Monday Overnight Open Thread - February 3, 2025 [Doof]

Howdy Hordelings, and a good Monday evening to you all! You have many choices when it comes to your late night hangout. We appreciate you making the wise decision of stopping by tonight's ONT!

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:56 PM | Comments (419) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Babadook Alarm Clock Cafe

Monster Rushmore

Beavering away through the new week.

Baby bears being cute. Out of control!

Dogs are excited to meet their new baby siblings.

This little puppy is punching way above his weight.

Doggie is smitten with her own looks and she should be!

Leopards chillin' in the pool.

Special effects work for Alien: Resurrection featuring a head prosthetic and a chest burster coming out of the forehead. Would be considered gory except it's obviously fake.

Repopulating Africa with elephants. They're very small in this video, though.

Cats getting caught being naughty and pretending they didn't do nuffin.

Dog gets caught chewing through a power cord but think hugs can fix everything, and he's right.

Cats being bothered by an energetic puppy.

I told you I wanted the fine china, Karen.

Dog has almost a Scooby-Doo level of speaking ability.

Horses are very good at maintaining formations.

ICYMI: Newborn giraffe tries to stand.

Dog understands he's gotten screwed.

Dogs meeting each other on the street.

Puppy enjoys his first blueberry.

ICYMI: Pretty Golden wants you to put her fairy-wings on.

Posted by: Ace at 07:30 PM | Comments (286) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Democrats Melt Down Now That Their $1.5 Trillion Slush Fund Has Been Put Under New Management

Daniel Greenfield - "Hang Together or Separately"
@Sultanknish

USAID spent $18.5 billion on Islamic terrorist states in the last 5 years

Including $3.7B for the Taliban

Over $2B for 'Palestinians'

$3.4B for Yemen as part of $8B for Iranian puppet regimes

$3.3B for Somalia

Was that good or bad for our national security?

Autism Capital

@AutismCapital

NEW: Senator Joni Ernst said that USAID had threatened her and her staff after she started looking into them. She was told she wasn't allowed to access their databases and that 30-40% of USAIDs money goes towards "overhead" of rent and salaries and entertainment expenses. She later found out that even that number was understated and it was actually upwards of 50-60%. @SenJoniErnstL

James O'Keefe caught a GS-14 federal "worker" -- fairly high-ranking -- openly bragging they ignore the actual elected civilian oversight and do whatever they want.

"The truth is, we don't let them [secretaries] get in our way," admits Brandon Wright, Platform Services Manager for the Department of Homeland Security (@DHSgov
), on hidden camera, to an undercover @OKeefeMedia
Journalist. Drawing an analogy to a septic tank, Wright described the multi-layered bureaucracy within DHS: "There's a lot of layers, like [in] government... By the time the actual marching orders get to me and below, we can filter it in a way that steadies the ship."

"If we don't agree with those priorities," he said, noting executing orders often involves deceptively construing priorities set by political appointees to make them more practical and less disruptive, adding, "there's a lot of room for interpretation."

When discussing @KristiNoem
's role as the Trump-appointed DHS Secretary, Wright didn't mince words on his opinions over Noem's qualifications for the position. "Kristi Noem doesn't know... She doesn't know her ass," he remarked, adding, "The Department of Homeland Security could fall on her f*cking head, and she wouldn't recognize what it is."

Wright also admitted his personal dislike of her leadership style, adding, "To say that I am not excited about this would be the most epic understatement."

The Department of Homeland Security provided the following statement to O'Keefe Media Group:

"Secretary Noem has not seen the video in its entirety. This type of behavior will not be tolerated. This person has been placed on leave and is under investigation ... The senior official says the termination of the official is imminent."

The Democrats are angrily demanding that taxpayers continue paying for their grift.

Schumer: If they shut down our USAID grift, next they might shut down our IRS and "intelligence" community grifts.

Ilhan "Omar" Nur, who defrauded the US immigration system and who is not a US citizen and illegally holds her Congressional seat: Keep the USAID grift coming, USAID "saved my life."

DEFUND!

Paul A. Szypula
@Bubblebathgirl

Ilhan Omar supports USAID because almost $2.3 billion of our tax dollars were wasted on Somalia. Omar swore allegiance to Somalia over America.

She said, "I am here to protect the interests of Somalia from within the US system."

This violates Omar's oath to Congress and the US.

Senator Chris Murphy: USAID funds "freedom fighters" around the world. Thanks for admitting it's a CIA front group that uses taxpayer monies to attempt coups that the public has never approved or even been apprised of.

I think Michael Shellenberger pointed out that the left has attacked USAID as a CIA front group destabilizing third-world regimes for 60 years. Now they're praising it for just that.

Marco Rubio: "I am the acting director of USAID." Damn straight, Rubio!

Charlie Kirk
@charliekirk11

Secretary of State Marco Rubio just absolutely RIPPED the deep state slush fund known as USAID:

"I am the acting director of USAID."

"My frustrations with USAID goes back to my time in Congress. It's a completely unresponsive agency, it's supposed to respond to policy directives of the state department and it refuses to do so."

"Every dollar we spend will be aligned with the national interest of the United States. USAID has a history of ignoring that and deciding that they're a global charity. These are not donor dollars, these are taxpayer dollars."

Here's USAID's Chief Homosexual.

Just general gooner behavior.

This little bitch:

Posted by: Ace at 06:25 PM | Comments (457) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Get Ready for a Shock: Masculine Manly-Man and Fiercely Proud Heterosexual Justin Trudeau Cucks Out

zerohedge
@zerohedge

Canada gets Mexican treatment

*TRUDEAU: NEARLY 10,000 TROOPS TO PROTECT BORDER

*TRUDEAU: DELAY IN US TARIFFS FOR 30 DAYS

Trump should demand that Trudeau take down his pants and let him f*** him up the ass on international television.

Not in a gay way, mind you. But rather -- LIKE A VIKING.

You need an enemy to really know and feel he's been defeated.

President Donald Trump on Monday agreed to pause the implementation of planned tariffs on imports from Canada for at least 30 days, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.

The pause was announced in a tweet by Trudeau hours after Trump and Mexico's president said Trump would pause for one month planned tariffs on imports from Mexico.

Trump on Saturday said he would impose 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada, and 10% tariffs on goods imported from China. Trump had also planned to impose a 10% tariff on energy resources from Canada.

Trudeau in his tweet said, "I just had a good call with President Trump," and suggested that the pause on tariffs was in response to Canada's agreement to target the flow of the deadly opioid fentanyl across the border into the United States.

Trump's pause on tariffs on Mexican imports likewise came after Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said she would immediately send 10,000 soldiers to the U.S. border to prevent drug trafficking, fentanyl in particular, from Mexico.

Trudeau said Canada had made new commitments "to appoint a Fentanyl Czar," among other measures.

"Proposed tariffs will be paused for at least 30 days while we work together," Trudeau wrote.

Posted by: Ace at 05:20 PM | Comments (523) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Trump Shuts Down the CIA/State Department/Obama Slush Fund "USAID"

Michael Shellenberger on the Marxist funding pool:

President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and their Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are undermining democracy and national security by taking over the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), say Democrats and the media. "This is a five alarm fire," wrote Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on X. "The people elected Donald Trump to be President - not Elon Musk. Having an unelected billionaire, with his own foreign debts and motives, raiding US classified information is a grave threat to national security." ABC News described USAID as in a state of "on-going turmoil" and in "chaos." A senior USAID executive told ABC, "The warp-speed of this mafia-like takeover has shaken USAID staff to the core."

...

[A]ll Trump has done is put his people in charge of USAID, paused its grants, and shut down the organization's communications. When asked about USAID yesterday, he said, "It's been run by a bunch of radical lunatics and we're getting them out... and then we'll make a decision." If the courts were to find that Trump dissolved USAID in violation of the law, the evidence suggests that he would obey the court ruling, as he did with every order he received between 2017 and 2021. And if USAID was funding worthwhile activities, they can be re-funded in the future.

What's more, researchers have caught USAID abusing its powers, including by funding everything from censorship to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), which may have done research that resulted in the Covid pandemic. Between 2004 and 2022, USAID was the largest US government funder of EcoHealth Alliance, which sub-awarded grant funding to WIV. USAID gave EcoHealth Alliance $54 million during that period, which was more even than the $42 million the group received from the Pentagon.

Samantha Powers, the USAID Director under President Barack Obama, evaded questions about what USAID with the WIV, alleged Senator Rand Paul in 2023. "Some of the research proposals in 2018 were the Wuhan Institute of Virology asking for money to create a... SARS-like coronavirus with a furin cleavage site," said Paul. "That's exactly what COVID-19 turned out to be."

Paul accused Powers of withholding information. "We want to know if there were other research proposals you either granted or denied that were in the same vein as creating viruses that could have become COVID-19. We can't tell because you won't give us information... I now have 25 Senators that have sent you a letter, and you aren't responding... You are being dishonest."

Evidence of USAID withholding information from Congress is sufficient justification for Trump to remove the agency's leadership and pause funding. After all, USAID may be currently funding dangerous research and not informing Congress.

Shellenberger writes that USAID is the main engine of "Regime Change" abroad -- as well as Regime Change in America.

USAID has the distinction of being both a "deep state" agency, involved in covert actions aimed at destabilizing foreign governments, and one of the main US government agencies that comprise the foreign policy establishment, which many on both the Left and Right refer to as "The Blob," because it is comprised of amorphous shape-shifting and self-perpetuating imperialistic elite, like the famous gelatinous alien in the 1958 science fiction movie by the same name.

A few hours after USAID's website went dark, Nayib Bukele, the President of El Salvador, wrote on X, "Most governments don't want USAID funds flowing into their countries because they understand where much of that money actually ends up. While marketed as support for development, democracy, and human rights, the majority of these funds are funneled into opposition groups, NGOs with political agendas, and destabilizing movements. At best, maybe 10% of the money reaches real projects that help people in need (there are such cases), but the rest is used to fuel dissent, finance protests, and undermine administrations that refuse to align with the globalist agenda. Cutting this so-called aid isn't just beneficial for the United States; it's also a big win for the rest of the world."

...

USAID is among other US government organizations that have promoted regime change abroad, including the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Even "To its proponents," notes the Washington Post, "USAID is an indispensable arm of U.S. foreign policy" that spends $40 billion per year to influence politics in 130 nations.

The money is ostensibly used for things like helping refugees but, as Jacobin and Chomsky noted, that money is always highly strategic and aimed at influencing politics. It's worth considering that many of the defenders of USAID operate as ostensibly normal charities. USAID is "a national security tool kit," said Konyndyk, the president of Refugees International.

As part of US government efforts to overthrow governments abroad, or simply influence what they do, USAID has in recent years been funding censorship advocacy worldwide through its "Countering Disinformation" program, which is part of its Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS). This work has included funding for so-called "fact-checking" organizations, including in Brazil, which governments use as a predicate for demanding censorship by social media companies.

The USAID program lays out its strategy, which is to fund ostensibly "civil society" organizations to pressure social media companies like Facebook and X to censor more, and to conduct "fact-checking." USAID also promoted pressuring advertisers to demand more censorship from social media companies, notes Foundation for Freedom Online founder Mike Benz.

The agency promoted "prebunking," like the kind used by Aspen Institute to program journalists and social media companies to censor the Hunter Biden laptop, as well as "strategic silence," which is similar to what Aspen promoted to journalists in the summer of 2020 before the New York Post published its first story about the laptop. USAID has funded the Aspen Institute in the past.

...

Censorship advocate Nina Jankowicz, who was briefly the head of the Department of Homeland Security's "Disinformation Governance Board," posted a defense of USAID on the social media platform BlueSky yesterday. Shortly after, Benz noted that USAID is one of her funders.

Benz also pointed to USAID funding for a group called "Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project" (OCCRP), which investigated Rudy Giuliani, and whose work was cited in a letter written by a CIA agent, resulting in the impeachment of Donald Trump. In a documentary, OCCRP admitted that USAID must approve of its senior employees, which shows that OCCRP is not editorially independent of the US government. The US government was OCCRP's first and largest donor. And OCCRP's head says his organization's reporting resulted in regime change in five to six nations.

And, Benz noted, USAID funded the Atlantic Council, which was part of the Censorship Industrial Complex that demanded censorship of disfavored election and Covid information in 2020 and 2021.

...

And, according to a new CNN story today, USAID officials appear to have attempted to "circumvent Trump's executive order to freeze foreign aid for 90 days." The Trump administration put "Around 60 senior USAID staff... on leave last week" and "Another senior official was put on leave for trying to reverse that move." Said Musk last night, "We don't have "an apple with a worm in it. We have a ball of worms... USAID is a ball of worms."

So why did Trump and Musk take such aggressive action against USAID? Part of the reason may be that it is a funder of the Censorship Industrial Complex, which targeted Trump and his supporters and which Musk exposed through the Twitter Files. Another part of the reason is that USAID is an instrument of US empire, and voters elected Trump to pursue "America First" over global commitments.

I excerpted a lot there, so let me propose that if you liked that, you should pay the $5/month or whatever it is for his substack. It's definitely worth it.

Speaking of Stanky Janky, this is the kind of censor and psychological operations officer against the populace of the United States that USAID was funding:

Adding fuel to the firestorm as the fact that [the so-called Disinformation Governance Board]'s director, Nina Jankowicz, had repeatedly cast doubt on The Post's reporting about former first son Hunter Biden's laptop.

Then-DHS Secretary Alejandro Majorkas quietly discontinued the board weeks after it was announced, leaving Jankowicz to find other employment as the head of a nonprofit that as of April 2024 was insisting that Russia had "interfered in our democracy" during the 2016 election.

Note that the Orwellian "Disinformation Governance Board" was funded and part of the DHS, but this is the kind of censor USAID and all the illegal censorship NGOs are funding -- anti-American, anti-democracy, catspaws of the transnational transgressive "elite."

But also note that since she was forced to step down as Biden's Top Censor, she is currently funded by USAID.

Posted by: Ace at 04:10 PM | Comments (527) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Leaked John Brennan Email About the "51 Intelligence Liars" Letter: Emails States The Point of the Letter Was to Give Biden a "Talking Point" To "Push Back" Against The Truth

Benny Johnson
@bennyjohnson

President Trump's the Deep State BLOODBATH in the past 24 hours:

- All federal prosecutors handling January 6th cases fired, computers locked and marched out of their offices by security.

- David Sundberg, the FBI Assistant Director at the helm of the January 6th investigations, has been fired.

- 20 leaders of FBI field offices have been escorted out of FBI buildings around the country

- The 51 intelligence officers who spread misinformation about Hunter Biden's laptop and interfered in elections are now banned from entering federal properties.

- Federal employees are now required to return to the office, with non-compliance leading to termination.

- John Bolton and John Brennan have been permanently banned from government buildings.

- Jarold Harold Rogers has been indicted for compromising U.S. trade secrets to China

- Ban on all use of pronouns in government communications

- All 2 million Feds sent a resignation offer

This purge marks the beginning of the end for the corrupt tyrants in Washington.

11 days in and the swamp has been drained.

Well not yet, but it's a good start.

Posted by: Ace at 03:14 PM | Comments (428) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Illegal Aliens Waving Foreign Flags Block American Highways in Los Angeles

The first thing an invading army does is to seize major roadways.

A massive protest formed in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday in response to President Trump's crackdown on immigration and emphasis on deportations, where protestors were on and off the 101 Freeway and on surface streets well into the evening.

The protest, which was organized and promoted on social media, originated on the Placita Olvera on Olvera Street near DTLA.

...

The moving protest caused "major gridlock" on both sides of the 101, as well as Spring, Main and Los Angeles streets downtown, according to the LAPD.

Both sides of the 101 were reopened by 1:20 p.m. as the demonstrations moved back onto surface streets, the LAPD said, but the reopening didn't last long. Minutes later, the LAPD said the 101 was closed once again, this time at Los Angeles Street.

Ian Jaeger
@IanJaeger29

BREAKING: Rep. Mike Collins is introducing legislation to make blocking a highway intentionally a federal crime.

This comes after protesters blocked a highway today in Los Angeles.

Definitely. If the Democrats want to block this law -- and if Collins, Murkowski, and McConnell want to join them -- fine. Let's get it on the record.

Posted by: Ace at 02:10 PM | Comments (490) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Panama Caves; Will Stop Ceding Canal Privilges and Authorities to China

Speak Dondi and carry a big stick.

Panama's president vowed Sunday to end a key development deal with China after meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and after complaints from President Donald Trump that the Latin American country had ceded control over its critical shipping canal to Beijing.

José Raúl Mulino, Panama's president, said his nation's sovereignty over the 51-mile waterway, which connects the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, will remain unchanged. But he said he would not renew a 2017 memorandum of understanding to join China's Belt and Road global development initiative and that Panama would instead look to work more closely with the U.S.

"I think this visit opens the door to build new relations ... and try to increase as much as possible U.S. investments in Panama," Mulino told reporters after meeting with Rubio on his first international trip since being confirmed.

Rubio, who was a senator representing Florida before Trump tapped him to be America's top diplomat, said his team is ready to push the U.S. agenda.

"Had the pleasure of meeting the incredible @USEmbPAN team during my first embassy meet and greet in my new role as Secretary of State!" Rubio wrote in a post on X. "Thankful for their dedication and ongoing efforts to promoting President Trump's vision of an America First foreign policy."

During his visit, Rubio wrote in a post on X that "the United States cannot, and will not, allow the Chinese Communist Party to continue with its effective and growing control over the Panama Canal area."

Ric Grennell also got the communist dictatorship of Venezuela to release six American hostages -- if you don't know about them, it's because Regime media covered up for Biden -- and to agree to take back their criminal citizens, including those of the Tren de Aragua prison gang.

Venezuela has agreed to take back its violent criminal migrants nabbed in the US -- including members of the Tren de Aragua gang wreaking havoc on the Big Apple and other cities, President Trump says.

"We are in the process of removing record numbers of illegal aliens from all countries, and all countries have agreed to accept these illegal aliens back," the president wrote on Truth Social on Saturday.

"Venezuela has agreed to receive, back into their country, all Venezuela illegal aliens who were encamped in the U.S., including gang members of Tren de Aragua," Trump said.

The announcement comes on the heels for a meeting between US enjoy Richard Grenell and Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro on Friday -- with Grenell returning to the US with six American citizens who had been detained in the South American country.

The Trump administration insisted that the visit does not signal US recognition of Maduro's iron-fisted rule, nor did the White House offer any concessions to Venezuela as a result of the migrant arrangement.

Meanwhile: Begun, the tariff wars have.

President Donald Trump defended his recent tariffs against Canada, Mexico and China while speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Sunday night -- and hinted that the European Union may suffer a similar fate.

The tariffs, which were authorized in an executive order on Saturday, will go into effect Tuesday. Under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a 25% additional tariff will be levied on imports from Canada and Mexico, and a 10% tariff on imports from China.

In the executive order, Trump said that the tariffs stem from an "extraordinary threat posed by illegal aliens and drugs, including deadly fentanyl, [that] constitutes a national emergency."

The tariffs have invited international criticism from leaders and citizens alike in Canada and Mexico. During his exchange with reporters on Sunday evening, Trump accused Canada of being "abusive" toward the U.S. in terms of trade.

"Canada has been very abusive of the United States for many years. They don't allow our banks," Trump claimed. "And you know that Canada does not allow banks to go in, if you think about it. That's pretty amazing. If we have a U.S. bank, they don't allow them to go in."

"Canada has been very tough for oil on energy. They don't allow our farm products in, essentially. They don't allow a lot of things in. And we allow everything to come in as being a one-way street."

Trump also claimed that the U.S. subsidizes Canada "by the tune of about $200 billion a year."

"And for what? What do we get out of it? We don't get anything out of it," he added. "I love the people of Canada. I disagree with the leadership of Canada and something is going to happen there."

The Republican leader also said that he will "definitely" impose tariffs against the European Union, which he said the U.S. has a $300 billion trade deficit with.

"They don't take our cars, they don't take our farm products, they take almost nothing," Trump said. "And we take everything from them. Millions of cars, tremendous amounts of food and farm products. So the UK is way out of line and we'll see the UK, but the European Union is really out of line."

Update! Now Mexico backs down.

On Sunday, Donald Trump followed through with his threat to implement a 25 percent tariff on Mexico and Canada, and it only took one day for Mexico to bend the knee.

Following a phone call between President Donald Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, the latter announced a series of concessions. In her statement, she agreed to surge 10,000 Mexican National Guard soldiers to the border to combat fentanyl trafficking, with the United States agreeing to pause the tariffs for one month to ensure Sheinbaum follows through.

Posted by: Ace at 01:10 PM | Comments (609) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Democrats Elect Gun-Grabbing, ICE-Defunding Twink David Hogg as Vice Chair of the DNC

Perfect. Absolutely perfect.

Happy Monday. Are you ready for some more winning?

Good.

Then let's proceed.

Newly elected Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg has previously called on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be abolished and for the defunding of police.

"Defund the police not USPS," Hogg, who first entered the national spotlight after surviving the 2018 Parkland, Florida, school shooting, said in an X post on Aug. 15, 2020.

"Abolish ICE," Hogg said in a different post two weeks earlier.

The posts, which were made more than two years after Hogg survived the Florida school shooting, came as he became increasingly involved in political activism, most notably by his staunch advocacy for stricter gun laws.

Hogg has also made controversial posts on other topics, including a January 2021 call to declare the NRA a "terrorist organization."

"The NRA needs to be designated a terrorist organization for the role their supporters played in staging an insurrectionist coup," Hogg said in the post.

Hogg also made posts about climate change and incorrectly predicted the outcome of the 2024 election.

"Unlike Covid there is no vaccine for climate change once we start feeling the impacts we can just implement and survive. There is only one solution -- prevention," Hogg said in in one post.

"If this election is a match up between Taylor Swift and Ted Nugent I think it's safe to say I've seen enough -- Biden wins the 2024 election," Hogg said before former President Joe Biden made the decision to drop out of the 2024 race.

Now just 24 years old, Hogg took to social media early Sunday to celebrate his election to leadership within the DNC.

"I've just been elected as a Vice Chair of the DNC. I'm deeply grateful to the members for their trust and belief in me and I don't take it lightly. Now it's time to get to work," Hogg said in a post on X, going on to promise a "Democratic Party that is authentic, relatable, earns people's trust, and wins again."

The whole committee election was a shit show.

Amid the hours-long vote and gathering of Democrats on Saturday in Maryland, former DNC chief Harrison announced that the elections must be gender-balanced, including when a non-binary candidate is in the running, sparking condemnation from conservatives.

"We have an amazing group of new officers. So far, as you know, our three at large vice chair positions are used to ensure gender balance among seven offices: treasury secretary, national finance chair and vice chair for civic engagement and voter participation and the three at large vice chairs. Our rules specify that when we have a non-binary candidate or officer, the non-binary individual is counted as neither male nor female, and the remaining six offices must be gender balanced with the results of the previous four elections. Our elected officers are currently two male and two female. In order to be gender balanced... we must elect one male, one female, and one person of any gender."

Before the election kicked off on Saturday, the eight candidates had traveled to Georgetown University for a forum co-hosted by MSNBC on Thursday, where they declared "racism and misogyny" compounded former Vice President Kamala Harris' election loss.

"So, I'm going to have a show of hands. How many of you believe that racism and misogyny played a role in Vice President Harris' defeat?" MSNBC's Jonathan Capehart asked the eight candidates.

Former DNC Chairman Jamie Harrison, left, stands next to Ken Martin, who reacts after being elected the new chairman at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

"That's good. You all passed," Capehart said after all candidates raised their hands in agreement.

Republican lawmakers and pundits pounced on clips of the exchange, including Sen. Tommy Tubervile, R-Ala., who quipped that the GOP will expand its majority in the midterms.

with Strong Black Women demanding that everyone shut up and listen because, and I quote, "A black woman is speaking."

Kamala Harris did this too with her "I am speaking" pronouncements, but she didn't expressly say she was owed attention because she was a black woman. It was strongly implied, but not said.

They're all saying it now, though.

Posted by: Ace at 12:02 PM | Comments (561) | Trackbacks (Suck)

THE MORNING RANT: New Transportation Secretary Issues Order Directing NHTSA to Rescind or Replace Existing Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standards

The all-fronts assault by the Trump administration against the entrenched bureaucracy continues, as the nation’s duly elected Chief Executive seeks to wrest control of our government from the unelected cabal that has been running this country through regulatory diktat.

Buried amidst all the headlines and Executive Orders this past week was a major announcement that is decades overdue. The first act of the newly sworn-in Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, was an order for his department to rescind or replace all existing automotive Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards.

The CAFE regulations have been a destructive, market-distorting imposition on the auto industry, with various unintended consequences, from pushing consumers out of wagons and into SUVs, to killing off small pickup trucks. The intent of CAFE, of course, was initially to deny consumers the right to drive anything but tiny econo-boxes, and it has morphed into an effort to push consumers into EVs.

“US DoT issues order to “rescind or replace” CAFE standards” [Automotive News – 01/30/2025]

As expected, US regulators are moving to roll back fuel economy standards on new vehicles following Trump’s assumption of office.

[Duffy’s] first official act was to sign a memorandum directing staff to start the process of resetting Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. It specifically directs the Office of the General Counsel, the Office of the Undersecretary for Policy, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to immediately initiate rulemaking “to rescind or replace all existing CAFE standards.”

The rules currently in place require a 2% improvement in fuel economy every year for all passenger cars and light trucks between model years (MY) 2027 and 2031. By MY2031, the final standard would require 50.4mpg.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s Memo dated 01/28/2025 and titled “Fixing the CAFE Program”
is at this link. Here are some highlights:

I hereby direct NHTSA to commence an immediate review and reconsideration of all existing fuel economy standards applicable to all models of motor vehicles…”

And I direct NHTSA to propose the rescission or replacement of any fuel economy standards as determined necessary to bring the CAFE program into compliance with Administration policy and the requirement of the law.

These fuel economy standards are set at such aggressive levels that automakers cannot, as a practical matter, satisfy the standards without rapidly shifting production away from internal-combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to alternative electric technologies.

Concurrently, there is great news over at the Environmental Protection Agency, where Lee Zeldin has just been confirmed as its new Administrator, a Cabinet level position. The EPA has long since transitioned from being an entity focused on clean air and water into a powerful and punitive force seeking to impose the radical anti-carbon agenda.

Things are about to change at the EPA. This will also allow auto manufacturers to focus on actual customer demand rather than making products demanded by climate communists at government regulatory agencies.

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM | Comments (431) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Mid-Morning Art Thread

Red Lodge Horses
Theodore Waddell

And below the fold is a photo that I took of this piece.

*

Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM | Comments (492) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Morning Report — 2/3/25

Good morning kids. So, evidently there were mass protests against the roundup of illegal alien criminal invaders. Hopefully Law enforcement should've arrested the bastards (or clubbed the shit out of them) since, from what I can gather, their protests included blocking traffic, causing mass disturbance of the peace and possible interference with law enforcement carrying out its duties. The J-6 protesters, who were lured into the Capitol were thrown in the slammer to rot on the pretext of rioting and insurrection. The miscreants who were protesting over the weekend most likely in the main were illegal alien invaders themselves. Funny how they drape themselves in Mexican and other foreign flags while shrieking about whatever the hell it is they're shrieking about. Ironically enough, most legitimate citizens of these cities are cheering the roundup and removal of the illegal aliens and venting their anger at their politicians in the Democrat party for shilling the invaders in the first place.

The erased border and the disaster of millions of foreigners flooding in is a major reason why Trump won an unqualified landslide last November, garnering if not significant than for sure not insignificant support from key Democrat constituencies or at the very least, kept them away from supporting the Democrats.

There are several links in the politics section regarding the seeming implosion of the Democrat party and their far from rosy future prospects at least in the short run. While Skeletor Carville correctly frets about the embrace of Wokeness, what does the the DNC go and do? Crown two of the most raving lunatic lefties you can imagine to lead the party.

On Saturday, I wrote . . .about their selection of far-left Trump hater Ken Martin as the new chair of the Democratic National Committee, but one of the DNC vice chairs makes Martin look as if he walks around wearing a MAGA hat. The Dems have chosen as one of their primary front beings none other than David Hogg, the arrogant and self-infatuated young far-leftist who shot to fame in 2018 after being inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida when a deranged former student murdered seventeen people there. . . Now, David Hogg is 24 years old. He has little life experience, and is only famous in the first place because he was at the scene of a crime. He clearly has no idea what the real world is like, and doesn’t realize that if the people are disarmed, the police defunded, and the border open, society as he knows it would collapse entirely.  If he were a low-level employee somewhere, pontificating to his colleagues at the office, they might regard him as a bit of an arrogant know-it-all, but essentially harmless. But instead, the Democrats have just given Hogg a massive platform from which to spout his immature and unrealistic views. It’s revealing. Hogg may be a silly kid who doesn’t realize how destructive the positions he advocates really are, but older and wiser Democrats — okay, older Democrats, as it’s clear that there are no wise ones — must know. Many leading Democrats did retreat from radical defund-the-police positions, not because they cared about ordinary people, but because they saw what a losing issue it was.

With his first major domestic policy victory in the capture and deportation of as many illegal alien invaders as possible and the message being sent that the border is going to be sealed tight, he is now moving on to other areas of the MAGA agenda. As Democrats ponder what they can do to win back their disaffected base and win over the MAGA base of normal Americans, the answer is reject everything they'e ever believed in and agitated for going back to Woodrow Wilson, and then the mother of all mea culpas for all the misery and suffering you have caused in your quest for absolute power. Then dissolve your party. Well, the Leopard will never change its spots. The problem of course is not with them it's with all of us ingrates and deplorables who refuse to submit to their will. For our own good, of course.

And since evil never rests, here are but two examples that regretfully I have to churn your stomach with at breakfast time:

There’s really no other way to say it anymore. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) certainly seems to have a big problem with white people, to the point that some people might even call her actions and words racist. But to people like Crockett, that’s not possible. White people are the problem, always.
For Crockett, if you’re a trans person, or any other letter in the rainbow alphabet coalition, a black person, Hispanic, a woman, or an illegal immigrant, you can never do any wrong. Straight, white men are the problem, always.

At her swearing-in ceremony for her district on Tuesday, Crockett spoke to the audience about “evil,” “evil that is literally sitting in the highest seat in the world,” otherwise known as President Donald Trump — a white man.

But, that’s the tip of the iceberg. After ironically warning the crowd about “propaganda that’s out there,” Crockett took aim at who she says is the real problem in the U.S.

“Let me make sure y’all got the facts, most extreme crimes that take place in this country are committed by white supremacists,” Crockett said, as reported by The Post Millennial. “80 percent of extreme crimes are committed by white supremacists in this country. Do you know who went up there on January 6? White supremacists. This ain’t me just telling you, you can Google this if you don’t believe me, but it was the Oath Keepers. It was the Neo-Nazis. It was the Proud Boys. They are all white supremacists.”

From this filthy open sewer of a shitwhore to an equally disgusting scumbag who is calling for violence against Donald Trump, his administration and in fact you and I who support them:

They’re back!  The incendiary left that attempted to occupy the White House in the first Trump administration has returned to its regularly scheduled bomb throwing. Relatively quiet by radical standards in the opening days of Trump’s return to office, the far-left Democrat Party just can’t quit their violent ways. At a Brooklyn press conference Friday morning, House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries was back to inciting his followers to “fight” President Donald Trump and the MAGA “agenda” in “the streets.” 

This to me is inciting insurrection, or what am I missing (Yeah, the fact that he's a Democrat and he's allowed to spout this.

The question is, to paraphrase Democrat hero and mentor Joseph Stalin, How many divisions does Hakeem Jeffries have? And more crucially, Does Donald Trump have the will to use whatever means necessary at his disposal to crush these bastards and eradicate this cancer.

On other fronts, this is too delicious and will surely make all the right wrong heads explode:

President Donald Trump posted to truth on Sunday, where he said that he would be ending future funding to Sorth Africa until further notice due to the “bad situation” taking place there. 
“South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY. It is a bad situation that the Radical Left Media doesn’t want to so much as mention. A massive Human Rights VIOLATION, at a minimum, is happening for all to see. The United States won’t stand for it, we will act. Also, I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed" he said.During his first term, Donald Trump promised to look into claims of widespread violence against white farmers in South Africa, as well as reports of forced land seizures.

Part of this is likely in reaction to South Africa and Cuba teaming up to go after Israel in the International Kangaroo Court genocide case.

And I think, not only because Marco Rubio is now in charge at Foggy Bottom, putting the screws to Cuba is also on Trump's to do list, first to end that Island's 60-plus years of imprisonment but also to thwart Chi-Com encroachment.

And speaking of which, Trump notched a pretty big win vis a vis Panama – and China!

Panamanian president José Raúl Mulino said his country would not renew its agreement with China's Belt and Road Initiative following a visit from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a move that will make it the first Latin American country to leave the initiative. The news is a blow to Beijing, which views Panama as critical to its foreign influence efforts in the Western Hemisphere. Chinese businesses operate ports near the Panama Canal, which the United States owned and operated until moving control to Panama in 1999.

Following his meeting with Mulino, Rubio said the United States "cannot, and will not, allow the Chinese Communist Party to continue with its effective and growing control over the Panama Canal area."

Brazil also considered joining the Belt and Road Initiative late last year, signaling a desire to align with the Chinese Communist Party. The country abandoned those plans soon after, however, with officials expressing fear about signing long-term agreements with Beijing. In late 2023, meanwhile, Italy became the first European nation to exit the initiative, arguing that the deal did little to boost the country's exports to China.

Panama was the first Latin American nation to join the Belt and Road Initiative and now becomes the first to back away from it.

Well, two weeks in and I'm still not tired of the winning. Here's to 50 more just like this, and then 8 more years under Vance and 8 more under whoever his VP might me. God-willing.

Have a great day.

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
• Victor Davis Hanson: DEI policies are facing scrutiny amid recent disasters, raising concerns about their impact on competence, meritocracy, and public safety.
  Ten Problems with DEI That Frighten the Public
  
• Robert Spencer: If we don’t, we could get killed.
  Now We All Must Love Islam

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 07:30 AM | Comments (386) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 3 February 2025

Top Story

• AI systems with unacceptable risk are now banned in the EU. (Tech Crunch)
  
  What risk, we ask.
  
  The EU actually answers that, sort of.
  
  "Unacceptable risk" AI is Class 4, and Class 3, which is not banned but regulated, includes AI systems for recommending medical treatment. Fair enough; medical anything tends to be regulated, and there's no reason not to subject medical AI to standards and tests.
  
  Under Class 4, banned outright, we see:
  
  * AI used for social scoring, where the social scores are applied outside the context in which they are calculated - e.g. firing someone because of their Reddit posts
  * Inferring a person's likelihood to commit a crime unless you are the police and already have the criminal banged up because you think they done it
  * Subliminal advertising, which doesn't work anyway
  * Something so broad that it encompasses all advertising, which will be interesting
  * Anything that can infer someone's emotional state
  * Biometric analysis except when the government really wants to
  
  So yes, commies gonna commie, and the legislation has enough holes to drive the Bagger-288 through.
  
  Companies - anyone operating however tangentially in Europe - are expected to be in full compliance by, uh, yesterday.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (135) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Sunday Overnight Open Thread - February 2, 2025 [Doof]

Beyond a SHADOW of a doubt!

Howdy Hordelings, and a happy Sunday evening to you all! Here we are in Feb-you-air-ee. That's right, the first "r" in February should always remain silent. Today is Groundhog Day, in case anyone wasn't aware. No word on how much ground was hogged in Punxsutawney. Anyway, thanks for stopping by tonight's ONT!

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:00 PM | Comments (683) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Gun Thread: February! It's February Edition!

Howdy, Y'all! Welcome to the wondrously fabulous Gun Thread! As always, I want to thank all of our regulars for being here week in and week out, and also offer a bigly Gun Thread welcome to any newcomers who may be joining us tonight. Howdy and thank you for stopping by! I hope you find our wacky conversation on the subject of guns 'n shooting both enjoyable and informative. You are always welcome to lurk in the shadows of shame, but I'd like to invite you to jump into the conversation, say howdy, and tell us what kind of shooting you like to do!

Holy Shitballs! How in the ever-loving Hell did it get to be February? Man, January went by fast! I'll again be in and out of the comments tonight as I try to get some stuff done for work Monday morning.

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 (409) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Food Thread: Baah, Baah, Fat Sheep, Get Onto My Grill!

For whatever reason, lamb isn't particularly popular around these parts. Sure, during holidays I see a bit more of a selection, but aside from a few packs of loin chops and some boneless legs, it is slim pickings.

But I like lamb, and buy it when I see something good. Unfortunately the last several times I bought lamb it was underwhelming. a bit too fatty... a bit too gamey, a bit too tough. And that's not surprising, since most of the lamb around here is commodity lamb from Australia or New Zealand. It's not bad, it's just not that good.

So imagine my surprise when I walked past the sad, small corner of the butcher's display at my favorite market and saw some lamb shoulder chops with "AMERICAN" labels on them! What the hell... why not!

And there was great joy at Chez Dildo that night! Delicious! I trimmed out a couple of pieces of fat, then salt, pepper, garlic, Rosemary and olive oil. That's it. I let it marinate for a couple of hours, and then grilled them on a hot fire for about six-eight minutes.

The meat was relatively tender, it didn't have that greasy, gamey flavor, and it was flavorful. It was absolutely better than the typical Australian stuff I have become used to around here.

I am hoping that this wasn't a glitch in the matrix and that they will be carrying more American lamb. But I will have a chat with the manager just in case. I am looking forward to finding those little loin chops that are an absolute hoot to cook and eat, and maybe if I can get a second mortgage, a rib rack!

Posted by: CBD at 04:00 PM | Comments (364) | Trackbacks (Suck)

First-World Problems...

That drain thingy was originally round, but it didn't fit through the slightly smaller opening in the sink grid. So I had to bend the edges and hammer them flat so it would fit and not cut me up.

Who designs this stuff?

Do I have to replace the sink so that the drain thingy fits? Yeah... it came in a two-pack, so I have one in reserve!

Posted by: CBD at 02:00 PM | Comments (327) | Trackbacks (Suck)

To Be Consistent with the George Santos Precedent, Raphael Warnock Must be Expelled from Congress

Representative George Santos was expelled from Congress for embellishing his resume and for allegations of misconduct, including the illegal diversion of campaign funds for personal uses.

Senator Raphael Warnock (D – GA) was Chairman of a “non-partisan” group that engaged in a massive violation of campaign finance laws in 2018. The “non-partisan” group led by Warnock spent millions of dollars illegally attempting to influence the outcome of the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election between Stacey Abrams and Brian Kemp. Despite the dishonest and illegal spending by Warnock’s “non-partisan” group on behalf of Ms. Abrams, she lost that race. Raphael Warnock, who was Chairman of the “New Georgia Project” at the time, is now professing total ignorance of the actions his organization was engaged in. That is as unbelievable as anything George Santos ever said.

Representative Santos was expelled from Congress. If George Santos’ fabulism and misallocation of funds warranted his expulsion, then Senator Raphael Warnock needs to be promptly expelled from Congress too.

News broke a few weeks ago that the Georgia Ethics Commission unanimously voted to fine the New Georgia Project and its affiliated spinoff, The New Georgia Project Action Fund, $300,000 for violating state campaign laws and for failing to register as a political committee. As reported in a piece at The Hill titled “Nonprofit founded by Stacey Abrams secretly campaigned for her in 2018” these groups admitted that they violated the law by campaigning for Abrams.

The commission found the nonprofits raised upward of $4 million and spent more than $3 million to help Abrams and other 2018 candidates. The groups did not file as a campaign committee before receiving donations and failed to file campaign finance reports before the election, the commission found.

Of course, the New Georgia Project could not register as a partisan campaign committee because it’s a 501(c)(3) organization, for which partisan political activity is specifically prohibited. Per the IRS website a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization cannot “participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements) any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.”

Further, according to the mission statement at the New Georgia Project’s website, ”New Georgia Project is a nonpartisan effort to register, civically engage, and build power with the New Georgia Majority–the large and growing population of Black, brown, young, and other historically marginalized voters in the Peach State.”

Raphael Warnock led this organization in a massive financial and political fraud. Donors who thought they were giving to a non-partisan organization to help “marginalized” voters were actually giving to an organization actively, and illegally, assisting the Stacey Abrams campaign. The New Georgia Project, with Raphael Warnock serving as its as Chairman, was also actively violating federal tax laws.

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at 12:00 PM | Comments (311) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Sunday Morning Book Thread - 2-2-2025 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

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. 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 (requires a sonic screwdriver for assembly)...

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

That's a point I have tried to hammer home for years.

The best X in the world is the one you like the most!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at January 26, 2025 06:37 PM

CBD posted this on last week's Food Thread. It applies just as much to books as it does to food!

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM | Comments (325) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 2 February 2025

Top Story

• Nvidia's RTX 5060 and 5060 Ti might arrive in March to steal the thunder from AMD's launch of its Radeon 9000 family, but probably won't succeed at doing that. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  The problem is twofold.
  
  The best selling point of the 4060 is its low power consumption, and Nvidia is using the same 4nm TSMC process for the 5000 series, so there are no easy wins there. They can use GDDR7 memory, but that's more expensive and the chip on the 5060 is unlikely to be fast enough to make good use of it.
  
  With the 5060 Ti things are more complicated. The 4060 Ti is 40% faster in theory than the base 4060, but has exactly the same 8GB of GDDR6 RAM on a 128 bit bus, so the performance of the card is meh, and collapses as soon as games demand more than 8GB. You can get a 16GB model, but it's still constrained by the 128 bit bus.
  
  With the 5060 Ti, Nvidia can use GDDR7 - around 40% faster - and use 24Gbit chips so that the base model has 12GB of VRAM instead of just 8GB. That would give the chip a lot more breathing room - but if it works well it will encroach on the 5070 and Nvidia can't have that.
  
  Also Intel's B580 already exists, has 12GB of VRAM, and costs just $250, constraining both AMD and Nvidia when it comes to lower-end cards.
  
  

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (226) | Trackbacks (Suck)