Healthzzz and Sciencezzz (and GAINZZZ)

Some stories about GAINZZZ or lackzzz thereofzzz.

The New York Times frets that Christian women are "Thin, White, and Right."

Do they not know that Real Health is a three-bill black woman doing simple stretches on the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine?

Conservative Christian influencers are reshaping beauty standards and promoting diet culture -- and their messages are resonating with women. In this episode of "The Opinions," the Times Opinion editor Meher Ahmad speaks with the columnist Jessica Grose about how religion and weight loss culture intertwine and why this pairing is gaining traction.

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Meher Ahmad: I'm Meher Ahmad, an editor in the New York Times Opinion section. There's been a resurgence in explicit "be thin" messaging and culture. With the Ozempic boom, we see the body-shaming of actresses like Sydney Sweeney and red carpets that were already filled with thin actresses becoming even thinner.
On the right, there's been a focus on body size that's been bundled up not just with health and wellness but with religion, morals and politics. And so when everything is political and we're more divided than ever, should the size and shape of our bodies be any different? I'm here today with the Opinion writer Jessica Grose to understand why the right is obsessed with thinness and why that message is winning over women.

Jess, I want to start first by asking you what the messaging on diet and thinness coming from the Christian influencer spaces is -- what do you see there?

Jessica Grose: So it's really encapsulated by some things that the wellness influencer Alex Clark said at the Young Women's Leadership Summit.

Audio clip of Alex Clark: Look around this room, let's just be honest. It's never been hotter to be a conservative. You are in this room and you are witnessing a cultural revolution. We've got the girls who lift weights, eat clean, have their hormones balanced, have their lives together. Less Prozac, more protein. Less burnout, more babies. Less feminism, more femininity.

Grose: And by contrast, liberals are TikTok activists with five shades of autism, panic attacks and a ring light. So it's really defining what is "normal" as a very narrow ideal of womanhood. It's all tied up with not just body size, but also behavior.

Ahmad: Even in that clip, Alex Clark is sort of describing a foil to what she describes as a liberal body type. How much of this is a reaction to a left version of a body type, and what even is that?

Grose: So I think it's a reaction to the body positivity movement, which I would say peaked about 10 years ago. It was the idea that weight is not tied directly to health and that you can be healthy and not rail-thin.

No, the idea was not that you had to be "rail thin." It was just that morbid obesity was not healthy and should not be promoted as such. (Note that many of the "stars" of that fat acceptance movement died in their thirties.)

I remember at the time, parents of teenage girls were like, yeah, the body positivity movement has not reached this middle school. So I don't ever think that it was dominant and it wasn't just liberals, but I think it was liberal-coded.

Ahmad: Who are some of the big names, specifically in the Christian diet trend or conservative women diet trend? Who are the voices that you're seeing?

They still can't cope with people eating... protein.

Protein is Nazi-coded.

Grose: I know they sell products from their store that are emphasizing a meat-heavy lifestyle as healthy, which again, it is part of mainstream culture. I mean, you can't throw a rock without hearing somebody talking about protein, which I've also written about before, but it's just putting the conservative gloss on it.

Ahmad: What about the messaging is putting on the conservative gloss? Because I think, as you said, a lot of this feels familiar territory, especially the fixation on protein. I mean, Khloe Kardashian came out with a protein popcorn. I'm curious about how it overlaps with Christianity in particular and like what makes these influencers pair diet cultures with more of a religious or moral tent.

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Ahmad: That's one thing I'm interested in with these particular influencers is the desire for the way that they look or how they behave should be in line with certain values that are politically aligned with the conservative movement. How do you see the political aspect of it pairing with the way that these women are presenting themselves physically, online and in the world?

Grose: It's all traditional gender roles. That litany of things that Alex Clark listed, it's marriage, babies, fitness, protein -- it's all one very narrow image. Anyone who is not conforming to that image is sort of outside the circle. It's also in a moment where we do see fewer female leaders across the board -- I would say Democrats and Republicans. So the idea that women should be physically smaller goes along with the idea that they're not going to be the ones out front taking up space.

...

Ahmad: ...

When I look at these Christian diet influencers, in a way, the appeal to me is totally apparent because especially when it comes to things like food, American food culture is so confusing. There's so many options. What you're meant to eat, or what powders you should be taking, changes day by day, week by week. There's so much decision making that has to go into everything.

And the guidance on what you should eat, especially with MAHA becoming more part of our culture, there's an inherent distrust of a lot of information. Having just a clear set of guidelines based on something like religion almost feels like a relief. Sometimes I'm envious; I wish I believed in something that just told me how to live my life.

This is a liberal claiming that she wishes she had a religious-like structure that will tell her what to think about everything.

The religion -- You're soaking in it.

This will not surprise any of you, but a new study links cellphone use by kids with mental illness.

Owning a smartphone before age 13 is associated with poorer mental health and well-being in early adulthood, according to a global study of more than 100,000 young people.

Published today in the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, the study found that 18- to 24-year-olds who had received their first smartphone at age 12 or younger were more likely to report suicidal thoughts, aggression, detachment from reality, poorer emotional regulation, and low self-worth.

The data also shows evidence that these effects of smartphone ownership at an early age are in large part associated with early social media access and higher risks of cyberbullying, disrupted sleep, and poor family relationships by adulthood.

A team of experts from Sapien Labs, which hosts the world's largest database on mental well-being, the Global Mind Project--where the data for this research was pooled from--are calling for urgent action to protect the mental health of future generations.

"Our data indicates that early smartphone ownership--and the social media access it often brings--is linked with a profound shift in mental health and well-being in early adulthood," says lead author, neuroscientist Dr. Tara Thiagarajan, the founder and Chief Scientist of Sapien Labs.

And once kids become mentally ill, don't count on psychologists to help them. They're focusing laser-like on Woke Cures.

Therapy's Identity Politics Problem

The field has embraced left-wing racialism.

Psychotherapy used to be a refuge from politics, but it's become another front in the culture war. Therapists once helped people face reality. Today, more and more, they urge patients to interpret it through a hierarchy of oppression.

As a psychotherapist with more than two decades of experience, I have observed this shift firsthand. Hundreds of patients have come to me after being frustrated or even harmed by previous therapists, who encouraged them to interpret their struggles through the lens of identity politics.

A black man, for example, came to me after a failed round of therapy with another provider. He wasn't just anxious; he was disillusioned. "I went in for help managing anxiety," he said. "But the therapist kept steering the conversation back to racism, even though I never brought it up. I left feeling like I was being treated as a black person first, and a human being second."

A gay man told a similar story. "I wanted help managing stress at work," he said. "But every session focused on supposed shame over being gay, even though that wasn't why I was there. I felt pushed into a narrative that didn't fit me."

Graduate programs are no longer producing healers, but political activists with therapy licenses. Instead of teaching students to treat anxiety, depression, or relationship issues using evidence-based methods, many programs now encourage trainees to develop "critical consciousness." That means guiding clients to interpret their distress through the lens of systemic oppression, rather than addressing individual agency, patterns, or choices.

At the Wright Institute in Berkeley, California, for example, the Master's in Counseling program is "grounded in principles of social justice." Its mission is "to prepare and inspire a diverse student body to provide culturally sensitive mental health services that support resiliency, recovery, and social justice."

Similarly, Antioch University boasts that it teaches trainees to confront "oppression" and become agents of "racial, economic, and environmental justice." In 2023, a graduate student sued Antioch, alleging that the school trained counselors to label white clients as "privileged" and minority clients as victims.

This activist mindset is taking over the field. The American Counseling Association--one of the profession's largest organizations--instructs therapists to "employ empowerment-based theories to address internalized privilege" and "engage in social action to alter laws and policies."

I missed this from a few weeks back: Two "bioethicists" -- they're actually political extremist mad scientists -- propose infecting humanity, without its consent, with an incurable disease which will render them unable to eat meat.

They want to spread this disease... via ticks.

A case in point--and there are many others, including those approving ghoulish experiments on children in "gender affirming care," "death with dignity," and experiments on aborted fetuses--is this pair of Western Michigan University "bioethicists" who want to infect human beings with a disease that makes people allergic to meat. Because ticks transmit the disease, they called their paper in the journal Bioethics "Beneficial Bloodsucking."

How appropriate. Here is the abstract:

The bite of the lone star tick spreads alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), a condition whose only effect is the creation of a severe but nonfatal red meat allergy. Public health departments warn against lone star ticks and AGS, and scientists are working to develop an inoculation to AGS. Herein, we argue that if eating meat is morally impermissible, then efforts to prevent the spread of tickborne AGS are also morally impermissible. After explaining the symptoms of AGS and how they are transmitted via ticks, we argue that tickborne AGS is a moral bioenhancer if and when it motivates people to stop eating meat.

We then defend what we call the Convergence Argument: If x-ing prevents the world from becoming a significantly worse place, doesn't violate anyone's rights, and promotes virtuous action or character, then x-ing is strongly pro tanto obligatory; promoting tickborne AGS satisfies each of these conditions. Therefore, promoting tickborne AGS is strongly pro tanto obligatory. It is presently feasible to genetically edit the disease-carrying capacity of ticks. If this practice can be applied to ticks carrying AGS, then promoting the proliferation of tickborne AGS is morally obligatory.

Yes, they claim that infecting people with a disease is "morally obligatory," therefore, ticks should be bioengineered to spread the disease to all of us.

"But we're the experts!" the lunatics babbled in their padded cells.

Posted by: Ace at 05:20 PM | Comments (247) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Variety: Disney Seeks Original IP Which Will Appeal to Young Men

Wait wait wait.

You spent $4 billion on Marvel broaden the female-skewing Disney audience to include young men.

You immediately then spent $4.05 billion to acquire Star Wars (and Indiana Jones) to broaden the largely-female Disney audience to include young men.

Then you turned both of those franchises into female-skewing Disney Princess brands, and men stopped paying to see these movies.

And now Disney says: Hey, we need an original IP that will appeal to young men.

(Which, if it succeeds (which is doubtful), we will immediately then turn into another female-skewing Disney princess brand.)

This is like the left whining "We need our own Joe Rogan."

You had your own Joe Rogan. He was named Joe Rogan.

But now Disney says we need our own Joe Rogan demographic IP, because the sci-fi intergalactic war and sci-fi single-battle fighting IPs are now Girl Properties.

Disney's Boy Trouble: Studio Seeks Original IP to Win Back Gen-Z Men Amid Marvel, Lucasfilm Struggles

Many of us -- who are young (or young-at-heart) males ourselves -- have warned that we would stop seeing these movies if they continued insisting they should be Disney Princess movies.

We were called sexist, racist trolls (who only represented a tiny fraction of the audience).

And now, with Marvel in free fall and Star Wars not even producing movies any longer, Variety says we were right. (Without, you know, actually admitting that we were right.)

Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty aren't the only ones looking for a prince.

Leadership at Walt Disney Studios has been pressing Hollywood creatives in recent months, multiple sources tell Variety, for movies that will bring young men back to the brand in a meaningful way. "Young men" is defined here by sources as ages 13-28, aka Gen Z.

First, duh. Every film studio is looking for better ways to convert young audiences into habitual moviegoers. Numerous studies show that Gen Z men in particular are a lonely, gaming-obsessed group who were hampered in their formative years by COVID-19 lockdowns -- not the easiest segment to grasp.

The amount of pure hatred the Gaslight Media pours on straight boys and men is almost Nazi-level.

But what's surprising producers, writers and other partners in the larger industry is that Disney has been calling for original concepts to lure the demo back to the movies.

LOL. Here's an idea: Make an Indiana Jones movie -- stay with me -- in which Indiana Jones is the actual hero.

No, no, that's too simple.

Disney needs to create an original IP.

Something, you might have noticed, they haven't even bothered trying for a decade.

This is the same Disney whose multibillion-dollar content engines, Marvel and Lucasfilm, have sated men of all ages over almost two decades since the company acquired them. The sources say Disney has been seeking new IP and pitches such as splashy global adventures and treasure hunts, as well as seasonal fare like films for the Halloween corridor. The calls come as the Star Wars machine struggles to produce any film project and the superhero genre sheds audiences by the minute.

Woah, global adventures and treasure hunts?

You mean, exactly like Indiana Jones?

Your idea of "original IP" doesn't track with my own.

While two insiders say the mandate to recruit young males goes as high as the C-suite, the task primarily has fallen on David Greenbaum, the former Searchlight Pictures co-head brought on in 2024 to run Disney's live-action film business. That label has been sorely lacking in guy-leaning fare, like the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise, for nearly 10 years. (Studio insiders say the property is in active development, though not in its last reported iteration involving Margot Robbie). To say nothing of the lackluster attempt to reboot and hand off "Indiana Jones" in 2023, which earned $383 million worldwide on a $300 million budget before marketing costs. A Disney source says that movies for Gen Z men are part of an overall strategy across all labels, but no more urgent than any other quadrant.

Greenbaum recently hired Daria Cercek, the savvy former Paramount Pictures co-chief, to assist in this effort.

Perfect. Daria sounds like the perfect liberal woman to conjure up an "original IP" that appeals to young conservative-tilting men.

Concurrent to Greenbaum's hire, the corporation bought a $1.5 billion equity stake in gaming juggernaut "Fortnite," which will incorporate Disney's iconic stable of characters. Two sources say Disney does not, however, enjoy movie rights to "Fortnite" itself, which would seem a no-brainer in luring Gen Z to theaters.

Well Fortnite certainly would be an "original IP." I mean, it's been around for seven years and you want to pack it full of old Disney characters, but I guess that's "original" by Disney standards.

Yes, Disney was the un-refuted king of the box office last year. It will win again this year, with two films potentially crossing the $1 billion mark ("Avatar: Fire and Ash" and "Zootopia 2").

So much original IP!

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Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed as much on a quarterly earnings call this month, saying his film group won't favor existing IP over original material. The priority, Iger said, "is to put out great movies."

LOL. That sounds as reasonable a goal as Disney suddenly able to create its own "original IP" that will appeal to straight men.

Much has been written about the narrowing audience for superhero movies. The performance of Marvel's latest release, "Fantastic Four: First Steps," which aimed to launch yet another superhero franchise led by Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby, failed to meet expectations.

It's a flop. Just say so. It will bring in less money that Captain America: Brave New World, which is already recognized as a flop.

That's despite good reviews, a promising opening weekend and the full attention of Marvel czar Kevin Feige. "Star Wars" has not produced a film in seven years (a big-screen adaptation of Disney+ hit "The Mandalorian" is coming next year).

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"I never thought I'd say it," the exec muses about the Magic Kingdom's boy troubles despite its gem box of iconic IP, "but it looks like Disney is going to have to start trying."

Disney? Trying?

Now we're really in science-fiction territory.

Posted by: Ace at 04:20 PM | Comments (331) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Biden Spokesman Ian Sams Insited to the Public That Biden Was Healthy and Mentally Sharp.
Then He Admited He Had Only Interacted With Biden Twice in Two Years.

This absolute scumbag and liar.

Even though Sams only met with Joe Biden twice, according to Comer, Sams was one of the loudest voices on outlets like MSNBC, saying Biden was "fit." Comer said Sams would try to counter what Special Counsel Robert Hur said about Joe Biden, for example.

"Robert Hur spent more time with Joe Biden than Ian Sams," Comer said. Indeed, Comer said he, Comer, interacted more with Joe Biden.

He said Sams didn't have a good memory of those two interactions, which made him think they were short. So how could he say anything about Joe Biden's fitness? Comer called Sams' two interactions "shocking."

Comer said there were "very few people" who were around Biden toward the end when most of the pardons were signed.

"It raises serious concerns and serious questions about who was calling shots at the White House," Comer explained.

"If the White House spokesperson was being shielded from the president of the United States, who was operating the Oval Office?"

This scumbag will certainly not admit to any suspicions about why this "fit" man was being hidden even from senior staff.

Apparently he gave interviews to Congress previously, insisting Biden was "at the top of his game." But he didn't disclose he had only seen Biden twice, in a "limited capacity."

c Daugherty
@EricLDaugh
🚨 BREAKING: Top Biden comms operative Ian Sams just testified before the House on Joe Biden's mental decline and CONTRADICTED the other interviews.

Sams only interacted with Biden *2 TIMES* - but constantly said how he knows Biden is mentally "at the top of his game."

"2 times. The ENTIRE time he worked in the White House. That's astonishing!" Rep. Comer said

"This was a huge interview and I think it contradicts EVERYTHING that the former Biden people are saying with respect to the president's mental fitness."

That seems like a lie to Congress.

Ian Sams looks like this, because of course he does. How could he look any other way?

Posted by: Ace at 03:20 PM | Comments (353) | Trackbacks (Suck)

DOJ Prosecutors Secured Evidence Proving That James Comey Violated the Espionage Act by Illegally Disseminating Classified Information to Non-Authorized Persons But, Get This, Decided Not to Prosecute

Was he lacking "intent," I wonder, grimly.

Federal prosecutors gathered evidence from James Comey's top lieutenants that he authorized the leak of classified information to reporters just before the 2016 election but declined to bring criminal charges, according to recently declassified memos that call into question the former FBI director's testimony to Congress.

The bombshell revelations involving ex-FBI general counsel James Baker and ex-Comey chief of staff James Rybicki were memorialized in documents that FBI Director Kash Patel discovered earlier this year, but the passages were originally redacted by the Justice Department in versions sent to Congress earlier this month.

Attorney General Pam Bondi intervened and eliminated the redactions, dispatching new versions of the memos this week to the House and Senate Judiciary committees, officials told Just the News.

The memos detail evidence and interviews gathered by U.S. Postal Inspection Service agents concerning classified information leaked to The New York Times in October 2016, ahead of the November election in which Republican Donald Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton.

"The USPIS Investigation also revealed Baker disclosed USG [U.S. government] classified information to the NYT under the belief he was ultimately instructed and authorized to do so by then FBI Director James Comey," one summary memo reads. "For example, during interviews, Baker indicated FBI Chief of Staff James Rybicki instructed him (Baker) to disclose the information to the NYT, and Baker understood Rybicki was conveying this instruction and authorization from Comey.

The memos don't identify the specific pieces of classified information that were leaked or whether Comey or anyone else was authorized to declassify them for the media. But they were investigated by multiple prosecutors, including the U.S. attorney's office in Washington, D.C., under Trump's first administration and by future-special prosecutor John Durham, and all declined to bring criminal charges, the memos show.

I'll bet you $100 Ace-Bucks that the prosecutors hid this evidence and this decision from Trump. Remember that the Deep State Democrat Operative Ron Rosenbaum was effectively the unappointed AG during much of Trump's first term, after the Deep State worked so assiduously to conjure up a conflict-of-interest and sideline Jeff Sessions.

Bondi told Just the News on Thursday she was committed to bringing accountability for the yet unpunished leaks.

"This document produced at my direction confirms what many Americans have long suspected: former FBI Director James Comey and his chief of staff engaged in abhorrent conduct," she said. "There must be accountability for those who were entrusted with safeguarding our nation's secrets and failed to do so."

Comey previously denied during congressional testimony that he had ever been a source in news articles related to the FBI's investigations into Trump and Clinton and further denied that he had ever approved of anyone else at the FBI being such a source. He has long denied any wrongdoing and insisted he has been politically attacked because he stood up to Trump.

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A recent barrage of declassified documents showing Comey and current Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., may have been behind national security leaks over the last decade designed to harm Trump may prove more than just an exercise in historical accountability.

Legal experts say the statute of limitations for prosecution under espionage laws for leaks back in 2016 or 2017 can be extended to 10 years if the act was knowing and willful and harmed national security or was part of an ongoing criminal conspiracy that continued into the last five years.

"The general federal statute of limitations is five years, but espionage that harms our national interest is 10 years and covering up the crime continues the conspiracy," explained Mike Davis, a former top Senate Judiciary Committee lawyer who now runs the nonprofit Article III Project on constitutional law.

"The Trump DOJ can open up a criminal probe that investigates this malicious disclosure of classified information that harms our national interest," he said.

Read the whole thing.

It's enraging.

Posted by: Ace at 02:20 PM | Comments (268) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Trump, Like Batman, Rallies the Forces of Justice in Crime-Ridden Shithole As Washington DC Records Its First Murder-Free Week Since March

Apparently Trump did not go on patrol after all. Sadly! I imagine this is because left-wing lunatics would take multiple shots at him and the Secret Service said "No way, Jose."

Terrorist wire service AP says that citizens are "on edge," not about the rampant crime, murder, and carjackings in their city, but that the police are setting up checkpoints and looking for criminal illegal aliens.

Federal authorities have set up checkpoints around the nation's capital, sometimes asking people for their immigration status and detaining them, as President Donald Trump's crackdown ensnares more residents each day.

The crackdown is "ensnaring more citizens," you see. Not arresting criminals -- "ensnaring more citizens."

I thought "No one is above the law." Was I misinformed?

Trump claimed that a crime crisis required his Republican administration's intervention in the Democratic-led city this month, brushing aside statistics that showed the problem was already waning. However, immigration enforcement appears to be a priority, as more than a third of people arrested in the last two weeks were in the country illegally, according to the White House.

Hundreds of federal agents and National Guard soldiers have surged into Washington, leaving some residents on edge and creating tense confrontations in the streets.

Tense confrontations? You mean criminals attempting to obstruct law enforcement, don't you?

A day care center was partially closed Thursday when staff became afraid to go to work because they heard about federal agents nearby. An administrator asked parents to keep their children at home if possible.

Other day cares have stopped taking kids on daily walks because of fears about encountering law enforcement.

Weird. The crime crisis was all a fantasy. The real fear turns out to be... policemen and troops keeping an eye on criminals.

People didn't have their lives stolen by demons this week, and this makes the left sad.

As the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the Trump administration's takeover of the Washington DC police force begins to fade, the results are coming in, and they are nothing short of extraordinary.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the nation's capital has had no murders for seven days, something that had not been achieved since March and something I can find no recent record of in summer months when the murder rate is typically at its highest.

Last Monday, when a man was tragically gunned down in Logan Circle just hours after the Trump takeover, Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., took to social media to say that "Trump owns this. No word if the congressman agrees Trump also owns the lives saved this past week.

And it's not just murder, according to the local police union. Robbery dropped 46% in the week after the takeover, carjackings were down a whopping 83%, and violent crime down 22%. Who could possibly argue against that?

What DC needed was not a slow and steady approach to crime that fluctuates the rates here and there. It needed a shock to the system, and it got one. The patient is responding very well.

...

The only real question left to ask about Trump's efforts to fight crime in DC is, why didn't we do this sooner?

...

[Chinese spy-hooker fornicator and public farter Eric] Swalwell is absolutely right: Trump owns this remarkable drop in crime in Washington that we are witnessing, just as his Democrats own the killing fields they allowed it and so many of our cities to become in the first place.

For the first time in a long time in our capital, there is hope that children being murdered in gang shootouts can be a rare tragedy again, not a predictable occurrence.

Posted by: Ace at 01:24 PM | Comments (333) | Trackbacks (Suck)

FAFO: John Bolton's Home Raided in Search for Improperly Retained Classified Documents

No one, I have been repeatedly assured, is above the law, and recovering improperly-held classified documents is the most important mission of our government.

Fox News:

FBI agents raided the Maryland home of former National Security Advisor John Bolton on Friday morning, Fox News Digital has learned.

Fox News Digital later spotted agents at Bolton's Washington, D.C., office removing boxes and Bolton was seen in the lobby of the building.

The searches are focused on potential classified documents agents believe Bolton may still possess, according to one source.

Bolton, who served as President Donald Trump's national security advisor from 2018 to 2019, is not in custody or under arrest. Trump said he was not aware of the raid ahead of time and said he found out about it on the news.

Federal agents reportedly busted into Bolton's house in Bethesda, Maryland, at around 7 a.m. local time in an investigation ordered by FBI Director Kash Patel, who took to X with a cryptic post minutes later.

"NO ONE is above the law... @FBI agents on mission," he wrote without directly referencing the raid.

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino shared the post and wrote, "Public corruption will not be tolerated."

Meanwhile, Attorney General Pam Bondi also warned, "America's safety isn't negotiable. Justice will be pursued. Always."

Posted by: Ace at 12:13 PM | Comments (489) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Brooks Warden Epilogue – Rejected by the Supreme Court, but Taking the Stage at the Grand Ole Opry

There is a joyful epilogue to a story I’ve been covering about a young man named Brooks Warden. Specifically, the story has been about efforts to get the Supreme Court to clarify that “reverse discrimination” in public schools is prohibited by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Brooks Warden’s case didn’t get heard by the Supreme Court, but its filing got their attention. And with the coverage of Brooks’ case at The Federalist, Ace of Spades HQ, the Dr. Phil Show, and other outlets, it has received extensive national attention.

Brooks’ school days are well behind him now, and he’s moved on to his chosen career as a mechanic. He also sings. This past weekend he sang on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry with his father Monte Warden. Joining them were Brooks’ mother Brandi Warden and Federalist journalist Mollie Hemingway.

First, some quick background, and then further below is some video.

Brooks’ parents are personal friends of my wife and mine. Our friendship developed not because of politics, but because of shared musical passions. You don’t have to be friends of the Wardens to be repulsed at the abuse Brooks endured by the Austin Independent School District.

As I wrote back in April of this year following the filing of the writ of certiorari at the Supreme Court,

Among the abuses claimed by Brooks were a teacher calling him a racial slur; the Principal mocking Brooks and accusing him of listening to Dixie while wearing a headset; the Student Council President circulating a picture of Brooks as a Klansman; another student promising to kill Brooks and all Trump supporters; and a student beating Brooks up in a classroom while the teacher watched. That student is later alleged to have boasted about assaulting Brooks because of his race. As Brooks’ father documented, the Austin Independent School District never disputed or refuted any of this, they just chose to ignore the Wardens’ pleas to make it stop.

In July I reported on the disappointing news that the Supreme Court had denied certiorari, that is, it declined to hear the case.

When [Monte and Brandi] notified me earlier this week that SCOTUS had denied certiorari, they were obviously disappointed, but their disappointment was also mixed with an equal and offsetting pronouncement of patriotism and faith. They stressed that ultimately all of this is in the hands of a higher power, and they also know that Brooks’ ordeal, and the legal path they pursued, will help chip away at the ugly 21st century version of state-sanctioned racism.

Monte received an invitation to play at the Opry on August 16, the 48th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death, so two of his three songs were Elvis numbers, including this rockin’ version of “That’s All Right Mama.”

Incredible night with @MonteWarden1 at the Grand Ole @opry paying tribute to Elvis tonight. That’s me singing backup!!! https://t.co/SKZfSyTvm9

— Mollie (@MZHemingway) August 17, 2025

The other song was a retro-rocking, jazzy gospel song called “Steadfast Love” that will get your feet moving and your soul pointed in the right direction.

One more song from last night’s Opry, with Monte Warden being backed up by Brandi Warden, Mollie Hemingway, and Brooks Warden on “Steadfast Love”@MonteWarden1 @MZHemingway @deTokeville1 @seanmdav @Heminator pic.twitter.com/HMIqrcjxIe

— Buck Throckmorton (@BuckThrockmort) August 17, 2025

Have a blessed weekend.

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM | Comments (208) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Mid-Morning Art Thread

Terror in Brooklyn
Louis Guglielmi

Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM | Comments (433) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Morning Report — 8/22/25

Good morning kids. Let's kick off the start of the weekend with an emetic that will have you spouting for distance and accuracy between ear-splitting howls of laughter. . .

Seriously, given the past 10 years of what we have seen and experienced, let alone the history of this nation going back to Aaron Burr murdering Alexander Hamilton in cold blood— You will likely Vomit up the equivalent of Lake Michigan harder than a Democrat KKK firehose aimed at civil rights marchers, when you get a load of this 10 trillion megaton chutzpocritical headline and the pie-hole from whence it was farted out!!!!!!

Warren: Republicans Are Determined to ‘Break Laws’ to Hang on to Power

And now on to the rest of the stories making news this morning. And first up is one of the causes of the outburst from the lying, venal beast Fauxcahontas Warren And that is President Trump's calling up of the National Guard to help remove Democrat-created and coddled criminal scum from the streets of the nation's Capital.

For years, Washington, D.C.’s so-called leaders resigned themselves to the idea that crime was inevitable. Then came President Donald Trump, who saw a problem and took the novel approach of actually doing something about it — sending in the National Guard to restore order in the capital. The result? For the first time in ages, D.C. has gone seven straight days without a single homicide. Of course that simple truth runs counter to everything the left has preached for years. They’ve championed defunding the police, smeared law enforcement as systemically racist, and sneered at Trump’s efforts to make Washington not just safe, but livable again. In fact, they’ve told us for days now that Trump’s efforts actually make D.C. unsafe.

The Center for American Progress (CAP) wrote that “these deployments … fail to address the district’s real public safety priorities.” CAP argued that the deployment of the National Guard “will threaten public safety in the nation’s capital.”

D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb said the deployment “undermines public safety” while one D.C. resident, Mara Lasko, told CNN that she doesn’t think the National Guard makes people feel safer.

The only thing the deployment, or more accurately the rousing success of the deployment undermines are the memes, myths and lies of the Democrat Left, not just about crime but ultimately about their entire messaging that they are the champions of minorities, the average citizen and of freedom, justice liberty, the American way and of course "our precious democracy!"

As with so many issues since Donald Trump took office last January that have become raging successes, from the economy to foreign policy, more and more Americans are at long last recognizing those for what they are but perhaps recognizing the complete criminal failure over the course of years and even decades that the Left and its epicenter in the Democrat Party have perpetrated on them and then entire nation since forever. That of course is an existential threat on their hold on power, in the short term and quite possibly (Please God!) the long term.

The Democrats gain and maintain power by sowing division, even if it means standing back and even cheering on and for sure fomenting the destruction caused by race riots and allowing crime to fester, in the inner cities, so they can blame supposed institutional racism and white supremacy and the Republican party, conservatism, free market capitalism and western values in general: all diametrically opposed to their evil goals of absolute power and control.

“Representative Madeleine Dean (D-PA) claimed Thursday on MSNBC’s “The Weeknight” that former President Donald Trump will deploy National Guard in multiple cities to declare an emergency and suspend elections. . . This is not a president who’s serious about crime. He’s serious about a show. And my fear is what you just suggested that he will do this in city after city. I had a town hall last night at a senior retirement community, a terrific group of more than 100 seniors. and this was one of the questions they asked. is it possible that he is going to do this in city after city in order to then say, you know what, the country is too dangerous, I’m in power here and we don’t have to have elections.”

This filthy slag and her evil coven of tyrants in the Democrat Party should've been abolished 160 freaking years ago!

If Trump has the stones to re-emancipate black America, the words Free at Last Free at Last thank God Almighty will never be sung with more emotion, meaning and truth than ever. if the Democrat party and all its offshoots are abolished and ripped out root and branch from our body politic.

And preventing another lost generation of blacks from being brainwashed by the toxic idiocy of such execrable Step in it and Kvetch about-its like Joy Reid would be a blessing.

Meanwhile, it certainly looks as if Israel is finally about to gerrymander the shit out of Gaza as it should have done from the very beginning of the Hamas/Islamic pogrom of 10/7.

On the immigration front, here are a couple of orgasmatronic stories.

The U.S. Immigrant Population Has Declined for the First Time in DECADES. . .

. . . The United States’ immigrant population dropped from 53.3 million in January 2025 to 51.9 million by June, marking the first significant decline since the 1960s. This data comes from the Pew Research Center, which noted that the reduction is reflected in the labor force, where over 750,000 workers were lost since January. . . Despite the overall decline in immigrants, the United States remains home to more foreigners than any other nation—although countries like Canada and the United Arabe Emirates (UAE) have higher proportions of migrants in their populations. Pew reported that the share of immigrants in the U.S. population fell slightly from 15.8 percent in January to 15.4 percent in June.

And with that, there's this!

Trump admin to review all 55 million US legal immigrants to see if they should be deported . . . The Trump administration will begin reviewing all 55 million US visa holders to see if any have committed deportable offenses.

Any immigrants holding US visas found with “indicators of overstays, criminal activity, threats to public safety, engaging in any form of terrorist activity, or providing support to a terrorist organization” will have their permits to live in the US revoked and be deported, the State Department announced Thursday.

State Department representatives told the Associated Press all US visa holders are subject to “continuous vetting” intended to identify deportable offenses.

On top of that, very single illegal alien foreign invader, regardless of criminal record (their mere presence on our soil without permission is a deportable offense) needs to be ejected ASAP. And after that, we must seal our borders and declare a complete moratorium on all immigration for at least 25 years until we as a nation and society can absorb and assimilate all those we as the citizens of the USA decide to let stay here on our terms providing they indeed assimilate. If that can be achieved and verified to whatever degree possible.

Hell, we have an entire political party and its constituents whose numbers match all the illegals in our country that are every bit an alien and verifiably dangerous enemy alien entity that has sought to destroy this country and its underpinnings for decades. "ALIAS-DEMOCRAT PARTY, and the anti-American Left.

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 weekend!

ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY
• Britain’s silent majority wants its nation back, but it knows it won’t get it without a fight. The left is used to intimidating its foes into silence through online campaigns, threats of violence, and loud demonstrations in the street organized by groups such as “Stand Up To Racism” carrying signs like “Defend Refugees, Stop the Far Right.”
  Is The U.K. On The Verge Of Civil War?
  
• And America is next.
  The UK Goes Full Orwell

• Voters from across California gathered Tuesday on the steps of the state Capitol to join Calvary Chapel Chino Hills Pastor Jack Hibbs in opposing new legislation that would expand who can serve as a caregiver for minors.
  California Residents Fear Dem Bill Could Lead Traffickers To Take Kids From Parents ‘Without Them Knowing’

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 07:15 AM | Comments (423) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily News Stuff 22 August 2025

Top Story

• Australia's largest bank - the Commonwealth Bank - has been forced to rehire employees laid off in tests against their AI counterparts when it turned out that the tests had not been testing on anything like an even playing field. (Ars Technica)
  
  Who knew? Apart from everybody.
  
  Fortunately only 45 people had been fired by that point. It could have been a lot worse, and soon will be.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:48 AM | Comments (133) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Thursday Overnight Open Thread - August 21, 2025 [Doof]

Howdy Hordelings! Welcome to the Thursday night ONT! So glad you stopped by. Please stay for a while and share your wit and wisdom in the gray boxes. Perhaps a lurker or two might consider de-lurking tonight?

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:00 PM | Comments (509) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Mountain Lakes & Fakes Cafe

A lake in the French mountains
by Jumpy_Lake_5981

A photography trick. I mean, a photography illusion. Tricks are what whores do for money. And some more photography whores.

Another photography whore. (I think the cat is on a telephone wire in foreground.)

Give me a squad of 10,000 of these dogs and we'll never see flooding again.

I've linked a video like this before -- but not this specific one. When they say "hippos are surprisingly fast in the water," they're not lying.

Farmer Fran makes her rounds.

Cats don't get enough credit. Probably because they're evil agents of chaos.

She would like you to admire her beaver.

Kangaroo fatigue is real.

This parrot is only a few IQ points slower than Dana Bash.

Manta ray shows off.

"They're demonstrating classic swarming behavior." "Yeah, they're swarming this way."

Big Tish James on an Indian holiday.

A beluga, which I'm now calling the Golden Retriever of the Sea, clowns around with some kids.

I guess dinner was a hit.

Oh what a cute little kitty-cat.

Brave baby elephant isn't afraid to step up to a chicken.

Golden retrievers being silly.

Koala and cub.

Some impressive agricultural technology.

This kid is the King of Cornhole.

What a journey.

Posted by: Ace at 07:43 PM | Comments (283) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Quick Hits

More details on the Trump appellate court ruling:

Kyle Becker
@kylenabecker

*Ed. note: The Appeals Court has a panel of five judges.

The headline refers to the criticism of Judge David Friedman, who argued for the case to be thrown out entirely.

Here is a handy breakdown of the ruling via Grok:

The Appellate Division, First Judicial Department in Manhattan, consists of a panel of judges who hear appeals in civil and criminal cases.

Based on the information available from the web results, a five-judge panel ruled on August 21, 2025, in the civil fraud case involving former President Donald Trump, throwing out a roughly $500 million penalty but upholding the finding of liability for fraud.

The judges explicitly named in connection with this ruling are: Dianne T. Renwick: One of the two judges who wrote the prevailing opinion, stating that while the injunctive relief was appropriate, the financial penalty was excessive and violated the Eighth Amendment.

Peter H. Moulton: Co-authored the prevailing opinion with Justice Renwick, agreeing that the penalty was unconstitutional but supporting the fraud liability finding.

David Friedman: Dissented, arguing that the case should be thrown out entirely, believing New York Attorney General Letitia James lacked the authority to bring it. He noted that two other judges also believed the judgment should be vacated but could not agree on a remedy.

John Higgitt: One of the two judges who preferred ordering a new trial but joined the majority "with great reluctance" to allow the case to proceed to the New York Court of Appeals.

Llinét Rosado: Also favored a new trial but joined the majority reluctantly to avoid reargument and permit further appeal.

These five judges were part of the panel that issued the split decision, which was described as complex and spanning over 300 pages. The ruling eliminated the financial penalty but left the fraud liability intact, allowing for potential further appeals to New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals.

From one judge's opinion: He points out that three of the five judges do not believe that Big Fat Tish's judgment of liability is legal, and yet, somehow, in the interests of just disposing of the case, they... agree to sustain the judgment they also say is invalid?

BTW, the word "decretal" is related to "decree," and I guess -- I don't know -- this is how the New York courts refer to their opinions?

I don't know.

As Elric the Blade noted, the judges' disagreement over whether the judgment is valid or not gives Trump an "appeal of right" -- an automatic appeal -- rather than an appeal of discretion, in which case he'd have to beg for the highest court to accept his appeal.

In another legal victory for Trump, a federal appeals court has okayed his ending of Biden's Temporary Protected Status for more than 60,000 illegal aliens.

Weird how Biden can grant TPS on a whim and that's not subject to any court challenge, but when Trump seeks to undo it, he has to spend months in courts fighting about it.

A federal appeals court ruled in favor of President Trump on Wednesday, allowing his administration to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 60,000 migrants from Honduras, Nicaragua and Nepal.

In a unanimous decision, the three-member panel of judges on the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals halted a lower court order that had blocked the Trump administration from eliminating temporary deportation protections and revoking work permits from the migrants.

"The government's motion for a stay pending appeal ... is granted," Circuit Judges Michael Hawkins ( a Bill Clinton appointee), Consuelo Callahan (a George W. Bush appointee) and Eric Miller (Trump appointee) wrote in their brief, two-page ruling, which did not explain the decision.

Last month, San Francisco-based District Judge Trina Thompson, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, had paused Trump's planned elimination of TPS for migrants from the three countries until Nov. 18.

Thompson accused Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem of being "motivated by racial animus" in her controversial opinion.

"The freedom to live fearlessly, the opportunity of liberty, and the American dream. That is all Plaintiffs seek," the judge wrote in her July 31 order. "Instead, they are told to atone for their race, leave because of their names, and purify their blood. The Court disagrees."

Thompson even included a comparison of the Trump administration's immigration policies to the trans-Atlantic slave trade in her now-overturned ruling.

Hondurans and Nicaraguans had been given the legal status to emigrate and get work permits as a federal response to humanitarian issues following Hurricane Mitch in 1998, when the storm hit both countries, killing almost 7,300 people.

Nepal joined the TPS program in June 2015 after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked the country.

The "temporary" status dates back to an earthquake in 2015, and Hurricane Mitch in 1998.

But it shows "racial animus" verging on re-opening the transatlantic slave trade to end these supposedly "temporary" statuses.

There is no crime crisis in blue cities. You gotta believe me, bro. I'm deadass serious, bro.

Two young boys, just 12 and 15 years old, stabbed a good Samaritan who tried to stop the youngsters from ganging up on someone else on a Brooklyn street late Tuesday, cops and sources said.

The 41-year-old victim was walking his dog at Starr Street and Irving Avenue in Bushwick around 7:40 p.m. when he spotted the pint-sized perps harassing another person and stepped in, law enforcement sources said.

The young ruffians then turned on the man, knifing him in the armpit and stomach, police said.

Decarceration and legalizing crime will have no impact on crime rates, bro. Why don't you believe me, bro?

I saw a left-wing "journalist" whining: Where is Elon Musk's third party? You may remember the mercurial futurist threatened to begin a third party some months back. Left-wingers are really counting on that.

They will be disappointed.

"Musk has told allies that he wants to focus his attention on his companies and is reluctant to alienate powerful Republicans by starting a third party that could siphon off GOP voters," reports the far-left Wall Street Journal.

Instead, per the Journal, Musk "has been focused in part on maintaining ties with Vice President JD Vance, who is widely seen as a potential heir to the MAGA political movement." The reports adds that Musk is seriously "considering using some of his vast financial resources to back Vance if he decides to run for president in 2028[.]"

Dum-Dum Dana Bash thinks she scores a sick own on a Republican lawmaker, demanding to know if Trump would support sending the National Guard to Memphis, Tennessee. She picked Memphis because it's in a red state, but she omits to mention it's another shithole city mis-governed by a Democrat.

The Republican has to explain to her that the District of Columbia is actually a federally-created jurisdiction which does not belong to any state and is, in fact, under direct management of Congress. (Until Congress unwisely granted this shithole self-rule, but they can take that back at any point, which of course they cannot do with states or cities that belong to states.)

Trust the experts!

Ana Navarro has Ozempic Withdrawal.

"The View" co-host Ana Navarro derided first lady Melania Trump's peace letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin as something that "falls under the category of stuff that's so hypocritical you almost can't believe it" on Tuesday.

In an Instagram video, Navarro recounted parts of the first lady's letter that was delivered to Putin during Friday's summit with President Donald Trump in Alaska. In the letter, the first lady urged Putin to end his war against Ukraine on behalf of the children.

"Mr. Putin, you can singlehandedly restore their melodic laughter," the first lady wrote. "In protecting the innocence of these children, you will do more than serve Russia alone--you serve humanity itself."

Navarro blasted the letter as an example of "performative" hypocrisy because of President Trump's immigration and spending policies.

"Think about what her husband, what Donald Trump, is doing to the children of immigrants in America, and to U.S. citizen children of immigrants," Navarro said. "How many of those children are living with the fear of their parents being dragged through the streets of America? Their car windows smashed in? Their parents beaten by masked men and disappeared?"

She added, "How about the children all over the world who are not receiving U.S. aid because her husband's government decided we shouldn't be feeding starving children all over the world? How about all those kids?"

Navarro sarcastically applauded the first lady's letter as a "good thing" for Ukrainian children but told her to "start a little closer to home."

"Maybe she should turn around and say the exact same thing to her husband, because there are children in America crying, suffering, going to bed in fear, returning to homes that are abandoned and empty, not knowing where their next meal is coming from because of what her husband is doing," Navarro said.

Now it can be told: Jasmine Ratchet is a nasty narcissist. So says Marjorie Taylor-Greene.

"Well, she's not a real person. So some interesting things that I've always observed about her is how she treats her staff," Greene explained. "She treats her staff like they are just beneath her. She always has one of her young male staffers carry her big, heavy handbag for her... Who does that?"

"I remember one time on Oversight, she called one of her staff over, and she whispered something in their ear, and they ran off, and then they came back with this big, white, fluffy pillow that they put behind her back," she added.

"So she claims to be from her people. She puts on this image that she understands the Black American struggle," Greene continued. "But let's face it, the girl went to private school... She's a complete fake. She's as fake as her eyelashes. She's as fake as her hair. She's as fake as her fingernails. And she is such a massive fraud."

As you know, she might be out of a job come next January. Apparently -- I hope I have these details right -- her district has been redrawn so that her house is not in her district any longer. She could still run for that district, but it now includes a Republican county, so her future in that seat is in doubt.

Her other choice is to run against another Democrat in the district her house will be located in. This is what I'm hoping for, a brutal primary between rats forced to scrabble over the last plank of a sinking ship.

Posted by: Ace at 06:32 PM | Comments (300) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Deranged Democrat AWFL Arrested for Threatening to Kill Our Nation's Elected President

The left is making assassination threats like crazy.

A deranged woman was hit with federal charges Monday after threatening to kill President Trump in a disturbing social media post and subsequent interview with the Secret Service.

Nathalie Rose Jones, 50, was arrested on Saturday after she made the threats on Facebook and Instagram and then traveled from New York to Washington, DC, with the goal of having Trump "eliminated" if the opportunity presented itself, DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Monday.

"I am willing to sacrificially kill this POTUS by disemboweling him and cutting out his trachea with Liz Cheney and all The Affirmation present," Jones allegedly wrote in an Aug. 6 Facebook post directed at the FBI, according to prosecutors.

Jones later urged Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in an Aug. 14 Facebook post, to "please arrange the arrest and removal ceremony of POTUS Trump as a terrorist on the American People from 10-2pm at the White House on Saturday, August 16th, 2025."

The Secret Service, which had been aware of the woman's social media activity since Aug. 2, arranged to interview Jones the day after her message for Hegseth.

Jones told the Secret Service during a voluntary Aug. 15 interview that if she had the chance, she would "carry out her mission of killing" the president at "the compound" with a "bladed object."

The woman told agents that she sought to "avenge all the lives lost during the Covid-19 pandemic" and also referred to Trump as a "terrorist" and a "nazi."

Jones was arrested the following day after participating in a protest near the White House.

The Secret Service interviewed Jones after the march, and she admitted to making threats against Trump.

Jones, however, denied having any "present desire to harm" the commander in chief, according to the DC US attorney's office.

"Threatening the life of the President is one of the most serious crimes and one that will be met with swift and unwavering prosecution," Pirro said in a statement.

"Make no mistake -- justice will be served," she added.

Obviously the Communist Subversion Media, which still gets the vapors over a four-hour punch-up five years ago, absolutely refuses to cover the story.

By Tuesday, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, and The New York Times had either not reported the arrest, or hid it on their websites so well that a deep web search came up with nothing.

"I am willing to sacrificially kill this POTUS by disemboweling him and cutting out his trachea with Liz Cheney and all The Affirmation present," Jones wrote in an August 6 Facebook post directed to the FBI.

That seems like news. If we were still trapped in former President Joe "Autopen" Biden's administration and the threat was directed at Biden, the propagandists would be all over this story, learning all they could about Jones and warning of "white nationalism" and "domestic extremism." The DOJ would be weaponized to root out more like her. But the press that so often has ugly things to say about Trump, doesn't see Jones as extreme, so why would they report about it?

Posted by: Ace at 05:31 PM | Comments (326) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Senator Amy Klobuchar Clarifies: I Didn't Say That Sydney Sweeney Had "Perfect Titties" Or That Democrats Are "Too Ugly to Go Outside"

Wait, what?

Are you sure you didn't say that? Because this would be a rare moment when you align perfectly with American opinion.

Posted by: Ace at 04:41 PM | Comments (307) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Hillary Clinton Faces Bar Complaint Over Her Illegal Actions In RussiaGate Frame-Up

This nasty, vile woman has been using her law license as a criminal weapon since she was in her 20s.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is facing an ethical complaint from a government watchdog group calling on the Arkansas state bar to probe whether Clinton's involvement in the Russia investigation into President Trump should affect her ability to practice law in the state.

The complaint, filed by Democracy Restored this week, cites the Arkansas Rules of Professional Conduct involving "Dishonesty" and "Prejudice to the Administration of Justice" and seeks a "formal review of the conduct of Hillary Rodham Clinton, Esq., a licensed attorney in the State of Arkansas, in connection with her actions during the 2016 presidential campaign."

Clinton's name has resurfaced in recent weeks after the Senate Judiciary Committee released previously classified documents related to the "Russiagate" scandal, shedding more light on Clinton's involvement.

"Within this release, there is an annex, which suggests that Clinton approved a plan created by one of her advisors to release false information with the purpose 'to smear' her political opponent during a presidential campaign and distract from the news surrounding her own legal accusations," the complaint states.

"This revelation demands an already overdue inquiry into Clinton's fitness as a member of the Arkansas Bar."

The complaint goes into detail, outlining Clinton's connection to anti-Trump "opposition research" dating back to April 2016 and alleges that her campaign not only elevated "unverified" and "unvetted" information to "injure her political opponent" but cites recently released records to allege that she "personally signed off on an effort to amplify this bad intelligence to the media and federal law enforcement."

"If there is one political scandal synonymous with the 2016 election, it is Operation Crossfire Hurricane," a Democracy Restored director told Fox News Digital in a statement.

"Former Secretary Clinton's utilization of a bunk dossier by a foreign ex-spy to harm a political opponent violates basic ethical norms as well as the Arkansas bar's own rules of conduct for attorneys. The Arkansas bar needs to take a serious look at former Secretary Clinton's involvement in this scandal and take appropriate action."

The letter acknowledges that no criminal charges have been filed, a threshold needed to violate the American Bar Association's rules relating to those who "commit a criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer's honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in other respects," Democracy Restored says. "Recently released records have again increased the prospect of a federal investigation into her conduct.

"Regardless, the legal profession holds its members to higher standards."

Meanwhile, Peter Navarro is calling for a criminal investigation into the Hillary Clinton Operative pretending to be an FBI agent who arrested him and put him in literal leg-irons.

All over a claimed process "crime."

Exclusive--Peter Navarro: Time to Investigate the FBI Agent Who Tried to Take Down Trump And Me

They call Walter Giardina a Marine hero. The media portrayed him as a martyr in FBI Director Kash Patel's recent "purge" of politicized FBI agents.

In my new book, I Went to Prison So You Won't Have To, I call Giardina something else: the tip of the spear in a weaponized FBI campaign to destroy Donald Trump -- and a disgraced FBI agent who personally targeted me and my fiancée.

I don't use "weaponized" lightly. I was there. I lived it. I still feel the cold steel of the handcuffs Giardina, and his gaggle of armed agents, slapped on me at Reagan National Airport. I will never forget the sight of my fiancée being perp-walked out of that same terminal as part of the circus arrest Giardina staged for maximum humiliation -- nor will I forgive Giardina for that.

Giardina's Steele Dossier, Russia Hoax Catalyst

Giardina wasn't just another FBI agent "doing his job." He was the Bureau's go-to guy for virtually every politically loaded, lawfare gambit targeting Trump and his allies.

Giardina's steep fall started with the single most destructive lie in modern American politics -- the Russia Hoax. In 2016, Giardina was reportedly one of the very first FBI officials to review the Steele dossier -- a fetid pile of Clinton-funded faux opposition research dressed up as intelligence.

Whistleblowers allege Giardina told colleagues the Steele dossier was "corroborated" even though its most explosive claims were unverified -- and later proved false. It was a Russia, Russia, Russia hoax, plain and simple. I believe that Giardina either refused or didn't want to see that it was a hoax.

Giardina's internal stamp of credibility for the Steele dossier helped catalyze the FBI's entire Crossfire Hurricane investigation -- the 2016 counterintelligence probe into whether the Trump campaign had coordinated with Russia.
...

This wasn't a good-faith investigation gone bad. It was the tip of the weaponized justice spear -- Clinton oppo research laundered through the FBI, with Giardina carrying it into case files that would haunt Trump's presidency.

Neither Page nor Flynn was ever convicted of any Russia-related crime. Yet, both were saddled with millions in legal fees. This was financial ruin inflicted through lawfare without a single valid charge.

The faux scandal forced Mike's resignation just weeks into the administration. It was a catastrophic event for the nascent Trump administration -- I know, I was there in the White House.

Flynn's departure would deprive newly elected President Donald Trump of a battle-tested National Security Advisor. Even worse, it saddled him instead with far less capable successors -- first the globalist lightweight H.R. McMaster and later the beyond treacherous John Bolton.

...

Whistleblowers say Giardina's conduct inside the Special Counsel's team raised red flags. They accuse him of wiping his assigned FBI laptop outside official protocol -- destroying government records the American people had a right to see. Any internal communications, draft reports, case notes, or classified materials linked to his work thereby vanished forever -- gone before the Inspector General or Congress could review them.

If Giardina did indeed intentionally wipe his computer -- shades of Hillary Clinton, who infamously deleted thousands of emails from her private server while under federal investigation -- he possibly could have been charged with felonious destruction of potential evidence in one of the most politically charged investigations in modern history.

...

And here's the stunningly ironic post-script: Internal FBI records show Giardina was given a Special Counsel's Office award for his work -- underscoring the degree to which the Bureau rewarded those at the center of politically charged investigations, even when their actions may have skirted proper record-keeping rules.

Read the whole thing.

No one is above the law. If our people go to prison, your filthy degenerate sub-humans go to prison, too.

Posted by: Ace at 03:44 PM | Comments (254) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Boston's Woke Mayor Michelle Wu Threatens "Revolution" In Defying Pam Bondi's Order to Comply With ICE

Sounds insurrectionary.

This happened Tuesday.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu held a raucous press conference in Beantown on Tuesday, daring Attorney General Pam Bondi to follow through on her letters to blue-city leaders threatening federal action over sanctuary city policies.

Wu, a Democrat, accused the Trump administration of being a party that "doesn't follow the law."

"At a time when this federal administration is already causing so much fear and harm in our communities, these threats are serious and consequential," she said. The remarks came after the Trump administration warned it could sue or cut federal funds if cities refused to cooperate on immigration enforcement.

...

Wu then referenced Boston's role in the Revolution, addressing Bondi once more and knocking her home state of Florida as late to the constitutional party.

"We are gathered here today to show you who we are in Boston. More than 100 years before your home state was founded, Bostonians were across the street in Faneuil Hall, setting the foundation for our democracy and rule of law. One hundered years before that, Bostonians were founding the first public school and public park in the country."

"This has always been a city of revolution, of innovation, of standing up for the public good and never bowing down to tyranny. With me today, our fellow public servants and veterans, public safety and faith leaders, civil rights advocates, and labor union members, teachers and business owners, entrepreneurs and artists, youth and seniors."

"This is our city. This is our country, and I'm so proud and grateful to show the world who our community is here in Boston and what we're made of."

The other sanctuary mayors and governors likewise declared themselves to be in a state of insurrection against the federal government.

Politico's got insurrection fever.

Attorney General Pam Bondi's fresh threats to Democrat-led cities and states demanding they drop their "sanctuary" policies is being met this week with a collective nope.

Leaders ranging from the governors of California, Illinois and Minnesota to the mayors of New York City, Denver and Boston are standing their ground on limiting cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration officers in their responses to a letter Bondi sent to more than 30 jurisdictions.

"This ends now," Bondi wrote.

Actually, it doesn't, the Democrats replied by her Tuesday deadline -- uniformly rejecting the Trump administration's assertion that they're interfering with federal immigration enforcement.

"That the federal government would insist that Minnesota should divert state resources to do the federal government's job or help effectuate some kind of misguided political agenda is fundamentally inconsistent with our founding principles as a nation," Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the former Democratic nominee for vice president, said in his letter to the attorney general.

The response letters -- culled from POLITICO's outreach to the 35 cities, counties and states on the Department of Justice's updated "U.S. Sanctuary Jurisdiction List" -- ranged in tone from antagonistic to diplomatic in the face of Bondi's threats of criminal prosecution.

Posted by: Ace at 02:49 PM | Comments (362) | Trackbacks (Suck)

NY Appeals Court Tosses the $547 Million Penalty Imposed on Trump by Rogue Judge Engoron, Calling the Penalty a Violation of the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause

This is not the "34 felony conviction" that Manhattan Soros Bot Alvin Bragg cooked up against Trump, so we can't -- yet -- say that Trump is officially not a felon.

This is the civil action brought by obese beefy lesbian "Tish" James claiming that Trump overestimated the value of his properties for the purpose of calculating collateral for loans, an estimate that his counterparties, the banks, said they did not rely upon -- they do their own estimations -- and which cost them nothing, as all of the loans were repaid.

(I have no evidence for this except for the obvious: she looks like an obese beefy lesbian and has never married.

On the other hand, she has had sex with a man at least one time.

That encounter resulted in a baby, which she aborted -- proudly.

James lives in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn and is a member of Emmanuel Baptist Church. She has never married.

At a May 2022 rally, James stated that she supported abortion rights, and had received an abortion early in her tenure as a member of the New York City Council. James said, "I was just elected and I was faced with the decision of whether to have an abortion or not, and I chose to have an abortion. I walked proudly into Planned Parenthood, and I make no apologies to anyone."

)

This is also the case in which Engoron started the "trial" by declaring that, in his one-man partisan opinion, Trump was guilty of fraud and that all that remained was to calculate the size of the penalty he'd have to pay.

This judgement does not erase the judgment against Trump. The Appeals Court left that to New York's highest court, confusingly called the New York Court of Appeals. Trump will almost certainly appeal the judgment itself, and also the one part of Engoron's penalty that the Appeals Court left standing, a court-ordered monitor to observe how Trump runs his businesses.

But this is a big deal. It's a big deal when an over half-billion dollar penalty is completely erased. And while Trump did not pay that, he was forced to pay for a bond to cover the penalty, I think in the amount of around $150 million. Every month he had to pay huge upkeep (insurance payments) for that bond.

He doesn't have to pay that any longer.

Ed Morrissey, quoting from the New York Times, which is, of course, emphasizing that Trump is still officially liable for fraud.

For the moment. Morrissey, on the other hand, emphasizes that Trump will appeal to the highest court and that the appellate court took the coward's way out by punting on the real question here.

An appeals court has thrown out the massive civil fraud penalty against President Donald Trump, ruling Thursday in New York state's lawsuit accusing him of exaggerating his wealth. ...

"While the injunctive relief ordered by the court is well crafted to curb defendants' business culture, the court's disgorgement order, which directs that defendants pay nearly half a billion dollars to the State of New York, is an excessive fine that violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution," Judges Dianne T. Renwick and Peter H. Moulton wrote in one of several opinions shaping the appeals court's ruling.

Engoron also imposed other punishments, such as banning Trump and his two eldest sons from serving in corporate leadership for a few years. Those provisions have been on pause during Trump's appeal, and he was able to hold off collection of the money by posting a $175 million bond.

Elric the Blade says that it's not just that Trump can appeal, but that the appellate court gave him the right to an automatic appeal:

I can't seem to find the actual opinion, but it's apparently over 300 pages (!) so I ain't reading that no matter what.

From what I can tell from the reporting, though, Trump has a guaranteed appeal to the Court of Appeal (NY's highest court) on the fraud convictions because at least two judges dissented on that point.

This is a big deal. Without a guaranteed appeal (called an "appeal as of right"), you have to ask the Court of Appeals to hear the appeal. It's a very big uphill climb on that.

Posted by: Elric The Blade

Posted by: Ace at 01:22 PM | Comments (467) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Texas Approves Redistricting Map

Finally.

The Texas State House on Wednesday passed a new congressional map, blasting through a Democratic roadblock in a bid to bolster the GOP's chances of holding onto the U.S. House next year.

The map passed the Republican-controlled House in a 88-52 vote, setting up a new look for the upcoming 2026 midterm elections with the addition of five Republican-leaning congressional districts in the Lone Star State.

Still, the map must make its way through the Texas State Senate before it lands on Gov. Greg Abbott's desk.

It has since cleared the Senate.

Abbott pushed for the creation of a new map to adhere to President Donald Trump's desire to not see a repeat of the 2018 election cycle, when Democrats handily regained the majority in the House and acted as a foil to the president's legislative desires toward the end of his first term.

While Republicans control a supermajority in deep-red Texas and already passed the map through the state Senate, Democrats still needed to create a quorum in the House to actually move the process along.

...

Texas House Democrats accused the GOP of crafting a map that was illegal and racially discriminatory, and they tried and failed on the House floor to add amendments to the bill that would have halted the process. Despite Democrats' best efforts, Texas House Republicans shot down a dozen amendments to the bill.

Democrats continued to embarrass themselves, however. The Texas police kept watch on the Democrats -- they're legally obligated to arrest any legislator who refuses to come to the state house. The runaway Democrats were offered a choice: Sign an authorization allowing Texas law enforcement to keep an eye on you while the House is in session, or you'll be kept at the State House until its business is finished.

One black female Democrat refused to sign the form, and then dramatically claimed she was being held prisoner in the State House.

She could have gone home if she allowed a cop to stay outside her house in a car, to make sure she didn't flee again. Instead, she chose Theater Kid Bullshit.

Also, in Greg Foreman's clip about her boohoo whinin' and cryin' about a forced sleepover at the State House, she was asked why Democrats fled the state.

She answered: "Slaves fled from their masters. Jews fled their oppressors."

No, really.

Watch the whole thing.

Posted by: Ace at 12:06 PM | Comments (474) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Morning Rant: Minimalist Edition

It is a very interesting Constitutional question; what are the limits of federal control over state behavior. And as much as I want the sanctuary states (and cities) to be crushed by the federal leviathan, if the boot were on the other foot, for instance a state's refusal to abide by the NFA, I would be cheering the states on!

Lawsuits Targeting Sanctuary Policies Test Balance of Federal, State Power

President Donald Trump's administration has sued multiple states and localities for allegedly violating the Constitution by hindering federal immigration enforcement.

These areas, known as sanctuary jurisdictions, have policies or practices that prohibit cooperation with federal authorities in enforcing immigration laws. Trump has ordered the federal government to prepare for defunding these places, but hit a block after multiple jurisdictions filed lawsuits.

According to the Trump administration, the policies violate federal law and the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, which essentially says that states and localities must abide by federal law. States counter that the federal government can't commandeer or force them to use their resources.

Those are both rational points, and they compete only partially. But the real question is: Are the states entitled to federal law enforcement funds if they refuse to cooperate with federal law enforcement, and are they entitled to federal education funds if they continue to teach CRT, allow transsexuals to compete in girl's sports, and allow them in girl's locker rooms and bathrooms?

Because that is the club with which the federal government can beat California and the other blue states (currently in insurrection!).

I look forward to watching California increase its tax rates by 50% to replace lost federal dollars. Then Governor Hair Gel can look presidential by standing up to the ORANGE MAN BAD! And he can run in 2028 on that platform. "I destroyed California's economy to protect rapist wetbacks!"

[Crossposted at CutJibNewsletter and X/Twitter]. If you folks who are on X/Twitter would follow us it would be much appreciated!

Posted by: CBD at 11:00 AM | Comments (291) | Trackbacks (Suck)