on July 4. Austin Fire Chief Joel G. Baker is accused of issuing a standing order "on June 6 that prevented Austin firefighters from deploying to assist those working to rescue people during the catastrophic 4th of July flooding in Central Texas," per the Austin Monitor.

Baker was accused by the Austin Firefighters Association (AFA) of refusing to deploy the firefighters to Kerr County to aid those impacted by flash floods. The AFA said that it was "absolutely outrageous" and an "egregious dereliction of duty" for him to deny the deployment of the firefighters. The AFA President Bob Nicks has called for his removal and a vote of no confidence will be held online from July 15-17.

Austin's Fire Department chief says DEI, not saving lives or deploying swimmers to save flood victims, is the number-one priority.

London has fallen.

LA residents honored the Spirit of '76 by patriotically conducting Boston Tea Party style raids on jewelry stores. Diversity is very much our strength.

Leftwing women are all ugly hags. Or dudes.

It's hard to believe, but the woke gay dilettante Barack Obama can't build a library. It's one of the many things he's bad at, including keeping his awful wife in line.

This clip is everything.

Sheriff speaks plainly.

JD Vance: The left has no unifying ideology that its Pride Parade Perverts and Jihadist Terror-supporters agree with. All that unites them is hatred of normal Americans.

Pussy femmy Hollywood half-wit Jason Bateman suggests that people need to start going after Trump supporters, and that someone -- maybe the government, it's hard to say who he means -- needs to give Trump supporters a "talking to."

Teaching America's youth.

'I exposed myself to the [...] chapter leader for the local Moms for Liberty'

The Pennsylvania transgender coach who had been canned for inappropriate conduct, was rehired, but ultimately resigned over a porn video showing him smoking meth, recently admitted he was the one who had sent the incriminating video.

David Yates (pictured), who coached tennis at Gettysburg High School and switched to the name "Sasha" in 2022, was not rehired following a pair of incidents which included him allegedly "stripping down to bra and panties" in the girls' locker room.

Note that, as usual, the fetishistic male chooses a "kewl" fake name like the ones you might see in a Young Adult "novel."

Never a Debbie or Bettie or Susan among them.

But Yates later reapplied for the position, and had the backing of many who claimed he'd been let go due to "transphobia." A district solicitor reportedly recommended Yates be rehired so as to avoid a possible lawsuit.

And so, Yates returned as tennis coach after the school board voted 6-2 to (re)hire him.

But months later, Yates resigned after a pornographic video of him smoking meth was emailed to board member Michelle Smyers. Oddly at the time, Smyers also received a text message from Yates' number which said "I have information about Sasha Yates that you need to know."

A subsequent text from Yates informed Smyers that he planned to resign.

The texts appear to make sense now; a recent report by Reduxx notes Yates admitted to emailing the video to Smyers himself in a "'sissy' fetish forum":

"[In] October 2024, I met up with a guy from Grindr and went to his motel room. Was filmed getting spun and being f*cked by raw bbc. The video was sent to a member of the board at the school I worked at. That was my 'coming out' as a meth whore and I was fired," Yates posted on May 22.

"What I've never admitted is that yes, the video was sent from someone else's email address, but I actually wrote the email and hit the send button. I exposed myself to the member of the school board who is the chapter leader for the local Moms for Liberty. She has been trying to fire me for the last 2 year and this gave her everything she needed to legitimately fire me," he added.

"Since this happened I have not been able to find employment. I apply for jobs but don't even get an interview." ...

When asked whether he regretted his decision, Yates said, "There are parts of it that I might do a little differently, but the end result would be the same."

In his "sissy" forum profile, Yates notes his interests are "gangbangs, female domination, rape fantasies," and something called "poz breeding" -- a fetish for possibly contracting HIV from unprotected sex.

Schools aren't for educating students. Schools now exist purely as pervert funhouses for autogynephiles and sex criminals to show off their gender role-play to little kids.

Posted by: Ace at 06:15 PM | Comments (290) | Trackbacks (Suck)