Ships in Distress off a Rocky Coast
Ludolf Backhuysen

Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM | Comments (405) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Good morning kids. As Elon Musk took a wrecking ball and a flamethrower to USAID and exposed not only the colossal waste of that nest of vipers, but of the multi-trillion dollar multi-headed hydra that is the bureaucracy as well as its agents in and out of government that have brought our society, nation and much of the world to the brink of disaster.

The cold hard reality is we are and have been for quite some time governed by a vast cabal of self-styled elites whose belief system and lust for absolute power engendered within them a wholly underserved status of having absolute moral authority to do as and what they want. The ability of politicians and others to game the system has been exposed by a combination of many of their schemes and delusions crashing down, mostly on us (from the border, to crime, sexual perversions and deviancies, anti-Semitism, anti-christianity, and red-green madness that has strangled our economy, and the incineration of Los Angeles because of DEI on top of environmentalist ideological pathologies. The emergence of Donald Trump and his exposure of this by promising to reverse it, has caused this monster to bare its fangs and attempt to strike back.

Besides Sesame Street in Iraq, where no doubt Bert and Ernie will sing about the joys of Jew-hatred while burning American flags and hurling homosexual muppets off of rooftops, is one thing. But USAID has funded some of the most heinous homegrown anti-Americans right here among us, in government, academia, the C-suites and elsewhere. Cutting off the funding of USAID is merely the tip of the iceberg. Money is the lifeblood of this cancerous rot. Of course the reactions have been typical, from scumbag degenerate thugs like Hakeem Jeffries, openly calling for violence in the streets to prevent and indeed overthrow this government, legitimately elected and having more of a mandate for the policies Trump is attempting including DOGE than perhaps any other president since Ronald Reagan.

Insurrection we much, eh Hakeem? Of course, the cornered beast is not going to just sit there and bleed out. Not after two centuries of nearly achieving absolute power. So this comes as no surprise, revolting as it is nevertheless:

A federal judge issued a ruling on Saturday, blocking Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from having access to Treasury Department data and records. . .In what universe is the Treasury Secretary not allowed to look at the records of the agency he manages? . . . The judge's rationale for the maneuver seems to have been pulled out of the air -- there isn't any.

Now the Trump team will have to work without records, without data, with no knowledge of how the Treasury's funds are spent because the deep state says the Trump team, legitimately elected by the voters, has no right to see them.

It was a ruling so bad, so disruptive, so overreaching into the executive branch that it surely will be overturned by a higher court, after a lengthy legal battle, and while that should disgrace the judge for awhile, it also may be the plan -- to cut into Trump's term so that he cannot govern at all.

Good on Elon Musk for putting forth a strategy for impeachment of these hacks in black. But sadly, that relies on a process where those who would do the voting are as corrupt and obstreperous as those they would be charged with removing from the bench.

Trump already showed the way with his EO ignoring the bastardization of the 14th Amendment. Unfotunately this too will ultimately wind up at SCOTUS which is dodgy at best, even with the huge win in Dobbs overturning Roe v Wade. Given the justified fear factor of the non-Thomas justices. Fear for their lives as well as fear of ostracism from the DC elite party circuit.

But that said, and we have discussed this many times before, but perhaps Trump is at long last the Chief Executive we have needed to destroy the specter of Marbury Vs. Madison, the case that allowed the Judiciary to acquire an outsized power it was never intended to have and which it has for far too long abused in maintaining the status quo.

Meanwhile Musk is setting the DOGEs loose on the absolutely anti-Constitutional CFPB, Fauxcahontas Warrens's politburo that is self-funded, has no oversight from Congress, cannot be abolished or audited and has the power to control the lives and livelihoods of every American citizen.

Tell me where that is constitutional. That should be abolished by Executive Order. the employees fired and the building demolished. Catch us if you can.

Mark Levin has spoken and written about the long dark shadow of Marbury at length, but this segment and transcription from his show in the wake of January 6th 2021 is quite worth a listen/read as a quick refresher:

Finally killing it would go a long way in truly making America great again. Or putting us back on track.

In that light, I give you this latest essay from honorary Horde member and lurker extraordinaire Victor Davis Hanson:

The Democrats' radical overreach, election losses, and Musk-fueled government exposés have left them flailing, doubling down on failure instead of recalibrating for a political comeback.

The Democrat Party is polling about 31 percent approval, a near-historic low. Despite enjoying a huge lead in fundraising, legacy media favoritism, and incumbency, in the 2024 election, Democrats lost the White House to Donald Trump. Ever since, they have offered nothing new, no novel agenda, no innovative policies—nothing other than screaming that they are loudly against everything and anything that the president is for.

His notion while nice to believe that the Democrats are committing political suicide may IMHO be premature because while no doubt Trump and his agenda pre and now post election are garnering widespread approval, I think he and others are predicting a longterm rightward shift in America. Even if this might be happening to some smaller yet not insignificant extent, it would take quite some doing for the Leftists en masse to reject their beliefs, and shibboleths to defect.

Even if they split into two parties (which would be phenomenal) The anti-Americanism and anti-judeo-Christian anti-westernism will still be there to greater or lesser extents in both parties.

Deprogramming the past several generations of our citizens and preventing the brainwashing of successive generations is key.

But for now, Trump is riding a crest of approval which matches the trough of disapproval for Democrats and Leftists. Taking advantage of that to win hearts and minds and nation rebuilding here at home is going to be key.

We'll just have to wait and see.

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

ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY
• The idea that Hunter Biden, with no security clearance, was allegedly dictating the flow of information to his father is a much bigger deal than Elon Musk going after government waste, don’t you think? “That's who was basically running the show. So Hunter basically battened down the hatches after the debate to make sure his father would only receive intel he pre-approved.”
  Now We Know Who was Running the Country for Joe Biden

• “The Bureau’s new leadership will run a substantially more streamlined and efficient bureau.”
  CFPB Gutted In Latest Trump Admin Move To Cut Government Waste
  
• Victor Davis Hanson: The Democrats' radical overreach, election losses, and Musk-fueled government exposés have left them flailing, doubling down on failure instead of recalibrating for a political comeback.
  How To Commit Democrat Party Suicide (VDH presupposes a longterm major rightward cultural swing - jjs)
  
• Someone, please tell me I’ve misread this approved and funded grant.
  Is There A Problem With Colorado State University And Its Nipah Virus Research?

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 07:25 AM | Comments (398) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Top Story

• Did Google fake the AI output in its Super Bowl ad? Yes. (The Verge)
  
  Not only was it wrong, it was a verbatim copy of text that has appeared on the web since 2020, before Google Gemini existed.

  But Google maintained that the website description was written by Gemini all along. In addition to showing Gemini "generate" the description in the commercial, Google Cloud apps president Jerry Dischler said on X that the Gouda stat was "not a hallucination," adding that "Gemini is grounded in the Web."

  Well, if by "grounded in" you mean "a human copying and pasting directly from", then sure.
  
  The original text claimed that Gouda accounts for 50 to 60 percent of cheese consumption worldwide, and is "one of" the most most popular varieties of cheese, which is comical.
  
  Everyone knows that's Venezuelan beaver cheese.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (94) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Howdy Hordelings! Did you enjoying watching the professional football contest this evening? Anyway... Welcome to the Sunday ONT!

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:00 PM | Comments (602) | Trackbacks (Suck)

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 Halftime guys and gals!! How in the ever-loving Hell did it get to be Super Bowl Sunday? It's the LIXth Super Bowl game, by the way, and is scheduled to start at 6:30pm Eastern, although the pre-game show started approximately three weeks earlier (or so it seems).

Q: Weasel, won't you pleeeeze give us your thoughts on the game?
A: Well, if you insist.

I used to like pro football games, back in the days before the NFL went all nutty over "player safety" and insisted on requiring face masks on helmets and moving the goal posts to the back of the end zone. Still, with the likes of John Unitas and Dick Butkis and Larry Czonka the game was mostly still watchable. Unfortunately, a bunch of sissy-boys took over so instead I simply watched the Super Bowl for the clever and funny commercials. Then the retards of the left took over, becoming the self-appointed arbiters of what was funny and clever and did what they typically do by taking the fun out of everything and made the whole thing an unwatchable and woke shit-show. It was then I stopped watching altogether.

The End

Having said that, our glorious leader President Donald J. Trump, today becomes the first sitting president to attend the game so suddenly I can tolerate football again. Another Trump miracle! Anyhoo, I figure at least some of you are interested, so feel free to discuss the game tonight in the comments.

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 (657) | Trackbacks (Suck)

This is exactly what I am talking about when I refer to English pub food as being quite good. That is a carefully boned rib chop, cured and smoked as bacon. Topped with a fried egg, and served with some sauce that was a mystery to me but quite tasty, and some onion/apple relish off to the left. I am not usually a fan of anything apple within 50 feet of my dinner plate, but that stuff was delicious!

The chips were wonderful. The beer was delicious.

If you don't like that sort of food you are simply taking the contrarian position and you will be sent to your room.

[This is going to be a bare-bones Food Thread. I am recovering from some sort of malady that I caught from some Frog trying to weaken Anglo-Saxon culture so they can express contempt for us without fear of getting punched in the nose. Plus, the snowblowing kicked my *ss!

So you people will have to open up a can of whoop-ass on the Gun Thread snobs and put them in their rightful place at the bottom of the famous and coveted AoSHQ 4:00pm-10:00pm Sunday Time Slot! Can you do it without the guiding hands of Dildo? Wait... what?

By the way, does anyone know where this competition came from? I suspect it was from a 9mm enthusiast, but who knows, it might even be a shaken Manhattan troglodyte!]

Posted by: CBD at 04:00 PM | Comments (393) | Trackbacks (Suck)

This might be the epitome of First World Problems! After snowblowing my and the neighbors' driveway and sidewalks, I'm really tired and want to lie down and take a nap.

Posted by: CBD at 02:12 PM | Comments (245) | Trackbacks (Suck)

This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs.

The moral tradition of the West has evolved for 2,500 years, and it hasn't been easy. Would you like to live in a world governed by the Sophists and the Skeptics, who thought that that justice was just convention administered by the strong?

Or much of European history, in which the law came from royalty, whose bona fides were simply being born to the correct parents?

But compared to the rest of the world, we are unimaginably better off. We mostly got rid of slavery starting at the beginning of the 19th century. Take a look at the Arab world today? They still have them and they are in no rush to end the practice.

Our armies are far more civilized than the rest of the worlds' and interestingly enough, also better at war. Yes, that is debatable, but backed by Western economies we will eventually come out on top.

And where would you rather be... Behind the Chinese lines or behind the American lines? Look at Israel, which has more reasons than any other country to respond with total savagery, yet they comport themselves with amazing restraint, often at the expense of the lives of their soldiers.

The problem nowadays is that we have lost sight of the superiority of our culture and have subsumed it in an ocean of moral relativity and non-Western brutality.

Maybe we should return to first principles, and renew our commitment to ideas that used to be axiomatic, but are now up for debate.

Really? Child rape? Murder of innocents? mutilation of children on the alter of sociopathic sexual perversions? Destruction of the individual in service to the state?

These aren't complicated ideas, as Sir Charles understood very well.

That statue is in Trafalgar Square, in the heart of London, and until is is torn down they may have a chance at redemption. But they certainly need a modern Napier. Luckily, America seems to have gotten one in the form of President Donald Trump!

Posted by: CBD at 12:00 PM | Comments (335) | Trackbacks (Suck)

HT: Biden's Dog

Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading (you were warned...). Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...or these pants...(GO TEAM!)

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

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM | Comments (394) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Top Story

• Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has weighed in on the DeepSeek drama, saying that in tests the performance of the Chinese AI was "the worst of basically any model we'd ever tested". (Tech Crunch)
  
  He went on to say:

  It had absolutely no blocks whatsoever against generating this information.

  What he's complaining about is that it answered the question.
  
  The full interview transcript is here.
  
  Now, the claim is the information related to bioweapons, and "can't be found on Google or can't be easily found in textbooks", which means that this is public information, not military secrets, and the entire complaint is that DeepSeek works.
  
  And that is simply not allowed.
  
  

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (253) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Welcome in one and all to the debut of something! Join us - if you dare - on a foray into a place of such exclusivity that could only happen here at AOSHQ. A collaboration of your Sunday through Wednesday ONT crew - The Disco, The Doggo, and The Dino. This --- is Club ONT!

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:00 PM | Comments (540) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Musical genre is one of those things that is subject to endless subdivision to the point of the absurd, and to endless conglomeration to the point of the useless. I am occasionally fascinated by some of the distinctions and subdivisions within genre, usually argued by those who are obsessed with whatever it is. Take, as a "for instance," Shoegaze. Per Wikipedia, Shoegaze is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volume. It emerged in Ireland and the United Kingdom in the late 1980s among neo-psychedelic groups who usually stood motionless during live performances in a detached, non-confrontational state. Could be anything, I suppose.

What interests me more is what qualifies for any given appellation. Staying on the "Shoegaze" topic, take two bands widely considered representative of the genre. There's Lush and there's The Jesus and Mary Chain. They aren't exactly similar. Oh well. None of it really matters anyway, I suppose. If there's a thing, people are always willing to argue the finer points of it!

What genres are you in to, if any? Do you care about the minutiae of subgenre, or is it all just noise (unless, of course, you consider Shoegaze to be a subset or offshoot of Noise Pop, in which case we're right back where we started...)? Me, I am fascinated by the minutiae but would rather just put the record on!

NOTE: As always, the intro is just a conversation starter if needed. You're welcome to go off-topic, just please keep it to the world of music!

Exceptional Live Performances
AC/DC puts on a hell of a show. The scale of this concert at a stadium in Argentina is enormous, and boy can they work a crowd.

Posted by: Joe Mannix at 07:30 PM | Comments (302) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread.

We gave the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies(TM) a spin and it was tired of the cold and wished it was summer. It said time for a travel theme to parts of the world where it is summer. It said AUSTRALIA. Good day, mate!

Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:30 PM | Comments (136) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Good afternoon and welcome to the almost world famous Ace of Spades Pet Thread. KT is back home from the hospital and recuperating. I'm your subsitute Pet Sitter today.

And please leave the current events and politics at the curb.

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian (ONT Cob Emeritus) at 03:14 PM | Comments (58) | Trackbacks (Suck)

[Mountaintop Lupine overlooking Raspberry Strait, Alaska via Wiki]

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian (ONT Cob Emeritus) at 12:30 PM | Comments (82) | Trackbacks (Suck)

[KT is still recuperating, so please continue to keep her in your prayers. - Buck]

Just before Christmas, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) issued a press release announcing that he had fallen victim to some smooth-talking hustlers promoting a hypothetical new source of “clean energy,” which is going to cost Virginia taxpayers several million dollars.

I’m paraphrasing.

Actually, Gov. Youngkin’s press release titled “Governor Glenn Youngkin Announces World’s First Commercial Fusion Power Plant,” stated that Chesterfield County (suburban Richmond) was going to be the location of “the world’s first grid-scale commercial fusion power plant,” to be operated by a private company named Commonwealth Fusion Systems. Youngkin is quoted in the press release as saying, “This is an historic moment for Virginia and the world at large. Commonwealth Fusion Systems is not just building a facility, they are pioneering groundbreaking innovation to generate clean, reliable, safe power, and it’s happening right here in Virginia. We are proud to be home to this pursuit to change the future of energy and power.”

Unsurprisingly, even though Commonwealth Fusion is a private company, it is quite receptive to generating cash by accepting government appropriations. At the end of the governor’s press release, it noted that Virginia taxpayers will have to cough up $2 million dollars in grants as the price for winning this prize. The rest of us are also contributing, as another $15 million was awarded to Commonwealth Fusion by the Department of Energy this past June. (Attention DOGE.)

There is no word yet if Virginia is competing to lure any companies promising to produce jobs and “grid scale” power with perpetual motion.

For many decades, nuclear fusion has been touted as an imminent source of limitless, clean energy – but it’s always been just 10 more years away. After all the failed timelines, it’s become a joke that nuclear fusion is the energy of the future, and always will be, because it’s always still 10 years away. This Virginia fusion project is promising to have figured out the technology to produce “grid scale” fusion energy by the 2030s – e.g. in about 10 years. Of course.

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at 10:15 AM | Comments (349) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Good morning boys, girls and everything in between. Our beloved KT is back home. She is thankful your prayers.

Before we enter the Prayer Revival just a few housekeeping matters to go over. (Rulz for those of you in Stoughton.)

1) This is an open thread. Feel free to lurk, opine and/or bloviate away.
2) Be nice. Be kind. And no, I repeat no jumping on the futon.
3) Running with sharp objects is neither commanded or forbidden. Do you have the deductible?
4) Have a great weekend!

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian (ONT Cob Emeritus) at 08:20 AM | Comments (288) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Top Story

February 07, 2025

Friday Overnight Open Thread (2/7/25)

*****

Greetings boys, girls and everything in between this fine Friday evening from the bowels of the People's Republic of Dane County, WI. (Madison)

On the road with the Fabulous for the next couple of days.

Dave isn't here tonight as there was a family emergency back east. Hopefully, he will be back next week. He didn't give me the keys to the middle school boy's bathroom and humor vault. So I don't have any memes. Deal with it in any fashion you choose.

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian (ONT Cob Emeritus) at 09:52 PM | Comments (648) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Super Bowl Weekend Cafe

Budapest by Agi Noszek

I saw that you can watch the Super Bowl on Tubi, if you sign up for an account. I'll acknowledge it this year because they're taking the "End Racism" propaganda out of the end zones.

ICYMI: Beluga has a crush on one of her caretakers, but doesn't like the rest of them.

It's unclear how the Dicknose Antelope got its name. Some say the term "dicknose" might be derived from an Old Dutch word meaning "cockschnozz."

Swish, I think. It's such a long shot I can't tell.

More breaking the ice away.

Canine jealousy.

Secret doors! My knowledge of secret doors comes from the Hardy Boys. I know all houses that feature secret doors are subject to fake "hauntings," usually by counterfeiters or other criminals who threaten and chase children but never actually kill them.

"The Boy Scout Tree."

River gorge in Vietnam.

Fun with odometers!!!!

Hero horse saves his owner from being squashed by another horse who's too clingy.

Rescuing a young elephant from a deep hole. He comes back to say "Thank you."

The acuteness of a dog's hearing.

Out of control. Just out of control.

Lion acts all cute and cuddly to lure its prey.

Cat-like reflexes.

When the Almighty takes care of your 7-Eleven tab.

Relaxing at the end of a busy week.

German shepherd smothers master's sneezes.

Rambunctious cows.

Beluga whale gets its ball back.

Elephant returns girl's shoe.

Men and women are identical in every way, including in mechanical/spacial reasoning ability.

Goats are just walking all over this guardian dog.

Steve Inman:

Vehicular arrest.

On Rumble: Best of your favorite type of Inman vid. Violence warning. And more like that.

He got KO'd by a Wa-Wa.

Knocked out by Nike.

First the Sowing Phase, which is fun, and then the Reaping Phase, which is not. One of the hardest run-downs of a thug he's shown. Also a shooting at the end. Content warning.

Tired and re-tired.

Posted by: Ace at 07:45 PM | Comments (278) | Trackbacks (Suck)

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