Moose Encounters of the Third Kind Cafe

Yorkshire Dale, England
from @VisualTherapy0

Hand-raising an orphaned baby anteater so it can survive on its own and just be weirdly adorable.

Friendly skunk swarm.

Old but cute: Duck runs a race. (Well I think he just ran a hundred yards at the end but that's still very good for a duck.)

Natural pesticide: Thousands of ducks are released to eat all the insects out of a plot of farmland after the harvest.

This is turning into a very duck-heavy cafe.

Baby elephant tries to use his trunk.

Baby polar bear chases off a rude raven.

I'm a peacock, captain! You've gotta let me fly!

Sea lion gets territorial with a marine iguana. Tourists go home.

Helicopter mom lioness.

Posted by: Ace at 07:30 PM | Comments (251) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Another One: How Did BLM Grifter and "Squad" Member Ayana Presley Go from Broke-Ass to Wealthy After Just a Few Short Years in Congress?

Sadie
@Sadie_NC

Another Squad member caught in the swamp!

Ayanna Pressley went from negative net worth in 2018 to $1.3 million today--on a $174k salary?

Assets up to $8M, including a fancy Martha's Vineyard rental. Her husband starts a "consulting" firm with ties to Obama right after she enters Congress. Coincidence?

Brandon Straka #WalkAway
@BrandonStraka

Jan 31

Ayanna Pressley is facing renewed scrutiny as claims circulate that her net worth surged from negative in 2018 to assets reportedly valued up to $8 million -- fueling calls for investigation and accountability.

It turns out her husband quit his political job when she got elected and opened a "consultancy" firm -- which can accept large sums of money to "consult" with people. And lobby congresswomen, no doubt.

Before Brian Stelter can hiss "conspiracy theory!" and Jake Tapper can whine "WITHOUT EVIDENCE," consider this:

High-level officials in Biden administration went to work for grant recipients, watchdog finds

The Revolving Door of D.C.: Federal agencies under Biden doled out $600 million to a variety of climate-focused NGOs following Biden's disastrous debate with Trump in 2024. Some individuals who held leadership positions at these agencies later went on to work for the same recipients of the grant money.

The Department of Energy recently announced it's eliminating more than $83 billion in what it called "Green New Scam" loans and conditional commitments made through the Loans Programs Office during the Biden administration.

The Trump administration has tried to roll back funding the Biden administration rushed out the door in its final months.

Democracy Restored, a nonprofit government watchdog, calculated that following former President Joe Biden's disastrous debate with now-President Donald Trump on June 27, 2024, the Biden administration began rushing billions out the door to more than a dozen environmental and climate-focused NGOs, including the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, Climate United Fund, the Ocean Conservancy, the Nature Conservancy, and Rocky Mountain Institute.

Using data from USASpending.gov, Democracy Resorted found that federal agencies had obligated more than $600 million in taxpayer money to these organizations since July 1, 2024. The obligations began to drop the day after the election. Obligations to these same organizations since Nov. 5, 2024 fell to $246 million.

While various agencies were providing millions in support to these organizations, high-level officials within the agencies either went to work for them after Trump took office, or they had previously worked for them prior to assuming key roles at the agencies under Biden.

Shovels of money after debate debacle

The Department of Energy awarded the World Resources Institute a $1 million grant in August 2024. The funding would go toward training and collaboration in support of school bus fleet electrification. Jigar Shah, who was director of the Loans Programs Office within the DOE, is now a senior fellow at the World Resources Institute.

Jennifer Wilcox, who held the position of principal deputy assistant secretary at the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management at the Department of Energy, is also a senior fellow at the World Resources Institute. The institute is a global research organization focused on various sustainability and climate action initiatives.

"I think the money being shoveled out after President Biden's debate and the apparent revolving door of appointees going to recipients of these federal funds raises many questions about the timing of the money, the impact of special interests in the Biden administration and the general ethics surrounding this behavior," Houston Keene, director of Democracy Restored, told Just the News.

Posted by: Ace at 06:30 PM | Comments (148) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Trump Names New Fed Chief; "Safe Choice" Would Favor Interest Rate Cuts, as Trump Also Wants

Crooked partisan Jerome Powell left the federal prime interest rate unchanged, declaring that no cut was needed, as the economy was experiencing solid growth.

The Federal Reserve held its key interest steady in a range between 3.5% and 3.75% after a recent run of interest rate cuts.

"Available indicators suggest that economic activity has been expanding at a solid pace. Job gains have remained low, and the unemployment rate has shown some signs of stabilization," the central bank said in its post-meeting statement. "Inflation remains somewhat elevated."

...

Importantly, the statement also erased a clause indicating that the committee saw a higher risk from the threat of a weakening labor market than that of heightened inflation. That would argue for a pause on rate cuts at least in the near term as officials see the Fed's dual goals of low inflation and full employment more in balance.

There was little in the way of guidance about what's coming next, with markets expecting the Fed to wait until at least June before adjusting its benchmark rate again.

Well, the economy is indeed growing. But supposedly the economy was growing during Biden's Miracle Economy and Powell still cut interest rates, months before an election considered a referendum on Biden's stewardship over the economy. And inflation was still raising.

Trump can't wait until this guy is out office, and thankfully, his term ends in May.

Trump has already named Powell's replacement.

IBM Vice Chairman Gary Cohn said Sunday that President Trump's nominee for chairman of the Federal Reserve Board is "very highly qualified" and will "take the Fed back to its traditional" norms.

"I think we're very fortunate to have Kevin to be the nominee," Cohn said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan."

On Friday, Mr. Trump announced that he had nominated Kevin Warsh to serve as the next chair of the Federal Reserve Board, writing in a post on Truth Social that he has "no doubt that he will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best."

...

Cohn, the former National Economic Council director in President Trump's first term, praised Warsh on Sunday, saying that he brings a "unique background" and highlighting his work on the Fed board during the 2008 financial crisis.

"He was instrumental in that crisis," Cohn said. "Kevin was the point person at the Fed -- he was involved in every one of those discussions. And I truly believe, without Kevin's expertise, and without Kevin being there, we would not have come out of the 2008 crisis as well as we have."

The president's selection of Warsh as his nominee was expected to be viewed as a safe choice on Wall Street given his monetary policy experience and well-established views on inflation.

Cohn said he expects Warsh to "stay out of a lot of the non-financial issues," while he is "going to be involved, obviously, in setting interest rate policy."

"There is a pressure right now for interest rates to go lower," Cohn said. "I think that he will probably follow through on the one to two cuts this year."

Posted by: Ace at 05:30 PM | Comments (168) | Trackbacks (Suck)

California is the Golden State for Fraud; 18% of All the Country's "Home Health Care" Billing Comes from LA

Almost 20% of the country's welfare funds for "home health care" goes to 440 square miles in California.

And LA is scamming the country for billions for fake Medicare services.

Los Angeles hospice fraud reaches billions as Medicare providers scam federal system with fake companies

Medicare chief says fraudulent providers scam taxpayers with ghost patients and sham companies in scheme involving corrupt doctors

Ghost patients, sham companies, offshore owners and corrupt doctors. Auditors and prosecutors say hospice fraud in Los Angeles is off the charts, with providers scamming billions from taxpayers for patients that don't exist, poor care and no care.

"Hospice is crazy here," says Dr. Mehmet Oz, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

"You've got hospice that's grown seven-fold in the last five years. They represent about three and a half billion dollars of fraud, we believe, just in LA County."

Backing him up was California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who said last year, "Hospice fraud has become an epidemic in California, specifically in the greater Los Angeles area."

Bonta says fraudulent providers submit false claims for unnecessary services, and recruiters get kickbacks for signing up seniors, whether they're sick or not. Hospices also enroll patients who don't even know they've been scammed until they seek out medical care.

"As a hospice owner, I could sign up everybody in this room for hospice," an LA hospice owner told us.

A whistleblower told us there's no limit on the number of hospices an individual can own, and applicants can live abroad.

"It's all just paperwork. I could fill [an application] out in Kazakhstan if I want, and get a hospice license."

He explained how the scam works:

Recruiters go to shopping centers and senior centers to sign up patients, promising them walkers, a month's supply of nutritional drinks, cash and weekly visits in exchange for a Medicare number.

Recruiters then sell that "benny" or beneficiary's Medicare number to a provider for a $1,000 to $3,000 and receive a cut for every month the senior stays on their rolls.

Hospice enrollees are supposed to have a terminal illness or life expectancy of six months or less. But frequently hospice owners treat patients like trading cards, moving them from one provider to another if they stay too long, which raises a red flag with auditors.

In the U.S., more than 50% of hospice patients die within 18 days or less. In LA, the average length of stay is more than three months, and, in many hospices, patients never die, with court records showing hospices billing the federal government for 18 months and more.

In LA, a hospice is paid by the federal government $260 a day for each day a senior is under its care.

...

"A Medicare MIB number is more lucrative than a credit card," says Sheila Clark, president of the California Hospice and Palliative Care Association, referring to the 11 character code each Medicare recipient has that allows federal reimbursement. "They're human traffickers. They're trafficking beneficiaries in and out of hospices, home health."

At City Journal, a Democrat whistleblower in Minnesota affirms that the fraud is real and spectacular.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services is the state agency responsible for overseeing the programs at the heart of the scandal. Faye Bernstein has been a DHS employee for two decades, including stints working in contract management and as a compliance officer.

During the early years of Governor Tim Walz's administration, Bernstein says that she began raising concerns internally at DHS about concerning practices that exposed tax dollars to fraud. In response, Bernstein claims that her DHS supervisors retaliated against her.

In a recent interview with City Journal, Bernstein painted a picture of a toxic workplace culture at DHS that allowed Minnesota's fraud scandal to metastasize. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

City Journal: When did your concerns about fraud begin?

Faye Bernstein: In 2018 and 2019. I had just gotten a promotion to a lead position. That meant I saw everybody's contracts from our work area [Behavioral Health Administration]. They all funneled through me. Over the years, I had often thought that DHS is sloppy. But 2018 and 2019 are when I saw, oh gosh, this is beyond normal. If we don't have fraud today, we're going to have fraud soon.

CJ: Can you give an example?

FB: I could give a contract to my sister for a million dollars because she has a different last name, pay out that contract, and nobody would notice. We did not monitor conflict of interest. It would have been easy to give a contract to a family member or to a nonexistent person. That's when I realized, this sloppiness is way beyond normal. We really are at risk of fraud.

CJ: Can you give other examples of things you saw?

FB: The reason I can confidently say that I could give a contract of this sort to my sister was because I had come across a contract that DHS had given to a former employee who had left the department within the past year. I immediately recognized her name, so I went to the person who initiated that contract and said, "What's the deal with this? I want to make sure everything's okay, that we don't have a conflict."

The person immediately went to our deputy director, who then came to me and said, "Why are you asking these questions?"

And I said, "Well, gosh, this is just a perfectly normal question."

"No, it's not. You're upsetting people. You've just made a lot of enemies by asking these questions."

It made no sense to me. We were constantly getting into risky territory. And if you spoke about it, it was very clear what would happen. Even our human resources people would tell us, "If your supervisor tells you to do something, you must do it." And when you didn't, the word "insubordination" came up. They considered it insubordinate if you resisted an unlawful direction.

CJ: Did this culture at DHS help facilitate fraud?

FB: It definitely did. Where we are today is completely predictable from where we were in 2019. There was no other way for this to go. The handwriting was on the wall. Until only about a year ago, our whistleblower policy required us to report internally; that did not comply with the law. The only reason [DHS had that policy] was so that they could find out who was reporting.

Posted by: Ace at 04:30 PM | Comments (202) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Why Did John Brennan Deliver a Secret CIA Award to Obama's White House Counsel and Very Good Friend of Jeffrey Epstein Kathryn Ruemmler?

We know she received this secret award from John Brennan for unknown services provided to the CIA only because she immediately wrote to her BFF Jeffrey Epstein-- who sent her gifts like a $9,400 handbag -- immediately after receiving the secret honor.

Why?

And why was it kept secret? People usually publicize their CIA awards. They show you're In the Club.

We only know about this secret CIA award because Ruemmler bragged about it to Jeffrey Epstein, and his emails were just released.

So why was the reward given? I'm quoting Mike Benz's thread, but he points out this wasn't awarded for work she did during the Obama Administration. This was awarded when she was in the private sector, specifically working for Democrat law firm Lantham and Watkins.

A firm that was instrumental in perpetrating the Russiagate hoax on the country.

So... is that why John Brennan gave the award to her? Because she assisted in his own disinformation campaign against the American taxpayer, which he perpetrated while being paid by the taxpayers?

Mike Benz

@MikeBenzCyber

19h

A couple interesting notes on the reveal that Obama's White House Counsel (top lawyer to the President) Kathy Ruemmler emailed Jeffrey Epstein she was awarded the CIA Agency Medal just hours after getting the award 🧵

2) When I saw this, I wondered why I'd never heard this before. Her CIA Agency Award in 2015 was not and still has never been reported by any press outlet whatsoever, not even a fringe one. It's not in her Wikipedia. It's not in her extensive current Goldman Sachs bio.

3) I've covered many times, for example, how BlackRock's Vice Chairman proudly lists his winning the CIA's Director's Award openly on his official BlackRock bio.

4) The award is a big deal and she was clearly so excited and proud of it she rushed to tell Jeffrey Epstein mere hours after CIA Director John Brennan awarded her, and then sought validation from Epstein over it.

5) Now, this is where it gets interesting. Ruemmler had already left government and returned to private practice at Latham & Watkins 8 months earlier. When she won the CIA Agency Medal, she was a private citizen. A civilian.

6) As it turns out, non-CIA civilians can receive the CIA Agency Medal -- privately with no public release -- if they have played a meaningful role in enabling CIA operations, providing critical access, or helping clear high-stakes legal or operational obstacles the CIA faced

7) The reason the CIA doesn't publicly disclose CIA Agency Medal winners who are non-CIA civilians is because those winners, as nominal civilians with no CIA overlap, may not want the public to know they covertly helped the CIA overcome sensitive legal or political obstacles.

Of course, you can't rule out simple cronyism back-scratching. It was Ruemmler who fought to legally block CIA disclosures on Benghazi from Congress to save not-yet-CIA-Director John Brennan's Senate confirmation bid, 2 years before Brennan gave her the CIA Agency Award.

9) Worth noting Kathy Ruemmler, who fought to make John Brennan the CIA Director and then won the CIA Agency Award, was so close to Epstein she was the backup executor of Jeffrey Epstein's will.

Wait, what?

Remember, Ruemmler continues insisting that she was never a paid client of Epstein's and barely even knew him.

Despite him giving her $9,400 handbags and other luxury gifts.

10) But the pure cronyism explanation doesn't sit right with me. For one, anyone can get a CIA Agency Award at any time. It's not "once a year" doled out in one batch. Brennan became CIA chief in March 2013. He didn't give her the award until 2 years later, after she left gov't

11) Second, if Brennan had given Ruemmler the CIA Agency Medal earlier while she was still White House Counsel, she could forever-after confidently share the honor publicly without needing to hide it, since everyone would presume it related to her official White House legal role

12) Now, it's possible Brennan issued her the award while she was White House Counsel but then kept it in CIA custody until she left gov't, if political sensitivities or the covert operation the award related to were still ongoing. I found examples of that in declassified docs

13) But still, something doesn't sit right. Even if you never announce the CIA Agency Award to the public, there's still a real benefit to getting one: privileged inside access, weight & deference, plus more opportunities channeled to you in ongoing and future CIA relationships.

14) So wherever Ruemmler worked when she got the award, the CIA effectively had "their woman" in the room for all manner of "informal consultation" or info-sharing. Well, in 2015, when she got it, she was at Latham & Watkins: a central firm in the CIA-led 2016 Russiagate affair

The full thread, with screencaps of supporting documents, is here.

Posted by: Ace at 03:30 PM | Comments (235) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Major British Labour Politician Pressured to Resign Over Epstein Payoffs; Epstein Had a Secret Baby?

Peter Mandelson is a major fixer for Labour who is responsible for the rise of Tony Blair.

There are at least two occasions on which it is alleged Epstein handed large sums of money to Lord Mandelson or his husband.

His husband.

Mandelson directly referenced one of the claims when announcing his resignation from the Labour party. Bank statements held among the Epstein files released by the US Department of Justice appear to show that in 2003 to 2004 the disgraced financier paid a total of $75,000 (£54,750) into bank accounts of which Mandelson -- then a Labour MP -- was believed to be a beneficiary.

The former cabinet minister had already come under pressure over the second allegation that his husband, Reinaldo Avila da Silva, had received £10,000 from Epstein about two months after the registered sex offender was released from prison in 2009.

...

The files also show evidence Mandelson advised Epstein on how the investment bank JP Morgan might lobby the government -- of which he was a part -- on plans for a tax on bankers' bonuses.

Among the documents is a chain of emails between Epstein and Mandelson, in which the former asks if the new tax might only apply to the cash portion of bonuses. "Trying hard to amend," Mandelson wrote back on 15 December 2009. "Treasury digging in but I am on case."

Mandelson, who was then business secretary in Gordon Brown's government, suggested two days later that the head of the investment bank call the then chancellor, Alistair Darling, and "mildly threaten" him.

I make no judgments about the policy nor whether it should have been opposed or not. But we once again see Epstein's hand behind political decisionmaking.

It had been known for years that Mandelson was linked to Epstein. It has long been a matter of public record Mandelson stayed in the disgraced financier's flat in New York while the latter was serving his prison term. And a briefing delivered to the prime minister, Keir Starmer, on the reputational risk in appointing Mandelson as ambassador to the US mentioned official records showing he had facilitated a meeting between Epstein and Tony Blair in 2002.

But a glimpse of the extent of the relationship between the former minister and Epstein would lead to Mandelson's withdrawal from Washington in September 2025.

Documents released then showed Mandelson had referred to Epstein as his "best pal" in a letter included within an alleged birthday book that was released by US lawmakers.

...

The prime minister, who had been facing questions about his judgment after standing by Mandelson, removed him from his post when it emerged he had emailed Epstein suggesting his 2008 conviction for soliciting a child for prostitution was wrongful and should be challenged.

No 10 said it had not known about emails, in which Mandelson wrote: "I can still barely understand it. It just could not happen in Britain. You have to be incredibly resilient, fight for early release and be philosophical about it as much as you can."

Meanwhile, released emails indicate that Jeffrey Epstein had a secret baby with an unknown woman.

This disclosure was made in emails from Sarah "Fergie" Ferguson, the wife of the former Prince Andrew, and herself a big pal of the convicted pedophile.

Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein appears to have had a secret child 15 years ago, according to a bombshell email reportedly sent by Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson.

Ferguson congratulated him in the note sent on Sept. 21, 2011, after he was already convicted of sex with an underage girl, according to the latest drop of Epstein files.

"Don't know if you're still on this bbm but have heard from The Duke that you have had a baby boy," Ferguson wrote, according to the released email.

"Even though you never kept in touch, I still am here with love, friendship, and congratualtions [sic] on your baby boy. Sarah xx."

In another message, Ferguson claimed Epstein had disappeared and said she wasn't aware he was about to become a father.

Epstein's last known girlfriend was Karyna Shuliak and he reportedly wanted to leave her his infamous private Island as well as $50 million and his Upper East Side townhouse. He signed his will on Aug 8, 2019 -- just two days before he was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell.

Posted by: Ace at 02:26 PM | Comments (285) | Trackbacks (Suck)

First Case of Sex Change "Detransitioner" Suing Doctors Results in $4 Million Malpractice Payout

Big win.

These cases will be won on claims of lack of informed consent, and that's 100% real and 100% a violation of basic medical ethics. Sex "transition" procedures are sold to patients like they're used cars the dealership must get off the lot. Doctors do not explain all the many side-effects and poor outcomes, and on the other hand, they claim that the procedures are basically magical and will cure all of the patient's mental illnesses.

One major adverse outcome they refuse to discuss with patients is the fact that many will seek to detransition -- they pretend that detransitioners don't exist and if they do exist they're just brainwashed by MAGA supremacists. Failing to tell patients about the actual rates of transition-regret, and the fact that these procedures are essentially irreversible and will leave patients "disfigured" for life, is a violation of the duty of care a doctor owes to a patient.

Jurors on Jan. 30 found a psychologist and surgeon liable for malpractice after they supported and performed breast removal surgery on a 16-year-old girl who at the time identified as transgender.

Jurors awarded Fox Varian, now 22 and no longer identifying as transgender, $2 million in damages, with $1.6 million for past and future pain and suffering, and another $400,000 for future medical expenses.

The jurors found that in many respects the surgeon and psychologist had skipped important steps when evaluating if she should go forward with the surgery and had not adequately communicated with each other. These missteps were a "departure from the standard of care," they decided.

During closing arguments, Varian's attorney Adam Deutsch had asked the jury for $8 million in damages. To justify that sum, he quoted earlier testimony where Varian described her reaction to seeing her post-surgery chest.

"I immediately had a thought that this was wrong, and it couldn't be true," Varian said. She also said that the surgery left her with nerve pain, which she described as "searing hot ... ripping sensations across my chest."

"Shame. I felt shame," she added. "It's hard to face that you are disfigured for life."

The RINOs will soon be passing legislation to block these lawsuits, arguing, disingenuously, that Conservative Principles dictate that they do all that they can to stop all lawsuits.

Posted by: Ace at 01:10 PM | Comments (407) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Grammys, Which Apparently Still Exist, Once Again Descend Into an Sloppy Orgy of Virtue Signalling and Cultural Irrelevance

The emcee, the failed DEI "comic" Trevor Noah, accused Trump WITHOUT EVIDENCE of having visited Epstein's island -- and Trump says he's suing.

Posted by: Ace at 12:02 PM | Comments (496) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Minnesota CEOs Request ‘De-Escalation’ of Federal Immigration Law Enforcement; Perhaps Federal Laws that Protect Minnesota Corporations Should Also Not Be Enforced

The capture of corporate executive suites by the left is something I never would have predicted a few decades ago, because a fundamental tenet of the left has been state ownership of all enterprises. But with many corporations actively advocating for the advancement of the left’s radical agenda, corporations have bought themselves a level of protection from left-wing politicians. In addition, many corporate executives are clearly true believers in the left’s effort to reorganize civilization.

We on the right have no obligation to continue defending corporations who are allied with the left against us.

Last week the CEOs of dozens of corporations headquartered in Minnesota released a letter requesting that the federal government stand down and stop enforcing immigration law, specifically requesting “an immediate deescalation of tensions” and instead of enforcing the law, demanding that the federal government work with state and local officials “to find real solutions” other than removing criminal illegal aliens.

Among the signers were the CEOs of Target, Best Buy, US Bank, General Mills, 3M, and Red Wing Shoes.

These CEOs are advocating for selective non-enforcement of federal laws that protect everyday citizens from the pathologies that have been brought to this country by a flood of millions of illegal immigrants, many of whom are hardened criminals. Since these CEOs believe that enforcement of federal law is optional, surely they would be OK if federal laws that protect their corporations are not enforced too, correct?

Here are some more opportunities for selective non-enforcement of federal law:

Target has a famous logo protected by US trademark laws. If Target is cool with federal immigration laws not being enforced, I’m cool with allowing any retailer to use Target’s logo without any enforcement of federal trademark laws.

3M is an industrial powerhouse that has prospered from its development of patent-protected products. Perhaps the federal government should “de-escalate” enforcement of 3M’s patents when competitors sell knock-offs?

Red Wing Boots is a market leader in premium-priced work boots. Since its CEO is advocating for federal laws not to be enforced, there is a great opportunity to sell cheap imitation boots with Red Wing branding, and have the federal government stand down in protecting Red Wing’s trademark.

US Bank relies on the federal government to enforce laws that protect banks from criminal fraud. Enforcing these laws requires federal manpower and taxpayer money. Since US Bank’s CEO is advocating for the federal government not to enforce immigration laws, perhaps we can extend the same courtesy and have US Bank exempted from federal protections against bank fraud.

If Best Buy’s CEO is going to advocate for the non-enforcement of federal law, I might in turn advocate that any electronics retailer be allowed to put up a sign identifying their store as a Best Buy.

General Mills sells Cheerios, among other cereals, and other well-known consumer products such as Pillsbury and Betty Crocker, which are all protected by trademark law. It seems to me that by signing the letter requesting that immigration law not be enforced, General Mills’ CEO is also announcing that federal laws protecting its trademarks can be ignored too. Selling generic oat cereal as authentic Cheerios sounds like a good business opportunity.

Laws that protect corporations and laws that protect individuals are all part of the social contract that keeps this country functioning. It is reckless for either corporations or individuals to advocate for the selective non-enforcement of laws that don’t specifically benefit them...but that’s what these Minnesota CEOs are doing.

If the “real solutions” that these CEOs seek is to allow criminal aliens to avoid arrest and deportation, then those companies can surrender federal protection of their intellectual property as part of those “real solutions.”

When I hear the MN corporate CEOs request the federal government stand down on enforcing immigration law that protects citizens, I also hear them saying it’s OK to no longer enforce federal laws that protect *their* businesses, such as Intellectual property & false advertising.

— Buck Throckmorton (@BuckThrockmort) January 28, 2026

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM | Comments (310) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Mid-Morning Art Thread

Les Nymphes
Luis Ricardo Falero

Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM | Comments (378) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Morning Report — 2/2/26

Good morning kids. As I and many of you for sure have pondered lo these many months going on perhaps years now if we are in a state of civil war, but for sure we are in a phase of accelerating societal breakdown. On the surface, life goes on much as it always has, kids go to school we go to work or otherwise go about our routines mostly as per usual. Beyond the violence and mayhem we are witnessing in Minneapolis and elsewhere, the most alarming aspect is the utter breakdown and corruption of our judicial system that has now been infiltrated and weaponized against us.

This here is madness and things like this more than even the open violent insurrection against law enforcement which not only represents President Trump and his policies but is supposed to represent our collective individual and societal liberties, rights and freedoms, will be and are indeed our undoing, in the here and now.

First, Judge Gregory Carro in New York State argued that Luigi Mangione, the leftist terrorist, wasn’t a terrorist because he said he wasn’t.

. . . More of the same now at the federal level where Judge Margaret Garnett, a recent Biden appointee, decided that Luigi Mangione stalking Brian Thompson in order to kill him wasn’t a “crime of violence”. . . The only thing tortured and strange here is that Democrats are trying not to pretend that they’re bailing out a leftist terrorist. Had Luigi Mangione worn a red cap and hunted down and killed a liberal judge, all of a sudden all of these rulings would be the opposite of what they are, and the ‘tortured and strange’ parts of them would be the sound of the law creaking to be bent backward the other way.

You better believe that the ICE agents who took down Good and Pretti, should some Soros prosecutor get the ball rolling are going to get the Derek Chauvin treatment if not a cell on death row. Donald Trump and Kristi Noem as well. The DemoKKKrats are already making noises about impeachement should they win back Congress this coming November and beyond that, they are itching to see those two and others dangling from a hangman's noose.

They've learned their lesson. Next time they will completely wipe out all opposition to them and seize absolute power. And anyone who objects will ironically and disgustingly be labeled as a terrorist and insurrectionist, and be subject to the harshest of penalties. Like J-6 the process will only be the beginning of the punishment.

It is clear that the Democrat Left has the ability and the willingness to mobilize an armed force of internal terrorists and insurrectionists who will do their bidding knowing they face no repercussions. At least no repercussions in the legal sense.

Can you imagine if average law abiding and armed citizens had a similar system to communicate and rapidly mobilize to be on scene to counter the criminal terrorist insurrectionists and stand shoulder to shoulder with law enforcement, or to oppose any Don Lemon squad of goons bent on invading a church service?

We are heading down that road. But considering our innate sense of morality (that has been completely burned out of the Left since childhood over the past 60 years or more) and concomitant abhorrence of violence, Perhaps it might never come to armed response.

We as a nation are coming to a crossroads. The Left uses our Constitution as both a shield and a cudgel. And bearing all of the aforementioned in mind, there's this frightening development:

Democrats spent years pushing for gun restrictions. Now they’re rushing to buy firearms and invoking Second Amendment rights after federal agents killed a licensed gun owner in Minneapolis.

The shift has drawn accusations of hypocrisy from conservative critics. Writing in The Hill, columnist Robby Soave noted that progressives “favor all sorts of restrictions on gun ownership” yet now champion constitutional gun rights following Alex Pretti’s death. The ACLU even backpedaled on whether it supports concealed carry rights for protesters, Soave wrote.

But, they will acquire and use firearms in an offensive manner and when the smoke clears claim self defense as a judge like the one who let Mangione off the hook and the one who railroaded Derek Chauvin will agree. When you have mayors and governors now openly going after and attempting to impede ICE and other federal agents from doing their duty, no doubt their armed Antifa goons and gang-bangers as in Long Beach CA will be deputized and given the full protection of a bastardized legal system.

Unfortunately or fortunately? We cannot deny anyone their second amendment right to bear arms based on their political beliefs. But considering a frighteningly large number of individuals not only want to destroy America as founded but as we have seen not just in Minneapolis but since the 1960s are willing and able to use violence to achieve their aims. Worse the Democrat Party in its eternal quest to seize absolute power is giving them political and legal cover to act as their street goons/enforcers.

If by some chance their election rigging machine fails to deliver them control of Congress, what we're seeing in Minneapolis is just a foretaste of what is to come that will be orders of magnitude worse. The President will be forced to respond and in so doing potentially play into their hands despite being completely in the right to quash an armed violent leftist/Democrat insurrection.

Friend and friend of the blog Mark Pulliam lays it all out in his latest piece, on his blog which is worthy of bookmarking and following:

. . .What happens if the Republicans lose control of Congress in the mid-terms this November?

We don’t have to wonder, because the Democrats have told us. Expect a 180-degree reversal of everything President Trump has done. We can expect as abrupt a change, on a national scale, as the radical onslaught incoming Governor Abigail Spanberger is imposing on the commonwealth of Virginia. Elections truly have consequences.

And if the Democrats re-gain the White House in 2028, things will be even worse. President Trump’s historic victory in 2024, and the MAGA agenda in general, will be foiled by the Democrats’ radical policies . . The Constitution, as we know if, would be shredded.

And for me it would essentially be the end of even the veneer of the illusion of regular order/business as usual that we barely are able to delude ourselves into believing. They will go all out to seize absolute power, crush any and all opposition and that will be that. A run of 250 years as they traipse around in the skin suit for another century or so demanding respect.

Unless something radical changes the course of history back towards sanity. As we had hoped the election, three times!, of Donald Trump would do.

Have a great day.

And lastly, a quick shout-out and a huge thank you for your continued support in hitting our tip jar. It truly is appreciated more than you can know.

ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY LINKS
• Just how do they “spontaneously” materialize en masse to scream profanities, blast whistles and block official vehicles? . . . When I deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, I saw similar spotter tactics employed by any number of guerilla groups who communicated via handheld radios to initiate IEDs on roadways traveled by American troops.
  I’ve seen insurgencies up close — and anti-ICE actions look eerily familiar

• In 1776, pamphleteer Thomas Paine, in a series of essays entitled “The American Crisis,”  exhorted the besieged colonists during the Revolutionary War to stand strong in their struggle for freedom. His opening line was “These are the times that try men’s souls.” The same is true today. However bleak conditions may appear, we must remain committed to victory.
  The New American Crisis

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 07:20 AM | Comments (374) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 2 February 2026

Top News

• Notepad++, a text editor used by every programmer in the world, got hijacked and used to install malware. (Notepad++)
  
  You're probably safe to click on that link. I think.
  
  The server providing software updates for Notepad++ got hacked to selectively deliver malware, apparently by West Taiwan targeting specific users in Taiwan.
  
  This went undetected for months because of the focused nature of the attack; if it had affected everyone who uses the software it would have been uncovered the next day. And would also have been a global catastrophe, because that would have given the attackers an indirect back door into basically everything.
  
  So it could have been worse, but is more than a little worrying.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (106) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Sunday Overnight Open Thread - February 1, 2026 [Doof]

Photo credit - Howard in Alberta

Howdy Hordelings - welcome to February! Did you participate in "Dry January"? I most definitely did not. Maybe next year. Probably not. Anyway, the ONT is here and so are you. Any lurkers in the house? Why not make tonight the night to delurk? Regulars - be nice!

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:00 PM | Comments (427) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Gun Thread: First February Edition!

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 the First February Edition? Show of hands - who is already sick of winter? I know that I am. I do not think we have been above freezing here for two weeks, and it's becoming annoying.

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 (207) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Food Thread: Bourbon, Cornbread, And Bacon, The Three Legs Of The American Meal

Commenter "Pete Bog" poses the question: "Too much bacon?"

After I moved past the embarrassment of the question...the answer is obviously, "not enough."

In fact, it is an even more flawed question, because the bacon in the photo is homemade bacon, made from a 4H pig, which was no doubt lovingly raised by a very motivated teenager. Pete Bog, aside from his Paella-stirring blindness, is no slouch in the kitchen, and has embraced the real (not virtue-signaling) concept of "Farm To Table" and "Nose To Tail!"

Obviously not all of us have access to 4H pigs, but trying to keep the food we eat as close to the source as possible is a fine goal. Bags of chopped vegetables, containers of cut fruit, supermarket-roasted chickens, and even more processed foods are undoubtedly convenient, but they are often more expensive, expose us to food-borne illness at a higher rate than our home kitchens, and remove us from the elemental joys of preparing our own food from start to finish.

One of the things that has convinced me of the virtue-signaling silliness of most of the current food craze is the plethora of (____) milks. Show me the nipples on an almond or an oat, and I will accept them as real. But a glance at the ingredients of these ultra-processed foods should convince you of the silliness of their positions as natural replacements for evil cow milk.

But back to bacon! Even store-bought mass market bacon is tasty. I don't recall ever having bad bacon, unless it was under-cooked or burned beyond recognition. But there is a big difference between Safeway bacon and a well-made bacon or homemade. Yes, you can spend a ton of money...try Neuske's if you have some extra cash, but Costco thick-sliced bacon is quite good! Certainly better than generic supermarket bacon, and it is less expensive to boot.

The rambling point is; We can eat well and healthfully without breaking the bank, as long as we pay a bit of attention to what we start with. And that isn't necessarily more time consuming! The undeniable bonus is that it is often fun and satisfying!

Posted by: CBD at 04:00 PM | Comments (280) | Trackbacks (Suck)

First World Problems...

For some unfathomable, deeply anti-freedom reason, lip balm tubes always advance the lip balm into the top while resting in my pocket, rather than it being a random thing...sometimes advancing and sometimes retracting. And of course the balm nestles into the top and then breaks off from the rest, and there we have it...the crisis of the lip. Should I use my little finger to try to dig it out? Advance the remaining balm in hopes that it will adhere to the separated balm and then...impossibly...retract whole back into the body of the dispenser?

It is obviously a vast conspiracy between Big Lip and Big Balm, and the engineers who designed this one-way screw mechanism should be arrested, tried, and executed.

Posted by: CBD at 02:00 PM | Comments (172) | Trackbacks (Suck)

As The UK Circles The Drain, The Labour Party Resorts To -- You Already Know The Answer -- Demagoguery

Never mind that the Reform candidate is stating the obvious, that what he is saying is objectively true. The existential crisis that the UK finds itself in is almost entirely the result of catastrophically poor decisions made during the dissolution of the empire, when they welcomed their former subjects into England, assuming that they would continue on the path to 1st world civilized behavior, culture, and morals. Then, to make it even worse, they began to import cheap labor from the 3rd world because, frankly, they were too stupid to cultivate home-grown labor, and needed the endless expansion of the welfare state to continue.

Labour brand Reform's Matt Goodwin 'extreme' -- but admit he's beating them in polls

“Goodwin has claimed non-white people cannot truly be English. He said if we'd listened to Tommy Robinson and the English Defence League, we would have ‘avoided some of the problems’ we face today.

“He complained about our civilisation being ‘drained away’ by ‘people from inferior cultures’. He's even suggested women should be told when they should have children.

“This isn't mainstream politics. It's extreme – and Reform chose Goodwin deliberately to drive a wedge between voters.”

The United Kingdom is unrecognizable, and it is trending toward 2nd world status. In London, White Britons are no longer the majority, and a trip on the Tube suggests that English is not the most popular language in the city!

Vast swaths of the country have been taken over by immigrants from the UK's former colonies, and they brought the worst of their countries without embracing the best of British culture. Add in a healthy dose of illegal immigration, and the former jewel of the civilized world is a few generations from losing its position in Western culture, and entering the miasma of the developing world.

But Labour, as it has always done, is fanatical about splitting away immigrants from any sense of patriotism or love of country that may develop, and continues to either demonize traditional Britons or push them farther into the vicious cycle of welfare dependence.

How this shakes out in 2029 when Britain goes to the polls again is hard to predict, but if Britain does not arrest the multicultural catastrophe that is its current domestic politics, then it is lost. The current trend of an ascendant Reform party is full of risk for both the Conservative Party, which has plummeted to practically minor-party status, and for Labour, which may lose not only its absolute majority in Parliament today, but may become a minority party.

But the election is three and a half years away, and that is an eternity in parliamentary politics. It is possible, but not likely, that the prime minister will call an election earlier, simply to protect as many seats as possible . He would lose his position, and it is distinctly possible that Reform would win. But to avoid a catastrophe in 2029, that may be the best choice.

Of course the Labour party is busily trying to lock in its gains, and the destruction of free speech, the resistance to any controls over the border, and the expansion of the welfare state may well cement their gains of last year. That would be the end of "Great" Britain, but that is a cost they are happy to pay to retain power!

Sound familiar?

Posted by: CBD at 12:00 PM | Comments (244) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Sunday Morning Book Thread (02/01/2026) [MP4]

Good morning, ‘rons and ‘ronettes. It’s time once again for the semi-regular MP4-hosted Sunday Book Thread. Dress is country club casual, but hats for ladies are required, such as this:

So ask the barman for an Old Fashioned, covfefe or tea and let’s get started!
Today’s opening topic is a two parter:

1. What was the first book you read?

2. What book (if any) changed your life?

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM | Comments (409) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 1 February 2026

Top Story

• Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, has denied reports that his company is not going to invest $100 billion in OpenAI. (CNBC)
  
  He explained that the real story is that Nvidia is not going to invest $100 billion in OpenAI:

  "Sam is closing the round (of investment) and we will absolutely be involved," Huang added. "We will invest ‍a great deal of money, probably the largest investment we've ever made."
  
  Asked whether ‌it would be over $100 billion, he said: "No, no, nothing like ⁠that."

  So there you have it. Nvidia will absolutely definitively be going ahead with investing some amount in some company at some point maybe.
  
  Unless they don't.
  
  

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (136) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Saturday Night Club ONT - January 31, 2026 [Double Vision]

Welcome to Club ONT - Seeing double? D and D? This is a collaboration of The Disco and The Dino.

The parking lot may still not be fully cleared from last weekend's snow storm, but we are full open for both business and fun! Don't let the lyrics to tonight's mystery click give you any ideas about our guests there on that table. They are friends, not food!

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:00 PM | Comments (357) | Trackbacks (Suck)