Mid-Morning Art Thread

Venus
Alexandre Cabanel

Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM | Comments (304) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Morning Report — 7/ 14 /26

Good morning kids. And so Senator Lindsey Graham has passed at for our time what is the not very old age of 71, I say that with all sincerity as a 66-year-old. In any case whatever one thought of Graham from a political standpoint (and the fact that his sister has been tapped to replace him gets my blood simmering vis a vis our venal and corrupted system, even more infuriating in that we're only 10 days past the 250th anniversary of the American revolution that was intended to start a government that was diametrically opposed to just this kind of corruption.

But, be that as it may, the usual suspects are out in force reveling over Graham's demise and dancing on his grave with his body barely cold in the ground.

Cho shared a video where she said, “Bye, gurl” to the late senator, adding “good riddance.” She also mocked the notion that he might have been a closeted gay man in the process.

“From the closet to the coffin. Real seamless.”

The former is vile. The latter is precisely what one shouldn’t do to someone who wishes to keep his or her sexuality to themselves. Unless that person is a Republican, then all bets are off. Apparently.

Not to be outdone, CNN contributor Michael Ian Black did his own dancing on Graham’s grave.

Before the usual trolls and other drooling sub literate cretins point out our reactions when individuals like Jimmy Carter or Ted Kennedy died, while my reactions were for sure passionate and colorful, the meat of my look at their lives was strictly about their words and deeds and negative impact on our nation and society.

Back to Graham and reactions to his death, there's this:

The sudden and unexpected death of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has sent Iran’s Islamic regime into a fever spasm of bloodlust.
Ynet News reported Sunday that “Iranian state media and supporters of the regime celebrated Sunday the sudden death of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close ally of President Donald Trump, one of Israel’s strongest supporters in Congress and a sworn enemy of the Islamic Republic.”
One of those celebrations took place on “Iranian state television,” where “a presenter reported Graham’s death with a broad smile and a visibly satisfied expression. Another host said on air: ‘This news is so sweet that I’m reading it twice.’”

And the difference between the Mulllahs and Margaret Cho and Cenk Uygur is, what exactly?!

While we're on the subject of "Death to America" I give you this repulsive yet completely unsurprising story:

. . . The DSA states “our goal is to put workers in charge of the government through a new democratic constitution that establishes civil, political, and democratic rights for all, is based on proportional representation in a single federal legislature. With a government by, for, and of the working class and with powerful labor unions and social movements organizing in every city and town, we hope to build a socialist society.” That means abolishing the existing United States constitution and replacing it with something else, also eliminating the Senate and establishing unenumerated “civil, political, and democratic rights for all” in unstated ways.

And so, how are we to preserve our nation, society and our lives in the face of this, short of resorting to the kind of tactics, that is violence, that they are oh so eager to visit upon us?!

Well, back in 1968 Bill Ayers didn't even flinch when he declared that 25 million of us who could not or refused to be "re-educated" would have to be liquidated once he and his ilk took power. Should America somehow return to sanity and the move to embrace Socialim/communism fade away and die Please God, perhaps we can avoid having to visit on the Left what they so eagerly seek to do to us. If not, look out.

Early medical appointments for me, so posting a bit early today. Have a good day,

ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY
• State police, the Department of Public Safety, and potentially the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are expected to be involved in investigating the shooting. Anti-ICE activists quickly organized a demonstration following the incident.
  Driver Shot Dead While ‘Trying to Hit ICE Officer’ with Car.
  
• Victor Davis Hanson: America's allies are stronger, its rivals weaker, and the global balance has shifted.
  The World Made Anew

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 06:13 AM | Comments (416) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 14 July 2026

Top Story

• Big Three memory maker SK Hynix may achieve just one sixth of its planned increases in capacity by 2028. (WCCFTech)
  
  How surprising that a company massively benefiting from a shortage is slow to resolve that shortage.
  
  
  
• SK Hynix is also planning to invest its new round of US share sales into, uh, South Korean government bonds. (WCCFTech)
  
  I don't think they're convinced the shortage is here to stay.
  
  
  
• Meta is expanding its planned Hyperion AI supercluster in Louisiana to 5GW of capacity at a cost of $50 billion. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Meta has had many major wins with customers signing up for its AI services, such as, uh, nobody.
  
  
  

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM | Comments (72) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Overnight Open Thread [07/13/2026]

The bison is far more in tune with the American spirit than the eagle or the turkey (Benjamin Franklin's laughable choice for a symbol). It's the size and weight of a compact sedan, and can run 35 miles/hour. It's cranky as f*ck; and will ignore you until it decides to toss you in the air because you are mildly irritating. And then forget about you, because you are unimportant. It has the quiet confidence that that everything else should probably get out of the way. And if you don't? It makes clear that stupidity has consequences.

Posted by: CBD at 09:51 PM | Comments (416) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Monday Night Cafe

View of Saturn's rings from inside the rings,
from the Cassini probe.
This is actually an artist's conception, not a
genuine photograph. But it's pretty cool.

Walruses are out of control. This is why some call them, "The Bears of the Sea."

Foxes having fun on a slide.

Water spout coming ashore in Myrtle, SC.

Cat vs. Cobra. (Don't worry, the cobra slinks away.)

These princesses save themselves!

Hidden door to a lost dwarven kingdom discovered in Khazakistan? (Which sounds suspiciously like Khazad-Dum.)

Neat architectural illusion.

A raccoon got its head suck in a storm drain.

Firefighters saved it with the jaws of life.

Firefighters in Rostraver Township, Pennsylvania, deployed a 'jaws of life' powerful hydraulic tool after other methods failed to help the critter.

Before responders arrived, a local resident tried to free the raccoon using water and dish soap.

"They tried a few of those things, but nothing ultimately worked," Rostraver Township Police Chief Scott Sokol told The Mon Valley Independent.

After removing the storm grate with the raccoon still trapped inside, the fire crew was able to cut away just enough metal to free the animal.

The raccoon was pictured scurrying back to nearby trees after its ordeal.

Rostraver Township Fire Department said they were able to "free the animal back to its natural habitat."

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 07:30 PM | Comments (180) | Trackbacks (Suck)

John R. Lott Jr.: Numbers Don't Lie. Trump's Deportation of Foreign Invaders Is Slashing Violent Crime

Really? You mean there's some connection between incapacitating criminals and reducing crime?

Amazing.

The United States has two primary measures of violent crime. The FBI tracks crimes reported to police. The Bureau of Justice Statistics' National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) estimates both reported and unreported crime. Researchers have known for decades that most crimes never reach the police. Victims report only about 40 percent of violent crimes and roughly 30 percent of property crimes.

The media focuses almost exclusively on FBI crime data. Before 2020, FBI data and the NCVS generally moved in the same direction. During the Biden administration, however, they sharply diverged. While reported violent crime fell by about 8 percent, total felony violent crime measured by the NCVS surged 59 percent -- the largest four-year percentage increase since the survey began more than five decades ago.

Several factors explain that gap. Whether victims report crimes depends heavily on whether they believe police will catch and punish offenders. As cities reduced police staffing through budget cuts, retirements, and, in some places, "defund the police" policies, arrest rates declined. Lower arrest rates gave victims less reason to report crimes.

Some police departments also made reporting more difficult. In some jurisdictions, 911 operators asked whether the offender was still at the scene. If the answer was no -- as it almost always was -- they instructed victims to visit a police station later to file a report. Simply calling 911 does not place a crime in the FBI's statistics; an officer must complete an official report. When governments make reporting more burdensome, some victims understandably decide it isn't worth the effort.

Fortunately, many of those policies have been reversed.

Although reported crime has declined, we will not know whether total crime also fell in 2025 until the Bureau of Justice Statistics releases the next NCVS this September.

...

FBI arrests surged in 2025, rising 184 percent over 2024 levels. Total FBI arrests -- a broader category that includes many joint operations with state and local agencies -- increased by 197 percent.

...

Across the country, President Trump's U.S. attorneys have also pursued criminals far more aggressively than their predecessors. In Washington, D.C., for example, the Biden administration's U.S. Attorney declined to prosecute 67 percent of those arrested. Under U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, that figure has fallen to just 4 percent.

A Mexican illegal deported three times just killed a six year old girl after running a stop sign.

An illegal immigrant from Mexico with multiple deportations was driving with a revoked license when he collided with a vehicle and allegedly killed a 6-year-old North Carolina girl last week, authorities said.

Jaime Santiago Corona was driving a Dodge Ram pickup truck July 3 when he failed to stop at a stop sign and struck an SUV driven by 35‑year‑old Kelli Toler, who was traveling with her two children in Pitt County, the North Carolina State Highway Patrol said.

Toler and her 4‑year‑old child were transported to ECU Health Greenville with serious injuries.

Toler's 6‑year‑old daughter, Calli Toler, was pronounced dead at the crash site.

An online fundraiser for the Toler family said the three were on their way to get lunch before going to a swimming pool when the collision happened.

"This monster caused a car crash that killed a 6-year-old girl and injured a mother and a 4-year-old," said Department of Homeland Security (DHS) acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis.

Did this illegal alien deliver Cultural Enrichment in excess of the pain, misery, and death he caused? I want to see the tally. I want to see the proof that we came out ahead on this deal, Cultural-Enrichment-wise.

Very much related: A woke American woman living in Ireland decided to marry a migrant Muslim she met at a pro-Hamas rally.

Surprise! He murdered her.

The migrant boyfriend suspected of murdering a New York mom at her home in Ireland allegedly asked her for a bunch of money just a week before her death.

Jamey Carney, 43, had told a pal that her beau, Ahmad Al-Saqar, sought the equivalent of around $5,700 about a week before her murder at her house in Killarney, the Irish Independent reported.

Al-Saqar is now wanted for questioning by authorities in connection with the murder of Carney, who is believed to have been beaten and then suffocated in her bed early Tuesday.

Al-Saqar, an asylum-seeker from Jordan, is feared to have fled to the Middle East in the hours after her death.

Authorities are examining the victim's phone calls and texts as well as her social-media accounts and bank statements as part of their probe.

Carney, who was originally from tony Westchester County outside of New York City, moved with her young daughter to Ireland in May 2021.

She is believed to have met Al-Saqar at a pro-Palestine rally in Killarney about 18 months ago and frequently shared pictures of the pair on social media.

He told friends that he and Carney had taken part in a religious marriage ceremony earlier this year and were wed in the Islamic faith, former roommate Husam Salha told the Irish Independent.

Al-Saqar posted a video online around that time with the words, "My bride and my princess," showing Carney wearing a ring on his TikTok.

"Al-Saqar said they had gone to the mosque and accepted to be husband and wife," Salha said.

"In Islam, when you get married, you have to let all the people know that you are husband and wife," he said.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 05:30 PM | Comments (182) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Quick Hits

FaceBook's co-founder bankrolled an activist effort to drive up the price of eggs and bacon.

And he's meanwhile a major investor in Impossible Foods -- the company trying to make non-meat meatlike substance.

Dustin Moskovitz, the billionaire co-founder of Facebook and enterprise software company Asana, has talked openly about how he likes to eat meat.

But in a curious twist, the lefty Democratic megadonor has poured nearly a half-billion dollars into activist campaigns that have made it harder to run animal farms and contributed to the rising cost of eggs and meat for millions of American consumers -- all while one of Moskovitz's foundations holds a nearly $89 million stake in plant-based company Impossible Foods -- meaning it could benefit if pricier meat pushes more consumers toward meat alternatives, The California Post has learned.

The money trail runs through two closely linked entities of Moskovitz's philanthropic empire: Coefficient Giving -- the nonprofit formerly known as Open Philanthropy -- and Good Ventures, the private foundation run by Moskovitz and his wife, former journalist Cari Tuna.

On paper, Coefficient Giving says its mission is simple: reduce suffering on factory farms. Since 2016, the nonprofit has handed out more than $480 million toward that cause.

But farmers and industry insiders told The Post the operation amounts to a well-funded pressure campaign, bankrolling activist groups, ballot measures, corporate pressure tactics, lawsuits and media projects that they say have helped drive up the cost of meat, eggs and pork for everyday Americans.

Hannah Thompson-Weeman, president and CEO of the Animal Agriculture Alliance, told The Post that consumers often picture animal-rights activism as a loose network of shaggy volunteers with protest signs.

That image, she said, badly understates the sophistication and funding behind the movement, which combined with inflation is the reason many grocery shoppers are suffering from post-traumatic sticker shock.

Mexico's president offers an excuse as to why she refuses to oppose the cartels. She claims it's all Biden's fault, which appeals to me, but the trouble is, she's a cartel whore. It's not just Biden's fault. She's on the cartel payroll.

Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum is blaming Biden-era policies of the United States government for having helped set off the fierce turf war that followed. The turf war erupted after the split between the two main factions of the Sinaloa Cartel following the arrest of the fearsome cartel boss Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada.

During her morning news conferences, Sheinbaum claimed that if the Biden administration had shared information with Mexican authorities and let them carry out the arrest, the cartel would not have split, and the violence spreading through Mexico would not have happened. The comments come at a time when tensions are high with the United States over Sheinbaum's refusal to fight cartels. Her comments also come soon after the Mexican president announced that her government would be taking legal action against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in connection with the deaths of migrants in detention centers and during raids.

...

The issue comes at a time when the Trump administration has been pressuring Sheinbaum to eradicate drug cartels, leading to heightened tensions between the two governments.

Recently, the U.S. Department of Justice delivered a heavy blow to Sheinbaum's credibility when it announced a criminal indictment against Sinaloa's Governor Ruben Rocha Moya and nine of his closest officials, who were the heads of the state law enforcement apparatus. As Breitbart Texas has reported, rather than help with the arrests and extraditions, Sheinbaum has used the claim of national sovereignty to refuse U.S. help in fighting cartels and has publicly defended Rocha Moya, who is from the same political party, claiming that there is no proof of wrongdoing on his part. Federal prosecutors in the United States claim that Rocha Moya worked with Los Chapitos, providing them with protection in exchange for bribes and political support.

The News Professionals at CNN did a story about Republicans demanding that Mitch McConnell update the public about his medical status. They didn't have enough Republicans for a proper "Republicans in Disarray" storyline, so they
invented one, "Jack Kimble."

You know -- Senator Jack Kimble.

During a segment concerning speculations on the health of Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., CNN included a quote from a fake congressman.

During the segment, host Audie Cornish said that many Senate Republicans have said they've talked to McConnell. As Cornish spoke, quotes from Republicans flashed on the screen, the Daily Wire reported. These included statements from Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota and Majority Whip John Barrasso of North Dakota.

A fourth statement was attributed to Rep. Jack Kimble, which is a parody account. No such congressman serves in the House.

"I spoke to my old friend Mitch McConnell this morning, the senior Senator from Kentucky. He's still recovering in the hospital. We talked for just shy of 45 minutes. He's so sharp. Just like always he let me do all of the talking. He's a great listener. After that we prayed silently for awhile and had a staring contest. Just like always, he beat me. I told him we want to see him back at work as soon as possible."" the fake congressman's statement read.

How disconnected from your "job" as "newspeople" do you have to be to not realize Jack Kimble is a made-up name? Did no one at CNN realize, "Gee, I never heard that name before and as someone paid to watch the news hour-by-hour, I probably should have heard that name before, if it were real"?

Not to be outdone, Washington Post "reporters" deliberately falsified a Trump quote to stir up a dispute between Trump, whom they hate and want to see dead, and Israel, which they hate and wish to see eradicated by Muslim terrorists.

The report portrays the United States as having to restrain an out-of-control Israel....

But a key piece of evidence is, in fact, a doctored quote. The authors claim:

In March, President Donald Trump suggested publicly that Israel's assassination campaign was complicating efforts to negotiate with the regime. "You know it's a little tough," he told reporters at the time. "They've wiped out everybody. I don't want them to be killed.''

Trump did, indeed, utter those words, but not together. The authors spliced together two sentences uttered by President Trump in response to two separate questions as if they were part of one cohesive statement. Worse, they omit words in between that entirely contradicted the narrative they advanced.

Here's what President Trump actually said. In response to a question as to who Steve Witkoff, the administration's special envoy, was talking to in Iran, President Trump responded:

A top -- a top person. Don't forget, we've wiped out the leadership phase one, phase two, and largely phase three. But we're dealing with a man who I believe is the most respected and the leader. You know, it's a little tough. They've wiped out -- we've wiped out everybody.

In an apparent attempt to falsify the quote to suggest President Trump was talking only about Israel, The Washington Post omitted the words "we've wiped out" from the middle of the first sentence. Rather than showing American frustration with Israel, the full sentence suggests U.S. and Israeli interests were aligned.

The authors then portray the second sentence, "I don't want them to be killed," as if it was uttered immediately after the first (clipped) sentence. In fact, that remark came in response to a different question that came after another entire question and answer exchange.

After answering a question about the status of the Iranian supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, Trump was then asked whether he could say where the discussions are taking place. The president responded:

I can't. I can't, because I don't want them to be killed. OK? I don't want them to be killed.

Hudson and Nakashima effectively doctored a quote, cutting out separate parts and mashing them together to create a Frankenstein's Monster quote.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 05:20 PM | Comments (225) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Humiliated by His Fawning Over a Nazi Rapist, Ro Khanna Tries to Change the Subject By Trying to Force His Way Past an Israeli Checkpoint and Then Crying "Jews Are Abusing a Brown Man!" When They Stop Him (for Ninety Minutes, to Check IDs)

Ro Khanna's absurd idea that he can be president took a big hit when his Rapist Wingman Graham Platner was forced to withdraw.

So he's begging for attention from the Nazi left:

Bonchie
@bonchieredstate

Ro Khanna backed a Nazi tattooed rapist after he was credibly accused of domestic abuse.

To distract from that, he ran to Israel to enter a government restricted area and stage a PR stunt.

If you're falling for this, you're an idiot. And apparently, lots of idiots exist.

He admits that he knew he was trying to force his way past the checkpoint of a "restricted military area" -- but played the Don't You Know Who I Am? card anyway.

Dan The Zionist!
@DanTheZionist

Jul 12

Ro Khanna's driver intentionally triggered a Security First Response Team.

Israeli Gedaliah Blum explains the tricks that Ro Khanna used to stage a performance.

Ro Khanna was traveling in Judea and Samaria, which are also known as the West Bank. The Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria have experienced many terrorist attacks. So, there are First Response Teams of community guards who monitor for suspicious activity. These teams are governed by laws and work with safety measures, and they coordinate with the Israeli army.

Shabbat is Saturday. On Shabbat, people living in Jewish communities do not drive. On Shabbat, Ro Khanna's team drove off the road, which was already very suspicious. The strange activity of Ro Khanna's vehicle triggered the First Response Team. So, the team checked the vehicles.

Ro Khanna did not tell anyone he was going to be in the area. He was not traveling in a way that identified him as a congressman, he was not in a government marked vehicle. The First Responder Team checked for his identity. Specifically, because Ro Khanna did not tell anyone he would be in the area, it took about ninety minutes to confirm his identity with the Israeli army.

After he was safely identified, he was allowed to continue on his way. Afterwards, Ro Khanna described this security check as being held hostage by wild settlers, which is total nonsense.

Ro Khanna is a liar.

His only defense of his actions is that other Congressmen have gotten into that area before.

Yes, this Fox newsreader points out -- after first clearing it with the government of Israel, which Ro Khanna didn't do, because he wanted a staged confrontation because his campaign for president is failing ludicrously and he wants to court the leftwing Nazi vote.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 04:14 PM | Comments (278) | Trackbacks (Suck)

More Illegal Aliens Discovered Voting Illegally in US Elections

John Solomon at JusttheNews:

Evidence mounts of noncitizens reaching voter rolls, casting ballots as DOJ speeds crackdown

Trump DOJ has secured about two dozen noncitizen voting arrests, prosecutions or convictions in the last few months, with about another 90 more cases under investigation.

A small town Kansas mayor born in Mexico. A Filipino senior citizen living in Hawaii. Two Pakistani men residing in New Jersey. An Aussie in Louisiana. And a Chinese student studying at the University of Michigan. They all have one thing in common.

Each has been charged in the last year with illegally voting in U.S. federal elections as foreigners, part of a sudden wave of prosecutions led by the Trump Justice Department for a crime that used to be among the rarest in the federal court system.

The Trump Justice Department has secured about two dozen non-citizens voting arrests, prosecutions or convictions in the last few months alone, with about another 90 more cases under investigation, officials told Just the News. And all 50 states were sent notices this month that election officials can and will be prosecuted too if they allow non-citizens to vote.

"It isn't just bad policy to let non-citizens vote in federal elections, it's a crime. And this Department of Justice will intend to prosecute that crime if these election officials, having been informed that they are non-citizens on the voter rolls, knowingly allow those people to vote, enable their enrollment on the voter rolls, are passive in the face of this knowledge, etc. This is not some idle threat," Assistant Attorney General for Ciril Rights Harmeet Dhillon told the Just the News, No Noise television show.

DOJ officials have found three major problems in policing states' voter rolls ahead of the 2026 election: hundreds of thousands of dead people still eligible to vote, tens of thousands of illegal aliens on the rolls and scores of foreigners having gone beyond registering to, in fact, vote in a federal election, which is illegal.

Dhillon, the top election cop inside the DOJ, believes the numbers of foreigners illicitly voting in elections is probably higher but has been frustrated that U.S. Attorney offices across the country haven't made illegal voting a larger priority until just recently.

"We are trying to empty an ocean with a teaspoon because there isn't a culture of U.S. attorneys going after these," she explained.

That's changing with the sudden explosion of cases.

The left is shrieking (as usual) about the possibility that state election officials who turn a blind eye to illegal alien voting might be arrested themselves.

This is PBS so expect bias.

DOJ threatens to arrest state election officials if noncitizens vote

The Department of Justice is threatening to arrest more than a dozen state election officials if a single vote is cast in their states by a noncitizen. The threat was part of a letter giving election officials five days to detail how they will comply with laws on noncitizens voting. Amna Nawaz discussed more with Jessica Huseman of Votebeat, who obtained the letter.

Amna Nawaz:

The Department of Justice is threatening top election officials in more than a dozen states with arrest if even a single vote is cast in their states by a noncitizen. The threats detailed in a letter stating it's illegal for noncitizens to vote and giving elections officials five days to detail how they will comply with federal law.

It's worth noting that noncitizens voting, as well as election fraud in general, is exceedingly rare in this country, with just a handful of reported cases, even in databases kept by conservative legal groups. The letter was obtained by Votebeat.

White supremacist groups are also very, very rare but the left seems keenly interested in stopping them.

Jessica Huseman, Editorial Director, Votebeat:

All of the states got the letter, which that was not initially obvious when this was reported for the first time.

We heard from several states all at once that had gotten it. There were several states that couldn't actually find the letter because the Trump administration sent it to things like info@secretaryofstate.gov for some of these Web sites. So they had to go hunt it down.

But, yes, all 50 states have gotten them. And the letter essentially reminds election administrators that noncitizen voting is illegal and says that there are criminal penalties associated with knowingly allowing a noncitizen to vote.

Of course, that is not new information to election officials. And all of the election officials that I spoke to about this yesterday didn't seem particularly concerned.

Maybe they should be.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 03:13 PM | Comments (268) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Hmm: Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Was Recruited as a Spy by Israel; Israel Hoped He Could Take Control of Iran After Assassinations of Iran's President and His Advisors

So that was the plan.

But plans tend to not survive first contact with the enemy.

A rector from the University of Budapest sent an invitation to Ahmadinejad to attend a "climate change" conference. His hope was to get him close to Israeli delegates so that they could talk and maybe eventually broker a peace treaty.

The yearslong effort to groom the former Iranian president as an intelligence asset culminated in a dramatic effort to take him to an Israeli safe house in the early days of the war. But the plan fell apart.

...

Mr. Ahmadinejad's 2024 visit to the university and a second one the following year were part of a yearslong Israeli effort to groom him as an intelligence asset who, when the time came, could be installed as Iran's new leader, according to both American and Iranian officials familiar with the operation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive intelligence.

Recruiting Mr. Ahmadinejad was of such priority for Israel that the country's then-spy chief David Barnea even traveled to the Hungarian capital in 2024 to meet with Mr. Ahmadinejad personally, according to former American officials. Soon afterward, they said, Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence service, notified the C.I.A. that it had been in contact with Mr. Ahmadinejad.

Israel's decision to build a regime-change plan around Mr. Ahmadinejad is an extraordinary twist in the saga of the country's relations with the former president, who was known for accelerating Iran's nuclear program, calling regularly for the destruction of Israel and denying the Holocaust.

In recent years, according to American officials, Israel secretly paid money to Mr. Ahmadinejad for housing and travel, and Israeli operatives met him abroad on several occasions, including during his trips to Budapest.

...

The effort culminated in late February of this year -- during the first days of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran -- with an audacious operation to relocate the former leader, who had been living under strict surveillance in Tehran. The goal: to set in motion the plan to topple the current regime and install Mr. Ahmadinejad.

The plan failed.

On Feb. 28, an Israeli airstrike hit Mr. Ahmadinejad's compound, targeting the building of his bodyguards and his armored vehicle. After the strike, according to four senior Iranian officials, a black Peugeot car arrived, picked up Mr. Ahmadinejad and whisked him away at high speed from the chaotic scene.

American and Iranian officials with knowledge of the operation said the car had been driven by Mossad operatives, who took Mr. Ahmadinejad to a secret safe house in Iran.

But the former Iranian leader was upset about the frantic rescue operation, and he appeared to be disillusioned about the Israeli plan to return him to power, according to people with knowledge of what occurred.

He eventually left the safe house under circumstances that are still unclear. Mr. Ahmadinejad was not seen in public again until last Monday, when he made a brief appearance at the funeral procession for the slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

His current status remains uncertain. But four senior Iranian officials said that Mr. Ahmadinejad was in the custody of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' intelligence wing, under house arrest now that Iran has learned about much of his interactions with Israel.

A key part of the plan was that Kurdish Iranians would march on Tehran.

But, as Trump lamented months ago, that never happened. That was supposed to be the ground element which is absolutely essential in actually winning a war.

Israeli officials have not commented publicly about the plan to install Mr. Ahmadinejad as Iran's leader, which was part of a broader attempt to topple the government in Tehran. Another element involved arming and training Iranian Kurdish opposition forces based in northern Iraq to cross into western Iran, hold territory there and eventually move toward the capital Tehran, an effort that never manifested.

...

Mossad officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Ali Akbar Javanfekr, a spokesman for Mr. Ahmadinejad, declined to comment.

It's not clear to me if Ahmadinejad had actually turned spy or was merely taking Israel's money while feigning interest. I guess it's reassuring to know that there was a plan for regime change... but this plan seems to have been pretty smokey from the start.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 02:10 PM | Comments (248) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Trump Endorses Lindsey Graham's Sister to Replace Him

Uhhh... I don't like politics becoming so dynastic.

But I guess the idea is that his sister taking over for the rest of the term would be non-controversial right now. All of the people who want to run for the seat also want to be appointed to fill out the term, because that gives them a huge incumbency advantage. Appointing Graham's sister to the seat avoids that... assuming she really only serves for the remaining months.

Graham raised his sister after his parents died.

President Trump posted on his Truth Social minutes before that he had recommended Graham's "wonderful sister" to serve as interim senator until a special election can be held.

South Carolina Republican Gov. Henry McMaster will be choosing that replacement. He's scheduled a 4 p.m. press conference to make that announcement.

"This would be a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly!" Trump added.

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) agreed and told The Post that he has known the late South Carolina senator's sister "for years and she's a constituent of mine in Lexington County."

"I have faith in Gov. McMaster that he will make the right decision, but I would support the president's recommendation," Wilson said.

Preliminary findings from the Washington, DC, medical examiner's office determined that Lindsey Graham died of a ruptured aorta brought on by chronic heart disease.

Emergency responders arrived at the Republican senator's Capitol Hill home at around 8:30 p.m. after getting a call about an individual suffering from chest pains, according to scanner audio.

Medics performed CPR as Graham went into cardiac arrest a half hour later. He was then rushed to George Washington University Hospital, where he died.

When running for president in 2016, Graham had even joked about his sister serving as his first lady along with a "rotating" cast of other friends.

"I've got a sister, she could play that role if necessary," he told the Daily Mail in a June 2015 interview when asked about being the first bachelor in the White House since former President Woodrow Wilson.

The Graham parents had run a bar and pool hall in Central, S.C., where for a time they had raised their two kids in a backroom, the senator later shared in a memoir.

After their deaths, Graham enlisted in the Air Force and became Darline's legal guardian so he could use his military benefits to support his sister.

...

"Of all the things that have happened in my life, her turning out so well is the highlight of it by far," he was quoted as telling C-SPAN in 2015, per the outlet.

Trump ordered the White House's flags to half-mast.

President Trump announced on Sunday that he has ordered "all American Flags throughout the United States" lowered to half-mast until Saturday night at 6 P.M.

"In honor of the remarkable life and achievements of Senator Lindsey Graham, a dear friend of mine, and a truly great man, who achieved so much for our Country, and his beloved Home State of South Carolina, I am ordering all American Flags throughout the United States lowered to Half Mast until Saturday evening at 6 P.M. GOD BLESS YOU LINDSEY! President DONALD J. TRUMP," he wrote on X.

South Carolina polls are scrambling to be appointed Senator, and boy oh boy I sure hope they don't pick the flaky tramp Nancy Mace, who'll be unemployed in months.

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -- The death of Sen. Lindsey Graham, who was running for a fifth term, begins a tumultuous new chapter in South Carolina politics during a year that has already been full of upheaval.

As the conservative state's senior senator and an influential ally of President Donald Trump, Graham was presumed to be on a glide path toward reelection.

Now, Gov. Henry McMaster must choose a temporary replacement who can serve until January while the state also prepares a special primary so voters can choose a new Republican nominee for the general election.

The rare open Senate seat has ignited a scramble among South Carolina's most ambitious conservatives, who have been eager to climb the political ladder.

Republicans just finished a sprawling and bruising contest to figure out their nominee for succeeding McMaster, who is wrapping up his second term. State Attorney General Alan Wilson won the nomination, overcoming a field that included Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, Rep. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman -- all of whom are now eyeing Graham's seat following his death over the weekend.

According to South Carolina law, a one-week filing period for a special primary election begins on the second Tuesday after the candidate's death, or July 21.

The special primary election would be held on the second Tuesday after that filing period closes, or Aug. 11. Any necessary runoff would follow two weeks after that, or Aug. 25.

From that point, the new nominee would have just over two months to campaign for the general election on Nov. 3.

There's a snag in the timetable:

All of this is problematic according to federal law, which requires military and overseas ballots to go out 45 days before any federal election. For the general election primary, that would have been June 27. Federal Election Commission officials didn't immediately return a message seeking clarity about the process.

Here are some of the possible replacements, including, unfortunately, Nancy Mace.

And including Scott Bessent -- who I think we need to keep where he is.

Meanwhile, we don't have to worry about replacing Mitch McConnell -- for the moment, anyway.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, who has been in the hospital since June 11 with an undisclosed medical diagnosis, said in a statement Sunday that he suffered a fall last month that left him briefly unconscious and landed him in the hospital.

The lawmaker said he also had to deal with a "mild case of pneumonia."

"My doctors have confirmed that I didn't break any bones or suffer a concussion. I didn't have a heart attack or a stroke. I don't have any tumors or hemorrhages. But I was briefly unconscious and was taken to the hospital. While receiving excellent care over the past several weeks, I've also had to deal with a mild case of pneumonia," McConnell said in the statement.

McConnell's office has provided few details about what landed the senator in the hospital last month, despite a growing demand from many, including Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.

In the statement, a letter from McConnell to his fellow Kentuckians, he said he hesitated to be more public about what happened to him.

Incredibly, the sneaky, secretive McConnell claimed that his refusal to keep his constituents informed was just some widely-shared penchant for skullduggery shared by all members of his generation:

"You all know how folks of my generation often hesitate to share the vulnerability that comes with growing older. Even in the public eye, I feel that same instinct -- I can't help it," McConnell said in his note.

"I can't help it." Even though I have a responsibility to my constituents and the country, "I can't help it." That's just me and my generation. You young'uns wouldn't understand about, you know, lying.

"But at the same time, I've had more than my share of experience with physical vulnerabilities. Surviving childhood polio meant spending my entire life with mobility challenges. They haven't exactly gotten easier to manage with age. And last month, I took a fall which landed me in the hospital," he said.

Oh my goodness, he played the "childhood polio" card. What an absolute asshole.

We are ruled not just by men without chests, but also, men without souls.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 01:10 PM | Comments (289) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Muskily Heterosexual James Talarico Woos the Most Important Voting Bloc in Texas, Perverts Who Attend Drag Queen Shows

He's such a moderate centrist.

Oh, and he's teaming up with noted moderate centrist perennial Democrat candidate Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke to lock down the drag queen stan vote.

The Daily Caller reports on Beto and Fredo teaming up to diddle the Democrats' most important constituency.

Oh -- and voters whose first allegiance is to Mexico, and also, illegal aliens who have been struck from the voter rolls.

EXCLUSIVE: Talarico Finds His Base -- Drag Show Attendees, Mexico Fans And Purged Voters

Democrat Texas Senate nominee James Talarico is partnering with failed Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke to unleash a voter outreach campaign that will target drag show attendees, Mexico soccer fans, and people previously purged from voter rolls, the Daily Caller has learned.

After several failed candidacies, O'Rourke is now advising other up-and-coming Democrats through his organization Powered by People, which hosted a strategy Zoom call with Talarico's campaign Tuesday night, the Caller can reveal.

During the call, Powered by People Executive Director Aimee Prudhomme revealed Democrats' strategy to target voters ahead of the November election.

"Like Beto mentioned before, we go where the people are," Prudhomme said on a recording of the meeting obtained by the Caller. "We're trying to find likely Democratic voters. Those that are targets of voter suppression, likely to be removed or purged from the rolls come November. We go in places where those people are."

In Texas, people are removed from voter rolls if they are serving a sentence for a felony conviction, if they are illegally in the United States, if they are mentally incapacitated, if they move out of the country or state, or if they die, according to the state's Election Code.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 12:05 PM | Comments (363) | Trackbacks (Suck)

THE MORNING RANT: Great Economic News You Won’t Get from the Legacy Media

You wouldn’t know it if you rely on the legacy media for your economic news, but there are great things happening in this country. New unemployment claims have plummeted to historic lows, the US trade deficit has plunged, and there is massive industrial investment going on in the U.S., due in large part to President Trump’s “America-first” effort to re-shore industrial production.

But the legacy media is trying to tell a different story.

Of course, there is still the inflation issue. Because we haven’t fully recovered from the Biden inflation shock, President Trump is blamed for not deflating prices back to a pre-Biden level.

Core inflation is currently 2.9%, which is higher than desired, but look at the chart below. This is the most recent core inflation chart (through May 2026) from the Bureau of Labor Standards. The years 2021 through 2024 are the Biden years, all the others are Trump years. Notice anything?

Gas prices need to come down, of course, and I pray that President Trump isn’t goaded into a ground war in Iran that will skyrocket oil prices while destroying his presidency. Ground wars in Asia are even less popular than high egg prices.

Speaking of which, I can go to Wal-Mart right now and buy a dozen large eggs for $1.47. At the end of the Biden presidency, eggs were averaging over $4.00 per dozen. There was one point after Trump’s inauguration that the high price of eggs was dominating the news cycle, since the media thought it was a story that would hurt Trump. Strangely enough, the current low price of eggs is not considered newsworthy.

Perhaps the greatest indicator of economic strength is civilian employment, of which something remarkable is going on. As John Carney just documented at Breitbart Business Digest in a piece titled “The First Half of 2026 Saw Lowest Level of Jobless Claims Since 1969,” new unemployment claims in 2026 are consistently at low levels not seen for almost 60 years. As a percentage of the workforce, these low-numbers are unprecedented in the post-war era, because the workforce was so much smaller all those decades ago.

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM | Comments (245) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Mid-Morning Art Thread

The death of Cain
George Frederick Watts

Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM | Comments (247) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Morning Report — 7/ 13 /26

Good morning kids. So, to paraphrase the revolting blather of Barack Obama, Lindsey Graham is dead but Mitch McConnell is alive. Just like way back when the notion that GM was "alive" McConnell on the other hand conveniently mugging from his bed for the cameras belies his actual heath and fitness to remain in the Senate. In any case as for Graham, condolences go out to his family and loved ones.

President Trump and VP Vance had this to say about the late senator

President Donald Trump on Sunday expressed his sadness over the sudden passing of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) at 71 years old and called Graham “a true American Patriot.” Vice President JD Vance remembered Graham in a post on X Sunday morning:
Lindsey Graham came from humble beginnings and became one of the most powerful lawmakers in the most powerful nation on Earth. His story was a fundamentally American one. Early in my Senate tenure, I remember getting into a shouting match with Lindsey about a Ukraine funding bill at lunch and then learning the very next day that he was pushing rail legislation I really cared about behind the scenes. That was Lindsey Graham. He fought like hell for the things he believed in, and he was just as willing to go to bat for you when it counted.

For me, Lindsey Graham's record as a warrior for conservative principles was spotty at best if not dismal. After all, his moniker for many years was Graham-nesty and for good reason. As the leader of the so-called "Gang of Eight" he pushed hardest to grant amnesty to the millions of illegal aliens already here during the Obama years. Open borders and illegal aliens are a boon to corporate donors to the GOP and by extension to Graham and his ilk who will gladly wet their beaks at the expense of the indigenous American worker by destroying the wages of real working real Americans. And we all know what massive illegal alien populations do for the Democrats. So, farewell Lindsey Graham and RIP. Here's hoping whoever succeeds you as the Senator from South Carolina will be a real champion of Americanism, America and the free market. Yes, I do realize that Marco Rubio was also a part of that hideous cabal. But his tenure as secretary of State as well as his evolution into a real MAGA stalwart at least in my mind has absolved him of that ill-advised position. Rubio unless and until proven otherwise represents a real hope for our future.

While Graham was only 71 and McConnell 84, both are representative of the entrenched gerontocracy in Washington DC whose sole purpose is the lining of their own pockets at the expense of the taxpayers and in the case of Republicans aiding and abetting the Democrat party's dismantling of America as founded all to get wealthy at the cost of our liberty.

Have a good day,

ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY
• Initial findings Sen. Lindsey Graham’s preliminary cause of death revealed after GOP leader, 71, found in DC home
  
  Sen. Lindsey Graham died of a ruptured aorta brought on by chronic heart disease, according to the preliminary findings of the DC medical examiner’s office released Sunday.
  
• The 84-year-old Kentucky Republican, who was hospitalized June 14 during what dispatchers suspected was a cardiac event, released the statement the day after Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), 71, suddenly died of heart issues — and following weeks of relative radio silence from McConnell’s camp.
  Sen. Mitch McConnell, 84, breaks silence on mystery ailment with photo after hospital stay, questions about health

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 07:13 AM | Comments (442) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 13 July 2026

Top Story

• Apple's upcoming M7 processor, destined for a full rollout with Pro, Max, and Ultra models, is expected to support as much as 1.5TB of RAM for local AI and other massively intensive workloads. (WCCFTech)
  
  Which will cost $37,500. For the RAM. The rest of the computer will be... Actually relatively inexpensive.
  
  
  
• Apple is already working on the next-generation M8 chip, which will use a 1.4nm process. (WCCFTech)
  
  TSMC plans initial production of 1.4nm chips in 2028, so this is likely three years away.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM | Comments (77) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Sunday Overnight Open Thread - July 12, 2026 [Doof]

Howdy Hordelings! Welcome to the Sunday ONT. Hope your weekend has been a good one. Open thread, as always. Fashion and music, as always. What's on YOUR mind tonight?

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:00 PM | Comments (518) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Gun Thread: On Vacation 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 On Vacation Edition? That's right, gals and guys, your ol' pal Weasel & Co. packed up the truck and headed for the NC shore for a week of vacation from the stressful rigors of retirement. I'm writing this early Sunday morning having just returned from the donut and bagel shops, the sun is out, and the doggos are getting used to having sand betwixt their toes. Coffee is on and I'm ready to light a cigar.

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 (181) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Food Thread: Smoke 'Em If You've Got 'Em!

Long-time commenter and long-distance shooter "Blake" sent this along, and I must admit, I feel a bit guilty not having smoked the Mac&Cheese I served yesterday. That looks delicious! It is also another data point in my life-long study confirming my theory that everything is better in a smoker. Or at least as good!

Posted by: CBD at 04:00 PM | Comments (197) | Trackbacks (Suck)

First World Problems...

Big Feather has conspired with Big Cushion to create the perfect cartel-like business stream. Big Feather sells Big Cushion feathers whose ends have been carefully machined to poke through conventional fabrics with ease. Then Big Cushion does not use fabrics that are resistant to those needle-like feathers.

It's brilliant! The cushions lose fill while simultaneously irritating the sh*t out of the consumer, who replaces the cushions in a vain attempt to avoid getting poked and prodded by Big Feather's products.

One day the people will rise up and end this cruelty.

Posted by: CBD at 02:00 PM | Comments (179) | Trackbacks (Suck)