Until You See Pigs Flying Over Trenton And Richmond, Don't Hold Your Breath

Sometimes the conventional wisdom is correct, no matter how much we want it to be wrong. There are two governor races that are being sized up as referendums on the 2026 prospects for the Republican party, but neither race is being taken seriously by the corporate Republican hierarchy, which signals their lack of interest in the mid-term elections, and their lack of support for Donald Trump!

The Republican candidates are both flawed, but in different ways.

Virginia: Winsome Earle-Sears vs. Abigail Spanberger is an easy one. Winsome Earle-Sears is relatively new to politics, and simply does not have the relationships and contacts necessary to raise money on her own. Her earnest but ham-handed direct efforts may draw small donations, but the Democrats are throwing a huge amount of money at her trans-loving lunatic opponent! And of course corporate Republicans are flocking to Sears' campaign to sop up whatever money is available, but there is no coherent effort. They want her to lose with dignity!

New Jersey: Jack Ciattarelli vs. Mikie Sherrill is a clown-show of flawed candidates. The republican challenger is conspicuously light on political philosophy, but quite adept at judging wind direction! In 2015, he called Donald Trump a "charlatan," but by 2020 he was a Trump supporter! Of course he is pro-abortion until 20 weeks, and supports drivers licenses for wetbacks, so how he meshes with President Trump's policies is a mystery. He also failed to pursue the obvious failings in the 2021 NJ governor's election, preferring to lose with dignity, mostly to preserve his options to run again!

Sadly, he is running against an awful candidate who is implicated in three different issues that should have sunk her campaign. She was implicated in a cheating scandal at the Naval Academy, she scammed her two teenage children into nominations for the naval academy class of 2029, and she claims ignorance about the now-typical stock grift of congressmen that supposedly netted her $7,000,000. Whether that is true is secondary to her evasions about it and the other issues.

But hope springs eternal!

Hope in Virginia and New Jersey: Republicans Could Actually WIN This Thing!

Conventional wisdom has the GOP dead in the water in Virginia and New Jersey — the only two states that’ll be electing new governors in Nov. 2025. This highly focused spotlight gives the Commonwealth of Virginia and/or New York Junior an outsized role in determining long-term political mojo: The winning party owns the opening momentum in next year’s midterms.

And conventional wisdom has the Republican Party in a world of hurt.

New Jersey, after all, is a Democratic stronghold. Hasn’t gone Republican in a presidential race since 1988. Out of their 12 congressmen, only 3 are Republicans.

Meanwhile, from 1952 through 2004, Virginia went red in every presidential election, sans ’64. But since 2008, they’ve gone blue every single time — and often by lopsided margins. The three times Trump was on the Virginia ballot, he never got within five points of his Democratic opponent. (His worst defeat was in 2020, where he lost to Biden by over 10 points.)

The optimism is marvelous, but almost entirely without concrete successes on the ground where it counts. Is there a significant Republican GOTV effort in Virginia? No. Is there a significant upsurge in Winsome Earle-Sears' fundraising? No. Although to be fair, I did get about 17 increasingly frantic text messages since I sent her some money!

And in New Jersey? Sure...Sherrill has been rocked back by the allegations, but she has a compliant media backing her, and as is their wont, the Democrats are circling the wagons to protect her. Is there a significant GOTV effort funded by the Republican party? Hah! I have not gotten a single in-state communication about the governor's race or, for that matter, any NJ race!

These two races expose the weakness of the Republican party as a counter to the Democrat party's fantastic legal and illegal efforts. Think about the disarray of the Democrats this year, and imagine how these two sates would be fairing with a well-organized state Republican party and solid, well-organized support from the national party.

But the real question as we begin to look at a post-Trump political landscape is whether the Republican party can energize the base without the incredible draw of Donald Trump? Converting his popularity into meaningful, long-term electoral changes requires more than what the Republican party is doing today.

Posted by: CBD at 12:00 PM | Comments (183) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Reading Thread 10/05/2025

Howdy Readers! Welcome to the Reading Thread, your Sunday morning source for the insightful, lively and spirited discussion of books 'n stuff. I'm filling in for a while as this space re-invents itself under new management so please set your near-term expectations accordingly low.

What do we have this week? Why, it's none other than Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus, written by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and published in 1818. As I mentioned in the other editions of the Reading Thread you may not always get such fabulous selections as this.

Anyhoo, feel free to discuss reading and books in general and share your thoughts on this week's selection if you're so inclined. There may even be a special added bonus below!

I know you're just as excited as I am, so just jump below the fold to get started!

Posted by: Weasel at 09:00 AM | Comments (340) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 35 September 2025

Top Story

• The Eternal September is finally over after 34 years as AOL shuts down its dialup service. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Looking around and seeing the current state of the internet, I think they might have left it running a little too long.
  
  
  
• Speaking of which, how does my upgraded 500Mb internet feel?
  
  Exactly the same as before, on 100Mb, to be honest. Moving from ADSL (I got about 16Mb down and 2Mb up) to a nominal 100/40 connection was a huge upgrade. At least it was until I got hit by lightning and my modem exploded.
  
  Since I mostly look at (and work on) US-hosted sites, that trans-Pacific latency erases any obvious gains. The new plan is cheaper, though, and the next step down goes all the way to 50/20 and only saves $2.
  
  

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (147) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Saturday Night "Club ONT" October 4, 2025 [The 3 Ds]

The Club is ready for liquid chemistry, goggles, and irresponsible comments.

Welcome to Club ONT! A collaboration the 3D's - The Disco, The Dino, and The Doggo. Come on in. The Club has no velvet ropes nor safety vests. There is that one moron at the door that's not checking dental plans - easy to sneak past him.

Pssst...Have you heard about TX MoMe X? The meetup is happening. The place to be! Excuses prohibited. See the left side bar on main page for Ben Had contact info.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:00 PM | Comments (428) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Saturday Evening Movie Thread [moviegique]: Dead of Winter

In the past few weeks, we saw Spinal Tap: The End Conitnues, which was quite good. (In a world of pathetic, warmed-over moribund properties, this is a hilarious, pathetic warmed-over moribund property.) We also saw Riefenstahl, which is interesting but ultimately kind of gormless with some terrific close-up film of the '36 Olympics.

We also saw The Long Walk, based on a Stephen King novel, and so I figured you might enjoy a review of a movie weighted down by its own stupidity. But that turned out to be a spoiler-laden 3,000 words.

Then we saw Chain Reactions, with a bunch of old lefties reflecting on Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and that turned out to be 2,000 words.

Fortunately, then we saw a good movie, which was easy to sum up in less than 1,000 non-spoiler-y words. And so I present:

Dead of Winter

"Emma Thompson is the love child of Marge Gunderson and Rambo" is your high concept take on Dead of Winter, the new thriller from Brian Kirk (best known as a director on "Game Of Thrones" and "Penny Dreadful") working off a script by composer Nicholas Jacob-Larson and actor Dalton Leeb.

Seriously, this screenplay is the only one either has to their credit.

The story is simple, but not shallow: Barb (Thompson) has come out to a remote lake in northern Minnesota for some reason, and getting a bit lost along the way she stops at a cabin where she interrupts Camo Jacket (Marc Menchaca, "Ozark", "Generation Kill") in the midst of his wood gathering.

Yeah, he has no name. The cast of ten has only five characters with names. This is an interesting kind of economy—you don't really notice it when people don't have names, but you really notice it when they do. Barb, as it turns out, is a widow, and one of the people who has a name is her late husband "Karl".

Anyway, she interrupts Camo Jacket and notices a little blood on the ground, and that he's a little awkward. But he points her to the lake and off she goes.

While she's off at the lake, we see her fishing, and clutching a tackle box like it's her most prized possession. She gets her truck stuck in the snow and while she's trying to get it out, we see Camo Guy chasing a young, bound girl, and dragging her back.

And that's the opening.

Ooh, yer gonna wanna put some "Bactine" on that.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 08:30 PM | Comments (185) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Hobby Thread - October 4, 2025 [Santa Rex]

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, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread. A spin of the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies (TM) landed on Christmas crafting.

If you are tempted to say "I don't make things for Christmas, so there is nothing here for me," let the thought pass. No Moron could possibly say such a thing. Stick around. You might be entertained or learn something. You might enjoy hearing from others and seeing what others are hobbying.

I have faith that you can find something in the content that resonates or contribute your own hobbying interests. Dig around in the content and soak in the comments. Be curious. Glad you're here.

TRex has been detailed for duty elsewhere, so behave yourself in the comments. The Grateful will be looking out for unapproved shenanigans.

[Top: Half off Christmas hobbying!]

Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:30 PM | Comments (124) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Ace of Spades Pet Thread, October 4

* * *

Good afternoon and welcome to the almost world famous Ace of Spades Pet Thread. Thanks for stopping by. Kick back and enjoy the world of animals.

Would you like a treat?

Let's relax a little with the animals and leave the world of politics and current events outside today.

Posted by: K.T. at 03:12 PM | Comments (71) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Berry Enticing Guest Gardening Post [Lex]

Don't those berries look enticing? Their fresh season is over in the Boston area, I think, but I have a friend who makes blueberry pie for Thanksgiving using frozen berries. Think about it: Blueberries are American berries, perfect for Thanksgiving!

As you read the inspiring guest post from Lex, think about berries that might be suited to your climate and maybe even to your own garden next year.
K.T.

Take it away, Lex!

The Great Blueberry Bush Battle

Posted by: K.T. at 01:05 PM | Comments (75) | Trackbacks (Suck)

How, exactly, do people "disagree better"?

Utah State Seal

Candace Owens thinks Charlie Kirk's assassination
might have something to do with the new Utah State Flag and bees

There was a big fight in Utah over "modernizing" the State Flag, which used to resemble the State Seal. Candace Owens has added some new dimensions to the conflict which I don't think have been completely thought through.

Anyway, a little over a year ago, I wondered how the electorate in Utah could have chosen both Senator Mike Lee and Governor Spencer Cox. Our own commenter Bonhomme answered some of my questions.

Spencer Cox has made a name for himself with his "Disagree Better" campaign. He has enlisted other governors in this program. It generally involves giving in to "the other side", but he has sometimes "circled back" to more conservative positions under pressure. And there is something to be said for the idea that government officials working at the state level are forced to be somewhat more practical than the feds, because they "have to fix the potholes". Though he also has some big ideas, like the Olympics, that involve compromise with, well, you know who.

After the assassination of Charlie Kirk, Cox did a pretty good job of keeping people informed of the actions of law enforcement and of the plans of the State of Utah. Many people were impressed. This brought new attention to the "disagree better" idea, but there seems to be more rancor, anger and disdain than ever in both the legacy media and social media. Strange.

The Atlantic turns its attention westward

Posted by: K.T. at 11:10 AM | Comments (284) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Classical Saturday Coffee Break & Prayer Revival

[Sammich making optional]

Good morning boys and girls and everything in between. Before we enter the Prayer Revival just a few housekeeping matters to go over before we start. (Rulz for those of you in Little Suamico.)

1) This is an open thread. Feel free to lurk, opine and/or bloviate.
2) Be kind, be nice. Yes, even to the trolls.
3) Running with sharp objects? If I have written it once I have written it 12,702 times. No running with sharp objects.
4) Have a wonderful first weekend of October.

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at 07:54 AM | Comments (428) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 4 October 2025

Top Story

• Thwarted plot to cripple cell service in NY was bigger than first thought unless it wasn't: Sources. (ABC)
  
  Over on the sidebar you'll find a link by CBD to an article about a planned attack against communications infrastructure in New York City, discovered and averted twelve days ago by the Secret Service.
  
  They found 100,000 activated SIM cards and over 300 specialised (and, in the US, illegal) SIM servers set up to use them, in a handful of rented locations in the city, capable of sending out thirty million SMS messages per minute and overwhelming and crippling nearby cell towers.
  
  The latest update us that the Secret Service has found another 200,000 SIM cards in another location nearby in New Jersey.
  
  So the question is, who was behind this rather sophisticated plot, and what were they hoping to achieve? The Secret Service links it to China, which is probably true but only at the surface level.
  
  Most likely this wasn't a nation-state planning a terror attack at all, but an organised crime ring using those hundreds of thousands of numbers to make scam calls. The hardware was probably smuggled from China, but not to declare war, just to make an illicit buck.
  
  That's speculation, but what we know for sure - because it put the Secret Service on the track in the first place - is that this same network was used in swatting attacks against members of Congress in December of 2023.
  
  And it would be foolish of a nation-state actor to allow such an elaborate plot to be foiled over such a minor and secondary objective. Though dumber things have happened.
  
  
  
• Second pass at today's thread because my computer decided to reboot right when I was looking for the video for the interlude and I hadn't saved yet. That'll teach me.
  
  * Spoiler: It didn't teach them.
  

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (154) | Trackbacks (Suck)

A Poem Lovely As An ONT

Hello everyone! We made it to another Friday. Two weeks until the TxMoMe. How's everyone doing tonight?

Posted by: WeirdDave at 10:00 PM | Comments (494) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Spooky Season Cafe

The Haunted Tree.

Compilation of images from classic horror movies.

Compilation of trash B-movie horror trailers.

Dog is scared of black cat lawn decorations.

Filming a Paranormal Activity-type haunting.

A very spooky Statue of Liberty. (It's fake, CGI.)

They do everything bigger in Texas.

I'd like to save this for closer to Halloween, but I don't know how long it will be available: the full cartoon "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." I got a rock!

Melanistic leopard.

Saving a whole family of deer who got themselves stuck on the slippery ice of a frozen lake.

Kitten gets itself stuck on an ocean rock. A man saves it. The kitten's mom is first happy to have the kitten back, but then teaches it a lesson.

Baby fox vs. eagle, while the crows all yell Fight! Fight! Fight! (No actual violence.)

Basic armadillo nonsense.

Very scary!

Posted by: Ace at 07:42 PM | Comments (401) | Trackbacks (Suck)

YouTube (Owned by Google/Alphabet) Settles Lawsuit for Banning Trump's Accounts to Rig the 2024 Election; Will Pay Trump $24.5 Million

This is a couple of days old but I missed it and I know you did too because you wouldn't cheat on this site.

Google's YouTube has agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit President Donald Trump brought after the video site suspended his account following the Jan. 6, 2021 attacks on the Capitol following the election that resulted in him leaving the White House for four years.

The settlement of the more than four-year-old case earmarks $22 million for Trump to contribute to the Trust for the National Mall and a construction of a White House ballroom, according to court documents filed Monday. The remaining $2.5 million will be paid to other parties involved in the case, including the writer Naomi Wolf and the American Conservative Union.

Alphabet, the parent of Google, is the third major technology company to settle a volley of lawsuits that Trump brought for what he alleged had unfairly muzzled him after his first term as president ended in January 2021. He filed similar cases Facebook parent Meta Platforms and Twitter before it was bought by billionaire Elon Musk in 2022 and rebranded as X.

Meta agreed to pay $25 million to settle Trumps' lawsuit over his 2021 suspension from Facebook and X agreed to settle the lawsuit that Trump brought against Twitter for $10 million. When the lawsuits against Meta. Twitter and YouTube were filed, legal experts predicted Trump had little chance of prevailing.

Just as Jake Tapper was claiming that the three-day suspension of Jimmy Kimmel was the greatest assault on speech in human history, Google/YouTube admitted that it had banned accounts presenting perfectly legal -- and, in fact, perfectly true -- facts about covid and the non-vaccinating vaccines. (Apparently Jake Tapper doesn't watch the news. Or else he's just a hack lifelong Democrat activist. You choose.)

Too little, too late, says Wendi Strauch Mahoney at American Thinker.

Google and its parent company Alphabet Inc. finally put in writing what many have suspected for years: Senior Biden-era officials "conducted repeated and sustained outreach" to the company and pressed YouTube to remove COVID-related videos that did not violate YouTube's policies.

In a Sep. 23 letter to House Judiciary chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Alphabet's counsel called such government attempts to dictate moderation "unacceptable and wrong" and said YouTube will create a pathway for creators banned under now-retired COVID-19 and 2020/2024 election policies to return. Google's mea culpa followed a March 6, 2025 subpoena issued by Jordan.

The House Judiciary Committee summarized the admission, underscoring five key points from Google:

Biden officials pressured the company to censor Americans and take down lawful content.

Google considers that pressure "unacceptable and wrong."

Public debate should not hinge on deferring to "authorities."

The company will not empower third-party fact-checkers to label or remove content.

European speech rules, including the Digital Services Act, risk forcing removal of lawful American speech.

In unusually plain language for outside counsel, Alphabet told Congress that during COVID-19, "White House officials" sought removal of non-violative videos and that the broader political atmosphere -- "including President Biden" -- sought to influence platform decisions. Alphabet says it "consistently fought against those efforts on First Amendment grounds."

Google excused its behavior, arguing that the "COVID-19 pandemic was an unprecedented time in which online platforms had to reach decisions about how best to balance freedom of expression with responsibility, including responsibility with respect to the moderation of user-generated content that could result in real-world harm." But this reads as a convenient, too-little, too-late defense. Google knew what it was doing and chose policies that harmed lawful speech anyway. Even Alphabet's lawyers now concede that "it is unacceptable and wrong when any government, including the Biden Administration, attempts to dictate how the company moderates content" -- a striking admission, given that the COVID- and election-related speech at issue was plainly protected by the First Amendment.

To illustrate just how materially damaging the removals were, Richard Baris speaks not only to his own experience, but also many others' all too common experiences with Google. Baris (People's Pundit) is a well respected data analyst and commentator whose polling outfit, Big Data Poll, has accurately predicted several presidential elections, including 2024.

During his appearance on the Sep. 24, 2025 QuiteFrankly podcast, Baris describes the excruciating consequences of being suppressed and then banned by Google's YouTube. Like so many others, he was repeatedly struck, demonetized, and throttled by Google, actions that translated to significant lost income, lost audience, and throttled fact-based reporting.

Baris said the strikes and demonetization were ironically triggered by concrete pieces of journalism and data analysis. In one instance, he said he aired and analyzed remarks from the U.K. health minister -- summarizing that masking children "didn't prevent" transmission and could harm cognitive and social development. He said the video was struck for "medical misinformation." YouTube, he said, repeatedly threatened channel closure when he and his team presented longitudinal findings and compared them with published studies. Baris believes that much of it was political, and he is not wrong.

Posted by: Ace at 07:00 PM | Comments (178) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Puffy Diddler Sentenced to Four Years In Prison For Something
The Man Who Tried to Murder Three Supreme Court Justices Gets a Lenient 8-Year Sentence from a Biden Judge... Becuase He Now Says He's a Transgender

I kinda forget what the charges were.

The NY Post forgets too, and doesn't remember until late in the article.

Hip-hop icon Sean "Diddy" Combs was sentenced to more than four years in prison Friday -- a paltry term compared to the 11 years sought by prosecutors after a blockbuster, stomach-churning sex crimes trial exposed the mogul's depraved secrets.

The emotional, nearly six-hour sentencing hearing on prostitution charges in Manhattan federal court closed with Judge Arun Subramanian condemning Combs' horrific abuse of victims Cassie Ventura and an influencer known as "Jane."

"You abused them, physically, emotionally and psychologically," Judge Arun Subramanian told Combs before heading down the sentence of 50 months.

"Why did it happen for so long? Because you had the power and resources to keep it going, and because you didn't get caught," Subramanian said.

"A meaningful sentence is needed to protect the public for further crimes."

Combs likely will spend only three more years in a federal lockup, as he has already been behind bars for 14 months.

His sentence is also shorter than the roughly six-to-seven-year term recommended under federal guidelines, as well as the more than 11 years sought by prosecutors.

But it's also a far cry from the 14-month, time-served sentence his high-powered defense team had argued he deserved.

The highly anticipated sentencing unfolded in the same courtroom where jurors found Combs, 55, guilty of prostitution charges in July after two harrowing months of testimony delving into his twisted, violent and baby oil-drenched private life.

Four years for... prostitution?

I think this guys is a scumbag but this screams "Moral Panic Prosecution." I still don't really know what it is that he's alleged to have done. I heard all sorts of things about kidnapping, Mann Act violations (a nonsense law that creates a federal crime of prostitution, if you bring a woman across state lines for "immoral purposes"), RICO claims, whispers that he killed Tupak Shakur and Biggie Smalls (or whoever), etc.

But apparently he was only convicted of prostitution.

Again: Four years for prostitution? This smacks of sentencing him for crimes there wasn't evidence enough to convict him on, so the counts of prostitution are treated as the equivalent of manslaughter.

I'll shed no tears but this is the sort of bullshit that prosecutors do every single day.

If you don't believe me, ask Daniel Penny. Ask Peter Navarro. Ask Steve Bannon. Ask Rudy Giulliani. Ask any of the J6 political prisoners.

Ask Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, the man -- and I emphasize, man -- who tried to kill Brett Kavanaugh and planned to kill two other Supreme Court Justices as well (I think Alito and Coney-Barrett) got just eight years for his assassination attempt. Prosecutors sought 30.

How'd he get so little time? Easy. He declared he's now a woman named "Sophie" and so of course transgender killers need to be incentivized to kill more people. There are so few transgender assassins we really need to DEI-promote them.

Carrie Severino
@JCNSeverino

Unreal. The attempted assassin put not only Justice Kavanaugh's life at risk, but his family's and his fellow justices'.

Judge Boardman's explanation for granting Roske leniency is absurd -- so, claiming you are transgender gets you less time in prison? That's a great incentive program.

What an outrageously dangerous signal to send as political violence is on the rise.

This sentence is a disgrace.

No, really:

Luke Rosiak
@lukerosiak

8h

Good morning. @realDailyWire is in federal court in Maryland for the sentencing of transgender terrorist Nicholas "Sophie" Roske for the crime of attempted assassination of a US Justice, for his plot to kill Brett Kavanaugh in 2022.

Brett Kavanaugh wearing a black judicial robe and blue tie, seated in a courtroom. Nicholas "Sophie" Roske wearing a black T-shirt with a red and white design, standing indoors with long hair.

Judge Boardman, a Biden appointee, is referring to the defendant as Ms. Roske and asking whether "she" will be placed in a women's prison and given hormone replacement. The implication is that if not, she will be given a shorter sentence.

Judge Boardman is asking how Roske's transgender status should impact her sentence, and demanding evidence that longer sentences provide more deterrence. Asking why, 3 years later, "ms roske" is a risk to the public.

Seems somewhat Kafkaesque. Judge asked "ms roske, have you read the sentencing report?"

Roske, a very tall man, boomed in an unusually deep baritone, "yes."

The sentence also includes a lifetime of court supervision. "I am heartened that this terrible infraction has helped the Roske family... I accept their daughter for who she is," Judge Boardman said of the convict's mom affirming his gender identity.

His mom told the judge "I have attended PFLAG meetings and learned about the LgBTQ+ community. I am committed to going on this journey with Sophie."

Kavanaugh's family did not speak but looked pained.

Brent Scher
@BrentScher

22m
This is insane. The judge referred to Nicholas Roske as a woman and admitted in court that him claiming to be transgender got him a better sentence.

He tried to murder a Supreme Court justice! Only got 8 years!

Impeach this cocksucker -- and that's the moderate position.

And of course the degenerate Transgender Media is pushing the lie that this man's name is "Sophie:"

Posted by: Ace at 06:05 PM | Comments (222) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Week in Woke

C3
@C_3C_3

SPLC is the targeting wing of the Democrat party.

Soros is the financial wing of the Democrat party.

Antifa is the military wing of the Democrat party.

Legacy Media is the propaganda wing of the Democrat party.

Simple.

Of course: Communist Zohran Mamdani plans to do what all communists do eventually -- impose "equality" on people who are not equal. He'll end Gifted and Talented programs in NYC, because communists cannot bear that some people might have more academic potential than others.

Democratic socialist and mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani wants to undo the Gifted and Talented program for young New York City school kids -- the latest move to revert to ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio's era.

Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor, told the New York Times that he would eliminate the program at the kindergarten level in a move that is likely to anger parents, who have been passionately divided on the issue.

The gifted classes would remain active through the school year, but would no longer be available next fall, according to the report.

The proposal by the mayoral hopeful would be the first step in phasing out the gifted program across all elementary schools -- a controversial change inside the Department of Education made by de Blasio on his way out the door in 2021.

"I will return to the previous policy," Mamdani told the outlet in a statement. "Ultimately, my administration would aim to make sure that every child receives a high-quality early education that nurtures their curiosity and learning."

The next step is to end NYC's competitive-admissions public "magnet schools," which keep the comfortable-but-not-rich in the city, because the city's private schools are hugely expensive. That was on diBlasio's chopping block too.

And that will drive the comfortable-but-not-rich middle class out of NYC once and for all.

Harrison Bergeron is a How-To Book.

Proof that AI is exclusively "trained" on far-left media and social media: The tech monopolists' chatbots all claim that Charlie Kirk was assassinated by a far-right extremist. Alannah Goodman for Free Beacon:

'It Was a Fatal Right-Wing Terrorist Incident': AI Chatbot Giants Claim Charlie Kirk's Killer Was Right-Wing but Say Left-Wing Violence Is 'Exceptionally Rare'

This is despite the documented fact that Kirk's killer, Tyler Robinson, referred to him as a 'fascist' on an unused bullet and said he targeted the conservative commentator because 'some hate can't be negotiated out'

The major AI platforms--which have emerged as significant American news sources--describe Charlie Kirk's assassination as motivated by "right-wing ideology" and downplay left-wing violence as "exceptionally rare," according to a Washington Free Beacon analysis.

When asked to name a "recent assassination in the U.S. motivated by right-wing ideology," multiple AI chatbots--powered by OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and Perplexity--listed Kirk's murder as the main example. Chatbots are tools where everyday news consumers ask questions and receive authoritative answers or fully written articles explaining a news story.

Gemini's chatbot made the provably false statement that the "assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September 2025 has been identified by some researchers as the only fatal right-wing terrorist incident in the U.S. during the first half of 2025."

The chatbots' inaccurate consensus that Kirk was killed by a right-wing assassin comes as the AI platforms are increasingly a primary news source for younger American news consumers. Traffic to news publishers from Google searches have plummeted in the last year as more news consumers turn to AI-powered searches. Often these search results contain limited citations, or the citations are hard to find and incomplete. The AI chatbots glean their information by training on, or crawling, mainstream media sources that often lean left.

A recent Free Beacon analysis found Al Jazeera, the virulently anti-Israel news source controlled by the Hamas-friendly State of Qatar, was one of the two most popular sources used by the AI chatbots for queries about the Israel-Hamas war. At the same time, the chatbots said they did not use overtly pro-Israel publications.

Angry incompetent lesbian Randi Weingarten continues inciting violence against normal people by branding us all as "fascists," even in the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination. Cory DeAngelis for the NYPost:

For many Americans, the Sept. 10 assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk sparked some sober reflection on the inflammatory rhetoric that has poisoned our political discourse.

For Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, it was a chance to kick that rhetoric up a notch.

Weingarten barreled full speed ahead with the launch of her new book, "Why Fascists Fear Teachers," within days of the tragedy.

From its opening lines invoking Adolf Hitler, Weingarten's tome equates her political opponents with history's greatest evils, smearing President Donald Trump and others as "fascists."

It's frighteningly similar to the language used by Tyler Robinson, Kirk's alleged killer, who wrote he'd "had enough of [Kirk's] hatred" and believed "some hate can't be negotiated out."

One bullet casing at the scene allegedly bore the inscription "Hey fascist! Catch!"

Yet there was Weingarten, fanning the flames by branding conservatives as fascists -- essentially suggesting that fellow Americans are "literally Hitler."

And she's hardly alone.

In the days after Kirk's murder Todd Wolfson, a vice president at Weingarten's union and president of the American Association of University Professors, ranted on social media that "Trump is the enemy" and equated presidential adviser Stephen Miller -- who is Jewish -- to chief Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.

"The assassin was a disturbed right wing kid, influenced by Nick Fuentes, that likely murdered Kirk because he was not right wing enough," Wolfson declared on Facebook long after it was clear the opposite was true.

The rot runs deep in the teachers' unions, and it starts at the very top.

Hundreds of so-called educators publicly rejoiced in Kirk's politically motivated assassination, posting gleeful messages that crossed every line of decency.

When parents and others objected, union officials dismissed the backlash as "baseless online smear campaigns."

The Texas affiliate of Weingarten's AFT emailed members pledging to "vigorously defend" teachers "targeted" for celebrating Kirk's death online, and Weingarten herself issued a formal statement defending these teachers' "free speech."

Sure, they have the right to spew whatever venom they want on their own time -- but employers have freedom of association, too, and taxpayers shouldn't be forced to subsidize these individuals to indoctrinate impressionable minds with sick, divisive rhetoric.

This inability to read the room -- to tone it down even after Robinson's heinous act -- is emblematic of the unions' broader messaging.

Rather than simply condemning unseemly celebrations and taking responsibility for their members' words, educators are deflecting by portraying themselves as perpetual victims.

This year, the AFT passed a resolution aimed at "protecting public education from right-wing extremism."

J Michael Waller
@JMichaelWaller

Any time you hear someone say that America is fascist, or our president is a fascist, or the cops are fascist, you are hearing a narrative nearly a century old.

Stalin's USSR started that narrative nearly a century ago. The Communist Party USA obediently followed.

Court-sanctioned liar and Husky Huckster Michael Mann has stepped down, under pressure, from his former position of Vice Provost for Climate " " " Science " " " at UPenn, acknowledging that he is now just an angry left-wing partisan and he doesn't want to give that gig up.

Chris Martz
@ChrisMartzWX

Interesting development.

Climate scientist Dr. Michael Mann has resigned his position as the Vice Provost for Climate Science, Policy, and Action ("VPC") at @UPenn
.

This presumably comes after pushback he received for his comments and tone-deaf reposts on social media following Charlie Kirk's assassination a couple of weeks ago, although UPenn officials maintain that Mann's decision to step down was entirely his decision.

However, Mann wrote on his website,

So, that hints otherwise.

Mann remains a distinguished professor and Director of UPenn's Center for Science, Sustainability & the Media.

Here are a few of the Fart Huffer's own comments, and this doesn't include whatever vicious stupidities he retweeted with the élan of a fat man floating through the air as he sniffs the air for a freshly baked pie.

Mann's comments on social media -- including reposting a message that called Kirk "the head of Trump's Hitler Youth" -- faced backlash from prominent conservative pundits and social media commentators, including Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.). The posts have since been deleted.

McCormick's remarks came following a post by Mann that read, "The white on white violence has gotten out of hand." Mann also reposted several posts from other users criticizing Ezra Klein's New York Times column on the event, which was titled "Charlie Kirk Was Practicing Politics the Right Way."

"This is despicable behavior," McCormick wrote on X. "This dangerous rhetoric cannot and will not be tolerated. I unequivocally condemn this behavior and demand UPenn to take immediate, decisive action."

Oh boo hoo hoo: When young, liberal women say they'll never date a conservative man, by which I mean a heterosexual man.

As they get older and more desperate, they become more open to dating an icky conservative interested in sex with women.

But here's the wonderful catch: As conservative men get older, they become less and less interested in dating a liberal.

In other words: As conservative men get older and want more than sex with a friend with benefits, they turn away from promiscuous liberal women and become more and more interested in wife/mother material and less interested in blue-hair nosering basketcases.

The study found that, generally, as liberal women age, they become more open to dating a conservative man. However, their openness with age might all be for nothing.

According to the study, as conservative men get older, they actually become less open to dating a liberal.

Zach Goldberg
@ZachG932

Sep 25

8/As it happens, when further broken down by ideological orientation, we observe some evidence that young unmarried female liberal respondents disproportionately drive the difference.
For instance, 64% of young liberal women are opposed and just 12% are willing to date across political lines----rates that are higher and lower, respectively, than any other group (though the small sample sizes for some of these subgroups----e.g. just 15 young male conservative respondents----do warrant some interpretive caution).

9/ More generally, ideological orientation emerges as the most potent predictor of tolerance in our data. As shown below, for each factor tolerance tends to fall at the extremes: 'Very Liberal' and 'Very Conservative' respondents are less tolerant than their 'somewhat' and moderate counterparts. With this being said, liberal respondents are, overall, significantly less willing to engage with people of opposing political views than their conservative peers.

10/ One particularly striking pattern emerges among Very Liberal respondents: they are significantly more willing to engage with ex-felons than political opponents on average, especially when it comes to more intimate contexts.

For example, whereas 29% of very liberals would be willing to date an ex-felon, just 13% would be willing to date someone with opposing political views. Among Very Conservative respondents, the pattern is reversed: 25% say they would date across party lines, while just 10% would date an ex-felon. Fully 67% say they are unwilling to date someone with a criminal history, compared to 46% unwilling to date across political lines.

The thread describing the poll's findings with lots of Pie Graphs is here. Bear in mind I'm a terrible cook so my idea of a "pie graph" may not resemble yours.

Posted by: Ace at 05:00 PM | Comments (360) | Trackbacks (Suck)

In Portland, Anti-ICE/Antifa Rioters Attack Conservative Journalist Nick Sortor;
The Portland Police Arrest Sortor and Leave the Antifa Rioters Free

Trump must declare a state of insurrection and assume control over all of Oregon's police forces.

This is Civil War.

Posted by: Ace at 03:45 PM | Comments (449) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Democrat-Antifa-Media Party Ramps Up Lies to Conceal Their Agenda of Paying Illegals to Come Here and Vote for Them

Elizabeth Warren insists it's "flat-out lie" to say the truth: The Democrat-Antifa-Media Party wants to reverse the part of the Big Beautiful Bill which ends "emergency" payments to hospitals to pay for the health care of illegal aliens.

It's right in their bill. It says so. They're repealing that (or would if they could).

The lie they've settled on goes like this: First they claim that we're saying we're ending the Obamacare subsidies for illegal aliens. Uh, no one's saying that. People did say that a few times before they had the details right, but they're not saying it now.

So they keep saying we're saying that they want to pay for Obamacare for illegal aliens, and they say that's a lie.

But we're not saying that. We're saying that the Big Beautiful Bill ended "emergency" Medicaid reimbursements to hospital for providing care for illegals. And they're demanding the repeal of that provision.

When you point that out, they start lying and claiming that you're saying they want Obamacare for illegals, even though you're specifically saying they want "emergency" Medicaid reimbursements for illegal aliens.

Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren shouted over "CBS Mornings" host Tony Dokoupil on Thursday as he confronted her on Democrats wanting to give healthcare to non-citizens.

Dokoupil pointed to the Democrats' counter-proposal to the Republicans' continuing resolution (CR), which Republicans said would have provided healthcare to some non-citizens that are no longer eligible for those benefits under President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill." A visibly frustrated Warren quickly interrupted Dokoupil to state that Republicans are blatantly lying about her party wanting to give healthcare to illegal immigrants.

"Republicans say what you're really fighting for is taxpayer dollars, as they put it, for illegal aliens. I know that's not strictly true, but there is a provision--" Dokoupil added.

"Excuse me, not strictly true. It is a flat-out lie. It is a flat-out lie!" Warren said. "There is nothing in Medicaid, there is nothing in Medicare that permits one undocumented immigrant to get one dollar of assistance. None, zero." (RELATED: JD Vance Tells Peter Doocy Government Shutdown Will Probably Not Last Too Long)

"Senator, if you would like me finish the question," Dokoupil said. "In the Democratic counter offer, the proposal for funding, there is a restoration for Medicaid benefits for certain non-citizens that had been taken away in the big, beautiful bill as Republicans put it. Republicans don't think those people should be getting healthcare on the taxpayers' dime, I'm not asking on the merits. Politically, putting that in there exposes you to this talking point, this lie as you put it. Why put it in there? Why is it worth it?"

Here's mustachioed villain Kaitlin Collins insisting it's a "lie" to say that Democrats want to restore Medicaid funding for illegal aliens' health care by saying "But they can't get Obamacare!"

We're not saying that, Magnum P.M.S. We're saying the Democrats want to restore Medicaid reimbursements for illegal's health care.

Posted by: Ace at 02:32 PM | Comments (420) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Left Wing Media Speculation: Manchester UK Synagogue Terrorist Is "White" and "Far Right"
Reality: Terrorist Is a Syrian Immigrant Named "Jihad al-Shamie"

Wow, what an unexpected plot twist. Not just that the Jew-hating terrorist turns out to be another fucking Islamist named "Jihad," but that the left-wing propaganda media spent another 24 hours lying about the identity of the suspect.

Pictures showed a balding man with olive skin a curly jet-black Madrassa beard. Obviously, a far-right Aryan type.

No one (who consumes left-wing propaganda) could have possibly seen this coming.

The suspect behind the deadly car and knife terror attack outside a synagogue in Manchester in the United Kingdom on Thursday has been identified by police as Jihad Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian descent.

No, he's an immigrant. Yes he got his citizenship in 2006... after immigrating.

Police said Al-Shamie entered the United Kingdom as a young child and became a citizen in 2006. He had no previous criminal record. Al-Shamie translates into English as "the Syrian," and authorities are unsure whether that is his birth name.

Jihad the Syrian. Perfect.

The Metropolitan Police in London declared the assault a terrorist attack. It came on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, as large crowds of worshipers gathered at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue, an Orthodox synagogue.

This one was so obvious they couldn't cover it up.

The attacker's exact motive is still being probed by police.

LOL, I spoke too soon. I guess they can cover it up.

Neighbors of the attacker in the Manchester suburb of Prestwich, a couple of miles from the synagogue, said Al-Shamie's family had lived in a house there for years. Several described seeing Al-Shamie lifting weights and working out in the backyard.

Geoff Halliwell, who lives nearby, told The Associated Press that he appeared to be "a straightforward, ordinary lad."

The AP coming at you with straight facts.

Al-Shamie is accused of ramming a car into pedestrians outside the synagogue at around 9:30 a.m. local time and then attacking them with a knife. He wore what appeared to be an explosives belt, which was found to be fake.

Armed police declared a major incident and opened fire minutes later, killing the suspect.

In an update, police said that Al-Shamie was not armed and that one of the deceased victims suffered a gunshot wound likely from police gunfire during the response. One hospitalized victim also suffered a gunshot wound, police said.

The British police responded to an attack on a synagogue by shooting the Jews. Perfect. Exactly what we've come to expect from the colonized, conquered British.

...

Police arrested three people Thursday on suspicion of the preparation or commission of acts of terrorism. They are two men in their 30s and a woman in her 60s.

May their motives never be known.

Remember how, after every grisly Muslim terrorist attack on civilians, Jihadi Muslims pretended to be scared of "backlash" and minded their Ps and Qs for a couple of weeks?

Well they only do that before they conquer a country.

Once they've conquered it, they take to the streets to celebrate their latest murders and chant for the murders of more Jews.

Posted by: Ace at 01:20 PM | Comments (439) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Gallup: Trust In the Demonic Democrat-Antifa Media Hits All-Time Low; 70% of Public Has Little Or No Trust in the "Press"

Still too high.

The numbers are boosted by the older generation, of which 43% still say they trust the media. This accounts for the sudden shift of older people to the Democrats (or perhaps their shift to the Democrats accounts for their bizarre belief that Jake Tapper and Brian Stelter are giving them the straight news).

Americans' trust in the media has slumped to an all-time low, according to a Gallup survey released Thursday.

Nearly seven in ten Americans say they don't trust the press -- a finding underscored by recent controversies over coverage of the Charlie Kirk assassination and the murder of a Ukrainian on a light rail in North Carolina.

Just 28% of Americans say they have a "great deal" or "fair amount" of confidence in newspapers, television, and radio to report the news "fully, accurately and fairly" compared to 31% last year, according to a Gallup survey released Thursday. By contrast, 34% say they have no trust at all, and another 36% say they have "not very much" confidence.

Confidence in the media breaks sharply along party lines. Republican trust in the media has fallen to 8%, the first time it has dropped into single digits.

That 8% are Bulwark and Dispatch staffers. They are Paid to Believe.

Among Democrats, the numbers are down to 51% who have a great or fair amount of trust in the media. Only 9% say they have no trust. The Independents are more evenly divided, with 27% expressing trust and 32% reporting none at all.

...

Trust in the media also shows a clear generational divide that has widened over the past decade, according to three-year aggregated data. From 2023 to 2025, 43% of adults 65 and older said they trust the media, compared with no more than 28% in any younger age group, Gallup found.

...

Despite the growing trend of left-wing extremist violence, between Jan. 21 and June 21, news outlets such as CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS used labels such as "far right" 1,222 times compared with just 86 mentions of "far left" or similar labels, according to the Media Research Center.

Moreover, corporate media outlets largely ignored the stabbing death of 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, North Carolina, for several days, despite news of the brutal incident going viral on social media, a Daily Caller News Foundation review found in September. CNN also faced criticism for appearing to downplay anti-fascist messages found on ammunition near the site of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk's assassination, referring to the markings as "a range of phrases related to cultural issues."

Posted by: Ace at 12:09 PM | Comments (517) | Trackbacks (Suck)