Congress to Investigate Foreign Pro-Hamas Donors to Campus Radicals

The Free Beacon:

Congress on Tuesday initiated a wide-ranging probe into 20 nonprofit groups bankrolling and supporting anti-Israel protests on college campuses across the nation and are petitioning federal authorities to turn over internal documents that could tie them to money laundering and terrorism financing, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

Reps. James Comer (R., Ky.) and Virginia Foxx (R., N.C.)--chairs of the House's Committee on Oversight and Accountability and Committee on Education and the Workforce, respectively--asked the Treasury Department to immediately hand over "Suspicious Activity Reports" related to a number of campus groups and nonprofits that are providing resources to anti-Israel campus agitators. Financial institutions file these reports with the federal government if they detect instances of potential money laundering or support for terrorism. The reports could provide proof that several of the organizations behind the anti-Israel protest movement are engaging in prohibited financial activities.

Among the groups named are Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), Jewish Voice for Peace, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Tides Foundation, Open Society Foundations, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Adalah Justice Project, and Samidoun. All of these groups have been identified as either funders or supporters of the nationwide protest movement, which has seen students establish anti-Israel encampments on college campuses. SJP and AMP, in particular, have emerged as the top organizers of these anti-Israel protests and are being sued by Israeli terror victims, who allege that the groups serve "as collaborators and propagandists for Hamas."

...

The investigation, Comer and Foxx write, "relates both to malign influence on college campuses and to the national security implications of such influence on faculty and student organizations."

The letter also sets the stage for Congress to consider legislation that would strengthen federal transparency laws regarding foreign funding at higher learning institutions, the lawmakers said.

...

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund, one of the 20 groups named in the investigation, has awarded around $3.4 million to Hamas-friendly groups since 2018, the Free Beacon reported last year. These amounts include donations to an Israeli-designated Palestinian terror group and other organizations that either fund Hamas or have justified Hamas's attacks on Israel.

Similarly, Open Society Foundations, which is funded by billionaire George Soros, has provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to groups lobbying Congress in favor of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, as well as other groups that are accusing the Jewish state of "genocide."

I believe the suspicion might be that foreigners -- and, more importantly, foreign governments and foreign intelligence/terrorist groups -- are using fronts like Open Society Foundation and Rockefeller Brothers as pass-through entities. So that they can donate to radical (indeed, self-confessedly revolutionary groups) while keeping their participation hidden.

But take note, you can't accuse George Soros of funding antisemitic radicalism on college campuses because that is, in itself, an "antisemitic trope." Just ask the Soros front group the ADL.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 05:35 PM | Comments (109) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Disney Grooming Corpation Gave Woke Failure "Doctor Who" A Life-Saving Infusion of Cash.
And Then, Coincidentally, Doctor Who Became The Gayest Man in the Universe.

Before getting to that:

The special double issue of Tranny Weekly just dropped:

This year's issue of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition is the 60th, and the magazine is celebrating by not featuring gorgeous women in skimpy swimsuits.

In fact, the magazine's cover features a photo of women in evening gowns--at least, mostly women. These days you can never tell who will show up in the magazine pretending to be female.

Gail King, a noted sex symbol, is prominently featured. She snagged an interview with the magazine's editor, who explained the shift away from featuring women in swimsuits to more woke content, featuring plus-size women and men cosplaying them.

Gail King? Seriously? The sour old hag on CBS "News"?

A couple of years ago I stopped taking the Lord's name in vain. (I also cut down on cursing, without stopping completely).

Every once in a while, a story really tempts me to do a just-this-once profanity.

You do notice, I hope, that the left is taking over every single entertainment property enjoyed by straight men (especially straight white men) and remaking them for leftwing women and gay men, right?

I wanted to mention this, but I'm sure no one cares any longer -- the new Doctor Who Cares? was introduced by showing him dancing in a skirt at a disco. He then bragged that he wanted this sixty-year old character to "twerk" so powerfully it defeats an alien.

Oh, he also claimed the he's had to struggle while "white mediocrity" is endlessly rewarded. That's right, Cupcake, I'm the one being given a free ride, and you're the one who's really being disadvantaged.

And the show only waited until the second full episode to feature a, get this, drag queen dressed in fetish get-up calling himself a "them."

The drag queen is "Jinkx Monsoon." No, that's not the character he's playing (the character has the more sedate name "The Maestro.")

That's the drag queen's real name. Well, stage name, you know.

Did this help the low ratings the show had under the First Female Doctor, Doctor Karen? (As Nerdrotic always says.)

Nope! The ratings have fallen to the lowest level of all time.

They don't care about ratings, though. Their mission is to turn every male-oriented entertainment into agitprop for feminism and Gender Theory, and if that property dies -- and they all do die -- good, men shouldn't have entertainment anyway, they should spend all their off-hours thinking of ways they can Affirm Women and Gays.

Helmed by Russell T Davies and fronted by new Doctor Ncuti Gatwa and his sidekick Ruby (Millie Gibson), the latest series' style always promised to break away from its predecessors - none least thanks to a huge injection of funding from Disney.

Wait a minute, a Disney-funded television show for children is now full-on propaganda to turn them gay and trans?

Fake news! Fake news! I shan't believe it!

...

Fans were introduced to Gatwa's Doctor as well as a new crop of baddies, including the Bogeyman and controversial new villain Maestro (Jinkx Monsoon).

The Doctor's new adversary is played by American drag artist Monsoon, who has since gone viral following the show's return for correcting another character for using "him" pronouns incorrectly.

There were also cameos for Strictly Come Dancing favourites Shirley Ballas and Johannes Radebe as the second episode of the double-bill ended with a bizarre musical number.

Who is this for?

But all in all, the overhaul of the sci-fi show to seemingly incorporate gender politics and change the look of the series has left plenty to be desired by many watching at home.

In fact, the overnight ratings for the BBC One premiere on Saturday night consisted of an underwhelming 2.6 million and 2.4 million per instalment of the doubleheader, according to TV Zone.

Jon Del Arroz gloats. For the last month, Doctor Who Cares has told anyone who didn't like the show's Stunning and Brave new all-gay, all-the-time direction to "turn off the TV and touch grass."

"Jinkx Monsoon" said "Who cares what a bigot thinks?" He also opined that for every one viewer the show lost, "three to five" Empowered LGBT Viewers would rush in to replace them.

You know, the famously effective "Get rid of our current audience and pursue a Phantom Audience that doesn't exist" strategy that has worked so well for Bud Light, DC Comics, and Marvel comics and Marvel movies.

And now that the ratings come in with the lowest debut ever, Doctor Who Cares calls it "sad" that people aren't watching the show.

You told us not to, asshole. And we listened.

Did you not want to be heard?

Ncuti Gatwa has started the final stage of the typical woke marketing tour for his new season of Doctor Who. With overnight ratings at their lowest ever, and fans complaining about the poor quality of the episodes released, it looks like it couldn't go worse for the BBC and the new actor, but cynical interviews are already following as Ncuti Gatwa announces he's "sad" because the audience is tuning out.

...

Russell T. Davies admitted that he would be putting LGBTQ themes into Doctor Who and that he'd specifically be targeting children with those in order to manipulate young minds.

Ncuti Gatwa made several comments about Doctor Who fans, including accusing them of celebrating "white mediocrity" while complaining about how difficult it was for him to get a job acting as a black, queer man--even though it was clear he was cast for this role specifically because of his identity.

He went further in a separate interview as he told fans who didn't like his casting to "Turn off the TV. Go and touch grass." The instruction to long-time fans who didn't like the show's direction not to watch was met with a chorus of people online saying they already had and they wouldn't be watching the show.

When overnight ratings came in for "Space Babies" and "The Devil's Chord," a two-episode premiere of the new Doctor Who season, it appears fans did just that, as the episodes posted the lowest ratings for Doctor Who ever by a large margin.

The media went into full spin, putting out critic reviews of the shows on Rotten Tomatoes with an initial score of 100% and blaming good weather over the weekend for the shows' failure to perform well.

Good weather prevented people from watching a show at night?

I mean, sure, there are sometimes evening/night barbecues, but... not really in the UK, right?

Speaking of the Groomer Corporation Disney and its unspeakable agenda of running constant gay conversion ops against children: Reportedly they're cutting the Tinkerbell character out of meet-and-greets, because Tinkerbell is a "problematic character" and a bad role model for girls.

This claim is, at the moment, unverified, but all too plausible:

Tinkerbell, unfortunately, has become a problematic image for our guests; specifically, young girls. Specifically, in terms of the portrayal of an unrealistic body image as well as dependency of approval and/or attention from Peter Pan, as seen in previous incarnations of the character. We feel these traits are no longer representative of our inclusive focused values and thus, are currently in process of redesigning an updated Tinkerbell for modern audiences.

This site says they have in fact verified the story:

One of the Walt Disney Co.'s most iconic characters has been removed from Walt Disney World park meet and greets with the public, reportedly because the character was flagged as "potentially problematic" by a Disney committee.

Disney confirmed in February that Tinker Bell, a Disney icon since making her first appearance in 1953′s "Peter Pan," had been removed from the park's meet and greet rotation, but could still be seen flying over the park at the conclusion of the nighttime fireworks show, as well as in park parades.

...

While confirming the character's absence from Magic Kingdom meet and greets, Disney did not indicate a reason for the change. However, a 2022 report by the New York Times said Disney's "Stories Matter" team -- launched to "ensure (our content) accurately represents our global audiences" -- had indicated the Tinker Bell character was "potentially problematic."

The team found the Tinker Bell character to be both "body conscious" and "jealous of Peter Pan's attention."

Yup -- she's in good shape, and that's bad for girls, and she has a romantic interest in boys, and that's also "bad for girls." We've got to teach them young that women don't need no man.

We've got to start the Grooming Process early as possible.

Meanwhile, here are the burly, bearded monsters dressing as fairy princesses which Disney thinks are great role models for girls, promoting "healthy body types" (with penises).

I'm sure Disney doesn't mind that these princesses are keen to attract male attention!

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 04:34 PM | Comments (304) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Soros DA Alvin Bragg's Star Witness is a Convicted Perjurer Who's Perjuring Himself Further

Ed Morrissey recounts Michael Cohen's off-again, off-again relationship with the truth.

It's not just that he constantly lies, then is forced to admit he lies, and then lies some more.

It's also, as Ed Morrissey says, that this unemployable vermin's future income relies on him telling more lies to get Trump convicted.

What will Michael Cohen do if he's unable to help put Trump in jail? No one's going to throw money at him in Instagram chats for failing the left.

[T]he WSJ focused more on the effort from Trump's legal team in going after Cohen's credibility from another direction:

Blanche portrayed Cohen as having built a career as a major Trump antagonist. He noted the former lawyer had made more than $3 million from writing books about Trump, and had his own podcast. ...

Blanche displayed some merchandise he said Cohen was selling: a T-shirt with Trump in an orange jumpsuit behind bars and a coffee mug that said, "Send him to the big house not the White House."

It's not just that Cohen appears bent on revenge, but has constructed a business model for it.

Given the implosion in Stormy Daniel's obviously-perjured testimony, and now Michael Cohen's, Jonathan Turley says the judge must not even allow this piece-of-shit go to jury -- he should just enter his own verdict of "Not Guilty" on his own.

That's called a "directed verdict," in which a judge states that, as a fact, the prosecution has simply failed to make its case and no reasonable jury would find otherwise.

Cohen repeatedly said that he could not remember even recent calls after recounting calls from eight years ago with crystal clarity. He said that he could not remember if he leaked information in the case to CNN. However, these paled in comparison to other glaring moments.

Take, for example, his testimony on his unethical decision to secretly record a Sept. 6, 2016 telephone call with Trump.

It was a breathtaking betrayal that most lawyers would not contemplate, let alone carry out.

When asked by the prosecutors about that act, Cohen bizarrely claimed that he did so to guarantee that David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, would "remain loyal to Mr. Trump."

No one seriously believes that this is true. It does not even make sense. Pecker was speaking to Trump about the payments and even met with him at the White House.

Turley also drills down more into Cohen's business model not just as a financial motive, and not just as revenge against his former boss/client, but also as another lie under oath.

PJ Media's Matt Margolis note that the audiotapes Cohen made of Trump -- hideously unethical for a lawyer to do! -- expose Trump as... just following his lawyer's advice.

The prosecution's case then came down to the testimony of Michael Cohen. Cohen not only admitted to recording Trump without his knowledge or consent, but he said the recordings showed that Trump was actually just following his advice.

"The most important thing about the audiotape is that there was an audiotape. For most lawyers, watching... listening to this tape is, is really an appalling moment. The very idea that an attorney would tape a client without their knowledge or consent just shatters every aspect of professional conduct, but the tape really doesn't offer much," George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley told Fox Business host Larry Kudlow on Monday.

"Like much else in Cohen's testimony, he gives these details of how he goes to his client and says, 'I fixed the problem. I arranged for payments.' I'm, you know, this is not, this story is going to go away, at least before the election and Trump is saying things like 'good, good,'"

Turley added, "Well, that sounds a lot like a client following the directions of his lawyer. But now the lawyer is telling the jury, I think you should send my client to prison for doing what I suggested for him to do."

"There is nothing illegal here. What Cohen was describing is not a crime," Turley said. "The prosecutors are making great fanfare over proving non-criminal acts and non-contested allegations. Yeah, there was an NDA. Yeah, money was paid. That happens all the time, and so we're still left with this bizarre situation of a trial over something that none of us have yet been told what the crime is."

Victoria Taft reports that Cohen spoke about meeting with Robert Mueller's 17 Angry Democrats.

Very suspiciously, Mueller agreed to drop decades' worth of jail time for Cohen -- if he out-of-nowhere pleaded guilty to campaign finance charges.

Why?

Well, the 17 Angry Democrats were trying to set up a predicate for eventually charging Trump. Cohen's admission to phantom crimes would be that predicate.

Cohen is testifying that he met with special counsel Robert Mueller's office several times before reporting to prison. Cohen first met with the special counsel's office in 2018 before pleading guilty, and he says he was not truthful "because I was still holding onto the loyalty to President Trump."

After pleading guilty, Cohen said he testified truthfully in subsequent meetings with Mueller's team.

You will recall that Cohen received less time from federal prosecutors for cheating on his income taxes and lying to a bank and then, despite not having anything to do with his fraud case, agreeing to plead guilty to two counts of campaign election violations. As Andy McCarthy noted recently, Cohen pleaded guilty to the campaign violations without those violations ever being litigated. McCarthy noted that these charges were never tested in court.

He marveled at why someone would plead guilty to these charges when both the feds and the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) declined to bring them because these weren't campaign expenditures and were not illegal. In 2018, McCarthy made the point that Cohen pleaded guilty to charges that weren't crimes. Why did Cohen do that?

Cohen could have been imprisoned for a long time for all the charges against him. This graph from a DOJ document shows how much time he could have spent behind bars.

In December 2018, the feds, who happily put all manner of Trump supporters in prison for long stretches, gave Cohen a three-year term. He noted on the stand Tuesday that he's still on probation.

In his testimony, the prosecution was allowed to note that Cohen went to prison for his crimes, including campaign finance violations that weren't violations of the law. This obviously will telegraph to the jury that these 34 charges in New York must be illegal campaign expenditures. That's the story the prosecution has been allowed to tell the jury even though they've charged only the bookkeeping charges.

If you think that stinks of corruption, get this:

Cohen was coached on his testimony by unhinged partisan congressman and Biden surrogate Dan Goldman.

And Dan Goldman... well, you'll see.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 03:30 PM | Comments (342) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Assaults on Police Officers Are At Highest Level in 10 Years, Confesses Democrat Party "Law" Enforcement Agency the FBI

The Democrat Party is the party of death and disorder.

Assaults on law enforcement officers are at the highest level they have been in ten years, the FBI revealed.

There were 79,091 total officers assaulted in 2023 -- the highest number reported in a single year within the past ten, according to data from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program.

...

More officers were feloniously killed at 194 total deaths between 2021 and 2023 than in any other three-year period within the past 20 years, according to the FBI. Sixty officers were killed in 2023, 61 officers in 2022 and 73 in 2021.

This is the Democrat/Soros plan to make criminals kings and citizens prisoners:

A "teen" -- a gentle giant, probably -- sprayed a DC neighborhood with AR-15 fire trying to kill someone, and a self-declared "woke judge" let him go.

AR-15s are the most dangerous objects in the world in the hands of white Republicans, but if a black Democrat shoots up a neighborhood with one, it's just some youthful exuberance.

Teen gunman who 'sprayed DC neighborhood with 26 rounds from an AR-15' is released on bail by self-confessed 'woke' judge

Judge Lloyd Nolan Jr. sparked backlash after freeing Amonte Moody, 18

Moody is accused of spraying a sleepy neighborhood with bullets from an AR-15

The judge's old social media posts have come under scrutiny

A Washington DC judge has sparked backlash after releasing a teenager accused of spraying a sleepy neighborhood with bullets from an AR-15.

Judge Lloyd U. Nolan Jr., a self-described 'woke' magistrate judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, ruled that Amonte Moody, 18, be released on bail ahead of his trial.

The 18-year-old allegedly peppered a street with 26 rounds while targeting a car of four people at 2:30am on April 22, with Ring doorbell footage capturing a suspect shooting wildly from the hip with the assault rifle.

He wasn't just firing shots into the air, Muslim wedding style. He was trying to kill four people in a car.

But he'll spend some time thinking about how he disappointed this judge. That's punishment enough.

Nobody was injured or killed in the shooting spree, which unfolded just over a mile from the US Capitol. Despite the chaos he allegedly caused, Nolan granted Moody pre-trial release and home arrest.

After his decision raised eyebrows, Fox News reported that his online presence included a post where he said he was 'still woke', and another where he donated to a fundraiser supporting a George Soros-backed professor.

...

After he allegedly opened fire, prosecutors say that Moody rushed back inside a nearby residence and disassembled the AR-15 and hid the pieces in the attic.

The concealed gun was only found after several searches by cops, and Moody was later charges with endangerment of a firearm, possession of a weapon and assault.

Residents on the street where Moody allegedly opened fire reacted with fury following Nolan's ruling on May 3, which will also see Moody fitted with an ankle monitor and ordered to avoid the people he allegedly aimed at.

Former chief counsel for the US Maritime Administration under President Barack Obama, attorney Denise Krepp, said that the ruling is 'insanity.'

'Where are the grownups?' she questioned to Blaze News. 'Where are the real grownups?'

'That kid walked out of the house, took a gun with him, shot up the neighborhood, and then calmly went back into the house,' she continued.

'But for the grace of God, nobody died in my neighborhood that night.'

Krepp added that residents on the street have been left 'angered' and 'p***** off' by the news of Moody's release, and said the general mood is one of 'frustration.'

'(We are) wondering what the judge was doing,' she said.

...

According to images from Nolan's Facebook from Fox News, he didn't shy away from his support for progressive causes.

The outlet then added that Nolan appeared to switch his Facebook profile to private after they reached out to him for comment on the posts.

His posts included sharing an image in November 2020, following months of protests and riots triggered by the murder of George Floyd, promoting Black Lives Matter.

Another post showed that he donated to a fundraiser for a professor with ties to billionaire financier George Soros.

The judge donated to the group Gideon's Promise, which was reportedly founded via a fellowship from Soros' Open Society Foundation by professor Jonathan Rapping to support legal reforms across the nation.

A previously-deported illegal snuck back into the country and murdered a three-month-old baby.

A previously deported illegal immigrant from Texas, Melvin Jesus Aquino Enriquez, has been charged in connection with the death of a three-month-old baby, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office. The 26-year-old suspect is currently detained on a $75,000 bond, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) also placing a detainer on him due to his immigration status.

The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office responded to reports of an injured child at Enriquez's residence on the 25000 block of Needham Road in Porter on April 14. The MCSO Special Victims Unit promptly initiated a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the child's injuries. The unit is currently awaiting autopsy results to further determine the circumstances leading to the untimely and devastating death of the child. Officials will then determine whether appropriate additional charges are warranted.

Enriquez, a "previously removed Mexican national," entered the United States illegally "on an unknown date and at an unknown location without inspection, admission or parole by an immigration officer," according to an ICE spokesperson. On March 4, 2020, immigration officers from ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Houston encountered Aquino at the Harris County (Texas) Jail following his arrest for criminal trespass. An immigration detainer was placed with the jail, and on April 28, 2020, the Harris County Sheriff's Office transferred Aquino into ERO Houston custody. He was placed into immigration proceedings, and on September 15, 2020, an immigration judge ordered Aquino removed from the U.S. to Mexico.

However, Aquino illegally re-entered the U.S. at an unknown date and location.

In the Bronx, a DA has effectively set free a confirmed menace who brutally attacked an MTA (subway) worker with a brick -- beating him so badly he's had to undergo three corrective surgeries -- and before that, sucker-punched a completely defenseless Asian woman.

Another knockout-gamer.

The DA has sent him over to a mental health court which will just set him free again.

He has 41 prior arrests.

If you skip to 7:00, you'll see Anna Kasparian ranting about the case. She's born-again hard on crime since she was assaulted by vagrants.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 02:12 PM | Comments (484) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Red Lobster Goes Bankrupt, Walmart Slashes Workforce Because Bidenomics Is So Great

Walmart will cut "hundreds" of jobs thanks to an economic miracle experts are calling "the Biden Boost."

They're also cutting benefits for the remaining employees.

Walmart announces significant job cuts and relocation demands amidst escalating operating costs, signaling a strategic retreat from ambitious healthcare ventures and remote work flexibility.

Walmart is slashing hundreds of corporate jobs and is asking employees in smaller offices to relocate to central hubs such as Bentonville, Hoboken, and Northern California, while maintaining partial remote work options.

The retail giant closed all 51 of its health clinics last year, citing unsustainable operating costs and a challenging reimbursement environment, abandoning plans to expand to 75 clinics by 2024.

As part of a broader cost-cutting initiative, Walmart is prioritizing investments in other areas, potentially as a response to shifting market demands and economic pressures.

I will miss you, Red Lobster. I will especially miss your Fisherman's Feast Platter, and how I would ask for all fried clam strips and you wouldn't judge me.

Red Lobster has abruptly closed dozens of restaurants across the country.

A look at the restaurant chain's website reveals 87 stores temporarily closed across 27 states, with some of them having their kitchen equipment up for auction on an online restaurant liquidator.

The liquidator, TAGeX Brands, announced Monday it is auctioning off equipment this week from 48 locations that have closed. The website says auctions are live and will end periodically on Thursday, and that each winner will receive the "entire contents of the Red Lobster location they bid on."

USA TODAY reached out to Red Lobster on Tuesday and did not get a response prior to publication.

Fast food restaurants are being smashed by Bidenflation.

Experts say Americans are now spending over $70 billion monthly on dining out instead of sticking to the traditional routine of eating at home. While this highlights a flourishing restaurant industry, local mom-and-pop shops are grappling with economic challenges, dealing with problems like inflation and road construction.

One such establishment, Pepe's Mexican Cafe in Bryan, has been a community fixture since 1969. Well-known for serving quality food at affordable prices, Pepe's, like other small businesses, is grappling with the economic pinch. Kip Martin, who manages the family-owned business, recently took to social media to express his concerns. His video has since been shared over 250 times.

"I just need you guys to know that if you want there to be a Pepe's you need to come buy a taco, I'm not kidding," Martin said.

Inflation emerges as a significant factor, driving up costs across the board, including food prices, which has resulted in a decline in sales for Pepe's.

"I'll tell you this, Pepe's is hanging by a shoestring," said Martin. "We did less in sales this year than we did last year and that's after having to take a price increase in the meantime."

McDonald's sees the belt-tightening going on and tries to keep market share by bringing back a $5 meal option.

McDonald's is seemingly fighting to attract customers one deal at a time.

McDonald's has faced criticism as prices soared in recent years, resulting in less revenue from lower-income consumers and reduced foot traffic in stores. As a result, Chief Executive Officer Chris Kempczinski said in a late April first-quarter earnings call that McDonald's has to be "laser-focused on affordability."

McDonald's has since promised a reduction in prices and expressed interest in exploring more avenues to win customers back, which could include $5 meal deals, according to reports.

My suspicion is that they're going to offer the $5 meals as a loss leader and cover for drastically reducing staff and automating wherever possible. So that the public will have two competing stories in mind: Gee McDonald's is mean for replacing everyone with robots, but also, Gee McDonald's is nice for offering, temporarily, $5 meals.

Going out to dinner is increasingly something that only the wealthy do regularly.

We'll all soon be on economy-forced diets. Thanks, Biden!

What's for dinner? For an increasing number of Americans, especially households making less than $150,000 a year, the answer doesn't involve going to a restaurant. And when people do go out to eat, they are spending less money.

Battered by higher-than-normal food prices, some consumers are pulling back on their spending -- and restaurants are feeling the effects.

Dine Brands Global Inc. DIN, -0.28%, the owner of the pancake chain IHOP and restaurant chain Applebee's, said in its earnings call Wednesday that fewer consumers earning $50,000 a year and below visited its restaurants in the past quarter. Even when they do, they are "more aggressively" managing the amount they spend, Dine Brands CEO John Peyton told investors.

Although some higher-income guests have traded down to eat at the company's cheaper restaurants, behavioral changes are most pronounced among lower-income consumers, he said. "[T]he most impactful change in consumer behavior is clearly the $50,000 and below segment," Peyton said on the call. Dine Brands Global did not immediately respond to MarketWatch's request for comment.

While lower-income Americans are dining out less -- even at fast-food restaurants -- higher-income Americans are dining out more.

Darden Restaurants DRI, 1.53%, the owner of Olive Garden and the Capital Grille, said on a March earnings call that visits from diners earning more than $150,000 a year were higher during its last quarter than they were at the same time the previous year, while visits from diners with an annual income below $75,000 declined "at every brand," said Ricardo Cardenas, president and chief executive officer of Darden Restaurants. The shift was most pronounced in Darden's fine-dining segment, he said.

In fact, nationally, only diners from households earning over $200,000 a year spent money in restaurants more often in 2023 than they did in 2019, according to Circana data. Diners from families earning below $45,000 with kids pulled back on their restaurant spending the most, Circana found.

To be sure, people are still dining out, but the accumulated financial pressures from the past four years are hitting them, said David Portalatin, food industry analyst and senior vice president at Circana.

"In 2024, inflation is the dominant narrative," he told MarketWatch. That's part of the reason lower-income families with kids are trimming their spending the most. When you need to feed a family of four, "there's a little sticker shock at the end of the meal," Portalatin said.

Update:

26% increase.

They just removed coffee from the Consumer Price Index, because the price of coffee was going up too fast.

Because no one drinks coffee.

Posted by: The ARC of History!

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 01:06 PM | Comments (499) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Biden "Accepts" Offer to Debate, With Special Conditions to Protect Biden; Trump, for Some Lunatic Reason, Accepts His Terms

Your first offer is accepted without reservations!

This guy wrote The Art of the Deal?

President Joe Biden has finally agreed to participate in debates with former President Donald Trump, two months after refusing Trump's open challenge to debate "Anytime, anywhere, anyplace." The decision comes amid Biden's cratering poll numbers in swing-states, though the Biden camp's proposal comes with significant guardrails for the gaffe-prone president.

Key Details:

The Biden-Harris campaign proposed the debates in a letter to the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, breaking the tradition of three fall meetings organized by the commission.

The proposed dates for the debates are in late June and early September, with a vice presidential debate to occur in late July.

The Biden proposal includes specific conditions such as no audience, no interruptions from Trump while Biden is speaking, and only Biden-friendly news outlets can moderate.

...

The Biden-Harris campaign's proposal for the debates was outlined in a letter to the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates. This move breaks away from the decades-old tradition of three fall meetings organized by the debate commission. The first debate is proposed to be in late June, after Trump's New York criminal trial is likely to be over and after Biden returns from meeting with world leaders at the G7 Summit. A second presidential debate would occur in September prior to the beginning of early voting. The campaign also proposed a vice presidential debate to occur in late July after the Republicans nominate their vice presidential candidate.

However, the Biden proposal includes some significant guardrails for the gaffe-prone president. These include no audience, no interruptions from Trump while Biden is speaking, and only Biden-friendly news outlets can moderate (CBS, ABC, CNN, or Telemundo).

Telemundo? Fantastic.

Trump, who has been vocal about his readiness to debate Biden, responded to the proposal on Truth Social Wednesday morning, saying, "It's time for a debate so that he can explain to the American People his highly destructive Open Border Policy, new and ridiculous EV Mandates, the allowance of Crushing Inflation, High Taxes, and his really WEAK Foreign Policy, which is allowing the World to 'Catch on Fire.'"

I've got a bad feeling about this. Chris Wallace did a lot to hurt Trump. The leftwing media is salivating to do that again, even harder this time.

Trump doesn't even need these debates -- Biden needs them. So Trump had all the leverage to set terms.

Instead, he let Biden set the terms. Trump will be debating CNN, CBS, and Telemundo more than Biden. They won't let Trump engage with Biden and will answer on behalf of Biden at every turn.

Update:

Reading Trump's Truth Social post, it sounds like he is only agreeing to the time. Where is it that he agrees to the other conditions? Trump clearly says he prefers a large venue (i.e. a big audience).

Posted by: MAGA_Ken

Well, let's hope. But this is being posted on MXM News, a Trump-friendly outfit.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 12:00 PM | Comments (436) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Wednesday Morning Rant

Speaking Lies for Power

Yesterday, one of the Morons (I forget who specifically, and beg your forgiveness) posted a link to Not The Bee where they called out a particularly insane headline - and even more insane article - from The Nation. The headline is indeed a doozy:

Racism Can Kill Black People Even When a Black Finger Pulls the Trigger

The surprising thing isn't the headline, but the article itself. Upon reading the headline, I assumed I knew what this would be and, as rarely happens with my initial assumption about a modern leftist argument, I was wrong.

Posted by: Joe Mannix at 11:00 AM | Comments (275) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Mid-Morning Art Thread

Lutte de taureaux
Jacques-Raymond Brascassat

Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM | Comments (335) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Morning Report — 5/15/24

Good morning, kids. Now you can add to leftist ideologically-driven incompetence clueless cruelty or cruelty of cluelessness. Here are two shining examples. First we take you to Zimbabwe on the Pacific, formerly known as California:

As Saigon was falling, Janet Nguyen’s uncle – an officer in the South Vietnamese Army – was taken before his village and executed. After the city fell on April 30, 1975, the communists put Nguyen’s father and mother in jail. Their “crime?” They got caught trying to escape the country. 

After Saigon fell, Tri Ta’s father spent years in a re-education camp prison. His “crime?” He wrote books critical of communism. 

Both Nguyen and Ta eventually made it to California with their families. She became a California state senator and he became a member of the Assembly. The Republicans represent Orange County districts home to the largest Vietnamese population outside of Vietnam.

Forty-nine years after the Fall of Saigon, April 30 remains a solemn day for Nguyen and Ta as it is for many of 2.3 million Vietnamese-Americans in the U.S. They call it Black April. 

“It’s a day that we mourn,” Nguyen said.

Which is why Ta and Nguyen were outraged when leaders of neighboring Los Angeles County declared April 30 “Jane Fonda Day” to honor the celebrity for her environmental activism. The lawmakers immediately began pressuring officials to rescind the recognition.

For those who are not of a certain age, like me, let me give you a bit of a refresher. Jane Fonda goes way beyond being certainly a liberal and even a leftist or hard leftist. She is in fact the dictionary definition of a traitor.

In 1972, while America was at war with North Vietnam and their terrorist force the Vietcong, Fonda travelled to Hanoi to pose on an NVA antiaircraft cannon, shouting her opposition not necessarily to the war but to America's involvement in it. To add insult to incredible injury, she was perhaps within spitting distance of the infamous Hỏa Lò Prison, dubbed "The Hanoi Hilton," where captured American POWs were being tortured and brutalized for years.

I'm no legal eagle nor well-versed in the UCMJ. But what she did should have earned her a date with the hangman. The fact that Fonda was not put to death or at the barest of bare minimums rotting away right now in Leavenworth was a huge mistake. In some ways, what we are experiencing today with the cultural rot that is the gateway drug to the institutional corruption of our government and society at large, if not completely prevented, might well have been mitigated. We'll never know.

And speaking of that rot and corruption, I give you the second of today's shining examples of clueless cruelty. This one is a doozy:

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken performed Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” on the electric guitar on Tuesday night in Kyiv, Ukraine, as part of a solidarity visit to boost morale in the embattled former Soviet republic.

Blinken played rhythm guitar with The 1999 band at the Barman Dictat, a nightspot in the Ukrainian capital.

“I know this is a really, really difficult time,” Blinken said. “You need to know the United States is with you.”

. . . The scene recalled a bizarre event in the aftermath of a radical Islamic terror attack on the Charlie Hebdo newspaper in Paris, France, in 2015, when then-Secretary of State John Kerry, having missed a local “unity rally,” sought to console Parisians with a serenade by James Taylor, who performed “You’ve Got a Friend.”

As the estimable Joel Pollak notes, "Rockin in the Free World" was not a song in praise of the West. It was written by noted crackpot Canuck Lefty crank Neil Young – who made millions of dollars writing tunes bashing America and the west – just before the Berlin Wall came crashing down and millions enslaved behind it actually tasted freedom for the first time in decades, thanks to the America he and his ilk, including Fonda, made their bones and fortunes from bashing.

But beyond that, the tastelessness of Blinken and his clueless cruelty lies in the fact that while he is desperate to help destroy the state of Israel by aiding and abetting the dark age savages that perpetrated the greatest mass slaughter of Jews since World War 2, he was performing (in every sense of that word) barely four miles down the road from a place called Babi Yar.

Over the course of two days, the 29th and 30th of September 1941, which coincided with the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur, the Nazis and their Ukrainian collaborators shot 33,771 Jewish men, women and children to death in a gigantic mass grave.

The road from Babi Yar in 1941 goes directly to southern Israel in 2024.

The disgusting and tragic irony of this, one of many, is that Blinken happens to be either the son or stepson of a Holocaust survivor. To not even take the time to travel, even unofficially without the media in tow, to say a prayer at the memorial site, speaks volumes. Perhaps it might have bolstered the flagging support of American Jews for Biden, but then again it might enrage the Democrat base whose blood-thirsty anti-Jewish anti-Israel anti-American vitriol is barely distinguishable from that of Hamas and the rest of the commie-heathen world itself.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has sharpened his rhetoric towards Israel, telling the key U.S. ally to ‘get out of Gaza’ as the Israeli military tightens the noose around Hamas’ terrorist leadership in Rafah.

Blinken prophesied “enduring insurgency” in the long run if the Israeli military conducts a large-scale offensive in Rafah, Hamas’s last remaining stronghold, which has a terrorist fighting force with a strength of about four battalions.

“As we look at Rafah, they may go in and have some initial success, but potentially at an incredibly high cost to civilians,” the U.S. Secretary of State said in a TV interview on Sunday. “And they will be left holding the bag on an enduring insurgency because a lot of armed Hamas will be left, no matter what they do in Rafah, or if they leave and get out of Gaza, as we believe they need to do.”

Leave and get out of Gaza? High cost to "civilians?" What civilians? Unless you are an infant in diapers, anyone above the age of 5 is either an enemy combatant or directly helping the combatants. Meanwhile, just across the Mediterranean, this is happening:

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that more than one thousand Hamas terrorists have received medical treatment in hospitals across Turkey. Erdogan refused to admit Hamas was a terrorist group, instead describing it as a “resistance movement.” This greatly dismayed Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who was meeting with Erdogan in Ankara to defuse tensions between Greece and Turkey. The two leaders were holding a joint press conference when Erdogan revealed Turkey had been treating Hamas fighters. . .

. . . Erdogan loudly insisted that Hamas should not be treated as a “terrorist organization” even after it murdered, raped, burned, decapitated, and kidnapped more than 1,200 Israeli civilians on October 7.

“Hamas is not a terrorist organization. It is a group of mujahideen (holy warriors) defending their lands,” the Turkish leader said, insisting that the Israelis were the real terrorists. 

Like other apologists for Hamas savagery, Erdogan said that Israel has no inherent right of self-defense that would justify its military response against the October 7 attack. The Turkish leader has since compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler on several occasions, claiming Israel’s war in Gaza is an act of genocide like the Holocaust.

I'd say that this is serious considering Turkey is a NATO member, but then again so is Germany, France and England which are well on the way to becoming Islamic states perhaps in as little as the next 10 years.

And there's this alarming anecdote, from the same Legal Insurrection article to Turkey's involvement with the wounded terrorists.

The IDF has uncovered Hamas’ plan to set up a terrorist base in Turkey, the UK newspapers Times of London and Telegraph report. With IDF crippling the terror group’s ability to operate in Gaza, Hamas operatives were looking at Turkey as a potential base for plotting terrorist attacks aimed at Israeli officials, servicemen, and civilians, documents recovered by the IDF show.

I guess Qatar is not safe for Hamas. Or the emir's family. That would make Turkey a potential target of Israel, no? And since they are a NATO member . . . do the math.

ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY
• "The Biden [junta's] rule seems designed to ensure the deep state will remain unaccountable to the president — and the American people."
  New Biden Rule Aims to Entrench the Deep State Forever
  
• "From 2007-2016 the net worth of the richest Americans increased by 20% while the lower 80% decreased by the same percentage."
  The Wealth Gap: An Existential Threat
  
• "Richard Scolyer, a professor at the University of Sydney, revealed Monday that the incurable stage 4 glioblastoma discovered in his head has not recurred after receiving the heartbreaking diagnosis last June." (Hat tip to commenter and dear friend Jane D'oh! - jjs)
  Doctor Richard Scolyer Cancer-Free One Year After Using Own Revolutionary Treatment on Terminal Brain Cancer: "I Couldn't be Happier!

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 07:40 AM | Comments (429) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 15 May 2024

Top Story

• Qualcomm is bringing support for its upcoming Snapdragon X CPUs to Linux, and by "is bringing", I mean "has brought". (Liliputing)
  
  I hope these chips are as good as they seem on paper. They'll likely be slower than Apple's M4, but you'll be able to buy them and do whatever you want with them, without paying a 1200% markup on RAM upgrades.
  
  You can run Linux on Arm-based Macs too, but Apple's involvement in that project only goes as far as not suing the people working on it.
  
  
  

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:18 AM | Comments (213) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Tuesday Overnight Open Thread – 05/14/2024

First Pitch

For tonight’s Overnight Thread, we’ll start off with the ceremonial first pitch.

The worst “ceremonial first pitch” ever pic.twitter.com/Porl59clF2

— BaseballHistoryNut (@nut_history) May 1, 2024

*****

Congratulations on Your Son Making This Elite Travel Baseball Team

I suppose neighborhood Little League as I once knew it is lost and gone forever, so I’ll quit fighting against travel ball. It won. But this is still very funny…

“Alright parents, listen up. Congratulations on your son making this elite travel baseball team.”

“If we win the second tournament, we get an automatic bid into the Travel Baseball National Championship, Elite Sectional, Silver Bracket…which is a qualifier for the World Series Travel Baseball, International Tournament.”

Congratulations! Your kid made the travel ball team!

Great video by: @ChinookSeedery pic.twitter.com/i3iVKOFa1E

— Todd Wolfson (@CoachWolfson) May 9, 2024

*****

Harvard Has a Problem with Firemen

Firefighters risk their own lives to save others’ lives, but the “future leaders” at Harvard Business School vilify them for a lack of diversity. It’s good that employers are finally waking up to what is being taught at the Poison Ivy League schools, but it has been going on for a long time. This nasty smear of firemen came out of Harvard in 2018.

U.S. firefighters are overwhelmingly white and male. Here’s why that needs to changehttps://t.co/llRGS1tAYd

— Harvard Business Review (@HarvardBiz) December 18, 2018

*****

The Real Life “Jaws” Event in New Jersey in 1916

59 years before the movie Jaws was released, there was a series of shark attacks on the Jersey Shore. One of them happened in Matawan Creek, which seemed to be an inspiration for one of the terrifying scenes in the movie Jaws.

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at 09:56 PM | Comments (418) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Tulip Abuse Cafe

Chiba, Japan
by @saitoxdenki via #Japan_City_blues

Candid photography of a couple of bathing beauties.

HTML checker. I need one of those.

Little dog gets big air.

I would accept some ice cream if you gave some to me.

ICYMI: He got mixed up with a bad crowd.

This dog has ball-handling skills on par with David French. (Okay so I've used that one once or quice before.)

A nice walk.

Para-surfing in tulip fields.

Chase camera view of a world-record 954 foot ski jump.

The switchback trail (on the left) on this fjord is something.

Lake Como. So it's beautiful, but unfortunately, George Clooney has a house there, and I've heard that every taxi driver will tell you "You know, George Clooney lives near here," which would really ruin the trip for me.

Little kid helps another little kid get back to his mommy.

Happy belated Mothers Day! Here are some flowers!

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 07:40 PM | Comments (182) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Wick's Hits

A thread recounted by Twitchy shows that the "Fednapping" plot was proposed, planned, and propagandized for by the FBI's paid agent provocateur.

So when do these FBI agents go on trial for conspiracy to commit kidnapping?

From Moron Robbie, an average guy got no replies on a dating app. He figured he just needed to post a better picture of himself. So he photoshopped himself holding an oversized jackpot lottery check -- and wouldn't you know it, women were suddenly kicking down his f***ing door down to get some play! Maybe he just had a better haircut in that picture.

Speaking of kicking the f***ing door down, Kamala Harris, who has previously supported and urged her blackshirt paramilitary allies in antifa and BLM to "not stop" their terrorism and arson campaign, now tells her jackboot supporters to take but to "kick the f***ing door down" in their unhinged support of The Great Revolutionary Cause.

She apologized for using the f-word. How about apologizing for urging your violence-prone supporters to kick in people's doors?

Prepare to be delighted by the sheer brazenness of the Biden Crime Family's corruption: A "non-profit" (note that the principles directing these grifts make HUGE profits) which settles illegal aliens in the US gets a huge $350 million contract after hiring a Biden crony.

Did I say $350 million? Sorry, I got that wrong. It's actually $530 million, more than half a billion dollars. The number was so large my subconscious self couldn't believe it and reduced it.

Axios:

A Texas nonprofit that recently hired a Biden transition official got a contract worth as much as $530 million to help manage the influx of migrant children at the southern border, Axios has learned.
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Why it matters: The contract is by far the largest ever awarded to Family Endeavors. It's potentially worth more than 12 times the group's most recently reported annual budget -- a sign of the demand the new work will place on its operations.

The no-bid contract also is the second largest ever awarded by the agency overseeing the migrant child program.

America is now just Burisma.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 06:38 PM | Comments (272) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Unbelievably -- or Perfectly Believably, Honestly -- Biden Is Attempting to Pressure Israel to Allow Hamas to Survive, So They Can Be "Partners In Peace (TM)" Together

The Sage of Scranton has an evil, twisted, rotten brain and always has had.

The reporter at the Times of Israel first notes the "dissonance" of Biden attempting to force a quickie "wrap-up" of the Gaza campaign, while continuing to make (insincere) noises about the need for the "elimination" of Hamas.

Anonymously -- of course -- administration sources attempt to paper over this enormous gulf by saying the want Hamas not eliminated, but merely chastened, so that the Two State Solution can be put back on track.

From The Times of Israel:

"If we can get a ceasefire, we can get something more enduring and then maybe end the conflict," White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said this month.

What appears less clear, though, is how pushing for this ceasefire squares with another US commitment, which is to eliminate the threat of Hamas.

"An enduring defeat of Hamas certainly remains the Israeli goal, and we share that goal with it," Kirby said last week.

The two objectives seem to clash, given that a temporary-turned-permanent deal with Hamas would ostensibly leave the terror group standing in Gaza.

The Biden administration has not directly and publicly addressed this apparent dissonance, but two US officials and two other sources familiar with the matter who spoke to The Times of Israel on condition of anonymity offered some clarity.
IDF troops operate in the Gaza City neighborhood of Zeitoun, in a handout image released May 11, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

"The goal is for Hamas to be severely weakened when the dust settles, i.e., incapable of carrying out another attack like the one [it] launched on October 7," the first US official said, referring to the terror onslaught unleashed on southern Israel during which some 1,200 people were killed and 252 were taken hostage.

"But we have to be honest about the fact that Hamas will remain in Gaza in some form after the war is over. The past six months have proven no amount of fighting is going to change that," they added. Last week, Israeli troops raided Gaza City's Zeitoun neighborhood for the third time since the war's outbreak after Hamas fighters returned to areas previously cleared by the IDF.
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"What we are trying to do is advance a vision where Hamas would be marginalized, while Israel would be stronger through improved relations with its Arab neighbors," the official explained. "By doing that, we are able to eliminate the threat of Hamas without having to continue the war indefinitely."

"It's a years-long process, and it will require Israeli buy-in, but the alternative is a never-ending cycle of violence that the Israelis could be left alone to deal with," a second US official said, referencing the danger of waning international support.

What do you expect from a decrepit pervert who showered with his daughter as she entered puberty?

Shocker: the UN revised its "estimates" of the number of women and children killed in Hamas. It turns out they shouldn't have trusted Hamas for the real numbers.

The UN's new numbers are also preposterous, but they've cut them nearly in half.

Throughout the ongoing war unfolding in Gaza, we have been reminded of the "barbarous" actions of Israel's military, typically measured via daily updates to the number of women and children that have been killed. Unfortunately, the only group providing these figures is the Gaza Ministry of Health which is run by Hamas. That detail hasn't stopped the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) from dutifully reporting those figures without raising any questions. However, that situation appeared to change this month. The latest Health Ministry quote said that 9,500 women and 14,500 children have been killed in the fighting, with the OCHA reporting the same. But only two days later, the UN revised those numbers significantly. In fact, they nearly slashed them by half. (Fox News)

In a dramatic shift, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has revised its data pertaining to the number of Palestinian casualties in the seven-month-old Gaza war, reducing almost by half the number of women and children it previously said were killed in the hostilities between Israel and the Iranian-backed terror group Hamas.

According to an infographic published in OCHA's daily report on May 6, the number of women killed in the fighting was said to be 9,500, while the organization, which admits to relying on figures from the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza, claimed that 14,500 children had been killed since the war began on Oct. 7.

Two days later, in its May 8 report, the U.N. agency appeared to have cut the number nearly in half, showing instead that some 4,959 women and 7,797 children had been killed so far in the war.

A spokesman for the UN was asked how the numbers had shifted so dramatically. He said that the figures are only "estimates" and that they sometimes change based on the situation on the ground in Gaza. But he also noted that the UN has recently been able to have some of their own people doing independent research inside of the Strip. Perhaps that's how the inaccuracies were uncovered.

The Foundation Defending Democracies reported:

The Gaza Ministry of Health cannot provide names of more than 10,000 of the 34,000 individuals it says have died during the war between Israel and Hamas. While the Health Ministry conceded earlier this month that it has "incomplete data" for nearly one-third of the deceased, this is the first admission that it lacks an essential data point necessary to establish these deaths have even taken place...

Psst: they didn't.

Hamas' official figures include almost no deaths of terrorists (or "fighters," as they prefer to call them). They just claim that every dead man is a "child" or a "woman."

We've all seen the "child migrants" attending schools in Europe, their five-o-clock shadows slightly grayed...

After claiming all dead men are actually "children" and "women" (muh pronouns), they then multiply the actual casualty counts by a factor of five or eight or ten.

I missed this yesterday: The Biden Administration is attempting to bribe (coerce?) Israel into allowing Biden's pals in Hamas to escape retribution by promising that they'll provide intelligence about Hamas' tunnels and hideouts, as well as about the hideouts of Hamas' terror masters, if they promise not to enter Rafah.

This means that, currently, Biden is withholding information about terrorist bases and boltholes from an ally.

Time to impeach?

barry Tigay
@TigayBarry

US said offering intel on Hamas leaders' whereabouts if Israel drops major Rafah op.

If true, this means that the US is withholding or threatening to withhold intelligence that could destroy Hamas, save lives and end the war. Disgusting.

David Strom:

Uh, what? Why haven't we been giving Israel this information freely already? Whose side are we on?

We're on the terrorists' side, because Joe Biden wants to win the pro-terrorist Newcomers of Michiganistan.

Oh, right. Joe Biden is president, which always means the US is doing the wrong thing.

The Biden administration has reportedly offered to give Israel "sensitive intelligence" on the whereabouts of senior Hamas leaders if it agrees to hold off on a long-promised major military operation in Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah.

The Washington Post quoted four unnamed sources as saying that the United States "is offering Israel valuable assistance if it holds back, including sensitive intelligence to help the Israeli military pinpoint the location of Hamas leaders and find the group's hidden tunnels."

The Post's story focuses mainly on the efforts to convince Israel to build a tent city for civilians in Rafah to evacuate to before Israel commits its military to destroying Hamas in the city...

But the real news in the story is that the carrot the US is using to induce Israel to bend to our will is access to intelligence on the location of Hamas tunnels and leaders.

The Biden administration, working urgently to stave off a full-scale Israeli invasion of Rafah, is offering Israel valuable assistance in an effort to persuade it to hold back, including sensitive intelligence to help the Israeli military pinpoint the location of Hamas leaders and find the group's hidden tunnels, according to four people familiar with the U.S. offers.

American officials have also offered to help provide thousands of shelters so Israel can build tent cities -- and to help with the construction of delivery systems for food, water and medicine -- so that Palestinians evacuated from Rafah can have a habitable place to live, said the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to disclose secret diplomatic talks.

It is possible, although no better, that the US has been supplying what intelligence we have up to now and that the "offers" here are actually threats to withhold information unless Israel compliss. The US officials who spoke to the Post did say the US has been providing intel throughout the war.

Israel says they're fighting Biden's Allies anyway, and killing terrorists.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have deepened their offensive in Rafah and re-entered northern areas of Gaza, following intelligence that Hamas was reorganizing in the area. The IDF has reportedly destroyed significant amounts of underground infrastructure and eliminated several Hamas terrorists.

Key Details:

The IDF dropped leaflets over Jabalya in northern Gaza, warning civilians to evacuate and warning Hamas leadership, "We will return like a roaring flood until the clear victory."

The IDF's 98th Division launched an operation in the Jabalya area due to intelligence about Hamas reorganizing in the area.

Israeli forces have reportedly destroyed large amounts of underground infrastructure and eliminated several Hamas terrorists.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 05:40 PM | Comments (266) | Trackbacks (Suck)

No Way! MIT Just Hired Six Deans of DEI. (SIX!!!)
According to a Report, Two of Them Are Serial Plagiarists

My world is spinning. I'm in a cyclone of confusion and I just don't think I can trust anymore.

DEI sure attracts some genuine fuckin' scholars, don't it?

It's almost as if the entire "academic field" was invented to give semi-literate morons who barely earned a HS diploma an easy-peasy way to collect a fake-ass degree and land Didn't Earn It jobs.

In June 2021, a year into the cultural aftershocks of George Floyd's death, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology set out to meet the moment, as so many other schools had, by hiring more diversity officers.

MIT welcomed six new deans of diversity, equity, and inclusion, one for each of the institute's main schools, as part of a "DEI Strategic Action Plan" launched the previous year. Aimed at boosting the representation of women and minorities, in part by developing DEI criteria for staff performance reviews, the plan pledged to "make equity central" to the university "while ensuring the highest standards of excellence."

But according to a 71-page complaint filed with the university on Saturday, at least two of the six DEI officials may not be living up to those standards. The complaint alleges that Tracie Jones-Barrett and Alana Anderson are serial plagiarists, copying entire pages of text without attribution and riding roughshod over MIT's academic integrity policies.

In her 2023 dissertation titled "Cite a Sista"...

We're off to an uhhhhmazing start right here.

... which explored how black women in the Ivy League "make meaning of thriving," Jones-Barrett, MIT's deputy "equity officer," lifts a whole section on "ethical considerations" from Emmitt Wyche III, her classmate in Northeastern University's Graduate School of Education, without any sort of citation.

"Make meaning of thriving?" Is this an academic field or Oprah Winfrey's Favorite Things?

Norman MacDonald speaks for me on this.

The section is one of several long passages taken from Wyche's 2020 thesis, "Boyz in the Hoods: (Re) Defining the Narratives of Black Male Doctoral Degree Completers," which does not appear in Jones-Barrett's bibliography. Wyche and Jones-Barrett did not respond to requests for comment.

"Boyz In the Hoods"? Can these DEI grifters write a single paper without screaming, "grade me on the curve, because I'm black, y'all!

And a lot of DEI "graduates" have been running the same scam since their college entrance exam, in which they blew off the actual question proposed for discussion to instead write about their experiences with oppression.

Anderson, who served as the diversity czar for MIT's computer science college until last year, when she left to become Boston Beer Company's inclusion and belonging program manager, likewise copied copious material from other scholars. Her 2017 dissertation, "#BLACKONCAMPUS: A Critical Examination of Racial and Gender Performances of Black College Women on Social Media," lifts over a page of material from Mark Chae, a professor of counseling at Pillar College, who is not cited anywhere in her dissertation.

"It would have been nice to at least get a citation!" Chae told the Washington Free Beacon in an email. "Anderson seems quite comfortable in taking credit for large portions of another writer's scholarly work."

Anderson, who held DEI posts at Boston University and Babson College before coming to MIT, lifts another long passage from Jarvis Givens, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, without an in-text citation. The omissions appear to violate MIT's plagiarism policy, which states that scholars must cite their sources any time they "use the words, ideas, or phrasing of another person."

MIT did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

In total, the two diversity deans lifted about 10 full pages of material without attribution, according to the complaint, as well as dozens of shorter passages sprinkled throughout their theses.

Like former Harvard University president Claudine Gay, who resigned in January amid her own plagiarism scandal, Anderson even stole language from another scholar's acknowledgments, copying phrases and sentences used by Khalilah Shabazz, now a diversity official at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, to thank her dissertation advisers.

Anderson's acknowledgments contain several typos not seen in Shabbaz's, including missing words and commas and a lack of subject-verb agreement.

Givens and Shabbaz did not respond to requests for comment. Anderson, who received her Ph.D. from Boston College's school of education, did not respond to a request for comment. Boston Beer Company did not respond to a request for comment.

Andrerson even copied a dust-jacket blurb from another "DEI Scholar's" book.

Like many of the authors plagiarized by Gay, Wilder defended Anderson's decision to copy his work, writing in an email that he didn't think a citation was necessary.

"I cannot imagine why anyone would cite a dust jacket, nor do I see the urgency of criminalizing the failure to do so," Wilder told the Free Beacon. "I'm honored," he added, when other scholars "find inspiration from my publications."

I think what it shows is that she didn't really read the book, just skimmed the dust jacket.

Quick, let's give her the Nobel Prize for Outstanding Achievement In Laziness.

Is there some good news on the way?

The board of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill just voted, unanimously, to slash $2.3 million from the school's DEI budget -- and give it all to the police.

The campus police, I mean. Apparently, the pro-Hamas protests were the last straw that told them they needed to spend more on maintaining order and less on sinecures for revolutionaries.

Please let this be a harbinger of the End of Days of DEI.

Today the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees cut DEI spending by more than $2 million and transferred the money to the campus police.

[NBC "News":]
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Board of Trustees approved a change that would divert $2.3 million of diversity funding to go toward public safety and policing at a special meeting to address the university's budget. The board's vote would only impact UNC-Chapel Hill's diversity funding, which could result in the loss of its diversity office.

The vote to shift more funding to public safety comes as continued pro-Palestinian protests on UNC's campus have resulted in several arrests in recent weeks. The budget committee vice-chair Marty Kotis said law enforcement has already been forced to react to protests, but they need more funding to keep the university "safe from a larger threat."

"It's important to consider the needs of all 30,000 students, not just the 100 or so that may want to disrupt the university's operations," Kotis said. "It takes away resources for others."

The board said this move had been under discussion even before the campus protests which popped up over the past couple weeks. Still, it sounds like the protests were the last straw.

[WUNC:]

Many members specifically mentioned recent pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus. Last month, police detained more than 30 people at an encampment where protesters removed the U.S. flag and replaced it with a Palestinian one.

"When you destroy property or you take down the U.S flag and you have to put up gates around it -- that costs money," Kotis said. "It's imperative that we have the proper resources for law enforcement to protect the campus."

He's referring of course to this moment when a group of students refused to let the protesters take down the US flag.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 04:39 PM | Comments (278) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Doddering Old Dementia Patient Insists That All the Polls Showing Him Losing to Trump Are Twisted and Skewed

OUT: Trust the Science

IN: Math is a lie told by the Devil

They just sent the Toricelli Option to the bullpen to warm up.

President Joe Biden genuinely believes his abysmal polling numbers don't reflect his actual support ahead of the 2024 election, an Axios report this week indicates.

Axios reported Tuesday that Biden and many of his closest advisers have privately insisted that the president is gaining ground--and even has the advantage--on former president Donald Trump in their rematch.

This insistence goes beyond efforts to save face, sources told the outlet, as many Democrats have attempted without avail to persuade Biden to alter his campaign strategy.

...

Biden has repeatedly cast doubt on the validity of polls that show him behind. At a campaign reception in California on Friday, he said, "I ... don't think the polls mean anything today," but that "the momentum is clearly in our favor."

In a CNN interview last week where he said he was pausing weapon shipments to Israel, he also insisted "the polling data has been wrong all along."

You know this talking point is important to Biden because he asked his shill Joe Scarborough to lie about it outrageously on MSNBC.

Joe Scarborough claims -- I'm not joking; my word as a Disinformation Expert -- that the New York Times poll has been "consistently slanted" against Biden and in favor of Trump.

Joe Scarborough is just a murderer (of the truth, I mean).

The Biden campaign highlighted these comments from MSNBC's Joe Scarborough on Monday morning where he says the New York Times/Siena poll always slants in favor of Donald Trump.

"I love the Times," Scarborough said. "But the New York Times/Siena poll traditionally, has consistently slanted toward Donald Trump. What's so funny is the Times will release their poll, the political and media class will run around with their hair on fire for about a month, and then three days later polls will come out and show a deadlocked race."

Preposterous video at the link.

You know, if Biden intends to steal the election again -- and he does -- he would first have to establish a plausible deniability about the outcome of the race. He would have to put out the word that the polls are lying and that he's really ahead in Wisconsin -- so that when they start stuffing ballot boxes and again reaching 130% voter participation, they can say, "Well, as we have long said, the polls were wrong. Not only were we right, but we just won the election."

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 03:35 PM | Comments (353) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Caller: Former Vivek Ramaswamy Aide Is Using Conservative Influencers to Spread Pro-RFKJr. Propaganda

Note that most of the people who spread some of this propaganda deny they were paid. They say they were just retweeting something an acquaintance asked them to retweet, without knowing it was part of a greater, organized propaganda effort.

Eh. Just assume everyone is getting paid and is specifically being paid to screw you over.

A former communications staffer for Vivek Ramaswamy's 2024 presidential campaign has been trying to leverage pro-Trump and conservative figures to boost content in favor of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running against former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden for the White House, according to a leaked pitch deck obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller.

Zach Henry, who worked as the Deputy Communications Director for Ramaswamy's campaign, has since started his own firm, Total Virality, and is taking money from the Kennedy campaign. According to FEC reports, RFK Jr.'s campaign paid Total Virality nearly $8,000 in March for "influencer engagement."

The pitch deck obtained by the Daily Caller shows that Henry was touting his work with RFK alongside screenshots of prominent conservative twitter users.

"RFK's team contracted Total Virality to help boost his SOTU video. The original agreed upon goal was 4M views (this would have made it the third-highest viewed video ever posted by RFK on the platform)," slide three of the deck says. "We delivered 6M views in the first 24 hours leveraging a custom list of influencers -- many of whom were already in our network as well as others we added specifically to this project. It is now RFK's most-viewed video ever on X."

The same slide includes screenshots of various prominent Twitter users sharing Kennedy's State of the Union response video, including avowed Trump supporters and other conservative figures like Scott Adams, Alex Jones, Oli London, Ian Miles Cheong and Joey Mannarino, among others.

Again, note that these people deny they were paid to carry water for RFKJr.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 02:51 PM | Comments (261) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Nancy Pelosi Is Embarrassed at Oxford Debate

The guy speaking is Winston Marshall. If that sounds vaguely familiar, he's the musician who was forced out of the semi-popular band Mumford and Sons for saying something incredibly inoffensive like -- IIRC -- that Jordan Peterson wasn't all bad.

Something like that. Something like "we should read books before banning them" or something incendiary like that.

Update: Mark1971 reminds me of the reason for the cancellation -- he tweeted something vaguely and weakly positive about Andy Ngo's book about the terrorist organization antifa.

Our elites have decided that they will no longer pretend there's any distance between them and their protected and paid street terror paramilitaries. They've decided it's illegal to criticize their blackshirts.

That got him cancelled and thrown out of an industry.

Below, the part of his summation in which he points out that the left keeps saying Trump rejected the outcome of the election, but Nancy Pelosi herself claimed the 2016 election was "hijacked."

She interrupts him, rudely, and says "It was."

After humiliating her, he read a series of shrieking headlines from the faux elites of the leftwing Democrat Media claiming that Democracy Has Failed Us! because Trump won in 2016.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 01:52 PM | Comments (331) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Shock: Corrupt Partisan "Judge" Merchan's Democrat Operative Daughter Worked on the Campaign to Get Trump Kicked Off the Colorado Ballot

This judge has allowed a ton of unduly prejudicial "prior bad acts" falsified testimony from Sloppy Daniels, and allowed the prosecution to proffer "Choose Your Own Adventure" charges against Trump, with three different and contradictory legal theories. The judge said, that's fine.

But he's not biased.

It's just that his daughter is making bank working to get Trump kicked off of every ballot and prosecuted for non-crimes.

Dem operative daughter of NYC judge in Trump trial aided effort to kick Trump off Colorado ballot: report

The Brennan Center for Justice filed an amicus brief in support of the Supreme Court rejecting Trump's appeal of the Colorado Supreme Court's decision to remove him from the ballot.

Authentic Campaigns, the digital marketing and fundraising agency run by the daughter of the judge overseeing the falsified business records case against Trump, has been revealed to have worked with a group that has sought to take Trump off the ballot.

Loren Merchan's company worked with the Brennan Center for Justice, highlighted on the company's "Our Work" page. The Brennan Center for Justice filed an amicus brief in support of the Supreme Court rejecting Trump's appeal of the Colorado Supreme Court's decision to remove him from the ballot, Natalie Winters reported for War Room.

"The brief urges the Court to reject Trump's attempts to revive the independent state legislature theory on appeal," the Brennan Center wrote. The push to remove Trump ultimately failed in the high court, with the justices ruling 9-0 in favor of keeping him on the ballot.

The center is still listed as an active client, with Authentic Campaigns appearing to have worked with the center since at least 2023. Authentic Campaigns said it has "boosted the organization's newsletter subscribers by 300K new names, a 204% increase" and "seamlessly integrated diverse platforms and mediums to expand the Brennan Center's reach."

More at the article. His daughter, I'm sure, gets a cut of every dollar donated to the prosecute Trump campaigns. No one works for these grifter organizations to remain poor.

Mechan claims this doesn't technically required him to recuse himself, as the law only specifies that a spouse with an interest in a case is disqualifying. This is his daughter, so it's obviously completely different.

Given the intense partisan interest in the case and the huge political implications of the trial, any actually non-conflicted judge would, in these circumstances, recuse himself simply to avoid the appearance of conflict.

Instead, Mechan fights like hell to remain the judge on the case, whereas a man who really had no personal interest in the case would simply recuse himself so that the trial would have no taint.

That's extremely suspicious. Tainting a case with the stench of corruption is only worth it if you're going to profit from it.

Kickbacks -- they're not just for Fani Willis!

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 01:05 PM | Comments (255) | Trackbacks (Suck)

CNN: Polls Show Americans Don't Care About the Left's Lawfare Campaign Against Trump

They don't have a Plan B. This is what they've got. This is it. This is the only thing they have in the cupboard.

And it's crapping out.

CNN chief national affairs correspondent Jeff Zeleny reports that swing-state voters are showing disdain and fatigue over the ongoing Trump trial, amidst polling data that shows Trump leading Biden in six key states.

Jeff Zeleny revealed that swing-state voters he interviewed feel "disgusted" and "tired" of the Trump trial, suggesting minimal political fallout against Trump so far.

Recent New York Times/Siena College polling indicates Trump is leading Biden in swing states like Nevada, Georgia, and Arizona, with significant margins.

Voters are more concerned with economic issues rather than the trial, with inflation noted as a critical issue affecting voter sentiment.

In a recent commentary, CNN's Jeff Zeleny highlighted a significant disconnect between the media coverage of Donald Trump's ongoing trial and the concerns of voters in battleground states. According to Zeleny, despite exhaustive media focus, the trial has not resonated as a critical issue among these voters. Instead, economic issues, particularly inflation, are at the forefront of voters' concerns as they assess their choices for the upcoming election.

...

The polling also reveals a surprising shift in demographic support, with Trump making gains among Black and Hispanic voters, groups traditionally seen as Democratic strongholds. Biden's lead among these voters has diminished compared to previous elections, further complicating the electoral landscape for Democrats.

Zeleny notes that while the trial garners considerable media attention, the actual impact on voter decision-making may be limited. He suggests that unless the economic concerns are addressed effectively, the trial itself will likely remain a peripheral issue for many voters, overshadowed by more immediate personal and financial impacts.

Video at the link.

I know the public tunes out of the partisan outrage sort of political discourse because we on the right could never get the public very interested in Benghazi. I think the public tends to discount these scandals on the theory that "both sides do it" and both sides exaggerate this stuff.

I think it's similar to when unions and management try to get the public on their side about a labor dispute -- the public says, "I don't care, work it out yourselves, stop trying to involve me."

All the Democrats have offered the public for years and years now is partisan outrage crap -- stuff that Jake Tapper and his fellow hyperpartisans care about intensely, but which everyone else thinks is both a nothingburger and a cheap manipulation by partisan agitators like Tapper.

When the public asks about the economy, Tapper and his fellow Democrats shriek: "But Muh Democracy!"

When the public asks about out-of-control violence and mayhem, Tapper and his fellow Democrats scream, "But Sloppy Daniels!"

When the public asks about the wide-open border and Americans killed by "newcomers," Tapper and his fellow Democrats cry "But his Twitter!!!"

Every time the public asks about a real issue with a tangible impact on their lives, Tapper and his fellow Democrats shovel progressive outrage-bait slop at their faces.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 12:13 PM | Comments (318) | Trackbacks (Suck)